Tzenkethi Dreadnought
Transporter Room
The room was deeply quiet, save for the beeping console and officers placing a large object onto the transporter pad as the doors opened and two tall Tzenkethi entered.
The lead one spoke up first. "Remember, my dear successor, our crew is to be considered expendable for this project's success, if it is necessary. You will hold off any and all enemy forces with as much power as you can muster, do NOT let them reach the surface."
The second-in-command spoke up to his superior officer. "Understood, and.... with your permission, I wish to strike at the small, outdated cruiser that has been with them at the start, my family's descendants have had... incidents with her captain's."
Trinnak stood silent for a moment before responding. "You are granted the honor... However, do not let the fire within you take control as you stand your ground, it will not do you good."
"...Yes sir." The officer said before Trinnak stood on the pad and looked to the chief before he spoke.
"Energize."
~Quas Bridge~
The ride through the portal felt long, yet quick as the ship shook slightly from the intense speed it was traveling at. The shaking lasted for almost a minute before the edge of the portal was reached, the armada of Alliance ships being spit out of the anomaly their targets had left shortly before them. The portal finally closed behind the fleet of ships as they neared Equis and chased after the two escaping Tzenkethi warships that were going towards an area of one of the planet's continents, one that struck Twilight's eye as she saw it on the main viewer.
"Magnify." She said with urgency in her words before the screen zoomed in to show a closer view of the ships and the area they were soaring over.
Dash frowned at her console as she spoke up. "They've started deploying turrets and mines, some are splitting into more of them."
A noise blared from Pinkie's console as she gave a look of fear to Twilight before speaking. "I've picked up a transporter signature, several Tzenkethi lifesigns have beamed down to the surface, as well as a high energy signature!"
"The bomb, they're preparing the detonation sequence!" Terrak exclaimed as he looked to the screen with a low growl.
Twilight gritted her teeth before she spoke. "We don't have much time left, Captain, any options to taking back that cruiser?" Twilight said as she looked to the Herald commander.
"Our ship is capable of taking you and your team to the ship via a gateway, there won't need to be any waiting." He said as the alicorn lifted a hand to gesture.
"Do it, Calem, Samus, Pinkamena, Creepy, I want you to stay with the Heralds until this is over, the rest of you with me!" Twilight said as her friends formed up around her, waiting for the gateway to activate.
"Actually," Samus protested, "I could lend a great amount of effort into helping you, I'd think twice." Twilight didn't waste a second before responding.
"Very well." Upon her word, Samus joined the squad of officers as the gateway opened up, everyone readying themselves as they awaited Twilight's word. "Let's go!" The group raced through the portal with not a second to spare, the portal closing in behind them shortly after.
...............
The bridge was full of officers working on their consoles without a thought of threat, words and beeps from the consoles sounded throughout before a dark blue anomaly appeared at the back of the bridge, releasing several equines and two Tzenkethi as they started shooting at the officers without hesitation. One of the officers made an evasive roll and, upon getting back up, attempted to attack the orange winged equine with his gauntlets, which didn't prove to be much of a threat as the pegasus smacked the soldier back and impaled him with his staff before the soldier expired. As the officer in the center seat attempted to strike, he was smacked in the face by the tall traitor that once commanded the ship, the officer's body hitting the ground before he fainted.
The group took a quick look around the room before they saw all of the soldiers were down, making their way to the consoles as they looked to the screen. "Seal off the bridge, Taluk, lock the controls to the vital systems!" Terrak said before Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo made their way to the two doors and tapped the keypads a few times before they each made a confirming beep.
Twilight gave a tense look as she looked to Applejack and spoke. "What's the status of our engines, AJ?"
"They're operable." The farmpony replied.
"Good, speed us away from the dreadnought and towards the fleet, and hail Wyatt." Twilight ordered before the screen changed to show the Admiral sitting in his chair with a stern look.
"Twilight, I'm glad you made it back, I'd suggest you go take care of that bomb, we'll take care of that dreadnought!"
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked with curiosity.
"While you were down on the station, we managed to get a scan of the dreadnought, and we've found out that the core of that ship is very close to the forward section of the ship, and if we do it right, we can take it out." Wyatt answered.
"And how will we do that?" Twilight said.
"Don't worry about that, just get down there and stop that bomb, we'll hold them off!" Wyatt responded as the princess gave a stern look.
"Got it, also, we still have some troublemakers on the Fearless, I wouldn't mind if one of your ships could spare some troops. Sparkle out." The screen cut to show the alliance fleet before the ship jerked forward and sped towards them, Twilight looking to her friends before speaking. "Everyone, keep yourselves ready, they might come up here any minute." The crew readied themselves upon hearing Twilight's order as they kept their eyes on their consoles.
~U.S.S. Amarillo~
Wyatt gave a smirk as he looked to Elisa and spoke. "Elisa, status?"
"Engines ready, shields primed, tractor beams at full power!" The first officer said with a grin.
Wyatt then tapped his armrest as he spoke once more. "Moon Dancer, is your squadron ready?"
"Locked and loaded!" The four mares said all together as Wyatt smiled and replied.
"Great!" He said as he looked to Lon before giving his next order. "Lon, keep our systems working, use the batteries if you have to!" The Admiral then turned to T'Vrell and ordered, "T'Vrell, tell our allies to focus all their firepower on the dreadnought and bring down their shields!" He then turned to Elisa once again and finished with, "Elisa, punch it!"
The ship sped forward and made swift maneuvers around the mines as it's tractor beams shot out and caught the mines at a close, but safe distance away from the ship, more of them following suite as the mines were being towed towards the dreadnought.
On the dreadnought, the Tzenkethi commander gave a growl as he turned to two of his officers and ordered, "Helm, take us towards the incoming ships, Tactical, target the Constitution class and destroy it, now." The helm officer followed his orders and tapped his console as the ship soon turned towards the minefield behind it and sped towards the Alliance fleet.
As the Amarillo made swift turns around the mines, one of the turrets turned towards it and charged it's cannons, only to be blown to bits by several torpedoes from behind the ship. As Wyatt looked to the right side of the screen, he could see the Antares and four smaller ships flying and firing ahead of them, hitting more of the turrets as they cleared the path.
"Good move, Antares." The Admiral said as he focused his attention towards the screen.
As the dreadnought shook from the weapons fire that the incoming ships were providing, the helm officer looked to the commander and spoke up. "Sir, the weapons fire from the Alliance ships has damaged our sensors, I've lost the lock on the cruise-" He stopped as he saw his console starting to clear up. "....no, wait, I've got them, sir."
"Take us to them." The first officer ordered.
"There's no reason to." The officer said.
"Why can't you?!" He said with a furious growl.
The officer spoke as he pointed to the screen. "They're heading straight for us."
The commander looked to see the Amarillo speeding directly for the dreadnought, four small fighters flying around it. "Lock weapons and fire."
The dreadnought fired a wave of beams and torpedoes at the antique ship, the bridge shaking as the shots hit the shields repeatedly. T'Vrell turned to Wyatt as she spoke up. "We're getting a transmission from the dreadnought!"
"Good, let them taunt us with insults." He said as the screen changed to show the commanding officer in Trinnak's chair, giving a low chuckle as he spoke.
"So, your futile rescue attempt ends here, and our dead ancestors will be at peace!"
"You really think that, huh?" Wyatt taunted back as Lon looked to Wyatt and spoke.
"Shields at 30%, break off, sir?!"
Wyatt kept his eyes on the screen as he replied. "No, let them cut our claws, we'll still have our paws!"
The Tzenkethi commander laughed as he insulted him once more. "You're such a fool for what you're doing, if only my captain were here to see this, he'd be pleased to see one of his enemies whose ancestors slaughtered millions of Tzenkethi from the ancient war finally be vanquished once and for all!"
The Admiral gave a grin as he spoke again. "Yeah, well maybe you could've tried getting some extra soldiers to strike us with. I hear the True Way would make good friends with foes like you!"
"Yeah, and you saw what happened to them, I'm sure!" Minuette said through the companel on the Admiral's armrest.
"Perhaps, and even with your animal friends working your fleets, you'll merely waste more lives in trying to dictate the galaxy!" The first officer said as he smirked.
"Well, perhaps it's time you learned something about us 'animals'!" Moon Dancer said through the comms as the screen cut out to show the dreadnought once again.
"Now!" Wyatt ordered before the ship sped towards the warship and began to make a swift turn away from it.
The Tzenkethi commander gave a look of shock as he noticed several mines being pulled in by the Amarillo as it broke away. Not taking a second to think, he turned to his helm officer and ordered, "MOVE US AWAY, NOW!" His words were too late, however, as the ship was hit by the flurry of mines, flames and fire filling the bridge a second later before everything went black.
The Amarillo flew around the large ship as it's hull broke apart quickly from the constant explosions inside, the small cruiser boosting over the dreadnought as one final explosion tore the ship into large chunks, some of them breaking into smaller ones soon after. The crew let out several yelps and cheers as the ship became nothing but fireballs as the chunks flew outwards and flew closer to the planet.
Lon calmed himself down as he looked over to the Admiral and spoke. "I've set up the tractor beams, our allies are coming to help take care of the debris, sir."
"Good," Wyatt said with a smile. "hail the fleet and tell them to gather at the starbase for defense, who knows if they'll send more over to Equis." The engineer nodded and walked over to his console to perform his task.
~Fearless, Main Bridge~
Twilight steadied herself as she looked to her friends and spoke to them. "Alright, Rarity, Fluttershy, Dash, Pinkie, Applejack, Flash, are you all set for this? They'll most likely have the bomb charging up once we get down there, so we'll need to race over to it without too many stops, if any. If that bomb goes off, every living thing on our planet will be extinguished. We have to get rid of the guards and do whatever it takes to stop that protomatter weapon." The seven ponies looked to each other and nodded to the princess as she smiled. "Good. Taluk, you ready for this little swoop we're making?"
The Tzenkethi looked to her as he stood near his console. "Yes, You may give the word."
Twilight gave a smile as she ordered, "The word is given." Upon her order, Taluk tapped his console a few times before the ship began to face downwards towards the planet and sped towards it's target.
As the ship flew downwards, Terrak walked over to Twilight and spoke to her. "If you do not have a problem, I'm heading down with you, I may be able to provide some assistance with my former comrades down below."
"Not a problem, just try and be careful." Twilight replied as she and her team looked to the viewscreen, watching the surface of the planet get closer as they waited for their chance to strike.