Exploring Equestria

by A_guy_from_Earth

32. Emergency Meeting

Before they realized it, Hidden Path, Grace, Cloudbreaker, Dim Silhouette and Razor Edge were ten thousand miles above the surface of the planet. The place where they stood was spacious round hall made of metal, glass and plastic. The hall was full of various devices and filled with numerous holographic screens, but they and researchers were the only living being in it.

“What?” Grace exclaimed. “Where are we?”
“What just happened?” Cloudbreaker muttered.
“Welcome to the Union’s research starship Kelkerdez-Unaad!” Edez smiled. “We are in one of the teleportation stations.”
“WHAT?” agents exclaimed.
“Wait, we are on your ship?” Hidden Path exclaimed. “In the space?!”
“And… have you just say that in your language?” Grace added.
“Both times yep,” researchers confirmed.
“Knowledge implantation was successful,” Affi smiled.
“You… teleported us?” Dim Silhouette was shivering. “How… far away we are from home?”
“Using your units… ten thousand two hundred sixty three miles above the surface of Gaia,” Zet’rar responded.

Equestrians were so shocked they couldn’t say a word.

“Okay, we don’t have much time, and we all have to return to Ponyville in the morning, so let’s get the protection measures done faster,” Mas said.
“What protection measures?” Razor Edge and Dim Silhouette wondered.
“Your environment is alien to us, and we don’t have time to figure how our species would react on the viruses and germs you have, so we gotta have your bacilli sealed for our sake, okay?”
“Um… okay.”
“Good. Bluve, prepare the injections!”
“Already did!” junior physiologist said, holding four relatively large syringes filled with something that resembled liquid metal in her hands.
“Nice,” Max smiled and went to take the last injection.
“Excuse me, but what is this… medicine?” Cloudbreaker worried. “It awfully resembles mercury…”
“Oh, it’s… well, you would describe it as microscopic machines,” Bluve responded.
“Microscopic… machines?”
“Wait, you mean you’re going to fill our bodies with tiny robots?” Razor Edge exclaimed.
“Exactly.”
“I object!”
“Don’t worry!” Zet’rar intervened. “It’s 100 percent safe and very effective. The only thing that causes discomfort is injection itself.”
“It’s painful, when machines spread throughout your body, but it lasts only for few minutes,” Oma said. “After it you just feel tired, but it usually stops in two or three hours.”
“Actually, each of us have about three or four pound of this stuff in our bodies,” Max added.
“Really?” officers surprised.
“Yeah, so just bear with it, okay?”
“Well, okay. Do it.”

Bluve and Max injected the agents the nanite treatment. The next thing equestrians felt was sharp pain, which eventually began to fade, and in five minutes, as it was said, the only sensation remained was tiredness.

“Well, the procedure is complete!” Max smiled. “You are biologically safe now. Let’s go!”
“Oh, one more thing!” Affi said. “Since we are here, no one will use cover names to address us, so we should re-introduce ourselves so that you were aware of who is who.”
“Right!” her colleagues agreed.
“Well, my actual name is Affi Mana-tosu, I’m the second curator and the master telepathist of the team. Belong to jokhrian race.”
“Edez Ad’Deigoro,” the leader of the Team introduced himself. “First curator of the research team and senior planetologist. Belong to dreketanians.”
“Max Sudarmono,” master physiologist bowed. “Senior biologist. Terran.”
“Bluve K’oishea,” his colleague smiled. “Regular biologist. I’m from anxaiman race.”
“Sheim Tat-Doil,” planetologist waved. “I’m regular planetologist here. Of rugartarians.”
“Oma Kiegekko” master sociologist smiled. “I’m the senior sociologist of the Team. Belong to yedeizan race.”
“Karin Axelsson,” her colleague waved. “Regular sociologist. I’m Terran, like Max.”
“Zet’rar Dou,” Team’s technician smiled. “You already know my position in the Team, and… I’m an unfalizan.”
“Kor Ndtal-Emai,” officer bowed. “Security officer. Verekan.”
“…Th-thank you,” agents bowed.
“We’ll lead you to the conference hall,” Edez said. “Just follow us… and, please, don’t surprise all the time.”
“Why should we act like…” Cloudbreaker was about to said, but right at this moment Kor opened the doors from the teleportation station.

What was behind the doors was spacious corridor, the opposite wall of with was huge floor-to-ceiling window. Behind it was the endless darkness of space with countless sparkles of stars… and relative small blue-green sphere covered in white spots and stripes and tiny gray ball orbiting it.

Agents froze on where they stood and their jaws dropped.

“Already…” Edez sighed.
“Is it… Gaia?” Grace muttered.
“It is,” Affi said. “Yes, it is very beautiful, but we don’t have time for the admiration now. We have to hurry. We’ll let you enjoy the views before we leave.”
“Well, okay…”
“And one more thing. When you’ll decide to ask something, just think about it and I’ll give you the answer telepathically. Or I’ll connect you with the one who knows the answer.”
“Th-thanks…”
“Gosh, that’s weird,” Dim Silhouette spelled and shuddered.
“You don’t say…” Razor Edge sighed.
“And, guys, if you are going to keep it like this, we’ll miss the meeting!” Zet’rar added.
“Why?” agents wondered.
“Because now you gonna see who inhabits the space and what they can do.”

Edez waved, like saying to follow him. Other members of Team One and secret service agents went after him, and very soon they were in one of the ship’s central corridors, vast pedestrian avenue with high roof and simple yet elegant futuristic decorations.

And it was full of creatures that no Equestrian has never seen before.

Dozens, no, hundreds of creatures of various kinds. They resembled all kinds of living beings that inhabit Gaia and even more. Some of them were hard to describe since equestrians – despite facing different monstrous creatures – haven’t seen something like this. They couldn’t tell if what they see is living being or not.

The shock they experienced surpassed even the sight of their home planet from ten-thousand-mile height. No monster sanctuary on Gaia hasn’t such diversity. Secret agents barely managed to cope with the shock – only after series of nudges from the researchers they managed to make themselves move. Thus, they followed the researchers to the conference hall, while observing everything and everyone around them.

Everything around was made of metal, glass, and various kinds of plastic and ceramics. There was practically nothing made of wood and stone – if there was something, it was just a decoration, and sometimes it was easier to find someone made of stone or wood than find something made of those materials. And holograms. Holograms everywhere. Screens of different sizes and forms, floating around everywhere or attached to surfaces… They appeared and vanished in an instant. What was the most amazing is that the starship crew used these screens not only to read the information, but also as a keyboard. In Equerstria only the most skillful and powerful mages could do something like this, and here it was usual thing that required no magic at all…

Agents regularly checked what was on those screens. Thanks to the knowledge that Affi implanted them they could understand the inscriptions, but they could understand only small part of the texts since they didn’t know the terms. What made these inscriptions even more alien, was the writing and calculating systems. The artificial language created in the Union as the source of international communication consisted of three hundred forty seven syllables, digraphs and trigraphs, all of which were represented as symbols consisting of four hatches. The calculation system was duodecimal and, again, numerals were four-hatch symbols.

However, it was nothing comparing to who surrounded them. Hundreds of species. It was hard to spot representatives of the same race. Creatures around them have different colors, different sizes, different forms. Some of them had wings, but they didn’t fly. Equestrians thought that it’s because they wingspan is too big, and it would rather obstruct the movement than aid it. Some creatures had four limbs, just like animals on Gaia, other had six, eight, or even more… What was the most surprising for ponies is that there were creatures with odd number of limbs. In Equestria it was characteristic only to certain monsters, here they could see entire races having such feature. Some creatures were wearing devices that resembled gas masks. Some of those deices made hissing noises. Some of the creatures were wearing suits that resembled ones used for diving. And many creatures they saw were cyborgs. That was the most shocking. Creatures that had limbs or even greater part of their bodies replaced with metal and plastic parts… it looked even more fantastic than many sci-fi stories described. Having so much cyborgs and creatures wearing suits, sometimes it was hard to tell if it is a living being or it is a robot. Yes, there were robots, and there were numerous. All shapes and kinds, these mechanic assistants helped everyone around in various tasks. “That’s how future should look!” agents thought, looking at them. However, that was one feature that seems a little strange t them: robots were numerous, but only few of them were shaped like living beings. That was the only thing that didn’t correspond with equestrians’ conception of future.

All of those creatures looked calm and diligent. Despite the look, which could be scary for an equestrian, starship crew seemed to be friendly. There was only one feature that disturbed the ponies: their race seemed to be below the average size of sapient creatures in the Universe. Absolute majority of creatures they saw consisted of beings taller, longer or just bulkier than they were. Because of this, agents felt like kindergarteners among adults.

And while they examined the fantastic-looking creatures around them, the fantastic creatures inspected them as well. Not like some animals in a zoo, there was something else in the way they looked at them. It seemed that they have already knew how sapient creatures of Gaia look, but they knew it only from pictures, so seeing a real equestrian was new for them. Thus, agents couldn’t help but feel being watched all the time. Some of the creatures addressed them, but usually all they wanted to ask was to confirm is that they are eyewitnesses that Team One brought here. Other creatures addressed only to researchers. Obviously, they were their friends and acquaintances, since these aliens regularly joked about how researchers look now.

Considering all this, no wonder that Affi didn’t have a minute without a question. Since when agents made sure that the telepathic connection really works, they asked the curator non-stop.

“Your alphabet has so many symbols… It’s like the writing system of the Eastern Kingdoms! So inconvenient…”
“This Universe has so many languages you cannot even imagine. And only some of them are verbal. These three hundred and forty seven symbols are just the necessary minimum representing all the variety of sounds.”
“The same can be said about your calculation system. Is twelve numerals better than ten?”
“Of course! Ten could be divided only by five, two and one, twelve can be divided by six, four, three, two and one. It’s way more convenient than decimal system and widespread. Just try to count like this, and you’ll see the difference.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but… some of your… teammates look like they are made of wood or stone. How is it possible without magic?”
“Well, the essence of life is the same in all parts of the Universe, but it can take various forms. Some of the races that make the Union are closer to plants, other are closer to animals… For instance, your scientists would describe Sheim’s race as plant species, and in case of Oma… they would probably classify her species as highly organized prokaryote.”
“What?”
“That’s right. Prokaryote. Yedeizans are chemosynthetic race.”
“The Universe is very strange place…”
“You don’t say…”
“There are so many cyborgs around… Considering the level of your medicine, couldn’t you… dunno… grow back the lost limbs?”
“It is possible, but, speaking about mechanic prosthetics, there are two things: first, mechanic ones are usually cheaper, and, second, they are often more functional. Because of this quite often various sentients replace healthy ones with mechanic ones.”
“That’s madness!”
“That’s practicality. By the way, you are cyborg too now.”
“What?”
“You mean… having those micromachines…”
“Yes, it makes you a cyborg.”
“My world won’t be the same again…”
“Speaking about robots… We have already seen a lot of different ones, but there’s one thing that bothers me: why only few of them are shaped like sapient creatures?”
“Ehm… That’s a long story. Long ago, there was such trend…”
“Pardon me for interruption, but… “long ago”… How many years you mean by this?”
“Depending on the civilization… In some cases it’s even before your ancestors evolved as a sapient species.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah. Really LONG ago… But let’s back to what I was saying. Many years ago races that make the Union now regularly created robots that looked like them and provided these robots with highly advanced control system, which you may call an artificial intelligence.”
“…artificial intelligence?”
“Yes. Sentients continued to do so, making their robots more and more advanced and capable, giving them more and more complicated artificial intelligence systems, which in some aspects even surpassed their own minds…”
“Wow.”
“And… What happened next?”
“Those robots realized their superiority and thought: why should we obey those organic lifeforms? Then there was a conflict, which usually evolved into full-scale war.”
“Goodness!”
“Those wars were long and severe. The greatest of those wars lasted for almost six millennia and ended with extermination of the robots, two hundred billion casualties in the Union and about thirteen thousand devastated planets.”
“Six… thousand… years… of war?”
“Two hundred… billion dead?”
“The Universe is a cruel place, you know. All civilizations in it try to reach the same goals: survive, develop, spread, but the ways they choose are different, and it becomes the reason of conflicts. For a race that have just discovered the way to the stars… it’s very hard to find a friend among them. There’s even a grim joke that there are six the most probable outcomes of a contact with alien civilization: first, you’ll be robbed, second, you’ll be enslaved, third, you’ll be used as a raw material, fourth, you’ll be annihilated, fifth, you’ll be eaten, sixth, you’ll be raped.”
“Wait… Eaten? Raped?”
“The space is filled with different groups of fanatics, and in the past their numbers were way greater. Some of them were real sick fucks.”
“Dear mommy, please let me get back in your tummy!”
“Too late…”
“You told us such… strange and dreadful things… We see now how dangerous the universe can be. But… those scary things… you didn’t do something like that, right?”
“Oh…”
“Oh?”
“Throughout our history, we, jokhrians, are responsible for detonation of seventy nine stars in different wars.”
“What? Detonation of a star? How?..”
“There’s such technology. Well, dreketanians established an interstellar empire that took over four galaxies. They ruled it for one million and four hundred thousand years, and they were very aggressive. Verekans… They belonged to so-called Lifetakers, who were one of the strongest and merciless enemies of the Union. Yedeizans enslaved about sixty different alien races. Rugartarians once were like locusts, they took over uninhabited planets and deprive them of all the resources. They turned more than four hundred planets into lifeless deserts. Anxaimans are responsible for total genocide of three races. Unfalizans provoked wars between different races in order to sell their weapons to both sides and make huge money. Terrans once started one of the bloodiest wars in the history of the Union. Remember what I said about how many people died in that conflict with robots? Well, in the war between the Union and Terrans about three hundred and eighty billions were killed. Terrans created a powerful weapon that could kill all inhabitants of one planed. And they used it on Ateir, our capital, which was populated with one hundred and thirty billion creatures at that time.”

After this, agents could barely say something.

However, eventually they came to their senses. In order to change the mood, ponies asked Affi about how people of their races look in reality. She managed to find some representatives of their races and describe their main features. Equestrians were impressed. But, at the same time, bothered, especially when fellow dreketanian and verekan came to greet Edez and Kor. Considering how big Edez’s and Kor’s avatars were, it was obvious to expect that people of their races are big, but equestrians didn’t expect them to be THIS huge. Seriously, average verekan or dreketanian was able to grab all five of them with a single hand. Thus, when researchers, friends addressed them, they couldn’t say a word because of fear.

Eventually, they reached the conference hall. Many members of the starship team were already in it, and the rest were on the way. Team One and agents rushed to get in, but near the entrance one alien stopped them.

This alien resembled a warrior of rumored cruel ruler of the southern lands, Storm King, but he was way thinner and was slouching. Fnd he looked very, very old.

“Sir Im’Dazi!” researchers bowed, when they saw him.

The old alien gave a nod and raised his hand, like saying “That’s enough.”

Ponies bowed as well – obviously, he was important figure – but they wanted to know who he is.

“Um…”
“My friends, this is Admiral Sir Kaydd Im’Dazi, the commander of the research fleet of our mission,” Edez introduced the alien to equestrians.
“It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” Hidden Path bowed again.
“It’s an honor to meet people of Gaia on our ships,” he responded. “It’s a pity that it happens under such circumstances.”
“W-we see… Th-thanks…”
“We hope that you will help to save the people of this planet,” Oma said.
“Well, it depends on how much our guests can tell. If there’s enough information, then we’ll create a plan.”

Equestrians were a bit surprised.

“Sir Im’Dazi is very experienced and talented. If someone knows how to fight Ga’Ke and win, it’s him,” Affi said.
“After twenty thousand years of battling with them, you start to understand them well,” the warlord spelled.
“Twenty… thousand… years?” Razor Edge couldn’t believe in what he has just heard.
“Excuse me, sir Im’Dazi, but how old are you?” Grace asked.
“By your standards, 72354 years old.”
“EEEEEEHHHHHHH?”
“Sir Im’Dazi belongs to Beytu race. They can live for millennia.”
“If your home planet doesn’t have much resources, making a tenacious creature that can live for extremely long time, but reproduces rarely, is quite efficient strategy of survival,” Sir Im’Dazi said. “But that’s enough of astrobiology for now, we have some more urgent issues.”
“Right!”

And Team One with agents followed the admiral to the conference hall.

When they entered it, equestrians froze: practically all the aliens they had seen in the corridors were here now. And they were looking at them. Thousands of eyes, that scanned them, and they couldn’t tell what are the intentions and thoughts behind those eyes.

Several nudges from the researchers brought them back to senses, and they proceeded to the places reserved for them. As it turned out, their places were near the most important people.

“Dear Sirs, Madam, allow me to introduce you the eyewitnesses from Gaia,” Edez bowed to the three aliens sitting at the highest table in the center of the hall. “This is major Hidden Path, lieutenant Grace, sergeants Cloudbreaker, Dim Silhouette and Razor Edge of the secret service of the Kingdom of Equestria.”

Ponies, who did their best to suppress or hide the shivering, bowed.

“My friends,” Edez turned to agents, “allow me to introduce you the heads of our research mission. This is Madam Yii ko Taa te Neze, scientific supervisor of the mission, Sir Dekk Nnoysse, captain on this ship, and Admiral Sir Elokorumvattunai, commander of the defense and support forces of this mission.”
“Um… miss Affi, pardon me, but how we should address Madam scientific supervisor? Her name… doesn’t resemble anything from our world. and Sir commander of the defense forces… does he have only one name?”
“You should address the scientific supervisor as Madam Yii. Particles “ko” and “te” are just signs on her parents’ names. She is the senior official here. And, yes, Sir commander of the defense and support forces have only one name. And you’d better remember it.”
“Got it.”

Meanwhile Edez introduced equestrians to the heads of other fifteen research teams. That was a bit of surprise for the ponies: they all arrived there in their avatars, so it was quite unusual to see gaian creatures among all these aliens. Dragons, griffins, zebras, camels, deer, bison, sea serpents… All gaian sapient races. And what was the most surprising, other ponies beside Team One. All of them were just technically gaians, well, half gaians, but still it was pleasant to see something that reminded them of their home, it calmed the agents and gave them certain confidence.

However, there was something in appearance of the members of the research teams that agents hadn’t noticed at first sight. Only some time later they noticed that all the avatars of the researchers were creatures that are not able to use magic. Well, it seemed logical: if you don’t know how to use it, don’t try to use it in your cover. But, at the same time, such feature looked a bit suspicious and might actually be a good lead.

“Well, I suppose everyone who should come is already here, so we may begin, Madam Yii?” Sir Nnoysse turned to the scientific supervisor.
“Yes, Sir Nnoysse. Please, proceed,” she responded.
“Everyone! Now we all have gathered here, so let’s start the meeting,” Sir Nnoysse said. People on the tribunes immediately went silent. “As you already know, Ga’Ke presence was spotted on the planet Gaia we are currently studying. It a danger not only to the inhabitants of the planet, but to the Union as well due to extreme biodiversity of this planet. We must prevent this from happening. However, we don’t have much information about what is really happening on the planet. Thus, we have to use extraordinary circumstances protocols and ask local people for help.” He stood up and pointed with his arm to the ponies. “These five sentients are citizens of the gaian Kingdom of Equestria, and they serve for the local army. They were ones that investigated mysterious cases, which, as we presume, are connected with Ga’Ke activity. We kindly asking them to share the information they have in order to develop a plan of further actions.” He turned to the ponies and said quieter “Please, tell us everything you know so that we could help you.”

Agents looked at each other, and then Hidden Path stepped forward.

“Um… My name is… Hidden Path, I’m the head of this squad, so… I will respond to your questions. We will tell you everything we know about the cases…”

And he told it. He told everything the entire Equestrian government knew about the incidents, which might be caused by Ga’Ke. About murders, about slaughtered dragon, about mysterious disappearances, about the ways all mentioned above was done. Aliens listened to him without making a noise. Some of them were making notes on holographic screens. They all were attentive, especially Sir Im’Dazi and Sir Elokorumvattunai. The warlords were grim and even angry, but they remained immovable and attentive.

It took Hidden Path about fifteen minutes to tell all the details and even suspicions and thoughts. He responded to all the questions heads of the mission asked him.

“You don’t have anything else to tell us, mister Path?” Madam Yii addressed the major.
“No, Madam Yii,” Hidden Path said. “I told you everything I know. I don’t have any more information.”
“Thank you, mister Path. You may be free for now.”

Hidden Path bowed and returned to his colleagues. Meanwhile aliens began the discussion of the plan.

“No we have enough proofs of the presence of Ga’Ke on Gaia and sufficient information on their activity,” Madam Yii said. “However, there some essential things that me are missing. How many of them are actually there? Where did they hid the ship? Where are they now and what they are going to do?”
“Sir Im’Dazi, what do you think about it?” Sir Nnoysse addressed the old Beytu.
“Hm… Considering the information major Path provided us with…” he spelled. “I think there is just one Ga’Ke.”
“Just one?”
“What makes you think that way?” curator of one of the research teams wondered.
“I know what you trying to tell,” Sir Im’Dazi responded. “Yes, usually they send a small group for reconnaissance missions, however it is only applicable to civilizations of interstellar level. People of Gaia haven’t reach cosmic level of development yet. And, despite havening the “magic”, they basically have nothing to fight a Ga’Ke.”
“Huh?” equestrians surprised.
“Excuse me, Sir Im’Dazi, but could you specify it?” Grace asked.
“I understand your disagreement. I’ve read the reports and I know what kind of destruction power your “magic” can be. With such power a skilled one could easily destroy body of this being. However, there is once circumstance that would probably make all your efforts go to waste. I suppose scientists of the Team One informed you about the technology of mind and soul transfer we have?”

Ponies nodded.

“Well, comparing to our technology, their devices are way more advanced.”
“To put it simply,” Sir Elokorumvattunai intervened, “their soul/mind transfer devices surpass ours in terms of quality only a little bit, but when it comes to the speed of transfer, our devices are no match for theirs. Practically all Ga’Ke have incredible speed of reaction, so when you only start to destroy their bodies, they transfer their very essence back to the ship and then return with a new body.”
“That brings us to the second question: where they hid the ship? Considering the information our guests shared with us and Sir Im’Dazi’s suggestions, if there is only one Ga’Ke, then they used small vessel, they could sneak through our blockade, especially when it was only establishing. It was said that first incidents have occurred near the place called “Dodge City”… Could you tell me what kind of terrain is there?”
“Well, the terrain of surroundings of Dodge City is pretty complicated,” Dim Silhouette said. “Rocks of various shapes and sizes alternate with hollows. Some of the hollows are filled with sediments, so they are just flat areas, other filled with lakes or swamps. And all the area is heavily forested due to uneven terrain. The amount of field areas is low, and those fields are, in fact, a kind of open-cast mines.”
“Ga’Ke are creatures that wouldn’t waste energy without real need,” Sir Im’Dazi said. “However, leaving no races – if intimidation isn’t their aim – is very important to them.”
“So… swamp?” Madam Yii suggested.
“Very likely. Immersion in a swamp doesn’t require any teleportation and replacement of material, and it’s easy to hide traces: nature would do the greatest part of work by itself!”
“Excuse me, but there is one circumstance worth mentioning,” Edez intervened. “Swamps near Dodge City are relatively small, but numerous. It would take time to find the right one. Our guests can confirm it.”
“Yes,” Dim Silhouette nodded.
“Then we should put more efforts into it,” Sir Nnoysse said and turned to researchers of Team One. “Do you have a map of the region?”
“Yes,” Edez said and gave Kor a nod. Officer closed his eyes and tapped his temple twice.
“Got it. Thank you.”
“What was that?” equestrians were surprised.
“Well, verekans are race that have their brains not in their heads, but under their shoulder blades,” Affi responded.
“What?”
“Yeah, that’s it. When Kor’s avatar was created, we noticed that his skull was practically empty. So we decided to make him the data keeper and put memory devices in his head.”

After this, agents weren’t able to say anything for a while.

“How much it would take you to scan all these swamps?” Madam Yii asked Sir Elokorumvattunai.
“About three days,” he responded.
“Hmm… Quite a large term. Ga’Ke might make a big move while we are looking for the ship.”
“Big move…” Sir Im’Dazi thought out loud. Then he suddenly turned to the agents. “Excuse me, but… where, did you say, you’ve lost the track of Ga’Ke?”
“He left traces on the way to Canterlot, but right near the capital all traces vanished,” Cloudbreaker responded.
“Then it is already in your capital, and probably has been there for a long time.”
“What?”
“What makes you think that way?” some of the team leaders wondered.
“From what I’ve learned from the reports, this Canterlot city is the place where two the most powerful creatures of that continent – and probably this entire world – live. I don’t think they would be able to obliterate Ga’Ke, but they are powerful enough to cause serious damage to them. Thus, it would try to destroy this “obstacle”.”
“You mean… the goals of this creature is… to kill princesses?” equestrians shuddered.
“However, I’m surprised a bit,” Sir Im’Dazi spelled.
“Why?”
“Considering what major Path said, Ga’Ke has been in the city for about a hundred days or even more. But it didn’t make a move. Why it is waiting? What it is waiting?”

It made all creatures that gathered in the hall to fall silent and think. If Ga’Ke’s goal is to kill local rulers, why it didn’t do it? Agents thought about it as well. From what they’ve learned about those aliens, it’s very unlike them. Then why?..

Suddenly, Hidden Path turned pale and shuddered.

“Hid?” his colleagues worried.
“What’s wrong, major Path?” Sir Nnoysse asked.
“There would be… a festival in our capital… where all four princesses will gather… and another powerful creature, known as the Spirit of Chaos,” he spelled.
“What?” this time even aliens exclaimed.
“So that’s its aim… kill all powerful ones in one fell swoop!” Sir Im’Dazi growled.
“How soon this festival would occur?” Sir Elokorumvattunai asked.
“In four days,” Grace responded.
“Then we have time!”

And all aliens in the hall hurried and hustled. Sir Elokorumvattunai immediately ordered his subordinates to start the scanning. They rushed to do it, all the rest began to think about how defeat the lifeless monster.

Such activity amazed the agents. They were happy to see such dedication and will to save their planet, but, at the same time, all this hustle simple let no space for them. They couldn’t even hope that their words would be heard. So they could only watch, listen and wait if someone need their help.

“…how many people should be involved in the operation?”
“The less the better. If we’ll start to make such big moves, Ga’Ke would immediately guess what we are up to.”
“I’m worrying if it could send information about Gaia to their main forces…”
“Chances are very low. It seems that Ga’Ke sneaked on the planet literally in few supramoments before we’ve established the blockade, so it wasn’t able to transmit much.”
“Do you have any materials to make artificial signatures?” madam Yii addressed Edez.
“Yes, we have samples of all five beings,” he responded. “It’s enough to create biological and mental signatures.”
“Good…”

And so on.

“Are we… just left behind?” ponies wondered.
“You shouldn’t think like this,” Affi responded. “The matter is… different. Your princesses and spirits might defeat one Ga’Ke or few of them, but if you do it, then a whole fleet will come. And their fleet is millions of such creatures. You wouldn’t stand a chance. Besides… Because of our activity Ga’Ke learned about the existence of your planet, so we are responsible for bringing such threat to your home. And I’s our job to free you from them.”
“But…”
“Please, don’t worry about us. Just… hope and believe.”
“Okay…”
“Um, miss Affi, there is one thing I’d want to ask you for a while now…” Razor Edge addressed the telepathist.
“Yes?”
“Sir Im’Dazi said that he is 72354 years old. Even though he said that was the way of evolution on his home planet… I don’t believe that one can live for such a long time! You must have done something to achieve this! And if so, then… how old are you?”
“Well, yeah, all races in the Union has extended their lifespan with various artificial sources. However, how big this extension is, depends on the level of development of the race and its biological features. For example, Beytu can live for 120–150 thousand years, but they have extended their lifespan only eightfold, and they are practically reaching their limit. Dreketanians, a younger race comparing to Beytu, managed to extend their lifespan almost fortyfold, and now can live for 6–7 thousand years.”
“6–7 thousand years? Then… how old is Edez?”
“In your units, he is 1426 years old.”
“And…”
“I’m 937 years old. Kor is 634. Sheim is 708. Oma is 622. Zet’rar is 597. Max is 538. Karin is 474. Bluve is 412.”
“Wait… Bluve is… 412 years old?” Hidden Path couldn’t believe.
“Yes, but it’s only the calendar age. Speaking about biological age… The oldest of us, Edez, is only about 34. Bluve is the youngest, and she is about 24.”
“What is this biological age?”
“Well, think about is as a kind of percentage of the total lifespan.”
“Okay…”

Hidden Path couldn’t respond. He was so shocked that the girl he loved is actually older than his entire family.

“Um… can I ask you some more questions?” Grace addressed Affi.
“Yes?”
“Well, I’ve been watching the discussion, and noticed few strange things. First… The curator of Team Thirteen. He communicates with others using sign language. Why? Considering your level of development, it would be easy to cure him!”
“Oh, this… Well, the matter isn’t that easy. You see, he belongs to Nebe race, and they just have no biological predispositions for verbal communication.”
“What?”
“They can hear sounds, but practically have no vocal folds, and it’s hard for them to distinguish complex sounds like speech. You see, their primal way of communication is using radio waves. Comparing to verbal communication, it has more advantages, so… the nature chose the most efficient way. And because of his it’s easier to them communicate with gestures, than trying to define all the sounds.”
“I see. But… I hear that some of… people here use some kind of artificial voices…”
“They are primarily aquatic species. They use it just to make the sound louder and better.”
“Oh…”

…and so on.

Meanwhile aliens continued to discuss the plan. They thought over each step, so that the enemy wouldn’t feel any suspicions when the time to take actions will come. Because of that it took them about three hours to choose the best options and to complete it.

When it was over, Madam Yii announced the plan.

“Now, we have agreed on the following,” she began. “Only members of Team One would be involved in combat. Affi Mana-tosu, Oma Kiegekko, Bluve K’oishea, Karin Axelsson and Sheim Tat-Doil would become baits. Biological and mental signatures of princesses and spirit would be implanted into them, and they will take the hit of Ga’Ke weapons.”
“Yes, ma’am,” researchers responded.
“What?” agents surprised.
“Max Sudarmono and Zet’rar Dou would be responsible for cleaning the area after this,” Madam Yii continued.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Kor Ndtal-Emai would fight the Ga’Ke. Your objective would be to destroy its body.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Edez Ad’Deigoro, you will be sent to the location of the enemy’s ship. Your goal would be to damage it and destroy before Ga’Ke make a move.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Wait!” Grace intervened. “This your plan? To sacrifice the entire Team?”
“This is the most efficient way,” Madam Yii responded. “Otherwise the fake signatures might be ineffective.”
“We won’t die. Besides, we agreed to do it,” researchers of Team One said.
“What?”
“But… It’s wrong! It’s just wrong!” Dim Silhouette exclaimed.
“Aren’t we able to assist you?” Cloudbreker added.
“Yeah!” Razor Edge supported him.
“No, you can’t. You aren’t powerful enough, and it is too dangerous. We won’t be able to resurrect you if you die.”
“But…”
“Making a copy of someone’s mind takes significant amount of time. If you’ll be absent for it, it would be very suspicious. Your colleagues might guess what’s happening, and, in result, it would alert the Ga’Ke and it will take serious and unexpected measures. We cannot allow this to happen.”
“But we would still know about everything!” Hidden Path exclaimed.
“Mister Sudarmono, do nanites you implanted our guests have the neuroblock function?” Sir Nnoysse addressed the senior biologist of the Team One.
“Yes, certainly.”
“What? What is this “neuroblocking”?” ponies surprised.
“To put it simply, a feature that will make you unable to discuss what happened here now with other people of your planet by blocking some of your actions and causing selective partial amnesia,” Max explained.
“What?”
“You’ve tricked us!” Cloudbreaker, Grace and Hidden Path yelled.
“We did what is right for your protection.”
“Mister Ad’Deigoro, what time is it now in Ponyville?” Sir Elokorumvattunai asked Edez.
“5:46 a.m.” he responded.
“Then, I guess, we should bring them back.”
“Agree.”
“Wait! You…”

But before they did anything, bright white light flashed right in front of them, and the world around ceased to exist.

Meanwhile in Canterlot one lifeless being whose body was made out of a corpse stood up from its bed, shook itself and grinned.

“Well, I guess it’s time to take some action…”