Apeworld: Civil War III Chapter Twenty-Four

Thrawn pounded his fist into the main control panel. For what seemed like ages, he had tried to contact his command ship, but to no avail. Something had gone drastically wrong with this operation. What had been the invasion of a simple backward world was now turning into a disaster for his forces. Try as he might, he just couldn't get a clear signal through to his ship. Something was blocking all of his transmissions on all available frequencies. He knew that there was only one way he could find out what was going on.

"Thrawn to TIE fighter command! Launch now! I want to find out what the hell is going on up there!"

It was mere moments later when the TIE commander led his squadron in the mission off-world. He carefully studied his sensors, which told them that there was a massive ship there, even though he couldn't see anything. All during this, he kept an open channel with Grand Admiral Thrawn.

"The sensors are definitely picking up something, Admiral, but I can't see a... wait! I see it now! Good lord!"

The channel went silent. On the surface, Thrawn began to wonder if the same was happening to his fighters.

"Commander! This is Thrawn! Do you read me?"

Moments passed before Thrawn got his reply.

"You're not going to believe this, Admiral! It's true! The legends are true! The ship is huge! Shaped like a cube! It's attacking the Star Destroyer!"

"What is?" Thrawn asked frantically. "Who are they?"

"It's the legend, Admiral! It's the Bo..."

The message ended there. All that greeted Thrawn was static. The legend Thrawn had read about was true.

 

Magus stood beside Bel Iblis' command chair, watching the ongoing battle between the Borg and the Imperial forces.

"We must withdraw from this system!" Bel Iblis urged. "If the Borg are working their way through the surrounding systems, then the Peregrine's Nest could be next!"

"Withdrawal is not an option, General," said Magus. "We must press on with our mission."

"Our mission is now untenable!" said Bel Iblis. "What do you hope to save here? A few apes?"

"We must proceed, General! I insist!"

Blaster fire could be heard all around as Thrawn frantically tried to call anyone off-world.

"This is Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Alliance, calling from Imperial designated world G-7243. We are under attack from the Borg! Our command ship is destroyed! Request immediate withdrawal!"

Thrawn quickly pressed the send button as the sound of weapons fire got closer and closer.

"Computer, did the message get out?"

"Negative. All off-world transmissions are being jammed from an extraterrestrial source."

Once more Thrawn pounded the panel. He began to wonder if the great Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the most intelligent and highly respected Imperial commanders of all time, was about to be killed by a legend his people had feared for aeons.

 

Zaius stood just inside the force field, listening to the weapons fire and watching hordes of the metal-clad men running around, having seemingly forgotten about their prisoners.

"The ultimate irony," he said, not caring if anyone listened. "The invading forces, having annexed our world in a show of brute force and power, are themselves attacked by another invading force!"

"A force far more powerful than any of us has ever seen," said Caesar.

"Which makes it more urgent for us to escape," Zaius continued. "If these Imperials are frightened by these new interlopers, then what would our people make of them?"

As Zaius turned around, he saw Caesar reach into his tunic and take out a small, cylindrical device.

"What is that?" Virgil asked.

"Something given to me by the men who brought me here."

Caesar pressed a small button on the top of the device and placed it at the base of the force field.

"Everyone stand in the center of the circle," Caesar commanded.

As the others did what they were told, an energy discharge from the device went all around the force field. Seconds later, the force field deactivated. Caesar walked forward, picked up the device, and placed it back in his tunic.

"What was that?" asked Cornelius. "Where did you get it from? No one on this world could have invented such a device!"

"On that you are correct, my friend," said Caesar. "Help me with Urko, then we can be on our way!"

With Urko draped over his shoulder, Caesar led the others onto the streets of Ape City. What had been a hive of activity before the arrival of the Imperials was now nothing more than an empty, burnt-out shell. Buildings had been razed to the ground, left as nothing more than smoldering ruins. In the distance, they could hear more weapons fire. Cornelius began to look worried.

"We shouldn't remain here much longer," he urged. "We should find a place to hide."

"No," said Caesar. "We must find out what is happening."

"And who made you leader all of a sudden?" asked Zaius.

Caesar gave Zaius a cold stare.

"I know what is best for us, Doctor. Now, please, do as I say!"

Still cloaked, the Dreadnought took up an orbital position near the fallen Star Destroyer as the assault team assembled by Bel Iblis began to gather in the main cargo bay, which had been outfitted with a small transporter while at the Peregrine's Nest. Moments later, Magus arrived and studied the troops that Bel Iblis had assembled.

"A fine bunch of men," Magus said. "Your finest, I assume!"

"They are," said Bel Iblis. "And I'm going with you."

"And who will command your ship, General?"

"Irenz is perfectly capable of handling any situation. She's commanded many missions before."

"Very well," said Magus. "Then let us depart!"

Just as the party was about to step onto the transporter pad, the cargo bay doors opened, and Burke, Burton, and Galen stepped in. Both Burke and Burton were armed with blasters.

"We'd like to come along with you, Doctor!" said Burke.

"Out of the question, my boy!" said Magus. "You are not of this century! And you, Galen, have no idea what we are about to go up against!"

"But it is my world, Doctor!" said Galen. "And I know it far better than any of you! And my friends have proved to be very resourceful on a number of occasions!"

Magus looked into their eyes and could see that there was no way he could talk them out of it.

"Very well, gentlemen!"

Caesar began to feel the strain of carrying a gorilla over his shoulder. A short time later, as they approached one of Ape City's largest buildings—one of the few that was still standing—Caesar laid him on the ground.

"Again, I think we should find a place to hide," Cornelius urged. "We are tired, and we need food!"

"We must go on," Caesar replied.

They then heard more weapons fire coming from within the building.

"Zaius, what is this place?" asked Caesar.

"The Council Chambers," Zaius replied. "The Imperials used it as their command post."

"Zeera, you stay here and watch Urko," Caesar ordered. "The rest of us will go inside."

"You are a fool!" said Zaius. "I can see why you've lived alone for all of these years!"

Even though he objected to this course of action, Zaius still followed him into the building. The sight that greeted them inside the building was a disturbing one. The metal men, the stormtroopers, were all over the place, on the ground, blood-splattered, lying where they had fallen. Cornelius bent down beside one of them and began to examine him. The gleaming white metal of this one was slowly being replaced by another sort of metal, the likes of which he had never seen before. To his amazement, the metal seemed to be growing, as if it had a life of its own.

Cornelius looked up and was about to call out to his comrades when he saw the barrel of a blaster pointing in his face. And holding the blaster was the blue-skinned humanoid he had deduced to be the commander of the Imperial forces.

"I suggest you come with me!"