Captain Middle Road, commanding officer of the Atlantean sailing frigate ANS Millennium, bounded up the steps and emerged up on deck. The Unicorn’s tan coat was enhanced by the wood dust being blown into the air by the many carpenters working to finish the ship and her dark brown eyes. Her mane and tail, normally dyed green, were also covered in wood dust. She looked around and saw her chief bosun's mate and acting exec, Chief Petty Officer Tie Dye, conversing with a shipyard inspector about the delayed departure. So many materials had been going to AREA that the yards had become overlooked, keeping Millennium in drydock for a month later than scheduled.
“Captain Road is busy. If you’d like to leave a message for me to send to her, I can do that,” Tie Dye was saying.
“This is for your Captain’s eyes only. She may relay whatever information she feels necessary to you, but this must get to her first.”
Tie Dye turned her head and saw Middle Road watching. She motioned for the Captain to come over. Middle Road, knowing it must be important, walked to the two.
“Captain, he has a message that apparently can only be seen by you.”
“Let’s hear it.”
The stallion cleared his throat. “Captain Road, you are to make preparations for getting underway. In three hours, you leave drydock and your ship would normally be free to go to Outfitting.”
“That’s it?”
“No. Outfitting has already come, I see, so my next message is your mission: scout the coast outside Summercrest. It is of the highest naval priority that the Domination Navy does not get within visual range of the shipyards there. Queen’s orders.”
“You know as well as I that a single Artemis-class frigate cannot stop them if they come. How will I call for reinforcements?”
“We already have three Fireheart-class corvettes there, all equipped with talking boxes. These boxes will allow you to communicate with your fleet. As you know, we had to take out some crew bunk area aboard your vessel to accommodate for one. They are your support; use them wisely.”
Road returned the salute that followed the end of the message. “Dismissed.” As the messenger walked off the ship, Road nodded to the Chief. “Dye, get the NCOs and officers. We have a job to do.”
--------------------
“Why do we get the orders to patrol? We’re ready for action!” one of Tie Dye’s Petty Officers.
“Because Atlanta said so. These orders came directly from the Queen herself. Do you want to disregard that? I didn’t think so,” Tie Dye replied. The Earth pony’s cordgrass-textured fur bristled like a porcupine. Her mane and tail were rainbows, as was her coat, giving her the name. “Captain?”
“The Chief’s right, fellas. We can’t say no. Besides, with the rest of the Navy in the open ocean, far from any communication from us whatsoever, we’re all that stands between the Dominion’s ships and home. For all we know, King Jagged Edge wants to take Griffonstone and Equestria, too. That’s three nations that are depending on our success in this. I’ve been given authorization to use our Talking Box-”
“The weird books say it’s ‘ray-dee-oh.’”
“Whatever. We only have four total, one for each ship in our little fleet. The folks at R&D tell me that they can’t make any more until we ramp up the tech since all they did was read the books and fix the ones we found. We have the best tech in the world on our ship. Let’s make the most of it. Dismissed!”
The Chief stayed behind while everypony else filed out of the wardroom. When the two were alone, she stood beside the senior officer. “Ma’am, we cast off in five.”
“Understood. Let’s get topside.”
The two walked through the officer’s area and up the stairs, emerging into the blinding daylight. The sun blasted its rays of heat down on them, seemingly cooking them alive. They shrugged it away; late summer/early fall was the hottest time around here. The war started just a few months ago but it felt like an eternity.
As Road stepped to the wheel, motioning for the pony there to be ready, Tie Dye went to work, bellowing in a Sarge-like voice to get the crew moving. They scrambled to the mooring lines connecting the ship to the drydock pier, hauling the gangplank in and readying sails. A Pegasus flew to the crow’s nest and called down. Two Unicorns were in position to unfurl the square-rigged sails on each of the three masts as soon as the ship was in favorable winds and not in the harbor. Crews of Earth ponies and Unicorns together manned the forty guns a side.
The drydock tilted towards the sea with a suddenness that always got one’s heart racing. It was the ship’s watertight test. Nine out of ten vessels passed during normal times with a ship every three days. Millennium bounced nicely as the water lapped her stern gently.
Road signaled. The stallion controlling the drydock mechanisms replied. Then he blew a horn and two teams of ten Unicorns each pulled the great log booms that held Millennium in place as a team of twenty kept the frigate from moving. When the booms were completely moved, the stallion threw a mock salute to the Captain. Then the ship was released from the Unicorns’ telekinetic grip and slid down the drydock.
A loud roar quickly died down as Millennium’s stern stopped moving into the harbor and her bow slid gracefully into the waves. The helmspony spun the wheel, rotating the frigate around to face the harbor entrance. Then the sails unfurled and immediately caught the wind, propelling the ship to sea. As the bow sliced through the water, Captain Middle Road smiled. She was on her way to her first command.