Iron Hearts: Book 3 - The Sept Lamman

by SFaccountant

Void War

Iron Hearts: Book 3

Chapter 7

Void War

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 10, slave block tertius

"Move it along, grayskins," barked an Iron Warrior as the elevator opened to the sixth floor. The Chaos Marine at the front of the group of shackled Tau prisoners stepped out into the hall, leading the train of prisoners to the first door, and then keyed in a code on the console mounted on it.

"Your room," he said sharply, turning toward the first two Tau as the door opened.

The two bedraggled air caste members nervously scurried inside, and then the Iron Warrior closed the door and locked it with the keypad.

"Well, I must say, at least the facilities are clean and modern," Fennin said in Gothic as he limped along at the back of the line, "when I heard we were going to be slave miners, I imagined tents and mud pits for accommodations."

The Iron Warrior behind him snorted. "We are well-practiced at this, xeno. Slaves have value, and must be cared for." The engineer could almost FEEL the soldier's lips curling into a smile as he continued. "Congratulations on your promotion to 'asset'. Just hours ago you were mere boltgun practice."

Fennin suppressed a sigh.

Next to the Fio'el, Jerriha limped along in stoic silence, this being her second tour of Iron Warrior slave complexes. She wasn't badly injured, but had a gauze patch over her right eye which hid a considerable horseshoe-shaped welt.

Two by two the alien prisoners were placed in cells, and soon Jerriha and Fennin were the last ones left.

"Final lot," rumbled the Chaos Marine in front as they approached the end of the hall.

Jerriha glanced uneasily at Fennin, and then turned her head to the Iron Warrior behind her.

"You... do know we're different genders, right?"

"I have to confess that I differentiate xenos based on how many bolt rounds in the face it takes to finish them," the Marine said, "so I neither know or care. If you have a problem, you may have it ignored by your assigned overseer once we're finished ignoring it."

Fennin rolled his eyes. Of course she would be worried about THAT when they had just been captured and enslaved by evil super-humans. *Females,* he mumbled under his breath.

Jerriha grimaced as they approached the cell she would apparently be sharing with the earth caste engineer.

Then the Iron Warrior at the front hesitated. "Hm? This one isn't locked. Why-"

And then the door slid open on its own.

"Oh, hello! Don't mind us! We're just getting the last of our things!" Cinnamon Skies chirped as she quickly exited the room with a small box balanced on her back.

"Sorry about the hold-up boys, it's all yours!" Snow Stride said as he followed his wife into the hall. He likewise had a box on his back, as well as several lipstick marks marring his face and neck. He also looked severely flushed, and firmly avoided eye contact with the bipeds as he rushed past them.

Both pegasi also had their wings firmly extended despite walking along the floor. Strange.

"Have fun in there, xeno scum!" Cinnamon called back brightly as she entered the elevator at the end of the hall. Then she snickered. "We sure did."

"Honey, please, don't taunt the alien menace," Snow Stride whispered as he joined her.

The Iron Warriors didn't particularly know what to make of any of this, so they dismissed it entirely. "Your new home," the leading Marine said, stepping aside for Fennin.

The engineer grimaced. "I think you should probably get this cell cleaned, first."

"I think you should probably stop talking," the Iron Warrior countered, "get in."

Seconds later both Tau were sealed inside the room, and Jerriha listened carefully at the sounds of power-armored footsteps growing more distant.

*All right then, here we are. So what's the plan? How do we bust out?* Fennin asked, switching to his native language.

Jerriha dropped down onto one of the two cots. *Simple. We wait for the base to throw a party that leaves the palisades undefended, rappel down the outer wall, and then it's just a long jog back to base.*

Fennin did not look amused. *Try to be serious, Fireblade.*

*Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I forgot that YOU'RE the experienced commando out of the two of us who's already broken out of this facility once,* Jerriha said dryly.

As Fennin glared at her, she shrugged. *The circumstances that led to my escape probably aren't repeatable. But if we do get such a chance, it will be due to the equines mucking about.*

Fennin sighed as he dropped onto his own cot. *There has to be a way. We HAVE to find the Warp core and get it to Black Point.*

Jerriha raised an eyebrow. It seemed strange to hear the engineer worrying about a mission objective now, after they had been shackled and imprisoned. She hadn't known him very long, but he'd seemed like the unusually selfish sort, if anything.

*We're in no position to worry about such a thing, Fio'el,* the Fireblade said as she laid down.

*You don't understand! Without the... 'the device' in place, dozens of systems, possibly the entire First Sphere could-*

*QUIET, Fio'el,* Jerriha snapped, *they could be monitoring us right now, and I seriously doubt that a language barrier will protect our secrets. If they learn you know anything of importance, then that knowledge will become theirs.*

Fennin frowned. *They did not interrogate us yet. Are they sending us straight to forced labor without trying to sort out what we know?*

*Yes. Their apathy works to our advantage, Fio'el. To the gue'la our presence here is a mere curiosity. Let's keep it that way.*

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 9 medicae facility, the next morning

"Wyatt Daniels. A visitor to see you."

Daniels looked up from the dataslate he was reading in his cot, and was pleasantly surprised to see Applejack following the biologis aspirant into his room.

"Hey Danny boy! How ya feelin'?" Applejack asked brightly as she trotted up to his bedside.

"Like I didn't just take a pulse rifle to the chest, which is a stellar improvement over yesterday," the mercenary said. He had bandage wrappings all around his upper torso, but otherwise there were few signs of injury.

Applejack put her front hooves onto the side of the bed, and then glanced at the minimally augmented man near the door. "So what happened to him, 'xactly?"

"We had to surgically remove the damaged carapace plating from the patient's pectoral muscles, as the energy discharge had fused it to the epidermis. Luckily, there was little damage deeper than that," the aspirant explained.

"A few rejuvenators and skin grafts and I'm good to go," Daniels chuckled, "unfortunately, anesthesia doesn't seem to be part of my health plan."

"We learn from pain," the aspirant said breathlessly, staring up at the ceiling, "our bodies are a prison, Wyatt Daniels, the shackles of our-"

"Yeah, okay, fine. Save it, please," the rifleman grumbled, "so am I good to go or not?"

"You may leave at will," the aspirant said as he turned toward the exit.

Then he hesitated, staring at the man and pony as the door opened to let him out. "Also, for sanitary reasons, please refrain from engaging in intercourse so long as you're on the premises," he added.

Daniels' expression darkened. "You know, if I had a gun right now, I'd shoot you."

"I'm just the messenger," the aspirant mumbled as he walked out.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow as she watched the man leave, and then turned back to Daniels. "What was he goin' on about?"

"Nothing. So what's happening, AJ? Going back to the orchard?"

The orange pony sighed. "Yeah, we got an awful mess ahead of us. And Mac is stayin' here fer now 'cuz Ah guess he needs to learn to use that pea shooter Solon gave him."

Daniels blinked. "Macintosh has a GUN?" Applejack had told him that her brother had been saved in return for her help in taking on the Tau, but she hadn't gone into detail on the matter.

"Oh yeah. You should see him," Applejack chuckled, "more metal in him than his plow. Anyway, at least Crabapple can help out better now."

"Really? The probe? How?" Daniels asked.

"Oh, she ain't a probe no more. She's one o'them siege walkers."

He didn't really have a good response to that.

"Ah'm just worried about Apple Bloom," Applejack confessed, "nobody knows what she was gettin' into with yer Chaos cult."

"She joined a cult? Which one?" Daniels asked.

"Nurgle."

"Ooh, that could be tough for a farmer," he admitted, "make sure to wash your produce thoroughly after she touches it."

"Gotcha." Applejack nodded, and then backed away from the bed. "So you sure yer okay? Let's see you on yer feet, cowboy."

Daniels smirked and pulled his sheets to the side. "All right, fine. I really do appreciate you coming to check up on me, AJ."

"Well, Ah figure Ah do owe ya," the farmpony said somberly as the mercenary stood up next to the bed.

Then she twisted around and struck him in the foot with her back hooves, sending the man flailing painfully onto the floor.

"Ow! What in the bleeding Hell..." Daniels grunted and rolled onto his back, only to freeze as he found Applejack's face hovering above his with a decidedly bemused expression.

"Ah've been savin' that since the canyon," the farmpony said evenly, her eyes narrowing, "don't call me heavy."

Daniels' eyes narrowed back at her. "I regret NOTHING," he hissed with highly exaggerated drama.

They glared at each other for several tense seconds until Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled away.

"Have it your way, smart-flank. Next time Ah'm aimin' fer the shins," the farmpony warned as she turned toward the exit.

"I'll make sure it's worth it," Daniels said as he pulled himself up again, "later, AJ."

"Stay safe, Daniels."

****

Sweet Apple Acres - several hours later

Applejack watched her home come into view through the vision slit of the chimera APC as it rumbled past the orchard, and a smile crossed her lips as she saw the blast-scarred bunker still standing sentinel over the expanse of fields and trees.

Apple Bloom sat behind her older sister, a bored expression on her face.

"Ah still can't see why Ah couldn't ride Crabapple here," the filly mumbled for the third time. In the past hour.

Applejack rolled her eyes, having stopped explaining the actual reasons some time ago. The daemon engine was following close behind their transport, although its surprisingly deft footsteps were lost in the rumble of the chimera engines.

"Never mind that. We have work to do, but the very next time you see Miss Gaela you owe her a 'thank you'," the orange mare insisted.

The other ponies were to leave via gunship, staying behind for a little longer so that Twilight could gather information for something or other. Applejack wasn't paying close attention to her reasons, but Gaela had suggested that she and her little sister hitch a ride with one of the supply convoys that the trading corp was sending to restock Delgan's market. Land-based transit was probably necessary anyway, considering the extraordinarily large tag-along the sisters were bringing home.

Apple Bloom pouted. "But she locked me in a box!"

Applejack sighed. "Well... okay, yeah, that's true. And that's wrong. But she did us, or rather YOU, a serious favor by convincin' them to let Crabapple leave with us. So on balance ya still owe her."

"Ah don't see why. Ain't Crabapple mine?" the earth filly asked, curling up on the floor of the transport.

"Not really, no," Applejack said bluntly, "she's a piece of Company gear that they dropped on our property, got broke, decided to do what ya say fer no good reason, and then hijacked some other piece of gear's body without askin' nobody. So speakin' with all honesty and whatnot, yer claim to her is a mite thin."

Apple Bloom groaned as the chimera started to slow to a stop.

The rear ramp dropped to the ground with an empty clunking noise, and the Apple sisters picked their way past the stacked supply crates and sacks toward the exit.

"Woo-EE! Feels nice to have real dirt under mah hooves again!" Applejack chuckled.

Apple Bloom immediately raced over to Crabapple, who was waiting patiently in a crouch just a few meters behind the short train of transports. It let out a discordant growl, lowering its head to the ground.

"Now you hold on a tick!" Applejack shouted, causing the filly to stop short. "We ain't got time to play! First yer gonna go bathe while Ah put together a list of jobs! Ah know ya haven't washed up since the first night in Ferrous!"

Apple Bloom cringed. "But, Sissss~! Baths are a blasphemy against the Plague God!"

The older pony's eyes narrowed. "And not takin' baths is a blasphemy against equine decency and civilization. Guess which one holds more weight in our house?"

Apple Bloom groaned again and then turned away from Crabapple, trudging obediently toward the main bunker complex. "Awww... Ah'm never gonna get any infections at this rate."

"Not if Ah have anything to say about it," Applejack said firmly as her little sister walked past her, "if Ah'm gonna let you keep on with this 'Chaos' hogwash, then yer gonna keep in mind that you have to live with other ponies without becomin' a walkin' bio-hazard!"

"All right," Apple Bloom moped sadly as the door slid open in front of her.

"And don't skimp on the soap!" Applejack yelled as her sister entered the farmstead. "Ah'm gonna check!"

Satisfied that the filly understood her position, the apple farmer turned toward the barn.

"All right, Crabapple, come with me. We gotta load up that alien doohickey."

The maulerfiend crowed happily as it followed Applejack toward the barn.

Applejack tapped the button in front of the barn door, then waited patiently as it slid upward.

Her eyes bulged as she saw the barn interior. It was even more cluttered with alien debris and material than before, and she couldn't see any sign of the artifact that had kicked up such a fuss just two days ago.

"What's goin' on? Where'd it go?" the farmer shouted, rubbing her forehead with a hoof and pushing her hat back. "Aw, consarnit! Don't tell me the darn grays snuck in here while Ah was gone and nabbed it!"

"That is not the case, no."

Applejack jumped slightly at hearing the deep baritone voice behind her, and she turned to see Dest approaching from the fields. The rhino pilot didn't have his helmet on, and he was carrying a shovel that frankly looked absurdly small compared to his massive frame.

"Hey, Dest! What'd Ah miss?" Applejack asked.

"I've taken the liberty of clearing much of the detritus that littered your facility after the battle," the Chaos Marine explained, stabbing the shovel into the ground and resting his hands on the grip, "I have just finished burying the last of the corpses. Yesterday I arranged for transport of the artifact."

Applejack blinked, and then grinned. "Well, gosh! Ya didn't have to do that fer us! That's right neighborly of ya!" Then she looked thoughtful. "Well, this month is gonna be tight, money-wise, but Ah'll have to dig up a little somethin' to give ya. And if yer lookin' fer more to do, Ah could certainly use another farm hand while Mac is off trainin'."

Dest blinked at this, wondering why Macintosh, who had been in a near-death state last he was aware, would need 'training'. He also couldn't help but notice that Applejack was wearing a heavy bolter round around her neck and had a maulerfiend siege walker sitting behind her with a frankly bizarre level of obedient calm.

"So what did I miss?" the driver asked, mirroring the pony's question.

"Huh? Oh, right. Mac got fixed up with some bionics and a suit of power armor, me and the girls helped y'all capture the Tau hangar base in Salt Lick Canyon, mah little sis and her friends joined yer evil cult, and Crabapple done stole a new body. Ah'm not really clear on how that last part worked. Every time we tried to ask Gaela about it, she done looked like she wanted to cry."

Dest took several seconds to absorb all this.

"An eventful day, then," he admitted blandly.

"Never a dull moment with you guys," the farmer chuckled, "anyway, what'd ya do with the gizmo, exactly?"

Dest crossed his arms over his chest. "Yesterday an agent of the palace arrived at your facility and informed me that the royal house wished to purchase a shipment of apples. Considering the state of the land, he was about to leave and seek the goods elsewhere, but I decided to make the sale on your behalf."

The Chaos Space Marine's gaze turned toward the barn, and to the tall pile of splintered and scorched wood that used to be several wagons.

"Unfortunately, that left me with a quandary: sapiens are not allowed in Canterlot, and in any case it would take far too much time for me to make the delivery personally. I came up with a solution: I would contract the local courier services to make the delivery. After remembering that the couriers also serviced Ferrous Dominus, it occurred to me that I could have them deliver the artifact as well without violating any of our recent security prohibitions." Dest looked quite proud of his plan, rolling his shoulders back as a slight smile crossed his face.

"Well Ah'll be! Now yer thinkin' outside the box!" Applejack said happily. Her family normally wouldn't hire other ponies to make deliveries for them because it cut too deeply into their revenue, but making a sale to the royal palace and getting rid of a highly sought-after alien device were both quite worth the expense. "So both of 'em were taken care of, then?"

"Indeed. The gray pegasus with the optical impairment saw to the matter yesterday. It is done."

****

Ferrous Dominus - sector 1 main gates

The seneschal stared down at the delivery manifest in his hands, reading the brief and entirely complete delivery description.

Then he looked up at the wagon - apparently magical, go figure - attached to a team of pegasi and flanked by the pair of Iron Warriors that had escorted them in.

"Well? Everything in order, Sir?" asked one of the mailmares, forcing herself not to tap her hoof against the ground impatiently.

"I just don't understand," the man mumbled, looking down at the manifest again, "when did anybody here order a shipment of apples? Are you sure this isn't for the dessert shop or something?"

The mailmare rolled her eyes. "Well, what you guys do with 'em is your business, obviously, but as far as I know it's for the Iron Warriors, not some random ponies living with you."

The seneschal shook his head. "Master Delgan must have sent it back earlier before he'd heard the transport lockdown was rescinded. I wish he'd have called it in first."

An aide stood over the cart, picking up one of the bright red fruits. "Well, I DO like apples..."

"Whatever. Fine. Do you take credits?"

"Sure thing, Boss! Just sign here and you're all set!"

****

Canterlot Castle

"So none of you ordered this big, mysterious black thing?"

Celestia's unicorn attendant Kibitz stood in front of the Warp core, beckoning to it with a hoof as several guards eyed the device suspiciously.

In front of him stood several ministers, high-ranking guard officers, the head maid, Prince Blueblood, and a very sleepy Princess Luna. All of them were shaking their heads save Luna, whose head was "swaying" more than "shaking" per say.

"What IS it, exactly?" Blueblood asked, an eyebrow arched. "Not a sculpture, I hope. I detest modern art."

"According to the delivery manifest, it's a 'Tau artifact'. Whatever that means," Kibitz grumbled.

"Aren't the Tau those aliens the humans are fighting?" one of the officers mumbled. "I read an article on them in an issue of 'Arrows and Crossbows'."

"An ALIEN object?" Blueblood asked, recoiling in disgust. "Why ever would you accept such a thing into the palace?"

"Well, I checked it for the spiked wheel symbols and it had none, so it's not exactly contraband," Kibitz sniffed, "it occurred to me that alien... 'paraphernalia' is quite popular nowadays, so I considered that somepony here may have ordered the thing."

"Ugh, disgusting," Blueblood said with a grimace, "if you ask me, we should throw such trash in the moat. Followed by the owners of said trash."

One of the officers shared a knowing glance with the head maid, but neither spoke.

"Well, be that as it may, if nopony is going to lay claim to this... 'artifact', what should we do with it?" Kibitz asked, his mustache twitching as he turned to stare at the unidentified device.

"I stand by my moat suggestion," Blueblood said, leaning slightly to one side.

"It looks kind of expensive to fling into a ditch outside," the head maid noted, "besides, what if it's dangerous?"

Luna released a jaw-cracking yawn, and then waved a hoof at the unicorn attendant. "A possibly dangerous, mysterious artifact with no immediate use? There exists a room for that. To the vaults with it. And back to our chambers with us. Good day."

Luna turned around and slowly walked back to her room. The guards, having been given their orders, shrugged and positioned themselves to begin carrying the unknown device.

"Tch. Not a wise thing, keeping space machines within the palace walls," Blueblood harrumphed, slinging his head to the side and shaking out his golden blond mane.

Kibitz stepped up next to the prince as the guards carried the object off, a squad of unicorns levitating it while several earth ponies pushed it along through the air.

"Why? If it IS dangerous then it would be worse to dump it somewhere," Kibitz pointed it out.

"Whether it's dangerous or not is a foregone conclusion," Blueblood snapped, "all the aliens and their devices are dangerous. Some are simply more subtle about the danger they pose."

Kibitz raised an eyebrow. "The circles?"

"No, not the blasted circles! I'm not talking about some fool superstition, I'm talking about COMMERCE!" Blueblood said, poking the other unicorn in the chest with a hoof. "The humans march into our villages and set up shop like they own the place! They spread their goods and their horrible 'machines' far and wide, and then what?!"

Kibitz blinked. "Uh... I don't know. And then what?"

"And then suddenly it's as if we can't do without them!" Blueblood concluded. "Already Celestia has declared the humans the allies of an evil power, a race of invaders aiming to bring corruption and death to our lands, and look at all the effect that's had!" Blueblood snorted angrily. "Those hicks in Ponyville buddy up to them without a care, including the Elements of Harmony themselves! Even here in Canterlot, where they're formally banned, I can't attend a single social event without seeing some self-important nobody bragging about their 'auto-scriber' or 'plasma furnace' or 'adamantium gene-locked jewelry case'. Did you know that there's apparently a shop HERE, in the city, that actually sells this filth?"

Kibitz wiggled his mustache. "I'm not sure if that's really of paramount concern..."

Blueblood rolled his eyes, annoyed that yet another of his so-called "peers" refused to see the threat for what it was. "Mark my words, Kibitz: we're going to reach a point of no return soon," the prince said, once again jabbing the other unicorn with his hoof, "if the Royal House doesn't nip this in the bud, then we're going to find the humans' claws lodged deeper in pony society than we'd ever imagined was possible. And we'll have nopony but ourselves to blame."

Kibitz looked alarmed at the proclamation, and a grim silence hung over the two stallions as he gave deep thought to the prince's warning.

"Do humans have claws? I thought they had 'fingers'?" he eventually asked.

Blueblood promptly turned away and walked down the hall, his head hanging low. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

****

Ponyville - outside Twilight's library

"All right Rainbow, I'll talk to you later! I just really need to get some thoughts down on paper right now!"

Twilight shouted to be heard over the roar of the gunship's engines as it lifted off, its jet wash very nearly tearing some of the smaller branches from her treehouse. The rest of her friends were already walking toward their respective homes, and Rainbow Dash offered a mock salute before she flew off like a shot.

Only Gaela remained with her, her dark robes swirling about her feet.

Twilight approached her front door and then stopped in front of it.

The alicorn placed a hoof against her chest, and then cleared her throat noisily. Then she started speaking as she pushed the door open in front of her.

"But that's why it's so important to have an assistant you can count on!" Twilight said loudly while she entered, as if she were in the middle of conversation. "An assistant who is responsible, capable, and flexible! That way I know the library is being taken care of, even if I have to suddenly leave without even getting the chance to tell him!"

"Does that actually work?" Gaela asked as she followed the purple pony inside.

"Ssh!" Twilight hushed the Dark Acolyte, and then looked around the library interior.

"Twilight? You're back?" came a rather meek voice from upstairs. Twilight looked up to see Spike descending the staircase, a flush on his cheeks. A fairly sure indication that he had heard her.

"Yes, it does," Twilight whispered to the human woman. Then, at normal volume. "Oh, Spike! You're home after all!" she said with mock surprise. "Good job watching over the library!"

"Th-Thanks, Twilight!" Spike said, puffing up his chest as all the irritation at being abandoned for two days without warning evaporated. "You know you can always count on me!"

"Sure can! Well, I have some work to do upstairs, so you just keep on looking after the library," the alicorn said as she trotted past Spike and up the stairs, "oh, and I don't need dinner. Nutrient paste. Later!"

Soon Twilight had vanished into her room, leaving the young dragon alone with Gaela.

The Dark Acolyte couldn't help but notice that Spike was wearing what appeared to be a blue wool sweater. Twilight had either failed to notice or hadn't bothered asking about it.

"I didn't think you wore clothes aside from special occasions," Gaela said as she put her power axe in its usual place.

"Oh, this? It's new," Spike said, pulling on the hem of the article, "I learned to knit!"

"That is SO CLOSE to being a useful skill," the cyborg remarked, "I am still of the opinion that you wasted a considerable opportunity when you resisted further Chaos corruption. Has that progressed at all, by the way?"

"No, thank Celestia," Spike groused, lowering his voice and casting a cautious glance toward the stairs to make sure Twilight wasn't coming back down, "but my fire breath still hasn't returned to normal, and I haven't seen Discord since he said he'd 'look into it'." The young dragon crossed his arms over his chest. "It's been over a week! How long does this take?!"

"I don't think you fully appreciate your position," Gaela noted, "Chaos corruption is usually 'cured' with bullets, not magic or negotiation."

Spike winced badly. "No, I think I appreciate that plenty," he grumbled, "it's why you're the only person I've told..."

"I'm touched by your trust," Gaela said dryly.

He glared at her. "You are not."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

He glared harder. "You are not."

Gaela rolled her eye.

****

Ponyville - outside Fluttershy's cottage

Fluttershy was practically dancing as she trotted back up to her cottage through the grassy fields, the chain around her neck swinging from side to side.

Finally... FINALLY, the nightmare was over. Their mission had been completed, Applejack's home was safe, the artifact had (probably) been moved somewhere else where she wouldn't feel any obligation to help defend it, and the humans had no reason to ever - EVER - try to get her assistance again for something that didn't involve animals in some way.

Most importantly, thanks to the circumstances of their saving Big Macintosh, Tellis had been let back into his own home! Although Fluttershy would be the first to admit that Tellis had been far more decent and non-murdery as a roommate than she had expected, she still had no particular affinity for the Raptor Lord, and she was utterly relieved that she wouldn't be seeing him again.

She opened her front door.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!"

Tellis turned his helmet toward the doorway as Fluttershy's shriek of terror petered out, leaving the yellow pegasus gasping for breath.

"So is screaming when you enter your own house just something you do? Like a ritual? Is it supposed to bring good luck, or what?"

Fluttershy's eyebrow twitched. The Iron Warrior Raptor was kneeling on the floor in the middle of her living room, facing away from her, and was surrounded by many of her animals that seemed to be watching something taking place in front of the Chaos Lord.

"What are you doing?" Fluttershy squeaked, too exhausted and horrified to dig into her vast reserves of timid politeness.

"Teaching your rabbit self-defense," Tellis answered blithely.

Fluttershy shook her head, her pink mane whipping about wildly. "No, I mean what are you doing HERE?"

"I live here," Tellis answered, "you hit your head or something?"

"You... but... home... guns... BLEARGH!!"

Fluttershy lowered her head, and then took a deep, calming breath. Peace, harmony, and kindness suffused her being, and in seconds the sense of overwhelming, irate shock was purged from her mind.

"Isn't your home in Ferrous Dominus?" she asked calmly as she raised her head again.

"Well, it would be, but like I told you, they keep trying to shoot me down," Tellis replied, "seriously, did you bang your head on something? I find concussions kind of fun, but I hear you squishier types don't like them."

Fluttershy refused to let the Iron Warrior provoke her panic and ire. Peace. Harmony. Kindness.

"But you flew into Ferrous Dominus while you were carrying Big Macintosh, and they didn't shoot you then."

Tellis paused to consider that. "Yeah, you're right. Well, I was carrying a wounded pony, so maybe that was it. They might still shoot me now. Whatever. I'm already here."

"But... why didn't you just STAY in your fortress when you got into it?" Fluttershy asked, her kindness starting to drown under the lump of dread in her stomach.

"I dunno. That place is boring, anyway." Tellis turned away from her.

Harmony snapped like a tree struck by a lightning bolt and peace boiled away out her ears in a thin, dark smoke.

Then a thumping noise came from the floor. She couldn't see what it was though, since Tellis was in the way.

"Nice move! Now don't stop moving before it does! Face to floor! Keep going!" More thumping noises.

Fluttershy rewound the extremely distressing conversation and recalled what Tellis had first said when she'd asked what he was doing.

"What did you say was going on?" Fluttershy asked, walking around the ring of animals so that she could see what they were all staring at.

Angel Bunny was standing on top of a prone wild cat, his paws gripping the feline's head and slamming it into the floor over and over again. The cat was flailing about trying to get out of the rabbit's grip, but the hold was inexplicably strong and it had no leverage in its current position.

"ANGEL! What are you doing?!" Fluttershy gasped.

"Learning self-defense," Tellis said proudly, "this guy's a badass. He already put down a snake, a lizard twice his size, and a hawk. Next I think I'll put him up against a dog."

Fluttershy wasn't listening, however, her eyes bulging as she saw a familiar glyph drawn across her rabbit friend's chest in red: the mark of Khorne.

"Angel Bunny is a blood cultist!" the pegasus shrieked, falling to her back knees and flinging her forelegs toward the ceiling. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The animals stopped egging on the battle as they stared at the bellowing pony, and even the two combatants in the middle of the ring froze in surprise.

Tellis waited until his roommate/landlord was out of breath before he spoke. "Shy, chill out. It's not a legit mark. I just drew it on with paint to make him look tougher." Then he paused. "At least, I don't THINK that counts as a legit mark. That rabbit IS pretty crazy."

Fluttershy's distressed and exhausted mind finally reached its limit, and she tilted to one side and fainted.

Tellis snorted. "Drama queen."

Angel Bunny rolled his eyes, and then gave the cat underneath him a swift kick in the gut.

****

Ponyville - Twilight's library

"Well, Sparkle? Any progress?" Gaela asked as she entered Twilight's room with a cup of tea in each hand.

The alicorn was pacing in front of a blackboard, chalk dust lightly coloring her muzzle. A few dataslates were laid out on the floor in front of her, and a map of Equestria was pinned to the wall with the locations of the Tau bases and Ferrous Dominus marked out. The chalkboard listed numerous facts about the Tau presence on Centaur III, most of them followed by the question "Why?". There was also a sketch of the artifact, labeled "Warp thing" and surrounded by question marks.

Twilight sighed and turned toward the Dark Acolyte. "A little bit. Maybe. I'd appreciate some of your insight, though."

Gaela put down one of the cups of tea on a desk. "For you."

The pony blinked. "You brought me tea?" she asked, quite surprised at the slightly thoughtful gesture.

"It was Spike's idea," Gaela replied immediately, lifting her own cup and taking a sip.

Twilight quirked an eyebrow. "Even so, I'm surprised you didn't just get him to deliver it to me."

Gaela paused, her eye glancing away as she thought that over. "You're right. I would do something like that." Then she frowned. "I think you horses are starting to impress social graces upon me. Disturbing."

Twilight snickered. "Before long you'll even be making friends with other humans!"

The Dark Acolyte made a displeased expression. "Enough of this. Let's discuss your project."

The alicorn let the subject drop as she turned toward her chalk board.

"Well, I think I've laid out all the facts we have about the Tau presence in Equestria. The bases, the secrecy of their mission, their focus on infiltrations, etc."

She levitated a piece of chalk up to the sketch of the Tau artifact. "The Tau device probably plays an important role, judging by the reaction of that engineer alien and the effort they made to get it back. But there's not much I can reasonably puzzle out about it; if you can't figure it out then there's no way I could."

She drew an X over the sketch.

"Putting it aside though, the thing that surprises me is the information I've found confirming that the Tau arrived on the planet first, and that you stumbled upon them by accident."

Gaela raised her eyebrow as she slurped some more tea. "And this surprises you why? I'm fairly certain we've mentioned both facts before."

"Because even so, I've been operating under the assumption that the main reason for the Tau and the Iron Warriors to be here is to fight each other. As far as we knew, you both just appeared one day and have been trying to kill each other ever since, so we always looked at the conflict as an outsider's war that had been brought here by accident." Twilight shook her head. "But that assumption seems to be false. The Company doesn't have to fight the Tau, and the Tau are doing something else on the planet besides trying to fend you off. The situation is more complex than we had considered. Most importantly, the Tau weren't expecting to be interrupted and attacked by the 38th Company."

Gaela leaned against the wall. "So what?" she asked bluntly.

"SO, if we acknowledge that your arrival and interference was completely unexpected, a lot of the Tau's behavior suddenly doesn't make any sense," Twilight pointed out, jabbing a hoof at the human, "we never questioned it before because they were fighting you, but if you weren't an expected obstacle, a lot more questions pop up."

She levitated her chalk toward the map. "Start with the bases. Why have three bases spread far and wide across the region?"

"A single base housing their primary military barracks and ship hangars would have been impossible to hide even for them," Gaela explained, "and the jamming array wasn't possible to hide forever with such a vast, widespread effect. If the Tau wanted to keep the important facilities secret, then this deployment was necessary."

"That seems perfectly obvious to you, because you have probes and sensors and space ships and electronic communications," Twilight pointed out, "but we don't. The only way a pony or any other creature on this world would be able to find their bases is by wandering nearby, or following a convoy there. Which is a lot more likely if there are three bases strung far apart and well-hidden rather than a single, poorly-hidden base."

Gaela furrowed her brow. The logic was sound. "Go on."

"Then there's the Everfree base. The jamming array," Twilight said, circling the relevant note in chalk, "what were they trying to jam? Ponies communicate with letters or magic. The first piece of equipment on our planet that could be affected by the field was from your fleet."

Twilight shook her head. "And finally, there's the Tau's military strength. They have a large army with weapons so advanced that they could easily conquer every kingdom here. But what were they doing with it? Nothing! We hadn't seen a single soldier until you humans appeared! And there have still been no attempts by the Tau to conquer territory, explore, or do anything that hasn't had to do with their secret objectives. Fennin didn't even know what Equestria was when we mentioned it. What were they planning on using an army of this size for if they never expected you and don't want to use it on us?"

Gaela stared down at the floor, her lips pressing into a thin line. "I... had not considered that perspective. Are you suggesting that the Tau WERE expecting us?"

Twilight paused and placed a hoof to her chin. "It would make SOME sense, but the evidence seems to be against it," she reasoned, "besides, if they were expecting to fight you, they've been doing a surprisingly lousy job of it."

"True. Tau highly value information and strategic advantage. If they had been expecting us, there would be little excuse for their failures so far," Gaela agreed.

Twilight sat on her haunches, staring at the chalkboard intensely. "All the evidence seems to suggest that the Tau are expecting to fight somebody... or someTHING here, on our planet. But if it isn't us... and it isn't you... then what could it be?"

For once, Gaela did not have an answer.

****

Ponyville - City Hall, later that evening

"Hmm... I'll raise. Fifteen bits," Rarity said as she floated a pair of cards in front of her. She lowered the cards back down and then took up a small glass of amasec with her telekinesis. "Your bet, Mayor."

Mayor Mare frowned at her own cards (somehow adhering to the bottom of her hoof), and then looked over the tops of the cards at the two humans sitting on the other side of the table.

Delgan met her eyes with a decidedly neutral expression, his partially-metal face betraying nothing as he poured himself more drink. The man in carapace armor sitting next to him was clearly less practiced, squirming uncomfortably.

"Oh, fine, have it your way. Call," she said with a sigh, pushing several coins into the pile in the middle, "Miss Harshwhinny?"

A blond, caramel-colored earth pony sporting the most severe expression the humans had ever seen on an Equestrian stared at the cards in her hoof as if they had personally offended her.

"Fold," Harshwhinny said, her nose twitching irritably.

"Call," Delgan said between sips of his own glass of amasec. The bodyguard next to him, despite having his own hand and pile of bits, immediately counted fifteen bits out of Delgan's pile and pushed them to the center. Then he silently turned his own cards over, indicating a fold.

The cards for the remaining players were flipped over and compared to the collection of cards face-up in the middle.

"Flush, bullet suit, Sergeant high. My pot," Rarity said with a smirk, clinking her glass against Delgan's before the mound of cash in the middle of the table was encompassed by a blue glow and dragged toward the unicorn.

There were a few groans, but Delgan matched Rarity's smirk as she began stacking her winnings into orderly coin towers. He was still doing the best of the group.

"I have a question," Harshwhinny said stiffly as Mayor Mare started to collect the cards for her deal. Then she turned over one of her cards. "Why does the high card have this symbol scratched into it?"

She tapped her hoof on her card, which bore a figure in bright, golden armor bearing a sword and taloned gauntlet. The card had been defaced so that the Star of Chaos was scratched over the figure, whose face was entirely obscured by a lens flare effect.

Delgan smiled fondly. "It's nothing. Just a religious thing. Certain icons are expected to be defaced as a matter of course. Please, pay it no mind."

"Far be it from me to interfere with your... faith," Harshwhinny said as her face approached, but never quite reached, an irritated sneer, "but this mark is visible from the other side of the card."

She flipped the card over again, and Delgan leaned over with an expression of utmost concern.

"Tch! You're right. I never noticed that," Delgan clicked his tongue as he ran a finger over the small, barely perceptible lines on the back of the card, "well, that won't do. Khylan, get a fresh deck."

The other man nodded and stood up before rushing out of the room.

"We'll use a black marker to deface the deck this time," the trademaster said as he gathered the "defective" cards from the table, "it's a religious thing," he reminded them.

"Oh, I have one," Mayor Mare said as she stepped down from her chair. They were holding the card game in her office, and her desk was readily accessible.

"Use a yellow highlighter," Harshwhinny said sharply, her narrowed eyes fixed on Delgan, "it won't bleed through."

Rarity sipped her amasec silently as she waited for the latest interruption to be resolved. She had to admit that Delgan's expression of surprise and concern would have been quite believable if the ponies present weren't already aware that he was a greedy, unethical scoundrel.

She let the glass fall gently onto the table. "Oh, do relax, Miss Harshwhinny. Who would be petty and foolish enough to cheat at small-stakes space poker? You couldn't buy a decent breakfast with most of these pots."

Harshwhinny's ever-present glare shifted briefly to Rarity. Rarity wondered if keeping that expression every hour of every day was her special talent; it seemed like it would start to hurt eventually.

Delgan's face was kept neutral, brushing off the implied insult. "I'm most pleased that you could join us for the game, Miss Rarity. I haven't heard all the details, but supposedly you had quite an adventure while you were away. You must be exhausted."

"Oh, it's not so bad," the unicorn insisted, "poor Applejack, though! After the stress and trauma of almost losing her brother, being pressed into service as a pony commando, and even taking a knife in the side during the affair, she has to go right back to work in the fields to make ends meet!"

Rarity shook her head. "It makes me feel guilty that my business is doing so well for the Company's presence here. I fear that if her harvests suffer any more interruptions due to Tau attack, she could lose the farm!"

"Tragic, to be sure," Harshwhinny said, her face betraying not a shred of sympathy, "she really should look into doing something with all that alien junk her family has acquired. It must be worth SOMETHING."

Mayor Mare snorted as she returned to the table with a yellow highlighter clenched in her teeth like a cigar. "You try telling her that. Apples do apples, and little else. It took decades before anypony could even convince the family to grow other crops and take on animals to generate some income during the off-season."

Delgan tsked. "Poor luck that out of all the automata to get fixated on the young sister, it would be a probe unit. Not much good for any sort of agricultural work or defense."

"Oh, no, actually Crabapple is a maulerfiend now," Rarity informed him before slurping down the last of her amasec.

"... Wait, what?"

The door to the office opened again, and the bodyguard re-entered. He was carrying a new box of playing cards, but also had a dataslate with him.

"Ah, Master Delgan? There's a, uh, vox dispatch for you. The message came through just a few minutes ago, prioritus beta, but you weren't available."

Delgan tilted his head to glance at the man, and then shrugged. "Fine, give it here. Then use the highlighter to give the False Emperor a mustache or something before you shuffle."

The armored man put down the dataslate in front of his employer, and then he yelped as Mayor Mare spat the highlighter at him, barely catching it before it bounced off his forehead.

"Nice catch, grunt!" the Mayor chuckled before reaching for the amasec bottle and spilling some of the amber liquor into her glass. "Let's hurry this up. I have an early meeting tomorrow with a Solar Guard about some sort of wheels or something."

"If you're not going to go to bed at an appropriate hour, then you could always use the current lull in the game to get some preparations done," Harshwhinny suggested, a slight tightening of her jaw indicating that she was annoyed at the Mayor's attitude, "Mister Delgan, at least, recognizes that work must be prioritized over play."

"Oh, come now Harsh, that's no good," the bespectacled pony said with a grin as she lifted up her glass of amasec, "business should be left in the office, where it belongs!"

"We're IN your office," the other earth pony said in a near-growl.

"You know what I meant," Mare sniffed, her gaze turning over to Delgan, "c'mon Norris, loosen up a little bit! What could be so important that it needs to interrupt this magical evening of inter-species bonding?"

Delgan quirked an eyebrow as he reached the end of the message, and then deactivated the dataslate before he answered. "A Tau battle fleet was just detected at the edge of your star system by an early-warning auger relay we deployed before making planetfall. It outnumbers the Company fleet six to one, and should reach orbit around this planet by tomorrow afternoon."

Rarity wasn't looking at Harshwhinny as Delgan spoke, but if she had she would have been one of the exceptionally few witnesses to ever see the pony's stern frown fall into a slack-jawed gape. She was quite busy trying to contain her own expression of sudden panic, however.

"That... sounds... bad..." she said awkwardly, for once badly understating the severity of a situation.

"Oh, yes. Extremely," Delgan admitted with a somber nod.

Mayor Mare glanced over at Rarity, then back to Delgan. "Sooooo... do you have to leave, or what?"

"Oh, not at all," the trademaster said with a chuckle, "believe me, there is absolutely nothing I can do about this! Khylan, go ahead and deal." His bodyguard nodded silently and started handing out the cards, and Delgan smiled calmly at seeing the rather ashen expressions on the ponies' faces. "Well then! More liquor, anyone?"

"PLEASE!" all three mares replied.

****

Ferrous Dominus - command center

"Well, ishn't thish jusht a kick in the actuator," Solon grumbled as he stared at the strategic hololiths displaying the Centaur system and the rapidly approaching alien armada.

Sliver and General Gnoss were on the other side of the hololith, and the background was a mess of men and women rushing about and yelling for data and adjustments.

The three commanders ignored the noise behind them with practiced ease, their eyes fixed upon the data that was being fed to them.

"The enemy fleet totals sixty-four ships," Gnoss began, his voice a tired growl behind his respirator, "of those, roughly a quarter aren't dedicated combat vessels, but we're still quite badly outgunned. There are four primary battlecruisers."

Sliver remained silent, his helmet tilting one way or the other as he studied the hololith.

"That's strange..." Gnoss furrowed his brow as new data continued to appear before them. "Many of these ships are showing signs of heavy battle damage. We're reading hull breaches everywhere that haven't been properly sealed, and some of their combat vessels don't seem to have active void shields online."

"The fleet ish fresh from battle, then," Solon mumbled, "that ish shtrange. There are no shipyardsh anywhere near here, and they can't know we're here yet. They musht be here for their little friendsh on the planet with ush."

The Warsmith scratched his helmet with a mechatendril, and then turned toward Sliver. "What do you think, Shliver? Can we fight them?"

The cyclopic eye lens turned toward him. "You think to defeat thiss fleet, Warssmith?"

"Well, I'd shettle for a wary shtalemate, really," Solon confessed, "I would not be avershe to trading the shafety of their ground troopsh on-planet to get the fleet to back off. But that's hard to do from a poshition of absholute weaknesh. We've inveshted too much into thish operation to flee at the firsht shign of enemy retaliation."

Sliver stared back down at the hololith.

"It can be done," the Nurglite Lord decided grimly, "we have the element of ssurprisse and sseveral captured enemy shipss. And the Harvesst of Ssteel."

"What's the strategy? Decapitate the fleet?" Gnoss asked.

"No. The oppossite," Sliver hissed, "kill a Tau leader and the resst may fight on out of vengeance and heroissm," a wet snort came from within the helmet, "'Greater Good' and all that. But their leaderss are ssenssitive to cassualties, and thiss fleet iss already crippled. We will sstrike ssuch an opening blow that the grayss will retreat for fear of losing much of the fleet to a convoy of 'freighters'."

Gnoss nodded slowly. "It could work. And regardless, if we're going to slug it out a strong start would be welcome. How do we inflict such a strike, my lord?"

"Trapss. Lure the foe into your jawss, confident in their ssafety. Then crush them." Sliver paused. "I believe the Tau call this 'kauyon'."

"Aye, Lord. The irony is appreciated."

"There will be two sstarship deploymentss. One will conssisst of xeno craft..."

Solon nodded absently as his second-in-command started laying out their battle plan, his attention divided. Had he not received word of the enemy fleet he would already be on his way to his quarters to begin his rest cycle. But preparing a fleet for battle would likely take all night. Luna was definitely going to be cross with him tomorrow night.

Assuming they were all still there, of course. It irritated him to no end that he found himself concerned about his usual rendezvous with the Equestrian Princess when he was staring at a threat that could potentially see his entire army annihilated.

"Bloody annoying poniesh," Solon grumbled.

Gnoss and Sliver froze immediately, their gazed turning upward toward the massive figure standing over the table.

"Er... could you repeat that, Warsmith?" General Gnoss asked awkwardly. He was pretty sure he'd heard Solon the first time, and the statement wasn't remotely relevant to their discussion, but it was bad form to simply ignore a Chaos Lord as if he hadn't spoken.

"No. It'sh nothing," Solon insisted, his optics flickering, "I'll begin preparing an emergency evacuation procedure in cashe things don't work out in orbit."

"Excellent idea, Warssmith," Sliver said, his gaze lingering suspiciously on his superior for several seconds, "in any casse, when the enemy formation drawss near the Harvesst..."

****

Ponyville - Twilight's library

"There are HOW many enemy ships, again?" Twilight asked, gaping.

"Sixty-four. Against our eleven craft. Plus the three mass landers we took from the canyon."

Galea was kneeling on the floor in front of a squat hololith projection table as she installed a noosphere booster node onto it. Delgan was seated comfortably in Twilight's favorite reading chair in the corner, a pair of bodyguards standing behind him and Rarity standing in front of him.

"This will allow us to view the combat via a strategic display, much as the naval officers do from a fleet command bridge," the trademaster explained, his fingers laced together and his voice perfectly calm.

Rarity glanced back at the man uncertainly. It didn't escape her notice that the humans, which stood to lose their means of transport off-planet and eventually their lives, all seemed much more relaxed about the affair than she and Twilight did. It was probably the only thing that was keeping Twilight from descending into full panic mode; the alicorn already looked quite rattled at the news.

"So do you think you can win?" Rarity asked delicately as Twilight grimaced.

The only sound that immediately followed her question was the sizzling of a laser welder.

"... There are many... DEGREES of victory that must be considered in a conflict such as this," Delgan said eventually, "and I admit that I am not privy to the strategies of our Lord Astartes. But I count it as a good sign that I have not been instructed to prepare for planetary evacuation yet."

Gaela spoke next, her harsh and icy voice made all the harsher by her helmet's vox grille. "The Tau outnumber us severely and produce excellent void ships. Our own vessels possess superb technology, but will still be effectively outgunned on a craft-by-craft basis by dedicated Tau warships."

Rarity, Twilight, and Spike all shared a dubious glance.

"But the Tau are fools," Gaela continued, surprising the Equestrians, "they are mere children playing at the long art of war, rushing headlong at a fleet they know nothing about. Our crews are skilled, our masters have millennia of experience in all forms of battle, and we have... other tools at our disposal besides steel and fire. The odds are against us, but we will not break."

Delgan smirked, leaning back in his chair. "I do not quite share the Dark Acolyte's unshakable faith, but the Astartes are the finest warriors this galaxy has ever produced. If the grayskins do claim victory, they will only do so at horrific cost."

Twilight made a face at that. "It's, uh, not really any comfort to us that our side might manage to cause plenty of death and suffering when it loses."

"Oh. Right." Delgan shrugged. "Well, feel free to hope for the best, then. Glory to Chaos and the daemon Primarch and all that."

"It's a wonder you haven't been executed yet," Gaela growled, her voice like acid.

"The Iron Warriors take good care of their tools," the trademaster smirked, "and consider matters of devotion and loyalty pointless sentiment. Luckily for me."

"That aside," Rarity interjected quickly, "what would it mean for Equestria and its citizens if the Tau were to prevail?"

Delgan and Gaela paused, and then both of them shrugged at the same time.

"Impossible to say, without knowing what their goals are. But suffice to say, they'll have little difficulty completing their 'secret mission'," Gaela noted, "you can be sure that we'll be beating a hasty retreat out of the system, though, and leaving ships behind as well. There will be a great deal of salvage to rummage through in Ferrous Dominus, should you wish to secure it."

Delgan frowned at that, picturing the idea of losing so many assets all at once. "Assuming the Tau don't pick through it first."

"They won't. They largely disdain human equipment."

Twilight chewed her lip as the two humans discussed irrelevant details of prospective scavenging opportunities. The thought of Ferrous Dominus, with its vast avenues and enormous structures, dead and empty of all human life caused a dull ache in her stomach, somehow. She didn't find the idea of crawling around the dark, massive technological wonderland all alone in the least bit appealing.

In fact, even the prospect of simply continuing her regular, ostensibly normal life in Ponyville without ever meeting Gaela again in the library after waking up made her heart sink. Which was strange, considering that it was less a prospect and more an inevitability.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I REALLY hope Chaos wins," the purple alicorn murmured quietly.

The generally dark thoughts permeating the room were interrupted by the door suddenly opening and giving entrance to an entirely inappropriate level of cheerful joy.

"Hello everypony-slash-human!" shouted Pinkie Pie as she bounced into the library, a bucket of popcorn on her back.

Gaela looked up from her current project, and then glanced at Spike. "You were correct. Half the time it really is as if you don't exist." Spike rolled his eyes.

Twilight looked slightly put off by Pinkie's grin, and it wasn't helped when the pink mare sat down in front of the hololith table with her popcorn, as if she were about to watch a movie.

"All right! Let's get this Space Battle Party rolling!" Pinkie cheered.

Twilight's eyebrow twitched. "Pinkie, this ISN'T a party."

"Well, not yet it's not!" Pinkie agreed as she stuck her tongue out. "Hardly anypony's arrived, silly-billy!"

Twilight's eyes narrowed. "Pinkie. What we're about to see is NOT some kind of play or show, all right? We could be witnessing the deaths of THOUSANDS in a conflict that could well decide the future of our entire planet!"

Delgan leaned forward to whisper in Rarity's ear. "Little melodramatic, isn't she?"

"Tell me about it," the unicorn whispered back with a conspiratorial smirk.

Twilight took a deep breath and stood up on her hind legs as she continued her brief lecture, pointing a hoof at Pinkie Pie. "Considering the scope of the upcoming battle and the gravity of its consequences, I hardly think that any sane pony is going to want to watch something like this as ENTERTAINMENT."

Then the front door opened again.

"Yo! This where the space-slugfest is going down?" Vinyl Scratch asked as she entered the library. "I brought a groovy sound track just like you asked!"

She was followed into the library by Carrot Top, Bonbon, Roseluck, Caramel, Lyra, and Lyra's human mercenary friend who Twilight privately assured herself was not a pet.

"Ooh, is that the viewing dish?"

"This is going to be so cool!"

"I brought cookies!"

"Now Jacob, you play nice with the other humans. And don't start fawning over the female, you naughty boy!"

Gaela glanced over to Twilight, who had a hoof pressed to her forehead and her eyes clenched shut.

"In your defense, I have heard it remarked that this particular settlement's inhabitants are uniquely lacking in sanity."

Pinkie Pie giggled. "That's probably why we get along so well!"

The door opened again, this time with such sudden force that the hinges snapped off. Twilight barely managed to duck before the door flew over her, resulting in it shattering against a bookcase.

"Flyers in the hizz-ouse!!" Tellis announced loudly, his vox amplifier wailing at utterly unnecessary volume as he lowered the foot with which he had kicked in the entrance. Under one arm he was carrying a large barrel of apple cider, and under the other he was carrying Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash swooped in above the Iron Warrior, clearly unconcerned for the sudden property damage. "Hey Pinkie! We told Applejack about the showdown, but she had to work. We got some cider, though!"

"I, uh, don't really know why I'm here," Fluttershy admitted. She was held quite firmly under Tellis' arm, though, so there was little she could do but protest meekly.

"Oh, come on, Shy! This is gonna be awesome! You might never get another chance to see something like this in your entire life!" Rainbow Dash insisted.

Twilight was already plenty annoyed, but the sight of Tellis stomping into her library after having casually and pointlessly destroying her door made her clench her teeth in swiftly mounting anger. "Pinkie, how many ponies did you invite here? Rarity only told you an hour ago!"

"Oh, don't worry! I got Mayor Mare to help spread the word!" Pinkie said brightly. "She already knew about the Tau fleet, so I didn't have to waste any time explaining the situation, too!"

"That's working smarter, not harder," Delgan said with an appreciative nod, holding up his cup of tea.

As Twilight fumed and more ponies started strolling into the doorless library, Gaela finished the final adjustments to the projector's network feed and then clapped her hands together above the machine.

+Glory to the great eye, the glimmering light within the void that brings sight to the stunted perceptions of the flesh. Let the machine see the truth hidden by distance or distortion, and enlighten those of us without such vision.+

The hololith flickered on. In seconds shapes began to crystallize over the table, starting with the planet itself; a bowling-ball sized sphere wrapped in clouds and bearing a small red spot.

"Ooh, neat!"

"What's the red dot? Is that like, 'you are here'?"

Gaela took up her axe in her hand before she answered, resting the butt of the weapon on the floor. Not because she felt that she might need the weapon, but holding it gave her a more dangerous, authoritative bearing that she found helpful when dealing with unfamiliar ponies.

"The red spot is Ferrous Dominus, the point of primary interest in the battle. Considering the scale of the hololith, however, the point encompasses our location as well."

Lyra's eyes narrowed at a smaller sphere that was sitting near the planet opposite the side with the red mark. "So, what's that thing?"

Gaela disengaged her mask so that her look of contempt was more obvious. "That's the moon," she deadpanned.

"The moon? But it's daytime! Why would the moon be out?" the pale green unicorn wondered, rubbing her chin with her hoof.

Gaela waited several seconds for her to admit she was joking, or for one of the other ponies to correct the obvious error. When neither happened, the Dark Acolyte sighed.

"The moon does not disappear during the daylight hours. It merely moves along its orbit to the other side of the planet."

She found the number of fascinated "Ooh" noises that responded to this tidbit rather depressing.

Rainbow Dash adopted a floating seated position as she hovered over Tellis' shoulder. "Huh. I always wondered what Luna did with the moon during the day. Interesting."

Tellis turned his head to stare at her. "... What?"

"Oh! Oh! There it is!" Pinkie said, her excitement bubbling over as the hololith rendered the next set of objects. This happened to be the 38th Company fleet. "There are the space ships!"

Rarity's brow arced she stared at the massive, bloated craft sitting within a ring of smaller, albeit still enormous craft. The hololith was quite effective at presenting a sense of scale against the planet, and the humans' ships fared surprisingly well in the comparison.

"DEFINITELY compensating for something," she mumbled under her breath.

Gaela adjusted the controls of the hololith, and the planet shifted from the center of the projector to one side, allowing a greater expanse of space to be shown to one side of the world.

Then came the enemy.

First a dozen craft making up the armada vanguard. Then a dozen more. Then a dozen after that. The Tau fleet just seemed to keep coming, with large, central vessels encircled by escorts of smaller craft.

Eventually the hololith finished displaying all the enemy ships, and then outlined the enemy vessels in red.

Vinyl Scratch whistled. "Whelp, you guys're royally boned."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Oh, please! Humans aren't intimidated by something like this! They'll wipe the floor with those Tau creeps!"

Then she favored Tellis with a slightly pensive glance. "Right?"

The Raptor Lord tilted his head to the side. "Gotta be honest, Blue: that IS a lot of ships. This is usually the kind of force that we break and run from. Tubby must have a hell of a plan if we're really going to take this fleet on."

"What's happening here?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at another voidship cluster. This formation was marked as friendly, but was clearly moving away from the Company fleet, as if they were trying to get away.

"Those are all the Tau vessels that we've captured in this system," Gaela stated, "one battlecruiser, two frigates, and the three mass landers. They're minimally crewed, but I believe they're being deployed to fool the enemy."

"Aren't they going to try to contact the ships to find out what happened?" Rarity asked.

"No, they won't," the Dark Acolyte replied as a data screen appeared, "the Harvest of Steel is a ship that serves many roles and boasts a great number of functions. It is powerful, hosts the bulk of our army, carries a prodigious tonnage of cargo, and even serves as a guide through the angry tides of the Warp. Even in situations such as these that call for subtlety and guile, our flagship has a crucial role to play. It has engaged the Silence. The enemy shall find its voice in the dark devoured, and in its confusion, it will fall."

****

Tau flagship Black Tide - command bridge

*-have deployed a... kind of field... communications are...... more unstable, and according... sensor... algorithms, the effect gets... the closer to that...*

Commander Voidsong tapped her fingers on the arm rest of her chair as she listened to the spotty communications message transmitted from the vanguard vessels. Every few seconds the voice of the ship's captain would break into quiet static as he spoke, testament to the degraded signal.

*Source of the field?* the Kor'o demanded.

*The large ship in the gue'la fleet, Kor'o!* answered an officer manning the scanner arrays. *It... well, judging by the localized effect and the readings, it almost seems like it's sucking up the local energy wavelengths that make up our communications. And their's too, presumably.*

*So we can't contact the surface? Or our ships?* Voidsong interrupted.

*Well, we're far enough away that we can contact the ships in our formation with relatively little interference,* the sensor technician clarified, *but no, we cannot get a clear signal to or from the incoming fleet detachment or our bases until we get closer.*

*Inconvenient. TOO inconvenient,* Voidsong mumbled as she stared at the hololith and the craft that were already in orbit, *so we arrive on the scene, can get no information, and immediately have to make a decision whether or not to step in to save our vessels. Someone's forcing my hand here.*

She fumed silently for a few seconds, and then turned her gaze toward a figure standing off near the entrance to the bridge. *Helenis, what do you think?*

The figure near the entrance was a human woman wearing an air caste uniform. She was aged, at least in her sixties by appearance, and had the expression of detached interest characteristic of experienced military officers.

The human took Voidsong's question as a cue to join the discussion, and her eyes scanned the length of the strategic hololith as she walked up to the center of the bridge.

*The first question that comes to mind is who these ships belong to.* Her Tau was slow and heavily accented, but good enough for the bridge crew to listen to without snickering. *They're not Imperial Navy, or they wouldn't be out here without a stronger escort. But at the same time that fleet is enormous for mere pirates or smugglers.*

*A gue'la Rogue Trader fleet, then? Or a corporate one, perhaps? Those are mostly cargo vessels,* the Admiral noted.

*Could be. Those sorts of ships would be more likely to be here, I suppose. But that begs the question of why such vessels would be interfering in Tau military operations. Such a fleet should be racing for the Warp at the first sign of a battlecruiser, but they're on course to intercept us.*

Voidsong continued tapping her fingers impatiently as the Admiral and her gue'la consultant debated the likely nature of the foe.

Although humans were common enough as soldier auxiliaries, it was extremely rare for Tau Septs to allow them any sort of pseudo-command or advisory role. As far as Voidsong could tell, this was mostly a matter of hubris; while the fire caste would take on anything that could hold a rifle and follow orders, the other castes had a much deeper and jealous pride in their more cerebral jobs.

The Shas'o had found that humans had much to offer in the areas of Tau production and technical skill that had typically disdained them. In Lamman Sept the fire caste held great influence over its more ponderous allies, and she used that influence to secure converted Imperial personnel wherever she could.

Helenis in particular had proven valuable to the Sept, with her decades of experience plying the void with the Imperial navy to enforce the misguided laws and crude, militant will of the Imperium. The fleet Admiral had taken to her particularly quickly, despite his initial unease with having a foreign species in the command center of the entire fleet.

*Do you even think these ships have weapons of any note? We're barely getting anything in the way of energy signatures, and most of them are not combat vessels.*

*Nothing ventures this far into the galactic frontier without bringing along firepower to spare,* Helenis retorted, *nor do they harass an enemy battlecruiser unless they at least have a sufficiently sharp stick with which to poke it. I don't care what your instruments say; that fleet is dangerous.*

*Kor'o,* one of bridge officers piped up, interrupting the discussion, *the gue'la fleet is approaching engagement range with our other ships. The battlecruiser Aurora has opened fire on them. They look like warning shots.*

The admiral glanced over at the hololith. *And the enemy's reaction?*

*Very little. We're still not reading any significant weapon signatures, however.*

*Enough of this,* Voidsong snapped, standing up out of her chair, *our craft are being hounded and our mission awaits us. Do you have a recommendation, Helenis?*

The woman paused thoughtfully, brushing her frayed, graying hair with a hand.

*I advise we form a defensive screen rather than entering orbit and give our craft a bulwark to retreat behind. The formation should emphasize forward firepower, to eliminate anything attempting to chase them. Once our vessels are safe and away from that megafreighter, that strange jamming affect shouldn't hinder us from getting a sitrep. I'm extremely concerned about what happened to the rest of the flotilla that was dispatched here.*

Voidsong's eyes narrowed. *If the pursuing ships are more dangerous than they appear, as you posit, then they could catch up and cause critical damage to the transports before we eliminate them.*

Helenis nodded slowly. *That is a possibility, yes. I would hope that these vessels are not so suicidal as that, though.*

The Admiral scratched at his chin. *A cautious strategy. What do you think, Shas'o?*

Voidsong sat back down in her chair, scowling. *I think we don't have time for this. My concern is less what happened to the flotilla and more what happened to Wraithstar's mission. Rogues or pirates or whatever, I'm not going to flinch away from a fleet a fraction of my own strength when the clock is ticking.* She leaned forward, pointing to the largest ship on the hololith. *Mont'ka. Gut their fleet and scatter it. That big ship is causing problems, and I want it gone. After their flagship is shattered, I don't care what happens to the other vessels. They're little more than targets of opportunity. Let them run if they want, and kill them if they don't.*

Helenis bowed her head to the High Commander. She suspected the Shas'o had made that decision in her head long before she had asked her for her opinion, but it was still a sign of considerable respect that the High Commander had bothered to hear her out.

The Admiral bowed his head as well, and then turned toward his fleet officers and caste-mates. *Form attack groups four and seven, closed formation, pincer maneuver. Any ships without active void shields will stay back with the bulk of the fleet in reserve. The attack formations are to close with the enemy vessels behind our retreating ships before opening fire, target and destroy the megafreighter, and then regroup with the fleet once their target is destroyed. All other vessels are to be considered tertiary targets. Make sure the orders are clear, because communication is going to be near-impossible during the assault.*

Helenis glanced down at the readouts for their fleet regarding the attack groups that had been listed. *Even discounting the badly damaged vessels, that's twenty ships, two of them battlecruisers. Cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer, aren't we?*

*Mont'ka, esteemed advisor,* the Kor'o intoned, *still, I wish we could contact them first. This could all be some sort of misunderstanding. We have no reason to be fighting your kind.*

Helenis' jaw tightened slightly. *They are not "my kind", Kor'o. There are numberless trillions of ignorant homo sapiens splashed across this sorry galaxy. "My kind" are those humans that have denounced the Imperial creed of xenophobia and idolatry. "My kind" fight for the Greater Good.*

*Don't be so quick to cut ties to your species,* Voidsong interjected, her cheek resting on her fist, *you were once in their boots, screaming praise to some distant "Emperor" as your fleet burned around you.*

Helenis frowned. *Yes... if, in fact, those are the sort of humans we face now.*

The Admiral quirked a brow. *There are other sorts? Well, pirates, I suppose. Hard to think they'd be very devoted to the Imperium's cult.*

*Yes... pirates...* Helenis mumbled.

****

Black Point - command center

*A jamming field? You can't be serious!* Shas'el Wraithstar growled as he slammed his knuckles against his desk. *What, did they just carry ours up out of Haven and put it into orbit or something?! This is absurd!*

The Fio'o officer winced at the Commander's outburst, but continued his report. *It's not anything of ours, small comfort that is. It's something... different. Cruder. I'm certain their own transmissions will be just as useless.*

*Which hardly matters if they know exactly what's coming,* the Shas'el snarled, turning around a monitor so that the officer of the earth caste could see its data readouts. *Every one of the vessels we've lost to the gue'la has been deployed and are heading straight toward our fleet under conditions where they cannot be contacted. The Shas'o has no idea that the gue'la ships are so well-armed and carrying Astartes, and have no reason to suspect there are gun batteries arrayed on the surface to aid them. The traps have all been set. Our losses will be catastrophic!*

The earth caste officer's shoulders sank. *But... we WILL win, will we not? Even if by sheer numbers...*

Wraithstar took several deep, calming breaths. *Victory here will mean nothing if it costs us the war. The gue'la are merely an inconvenience in the greater scheme of things.*

He stood up fully, crossing his arms over his chest. *There must be a way. Some way to... boost the signal, maybe? Can we penetrate the disruption field that way?*

The Tau planner shook his head. *Not merely by feeding more power into the communication arrays. The amount of power we'd need to break through the field by force...* he trailed off.

*Fio'o?*

*Yes. Yes, it could work! It WILL work!* the other officer said suddenly, his eyes narrowing intensely. *The device can do it!*

Wraithstar blinked in surprise. *But it's incomplete, isn't it?*

*We don't need the Warp core for something like this! We'll have it saturate every comms wavelength with our message! The enemy flagship can't absorb a signal of that intensity!* Then he hesitated, his eyes meeting that of the Shas'el. *The gue'la will hear it too, of course. We won't have time to install an encryption system.*

Shas'el Wraithstar smiled for what seemed like the first time in weeks. *Just this once, I could not care less. Let them all hear our warning, Fio'o.*

*Understood!*

****

Ponyville - Twilight's library

"You know, when you told me there was going to be an awesome spaceship battle, you didn't warn me it was going to be LESS exciting than watching Applejack harvest fruit."

Rainbow Dash was lounging on top of a book shelf, her left legs hanging off the edge and swinging back and forth.

"Yeah, I have to agree. Void combat is hardly a roller-coaster ride, but this is way more tame than usual," Tellis grumbled as he idly slashed apples and other fruits into small bits for the guests clustered around him.

Even more ponies had arrived since the "show" had started, and Twilight had long since stopped complaining about it. Her library was filled from wall-to-wall with curious equines, to the point that those who could fly had found higher perches to avoid the formidable density on the floor.

Most of them, thankfully, seemed intrigued enough by the slowly building conflict not to complain, although Twilight supposed it might be helpful if enough of them got bored and left.

The alicorn herself was in the edge of her figurative seat. She recognized what was happening and the implications of it, and it gave her goose bumps to see it played out in front of her on the hololith. It was like watching a chess game, she decided, where each side would start by pushing out pawns and releasing their stronger pieces, positioning their armies at length before one player finally attacked the other and the trading of blows began. Except that this game was brutally tilted in one player's favor and the "pieces" represented massive war machines filled with hundreds of living, breathing people.

She gingerly abandoned that train of thought. This situation was difficult enough without dwelling further on the scope of the carnage about to occur.

On the hololith, the Tau attack groups were finally passing by the captured Tau vessels. The Company fleet that had been "pursuing" them had slowed, obviously preparing itself to face the attack groups head-on in what seemed to be an utterly hopeless act of suicidal resistance. The attack groups were already well within range of Ferrous Dominus and its batteries, but the fortress had not fired.

Twilight swallowed.

"Come ON! Shoot something! At least some warning shots like before!" Rainbow Dash complained, seriously hurting the dramatic tension in the room.

"Darling, if you're really that bored, you can always leave. We'll shout or something if anything interesting happens," Rarity assured her.

Rainbow Dash groaned, but didn't move from her spot.

"This is still pretty interesting, but I do kinda wish I'd brought more popcorn," Pinkie admitted. The empty bucket that had held her snacks was sitting on her head like a red-and-white hat.

Gaela stood over the hololith, her gaze fixed on the Tau attack group. "Pie, if you want more snacks you may ask Spike to-"

Spots of light suddenly flashed on her gorget, and the data feed scrolling through her optical bionics was suddenly flooded as an intense signal pulse washed over her.

The hololithic display flickered, its own receiver picking up the signal on every possible wavelength.

"What's wrong? Is something happening?" Mayor Mare asked.

As if in response, a voice boomed from both the hololith projector and Gaela's collar. None of the individuals gathered could understand it, although some of them recognized the language it spoke.

*Attention, all Sept Lamman vessels! This is Shas'el Wraithstar!*

****

Ferrous Dominus - Solon's forge

"You needn't worry. The procesh is quick and not extremely taxing. I've heard it deshcribed ash quite uncomfortable, but I wouldn't know."

Trixie glanced about the forge interior uncertainly as she stood on a large, raised platform. Her hooves had been secured in metal clamps, and above her there were upwards of a dozen articulated arms tipped with needles, drills, and other tools that a pony would be hard-pressed to identify.

"So, what are these 'nerve sockets', exactly?" Trixie asked. Several of the needle-tipped arms were already dipping down into position around her.

"They're interface pointsh for the armor. Rather than moving the shuit with ordinary mushle power, the interface will reshpond to your nervoush shyshtem directly, moving the armor jointsh as if they were a part of your body, and ashishting motion rather than hindering it."

Solon was poking away at a series of hololith screens as he spoke, and in front of him was the unicorn's power armor suit. It was of a starkly different design than Big Macintosh's, and the helmet boasted a single horn laced with glowing blue circuits running through it; presumably the compartment where Trixie's own horn would fit when she wore the armor. It seemed in general less bulky than Big Mac's suit, and had a small power pack mounted in the center of the spinal plating rather than a servo arm. The shoulder pad had Trixie's cutie mark on the left piece, and the Legion's Iron Skull on the right.

Trixie winced as the needles stuck into her legs and one between her shoulders, injecting hefty doses of anesthetic.

"You're sure this won't take too long?" Trixie asked.

"I am. Having shecond thoughtsh?" the Warsmith asked conversationally as he tapped away at his console.

"Not at all," Trixie scoffed, "Trixie just wants to make sure she'll be done and in good enough shape to perform Trixie's show!"

Solon paused. "Oh, nobody told you? Your performance for today hash been canceled."

The unicorn blinked. She had not, in fact, been informed of that. "Oh. Why? Because of this surgery?"

"No, not that. We're engaging a Tau battle fleet in orbit even ash we shpeak. If it goesh poorly then we'll be leaving rather quickly."

Trixie raised an eyebrow as her body started to go numb underneath her. "Oh. Well. That's... huh. That could be a problem, couldn't it?"

Several more arms slowly lowered themselves, and the unicorn gulped as she heard the noisy whir of drills spinning up.

Then Solon jerked his head back as his optics flashed. "What in the hellsh?"

Several of the monitors around the room flickered and pulsed, and then those systems capable of projecting sound immediately started relaying a message that had practically flooded the cogitator systems.

*Attention all Sept Lamman vessels! This is Shas'el Wraithstar!*

Solon glanced over to the monitor bank. "Well, that'sh not good."

*Be advised: all Tau vessels currently retreating from the enemy formation have been compromised and are in enemy hands! The gue'la fleet is well-armed, highly dangerous, and contains a large force of Astartes super-soldiers! They have established a fortification planetside that contains considerable anti-orbital firepower! All vessels loyal to Sept Lamman are advised to AVOID close orbital engagement at all costs!*

"... No, that'sh not good at all," Solon sighed.

Trixie frowned, her ears falling back against her head. "Uh... Trixie didn't really catch that. What's happening?"

"One of the enemy commandersh got clever, it would sheem. Our enemiesh have been warned of our trap," the Warsmith explained, turning toward Trixie and stomping over to the platform.

"What?! Does that mean you're going to lose?" Trixie asked. Solon actually found it rather touching how genuinely distressed she sounded.

"Maybe. We should hurry thish up."

Solon summoned another hololith screen as the Tau message replayed in the background, and Trixie nervously squeezed her eyes shut as half a dozen whirling drills descended on her.

****

Tau flagship Black Tide - command bridge

Shas'o Voidsong's hand squeezed the arm rest of her command seat as Wraithstar's message boomed over the speakers in the bridge.

*The gue'la fleet is well-armed, highly dangerous, and contains a large force of Astartes super-soldiers!*

The bridge crew was fairly stunned at the revelation, and many of them glanced anxiously at the high commanders on the bridge.

"Astartes? But... no, that can't be..." Helenis was shaking her head slowly, having reverted to Gothic in her surprise.

The fleet Admiral whirled toward the communications section. *Recall them. All of them. Every ship in the attack groups is to regroup at our position!*

*We c-can't reach them! The field-*

*Then boost the signal! Take us closer! Send a fighter with a message! Fire a spread of torpedoes in front of them if you have to!* the naval commander shouted, his face pale. The transmitted message advised the ships to turn around, and they had certainly heard the warning, but there was always the possibility that faith in their numbers and weapons could encourage them to try to carry out their orders rather than retreat.

*All right, I'm sending out a fighter squad to each-*

The communications officer was cut off from a series of panicked shouts from the sensor technicians.

*Kor'o! We're reading enhanced weapon signatures from the enemy vessels! It's like their reactors just tripled in power!*

*The Aurora is opening fire on the escort vessels in group 7! Her escorts are following suit!*

*Energy discharges from the surface! We have confirmation of active ground batteries!*

*Two of the gue'la ships are disgorging fighters!*

*The mass landers are opening up! They're... They're launching boarding craft! At that close range they won't be able to stop them!*

Voidsong listened to the cascade of shouting, her expression contorting into a scowl of hot fury.

*Space Marines,* she growled, *SPACE MARINES! On an unmarked freighter?! What is this?!*

She whirled toward Helenis, her eyes narrowed. *Do you know something of this? What are Astartes doing here, in Tau space, tucked away in pirate vessels and manning our ships? Everything about this is wrong!*

The human fleet officer took a long, shuddering breath. *I have... a theory,* she murmured, *but for all our sakes, I hope it's wrong.*

****

Ponyville - Twilight's library

The battle began, not like a trap springing shut, but in a furious and utterly confusing cascade of fire. By the time Gaela had deactivated the vox casters on her armor and the hololith, the first volleys were already flashing from the Tau attack groups into the captured Tau ships, while dozens of smaller markers were practically vomited out of the mass landers.

While their weapons eagerly lashed out at their turncoat vessels, however, the Lamman fleet's formation was breaking up; each ship was trying to decide on the correct course of action without any input from another. Some ships turned hard back toward the reserve fleet, some turned into a pursuit position behind the captured ships, and others hesitated, cutting their engines or making slow turning arcs that spoke of indecision and confusion.

Still, the amount of firepower arrayed against the captured vessels was far too much for them to contain, and within a few minutes two of the mass landers and a frigate flashed red as their hulls suffered critical damage and broke apart.

"Aw, man! We just started fighting and we're already LOSING!" Rainbow Dash complained.

"The trap had to close slightly earlier than we'd hoped, yes," Gaela admitted, "but those craft were easy prey, lightly crewed, and looted from the foe."

"More to the point..." Delgan grinned as he watched the boarding craft split into two groups, each practically diving toward the nearest Tau destroyers. "It seems they delivered their 'cargo'."

A new volley of projectiles speared up from the planet surface, and one of Lamman's torpedo gunboats flared red as it sustained a severe hit, felling its shields and ripping open its already battered armor. The captured battlecruiser followed up the volley a few seconds later, and the ponies in the room whooped loudly as the hololithic display showed it breaking in half.

"All right!"

"Take that!"

"Grayskin jerks!"

Delgan raised an eyebrow at the jubilation of the equines around him. "Quite unusual to hear the locals cheering us on for once. I rather like it."

"The Harvest has reached engagement range," Gaela said, "it's targeting the enemy battlecruiser."

Pinkie was standing up next to the projector table, her nose almost touching the megafreighter. The other ships in the Company fleet were already unleashing their weapons into the smaller craft that were mostly trying to escape, but no streams of energy or salvos of cannon fire came from the enormous flagship as it approached the largest enemy vessel.

"... So what's it waiting for?" Rainbow Dash finally asked.

Tellis looked over to Delgan. "Warp rift?"

He nodded soberly. "Warp rift."

The ponies could only wait and watch, having no idea what the humans were talking about.

****

Harvest of Steel - command bridge

Sliver's fist struck the edge of the hololithic display like a maul, badly denting the surface and causing the projection to shudder.

"Damned xenoss! How did they do it?!"

The Chaos Lord glanced about the command bridge, as if one of the surrounding soldiers was hiding the answer from him.

All of the men on the bridge were Iron Warriors, and most of them Warpsmiths; a collection of the finest minds that the Company had to offer in terms of both mechanical and military expertise. None of them manned terminals or handled controls, however; they were not bridge crew.

Which isn't to say that the Harvest of Steel didn't have a bridge crew, but strictly speaking they couldn't really be considered "men" any longer.

"The battlecruiser is within range," hissed a voice from the wall. Entombed in dark alcoves overrun with cables and adorned with dark glyphs were the the preserved bodies and minds of what had long ago been esteemed naval officers. Their lives extended indefinitely within their prison, they were effectively and literally part of the ship, although often they served more as directors and interpreters for the Harvest rather than controllers.

"The dark heart sings. It wishes to feed," chuckled a vaguely female voice from the opposite wall.

"I sstill want to know what happened," Sliver growled, "why would the Tau have a transsmitter that powerful?"

A pair of Warpsmiths briefly conversed in Binaric Cant before turning cautiously back toward the Chaos Lord.

"A hypothesis: this Sept deploys advanced electronic warfare technology. Perhaps this is a back-up system in case one such device disables their own communications as well?"

"It could also be a beacon," opined the other Warpsmith, "if they were constructing something to release a distress call and ask for aid, it might also serve such a purpose."

Sliver snarled incoherently. "Thiss iss far more powerful than any mere 'disstresss beacon'."

"My lord," gasped one of the ghastly figures writhing on the wall, his expression contorted with pain, "the Harvest hungers. We cannot contain her battle-lust for much longer."

"And you shall not do sso," Sliver said, pointing toward the nearest battlecruiser, "charge the Warp enginess and prepare to open a rift on the main attack vesssel ass ssoon ass itss shieldss are down."

"Yes, Lord! Her heart sings!" cried another of the crew, gasping and jolting uncontrollably.

"Good. We'll leave it as little more than a charnel house," Sliver rasped, "let'ss show the grayss what they're up againsst."

****

Tau battlecruiser Rep'talal - bridge

*Next volley, target the Aurora again. Bring down her drives,* barked the Captain as his crew worked furiously all around him.

The Rep'talal was currently in an agonizingly long turn, trying to bring itself about in a long arc so that it could make a full retreat back to the main fleet. It could have made a sharper, more desperate maneuver to try to escape the Space Marines' formation, but he had a bone to pick with the warships that dared to sail under their Sept's colors while hosting enemy crew. So the turn was calculated to keep the traitor vessels in their heavy weapon arcs; he would fall back as the warning signal recommended, but he wasn't about to leave their ships in the hands of the enemy.

*Firing magna-rail cannons,* announced the weapons officer.

The ship's hull groaned slightly as it unleashed its fury, flinging projectiles across the void at near-light speed to spear through the enemy's aft section.

*That's a hit, Kor'el! The Aurora is venting drive plasma!*

*Keep on it until her drives are dead. She'll dig herself a grave on the planet's surface,* the Captain growled. Warships of their mass were extremely difficult to completely destroy, especially when one force was trying to pull away from an engagement, but the complications of planetary gravity left them with other options. Not very pretty options, considering the damage such vessels did on impact with the surface, but desperate times, blah blah blah.

He watched the tactical display as another volley of weapons fire speared upward from the planet's surface toward a torpedo gunboat, ripping open its belly. The gue'la fleet was in hungry pursuit, following the heavy volleys from below with expertly coordinated cross-fire. They were concentrating on one vessel at a time, intent on killing a few ships rather than crippling many. And they were doing a disgustingly good job of it.

*Do we... Do we have any word from Kestrel or Bulwark?* the Captain asked, his voice almost cracking.

*They are transmitting, Kor'el, but the signal is too badly corrupted. I cannot get anything out of it.*

The Captain nodded silently. He could easily imagine what the messages would be; both vessels had been boarded by the gunships carried by their mass landers, unleashed far behind their fighter screens and out of any significant turret arcs. Presumably there were now Space Marines marching through their corridors.

Presumably, then, both vessels were already dead. With any luck the crew would be able to sabotage the vessels before they were overtaken, but there was no guarantee. Nothing matched the ferocity and brutal efficiency of a Space Marine boarding action.

*That's strange... I think the flagship is activating its Warp engines.*

*What? They can't make a jump this close to the planet. Er... can they?*

The Captain shrugged, dismissing the event. If the enemy wanted to run now, when they had a momentary advantage, he wouldn't complain.

*We have enemy weapon discharges! We're being targeted!*

That brought the Captain out of his dark thoughts. *Really, now? They're getting cocky if they think they can catch us.* He would have said something more combative, but it was hard to portray confidence when you were already fleeing a force substantially smaller than your own.

The first impacts hit the shields, their intense payloads from plasma cannons and heavy turbolasers being rendered completely inert before touching the Rep'talal's considerable armor. The catastrophic shock waves from the impacts were reduced to a mere hum as they reverberated through the hull and eventually reached his ears; a deathly roar reduced to a mere whisper.

*Shields are down. Hull integrity stable,* mumbled a technician.

*All hands brace for impact!* the Captain shouted, holding onto his command chair in preparation for a follow-up volley.

It never came.

*The enemy craft are engaging our escorts again,* mumbled a confused sensor technician, *and the megafreighter is... opening up?*

The ship Captain shook his head as he watched the ship on the tactical display. The bow of the megafreighter was yawning open near the bottom, like a creature's mouth. He would have guessed that it was opening its cargo bay, but the orifice was simply too big to be necessary for loading and disgorging mere cargo.

*I don't care what it's doing, get the shields-*

*We have a radiation pulse! The megafreighter is... emitting... something? I don't know what this is!*

*Then forget it. Shields?* snapped the Captain.

*Back online in four... three... wait, what is GLAAUGH!!*

The Captain whirled around at the sound of the gurgling scream, as did most of the rest of the shocked crew.

The shield technician had been impaled on a long, brutally serrated talon reaching out from his console, one of many surrounding a disfigured human-ish head covered all over with pitch-dark eyes. It looked like it was emerging from within the console screen, but if any of the crewmen had been able to look past its horrifying appearance and sudden murder of their shipmate, they'd have seen that wasn't quite accurate. The glass, metal, and plastic of the shield controls were almost undisturbed under the bleeding red wound that the daemon had appeared from.

The Captain was completely speechless, his hand groping for his service pistol by desperate reflex even while his brain fought to comprehend what was happening.

The comms crackled to life, relaying a message from deeper in the ship.

*Kor'el! W-We've been boarded! I don't know what... NO! Th-They're coming out of the walls! We can't-* the signal stopped abruptly.

The daemon pushed itself out of the Warp breach as it flung its talon to the side, casually discarding its first kill as its dozen eyes blinked at the horrified bridge crew.

One by one, new seams of red started to flare up around the bridge. On the ceiling. On the floor. From behind the Captain's chair. From the hololith display.

The Warpspawn let out an exultant shriek at feeling the strange and pleasantly destructible environment of the Materium all around it. The palpable terror of the voidsmen washed over it like a cool breeze as they drew weapons, shouting and shooting and panicking as mortal things tended to do.

It was time to feed.

****

Cloudsdale - Robin Song Elementary School

"-and then I'll get to wear power armor and wield a bolter of my own, and I'll go on adventures all throughout the galaxy battling aliens and stealing space stuff! It'll be awesome!"

Sunny Skies tried to keep an exasperated look off of her face as the little pegasus filly finished giving her report on what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Evidently she wanted to be a space pirate. She was the sixth one so far today.

"That's very nice, Cloudy," the schoolteacher said pensively, pausing to wet her lips, "but didn't you tell me once that you wanted to be a Wonderbolt?"

The filly giggled. "Well, sure I did. A week ago. Until then I didn't even know space pirates were real! No way can I settle for being a Wonderbolt now!"

Sunny was slightly discouraged at hearing the most esteemed aerial force in Equestria described as something to "settle for", but pressed on. "And that's your choice, of course, but have you ever thought about some of the... complications of space piracy? The lawlessness? The violence? Having to leave our world of harmony and peace for the terrifying unknown?"

Cloudy Horizons tilted her head to the side. "Those are all the reasons I want to do it."

As Sunny Skies suppressed a sigh, she became aware of a slight trembling all around her, as if the cloud chair she was seated on was starting to vibrate. After a moment, she realized that was exactly what was happening, and she sat up straighter in alarm.

Her ears perked up as the vibrations continued to build, and then a rattling noise started coming from the windows.

"What's that noise? Is there something outside?"

She couldn't get a good look out the windows from her position at the front of the classroom, but judging by the wide-eyed and slack-jawed stares of her students as they gazed through them, yes, there was definitely something out there.

A whole host of terrifying possibilities crossed the schoolteacher's mind as she stepped over to the window. It was not unheard of for flying dragons to harass the cloud city of the pegasi, and there were other dangerous beasts besides that were capable of reaching them even if they never seemed to bother.

When Sunny Skies got a good look outside the window, though, she honestly didn't know if the sight that greeted her was better or worse than a dragon attack.

The Tau battlecruiser Aurora twisted lazily in the air as it dove toward the planet surface in catastrophic slow-motion. Its bow was surrounded by flame as the atmosphere fought back against its descent, and dozens of burning hull breaches left contrails of black smoke and bubbling gouts of plasma falling all around the dying behemoth.

The ship was falling just outside Cloudsdale's city limits, but the reverberations from the displaced atmosphere was sending pegasi flying for their lives to get to a safe distance and was starting to shake the nearest cloud buildings apart entirely.

Beyond the falling battlecruiser was another, smaller craft trapped in a similar death spiral toward the ground, its entire aft section utterly shredded. Small savior pods blasted off from the hull every few seconds, jetting away from the doomed vessel as important crew sought a safe landing far away from the inevitable crash.

As the smoldering giant's bow sunk below the bottom layers of Cloudsdale, its turrets suddenly loosed a fusillade in the direction of the destroyer, and streams of flaring blue light lashed out in a completely gratuitous and spiteful act of defiance.

Every pony flinched their eyes away as the escort vessel was consumed in a flare of light, and a moment later every window on that side of the room cracked from the shock wave rolling through the air.

Many more seconds passed before the dying warship finally sunk below the bottom of Cloudsdale completely, leaving a vast trail of dark, spiraling smoke behind it like an airborne blood trail.

"Well..." Sunny Skies had to pause for a moment to clear her throat, suddenly aware of how dry it was. "NOW who wants to be a space pirate when they grow up?"

Every single pegasus in the classroom raised a foreleg. Some of them raised both and jumped up and down eagerly, their wings fluttering in excitement.

"Oh, for Celestia's sake..."

****

Ponyville - Twilight's library

Vinyl Scratch had to turn her eyes away from the telescope as the enormous explosion bloomed in the distance, nearly blinding her even through her tinted glasses.

Rainbow Dash let out a whistle as a massive cloud of dust and flame rose over the mountain range under Cloudsdale, quickly obscuring the bright core of the detonation.

"Now THAT is what I'm talking about!" the rainbow-maned pegasus said.

She and several other mares were grouped together on Twilight's balcony, watching the distant cataclysmic impact. Tellis was there as well, carrying Scootaloo on his shoulder.

"Beautiful impact, gotta say," Tellis admitted, an uncharacteristically wistful sigh passing through his vox grill, "and the way it blasted the other dying ship on the way down? Gorgeous. Almost brings a tear to my eye."

Scootaloo snickered, putting a hoof up to her muzzle.

"I said ALMOST," the Raptor Lord snapped, poking at the pegasus filly with an armored finger.

A contented silence descended upon the group for several seconds.

"Too bad it was one of ours, though," mumbled Flitter. A few other ponies murmured their agreement, nodding uncomfortably.

"Eh. Blood is blood," Tellis replied, holding open a hand within Scootaloo's reach. The young pegasus eagerly planted a hoof into the palm of his gauntlet in imitation of a high-five.

"Hey, I think another space ship dropped down into the sky!" shouted Lyra from downstairs. "Keep an eye out for one of those lander thingies!"

"Okay!" Rainbow Dash shouted back.

A slight trembling started to shake the house, and several of the pegasi that weren't already hovering jumped into the air, startled.

"Whoa, what's with the quake?"

"Tectonic shift," Tellis answered casually, "when something of that mega-tonnage collides with the planet and explodes, sometimes the planet gives a little." He paused. "Also, the dust clouds might be so deep and widespread that they block out the sun or something. I never really paid much attention to the environmental effects of crashing ships into planets besides the loud parts."

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof flippantly. "Whatever. We can clear that stuff off if we need to."

"Yo, yo, got another one!" Vinyl said, holding the telescope at a steep angle. "It's way smaller than that other ship, but I think it's gonna hit pretty close!"

The ponies craned their necks up as a distant flaming object careened through the stratosphere like a meteor.

"Is that gonna hit Ponyville?" Scootaloo asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Tellis looked up at the sky, his helmet cogitator calculating the descent trajectory of the mass lander and drawing a line across his visor to show its most likely impact point.

"Nah. We're golden."

The ponies blew out a sigh of relief.

"Apple horse is in a lot of trouble, though."

****

Sweet Apple Acres - main orchard

"Shucks, you boys are really goin' to town up there, aren't ya?" Applejack said before planting a hefty kick on a tree and sending a cascade of apples tumbling to the ground.

Dest nodded somberly. They had glimpsed the impact of the battlecruiser all the way from the orchard and despite the tree cover, to say nothing of the minor earthquake.

Apple Bloom glanced up nervously as she picked up apples from the ground and dropped them into empty baskets. "Ya think yer winnin'?" she asked.

"I do," Dest replied gruffly, "even outnumbered and outgunned, the Iron Warriors will not falter."

Crabapple was striding next to the youngest Apple sibling, approaching a tree that awaited harvest. Taking a firm but gentle hold on the trunk with its massive adamantium hands, the siege walker's lasher tendrils snaked up into the branches, darting toward the bright red apples with uncanny agility and stabbing at their stems. Apples started to fall from the tree in a rapid cascade as the metal tendrils writhed and twitched with formulaic precision, and within the minute the tree had been stripped of its harvest.

Applejack ran a hoof over her forehead to wipe away the sweat, glancing over at Crabapple approvingly. "Well, Ah really didn't know what to make of Crabapple's new digs at first, but Ah gotta admit, between her and you, Dest, we might not suffer too much from Mac bein' away."

The Iron Warrior nodded his mute agreement as he started walking toward the silos with two apple baskets hanging effortlessly from each hand.

Then he glanced up, his helmet visor locking on to a distant object in the sky.

"We're going to want to get inside the farmstead," Dest said grimly, "right away."

Applejack and Apple Bloom froze, feeling chills run down their backs.

"Is it the Tau again?" Applejack asked, bolting over to the Chaos Marine.

"... In a manner of speaking," Dest said, dropping the baskets, "run!"

Crabapple promptly turned and scooped up a surprised Apple Bloom, and then began a loping run on its three free limbs back toward the house. Applejack, seeing that her sister was being taken care of, broke into a full sprint after Dest.

They dashed through the orchard without incident, though Crabapple scraped off a few branches due to its sheer size during their escape.

As they reached the farmstead, Dest hit the opening mechanism while Applejack slowed and risked a glance back at the sky.

The Tau mass lander was barely visible beneath the heavy combat damage and roaring flames of its descent, and a fierce roar filled the air around Sweet Apple Acres as it tumbled end-over-end toward the veritable forest of apple trees below.

The door finished opening, and Dest entered quickly. Crabapple stuck its hand inside and dropped Apple Bloom, who immediately looked worried for her pet.

"Wait, where's Crabapple going to hide?" the Nurgle-marked filly asked.

"She'll be fine!" Applejack shouted as she leapt into the house and hit the closing mechanism. "You worry about us first!"

The booming noise was tremendous. The floor trembled under their hooves, and the walls shook the portraits and knick-knacks that were hung upon it. Even after the initial calamity of impact had passed, Applejack could hear objects in the kitchen rattling noisily and a deep rumbling coming from outside.

But after the shock waves had passed, Applejack was relieved to find that their home still stood and her family was still safe. She didn't hear any more crashing noises from outside, either, so their other structures had probably survived as well. That was Mechanicus architecture for you.

"Applejack?" barked Granny Smith from upstairs. "Turn that racket down! Ya know Ah can't stand that 'new age' metal you youngin's are all inta nowadays!"

Offering an eye roll for her grandmother's complaints, Applejack braced herself and stepped on the door mechanism again.

The door slid open, and she was promptly met with a wall of choking dust. Undeterred, the apple farmer snatched her respirator mask from the wall and slipped it on, thankful that the Company let her keep the device.

"Bloom, you stay here fer now. Dest, you comin'?"

"Indeed," the Iron Warrior said, taking up his boltgun. Not that he imagined he'd have anything to shoot out there, but the mood suddenly seemed far less farming-like and a lot more battle-like.

The two of them walked into the sea of dust and smoke, their breath raspy through their respective air filters. Visibility was practically nil, although Dest was able to lock on to the considerable heat signature of the burning ship and lead them forward.

Applejack stepped carefully as she kept close to the armored giant, her hooves scraping over fallen tree branches and loosened rocks. There wasn't much in the way of burning chunks of debris this close to her home, which she supposed was a small comfort.

After a few minutes of silently and slowly creeping toward the crash site, Applejack was surprised to make out Crabapple's huge wire-bundle tail just ahead of them, and she trotted up next to the war machine.

"Hey girl, ya all right? The blast didn't rattle ya none?"

Crabapple turned its head around to stare at Applejack, made an irritating, discordant crooning noise, and then turned back to whatever it was staring at. The dust was thinner here, perhaps having been pushed father out from the catastrophic impact, but from behind the daemon engine there was very little to see.

Applejack stepped past Crabapple to check on what it was looking at.

It was staring at the wreck of the Tau lander, unsurprisingly. The ship was a flaming, shredded hulk, and was sitting in the middle of a vast crater littered with chunks of burning debris.

A crater that used to be her orchard.

"Well. It seems we're finished harvesting for the day," Dest rumbled.

Applejack started shaking, her body throwing off waves of dust as her fury built to an atomic peak.

Then she threw her hat onto the ground and reared up on her hind legs, screaming her rage to the heavens.

"TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUU!!!"

****

Tau flagship Black Tide - command bridge

*The Glass Razor and Kerith's Hunter have successfully evaded pursuit, Kor'o,* sighed a crewman as she finished piecing together the static-filled messages transmitted by the fleeing craft, *the enemy fleet is falling back into low orbit again. The engagement is over.*

There were no sighs of relief or exultant cheers from the command crew. Even those that felt their fleet had done an excellent job under the tactical circumstances didn't dare say so under the simmering, volcanic gaze of the High Commander overseeing the strategic hololith.

Seven to six. That was the score. Seven of Sept Lamman's ships were now unresponsive hulks, and for that the mysterious fleet had paid a total of six craft. A very close tally on the face of it, but that number disguised some very ugly details.

Putting aside that the targeted flagship was utterly unscathed, every vessel lost by the humans was one captured from the Tau in the first place. While it was only proper that they had destroyed the looted craft and crippled the vessels that had been boarded during the combat, that left the enemy's original strength intact. Meanwhile, the vessels she had sent into the jaws of their trap were those that had entered the system with the least sustained damage. Craft the Sept could ill afford to lose.

And then, of course, there was the battlecruiser Rep'talal.

*Kor'o! The disruption field! It's gone! Our communications are unhindered again!* shouted a crewman.

Their consoles were already lighting up with new communication links and queuing requests for updates, but before the Admiral could give any response he was cut off by a voice from behind him.

*Open a channel to the Rep'talal,* Voidsong snapped.

*Yes, Shas'o. Hailing...*

Voidsong's eyes narrowed as the bridge crew worked furiously at her request. Out of all the strange and terrible things that had happened during the aborted battle, nothing she could think of could account for the fact that one of her battlecruisers had suddenly stopped functioning as an active combatant. It had not been boarded, and had only been targeted by one measly barrage that barely broke its shielding. But soon after that its guns had gone silent and it had finished its turning maneuver only to settle into a holding orbit that looked suspiciously like an automated navigator taking over for a displaced crew. The enemy fleet had effectively treated it as a casualty, ignoring the craft completely, and yet every reading on the vessel showed it to be in perfect working condition.

*Shas'o, no one is answering our hails. I'm establishing control overrides,* explained the communications technician as he worked to establish a link, *on-screen.*

The front-most monitor flickered, and then flashed on.

*... What. Is. That?* Voidsong spoke through clenched teeth, her rage almost palpable.

*I... I don't...* the fleet Admiral trailed off, holding a hand to his mouth as he watched the creatures crawling around the blood-soaked interior of the bridge. Some were poking at the dead bodies of the crew, others were stumbling around curiously, and some of them were fighting each other in the background. None of the monstrosities were alike. Some boasted skin and others scales. Some had talons and others tendrils. Some had eyes and ears and others possessed no apparent sensory organs. It was a carnival show of insane horror, and only one person on the bridge had any idea what to make of it.

*No. It really is them,* Helenis whispered, her breath coming out in short, almost painful puffs as she leaned against the railing.

*Them? Who is 'them'?* Voidsong demanded.

The Admiral was shaking his head, looking away from the screen. *It was boarded somehow. They must have used a teleporter that we didn't detect. They beamed those... mutants aboard and-*

*Those aren't mutants,* Helenis said weakly, *they're...* she trailed off, and then finished the sentence in Gothic, "daemons."

That earned her quite a few curious looks. There was no word for daemon in the Tau language, as the Tau Empire had no concept of such beings.

*Are you saying we're fighting monsters?* Voidsong asked. She wanted to be more incredulous about the idea, but the video feed in front of them was still playing the evidence.

*Worse,* the human woman hissed, *we're fighting Space Marines allied with monsters. Traitorous Astartes that have turned against the Imperium and given themselves over to the darker powers. We're fighting Chaos.*

The Admiral shook his head. *Shut off that monitor, Kor'ui,* once the screen had gone dark, he turned back toward the human. *What, exactly, is "Chaos"?*

*Chaos is a blight that infects the other side of the galaxy, rotting away the Imperium and turning its citizens against it. It's a... dark cult, would be the best way to describe it, but terrifyingly REAL in its power,* Helenis explained, trailing off uncomfortably.

*A "real" religion?* Voidsong asked. Again, the only thing keeping a mocking tone from her voice was the memory of the creatures stalking the bridge of her dead ship.

*Yes. Real. It's followers claim that they've spoken to their gods. It's rites follow basic laws of causality, and extensive worship has a tangible supernatural effect on its converts,* Helenis pressed a hand to her forehead, as if she felt dizzy, *I don't know many specifics. Knowledge of Chaos is tightly controlled and... "discouraged" in the Imperium. Ignorance is supposed to shield us from its effects.*

*Ignorance didn't save the Rep'talal's crew,* the Kor'o murmured, *and it won't serve us here. What are these... cultists after? Why would they be here?*

Helenis shook her head. *I have no idea. The planet, maybe? Chaos is constantly looking for worlds to despoil. Or they may truly be mere pirates, preying on warships who mistake them for helpless commercial vessels.*

*Shas'o,* interrupted the communications technician, *we have a comms signal from the surface. Standard encryption protocol.*

Voidsong nodded. *It must be Shas'el Wraithstar. Put him through.*

Once again, the screen flickered as the signal was connected.

Once again, Voidsong was unpleasantly surprised by what appeared.

*Hello, warriors of the Lamman Sept!* Solon cheered, his Tau somehow coming out less distorted than his usual language. *And welcome to the Centaur system!*

The admiral straightened nervously, glancing pensively at the flabbergasted communication officer. *What happened? You said the encryption-*

*Wasn't very good, to be honest,* Solon interrupted, his helmet turning to glance at something off to his side, *although capturing one of your bases intact helped with that, anyhow. Is your Shas'o available? I'd like to... oh! Is that a human?* his helmet grew larger as it moved closer to the screen. *I didn't know you employed them in command roles!*

Helenis felt a cold lump like ice form in her stomach as she stared into the glaring red optics, but she still managed a defiant snarl. "To Hell with you, Chaos scum!"

*Ex-Imperial military, I see! Nice catch!* Solon said amicably.

Voidsong stood up from her seat, shooting Helenis a silent glare that had the advisor backing away from the monitor.

*I am Shas'o Voidsong, High Commander of of the Scintea Coalition of the Lamman Sept,* she spoke calmly, apparently unperturbed by the enemy's use of Tau communications channels and the frankly disturbing condition of the Space Marine on the monitor, *identify yourself, Astartes.*

*I am Warsmith Solon, High Commander of the 38th Company of the Iron Warriors Legion. Well met, Voidsong.*

*I disagree,* she interjected, *a much better meeting would be in person, after digging your broken corpse out from the remains of your base.*

Solon pulled his head back, tsking irritably. *Now, now, let's not get nasty. I wish to-*

*Be SILENT, raider filth!* the Tau Commander snapped. *You find yourself in Tau space, faced by a Tau primary war fleet, interfering in a Tau military operation. You have cost me the lives of over a thousand fine and experienced crew. Your "wishes" do not interest me. Give me one reason why my fleet shouldn't regroup and descend on your pitiful band to send you all to rest on the planet's surface with the battlecruiser you stole!*

Solon again looked away briefly as he answered. *Well, for starters, raining more void ships onto the planet would be quite dangerous for your little friends down here. And it might just be wishful thinking on my part, but it seems to me that they're doing something so important that you wouldn't want to risk flattening it. Well, risk it again, anyway. Why, even a slightly inaccurate attempt at planetary bombardment could easily demolish the very last of your strongholds here!*

Helenis watched carefully as Voidsong's hand slipped to the edge of the bridge railing and gripped it tightly; a sure sign that her temper was building, but the Shas'o's facial expression didn't change.

*Now then,* Solon continued, *I know that this little encounter didn't work out as planned for either of us, but I hope that...* he trailed off, looking at something beyond his monitor. "No, that ishn't a shling, that plugsh into the back of the helmet! Yesh, like that. You should feel a hot tingle in your horn ash it excitesh the primary nerve clushtersh. Don't tesht-fire it in here, though."

The Warsmith returned his attention to the monitor. *Sorry about that. Now as I was saying-*

*As I was saying,* Voidsong interrupted again, *you are in our territory, rogue, and I don't cut deals with criminals or renegades.* She glanced over at her strategic display. *I will admit, though, that your little ploy burned us a little. I'm going to spend the next solar cycle plotting out the most efficient way to get you off of my planet and out of my system. If you were to save me the trouble before I finish by taking to the Warp, or better yet, hurling yourselves into the sun, then I might just find better things to do rather than try to chase you down for this affront. Otherwise your little pirate band becomes torpedo practice. Do you understand, or should I repeat all of that in Gothic for you?*

Solon stared silently for a long moment, his optics whirling in their socket.

*Is there someone from the water caste I can talk to?* he finally asked. *Because you are TERRIBLE at this diplomacy thing. Even worse than I am! Seriously!*

Voidsong cut a hand across her throat, and the communications officer nodded silently.

*Hey. Hey! I'm not done speaking to-* Solon's image vanished as the link was cut, and the communications officer cleared his throat.

*I, uh, have ANOTHER transmission from a different location on the surface. I'm... FAIRLY certain that this one is the Shas'el.*

*Hold,* Voidsong said, turning toward Helenis, *you said you don't know much about this... Chaos?*

Helenis grimaced. *Not much that's tactically useful. And I've only encountered a cult once before, as part of an Inquisitor's operation.*

*But you knew enough to recognize those creatures. Those... daemons,* Voidsong said the word slowly, as if she was tasting it. *Take some time to recall what you DO know. Because you'll be schooling me in it soon.*

Then she dropped back in her seat and fixed a slightly harsher glower on her face. *Now then: let's see what Shas'el Wraithstar has to say. He's left quite a mess for me to clean up...*

Author's Note:

It took all my willpower not to name the Kor'o Admiral "Ahq'bahr" and have him shout "It's a trap!" when things got heavy. All of it. I have no willpower left.
You're welcome.

Less pony than usual this time around, but they can't really help out in a naval battle. Yet.
Also, it definitely looks like there will be more than eight chapters to this book. Somehow, I hope you'll find it in your hearts to forgive this unseemly irregularity.

Comments

[gwojo]

the greater good is super gay go chaos

[SFaccountant]

4464608
Whoa, hey, we're not on the battlefield here, let's keep it civil.

I mean, sure, the Greater Good is a LITTLE gay, but there's nothing wrong with that.
a1.s6img.com/cdn/box_006/post_16/909581_4092904_lz.jpg

[Setokaiva]

I love how you've portrayed the Tau as so freaking ignorant of Chaos. They're getting the worst rude awakening they can possibly get... not even being aware of what's coming... of the monsters that lurk in the dark...

Also, later:

[Tau]: FUCKING RAINBOWS!!! MAGIC EVERYWHERE IN THIS S***!!!

[Moonreaper666]

4464651 Would it make a difference if ponies started becoming Chaos pirates?

[spinner335]

The longer this series is around. It's rare to find a story that blends something grimdark as =-@_))"$;\ and something bright cheerful and funny. This is up there with the Dexter novels and the Ciaphas Cain series. Keep it up please. Any way quick question I know pleaser cults are met with flamers by the iron warriors but and chance of a pony being converted like Pinkie , trixe, or Derpy (muffins forever all that can be eaten)?

[GBscientist]

Once again, you have impressed me with your comedic skill in mingling WH40K and MLP:FiM.

Screw irregularity. More chapters of psycho Space Marines and silly Ponies is better.

[xoid]

This was Pure. Gold. Never stop.

[Mutalist Alad V]

Forgive!? I welcome it!

[SFaccountant]

4465088
Would it make a difference to what, exactly? I mean, I've stated before that I eventually intend to have ponies joining the 38th Company outright to perform in combat roles, but I'm not sure if you're asking about something else.

4465124
Converted to Slaanesh? No. No chance. Ponies being corrupted will be pretty rare in general, but the God of Excess is off the table.

4465275
You don't understand! Not having a uniform chapter count is the VERY. WORST. THING!

[SFaccountant]

4464736
Tau and Chaos are sort of uniquely placed among the 40K races to be largely oblivious to each other. Besides their centers of power being on opposite sides of the galaxy, there's very little reason for one to be bothered by the other. Unlike other aliens, the Tau have neither an ancient beef with the Warp (Eldar, Necrons), nor do they spread/appear pretty much everywhere (Dark Eldar, Orks, Tyranids), so it's hard for the Tau to stumble upon a Chaos operation by accident, much less with intent to destroy them.. Chaos, meanwhile, has no general interest in the Tau as they're not part of their list of ancient grudges, nor are the Tau easy to corrupt (arguably it may even be impossible due to their negligible Warp presence). So they're kind of just "another xeno" to them. It can be assumed that all of the knowledge that Chaos Space Marines possess about the Tau was acquired through Imperial sources (such as Gaela and other experienced soldiers in sectors that they've attacked).

[Heitomos]

Another really nice chapter! I preferred the moments of character interactions over the large scale fighting, but I see the necessity to it. It'd be a cop out to just skim over it. You touch upon it just right to make it interesting, but not drag on too long. Kudos!

[AlphaThroughZeta]

Delgan raised an eyebrow at the jubilation of the equines around him. "Quite unusual to hear the locals cheering us on for once. I rather like it."

this is going to be a rather long alliance isn't it

[Hey its that Pony]

Damn. Applejack and the Apple clan in general just cannot catch a break can they?

Was kind of wondering if the Tau would ever try and infiltrate Canterlot for some reason and risk running into certain officials and the actual pony military. Looks like they may have an excuse to do just that.

You really like that angry grieving on-your-knees Wolverine cry don't you?

And the 38th greet the new arrivals with a basket of dirty tricks, cheating, and nightmares.

I can understand an OCD'ish need for consistent chapters but you are the author. If you feel that this book wouldn't be complete without an extra chapter or two then by all means, add an extra one. It kind of helps to show that the story is getting even more complex and interesting.

[SFaccountant]

4468860
I agree, actually. Some day I hope to advance the state of pony/Iron Warriors integration to the point that I can do a whole Slice of Life spin-off. Parts like having Delgan playing cards with the business-class pones are my favorite.

4469018
The Apple Clan gets ALL the breaks. Power armor, top-of-the-line augments, a bunker, a Mark of Nurgle, a forgefiend... it just so happens that their blessings tend to either be dubious in value or follow great hardship. But I maintain that those are the best kinds
And I was just joking about the chapter number

[Hey its that Pony]

4469361

Heh. I suppose that's a good point. Though at this point I am getting a little worried for her poor orchard. At this rate she might not have anything left. *Imagines Applejack desperately trying to defend the last dozen trees she has left that aren't split in half or partially burned.*

Kinda surprised Rarity didn't take a moment to swoon over The Emperor just a little from getting a look at one of the unmarked high cards from the fresh deck. Though maybe she didn't take the time to try and look.

[Heitomos]

4469361

That was pretty nice, but my personal favorites are Gaela, Tellis, and Dest's interactions with the ponies. The development that happens between them and the ponies is so good. (It's all good, but those are the highlights for me.)

[Moonreaper666]

4466102 Can non-humans receive daemonic ascension if they appeased the Chaos Gods enough? Daemon Princess Twilight Sparkle vs Kaldor Draigo, THAT'S A MATCH I GOT TO SEE!!!

[SFaccountant]

4474757
Sure, if they join the cult. Chaos Gods don't have any racial bias; it just so happens that some species are more prone/susceptible to Chaos corruption and worship than others. Since humans are one of those species and there are a zillion of us, we make a better target, but the Dark Gods would happily mutate/ascend/enslave any species that worships them.

[SFaccountant]

4500926
Huh. I did not know that. I might have to re-write that part.

4501068
I'm afraid your question is based on a false premise: I don't remember mentioning any "sensor drones" during that engagement. There were disruptor drones deployed to muck up communications, but no sensor drones or general recon effort besides the presence of flyers.
Why not? Well, for one thing it was a quick strike mission, and for another drones that aren't specifically built for stealth are (I would imagine) very easy to detect by enemy patrols and augers. They have self-contained power generators, anti-gravity engines, much less intelligent discretion in hiding from/engaging enemies, and presumably are in constant electronic contact with other drones and/or a control hub to absorb and process tactical data and orders.
So how the Fire Warriors interact with drones isn't really an issue there. Although I too agree that I've been too hard on the grays. I've tried to improve upon that in future chapters, although my success is open to debate.

[Permanganate]

OK, how is it possible for you to turn out 435k of really, really good story? There are plenty of authors on here who don't manage a tenth of that per year, spread over many stories which hardly started. Yet here, you've made something which is fun to read, and which I really want to see more of. (Iron Warriors & Ponies has been done before, and somewhat more realistically, but it was depressing stuff. I vastly prefer this take on it.)

About the only thing I can find fault with is that the Tau have taken so much of a kicking that they're getting difficult to take seriously. They made what looked like a big victory at the Chaos base, but it hasn't made much of a difference. I wondered if you'd have the Tau win in space, because there's literally no-one in the Chaos fleet who any readers care about, and the Tau still wouldn't be able to bombard the planet since the Chaos base can bombard the Tau one. Of course, perhaps your own plans for the story's direction are going somewhere completely different...

[SFaccountant]

4517145
My secret? I have a very long commute to work.
That's pretty much it. It was this or reading, and everyone knows that books are for eggheads
I can't stand depressing stories myself, and can't imagine why a 40K/MLP crossover would even try to take itself seriously. You've pretty much lost that battle right at the start. So I made sure this thing was silly from start to finish.
As for the Tau, yes, this has been something of a persistent problem. I keep coming up with small moments where the Tau get to look bad-ass, but I'm pretty sure the readers know they're going to come out of it in a body bag. And they do. Every single time. Yeah.
So I'm definitely banking on the funny parts and anti-moralism to distract from the dramatic tension. The next chapter will show the Tau on the offensive again, but I don't think they'll look particularly cool while doing it...

[Bugsydor]

Of course the pegasi would all want to become space pirates. That entire race is practically primed to worship the veggie god! Hooray for proud warrior heritage!

[Flick Mare]

When I started reading these stories I didn't think I'd get particularly invested. Who do you root for in a fight between heretics and infidels, you know?

At this point I was near glued to the screen hoping my favourite band of evil space pirates succeed in their daemon-based tactics. Even though I know there's a lot more story to go, I could feel the tension building as the fleets converged. Maybe by Pinkie Pie's logic, someone just cracked out a game of Battlefleet Gothic?

As to your temptation to have a character shout "It's a trap!", you can bet I was listening to the Battle of Endor soundtrack for that scene.

[Subject Number 6]

So when are Daniels and AJ going to stop betting around the bush? Just saying if they flirt any more and this goes no where I'm going to be disappointed.

[SFaccountant]

6881203
Flirting? What flirting? I don't see any flirting! They're not a couple, I tell you! :O

[the other sans]

A pair of Warpsmiths briefly conversed in binaric cant before turning cautiously

1. Forgot to capitalise.

[SuperAvenger3]

"My kind" are those humans that have denounced the Imperial creed of xenophobia and idolatry. "My kind" fight for the Greater Good.*

Well, you see--their god is real and can actually answer prays... If you are a psyker. Still, he protects mankind from demons in the warp so demonic possesions in psykers are as minimal as possible

[NetherWalker]

"What IS it, exactly?" Blueblood asked, an eyebrow arched. "Not a sculpture, I hope. I detest modern art."

You know, Blueblood may have just gained a modicum or respect from me.

"And then suddenly it's as if we can't do without them!" Blueblood concluded. "Already Celestia has declared the humans the allies of an evil power, a race of invaders aiming to bring corruption and death to our lands, and look at all the effect that's had!" Blueblood snorted angrily. "Those hicks in Ponyville buddy up to them without a care, including the Elements of Harmony themselves! Even here in Canterlot, where they're formally banned, I can't attend a single social event without seeing some self-important nobody bragging about their 'auto-scriber' or 'plasma furnace' or 'adamantium gene-locked jewelry case'. Did you know that there's apparently a shop HERE, in the city, that actually sells this filth?"

Aaaaand there it goes.

[WanderingPony]

Then she threw her hat onto the ground and reared up on her hind legs, screaming her rage to the heavens.

"TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUU!!!"

Ironically, Applejack's grandfather is voiced by William Shatner. Just saying.

[A Wild Magikarp]

Then he hesitated, staring at the man and pony as the door opened to let him out. "Also, for sanitary reasons, please refrain from engaging in intercourse so long as you're on the premises," he added.

Everyone else is in the same... ish, boat I am. They see the miraculous potential!

"Indeed. The gray pegasus with the optical impairment saw to the matter yesterday. It is done."

I already know what happened. Dang it Derpy...

Blueblood rolled his eyes, annoyed that yet another of his so-called "peers" refused to see the threat for what it was. "Mark my words, Kibitz: we're going to reach a point of no return soon," the prince said, once again jabbing the other unicorn with his hoof, "if the Royal House doesn't nip this in the bud, then we're going to find the humans' claws lodged deeper in pony society than we'd ever imagined was possible. And we'll have nopony but ourselves to blame."

It pains me to say it, but... Blueblood is RIGHT.

"I'm touched by your trust," Gaela said dryly.

He glared at her. "You are not."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

He glared harder. "You are not."

Gaela rolled her eye.

These two are just perfect.

"TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUU!!!"

Why is SAA (And the Apples) this stories punching bag? At this rate AJ will have a full head of grey at 30.

[StubobNumbers]

6881203
And instead beat around AJ's bush!

[Animatorsnake]

Derpy nooooo, welp Canterlot is going to burn under plasma fire

[Icy Creation]

Twilight sat on her haunches, staring at the chalkboard intensely. "All the evidence seems to suggest that the Tau are expecting to fight somebody... or someTHING here, on our planet. But if it isn't us... and it isn't you... then what could it be?"

Just hope it isn't Tyranids. If it is, everyone's dead.