Eve Equestria
06
Friendship
Rarity sucked in a breath as she emerged from the cloning vat. She felt amazing, to be honest. Was this the difference between an alpha and an omega clone? She was not sure, but she couldn't deny how much better she felt.
In fact, she could feel the implants pushing information into her brain at double the speed it had before.
All in all, she could only smile.
And that had not been all. She had been injected with more skill books than before, as well as a few skill injectors to expedite the learning process.
With help from Sister Alitura, she now had a rather impressive queue of skills on the go, as well as what the skill injectors had granted her.
Yet there was more.
Rarity looked out from the docking platform at her very own Stratios exploration cruiser. She'd seen them on the data sheets, but now that she could actually SEE it for herself, the mare could only be in awe.
And Sister Alitura had even given her a unique SKIN, created just for her.
A white body, that was given, with a trio of blue gems on the sides of the massive ring. Not only that, but it sported Amarrian markings, not in gold, but in the exact same purple as her mane and tail.
Her first response had been to drag the sofa over to herself so she could faint on it.
Oh yes, the sofas, by default, are bolted to the floor. The sheer force for one to 'simply' rip it out of place was staggering.
Sister Alitura, along with both Jakraf and Tempest mentally ran some calculations. The resulting math; Unicorns are insanely powerful.
"I can see you like your new ship." Alitura smiled.
"Oh yes, I do, ever so much. It is divine."
Alitura sat down next to Rarity. "It's been fitted for deep space, long term exploration, as well as a full suite of light, medium and heavy combat drones. A pair of beam lasers as well, seeing as you seem to have a preference for those. Finally, the covert ops cloaking device. I know you know how to use that now."
Rarity nodded. She wanted ever so much to jump in and take it for a flight right now.
"Go on, we have a number of ships waiting outside to assist you in your journey home."
The unicorn wrapped her forelegs around Alitura and rested her head on the woman's shoulder, and gave her the most delightful hug she'd ever felt in her life. Normally, she was not one for physical contact, and especially not too keen on actually meeting capsuleers face to face, preferring to meet them over a com channel.
But Rarity was a very unique and special case.
Tempest stared at Rarity for a moment before turning to Jafrak. "Her pants leave nothing to the imagination.
The man nodded, keeping his attention, as best he could, on Rarity's face. As odd as it seemed, he had to admit, for having an animal shape, she was strangely... hot. "Yea, I promised I would introduce her to panties... Maybe you'd do a better job at that than me."
"What are panties?" Tempest asked with a straight face.
Jafrak nearly had a sudden case of spontaneous bloody nose. Somehow, he didn't. Somehow.
His own implants, thankfully, prevented much in the way of blood loss.
He had taken note that Tempest was wearing a tight jacket... and a short skirt.
Rarity released Alitura and stepped down onto the floor, returning the sofa to its proper location. A little extra magic, and metal was heard being forced back into place.
"Jeeze Rarity, just how strong is your magic?"
Rarity smiled at Jafrak. "Oh, I'm not much stronger than your average unicorn. Princess Twilight is much more powerful than I, and the royal sister, well, let me just say, they would move the sun and moon to protect their little ponies."
"You mean that literally, don't you..." Jafrak's brain didn't even try to calculate the forces required to perform a feat like that. It was, well, beyond physics. Magic was the only explanation.
"Oh yes. Princess Celestia moves the sun, while Princess Luna moves the moon."
The three humans present boggled at the concept that such power was possible.
Alitura spoke first. "I guess it is a good thing that we are wanting a friendly meeting with your people. I do not want to imagine how foolish it will be for any of the empires or other factions should they attempt war."
"Yea. I can just see it now. Massive fleet invades, and they get a sun to the face for their troubles." Jafrak was soooo glad he'd saved Rarity now. "So, how about we go get Rarity home before somebody gets to experience that."
"I agree." Tempest added. "A friendly co-existence with your people would be in all our best interest." She didn't ever want to piss off a being that could pull something like that, assuming Rarity was telling the truth. Still, she had examined the remains. She was aware of the strange energy that the body contained. She had read the reports of that same energy coming from the strange and erratic wormhole. She had no doubt that moving a sun was possible.
"Good, now, your ship is fully loaded, and I am quite certain you will adore your living quarters on your ship."
Rarity smiled, and skipped over to the console. She accessed the ship's name registry.
"Time to take the Friend Ship out for her maiden voyage."
...
Kohaskhach Rales paced back and forth in his office, a tablet in his hand. He couldn't fathom the ramifications of the information he's been handed.
Aliens?
Their existence was beyond blasphemy.
And the Sisters of Eve, they were WILLING to help this freak creature to return home with all the information it had gathered? No, that was not to be allowed.
He sat at his desk and sent out the orders.
This alien, Rarity, was to be arrested and brought in on sight, no matter which empire she was to be found in.
But then came the issue of the ship she'd been boarding. A Stratios. A damn covert ops ship that the SoE were so damn proud of.
He knew, even with all the power that the Theology Council possessed, they could not go toe to toe with the SoE. They were to well respected among the Capsuleers. To attempt to bring them down would result in the largest all out war in hundreds of years. The Council would not be able to stand, even with the entirety of the Amarr Empire backing them up. To face off against three empires, one of which they had a loose alliance with, and all the mercenaries out there would result in only one thing.
There would stand three Empires in the end.
So, rather than force, he chose subtlety. The misbegotten wormhole that was plaguing all of New Eden would be closely monitored wherever it appeared, and the moment the alien horse creature appeared, they would be taken in to custody.
Rales could not let this spy return home. New Eden would not fall to this new threat.
...
Rarity walked down the corridor of her new ship. Every detail was simply perfect. Well, for a ship, at least.
Though she would have preferred the interior to have more color than white surfaces with the violet patterns with the occasional blue gem patterns intertwined. It really was enough to go to most pony's heads.
She giggled as she imagined what would have happened if Trixie had been given a custom painted ship. Nobody would ever hear the end of it. Even as they blew her up... Knowing Trixie, she'd somehow always manage to escape.
She had seen the dining room, a nice small one which could easily fit a dozen, a small exercise room, which included a sauna. She knew she was going to be making use of that.
The living room was both functional and very well designed. All it needed was some nice decorations to make it feel more like home.
A full sized washroom with walk in shower large enough for four at once, and a tub large enough for two ponies, easy.
There was room for six crew or passengers, easy. Each of the quarters was comfortable in its own, but then she entered the master suite.
Her own home back in Ponyville felt like a hole in the ground. The room includes a sitting room, an office, complete washroom, and a bedroom with a huge king size bed.
Rarity felt like she was living in the royal quarters in Canterlot.
"Goodness, are all Stratios as richly decorated as this?" She turned to Alitura, who had accompanied her.
The Sister shook her head. "Actually, normally it's pretty spartan. This is a special diplomatic edition of the Stratios. I mean, other than aesthetics, it's identical in function to a normal Stratios."
"Understandable." Rarity smiled. "I would like to ask if you would like to join me for her maiden voyage, but I get the feeling that you have other important matters to attend too."
Alitura nodded. "Yes. I tend to all capsuleer contact at this station, providing contracts for the jobs they take, as well as paying them for their hard work."
Rarity smiled and bowed her head, and received the same from the taller lady.
"Well then, Lady Rarity, I wish you the best for your journey home."
"And you as well Sister Alitura."
...
Rarity sat in her capsule, which had been transfered from the cargo hold of the Stiletto to the Friend Ship.
She could feel every aspect of the ship, and reached her will out. She felt the power core come to life, energy charging through the conduits and powering the ship. With but a simple thought, she directed the ship to be towed out so it could launch.
The moment she did, she could see three Astero waiting for her, as well as a Stiletto, one more Stratios, white and red in color, and finally she gasped as the massive Nestor ship undocked behind her. It too was white and red.
The three Astero were silver in color, each with its own splash of blue, yellow and orange.
"Oriandos to Friend Ship. We have received a positive sighting of the C10 wormhole. Please set destination to star system Yasud. A site to site wormhole from Tar to Tash-Murkon Prime has been located. We will utilize that to reduce the journey from twenty jumps down to nine. Please follow FC's directions at all times. Prepare to enter fleet warp."
Rarity allowed the fleet commander, who was located in the massive Nestor, to take over warp control.
She leaned back and smiled. Soon, she would be home.
The trip took only a matter of hours to reach the first wormhole. The three Astero jumped ahead, and after the all clear, the pair of Stratios and the Oriandos entered as well. A quick trip through wormhole space, and they emerged back into hisec.
Two more jumps, and as they exited the stargate, they found themselves in a warp bubble.
That was impossible. Warp bubbles were illegal in hisec.
Fifty mixed ships were waiting for them, and then another ten decloaked between the stargate and the small SoE fleet. They were close enough to disengage the gate cloaking systems that tended to protect those who jumped through the gates.
"Holy hell, what's going on here?" Jafrak almost raged. He could feel a large number of ships targeting him instantly, scrambling and webbing all his systems
"What is the meaning of this?" The FC demanded over open coms. "You are breaking the law by using interdiction bubbles within high security space. Where is Concord?"
"My apologies." A cruel sounding voice came over the coms, but no face appeared to accompany it. "There is no concord here, you see, Lossa is a Nulsec system now and is now under sovereign rule by the CODE. Alliance. If you do not want this to turn bloody, then I request all crews to disembark from your ships. We'll allow you to leave without taking any lives. Well, only one of you will not be leaving. We're detecting a rather unique life form in that rather striking Stratios."
"Like hell you're taking Rarity." Jafrak wanted to try to do something, but even after refitting his Stiletto for combat, he knew that the opposing fleet would flatten him easily.
"You have no say in the matter. Eject from your ships and go back to where you came from, or you can all be sent home the fast way. All except the alien life form."
Rarity whimpered. She felt that things were starting to look up, that she would finally make it home.
But no, this CODE. Alliance had somehow set a trap, and it was now looking dire for her well being.
Rarity screamed into the open coms. "Why won't you just let me go home!?"
She lit her horn. Rarity was not going to go down without a fight. With a scream of rage, the unicorn launched EVERY drone on her ship at once, her magic filling in for the computer's AI control systems, allowing all of them to take action. Her lasers locked onto the ship that the communication was coming from, a command destroyer, and then she and all her drones opened fire.
The small Magus ship melted in seconds, taking everyone by surprise as the Stratios fired lasers that should have only been able to come from a battleship.
Rarity's horn blazed with magic, her drones moving faster than they ever should have been able too, tearing into the offending fleet with a vengeance.
The Friend Ship's lasers were not white, nor purple or red. No, they were like pissed off rainbows.
It took three more ships exploding before both fleets started reacting.
Weapons fire and drones were everywhere, ships weaving through the onslaught, praying that they wouldn't take any hits, but that was not possible.
More than sixty ships against seven, it was not looking good.
The first ship to explode was Jafrak's interceptor, which wasn't too surprising as it had been the lightest ship of the group.
The Oriandos came under heavy fire from the opposing battleships, while the rest all started focusing on the pair of cruisers and trio of frigates.
Rarity's anger fueled her magic even more. She could feel herself tapping into a force of magic the likes she'd never known to exist, beyond that of the Princesses themselves.
Her drones, while they had started with the element of surprise, were starting to get targeted and taken out. Her own Stratios was getting hit hard, even with all the defensive systems that had been installed.
Still, her overpowered, over heated lasers just cut through shield and armor alike.
Her fellow Stratios bloomed into brilliant flames as it exploded. She could see her armor, even with the repair system on overdrive, was not holding up the the brutal assault she was under.
The last of her drones were chewed apart by opposing drones. Her capacitor was hitting red-line as other ships were hitting her with anti-capacitor weapons, draining the energy from not only the Friend Ship, but from herself, as she was currently directly linked and fueling the vessel.
She felt the last of her magic drain from her body, and all systems on the ship shut down. Rarity watched as the three Astero exploded one after another, followed moments later by the Oriandos itself.
She screamed as she watched every remaining ship take aim at her. The Friend Ship would be destroyed, and she would be captured by these CODE. bastards.
To Be Continued...