Jolterix boarded the small Gauner and looked back at Luna as the door closed. Through the window he could see her close the door and hoped she would immediately go familiarize herself with her disc. Just as he was imagining the very tool that could help save her life in a hazardous situation, he felt the jolt of the Gauner as it lifted off the ground.
“Hold on,” the pilot called to him through the radio.
“Sure thing,” he replied in Florian Common. In truth, he was strapped in to the seat and holding on to anything would simply be redundant. He kept his gaze out the window since Equestria was much more entertaining than the cabin of the Gauner, even if he couldn’t see what the citizens were up to from this high up. After some waiting, he finally reached the massive Gluhwurmchen and the Gauner parked itself on its hangar bay. After he got out, the pilot dissolved the Gauner back into its baton and told Jolterix that Dezler was on the bow waiting for him.
“Weird,” Jolterix thought, “Why wouldn’t Dezler just meet me in the bridge or someplace like that?” He stopped pondering the thought as he strode through the hangar bay. The first thing that struck his eye was that there were more Florians onboard than the last time he was here. As wise as he was, he couldn’t think of a logical answer to that other than that they were at war with a formidable force; and Discordia, even with their newfound ships, certainly were nothing a single Florian destroyer couldn’t handle. “This makes no sense,” he thought to himself as he exited the hangar bay and found himself in a hallway. After about ten minutes of actual walking, he finally reached the ship’s front. Knowing Dezler and how he enjoyed the outside, even though it was quite cool at this altitude, he would be outside.
Jolterix emerged on the Gluhwurmchen’s sky deck and immediately saw Dezler along with two high-ranking officers and personal bodyguards. Vernerasche was not in sight, oddly enough. “Hello, Kaiser Dezler,” Jolterix said.
Dezler turned around as well as the officers and soldiers and smiled. “How are you?” he asked. He wore black robes like Vernerasche as well as five metal bars on his shoulders and the triangular pieces, signifying his absolute command. His robes were thick to insulate him from the cold with red lights aligning it, and he wore thick black gloves with red lights along the backs. The other officers both had two bars on their shoulders and were in thick robes like Dezler. The two bars did not signify lower ranks than Jolterix’s three bars, but rather what they were in command of. The bodyguards were dressed in their robes as well, presumably with combat skins underneath and they carried large rifles that fired hard projectiles of light.
“Well, I’m doing alright.
“You may want to sit down for the answer,” Dezler told him.
Jolterix looked around him and saw only the smooth deck. He chuckled inside and told Dezler he would be fine.
“We’re at war,” Dezler told him, “Well the beginnings of one.”
Jolterix gave him a confused look. “With whom?” he asked.
“We’re not sure who,” Dezler said, “just what.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We don’t know who we’re at war with.”
Jolterix laughed at that, “You’re joking,” he said with a grin.
“I’m afraid not,” Dezler said, “Those asteroids weren’t orbiting Equus, in fact they appeared just outside our atmosphere and descended in. We think they went through a portal like ours, and at first we thought maybe they were just broken off of a bigger chunk of rock out there. Then we started intercepting radio signals we can’t identify coming off of the craters the asteroids made, which most are in Discordia. We looked into Discordia and it seems most of their cities have already been destroyed or just occupied. That’s the Intel; make your own story behind it.”
“Shoot,” Jolterix mused, “So we’re at war with someone who’s not indigenous? How interesting. Wait, where’s Vernerasche? Shouldn’t he be here?” Jolterix asked.
“I already gave him the briefing,” Dezler said, “He should be commanding the fleet right now. We’re getting ready to depart and we need you and Tennerac back up here.”
“So why’d you only request me, then?” Jolterix asked.
“Because I figure it’d be less of an alarm to the Equestrians if you two weren’t summoned back at the same time,” Dezler explained.
“So what do you have planned now?”
“Now I think you should go back down to that castle, get Tennerac, leave them with a couple of our weapons and help contain the threat so it can’t harm any other nations,” Dezler said.
“But what happens if we can’t contain it?”
“We evacuate everyone. Tell the Equestrian leaders to tell their citizens to get an evacuation route planned so we can get them easier,” Dezler told him, “That way we can get everyone behind the safety of our borders and the Mesa Gun, if it gets that bad.”
“I guess I don’t have to tell you how hard it would be to get all of those people into Florian ships and taken back to Auflorsung?”
“No, and I’ve already starting planning that part. Now go get Tennerac and I’ll meet you both in the hangar. These are the supplies for the Equestrians,” he handed Jolterix a small bag of batons, “Try to make it back in a hurry.” He gave Jolterix a Florian salute that Jolterix returned just before going back to the Gluhwurmchen’s hangar. When he reached it, he was greeted by the same Gauner pilot from earlier who pulled his baton apart and spawned the small craft. He boarded it and made his way back to the Canterlot Castle, and ultimately Luna’s bedroom.