"When the Empire Chose the Wrong Century"(the fanfiction)
A crossover between Star Wars and Planet of the Apes (2011)
Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Judicator...
An Imperial navigator frowned at the hyperspace computer.
"Captain... the coordinates seem... unusual."
Captain Varn folded his arms.
"Impossible. Lord Vader ordered us to secure a primitive world called Earth."
"There appear to be... multiple temporal anomalies."
The ship jumped to hyperspace.
Immediately, alarms blared.
"The planet's technology level doesn't match the briefing."
"There are satellites... but no planetary shield."
The first landing craft descended...
But into the forests outside San Francisco.
At exactly the worst possible moment.
Governor Breck's militia had surrounded Caesar and his ape army.
Automatic rifles were raised.
Governor Breck pointed his pistol.
A massive wedge-shaped ship blocked out the sun.
Dozens of Imperial Lambda shuttles descended.
Stormtroopers marched out in perfect formation.
An Imperial officer activated a loudspeaker.
"Attention, inhabitants of Planet Designation: Earth."
"You are hereby annexed into the Galactic Empire."
Governor Breck slowly lowered his gun.
The officer looked around.
A stormtrooper quietly answered,
"I don't think we interrupted a normal day."
Governor Breck immediately pointed at Caesar.
The Imperial officer sighed.
"I asked neither of you."
One stormtrooper watched Caesar helping a frightened young ape.
Another saw humans dragging injured civilians away from the fighting.
Neither side looked like a galactic threat.
They looked like a civil war.
Then the officer received a transmission.
An Imperial analyst spoke.
"We've identified the date."
"...This isn't the future Earth from our database."
"We have somehow traveled backward in time."
The bridge crew collectively groaned.
Captain Varn pinched the bridge of his nose.
"We invaded the wrong Earth."
"And we did it because Navigation ignored a temporal warning."
Governor Breck tried negotiating.
The Imperial officer interrupted.
"You represent yourselves."
Maurice quietly asked Caesar,
Caesar looked at the endless gray ships overhead.
Then something unexpected happened.
The Empire's xenobiologist reviewed footage of Caesar.
"The apes are a civilization."
"...Also a civilization."
"So this is an internal planetary conflict."
"I hate diplomatic incidents."
Instead of opening fire...
The Empire established a temporary exclusion zone.
AT-AT walkers stood between both armies.
Stormtroopers confiscated everyone's weapons.
Governor Breck protested.
An Imperial sergeant replied,
Caesar watched as wounded humans and wounded apes were treated by Imperial medics alike.
He had expected monsters.
They were strangely bureaucratic.
A day later, a shuttle arrived.
An exhausted Imperial engineer announced,
"We fixed the temporal calculations."
He looked at Earth below.
"This planet isn't the one we were ordered to conquer."
Before departing, the captain approached Caesar.
"You fight for your people."
The captain looked toward Governor Breck.
The captain shook his head.
"History will decide which of you deserved to win."
The Star Destroyers lifted into orbit.
One by one, they vanished into hyperspace.
The sky became quiet again.
Governor Breck slowly looked at Caesar.
After witnessing a civilization that spanned an entire galaxy, their own conflict suddenly felt much smaller.
Maurice broke the silence.
"They came from the stars..."
Caesar nodded thoughtfully.
"...our children may go there."
He looked upward as the last streaks of hyperspace faded.
He turned back toward his people.
"We must build a world worth leaving."
gracieabrams
theartofmadeline
2087
stormborns
titsay
kianamaiart