Star Wars: Diplomatic Simulations
Rainbow's Routine
You fold your arms and contemplate your choice. Well, nuts. A party does sound pretty nice, but I think helping achieve someone else's dream will mean more in the long run. You turn to face Pinkie, whose face brightens up upon making eye contact with you. "Sorry, Pinkie, but I think I'm going to help Rainbow Dash with her tricks."
Pinkie's happy demeanor deflates at your answer. "Oh. Okay," she says as she gives you a sad smile. "Well, I guess I'll go back to Sugarcube Corner and let you two get to work."
As Pinkie walks off, you can't help but feel an opportunity for some fun had been missed.
"She'll be fine," Rainbow Dash assures you. "Pinkie is the kind of pony who can have fun with anypony. Now come on, I'll show you to my practicing grounds." Before you can say anything in reply, Rainbow Dash takes off towards a group of hills in the distance.
You look at the rainbow trail that is left in her wake as she flies. No way I can keep up with that on my own. However… You reach out into the Force and feel it course through your very being. You begin to run and let the Force carry you faster than you could normallly ever go. Being Force sensitive certainly has its advantages, you think with a grin as you start catching up to the flying equine ahead of you.
Rainbow Dash looks behind her to see you within reaching distance. Her eyes widen at the sight of you being almost neck and neck with her. The surprised look in her eyes quickly molds into one of challenge as she starts flapping her wings even faster.
You let the Force flow through your body and match your speed with Rainbow's. The two of you race for miles, over hills, along rivers, through the woods, and finally back into town. By the end of it, the both of you are panting as you try to catch your breath. The two of you stop just beside a lake on the outskirts of town.
Rainbow's wings stop flapping as she drops to the ground and splays them out beside her. "How in Equestria," she says between huffs, "Are you that fast?"
You put your hands on your knees before you respond. Sure, using the Force to carry your legs faster was beneficial, but it can still take a toll on the muscles. "What can I say? I work out my legs a lot."
The cyan equine rolls her eyes at you. "Yeah right. Seriously, what's your secret? I don't see any wings on you and you were going as fast as I was!"
Well, I'm not going to say outright I can use the Force, you think. Oh, I got it! "You know how some use magic around here, right?"
Rainbow raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"I can use something like that to help me go faster."
"Like superpowers?" Rainbow quickly stands as her features light up with wonder. "Oh my gosh, are you a superhero or something? Do you fight crime or bad guys like Daring Do?"
You put up your hands in defense from the barrage of questions. "Whoa, whoa, I never said I was a superhero or anything like that. I just have this magical ability that enables me to do some pretty cool stuff."
"Do these powers give you the ability to fly too?" she asked enthusiastically.
You shake your head with a smile. "Nope, sorry."
She shrugs at the response. "Oh well. So, you ready to see what I can do?"
You sit on the grass and fold your arms. "Impress me."
Rainbow Dash's subsequent expression practically screams 'Challenge accepted'. Instantly, she takes off into the sky with a flap of her wings and begins her moves. She starts with a simple loop-de-loop but swiftly dives towards you upon its completion. Her dive quickly turns into a game of chicken as neither of you budge in anticipation of Rainbow's approach. As she starts to get close, you sense that she isn't planning on stopping in her dive. You go from your sitting position to laying flat on the ground moments before Rainbow Dash pulls up, mere inches from your prostrate form.
You sit back up and turn to see Rainbow pulling up into the blue expanse above. Your eyes narrow at a silver gleam in Rainbow's hoof catches your eye. She didn't. Your hand reaches for where your lightsaber should be only to find that it was gone. That sneaky little thief. Mission would be proud.
Rainbow turns back around and begins spinning as she shoots towards the ground. Again, she pulls up just before careening into the dirt and begins gliding a few inches off the ground. She rotates her body ninety degrees and zips past your chest. You watch her climb up again, this time you can hear some of her laughter in the distance. Well, she's a daring flyer, I'll give her that.
You cup your hands around your mouth and shout, "Hey, Rainbow!" Rainbow halts in midair and turns to look at you. "How about you show me something my pilot can't already do in his sleep!"
"Oh really?" Rainbow Dash laughed. "Well watch this!"
You watch Rainbow as she starts climbing higher into the sky. As she ventures closer to the sun, you put a hand up to your forehead to shield your eyes. Soon, she was just a small rainbow-haired spec against the blue sky. Suddenly, she angles herself towards the ground and collapses her wings as she begins another dive. This time, however, it looks like she's trying to go as fast as she can as she flaps her wings to give her extra speed. With her hooves extended in front of her, you see something akin to a sonic barrier beginning to develop around her as she shoots faster and faster towards the ground. The barrier around her is beginning to look like the exterior of a bubble she's trying to pop. To your dismay and her own, Rainbow Dash's dive is suddenly halted by the barrier and she is catapulted back into the sky. The winged equine flails around in the air before crashing headfirst into a nearby cloud.
"Uh, I'm guessing that didn't work out the way you wanted it to," you point out.
"No kidding," Rainbow answers, disgruntled, as she picks herself up from the cloud.
You raise an eyebrow as she begins descending back towards the ground. "So what were you trying to do up there? All your other stunts looked pretty good."
As Rainbow touches down on the dirt in front of you, gives you an appreciative grin. "Thanks, but I was attempting to perform a Sonic Rainboom."
"Let me guess," you say. "Basically a sonic boom, but with a rainbow instead of a shattered air barrier."
Rainbow shrugs at the supposition. "Kind of. If completed, I can make rainbows wherever I want them. It's pretty much the biggest showing of pegasus magic there is." Her expression turns sour. "And I can't believe I wasn't able to do it," she says in a frustrated tone. "I've done it twice already. Why couldn't I do it again?"
You give her a tentative pat on the head. How am I supposed to know what the signs for sympathy are here? "Well you botched one trick. The others were pretty good. I say just focus on the ones you already know how to do and perfect them for the performance."
"Thanks," Rainbow replies with a smile. "Oh, by the way, here's that metal stick of yours." She holds up the lightsaber that was still in her hoof for you to take.
You grasp it from her hoof and feel the familiar touch of the metal hilt. "Thank you. So are we going to continue with your routine or-"
"Hi guys!"
The two of you turn to see Pinkie standing behind a sky blue cannon on two-tone purple wheels. An alarmed look crosses your face as you find yourself staring down the barrel of said cannon.
"Uh, Pinkie? What's that?" you ask while pointing a curious finger at the contraption.
Pinkie gives the cannon a couple pats. "This here's my party cannon, silly."
Party cannon? You cautiously sidestep away from cannon's muzzle.
"Pinkie, what'd you bring that for?" Rainbow Dash asks with her hooves on her hips.
"Well you said that you wouldn't be able to come to my party," she says with a hoof pointing you. "So I figured I'd bring the party to you!"
"I like that you're trying to have it both ways here, Pinks," Rainbow Dash says. "But we're kind of in the middle of practice here."
"No worries, Dashie!" Pinkie exclaims. "It'll take no time at all to set up. All it'll take is a one, two, three!" She presses a button on the back of the cannon as you and Rainbow prepare for the cannon to go off. Strangely enough, it doesn't.
"Something wrong with your party cannon, Pinkie?" Rainbow asks.
Pinkie scratches her head with an eyebrow cocked. "I dunno. The last time I used it was a few weeks ago, so it should be good to go." She gets from behind the cannon and walks around to the front of the cannon.
Your eyes go wide when you see her look down the barrel. "Wait, wait, wait!" You raise a hand and channel the Force to push Pinkie away from the explosive end of the cannon. Pinkie gives a startled yelp as she is launched to the side.
"Hey! What was that for?" Rainbow jumps in front of Pinkie defensively.
I guess these equines don't know much about the dangers of projectile weapons, you figure as you get down on one knee before the equines. "Sorry about that, but don't you know better than not to look down at something that's going to shoot stuff at a very high speed towards you? That would mess up your face pretty quickly."
"I guess the thought hadn't occurred to me before," Pinkie replies innocently as she stands back up.
You walk around to the back of the cannon and sit down behind it. "I can be good with this sort of stuff. Mind if I take a look?"
Pinkie gives you a smile "Sure!"
You look down at the rear of the cannon to just see the color-matched firing button. After looking up to see no one was in the line of fire, you press the button like Pinkie had done. "Is there a way to open this-"
A sudden explosion fills your ears as confetti, pre-inflated balloons and other party supplies slam into your face. The blast sends you onto your back as the party supplies rain down and cover you. As you lie on your back from the blast, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are immediately on top of you.
"Are you okay, buddy?" Pinkie asked.
"Whoa. Who knew party stuff could do that to a person's face?" Rainbow adds.
You close your eyes as you try to recover from the explosion. In the darkness, you hear a robotic voice say, "Simulation terminated."
You open your eyes to find yourself staring at HK-47's mainframe again.
"Statement: Greetings, Master. Welcome back from the simulation," the assassin droid says.
As you carefully remove the neural band from your head, you stand back up. "Thanks, HK. Did I miss any- gah!" Pain explodes in your head as you are sent to your knees once more.
You hear footsteps quickly rush into the swoop garage behind you.
"Hey, you okay?"
You recognize the childish voice. Mission. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just a headache."
"Speculation: During the simulation, you may have experienced sensory overload and the transition from the simulation to reality has amplified the feeling. Query: Did you encounter any flashing lights or colors during the simulation?"
"Something like that," you answer as you open your eyes to see a small blue hand extended in front of you. You look up to see Mission looking concernedly at you before grabbing her hand as she helps you to your feet.
"You sure you're okay? I may not have much experience with simulations, but I'm pretty sure that going from seeing one thing to another thing so quickly can mess with your head."
You flash a smirk at the young Twi'lek. "Thanks, Mission, but I'm fine. Everyone else doing alright?"
"Everyone's pretty much the same since you started the simulation. Although I did hear that we're gonna be landing on Manaan soon."
"Guess I'll go see how Carth and Bastila are holding up." You give Mission a pat on the shoulder. "You and Zaalbar best prep yourselves for landing."
Mission grins and gives you a quick salute. "You got it." With that, she leaves the garage.
"Request: Might I shut down to conserve power, Master?" HK asks. "Running that simulation proved taxing on my circuits and I plan on killing several meatbags while we're on Manaan."
"We'll see how things go down while we're there," you say with a chuckle. "But yes, you may shut down for a bit."
"Statement: Thank you, Master. Shutting down." HK said. No sooner had the words been spoken, his eyes faded as his body slumped over.
You walk out of the garage and head towards the cockpit. After passing the communications room, you walk through the cockpit's entryway to find Bastila in the copilot's seat and Carth behind the controls of the ship.
"How did the simulation go?" Bastila asks you without turning around.
Must've sensed my arrival, you figure. "It went well."
"Did it?" Bastila turns her head and gives you a skeptical look. "The tone of your words speaks otherwise."
You roll your eyes and laugh at the assumption. "Come on, Bastila. It wasn't a mind-altering experience or something. Really, the simulation went just fine."
"So you think you're going to be able to converse with the Selkath at a reasonable level?" Carth asks as he presses several buttons on the cockpit's main console. "Because we're just about to enter the Pyrshak system. No turning back once we reach Manaan's atmosphere."
"Yep," you lie. "Leave all the negotiations to me."
Bastila narrows her eyes at you suspiciously before turning back around to face forward. "Well let's hope we don't come into the kind of trouble we encountered on Kashyyyk."
"Agreed. The lower profile we have, the better," Carth says as he reaches for a small lever and pulls it down. The swirling blue of Hyperspace fades out as a large blue planet shoots into view. The cobalt blue world of Manaan sat in wait for the freighter and its crew.
You fold your arms and stare back at the watery world. There was no telling what was waiting for you and the others down there in your search for the Star Map. You determinedly suck in a breath and sigh. Well, I hope the Selkath have some tricks they want to show me.