//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Talvo's Fleet // by DarthMalentai //------------------------------// “Uh…Sir?” Grey asked uneasily. “You heard me, girly,” Talvo said, a smile as wide as a canyon stretching across his face. “Sir, shouldn’t we take th-“ “We can’t seem to get in touch with our friends on Earth,” Talvo said, smile gone and a sullen look adorned his face. “If we could contact them, do you really think I would be asking you… hold up I forgot, Comms get the U.S.S. Delphi to come along with us. Now as I wa-” “Sir, if I may ask why are we dragging Mr. Ambassador into this?” Grey asked, suspicious as to what the Grand Admiral was doing. “Why my darling Grey, we’re going to talk to the lady with the colorful hair,” Talvo said, at that moment the screen filled with the image of a person with some pointy growth sticking from their head and what appeared to be wings behind their back. They were dressed in a white dress that covered the breasts and other parts but other than that, there was not much. “So…” Grey rested her face into palm. “We are going to talk to great white lady?” “How can you tell it is a woman?” Talvo asked, sarcasm barely in his tone. “Curves,” Grey said. “She has curves, while men have lines.” “Well…” Talvo stood there not sure what to say. “…” “…” “Awkward,” Mr. Fink said. Silence reigned for a little while longer until suddenly laughter erupted from both bridges as both captains stood there, unsure what to do. Grey smiled, while Talvo stood there still confused. “Admiral Talvo, do not think too hard. It might hurt your old brain,” Grey teased, once the laughter subsided. “You know I still have those pictures, make another old remark and I might accidentally slip them to the fleet,” His smile came back as Grey stared bloody murder at the audacity of the man to bring those pictures back up. Suddenly another face appeared on the screen and who other than Vice Admiral Bryce. “If we are done bickering like school children, then let’s get to business,” Bryce said. “So Talvo, you’re saying we are heading back down there?” “Yes we are, send a few escorts for the Belmont though. The Constellations will help seal up any holes until what’s left of the nacelle can be found and retrieved,” Talvo said. “What about the fighter pilot?” Grey asked. She had known the kid vaguely, and the idea of having to send a message back to the poor kids parents. “Just write up the message and we will send it when we reestablish contact,” Talvo said, a look of pity crossing his face. -A few hours later- Talvo- “Prepare for orbital descent,” The first officer said. Talvo smiled, thinking that his first officer would make a fine captain someday. Turning towards the other people in the room, Talvo sighed and looked at the other people in the room, besides a near gushing Mellacks, was the Death Squad. His retinue was probably the deadliest in the fleet, standing at 6 members (Not including himself), and had some of the best guns possibly modified or created. The crew of the squad was headed by a strong man named Glenn Vay, who probably was one of the best shots in the fleet. Second up was Mitchell Brent, defense based operator, and absolutely loves making things explode. The heavy weapons expert was a man named Jo Lei (Jolly), and on the outtings that are taken he will usually be in a armored suit that is usually host to the twin assault guns he carries. ‘Why he named them ‘Tina’ and ‘Lolly’ is beyond me,’ Talvo said smirking at the insistence that the guns be called that. “Sir?” The fourth man, Shadow, asked from behind him. Talvo jumped slightly, turned around, and stared at Shadow. Being the infiltration operative was infuriating but very much loved at certain times. “Don’t DO that,” Talvo replied, smirking. “You’ll send me to an early grave, and I’ll have you court martialed for that.” “Sorry, Sir,” Shadow said, bowing his head slightly. Shadow already had donned his armor and his weapons, consisting of a sword, two pistols, and a prototype sniper rifle Lana had been working on recently. “Everyone ready?” Talvo asked aloud for the whole room. Everyone but Mellacks answered. Talvo walked up to Mellacks, and noticed her eyes had glazed over, drool hanging slightly from her mouth and she had a dumbfounded look on her face that had been there since…well… since they had arrived. *Poke* “Mellacks, wakey wakey,”Talvo said, suppressing the smile he had on his face. *Poke* *Snicker* “Melly, seriously wake up,” Talvo proceeded to poke her in the arm. Her look only became stronger after every poke. Looking back to his bodyguard, he smiled when he saw them all suppressing their laughter…if only barely. “S-Sir, *Snicker* w-we need to get going,” Brick said, his brother already out the door and heard laughing much farther down the hallway. Brick and his brother, Trick, were basically the strong wall that kept the rest of the team from falling in on itself in combat situations. “I want her to come along but I didn’t think the infatuation was this strong,” Talvo said. Hearing something behind him, he turned his head and saw that Mellacks was staring at all of them with a huge blush. Mellacks had started getting up and gathered what she little she had. “S-Sorry, Sir,” Mellacks stammered out, eyes darting around to see if she had forgotten anything. Behind her back, the whole of the Death Squad chuckled quietly to themselves. -25 minutes later- “Ok so what we are going to do is initiate a first contact situation. As intelligence reports state, these beings may be defensive,” Talvo said to the contingent of security officers that will be (unfortunately) escorting him to the planet’s surface. “Admiral,” A voice over the intercom spoke. “We are starting our descent into the atmosphere. You might want to get ready, Sir.” Talvo nodded. “Alright, while we are down on the ground I do not want to hear about any fighting or show of force moves. If I do you will be sent back to the shuttle and sent back to your respective ship. Understood?” Talvo spoke loud. A hand was raised from the back of the group. “Sir?” A small man said. “Yes, crewman?” Talvo said, looking at the man with a curious look. “What if we are attacked? I mean if they seem to be hostile?” The crewman said uneasily. “Well, IF that is the case then what do you think is best possible reaction?” “Showing force?” The crewman said. “Nope. The correct course of action is to not react. Unless you get physically injured then do something…intimidating,” Talvo said with a smile. Let it not be known that some of the things done in Talvo’s battlefleet have been effective even if they were completely random. -External view- Over the land a shadow loomed. The slow thrumming of the giant ships engines could now be heard. Upon the mountain the Canterlot resides the streets darkened, the residents of the city panicked, and the Guard were put on high alert. At the castle proper, the glorious rooms darkened, the vibrant garden dulled, and the animals went quiet for fear of what was to come. -Celestia’s viewpoint- “This is troubling,” Celestia said, pacing the throne room. Since those weird objects flew off, she feared that she had started something that could end this world. Fear coursed through Celestia for the first time in a while. The guards that were with her in the throne room looked at her with unease and Celestia knew that, and also knew that she was supposed to be calm about this. The door opened and the last person Celestia wanted to see came through. “Auntie Tia!” Blueblood cried out in his annoying voice. “Why has it started to get dark this early!? I was on a-” “What do you mean getting dark? The sun is where it is supposed to be,” Celestia said back, bringing up a fake smile. The room had gotten a smidge darker but that was probably just passing clouds. Turning towards the doors to head to the garden, she motioned Blueblood to follow. “But Auntie I saw those things fly away from the castle and those strange platform like things fly back towards…wherever but now the sky is getting darker,” Blueblood said, a look of annoyance on his face. “What do you mean it is getting darker?” Celestia asked, hiding her annoyance. All Blueblood did was point towards the clouds. -External view, ships- As the Bismarck lowered through the final cloud layer, the rest of the ships still a few thousand feet above, the mountain castle came into view for the people on the bridge. The sun was shining on top of the Excalibur and its little entourage. To the rear of the mighty vessel, the doors stood open ready to let out the swarms of fighters and shuttles at a command. As the mighty vessel leveled out the other vessels emerged from the cloudy cover, their grey colors blending in slightly with their cloudy backdrop. -Talvo- Talvo sat at the console of his personal shuttle. Typing away at the various start up procedures and algorithms that needed to be put in before it could have full versatility, Talvo’s thoughts went to what was probably going to be a more interesting First Contact scenario than any Federation official has had to deal with. “All right everyone, remember the plan and do not engage,” Talvo spoke into the intercoms set up to the whole fleet. “Sir?” Mellacks piped up from the back. “If the question is ‘Do you have a bad feeling about this?’ then what do you think is the idea behind being explorers. We go out for the sake of knowledge and whenever encountering a new life, there will be bad feelings. Anything we do has a bad feeling. So keep that in mind when you have to direct so many people, keep them alive, make sure their loved ones know when that time eventually arrives. No matter the difficulties the bad feelings will be abundant,” Talvo said, a solemn look upon his visage. That bounced off as soon as the pings that everyone else was ready to go. Talvo sighed. *Chuckle* “ALLONS-Y!” Talvo shouted, shooting the shuttle out of the docking area.