• Published 23rd Mar 2015
  • 769 Views, 10 Comments

Gone Wrong - HerpicusDerpington



The Galactic Empire takes an interest in a planet in the far reaches of the Unknown Regions after it is observed that the star system revolves around it. It's suggested that a sentient species inhabits it. A task force is sent to investigate.

  • ...
5
 10
 769

Chapter 2

As the situation on the surface heated up, command could tell that the operation was about to go awry. EBR-001 had landed at what was now known to be the city of Canterlot, and the scientists and troopers were making conversation with the country’s leaders. On the flip side, they had lost contact with EBR-003 after they had said “winged equine bugs” were bringing down the shuttle while flying over the southern part of the land, and the situation developing in the northern province with EBR-002 was sounding increasingly worse.

After the troopers’ outburst, a pony archer shouted, “That thing’s a weapon! Bring them down before they can use it!”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened and he shouted back, “What? No! Don’t do anything!”

It was too late.

The rooftop archer let go of the arrow that was being held in his telekinetic grip. It whistled through the air before firmly implanting itself in Esther’s leg, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Esther rolled over, clutching his knee and shouted, "Fuck! They got me!" Galen crouched next to his fallen comrade and stared up at the archer who had fired the arrow and cocked his rifle.

The ramp of the shuttle lowered and the two pilots ran around the front to Esther’s side to get him back to the cabin. As they helped Esther to his feet, Galen opened fire with is rifle, first hitting the archer pony and obliterating his skull, before turning his gaze to the group of guards staring at him with wide eyes. Shining Armor cast a small, pink shield around the group as Galen opened fire, but the magic shield shattered under the laser fire. Shining Armor turned and ran away from the trooper quickly. The remaining guards tried to follow him, but many of them were torn apart by Galen’s barrage of lasers.

Back in the shuttle cabin, Din was began taking Esther’s leg armor off to patch him up, while Roan contacted command amidst the confused scientists asking what had happened. “Command, this is EBR-002, consider the aliens hostile! An archer attacked one of our troopers, and the other gunned down the aliens. Can confirm their armor doesn’t shield them against lasers. We’re pulling out now.”

The command deck was full of activity as the crew accommodated a hanger bay for EBR-002’s return, as well as a search party to look for EBR-003. “Copy that, EBR-002, we’re awaiting your return,” was all a disappointed Imperial officer could say. The Grand Moff wouldn’t be happy to hear about this. It was possible the forces responsible for bringing down EBR-003 were not affiliated with the country now known to be Equestria, but the Crystal Empire was definitely part of it. While the situation in the north was developing, a lot had been learned from EBR-001’s visit in Canterlot. One of the things they learned was that the captain of their guard, Shining Armor, was not only one of the co-rulers of the Crystal Empire, but also the brother of one of the nation’s princesses. Command was fairly positive that Shining Armor was present for the massacre EBR-002 had just pulled off, and whether or not he was still alive, news of that event was going to spread fast, and everyone on board the Executor-class vessel was unsure of how this would effect the negotiations in Canterlot.

Back on the surface, the crew of EBR-001 were being treated to a nice chat with the two co-rulers of Equestria. They were unaware of what happened to EBR-003 or what was happening with EBR-002, and were actively conversing with the co-rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, while simultaneously reporting what they’ve learned back to command. Suddenly, the door to the throne room burst open and a royal guard came speeding in, breathing heavily.

He bowed and spoke, “P-princesses... there’s news from the north... something terrible has happened...” He handed a scroll to Princess Celestia with his telekinesis before making eye contact with the Imperials in the throne room. His eyes widened and he shouted, “T-that’s them!”

The troopers and scientists looked at eachother and Celestia said, “What are you talking about?” before unwrapping the scroll and reading its contents.

After a few minutes, her face began to contort ever so slightly, although she seemingly kept her trademark calm posture. Celestia slowly said, "Take them into custody."

Royal guards from the corners of the throne room moved in quickly and knocked the humans off of their seats and held them down with magic as they subdued their limbs. After an hour, the Imperials were stripped of their equipment and held in a small castle cell, awaiting questioning. The Canterlot royalty had to get to the bottom of this.

After officially losing contact with EBR-001, command assumed that everything had went wrong. A series of misunderstandings - and maybe a bad decision on Galen's part - had led to a botched operation that left the Imperial brass with few options. EBR-002 had returned to the star dreadnought safely, and Esther was treated quickly with the use of bacta. The command deck had come to a conclusion: after all that had happened, it was determined that this species would be left alone. The planet would be charted from space, and perhaps in time, this civilization of equine creatures would be ready to make contact with the rest of the galaxy. Officially calling the operation off, they were almost ready to pull out. The command deck was still divided between opinions of leaving this primitive species alone, and discovering the secrets of their celestial magic and introducing another sentient species to the existing network of intergalactic communities. Unfortunately, not much could be done for the officers who still longed for the planet's secrets. The Grand Moff himself had decided to leave this planet behind.

However, Imperial business with this Equestria wasn't over yet. The crew aboard EBR-001 were still being held captive while the planet's government were making heads and tails of what had happened on their land. After the incident in the Crystal Empire, maybe they were considered prisoners of war. With the decision made to leave this planet behind, the Imperial navy was prepared to do whatever it took to get their troops back. After the planet's government reacted like it did, negotiations were out of the question. Grand Moff Tarkin was a sadistic individual, and instead of threatening them with the sheer force of their intergalactic military, he was going to show them firsthand what it means to take Imperials hostage. As a handful of the Imperial-II class star destroyers in the fleet began to file away from the star system, the Executor-class vessel prepped one last hanger for a flight. A Sentinel-class shuttle began accommodating for one last combat crew - phase three Dark Troopers.