The Dragon of Zakuul

Everything is well this morning, which means that today will be a good day

Oh how does Thexan wished that to be true

Waking up, doing his routine excercise, eating breakfast, drinking coffee which is the only good thing he guessed that came from Terra other than that metal which he called Omnisteel, although the name Terrans gave it, Vibranium is respectable.

When Thexan was told about the arrival of Thor to Terra and his banishment by the Intelligence Chief, a sneaky fellow known by the codename Janus, Thexan is pleasantly surprised to hear that Odin banished a second children of his.

'Well perhaps all of it runs in the family' he mused 'A warmonging daughter, and now a warmonging son, karma is indeed a bitch' causing him to smirk after thinking that. 'To think that the only normal one is a Jotun, pfft.. I do pity you old fool'

'Not that it is my responsibility, as long as the problem does not effect the Empire, then no one here could care less about a wayward son of the King of Asgard' he concluded

Ohh how wrong he was

Taking the usual route to his office or the throne room with the elevator, he felt the elevator grind to a halt, the inertial compensators stopping them from being turned to paste by the G-forces created by the machine.

The artificial gravity generators were calibrated to imitate the gravity of Zakuul itself so no difference could be felt even as high above the planet's surface as they were.

Opening his yellow eyes, symbol of the ruler of the Throne, seeming to glow slightly even in the well-lit elevator, the Emperor took stock of his surroundings.

Walking the moment the doors opened, walking through the hallway, ignoring the few Knights of Zakuul that stood to attention and saluted as they passed.

Each Knight was decked out in an advanced form fitting armour made of near a hundred individual metal plates, each was painted a white colour with gold edging over which they wore a white cloak with black outlines along its trim.

They wielded a collapsible Lightsaber Pike as their main choice of weapon, a weapon created using the kyber crystals discovered by his father, a weapon capable of cutting almost everything in its path.

Gathered from the worlds captured by the Empire or born on Zakuul they were amongst the strongest warriors in the Empire and sworn to the Eternal Throne, and by extension to whoever that sits on the throne.

Moving through the corridors, he arrived in front of an ornate set of doors inlayed with gold leaf that glowed in the artificial light, the doors let out a hiss as they approached, the four Knights in front of it moving to the side and saluting as they got closer.

The door opened revealing the throne room, it was less of a traditional throne room seen in the ancient texts of primitive societies and instead a massive globe of Omniglass, reinforced with curved struts of Durasteel and Uru that ran from the bottom of the construct, where the massive ball was attached to the tower, up to the top of the sphere.

There was a platform made of metal in the centre of the sphere, it was a circular dais with a flight of stairs leading up to its centre.

Upon which stood the symbol of the Empire and the Dragon's power.

The Eternal Throne.

It was a relic since the time of Valkorion, his father, crafted with unknown technolgy and the First Emperor's Dark Rituals and had stood there for thousands upon thousands of years, a symbol of the might Zakuul that wielded.

Power that allowed them to conquer Planets and Galaxies across the universe.

Entering the throne room, he passed the twelve Knights who stood tall and proud on each side of the path to the throne.

Thexan took a chance to glance out the windows, Zakuul could be seen below, a mixture of green swamp and inconceivably massive circles of light glowing from the planet's surface - the planet's megacities could be seen even from space.

Looking further he could see a few more massive towers rising into the atmosphere, though none reached the height of the Spire.

In space were a few of the numerous space stations that dotted the system that were orbiting the planet.

They were used for docking purposes as well as fighter hangars and around those were gun emplacements, their turbolasers primed and ready to fire almost instantly.

From his vantage point, the Emperor could see the traffic of civilian vessels travelling to and from the planet going about their business.

He could also see a portion of the might of the Eternal Fleet floating in orbit, sixteen massive wedge shaped Resurgent-Class Star Destroyers in formation, ready to unleash their might should the capital of the Empire come under attack.

These massive starships were some of the strongest the Empire could field, the original design of the Star Destroyer developed by some of the greatest minds in the universe, creating a perfect balance of fear, power, and security, as well as the symbol of the Empire's power and technological advancement

At over 5500 meters in length they were one of the largest ships currently in active service in the entire Universe and each boasted a truly awesome array of Turbolasers and Lasercannons though they were expensive and difficult to make which is only high ranking officers such as Admirals and above could wield such powers

Arrayed around the massive five thousand five hundred meter long Star Destroyers were one hundred and twenty smaller but still incredibly deadly Autumn-Class Frigates, ships that served as the backbone of the Eternal Fleet ever since the beginning of his reign

Originally named the Halycron-Class Frigates, their designs had been examined extensively by the Empire's shipbuilders and engineers after the coup and had been updated with brand new improved Shield Generators, Turbolasers, Sublight Engines, Reactors and Phantom Drive leading to the hull of the ship being expanded from its previous near 1000 meter length to a new 2,250 meter length.

The Centurion-class Battlecruiser, a ship active and used by his father for over 5000 years during his reign could also be seen in the fleet. An ancient design that saw most of its type destroyed during the coup as both his father and siblings used these ships in their respective fleets.

Darting between these massive capitals ships were starfighters and smaller ships, Raider-class Corvettes and the larger Vigil-class Corvettes flew between these Capital Ships patrolling and acting as escorts to the large Battlegroup.

Zeta-class Cargo Shuttles, Chi Class Dropships and the Eternal Empire's three winged shuttles ferried munitions and supplies between orbital Space Stations and different Capital Ships.

But the pride and glory of Empire's military, a ship that triumphs above all his personal ship that can be seen being guarded by those ships, the Vengeance, a Vengeance-class Dreadnought, and one of the two that have been produced along with its twin, the Executor, a mighty 20000 meter long ship, serving as the flagship of the fleet and his second home.

The Vengeance only saw one battle in its history, yet everyone in the Empire feared its capabilities, the Ship that bombarded Krypton using its arsenal and the one that drilled to the core of the planet, it also serves as proof that the Vengeance and its twin, the Executor can cause a damage that normally requires an entire fleet to produce.

Meanwhile Thexan looked at himself. A boy when he took control of Zakuul now grown into a man, he wore the same armour the first Emperor of Zakuul, his father, once did. Armoured boots and black cloth trousers along with a set of white, black and gold ornate carved armour over his torso, in the centre of which was an open jawed beast carved into the chest plate under which he wore a long sleeved garment made of a thick white material with white vambraces around his lower arms.

Over this entire ensemble he wore a black mantle with white metal plates on its shoulders that connected to the armour on his torso, covered his shoulders and had two long strips down its back that ran to his knees

When people saw him, they respected, loved, and feared him. Once he asked his friend, the Grand Admiral why did many people sweat upon seeing him, including Thrawn and Revan when he first saw him. Thinking that because he is an emperor, perhaps they feared his status? It confuses him because he sometimes like to sneak out from the Spire, putting on a disguise and walk among his people and he even surpresses his aura, so they shouldn't know him. But everytime he did that, he is always discovered when he tried to do some 'normal civilian stuff' such as eating in a restaurant, playing with the kids on the street, etc.

"No Your Grace, while your position as Emperor does have an influence in causing people to look up to you in fear, the reason is something else" Thrawn responded to his answer

The reason is simple. It was his power.

The aura of tightly controlled might can be erased, but the feeling of near an almost sentient being, in other world a God, could always be felt by everyone. That feeling according to Revan was unlike anything he had ever encountered and could only be something beyond the explainable.

Thrawn and Reval claimed that they had met many people of all walks of life. Some, like themselves could naturally produce an intimidating aura that cowered subordinates and enemies alike, it was a skill that helped immensly in cowering unruly soldiers and weak willed enemies.

Yet they had never felt such a presence as the one as heavy as the one the Emperor seemed to produce just, well being there.

The only explanation that Thexan can have is that this 'presence' is somewhat attributed to his connection with the Eternal Throne, symbolled in his glowing yellow eyes that he has ever since he took the throne.

'Troublesome' is his thought everytime he tried to go under the radar.

'Being bored is something that I never expected after taking the throne, I wonder if my brother and sister succeeded in taking the throne without bloodshed that they would feel like this? Nah, those two are very close to one another perhaps they can comfort each other when they felt bored' A thought that makes sense for the Emperor while also giving him goosebumps since ever since they were young, Arcann and Vaylin were very close ot one another, so much so that Thexan swore that he often heard animalistic grunts coming from his elder brother's room that sounds like his sister.

Putting that thought away he walks to the throne and sits on it while contemplating 'ANother boring day of administration'

That's when his Chief of Imperial Inteligence, Janus called him and began explaining the events in the universe especially that power surge that he felt earlier coming from that blasted planet Terra again as they have a very important information to tell him.

"Your Grace, we have intel from our intelligence reports that the Tesseract is seen on Terra, a group called SHIELD or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division managed to locate the Tesseract after the power surge from Terra nearly 70 years ago. It seems that they are planning to build new technology with the help of the Tesseract.

And if the reports are correct, it seems Prince Loki of Asgard is seen on Terra too, wielding the Scepter of Infinity, Your Grace, although it does not make any sense why Loki is attacking their force since Terra is under Asgard's protection" reported Janus

"That SHIELD sounds familiar, If I'm not mistaken they have been trying to do things like this ever since that half Kree harnessed its power and the fact that they helped the Skrulls to hide among them, no? Idiotic I have to say since Skrulls have no sense of loyalty or honor other than to other Skrulls. Contact our spy in SHIELD my friend, she should be able to gather more detailed information about this situation. In the meantime, I will send Thrawn to personally monitor this situation and if worse come to pass, to forcefully take the Tesseract and that Sceptre back to Zakuul. Odin has tested my patience for far too long and without Bifrost, I doubt he will be able to send his troops againts us." commanded Thexan

"Of course Your Grace, she might even be able to give us the items right from under SHIELD's nose if you permit it Your Grace? And to ensure it perhaps we should send her sister too since they are two sides of the same coin?"

"Do everything you can my friend, besides they have a lifetime debt to us, but do ensure that our Spider in SHIELD doesn't receive any suspicion from her boss and collagues"

"Of course Your Grace, with your permission?"

Thexan just nodded and allowed Janus to go to work while he contemplated on the current situation.

A few days later he received updates of his situation. His spy in Terra is very well placed and luckily for them, very talented too since she managed to convince her boss to put her on a response team to counter Loki's threats. While her sister is sneaking in the shadows as backup in retrieving the Sceptre and the Cube.

So far so good, and now with Thrawn nearing Terra, he is going to the conference room to speak with the one-eyed pirate about this current situation.

So despite the current situation, well it could be worse, right?