Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra or its related characters. All is the property of Noelle Stevenson, Dream Works Animation, Netflix, NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Filmation, Larry DiTillo, and J. Michael Straczynski.
Inconvenient Arrangements
Chapter Nine: Quick Strike on Krytis
The Prince and Princess technically shared a stateroom. However, Hec-Tor did not see Entrapta in his –their, while she was aboard Monstron it was theirs- their quarters more than twice.
He kept to a rigorous schedule. Between his medication regiment, the demands of his condition, and his body's natural needs, Hec-Tor could not deviate from his routine. As a result of this, Hec-Tor entered the room at the same time every ship's day, bathed (dust bath) at the same time, changed at the same time, slept at the same time, rose at the same time.
Entrapta on the other hand was sporadic and inconsistent. She was a cheerful, hundred-fifty centimeter tall, ball of hair and chaos. She came and went as she the impulse struck her. Bathed (a water bath, with bubbles) when she remembered, and slept when she was tired.
One time, Hec-Tor was already in bed. Mostly asleep. He dreamed a lilac spider creeped into the room through the vents even though he forbade spiders and bat-children from going in the vents. Then it turned into a snake, and slithered about the room shedding its skin, before disappearing into the refresher where he heard it waste three hundred liters of the ship's water. When the creature came out again it had turned into a humanoid female and was humming siren song. It put new skin on and exited out the door. When Hec-Tor woke up at his usual time the next 'morning' Entrapta's clothes were strewn all over the floor and the refresher was wet.
Another time he walked into the stateroom at his usual time to bath before resting and found Entrapta asleep in the bed. A non-standard issue blanket added to the bed. Hec-Tor lifted a corner of it to examine the blanket curious, and found it heavier than it looked. A weighted blanket. He then noticed that she was naked under the covers and dropped the blanket, face flushed. He did not mean to invade her privacy or peep at her body while she was not awake to consent. The corner of the blanket flopped down with a heavy THUMP and Entrapta stirred.
She sat up, wiping sleep from her eyes. Completely oblivious to the fact that she was naked. The blanket falling down to expose her nipples. "Oh, did I over sleep? Sorry. I meant to be gone by the time you needed the bed."
Entrapta climbed out of bed. Then turned around and bent down to fold up her weighted blanket. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was still naked. More naked than she had been on their wedding night. She wasn't wearing her mask or gloves. They were carefully arranged on the bedside table.
Face red, Hec-Tor turned. Not just averting his eyes but his whole body too. It somehow seemed wrong for him to be admiring the almost mathematically perfect curves of her backside. Sure, they had already had sex. But not because either one of them had invited the other. It didn't count. They were essentially strangers to one another.
After she was sure her blanket was neatly folded and out of his way, then she put her mask and gloves back on. Tugging the gloves onto her hands snuggly before lifting the metal mask and snapping it around her head. Then turned around to select some clean clothing. And found his back to her, his ears and neck a vibrant –almost violent- shade of red. Not the color his skin usually was. Usually a warning color in most races.
"Are you okay!?" Moving on her hair, she wafted around him in moments. Raising herself up so that she could examine him more closely. Leaning in to get a better look at the deep red flush of his ears and neck. "There's no rash or raised flesh. So, it's not an allergic reaction."
She raised herself up higher to get a look at the top of his head. The redness extended up to his forehead, but not all the way over his scalp.
The shift in her position moved her breast almost up to his nose and Hec-Tor inhaled the scent of fresh perspiration from sleep. A warm, inviting scent that heated his blood and excited his body.
"I can help you if you tell me what's wrong." Entrapta promised.
Only a hollow croaking sound escaped his throat.
"Are you experiencing breathing problems?" She asked. "A constricted pharynx?"
He took a breath to try and calm himself and steady his nerves. It did not help. "I am- -uninjured."
Entrapta blinked at him. "Then what's wrong?"
Closing his eyes, Hec-Tor took a step back. He groped around blindly until he felt the storage drawers built into the wall. Yanking one open, he pulled out the first item of fabric his hand touched and hoped it was one of hers. Hec-Tor held it out to her.
There was a silent pause.
He peeked one eye open.
She was still naked. Staring at the pair of overalls he was holding out to her. Entrapta looked down at her own body, as if noticing for the first time that she was naked.
"Oh."
Lowering herself back down so that her feet were on the floor, Entrapta coiled her hair around herself, hiding her body. She averted her eyes. Her own cheeks coloring an embarrassed shade of pink. Nudity wasn't a big deal to her. Bodies weren't anything to be ashamed of. Bodies were interesting. Everyone had a body. Hiding your body, being embarrassed by bodies, being ashamed of your own body was just silly. But, she also understood that not everyone thought like her. In fact, the vast majority of people did not think like her. This was a fact Entrapta knew, but every now and again had to be reminded of.
"Right." She took the overalls he was holding out to her. Then moved around him to pull out underclothes, a shirt, her rash guard, and socks. In a whirl of motion and hair, Entrapta quickly dressed herself. When her lilac locks parted again, she was fully clothed. "Sorry. You probably wanna go to sleep. Sorry I made the bed all sweaty."
When she left, she exited through the door, not the vent.
Those were the only two times Hec-Tor crossed paths with Entrapta in their own quarters.
In fact, he very rarely crossed paths with her at all. Monstron was a large ship. One of the two largest ships in all the Imperial Space Navy. It was larger than most planetary space stations. A small city unto itself. It was entirely possible for two individuals to spent their whole military careers aboard Monstron and never meet each other.
He saw Entrapta once or twice in the mess when she would bring Imp in for meals. Never staying long. Certainly never stopping to sit down and eat with them. Entrapta did not eat the food cooked and served by the ship's galley. She had very particular eating habits and a military diet did not accommodate for that. She did make sure Imp got a full portion from the chow line and helped the child carry his trey over to Hec-Tor. And they did exchange words.
"Did you see that last course correction?" She smiled at him. "I wasn't in the engine room at the time, I was passing the aft observation deck on my way to the energizer room, and I got to see all the starlines turn back into stars! Isn't hyperspace just fascinating. Its faster than lightspeed travel, which everyone always thought was possible until one scientist came up with the equation that broke that barrier! Now, every ship, regardless of who builds it, is equipped with a hyperdrive!"
She was speaking louder than she needed to, and moving around on her hair a lot, gesturing wildly with her arms in her excitement.
Hec-Tor had to stare at her for a few moments after she stopped talking. Just to make sure she was actually finished. "Without a hyperdrive the trip to Krytis alone would have taken forty years. The complete journey to Etheria over a hundred."
"Right!" Entrapta nodded. "That's what makes the technology so fascinating. Isn't it wonderful!"
The technology allowed the armies of the Empire cross the expanses of space to maintain order in the universe. So, he agreed with her. The technology was wonderful. "Yes."
"Anyway, I heard some of the Enlisted talking and we're gonna be reaching Krytis in a few hours." She announced. This was news to him. No one had told Hec-Tor that they were only within hours of their first destination –and he was the commander of this ship! "I wanna be in the engine room when we come out of hyperspace. See if there's anything different between coming out of HS in a solar system within a star's gravity well, as opposed to just empty space. Like, how does the ship compensate for the drag?"
She dashed off, skipping on her hair before he could reply.
Imp called after her wordlessly. He wanted purple-spider-mama to eat with them.
Hec-Tor placed a plastic cup containing the boy's medications on his meal tray in front of him. A silent reminded that he was not here to play. He was here to eat, and medicate, and hydrate.
"Once we get to Krytis, you are to remain in my quarters and not come out until I come to collect you." Hec-Tor informed his son. "I do not foresee any retaliation or danger coming to the ship, but I would still prefer knowing that you are safe and out of the way."
The boy chirped a disagreement. He didn't want to be locked up in his Dad's boring bedroom. He wanted to see the battle.
Hec-Tor only fixed the boy with a pointed glare. Silently letting him know that if he disobeyed this order, then he would be confined to quarters for the duration of their journey to Etheria and not be allowed out until it was time to disembark for Dryl.
Imp lowered his eyes. He knew when he could bend or blatantly disobey his father's word and when he could not. This was one of the times he could not. With a forlorn little grumble, Imp ate his food, took his meds, and drank his water without complaint.
Nearing the end of the meal was when a clone trooper approached them to convey –the clones could not speak- to Hec-Tor that they would be coming out of hyperspace soon and that Admiral Callix requested the Prince's presence on the bridge.
Hec-Tor escorted his son to his quarters personally and made sure Imp was staying put before making his way to the command bridge.
"Ah, Your Highness." Callix greeted him with the requisite bow. "We will be coming out in the Krytis system soon."
"So I have been informed." Nodded the Prince.
He cast his eyes around the bridge. All enlisted aliens at the command stations. Clone troopers were not allowed the quick wits and adaptive reasoning skills necessary for high-level command positions.
"What do we know of the situation on Krytis?" He asked the room. Partially to be briefed on any new updates that might have come through while he was away from the command post, but also just to make sure his own crew had a clear understanding of what their purpose was here.
"Krytis is a mining planet and penal colony." Supplied one officer.
"Just over a week ago, some of the inmates there got their paws on real weapons and staged a riot that turned into a prison break." Explained another. "Now the prisoners are the wardens."
"So now we're here because we can't have rapist, murderers, and political dissidents holding the ore and the mines hostage to the Empire." Finished a third.
Well, at least they understood why they were here. That was good.
"As of the last intel report, the fighting has stopped." Callix informed the room. "The inmates have full control of the facility and if we do not act fast they will dig in and establish a stable base. Possibly even establish contact and collaborate with the Empire's other enemies on other worlds."
Hec-Tor nodded. "The easiest way to end a rebellion is to nip it in the bud, stop it before it can even begin."
Something he would have been able to do with Brother hadn't kept him from his work for a week. Over a week now. If Hec-Tor had been allowed to deal with the riot in the mines when he first received the alert, he could have dispatched the navy earlier and wiped the dissidents out. Instead, they were given a week to regroup. Clear out their keepers. To treat their wounded. Shore up their defenses. Establish something resembling stability. They were given the opportunity to prepare for an Imperial attack.
"We will establish a stationary orbit over the main mining facility." Callix announced. "From there we will teleport our clone troopers down as an advanced force. They will test the defenses and weapons. Once we know more, we can send a more appropriately equipped force."
"Coming out of hyperspace now." Announced a bridge officer.
Hec-Tor watched on the main view screen as the mottled canopy of hyperspace drew back into the streaking starlines of lightspeed, then, finally, into the starts themselves as the ship decelerated to a system speed. The planet of Krytis in front of them, growing larger on the view as they drew closer. A mostly blue sphere with a few while clouds marbled here and there. From space, it looked rather pretty. A foggy sapphire. Just looking at it from space, one would never guess that it was a penal colony and industrial mine. It looked like it didn't have any industry at all.
"We are close enough for energizer teleportation." Announced one of the bridge crew.
"Wait until we have established stationary orbit." Ordered Prince Hec-Tor.
As much as he wanted to deal with Krytis quickly and decisively, he also only want to have to do it once. He wanted to make sure it was done right the first time so that he did not have to come back. Hec-Tor still had to stop at Denebria as well, and Brother would grow impatient if Hec-Tor and Entrapta did not return to Dryl on Etheria to begin in weapons manufacture in –what Prime would consider- a timely manner.
…
The island of Mondor on planet Krytis was the largest of the Horde's mines, and the first to be overthrown by the prisoners there.
The guards were tied up, locked in the most dangerous shafts, or just killed outright. That done, they turned their attention to the skies, looking for the inevitable retaliation for the Empire. But a week past and no army descended on them from the sky. When no attack came, the liberated minors allowed themselves to relax.
Breaking into the wardens private larders, they cracked open the alcohol to celebrate their hard won freedom.
Beer, and ale, and whisky. All the grain alcohols.
They were tipsy –if not all out drunk- when retaliation from the Empire finally did arrive.
And arrive in force.
Three squads of stoic faced clone troopers teleporting down from a warship above. They swarmed through the mining campus with surgical accuracy, taking out anything that put up even the slightest amount of hostility. The Empire never even needed to send down their more specialized, Enlisted troops.
Everything was quiet by the time Prince Hec-Tor and his lieutenants beamed down. A semi-circle of clones surrounding the energizer target just in case there were any stragglers they missed that might appreciate the opportunity to pop-off the Emperor's brother right after beaming to the planet when his guard was still down.
"Search the campus." Ordered Hec-Tor. "Any prisoners left alive are to be interrogated."
He strode through the quiet campus, passing impassive, statuesque clones at every turn and intersection.
Bending down next to the fallen body of one of the prisoners, Hec-Tor plucked the corps' weapon from its still-limp paws. He glared at it critically, eyes narrowing. He did not like what he saw or what it implied. "This is an Imperial issue weapon."
"That could just mean they picked it off one of the guards." Mantenna suggested a more mundane explanation than what the Prince was thinking.
Grizzlor pulled out his datapad. "What's its serial number? I'll run it."
Hec-Tor passed his lieutenant the weapon. Grizzlor punched it into his data pad.
"This one's from a shipment that was reported stolen in-rout to the Horde Academy." Grizzlor announced. "Someone gave them these weapons and incited the riot and prison break."
"But why?" Asked Mantenna. "Whoever orchestrated this must have know that we could take back Krytis easily. I mean, most of these prisoners have never held a weapon before. They're political prisoners, not hardened soldiers. What could someone possibly stand to gain from this? Aside from just irritating the Empire."
They continued touring the campus.
Hec-Tor had two clones open the mineral storage bunkers for him to inspect. While the minerals mined on Krytis were not exactly vital to the Empire, they were still a useful resource and used by their military. Hec-Tor wanted to make sure this little riot and revolt didn't damage their stock piles.
It was all gone.
Every single bunker and storage warehouse was empty.
With a growl of frustration, Hec-Tor lifted his arm canon and blew the walls out of the last bunker he inspected. "This! This is what they stood to gain by inciting this revolt!"
Grizzlor and Mantenna both had to take a couple steps back to avoid a molten steel beam falling on them.
"This would imply that whoever orchestrated this has a larger plan in mind." Grizzlor pointed out.
Lowering his arm canon, Hec-Tor stepped back out of the melting bunker. "I want a team to sweep this entire compound. This facility is not to be put back into operation until I know who was here."
"Enlisted or clones, Your Highness?" Asked Mantenna, pulling out his own datapad to file the order.
"Enlisted. Clones do not have the critical reasoning skills necessary for an investigation." Ordered the Prince.
"The Empire does have its own division for Security and Investigation." Grizzlor reminded him.
"But they do not report to me." Hec-Tor shot back. He wanted to remain in control of this. Letting things out of his control was exactly what got them in this mess.
…