//------------------------------// // Chapter LXV: Contact (unedited) // Story: Astral Aegis // by Silvak //------------------------------// After spotting that the Xartik were the source of the disturbance, I wished I had time to have a mild panic attack. Sadly I didn't had the time as I pulled my head back behind cover, just to see a few rounds of hot plasma zipping past the spot where my head was. Activating my radio, I ordered, "Golden, we have Xartik forces on us. Tell every base to be on high alert and send over an assault copter now!" "Yes madam, the copter will be there in five minutes, do you need the two squads on the ground to come to your position?" Golden asked. "No, but make sure that their squads are together. We might need them to help prevent any hostiles from escaping. However, bring in the fourth squad if you can, but don't drop them here. I don't know what firepower the hostiles have, so I rather not have a transport copter shot down if I can help it," I answered, while hearing one of my recruits firing back at the drone. "Understood madam, they'll be dropped off approximately two hundred feet away from your position," Silver replied, allowing me to turn my attention to my troops. "Anyone, report to me any hostiles you find, and someone get some suppressing fire on the hostile that is already shooting us!" I ordered, as I took my rifle off my back, setting it to single shot mode. The scientists had made several kinds of rifles for the military to use, but most people either prefer to use a semi-automatic rifle or a rifle that can shift between single shot and burst fire modes. I always preferred the single shots since while they lacked the spread that a burst fire could offer, they make it up with a stronger impact. I was just about to return fire when someone said, "Contact, two o'clock!" Jerking my head in that direction, I spotted a pair of drones making their way through the trees as they raised a their own weaponry and fired at us. However before they could fire, some magical shots hit them, causing their shields to flare up while forcing them into cover. Thankfully since my troops were spread out, the first drone could only pin down a few of us at a time. Still, I wasn't certain if our current numbers would give us an advantage over them, but if there were more, than we would definitely be overwhelmed fast. Whatever the case, I didn't have time to waste, so I jumped to my left, firing a few shots at the general direction before I duck behind another tree, while using a third tree as cover from the pair of drones. With a bit more cover, I peeked over the right side of the tree, taking a moment before I spotted the first drone using a fallen tree as cover while it fired at one of my soldiers while another one was trying to suppression it. Taking this as my opportunity, I pulled a magical grenade from my belt, triggering it before using my telekinesis to send it over to the drone. It immediately recognized what it was and tried to jump away from the grenade, but unfortunately for it I still had it in my magical hold so I just tossed it at the drone before finally letting go of it. Thankfully, it seems that Xartik shielding wasn't enough for a magical grenade, based on how the resulting explosion sent parts of the drone flying through the air. My satisfaction over the destruction of the drone was short-lived when several shots came my way, forcing me to get behind cover once more. "Anyone that isn't pinned down, try to flank the two drones now! Everyone else, try to suppress them whenever you can!" I said before ducking out of cover to fire a few shots before returning back to it. Occasionally I see a few soldiers firing back, but otherwise the drones kept us suppressed with their own fire, until from above shots came down at them. Looking up, I could see the aerial-capable members of our group weaving around the trees while firing down at the two drones, chipping away their shields while the drones try to fruitlessly fire back. This allowed the rest of my troops to open fire at the duo, which I was about to do when a mare cried out, "Captain! To your left!" Jerking my head towards that direction, I saw a rather heavily armored drone charging right at me. I barely had enough time to roll out of its path, causing it to hit the tree. To the dismay of any of my soldiers that were watching, the drone simply teared right through the tree before coming to a halt, the tree crashing down behind it. "Just my luck, why do I always get the 'fun' stuff?" I muttered to myself while firing a few rounds at it. While the shots did no real visible effect on the drone's shielding, I knew it was better than trying to duck behind cover if it can just barrel right through it. The drone just stared at me with its cold mechanical eyes before a blade came out of its right forearm, causing my eyes to widen a bit at the sight before it charged at me again. Off the bat I knew that it was going to try to keep me in melee range, which would give it a major edge since it could grab me with its other arm that would result in my death. However, magic gave me a major advantage over it since it was likely that the Xartik knew nothing about it. So instead of jumping out of its way, I simple jumped and latched onto its head. This surprised the drone, long enough for me to pull out two more grenades as I charged up my horn with magic. I activated them before sticking them into the drone's shoulder joints, before jumping off it as I release a teleport spell, teleporting thirty feet away just to see the drone blow up in a magical explosion. Turning my head towards the other two drones, I could see that my squad was able to take them down judging by their broken bodies nearby. The nearest soldier came towards me while the rest remain on guard in case there was still more hostiles out there. "Captain, are you alright?" an earth pony stallion asked while giving me a salute. "I'm fine, but now we, or I at least, know who came over here, I need to get back to Equus. Sergeant McColt, are you capable of holding this position in case there's more hostiles till reinforcements arrive?" I asked as I looked at a blue earth pony mare. "Yes Captain, we are capable of holding this position as long as necessary," McColt replied, to which I nodded to before activating my radio. "Golden, things seem to have calm down here. Send a transport copter here for pick up. I need to get to Canterlot as fast as possible." "Are you certain about this, Aether?" "Without a doubt. The intrusion was related to the Xartiks, and odds are they know where we are now," I answered as I sat at a table with Celestia, Luna, and Twilight present. It was right after sunset when I arrived at Canterlot, though I did picked up news that there weren't any more hostiles in the area after a thorough search of the forest. Though to be certain, he called in two more airships to screen the greater area. "But how can you be certain that we were discovered? There could be a possibility that the Xartik will passed it off as a lost probe?" Twilight replied, only for me to shake my head at her. "No Twilight, the drones made the effort to send a transmission to wherever they came from to alert their creators. I found a hidden device that was transmitting messages to another dimension. Odds are they were purposely looking for us, and had made preparations to increase the chances of sending a message back in case some malfunction occurred upon arrival," I said, while Celestia and Luna were taking on grim expressions. "Is there any possibility that this could be a misunderstanding? Could we establish some form of communication with the Xartik?" Celestia asked. "No, the Xartik aren't prone to peaceful first contact. They tend to just takeover anything that can be of use to them, or eliminate any potential threats. Only when facing opposition of similar strength would they avoid open conflict. Since most sapient species on Equus is strongly connected to magic, odds are we are considered to be either one of those cases." "Could your skirmish with the probe's forces be enough to make them to consider us a force that is as strong as them?" Luna asked, only for me to shake my head once more. "Not likely. Even if we go into full-blown war, they won't consider us a large enough threat unless we bring the battle onto their own turf. Which won't be easy unless the scientists have a way to retrieve the frequency of the Xartik invasion forces." "So what can we do to win if we enter a war with the Xartik?" Celestia asked, causing me to pause to think for a moment. "Best I can offer, is that we find a way to reach a Xartik world, where if we can commit enough counter-attacks, it might get them to give up on the possibility of conquering us. The other choice is that we hold them off long enough for other species to learn of our presence. That has mixed results though, for all we know we could end up with another hostile species that want to take over, or a species like the Deviations will come to our aid, which should put an end to the war." "What kind of forces should we expect the Xartik to field against us then? Perhaps if we can make their loses tremendous, they may forego the idea of war with us," Luna said. "Sadly that won't work so well with the Xartik since they rely on robotic armies to fight for them. That means they can simply rebuild their armies despite the loses, and the only way they would pull out in that case is if they lost millions or even billions of drones while not gaining back any raw material from the battlefront. That would mean that we have to prevent them from gaining any foothold on Selene," I explained, causing the royal sisters to look at each other for a moment before Celestia turned her attention back to me. "Then we have no choice but to make preparations for war. I will contact the other nations so we can mobilize all our armies," Celestia announced. "And I will make way to Selene with you, Aether, so that I can participate in the battles to come. The enemy will tremble against the might of the Princess of the Night!" Luna declared, shooting a hoof into the air as I just cocked an eyebrow at the sight. "I take it there's an alicorn battle suit just made for you, unless you have something else that would make due," I responded, to which Luna gave me a nod. "Indeed, both my sister and I have commissioned our own armor for this possibility, though we were the ones to cast the enchantments on them," Luna explained, while Twilight was looking uncertain about the situation. "What role should I play?" Twilight asked. Over the years, Twilight made great strides in learning on how to handle her position of being a princess, though I'm was betting that she didn't poured much thought on the military aspects on that matter, which her answer just confirmed. "You, along with Cadence, will remain on Equus to help manage things while Luna and I will participate in the war effort," Celestia answered, causing Twilight to droop a bit. Before Twilight could make any protest, I added, "With you and Cadence here, we will have some major firepower in place just in case the Xartik manage to bypass our sinkhole effort. Furthermore, your connection with the Tree of Harmony, along with Cadence and the Crystal Heart, may be end up being a powerful defensive measure if such a situation were to occur. So tactically it would be best for the two of you to remain on Equus," causing Twilight to nod to that line of logic. "Though, you could try to get in contact with Discord and see if he wants to help. I don't know the limits of his magic, but if he could cause enough chaos to the Xartik forces, it would go a long way in saving lives." "Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Celestia asked, only for none of us to give a reply. "Then this meeting is over. For the good of Equus and all of its species, I hope that we are ready for this war," Celestia said, only for me to roll my eyes at her. "Something the matter, Aether?" "You had to add that 'good for everything' thing in the end. It's too sappy for my tastes," I commented, causing everyone to groan at me, to which I simply gave them a shrug in response. If I didn't adopt the generally happy and cheerful tone most ponies have even after fifteen years here, then odds are I'm always going to be the grumpy mare that I am.