On one of the Arcadian prison colony planets, a prison transport vehicle was going through the mountainous terrain of the planet, and onboard the vehicle was none other than the former crown prince himself.

How did he get himself into this situation in the first place? Well, it all started a month prior to the Arc Civil War, where Nicholas provided vital information about the Black Arms as he was a double agent.

Of course, no one was the wiser as Juniper and the rest of the Arc family trusted him with this information, which brought an end to the civil war. Jaune, on the other hand, knew something was off and dug deeper.

When he realized the truth of the attacks and who's the one in control, Nicholas pinned the blame on him for the gas attacks that caused the war, and with the Arc royal family trusting him blindly, he and his team were hunted down across the galaxy by Nicholas' loyal troops.

Eventually, he was the only one left after his teammates were captured and shipped to different prison worlds with the highest levels of security.

Which leads us to today, where Jaune was captured by Arcadia's space fleet, led by his aunt, Jeanne Arc, after he was discovered in one of their colony planets by sleeper agents. He was immediately deported to a prison colony separate from members of his team.

Inside the prison truck, Jaune was restrained by anti-magic cuffs, whilst two Arcadian Royal Praetorian Guards ensured that he won't escape.

Arcadian Royal Praetor#1: Feeling lucky yet, punk?

The former prince could only sit in silence, still determined to make it through.

Arcadian Royal Praetorian Guard#1: Well, no matter. You'll be arriving at your new home, traitor.

The prison transport vehicle came to a halt, though they're just meters away from the prison itself. One of the Royal Praetor Guards then called out to the driver at the front.

Arcadian Royal Praetorian Guard#1: Hey, driver, get going immediately.

However, there was no response from the driver seat of the transport, making them suspicious. They both decided to venture into the driver cockpit, where they found the limp bodies of the drivers, with their throats slit opened.

On the ceiling, a camouflaged soldier in bulky armor was clinging onto the ceiling, before leaping down behind the Praetorian guards. 

He took out a knife and stabbed one of the guards in the neck gap of their red armor, as he screamed in pain. The other one turned and saw his companion being stabbed in the neck, before he released him to the ground, dropping dead. The other guard charged at him with his twin swords, but the armored warrior whipped out his pistol magnum faster and shot him in the head.

Armored Soldier: What the fuck was their armor even made off?

He holsters his magnum onto the magnetic link in his thigh armor, before heading towards Jaune and freeing him from his restraints.

Jaune: I take it that you're able to access the data archives, B312?

B312: Yes, with Gaea's help, we're able to pull up the list of locations that the members of the One-Five are imprisoned in, alongside the levels of security that we need to get through. However, she also had managed to pull out files about something called 'Project: Stardust' being in the development stages.

Jaune: Well, fuck, we need to act fast.

B312: I take it that you know what Project: Stardust is really about?

Jaune: Indeed, but we need to hurry and tell the others about it.

Timeskip

At the prison, the heavy gateway of the prison was opened to the transport vehicle. However, the guards became suspicious of the vehicle, as there was no pilot inside. One of them decided to check on the vehicles, asking two nearby guards to join with him.

Guard#1: You two, come with me. tell the rest to stay behind if something happens, understood?

Guard#2 & 3: Got it.

When they entered inside, they didn't find the crown prince anywhere, believing that the transport was hijacked along the way. The next second, the vehicle exploded in a fury of flames, leaving the ones nearby scorched and injured in the explosion.

From afar, B312, held the activated denotator in his hands, before throwing it away as the two of them walked away.

Now, you, as the reader, may be wondering what the fuck was going on. Well, I'll be explaining everything in a flashback to the moment where Jaune was spotted by Arcadian Sleeper Agents.

Flashback

At a open area in the middle of nowhere on an unknown Earth, an impatient Jaune was waiting in an open field, looking out for somebody.

Just a few days ago, an unknown contact approached him, offering him help in exchange for his co-operation. Of course, Jaune was suspicious of this, since it could be a spy under a false alias, but since he was in a tight position with no one else to back him up, he reluctantly accepted.

They proceeded to show him the location of the meet up, an Earth under Arcadian jurisdiction, which made him even more suspicious whether if they were actually spies for Arcadia.

As he waited, he kept his weapon, a Mk18 Mod 0 Assault Rifle, on him at all times, expecting for a surprise attack. The sound of roaring jet engines interrupted his focus, turning towards a large, black dropship armed with missiles and rocket pods on the wings.

The dropship landed next to his shuttle, with the bay doors facing him. Jaune raised his weapon at the bay door, expecting for an attack.

When it opened, a man in red knight armor came out first, followed by a lookalike in knight armor.

Red knight: Well, it's kind of weird to see me, but also not me as you...

Jaune lookalike#1: Well, we are each other after all, but from different timelines.

The next two were men in white armor, though one was more knightly and the other one looks more technologically advanced.

Blue and White knight: So are you a king or...

White knight: King, not Prince.

The next two being a Spartan and another lookalike in a trench coat and white shirt.

Spartan: So, you have some sort of armor ability that let's you be encased in any mobile suit as personal armor?

Lookalike#2: Yes, that's... everything summarized on what my ability is.

And the last two was yet, another lookalike and a soldier in military armor, although with an entire exosuit worn with it.

Exosuit: Well, it's time that we explain to our suspicious, yet very confused friend who we are, right, Athuras?

Lookalike#3 (Arthuras): Indeed, Miles.

The eight turned towards Jaune, who now had a confused look on his face. He thought he was facing with one individual but not a group that has three (possibly four) doppelgangers of himself.

Red knight: How do you think we should break it to him first?

Blue and White Knight: Are you seriously going to ask that now?

Red knight: I mean, no one had discussed on how we should break it first though so-

Arthuras: We're all you, but just different.

Jaune and his seven companions were taken aback his Arthuras boldness and straightforward answer. Jaune meanwhile, just chuckled at his answer.

Jaune: That's got to be a joke, right?

They just stood there, silently, not answering him. This made Jaune concerned for a bit.

Jaune: Right?!?!

They didn't answered again.

Jaune: RIGHT?!?

Timeskip

Aboard the Dropship, Jaune was facing with the other eight Jaunes, who shared their backstories and how they met up with each other.

Jaune: I see, so just to not confuse with each other, I think we should give ourselves code names to not confuse ourselves.

Red Knight: I agree. I think I'll go with 'Ares'.

Lookalike#1: 'Guardian'.

White Knight/King: 'Solar King'.

White and Blue Knight: 'Avalonia'.

Spartan: B312.

Lookalike#2: Your former designation? Oh well, 'Shifter' it is.

Lookalike#3/Arthuras: Arthuras.

Miles: Miles.

Jaune (Arcadia): Alright, so, why did you come here?

Ares: Hmm?

Jaune (Arcadia): Why did you decided to help me, of all things?

They all looked towards Shifter, who knew the answer to it.

Shifter: Your father, Nicholas, would be the one to break the multiverse barrier separating our timelines from yours with the help of Jade's little science project, and with that kind of power, he could reach to all of our worlds... Which would result in conquest of out worlds.

Ares: And as such, his father, who's some sort of god, reached out to all of us and offered an alliance to all of us to prevent this from happening.

Miles: He'd provide us the necessary manpower and equipment to take him down, but won't be helping us directly.

Arthuras: And to continue, he shown us what we all need to know and how we could help you.

Jaune (Arcadia): I see, but I need to get my team back by some way. Any suggestions?

They all thought for a moment, before they looked towards him.

Jaune (Arcadia): Why are you all looking at me like that?

Flashback End

Onboard a Space Fortress, a huge fleet of ships were docked at the port bays, awaiting for further orders.

A huge Executor-class Super Star Destroyer, commandeered by 'Avalonia', was being loaded with supplies, weapon and equipment by Republic Clone troopers, Old Republic Troopers and First Order Stormtroopers, soldiers who are loyal to 'Avalonia' alone.

They can be seen loading up different starfighters, various All-Terrain walkers, LAAT Gunships, TX-225 GAVw "Occupier" combat assault tanks and HAVw A6 juggernaut tanks onto the Super Star Destroyer.

Their mission? To lead an all out assault and capture on one of Arcadia's most secure prison worlds; 'Sanctuary'.

Prisoners that are linked with well-known war criminals and terrorists were sent here by the Emperor and Empress of Arcadia, most of them notably being soldiers loyal to the Former Prince and a few members of his battalion.

In other parts of the Space Fortress, many other Space battleships were preparing their departure, as B312, Miles, Shifter and Arthuras joining Jaune (Arcadia) on his mission to save a handful of the original members of the One-Five in his personal starship.

B312: Hmm, your starfighter seems to be a modified assault-class starship, is it?

Jaune (Arcadia): Well, yes. Modifications wise, it has optical camouflaging and communication jammers to ensure that the mission me and my battalion runs goes smoothly.

Miles: We might need to modify your starship sooner or later to bring equipment up to date with our starship performances.

Jaune: Let's discuss that once we complete our mission. Is there any troops that were assigned to our mission?

Shifter: Well, from my side, I've managed to pull in 5 GM Night Seeker II Drones, 4 Jegan ECOAS Types and a GM Quel.

B312: A squad of ODSTs will only be accompanying us from my side.

Mile: Majority of my team members were assigned to different missions already, though I can convince one of them to join with us.

Jaune: I see, then it's enough to help us with this mission.

Jaune remarked, before picking up a Desert Eagle Mark XIX Pistol as they board his shuttle.

Jaune: Assault Team-03, going dark.

END

(A/N#1: I do not own the pictures used here except for the AI-generated pictures.)

(A/N#2: Do you think this should have an anime opening? If so, you can recommend one to me.)

(A/N#3: This is my own take on the Fall of Arcadia Stories by Ragerevan.)