What I Am

by Knight Breeze


Chapter XXX

Chapter XXX

I laid my hand gently on the handle to the door, my breath sounding harsh and shallow in my ears. I took a second before opening the door to collect myself; I knew full well that what I was about to do went against every instinct I had, but it was for the greater good. I had no proof that what the snake alien had seen was true, but two things kept me from throwing her words out completely: The first was the fact that I really did not understand magic nearly as much as I wanted to. This opened up a nearly limitless number of possibilities, the least of which being that what she said she saw was one hundred percent true.

The second was the fact that I trusted the Princesses with my life and more.

If those two said that this was going to happen, my gut told me that they were probably right, and that voice was far louder than any instinct or misgivings I had about the two aliens on the other side of the room.

I felt a wing drape across my shoulders, causing me to look up to see Luna’s troubled, worried gaze. “Are you well? You do not have to do this if you feel you are not up to the challenge…”

I shook my head, before flashing her what I hoped was a confident smile. “We don’t have time for any misunderstandings. You need a translator, and I’m the best man to fill the job. Whatever my feelings are on this matter, they’ll have to wait until after the week is done.”

She smiled once, before giving me a steady nod. “Very well, then. After you.”

With one last, steadying breath, I turned the handle, and strode inside the conference room with a lot more confidence than I felt. Akitesh was still in her seat, doubled over as she tried to calm herself after what happened earlier, while Hazalk was currently standing near the opposite end of the room, typing something into his datapad. I briefly toyed with the idea of looking into what he was writing, but tossed the paranoid thought aside. We needed these two on our side, and I wouldn’t be helping matters by not respecting their privacy.

Trust, on the other hand, probably would never come. At least, not from me.

Both aliens looked up at me the second the door opened. Hazalk’s antennae were moving in a way that my implants told me was to convey a sense of expectancy. Akitesh’s expression, on the other hand, wasn’t something I needed the implants for. Her species had faces very similar to humans, and while I couldn’t be certain due to any possible cultural differences, her expressions were similar enough to humans to make it an extremely simple affair to figure out what she was thinking.

And at the moment, she looked both horrified, and relieved, that we were here.

“Hello again, Alexander, are you here to see us off?” Akitesh said, her voice lifting in hope. “I do not mean to be rude, but after witnessing what was inside your memory, I feel like I need a shower.”

“Believe me, I completely understand,” I said, forcing my lips into a smile. I then slowly made my way over to her, before pulling out a chair, and taking a seat next to her. “But I’m afraid that shower’s going to have to wait. Hazalk, if you would, we need you to be seated again.”

Hazalk’s antenna perked up curiously, but the captain did not object as he pocketed his tablet and moved to take his seat on the other side of Akitesh. As he made his way around the table, Luna moved in a similar fashion, until she was at the head. She then took her seat before she fixed both aliens with a steady gaze. “Alex, tell them that we will be ready in a moment. My sister has gone to retrieve the other delegates, and you will serve as our translator for what is about to take place.”

I did as I was told, repeating verbatim what she had said, or at least as close to verbatim as I could manage in Krin. Both aliens looked confused, though it was Hazalk, strangely enough, to speak first. “Translator? Other delegates? Ready for what?”

I didn’t need to relay that to Luna, because I was already quite aware of what was going to happen. “We’re going to hold a Council of War, and the other delegates are the ambassadors for the other nations of this planet. The princesses would like to formally request an alliance, though anything specific can be hashed out after we’re out of danger.”

Both aliens looked quite shocked at that. “You’re trusting us? Just like that?” Akitesh asked, apparently not quite believing what I had said.

I shook my head, before letting out a humorless chuckle. “Me? No. Not now, not ever. Trust is something that you earn, and neither of you have done anything to earn that trust. I do, however, trust them. She and her sister know all about… uh…” I stopped short as I read the Krin script running past my vision. “Um… apparently the Krin language doesn’t have a word for what Akitesh can do. See? Tell the future?”

“I understand what you mean,” Akitesh said, before shooting a careful glance at Hazalk.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the look she had given him, so I chose to ignore it in favor of getting to the point. “Yes, that. Well, they have quite a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and know far better than to ignore such a warning.”

“Well, I’m glad that-”

“Make no mistake, though,” I said, interrupting the krin captain. “If you even think of betraying their trust, you better run, and run fast, because I guarantee you will never have a safe place to hide. Mark my words, and remember them well, because if you betray us, I will hunt you down like the cockroach you are, and I will end you.”

Hazalk’s antennae perked up at this, surprisingly enough, and he extended a single hand towards me. “And you’re resourceful enough that I think you could do just that. If I dare to go back on my oaths, I swear that I’ll welcome the justice you’ll bring.”

“Good, so long as we’re clear,” I said, far more cheerfully as I took the captain’s hand and shook it.

There was an uncomfortable pause after that, during which Akitesh looked back and forth between us, almost like she wanted to ask something, but she seemed to be fighting with herself over it. Before she could come to a decision on whether or not to ask her question, however, the door opened, revealing Princess Celestia, as well as the ambassadors behind her. I quickly recognized several of the creatures she led into the room, as they were there when I first related my past to the princesses. The griffon with the scar over his eye was the first to enter the room, while the minotaur who had proudly stated that they’d take as many as they could with them was taking up the rear. The quiet zebra was here as well, but there were two delegates that I didn’t recognize.

The first was a seemingly random dirt pony. She had a light grey coat, with a soft, delicate mane that was a dark purple color. The symbol on her hindquarters looked like one of those Shakespeare comedy masks, and she seemed to be doing her level best to fade as much as possible into the background.

The second was another freaking pegasus/unicorn hybrid. Her coat was a light pink, while her mane and tail were tri-colored, being purple, pink and yellow. Unlike Celestia and Luna, her hair didn't ripple and billow in a wind that I couldn't feel; instead, it cascaded down her neck and off her shoulders and ended in springy little curls. Also unlike the two other winged unicorns, she wasn't nearly as tall, and the mark on her hindquarters wasn't a celestial body at all; instead, it was a crystal heart with some gold filigree flanking it. She still wore a tiara and necklace, though, which implied that she was still probably royalty.

The moment she entered the room, however, I immediately picked up a change in the two aliens sitting next to me. Hazalk, as ever, looked quite confused, though I could tell there was a heavy undercurrent of fear there. As for Akitesh, she was currently staring at the pink princess with a look of shock and disbelief.

The two aliens weren't the only ones staring, though. All the newcomers were busy getting a good look at us themselves. The three ambassadors I had met before spared me a cursory glance, with the griffon giving me a slight nod of acknowledgement, before they began to study the other two aliens in earnest. The minotaur had a look of open hostility, while the zebra looked more troubled and scared. The griffon had an odd, calculating look, though; one that, even though I had little experience with his species, was still something I immediately recognized.

It was a look of someone who knew he was in for something unpleasant.

As for the pink princess, she had her eye on me with a look somewhere between pity and disgust. I wasn’t surprised by that; in fact, I was expecting it. What I wasn’t expecting was the grey dirt pony to perk up the moment she saw me, and immediately canter over to where I was. She planted herself in the empty seat directly to my right, looking far more relieved than she had a right to, seeing as how she had just planted herself next to an alien monster.

I looked at her, completely confused, up until the point where she leaned closer to me, and I saw her eyes flash from steel grey to light pink for an instant. “It’s good to see a friendly face, promethean,” she whispered to me.

“T-Titania?” I asked, both stunned and relieved that the changeling queen was here.

“Yes, though I wished that our next meeting would have been a happier one. We will talk later, but first, we have more important things to take care of,” the disguised changeling queen whispered before she focused on the other delegates.

I gave a short nod, before doing the same. After all, it was my job to translate for the aliens who couldn’t understand the pony tongue, and I couldn’t very well do that if my attention was elsewhere.

Princess Celestia waited a few moments, clearly giving all parties enough time to get settled and have a good look at each other. It didn’t take long, and as soon as she felt the time was right, she cleared her throat. “Esteemed friends and guests, thank you so much for coming, I only wish that our meeting was for a less dire situation.”

“We have new information, then?” the griffon piped up. “I assume that’s why these… guests are at the table, instead of far away, where we could have this meeting in more private and controlled environment.”

“Yeah, aren’t they the enemy?” the minotaur piped up, his gaze never leaving the two aliens. “Shouldn’t we be interrogating them, rather than treating them like allies?”

“Due to recent information we have gained, it has become clear that they are not our enemies. Our true enemy may call the bug-one kin, but that is the extent of his relation with them. He has as much at stake here as any of us do,” Celestia said, her voice calm and in control.

“Well, where is this mysterious evidence? I’d like to see it for myself before I make a case to the King,” the minotaur said as he leaned forward.

“It isn’t something we can show you,” Luna said, her eyes fixed on the minotaur.

The minotaur let out a short, barking laugh at that. “Well, why not? Is the information shy?”

Luna simply shook her head, her eyes never leaving him, but they seemed to gain intensity. “No. It’s because it was in a vision I saw.”

Both the griffon, zebra and the changeling next to me looked to her in shock, but all the minotaur did was let out another huge, if somewhat nervous, laugh. “D-Don’t make me laugh, Luna! Since when were you an oracle?

“I’m not,” Princess Luna said, inclining her head towards the minotaur. “Nor do I claim to be. The future is not something I could be burdened with… However, she is. I happened to be in her mind at the time, so I also bore witness to the end of our world, and the way to change that end.”

That last sentence was accompanied by Princess Luna raising a single hoof, and pointing it towards the snake-alien next to me. This didn’t seem to mollify the minotaur, however, and If anything, made him more obstinate. “That makes the information even more suspect. How do you know that it isn’t making a fool of you? That it didn’t use its superior technology and magic to make you see something, to gain your trust?”

“I believe her story. If we do not ally, our future is quite gory,” the zebra said, before leaning forward, her eyes boring into the snake alien. “Though it is chance that brought her here, she is not the only one to see, I fear.”

The minotaur looked to the zebra sharply, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “...Don’t tell me… did the old lady get another one of her visions?” he asked, and I could swear that the minotaur practically shrank with fear.

The zebra’s only answer was to reach into her saddlebags, pull out a scroll with her teeth, then gently place it on the table. She then pushed it towards the minotaur, before motioning for him to open it. He took it, his eyes locked on the zebra in an almost fearful manner. As his hand closed around the paper, the zebra finally began to speak, the weird rhyming cadence she used making her words seem all the more ominous. "Before Celestia summoned me for this session, the oracle contacted me during my lesson. She instructed me to write everything she said, as she had a vision that would not leave her head. She knew it was not meant for her, but proof was needed or we'll be stalled for sure.”

The minotaur grunted, before taking the scroll and unfurling it. He took one look at what was written at the top, before his eyes went wide, and he began muttering darkly. “She also apparently included something personal that happened between me and my wife this morning. Proof that she’s serious, I guess. One second, I need to erase part of this…”

“Hey, I might like to see that, Savach-Talor,” the griffon said, his tone clearly joking. “It might be important!”

The minotaur glared at the griffon sourly, before he pulled out a quill and inkwell. The tiny writing implement looked almost comical in the minotaur’s oversized fist, but he still dutifully began scratching lines out, all while muttering to himself about the prying nature of zebras.

While all of this was going on, I dutifully translated everything that was being said for the benefit of those that could not speak the language. The two aliens seemed to take the distrust from the minotaur in stride, though Akitesh froze up the moment I started talking about the Oracle of Time. “You mean to tell me that one of these people can sense the warnings of the future as well?” she asked, completely flabbergasted.

“Well, yeah. Like I said, they have experience with this kind of thing.”

“I did not think that that implied that they had a living seer now. It is a rare gift.”

“Yes, but don’t dwell on it for too long, looks like we’re about to get started for real, now,” I said as I watched the minotaur pass the scroll along, a troubled look on his face.

I was only partially right. It took the others a few moments to get through the scroll, but as soon as everyone had a chance to look at it, I could immediately tell a change had come over them. They were all taking this far more seriously, and were looking at the two aliens next to me with less anger and fear, and more hope. The griffon in particular inclined his head towards the two aliens respectfully, his attitude towards them far warmer than it had been initially. “I am Gustav Ther-Lavor. And as a representative of the Empire of the Skylord, let me be the first of my people to welcome you to this planet. We would be honored to have your aid in fending off what is to come.”

Akitesh murmured her acceptance of the griffon’s speech, though before she had even finished talking, the minotaur stood up, his thick, meaty hands pressed onto the table as he looked to the two princesses. “I don’t think we have time for chit-chat. This is war we’re talking about, and from the sound of things, we really do not have too much time for pleasantries, or for the art of double-speak. The people of Minos and her colonies stand with the Diarchy of Equestria in this, as the coming conflict will set the planet ablaze should we stand idle.”

“As do the Zebra Tribes, and our allies,” the zebra said, raising her hoof in solidarity.

“As does the Griffon Empire,” Gustav said, raising a claw.

“As does the Crystal Empire,” the pink unicorn/pegasus hybrid next to Celestia said, raising her hoof.

“As do we,” Titania said, holding up a hoof.

The other three ambassadors looked at the disguised changeling queen in confusion, though the three princesses only had knowing, almost resigned looks on their faces. The two aliens next to me didn’t have much of a change of expression at all, but this was mainly due to the fact that I was still translating for them, and was somewhere around the time where Savach-Talor was talking about the planet being set ablaze. I was still paying attention, though, and thanks to my implants, was able to keep up with the conversation.

The awkward silence following Titania’s statement couldn’t last forever, and was soon broken as Gustav cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I mistook you for the Solar Diarch’s aid. Whom do you represent?”

“I apologize for the ruse, but my kind are still not welcome in many places,” Titania said, before bowing her head, and changing to her true form in a flash of purple fire. “I am Queen Titania, and I represent the Changeling Hives not allied with the mad queen Chrysalis.”

Four chairs hit the ground as those who were apparently unaware of Titania’s identity jumped back. Savach-Talor looked openly hostile as he reached for his back for a weapon that wasn’t there, while Gustav had a mixture of anger and fear on his face. Both aliens next to me looked equally shaken, though Akitesh looked more curious and surprised than scared. Hazalk, on the other hand, began muttering about something being ‘worse than he thought,’ but did not otherwise comment.

The zebra looked unsurprised, however, as did all three princesses. The pink one did look like she was trying her best not to strangle the changeling queen, but at the very least she looked unsurprised.

“And since when have changelings been interested in anything other than themselves?” Savach-Talor spat as he stared down Titania.

Titania, to her credit, looked as calm as a summer’s morning. “My kind are guilty of many wrongs, but now is not the time to be bringing up old wounds. It is our planet too, and we would not see it burned to ash.”

"Savach-Talor, Gustav, have you not been paying attention to recent events?" Princess Luna said as she looked towards the two ambassadors, clearly surprised. "We made a huge announcement. Canterlot Hospital is playing host to the queen's hive, as she was attacked by Chrysalis not long ago. They are our allies, as unbelievable as that might sound. She’s already taught us the way to reveal her people, and has promised a quick return of everyone they’ve ever stolen."

The minotaur continued to give the changeling the stink eye for several seconds longer, before he finally relented and picked his chair back up with a huff. "Well, if that's the case, I have no objections. We are watching you, however. Do not think we have forgotten the minotaurs you have replaced!" he nearly shouted as he plopped down on his seat.

"Full recompense will be given, but at a later date. For now, it is more important that we focus on the task at hoof, and begin this war council in earnest," Princess Celestia said, bringing all focus back to her. "For now, I believe it might be best to bring into focus our assets, possible reinforcements, as well as where our enemies may strike us first, so that we might better defend ourselves. Hashak, Ack-e-thesh, what advice do you have for us, on how we should proceed?"

It took me a little bit of time to catch up to where Celestia was in the conversation, but the moment I did, Akitesh looked to Hazalk, a question in her eye. "Captain? How would the former emperor attack this planet? What strategy would he employ?"

Hazalk took a couple of seconds to think about it before he leaned forward, one set of arms resting on the surface in front of him as he focused on the center of the oblong, stone table. "Alexander, this is directed towards the natives. Please translate verbatim," he said as he looked up towards me. Once I had given him a nod of understanding, he turned towards Celestia, cleared his throat, and began to talk. "This may come as a surprise to you all, but my people do not have an understanding of whatever mystical power you have at your disposal. It is mysterious and frightening to us, and frankly, the old emperor fears it more than anything in the universe. However, he also knows that he cannot wage his senseless war without it. It was standing orders before the fall of the old empire to capture anyone capable of wielding that power at any cost.”

It took me a while to relate what he had just said, but when I was finished, the effect his words had were profound. Everyone had looks of fear and understanding, while Luna just stared at me, and I knew that she was thinking that her people might share my fate far sooner than she thought. “They will seek to round us up, and capture us, then,” Princess Luna muttered darkly, the words far more profound now that someone had said them out loud.

“That they will,” Hazalk said, once I had translated for him. “The traitor Ilisk managed to get a transmission out before he died, and they will know of this planet’s irregular orbit. It won’t take that large of a leap for them to realize you control the sun, and while they fear that particular ability more than anything, it will be a prize too tempting for them to pass up.”

“Even if we use my sun against them, you are certain they will not flee?” Celestia asked, worry bleeding into her voice.

Hazalk thought about that for some time, his upper right hand massaging his mandibles as he thought of an answer. “I… truly cannot say. However, I can say this: When the emperor abandoned his people, he took a large portion of the fleet with him. It has been many years since then, and while we have heard nothing from the traitors, it is most likely that they have been biding their time, growing their forces, and waiting for the moment to strike. I have no way to gauge how much they’ve grown, but if they believe the rewards outweigh the risks, they will move the entire fleet against this world, and pray that enough of them make it past your formidable defense to strike at your people themselves.”

I translated the krin captain’s speech back to the others, and they only looked more worried. “Should we tell them about the Omniscope, sister?” Luna asked as she turned towards Celestia.

Celestia thought on this for a while, before giving a short nod. “Hashak, Ack-e-thesh, while we are indeed able to control the paths and speed of our sun and moon, there is a slight problem with using them as a defensive measure.”

I quickly related what she said back to them, only to receive blank, almost dumbfounded looks from the two aliens. “But… surely you should be able to use them to take out at least a few ships? Akitesh asked as she turned towards Celestia.

“It’s not that simple,” I stated, knowing full well what the princesses were going to tell her, and anticipating what she needed me to say. “They may be able to control the sun, may even be able to put it at speeds that would be nearly impossible to dodge, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that they have absolutely no way of figuring out where enemy ships might be in order to stop them.”

Hazalk looked to me, then back towards the others around the table. “Are… are you kidding me? From what I’ve been able to guess, you have people who can tell the future! Can’t you just use that!?”

Akitesh shook her head at that. “That ability has its limitations, the greatest of which is that it is almost completely uncontrollable. They happen when they happen, and there is no known way to make them happen reliably.”

Hazalk harrumphed at that, before tapping his mandibles thoughtfully. “Then… couldn’t we serve as your eyes and ears?”

“You could… the only problem would be the relay of information. You’d give us coordinates, we’d try to figure that out on a map, since we’re aiming with our minds, rather than a computer, and maybe, maybe we hit. If they haven’t already moved by then, that is,” I told him, causing his antenna to droop in a pathetic way. “We were actually working on something to take care of that, but we’ve run into a couple of hiccups that we’ll need your people to help with.”

That last part was directed towards Akitesh, who immediately picked up on what I was getting at. “That’s what the shards are for…” she said, almost in a whisper.

“Alex, are you relating the information about the Omniscope?” Celestia asked, curious at what was taking so long.

“I am. I just got to the part about the soul shards,” I related back to her.

“I see. Well, let us know when you have finished,” Celestia said with a nod.

Akitesh waited patiently for me to finish with Celestia, and seemed almost relieved when I turned back to her. “So, you are making some kind of detection and targeting device, then, well, we’ll be happy to help. After all, we have only two ships in orbit. Even if the Emperor brings his whole fleet to bear, we should still have a pretty good chance of repelling them if we have the sun on our side.”

“Better, in fact,” Hazalk said, drawing both mine and Akitesh’s gazes. “Do not forget, we are waiting on reinforcements. One of my people’s ships, The Aurora, should be arriving any day now. In fact, they should be arriving today, if nothing has gone wrong. That’s not even counting the fact that some of the Holy Armada should be on their way here, as well.”

“Though, they are much further out, and will not be here in time to make a difference. Any fighting will have been long over with by the time they arrive,” Akitesh cut in.

“You’ve got another ship headed this way?” I asked, both a little angry, and somewhat relieved at the same time.

“Well, yes. As soon as we realized that the emperor’s hand was in this, we sent a message home, requesting reinforcements. The request would have been ahead of Ilisk’s message, though to be honest, the confederacy only really had the one ship in range. She’s strong, though. One of our finest,” Hazalk said, a note of pride creeping into his voice.

I slowly swallowed the lump in my throat, before turning back to the others. “Um… simply put, they’re willing to help us finish the Omniscope, though there’s more. It’s good news, all things considered, but it may put a damper on things.”

Savach-Talor leaned forward, his eyebrows furrowed in suspicion. “What is it?”

“Well, both parties apparently have reinforcements on the way,” I said, eyeing the two aliens warily. “I mean, we kind of already guessed that, but now we know for certain. The only saving grace is that they won’t be here for us.

“It also means we only need to hold out long enough for reinforcements, which brings us to the question of ground deployment,” Gustav said, clicking a talon against the stone table. “They’ll be after all of us, and should any ships slip past our spatial defenses, this will turn into a ground war. If it does come to that, however, how will they attack us?”

I quickly related what the griffon asked back to the other two aliens, causing Hazalk to think for a moment. “If their mettle holds, and they slip past our defenses, they will most likely launch shuttles and drop pods. The pods will be aimed at major cities, and will be the kind that Ilisk used when he attacked your city, firebombing the area before eventually allowing troops to deploy.”

“They’ll be a diversionary tactic,” I said, guessing at what Hazalk was getting at.

“They will be, indeed. They’ll cause as much trouble as possible, before falling back towards the closest shuttle. The shuttles themselves will be placed in less populated, and less guarded, areas. Their job will be to round up anyone from smaller towns and farmlands, all while setting up fallback positions for the soldiers from the pods. Once they have enough subjects, and the rest of the soldiers have fallen back, they’ll leave… but…”

I stared the krin down, not liking how he trailed off like that. “But what?” I asked, my voice deadly calm.

“After they have what they came for, if there isn’t anyone in orbit to stop them, they’ll most likely bombard the planet,” Hazalk said, punctuating that last word with an angry, disgusted click of his mandibles.

“Kill any witnesses,” I muttered to myself.

“It wouldn’t be the first time the krin bombarded a civilian target to achieve victory, and it probably won’t be the last,” Akitesh said, before looking around the table, steel in her eyes. “The key will be to delay them. We’ll need to keep their forces occupied long enough for the Holy Armada to arrive. As we’ll be occupied with the battle in space, I am sorry to say that you and your people will have to repel and stall them alone.”

I ground my teeth together in anger, before I punched the stone table in front of me. “Don’t worry, if I have anything to say about it, we won’t be alone.

Akitesh looked confused at that, but I ignored her in favor of turning towards the others, and quickly relating what we had said.

“This is looking downright hopeless,” Gustav, said as he massaged his forehead. “My people will be too tied down to help anyone else. We’ll need troops to reinforce everywhere, and they’ll need to be able to move to hot-zones to reinforce the troops there at a moment’s notice, but where would we find such a force?”

Titania’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me, and I knew she was thinking along the same lines that I was. So were Celestia and Luna, for that matter, but it was Titania who spoke first. “I will be able to aid with the troop deployment. Our hives have many teleportation beacons placed all over the explored world. If we have the troops, it will be a simple matter to take them where they need to go.”

“But where would we find the bulls to fight?” Savach-Talor asked, his nostrils flaring in agitation. “We can draft many, but some of our people are non-combatants, and I believe the same goes for everyone else here.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” I said, steepling my hands in front of me as a wicked grin began to form on my face. “If all goes according to plan, we’ll have plenty of troops at our disposal.”

The minotaur grunted in disbelief. “What, do you happen to have an army hidden in your coat, Defender?”

I quickly looked over towards Titania, and I could see a ghost of a smile form on her lips. I then turned back, emboldened by the changeling’s silent approval. “If things go right, that may very well be the case. It really all depends whether or not a certain mirror still works after all this time…”

* * *

Commander Yvtil moodily paced back and forth on the deck of The Bastion’s bridge, her eyes locked on the view screen that was currently showing her captain’s life-signs. She was always nervous when he left the ship to visit the potentially deadly natives below, but today her frazzled condition had reached new heights. A few moments ago, Captain Hazalk experienced a spike of adrenaline, followed immediately by his system showing all the signs of extreme fatigue. She had no answer for it, and all that the captain would comment at this time was ‘hold on, I’m trying to figure out what happened.’

Needless to say, she wasn’t happy in the slightest.

“Are you certain that none of our instruments picked up anything?” she asked for perhaps the thousandth time that day.

“Absolutely nothing that we can’t otherwise see or hear, Commander,” Talian reported, her voice filled with a mix of concern and exasperation. “Ma’am, I’m concerned too, but at this point, there’s no use in-”

Whatever Talian was about to say was fated to go unheard, for at that exact moment, the alarms at her console started going off. Yvtil quickly moved to her own station at Tactical, knowing already that whatever was about to happen was bad news. “Don’t tell me… the emperor’s goons have finally shown up in person?”

“I do not think so… The tear that’s forming near the edge of the system is too small for an attack force, though it is still quite large.” Talian continued to type away for a few more seconds, before she looked up to her commanding officer. “Ma’am, I believe it may be The Aurora, though nothing is certain at this stage of inter-dimensional travel.”

"Engage Tac-1 anyway, we are not going to be caught in the bantha nest again!"

Talian did as she was told and hammered the big grey button on her console. The second she did this, red emergency lights came on, and a loud klaxon blared twice throughout the entire ship before falling silent. While Lieutenant Talian made the announcement, Commander Yvtil's hands flew across her console, sending orders to the various tactical systems throughout the ship. Shields were raised, nuclear warheads were armed, and plasma banks were charged. In a matter of seconds, the whole ship was ready to fight.

She even unfolded The Bastion's wings, though she knew that any krin they faced would already know that they were only for show. They made her feel intimidating, and at the moment, that was exactly what she wanted, especially when she considered the fact that her ship was down to about a third of its crew.

"Ma'am, The Purpose has powered up its weapons and is currently taking a flanking position on the other side of the rift," Talian reported. "Just received a message… they think it's probably The Aurora too, but they say to be on guard anyway."

"Thank you, Lieutenant, and I see them," Yvtil said, before glancing up at the main view screen. The Purpose, while not specifically designed for war, was still a comforting sight. It was long and sleek, with an extremely short wing design along three of the ship's sides, giving it the appearance of some kind of primitive arrowhead. The various symbols etched along its hull were all ablaze with unknown power, and its main cannon ports were fully charged with whatever energies allowed it to break apart the bonds between molecules. It was a truly terrifying sight, and Yvtil found herself thanking the Battlewatcher that The Purpose was on her side.

Seconds stretched on for minutes, which in themselves seemed like hours. It seemed like they spent an eternity waiting, until finally something emerged from the tear in the fabric of space-time with all the grace of a belly-flopping walrus. The tear then neatly sealed itself, preventing the harmful effects of hyperspace from spilling out into real space, but Yvtil hardly noticed it. Her eyes were locked on the ship that had just entered the sector.

Or, rather, what was left of it.

The ship's wings were completely gone, the decks they were a part of now open to the cold vacuum of space. A huge, angry hole could be seen near the top where the command deck should have been, and many of her weapon ports looked like they had suffered catastrophic overloads. Any communications arrays she might have had were missing entirely, and her engines looked like they were just a hair shy of imploding on themselves.

As the wreck slowly puttered past the two waiting ships, barely moving by its own power, a glimmer of sunlight from the nearby star illuminated a set of krin symbols painted onto her hull.

It was The Aurora.