Chapter 29
“Hey Twilight,” Princess Short Flight greeted, as Princess Twilight returned to the bridge, some time after they had transitioned back to the Gravity Drive from the Distortion Drive, once again in Equineothame space. “You doing okay?”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, we won’t need to do that again until we’re headed to Equestria.” Twilight had not taken to the various gee forces very well. They’d done a little bit of training for Twilight, simulating the deceleration in the wind tunnel (where she also learned to fly on the way over), and she had lost her lunch five times out of ten takes.
“Adjust to two-one-three gees in two-six seconds,” Astral Eye announced. “Mark.”
“Two one three gee deceleration in two-zero seconds,” Flight repeated, “Mark.” It was the second time Astral Eye had revised the approach deceleration, since Flight was flying by hoof, rather than having the computer nail all the timings for her.
Eye let out a small giggle. “Readback is correct.” Then she looked at Lunar Wing. “Did I do that right?” She’d asked for the challenge, and was using it as a chance to learn how to properly communicate the vectors.
Flight chuckled. “Exactly right, Astral.” She heaved a sigh. “Alright then, time to call home.” She touched the button on her control panel, to go live on the radio. “First Light to Equineothame Orbital Control.”
“We’re about six light-seconds out right now,” Astral muttered. “Minimum twelve seconds transmission lag, round-trip.”
Flight nodded. “Thank you.”
“That’s a long way,” Twilight muttered softly.
Star, trotting up next to her, nodded.
Then the answer came back, and played out of Flight’s panel.
“First Light, Proceed.”
“First Light, reporting inbound to Equatorial Approach Orbit two-seven-six-four, arrival in two-one-point-two minutes,” Flight announced back. Every other time she’d tried to radio in to announce her approach to controlled space, she’d been met with silence- but not today. It seemed that Orbital Control finally had the personnel and equipment to monitor- and control- the entirety of the planet’s controlled space… which had never been true before, even shortly before she’d left. There was only so much the equipment could do.
Twelve seconds passed in silence.
“Inbound to Approach Orbit two-seven-six-four, understood. Caution adjacent filled orbit to prograde.”
Flight raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Wing.
“Filled, eh?” Wing muttered, tapping her controls. “Passives indicating a small ship. Not sure if I want to go active, though- hangon… Yep, that’s an IFF transponder read. Approach Orbit two-seven-six-five is filled by the REN Canterlot. Tactical database update is still in progress, though, so no data.”
“A new ship?” Flight asked, while Twilight baulked at the name of the Royal Equineothame Navy vessel. “Did somepony attack or something?”
Wing shrugged. “No idea. Um… There, download complete. The Canterlot… Commissioned two weeks ago, but she’s already seen action five times, only three of which were since she was put on picket duty?”
Flight tilted her head. “Really?”
Blacklight looked up. “Database analyzed,” she stated. “Looks like three ships were lost since we left, but the Fleet is almost fifty percent larger than it was, by mass- mostly in lighter ships, so there’s a two hundred percent increase in hulls. Meanwhile, there have been zero accidents in Equineothame space- and recent mission logs indicate that the local pirate presence has been eradicated. I’ve also found twelve records of Fleet assaults on pirate strongholds, and twenty-two Fleet combat exercises.”
Flight raised her eyebrows. “Sounds expensive. How’d they get Dad to sign off on that?”
“They didn’t,” Wing announced. “There’s an All Ships order from High Admiral Timber Wolf, dated about six hours after we broke Equineothame Low Orbit, for the Fleet to do what was necessary to discharge their responsibilities, and I quote, ‘to hay with the cost’. There’s another order, about two hours after we went superluminal, for the Fleet to ignore all cost objections from the King, and I quote, ‘for the Princess’.”
“... You mean to tell me,” Flight began, “that the Fleet has been technically rogue since we left, in their effort to do what they’re supposed to do?”
“The orders certainly suggest that.”
“And the mission logs coincide,” Blacklight stated. “Looks like two of the three lost vessels were actually insubordinate vessels that defied their superior officers, and forced the rest of the Fleet to shoot them out of space.” She then blinked, and let out a snort of laughter. “The first of those two was Minotaur, a Battlecruiser that was crippled by the Everfree herself after she attacked and destroyed the Saddleberg, a light cruiser that was making a customs inspection. The other of those two was the Centaur, a Dreadnaught, and was destroyed by Task Force Two- forty capital ships- when she intentionally interfered with antipiracy operations. All three ships were defeated with minimal losses- if only because the Minotaur was engaged by the Everfree before she could inflict significant structural damage to the Saddleberg.”
“The High Admiral has been doing her job,” Flight nodded approvingly. “I approve. How many officers had to be removed?”
“Um… Looks like they’ve had a total of four hundred starship commanders- ranked anywhere from Lieutenant to Commodore- refuse to perform assigned duties, requiring removal and court-martial for failure to comply. Soonest one is scheduled for next week.” She scowled. “... And a few of the files on the officers that replaced them use… vague language…” Then she blinked. “Hangon. Last week, REN Manehattan got a new commander after her previous one was removed for noncompliance, and her new commander- Lieutenant Commander Dusk Shot- is one of the ones with vague language.” She looked up at Night Skies.
Skies nodded. “Captain Dusk Shot was a good one. I would’ve given her a starship, but we didn’t have any left by the time she was ready.”
“Uh, Princess?” Wing stated, looking up. “Laser comms signal from High Admiral Timber Wolf on the Everfree, relayed through the Canterlot. Requesting video, encrypted.”
Flight tilted her head. “... Huh.” She glanced at Twilight, who shook herself out and straightened up. “Onscreen.”
Wing nodded, and tapped a single key. The holographic display on the inside of the windshield activated, blacking out the windshield, to display a countdown- three, two, one.
When it hit zero, it displayed a simple message. Transmitting, waiting for incoming signal.
“High Admiral,” Flight nodded respectfully. “We’ve just been browsing the tactical database, and I must say, I approve.” She then went silent and watched the screen patiently.
About twenty seconds after it started transmitting, the picture appeared, and the High Admiral was visible, on the command chair of her flag bridge. Flight instantly noticed that the High Admiral’s tactical officer was a thestral- specifically, Shadow Flight, one of the first thestrals she’d hired at Orbital Control. Shadow also had the shoulder flashings of a full Commander on her naval uniform.
Then, High Admiral Timber Wolf spoke. “Welcome home, Princess. In your browsing, you might have noticed some new officers with vague details- that’s because they’re thestrals, which makes their presence aboard our ships technically illegal. I assume you’re okay with that, given the number of the same present on your bridge?”
She smiled, and nodded. “Yes, it’s completely okay. I’ll have to admit, though, I’m curious how you’ve been getting them into space.”
The wait was twenty seconds, before the High Admiral winced, and spoke again. “Very carefully. A couple of them were able to get to space on civilian vessels by disguising themselves, but we’ve had to cram most of them into the closets on our crew exchange shuttles- including Shadow Flight here.” She gestured to the mare in question, who smiled out of the display. “It hasn’t been easy to keep them beneath the notice of the King and Queen- and add that only a small portion of the Fleet is cleared to know we’re taking them aboard, and it’s an even bigger challenge. We haven’t been able to get nearly as many of them up here as I’d like.”
She tilted her head. “You mean to tell me, that the Fleet has been going rogue in order to take aboard illegal officers and perform illegal operations throughout space, including but not limited to customs and antipiracy patrols?”
The High Admiral really winced that time. “Ahh, yes, I do, actually. We thought it the best choice of action, after you yelled at the Missalius loud enough for us to hear it through forty kilometers of vacuum.” Twilight gasped, and turned to stare at Flight, but the High Admiral wasn’t done talking. “We’ve expanded the fleet significantly; all the smaller vessels have been getting finished first, but the first few new dreadnoughts should be coming out soon. With them, we’ve eliminated piracy in Equineothame space- we’re now the safest place in space in more ways than one. We’ve captured about four trillion in contraband- and we’ve gotten word of representatives from Earth arriving at Equineothame in a few hours, to ask us to come take care of their piracy problem. I’m currently on return, with fifty capital ships, from taking a pirate haven in the Asteroid Belt. They’re starting to come out and surrender when they first realize we’re there- Equineothame has fast become recognized as a military power.”
Flight nodded. “I approve, keep at it.”
“Four trillion in…?” Twilight asked.
Flight nodded. “Not surprised,” she told Twilight. “Before I left, there were dozens of ships every day that would refuse to even send cargo manifests- which is grounds for boarding, by Equineothame law. Which wasn’t enforced… until it was. Anyways.” She looked back up at High Admiral Timber Wolf. “If you have any remaining ground-bound Thestral officers gather by Orbital Control, I plan on stopping by the surface sometime soon; this is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.” She gestured to Twilight. “I should be able to fit about thirteen hundred of them aboard, as long as you’ve got a ship in orbit for me to take them to. Up to three eighty indefinitely.”
Timber Wolf smiled at Twilight’s question. “Alright, we can do that. There’s about three hundred of them right now- and your sister is due to be born in about three days, too.” She took a deep breath. “The docs told us they told your parents they couldn’t tell the tribe on the ultrasound- but they told us directly they’re pretty sure she’s a thestral.”
Flight blinked. “... I wasn’t aware I was going to have a sister. But yeah, I probably want to be there for that, don’t I?”
Timber Wolf nodded. “They’ve also requested the presence of the senior naval officers, for the usual fanfare, so I’ll be there too.” She grinned. “Admiral Midnight Sparkle won’t be, though.” All the thestrals gave snorts of laughter, but Timber Wolf wasn’t finished speaking. “Not only is she a thestral- ex Vice Admiral of the Shadowfleet- but she’s also raiding Equinose with most of our capital ships.”
It was Flight’s turn to let out a snort of laughter. Equinose was a small but powerful nation, based on one of the inhospitable outer planets that hadn’t been towed into the ‘goldilocks zone’ like Equineothame had been, that actively supported piracy. As such, they had no official navy- but whenever they were in trouble, thousands of pirates would turn up very quickly to fend off whatever was attacking. “Nice. Speaking of which, how’s the tow boat?”
Timber Wolf raised an eyebrow. “The Tow Boat? We gave her an inspection two weeks ago, actually. Needs new Gravity Drive coils, but otherwise serviceable. You got a moon that needs moving or something?”
She smiled. “Actually, yes. Something happened on Equestria long ago, which left their Moon on a suborbital trajectory. Princess Luna uses her powerful magic to keep it at bay, but it’s a huge drain on her.”
“You-!” Twilight began. “You have a ship that can move moons?”
Flight nodded. “Yep. The Tow Boat was made- and first used- to move Equineothame into a stable, livable orbit, and fine-tune the spin. Took about a century, pretty sure it hasn’t been used since. We should be able to use it to put Luna’s Moon on a stable orbit as well- we’ll just have to fit it with a Distortion Drive. Which, if it needs new Gravity Drive coils, now would be a great time to install that.” She tilted her head. “We’ll also want to make sure the power systems can support the new drives.” Then she blinked. “And if Celestia wants, we could probably use it- and its sister- to stabilize and fine-tune Equestria’s spin as well, free both Sisters from their celestial duties. We could even adjust the axial tilt if you want, make the seasons drive themselves. Take a lot of magic to avoid any significant damage to the planetary civilization, but I’m sure it’s nothing that you and Star couldn’t handle.” She smiled up at Timber Wolf, ignoring Twilight’s blush.
After the delay, Timber Wolf grinned. “Shall we make a rendezvous before we return to LEO, then?”
Flight shrugged. “Why not? I can even play ferry for you and the other senior officers if you like, provided you’re willing to spend a few days on the surface.”
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So this is the Sol system, with a bunch of extra planets hammered into the Goldilocks zone? Impressive.
So Equinothame became a military power... because Flight yelled at them? How loud is she?
Also, I noticed that Admiral Timber Wolf didn't react much when Flight mentioned she had been to Equestria. I wonder if they already knew, or if they're just good at concealing their surprise.
10389216
Heh heh Yeah, it’s the Sol System... with a bunch of extra planets, full stop. There used to be only one in the Goldilocks zone, but they built a machine capable of towing planets...
10389265
Loud enough to be heard through 40km of a medium that doesn’t carry sound in the first place. How loud is that? I have no idea.
10389500
I had just assumed that there was more to her (royal caps lock) voice than mere sound.
A certain magic behind it that does not concider the emptiness of space, soundproofing (and neither silencing or muffeling spells) a barrier.
10393106
Well of course there is. That’s why I have no idea...
Actually, if you've moved a bunch of moons and large asteroids around, it's not just Equinothame, and Tow Boat should have either been one of many, or used multiple times.
Now: Two Alicorns on the video call, and no reaction? That's a really good "Cool" skill roll.
Looks like Flight never told anyone where she was going, nor any advance radio notice of what they found? So the whole "This is where we were, this is who came back with us" should be major shocks to their system.
10395834
Yep, the Tow Boat- and the identical sister ship that was mentioned once, used as partners to alter a planet's spin- have likely seen use multiple times. And yes, Equineothame was probably a dead rock when they did those moves... Ought to make any adjustments to Equus, as a living planet, quite interesting...
And yeah, she didn't tell anypony. And this technically is their "advance radio notice", at six light-seconds out...
6 light seconds out? We're having 20 second turn-around delay. At 12 seconds of distance, that means 8 seconds to figure out how to respond.
That's ... an incredibly cautious speaker. :-)
10398345
Either that... or, since we know the signal is being bounced off the Canterlot six light-seconds away from Flight, the Everfree- the origin of the signal, and known to be on return from an antipiracy mission in the asteroid belt- is also four light-seconds away from the Canterlot... making for a total signal distance of 10 light-seconds, which equates to a 20-second round trip.
Ahh, missed that. My bad.
10395825
User manual? What the heck is a user manual? Everything is supposed to be "intuitive". :-).
10398676
I mean, airplanes and cars both ship with user manuals... and planes at least, they have to STAY in it, by law- even though anybody actually in the cockpit with that user manual will have spent literally hundreds of hours in training for that exact model of plane!
... Yeah.
And I never said she did use it, just that it was probably available for her to use. I rather doubt she would have used it to distract Twilight on the way over, as she'd then be forced to answer (or ignore) an unending stream of questions...
I forgot if I had asked about that, but Equinothame is one of several livable planets all in one system? That explains how they could have a star empire but not have long-distance travel. It makes their economic and ruling structures a bit weirder, but it still makes sense.
I like your logic for what the moon's doing.