Boyce picked himself up from the shuttle bay floor with a groan. He noted Midnight and Harrakar sprawled next to him, but while the Rakshani was still unconscious, the chakat was already starting to stir. Whether Midnight’s constitution was tougher or shi had gotten hit to a lesser degree, shi was already struggling to hir paws before hir fellow Security Officer showed any signs of recovering. Wobbling slightly despite hir four-legged stance, shi made hir way over to the Admiral.
“Orders, sir?”
Boyce just shook his head and waited. More of the boarding team started appearing, although these were placed on the floor rather than a meter above it. Evidently Captain Path had wanted to rub in his point with a pointed demonstration to the Admiral. Then he noticed some real casualties who were more than just stunned. Boyce tapped his combadge and said, “Kline to Doctor M’Lai.”
After a brief moment, a reply came. “M’Lai here, sir.”
“Doctor – I want a medical team in the shuttle bay immediately. We have some casualties.”
“What…? On my way, sir!”
Boyce turned to Midnight. “Attend to your teammates. When M’Lai has everything under control, see me in my office. It’s time we ended this idiocy.”
Midnight nodded. “Aye, sir.”
Boyce made his way to his stateroom, pulling off parts of his body armor as he went. He dumped the lot of it in the corner behind his desk and he sat down in the chair and tapped his combadge. “Kline to Silpurr and Forestwalker. Come to my office as soon as possible.”
He listened for the acknowledgements before starting on a report on the abortive mission. When the Caitian and the chakat turned up, he asked them to take a seat and wait for Midnight to join them. There was an uncomfortable silence as they waited while Boyce continued writing. At last, the black-furred chakat turned up and the Admiral turned his attention to them all.
Before he could speak though, Midnight asked, “Are we going to make another attempt at taking over the Cosmic Lotus right away, sir?”
“No, Commander, we are not.”
Midnight nodded with visible relief. “Good. It would take a lot of planning to overcome their advantages. Our body armor is exactly as effective against their horn blasts as our ship’s shield is against the Swarm’s mysterious energy beams.”
“Probably because they’re much the same thing,” Boyce replied, “but that’s not why we’re ceasing all action against them.”
Forestwalker looked back and forth between Boyce and Midnight. “What exactly have you been doing to the Equians?” shi asked suspiciously.
“The worst possible thing,” Boyce replied with a mixture of anger and guilt. “I got an unexpected response to my report to Star Fleet Command. Basically, it seems they shit their pants and lost their minds. I was ordered to prevent the Cosmic Lotus from proceeding any further because they represented a credible threat to the Federation.”
“WHAT?! Did they even read my assessment of their crew in your report?” Forestwalker was up on hir feet and leaning over Boyce’s desk in righteous anger.
“Please, calm down, Forest. Enough stupid things have been done in the heat of the moment already.”
The chakat reluctantly sat hir hindquarters down on the deck, but her ears were focused at Boyce and her whiskers were quivering as shi impatiently awaited a reply to hir question.
Boyce sighed. “I argued with Port Admiral Namatjira himself that they were not a threat, but he reminded me that we are in a state of war, and if I refused his direct orders, I would be relieved of command and court-martialed. I made an official protest, but acknowledged Star Fleet’s orders. I had barely finished talking with him when the word came through that Cosmic Lotus had resumed maneuvers. I was angry and frustrated, and in the worst possible mood to make a calm decision. I was less than diplomatic in my phrasing when I ordered Captain Path to stop. I blame myself for the situation we’re in now, but we have to put that behind us. I’ve followed Command’s orders to the letter up until this moment, but now it’s time to do things my way. First, we have to mend some bridges.”
“We invaded their ship – how do you think they are going to respond to us now?” Rosepetal asked.
“Captain Path has repeatedly said that he doesn’t want to be our enemy. It’s time to give him the chance to make good on that.”
“What about Star Fleet Command? They aren’t going to be happy,” Midnight queried.
“We’re going to make a show of compliance. I think we can still salvage this situation if we can get the Equians’ cooperation.” He looked at Rosepetal. “This is what I want you to do….”
“You did what?!” Destined face-hoofed as Wandering got to the part about his attempt to get answers to his questions by disguising himself as a chakat. “What were you thinking?!”
Wandering gave Destined an embarrassed look, glad that they were in the privacy of his office. “Not my best idea, I admit. I was frustrated beyond belief after all our efforts to make friends with the Federation people seemed to have come to nothing. I thought that if I learned what they weren’t telling us, I could resolve the situation. While we were indefinitely out of contact with home, I felt that I had to take the initiative for the sake of the ship and the crew.”
Destined sighed. “It was still premature. I’m just sorry that I didn’t track you down sooner and prevent this.” He looked at Starry accusingly. “And why didn’t you discourage him? You’re almost as much to blame.”
“I did express my misgivings, but I thought that he could get away with it. I admit that I felt that the Federation people had slighted us by keeping us in the dark, so I went along with his idea. He makes a sexy chakat too.”
Destined blinked at the non sequitur, but quickly dismissed it for now. “Anyway, what happened after that?”
Wandering continued relating the events that had led up to Destined’s return. When he had finished, the older alicorn stallion looked thoughtful for a long moment.
“Okay, first we have to re-establish communications with Admiral Kline and try to negotiate a compromise. Maybe they’ll be more receptive to a Prince of Equestria than a captain of a starship.”
“And what if they’re not?” Wandering asked. “Are you going to teleport us all back to Equus?”
“I hope not. That’s a whole lot further than I ever anticipated having to take passengers. Anyhow, that’s going to be our last resort. For now, let’s be positive and concentrate on figuring out…”
“Captain Path to the bridge, please!” blurted the intercom on Wandering’s desk.
“What now?” The alicorn toggled the switch on the intercom and replied, “I’m on my way.”
With Destined and Starry in tow, Wandering hastened to the bridge. When they got there, the Pegasus was displayed prominently in the middle of the main screen as it had so often over the past few days.
“Okay, Commander, what’s the problem?” Wandering asked.
Bluequill pointed a talon at the ship on the screen. “This is our forward view. Their ship has maneuvered directly into our path. They’re out of range for the moment, but if we continue as we are, one of our mana balls is going to impact them, or at least explode close enough to them to cause very serious problems.”
“It appears that the Admiral is very serious about preventing us from proceeding,” Wandering said with a sigh. “Okay, let’s see if we can talk this one through.”
Wandering levitated the comm that was linked to its mate on the Pegasus and activated it.
“Captain Path to Admiral Kline – please respond,” he requested in Equian for the benefit of Destined.
There was an immediate reply from the human, accented slightly by processing through their universal translator. “Kline here. I request that you stop your maneuvers immediately, Captain Path. Please.”
Wandering’s eyebrow went up in mild surprise at the Admiral’s firmly polite request. Nevertheless he was still irked at the Federation’s initial attempts to stop them. “I’m not the one who parked their starship directly in the line of fire, Admiral. I suggest that you move.”
“I am required to stop you, Captain, but you told me that you are not my enemy and have no wish to be, so I am hoping that you told me the truth and suspend your deceleration maneuvers.”
Wandering groaned. The human was correct as he had no intention of harming the Pegasus. “Playbitz – suspend operations.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Wandering spoke to the comm again. “Admiral, we have stopped as you requested. However, I must point out that we need to resume very soon in order to obtain a stable orbit.”
“If necessary, we can tow you into one, Captain.”
“You can do that?”
“Our tractor beam can handle a ship of your size.”
“Tractor beam?”
“Something like your telekinesis, only with technology.”
“If you can do that, why the buck didn’t you say so in the first place?” Wandering said with some asperity.
“I can only apologize for my hasty ill-considered actions. I request a resumption of talks so that we may resolve the present situation.”
“I don’t know, Admiral. I’m not exactly in the mood to talk at the moment…”
“Harrumph!” Destined interrupted Wandering, giving him a meaningful glance.
Wandering nodded. “However, my brother wishes to open formal negotiations with the Federation.”
“Your brother, Captain? I don’t believe that you introduced me to him at the party.”
“That would be because he only just arrived after re-establishing contact with our beacon.”
There was a long moment of silence before Boyce replied. “I would welcome a diplomatic meeting with you and your brother, Captain.”
“We will be in contact with you soon to set it up, Admiral. Captain Path out.” Wandering turned to his brother and said, “Looks like we have to get you up to speed with their language. As you’ve just witnessed, they have a very efficient translating device, but I think you’d prefer being able to speak their Terranglo.”
“It would hardly be the first language I’ve learned,” Destined replied.
Wandering turned to Bluequill. “Commander – you have the bridge. Let me know if the Pegasus does anything else at all suspicious.”
“Aye, Captain,” the griffon replied.
Boyce looked quietly thoughtful after Wandering signed off.
Rosepetal said, “If we take what Captain Path said at face value, his brother just teleported all the way from their home world which they are estimating to be around two thousand light-years away. That’s damn impressive.”
Midnight said, “The Federation’s best teleporters might have only gone a couple of hundred at most, but that’s only because they have had no mental anchor point to aim for greater distances. P5 teleporters like Chakat Swiftwalk otherwise have no known range limit.”
“But as you said, shi needs an anchor point – a place shi has already visited before – in order to accurately teleport there,” Forestwalker pointed out. “The Cosmic Lotus is in a location that is totally unknown to them after going through the wormhole.”
Boyce nodded. “Precisely. Once again, they have shown an ability superior to our best. While Star Fleet Command has a right to be concerned, it’s my opinion that we need to form an alliance with them, not treat them with suspicion and fear. They might be the key to pushing back the Swarm once and for all.”
“And save our home,” Forestwalker added.
Everyone at that meeting silently but fervently agreed.
It was agreed that the meeting would take place on the Pegasus in the area that Wandering had previously identified as being for formal affairs and diplomatic events. Boyce, Rosepetal, and Midnight waited near the elevator entrance for the appointed time. Right on schedule, the party from the Cosmic Lotus appeared. Wandering, Eon, and Phalanx were accompanied by a newcomer, which Boyce presumed to be Captain Path’s brother. Unlike the others, the blue-coated stallion was not clad in a ship’s uniform, but wore some formal regalia including golden hoof-shoes and a modest coronet on his head over his bright red mane. A symbol – or cutie mark as they called it – of a pocket-watch adorned his hindquarters, making Boyce wonder what it symbolized. He stood a little taller than his brother, and had a sense of presence that the other alicorn lacked.
Wandering stepped forward as the other stallion looked around. “Admiral, may I introduce to you my brother, Prince Destined Path.”
Destined stepped up then and offered a hoof which Boyce solemnly shook.
“Welcome aboard the Pegasus, Your Highness. Captain Path did not tell me to expect royalty.” He glanced Wandering’s way. “Does that mean that you’re a prince also?”
Wandering chuckled. “Only by relation. I have not been coronated, nor do I wish to rule. Destined, however, has been a Prince of Equestria since before I was born.”
Destined smiled serenely. “Since I was eight years old, actually. Funny story actually, but I believe we have some serious matters to discuss.”
“Indeed,” Boyce replied. “I have had a conference room set up with ponies in mind. I suggest that we proceed there and begin our talks.”
Boyce led them to a large meeting room with a huge polished oak circular table. Chairs and a padded stool for Midnight were on one side. On the other were more chairs and stools suited to the visitors that they could select from. Both Destined and Wandering chose a chair, noting its suitability for their tails to fit comfortably. Eon and Phalanx elected to use the stools – the dracopony because it was better suited for instant action in his role as security for the party, and Phalanx because he preferred it. While he was security too, his main purpose was to monitor the emotions of the Federation people during the negotiations.
When they were all seated, Destined spoke up.
“Let me formally present my credentials. I am Crown Prince Destined Path of Equestria, one of the triequirate that rules our nation.”
“May I ask what a triequirate is, Your Highness?” Boyce asked. “It does not seem to translate.”
“The triequirate is the royal body that rules Equestria, consisting of three alicorns – Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and myself.”
“No kings or queens?”
“There can only be one king or queen, but as many princes or princesses as needed. We have found that the three of us make an ideal balance. While Princess Celestia ruled by herself a millennium, she was happiest with Princess Luna by her side, and then I finally joined them when I was old enough.”
Boyce was stunned. “A millennium? How long do you ponies live, if I may ask?”
“Bearing in mind that our time-keeping may vary a bit, pony lives measure between 150 to 200 years approximately. However, alicorns are immortal. Celestia is about fifteen hundred years of age, but I am only a tenth of that so far.”
“That is quite amazing. Anyway, to have a royal governing body that has reigned continuously for that long speaks of great stability for your nation, but how do you stand among the other nations of your world?”
“Equestria is perhaps the greatest nation on Equis, with several independent nation-states that have joined ours by treaty. We are represented on the Greater Equis Council of Nations, and I am authorized to negotiate on my nation’s and our world’s behalf.”
Boyce nodded in acknowledgement. “I am Boyce Garald Kline Junior, Admiral of the First Fleet of the Stellar Federation’s Star Fleet. I am responsible for this entire sector of space, and I am authorized to speak for the Stellar Federation… normally. However, I must inform you that the Federation is currently in a state of war with an enemy that we have dubbed the Swarm. As such, normal First Contact procedures have been suspended in favor of a more cautious approach. While this has resulted in some regrettable actions so far, we are not without justification as you have demonstrated the possession and use of a power that has been totally unknown to us up until the advent of the Swarm. That power has been used to devastate worlds and slaughter many of our citizens.”
“My condolences, Admiral, but we have been totally unaware of your existence up until the Cosmic Lotus encountered your ship.”
“That was my impression, but Star Fleet Command was a little more… cautious.”
“Brain-dead is more like it,” murmured Wandering.
Destined gave his brother a stern glance before responding. “Is it possible to see examples of this Swarm, Admiral?”
“Most certainly.” Boyce touched the buttons on the virtual keypad on the table in front of him, and a hologram lit up between the people seated at the table. It showed recordings of Swarm ships firing upon Federation vessels, inflicting terrible damage or even destroying them. “These videos were taken in the early days of our encounters with the Swarm before we evolved workable battle tactics against them. Our shields have proven useless against their main beams which utilize a form of energy that we cannot even analyze. We have never encountered it before, and your ship also uses it. The miniature star that powers it is probably big enough to wipe out all life on Chakona.”
“Your concern is understandable then,” Destined said gravely. “Although it’s a bit difficult to be certain by just looking at an image, I am almost sure that I am seeing a beam of raw mana. That is horrendously dangerous even to us.”
“And what exactly is mana?” Boyce asked.
“It is the power behind all magic. It has been adapted for use in magitek devices which are used throughout the ship.”
Boyce sighed. “That is something that I have had a very hard time wrapping my head around. I am an engineer by training, and I have a very thorough knowledge of physics and how reality works. Magic seems to break so many natural laws that it has been difficult for me to accept that something of legend and folklore is a real thing.”
“There’s your problem, Admiral – your knowledge is woefully lacking. If you discount magic, you are left with a special case of physics that has all sorts of limitations. In fact, you cannot explain everything about reality without magic. Once you see how Unified Thaumophysics Theory works, you will find many of the answers that you seek.”
“In the face of overwhelming evidence, I am forced to concede that you are correct. Nevertheless, we are still faced with the problem of dealing with it.”
“Have you tried negotiating with the Swarm?”
“From our very first encounter, the Swarm has attacked without provocation and has never responded to any attempt to communicate. They are relentless in their attempts to advance upon the Federation. Improvements to our fighter vessels have enabled us to reach a near stalemate, but we still have occasional losses, and the battlefront creeps ever closer. We have failed to come up with any defense against their energy – or should I say mana – beam as yet.”
Wandering spoke up. “If you don’t have any magitek, that means you must use purely electronic equipment, am I right?” At a nod from Boyce, the alicorn continued. “I thought so. We are not unaware of electronic systems, but magic interferes with so many of them that they are not used very often. Magitek almost always can do the job as well or better. However, it does explain why your shields are ineffective against the mana streams. It would be like trying to hold water with a sieve – it’s just not capable of doing so.”
“Then you do have a way that will work?” Boyce asked.
“Of course,” Wandering replied.
“Can you supply us with such a system?”
Destined replied, “That’s where we will start negotiating, Admiral. We have something that you want, and you can help us achieve our goals. Once we reach an agreement and are recognized as ambassadors to the Stellar Federation, we can go onto the next step.”
Boyce smiled inwardly, imagining the reaction of introducing cute, colorful ponies to the Federation Council as the saviors of worlds. “I am already looking forward to it, Your Highness.”
The discussions lasted for several hours, with refreshments brought in at one stage for everyone. Eventually a satisfactory agreement was reached and the meeting broke up.
As they were leaving the room, Destined said, “I gather from what you said earlier that your superiors are not going to be happy by this end run of yours.”
Boyce smiled a little and shrugged. “I have been known to upset the apple cart occasionally. I am of the opinion that sometimes it’s better to beg for forgiveness afterwards than to ask for permission beforehand. I think that presented with a fait accompli, they will see reason.”
“I wish you good luck with that, Admiral.”
“Thank you. Can I ask you a personal question?”
“I suppose it depends on the nature of the question, but I don’t offend easily. Go ahead.”
“Your cutie mark – what does it represent?”
“Oh, that’s no great secret. It represents my talent for controlling time.”
Boyce halted and stared in disbelief. “I know that you can accomplish a lot with your magic, but that’s a big claim.”
Destined grinned. “Is it? Sometime soon I’ll tell you about the time war my companions and I fought over a century ago.” His horn glowed and his image seemed to flicker for a moment. Then his magic pulled a small device from a pouch which he held up. “I’ll let you borrow this recorder until we meet again. Check out the latest video recording later.”
Boyce nodded. “I’ll do that.”
The groups ended up where they started and made formal farewells before the Equians teleported back to their ship. Boyce decided to check out the device immediately as his curiosity got the better of him. As he figured out how it worked, Rosepetal leaned over to look at what he was doing.
“What’s that?” the Caitian asked.
“A recording device that Prince Destined Path left with me. I think I have worked out what to do. Fortunately it doesn’t seem to require magic to operate.”
A video started playing on the small screen, and Boyce immediately recognized that it showed Destined and him talking, with the others slightly ahead of them. The Admiral’s jaw started dropping as he realized what was happening as the alicorn passed the recording device over to the human. Boyce saw the angle from which the video was being taken and from, and his eyes darted to the partially open door to the conference room where he caught a glimpse of someone just within holding up the same device.
“Dear God! He wasn’t kidding.”
A couple of minutes later, Rosepetal saw the same stunned look on her husband’s face repeated in the image on the recorder.
“I had better head off home now,” Destined said. “Mom is going to kill me for not telling her sooner that I re-established contact with the Cosmic Lotus.”
“Why didn’t you tell her right away?” Starry asked.
“I wanted to be sure that I was bringing good news, so I popped over here first. I didn’t expect to be caught up in a diplomatic incident.”
“You could always not tell her,” Wandering suggested.
“Yeah, sure! You know how Mom always manages to spot when we’re prevaricating. Might as well take my lumps rather than draw it out.”
Both Wandering and Starry chuckled at the older alicorn’s discomfort.
“Anyway, I’ll probably be back very soon. Knowing Mom, she’ll probably want to come over and see for herself that everyone is okay, and seeing as I’m the only one who has a lock on the beacon now, I’ll have to guide her along.”
“Okay, we’ll be braced for your return,” Wandering said with a grin.
“Oh! Before I forget, I have something for you.” Destined pulled out two comm units. “These will replace the ones that had their links broken. I’ll retrieve those for repair when I return.”
Wandering took the units into his own magic and said, “Great! Catch you soon!”
Destined’s horn lit up, and a moment later he was gone. Wandering started heading for Engineering to get someone to install the new comm units. Starry followed along, curious to find out her mate’s state of mind after the meeting.
“So – how do you feel about the Admiral’s request for help?”
Wandering glanced at her and gave Starry a reassuring smile. “I’ve worked off my mad with him, so I’m ready to help them out. After all is said and done, we are still House Path, the final line of defense against an implacable foe. We may be thousands of light-years from home, but that will always remain true no matter how far we travel. Our new friends need us and we will not fail them.”
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