The Sixth Race
In the depths of space a bluish light with a white center appeared, and streaking out of the light a ship of war came into being. The starship looked like a diamond with the last quarter of it cut off. On the bow was a symbol of a half sun and moon with dark green flames surrounding it, sitting on what looked to be two crossed arrows. It was a ship of the United Eponian Nations, the Ponyville.
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Captain Twilight Sparkle sighed as she made her way to the bridge, her hooves making a muffled clop-clap sound thanks to the rubber shoes that were standard issue to all the creatures that had hooves, from ponies to the changelings. She was mentally compiling a checklist of things that positively had to be done in the unexplored system her flagship jumped into.
‘Okay we have to do a complete sensor sweep for any hostiles or hazards, have Dash ready to launch to investigate if anything is picked up,’ thought Twilight as got on the turbolift to the bridge. ‘Then I need to write a report to Grand Admirals Luna and Nyx about anything of interest in this system. As Fluttershy would say, “Yay.”’
“Captain on deck,” bellowed an ensign as Twilight stepped out of the lift and onto the bridge.
“As you were,” she said as she made her way to her seat.
“Anything on the sensors, Rarity?”
“Negative, Captain,” the white coated unicorn with a purple mane and tail said.
“Good, let’s get the sentry satellite launched and on station so we can head home,” she said as several of the bridge crew looked at each other in silent celebration. It had been well over the usual six months since they left the star port ,and everypony was getting antsy to go home.
“Seven months since we left and a hundred years since the invention of the hyperdrive, and the only sentient life that we’ve seen is a bunch of bug-lizard like things that suck the life out of you, and then eat what’s left of the body, bones and all. Oh, and the fact that they also have spacefaring capabilities means that they could show up at Epona’s doorstep isn’t helpful either,” her Executive Officer (XO) Trixie complained with good reason, for the UEN was at war with the lizard-bugs known as the Senris, and some allies would be both useful and helpful.
“Which is why we’re out here planting these satellites. This system is one of the dozens of systems that the Senris have to stop in to recharge their shields if they want their attack to be anywhere close to successful, if they don’t want to be cut down by the defense platforms and the fleet in orbit. The satellites will give an advance warning to allow us enough time to call in reinforcements,” Twilight said as she called up the status of her ship and got ready to write her report. “Besides, they need the coordinates to the planet first, and with the Core Protocols in place, that isn’t happening.” The Core Protocols made it treason for an interstellar map to fall in Senris hooves and all ships and outposts were under orders to delete the coordinates to any major bases, Epona included.
“I’m sure we may find some friendly aliens sometime. Remember before the war started the exploration teams did find outposts on several planets with ring like devices that were made out an unknown material that’s virtually immune to all harm. Something had to have made those things,” a green unicorn said knowingly from the science station.
“And how old did those there teams say those things were again?” An orange earth pony said she waked onto the bridge wearing coveralls and a Stetson hat. “Several thousand, if not millions of years old. Ah don’t think that that race maybe alive anymore Lieutenant Lyra.”
“You may be right Applejack, but you never know. How’s the number two reactor coming along?”
“She’s comin’ along good, but she ain’t in specs yet,” replied Applejack.
“By specs do you mean the Navy’s specs or your OCD specs?” asked a white unicorn with a neon blue mane from the comms station.
“My specs! You know that that’s the reason why this ship out powers some of the battleships in the fleet. And this ain’t a cruiser mind you, and Ah don’t have OCD, Scratch”
“Easy there you two, or do I have to put you two into the brig again to cool down?” a griffin said from tactical.
“Gilda honey, just because you are the head of security doesn’t mean that you can put everypony into the brig as you feel like it,” Rarity said without looking up from the sensor scope.
“But I am going for the record!” the griffin shot back, “Only ones that I need are you, the XO, the pink thing, a couple of the changelings, and the captain, and I’ll beat the record.”
“AND THEN WE PARTY!” said a pink blur that was the morale officer, Pinkie Pie, as she popped up in-between the console and Gilda, who then picked her up and dropped the pink mare behind her. The rest of the bridge crew looked on in amusement at the mare’s antics before returning to work.
Meanwhile the Captain futilely tried and failed to wrap her head around her friend’s latest breaking of the laws of physics. ‘Dammit I thought I promised myself alooong time ago that I would not try to figure out how she does that. It leads to too much suffering,’ she thought as she tried to refocus on her report that she was writing for the admirals. ‘After all, it is just Pinkie being Pinkie.’
“Well you can start planning a party right now Miss Pie ‘cause we are done and officially able to head home once we check that the satellites are all working up to par.” Trixie said from the science station where she had moved to during the banter that happened.
“GREAT! Hey Trixie, do you want to do your magic show again?” Pinkie asked as the ships XO paled.
“I thought that I said that was a one-time deal,” Trixie said in a forced voice. “That Time,” as it was called by the ones who know what happened, was when Trixie had a little too much to drink and it consisted of lightning, a processed power cable (not live thankfully), her going on about the Great and Powerful Trixie, and a frighteningly realistic illusion of an Ursa Major.
That incident was why any being in the navy that can wield magic had to wait ten months, to the standard six months for everyone else, to drink. She was lucky that Twilight was Admiral Nyx’s person student and a good friend of Princess Celestia, and was able to pull some strings because the worst she got out of it with was the subtraction of several dozen promotion points. Though being Admiral Luna’s student probably helped too. She was slated for her own command, but that was pushed back by several years.
“Now, silly it wasn’t that...”
“INCOMING HYPERSPACE WINDOWS, AND THEY ARE NOT OURS.”
“Crap! Get the shields up! Have the fighters ready to launch! Lyra, I want the types and the number of ships! Gilda, I want options! Applejack, get your rear back in engineering and get the hyperdrive ready to jump! Scratch, contact Fleet Command; let them know what’s going! Move ponies!” Twilight barked out as her ship got ready for a fight.
“Captain! I’m reading two Baseships and four destroyers and they’re firing.” Rarity shouted this from her station.
‘Double crap.’ Twilight thought as the Ponyville shook as the shields took a couple milliseconds too long to come online. The Ponyville was a Guardian-class battle cruiser, the workhorse of the fleet. At a length of six hundred meters, she could easily handle the three hundred meter long destroyers with one of her two main magik cannons that focused energy into a tight beam of concussive force. Add the forty medium railguns, six energy torpedo launchers, two hunderd anti-starfighter missile launchers, forty fighters, and tough shields, and she was a force to be reckoned with. But the eight thousand meter long needle shaped baseships, with numerous energy weapons, were out of her league.
“Damage report,” Trixie ordered as the shields started taking the punishment the Senris ships dished out.
“The hyperdrive’s been damaged, and it’ll take about forty minutes to repair,” Applejack’s voice said from the speakers.
“We don’t have forty minutes AJ. We’ll last about fifteen minutes against those Baseships. Helm take evasive maneuvers and launch fighters,” Twilight ordered. The Ponyville had inert driven engines that allowed quick turns and high speed acceleration in any direction without the use of chemical fuels, freeing up space for more armaments or cargo. “Communications, please tell me you got through.”
“I think so Captain, but I’m not positive.”
“Keep transmitting hopefully somepony will pick it up,” Gilda said as she started to return fire with the ships weapons.
Little did she know that somepony didn’t pick it up but someone did.