Future Tactics - The War Games

by TheFullCrumb

Chapter 8 - Dark Nights and Happenstance

“Commander, you have a call.” A massive construction of metal, rock and well wishes floated in the darkness above. Somewhere deep inside, machines churned out weapons, armour, and powerful battle machines, the low thumping of the plate-printers a pleasant and reassuring sound that the crew aboard the Miner’sDefiance were still alive and still fighting.

“Patch it through to my console. I’ll take it there.”

The Nibiru-class Battle Fortress was less a vessel and more a refitted mobile mining station, one of the lesser-used craft available, but it had a multitude of refit options. No one knew their Fortress better than her commander, every bolt, every weld known and cataloged. Nothing aboard his ship was rebuilt without him knowing.

However, the information that had been sent through to him was something of a concern. An old Battle Fortress, ancient by the standards that were set at the current juncture, had been rebuilt, redesigned, and was currently heading towards his location for an introductory match. Of course, he knew better. The Committee, in their ‘infinite wisdom,’ had deemed it the last battle of his Fortress, the final match they would ever commit to. His own rebellious nature as a miner had almost come through, but his own duties as a Commander had won in the end.

A familiar, perfect-faced human appeared on his screen, one whom he had vastly grown to dislike in the recent months. The Miner’s Defiance was not a high-ranked Fortress, but the Committee had been purposefully pitting them against enemies far more highly ranked than them. He knew they were planning something, but to what ends, he could not fathom.

“Ah, Commander Isaac Humphries. I was hoping to get in contact with you. It’s in regards to this new Battle Fortress, the Solus Invictus-”

“Ah, Representative. How lovely to see you again. You set us up with this match-”

“Ike, for once, be quiet!” Isaac went quiet as the Representative used his lesser known nickname. Sitting forward, he started to pay far closer attention. Only a few of the Committee knew the nickname, and they would only use it if something bad was happening.

“You’ve got my attention. Talk.”

“The Solus Invictus is commanded by what’s known as an Alicorn. She’s a very respectable mare, and if you show yourself to be honorable in your match, I have no doubt she’ll take you and your crew onto her Fortress. I would advocate for any other action, but there’s no other way to guarantee your safe passage to Nexus. Here’s the dossier. The file should contain everything you need to know to put up at least a decent fight. They’re fairly infantry-heavy, so act accordingly. Let’s make this a good fight, and take the attention off of our… less-than-savory activities, yes?” Isaac nodded, looking around before he drew a cord out of the monitor, attaching it to a port in his wrist. Most implants that allowed a Commander full control over their Fortress were implanted in the side of the head, but Isaac’s was a custom model. The Committee had no inkling that he had changed out his own implant for something more discreet and secure, and he was not about to give them any idea that he had.

“All right, ponies, let’s see what you’re capable of...”

--------//|0|\\--------

“All crew, be advised. Transition to Realspace in 2-0 minutes. I repeat, Transition to Realspace in 2-0 minutes. All hands report to duty stations. I repeat, all hands report to duty stations.” In the time that had passed between Crag-Rock and their destination, a small planetoid simply called ‘Mosshaven,’ the crew of the Solus Invictus had managed to somewhat meet the targets set for production by their Commander, though the state of their vehicles had been something that she was still sore about. While the clones had been run through their individual simulations down on what had been dubbed the ‘Death Run’ deck – Twilight had understood the nickname had arisen from the first few ‘popped’ clones that accidentally died on the live-fire training course that had been set up on the secondary cargo deck. The words that Applejack had used when she had described the incident had been scrubbed from Twilight’s mind as she tried to relax in her quarters.

The screen on her personal console in her quarters was alight with the information of various alien races, factions, and such. One of the ones that she had heard some small part about, the Iiaynsin, were a curious race. They had something akin to a battlefield omnipresence, which meant they could keep watch in one direction, but be able to ‘sense,’ in a way, any enemies coming from a different direction. The general consensus of the database aboard the Fortress was that, if you were to face off against an Iiaynsin Battle Fortress, it was going to be extremely difficult. ‘You can’t surprise an enemy that can’t be surprised,’ Twilight had read, and a few ideas had sprung to mind.

The mechanics team in the Vehicle Bay had been augmented by the Engineers pulled from the CSF stationed aboard the Solus Invictus, though they were still nervous about testing the… machine that Iron Will had designed when he was neglecting the duties that were bestowed upon him. It was fairly tall, and the armor on it, while simply basic plating layered heavily, was definitely stronger than Twilight had suspected initially. Twin Outrider machine guns were attached to each wrist, with the belts running up through the arms. The general design looked like a giant, metal Minotaur, which, to Twilight, made sense considering the individual who had designed it. Checking every part, though, had taken several hours, even with Applejack’s most experienced teams handling it. The verdict, unfortunately, was that the design was unable to be reproduced with how the Fortress’ own manufacturing was set up. They would need new assembly lines, tools, and automated refining stations just to keep up with the demand they already had.

The list grew longer and longer the more Twilight asked around what needed upgrading, what needed repairs. Several decks had lost their artificial gravity, the plating that generated it failing in several sections. Every damaged sector was cordoned off, leaving the crew with fewer and fewer routes to travel. The Cloning Labs had shut down when the Growth Acceleration Gel had finally been depleted, leaving an empty area as Engineers expanded various areas. While the Infirmary had been a rather small endeavour thanks to the size of the Neural Link Amplifier, Applejack and her Engineer teams had succeeded in converting various empty areas nearby the original Infirmary into a much more manageable Medical Bay.

“Mag-Rail, Main Terrace.” Twilight checked each small part as she left her quarters, moving towards a new system that had been reactivated since the Pipe-and-Wires had come online. A ship-wide Magnetic Levitation Railway system had come online, allowing far more access than previously. Of course, it was prone to issues with power draw, and Twilight had been no stranger to it. However, one area that had been neglected since their launch was now fully accessible, and she was happy to at least spend a little time on the Main Terrace deck.

Tiered planters formed a spectacular view that she was certain was incredible back in the time of the Kepler’s own battles, but at the moment, it sat barren, each planter simply brown and empty as the earth lay dormant. The tables that dotted the main portion of the Terrace were relatively new, metal and wood construction courtesy of the Logistics department. It was quiet, and peaceful, and Twilight enjoyed that fact immensely.

As the Mag-Rail came to a stop, Twilight lifted a dataslate, floating it in front of her as she checked the day’s reports.

“In 1-0 minutes, we’ll cross into Realspace. Hopefully everypony takes their Coltix, or we’ll have another outbreak of temporary insanity with the Bridge crew again. Vehicle Bay… that’s good, I think?” Slowly walking towards the main seating area of the Terrace, she was surprised to see multiple other creatures seated at the tables, some drinking coffee, and others enjoying some morning pastries. Glancing around, she spied the offending vendor of the treats and sighed. She was well aware that Donut Joe of Canterlot had joined up with the CSF as a cook, but she was certain he had not shown up at all in the actual cafeteria.

“Ah, Commander! Wanna try one-a Donut-Topia’s devilishly delicious doughnuts?” Donut Joe smiled as he placed a chocolate glazed ring with a mug of a hot, steaming caffeinated beverage on the counter in front of his little shop. A little note popped up in the corner of Twilight’s implant view, detailing out the Main Terrace as a relaxation destination aboard any human-designed Battle Fortress. Lowering her head in acknowledgment, she approached the stand, lifting the coffee and downing it in one single gulp.

“Thank you. That definitely helps. We’re Transitioning in 1-0 minutes, so I’ll have to ask you to close up as soon as the announcement goes through.”

“No problem, Commander! Donut Joe’s always in the loop.”

Taking the doughnut and a plate, she seated herself at a nearby table, placing the doughnut down and tapping through the dataslate as she checked more and more reports. Each duty station had reported in that they were ready and awaiting orders for the battle, and each production area reported full complement, even with setbacks that each had accidentally incurred upon themselves. Lifting the doughnut, she took a quick bite, smiling at the soft sweetness of the pastry as she continued to check her reports.

“Thought I’d find you up here, Commander.” Twilight glanced up to see Starlight levitating another doughnut and two cups of coffee down onto her table. Rolling her eyes, she tapped through six more reports before she set the dataslate down, staring Starlight in the eyes. As she looked, she realized that Starlight looked about as exhausted as she herself felt. Dark circles ran under both eyes, while the edges of Starlight’s eyes were slightly bloodshot. Her smile was thin, taut, and a definite marker of increasing stress as she sipped her coffee, looking out over the Terrace.

“Since we got access again, it’s been better for me to come here than stay on the Bridge. I can check reports from anywhere, not just in my quarters or in Command. I’ve seen the pictures of when this place was run by the human crew, and, well, we’ve got nothing on it. There were shops all along each wall, greenery everywhere, and you could find almost anything. A lot of this Fortress went to leisure during the downtime between the larger matches- I’m getting too used to this.” Twilight looked back at Starlight, watching her stop sipping and down both cups of coffee faster than she could track. “Are you all right there, Starlight?”

“Never better! I just have trouble sleeping because my quarters flooded due to an accidental re-routing of the main water systems, so I’ve been stuck sleeping in the shell of an Outrider that Bulwark rigged up for me down in the Vehicle Bay, and the lights there don’t shut off at all. So… no, I’m not all right! Parts of the Fortress are falling apart, and because we don’t have Field Projectors, that’s why it’s all happening!” Starlight slammed her face down on the table, muffled sobbing ensuing forth as Twilight shifted her chair closer, placing her hoof on Starlight’s head and trying to soothe her.

“Starlight, you and I are not alone in this. As soon as we win the match, we’ll be heading to Nexus Station for some well-deserved repairs and upgrades. The Gryphons and Minotaurs are amazing natural engineers, but there are some things we’re just not equipped to handle. If we’d even been able to fix the old Field Projectors, their defensive capabilities just would not be good enough against the weapons of the newer Fortresses.” A beeping coming from the dataslate brought Twilight back to her reports, eliciting a soft groan as she rolled her eyes and checked the reports. Rainbow was working with the Engineers that had been placed under her as part of her Flight Command, attempting to adapt the human interceptors so that the clones could fly them. An attempt had been made to armour up the Pegasus clones for aerial combat, but simulation battles utilizing the Combat Center that had been recently reactivated as well as several other key systems had shown that the armour slowed the aerial units down, meaning that a dedicated interceptor of some sort would need to be either prototyped for production, or they would have to figure something out when they reached the Nexus Station.

A timer counted down on the upper portion of the screen, reminding Twilight to down her Coltix and prepare for the Realspace Transition. The usage of the relaxant was nothing short of dangerous, but the short term effects were necessary, at least, according to the medical professionals onboard. Tossing the small pill into her mouth, she swallowed, her face contorting at the bitter taste of the medicine reaching the back of her mouth.

“I’m with you on that, Twilight. I don’t think I could ever get used to the taste. Transition’s in 1 minute, so we’re ready.” With a shudder, and the subtle sense of wrong, the Solus Invictus dropped from Tunnel Drive, alarms blaring as the Terrace reformed itself. “What’s going on?”

“Battle mode! The automated systems are kicking in. We’re going to need to get back to the Bridge!”

--------//|0|\\--------

“Commander! The new Battle Fortress has just dropped out of… the readings we’re receiving can’t make heads or tails of the energy that the opposing Fortress is outputting. We’re getting readings on waveform frequencies that are reading as impossible.” Isaac Humphries watched the massive vessel shoot out of what appeared to be a massive tunnel of energy, the edges of the exit crackling with as-yet unknown forces that made him very uneasy. He was well-versed in the Quantum Gateways that some races used, while others, like the humans of the galaxy, used simple FTL Wake Drives.

However they arrived, he had no actual time to react as his own Fortress went into its own Battle Mode, locking down the automated factories, Cloning Labs, and even his Vehicle Bay’s production area. He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing as he watched reports flood over his screens. The half-circle setup of his Bridge was something he had seen to himself, compared to the strange terrace-based setup of most other vessels. He did not half to turn almost entirely around just to look at his crew, and neither did they have to crane their necks just to make sure that others were doing their jobs. As each screen glowed red with the signal for the match, he smirked, watching the enemy Fortress maneuver to a similar orbit as him. As he watched, the tell-tale pylons that rapidly terraformed areas to create the battle terrain made their Realspace Transition from Voidspace, and plummeted towards the planet. He did not even have to see them to know the noise they made on impact, as he had seen it many a time.

“All right, little ponies. Time to see just how well you fight.”

--------//|0|\\--------

“All crew report to action stations. Match will begin in T-minus 3-0 minutes. Base modules are go for launch.” The Solus Invictus had become a hive of activity as the Battle Mode engaged, clone platoons marching their way to their transports as the various pilots grimaced in their determination. The Nibiru-class had not sent a message to them, but they were certain that there was a similar amount of activity aboard the other vessel.

Twilight watched out the main viewing area of the Bridge, her eyes taking in every detail of the other Fortress. While the description of a Nibiru-class had been somewhat confusing, the actual, physical article made far more sense than she expected. It was almost completely a mobile mining platform, with massive orbital engines that would keep it and the asteroid it was tethered to from drifting into atmosphere. A large box, what she assumed to be the main areas of the vessel, shuddered as massive doors in the sides opened up, small craft floating dead in space, just waiting for the signal to begin.

“Combat Center’s waiting, Twilight. We’d best get down there before-”

“Welcome, every being across Messier-83, to a first for a lot of you! A massive amount of congratulations for the Equestrian Coalition Battle Fortress for agreeing to join our Games. Out of the goodness of their hearts, no less! Anyways, let’s get right into the action! In about 10 minutes, Command Hubs will drop onto the recently terraformed area on Mosshaven, a popular location for romantic walks on the countryside, fantastic ziplining, and the Introductory Match for the Solus Invictus! Who knows what these ponies have in store for us today? Welcome, once again, to the War Games! Brought to you by the Starfarer’s Co-operative, where insurance is designed to serve you!” The voice broadcast throughout the Fortress was the same overly enthusiastic, sickeningly sweet voice that had been heard before, screens in the halls displaying a satellite view of the battlefield, and the approximate force calculations for each side. The disproportionate amount of armour compared to infantry that the Miner’s Defiance was purportedly fielding was rather interesting, though a lot of it seemed more to be heavily armoured than armed. Twilight followed Starlight to a nearby lift, watching the satellite view on the screen as it shrank down, showing a ‘Game-Caster,’ the perfect-faced individual that had ‘invited’ them into the Games.

The Combat Center, the redesigned Infirmary, had been modified to house multiple command consoles for easy access, as well as containing beds for the Neural Link Amplifier. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were already being prepared for the Neural Link, Starlight nodding to Redheart as she switched from her standard uniform into the medical suit that the medic was holding out to her. As she slipped herself into the suit, Twilight double-checked signal strength and other factors as she made her way over to the main control, a massive holographic table detailing out the terrain, height limitations, and the various factors known for both her Fortress and the opposing vessel. As she circled the table, a thought occurred, her brow furrowing as she contemplated. Shaking her head, she brought up the views of the three Clone Avatars that had been linked, Rainbow smiling as she stretched her body and wings.

“How do the Avatars feel, ladies?”

“I’m going to have to get used to a lower magical output, but that’s probably par for the course.”

“Aw, yeah! We’re gonna rock this battle!”

“Sugarcube, we’re all ready down here. I reckon we have only a short time-” The timer above the holo-table counted down to the final 30 seconds, one of the large screens nearby displaying the view being broadcast across the galaxy. Tapping several icons on the display, Twilight chose her drop locations, rumbling through the ship indicative of the launch of the Command Hub and its basic subsidiary structures.

“You’ve all got 10 seconds until drop. We’ll send your armour down once you’re on the ground. Starlight, you’re our Offense Engineer, while Applejack’s the Defense Engineer. That makes Rainbow the Scout. Once you’re boots on the ground, you’ll have maybe a few minutes to orient yourselves and get me a visual. Resource spikes are launching… now.” Massive towers carved into the dirt, the terrain more familiar to Twilight than she expected, as trees and various other terrain hazards displayed themselves, the Command Hub locking down as her Infantry Module, Vehicle Plant and Refinery all touched down, their connections synchronizing with the Hub. Two of her landing craft were already on their way to offload the initial complement of troops available, along with four Outrider buggies.

“Applejack, dropping.”

“Starlight, dropping.”

“Aw yeah, I’m- I mean, Rainbow Dash dropping! Woo!”

A hiss of air from the communications section of the holo-table denoted the ‘shock-pods’ launching. Twilight was uncertain as to why that distinction was necessary on her display, but she shook her head, looking at the various technicians at consoles around her. Green signals on the holo-table brought a smile to her face as the trajectory of the shock-pods was calculated in real-time. The landers were close behind, her ‘production queue’ of units displaying the landing craft contents. The way the data was presented made it feel much more like a board game to her, where the main hope was to out-think your opponent, and out-maneuver their troops.

“Commander. All lights are green. We’ve got full connection across the board. Icarus, Daedalus and Helios armours are being deployed. We’re ready to engage.”

“Do it.”

--------//|0|\\--------

“Boots on the ground, huh? Starlight, how are you- oh, okay.” Rainbow helped Starlight out of her pod as she stared around wide-eyed at each structure around, the massive landing craft that Rainbow was familiar with touching down on the Infantry Module’s landing pad. As she stared, four full platoons of Infantry Clones marched out, smooth, grey helmets glowing with an unsettling blue as they took position around the area. Before Rainbow could comment on anything else, Starlight galloped quickly away, pushing past marching Clones to leap inside the Infantry Module and hide.

“Sugarcube, did she just-”

“Yeah, Applejack, she did.” Rolling her eyes, Rainbow followed her inside, glancing around before spying Starlight quivering in the corner in fear. “Starlight, it’s okay. You’re-”

“I’m here, but I’m not here. This is a war, not a war. They think it’s all games, but it’s real, but it’s not-” Starlight felt a hoof contact her face as she looked up, Applejack and Rainbow Dash staring at her with half-lidded annoyance. “Why did you hit me?!”

“Starlight, you’re going kinda crazy. We need you to suit up and get ready, because we need to make the first Spike ours!” Three heavy impacts from behind them alerted them to the shock-pods dropping new armour as they watched more landers dropping off more Outriders and Infantry Clones. Applejack sighed, moving closer to the Daedalus armour.

“We gotta get moving, Starlight. Rarity made this armour for us, and I reckon we’d best put it to use. That there Helios armour, that’s for you. Rainbow, Icarus.” Nodding, Rainbow stepped closer to the pod containing the Icarus armour, closing her eyes as mechanical arms lifted her and clamped each portion of armour onto her, sealing her Avatar inside of itself. Starlight turned quickly when she heard another hiss, staring slack-jawed as Applejack walked out of her Daedalus pod, the glistening orange armour complete with three plates on the hindquarters coloured red, with green connection points. A combat harness wound itself around her barrel, with what appeared to be some sort of shotgun in the weapon holster.

“It’s not so bad once you get it on. You’re basically a walking tank with these suits.” Rainbow lowered herself down next to Starlight, whose eyes traced each curve on Rainbow’s suit, right down to the form-fitting armour plating that still allowed for freedom of movement.

“Sugarcube, you’re gonna have to just trust us on this. Gear up, and move out with Rainbow. My job is to stay here, and I reckon I’ll have plenty of action regardless.” The voices that came through the helmets was distorted, though Starlight recognized that it was because of the speakers on the outside of the helmets, not because her friends had been subsumed by machines. Breathing slowly and deeply, she approached the Helios armour pod, closing her eyes and biting her lip as mechanical arms lifted her off the ground. Within a few seconds, though, she felt her hooves touch dirt again, a helmet floating in front of her as she looked around. Rainbow was waving to her from one of the deployed Outrider buggies, her weapon harness holding what appeared to be a higher-caliber long rifle than what they had all trained with back on Equus.

“Back on Equus… I’m never going to get used to this.” Lifting the helmet, she slid it onto her head, letting it settle into place and close with a hermetic seal. A Heads Up Display warmed up, giving her access to a battle map, and what appeared to be a ‘Loadout Requisition’ icon. Ignoring most of the data, she watched as every ‘soldier’ on her side was marked with an actively updated green marker, with structures in a blue colour to denote their purpose. The majority of the information was mind-boggling to Starlight, a headache starting as she attempted to comprehend the flood of information approaching her view.

“Just ignore the majority of the icons, Starlight. You’re not going to need most of them.” Twilight’s voice came over her suit’s radio as Starlight activated the Loadout Requisition for a Combat Engineer setup. As she waited, she checked her suit’s battle map, expanding it so that she could see where the closest Resource Spike was. Breathing slowly, she stepped back as the shock-pod slammed into the ground, mechanical arms standing at the ready with what appeared to be a modular suit.

“Twilight, I’m going to guess Rarity was-”

“The main design influence, yes. The technology was based off of old designs we found in the database, but for all intents and purposes, Rarity was the final say on those armour designs. Your modular armour Loadout, Combat Engineer, allows you to call down temporary defensive emplacements and minefields. You’re our frontline defender.”

“F-Frontline?! I thought I was going to-” An exasperated voice cut in over the radio, sighing loudly before interrupting both Twilight and Starlight.

“Starlight, come on! You know what you signed up for. You’re a Combat Engineer right now. That means we have to get to Spike Alpha and set up protection before-” A massive pulsing noise resonated through their helmets as they looked up at the sky for a moment. A red beam of energy pointed towards the sky, a beacon that was not entirely descriptive as to what it entailed.

“Rainbow, Starlight, I reckon they took Spike Bravo! Get your flanks moving, ‘less you want me to move ‘em for you!” Starlight stepped into the shock-pod, feeling the armour connecting with the suit she already wore. Her HUD updated, removing a majority of the information for what appeared to be a targeting menu. Resource information displayed itself near the top, while the captured Spikes were shown near the bottom. Nodding to Applejack, Starlight moved quickly, feeling small jets in the armour pushing her forward quickly as she clambered on top of the Outrider, planting herself in the buggy’s turret. With a surge of power, the buggy flew forwards, the Driver Clone not wasting any time as it drove Rainbow and Starlight towards Spike Alpha, the closest Resource Spike to their main base.

As they passed by trees and boulders, they found themselves on what appeared to be an overgrown road, slowly turning into overgrown ruins of buildings as the forest dissipated into the remains of a small city, the Resource Spike very much obvious where it stood, its height easily dwarfing even the tallest of the structures. The massive solar panels rotated around the main spire of the Spike, a drilling noise growing ever louder as they approached.

“Hey, we’re getting off here! Rainbow, with me!” Rainbow nodded, jumping out as she scanned the area quickly, her head turning from one side to the other as she checked multiple areas. The ruins around the Spike were overgrown, she had ascertained, but the amount of potential cover that was afforded to anyone setting up an ambush was unsettling, to say the least. Even the smallest structure could hide an Outrider, and compared to the reports of some of the human vehicles from the old database, an Outrider was almost a toy.

Starlight filled her HUD with the ‘Call-down’ icons, watching as the area around her filled out red, displaying ‘Not In Secured Territory’ as she checked potential turret drop locations. Rainbow could hear her breathing over the suit microphone, and she was still breathing heavily. Bringing up her vitality meter on her HUD, Rainbow watched as Starlight’s heart rate slowly started to climb, her anxiety overtaking her better judgment as the ‘Capturing’ icon on both of their HUDs began to tick over to green, indicating capture by their forces.

Removing her helmet, Rainbow moved close to Starlight, pulling off her friend’s helmet and staring her straight in the eyes. The fear and anxiety Rainbow saw almost reminded her of the Young Fliers Competition over 7 years prior, the nervousness and anxietyshehad felt a painful memory. Though she had saved her friends from a mistake one of them had made, Rainbow had never forgotten the emotions that had passed through her mind as she had struggled with the attempts at doing a Sonic Rainboom.

Holding Starlight’s head in her hooves, Rainbow brought her face level with hers, her expression darkening as she witnessed Starlight begin to hyperventilate.

“Starlight, Starlight!”

“I- huh- what. What? Why is my helmet off?”

“You were breathing pretty hard, so I took it off. You okay?” Rainbow’s nervous smile did nothing to assuage Starlight’s growing fears as she re-sealed her helmet again, her eyes darting around as she watched the Spike activate a massive blue beacon. A green circle emanated from nearby the tower, her HUD acknowledging the new area as ‘Secured Territory.’ Nodding silently, she looked at various areas, letting her implant interface directly with the suit and activating the ‘Call-Down.’

“Commander, I’ve marked various areas. We need turret defenses at these locations.” Starlight was still inexorably nervous and anxious, but she had something to do, and she focused as she completed her queue, watching pods drop from the sky and lock into the ground, deploying into round defensive devices with twin-linked machine guns scanning the area. Rainbow nodded at her, placing her own helmet on her head.

“Starlight, I’m going to go do some recon. You got this, right?”

“Y-Yeah, I got this. Go, uh, go do what you have to do.” Rainbow spread her wings, launching with such a burst of speed that Starlight had to brace herself just to keep from being blown backwards. As she recovered, the rapid impact of multiple, metallic objects reminded her that her turrets were still dropping. Looking up at the sky, she saw what appeared to be some kind of drone flying from the Spike towards their Hub, two fully-loaded raw material canisters underneath as its turbines sped up. Off in the distance, she could see a couple of small explosions, her hope that their forces were at least giving as good as they were getting.

--------//|0|\\--------

“Commander, we’re getting hammered down here! How long until the Heavy Vehicle Plant is ready to deploy?” On the opposing fortress, the combat center was a hive of activity as technicians continuously worked on various systems throughout, small sparks eliciting from each console as old wiring shorted out. The holo-table for Command and Control was flickering, a short reboot for the table required every time. Each time it flickered, he could see what appeared to be multiple vehicles approaching some of his entrenched positions. Clone Avatars were designated within his defenses, each one equipped with a heavy weapon of some sort, though it did not seem to be making a dent in the numbers of the enemy.

“We have five minutes until deployment is ready. Keep that Spike defended. Spike Charlie is almost always where the main assault takes place, so keep your wits about you. I’m sending some more Grizzly LAV-9s your way. Their mounted weapons should at least start to make a dent in their numbers. Otherwise, keep me informed.” Isaac Humphries sighed as another power conduit shorted out, sparks flying out from a nearby wall. He knew his Fortress was old, but to have so many issues so soon after they had just upgraded their main reactors was something of an annoyance. Each conduit that shorted out had to be re-routed, or new connections attached from the main conduit that ran the length of the Fortress. Each minor blink in communications made their ability to fight, to defend, more and more difficult as time dragged on. Clenching his fist, he slammed it onto the top of the holo-table, growling in irritation as he watched more of the opposing force move into more strategic positioning.

There was something about it that was unnatural, something that made him clench his jaw in frustration. Something about it made his blood boil, but no explanation came forth from his mind.

--------//|0|\\--------

“Commander, we’re ready to launch the Infantry Support Hub when ready. Landing craft are standing by for delivery of Heavy Infantry Clones. Here’s hoping they can follow orders compared to everything else.” Twilight tapped various symbols on the holographic display in front of her, watching the approximation of the Infantry Support Hub, a large rectangle with smaller boxes where the landing jets were, glide itself into position. A timer counted down as her ‘queue’ cleared up, a new signal emanating that reported the successful reach of second tier Infantry deployment. Sliding her hoof across the edge of the holo-table, she chose landing zones, with two landing craft commanded to land near Starlight’s position.

As she watched, Rainbow’s suit gave her a far more detailed view of the enemy. She was steadily picking off small amounts of the enemy’s Clones, but it was barely making a dent in their numbers. Larger vehicles, the hologram denoting them as ‘Tier 1 Light Vehicles’, began to appear on the table, the supposed ‘fog of war’ becoming an annoyance. Each time she had Rainbow shift her view to get more information, the previous information disappeared from the screen. For her up in the Fortress, it was a minor annoyance, but she could only imagine what was going on down on the ground.

Lifting her left hoof, she brought the signals from the Avatar’s vitality sensors into her focus, watching as Starlight’s heart rate climbed and dropped. Her stress response was impressive, but Twilight was starting to get the feeling that having Starlight as a Tactical Avatar Commander was not exactly her smartest choice. The eye movements registered by the camera inside the helmet noted that she was suffering from anxiety, her brainwave patterns denoting some kind of ongoing response that Twilight knew she understood, but she could not put her hoof on the words.

“So familiar, so- oh no. I put a pony down there who might have a disorder in regards to trauma. Oh, Celestia, what have I done?”

“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It never appeared on her psychological evaluation, so she may have never even knew she was suffering from it. There’s something about being all alone by that Spike that’s triggering it, though.” Chief Medical Officer Redheart monitored a dataslate, watching the irregular patterns being displayed by Starlight. “You’ll have to talk with her about it when she returns to the ship. If her Avatar is killed on the field, take her out of the Amplifier. We do not want her to end up ‘losing it,’ as the phrase entails.”

“Do it. I don’t want her to become unable to function.” Redheart nodded, saluting as she left the Combat Center. Twilight turned back to the holo-table, scowling as she watched her forces deploy. She had to beat them, she had to win. Something about the entire situation was making her blood boil, her competitive spirit reawakening as she narrowed her eyes. Tapping various symbols on the table’s edge, she brought up her communications with Applejack, sighing as she heard the swearing from the other end of the radio link.

“Twi, I’m a little busy-”

“Applejack, are the Minotaurs landing okay?”

“Yeah, they are, but that’s not the problem!” Twilight was about to ask when she saw the fog disappear from near where Applejack’s Avatar was positioned. Four large signals had begun to display as the base defenses warmed up. Applejack, holding what appeared to be some kind of launcher, started screaming at the Minotaurs to move, Twilight biting her lip in worry as she watched them trundle closer and closer to the main gate of their little base compound. Four wheels on each side of what looked like a large boat rolled and bounced along as she got a visual from one of the defensive emplacements. Minotaurs growled and raised their weapons, the hologram displaying yellow projectiles as the Minotaurs advanced on the enemy vehicles.

Larger yellow projectiles elicited a small cry from Twilight as she recoiled in surprise, the markers speeding quickly away from Applejack, and impacting on the enemy vehicles in seconds. A flash of yellow, and the vehicles were gone. Double-checking a camera from Applejack’s viewpoint, she understood what her friend had been able to accomplish, especially with the humanoid weapons. As she flipped through the cameras near the base, Twilight got a far better view of the weapon that her friend was wielding, and the design was rather impressive.

A couple of days before, Twilight had been searching through the database, watching and learning about the weapons of the War Games, from basic semi-automatic firearms to magnetic rail cannons, and even what was termed as an ‘Etheric Feedback Projector.’ The ‘etheric’ part she understood referred to magic in some way, but she was unsure of what the ‘feedback’ portion was. Launchers had caused somewhat of a disinterest, as she had brushed past them to try and understand the ‘Etheric’ weapon classes, and detail out how she might be able to recreate some of them.

Applejack had noticed the launcher systems as Twilight scrolled through the various weapon classes, raising an eyebrow as she left for her department, and began work on a redesign. A redesign that worked, and worked efficiently. She was impressed, but she was also worried. One of the issues that she had read for launchers was their somewhat unreliable nature, though it was more to do with the weapon’s ammunition than the weapon itself.

However, from the data Twilight was presented with on the holo-table, Applejack had apparently been able to work out the issue with the launcher, though it unfortunately increased the amount of time she took to load her shots. Despite all that, Twilight found herself nodding in approval as she watched more enemy light vehicles disappear from her display.

“Applejack, let the Minotaurs move forward, we need them to get to the central Spike and destroy the fortified position that’s there. We’re working on landing more forces, but we’re having an issue with the refueling process in the launch bays. I’ll keep you posted on when we’ve got access.”

“Sure thing, Twi. We’re all good- incoming!” The radio abruptly cut off, leaving Twilight to check in with Rainbow and Starlight. A hope in the back of her mind voiced itself, hoping desperately that other parts of the battle were proceeding all right.

--------//|0|\\--------

“Starlight, we’ve got to move!” Rainbow tugged at the armoured carapace that adorned her friend, trying to get the catatonic unicorn to move. While she had been erecting her turrets, one of the Infantry Clones the humans were fielding got close, and Rainbow had unfortunately needed to destroy it before it attacked Starlight. Her eyes were still wide behind her transparent visor, and Rainbow was beginning to have a harder time trying to keep from screaming in anger at the obstinate pony in front of her.

“It… it got killed. It was dead, but it...”

“’Popped,’ Starlight. They’re not really human, they’re just Clones, like the ones we’re fighting beside at the moment. Move!” Some kind of metallic container impacted nearby, a loud hissing noise the only indicator that something was inside. “Oh, Celestia. Starlight, we have to-”

With a loud clanging, a hatch was forced off the container, one singular human stepping out in what appeared to be some sort of heavy exoskeleton. A launcher sat strapped to one arm, while a rotary assault weapon spun up on the other, a belt of ammunition spooling below it as it loaded itself. Rainbow looked up, drawing her long rifle as she let the HUD draw the cross-hair directly over the human’s face.

“Ah, the ponies. This one will be something I’ll remember forever! Ha ha-” A single shot rang out as Rainbow held the trigger bit in her mouth, her long rifle smoking as the human slumped forward, a good portion of his skull turned to red paste. Starlight stopped to stare at the exoskeleton, her eyes blinking as she realized what was going on. Her eyes drew quickly onto one of her ‘Call-Down’ icons, a grim line drawn with her mouth as she gritted her teeth and pointed to the north of their position.

“Rainbow, I know I’m not doing well. You, Applejack, the rest of them, you’re used to fighting, or finding some way out of a problem. I’ve never really had to do something like this, but… but I have to fight. I can’t just sit around being a fragile, glass pony can I?” Rainbow nodded, looking up as she heard the tell-tale whistling of an incoming shock-pod. Watching it split into three smaller pods, she raised an eyebrow as Starlight approached the impact locations, each pod splitting open to reveal-

“You called down those?! Twilight said they were still being tested-”

“Better now than never. Battery’s in the bigger pod, and I think I’m going to need some help putting it on.” Drawing out a large, boxy device, she inputted a short code on the side and stood back. With a click and a hum of energy, purple lines drew themselves across the device, a light-strip on the side denoting its charged level. Rainbow lifted a battery, slowly bringing it over to Starlight and letting the modular armour lock it into place.

“An ‘Etheric Projector,’ though? Don’t blow yourself up, Starlight.” With a flap of her wings, Rainbow launched with a rush of wind, Starlight waving as she let the mechanical arms of the third portion of the shock-pod attach the EP, each wire sparking as it locked into place. Breathing deeply, she calmed herself as much as she could, letting the machine complete its task. A loud crack of energy, and she could almost tangibly feel the power coursing through the weapon.

“A single rod of Magicite, accelerated to mach speeds by an Etheric Induction Rail, and supposed to be extremely explosive. Let’s, uh, hope this works.”

--------//|0|\\--------

“She did what!?” Twilight, upon learning what Starlight had done, was beside herself in worry. The ‘Etheric Projector’ prototype was barely functional, mostly a proof-of-concept, and in no way battle-ready, yet the unicorn she was watching was strapping it on and charging it up without even paying attention. Twilight winced as she watched the unicorn detonate the prototype, her signal blinking out as a timer covered her viewpoint. Sighing, she turned back to the others in the room, watching as Pinkie entered the room with a carefully balanced plate of snacks, and a cup of hot, steaming coffee.

“Twilight, you gotta take a break. I know Starlight just-”

“Just detonated herself in an uncontrolled Etheric Cascade Reaction? That weapon was not even supposed to be in the weapon pods. I hope she’s at least dealing with her Avatar’s death all right. Applejack’s down one so far, and Rainbow’s come close to needing a new one too. Starlight’s down one now, and we’ve only got enough Avatars at the moment for 5 more losses from each of them, 6 in Rainbow’s case.” Pinkie did not respond, only laying the plate and coffee down on a nearby table, smiling as she drew Twilight into a tight hug. The normally excitable party pony had taken to life aboard the Fortress rather well, though some of her more rambunctious habits came out in other ways. Twilight had yet to talk to her about the ‘Cupcake War’ that had somehow been started in the Cafeteria, but she suspected that would end up being a far longer story than she had time to listen to.

“Twilight, you’re gonna go nuts if you keep micromanaging. Starlight made a mistake, and while, yeah, the Magic Railgun-”

“Etheric Magneto-Projector.”

“Yeah, that thing. Even if it exploded, none of the ponies actually died, and Starlight’s vitals seem far better on the second Avatar. Just relax, drink your coffee, and smile. Smiling always helps.” With that, Pinkie trotted away, the clip-clopping of her hooves on the metal plating of the deck a sobering reminder of the planet they had left to protect her from the threats the committee had ‘offered’ them. Lifting the coffee, Twilight took a quick sip, recoiling from the bitterness, but enjoying the thought nonetheless.

Returning to the holo-table, she watched the timer on Starlight’s ‘portrait’ count down to zero, a new shock-pod delivering her new Avatar to the area near Spike Alpha.

“O-okay then. That’s definitely not what I expected. Commander, I’ll talk to you later about… my accident there.” Twilight nodded silently, checking each portion of the map again and again. Rainbow and 2 platoons of Minotaur Clones had been able to push up near Spike Charlie, the third spike in the battle. An entrenched position was detected, but from what she could tell, the Minotaurs and their heavy weapons were making short work of what had supposedly been an almost impenetrable line of earthworks. Applejack had apparently moved up to support, citing the need for her ‘special’ launcher in destroying the enemy’s light vehicles. Twilight desperately wished she knew the classification of the vehicles, though she understood that it was unlikely she would be able to have them refitted for Equestrian use. The other races knew it as an important point, but for some unknown reason, Equestrian genetics were far more able to be adapted for the Cloning process. Changeling and Gryphon DNA were next on the list for compatibility for the Cloning process, but the combination of the rather rudimentary grasp that the Coalition had on genetics compared to some of the races whose information had long since degraded in the database, coupled with the unfortunate age of the growth acceleration gel they had been using, had terminated that line of inquiry in a rather unfortunate incident. The test batch that had been grown to test the viability had created the need to replace a good portion of the Cloning Lab’s equipment, especially some of the growth tubes.

More red signals disappeared near Spike Charlie, Twilight allowing herself a thin smile as she sipped from her coffee and partook of the pastries on the plate that Pinkie had left behind. Rainbow’s accuracy rating from her CSF training had been far beyond that of even the most talented markspony, but her action during their assault of Spike Charlie had solidified that rating. Almost every one of her shots found its mark, exoskeletons simply falling over as their operators tumbled out, their bodies limp and lifeless. Her brainwave patterns had not even flickered beyond baseline, causing Twilight a small twinge of worry in the back of her mind. The enemy’s light vehicles had been pulled back during the assault, and a small foray for reconnaissance had enlightened them all to the reason why.

“Spike Bravo has the highest concentration of enemy forces. Starlight, Rainbow, once you’re done at Spike Charlie, move to Bravo, and let me state this plainly: Don’t be reckless. You all have a limited amount of Avatars to use, and the more reckless you are, the more you use them up. You’ve all read the reports on Fireteam Alpha, the main Tactical Avatar Commanders of the Kepler. Don’t be like them. Fight smarter, not harder. Otherwise, keep up the good work, everyone.” Twilight breathed slowly, falling backwards into a sitting position as she realized she was exhausted. The time displayed above the holo-table displayed 12 hours since the match started, and she realized she was in dire need of the coffee and the pastries Pinkie had provided her.

“Will do, Twilight. Rainbow’s still out there picking off the enemy exoskeletons, so I’ll see what I can do with a Sapper Loadout. Starlight out.” With the end of the transmission, Twilight felt someone carefully place a blanket around her, a chair seemingly coming out of nowhere as she stared at the holo-table. 12 hours and counting, and they were not even halfway done.

--------//|0|\\--------

“Okay, shock-pod’s inbound. Hoping this time I don’t detonate myself with untested magical munitions. Rainbow, do you still have sight on the enemy position at Spike Bravo?” Starlight sat on the crushed greenery that was near her, looking around at the artificial forest around her. Mosshaven had been a planet of subtle beauty, but the Games had terraformed, within minutes, an entire forest for the match. She suspected Twilight would figure out how they did it almost as soon as they were finished. Such a technology would work wonders for the drought-stricken areas of Equus, including the driest deserts of Saddle Arabia.

Turning her eyes skyward, Starlight tracked the trajectory of the shock-pod, her HUD displaying the approximate impact site as she breathed deep, centering herself. With a quick pulse of magical energy, she propelled herself at the landing pod, the modular armour assembly unit catching her as she sailed past, locking on the new armour components quickly and nearly seamlessly. New icons opened up across her view as she checked the status of her other devices. Green bars scrolled past, each one indicative of the damage level of each of her turrets. Smiling, she let herself go slack, the assembly pod finishing the basic welds of her control circuits as her weapon harness came online. With a smile, she touched down on the nearby earth gently, giving her trigger bit a quick test to make sure everything was connected. A hiss, a whine, and a quick motion signified that her harness was ready, and her new weapon, a Coalition Armaments Long Rifle Automatic Class 5, brought up a targeting crosshair on her new HUD. Rainbow’s signal punched through to her as she finished her final checks, including a new small engine on the rear of her armour.

“Helios Sapper Loadout, huh? Pretty decent, but that experimental rifle has a pretty nasty kick to it, Starlight. Fire in short bursts, and the recoil won’t flip you. I’ll see you at Spike Bravo!” Starlight smiled, linking completely with her armour as she attempted to activate the engine thruster, feeling a short power-up followed by an error message flashing on her screen. Gritting her teeth, she switched her HUD to a command channel, locating the nearest Outrider.

“Hey, Rainbow. I’m gonna be a bit late to the rendezvous. Thruster pack wouldn’t ignite. I’m going to try and catch an Outrider already on its way over. I’m hoping we can end this soon.”

“Got you loud and clear, Starlight. Race you there!” Starlight had to chuckle at the cerulean mare’s statement, sighing as it brought up some of the memories she had from her training. Rainbow Dash had been attempting to become the top member of the Wonderbolts, before their training had been folded into the CSF’s Aerial Ace training program. Each time she and Starlight had touched the vehicle simulators, it was always a test to see how fast Rainbow could push the program before it either crashed, or she was asked to settle down before she caused the control chips to malfunction again. The same phrase was said each time, and a pleasant feeling began to course throughout Starlight, her mind relaxing as she focused.

Spike Bravo was a network of criss-crossing trenches and earthworks, dotted boxes echoing thunderous reports of massive machine guns. As Starlight watched the feed from Rainbow’s suit viewpoint, she could see the various attempts that had been made before at assaulting it, the ‘popped’ clones merely gooey puddles where they had fallen. Several destroyed Outrider buggy wrecks were still smoldering as Rainbow checked each one, hoping for at least a Clone surviving.

“Hey, Rainbow, is everything all right?”

“We… we’ve got a lot of dead here. A lot of it seems to be from human-designed Clones, so it seems we’re at least doing some damage. But this is kind of hard to look at.” Starlight tuned out her comm, staring in front of her. In 15 seconds, an Outrider would come barreling over the nearby embankment and make a short stop for her to get on. Rainbow continued on with her damage report, the unicorn barely registering as the buggy in question jumped the embankment, coming neatly to a sliding halt as the passenger door opened. An Infantry Clone grunted and waved her over, helping Starlight in as she seated herself. Checking her weapon into its holster at her side, she checked portions of her equipment, from the autoloading feature on her CA-XLRA5 to the interlocking plates on her front that were clicking in bad spots. A lot of her armour felt experimental, and some of it felt rushed, but she was in need of a more stable solution than the potential etheric cascade she had subjected herself to, or at least, she assumed she was. A good amount of the technology was theoretical at best, explosive at worst, and Starlight was hoping it was the former, mentally preparing herself for a repeat of the latter.

“I’m about 45 seconds out. Outrider’s running a bit slow, so, well, wait up?” Starlight was not sure whether or not the hesitation came through on the microphone; the transmissions tended to distort as they were sent from transmitter to receiver. Humming softly, she checked her suit once more, watching the terrain pass by as the Outrider rumbled, the vibrations from the engine a rhythmic reminder that no matter what happened, she was never going to be the same mare that had tried to destroy time itself 7 years before. She was reminded that even with her mistakes, she was still Twilight’s student in the study of friendship, and was also the First Officer of Twilight’s Command Crew. She began to smile, only to falter as the Outrider screeched to a halt, sliding sideways for a good few meters before coming to a complete stop. With the sudden cessation of motion, the side hatch of the vehicle hissed open, the echoing report of repeating firearms booming around her as she gripped the trigger bit of her harness, her long rifle locking into place. With the crosshair appearing on her HUD, she gritted her teeth, feeling the recoil as it slammed back against the shock absorption built into the mechanical portions of the weapon harness. Several rounds went wild, striking dirt and stones, but some of her bursts found purchase in the human clones, her helmet reporting the direct hits with expanded viewpoints as the rounds slammed home directly center-of-mass on multiple targets.

“I reckon that Twilight might take that there rifle of yours and make it standard-issue. Keep up that good shooting, Starlight.” Applejack tapped Starlight on the back of her suit, motioning to the long rifle that was desperately trying to reload itself, the automatic feeder system having accidentally ejected the wrong portion of the loading belt. Setting her launcher down, Applejack retrieved a small set of tools, stripping portions of the rifle away as she hummed to herself.

“I guess that was pretty awesome. I mean, every one of my shots have hit their marks, so I’m still awesome, but hearing your rifle shoot? That was something else, Starlight.” Rainbow Dash slowly walked up, what looked like a sharp piece of metal impaled in one of her hind legs. Starlight was about to gasp when she saw the gel dripping from the wound, a fact that drove the point home that they were not actually there, despite what her mind still wanted her to believe.

“You look like you’re in pain.”

“Yeah. I thought the clones were unable to feel pain, but Celestia does this hurt. We’re pretty close to being able to assault their main base, so we’re almost there. Just gonna-” With an unceremonious noise, Rainbow Dash’s Avatar popped, the gel splattering Starlight’s armour as Applejack sighed and reattached the loading belt. Wiping her own faceplate, Applejack rolled her eyes, walking over and picking up the weapon harness that had been left behind.

“Twi, you got all that?”

“Fluttershy’s looking into the Link Amplifier. Maybe something we overlooked in production? We’ll keep you posted. Twilight out.”

“Sounds like she’s got her hooves full.”

“I reckon she does. We’re running on fumes here, Starlight, what with all these clones popping themselves.” Hefting her launcher again, Applejack smiled as she leaped onto a parked Outrider, the clones inside locking in as it sped away into the distance. Shifting herself back into a more combat-ready stance, Starlight let her suit reconnect to the weapon harness, the auto-loader feeding far more smoothly than before. With a nod, she galloped forwards, her HUD becoming populated with a multitude of red symbols, each one denoting a single enemy. As the light began to shift, she realized just how long they had been engaged in their little battle. Mosshaven had a 24-hour day, and a 24 hour night, meaning that the battle had begun sometime in the middle of the daylight period. Yellow tracers glowed as rounds whizzed past overhead, each one slamming into the terrain around her as she desperately rolled and tried to keep herself moving, the volume of fire becoming almost too much to bear as she fell behind an Outrider wreck.

“This is Starlight. I need something, anything! We’re moving past the main line to assault Spike Charlie, but we don’t have a clear enough vision to see anything-”

“Leave that to me, Starlight!” A sudden rush of air overhead was coupled with the telltale echo of a sonic boom. A massive rainbow circle expanded as Starlight watched, several explosions echoing in the distance where symbols rapidly began to disappear. Her HUD began to track the speeding pegasus, small yellow symbols denoting some kind of small explosive that she was dropping on the enemy position.

“I would hate to be in their corner right now.”

--------//|0|\\--------

“I’m sorry, they did what?!” The Miner’s Defiance was shuddering from overloading conduits, each patchwork repair even more rushed than the last as engineers scrambled around in a desperate bid to keep the Fortress from shutting down under the strain of the systems installed. Isaac gripped the edge of the holo-table displaying the battle, the screen flickering in and out as new lines were rigged up to power the device. Several other humans behind him were motionless on the hard, metal deck plating, burns up and down their faces from electrical discharges that had emanated from nearby consoles. Adding to it all was the apparent Clone Avatar creating a sonic boom of almost mythical proportions, moving at speeds his systems could not even track.

“I don’t know, sir! One minute she was getting down like a cat does before a leap, the next minute she was right beside us dropping some extremely crude explosives. They appear to operate like our grenades, but are extremely primitive in their fuses.”

“By the Nine Heavens… How far back have we been pushed after that?!” He brushed multiple pieces of debris off the holo-table, sweeping as much of the dust off as he could. Chunks of rock from a rapidly-sealed hull breach had landed on various areas, leaving wisps of smoke floating through the air. His signals were growing fewer as he watched, the red signals of the opposing force almost swarming his devastated positions as his Grizzly LAV-9 relief forces met with a fast-approaching force of what his own crew had described as ‘walking almost straight out of the pages of mythology.’ The various weapons he had been witnessing pointed to a very active experimental weapons program, but a fair portion of them, from his viewpoint, were far too experimental. He was far more used to loading up the old UEC Kinetic Rifle for his engineers to build, a tried-and-true device that never ceased to amaze with how it could be modified.

Now, however, he was starting to notice the benefits of the experimental devices. Sure, the sheer fact that a camera had seen the strange automatic long rifle that one of the opponents was using spit rounds almost as fast as a machine gun emplacement had him a little panicked. However, the sheer nature of his enemy – the weapons, the vehicles, even their strange abilities – all of the information caused him to bit his lip in nervous apprehension.

“Nine Heavens preserve us. Engineers, continue-”

“And the match goes to the Equestrian Coaliton Battle Fortress, the Solus Invictus! Almost an entire day of battle, men, women, and beings of all orientations! We will be broadcasting the After Action Recap show after the commanders of each vessel meet to determine the Victor’s Rights. Thank you all for tuning into this most excellent of a match!” As Isaac looked around, he rubbed the back of his head, lowering it until his forehead touched the glass of the holo-table. With a heavy groan, he rolled it back and forth, sliding down until he sat on the ground.

“Sir? A shuttle is being prepared for you from the opposing Fortress.” He looked up to see one of his Avatar Commanders reaching down, helping him up from his seated position.

“I can’t believe it. We held on so much, but this was all a farce, wasn’t it? We-”

“We lost sir, yes. But we might be able to become part of the crew of the Solus Invictus. None of us want to stop fighting, not as long as a single one of us still stands. Remember the Kepler, sir.” Isaac nodded, holding his right hand across his chest as he mimicked his fellow shipmate’s hand sign.

“Remember the Kepler. Get me to the shuttle. I think it’s time we talked face to face with this ‘Twilight Sparkle.’”

Author's Note:

So, this chapter was a hoot to write. It took me a while due to other obligations, but this chapter does have one thing missing:

The meeting between the commanders!

Now, why did I not include that in this chapter? Because the next chapter is a little something special, and a little bit of worldbuilding! You're all in for a treat!

Anyways, thank you all for reading, and if anyone has a strange idea for a Battle Fortress that does not use a race from popular media (If you want to create a fictional alien race, be my guest, but PM me about the Battle Fortress classes so that you can be even more creative. The 'classes' are only there as a baseline, you can be creative with them.)

I look forward for the next chapter!