Terra Invicta

by Sammyboiii

Chapter 6: Ends Meet

For the past several hours, the bridge crew of the USS Archer had been perusing Nova's various alleyways, and subsequently being exposed to the city's various aforementioned attractions. Perhaps too much. The group was now traveling down their tenth alleyway of the day and the smell of sulfur and dead fish was as present now as it was three hours ago. It would be safe to say that the team was a bit lost.

"Are we there yet?" droned Roger.

"Nope," Dahlia answered for the tenth time in the past minute. "Any luck yet, Chase?"

"Yes! Well... maybe. Um, no." Chase had been tasked with the responsibility of deciphering the map that they had been given through drone delivery upon entering earth's atmosphere. Nobody on the crew had any experience interpreting traditional paper maps, especially when the maps were of the entire city. Having no way to indicate the group's current location, the paper was of almost no use to any of them.

"Oh! I have an idea. How about the Admiral gives the map a shot?" the comms officer asked. He turned to Brantley. "Aren't you a fan of all things low-tech?"

"Only because it calms me to get away from the quick-paced life. This is just downright inconvenient." reasoned the Admiral.

"Well, even then, two heads are better than one, eh?" Chase jokingly stated, giving the Admiral a playful smirk. "Nothing? Fine."

"Alright, let's take a look here." With a grunt, the Admiral caught up with Chase attempting to lead the team form the front of the group. The sound of footsteps splashing in small puddles of water intensified as the rest of the group clustered around the Admiral and comms officer. "Soooo... if we are here... then that is..... this way!" Brantley confidently concluded.

"Wh- well, that was quick." Dahlia bluntly stated.

"Yes, indeed. This makes me wonder why we did not stick the captain in charge in the first place." asked in an almost robotic manner.

"Well, we are his crew and we need to show our devotion to the Union." Dahlia finished by striking a Union salute.

"As cheesy as that was, I am glad to be back with you guys so if there is anything you need me to do, just ask," Brantley said, causing the crew to smile warmly at him. At least most of the crew.

"D'aaawww. Isn't that sweet? Well, now that we have our reunion emotions behind us, why the hell did they give us a paper map?! Who in the Milky Way even uses those anymore?!" Roger ranted, completely shattering the mood in the alleyway. "I've had just about enough of walking down these dirty backwater streets. If you are not right, Admiral, with all due respect, I will surgically remove your kneecaps." he continued, only to get elbowed in the side by Dahlia.

"Guys! Relax, I am pretty sure this will get us there. Here, I'll mark the route on the map. Give it here." Brantley motioned to Chase. "Look at this, gang." Brantley held up something the crew had not seen for a while. In his hand, Brant held a ballpoint pen. His entire bridge crew simply stared in awe at the practically classical device. Pens had been practically phased out of society for more than 100 years with the public application of neurotransmitter interfaces and self-reforming nanomaterial to replace ink or graphite in 2256. Needless to say, this was the equivalent of visiting the Smithsonian for free. "So, we got from where we are here," he marked their current location with an "X," "and we need to go up here, over here, and our destination for the coordinates specified should be... here!" Brant barely explained as he drew a line from the first X to another he finally drew.

"Perhaps I missed this, but why is it that our map is made of paper?" Usher honestly queried. Dahlia proudly chimed in with a response.

"High Admiral Vorchavski mentioned that it was all part of High Command's plan to keep this briefing tippy top secret. Nobody today would think that such an important mission would utilize such primitive tech."

"Excuse me! I will not have my belongings referred to as "primitive," officer!" Brantley facetiously scolded Dahlia. She, however, unable to pick up on this, stammered.

"I-I apologize, s-sir. I did not mean to c-cal anything of yours "primitive," sir. Please, it was only a stupid thing to add on. I apologize for my-"

"Relax, officer! It was a joke." Brant consoled as a blush began to spread across Dhalia's face.

"O-oh, right, sir. I knew that hehe..."

The group continued along the path that the Admiral had marked n the map. It seemed like their map-reading skills improved form having to use an old-fashioned one made of mere wood and pulp. The occasional remark was made about the atmosphere surrounding them. Roger would point out the unpleasant aspects of the trip while Dahlia would marvel at the aquatic life above and around them. All the while, the only two who weren't actively talking were the stoic Usher and Admiral Brantley, who was intently reading the path he drew in order to ensure that his group did not get lost. After getting everybody's shoes sufficiently wet with broken plumbing leakage, they began to get concerned with how "backwater" their destination was. Eventually, the group turned the corner that led to the alleyway which was supposedly their destination. The group looked everywhere, scanning the area for clues.

Brantley and Dahlia were looking under various suspended canisters of hyper-reactive butane and Usher was helping Chase look over the roofs of buildings by lifting him up. Suddenly, Roger chimed in.

"Oi, guys. Come look at this."

The crew huddled behind Roger as they stared down at what was in front of him. There, seemingly dry and adjacent to the wall sat a metallic ball, definitely a military-grade data storage device.

Roger chimed in once again to explain the mystery to his fellow crew members.

"These things are practically indestructible, made of a self-reconstructing alloy reinforced with graphene, and keep their up to 50 exabytes of content under a 50-digit rotary password which follows a pattern to change itself every 20 minutes, a pattern that only the owner knows. Given all that we had to do to find this object, it was no surprise that such a secure device would be used for our briefing." The group turned to look at the engineer after the technological rant he had just finished. "What? I know how to do my job. Anybody got a problem with that?"

The group dismissed Roger and Brantley was the first to reach forward and pick up the device. He held it in his hands as he felt around it. Eventually, his index finger came across a button and he pressed it. Suddenly, the device began to glow, prompting the admiral to drop it. The ball rolled until legs popped out of one of its hemispheres, causing the entire object to take up a pyramid-esque stature. The hemisphere that was now pointed upward split into two wedges which began to glow even brighter than the rest of the object. In the span of 2 seconds, a ball had transformed into a holographic projector which was now displaying a simple rectangle with the GTU's flag in the upper left. It read --

Fingerprint Identity ACCEPTED

Welcome, the crew of the USS Archer. This is an automated message from the High Command of the North American Commissariat. To ensure confidentiality, this message will only play once.

Fleet Admiral Brantley Johnson, your crew has been selected to be one of 53 to journey to another galaxy. You are very lucky that the High Marshall has granted you this job considering that you and your staff will be rewarded for your efforts rather generously.

We assume that you are aware of the Precursor technology space-race. In an attempt to give the Union the upper hand in the fight against the Star Concorde, various probes were dispatched to the known warp gates. These probes are to land on the planets in the systems supposedly touched by the Precursors and search for any remnants of their technology.

The display now showed various probes leaving the solar system, headed for the location of the gates.

These probes were to land on planets possibly hosting remnants of Precursor technology and report back as to the system's tech status. Several of these probes have reported signs of Precursor activity and Project Archangel was born. To ensure the survival of the Union and humanity, crews were assembled to explore these Precursor planets and reverse engineer their technology for the betterment of human science.

The system that you have been assigned to is the Alpha Equinus system, named for the native lifeforms which resemble the Equus caballus species of Earth. They have displayed abilities parallel to our current assumptions of the abilities f Precursor technology. Your objective, therefore, is to study the locals and do whatever you need to in order to gain the technology present. Because they are a primitive civilization, the use of force is strongly discouraged. However, there are no laws during the war. Your itinerary and maps will be uploaded to your ship's AI and database. Before you begin your journey, you must pick up a Precursor technology specialist by the name of Samuel Wolfe from MIT (Martian Institute of Technology). A colony probe has already been launched to your destination planet. You and your crew will have all necessary accommodations set up prior to arrival. Currently, your ship is being outfitted with highly advanced scientific devices designed to research experimental Precursor technologies. Your engineer has already been given the basics via his neurotransmitter. It is imperative that you depart ASAP.

Roger suddenly collapsed and Dahlia rushed over to ensure that he was alright, performing basic CPR.

Side effects include light-headedness and possible fainting

GLORY TO THE UNION AND GODSPEED

While everybody was in shock, Dahlia spoke up about what surprised her most as a xenobiologist. "Did they say that they already colonized the planet?"

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In a galaxy far, far away...

"O, great saviors, we are most humbled for your gracious visit to our desperate village." a zebra in the front of the bowing crowd stated. He was clad in a necklace of shells and a cape of dried reed.

Lyra gave her marefirend a nudge to play along with the god-like persona that she had adopted. "Y-yes, of course." Bonbon attempted. Lyra, nodding, continued with her regal character.

"Before we serve, you must provide. We require vanilla!" she stated with confidence. Almost instantly, the "chief" of the village waved his forehoof and prompted several zebras behind him to run into a hut. The rustling of leaves could be heard and, not ten seconds later, the zebras re-emerged carrying several sacks of what seemed to be vanilla, considering hows it was overflowing at the top.

"Surely, you will aid us now." the chief reasoned.

Lyra's confident expression turned into one of worry. She was prepared to get vanilla but, for some reason, she neglected to plan further than that. When Bonbon saw this change in expression, she mentally face-hoofed. Of course she didn't plan further than this Bonbon thought. The villagers walked the bags of vanilla over to the couple and placed them down in front of them with yet another bow, eliciting a blush from both of them. Lyra was the first to try and get on top of the situation.

"What exactly d-do you need us to do?"

The chief of the village ordered for the entire village to return to their daily activities. as if nothing had happened, they carried on with what seemed like very village-like pastimes. Perhaps they worshipped travelers often. The chief was now motioning for the couple to follow. With a glance of uncertainty, they both shrugged and began to follow the zebra down the only road of the village. They continued down to the end of the road where the town hall sat. The chief was the first to part the beaded string which made the "door." He was followed by Lyra and finally Bonbon. Trotting around a large table to sit down in a chair slightly larger than the rest, he spoke. "Take a seat, please."

The couple pulled out chairs at the opposite end of the circle and did as the chief told them. "There is a situation of utmost importance that we believe you have arrived to resolve, considering your near impeccable timing."

"Oh, well thank you, chieftain, but I am afraid we are merely travelers who came here for some vanilla." Bonbon finally came clean. Lyra simply sat there and dwelled in her embarrassment. "I apologize if we are letting you down at all but we will still do everything in our power to help you. Isn't that right, Lyra?" Lyra simply nodded as she sulked her head. "Oh, and I hope it is not too much to ask to keep that vanilla for, uh, trying to save your village and all." BOnbon bargained.

"I suppose not. And not need to worry about "disappointing" any of us. We were merely doing all of that too, as you say in Equestria, 'butter you up.'" HWat the chieftain had said did not phase the couple too much, but they did acknowledge that they had been at their first stop in another country. Regardless, it was about time to get to the bottom of this. They still had another day before he had to head back to Equestria in time for the festival. "We are ready, chief," stated Bonbon.

"Oh, good! Right this way, please."

The chief led them out through another bead door on the opposite end of the tent. When the couple re-emerged, the sight that greeted them was not one either of them could have ever expected. Where there used to be lush forest populated by all sorts f flora and fauna, there was now nothing but... metal? Directly outside of the town hall, completely disguised by the layer of trees near the back of the village, vast expanses of metal covered at least several acres of land. It spread almost as far as Applejack's farm only, instead of fertile soil and fruitful trees, there was only flat metal.

"This... this is y-your c-curse?" Lyra asked.

"I am afraid so. This arid desert of metal has been spreading almost non-stop for the past several days, killing anything and everything in its path. We are extremely lucky that it decided to stop where it did on this end, allowing us not hastily rebuild our village on the other side of its border." the chief explained.

"What could cause such a calamity?! This is driving your entire country into the ground and it's even taking that from you!" Bonbon passionately replied.

"Well, we understand that it is something bad, miss. Our problem is that it is not responding to any of our magic, which has never happened to anything I have ever personally witnessed. Perhaps it is not even of this world!" the chief proclaimed facetiously, of course. However, this statement caused something to click in Lyra, forcing her deep into thought.

"I-I- Oh, dear Celestia. I am so sorry, chief. Th-this is... far beyond what any of us c-can do." Bonbon solemnly stated. Lyra was speechless.

"We understand, but please, take this up with your princesses. Nobody has bothered to travel by here for so long and we have no idea why." the chieftain replied.

"Oh! Well, that would be because of the cupcake festival in Ponyville." Bonbon replied, her mood improved by talking about baking. She pulled a flier out of her satchel and handed it to the chief. He looked the parchment over and nodded.

"I see. Well, we appreciate your help. Please, get back to us as soon as possible. We do not know when the next pony will come by here given your "cupcake festival." the chief pleaded, a hint of voice crack peaking through.

"I assure you, chief. We will do everything we can. This is no longer your problem. Come on Lyra! We have a lot of work to do!" With that, Bonbon dragged a wide-eyed and frozen Lyra back to the carriage which, for some reason was still there, even though nopony asked the driver too. Or perhaps Lyra did just that in her little regal frenzy. Regardless, it was imperative that they get this news to Celestia and Luna as soon as possible. Plus, they got vanilla! Yay!

While Bonbon was planning and choreographing their entire return trip on the fly, Lyra was still deep in thought from her realization. All of that metal... could it really be from another world? If it is, could it really be the humans? Why else would it be on this world of all the others in the Universe? Yes! That must be it. Oh, wow.. this whole human shindig is a lot more ingrained than I thought it was. Not only was there an abundance of human materials that were sooommeeehooww impervious to magic of any sort, but there was also simply evidence that humans existed! Kind of... it still could be another alien species. But, the fact that the material did not react to magic has to be a huge hint for everypony. OH! And that was another thing! This whole rumor about the humans is about to get out to the royalty of Equestria! The highest levels of government! They'll surely get to the bottom of it! We might actually get to interact with some of the aliens! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!

Despite her excited and borderline psychotic train of thought, Lyra's exterior could not be blander. She still sat wide-eyed, staring at nothing in particular. This trip has brought on more than she could have ever imagined and there needed to be a plan for something this big resting on her and Bonbon's haunches. She had better talk to- "Okay! I have a plan!" Bonbon... It seemed, however, that her marefirend was one step ahead of her. "First, we use the vanilla to make the cupcakes and appease the folks in town for the cupcake festival. We don't want to rile up the entire planet just yet. Next, we take the news to the Princesses!" Well, then it is settled. Even though Lyra and Bonbon thought that this was ogin to be the extent of their direct involvement, along with the rest of Ponyville, they could not have been further from the truth.

Comments

[Geeknerd]

9466312
yes, I know. However, the Tyrum was an enemy unlike even the worse of the Compact, and needed to be ended. Did humanity go about it the wrong way? Most likely, yes. At this point, arguing over the ethics of the Sword of Terra is pointless. Humanity now has no friends and I imagine more and more civilizations will want to fight the GTU