Spaceships. Ponies. Lasers. What more do you want?
Luyten and Venture are two friends in a galaxy on the brink of war. Can this unlikely pair bring an end to this senseless struggle for power, or will they get caught in the crossfire?
EDIT 1: changed cover art to Imperial Cutter, rather than Imperial Eagle EDIT 2: changed F1Q_A to 5 G. Capricorni
Ciedan: one of the last great cloud-cities. It gleamed like a shiny silver coin in the sun, and was a hub for, well, everything you could imagine.
Except for one thing. And it wasn’t a big deal really, unless perhaps, you were interested in leaving this forsaken planet. You see, not everypony got the chance to live above the ever-present clouds on my home planet of Peylow. Only royalty and those related to royals got the chance to see the sun’s rays. And for the rest of us? Well, we get about ten minutes a day right as the sun rises and just before it sets again.
Anyhow, back to the subject at hoof.
Ciedan: the place to go if you’ve got nowhere else to go (at least in terms of ideas and selling things). However, one does not simply walk into this “hallowed city”. Oh no, that would be too easy. There’s around the clock surveillance of all entrances and exits, air coverage from a two-mile-high energy field, and the clouds that made up the city’s foundation were reinforced with some pretty tough magic and steel.
Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking, why don’t you just fly over? Or perhaps get permission?
I would, honestly, I would before I even thought about breaking a law. Sadly, living in a city where all the important ponies are kept in a relatively small area, and you happen to be a member of a species that may or may not have been involved in taking over a pony capital some point in the past few hundred years has had a slight impact on my chances of getting a permit. There are other ways in, if you can get to them.
To name one, there was the massive hole above the city, but you need a sub-orbital spaceship, or a full on hyperspace-ready craft. Next, there was through the floor, and for that you either need an extremely potent acid (some calculated it to be about a trillion times stronger than battery acid), or an extremely powerful unicorn, of which none lived beneath the clouds.
Getting a spaceship was surprisingly easy, all you needed was a nice smile, a charming attitude, and a really, really scary-looking hoof-mounted gun to get it. Now, I’m not saying stealing things is wrong, but I’m saying sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. Anyhow, nopony cares about these nitty-gritty details, really you can gloss over them.
The ship I was in possession of was—I don’t even know where to start with it. Well, it was manufactured in the year 3344 as a joint project between Gutamaya and Core Dynamics. Two very different companies. Core Dynamics was known for their relatively simple, yet aggressive exteriors, their maneuverability, and compact size. Gutamaya, on the other hoof, was where the royals went for their flashy, luxurious space yachts and supercruisers. All of Gutamaya’s ships had shields that were nigh-unbreakable, and some models were the fastest in the galaxy.
Luckily for me, I had one of those fast models: the Imperial Eagle. Also in my favor was the fact that the aftermarket parts for this gem were never further than around the corner, because although not everyone had the Imperial variant, most had the standard CD Eagle, which was for planetary flight only. And before you ask, no, you can’t put a FSD into a CD ship: there’s not room.
In the Imperial Eagle, though, there is an FSD, and that means I can finally get off this trice-damned hell hole.
There are no words to describe how ready I am for this.
I’d be the first to do a lot of things if my little plan worked: I’d be the first changeling in Ciedan, in sub-orbital flight, probably space, and the fastest. I don’t even know the maximum speed on this Eagle. I know the standard ones can get up around… two hundred meters a second, so I’d say mine can do four hundred…ish. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
The next morning, I woke to that perpetual overcast sky and the sound of armored hooves clanking down the cobbled street.
And they were getting louder.
And louder.
Oh fuck.
I leapt out of my bed in a whirl, grabbed my flight suit, and galloped as fast as I could to the shed where I stashed the Imperial Eagle. I was in the process of spooling up the two gigantic drives, when an entire squad of guards burst out the back door of my apartment and stopped. I would say out of awe and shock that I had a fifteen-meter-long spaceship in front of them, but it’s because this fifteen-meter spaceship had two plasma accelerators pointed right at them.
Not wanting to wait around any longer than I had to, I slammed both throttles to their stops and slalomed through streets towards the main waterways.
I’m just going to say one thing: I underestimated the power of this ship by a long shot. Even at half throttle, I was flying by the CD Eagles with ease. On the downside, I didn’t have any chance of hiding this bright white arrow. Oh well. I wouldn’t have to worry about that for long. As soon as I was above that cloud layer, I was in the green.
One more turn, and then it was a straight shot to Ciedan. Buildings blurred past the cockpit canopy as my speedometer showed speeds that were frankly unheard of. With all the adrenaline flowing in my system right now, I had to try and keep my speed at a reasonable level, so I didn’t crash and burn.
And of course just as I ease off the throttle, a bullet pinged off the cockpit.
I hate the police.
I doubt they’ll catch up to me now.
I dumped the throttles and was pushed back in the chair. What was a few meters behind me mere seconds ago was now kilometers behind me. I could’ve sworn I saw a four-digit number on the heads-up display.
Closer and closer the ceiling (or wall, depending on how you looked at it) grew as I raced up and away from my problems and source of all discomforts. I suppose there’d be a few ponies I’d miss, but oh well, life goes onto better things. I wonder if they’d even kn—what the hell is that noise!?
A flurry of flashing red lights and a metronomic beeping filled the cockpit as something—or rather somethings swarmed over my radar. Then, an ancient radio crackled to life:
“This is Ciedan Traffic Control, identify and reduce speed to two-zero-zero meters per second.”
I set the throttles to zero, and hovered a few kilometers from the city in question, wondering what to do, and in that time, traffic control hailed me again.
“Unidentified spacecraft, you are trespassing in Imperial airspace. Set course for one-seven-niner immediately.”
Now it was time to panic. I picked apart the cockpit looking for the registration papers, or something that would let me know the designation.
“This is your final warning. Set course for one-seven-niner, or you will be met with deadly force.” Whoever said that sounded very sure that I would be reduced to nothing more than dust.
Aha! I scrambled for the radio and nearly had a heart attack.
“Hello, Ciedan Traffic Control! This is Gutamaya November Romeo Tango, sorry for the delay. Had to find my papers, my apologies.” I wasn’t a very religious changeling, but I felt this situation needed some divine help.
The radio crackled and there were a few moments of tense silence before the tower responded.
“...Gutamaya November Romeo Tango, acknowledged. Set course to zero-six-six, maintain five thousand meters. Contact Ciedan Ground Control when approach is two thousand meters.”
I wracked my brains for a scrap of what I learned in flight school all those years ago last year. Weren’t you supposed to repeat back instructions? I think so.
“Roger that Ciedan Traffic, course is zero-six-six, maintaining five thousand meters, and I’ll contact Ground Control at two thousand meters from gear down.”
“Roger that, Commander, good day.”
Wait.
Commander?
It appears I’ve just skipped the frying pan and jumped right into the fire.
The worst thing to do right now would be to bail, since I’ve already had one near scrape with death, I’d like to limit myself to only one close encounter a day. Fearing the worst, I complied with their instruction and flew to a little more than two kilometers from the cloud-city.
“Ciedan Ground, this is Gutamaya November Romeo Tango, requesting permission to land.”
Almost immediately, I got a reply, “Gutamaya November Romeo Tango, you are cleared for landing, please proceed to pad one-alpha.”
And this is where I knew I fucked up. Pad 1A was reserved for special guests. Like high-up military officers. Like the Commander of the Imperial Navy.
I suppose it won’t be that bad…I’d get first-rate service, some respect, and maybe, just maybe a chance to fly a Clipper…or a Cutter…ooooh yeah flying a ship that’s ten times the size of mine right now…that sounds awesome!
Either way, I’ll have to land first, so I might as well get it over with.
“November Romeo Tango, approach is good, distance is five-zero-zero meters. Ground crew is on stand-by.”
“Roger that, Ground Control. Gear is down, speed is five-zero meters per second.”
“Acknowledged. This is Ciedan Ground Control, over and out.”
I wiped some sweat off my brow as my dainty little Eagle settled on the docking pad, barely even scuffing the dust on its surface. I took a glance out my starboard window and sank lower into my seat. I really didn’t want to do this.
Here goes nothing!
A hiss and small amount of trapped condensation accompanied the small flight of stairs that extended from the front landing gear. As promised, there was a team of five or six ponies waiting with a fuel line, an oxygen tank, and some systems to check all of the diagnostics of the ship, like the frame shift drive, thrusters, shield generator, power distributor, weapons, et cetera. I stood off to the side as the techs ran their tests to make sure nothing was wrong, and when they left, a mare came and showed me into the spaceport.
“Welcome, C-Commander, I’m L-Luyten, and I’ll be taking you to your quarters. How are you enjoying our b-beautiful city so far?” The mare stammered.
I paused to pretend to look around and be amazed at their city.
“It’s very nice,” I finally said, “and where will my ship be stored? I’m assuming I can’t just take up a landing pad for more than a few minutes.”
Luyten looked taken aback (which I totally didn’t get),” O-Of course you can leave your ship there! Unless you want it moved to the governor’s private landing bay.”
Now I was the one who went slightly into shock. I can do that?
“Just…do whatever’s easier in the long run.” I stammered. Fuck, this was harder than I thought. Surprisingly though, nopony’s played the whole “oh-you’re-a-changeling-get-away-from-me” card yet. Huh. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. I started examining the faces of all the ponies, nocturnes, griffons, and even other changeli—oh. That’s why they don’t think it’s weird.
I’ll have you know that I am a self-certified genius.
I was distracted form my internal ramblings by the sound of my Eagle’s drives spooling up and then the already familiar clanking and pneumatic noise of the landing gear retracting.
“Luyten? What are they doing with my ship?” I tried to project my apparent authority over everypony, and I think it may have worked a little too well. The grey-ish blue mare started and rambled into a personal radio. I didn’t quite catch what she said, but I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of her tirade. I wondered what happened to the timid mare I just met not minutes ago, because I would not have expected this from her.
Seconds later, my little Eagle was perched on its pad once more, and we continued on our way.
“I’m so sorry about that, sir--…er, Commander!” Luyten blurted out. I waved a hoof and cut her off.
“Trust me, I’ve had enough “sir” and “Commander” to last me four lifetimes, just call me Venture.” I laughed. I definitely would not have been laughing if I’d know what would happen next.
The first thing I noticed was the blinding pain in my muzzle. The second was that I was on the ground, and that there was a pony on top of me.
I squinted my eyes and noticed that this pony was wearing an Imperial Navy uniform.
With epaulets.
And a stylized eagle with wings branching on either side of it emblazoned on the right breast.
As unconsciousness released me from its sweet embrace, some words and phrases reached my ears. Some of the inflection sounded friendly, and the other ones…eh, not so much. I’d assumed I was being held accountable for some crime I didn’t know I committed, unless they thought I was a spy or something…which wasn’t overly reassuring. To make me feel welcome in their “great and glorious city”, both of my front hooves were chained to a two-foot thick steel girder, while my rear hooves were attached to a similar steel pole.
A door somewhere in the near vicinity whispered open and I heard three…no four sets of hoofsteps on the cold, hard ground that I was lying on.
“Do you have any idea the amount of trouble you’re in right now?” A gruff voice asked. I shook my head: I didn’t know what laws I’d broken!
“To start with the big ones: you, Venture, assumed the identity of Commander Dawn of the Imperial Navy, used his private boarding craft, evaded the police, and trespassed on Imperial airspace without permission. To finish off, you will also be charged with fifteen counts of reckless flying, eighteen instances of breaking the speed limit by a factor of two or three, and lastly, evading your rent and housing payments.”
I could understand all of those, except for that last one. My landlord and I had a deal, as long as I got it paid it was all good. And I was the only one in my family with a job, and I had to go to flight school, and I had a second, higher paying job which was racing. If you hadn’t already guessed by the numerous counts of speeding and reckless flying.
” So, by order of the Imperial Court here in Ciedan, you are subject to twenty years in prison, with an extra five years for the various speeding infractions.” With the sword dangling over my head, there was nothing I could do except wait.
I never realized it until now, but at night, Ciedan was completely silent. No noise of aircon units, no whirring of personal spacecraft, no late-night chatter…nothing. I relaxed my head back onto the concrete wall and tried to find even one noise I could concentrate on, but there wasn’t a single peep.
I don’t know how long I was in that silent hell-hole, it could’ve been days, weeks or perhaps even a month or two. The only way I found some sort of cycle was that I was fed once every twelve hours or so. I tried to keep track but I eventually gave up.
One cold winter morning, while I was shivering in the corner, one of the guards was laughing and said, “Hey, cheer up! One year down, only twenty-four more to go!” They continued laughing until I screamed at them until my throat was raw with the effort. After my tirade, I slumped back down into my corner and wondered if this was all worth it. Was leaving my family really worth it? No, it wasn’t.
I sighed. I wonder if they thought about me, if they missed me. I’m not too sure they would, I really only payed part of the rent. They’d be ok.
I didn’t sleep too well that night, but in the morning, I woke up to find someone had placed a mirror in my cell. I dragged myself over to it and glanced at my reflection.
Prison hadn’t done me any favors, to say the least. I was a skinny changeling to start with, and I think I may have grown a little since last year, but that combined with drastic weight loss probably didn’t look too good. Well, in fact, it didn’t, but y’know, I can’t do anything about it.
The monotony that was my life now, was broken by the sound of hoofsteps. I didn’t lift my head to see who was there.
“Come on. You’re getting out of there right now.” The voice said.
Now, I was interested. I lifted my head and almost had a heart attack: the pony breaking me out was the pony I had accidently impersonated.
“There’s no time for questions right now, I promise you’ll be able to ask them later, but right now, just trust me.”
I figured my situation really couldn’t get that much worse so I said what the hell, and followed the Commander out of the prison block, and past the guards. We didn’t move very quickly, mostly because I hadn’t moved any significant distance in more than twelve months. I wracked my head for a reason that someone so, for lack of a better word, important, was helping me. I couldn’t figure it out. He led me to his personal craft, an Imperial PL Eagle, and we headed east, presumably to the spaceport.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I never meant for that to happen. You see, I was visiting below the clouds, and some dimwit stole my Eagle from me, I figured they’d scrap it for parts, but apparently not. I searched high and low for that ship, and believe me, when I saw that somepony was flying it, I had all of Ciedan’s eyes watching for me.” He laughed a little, “To be completely honest, when I heard your voice I knew that something was up, because, if you really knew that you were flying a stolen ship, I don’t think you would’ve come within a hundred kilometers of this place. And also, I’m going to apologize for knocking you out. I wasn’t thinking straight.” With that, he landed his PL and started making his way to a hangar on the extreme west side of the spaceport.
“Now, I fought for your freedom for months, and since we don’t have a lot of prisoners here in Ciedan, they wanted to keep you locked up in there and gloat about how they captured a criminal and all that nonsense.”
I took a moment to compose myself before summing my entire night up in one word.
What.
“I know what you’re thinking, and that’s why I brought you here.” He gestured at the hangar, “This is the Imperial Navy’s surplus hangar.”
What.
To be fair, I don’t think I was thinking straight when I believed everything he said, but hey, I’m not complaining. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Commander Dawn, the kind stallion he is offered me a gift to make up for the year I was in prison. At first, I thought he might give me some money and send me back down to my apartment, but oh how wrong I was.
He was giving me a ship.
And not just any ship mind you, I had my choice of top-of-the-line Imperial ships. Like the Clipper, Fer-de-Lane, or even the Imperial Cutter, which rivaled the size of most medium-sized buildings. I weighed my options carefully, and put a lot of thought into my choices.
The Cutter was a massive ship, good for intimidation factor, and had a decent jump range. The Fer-de-Lance, paled in comparison, and so did the Clipper.
I mean, let’s be real, there was only one choice to begin with.
I was now the proud captain of an Imperial Cutter, dubbed the HMS Palarion.
I was still in shock that I was being handed the keys to a ship that was worth more than a few city blocks. I glanced back at Dawn, who gestured me further up the boarding ramp.
To be honest, I was a foal in a candy store…a very expensive one at that. I spend the better part of the night, and most of the day just exploring around the ship, finding all the different compartments, service hatches, weapons’ maintenance, fuel tanks, cockpit, living quarters, observatory, and navigation. Of course, these could all be accessed from the cockpit’s extensive array of HUD panels and system diagnostics.
I loved it.
“How do you like it so far?” Dawn asked, sneaking up on me.
We both shared a laugh when I told him it was a step up from my CD Eagle. He sat me down and ran me through the basics of flying such a large ship, for example, other spacecraft will turn tail and run from you if they see you’re headed their way. Also, the Palarion packed enough firepower to level a couple square kilometers of land.
I could hardly wait to get going.
However, before I could even spool the drives up, Commander Dawn said he needed to get somepony to accompany me on my journey.
I wasn’t complaining when I found out who it was.
“Alright, Luyten’s already agreed to everything, and will explain a few things once you get underway. I’ll let the tower know you’re leaving. Fly safe, you two, and I’ll see you when you get back.”
With those final words, the Commander raised a hoof, and the Palarion was towed out to the appropriate takeoff zone.
“Ciedan Ground to Palarion, you are cleared to ascend to three kilometers, weather is clear. Contact Traffic Control when at altitude.”
“Roger that, Ground. Ascending to three kilometers.” I clicked the radio off, and listened to the engines lift the eleven-hundred-ton craft into the air. I kept an eye on the radar to make sure we didn’t accidently take out an unsuspecting Eagle or Viper.
However, our ascent went without an incursion, and once we hit three thousand meters, I hailed Traffic Control.
“Ciedan Traffic Control, this is the HMS Palarion, request permission to engage hyperdrive.”
“Permission denied, Palarion. Be aware of several unidentified vessels headed your way.” The radio crackled a small amount before the message continued.
“Also, if I were you two, I’d high-tail it out of there, it looks like you’ve got a few pirates locked onto you. We’ll try and hit them with the ground-to-air, but you’re just outside their range. Oh, and before I forget, feel free to fire your weapons if you see fit.”
“Roger that tower, thanks for the warning.” Not sure why the sudden drop of formalities, but that's not the most important matter at hoof.
I shifted more power to the weapons, and pitched down to face the supposed pirates. Surprisingly, they slowed down and stopped about a hundred meters from the nose of my ship. Then, one of the Vultures hailed me over the radio.
"Attention to the crew of the HMS Palarion, submit your ship to us immediately and no harm will come to you."
Luyten nearly died laughing, "The best part about that is most Cutters aren't armed to the gills, but ours is."
“Listen, I don’t know who you are, but you’re getting closer and closer to being wiped off everypony’s radar every second that you’re within five kilometers of this city.”
Laughter answered my threat, maybe they thought it was open-ended?
“Do you think we’re idiots?! What’re you going to do? Ram us? I don’t see a single…a single…hard…point…” The radio clicked off. I guess they figured I was just a harmless little Cutter.
Oh well, can’t say I didn’t warn them.
“Hey, Luyten, should we fire some warning shots?” The alabaster mare nodded vigorously in agreement.
Laughing to myself, I fired a quick burst of all four beam lasers, and then nearly lost my breath at how fast their shields and hull went down.
“Holy shit, I did not expect that.” I said, still staring at the almost totally destroyed Vulture limping away. Luyten had a similar expression on her face.
I very carefully retracted my hardpoints and hailed the tower.
“Uh, Ciedan Tower, this is the Palarion. Requesting permission to engage drives.”
“Permission granted, Palarion, FSD departure is clear. Safe travels.”
Finally, a chance to get away from my home of twenty years. Granted, I’d never done this before and I was somewhat worried I would mess it up.
So, select a destination? Check. Lock the destination? Check. Engage FSD? Sure.
A display showing the FSD charging began slowly filling and when it was done, a countdown began.
“Four, three, two, one…engage.” The ship’s AI read out.
Most ponies don't have a way to describe hyperspace. To us, it was as if the space around the Palarion wa sa tunnel of lights and stars. To others, it was a less pleasant experience. “Witch-space”, some called it, and for good reason, the ship creaked and groaned like it was alive.
And just as it began, that starry tunnel turned into an orange star filling the canopy, nearly blinding me as my eyes adjusted to the sudden light. That what really the one problem with Frame Shift Drives, they just set you down smack in front of the stellar body with the highest mass, which resulted in a lot of jump scares if you weren’t ready for it.
Being in deep space is a sensation like no other: everything is silent except the gentle clicks and whirrs of the ship’s vital functions. If you were especially daring, you could power off all non-essential modules (save life support, of course) and watch ice form in and around your ship. My breath started to fog in front of me whenever I took a breath.
I was a strange changeling, and could sit like this for hours and just be lulled into a trance listening to the ship creak and groan. Unfortunately, my co-pilot wasn’t so strange.
“Venture! Turn the ship back on or I swear I will take you back home!” whined the storm-grey mare to my left, her teeth chattering. I gave a heavy sigh and complied with Her Highness’s request—it wouldn’t do to have a mare in a bad mood in a confined space with me for another sixteen jumps.
Two-hundred and seventy-two light years later, we arrived at the little-visited system of Gamma Coronae Austrinae. I checked the navigation panel for some stations to land at.
“Alrighty, Luyten, which sounds the best: Shuttleworth Hub...or Shuttleworth Hub?”
“I suppose Shuttleworth Hub will have to do.” she replied with a small laugh.
I grinned. “Great choice, considering it’s the only station we can land at!”
Her reply was lost in the fwoosh BANG of entering normal space from supercruise.
“Gutamaya Victor Echo November, request docking before entering this secure facility. Keep in mind, weapon fire restrictions are in place around this starport.” The flight controller said at me.
“Acknowledged, docking requested, four thousand meters from touchdown.” I replied. No response graced my ears.
“I hate the Federation.” I grumbled as I piloted my two-hundred-meter ship towards the dimly lit landing pad. “So fucking entitled…not even bothering to reply…” The Palarion touched down with barely a whisper on the rather unkempt landing pad.
”Ship lockdown confirmed, enjoy your visit to this Federal starport.”
“So why did we stop here? We didn’t really need to…” came the voice of reason.
“In all honesty, to waste their time.” I replied, inputting the command to launch the ship.
I should mention that instead of having two entrances, most starports only had one, so you the landing pad cycled you around so that you’d face the right direction to leave, preferably under the horrendously slow speed limit of a measly one hundred meters per second.
Taking its sweet old time, the landing/launch pad dropped down a few meters, flipped us around, and then popped back up and released the couplers. Almost immediately, I slammed the throttles to their stops and hit the boost, causing the flight controllers to whine incessantly about how I’d get fined if I caused damage to someone. I told them to loosen up and live a little.
I didn’t stick around to see how’d they react to that.
“So Luyten! Where to next?” I asked my faithful co-pilot. The mare in question shrugged.
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never been out of Capricorni.” I groaned, and selected the galaxy map function on the ship’s computer.
A holographic interface popped into existence and I searched for Empire-aligned systems near us. The closest few that seemed worthwhile to visit were: Vaka, Kappa Fornacis, and Lamba-2 Phoenicis. In all honesty, we could go to all three, but I just didn’t feel like jumping around all day.
Luyten chimed in that there was a really good noodle shop in Lambda-2.
I didn’t ask how she knew that.
As it turns out, the noodle shop was very good. And as I was enjoying my first hot meal in a few days, I just happened to glance out the window towards my ship, and couldn’t believe my eyes—there were four or five teenagers attempting to graffiti the Palarion. It was almost funny, the way they couldn’t quite reach the underbelly, as it was about five meters above them, but after a few minutes of watching them fail miserably, I decided to do something about it. I changed into one of the Imperial Navy uniforms that had a stylized eagle superimposed over three bars, signifying the rank of Commander.
“…can’t believe someone took our fucking landing pad!” one of the teens complained as Luyten and I trotted over.
“I wasn’t aware you could own public property” I said, injecting the slightest bit of ice into my voice. The group of miscreants was taken aback. One of them must have been particularly stupid, because he followed up with this:
“It’s not like it’s your ship, or anything. Changelings aren’t allowed to get pilot’s licenses.” He chuckled.
His friends’ quiet whispering turned into a very tangible silence.
“Maybe here they aren’t. but where I come from, anyone can do anything.” I retorted, signaling for the main cabin door to unlock. Luyten and I walked up the main stairs on the front landing strut, leaving the ignorant teens to either vaporize in the ion exhaust of the thrusters, or get some common sense and leave the pad. As the grey-brown dust cleared from the pad, there were no burnt corpses in our wake, so I assumed the group left in time.
A few hours after we left the strange ponies of Lambda-2 Phoenicis, I decided I wanted to go to Achenar. Seeing as it was only two jumps from Lambda-2, it seemed like a great idea at the time.
Luyten was particularly happy about this.
“Do you think we can see the Princess?” she asked for the fourth time in five minutes.
I sighed for the fifth time in five minutes.
“Yes, Luyten, I think we’ll be able to see the Princess.”
In case you forgot your history lectures from secondary school, the galaxy was split into three main superpowers: The Solar Federation, Lunar Empire, and the Alliance of Neutral Citizens. While the Alliance generally stayed out of most conflicts, the Federation and Empire have had more cold wars than either party would care to admit. Somehow, though, each head of state remained diplomatically friendly with the other. Some skeptics believed war was on the horizon, others denied it outright. Either way, tensions were rising between minor factions, as seen in Lambda-2, and I’ve even heard rumors of Majestic-class Interdictors being deployed to high-population systems to keep Federation terrorist cells at bay.
I figured being in the heart of Imperial space, and flying a ship only obtainable if you had more money than sense, and connections to the right people, we wouldn’t get bothered by the local police.
How wrong I was.
“There it is! The capital of the Royal Lunar Empire: Capitol!” I proclaimed in a grandiose voice, standing up on my hind legs to add to the effect.
I was suddenly thrown into the canopy when the INV Retribution decided to interdict us. Luyten, fulfilling her job as copilot, throttled down to zero and submitted to the annoying process of being interdicted.
Two fwoosh BANGs echoed around the cockpit as the Retribution dropped into normal space behind us. I peeled myself off the canopy and slumped down in my seat while I waited for the police vessel to scan us.
The scan finished, and shortly afterwards, the ship’s mainframe displayed a message:
“Something tells me this isn’t a routine patrol stop…” I said, accepting the voice communications link.
Rough static filled the cockpit before resolving into a quiet hiss in the background.
“Greetings, Fleet Admiral Dawn! Welcome back to Achenar, enjoy your visit!” called a smooth voice from the [ i]Retribution. “Chief Warrant Officer Warren, at your service!”
And with that, he jumped out.
“Did I hear that right?” asked Luyten. “Fleet Admiral Dawn?”
I just sat there with my mouth hanging open, thinking about all the ships I could fly now. With my mind MIA, Luyten took the controls and pointed us in the right direction to Capitol, and from there, we would land at one of the Imperial Palaces.
One of the most signature things about the Imperial Cutter is the color of the flames that form when the ship begins an atmospheric descent: the flames are an intense aqua that fades to a pale green, which then transitions to a pale blue at the stern. It’s a sight to see, and I’ll bet most ponies on the ground will be pointing up at us and exclaiming loudly. At the same time, the upper crust citizens will be clamoring over each other to get to the landing pad reserved for us, to see if they can gain our favor.
About fifty miles above all the commotion, the Palarion’s cockpit was filled with a cacophony of sounds and lights--most of which were alarms, the select few noises that weren’t alarms were that of Luyten yelling statuses in my ear.
“Internal heat at ninety-seven percent and rising! Deploying heat sink.” The grey mare took care of the secondary systems extremely well considering the current situation.
“Main shields at sixty-four percent but dropping fast, capacitor is charging with forty-six point five megaJoules remaining, reserves at thirty-eight percent. We should make it.”
Meanwhile on the other side of the cockpit, I was wiping sweat off my brow and practically wrestling the yoke to keep the Palarion on the correct course. As our altitude above the surface reached twenty miles, I began to flatten out our fiery descent into a more gentle glide of about seven degrees below horizontal.
“Internal heat at one-ninety-six and dropping fast, shields at five percent and holding, reserves and capacitor are charging.” reported Luyten. I began slowing from our hypersonic cruise of five kilometers a second to a more manageable speed of eight hundred meters per second when we were within radio range of the Imperial Palace.
“Welcome to Imperial airspace, Palarion, you’ve been given access to pad alpha one, enjoy your visit!”
Ah, the famed hospitality of the Empire. It was good to be back in friendly territory.
“Roger that, Tower, vectoring for approach now. Good day.” I replied on the radio. It was probably too textbook for them, but whatever.
In the bright midsummer sun, the pearlescent paint on the Palarion shone like, well, a pearl. The blue-green glass that constituted the observation portions of decks two through seven was always a piece of eye candy as well. The ethereal flames that marked our dramatic entrance had taken its toll on the ship: most of the bottom was charred to a grey-black, and we were leaving smoky contrails in our wake.
Finally, with a tired hiss and whump, the INV Palarion settled into a state of well-deserved rest. The landing stairs deployed shortly after the ship’s main systems were offline and in stasis. As Luyten and I walked down the stairs, we could both smell the melting paint dripping off the ship and the acrid tang of hydraulic fluid from the overworked ailerons.
The bright blue sky framed with a few wispy clouds caused me to squint my eyes until they were nearly shut until I produced my sunglasses from one of the many pockets in my flight suit. Luyten somehow had better eyes than I did and apparently didn’t need sunglasses.
Lucky.
After the initial few moments of being outside the ship, the sound of a clearing throat broke Luyten and I from our own musings.
“Welcome to Achenar 6D, affectionately known as Capitol!” announced the pony who cleared their throat in a rather showy fashion.
“Listen, we’re just here for a couple hours, to see the sights and whatnot, you lot can go back to whatever you were doing before we landed.” I sighed. Looking dejected, the crowd of a few dozen ponies slowly plodded off in search of easier prey.
I pointed towards the Imperial Palace. “You ready to see the Princess?” As soon as the word “Princess” left my mouth, any trace of fatigue and tiredness left Luyten’s face and she began almost dragging me behind her towards the elaborate structure before us.
The Palace was a marvel of technology and engineering, with no expenses spared. It acted as an elevator to the starport locked in geosynchronous around Capitol, and had countless private docking bays for personal shuttles, and smaller vessels. It was made of the finest materials the galaxy could offer at the time: polycarbonate glass, mana-infused titanium, and pearlescent stone. In short, it was really fucking impressive.
We were lucky to be able to find the throne room in time for a session of court, a tradition that hadn’t changed in over three millennia. Thankfully, the enormous room was mostly empty, only two dozen ponies were queued for an audience, of which we were the last two. There vices and criticisms ranged from fuel prices (which was somewhat absurd...just buy a fuel scoop and fly to the nearest main sequence star), to a traffic ticket, to a complaint about an Imperial ship breaking the noise ordinance a few minute ago.
Wait a second…
I tuned into the conversation.
“...the Cutter was going at least a kilometer a second when they entered restricted airspace, Your Majesty! They need to be fined, and ticketed!” complained the whiny noble directly ahead of us.
Princess Luna, ruler of over twenty million cubic lightyears of populated space, five-hundred-and-thirty-seven systems, and multiple trillions of souls, shrugged.
The Princess shrugged.
“If the party in question is flying one of my private charters, a fine is nothing to them, neither is a mere ticket. It is simply not worth it to pursue this. I will personally berate them for treating my Palarion as they did, I feel that will be punishment enough. Farewell.”
To say that I was suddenly nervous was an understatement.
“What brings you to my court, dear subjects?” asked Luna, with a kind smile.
“I’ve always wanted to meet you, Your Majesty!” Luyten squeaked out with a grin on her face. The Princess’s smile grew wider and she and Luyten began to chat about something, I wasn’t sure… I was too busy trying to figure out how to not smell like smoke and burnt plastic. There had to be a spell somewhere in my head!
“Where did you two come from, neither of you look or sound native to Achenar.” asked Her Majesty.
“Luyten and I are both from 5 G. Capricorni, we recently...acquired a ship and were visiting some systems on the way to Achenar.” I said, choosing my words carefully, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Luna’s wrath for her ship.
Apparently I gave a hint away because the Lunar Princess’s eyes narrowed a slight amount, and she sniffed at the air...or that could’ve been my imagination. Luna got up from her ceremonial throne and strode over to one of the windows overlooking the shipyard. Luyten and I followed her to the window, and then matched her gaze.
She was looking directly at the Palarion, with its charred underbelly, smoking wingtips, and wonky paintwork.
Fuck.
“Say, travellers, would you have happened to acquire an Imperial Cutter, by chance?”
“Er...yes, Your Majesty…” Luyten said.
“And would you have happened to fly it at hypersonic speeds, at levels which even the most skilled pilots would have turned away, over residential areas surrounding the Palace?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” I answered, accepting my fate of being stuck on some moon tens of thousands of light years away.
“In that case, I must thank you for your service to the Crown!” She replied happily, much to our surprise.
Seeing our expressions, she elaborated.
“It was high time someone shook up the nest around here, I was getting bored with fuel prices and traffic tickets! Come, follow me.”
With Luyten and I in tow, Princess Luna headed towards the Palarion with a notable bounce in her step. We passed countless tapestries, stained glass windows, and statues to commemorate fallen heros and lost warriors. After a few minutes of this, we left the bright, high-ceilinged halls and entered the shipyard.
“You see, I had the Palarion commissioned almost six hundred years ago when I was conquesting space out near Polaris, thus the name. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fly her for very long due to having to rule an empire.” Luna’s grew wistful as she went up the boarding stairs and into the cockpit.
“A thousand years ago, this ship would’ve been a force to be reckoned with. With just one of these with the right equipment, you could destroy an entire system and be back in time for lunch…” A mischievous smile began to form on her lips.
The Princess teleported out of the cockpit with a fluhPOP and flash of light. A moment later, with similar pomp, she winked back into existence.
“I’ve cleared my schedule for the night, what say you in having some fun?”
