The Legion
“Warp bubble collapse in five minutes. Engines two through four showing nominal charge. Engines one and eight holding steady at point two seven bellow one hundred.”
***
Winter Reverie remembered the first time he had seen a true ship of war. He had been very young, and the cruiser seemed huge. It was an edifice of awe in engineering even to adults, and to a child it was positively mythical. And of all the luck, he was going to ride in it. He stood looking out a window as the grav-train he traveled in hummed along magnetic rails toward the spaceport.
“You ready to go, cadet?” Asked the big unicorn standing next to him. Little Winter turned and saluted with a hoof.
“Yes sir, Mister Shining Armor!” The imperial pony smiled warmly at the eager youth. Though the colt could not tell, the stallion’s smile was distracted. Something nagged on the edge of the unicorn’s mind. Something of disturbing implication.
Days earlier, Winter had been pretending to study in his room when one of his family’s servants came to fetch him.
It was late, and the many simulated gas lamps were lit. The inside of the great manor was furnished in a tastefully classical style. The subtle decadence of the dark paneled walls and gilded columns was meant to impress any important visitors. It was an abode that could humble royalty. Situated on a thousand acres of ancient pine forest, it was almost a small town unto itself. Hundreds of servants and groundskeepers were employed to maintain the homestead.
Winter’s family had several lodges across the sector, but his parents preferred this one to conduct most of their affairs, being so close to Equestria.
The colt had to walk for quite a while to the main study to which he had been summoned. He was a child of noble rearing, and waited politely at the threshold until called. The servant who had escorted him got the nod of approval from another and gave Winter a little nudge.
Being called to see his parents always filled his heart with a little trepidation, never quite knowing what they wanted him for. He always tried his best to do well in school and not cause trouble so they would be happy with him. For the most part they left him to his own devices, and the size of the manor usually meant he could roam free or go play in the woods. The blank-flank stallion would of course be dragged to the occasional family dinner or be primped and primed to make a good impression on some important client.
Winter Reverie liked it that way. He preferred the time to himself, being master of his own activities and choices. His older brother had never really played with him much, Spring Sun being several years older. Most of the expectations had been laid on the scion of the house. It left the second child free to spend his time exploring, in no real hurry to find his special talent.
A fire was lit in the hearth, spreading shifting shadows over the study. His father, Blue Summers was talking rather animatedly with a crimson mare with a strange cutie mark. Autumn Gale, Winter’s mother, was likewise engrossed in conversation with a very large stallion standing before the fireplace.
***
“Warp emergence in four minutes. Preparing inertial compensators for reality breach shock. All Battle Rider clamps showing green for integrity.”
***
Something about the scene before him stuck out to the unicorn. A worry, a fear, took root. It was irrational, and he tried to quash the feeling, but it stayed with him. Winter would look back on it later and understand that something was trying to tell him to run away as fast as he could. Some preeminent sense spoke to him, urging him away, to turn and exit the room while there was still time.
Unfortunately for him, these things only become truly clear in retrospect. Although butterflies flitted madly in his guts, the young colt moved into the study and became known. The greasy smile the red mare gave him did nothing to assuage the sensation of being assessed like prey. Blue Summers spoke first.
“Winter! Good of you to join us. We were just talking about you son. This lovely mare here has come a long way to meet you.” The pegasus in question only smiled more greedily and addressed him next.
“Hello, my name is Azure Prancer, I’m the head of a special school. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. We’ve seen your latest test scores and think you’d be a perfect candidate. We’re a very prestigious establishment with many schools across the galaxy. It is a great honor to be selected as one of Celestia’s finest. We’re dedicated to teaching the best and brightest, to bring them to their full potential.”
“The closest school is on Aquarion! Oh, such a beautiful planet. I know you’ll have lots of fun. Such an opportunity, to be invited to one of Celestia’s schools!” Autumn cried with joy. Of course, any parent would say that.
That was the beauty of the scheme. What parent wouldn’t want their child to attend an institution of the Empress? Of course, the sales pitch was tailored to each of the chosen candidates. For unicorns, it was a school for the magically inclined or gifted. For pegasi, it was a flight school for promising Wonderbolts or space cadets. Every envoy was equipped with baits to up the bid for a filly or colt’s attendance.
Even financial compensation was available to lower class citizens. In essence, it meant they were selling their offspring to the Solar Empire. There was always a nice looking brochure and a well-dressed representative to smooth over every possible concern. With Celestia’s name on it, there was no question of success.
No pony had ever refused.
***
“Warp emergence in two minutes.”
Winter Reverie already felt like the command throne of the Leviathan had become his new permanent emplacement. Having spent nearly twenty hours a day ensconced in the cushioned embrace of the throne, his mind had taken to wandering during the quieter moments. Too long in jump space played all kinds of psychological havoc with sentient beings. Strange dreams compounded by physical exhaustion drove Winter’s mind to even stranger places.
Like remembering the first time he had ridden in a ship of war…
***
“Prince Shining Armor here will escort you on his ship.” Those had been the last words spoken to him by his mother and father before being rushed off to pack his things. It was happening so quickly all he could think about was taking to the stars. He had never been off-world, his parents usually just leaving him at the estate whenever they went abroad. Now it was his turn.
Riding the tram to the golden ship he had asked the big unicorn all kinds of questions, about the ship and about the path that they would be taking through the sky. To a colt his age, just the acreage around his home was an infinitely vast world of imaginary adventure and stick forts. Space was an incomprehensibly vast stretch. He had not the tools to come to grips with the billions of kilometers involved.
Shining Armor was very kind, answering all the eager youth’s questions with a smile. He too recalled what it was like to be overwhelmed by starships. His own dream as a younger stallion had been to sail as a captain of one of Celestia’s own royal vessels.
The school representative traveled closely with them with her continuously greasy smile. Even her unnerving presence was not enough to dampen Winter’s boundless spirit. The sight of the metallic hued hull was more than enough to even dispel feelings of homesickness and grief at his parent’s easy dismissal.
Once aboard Winter was introduced to the others who were going to be attending Celestia’s school. The small gaggle of candidates were not just unicorns, which briefly confused the young noble pony. He brushed it off though, not understanding and so not really inquiring either. Winter Reverie stuck close by Shining Armor, even following him onto the bridge to watch the launch.
The colt’s heart leapt when the engines roared, feeling the vibrations through the deck beneath his hooves. For hours he stayed, watching his home world recede into nothing but a speck. He questioned nearly everything, to the specifics of the ship’s tonnage and engines, even to its weapons. Shining Armor answered all of his inquiries with patience.
He had been such an innocent soul. Who is to say what he may have become had events unfolded differently. Winter Reverie remembered it as a cusp, standing along the edge of the abyss. There was such a thin barrier in his recollections at the time.
These flashbulb moments came back to him many times in moments of reflection. Time did not allow him sufficient pause to dwell, for reality as it so often does, asserted itself with no heed for the desires of mortals.
***
“Jump successful, calibrating sensors.”
Alarms began to sound.
“Contact! Lots of contact! Reading at least three battleship sized ships at extreme torpedo range. Target list still propagating. Unknown enemy. Whoever they are, they’re not Imperial.”
“Red shift in enemy vessels, reading weapon activation. Fighter craft detected. Fifteen. Twenty…”
“Eighteen destroyers closing with fighter wave.”
“Hostile missiles inbound, activating countermeasures.”
“Sacred Luna, there’s a whole fleet of ‘em.”
“Steady!” Winter’s voice thundered through the massive bridge. The unicorn rarely raised his voice, yet was capable of great bravado and projection. His words quelled the rising panic in the crew. “We are soldiers of the Republic. Ready all available weapons. We shall show them what it means to face the wrath of Luna’s own navy. Downtrim fifty degrees, and raise the Voids.”
Next to where Winter sat, Crystal typed up a short message and sent it over to his console.
‘Aren’t you going to say the prayer? I’ve attached the ship-wide announcement circuit.’ He nodded his thanks and activated the command, standing as he did so.
“One minute fifteen seconds to contact.” Announced one of the watch-standers. Tension was high enough that it could be played like a musical instrument.
“May the living stars bless this vessel and her guns. Protect the Republic’s daughters and sons. Guide her shots forever straight and true. May we who are graced with her operation, not be found too few. We pray now, to the spirit of this ship, the Leviathan, to awaken. Let the enemy tremble at your name, like sailors before the kraken.
“As your living heart beats, ours beat with you.” All of those who occupied the bridge except for Doctor Abacus were from the Vengeful Omen, and so knew to echo the words. Winter continued to tolerate the civilian’s presence because of a growing respect for her knowledge.
“As your living heart beats, ours beat with you.” The chorus was chilling, spoken together with wrath and growing conviction.
“We offer sacrifice, to baptize your armaments in blood. May these who wish our death drown in the flood. Let your shells and missiles always strike true! May they always strike with furious intent. Until their shields are shattered, and their hulls rent. Let no stray shot harm an innocent. Your sights, forever vigilant. Let them never seize up, jam or misfire. Nor in any way fail in whatever’s required.
“We do not kill with our hooves,” Winter began.
“We kill with our guns!” The crew answered.
It was an ancient ritual, to bless the guns of a ship before they were first fired. In many ways it was rooted in superstition, that if the blessing was neglected, the ship was cursed. Everypony on the Leviathan paused in what they had been doing to listen to Winter Reverie’s sermon. The bridge chorus that answered him reverberated through the many kilometers of hallways.
“Contact in ten seconds!” The Commander had been working up a firing algorithm for all the weapons that registered as ready while he recited the blessing. The words had been well and truly ingrained in him that he did not need to think about them. He spent five seconds to review it and let Crystal Flourish provide any input. She nodded her confidence.
Enemy fire sheeted against the Voids of the Leviathan like rain. It was a relatively small, however still deadly fleet arrayed against them and was not to be scoffed at. A full complement of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were disposed counter to them. Plasma fire rippled over the roiling surface of the Voids. A small sun was briefly born as a swathe of space caught flame.
Missiles and torpedoes also closed in, internal guidance programs making them dodge to and fro. Stealth systems decreased the effective signature radius to make their target points smaller for countermeasure targeting systems. Never the less, nearly every point of light failed short of its mark. Flak canisters with hundreds of kinetic ball bearings exploded among the encroaching wave. Pinpoint beam struck others, blowing warheads prematurely.
“Shield integrity down from thirty to twenty-nine.” Winter felt his breath come up a little short. Even he had underestimated the Leviathan, and his blood felt electrified at the thought of seeing it strike back. Because of its revolutionary construction, the Leviathan’s overall weapon hardpoint and hardware tonnage allotment was extraordinary to say the least.
The Leviathan had weapon clusters bigger than most cruisers. Only a fraction of which were functional because of crew restraints and simply because they hadn’t yet had time to be primed and armed. First to fire, were the Hell Lances. A magically contained spear of high density energy, the Hell Lance was such a universal weapon of space warfare that it was often the bread and butter of fleet engagements.
The medium sized prongs belied the destructive output of the Lance. Blood, in the form of anti-matter charge coursed through the Leviathan from its surging reactors. Capillaries of cabling and arterial pathways had to be redesigned from the beginning to allow flow of the energy. Befitting the New Lunar Republic, anti-matter energy showed up as a deep purple in the visible spectrum.
Five battleships, three heavy cruisers, ten light cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and fighter squadrons numbering over sixty all converged on the Leviathan. That was the equivalent classification the sensor systems assigned to the attacking ships. Hell Lance batteries were aimed, and unleashed.
Ten of the destroyers practically melted, their shields ripped asunder like gossamer. Anti-matter charged Lance beams achieved full penetration, impaling the black ships on columns of light. Three light cruisers and one of the heavies fared no better, essential systems rupturing under the assault. Yet that was only the beginning.
Energy cannons were next loosed, casting shaped anti- matter charges like arrows. Along with them spoke the hard munitions. Railguns catapulted chunks of high-density metal, while other cannons used more traditional propellant. It was prudent for ships to have both energy and kinetic weapons because of combined weight and energy restrictions. Solid shot weapons could keep firing even if the core was knocked out, and magic weapons could go on if the ship ran out of kinetics and missiles.
Even constrained as it was, the Leviathan was more than capable of mustering the equivalent bite of a dreadnought. A dreadnought retrofitted with guns to level star systems. The Leviathan did not make a torrent, it created a torrential downpour. Sheeting waves of energy and death filled the vacuum. Many of the opposing fighters drowned in the tide, blown away by the density of the hail.
The remaining destroyers fell under the onslaught, along with several of the light cruisers. One of the battleships took a particularly hard hit and was knocked off course, shields flickering and armor plates buckled. What few torpedoes the Leviathan had been able to manufacture were launched next as well. It might have been overkill, but Winter Reverie would take no chances. He would not tolerate being stopped so far from home with barely more than a whimper to show for it.
More destruction broke against the Leviathan’s shielding as it continued its stately downward curve. The enemy ships strove on, heedless against the futility of their assault. None of the giant vessel’s super-heavy weapons were online, otherwise the battle would have been over in the opening salvos. As it stood, the Republic ship simply had to weather the ever decreasing stream of munitions.
More ships were knocked out of the fight, either so pounded into scrap all their systems were dead, or their cores overloaded and annihilated in balls of expanding plasma. The strange, unknown ships reeled and shrieked without voice into the dark. The Leviathan was implacable, unwavering. Some of her crew cowered in fear, the battle beyond the safety of the walls was more than they could handle. They were sheltered in her halls and corridors, the horrors kept at bay.
The bridge was a study in coolness under fire. Commander Reverie answered each concern steadily, directing the flow of effort from shielding to target prioritization. The command and control layout of the consoles was still somewhat new to him, and delayed his reactions by fractions. Battles were rarely so intense for so long. The final four battleships were tough, and it took over twenty minutes of furious exchange to bring them down.
The Vengeful Omen contributed what shots it could with the small crew left aboard, but was limited, being locked in Battle Rider position. Winter received word from his Corsair pilots that they were ready to go. He held them back because there were still too many unknowns about the enemy capabilities.
Magazines and ammo hoppers quickly ran dry. Even at full output, the internal fabrication areas of the mighty ship had not had enough time to manufacture a respectable arsenal. All the torpedoes and railgun projectiles had been used in the first salvos. Directed energy weapons alone brought down the last two foes.
Wreckage littered the space around the jump point the Leviathan had emerged from. Shattered armor girdled the gravity anomaly in an arc extending out from the Republic ship. She had suffered little real damage. Her Voids had started off low but only suffered a few spot failures and some blown out circuits. What shots had penetrated had been deflected or absorbed by the thick armor plating. Not a single deck had been breached.
Winter Reverie read down the list of expendables used and mentally sighed. Surprised to say the least, the Commander was astonished by how little damage they had sustained. Had he been over the Vengeful Omen solely, he would have simply turned and ran back to the jump point. More pressing though, was identifying their attackers.
“I need a fine grain analysis on the ships not blown to scrap. Tell me what these things were.” He was already examining the energy output and weapons readings recorded during the engagement. Now that he thought back on it, they had been very slow, rather ungainly vessels and wondered who they belonged to.
“We can confirm them not to be in any of our databases, sir. So, not zebra, griffin, or diamond dog. Hold on… Sir, one more ship detected in orbit around the fifth planet out, ten light minutes away. It’s huge.” Winter used his executive access to pull up the sensor data the crew member had been looking at. Sure enough, it was huge. The main body of the ship was about the size of a cruiser. What was odd were the large tether arms that held an energy net of titanic proportions.
“Fatal collapse detected in the energy field.” Winter watched the ship explode as its power core went critical, tearing off an edge of the contained net which collapsed shortly after. Reverie’s was forced to look away, his eyes watering as reality rejected the violation and corrected itself.
Abacus had stayed silent through most of the battle, feeling very much like just an observer. The mare had used the time to get a head start analyzing the collected data. At this latest development, she called up the sensors and played the recording back, watching space fold and bend.
“Living stars,” She breathed in equal parts reverence and not a little terror. “I think I know what that ship was. What all of these were.” Abacus spoke aloud to nopony in particular. Her next address was aimed squarely at Winter. “Did we detect any escape pods leaving the other ships?” Commander Reverie consulted with his display and shook his head.
Studying the playbacks intently for a few moments before comparing them with the analysis, the scientist reached a disturbing conclusion. “I thought they were only a myth. Why? Why are they here?”
“What do you mean?” Winter inquired.
“Get us close enough to one of those wrecks and I’ll show you.”
***
“What are we looking at here, doctor?” Winter Reverie and his team stood in the observation area of a medical suite that was now an autopsy chamber. The thing on the table was pony shaped, and that was where the similarity ended. The black thing was insectoid in appearance and similar in biology. A sleek and shiny carapace covered the whole exterior. Thin blue bug-like wings protruded from its back. The eyes had no visible pupil or cornea. A horn and fangs adorned the chitinous head.
They had pulled the corpse from one of the destroyed ships and brought it back in a containment casket. Inside the changeling ship had been… disturbing. The whole vessel had been organic, the insides dry and cracked from exposure to vacuum. There was some metallic structure that seemed to serve only as something for the strange material to grow around.
“That,” Abacus gestured at the body. “Is a changeling. Thought to have originated from Equestria thousands of years ago. It is said that they feed off the emotions of others, that they would use their power to change into someone you love, then gain sustenance from the substitution.”
“How do you know about them?” Asked Rosethorn.
“I had a long discussion with Princess Cadence on the matter. I had the privilege of meeting her briefly on her honeymoon.” Abacus smiled at the memory.
“So then what was that energy net they destroyed? Or for that matter, why weren’t there any escape pods on the changeling ships?” Circuit board was the next to ask what they were all yearning to know.
“I… Can only speculate, but based on the fact that none of the intact vessels seem to have any form of FTL engines, it seems it was a gate.” One of her spiders rotated the appropriate imaging capture, detailing the quantum state collapse of the net.
“A gate to what?” The unicorn asked, Circuit’s technical mind racing with the makeup of such a construction.
“Other gates. They likely have a network set up in whatever system they actually reside in. Everything else is unknown. What the gate capacity for transport is, how fast it is, whether they can use it for communication or how many of these gates there are. The Changeling Legion, as they’ve been called by some theoretical scholars, is ruled over by a queen with a very hive-like mentality.
“Which brings me to their ships. It makes sense that they would have had to find some other way to sustain themselves other than the emotion of sentient creatures. We would have noticed the mass disappearances accompanied by their apparent population. Such numbers of captives would be needed to sustain such a large infestation, even if this small force we fought was their entire populace.
“From the penetrating scans of the husks we can deduce that they are at least eighty percent pure organic. There is evidence of a large decentralized nervous system woven through the structures, and large solar wings that can be deployed. Several of my colleagues are secondary experts in the field of biology and xeno-biology and will take a further look into matters. If they find what I think they will, it will mean that although the changeling physiology requires organic nourishment, their main source of nutrition will actually come from the living ships they pilot.
“Hence why we found no living specimens. Because they feed off the unconscious ebbs and emotions of the nervous system, they are inextricably tied to it. Kill the ship, and the shock is enough to kill all the changelings bound to it. They probably blew up the gate ship for security reasons, to keep anyone from going through it or analyzing it without their permission.”
“That’s a lot of conjecture. How about them waiting for us at the jump point?” Winter queried this time. “I can think of two possibilities. One, being coincidence, which is about as likely as me sprouting wings. Or that they knew we were coming, probably from some kind of advanced tunneling sensor that could travel along the jump path.” Abacus nodded.
“Exactly so. We’ve towed in one of the ‘destroyers’ that wasn’t totally annihilated. We’ll know more once we’ve taken it apart. Salvage is pretty much out of the question unless we want to recycle the proteins into rations.” By the look of disgust on all their faces, that was a big hell no.
***
Other than a rather eventful emergence, there was nothing else of any real note in the system. There had been no real developments for colonization in this galactic direction because of the dead zone that ate ships the next jump over. According to the old records, the only other jump point led to a small frontier system maintained by the Empire.
Beyond that they had more options. They could continue to skirt the borders, or venture inward towards more populous worlds. There was risk either way, from destruction at the hooves of the Solar fleets or a slow, lingering death of starvation in unknown space.
Winter Reverie had his hooves under his chin in a contemplative pose. Once again his team was assembled in the conference room with the long black table. This time, Crystal Flourish had joined them, as well as Corsair pilots One and Two. Everypony was deep in their own thoughts about the aliens they had fought. The fact that there was an entire space-faring race unknown to them was slightly upsetting.
In pony history, there had never been a sentient xeno race encountered. All the races had started on the same planet. Supposedly, these changelings had come from old Equestria. Their appearances made that fact hard to reconcile.
“We’re currently operating at less than eighteen percent overall military effectiveness. Damn good work, everypony. We were not lucky this time around. There was no warning that they were waiting for us, and the crew has made excellent strides in getting our guns working. There is still a lot of work to be done, not just on the Leviathan, but on the civies as well. We’ve talked about courses of action and so far they’ve all worked pretty much nonstop because their lives are on the line. How many are really ready for active duty?” The Commander broached the hanging silence.
Viola gave her assessment.
“They were rotated out more often than you might think. A good deal of the civies working at The Cradle were pretty young. I suppose they’d have to be to be on the cutting edge of their disciplines. Most of them have been triple checked by medical as being fit and healthy. They’re not exactly prime naval stock, however pretty much all of them either have PhDs or could take apart a Hell Lance blindfolded.”
“Adept, yet inexperienced. I think we can work with that. For now, everypony is working to get everything on the Leviathan working. There’s at least four days transit time to the next jump point and over a week and a half in jump space from there. So long as nothing is waiting-“ Winter Reverie caught himself and made a warning sign against ill-fortune.
“The frontier system shouldn’t offer anything unexpected, Luna willing. We’ll cruise through there and pick up or take what supplies we can. A rogue station would be nice, and I won’t hold my breath on that one. By that time we’ll all be exhausted and should have most of the Leviathan’s weapons in working order. I’m confident we can make it home so long as we’re careful and smart.” Nightingale waved her hoof to get attention.
“Excuse me, but nopony seems to be addressing the elephant in the room.” Winter Reverie raised his right eyebrow in anticipation of his weapon specialist’s impending outburst. “What about the six freaking Battle Rider battleships hangin’ off this big momma? I want one. Each has a super-heavy! Only dreadnoughts get supers!”
“You want one of the battleships?” The Commander asked the mare. She practically vibrated in excitement as she nodded ferociously. “Okay, pick one.” Nightingale practically orgasmed in her armor.
Acrylic laughed in his bombastic way. “Now Nightingale, a battleship is a big responsibility, you have to take care of it and change its fuel cells and make sure its Battle Rider clamps are good and oiled.”
“Ooh!” She squealed. “Oh I’m already thinking of what to name it! Maybe… Vengeful Omen Junior? No, no. The Vengeful Omen is too small to have a baby that big.”
“Hey!” Rosethorn took on an offended look. “The Vengeful Omen may be ladylike and dainty, but man has she got some fine hips. Who says she can’t have a big, healthy, battleship baby? Right Commander?” Winter smiled.
“I’ll leave the debates on starship reproduction to you, fillies. Nightingale, pick out three dozen from the Omen, and some of the tech civies you want to take along with you. You’ve got one week to make one of those things fly. Crystal figures that we can operate about three of them without making crew levels any more critical than they already are.”
“Aye, sir,” She saluted with crispness even with the wish-come-true grin.
“Once the Leviathan is a little more combat capable, we can break up the civilians into squads overseen by Omen crew. That should keep them focused. Then we can start weapons and physical training. Remember, these are citizens of the Republic, not soldiers. We can’t push them too hard or they might break.”
Acrylic blanched in realization. “Oh please don’t tell me we’re going to do that again.” Circuit Board snorted a little at the big earth pony’s expense.
“Training day, Commander?” The technically inclined unicorn asked.
“Oh yes, training day.” Reverie confirmed. Even the two pilots groaned a little.
“I couldn’t walk straight for a week after the last one. I thought you said we weren’t going to push the eggheads too hard?” The grey pegasus griped.
“We need to watch our food consumption so it won’t be as intense as last time. Don’t think you’re weaseling out of it, One.” Many fighter pilots in the Republic navy were an incredibly superstitious bunch, even by the standards of other soldiers. Bonding with their single operator crafts was so important; they preferred to be referred to by their wing position designation, believing it brought them closer to their metallic bodily extensions.
“You’ve given the schematics for these ‘Serpents’ a thorough review I trust?”
“Aye, Commander, they’re things o’beauty to be sure. Two are nearly fit and ready to be tested. They should be done in about sixteen hours last I checked. Me and Corsair Two were going to give ‘em a spin with your permission.”
“Granted. What can you tell us about their specs? How do they measure against the Corsairs?”
“Almost feels like I’m cheatin’ on a girl by talkin’ about ‘em. Yeah, they’re everything promised and more. The Serpent is less of a fighter and more of a one pony Hunter-Killer. Ninety meters stem to stern.” Nightingale gave an appreciative whistle. “Anti-matter drive, those meson-infused Hell Lances, it’s got everything. Even rated for atmospheric work so the design is sleek as a mare’s-“ He looked around. “Ahem.” The stallion shifted a little. Winter steered the discussion once more.
“With our engineering bays working on full around the clock we’ve still got enough raw material to continue at this pace for about another month before we need refilling. We took in a lot, and most of it was already processed but what we need now are some of the rarer elements for fuel cells and I’d like a few Pylons ready for use. We’ll focus on filling up the ammo bunkers first. Missiles and torpedoes next, then more fighter craft. After that we can worry about getting the super-heavy guns up and running.”
“And more of that isotope,” added Rosethorn. “If we can find a good stash of that, we can just skip the jump points altogether. Head straight to Var from wherever a leyline is. There’s got to be a university or… some institution experimenting with the stuff.” Acrylic had his input next.
“Somehow, I doubt we’ll get the opportunity. We should work off of the assumption that normal jumps are our only way back. The leyline drive is the only technology we know of that even uses the isotope, and the star formation necessary for its natural occurrence also makes the system planets uninhabitable.”
“I agree. We work with what we have. I’ll decide on training day soon. Until then, dismissed.” Everypony except Crystal Flourish stood and saluted.
The pegasus mare waited until they had all left to begin typing. The words appeared in the table next to his helmet.
‘There is still the issue of the traitor among us. I am surprised you did not bring it up.’
“There’s not much we can do right now. Not unless we want to put every civilian through an interrogation chamber. Somehow I doubt they’ll find that idea appealing.”
‘Are you so sure it was not from the Omen? Or maybe a pony from Luna’s office?’
“We were given the coordinates at the last possible moment. There was not nearly enough time for that Imperial fleet to get there. Something tells me they wanted the Leviathan intact. The only reason they would want that is if there was an inside leak. They were informed of the new drive system and the war-changing implications of it.”
‘That one captain seemed pretty bent on destroying the Leviathan. Then again, you did insult his empress.’ Crystal tittered softly at the thought. ‘So we have to wait until they make another move to reveal themselves. I do not like sitting around for something to go catastrophically wrong.’
“If we’re lucky, the agent didn’t make it off the Cradle, or they’ve jumped ship already. They want ship intact, so that’s something.”
They talked for a while after that about the problems facing them and their mission and about the Changeling Legion. Most of their time was spent working on personnel files, trying to get the civilians sorted into good groups and deciding who should oversee them. After a while Crystal bid Winter a good night and left him with his thoughts.
The scarred stallion resumed a pensive posture and sat for some time. Unsurprisingly, one of Abacus’s spiders appeared. With its sleek black and red carapace gleaming, the Black Widow scuttled across the table. To Winter’s surprise it made no motion to tug him along or pop open a message from the scientist. It merely clattered over, spent a moment examining his helmet, hooves, and settled itself within easy reach on the reactive tabletop.
After a while, Reverie was once again lost in thought, letting his mind unwind.
***
The journey to Aquarion seemed both long, and entirely too short.
Azure Prancer took particularly keen interest in all of the fillies and colts she was bringing with her, saying that she was eagerly looking forward to teaching them lots of new things. Many of the children became friends and played games through the gold vessel. Winter felt rather shy around so many strangers and used the travel time to explore the miracle of pony engineering.
During that journey, he fell in love with ships. Many a nights had the colt spent with nothing but the glow of a computer to light his room. He was fascinated by them, by the functions of jump engines to composite metallurgy and everything in-between.
Soon enough though, the journey was at an end, and he bid Shining Armor goodbye. Azure Prancer guided them all to a waiting bus where their luggage was ready and loaded. It wasn’t too far of a distance between the main spaceport and where the school was. An excited buzz filled the bus and Azure even led the group in a few well-known children’s songs.
Winter Reverie remembered the cold and reveling in it. For a time, the strange foreboding was banished by the fine weather. It was his favorite season in addition to being his name. Aquarion was famous for being an arctic world that boasted tourism because of how beautiful the season was on the planet. The world straddled the border between arctic and ocean, its equatorial regions boasting many luxurious resorts.
The school grounds were nice as well, occupying a large plot of land near the heart of the world’s capital. Such a large estate was odd nestled among the large buildings all around. All the young souls were awed by the weight the structure seemed to convey. Old style windows and old Equestrian construction gave it the weight of centuries.
They were led inside and lined up in the grand foyer. Azure Prancer walked in front of them wearing her biggest grin yet.
“Welcome to Celestia’s School of Obedience. Here you will learn-“
“I thought this was for gifted unicorns? I don’t need to go to obedience school!” interrupted a short, snobbish colt. The crimson mare whipped out a long thin rod with her teeth and struck the unicorn across the face with an audible electrical crackle. With barely a murmur, the colt dropped and curled up on the floor clutching his muzzle and twitched.
The foals together reeled in horror and fright. A few of the fillies screamed and some tried to run out the doors only to find them shut and barred.
“You all belong to Celestia now. And believe me, you will learn obedience.”
Winter Reverie was one of those who stood rooted. For the first time in his life, he knew what it was like to be afraid.
“Class is now in session.”
***
He absently trailed the tip of an artificial hoof over the surface of the conference table, watching the reactive play of color follow the trail of his path as his memories followed the dark trail of old. The Widow took immediate interest and chased the aurora trail. This amused Winter to no end and sent the color moving in random directions to watch the spider skitter madly trying to catch the digital display.
Unexpectedly, the door to the conference room shot open and a pony neither from Winter’s team nor the Omen walked in. Rather, it was a civilian. The pure white unicorn caught sight of the Commander and smiled in what was supposed to be a friendly way. Winter stopped creating the color on the table. The Widow was momentarily confused before becoming aware of the new stallion. Frightened, it scuttled up Reverie’s shoulder and hid in his mane.
Somewhat discomforted, the stallion suppressed the urge to shudder.
“Commander Winter Reverie! I was told I could find you here.” The unicorn announced as he made the trek down the long conference room. “My name is Prince Doublet.” He tossed his silver mane, perfectly styled, leading Winter to wonder when the price had had time to prim himself. The royal pony also wore what looked to be a freshly laundered vest of deep blue.
Luna preserve me, a prince. Why did there have to be a prince aboard? So help me if I get my hooves on the pony who told him where to find me.
“You’ve done a bang up job so I’ll keep you as my second, but right now we need to properly observe decorum here. As prince, appointed by Luna to help with the Leviathan, I will now be taking captaincy of this ship.” Doublet smiled again, in what he probably assumed would smooth over any hard feelings. Winter kept his expression blank.
“No, actually you won’t. I have direct orders from Luna herself to take command of the Leviathan until such time as it reaches the star system Var, there to be relieved of command by nopony other than Admiral Blueberry.” The noble unicorn’s face did a strange flip from happy and confident to confused, then back again. This was not an individual used to being told no.
“Come now old sport, right now these ponies need leadership! They’ll be looking to us to provide it.”
“Let me be perfectly clear, prince, I have no intention of relinquishing the Leviathan to you, or anypony else for that matter. You are in no position to give orders and you will obey the ones I give or I will have you thrown in the brig for insubordination.” Winter Reverie’s temper was short when it came to idiocy. He could not stand nobles, and did not take kindly to blatant overtures of hostility or coercion. The prince was doing a good job of treading on all of them.
“This doesn’t have to get ugly. You already have your little cruiser, there’s no need for us to quarrel when I am clearly justified. You do not have the pedigree of leadership to handle this situation. I’m sure that the others will see things my way.” Doublet made it sound like the most reasonable thing. Commander Reverie was not one to be swayed by honey-coated words and fixed the other unicorn with a dead level stare.
After several seconds, Doublet’s smile slowly faded into anger.
“Fine! If you will not listen to reason, I have no other choice than to petition my fellow patriots into ousting you. Justice will prevail, of that I have no doubt. Good day!” Doublet turned smartly and made to march away. Before he took two steps Winter spoke again.
“Doublet,” The prince paused. “You have permission to leave.” In a pique of rage, Doublet did not notice Abacus teleport only a few feet behind him.
“If Princess Luna were here, she would know I was in the right. Do not think I will forgive this affront you dishonorable brute!” Again he turned to go and froze at the sight of Abacus. With a huff, the prince practically galloped out of the room. After the door shut behind him, the mare shot Winter a questioning glance.
The Black Widow emerged from the Commander’s dark blue mane and ran eagerly to its mistress.
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.” She scooped up the little robot in her magic and placed it on her back with its fellows. The mare took a seat at the table next to Winter. “So I see you’ve met Prince Doublet. Such a charming fellow, isn’t he?”
“You could call him that. He seems convinced that inherited title confers some kind of necessary loyalty. As I told him, Princess Luna gave me this command, and nopony but the goddess herself has the authority to dissuade me from my duty.” Suddenly rather uncomfortable, Abacus looked down at the conference table.
“I never realized you were a pony of… faith. I’m honestly rather surprised you are. That weapon prayer though, was rather stirring.” Winter smiled.
“And I’m surprised you are not a pony of faith, doctor.” She looked up at him in astonishment.
“Why do you say that? I am a pony of science and reason, not faith and superstition.”
“Because you’ve said you’ve worked closely with the princess. I can’t imagine anypony being that close to divinity and not acknowledging her as a goddess. Science and reason has nothing to do with what a mortal feels in the presence of an immortal.”
“B-but, Luna says that she’s not. She’s very adamant about it.”
“Of course she does. It’s a bit of a paradox really. If she did accept it and outright say that she was, that would mean she was false.” Reverie felt his mood ease discussing his beliefs. Thoughts of the Lady always calmed him. “Is there something you needed, Abacus? I don’t want to put you off with theological debate. I can see it’s making you uncomfortable.” She blushed a little behind her glasses.
“No! No not at all. I was just looking for this little guy.” She floated out the Widow and placed it in her hooves. “He seems to have taken a liking to you. Though Prince Doublet seems not to have.” Winter snorted in derision.
“I could care less what that pompous fool thinks of me.” The scarred stallion spoke an edge of venom.
“I wouldn’t dismiss him so lightly. I had to deal with him for two years as a political favor to his family. He has some technical skill, but not much beyond that.”
Together they talked for a while more about the annoyances of noble families, of the Leviathan and quantum jump space mechanics. Each found the other’s input stimulating and spoke for many hours at length, leaving behind the worries outside the walls of the great ship.