Chapter 2: Decisions
Mark watched as his men set up medical tents on and around the docks for the people who had come to them. He had yet to hear the story from their new doyen, Vijay Singh, but what he had learned so far was horrifying. The fleet that had attacked them was more than just a strike group, something else entirely. They had learnt of this city and were going to use it as a final refuel point before heading out into the unexplored desert. But when the previous doyen refused to surrender the fuel, he was shot and the Gathering troops started searching for the fuel themselves while killing anyone they came across.
The Grand Duke has been unkind and perhaps even cruel in the past sometimes, prioritizing saving fuel over searching for enemy survivors but shooting at unarmed civilians? The Gathering had not only committed yet another heinous crime but had thrown away whatever honor that they still had and now his men were all eager to find and finish them.
But before he could give the order to give chase to the Gathering fleet, he had to discuss with his fellow captains to make a new plan of action and also speak with the leader of the people.
The doyen was young but was good and cared about his people. A little too much perhaps as he had wanted the help to be delivered before talking to the Grand Duke.
Mark sighed as he started making his way back to the Sevastopol. There was a meeting he had to attend. All the captains and the doyen would be present and they had much to learn before any moves could be made. He walked up the main ramp while avoiding getting in the way of medical staff and soldiers who were offloading supplies. The rest of the ships had landed at the docks, albeit with a little difficulty, to provide the aid quickly.
He soon found himself in the bridge section, in a room dedicated for meetings. He sat at one of the seats at the round table. Around him were high ranking officers in the fleet. To his right was captain Ibrahim, who was impatiently tapping his foot.
To his left was Admiral Daud, who was quietly waiting for the doyen. On his left was General Pyotr who was doing the same. Across the table from Mark was an empty chair, reserved for the doyen. On either side of the chair were Captain Agarwal and Captain Alexei.
Captain Agarwal was a new and slightly inexperienced Elaim captain in their fleet but her loyalty made up for her shortcomings. She had been working independently before on a Locust before joining the fleet at Khiva to assist with their expedition.
Captain Alexei on the other hand was an experienced Romani captain who had a fleet of tankers and cargo ships, delivering supplies and fuel to the cities of Gerat before dedicating his fleet to supporting guerilla warfare against the Gathering's rebellion. He had come with his Pollux fuel ships immediately when the expedition needed more range.
There was also Captain Ali, who was the captain of the Longbow carrier that had joined them at Ur and been with the fleet from the start. He was not in the room yet.
"How much longer will it take for them to arrive?", the Admiral asked with slight impatience. He wanted nothing more than to chase down the enemy and end them once and for all.
"Captain Ali should be coming in some time with the doyen. He had to give orders to send planes to scout the area.", Captain Agarwal said, her voice slightly muffled by the colorful mask that she wore.
The door to the room opened and the doyen and Captain Ali entered.
"Sorry for being late, got tied up in some work.", Captain Ali said as he took a seat next to Captain Ibrahim. The doyen took the empty seat opposite of Mark.
"It's fine. I came about a minute ago.", Mark reassured with a wave of his hand, "However, we must get this meeting started quickly.”
Everyone was in agreement with what Mark said.
“I suppose I should begin by telling whatever I know.”, the doyen said. Mark agreed, as the doyen had not said much about the enemy, prioritizing his people.
“Yesterday, we had picked up a contact on the radar. My grandfather had thought that your fleet had sent a ship ahead but it was the Gathering’s ship that had come.
The ship that came was almost as big as your ship, Sevastopol, but it moved with the speed of a Lightning. Our defense ships could not even take off before they were destroyed.”
This was very concerning. Everyone in the room knew that a ship had to have a speed of at least four hundred kilometers an hour to silent-strike a garrison and the only ship that they knew of that was as large as the Sevastopol was the Varyag, which had already been dealt with.
The Varyag was the most expensive ship to ever fly and the fact that the Gathering was able to produce it was concerning as it meant that there were noble houses that had been secretly supplying the rebels with funds.
But this? Another ship as large as the Sevastopol that also had such high speed? It was deeply troubling to everyone. How had the Gathering been able to pull it off.
“After destroying our ships, they landed and demanded to see the doyen, my grandfather. They had demanded that we give our fuel and food to them but my grandfather refused,” the doyen continued. “They then threatened to destroy our city if we didn’t surrender the supplies. My grandfather returned to the city to discuss with the other elders about what they would do next.
Food is already scarce in the desert and here, far away from the trade routes, it is even more scarce. We couldn’t give our food if we wanted to keep ourselves fed. The fuel that we have was reserved for your use.
And so, they refused to give anything to them. Our city was built in a mountain, like a fortress and we knew that no weapon could breach the walls. We were confident that we could hold out until your fleet arrived.
We were wrong. Another ship, even larger than the one before, had arrived. They gave us a warning that if we did not give them supplies, they would fire at us. We still refused to do so.”, the doyen paused for a bit before continuing, “I don’t know how I survived but I was able to escape with some other people.
There used to be almost thirty thousand in the city but there are only a thousand left now. Everything else is buried under the rubble.”
Everyone was silent. An even bigger ship? Just how powerful was the Gathering? No one knew for sure. There was a feeling of anxiety shared by all in the room but what they all felt the most was anger.
“In which direction did they go?” Pyotr asked.
“Northeast, the same direction in which your expedition was headed.”, the doyen answered,
“My grandfather had informed me of this expedition and I fear that they know what it was for and are going there to take the Project Salvation for themselves.”
“What is our plan of action?”Agarwal asked.
“We have to catch up with the fleet meaning that we must depart as soon as possible unless we want to let them get to Project Salvation first.”, Admiral Daud answered.
“We still have to deal with our current situation. We have already sent out a message for ships to come and evacuate the people from here but they will arrive in about two days.”, Pyotr said. They could not leave the people here without any defense or shelter.
“There is something else as well.”, the doyen said, “There are a lot of people who want revenge.”
“Yes, there is. What about it?”, Mark asked, a bit confused as to how it will help them.
“Well, if the records we had were correct then there are a few ships hidden somewhere west of here. They were left here by a khan a long time ago but I think that a few of them might still be functional.
There will be a few tankers and some combat ships. My plan is that the combat ships can be staffed by those who want to fight and join your fleet and help in the fight while the tankers can take the rest back to Gerat. There wouldn’t be a need to wait for the ships to arrive from Gerat, the badly injured would be able to get the help they need quicker and you would get an advantage over the Gathering.”
Admiral Daud was the first to object.
“Are you suggesting that we allow untrained civilians to not only man ships but also fight?”
“It is the best we can do, Admiral, and besides, many of those who want to fight know how to work on a ship. They will be able to help.”, the doyen argued.
“If that is true then we should allow them to join us. We will need all the help we can get for when we need to fight.”, Pyotr added.
“I agree with General Pyotr, we’ll need to allow them to join us. We already know that the enemy is faster than us and probably going for Project Salvation. Currently, the Sevastopol and Diana are the only ships in our fleet that stand a chance against large ships but they might not be able to win if the enemy has that much speed.”, Captain Ibrahim said. With even their best Captain agreeing to allow the people to join them, Admiral Daud could not hope to be able to stop them.
However, the decision to allow the doyen’s men to join the fleet was to be made by Mark. He contemplated the doyen’s plan and made a decision.
“Is there any other plan?” Mark asked. When he received no reply, he made his decision.
"We will be going with the doyen's plan."
Princess Luna sat in her carriage, watching the scenery go by. It wouldn't be long till they reached their destination. It was evening and she would have to raise the moon in some time.
When she had been woken up from her sleep earlier than usual, she had been annoyed. However, her mood changed completely when she was told why her sleep had been disturbed.
The carriage rocked a bit as it landed. She didn't waste time as she opened the door before her guards could and stepped out. The cool evening breeze would have felt nice against her face if it didn't carry the smell of smoke with it. Her sister joined her.
"This way, they're waiting for us. We'll have to walk since they didn't want our guards flying too close to their ships.", her sister said as she gestured towards the giant metal machine in the distance. They started walking with their guards following behind. She didn't know how to react when she had been informed that multiple flying ships made of metal had landed in the valley below Canterlot and that an alien had stepped out of one and demanded to see the rulers of the land.
They soon came upon a tent, their meeting place since neither side was keen in letting strangers too close to each other's homes. It was simple, large and colored dull yellow. There were two tall beings, almost as tall as them, clad in dark clothing and light armor standing guard in front of the entrance. They let them in without a word.
Inside was a table surrounded by three cushions. The setup was familiar to Celestia as the Southern griffin clans used these whenever she would come to visit.
What she was not familiar with was the being dressed in a black turban and robe with golden patterns in the room. He bowed as he saw them.
"Greetings, your majesties! I am Prince Ahmad of Gerat. Please have a seat.", he said as another person entered the tent with a kettle and three cups. The three took a seat while the person quickly served them tea and left.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince. I am Princess Celestia of Equestria.", Celestia introduced herself.
"And I am Princess Luna of Equestria," Luna introduced herself. She didn't know what the being was but she felt that his intentions were not good. "Why have you come to our land?", she asked, skipping any formalities and getting straight to the point. The man smiled a bit before his face turned to a frown.
"To put it simply, me and my people are running. We followed an ancient map and it has led us here.", the prince answered.
"Running from what?", Luna asked suspiciously before Celestia could speak.
"The Romani Empire. They invaded us when we declared independence from them. We tried fighting but they were ruthless. I was able to escape along with some of my people before they could get us but right now we are being hunted by the son of the emperor himself.", he answered in a sad tone.
"So, you have come here to find refuge?", Celestia asked. The prince nodded.
"What is the Empire like?", Luna asked.
"Tyrannical. The emperor is a despot who sends his army to put down any protest to his rule. They suppress the freedom of the people. We had declared independence so that the people of Gerat and eventually, the entire empire, would get their freedom back.
We would have liberated the people if it hadn't been for the emperor's son, Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky. He is a skilled but brutal commander. He slaughtered all those who crossed him with no remorse and now he's coming for us."
Luna kept her calm facade but on the inside she was troubled. While the prince didn't sound like he could be trusted, the story he told was believable. She had fought tyrants in the past and knew what someone who would be fleeing from their rule would be like. She decided to trust the prince for now.
"Is this Grand Duke truly that dangerous?", her sister asked.
"He's a bad man. He is greedy for wealth and power just like his father. He came to Gerat and shackled its people. Now he will come here too and bring war with him."
This was concerning. A warlord coming to Equestria in these metal ships would be able to conquer as much as he wants. Luna was ready to excuse the prince for leading his people here, after all, they were just trying to survive.
"I'm ready to excuse you for leading him to us but if he is as terrible as you have said then we will need to prepare for his arrival but we will need your help too if we are to do this.", Luna said. Her sister was in agreement with what she said. No one should suffer from tyranny and no one should be hunted down.
"We will destroy the Grand Duke when he arrives and then we shall help you free your people."
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Why are there 2 other?
11493592
thank for notice i fix