Imperial Dark Destroyer-class vessel Venomous, Engineering deck
Escape pods launched from the cruiser, the ship's crew evacuating. Captain Zoellen didn't know what was going on. She wasn't going to stick around to find out. Republic forces, aliens, Jedi, Sith. Too much for one ship to deal with. Her escape pod launched and fell towards Voss. It got maybe a few hundred meters away from its berth when it stopped dead in space. As if gripped by an invisible hand, it was pulled away from the planet and up into the bay of the Republic corvette that had followed them along with the other escape pods.
The alarms echoed off the walls of the engine room. Kess was sweating. She wiped off the blood from her knife and holstered it. She'd been dumb enough to let herself be followed TWICE by the young Voss incompetent and had let him get the drop on her both times. He was a resililant little whelp, she had to admit. No wonder he hadn't died a week ago when she'd tagged him. She didn't have time to think about that now. The Pubs would transfer control of the ship to the terminal she was next to and she'd shutdown the reactor and put out the call for reinforcements from the Empire.
Kess wiped the sweat off her forehead. She looked at the camera knowing the Pubs would be watching her. She'd show them she was completely serious. Soon, she would be a hero to the Empire. Her name would be remembered for generations as the conquerer of two worlds and the discovery of a new universe. She let heself smile. Her victory was so close. The alarm klaxons continued to blare and she momentarily lost her focus as she fantasized about being rewarded from her exploits.
Virko coughed up blood. His vision was blurry but that didn't matter now. He had to act fast. He rolled over onto his side. Kess would've been able to hear the noise if not for the sound of the alarms. His breathing came laboured and his limbs were on fire. He clutched at the wound and his torso exploded with pain. Blood gushed from the wound, he put pressure on it. Anything to buy another moment. Carefully, he pulled himself up using the sled. It was difficult to stand. He spared a quick glance at the captive on the sled. She looked back at him with watery eyes. He focused on the back of the Chiss woman's neck as he made his way toward her.
Once again, Virko tackled the Agent with all his body weight. Kess was tired of this. The young man feebly clutched her torso, trying to pin her. She grabbed a grenade off her belt and primed it. He lunged at her again and grasped her hand. They struggled with it before she tossed it high into the air. She grabbed him by the throat and prepared to smash his head into the deck. That was when he reached for something at her belt. He gasped for breath as he felt the world close in on him. He let go of her hands at his neck for one moment and grabbed the knife on the agent's belt. With a quick thrust, he drove the blade into her stomach and looked away as her eyes went wide in shock and disbelief.
The grenade bounced off the hoversled and landed next to the reactor terminal. It made a shrill noise as its timer concluded and the device exploded, showering the room in smoke and debris. The reactor terminal was reduced to a smoldering mechanical stump in an instant. The hoversled carrying Princess Celestia had been jostled in the blast and it rolled forward. Virko coughed up more blood and did his best to stand.
Imperial Dark Destroyer-class vessel Venomous, bridge
Lahk worked at the bridge controls. The blastshields over the viewports raised but no picture on the terminal appeared. The grenade that went off in engineering knocked out the viewscreen to the bridge and now Lahk was struggling to get a picture back. They only had mere minutes before the core went critical and turned the entire ship and all of them aboard it into hot dust. Lahk reconnected a wire and the screen turned on again. The camera was still focused in on the reactor. The group gasped as they saw the combined sights of Kess's body, the destroyed terminal and Virko pushing Celestia on a hoversled out of engineering.
Engineering, reactor core meltdown imminent
Virko couldn't feel anything below the waist. The pain in his torso was cold as he pushed the hoversled out of engineering. He deactivated the sled's stasis field. The creature was truly beautiful, he thought. Like an angel almost. She got up and said, "Thank you." to him. He wish he had time to get to know them all but now, time was not on his side. He had a matter of minutes. The reactor core's terminal had been destroyed but as with all ships, the reactor core could be ejected into space in an emergency like this one. Unfortunately, that meant the entire engineering section would be launched with it. But at least, Virko thought, the others would be safe. He ran over to a panel on the wall and activated the magcon field generator that seperated engineering from the rest of the hall. She paused in front of the red energy field, not understanding. Virko placed his hand on the lever underneath it, the emergency release.
Bridge, approaching critical systems failure
The camera zoomed in on the face of the young Voss as he spoke. "I'm sorry." he said to Princess Celestia from inside engineering. "In our universe, the war is consuming everything. I... I searched for a world with peace and found yours. I saw your world in my dreams. I hoped that if others saw it, they would stop this fighting. But instead I only brought the fighting to you. I'm sorry." Virko said. "In our unvierse, peace is a lie. But it isn't in yours. You can teach them, you can help them. Please stop the spread of war. Let our worlds know a time of peace like what I saw in my dreams. Make peace true again." Virko put both hands on the release lever. "I will." The princess said. Virko mouthed the words "thank you" and pulled the lever.
Explosive bolts fired on the engineering section and it slid out of the ship. It flew through space, a satellite if only for a few moments. Virko sat down where he was and began to meditate. He didn't hear the sirens echoing off the walls, he didn't feel the heat from the reactor about to explode, he didn't feel the fatal wound in his side. He focused on his own thoughts and nothing else. He began to dream. Those last few seconds might as well have lasted an eternity. In his mind, he saw a young Voss playing on a sunny green world, surrounded by friends. The peaceful creatures were there, as were the Voss and even other people. Was this the future he saw? The past or present of some other dimension? An alternate reality? Was this vision caused by the Force, magic, lack of blood, some other random factor? It didn't matter. He saw it and for that brief moment Virko Sav was at peace. The core exploded.
Bridge, emergency power online, reactor not responding
Voss temporarily was bathed in the light of a small star in orbit. Alone in the twilight, a twinkling sparkle. Brazon found his own eyes watering as he watched the display. The young man who he saved just last week had now saved his own life and the lives of everyone aboard that ship. Brazon stared out the main viewport at the explosion. He had seen a lot of deaths but this one was the first one he'd felt in a long time. Another first, he didn't have any desire to drink this problem away. He let the tears fall.
"Peace. Can it be made true?" Lahk asked. "I'm willing to work for it." Brazon said. "We'll help you. Together we will make peace true for both our universes." Twilight said. "So it is settled. We will work together for peace." Lahk announced. Everyone and everypony nodded. Brazon looked out the viewport again. Voss seemed to be moving. Or rather, the ship was moving. "Uh, guys." He pointed at their rapidly descending view. "We can't maintain orbit! Without the reactor, we can't get the engines running!" Lahk shouted in panic. "Escape pods?" Carwin asked. "Without main power, we can't launch pods, shuttles or anything!" Lahk yelled. "There has to be something we can do!" Brazon said, his own voice panicking.
"The helm! Maybe we can perform a crash landing!" Carwin suggested. Behind them, the planet grew larger as the ship angled down. The pointed bow faced the surface as the planet before them grew rapidly closer. The hull of the ship began to burn with the heat of reentry. Lahk moved to the helm controls. "The helm's not responding! I can't extend the manuevering wings!" Lahk shouted and almost punched the terminal. Zequill grabbed his arm before he could hit the machine. "That's not going to help anything." he said calmly. "We have no power, no engines and no shields? Will anything help?"
That gave Brazon an idea. "The shield! Can one of you make a shield to surround the ship?" Brazon asked the ponies. "My brother might. I'm not familiar with that spell though." Twilight said. "It's worth a try!" Luna said. The ship pierced through a layer of clouds and the hull glowed bright red. The geography of Voss was now visible from the bridge.
The ponies from the hangar bay along with the Republc troopers assembled on the bridge. "What's wrong? Why haven't we left ye- is that the planet?!" Shining Armor said as he entered the bridge. "Shining, we need you to put a shield around the ship!" Twilight said. "I'll give it a shot but I've never done it on something moving before." "You can do it Shining. We know you can." Shining Armor closed his eyes, his horn lit up and he cast the shield spell.
A pink shield enveloped the cruiser as it fell. The bubble quickly turned into an oval and heat blistered along its edges. The pink surface of the shield bubbled and cracked as the ship fell. They all watched as the shield broke apart around them. "It's too much heat! The shield can't take it!" "Is there anyway we can make the shield stronger?" Twilight asked. "Maybe... we can use the Force to bolster the shield." Lahk suggested. "I... I can't see the shield. I can only percieve things through the Force." Zequill admitted. "I'll be your eyes then. Focus with me." Zequill nodded. "Brazon, I could use a hand with the helm!" Carwin shouted." The release lever for the emergency flaps is jammed! I can't move it!" Brazon and Carwin both pulled down on the large lever.
"Maybe we can help." Applejack lassoed the lever. Ponies grabbed on AJ's lasso as Brazon and Carwin pushed down. Together, they slammed the lever down and it locked into place. The drag fins on the ship extended slowly and Brazon and Carwin grabbed the manual controls. Shining Armor groaned and summoned the shield a second time. Side by side, the Jedi and the Sith reached out a hand and gripped the shield. The shield once again bubbled and blistered with heat but no cracks appeared in it. Zequill and Lahk gritted their teeth, doing their best to hold the shield together. The pink sphere became an oval once again as the ship attempted to glide. The ship was now in the lower atmosphere. The makeshift bridge crew braced itself for impact. The oval became narrower slowly and the sides began to press against the hull of the ship itself. Brazon and Carwin pulled up on the yolk.
The bottom of the shield touched ground and began digging a trench as the ship descended. The bulky cruiser flew over a field miles away from the capital. A moutain range rapidly approached the ship as the pink shield pressed against the bottom of the hull and the ship dug into the ground. The cruiser's speed carried it all the way into a treeline at the base of the moutain where finally the shield fell to pieces and the ship ground to a halt.
The bridge let out a colllective sigh of relief as the ship stopped moving. "We... we've landed." Brazon says, looking up from the controls. Several joyful outbursts were erupted from the crowd but most were too exhausted to say anything, so they smiled. Shining Armor, Lahk and Zequill collapsed where they stood on the deck. "You guys did it. We landed." Brazon said, congratulating the group. Twilight ran over and hugged her brother. "We all did it." Shining said. "That was... most educational." Zequill said. "Can we please get off the ship now before something else happens?" Lahk asked but Carwin had already used his rifle to smash out view port and rappel down. Pegasi followed him, as did Republic troopers. It seemed they were all eager to leave. "Wai-wait for me!" Lahk said as he ran to follow them.
Ponies and people made their way out of the ship. Pegasi flew together, eager to test out a new sky. Brazon looked out at the masses gathered near the hull of the ship. Commander Carwin, exhausted, exasperated, put out a distress call. "Republic command, this is Donair Squadron 1138 on priority channel. Requesting evac, our position is near the... wrecked Sith cruiser that just fell out of orbit. Look for the rising smoke and flying ponies, over." Carwin said into the commlink.
Princess Celestia walked along side her sister Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor and all their friends. "Our world seems to have gotten much bigger." Celestia said. "We've become part of much bigger picture. This galaxy is full of conflicting elements, too big to ignore." "How will we ever bring peace to them or even return peace to Equestria?" Luna asked. "As always little sister, I trust my faithful student and her friends to do what is right." Celestia said, looking at Twilight. "What will they do?" Luna asked. "They will teach them."