On the surface of Kashyyyk, Prince Malrik felt the disturbance before the first alarm sounded through the treetop city of Rwookrrorro. He had been sparring with a group of young Wookiee warriors in the training grove, with wooden practice blades clashing against his own.
"Malrik!" Seraphine's voice could be heard through the branches as she emerged onto the platform moments later. "The comm network just died. All of it. The planetary defense grid can't get connect with the orbital station and the orbital station isn't responding at all."
Malrik was already walking towards her, sheathing his practice blade as his Empyrean Guard escort followed him. "All of it? Can we speak over local comms at least."
Seraphine shook her head. "Yeah, but anything off planet won't work since everything is down system wide. Also, just before we lost comms, something came out of hyperspace at the edge of the system twenty minutes ago which may be the source of the jamming." She fell into step beside him as they descended the steps of the platform. At the bottom, more Empyrean Guards had arrived upon the being notified of what was currently going on.
The 10,000 Empyrean Guards who were present on the planet were now all moving into defensive positions around where Prince Malrik was located. Since Prince Malrik had established Kashyyyn as his residence, 10,000 Empyrean Guards have stood watch over the planet since his arrival.
An agreement was created with the Republic and the Kashyyyk tribes, allowing Imperial forces to be stationed on the planet in exchange for the technology and medical aid that came with them. The Wookiees, proud and fiercely independent as they were, had come to see the Empyrean Guard presence not as an occupation but as an extension of the pack-bond they now shared with Malrik himself.
"Get the younglings underground," Malrik said to the nearest Wookiee chieftain, a massive warrior named Grashak who had fought beside him in mock duels a hundred times over the centuries. Grashak roared an acknowledgment and began shouting orders, his voice sounding across the treetop city as families began moving toward the reinforced shelters that had been carved into the wroshyr trees base generations ago.
"What's the planetary shield status?" Malrik asked, turning to the ranking Empyrean Guard commander named Colonel Ashra Denn.
"At full strength, my Prince, but untested against whatever just entered the system. The orbital station's silence concerns me more than the jamming itself. If they've disabled our early warning platform without a fight, that speaks to a level of technological sophistication we haven't encountered from any known adversary in this region."
Seraphine's hand rested on the hilt of her blade she'd carried since her days as Princess of Rylothis, a habit that had never quite left her even after decades of relative peace.
"If the station went dark without transmitting a distress signal, either they were destroyed instantly, or they were never given the chance to respond."
"Or," Malrik said, as he reached out through the Force, searching the space above the planet for anything he could sense, "They didn't want to be seen at all until they were ready."
The treetop city around them had transformed within minutes from a place of quiet training and domestic routine into something resembling a fortress bracing for siege. Wookiee warriors, with their bows took up positions along the elevated walkways. Below in the understory, more Empyrean Guards moved in, establishing overlapping fields of fire around the base of the great wroshyr trees that supported the city.
"Colonel Denn," Malrik said, "Get me eyes in the sky. I want to know what's coming down before it lands."
"Already scrambling our reserve fighters, my Prince. Though with the jamming this thick, I doubt they'll get more than visual confirmation before we lose contact with them too."
Malrik nodded, already moving toward the command platform that had been built into the largest of the wroshyr trees, a structure that served as his residence. Now it was turned into a war room. Seraphine followed close behind, her expression tight with the particular focus she'd carried since the day her first husband's betrayal had taught her that peace was never as permanent as it seemed.
"Do you think it's the Sith?" she asked quietly, once they were inside and the doors had sealed behind them.
"No," Malrik said. "The Sith wouldn't dare attack this planet knowing that an Imperial Prince is on the planet. If they ever tried something like that, they would be reduced to nothing by my father." While Prince Malrik didn't exactly like throwing around his title as a Prince much, he couldn't deny that it was the only thing that stopped the Sith from invading the planet.
"Then who?" Seraphine asked, moving to the holographic display that flickered with static as it struggled to compile whatever fragmented sensor data still trickled in through the jamming.
"I don't know," Malrik admitted. "But whoever it is, they came prepared. That kind of jamming isn't improvised. They knew exactly what they'd need to blind us before they ever entered the system."
Colonel Denn's voice crackled over the comm, badly distorted by the interference. "My Prince, we have partial visual. Fighters report... multiple large vessels. Not Sith Imperial design. Not Republic. Or any known empire out there."
"What do they look like then?" Malrik asked.
"Organic-looking hulls, sir. Bioluminescent markings. The pilots say it reminds them of insect carapace, if insects could be the size of Capital ships."
As soon as he explained this, Malrik thought about the reports and videos he was reading about the Killiks. As a Prince he had access to information that others didn't, thus allowing him to watch the live feeds from Daimon's fleet which invaded the Killik controlled planet.
And hearing this explanation of what the ships looked like, he knew immediately who the ships belonged to.
"Killiks," he said aloud, and Seraphine's head turned toward him.
"Here? That's impossible. The Emperor is fighting them on the other side of the galaxy."
"Apparently not all of them," Malrik replied grimly.
"Grashak," he called through the comm, "tell your warriors that whatever comes out of the trees or falls from the sky, it will not look like anything we've fought before. No hesitation and no mercy."
The Wookiee chieftain's roar of acknowledgment came back distorted, but Malrik could make out what he said.
Seraphine drew her blade fully now, testing its weight in her hand the way she had a thousand times before. "If they're here for you," she said, "then this isn't a raid. This is a targeted assault."
"I know," Malrik replied. He closed his eyes for a moment, reaching further out through the Force despite the strange interference that seemed to affect his sense the same way it did their comms.
Somewhere out there, hidden behind the interference, he could feel a massive presence almost nearing the same presence he felt from his father.
Colonel Denn's voice returned through the static. "My Prince, the shields have gone down and I can't get in contact with the Republic forces at the shield tower. Also the fighters are reporting drop pods, hundreds of thousands of them, breaking off from the lead vessels and entering atmosphere. Impact projected across three settlement zones, including Rwookrrorro."
"Get every warrior we have to the tree line," Malrik ordered. "Seraphine, we'll have to hold them off from the east and west." he said as he turned to move.
"Malrik." She caught his arm before he could move. "If this is Aruun's doing, and not just some rogue splinter of his hive, he may be trying to draw your father's attention away from wherever the real battle is happening. Or he's trying to hurt him through you."
"I know," Malrik said again, quieter this time. "Which is exactly why we can't let a single Killik reach the ground floor. Not because I'm afraid of dying. Because if they achieve their goals, then I don't know what's going to happen." He had seen his father angry only one time, and he never wanted to see it again. If he was to somehow die here, then he didn't know how what was going to happen.
She held his gaze a moment longer, then nodded and released his arm. "Then let's make sure that doesn't happen."
Outside, the sky above Rwookrrorro had begun to change color, streaks of fire tearing downward through the atmosphere as the first wave of drop pods breached the cloud cover.
The Empyrean Guards were already prepared for this invasion. They were the super enhanced Gen'Dai with the blood of the Emperor running through their veins, and they would defend the Prince until they die. Alongside them were also around a dozen Balance Keepers.
Whatever happened, they would make their stand here or die trying.