//------------------------------// // Preparing for War // Story: Cold Scales // by Konatra //------------------------------// Spines sat in the newly built round table set in the command center of her ship. The repairs were going smoothly and aside from the missing sections, the whole place was almost completely operational. The enemy ship remained dormant for now so Spines sent a stealth unit to scour the ship to see if it had anything to note, the team came back safe with a few unencrypted orders that left the ship in a lockdown mode, unless anything attacked the outer layer or infiltration was detected the hunk of metal would remain dormant. It was one thing she didn't have to worry about for now in the very least. The past few hours flew by with nothing vital to report while more orbital satellites were launched, a few more and the entire world would be mapped out. Once that is done the teleportation stations would be installed, a mighty achievement to be sure and a great boon for her armies. Lazily she munched on a large diamond found deep inside one of the newly discovered gem mines her forces controlled. Since they were operating at low capacity due to the lack of bases at the moment the worker androids are unable to process the massive amount of materials. Solaris's announcement on their pact to the public would allow her forces to have free control over the landscape and with that control points, bases, teleportation; all would be possible and her force's power would grow enough to handle any possible threat against her home. On the side of her HUD, she could see the clock struck 11:45, it was about time she prepared what could possibly be the most influential moment in the history of Equestria...she shuddered. ___ "My Queen." A Elite unit began as Spines sorted out the holographic map she planned to present to her father on points of interest. "Yes Zinc." She idled while her HUD and the planet map sorted out information on certain locations and how they may be places to command. "King Solaris is set to be here in 10 seconds from now." The armored queen looked up to the round table she sat upon. Just as announced a flash of light flickered over the seat forward from her's and out appeared her father looking a small bit dazed. Spines smiled at his confusion and took off her helmet. "Welcome dad, you alright?" The king shook the light out of his eyes and looked to his daughter. "Yes yes, I'll just have to get used to that form of transportation, it's quite a lot different from magic-based teleportation you know?" He shook his head dismissively. "Never mind that, we don't have all night so we better get to the meat of the matter on this before we can exchange idle chatter." He sat a hoof on the table and put on a hard stare. "Tell me Spines, what are we dealing with and how can Equestria stop it?" Spines nodded, glad she could count on her father on this. "So from what data I could recover from the information stored on this ship I've gathered a sizable file on the form and nature of the enemy." She tapped a command on the table's light keyboard. The image of the planet was replaced with scientific documents about the Spawn hoard. The inky figure-less creatures that made up the backbone of the Spawn were known as 87-Echion which had a surname 'Blood Shifter'. These abominations could be born by the hundreds by a single drop of blood left to ferment over an undisclosed number of years. While the weakest creature in the Spawn hierarchy they had the advantage of being invulnerable to conventional form of base damage but are know to be easily destroyed with weapons imbued with energy or magic. Solaris read over this vital information. Spines nodded. "We'll need to have all of your guards have their weapons enchanted, they may be fast but with a bit of training we can get your soldiers able to easily combat a whole unit of these things." "I see...but from the reports I read I know there are far worse monsters to be aware of right?" Without speaking she changed to the next creature. A purple tiger-like beast the size of a large Earth Pony, 903-Gazon dubbed 'Blood Medio'. An agile violent monster with a jagged tail that can be used as a razor-sharp weapon. "The reports say that an effective method to combat this variant of Spawn is to slice off the tail as it makes a sweeping motion by using an energy laced weapon. After that, they become significantly less dangerous to a trained royal guard." Solaris nodded, absorbing the information. The list went on with effective ways to defeat them. Blood Titans are massive horned brutes that act as front-line bullet sponges designed to wear down the opposition. The best way for weaker species to combat them is to attack the heels since they have a slow attack draw. Once they topple attack the center forehead for that is where a sensitive sensor organ that connects straight to the brain lies. When ruptured the Titan becomes nothing more than a writhing mess. "Now a good majority of these files are destroyed or were deleted as a fail-safe measure when this ship crashed so only files about Spawn exist and even some of the deeper information about them is apparently beyond my clearance." According to her droids since she is a newly ranked 'General' she lacked clearance codes so it meant she was a General without authority, good thing Tendrix gave over command of his units. Without that their programming wouldn't allow them to listen to their orders except for the few more advanced units capable of free thought. "Now Spines you mean to say this 'Spawn' menace is only a low-level threat in the eyes of these space warriors?" He said with grim in his tone. She nodded back with a sad look. "Spawn are created from the blood of a Void unit, now I'm unsure the full extent of the Void but they are what created massive warships and are a tyrannical race bent on the complete genocide of all races in their path. Their goals and methods are unknown to me but what we do know is at least one Void survived the crash from countless years ago and has been producing the Spawn unhindered, a single drop could produce thousands of these monsters so to us their numbers could be considered endless." "How do we stop such a foe Spines? Is it even possible to fully end such a calamity?" Only now did she put on a small grin. "Were it just us alone we would be wiped out in mere days as a planet but know this, the Spawn are considered nothing more than roaches to their adversaries know as 'Unity'. That is only a fraction of the power I command but these skilled units on my side are more than able to keep this planet safe but we can't live in constant fear if a few slip out from our grasp and murdered civilians. We need to find the core of this madness and crush it." Spines clenched her fist to show her point. "Only then will this world know peace." The King sat up. "Okay, where do I play in all this, how do I help serve my people?" The hologram of the planet reappeared. On it, several points were dotted in green. "The first thing I need is to have free reign to move among Equestria as a supported military power." "Do you seek Marshall law?" "No, nothing to that extent but I need to have my units respected as public defenders. If they say a command to residents then it is made only in their best interest to protect them from harm. In no way will they abuse this power for personal gain, how could they? Their robots after all." She chuckled at this. Solaris nodded at this logic. "While it may be difficult to have such a dramatic transition in military power over a once-peaceful nation I will announce your authority...but if we are to do this we must also reveal the nature of our enemy to the public. Only then can our people find some trust in these alien allies." "I expected as much...while it may be unconventional I do have a few low leveled Blood Shifters in containment." She could see the shock in his eyes. "It's for research purposes and the containment is full proof. The design is made for much stronger creatures after all." Solaris huffed at the concept but didn't have the knowledge to know if this was a good idea or not. "What is your plan then?" "We show the people the true grotesque form of the Spawn and why they are a threat needed to be suppressed. Pony kind tends to be quite stubborn when it comes to change but with proof like mine they had to consider the reality we are in right now." "...if you can promise me on your word this demonstration will not put anyone in harm then I will allow such a stunt." It didn't take a second for her to respond, she was that confident in her technology. "I can give you my word no harm will come out of this...aside from a few possible nightmares this may produce." "Right then, what are these points on this glowing map here?" He moved on while pointing to the lightmap. "Those are strategic points my war department suggested would be good places to add control points and resource refineries." "What do these entail?" "Bases will add fast response time to possible threats detected in the area, my units will not only respond to the Void but also minor things such as robberies, assault, natural disasters, and such. Each base is also fitted with a teleportation station I plan to make use to the public when the bases are complete." Solaris didn't expect the declaration that Spines's soldiers were also to become helpful peacekeepers. "Interesting, and what of these refineries?" "I have come into control of multiple resource depots in the Everfree and with refineries, I can have my army produce more units and better armor, weaponry, and even common goods assuming we outfit a surplus of droids. It may amuse you to know these refineries have stored schematics to build friendly commodities such as toys, advanced electronics and vehicles designed for public use." She showed a hologram of a plush cat and various other toys. "I think they are made so any on guard droid can give these out in an attempt to ease tensions when on a new world... these Unity guys are pretty soft-hearted you know?" She smiled thinking about how nice the good guys were, she hoped she could meet them someday assuming they still lived after all these years. "Now in exchange for this land control, I can offer you a share of nonlethal technology to advance your people's lives tenfold as well as labor units made to perform pretty much any task assigned. These labor units are sociable and are built with free thought so they may build friendships with the people around them. "You say 'free thought' in regards to some of these droids of yours. What does that mean?" "Ah, well when a unit of my forces are newly built for something such as constant manual labor or war they are not alive. Merely hunks of metal moving around as a result of electricity and good programming. Now some are 'born' with free will, many higher thinking droids are just as much alive as you or me, the reason for this is so the droids are capable of unique thinking and real social interaction with the populous. What's interesting is every unit is capable of free thinking if given the command but it is suggested the manual labor units be left unthinking because no one would want their entire life to be just that would you?" The thoughtful design of Unity had never ceased to amaze her, the same could be said for Solaris just leaning of a whole new world. Solaris gave his decision. "I will give you permission to erect these bases of yours, once I give the official announcement to the population you and I and my advisory will work on an official document and put all this on paper." As he said this he noticed the entire time a small tapping noise was coming from behind him. He turned to see the massive snake-like Draconequus holding his face up lazily with one claw and tapping the table with his other lion paw. "D-discord?" The Chaos God sharpened his gaze at being talked to."Oh, You finally noticed me Sunny Boy? And here I was thinking I was being ignored." "I should have expected you'd be here, why didn't you tell me of Spines's whereabouts once you knew?" He said with a bit of malice in his voice. Discord just shrugged. "It's really none of my business to get involved in your family matters, besides the girl wanted her Independence right? It's about that time she starts rebelling isn't it?" Spines raised her hand angrily. "That not it! I was practically forced to do this at first." She huffed while folding her arms. "Oh suuuure. And next, you'll say you have a robot boyfriend now right?" "Shut up Discord this discussion is over." She got up from her seat. "Alright both of you get out of here, I need to prep my troops to launch when the papers are signed." The King laughed a bit while getting up as well. "Alright 'Carbon'. I need to have a word with my advisory team...it's going to be one hell of a meeting to be sure...actually can you have one of your small less threatening soldiers come with me for a time? It's just so those guys won't think I've gone completely insane." "Heh, yeah sure I'll call out a droid from the R&D department." She held up her arm and tapped on a button. "GT can you accompany King Solaris, listen to his orders please?" "Of course lady, be there in moments." Discord sighed while floating up into the walls. "Well I guess I'll just go find the juice bar in this place...the entertainment in this hunk of metal is actually quite surprising Sunny, we should hang out here sometime." He started phasing through the ceiling. "Ta ta!" Solaris shook his head at the foolish antics of his former foe. "Well then, hopefully all things go smoothly tomorrow...this is going to be the most important day in Equestrian history you know? Years from now they'll have books and history classes on this very moment you know?" "Hm, yeah that's pretty amazing. I'm just glad you're here alongside me for this." The King smiled at his dear daughter as he walked away. "You're going to change the world Spines." He walked off out of sight. A small amount of time passed with her alone with her thoughts. "Change the world huh...I'm going to have to because we'll all be slaughtered if I don't." She slid the helmet back on a took a deep breath, enjoying the taste of the filters. "Tomorrow is the day everything changes." Then she set off to prepare.