Bridge of the Fruit of Truth, orbit over Invictus colony, Caestus System, Minos Wastelan
“And we’re through!” the navigations officer exclaimed, relaxing for once. The one and a half kilometer Virtus class super heavy cruiser came out on the other side of the object’s gateway, ending up far away from their former location.
“Good,” said Sidus. “Navigations, I want you to send a message to the fleet, telling them that they can come through.”
A young mare, an ensign watching different sensory readings, called out. “Captain, we have multiple contacts!” Sida walked up to her screen.
“Identifiable?” she asked. Something seemed off to her. While she couldn’t understand the readings of the ensign’s screen, there was something weird about them.
“Negative, ma’am,” she replied. “Mostly frigates judging by length, unidentified hull classifications.”
I guess we discovered whoever made these things, Sida thought to herself.
“Wait, they’re doing something,” the ensign said, adjusting a dial to the side of the screen for a better look at the readings. To the Sida’s left, another sensor officer got her attention.
“Sir, a track along the ships’ spines are being charged,” he said, directing Sida’s attention to the screen. “It’s not a warp cannon like Eldar ships, but it is using a similar energy source.”
From the center of the bridge, Sida pointed to the weapons officers. “Get the first MAC loaded and charged,” She then faced the other side of the room. “Navigations, point us at the closest unidentified; I want a minimal silhouette in case they look for us.”
“Sir, we’re getting a vox signal from the rest of the fleet. They’ve arrived,” the vox officer said, turning to the captain. “They’re requesting orders.” The escort fleet, consisting of three destroyers and two frigates, entered realspace behind the Fruit of Truth, one coming in at a time.
Sida answered him, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Tell them to power up and get into defensive positions.”
“Sent... they copy, ma’am,” he replied.
An Imperial frigate at the front of the newly arrived escort fleet was suddenly attacked. A ship at the front of the unidentified fleet fired its main gun while the rest of the force maneuvered into firing positions.
“Return fire! Return fire!” Sida yelled. The damaged frigate suddenly split apart, the hole created from the unidentified ship’s round being followed by two more. A friendly destroyer fired back, its two MAC cannons firing one shot each at the offending unidentified.
Although neither of the cannons were fully charged, they managed to destroy the hostile frigate.
The first shot overwhelmed the shields, which caused Sida to complain to herself about everyone but the Imperium having energy shields, and made a sizable dent in the hull.
The second six hundred ton slug ripped through the now exposed frigate, pulverizing the center of the vessel.
“Vox officer, I want two destroyers and the frigate to dive into their formation. Frigate in the middle, destroyers shielding.” She got up and went over to the large screen display, checking the troop roster on the ships. “When the Veritas is in drop pod range, drop them a little present.”
Drop pod racks, Lux Veritas, orbit over Invictus colony, Caestus System, Minos Wasteland
“Alright squad, listen up!” Veteran Sergeant Red Runner yelled, getting the room’s attention. She walked up to the hologram projector in the middle of the room, which was displaying the scans of an enemy vessel. “We’ve been ordered to board an enemy ship and capture any command crew we can,” Her squad of veterans, wearing the ancient and powerful Terminator armor, remained perfectly at attention, not moving a muscle.
“My squad, One, will deploy from SOEIVs into the hull of the ship here,” she said, pointing to the side of the targeted frigate-sized enemy vessel. “Squad Two, you will drop here,” she pointed to another part of the ship closer to the bridge, “and walk space-side to right above the bridge’s viewport. As Squad One will advance through the interior and secure the command crew while Two breaks the viewport so we can have a fast exfiltration. Understood?”
“UNDERSTOOD, SERGEANT!” the two squads answered in perfect unison, centuries of Imperial discipline showing through in the surgically enhanced super soldiers. Each Space Marine of the Knowledge Keepers Chapter, the personal chapter of the Minister of Information, donned their armor-matching lavender helmets. They each got into their respective drop pods, pressing a button to attach their storm bolters to the sides of their armor.
The squads’ vox systems crackled to life, Runner’s voice coming through. “Team, stay tight and watch those corners. We don’t know exactly what we’re encountering.” A series of green lights blinked on the inside of her helmet confirming that they received her warning.
An announcement came over the general vox channel, getting their attention. “Drop in three...”
“Two...”
“Launch.”
Bridge, Sword of Palaven, orbit over Invictus colony, Caestus System, Minos Wasteland
Captain Tallien of the Turian Hierarchy Navy was not having a fun day. After stumbling upon a huge unidentified dreadnought, his fleet commander ordered his eight ships to power their primary cannons and enter a defensive stance. Then even more unidentified ships came in from the illegally opened Mass Relay, building up large amounts of energy along their length in a similar fashion to conventional main cannons, forcing the commander to make the first move.
After he ordered all ships to open fire, they dispensed their payload immediatel,. Most, however, missed as there was not sufficient time to get an accurate targeting solution. When fire was returned, the shots were much more powerful then expected. One shot damaged a cruiser, and he had a gut feeling that it wasn’t even fully charged.
One ship of their number was destroyed, only to be replaced by another. What looked to Tallien three cruisers came forward, one looking frailer than the other two. They seemed to be shooting low-charged shots quickly to keep his fleet from having time to get a shot lined up. And from what he could tell, their strategy was working. Being in close range, his main cannon was useless. But, that didn’t mean the ship was defenseless.
With his ship coming closer to be within GARDIAN laser range, he resumed his orders. “Weapons, fire GARDIAN lasers.”
Despite how the vid industry prefers to display space battles, lasers are in fact invisible. Instead of brilliant bright red beams shooting out of dozens of tiny pipes of metal, the GARDIAN projectors on a cruiser are in fact the size of a full grown turian and less numerous. Instead of wildly placing shots everywhere on and around the ship, the shots are few and accurate, aiming for the most damageable place. Also contrary to popular belief, the lasers were actually invisible, the light shooting out of the projector going to the target instead of a viewer’s eye.
Shooting a beam roughly three seconds long with two second breaks in between to manage overheating, every shot from the cruiser hit its mark. However, the expected outcome of the ship’s armor peeling off or melting away did not come to fruition, much to Tallien’s chagrin. The armor was in fact holding, almost as if it was designed for close quarters, energy based warfare. His annoyance, to put it lightly, distracted him from the real problem until it was already too late to do anything about it.
Almost knocked to his feet by a tremendous shaking of the entire ship, he saved himself by grabbing onto a nearby railing. “Somebody! What just happened?” he asked, hoping there was one person with any type of answer.
“Boarders, sir! They crashed into the ship on drop pods!” a ensign yelled, reviewing peripheral video footage of the minute right before the event. He looked back at the screen, switching the footage to the interior sections where the objects crashed onto, leaking atmosphere into space. On the monitor, several shapes stepped out of their pods. “Spirits, what are those?”
On the video feed, stepped out four figures, one out of each pod. They were reminiscent of elcor, walking on four legs, using heavy weapons and armor. The armor seemed almost ceremonial, dark purple with lighter-shaded details. Around the neck, which extended around the head almost half a meter from the main body, was a huge collar that covered the back. It looked extremely ill fit for a field operation; the bulk would slow down the wearer and make it much harder to avoid enemy weapons, let alone prevent him from being spotted. However, in the tight confines of a space vessel, all that extra armor was likely to be extremely effective against small arms fire.
On the very back of the boarder was a smooth plate, covering the tops of the creature’s legs and the rear end of the armor. It had a curious mark on it; a pink star with several smaller ones adorned the sides of the pad. The helmet was also odd. It had an extended face plate, mimicking the snout of that common human pet he couldn’t remember the name of. On the top of the armor were two protrusions that he initially thought were horns, but turned out to be ears on closer inspection. The final oddity on the helmet was in between the ears, on the forehead. A thirty-or-so centimeter blade, with small teeth on the edge that he assumed to, instead of cut a target, rip it apart instead.
“What in the spirits...” It was then that Tallien truly knew fear for the first time in his military career. An unknown, new species that was handling the Turian navy with relative ease had just launched from pods into his ship. Around the bridge, he could see his crew reacting in a similar fashion as him, most simply staring in disbelief at what had just occurred.
“Did they just..” one began, before another ensign nodded in confirmation. Tallien began to worry. How powerful are they? How are they so experienced? How long have they been around. How many more are there?
It was when he saw them move that he knew that he wasn’t dealing with a new, inexperienced race if the battle outside didn’t show him already. Going quickly from corridor to corridor, the group split in two to cover more ground, side-mounted double barreled explosive round firing assault rifles vastly out preforming anything that current mass effect technology could accomplish. Despite the best efforts of the crew and the onboard soldier garrison, the boarders went right through the ship, flamethrowers melting his men if they weren’t literally torn in half first. Every shot fired from his soldiers’ weapons were deflected off the enemy’s armor despite their lack of kinetic barriers, or rather any type of shields at all.
Tallien knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive, in one piece, or even in a recognizable state. The boarders regrouped and made it to the corridor leading to the bridge door. He said his last prayers, hoping that at the very least the boarders would abandon the ship once they disabled it, allowing the remaining crew to escape to the surface of the colony.
Ten meters. Tallien finished his prayers.
Eight. He made sure his gift from his father, a thirty three centimeter serrated blade was attached firmly to his belt.
Five. He calmed himself, knowing it would do no good to die hyped up.
One. He heard a pounding on the door.
Seconds later, it was blown in and the bridge crew quickly turned to face the commotion. One of the boarders, dressed in the most decorated armor of the four, strode in first. Despite having the full capability of eliminating him then and there, they simply stood there almost as if waiting for something. Tallien stood watching them, trying to figure out exactly what they were doing.
Thump
Turning around, he saw another two standing there, using magnetic pads to hold onto the metal hull around the glass. Adding to the bridge crews collective surprise was the brown glow surrounding, as if by magic, the glass of the viewport. Suddenly, a shot came from behind him smashing into the glass, shattering it into thousands of pieces. The last thing he remembered was a the feeling of a hovertank ramming him from behind out into space.
Unknown, orbit over Invictus colony, Caestus System, Minos Wasteland
The first thing he noticed was the pain. Not just a headache, which he did have, but a dull throbbing throughout his body, especially at his joints. The symptoms of minor decompression sickness. He tried opening his eyes, but saw nothing but a hint of gray in the center of his vision and a lot of black around the edges. He tried to move his limbs, but found them bound. That’s when reality hit him like a brick. His vision cleared up and he forced himself to ignore the pain and think.
He wasn’t on the Sword. Memories started flooding back to him. The distress call, finding the new ships, the ensuing battle, the eventual boarding and capture of himself and his crew. Speaking of his crew, where were they? He wasn’t in a lone interrogation room, but a larger one that looked like it was meant for multiple people. He wasn’t in a chair or anything of the like, but sitting on the floor in the corner. He looked around, seeing a camera above what looked to be a door and right under that, a large metal sculpting of an unrecognizable skull with wings on either side.
After several seconds of squirming around to get a better look at his surroundings, the door with the skull on it opened, and two of the purple armored quadrupeds walked in. They stepped on either side of him, and motioned for him to go to the center of the floor. He stood and walked over, when an additional guard brought in a stool for him to sit down in. The next visitor surprised him. Walking in through the door was not another guard, but the quadruped had similar armor and no helmet. It also had purple skin, which upon blinking to clear up his vision was actually very short fur, and a darker, longer, and neatly trimmed patch of fur similar to humans.
One particular thing of interest to him was the purple horn on its head. He shook his head in case he was hallucinating and sure enough, it was still there. If his brother wasn’t an expert on galactic mythology, then he wouldn’t have a clue on what the creature in front of him was. It came from the ancient humans. What was it... Pegasus? No, that was the winged horse. Unihorn? Something like that. What it did next confused him. Instead of trying to communicate, it simply walked towards him and placed its horn to his forehead. Normally he would do something to prevent something like that, but he didn’t have much choice.
“Can you understand me?” the creature suddenly spoke, causing Tallien to widen his mandibles in surprise. It had a lighter voice than the boarders on the Sword, leading him to believe it was a female of its species.
“What did you just do!?” he asked, getting nervous.
“I just looked into your mind and translated your language so I could speak it,” it said, moving one of its front legs to motion to itself.
He couldn’t believe his ears. It just learned his entire language? Just like that? “What are you, some kind of asari?”
“Asari?” it answered. “I’m afraid I don’t follow,”
He didn’t want to answer that. He probably said too much already. “Well, you were poking around in my brain like that. I just assumed that you were there for more than just language,” Tallien said, trying to understand what it was trying to do. If it could learn a whole language in an instant, why just his language?
“Well, I tried that. With the other subjects,” That sentence put a chill down Tallien’s back. “But, I... well... let’s just say it didn’t work. I also needed to learn a new language with each separate captive, so you apparently have some sort of real time translator to help with differing dialects.”
“Wait, what other test subjects?” he asked, wondering exactly what was going on. “Were they my crew?” He leaned forward, primal instincts trying to take over.
The creature placed the end of its leg in front of him, pushing him back into his seat. “Calm down, I’m not dissecting your people in some experiment.”
That didn’t help. “Then what are you trying to do here?” Tallien asked.
“Just trying to make more peaceful contact with your people before this gets blown into a full scale war,” It said in a stern voice. “Now, all I need from you is some basic information on your civilization,”
He stared at the purple creature.
“You know I could skip this part. I don’t have to keep you captive. I don’t have to waste my time here,” it said, seemingly bored.
Then why are you? Tallien thought.
It continued to talk, pacing in the space in front of Tallien. “I could just hack into your navigational data and go straight to your homeworld.”
You’re bluffing.
Stopping, the creature pointed its leg at Tallien, punctuating its main point. “Or, I can do what’s best for both of us. We can make a deal.”
No.
“You send a signal through the colony’s vox array to whoever, we send a diplomat, and there’s no war,” it explained.
He gave the purple creature a quizzical look. “Vox? You mean a comms array?”
It seemed confused for a second, but decided not to pursue the matter. “If that’s what you call a long distance communicator, then yes.”
Tallien mulled it over in his mind, thinking if he could even trust them, whether or not they would trace any response signal and attack there or something of the like. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Not if you don’t want us to... procure a willing civilian from, then no, you don’t.”
Weighing the pros and cons in his head, he made his choice. “Fine.”
Brief overview of the military of the Imperium of Equuleus, recorded by Twilight Sparkle, Minister of Information
The Imperium’s military is essentially two parts. The first and larger part, the Imperial guard, is made of all three races and both genders. Since earth ponies are the most common race in the Imperium, they are the clear majority among the Guard. Pegasi are usually in scouting positions because of their natural ability to quickly fly around the battlefield quickly and stealthily. Unicorns in the guard are often engineers or other types of specialists because of their ability to directly control their inherent magic. There are also special forces, such as the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (Kasrkin in Low Equestrian), who represent the common ponies’ potential as a fighting force.
The Guard is by far the most numerous part of the Imperium’s military. In the billions, they are the backbone of the military and have their own special forces. Although Astartes are superior in every way except sheer numbers, the Guard is the main force of the military. The combat doctrine of the Guard is defined by their armament. Equipped with heat resistant armor and laser-based guns designed to bring targets down with volleys of fast, accurate fire, infantry are generally used to eliminate threats to vehicles while large, sometimes building sized, vehicles devastate enemy lines. The Guard is a slow but sure force against the Imperium’s enemies.
The Adeptus Astartes, commonly known as Space Marines, are the Imperium’s elite. Every Astartes is a Unicorn, the ability to magically control the environment being too valuable to give up. Every Astartes of a chapter is the same gender, each being modified from the geneseed, or base genetic code from which implanted organs are grown from, of the founding Primarch, the original leaders of the Astartes. For example, the Raven Guard all hail from a hero of the Pony-Eldar War, TROTLITE 117, while the Knowledge Keepers are modified from my geneseed. Their armor, the most recognizable symbol of the Astartes, is designed to withstand small arms fire, protect in extremely hazardous environments, and enhance physical attributes of the wearer, such as strength and speed. Their vehicles mainly consist of very fast hovercraft and versatile transports. Standard battles for Astartes involves extensive preplanning and quick execution, the durability and wide skill range of individual Astartes allowing for great tactical flexibility.