Balmorra, resistance-occupied siege factory, Sundari Flatlands
3 months after the signing of the Treaty of Canterlot
"They're retreating! The Imps are falling back!" the resistance officer yelled from the top of his hovertank. Celebratory outburts were heard throughout the resistance barricades surrounding the factory. The Twi'lek Major Tak'niwa kept his eyes on the horizon. The plan had been perfect. They'd lured the Imps right to the factory and then opened up the gates to unleash a fresh batch of Balmorran hovertanks right in front of the Imperial forces. The Imps had foolishly chased them right up the road to the factory and had been blasted to pieces. The major surveyed the horizon one more time and allowed himself a sigh of relief.
The factory they were guarding built hovertanks, powerful armored gun platforms capable of long-range devestation. They were vulnerable to air attack though, which is why they'd been kept in the factory. This way they'd been able to bombard the enemy while staying out of the bad weather, so to speak. This was the second time the Empire had invaded Balmorra. The Republic had assisted them the first time and now plans were beginning to get Balmorra official representation in the Galactic Senate. After the conflict on Voss, the Empire had redoubled its efforts and hit Balmorra hard, possibly trying to draw attention away from the Outer Rim. Major Sol'niwa had served the Balmorran resistance before and he was proud to do so again. The Empire hadn't learned its lesson the first time but he was happy to teach it again.
"Major!" his comm officer yelled. "We're picking up a high energy reading heading this way." "It doesn't look like they're giving up yet after all. Charge and reload, move the tanks back into the factory." The major began barking orders. He pulled out his display and surveyed the road again. An Imperial column was marching down the road, just as the last one had. This one too seemed pretty standard formation. Dark-hooded Sith in front, red-armored shocktroops in the middle flanked on both sides by three-legged siege droids. What wasn't standard was the large, gray vehicle in the back.
Major Tak'niwa frowned as he saw the monstrosity. It was roughly the same size as one of the Empire's normal armored vehicles but this one rolled on wheels and had two strange pylons attatched to the top. They pylons had some sort of spheres attatched to them, like the generators from their warships only smaller. In the center of these pylons was a spiked cone that seemed to be glowing. It looked more like something designed to monitor the weather than a weapon. The column stopped just outside weapons range.
"What is that thing Major?" his officer asked. "No idea. Get on the line to command, tell them the Imps have deployed some unknown ordnance. Get the tanks up to the barricades again, whatever that is, turn it to slag now!" The major yelled. Just then, the pylons on top of the strange tank started spinning. A large 'whirring' noise echoed through the valley. The red cone in the center glowed bright orange and a blue beam shot into the air and cracked like a bolt of lightning. The beam split into pieces and cascaded down in a dome shape over the Imperial coloumn. The rays that descended touched the ground and began to widen, forming a shield of lightning around the column. The troops began to march again.
"What in space?" the major said. "Major, comms just went dead!" his radio operator announced. He tried his personal commlink, nothing. The shield sparked and crackled like lightning, electrical discharges permeated the bubble. It moved with the column towards the factory. "They're coming this way!" a private announced, fear in his voice. "Open fire!" the major shouted. The hovertanks unleashed a barrage at the advancing bubble. Lightning lept out from the shield and disintegrated the rounds before impact. "What is that thing?" one of the officers asked. "Move the tanks up, fire again!" The hovertanks sped in front of the barricades, this time attempting a straight shot at the shield. The tanks fired at the shield at almost point-blank, the shells exploded in mid air, showering the area in front of the shield with dust and smoke.
The column continued to advance. Resistance forces opened fire with blasters, grenades and everything else they had. Energy bounced off the shield and every other ordnance was zapped by electric discharges. The column approached the factory's main gates. When the lightning dome touched the tanks, their hover systems failed and they collapsed into the dirt. The major watched as the bubble continued advancing. He looked to his comms officer who just shook his head grimly. There would be no help coming. The bubble swept over the barricades as resistance forces ran right to the factory gates. The Sith did not stop.
Major Tak'niwa's back was to the wall. He watched through the bubble at the cloaked figures. Their lightsabers weren't even drawn. They were within shooting range and they didn't even have their weapons out. He fired at their faces, his shots bounced off the shield. He got out his knife and charged the shield. The moment he touched the blue barrier, he felt the sting of a thousand needles on his skin. His muscles were sapped of strength and he collapsed at the foot of one of the Sith. The dark hooded figure then drew his weapon one time and skewered the major with it on the ground. With his last ounce of strength, Major Tak'niwa grasped the dirt in his hand as the fellow soldiers around him fell.
Darth Ulsoh holstered pulled his lightsaber out of the twi'lek and holstered it in a single motion. He surveyed the carnage. The Storm Shield's generators spun to a halt and the shield around him and the rest of his battalion vanished. If the battalion commander hadn't been a blundering idiot, they wouldn't have needed to deploy the prototype in combat but this seemed like an effective enough test. The Balmorran tanks were now useless hulks of metal as the troops on the ground were useless piles of flesh. He looked at the bodies of the resistance members, writhing, convulsing with electricity. "Kill them all." he commanded his acolytes. He felt a shiver run over his shoulder as he did. His contact was here. He ignored the presence of the alien and strode towards the factory.
An icy wind swept around him, a visible gust of blue whisps. They materialized into the shape of an equine with an icy blue coat, mane made of frost, steel blue eyes and two curved horns on the either side of his head. "Quite the chilling demonstration wouldn't you say?" The creature says in a sly, cool tone that sounds like a breeze of frigid air. "Adequate." Ulsoh responds curtly, barely regarding the creature's appearance as they begin walking side by side. "I'm pleased to see you're impressed. Czar Blizz sends his regards." "I'd be more impressed if you'd developed a suitable countermeasure to the effects of magic." Ulsoh replies. "In due time. For now, accept the Ice Capacitor as symbol of our new alliegance, a gift from one empire to another." the creature said with a grin.
Coldfront, as the creature had called itself, was one of many creatures from another dimension that was recently discovered. The Empire had attempted to invade this new world because of a strange power that the inhabitants their posessed, powers that the Sith did not understand. The invasion had ended in disaster. Their fleet had been destroyed and this new world had joined the Republic, though not all the inhabitants had joined willingly. "Equestria", as it was called, was not united like most worlds in the galaxy. Coldfront and his people approached the Empire and proposed the alliance. The Empire had only reluctantly agreed.
Darth Ulsoh still didn't know all the details. Coldfront claimed to be a member of the Icequines, children of the Windigos. They were creatures long banished from civilized Equestria, similarly to the way the Sith had been forced into exile millenia ago. Still, he felt no kinship to the strange four legged savage that strode next to him proudly. His pretentious attitude and strange abilities only made him more difficult to tolerate. They had a common goal though: the eradication of the ponies and the Republic. It was with combined technology from both sides that would accomplish this objective. If Coldfront's people needed an 'attitude adjustment' after the fact, Ulsoh would be more than happy to oblidge.
"This test is concluded. Destroy the factory, leave no trace of what happened here." Ulsoh turned to Coldfront. "We will need more of these 'capacitors' if we are to mount a successful attack in the Outer Rim." "Of course, and then when Equestria is in Imperial hands, the Icequine Kingdom will be relocated." Coldfront announced. "The Empire has no interest in Hoth. If your people want to live on an ice ball in Hutt territory they are welcome to do so. Be warned; interfere with Sith business and you'll find yourselves getting hot very quickly." Darth Ulsoh threatened. Coldfront just smiled. Through gritted teeth that might as well have been ice cubes, he exhaled a breath cold enough to be seen in the air. "It's cool my friend. We'll be in touch." With that, Coldfront evaporated into a frigid gust and blew through the valley. In due time, Ulsoh thought.
Ponyvoss Orbit
"Virko Station, this is the Redemption on final approach. Requesting a vector and a berth." the comms officer said into his headset. "Redemption, this is station control. You are cleared for docking. Welcome back guys." "Happy to be back." Captain Ressia said into her own commlink. Three months. In just three short months, the Redemption had been refitted, Virko Station had been built and the city of New Ponyville had been constructed on the surface of Voss. All of these had been steps toward a galaxy-wide relief effort designed to repair the demage caused by the Sith and stop the further spread of war. Captain Ressia almost got teay-eyed as she saw the dedication. Almost all thanks to the ponies from the other dimension.
"Rainbow Dash, you have your vectors. Take her in." Captain Ressia said to her temporary helmsman. "Aye aye captain!" Rainbow said back as she gripped the controls. She was a flyer at heart and while she preferred her own two wings, she was eager to try her hands flying a ship. Already Rainbow Dash had trained to fly speeders and starfighters. Now she moved onto piloting a Republic corvette, all in three short months. Captain Ressia had been reluctant at first but she knew another flygirl when she saw her, especially one that could fly faster than any speeder she'd ever seen.
The ship docked with Virko Station, named after the young man who sacrificed himself to save them all back when the ponies first entered their universe. Peace had been his dream and everyone, everypony around the planet was doing their best to make it a reality. Donair Squadron, a Republic Special Forces unit composed of soldiers, Jedi and Equestrians had spent the last three months providing relief to other worlds. They escorted the Equestrian Relief Corps, pony volunteers who had joined to provide aid to worlds effected by the war. Equestrian magic did much the Force could not. Earth Pony science and ingenuity had helped establish better agriculture programs. Pegasi weather control services were making areas more hospitable and cleaning pollution and Unicorn magic was providing medical aid to populations where kolto was scarce. Truly, the entire galaxy had benefited much from the ponies.
Still, the Republic remained ever-vigilant. Both Equestrian and Republic citizen alike knew it was only a matter of time before the Sith tried to interfere again. The ponies had seemed more than capable of handling themselves though and Captain Ressia had enjoyed their company. The Redemption docked with the station and Rainbow Dash flew up from the controls. "So, how was that?" she asked. "Not bad for your first time. You should really try out one of the new Defender-corvettes. I hear they're pretty fun to fly." "Can I?!" Rainbow asked, starting to get excited. "Sure thing, Boomer." Lieutenant Brazon Exter said from behind the weapons station. He called each of the ponies by an affectionate codename he'd given them while working with them to escort the relief effort. "But first we've got a meeting with our three 'princesses' to get to before we can have more fun." Brazon said, refering to Celestia, Luna and General Tethra. They'd been called back to Ponyvoss for more supplies and a short shoreleave. Giving the gals in charge a report was standard procedure and Brazon was sure there'd be plenty of time for some experimental flying. He imagined Rainbow Dash clearing the skies of Dromund Kaas in ten seconds flat while he stormed the Emperor's palace to put a rifle butt in his face.
