27: A New Situation
By the time Princess Celestia left her audience with the Emperor several minutes later, she felt more hopefully optimistic than she had in quite some time. Yes, her stay on Coruscant would have to be prolonged, but in exchange she would bring much-needed relief to her ponies and Lulu could go home again. It was well worth the price whether she had to spend a week or a decade, in her opinion. It was a benefit of having all the time in the world, she supposed.
The red-robed Royal Guard did not lead her back to the room she had waited in, nor to the ship that she had arrived on. Instead, the Emperor’s silent protectors ferried her down a number of twisting passages to a speeder bay, and from there to a waiting airspeeder with a pilot in the helmeted uniform of the Imperial Pilot Corps.
“What of the honor guard I brought with me?” Celestia asked before stepping in. “I haven’t seen them in some time.”
“They will be taken care of,” one of the Royal Guard answered. “They will be joining you in your new accommodations once your preliminary medical examination is complete.”
“I see. Please convey my thanks to his majesty for his hospitality.”
The faceless guard nodded slightly, and Celestia stepped into the airspeeder. It took off without delay, zooming quickly through the Coruscanti night via exclusive airlanes that cut through some of the most restricted territory on the entire planet. Celestia at first attempted to make conversation, but when he proved unresponsive opted to spend her time composing a brief message to her niece and nephew informing them of the planet’s much-reduced burden, as well as her prolonged absence. A full holo-call to explain the whole thing in more detail would simply have to wait until later. Until she or Luna returned home, they were in charge.
The airspeeder ride was brief enough, giving the alicorn only a short look at the galactic capital’s nightlife. Even so, she could see endless gaudy lights and advertisements for every possible destination or service interspersed with proclamations of Imperial glory and military recruitment drives. Thousands upon thousands of speeders zipped along in every direction in tightly organized lanes. The crowds along the many walkways spanning the skyscrapers could best be described as an endless river, reminding Celestia of swarms of millions of blind ants searching for food.
It didn’t take long for the speeder’s destination to come into view: a tall, dark spire towering over even the surrounding cityscape. Seeming cordoned off from the surrounding traffic, there were no other vehicles in the sky as they made their approach to one of the several landing pads jutting out near the spire’s peak. As the airspeeder began its landing approach, Celestia noted that the landing pad was not very wide and lacked any form of railing – this would be exceedingly dangerous if she didn’t have wings.
The alicorn had little time to muse on hazardous architecture, because the airspeeder’s land was as quick and efficient as the rest of the trip. When the door at her side slid smoothly open, the princess was mildly surprised to find as her welcoming party not scientists or armored guards, but a single grey, bipedal droid bristling with strange attachment arms. A blank metal face broken only by a half-dozen glowing, sterile blue photorecptors of varying sizing stared unblinkingly at her.
“Greetings, Governor Celestia,” said the droid in a mild, polite tone. “I am 11-4D, medical assistant to his majesty Emperor Palpatine. I welcome you to the Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center.”
Celestia resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at the name. The Emperor had been the one official in the Empire to treat her as anything more than a lackey or a resource to be exploited. She could afford to allow him a bit of egotism.
“I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said.
“I will be performing your preliminary medical examination this evening,” 11-4D continued. “This is simply an opportunity to examine your body structure and take a few samples for analysis before you adjourn to your quarters elsewhere on Imperial Center.”
Celestia had been through more medical exams than even she could remember. What was one more?
“If you please, Governor, follow me.”
Despite the whipping winds, the droid guided the alicorn smoothly to an entrance that opened up at their approach. As they entered, Celestia sized up the interior and decided that she didn’t much like what she saw. It was too dark, in the solar alicorn’s opinion, and what light existed was white and sterile, unpleasantly devoid of warmth. The walls were gray and angled, making it feel more like a prison in some senses than a place of healing. Unsurprisingly, the only other inhabitants they passed were grey and black medical droids of varying models. This place was too lifeless – in more ways than one – for her liking,
11-4D led Celestia down a corridor and into a smaller, rounded chamber much brighter than the others. The blisteringly white room was filled with databanks and control panels surrounding a circular raised platform in the center, which itself was surrounded by a veritable army of strange devices dangling from arms attached to the ceiling.
“Stand in the center of the platform, if you please.”
Celestia complied, eying the dizzying array of instruments slowly beginning to dancing around her as she did so.
“Be still and silent for a few moments while I take readings of your physiology,” 11-4D instructed.
The alicorn all but froze in place as the strangely rhythmic dance intensified around her. With the only movement coming from the slight rise and fall of her chest, she watched as one arm after another slowly circled her, probing in and out seemingly at random but never quite so much as the brushing the tips of her fur. The droid remained silent behind a control panel, occasionally reaching one of its more normal arms down to adjust something but never taking its gaze from the princess. It took several minutes before it spoke again.
“It seems that there is a problem with our sensors.”
“How so?” Celestia glanced up at the array. “They look to be in fine working order from here.”
“The readings we are receiving in this are so far outside the biological norm as to be effectively impossible. For instance, at present the data received indicate that there literally zero cells in your body undergoing mitosis or cytokinesis – that is, out of trillions, there are no cells dividing inside of you at all.”
“I know what those terms mean. I was there when they were first developed. And I do not believe that is abnormal in my case.”
“With due respect, Governor, that is clearly impossible. No biological organism can long survive without adequate levels of cell reproduction.”
“Unless of course their cells do not die.” Celestia pointed out. “My body has maintained itself in this exact shape and size since millennia before the very foundation of the Galactic Republic. While I have never possessed the means to do an exact cell count, it would be logical to assume that the number has remained consistent the entire time.”
11-4D’s photorecptors lacked eyelids with which to blink, but the way the droid cocked its head served the same purpose.
“What of injury? How would your body heal itself without the production of new cells?”
“As I explained to his majesty, my injuries always regenerate to the exact original state, without any scarring. I expect that my cells simply divide until they have replaced the exact number lost.”
“Eternal stasis, inside and out. What possible biological mechanism could result in such a thing?” the droid looked down at the collected data again. “Governor, I believe that we are almost finished for the night. But first, I wish to take samples of your blood, your tissue, and your DNA for further analysis.”
“Feel free,” said Celestia.
“Your cooperation is appreciated, Governor.”
Many thousands of miles from where Celestia underwent her testing, Twilight was taking a deep breath. Hundreds of levels beneath the surface, wrapped tightly in an armored jumpsuit, it wasn’t an easy or pleasant thing to do. The air down here had been recycled more times than could be counted and smelled of rust and rot and waste and unamenable contagion. Even her helmet’s filters could only do so much for it. The full-spectrum visor in the eyepiece was nice though.
Eight beings, dressed identically in black jumpsuits reinforced with grey armor plating, were moving into position. Helmets shielded their faces, not a trace of skin showed. Everything was anonymous and generic, purchased in cash off the grid in one of the city-world’s countless black markets. No symbols or calling cards, no identification or personal effects. They didn’t even have names in their comm chatter – Twilight was number Seven. Nothing to say where they came or who they worked for. Anonymous and utterly untraceable in the vast Coruscanti underworld.
At least, that was the hope.
Their target was the base of a Gotal black marketer by the name of Argon Urr. He specialized in dealing with sensitive objects for people who wished to remain anonymous. According to intelligence, Vader’s stolen Sith relics had passed through him not days ago to unknown buyer. He wasn’t supposed to have records of his clients and certainly claimed that he didn’t. But Twilight was good with computer systems. Very good – they were pleasingly logical. Good enough to have cracked his security system. Good enough to have seen that the meticulous businessman kept quite extensive records in old-fashioned writing, right where no slicer could get at them.
The mission was as simple as one could hope for: disable the guards, disable security, get in, grab what they needed, and get out. No one seriously hurt, nothing to trace them buy. And Ur could hardly warn the client without admitting to betraying their trust. Twilight tapped the small computer in her hand, bringing up the sliced feed from Ur’s building.
“One, Two, and Three, you in position?” she muttered into her comlink.
“Affirmative.”
“Four, Five, and Six?”
“We’re here.”
“Eight, we all clear?”
“Nothing but the usual scum so far as I can see.”
Twilight was easily the best slicer in the group and – without openly using magic – just an average combatant. With the video feed stolen from inside Ur’s hideout, she could see just about anyone inside or in the immediate vicinity. Her hanging back and directing the others made the most sense. There were only three bored, unsuspecting guards right now in any case.
“Alright Three, outer patrol’s coming up on your location.”
“Copy that.”
Twilight watched with a combination of nervous excitement and a curious sense of detachment as the one guard patrolling outside the building wandered right into the first team’s field of fire. Three bright blue rings sprung from outside the camera’s range, with only one miss. Two stun shots from secondhand E-11 blaster rifles were more than enough to lay the guard out for the next couple of hours.
Twilight switched the feed immediately. Inside, the other guard on patrol continued on, completely oblivious. But the third guard, the one actually monitoring the video feed, sat up with a start. He immediately went for the silent alarm on his desk that would send for a backup security team – or would have, if Twilight hadn’t already set it to continuously send the all clear signal no matter how many times the button was pressed. Completely unaware of this, the man went for his comlink and gun. The guard patrolling the hallways immediately stiffened.
“Alright, they’re riled up. Both teams move in, main entrances. Nice and slow.”
Almost as soon as six armed and armored figures showed up on the computer, the guard behind the video monitors started hastily snapping into his comlink. Just as predicted, he was panicking about being outnumbered three to one and calling the other active guard to the safest place he could think of – his blast door equipped office. It seemed like the other fellow agreed with him, because he did a pretty good jog back that way. Both of them took up firing positions behind the open portal, clearly intending to hold out for reinforcements they thought were coming.
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at how painless they were making this. With a few taps of her finger, Ur’s men learned the same lesson the Imperials had on Serenno. Blast doors can keep someone in just as well as they can keep them out.
“They fell for it,” she commed. “Guards are both in the security office with the only door on full override. They aren’t going anywhere short of a fusion torch. Time to move in and get the goods.”
With a few more finger taps, the front and back entrances simply slid open in front of the two teams. They had charges just in case, of course, but the less disturbance the better. Two and Three even dragged the unconscious body of the outer patrolman inside, laying him out in a hall beyond immediate notice.
From there, it was a simple matter for Twilight to direct both teams through the small building, past the guards pounding on the blast door, and straight to the boss’s office. There was no external connection there – Ur was too old-fashioned or paranoid for that – so they blasted the door open with a small explosive charge. The alicorn sat back and smiled as they began rooting through the Gotal’s files, looking for just the right bit of information. Just a minute more and they’d know all he knew of this mystery buyer.
Ten picked that moment to chime in.
“We’ve got Imps headed this way, moving fast,” his voice hissed. “And not just Imps – Stormtroopers!”
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Hmm... While it's an unpleasant medical center, in this instance it would be in Emperor Palpatine's best interest to keep Celestia happy or at least content. Decent quarters, a video conference to Cadence to confirm the reduction in tariffs, and visual sight of her honor guards. This is, after all, the holy grail for Palpatine. Biological immortality. What harm is there in some creature comforts for Celestia if it gets him his goal? Although I will be highly amused if the only way he could achieve it is by becoming a (presumably female) alicorn himself.
Luna will of course continue in her imperial service, and Palpatine will say that so long as she is in his service, Celestia will remain... although he might give Luna more troops. After all if Celestia turns up nothing, then perhaps Luna would, and it would behoove him to make sure she is as unharmed as possible.
I get the feeling that Twilight is about to get a rude awakening when she sees the new Luna. What an interesting turn of events this will be.
Luna is coming with Stormtroopers! Twilight is screwed! and Celestia is getting Probed!
Why do I feel that droid's sentence about cooperation was like "You will cooperate, whether you want it or not?"
Twilight and her group shouldn't worry about the Stormtroopers and their aiming skills. They should worry about the hooded and hoofed person coming with them...
7659123
Palpatine can be quite pleasant with those who advance his goals without disobedience.
Especially those doing so innocently. He probably enjoys the reaction when they realize exactly what they helped make, and the idea of a ponified, alicorn eternal Emperor makes Sombra look like a piddling Force phantom by comparison.
Yeah, Celestia has decent odds on relatively pleasant treatment, even likely confirming the tax breaks. She's simply so valuable that he'd consider it worth it to trade the whole planet to keep her compliant.
I imagine the nasty stuff won't come until all else failed (he'll probably try sampling and eventually removing the horn). Though when it's over I'm sure he'll try destroying her planet and all alicorns... Unless he wants to conquer it as some Sith monument.
7659383 It would also make sense for Palpatine to not harm or upset Celestia just yet either even if he gets no credible results from her, mostly because he has no idea what her full capabilities are and particularly so when including her magic prowess.
7659505
I imagine he has some idea. Dooku dueled with Celestia and was winning in Friendship is Grievous, and Grievous had observed some of her more powerful abilities (raising the sun). While she was weak from shielding the planet, Palpatine ranks among the sith lords of old- which, interestingly enough, can also move stars and even destroy them. If it came to a fight, I'd bet all my money on Palpatine. It's not like he cares about the safety of the citizens of Coruscant.
Well den... this will be interesting, very much so.
Nicely done.
7659653 You'd think blowing up the nearest star or the planet you're standing on would prove just a tiny few problems though, mostly with the latter though as while the force is quite a thing I'm not all that sure it can basically act as a spacesuit substitute.
7659844
Honestly, I don't think detonating Coruscant's star would pose any danger to the planet. When you look at the power of planetary shields, it is well within their capabilities to withstand a fraction of the energy of a supernova- Alderaan's shields withstood the immense energy of the Death Star's superlaser for a tenth of a second, which is INSANE.
7660128
Even assuming that were accurate you're leaving out the part where blowing up the sun annihilates everything else in the system, washes away the vast Imperial fleet guarding the capital, destroys millions of ships bearing the necessary supplies for Coruscant's trillion strong population to survive every day, and sets off the single biggest panicked riot in the history of the universe. Then you get into the less immediate fallout as billions die from starvation and anything resembling societal order is overthrown in a surge of desperate, hungry mob violence. And Coruscant being the galactic capital this results in a huge economic crisis and massive political instability up and down the entire civilized galaxy. And then you're left with the problem of a trillion people stuck on a planet with no sun and potentially a black hole.
And that's all assuming Palpatine can make a sun explode, which has never even been suggested.
7660187
Of course. I'm debating Palpatine overcoming Celestia. If he could blow up a star, he would not- well, not in his current state. By my own fault, the conversation moved onto the topic of whether Coruscant's planetary shield could withstand the portion of energy from a supernova that would hit the planet.
That being said, I don't think a single ship would be lost. Remember, in both canon and legends even tie fighters have can effortlessly scan a system, and given the speed of both ion drives and hyperdrive, the imperial defense fleet, Coruscant's shipping fleet, and any civilian ships would be long gone before the energy from a supernova would hit the planet.
7660187
I'd point out that even if it DID form a Black Hole, the orbit of Coruscant itself would not be drawn towards it. It would either remain in stable orbit exactly where it was, or more likely be thrown out of orbit due to the shockwave and the star losing mass in the supernova.
I guess this is where two paths are made which actually complicates things impressively like the story proposed.
If Emperor Palpatine had helped Celestia, then it's understandable to remain in the Empire despite the effort Twilight made. However, it's also best to go on the winning side, as if the rebellion wins in the Empire, Equestria would have no choice but to also accept. 3 years for the rebels isn't gonna effectively take hold.
No one seriously hurt, nothing to trace them buy
1. By.