Applejack was expecting the governor's building to be at least a bit more regally-furnished than the rest of Olaris. Or at least, more official-looking and important than the other buildings. But it wasn't. The governor's building consisted of a couple cramped rooms with some desks pushed up against the wall and very little furniture. The building itself was a prefabricated squat box on top of a raised platform. A few Republic flags adorned the walls but other than that, not much.
The governor's office was in the back, up an awkwardly-placed set of short stairs. The office itself had a smaller rectangular table with a datapad on it, one chair on the opposite side and two chairs in front of the doorway.
Saresh took a seat behind her desk, folded her hands in front of her. "I apologize for the clutter. This is the best we can do, for now." She tapped a button on her datapad. "Vars, send in Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy as soon as they arrive."
"Yes, ma'am." Both the Jedi escorts had returned to watching the gate, apparently.
"Thank you, governor," AJ said. She leaned in the doorway, keeping one eye on the exit for the rest of her friends.
"Thank you, governor," Twilight said. She and Rarity sat.
"I'll speak plainly," Saresh began, "but things on Taris are far worse than they appear."
Applejack's head spun around. "Come again? WORSE than they appear?"
She nodded solemnly. "Apart from the wildlife, the pirates and the bounty hunters, we've also found problems with the city's power grid. Taris's original power grid. There's radiation, pollution and... we've had some reports that the Empire is here on Taris as well. The Sith Empire that originally caused this planet's destruction has returned."
Rarity nodded. "We've seen some of these reports already. Patrols have gone missing, especially in the Tuluran Marsh region. It's absolutely unsightly that they'd return at such a time."
"So why are we settin' up a colony here?" AJ said, setting her hooves on the ground again. "Everything on this planet don't want us here, why exactly are we breaking ground now?"
Saresh leaned back. "It's because of the people out there. The colonists, they don't have anywhere else to go. I know you haven't seen much of the galaxy, but there are much worse places for those people than Taris. At least here, they will be able to own what they build. On places like Nar Shaddaa, Quesh, Nal Hutta, Tatooine, they'd be forced to work for the Hutts who in all likelihood would enslave them."
Twilight turned to AJ. "This is the only chance for some people. It's all they have."
AJ nodded. "I understand that, but why here?" She looked right at the governor. "Y'all called me here because I know a thing're two about raising a barn and I know you don't do it in the middle of a... ruined jungle-swamp. No offense to your planet, miss governor, but it needs a lot more than just a ditch done dug."
"We know. And I promised you honesty," she folded her hands and looked down at them for a long moment, as if looking at something resting on them she couldn't take off. Like a transparent glove. "This is about the Sith. The Sith Empire, they did this to Taris three-hundred years ago. I'm sure you've heard of the bombing by now- a Sith Lord named Darth Malak used a fleet to bomb Taris until this was all that was left. He did it over a single woman, a Jedi named Bastila."
The ponies nodded. "But what does somethin' that happened three centuries ago have to do with now?" AJ asked. Her friends turned to her, a quiet look on their faces. It was then the realization hit Applejack. Her hooves hit the floor and she backed away, stunned. "This IS about what happened three centuries ago. This whole thing... this is some kinda revenge!"
"No!" Saresh said, her voice slightly raised. "No, this is not for revenge. But it is to make sure that... that something like the bombing never happens again."
AJ shook her head. "Uh-uh, if they were able to do this three-hundred years ago, they must be able to blow up whole planets by now! You're tangling with a hornets' nest, ma'am."
Saresh chuckled. "I think we're a few thousand years away from that. But the threat of orbital bombardment is always a prevalent. Taris is not alone... other planets have suffered such catastrophes with even more severe results. The Republic has rebuilt them, one by one, in order to show the galaxy and the Sith that we will not back down from their oppression. That no matter how hard they hit us, our unity and our democracy will remain standing."
"But do the people down here workin' know they might be gettin' hit?" Twilight and Rarity turned back to Saresh with that remark.
She made an open-handed gesture. "Most of them do. It's not a secret what happened here and of our troubles with the Empire. The people here have accepted the risks in order to support the Republic. Just as Princess Celestia did when she agreed to the partnership with the Republic. We are all very much in this together."
Twilight turned around in her chair. "The Sith aren't the only risk, as you uh, may have already seen. And we're working on dealing with all of them. Slowly. One hoof-err, step at a time."
Saresh nodded. "Now that the partnership with Equestria has been finalized, I've been able to convince the Senate to give us more support."
"What was with all the soldiers?" AJ asked. "And more of those... Jeddy-guys with 'em. It was like a regular army showed up here outta nowhere."
"They're for your protection. Our protection. You've seen how bad the rakghoul problem is and the situation with the pirates. I was able to convince the Republic military to re-position some of its assets here," Saresh explained. As she did, her datapad began to beep. "And that would be the rest of your friends."
Applejack spun to the door without another word. Even from the top of the stairs she could them coming in. "Rainbow! Fluttershy!"
"Applejack!"
"Where've y'all been?" She hugged them both tightly.
"Searching for Twilight," Rainbow Dash replied without a hint of hesitation. "Would've had an easier time if somepony didn't get distracted every two seconds while we were flying."
Fluttershy lowered her head. "I'm sorry. But there are so many animals around and I thought maybe some of them might have seen Twilight."
AJ grinned. "S'all right now that we're all back together. There's just one thing that's still missing..."
And Pinkie burst in on cue. "Would that be meeeeeeeeeeee?!"
"Pinkie Pie!" the ponies exclaimed.
"The gang's all together again," Applejack was happy to say.
"We'll help you get settled in," Twilight said. "Governor, I'm sorry about all of the-"
She held up a hand. "No need, Twilight. We just averted... at least three major crises' at once, so go ahead and take a break. Force knows you've earned it."
"We've all earned it," Twilight added.
As the Mane Six finally stepped outside the governor's office, it was like their welcome to the planet was official. They were here now as a group, determined to do whatever was necessary to rebuild an entire world. More so, they were together, and whatever the future held, they were ready to face it.
"So, now that we're all finally back together, I just have one question," AJ said. And she made them ask what it was.
"What's that, Applejack?"
"Where can I get some grub?!" she hollered. "What are we standin' around here for? Let's get some food!"
"Ooooh! And I can bake a cake! We can have a party to celebrate finding Twilight and Applejack!"
"Pinkie, it's our first day here."
"So?"
"We can't just have cake every time something happens."
"Rarity, Rarity, Rarity... what planet do you think I'm from?"
As they left, Governor Saresh returned her attention to the display on her desk. There was another issue she was monitoring, not quite on Taris itself but quite close by.
Somewhere just outside Taris' orbit, Spitfire was having a pretty busy day of her own.
"I see two more! They're coming right at us, eleven o'clock low!"
"Let's take care of these two in front of us first," Glenn said. Checking his sensors was never enough for Glenn Dellor; he looked straight through his viewport at the coming fighters. Imperial scout fighters, a pair of them were racing right at him. The pilots must've thought between the two of them, they'd be an easy target.
What they didn't know was that his personal starfighter, a modified Hyrotii K-52 Strongarm, was packing a bit more punch than the average merc ship. And for the situation right now, a bit more range.
Glenn opened fire with his heavy laser cannons. The first shots caught the lead scout dead-center, destroying it in an instant. This must've panicked the second ship because it fired its light laser cannons immediately after. Its shots didn't even come close to hitting Glenn and Spitfire's ship. Glenn responded in kind, vaporizing the second starfighter with a double blast from his cannons.
"Alright Spit, now we can deal with the-"
*Blzzrrrmmm!*
Before he could even had time to turn around in his cockpit chair, another shot had been fired. Not by him this time, but from behind him- the ship's railgun.
"Got him! And," Spitfire said, gritting her teeth. She pressed the trigger on the railgun scope again.
*Blzzrrrrooov!*
"That's two."
Glenn turned around again. The two other fighters, pirate ships instead of Imperials, were now smoldering in space. The ships burned hot orange-blue as the flames from the plasma railgun melted their hulls. Moments later, the lingering plasma damage caused them both to explode.
"How was that?" Spitfire asked.
"Not bad. You're pretty quick with a railgun," Glenn said, giving her an approving and impressed nod. "Even quicker than Princess Luna."
"That's why I'm here," she said, determination in her voice. Her eyes stayed focused on the ships as they burned, slowly becoming nothing more than debris that wouldn't make it to the planet's surface.