//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: To Flee the Colonies // Story: Ponystar Equestria: The Last ponystar // by Commander Celestus //------------------------------// Star Flash grimaced as she stood to attention in the port hangar bay of the Equestria. President Cheerlilynn's shuttle was docked in the bay, and this mysterious new President was coming on board the warship. The pegasus pilot's dress uniform was uncomfortable and stiff, and she hated it. But the President was coming on board, and so here she was, all dressed up and on parade. “Another alicorn,” she whispered to Flutter, her tone rather dismissive. “I mean, the Commander and the Captain are okay, but the rest of those stuck-up...” “Lieutenant Star Flash!” Colonel Pie roared angrily. “What in the Colonies is so important that you feel the need to share it when we're waiting for the President? Would you care to share it with the rest of us?” “N... no, sir,” Star Flash replied quietly, well aware what the result of that sharing would be, and that she would end up in the brig if she did. “Well, then, shut up and stay still! This is a Ponystar, not a bucking leisure cruise!” Colonel Pie's keen eyes ran over the assembled crew-ponies. “Attention! All of you sorry sacks, stand to attention! The bucking Cyponian apocalypse may have happened, but we are going to uphold all the best traditions of the Colonial military so long as we are alive, is that clear?” “Yes, sir!” The honour guard of marines and pilots stood to attention; pegasus pilots in their dress uniforms and earth-pony marines with weapons slung on their flanks. Unicorn mechanics stood a way back in their orange jumpsuits. “So, just us,” Unicorn mechanic Spark Plug commented cynically to Chief Petty Officer Sheet Metal. “I wonder what this new President will be like?” He smiled back at the small mare, his smile a little cynical as well; they shared the same views, views common among unicorns. “One thing's for certain, the new President's not likely to think much about us mechanics. The back-room colts and mares are usually overlooked by the politicians, and nothing's going to change now.” “You're so cynical,” the mare replied in mock-severe tones. “Old and experienced, Spark, while you're young and naïve. Our worlds have all been destroyed, and what have the politicos been doing? Electing a bucking president. Makes me sick, and it should make us all sick,” he ran a critical eye over the hangar bay. “Look at the pageantry, a sham, all covering the fact that everything's changed. The trouble with politicians is that they're all the same, it's all about power and importance, not to mention pay and the honours they like to shower one another with. If you ask me it's their fault this bucking war broke out in the first place, and it's definitely their fault we lost.” “Yeah, definitely,” Spark Plug agreed, nodding her head firmly. The door of the link to the shuttle opened, and Major Moonlight stepped out, self-conscious in the face of all the pilots and marines. Unicorns were scientists and technicians in the military, and she felt rather intimidated by all these combat troops in their splendid uniforms. There in front of them were two Alicorns, the Commander and his son. She looked up at them and shuffled her hooves. “Ah... Major Moonlight, sir,” she saluted. “Military aide to President Cheerilynn, sir.” She knew that her knees were trembling, but she could not hide her nerves. She had only been on a ponystar once before, and that had been a much smaller ship. This was the Equestria, the oldest ship in the fleet, and the fact that her hooves trod its decks intimidated her. “At ease, Major,” Commander Celestus said. “I understand that you led the civilian fleet out of Colonial space, it was good work, and you should be proud of what you've done.” His smile was meant to put the small unicorn at ease, but she was too nervous to even notice. “C... Commander Celestus, sir, it... it's such.. such an honour to meet the... I mean, you...” she blushed, conscious that she was making a fool of herself, acting like a little filly, but was too flustered to be able to stop. “Commander.” All eyes apart from Moonlight's turned to look at Cheerilynn. The mauve earth-pony stood in the doorway practically radiating authority. Everypony knew instinctively that she was the President. “An earth-pony?” Spark Plug stared. “Our new President's an earth-pony? That's so cool!” She smiled happily. “What do you think of our politicians now, Chief?” “Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised,” he admitted. “An earth-pony, who'd have thought it? I guess things really have changed after all. Maybe.” “Welcome to the Equestria, Madam President,” Commander Celestus bowed before the small mauve earth-pony. The honour guard bowed too, though several of them were still processing the fact that the President was an earth-pony, not an alicorn. Colonel Pie smiled happily; she had got where she was by hard work and thought it was about time that earth-ponies got some recognition in politics. Now all that needed to happen was a unicorn getting a senior post that didn't involve science or technical skills. Well, it was the day the world ended, so maybe it was time for strange things to happen. “Madam President, this is my Executive Officer, Colonel Pie,” the commander introduced the scarred pink mare, who bowed in recognition of the mauve pony's rank. “Madam President, it's an honour to meet you. Welcome to the Equestria. It's good to seer a fellow earth-pony in charge at last,” the Colonel's tone was respectful, a minor miracle in itself. “You'll want to come up to CIC, of course.” “Of course, Colonel Pie,” Cheerilynn answered with a smile. “Thank you,” she looked around the hangar bay with a certain amount of awe. “It's an amazing ship; I've never been on a Ponystar before; I've seen pictures, of course, but we always used Government transports. It's even bigger than I expected.” “The Equestria's a fine ship, Madam President,” Colonel Pie was justifiably proud of the vessel on which she had served for so long. “She was the pride of the fleet in her day and she's still the finest Ponystar ever built. You won't find a better crew in all the fleet.” Star Flash, listening to this, fought hard to resist laughing; she felt the absurdity of phrases that had meant something not too long ago, but now the Equestria was the last Ponystar, the only ship in the fleet, and therefore the only crew. The humour of the situation was not lost on Atepomonus either, and he smiled, making sure that Colonel Pie did not see his face, because he knew that she would be extremely sarcastic if she noticed. Commander Celestus led the way along the ship's utilitarian metal corridors towards CIC. Their triangular profile gave them a certain elegance, like the passageways of a great temple. Heavy ribs that gave the ship her internal strength stood out, painted with various instructions. Crew-ponies went about their tasks, stopping to salute the senior officers. “It's very impressive,” Cheerilynn conceded as she trotted beside Celestus. She looked around herself, amazed at the how huge the vessel was. “Thank the Colonel, she runs a pretty tight ship here,” the Commander smiled. “It's even more important now than it has been, given that the fleet is destroyed. . But that refugee fleet out there is impressive in its own way; there must be tens of thousands of survivors there.” “Fifty-seven thousand six hundred and ninety-eight, to be exact,” Major Moonlight reported. “I asked every ship's captain in the refugee fleet to tell us how many they're carrying. How many are there on the Equestria, sir?” “Four thousand two hundred and fifteen, Major,” Colonel Pie replied. “Seven hundred over-strength, but we're got all the survivors from the Ponystar fleet on board. Some of them will have to be redeployed to other ships in the fleet, of course, others will be able to take over tasks on the Equestria.” “Major,” the new president turned to the purple mare. “We need to find out the skills of all the refugees, some of them must have experience and skills that can be used to help the fleet. I want a register taken of all the survivors, names, ages, occupations, skills. Everypony has something to contribute to the survival of our race.” Celestus used his telekinesis to open the main door to CIC and led the way into the advanced command centre. The CIC crew saluted the officers. “At ease,” Commander Celestus ordered. “As you were.” “Commander,” Moonstone reported. “We just had a wireless message from the Element. The inventory of the fleet has begun, and it appears that some of the ships are dangerously low on fuel. There's a couple of full tankers in the fleet, but it looks like we're going to need to find more fuel soon, or some of the ships are going to run dry before we've gone very far beyond the Red Line.” Celestus nodded. It was only to be expected, of course, not all of the refugee ships would have full tanks, and some would have been close to their destinations. But the lack of fuel complicated things, and meant that the fleet was going to be exposed to a new danger. “Thank you, Moonstone. Your heard that, Colonel, we need to find fuel for the fleet.” “What are our options?” Cheerilynn asked. “Usually we'd return to the Colonies for fuel, but of course that's out of the question now,” Commander Celestus said. “That means we've got two options; we can either try to refuel at one of the military anchorages, or we can redistribute the fuel that we have in the fleet, and try to find a possible fuel source out there in deep space, beyond the Red Line,” he referred to the limit of exploration, and everypony knew that beyond the Red Line they could not know what to expect. “Well, it's obvious what would be best,” Cheerilynn said, “We need to find the nearest military anchorage and refuel there before we go into the unknown.” “Under normal circumstances I'd agree with you,” Celestus replied. “But these are not normal circumstances. The Cyponians have not only destroyed our Colonies, but they had help from within, a traitor on the very Council of the Twelve itself. We have to assume that they know the locations of all of our anchorages, and they could be waiting for us there.” “So we have to jump into the unknown and look for fuel sources in deep space?” Cheerilynn frowned. “That seems to be quite a risk.” “I know,” Celestus agreed. “But either way we have to take a risk, it's just the situation we're in now; between a rock and a hard place. Moonstone, I need to know how much fuel the civilian ships have.” “Understood, Commander,” she returned to her work at the communications station. “So, our options are risk the Cyponians at a fleet anchorage, or risk the unknown in space?” Moonlight asked. “Yes. And I would rather risk the unknown than face the Cyponians. They have destroyed our worlds, killed our friends and families, and they are out for blood. They will be searching for us, and they will not rest until we're all dead. I don't know about you, but the unknown of deep space sounds better than genocidal robots to me.” “Yes, but if the options are a quick death at the hooves of the Cyponians or a slow death in space, I think I'd rather go down fighting.” Moonlight answered him. “Commander,” Moonstone reported. “I just had a message from the Element, they say that three of the ships have only enough fuel for three jumps, and twenty for only five.” “Can we transfer their passengers to other vessels?” Colonel Pie asked. “No, sir,” Moonstone shook her head. “One of them is the super-liner Fenris, she's the largest ship in the fleet, with six thousand on board. Another's one of the destroyers.” “We need all the warships we have, and those ships aren't meant to carry passengers,” Colonel Pie noted. “Commander, it's your call.” “It doesn't sound like we have any options,” Celestus admitted reluctantly. “We'll have to go to Dentir and risk the Cyponians after all. They are looking for us, we have to assume that, and they know as well as we do that our best option is to go to one of the anchorages to refuel. Our only advantage is that they do not know where we are, so they will have to guard all of the anchorages, spreading their forces quite thinly to do it,” he trotted over the the transparent star map that dominated the CIC. “What is more, they have probably not yet finished destroying the Colonies, and heartless as it may sound, that gives us an advantage. We are located here,” he indicated with a laser pointer levitated by his telekinesis. The location of the fleet showed up as a tiny red dot in the midst of the vastness of space. “Still well within the Red Line. Our course is outwards, and we have to hold on it, in part because the further we are from the Colonies the further we will be from the Cyponians. “The nearest anchorage is here, in the Dentir system. It may still be crewed, but we do not know. If the Cyponians have attacked, they will have tried to take the anchorage intact to claim the weapons and fuel there. We'll send a couple of fighters into the Dentir system as advanced scouts; with any luck the Cyponians won't have reached the anchorage yet. Our main problem will come after that; the warships will have to hold off any Cyponian attack long enough for the civilian ships to jump away. So I suggest that we empty the fuel tankers completely and use their tanks to fill up civilian vessels, and the same goes for any other ships with large reserve or transport tanks. The Equestria will jump in with the fuel ships and two of the most advanced destroyers, we will take all the fuel we can, and return to the fleet, which will have already jumped beyond the Red Line.” “Commander, if the Cyponians find the fleet before we return to them, it'll be a massacre,” Colonel Pie objected. “Those are Destroyer Escorts, they're designed to fight raiding parties, not to take on base ships.” “The alternative is leaving ponies to die in space, and that's something I'm not prepared to do. Madam President?” “You're right, Commander, we can't leave anypony behind; these are the last surviving ponies in the universe. It's my sworn duty to try to save all of them, and the only option we have is your plan,” the mauve mare looked up at the star map. “We'll have to be quick too, of course; the Cyponians aren't going to sit around and do nothing, are they? I'll take the fleet beyond the Red Line and wait for you.” “It'll take a little time to refuel the ships from the fuel reserves that we have,” Celestus told her. “In the meantime I have a crew to brief on the mission ahead. Colonel, we need to transfer some of the survivors off the ship so we can be ready for battle. I pray the Lords that we don't have to fight, but I'm realistic enough to know that there's a good chance that we'll have a fight on our hooves, and then it'll be a matter of making sure our pilots don't take it too personally.” “I'll tell the crew,” Colonel Pie smiled. “Those hot-shot pegasi need some flight practice anyhow.” Zoe sat impassive in the huge throne-room aboard her Baseship, watching the Cyponian fleet in orbit around the irradiated husk of Caprica. It pleased her to see that world in ruins, and it had been hit even harder than the other colonies just so that she could watch it burn. The only thing that marred her victory was the stubborn fact that some ponies just did not know when to lie down and die the way they should. “They just don't know they're beaten,” she mused to herself. “How utterly foolish, and how like ponies. But it's only a matter of time, my little ponies, only a matter of time before you all die.” “Imperious Leader?” she heard Lucifer's voice from the arm of her throne and smiled; he had to have news for her of the Colonial survivors. “Speak, Lucifer,” she had evolved a protocol for dealing with her subordinates, and it amused her to keep it up. “By your command. A baseship commanded by a U-L series called Set has located the wreck of the Ponystar Titan,” he reported in his even tones. “And what is her condition?” the robotic alicorn asked eagerly. “I regret to say that she was not only dead in space, but had been stripped of all fuel, munitions and usable fighters. The only ponies on board were dead, and they had obviously been killed during the battle, or by the act of jumping from the battle zone. The ship's computers had been sabotaged, but from the data that Set's crew was able to recover it seems that she was stripped by the Ponystar Equestria, which I regret to report is still at large and evading our search.” For once the U-L series' calm, slightly camp voice annoyed Zoe. Here he was, reporting such terrible news in his monotone. “That is unacceptable! The Equestria is to be found and destroyed!” “By your command,” Lucifer answered. “What of the civilian fleet, Imperious Leader?” “Given the time elapsed, it seems reasonable to postulate that it has located the Equestria, and that the survivors will attempt to leave Colonial space. Our best hope is to keep watch at every known Colonial anchorage and outpost, form a perimeter in space with our baseships so that we can locate the ponies and destroy them. Order all baseships into position, send our destroyers to take up sentry positions on the edge of Colonial space. It will spread our forces thinly, but the Equestria must be found and destroyed! Bring Altair to me, he knows the ponies, he understands how they think as we do not.” “By your command,” Lucifer answered. Zoe shut off the communications channel again and looked at the holographic display. It was so beautiful out there among the stars, so peaceful even with the wreckage of Colonial civilization drifting in planetary orbit. A universe without ponies, it was her dream, her great ambition, and she had almost achieved it. Soon, very soon, it would be the wreckage of the Equestria that would be out there, drifting past her victorious baseship. That was a thought worth savouring; the ponies might have escaped her for a time, but their deaths and her victory were, in the great scheme of things, assured. “Lucifer,” she activated the communication unit again. “When our baseships locate the ponies, they are not to engage, but to send a compressed, narrow-band transmission to me. We shall engage the Equestria personally; I wish to be in at the kill.” “By your command,” he replied. “Count Altair is ready to see you.” “Send him in, I look forward to seeing him.” The doors of the chamber slid open and Count Altair entered, refreshed and eager to see his beloved, the pony for whom he had betrayed his race. “By your command,” he bowed before the throne and Zoe laughed. “Get up, Altair, you don't have to bow before me. I thought you ought to know that we will be engaging the Equestria personally.” “Personally?” he raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Yes; not alone, of course, that would be very foolish, but personally. I shall lead the attack. As far as we know we shall be dealing with a fully armed ponystar and at least a hundred fighters, with an unknown force of destroyers. We will therefore need at least three baseships in the attack. I see that the commander of the Equestria is Celestus, the only other member of the Council of the Twelve to survive the ambush.” “Yes, Celestus. Don't underestimate him, he's a clever stallion, and he's very dangerous, especially when cornered. He'll be trying to escape from Colonial space, and that means he'll be likely to run as soon as he sees our ships... unless he can't!” Altair's eyes lit up. “Exactly,” Zoe smiled. “We will try to surprise him at an anchorage during refuelling operations. He probably has over a hundred civilian ships under his protection, and some will be very low on fuel. He'll have to stand and fight to give them time to get away.” “And that's when we strike, when he is forced to face us. Yes, it will be a triumph; your triumph, my love.” “Mine and the triumph of all Cyponians,” the robotic alicorn said, smiling as she looked at her holographic screen. “Soon, very soon, we shall have them, and our victory shall be complete!”