Of War and Friendship

by DocDelray

The long night, Part 1

Darkness. This was Tolik’s world as of late: A blank slate of black going hand-in-hand with a pounding pain that shot through his limbs and back with little remorse. Slowly, his mind began to piece together what had happened to him today. He’d been woken from a rather enjoyable dream involving that Twi’lek cantina girl back on Crossion, when he’d been forced out of his bunk by an alarm. Next thing he knew he was being deployed planet-side and introduced to a race of quadrupeds and was suddenly forced to work hand and hoof with one of the local guard Sergeants. That’s when he started to remember the bakery, the party they’d crashed and the failed arrest. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, or rather like the carriage he was still embedded in.

His mind ran a mental checklist on the damage his body had received, going thoroughly through each piece and part till he’d came to the conclusion he was well enough to move. The darkness shifted into a foggy haze as he found himself staring at the ground from several feet in the air. It took some doing, but eventually Tolik pried himself from the sizable indentation he’d left in the side of their ride, falling to his hands and knees as strength refused to return to his limbs. In the back of his head he gave a little prayer of thanks to whoever was listening for the reinforced armorplast platting in his armor - nowhere near as strong as the pure beskar but enough to absorb impacts and most blaster bolts.

Blasters, the word rang out in his mind. His rifle was gone. Tolik’s hand went to his hip and felt the empty holster, “Those sons of mynocks… they took my weapons…”

From the front door of the shop stumbled Gallant, his armor and coat still splotched by confections. Tolik could see the left side of his face starting to puff a bit and the favoring of his right eye, “Suppose it’d be hopeful thinking to assume you had better luck inside.”

Gallant gave him a deadpan stare as he limped his way over to the trooper, “It would have helped if you told me ahead of time that one of them could use magic.” He growled out between bared teeth.

Tolik pulled himself into a sitting position with his back to the carriage, “I didn’t know he was a damned jetii’tal.” He shot back, “Intel on these guys is sparse at best, Gallant. You went in knowing just as much as I did.”

“What… What the hay is a jayty tol?” The guardspony’s confusion only seemed to deepen.

“Jedi blood, one of those damned Force-using freaks.” Tolik attempted to explain in his own unique and eloquent way, “It means we should have brought a hell of a lot more guns.”

“Now they have all the guns you brought…” Gallant stated flatly as he surveyed their men and colts as they began to come to, “Why didn’t they kill us? They took all of us out with relative ease but only took your weapons when they could have executed us.”

Tolik pulled his helmet off to breath in the clean night air. He was a human well into his thirties. With a fair complexion and shaved head littered with scars about his face brought together with a squared jaw and dark brown eyes, “Can’t even begin to figure it burc’ya. In their place I would’ve killed us all.”

His helmet off Tolik noticed something peculiar about it. A holo-recorder had been mesh taped to the side of it with a note in galactic basic with a very simple message, Message for your boss. With a sigh he pried the small device off the side of his bucket, “Gallant, see to the boys would ya, I need to make a call.”

---

Teth had been in a position of command for several years now. He’d heard just about every excuse in the book and suffered every conceivable set back - at least, he had hoped so. “You’re telling me that a full contingent of ten soldiers, five of which were armed to the teeth, and four men outmaneuvered and incapacitated all of you.” His voice strained to contain the rage and anger building up behind his usually calm exterior.

The holographic image of Sergeant Tolik stood stock still as he readied himself for whatever berating he was about to receive, “That… is affirmative. Sir.”

His eyes burnt with rage as he stared down the trooper, “And what about this message they left you?”

With a nod the Sergeant tapped away at something out of range of the projector. His image scrambled for a moment and then replaced its’ self with that of Kad Skirata. “Hello there you ship bustin’ dink. Right now you’re probably ticked off an’ shoutin’ up a storm at your poor Sergeant. In all honesty ya should’a sent a lot more troops.

“But that aint here nor there. As you’re probably aware of by now, we know who you people are, and if you haven’t read our file then let me point somethin’ very important out to ya: we ruin the lives of guys like you professionally. Sadly though, I can make all kinds of threats till this recorder runs out of memory and I’m sure you’d just shrug it off. Why wouldn’t ya? You’ve got the guns, the troops and a ship in orbit just itchin’ to start carpet blastin’ the planet.

“I’ll just say this: we’re comin’ for you. We’re gonna carve our way through every man you put in our way, and if need be I will find a way to tear that ship of yours outta’ the damned sky an’ use it to beat the ever livin’ osik out of you.

“Now the way I figure ya got a few options here: one, you leave the planet and we all go our separate ways while you get to cut your losses on this whole mess. Two, you do the stupid thing of throwin’ everything you have at us and we kill all your men and use their corpses to decorate your tomb. Three, you make the even bigger mistake of stayin’ in that nice pretty city ya found, put all the guys we have to shoot in one place and sit back on your newly acquired throne till we come to kill ya. Personally, the crew an’ I are hopin’ ya ignore option one.”

With that the image shifted till Tolik returned to view, “What are your orders, sir?”

Teth gave a labored sigh as he rubbed his temples, “Hold your position in the village. I’ll see to damage control with the Princess and getting reinforcements to you.”

The holographic image snapped a salute before vanishing leaving Teth in the now dark and empty room. Alone with his thoughts a moment he gathered himself for his next bout with Celestia. He found it rather unsettling how well versed she was turning out to be in the games of politics and intrigue. Davian had to admit she was a worthy adversary, and if pressed on the subject he might even admit to respecting her.

---

No rest and no stops as the bulk of Epsilon made for the ruins deep in the wilds. The thick canopy strangled what little light the moon provided, swallowing what path there was in darkness. Moving at top speed while in full gear over uneven terrain was no easy task but they were used to the difficult.

Finally reaching the front of the ancient castle the four came barreling through the massive double doors. If not for the locators on their HUDs they would have been met with a hail of blaster bolts from their immense comrade.

While in route Kad had informed their fellow squadmates of the obvious impending retaliation. Traycn had wasted no time in readying his full armor and gear. Huge crimson plates of Mandalorian iron were being strapped into place about his form, seeming to add another full foot in height and bulk, “These Deathwatch huut’uns had better show.” Traycn snarled as he clipped one of many modified weapons to his wrist mount.

“Don’t worry Tray, if I got these guys figured like I hope we’ll have one haran of a party on our hands.” Kad replied with an impish smirk, “Hate for ya to get all dressed up with no one to kill, big fella.”

“Is it really necessary to jump to that kind of extreme, Captain?” A familiar feminine voice questioned from the doorway.

Glancing back at the violet unicorn Kad regarded her with a casual nod, “Don’t worry ‘bout it Ms. Sparkle, we’re professionals.” It suddenly dawned on him, causing a double take at what his mind had just registered that he did indeed see, “Megin haar osik!?”

Helmets aside there were looks of shock at the collection of three ponies Kad and the others had assumed were left behind in the village. Twilight Sparkle accompanied by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy glanced around the room as the uncomfortable silence filled the air.

Traycn saw this as an ample opportunity to show his diplomatic prowess, “Can I eat them?” This was met with the expected looks of shock and even terror from the far smaller creatures, Fluttershy especially whom quickly hid herself behind her friends. No one understood his brilliance.

Kad gave the hulk of a warrior a death glare before returning his anger towards the ponies at their door. His eyes narrowed on the three as his jaw clenched tightly while the obvious fight for control of his anger waged inside his head. Clearly picking up on this the three took a collective step back from the approaching CO, “Twilight, what in the haran are you doing here?” Kad’s words managed to squeeze out through his grating teeth.

Finding confidence Twilight took a brave step forward, “I wanted to know what that scene at the bakery was about. Those… men, they had the same uniform look as the ones that attacked us in the forest, they were with royal guards and claiming to be Protectors like you.”

His gaze shifted to Rainbow Dash, “And your excuse?”

“I wanted to know how you guys did all that cool stuff back there, I’ve never seen anypony stick it to Canterlot’s best like that in my whole life. It was awesome!” She stated with an excited grin.

Kad’s hardening gaze moved to Fluttershy who cowered behind her friends, barely squeaking out, “I… I just sort of followed them… I’m very sorry…”

“I don’t understand why you’re getting so angry, Captain Skirata - if it’s about letting ourselves in-“ Twilight’s words fell short as a firm hand came around her snout holding her mouth shut.

“You three have made a very big mistake.” Kad’s words came slow and barbed, his eyes bore holes through Twilight’s gaze, “Kell was coverin’ our tracks to keep this location from the enemy. You three made a whole new fresh set’a tracks all the way to our front door. You understand why I’m a LITTLE perturbed yet?”

Before the exchange could carry on a shaft of light dropped from the sky and into the center of the main hall; rocketing to the ground through ragged remains of the roof. As it struck the ground the entire room filled with a blinding light that took all present off guard.

When the overwhelming glare began to die down standing before them was a breed of Equestrian they had never seen before. Far taller than the others they had seen so far and the first one to come close to their own height. Her coat was a dark hue that barely skirted the line between blue and black, with a mane and tail that flowed in nonexistent wind and looked to be made of the night sky itself. Stranger still was the fact this creature had both wings and a horn. Her turquoise eyes scanned a glare over the room which had come to arms at this unpredicted appearance.

“Princess Luna?” Rainbow breathed out in surprise.

At the mention of princess the majority of Epsilon eased off on their collective trigger fingers. Kad still holding Twilight by the snout however was in the minority and was the one Luna’s none-too-pleased gaze rested on, “Foul cretins, thou trespass upon our world tis not enough - now thou hold hostage the Elements of Harmony!?”

Kad glanced from Twilight to Luna then back again, “What of whats now?”

A dark blue aura surrounded Luna’s horn and began to darken. Similar auras appeared around the members of Epsilon, the world around them became a far heavier one as they felt gravity itself triple. The Mandalorians found themselves forced to their hands and knees as they fought in vain against this strange force.

Now given free reign of her mouth again Twilight made a B-line for the Princess, but was surprised as Fluttershy spoke up before her, “Princess Luna, please stop this! They aren’t the bad guys.”

“What dost thou mean?” She gave the pegasus a critical eye at this comment when a shift in her aura called her attention to the crimson hulk who fought the hardest against her will, “Thou shouldst cease thine struggles oaf, lest I increase the gravity another three fold about thee.”

Those words, they were fuel for him. Fuel for the already-raging fire that was building by every second wasted. The others were forced to their knees, but Traycn refused to kneel. Not to this creature - not to the unworthy. With a rage-laden snarl he forced himself to stand and take a labored step forward.

“What madness is this?” Luna was shocked at the resilience of this creature but would not be defied in front of her own subjects. The glow about Traycn deepened forcing him to stumble, “Stay still beast, if thou forces mine hoof I shall crush thee to but a smear!”

As the weight increased so did his rage, hate and anger. It built higher and higher far faster than she could amass the gravity against his onslaught. Traycn rose from his knee, the stone work beneath him cracking as he forced his body to continue its trudge forward.

The three ponies were speechless at the exchange before them. The most shocking aspect was the growing look of fear on the face of their monarch, “S-stop this at once, I command it!” Her voice began to crack as the reptilian beast closed the distance between them, “What manner of monster art thou?”

Wall after wall of bone crushing force slammed the body of the Taung. His cybernetic enhancements and ceramic-plated bones took it all with stride. The overwhelming urge to kill this “Princess” kept his body moving despite the shattering pain that ran through his body, “I… am… MANDO’ADE!”

Finally in arm’s-reach, Traycn poured every ounce of his rage into his cybernetic arm till it willed itself to lift. Cold metallic fingers enclosed around Luna’s neck, stopping short of breaking her spine too early. With his prey in his grasp the aura faded and the pain was but a lingering annoyance. A sickening grin came across his features as his hindrances lifted.

Luna struggled for breath as her limbs struck uselessly against the thick metallic plates upon her captor’s chest. She soon found herself hoisted into the air before being slammed into the stone floor sending a stunning shockwave through her body; the unrelenting grasp around her neck holding her to the ground. Her face pressed into the floor, a voice growled into her ear, dripping with a bone chilling hatred, “Ramaanar laandur aruetii.”

A collective scream of “No!” went up from the three as Traycn’s free arm quickly rose up with a blow aimed to smash his opponent’s head open and end this fight. The strike never came though - there was no sound of bone shattering and organs spilling from the open cavity. Instead the fist hung in the air unmoving and locked in place as Kad’s palm rested gently against the metallic knuckles keeping his man in check.

“Think she’s learned her lesson Tray.” Kad stated through labored breaths as he stood over the still body of the Princess, “Keep her still a spell while I have words with her though, just in case.”

After getting a nod of approval Kad knelt down beside Luna to look her in the eye, “Now I’m a decent enough fella to chalk that up to jumpin’ the gun. But if you try some’in like that again I’m gonna let him kill ya in whatever twisted nasty ways are runnin’ through his head. Ya copy?”

“I… copy…” Luna wheezed out through her pressed windpipe.

Kad took a step back as Traycn released her and Zex quickly moved in to check her vitals. In all honesty it was a surprisingly defused situation all things considered until, “I… I can’t believe you just did that to Princess Luna!” Kad was slowly starting to regret saving Twilight, “First the royal guards and now one of the Princesses. I’m starting to wonder if you six aren’t the real Deathwatch!”

As the words left her mouth something familiar pressed into the back of her head that sent a paralyzing shiver through her body. “Little girl, if we were Deathwatch you and your friends would be long since dead.” Kell stated flatly lacking any of his usual emotion as he pressed the barrel of his rifle into her head, “And that lovely town of yours would be nothing but a smoking crater. Spit on us like that one more time and I’ll throw your sheb to the real Deathwatch and let them show you what makes us different.”

“Enough!” Torb’s stern tone rose above the room, drawing everyone’s attention to the normally quiet Chiss, “I have had enough of this childish pandering and posturing. Kell, shoulder your rifle and get to the north tower and keep watch for Deathwatch’s eventual counter-attack. Traycn, you will take two steps back from the Princess and allow the poor girl some breathing room.”

With a grumble Kell pulled his weapon away from Twilight’s skull and sprinted off into the ruins. Torb knelt beside Luna taking one of her fore hooves lightly in his grasp and helping her sit upright, “My apologies your highness, the civil skills of my comrades are on-par with that of most juveniles. My name is Brast’or’bintrano Gieta, though most find it easier to call me ‘Torb’.”

Arkanna was starting to wonder if maybe it would have been easier to just accept the dishonorable discharge and jail time instead of the transfer that landed him here. A presence beside him drew his attention to the yellow pegasus standing on his right. A smile came to the Private’s face as he patted her head, “Thanks for standing up for us, mesh’la.”

A bright pink tint came to her cheeks as she felt his hand against her, “No problem…”

Kad moved to pull Traycn off to the side, “Tray, do you remember that little contingency plan we came up with? Do you think you can get it ready?”

The Taung smiled knowingly at his human comrade, “It’s been ready since we arrived.”

Comments

[GoG ToXiC]

Wait a second... Isn't the entire story up on fanfic.net? Or is this a revised edition?

[DocDelray]

1077944
You're right on both accounts actually. The whole story is up on Fanfiction but some of my friends talked me into moving it here in order to expand my number of readers. The first couple of chapters have been revised as well to help with dialogue for the most part.

[TheTownCrier]

I had wondered about that. But awesome story is awesome.

[Paladin Redflare]

Oh noes, this isn't Goddess Luna, it's weak and pathetic Luna that I don't like!

[StatusQo]

Tray The Taung, official badass.

[Shader]

As the weight increased so did his rage, hate and anger. It built higher and higher far faster than she could amass the gravity against his onslaught. Traycn rose from his knee, the stone work beneath him cracking as he forced his body to continue its trudge forward.

I've seen this in a few stories, and it always gets my gall up as being ridiculous. If she can change gravity like that, then they were screwed. No amount of strength or will would help.
Instead of being a deer in headlights and sitting there while he slowly crawled closer, she could have reversed gravity in any direction, and he'd have been sunk. Slam them around the walls and roof at six or more times gravity. Hell, she could have just leisurely backed up. Or removed gravity from him. Hard to push forwards when you can't reach the ground.
I'd have thought a millennium old individual would have thought of things like that.

Story is great, but this scene just seemed to be handled poorly as a 'Character beats Princess.' scene. Coupled with the combat magic in later chapters and how slow he was moving under the increased gravity, I just think that scene could have been better handled.

Edit: Okay, so she was majorly holding back. That makes more sense.