"Aether, wa—"
"You're not taking me alive!" I yelled as I swung a hoof at whoever was waking me up.
"Gah!" said my unknown assailant as dodged my hoof. "Aether, it's me!"
"Twilight? What are yo—nevermind that, what made you think it is a good idea to wake me up within striking distance?" I asked, as I turned on a lamp before checking what time it was. Seeing that it was barely two in the morning, that meant something big was happening.
"Normally a pony doesn't strike somepony for waking them up," Twilight replied, causing me to just raise an eyebrow at her considering that she's talking to me of all people. That caused her to blush a bit before she said, "I got a message from the scientists: they need you on Selene, it's urgent."
Hopping out of my bed covers, I stretched a bit as I asked, "Alright then, when will the chariot or copter get here?"
Shaking her head, Twilight answered, "No, we're teleporting straight to the base."
Cocking an eyebrow, I replied, "What. Don't you remember the last time you teleported there?"
"The scientists had requested that I teleport you there," Twilight explained, causing me to nod. If the scientists asked for it, then they probably shut down all experiments to ensure the safety of the teleport. Nodding, I just stood next to Twilight as she cast the spell. It's been a while since anything interesting occurring since the issue with my land that occurred fifty nine months ago. I was forty two years old, only barely an inch shorter than Pinkie now, though Twilight grew a few inches over the same time period. Along with her growth, her own magic was growing stronger as well. A shame though that Celestia probably wouldn't let Twilight onto the battlefield, she would've been a great tactical asset. With a flash of purple light, we arrived at the base, only to be assailed by the scientists.
"Captain Aura, you're here!" Light Pulse exclaimed as he rushed over to me.
"What's the situation Light?" I asked, while noticing that one scientist was running around in circles.
"We detected a dimensional anomaly near Outpost Delta Sigma, we're being invaded!" he explained, causing his fellow scientists to freak out more.
"Calm down you idiots!" I shouted, causing everyone to stop and turn their attention towards me. "We're not going to act like it is the end of the world unless we're certain of what is going on. For all we know, it could be another dimensional agent like I was for all we know. For now, we will take all the necessary precautions as we can, but first I need to get on Selene, now!"
"Captain Aura, it is good to have you here madam," Golden Sword said as he gave me a salute. He was the commander of the Aegis Guard station at primary portal base on Selene. As a safety precaution, along with new developments in dimensional portal generation, several bases built at different portal sites so that military reinforcements and supplies could still be sent to Selene if the primary base has fallen during an invasion.
"Good to see you too, Commander Sword. I take it that you have transportation to the site of the disturbance prepared?" I asked, while tugging a bit at a shoulder plate that felt a bit loose. Prior to being sent to Selene, the scientists geared me up in the latest combat armor, which was composed of armor plating and a new personal shield generator. Its design was for maximum protection possible without compromising the mobility of its wearer. While Twilight wanted to see whatever came to Selene due to her scientific curiosity, she knew better than to actually come to the world in case a worse case scenario occurred. Hence she just stayed behind, content with just studying whatever came if we were able to retrieve it.
Nodding, Golden answered, "Yes madam, we have a light transport airship readied and supplied for the investigation of the disturbance," as he led me through the base into a hanger. Looking up, I saw the airship mentioned, eighty feet long and fifty feet wide. The scientists finally made a breakthrough with the engines about seventeen months ago, allowing for faster aerial vehicles while using larger versions to support large scale airships that would either serve as mobile bases or assault platforms. So far, only about about a dozen airships were produced, with the most of them stationed on Selene.
"Good, how many troops and equipment we have on board?" I asked as I started up a ramp to the airship.
"There are currently forty soldiers, four transport copters and two assault copters on board the Skyhawk, madam," Golden answered, before taking a look around. "Excuse me madam, but shouldn't your second-in-command be here too?"
"No, because if this mission goes south and we all get killed, she has to take over," I replied, causing Golden to blink at my blunt statement.
"Okay... what are your orders then madam?"
"We're going to the site, where the Skyhawk will stop a few hundred feet from the site and drop off us along with a squad. We don't know what we're going to find, so it would be best not to alert them to our presence until we have no choice on that matter. I rather not alert a hostile alien that has enough firepower to shot this airship out of the sky."
"Understood madam," Golden said as we entered the airship, where he led me to where the troops were stationed.
Clearing my throat to get everyone's attention, I said, "Alright troops, listen up. Today could be the most important day in this history of Equus. As you all should know by now, we detected a dimensional anomaly near Outpost Delta Sigma. Now, I know you're trained for this, but how we handle this situation will play a crucial part for the future of all our species. So while I want all of you to be on guard at all times, do not shoot or commit any hostile actions unless you're fired upon or I say so, understood?"
"Yes madam!" they all shouted in unison. Looking at each any every one of them, I could see that none of them were showing any signs of fear or nervousness. Everyone here were a member of the Aegis Guard, so they were trained for any potential horrible situation that anyone could thought up of. They were to be the first soldiers on the ground for any situation, to serve as the front lines for Equus. I hoped they would be enough.
It took a few hours to reach the general vicinity of the disturbance, upon which the Skyhawk powered down its engines till only enough power was used to keep it where it was, behind a few clouds. The area was a forest region, similar to Equestria's forests, except some of the trees had blue leaves and a few trees look like a giant balloon. The site of the disturbance wasn't that hard to pick out due to smoke coming from its area, alerting me that whatever came had at least some machinery with them. My squad was moving slowly, with me taking point. Golden remained on the Skyhawk in order to coordinate the rest of our forces if necessary. I ordered my troops to approach the disturbance with extreme, caution, so only two soldiers were moving forward while the rest was keeping an eye out so they can provide cover fire if necessary.
It took about twenty minutes for us to reach visual range of the site, where we saw the smoking remains of some kind of metallic construct the size of a train car. "Squad, everyone form a perimeter around the site except you two," I started to order as I pointed at a thestral and a changeling, "you're with me, I'm going to check it out." Receiving quiet nods, I waited till the squad spread out around the site before I began my approach to the wreckage.
"Is this much caution necessary, captain?" the thestral mare asked.
"There are multiple reasons for this object to be a smoking hunk of scrap. It could be just another probe that just happen to come by our dimensional region and exploded like the ones fifteen years ago, or whoever or whatever came here blew up the probe to hide their secrets. There is no way we can be certain till we know all the facts," I answered, as I got close enough to better inspect the wreckage. Upon a closer inspection, it was clear that whatever it was, it definitely crashed into the air, hence it was airborn when it came to Selene. That didn't bode well for my hope that intruders end up being buried or partly buried if they were to invade the world.
"Do you detect any emotions?" I asked the changeling with me. Since they're a species that feed off emotions, either directly or from ambient emotions, that led to them to develop the ability to sense positive or negative emotions.
"Beyond our own squadmates, I detect nothing madam," the changeling replied while shifting his head around to keep an eye on things.
"Hmm..." I simply responded, a I looked around. I saw bits and pieces of the wreckage littered around the site, though something seem off about the situation. Approaching a fragment, I could see that it was deeply embedded into the ground. Upon a closer inspection, I could see that the angle at which it embedded into the ground showed that whatever the wreckage was, it exploded after crashing down. This meant that it could either have simple blown up upon impact, or that something triggered an self-destruction device on the object.
"Everyone, be on your guard," I said into the radio set into our helmets. "There is a possibility that something is out there. Golden, have two squads dropped down to sweep the outlying area. I rather not have anything running around loose in this forest." Receiving a conformation from him, I turned to two soldiers next to me as I ordered, "You two, keep some distance from the wreckage unless I say so, I'm going to see if there is an opening so I can investigate the interior. It may be rigged to blow up again for all we know, so better safe sorry."
"Why not send one of us, madam?" the thestral asked.
"My armor is the latest version and has better shielding, so I stand a shot at surviving whatever trap may be in place. Furthermore, I can teleport out if necessary," I answered while checking the exterior, where I found a safe opening for me to use. Climbing inside, I could see that the interior was as mangled as the outside was. Looking around, I was checking everything I spotted till I noticed there was a pressure on my horn. That caused me to jerk my head around as I scrambled to inspect the interior, where it didn't took me long to find some kind of armored container hidden in some of the wreckage. Pulling out a magical charge, I set it onto the device before teleporting out of the object.
"Everyone, move away from the object and prepare for a potential engagement," I said into my radio. After insuring that everyone had reach a safe distance from the object, I triggered the explosive. Fortunately, the object wasn't full of explosives seeing that we only heard the charge going off.
Triggering my radio again, I said, "Golden, alert the base, someone or something was sen-" before something opened fire at us. "Everyone, get to cover!" I shouted before taking out my rifle and ducking behind a tree. Peeking out of my cover, I screened the area as I saw my troops rushing to find cover as well, before I finally spotted the hostile.
"Oh sweet Luna," I said, as I recognized the hostile to be a Xartik drone.