Chapter 36: Reinforcements
They had been underway for nearly an hour before Hayden heard something she hadn’t before—a voice from the ship, speaking in clinical English. “We are receiving an incoming message from the HMS Neptune.”
Guards and ponies all over immediately stopped what they were doing, staring off in all directions for the speaker. Except Skylark, who looked to Hayden instead.
“What’s that? Is that… bad?”
“No.” Hayden reached out, pressing the “message accept” icon that had just lit up.
She was somewhat unsurprised to see the interior of a similar-looking bridge, with a single occupant inside. Avalon had put his absurd mask and robe back on, making him look like either a comically bad fursuiter or a creature so rotten its face was coming off at the seams. Judging by the frightened reactions from her crew, Hayden guessed they mostly interpreted the latter.
“I have been waiting for a chance to speak with you,” said Avalon, leaning heavily on his walking stick. Yet there was a purpose to the way he stood that hadn’t been there last time she’d seen him. He wanted to be helping. His eyes wandered between the different members of her crew. “Where is… Star Swirl?”
“Elsewhere,” Hayden answered, switching to English. Hopefully Avalon in all his genius would understand what that meant—she didn’t want gossip of whatever he had to tell her spreading around the ship on the eve of their first real combat. “You could’ve contacted us sooner if you had something important to say.”
Avalon only shook his head. “There was no time to make the trip myself, and no resources to send a messenger. But that is irrelevant. I wanted Star Swirl to know my progress. Perhaps you could pass the message to him?”
“Yes,” Hayden said, without thinking. She didn’t know exactly how she would manage that, but… that was a problem for another time. “I care about the cure even more than he does. They’re my bats. It’s just academic for him.”
Avalon ignored her protests, responding with a bare flick of his walking stick. “I wished to inform him because he might have insight. You are not qualified to provide any help I need, Hayden. Much as your other skills might be valued to Icefalls. But… this information does concern you.”
He gestured behind him at the control room. “My scaled method of extraction has hit a roadblock. I have been searching for a way to contain the aberrations once extracted. But nothing I can build is sufficient. I discovered… there may be equipment already in place in the original Avalon colony. I’m traveling there now—I’ve been meaning to see my ancestral home for years now, anyway. If I waited much longer, this old body might not be strong enough to survive the trip.”
“Your… ancestral home,” Hayden repeated. “Is where, exactly?”
“The moon. Avalon was a research colony, long ago. Well… Equestria’s past. Your future. I do not know how the two interconnect. I will send another message to the Excellus as soon as I know if the equipment there can still be used. If not…” He shook his head. “I don’t have a hope of building it from scratch.”
“I don’t understand why we can’t just rip the demons out and leave it at that,” Hayden said, annoyed. She was conscious of the eyes of her crew on her—she tried not to see what they were thinking. Whether curious about what she was saying or upset at being forced to watch so much of a conversation they couldn’t understand. “I killed one of them with that sword. Presumably that means the other ones could be killed too.”
“Banished,” corrected Avalon. “They could be banished, yes. Though the effort involved would be tremendous and the likelihood of collateral damage very high. But very few in Equestria are mentally or physically equipped to perform that task. Star Swirl estimated there must be nearly forty thousand of you by now, perhaps more. Assuming each one of them contains a sliver of void-corruption that grows at the same rate…” He shook his head darkly. “I do not know if even the Avalon facilities will be enough to contain it all. But I will know in two days. Expect a message from me in that much time.”
“Can you leave a recording if nopony’s hear to pick up? We’re going into battle right now. It’s possible we won’t have the time for conversation.”
Avalon shrugged. “Perhaps. I’ve never had the need to learn the full function of these machines. I will experiment and see.” He leaned forward, then touched something near the camera. His image vanished from in front of them.
“What was that about?” Skylark asked, the only one brave enough to dare. “That old Diamond Dog… Avalon, right?”
“It was,” she agreed, facing him. “He is searching for a magical solution to a problem facing Icefalls. He was updating me on his progress.”
“In a language nopony has ever spoken to me before,” Skylark said. “You sounded more fluent than he was.”
“I am.” She turned away from him without explanation, banishing the communication log and returning to the radar projections. They were using the long-range sensors to locate the attacking fleet. Probably would have been an impossible task, except for the incredible scale of the assault. There really were hundreds of ships, not to mention the defenders on the Equestrian side. Seaddle would be well and properly under siege by the time they arrived.
“Just over an hour at this speed,” Skylark said, checking their position against his maps again. “We have that long to revise the plan, if you think we might need to.”
“No.” Hayden walked away from the controls, over to where Skylark and the other command officers were gathered. There was a projection table back here, though they’d covered its entire surface with scrolls of paper. They had a map of Seaddle there, along with a few little shapes in different colors.
“There are no fortifications around Seaddle, and we don’t know how many of the guard will be there.”
“Lots of them, right?” Hayden suggested. “After Vanhoover, they must’ve known where the Stonebeaks would attack next. They’ll want to work their way south to Harmony, then…” Then kill all the royalty and all their heirs, to make sure Equestria was subjugated forever. As much as Hayden wouldn’t have minded being rid of Celestia, she wasn’t willing to go that far.
“We’re guessing most of the fleet will be there,” suggested Light Heart, Skylark’s second in command. “We didn’t see much wreckage when we were passing over Vanhoover. Hopefully that means most of the fleet is still flying. Not as big as theirs, but our ships are better. They have better lift-crystals, better sails.”
“But they have to defend stationary targets, and griffons don’t. That’s why we’re here.” The Stonebeaks had siege weapons on many of their ships, at least if the evidence of their previous attack was anything to go on. Icefalls’s single airship would have to survive attacks from ballistics, and pots of oil, and maybe angry birds attacking it from the outside.
We should be fine. The Excellus has some pretty thick armor. And it did. But if it took any damage, they’d be basically helpless to fix it. She couldn’t even take them to Avalon, now that he would be on the moon.
In another life, Hayden might’ve had the time to be jealous of him. Not just human while here—that was nice. But a chance to visit the moon? Being an astronaut was the secret dream of who knew how many millions of children, including Hayden herself. Maybe if we live through this nightmare, he’ll let me borrow his rocket.
Of course, they had to live through it first.
“I’m going to inspect the cannons,” Hayden muttered, turning to go. “Captain Skylark, take the helm. Raise me if we see any sign of the enemy, or ten minutes before we arrive.”
“Aye, ma’am!” He saluted, and Hayden made her way out.
The Excellus had not been made to carry weapons. If it had been, she had no doubt its designers would’ve given it plenty of interior mounts and exterior access-points. Maybe she could’ve set up one of her canon crews in one of those, firing out through the opening on her order. That option wasn’t open to them.
Instead she made her way into one of the cargo areas. She passed a soldier standing guard by the airlock, who saluted without a word. Her elites had become quieter lately as they headed into battle—solemn. Maybe they expected some of them wouldn’t return.
The interior of the cargo-area had been mostly gutted. All the shelves except the ones against the back of the chamber had been removed, along with the robot that would’ve been used to move cargo around. Instead, there were four long-guns, each one secured with elastic, separated far enough that their crews could work without interfering with each other. Currently, they were aiming a wall, though the seals visible there suggested it might be something else.
As it turned out, one of the cargo-bays on each side of the Excellus had loading doors. Doors they could open in flight, if they wanted to. The Excellus could probably have carried at least twenty guns down its length, but unfortunately only the front ones could be opened. Presumably the others would’ve been loaded using those few, or through the ramp in back.
They might be an hour away from combat, but the crew was already here, already prepared. One of the large, insulated crates of powder was open, with the paper-wrapped charges within reach. Several different types of rounds rested in the rack, ready for the crews to grab. Each of the crews had a unicorn now, necessary for loading the ammunition Star Swirl had designed. Only a unicorn could handle the fragile rounds without their spells coming undone and destroying the ship. Even Excellus would probably not survive an accident like that.
Hayden called inspection, then watched as the crew went through a mock firing as quickly as they could. Ninety-three seconds for the fastest crew aboard. They were about as good as ponies had any hope of being.
“Remember,” she told them when they were done, though of course she had already gone through this list of preparations many times before. “Two of you must never fire at the same time. I don’t know how much the Excellus can take.” She stepped in front of one of the few unicorns on the crew, pointing at the crates of powder with a wing. “If you see even a hint of a spark, you throw those overboard like your lives depend on it. It’s better to go back after making a fool of ourselves and wasting powder than it is to die and never return to Icefalls. Your lives are worth more to me than these guns. You can cut them loose if you need to, and make sure you call to me if you’re under attack.”
She walked past, so she was in front of the next crew. “The airlock doors seal automatically once those doors open. It takes a full minute to cycle, and you’ll be trapped in here with whatever got in before it shuts. The Blackwings will keep you safe, and they’ll make the call if it gets too dangerous.” She didn’t know all of them by name, but she recognized the bat on duty here. “Comet Storm, isn’t it? I remember your good work during the siege.”
He saluted, puffing his chest out a little. “Aye, Ma’am. That was me.”
“You’ll keep these ponies safe?”
“Aye, ma’am. We’ll keep these guns firing as long as we can.”
“You have my full faith, all of you. Equestria may’ve forgotten us, but we’re going to show its ponies that we haven’t forgotten them.”
“I don’t care,” Comet Storm answered, voice dark. “I just want to get them back for Polestar. Bleed ‘em like they bled us.”
She repeated the procedure on the starboard side, making a point of naming as many of the soldiers as she could. She could sense their fear, but there wasn’t as much as there had been during the siege. Her ponies expected victory.
Now I just have to give it to them.
“General, to the bridge!” called an urgent shout from Skylark, his voice coming over the ship’s coms. It was easy to radio individual rooms as well, but she hadn’t gotten around to teaching that yet. “We can see the city! Sweet Celestia, there are so many ships…”
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They don't just need victory, they need an overwhelming victory.
Such a teasing chapter, Star. Now another week before combat... And the reveal of the north's might. Let's see how much of a difference will cannons make, how much of an impact will Hayden's intervention make. How will Celestia be able to justify executing the savior of Manehatten when the general of the north did sail forth in defense of the nation that abandoned them.
Dis gonna be gud, basically
The spellshot concerns me. There's potential for catastrophic colllateral damage there. And if Star Swirl never finds out Avalon is occupied, that could oead down some very unfortunate roads.
Also, a moon colony has very interesting implications for Luna's banishment, especially given higher-capacity containment facilities.
For now, though, what matters is making a statement against the griffons and Celestia both.
Ah yes. Just enough to make me want more for a whole week
Questions answered, but more questions still remain!
Keep up the great work, I can't wait for more chapters! <3
General knowledge of demon infestation would probably be bad for morale ... but direct subordinates wondering what you are hiding from them might also be bad for morale, especially when demon infestation is involved. That'll be a narrow path to walk after the battle, win or lose. (I'm assuming survival.)
Potentially no way to deal with the demonic invasion unless the moon contains a miracle, this keeps getting better and better.
Because then you'd still have a ton of demons left over, and one sword to kill them with.
Ack! Just finished binge reading this, excited to see the next chapter!
my question is... why remove *loading* robot arm? Couldn't it be retrofitted to move ammo/charges or even to setup two lines of guns (spent one rolls into back for reload?)