• Published 14th Feb 2015
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Empire and Rebellion - Snake Staff



As the Galactic Empire extends its reach across the galaxy, the ponies must choose their side.

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67: Strung Along

“Hrgggh…” Luna gritted her teeth. “Finish your task, you accursed machine! The pain is already returned!”

“My apologies, mistress,” said the 2-1B medical droid currently operating on her wing. “Your species is not contained in my databanks, precise calibration of anesthetic doses is difficult at best.”

“Administering,” said FX-6 in a flat mechanical monotone, before sticking the alicorn with one long needle arm. A few seconds later, the throbbing agony of her broken, cut-open wing receding to a dull ache once more.

“You may continue,” Luna nodded, and the pair of machines went back to work.

“It would be medically advisable for you to be sedated for the duration of this procedure,” the bipedal machine warned yet again.

“I have already given my orders, and I expect them to be obeyed!” she snapped.

“As you wish, mistress,” said 2-1B, before resuming the delicate task of piecing back together her shattered wing bones, sealing them together with medical adhesive.

It was humiliating, having to rely on an alien machine for healing like this. Were she at her full power the wing would have put itself back together no worse for the wear in hours, minutes or even seconds if she willed it. But now her horn stubbornly refused to regenerate, and scar tissue, which she hadn’t born for millennia, ran down her cheek. She didn’t know to what extent her biology was thrown off by the lack of magic – certainly her immortality didn’t seem affected – but she didn’t feel like sporting a misshapen lump instead of a proud wing for the rest of time if it healed improperly. So alien machines cutting her open and manually reassembling her insides it was.

“You there,” she called out to one of the room’s guards from the surgical table. “Retrieve a commlink and call for Commander Neeri.”

“Very good ma’am,” he answered, leaving the room. He returned a minute later bearing a simple disk, which lit up to display the ISB man.

“You wanted to speak with me, my lady?” the officer asked. “Is your recovery proceeding smoothly?”

“Aye to both questions,” Luna nodded. “I have been considering tonight’s events, and I have a few tasks I wish your agency to accomplish.”

“How may we serve?”

“First, find someone amongst our prisoners there that is truly despicable and unquestionably guilty. Perhaps a serial murderer or terrorist, or whomever else might elicit absolutely nothing but public scorn. Then give them a public execution tomorrow, early in the morning.”

“Alright,” the intelligence officer looked a little confused. “But what does that achieve?”

“If you knew anything about public relations, you could already guess,” the princess answered. “But since apparently such is not your forte, allow me to educate you. After they are dead, have it announced to the planet that Jedi assassins working in concert with terrorist elements staged a break-in at Akorage Prison, aiming to free this hateful creature before it could be sent to its due reward. In the process, they brutally murdered more than sixty brave and loyal prison guards attempting to stop them. The names and faces of these bright young men, cut down in their prime, should be widely distributed as another example of Jedi barbarity.”

“I see,” the man was nodding along.

“I should hope so. See to it that their families, whichever of them were not clones, are well-compensated and feted by loyalist media. Build them a memorial somewhere if the response seems positive. Make martyrs out of our losses and despicable terrorists out of theirs. Exaggerate the true number of the opposition.”

“A propaganda coup for the Empire.”

“Exactly so. We may not be able to find these dissidents the Jedi originally protected right now, but we can destroy any hope they had of finding substantial public support here.”

“A wise plan, my lady. Truly you’re an inspiration to us all.”

“You may stop kissing up now,” she answered. “I know unctuous flattery almost as well as I know the nature of public opinion. Just put the plan into action and let me know how it goes.”

“As you say,” Neeri bowed a little, the vanished.


“I just…” Celestia shook her head. “I just don’t understand how she could do this to us! To me! After everything I’ve done for her, she just abandons everypony! Just like that! Millennia of sisterhood, just thrown away like… like… like rancid garbage!”

“I’m sure your sister had her reasons,” said the small hologram of Emperor Palpatine in an understanding tone.

“I gave that mare everything I ever could!” the white alicorn went on, pacing about the room. “She tried to kill me once, almost brought doom onto our whole planet twice! And I welcomed her back with open hooves! I helped her make new friends, reintegrate into society after a thousand years of absence. I could easily have kept my sole authority over the nation, nopony would have questioned it. But the first thing I did when she was restored to me was proclaim her my equal. And now she just runs off and abandons me?! Abandons our entire planet in its time of need?!”

“Gratitude can often be sorely lacking in the places one would hope to find it,” the Emperor replied.

“That it can, your majesty.”

He, Celestia reflected, didn’t know the half of it. All that time spent preparing for Luna’s return, all those subjects and foreign leaders she’d had to convince that her reformed sister was no threat, all those private lessons on society and culture, all those carefully-arranged introductions back into the halls of power… and for what? So some monster like Vader could effortlessly warp her sister’s mind back to darkness? How feeble-minded was that mare? How could she be so blind? How could she not see that she was plainly being manipulated?!

The more Celestia thought about her sister’s sheer, base ingratitude, the angrier she felt. Luna was willfully blind to the fact that she was nothing but a tool to the cybernetic terror, and worse yet she was spouting dangerous delusions. Declaring that she would be the most powerful being in the galaxy? Arrogance incarnated. Claiming that she would use her power to set things right? Was that before or after she strangled the sister who’d never done anything but reach out to her in kindness, only to see the hoof slapped away a blink of an eye later? That mare was going to do something truly stupid and get herself, and likely a great deal of other beings, killed, Celestia just knew it. She was going to leave behind a broken-hearted sister to face eternity alone, and she didn’t even care! She was going to leave behind a shattered world, forever bereft of princess of the night. The ignorance and heartlessness galled her to no end. Hadn’t she taught her sister better?

“But I apologize if I repeat myself,” Celestia continued. “We’ve been through this before, and I’m sure that you have greater issues on your mind than my family troubles.”

“Oh, think nothing of it,” he said in a warm tone. “You have given up so much to help the Empire, a few minutes here and there is no great consequence if it helps you even a little.”

He was such a kind soul, it was difficult for her to imagine taking much time out of her schedule for a single pony she barely knew with only planet to run. Yet this man was responsible for the greater part of a galaxy, and yet had found the time for no less than four brief holocalls simply to check up on her. It hurt her to imagine that even now there were no doubt many injustices being carried out in his name that he would never hear about, never be able to remedy as he had with her home planet. He didn’t deserve that.

“Nonetheless, I fear I’m rambling. Asking you questions you haven’t any way to answer.” The white alicorn looked guilty. “Even using you to vent my frustrations.”

“As I said, I can find a little time here and there.” Palpatine smiled. “If it helps your psychological well-being, considering what you are making every effort to help me do, I am willing to be a sounding board for a short while.”

“I… don’t think it’s exactly befitting.”

“Well, one must deal with one’s emotions somehow, and yours are clearly very deep on this subject. If that necessitates a small amount of psychological practice on my behalf, it is a price I am willing to pay. Your well-being is important to me.”

“Thank you,” she said, sincerely. “I appreciate it.”

“You’re quite welcome. Whatever I can do to help you cope. I understand that you must find a way. It isn’t as though you could simply reach out and force your sister to feel differently.”

“Huh?”

“Very few people can do that.” There was a chime somewhere off-camera. “I’m sorry my dear, but I’m afraid that I must call this little talk to an end. Duty calls.”

The little hologram vanished. The white alicorn blinked.

What had he meant by that?


The Stormtrooper TK-9184, or Kal Treax to those who knew him, found himself most expectedly standing before the entrance to the office of the warden of Akorage Prison. Only hours had passed since the break-in that had left a comfortable majority of the security staff in pieces, and there was a lot of work for him to do. To be called away from essential cleanup and reorganization duties didn’t suit him, especially not now. He needed to keep his mind busy.

The door slid open in front of him, and standing there he found not the prison warden, but little blue-armored Inquisitor with one wing wrapped heavily in white medical dressing. This was the first time he’d gotten a good look at her without her helmet, and the man found his lip curling a bit under his helmet. He didn’t care much for aliens to begin with, still less after what happened last night. Still, he was a good soldier, and good soldiers follow orders.

“Come in,” she beckoned. He did so, door sealing shut behind him. “Do you care for a seat?”

“If it’s all the same to you, ma’am, I’ll stand,” he answered.

“I thought as much. I suppose you know why you’re here?”

“No ma’am.”

“I see. Then allow me to offer you some enlightenment.”

She glanced back, and a holoprojector on the warden’s desk came alive without her having to move a muscle. TK-9184 didn’t care much for magic tricks either, though he had the sense not to say anything. The image was of poor quality, constantly flickering in and out, but all the same he recognized it easily enough. It was last night, on the rooftop. A Jedi struggled on her knees, pushing back against an electrical discharge. A Stormtrooper, slumped a good distance behind her, slowly raised his blaster and shot her in the back. The scene froze there, a good capture of the shock and pain on the Jedi’s face the moment the bolt struck her flesh.

“I suppose you recognize this?”

“I do.”

“Then I am certain you are also aware that, by our records, it was you who fired that fateful shot.”

“I did what any Stormtrooper would do, ma’am.”

“Ah, but none of the others managed to do that. What gave you such strength, I asked myself.” She paused a moment, as the projector’s scene switched. “Does this look familiar?”

This time the images showed the Jedi carving her way through the prison’s guards like they were wheat before a scythe. Dozens of men fell in merest seconds, but the projector froze on an instant where the Togruta was driving her lightsaber directly through the face of a Stormtrooper’s helmet and out the back of his head. TK-9184’s fists clenched at the sight.

“That unfortunate man was TK-8253, also known as Val Treax.” The Inquisitor looked him in the helmeted eye. “Your brother.”

Treax had read the reports. He’d seen the body. He really didn’t need this right now.

“Yes…” he managed through tightly-clenched teeth. “Ma’am.”

“Fraternal twins, enlisted together, known to have shared a close bond for many years,” she went on. “Only for that bound to be ripped away from you by the Jedi.”

The man nearly had to bite his own tongue to keep from an outburst. This was deeply private family business! He hadn’t even informed their parents, yet this alien bitch was sticking her ugly snout in it!

“I believe it was that anger, the desire for revenge, that allowed you to endure where you fellows passed out. That is how you managed to take that shot. You burned to avenge your kin’s passing with her blood.” She cocked her head at him. “Yes… I can sense I am correct.”

He said nothing, for fear of cursing her out.

“I doubt you feel like listening to me talk, so I will go straight to the point. I summoned you here to give you two gifts: a reward and a choice. Firstly, you are promoted to Sergeant, effective immediately. Secondly, you are hereby relieved of duty for next three days, if you so choose, to allow you the time you require to return your brother’s body home and grieve as you would.”

The man’s jaw unclenched a bit – that was more than he’d expected. He inclined his head slightly.

“Finally, I wish to offer you a decision. After a previous mission to Corulag, I find myself short a detachment of Stormtroopers. My proposal to you is simple: if you are willing, you and a select squad will depart this planet with me when I leave to present Lord Vader a gift. After that, I offer you the opportunity to join me in hunting down and eliminating other Jedi, avenging your brother’s death in their blood. You would be well-paid, of course, and I could see to it that you received upgraded equipment, training, and armor befitting your new station. Or,” she shrugged a little, “you can choose to remain here and spend the remainder of your tour of duty watching over convicts here. The decision is yours to make.”

Go back to his routine in the very building where his brother had died, pretending nothing had happened, and spend years marching in circles and trying to pretend he didn’t notice all the lost brothers in arms? Or go out and make some traitorous bastards suffer for it?

“I’ll do it,” he said almost immediately.

“Very good,” the Inquisitor grinned.

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