Planning, equipping and readying the ship and crew of the Tascheter took a week. Additional personnel were sought out from the rest of the fleet around Equestria that could possibly be of use on the upcoming expedition, mainly enough telepathic specialists to keep the ship shielded while near the Ratschancellory. Supplies were laid in for Princess Twilight and her friends to do additional research while on the trip, which at a speed of ten light-years per hour would still take a bit more than two hundred hours to complete the trip from Equestria. One additional passenger was embarked as well, that being Inquisitor, safely hidden behind the strongest psi shield that both the ISA and Equestria could come up with.
The trip itself was uneventful, racing to the Ratschancellory. Intelligence reports from the ISA showed that the Ratzis were still in turmoil, all ships taken from combat fronts and going either to known colonies or to their home world. It was hoped that by reducing velocity starting twenty light-years from the Ratschancellory would keep the ship’s approach masked from the Ratzi’s sensors.
Twilight worked with the specialists aboard to come up with enough personal psi-screens for everyone on the crew, twice over. Fortunately, she could use a batch process, but seeing as the crystals were species specific, it still took a few days to make enough. On their off time, the ponies questioned Inquisitor some more and spent time with their ‘escorts’ aboard ship, pursuing an idea Princess Luna gave them, an idea that seemed to have some merit. Inquisitor spent time not answering questions with his ‘counterpart’, Pinkie Pie, as well as Lieutenant Mulholland, the Kitsu lead psychologist aboard. The party that was held three days before estimated arrival can best be described as EPIC. The ship and crew needed a day to recover from it! As many of the ISA crew said, the sight of a Ratzi laughing in sheer pleasure could best be described as discomforting. The worst descriptions sent the four sufferers to Medical for treatment.
The Tascheter came out of stardrive at the edge of the Ratschancellory system and waited there, letting passive sensors gather information about the disposition of ships around the star system. Captain Somers triggered the invisibility screen, having been assured that it could last for days, thanks to the ambient mana field aboard the ship. After ten hours, Sciences had developed a report which was delivered to Captain Somers. He requested a conference of senior officers, along with Princess Twilight and Inquisitor, to review the data. Just before the conference started, the Captain received a call from the senior Star Elf aboard, Commander Diaphane, who joined the expedition from the Gilgamesh.
“Diaphane to Captain Somers! I can feel magic being generated from Ratschancellory! It’s… wrong.”
“Magic being generated? Explain yourself, Commander.” Jamie replied.
“The mana I am detecting feels too… regimented… to be natural. Too orderly. Too precise. Whatever it is, I am reading it from a point source on the planet. A very discrete point source.”
“Commander, report to Briefing Room One. This is an unexpected factor.”
“Three minutes, Captain. I’m transferring data to Hurin now. Once that is done, I will be on my way. Diaphane out.”
Captain Somers, as did the rest of the command staff, looked at the intercom for a moment. “Generated magic? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he said, watching the conference attendees.
Not surprisingly to Jamie, Inquisitor was the first to speak. “If it is coming from where on the planet I think it is, then there is only one thing it can be. Master’s power source,” the white Ratzi stated.
“Power source? What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked.
“Ever since the early days, after the Great War against the Heretics that almost killed us all, the Master has remained in one spot, never leaving his command center. No one of us has ever seen the Master, not even our Leader, Power. The command center is entirely self-contained, never needing anything sent in or taken out. There are not even power lines going to the command center, but plenty of data lines leaving,” Inquisitor said, almost as if reciting a lesson, his eyes half-closed.
“You have said you had been in there, Inquisitor,” Commander Seiryuu stated. “What did you see while in there?”
“Nothing remarkable. Just a room with a chair and a blank screen. When I sat in the chair, colors and shapes form on the screen and the Master talks to me, giving orders and removing information from me.”
“A chair like the command chair we found you sitting in?” Twilight asked.
“No. Just a small office, a chair and a screen. No transceiver nodes visible. Master’s command center is a large place, but all we have ever seen is a short hallway and the small room. No other doors visible from the inside. Outside, there are more doors, but they seldom open unless Master has something he requires us to have, like transceiver nodes, growth machines and programming modules,” Inquisitor replied.
As the door opened and Commander Diaphane came running in, Jamie asked a question. “How confident are you in getting us inside to speak to the Master?”
“I could open the door with a pawprint. You could not,” Inquisitor said bluntly.
“Well, we will see about that,” Captain Somers said before looking at the Star Elf with long, shimmering silver hair. “Your report, Commander Diaphane?”
The Star Elf worked some display controls at his seat. The wall display lit up with several overlays of the city and of the mana readings. Centered in the city was a large, low, circular building that easily measured over a kilometer in diameter. The mana pulse reading was fixed on the building, becoming more centered as Diaphane worked the zoom control. “That’s where it is, Captain. It took us some time to get a good enough fix on it to develop this. This generated magic rapidly diffuses outside the system, getting lost in the generalized background magic of the galaxy.
“I felt something odd when we emerged from stardrive, but it took quite some time to get all this information using passive sensors only,” Commander Diaphane concluded.
“You did well, Commander. We don’t want the Ratzis to know we’re here until it’s too late for them to do anything about it,” Captain Somers told the senior Star Elf. “Now, what can we do with that data?
“Commander Hartens, given what we know about the size and construction of that central building, would a sustained sun gun barrage be enough to penetrate it?” the Captain asked his Weapons Officer.
“It is certainly possible, Captain,” she replied with her characteristic South Brigadoon accent, which to most of the ISA sounded like old English. “However, to be completely honest with you, everyone here, and myself, I do not think we would have enough time to do so before we get attacked by any ships in orbit.”
“Well, so much for that idea,” Jamie muttered, which caused some quiet laughter around the table. “Anyone else have an idea?”
“I do, Captain,” Twilight said. “I have to say that this idea is not without risk, because there are too many unknowns to give an accurate projection.
“What I am proposing is that we shield that central building with a counter-magic field, one designed to block the magic flow required to power the thought transceivers. That way, this Master will find it hard to call for help while we go inside it to face the Master head-on, using the power of Harmony against it.”
“How do you propose we get inside, Princess Twilight?” Commander Seiryuu asked.
“Via your Teltrans system. I propose we do a flyby of the planet and the city, enabling us to get a good look inside the building to get an idea of its layout, find a large enough chamber, go in and hit it hard,” Twilight explained. “Your magical scryers should get enough resolution for a pass.”
“Dicey, risky and downright dangerous,” Captain Somers said, addressing the table. “But the idea has been laid on the table. Anyone else have an idea?”
Inquisitor raised a paw. “While doing the flyby, I suggest you also use your CyberTap device to read the main information database, which is stored nearby. I do know where to look to try to find some more information about the Master and his control complex,” the reedy-voiced Ratzi said.
“Think we can pull that off?” Jamie asked his Exec and Science officers.
“It is possible,” Sardon rumbled. “It will require Inquisitor’s assistance to find and read the desired databases while we are within range of the flyby. I doubt we can do the flyby many times without having something go wrong.”
“Point made, but it will be something we have to do, despite risks. We can’t mask a cutter.”
Lee Harris spoke up then. “No, we can’t mask a cutter, but we can do the next best thing.”
Everyone’s attention focused on the vampire doctor. “What is it you are thinking about, Doctor?” Captain Somers asked.
“We took on a spare cutter from the Gilgamesh, an armed one. What I propose is that we send it in on autopilot or under remote guidance. We release it in one area, relatively distant from the planet, and let it go in, guns blazing. We have it do a flyby of the planet, in an important sector of course, so as to have the planetary forces see it as a credible threat. While they are looking that way…” Lee paused for breath, but Twilight jumped in at that point.
“We head in to do our flyby over the central city, hopefully relatively cleanly, because their attention will be diverted elsewhere!” Twilight said, notes of optimism in her voice.
Captain Somers traded looks with his Exec, Science and Weapons officers, all of which said the same thing, namely ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’. He took a deep breath, thinking fast. “What are the chances of success on a venture like this?” he asked Inquisitor.
The white Ratzi thought before replying. “I am willing to say that such an idea has merit. I know of several locations on different continents that can fulfill your needs. Doing so once would more than likely work. A second time MAY be successful. Three times, well, the Master would learn and compensate for such maneuvers. Sad that you have no other ships to use, to make the threat even more credible.”
“Yes, but there is something we can do to increase the threat potential. We can mount a sun gun, with a full magazine of mixed rounds, in the cutter, with a gunnery program running, taking pot shots at any ships within sight. That ought to attract attention,” Captain Somers said, to nods of approval from the ship’s staff.
“I’ll get a working party started on the job right after this meeting, Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Hartens said, a glint of eagerness in her eyes. Her home town fell to a Ratzi kinetic strike from orbit during the invasion of Brigadoon six years before. Her seat was the farthest from Inquisitor, because she did not trust herself around him.
“Very well, then. Weps, get the cutter ready. Expedite the installation. The rest of us, I suggest getting some sleep. We’re going to have a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. Dismissed!” the Captain ordered. Everyone stood and saluted the Captain, except Inquisitor and Princess Twilight. They were not his subordinates, just allied support.
The next day, the crew of the Hurin Tascheter got to work. First thing that was done was to charge all ship’s atostors, as well as the cutters and shuttles. This would allow the ship to turn off their ZPE generators and go in on atostor power only, to deprive the Ratzis of being able to trace the zippers, which is how most deep-space tracking was done. The ‘curdling’ of space caused by the draw of the zippers is detectable for a long way out, and the Ratzi and ISA fleets, while using similar systems, did so at different ‘frequencies’, so telling friend from foe, on long-range sensors is a rather easy task. Estimates done by Commander Davis and Lieutenant Commander M’Ranx said the ship could operate on atostor power, at full capability, for about forty-eight hours before needing to restart a zipper.
The cutter Acoma was cast free, allowed to head in on atostor power, the Tascheter not far behind at first, then, after giving the cutter a good shove with the pressor beams, drifted off some, on its own course in system. Driving in with rotolinears took eight hours at six gravities acceleration, the gravar fields handling five of them.
The ship was at combat stations the last half hour of approach, all stations manned and ready. Princess Twilight was in the Forward Lounge with her associates, setting up Harmony but not sending it out, just using it passively, to feel what was around. That plan lasted less than two seconds before Twilight ordered it to stop, because she and her friends felt the presence of the Master, and dropped Harmony before the Master could sense them, it being occupied by the cutter’s pass through Ratschancellory orbital space, firing at ships, stations and the planet.
On the Bridge, the crew was kept busy, passing through orbital space for a flyby without hitting anything, sensors active to glean as much information from the pass as they could. With Inquisitor helping to guide CyberTap, Sardon grabbed what data he could before passing out of range.
To their surprise, the cutter made it out unscathed, the Ratzi fleet still in disarray more than two weeks after recalling their ships home. Of the sixty sun gun rounds fired, all struck ships, with ten being virtually destroyed by shots piercing a power station or a magazine. One hour after flyby, the command staff and observers gathered in Briefing Room One for consultations.
“Well, that went easier than we anticipated,” Captain Somers said when all were assembled.
“Ah ain’t gonna complain none,” drawled Commander Davis. “We’s good on charged mercury for the atostors fo’ at least anothah day. Y’all just say when, and ah’ll pull the zippers up.”
Twilight Sparkle got a strange look on her face as she listened to what the Chief Engineer had just said, then relaxed when she remembered that the main generators were nicknamed ‘zippers’. Captain Somers noticed that, but said nothing about it as he said, “Thank you, Eng. Inquisitor, did you get the information you wanted from the databanks?”
The white rat nodded. “I did, and my access coding is still valid. It will be some hours before I can separate out the precise data we are looking for, due to the sheer volume of information acquired. Data that has been there, but I had absolutely no reason to look for it,” he explained.
Twilight snorted a little. “I’m more willing to say that your Master did not want you to look there, Inquisitor. When you were planetside, was not your Master present in your mind all the time?”
“Yes, he was, but not directly controlling me. I was my own self, but his presence was always there. He could if he wanted to, like the rest of the Six, but it was just something we really did not pay attention to. When the command chair was damaged, it was the first time I can remember that I was truly alone in my head. I like it that way.”
“Keep wearing your shield crystal while we’re here, and you should remain so,” Captain Somers told the rat before addressing Twilight. “What did you feel, Princess?”
“We felt the Master. His attention was diverted because of the cutter’s attack run, but I broke off contact in case he did decide to take notice. One thing I did notice was that there seemed to be a…” she reached for a word and found it. “Dissonance… in what I felt, like there was something missing, and it was highly disturbed. Like you are listening to a seven-piece orchestra, and one piece is missing.”
Captain Somers nodded. “In essence, there is. Inquisitor, we know your species reproduces by flash cloning and programming. Why have you not been replaced yet?” he asked.
“The only reason I can think of is that when my connection to Master was disrupted suddenly, it must have deranged my… recording… you could say. I know bodies are kept in storage for the Leadership castes but downloading my mind print into the new body should not take more than three or four days, maximum. Plus, recalling the entire fleet is something unheard of. Master must be seriously worried to something that drastic,” Inquisitor advised.
“Okay, then. Let us reconvene in twenty-four hours, to allow us to read through the data and recharge the atostors before we decide fully on what to do next. There could be something in the data that could throw all our plans into the recycler. Sciences, coordinate with Inquisitor on reading through what you grabbed today. Engineering, once we reach the edge of the system, fire up Zipper Twelve only to recharge the atostors. Helm, maintain position and stealth modes until further notice.
“We have the Master running around in circles right now. When we are ready, we will trip him up. Until tomorrow, dismissed!” Captain Somers directed. He sat there as his staff filed out, watching their expressions carefully as everyone left.
“A bit for your thoughts, Captain?” Twilight asked as she reached Jamie’s chair.
Jamie looked at Twilight before speaking. “May I ask you to come to my cabin, please? I want to ask you some questions about this Harmony of yours. I’m wondering if my instincts are leading me true, or going up a blind alley,” he asked
“Of course, Captain. Right now, we have time. I’m always willing to help a friend!”
“As am I,” Jamie said with a smile as he stood up. “Why else would I risk all this to help a friend like you and yours? I just have this feeling we will need every hare-brained illogical plan we can come up with to win out over this Master.”