Spacecraft Chapter 1: Maiden Launch
Spike's name was called along with his assigned serial number M-6016. He got up, picked up his bag, and walked to the announcer. She looked like Twilight, but Spike knew, that wasn't Twilight. He hadn't seen her in a long time. The last time he saw her was when he was still a baby dragon. Now, he was almost as tall as a normal person, only slightly shorter. He wore a VekSuit, spacesuit; it was required. It was primarily a dark grey with green and purple lines running up and down, his belt was that same purple.
"You are to report to the loading train number 5 in dock 37b, you are assigned to the Celestia," the announcer told Spike as she continued to record Spike's transfer. The Celestia was a science vessel. Spike nodded to the announcer and proceeded to the loading train. A few minutes later, the train lurched forward and out of the docking bay. Spike looked out a window. Space, the only thing left. A vast... glob, of emptiness dotted with distant stars. The train passed into another section of the Canterlot Core. That was the station that did almost everything. It built the spacecraft used in the fleets, housed the academies, and where the commands were given to the fleet's crafts. Spike looked further up, and saw the Intergalactic Communications Array Tower, more commonly called the I-CAT. It's workings were based of dragon mail. The train slowed and eventually came to a stop. The doors opened and out went an influx of people and inside went another influx of people, doors closed behind Spike and the train shot off again. Beep! Upon hearing that sound, Spike pulled up his left wrist and activated his personnel Wrist-Comm. Up went a small, holographic screen. Directions to the Celesita appeared.
Spike opened the elevator and walked in. Once inside, a robotic voice spoke up. "Please place your personnel Wrist-Comm up to the scanner eye." Spike put his Wrist-Comm up to a small scanner eye. It scanned the Wrist-Comm and the elevator shot upward. The doors opened and Spike walked into a hallway. Spike looked to his left and right, unsure of where he was supposed to go. Beep! Another notification. Spike activated his Wrist-Comm and a new set of directions appeared along with a downloadable folder. Spike pressed the download option and swiped the screen back to the directions. Spike turned left and followed the directions to the . A set of doors slid open and Spike took a step forward.
"Spike." Spike turned his attention to the voice. It was Shining Armor. He was wearing a spacesuit like Spike, but Shining's also had lots of armored sections. In all honesty, he looked like a paladin.
"Uh, hey Shining." Spike said.
"You need some help with finding your room?"
"Uh, sure." Spike nodded. Shining led Spike to his room. Shining scanned his Wrist-Comm at the scanner eye and the door slid up.
Shining turned back to Spike. "Get yourself situated, then come meet me in the weapons testing range. You know how to get there?" Spike nodded. "Okay." Shining made his way to the weapons testing range.
The room was dark. Spike walked in and the lights automatically activated. The was a nock in one wall which served as a single bed. A desk with a lamp and a computer on it. A wardrobe filled with... nothing. One wall had a lighter shade of metal on it and seemed out of place. Curious, Spike walked over to the panel and pressed on it. It peeled itself away, moving to the sides to reveal the outside world. Outside, Mechanical arms placed man-sized orbs with smaller arms into the ship. Utility Craft. Spike turned away from the window and closed the panel back. He pulled out the chair from under the desk and sat down. He booted up the computer, put his left hand on the desk, pulled a little connector out of his Wrist-Comm, and attached it to the computer. The computer linked itself with Spikes Wrist-Comm and the comm updated itself. It only took a few moments.
Spike opened the folder he downloaded earlier and saw it held a detailed set of documents of the Celestia, her mission, crew, and cargo. Sighing, Spike got to reading.
The Celestia is a science vessel designated to the Andromeda Fleet of the Equestrian Empire. Its role is to provide scientific and mechanical services to the rest of the fleet. It is equipped with some of the latest advancements in the scientific field. It has been, as is common practice, outfitted with its own weaponry but is not an assault vessel. The Celestia also is not capable of the mass-teleportation transport spells that allow intergalactic travel done by the drop ships but is equipped with a pulse-drive for interplanetary travel.
The Andromeda's mission is to traverse the stars and find a suitable planet for habitation and to fight off the Changeling Swarm...
It went on for Celestia knows how long. "Sigh." Spike shut off the computer and got up. He turned to his bag and started to unpack his small amount of belongings; a few clothes, old comic books -he never read them anymore-, Once that was done, Spike made his down to the weapons range. The doors slide open to reveal a long room with targets at one end, a line down the middle and lots of experimental weaponry on the other side. Shining motioned for Spike. "What is it Shining?"
"These." Shining placed a case on the table. "Go on. Open it." Spike opened the case and inside was a small plasma-shield augment for his Wrist-Comm and two dual-wield plasma pistols. Each pistol was in the shape of a half U. Spike pulled out one of the pistols and turned it around in his hand. "Give them a test fire." Spike pulled out the other pistol and walked over to the firing range. Down the other side was a moving target. Spike took aim with one and fired. He missed. He tried again, and missed again.
"Showin' the newbie the new toys, Ah see."
Spike turned around to see a pegasus in a pair of blue jean overalls and under that she wore a white VekSuit with the sleeves rolled up and covered with splotches of black grease. Spike could tell she was a mechanic from the Omni-tool gauntlet resting on her right wrist and the belt she wore. It had pouches everywhere, each was filled to the brim with small bits of metal, mostly screws. She had orange skin and short, scraggily blue-colored hair and a pair of folded wings on her back and brown eyes. And she was taller than Spike. "Spike, this is Valery Wrench. She's probably the single greatest mechanic on the entire station."
"Nice to meet ya Spike." Valery gave out a big grin -one eye closed- and put out her hand.
"Um, nice to meet you too, Valery." Spike shook her hand and held a nervous grin.
"Ah see Shinin' was givin' you your weapons and he's shown ya the blaster function. But did he show ya the sword function?"
"Huh, sword function?" Spike blinked.
"Ah'll take that as a no. Here, lemme show ya." Spike handed Valery his blasters. Valery put the two pistols together by the bottom halves and they magnetically locked themselves. She pulled down on the trigger and a sharp blade -made of the same plasma as the shots- sprouted forth.
"Wow." Valery deactivated the sword and handed Spike back the blasters. Spike took the connected blasters in his right hand and pulled on the trigger. Spike twisted the blade in his hand, admiring the blue blade. It gave off a low, enjoyable hum. Spike switched his focus from the blade to his Wrist-Comm and activated the shield augmentation. Four small, white arms extended from the corners and formed a plasma-shield. "Wow again," Spike commented.
"Wanna give 'em the ol' test run?" Valery pointed over to a circular combat ring, specifically one for close-quarters combat. There was a single deactivated combat droid in it.
"Sigh, okay,' Spike exasperated. He stepped into the ring, lowered his helmet's combat visor, and got into a battle stance.
"Dominant foot forward," Shining told him.
"Oh, yeah." Spike switched his footing. "Okay, I'm ready." Valery set the difficulty level and pressed a button. The droid's singular, center eye glowed yellow. It grabbed a short white metallic pole from its back and bent down into a fighting stance. The two ends of the pole extended, forming a staff -as long as Spike was tall- with electricity arching between the grip and each end.
The droid rushed forward at Spike. Spike placed his shield in front, blocking a sharp jab from the staff. The droid responded by jabbing more and more. Electricity crackled at every hit and Spike's shield was quickly running out of power. Cracks formed across the shield. "Spike, ya gotta do more than just defendin', attack some." Spike's shield dropped from low power. Without missing a beat, the droid jabbed Spike in the gut. Spike felt electricity coarse through his body and fell limp on the floor. Upon registering that its opponent was down, the droid deactivated.
Spike sat in the Celestia's bridge. HIs body still ached from the electricity. "Yes, Commander, the Celestia is ready for mass-warp," Shining Armor told the other man on the video screen.
"Affirmative, Captain Shining Armor. Begin mass-warp," the man responded. One of the other ships -the Fleet Carrier- lit up like a star. Reality around the fleet distorted, expanded, stretched outward. Spike's vision got blurry and his ears rang for a moment. Then it was over as reality reshaped itself, condensed back into its natural state. However, the sight before the fleet took them entirely by surprise.
An entire Changeling fleet.
Directly in front of them.