//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Preparation // Story: The Stars are Not Our Friends // by Zangetsu675 //------------------------------// -------------------------------Canterlot College of Magic: Astronomy Dept.------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 4-------------------------------------------------- Princess Celestia walked into the observatory to the sight of 30 of her brightest Professors and Graduate students working equations and graphs galore on chalkboards. Princess Twilight was running around from Board to board, checking facts and gathering results. Celestia walked up beside Twilight as she stopped moving for just a moment. “How goes the research?” She asked. Twilight, not expecting any pony, nearly jumped out of her skin. Her papers and clipboard scattering all over the floor in front of her, she stammered out “Oh, Princess, I wasn’t expecting you” as she tried to pick up all her supplies. “I'm sorry to startle you Twilight, I just wanted to see how things are coming along.” Celestia said as she knelt down to help pick up the papers. Her supplies recovered, both Twilight and Celestia stood once more, as Twilight began to explain what they had learned. “Well from our calculations, the ships have traveled from a galaxy here.” she said as she pointed to a white semi-circular object on the extensive star map situated on top of the table in the center of the room. “However, we can not identify where in this galaxy they have come from. Due to the shape of the galaxy and the color, we have chosen to name it ‘Pinwheel White’.” Princess Celestia looked astounded. “How far have they traveled?! No better yet, how long do you think that it would take to get here?” “Well it is our estimation due to the speed at which they entered our system, that it would have taken them more than 30 million years.” Twilight said, looking a bit astounded at the words that had just exited her mouth. This was a feat that even she could barely fathom. “Thirty million???? They have been traveling that long???” Princess Celestia almost shouted. “Dear Faust, How can they have lived such a long time?” “Well considering the size of those ships, we don't think they have; At least not the original ones.” Twilight stated. “The original ones? Wait, you think that the ones currently on these things are the descendants of those that started the trip?” Princess Celestia just could not fathom this. “to set out knowing that you would never see the results. That is just some grim determination. Just what could have caused theses being to do such a thing? I need to sit down.” Celestia said, sounding overwhelmed. Princess Celestia walked out of the observatory, leaving twilight to get back to the scientists and calculations. -----------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Maria------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 4-------------------------------------------------- “Admiral Malcolm! Sir!” The captain saluted as the Admiral came on to the bridge. “At ease captain. How are we progressing?” “We are right on schedule, sir. Scout teams 3, 8, 9, and 12 have reported back, and Transport Bravo has been settled into the gorge alongside Alpha with minimal detection possibility.” the captain reported. “Good, good, and have we found a suitable location to begin forward operating base procedures?” the admiral asked as he stroked his long since greyed beard. “Yes Sir! This desert has an abundance of natural resources, open space and seems to be far enough from any civilizations to be detected for a short amount of time.” he said pointing to a spot on the holographic topical map of the largest continent of the planet. Zooming in to the area the captain continued, “From geographical scans and mineral probes we have concluded that this region also has an untapped abundance of copper, gold, crystal, aluminum, clay, and silica. All of these things would be a large resource boost for us. Not only that, but this location borders on the gorge we currently have drop ships set down in. Our teams speculate that we could get as large of as ship as the Nautilus One down under that fog cover with ease.” as he spoke he moved the map north-west with a swipe of his hand. “This gorge would give us an amazing amount of undetected travel between the desert and this,” he moved the map again “forest so that we might gather bio-matter for the food supply.” The admiral took in all that the captain had said. “We need to be able to start soon, or resource supplies on metals and plastics may run dry again. How soon could we start gathering these raw materials?” “Well sir that depends on our subtlety of entry. If we were to just drop a citadel tower and begin FOB procedures we could have supplies back to normal in under three weeks. But, if you need us to be more discreet it may take upwards of two months.” “Very well, I will think on this and give the order by days end. Carry on captain.” The admiral replied before turning and walking off the bridge towards the main research laboratories. “Sir! Yes sir!” the captain saluted as the doors shut. -----------------------------------------------------I.C.S. Maria------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------Main Research Laboratories--------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------Orbital Day 4------------------------------------------------ Dr. Framsteg was watching the large monitor intensely when Admiral Malcolm walked through the doors of the lab. “Have you made any progress Dr.?” “Admiral, so glad you came. Yes we have dissected the program but have yet to make it work with our own nanites. From what we can gather, the nanites need to be channeled through some kind of extremity, Satellite surveillance has revealed interesting things regarding this!” the doctor continues to say as he turns back to the monitor and displays several images of odd equine creatures. Some had wings to small to lift their bodies, yet were airborne anyways. Others had an odd lone horn sticking out from the middle of their cranium, some of which were glowing. A third set of images shows equines without either of these attributes. Yet all three sets had one thing in common, every one of these creatures was a different pastel color. “As you can see, all but one set has some kind of extremity that allows for specialized traits. We surmise the third set has the enhanced strength, meaning that it is the default trait given. The question is how do we integrate this into our own systems without the need for mass body augmentations.?” “What about some kind of glove or wristband?” the admiral interjected. “an object that interfaces with the nanites currently in our bodies from outside the body is already in development down in the civilian labs. We could use that design to attach a control program, thus allowing easy mass production and distribution.” Dr. Framsteg stared blankly for a second before slapping his hand to his forehead “Doh! Why didn’t I think of that! Occam's Razor! The simplest solution is usually the best one!” the good doctor began to pace in a small line, back and forth as he continued to voice his thoughts. ”Yes! Yes! We could just use the cranial transmitter from the neuro-computer networking implant! This is is brilliant! Hmm…. But the flight controls would need to be hands free….” “Then maybe we should make motion sensitive straps near the ankles. Would that work?” Admiral suggested again. “Yes! Genius! This is why we all like you down here sir! Ha Ha! Yes! this should work perfectly! I think that if you could get me those plans by the end of the day, we should have a working prototype in two days!” Dr. Framsteg said as he typed furiously on the console. “It will be my top priority Dr. .” the admiral said before walking out the way he had entered. After the door closed, Admiral Malcolm tapped a small implant just behind his ear. “Admiral Malcolm to Bridge. Do you read?” “ Go ahead admiral. We hear you loud and clear.” came the response. “Patch me thru to the Head of Dataplex Industries. Priority level one communication.” “Right away sir!” the bridge officer stated before the line transferred.