Harmony in Force

by Khandnalie

Interlude - Scent of Blood

The datapad powered down and the room went dark. Save for a few blinking lights announcing the functional state of their respective pieces of equipment, the room was completely drenched in shadow. Commander Cath leaned back in her chair and gave a small sigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy her job. To the contrary, she adored it. Learning secrets from across the galaxy was always fun, and her position carried the pride of helping the Empire on its glorious march towards a brighter future. For the Emperor and all that. It was the people that drove her insane. Always some Sith to appease, always an admiral breathing down your neck, and Emperor save us all if the Dark Council was ever in any way involved. She rubbed the bridge of her nose to help calm herself as she ceased her mental diatribe. There would be plenty of time to rant about bureaucracy and oversight at the bar later. For right now, she had unpleasant business to attend to.

Her fingers danced over the terminal in front of her, prompting it to emit a pale blue glow. A few swipes and presses, and she had in front of her the connection she needed. The holoterminal beside her started to glow as it awaited a return signal, and soon a robed figure appeared floating in the air before her. It greeted her with a surly growl and an expectant glare. Cath fought down the combative response her brain had lined up for the rude noise and straightened in her chair. She cleared her throat, answering the ambiguous greeting “Lord Gorod, we have received word from our agent aboard the Bondar Thane. They are currently dead in space, without hyperdrive.”

The robed figure looked at her for a few moments eyes boring holes into her even over the holocommunicator. His voice was a sour rumble when he spoke “If that is the extent of your news, Commander, then a severe punishment awaits you upon my return to Dromund Kaas.”

Cath gritted her teeth in annoyance at the threat, choosing to ignore it and continue with her report. “Our agent has determined that they will not be able to move for several days - weeks even, if efforts are made towards sabotage. And... he has determined that the crystal is aboard the vessel.”

Lord Gorod leaned forward intently, savage hunger visible in his eyes. “You have my undivided attention. Tell me - where is the Bondar Thane?”

Author's Note:

Y'all remember the agent aboard the Bondar Thane right? I've needed to continue that plot thread for a while now, and this bit honestly just doesn't fit in with another chapter and it isn't big enough to be its own chapter, so we shall call this an Interlude. I'll try to keep these to a minimum, but they may pop up from time to time if they are necessary.

I've decided to be a bit more flexible with the whole weekly chapter thing. This last chapter proved to me that being on a schedule like that can lead to poor writing. But I do promise to continue to pump out this story for y'all!

Comments

[Khandnalie]

2464168
Hehe, I do like to keep people on their toes :P
Celestia's power and the Jedi's relative lack thereof is actually a plot point that shall be explored in the coming chapters.
Aside from that, I tend towards the interpretation of Celestia and Luna as minor deities in their own right, so I like to make them just a teensy bit OP

[Brutydude]

2471967
Well……they should be practically all-powerful in equestria since they are deities there.
But yes, making them TOO powerful would hurt the story.

Anyway, nice chapter Khandnalie

[Khandnalie]

2548201
Hmm, the wording thing I may have to chew over a while. I see your point, but I still like the original wording better.

And, when Celestia sensed the Jedi were there and went to combat them, she was in, understandably, a bit of a hurry. Kind of like sprinting to get somewhere quickly, when you finally have to come to a stop, there's a lot of energy to get rid of. I envision the teleportation working in a similar manner: You can teleport, especially over short distances, and with small/less-powerful subjects, without creating much splash, by applying a little concentration. Like how Twilight pops hither and thither all willy-nilly without any noticeable effects. But when going a long distance, like say, Canterlot Castle to the meadows outside Ponyville, and transporting something much more massive than a little pony, and a larger well of energy within, like for instance a full grown alicorn, theres a lot more energy involved that has to be handled more carefully. When youre in a big hurry trying to stop the end of Equestria, you tend to not be careful, so there's a lot of "splash" for a teleport that large. Thus, Celestia go boom-boom when she arrived. Also, Celestia seems like one to make an explosive entrance anyways in that sort of situation.

Also, in Lesson Zero, when Celestia makes her appearance, there is a rather blinding flash of light upon her arrival. Not quite an explosion, but it's a good canonical jumping off point for the concept I was trying to convey.

[Khandnalie]

2548201
Oooohh, this is good - Your comment got me to thinking, so I went back and watched some clips of Twilight teleporting as well as Lesson Zero for reference. At different points during the series you can see different animations and different levels of magical "splash" depending on the circumstance. For example in Ticket Master, when she hurriedly teleports Spike and herself to the library from somewhere else in Ponyville, Spike seems to suffer a considerable amount of damage from the process - which would be consistent with my interpretation of the process, since she was going a relatively far distance, transporting a pretty large mass, and in a helluva hurry. In Aplebuck season, when she is talking to AJ, you can see her very calmly teleporting a number of times for short distances by herself with no "splash". Also, in Lesson Zero, you can see a little bit of a change in the size and intensity of the teleport animation depending on Twilight's state of mind. It gets a bit flashier when she is agitated. Between the two, I also noticed a generally negative correlation between the amount of time Twilight spends casting the spell and the flashiness of the animation.Also, at around 12:20 or so, when she comes to her friends for help, you can see her teleportation begin to knock back one or two nearby objects a short distance, as she is agitated and not paying proper attention to her spell as she casts it.

So yeah, I had initially just kind of pulled this out of my ass because it sounded appropriate to me, but upon further review there does appear to be some precedence in the canon. Nifty, that.

Anyways, thank you for your comment, this has actually gotten me to thinking and has helped sharpen up a few concepts in my mind. Thankyou :)

[Khandnalie]

2548201
Also, admittedly I just found a counter-example for my theory in Dragon Quest..... but hey, you cant win em all.

[Khandnalie]

2548201
Okay, so after all that, I just realized that you were referring to the teleport in the prologue, not in later chapters..... *wipes egg off of face*

Still though, my concept works.

[Khandnalie]

2574605
Holy Borknagar on a Belphegor o.0 That's a comment and a half. Thankyou very much for your attention to detail here. Looking over your comment, much of this is stuff my editor has already pointed out and is currently in the process of being fixed. But still thankyou, any and all feedback is appreciated.

This story is currently in the garage, so to speak, while it is being worked on. If you'd like a more complete version, I recommend waiting a week or two while we get this whole revision business out of the way. The updated versions of all the chapters will be posted along with the next chapter whenever everything is finished.

Hehe, but thankyou once again for your feedback Mr Lydian Silver (your name is great for musical/color-related puns)

[The Ohvist]

Okay... That chapter happened.
...
...
...
...Is there anything else you want to add?

[PlieRow666]

When is a next chapters going to be?

[PlieRow666]

When is the next chapter going to be?