//------------------------------//
// Chapter 51 
// Story: Hegira: Eternal Delta 
// by Guardian_Gryphon 
//------------------------------//

Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
April 4th, Gregorian Calendar

Minos drummed his fingers on the steel surface of the table, then leaned forward, and narrowed his eyes.  The room was wreathed in shadow, save for the piercingly bright lamp hung above the table.  The arrangement cast both his face, and his contact's face, in a strange lurid study of contrasts.

"I want to make sure I understand this.  You want my Echelon...  A legitimate government agency...  To help you commit what is, essentially, an act of global terrorism?  Why should we even associate with you at all?  You're all a bunch of nutty extremists who nearly murdered several million people.  We have nothing in common."

Mr. Utah leaned forward, his head wreathed in a halo of cigarette smoke.

"First correction;  I do not want your assistance.  I require it.  The decision has already been made by your superiors on the Council.  You are only here to act as a facilitator on my behalf."

The man sat back, and took a pull on his cigarette before continuing.

"Second correction;  We share certain distinct goals.  We both want Humanity to set its own course, free of...  'External entanglements.'  We both want to bring globalization of Conversion to a stop.  My organization has access to research that affords us the ability to accomplish these goals.  Your organization possesses the Naval resources we need to carry out our task."

Mr. Utah jammed the butt of his cigarette into the table, and twisted it viciously as he continued in a slightly sterner tone.

"Your Echelon has proven that it is willing to attack other arms of the Earthgov to do what needs to be done.  There's no point in spewing self righteous platitudes to the contrary.  We both know that you and I exist for the same reason.  To dirty ourselves with things that others can not, or will not."

Minos sat drumming his fingers for several more moments, before letting out a sigh, and sitting back.  He folded his arms, and raised one eyebrow.

"Naval resources huh?  What do you need Project Agincourt for, exactly, anyhow?"

Mr. Utah took another drag of his cigarette, and exhaled a large cloud of smoke towards the opposite side of the table.

"Agincourt has extensive area-denial electronic warfare suites that can protect our operation from remote bombardment.  A lone submarine is hardly a match for a Battleship, and her escorts."





Fyrenn stood in the hatchway and watched as the group clustered around the wall screen at the far end of the briefing room.  He stretched his wings, and back legs in sequence, reveling in the feeling of clean feathers, loose muscles, and well-treated wounds.

Though Doctor Chandler had extensively scanned and tested him, she had begrudgingly admitted that while Fyrenn's injuries were indeed serious, they presented no potential for long-term side-effects or latent damage.

He sighed, and smirked slightly as he noted that the Global News Network felt a need to censor portions of Kryn's body due to the excessively gruesome nature of his injuries.  The story had been running as a lead headline for hours, together with the images surrounding the deaths of Warluf, Sievers, Ward, and Fyrenn's other victims.  The media were starting to draw their own connections between the individuals, beyond their deaths at Fyrenn's claws.

The red Gryphon had taken pains to ensure that he was recorded by surveillance equipment at, or near, the scene of every execution.  Combined with the public record of his open-mic conversation with Warluf, the story had gained critical mass within hours, continuing to snowball as the media latched on, and began to dig in earnest.

Before he had left his berth, Fyrenn had taken a few minutes to browse web-based headlines.  The media had swiftly made the connection between his images on camera, and his identity, lending the story even more dramatic tension.

Critics seemed to be divided, heatedly, on whether he was to be commended as a soldier of conscience, protecting the people from a government corrupt to the core, or a rogue subversive heartlessly murdering innocent officers in cold blood.

While no one had yet fully grasped the nature of the connections between the corpses, rumors and speculation were beginning to brew as the media began to tug on legitimate threads.

In the wake of Vancouver, many people were already beginning to blame pro-Humanist subversives from within the government, which was not far off the mark by Fyrenn's estimation.  The public's opinion seemed to have begun to split strongly, with very few in the moderate center.

Carradan averted his eyes and shook his head slowly.  He abruptly noticed Fyrenn, and fixed him with a piercing gaze.

"Would you have really done that to me?  It looks an awful lot like what you said you'd do...  All those years ago..."

Fyrenn shook his head quietly as he stepped fully into the room, and seated himself at the end of the table.

"Never.  You were a pain in the ass when I met you, but you certainly weren't evil.  Not the way he was.  Sometimes good ol' fashioned wordy threats and bluffs have useful value.  Do you think it would have gone nearly as well if you had run your story on behalf of the enemy?"

Carradan chuckled, and his demeanor relaxed.  April darted under the table, and came up under Fyrenn's right wing, nestling into his side and sighing contentedly.

Fyrenn smiled down at the fledgling, then glanced up at each person around the table in turn.  Hutch seemed to be vaguely disturbed by what he had seen.  Skye looked disgusted, but only in a physical sense.  Fyrenn thought he saw a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.  Kephic was smirking, and Varan was dispassionate as ever, an expression shared for the most part by Sildinar.

The red Gryphon sighed, and closed his eyes briefly.

"I've accomplished much of what I set out to do.  I kicked and prodded...  And now we're going to get a full reaction out of this 'Twelfth Echelon.'  I aimed to scare them, and after this?  Their only option is to run.  It will be hastily organized, and easy to spot...  And therefore a prime target for us."

Fyrenn sat back, and pulled April closer with his right wing.

"I can't bring this to an end alone.  Not without unnecessary casualties.  Some of you agree with the measures I've taken.  Some of you don't.  And some of you have understandably mixed opinions.  But regardless, I'm asking all of you to help me now.  If we can succeed here, we'll doom their endeavour, and we'll save dozens of young lives today, and many thousands tomorrow."

Hutch leaned forward, and fixed his eyes on Fyrenn.  The General placed both hands on the table, and let several seconds of quiet tick past, before speaking.

"You're not wrong.  I'm not sure I would have been able to participate in some of what you've done.  I sure as hell can't fully condone it in good conscience..."

The General smiled slightly, and inclined his head.

"But I can't judge either.  You've proven at the very least that this goes all the way to the top, bottom, and sideways through the whole rotten mess of the government.  You're also absolutely right about saving lives now.  What's done is done, and only a fool wouldn't make the best of the hand he's been dealt.  Children's lives are at stake, and that's all that matters to me in the here and the now.  I can't follow you into this as an officer.  Or even as a concerned citizen."

Hutch sat back, and folded his arms.

"But I'll follow you as a friend."

Varan and Sildinar both dipped their heads in silent support.  Fyrenn shifted his eyes to Kephic, who snorted, and perked his ears.

"Do you really have to ask?"

Neyla simply raised an eyebrow, and that was answer enough.  Skye sighed, shook her head, and closed her eyes.

"There's no two ways about this one.  Count me in."

Carradan nodded firmly, and thumped one hoof against the table.

"You're not leavin' me out.  Besides...  It might not be such a bad idea for you to have a semi-sympathetic ear from someone with hefty media connections."

The Pegasus winked, and grinned wryly.  April squirmed to get Fyrenn's attention, and stared up at him with eyes as hard as steel, burning like miniature twin suns.

"You're taking me too.  I'm not gonna take the gift you gave me, and then just leave the others to die.  I've proven I can fight!"

Fyrenn opened his beak, prepared to raise all manner of potential objections based around April's youth, and inexperience.  Then it occurred to him that if she had been fighting her whole life, that she might well have half as much combat experience as he did, and then some.

It also swiftly occurred to him that if four maglock cuffs and a sealed crate couldn't contain the fledgling, then nothing on Earth could.  He sighed, and withdrew the DaTab from the feathers at his neck, throwing it onto the center of the table, and nodding at it.

"Right then.  We'll start with that.  Kryn didn't give me any useful information, but that was never the point.  The example I made served its end well enough.  But anything else we can learn from that might be useful in preparing for this."

Skye reached out with her magic, levitated the device, and began rotating it gently.  She squinted, and stuck her tongue out slightly over the right side of her muzzle.

"It's possible he didn't know how to erase recent data from RAM.  If it hasn't been shut off, we may be able to 're-dial' in a way, by pulling the latent memory of the last action off the chip and sending it straight back to the central processor."

Sildinar tilted his head, and narrowed his eyes.

"How long?"

Skye squinted, and concentrated, puncturing the device with multiple teal sparkling streamers of energy.

"In about Three...  Two...  One..."

The DaTab lit up, and a circular holding notification told the group that the object was attempting to establish a connection.  Skye gingerly set the device down in the center of the table, and Fyrenn reached out to press the speakerphone key with one talon.

Several moments of tense silence passed, then there was a chirrup, and a waveform filled the screen.  A moment later, a familiar voice burst from the speakers.

"Who is this?  State your authentication immediately."

Fyrenn's face twisted downward in a mask of barely concealed rage.  He snatched up the device, holding it close to his beak so his low, rumbling tone would carry clearly across the airwaves.

"I gave you fair warning Loryss.  You had a chance to walk away.  Accept the fair political and legal consequences for your actions, and spare your life.  But you tried to have my daughter killed.  There will be no mercy for you.  There will be no escape.  I will come for you.  I will make you suffer.  And then when you plead to make it end? I will string out what's left of you for the world to see."

Fyrenn's eyes narrowed further, and his ears pinned back against his head.

"Put your life in order.  Tomorrow you will die."

The red Gryphon squeezed his claw shut, crushing the device into  fizzling, wrinkled mess of plastic, steel, and rubber.  He released the remains onto the table, and rose.

"We have work to do."





Lantry leaned forward, making his face larger on the opposite end of the call.  His tone flattened out, and he shook his head slowly.

"I agree, Councilor.  Wrenn is completely out of line.  But I'm also a man of the facts.  Here are two simple ones for you;  The first is that he was right.  We're facing a second instance of internal subversion in as many weeks.  If not for him?  We'd have child-murderers running part of our government unopposed."

Lantry raised an eyebrow, and stabbed his finger at the screen, causing Councilor Sakai to flinch reflexively.

"Second, and more importantly...  I'd direct your attention back to the psychological work-up I had done on him.  I've done a little extra reading.  I've examined the historical precedent among his kind, and I've looked at the reports on his actions.  In my professional estimation?"

The General sat back, and shook his head once more as he continued.

"It isn't tenable for us to deal with this until after the bodies stop dropping.  And even then, we have to be very politically savvy.  Kid gloves, not steel hammers.  I realize that sounds categorically unacceptable to someone in your position...  I felt the same way at first.  But the simple fact of the matter is?  Councilor?  We don't have the ability to contain him.  We literally can not afford, on any level, the kind of fallout it would create with the Kingdoms.  Particularly since we don't yet have a full handle on how many are compromised, and at what level.  Including consular."

Lantry snorted, and folded his arms, raising an eyebrow and injecting an imperative tone into his words.

"I am not about to permit any course of action that turns our most important tactical allies, into enemies, no matter how upset I am with one individual.  They, and the military credibility they give us with the other races, are the only things keeping us afloat against the tides of our adversaries.  If he isn't going to handle this with discretion?  Then we *have* to handle *him* with discretion."

Sakai sat perfectly still for several moments.  Lantry knew from experience that it was a strong indication that she was thinking over her next choice carefully, as she was always wont to do.

At last, the woman nodded slowly, and sighed.

"Based on your presentation of the facts, I will agree to stall further action until you feel the time is right.  But I caution you;  The Council will not be easily persuaded to behave reasonably in this matter.  After everything that has occurred recently, many feel we need to act swiftly and strongly to restore Human faith in Human institutions.  The Lieutenant Commander may be a regrettable casualty of that impetus."

Lantry sighed, and nodded his assent as he reached out to terminate the connection.

"Understood, Madam Councilor."





April tensed as she felt pressure on her right shoulder.  Sleep evaporated like mist, and she came bolt upright, tensing for combat.  A half second later, she relaxed, and let out a sigh.

The claw in question belonged to Kephic.  The fledgling sighed, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry.  I'm not sleeping very well..."

She craned her head to take in the darker corners of the compartment, before tilting it and perking one ear in curiosity.

"Where's Fyrenn?"

Kephic inclined his head towards the corridor, where Varan sat on his haunches, eyes locked firmly forward in his usual 'attention' stance.

"Waiting for you."

April rose and made her way to the door, under the shepherding impetus of Kephic's right wing, her tone and her expression both laden with curiosity and confusion.

"Waiting for me?"

The speckled Gryphon nodded, and gestured to the end of the corridor, as Varan slipped into a long stride ahead of the fledgling.  April narrowed her eyes slightly, and shot a questioning glance, first at the golden Gryphon, then back at Kephic.

Their expressionless masks told her that she would receive no answers until she arrived at their destination.

The three Gryphons moved silently to the nearest external hatch, single file, with nary a word spoken.  Varan snapped open his wings, and immediately took to the air as soon as he had the space to do so, wheeling lazily above the Battleship until April and Kephic joined him.

The group swung north-east, April firmly situated between the adult Gryphons in the formation position of an escorted dignitary.

For a few brief moments, questions as to their purpose faded from the fledgling's mind, as she drank in the absolute joy of flight once more.  Night had nearly come, and the sun was low on the Earth's westerly horizon.

Though it was not visible in the facing patch of Equestria's sky, the other world's sun left an incredible backscattering of royal blues, fiery reds, and deep orange tones in the space across the Barrier.

The three Gryphons flew at a sedate pace, reaching their destination in a matter of minutes.  Kephic and Varan seemed purposeful, yet unhurried.

April realized they had arrived, when her eyes picked out an open flame on the tallest rooftop within her sight line.  The building was situated at the extreme eastern end of the city;  The Barrier was less than a foot from beginning its consumption of the structure.

The fledgling started internally, as she realized how precise and incredible her vision had become.  Intellectually she understood the ocular power she possessed, but it still took her entirely by surprise at intervals.

She realized she could pick out individual tufts of Fyrenn's head feathers, as he circled the fire slowly.  Beside him sat Sildinar, and Neyla, both calmly fixated on the colors of the Equestrian sunset.

The fire itself seemed to be more of a hot bed of coals, cultivated in a metal basin, which had been set atop a hearth-like structure made of loose paving stones.  The entire arrangement was backed by several larger pieces of concrete, which looked to have been ripped directly from the building itself.

Kephic and Varan alit on the near-side of the construction, standing aside and maintaining impassive, expressionless positions of military attention.

April set down beside Fyrenn, and offered him a glance equal parts concern, and curiosity.  The red Gryphon responded with a warm, comforting smile.  While it did nothing to dispel April's sense of anticipation, it did banish any half-formed worries and fears.

Sildinar smiled slightly, maintaining a stoic visage nonetheless, as he stepped forward, and to April's surprise, plucked a coal from the hearth between the thumb and index talons of his right claw.

The roan Gryphon glanced down at April with a reassuring, but solemn expression as he spoke.

"You have been brought to this place, because it stands as the best replica we could fashion in short notice.  It represents a place of great historical significance to us.  One day soon I hope you will have a chance to see the Great Hearth itself, but in the interim this will suffice."

The prince gestured with one claw towards the basin of coals ,and beyond it to the sea.

"At a hearth like this one, our first clans were founded, and our Kingdom first united.  You have been brought here tonight to receive adoption into a family, and a clan, of your own."

April's face went taught with a rapid-fire series of emotions.  Confusion, anticipation, disbelief, and ultimately, boundless joy.  She practically thrummed with energy as she shot Fyrenn the most radiant expression he had ever seen on a living being's face.

The sight moved him to tears, but he did his best to contain his emotions for the sake of gravitas.

Sildinar glanced up at the red Gryphon, and inclined his head.

"Does your offer of fatherhood still stand?"

Fyrenn smiled in spite of himself, and nodded emphatically.

"It does."

The roan Gryphon seemed to pick up on the smile reflexively, the corners of his beak turning up slightly as he returned his eyes to April.

"And do you accept?"

The fledgling nodded vigorously, her words tumbling out in a breathless expression of wonder, and joyful acceptance.

"Yes!  Yes I do!  Of course!"

Sildinar knelt, bringing his head close to April's, and inclined his head towards the hearth once more.

"At a hearth, over eternally burning coals, the first clans were forged, and the first King was chosen.  For our kind, there is nothing more sacred and more important than the bonds of family and clan.  For those joining a new clan, a change of name is not untoward.  Do you wish to take a new name little one?"

From across the hearth, Neyla winked down at April, and gave her a subtle nod.  The fledgling nodded, smiling up at Sildinar.

"I do.  Neyla helped me pick it out yesterday."

Fyrenn's eyes widened in a mild expression of surprise.  Even Varan failed to resist a slight, half-smile.  Sildinar, for his part, dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"That was most generous of her."

April smiled, and nodded.

"She taught me a name that means 'joy.'  I've seen many things I wish I could forget...  And some that I have to remember.  I don't want to let the dark ones be the ones that make me who I am.  I want to be named Alyra."

Sildinar smiled briefly, nodded, and passed the burning coal gently to Fyrenn.  The red Gryphon accepted, the glowing object, allowing it to roll into the more sensitive palm of his claw with a well concealed wince.

He gestured with his free left claw, and April obediently placed her right claw into it.  Fyrenn gave the young Gryphoness a reassuring smile, and moved their claws out over the hearth.  He then placed April's right claw against his, and the coal contained within it, and pressed them together firmly.

The fledgling winced slightly, but otherwise maintained her smile, and her composure, bravely.  Fyrenn fought back a fresh wave of tears, and his smile widened as he spoke.

"This day you become Alyra;  My daughter.  Member of my family, and clan Kh'yn'eos."

Fyrenn dipped his head slightly, and gently brought his free left claw down onto the interlocked claws, causing the coal to shake loose, and drop back into the hearth.

As soon as his grip was released, April catapulted up, and grabbed the red Gryphon by the neck, smothering him in her wings, and her tears of joy.  Thought Fyrenn hid his sobs well, he realized there was very little he could do about the tears coating his own cheeks.

Sildinar allowed himself, at last, a wider smile.  He briefly encompassed both Gryphons with one wing, before stepping back, and dipping his head.

"May your family be blessed..."

The roan Gryphon smiled wryly, and winked at Fyrenn.

"...And may it grow."

Neyla snorted, and folded Fyrenn and April into a two-winged embrace.

"I'll second that."

Fyrenn sighed, and shot a pleading look first at Kephic, then at Varan.  The speckled Gryphon shrugged, and smiled.

"Sorry my brother.  You'll get no argument from me."

Varan nodded sagely as he chimed in with unexpected gusto.

"Indeed.  I am grateful to be an uncle, but I also greatly desire a sister."

Fyrenn chuckled, and shook his head slowly, pulling April close with both wings, and reveling in the smell of her feathers, the sight of the newborn stars, and the sense of peace that the moment brought.

"For now, let's just be grateful for *this* day.  Tomorrow will be conquered in its own time."

He glanced down at April, and smiled, gently brushing away her tears with the edge of one wing.

"For now...  Just for these few minutes...  Nothing else matters."

The red Gryphon leaned in, encircling April with his neck.  He whispered gently in her ear as she squeezed him with her forelegs.

"You'll never be alone again.  You have a father now.  And you always will."





Skye rushed down the gangway, and tackled April, rolling the pair into a blur of hooves, mane, fur, feathers, and wings.  The Unicorn giggled, and nuzzled the fledgling, beaming down at her and crooking her into a hug with her neck.

Carradan reached out with a hoof, and calmly patted Alyra on the shoulder.

"Congratulations kiddo.  I don't think you coulda' asked for a better father."

Hutch strolled down from the Machine Shop, hands thrust into his pockets.  It was the first time Fyrenn had seen him wearing civilian clothing in recent memory.

"So.  What's first?"

Skye raised a hoof, and then pointed at Sildinar.

"You and me big guy.  We're gonna use your connections to do a little sneaky sneaky looking into some secure servers.  With a touch of luck, we'll be able to find out where, when, and how the Echelon is making its move."

Fyrenn nodded, and gestured up to the warm, inviting light of the machine shop.

"The rest of us?  We're gonna get to work with oil, grease, carbon plates, and hot steel."

April danced back and forth animatedly on all-fours.

"You'll show me how to do it all?"

Fyrenn chuckled, and winked.

"Everything we have time for."

The red Gryphon led the group up into the space.  As soon as Skye and Sildinar had made their way out into the passage, he set about locking the entry doors from the inside.  He returned to the room's central massive worktable, and rapped on it with a fisted claw as he spoke.

"We don't let anyone interrupt us.  We're loading for bear.  No prisoners.  No quarter.  And the first rule in building the loadout for this is as follows;  Nothing is overkill.  The second, which is like unto it?  If it's stupid, and it works, then it isn't stupid."

Fyrenn tapped the table's central screen, and pulled up a series of blank blueprint templates.  With a wave of his claw, the grid extruded vertically under the auspices of a holoprojector.

"We have to work fast, we don't know how tight our window for action is.  So we've got half an hour to brainstorm, then we work until we're done.  We'll send people in shifts for food and drink, and Hutch?"

The general locked eyes with the red Gryphon as the latter flicked his ears slightly in anticipation.

"We may need you to raid the ship's stores, and armory.  This is the end of the line.  Total fire sale.  Everything and anything goes."

Hutch nodded slowly, and blinked.

"I've got one condition."

Fyrenn perked one ear, and raised an eyebrow.

The general smiled, and nodded to a bag propped up against the nearest cabinet.

"We need to talk about that rifle.  And what it would take to make it usable for me."

The red Gryphon smirked, and chuckled.

"I think that can be arranged.  Warm up the blast furnace."