Lee sighed, as he stared down at the Tango planet. The captain used to be a military convoy, and supply ship commander. His flawless track record, actions directing his convoy guards against enemy resistance, and command concept degree had landed him the spot as the first commander of the USSF Monarch, colonizer class search ship. Though he was a high ranking commander, and though he’d had experiences in this space, he was nervous. Very nervous. He’d never been in charge of a search operation. Normally, he brought supplies to planets for terraforming, or to destroyer class warships engaged in combat. Actually commanding an entire unit was so much different, when compared to supply running. Before he would basically need to strategize ways to get through, or around hostile combat zones, or find new ways to protect cargo, like decoy ships. Now he had to command an entire military unit, perform search operations, and establish relations.
The USSF O5 level operators had assumed the planet was just a regular planet on the outskirts of Terrain influence. Normally, they would have made their presence known, and offered gifts and possibly asked for the race to aid in the Humans’ search for the Precursors. But the problem here was that humans already seemed to be here…
From what the Elite, SAI and Bio units had sent back, the planet seemed mostly safe. The gravity was only slightly stronger than regular Earth conditions, and most lethal pathogens were only located in hot, humid climates. Vaccines and other chemical counters had already been developed and at this point, all that was left was the culture.
Lee shook his head, and slowly began tapping his foot, an odd action he performed whenever unease set in.
‘Why does every race treat Humans so differently?’
Tap… Tap… Tap… Tap
‘It doesn’t make any sense. What separates the Humans living in Oldalea from the ones in Equestria?’
Tap...Tap...Tap...Tap
‘What do the leaders think of humanity? Is it even worth contacting them?’
Tap..Tap..Tap..Tap..Tap
‘Ponies hold the most stake on this planet. Will they allow us to search?’
TapTapTapTapTap.
Lee’s frantic train of thought was interrupted as the communication HUD lit up, signalling an incoming transmission from case 4. John’s case. Taking a calming breath, Lee waved at the Comms manager, and asked him to open the call up. Receiving the affirmative, the lights on deck dimmed slightly, and John’s face was projected from the comms HUD to the main screen of the bridge, The captain’s dash.
“Jonathan Punch. Guardian rank. Current status: sleeper cell, and recon.” Read off Lee, in monotone, from a small box next to the Elite’s face. “Well? How goes it?” he asked, switching his vision to the video feed of John.
The Elite gave a small grin “Not bad. I’ve settled in. Seems I’m staying with a rather discriminatory unicorn.”
“Unicorn?”
“Just watch the video feeds I’ve recorded. They’re with the full report, if you wanna read that. They’ll explain everything.”
“Full Report? It’s been a day.”
“So?”
“How did you- you know what? Never mind.”
“Well then...I looked into what goes on around here. Seems that people form contracts with the ponies. I’m running under the ruse that I used to do short term work. Oh, yeah, the phrase ‘short-term contractor’ seems to be interchangeable with ‘breeding human’, if you will. There was some confusion about that, but I cleaned it up right quick. It was kinda funny… Um. Oh... yeah, some stuff on the native humans. They’re short. All of them. ‘bout five feet, and that’s the top of the spectrum. They’re also submissive. They seem to have a dislike for anyone from Canterlot, that’s city on the side of the mountain. The report has a bit more on it.”
“Oh yeah, language! Apparently they all speak English, but they have a alphabet. Normally I’d be concerned about this, but all precursor involved races seem to speak English, and these guys have precursor written all over them. It also seems like some of the ponies outright hate humans. I ran into a guard that gave me a hard time about trying to get into city hall. I also saw this one pony just straight up screaming at a human. It was pretty bad.”
“You didn’t do anything stupid did you?”
“I snuck around them, then called them idiots before going into the hall! I would have done something to the screaming pony too, if I hadn’t been surrounded by witnesses.”
There was suppressed laughter, mixed with a murmur around deck, as the workers listened in on the conversation. Lee just rolled his eyes “Yeah. Just, please, don’t do anything TOO crazy. Okay?”
“Whatever you say boss.” Answered the elite with a quirky salute.
“Anyways you say they have Precursor involvement?” questioned the commander, leaning forward in his seat.
“Aside from the language? Yeah sort of. They use something like MAGIC systems. I’d recommend looking at it. Bit weird really. Oddly enough, there seems to be a weird glow around whatever they manipulate.”
Lee nodded slowly “Yeah, that’s what we’ve been hearing from other units deployed in your area.”
“Sounds good, boss. I’m gonna need to go soon. I’m taking a ‘bathroom break’ to talk to you.” said John, air quoting “bathroom” and “break”
“Alright. Good job. I’ll send down some common knowledge stuff. Others figured out a few things you didn’t, and it seems like knowing this is pretty much second nature.”
“Thanks. Well, best get back to lying up a story for these fools to believe. Oh yeah, one more thing. These guys are trusting, to a fault. It’s actually kind of creepy. I got in good with this one pony and the unicorn I’m staying with is friends with her. She just left and was totally okay leaving me here alone because her friend said I could be trusted...whatever. I’m set, that’s all that matters. Punch, signing off.”
The screen went dark and the lights brightened again. Lee quickly pulled up the report, and flipped through the digital copy.
He’d been dreading this meeting all day, thinking he’d have to jump through hoop after hoop in order for John to get anything done, and stay on track. But the Elite seemed to have done his job just fine. No. Better than fine! In fact, he’d already performed long term planning. Something that Lee hadn’t expected out any unit, much less him. He’d also brought in interesting information, in less than a day. Not to mention found time to compile a full report, and organize the video feeds into the report. SAI and other Elites had only just begun their research and weren’t even starting video surveillance. All they had sent up were cliff notes.
‘He may be arrogant, and an idiot at times, but I can see why the higher ups like him. He does a damn good job. But then again, the they don’t have to deal with his asshattery...’
---
John sighed as he closed the suitcase and looked about.
‘This is a nice bathroom.’
Getting up the elite made his way towards the door and went out to the shop area. He’d spent the ten minutes before his report exploring the boutique and getting the general layout of the store area. Rarity had left in a hurry, muttering under her breath about fabrics or something of the like, meaning he was left to his own devices until she returned.
In all honesty, John didn’t mind. Exploring was something he loved to do. His vacation house back on Trenzalore had actually been near an abandoned storage base, and he and Sasha had spent hours exploring the huge facility when they were kids. Exploring a small clothing shop though, really was nothing compared to that. Even so, the Human was content to walk about, opening random doors, and finding new crevices and crooks to look through.
Walking out of the lavatory he slowly scanned the room, his trained eyes looking for anything interesting. He finally found it in the form of an unsuspecting curtain covering a doorway. Most of the curtains, from what John had seen, just covered changing rooms. But this one was slightly different. It was located on the other side of the room, and next to a staircase, rather than the purple boxes that the changing rooms were. Smiling, the Elite made his way over and walked through.
He was greeted by a lavish living room. As he looked about, his eyes widened. It was furnished with upscale, antique looking furniture. The kind his mom liked. But that wasn’t what caught his interest. Snoozing on one of the couches was a tiny white pony, a filly if he remembered the proper term. Her mane was similar to Rarity’s in color, only she seemed to have lighter streaks running through it. As he watched her one thought went through his head.
‘That’s the absolute cutest thing I’ve ever seen...’’
As John’s mind recovered from the dopamine surge, he quickly began considering relationships and leverage he could use.
‘I think it’s a she. The face doesn’t look angular enough to be a stallion. She’s a daughter, or sister.’
He took a quiet step towards her and took a closer look.
‘Too old to be a daughter. Not to mention Rarity seems like she’s already got a huge stick up her ass, so it’s not like she’d be able to take another. I’ll say sister.’
The human crouched down in front of her. ‘She’s well groomed, and taken care of. Rarity seems to care for her...she’s a unicorn...But Rarity never mentioned her. I only talked to her for about ten minutes, though. If I had to get down and dirty, I could take her as leverage.’
John took another good look at her and frowned. From what he knew about Equine creatures, they didn’t curl into tiny balls of cuteness when the slept. In fact, they didn’t even lay down when they slept.
He heard a quiet groan. ‘She’s waking up.’ He observed dryly.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes slowly opened and she rolled around onto her side. As she rolled she made eye contact with John. For a moment, nothing. Then a scream so loud and squeaky it made the Elite’s ears feel like they’d start bleeding.
“Who are you!?”
“I’m-”
“Why are you in Rarity’s shop?”
“Because Tw-
“How’d you get in here?” There was a pause, and John opened his mouth to answer before he was cut off (yet again) by an adorable, yet accusatory gasp. “What did you do to my sister!?”
“Nothing!” John half shouted, afraid of being bombarded with more questions. ‘She’s worse than Pinkie!’
“Now, if you can it, I’ll explain!” The small bundle of energy grew quiet and expectantly stared at John. The Elite rolled his eyes and rose from his crouch. He then made his way towards the loveseat opposite Sweetie's resting place, and sat down.
‘This’ll be fun.’
---
“This is commander Lee. OSS units three and four ready up. We have an escort mission. We’re establishing relations,” Shouted the commander into his microphone.
He’d just received word that the SAI’s plan had gone off without a hitch. The Gryphon queen had agreed to meet them in the seclusion of a nearby forest. According to Viktor she was planning to strut her stuff and essentially out class the ‘new nation’. Or at least that’s the impression Viktor had gotten. When he’d announced that he represented a completely new nation, the queen had asked what he wanted, and as soon as he said a meeting, she’d agreed and suggested the forest then sent a bunch of her guards to fetch her armor. A few minutes later they’d showed up dressed in what seemed to be brightly polished steel, and the queen in bronze.
Lee knew that appearances mattered with these folks. Viktor has talked about how the humans and Gryphons went through specific actions and short ceremonies even when greeting one another. At this point, It was all about how he and his team looked when they showed up.
Arriving at the dispatch bay, the Commander looked around. He spotted the OSS squads, standing at attention near two dropships. Jogging to the lift, Lee quickly hit a button, and got on. He began frantically tapping his foot as the lift made its way down towards the loading floor. He’d only been able to talk to the SAI for one minute, so he was wondering how exactly the unit was able to convince the queen he represented a new nation when he easily could have been a human from her city.
‘I suppose I’ll ask when I get here’
Stalking up to the two teams standing at attention he saluted them. A courtesy in all honesty. In a way it helped to show his respect for his people. Sighing, Lee rolled his shoulders. “At ease, boys and girls!” shouted the commander.
His voice wasn’t commanding like that of a drill sergeant. Rather, it was upbeat, and happy. At the same time confidence seemed to roll off of him, like the rays off the sun. As the squad followed his orders, they seemed to calm down.
Lee didn’t bark orders and scare his soldiers into following him. Rather, he spoke in such a way that made them want to follow him, and impress him. At the same time, he made it seem like no matter what happened, he’d be able to get anything done. His style of leadership had actually resulted in the safe transport of his cargo many times over.
Tacking a smile onto his face the commander looked them over carefully “So? Ready?”
“Yes sir!”
“Hmm...what was that? I couldn’t hear you...now let’s try again. Are you ready?”
“Yes sir!”
“Well then, Let’s get this show on the road!” bellowed the commander, as he did a three hundred sixty degree turn on his heel, then faced towards the two dropships. “Team three I need you piloting.”
Team three’s commander, started jogging towards the ships, gesturing for his team to come along. The lot of them had determined grins along their faces. As two of the team members ran by him he heard part of their whispered conversation.
“Four, you’re on point, you’ll be monitoring, and backup. Let’s go!”
---
“So yeah...umm I’ll be staying here a while,” said John, calmly.
The elite had spent the last ten minutes essentially coming up with some sort of vague story that’d work as a framework to allow him to come up with more information later on. The story was actually laughably vage. All he’d really said was that he was from far away, meaning that he’s unfamiliar with Equestria’s culture. Oddly enough, the Unicorn seemed obsessed with small details. Like who his parents were. Where he’d worked, and his favorite color. She was oddly fixated on his occupation though. Mostly because she claimed to have never met anyone that did what he did for a living.
“So...you said you did like small jobs right?”
“Yeah. I guess you could say that.”
“What did you do when you weren’t working then? Just sleep? Did you play with your friends? Rarity always makes time to play with her friends.”
‘Is she taking a legitimate interest in my life...really?’ John shook his head. “I suppose that I...well I learned. Studied.”
The filly stared at him skeptically. “You’re kidding. You seriously just sat around reading books all day? I mean Twilight Sparkle does sometimes, but she still has Spike to keep her company. But did you really just spend all day reading?”
“Well I had friends, but I move around too much…”
“Oh. Well did you make any friends here yet?”
“Well I guess there’s Pinkie.”
“Nah, she’s always busy, I mean somepony you can actually hang out with.”
John shook his head no. In all honesty, he hadn’t even considered something like that. But then again, he tried to keep his personal life and his work life separate. The last time they’d mixed, his wife had been killed, and he ended up torturing and destroying most of a race due to the war that was caused. It was a touchy topic.
“Well. I can be your friend then.”
John stared at her for a minute. “Yeah. Alright, we’re friends. Friends tell each other things right? Well, Rarity’s talked to you about humans. What’d she say?”
“How did you know she talked to me about them?”
“Magic. But anyways, what’d she say?”
“You’re a human you can’t do magic.”
“Yes I can,”
“How?”
“Magic, now answer me.”
“That makes no sense! You don’t even have a horn! Besides you can’t justify magic with magic.” accused Sweetie
John raised his hand and waggled his fingers, “Yeah, well you haven’t got any fingers. And I can justify magic with magic, because it’s magic!”
Sweetie frowned at the elite, then pointed an accusatory hoof at him. “You’re crazy.”
John stared at her like she was a crazy person. “Yes, you’ve just made friends with a crazy person! Now, answer my question. What’d she say?”
The unicorn averted her gaze from Punch to the floor. “Mostly that I shouldn’t associate with them. And that humans were uncouth and unintelligent freeloaders.”
“Seems legit. Well alright Sweetie. What do you think of us?”
“You seem nice…”
‘Yeah. I’m going to like it here.’
---
“This is Oscar Sierra 2 1. ETA is 5 mins, SAI. We’ve already entered the atmosphere. Out.”
“Received. Sounds good, Oscar Sierra 2 1. We’ve found a landing zone for you. Note that the opposing queen has set up multiple guards around the meeting place in an ambush formation. They also don’t know I’m talking to you. Out.”
“Received. Good. Keep it that way. We’ve already finished our suit up, The commander, and captains will be the ones talking. If you need us to, we’ll perform a stunt or two to show what we can do. Out.”
“Received. My sensor is picking you up. Out.”
“Noted.”
Turning around, the OSS captain of team four gave Lee the thumbs up. The group of them had just finished suiting up, and at this point, only five people were out of the HALO pods, between the two ships. They were the two pilots, captains, and Lee himself.
The plan was simple. Lee and the Captains would be dropped off about two thousand meters up the mountain, out of sight, near a cliff face overlooking the meeting grounds, and then would jump into the meeting place. The power suits (that they had put on during the preflight diagnostics) would allow them to easily make the jump.
Lee took a deep breath. The last time he’d jumped had been years ago. It had been when he’d stolen the power suit of an Elite who had attempted to betray them. Though he hadn't done it in a while he still remembered the goal. A jump was a simple thing. Get dropped off at a high point, in a power suit, then find a cliff, and jump off it with a thruster pack, and use the momentum of the jump to carry you to your objective, then use the thruster pack to soften the impact, and regulate speed. It was almost like BASE jumping. But in BASE jumping, the jumper isn’t wearing a powersuit, and didn’t have a jet of plasma pushing them forward with the same amount of force as a small 21st century fighter jet.
“We’re here, Commander Lee.”
Lee nodded. and stood up. Grabbing the Squad Automatic Weapon, commonly called a SAW’, he mounted it to the weapon holder on his back, and made his way towards the dropship doors.
His HUD went from green (safe mode), to blue (prep mode). A host of flight instruments displayed themselves in the corner of his eye. The ship’s doors opened, and the trio stepped outside. Lee’s HUD shifted to orange, as the dropship lifted off. As it left the interference zone, the HUD shifted back to blue.
“On your go sir,”
Smiling, behind his visor, Lee began running towards the cliff, which was a little over ten meters away. “Geronimo!”
Lighting up the plasma thrusters, he felt himself being pushed forward, faster, and faster.
‘Here it comes! The drop!’
Cutting the thrusters, Lee whooped as he was thrown up and out over the cliff. As he fell, a counter appeared on his screen, the time he had before he’d hit solid material. It was currently 45 seconds. A moment later crosshairs, appeared on his screen. His target location.
Lee spread his arms out, and brought his legs together. Then, leaned back to angle himself parallel to the ground, the commander reactivated the thrusters, and smiled as he watched the counter spring up.
After about ten seconds of non-stop thrusting, and watching the counter, which now displayed a satisfying one minute six seconds. A schematic of his power suit popped up on screen. It quickly rotated and displayed the thrusters, and made them blink yellow.
‘Starting to overheat. But I have over a minute of jump time. I’m fine.’ Cutting the thrusters, the commander called up a speedometer. One thousand three hundred twenty six kilometers an hour. Faster than sound!
All Lee could feel was the tickle in his stomach and the adrenaline pumping through him. This was one of the best feelings in the world. Flying faster than sound, wearing nothing but a suit of armor. The commander felt like a million bucks. Cheering again, he expressed his joy to no one.
Focusing on the crosshairs he willed the suit to pull up an ETA. Forty seconds….
‘Crap! Here we go! Time to slow down!’
“Stopping!” he radioed to his companions
“Received. We’re doing the same! Out!” came the response
“Noted!”
Going spread eagle in the air, Lee reopened the schematics of the suit again. The thrusters were a greenish yellow hue. ‘I can get, three? No Five more seconds of thrust before a cool down needs to happen.’
Pulling a speedometer back up, he looked at his speed. nine hundred twenty KMPH.
The ETA was saying about thirty seconds. Lee took a deep breath, and rotated himself so he was flying feet first. Then he set the thruster into afterburner for two seconds.
The speedometer dropped sharply, and the thrusters grew a bit more yellow.
‘Twenty eight seconds. All I have to do is give myself the most surface area possible,’
Angling himself in the orientation with the most drag, the commander took a deep breath.
“Twenty!”
“Noted!”
He watched a the speedometer steadily got lower and lower. Occasionally, he would release bursts of plasma to slow him down. By the time there was five seconds left, the speedometer was at about fifty kilometers an hour. Perfect landing speeds.
“Ready!”
“Received! So are we! Out!”
---
On the ground the Gryphon queen stared wide eyed. According to the human representing this new advanced nation, the flying metal creature, was one of their rulers. A human. In a suit. Never before had she ever seen something so innovative. Or insane.
As she watched the speck approach, a loud hissing, much like the fires after the bellows were pulled in a blacksmith’s furnace, could be heard. A moment later, the there as a loud clang, and a plume of smoke only a few meters from them. There were two more clangs, and an odd, buzzing and stretching sound.
They came like ghosts. But they were as solid as the trees around them. As they walked, they seemed like they were falling infinitely, and the ground seemed to quake as they approached. Their faces were hidden behind masks of metal. They looked surreal. Like a dream. Like nothing could touch them. Then one of them. The one in the middle, wearing armor as white as snow, with streaks the color of blood, spoke, with a voice like thunder.
“Hello! We are representatives of the United Search Space Fleet. We would like to speak with the ruler of the gryphon kingdom.”
The Queen, who had regained her composure, during the landing, stepped forward, and fell into a bow.
“I am the Queen of the Gryphons, and ruler of our kingdom. Welcome.”
Videte then rose out of her bow, and puffed out her chest and extended her wings, which had been interweaved with fake feathers made of bronze. The goal was to create a majestic look. But whether it worked or not was lost on her. Their faceless plates made garnering any sort of reaction impossible. All she saw was a strip of blue, (in the commander’s case red) light on the helms of the towering humans before her.
That was another odd feature about them. Their height. They seemed to dwarf the humans in her kingdom, and in a way dwarf her. It was impossible to describe how weird it was standing before them.
“Thank you. Before we progress...might I ask why you set up an ambush for us?” The commander slowly walked forward, until he was within arms length of the queen. “If you expect to jail us, you will need more than a couple of guards with pointy sticks.”
“My apologies, but most new nations consist of new creatures, not tall humans. I thought this was an attempt on my life. Better safe than sorry.” Responded the queen politely.
Lee gave a hearty laugh. “An attempt on your life! A fool’s endeavor…” turning on his heel, he walked back towards the crater, turned back towards the queen who was staring at him inquisitively.
“I’m not sure if that was a compliment or an insult…”
“A compliment of course.”
The queen’s brow furrowed. “You seem very confident for someone who’s surrounded.”
Not wanting to hide his face for the duration of the conversation, Lee willed his helmet open..
Videte was rather impressed watching the display. First the red line across the eye area went dark then the entire helm hissed, and gaps appeared throughout the faceplate. It then retracted, back into the back part of the helmet, which then was pulled down and into a small compartment that had opened on near the top of the power armor.
“I think you should know, there’s a reason I’m confident,” said Lee smiling at the queen.
“And what would that be?”
“Well, the crew surrounding us, I have them surrounded.”
Videte slowly began pacing around the commander. “You’re like a peacock, flaunting his feathers.”
“What can I say? I like showing off.” replied the human, with a small chuckle. “I could say the same for you though, strutting about in your flashy armor,”
“Does it catch your eye?” she asked, flaring her wings again
He raised his eyebrows. “You could say that. But, flashiness aside, before we actually start talking, I’d really like it if you’d send out my ambassadors.”
Videte nodded and made an unusual gesture, and a click with her beak towards some bushs. A moment later, a group of guards emerged from the brush, followed by Viktor and the rest of the SAI units. They were chained together, and sitting on what seemed to be a sort of cart. The inside of the cart was lined with cushions.
“For prisoners, you seem to have treated them very well…”
“The city of Oldalae is rather wealthy. This is standard for prisoners,” replied the queen, sticking her nose up as she ordered their release.
‘Viktor was totally right. She loves showing off.’
The gryphons guarding the group of humans quickly undid the chains binding them, and the group of SAI units jogged towards their commanders.
“Viktor! How ya feeling?”
“Just fine, sir. They treat their prisoners more like guests than criminals.”
“Good to hear. Let’s get you back up on the ship.”
As the humans talked, the Queen assembled her guard. They formed a line behind her, and took formation. The polished steel of their armor resulted in them looking like, divine spirits, full of confidence and power. In the center was the queen, with her golden armor.
In contrast, the two captains of the OSS squads, stood like silently warriors in the background. They did not attract attention, rather they created an atmosphere that made one uneasy, and feel as though they were being watched. They were dressed in black combat armor, and looked ethereal statues. As though they were solid, but fluid, and would disappear in an instant. In between them was the commander, who was speaking with care and worry to his worker.
After a moment, the commander stepped forward. “I am sending my friends back home to rest, but I need one of my ships to come pick him up.”
“Our waterways are open to you.”
Lee nodded “Thank you.”
She heard it before she saw it. A rumbling rivaled only by a snoring dragon. Then, it rose up, from behind a mountain. It flew, with incredible speed towards them. Behind it trailed bright blue flames, it had capsules attached to the its side, and the a symbol where the door seemed to be.
As it stopped over head, the back opened up, and a rope ladder fell down. All that was felt was heat. Incredible heat and wind. The sound was so loud, the queen felt her ears would pop, and her eyes would fall out of her head. The human ambassadors walked to the ladder, and one by one, like ants, climbed up it, and into the metal ship above.
The Queen would normally have been fascinated, but she was a bit busy dealing with the heat and wind generated by the dropship. It had angled its thrusters outwards, so that unarmored creatures could access the doors without being burnt into a crisp. The result was a lot more heat being pushed towards the ground. Along with the noise. It was nearly unbearable. Nearly.
Once the men and women were in the ship, it slowly closed its doors and lifted off, flying back from whence it came.
After a moment she heard a voice. It was the thunderous metallic voice. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
Videte looked towards the voice. It was Commander Lee. He was standing less than three feet away, with his guards just behind him.
Videte glared at him. “You said you were going to have a ship sail in.”
“I said I need a ship to pick up my men. I never claimed they were water vessels. It seems there was a misunderstanding.”
The queen sighed. “We...are not at the same...stage of advancement as you. I’d like it if you warn me about things like flying ships.”
‘Oh, that took her down a peg. She won’t be calling anyone a peacock anymore. Assuming that was an insult...was it?’
Videte looked at Lee, observing him up and down, “I’m surprised you humans did so much on your own.”
“In Oldalae Humans are partners with Gryphons. Every human works with a gryphon, and vise versa. Outside the gryphon kingdom, most humans are either slaves or ‘indentured servants.’ Although they might as well be the former, but dressed better.” Videte took a step closer, and raised a talon. “We never got around to formal introductions.”
The commander, who had put his mask back on, took her the offered limb and shook it. “No I suppose we didn’t. My name is Commander Lee, of the USSF Monarch star-ship. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Videte smiled, and and nodded. “I am Queen Videte, leader of the Gryphons, and Humans of the mother land.”
“Videte.” repeated Lee, through his speakers. “Vid-ete. Like a name out of a fairy tale.”
“Now...what was this you said about a starship?”
---
“Forty hours!? Continuous!? Twilight, this has to be a mistake!” Moaned Rarity.
“I’m sorry! With how much you tilted this contract, it’s either forty continuous hours, or two hundred spread out over a month!” replied a apprehensive purple unicorn.
As the unusual turn of events continued folding out, John sat quietly on the floor, of the kitchen. Rarity hadn't allowed him to sit at the table, stating that what was going on was mare’s work, and he shouldn’t be interfering. The look he’d been giving the pair of them was ugly.
on the floor, because he needed to keep his cover.
‘Lee, I’m going to kill you. If you hadn't sent me, I would have been sitting at my desk, with a cup of coffee, and the daily sudoku. But no, I’m sitting on the floor of some prissy unicorn’s house, because I’m not ‘intelligent enough’ to understand a fucking level one planet’s judiciary system.’
The quarrel the pair of unicorns were having was about how exactly to go about setting up the tilt, and compensation. Rarity, had decided on increasing her authority, to an almost ridiculous point, but as a result, the law required her to spend either, Forty hours with him continuously, with only personal breaks, or seventy hours with him over a month in order to prevent abuse of authority.
“Oh I don’t think I can spend so much time entertaining a Human! I already have opal to care for!” reasoned the white mare.
‘Did she just compare me to a cat!?’
“But you have to!” insiste her purple friend.
“Oh. Fine, I suppose I’ll take the forty. The less I have to do with him the better.”
‘What the actual fuck is wrong with her?’ I’m not gonna sit here and be treated like a pet!’
“Why?! What have you got against humans?!” shouted the elite from his corner.
“Oh, nothing honey!” Replied the mare, putting sugar in her voice like she was talking to a baby “I’m just busy is all.”
“Do you think I’m deaf? I’ve been listening this whole time!”
Rarity sighed “You’ve misinterpreted it.”
“Twilight! Say something!” shouted John gesturing towards Rarity.
“I can’t! It’s her right as the contract maker,” snapped the unicorn with finality.
Rising to his full height, John frowned. “I’m going outside.” said the elite.
“No you aren’t. You must stay here.” Rarity said, mimicking Twilight’s tone.
‘Are you kidding me? This is degrading.’
“आप कुत्तों के सभी बेटे हैं!”
Twilight stared at John a moment. “What?”
“Shut up, Twilight.”
Rarity frowned at John. “Don’t speak to us like that, you scoundrel!”
‘Scoundrel? Who the hell says that anymore?’
“Rarity, how do you know what he said?”
“I don’t. It was his tone of voice. Anyways, I’ll take the forty.’
The unicorn nodded, and handed her a quill. She signed the contract, and Twilight magicked it away.
“Hey, don’t I have to sign?” chimed in John
“This isn’t a short term contract, John. You don’t need to.”
“Wait! Let me get this straight. I don’t need to sign the contract, even though I’m involved?”
“Basically, yes. John I know you’re a smart guy and all, but you’re still just a human.”
‘Go to hell Lee.’
John rolled his eyes “Yes, of course. I can’t believe I forgot,” his voice dripped of sarcasm. “Whatever. Let’s get on with it. Forty hours of us basically staying together. What do you want to do, Rarity?”
“Miss,”
“Miss?”
“Miss Rarity.”
“...Fine. Miss Rarity. What would you like to do?”
“I have some errands I need to run at the market. Come along.” Replied the mare, trotting to the door.
Punch looked towards Twilight. But she had already made her way outside. The elite raised hands and began fiddling with a ring on his finger. It was a tick of his. He always needed something to do with his hands when he was uncomfortable. Shaking his head, he followed Rarity out the door.
---
“Commander Lee...Are you saying, you have a ship, made of metal, flying in space?”
“Yes.”
“I’m very glad.”
“Glad about what?”
“That you are working with us, and not against us. “
Lee nodded. “Well with you all being as creative as you are, I’m glad to say the same. A city inside a mountain. I’ve seen a lot, but that’s new.”
Videte laughed. It was a loud hearty laugh, but at the same time feminine and proud. It also had a bit of a bird like trill mixed into it, like the song of a mocking bird.
Over all, Lee was impressed with the culture of this place. Apparently, every human was paired with a gryphon, and the pair worked, lived, and raised a family together. The template for a family in Terrain zones was a mother, father, children, and possibly grandparents. Here however, the template went, mother, her counterpart, father, his counterpart, and their children all working, and being paired together. Rather than being known as families, they were known as clans. Clans could continue for years, before the children found partners outside the clan. In that case, what normally happened was a changing ceremony, where the partner would switch from his or her clan to their partner’s. The one who was to switch was decided among the the two parties, through negotiations. It was rare for conflict to occur, and if it did, the Queen was normally the one to resolve it.
Of course, there wasn’t just that, there were hundreds of ceremonies and rituals that were practiced whenever almost anything happened between the two partners. In fact, according to the queen there was even a ritual that was to be performed before a human was able to ride on a gryffon’s back to the cloud areas of the city.
She claimed that most clans did the rituals out of tradition and cultural value, more than in terms of actual requirements by law, which had been abolished years ago. One thing that puzzled Lee however, was who exactly Videte’s partner was.
“No one.”
“Really? No one?”
“Being a queen my duty falls to the state, and on top of that, Humans normally don’t approach me very often.”
“I haven’t actually seen any humans around here.”
“Oh, that’s more due to the humans not being as physically capable as gryphons. Humans here, haven’t machines like yours. Nor have they the strength of a fully grown gryphon. They lack magic as well. Due to us being in my throne room, all I really have stationed here are my guards. Although the scribe does come down occasionally.”
“And so you don’t use them as guards?”
“Basicly. Most of the time they fill positions like master armorers, and blacksmiths. The closest thing we have the guards are peacekeepers, who break up fights and enforce the laws in area where official guards are lax.” Videte looked towards the table, and somehow formed a frown with her beak. “Also, having a partner may result in his or her death due to my position.”
“How about a political partnership?” asked Lee casually.
The queen looked up at him, with wide eyes. “Are you proposing I partner with you?”
“For the benefit of our two nations. Yes. I promise I won’t die,” said Lee, drawing an ‘x’ over his heart.
Slowly, a smile spread across the the queen’s face. She looked at him with like he was an odd piece of art, and began giggling. After a moment she looked up at Lee, and shook her head. “I just met you. That’s like if I asked you to marry me right after our courtship began.”
Lee’s face began to turn red. “Sorry, I’ve never been the best in new social situations. I won’t ask again,”
‘Oh no! The poor thing thinks I’m rejecting him!’
Videte’s face fell. “Oh! I wasn’t saying no! It’s just it’s more personal than something like a marriage.”
Lee sighed. “Well. I’ve managed to make this very awkward. Thank you for the tea. Although I’m surprised really. You seemed to accept me rather quickly.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“No harsh words. No over suspicion. Or for that matter caution. You didn’t even take my weapon.”
The queen’s eyes widened “You were armed!?”
“You weren’t?”
“How was I supposed to know you would be carrying a weapon? Where is it anyhow?”
“How do you know? Look at me: I’m confident!” A smile broke out on the gryphon’s face. “As for where it is,” Lee raised his hand and pointed to his back, across which was strapped the SAW.
“I thought that was part of your armor.”
Lee shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter much anyways, I have guards posted around the room.” Then, Videte raised her claw, and closed it. A moment later, an arrow, about a foot in length flew into the window. It would have impaled itself in the wall, near Commander Lee had the OSS captains not fired off their rifles and vaporized it.
The way they fired was incredible, it was a practiced motion, that was smooth throughout. It was also fast. Incredibly so. Their arms were like blurs, they raised them up, and pulled a finger. There was a flash, and the arrow was gone. Had the Queen blinked, she would have missed it.
As Videte stared at the flaming ashes that used to be her arrow, she heard the metallic voices of the OSS captains. “Please refrain from weapon usage.” they said in unison.
She turned to look at them again she noticed their weapons had disappeared. Or more accurately, had been reattached to their backs.
“Yeah,” said Lee sheepishly. “Sorry about that, they're just doing their jobs. Thank you for the tea. We should be off.”
“In all honesty I’m having a hard time believing you’re humans. Or that you have a flying space ship.”
Lee raised an eyebrow. “Would you like to see our ship?”
The queen’s eyes widened, she looked around at the OSS captains, and then back to Lee. Then she took a deep breath. “No.”
The commander stared at her for a moment and shook his head. “No?”
“Is this what you do? Come down onto the surface of a planet, and then with a crook of your finger beckon creatures to come up to your floating fortress? Then astound them with the wonders of your technology?”
The human cracked a smile “The way you say it it makes it sound like a bad thing… but I suppose technically, that is what we do.”
“No, Commander. I don’t think I’m ready to see your ship. I’ve had enough excitement for a day, thank you. However, I must ask you to come back tomorrow afternoon. I want to show you the historical wing of the palace. Then, maybe we can go up to your ship. What say you?”
Lee’s grin was all the answer she needed.
---