STAR WARS - EMPIRE'S EDGE

by Chadbane

Chapter VI - "A Chilling Discovery"

Author's Note:

Hey, guys! Life’s been crazy. I want to update this story as much as possible but my writing opportunities continue to be more and more limited. I will still try to release these chapters every Monday if I can manage it, but they might be shorter than normal or take an extra week, depending on circumstances in real life. Please enjoy this chapter as a tease to what’s to come :)

Chapter VI - "A Chilling Discovery"

A band of ponies pressed onwards in determination through an angry blizzard sweeping across the Crystal Mountains as the temperature around them dropped dramatically. With howling winds threatening to knock them over with terrific force and bury them under heaps of snow at any moments notice, they had to force themselves to remain strong and continue towards the objective. To communicate verbally over the sound of the raging storm was nearly impossible, so the ponies used hoof signals to keep others in the back of the line on track.

Hour after hour they trekked on, letting nothing come between them and their quest to reach the top of the mountain range. The heavy layers of clothing on their backs made the subzero conditions bearable; the hard labor of trudging through the snow over uneven terrain helped warm them, too. After almost seven hours of slow progress, the leader of the caravan spotted the dim outline of a small overhang on the ridge ahead of them.

He signaled to the others, an indication that the camp was on the other side. One by one his followers nodded and signaled back that they needed to pick up the pace. The leader of the caravan nodded his agreement. The light around them was fading as Princess Celestia’s sun—invisible through the storm—slowly set. The last thing they needed was to have to press on in total darkness.

As they skirted around the base of the ridge of the mountain and reached the leeward side, the wind died to almost nothing. It was not long before they could see the soft glow of lights in the flat plain below them—indicating that the camp they were searching for was near. Joy swept over the weary band as more details of the camp gradually came into view.

There were roughly a dozen small tents set up only a few meters away from a sheer wall of ice at the end of the plain where the start of another slope began. Set away from the tents was a large roughly-constructed shack; the leader of the caravan noticed a pair of steel furnaces hooked up to it, no doubt to provide power and heat, and he guessed it doubled as a supply center for any stores that would suffer if left out in the cold.

Amongst the noticeable mining equipment that was scattered around the tents, several sleds laden with supplies awaited their riders in a way that indicated action. On the far side of the camp were four large, tarp-covered objects with drills fitted onto their sides. The tarp hardly protected their mechanical internals from the fury of the storm.

“That’s far enough!” a voice—distinctly male—ordered from somewhere in front of the caravan. “Identify yourselves!”

Four armored sentries rose up from behind some drifts, two on either side of the ponies traveling towards the camp. Armed with heavy mining equipment, they carefully trained their deadly weapons on the interlopes and waited for a reply.

“I am Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire,” the leader of the caravan shouted. “And I order all of you to stand down!”

From the instant silence that followed, it was clear that his name that gotten their attention.

“How do we know you’re really the young Prince?” one of the sentries finally demanded. This was also a stallion’s voice, deeper than the first.

“Well, Timeline,” Shining Armor replied. “I could buck you in the face until I straightened out that crooked muzzle of yours, but we’d probably freeze to death before I finished.”

The sentry barked out a laugh, slung his weapon over his shoulder, threw his arms open wide, and galloped to enclose Shining Armor in a fierce hug. “It’s good to see you again, boss!” he shouted. “Come on, let’s get you out of the cold. We got a lot to talk about!”

The other three sentries moved in to help the ponies in the caravan with luggage and supplies while Timeline led Shining Armor through the camp toward the supply shack in the center. As they passed the tents, heads poked out to see what was happening; in no time, a small crowed had grown in the newcomers wake. Shining Armor could hear a buzz of excitement building, but the blizzard was still too violent to get a good understanding of what was being said.

At the door of the supply shack, Timeline stamped his boots clear of snow before going inside; his guests did the same. The first thing Shinging Armor noticed was the warmth. His goggles fogged up, and he was only too happy to remove them to get a better view of the interior. As he had suspected, the shack served as both supply hut and meeting room.

There were seven or eight ponies already inside the shack when he arrived, lounging among the crates and packages, using them as makeshift furniture. In one corner, there was a massive pile of coats, scarves, and socks. Timeline was already stripping off his cold-weather gear and tossing it in the pile. Shining Armor quickly and gratefully followed suit.

“So,” began Timeline after taking a seat. “I take it your presence here means you got my message?”

Shining Armor nodded.

“I did. Although, to be honest, I had a hard time making sense of it. You mentioned something about aliens?"

The unicorn grinned.

"Not just aliens," he answered, mysteriously. "Robot aliens!"

Shining Armor lifted a brow.

"It's true," a female pegasus said as she leaned forward in conspiracy on one of the crates. "We pulled them out of the ice just a few days ago. They crash landed in a ship—pilots, soldiers—everything."

"Soldiers?" Shining Armor asked with concern.

"So far as we know," Timeline confirmed. "They needed power. Energy. So we took them in—gave them what they wanted. In exchange, their leader gave us information."

Shining Armor glanced around the room at the faces.

"You mean... they're here? In the camp?"

"All twenty-five of them." the pony said with a smirk.

Shining Armor narrowed his eyes.

"Show me."

---

The metallic creak of a giant metal door began to ring out as Shining Armor stood outside in the blizzard with the rest of his crew, facing the giant climate controlled storage facility that the team had erected during their assignment.

"We put them inside so their joints wouldn't freeze!" Timeline yelled over the howling winds. "We figured it would be a good sign of faith and hospitality!"

Shining Armor ignited his horn.

"Maybe you shouldn't have! Alien robot army? Doesn't sound like a good idea!"

The unicorn laughed manically.

"That's what I like about you Shining Armor—always on your guard!"

Inside the enormous storage place, Shining Armor and the rest of the ponies wandered down a large open space shrouded in darkness.

"Why aren't there any lights?" asked Shining Armor as he pulled down his snow mask used his horn like a floodlight to scan the walls.

"We needed to divide the power between our camp and the climate controls in here. It was the only way we had enough power to charge them and keep us warm at the same time," Timeline explained. "But they're in here. They're all in here. Plugged in by the back wall."

Shining Armor gave Timeline a look and approached the area stallion had described to him. As the magical luminance from his horn shined across the wall, it began to make out the dark silhouettes of dozen machines folded in a fetal position beside a softly glowing device of some kind.

"What's that?" Shining Armor asked, breathlessly.

"One of their generators." Timeline answered. "They had to retrofit it to work with our electricity. Seems to be doing the trick, though."

Shining Armor continued to scan the pitch-black room. The frightening metal creatures that were plugged into the generator served to unsettle him, but not turn around and gallop in the opposite direction like he wanted to.

"You said there were twenty-five?" Shining Armor asked after a few more moments.

"That's right. Twenty-five two-legged metal skeletons."

Shining Armor scanned the alien robots one more time.

"I only count twenty-four. Where's their leader?"

Suddenly, Shining Armor jumped back as a trio of orange lights ignited in the darkness in his peripheral. Almost immediately they arose to a towering height and began to approach the unicorn with foreboding heavy steps.

"My designation is ST-013," an intimating electronic voice called out as the trio of orange lights approached the now frightened stallion. "But you may call me..." The lights stopped in front of the young prince, revealing a menacing droid with three photoreceptive eyes in the magical light of his horn. "Kalani."

Comments

[Joe Toon]

......... Okay kids, this is where it gets complicated.

[Bronycommander]

oh dear