//------------------------------// // Incoming // Story: Friendship is Grievous // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// Some time had passed since General Grievous and Princess Luna had had their bout in the Everfree Forest. In that time, he had been back and forth several times between his escape pods and Princess Twilight’s castle with help from the mistress of the night. Much as Grievous hated to admit it, she had proven invaluable with her skill in slipping past the assorted hangers-on. And avoiding the pink one. Especially avoiding the pink one. Regrettably, he couldn’t spend all his time away from the castle, lest some clever souls deduce that he wasn’t in there and come looking for him. His affiliation with the Everfree was well-known. If he didn’t put in the occasional public appearance around the town, ponies might start venturing in there in search of his craft. Indeed, some of the smarter – or more stupid, depending on how one saw it – ponies had already started down that path. The monster-infested forest had served to keep them away so far, but for how long? Grievous wondered if it was possible for Luna to move his equipment to a more secure location. He resolved to ask her next time she showed up. On the bright side, the yellow pegasus Fluttershy had refused to speak to him ever since she had found out what he had done to the manticore on his first night. Indeed, she had flown away in tears, which had been somewhat amusing. The blue one, Rainbow Dash, had been far more low-profile around him since her near-asphyxiation at his hands. If only he could get rid of all of them so easily. Grievous put his hands behind his back and stared out the window into the distance. He ignored the crowds of ponies below snapping their primitive photographs of him and concentrated on the future. He had now been on this wretched planet for nearly three weeks, but the galaxy had not stopped moving to wait for him. Who knew how much the war had changed since he had last seen proper battle? What would be left by the time he returned to the Confederacy? He didn’t know and that, like many other things, angered him. He cursed the fact that one pony who was proving useful to him had other duties and willed her to return swiftly. Grievous’ head shot around as his audio sensors picked up the sounds of hooves on crystalline floors. For a second he had hope that his wish had been granted in a timely fashion, but when the door behind him opened, that hope was promptly dashed. Princess Twilight Sparkle walked in, a B-1 droid at her back. “Thank you so much for lending B-1T70 to me!” she said in that irritatingly cheerful tone of hers. “I spend so long diagramming his insides – the technology represented here is staggering! Amazing! Just think of how much there is for us ponies to learn from you!” Grievous eyed her wearily, not saying anything in hopes that it would encourage her to go away. “It was fun, sir!” said the B-1 in an almost as cheerful tone. And take the droid with her. “So…” she said. “In the mood to go out today?” “No.” “You sure? You’ve been cooped up in here for weeks.” “Yes.” “Oh come on!” she exclaimed in an exasperated tone. “What does it take to get you out of your shell?” “Bodily reconstruction surgery,” Grievous deadpanned. “You don’t want to meet anyone or do anything! Ever! All you care about is getting out here!” “Yes.” “You’re on a whole new world that you may never visit again, and all you can think of doing is leaving!” “What’s your point?” asked Grievous. “Do I have to kick you out to get you to interact with ponies?” “Just try it.” Twilight sighed wearily. “Fine, if you won’t go out, I’ll bring them in. There’s already a pony here to meet you: my brother, Shining Armor.” Obi Wan Kenobi watched the figure of the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic materialize before him in holographic form. The image was weak and shaky – Coruscant was a considerable distance away, and the Holonet suffered from intermittent Separatist attacks – but the distinguished elderly statesman from Naboo was visible nonetheless. “Your Excellency,” said Obi Wan, nodding his head deferentially. “I thank you for being so prompt in your response to my petition.” “Oh, not all, General Kenobi,” said the grandfatherly-looking Chancellor Palpatine with a smile. “You are one of the Republic’s finest defenders. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not hasten to lend you aid, especially for such an important task.” “You flatter me unduly, Chancellor.” “Only if the truth is now considered flattery.” Obi Wan looked out the viewport of the Peacemaker’s command bridge. In the distance, he could make out the vague shapes of ships dropping out hyperspace. Sensor data showed a trio of Venator-class Star Destroyers led by a single Victory-class model. Around them swarmed several Consular and Arquitens-class light cruisers in escort formation. It was a formidable armada, and more than Kenobi had expected to be given. “Nonetheless,” Kenobi returned his attention to the hologram of Palpatine. “I should hope you didn’t pull these ships from anywhere they were more urgently needed.” “General Kenobi, nothing could be more urgent than finally bringing General Grievous to justice and ending this terrible war. Of that you may be sure,” Palpatine said, looking serious. Then he smiled. “However, if it will help to ease your mind for the task to come, then know that these ships were taken from patrol duty in a quiet sector in the Inner Rim. There isn’t a Separatist bastion for a dozen parsecs in any direction.” “The Inner Rim?” Obi Wan was surprised. That was a long way from where he was. “This fleet certainly made good time, then.” “That will be in part thanks to their commander. He is a very good officer, and as I recall you have worked with him before. I had hoped that might ease the burden of coordination.” “Really?” Obi Wan raised an eyebrow. He had worked with many Republic officers before, of course, but it was a big galaxy. The odds against seeing any particular man again were high. “May I ask who it is?” “Of course,” Palpatine nodded. “His name is-” The Supreme Chancellor paused and turned his head, apparently distracted by something beyond the range of his holocam. He listened to something for a few seconds, nodded his head once, and then turned back to Obi Wan. “Pardon the interruption, General Kenobi. My aid was just informing me that a third party is joining our holoconference. You should be able to see him shortly.” As if waiting for its cue, the holoprojector in front of Obi Wan did indeed call up the image of a second man. As Palpatine had promised him, Kenobi did indeed recognize the newcomer. His brow furrowed. “General Kenobi,” said the man in greeting, his voice as familiar to the Jedi Master as his neat and carefully-groomed appearance. “Admiral Tarkin.” Grievous stared down at the little white unicorn, yellow eyes glaring balefully into blue. Shining Armor flinched a little, but held his ground. Grievous held the gaze for just a moment before breaking off, eyes returning to the book he had been reading. He said nothing. "So..." Shining Armor coughed little awkwardly. "I'd heard that you were a military man." "Yes." "Well... uh... I am as too. I thought we could talk about that a bit. I mean, you've fought all kinds of crazy battles in space and alien planets. I've fought all kinds of magical beasts I bet you're not familiar with. I was thinking we could swap stories." "I'm not interested in the pathetic slapfights you call battles," Grievous said without looking up. "And you aren't worthy of hearing tales of true war." "Pathetic?!" Shining's voice rose. "I'm not-" "I've read about your pathetic 'Siege of Canterlot. An utter disgrace." "Now look here, I-" "-Am a pathetic idiot who got casually brainwashed by an infiltrating insect," Grievous finished contemptuously. "Then systematically undermined the defenses of my own men and allowed the city to be taken without so much as a single enemy casualty. And was such an uninspiring leader that not a single one of my cowardly men fought to the death." "You can insult me all you want, but I won't have you insulting my stallions!" The unicorn gritted his teeth. "Truth hurts, doesn't it?" Grievous looked up. "You're pitifully inadequate even by the weakling standards of this world. Your men are stupid curs that lose to bugs that in turn were beaten up by bridesmaids. They were such cowards that they allowed themselves to be captured one and all, or even surrendered." "My men are not cowards." Shining hissed, hoof now scratching the ground. "You want a story?" Grievous put the book aside and stood up. "Fine. When I walked as flesh and blood, I too fought an invasion of insects. My planet was attacked by Huk, cruel and rapacious vermin orders of magnitude more numerous than these changelings. And do you know what we did?" He paused. "We fought, little toy soldier. We fought desperately with everything we had. Not one step back. No city of Kalee was ever surrendered to the aliens, much less without a single casualty! We made them pay in oceans of blood for every inch of ground they claimed, sacrificed thousands of soldiers rather than surrender one foot of our land! That is what a warrior does." His eyes narrowed contemptuously. "And you are no warrior." Shining Armor looked more than I little ill. "You sent thousands," the word sounded strained, "of your own men to their deaths to avoid losing small amounts of dirt?" "Kalee is sacred to us," growled Grievous. "I don't expect you to understand. "Lives are sacred to us," Shining snapped back. "I don't expect you to understand." "Oh I do," said the cyborg. "I understand your pitiful nation could be conquered by three men with a butter knife and a bad attitude. You'd surrender the moment they threatened a kitten." He turned his back on the prince and began to stalk away. "I'm not through with you!" Shining called, following. "But I'm through with you." "I'm not just going to stand here and let you insult my soldiers and my country." The unicorn caught up. "If you're so-" Once again he was cut off, this time by a cybernetic claw seizing his chest. Grievous hoisted Shining easily with one arm until they were at eye level. "Apparently you're too much a fool to take a hint." Yellow eyes bored into blue. "I suppose more direct measures are required." And that is how a unicorn prince went flying through a crystal doorway. Count Dooku gazed out at the stars from the command bridge of the Invisible Hand, watching, waiting. The dark side of the Force flowed through his aging frame, feeding off his anger and empowering his weakened limbs. He reached out into the cosmos, seeking the line of fate that would lead him to General Grievous. It was so close, he could almost taste it. But, frustratingly, it kept slipping away from him at the last second. His brow was furrowed in concentration and anger. Then, with a jolt, he turned. The Force was guiding him… backwards, to a console where a T-series tactical droid was arguing with a B-1 seated at the console itself. “…scans indicate lifeforms,” the B-1 was saying. “Could mean anything,” the tactical droid responded. “If we followed up every lead we could-” “But sir,” the B-1 interrupted. “That subsector is supposed to be devoid of intelligent lifeforms.” “You found something?” Dooku interrupted them both. “Yes my lord,” answered the battle droid, bringing up an image of a blue-green planet on the console. It was a beautiful orb, like Dooku’s homeworld of Serenno, pristine and untainted by pollutants or over-industrialization. Dooku took one look at it. “That’s it. The ship is there.” “My lord,” said the tactical droid. “There are so many uncharted civilizations. It could be primitives, it could be-” “That is the system, and I am sure Grievous is with them,” Dooku answered brusquely. “Set your course for the unknown system. General Kalani!” he barked at the orange-eyed super tactical droid standing behind him. “Prepare you men!”