Obsidian Flight: Crisis In Equestria

by EldritchNexus

Fire and Darkness

The Mane Six and Spike were finally in Canterlot, and approached the palace. They were permitted entry by the guards, and met with Princess Celestia in the throne room.

"So, I guess you decided to investigate the artifact, even when I suggested otherwise." said the pinkish-white alicorn princess. "But I am relieved to see that all of you are here."

"That's right, Princess." said Rainbow Dash, smugly. "We're here, and we'll take care of whatever's in that thing that you've been looking at!"

"Very well, my little ponies." Princess Celestia nodded, reluctantly. "I'll have Shining Armor escort you to the relic."

---

Above the jungle planet of Baroonda, Obsidian Flight found itself being pushed to its limits against the Separatist blockade. The bridge of the Bestial was being hailed by various distress calls from not only the four spaceborne Acclamators, but the fighter squadrons that it just recently deployed.

"Bestial, this is Commander Farne of the assault ship Templar! we have Confederate starships pouring Vulture droids all over us!" Exclaimed the officer of one of the ships. "Three of our primary weapons have been destroyed, and our deflector shields are on the verge of failing!"

Some officers of the Republic Navy would have been prepared for an evacuation code at any moment under such extreme circumstances, especially when their Jedi Generals were unavailable for direct command. but those that served alongside Captain Terra North knew better. The Naboo-born captain, whose people had suffered oppression from the Trade Federation more than ten years before, was in no hurry to allow his fleet to prematurely evacuate the system unless the entire operation was a failure. But he was not a cruel officer, either; He was aware of the damages that had been dealt to the Templar, and saw no sense in forcing his fleet to fight so recklessly. Instead, he calmly stood on the command bridge of the Bestial, and coolly assured Farne:

"We hear you, Commander, and will send Banshee and Doom Squadrons to assist you." he stated. "Pull your ship back behind us and the Grandeur. Prepare to intercept any Separatist ships that attempt to evacuate the system."

"Roger that, Captain". nodded Commander Farne's projection, who then turned around to relay orders to his unseen crew. "Alright, men! We're going to be moving into an intercept position; Turn the ship aside, and move it between the Grandeur and the Bestial..."

When the projection dissipated, Captain North re-activated the attack cruiser's communication system to send starfighters to protect the Templar.

"Be quick about it, lads!" Captain North spoke to the squad leaders, in his baritone voice. "The Templar is in need of all the fighter support it can get! And while you're over there, don't hesitate to show the rest of those Separatist scumbags how the personnel of Obsidian Flight mean business."

"Copy that, Bestial!" the leader of Doom Squadron replied.

"Banshee Squad is on its way, sir." obeyed Banshee Leader. "And we're ready to introduce those Seppies to our secret weapons!"

More than twenty V-19 Republic starfighters broke away from a dogfight near a Banking Clan frigate that was engaged with both the Peragus III and the Grandeur at once, and flew in a swarm formation around the Peragus III to get to the Templar, which was already turning its bow away from the planet.

When Doom Squadron reached the battered Templar, they unleashed their modified armament: Experimental cluster seeker missiles. The golden-trailed missiles each broke off into three white-hot projectiles, which then individually chased after one of the attacking droid starfighters. And thus: Twelve missiles were launched, and thirty-six droid fighters were blasted to pieces. Any others that remained were gunned down with the squadrons' laser cannons, or the Templar's remaining turbolasers.

Cheerful feedback was heard on the communications channels of the two squadrons and the Templar.

"Thanks, Doom Squadron!" Commander Farne radioed to Doom Leader. "We're ready to enter intercept mode! Now can you escort us to the required position?"

"Affirmative, Commander." Doom Leader stated, before switching his radio channel to the other fighter squadron. "Banshee, it's your turn to make sure that those Seppies don't deploy any more flying clankers out of those ships!"

"We copy and understand, Doom Leader." said the voice of Banshee Leader. "And we're ready to do what we have been equipped for."

Banshee Squadron circled around, and split itself between the three capital ships that were attacking the Templar. Flying over them like ravenous birds-of-prey, the fighters were arming and optimizing their weapons systems for maximum effect.

"Okay, boys..." Banshee Leader spoke into the squadron's private channel. "Let's see how attuned those Seps are...to the scream of a Banshee!"

And then the starfighters swooped down, and opened fire upon the shield generators mounted at the top of the Confederate ships. The cannons successfully disabled their primary shields on two Banking Clan frigates and the hangar bay shields of a Trade Federation battleship, leaving them open to Banshee Squadron's next stage of their attack run. The fighters flew a considerable distance from the ships, then turned back towards their targets. One by one, the modified V-19s unleashed their own secret weapons into the capital ships.

The missiles they fired left a pale-blue trail of energy in their wake, and when the first one directly hit the bridge of one of the Banking Clan frigates, creating a bluish-white orb of energy that slowly expanded. Very soon, the frigate was nothing but floating debris in space.

Some of the other missiles followed suit, completely ripping the other frigate to pieces in a cluster of shockwave-based explosions. The rest of the projectiles hurdled into the hangar bay of the battleship, causing a chain reaction that mercilessly crushed the rear area from the inside. All that remained of the Federation starship was its crumbling bow.

"Thanks, Banshee Squadron!" Commander Farne radioed. "We're all clear!"

"We're glad to have assisted, Templar." Banshee Leader answered. "And we were also glad to give our seismic torpedos a field-test."

"We saw that, Lieutenant Kyber." Captain North said, from the bridge of the Bestial. "I speak on behalf of the fleet when I say we are happy to see that those projectiles were worth the price we paid to get them."

"Thank you, sir." said Lt. Kyber. "Do you have any more orders for us, or should we return to protecting the Templar?"

"I do have more orders, Lieutenant." the Republic captain answered, sternly. "If this battle continues at this rate, we should be able to send the rest of Obsidian Flight down to Baroonda with little difficulty. I want you and Banshee Squadron to scatter that blockade. Plunge the whole thing into chaos by destroying their flagship, and then disabling the other ships' communcations relays."

"Right away, sir!" the clone lieutenant said.

On the bridge, Captain North received a transmission from his private comlink. He looked down at a small holographic projection of Naat Reath.

"It is magnificent to hear from you again, ma'am." the captain spoke. "Baroonda hasn't been too harsh for you, I take it?"

"The weather has been awful down here." the blonde Jedi General said. "But progress-wise, we're doing quite well. What is your progress on toppling that blockade?"

"At the rate that Obsidian Flight is progressing, I can guarantee that the Separatists will scatter or surrender in less than...twenty minutes."

"Excellent work, Captain." Naat Reath said. "And so far, we have already found the Separatist base and are engaging it in combat, even as we speak!"

"Good!" Captain North smiled. "What is the progress of the battle now?"

"Those battle droids took so much abuse I haven't seen in a Separatist army since Krant, but the 182nd Legion was able to seize their base. They're currently in the process of dismantling all intel and materiel that can be used against the Republic."

"Good work, General." Captain North beamed. "I'm sure that the Jedi Order would be very proud of you today."

"Yes, I'm sure they..." Naat Reath suddenly cut off, only to be interrupted by the ARC Trooper officer that suddenly materialized in the projection.

"Watch out! They're coming in from under the canopy!" He shouted frantically, discharging his commando pistol at an unseen foe.

"Captain Zed, what's the situation down there!" North began to shout after the ARC captain before he was beyond earshot of the comlink.

"Trade Federation reinforcements, sir!" Captain Zed continued shouting. " We don't know where they came from! And it looks like some Dark Jedi or Sith are leading them! Who the hell are they?!"

"Dark Jedi?" repeated Captain North. "Are you sure of this?"

"Yes, sir!" Zed shouted over the sounds of battle in the background. "They have black robes, red lightsabers, and everything! This is ridiculous! Was there any report from the scouts about Dark Jedi being on Baroonda, let alone a score of them? I don't think so!"

"Calm yourself, Zed!" Captain North said. "You are an ARC Trooper! You can handle anything these dark warriors could ever throw at you."

Captain Zed took cover behind a disabled AAT, and was visibly pulling himself together. As soon as he was calm, Captain North continued his transmission.

"I understand you are under heavy fire right now, but can you bring the comlink back to General Reath so she could verify this turn of events to me?"

"I would if I could, sir! But at the moment, she's dueling with more of those Dark Jedi right now! She's just killed or wounded two or three of them, but she's still outnumbered five to one!"

"Then get her out of there, Captain!" demanded Captain North, with much refined emphasis in his voice. "You need all the help you can get down there, and your men won't be able to get any more until we break this blockade!"

"I would get her out of there, sir!" the ARC officer exclaimed in an apologetic tone. "But these damn clankers have us surrounded on all sides!"

Down on the planet's surface, Captain Zed found himself uncomfortably accurate with his account; There were battle droids and tanks bombarding the captured base from nearly all sides. The only point where the tremendous circle of Separatist forces was weak was the way the clones came through, and only because more 182nd Legion troopers and their artillery support were still arriving from the landed Acclamators.

Naat Reath was separated from her troops, and was swinging her master's lightsaber at the Dark Jedi that were overwhelming her. After a while, the leader of the Dark Jedi became impatient, and unleashed a barrage of Force lightning upon the distracted Jedi. Reath found herself knocked to the ground, only to be suddenly pulled up with the Force, and drained of much of her energy, all by the Dark Jedi.

As she hung suspended above the ground, the leader of the Dark Jedi approached her:

"Naat Reath, I presume?" he said to her. "So you are the one that just disrupted our operation on this planet!"

"How do you know who I am?" Naat asked, through a tightened throat.

"That doesn't matter right now, you foolish Jedi." the Dark Jedi said. "What matters is that you are going to be punished for what happened to Sev'Rance Tann!"

Naat Reath's eyes widened. She remembered that horrible Chiss woman all too vividly, especially the horrible lengths that Master Echuu went to in order to see her dead on Krant.

"What does she have to do with this?" the Jedi Knight asked.

"Everything, you spineless little Padawan!" the Dark Jedi shouted over the heavy rainfall and the sound of blaster-fire in the distance. "She was very important to me, and you and your pitiful master had to kill her!"

"No! You don't understand!" Naat choked out. "It was Master Echuu, and Echuu alone, who killed her."

"Then I guess I should use you as bait to lure him out, now shouldn't I?" the Dark Jedi sneered.

"It won't do you any good, Darksider." Naat Reath said, glaring. "Echuu died of his wounds on Krant, shortly after Tann was killed!"

"We'll see about that, Padawan."

Then the Dark Jedi had his accomplices confiscate the Jedi's lightsaber, and then had the battle droids place magnetic binders on her wrists. Quickly, they fled back into the rainforest, and disappeared into the stormy darkness under the canopy. This happened just as Captain Zed and a group of 182nd troopers breached the droid reinforcements. The ARC captain activated the comlink again:

"Bestial, we've beaten those droid reinforcements back," Captain Zed said. "But there has been yet another complication!"

"What is it, Zed?" answered the gruff voice of Captain North.

"General Reath has been compromised, sir!" the ARC captain replied. "We just saw her being dragged into the rainforest in binders! It was the Dark Jedi, sir! They must have ganged-up on her! Do I have permission to take a squad to follow her captors?"

"Most certainly, Zed." Captain North replied. "And the Confederacy's blockade has already been sent in a rout. Obsidian Flight is still picking off the more persistent stragglers, but the Bestial will be able to utilize its resources to assist you from above. Should you need it, of course."

"Very good, sir." said the ARC captain. "I'll send another transmission to you as soon as we have a better fix on the General's position. Captain Zed...out."

Author's Note:

Don't worry, the storylines will intersect very soon. Just one or two more chapters, and the crossover itself will officially kick in.