Lunar Diplomacy

by Verathuum

Chapter 3

“There it is,” the Florian pilot thought. He was approaching the large airship in front of the formation, however he didn't know their purpose or why they were approaching Florian airspace. He decided he would take a closer look. His small craft was known as light sail and he essentially sat on it like it was a speed bike. It had a joystick on his right side and a throttle control on his left side and a center console that handled navigation and other things. He made his was around the large airship taking in the aesthetic charm and came in only a few dozen feet. He could see two crew members and a very dignified female. She was dressed in blue and had strangely flowing blue hair which seemed to have the stars in it. He examined the female closely and then flew around to the other side of the airship.

While he was on the opposite side, the girl in blue had come over there as well. It seemed she was just as curious about him as he was of her. He could see her examining his clothing: a single black combat skin with lights aligning his limbs. This was in case he was ever shot down, he had a better chance of being seen and being protected. He stared back at her from behind his mask, knowing she couldn't see his face behind it. Suddenly, there was a beeping in his helmet and a red light flashed on the center console. He placed his finger on the light and a map of Auflorsung came up. A message alerted him: “Unknown crafts discovered. Mesa Gun armed.” It began blinking “Mesa Gun firing.”

“Shit,” the Florian thought. The Mesa Gun was first constructed to destroy asteroids that were getting close to Equus’ atmosphere, first constructed ten years before the 201 Planet Fall Event to prevent another asteroid collision. It was a large ring, about a mile across, of about ten individual rail guns that could fire a magnetic projectile at about five times the speed of sound; with an effective range almost that of half the world. Of course Auflorsung didn’t want to start any wars, so it restricted the gun’s use to just beyond Auflorsung’s shores, unless there was an invasion. It was soon realized how effective Mesa was against aircraft, and it soon became the first line of defense for Auflorsung against unknown aircraft. The Florian of course was known, and that’s why he was receiving the notification.

The entire Auflorsung country was a valley surrounded by a tall mountain range which provided perfect protection against a Mesa shell that was to destroy any oncoming enemy fleets, but leave the Florians unharmed. This was also the reason why there were no Florian cities within a hundred miles of the coast.

The Florian pilot began swiping his hand over the hologram, trying to find a way to stop the Mesa Shell. He glanced back at the fleet, judging them to be peaceful. Just then, there was a loud crack indicating one of the supersonic Mesa shells had flown past them, probably around thirty thousand feet where they were normally fired off. A small window of time went by and the shell exploded. There was a bright light, like the sun. It lit up the sky and the ground like the daytime. A Mesa shell was designed so that the shockwave of the explosion would bring down any airborne vehicles, not the explosion itself. The Florian shielded his eyes from the bright light, and he pushed the throttle control and joystick together, collapsing his small jet. He turned around as he fell and watched the ships waver in the shockwave, then drop. He watched the airships as he fell, curious about who was onboard it and what they wanted. The girl looked like a military officer, although he was unaware that other countries allowed females in their militaries.

The Florian returned to his situation and saw he was quickly approaching the ground. With a quick pull of a small plug on his combat skin, four small wings appeared, slowing his descent. Within a few minutes he was on the ground and retracted the four wings. He stood upright and looked for any hint of the crashed airship. He spotted some smoke and a faint glow and walked towards it. He let down his helmet to breathe the clean, fresh air since his helmet was airtight. It was composed of about seven pieces which were all controlled by his brain waves. If he thought of the helmet covering his head, it did; if he thought of the helmet going down onto his back, it did.

He made his way towards the wreckage which had somehow caught fire. By the looks of things it had crashed into the ground much harder than he had anticipated. The balloon was completely gone save for a few leftover pieces; the rest was probably suspended on some trees somewhere. The main ship had a large hole along its left side; it looked like it had skidded along a large boulder. Part of it had caved in, but the rest seemed intact; despite the railings and other aesthetics being destroyed.

The Florian raised his helmet so he wouldn't have to breathe the smoke, and he approached the wreckage. He began digging for any survivors or anything like that, and paying no attention to the flames he walked through. His suit was completely fireproof and provided much better protection than Equestrian armor. He dug with his hands mostly, but it appeared he also had some control over magic, which he used to move the heavier things.

Comments

[AstralFlare42]

The description of the suit makes me think about the uniforms in Tron: Legacy.