“What the…!?” Fayt shouted as the simulation room that he and Sophia were in shook.
“Level two tremor detected,” the computer announced. “The system will be temporarily deactivated for your safety. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Fayt knew that Hyda IV was a stable world with no tectonic activity so he figured that an earthquake would be unlikely. But what could be the problem?
More tremors shook the room. With no other objects in the room, Sophia kept herself stable by holding herself against a wall. Fayt did the same.
An alarm began blaring before another announcement, “This is an emergency alert. Hyda IV is currently under attack by unidentified spacecraft. All civilians should follow immediate evacuation instructions on the nearest console.”
After inquiring further, the computer informed Fayt that the ships were also attacking the nearby Remote Station that could have provided military assistance. With the Federation distracted, they were on their own.
“As an emergency measure, all transporters have been directly linked to the evacuation terminal. Please commence evacuation by following the established route.”
“Damn,” Sophia cursed. “Why did this have to happen now of all times?”
“Come on, let’s get to the transporters,” Fayt said.
Twilight and Lyra heard the evacuation announcement. A grim expression adorned their faces.
“Looks like they’re here,” Lyra said.
Twilight nodded. “We need to stay close to the children; we can’t let the Vendeeni capture them.”
The two nodded in agreement and left their simulator room just in time to see Fayt and Sophia head toward the exit to the room. The two chased after the targets down the hallway and into one of the transporter rooms where an attendant was telling the patrons what the computer had said.
Fayt and Sophia picked a transporter and teleported to the evacuation terminal in the hotel’s basement. Twilight and Lyra followed quickly.
Fayt and Sophia quickly found Robert and Ryoko after they exited the transporter room. The two pairs were happy to see that the other was unharmed before they walked down the corridor to the transporter that would take them to the shelter.
The explosive sound of a breaching charge nearby alerted the Federation troops that the enemy had broken into the terminal. The troops rushed to investigate as a pair of pale skinned beings with fish-like heads wearing blue robes and carrying energy-based phase guns, which looked somewhat like assault rifles, emerged from the scene of the explosion. The two looked right toward the civilians and troops.
“Here they are,” One of the beings proclaimed. As the two intruders were moving to aim their weapons at the Federation soldiers, the beings felt a brief surge of heat in the air around them before they noticed that their guns had been cut in two by an energy weapon. The duo didn’t have time to be surprised before they were surrounded by a purple aura and lifted off the ground. The next thing they knew, they were flying into a metal wall where the impact knocked them unconscious.
“Thanks for the assistance,” one of the Federation guards said.
“It’s not over yet,” Lyra called out. “Get the civilians moving while we hold off the Vendeeni.”
Another wave of Vendeeni emerged from the breach and began firing their weapons at Twilight and Lyra who took cover around a corner. As the enemy moved toward the end of the hallway, a smoke bomb went off in front of them, halting their advance. A moment later, a piece of cloth wrapped around the waist of one of the Vendeeni and yanked him into the smoke. A small explosion was heard beyond the smoke nearly an instant later, throwing the Vendeeni into confusion. Lyra capitalized on that and rushed in to slice the remainder of the group in half with one of her blades.
“Take that!” shouted a familiar voice from behind the mares. The two look behind them to find Peppita next to a smoking, unconscious Vendeeni. They returned their eyes to the breached corridor as the smokescreen began to fade.
“Thanks for the help,” Twilight said. “But you should be evacuating with the others. We can handle these guys long enough for everyone to get to the transporter.”
“Send the incapacitators!” cried a Vendeeni soldier from beyond the breach. “We must break through their line before the targets get away!”
A few moments later, a number of four-legged robotic crawler drones emerged from the breach and began firing lasers. Twilight put up a shield around Peppita in time to prevent her from being injured by enemy fire.
A large man who accompanied Peppita saw what happened and became enraged before he grabbed one of the robots and hurled it at the others, smashing apart a few of them. “Don’t hurt the little lady!” the man yelled.
“Ursus, that was dangerous!” Peppita scolded.
While Peppita was busy scolding the circus strong man, Twilight and Lyra combined their respective electrical attacks and fried the circuitry of the remaining incapacitators.
Realizing that their assistance was no longer necessary, Peppita and the large man ran down the corridor to the transporter.
The Federation troops soon returned in time to see Twilight create a temporary blockade out of the remains of the robots. They decided not to question how some civilians managed to hold off the Vendeeni for as long as they did. “Everyone, thanks for holding them off,” one of the guards said. “The transporter is open now, get there quickly before they break through.”
“We have our own transportation, don’t worry about us,” Twilight said.
“But-” the guard was cut off by his partner who touched his shoulder. The other guard shook his head as a signal for his partner to drop the matter. The first guard sighed before he continued, “Very well, once the jammer is activated, you will be unable to use the transporter. Is that clear?” The two mares nodded. The two guards remained to keep an eye on the Vendeeni who survived while also making sure to strip them of their weapons so they wouldn’t be a threat when they woke up.
Twilight looked at Lyra before sighing in relief.“We’ve done all we can here, let’s return to the ship and make sure the evacuation ship reaches its destination.”
With that, Twilight brought up a holographic display that was used to interact with her ship before she pressed a few buttons and the two were transported away.”
A few minutes ago…
Fayt, Sophia, Robert and Ryoko looked at the two Equestrians who were fighting off the mysterious attackers. Seeing them in action filled Fayt with concern that the Ponies might get themselves killed fighting off actual soldiers. He grabbed a loose pipe and ripped it off the wall while preparing himself to help them.
“Fayt, don’t do something stupid,” Sophia ordered. “This isn’t the time to do that.”
“But they’re in danger! I have to help them,” Fayt countered weakly.
“She’s right, Fayt.” Robert said. “This isn’t the time for heroics.”
“But-” As Fayt said that word, he was punched hard in the gut by Sophia. He was unable to maintain consciousness after such a heavy blow and fell over. Sophia grabbed him and carried him on her shoulder. Robert and Ryoko were often surprised about how strong Sophia was despite her build, but now wasn’t the time for awe.
The group slowly moved down the hallway with the teenage girl carrying her dead weight.
“Did you have to knock him out?” Robert asked.
“He usually doesn’t see reason when he’s being hysterical. We didn’t have time to reason with him, with the current situation.” Sophia thought for a moment and remembered that Robert was about to identify the invaders before the earlier mess happened. “Who were those guys?”
“The Vendeeni,” Robert stated. “I’m not sure why they attacked since they were supposed to be neutral, but if I were to guess, it may have to do with our research.”
“Why would they go after us though?” Ryoko asked. “What would the Vendeeni want with our research?”
“I wish I could answer that, but whatever the case, they have likely taken an interest in our Symbological Genetics research. The attack was too perfectly timed for it to be a coincidence.”
“What could they gain from your research, Uncle Robert?” Sophia asked.
Robert smiled knowingly. He knew the answer to that but he couldn’t tell her, not yet. “You and Fayt will find the answer to that in time.” His smile quickly turned into a frown. “I’m afraid that we will have to go our separate ways soon. Myself and Ryoko will be their primary targets so we will be trying to escape back to Moonbase where we should be safe from the Vendeeni. However, you and Fayt will be targeted as well. I cannot tell you why, but you will figure it out on your own. Just know that no matter what happens or what you find out, your aunt and I both love you and Fayt very much.”
Sophia knew that Robert was being dodgy about the subject and it frustrated her that she couldn’t find out more. It was times like this that she wished that she could read minds.
The group entered the transporter room and were sent to the temporary shelter.
“Welcome to Iruba Shelter…” the greeting guard said before he noticed the young man being held over Sophia’s shoulder. Seeing the relaxed face on the girl left him confused. “Do I need to call for a medic?”
“Nah, he’ll be fine in a few minutes,” Sophia replied. “I had to knock him out because he was trying to be a heroic idiot.”
“Right…” the guard said slowly as the shock of imagining a skinny girl knocking out anyone ran through his mind. He shook his head to dismiss the imagery. “Anyway, you’ve been assigned to room #506. Please wait there until the rescue ship arrives. You’re free to move around the shelter as you wish but there are some restricted areas.”
Sophia, Robert and Ryoko thanked the guard and headed straight to their room in the southern hallway. Some of the refugees stared in awe at the sight of an unconscious Fayt being carried around by Sophia.
Once inside their room, Sophia placed Fayt on one of the beds while Robert and Ryoko chose their beds. Sophia chose the bed next to Fayt.
Fayt woke up a few minutes later groaning. “Ugh, what happened? Where am I?”
“You’re on a bed, in a room in an emergency shelter,” Sophia responded.
It took Fayt a few moments to recall what happened to him before he glared at his childhood friend. “Why did you do that!? Those Ponies needed help!” he said while raising his voice.
Sophia shrugged, “They looked fine to me. That aqua-colored one pulled off some impressive moves.” She wondered to herself if that Pony could teach her some of her moves if they ever meet again.
“They could be dead now because we didn’t–”
“That’s enough, Fayt!” Robert sternly stated. “Sophia is right, you would have gotten in their way while they had the situation handled. You need to be more aware of your situation before you consider the well-being of others.”
Fayt lowered his head and sighed. “Yes, dad.”
“Why don’t you two walk around the area to take your mind off your ordeal,” Robert offered.
Fayt nodded and left the room with Sophia.
Once outside, they spotted Peppita with the large man; Ursus, they believe they heard him named. They remembered that Peppita briefly assisted the two ponies in holding off the attackers. They decided to go inside the room the performers went into to see if they were alright.
As they entered, they saw the entire circus family in that one room. The short man, who appeared to be the ringleader, was about to begin discussing their plans before Fayt and Sophia entered.
“Fayt? Sophia? What are you two doing here?” Peppita asked.
“We came to see how you were doing,” Fayt answered. “That must have been a harrowing ordeal fighting those attackers like that.”
“They weren’t so tough, especially when taken by surprise.”
“You shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place, young lady,” said the blonde woman in a red dress who was standing next to the ringleader.
“Yes, maam,” Peppita said with a sad tone.
“I saw you carrying that boy around earlier,” said the man in a yellow and green clown outfit, addressing Sophia. “Might be interesting to see if you could beat Ursus in an arm wrestling contest, eh?”
Sophia giggled, “I’ll consider it.”
After Fayt and Sophia left the company of the circus troupe, they briefly explored the shelter only to quickly discover that there wasn’t much to see other than other rooms with beds and the transporter rooms. The other areas were restricted so they could only explore the other rooms.
With nothing else to see, they returned to their room and went to bed.
It was nearly four in the morning when an alarm went off. Fayt, Sophia, Robert and Ryoko slowly stirred from their sleep.
“Sounds like they’re going to make an announcement,” Fayt muttered.
The PA system chimed as the lights came on. “This is an update for all refugees. We now know that the recent raid on the resort planet Hyda was a surprise attack by Vendeen.”
“Vendeen?” Fayt thought. “I know they were at war with Aldian, but I didn’t think they were fighting the Federation too.”
The announcement continued, “Remote Station Seven mounted an attempt to defend Hyda IV but were thwarted by a tactical Vendeeni strike. Currently the Pangalactic Administration is scrambling ships from surrounding regions, but Vendeeni forces still have control over this sector. We request that all civilians begin boarding rescue shuttles for immediate evacuation to Remote Station Six. Please do not panic. Refer to the nearest console or attendant for further instructions.”
“Looks like it’s time to head out,” Sophia said.
The family gathered what belongings they could get during the escape and headed toward a transporter room.
Twilight and Lyra looked at the planet from the safety of their concealed ship. The Federation ships that had been scrambled to defend the planet were in combat with the Vendeeni battleships. The Pony Templar had a sorrowful expression on her face that showed a little frustration. She knew that there was nothing she or Twilight could do to help the situation and their ship was not equipped to fight a military vessel.
Lyra had stuck a tracker on Sophia’s clothing without her noticing so they would be able to track her position during the chaos. She did this while the girl was looking at Fayt getting scolded by Peppita for barging into her room earlier.
An alert from the ship informed Twilight that the tracker had just been transported onto one of the ships just outside the warzone. Sensors indicated that the ship was about to engage their gravitic warp engines.
Twilight was glad that Symbology wasn’t the only knowledge that Sphere had gained from the Eternal Sphere. Some scientific advances that the Koprulu humans didn’t have were learned from the simulated universe. Not even the Protoss were aware of the gravitic theory of warping which brought about a newer, faster method of warp travel than subspace warping that the Protoss and Humans were used to.
Thanks to that knowledge, Twilight’s ship was equipped with a gravitic warp drive. As the transport ship began warping out, Twilight engaged her ship’s drive and pursued the other ship.
Hardly two minutes passed before the transport ship and Twilight’s ship were knocked out of gravitic warp.
“What happened?” Lyra asked.
Twilight quickly analyzed the situation and discovered that a space-time anomaly disrupted the warp. Knowing what she did, she could only conclude that the ships had flown into a Vendeeni ambush. Thankfully, her ship was still not picked up on the Vendeeni sensors, but not so for the transport ship.
“This is bad,” Twilight said. “That ship stands no chance against that battleship.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
Twilight shook her head, “Our chances in a fight are no better than the frigate. They will most likely herd the civilians into the ship’s escape pods. Our best bet is to transport the Liengods to our ship. We can sneak away and escape once we’re outside the space-time anomaly.”
While the one-sided battle was progressing, both Ponies looked on with varying degrees of anxiety. After a few minutes of suspense, the ship began releasing its escape pods. Twilight quickly locked on to the one with the tracker and forcibly transported the pod’s occupant on board. A quick scan indicated that they had successfully brought Sophia on board.
After that, Twilight had to do a lot of scanning and guesswork in a very short amount of time. She quickly found the pods holding Robert and Ryoko Liengod and transported them onboard.
Twilight worked fast to locate Fayt’s pod but she managed to locate it…
…only for a Federation battleship to warp into the area, startling her and causing her to lock on to a different pod and transport that occupant instead. The appearance of the Federation ship also knocked Fayt’s pod off course.
All of the escape pods managed to move outside the anomaly and engage their miniature gravitic warp drives.
With an aggravated sigh, Twilight pressed her head against a wall in the cockpit. “Of all the rotten timing for that ship to show up.”
Twilight heard a shocked gasp come from her partner. She looked at Lyra and raised an eyebrow.
Lyra’s eyes didn’t leave the image she saw on the monitor that displayed the transporter room, but she did recognize the newest addition.
“Peppita?!”