Galactic Empire / C0RSAIR

Part 1: The Rift Between Universes

In the cold, endless expanse of space, the Star Wars galaxy was no stranger to the unexpected. The Force, an energy field that binds all living things, had allowed for unimaginable feats, from hyperspace travel to the manipulation of reality itself. But no one could have predicted what was about to happen.

For years, Admiral Thrawn, one of the Empire’s greatest tacticians and commanders, had sought to expand the Empire beyond its known borders. His strategies were meticulous, his mind keen, and his ambition matched only by his cold, calculating nature. But even Thrawn had never considered the possibility of other universes, until one fateful day when the Chimaera, his flagship, encountered an anomaly that could not be explained by science or the Force.

The anomaly appeared without warning, a rift in the fabric of space itself. It was an unstable, chaotic swirl of light and energy, a wormhole, but unlike any Thrawn had encountered. This was no ordinary rupture in space; it was a gateway between worlds, a rip through the very fabric of the universe, unlike anything the Empire’s scientists could comprehend.

Thrawn, ever the pragmatist, did not hesitate. His mind raced as he assessed the potential of this strange, unexplained occurrence. If the Empire could understand it, harness it, and control it, then the galaxy could be expanded in ways no one had imagined. The consequences of such a discovery were immense: new territories to conquer, new resources to claim, and, most importantly, new subjects to bring under the Empire’s rule.

He ordered the Chimaera to investigate. The rift was unstable, but it was stable enough for a fleet to pass through. With his experience and understanding of risk, Thrawn knew that this was an opportunity that could not be ignored.

Through the rift, the Empire’s fleet emerged into an entirely different galaxy.

It was not the galaxy Thrawn had known. This new universe was filled with strange new stars, planets, and civilizations, yet something about it seemed eerily familiar. The technology was advanced but not to the level of the Empire’s. The military forces, though formidable, lacked the discipline and coordination of the Imperial forces. It was a galaxy in flux, filled with untapped potential. There was one key difference: there were no Sith, no Jedi, no Force. Here, the power dynamics were driven by technology and military might alone. For the first time in his life, Thrawn found himself in a universe where his military genius could not rely on the Force for insight.

But the strategic possibilities were undeniable.

Part 2: The First Contact

As soon as the fleet passed through the rift, Thrawn set his sights on a particular system that had caught his attention during the reconnaissance phase: the Stanton System. Located within the United Empire of Earth (UEE), the system was home to a number of thriving colonies, valuable resources, and strategic locations. It was a perfect first step.

Thrawn deployed a small but well-equipped force of ships, enough to make an impression, but not enough to overwhelm the local forces immediately. He had no desire for brute force, at least not at first. Thrawn was a tactician above all else. The first contact needed to be carefully managed.

The UEE had already been embroiled in its own struggles: pirate raids, internal corruption, and diplomatic tensions with neighboring systems. They were not prepared for an outside force of this magnitude.

The first encounter took place near Orison, a vibrant civilian hub known for its luxury and trade. A fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers, crimson flags of the Empire flying high, appeared in the sky. Aboard the Chimaera, Thrawn watched as his fleet broadcast a message to the UEE:

“To the leaders of the United Empire of Earth: We are the Galactic Empire, and we have come to extend our reach into your galaxy. You may accept our presence and join us as equals, or you may resist, in which case, you will find that your resistance will be futile.”

The message was clear. Subjugation or cooperation.

The UEE’s response was immediate but uncoordinated. A fleet of F7C Hornets, Hornet fighters, and a few capital ships scrambled to face the invasion, but the Imperial fleet, far superior in numbers and firepower, cut them down with surgical precision. The Empire’s forces were superior not only in technology but in experience. Thrawn understood that the key to breaking the will of a civilization wasn’t to destroy it outright but to make it realize its futility in resistance.

As Imperial forces stormed key installations and communications networks, Admiral Voss, a UEE admiral loyal to the Emperor—was sent by Thrawn to negotiate terms with the UEE leadership. The offer was simple: Join the Empire, or be destroyed.

But there was one thing Thrawn had underestimated: the resilience of the UEE people. Even in the face of overwhelming force, there were factions that resisted. Some of the UEE’s military officers, disillusioned with their leaders, began to rally against the Empire. The Black Fleet, a mercenary group, led by a former UEE officer, began to coordinate attacks on Imperial supply lines, utilizing advanced tactics that caught Thrawn off guard.

The seeds of rebellion had been planted.

Part 3: The Hidden Empire – Infiltration and Integration

It had been several months since the Galactic Empire first made its brutal entry into the Star Citizen Universe. Thrawn’s initial conquest had sent shockwaves through the galaxy. Entire systems had fallen before his fleet’s overwhelming might, and for a time, the people of the United Empire of Earth (UEE) were paralyzed with fear. Yet, beneath the surface of the war-torn galaxy, there was a far more subtle game being played. The Empire had not come to simply conquer—it had come to infiltrate, to plant its seeds in the very heart of the Star Citizen universe.

As the Chimaera lay hidden in the shadows of the Stanton and Pyro systems, Admiral Thrawn continued to bide his time. He knew that the key to the Empire’s long-term success would not be through sheer force alone, but through covert influence. The wormhole that had brought the Galactic Empire into this universe had left strange, lingering scars in the fabric of space-time, pockets of instability scattered throughout the galaxy, invisible to the naked eye but ripe for exploitation. These rifts were not large enough for fleets to pass through, but they were sufficient for smaller breaches—infiltrations of Imperial agents, spies, and saboteurs, all sent to spread the influence of the Empire.

As the war raged on in the open, these covert pockets began to grow in significance. What once had been small, incidental fractures in space became the conduits for Imperial insurgents to infiltrate the most vital sectors of Star Citizen’s galaxy.

The Subtle Hand of the Empire
On the surface, everything appeared to be normal. Ships still traded in the crowded markets of Area18 in the ArcCorp system. The Vanduul continued to threaten the borders of UEE space, and the Banu traded their wares with the humans, as they always had. But beneath that exterior, the Empire had begun to take root in small, almost imperceptible ways.

Imperial agents, disguised as everyday citizens, were now scattered across the galaxy in freelancer fleets, combat groups, and resource mining operations. These individuals, while not possessing the advanced weaponry or ships of Thrawn’s elite forces, had found ways to adapt to this new universe’s technology. Using old Imperial designs and salvaged ships from the Vanduul wrecks, they had repurposed and refitted what they could find, creating a force that was deceptively effective.

The Anvil Hurricane, the Sabre, and the Cutlass—ships that had been abandoned by their owners or purchased through under-the-table deals—were now under the command of Imperial insurgents. Freelancers by trade, they worked in the open, often contracted by corporations, merchants, or UEE military groups, but always with hidden loyalties to the Empire. They had come to blend in with the populace, gathering intelligence on key military and civilian locations while sowing distrust among the ranks of their employers. These insurgents lived dual lives: one of a simple pilot, mercenary, or miner—another of dedicated saboteurs, whose true allegiance lay with the Empire.

One such agent, known only as Varex, had infiltrated a mining colony in the Hurston System, posing as a resource manager for a mining corporation that was struggling with Vanduul incursions. He had been tasked with integrating into the community, winning the trust of the local authorities, and laying the groundwork for the future domination of the system. Over months, he systematically manipulated the supply chains, introduced sabotage into the mining operations, and seeded discord among the miners, until one day, without warning, the Empire would reveal itself as the true protector of the system.

Meanwhile, in the heart of Area18, another insurgent, Lysia, had risen from the ranks of the Black Market. Once a smuggler with a reputation for undercutting UEE law enforcement, Lysia had used her skills to embed herself in the criminal underworld, but her true allegiance lay with the Empire. She facilitated the underground trade of Imperial technology, gradually introducing the finest weapons and ships that her contacts had been able to procure from the Empire’s deep reserves. What she could not obtain through trade, she would steal, working with a hidden network of sympathizers to redistribute critical Imperial technology, often disguised as Banu or Drake Interplanetary designs. This allowed her to arm local militias, pirate bands, and mercenary groups with technology far superior to anything the UEE could offer.

The Hidden Threat
However, the true impact of the Empire’s infiltration could not be seen immediately. It took time for the small breaches between the two universes to have their effect. Shadows of the Empire crept into the most protected sectors, the Xenothium mines on Crusader, the Banu Protectorate, even the Nyx System, with quiet, calculated precision. The Empire was not yet openly known in the hearts of the galaxy, but its presence was being felt in the subtle shifts of power, in the quiet betrayals within corporations, and in the sudden rise of new mercenary factions that appeared out of nowhere.

In the back alleys of Levski on Delamar, Thrawn’s agents had made contact with a group of pirates, offering them advanced starship designs in exchange for their loyalty. These pirates, eager for power, had accepted, and in turn, began to harass UEE supply routes, creating enough chaos to divert resources and attention away from other, more vulnerable systems. They began calling themselves the Imperial Marauders, a name that struck fear into the hearts of those who knew its origin.

Meanwhile, the Vanduul, sensing the growing strength of this mysterious force, began to regroup and reorganize under the banner of their new, invisible enemy. Their ships began appearing in UEE systems at an alarming rate, as if they had received new, mysterious intel on the Empire’s movements. Some began to wonder if the Vanduul had encountered something darker, something far more dangerous than the UEE.

The Seeds of Rebellion
What made Thrawn’s strategy particularly brilliant was his understanding of psychological warfare. He knew that in a universe so full of fragmented factions, the best way to conquer was not through overwhelming force, but through division, to exploit the weaknesses of the galaxy’s existing powers and turn them against one another.

Corporations that had once stood proudly in opposition to the UEE now found themselves drawn into the Empire’s orbit. The Crusader Industries boardroom, once filled with ambition for the future, was now quietly whispering of Imperial support in exchange for compliance. MISC, Origin Jumpworks, and even Aegis Dynamics had become the Empire’s silent allies, some willingly, some out of fear of what might come should they resist. The Ruto Conglomerate, a powerful group of corporate magnates in Stanton, had secretly begun stockpiling military-grade ships and weapons systems, supplied by their covert Imperial benefactors.

Even the Banu Protectorate, who had long held a neutral stance, began to show signs of hesitation. While the Banu people had never fully aligned with any one side, a quiet movement had begun to rise among the Banu merchants, those who saw profit in the Empire’s order and structure, rather than the chaos that the UEE brought to the galaxy’s trade routes.

The Final Revelation
As Thrawn and his fleet remained hidden in the Stanton and Pyro Systems, the threads of his plan began to weave together. What had begun as small infiltrations and covert operations had evolved into a widespread insurgency, and though the Empire’s fleet had not yet openly attacked, its presence was felt in every corner of the galaxy.

The UEE was crumbling from within, torn apart by internal divisions, manipulated by shadowy agents, and destabilized by covert attacks. The people of the galaxy were beginning to question the true nature of their existence. Were they free? Or were they pawns in a much larger game?

In time, Admiral Thrawn would make his move. But for now, he was content to watch from the shadows as his empire grew, quietly pulling the strings from the depths of the galaxy, preparing for the day when his final strike would bring the Star Citizen universe under his rule… forever.