A New Galaxyby UnchargedShip38ChaptersThe Worm Hole and BeginningsDiplomacyNightmaresMeeting Her Other HighnessThe Worm Hole and BeginningsChapter 1: The Worm Hole and A New World Loading Profiles…..profiles loaded…..updating system Name: A-29 ‘Steele’ Designation: Advanced Recon Commando Rank: Commander Current Location: Onboard Venator-class Cruiser Mission: Investigate possible Seperatist Activity near Outer Rim territories Current Location: Hyperspace towards Outer Rim Territories onboard Venator-class cruiser The single cruiser was in hyperspace, seeing nothing but blue lines streaking past the ship. Clones moving about to do their tasks necessary to keep the ship running and being on constant watch in case anything happened. At the front of the bridge stood an Arc Trooper, the only Advanced Recon Commando assigned to the ship along with the more common clones. The Phase II armor on this ARC trooper was a standard white but was covered with grey lines to signify a difference compared to the others. “Sir, we are coming out of hyperspace,” a fellow clone reported “Good,” the Arc Trooper simply replied “Uh sir? There is a problem, we have a worm hole coming up as well,” “Can we go around it?” “No sir, that and something is going on in the hanger. Sledge is at it again,” the clone sighed “Very well, see if we can get out of hyperspace sooner to avoid the worm hole,” the Arc Trooper replied “Yes sir,” The Arc Trooper took the elevator down to the hanger as he could see most of the clones around him were busy with their work but he could see on the far side of the hanger, which much to his disdain, was another clone trooper with an AT-RT driver helmet yelling at his fellow brothers. The AT-RT driver was ranting at another clone who just held his hands up in defense as a wrench was pushed upon his chest in a threatening gesture. “What have I told you?! DO NOT MESS WITH MY MACHINES!!” the driver yelled “Stand down Sledge, we have gone over this a hundred times,” the Arc Trooper came in with his hands behind his back “I know Steele but I can’t help that I get angry seeing another destroyed vehicle, just for me to fix it and then let it get blown up again,” the clone sighed “Listen, the sooner the war is over, the less the equipment gets blown up. Now get back to work and fix up those AT-RT’s!” Steele ordered “Yes sir,” Sledge muttered getting on a ladder to access the AT-RT controls Steele walked away only to find another clone that thankfully didn’t annoy the Arc Trooper, Viper. Viper was another Arc Trooper like Steele, with a mix of green and red markings on his armor with an strict guideline on fighting, but he was generally the silent one to only give orders with his hand motions. His shots were precise, fast and the Arc had extensive training in Echani hand to hand combat which gave him his nickname. Currently, the Arc Trooper was cleaning his DC-17 sniper rifle which was odd as only Clone Commandos carried those. The Arc looked up from his gun and just gave a head motion to indicate ‘what’s up’ without saying words. “As you were,” Steele said not wanting to waste time as Viper just shrugged and went back to cleaning the sniper rifle Steele went back into the elevator to notice that he wasn’t alone in there, next to him was another clone. This clone yet again was another Arc assigned to Steele, his blue markings indicated he was a lieutenant and some scratch marks on his armor indicated he had some experience in the battle field. “Going up sir?” the Arc asked “Yes,” Steele simply nodded to the fellow Arc, who nodded and the elevator doors closed as the elevator began to make its way up The elevator went up quietly as the two more advanced clones stood in silence, a very strong silence. Nothing was exchanged between the two troopers until the lieutenant finally said something. “So, what are we going to do sir? If I may ask of course,” “We are on a reconnaissance mission to the Outer Rim Territories, what was your designation?” Steele answered “A-99, everyone calls me Shock sir, specialized in electronics and so forth,” the lieutenant saluted his superior officer “Well Shock, you and I are going to get along just fine,” Steele nodded as the elevator finally stopped at the bridge The two specialized troopers came onto the bridge as one of the ships officers went up to Steele with a worried face. “Bad news sir, the worm hole is sucking us in. We can’t go around it,” the officer stated “Alright, tell the crew to brace for impact,” Steele nodded without a second to think as this was going to be a rough ride The alarm came on as red lights were shining overhead and the other clone troopers knew only two things. One, the Seperatists were about to attack their ship or two, they were going to crash. Either way, the clones escaped the hanger and went towards designated zones to be ready for either attack or crashing. Steele looked out of the ship as it came out of hyperspace and the worm hole was right in front of them, glowing in a pinkish color and swirling. The ship rumbled a little as it was being tugged into the hole with great force but Steele had ordered the crew that there was no going back now, they had to go in. If they died, well, that’s one less cruiser and a whole lot of troopers less for the Republic. “Brace for impact!!” Steele yelled as the ship went into the worm hole and immediately, it felt as if the ship went into another hyperspace jump but much quicker, with the surrounding worm hole going around the ship as a pink vortex Faster and faster they went through the worm hole as multiple lights flashed and the crew was blinded, some laying down to avoid the light and others just turning their back from the light to maintain the ships operations. The whole experience only lasted a minute as suddenly, the Republic Cruiser came out of the worm hole right over a planet and its moon. “Crew check,” Steele said as the other crew members just mumbled “No one dead sir, some mild bumps at most. Everyone else is fine, some equipment tipped over but nothing serious. The ship also hasn’t suffered anything except…..” an officer was reporting “Except what?” “The hyperdrive overloaded and has to be replaced. Sadly, there is no spares and the spare equipment isn’t enough. We are going to need some other components to make an entirely new hyperdrive and also….the worm hole closed,” “Thank you officer, as you were. Navigator, where are we?” Steele questioned a fellow trooper overlooking the galaxy map “Not sure sir, wherever we are, we overshot the Outer Rim by a long shot. We are off the map and without that worm hole, we aren’t going home without getting lost,” the navigator sighed “As you were trooper,” Steele nodded before another officer spoke up “Sir, ships scans have indicated that the planet below is inhabited. Some Equine species sir and there seems to be cities and towns below as well.” “Are they friendly?” Steele asked “Not sure sir, it seems there is a castle so we can assume it has a monarchy as a government. Doesn’t seem to have any droids around and no Seperatist vessels are detected anywhere close to here. Possibly, this planet has not even heard of the Republic, but that is a hypothesis,” the officer answered “A hypothesis we are going to test, order an LAAT ready and I want eight troopers with me.” Steele ordered as he went to the elevator to go into the hanger “Yes sir,” Steele went to the hanger as there was eight other troopers, all covered in gray or black markings along with jet packs on their backs. They waited for the ARC Trooper as they boarded a prepped LAAT and when Steele got on the gunship, a trooper handed him a blaster rifle which he took with a nod. The LAAT left the hanger as the nose of the ship split in half to allow ships to exit the multiple hangers, going towards the planet’s surface. The LAAT received no attack as it entered the atmosphere of the planet and soon could see a forest, the current time was about the evening and slowly going towards the night. “Land in the nearest clearing pilot!” Steele yelled so the pilot could hear The LAAT landed in the a clearing in the forest, no more than a mile away from a town, thankfully everyone was going to sleep or inside so they did not see a flying ship just land. The troopers left their ship and moved into the forest, towards the town as they remained quiet as much as possible. The forest was dark as the atmosphere was slowly losing its light but they could see some lights ahead as it was obviously the town. “Sir, what are your orders?” one of the troopers asked as they aimed their weapons in caution for anyone who could see them “We need to know if these people are Seperatists without revealing our location. Stealth and blasters for stun,” Steele said as each trooper set their blaster for stun, the lowest setting of power for the DC-15S blaster rifle “Sir, there are hardly any of these inhabitants around, they must all be asleep. I suggest jetpacking all the way to that train and hitching a ride to that castle over there,” Jumper, a clone with a love for flying with a jetpack, stated “Jumper, Cutter, Blip and Jek, you’re with me. The rest of you, find the tallest vantage point and keep us informed on movement,” Steele said to the clone troopers as they all nodded and the four named troopers joined Steele as their jetpacks propelled them to the train Elsewhere The Canterlot Royal Observatory was one of Luna’s favorite places to look at her stars and see any constellations that formed. There were so many to name off but it saddened her that she was one of very few who even enjoyed her night. This time however, she looked at the sleeping town of Ponyville as night set, via Luna’s power to raise the moon. Who was Luna? Well, if you told that to her face then you would instantly regret that. Luna was an Alicorn, a pony with both wings and a horn, colored in a very dark blue to the point of black, though not black. Her eyes were a soft, teal blue, if you don’t know what teal is, then just think blue. Luna stood at probably one and a half or close to two meters tall, just a foot or foot and a half shorter than a fully sized human male, if we average at six feet tall. Luna wore her royal regalia and her side near her rear had a marking of the moon, a crescent moon in fact surrounded by the dark night, no, not Batman Dark Knight, dark night as in the night you batman lovers. She had a flowing blue mane that probably would hook you in and make you think you would love to touch it, no touching for you. “Ah Ponyville, such a humble and quiet little place that has a special place in…..my heart,” Luna said slowly as she giggled to herself that she was getting the hang of modernizing her language skills after 1000 years of not staying in touch with the world Then she saw five blue lights from a far distance that seemed to go on the train, this caused the lunar princess to raise a brow and wonder, did fireflies ever turn blue? Surely if they did, there would be a new species by now and Twilight Sparkle to document them or else go crazy. Luna looked at her telescope, just to be handy at times when she wanted a closer look of the town because she wasn’t spying on anyone, to notice that there were faintly some white armored beings on top of the train. From her distance, they looked small but Luna knew that they must be bigger and in fact, they had to be, but what was more amazing was their armor and the fact they were bipedal. “Minotaur’s? No, they seem too clean shaven and too organized,” Luna murmured to herself “Spying on our subjects again sister?” a voice said behind Luna as Luna just rolled her eyes in annoyance before turning around to face her sister, a white alabaster alicorn with a flowing enteral mane of blue, green and slight pink, who also was much taller than her smaller sister probably two meters tall at least “No Celestia, something just came up,” Luna drawled as Celestia just smiled as her sister would not share some secrets with her no matter how hard the taller alicorn, and also older, tried to pry information from her sister “Alright, I’m going to bed,” Celestia yawned as she just left without staying much at all which delighted Luna as she looked back into the telescope to look at the armored bipedal creatures, but she was unaware of her sister coming up behind her with a smirk to bug her younger sister further “Hm, well fit, most likely trained with a very good instructor and well-armed,” Luna said to herself as she observed Steele and his men approaching the castle by train but since Celestia did not see the soldiers, she just had a wry smile as she wanted to tease her very badly “*gasp* Sister! You didn’t tell me you were looking into stallions!” Celestia exaggerated her emotions as Luna quickly jumped in shock and her face flushed in embarrassment, even though that wasn’t exactly what she was doing “Sister!!” Luna yelled at her older sibling to nag her to not tease her like that “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Now I’m going to bed,” Celestia assured with a fit of giggles as Luna had a miniature thunderstorm of anger happening in her brain “Two can play it at that game and it takes two to tango,” Luna muttered as she would get her sister back someday and with vengeance, double the embarrassment Steele “Can this thing go any faster?” Blip groaned as he laid on top of the train as the train took its sweet time moving down the tracks, nowhere as fast as any transport ship or rail line on Corusant “The enemy will not suspect us even more if we take our time,” Cutter retorted as he sat down “Cut the chatter, we don’t want to give away our position,” Steele ordered as the train slowly approached the large castle that hung on the side of a mountain, one well-placed rocket could probably take it down with ease “I have to say sir, forgive me. Whoever designed that castle must be the worst architect in the galaxy,” Jumper commented “Agreed,” Steele nodded as they just waited on the slow moving train to take them to their destination "Commander, I'm seeing some movement within the train, keep your voices low," Steele's comlink rang with a trooper's voice "Roger," The train continued to roll forward as slowly and surely, it was getting closer to this castle that the clones could see. What they didn't expect was a city practically right under it, but the contrast of this city with the town they had just came from was vast. This city was not as simple as the town, it had large buildings and much more design variation, most likely more expensive as well, along with some more color. The roads and floor were more clean and kept as quadruped like species were milling about. To the clones, this wasn't anything they had ever seen before and definitely not what they were expecting on a possible Seperatist planet. "I don't think we're in the Outer Rim or anywhere near the galaxy we once knew," Cutter spoke as the thought of not just missing the Outer Rim but completely going away to another galaxy made these troopers uneasy, except for Steele "Look at the bright side, there aren't any droids," Jumper shrugged as the castle was more than in reach of the clones now, and a station was coming up One by one, the clones activated their jet packs and flew over to a large building's roof. The inhabitants under them were very unaware of flying bipedal clone troopers right above them as the troopers now looked upwards to the castle. It was mighty high, but they have heard of the 501st Legion climbing up a mountain with a garrison of droids on Teth. The clones knew what they had to do, and although they could use their jet packs, it wasn't the best option as it would attract more attention. That and the jet packs aren't meant for long term flying so the troopers had to ration their flights and only use them when necessary. "Ascension cables," Steele said as each trooper took out their DC-15A and fired the underbarrel cable up towards the castle, the cables reaching the bottom of the castle and latching on tightly, with each trooper testing it by pulling it Once secured and ready, the troopers than put their feet on the side of the mountain and began to climb up on their long ascent to the castle. Their movements were much more silent than their jetpacks and nobody could notice them in the night as they continued to climb up the mountain. Each trooper felt cautious and ready to fire their blaster if a droid just so happen to come out and look down at them, but there wasn't any droids. The only thing that came at them was some spit, that just so happen to land on Steele's helmet. "Disgusting," Steele muttered as they continued upwards to the castle with the other clones holding their laughs What they would find would shock them as it definitely wasn't what they expected. Once to the top, there was a quadruped mammal like creature waiting for them, alone and as if expecting their arrival. The troopers aimed immediately but Steele put a hand up to lower their weapons and they did so. "I assume you are here for diplomacy," was all the quadruped said Chapter End DiplomacyChapter 2: Secret Diplomacy Tracking A-29 “Steele” Location: Unknown Tracking: A-99 “Shock” Location: Unknown Tracking A-03 “Viper” Location Unknown Designation: Missing in Action, Presumed Killed in Action “If you wanted to be stealthful, I suggest you don’t make your movements so obvious to a creature of the night,” the quadruped said once again “Is that thing talking to us?” Blip questioned “Shut it Blip,” Cutter retorted “If you were a Seperatist, you would have shot us already?” Steele responded to the smaller organism “Shot you? No, but you are trespassing on royal grounds, and I am not what you speak of. I have never heard of Seperatists,” the quadruped spoke with regal authority “Well that’s a good thing, then you have at least heard of the Republic,” Jumper commented assuming that the quadruped horse has at least heard of them “Nor the Republic,” was a response they were given The troopers, minus Steele, looked at one another as they couldn’t believe it. There was a planet that did not know of the Republic or the Seperatists? That has to be impossible, everyone has to have at least heard about them and the war. The war was galactic news right away. “You’re meaning to tell us that you have not heard of the Seperatists or the Republic? Do you even know about the war? The CIS droids versus the Republic Clone Troopers?” Steele asked further though the report by the navigation officer rang in his head “We are off the map and without that wormhole, we aren’t going home without getting lost,” “None of anything, should I be aware of this?” the quadruped questioned as she clearly did not know anything “Well, we definitely aren’t in the galaxy we once knew,” Jek muttered “What and who are you?” the quadruped questioned now with a suspicious glare as these beings were armed and if they meant harm, they would regret it “We are Republic Clone Troopers, created and born in cloning pods on the planet Kamino in a different galaxy. We serve the Republic, a galactic government made up of many worlds that meet in a Senate to determine the policies, regulations and procedures of order. I am an Arc, a Advanced Recon Commando, a more genetically modified version of the clones to be a more elite unit. My name is Alpha-29 as my number, I was nicknamed Steele,” Steele explained putting away his blaster as the other clones did so too “You are all clones?” “You got that right,” Cutter nodded taking off his helmet and the others did so, all resembling the same face with some slight distinct features such as either being bald, tattoos or having some minor scars “We are all cloned from a Mandalorian named Jango Fett, the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. The first batch of clones were overseen by Fett in their training. Arc Troopers were trained by Fett personally except for the Null Arcs which only were six in total. They were trained by Skirata, another Mandalorian.” Steele added as he put back on his helmet, hiding the long scar on the right side of his cheek caused by a sword from a Commando Droid “I see, but this begs the question for us. Do you fight for the right purpose?” the quadruped was a little more relaxed but still held a suspicious glare “Anyone can tell you yes. I fight for the Republic, for my clone brothers even if they aren’t like me. I don’t let machines do the work, and since you aren’t a Separatist, you are not a threat to us,” “A wise answer, our...I mean my name is Luna. Princess of the Night, Co-Ruler of Equestria along with my sister, Princess Celestia,” the quadruped introduced herself more comfortable with these beings now that she knows them more “Princess? So there is royalty like Naboo,” Jek whispered to Blip who nodded “A pleasure Princess,” Steele just stood there staring at the smaller creature who raised an eyebrow “Are you not going to bow?” Luna questioned but then again, these clones didn’t seem like the type to bow “If it proceeds for better relations between us,” Steele then got on one knee and bowed his head down, with the other four clones following in order “To keep the peace, I will not report your presence here until we formally introduce you to our kingdom. But, I wish to know how you got here?” Luna raised her hoof a bit as the clones rose, a bit awkward as the clones weren’t used to bowing to royalty unless ordered to “Wormhole, and our hyperdrive overloaded,” the other clones said at once “Ah yes, the wormhole. Every once in awhile, a great magical disturbance causes these wormholes. Some have occurred here but most do not,” Luna nodded to the clones simple explanation “Now, I will tell my sister of your presence only to help transition your arrival smoothly. Our subjects will most likely see you as a threat or a monster and be afraid but if we see you as friends, then society will most likely as well,” added the Night Princess added with thought “Mostly?” Jumper curiously asked “Some ponies will see you as monsters like I said, and will continue to think that way. We have no control over their thoughts or feelings, you must simply gain their trust,” Luna answered “Very well, we must depart or I fear we will be discovered,” Steele firmly said as the troopers jetpacked off the balcony before any other of these ponies could show up “They are odd, but a different type of odd,” Luna said to herself as she some of the Royal Guard came behind her “Is something the matter your Highness?” one of the guards spoke “No, you are dismissed,” Watching the guards go, Luna turned her attention to the small lights from the jetpacks of the troopers she met, fading into the night. Luna felt compelled to let her sister know immediately, but after the Princess of the Night did her nightly duties and got some rest after that. Tomorrow, Luna will inform Celestia of the clones and hopefully, all goes well. Steele “Well that went better than expected sir,” Blip stated as the clones flew over the city right under the castle towards the forest which their extraction was “You’re certainly right trooper, it went too well,” Steele nodded as he saw the other four troopers that he assigned for overwatch join them “Spotted you all talking to something, apparently it went well. What’s the plan sir?” one of the troopers said “I don’t know trooper, I don’t know,” Venator Cruiser Shock walked around the ship just making sure that everything was in order, the corridors being sometimes flooded with clones moving about to do their duty. Currently, it was flooded as supplies and technicians were busy trying to fix the hyperdrive with whatever was available. Some almost bumping into Shock as they went back and forth to get the necessary repair done but so far, it was futile. “Do we have word yet on on the Commander’s mission?” Shock asked as he got to the bridge via the turbolift “Yes, the team has been extracted and as far as it has been said, there was diplomacy. The Commander met with one of the rulers of the kingdom of this planet and has friendly relations with her. That’s all so far until the Commander returns,” an officer stated “I heard my name being called,” Steele came out of the turbolift suddenly as all the clones saluted “Commander on deck!” “At ease, I want the cruiser to land now, the thick forest will act as a barrier to these pony creatures from discovering us. I have made contact with one of the rulers and she will help us settle in with our new surroundings. We are not in our galaxy anymore troopers, we are in a unknown place that is mysterious and does not know of the war. I want every man to make sure their blasters are set for stun and not kill. We don’t know these creatures’ culture and I don’t want any casualties. Am I understood?!” Steele ordered “Sir, yes sir!” all the clones in the bridge repeated back as orders were passed to all the clones within the ship and the cruiser began to make for a landing “Good, now get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow,” Steele nodded to them all before leaving the bridge The clones all nodded and got any of their remaining duties out of the way, as the cruiser settled over the forest of the Everfree and landed. Thankfully nopony, besides Luna, still even knew of their existence and did not see the ship. The large cruiser landing on the ground and scaring many animals away as this behemoth of a ship invaded the forest unexpectedly. Meanwhile, Steele went to his own quarters and sighed. Today had been a long day, and he hadn’t gotten any rest in the past three days due to constant fighting and reinforcement of other clone battalions. Piece by piece, Steele removed the armor that protected him from blaster fire where only his skin tight black layer undersuit was left on. Steele fell on the bed too tired to do anything else and fell asleep pretty quickly. He was going to need all the sleep he could get once the clones had to show themselves to the pony kingdom. The whole ship fell silent except with the maintenance droids working as each of the clones were falling asleep after a long three days of war. But the night for them was not over as a certain somepony stood outside the ship with her horn glowing. Her form turned into a mist before she entered the ship and entered into the mind of the Arc Commander. But what she would find would shock her as his memories and dreams were beyond anything she could have ever seen. Chapter End NightmaresChapter 3: Nightmares Locating ARC-77 “Fordo” Location: Coruscant Designation: Temporary Placement until further orders Coruscant: Chancellor’s Room Captain Fordo walked down the hallway towards the Chancellor’s main office, being called by the Chancellor about a dilemma that arose. Captain Fordo was wearing his Phase II armor with red markings on him, but he was not a Republic Shocktrooper. Fordo gained a reputation with leading the Muunilist 10 in a Republic victory and saving the lives of three Jedi generals. Fordo was also awarded for aiding in the defense of Coruscant from the droid army, but why would the Chancellor want him. The doors opened for Fordo as he entered where the Chancellor, looking fresh and not at all displeased with his work, was waiting for him. The older, former Naboo Senator, man had his hands clasped together and gestured for Fordo to take a seat. “Do you know why I called you here captain?” the Chancellor asked “I’m afraid not sir,” Fordo answered “We have lost contact with three ARC Troopers like yourself in the Outer Rim Territories. They just disappeared and no one can get information upon their sudden disappearance. One of those ARC’s you might know,” the Chancellor explained sitting more upright and in a relaxed manner upon his chair “And that might be?” Fordo trailed sensing where this might be going “Commander Steele, he was with you on Coruscant when I was kidnapped,” “ARC-29? I remember him, brave but arrogant. I remember him fully, wouldn’t give a bit of ground to the droids no matter how many of his men were killed,” Fordo recalled with slight bitterness “You seem to dislike him captain,” the Chancellor mused “He disregarded my order to fall back when we were being overrun. He even ran out into the hail of blaster fire to save a wounded trooper. I admire but resent his spirit,” Fordo nodded “Well captain, he is missing. I want you to find him, and the rest of his men.” the Chancellor then got real serious “No offense sir, but how when no one knows?” Fordo questioned “That’s for you to find out. I want those clones back here, and I want a full story of their disappearance. Am I understood captain?” the Chancellor said firmly “Yes sir,” Fordo nodded rising from his seat “You are dismissed captain,” Fordo gave a salute before leaving the office. Thinking about the time Fordo and Steele fought on Coruscant to beat the droids back. Battle of Coruscant Blaster fire was fired back and forth, blue and red streaks of death coming over a bridge in a metropolitan city. Buildings, all skyscrapers mainly, filled this scenery but also a lot of rubble and wreckage. The clone forces were holding their position on Sector 4 as the droid army kept pushing forward, a surprise attack on the Republic capitol planet. Two of these clones were ARC’s as it was Captain Fordo and Commander Steele firing their DC-15A blaster rifles at the droids. “Steele, we got to pull back! This is getting too hot for us, the droids will overrun us any moment,” Fordo told the other ARC “Fordo, you fall back but I am not giving one inch of ground, where I stand, to the clankers,” Steele retorted as he shot several rounds, precisely taking down several super battle droids “You’re going to get yourself killed out there!” Just as Fordo said this, one of the clone troopers up front with Steele was shot in the side, falling to the ground as the droids continued. Steele looked at the clone and the other clones who were falling back, they couldn’t leave their fellow brother like that! Steele then ran forward, throwing a smoke grenade as he lifted the clone onto his shoulders. “Steele, get out of there! That’s an order!” Fordo yelled as Steele was coming towards a small rubble hill “No brother left behind!” Steele would reply, setting the wounded clone behind some cover before taking a position and firing his blaster "Sector Four needs reinforcements. We are being overrun. Repeat, we are—" Fordo was saying before whacking several droids and firing his blasters at others “Fall back! Fall back!” Fordo ordered “Fordo! We can take them! Everyone keep fighting!” Steele reordered the clones as the troopers looked at one another in confusion “Hold your positions!” suddenly they would hear Jedi Grandmaster Yoda order as he came onto the battlefield riding a goat like species, slashing droids and force pushing others away “See! What did I tell you?! We keep fighting,” Steele smugly said to Fordo, getting up close and personal with the droids as Mace Windu came crashing a Vulture droid into the advancing robots “I’m already hating you Steele, but you definitely know not to give up,” Fordo said to himself Scanning Location of ARC-29 Location: Unknown It was dark, nothing could describe how dark it was to any human or sentient life out there. The mare in Steele’s dream could only stare at the dream that was nothing, but she did see one small sliver of light. She took this sliver of light and approached it, drawing nearer every second and the light becoming more brighter. Upon reaching this light though, the mare was transported to a plains area of some sort. Calm breeze, warm sunlight and everything was at peace, or so she thought. Luna looked at the rest of her surroundings and directly right behind her was something else, the same plains area but devastated with bodies of armored troopers and battle droids, the ground barren as explosives and blaster fire was killing the life she once saw. But this wasn’t the end of it, there was a lot of blood, from the clones dying on the battlefield as some had lost entire limbs. This made the Princess of the Night want to hurl but she kept her body from reacting in such a way, though she felt the burning of stomach acid in the back of her throat. “There’s too many of them sir!” a clone yelled as Luna could see a handful of clones right behind a destroyed vehicle, a six legged vehicle that resembled a beetle ‘We keep fighting! We don’t let these droids get anywhere close to the settlement!” Luna could hear the familiar voice of Commander Steele yelling orders as the advancing droids were being torn apart by blaster fire from the clones, but the droids had the numbers and it was obvious For every clone trooper that fell, at least ten or twenty battle droids were destroyed. The clones numbers were only five and the droids had a least fifty, having the standard, the super battledroids and even some commando droids. Luna continued to watch to understand where these clones had come from but it was pretty obvious where they had originated….war. “We’re running out of ammo sir, we aren’t going to make it!” a clone private told his superior officer “As long as you’re still breathing, you will fight private!” Steele coldly countered as he then got shot in the shoulder, knocking him down onto the floor “Sir!” another clone said in worry before getting shot in the helmet, killing him instantly Steele got up as he had dropped his two DC-15 pistols when he fell, but he couldn’t find them as a Commando Droid instantly came at him with its sword ready to plunge into his gut. Steele rolled out of the way as the sword just hit dirt and Steele gave the droid a nice punch to the metal face, hurting his hand just briefly but it still stunning the droid. The Commando droid though was quick to recover as it hit Steele in the gut and kicked him in the face, knocking off his helmet in the process. Steele recovered and back up just in the nick of time to feel the tip of the sword make a clean slash on his right cheek. The sting of pain only pissed off the ARC trooper as he tackled the droid, which did not expect the clone to do, and grabbed its head. Pulling it off as the droid tried to remove the ARC off of it but it only took two seconds for the more physically stronger ARC to pull the Commando Droid’s head off. Steele only had a brief moment to relax as he saw another one of the last clone troopers get shot down. Grabbing his helmet, and the Commando Droid’s blaster, he rushed back to his former position. The pain in his shoulder was very minimal as his extra armor on his shoulders helped resist the blast damage. “Only 30 left! We can do this men! Grenade out!” Steele encouraged the last remaining three troopers as he tossed a grenade into the swarm of droids The grenade did its job, blasting apart the cluster of droids and reducing their numbers to twenty or less. But that was short lived as another trooper was shot and killed by the droids and before Steele could say anything, another blast got another trooper. It was just Steele and a private now on the fallen AT-TE walker that once was operational. “Just you and me rookie! Let’s send these clankers to the scapyard!” Steele told the private as he kept firing the stolen weapon, taking out five B-1 battle droids with ease “Yes sir!” One by one, the droids fell to the two troopers firing at them, it all went so well until…. ‘Gaah!” the private screamed in pain as thermal detonator was thrown and exploded near their position, sending flak that got the trooper in the face “Rookie! Why you piling mounts of trash!” Steele angrily declared as he blasted the remaining droids down before going to the rookie’s body “S-sir…….” he was in bad shape, bleeding heavily as a shard of flak was embedded into the left side of his face, with no medics to come and help “Don’t worry trooper, we’ll get you out of this,” Steele assured beginning to carry the trooper but the said trooper just stopped his officer “no…..I’m….not going to make it.” “Don’t say that, you will,” “No...I won’t. Can i ask a question sir?” “What is it trooper?” Steele sighed as hated seeing his own men die, right in front of him, slowly “Is this….what were made for? To kill? To sacrifice our lives for the Republic? To follow orders without question?” “Yes, this is what we do,” “But...aren’t we human? Don’t we have our own thoughts and minds?” “What are you saying?” Steele now questioned as the trooper was struggling to breathe “Are we just machines too? Mindless….follow orders without question….no matter what…..I thought….we were more…..like everyone else…..but…...look at us…...dying...nobody cares sir. We’re just clones,” the trooper said finally as he gave one last breath before succumbing to death itself Steele just stood there, motionless, confused, angry at all the same time as the trooper’s words were getting to him. Sure, he was an ARC, he had more independence than the standard clones but still, were they just another type of machine? Would it matter how many clone lives were lost? They could always make more anyway, right?” Steele looked up to see the rest of his brethren, all laid out dead in front of him. All the bodies of once a good defensive thousand men, turned to just one. They took down a force of at least seven thousand droids, which was impressive, but still costly. Steele took off his helmet and just stared at the scene in front of him, a LAAT flying over him suddenly. Luna wanted to understand how the ARC felt, but she didn’t have anything close to how the commander suffered. Seeing men with high hopes of beating the enemy, die in front of him in vast numbers and yet, the war continued, with no mourning for those dead. Then she noticed the clone was looking at her in confusion, wait, how could he see her? Nopony was able to notice Luna in their dreams but before she could figure this out, the dream ended abruptly. Luna found herself on the floor of the commander’s quarters, somehow knocked out of his dream and also with the commander awake. He stared at her with somewhat of a glare in his eyes, not pleased with his invasion of privacy. He didn’t have any threatening gestures though, just simple annoyance. “How did you end up in my memory? I don’t remember anyone in that field but myself,” Steele questioned with slight annoyance “We have the power to go into dreams of every being. Strange how you could notice, nopony has ever noticed me in their dreams before unless I allow them to,” Luna explained “But why?” “Dreams and memories speak a lot of one’s character and history. Your history was tragic and I am sorry for you having to go through that. I cannot recall anything close to what you have faced so i cannot say I know how you feel. The only instance where I felt so much pain was being banished to the moon by my very own sister. Alas, I was different then, giving into my anger and frustration than seeing reason,” “Seems….heartbreaking,” “Like I stated, I do not have anything as tragic as your own memory of that conflict. Our world has been blessed with the lack of wars and abundance of peaceful negotiations. Did that clone mean a lot to you?” Luna then asked as her tone was soft and empathetic “No, what he said did. The words haunt me with every order I followed, especially the idea of being another machine, a living one. I couldn’t stop thinking about how we are no better than the droids, just blasting them and dying so the Republic didn’t have to fight the majority of the war. We were their tools of destruction and peacekeeping, and I considered desertion but…..I couldn’t do that to my own brothers. I wanted the best of them, to live on and win this war.” Steele answered with a cold attitude “Do you know what it means to live?” Luna asked which confused Steele “Survival, fighting, grief, joy…..repeat?” Steele replied unsure as his whole life was the same thing as the Princess just shook her head “No, much more than that. Compassion, empathy, happiness, friendship, family bonds and much more. Thriving….that’s how life should be. To thrive,” “Then I clearly have not lived,” Steele sighed his expression softening to remorse “No worries, I can show you. I was once in your position, to an extant. Never the less, it is never too late and since you are far from your war, you may appreciate your life more,” Luna assured him “Are you offering me something?” “Of course! But the question is, are you willing to live?” “I don’t see why not,” Steele answered as she had a point, he didn’t have to worry about the war for right now “Huzzah! We appreciate your answer! Now we must depart, I will inform my sister of your presence tomorrow. I will visit you to discuss the details and that you all may meet her,” Luna said as she vanished into a mist Steele stood there for a minute before rubbing his eyes, was he still sleeping? He must have been because when he opened them again, he was looking at the ceiling. As if he never got up from bed to look at the Princess who was here, and no indication of her actual presence being evident. Everything in his room was the same, with the ARC trooper sighing to himself. “I really need to get some sleep,” Chapter End Meeting Her Other HighnessChapter 4: Meeting Her Other Highness It had been several days as there had been no news of what the rulers of this foreign planet would announce in terms of the clones being upon their planet. For now, all the clones were just living onboard their ship, taking patrols to make sure no mynocks of any kind would get stuck to the ship's outer hull. Thankfully, this planet was filled with life the clones were not used to seeing and had no knowledge of, and anything threatening was shot at immediately only to scare. Currently, Steele and the other two ARC troopers were sitting outside on the green grass, eating some rations, disgusting in taste but nutritious. “So what do you think about all this sir?” Shock asked curiously “Too perfect for me Shock, too perfect for me. I don’t like it, I fear this will get out of hand really fast,” Steele answered Viper just gave an impression of holding a blaster pistol and firing it, he was the only one who was still wearing his helmet. “Uh, care to explain why you don’t talk Viper?” Shock questioned Viper shrugged, he couldn’t say why he didn’t like talking, maybe it was too much noise for him. Then again, the sound of a blaster is always much louder but Viper preferred the weapon to do the talking. Just then, a clone sergeant came over to the ARCs, saluting before giving his report “Sir, all patrols report that the wildlife here is mainly nonhostile, with only a few predators. Nobody was hurt and frankly, the predators seemed pretty scared when we blasted a couple of them,” the sergeant reported “Good work sergeant, anything on the inhabitants?” Steele asked “Nothing yet sir, thought one of the patrols thought they saw a yellow creature with some pink hair, but it disappeared before we could get a good look at it,” “Anything else?” “The only other thing is one of our men stumbled upon a home here in the forest, we didn’t go any farther than its perimeter to not get on anyone’s bad side. Nobody was home at the moment, wait, just got something,” the communicator beeped as the sergeant activated the link “Uh sir, there is someone here for you.” A voice of a clone spoke out as the sergeant looked at the ARC’s and each of them gave a nod “Let them through shiny,” Steele got up, donning his helmet once again as he saw one of the clones come out of the thick forest with Luna. Luna looked a bit peeved about not being allowed access to talk to Steele right away but her expression softened when she saw the familiar commander. Steele approached her with the other ARC’s following right behind him. “A pleasure to meet thee once again Steele,” Luna said as Shock raised a questionable brow “Care to enlighten us sir on this meeting?” “Long story, what has your rul-I mean sister have to say?” Steele asked correcting himself as he had to remember he was dealing with a co-ruler “She is quite intrigued with your presence and wishes you to come see her at once. Along with your other brothers to give the whole kingdom a proper introduction. She has given me the authority of introducing you all since you know of me more than her and I know you better than Celestia does. You must come to Canterlot Castle immediately,” Luna explained “Expect us there,” Steele nodded “Perfect, we will await you at the castle,” Luna smiled before turning into mist and disappearing “Viper, get a transport,” Steele said after the Princess left, the ARC nodding Canterlot Castle “Did the negotiations go well Luna?” Celestia asked her sister as she was walking down the hallway with her sister who appeared to her seconds ago and with a pleased expresion “Yes, quite well. Commander Steele is coming this instant and I haven’t been able to observe the whole force but there are many of them for sure. Not as much as the Changelings but they have numbers,” Luna answered, walking down the hallway following Celestia and feeling something odd about her sister “Is something wrong?” She asked concerned With her head turned towards her sister but with her body facing Celestia’s intended destination, Celestia sighed and said, “You know I do everything in my power to ensure peace correct?” “Of course, you do what you think is best for the kingdom as a whole, even if I or anyone else disagrees,” “Then you know how I feel about this. These aliens who are well armed and have experienced war first hand and were bred for it,” Celestia then turned to the smaller Alicorn keeping a wary but compassionate tone though it became a bit bitter towards the end “Yes, you were distressed with the war of King Sombra many years ago but times have changed sister and they do not seem eager to fight unless provoked to. The dreams of their commander told me enough that they fight for the greater good and will not cause trouble, I even offered to help the commander learn how to live without war,” Luna replied with a neutral tone to not upset her sister “You offered him on how to live? But don’t they know how to live?” Celestia’s head perked to the right in confusion “Not exactly, most of the basics but they are too used to war and fighting on a daily basis, thankfully they can learn how to enjoy peace,” Luna answered shaking her head “How many of them are there?” “Hm, I could guess about a battalion at max, but I haven’t seen their full force, just pockets of them,” “Your highnesses! There is a large flying object coming towards the palace!” A Royal Guard suddenly burst through the doors at the end of the hallway and reported what was causing a commotion already, Royal guards running about to their positions with their captain, Shining Armor, giving orders “Flying object? A living being?” The Princess questioned as she went to the balcony to look at what the guards had seen and saw what they were talking about, something was flying their way, with two windows in the front of it, two wings that pointed downward and ball like contraptions to the sides of it “No, it must be one of their transportation vehicles. That must be Commander Steele, tell the Captain of the Guard to order his stallions to be at ease,” Luna told the guard “Yes your Highness,” with that, the guard ran off to inform the captain “I sure hope you know what you are doing Luna,” Celestia said warily as she did not like this “Rest assured sister, all will be well,” Luna comforted the taller Alicorn with a pat on the backside as the object came closer and closer, decreasing its speed as it began to descend into the courtyard, two doors opening out of its body, one on each side, revealing the troopers and Steele standing within this thing The troopers disembarked with their weapons lowered or holstered to their sides as Steele looked up at the balcony where the Princesses stood. The guards were all around the troopers, many close to them with spears and others on the ramparts. The guards numbered possibly a hundred while there were only Steele, Viper, Shock and two regular troopers along with the LAAT. “Well this was a welcoming party,” one of the two troopers stated sarcastically “I wonder if they do this to everyone,” the other nodded “Commander Steele I presume,” Celestia said looking down at the Clone Commander below her “Yes ma’am,” nodded Steele “You have to forgive my guards for being too cautious, we haven’t been visited by aliens before,” Celestia waved to her guards who relaxed more as she motioned for the troopers to come into the castle, the troopers did so as the great doors to the castle opened with the servants quickly doing so with fear in their eyes “So, Commander Steele, what brings you to our little kingdom?” Celestia began to ask as she was brought tea which she sipped on occasion “We didn’t purposely come here, a wormhole caused us to go here and our hyperdrive was damaged along the way. We are working to fix it and hopefully go back to our galaxy,” Steele answered honestly as he had to treat this ruler with the highest respect “The wormhole? My sister has told me of such odd events within space itself and it is beyond her control but they also rarely happen. As far as we have recorded, once every thousand years,” Celestia nodded in understanding “Once every thousand years?! We won’t be alive by then!” Shock spoke out as he couldn’t believe this “Yes, I have no control over those wormholes and my sister is right, once every thousand years. But please tell her about your war as you described to me,” Luna answered as she looked to Steele who then walked forward where he was closer to the Princess but still far enough for the guards not to get anxious “The Clone Wars, as the Jedi and everyone else call it, is our current war in our galaxy fought by the Jedi and us clones, against the Seperatist Droids. The droids are led by a former Jedi named Count Dooku who is the apprentice of some Sith Lord we have no idea of and the Seperatists seem to follow their leadership. We have been at war for years now and many of my clone brethren have died doing what they were born to do, protect the Republic. We want peace and stability throughout the galaxy but this war has been dragged on for far too long and the casualties have mounted high on both sides, even innocents were killed,” Steele began to explain as he continued with whatever knowledge he was given of the Jedi, the Sith and the reason for the rise of the Seperatists Celestia listened with intent as she also drank her tea in between the long explanation that the Clone Commander was giving her. She was intrigued about this war but flinched at the idea of innocents getting killed in the crossfire and the many lives the Clones and Jedi lost to protect their Republic. Celestia was still wary of the clones in front of her as Steele described what the clones were bred for and who was their original along with their growth acceleration, their home planet and the ‘names’ they got. Luna almost wanted to grimace as her sister’s eyes were bearing the feeling of disgust to an extent for the clones being treated as cannon fodder but also admiration for the clones’ bravery and undying spirit to fight for what's right. “What makes you so different from your clone brethren Commander?” Celestia asked as she wanted to know Steele a bit more personally “I’m an Advanced Recon Commando, ARC for short. Specially modified elite variant of the other clones with more independence and creative thinking along with all around better skills and feats,” Steele summed it up quite simply “How did you receive your name?” “The others gave it to me as I’m as arrogant and unbreakable as a durasteel wall,” “How many clones are there in your galaxy?” “Millions, but only 106 ARC troopers, and that number is even smaller as there is two groups of ARC’s. The experimental Null-Class ARC’s which only had six out of twelve possible clones and there are Alpha-Class ARC’s like me which make the other hundred.” “Hm,” Celestia pondered in thought as she couldn’t think of anymore questions as Steele’s explanation of his galaxy was painted pretty clearly in Celestia’s mind Steele stood there watching the Sun Alicorn think as the other clones had stayed silent and were still shocked about being stuck here on this planet for a thousand years. Their mood changed from hoping for escape to being depressed in terms of now being hit with reality, not going home at all. It was as if you were to tell the clones that they were dead anyway since a thousand years of being stranded on another planet was basically death since none of the clones would live that long. Luna seemed to sense the clones’ attitude and demeanor change as a thought came to her head which she knew her sister would disprove but this would help the clones settle in and also help their fellow ponies to be acquainted with the aliens. “How about we offer you military service for our kingdom to protect ‘our’ Republic like you would do yours?” Luna asked as she purposely phrased the question to catch the clones’ attention and it certainly did along with Celestia being snapped out of her thought bubble “What?” Celestia questioned “Yes, we only have our Royal Guard to keep us safe and we cannot send them to all parts of Equestria since they are low in number but you are soldiers and peacekeepers. You will fit perfectly into the job of maintaining order as you did with your war and it will help our pony civilization to accept you and see you as peacekeepers and not monsters,” Luna explained “Luna! You can’t be serious?! They barely just arrived here and you want them to have peacekeeping authority over our kingdom?!” Celestia seemed quite offended and angry with this “Sister, I know why you think as you think, but it is logical. How else can they interact with our little ponies and get them to trust the clones?” Luna retorted to her sister’s outburst Celestia was about to say something but Luna held up her hoof to inform her sister to calm down and think, which Celestia did reluctantly. Luna did have a point though as the clones could maintain order in parts of Equestria much easier than the Princesses who would have to travel to those locations especially far away. Plus, Celestia could have command over these clones as this was her kingdom and they were visitors, so they had to follow her rules. “Very well, I see this option as possible, but I have some conditions,” Celestia said with a more regal tone once more “Go ahead,” Steele shrugged as he had been silent this whole time as he watched the two sisters had their slight argument a few seconds ago “Since this is my kingdom, you will have to follow my laws and rules if you wish to live within my kingdom,” began Celestia “Simple,” “You will NOT kill any of my subjects no matter what crime they posed unless I give you direct authority to do so,” The clones looked at one another and nodded, still simple enough, they had blasters with a stun setting anyway. “You will NOT kill anything within the forest or anywhere in Equestria unless I allow it. Food should be of no concern as your kind seem to be omnivores and we have plenty of food as your payment,” “Well that settles our one year of rations,” Shock whispered “Lastly, I request you go as far away from using violence as possible. Only as a last resort, I don’t want my little ponies to think that violence is legitimate in our peaceful kingdom on a daily basis,” Celestia finished “Yes ma’am, I’ll make sure of it,” Steele nodded “You better Commander, I don’t tolerate violence lightly. Now, there is one more matter to discuss,” Celestia replied “Which is?” “In a couple of days, there will be a wedding here in Canterlot Castle as the Captain of the Guard is getting married to my niece. As your first assignment to prove yourself, I want you and your stall-,” Celestia was beginning to explain “Men,” Luna corrected with a fake cough “Men, thank you. I want you and your men to provide security detail for the day in Canterlot. The castle is quite safe with all the guards and we of course are powerful in our magic. Just ensure that Canterlot is safe from any attack and you will pass my assignment,” Celestia finished “Nothing we can’t handle. The 142nd is known for being the first battalion to defend and keep positions secure,” Steele replied with a firm nodd “I sure hope you can meet my expectations Commander, you are dismissed,” Celestia finally stated as she walked away to a different part of the castle as Luna stayed where she was and the clones began to head back for their ship “Commander, a word,” Luna said as Steele was exiting the castle “Ma’am?” “There is something you could do for me….well, for the whole kingdom. We have a little nuisance and his name is, Discord. He is a being of absolute chaos and he has just broken from his stone prison. I need you to assist the Elements of Harmony to defeating him,” Luna explained quickly “Take down a nuisance, consider it done,” Steele replied as he was about to take another step “Wait! Can I see how big your battallion is? I’m sure my sister will want to as well so she can assign your men to other areas,” Luna asked “I’m not in charge of that, you and your sister are now,” the Clone Commander shrugged as it he basically stated that she could if she wanted to “Then prepare your men for our arrival Commander,” Luna then smiled using her more regal tone with an authoritative voice “Yes ma’am. Shock, inform the officers to have our men assemble outside the ship!” Steele ordered as the other ARC nodded and activated his comms The five clones and the Lunar Princess, also joined by the Solar Princess reluctantly, got onto the LAAT as the doors shut and it took off towards its desired location. Flying over miles of landscape in little time as the large cruiser could be seen. Outside the ship was five hundred regular clone troopers standing at attention, thirty clone officers in front of them and one hundred and seventy crew members of the cruiser. At least one of each of the land vehicles, the cruiser carried, were presented as well as the LAAT then landed. “Hm, impressive Commander,” Celestia commented on how organized the clones were, perfect lines of them horizontally and vertically “Yes, very well organized Commander, we should not be displeased in your performance,” Luna smiled more than her sister as Celestia still was doubtful “Present arms!” A clone officer yelled as all the clones held their blasters in front of them, perfectly in unison as an echo was created the sound of blaster butts hitting the floor “Everyone of us was trained to do this until it was perfect. Our Kaminoan cloners wanted perfection out of us and we made sure to give them perfection,” Shock boasted as he was always happy to see his fellow brethren stand proud and at attention “Well Commander, I have other matters to attend to and I will leave the charge of arranging placement of your stal- I mean men, to Luna,” Celestia stated firmly as she disappeared in a flash of light “Forgive my sister, she has nightmares of war from earlier years,” Luna sheeplishly said “Not a problem, we will do what is necessary to exceed her expectations and protect your kingdom. We really can’t go anywhere else,” Steele sighed as he gave the signal for the men to be dismissed “Indeed you don’t but that makes it much more fun for me to teach you the meaning of life,” Luna tried to cheer the Clone Commander in front of her with her earlier offer that he had accepted “Right,” was all Steele muttered “Now, come with me. I will take you to meet the Elements of Harmony and let you help them take down Discord,” said Luna “Alright. Shock, get Mincer and Washout and come with me. We got our first target,” Steele ordered “Yes sir,”
The Worm Hole and BeginningsChapter 1: The Worm Hole and A New World Loading Profiles…..profiles loaded…..updating system Name: A-29 ‘Steele’ Designation: Advanced Recon Commando Rank: Commander Current Location: Onboard Venator-class Cruiser Mission: Investigate possible Seperatist Activity near Outer Rim territories Current Location: Hyperspace towards Outer Rim Territories onboard Venator-class cruiser The single cruiser was in hyperspace, seeing nothing but blue lines streaking past the ship. Clones moving about to do their tasks necessary to keep the ship running and being on constant watch in case anything happened. At the front of the bridge stood an Arc Trooper, the only Advanced Recon Commando assigned to the ship along with the more common clones. The Phase II armor on this ARC trooper was a standard white but was covered with grey lines to signify a difference compared to the others. “Sir, we are coming out of hyperspace,” a fellow clone reported “Good,” the Arc Trooper simply replied “Uh sir? There is a problem, we have a worm hole coming up as well,” “Can we go around it?” “No sir, that and something is going on in the hanger. Sledge is at it again,” the clone sighed “Very well, see if we can get out of hyperspace sooner to avoid the worm hole,” the Arc Trooper replied “Yes sir,” The Arc Trooper took the elevator down to the hanger as he could see most of the clones around him were busy with their work but he could see on the far side of the hanger, which much to his disdain, was another clone trooper with an AT-RT driver helmet yelling at his fellow brothers. The AT-RT driver was ranting at another clone who just held his hands up in defense as a wrench was pushed upon his chest in a threatening gesture. “What have I told you?! DO NOT MESS WITH MY MACHINES!!” the driver yelled “Stand down Sledge, we have gone over this a hundred times,” the Arc Trooper came in with his hands behind his back “I know Steele but I can’t help that I get angry seeing another destroyed vehicle, just for me to fix it and then let it get blown up again,” the clone sighed “Listen, the sooner the war is over, the less the equipment gets blown up. Now get back to work and fix up those AT-RT’s!” Steele ordered “Yes sir,” Sledge muttered getting on a ladder to access the AT-RT controls Steele walked away only to find another clone that thankfully didn’t annoy the Arc Trooper, Viper. Viper was another Arc Trooper like Steele, with a mix of green and red markings on his armor with an strict guideline on fighting, but he was generally the silent one to only give orders with his hand motions. His shots were precise, fast and the Arc had extensive training in Echani hand to hand combat which gave him his nickname. Currently, the Arc Trooper was cleaning his DC-17 sniper rifle which was odd as only Clone Commandos carried those. The Arc looked up from his gun and just gave a head motion to indicate ‘what’s up’ without saying words. “As you were,” Steele said not wanting to waste time as Viper just shrugged and went back to cleaning the sniper rifle Steele went back into the elevator to notice that he wasn’t alone in there, next to him was another clone. This clone yet again was another Arc assigned to Steele, his blue markings indicated he was a lieutenant and some scratch marks on his armor indicated he had some experience in the battle field. “Going up sir?” the Arc asked “Yes,” Steele simply nodded to the fellow Arc, who nodded and the elevator doors closed as the elevator began to make its way up The elevator went up quietly as the two more advanced clones stood in silence, a very strong silence. Nothing was exchanged between the two troopers until the lieutenant finally said something. “So, what are we going to do sir? If I may ask of course,” “We are on a reconnaissance mission to the Outer Rim Territories, what was your designation?” Steele answered “A-99, everyone calls me Shock sir, specialized in electronics and so forth,” the lieutenant saluted his superior officer “Well Shock, you and I are going to get along just fine,” Steele nodded as the elevator finally stopped at the bridge The two specialized troopers came onto the bridge as one of the ships officers went up to Steele with a worried face. “Bad news sir, the worm hole is sucking us in. We can’t go around it,” the officer stated “Alright, tell the crew to brace for impact,” Steele nodded without a second to think as this was going to be a rough ride The alarm came on as red lights were shining overhead and the other clone troopers knew only two things. One, the Seperatists were about to attack their ship or two, they were going to crash. Either way, the clones escaped the hanger and went towards designated zones to be ready for either attack or crashing. Steele looked out of the ship as it came out of hyperspace and the worm hole was right in front of them, glowing in a pinkish color and swirling. The ship rumbled a little as it was being tugged into the hole with great force but Steele had ordered the crew that there was no going back now, they had to go in. If they died, well, that’s one less cruiser and a whole lot of troopers less for the Republic. “Brace for impact!!” Steele yelled as the ship went into the worm hole and immediately, it felt as if the ship went into another hyperspace jump but much quicker, with the surrounding worm hole going around the ship as a pink vortex Faster and faster they went through the worm hole as multiple lights flashed and the crew was blinded, some laying down to avoid the light and others just turning their back from the light to maintain the ships operations. The whole experience only lasted a minute as suddenly, the Republic Cruiser came out of the worm hole right over a planet and its moon. “Crew check,” Steele said as the other crew members just mumbled “No one dead sir, some mild bumps at most. Everyone else is fine, some equipment tipped over but nothing serious. The ship also hasn’t suffered anything except…..” an officer was reporting “Except what?” “The hyperdrive overloaded and has to be replaced. Sadly, there is no spares and the spare equipment isn’t enough. We are going to need some other components to make an entirely new hyperdrive and also….the worm hole closed,” “Thank you officer, as you were. Navigator, where are we?” Steele questioned a fellow trooper overlooking the galaxy map “Not sure sir, wherever we are, we overshot the Outer Rim by a long shot. We are off the map and without that worm hole, we aren’t going home without getting lost,” the navigator sighed “As you were trooper,” Steele nodded before another officer spoke up “Sir, ships scans have indicated that the planet below is inhabited. Some Equine species sir and there seems to be cities and towns below as well.” “Are they friendly?” Steele asked “Not sure sir, it seems there is a castle so we can assume it has a monarchy as a government. Doesn’t seem to have any droids around and no Seperatist vessels are detected anywhere close to here. Possibly, this planet has not even heard of the Republic, but that is a hypothesis,” the officer answered “A hypothesis we are going to test, order an LAAT ready and I want eight troopers with me.” Steele ordered as he went to the elevator to go into the hanger “Yes sir,” Steele went to the hanger as there was eight other troopers, all covered in gray or black markings along with jet packs on their backs. They waited for the ARC Trooper as they boarded a prepped LAAT and when Steele got on the gunship, a trooper handed him a blaster rifle which he took with a nod. The LAAT left the hanger as the nose of the ship split in half to allow ships to exit the multiple hangers, going towards the planet’s surface. The LAAT received no attack as it entered the atmosphere of the planet and soon could see a forest, the current time was about the evening and slowly going towards the night. “Land in the nearest clearing pilot!” Steele yelled so the pilot could hear The LAAT landed in the a clearing in the forest, no more than a mile away from a town, thankfully everyone was going to sleep or inside so they did not see a flying ship just land. The troopers left their ship and moved into the forest, towards the town as they remained quiet as much as possible. The forest was dark as the atmosphere was slowly losing its light but they could see some lights ahead as it was obviously the town. “Sir, what are your orders?” one of the troopers asked as they aimed their weapons in caution for anyone who could see them “We need to know if these people are Seperatists without revealing our location. Stealth and blasters for stun,” Steele said as each trooper set their blaster for stun, the lowest setting of power for the DC-15S blaster rifle “Sir, there are hardly any of these inhabitants around, they must all be asleep. I suggest jetpacking all the way to that train and hitching a ride to that castle over there,” Jumper, a clone with a love for flying with a jetpack, stated “Jumper, Cutter, Blip and Jek, you’re with me. The rest of you, find the tallest vantage point and keep us informed on movement,” Steele said to the clone troopers as they all nodded and the four named troopers joined Steele as their jetpacks propelled them to the train Elsewhere The Canterlot Royal Observatory was one of Luna’s favorite places to look at her stars and see any constellations that formed. There were so many to name off but it saddened her that she was one of very few who even enjoyed her night. This time however, she looked at the sleeping town of Ponyville as night set, via Luna’s power to raise the moon. Who was Luna? Well, if you told that to her face then you would instantly regret that. Luna was an Alicorn, a pony with both wings and a horn, colored in a very dark blue to the point of black, though not black. Her eyes were a soft, teal blue, if you don’t know what teal is, then just think blue. Luna stood at probably one and a half or close to two meters tall, just a foot or foot and a half shorter than a fully sized human male, if we average at six feet tall. Luna wore her royal regalia and her side near her rear had a marking of the moon, a crescent moon in fact surrounded by the dark night, no, not Batman Dark Knight, dark night as in the night you batman lovers. She had a flowing blue mane that probably would hook you in and make you think you would love to touch it, no touching for you. “Ah Ponyville, such a humble and quiet little place that has a special place in…..my heart,” Luna said slowly as she giggled to herself that she was getting the hang of modernizing her language skills after 1000 years of not staying in touch with the world Then she saw five blue lights from a far distance that seemed to go on the train, this caused the lunar princess to raise a brow and wonder, did fireflies ever turn blue? Surely if they did, there would be a new species by now and Twilight Sparkle to document them or else go crazy. Luna looked at her telescope, just to be handy at times when she wanted a closer look of the town because she wasn’t spying on anyone, to notice that there were faintly some white armored beings on top of the train. From her distance, they looked small but Luna knew that they must be bigger and in fact, they had to be, but what was more amazing was their armor and the fact they were bipedal. “Minotaur’s? No, they seem too clean shaven and too organized,” Luna murmured to herself “Spying on our subjects again sister?” a voice said behind Luna as Luna just rolled her eyes in annoyance before turning around to face her sister, a white alabaster alicorn with a flowing enteral mane of blue, green and slight pink, who also was much taller than her smaller sister probably two meters tall at least “No Celestia, something just came up,” Luna drawled as Celestia just smiled as her sister would not share some secrets with her no matter how hard the taller alicorn, and also older, tried to pry information from her sister “Alright, I’m going to bed,” Celestia yawned as she just left without staying much at all which delighted Luna as she looked back into the telescope to look at the armored bipedal creatures, but she was unaware of her sister coming up behind her with a smirk to bug her younger sister further “Hm, well fit, most likely trained with a very good instructor and well-armed,” Luna said to herself as she observed Steele and his men approaching the castle by train but since Celestia did not see the soldiers, she just had a wry smile as she wanted to tease her very badly “*gasp* Sister! You didn’t tell me you were looking into stallions!” Celestia exaggerated her emotions as Luna quickly jumped in shock and her face flushed in embarrassment, even though that wasn’t exactly what she was doing “Sister!!” Luna yelled at her older sibling to nag her to not tease her like that “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Now I’m going to bed,” Celestia assured with a fit of giggles as Luna had a miniature thunderstorm of anger happening in her brain “Two can play it at that game and it takes two to tango,” Luna muttered as she would get her sister back someday and with vengeance, double the embarrassment Steele “Can this thing go any faster?” Blip groaned as he laid on top of the train as the train took its sweet time moving down the tracks, nowhere as fast as any transport ship or rail line on Corusant “The enemy will not suspect us even more if we take our time,” Cutter retorted as he sat down “Cut the chatter, we don’t want to give away our position,” Steele ordered as the train slowly approached the large castle that hung on the side of a mountain, one well-placed rocket could probably take it down with ease “I have to say sir, forgive me. Whoever designed that castle must be the worst architect in the galaxy,” Jumper commented “Agreed,” Steele nodded as they just waited on the slow moving train to take them to their destination "Commander, I'm seeing some movement within the train, keep your voices low," Steele's comlink rang with a trooper's voice "Roger," The train continued to roll forward as slowly and surely, it was getting closer to this castle that the clones could see. What they didn't expect was a city practically right under it, but the contrast of this city with the town they had just came from was vast. This city was not as simple as the town, it had large buildings and much more design variation, most likely more expensive as well, along with some more color. The roads and floor were more clean and kept as quadruped like species were milling about. To the clones, this wasn't anything they had ever seen before and definitely not what they were expecting on a possible Seperatist planet. "I don't think we're in the Outer Rim or anywhere near the galaxy we once knew," Cutter spoke as the thought of not just missing the Outer Rim but completely going away to another galaxy made these troopers uneasy, except for Steele "Look at the bright side, there aren't any droids," Jumper shrugged as the castle was more than in reach of the clones now, and a station was coming up One by one, the clones activated their jet packs and flew over to a large building's roof. The inhabitants under them were very unaware of flying bipedal clone troopers right above them as the troopers now looked upwards to the castle. It was mighty high, but they have heard of the 501st Legion climbing up a mountain with a garrison of droids on Teth. The clones knew what they had to do, and although they could use their jet packs, it wasn't the best option as it would attract more attention. That and the jet packs aren't meant for long term flying so the troopers had to ration their flights and only use them when necessary. "Ascension cables," Steele said as each trooper took out their DC-15A and fired the underbarrel cable up towards the castle, the cables reaching the bottom of the castle and latching on tightly, with each trooper testing it by pulling it Once secured and ready, the troopers than put their feet on the side of the mountain and began to climb up on their long ascent to the castle. Their movements were much more silent than their jetpacks and nobody could notice them in the night as they continued to climb up the mountain. Each trooper felt cautious and ready to fire their blaster if a droid just so happen to come out and look down at them, but there wasn't any droids. The only thing that came at them was some spit, that just so happen to land on Steele's helmet. "Disgusting," Steele muttered as they continued upwards to the castle with the other clones holding their laughs What they would find would shock them as it definitely wasn't what they expected. Once to the top, there was a quadruped mammal like creature waiting for them, alone and as if expecting their arrival. The troopers aimed immediately but Steele put a hand up to lower their weapons and they did so. "I assume you are here for diplomacy," was all the quadruped said Chapter End
DiplomacyChapter 2: Secret Diplomacy Tracking A-29 “Steele” Location: Unknown Tracking: A-99 “Shock” Location: Unknown Tracking A-03 “Viper” Location Unknown Designation: Missing in Action, Presumed Killed in Action “If you wanted to be stealthful, I suggest you don’t make your movements so obvious to a creature of the night,” the quadruped said once again “Is that thing talking to us?” Blip questioned “Shut it Blip,” Cutter retorted “If you were a Seperatist, you would have shot us already?” Steele responded to the smaller organism “Shot you? No, but you are trespassing on royal grounds, and I am not what you speak of. I have never heard of Seperatists,” the quadruped spoke with regal authority “Well that’s a good thing, then you have at least heard of the Republic,” Jumper commented assuming that the quadruped horse has at least heard of them “Nor the Republic,” was a response they were given The troopers, minus Steele, looked at one another as they couldn’t believe it. There was a planet that did not know of the Republic or the Seperatists? That has to be impossible, everyone has to have at least heard about them and the war. The war was galactic news right away. “You’re meaning to tell us that you have not heard of the Seperatists or the Republic? Do you even know about the war? The CIS droids versus the Republic Clone Troopers?” Steele asked further though the report by the navigation officer rang in his head “We are off the map and without that wormhole, we aren’t going home without getting lost,” “None of anything, should I be aware of this?” the quadruped questioned as she clearly did not know anything “Well, we definitely aren’t in the galaxy we once knew,” Jek muttered “What and who are you?” the quadruped questioned now with a suspicious glare as these beings were armed and if they meant harm, they would regret it “We are Republic Clone Troopers, created and born in cloning pods on the planet Kamino in a different galaxy. We serve the Republic, a galactic government made up of many worlds that meet in a Senate to determine the policies, regulations and procedures of order. I am an Arc, a Advanced Recon Commando, a more genetically modified version of the clones to be a more elite unit. My name is Alpha-29 as my number, I was nicknamed Steele,” Steele explained putting away his blaster as the other clones did so too “You are all clones?” “You got that right,” Cutter nodded taking off his helmet and the others did so, all resembling the same face with some slight distinct features such as either being bald, tattoos or having some minor scars “We are all cloned from a Mandalorian named Jango Fett, the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. The first batch of clones were overseen by Fett in their training. Arc Troopers were trained by Fett personally except for the Null Arcs which only were six in total. They were trained by Skirata, another Mandalorian.” Steele added as he put back on his helmet, hiding the long scar on the right side of his cheek caused by a sword from a Commando Droid “I see, but this begs the question for us. Do you fight for the right purpose?” the quadruped was a little more relaxed but still held a suspicious glare “Anyone can tell you yes. I fight for the Republic, for my clone brothers even if they aren’t like me. I don’t let machines do the work, and since you aren’t a Separatist, you are not a threat to us,” “A wise answer, our...I mean my name is Luna. Princess of the Night, Co-Ruler of Equestria along with my sister, Princess Celestia,” the quadruped introduced herself more comfortable with these beings now that she knows them more “Princess? So there is royalty like Naboo,” Jek whispered to Blip who nodded “A pleasure Princess,” Steele just stood there staring at the smaller creature who raised an eyebrow “Are you not going to bow?” Luna questioned but then again, these clones didn’t seem like the type to bow “If it proceeds for better relations between us,” Steele then got on one knee and bowed his head down, with the other four clones following in order “To keep the peace, I will not report your presence here until we formally introduce you to our kingdom. But, I wish to know how you got here?” Luna raised her hoof a bit as the clones rose, a bit awkward as the clones weren’t used to bowing to royalty unless ordered to “Wormhole, and our hyperdrive overloaded,” the other clones said at once “Ah yes, the wormhole. Every once in awhile, a great magical disturbance causes these wormholes. Some have occurred here but most do not,” Luna nodded to the clones simple explanation “Now, I will tell my sister of your presence only to help transition your arrival smoothly. Our subjects will most likely see you as a threat or a monster and be afraid but if we see you as friends, then society will most likely as well,” added the Night Princess added with thought “Mostly?” Jumper curiously asked “Some ponies will see you as monsters like I said, and will continue to think that way. We have no control over their thoughts or feelings, you must simply gain their trust,” Luna answered “Very well, we must depart or I fear we will be discovered,” Steele firmly said as the troopers jetpacked off the balcony before any other of these ponies could show up “They are odd, but a different type of odd,” Luna said to herself as she some of the Royal Guard came behind her “Is something the matter your Highness?” one of the guards spoke “No, you are dismissed,” Watching the guards go, Luna turned her attention to the small lights from the jetpacks of the troopers she met, fading into the night. Luna felt compelled to let her sister know immediately, but after the Princess of the Night did her nightly duties and got some rest after that. Tomorrow, Luna will inform Celestia of the clones and hopefully, all goes well. Steele “Well that went better than expected sir,” Blip stated as the clones flew over the city right under the castle towards the forest which their extraction was “You’re certainly right trooper, it went too well,” Steele nodded as he saw the other four troopers that he assigned for overwatch join them “Spotted you all talking to something, apparently it went well. What’s the plan sir?” one of the troopers said “I don’t know trooper, I don’t know,” Venator Cruiser Shock walked around the ship just making sure that everything was in order, the corridors being sometimes flooded with clones moving about to do their duty. Currently, it was flooded as supplies and technicians were busy trying to fix the hyperdrive with whatever was available. Some almost bumping into Shock as they went back and forth to get the necessary repair done but so far, it was futile. “Do we have word yet on on the Commander’s mission?” Shock asked as he got to the bridge via the turbolift “Yes, the team has been extracted and as far as it has been said, there was diplomacy. The Commander met with one of the rulers of the kingdom of this planet and has friendly relations with her. That’s all so far until the Commander returns,” an officer stated “I heard my name being called,” Steele came out of the turbolift suddenly as all the clones saluted “Commander on deck!” “At ease, I want the cruiser to land now, the thick forest will act as a barrier to these pony creatures from discovering us. I have made contact with one of the rulers and she will help us settle in with our new surroundings. We are not in our galaxy anymore troopers, we are in a unknown place that is mysterious and does not know of the war. I want every man to make sure their blasters are set for stun and not kill. We don’t know these creatures’ culture and I don’t want any casualties. Am I understood?!” Steele ordered “Sir, yes sir!” all the clones in the bridge repeated back as orders were passed to all the clones within the ship and the cruiser began to make for a landing “Good, now get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow,” Steele nodded to them all before leaving the bridge The clones all nodded and got any of their remaining duties out of the way, as the cruiser settled over the forest of the Everfree and landed. Thankfully nopony, besides Luna, still even knew of their existence and did not see the ship. The large cruiser landing on the ground and scaring many animals away as this behemoth of a ship invaded the forest unexpectedly. Meanwhile, Steele went to his own quarters and sighed. Today had been a long day, and he hadn’t gotten any rest in the past three days due to constant fighting and reinforcement of other clone battalions. Piece by piece, Steele removed the armor that protected him from blaster fire where only his skin tight black layer undersuit was left on. Steele fell on the bed too tired to do anything else and fell asleep pretty quickly. He was going to need all the sleep he could get once the clones had to show themselves to the pony kingdom. The whole ship fell silent except with the maintenance droids working as each of the clones were falling asleep after a long three days of war. But the night for them was not over as a certain somepony stood outside the ship with her horn glowing. Her form turned into a mist before she entered the ship and entered into the mind of the Arc Commander. But what she would find would shock her as his memories and dreams were beyond anything she could have ever seen. Chapter End
NightmaresChapter 3: Nightmares Locating ARC-77 “Fordo” Location: Coruscant Designation: Temporary Placement until further orders Coruscant: Chancellor’s Room Captain Fordo walked down the hallway towards the Chancellor’s main office, being called by the Chancellor about a dilemma that arose. Captain Fordo was wearing his Phase II armor with red markings on him, but he was not a Republic Shocktrooper. Fordo gained a reputation with leading the Muunilist 10 in a Republic victory and saving the lives of three Jedi generals. Fordo was also awarded for aiding in the defense of Coruscant from the droid army, but why would the Chancellor want him. The doors opened for Fordo as he entered where the Chancellor, looking fresh and not at all displeased with his work, was waiting for him. The older, former Naboo Senator, man had his hands clasped together and gestured for Fordo to take a seat. “Do you know why I called you here captain?” the Chancellor asked “I’m afraid not sir,” Fordo answered “We have lost contact with three ARC Troopers like yourself in the Outer Rim Territories. They just disappeared and no one can get information upon their sudden disappearance. One of those ARC’s you might know,” the Chancellor explained sitting more upright and in a relaxed manner upon his chair “And that might be?” Fordo trailed sensing where this might be going “Commander Steele, he was with you on Coruscant when I was kidnapped,” “ARC-29? I remember him, brave but arrogant. I remember him fully, wouldn’t give a bit of ground to the droids no matter how many of his men were killed,” Fordo recalled with slight bitterness “You seem to dislike him captain,” the Chancellor mused “He disregarded my order to fall back when we were being overrun. He even ran out into the hail of blaster fire to save a wounded trooper. I admire but resent his spirit,” Fordo nodded “Well captain, he is missing. I want you to find him, and the rest of his men.” the Chancellor then got real serious “No offense sir, but how when no one knows?” Fordo questioned “That’s for you to find out. I want those clones back here, and I want a full story of their disappearance. Am I understood captain?” the Chancellor said firmly “Yes sir,” Fordo nodded rising from his seat “You are dismissed captain,” Fordo gave a salute before leaving the office. Thinking about the time Fordo and Steele fought on Coruscant to beat the droids back. Battle of Coruscant Blaster fire was fired back and forth, blue and red streaks of death coming over a bridge in a metropolitan city. Buildings, all skyscrapers mainly, filled this scenery but also a lot of rubble and wreckage. The clone forces were holding their position on Sector 4 as the droid army kept pushing forward, a surprise attack on the Republic capitol planet. Two of these clones were ARC’s as it was Captain Fordo and Commander Steele firing their DC-15A blaster rifles at the droids. “Steele, we got to pull back! This is getting too hot for us, the droids will overrun us any moment,” Fordo told the other ARC “Fordo, you fall back but I am not giving one inch of ground, where I stand, to the clankers,” Steele retorted as he shot several rounds, precisely taking down several super battle droids “You’re going to get yourself killed out there!” Just as Fordo said this, one of the clone troopers up front with Steele was shot in the side, falling to the ground as the droids continued. Steele looked at the clone and the other clones who were falling back, they couldn’t leave their fellow brother like that! Steele then ran forward, throwing a smoke grenade as he lifted the clone onto his shoulders. “Steele, get out of there! That’s an order!” Fordo yelled as Steele was coming towards a small rubble hill “No brother left behind!” Steele would reply, setting the wounded clone behind some cover before taking a position and firing his blaster "Sector Four needs reinforcements. We are being overrun. Repeat, we are—" Fordo was saying before whacking several droids and firing his blasters at others “Fall back! Fall back!” Fordo ordered “Fordo! We can take them! Everyone keep fighting!” Steele reordered the clones as the troopers looked at one another in confusion “Hold your positions!” suddenly they would hear Jedi Grandmaster Yoda order as he came onto the battlefield riding a goat like species, slashing droids and force pushing others away “See! What did I tell you?! We keep fighting,” Steele smugly said to Fordo, getting up close and personal with the droids as Mace Windu came crashing a Vulture droid into the advancing robots “I’m already hating you Steele, but you definitely know not to give up,” Fordo said to himself Scanning Location of ARC-29 Location: Unknown It was dark, nothing could describe how dark it was to any human or sentient life out there. The mare in Steele’s dream could only stare at the dream that was nothing, but she did see one small sliver of light. She took this sliver of light and approached it, drawing nearer every second and the light becoming more brighter. Upon reaching this light though, the mare was transported to a plains area of some sort. Calm breeze, warm sunlight and everything was at peace, or so she thought. Luna looked at the rest of her surroundings and directly right behind her was something else, the same plains area but devastated with bodies of armored troopers and battle droids, the ground barren as explosives and blaster fire was killing the life she once saw. But this wasn’t the end of it, there was a lot of blood, from the clones dying on the battlefield as some had lost entire limbs. This made the Princess of the Night want to hurl but she kept her body from reacting in such a way, though she felt the burning of stomach acid in the back of her throat. “There’s too many of them sir!” a clone yelled as Luna could see a handful of clones right behind a destroyed vehicle, a six legged vehicle that resembled a beetle ‘We keep fighting! We don’t let these droids get anywhere close to the settlement!” Luna could hear the familiar voice of Commander Steele yelling orders as the advancing droids were being torn apart by blaster fire from the clones, but the droids had the numbers and it was obvious For every clone trooper that fell, at least ten or twenty battle droids were destroyed. The clones numbers were only five and the droids had a least fifty, having the standard, the super battledroids and even some commando droids. Luna continued to watch to understand where these clones had come from but it was pretty obvious where they had originated….war. “We’re running out of ammo sir, we aren’t going to make it!” a clone private told his superior officer “As long as you’re still breathing, you will fight private!” Steele coldly countered as he then got shot in the shoulder, knocking him down onto the floor “Sir!” another clone said in worry before getting shot in the helmet, killing him instantly Steele got up as he had dropped his two DC-15 pistols when he fell, but he couldn’t find them as a Commando Droid instantly came at him with its sword ready to plunge into his gut. Steele rolled out of the way as the sword just hit dirt and Steele gave the droid a nice punch to the metal face, hurting his hand just briefly but it still stunning the droid. The Commando droid though was quick to recover as it hit Steele in the gut and kicked him in the face, knocking off his helmet in the process. Steele recovered and back up just in the nick of time to feel the tip of the sword make a clean slash on his right cheek. The sting of pain only pissed off the ARC trooper as he tackled the droid, which did not expect the clone to do, and grabbed its head. Pulling it off as the droid tried to remove the ARC off of it but it only took two seconds for the more physically stronger ARC to pull the Commando Droid’s head off. Steele only had a brief moment to relax as he saw another one of the last clone troopers get shot down. Grabbing his helmet, and the Commando Droid’s blaster, he rushed back to his former position. The pain in his shoulder was very minimal as his extra armor on his shoulders helped resist the blast damage. “Only 30 left! We can do this men! Grenade out!” Steele encouraged the last remaining three troopers as he tossed a grenade into the swarm of droids The grenade did its job, blasting apart the cluster of droids and reducing their numbers to twenty or less. But that was short lived as another trooper was shot and killed by the droids and before Steele could say anything, another blast got another trooper. It was just Steele and a private now on the fallen AT-TE walker that once was operational. “Just you and me rookie! Let’s send these clankers to the scapyard!” Steele told the private as he kept firing the stolen weapon, taking out five B-1 battle droids with ease “Yes sir!” One by one, the droids fell to the two troopers firing at them, it all went so well until…. ‘Gaah!” the private screamed in pain as thermal detonator was thrown and exploded near their position, sending flak that got the trooper in the face “Rookie! Why you piling mounts of trash!” Steele angrily declared as he blasted the remaining droids down before going to the rookie’s body “S-sir…….” he was in bad shape, bleeding heavily as a shard of flak was embedded into the left side of his face, with no medics to come and help “Don’t worry trooper, we’ll get you out of this,” Steele assured beginning to carry the trooper but the said trooper just stopped his officer “no…..I’m….not going to make it.” “Don’t say that, you will,” “No...I won’t. Can i ask a question sir?” “What is it trooper?” Steele sighed as hated seeing his own men die, right in front of him, slowly “Is this….what were made for? To kill? To sacrifice our lives for the Republic? To follow orders without question?” “Yes, this is what we do,” “But...aren’t we human? Don’t we have our own thoughts and minds?” “What are you saying?” Steele now questioned as the trooper was struggling to breathe “Are we just machines too? Mindless….follow orders without question….no matter what…..I thought….we were more…..like everyone else…..but…...look at us…...dying...nobody cares sir. We’re just clones,” the trooper said finally as he gave one last breath before succumbing to death itself Steele just stood there, motionless, confused, angry at all the same time as the trooper’s words were getting to him. Sure, he was an ARC, he had more independence than the standard clones but still, were they just another type of machine? Would it matter how many clone lives were lost? They could always make more anyway, right?” Steele looked up to see the rest of his brethren, all laid out dead in front of him. All the bodies of once a good defensive thousand men, turned to just one. They took down a force of at least seven thousand droids, which was impressive, but still costly. Steele took off his helmet and just stared at the scene in front of him, a LAAT flying over him suddenly. Luna wanted to understand how the ARC felt, but she didn’t have anything close to how the commander suffered. Seeing men with high hopes of beating the enemy, die in front of him in vast numbers and yet, the war continued, with no mourning for those dead. Then she noticed the clone was looking at her in confusion, wait, how could he see her? Nopony was able to notice Luna in their dreams but before she could figure this out, the dream ended abruptly. Luna found herself on the floor of the commander’s quarters, somehow knocked out of his dream and also with the commander awake. He stared at her with somewhat of a glare in his eyes, not pleased with his invasion of privacy. He didn’t have any threatening gestures though, just simple annoyance. “How did you end up in my memory? I don’t remember anyone in that field but myself,” Steele questioned with slight annoyance “We have the power to go into dreams of every being. Strange how you could notice, nopony has ever noticed me in their dreams before unless I allow them to,” Luna explained “But why?” “Dreams and memories speak a lot of one’s character and history. Your history was tragic and I am sorry for you having to go through that. I cannot recall anything close to what you have faced so i cannot say I know how you feel. The only instance where I felt so much pain was being banished to the moon by my very own sister. Alas, I was different then, giving into my anger and frustration than seeing reason,” “Seems….heartbreaking,” “Like I stated, I do not have anything as tragic as your own memory of that conflict. Our world has been blessed with the lack of wars and abundance of peaceful negotiations. Did that clone mean a lot to you?” Luna then asked as her tone was soft and empathetic “No, what he said did. The words haunt me with every order I followed, especially the idea of being another machine, a living one. I couldn’t stop thinking about how we are no better than the droids, just blasting them and dying so the Republic didn’t have to fight the majority of the war. We were their tools of destruction and peacekeeping, and I considered desertion but…..I couldn’t do that to my own brothers. I wanted the best of them, to live on and win this war.” Steele answered with a cold attitude “Do you know what it means to live?” Luna asked which confused Steele “Survival, fighting, grief, joy…..repeat?” Steele replied unsure as his whole life was the same thing as the Princess just shook her head “No, much more than that. Compassion, empathy, happiness, friendship, family bonds and much more. Thriving….that’s how life should be. To thrive,” “Then I clearly have not lived,” Steele sighed his expression softening to remorse “No worries, I can show you. I was once in your position, to an extant. Never the less, it is never too late and since you are far from your war, you may appreciate your life more,” Luna assured him “Are you offering me something?” “Of course! But the question is, are you willing to live?” “I don’t see why not,” Steele answered as she had a point, he didn’t have to worry about the war for right now “Huzzah! We appreciate your answer! Now we must depart, I will inform my sister of your presence tomorrow. I will visit you to discuss the details and that you all may meet her,” Luna said as she vanished into a mist Steele stood there for a minute before rubbing his eyes, was he still sleeping? He must have been because when he opened them again, he was looking at the ceiling. As if he never got up from bed to look at the Princess who was here, and no indication of her actual presence being evident. Everything in his room was the same, with the ARC trooper sighing to himself. “I really need to get some sleep,” Chapter End
Meeting Her Other HighnessChapter 4: Meeting Her Other Highness It had been several days as there had been no news of what the rulers of this foreign planet would announce in terms of the clones being upon their planet. For now, all the clones were just living onboard their ship, taking patrols to make sure no mynocks of any kind would get stuck to the ship's outer hull. Thankfully, this planet was filled with life the clones were not used to seeing and had no knowledge of, and anything threatening was shot at immediately only to scare. Currently, Steele and the other two ARC troopers were sitting outside on the green grass, eating some rations, disgusting in taste but nutritious. “So what do you think about all this sir?” Shock asked curiously “Too perfect for me Shock, too perfect for me. I don’t like it, I fear this will get out of hand really fast,” Steele answered Viper just gave an impression of holding a blaster pistol and firing it, he was the only one who was still wearing his helmet. “Uh, care to explain why you don’t talk Viper?” Shock questioned Viper shrugged, he couldn’t say why he didn’t like talking, maybe it was too much noise for him. Then again, the sound of a blaster is always much louder but Viper preferred the weapon to do the talking. Just then, a clone sergeant came over to the ARCs, saluting before giving his report “Sir, all patrols report that the wildlife here is mainly nonhostile, with only a few predators. Nobody was hurt and frankly, the predators seemed pretty scared when we blasted a couple of them,” the sergeant reported “Good work sergeant, anything on the inhabitants?” Steele asked “Nothing yet sir, thought one of the patrols thought they saw a yellow creature with some pink hair, but it disappeared before we could get a good look at it,” “Anything else?” “The only other thing is one of our men stumbled upon a home here in the forest, we didn’t go any farther than its perimeter to not get on anyone’s bad side. Nobody was home at the moment, wait, just got something,” the communicator beeped as the sergeant activated the link “Uh sir, there is someone here for you.” A voice of a clone spoke out as the sergeant looked at the ARC’s and each of them gave a nod “Let them through shiny,” Steele got up, donning his helmet once again as he saw one of the clones come out of the thick forest with Luna. Luna looked a bit peeved about not being allowed access to talk to Steele right away but her expression softened when she saw the familiar commander. Steele approached her with the other ARC’s following right behind him. “A pleasure to meet thee once again Steele,” Luna said as Shock raised a questionable brow “Care to enlighten us sir on this meeting?” “Long story, what has your rul-I mean sister have to say?” Steele asked correcting himself as he had to remember he was dealing with a co-ruler “She is quite intrigued with your presence and wishes you to come see her at once. Along with your other brothers to give the whole kingdom a proper introduction. She has given me the authority of introducing you all since you know of me more than her and I know you better than Celestia does. You must come to Canterlot Castle immediately,” Luna explained “Expect us there,” Steele nodded “Perfect, we will await you at the castle,” Luna smiled before turning into mist and disappearing “Viper, get a transport,” Steele said after the Princess left, the ARC nodding Canterlot Castle “Did the negotiations go well Luna?” Celestia asked her sister as she was walking down the hallway with her sister who appeared to her seconds ago and with a pleased expresion “Yes, quite well. Commander Steele is coming this instant and I haven’t been able to observe the whole force but there are many of them for sure. Not as much as the Changelings but they have numbers,” Luna answered, walking down the hallway following Celestia and feeling something odd about her sister “Is something wrong?” She asked concerned With her head turned towards her sister but with her body facing Celestia’s intended destination, Celestia sighed and said, “You know I do everything in my power to ensure peace correct?” “Of course, you do what you think is best for the kingdom as a whole, even if I or anyone else disagrees,” “Then you know how I feel about this. These aliens who are well armed and have experienced war first hand and were bred for it,” Celestia then turned to the smaller Alicorn keeping a wary but compassionate tone though it became a bit bitter towards the end “Yes, you were distressed with the war of King Sombra many years ago but times have changed sister and they do not seem eager to fight unless provoked to. The dreams of their commander told me enough that they fight for the greater good and will not cause trouble, I even offered to help the commander learn how to live without war,” Luna replied with a neutral tone to not upset her sister “You offered him on how to live? But don’t they know how to live?” Celestia’s head perked to the right in confusion “Not exactly, most of the basics but they are too used to war and fighting on a daily basis, thankfully they can learn how to enjoy peace,” Luna answered shaking her head “How many of them are there?” “Hm, I could guess about a battalion at max, but I haven’t seen their full force, just pockets of them,” “Your highnesses! There is a large flying object coming towards the palace!” A Royal Guard suddenly burst through the doors at the end of the hallway and reported what was causing a commotion already, Royal guards running about to their positions with their captain, Shining Armor, giving orders “Flying object? A living being?” The Princess questioned as she went to the balcony to look at what the guards had seen and saw what they were talking about, something was flying their way, with two windows in the front of it, two wings that pointed downward and ball like contraptions to the sides of it “No, it must be one of their transportation vehicles. That must be Commander Steele, tell the Captain of the Guard to order his stallions to be at ease,” Luna told the guard “Yes your Highness,” with that, the guard ran off to inform the captain “I sure hope you know what you are doing Luna,” Celestia said warily as she did not like this “Rest assured sister, all will be well,” Luna comforted the taller Alicorn with a pat on the backside as the object came closer and closer, decreasing its speed as it began to descend into the courtyard, two doors opening out of its body, one on each side, revealing the troopers and Steele standing within this thing The troopers disembarked with their weapons lowered or holstered to their sides as Steele looked up at the balcony where the Princesses stood. The guards were all around the troopers, many close to them with spears and others on the ramparts. The guards numbered possibly a hundred while there were only Steele, Viper, Shock and two regular troopers along with the LAAT. “Well this was a welcoming party,” one of the two troopers stated sarcastically “I wonder if they do this to everyone,” the other nodded “Commander Steele I presume,” Celestia said looking down at the Clone Commander below her “Yes ma’am,” nodded Steele “You have to forgive my guards for being too cautious, we haven’t been visited by aliens before,” Celestia waved to her guards who relaxed more as she motioned for the troopers to come into the castle, the troopers did so as the great doors to the castle opened with the servants quickly doing so with fear in their eyes “So, Commander Steele, what brings you to our little kingdom?” Celestia began to ask as she was brought tea which she sipped on occasion “We didn’t purposely come here, a wormhole caused us to go here and our hyperdrive was damaged along the way. We are working to fix it and hopefully go back to our galaxy,” Steele answered honestly as he had to treat this ruler with the highest respect “The wormhole? My sister has told me of such odd events within space itself and it is beyond her control but they also rarely happen. As far as we have recorded, once every thousand years,” Celestia nodded in understanding “Once every thousand years?! We won’t be alive by then!” Shock spoke out as he couldn’t believe this “Yes, I have no control over those wormholes and my sister is right, once every thousand years. But please tell her about your war as you described to me,” Luna answered as she looked to Steele who then walked forward where he was closer to the Princess but still far enough for the guards not to get anxious “The Clone Wars, as the Jedi and everyone else call it, is our current war in our galaxy fought by the Jedi and us clones, against the Seperatist Droids. The droids are led by a former Jedi named Count Dooku who is the apprentice of some Sith Lord we have no idea of and the Seperatists seem to follow their leadership. We have been at war for years now and many of my clone brethren have died doing what they were born to do, protect the Republic. We want peace and stability throughout the galaxy but this war has been dragged on for far too long and the casualties have mounted high on both sides, even innocents were killed,” Steele began to explain as he continued with whatever knowledge he was given of the Jedi, the Sith and the reason for the rise of the Seperatists Celestia listened with intent as she also drank her tea in between the long explanation that the Clone Commander was giving her. She was intrigued about this war but flinched at the idea of innocents getting killed in the crossfire and the many lives the Clones and Jedi lost to protect their Republic. Celestia was still wary of the clones in front of her as Steele described what the clones were bred for and who was their original along with their growth acceleration, their home planet and the ‘names’ they got. Luna almost wanted to grimace as her sister’s eyes were bearing the feeling of disgust to an extent for the clones being treated as cannon fodder but also admiration for the clones’ bravery and undying spirit to fight for what's right. “What makes you so different from your clone brethren Commander?” Celestia asked as she wanted to know Steele a bit more personally “I’m an Advanced Recon Commando, ARC for short. Specially modified elite variant of the other clones with more independence and creative thinking along with all around better skills and feats,” Steele summed it up quite simply “How did you receive your name?” “The others gave it to me as I’m as arrogant and unbreakable as a durasteel wall,” “How many clones are there in your galaxy?” “Millions, but only 106 ARC troopers, and that number is even smaller as there is two groups of ARC’s. The experimental Null-Class ARC’s which only had six out of twelve possible clones and there are Alpha-Class ARC’s like me which make the other hundred.” “Hm,” Celestia pondered in thought as she couldn’t think of anymore questions as Steele’s explanation of his galaxy was painted pretty clearly in Celestia’s mind Steele stood there watching the Sun Alicorn think as the other clones had stayed silent and were still shocked about being stuck here on this planet for a thousand years. Their mood changed from hoping for escape to being depressed in terms of now being hit with reality, not going home at all. It was as if you were to tell the clones that they were dead anyway since a thousand years of being stranded on another planet was basically death since none of the clones would live that long. Luna seemed to sense the clones’ attitude and demeanor change as a thought came to her head which she knew her sister would disprove but this would help the clones settle in and also help their fellow ponies to be acquainted with the aliens. “How about we offer you military service for our kingdom to protect ‘our’ Republic like you would do yours?” Luna asked as she purposely phrased the question to catch the clones’ attention and it certainly did along with Celestia being snapped out of her thought bubble “What?” Celestia questioned “Yes, we only have our Royal Guard to keep us safe and we cannot send them to all parts of Equestria since they are low in number but you are soldiers and peacekeepers. You will fit perfectly into the job of maintaining order as you did with your war and it will help our pony civilization to accept you and see you as peacekeepers and not monsters,” Luna explained “Luna! You can’t be serious?! They barely just arrived here and you want them to have peacekeeping authority over our kingdom?!” Celestia seemed quite offended and angry with this “Sister, I know why you think as you think, but it is logical. How else can they interact with our little ponies and get them to trust the clones?” Luna retorted to her sister’s outburst Celestia was about to say something but Luna held up her hoof to inform her sister to calm down and think, which Celestia did reluctantly. Luna did have a point though as the clones could maintain order in parts of Equestria much easier than the Princesses who would have to travel to those locations especially far away. Plus, Celestia could have command over these clones as this was her kingdom and they were visitors, so they had to follow her rules. “Very well, I see this option as possible, but I have some conditions,” Celestia said with a more regal tone once more “Go ahead,” Steele shrugged as he had been silent this whole time as he watched the two sisters had their slight argument a few seconds ago “Since this is my kingdom, you will have to follow my laws and rules if you wish to live within my kingdom,” began Celestia “Simple,” “You will NOT kill any of my subjects no matter what crime they posed unless I give you direct authority to do so,” The clones looked at one another and nodded, still simple enough, they had blasters with a stun setting anyway. “You will NOT kill anything within the forest or anywhere in Equestria unless I allow it. Food should be of no concern as your kind seem to be omnivores and we have plenty of food as your payment,” “Well that settles our one year of rations,” Shock whispered “Lastly, I request you go as far away from using violence as possible. Only as a last resort, I don’t want my little ponies to think that violence is legitimate in our peaceful kingdom on a daily basis,” Celestia finished “Yes ma’am, I’ll make sure of it,” Steele nodded “You better Commander, I don’t tolerate violence lightly. Now, there is one more matter to discuss,” Celestia replied “Which is?” “In a couple of days, there will be a wedding here in Canterlot Castle as the Captain of the Guard is getting married to my niece. As your first assignment to prove yourself, I want you and your stall-,” Celestia was beginning to explain “Men,” Luna corrected with a fake cough “Men, thank you. I want you and your men to provide security detail for the day in Canterlot. The castle is quite safe with all the guards and we of course are powerful in our magic. Just ensure that Canterlot is safe from any attack and you will pass my assignment,” Celestia finished “Nothing we can’t handle. The 142nd is known for being the first battalion to defend and keep positions secure,” Steele replied with a firm nodd “I sure hope you can meet my expectations Commander, you are dismissed,” Celestia finally stated as she walked away to a different part of the castle as Luna stayed where she was and the clones began to head back for their ship “Commander, a word,” Luna said as Steele was exiting the castle “Ma’am?” “There is something you could do for me….well, for the whole kingdom. We have a little nuisance and his name is, Discord. He is a being of absolute chaos and he has just broken from his stone prison. I need you to assist the Elements of Harmony to defeating him,” Luna explained quickly “Take down a nuisance, consider it done,” Steele replied as he was about to take another step “Wait! Can I see how big your battallion is? I’m sure my sister will want to as well so she can assign your men to other areas,” Luna asked “I’m not in charge of that, you and your sister are now,” the Clone Commander shrugged as it he basically stated that she could if she wanted to “Then prepare your men for our arrival Commander,” Luna then smiled using her more regal tone with an authoritative voice “Yes ma’am. Shock, inform the officers to have our men assemble outside the ship!” Steele ordered as the other ARC nodded and activated his comms The five clones and the Lunar Princess, also joined by the Solar Princess reluctantly, got onto the LAAT as the doors shut and it took off towards its desired location. Flying over miles of landscape in little time as the large cruiser could be seen. Outside the ship was five hundred regular clone troopers standing at attention, thirty clone officers in front of them and one hundred and seventy crew members of the cruiser. At least one of each of the land vehicles, the cruiser carried, were presented as well as the LAAT then landed. “Hm, impressive Commander,” Celestia commented on how organized the clones were, perfect lines of them horizontally and vertically “Yes, very well organized Commander, we should not be displeased in your performance,” Luna smiled more than her sister as Celestia still was doubtful “Present arms!” A clone officer yelled as all the clones held their blasters in front of them, perfectly in unison as an echo was created the sound of blaster butts hitting the floor “Everyone of us was trained to do this until it was perfect. Our Kaminoan cloners wanted perfection out of us and we made sure to give them perfection,” Shock boasted as he was always happy to see his fellow brethren stand proud and at attention “Well Commander, I have other matters to attend to and I will leave the charge of arranging placement of your stal- I mean men, to Luna,” Celestia stated firmly as she disappeared in a flash of light “Forgive my sister, she has nightmares of war from earlier years,” Luna sheeplishly said “Not a problem, we will do what is necessary to exceed her expectations and protect your kingdom. We really can’t go anywhere else,” Steele sighed as he gave the signal for the men to be dismissed “Indeed you don’t but that makes it much more fun for me to teach you the meaning of life,” Luna tried to cheer the Clone Commander in front of her with her earlier offer that he had accepted “Right,” was all Steele muttered “Now, come with me. I will take you to meet the Elements of Harmony and let you help them take down Discord,” said Luna “Alright. Shock, get Mincer and Washout and come with me. We got our first target,” Steele ordered “Yes sir,”
