“The last of the aid fleet has made it into orbit, Admiral, Captain. All ships in the green.”
“Good. Give word to control and release the civilians to begin landing procedures. Captain, the bridge is yours.”
Rear Admiral Drew Lewis stared down at the holographic map positioned in front of his command chair, just behind the captain’s ops center. Admiral Lewis and Captain Johanes were old shipmates, and it helped the running of the flagship of the newly minted Battlefleet Equus stay smooth. AR-glasses were settled over the eyes of the two command staff, special gloves allowing them to control their various stations while seated comfortably, and not in each other’s way. New technology straight off Luna, much like most of the tech aboard the supercarrier Daedalus, a Hurricane-class, one of the newest designs off Luna’s various tech-works. She hadn’t seen much action during the Rescue, but now she had a role.
Lewis let out a slow breath before tapping a control, bringing up displays of his Battlefleet, with rundowns of the ship capabilities, and the history of both the ships and their captains. One supercarrier, the Daedalus, four battleships, twelve cruisers, and thirty destroyers. With a focus on Terran and Belter patterns, it was a substantial force, with a focus on laser technologies to avoid undo and potential damage to Equus during any skirmishes or holding actions.
The Rear Admiral gave a small grunt as he looked each ship over carefully. A pair of Terran Minoan-class battleships, the Republica and the Nova Terra; torpedo tubes and heavy laser batteries- they were short and stubby for line battleships, but with a good reputation among Terran circles. And two Endeavor-class Belter battleships: heavily armored and with massive power plants to fuel their primary weapons- spinal-mounted boring lasers. Like most Belter vessels, Endeavors were adapted from civilian craft, but even so were nearly unmatched laser-based bombardment vessels.
But that might just be the problem. Their fleet was heavy on long range firepower, with only his packs of Albions and the carrier’s fighter complements giving them any real close quarters combat power. The cruisers were recently retrofitted themselves with lighter laser batteries and torpedos- and were admittedly old Europe-classes, outdated but in large supply.
The admiral sighed and ran his fingers through his close-cropped brown-red beard. It was not a mistake by High Command, by any means; keep the battleships and supercarrier over Equus and between the only warp route into the system and the portal, while keeping fast reaction packs of Europes and Albions stationed around the system. But it was inflexible. And as a Belter, it ate at Lewis. His people kept adaptability and flexibility as bywords.
“Sir?”
An ensign was standing ramrod straight, saluting smartly when Lewis turned towards the young officer.
‘Heh, Martian.’
“Ensign? At ease.”
A grateful look flashed over the woman’s face for a split second as she eased back; Lewis had built his career on relatability, and hence producing loyal and hard-working crews. It just took time for the word to spread.
“The Equusian cadets are aboard, sir, and waiting for you in the briefing room.”
Another plan by High Command, but one Lewis fully agreed with. The surviving Equusians had pledged themselves to the Republic, and they had to be trusted to reflect that. And, more importantly, they had to be trained, and fast. It had taken the Belt twenty years to properly field a professional military, and the Equusians had even less time to adapt. Lewis felt for them, he really did, and would do his best to help.
“Thank you Ensign. I’ll be down shortly.”
*****************************
Ceres Station. Capital of the Inner Belt. To the naked eye, Ceres was in fact a hodge-podge of asteroids, prefab stations, and decommissioned ships all linked by high-strength travel and freight tubes. Aesthetically, it was not beautiful. Indeed, it was downright ugly; a dozen architectures melding and clashing, lit up by bright neon lighting. But to a being such as Princess Mi Amore Candenza, it was a masterpiece- not the construction itself, but those doing the construction.
Relaxing against her dozing husband, the young alicorn smiled down at her notes happily, peeking from them to the station in the viewport. Humans were fascinating. The past few weeks had been a whirlwind for her family. Nominally they were scouting out locations for a security colony, to protect the Crystal Pony race from extinction. But for herself and her own studies into the subject, Cadence had been interested in how humanity viewed love.
On Equus, love was largely polygamist, and steeped in tradition. Especially among her Crystal Ponies; from what she had seen on Terra, their traditions fascinated and delighted many humans- namely because things were rather different. Venus and Terra seemed to be largely, though not entirely, monogamous, while Mars seemed to be split right down the middle between lines of class, with the lower classes being more open to group marriages. The Belt though…
The two sets of the Belt, the Inner and Outer, were an interesting amalgamation of human ideals and wants, at once close to Pony traditions- and yet, so different. Polyamorous relations were the norm here- but not for the reasons of breeding large families like ponies, or for security in griffon aeries, or even as a colonizing group for Diamond Dogs. Belter humans mated amongst their professions for sex, love, and shared labor. Cramped living arrangements on stations could not handle large bursts of new children- from what Cadence had read, several families on said stations would come together discuss making children, who would be raised among the families, sharing in their cultures and dynamics.
Cadence glanced thoughtfully over at her soundly sleeping daughter, curled up on her own seat. The eight year old had been largely sheltered from the worst of the war- she and Shining had done all they could to be there for her during the crisis. The servants and guard were as close to her as relatives, but… how would things he different, she wondered.
“Attention: we have docked at Ceres Station. Passengers may now disembark.”
Cadence chuckled quietly to her, beaming. Time to learn!
*************************
The Prey-Hunters were not watching. Orange eyes opened, narrowing in the unlight. A membrane flicked over the alien eyes, heat showing to the Alpha’s sight. Fur Prey-Hunters, unnoticing, moving away. The Spirit whispered in his mind, needs and commands flowing through his thoughts.
He must learn more. The membrane flicked again- his sight shifted to that of the Spirit Realm; pride billowed in the Alpha’s heart for this gift, even as he bit into the flesh of his cheek. An Eye watched, unblinking, at his restrained body from atop the nearby wall, but well within his range. The Spirit-blessed spittle splattered onto the Eye, and he could See.
A Hunt-station. Armed, filled with Prey-Hunters. Several Prey-Hunter voidcraft in orbit, not ready to hunt yet. Several Escaped Prey with these new Prey-Hunters, several floors away. Alarms sang through the Alpha’s mind. Alliance. Danger. The Spirit spread further, accessing Prey-Hunter oracles. Hunt grounds, dozens of them. Prime worlds among them, several ready to become Breeder-worlds. Spirit worlds among them, even. The Spirit flared.
Ascension. He must ascend- return to Home, bring the Hunt fleets. Prey alliance had been found; Prey-Hunters among them. Death of young must be avenged! Ascension!
Fire burned in his mind, in his claws. Good pain, strength-pain. Fog lifting from his thoughts. Eyes… mind… seeing…
Everything. The restraints of the Prey-Hunters gave way as he stood. Thumbs sliced open palms as he touched the metal of the construction, his Spirit shaping them. The Prime knew that the Prey-Hunters would come soon, and he needed tools. Once he had returned to Home, the true Shapers would give him proper Hunt-weapons. Or, should they prove needed, the dread weapons of War itself.
White eyes constricted at the thought, a hiss bubbling free. War. Cleansing war, the fire that protects the People, and cleanses the void of Prey-Hunters, should they not see the true Way. He would show them here. Before it was all too late.
*********************
“This technology is so impressive,” Twilight whispered as she looked the vessel’s holographic star map over, occasionally peering beneath to scan the emitter over with both sight and magic.
Each trip had been brief, but incredibly informative. Twilight’s datapad, a gift from Victoria while on Terra, was jammed to near capacity with graphs, charts, and countless articles about the Republic’s many planets and colonies in the Sol System. Everything from their economy and culture, down to more classified defense documents, though those were fewer in number and only meant to improve Equus up to a basic Republic standard of defense and technology.
One section of her tablet’s memory was given over wholly to ship manufacture and design. Twilight had never thought herself much of an industrialist, but the sheer ubiquity and need of starships for her people made it a necessity. And it was a little fun to make plans, she had to admit!
They were currently on a Crane-class light transport, made in the area of space known as the Belt. As they had crossed the System, the party had transferred between ships that bore the mark of each different human culture, each with their own quirks. From the sleek yet traditional Venusian craft, to the venerable Terrran, to the militaristic and new Martian, and now to the utilitarian Belter. Perhaps Equusian ships would have a style all their own, one day…
“We’re coming up on Titania, Princess,” the Captain spoke up, breaking Twilight’s concentration.
The alicorn perked up as the map shifted to bring up a view of the moon. This was one of the Sol System’s outermost colonies, but of deep importance to the Outer Belt, from what Twilight had read. The icy moon had a deep ocean of, surprisingly enough, water- cold water, mind you, but a nearly inexhaustible source to be shipped out to asteroid colonies and those without water sources of their own. In the Belt, water was one of the most valuable resources they had, and this shipping capability made Titania nearly a second Ceres in importance. The white and greys of the moon was lit up in concentric circles and lines- dome cities and highways leading out to various spaceports, mining enclaves, and research stations. It was beautiful.
“Does Titania have an atmosphere?” Twilight asked curiously, glancing over her shoulder.
Victoria had been a lifeline in understanding much of the system, and her patience, for someone untrained in governance or even leadership, was admirable.
“Not yet,” the young soldier replied quickly, “But they’re trying for it. A lot of Martian engineers are hired on-planet to get one going. Last I heard, there was a good decade before they’ll start seeing results.”
Victoria let out a breath back on a bulkhead, “There’s some bad blood between Terrans and Belters over the past, so I may not talk too much when we land, Princess. I don’t want to cause a scene on their turf.”
That got a thoughtful frown out of the Princess. The comment almost pleased the Princess, deep down- sometimes it took a bit to remember that the humans were not perfect, and every bit as flawed as Equusians. Maybe-
“What the hell…”
Twilight glanced up in alarm- the pilots had been quiet and nothing but professional during the past weeks. Now both were fiddling with dials and controls, their captain leaning over them to look at their own control boards. The view of the planet shifted, zooming in on the horizon, the white curve lit up by the blue backdrop of Uranus. And partially blocked by a grey dot, slowly swelling as the image zoomed further.
And all hell broke loose. Alarms blasted in over the speakers, the holographic map focusing on the object- a spheroid grey asteroid, lit up in red. With three sets of quite massive engines strapped to one side, glowing a brilliant blue. Silver lines criss-crossed the asteroid, weapons bristling along said lines, and lighting up on the display with soft flickers. A trail of pods was following the rock, or just launching from the surface around the engines. Twilight felt all the blood in her body rush to her hooves, ears nearly deafened in a roar of panic.
“It’s passed the zero barrier!”
“Launch a communication buoy, now! Get word to Ceres Command!”
“Mass impactors on course, starting evasive maneuvers!”
“Spooling up FTL!”
And Princess Twilight Sparkle watched, helpless from near orbit, as the asteroid impacted the colony of Titania. Without any atmosphere, there was nothing to shield it, or even slow the rock down. The miles long piece of metal and rock came down on the main cluster of lights on the surface, snuffing them out in a heartbeat. One could watch the impact ripple out from the site, the crust breaking and riding on the ocean beneath. Entire landmasses were drowned in an eyeblink; more lights on the surface blipping out of existence.
“Titania Command is down. Captain, I… gods above, there’s only…”
In several places across the planet, blue-white explosions flashed for split seconds before fading away- Twilight dimly recalled reading about the planet’s cold fusion experiments. Plans for the future, for the people of the Republic…
A cyan foreleg wrapped around Twilight’s neck and chest, pulling her back. Rainbow’s voice was in her ear, urgent, but Twilight could not focus on the words- her entire mind was focused solely on the planetary map- and to the voices of the command staff.
“Titania Defense is gone, sir, not even on the scopes! Ships must have been in drydock.”
“SOS signals on the surface- service domes in the west, looks like.”
“Mark their location, we’ll tell-”
“Sir! Seraph lifesigns on those pods, and they’re landing near the domes.”
“Log it; nav, get us back to Ceres, we have to protect the VIPs.”
“No.”
The three person command crew started, the captain blinking back at the mare. Their eyes met.
“Princess, we’re only a light transport, not a warship,” he responded slowly, voice shaking despite his put upon calm, “We aren’t equipped-”
“Dump everything not essential and get us down to one of those domes, Captain. We can evacuate as many survivors as possible.”
Was this how Celestia felt? During the war?
Twilight’s horror and rage roared- locked away in her stomach, away from her heart and brain. She knew her face betrayed nothing but cold confidence and command. She had to keep her emotions away- lives depended on it now. The captain did not have her training- she could sense the shock and worry.
“Ma’am, my orders-”
“Are countermanded, in light of the situation. The communication buoy will make sure the alarm is sounded- we now have to save lives. I am a Princess, and a Senator, yes. But that does not make my life anymore important than their’s.”
Twilight’s mates and friends were close to her, their friendship washing over her back in a palpable way, like the sun’s rays. She needed that; it steeled her nerves.
“Republic citizens need our help now, Captain,” Twilight insisted quietly, eyes having never left his own, “We’re the only hope they have.”
For a pregnant moment, wills were matched. Twilight could not fault the man- they had witnessed the same catastrophe, and felt the same horror. Orders had been what he fell back on. Twilight had fallen back onto her principles. Principles forged on the fire of a lifetime fighting for the good of Equestria, with her friends by her side. Principles she needed to share, and to instill in others.
“...nav, take weapons. I’ll pilot us in.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Strap in!” the Captain barked as he moved to sit heavily in the pilot’s chair, and Twilight obeyed instantly, letting Victoria guide her back to her seat.
I will save as many as I can this time. I swear it.