//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - The Interview // Story: Future Tactics - The War Games // by TheFullCrumb //------------------------------// One Week Later “Is the microphone on? Oh, excellent. That’s absolutely aces. So, what’s the- oh, the recent match? Currently a hot topic of conversation. I know the network wants this story out as soon as possible, so we’re getting it written up as we speak- yes, Director. The Committee has a high-risk stake in the future of this new Battle Fortress, so we’re here to help protect that… investment. Don’t worry!” A tall human stood still in the middle of a stage, rolling his hand back to check each individual nail as his other hand pushed his large pompadour of a haircut back into place. His expensive red suit almost made him into a caricature of his own being, his face across multiple products and channels as the face of the ‘Galactic News Now’ television show. A carefully crafted persona, he presented it effectively as he rolled his eyes, tapping the earpiece he wore to end the call he was on. “Mr. Julian Sisco? We’re almost ready for you. Teleprompter is all ready to go, and we’ve got the hologram projector ready to display your next interviewee. Of course, it will be coming across from around the outer edge of the galaxy, so be warned about the signal quality.” A thin, almost impossibly beautiful woman strutted up to him, handing him a small dataslate with scrolling information. Tossing her head, she let her blonde hair fall over her one eye, her uncovered eye an uncomfortable deep red that made Julian jump for a minute before remembering the individual he was talking to. Sighing, he smiled, swiping through the dataslate as he followed her to another room with chairs, fancy coloured signs denoting the GNN, and his long, ancient-space desk, designed after a period of human history which had an obsession with rounded edges and hoverboards. “You know, Miss Diabella, for a Rithurian, you present yourself well. Genetic engineering?” “Oh, no, Mr. Sisco. I’m all natural. From the third moon of Rithor. All the humans there grow like I do, thin, lithe, and impossible to look away from. Now, if that will be all, Mr. Sisco?” She turned away on her heel, almost spinning in place as Julian admired the beautiful Rithurian. She wore a form-fitting pressure suit, denoting her life in a lower gravity situation as she waltzed around a corner, the tight, silver jumpsuit causing a few individuals to raise their eyebrows as she sauntered past, seemingly in a hurry to get to where only the Nine Heavens knew. Julian did not consider himself a religious man, though he remembered how he had found the Nine Heavens Hostel when reporting on Eurasia, one of the four planets of the Janus Accord- UEC, he reminded himself. His own genetics had been tampered with enough to the point where he had been the face of GNN for almost two hundred years. The UEC had been around for over 1000 human years, but the Janus Accord was the name most people gave to it regardless of the age of the union. “All right. Places, people! We have a big interview coming down on us today, and we cannot, I repeat, cannot allow some two-bit hack network like the Galactic Insider to scoop this from us again!” Wringing his hands in worry, Julian took his place behind his standard desk, tapping several points on a large crimson dataslate, bringing up his camera interface. Reaching underneath the desk, he retrieved an extravagant pair of sunglasses, smiling as he placed them over his eyes and let the smart-glass of the lenses connect to the main video feed. A countdown had already begun, with a virtual lobby filling up with hundreds of viewers as they tuned in from around the galaxy. He noted some tall Thalrazyne matriarchs in the rear, making a mental note to not mention anything that could possibly cause them to take offense. “Mr. Sisco, we are live in one minute. Stand by for intro sequence, Camera One on approach.” Smiling as he leaned backwards slightly in his chair, a gesture which had become universally recognized as his special ‘lean,’ he clasped his hands together as the speakers blared the special jingle of Galaxy News Now, with the teleprompter introducing the host of their prodigious show. Shifting slightly, he leaned forward, crossing his arms on the desk as he looked straight at the camera. “Good cycle, ladies, gentlemen, and beings of all orientations! I’m your host, Julian Sisco of Galaxy News Now, your news and special broadcast outlet!” He breathed in as he awaited the completion of the applause he could see in the virtual crowd, each person clapping in excitement. His eyes drifted over to the two Thalrazyne matriarchs watching him with an inquisitive eye, a small bead of sweat forming on the nape of his neck. Their drilling stares, a familiar sight for anyone who had dealt with the Thalrazyne in the past, forced him to sit up straighter and speak much more intensely, even when he was trying to control his tone. “Our story right now – Interstellar Spacefarers and New Contestants! That is right, everyone, we have new blood entering our illustrious War Games! Coming all the way from the galaxy’s own Horseshoe Nebula, these beings displayed a technological prowess we had never even determined from their race. Now, some people are claiming that these ‘interstellar upstarts’ are interfering with the ebb and flow of the Games, and that an immediate cleansing should begin on their planet- I know, I know, I was shocked to learn that such individuals were advocating genocide, in our day and age! Get a Fortress and prove yourselves, that’s what they’re there for, am I right? Coming from the Solus Invictus, their exuberant commander, a young… filly. Filly? Is this correct? Ladies, gentlemen and beings of all orientations, we have the occurrence of the first known contact with a quadrupedal species! The hologram feed will be online soon, so don’t worry!” --------//|0|\\-------- “Oh no, oh no!” Twilight’s hooves clicked rapidly on the deck plating as she began to panic, her breathing shallow and rapid as she glanced around, Rarity dashing around her quickly to fix her friend’s hair in place. “Darling, darling, please stand still! The hologram won’t hold your form if you move so much! Applejack can only do so much with that projector.” Rarity, holding a needle and thread in her etheric grasp, dodged and weaved around the panicking purple pony, pinning up portions of her hair, cleaning dust and lint, and patching holes in the old uniform. Twilight was still prancing in place, her breathing slowing as she slowed her movements. “Rarity, I’m going to be talking to an entire galaxy! I’m the Princess of Friendship, not the Princess of Equus! Why does it have to be me?!” “Twilight, you’re not just the Princess of Friendship, you know. You’re the Commander of the Solus Invictus!” A shock of multi-hued hair stuck out from behind a raised square of deck plating as Rainbow grunted and groaned, attempting to wrestle a bolt into place and secure the hologram transmission platform. “If anypony can do this, you can! Applejack, a little help here?” “Commander, Quantum Transmission request has come through, and we’re currently connected to the nearest communications buoy. We’ve got a secondary line to Celestia and Luna back on Equus, and the rest of the crew is reporting full network compliance. Isaac Humphries, of the Miner’s Defiance, replicated as best he could the Quantum Holographic Scanner from his own Fortress before his crew was absorbed into ours, and is reporting that the pad you are standing on has complete functionality.” The human presenting the report stood stiffly at attention as they read off of the dataslate in their hands, a full-faced helmet concealing their face with a randomized swirling pattern. Even with the voice coming out through the helmet’s speakers, it was distorted, the figure attempting to disguise themselves as best as possible. Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes as she looked straight at the human. Their uniform had been exchanged for a new style Solus Invictus set, freshly designed and produced by Rarity and her new team of Fabricators. The standard uniform before had been all but a nearly single piece uniform that you almost had to peel yourself out of, but the new design exchanged the old single-colour grey to a more befitting paneled uniform. Rarity, as Twilight had started to notice, had put special colour patches on the shoulders to denote the various specific departments onboard the Fortress. The human standing in front of her wore the steel-grey uniform with red shoulders of the Security branch of her crew. Rainbow Dash wore the forest-green with gold highlights of the Pilot Commander, having decided after the last match to work more towards getting the interceptors working more for the Clone Pilots they were looking at producing once they made their way to a station and acquired more gel accelerant. Rarity was rather striking in her maroon clothing, her uniform designed for those working in Fabrication and Engineering, hers and Applejack’s departments. “Thank you, Reaper. Keep me apprised of any new developments,” she stated plainly, watching as the human snapped a quick salute and walked off, their sidearm bouncing slightly as they exited the Communications Room. “Still can’t believe some of the human advancements we hadn’t even considered. I mean, the Quantum Entanglement Device for communication, that wasn’t even theorized back on Equus! Our systems were still running on the old Stellar Echoes system that the Kepler had come standard with, and that was still old when she was flying! I-” A hoof quickly came out of nowhere, forcing a small, sweet pastry into Twilight’s mouth, causing her to stop and slowly chew as she stared Pinkie right in the face. The grim look on her friend’s face was the final click in Twilight’s mind to not just look, but really see around her at her friends. Each one had circles under their eyes, Applejack had some scars across one cheek from an Engineering malfunction on the main machining area, while Rarity’s mane, a sore point often for the fashionista, had been cut far shorter than she normally would hold it. She remembered an incident report where Rarity’s mane had become entangled in one of the Fabricators, and one of her assistants had needed to slash quickly to free her before she would find herself a little thinner than before. “Twilight… You. Have. Got. This. We’re all here for you, regardless. We may be a part of a crew, but we will always be your friends. Now, turn that frown upside down and smile! You’re on camera!” Twilight was about to open her mouth before the area around her went suddenly dark, and a ring slowly rose around her, displaying the area where she was broadcasting to. Orange lines crossed each other as she was scanned, and she could hear cheering and confused noises playing through nearby speakers, as the man at the desk smiled and raised a hand in a non-threatening gesture. “…der Twilight Sparkle of the Solus Invictus!” --------//|0|\\-------- “And now, it’s Commander Twilight Sparkle, of the Solus Invictus!” The scan slowly spun up as the scanner on the other end projected the currently scanned appearance of the Fortress’ Commander. Her rather striking appearance, a lavender quadrupedal being with a sharp horn and folded wings, her uniform sleek and paneled, almost like an old New Earth Coalition vessel’s uniform from two centuries previous. Her own Commander’s hat had a slight forward brim, rounded in the middle to accommodate her horn as she shifted where she stood ever so slightly. “Ah, the connection’s working! Am I coming through okay?” The voice was indeed feminine, denoting the ‘filly’ he had been made aware of. Her mane was cropped short, a definitively military cut, her eyes focused and concentrated as she watched around her. Tapping the side of his glasses, Julian linked his Virtual Audience to the projector as it completed scanning, sending the streaming data to their scanner on the other side of the galaxy. Flexing his fingers again, he flashed his legendary smile, the pearly whites almost twinkling as far as anyone could tell. “You are coming through just fine, Commander. Welcome to Galaxy News Now, your first stop in galactic happenings, Wargames information and interviews! Now, I’ve got a few questions for you, taken at random from our most avid viewers. I promise none of these will be anything too difficult or too uncomfortable to answer.” “Uh, I’ll assume that you’re telling the… truth.” Julian straightened himself on his chair, tapping the dataslate in his desk as he brought up the first question. A standard question for new commanders, he knew it would not throw a curveball from left field like some other questions on the list. He silently cursed himself, wishing he had been able to veto parts of the list, as they were nothing like the tone they were attempting to set with this new competitor. “All right! Our first question comes from Candace McLaughlin in Odinhall, Valhalla’s capitol city. She asks, ‘How long has your kind looked at the stars and wondered what else was out there?’ A fine question to begin a fantastic interview.” “Equestrians have not so much looked the same way at the stars as humankind has. For the longest period of time, we were barely aware of our place in the greater universe. Gryphons were far more interested in learning about the stellar systems of neighbouring stars, while we ponies were more interested in our day-to-day until about 10 years ago.” “Fantastic answer! Many civilizations, when encountering advanced, or even ancient technology, will experience a massive boost in their level of technological advancement, similar to the Rithurians almost 200 years ago!” Julian paused as he watched the connection on the hologram jerk for a moment, the connection reestablishing as the next question popped up. He paused for a moment, tapping his chin as he double-checked the name, raising an eyebrow enough so that everyone present could see. Looking out into the audience, he could see two odd avatars, faceless humans he could not discern. According to their names, one was ‘Celeste,’ while the other had the name ‘Moony98.’ He sighed, making sure his sunglasses hid the rolling of his eyes as best as he could. “Equestria, and Equus as a whole, has definitely experienced such an upheaval. We’ve been forced to rethink how we know the universe more and more.” “Excellent! Now, our next question comes from Doctor Jason Newhall of New Europa in the Anvil Cluster. He inquires, ‘Data from the beginning of your most recent match dictated that your drive technology is unlike anything in existence. How do you punch through the fabric of the universe like you do?” Julian paused as he watched the Commander fidget in place, her eyes glancing around as she whispered to someone off camera, nodding as she got her answer. “We call it the Tunnel Drive. It’s… hard to discuss unless you’ve got the Canterlot University’s Treatise on Science and Magic in front of you. It’s basically a massive magi-tech focusing array that allows for a single arcane spell, in its case a ‘teleportation’ spell, to be inputted. Of course, it uses computer systems to correct for stellar drift, as your destination could alter even during a week. We have compared it to something we were studying called a ‘Gravity Wake Drive’, or the ‘Warp Drive.’ Our design is more efficient, but there is no possible way to mount it on anything smaller than a Fortress. It is a prototype after all.” Murmuring in the background broadcast to his glasses registered on his translator as various races present became shocked and surprised by the turn of events. The drive was almost reminiscent of an old Terran drive from over two millennia previous, but that drive had been so impractical that it fell out of use, at least, according to history it had. Not very many of the human colonies in the M83 galaxy had contact with the Milky Way galaxy, the birth galaxy of the human race, but they all had the history of the failure of the original ‘Void Drive,’ something which had caused an almost catastrophic event to occur. History had scrubbed out what the event was, but they had warned against using such devices, turning history into as much as a cautionary tale about the dangers of curiosity. “So, this ‘Tunnel Drive’ is far more efficient than any other drive that you know about in the current era?” “Our Tunnel Drive is around 85% more efficient than a standard Gravity Wake Drive, which brings it closer to the Warp Engine in comparison of speed coefficients. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough information to determine how fast it is compared to more modern systems. I have been told that one race in this galaxy has a drive that allows them to almost ‘blink’ into the space nearest a fleet. It’s definitely of interest to us” Julian sighed quietly, letting information pop up on his feed. The technical specifications of the Tunnel Drive were, for lack of a better term, fantastical in their nature. The sheer magnitude of power needed to basically tunnel through the space-time continuum was something incredible, at least, in his mind it was. The Gravity Wake Drive, what had once been known as the Warp Drive, created a negative-mass wake in front of a ship, accelerating you in Realspace to a massive factor. The more efficient your Wake Field Emitters were, the more your ship would accelerate. However, it was not the Warp Engine, which skipped along the very edge of the universe, in a region many still called Subspace, though the actual technical term was ‘The Void between universes,’ or simply Voidspace. The Equestrians’ Tunnel Drive seemed to tap directly into that Void, creating speeds not seen since humanity left its cradle to colonize the stars. Bringing his own attention back, he raised an eyebrow as he looked out at the audience. The Thalrazyne matriarchs seemed to take a closer interest as Commander Sparkle mentioned their race. Their drive was a closely guarded secret, except for the one time a derelict had been left behind after a battle. However, the data regarding its potential use had been scrubbed and blocked from public eye, meaning even Julian did not have access to it. He only had a name, and as he read it, he shivered. The very title of it elicited a cold sweat as he smiled and tried to brush it out of his mind. “Our next question comes from...” --------//|0|\\-------- Applejack kept her eye on the nearby power readings as the interview continued. Several of the human engineers, the humans still wearing their interesting full-face helmets, had opted to join her, allowing her to keep an eye on the actual Scanner for any malfunctions. To them, of course, the technology was something of a miracle, but she had to constantly remind herself that she was the Chief Engineer of the Fortress, and that her job was not to take it apart and study it, but to work off of the known specifications and keep it running. Her eyes glanced over at Pinkie, who had since fallen asleep. Her own work in the ship’s cafeteria took up most of her time, and Applejack was certain the mare had not had much opportunity to rest or relax. Though, to think of it, since the actual battle, they had not had much of an opportunity themselves to relax. Since the absorption of the human crew, it had become far easier to accomplish their tasks, but a majority of work, especially in the vehicle bay, had ground down to a stand-still due to the inability of the Minotaurs to work with their new human crew members. Her own suspicions had figured it mostly to be on the part of the humans, as they were accustomed to a certain way of completing their tasks, while the process they were coming into was something entirely different. Starlight Glimmer was very much uninterested in the ‘interview,’ as when she was asked, she had stated she had far more duties to attend to as Twilight’s Executive Officer, her second-in-command. Applejack’s invitation to watch had been rather bluntly brushed aside as multiple individuals hounded Starlight, their dataslates brimming with new information. She certainly did not envy Starlight’s predicament, but she understood that regardless of anything else, Starlight was definitely far more up to the task than she was. Rarity was conspicuously missing, as she was wont to, Applejack surmising she had returned back down to the Fabricators to keep an eye on the human technologies that were being modified to work with the physiology of the various races onboard the Fortress. “Rainbow, you certain that- and she’s out too. I reckon we all could use a little shut-eye. Alex, you mind keepin’ an eye on all o’ this?” Alex, one of the humans working diligently on the power coupling that the Scanner relied on, gave a quick thumbs up, checking a nearby hand-tool for the power rating of the coupling. A couple of the other humans passed around coffee as they took a short break, commenting on the efficiency of the Equestrian-designed uniforms and devices. The ones taking a break had their helmets off, displaying their own implants, though they appeared far more invasive than the ones that herself and her friends had. Their eyes, of course, glowed with the unnatural light of the uplink that each implant came with, but it was far more obvious – she understood somewhat why they preferred to wear the helmets. As she was about to leave, Fluttershy came slowly walking in with two of the other Pegasus medics, bringing out various medical tools to take readings on the ponies who had fallen asleep. Applejack turned to watch as they quietly darted around, double-checking each reading and placing a fresh blanket over the two who had fallen asleep. “It’s kind of nice, isn’t it?” Applejack turned around to face the voice, her eyes locking onto Starlight’s as they stopped and looked at each other. “I reckon it is. I’m awful proud of how Twilight’s been takin’ it all, but you, Rainbow, Pinkie… y’all gotta let her breathe.” Starlight sucked in air as Applejack spoke, nodding slowly as she looked around. Over the last week, all of them had been somewhat… short with one another, and it had showed. Fluttershy had delved even deeper into her work with the gel and the Cloning Labs, even though their own supply of the accelerant was depleted. Rarity was far more focused on incorporating more armour and understanding how the humans designed their armour with such flexibility compared to hers. Applejack, though, had focused almost entirely on getting the Scanner operational in time for the interview. According to the Stellar Maps that the Messier Interstellar Committee had provided – free of charge, as they had claimed – they had been far out in the frontier regions of the galaxy, meaning that Mosshaven, while a battleground, did not have a dedicated Communications Buoy for high-speed traffic. Normally, it would be handled by a Fortress’ own broadcast equipment, but the Solus Invictus’ own equipment was sorely lacking in that department. Considering it was around a millennium out of date, she was very much certain that the system would overload had they attempted just using their own broadcasting system. “’You can take the farmer out of the orchard, but you can’t take the orchard out of the farmer.’ We’ve been out here in space for about two or so weeks, minus the time it took to calculate stellar drift. How’s the Main Terrace coming along?” “It’s goin’ mighty well, Starlight. The trees are takin’ to the soil in an awful fast way. Y’all should come up and see it. You and Twilight, and the others.” Starlight looked back at the Scanner, sighing as she smiled. “You know what? I’ll take you up on that offer. Coffee’s on me.” --------//|0|\\-------- “And that’s all of the questions we have for now. Commander Sparkle, if you have any words for the audience, we’d be very much intrigued as to what you have to say.” Julian had almost forgotten to keep his eye on the clock, reminding himself that he had to complete several more interviews that day, and a majority of the species were non-human. Sighing, he tapped his console, sending the reminder up to the broadcast crew in the main office that the interview was wrapping up. “We are all honoured to be among the races who have conquered the stars. We, as we have attempted to convey, are here to bring ourselves further than our races have ever gone. We have a lot to offer this galaxy, and I hope we get the opportunity for peaceful discourse with every being we can. This is Commander Twilight Sparkle of the Solus Invictus, signing off.” With a hiss and a shudder, the projection shut down, leaving a smiling Julian who was wracking his mind on what to do next. Sighing once more, he tapped his console, standing up to walk around as he normally did after an interview. “Well, then, races of Messier 83! How will this new Commander fare in our galaxy-wide competition of bravery and valour? Let’s keep our eyes focused and our ears open for anything new from this new race! After all, it’s not every day a new race enters the Long Night like everyone else. Now, next up on Galaxy News Now – Pirates and Politicians! Are we certain that planetary governments are actually doing all they can to curb the menace sweeping the galaxy? Stay tuned for more!” With a bow and a smile, the program stopped its broadcast for a short moment, leaving Julian to collapse back into his chair. A voice to his side brought his attention towards it, as a bald man in an impeccable suit approached him. “Another stellar show, as always, Julian.” “Director Orwell. A pleasure as always.” --------//|0|\\-------- Twilight let herself relax as the ring circling her on the Scanner slowed down and lowered back into its base. Breathing slowly and deeply, she smiled as she turned to see the humans clapping, Rainbow and Pinkie sleeping soundly beneath two heavy blankets. Isaac Humphries, the human commander, stepped forward as the lights came back up. Holding out his hand, he helped Twilight down off the Scanner, letting her seat herself on the floor nearby. “Commander, you did exceedingly well. Most new Commanders have a case of the nerves, and either faint or have a panic attack while the interview is proceeding. Colour me impressed, since you grabbed the attention of a pair of Thalrazyne matriarchs as well.” “Thalrazyne?” Isaac sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Ah, right. I forgot you’re not exactly well-versed on the intricacies of the galactic political scene. The Thalrazyne are bipedal, like most humanoids throughout M83, but with several key differences. They do have some aspects in common with your average human – we used to say Terran, but the term fell out of usage with how many different human colonies have come about. The face, for example.” He paused to tap on a dataslate he was holding, bringing up the picture of a typical Thalrazyne matriarch. The 10-foot-tall being displayed was covered in a long flowing robe, armour plates strategically placed as well as what appeared to be multitudes of religious iconography. Isaac tapped one more symbol, letting the dataslate’s built-in speech function talk to Twilight while he began a conversation with one of the other humans. “The Thalrazyne are an enigmatic, long-lived species, where they share a home system with the Iiaynsin, the planet of Thalra being closer to their home star, while the Iiaynsin populate the small planetoid of Nokura. Standing on average at 10 feet in height, the beings are somewhat reptilian in appearance, with scales over their shoulders, arms, and torso. Small horns ring their faces, though it is not their bodies, but their extra limbs that often characterize them. Each Thalrazyne has four arms, or whatever the approximate limb is called depending on the race. Their society thrives on ritual combat, which both has kept their society stable for thousands of years, but also has inadvertently worked as a sort of population control. Only basic information about the Thalrazyne society and their technology level is known, as they are somewhat isolationist in their dealings.” Twilight tapped the pause icon on the display, raising an eyebrow as she looked back up to Isaac. The human in question had left the room, but a question still raised in Twilight’s mind as she considered the implications of what he had said before giving her the dataslate. Before she could finish her thought, a cup of coffee was thrust in front of her, Isaac standing in front of her raising an eyebrow. “Caffeine helps.” “I do have a question, by the way, Isaac.” Isaac looked straight into Twilight’s eyes, sighing as the realization dawned on him. “This is about the Thalrazyne, isn’t it?” “Yes, actually. Tell me everything you can.” Sighing, Isaac motioned for her to follow him as he started to walk away from the room containing the Scanner. “Well, we’re going to have to start from the beginning, then. The story starts with a single death, and the life of a prince...”