I was walking up to the bridge when an explosion shook the ship. Alarms started blaring and I didn't know what was going on. We were in wild space where anything could happen so this wasn't good. I use my comlink to get an idea of what the fuck was going on!
:: Captain, status report! :: I yelled into my comlink as I double-timed it to the bridge.
:: Were under attack by separatist ships, it was a trap! :: I hear the captain's voice yell through the comlink. As soon as I got to the bridge, I saw at least eight separatist frigates and three command ships. Oh my god.
"We need to get out of here before-" I was saying before an operator cut him off.
"Sir, they've sent out boarding pods!" He said.
"Get us into emergency hyperspace now!!" I yell at the navigations operator who nodded in turn.
"All ships, this is the Andromeda. Prepare for emergency hyperspace." He tells the other Venators.
:: Copy that! Let's get the hell out of here! :: The operator of the Constitution and the Declaration said. There was another explosion on the hull and I had to hold onto something. I saw the boarding pods latch onto the hull of our ship and I use my comlink.
:: This is Commander Cody, all 212th on board are to arm themselves immediately and meet me in the hanger. :: I say as my voice echoes all through the ship. I could hear a lot of movement outside which meant that everyone got the message. After that, I grabbed a rifle and a blaster from the armory, then went to the hanger. I could hear blaster fire from the hangers as I got closer to them. When I opened the doors, I was pulled to the side by a clone as a blaster bolt hit exactly where I was. "Many thanks, trooper." I said before joining the fight and shooting my blaster at the super battle droids. After hitting some battle droids, my comlink lights up and the captain's voice comes out of it.
:: Cody, were ready to hyperspace. :: He says.
:: Then hit it! :: I yell. There were still a lot of super battle droids, but their numbers were dwindling. All of a sudden everything lurched and the battle droids stumbled and so did we. I was the first to recover and shoot eight more droids before the fighting recommenced. After several minutes, I noticed that we were not coming out of hyperspace. "Captain. Captain!" There wasn't any answer. This could only mean one thing and that the droids have taken the bridge. After the battle droids in the hangar were all gone I called out to the 212th. "Everybody on me to retake the bridge!" Everyone does as they're told and follow me to the bridge. On the way, I caught glimpses of bodies and fighting in the other corridors. As I reached the elevators, I turned to my company. "Ten per lift, sweep and clear," I ordered them and they nodded. I got into a lift with nine others and went up to the bridge. As the doors opened, I saw several commando droids and bodies around the room. "Scrap 'em!" I yell as we start to open fire on them. They start shooting back at us as the other lifts open revealing more clones. I start advancing in a crouched walk as does the others with me. One of the commando droids launches upon me and starts punching me in the face. And lemme tell ya what it feels like to get punched in the face by a robot, it fucking hurts! I yell in pain as I block the droids punches until a clone shoots it in the head. "Thanks, brother," I say as he pulls me up. He nodded his 'you're welcome' and went over to collect bodies. I went over to the captain's body. His eyes were still open and they were empty, devoid of life. "I'll see you on the other side brother," I whisper as I close his eyes respectfully. Suddenly an explosion rocks the ship and we come out of hyperspace. "That was the hyperdrive!" I yell.
"Sir! Our stabilizers are failing! We're going to crash on that planet!" A lieutenant yells from one of the terminals.
"Alert the other Venators and brace for impact!" I yell over to the clone at communications. He relays the situation to the others and holds onto something. I get onto the intercom. "Everybody brace for impact!" Seconds later we smashed into the ground and I was sent flying over the railing and into the glass, which cracked under the impact. I could vaguely hear the exclamations of 'Commander!' and 'Cody!' as I started losing consciousness. The last thing I saw was the 212th getting tossed around like ragdolls trying to get to me during the crash.
No....
It was a beautiful morning and Celestia was with Luna in the gardens enjoying the sunny weather. All of a sudden three resounding booms come from above and I look up to see the most amazing thing of my life. Three giant slice shaped UFO's were in space. But something was off. One of them was on fire and was coming into the atmosphere too fast!
"Luna, they're gonna crash!" I yell as I take off in the direction of the ship. I was too late to stop it when it crashes right next ponyville and skids to a halt inside the Everfree forest. I didn't care about possibilities at this point and speed towards the crashed ship, concerned for the lives of whatever is on there. As I land at a small entrance in the top, Luna pulls me away.
"Sister! What makes you think they are friendly?! They just crashed into the forest and killed hundreds of animals and maybe even ponies!" She yells at me, but a scream of pain grabs my attention from Luna and instead at the entrance. I jump in without Luna and find the source of the pain. It was all white except for the occasional orange stripes on it and it had writing that said '212th' on its helmet.
Maybe that's some sort of nickname? He was holding his limp arm in pain, it was obviously broken beyond repair by this point. It happened so fast that I didn't have enough time to react, a blade went through his stomach as he was risen off the ground by a large brown skeleton looking creature. It looked like it was made of metal and had lights in its body. The brown creature threw the white one aside and stalked towards me. I thought I was going to die until Luna cut it in two, both pieces falling to the floor, sparking. I looked at Luna with relief, but then I remembered the white one and scrambled over to its side and held its head in my arms.
"Find Cody...save my brothers...be careful...droids...still...here......" And then he went silent, indicating that he was dead. I had tears in my eyes as I watched him go limp in my arms, never to move again. I look up to Luna who has a mournful look on her face.
"We need to find this 'Cody' as soon as possible before more of these 'droids' kill them. What in Faust's name happened here?" I tell Luna as I look around the deserted halls. As I and Luna walked the halls, we saw bodies everywhere. One was impaled on a metal spike on the wall, another was bent in an unnatural way over a railing, another one looked intact under a giant piece of metal. Thinking that he was still alive, we pulled him from the wreckage, only to realize we only pulled half of him out of the wreckage. I vomited while Luna just stared at the smeared blood and entrails on the ground, horrified at what she just did. After that we ran out of the large open room we were in with the metal contraptions and went into the halls again. But as soon as we opened the doors, we had large black contraptions pointed at our heads. I looked past it to see another one of those white creatures along with a couple others.
"Get on your knee's! NOW!" HE yelled at us. Me and Luna exchange glances to each other and we raised our hands slowly and drop to our knee's. They suddenly bashed us in the head with their weapons, and I blacked out...
I woke up on the glass at the front of the bridge, where it was cracking slightly. I got up, got off the glass, and walked over to my men. I shook them awake as I checked the systems. Everything was offline except communications, which was a lucky break. I called the Constitution and told them to bring down lots of help. They obliged and said that they would come in 10 minutes. They also informed me that their hyperdrives are irreparable, we were stuck here. When I turned back around, I was met with quite the odd sight. Two creatures, one white and one blue, with wings and horns, and unconscious. "So, who might you be?" I ask them, knowing that they were unconscious.
The clone behind them answered. "They are probably natives wandered onto the ship." The clone said bluntly.
"Then we will leave them outside for their friends to pick them up, we have our own problems right now," I said darkly. Just then, another explosion shook the ship and caused me to look down at the terminal in alarm. "Shit, that was too close to the reactor, we need to leave now." All the clones left without hesitation, carrying the two horses with them. I took one last look at the body of the captain before following closely behind them.
In a matter of minutes, there were three gunships landing and taking in all the survivors. All except the horses, which they left a good distance away from the ship, in a bush so that predators would not find them so easily. I was a soldier, not a cold hearted bastard.
The gunship took us back to the Constitution and I began to talk to him about what we were to do next. He told me that in an emergency situation, I had the highest command. So I asked him about what we knew about this planet. He informed me that he had sent down probes that found a goldmine of knowledge about this world's history and sent to my datapad.
After a long discussion about what the fate of the 212th would be, I decided it best to go to sleep on the matter...
Tomorrow will just be another day on the job, not like its any different with Skywalker around...
TO BE CONTINUED....
Author's Note
:: means comlink
This was a cool brainwave I had a couple months back and I just now decided it should get some light. I hope you guys enjoy this story, but I will not be focusing on this completely, I will be focusing on my new main story, The New Under Empire.
-Malos
The Constitution
1 month later...
I woke up groggy as hell by my comlink. :: Yes, captain? :: I asked groggily
:: There is an emergency situation with the city known as 'Canterlot'. :: He replied hastily.
:: Very well then, I'll see you on the bridge shortly. :: He says before leaving. I groan and put on my armor, then I walk down the halls to the bridge. I had read most of the maps and history, as well as the biographies made about the main leader's of the leading faction, Equestria. I also learned that we knocked out the heads of state during our emergency on the downed ship. Not good for diplomacy.
When I arrived, I saw the captain with the hologram of the captain of the Declaration. They looked concerned about something as they looked down at a holomap of Canterlot and the Everfree.
"What happened?" I asked with genuine concern for the people of Canterlot.
"We have found out from the probes that it's Princess Cadance's wedding today. We have also discovered a large mass of bugs heading straight for Canterlot from the Everfree. We sent out some probes to scout the situation, and we found something grim." He said before clicking a button and a hologram of Princess Cadances room came up. Except that Cadance wasn't in it, it was one of the bug's, a big one at that. It seemed to laugh maniacally before being consumed in green flames and walked out as Princess Cadance. "What are our orders, sir?" The captain of the Constitution said.
"Gather the 212th in the hangers and prep the gunships and fighters, we're going to counter-attack. I'll be going on site with the battalion, take command of our air support while we're down there. Dismissed!" The hologram salutes before dissipating and the captain went onto the bridge. I left the bridge and went to the hanger to find the 212th there already.
"Okay boys, we're going in! This is a search and rescue operation, which means a high level of civi's down there, so watch your fire! Our enemies are some sort of bugs that are attacking the equestrians! We will be inserted from the air via cables, we will be dropped in directly into the fight. The gunships are on standby for fire missions with mounted laser cannons, use them! Pack some heat because this is gonna get wild! Let's get topside! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" I command as they start piling in the gunships and take off. I get into my gunship with nine other clones and take off. "Welcome aboard Ironside 0-1, Commander!" The pilot happily said. The gunships were pouring out of both Venators as well as a metric shit ton of arc fighters ready to deploy on the surface battle. Everyone formed up outside of the Venators, ready for my go ahead. I give it and everyone starts zooming towards the surface. Once we were in the atmosphere, the doors opened up to reveal the outside. As we approached the city, I could see green explosions and bugs surrounding the city.
:: Scatter 'em! :: I tell the arc pilots, who did so. The arc fighters opened up their wings and sped ahead of us. Once they were in range, they started firing their blasters at the bugs. They were small targets, but lots of them were getting hit by the sheer number of lasers going through the air. They started thinning and scattering in disarray as the gunships broke through their lines. "Clip in!" I yell at my clones who slipped their cables into the floor of the gunship. We were now hovering over the city and we jumped from the gunship. "GO GO GO!" I yell. Once we hit the ground, we unclipped and the cables and leave them there to go join up with the other squads. :: All squads, sweep and clear! Watch for friendlies and civi's! Your cleared hot! :: I yell as me and my squad open fire upon a group of bugs. I can hear blaster fire all over the city and the fighters zooming overhead as my rifle didn't stop firing. I fire two shots into the chest of a bug which burnt two holes into its skin. I grabbed a thermal detonator from my belt and threw it at a clump of bugs. They exploded into a shower of blood and body parts. I and my squad ran around several corners until we came upon a plaza where the bugs were holding five ponies hostage. I also saw two other squads across the square looking to me for orders. I signal them to fire on my mark and I ready my rifle. "Waxer, kill the three on the left. Boil, kill the three on the right. Everyone else, follow my lead." I whisper to my comrades. I aim my rifle right at one of them and pull the trigger. One bolt went through the air as we jumped out of our hiding places and enclosed upon the bugs, massacring them all. I ran up to one of them, got behind it, put it in a headlock with my gun, and snapped its neck. I let it drop to the floor and started shooting at the other bugs again. Once we had reached the prisoners, the bugs were all but gone, any others ran off to the castle. That's when I noticed that a lot of bugs were going back to the castle. :: They are retreating! Battalion, regroup at the marked point. :: I said into my comlink as I marked a staging area outside of the wall defenses. I ran over to the rendezvous point with the three squads behind me as the rest of the company came into view. A clone came up to me and spoke.
"Sir, the battalion is ready to begin the assault on the walls. Shall I ready them for the rush?" He informed me. The plan was to unleash an all-out assault on the walls and scale them before we took too many casualties.
"Yes, be ready for the signal," I told him as I got a good look at the 800 clones ready for the main battle. He ran off to the other end of the line of clones to relay the information. I got myself into a ready position and looked at the awaiting bugs on the wall. "Come on boys! Let 'em have it!" I yelled as loud as I could before all the clones started cresting the hill and charging the walls, some of them stopping to take pot shots at the defensive armaments.
"Give'em all you got!"
"Come on boys!"
"Blastem!"
They were firing beams of their own and hitting us, but they had shite for accuracy us as we started getting closer to the wall.
I made it to the wall first and all of the clones soon after. I nodded to them and all the riflemen backed up, aimed their rifles, and shot their cables over the wall. Once the cables were ready, we started to climb up. The first clones to get up the wall started getting into a fierce brawl with the guards at the top, but due to our superior training, we easily killed them and the rest of the clones followed suit. When I got up the wall, a large bug tackled me and started throwing punches at me. His punches were nothing compared to that droid a month ago, so I uppercutted him and threw him off the battlements where he landed on a spear in the ground. I grabbed my rifle again and start shooting point blank at the bugs that were on my clones. I shot one in the head before he could kill Boil. I picked him up and patted his back and went back into the fray. I slammed the butt of my rifle into a head and broke his neck while pulling out a vibro knife and slashing another's throat.
They started to pull back to the castle and we needed to regroup. "All squads stack up on a door! Breach, boom, clear!" I yell to the 212th. All squads left to find their own breaching point and my squad took the main doors. :: Were gonna synchronize our breaches for maximum effect, wait for my signal. :: I say to the 212th. "Boil, grenade. Waxer, get the door. Everyone else, breach and clear. I take point." I order my troopers. Boil grabbed a thermal detonator from his belt and Waxer was standing in front of the door. :: NOW! :: Several doors were kicked in and the sound of detonators could be heard everywhere. The sound of explosions shook Canterlot to the core as the fighters zoomed through the skies shooting down bugs. Waxer kicked in the door and boil threw in the grenade seconds before it blew up. "GO GO GO!" I yell as I run with my rifle raised.
Any bugs that were in here were disintegrated by the blast, so we pushed on. The sound of blaster fire rang through the halls as I shot two bugs in the back of the head and snapped the last one's neck, then carrying on towards the throne room. "Keep pushing! We're almost there!" I yell as we burst through the throne room doors, killing everything inside. We met up with the other squads and went to our main objective, the wedding. I saw the wedding doors approaching and we stacked up on the outside.
"This is it. Breach and clear, stun only." I silently tell everyone as they set their blasters to stun. I hold up three fingers and begin counting down. 3...2...1..."GO!" We burst into the room and stun any guards inside. A large black bug female turned around just in time to be met with a stunner from me, she slumped to the floor unconscious. "Everybody get on the floor now! ~~This is a robbery!~~" I yell at all the occupants.
"I will not be told what to do by some-" A white unicorn with blonde hair said before I shot him with a stunner. My fellow clones surrounded the giant bug and kept their guns trained on her stunned body. The Cadance that was at the side of the room with a white unicorn was being closed in upon by several other clones. With a dismissive wave of my hand, they backed off.
"We got the traitor already. Is there any business you want to do with the bug before we take her?" I asked the angry and confused ruler of Equestria.
"You can take her and do what you want with her, we don't care," Celestia said coldly. I walk back over to the bug queen and put her in the energy draining cuffs, then slap her in the face to wake her up. She wakes up weakly from the lack of energy running through her body. The two clones behind her grabbed her arms and forced her upright.
"You are under arrest by The Grand Army of The Republic and shall be imprisoned on the Constitution, take her away," I growled as two troopers walked her away. :: Ironside 0-1, this is Commander Cody ready for pickup with a plus one. :: I told my pilot.
:: Just in time, the bugs in the sky just retreated. We'll be there in 30 seconds, Commander. :: The pilot said.
:: All units, this is Commander Cody. Our work here is done, call in extraction as soon as possible. Commander Cody out. :: I tell all the 212th on the channel.
"You're not staying for the wedding?" Cadance asks. "It's the least we can do to repay you." I shake my head.
"You've given us more than enough with this new prisoner, we're gonna start the interrogations soon and I will need to request the Princesses presence in the interrogation room for a better understanding of what she says," I tell them. In all honesty, I'm probably gonna make that day the worst day of that bugs life. "Good luck and good day to you," I say before turning around and walked out with my clones. When I reached the gardens, I saw Ironside 0-1 waiting with the bug queen and the two clones inside. I and my squad joined them and the pilot closed the doors and took off. As we were taking off, I saw clones rushing into gunships and arc fighters escorting gunships two at a time. As we broke out of the atmosphere, the shutters closed and I had to wait in darkness until we got to the ship. When the doors opened we were greeted by a squad of red security clones. I knew what they were here for and grabbed the bug queen. "Take this scum to the brig!" I barked as I shoved her into the squad of clones.
"Yes, sir." Said a lieutenant and they frogmarched her to the brig. I smiled under my helmet at today's victory, but that smile quickly vanished as I remember the griffon's threat. They will need to be dealt with, but that is for a later date. Right now is a time to celebrate.
TO BE CONTINUED....
