72: Salvation
Atop a windswept landing platform on the distant Outer Rim world of Shyish, Imperial Governor Seris stood nervously at stock-still attention, arms pinned tightly to his sides. Brown eyes watched the grey skies closely, fixed on a distant dot growly slowly, inexorably closer. The man swallowed, feeling sweat on his face despite the chill.
Yes, Shyish was a recent acquisition, annexed by Imperial forces only a few short months ago. Yes, it had been known to harbor heavy Separatist sympathies despite its avowed neutrality during the Clone Wars. And yes, it was true that a there had been a few minor gunfights and skirmishes between his troops and various bandits over the past few weeks. But the matter was well in hand, there was no need even to call for reinforcements. Why would the Emperor need to send anyone to inspect the planet so soon? And why, for the love of all that was holy, did it have to be him? If half of the things that Seris had heard about that black-clad monster were true…
The Governor shook his head as the dot grew in size, taking the distinct tri-wing shape of a Lambda-class shuttle. Doing his best to control his nerves, the man gave a good attempt at a stoic expression, but anyone who was paying attention could still see beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. Not that anyone was, all eyes on the landing platform were fixed firmly on the descending shuttle. It touched down with an agonizing slowness, time seemed to slow to a crawl as its landing ramp descended.
Governor Series felt a lump catch in his throat as the towering black cyborg emerged, felt his body hold attention as firmly as he could ever remember doing. Around him he could, rather than see, his assorted underlings and Stormtrooper guards doing likewise, none wishing to show the slightest bit of sloppiness to the Emperor’s dreaded executioner. If Darth Vader paid of any of it any mind, he said nothing, merely striding directly up to loom over Seris.
“Governor,” he said.
“L-Lord Vader,” Seris stammered. “We are pleased to w-welcome you to-”
“I don’t care for pleasantries,” Vader cut him off. “Only results. You will demonstrate the progress you have made in subjugating this backwater without delay.”
“Y-Yes, my lord,” the Governor quickly bowed his head. “If you will follow me, we can b-begin your inspection right away.”
As the hapless man began to lead the cyborg down the landing pad and towards the Imperial command center, the assorted gaggle of functionaries and bodyguards turned to follow. The group made an easily-visible target, though near the heart of the Empire’s power in the system none of the locals gave any thought to it. They also gave no thought to a hovering probe droid that passed overhead, one of several acting as sentries for the undermanned post. It, however, gave a great deal of thought to them.
Watching from a considerable distance, safely ensconced in one of Shyish’s equatorial spaceports, Twilight Sparkle looked through the droid’s eyes. Then looked again, just to be sure, matching what she saw with holonet images she’d obtained of the fearsome black cyborg. After a few seconds, she nodded.
“Vader’s here, meaning that he isn’t on his ship,” she thought, releasing a breath she hadn’t quite realized she was holding. “Showtime.”
The Star Destroyer Devastator was parked in a low orbit above Shyish, dwarfing the older Dreadnaught heavy cruiser that formed the system’s own local defense force. Vader’s massive capital ship outclassed anything else in the system, or subsector for that matter, by a wide margin. But it also required a crew numbering in the tens of thousands to maintain, and all the attendant logistical hurdles that came with keeping such a large number of crewmen. Vader’s erratic schedule and frequent assignments to the far corners of the galaxy frequently kept his flagship far from mainstay ports of call and normal Imperial supply chains for months at a time. It therefore wasn’t unusual at all for the Star Destroyer to take on loads of food, medicine, or machinery wherever it happened to stop for a little while.
No one really thought anything of it when several supply shuttles began ferrying goods up from the surface of Shyish. There were security protocols in place of course, but they were not especially stringent. And in any case Supply Officer Deres Jarnalla would have passed anything but a detailed background check had anyone done more than confirm her credentials with the garrison below. She was just one of many Imperials aboard her shuttlecraft after all. No one questioned it when she presented her assignment: delivery of droid parts and chemicals to the detention level. They even gave her directions, though she didn’t need them.
Twilight’s heart beat uncomfortably fast as she walked briskly through the well-lit, metallic corridors, despite her best efforts to the contrary. She’d been inside Imperial facilities before, but never a Star Destroyer, still less the personal flagship of Darth Vader. Even if he was planetside and scheduled to remain there for the next several hours, just being in his lair sent a chill down her spine.
But there was no question that this was the right place. She could feel the other woman’s pain through the Force, many times stronger than it had been in her dreams. As she pushed her hovering cargo pallet through the corridors, she took a deep breath to strengthen her resolve. She could do this, it wasn’t some kind of impossible task. Moreover, she had to do this – she couldn’t in anything resembling good conscience turn away from someone suffering as greatly as she could feel now. The air itself seemed to grow thick with pain as she drew closer the brig, the psychic emanations alone enough to make her head start to hurt. She could feel the residue of long hours of ceaseless torment, sense the ghost of electric discharges crawling up her arms. She wondered again how corrupt a being that could feel the Force would have to be to condone this, and then shuddered.
When the detention area’s thick security door finally opened before her, Twilight was confronted with four white-armored stormtrooper and a young man in a black uniform. The officer rose, and when she met his eyes the princess saw for just a moment a hollow, haunted look behind them. For a moment, she felt a twinge of pity for the man.
“Halt,” the officer said. “Present your authorization.”
“Of course,” Twilight said meekly, head low.
She handed the man a datapad she’d been holding for the last few minutes, moving her fingers only slightly. The man stared at the thing, frowned, then kept staring, totally engrossed by something he couldn’t quite pinpoint. He just knew that for some inexplicable reason this little datapad had become the most important thing in his life, such that the world around him was altogether drowned out. So little attention was he paying that he scarcely noticed when the woman who’d handed it off suddenly thrust both arms out in opposite directions. He didn’t hear the thuds as their helmeted heads hit the walls, or notice as they slumped limply to the ground.
“You’ve seen my credentials,” the woman’s voice barely registered in his mind. “Could you please give me the access codes to cell 1127?”
The officer didn’t know why, but he found himself idly mumbling a series of numbers. Part of him was confused, trying to make sense of what was going on, but the rest was far too engrossed in staring down at the datapad. He couldn’t tear his eyes from it, no matter how much his suppressed instincts were telling him to. Some corner of his eyes vaguely perceived her waving a hand.
“And would you please tell me where the physical controls for your alarm system are?”
“Far left panel…” he muttered. “Section five…”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He didn’t resist as two fingers reach up to lightly tap him on the temple, didn’t feel anything as blackness overwhelmed his mind. He was already out before he hit the floor.
Twilight stepped gingerly over the unconscious Imperial, moving quickly towards the detention block’s primary control panel where he had been sitting. She worked quickly, ensuring that the alarm signal was set to “all clear”, and then reaching out with the Force. She didn’t have time for an elaborate slicing attempt against its doubtless well-guarded systems, but there was no need. She simply telekinetically broke critical wires and circuits inside the alarm’s control panel without ever physically touching it. Once she was done, one could try slamming every button and flipping every switch on it from now until doomsday and there would be no response.
That done, and wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead, she rushed without further delay down the actual cell-block’s hallway, stopping immediately when she reached a particular door. She could feel the agony emanating from the other side, almost fancied she could hear the screaming through the soundproof door. She hurriedly punched in the series of numbers she’d been given, and too her immeasurable relief the door slid open unaccompanied by wailing alarms.
The sensation hit her like a punch in the gut. If she thought she’d been feeling the pain before, it had been but a drizzle before a hurricane. The pent-up sensations of weeks of endless torture roiled over her all at once: the agony wracking the Togruta woman’s frame, the naked terror and simmering rage comingling in her mind, the cold echoes of a much darker presence. It was all she could do for just a moment not to double over and throw up on the spot.
“Unauthorized accessor detected,” a mechanical monotone snapped her back to reality.
Twilight looked up. One of the five hovering black spheres had broken its orbit around the prisoner, moving towards her.
“Facial structure inconsistent with authorized personnel,” the torture droid went on. “Present identification codes or-”
Twilight reached out her hand and made a fist, and the spherical droid crumpled like an aluminum can.
As one droid crashed to the floor, smoking and sparking, the other four broke off their own orbits. Needles primed and electroshock prods crackled with energy, but these vile machines were built to brutalize the helpless, not to fight. Still less to fight a Force wielder. Twilight bared her teeth, then slammed them all into the wall opposite her with a single hand. With the other, she made a fist, and then released it. Once. Twice. Thrice. Four times. Each time a torture droid let out a binaric warble before being crushed into scrap with perhaps more force than was necessary.
The moment the last one hit the ground, Twilight eyes went the woman pinned to the table. She was an orange-skinned Togruta female, not much younger than the alicorn herself, hanging limply by numerous restraints affixed to her limbs, waist, chest, and neck. Her screaming had subsided when the droids pulled away, replaced now with the faintest of moans. She looked drained and emaciated, though she sported no obvious wounds. She wore white medical dressings about her chest, torso, and upper legs, and little else.
Twilight moved quickly to her, standing directly in front of the table. She concentrated a moment, putting two fingers from each hand together. The next instant she pulled the apart, and sheer force of her will tore open every last restraint binding the prisoner. The Togruta slipped limply off the table for the first time in weeks, and Twilight caught her. As she lifted her up with surprisingly strong arms, the other woman’s eyes flittered open slightly. They were bright blue, tinged with red blood vessels.
“Who…” she managed in the faintest of whispers, “are… you?”
“Shhh,” Twilight urged. “Save your strength. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Who…” she mumbled, then scrunched up her eyes against some lingering pain. “Forget… it. Anywhere… beats here.”
Far below, of Shyish, Governer Seris was leading the monstrous black cyborg through one of the base’s vehicle bays, weaving between the legs of AT-TEs and AT-RTs. He was simultaneously holding up a portable holoprojector displaying a number of charts. The man talked as he walked, doing his best not to seem terrified or over sycophantic.
“As you can see, Lord Vader,” he said. “Armored losses since our occupation began have been minimal, and well within projected casualties of our annexation efforts. What… minimal resistance we have faced has been armed almost exclusively with light handheld weaponry, posing little risk to our-”
“Then perhaps you care to explain how images of insurgents posing atop the smoking wrecks of three of your heavy vehicles found their way onto holonet shadowfeeds running rampant throughout the Mid and Outer Rims?” The cyborg interrupted. “And have appeared on anti-Imperial propaganda in more than a hundred systems?”
“Ah yes,” Series swallowed. “That. Well, in truth that was the result-”
The hapless Governor was cut off yet again, as behind him the Dark Lord abruptly came to a halt. Hesitantly, Seris turned to look at Vader, only to find the black cyborg staring upwards towards the ceiling and paying absolutely no attention to him. Then, without warning, Vader turned about and began walking briskly back the way he had come. He spoke not a word, simply disappearing from sight behind one of the mighty walkers.
Seris breathed a sigh of relief.
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Security cameras and alarms are insignificant, next to the power of the Force.
But maybe this is a simulation Twilight is running, and she hasn't just caught Vader's implacable attention.
Don't blame Seris. Not one bit. Finally, something potentially good happening.
Run, Twilight and Ahsoka, run away before he comes back!
Noctis is going to be delighted when she learns the one she called whelp freed her gift to Vader and fled with her...
Thank you once again for the update.
To be honest, I'm hoping Twilight loses a limb here. If she gets away with sneaking onto Vader's ship and stealing Ahsoka away without some form of permanent, severe scarring, I'm calling her a Mary Sue. In my opinion she's had it way too easy and has had far too much outright success thus far. It's time she experiences at least complete and one utter failure.
Whatever became of that one Imperial security agent who was pursuing her, anyhow?
just being in his layer sent a chill down her spine
1. I think you meant Lair here.
The one alarm Twilight probably didn't think of- the pain stopping, considering she could feel it through the Force as well. Vader would be "listening" all along.
8754110
I have heavy doubts Vader would let Twilight live if he caught her. He’s already proven he wants Ahsoka over Noctis. He very likely wouldn’t have interest in keeping Twilight alive, and it’s not Ahsoka in her current state who could pull a feat.
What would be quite “Mary Sue”, for me, would be Twilight managing to survive and flee, while carrying a weakened Ahsoka, despite having lost a limb or something in a direct encounter with Vader.
8754110
I'd disagree outside of the fact the term Mary Sue has degraded to meaninglessness I would say if if anything I would be extremely disappointed if such a thing did happen.
We already got our alicorn mutilation with Luna(even if seems that eventually she will regrow her horn because of the immortal nature of alicorns) and as it stands both Celestial princesses seem to be either A. fallen to the darkside or B. in the process of falling while Twilight basically hasn't succeeded at much of anything other than not get killed at the hands of dark side crazed Luna and lucking into a Holicron.
It will be nice to see her finally get a success that isn't a matter of luck even if it is ultimately minor in the grand scheme of things.
8754110
I wish people would be more careful with the term of Mary Sue. That term gets applied to far to often when a character seems impervious. Twilight will learn and grow from this experience even if Ahsoka has to sacrifice her life so that Twilight can escape. We need Twilight to have a major victory here as she has not done much in this story so far. Saving Ahsoka and getting the first real help to her home planet would be a step in the right direction.
She has seen enough that she know the Empire is pure evil and she will want to try and save Luna. The big conflict coming up will be when Luna begins to hunt or rats out Twilight to Vader or the Empire.
Run, Twilight, run. Despite your significant progress, you are not even close to ready to face Vader.
And there’s the risk that if Vader sees her, he might sense that she is the same species as Luna. Which would spell trouble for the ponies back home.
Shouldn't Twilight be able to teleport them out... Seems like that would be well within her abilities
8754213
Indeed, that would spell trouble for Equestria.
8754228
I think such a basically blind teleport at orbital range with the target's relative movement, is waaay too many orders of magnitude greater than any teleport Twilight had been able to do in canon, so unless you propose she has managed to up her power by at minimum a thousand fold in this story, she isn't teleporting anywhere.
I'd guess she will keep up the façade of being a supply officer by hiding Asoka in the hover palet, and simply go back to her shuttle.
Fighting 10 000 imperials OR Vader is not an option for her, and I doubt she noticed he noticed, so it will be interesting to see who makes it to their destination sooner
You seriously are in need of a proofreader, and if you already have one, kick him and get a better one. Many grammar errors as well as misspellings and sentences that don't fit. A story of this calibre deserves quality.
Another nice chapter, hehe.
Whew... nothing much to say here, other than I liked it.
8754415
Do you like frequent updates? Editors slow things down by at least a little bit.
8754948
Quality over quantity, do you enjoy misspellings? Errors? Bad sentences? At most, a proofreader would delay a chapter by a day or so.
8756005
On a side, I've seen far worse mispelling (punctuation, typos, wrong letters, ...).
On another side, I've seen some proofreaders take weeks (they also can be busy in RL) before giving the all clear.
I agree with quality over quantity, but I think Mr War here isn't in a great need of more proofreaders. In my opinion, the current situation is good.
8754368
I see your point. But she should definitely be able to rapidly teleport them through the ship if they're caught by Vader to avoid a confrontation. I get that the author is kinda down playing the usefulness of magic in this fic though since it solves too many problems too easily.
8754169
Spoiler for future chapters. Do not read if you don't want it spoiled (obviously).
Well, she's a Mary Sue according to your own specifications now, isn't she?