//------------------------------// // 20 - J'Poc // Story: Harmony Among The Stars // by tom117z //------------------------------// Journal Entry #2077, J’Poc Signed In. They are coming… The transport parted trees from the ground as it rumbled through the forest towards the landing site of the Interceptor. Princess Twilight Sparkle flew a short distance above with her watchful ancient eyes looking out for any trouble ahead. All of her companions were loaded into the transport itself, Xal driving while all the others were loaded into the back compartment. As well as the away team, a dozen of the village’s hunters had also accompanied them, led by Teneer and Ronaar. They were fighting for their freedom and they would be damned if they let the crew of the Harmony do all the work. Still, no resistance had been encountered as they traversed the trees, something that only made the Princess that little bit more uneasy. If they had yet to run into any resistance then that indicated they were walking straight into a trap. But while that may be the case, J’Poc still had very little idea as to what they were capable of, what she was capable of. He had no experience fighting their kind, and no specific counter to their magic. If J’Poc was setting a trap for them, so be it. They were more than happy to spring it. And yet Twilight kept all her senses focused on locating anything suspicious, any potential danger. As they went on forwards the landing site of the Interceptor got closer and closer, soon they would be upon it. Inside the cabin, Xal was in constant contact with the Harmony, giving the crew periodic updates. In the back the others all sat in mostly silence; that silence was only occasionally being interrupted by the occasional chatter. “Your people up for this?” Iynx asked Teneer. “I know you’re doing this to protect your home, but this fight won’t be pretty.” “I’m counting on it,” Ronaar commented, much to Taneer’s chagrin. Iynx gave Ronaar a raised eyebrow. “A little eager, aren’t we?” “You’re one to talk,” Ronaar shot back. “I see that look in your eyes. Your relish battle, live for it.” “I wouldn’t go that far…” Iynx shook her head. “My people were built around war. In our earliest days that nearly destroyed us, before we began to accept the friendship of others. Still, our warrior culture remains to this day. Almost all griffons learn how to fight.” “A requirement?” he asked. “Not at all,” Iynx stated. “Once, perhaps. But not for a couple millennia. If a griffon doesn’t have the stomach for it, that’s their own prerogative. Most simply choose to do so because it’s a part of who we are.” “And yet you deny your warrior’s spirit?” Iynx rolled her eyes. “I never said that. I’m a griffon, but I’m also an officer of the ESP. I won’t shy away from a fight, I am a tactical officer after all, but I don’t relish fighting or killing. Quite the opposite.” “Admirable,” Teneer stated. “One should never let death become normal to them, lest it destroys all that is good within that person.” Ronaar rolled his eyes. “And that is why he is the Elder.” “Not by choice,” Teneer pointed out. Ronaar smirked. “Still, Iynx, let us see how that griffon warrior spirit holds up in the fight to come.” Iynx smirked back. “And what of the Sha’Du? I have yet to see you do more than take down a couple, while we slagged an entire group of them.” “That sounds like a challenge.” “I suppose it does.” “You finished measuring dicks?” Nimble Star asked, more than a little bemused. “It gets a little boring after a while.” Iynx gave him an amused, and slightly mischievous glace. “You’re just annoyed that the griffons would have kicked Equestria’s ass several times over without the princesses.” Nimble gave them a glare. “Excuse me? I think you would find the EUP is perfectly capable today, and has been perfectly capable since its founding.” “Capable, just not up to griffon standards.” “Oh? Have you forgotten about the battle of Baltimare, a couple months after the attempted coup by Nightmare Moon? If I recall, the griffons decided that was the perfect time to perform an attack of their own, and failed miserably.” Iynx scoffed. “Yes, and only because Princess Celestia led the EUP personally.” Nimble’s glare hardened, his comeback prepared as the others looked on. “This… could go on a while,” Silver Wrench deadpanned, Geneser just giving a chuckle along with her nod of agreement. The argument did not go on a while, however, as the helmspony and First Officer were stopped when the transport jolted to a halt. A loud bang drew their attention to the roof of the transport, where it sounded like Princess Twilight had just landed. Not a moment later, Xal emerged from the cockpit and examined the others with a grim expression. “We’re here.” Princess Twilight stood atop the transport, looking steel faced towards a large boulder in front of the transport, the boulder itself stood at the head of a large rocky outcropping. The boulder also had a couple dozen drones all lined in formation with weapons raised towards them, but that didn’t hold the Princess’ interest; rather, her eyes were locked with the one who stood on top of the boulder smirking arrogantly at her, a sharin, J’Poc himself. “So, you’re the little trouble makers who just couldn’t die in their shuttle like good boys and girls.” “J’Poc, I presume?” The sharin gave a mocking bow. “In the flesh. Though I must say, I’ve never seen a creature such as you before.” “You could say we’re new on the block,” Twilight responded. “But it matters not, your little ‘kingdom’ ends here. You torture of these people shall not continue.” “And why do you care? They’re just savages.” “There is only one savage here. Surrender, we’ve already beaten many of your drones. And whatever else you can throw at us will too be destroyed.” “Oh, I know.” Twilight blinked. “You do?” “Of course, what do you take me for?” J’Poc responded with fake offense showing on his face. “I’m not a moron. You have abilities that are very, very alien. I was not prepared for somebody like you, I know when I am outmatched.” He formed a grin on his face, no seeming like someone admitting defeat. “It’s also true anything I throw at you would likely be destroyed. Even if I killed those pretty little companions of yours and all those damned primitives, I would still have you to deal with. I mean, wow! Just look at that hair! Screw gravity, right?” “Are you done?” Twilight deadpanned. J’Poc chuckled. “Done? My dear, are you honestly asking me that? I cannot beat you, but one thing they can do, is slow you down!” Just then, the air around them shimmered, and four large turrets seemed to appear out of thin air. “They were cloaked!” Twilight bellowed in her Royal Canterlot Voice. “Out of the transport, now!” “And they weren’t cheap, it was these things or better armour for the drones I’m afraid” J’Poc stated, drawing a plasma pistol as he began backing away. “Now I would love to have his dance with you, but I must depart.” Twilight couldn’t pursue him as the four turrets homed in on the transport and four green beams erupted toward it, forcing Twilight to place up a large shield to protect them as the crew and hunters all clamoured out of the vehicle. The drones also opened fire, downing two hunters as the rest charged into the enemy full of both bravado and rage. Xal spotted J’Poc fleeing, and fired a phaser beam in his direction, it only missing by a few metres. “Damn!” he shouted. “Princess, logically he must heading for his ship!” The Princess leapt from the transport to the ground as the turrets fired again, pacing up another shield around them as the transport exploded into a large scorching fireball. “Iynx, get after him!” Twilight ordered. “The rest of us will aid the Sha’Du and then join you after this lot have gone.” “Aye, ma’am!” Iynx confirmed, priming her phaser and using her wings to propel herself after J’Poc. “Not alone you’re not!” Ronaar declared after spearing a drone, running after the griffon as fast as his two legs would carry him. “Ronaar!” Teneer shouted after the hunter, but went unheard. “What is he doing?!” “They can both look after themselves,” Nimble stated as he shot dead one of the machines. “Let’s focus on the immediate problem. A beam of lavender shot past, reducing one of the armoured turrets to dust within moments as Twilight turned her attention to the remaining three. Despite dividing her attention between attacking and defending her allies, J’Poc was correct, they would ultimately only slow her down temporarily. As the alicorn and those fighting with her dealt with the automatons, Iynx and Ronaar were in hot pursuit of J’Poc. Several individual drones met them along the way, but were quickly despatched by phaser, spear and talon. The path they followed led around the large outcropping of rocks and towards a large clearing with several Sha’Du slaves slinking back in fear. At the centre of the clearing the Interceptor was perched, one of the airlocks open with a boarding ramp extended. However, there was no sign of J’Poc. “Where is he?” Ronaar asked as the two came to a stop at the entrance of the clearing. “That is the thing he arrived in, is he already aboard?” “If that was the case, then why hasn’t he-” She was cut off as a hoof connected with the back of her head, knocking the griffon to the ground. “Iynx!” Ronaar shouted, spinning and darting his spear forwards. J’Poc rolled to the side, firing a blind shot at Ronaar. The shot missed the man, but disintegrated his primitive weapon. Ronaar darted forwards and grappled J’Poc before he could react, but the equine was easily able to buck him off and to the ground. Despite this, before J’Poc could take any other action he was forced to avoid a phaser beam fired by a recovered Iynx, firing back as he took cover behind a tree at the edge of the clearing. As the sharin prepared himself from behind the cover, his predatory eyes locked onto something. Ronaar was only just recovered and attempting to rise to his feet, and he was out of cover in the space between Iynx and J’Poc. Iynx also spotted this. “Ronaar, move!” Iynx shouted as she darted forwards to the man’s aid. Ronaar was only able to glance towards her as a plasma beam impacted his side, vaporising the hunter where he stood. Iynx gave a shout of rage as she kept moving forwards, taking to the air as she holstered has pistol. J’Poc fired shots at her but she nimbly avoided them all as she bared down onto him. Her talons reached for his neck, but he stopped them with his right leg barring the way. However, Iynx’s claws buried deep into his plasma pistol, rendering it inoperable. In response, he ripped off Iynx’s holster attached to her armour, throwing it to one side. With both combatants now unarmed, they each threw punched and kicks and one another. Iynx was able to score a few good hits with her claws, cutting deep into his flesh, something that would likely scar. Instead of waning, however, J’Poc’s rage grew. He ducked under one of Iynx’s swipes, his hoof meeting her face a moment later, knocking her to the ground. J’Poc was running out of time, and he knew it. The Princess would be coming any moment, and thus he had to leave. J’Poc kicked Iynx in the stomach, before bolting for his ship. Seeing this, Iynx forced herself upwards as she lunged for her discarded phaser, turning to fire a shot. She hesitated, however. J’Poc, knowing her next likely action, had grabbed one of the slaves as he ran and was now using them as a meat shield; to make matters all the worse, the slave in question was a mere child. He was also attaching something to the back of the distraught crying child’s neck. “Catch the ‘bad guy’, or save the kid, your choice!” he exclaimed, pushing the child forwards before bolting off towards his ship again. Iynx made her choice in under a second. The griffon rushed forwards to the child’s side, turning him over to examine the device. A red light was blinking, and it was beeping. She tugged at it, only causing the child to bawl harder as the device had been fused to his skin. Iynx groaned, taking her phaser and adjusting the setting to an extremely low but precise yield. “This might hurt, kid.” Iynx aimed her weapon at where the device attached to the kids neck, the beeping increasing in intensity. With extreme care she fired the phaser, taking off the skin the device was attached to as the child screamed in excruciating pain, though bravely tried to remain as still as possible. With it detached she took the device in one claw and threw it as far into the air as she could, and it was there it exploded mere moments later. Several of the adult Sha’Du rushed forwards to the child’s aid, and with who Iynx assumed to be his mother whispering comforts into his ear as he held onto her for dear life, the mother looking at Iynx gratefully. Iynx nodded, turning to pursue J’Poc, only to witness the Interceptor rising into the air as its impulse engines then propelled it high up into the sky. “Commander!” Iynx glance behind her, seeing Princess Twilight land just next to her. The alicorn’s eyes were trained on the fleeing starship, before her gaze moved to First Officer. “What happened?” “And where is Ronaar?” Teneer asked, he and the others rushing to catch up with the Princess. Iynx simply shook her head, and Teneer got the meaning with a great sadness at the loss of his friend. “Princess, can you go after him?” Ensign Nimble Star asked. “If I was as fast a flyer as Rainbow Dash,” she responded in annoyance. “I wouldn’t catch up in time before they jump, it’s up to the Harmony now.” The atmosphere grew thinner and thinner as the Interceptor continue to rush upwards through the sky. The blue sky beginning to fall away to the blackness of outer space. J’Poc allowed himself to relax a little as he sat at his ship’s helm. He was alone, none of the other stations were manned. Stars could be seen out of his viewscreen as he left the planet and headed into space, making his timely escape. But this was not a victory for him by any stretch. His kingdom, his subjects… All had been taken from him by those aliens. He could have lived out the rest of his life as a king, a god. Instead, he was alone with a single lowly scout ship. His drone forces were all scrap metal, all of his toys had been used up delaying his enemies as they converged onto him. But he was always resourceful, he would find a way to repay them in kind for the humiliation they had dealt him. Ideas were already pouring into his twisted mind, tortures that he could inflict. He would kill that entire crew and all those they cared about, but three in particular deserved his attention. That sharin among them, it was likely his fault they came to the planet at all. That alien who had fought with him on the surface, the one with the features of both a feline and an avian. And finally there was their leader, he was very interested in her. His musings continued as his escape drew closer, only a little further and he would be able to safely jump to warp speed and finally be rid of his pursuers. It was then a beeping caught his attention, the instruments in front of him showing a ship incoming. He switched the viewscreen to view aft, and sure enough a starship consisting of a saucer and two nacelles was veering down towards him. On the Harmony’s bridge, the acting command crew studied the ship displayed on the viewscreen. Combat alert had already been sounded, and the crew were all at battle stations. “Sir?” the tactical officer called out to the acting captain. The pony studied the enemy vessel a moment longer, and then gave the order. “Fire.” The Harmony fired its phasers at the fleeing scout ship, scoring a direct hit on the aft shield and heavily damaging them. The Interceptor initiated evasive manoeuvres, not even bothering to fire back at the much larger starship. That, and focusing on a fight and flying at the same time would put J’Poc at a distinct disadvantage. The Harmony moved to adjust itself to the smaller ship’s evasive pattern, though its phasers missed the next few shots. The Harmony rounded the Interceptor as it tried to slink away again, but this time their targeting was on point. Phasers slammed into the ship’s back shields, and a torpedo finally evaporated them completely. Sparks flew across the Interceptor’s bridge, J’Poc seeing his foe targeting his ship’s warp core. “You’ve pushed me to my limits,” he growled. “But I have one last trick just for you.” The Interceptor shot upwards and did a barrel role as it went, speeding forwards in the opposite direction towards the Harmony as it dodged three torpedoes sent its way. A phaser skimmed the hull, taking out a chunk which was quickly sealed with an emergency forcefield. The Interceptor danced its way over the Harmony’s hull, flying over the saucer as the phasers moved to train back in on J’Poc. “A gift for you.” A hatch on the back of the Interceptor blew open, revealing a custom made compartment out of which a device not dissimilar to the one Commander Iynx extracted from the Sha’Du child’s neck was ejected into space above the ES Harmony. “Sir!” the Harmony’s helmspony shouted. “He just dropped something!” “Something? What something?” The tactical officer looked at his instruments, alarm building quickly. “It’s a mine!” The acting captain’s eyes widened. “Evade!” The mine armed, its detonation imminent. The Interceptor was temporarily forgotten, and as the scout ship again fled the ES Harmony dived out of the way. It rushed away from the incoming explosion as fast as it could possibly go, the mine erupting into a gigantic explosion of epic proportions that the Harmony was just barely able to outrun. However, the ship was knocked off course by the shockwave. The much faster Interceptor sped away from the scene, J’Poc looking back at the Harmony in both satisfaction and relief. Then, the Interceptor jumped to warp. He was gone.