HOLY TOMATO SAUCE! How long has it been since I last updated? Even I have lost track! Thank you to my loyal readers that are sticking with me. Well, here is a consolation prize.

Thank you to the guests that reviewed Chapter 3:

To the Guest who left 2 reviews about ideas and information: Thank you for pointing that out about the executor, although that is why Raxus Prime was targeted first. There are a LOT of resources and equipment there that can be either retrofitted, or reformed to fit the needs of Vader and the Storm Troopers. Likewise, Rex is going to push for an overhaul of the storm trooper armor. We might see something similar to the First Order Storm Troopers (since that armor was the only good thing, besides Vader's helmet, to come out of Disney's massacre of the Star Wars Universe).

To the other Guest who requested having an AnaSoka relationship (Anakin/Ahsoka), Sorry. Anakin is still going to be with Padme, and the twins will still be coming (eventually). But Vader on the other hand…

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. If I did, Disney never would have gotten their slimy hands on her…

Kenobi raced up to the bridge, Anakin and Ahsoka following not far behind him.

"Did Cody say what was going on?" Anakin asked, worried.

"Not really. He said that there was another fleet surrounding Raxus Prime."

"Droids?" Ahsoka asked, a look of befuddlement starting to cover her face.

"No. He said he didn't recognise it." Kenobi responded, before doubling his speed for the final stretch to reach the bridge.

"Cody! What happened?" Obi-wan asked as he screeched to a halt next to the clone commander.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Cody responded, gesturing to the large windows that dominated the walls of the Venator-class cruiser.

The junk planet was almost completely surrounded by a nearly impenetrable wall of unknown cruisers, vaguely resembling the very ship that the Jedi were presently on.

"Force! That's a LOT of ships!" Ahsoka exclaimed, her jaw dropping at the mere sight of the armada that had amassed itself around the planet.

"They certainly aren't separatists, unless these are a new breed. They almost look like our ships, but a lot more advanced." Anakin spoke, trying to analyze the other ships.

At that moment, all the coms on the Republic ships activated, showing Darth Vader, in all of his black-cloaked glory. Before the shocked Republic forces could respond, Vader began to speak.

"Soldiers of the republic! I am Darth Vader, commander-in-chief of the new Galactic Empire, and Dark Lord of the Sith. I am here to liberate those oppressed by the Separatists, and enlighten those that are blinded by the Republic's idiocrasy. For those officers who wish to fight for a cause worth living for, I extend an invitation to join my fleet and officers. And to the Clones who fight so diligently under their Jedi Generals, but are brushed off and disregarded by them, I invite you to join my forces. You will be treated with respect, as an equal. No one person is more important than another. If 1 part was missing from a machine, that machine would not function. No part is more important than another, and no soldier is more important than his brother. You have 5 minutes to make a decision, before we will be forced to assume you are all enemies. I will re-establish contact in that time to arrange for those who wish to be respected and honoured for their sacrifice to be transferred to an army that will appreciate them.

"Do NOT try to run. Your ships systems are being jammed, and are inoperable." With those departing words, the image of the new Sith Lord disappeared, leaving bewilderment and questioning to run rampant amongst the Republic forces.

Aboard Vader's Imperial ships, Vader himself ended his message, and crews immediately began bustling around him to prepare scripted messages with which to greet newcomers to the Imperial ships, as well as the contact which Vader would soon make.

"DIdn' know you could speak loike that, General." Rex mused, a look of contemplation on his face.

"As much as I am loathe to admit it, Kenobi did have some good attributes that may have rubbed off on me." If one could see within the helmet of the black monolith that is Darth Vader, they would have noticed the slight tainting of an embarrassed blush staining the scarred and burnt cheeks of the Dark Lord.

"Well, every good emperor is going to have to make speeches. You won't be an exception."

"That may be so, but I am still a man of action. I prefer to fight rather than talk." The Dark Lord responded, his 1 pointed finger driving the point and silently threatening anyone who inferred otherwise.

"No arguments there. It must be why we get along so well." The aged Clone Commander smirked, responding to the new "Galactic Emperor."

Aboard the Republic ships, there was a flurry of activity and chatter. While many of the officers had volunteered to join the fight, moral was low amidst the republic navy. Likewise, a large portion of the clones and junior officers that ran the ships were highly considering accepting Darth Vader's offer. They did not always have the benefit of working with officers and generals that truly appreciated them like General Skywalker or General Kenobi. Many of them felt wronged and even abused by their Jedi and Military leaders.

"Captain, what's going on?" Kenobi yelled over the din of squabble, chatter, and barked orders in the Command Bridge of the Cruiser.

"We can't move! All engines are down, comms have been disabled, and sensors are being jammed! We are totally immobile!" The uniformed Captain of the ship yelled back, the din in the room growing louder by the second.

"What about fighters? Can we get defenses up? Can we get transports away?" Anakin bellowed back, trying to find a way around the present predicament.

"Internal communications reports no issues with the hangers. Should we scramble fighters?" A junior officer manning the internal communication booth reports back.

Before the Captain could even reply, Skywalker barked out "SCRAMBLE! Open the hangar bay doors, but DO NOT LAUNCH! He said that we have 5 minutes to respond. Master! You have less than 5 minutes to come up with a response."

"He's asking for us to 'join or die'! How do we respond to that!?" Ahsoka interrupted.

"Very carefully." Kenobi responded with a wry grin the showed little humour.

"M'Lord!" An Imperial Officer rushed up to Darth Vader and Captain Rex, who were still looking out the main viewport, and offered a quick salute. "We are receiving an incoming transmission from Admiral Granger of the ISD Rampage. He asked to speak with you."

Without a word, the black armoured behemoth turned and stalked over to the large view-screen meant for conversing between the ships of the fleet.

"Lord Vader! What is the meaning of this? Those are Republic Cruisers! They were all decommissioned and destroyed YEARS ago!" The overweight, pompous Admiral began barking even before Vader had fully entered the visibility area of the view screen.

"Correct, Admiral. They are indeed Republic Cruisers. Your observational skills are impeccable." Lord Vader drawled, intentionally demeaning the senior officer of the Rampage.

"Are the rebels fighting with Venator cruisers now? How did they even obtain such artifacts? You were supposed to have overseen the destruction of those relics!" Granger continued on, hardly noticing that Vader had even responded to him. A fatal mistake for any imperial officer.

His dark presence roiling, making even non-force sensitives aware of the nigh-unbridled rage bubbling within the obsidian mask, Vader glared at the belligerent Admiral on the other end of the line, who was only now beginning to realize that he might have made a critical mistake.

"Unless you miraculously gained a few thousand IQ points, ADMIRAL," The title dripped out of his mask, covered in venom and sarcasm. "… you may not have noticed that we have just passed through a worm-hole to send us back in time. We have just gone 20 years into the past, to the height of the Clone Wars. Thus, we are expecting to see and fight Venator class Republic Ships. If you had bothered to pay attention to the MASS COMMUNIQUE I just issued, you would have noticed that I addressed those ships PERSONALLY! However, your foolishness and insolence have blinded you. You have failed me for the last time." With those infamous words, Admiral Granger's hands leapt to his throat, where he could already feel the invisible pressure that had been the end of thousands of Imperial officers that had failed to impress Lord Vader, or even complete their job with some degree of competency. With a strangled cry, followed by a gurgle, Admiral Granger's feet left the deck, even as the eyes of everyone present aboard the bridge of the Rampage turned to watch the final moments of their senior officer. With a brutal crack, and a thud of a body hitting the floor, Admiral Jant Granger's reign of foolishness was brought to an end.

"Somebody remove that waste of space." Vader continued speaking to the bridge crew aboard the Rampage. "Who is the next most senior officer aboard your ship?"

A startled lieutenant who had accidentally wandered into view of Lord Vader's transmission stammered out, "My LORD! Uh… uh… the m-m-most senior Naval officer w-w-w-would be…"

"NO, lieutenant, I asked who the most senior OFFICER was, not just Naval." Vader corrected, feeling his anger beginning to ebb again.

"That would be me, SIR!" A middle-aged officer stepped into view of the screen. "Colonel Maximilian M. Veers, SIR!" Dressed in the typical green uniform denoting the Military and its personnel, Colonel Veers stood an impressive 6 feet 4 inches tall, and built like a AT-AT, almost matching Lord Vader himself in size.

"Colonel Veers, you are now in charge of the ship. I will have a COMPETENT naval officer transferred to the Rampage immediately." Vader ordered, informing a "Ground-Pounder" that he was now in charge of his "Mother-ship".

"With all due respect My Lord, why me? Why not place the second-in-command of the ship in charge? Surely, they would know the personnel and naval combat tactics better than I." Veers asked.

"Simple," Vader responded. "I don't trust anyone trained under that buffoon to be half-way competent at their job. I pray that you will not follow in their footsteps, Veers." Vader responded, finger threatening the military commander even through their comms.

"Of course not, SIR!" Veers snapped to attention and saluted his commander in chief.

"Very good, Veers. Perform competently, and I may see you transferred to The Executor. Your record is impressive, even by my standards." Vader responded, dropping a complement that astounded everyone who heard, including the behemoth of a Colonel.

"Thank you, SIR! It will be done, SIR!" Veers saluted again, pride blooming in his chest. He was instantly determined to do the best job possible.

Without another word, Vader ended the transmission to the Rampage and turned to the young face currently inhabiting his communication array.

"Lieutenant…"

"Krennic, M'Lord. Nephew of former Director Krennic of the ISB" The Lieutenant responded proudly, his knees quaking slightly, but determined to make a good impression on his commander.

"I care not for pedigrees and connections, lieutenant. Your only saving grace might be that you perform your duties competently and efficiently." Vader warned, his black-gloved finger waving less than an inch from the young man's face.

"Of Course, M'Lord." The man swallowed, his knees shaking more visibly now.

"Contact the Chimaera, and have them transfer Captain Thrawn to the Rampage. I want to be assured that they will perform properly." Vader ordered, turning away from the communications pit.

"That alien? Whatever for?" Young Krennic snorted, disgusted with the mere thought of the Chiss Officer.

The entire bridge of the Executor became silent, waiting for the impending doom of the young man. Lord Vader slowly turned, anger blazing through the ebony mask before he began to stalk towards the insolent officer. Krennic froze, fear plainly visible in his eyes as the black behemoth bore down on him, promising no mercy for questioning his orders or reasoning.

Both, however, were distracted by the second officer at the station quickly turning back to his station and repeating "Contacting Chimaera, aye Sir."

Lord Vader's head swiveled to gaze upon the back of the second-lieutenant who was also at the communications controls. Before Vader even had a chance to speak, the lieutenant had finished opening communications with the aforementioned ship. Giving a snappy salute, the uniformed anomaly quickly informed the communications officers aboard the ISD Chimaera that their Captain was about to be transferred, under Lord Vader's orders, to the Rampage, and to make it quick. As soon as the transmission was complete, and the Chimaera had confirmed receipt of the orders, the officer turned around and, saluting Darth Vader, informed him "The Chimaera will be transferring Captain Thrawn to the ISD Rampage ASAP."

It took a moment before even Vader responded, saying "Very good, lieutenant. Carry on." With that, Darth Vader returned to his spot next to an amused looking Captain Rex, and a terrified Lieutenant Krennic slumped to the floor, his knees finally giving out on him. His comrade stooped down to help pick him up, and dropped him unceremoniously into the chair at his station.

Responding to the unspoken question in his teammate's eyes, the other Lieutenant shrugged and said "I started serving the Axxilan Anti-Pirate fleet. To survive there, you have to know how to keep a cool head and stay focused in dangerous circumstances, especially when the pirates have you out-manned, out-gunned, and out-run."

Glancing quickly back at the now blinking console, he yelled out, "LORD VADER! Incoming transmission from the Republic Ship! Transferring to the primary viewscreen now."

Rex glanced over at his commander and muttered "it's only been 3 minutes. They're early…"

Vader stormed over to the viewscreen, the same one from which he killed Admiral Granger not 1 minute prior. Almost as soon as he had stopped, the transmission blinked to life, showing several faces, including several that haunted him to this day. The temperature in the bridge of the Executor plummeted several degrees as the Sith Lord growled out, "KENOBI!..."

Bonus points if you can tell me who the second Comms Officer is. :)

Hopefully, it won't be another freaking YEAR before I update this again...