//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Communications // Story: The Stars are Not Our Friends // by Zangetsu675 //------------------------------// ------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone--------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 0800 hours---------------------------------------- Twilight sat in a room that seemed to be made of metal, yet she could feel their eyes on her. She was a prisoner. No matter how well they treated her, she knew she would not be allowed to leave on her own. Sure they were feeding her well, and she even had a bed in the corner of the room; but the door would not open for her. She couldn’t teleport as she had no idea where she was. and there seemed to be some heavy interference in the detection spell. She had to face it, she was at these beings mercy. Usually the room was silent except for the sound of her own breathing and an odd rhythmic hum that seemed to reverberate through even the air. As she laid in the middle of the room, books open all around her as she tried to piece together these aliens language. 'At least they gave me a room with some reading material.' she thought to herself. Words she could not make out filled every page. Sighing, Twilight laid her down. She couldn’t make heads or tails of these books and this humming was starting to give her a headache. Her head snapped back up as she once again heard the sound of the outer door swinging open, then that odd sound before the click of the doors lock. In stepped the same alien as the previous times It was one of the bipedal beings. It wore a blue material she had previously thought to be its hide. But when she had seen the ones after she had dropped from that liquid, she knew that it was some kind of garment. Well , there was something Rarity would love. The being had smooth hairless skin except the patch of black fur on the top of its head. It’s coloration was like if one were to flawlessly mix chocolate, cream, and caramel together to form a single concoction. It had small, forward facing eyes that seemed to look at her in both curiosity and bated hostility as if not sure whether to consider her a threat. It’s body was covered from the head down in a dark blue garment remiss of the formal clothing that was worn by Canterlot high society members or the dress uniforms of the upper ranks of the military with gold colored embroidery at the end of the sleeves and at other places on the coat. Twilight knew soldiers when she saw them, and these creatures most definitely were ones. They carried themselves with an air of unwavering command that only the Solar and Lunar guards showed. It was as if each and every one of them she had seen was the elite of their society. At this she found herself wondered just how violent these creatures could be. She shuddered at that thought. Yet again it had come holding several large pieces of paper with strange writing on them. She couldn’t read them no matter how hard she tried, but some were similar to those in the books. Each time the writing was different and the alien seemed to grow more and more desperate. Twilight shook her head whenever she couldn’t read one of the pages, and the alien seemed to understand that at least. When the the being had run out of new papers to show it hung its head. Once it was standing up though, something Twilight didn’t expect happened. It spoke. Instead of knocking on the door like usual it spoke. “Okay, Corporal let me out. This is hopeless.” The being called through the door. But before the corporal even had time to respond, Twilight spoke up in surprise. “Wait! Did you just talk? Did you just speak Equis Common?” With surprising speed, the alien whirled around. “Corporal, belay that order! It would seem we have a response!” Twilight was dumbfounded. These beings could speak Equis common?! How? This only made her more confused but it made the situation much easier. She could think on this all later but for now she needed to act. Princess Twilight stood to her full height and held her head high. “That was Equis Common. This means we can communicate right?” The being looked at her hesitantly before answering. “If you can understand me shake your head again” Twilight paused for a second and then complied. The alien let out a sigh of relief. “Well it would seem we have breached communications. You seem to be intelligent from what we can gather. Do you have a name?” This was it! She could finally get through to them! Oh, the things she could learn! Twilight took a deep breath before proceeding. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Royal Union of Equestria. Now that I have given my name, would you please give me yours?” At the word princess the aliens small eyes had seemed to grow bigger but it otherwise showed no reaction. “I am Chief Warrant Officer James L. MacAlvery of the Colony Fleet Avalon Earth. Please forgive our precautions your majesty, but we must be careful in certain matters. “ the being said with a salute. Yep, definitely soldiers. “Very well then Officer, I have one question for you. When can I go home? I dare say that I have done nothing wrong by the standards of my country and would like to return to my home.” ‘It’s actually you who are the invaders in our lands.’ Twilight thought, but she chose keep that part to herself. “That is not up to me. I must convey these developments to my superiors. I would just sit tight were I you.” the officer said before turning around and knocking three times on the door like he had done many times before. ------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone--------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 1300 hours---------------------------------------- Twilight waited what felt like hours but couldn’t tell for sure. Her headache hadn’t gotten any better, but she cared little for that. Now that she knew they had similar languages, she had made some headway on the books in the room. So far she had deciphered the words ‘the’, ‘of’, ‘and’, ‘to’, and a couple of the other most used words and phrases. Now it was all just filling in the other ones. Surprisingly, these beings had a form of writing where everything looked the same, but it left no smudges from the writers or any form of printing press she was familiar with. She was interrupted by the noise of the door opening but to her surprise not one but three beings stepped into the room. One had on a white garment not unlike her own laboratory coat, with what looked like a two part dress, with the top half being a light grey and the bottom being pure black, underneath. Of the other two, one was Officer MacAlvery, while the other one appeared to be older with a pointed beard and a rather odd eye made of metal and glass from the looks of it. It’s own garments seemed to have a lot more gold embroidery and a good deal of colored bars upon its breast. Twilight could tell that this species, whatever they were, definitely had males and females. The two in the uniforms had much broader shoulders and had a more square jaw line not unlike ponies, so she made the assumption that they were both male. That meant that the one in the lab coat was female. Twilight didn’t know what to expect now but she stood as they entered and waited for one of them to address her first. The one with the beard was the first to speak “Doctor you may proceed.” The one in the lab coat came straight for her and Twilight became afraid for a second until she spoke. “Is it okay for me to check if all you injuries are healed properly, Princess?” the woman asked in a soothing voice. Twilight slowly nodded still cautious but not so much now. The doctor moved around her checking her vitals, skeletal integrity, even her feathers. when she finally stopped, she heard the doctor sigh in relief. “She’s clear sir. No problems as far as I or the scans can tell.” the doctor said looking at the older male. “Good to hear. But, let me ask, do you feel any discomfort Princess?” the bearded one said looking at her. “Only a slight headache. It is this awful humming, as if the very air around me is vibrating.” “That would be the extractor. But we can get to that later.” Warrant Officer MacAlvery cut in. “Before we begin with out talk, let me introduce Doctor Harla Q. Davids and Combined Fleet Admiral Krieg Von Starke. Dr. Davids and I will be your guides and retainers while you are here. I am sure you have many questions but I ask that you wait to hear what the Admiral has to say.” The older male that Twilight could only guess to be the admiral, cleared his throat. “Princess please for give me, but we need to know some things before anything can proceed. I will take a stab in the dark and guess that the title of princess makes you a dignitary of your home country?” he asked looking straight at her. Twilight could only nod in response. “ That makes this all a little easier. I will start by explaining the situation as is. We come from a world called Earth and are here to colonize a new home world for our race. We did not expect life to be here and are willing to co-exist with you so long as you do not pose a significant threat to our continued existence. To further that, we would like to broach peace talks between our people and yours. However to do this there is some required learning. I need to know now that if I let you out of here and return you to you kind that you are willing to try for this.” That was all Twilight needed to hear. They were not only willing to let her learn about them but were readily going to teach her? And all for the prospect of peace? This was to good to be true. She knew that there had to be a catch but just what it could be she could not put her hoof on. With a wide grin and her head held high, Twilight answered the admiral. “I am willing to do as you ask. Please show me that I can trust you as well, and I would be glad to assist in bringing peace between us.” ‘That is if you let it happen. That and so long as Pinkie doesn’t annoy both sides into starting a fight again.’ “Very well then Princess, I would like to invite you over to my quarters for a longer talk and maybe even a tour later if you would not mind.” Admiral Von Starke said smiling politely. “Please Admiral, If we are to be friendly to each other, call me Twilight. And I would be happy to join you for a talk.” “Very well Twilight. I will send Officer MacAvery to guide you there when things have been prepared.” and with that the admiral gave a slight bow and knocked three times on the door to leave. ------------------------------------------Planetside Desert Drop Zone--------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------(A.K.A. San Palomino Desert)-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------Orbital Day 11, 1615 hours---------------------------------------- It was hot out here. Almost as if she had stepped right into tartarus itself. Celestia’s sun shone its full disapproving wrath down upon this place as if it were a misbehaving foal. Humans ran, jogged, flew and walked all over this huge camp. Many wore the same armored outfit that the one that saved her life had. Their faces were always covered with helmets as they marched or jogged in formation. Others moved metal containers or barrels while in larger metal suits with huge three pincered hands. Twilight walked with Office MacAlvery across the camp heading for one of the larger buildings near its center. As they went, she saw many things that made her mind spin. Humans at large metal and glass objects that showed images like her ‘mind's sight’ portals. Others tinkered with huge machines while covered in some kind of slick looking black liquid covered them in splatters. Not to mention the huge tower that had almost crushed her mere days before. It was was enormous enough that even Canterlot Castle would be dwarfed in its shade. The closer one got to it the more the very ground rumbled. The structure seemed to be the cause on the humming in the air and her ceaseless headache. But what caught her attention the most were the humans with those staffs. They passed a large open area with many of the humans lined up at posts with sheets of paper tacked to metal plates at the far end, their staffs pointed at the sheets. Twilight was about to pass it by when she heard extremely loud bangs coming from that direction that nearly made her heart stop in fear. BRRVVVVVT! The sound was so loud! But, what she saw scared her more. Bright flashes came from the ends of those staves for a quick second before stopping just for the humans holding them to jerk slightly and cause them to start again. At the other end was a different story though. These staves caused holes to be punched right through the metal sheets and make dents in a large pile of sand behind them. Every time the humans bodies jerked like that, the same awful noise resounded around her worse than a million of pinkie's surprise party canons. Those could be fun, but these things sounded like death. And everywhere she looked she saw more of them them. Big ones on the walls surrounding the camp. Small ones on the sides of many humans. Soldiers marched and flew through the camp while carrying these staves. She was so caught up in her fear, that she nearly jumped right out of her hide when Officer MacAlvery laid a hand on her back. “Princess I know this is a lot to take in but the admiral is expecting you. If you would follow me please.” he said beginning to walk forward again. ‘Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I just showed fear! I just showed weakness! Celestia burn it all! I can’t let that happen in front of the Admiral. I must stay strong. I am a Princess of Equestria. I must act like it!’ Twilight mentally chastised herself , following after the Warrant Officer. As they reached their destination, Officer MacAlvery placed his right ‘hand’ (as the minotaurs called them) on the one of the metal and glass objects. It made that weird noise she had heard back when the door to her room opened. “Warrant Officer MacAlvery here with Princess Twilight Sparkle to see Fleet Admiral Starke. We are expected.” He said aloud. Before she had time to wonder just who he was talking to a voice responded “Recognized. Credentials accepted. Opening doorway.” and with that the metal door in front of them began to move. Each part moved separately away from the others until there was nothing but a large round hole in the structure. This was some tight security. Beyond the door it was pitch black, yet Officer MacAlvery walked ahead into the void as if it were nothing. As soon as his ‘foot’ (she had learned that one from him) was about to fall through, a glowing metal looking plate appeared below it. ‘They can make mana steps to? Is there anything that these humans can’t do?!?’ The warrant officer continued on through the darkness forcing Twilight to forego her cautionary attitude. It was now or never. She took a single determined step forward and to her surprise touched solid ground. Looking down she saw that there below her hoof was indeed a glowing piece of metal. Her courage renewed Twilight trotted after Office MacAlvery to catch up. Soon they both came to metal door only a little larger than the Warrant Officer. As he wrapped his hand around the knob on the door he stated “This is where I leave you, Princess. From here on you will be within the Fleet Admirals Personal quarters until such time as you desire to return to your own quarters here on base. For all our sakes, I hope your mission of peace succeeds.” He opened the door and she stepped in. ‘I hope the same. By Celestia I hope the same.’ Twilight thought as the door closed behind her.