Prolouge

It was a normal day at Ferguson Space Port as the residents walked on the rocky roads, traders haggled over expensive items, and droids wandered around doing nothing in particular.

The atmosphere was shattered as the crackling of blaster fire echoed through the air, causing everyone in the nearby area to hit the deck at the noise echoed off the walls.

Not even two seconds later, gunshots rang out in the vicinity of the blasters. The crossfire continued and before long, a lone griffon on his hind legs ran though the marketplace being chased by a group of thugs. In one arm there was a black bag and in the other was holding a pistol. On his body was a black vest on top of a white vest with khaki pants.

"This better be worth it!" The griffon cursed under his breath as he ran towards a landing pad as a blaster bolt hit a nearby pillar, causing the stone roof above to fall onto an occupied food cart.

The griffon ran in the dark hallway with blasters illuminating the way before he exited the hallway and saw his KR-145 Freighter parked there with a pony sitting on its ramp.

"Get the ship ready you fucking moron!" The griffon yelled.

The pony looked towards the griffon before mouthing "Shit!" and then ran into the freighter.

The griffon made it to the ramp before quickly swapping his pistol with his modified DL-44 and started to use it on the non-factory automatic mode.

The screams of by standards filled the air as the griffon eliminated the thugs within a minute but with one left, a bolt hit his right arm, his dominant arm for good luck.

"GRRR!!" He cursed as his pistol decapitated his opponent who joined the field of limbs and concrete. The griffon then ran into the ship, the ramp retracted, then he was off into the galaxy.

"What happened Gallus?"

"What does it look like shithead?" Gerald Lascaux, or Gallus, growled as he looked at his partner in crime, Samuel Barrett, or as he calls him, Sandbar.

"Well sorry that I was getting Rust Bucket up and running!" Sandbar scolded as he put a bacta patch onto Gallus' arm.

"Yeah... true," Gallus sighed as he looked down on the metal floor.

"Did you get The Spectera?

"Yup," Gallus shook his head as he took the gold figure out of its black sack. The Spectra was a small statue of a twi'lek monk sitting on The Scarce Rock of Mona'howa.

"Wow..." Sandbar took the relic and inspected it with his hoofs. "I never thought I would see one of these things with my own eyes. Wonder how much we can sell it for?"

"4 grand maybe?" Gallus shrugged as he got up on a more natural all fours position and walked to the cockpit and saw the blue light of hyperspace passing by.

"Do you wish to visit Mona'howa?" Sandbar asked from the main cabin.

"Yup, if the stupid police wouldn't bust our asses," Gallus sighed as he went back to the main cabin to see Sandbar still holding the relic.

"Can’t believe that you ponies can hold things with those stupid hooves of yours. It is like the force blessed you with the ability to do so."

"Yeah, unlike the pegasi from Jilon, it’s in their wings and their hooves can't do anything other than walk, run, and hold their weight."

"True," Gallus nodded as he took out a coin from the bag.

"What's that?"

"Here you go," Gallus smiled slightly as he flipped the coin to Sandbar who took some interest in the coin.

He looked at the coin for a moment before his eyes went wide and started to tear.

"You.... found a coin of my parents...." Sandbar sniffled.

"Yes, I did find the coin of the Ocean Symbol of your home islands with the relic."

"Wow, I never thought I would see one again."

"Uh-huh. At least you can have a planet to call your hearth," Gallus looked at the fridge then grabbed and poured him a shot of Uferian Whiskey.

"Hey! I thought you promised me that you would stop drinking!" Sandbar yelled before he took the glass and bottle in his hooves and threw both into the trash compactor door.

Gallus sat their stunned for a moment.

"Fuck you," He growled before laying back onto the bench seat and closed his eyes, "Can you tell me where home is?"

"The Rust Bucket, but is it really home?"

"Well, not in the Rust Bucket," Gallus chuckled. "I still remembered when I had to wear clothes for the first time. I found it weird having to do so all the time but now I find it weird being naked."

"Hmm... yeah. My culture use clothes but my biggest problem was accepting that meat eaters existed," Sandbar sighed as he looked at his clothes which mimicked Gallus'. "Now I can't think of anything that doesn't have meat."

"Speaking of meat, anything for dinner?" Gallus opened his eyes and rolled onto his side.

"Well, we only have a week's worth on right now."

Gallus' eyes went narrow as he went into a deep thought before his face turned into a disappointing frown.

"Ugggh.... well, no dinner tonight," Gallus grunted as he stood up on all fours and walked to the cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat.

"Say, where did you programmed the hyderdrive towards?"

"Outer Rim, Grohl section."

"That is across the fucking galaxy," Gallus muttered. "Any reason why?"

"Give us enough time to figure out what we are going to do next."

"Fair enough, I will sleep tonight and then we can-," A alarm went off in the cockpit.

"Uh?" Gallus turned towards the Flight Information Screen (FIS): Hyperdrive Circuit One Voltage High.

"Strange, I thought I replaced that sensor last week," Gallus went and turned off the alarm before turning towards the door.

"Hey Sandbar! Did we replace circuit one on the hyperdrive like last week?"

"It was two weeks ago now but yeah."

"Okay, I got an alarm on the circuit reading high again and- you son-of-a-bitch!" Another alarm went off in the cockpit: Hyperdrive Circuit Two High Voltage.

"This needs to be a good fucking joke," Gallus moaned as he pulled up the Hyperdrive and Reactor Unit Page on the Multi-Data Flight Information Screen (MDFIS or Mad Flight).

AN-2250 Anti-Matter PowerCore Reactor
Status: Operating
Load: 76.16/105 (Maximum Time Above 100: 30 Minutes)
Output (MA/MV): 1,091.19/20,32.91
Core Temp. (C)/Max: 10,021/13900
Coolant Temp. (C)/Max: 1,000/1,400
Amount of Fuel Onboard: 20,000 kg
Fuel Usage: 8 gs

Kilmer Spacedrives 748-9A4 Hyperdrive
Status: Operating
Capacity In Use: 83.67/100
Circuit One Bank One Voltage/Max: 917/610
Circuit One Bank Two Voltage/Max: 682/380
Coolant Loop One Temp. (C)/Max: 800/400
Coolant Loop One Pressure (bar)/Max: 55/30
Warning: Circuit One Bank One Voltage Too High, Circuit One Bank Two Too High, Coolant Loop Temperature Too High, Coolant Loop Temperature Pressure Too High.

Gallus stared at the screen for a good minute before something dawned to him. His face turned from confused to one of worry.

"Hey Sandbar?" Gallus asked with slight hesitation.

"Yeah, what now?'

"What did we change Loop One's fluid with last month?"

"Type 18-018 fluid, why do you ask...?" The realization was clear in his voice.

"SHITI!" Gallus yelled as he quickly turned off the reactor which caused Rust Bucket to move out of hyperspace and into the real space. He turned on the thrusters and programmed it to go straight before running towards the hyperdrive unit. Sandbar was already there, his brow creased with concern.

The two just stared at the hot core in front of them.

"We fucked up," Gallus commented.

"Why did we fill it up with 18-018? This thing requires 19-780," Sandbar asked as he looked though the unit's computer interface.

"Only thing at the shipyard at the time," Gallus shook his head and went to the galley and pulled out a Gruttan's beef cola, "and we totally forgot about it. Should've put it on the to-do list."

"Yeah, now what?" Sandbar asked, "This is too hot to work on right now."

"Thinking of activating the backup drive and make a run towards the nearest planet." He opened his drink, took a good long sip of it before heading with to the cockpit and opened the map on Mad Flight.

"Hmm..." He scanned the systems and doing so, heard hoofs heading towards him.

"If unicorns were still around, I wouldn’t have to use a hoof for the hot parts," Sandbar complained as he entered the cockpit.

"At least you aren't a pegasus, your wings will be singed beyond pain limits." Gallus chuckled shallowly.

"Yeah," Sandbar agreed as he peered over the active map.

"Well, here is one planet." Gallus pointed out.

"Uh... Arison?" Sandbar asked. "But that seems like a bad idea."

"That is the point, it is too connected with the-."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Now what?!" Gallus yelled as he pulled up the general errors page.

Warning: Hyperdrive Reactor Core Too High

"What! I thought that I shut it off already!"

"Residual heat will do that do you," Sandbar shook his head.

Then a new one popped up.

Main Hyperdrive Failure.

"Son of a bitch! What is the worst that can possible happen?"

A loud bang echoed though the ship as Gallus and Sandbar jolted out of their seats.

The silence was deafening as the two partners in crime looked at each other.

"What was that?" Gallus asked with a slight whimper.

"I think that was the fluid pressure valve releasing," Sandbar then looked at the floor. "in an uncontrolled way."

Then two new alarms popped up, one red and the other yellow.

Loop One Fluid Levels Low.
Loop One Pressure Release Valve Opened.

"Well, there is that," Sandbar looked at the screen with a frown. "We need to land somewhere before our day gets worse."

"Affirmative." Gallus replied as he quickly tapped Arison and selected Would You Like This Planet as Your Destination? and the computer did the rest.

"Time to start up the backup." Gallus ordered as he rerouted the power from the now ruined main hyperdrive unit to the back up.

"Roger that." Sandbar replied as he turned on the subsystems for the backup and Gallus turned to Mad Flight.

Kilmer Spacedrives A3C Hyperdrive
Status: Offline
Capacity In Use: --.--/100
Circuit One Bank One Voltage/Max: ---/400
Circuit One Bank Two Voltage/Max: ---/2000
Coolant Loop One Temp. (C)/Max: ---/300
Coolant Loop One Pressure (bar)/Max: --/28
Warning: Circuit One Bank One Voltage Not Reading, Circuit One Bank Two Voltage Not Reading, Coolant Loop One Temp. Not Reading, Coolant Loop Pressure Not Reading, Do Not Start Hyperdrive Unit Fully Powered Up.

"Well, the computer is doing its job," Gallus muttered as he glanced the warnings of the freshly started to reactor. Within about 20 seconds, the warnings went away, the voltages read correctly for a reactor is in not use as well as the temperatures.

"Okay, are you ready Sandbar?"

"Hang on," A few switches were flipped, "okay, ready!"

"Good." Gallus grabbed the lever and pressed it forwards and the world turned from black to hyperspace.

"There, be there in a hour or so." Gallus sighed as he looked over to Mad Flight, all running in the green.

A minute of silence passed in the cockpit.

"Say... how did you figure it was the fluid so fast?" Sandbar asked.

"Well, I read and hear a lot of bad or wrong fluid fucking up Kilmer hype units," Gallus took another swing of his cola.

"And this is why I stick with you," Sandbar winked and jabbed Gallus in the shoulder.

"By the way, how is your love life?" Sandbar asked which caused a spit take to take place.

"What type of question is that?!" Gallus asked as he choked on his own drink.

"Well, sometimes you talk and your sleep to someone in your dream about not having a girlfriend, or is it hen friend?" Sandbar rubbed his chin.

"I am that noticeable?" Gallus asked as he finally composed his breathing and his throat was not as dry.

"Dude, our beds are literally across the hall with only sheets separating the rooms."

"Shit," Gallus grumbled. "well to answer that question, yes, I want one. I just do not know what to look for. I would like another griffon, but my planet was blown up and the survivors are scattered thin."

"Was it by a mining accident you say?"

"Well, to be honest, that was just a cover up. The truth is I don't know," Gallus shook his head and went into the main cabin to put the can into the trash compactor bin.

"I just don't want to end up like my last relationship," Gallus went to The Forum. "So, I am in a relationship with our money!" Gallus snickered as Sandbar walked up to him.

"You are strong to do that. Without you, I would still be at an orphanage or dead right now."

"Yeah, I'd likely be dead as well without you."

"Sure..." Sandbar said uncertainly as he scratched his leg.

"Well, here it is." Gallus presented as he and Sandbar looked at Arison from the cockpit of Rust Bucket. The planet was mostly covered in water with too many archipelagos to count with one big island that had a natural harbor.

"Sandbar, I think you will like this planet," Gallus commented.

"Yeah, it has an ocean," Sandbar almost shouted in glee as something went over the active radio.

"YG-4210 light freighter Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, Arison Navy, please state your intentions." A female voice went on the radio.

"Uh oh," Gallus moaned, "We are screwed."

"Yeah," Sandbar shook his head, "we can't do anything about it now."

"Agreed," Gallus whimpered as he picked up the radio.

"Arison Navy, Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, coming in for maintenance and a pit stop."

"Hope they don't figure out who we are," Sandbar commented.

"Yeah..."

"Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, uhh, please head to King Aris Spaceport and contact Aris Approach on 114.780.

"Let’s pray that this is a good thing," Gallus griped.

"Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, roger that. Heading to King Aris Spaceport on Aris Approach on 114.780, have a good day."

"Arison Navy, you too."

"That went better than expected."

"No kidding," Sandbar agreed as he programmed the computer, "I just wonder if it will be the same on the ground."

"Yeah," Gallus replied as he turned on the shield generator so the ship could survive reentry.

The ride through the atmosphere was smooth as the autopilot brought them closer to their destination.

"What do you think this Aris place is?" Sandbar asked as he looked at the big island in front of them.

"Probably some shithole with a ruling upper class."

"We can only see when we get there."

"Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, King Aris Approach, what are your intentions?]"

"Here we go," Gallus murdered to himself.

"King Aris Approach, Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, we are here for maintenance and a pit stop."

"What do you need?”

"Hyperdrive fluid and consumables."

"Roger that, clear to land at Bay #23.”

"Roger that," Gallus replied as he looked over to Sandbar who looked worried, "What?"

"The main port only goes up to 17, #23 is the naval station."

"Fucking great," Gallus smacked his talon onto his head. "We are so going to jail for this."

"King Aris Approach, Delta-Victor-7-7-8-Lima-Mike, why are we heading to the naval station?"

"You should've thought twice before coming here."

The world became silent for the two males who looked towards each other slowly and then slowly nodded and shook hoofs and talons.

"We will go through this together."

"Hopefully," Sandbar replied before they went back tl the task at hand.

"What is going on?" Sandbar stared frightened at the scene in front of him as Rust Bucket landed at Bay #23. There was about 100 or so griffon looking beings in front of the bay in clear formation with about four others that look like their leaders.

"Were fucked, that is what's going on," Gallus said as he settled Rust Bucket down on to the ground and immediately, the formation split and they circled the ship.

"Better to get this over with, no fighting back," Gallus sighed as he and Sandbar shut down the vessel.

The two made their way to the ramp which wasn't deployed yet.

"Gerald Lascaux, it was a pleasure to be with you." Sandbar smiled.

Gallus smiled back, "And you too Samuel Barrett."

Gallus then opened the ramp.

"Gerald Lascaux and Samuel Barrett, exit the ramp with slowly." A loudspeaker greeted them.

"Here goes nothing," Gallus took a deep breath as him and Sandbar exited their ship.

As they went down the ramp to see four griffon looking soldiers in front of them. Gallus' eyes went wide in realization.

"Hippogriffs..." Gallus muttered quietly to himself before the leader cleared his throat.

"Gerald Lascaux and Samuel Barrett. We are under direct orders to take you two directly to the King and Queen of Aris. His majesty King Alfred Trident and her majesty Queen Novo Scotia," He ordered as a speeder landed behind them.

The two were led into the speeder without a struggle except when Sandbar tripped over a step and were flown directly to a large castle. Gallus and Sandbar remained silent as they looked over at the tropical landscape below them. The houses were easily middle to upper class without a single trace of anything lower class.

As the speeder landed on a platform on the easily 1000 foot tall castle, the two were escorted through the gold lined corridors, marble floors and light fixtures that can easily reach over a million galactic credits. Before long, they reached the throne room where the king and queen sat equally on the highest seats in the room.

The guards bowed to their monarchs as Gallus and Sandbar stared at them with fear in their eyes in their eyes as the two silently judged them.

The silence in the room lingered as Gallus and Sandbar were too scared to speak and the monarchs did not say anything.

"Well, they aren't as bad as I though in person." Queen Novo commented, breaking the frosty silence that had filled the throne room for a few minutes.

"Have to agree with you honey." King Trident agreed as they continued to stare at the criminals. He then cleared his throat.

"Gerald Lascaux, Samuel Barrett, do you know why you two are hear today?"

"To punish us?" Sandbar asked first.

"To execute us," Gallus muttered, barely audible. "They always go for worse."

"Well, for murder, yes, but not for this," Queen Nova explained. Gallus sighed with relief before the monarch continued, "As of right now, you will be locked into separate cells and we will decide what to do with you two when the time comes. This may be in five days or two months."

"Right... Can we go to our cells now?" Gallus asked.

"Yes, you two may. We have nothing else to discuss about." The king nodded.

The white concrete cell had a lonely mattress along a wall, a working toilet, no shower, a T.V. with clear panels and a remote with similar clear panels.

The pat down removed Gallus' pistol and blaster and he and Sandbar were put into separate cell blocks so he has no idea what the other is doing at the moment.

Gallus showed interest in T.V. since once his restraints were removed, he figured out the remote and browsed through the channels that were allowed, only 8, before settling on a "western" which was a bunch of hippogriffs doing western things and speaking in fake western accents on a remote island.

"So, Rick, what's tha' verdict?" The speakers played out.

"Looks like they have a prismarine sword on them covered in blood. Doesn't say much."

"True, but what can?"

As the two hippogriffs discussed the crime scene in front of them, Gallus heard steps outside his room. He turned off the T.V. and listened. They stopped in front of his door and the little sliding door in his door opened.

"Gerald, give us your arms."

Gallus wordlessly gave the guards his talons to which they cuffed them together. The concrete door slid opened and Gallus was escorted through the white corridors to an empty room that looked empty. Gallus was placed on a bench, the guards crossed over something black in the floor before a force field engaged.

Gallus said nothing as he watched the two go over to a door and bowed to someone outside. Then out of said door, a pink hippogriff with blue hair walked towards him with a slight smile. Her clothing was that of pure white silk and had a crown made of gold and pieces of some gemstone embedded within it.

Gallus' expression did not change. The attire closely resembles to that of Queen Nova and King Trident except their crowns were fancier in design.

"Hello there!" She smiled while blinking her eyes slowly. "I am Princess Silverstream Magge of Aris! Today I am here to interview you for your future!"

"Do you mean interrogate me for my sentence?"

"Nope!" She smiled.

Gallus frowned. "Okay, fire away," he said as he twirled an invisible blaster on his talon.

"What is your name?"

"Gerald Lascaux."

"What is your home planet?"

"Well I wouldn't be lying if I said Gruian but the planet is no more."

Her smiled disappeared. "Sorry to hear that."

"Why do you care?!" Gallus growled.

"It's on the questions I needed to answer first."

"Okay! Out of the way! Next!"

"What is your relationship with Samuel Barrett?"

Gallus stopped his twirling of a pistol and sighed.

"Saved his ass at a canteen on Tatoonie and he has traveled with me ever since. He doesn't know it, but he does very well with mechanics and Rust Bucket would've been scrapped by now if it wasn't for him. I rely on him for our missions to be successful, but he does not see it. In the end, we are two outlaws without acceptable life outside of criminals."

"Sorry but what is the Rust Bucket?"

"The name of the ship we came on. It was literally a rust bucket when we found it but now it’s an outlaw vessel with more questionable systems than any legal vessel can dream of caring."

"And probably gone by the end of the week," Gallus muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Gallus quickly said. Silverstream took the bait.

"Okay! What good can you do to the galaxy?"

"*Snort* Well if killing and stealing things are what you are looking at, go right ahead!"

"Killing..." Silverstream's cheery attitude faltered as she repeated the word.

"What's the problem? Never heard of crime before? You know you are standing next to a criminal," Gallus smirked before his harden face returned.

"Okay," Silverstream took a deep breath, "What criminal activities have you committed?"

"Robbery, theft, smuggling, the standard and the irregular shoot outs and shootings with casualties and deaths," Gallus sighed, "Not my proudest moments but you have to do what you have to do to survive."

"I think I have had enough of this. Thank you," Silverstream said, muttering to herself and leaving the room.

Gallus' gaze was on her until she left the room before he shook his head as he was escorted back to his cell. The day ended with him sleeping in his room looking at the ceiling for lack of anything better to do. The only sound was his own breathing as the cosmos moved overhead behind him on the window.

He sighed for the thousandth that daytime as his eyes started to get heavy.

"Was soll aus uns werden?" He muttered as his world went black.

Gallus was being escorted to the throne room from his cell by two guards. He entered said room to find the Kind and Queen on their respected seats and Sandbar entering from the door across from him.

Their faces lit up at the two partners saw each other but remained silent as they walked in front of the stone hard monarchs with the guards bowing once they stopped moving.

"Well, Gerald Lascaux and Samuel Barrett, we meet again," Queen Novo announced.

"Yeah after meeting Silverlining for 20 fucking times," Gallus rolled his eyes.

"It's Silverstream, my daughter, you criminal scum," King Trident scolded before clearing his throat, "So last night, we decided your fate with the galaxy."

"No trial?" Sandbar spoke up.

"Without you guys, so we did have one."

Sandbar gave a silent "oh."

"Anyways, I, King Alfred Trident on behave of myself, Queen Novo Scotia and the Royal Court, sentence you to military service with admission to the military academy."

Gallus and Sandbar released their breaths.

One year later...

The mess room was, well, messy as the recruits ate their breakfast with loud chattering.

"What do you think our fate is?" Sandbar asked worriedly as he ate.

"I don't know but we'll get fucked over no matter what."

"Attention cadets," Admiral Nimitz spoke over the speaker system, "Just a reminder, the ceremony will be at 10 this morning. Don't be late!"

"As if we will forget," Gallus rolled his eyes, "This just proves how stupid the others are."

They continued their breakfast until the double doors right next to them opened to reveal the beige hippogriff admiral.

"Cadet Lascaux, Cadet Barrett, follow me," Admiral Nimitz ordered.

The two looked at each other before silently following Nimitz to his office
The entire mess room fell silent.

"Are we in trouble again?" Gallus asked as he entered the office.

"Well I wouldn't say trouble, but your troubled past is here to push you again," Nimitz said as they sat in chairs.

"Now what?" Sandbar asked.

"Well, I on behalf of the royal family has a position that I think will suite you two well," Nimitz introduced as he crossed his talons together.

"What?" Gallus asked agrivated.

"There is a new squadron that has been finalized within the last month. It will be dealing with dealing with specialized missions that aren't worthy of the navy's time."

"That doesn't seem promising," Sandbar commented.

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Nimitz shrugged, "Anyways, I have to ask a question. What activities did you two participate in before your time here?'

"Well... stealing, robbing, and smuggling mainly. We also did bounties when needed and spying missions, those two are the paid ones," Gallus admitted.

"Well, this squadron is like that except it's for the navy, and you aren't stealing from us. You will get more information only if you accept these roles here and now."

The two former crooks looked at each other before leaning over and whispering to each other and then nodding before leaning back and looking back at Nimitz.

"What will we get out of this?" Gallus asked.

"All the befits of a captain."

"And that is?" Gallus pried further.

"Let's see... payments up to 175 thousand credits plus bonuses up to 25 percent-."

"Yes!" Sandbar and Gallus blurted at the same time.

"Then, welcome to the 502nd Special Forces Squadron," Nimitz said with a rare grin.

Author's Note

Okay, my Canadian Pun is over, thank you and the 501st is always first.

KR-145 is the name I gave for the freighter in the link since it doesn't have on in DeviantArt. Just to note with the photo vs. reality of this story: The laser cannons in the drawing aren't there and there is an ion cannon mounted on the side in the front.