"WHAT!" Myxine's indignant voice echoed from an meeting room under Calliphora's office. Around the large rectangular table sat the four 'founding queens' along with Magica and one other queen that had shown exceptional skills in piloting all kinds of vehicles, including which included battlemechs with great efficiency.
The other queen was slightly taller than Calliphora and stood rather high up the 'minor' ladder with her known selflessness before Patina had come in with her technology. She had a lanky figure, looking to be rather on the thin side. She possessed a rather smooth dark blue mane and tail that were styled with pins that neatly held her mane in a bun while her tail was let loose. Both of her eyes were colored differently with a single green on her left and a bright shade of yellow on her right. Gemini of the Gemini Hive looked rather 'innocent' with her straight horn with a single 'void' at the middle. However, she was known to use ‘controversial’, as considered by the ponies, methods to save imprisoned Changelings and could be certified insanity ward patient when in combat. But it was her devout mind to do whatever to save/protect/assist her kind that made her an very important asset alongside her rather sizable hive.
"Like we said, the modified PPC is far too high maintenance and modifications using magic crystals make it difficult to produce even with our current fabrication machine. So all I am suggesting is that we use non-modified designs until we can improve our current fabricators." Myxine looked angrily at Patina, who at least looked sheepish.
"I've tried to run your blueprint through the fabrication and the machine broke down every time it tried to create the compartments that were to take the magical crystals. And don't say we can hoof-make those. It's far too complicated to be hoof made en masse and while I want quality for days, we need quantity to build up our forces for now. So please work with me for now." Patina pleaded with the more science-oriented queen.
"So..." Myxine breathed in deeply and sighed. "Until we can improve our production facilities, we will have to use standard designs?"
"Not really." Patina levitated five thick folders and placed it in front of each queen that was in the meeting room. "These are my updated designs that are going to be mass-produced alongside starting the omni-tech series."
"Omni-tech?" Magica asked as she and her fellow queens looked through the folders that were now being passed out by Eins.
"Indeed. You must have noticed that modifying a battlemechs’ loadout can take several days. But what I am suggesting is the development of what is called ‘omnipods’ that are compartmentalized ‘pods’ that hold pre-configured arrays of weapons that can be switched out in hours depending on the combat situation." She lowered the lights of the room and turned on a projector in the center of the room. A slide of various vehicles and battlemechs alongside said ‘pods’ immediately caught the attention of all the queens.
"It's rather..." Ambrosia started, but was held off by a smiling Patina who bore a large smile on her muzzle.
"Complicated. However, despite looking complicated; the benefits outweigh the cons." Seeing Myxine look interested, Patina grinned in a more excited manner. "And with the help of Magica, we’ve managed to create modified SRM, MRM (Medium Ranged Missiles), and LRMs to take elemental qualities." At this, Magica blushed before nodding thanks to Patina. "So, I would like to commission our Chief of Science to develop a type of missiles that incorporate the PPC-pulse for use with new development of new LRM launcher systems.”
Myxine's grin didn't even fade as the meeting ended. If there was one thing she preferred, it was to have the largest of technological gaps in technology against every other race.
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Even as the sun set beyond the horizon, Gemini didn't budge from her well hidden tower above ground disguised as a large tree. She had personally volunteered her hive to be lookouts topside in well hidden wooden towers built into or onto trees. It was not that she hated the other queens and their hives underground. It was not that she did not trust the advanced systems that protected the underground fortress.
It was because she valued her kind that she was willing to throw the safety of being underground and watch for any threats that approached their new home. In fact, she could have joined up with the self-proclaimed Queen of All Queens, but she could 'read' the situation where the Changeling race could advance into a more advantageous future. And while her hive was the fifth largest hive, she had always somehow won every skirmish, battle, and brawls she had been in. She, instead, loved the sheer amount of devices that gave her and her hive more methods to defend her kind from any and all threats. She was also one of the first to adapt to 'modern' combat formations put out by Patina and allowed to develop ‘non-suicidal’ formations and doctrines. With how their new organization was still being hashed out by numerous meetings amongst the Archon and her staff, she preferred to be on guard in case of an attack. It didn't matter what type of attack it would be, she would defend against everything with all she had; including throwing her life away (even if she had been told not to) for survival of the Changeling race if necessary.
Seeing a silent red blip in her helm that was placed on the floor, she gently lifted the helm and placed it over her head. The cooling component of the helmet and the armored vest she wore that was a welcome feeling against the humidity of the jungle. Feeling the armor's weapons come to life as mental commands were translated into machine code, she focused on the relatively simple Heads-Up Display (HUD) and on the blinking red light. Having her commander model helmet directly linked to the underground base's sensors, she had the luxury of 'seeing' enemies before they ever got near.
"Confirm alert. I have four large signatures and dozens of smaller ones. Confirm alert." Gemini was never one to panic over anything. The radio in her ear crackled once and she heard one of her drones report.
"Confirmed. We can see four fifty meter long airships and six smaller flying ships around them." A slight pause before the drone continued to speak. "Their patterns match that of the Griffon Empire, but..."
Gemini could make an educated guess as to who would be on those ships. If their physical pattern matched that of the Griffon Empire, but it was somehow not them...
"We see Chrysalis' personal emblem painted over the Griffons' own."
Gemini was silent as she imagined this very scenario as it was far too likely to happen. To fight other Changelings... Shaking her head, her eyes focused slowly, but surely as her mind mentally went over several options she had.
"Oh well... I guess sacrifices can be made..." Clicking her tongue in a series of patterns, her own uniquely formed formations began to move in the night with well-practiced ease.
A single Sekhmet Assault Vehicle loaded with its absurd arsenal were followed by twelve standard armored Changelings (a combination laser and needler rifles) followed by four reloading armored Changelings (who were armed with a single laser rifle as well). This was supplanted by a single Urbanmech painted in jungle colors armed with a single AC/10 and a small laser. It was a slow mech compared to many others, but when the rest were undergoing maintenance; the Urbanmech was the only one available to her for now. While the battlemech stayed hidden thanks to its small size, the tank and infantry moved slowly forward with all lights off and relying on night vision and motion sensors in case there were infiltrators on the ground. The pilot, one of Patina’s drones, signaled Gemini using in-helm lights that she was ready.
Gemini rather liked all of those new weapons. They were so... beautiful and it brought tears to her eyes... figuratively. And seeing as this was going to be a first for her to observe how these new weapons worked...
"Gemini! Do not fire until fired upon!" A voice, Calliphora’s to be exact, spoke through the radio. "If they are other Changelings, we can at least convince those allied to Chrysalis to defect. But in order to do that, we have to show them that they are at our mercy. So make sure your troops do not fire until they fire at you. We'll first engage with the turrets then you can do what you want." Gemini only responded affirmative, but highly doubted many would defect. But if they did... She was not going to judge them. They had merely trusted the wrong leader and had made stupid choices.
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Chrysalis couldn't exactly believe what she was seeing. One moment there was only darkness in the general location of Calliphora's traitorous organization and then there was a brief flash of powerful artificial lights that emerged from the ground revealing what was various assortment of weapons pointed at her ‘fleet’. All aimed at her ships, Chrysalis' own mind blanked out for a moment at the sight of such well-prepared defenses aimed in their general direction. And in that moment she had frozen in shock, a shrill sound of speakers activating alerted them that Calliphora was hidden somewhere seeing as they could only hear her voice.
"To all other Changelings that follow Chrysalis from either fear, respect, and/or some other reason! This is Archon Calliphora of the Umbra Commonwealth giving you one last choice. I offer you freedom from hiding and living with barely anything to show for it. I offer you a life where we no longer have to be afraid of being found and driven out. I offer you security with technology far more advanced than what the ponies or any other species outside possess by decades if not centuries ahead of then all! All we ask is your surrender and we will accept you without any questions asked. Please... We do not wish to attack one of our own."
The instant the message ended, Chrysalis snarled into her own loud speaker mounted on her ship.
"Hah! I don't fear your toys, Calliphora! I bet they are nothing but magical illusions!" Chrysalis declared, but froze at what she could see in the sparse gaps of light that was thrown into the shadows. Smaller metal turrets sporting four thin barrels were aimed right at them along with what appeared to be large metal carriages fitted with guns. "Strike! We shall strike the first blow!"
No sign of acknowledgement followed her orders. Looking behind her with a steadily increasing knot in her stomach, she saw no one but her drones looking out the open doors that lead out of the bridge and into the outside. Swiftly moving to the glass port that showed the bow of the massive airship, she could literally see the queens that had followed her moving down to the ground with utmost speed. Growling, she howled in fury as she immediately grabbed the nearest drone with her hooves and barked out orders.
"Kill them all! I will not tolerate traitors! They dare betray me after I show them mercy? ME?! I, who rivals those damned Princesses in power and stature?!" As she ranted , she noticed in the corner of her eyes, several of the smaller ships immediately blew up from what appeared to be streaks of blue lightning shredding them apart after they had fired their under-slung cannons. "I am no fool! I am a Queen of All Queens and I demand YOUR SURRENDER!"
Another screech of the loudspeakers came from the ground, making Chrysalis snarl.
"Chrysalis. you have no support aside from your own hive. I just saw you fire on other Changelings as they fled their ships. Stop. We can forge a future together-" The announcement was cut off by the sound of large caliber cannons mounted on the broadside and portside firing at the ground. "So be it."
The following 'battle', if it could be called that, was nothing more than a massacre. The 'heavy' rounds of the airships hit nothing as the ground-mounted lights were turned off. But for the defenders on the ground, the use of NVG and thermal imaging was more than enough to direct a withering barrage of lasers, ballistics, and PPC attacks indiscriminately. Some bolts of energy penetrated the heavy armor of the airships and exploded the black powder within the ammunition stores within the ship, and most ballistic rounds blew apart armor and wood alike with ease. The armored Changelings of the Commonwealth engaged Chrysalis' drones that were chasing the other hives that had escaped to the ground from the airships with no hesitation. The heavy autoguns’ recoil was far too much for the drones to handle effectively and they certainly weren’t trained to fire them effectively as the Griffons would have. Several drones that had barely escaped Chrysalis' ‘enforcers’ were injured or killed from the resulting crossfire between the Commonwealth and Chrysalis’ own. That was when the Urbanmech stepped out of its hiding place to aim the large autocannon upwards and fired a single large round. Shattering the armor with absurd ease, the high explosive shell detonated within the engine room. Driven by the sheer force of the impact, the airship tilted heavily to the side before exploding brilliantly in a ball of fire as the fuel detonated by the three additional AC/10 rounds destroying the entire ship with ease.
But that was not what ended the battle.
A single strange turret sporting a large cannon rotated eerily as it tracked Chrysalis' own claimed airship as one could hear the shells being loaded within. Chrysalis could be seen screaming orders from the bridge and her drones scrambling to fulfill her commands unaware of the cannon tracking them. As a spotter was targeting the airship, there was a brief pause as time seemed to slow down. Already, Chrysalis' drones on the ground were dead or dying from numerous wounds, the other three battleships were torn to scrap from intense defensive fire. Commonwealth’s infantry were still on high alert despite not losing anyone thanks to proper IFF displayed on their visors and the sheer incompetence shown by Chrysalis’ hive. Then with the sound of thunder, the Naval Autocannon/20 fired, throwing any nearby unsecured personnel to the ground from sheer force of the round being fired. The massive round, designed to tear apart DropShips and other starships, simply shattering the airship like an egg. The ensuing explosion simply disintegrated Chrysalis’ airship in its entirety.
But with the destruction of Chrysalis and most of her hive, it marked the end of Changelings living in the shadows and coming out into the daylight to be proud of being what they were.
While not known at the time, it also marked the end of the Era of Peace brought on by Princess Celestia thousand years ago.