The Republic has fallen.
In the final days of the Clone Wars, Chancellor Palpatine died under mysterious circumstances. With the Senate struggling to retain a sense of unity, it was the perfect time for the Separatists to strike. And strike they did...
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The timbre of the shuttle's hyperdrive engines dropped in pitch from a quiet whine to a low thrum, powering down in increments too subtle to follow. On instinct, Vader shifted his stance to brace himself. He knew from experience the jarring lurch back into realspace and time was seconds away.
Sure enough, the starlines shortened into distant flickers of white, and the swirling blue between them darkened and faded to midnight black. But the shuttle itself slipped from hyperspace with barely a rumble.
Vader straightened again, frowning beneath his mask. He almost wished it had. Ships as small as this shuttle lacked the many backup systems a dreadnought used to make a smooth reentry, which meant pilot error was a much greater factor. Had his pilot slipped up, Vader might've had an excuse – albeit a flimsy one – to quit hovering at the back of the cockpit and oust her from the pilot's seat.
Still, the Emperor's instructions about the decorum of Imperial leadership were clear, and Vader didn't doubt his Master had eyes and ears even here on his personal shuttle. Flying always calmed Vader's nerves, but it clearly wasn't the Force's will that he go into this calmly.
The ship arced away from its exit coordinates, and the muddy brown surface of Geonosis swung into view. They were deep enough into the system that he could only make out a few of the planet's fifteen satellites, but he knew without looking that they had been joined by a sixteenth: a new sister made of metal instead of rock.
The farce protecting Project Stardust was flimsy, but clever. The Geonosians had a borderline xenophobic distrust of offworlders. Their tendency to shoot them first and ask questions later kept independent science teams from investigating the system too closely, where they might realize the number of moons orbiting the planet had inexplicably changed.
Geonosis was also the Empire's chief source of advanced weaponry, which was an excellent reason to keep security tight. For the same reason, Vader would've expected to hear of possible intelligence leaks on the planet's surface. While the Geonosians professed their loyalty to the Emperor now, everyone could be bought for the right price. Their skill with tech was legendary, and for the chance to control such an asset, Vader didn't doubt the hidden players of galactic politics would be more than generous.
But Agent Kallus and the Emperor had assembled the command structure of the project – the only ones with clearance to communicate with the outside galaxy – themselves. Vader didn't trust Kallus, but he did trust his Master. The possibility that one of their handpicked personnel had defected to the Rebellion, or even a third party, was extremely troubling.
The shuttle zipped between two of the planet's larger moons, trembling slightly as it was caught in and then freed from their gravity. Once again, the pilot kept the ship under tight control, but Vader had no chance to stew over it. As they rounded the second moon, at last, he laid eyes on Project Stardust.
The dull grey space station was wreathed with construction modules like a countless attendants serving their queen. Despite the exposed gaps in its spherical surface where the durasteel exoskeleton had not yet been patched, it dwarfed the modules – and the several dozen dreadnoughts keeping watch – many times over. Even the giant emitter dish in the middle of its northern hemisphere, the smallest defining characteristic Vader could see beyond a dark strip running the length of the equator, outclassed them by leaps and bounds.
