Star Wars: The Dark Vectorby BarrobroadcasterChaptersChapter 1: The VoracityChapter 2: The PreparationChapter 3: The ShiftChapter 1: The VoracityA familiar sight occurred high above Equestria; a not-so familiar place for such an occurrence. An Imperial Star Destroyer chased a Rebel Blockade Runner through space inside Equestria's orbit. The larger ship exchanged laser fire with the smaller ship, lighting up the space between them with red and green bolts. They were two shapes playing a deadly game of laser tag in the dark, a massive triangular metal wedge relentlessly pursuing a tiny, blocky corvette. The two vessels continued this exchange as they flew over the planet, just in orbit. One of the green bolts from the Imperial Star Destroyer Voracity struck the center of the Blockade Runner, causing an explosion on its hull. The smaller ship's engines shutdown. The giant, gray Imperial triangle cast a shadow over the Rebel vessel as it closed in. Using its tractor beam, it pulled the blockade runner into the hangar on its underside like a predator sucking helpless prey into its maw. It clamped down on the tiny ship as it entered its hangar, followed by a TIE Boarder latching onto its airlock. On the inside of the Rebel ship, sparks sprayed from the airlock. Stormtroopers cut through the door from the other side, burning through the hatch with plasma torches. The door exploded, stormtroopers opened fire through the opening and stormed the interior of the ship. Again, all a very familiar sight, something common throughout the galaxy. But this time, no one fired back at them. The stormtroopers breached the door, stormed into the narrow access corridor of the ship but no Rebels returned fire. There were none there. The hallway was empty. The first stormtrooper through the breach activated his commlink. "Sergeant Tee-en-two-five-nine to Voracity control. Breach successful, immediate vicinity clear. No enemy contacts." "Say again, two-five-nine; that was no contacts?" "Yes, sir. The access hall to the airlock is clear. No sign of the enemy." A small amount of heightened concern was in his voice. He kept his rifle raised, scanning the corridor, as did his fellow stormtroopers. There could be any number of Rebels hiding, waiting to catch them off guard, or booby traps. There was a pause on the comms. "Understood. They might be hiding, two-five-nine, stay alert. We're sending squad two to your position; sweep the ship and detain anyone you find, report anything suspicious. We'll have a scanning crew on standby." "Copy control, commencing sweep," he said. Along with his squad mates, the stormtrooper searched every room in the ship. The interior of the Correllian corvette was composed of long, sterile-white hallways that connected to small and large compartments. These larger rooms were mostly in between the two primary corridors that ran the length of the ship, connected to both from the middle for easy access. Branching off these main corridors and compartments were smaller rooms and sections, the mess hall, crew quarters, storage closets and other parts of the ship. All standard for Rebel vessels, nothing out of the ordinary. Except they didn't find any Rebels. The ship was empty from stem to stern, from the bridge to the engineering section The ship's systems were still active; lights and terminals still on. The navigational computer had the present course, the helm and all the controls on the bridge were working just... no one was at them. No one was there. TN-259 continued with his squad to check the final section of the ship: the escape pods. The escape pod bays were in the middle modular section of the ship underneath its four laser cannon batteries. He noticed strangely the laser cannons themselves were programmed for automatic fire. The escape pods hadn't been jettisoned but all were primed to go. Four red lights glowed above the hatches to the escape pods indicating they were locked in their stations. They were ready to be used but no one was here to use them. This entire operation was beginning to make him feel more and more uncomfortable by the moment. "Two-five-nine to control, we've reached the escape pods. They're all still in their berths, still no sign of enemy contacts." "Anything at all?" "Negative Voracity," he responded. "They might've sent us on a wild bantha chase, used the corvette as a drone." Another pause on the comms. "We're looking into that now, Sergeant. We're sending the scanning crew in now to find exactly what they might be hiding, hold your position until they make it to you." "Copy control, Two-five-nine out." He switched off his comms and relaxed, exactly what you were never supposed to do in enemy territory. His squad all did the same, taking the opportunity to get a little bit comfortable before the scanners- 'Box Boys' as they were called, got there. "You ever seen this before, sarge?" TN-264 asked, gesturing to the entire ship. "One of these things being empty?" "Not when it was just shooting at you," 259 said, leaning on the doorway from the hall to the escape pods. "Heh. Where or where did the crew go?" 264 asked, chuckling. He looked over at his superior. "I think this might be my first ghost ship. Spoooooky, heheheh." The sergeant chuckled himself. "Maybe those containers in the cargo bay we saw had booze in them. Might be able to take a few with us." 264 was suddenly excited. The other stormtroopers instantly perked up. The prospect of every enlisted man's favorite thing: booze, was tempting to all of them. "You really think control will let us?" "Who said I was going to ask them?" 259 said. "A couple of us will stay here for the scanning crew and the rest of us will-" *Clang-clang, clang-clang-clang* All five of them rose their rifles in the direction of the noise. "Set for stun," the sergeant ordered. "Chix, take point, Loq watch our exit." "Copy." The stormtroopers closed in. A banging noise came from one of the escape pods, specifically from inside it. "Two-five-nine to control, think we've got something. Standby." There was no response from control. The sergeant approached the pod where the noise seemed to be coming from. He looked through the viewport to try and see what was inside. "You see anything?" "There's something in there," he said. "Stand back, I'm gonna open it up." *Bing-bong, bing-bong, BOONNNNNNNG* The display lights turned green. The escape pods launched. All of the escape pods launched on both sides of the ship, including the one that was in front of them. "Control, we have an unauthorized escape pod launch. Recommend tractor beam snags them," Two-five-nine said into his comms. Only silence answered him. "Control, do you copy? Tee-en two-five-nine to control, do you read?" There was a long silence and then finally, the comm crackled. But when he finally heard a voice, it wasn't control. "-ond Squad, we've got contact! We've got lots of hostile contact! They're coming out of the walls-they're everywhere!" The trooper's voice on the other line sounded panicked. But his voice wasn't the only one on the line, just the only one that was coherent: the other troopers sounded like they were screaming. "Say again, Second Squad? Repeat, over!" "AAHH- MY FACE! GET IT OFF ME, GET IT-AAAAHHHH-" A burst of static cutoff the second squad's communications. The sergeant exchanged glances with the others. Even underneath their helmets, they could all tell they felt the same thing: fear. "Rifles up, set for full-auto!" he ordered. Through the hallway, they began to hear what sounded like a stampede. Like a herd of nerfs, the sound practically reverberated through the floor. They could almost feel whatever was coming through the soles of their boots. "Charge and lock! Get ready!" "Hi there!" A pair of metal arms grabbed TN-259 and TN-264. "What the-?" "For your safety, I must ask that you come with me immediately." The two stormtroopers were dragged into the last escape pod. They saw a brief glimpse of their squad mates firing at something, Loq turning around to fire in the opposite direction before the hatch closed. Before the light turned green above it, they thought they heard someone or something pounded on the other side of the hatch. The Rebel corvette exploded in the belly of the Voracity. The blast was so powerful, it cut through the hull of the Star Destroyer, ripped through power conduits and destroyed whole decks of the massive ship. Explosions rippled through the ship as a chain reaction started in its reactor core. The bow of the Star Destroyer went dark, the shields on the craft were disabled and its massive engines sputtered and failed. The weight of the ship dragged it into Equestria's atmosphere, in moments, causing the Voracity to heat up with friction. The ship's bridge crew tried valiantly to save their ship. But damage and the fire of reentry made that task impossible. The ship burned bright orange as it pierced the upper atmosphere. The bow, the part of the ship that had been damaged the most, broke off and smashed into the bridge, breaking it clean off. As the charred midsection of the craft tumbled through Equestria's skies, its reactor finally went critical and exploded. The entire ship became nothing more than a shower of scorched and blackened bits, burning a trail of smoke all the way to Equestria's surface. Maybe a few pieces actually made their way to the ground but not a scrap was left to identify the once proud Voracity. TN-259 and TN-264's escape pod entered Equestria's atmosphere on a different trajectory. They were able to watch as their ship came down through the viewports as their pod tumbled. TN-264 peered out of the window intently. "You think any of the booze survived?" The sergeant looked back at his last surviving fellow stormtrooper. Out of a crew complement of thousands including technicians, naval officers, gunners, specialists, marines and stormtroopers like them both, they were the only two to make it off their ship alive. The sergeant was a veteran of two tours with the Stormtrooper Corps. and had seen several boarding actions like that last one, though never one quite like this. His subordinate barely a foot or two away from him in the cramped space of the pod was a relatively new recruit, and he had just asked his squad leader if any of the Rebels' cargo, which may or may not have been alcohol of some kind, had survived. Their fellow crewmen of thousands had just been incinerated, their comrades and their ship destroyed in a single burning flash, and his biggest question was whether or not the booze was intact. And the sergeant said back, "You know, I was wondering the exact same thing." But neither of them knew for sure as they descended to Equestria safely in their pod, along with one protocol droid who had for some reason rescued them. As to the answer to their question, however, some of the Rebels' cargo had survived. Unfortunately, it wasn't booze. Chapter 2: The PreparationTwo Days Later... Pegasi and unicorns had a bit of an advantage in the supermarket: pegasi could fly and unicorns could use their magic to get items off the shelves. Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed as she examined two different cans of canned bread. "Hmm..." She looked at the backs of both. "Which one would you say is better for toast? Seven grain or five grain?" "Which one is cheaper?" Reena Varsen, a human friend of Twilight's asked. "The five grain." "I'll take the seven, then," Reena said, accepting the can. "Grex and Avin could probably use a couple extra grains anyway." They put both cans in their shared cart. "I heard that!" Grex, Reena's boyfriend and wingman yelled as he rounded the corner, arms laden with goods. He dumped his load into their cart on top of everything else they'd carefully gathered. The pilot plunged his arm into the pile of goods and somehow pulled out the can of seven grain bread. "And we should get the whole grain. Whole grain products use all parts of the grain instead of just a bunch of different ones, making them a bit healthier usually." "They don't have whole grain," both girls replied. Grex dropped the can back into the cart. "I like the seven grain, then." He ran off to go collect more stuff. It had been a couple weeks since Bold Squadron had exposed the plot by their own informant to manipulate the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire to continue fighting on Equestria. Since then, fighting between the Rebels and Imperials had ceased, at least on this one particular planet, and both sides seemed committed to making things easier for all those who called Equestria home. Reena Varsen was a dark-skinned human female from a former Separatist planet in the Outer Rim. She grew up opposing the Empire, even when she was forced to join it briefly, but was rescued by the Rebellion and has served in Gold/Bold Squadron ever since. Her boyfriend, Grex Corsa, was a very light-skinned human with a slight beard and the attitude/behavior of an adult kid. He grew up on Corellia where ideals like "freedom" and "democracy" and "equal representation, fair justice" and "private property" are being stifled, oppressed and/or destroyed outright by the Empire right now. They were both part of the Alliance's Bold Squadron(formerly Gold Squadron), a group of bomber pilots who usually fought the Empire, just not at the moment. Right now, with the unofficial ceasefire in place, there were talks of a more long-standing truce, at least on Equestria. The Rebels and their pony allies were taking the time to relax, do some shopping and prepare for the upcoming holiday, Nightmare Night. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were busy loading up a pair shopping cart with stuff of all sorts from every aisle. The two zipped back and forth, blurs of rainbow and pink color. Most of the Mane Six were shopping, except for Rarity, who was busy making new costumes for the weekend. They were a train of five shopping carts, each moving slowly through the aisles of the Ponyville Neigh Mart. Applejack pushed her cart behind Twilight, ducking and dodging Pinkie and Rainbow as they rushed past her. She had to grab her hat to keep it from getting blown off. "Y'know, it's hard enough of to shop with these two without both of ya stopping every other moment." "Sorry Applejack," Twilight said over her shoulder. "I thought we were just gettin' party supplies," AJ said. "We are!" Pinkie said. "So far, I got forty-four different types of candy, FIFTY-four different types of chocolate, SIXTY-four different types of ice cream and both punch and lemonade in case anypony likes both!" she exclaimed with a squee. Applejack huffed, adjusting her hat. "Normally, I'd call that excessive, but I guess since we're supplying all'a downtown Manehattan, I guess you're on the right track." "We're off to a good start. I got eighty cases of the new Mountain Dew flavor to take with us," Rainbow said, hovering down with a tower of sodas. "Mountain DARING Dew Adventure Fuel! This Nightmare Night is gonna be sweet!" "Mm-hmm! We're gonna have this Nightmare Night in Manehattan all covered!" She said, disappearing in another blur of pink. Fluttershy, behind them, had only pet food in her cart. "I hope I have enough birdie seed for all the owls," she said. She held up two different cans of feed. "Applejack? Do you think the birdies in Manehattan will like the five grain or the seven grain bird seed?" The cowmare sighed. "I think either one's fine." Applejack herself was in charge of jack-o-lanterns. Ever the farm girl, she was committed to making sure the pumpkins she'd been growing were perfect. "I'll get the seven, then." "Alright, that looks to be about everything on the list," Twilight announced. "I'll go find Grex and we'll get this stuff loaded up." "Thanks." Reena turned back to her just as she got to the end of the aisle. "Hey, um..." "Something wrong?" "Well," she rubbed the back of her neck, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for getting you involved. With the raid, the Rebellion, the soap and... well, everything." "It's okay," Twilight said. In front of them, in an aisle across from them, were a pair of stormtroopers inspecting something. Twilight watched them as they too, examined cans of bread. "I have a feeling we would've been involved anyway." They checked out and took their grocery train to their waiting ships. Bold Squadron was currently using a U-Wing gunship for transport, which they'd parked out in front. Grex had also brought his customized BTL-M9 Y-Wing, parked right in front of the other ship, in the unlikely event they needed fighter support. The rest of Bold Squadron was already loading their costumes onto the U-Wing when Twilight arrived with the groceries. "Um, do be careful with those!" Rarity said. "Oh. Uh, sorry," Brullen, the strongman of Bold Squadron said, gently lowering the next box into the ship. Rarity held her forehead with a hoof. "Dear or dear..." "Are those the costumes?" Twilight asked, walking over. "Yes, that would be them," Rarity responded. "And I helped make them!" Spike added. "Making them unique for all of us was a pretty big challenge." And with that, Rarity gave Spike a hug. "And I would have never gotten it done so quickly without my Spikey!" Spike blushed hard. "Can I look forward to more of this at the party?" "Essentials packed for the trip back to Sigma. We're ready to go!" Grex announced, slamming the trunk of the Y-Wing. Reena checked to make sure everything on the U-Wing was ready to go. "Everything looks secure," she said. Her squad mates got on board, carefully maneuvering around all the boxes. She stood in the doorway as Twilight hopped off. "We'll see you at the party, okay?" "Absolutely!" Twilight exclaimed. "This is the first Nightmare Night you guys have celebrated on Equestria, right?" Reena laughed. "I think it's the first Nightmare Night we've celebrated. And our first time to Manehattan." "Oh, you'll love it, darling. As well as the outfits I've made for- they'll be absolutely gorgeous!" Rarity said. Twilight laughed. "Rarity's the best fashion designer in Equestria. I bet even the Imperials will be impressed!" "I don't doubt that!" Their human friend smiled. She was still uncomfortable that Imperials would even be at the party, but not as uncomfortable as it would've been a couple weeks ago. She slid the door shut and both Rebel ships took off. Despite the fact they were well within range of Imperial guns and that TIE Fighters were flying nearby, they were perfectly safe. Whatever the Empire was doing on Equestria, it still wasn't something they were quite used to, but they were well on their way. They delivered their supplies to Sigma Base, the Rebel Alliance's base in the Everfree Forest. After that, Reena and her squad had a chance for some rest and relaxation. Grex popped open a can of bread and made a sandwich. "Hahaha, no more reconstituted protein and calcium supplement slices!" Grex said happily, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Want one, Reena?" "Sounds good to me. Not the reconstituted and supplements, gimme the real thing." "Oh, sweetie, you always know I keep the real thing just for us!" he said, kissing her playfully and putting a sandwich into her gloved hands. Avin smiled slyly at both of them. "Looks like you two aren't the only couple in Bold Squadron any more." They both looked over to him. "Oh really?" The cunning slick-haired human was Grex's wingman. Like Grex, he liked to have fun, though he was more of a prankster-type. Right now though, it didn't look like he was joking. "That's right. Me and Pemma are dating. Gonna be going as two-of-a-kind to the Nightmare Night party." "Pem's dating you?" Reena asked. "You're sure it's our Pem, right? She hasn't been using any of Commander Reknaw's soap, has she?" Grex and Sonders laughed. "No," Avin retorted. "She was impressed by my charm, as usual." "Me, I'm too busy to date," Sonders, the tactical officer of Bold Squadron said. "We might have a real shot at peace with the Empire. That's going to take a lot of work, a lot has to go right for that to happen." "Peace? It'll never last," Brullen said, leaning back in the circular couch. "One Moff's decision on one planet doesn't mean much when the rest of the galaxy is under the Emperor's thumb." "It's a start," Reena said. "A good start. Ponies here have freedom, more or less. Even better in some ways since the Empire." Brullen shook his head. "It won't last. They'll do something, screw something up and then it'll be back to business as usual." "We'll see," Reena said. The intercom beeped. "Bold Squadron, please report to the main conference room. Repeat, Bold Squadron pilots, to the conference room." They all looked around at each other. "What do you think this could be about?" Avin asked. "I thought operations were on hold." Sonders picked up his datapad and carried it with him. "You remember when I said a lot of things had to go right?" "Yeah?" "I think something just didn't." They all made their way out of their amphitheater to the main conference room. Chapter 3: The ShiftIt wasn't often that a single squadron was summoned to the main chamber. Missions were almost always assigned in the squadron's amphitheater outside the barracks or, if time was of the essence, to the squadron leaders themselves. Reena wasn't sure what to expect as she led her squad into the large room at the center of the base, but it was clear when she arrived that these weren't ordinary circumstances. "...opportunity we've never had before, but you should proceed with caution." "We'll use the utmost care and discretion. We're putting our best squad on..." As Bold Squadron walked in, every person in the room slowly turned to them. And there were more than a few there: the main chamber was filled with most of the commanding officers from every unit in the base. Reena and company felt eyes on them from every corner of the room, but the pair she focused on weren't technically in the room- they were being broadcast from possibly lightyears away. "Senator Mon Mothma!" She quickly saluted. The rest of Bold Squadron followed suit, a couple after being elbowed. The holographic image of the Senator gave the briefest smile and nodded. "Captain Varsen," she said, as if she had been expecting her to arrive the entire time. There was a pause as the two women regarded each other across multiple distances. "I trust your squadron is up for another mission?" "We are, ma'am," she said without hesitation, something even odd to her. The smile returned. "I trust you'll make us proud." The hologram faded. "Okay... what did we just volunteer for?" Grex asked, breaking the momentary silence. "And will this be before or after the party?" Sonders followed up. "During," a gruff voice answered. A grizzled grey-bearded man with short-cropped hair stepped up from the back of the group to stand in front of the holoprojector. Everyone in the room saluted, including the ones who hadn't moments earlier. "There's been some major developments while you were out. For one, we have to apologize to your squad for your previous handler. Commander Reknaw was given some leniency we shouldn't have afforded him. Intel will not be making that mistake again." Reena found it difficult to look General Ibo Geesan directly in the eyes. Not much was known about the leader of Rebel Alliance Intelligence for Task Force Defiance. The grizzled Clone Wars spy's behavior was as mysterious as his past. He had a knack for being able to show up seemingly at any time with information no one knew he was privy to. "Did... did Intelligence just apologize to us?" Grex whispered. Reena elbowed Grex to shut him up, but she was wondering the exact same thing. The general stepped up in front of the holoprojector. Whether he'd heard them or not, they did not know, but his sudden movement silenced them anyway. He kicked the base of the projector with the tip of his boot and it suddenly turned on again, displaying a blue image. The others around the room stopped what they were doing, ceased any private whispers to lean in to what the general had to say. "First and foremost, we're beginning to understand the Empire's interest in Equestria," he began, gesturing towards the projector. As he spoke, the blue blurs transformed into the shape of mustached man in the familiar gray Imperial officer's uniform. "This is Admiral Gravleos, the naval officer in charge of this system." "Not exactly a chipper fellow, is he?" Brullen asked, making note of the officer's stern expression. "When exactly have you seen a happy Imp?" Avin questioned. To which, Brull shrugged. "Dinkleburg seemed happy at the party." "DINKLEBERG!!" Timmy's dad yelled. Reena's throat was knotted. She felt like she was about to be shouted down by the superior officer; if he hadn't been present, she might've reprimanded Brullen herself. But to her surprise, and indeed the surprise of all assembled there, General Geesan only said, "Indeed. In fact, we can confirm that Admiral Gravleos is not pleased with his current position as Grand Moff Dinkleburg's personal war hound. He'd rather be fighting us directly... something we can't afford right now." "Sir?" Sonders raised his hand, waiting for a gesture from the general before he continued. "Was Admiral Gravleos responsible for ambushing the Grace?" The general nodded. He kicked the projector again and it turned from the head of the admiral to a Mon Calamari star cruiser. "Some of you already know, but Task Force Grace was ambushed a couple months ago over Christophsis. Their flagship, the Grace, was our primary medical cruiser and had about fifteen-hundred troops on her and eight-hundred wounded. The Task Force was almost completely wiped out, barely any of our ships escaped Gravleos' ambush and we thought the Grace had been destroyed," the general explained. As he did, the holoprojector image zoomed out, showing the Mon Calamari cruiser surrounded by Imperial ships. But they weren't attacking it- they were in formation. "Son of a bitch..." "The hell?" Murmurs erupted from the room. General Geesan did nothing to quiet them down. "This came from one of our spy satellites over Nar Shaddaa- before it was destroyed," Geesan said. "We can now confirm Gravleos did not destroy the Grace. He captured it. Kept it as a trophy, of sorts, from what we can tell. It's part of his fleet now and we have no word about the crew of the Grace... or the wounded aboard her." "Our biggest medical ship," Sonders said quietly. "Losing her was a blow to morale across the entire Alliance and to our allies." "Indeed. But we've just found out that Admiral Gravleos is on the guest list for Grand Moff Dinkleburg-" "DINKLEBERG!!" "'s Nightmare Night party this weekend. Your unit is going to take advantage of this opportunity," Margus finished. They all leaned in just a little bit closer, became a little bit more serious and stood up just a little bit straighter. They knew what was coming next; they were going to receive their assignment. "For details on this operation, I'm going to turn it over to the source of this information, Director Seebrin Margus," he said, stepping aside. Metal clacks rang off the floor. What entered the room from the other side drew every eye as if it had been Saw Gerrera's ghost. But the new arrival walked on four metal legs and was unfamiliar to all of them in more ways than one. "As General Geesan said, this weekend presents us with an impressive opportunity," the Director began. "Not just for the Alliance and Equestria... but for the entire galaxy." He tried to control the display on the holoprojector but his hooves had trouble with the controls. General Geesan stepped over and kicked the projector. "Thank you. My suit makes finer manipulation a bit... tricky, shall we say. One of the burdens of being a sea pony." "Sea pony?" Grex repeated. "I didn't know there were... well, you, on Equestria." The glass-helmeted orange sea pony smiled. "There's quite a bit you wouldn't know about Equestria from just looking on the surface." "Director Margus is part of the Alderaan Science Directorate, what's left of it, anyway," Geesan explained. "That's correct. And the ASD has overseen the development of many special projects both on Equestria and other Alderaan-like worlds since our original planet's destruction," he said, looking down for a moment. He held the side of his helmet, as if massaging his temple from the outside. "Our goal since then has been to try and prevent another catastrophe... like that from ever happening again." There were a lot of unspoken words at the mentioning of Alderaan. Almost every unit in the Alliance had someone that had been affected in some way. Whether they were refugees or had friends and family who had been on-world at the time, the Death Star changed a lot of lives when it destroyed Alderaan. It was less a location now and more of an event, something horrible that had happened to everyone. "What is it you want us to do?" Reena asked. The sea pony began pacing around the projector. "Commander Reknaw's recent actions may have been a bit... extreme, but we believe he was ultimately correct. Information he found while undercover strongly suggests the Empire is conducting extensive weapons R&D on Equestria. From what we've learned, we believe it may be another planet-killer. Something like the Death Star... with plans to test it on Equestria like they did Alderaan." More murmurs escaped from the crowded soldiers. Alderaan and the destruction of the Death Star after it had united the Rebellion and dived the galaxy. In the space of a few standard galactic hours, the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire had transformed from two conflicting movements into the most bitter of enemies. Planets across the galaxy had declared their allegiance and were outraged at either the loss of Alderaan or the Death Star that destroyed it. Except Equestria. The Empire was now cracking down on the dissenting planets, many of whom were now trying to join the Alliance openly and/or gain their independence. And despite the Empire's vast power and extension, many of them were actually getting it. Gerrard V declared its independence and, despite the local governor's attempts to loot the city, was liberated and Imperial forces were forced to withdraw. With all their warships and weapons, the truth was clear: the Empire did not have enough numbers to control the galaxy. The Rebellion now tried to help worlds gain independence, running from the Imperial fleets pursuing them. As Seebrin walked around the holographic projector, he seemed to mutter calculations to himself. He came full-circle to the front of the projector, coming to both a conclusion and a destination simultaneously. "We don't want to give the Empire that opportunity. We want you to remove Admiral Gravleos from the equation." "Ah," Grex said, nodding. He clapped his hands together as if he was prepared now. "We gotcha. Standard lab-nab? Piece of Uj cake." Lab-nab was Rebel slang for rescuing a scientist, which usually came at the request of the scientist's family. Unfortunately, some of the Empire's conscripted military minds did not come willingly and had to be abducted, so the term lab-nab was sometimes very literal. "No," Seebrin said. "There will be no extraction. There's too many variables involved. Your orders are to kill him." Silence again. In an instant, they all realized that was the reason General Geesan was here and the reason for the current gathering, including Senator Mon Mothma's brief call. Officially, the Alliance didn't do assassinations or condone them. Unofficially, Rebel Intelligence handled all the wetwork missions against the enemies of the Rebellion, Imperial or otherwise. Even before the founding of the Rebel Alliance, it was rumored General Geesan was a member of a guild of assassins called the GenoHaradan, responsible for countless assassinations across the history of the Republic. "I know we're asking a lot," Geesan said, smiling at them. "We know you'll be able to get the job done." "Excuse me, but, sir? What about the Grace?" Reena asked. "Yeah, wouldn't capturing him be a better idea?" Brullen followed up. "We could find out where are people are-" "Unfortunately, that's not an option," Seebrin interrupted. "In all likelihood, the Grace and its crew complement are..." he trailed off, his eyes listing to one side as if he was suddenly in a trance. "Well, we can't be sure what's happened to them." "What did you mean "in all likelihood," though?" Grex asked. They were all curious. "Oh. I meant, they're probably being experimented on," the director said matter-of-factly, as if they'd asked him a more casual question. "The Empire's probably performing all manner of unethical tests on them, what with them being prisoners of war and all. Or they'll try to use them in some sort of elaborate trap or scheme of some sort. It'll be quite fascinating when they do decide to do something and we'll need to analyze the-" "What the good doctor means is that the crew of the Grace are already dead. The chance of recovery is, sadly, too small to consider," Geesan stepped in to explain. "So we're going to send a message instead and prevent him from developing anything new in this corner of the galaxy." "General, report from Admiral Kenso, sir." "Thank you, lieutenant," the general said. He accepted the already-lit datapad from his aide. He glanced at it once and then clasped his hands, with the datapad behind his back. "For your role in this operation, you will be attending Grand Moff Dinkleberg's Nightmare Night party." Timmy's Dad attempted to shout again but his mouth was preemptively covered by Grex's hand. Strangely, the general gave Mr. Turner a knowing smile. "There, you will confirm Admiral Gravleos' presence and terminate him." With that chilling statement, he turned back to the holoprojector. "That's... a bit easier said than done, isn't it?" "Indeed," the director stepped back in, "which is why you're going in undercover. You'll be attending as guests at the party, so the costumes Miss Rarity designed for you can be put to good use. Once you're at the party and you make contact with the good Admiral, we'd like you to remove him any way you can. But, if we had a preference," the sea pony reached into a side pocket on his suit and withdrew a vial. "This is a sample of a neurotoxin his lab has been developing. It's quite potent and we would like you to... make sure he samples it. Perhaps in a beverage or hors-d'oeuvre. This will lead to suspicion someone on his own team poisoned him and hopefully mean the project's cancellation." Reena felt herself and a few of her wing mates, including Grex, swallow. "We will get it done, sir." Still with his back to them, the general nodded. "The party's this weekend so we want you to keep a low profile until then. No trips out, focus on preparation and any other affairs you need to get in order at the base," he looked over his shoulder. "Questions?" They shook their heads, a silent lie. "Dismissed." They saluted and filed out of the room the same way they had entered. Just before they completely exited, Seebrin Margus called a "Good luck" after them. Reena found herself more uncomfortable than when she had entered. As they returned to their amphitheater, Reena pulled Grex to the side. "So hey, were you creeped out as I was about that-" She pressed her finger over his lips to quiet him. It was too risky to discuss, to question the mission in the base right now. She looked at him, stern concern in her eyes to convey that message to them. "The party." "The party," he repeated. "This is kind of hard for me to say, but," she looked around. "I've never been to a party before. You know how much socializing I do." "Yeah..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we're both gonna kind of be out of our element." She shook her head. "Not you." "Not me?" "No, you're good at interacting with others. You're the first one to make new friends when a new unit shows up to the Task Force. You're even friends with droids." "Well, I- I guess so. I just like to make the new guys feel welcome. We were all knew at one time, you know? Even our droids. But what does this have to do with you?" Grex asked. She leaned in closer to him and took both his hands. She looked down at both of their hands, as if he held something she didn't. "I... need you to teach me how to interact. At a party." He stared back at her blankly. "You want me to teach you how to party." She nodded. "I get claustrophobic around crowds. It's something from when I grew up that I never got over." Grex nodded, remembering her troubled past. "I, yeah, I understand." "So can you help?" He thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I think I can. But I'm going to need back up for this. Fortunately, I know a guy. Err, gal." "Really? Who?"
Chapter 1: The VoracityA familiar sight occurred high above Equestria; a not-so familiar place for such an occurrence. An Imperial Star Destroyer chased a Rebel Blockade Runner through space inside Equestria's orbit. The larger ship exchanged laser fire with the smaller ship, lighting up the space between them with red and green bolts. They were two shapes playing a deadly game of laser tag in the dark, a massive triangular metal wedge relentlessly pursuing a tiny, blocky corvette. The two vessels continued this exchange as they flew over the planet, just in orbit. One of the green bolts from the Imperial Star Destroyer Voracity struck the center of the Blockade Runner, causing an explosion on its hull. The smaller ship's engines shutdown. The giant, gray Imperial triangle cast a shadow over the Rebel vessel as it closed in. Using its tractor beam, it pulled the blockade runner into the hangar on its underside like a predator sucking helpless prey into its maw. It clamped down on the tiny ship as it entered its hangar, followed by a TIE Boarder latching onto its airlock. On the inside of the Rebel ship, sparks sprayed from the airlock. Stormtroopers cut through the door from the other side, burning through the hatch with plasma torches. The door exploded, stormtroopers opened fire through the opening and stormed the interior of the ship. Again, all a very familiar sight, something common throughout the galaxy. But this time, no one fired back at them. The stormtroopers breached the door, stormed into the narrow access corridor of the ship but no Rebels returned fire. There were none there. The hallway was empty. The first stormtrooper through the breach activated his commlink. "Sergeant Tee-en-two-five-nine to Voracity control. Breach successful, immediate vicinity clear. No enemy contacts." "Say again, two-five-nine; that was no contacts?" "Yes, sir. The access hall to the airlock is clear. No sign of the enemy." A small amount of heightened concern was in his voice. He kept his rifle raised, scanning the corridor, as did his fellow stormtroopers. There could be any number of Rebels hiding, waiting to catch them off guard, or booby traps. There was a pause on the comms. "Understood. They might be hiding, two-five-nine, stay alert. We're sending squad two to your position; sweep the ship and detain anyone you find, report anything suspicious. We'll have a scanning crew on standby." "Copy control, commencing sweep," he said. Along with his squad mates, the stormtrooper searched every room in the ship. The interior of the Correllian corvette was composed of long, sterile-white hallways that connected to small and large compartments. These larger rooms were mostly in between the two primary corridors that ran the length of the ship, connected to both from the middle for easy access. Branching off these main corridors and compartments were smaller rooms and sections, the mess hall, crew quarters, storage closets and other parts of the ship. All standard for Rebel vessels, nothing out of the ordinary. Except they didn't find any Rebels. The ship was empty from stem to stern, from the bridge to the engineering section The ship's systems were still active; lights and terminals still on. The navigational computer had the present course, the helm and all the controls on the bridge were working just... no one was at them. No one was there. TN-259 continued with his squad to check the final section of the ship: the escape pods. The escape pod bays were in the middle modular section of the ship underneath its four laser cannon batteries. He noticed strangely the laser cannons themselves were programmed for automatic fire. The escape pods hadn't been jettisoned but all were primed to go. Four red lights glowed above the hatches to the escape pods indicating they were locked in their stations. They were ready to be used but no one was here to use them. This entire operation was beginning to make him feel more and more uncomfortable by the moment. "Two-five-nine to control, we've reached the escape pods. They're all still in their berths, still no sign of enemy contacts." "Anything at all?" "Negative Voracity," he responded. "They might've sent us on a wild bantha chase, used the corvette as a drone." Another pause on the comms. "We're looking into that now, Sergeant. We're sending the scanning crew in now to find exactly what they might be hiding, hold your position until they make it to you." "Copy control, Two-five-nine out." He switched off his comms and relaxed, exactly what you were never supposed to do in enemy territory. His squad all did the same, taking the opportunity to get a little bit comfortable before the scanners- 'Box Boys' as they were called, got there. "You ever seen this before, sarge?" TN-264 asked, gesturing to the entire ship. "One of these things being empty?" "Not when it was just shooting at you," 259 said, leaning on the doorway from the hall to the escape pods. "Heh. Where or where did the crew go?" 264 asked, chuckling. He looked over at his superior. "I think this might be my first ghost ship. Spoooooky, heheheh." The sergeant chuckled himself. "Maybe those containers in the cargo bay we saw had booze in them. Might be able to take a few with us." 264 was suddenly excited. The other stormtroopers instantly perked up. The prospect of every enlisted man's favorite thing: booze, was tempting to all of them. "You really think control will let us?" "Who said I was going to ask them?" 259 said. "A couple of us will stay here for the scanning crew and the rest of us will-" *Clang-clang, clang-clang-clang* All five of them rose their rifles in the direction of the noise. "Set for stun," the sergeant ordered. "Chix, take point, Loq watch our exit." "Copy." The stormtroopers closed in. A banging noise came from one of the escape pods, specifically from inside it. "Two-five-nine to control, think we've got something. Standby." There was no response from control. The sergeant approached the pod where the noise seemed to be coming from. He looked through the viewport to try and see what was inside. "You see anything?" "There's something in there," he said. "Stand back, I'm gonna open it up." *Bing-bong, bing-bong, BOONNNNNNNG* The display lights turned green. The escape pods launched. All of the escape pods launched on both sides of the ship, including the one that was in front of them. "Control, we have an unauthorized escape pod launch. Recommend tractor beam snags them," Two-five-nine said into his comms. Only silence answered him. "Control, do you copy? Tee-en two-five-nine to control, do you read?" There was a long silence and then finally, the comm crackled. But when he finally heard a voice, it wasn't control. "-ond Squad, we've got contact! We've got lots of hostile contact! They're coming out of the walls-they're everywhere!" The trooper's voice on the other line sounded panicked. But his voice wasn't the only one on the line, just the only one that was coherent: the other troopers sounded like they were screaming. "Say again, Second Squad? Repeat, over!" "AAHH- MY FACE! GET IT OFF ME, GET IT-AAAAHHHH-" A burst of static cutoff the second squad's communications. The sergeant exchanged glances with the others. Even underneath their helmets, they could all tell they felt the same thing: fear. "Rifles up, set for full-auto!" he ordered. Through the hallway, they began to hear what sounded like a stampede. Like a herd of nerfs, the sound practically reverberated through the floor. They could almost feel whatever was coming through the soles of their boots. "Charge and lock! Get ready!" "Hi there!" A pair of metal arms grabbed TN-259 and TN-264. "What the-?" "For your safety, I must ask that you come with me immediately." The two stormtroopers were dragged into the last escape pod. They saw a brief glimpse of their squad mates firing at something, Loq turning around to fire in the opposite direction before the hatch closed. Before the light turned green above it, they thought they heard someone or something pounded on the other side of the hatch. The Rebel corvette exploded in the belly of the Voracity. The blast was so powerful, it cut through the hull of the Star Destroyer, ripped through power conduits and destroyed whole decks of the massive ship. Explosions rippled through the ship as a chain reaction started in its reactor core. The bow of the Star Destroyer went dark, the shields on the craft were disabled and its massive engines sputtered and failed. The weight of the ship dragged it into Equestria's atmosphere, in moments, causing the Voracity to heat up with friction. The ship's bridge crew tried valiantly to save their ship. But damage and the fire of reentry made that task impossible. The ship burned bright orange as it pierced the upper atmosphere. The bow, the part of the ship that had been damaged the most, broke off and smashed into the bridge, breaking it clean off. As the charred midsection of the craft tumbled through Equestria's skies, its reactor finally went critical and exploded. The entire ship became nothing more than a shower of scorched and blackened bits, burning a trail of smoke all the way to Equestria's surface. Maybe a few pieces actually made their way to the ground but not a scrap was left to identify the once proud Voracity. TN-259 and TN-264's escape pod entered Equestria's atmosphere on a different trajectory. They were able to watch as their ship came down through the viewports as their pod tumbled. TN-264 peered out of the window intently. "You think any of the booze survived?" The sergeant looked back at his last surviving fellow stormtrooper. Out of a crew complement of thousands including technicians, naval officers, gunners, specialists, marines and stormtroopers like them both, they were the only two to make it off their ship alive. The sergeant was a veteran of two tours with the Stormtrooper Corps. and had seen several boarding actions like that last one, though never one quite like this. His subordinate barely a foot or two away from him in the cramped space of the pod was a relatively new recruit, and he had just asked his squad leader if any of the Rebels' cargo, which may or may not have been alcohol of some kind, had survived. Their fellow crewmen of thousands had just been incinerated, their comrades and their ship destroyed in a single burning flash, and his biggest question was whether or not the booze was intact. And the sergeant said back, "You know, I was wondering the exact same thing." But neither of them knew for sure as they descended to Equestria safely in their pod, along with one protocol droid who had for some reason rescued them. As to the answer to their question, however, some of the Rebels' cargo had survived. Unfortunately, it wasn't booze.
Chapter 2: The PreparationTwo Days Later... Pegasi and unicorns had a bit of an advantage in the supermarket: pegasi could fly and unicorns could use their magic to get items off the shelves. Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed as she examined two different cans of canned bread. "Hmm..." She looked at the backs of both. "Which one would you say is better for toast? Seven grain or five grain?" "Which one is cheaper?" Reena Varsen, a human friend of Twilight's asked. "The five grain." "I'll take the seven, then," Reena said, accepting the can. "Grex and Avin could probably use a couple extra grains anyway." They put both cans in their shared cart. "I heard that!" Grex, Reena's boyfriend and wingman yelled as he rounded the corner, arms laden with goods. He dumped his load into their cart on top of everything else they'd carefully gathered. The pilot plunged his arm into the pile of goods and somehow pulled out the can of seven grain bread. "And we should get the whole grain. Whole grain products use all parts of the grain instead of just a bunch of different ones, making them a bit healthier usually." "They don't have whole grain," both girls replied. Grex dropped the can back into the cart. "I like the seven grain, then." He ran off to go collect more stuff. It had been a couple weeks since Bold Squadron had exposed the plot by their own informant to manipulate the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire to continue fighting on Equestria. Since then, fighting between the Rebels and Imperials had ceased, at least on this one particular planet, and both sides seemed committed to making things easier for all those who called Equestria home. Reena Varsen was a dark-skinned human female from a former Separatist planet in the Outer Rim. She grew up opposing the Empire, even when she was forced to join it briefly, but was rescued by the Rebellion and has served in Gold/Bold Squadron ever since. Her boyfriend, Grex Corsa, was a very light-skinned human with a slight beard and the attitude/behavior of an adult kid. He grew up on Corellia where ideals like "freedom" and "democracy" and "equal representation, fair justice" and "private property" are being stifled, oppressed and/or destroyed outright by the Empire right now. They were both part of the Alliance's Bold Squadron(formerly Gold Squadron), a group of bomber pilots who usually fought the Empire, just not at the moment. Right now, with the unofficial ceasefire in place, there were talks of a more long-standing truce, at least on Equestria. The Rebels and their pony allies were taking the time to relax, do some shopping and prepare for the upcoming holiday, Nightmare Night. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were busy loading up a pair shopping cart with stuff of all sorts from every aisle. The two zipped back and forth, blurs of rainbow and pink color. Most of the Mane Six were shopping, except for Rarity, who was busy making new costumes for the weekend. They were a train of five shopping carts, each moving slowly through the aisles of the Ponyville Neigh Mart. Applejack pushed her cart behind Twilight, ducking and dodging Pinkie and Rainbow as they rushed past her. She had to grab her hat to keep it from getting blown off. "Y'know, it's hard enough of to shop with these two without both of ya stopping every other moment." "Sorry Applejack," Twilight said over her shoulder. "I thought we were just gettin' party supplies," AJ said. "We are!" Pinkie said. "So far, I got forty-four different types of candy, FIFTY-four different types of chocolate, SIXTY-four different types of ice cream and both punch and lemonade in case anypony likes both!" she exclaimed with a squee. Applejack huffed, adjusting her hat. "Normally, I'd call that excessive, but I guess since we're supplying all'a downtown Manehattan, I guess you're on the right track." "We're off to a good start. I got eighty cases of the new Mountain Dew flavor to take with us," Rainbow said, hovering down with a tower of sodas. "Mountain DARING Dew Adventure Fuel! This Nightmare Night is gonna be sweet!" "Mm-hmm! We're gonna have this Nightmare Night in Manehattan all covered!" She said, disappearing in another blur of pink. Fluttershy, behind them, had only pet food in her cart. "I hope I have enough birdie seed for all the owls," she said. She held up two different cans of feed. "Applejack? Do you think the birdies in Manehattan will like the five grain or the seven grain bird seed?" The cowmare sighed. "I think either one's fine." Applejack herself was in charge of jack-o-lanterns. Ever the farm girl, she was committed to making sure the pumpkins she'd been growing were perfect. "I'll get the seven, then." "Alright, that looks to be about everything on the list," Twilight announced. "I'll go find Grex and we'll get this stuff loaded up." "Thanks." Reena turned back to her just as she got to the end of the aisle. "Hey, um..." "Something wrong?" "Well," she rubbed the back of her neck, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for getting you involved. With the raid, the Rebellion, the soap and... well, everything." "It's okay," Twilight said. In front of them, in an aisle across from them, were a pair of stormtroopers inspecting something. Twilight watched them as they too, examined cans of bread. "I have a feeling we would've been involved anyway." They checked out and took their grocery train to their waiting ships. Bold Squadron was currently using a U-Wing gunship for transport, which they'd parked out in front. Grex had also brought his customized BTL-M9 Y-Wing, parked right in front of the other ship, in the unlikely event they needed fighter support. The rest of Bold Squadron was already loading their costumes onto the U-Wing when Twilight arrived with the groceries. "Um, do be careful with those!" Rarity said. "Oh. Uh, sorry," Brullen, the strongman of Bold Squadron said, gently lowering the next box into the ship. Rarity held her forehead with a hoof. "Dear or dear..." "Are those the costumes?" Twilight asked, walking over. "Yes, that would be them," Rarity responded. "And I helped make them!" Spike added. "Making them unique for all of us was a pretty big challenge." And with that, Rarity gave Spike a hug. "And I would have never gotten it done so quickly without my Spikey!" Spike blushed hard. "Can I look forward to more of this at the party?" "Essentials packed for the trip back to Sigma. We're ready to go!" Grex announced, slamming the trunk of the Y-Wing. Reena checked to make sure everything on the U-Wing was ready to go. "Everything looks secure," she said. Her squad mates got on board, carefully maneuvering around all the boxes. She stood in the doorway as Twilight hopped off. "We'll see you at the party, okay?" "Absolutely!" Twilight exclaimed. "This is the first Nightmare Night you guys have celebrated on Equestria, right?" Reena laughed. "I think it's the first Nightmare Night we've celebrated. And our first time to Manehattan." "Oh, you'll love it, darling. As well as the outfits I've made for- they'll be absolutely gorgeous!" Rarity said. Twilight laughed. "Rarity's the best fashion designer in Equestria. I bet even the Imperials will be impressed!" "I don't doubt that!" Their human friend smiled. She was still uncomfortable that Imperials would even be at the party, but not as uncomfortable as it would've been a couple weeks ago. She slid the door shut and both Rebel ships took off. Despite the fact they were well within range of Imperial guns and that TIE Fighters were flying nearby, they were perfectly safe. Whatever the Empire was doing on Equestria, it still wasn't something they were quite used to, but they were well on their way. They delivered their supplies to Sigma Base, the Rebel Alliance's base in the Everfree Forest. After that, Reena and her squad had a chance for some rest and relaxation. Grex popped open a can of bread and made a sandwich. "Hahaha, no more reconstituted protein and calcium supplement slices!" Grex said happily, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Want one, Reena?" "Sounds good to me. Not the reconstituted and supplements, gimme the real thing." "Oh, sweetie, you always know I keep the real thing just for us!" he said, kissing her playfully and putting a sandwich into her gloved hands. Avin smiled slyly at both of them. "Looks like you two aren't the only couple in Bold Squadron any more." They both looked over to him. "Oh really?" The cunning slick-haired human was Grex's wingman. Like Grex, he liked to have fun, though he was more of a prankster-type. Right now though, it didn't look like he was joking. "That's right. Me and Pemma are dating. Gonna be going as two-of-a-kind to the Nightmare Night party." "Pem's dating you?" Reena asked. "You're sure it's our Pem, right? She hasn't been using any of Commander Reknaw's soap, has she?" Grex and Sonders laughed. "No," Avin retorted. "She was impressed by my charm, as usual." "Me, I'm too busy to date," Sonders, the tactical officer of Bold Squadron said. "We might have a real shot at peace with the Empire. That's going to take a lot of work, a lot has to go right for that to happen." "Peace? It'll never last," Brullen said, leaning back in the circular couch. "One Moff's decision on one planet doesn't mean much when the rest of the galaxy is under the Emperor's thumb." "It's a start," Reena said. "A good start. Ponies here have freedom, more or less. Even better in some ways since the Empire." Brullen shook his head. "It won't last. They'll do something, screw something up and then it'll be back to business as usual." "We'll see," Reena said. The intercom beeped. "Bold Squadron, please report to the main conference room. Repeat, Bold Squadron pilots, to the conference room." They all looked around at each other. "What do you think this could be about?" Avin asked. "I thought operations were on hold." Sonders picked up his datapad and carried it with him. "You remember when I said a lot of things had to go right?" "Yeah?" "I think something just didn't." They all made their way out of their amphitheater to the main conference room.
Chapter 3: The ShiftIt wasn't often that a single squadron was summoned to the main chamber. Missions were almost always assigned in the squadron's amphitheater outside the barracks or, if time was of the essence, to the squadron leaders themselves. Reena wasn't sure what to expect as she led her squad into the large room at the center of the base, but it was clear when she arrived that these weren't ordinary circumstances. "...opportunity we've never had before, but you should proceed with caution." "We'll use the utmost care and discretion. We're putting our best squad on..." As Bold Squadron walked in, every person in the room slowly turned to them. And there were more than a few there: the main chamber was filled with most of the commanding officers from every unit in the base. Reena and company felt eyes on them from every corner of the room, but the pair she focused on weren't technically in the room- they were being broadcast from possibly lightyears away. "Senator Mon Mothma!" She quickly saluted. The rest of Bold Squadron followed suit, a couple after being elbowed. The holographic image of the Senator gave the briefest smile and nodded. "Captain Varsen," she said, as if she had been expecting her to arrive the entire time. There was a pause as the two women regarded each other across multiple distances. "I trust your squadron is up for another mission?" "We are, ma'am," she said without hesitation, something even odd to her. The smile returned. "I trust you'll make us proud." The hologram faded. "Okay... what did we just volunteer for?" Grex asked, breaking the momentary silence. "And will this be before or after the party?" Sonders followed up. "During," a gruff voice answered. A grizzled grey-bearded man with short-cropped hair stepped up from the back of the group to stand in front of the holoprojector. Everyone in the room saluted, including the ones who hadn't moments earlier. "There's been some major developments while you were out. For one, we have to apologize to your squad for your previous handler. Commander Reknaw was given some leniency we shouldn't have afforded him. Intel will not be making that mistake again." Reena found it difficult to look General Ibo Geesan directly in the eyes. Not much was known about the leader of Rebel Alliance Intelligence for Task Force Defiance. The grizzled Clone Wars spy's behavior was as mysterious as his past. He had a knack for being able to show up seemingly at any time with information no one knew he was privy to. "Did... did Intelligence just apologize to us?" Grex whispered. Reena elbowed Grex to shut him up, but she was wondering the exact same thing. The general stepped up in front of the holoprojector. Whether he'd heard them or not, they did not know, but his sudden movement silenced them anyway. He kicked the base of the projector with the tip of his boot and it suddenly turned on again, displaying a blue image. The others around the room stopped what they were doing, ceased any private whispers to lean in to what the general had to say. "First and foremost, we're beginning to understand the Empire's interest in Equestria," he began, gesturing towards the projector. As he spoke, the blue blurs transformed into the shape of mustached man in the familiar gray Imperial officer's uniform. "This is Admiral Gravleos, the naval officer in charge of this system." "Not exactly a chipper fellow, is he?" Brullen asked, making note of the officer's stern expression. "When exactly have you seen a happy Imp?" Avin questioned. To which, Brull shrugged. "Dinkleburg seemed happy at the party." "DINKLEBERG!!" Timmy's dad yelled. Reena's throat was knotted. She felt like she was about to be shouted down by the superior officer; if he hadn't been present, she might've reprimanded Brullen herself. But to her surprise, and indeed the surprise of all assembled there, General Geesan only said, "Indeed. In fact, we can confirm that Admiral Gravleos is not pleased with his current position as Grand Moff Dinkleburg's personal war hound. He'd rather be fighting us directly... something we can't afford right now." "Sir?" Sonders raised his hand, waiting for a gesture from the general before he continued. "Was Admiral Gravleos responsible for ambushing the Grace?" The general nodded. He kicked the projector again and it turned from the head of the admiral to a Mon Calamari star cruiser. "Some of you already know, but Task Force Grace was ambushed a couple months ago over Christophsis. Their flagship, the Grace, was our primary medical cruiser and had about fifteen-hundred troops on her and eight-hundred wounded. The Task Force was almost completely wiped out, barely any of our ships escaped Gravleos' ambush and we thought the Grace had been destroyed," the general explained. As he did, the holoprojector image zoomed out, showing the Mon Calamari cruiser surrounded by Imperial ships. But they weren't attacking it- they were in formation. "Son of a bitch..." "The hell?" Murmurs erupted from the room. General Geesan did nothing to quiet them down. "This came from one of our spy satellites over Nar Shaddaa- before it was destroyed," Geesan said. "We can now confirm Gravleos did not destroy the Grace. He captured it. Kept it as a trophy, of sorts, from what we can tell. It's part of his fleet now and we have no word about the crew of the Grace... or the wounded aboard her." "Our biggest medical ship," Sonders said quietly. "Losing her was a blow to morale across the entire Alliance and to our allies." "Indeed. But we've just found out that Admiral Gravleos is on the guest list for Grand Moff Dinkleburg-" "DINKLEBERG!!" "'s Nightmare Night party this weekend. Your unit is going to take advantage of this opportunity," Margus finished. They all leaned in just a little bit closer, became a little bit more serious and stood up just a little bit straighter. They knew what was coming next; they were going to receive their assignment. "For details on this operation, I'm going to turn it over to the source of this information, Director Seebrin Margus," he said, stepping aside. Metal clacks rang off the floor. What entered the room from the other side drew every eye as if it had been Saw Gerrera's ghost. But the new arrival walked on four metal legs and was unfamiliar to all of them in more ways than one. "As General Geesan said, this weekend presents us with an impressive opportunity," the Director began. "Not just for the Alliance and Equestria... but for the entire galaxy." He tried to control the display on the holoprojector but his hooves had trouble with the controls. General Geesan stepped over and kicked the projector. "Thank you. My suit makes finer manipulation a bit... tricky, shall we say. One of the burdens of being a sea pony." "Sea pony?" Grex repeated. "I didn't know there were... well, you, on Equestria." The glass-helmeted orange sea pony smiled. "There's quite a bit you wouldn't know about Equestria from just looking on the surface." "Director Margus is part of the Alderaan Science Directorate, what's left of it, anyway," Geesan explained. "That's correct. And the ASD has overseen the development of many special projects both on Equestria and other Alderaan-like worlds since our original planet's destruction," he said, looking down for a moment. He held the side of his helmet, as if massaging his temple from the outside. "Our goal since then has been to try and prevent another catastrophe... like that from ever happening again." There were a lot of unspoken words at the mentioning of Alderaan. Almost every unit in the Alliance had someone that had been affected in some way. Whether they were refugees or had friends and family who had been on-world at the time, the Death Star changed a lot of lives when it destroyed Alderaan. It was less a location now and more of an event, something horrible that had happened to everyone. "What is it you want us to do?" Reena asked. The sea pony began pacing around the projector. "Commander Reknaw's recent actions may have been a bit... extreme, but we believe he was ultimately correct. Information he found while undercover strongly suggests the Empire is conducting extensive weapons R&D on Equestria. From what we've learned, we believe it may be another planet-killer. Something like the Death Star... with plans to test it on Equestria like they did Alderaan." More murmurs escaped from the crowded soldiers. Alderaan and the destruction of the Death Star after it had united the Rebellion and dived the galaxy. In the space of a few standard galactic hours, the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire had transformed from two conflicting movements into the most bitter of enemies. Planets across the galaxy had declared their allegiance and were outraged at either the loss of Alderaan or the Death Star that destroyed it. Except Equestria. The Empire was now cracking down on the dissenting planets, many of whom were now trying to join the Alliance openly and/or gain their independence. And despite the Empire's vast power and extension, many of them were actually getting it. Gerrard V declared its independence and, despite the local governor's attempts to loot the city, was liberated and Imperial forces were forced to withdraw. With all their warships and weapons, the truth was clear: the Empire did not have enough numbers to control the galaxy. The Rebellion now tried to help worlds gain independence, running from the Imperial fleets pursuing them. As Seebrin walked around the holographic projector, he seemed to mutter calculations to himself. He came full-circle to the front of the projector, coming to both a conclusion and a destination simultaneously. "We don't want to give the Empire that opportunity. We want you to remove Admiral Gravleos from the equation." "Ah," Grex said, nodding. He clapped his hands together as if he was prepared now. "We gotcha. Standard lab-nab? Piece of Uj cake." Lab-nab was Rebel slang for rescuing a scientist, which usually came at the request of the scientist's family. Unfortunately, some of the Empire's conscripted military minds did not come willingly and had to be abducted, so the term lab-nab was sometimes very literal. "No," Seebrin said. "There will be no extraction. There's too many variables involved. Your orders are to kill him." Silence again. In an instant, they all realized that was the reason General Geesan was here and the reason for the current gathering, including Senator Mon Mothma's brief call. Officially, the Alliance didn't do assassinations or condone them. Unofficially, Rebel Intelligence handled all the wetwork missions against the enemies of the Rebellion, Imperial or otherwise. Even before the founding of the Rebel Alliance, it was rumored General Geesan was a member of a guild of assassins called the GenoHaradan, responsible for countless assassinations across the history of the Republic. "I know we're asking a lot," Geesan said, smiling at them. "We know you'll be able to get the job done." "Excuse me, but, sir? What about the Grace?" Reena asked. "Yeah, wouldn't capturing him be a better idea?" Brullen followed up. "We could find out where are people are-" "Unfortunately, that's not an option," Seebrin interrupted. "In all likelihood, the Grace and its crew complement are..." he trailed off, his eyes listing to one side as if he was suddenly in a trance. "Well, we can't be sure what's happened to them." "What did you mean "in all likelihood," though?" Grex asked. They were all curious. "Oh. I meant, they're probably being experimented on," the director said matter-of-factly, as if they'd asked him a more casual question. "The Empire's probably performing all manner of unethical tests on them, what with them being prisoners of war and all. Or they'll try to use them in some sort of elaborate trap or scheme of some sort. It'll be quite fascinating when they do decide to do something and we'll need to analyze the-" "What the good doctor means is that the crew of the Grace are already dead. The chance of recovery is, sadly, too small to consider," Geesan stepped in to explain. "So we're going to send a message instead and prevent him from developing anything new in this corner of the galaxy." "General, report from Admiral Kenso, sir." "Thank you, lieutenant," the general said. He accepted the already-lit datapad from his aide. He glanced at it once and then clasped his hands, with the datapad behind his back. "For your role in this operation, you will be attending Grand Moff Dinkleberg's Nightmare Night party." Timmy's Dad attempted to shout again but his mouth was preemptively covered by Grex's hand. Strangely, the general gave Mr. Turner a knowing smile. "There, you will confirm Admiral Gravleos' presence and terminate him." With that chilling statement, he turned back to the holoprojector. "That's... a bit easier said than done, isn't it?" "Indeed," the director stepped back in, "which is why you're going in undercover. You'll be attending as guests at the party, so the costumes Miss Rarity designed for you can be put to good use. Once you're at the party and you make contact with the good Admiral, we'd like you to remove him any way you can. But, if we had a preference," the sea pony reached into a side pocket on his suit and withdrew a vial. "This is a sample of a neurotoxin his lab has been developing. It's quite potent and we would like you to... make sure he samples it. Perhaps in a beverage or hors-d'oeuvre. This will lead to suspicion someone on his own team poisoned him and hopefully mean the project's cancellation." Reena felt herself and a few of her wing mates, including Grex, swallow. "We will get it done, sir." Still with his back to them, the general nodded. "The party's this weekend so we want you to keep a low profile until then. No trips out, focus on preparation and any other affairs you need to get in order at the base," he looked over his shoulder. "Questions?" They shook their heads, a silent lie. "Dismissed." They saluted and filed out of the room the same way they had entered. Just before they completely exited, Seebrin Margus called a "Good luck" after them. Reena found herself more uncomfortable than when she had entered. As they returned to their amphitheater, Reena pulled Grex to the side. "So hey, were you creeped out as I was about that-" She pressed her finger over his lips to quiet him. It was too risky to discuss, to question the mission in the base right now. She looked at him, stern concern in her eyes to convey that message to them. "The party." "The party," he repeated. "This is kind of hard for me to say, but," she looked around. "I've never been to a party before. You know how much socializing I do." "Yeah..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we're both gonna kind of be out of our element." She shook her head. "Not you." "Not me?" "No, you're good at interacting with others. You're the first one to make new friends when a new unit shows up to the Task Force. You're even friends with droids." "Well, I- I guess so. I just like to make the new guys feel welcome. We were all knew at one time, you know? Even our droids. But what does this have to do with you?" Grex asked. She leaned in closer to him and took both his hands. She looked down at both of their hands, as if he held something she didn't. "I... need you to teach me how to interact. At a party." He stared back at her blankly. "You want me to teach you how to party." She nodded. "I get claustrophobic around crowds. It's something from when I grew up that I never got over." Grex nodded, remembering her troubled past. "I, yeah, I understand." "So can you help?" He thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I think I can. But I'm going to need back up for this. Fortunately, I know a guy. Err, gal." "Really? Who?"
