The Tempest in the Force (A Light in the Dark)

by ThunderDasher07

Chapter II: Welcome to Paradise?

The Song of the Siren began its final approach to the planet Veredusiko. The trip was relatively short, just a few hours, going from the fourth planet to the second in the same system. The two ponies stared out the cockpit viewport.

“Veredusiko, I’m surprised that this planet isn’t more populated considering what a paradise it seems to be,” Risvoa commented. There was a Victory II-class star destroyer in orbit above the planet. She turned on the comms channel. “Vakkkgandava City Spaceport, this is Song of the Siren. We are requesting clearance for a hangar for landing,” she told the spaceport.

“Identified, Siren, your request for landing is granted. You are cleared for landing in Hangar 55,” a voice from the control terminal informed them. The YU-410 freighter slowly descended in attitude into the planet’s atmosphere.

Veredusiko was named after the Pony Latin word for swift-hunting horse. The planet itself had a tropical climate. The ocean covers the vast majority of the planet’s surface, with the only landmasses consisting of archipelagoes and islands covered in tropical rainforest, mountain ranges and sandy coastlines. Some of the islands were massive in size, with some being nine hundred thousand square miles. Many of them are still volcanically active, providing business opportunities for mining resources. Most of the population were humans and other species, but there were some ponies that called this place home. Vakkgandava City was the planet’s capital.

The larger sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky as the ship landed in the hangar, touching down softly, gear down and ramp lowered. As Tempest and Starlight trotted down the ramp, they both looked around and took in the sights. They could smell the salty sea breeze, see the fresh sea spray as it crashed against the sand, and hear the calls of strange alien birds. The others came down the ramp behind them.

“So what exactly are you doing here?” Tempest asked as she turned around.

“Just dropping off some supplies for a job we got with Zoakkja the Hutt,” Risvoa answered.

“What’s a Hutt doing out here?” Starlight wondered aloud.

“I guess she wanted somewhere to get away,” Risvoa said. “Geki, stay here with the ship.” They walked out of the hangar and into the main central terminal of the spaceport. There were more ponies here than there were in all of Fau’lau City. All of whom were in clothes. “Our contact is supposed to meet us here with transport for the cargo,” she mentioned.

Shakka glanced and noticed a few stormtroopers, uttering, “Oh kunta! Bucket heads, coming from behind us.”

“We’re fine,” Risvoa told her. “Damp down your power core.” The Imperial troopers walked up to them, holding their E-11 blaster rifles against their chests.

“What do you have in those cargo containers?” the stormtrooper commander demanded. “No illegal contraband?”

“Just standard supplies,” Risvoa answered. She opened the first container and showed that it was just spare droid parts.

The stormtrooper glanced inside and said, “Alright, move along.” They closed the container and kept going.

A comlink call came in, “Squad 10, you are required in Hangar 19, Barloz-class freighter with suspicious cargo, over.” The squad about-faced and left the area. Of course, the droid parts were only a cover for the real cargo, a stockpile of hfredium, a mineral for starship construction.

There was a cantina nearby named The Three Nexu, with cantina band music playing inside. The cantina itself had a large main room with a few smaller private rooms off to the sides. The bar was circular in the center of the room. The band was playing in the back on a stage. It was full of red leather-backed booths and tables.

Starlight glanced at Shakka, who was talking with Kuldawraanh and asked, “How do you two know each other?”

Shakka smiled and replied, “Oh, we have known each other for years. We were both slaves and she saved my life back then by protecting me from some of our master’s pets. We later escaped from our master together.” “She is like an older sister to me. A much older, wiser sister, like 208 years old,” she added.

Kuldawraanh gave a roar in response, followed by a few solemn groans. [Life was painful and it was hard being forcefully taken from my homeworld. I am forever grateful to Shakkafreykaa and in her debt.] The group stayed there for a short time until their contact arrived.

---

Back in the Castle of Friendship, Twilight received a beeping communications signal from her communicator on her desk. She had a feeling that it wasn’t Tempest contacting her because she left a short time ago. She clicked the button and a hologram of Luna appeared.

“Oh, it’s you, Princess Luna,” she said, expressing some relief.

“Did you have any success with what we spoke about earlier?” She asked vaguely, clearly feeling like their conversation was being listened in on.

Twilight nodded her head, answering, “I did. I sent my loyal guard and former student to do the job.”

Luna smiled and responded, “A wise choice. I’m sure they will be successful.” Something happened on Luna’s end that made her glance to her left. Her expression changed to a serious one. “I must be going,” she said, hastily cutting the transmission. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder what that was about.

---

Shortly, an airspeeder and a repulsorlift skiff pulled up in front of the spaceport. The group came out with the cargo containers. Most of the city’s buildings were made from beige-colored stone with many windows and were a few stories tall. A Weequay male got out of the speeder.

He asked, “Are you Risvoa Quzoko?” His companions got off the skiff.

“I am and I have the cargo supplies Zoakkja requested,” she answered. The supplies were loaded onto the Bantha-II cargo skiff.

“Zoakkja would like to meet with you in person,” he told them.

“One should never refuse a Hutt’s invitation,” she replied. Half of the crew went into the Rian-327 airspeeder and Kuldawraanh with the ponies got onto the skiff. The transports made their way out of the bustling city streets and into the rainforest up a rough dirt path. The noise quickly drifted away from them; only the whining sound of the engines and the snapping of tree branches could be heard.

Starlight and Tempest couldn’t see where they were going until some of the brush and trees cleared for a moment. They were going up a mountain to a building. When they finally cleared the trees completely, they saw a palace on the north side of the mountain. It had several tall, rounded towers with domed tops. The largest of which was in the center. They entered the palace via a hangar in the back of the base of one of the towers. In the hangar there were several more skiffs, a Minstrel-class space yacht and a squadron of Skipray Blastboats. There was someone waiting for them when they arrived. The figure was a male blue-skinned Chagrian wearing fine black robes.

He introduced himself, “I am Jarro Halcorr, Zoakkja’s majordomo. You must be Risvoa, I presume.”

“I am,” she replied, leaving the speeder.

“Follow me,” he said. He led them through a curved corridor, then down a winding staircase to an expansive room. It had a dozen or so people, most of whom were seated at tables in the corners or back of the room. There was a band on the left side, mostly consisting of Rodians. There was a long platform throne on the right side. Sitting on it was a turquoise-colored Hutt with a cream-colored belly and yellow eyes. She had a hookah pipe next to her on the throne. Not far away, there was a blue-skinned female Togruta that had purple-white lekku and montrals. She was being held by a length of chain. Zoakkja glanced over at the entrance to the room. Seeing the visitors coming down the steps, she sighed and took the piece out of her mouth.

She greeted them, “Chowbaso! Niuta, be cotma!” A silver RA-7 protocol droid stood next to the Hutt.

“I present to you the honorable Zoakkja Vosadii Feth. The great Zoakkja welcomes you to her palace,” the droid said.

“It is an honor to be here,” Risvoa replied. The droid translated for the Hutt. It was then that she noticed the pair of ponies with the group.

“Ahhh, Jee neeja kickee do kankee noleeya ma bunko. Uba wa du grandio planeeto!” Zoakkja said directly to them.

The droid translated for them, saying, “The mighty Zoakkja says, 'she has never had any of your kind in her palace. You have a glorious planet.'”

“Oh, um, thank you,” Tempest answered rather quickly. She was taken aback by the sudden singling out of the two ponies. Then, Zoakkja brought the conversation back to Risvoa and her crew, which made Tempest breathe a sigh of relief. She was afraid to say the wrong thing.

---

In a slightly darkened, slate-gray room, sat a long black desk, the bluish light of a hologram bathing the space in its glow. There was a tall, slender woman in her mid-thirties wearing an olive green Imperial uniform sitting behind it. An Intelligence officer in a gray uniform came through the door, sliding open and closing behind him.

“Moff Bavindi,” he said. She glared at him with her piercing blue eyes.

“What is it?” Vera asked with her Coruscanti accent. She pressed a key on her board and the hologram disappeared and the light slowly came back on. Her wavy scarlet red hair shined in the light.

“We just intercepted a transmission from one of the princesses,” he answered. “It seemed like they might be up to something.”

She put her hands together, a small smile on her face. “Please, go on,” she said.

“Yes, it appears that they might have sent a couple of ponies out on an expedition mission of some kind,” he informed her. “I’m not certain what it is since they seemed to be using code or being vague on purpose.”

Vera raised her eyebrows, grinning a bit wider. “That’s fine because I have a good idea of what’s going on,” she said. “I want the record of every pony that has left this planet from every spaceport in the last forty-eight hours. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, sir. Right away,” he thanked her and left the Moff alone.

She took this position to simply further her career, being Planetary Governor of Equusi Prime and now Moff of this sector. She was one of the few female Moffs in the Empire, something she took pride in. She loathed the native inhabitants, the ponies, the most. Quadruple creatures like them shouldn’t have the intelligence of a human. They should be regulated to pack animals and nothing more. She had been waiting for an opportunity like this, for the rulers to finally slip up.

She pressed a key and a hologram came up again, this time of Canterlot. “You’re looking for the Rebels, aren’t you, you filthy equines?” She chuckled, adding, “Well, you’re going to pay dearly for it.” She growled, “Just you wait.”

---

Back at the palace’s throne room, the band was playing in the background. Zoakkja the Hutt finished her dealings with the crew.

“Uba bee bata wata, ma newpa pateesas,” the Hutt said.

The droid translated, “You get back here soon, my new friends.”

Tempest and Starlight nodded their heads and replied, “We will.” They then took a landspeeder back through the rainforest to the spaceport, where they returned to the hangar where G2-K1 was still present.

“I trust everything went satisfactorily with your meeting,” he said to Risvoa.

“It did,” she answered the droid. “We’re going to be dusting off soon,” Risvoa stated. “Prep the ship for takeoff.”

The droid replied, saluting her. “You got it, boss!”

“I’ve never been through hyperspace before,” Starlight commented, showing her excitement.

After a few minutes, the Siren was given clearance to depart and lifted off, retracting its landing gear and continuing up through the atmosphere. The ponies stood behind them in the cockpit. A light flashed, indicating that they were out of the planetary gravitational field and safe to make the jump to light speed. Risvoa grabbed the central throttle gear, thrusting it forward. There was a sudden jolt. The endless vacuum of stars gave way to flaring starlines and then into the swirling mottled blue of hyperspace.