“This is Grand Admiral Talvo. All Ships prepare for warp on my mark,” A man in all black federation Admiral uniform. Admiral Talvo, a man who held the single strongest ship in the current power struggle, looked to the many screens at the center of the bridge.
“Sir, groups 1-7 of all but the cruiser division have pinged confirmation” One of the officers said. He looked to be brand new. Talvo always felt some pity for the new recruits, always trying to gain reputation for heroic actions only to die in the worst possible ways.
“Tell those lazy bums to get moving. We can’t afford to delay anymore,” Talvo ordered. ‘Those captains are sure going to be seeing the lovely line of a firing squad if they don’t hurry up eventually.’ Turning towards the engineer seated just to the left, Talvo said, “Private, have all the fighters been docked and secured yet?”
“Sending confirmation request to hanger bay now, Sir.” The engineer officer said in a calm voice.
A few moments passed by before there was a response.
“Sir, the fighters have been secured and readied for the next deployment.” Talvo let lose a smirk, He loved when things went according to plan….mostly.
“Sir, the crusiers have finally reached position and are stowing their fighters now.” The bridge to the flag ship went silent, waiting for that last set of pings to come through to announce it was time for the count down.
-Ping-
“…”
-Boop-
“Alright who is playing Pong at a time like this?” Talvo asked amusedly. From behind him comes a cough that was meant to sound innocent but betrayed the fact that someone was doing something wrong. “If anyone can beat my score then they are allowed to play that game…and as far as I am aware no one has. Sweetie, would you be so kind as to tell everyone my score against you in the Pong game.”
Out of nowhere a semi-robotic female voice speaks up, “The score for Grand Admiral Talvo is 385-20.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” Talvo speaks up. Looking around he sees everyone’s look of confusion and amusement, and a few smirks and a few bobbing heads could be seen. Silence reigned for the next few minutes.
The thrum of the systems making a musical of technological perfection eased everyones nerves for the possible fight to be expected at the next system.
Breaking the silencem, the communication’s officer spoke up, “Sir, the cruiser group has confirmation that they are now awaiting your call for warp.”
“Good,” Talvo spoke. “Comms., would you be so kind as to open up to the rest of the fleet?”
“Gladly.” The man spoke. Once it was open, he nodded back to Talvo.
“Alright everyone. This is the last planet that the suspected rouge task force to control. What they have done has, and is punishable by death. Keep your target sights clear, photon torpedos prepared, and (this part I cannot stress enough) Helmsmen…Please watch where the hell you are flying. That especially goes for you fighter pilots. Don’t think I haven’t seen some near crashes with my bridge when being chased,” Talvo’s face took on a stern appearance. “When we get there do not move out of formation, I want to ask for surrender, and if they accept we take them into custody. If not then…Have fun. All ships prepare to warp in 10.”
‘10’
The humming of the ship’s engines got somewhat louder.
‘9’
“Should I raise shields, Sir?” One of the abundant Tactical officers asked. Talvo only nodded.
‘8’
Silence encompassed the room… well the crew stayed quiet.
‘7’
…
‘6’
‘5’
“Sir, I am detecting an unusual buildup of energy around the fleet.” The head Science officer said.
‘4’
“What do you mean ‘Unusual’?” Talvo asked.
‘2’
“SIR, WE NEED TO STOP TH…”
-External view-
All the Ship nacelles could be seen glowing brighter. The size of the ships ranging from the scattered Defiant Class ships all the way up to the Excalibur Titan made for an awe inspiring sight. The fleet itself was in the hundreds for combat ready vessels while there were a few ships set off behind the main fleet that provides as support and personnel carriers for ground invasions.
As the lights got to their brightest, an explosion of massive scale ripped out from one of the lesser ships. The resultant debris was nowhere to be seen. Then like popcorn, all the ships were gone. Every explosion had a different color but they all had the same end result.
-Someplace altogether different-
Celestia stood out on her balcony looking to the night sky. She had felt something strange emotion but couldn’t place it. That said emotion would sometimes appear to be just dread of having to do more of the tedious political jargon the following day but at other times it seemed to be something altogether alien.
“What troubles you, Sister?” Celestia hears from behind her. Turning her head, She sees Luna peering through the partially open door. Compared to Celestia’s 7 ft stature, Luna only got to 5 ½ feet.
“I do not know. I would say that something is coming but I, for the life of me, cannot place it. Discord is reformed, Sombra…well Twilight never really told me what happened,” Celestia took on a pensive look but waved off what ever had happened to the evil king of the north. “The fact of the matter is that whatever is coming this way could either turn out great or …” Celestia stopped.
“Or what?” Luna asked.
“Or these are the last days we have on this planet.” Celestia said hollowly. Luna visibly paled. “I hope that it is the former rather than the latter.”
Out of nowhere Luna clutched her head and nearly fell. Seeing this Celestia bolted over to her sister but only to be stopped by a hand from Luna.
“Whatever you are fearing is here.” Luna said in a pained tone.
“What do you mean?” Celestia’s pupils were tiny as she was hoping there would be time to prepare.
“Grab a telescope and look towards the left side of the moon.” Luna groaned, still clutching her head, and kneeling on the floor.
Celestia went over to her balcony again and grabbed the telescope with her magic and already had the various dials set for the moons distance. As she set it down, she looked back towards Luna who was moaning in discomfort.
“Are you sure you are ok?” Celestia asked in concern, only to be waved off by Luna. Sighing, Celestia turned around and bent over slightly to look through the telescope…only to jump back at what had greeted her. Moving back to the telescope she peered in again and took note of what she was seeing.
-Back to the Flagship-
Talvo got an uneasy feeling as he saw what looked like a planet but not the one he had wanted. The planet they were supposed to be jumping to was a desert planet, not some M-Class planet-lookalike.
“Everyone what is the status of the ship?” Talvo ordered.
“Weapons are offline…oh there they go. Nevermind they are operational, Sir.” Said the chief tactical officer.
“Shields are a go.” The lead engineer stated in his all-to happy tone.
“Propulsion is what you’d expect.” Said the OTHER lead engineer.
“Is it working or is it broken?” Talvo asks, irritated by the vague response.
“Yes, propulsion is online.” The first lead engineer states.
“Contact the rest of the fleet. Tell them to start forming up on us. First task is to get everything unfucked, and then we are going to figure out where the hell we are.” Talvo ordered unhappily.
“Yes Sir.” Everyone said in unison.