//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Achenar/Imperial Palace // Story: Above the Clouds // by Luyten //------------------------------// One of the most signature things about the Imperial Cutter is the color of the flames that form when the ship begins an atmospheric descent: the flames are an intense aqua that fades to a pale green, which then transitions to a pale blue at the stern. It’s a sight to see, and I’ll bet most ponies on the ground will be pointing up at us and exclaiming loudly. At the same time, the upper crust citizens will be clamoring over each other to get to the landing pad reserved for us, to see if they can gain our favor. About fifty miles above all the commotion, the Palarion’s cockpit was filled with a cacophony of sounds and lights--most of which were alarms, the select few noises that weren’t alarms were that of Luyten yelling statuses in my ear. “Internal heat at ninety-seven percent and rising! Deploying heat sink.” The grey mare took care of the secondary systems extremely well considering the current situation. “Main shields at sixty-four percent but dropping fast, capacitor is charging with forty-six point five megaJoules remaining, reserves at thirty-eight percent. We should make it.” Meanwhile on the other side of the cockpit, I was wiping sweat off my brow and practically wrestling the yoke to keep the Palarion on the correct course. As our altitude above the surface reached twenty miles, I began to flatten out our fiery descent into a more gentle glide of about seven degrees below horizontal. “Internal heat at one-ninety-six and dropping fast, shields at five percent and holding, reserves and capacitor are charging.” reported Luyten. I began slowing from our hypersonic cruise of five kilometers a second to a more manageable speed of eight hundred meters per second when we were within radio range of the Imperial Palace. “Welcome to Imperial airspace, Palarion, you’ve been given access to pad alpha one, enjoy your visit!” Ah, the famed hospitality of the Empire. It was good to be back in friendly territory. “Roger that, Tower, vectoring for approach now. Good day.” I replied on the radio. It was probably too textbook for them, but whatever. In the bright midsummer sun, the pearlescent paint on the Palarion shone like, well, a pearl. The blue-green glass that constituted the observation portions of decks two through seven was always a piece of eye candy as well. The ethereal flames that marked our dramatic entrance had taken its toll on the ship: most of the bottom was charred to a grey-black, and we were leaving smoky contrails in our wake. Finally, with a tired hiss and whump, the INV Palarion settled into a state of well-deserved rest. The landing stairs deployed shortly after the ship’s main systems were offline and in stasis. As Luyten and I walked down the stairs, we could both smell the melting paint dripping off the ship and the acrid tang of hydraulic fluid from the overworked ailerons. The bright blue sky framed with a few wispy clouds caused me to squint my eyes until they were nearly shut until I produced my sunglasses from one of the many pockets in my flight suit. Luyten somehow had better eyes than I did and apparently didn’t need sunglasses. Lucky. After the initial few moments of being outside the ship, the sound of a clearing throat broke Luyten and I from our own musings. “Welcome to Achenar 6D, affectionately known as Capitol!” announced the pony who cleared their throat in a rather showy fashion. “Listen, we’re just here for a couple hours, to see the sights and whatnot, you lot can go back to whatever you were doing before we landed.” I sighed. Looking dejected, the crowd of a few dozen ponies slowly plodded off in search of easier prey. I pointed towards the Imperial Palace. “You ready to see the Princess?” As soon as the word “Princess” left my mouth, any trace of fatigue and tiredness left Luyten’s face and she began almost dragging me behind her towards the elaborate structure before us. The Palace was a marvel of technology and engineering, with no expenses spared. It acted as an elevator to the starport locked in geosynchronous around Capitol, and had countless private docking bays for personal shuttles, and smaller vessels. It was made of the finest materials the galaxy could offer at the time: polycarbonate glass, mana-infused titanium, and pearlescent stone. In short, it was really fucking impressive.     We were lucky to be able to find the throne room in time for a session of court, a tradition that hadn’t changed in over three millennia. Thankfully, the enormous room was mostly empty, only two dozen ponies were queued for an audience, of which we were the last two. There vices and criticisms ranged from fuel prices (which was somewhat absurd...just buy a fuel scoop and fly to the nearest main sequence star), to a traffic ticket, to a complaint about an Imperial ship breaking the noise ordinance a few minute ago. Wait a second… I tuned into the conversation. “...the Cutter was going at least a kilometer a second when they entered restricted airspace, Your Majesty! They need to be fined, and ticketed!” complained the whiny noble directly ahead of us. Princess Luna, ruler of over twenty million cubic lightyears of populated space, five-hundred-and-thirty-seven systems, and multiple trillions of souls, shrugged. The Princess shrugged. “If the party in question is flying one of my private charters, a fine is nothing to them, neither is a mere ticket. It is simply not worth it to pursue this. I will personally berate them for treating my Palarion as they did, I feel that will be punishment enough. Farewell.” To say that I was suddenly nervous was an understatement. “What brings you to my court, dear subjects?” asked Luna, with a kind smile. “I’ve always wanted to meet you, Your Majesty!” Luyten squeaked out with a grin on her face. The Princess’s smile grew wider and she and Luyten began to chat about something, I wasn’t sure… I was too busy trying to figure out how to not smell like smoke and burnt plastic. There had to be a spell somewhere in my head! “Where did you two come from, neither of you look or sound native to Achenar.” asked Her Majesty. “Luyten and I are both from 5 G. Capricorni, we recently...acquired a ship and were visiting some systems on the way to Achenar.” I said, choosing my words carefully, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Luna’s wrath for her ship. Apparently I gave a hint away because the Lunar Princess’s eyes narrowed a slight amount, and she sniffed at the air...or that could’ve been my imagination. Luna got up from her ceremonial throne and strode over to one of the windows overlooking the shipyard. Luyten and I followed her to the window, and then matched her gaze. She was looking directly at the Palarion, with its charred underbelly, smoking wingtips, and wonky paintwork. Fuck. “Say, travellers, would you have happened to acquire an Imperial Cutter, by chance?” “Er...yes, Your Majesty…” Luyten said. “And would you have happened to fly it at hypersonic speeds, at levels which even the most skilled pilots would have turned away, over residential areas surrounding the Palace?” “Yes, Your Majesty.” I answered, accepting my fate of being stuck on some moon tens of thousands of light years away. “In that case, I must thank you for your service to the Crown!” She replied happily, much to our surprise. Seeing our expressions, she elaborated. “It was high time someone shook up the nest around here, I was getting bored with fuel prices and traffic tickets! Come, follow me.”     With Luyten and I in tow, Princess Luna headed towards the Palarion with a notable bounce in her step. We passed countless tapestries, stained glass windows, and statues to commemorate fallen heros and lost warriors. After a few minutes of this, we left the bright, high-ceilinged halls and entered the shipyard. “You see, I had the Palarion commissioned almost six hundred years ago when I was conquesting space out near Polaris, thus the name. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fly her for very long due to having to rule an empire.” Luna’s grew wistful as she went up the boarding stairs and into the cockpit. “A thousand years ago, this ship would’ve been a force to be reckoned with. With just one of these with the right equipment, you could destroy an entire system and be back in time for lunch…” A mischievous smile began to form on her lips.     The Princess teleported out of the cockpit with a fluhPOP and flash of light. A moment later, with similar pomp, she winked back into existence.     “I’ve cleared my schedule for the night, what say you in having some fun?” How could you possibly say no?