The New Lunar Republic: Leviathan

by RedWinter

Chapter 1: The Foehammer Protocol

The Foehammer Protocol

During the Exile of Nightmare Moon, known as the Second age, a breakthrough in Arcano-mechanical engineering yielded the first faster-than-light drive system. Ponykind reached to the stars. Colonies were established, grew, thrived, and became bastions for further expansion. The Solar Empire was born.

Equestria became the heart of the Empire, a shining beacon of progress and civilized ponydom. Other races soon followed, staking out their own claims in the great void. Griffins, Zebras, Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs and more reached to the heavens. None could compare to the glory of the Empire.

Everypony forgot about the old legends. They forgot about the Mare in the Moon. The lifeless body hung over Equestria, waiting.

Until the prophecy of old came to fruition and Nightmare Moon returned and exiled the Empress, locking her in sacred Sol, usurping the throne. Then six brave ponies rose up and harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. In the aftermath, Princess Luna took her rightful place by her sister’s side once more to rule in peace and tranquility. The third age had begun.

But it was not the end of the story.

Only a short time passed until Princess Luna betrayed her sister once again. History in its timeless crawl, repeated. The Solar Empire was split in two. Half stayed loyal to the Empire, stable, pure, and noble. While the other half defected to the New Lunar Republic, free, righteous, and filled with conviction.

Twenty long years have passed, and the war between the sisters has engulfed not just a single world or a single nation. This time their conflict has set the stars themselves aflame.

***

The Sierra Sapphire coasted through a backwater system. She was a merchant vessel, old, and sturdy, having sailed the trade lanes between settled systems for many decades. Roughly three hundred meters stem to stern, many scars marked her hull. Meteorites, cannon fire, and other signs of the danger of the void. She bore them proudly, defiant in the face of the harshest environment in the entire universe.

Deal Breaker was a blue earth pony with a trio of coins for a cutie mark. He commanded his small crew from the bridge of the Sierra Sapphire, as his father Smooth Hoof had before him, and his father before him. Ponies sat at work stations around the semi-circular bridge, monitoring the output of the generator, engines, and the space surrounding the ship. Deal Breaker had chosen a slightly unorthodox route to their destination and he was on high alert.

It was slightly risky, there being no Empire traffic controller on standby to ward off potential threats. For that reason though there was little chance of encountering anypony at all way out there. Nefarious or otherwise. Pirates flocked around the busier routes, hoping to get lucky off a fat luxury vessel straying too far from the herd.

“Magnometric and Ladar sensors report all clean. Gravimetric shows some debris off starboard, range eight thousand.” Called a watchpony.

“Let’s steer clear of that, the sooner we’re out of this system, the better.” It wasn’t the route that was making Deal Breaker nervous; it was a piece of his freight. At the conclusion of his normal drop off point in the Novus constellation a very professional looking pony had approached him on the docks. He had asked Deal to transport a small stasis crate in addition to his regular cargo.

That in itself wasn’t at all unusual. Such requests came often while the Sierra was berthed if no courier ship was present and the sender didn’t care too much about when the package arrived so long as it did so safely. No, it was the pony’s smile, the smile that didn’t reach his dead eyes.

The captain shook his head to dispel the nasty aftereffects of the meeting. His run was nearly done and he wouldn’t have to worry about it, and would indeed make a nice profit from the time he had shaved off by choosing the road less traveled. A few more jumps, and he could enjoy a well-earned day or two of relaxation. Maybe find a good looking mare and have a night out. He had heard some of his crew talk about a new restaurant opening at Trihaven Station.

Any further daydreaming was forestalled when an ensign called out from her console.

“Contact! I have a contact, starboard, closing at four thousand!” The ponies of the Sierra were veteran spacers and did not panic. They had fended off a raiding vessel more than once.

“Pirates,” Sneered the merchant. “Voids up, bare the fangs.” The Sapphire’s twin heat lance turrets emerged from their housing and swiveled to lock on her opponent.

“Incoming. Five torpedoes, unknown payload. Impact in ten. Target is Assault Cruiser, determining model now.”

“Where are my Celestia damned Void shields?” Demanded the captain. The vessel shivered as her turrets opened fire, lighting the space between with flashing death.

“Voids up sir! Impact in four.”

“All hooves brace for impact!” Two sleek, deadly spines of self-propelled penetrated the merchant’s shields and evaded the meager point-defense fire thrown at them. Each of the twenty meter long torpedoes sank through the hull of the Sierra Sapphire like porcupine quills.

“Damages?”

“Very little, sir. Breaches on decks five and eight, atmospheric integrity holding. No explosions detected. Pirate vessel has retreated out of range, no more incoming fire.” The captain wasn’t sure what to make of the news. He suspected that their defenses and armaments were being tested, like a shark taking an experimental bite out of its prey. A few tense minutes passed but nothing else happened.

Perhaps they could stave off the star bound predator long enough to reach the next jump point.

“Intruders! We have intruders in sections two and six!”

“That’s impossible. Those weren’t boarding pods!” Cried Deal Breaker.

“We’ve lost contact with engineering. Hostiles moving through the ship, sir!” Readouts showing different compartments of the ship turned red one by one.

“They’re at the bulkhead!” Cried a mare in hysterics. The situation was spiraling out of control. Dumbfounded, the blue stallion turned to stare at the metal door separating the bridge from the rest of the ship. He was thrown backwards as four carefully placed charges cut through the composite steel like butter and a section fell in.

A few of the crew fired wildly through the gap with personal sidearms. Three sleek black and purple edged power armored ponies waded through the fire like it was chaff. A pegasus flew through first, knocking over resistance with kicks and hoof strikes. Next came a huge earth pony with a massive cannon strapped to his back that swiveled to point at whatever his helmet fixed on. And last, a unicorn, floating a large rifle attached by a pair of ammunition belts.

Power armor users were only effectively able to be countered by other power armor equipped individuals. It was vacuum sealed, and virtually impervious to small arms fire, ideal for the close action required of boarding ships. It enhanced the wearer’s strength, speed, contained targeting and sensor suites of varying calibers, and very few, rare suits even enhanced magical power.

In a few moments the crew were all disarmed and herded into the far end of the bridge. The unicorn spoke, his voice distorted through external speakers.

“Attention, this ship, and all its cargo is now the property of the Lunar Republic. You will comply.” The tone of the voice brooked no argument. The captain, huffing in indignation pushed forward and pressed his nose against the expressionless helmet of the unicorn.

“Republic scum! This ship and her crew belong to the Solar Empire. Leave now lest you incite the wrath of Celestia and Her navy!” In response, the unicorn head butted the captain, knocking him out. A few of the crew fearfully dragged their unconscious captain out of harm’s way.

“Anypony else?” The crew was quiet. “Cooperate, and you will not be harmed.” His wingmates began shepherding the Sapphire’s team into the emergency lifeboats. The unicorn leader switched to internal communication.

“Bridge is secure, what’s your status, Thorn?”

“Generator clean, cargo safe, putting the crew into escape pods now. Can’t wait to see what we got this time.” The mare was clearly enthusiastic.

“Contact the Omen, let’s not linger.”

“Aye, sir.” Said Rosethorn.

A young ensign suddenly leapt out of line, past the hovering pegasus to a nearby terminal. He began rapidly tapping at a series of commands and shouted.

“Burn in Celestia’s fire you bas-“ His speech was cut off by a 20mm shell rocketing through his torso. Against a soft target, the massive round was beyond excessive. Blood ejected explosively from the exit wound and the terminal died with a spark as the shell continued on its path. The colt was dead before he hit the deck plating. Every crewmember flinched at the sound in the tight confines of the bridge.

The unicorn lowered the smoking barrel of his rifle in a glowing grip. One shot, one kill. The foalish pony had tried to initiate emergency core venting procedures. It would have filled the inside of the Sierra Sapphire with plasma after which the generator would consequently suffer catastrophic failure.

After seeing the brutal death of their fellow, the rest of the ponies filed out silently.

“There’s always one who tries to be a hero,” muttered the hulking earth pony.

“More like another one brainwashed by Imperial propaganda that we’re boogyponies here to rape and eat their children.” Responded the pegasus, ratcheting her foreleg mounted combat shotguns to make a trailing unicorn think twice about repeating his fellow’s martyrdom.

“There will always be ponies willing to blindly follow a tyrant. We must show them no mercy, yet not become the same in the process.” Bitterness soured the unicorn’s tone. The colt would have killed them and his fellow crewmembers. He had had no choice. That didn’t mean he liked it.

“Yes, commander,” said Acrylic in his deep bass.

“Yes, commander,” acknowledged Nightingale. A moment of silence passed between the three. When the last of the crew were loaded into lifeboats, the pegasus hit the eject switch and flippantly waved goodbye.

“Thorn wishes Aegis.” The commander’s attentions immediately turned to his other team leader at her having used their urgent need code.

“Aegis here, what is it Thorn?”

“I think you’d better see this for yourself, commander. Cargo bay three.” With curt gestures to his subordinates, the unicorn exited the now abandoned bridge and headed down through the ship’s corridors. The Sierra was as quiet inside as the void was outside, save for the armored hooves beating a steady rhythm through her halls.

The commander met his secondary team leader outside the wide metal jaws of the Sapphire’s generous cargo compartments. Rosethorn fidgeted in her mark three armor. She preferred the more lightweight alloys and additional thrusters located along strategic points of her suit. The less dense metals meant reduced protection but allowed a considerable sub-generator to be integrated in a special housing unit between her wings.

As with all of the boarding squad, each had personalized his or her power armor with many black market modifications and personalized components. Working on the fringes of controlled space had its benefits. Not least of which was enjoying the spoils of a fine catch.

“This way,” Rosethorn walked quickly, clearly agitated about something. “Circuit Board spotted it. He should be close to cracking it by now.” The commander’s interest was piqued as the pegasus led him to where a small unicorn colt tapped at the keys of his portable Ice-Breaker. The chords of which were slotted into a seemingly innocuous metal block.

“Almost… there! I don’t know who puts military encryption on a civilian schematics key, but they forgot about the manufacturer’s design flaws. Not the programing ones, but the physical imperfections in the crystal memory unit. I’ll bring it up.” The younger pony twisted a few settings and a holographic display lit up from the top of the cube.

Bright green technical specifications and various mechanical components rendered in cross-sections hovered in the open space of the cargo hold. A more moderately sized earth pony by the name of Viola poked a floating mathematical formula with a hoof.

“What is it?” She asked her commander. He examined it carefully, his eyes widening, then narrowing.

“Circuit, pack it up and make sure that thing’s secured.” The schematics flickered once and vanished. “The rest of you find grab anything useful or sellable that we can take with us. You have five minutes. Circuit Board, once you’re done set the core overload timer to one hour. Meet me at Pylon Five. Move like you got a purpose ponies.” With a chorus of salutes the soldiers of the Republic hurried to their tasks.

Five minutes later they rendezvoused at one of the torpedoes punctured through the hull of the Sierra Sapphire. They were all loaded down with everything valuable they could carry.

“I hate this part,” grumbled Acrylic.

“Beats hoofin’ it through vacuum,” said Rosethorn. With no further ado, the commander’s horn started to glow. Quickly the white magic blazed, igniting the barbed torpedo with an identical glow. In a massive flash, the six ponies vanished and reappeared in a special compartment aboard the Vengeful Omen.

Arcane sigils adorned the walls, ceiling, and were painted in a wide circle in the middle of which the boarding party appeared. Several ponies of the Omen stood ready to assist the team out of their armor or provide medical assistance while others gathered up the looted supplies. The commanding unicorn waved away the yellow pegasus who stepped forward to help him out of his gear and teleported straight to the bridge of his vessel.

He did not even bother to drop off his weapon in the armory, not wanting to delay his vital duty any more than was necessary.

The Vengeful Omen was a sleek and deadly hunter. She was heavily armed, and wickedly fast. As expected from her status as an Assault Cruiser, she traded hull strength for speed and additional weapon ports. Banks of missile and torpedo bays, beam turrets, point defense lasers, and more traditional kinetic weapons dotted the surface of the ship. It also hosted a compliment of five Corsair fighter bombers.

Only close inspection and a trained eye would reveal the truer state of the ship. When one looked past the military coat of paint, there was only so much standard hardware left. Many armor plates were mismatched in size or off color. Some of the weapons while still menacing, were indeed nonfunctional. And if one were to look into the Omen’s stockpiles and magazines, it would be obvious they were nearly empty. Of the Corsairs, only two were void worthy. The attack on the Sierra had used the last of the Pylon torpedoes as well.

She had sailed on the edge for a long time and in near desperate need of refit and rearmament.

On the command deck of the Omen, nestled safely in the heart of the vessel, the commander appeared in a flash of crackling light. Well used to such an entrance, the ponies were unperturbed and continued with the task of running a naval warship. He surveyed them for a moment and announced to the crew his orders.

“Get me a link to high command, level indigo.”

“Right away, sir,” answered a communications pony. Through the miracle of quantum fluid router technology, faster-than-light messages were possible. After a few minutes the crewmember gave the go ahead gesture and a display with the insignia of the Republic hovered before the commander with a ‘Voice Only’ tag.

“This is Admiral Blueberry, what could possibly be so important way out there that could warrant an indigo?” Of course command had been given tags about the ship’s location and designation.

“Admiral, I have a Foehammer.” The unicorn kept his voice neutral.

“This had better not be another damned message tube with some vague reference to an Imperial secret project! I demoted the last pony who wasted this navy’s time like that.

“I have a full schematic.”

The other end of the line was silent for a time.

“Are you sure?”

“Beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“Very well then, the Foehammer protocol is now in effect. Prepare your ship for immediate transit coreward. New orders will be transmitted at point marked alpha. Escorts should arrive on standby by the time you get there but do not wait for them, is that understood?”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“Very well then, and may the stars have mercy on our souls.”

The bridge lead and second in command aboard the Vengeful Omen was a purple pegasus. She moved her feathers in a series of poses.

Winter Reverie took off his helmet and sighed.

“Yes, Crystal, back to civilization. Back to the lights and the noise and the cities full of mechanical hearts, spilling oil from all their parts.”

(Author’s notes: Okay, I know it’s rather short, but I mostly wanted to gauge people’s reaction to the setting I’m uh… setting here. Also so the prologue isn’t sitting nebulously in cyber space. I left a lot of it rather purposefully vague so you get the general feel and so I could reveal it to be Winter at the end because I’m a bastard like that. So, ponies and interstellar warships, tell me what you think!)

Comments

[RedWinter]

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Thanks guys, really diggin' the feedback! Let me know what you think of the next chapter!

[Aziraphael]

Oh the Warhammer references! Either that or you have broken all the laws governing acceptable coincidences .

Regardless, I'm looking forward to what you'll do with this. You have a lot of work ahead of you building this universe you're creating, but if you pull it off this has the potential to be an amazing story.

[Whittaker Ruck]

I like the world building so far and like Aziraphael said this has the potential to be an amazing story.

[Sigur024]

As some have said before me, MOAR!

[Myriad Tales]

This is probably the best Equestrian Civil War fic I have ever read! You've built an incredible universe. I'll give you extra points if Derpy shows up!!!! I love Derpy

[Icarus Crimsonhoof]

Very..Different.