Chapter 18
The automated protocols that were nestled deep inside Odrick’s vessel guided the destroyer slowly over the great city. Like a bloodthirsty shark stalking its prey, the black vessel hummed menacingly over the alien city, its great shadow blanketing all beneath.
The distant blue aura of atmospheric recycling towers glowed in the far distance. The massive stacks that made up their impressive height were hidden behind a never parting veil of toxic chemical haze so thick that a chainsaw could be blunted from trying to cut through it.
Countless years of endless industry had filled the planet’s atmosphere with poison, the engines from the Lesser Captain’s warship igniting the atmosphere behind it in a sickly green flame.
The high intensity lamps of the landing strip glared up at the vessel through the smog, alerting the crew to where they were to land should the systems fail. The landing gear absorbed the touchdown with a screech, billowing smoke from the tires into the paneless windows of a poverty stricken suburb, just behind the runway.
A long electrified chain link fence with sharp razor wire looped not only along the top, but also along the base and middle of the barrier deterred any unwanted civilians from entering the militarized compound.
Odrick smirked wickedly as the ship came to a halt near the vicious fence. A few low ranking gun-seekers on break were standing near the fence line, cackling madly in amusement as they threw the bodies of several Thuds onto the fence, watching their flesh buzz with the electricity.
The Lesser Captain smiled. Even on their break the gun-seekers continued to do their part for the Scyre: removing the sick and useless.
A long gangway swung out of the fog towards the ship, docking with the airlock in a flurry of sparks, allowing the crew to disembark from the ship.
A guard approached Odrick, “Scyre Zar Suul, Captain Lower Rank Six Odrick, what is your business in the capital? You have registered a priority-” Odrick interrupted the guards speech with a shove
“I have already logged my reason for arrival and arranged a meeting with Swarm Command, I have no time for a low-caste like you!” He swept forward as his Second maintained a respectful distance slightly behind him and to his side.
Odrick quickly crossed the gap between the landing area and the entrance to the fortress that held the highest ranked Scyre military leaders, from the High Captains to the Admirals and finally Swarm Command, the Great Quads and on rare occasions Sentinel Fidelitas himself. the building known as The Hive was the nerve-center of the Scyre’s dreams of hegemony.
The guards parted to allow him entry, Odrick quickly made his way to the elevator that would take him to his meeting with Swarm Command. As the pod rose on anti-gravity propulsion, he turned towards his Second. “Just think, I will be the first captain to survive an encounter with a Terron Battleship. Perhaps I will give my report to the Great Quads!”
“Caution is advised Captain. The Great Quads decide what is worth their attention, not you.” Second replied calmly, used to its Captain’s moods and ego.
“I know that!” Odrick snapped. Despite the terse reply, the Second knew that its advice had been listened to. It had been with Odrick for a very long time after all.
“So long as you know, Captain,” The Second replied as the elevator doors opened and they exited into the hallway leading to the auditorium where Swarm Command conducted the business of running the military.
“You know,” Odrick mused, “It is a pity that you are my Second, any other in your position would have reclaimed her gender by now.”
“While your reputation among females...precedes you, I have found you a skilled and honourable Captain.” Second replied, voice as neutral as the day it was given to Odrick.
“Hah! Being careful with your words? You? My sword-tongued Second? You must be more nervous about this meeting than I, and I am very nervous.” Odrick ended his statement with a laugh but they both could hear the quiver in the usually egotistical sound.
“As you say.” Second replied as the guards moved and the doors slid open silently to allow them entry.
The auditorium was filled with the sub-sonic noise of hundreds of Scyre communicating amongst each other, sharing data in such a way that all knew what the other was saying. Hundreds of conversations were being held simultaneously but there was no confusion. Odrick felt honoured to be before these, the most senior and skilled of commanders, Scyre who commanded fleets that numbered in the millions.
Finally, the subsonic orchestra died down and all eyes turned to Captain Odrick, “Captain Lower Rank Six Odrick, you have been allowed to appear before us t-”
Odrick suddenly stepped forward, “I have encountered and gained valuable data from the Terron Battleship known as Yamato. This information must be presented personally to the Great Quads, if not Sentinel Fidelitas himself!”
Second stared at its Captain in shock for the highly disrespectful breach of protocol as Swarm Command stared at him with over a hundred pairs of eyes.
Odrick seemed to remember where he was and his head dropped as Swarm Command spoke, “Your excitement at encountering and surviving the Terron Battleship has made you forget your place. You will be forgiven this transgression. Once.”
Odrick went to speak but Swarm Command interrupted him. “However, that does not excuse your request of a meeting before you are due to report. Your information had best be valuable, or there shall be consequences. Furthermore, we decide what is worth the attention of the Great Quads. Not you.”
“Second!” Odrick barked and Second stepped forward, eyes closed, before they snapped open projecting images out to reveal detailed scans of the Yamato, along with recordings of the Yamato’s weaponry and movements, “Swarm Command, this the combat data gained from the heroic sacrifice of Destroyer Squadron Sixteen. As you can see, its armaments remain potent even after all this time, but we have confirmed that though it is crewed, they are not familiar with the full functionality of the vessel.”
“These are large claims you boast, Lesser Captain. I trust you have evidence to support this hypothesis?” Swarm Command asked.
Odrick cleared his throat, “From what both myself and my crew observed, the weaponry skills were poor at best, clearly not up to the minimum standards of Terron warfare that we are familiar with.”
Swarm command responded. “You’re certain of this?”
Odrick nodded, “I believe the ship has been restored by and is crewed by Primitives, who are using it to take their first steps into the Greater Magellanic Cloud. With the permission of Swarm Command, I wish to take command of a greater-sized task force and capture this ship for the Scyre!”
Swarm Command was silent, all eyes on him and Odrick felt himself begin to sweat.
Finally, they replied, “You make bold claims about the nature of this vessel. Terron vessels are rightly feared for their power, and only those who run from battle have survived them. The Scyre tolerate no weakness in their ranks. What is it about you that is so different that you survived battle without running? We think you are a coward, who hid and took pictures while Destroyer Squadron Sixteen gained honour in death. If you did not turn on them yourself before scanning a wandering derelict inhabited by mindless scavengers.”
Odrick didn’t reply, he simply maintained his neutral expression in the face of their glares. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally said, “Very well, what do you require?”
Odrick kept his face neutral, as emotion could sour this. “I require a full squadron of battlecruisers to deal with this threat.”
“Denied.” Swarm Command stated, “We have no full squadrons to send. We will allow you a half-squadron of battlecruisers and a Carrier to deal with this.”
A Carrier...the Yamato showed no fighter coverage, so that would be an advantage. Odrick bowed low, “I accept the wisdom of Swarm Command.”
“Bring victory or die. Scyre Zar Suul,” Swarm Command ordered.
“Ark Suul,” Odrick and Second replied curtly.
If there was one thing Scyre prided themselves on, it would be their incredible efficiency. Vallynrick had barely made two rotations before the requested vessels were lined up and primed in formation.
Second sighed, its metallic umbrella keeping the corrosive rain off of its hide. It watched silently as lowly military crew, those who hadn’t yet been trusted on vessels yet, directed the final preparations. The thick, viscous rain bounced off the thick hull of the carrier that Second stood next to, hearing the deafening drumming beating off of its walls. To its right, it could see several dozen civilians gathered at the fenceline, all cautiously waiting a good few body lengths behind the electric fence as it sizzled in the rain.
It was common for those who weren’t part of the Scyre legion to watch the launching of entire fleets. Despite being the homeworld capital’s military installation, ships rarely launched from there. Instead, most larger, better equipped warships launched from other, more restricted colonies on other worlds.
The door to the fortress behind Second rattled open, the glaring yellow light washing out onto the wet, shining taxiway. With the blare of a ceremonial bugle, a long river of gun-drones marched out in a rows four strong.
The occasional flag cropped up in the centre of the four marching lines, giving an extremely formal, foreboding presence to the soldiers as they boarded their respective craft.
Had the Second been able to snort in displeasure it would have. No other base that it had been stationed at had bothered with the ceremony of rolling out their soldiers like the legion’s newest toys. Only the capital what with being directly in public view would need to maintain its image in such a grandiose way.
The four lines of marching gun-drones split, the line on the far left walking the furthest to a small dreadnought. As they marched, their path brought them closest to the fence, allowing the civilians to look directly at them in full detail. A young child, barely old enough to serve in Juvie Corps, cheered gleefully from her mothers back.
“Go get em! Scyre Zar Suul!” she hollered.
with a bout of excitement, she sprang off from her parents back, rushing to the fenceline, watching the ‘hoof’ falls of the soldiers marching by. Several of the gun-drones snorted in annoyance at the noisy infant hollering beside them, before one took action.
“Hold your tongue you filthy Thud!” he spat, his saliva arcing through the fence and landing on one of the youngling’s forelegs.
The small child gasped in disgust, wiping the offending gunk off of her leg. Her mother simply hung her head. There was no use in defending her offspring it wasn’t worth the trouble.
Second snorted in disgust, showing as much emotion as it could muster. With a flick of its head it instead directed its attention back to the ships.
Three destroyers and a carrier sat waiting for the off. Second recalled the mood that Odrick had been in when he had seen the crafts for the first time. Swarm Command had not been generous with their turnout. Instead of a half squadron of two battlecruisers, one destroyer and a carrier they had instead granted only three destroyers and the carrier.
The final kicker that had completely Odrick seething was the condition of the destroyers. Older models, kept by the capital for their looks and status. The Brut-Kar class destroyers were well regarded in their era, but as times changed the noble vessels had been pushed aside in favour of stronger, faster, more brutal ships.
Second was glad it was standing in the chemical downpour. It was obviously a nicer alternative to being stuck in the bridge of the carrier with the short fused captain.
It sighed. Soon it would be time. With luck, Odrick would be in a better mood once at his command throne.
The distant sound of the launch klaxons began to howl around the complex, signaling to all that the runway was about to become swamped with thruster fire and exhaust. Second turned away slowly, marching through the hot rain towards the large carrier.
The agile fighters that were magnetically clamped to its deck began to shudder as the massive craft beneath them stirred, the airlock doors sliding shut with a hiss and a thump of locks just as Second entered.
The thruster ports along the carrier slid open like the aperture of a camera. Powerful jets of flame began to sputter and cough, the engines forcing them to start. With a sudden kick over, the thrusters changed colour from a dull red to a blazing blue, the force pushing the panels of the hull tighter into the ship.
The navigators nested within the bridge nodded in synchronization, simultaneously pouring more power into the belly mounted engines. The old carrier groaned, its massive weight ever so slowly being taken off of the landing gear until a space formed under it.
The wheels retracted into the hull, hiding behind the thick shielding that protected the cumbersome ship from underside attacks.
As the carrier rose into the storming atmosphere, the three Brut-Kar destroyers taxied behind one another, the older model vessels not possessing the ability to take off vertically. Through the haze of the rain, the distant amber lamp changed to green, signalling the pilot of the warship to give the ship its all.
The first of the destroyers shot forward down the strip, the weaker belly thrusters firing relentlessly, trying to force the nose up. With a roaring drone, the Brut-Kar class pitched up violently, the gear barely clearing the ramshackle, poverty stricken slums at the far end of the military zone.
The flimsy, almost paper thin walls rattled dangerously, each of the three destroyers threatening to simply blow the cheap housing as the thundered overhead.
Odrick smiled wickedly in his seat, the destroyers lining up in formation around the carrier, two beside one behind.
‘It does not matter how little Swarm Command rates my worth in this mission. I will secure that Terron Battleship, and save the Homeworld from its own poison. I will not fail. Not when so much is at stake.’
The warp emitter mounted within the carrier began to whine into life, the destroyers relying on the newer ship for mass distance transport, being too small to harbor their own warp drives. The four ships ascended into the thick of the cloud layer, the emitter beginning to glow dangerously.
Second spoke evenly “Engage warp.”
The navigators nodded in sync, both turning their respective keys in their consoles, unleashing the fury of space bending energy.
The deafening blare of the emitter echoed over the capital, its ear splitting while sounding like that of a foghorn powered by anger. The gate opened with a sharp bang, its shockwave stripping the toxic clouds around it away for a few moments, allowing the capital to see the stars for but a moment, as the ships sailed through.
“No, no no! If you do it like that, you’re gonna snap the drill piece! Take it slow,” Applejack said, chiding the careless crewmembers.
The drillers snorted, starting the drill with a more gentler approach, carefully boring a long hole in the ice of the asteroid the Yamato was currently docked to. The last unexpected attack had damaged the water system within the ship. While not any major damage it meant that the ship rapidly began to lose its water supplies. The situation would be dire had the crew not been fortunate enough to wander into a massive asteroid cluster.
Despite sustaining several dents and scuffs when lazily bumping into the building sized lumps of ice, a particularly large one became a blessing.
Applejack moved over to another drill site, the extreme low gravity on the small rock meaning that she had to be incredibly careful with her jumps and hops. Slowly ducking under the massive chain of the anchor that had jammed itself into the ice, she approached the second crew.
“How’s it going over here?” She asked,watching a steady stream of slush pump out of the rear of the drill, straight into the Yamato.
“We’re good over here, but one drill isn’t gonna cut it. If that other bunch over there don’t get their heads on straight were either gonna burn out this drill, or spend all week here filling up this tank!” the young mare said through her suit.
Applejack grunted. “Alright, I’mma see what I can do, keep at it.”
The mare sighed as she sailed back over to the other group. She had been wrong, feeding three hundred ponies was nothing at all like looking after a few hundred head of cattle. The stress of the job was starting to eat away at her, subconsciously longing for her simple life of an Apple again.
However, she wasn’t one to complain. She had a job to do, and even if she had originally doubted her trust in the princess, she followed her orders implicitly. After all, without her role in it all, both her and her friends, not to mention all the others on the Yamato would perish in the depths of space.
Shaking the morbid thoughts from her head, she instead concentrated on the task at hand. Noting the now steady stream of ice and watery mush sliding through the pipe she spoke to the drillers.
“All A-okay now?”
The drillers nodded. “Yep, we got it under control now. Tanks should be green in... an hour, maybe?”
Applejack nodded, turning away to report her status. “Yamato, this is Drilling. Team One and Two are both fully underway, can you give us an ETA on when the tanks will be filled?”
“You know AJ, ETA means ‘Estimated Time of Arrival,’ what you just said technically made no sense,” the voice of Twilight responded, almost smugly.
“Har har, Twi. Now come on, how long have ah gotta stand out here? This ain’t exactly a barrel of fun.”
“Checking now AJ... About fifty minutes if conditions stay regular.”
“That would be my luck. I’ve got this gut feeling that something’s gonna go teats up.”
Twilight giggled. “That’s Murphneigh’s law for you.”
“Alright Twilight. Catch ya when I get back inside,” Applejack said before the line dropped with a small buzz.
Twilight lent back her her seat, taking off the earphones with a lip sputtering sigh.
“At least it’s a long, boring work day instead of nearly getting blown apart.” The sensor operator, Quick Glance, spoke up from her station.
Twilight rolled her head over to her, nodding, “I’m just glad we didn’t get into another fight. And I’ll be glad if we don’t get into another.”
Quick Glance giggled and Twilight glanced over at the mare, who coughed with a smile on her face, “You just jinxed us, you know that?”
Twilight groaned, “Please, not that old mare’s tale. The chances of us getting another battle are literally astronomical! I mean, look at this asteroid field!” She waved a hoof at it, “The amount of space between this field and the nearest one is so huge that if we just picked a direction we’d never reach it!”
She flopped back in her chair, “I never knew it was so big. So empty…”
Quick Glance nodded, “You know what else is empty? This ship!” She threw up her hooves, “I mean, how hard is it to rig up a radio station to the ship’s intercom? I thought this Pinkie Pie mare was some kind of genius when it came to this sort of stuff!”
“She is, but that’s more in the area of parties. Like that party after the battle.” Twilight responded.
Quick Glance shrugged, “I guess. It just feels...boring. At least with the alarms going there’s some kind of li-” The ship-wide intercom suddenly screeched to life as a pink party pony’s voice rang out through the ship.
“Hi everypony! And welcome to the first broadcast of Yamato Ship Radio! I’m your host, Pinkie Pie and boy have we got some super-splendiferous, fantastic treats for all of you!”
Twilight blinked twice. “That was awfully convenient.”
Quick Glance shrugged as music began to play, “Meh, at least now I can listen to something other than sensor pings all day. Besides, I heard you don’t try to understand that mare. Something about going crazy if you do.”
Twilight rolled her eyes again before Quick Glance spoke up again, “So, what do you think’s going on in the turrets that they need the Weapons Officer down there? It sounded pretty important from the way that engineer was acting.”
Twilight was silent for a moment, before she replied, “I don’t know. Something about one of the barrels running a little hot?”
“Well, whatever it is, I hope they fix it soon. None of us want to get into a fight, but the universe doesn’t exactly give a damn about what ponykind wants, does it?” Quick Glance groused, and Twilight found herself nodding in agreement as she looked down at the Yamato’s gun turrets.
“All I can say is that more power was being routed through this breach than those two. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem as long as you don’t go blasting asteroids apart for fun,” a gruff, elderly engineer said to Rainbow Dash, referring to the large loading mechanism that fed the mighty shock cannon.
Rainbow nodded, respecting what the engineer was telling her. “Alright so we keep the load off of this gun? That could overwork the other four turrets though.”
“Maybe but that’s unlikely. But if it makes you feel better I’ll see if I can jury rig a bypass around that barrel until we fix it,” the engineer grunted, looking towards the offending breach at the rear of the troublesome chamber.
“Okay, see to it. We don’t want a repeat of what happened with the type threes,” Rainbow stated firmly.
The engineer looked down, before speaking slowly. “Ma’am, one of my good friends was operating that turret when the misfire happened. They had to wash him out of the gun house with a hose. Trust me when I say I will do everything in my power to make sure that we never lose another life to our own ship.”
Rainbow nodded in respect, turning without another word to exit the massive weapon housing. The pegasus slumped inside the elevator as she journeyed back up towards the bridge. It still hurt when anypony mentioned the stallions who died in the misfire. She still felt responsible for their deaths, and any gruesome detail that she uncovered continued to spread the guilt on her.
The elevator dinged, snapping Rainbow out of her thoughts, making her spring back up to attention. She couldn’t appear weak, she had done enough of that in her room and even Apollo witnessing it was far too many.
With a strong face, she marched forward, until she heard the voice of her party crazed friend.
“And for all of you who missed my ‘Thank Celestia we survived’ party, don’t worry, I’m going to do my best to give you all a little mini-party! Just think, it’ll be a party, but mini!”
Rainbow smirked. Celestia was right to put Pinkie on the ships P.A. In a time like this she really needed a little bit of laughter.
“So keep smiling everypony! This is Pinkie Pie, bringing you the tunes of Yamato Ship Radio!”
Soft, soothing yet charming music slowly began to waft through the recycled air. The poofy, pink DJ living up to her reputation as the Smile Maker. The tune wasn’t overpowering, yet it wasn’t so quiet it sounded somber, it was simply happy.
The door to the bridge rattled open swiftly, allowing Rainbow Dash to return to her station.
“Long range sensors have confirmation of the target. One Terron Battleship matching the profile of the Yamato.” A sensor-drone reported as a dot blinked on a screen.
On his command throne, Captain Odrick smiled, “And what is our target doing?”
“Currently it is parked on top of an asteroid, the crew may be recovering water and oxygen for their stores.” The same sensor drone reported.
Odrick nodded, “Ready the fighters for launch! Prepare for a tactical warp and standby! The enemy is unaware and distracted by their needs, so we shall be like the cave scorpions and ambush them at their most vulnerable!”
“Ark Suul!” The crew responded in unison as Second closed it’s eyes and began relaying orders to the Seconds aboard the other vessels.
At the center of the small formation, a three-tiered vessel was a hive of activity as sleek fighters were crewed by their pilots, flight crews checking the connections to the massive multi-barreled energy cannon that was their main weapon while missiles were loaded into rotating launch drums.
“All fighters, your objective is the enemy battleship codenamed ‘Yamato’. You face a Terron weapon from times past, do not underestimate it!”
Down on the triple layered flight decks, the sickly green and black fighters were hastily being locked down for launch. Clamps mounted in the decks hissed as they firmly bit into the wheels of the crafts, making sure that weren’t going anywhere. Gun drones and pilots scurried around, desperately trying to make their way back inside out of the vacuum. Scyre ships always warped on schedule. It wasn’t uncommon for personnel to get ‘Locked out’.
Deep inside the belly of the carrier, two long rectangular boxes that stretched from bow to stern began to scream. A beam of photons bounced between both ends, as the ships engines roared into overdrive the photons began to travel faster than the speed of light.
“Opening warp channels in fifteen Rens,” Second droned.
A massive antenna protruding from the nose of the vessel began to warm, energy pulsing through it, waiting for its time.
“Ten Rens.”
The three destroyers flying alongside the carrier swiftly brought themselves in close. The destroyers didn’t want to miss the opening, only the carrier possessed warp hardware.
“Five, four, three, two one. Opening channels.”
The antenna glowed, A brilliant white laser of white energy accelerating away from the ship. The flotilla quickly sailed over the long white marker line waiting for it to activate. Once the ships were dead on the center, the single line expanded into a massive cylinder, swallowing all four ships. It lasted but a second, before instantly collapsing down to a singularity, disappearing into the void, along with it the Scyre vessels.
Inside the Yamato, Quick Glance head snapped to her screen, “What the?”
The radar pinged loudly, screaming at the bridge crew for attention. Other sensors began to shout angrily at the ponies, demanding that action be taken.
“Whoa, whoa whoa! What in the name of Luna’s sky is happening?” Quick glance shouted, showing her skill working her station as the alarms were all noted.
A brilliant flash of white light filled with Yamato’s windows, not too unlike the Wave Motion Guns blinding muzzle flash.
A worker on the asteroid outside grunted, holding a hoof up to block the light. Blinking, the spots in her vision vanished, allowing her to see the mass of shapes approaching, “Huh?”
Seconds later, an ice outcropping near her exploded, the asteroid becoming a target for ordinance. The Scyre wasted no time in launching the fighters, immediately sending them to attack. Dust and ice sprayed from each impact as Applejack looked up to see them, “Tarnation! Everypony inside! Now!”
“The Yamato is fourteen Klyms from our position. Shall we open fire?” Second asked.
Odrick shook his head. “We need to wipe out as many of their crew before we send in the destroyers. We can’t risk bringing them into range of those cannons. We shall wait until the fighters disable them.”
“Very well captain,” Second agreed, turning to the microphone. “Second squadron launch.”
The second wave of sleek ships roared, their small engines growling in the vacuum. The clamps around the wheels released with a hiss, allowing the vessels to thunder forwards, galloping off of the decks like bees from a busted hive.
“Battlestation!” Rainbow screamed into the P.A. cutting Pinkie’s broadcast short. already plugging in the firing codes for the mighty shock cannons, Celestia suddenly teleported herself onto the bridge.
“Whats going on,” she asked in a level but stern tone.
“We’ve been engaged by unknown hostiles. Possible the same ones that we fought before,” Quick Glance said, not looking up from her monitor.
An explosion rocked the bridge in a violent shudder, one of the fighter releasing a flurry of explosives on the AA cannons.
“Twilight! Full power to engines, we’ve got to get moving!” Celestia commanded.
Twilight nodded shakily, pushing a stray lock of her mane behind her ear. With a swift press of a button, the rocket anchor slammed back into the the side of the ship.
The Wave Motion Engine flared to life, a long column of fire being launched into the asteroid field around them. The massive lumbering ship began to accelerate, bouncing rocks of ice and rock off of the hull.
Twilight grunted as she heaved the yoke into a hard right, the ship groaning in protest as she forced it to avoid a massive chunk of rock. The maneuver forced the Yamato to slow to a crawl as it bent around the tight confines of the asteroid field, exposing its broad sides to the enemy fighters.
The remaining AA cannons roared with an eye watering blurr, angrily slicing at the attacking alien crafts. The spaceplanes thundered over and under the ship, never letting up their barrage of bombs and bullets.
“It’s no good! We’ll never get away from them in here!” Twilight cried, coaxing the ship to make it over another oversized rock.
“Rainbow Dash, ready the fighters. We need to protect the Yamato,” Celestia spoke clearly to the pegasus, who was shouting herself raw, giving orders down the line.
Rainbow whipped around. “Captain, the fighters have only just finished their refits. We’re not even sure they all work! Half of them don’t even have their weapons yet!”
“Then take what you can and give the Yamato some breathing space. We just need to get into an opening.”
Rainbow made to respond but quickly closed her mouth and nodded once. Her captain wouldn’t lead her astray. Without another word, her wings snapped open and she shot out of the bridge towards the hangar.
The hangar in the belly of the Yamato was in a state of panic, like one could see when an ants nest was dug up. Pilots, technicians and ponies caught in the fray galloped, stumbled and shouted. The sleek fighters were rotating in their barrel, the zero G environment helping the technicians snap them onto the long belt that would launch them.
Rainbow Dash wasted no time in finding her way to the first fighter. Poised right at the front of the belt it sat atop the currently closed hangar door, waiting for the off. Before she could strap herself in however, a familiar voice called her out.
“Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow looked around. “Lyra!?” she gasped.
“Long time no see Dash. I’d give you a hug but were kinda busy you know,” the unicorn said, with an accompanying muffled boom.
“What are you doing on the Yamato? I thought I knew all the ponies who worked in the hangar.”
“No, you know all the pilots. They fly under your jurisdiction. I’m a technician, I fall under Apollo.”
“Figures.”
“But we don’t have time for that right now! This isn’t your fighter, you're an X.O you get a Cosmo Zero!” Lyra bounced up and down excitedly as best she could in microgravity. Her mood betraying the situation.
“A Zero? Really! I mean, yeah okay lead the way!” Rainbow pushed her, which only served to push her backwards.
“No time, hold on!” Lyra shouted before her horn glowed. With a popping zap, that sounding incredibly similar to an old time camera flash, the two mares suddenly disappeared.
The pair reappeared on the ceiling, the two rare Zero’s sitting side by side. Lyra wasted no time in slamming her hoof onto a large red button on the wall that awoke the machine.
The cockpit opened with a hiss and the wings slowly unfolded like a bird spreading its wings. The part of the ceiling it was mounted on suddenly lit up with dozens of lights mounted into the pad.
“Get in!” Lyra commanded.
Rainbow immediately flapped into the cockpit of massive machine and immediately looked over the controls for a moment before shouting over the side, “How the heck do I get into this thing?”
“Put your legs into the holes! We had to completely rebuild the control systems for a quadruped arrangement, so you’re literally going to be wearing that fighter!” Lyra shouted back and Rainbow nodded.
“Got it!” She wriggled under the harness and shoved her back legs into the holes before sliding her forelegs into place, “Okay! I’m in!” An shuddering explosion caused the Yamato to rock slightly, making Rainbow thankful she was currently in zero G, lest she be thrown into a wall.
“Okay, you should be able to just move your forelegs as part of the control yoke. Shift your hooves to operate the systems!” Lyra instructed and Rainbow remembered that she was quoting from the technical manual printed about the retrofit for the fighters.
She immediately began shifting her hooves and legs, pressing buttons and feeling the fighter’s engines start up with a soft whine that grew in volume and pitch. Pulling out a hoof, Rainbow shoved the helmet onto her head and fixed the oxygen mask into place as the canopy lowered and the instruments flickered into life.
“Control to Zero-One, standby for launch.” A pony’s voice sounded in her head, and Rainbow suddenly felt more than heard a series of staccato impacts along the hull.
“Priority one launch. Get me out there Asap!”
“Working on it Zero-One, the elevator mechanisms are giving us some trouble…” There was a loud *clank* followed by a strained whine. Slowly, the pad the Zero was mounted on flipped over and Rainbow felt the fighter begin to move upwards and before she knew it, she was looking at a raging battle in the void.
The elevator rattled to a stop with a bang, placing the Cosmo at the rear of one of the two long catapults at the rear of the ship, the large fin of the engine poking upwards to her right.
“There we go. Zero-One, your objective is to establish local area superiority for the Yamato. Do not engage enemy capital ships, leave them for the main guns. Keep those fighters off us until we are ready for warp.”
“Understood!” She confirmed waiting for the green light. In a strange almost silent moment of peace, she watched the silent battle rage above and around her, the only sound being that of her breathing through the mask.
Suddenly, the small heads up display flashed once, with a simple message.
“Good Luck Rainbow Dash -Y.”
Rainbow barely had time to register the message the catapult engaged and fired. Instantly, Rainbow felt like her front teeth were heading for a vacation with her back teeth as the Cosmo Zero flew off the short catapult and into the void.
Immediately, Rainbow’s training, brief as it was, kicked in and she began moving her legs, her movements flaring the engines to life, arming the single forty millimeter cannon in the nose of the aircraft and the missiles fitted to the wings.
“This is Zero-One! I’m engaging the enemy!” Rainbow shouted over the radio before settling the gun sight over an enemy fighter that was coming in for an attack run, “Not today!” She forced her right fore-hoof down on a button.
The cannon flashed silently but in Rainbow Dash’s helmet she heard it fire, along with the roar of the engines and the explosions as sophisticated sensors in the fighter made it seem like she was fighting in the air, not in space.
She saw the tracers strike an enemy fighter and spark against the hull, smashing large holes that billowed smoke before the fighter listed and burst into flames. Rainbow shifted to a new target as it smashed into an asteroid.
She chased another fighter into a canyon in a massive asteroid. As it weaved and rolled, Rainbow armed the missiles and locked onto the fighter. Four more that had ducked into the canyon in an attempt to escape the anti-air cannons.
“Eat this!” Rainbow crowed as she launched the missiles.
Missiles screamed from the wings of the Cosmo Zero and the cannon flashed, striking the fighter she had been chasing originally. It crashed into the wall and exploded as the missiles screamed across the gap between Rainbow and the other fighters.
Rainbow grinned menacingly, watching the hostile fighters spiral to their doom. She was so caught up in it she very nearly collided with the screaming wreckage of one of her own. The blazing fuselage careened across her nose, the oxygen inside it having sprung a leak, allowing a trail of fire to follow it in the vacuum.
Rainbow grunted, hurling the Zero upwards into a vertical climb away from the asteroid, into the fray. Despite her takedowns it was plain to see that the numerous Cosmo Falcons were losing.
“Yamato, this is Zero-One, how long till your in the clear? We’re struggling up here!”
“We’re still deep inside the field. Give us a few more minutes!”
“That thing busted through a mountain and survived being dropped down a chasm! Just bash through them!” Rainbow screamed, coming up behind another fighter.
Meanwhile, Lyra sat back in the hangar, intently listening in on the coms.
‘We’re dying up here!’ She heard Rainbow shout, causing her to throw the headphones down.
“Damnit!” She screamed, kicking a wall unit behind her, which had the effect of launching her forwards, straight into the nose of a Falcon mounted at the end of the belt.
Lyra’s eyes widened suddenly. Pressing the button on the outside of the hull and quickly clambering in. “Yamato this is Cosmo Falcon... Seventeen! Ready for launch.”
“Thats a no-go seventeen, you’re not cleared for launch, we can’t risk losing any more fighters. Seventeen hasn’t even had it’s weapons fitted yet!”
Lyra tightened the straps of the mask around her face, flipping the visor down. “That wasn’t a request Yamato.”
With a hidden grin, the unicorn reached down to her rear leg, pressing a button on the small remote attached there. A simple device that helped move the belt along while the fighters were being refitted. It also functioned as a good way to bypass launch protocols.
The long belt that Seventeen was mounted to began to rattle, pulling the blue and grey fighter backwards, engine first towards the launch ramp.
With a abrupt lurch, the Falcon came to rest on the inside of the launch ramp, waiting for the firing mechanism to launch her backwards into the fray.
“Seventeen! Seventeen this is Yamato! You are not clear for launch, you’re gonna die if you go out there! Seventeen!”
Lyra just smiled, pressing another button on her dastardly little remote, opening the door exposing the rear of her craft to the blackness of space.
“Sorry boys, they need me out there.”
With a flurry of sparks, the Cosmo Falcon shot out of the Yamato’s belly. Immediately, the mare turned the spacecraft, nose over engine, pointing it away from the massive battleship above it.
With a soundless snarl in the vacuum the engine lit up, throwing the ship forwards. Seventeen tore beneath an asteroid, using the massive lump of rock and ice as cover, coming up to the battle from below.
With a blast of ice shearing off of the asteroid, the blue and grey fighter rose higher and higher, sweeping around asteroid, coming up directly into the belly of the fearsome war. Locking onto the closest enemy, the reticle turned green.
With a smirk, Lyra pushed down hard on the firing switch. Seventeen rattled with the empty sound of hollow belts, the muzzles of the guns doing nothing except churn out a shuddering racket.
“Pony feathers! No weapons!”
Unfortunately, the targeted fighter quickly spotted her, wasting no time in chasing down the hapless falcon. Rounding on her, Lyra quickly heaved the ship into a corkscrew, hoping to find a hiding spot before the aggressive fighter was on her tail.
Blazing hot tracers rained down from above, coming mere body lengths from the falcon. The much faster fighter quickly matched velocities with the falcon, flying above and behind Lyra.
Lyra grunted in strain, throwing the falcon into the tightest right hand curve she could, the fire from the enemy behind her punching a hole straight through her left wing. The force of the impact twisted the ship into an aileron spin. The falcons reaction control systems pulsed violently, the small white jets trying to counteract the spin, keeping the ship level.
Shooting around another asteroid, the enemy fighter was proving far more agile than Lyra had imagined. The falcon screeched as its tail fin tore along the ice of an asteroid that her last maneuver had put her a little too close for comfort too. The top portion of the the vertical control surface sheared off, leaving a jagged cut in the metal.
The enemy fighter however rounded the tight zig zag with room to spare, already turning its guns onto her. Lyra scolded herself, she wasn’t a pilot! She was a technician for crying out loud! There was no way she was up for this, she didn’t even have a fighter with guns.
Another stream of red hot rounds sliced past her cockpit, forcing Lyra to heave the controls away.
The Falcon thundered to the right, sliding in between two heavy asteroids that were slowly drifting towards one another. Vibrations began to rattle through the Seventeen as the wingtips tore against the icy surfaces of the rocks.
Twisting the fighter into a hasty ninety degree roll, she flew sideways, now with one asteroid above and below her. The enemy fighter quickly followed suit, making itself fit inside the tight squeeze. Sadly for it however, the enemy craft was chunkier, its overall profile larger than that of the Falcons.
The roof of the cockpit and the belly of the fighter traded between each surface, grinding their paint along the dry ice. The asteroids drifted ever nearer, making manoeuvring inside the gap almost impossible.
The two asteroids finally made contact, crushing the enemy fighter just as the falcon shot out of the gap, the engine manifold getting a good pinch from the rocks.
Lyra wiped the sweat off her brow as best she could, pointing the Seventeen upwards towards the battle. The Yamato was slowly coming into a clearing, the amount of asteroids blocking its path thinning allowing the AA’s and the shock cannons the assist with the fight.
Unfortunately this also meant that the four enemy cruisers sitting on the outskirts of the battle could as well.
Lyra narrowly avoided a red beam of enemy fire glancing across the nose of her Falcon, its target, the broadside of the Yamato. The ancient battleship however didn’t let this slip, exchanging its own lethal barrage towards them.
One enemy fighter slipped in from behind, trying to sneakily take out the Yamato’s bridge from the back like a cowardly king hit. It stood no chance when the AA’s locked out, punching more holes through its skin than a sponge.
Lyra was suddenly awoken from her stargazing by the voice of Rainbow Dash. “Seventeen what’s your status? You look a little knocked around!”
Lyra cleared her throat, getting a reading on her sensors. “Uh, engine is alright, control surfaces are shot, and weapons are completely dead,” she said sheepishly.
“...Is that you Lyra!?”
“Maybe..”
“What the heck are you doing out here? And what happened to your weapons?” Rainbow shouted over the radio as her guns blazed and punched through the skin of another fighter, sending it spiralling into one of it’s comrades.
“Uh, turns out, this one wasn’t loaded with ammunition,” Lyra answered sheepishly. Rainbow’s response to that was not something that was said in polite society and Lyra felt her ears burning from hearing it.
She turned her fighter into a chase with another enemy fighter, herding it into range of the AA guns of the Yamato, turning away to avoid being filled with holes by the deadly barrage.
Finally, the Yamato sent the message that everyone wanted to hear.
“Cosmo-one this is the Yamato, were out of the field now. Waiting to engage.”
Rainbow wasted no time. “Give ‘em Tartarus!”
The Yamato responded with glee. All five of the deadly shock cannons swinging round and locking on. The icy asteroids sizzled and cracked when the cannons unleashed their payload against the cruisers, the Yamato taking advantage of the time the enemy were spending covering its retreating fighters.
The strange enemies fighters dropped like flies. The Mighty Yamato now viciously batting smaller chunks of rock and ice out of its way. The asteroids bounced and glanced off of the ships bow, the Yamato bearing down on the fleet with lethal intent.
The three blue beams from each battery easily punched their way through the cruisers underbellies, the Yamato rolling and dodging every returned shot with the aid of the few asteroids that still littered the playing field.
Flashing energy beams lanced out from one of the cruisers, pummeling floating rock and igniting gas pockets that tore gaping rents and craters in the asteroid, before the Yamato came into view and it’s cannons flashed once, a blue-white beam coring it like an apple from bow to stern, the ship cracking apart into sections before it exploded into a cloud of burning gas and glowing shrapnel.
Seconds after, the Yamatos side-launchers popped open, and a spread of torpedoes streaked out, leaving trails of exhaust as they turned towards their target on it listed angle, unable to bring it’s interception weapons to bear.
A shuddering explosion ripped through one of the crippled cruisers as the torpedoes hit, the force of the detonation throwing the ship sideways into its neighbouring ship. The other weakened ship struggled to maneuver out of the way of the cruiser as it slid sideways towards it. The two enemy ships collided and instantly folded into each other, bending and twisting the bruised and battered hulls as gaping rents tore open, bleeding atmosphere, munitions and fuel before containment line burst and sprayed fuel over sparking electrical cables.
The first ship ruptured, spraying flames into the vacuum before they were extinguished. The last cruiser recovered quickly and scurried towards the carrier, desperately trying to defend the massive target that was housing its superior officer. The stern of the remaining cruiser was quickly obliterated, the Yamato tearing chunks off it its hull like a whip-toting slavemaster would tear into the flesh of a disobedient worker.
Odrick roared on the bridge, throwing anything he could get his hoof on violently into the nearest monitor. “Jump!” he seethed.
Second nodded quickly, the emotion suppressants failing to cover all the fear it was currently feeling.
The blinding razor of white light quickly shot forth from the emitter on the carriers nose, swallowing both it and the old cruiser which was still desperately trying to avoid fire from the encroaching Yamato.
The two ships disappeared in a flash, leaving the mighty red and grey Yamato as king.
The Yamato droned in almost dead silence. All crew members had a job, from accessing assets lost to attending the wounded.
“Ah,” a mare grunted as a medic applied the freshly mined water to a burn. “It’s not too bad, only first degree, your coat should heal over it.” The medic said, washing more water over it.
The mare nodded with a pained expression, looking away from the nasty injury. She quickly snapped into a salute however, when she saw the returning X.O marching down the hallway.
While Rainbow would normally bask in the notion of ponies saluting her presence, she didn’t even bother to stop and acknowledge the mare, aside from a glance in her direction. The mare slowly lowered her hoof as if she were in the wrong.
Marching into the hangar bay, she quickly made her way to the technician's room.
‘Three cheers for Lyra!” A stallion called from inside, with a hollar of agreement following him. The sound of popping and the pouring of glasses sounded from inside.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed, not even bothering to knock the door blasted open, leaving the mare standing there. The noise immediately silenced, all ponies within immediately staring wide-eyed.
“Out,” Rainbow said simply. A flurry of ponies exited the room, including one very nervous unicorn who was trying to slip by undiscovered.
“Oof,” Lyra squeaked, running into something across her chest. Looking down, the very identifiable blue hoof of Rainbow Dash stopped her.
“Heh. Heeey Tactical Officer Dash,” Lyra mumbled, recoiling away as best she could.
“Remind me again, Lyra. Just what is your job on this ship?” Rainbow asked, very, very calmly.
“Um…” Lyra rubbed the side of her neck with a hoof, “I’m in maintenance and engineering?”
“Very good, now what are you supposed to in maintenance and engineering?”
Lyra tried not to back away. Rainbow’s stance was ruler-straight and from the way her nostrils were flaring, she was not in the mood for any jokes, “I maintain and repair the aircraft.”
“Correct, you maintain and repair them. Not fly them!” Rainbow suddenly roared, “What Luna and Celestia were you thinking? Bad enough you just stole one of the fighters, but you grabbed one that hadn’t even been armed yet! How the heck could you be so stupid!”
“But everyone was in trouble, I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing while ponies died!” Lyra retorted.
“You could have killed yourself! then how would you have helped?” Rainbow shouted back, “We took losses but we were able to beat them back! All you did paint a target on yourself!”
“But I helped!” Lyra shouted back,, “I distracted them!”
“You also distracted me and who knows how many other pilots, putting them all at risk!” Rainbow snarled, leaning in close, “So I’m going to make this very clear to you.”
Their heads were almost touching, “You are going to be assigned to the Scut list, starting now, for the rest of the month unless I or the Captain say otherwise. You will not be maintaining or repairing the fighters unless specifically ordered to, and if you are ever near them without authorisation, you are going straight into the brig.”
Rainbow backed off, “Am I clear?”
Lyra mumbled something.
“Am. I. Clear?” Rainbow growled.
Lyra nodded looking at the incredibly fascinating floor, “Aye-aye Ma’am.”
Rainbow said nothing and simply turned, before walking out of the room. Leaving Lyra alone.
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,079 users online
1,965,546 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
IT LIVES!!!!
Well, this was fairly interesting. TIme look into our newfound enemies.
So, Yamato is sailing the Large Magelanic Cloud ey? I hope they'll find Gamilon, or whats left of it.
Also, they use the Cosmo Falcon? You mean this one?
shipschematics.net/yamato/images/edf/reconfighter_cosmofalcon.jpg
Dont get me wrong but I think they were only meant for recon and not for actual combat. I would have imagined the Yamato still had a compliment of the newer Cosmo Pulsars?
shipschematics.net/yamato/images/edf/fighter_cosmopulsar.jpg
Im certainly looking forward to more.
Nice.
The entire battle, I had the theme song running through my head.
PLEASE MAKE THEM VISIT ISCANDAR!
Give me time and a crayon and I'll have some chapter names for you.
Okay...couldn't find a crayon, but nevertheless, here is what I have come up with:
Chapter 1: Ship in the Closet
Chapter 2: Awakening the Sleeping Yamato
Chapter 3: Third Floor: Jobs and More
Chapter 4: Launch the Yamato!
Chapter 5: That's One Way to Make an Exit
Chapter 6: Fly Me to The Moon
Chpater 7: No More Secrets
Chpater 8: We're Off, to Outer Space
Chapter 9: Vroom Vroom! Time for Warp!
Chpater 10: That's One Small Step for Ponies, One Giant Leap for Pony Kind!
Chapter 11: Old World Blues
Chapter 12: I Told ya' Not to Touch That...
Chapter 13: Mutiny!
Chapter 14: To Boldly Go Where No Mare Has Gone Before
Chapter 15: Deadly Forest
Chpater 16: I Swear the Planet Used to be Bigger...
Chapter 17: Regret and Redemption
Chpater 18: The Scyre
Hope this helps!
4301475
I like most of them aside from chapter 4, 9, 10 and 15 i just feel like they could be better. Regardless i'll give it a while to see if others submit some
4301550
Yeah, those were the ones I was having a hard time on....
I was looking around, and found this video. A rather fascinating visual detail of how the fighters launch from the ship.
http://www.frequency.com/video/yamato-fighters/54589977
Awesome chapter!
Now if only I could animate this
4303037 if you do i will suck your dick.
No homo?
4303047 ... eh... no thanks
Very well done Jazzaman!!!
A well depicted battle. 
, until your fanfic I had no idea this existed, thanks to you, you got me interested in Space Battleship Yamato 
Cause when I try to imagine Odrick, I keep getting an image of Admiral Trench from "Star Wars: The clone wars"
Now I know I going to sound silly for this but
Keep up the great work
P.S. Whats a Scyre?
awesome to read. It has even inspired me to watch starblazers. even though this year is like it's 40th anniversary, the things i have seen so far make it seem worth it to keep going. I can't wait for more chapters!
4344460 Funnily enough, I'm watching Yamato: Resurrection right now.
3874630 Still, she is a ship. Even though she is a character, you italicize it. In the Destroyermen Series, Walker is a character as much as the living people, but her name is italicized. Any book about naval ships, even fiction, you will find the name italicized.
4344543
4344752
cdn.gifbay.com/2013/10/stick_figure_doom_typing-92733.gif
4344780 It'd be best if you just gave up on this one, dude. You won't win this argument anymore than you'd win an argument with a pregnant woman!
4344752 As Bradford would say "Hear hear, my dear chap!"
Really? Really?
The guy even said that Falcon 17 didn't have weapons installed before she even got the launch belt moving, Lyra's an idiot.
Also that entire battle scene was pretty much ruined by plot failure. It stated there was 3 destroyers and 1 carrier that went into the battle in the beginning, but when the battle rolled around you ended up with 4 cruisers and 1 carrier. In a previous comment you said you had two prereaders? Well, I'm not going to sugar-coat it: they suck.
Seriously, if they can't even tell that you started with 3 destroyers and ended up with 4 cruisers they just need to quit, that's just terrible. There's no nice way of putting it, it's a prereader's job to identify inconsistencies, plot holes, poorly thought out action sequences or descriptions, overall "flow" (Smoothness of reading), and other such things, yet yours clearly have failed in that regard.
Okay, with that out of the way, overall I do like this story. It's got a decent plot and good characterisation, it's execution can use some work, but what I really see as an issue is that you need both an editor, and new prereaders. (Yes they're different, editors are strictly for spelling and grammar, while prereaders do what I listed above, they check the content of the story instead of the words that make up the content pretty much.)
4344524 Hmm, I really need to watch all the series and such, all I ever saw was the live action movie.
4348779 where does it say 4? that was probably a mis-hit key on my part.
4349474 It doesn't actually say four, but it's stated one is obliterated by the Yamato, then another that gets hit rams into its partner, and they're both destroyed, and then it says there's one left to turn tail and run to the carrier. Do the math, that's four cruisers, when there should only be three destroyers. (And a cruiser is a hell of a lot bigger than a destroyer.)
One.
Two and three.
And four.
4349554 ah i see what you mean. I should probably go and elaborate but only the cruiser that 'Slid sideways towards it' actually was destroyed. The one it hit was crippled but is the last cruiser.
4349924 Hmm, I see. But there's still one thing: are they cruisers or destroyers? Because you still start with destroyers and then end with cruisers. They're two completely different class of vessels and aren't interchangeable. A destroyer is an escort, a cruiser, whether light or heavy, is a capital ship.
4610103 its a long running anime series. Basically japans version of startrek. It recently got a big budget HD remake of the original series and its one of the best shows i've ever watched. I encourage everyone who loves sci-fi to watch it. Heres a link to every episode of the rebooted series.
Yamato 2199
4610142
Yes, yes it is.
I can't wait to see the two movies that are also made from it.