//------------------------------// // Interdictor // Story: The Dragon and the Force // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// “What took you so long?” Spike scowled as Seugtai entered the bridge, taking his position and beginning to chart a course back to Fireshot. “Nothing, same as the nothing you saw down there,” Seugtai responded, pulling his helmet off and setting it down beside one of the control stations. “We should be back at Fireshot within the week, you have more plans now we have some extra credits?” “I do, I’m preparing a list as we speak,” Spike nodded. “Once we break orbit you have control of Harmony, understand?” “Perfectly. Spike. Whatever you did or didn’t see down there, it wasn’t real, and it’s just a truth, not the truth, not necessarily. You can’t take it all literally, there’s a lot of room for interpretation.” “I somehow doubt that,” Spike scowled, before lapsing into silence, grasping the control rods of Harmony and deftly guiding the Corvette away from Anchorhead and into the void beyond. As soon as they reached orbit, Spike left the bridge without a word, Seugtai waiting for the door to close before taking his position in the oversized command chair. “Are we going to talk about what you saw down there then?” Seugtai asked, flicking on a ship wide communicator. “Are you going keep asking me this for the whole of the next week or will you maybe drop it?” Spike asked back, his voice coming in loud and clear over the comms. “I’ll keep asking until you give me something,” Seugtai shot back. “Come on, Spike. You owe me.” There was a tense moment of silence before Spike sighed. “Fine. Get us into hyperspace and then come see me. I’ll be in my quarters.” Smiling at the small victory, Seugtai leaned back in the chair, quickly inputting the course he had plotted. It took them half an hour to reach the systems jump point, the Mandalorian easing the ship into the Hyperlanes before setting the auto-pilot and heading to find Spike. True to his word, Spike was in his quarters, sharpening the blade of his glaive with a plasma stone. The ex-Jedi looked up as Seugtai entered, placing the weapon to one side and gesturing for Seugtai to take a seat. “So? What did you see? It’s eating you, I can see that.” “I saw…I don’t really know actually,” Spike sighed, his shoulders sagging as his skin slowly began to turn back to its normal green and purple, his muscles shrinking as his wings grew back. “Start at the beginning? It’s usually the best place to start a story from.” “I…saw someone…from my home. My real home…Equestria.” “Who was it?” “Twilight Sparkle,” Spike said after a long moment, a smile spreading across his face. “She’s my mother.” “Tell me about her, Spike,” Seugtai urged softly, a smile of his own appearing. “Or your home, either of them. You’ve never told me about either of them.” “That’s because for most of the time we’ve known each other we were on opposite sides of a war,” Spike snorted, before sighing and leaning back. “Equestria is…was…I don’t know anymore. It was beautiful. Ruled by the twin sisters Celestia and Luna, the goddesses of the Sun and Moon. When she was a filly, Twilight was taken for initiation into the school for gifted unicorns, magic academy. She was given an egg that was dead and told to hatch it. It was impossible, to see how a pony would handle failure. But she didn’t fail…Twilight’s power was enough to hatch me…to give me life. She took care of me from then on. We were together through everything, Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Changeling attack on Canterlot. She never gave up, Seugtai, never gave in. She’s the strongest person I know, she always has been, makes me look weak by comparison.” “She sounds like a good mother,” Seugtai smiled. “What did you see that caused all this though? It’s more than that, you can tell me.” “She looked different, Seugtai. Sickly. And then…” Spike’s voice broke as he spoke. “She burnt, Seugtai. Right before my eyes. She burnt in my fire, the stuff I breathe…and I don’t know what it means.” “Don’t take it literally, Spike,” Seugtai was serious now. “The Truth Teller never speaks literally, it’s always half truths and could have been’s. Maybe she is sick, and you’ll burn away that sickness when you get home, you thought of that?” “When I get home?” Spike asked, sighing. “Seugtai, I have looked for Equus, in the archives of the Jedi, in rumours of the outer rim. I’ve never heard of it, not even a scrap of detail. I don’t know if it’s somewhere out there…or if it's a world that’s part of the force, or in another galaxy, or what. I have no idea, Seugtai. I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again, but now all I can think about is I’m going to return home and….and kill Twilight. What’s if it’s because I’m a monster, Seugtai? What if all the shit I’ve done catches up to me and I go…” Seugtai grunted as he slapped Spike hard across the face, Spike’s hand instantly going to his cheek, anger flaring in his eyes. “Stop. Now,” Seugtai said forcefully. “You don’t know what the Truth Teller showed you, but you are not a monster. You are fighting against the monsters, right now. You take the shit so others don’t have to, but that does not make you a monster. Do you understand?” “I…” Spike began, but as he spoke the entire ship shook, emergency red lighting coming on throughout the ship as the automated voice of the ships computer kicked in. “Emergency, emergency. Hyperlane ahead constricted, initiating emergency realspace return in three…two…one.” Spike’s stomach lurched as the ship was spat out of Hyperspace, he and Seugtai already running for the bridge when the emergency lighting had come on. Jumping into the command chair, Spike deactivated the autopilot, conducting a sweep of the ship for any defect with the Hyperdrive. “Spike!” Seugtai roared from one of the other consoles. “Sith Interdictor ship and escorts dead ahead, they’re closing fast and they’ve already got fighters heading for us!” “Damn it,” Spike swore. “How the hell did they know where we were coming from?” “No idea, but unless we can get far enough away from that Interdictor ship we are going nowhere.” “Get on the main point defence cannons, the droids will have to do the rest,” Spike ordered, before closing his eyes and opening himself up to the wells of magic within him. He became disconnected from his body as he did so, pulling back until he could see the whole of the ship, but more than that, he could feel everything. He could feel who was on the Sith fleet, dozens of dark Jedi, but there was only one Sith Lord aboard. Spike braced himself for the assault on his mind as he felt the one person he dreaded. I am glad I could find you, Spike the unmistakable voice of Tarhal in his head sneered. Not many ships look like the Harmony you know, it gained quite a reputation in the Mandalorian Wars, if you know who to ask of course. Spike growled, forcing his magic in on himself to block his mind from intrusions, his body still in a painful halfway stage of transformation, his wings still sucking muscle mass from his arms. His talons worked furiously as he accessed the ships computer, cunning dozens of simulations as he swung the ship away from the oncoming fighters. The first shots slammed into the shields of Harmony, the ship juddering slightly as the Sith Fighters roared in front of the ship, rolling away to avoid the return fire from Seugtai. Spike was grateful that the ships weren’t able to carry heavier weapons than a pair of laser cannons, but even without ion cannons or proton torpedoes the swarm of fighters would overwhelm them with weight of fire incredibly quickly, something every simulation he ran confirmed with cold, emotionless certainty. The ship lurched as all momentum was suddenly robbed from it, its engines still burning as a crackling corona of energy appeared in the void before the bridge. Spike swore just as a voice came over the bridge comms. “Attention Harmony, this is the Sith Interdictor Ship Stormheart. We have you in our tractor beam, escape is impossible, and resistance is futile. Power down your engines, shields and weapons and prepare to be boarded and remanded into custody.” That was it. There was no, ‘or else’, no threats, just simple commands. The fighters were already breaking off, their job of herding Harmony already completed. They couldn’t break free from the tractor beam, both sides knew it. With a roar of anger, Spike slammed his hand onto the command thrones arm, denting the metal, before his shoulders sagged and he keyed in a command. The engines of the ship flickered and died, the shields popping out as the weapons went cold in their mountings. Spike had barely even finished shutting down the ships defences before Seugtai was back on the bridge. “Tractor beam?” he asked, evidently the Sith communication hadn’t reached the entire ship. “Yeah,” Spike nodded. “We don’t have much time. Ideas?” “A few yeah,” Seugtai nodded, his mind racing as he began to fill Spike in on what he was thinking. *** Spike stood alone as the exit door slid open, bright light nearly overwhelming him for an instant, forcing him to screw his eyes closed for a moment. When he managed to blinkingly open them he saw that a pair of high-powered spotlights were being shone directly on the entrance, making it difficult for him to see just how many were waiting to greet him. Even so, he could make out the sight of at least a dozen Sith soldiers manning heavy blaster cannon emplacements, as well as half a dozen assault droids and even a few Dark Jedi. Tarhal was taking no chances about Spike trying anything, and yet even through the blinding light, Spike couldn’t see the Wookie. Was he busy elsewhere? “Step out of the ship and lay down your weapons!” a voice called out, though who it came from Spike couldn’t say. Spike didn’t resist, taking a few steps forward and letting his glaive fall to the floor with a clang. Once he did, a collar was thrown from the crowd, Spike recognising it as a high-powered neural disruptor, looking like it had been specially made to fit something massive, someone like Spike for instant. “Place the collar around your neck and get down on your front, arms behind your back.” The same voice as before, Spike letting out a low growl but doing as he was ordered. As soon as the collar snapped closed around his neck, Spike felt a dark cloud invade his mind, pressing down on his consciousness. He could still feel the force, but it was distant, slipping through his fingers like sand when he tried to reach for it, not that he had often tried to use the force in recent years, not since he lost his body to cybernetic replacement. His magic too was fading, the power he had relied on since his injuries, and now relied on even when whole again. It wasn’t as distant as the force was, but he wouldn’t be calling on it for more than simple telekinesis anytime soon. “Down on the ground!” the voice roared again, Spike realising he was still standing before the Sith. Reluctantly he lowered himself to the ground, placing his arms behind his back, a pair of Sith troopers running up carrying heavy manacles that clinked into place with an air of finality. As he was cuffed, Spike forced his mind to think of anything other than Seugtai, the Mandalorian safely hidden aboard the ship. The fact they hadn’t already demanded his presence made Spike believe they didn’t know he was on board as well, but if the Dark Jedi were adept at mind reading, that secrecy wouldn’t last long. Spike suddenly felt himself being hauled upwards, a huge droid grabbing him by the manacles and standing him upright, towering above Spike as it waited for its next orders, its quadrupedal form braced in case Spike tried to run. Finally, the lights were switched off, Spike’s eyes adjusting as a Dark Jedi approached. “So, you are the great Jedi General my master has told me so much about?” The woman sneered. “I expected more from you, my master will be disappointed by the fight you put up, but he will still reward me for capturing you.” “Your master’s Tarhal?” Spike asked, keeping his voice even. “He is your master as well now,” the apprentice grabbed the collar, forcing it one notch tighter so it pressed uncomfortably against Spike’s throat. “Collared and leashed. Like a good dog. You know, on my world when we had a dangerous animal, we’d geld…” Before she could finish, Spike’s head shot forward, slamming into the woman’s in a fountain of blood. Bones cracked under the force of the blow, the woman collapsing to the floor with a scream of pain. “I killed Tarhal’s last apprentice,” Spike growled, before his body convulsed, electricity coursing through him, his muscles trying to spasm and lock up in an agonising biological war. Spike fell to his knees, the shock continuing until Spike was sure he would pass out from the pain, before suddenly stopping, leaving Spike panting before the apprentice once more. Her face was ruined, her nose smashed, and a huge gash spread from her lip, exposing teeth that had ripped through her cheek. The fact she was still standing was a testament to either her fortitude or skill with the force. “Then I will do better,” she growled back, her words slurred slightly, before she brought her knee sharply upwards, the armour plating impacting with Spike’s face. Already on the ropes from the electrical attack and lacking magical enhancement, Spike didn’t have the strength left to resist, falling into the blackness of oblivion. It didn’t last, Spike being pulled back to the world of the living with another painful jolt of electricity, much shorter than the first but still pulling him from blissful nothingness. He was in a force cage, the hum and orange force field giving that away. He was careful not to touch it, but it was easier said than done, the cage designed for humans, not him. “Ah, you’re awake.” Spike grimaced as he turned, brushing against the force field. Electrical discharge spat angrily as he did so, but it was barely more than a tickle through his scales, and Spike had far more on his mind than that. Completing his turn, Spike came face to face with Tarhal, taking in every inch of his one-time friend, and now bitter enemy. The last time Spike had seen Tarhal had been on Vasdu. There he had been gaunt, but nothing like this. His once brown fur was now a pale grey, streaks of black showing through, especially around his sickly yellow eyes. “So good to see you again,” Tarhal simpered unconvincingly, his roars and growls distorted by the force field. “I wish I could say the same,” Spike murmured, slipping into fluent Shyriiwook as he tried to feel anything, succeeding only in widening the gaping emptiness he felt when he looked at the Wookie. “Why?” he finally managed, the word coming out as more of a desperate plea than he meant it to. “Why?” Tarhal smirked. “You have the balls to ask me why? The Jedi don’t deserve our strength, Spike. The Republic is weak, it needs to be torn down.” “Lies,” Spike began, Tarhal cutting him off before he could continue. “Is it?! Tell me, Spike, who was it who tried to stop us facing the Mandalorian’s hmm? Revan or the High Council? Who was it who almost lost to a shattered army they allowed to reform in the wake of Exar Kun’s war? Revan led us, no one else. I thought you would know that.” “I know what Revan is,” Spike snarled, anger rising at the mention of Revan. “I know more than you ever could you stunted walking carpet. I watched at Malachor as Revan committed an atrocity in the name of victory. Goddess help me I even fell into that trap myself to stop you last time, and I can tell you, no one like me should ever try and run the galaxy. It would be a dark place.” “That’s because you’re weak,” Tarhal snapped. “You used to be great, Spike. You used to be a hero, before you allowed your need for revenge and your doubts to addle your will. Before you tried to give up on the war, before you turned your back on Lord Revan! Before you rendered judgement on Vasdu to keep it from Sith hands! Before you murdered the innocent and the guilty alike, all in one stroke! How does it feel to have slain billions, to have betrayed everyone you ever loved?!” “I betrayed no one!” Spike roared, slamming his hands hard against the force cage wall, the feedback strengthening as the field fought to stop him breaking through. The pain was intense, but Spike forced it to one side as he continued. “Innocents died that day to stop you and the mongrel Sith. I have become a monster to stop bigger monsters, the betrayal is yours, it will always be remembered as such.” Tarhal’s snarl turned into a smirk as Spike finally pulled his hands back, wincing as he massaged the blackened scales on his claws. “There’s the fire I remember, the Spike who fought on Coruscant, who fought on Eres III, at Duxn, at Telos. You are at your greatest when you fight, Spike, just like me, just like all of those who follow Revan.” “This is your plan?” Spike asked. “Try to turn me? To bring me over to Revan? The Sith have tried before, Tarhal, I am sure you remember that, you were there when I escaped.” “When I freed you, you mean,” Tarhal asked with a chuckle. “Yes, I do remember Spike. The Sith have tried to turn you before. But me? Oh, I relish the opportunity to try my hand at it.” Bringing up a control panel, Tarhal fiddled with a dial, the force cage turning from orange to an angry red. A spider-legged droid dropped from the ceiling, brandishing needles towards Spike. Spike knew what was coming next, gritting his teeth as Tarhal flicked a switch, activating the torture field. Spike’s screams echoed throughout the ship. *** A pair of Sith Troopers slowly prowled through the corridors of the captured ship, Harmony one of their commanders had called it. A ridiculous name for a warship. They had been at it for hours, most of the search teams reallocated to other tasks across the fleet. Only these two had remained, keeping an eye on the ships systems, ensuring none of the droids attempted to come back online. Seugtai smiled as they passed underneath his hiding spot, clad in a close-fitting stealth suit, a cloaking generator fastened around his waist making him all but invisible to the naked eye. It hadn’t been easy avoiding the scanners when the ship had been crawling with the bastards, but now he was alone with these two. He almost felt sorry for them. Almost Dropping down, Seugtai landed silently behind the trooper on the left, reaching up and grabbing his helmet. The cloaking field shorted out as it came into contact with the metal, his form shimmering back into view as he yanked the soldier’s neck sharply to the left, bones cracking audibly, the man inside going limp. Before his partner could respond, Seugtai hurled a vibro-dagger at the soldier, the powered blade slicing through the visor of the armour, the point protruding from the back of his helmet as he too fell to the ground, lifeless. Wasting no time, Seugtai began dragging the pair towards one of the many security lockers, pausing only to spray a bio-sealant over the knife wound to stop the flow of blood creating an obvious trail. Reaching his destination, he quickly began to pull their armour off, stashing the corpses in the locker and sealing it with the override code. By the time they figured out the locker was now locked, and brought in cutting tools, it wouldn’t matter if the bodies were discovered. After a few minutes, Seugtai had pulled on the last of the Sith armour, pulling the helmet over his head. Even at a close inspection, he looked like any other Sith Trooper. Making sure to scan the credentials he had taken along with the armour, Seugtai set off into the ship in search of Spike.