Chapter Text
Mara, as She-Ra, watched as an unfamiliar face flickered into view.
“Mara? It’s a pleasure to meet you finally. I’m General Sunder and I’ll be giving you your next assignment,” his voice was clear to the point of abruptness, like the words landed in Mara’s ears before she could process them. He was an older man, his hair graying at the sides with a trimmed moustache above his lips. Despite his military decorations that told a record of service, there was a striking softness to his eyes.
Mara straightened where she stood and hesitated. She awkwardly crossed an arm over her chest before wincing and remembering that was not the right greeting. She bowed her head in confusion. “R-right, General Sunder, sir!” her voice came out too loud to her own ears.
His laughter sounded like relief. “No need to be so formal,” he encouraged her. “Or to… do whatever that was. Your team is the first group deployed to this planet that doesn’t comprise scientists or the military. Leading such an unusual team must come with a lot of its own unique hurdles.”
Mara felt her muscles begin to unclench at the sign of a leader showing sympathy for her. She let herself give in to her own chuckle as the words tumbled freely from her mouth. “Sometimes I wonder if the Council made a terrible mistake putting me in charge, I mean, I have no qualifications and I don’t even know--”
“Mara?” he disrupted her as her ramble became a self-deprecating rant. “The Council doesn’t make mistakes,” he reminded her.
There came that uneasy twinge as she wondered if somehow she had fooled the Council into believing her competence. “The Council doesn’t make mistakes,” Mara repeated back. “I know… I just wish I could see what they see in me.”
“Well…” he began, eyeing her. “I’m looking at the Champion of Etheria right now: She-Ra. That kind of says a lot, don’t you think?”
Mara looked down at herself, and the faint glow emitting from her skin. “Oh,” she murmured. “Yeah, I… guess you’re right.”
“And the Kingdoms of Bright Moon and Salineas have been brought to balance,” General Sunder went on. “Very good work.”
Tension tightened along Mara’s spine. “General Sunder, about that,” she began. “I know we’re not supposed to give our technology to the Etherians, but this was the only option that seemed to work, a-and the Sea Gate is powered by the Pearl, which is an artefact of Etheria, so really it’s not like we gave them a foreign energy source or… or…”
The general was silent as Mara spoke, and waited until her thought dangled, open-ended before them.
“I haven’t heard anything from the Council to indicate displeasure with your decisions in Bright Moon nor Salineas,” Sunder said. “During the course of your mission to balance Etheria, there will be times where common sense dictates the handling of the situation. It wouldn’t have made sense to let Salineas continue to suffer or to try to relocate the kingdom long-term, so your team found a solution that fixed the problem at its source. I believe that shows resourcefulness, not a need for punishment.”
Nodding along before the words could sink in, Mara waited for a sign or an indication that she’d done wrong. When it didn’t come, she wasn’t sure how to react.
“Oh,” her voice came out very small. “Thank you.”
“But I’m afraid your mission gets more difficult from here,” he said, his tone turning somber. “The Kingdom of Snows and the Kingdom of Scorpion Hill have been in a trade war for the last decade. Their mutual embargo created what seemed to be an uneasy truce. But we’ve received recent reports of open conflict: missing ships and injured civilians that live near Scorpion Hill’s ports.
“Princess Glacia of the Kingdom of Snows has been notoriously difficult to get in contact with,” he went on. “Establish a connection with the Silaxians of the Kingdom of Snows to work towards negotiation. We have chartered a ship for you and your team to travel there and observe along the way for acts of vandalism, piracy, weapons trade, or any other signs of aggression. Report all of your findings back to us.”
Mara nodded along. “This sounds straightforward enough,” she said. “The Grayskull Squadron can definitely handle this.”
The lines on General Sunder’s face tightened as he stared past her. He took a deep breath as though measuring his words.
“Is something…?” Mara began quietly.
“This is our final attempt at peaceful negotiation before we ask for the Primogen Council to seriously consider the use of force.”
Those words echoed in Mara’s ears. “Use of force? With our technology, we would destroy them,” she murmured.
“We don’t want that to be the case,” the general insisted, pain etching into the lines of his face. “But this looming war is a threat to all of Etheria. If the Silaxians cannot be subdued… well, we’re counting on you, Champion of Etheria. Get to the bottom of this situation and report your findings so that we may act.”
The viewscreen blinked out of existence. Despite the warmth of the humming computer and Light Hope’s hologram, Mara felt a chill spread through her bones.