Chapter XLIV
Captain Hazalk marched through the halls of The Emperor’s Will, his plasma rifle cradled in his upper arms, its once reassuring weight now feeling meaningless compared to the weapons his human escorts carried. He eyed them with the experienced gaze of a veteran, and everything he saw impressed him. They were light, compact, and simple to use, which completely belied just how utterly devastating the ‘primitive’ weapons were.
That was the thing that had surprised Hazalk the most about the humans. They supposedly came from a pre-spaceflight society, but their ground tactics and weapons met, and in some respects surpassed, the best that the Krin Empire had to offer. That’s not to say that what the emperor brought here today equaled his full might during the height of his power, but if what Alexander said was true, the humans didn’t exactly bring their best toys to the field, either… Hazalk thought to himself uneasily. I think maybe we took a wrong turn when we salvaged that downed starship during the third epoch...
He looked back down at the rifle in his hands, its bulky, flashy appearance a gaudy counterpoint to the weapons carried by those around him. The last time a krin soldier had used powder-based weapons was when flintlock muskets were being used by Calivar-Thranii to conquer the known world, he thought to himself as he tried to imagine what a krin-made kinetic rifle might look like. How much more would we have found about that line of tech if that Kelmian starship hadn’t crash-landed into the Ilivan army? Would the Empire have risen to power at all? What else did we miss on our foolish quest for dominion?
Hazalk’s musings might have continued further, had his group not reached their destination. The humans around him immediately started chattering quietly to themselves as they began to set up shop around the large, heavy blast door, their conversation far too rapid for Hazalk, or the translation power that had been placed upon him, to keep up with. Not that it mattered much, though, as the spell usually translated their language pretty poorly anyway, but Hazalk still felt a little annoyed at being kept out of the loop.
As for the door, it was a standard issue bridge security blast door, meaning that it was at least two feet thick, not only deterring intruders with its bulk, but also with the various countermeasures and electromagnetic shielding contained within its girth. In fact, those same countermeasures surrounded the entire bridge, and with the installed life support system, small power core, and a limited amount of emergency ration, it was a veritable fortress. In theory, if the rest of the ship was destroyed around it, the bridge could survive for some time, floating in the inky blackness of space, waiting for a salvage crew to come rescue it.
Of course, none of that mattered if the computer itself was compromised. The bridge might have been hardwired to seal itself during a total lockdown, but the way around that was insultingly simple: reduce the alert status.
Having been at the wrong end of this little oversight in krin engineering, Hazalk could fully understand just how frantic the bridge crew probably were; they knew someone was attempting to take over the ship, and were utterly powerless to stop it. In fact, their armaments probably amounted to four plasma pistols and maybe a rifle if the captain was particularly paranoid about a mutiny, but not much more, which meant that the resistance they could provide was negligible, and they most likely knew that. The real problem was what they did have in there, namely the controls for the ship.
While it was true that the computer could fly the ship by itself, Alexander had made it abundantly clear that he had no experience in this, nor did he have the proper software installed in his head. In theory, he could have installed that software using the data on the fleet’s collective computers, but Hazalk knew enough about the survivor to know that he would never be able to talk the human into such a plan, and had avoided mentioning the matter entirely. Because of his silence, it had instead been decided that Hazalk and the other confederate krin would pilot the fleet, but they would need the bridge for that, which made their whole operation a gamble.
If the bridge crew knew that they needed the bridge, and couldn’t just use the computer for everything, they would have destroyed the controls long before Hazalk and his krin ever set foot aboard the ship. Luckily for the allies, however, it seemed like the captain of the ship wasn’t aware of the fatal flaw in their plan, or at the very least was far too confident for his own good, as the controls were still completely intact. There was no guarantee that they would stay like that, though, which was why the allies needed to capture the bridge as quickly as possible, going so far as to attempt taking it before the rest of the ship had been cleared.
After all, the allies hadn’t even bothered to attempt to capture the larger carriers. Those were troop transports, after all, and had far too many soldiers aboard for the numbers that the humans could ferry using the shuttles, even with the computer on their side. Instead, the plan was to capture the smaller ships, knock out the two carriers’ hyperspace disks and propulsion, and force them to surrender at gunpoint. Hazalk was all for just sinking them entirely, but since the humans were calling the shots during this operation, he had been overruled.
As good as the plan was, however, it had a very strict timetable. If the allies were too slow, they would lose the initiative, and the carriers could send over reinforcements, or even start destroying ships that the allies had boarded. Alexander might have been able to engage the larger vessels himself, and probably could have sunk the two carriers already, but the survivor had already stressed how inexperienced he was with ship-to-ship combat. But even if he had been a master pilot and an expert in complex fleet maneuvers, the other humans would probably have still told him to stand down, and only use that as their last resort. They wanted those ships, after all, and they were willing to do just about anything to get their hands on them.
So there Hazalk was, standing outside of the bridge door of The Emperor’s Will, pondering to himself how his life choices had led him up to this moment. Lined up with him were the three other confederate soldiers that had ferried the humans and equines aboard, all waiting patiently for the aliens to begin their attempt to breach and clear the bridge. Just the sight of them caused Hazalk to beam with pride; they had followed him through terror, pain and death, had watched their friends die around them, were even forced to abandon the ship that had been their home for years, and yet they still followed, conviction clear in their eyes. They’re good lads… Hazalk thought to himself as he brought his attention back to the humans and equines. I can only pray that the Battlewatcher thinks the same…
As he turned his attention from his stalwart soldiers onto the mismatched, almost motley force that had escorted him and his men, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of trepidation over what was about to happen. He had no doubt that they could easily take all four officers, most likely without taking a single casualty.
That wasn’t what Hazalk was worried about.
The krin captain had made it absolutely clear that they needed to avoid hitting the controls of the ship, but they had just waved him off, stating that they had contingencies for these kinds of situations. Despite these assurances, however, he could not distinguish any difference in the weapons that they carried from the ones that they had used to slaughter the imperials on the planet below. For all Captain Hazalk knew, they had made no changes whatsoever, and were about to rely on pure skill to avoid damaging those precious consoles.
Hazalk wasn’t in control here, though, and had no way to force the humans to just tell him what their ‘contingencies’ entailed. All he could do was sit tight, and pray that they knew what they were doing.
Once the humans had prepared sufficiently, which involved a lot of quiet chattering as they waited for the horned equines to form a barrier in front of the door, the human leading the group nodded towards the ceiling. “Is being ready, Protector of People.”
In an instant, the lights suddenly brightened, the turrets next to the bridge door retracted, and the door unsealed itself, rising slowly as it revealed the bridge beyond. Hazalk and his crew were further down the hall, since they were deemed far too important for the allies’ strategy to take part in the assault directly, and as such could not see what was happening in the room beyond. What Hazalk did see was the humans throw a few cylindrical canisters over the chest-high force field that the equines had erected, before ducking back immediately, barely avoiding the return fire aimed at them.
The angry plasma bolts sizzled as they impacted the metal wall of the ship, leaving behind several bright, cherry red spots and melted pockmarks in the metal, but that was the extent of their effect on steel without concentrated fire behind them. The bolts barely caught Hazalk’s attention, however, as an entirely different sound intruded upon his senses. It was a weird, angry hissing noise, which was quickly followed by the sounds of the bridge crew beyond hacking and coughing in obvious discomfort.
Hazalk didn’t need the confirmation of that familiar, smokey smell to know what the humans had done, and found himself nodding in silent approval. Clever… but smoke won’t block the bridge crew’s vision implants… Hazalk thought to himself, but stopped short when he saw the human leader make a few signals to his equine allies. In a flash, the field fell, and six hornless, wingless equines charged in, their hoofsteps completely silent as another horned equine had already used more magic on them, to mask their approach. Unless, it was only a distraction? Hazalk thought as the field came back up. He then watched with disbelief as the humans turned to face the open room, held their weapons over the lip of the field, and opened fire into the room beyond.
“What are you doing? You’ll destroy the-” Hazalk started to say, but was stopped when the commander smacked him in the chest, his teeth displayed in a way that appeared threatening to Hazalk’s krin sensibilities. By this point, he had already been informed that such a display on a human or equine was a friendly one, but those old, krin instincts were pretty hard to shake.
“Not bullets, but this,” the commander said, holding up something for Hazalk to inspect. It looked like a copper-colored cylinder with a black head that ended in a rounded point. “Soft bullet. Not kill, not think even penetrate your shell. Too soft. Not even penetrate our skin.”
“Even so, they might still hit something fragile!” Hazalk hissed back.
The human just shrugged, before he pointed towards the door. “My troops know what they aim at. They know better. Besides, just waiting for equines.”
Hazalk was about to continue arguing the point, but stopped short when a shout came through from inside the room, causing Hazalk’s alien escort to quickly pile inside, sweeping him and his crew along with them. The second everyone was inside, the bridge sealed itself again, and Hazalk couldn’t help but cough for a few seconds as he stared teary-eyed through the smoke that had enveloped the place. Before he could even form a thought about that, however, the fans came on, quickly clearing the smoke that still remained, and finally revealing the bridge for the captain’s inspection.
It looked like the bridge crew had grabbed anything loose, and had attempted to pile it up in front of the door to make a barricade. It hadn’t done anything to hinder the equines, though, simply because the amount of loose, pryable furniture commonly found on a bridge couldn’t possibly have dissuaded a larval krin, much less the impossibly strong equines that were currently standing on top of the four battered bridge officers. Surrounding these officers, as well as scattered in several other places all over the bridge, were a number of small, black slugs, similar to the cylinder that the human leader had shown Hazalk earlier. Hazalk curiously leaned down and picked one up, before taking a few seconds to examine it thoroughly. It was made of some kind of rubber, and while harder than most rubbers he was familiar with, was still far, far softer and less massive than a metal slug.
Though every krin was covered in an exoskeleton, the top-most layer of this protective armor was actually surprisingly soft, and was filled with bundles of nerve-endings and covered in holes that allowed sensitive hairs to peek out, allowing the krin to easily feel the world around them. Such a projectile would do very little harm to a krin soldier, but Hazalk imagined that getting hit with them would be incredibly painful. Maybe not so much for someone with implants, but at the very least it would be very, very distracting, even with the combat computers that the empire outfitted its soldiers with.
“Very clever indeed…” Hazalk said as he dropped the slug, and sauntered over to the controls. As the humans had promised, the consoles were basically untouched, waiting patiently for Hazalk and his crew to take over, with only a few superficial scratches and black marks to show that a firefight had even taken place.
“You’ll never win,” a voice suddenly piped up from behind Hazalk, causing the krin captain to turn in surprise. The previous captain of the ship was still conscious, surprisingly enough, and was looking up at Hazalk, naked hatred in his eyes. “In fact, you’ve already lost. By this time next week, the general will be presenting those savages to the emperor. In a month’s time, the emperor will finally have reclaimed his throne, and soon after, his birthright!”
Hazalk nodded once, before he turned to the controls and ran a practiced hand over the console. It felt good to be back behind the controls of a starship again; the last time he had even touched such a display was when he was still a lieutenant. “A month is a long time, Captain. Don’t be so sure of what will happen.”
The other captain looked offended at Hazalk’s blunt response. “I will personally ensure that-” the captain started ranting, but was cut off as Hazalk gave the humans near him a cutting gesture, which they seemed to understand as a direction to begin gagging and tying up the imperials, rather than knock them out as Hazalk had intended. Either way, it shut the blindly loyal imperial up, which allowed Hazalk the peace he needed to inspect the crew that had loyally followed him into the jaws of hell and back.
All three were his friends, had stuck to him when he had turned against the emperor, and were krin he would have gladly spoken for to the Battlewatcher, but none of them were exactly what he would have called officer material. They were grunt soldiers: loyal, competent, but hardly experienced enough to take the helm of a starship. They’ll be able to handle the auxiliary duties with their software, but I can’t exactly trust them behind the flight controls of a larger starship... But beggars can’t be choosers, and with my usual crew on the other vessels, I’ll take what I can get… Hazalk thought to himself as he eyed his krin. “Congratulations boys, you’ve all been promoted. Theriso, to Tactical. Forzaar, coms. Casianon, you help the humans properly secure the Imperials,” Hazalk said as he turned back to the pilot console, his fingers resting on the still-unresponsive controls. “Alexander, if you would, we’re ready to take command.”
“...Okay, turning control back to the bridge… now. Don’t make me regret this, Hazalk,” the captain heard Alexander say as the flight deck lit up again, signifying that control had been reestablished.
“Oh, don’t worry, I hate those gutless curs almost as much as you do…” Hazalk growled as he began making course corrections. Within minutes, The Emperor’s Will had swung about, its main cannons now conspicuously pointed at the two carriers it had once protected. “Theriso, target the one on the right, their hyperspace dish to be precise, and charge the plasma cannons. The Emperor’s Folly is ready.”
* * *
Princess Celestia was a little disoriented when the world came back into focus, and decided that teleporting using someone else's magic was probably her least favorite way to travel. As much as she hated it, though, she could not argue against the convenience or effectiveness of the changeling’s ‘beacon’ method. “Thank you, Alesandro,” Celestia told the changeling next to her.
The changeling, probably flustered at being in the presence of the princess, and not being roasted for being a changeling, bowed while stammering out something more akin to a squeak than actual words. She ignored him, though; partially because she did not want to ruin the poor stallion’s nerves any more than they already were, but also because she really didn’t have much time to spare anyway.
With a glance around her, she managed to get her bearings, and quickly realized that she was in the ballroom of Canterlot Castle. The large, spacious dance floor had been repurposed, however, and was currently being used to store a multitude of large, dark green crates, each labeled in the human’s blocky language in bright yellow lettering. They were most likely here to be distributed across the battlefield of Equestria, and were currently being guarded by a combination of human soldiers and Celestia’s own Solar Guard.
Her own soldiers quickly saluted the moment that Celestia appeared in the center of the ballroom, their discipline in the face of total annihilation lifting Celestia’s heart far more than she would have let on. “Sergeant,” she said, nodding to one of the soldiers, before fixing the human he had been standing next to with a searching gaze. “Do these humans have an active translation spell upon them?”
Instead of the sergeant answering her, though, the soldier next to him beat him to the punch, confirming Celestia’s question in the process. “Yes, Lady, been expect you. Waiting for you come, need speak with the Significant quickly-quickly.”
“Thank you, soldier, the faster we can meet, the better.” she said as she nodded her head in gratitude.. “By the way, what is your name, human?”
The soldier quickly pushed open the door, before gesturing with his hand. “Me Sergeant God Heard. Please is following me, we be quick. Significant is in being big computer room. Easy intelligence, easy follow fight.”
Some god heard us, that is certain… Celestia thought to herself as she held up a single hoof. “Thank you for the directions, Sergeant, but I know the way. This is my castle, after all,” she said, a slightly playful note in her voice.
The human nodded slightly, and Celestia closed her eyes, her mind focused wholly upon the spell she wove. In the space of a breath, Celestia’s world disappeared in a flash of golden light, only to be replaced with the tangled, haphazard mess that was the Omniscope. It was currently surrounded by several unfamiliar humans, as well as a few of her own staff, with the most prominent of the figures being Shining Armor himself. At that moment, all of the assembled warriors and scientists were concentrating on the crystal globes that flanked the main structure, chattering among themselves as they watched those accursed vessels float in the emptiness of space.
They all stopped what they were doing, though, the moment that the Princess of the Rising Sun appeared in their midst. Several of the humans’ hands went to the weapons at their hips, clearly startled at Celestia’s sudden arrival, though their discipline kept them from drawing those deadly weapons and opening fire.
On the other hoof, her own soldiers immediately came to attention once she materialized, their right hooves rising in salute as they recognized their princess, all while Prince Shining Armor stepped forward, gesturing towards one of the humans in particular. “Princess Celestia, it is with great honor that I present Keer-nalal Coon’eers of the Ooneeted Stats Ara’may.”
Princess Celestia nodded her head graciously to the human, her heart filled with gratitude. “Thank you, Keer-nalal Coon’eers, for your timely arrival. Equestria will never forget this debt we have to your people.”
The human looked her up and down, a wry smirk on his face as he extended a single hand. “Pleasure is being me. We just being gladdening for chance kicking bugs back in space. They not exactly our friendly, either.”
“As wonderful as your people have been, and as deep as our debt already is, I am afraid I must impose upon you further, Keer-nalal, and ask for yet another boon,” Celestia said, as she reached out and laid her hoof into the human’s hand.
The human gripped her hoof warmly, before he shook it once, and let go, the wry smile on his face not changing as he eyed her intently. “Oh? What is being such gift? What we need give?”
“I would ask that a portion of our populace be allowed asylum on your own world,” Celestia said bluntly, her expression furious, yet embarrassed as she looked into the human’s eyes. “I’m afraid that we have not delayed the krin long enough, as they have already retreated, and are abandoning the planet. It won’t be long now before they crush us from orbit, and I fear… that…”
Celestia trailed off as the human’s smile grew wider and wider, all while his compatriots, and even a few of her own soldiers, wore immensely smug grins on their faces.
“Lady, not being worried,” Keer-nalal Coon’eers said, before he waved her closer to the globes. “You world safe, you people safe. Battle is over, we won!”
“Keer-nalal, I don’t think you understand; their retreat doesn’t mean that we’ve beaten them back, it means that they have what they came for,” Celestia gently tried to correct the grinning human. “We needed to stall them, not destroy them, and now there’s nothing to prevent them from destroying us. We have to abandon the planet, before…”
Celestia trailed off, again, when she realized that Keer-nalal wasn’t paying attention to her, and was instead talking to Wealthy Protector. “Wealthy Protector, if you being, pull back, show full fleet.”
Wealthy Protector said something in his native tongue, and almost immediately the view displayed in the globes changed. Ten, sleek, deadly ships could be seen in a rough formation, surrounding two of the larger, probably-troop-carrying vessels, and Celestia couldn’t help but grind her teeth in rage at having missed so many during her rampage. Her anger was quickly snuffed out, though, when she started noticing certain details.
The ten were not in the formation that Celestia had last seen them, for one thing, nor did it look like they were about to fire upon the planet below. In fact, they appeared to be facing and surrounding the two, far more massive ships, and as Celestia began to inspect them, she felt her heart leap in joy.
The two larger vessels showed obvious battle damage, and seemed to be leaking gasses and fluids as they began to list in an awkward, uncontrolled fashion.
“What has… why…” Celestia muttered, wonder clear in her voice.
“You seeing, while they try take you ponies, we take land craft. Not know how fly, but still, thought something could do with them,” Keer-nalal said, pride clear in his voice. “Then, what expect? You deliver friendly bugs us! Could not letting go waste! With Alex help, now we having ten new ships, all our own! Maybe being two carriers too, if they surrendering, but ten is good showing, for new space battle. Not bad, primitive monkeys.”
At this, Princess Celestia fell to her knees, her eyes filled with tears as she stared open-mouthed at the crystal globe. After so much death, so much suffering, it was… over. The invasion had been repelled, and all she could feel was an overwhelming sense of relief.
“Princess Sun? You being-” Keer-nalal began to ask, but he fell silent when Celestia stood up again, and turned to him, her manner suddenly far more formal than it had been mere seconds ago.
“I swear, upon the Spirits of Harmony, that this debt to our people will not go unpaid. By the holy tree itself, should you or your people call upon Equestria, should we not answer that call, our very lives are forfeit,” Celestia said, her voice clear and calm, despite the tears that still freely flowed from her eyes. “You… have saved us all, and for that, we are eternally grateful.”
Keer-nalal Coon’eers just looked at her, his seemingly perpetual smile faltering as he stared at the Princess of the Rising Sun. He looked uncomfortable, and quickly started to glance around, as if seeking aid, but his troops appeared equally caught off guard. As for the Equestrians… well, they were all saluting him and his men, tears in their own eyes as the reality of what the humans had done for them sunk in.
Keer-nalal Coon’eers took the hat off of his head and rubbed a single hand through his short, brown hair, all while his eyes wandered anywhere and everywhere that wasn’t Celestia’s crystal clear gaze. “Look, Lady, we… we do what we can. We lead way. We not ask any big thing, don’t swear promise, we not need it. We want one thing, one thing only, for what we do.”
“If it is within my power, you and your people shall have it,” Celestia said, her back straightening proudly as she smiled at the human. “The secrets of magic, the aid of our people, please, you only need to ask.”
“...We need land,” the human said as he replaced his hat. “Not big land, just field. Maybe big enough farm, no bigger.”
Celestia looked confused at that. “Surely you could ask for more. If it’s a city, we can provide, or if it’s food, we have-”
She was interrupted when the human shook his head and straightened up, a smile on his face again as he looked her in the eye. “We not need any that. Just plot of land, get you exacting dimensions later, after… after count dead.”
And suddenly, it clicked with Celestia what the human was asking. “Surely you would prefer to take your dead back with you, we would be happy to help with such a task.”
“No. It big undertake. Lot of dead, more important, lot of body complete gone. Bug weapon brutal, some vapored entirely,” Keer-nalal said, before he glanced back at the ships still floating in the Omniscope’s orbs. “Know, not bring every body back. Need enough space, show place bury. That what we ask, no more, no less. Politician may ask more, but for us… That enough.”
Celestia smiled at the noble warrior, before nodding her head. “You shall have it. Thank you again, Keer-nalal Coon’eers, for you, your troops… for everything.”
Keer-nalal opened his mouth once more, but as he began to form whatever words of welcome or sorrow he had in mind, the door to the lab opened, revealing a human in his country’s colors and a wild look in his eyes. He said something in his own tongue, clearly lacking the translation spell that allowed the humans and ponies to communicate, which meant that Celestia could not understand him.
Keer-nalal did, however, and held up a hand, as if asking Celestia for a moment with the new arrival. She nodded once, and Keer-nalal quickly left the room, taking the new arrival and a few of his staff with him.
Celestia turned back to Wealthy Protector, her tear-stained eyes still filled with wonder as she gazed at the captured ships in orbit. I wonder how the future will look, with our new allies? What will become of us? What will we learn? She thought to herself, as a potent cocktail of emotions swirled in her breast. Sorrow for the fallen was chief among them, but she couldn’t help but feel a strong undercurrent of hope as well. Hope for the future, that maybe through this tragedy, something wondrous could rise from the ashes.
“What the sexy happen?” Keer-nalal shouted, his panicked, horrified voice cutting through Celestia’s bittersweet musings, filling her with a nameless dread. She turned just in time to see Keer-nalal burst into the room, his face a mask of calm, deadly rage. “All men, call troops back. Leaving them on ship, they too far out, but call many can, we go home,” he snapped, his voice as cold as ice.
Celestia approached the angry human, concern clear in her eyes. “What is wrong? Is it something we can help with?”
Keer-nalal shook his head as his jaw clenched in anger and frustration. “No. We call home, need leave while can. You handle rest, am trust in you being, your nation. Here is rebuild, become happy again, you stay, being peaceful.”
“Please, if there’s anything we can do to help, you need but say the word,” Celestia pleaded with him. “Just as you came to our aid, so too shall we not abandon you."
Keer-nalal Coon'eers looked at her for a few seconds, before he shook his head. "While we play around here, bugs hit our world," he said, causing the pit of Celestia's stomach to drop out of her entirely. "Several city destroyed already. Millions dead. Head Leader recall all, call us home. We leave now."
Celestia nodded once in understanding, before her lips broke in a quiet smile. "...And we shall come with you."