//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Fulcrum's Message // Story: Sunset Shimmer's Saga: Call of the Force // by Kenobiiii //------------------------------// The Gauntlet Open Space “Cheers !” Zeko Karl,Kara and Sunset Shimmer raised their cups of bantha milk and cheered amongst themselves at the common area in the Gauntlet. Even R5 raised his metallic hand to join them in their toast. “Here’s to another successful mission.” Zeko raised his cup before drinking it. While she wasn’t exactly sure whether she was of the legal age to drink this strange drink- if there was one under galactic law, but as soon as she took a sip, her taste buds could feel the refreshing taste of the blue milk[1], coupled with a sweet taste feeling. Sunset had never felt more refreshed and reinvigorated, all thanks to a simple blue coloured drink. “ So let me get this straight, You were actually born as a horse ?!?” Karl shot as he took a sip from his drink. Since Being a part of the Gauntlet crew for over three months now and after valiantly risking their lives earlier to free the enslaved Wookiees, Sunset Shimmer had realized that she never actually told her new space friends of her actual origin story, other than being a teenage girl on Utthar. As she narrated her time as a unicorn on Equestria, how she traveled through a portal to Utthar and her new life on Canterlot City. She didn’t leave out any key points, even including her former manipulative self up till her reformation during the Fall Formal and her efforts to become a better person.[2] At first, Karl and Zeko thought she was kidding with them, even R5 for that matter beeped in an amusing manner. But as she continued on, their smiles on their faces were replaced with a confused expression, one that Sunset had expected. Even Kara was bewildered by her story but she had chosen not to show it instead. “I’d prefer the term pony from another dimension..” Sunset abruptly stopped for a moment.She thought, after all she’s witnessed about the galaxy, could it be that Equestria wasn’t a different dimension but instead another planet of its own ? It’s quite plausible considering how large the galaxy is that Equestria is actually another world of its own that is shrouded by the cosmos or maybe in another region of space undiscovered by the larger galactic community, like Utthar. After all there is a region of space called the Unknown Regions. The more she thought about it, the more questions she had in her mind. “ At least that’s what I thought it was.” She ended her sentence in a unsure tone. “I’ve never been so confused. Might wanna shed some Jedi wisdom on this Kara ?” Karl turned his attention over to Kara, hoping that she could provide some clarity. Kara was silent for a moment, she thought about what she had to say. She took a sip from her cup before she spoke, “ The Force works in many mysterious ways, sometimes not ones you can easily understand.” Sunset let out a quiet chuckle as she found it amusing that even Kara couldn’t give an explanation to her confusing story. “I know how confusing and crazy it sounds. Believe me, you guys are not the only ones who felt like this after hearing my life story.” She quipped, hoping to placate the raging confusion that everyone was feeling. “And here I thought the weirdest thing in the galaxy were purgills.” [3] Zeko remarked as he placed his cup onto the table, which was then followed by a loud and rather unpleasant burp. “Enough about me, What about you Karl, what’s your origin story ?” Sunset asked, in an attempt to divert further scrutiny from her life story. Her innocent question however, prompted laughter from Zeko. “Oh boy, Karl here, has a very interesting backstory alright.” He said delightly as he pulled an embarrassed Karl close to him with his first pair of arms. “This guy started off as a freshman in a prestigious university on Hosnian Prime before he decided that staring onto a holodesk all day wasn’t his thing and abandoned his studies to which I quote, ‘see the galaxy’.” Zeko was cut off by an uneasy Karl, “It was a different time then. I was young and foolish.” He said while covering his face. He clearly wasn’t enjoying this as much as Zeko and the rest were. “It wasn’t that long ago if I recall correctly.” Kara joined in together with R5, who couldn’t stop laughing at him in binary. “Back to the subject,” Zeko brought everyone’s attention back to him. “He gets all adventurous, seeing the galaxy and all before he got involved with the wrong people and running into debts with them of course.” “So I suppose that explains that bounty hunter on Kashyyyk.” Sunset correctly theorized. “Hey, at least I’m not that guy anymore. I’m fighting for a better cause right now.” Karl defended himself from his own past narration by Zeko. Zeko didn’t seem to be convinced by it however, “Tell that to the bounty hunters who are after us.” He said in a satirical manner. Having this light hearted conversation with them briefly reminded Sunset of how she would use to have similar talks like this with her friends, be it either at the mall or the school cafeteria. How they would talk about school life, tease each other of their crushes and laugh over their past encounters with wild Equestrian magic. Those were the good times, Sunset thought to herself. While she liked having these chats with her new friends, she still missed the laughter and the jokes made by Pinkie Pie and the rest of her friends back home. It was a void that could never be filled. Before she could delve deeper into her thoughts, she pulled herself back to reality, hoping it would distract her from her home sick feeling. “ If it makes you feel any better Karl, we both have made dumb choices when we were younger and are trying to move on from it .” She said to him before turning to Zeko, “What’s your story then, Zeko ?” “My story ?” The Ardennian blurted out. He had not seen this question coming. “Yea, your life story.” Sunset didn’t back down. “ How did you get this ship for starters ?” “I won this baby over here in an honest game of sabbac.” Zeko, who leaned back, with one pair of his arms being used to rest his head while the other gave a pat on the metallic walls of the Gauntlet, boasted. “So you didn’t have a life in your home world ?” Sunset asked, finding hard to believe that his life was only about winning the ship in a card game. “What’s there to tell ?” Zeko pointed out, “I was a freighter pilot in Ardennia before the Empire came and nationalized the industry, causing us to lose our jobs. They replaced us with their own men. It’s what these Imperials do. They show up with their large ships and destroy everyone’s livelihoods, all in the name of Galactic Harmony, supposedly.” He moaned in frustration. In her time being a member of this motley group, Sunset had never seen Zeko upset. He had lost his job and income thanks to the meddlings of the Empire; it was more than justified for him to feel that way. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She said with pity. His expression then returned to his cooler self, “Nah Don’t be.” He said before continuing, “ If not for their actions, I wouldn’t have won this marvelous ship or met you guys for that matter.” “Aww, that’s sweet.” Karl said sarcastically. R5, as if feeling left out, joined in with the rest with the only language he could communicate in. His erratic beeping manner made it a bit harder than usual for Sunset to understand. Her grasp of the binary language of the droids after all was still a working progress at best and she roughly construed the beeping to be something about his backstory or something like that. Kara however, understood well what her droid meant. “ I’m sorry buddy,” She said to her droid, “ but most of us kinda already know the kind of backstory an astromech droid would have.” R5 could do nothing but hum in sadness, feeling rejected. Kara didn't pay much attention to his humming as she knew her droid would be over it soon. What she never saw coming, however, was Karl’s question: “So what was your life like before becoming a Jedi ?” In all their time they were together, none of them had ever asked her that question. In fact, nobody had. It was a question she didn’t have the answer to. The longer she stayed silent thinking for an answer, the more attention she drew to herself from the others. Even her droid had stopped brooding to hear what she had to say. “I..I..” She stammered for a moment, thinking of the right words to say. “I don’t really know if I had one.” She finally found the words to describe her conundrum. It only attracted even more confused glares at her. “What do you mean ?” Sunset asked her master. “When I was really young, I was taken from a family and a home which I’ll never know to be raised in the Jedi Temple.” Kara muttered. The others, especially Sunset, could not believe what they had just heard. “Where I come from, that’s called kidnapping.” She intoned in shock, and Zeko concurred, “So we’re not so different after all.” They were right, Kara thought. It was a way she didn’t agree with, but yet it was one practiced by them till their downfall. “They did it so that the younglings won’t have a sense of attachment to their families. Apparently, it was the Jedi way.” [4] “But that’s wrong.” Sunset blurted out, shifting the attention from Kara to her. “What makes you say that ?” Kara asked, intrigued by what her padawan had to say. With glaring eyes staring right at her, Sunset thought hard at what she was about to say next. She could relate to Kara’s experience of being taken from her people. Her former mentor, Princess Celestia had done something similar when she discovered her potential, taking her from her family to the confines of her Magical School. It was the crippling loneliness, detachment from her family that caused Sunset to become the manipulative hateful person she was before the Fall Formal. ‘Funny’ She thought to herself, ‘Both Celestia and the Jedi had noble intentions but did it through rather questionable methods’. “ I speak from experience when I say that being around those who care about you makes you a better person. You tell me that the Jedi stand for fairness, but where’s the justice in taking children away from their families ?” Sunset spoke, her tone nothing short of emotion. It was as if she knew the feeling of being taken from your own, all supposedly in the name of the greater good. “ I would not have been who I am if not for my friends. I’m not saying that the Jedi shouldn’t train younger Force users, but not at the expense of separating them from their loved ones.It’s contradicting what they stand for. You gave me a choice Kara, and the Jedi should’ve given you that choice too, no offense though.” [5] She ended her speech with a slightly higher tone than the rest, indicating that she meant no disrespect to the religion, but Kara didn’t feel disrespected at all. In fact a wave of pride filled her heart for her young padawan. Sunset was around the same age she was when she became a padawan but she has proven herself to be far more mature and an independent thinker than she was. If there were more thinkers like Sunset during the final years of the Order, they wouldn’t have been wiped out. ‘ None taken.” She said to her padawan with a beaming smile on her face. “In fact, I’m proud of you.” Before Sunset could ask what her master had meant, Zeko interrupted. “ We’re getting an incoming transmission from Fulcrum.” He said as he had previously got up to check the holo table controls. “Put it through,” Karl said as he and the others headed to the circular shaped furniture. As soon as everyone was around the Holotable, Zeko played the incoming transmission. Unlike her last transmission in which a cloaked figure appeared, was replaced with the usual Fulcrum markings Sunset was familiar with. “Congratulations on your successful mission on Kashyyyk. Senator Organa has extended his appreciation to your crew for freeing the Wookiee prisoners. You have the fullest gratitude of the Wookiee people.” The scrambled voice said. “Just doing our job.” Karl said with a little smirk on his face. “ Speaking of that, there is another job which we hope your cell could help with.” Fulcrum mentioned. “What kind of job ?” Kara further asked. There was a brief silence from Fulcrum before he or she spoke, “ Rebel Intelligence has discovered intel of an Imperial fleet being sent from the Rothana Shipyards to these coordinates.” As Fulcrum spoke, a holographic image of a fleet of destroyers orbiting a sphere shaped image of a planet, numbering around four together with the coordinates they’re being sent to. “Our charts show that particular region as nothing but empty space. It seems rather suspicious that the Empire is sending a large fleet to an open space of emptiness.” “Give us a moment, Fulcrum.” Zeko said as he paused the transmission. He somewhat recognised the given coordinates and searched the ship’s navigational log. “Why did you pause the transmission ?” Sunset asked. “Because the Gauntlet has been to these coordinates before.” He said as he searched the log. He then found the exact coordinates in the log and projected it to the holotable. “There it is” Zeko said as a holographic image of the planet appears in the coordinates Fulcrum had provided for. A Planet Sunset immediately recognised. “Utthar ?” “The Empire has found my home world ?” Sunset Shimmer grasped in horror. Zeko double checked the coordinates provided by Fulcrum to the ones in the ship’s log, “That would appear to be the case.” He confirmed. “Well, we did use their tech to find that planet in the first place.” Karl intoned. Sunset felt every part in her body shatter at once upon hearing that her home was now the latest target of the evil Empire. Her friends, everyone she cared about was now at risk of being captured by the Imperials, or worse. And it was all because of her. But most of all, she felt a rising anger within her towards Kara. She knew well Kara wasn’t at fault for their latest move but yet she felt betrayed, she had told her that if Sunset left her friends behind and came with her, their safety would be guaranteed but that’s not the case now. “Kara, you told me that if I came with you, my people and friends back home would be safe. But yet the Empire is still headed there and now everyone I know is in danger !” She snapped. “It’s possible that this move doesn’t have anything to do with you.” Kara said, hoping to placate her padawan. Sunset however, was far from feeling assured In fact, she felt the exact opposite. “It means they’re even in more danger than ever. We have to help them !” She bellowed. She found an unlikely ally in R5, who sided and agreed with her. “ I don’t know…” Karl said in a more cautious tone, “ After our actions on Kashyyyk, the Imperials will be on the lookout for the Gauntlet. I’d reckon we lay low for the time being till things cool down a bit.” “But they need us ! They won’t stand a chance against the Empire’s might and you know that !” Sunset didn’t back down. She couldn’t. Her friends, everyone she knew, were in danger, and she couldn’t just sit by and watch their lives get destroyed. One way or another, she was to blame for all of this, regardless of what Kara had said. She was determined to go back and help her friends, without the others' help, if it comes to it. Kara could see the despair look on her padawans eyes. She understood how she felt. It was her who convinced Sunset to come with them in the first place, leaving the people she cared about behind, but now that very people are in danger of the Empire that seeks out their world. As such, she too felt the fault fell on her shoulders too. Maybe if she hadn’t sought out that planet, the Empire wouldn’t have either. It wasn’t a guarantee, but she would've felt better than she is now. While a part of her wanted to agree with Sunset, Karl’s point was not to be easily dismissed. He still made a valid point about the risks they’ll put themselves in. If Kara sided with him, it would shatter the trust Sunset had given her, maybe even permanently. It took her time for her to gain Sunset’s trust only to see it crumble if she turned her back on the people. Everyone else had their eyes on her, waiting for her to make the decision. Kara thought long and hard about the next course of action. “Replay the transmission.” She directed Zeko, who unpaused Fulcrum’s transmission. “That’s quite the time you had me in pause back there.” The scrambled voice spoke. “Sorry about that.” She apologized to Fulcrum, “ We were having a little group discussion and have decided that we’ll take the mission.” Sunset’s heart was suddenly flooded with relief and joy upon hearing her master’s decision. “We’ll check out what the Empire’s up to and put a stop to whatever it is,” Kara said. “ I knew I could count on your team. Report back what you find, and good luck.” Fulcrum said with a hopeful tone. “And to you too.” Zeko ends the transmission and the hologram disappears. “ So I suppose we’re going back to Utthar now ?” Karl asked as soon as the transmission ended. While he had raised his concerns about the mission, Karl had quickly come to terms with her decision. “You know we are.” She answered him before turning to Zeko and was about to open her mouth before he beat her to it. “ I'll set course to the system.” The Ardennian said. He headed to the cockpit and was followed by R5, who congratulated Sunset for her victory in convincing the others to save her friends on Utthar. Sunset made her way to Kara, intending on finding out why she had sided with her. “Kara,” She called out to her, “ Why did you side with me ? I mean, Karl made a good point back there about this being too risky.” Kara turned to her curious padawan and gave a short but yet, clear answer : “Because it’s the right thing to do.” She then headed off to the back to do final checks to the hyperdrive. It was their Standard procedure for the Gauntlet crew to double check all systems before they undertook any missions. Sunset was then left alone in the common area, with Karl having headed to the cockpit. Her relief was soon replaced with anxiousness. She worried that her friends back home, who were supposed to be enjoying their Summer break, have no idea what’s coming for them. It might even be too late, but she couldn’t give up now. This might just be the time where her friends would need her the most, and she wasn’t going to turn her back on them. ‘Time to go back home,’ She thought to herself.