"AL!! EVACUATE THE CMC TOWER!!" Magnum screamed, running towards the tower herself to assist with the evacuation. "LIGHTNING DUST! BRING ME CLOSER!"
The Apollo flipped through the air and hovered just below Magnum as she leapt down onto it from the roof.
"Get me to the tower then circle overhead and take down any bombers you see coming this way! We need aerial protection!"
"Copy." Lightning Dust replied, the Apollo cruising towards one of the many landing pads on the tower.
Even as Magnum was helping with the evacuations, she couldn't help but have something nag at her heart. But sometimes priorities had to be set elsewhere, and she was hoping there'd be a medical pony on the wall to help Rainbow and Octaviaand the rest of her friends. Hoping.
The Apollo landed, and she hopped off. Then she heard it take off behind her to stand guard- or fly guard. Which ever works. Hover guard.
On the way into the emergency clinic she bumped into Thyme, one of the medics that attended to her wounds. Only now did she see the golden badge on her chest, an emblem of leadership.
"We're getting as much of the wounded out as possible. All personnel are helping with the evacuation." Thyme sighed. "How long do we have?"
"There's no telling." Magnum raked a hoof through her mane in frustration. "I've got one Apollo in the air, and I'm telling AL to send a few more."
"Alright. The marker rocket turned out to be a little more explosive than it should be. Took out elevator control room C, so about a third of our elevators aren't working. We're escorting those who could walk down the stairs, it'll probably be faster than waiting in line for the few elevators still functional." Thyme said. "From this floor anyway."
"Bombers incoming. Striker escorts detected. They're approaching from the northern side. Dispatching Kappa squad and reinforcing anti-air defenses." AL reported.
"Do NOT send ground forces to reinforce the southern Wall! The bombers will just smother them- in fact, try keep the ground forces as far away as possible." Magnum quickly replied.
"You do not have the authority to commence that order." AL replied flatly, surprising her with the suddenness of the decline. "However, I will take that into account. Rerouting ground forces."
Magnum let out a sigh of relief. Then looking up, she realized Thyme was giving her curious looks.
"Comms." She said, tapping her ear. Thyme's confusion seemed to fade, then Magnum remembered something. "Worse case scenario ETA?"
"Six minutes." AL replied.
"Buck."
*
"Lock'n and load'n, giddy up boys!" Lightning Dust cried out with a loud 'whoop', flying the Apollo down in a narrow gap between two buildings, her image reflecting off the glass walls either side. A small squad of Haven's readily available air support followed her, varying between Apollos and Archangels- a heavier armed version of the Apollo.
"Keep that ego down, former cadet. Might cost you your precious title again." One of the Apollo pilots replied smugly.
"How come everyone has heard about that?" Lightning Dust sighed. "Anyhow, I'm in charge now. So shut up. That's an order. The rule may only be broken when there is a crucial need to speak."
"Copy."
"I said shut up. And that was not crucial!" Lightning Dust replied, and she heard the stallion growl in dismay. That made her smile.
"Got them on my radar." A mare pilot of an Archangel replied. "Visual contact established... And... Rockets! Watch out!" She banked hard right, a rocket soaring past where she was a second ago. Then her Archangel flipped in mid air and fired a shot at the rocket, blowing it up before it could reach the city.
"Nice shot!"
"Shut It Kappa five! and stop violating orders!"
"Rockets! Take em out before they reach us or the city!"
"Six and two, with me. Four and five, stay back and make sure NOTHING gets to the city. Seven and three, take to the clouds and wait for an opportunity. Rest of you, break formation and engage!" Lightning Dust yelled, spinning the Apollo as to make it a harder target. She sent a prism beam tearing through a rocket, blowing it to ashes in the air.
"Roger Kappa one."
"Breaking off."
"Enemies within firing range! Take out their escorts- I'm heading straight for the bombers!" Lightning Dust yelled. "Six and two, cover me!"
"Copy Kappa one." Kappa six replied, letting loose a small barrage of missiles towards the oncoming invasion.
Then something purple and glowing plowed through the missiles, tumbling through the explosions- but none the less kept true to its course. It slammed right through Kappa six's Archangle, pulverizing it.
"What the hay...!?" Lightning looked behind her as the shimmering object stabilized itself, then with a loud and solid blast of its engines disappeared into the clouds above. The speed and agility of that thing was almost indescribable.
"We lost six! What the hell happened!?"
Well ain't this a buck'n game changer.
"New plan. Go for the invasion force, if you can't destroy it, keep it occupied and delay it for as long as possible. I'm going to distract that thing- whatever the buck it was- and keep it away from you guys!"
"Always trying the play the hero huh?"
"Damnit five, SHUT UP!!" Lightning Dust yelled, breaking away from her escort and boosting towards the clouds where the purple UFO had disappeared.
Her eyes widened just as she re-emerged from the clouds, her face met with a bucket full of purple.
She quickly yanked the joystick to one side, the Apollo spinning dangerously as the UFO darted past her- and only just missed. But she had caught a descent glimpse of it before it passed- and while the colors were different, the patterns and design of the ship was unmistakable.
"BUCK! IT'S VAL!!" She screamed, turning the Apollo around and giving chase. Val mustn't reach Haven- and here was the chance to bring her down.
*
Unfortunately for her Val was never there.
"Kill. +100XP." HEX said, her voice bored.
"Please sound a bit more excited." Val said, the screen in front of her letting her control the prototype Stingray with her mind, the neuro implants in her brain linked to the experimental plane itself. "I might get bored myself if I wasn't dealing with a pro flier."
"You're using a million dollar project as a kiddie's toy." HEX replied.
"And it's fun."
*
"I'm getting reports from Haven that Val is there! Confirm?" Spitfire spoke urgently into the mic, her eyes darting out towards the space battle raging on outside. How did Val get past...?
"We have an unconfirmed presence of Valkyrie, and have suffered casualties from a modified version of the Wasp. We suspect Val is controlling it, directly or remotely."
"Damnit!" Spitfire cursed, turning away from the glass walls and running a hoof through her mane.
"Should we send reinforcements?" Soarin suggested.
"No. We're way too occupied as it is. Our job is to keep their reinforcements from reaching Haven- those planes must've taken a detour from Valhalla and approached from the South. Make sure nothing can go and support them." Spitfire said, conjuring up screens and checking several graphed stats.
"ALERT: The COLOSSUS is changing course." The ship's AI suddenly reported.
"What..?" Spitfire frowned. "What's going on?"
"The COLOSSUS's escort cruisers are speeding ahead. The COLOSSUS itself is now facing Haven."
Spitfire swept her hooves across the screens, sending them to the sides and giving her a clear view of the space battle.
"Shucks...!" She instinctively ducked down as a missile exploded across the bridge's windshield, prematurely detonated by the OASIS's shield.
Outside, she could see tiny geometric shapes charging forward- the science faction fleet. The COLOSSUS, that big hunk of a machine behind all the shapes, was slowly turning to face something to the left- Haven. Even if it may be a few thousand kilometers away.
Now this was a problem. The science faction knew that if their forces divided up, it would be easier for magic to take them on. Their advantage right now was their numbers. But the COLOSSUS was the big game changer, and by separating it from the rest of the fleet- that meant magic had to either go for it, or go for the others. Just depends on which one would be the greater problem.
For now they just had to use everything they had to keep the science faction forces herded in a group.
"ILLUSION and CALAMITY are in place!" An officer reported.
"Commence the operation- I want the COLOSSUS taken over now! It mustn't break away from the rest of the fleet!" Spitfire yelled. "ILLUSION, keep CALAMITY cloaked until both of you are in position!"
Then she noticed the science faction ships slowly turning around and facing where both cloaked ships should be.
"ILLUSION? What's going on?" She said cautiously.
"No idea ma'am. They're just turning around! Ah crap- they're turning their weapons towards us!"
"Disengage cloak! CALAMITY- Cover the insertion team! CYCLOPS- provide support! Make sure the ILLUSION survives!" Spitfire yelled.
"Firing the prism cannon!" Iris replied, and with a thundering roar a huge beam of rainbow colored light tore through two distant science faction cruisers which were firing on the duo at the far end. "Recharging. ETA forty minutes!"
Spitfire could only lean against the railings and hope that everything goes according to plan.
*
"Uh-oh. THERE IT IS!!"
"Buck- it's behind us!"
"WATCH IT!!" Lightning Dust screamed, violently spinning her Apollo to one side as a cluster of green and purple missiles streaked past her. Kappa one wasn't fast enough though- the missiles turned him and his plane into green sludge that fell away to the Arctic ice lands below.
Then the boosters on the Wasp flared up as its purple shield swept over its hull, and it charged at Lightning Dust- almost instantly breaking the sonic barrier and sending a shockwave tearing through the sky.
Lightning Dust sent the forward engines of the Apollo facing downwards, and activated the boost. The force sent her flipping upside down, and she watched as the Apollo grazed windshields with the Wasp.
She came full circle, and fired off a few shots at the plane- but it had disappeared behind a cloud.
"Captain Spitfire come in- The Wasp is being remotely controlled! There's no one in the cockpit!" She yelled. She checked her radar- there was nothing but the battle a little further away. The Wasp wasn't on it.
Then she heard that familiar boosting noise in front of her.
She waited, her muscles tense. But the Wasp never returned.
"Buck!" She cursed as she realized where it must've went, and turned the Apollo around to head straight back to Haven. "The Wasp's heading for Haven! I'll keep it occupied- take out those bombers!" She screamed at her team, racing back to the city.
"We're moving anti-air defenses to engage the target. Energy weapons primed." AL reported. "Keep it away from the CMC tower- we're still evacuating."
"Just make sure those damn AAs don't hit ME!" Lightning Dust banked hard left, swerving for the CMC tower.
Then she spotted the purple plane cruising along the ice, keeping a low profile. She flicked off the safeties on her missiles, locked on and opened fire.
Instantly the Wasp seemed to react, and boosted along the ice.
The icy floor cracked and rippled outwards, exploding in light blue frozen water. The missiles missed their target by centimeters, plowing into the ground and blowing huge chunks of ice into the air.
"AL- incoming from the south east!" Lightning Dust warned as the Wasp's shields charged up with a purple glow. "IT'S GONNA PLOW RIGHT INTO THE BUCKING WALL!!"
Then it did.
Chunks of the Wall flew everywhere as the Wasp flew right through it, which then got blasted from the air and landed in smithereens around the energy mobile AA platform that had blown it up.
"Knock knock, who's there? Whoopsies cause I didn't see you there." AL said grimly.
*
"And your KD ratio is 2." HEX said, and Val threw the screen across the room.
*
"The Wasp is down! I repeat- the Wasp is down!" Spitfire heard the report from Lightning Dust, and couldn't help but give a light hearted whoop.
"Good work cadet! Now take out those bombers- we're trying to keep the COLOSSUS where it is, and I'm telling ya- it ain't going anywhere any time soon!" Yes, the situation was looking very good indeed.
"Boarding party is entering the COLOSSUS!" Cloudchaser reported, and Spitfire could see the ILLUSION fading back into cloaking mode as several gunships immediately docked themselves to the gigantic cruiser's bridge.
"WE'RE IN!! FIRING ON THE ENEMY-"
"Keep those officers pinned Flitter- KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE CONSOLES!!" That was Cloudchaser.
"Terminal! Hack the bloody mainframe before they realize we're here!" It took Spitfire a moment to realize Terminal was a pony.
"Alarms are DOWN!! WOOHOO!!"
More gunshots in the background.
"Bucking hell! This is one BIG helluva bridge!"
"BLOCK THE BUCKING ENTRANCE!!"
"I'M HIT!!"
"Somepony get him a medic!"
"Alright!" Cloudchaser's voice again. Spitfire watched in high spirits as the COLOSSUS's massive guns started turning on its own ships, and a slight pop as its shields were switched off. "We have taken control of the mainfra-"
And the entire bridge exploded, taking everypony inside with it.
*
"Acceptable losses." Val muttered, throwing down the remote detonator. It wasn't like she didn't anticipate an attempted take over of the COLOSSUS. She had the option to detonate the entire cruiser if she had to, but leave that for when it was necessary. Right now only the bridge had to go.
Plus the bridge wasn't really even central command. It was just one of the many access points for the ship itself and its mainframe. The real central command- well, she IS central command.
"Tell our forces stationed at Haven to stand by. And I heard they have reinforcements coming up behind them- so conduct a thermal scan of the area and check under the ice. Make sure nothing sneaks up behind them." Val leaned on the arm rest of her throne. The one she didn't rip off and throw across the throne room in a rage. "As for the cannon- fire when ready."
"Cannon?" Blithy had woken up without getting Val to notice. She was slightly annoyed that she probably overheard a lot of things she shouldn't have.
"You'll see."
Space was filled with nothingness- or so that was the impression it left. In actuality the one thing it was filled to the brim with was possibly the core of one of the most feared and rare weapons in the war.
Dark matter.
And what better way to harvest it than about a million tons of cruiser?
*
"Magnum. Abandon the evacuation at CMC tower." AL spoke through a private channel.
"What? Why!?" Magnum paused, just heading back up the stairs to escort another wounded soldier when AL contacted her.
"Because the operation to take over the COLOSSUS has failed. Your skills are needed elsewhere in a later time in this war." AL replied simply. "Abort the evac."
"Denied!" Magnum yelled back, continuing up the stairs. "I am NOT abandoning these ponies!"
"Losses must be taken. The few you will help in the short time frame you have before the COLOSSUS is upon Haven will not be of much assistance to this war."
"You're an AI!! You don't understand ANYTHING about priorities!" Magnum yelled into her mic, tore it from her ear and threw it down the stairs. She wasn't about to abandon these ponies- not ponies like Thyme, who had only helped. Who were good ponies that didn't deserve to be in this wretched war in the first place.
"I was afraid of that." AL muttered from the mic on the ground, even though she knew Magnum couldn't hear her.
"Thyme! We got even less time- the COLOSSUS is coming down here! We need to hurry!" Magnum yelled, approaching Thyme by the window side.
*
"CLOUDCHASER!! REPORT IN DAMNIT!!" Spitfire screamed for the thousandth time into the mic. Finally she kicked it away in frustration, and clutched her head. "Damnit! This can't be bucking happening..." Things just went from really, really good to worse beyond Cerberus's feces. Things couldn't get worse beyond this point- it just wasn't possible anymore.
"Um... Captain..." Soarin started cautiously.
"WHAT!?" Spitfire raged on, screaming.
"Something's not right..."
"WELL NO CRAP!" Then she noticed Soarin was pointing behind her.
She turned, and watched as the front end of the COLOSSUS split apart- revealing the barrel of a cannon of some sort.
"So much for 'can't get any worse'."
*
Magnum was talking to Thyme when three troopers with jet packs flew down to join them on one of the tower's landing platforms. They were escorting some foals which had resorted to taking refuge in the tower away on a hover bus.
They pointed their guns at her.
"Magnum 'AB'. You're under arrest for disobeying direct orders!"
Oh, how she didn't have the time for this bull crap. AL knew there was no other way to get her off the building without placing her under some sort of arrest- and she obviously wasn't going to try and fight these gals who were needed on the front line.
"You are to be transported to-" the lead pony started, but a green glow in the sky made her look up. "What the hay is that!?"
Oops. Outta time.