//-- To: NSDF Commander [Redacted]
//-- From: Councilmember Set Form
//-- Subject: You blasted fool...You have failed me. The captain that I had picked to command the Temperance was rejected, and Captain - now Lieutenant Commander, only a single rank below yours - Astral Mist has been handed the command. Your 'brilliance' has cost us months of work! So, now that you have cost me that move, I shall move on to my plan. Your candidate was no better! Half pegasi? Did you really expect a half-breed to be capable of any form of command?
While we are on the subject, you will face consequences for this, mark my words. The change we wish to bring will only happen if we plan carefully. On that note, in your next response, attach the preliminary reports for your production. If everything if not on schedule, I will take steps to make sure you do not recover.
A pawn is still a pawn until it reached the end of the board. Know your place.
By the Grace of the Night,
Councilmember Set Form
2,116 ANM
THIS COMMUNICATION IS CONFIDENTIAL. ANY SHARING OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION IS TREASON, AND PUNISHABLE BY EXECUTION. PRIVATE COUNCIL MESSAGE TRAFFIC IS ONLY TO BE INTERCEPTED IN THE MOST DIRE OF TIMES.
//-- [End]
"Misty! I haven't heard from you in so long!" Her friend Radiant Star exclaimed over the communicator, her excited voice bearing the expected tone.
"I've been busy, Radiant. Don't you watch the news?" Astral replied, already knowing the answer.
"I work in the information business, you crazy mare." Radiant teased, "I write the news. Speaking of which, do you have any news?"
"Equestria's about to gain a new star." Astral vaguely implied.
"You mean they're constructing another Vengeance-class?"
"New ship, actually. I can't give you any details, but it's going to be big." Astral Mist says, "Going to be gone for a couple months again, though."
"Awww... I'm going to miss you, Astral. We didn't even have time to get together!" Radiant said as Astral felt her cheeks warm up, likely sporting a blush.
"Yeah... Sorry, Radiant." Astral Mist says, sighing, "I've just been busy... War with the Earth Pony Coalition is coming. And I mean serious war, not the little skirmishes that we've been doing for the past few decades."
"Do you think they're going to hit Equestria?" Radiant asks, her voice adopting a worried tone.
"I wouldn't worry about it. We're kilometers under a scorched wasteland that is covered with the ruins and ashes of Old Equestria. Can't look more like nothing than it already is."
"You should take a walk up there. I heard they're artificially altering weather now, trying to make crops on the surface." Radiant says, "What was the name of the town this was built under again?"
Astral wracked her brain for the answer, "Baltimare, I think. Used to be a port city before most of the ocean burned away... And then turned into gigantic glaciers and cold ashstorms at higher latitudes."
"You're always so cheery, Astral. It feels my heart with joy."
"I've been promoted, if you haven't heard." Astral bragged.
"Oh, really? Do they have you replacing the solar sails yet?" Radiant deadpans.
"Not yet. You're now speaking to Lieutenant Commander Astral Mist."
"Yay, my marefriend gets to throw herself in front of a speeding hovercraft even more often!" Radiant sarcastically states.
"I'll be safe, Radiant. Don't worry." Astral says, "Listen, I have to go. I'll make it up when I get back. Go out on a date or something."
"You'd better. Love you, Astral." The communicator clicked off from the other end as Astral turned hers off as well, mentally re-assuming the role of the tough commander she was supposed to be.
She dressed in her new armor by routine: As a Lieutenant Commander, hers has far more power and function than the bodysuit she had been issued as a Captain. With rank came privileges, as well as light combat armor to protect her from nonexistent assassins, provided by the collective paranoia of the Council and NIS.
Now was not the time to muse about the failings of her command structure, however. She was assuming command of the Temperance today... A decision that she hoped would turn out to have a good ending.
The ship itself was ready, with its' supplies fully stocked and crew completely gathered. In the two days since it had been announced to her that it would be her new command, she had been led into a storm of paperwork and issues to sort out, all of which drained her time. There had even been a few other councilmembers whom she had been forced to play host to as they joked and she smiled along. It was a complete circus, and the chaos that had been surrounding it was not welcome.
All of this had been done under the shadow of the Earth Pony Coalition's impending threat. While the Nocturne forces on the planet - and around it - were no easy threat, all three other tribes had the combined experience, equipment, and fleet numbers afforded by far more time spent to discover and build them.
Her suggestion, submitted for evaluation a standard year ago, to salvage the hulks of ships whose locations were charted and precisely known was still going through the bureaucratic mess that made up the council understaff... And likely would be for months.
Shrugging in regards to her bad luck, she used a hoof to latch the final part of her armor on, attaching a short carbine of custom manufacturing to a magnetic clamp on her hind legs and using the motors of the armor to raise herself on them momentarily. Standing like a griffon or a diamond dog was something that proved useful in combat, and suits had been modified since the start of the long war to reflect this, adding support and movement boosters to the areas needed.
Landing with a dull thud, satisfied that her armor was working, she put her headset on and walked out of her apartment, the secure door locking automatically behind her as she turned down the hallway, quickly entering the small hanger area for personal vehicles, finding her own hovercraft, and zipping out into the city, two kilometers above the 'ground'.
Traffic was light, and the HUD tag above her vehicle highlighting it as [Priority] allowed her a high amount of leeway when it came to piloting habits... For instance, flying at well over three hundred kilometers per hour was frowned upon, but completely ignored if you happened to have your car tagged as [Priority].
Rank had its' privileges.
"Welcome back, Lieutenant Commander." the VI aboard the ship said through her headset as Astral Mist stepped inside.
"Good morning, 212." Astral replied, making her way through the semi-crowded halls as various crewponies hurried to their stations and such, "Is the ship ready for departure?"
"In two centiseconds, the ship shall be ready." the VI said, pulling up various graphs on her headset display that she only glanced at, "Currently, one hundred percent of the crew are on-site, and all of the senior officers, including yourself, have been loaded."
"Location of first officer?"
"On the bridge, twenty meters ahead." Astral just grunted in reply. The first officer of her ship was a NIS officer who was competent enough, but his personality was off-putting. He had all the kindness of a manticore, and the temper of one too.
And a habit for addressing her as if he was her superior.
"Good morning, Lieutenant Commander Astral Mist." The stallion said to her the moment she walked on the bridge.
"Greetings, Junior Lieutenant Onyx." Astral curtly replied, moving up and sitting in the command chair, moving her hooves over the transparent screens that lowered themselves around her to turn them on, displaying all of the vital information she needed, "I see our ship is read to depart."
"Waiting on your say-so, ma'am." The stallion replied from his own seat, to the front and left of her. As was typical, the bridge was buried deep in the hull, surrounded by bulkheads and armor plating: The entire wall and ceiling of the bridge was devoted to a panoramic view of the outside, currently from a camera located on the top of the ship, near the engine section.
Her own seat had a dominating view of the room, the dozens of ponies working in it, and the view... Although that was somewhat restricted, given the screens that surrounded her. And useless, given the ranges at which engagements took place.
She tapped the second screen on the lower-left side, opening the message that was waiting for her.
//-- To: Lieutenant Commander Astral Mist
//-- From: CommandProceed directly to asteroid B1272-04. Await further instructions.
//-- End
Astral blinks in surprise. The message was oddly brief, and the mentioned solar object would take a database search to find.
A few moments later, and she had it. Not much more than a large rock in space, three-point-five kilometers long and one-point-two kilometers long, with heavy iron and nickle content. By its' current location, it was only half a day away on the sublight engines: Mere kiloseconds if she were to use the experimental Stellar Drive... Which she would not. Not for that short of a hop.
"First officer Onyx, tell all workers to pull back when ready, and ask Ground Control for a launch." Astral ordered. While she could simply start the ship, incinerating a few workers would look bad, and the ship itself needed to be magnetically lifted four kilometers to the surface from their below-ground dock.
"... Ground Control has authorized launch. Workers already pulled back." The stallion said as he worked the panel in front of him, the screen rapidly flipping through information. "Ground Control is taking control. They're telling us to warm up our engines."
"Bring us to five percent standby power. Keep the engines idle." Astral ordered as the ship jolted, slowly lifting up into the air before gaining speed, passing through the hole in the top of the hanger. It always amazed the mare what they had managed to do with gravity control and good spellwork: Artificial gravity, systems to lift hundreds of thousands of tons of metal, and so much more.
Nearly half an hour later, the behemoth of a ship rose from a recently-opened gate in the surface, pulling away from the burned land below them. Ash floated past the camera, still prevalent after all of the intervening years. Surrounding the area were the crumbled remains of a long-destroyed city, covered in layers of ash and rubble, scorched contrasting colors of black, grey, and white.
As Ground Control released them from the magnetic grip, the ship's automatic inertial dampeners kicked in, keeping them in the air.
"Helm, one hundred percent power. Break us out of the atmosphere." Astral ordered.
"Copy, full power." The helmspony said, quickly imputing things that Astral neither knew nor cared about into his console. The ship jumped forward momentarily as the engines started, causing the ship to quickly rise in speed as the thrust increased, sending them racing skyward. They broke the sound barrier first once, then twice, as they rose up on a column of newly-condensed air.
The helmspony decreased the power once they left the atmosphere proper, and Astral quickly uploaded the coordinates to him, sending the stallion into another flurry of activity as Astral went over the systems, noting that all of them were 'in the green'.
"Soon..." Astral says to herself, unnoticed in the busy room, "Soon this will all be over, and I'll get to go back home."
Wouldn't it? Astral didn't know for sure, but did know that she was sure to find out.