//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Shift 
// Story: Star Wars: The Dark Vector 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

It wasn't often that a single squadron was summoned to the main chamber. Missions were almost always assigned in the squadron's amphitheater  outside the barracks or, if time was of the essence, to the squadron leaders themselves. Reena wasn't sure what to expect as she led her squad into the large room at the center of the base, but it was clear when she arrived that these weren't ordinary circumstances.

"...opportunity we've never had before, but you should proceed with caution."

"We'll use the utmost care and discretion. We're putting our best squad on..."

As Bold Squadron walked in, every person in the room slowly turned to them. And there were more than a few there: the main chamber was filled with most of the commanding officers from every unit in the base. Reena and company felt eyes on them from every corner of the room, but the pair she focused on weren't technically in the room- they were being broadcast from possibly lightyears away.

"Senator Mon Mothma!" She quickly saluted. The rest of Bold Squadron followed suit, a couple after being elbowed.

The holographic image of the Senator gave the briefest smile and nodded. "Captain Varsen," she said, as if she had been expecting her to arrive the entire time. There was a pause as the two women regarded each other across multiple distances. "I trust your squadron is up for another mission?"

"We are, ma'am," she said without hesitation, something even odd to her.

The smile returned. "I trust you'll make us proud." The hologram faded.

"Okay... what did we just volunteer for?" Grex asked, breaking the momentary silence.

"And will this be before or after the party?" Sonders followed up.

"During," a gruff voice answered. A grizzled grey-bearded man with short-cropped hair stepped up from the back of the group to stand in front of the holoprojector. Everyone in the room saluted, including the ones who hadn't moments earlier. "There's been some major developments while you were out. For one, we have to apologize to your squad for your previous handler. Commander Reknaw was given some leniency we shouldn't have afforded him. Intel will not be making that mistake again."

Reena found it difficult to look General Ibo Geesan directly in the eyes. Not much was known about the leader of Rebel Alliance Intelligence for Task Force Defiance. The grizzled Clone Wars spy's behavior was as mysterious as his past. He had a knack for being able to show up seemingly at any time with information no one knew he was privy to.

"Did... did Intelligence just apologize to us?" Grex whispered. Reena elbowed Grex to shut him up, but she was wondering the exact same thing.

The general stepped up in front of the holoprojector. Whether he'd heard them or not, they did not know, but his sudden movement silenced them anyway.  He kicked the base of the projector with the tip of his boot and it suddenly turned on again, displaying a blue image. The others around the room stopped what they were doing, ceased any private whispers to lean in to what the general had to say.

"First and foremost, we're beginning to understand the Empire's interest in Equestria," he began, gesturing towards the projector. As he spoke, the blue blurs transformed into the shape of mustached man in the familiar gray Imperial officer's uniform. "This is Admiral Gravleos, the naval officer in charge of this system."

"Not exactly a chipper fellow, is he?" Brullen asked, making note of the officer's stern expression.

"When exactly have you seen a happy Imp?" Avin questioned.

To which, Brull shrugged. "Dinkleburg seemed happy at the party."

"DINKLEBERG!!" Timmy's dad yelled.

Reena's throat was knotted. She felt like she was about to be shouted down by the superior officer; if he hadn't been present, she might've reprimanded Brullen herself. But to her surprise, and indeed the surprise of all assembled there, General Geesan only said, "Indeed. In fact, we can confirm that Admiral Gravleos is not pleased with his current position as Grand Moff Dinkleburg's personal war hound. He'd rather be fighting us directly... something we can't afford right now."

"Sir?" Sonders raised his hand, waiting for a gesture from the general before he continued. "Was Admiral Gravleos responsible for ambushing the Grace?"

The general nodded. He kicked the projector again and it turned from the head of the admiral to a Mon Calamari star cruiser. "Some of you already know, but Task Force Grace was ambushed a couple months ago over Christophsis. Their flagship, the Grace, was our primary medical cruiser and had about fifteen-hundred troops on her and eight-hundred wounded. The Task Force was almost completely wiped out, barely any of our ships escaped Gravleos' ambush and we thought the Grace had been destroyed," the general explained. As he did, the holoprojector image zoomed out, showing the Mon Calamari cruiser surrounded by Imperial ships. But they weren't attacking it- they were in formation.

"Son of a bitch..."

"The hell?" Murmurs erupted from the room. General Geesan did nothing to quiet them down.

"This came from one of our spy satellites over Nar Shaddaa- before it was destroyed," Geesan said. "We can now confirm Gravleos did not destroy the Grace. He captured it. Kept it as a trophy, of sorts, from what we can tell. It's part of his fleet now and we have no word about the crew of the Grace... or the wounded aboard her."

"Our biggest medical ship," Sonders said quietly. "Losing her was a blow to morale across the entire Alliance and to our allies."

"Indeed. But we've just found out that Admiral Gravleos is on the guest list for Grand Moff Dinkleburg-"

"DINKLEBERG!!"

"'s Nightmare Night party this weekend. Your unit is going to take advantage of this opportunity," Margus finished. They all leaned in just a little bit closer, became a little bit more serious and stood up just a little bit straighter. They knew what was coming next; they were going to receive their assignment. "For details on this operation, I'm going to turn it over to the source of this information, Director Seebrin Margus," he said, stepping aside.

Metal clacks rang off the floor. What entered the room from the other side drew every eye as if it had been Saw Gerrera's ghost. But the new arrival walked on four metal legs and was unfamiliar to all of them in more ways than one.

"As General Geesan said, this weekend presents us with an impressive opportunity," the Director began. "Not just for the Alliance and Equestria... but for the entire galaxy." He tried to control the display on the holoprojector but his hooves had trouble with the controls. General Geesan stepped over and kicked the projector. "Thank you. My suit makes finer manipulation a bit... tricky, shall we say. One of the burdens of being a sea pony."

"Sea pony?" Grex repeated. "I didn't know there were... well, you, on Equestria."

The glass-helmeted orange sea pony smiled. "There's quite a bit you wouldn't know about Equestria from just looking on the surface."

"Director Margus is part of the Alderaan Science Directorate, what's left of it, anyway," Geesan explained.

"That's correct. And the ASD has overseen the development of many special projects both on Equestria and other Alderaan-like worlds since our original planet's destruction," he said, looking down for a moment. He held the side of his helmet, as if massaging his temple from the outside. "Our goal since then has been to try and prevent another catastrophe... like that from ever happening again."

There were a lot of unspoken words at the mentioning of Alderaan. Almost every unit in the Alliance had someone that had been affected in some way. Whether they were refugees or had friends and family who had been on-world at the time, the Death Star changed a lot of lives when it destroyed Alderaan. It was less a location now and more of an event, something horrible that had happened to everyone.

"What is it you want us to do?" Reena asked.

The sea pony began pacing around the projector. "Commander Reknaw's recent actions may have been a bit... extreme, but we believe he was ultimately correct. Information he found while undercover strongly suggests the Empire is conducting extensive weapons R&D on Equestria. From what we've learned, we believe it may be another planet-killer. Something like the Death Star... with plans to test it on Equestria like they did Alderaan."

More murmurs escaped from the crowded soldiers. Alderaan and the destruction of the Death Star after it had united the Rebellion and dived the galaxy. In the space of a few standard galactic hours, the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire had transformed from two conflicting movements into the most bitter of enemies. Planets across the galaxy had declared their allegiance and were outraged at either the loss of Alderaan or the Death Star that destroyed it.

Except Equestria. The Empire was now cracking down on the dissenting planets, many of whom were now trying to join the Alliance openly and/or gain their independence. And despite the Empire's vast power and extension, many of them were actually getting it. Gerrard V declared its independence and, despite the local governor's attempts to loot the city, was liberated and Imperial forces were forced to withdraw. With all their warships and weapons, the truth was clear: the Empire did not have enough numbers to control the galaxy. The Rebellion now tried to help worlds gain independence, running from the Imperial fleets pursuing them.

As Seebrin walked around the holographic projector, he seemed to mutter calculations to himself. He came full-circle to the front of the projector, coming to both a conclusion and a destination simultaneously. "We don't want to give the Empire that opportunity. We want you to remove Admiral Gravleos from the equation."

"Ah," Grex said, nodding. He clapped his hands together as if he was prepared now. "We gotcha. Standard lab-nab? Piece of Uj cake." Lab-nab was Rebel slang for rescuing a scientist, which usually came at the request of the scientist's family. Unfortunately, some of the Empire's conscripted military minds did not come willingly and had to be abducted, so the term lab-nab was sometimes very literal.

"No," Seebrin said. "There will be no extraction. There's too many variables involved. Your orders are to kill him."

Silence again. In an instant, they all realized that was the reason General Geesan was here and the reason for the current gathering, including Senator Mon Mothma's brief call. Officially, the Alliance didn't do assassinations or condone them. Unofficially, Rebel Intelligence handled all the wetwork missions against the enemies of the Rebellion, Imperial or otherwise. Even before the founding of the Rebel Alliance, it was rumored General Geesan was a member of a guild of assassins called the GenoHaradan, responsible for countless assassinations across the history of the Republic.

"I know we're asking a lot," Geesan said, smiling at them. "We know you'll be able to get the job done."

"Excuse me, but, sir? What about the Grace?" Reena asked.

"Yeah, wouldn't capturing him be a better idea?" Brullen followed up. "We could find out where are people are-"

"Unfortunately, that's not an option," Seebrin interrupted. "In all likelihood, the Grace and its crew complement are..." he trailed off, his eyes listing to one side as if he was suddenly in a trance. "Well, we can't be sure what's happened to them."

"What did you mean "in all likelihood," though?" Grex asked. They were all curious.

"Oh. I meant, they're probably being experimented on," the director said matter-of-factly, as if they'd asked him a more casual question. "The Empire's probably performing all manner of unethical tests on them, what with them being prisoners of war and all. Or they'll try to use them in some sort of elaborate trap or scheme of some sort. It'll be quite fascinating when they do decide to do something and we'll need to analyze the-"

"What the good doctor means is that the crew of the Grace are already dead. The chance of recovery is, sadly, too small to consider," Geesan stepped in to explain. "So we're going to send a message instead and prevent him from developing anything new in this corner of the galaxy."

"General, report from Admiral Kenso, sir."

"Thank you, lieutenant," the general said. He accepted the already-lit datapad from his aide. He glanced at it once and then clasped his hands, with the datapad behind his back. "For your role in this operation, you will be attending Grand Moff Dinkleberg's Nightmare Night party." Timmy's Dad attempted to shout again but his mouth was preemptively covered by Grex's hand. Strangely, the general gave Mr. Turner a knowing smile. "There, you will confirm Admiral Gravleos' presence and terminate him." With that chilling statement, he turned back to the holoprojector.

"That's... a bit easier said than done, isn't it?"

"Indeed," the director stepped back in, "which is why you're going in undercover. You'll be attending as guests at the party, so the costumes Miss Rarity designed for you can be put to good use. Once you're at the party and you make contact with the good Admiral, we'd like you to remove him any way you can. But, if we had a preference," the sea pony reached into a side pocket on his suit and withdrew a vial. "This is a sample of a neurotoxin his lab has been developing. It's quite potent and we would like you to... make sure he samples it. Perhaps in a beverage or hors-d'oeuvre. This will lead to suspicion someone on his own team poisoned him and hopefully mean the project's cancellation."

Reena felt herself and a few of her wing mates, including Grex, swallow. "We will get it done, sir."

Still with his back to them, the general nodded. "The party's this weekend so we want you to keep a low profile until then. No trips out, focus on preparation and any other affairs you need to get in order at the base," he looked over his shoulder. "Questions?" They shook their heads, a silent lie. "Dismissed."

They saluted and filed out of the room the same way they had entered. Just before they completely exited, Seebrin Margus called a "Good luck" after them. Reena found herself more uncomfortable than when she had entered.

As they returned to their amphitheater, Reena pulled Grex to the side.

"So hey, were you creeped out as I was about that-"

She pressed her finger over his lips to quiet him. It was too risky to discuss, to question the mission in the base right now. She looked at him, stern concern in her eyes to convey that message to them. "The party."

"The party," he repeated.

"This is kind of hard for me to say, but," she looked around. "I've never been to a party before. You know how much socializing I do."

"Yeah..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we're both gonna kind of be out of our element."

She shook her head. "Not you."

"Not me?"

"No, you're good at interacting with others. You're the first one to make new friends when a new unit shows up to the Task Force. You're even friends with droids."

"Well, I- I guess so. I just like to make the new guys feel welcome. We were all knew at one time, you know? Even our droids. But what does this have to do with you?" Grex asked.

She leaned in closer to him and took both his hands. She looked down at both of their hands, as if he held something she didn't. "I... need you to teach me how to interact. At a party."

He stared back at her blankly. "You want me to teach you how to party."

She nodded. "I get claustrophobic around crowds. It's something from when I grew up that I never got over."

Grex nodded, remembering her troubled past. "I, yeah, I understand."

"So can you help?"

He thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I think I can. But I'm going to need back up for this. Fortunately, I know a guy. Err, gal."

"Really? Who?"