The campaign in Gerat has ended but the troubles of the fleet have just begun as an ancient message sends it on a path deep into the desert.
warning: spoilers for HighFleet "There is a time to flee, and there is a time to fight. A wise leader knows when to make the right choice. But the strike cruisers are already here, Grand Duke, so your right of choice has been revoked."
The campaign in Gerat was over. Millions lay dead as the ash of the nuclear strikes spread over the sky. Khiva was secured but the future of the Romani Empire was almost lost in the process and now the only hope for the empire is an ancient message found on one of the pillars of the control room of Khiva's reactor.
The fleet takes to sky once more as the days start becoming colder, fighting against time to find a device rumored to be capable of stopping the effects of nuclear winter or at the very least, find a place where the people can escape to.
May God have mercy on them because no one else will.
A crossover with Highfleet. some knowledge might be required(mostly on what the ships look like) but I'll clear most of the things in the story, hopefully
BY THE GRACE OF GOD WE, KERIM SHAH II, EMPEROR OF THE ROMANI, MONARCH OF SIHEM, GERAT AND HORAN.
Order the TARKHAN OF THE FLEET Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky to proceed with the search for the Project 'Salvation'. He has been given command over the imperial cruiser Sevastopol and may use the fleet he has amassed during the campaign for the liberation of Gerat at his sole discretion.
May God grant him the wisdom to use the power with which he has been entrusted for the good of the Empire.
Issued in the city of Ur, on the 2nd month of the year 215 of the Dynasty.
Written by His Imperial Majesty's own hand: Kerim Shah II
The great desert of Gerat.
A land doomed to bear the burden of war, whether it be with itself or with foreigners. A land locked in a perpetual cycle of violence and barbarism.
A land that was now dying.
The nuclear attacks conducted by the Gathering had destroyed many cities and left hundreds of thousands dead while kicking up ash and dust that blotted out the sky. The sun hadn't risen in weeks. Everyday, it was getting colder. The refugees flooding in from the south only worsened the situation the newly liberated land was facing.
The only hope the lands had for survival was the mysterious project 'Salvation'. It was discovered when the Grand Duke had translated the writing on the central column in Khiva's reactor control room and found out it was instructions to enter a code to enter into one of the ancient computer terminals in the facility.
The code was entered into one of the ancient terminals that seemed to have broken a long time ago. At first, it didn't work, leading everyone to believe that it was just another one of the old world's machines that had lost it mind to the Great Catastrophe. To everyone's surprise, the computer switched on a moment later and gave them a single document.
A single document with priceless information.
According to the it, there was a device, code-named project Salvation, hidden away in a bunker somewhere in the desert, far northeast of Gerat. The date that was on the document made it clear that it was ancient, dating back to the time of the Great Catastrophe. The document hinted that it was a device made to undo the effects of the Catastrophe but never got used.
Perhaps it could be the empire's salvation from the nuclear winter that was now threatening to end it.
And so, on the 1st day of the 3rd month of the 215th year of the Dynasty, the fleet took to the skies once more, with one goal: finding salvation.
The sand stretched from horizon to horizon, like an endless sea, just like the one of the stars above. The only sound was the howling of the wind as it passed through the occasional rock formation or the rare empty ruin. It was like a world of its own, cut off from the misery and pain that Elaat was full of.
The sky was clear which allowed the second moon, Chandra, which was full on this night, to illuminate the great desert in its silvery light. There was no other source of light other than the stars and the moon as far as the eye could see.
Then that changed.
In the distance, at the edge of the horizon, a new light could be seen. A normal man would tell you that its just another star but a wise trader, one who has travelled a lot, would tell you that it is no star. The light continued moving across the sky at a steady pace.
High up in the sky, closer to the clouds than the ground, was the source of the light.
The imperial cruiser Sevastopol and the fleet that it was the flagship of.
The roar of the fleet's engines disturbed the calm and quiet of the landscape, with the searchlights of the ships shining brighter than any of the stars above as they swivelled around in a search for anything new on the ground.
On the bridge of the Sevastopol was the tarkhan of the fleet, Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky, sole heir to the throne of the Romani empire, liberator of Gerat, brilliant tactician, and, according to some people, a prophet.
He observed the sky through the viewing port, amazed by how truly beautiful it was. In the capital of the Empire, Salem, where he grew up, the stars never shined because of smoke from the factories and light from the city. Only the Star of the East, Al-Jharmi was visible in the night sky. In Gerat too, the sky was polluted but not to such an extent, allowing him to see more stars. Alas, he was too busy with the campaign to ever notice the sky and after the ashes from the nuclear strikes on Salem had blotted out the sun, he could not see the stars nor the sun, for weeks.
But here, out in the unsettled desert, far away from any city or civilisation, far away from any conflict or war, he could witness the night sky in all its glory.
He was broken out of his trance by the sound of an alarm going off followed by the sounds of the bridge's day crew getting up and moving. He was a little spooked but reminded himself that it was just the current crew being rotated by the night crew and not a missile coming towards them.
He sighed as he watched the next shift enter the bridge and take their place with little chatter. Sleep had not been coming to him easily for the past few nights. There was an irrational feeling of dread within him, telling him that something would go wrong. He had tried telling himself that it was just anxiety he had got from the campaign but the feeling wouldn't leave him.
He got up from his seat, deciding that he'll take a short walk around the ship, maybe to stretch his legs or to get rid of that feeling. He got down from the elevated platform that the captain's seat was placed on and walked towards the exit, passing by the operators who were monitoring the radar, radio and ELINT. They paid little attention to him as they continued doing their duty. Mark, too, didn't bother them and continued on his way.
He exited the bridge into a thin hall, turned left and started walking. He passed by the crew quarters, not bothering to enter as he didn't want to interrupt the previous shift of crew who were having dinner, judging by the sounds that came from the other side of the door.
He was heading to the new fuel section that had replaced the two missile silos, to see if they were functioning properly. Of course he didn't need to go there physically since any problems with them would be reported to him on the bridge but he still wanted to do so as the replacement had happened hastily as they had to leave quickly.
Finally, he reached the section. He opened a door and entered a medium sized room that filled with screens and consoles that showed the condition of the fuel tanks that were beyond another door, opposite to the one he had entered from. In the room two men and a woman were present, monitoring the screens. They had stood up and saluted him when he had walked in and then resumed doing their jobs, except for one of the men who approached the duke.
"Sir, is there anything that you need?", he asked Mark.
Mark shook his head and replied, "No, I had come to check if the tanks were working fine."
"Well sir, the tanks are working just fine. I understand if you have some doubts since the modifications were done so hastily. We will inform the bridge if anything go wrong though.", he replied, causing the duke's feeling of dread to subside a bit.
'Maybe nothing will go wrong.', Mark thought to him self with a smile.
"Okay then, you may carry on with your duties.", Mark responded. The crew member saluted and returned to his seat. The duke stayed there for a moment, thinking about where he might go next. After deciding that he'll go to talk to Pyotr, he turned and left through the door he came.
He was once again in the hall, though this time there was more activity than before. The maintenance staff were doing their usual rounds of checking the ship's systems for damage or malfunction. They were going to stop their tasks and acknowledge his presence with salutes but the duke raised a hand, giving them the message to continue with their work. They understood and continued their work as Mark continued his walk.
He knew that Pyotr would be somewhere on the radio tower, probably taking in the view. He started walking back the way he came since the tower's entrance was on the same path. As he came upon the entrance, a crew member ran up to him, looking worried.
"Sir, your presence is requested on the bridge. General Pyotr and Admiral Daud are there as well.", he informed Mark after doing a quick salute.
"What is it?", Mark asked as they started making their way to the bridge.
"A message came from the hidden city we were going to stop at. It isn't good.", he informed as he kept up with Mark.
His feeling had been correct. Something had gone wrong.
He entered the bridge, where an old man and a middle aged man, both in officer's uniforms were waiting for him . They were General Pytor Ignatyevitch Shahin and Admiral Daud Sharif Rahmatovich. He could tell by their grim expressions that whatever it was, it was bad.
"General Pyotr, Admiral Daud.", he said, "What is the situation?"
"Grand Duke, we have received a transmission from the hidden city.", Pyotr started, "It was coded, which was strange, but after decoding it, we found out why it had been."
"The city had been attacked by a remnant of the Gathering's forces.", Daud said getting to the point immediately, "There was no other information in the message and we haven't received any other messages."
This was bad. Mark thought that the Gathering had been eliminated when the Romani fleets and armies had entered Gerat to liberate the last of the cities which were not captured by him.
"How far away from the city are we and how powerful was the Gathering's fleet?", Mark asked.
"We are around two thousand kilometers away from the city and it will take us a day to reach there. About the strength of the Gathering's fleet... we can only guess. From the intel that Alsahir had given us, the city had plenty of defenses with the city being built into a mountain and having some high caliber cannons and a few ships but had very few people to actually man them. I'm not sure but I think that the fleet might have been a weaker strike group or maybe a garrison fleet that escaped us.", Pyotr answered grimly.
A fleet, out here in the desert. It raised many questions for Mark but those could be answered once they reached the city. Right now, they needed a plan.
"What are our options to deal with this situation?", Mark asked the other two for their opinions.
"I think that we should send captain Ibrahim with his Lightning and the Skylark to scout ahead of us. It will allow us to plan our actions if there is a strike group and it is still there. If it isn't a strike group then Ibrahim will be able to free the city from the enemy after which they can land and find out what has happened. That is if the enemy is still in the city.", Pyotr suggested.
"But where would the fleet go? The city is the farthest city in Elaat. There is nowhere to go from there except back to Gerat! I say that we attack them with all the ships we have instead of endangering two small ships for nothing. They cannot call anyone for help and the odds would be in our favor.", Daud suggested.
Mark now had a choice to make. He could go with Pyotr's plan, potentially saving the people from the Gathering's men but also putting his best captain in danger of being obliterated by a fleet that could potentially be a strike group. Or he could go with Daud's plan of hitting them with all they had. No one would be endangered too greatly but the enemy fleet's strategy and strength would be unknown. Or he could make his own strategy to deal with this.
"We'll send Captain Ibrahim with his Lightning and the Skylark to scout ahead of us and gather whatever intel they can but with orders to stay undetected and wait for the main fleet to catch up with them. The Skylark's ELINT sensors will help us gauge the enemy's strength and prepare accordingly.", Mark said, deciding to use a strategy he made using the suggestions of both the men.
They seemed satisfied but Daud seemed a bit unhappy with the needless endangerment of the ships and the captain.
"But there is still the question of why the enemy is there. Just like Admiral Daud said, this city is the farthest in all of Elaat and the only place one can go from there is back to Gerat. There are no bases of the Gathering out in the desert either. And then there is the question of how they knew about the city's location. The locations of hidden cities are closely guarded secrets that only a few know of and even fewer people are told about.", Mark continued, voicing the questions he had.
The men stayed silent until Pyotr spoke up.
"They may have acquired the location by using spies. As for the reason why they are there... I fear that our operation's details may have been leaked to them.", Pyotr said, giving a potential answer.
"Are you saying that the Gathering, on the brink of defeat, somehow managed to get intel on a top secret operation?", Daud asked Pyotr.
"I am. It is no secret that the empire is not liked by many people and I think that a traitor may have been behind the leak.", the general explained, "The information might have been acquired by a fleet that had retreated into the desert. Maybe they are trying to stop us, defiant to the end or maybe something else or maybe they are simply trying to escape from Gerat by going into uncharted territories. We can only guess."
"But right now, we have to prepare for a fight."
Meanwhile, somewhere far, far northeast of the hidden city at the edge of Elaat, was a kingdom at the edge of its own world. While it would be more appropriate to call it a city state due to it only spanning a single city, the sheer size of the city allowed it to be called a kingdom. It was a giant tower housing millions of inhabitants within it, with several smaller defensive towers surrounding it, to the main city from dangers, of the desert surrounding it, and to a smaller extent, foreign invaders.
On top of one of the smaller defensive tower, was an observation post manned by two soldiers, both in armor and wielding short swords.
"Ugh, this is boring.", one of them complained as she leaned on the railing of the platform, looking out at the empty desert illuminated by the light of Luna's moon.
"I know but it is important that someone does this job.", the other soldier replied while observing the ground and the skies for danger through a big telescope that was built on the platform. It looked old and somewhat in need of repair but despite that, it did its job of helping the defenders spot enemies from afar, even in the night with some limited night vision capabilities.
"I know that it is important, Max, but I wish we had something else to do other than wait for something to happen.", she replied.
The soldier manning the telescope pulled his head back from the eyepiece and sighed as he looked up at the sky. He wasn't tired or as bored as his comrade but was still unhappy. He had not been given any love rations today, just like the past few days. He could feel the hunger for love grow inside of him but he was able to suppress it. Unfortunately, the side effects of going so long without love rations were starting to become more noticeable: he had started facing difficulty in flying and using magic, as well as feeling more and more lethargic the past few days. It wasn't too bad but he hoped that the shipment of love from Equestria would not get delayed further.
"Huh. Did that one just move?", he heard her comrade say.
"Did what just move?", he asked as he made his way to the edge of the platform next to her.
"Uh, one of the stars? I think it moved. Somewhere over there.", she said as she pointed to the horizon where she saw it. He squinted his eyes to see what she had seen, knowing that she could not have just imagined something. For a few minutes, they both tried finding the anomaly but as time passed, he started considering the possibility that maybe she had imagined it.
Then he saw it too.
"See! You saw it right?", she said but he had already made his way back to the telescope and was already adjusting it to get a better look at the light. It took a few moments but he was able to find the moving light again and with the help of the telescope, he could make out that it was artificial in nature.
"What is it?", he heard her ask from next to him.
"I don't know but it is coming straight for us. Go and alert the commander.", he replied quickly. Whatever it was, it was something new as nothing had ever come from the southwestern wastes before.
He could feel a feeling of dread grow in him as he continued observing the strange light. He could only hope that nothing bad would happen.
Captain Ibrahim sat in the captain's seat on the bridge of his Lightning, feeling restless and unhappy. He had been ordered by the Grand Duke to take his ship and the Skylark to gather intel from outside visual detection range and wait for the main fleet to catch up with them to commence an attack on the enemy. While it was a reasonable plan, he was still unhappy because he had been basically ordered to sit around and do nothing
And the worst part was that they had not picked up any ELINT signature, meaning that the enemy was not a strike group. He knew that he would be able to take on whatever ships there were easily, after all, they were the best fighters in all of Gerat! His crew shared a similar unhappiness with the situation. They were all eager for a fight. It was a chance to wipe the Gathering from the face of Elaat once and for all, but in the end, they had to wait for the Grand Duke to arrive with the fleet.
He had sent a message to the Grand Duke some time back, requesting permission to engage and was still waiting for a reply.
"Captain, it's Captain Agarwal on the radio. They said that they received new orders from the fleet.", the radio operator said suddenly, breaking the silence of the bridge, as he received a transmission from the Skylark.
'Finally!', he thought to himself as a smile formed on his face.
"We've been ordered to enter visual range and if possible, destroy the enemy.", the operator continued.
"What are we waiting for then? Start the engines and get us in the air!", he ordered, eager for the fight that was going to come.
Meanwhile in a magnificent castle on top of a mountain that pierced the sky, a princess went about her morning as usual, holding court and making decisions. She wished that she wasn't here and somewhere else, preferably with a pastry to accompany her. In front of her, a noble was giving a speech about how the value of properties in the city were being reduced by the ongoing expansion of the city and how it was bad and must be stopped, lest his mansions become less valuable than they were. The other nobles present were clearly in support of him.
The princess, of course, would not do anything to stop the expansion. The city was starting to get overcrowded with influx of immigrants and the expansion was the only solution available. The only reasonable one, as she remembered how another noble had proposed removing all non-pony beings from the city to make space for the growing population.
She thought that it was silly, that these grown ponies, who had had access to the best education Equestria has to offer, were coming in here to, in her sister's words, give asinine ideas and waste precious time. She agreed with her sister on the fact that the nobility had degraded a lot. She, however, didn't believe in her sister's radical plan to fix the system. There would be too much change at once and Equestria might not be able to handle it properly. She knew that her slow, well thought-out plans were better than any radical, reactionary response. However, she still had this meeting to get through.
"Princess Celestia!", a voice called out suddenly as the doors to the throne room opened. The nobles were clearly unhappy that their important meeting had been disrupted. Celestia, however, was happy that she had a potential escape from the meeting.
A pegasus guard quickly made his way to the throne. Whatever it was must have been important as the guard didn't hesitate to push a noble out of his way.
"Princess! There have been sightings of unknown flying metal behemoths heading straight for Canterlot!"
"What?"
Captain Ibrahim watched silently as the ship carefully landed in the docks that had been carved into the mountains. There had been no enemy waiting for them and all they had spotted was the two burning metal piles that used to be ships close by. It was probably the defenders' ships. The docks were also somewhat damaged, probably because the fight took place somewhere above it, but it didn't matter much for the small ships.
He would have to send a message informing the fleet of the damage since none of the bigger ships would be able to land safely in the docks or on the surrounding mountainous terrain.
"Touchdown confirmed. Good work everyone.", he heard the helmsman say as the ship rocked a bit, indicating that it had landed safely without damaging anything.
"Skylark is landing now.", the radio operator informed. The captain turned his head to watch the Skylark descending from the viewport.
'Too fast.', he thought as he watched the Skylark touch down a bit harder than what was safe. Captain Agarwal clearly wasn't very good at her job, being a rather unexperienced mercenary captain who had been hired only because it would take too long for a Skylark to be dispatched from the main fleet of the Romani.
"Skylark has reported damages to the landing gear, should be fixed in half an hour.", the radio operator said. Captain Ibrahim shook his head at the incompetency of the captain. The damage would have been acceptable if it were a larger ship like a Kormoran or even a Gladiator but managing to damage the landing gear while landing a ship such as the Skylark was purely an issue with the captain's skill.
"Send a message to the fleet that there aren't any Gathering ships in the city and that the landing docks are damaged and they may not be able to land the bigger ships.", he ordered, "And order the Skylark to deploy soldiers to secure the perimeter."
The orders were quickly carried out. Captain Ibrahim in the meantime, had made his way to his personal quarters to retrieve his mask. The Elaim's faces could not bear the open air for long. No one knew why it was so but it was theorized that an unknown particle in the air was the cause. What they did know was how to avoid the air and so, the Elaim wore special masks unless in a room where the air was filtered. Most wore simple gas masks while a few wore the traditional ceramic masks which signified noble ancestry.
The air in the lightning was filtered allowing him and his mostly Elaim crew to work without the masks. They wore their masks, that were issued to all Elaim soldiers in service of the empire, during combat or while going outside.
He stepped into the room. It was only a bit bigger than the rooms used by the crew. It had a bed, a desk and a chair. There wasn't much in terms of decoration either, with only a small golden elephant statue on the desk along with some documents. There was also a grey, featureless mask on the desk. He picked it up and put it on. He had a second, more personal mask in one of the drawers but he didn't like it much. The one he was wearing was much more durable and reliable than the traditional ceramic mask.
He exited the room and started making his way to the main ramp. His guards would be waiting there for him along with a transport that will take them to the city.
Within a few minutes, he had reached the ramp. Six guards were standing at attention, waiting for him at the bottom of the ramp along with an armored jeep. He was about to get in the front seat when a shot was fired somewhere close by.
He swiveled his head to the direction of the shot and saw that several soldiers were running to the edge of the docks, towards an approaching convoy of trucks and aiming their weapons. A few more shots could be heard.
"Driver, get us there quickly!", he shouted as he got in the jeep with his guards. The driver complied and quickly drove him to the site. The captain got off as soon as the jeep came to a halt.
He took a better look at the trucks when he got close to the group of soldiers who were firing the warning shots.
"Stop firing!", he shouted as he realized that the approaching trucks were not armed and bore the flag of the empire. The soldiers did as they were ordered and stopped firing. They watched as the trucks got closer and came to a stop about fifty meters from the edge of the docks. There was an uncomfortable silence as they watched a single man, one of the hidden people, get off the truck that was in the lead. The captain could tell by the colorful robe worn by the man, that he was someone important.
The man started walking towards them. The soldiers kept observing the man, ready to shoot him if he tries to attack. No attack came, however, and the man was allowed to pass by the soldiers.
"You must be one of the Grand Duke's men.", the robed man said as he approached Captain Ibrahim.
"Yes, I am. And you must be the doyen-", the captain tried replying but got cut off.
"The doyen is dead, somewhere in the rubble of our city. I am his grandson.", the man said, correcting the captain. "There is much I have to tell you but first I must ask you for aid. There are many injured people in the trucks and many more back at the remains of the city."
"We will render whatever help we can.", the captain said after a moment of thinking.
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."
Mark watched the sun slowly lowering from the Pollux Partisan's window. A civilian ship's bridge wasn't usually covered on all six sides, allowing windows to be installed. It was a fair trade off as radars weren't common on ships outside of military.
They were getting closer to the first location where ships were hidden. Vijay could be heard giving information to Captain Alexei about the area they were going to and how it would be impossible to find it if they didn't get there before sunset.
Another one of the Pollux, the Raven had come with them and was following close behind. The two had been refueled completely and dispatched immediately to retrieve the ships. The methane had been hidden in a rock formation near the docks, and could only be accessed using an entrance that looked like a crack. The camouflage was so good that it had taken a few minutes to find even with the help of the hidden people. The ships had been hidden in a similar manner, within a cave that was hard to distinguish from the many other caves that the landscape was saturated with.
"There, we have to land there.", Vijay said as he pointed to a cave that had a small flat area in front of it. However, it wasn't flat enough for the ships to land without damages and there wasn't enough space to land both ships.
"Okay then, take us down there and tell the Raven to find a location to land nearby. Only one ship can land here.", Captain Alexei ordered. The orders were quickly carried out and the Partisan had landed in front of the cave with some minor damage to the landing gear.
Two trucks full of men and two fuel trucks were offloaded from the ship's cargo hold as the ship itself was too big to enter. The plan was to refuel the ships in the cave enough so that they could fly out and be refueled easily. Once again, Mark and Vijay were in a jeep leading the others.
The cave was larger than one would have though it to be but it was clear that the cave was made larger artificially, evident by the occasional empty box or forgotten tool lying by a wall. The light of the jeep was not particularly strong but it was enough to lead them.
Soon enough they came across a large chamber and a ship.
"Turn on the spotlights!", Vijay ordered. Immediately, multiple lights were shined onto the previously unknown ship revealing it to be an unknown model that looked far too outdated and broken to be used.
"Keep looking around, there should be another two ships!", Vijay ordered.
Within a minute they had found the two ships. A Navarin and a Meteor Mk2. Both were old designs, older than even the empire but they were reliable fighters. However, on further inspection, the Navarin was found to be missing the two R5 Zenith missiles and two 1000 Kg bombs it was usually equipped with. The Meteor Mk2 had a similar issue, missing its 1000 Kg bomb.
Fortunately, they were still airworthy and with the approval of Mark, both ships were refueled while the third was scavenged for parts and other valuable things.
With the refueling done, they quickly boarded the ships and prepared to leave the cave.
'Its been a long time since I have piloted one of these.', Mark thought as he gripped the pilot controls of the Navarin. While the helmsman aboard was good, he had realized that he could not pilot the ship safely through the cave and so, Mark had decided to pilot the ship himself.
With a final check, both ships lifted off and started on their journey back outside while doing their best not to hit the cave's floor or ceiling.
Queen Chrysalis stood silently, watching from afar as the priest performed funeral rites for the soldiers who had been martyred about a day ago. Many other changelings were gathered there, mourning the loss of their loved ones.
They had been attacked a day ago.
They could have avoided the attack. If only she had just killed that lying Prince and taken over his strange ships when they had the chance. Instead she had chosen to let them go, thinking that they would have some honor, to not attack someone who had provided them a place to rest, even for a little bit of time.
"Your Highness," she heard a voice belonging to her assistant say, "I've come with the report on the damages the hive has taken."
She nodded and the assistant continued, "The southwestern and western defense towers has been deemed irreparable. Fires that had started in the western sections of the Hive have been put out and rescue efforts are underway..."
Chrysalis slowly tuned out the voice of her assistant as she remembered the Prince who had come to them, pretending to be a liberator of the people who was being hunted down by a tyrant. She had seen through his lie immediately, and refused to give them any aid despite how much he bargained. Finally, when she had enough, she informed him that he had a day's time to leave.
He had left angrily for his ship and she had thought that it was the end to that. They had been taken by surprise when the ships took off into the air only a few minutes after the Prince had left. They weren't quick enough to set up a defense against the barrage that had destroyed the two defense towers and part of the Hive.
Among those that died was her only son. She had paid for her mistake in the life of the last of her family and there was no way to describe how much she craved revenge.
"...and the people want to know what we'll do.", the assistant finished.
"We take revenge. The prince had said that he was being hunted down by the Grand Duke and helping him will be the only chance we have at getting revenge."
The sun had set but they hadn't yet reached their destination. The terrain below was getting less rocky and more flat. They were close to the second group of ships.
"They will be hidden in a ravine.", Vijay had said as he gave the approximate location of the ships. He had only ever went to the first location.
There were fewer stars visible tonight as Mark noted. Were the effects of the nuclear strikes manifesting here too or was it something else? He didn't know but hoped that it wasn't the former.
"We're here", Captain Alexei said as the ship stopped moving, "We can descend into the ravine directly and get the ships."
All four ships started their descent to the bottom of the ravine. When they reached the bottom, they immediately found a ship.
"A Hound. Order the Raven to begin with recovery of it. We'll keep looking for other ships.", Mark said.
After searching for a few minutes, they came across a large cave carved into the ravine's wall. Outside of it was yet another ship.
"That's a Jaguar. Recover it, it'll be useful.", Mark ordered. "And shine floodlights in the cave, I feel that there is another ship in there."
As ordered, the floodlights were directed at the cave and Mark's feeling that there was another ship was correct. There was a ship in the cave. A large carrier ship.
The night was spent making preparations for the journey after the new ships had been added to the fleet. There would be no stops after leaving the city and no return either. Things were being rushed, however, as they had received a transmission from Khiva, stating that conditions were deteriorating all over the empire as nuclear winter started setting in.
They would have only one try and they would have to make it count.
The ships were repaired but some sacrifices had to be made. The Longbow had its runway dismantled and its plane removed to be used to repair the planes and runway of the Novorossiysk. Crew was somewhat stretched thin as there were barely enough people to man all the ships and so, combat ships were given priority over the fuel ships. Finally, the Skylark had been relieved of its sensors and had been used along with the Longbow to evacuate the civilians.
Captain Ali and Captain Agarwal had been reassigned to the Novorossiysk and the Navarin respectively. With the final preparations finished, a meeting was called.
Mark looked around. Sitting at the table were all the captains, General Pyotr, Admiral Daud and the doyen Vijay.
"About two hours ago, we received a transmission from Khiva stating that conditions were deteriorating faster than anticipated. Keeping this in mind, we will have to leave earlier than planned. What is the current status of the fleet?", Mark said.
The first to answer was Captain Alexei. "All the fuel ships have been refueled completely and we're good to go."
"The repair on the Novorossiysk has been almost completed but we're still facing issues, mostly with the planes needing extra repairs. We'll need to dismantle a LA-29 and a T-7 for parts for the repairs. Other than that, there are leftover runway parts which can be used to expand the runway to accommodate more planes at a time. With your permission, we can continue with the modifications.", Captain Ali said next.
Mark thought about it for a moment before saying, "You may continue with the modifications and the repairs. It is better to have more functional planes in the air than in the cargo."
"Other than that, we also found a dozen 1000Kg bombs in the hold, meaning that we can arm the Navarin, the Meteor and maybe even other smaller ships.", Captain Ali continued. This was a welcome surprise as the bombs could quickly neutralize almost any threat.
"The cruiser is good to go," Admiral Daud said, referring to the Nomad, "but there is still the issue of the Meteor, The Jaguar and the Hound not having captains. We don't have any officers that can take the role."
"Seeing that I will be joining you, I can take control of the Hound.", the doyen spoke.
"You may. With your leadership skills, I have no doubt that the ship will be in good hands." Mark replied, giving the doyen captaincy of the Hound.
"But there is still the other two ships."
"I suppose I can be the captain of the Jaguar temporarily.", General Pyotr spoke up. "I might not have much skills in piloting a ship but I can command effectively. For the Meteor, we'll have to see if we can find an officer who can take control but till then they might have to go without a captain."
It was not something that they liked but they would have to deal with it. With the final preparations complete, they headed out into the open desert. The empire depended on them.
Mark sat in his seat, watching the sun rise slowly over them. They had been travelling for a day now without any incident. In the meantime, they had been preparing for a confrontation with the Gathering forces. The aircraft carrier's crew had been getting used to the ship while the volunteers from the city had been getting comfortable with their own ships.
All was not well, however. They had a major issue of not knowing where exactly they would find Project Salvation as they had only been given a general direction and distance from Khiva. It could take a lot of time to search for the site and time was not with them.
They had been out of the maximum communication range for about half a day and the things they had heard before losing contact were worrying. Conditions had been continuously deteriorating in the empire with areas near Salem and the great sea being evacuated. Sabotage had put the second nuclear power plant within the empire out of order, and now only one out of the three power plants in the empire was working and that was the Khiva plant. Fortunately, it could do the job of providing electricity to the land until the sabotaged reactor could be brought online.
Salem's reactor had been abandoned after the nuclear bombing and was leaking radiation into the atmosphere at an alarming rate. The cloud of nuclear ash was still growing and many cities in Southern Gerat were starting to feel the effects of it.
They had to be quick if they wanted to avoid disaster.
The crew was disheartened by the news of what was happening back home but were even more determined to get their job done.
The duke was pulled out of his musings when the radar operator spoke up.
"Mountain range ahead of us, four hundred kilometers. We' may have to increase altitude to cross it. Also some readings behind the mountains." the operator said.
"Launch a squadron of planes to scout ahead of us." Mark ordered. The radio operator nodded and sent a message to the carrier. The order was relayed to the carrier and soon enough, there was activity on the flight deck. Multiple crew members donned in high altitude suits were preparing a group of the drone aircrafts for launch. Five T-7 supersonic interceptors took off in a few minutes, their artificial minds given instructions to scout ahead and relay all data back to the fleet.
The aircrafts reached their supersonic speed quickly and were nearing the mountains quickly. They passed over the range, capturing images and videos that may be useful for the fleet and continued onwards to their next objective: investigating the additional readings.
In the distance, a great mountain could be seen by their cameras.
Queen Chrysalis watched the scene from a balcony close to the top of the central tower, the hive. Below her, a fleet of airships was forming. She could see various airships belong to her hive, other changeling hives, griffin mercenaries and clans that supported her or wanted to fight Equestria. In total, there were fifty airships ranging from smaller scout ships to a large dreadnought, the Caliph.
All were preparing for war against the Equestrians, who had allied themselves with the Gathering. The news that the celestial sisters had provided aid to the prince was shocking as Chrysalis did not expect them to fall for his lie easily but it had happened.
Her plan was simple. Launch an invasion into Equestria, hunt down the prince and come back home. The other hives and clans had different ambitions obviously and the mercenaries were there for the pay but Chrysalis didn't care much for that.
Right now, she was waiting for the Grand Duke's fleet to arrive. Till now, only ominous dark clouds had come with the wind. They were much higher than the clouds of ash that still came from the remnants of the towers that had been destroyed.
Suddenly, her hair stopped flowing in the wind and she looked up at the sky.
The wind had fallen.
She could see a trail of smoke high in the sky slowly coming towards them. A sound similar to a distant roar became clear and as time passed, louder. Below her, the soldiers who had gathered also noticed the change and were looking skyward.
Five metal birds came into view, flying in a diamond formation. They circled the towers three times and during that time, Chrysalis could feel eyes on her. After the third circle, they turned back to the direction and returned to where they came from.
The Grand Duke was coming.
It was afternoon but the temperature wasn't very high as it should be in the badlands. More dark clouds had drifted from the south and were blocking the sky.
All preparations had been made. The airships were combat ready and the soldiers ready for war. All were waiting for the arrival of the grand Duke's fleet and many were praying that they would come in peace. A low rumbling became audible as a trail of black smoke became visible over the distant mountain range.
Chrysalis was outside the hive with a spyglass, scanning the mountain range. What she would strike fear into anyone's heart. There were several ships and though she was far away, she could see that they were large and armoured.
A hour passed and the fleet was visible to the naked eye. There were a few smaller ships flying ahead of the main fleet, which was composed of large armoured ships that were like flying mountains. They were hovering in the air a kilometer away from them, probably making a decision about what to do.
Chrysalis gave an order, not able to wait longer.
"Send a scout ship to tell them to land!"
Aboard the Sevastopol's bridge, a heated discussion was taking place.
"They're unknowns! We can't land here and expect them to negotiate with us peacefully! How do we even know if they speak the same language as us?!" Admiral Daud said.
"You saw the images of the marks on the ground, the Gathering fleet had landed here earlier and left, probably after attacking them! We can get help or at least the direction in which they went if we talk!" General Pyotr argued.
Mark sat in his seat, looking out of the viewport and at the scene in front of the ship. There was a great tower surrounded by six smaller ones and what seemed to be the remains of another two. There was a fleet of airships at the base of the central tower which was a bit odd. Airships were used in ancient times to travel across the land, so long ago that only one airship was present in all of Elaat and that was in a museum in Salem.
Here, however, the locals seemed to not have progressed much technologically but besides that, there were some other anomalies.
In the photos taken by jets, there were no humans on the ground. Instead there were a multitude of four legged creatures, some of which were flying. First contact was something completely unexpected but Mark had reasons to believe it was to be done. The scorch marks on the ground paired with the prints of landing legs near the towers was enough evidence that the Gathering fleet had landed here and the remains of the two tower was evidence that they had fought with these unknown people.
They were potential allies who could help them in their fight and in navigating this unknown land.
"Sir, one of the smaller airships has detached from the main fleet and is heading towards us." one of the officers spoke up. The argument between Pyotr and Daud stopped as they both turned to look at a display which showed the airship in question approaching them.
"New contact on radar! North of us and speed of about a thousand kilometers per hour! Distance six hundred kilometers!" the radar operator spoke up before anyone else could say something.
A missile was coming for them.
"Scramble all T-7 interceptors! Send an order to Captain Ibrahim to detach from the fleet and move to intercept the missile!" Mark ordered immediately. As far as they knew, the missile was carrying a nuclear warhead and they had to act accordingly.
The jets took off quickly and the lightning was on its way to intercept the missile if the jets failed to take it down. There were about thirty minutes before the missile struck them and they had to make it count. From his own experience, Mark knew that it was almost impossible to stop nuclear missiles without the A100 missiles that they did not have. Only once he saw a nuclear missile stopped and that was because a mercenary captain flew his ship into the path and collided with it, destroying the ship and the missile.
The Grand Duke sat tensely in his seat, waiting for the drone aircrafts to relay information about the missile. Fortunately, he did not have to wait long for it.
"Missile confirmed nuclear. Unknown model similar to KH15 missile. Engaging now." an officer said, giving the information relayed from the squadron. "Lightning is on standby with proximity fuse shells ready."
A CRT monitor showed the footage of the drone planes approaching the missile from behind and firing at it with their auto cannons, concentrating at the rocket engine. Nuclear missiles were more armoured than their conventional equivalents and so their best option was to destroy the engine and fuel, which would hopefully damage the mechanisms that activated the warhead, neutralising it.
The missile was thoroughly damaged but still flying as the planes continued unloading their magazines into it but they could only do for so long. The missile was getting dangerously close now.
"Give the Lightning clearance to engage." Mark ordered. The radio operator conveyed the order to the aforementioned ship, which immediately moved to do so.
Down on the ground, Queen Chrysalis watched the movements with curiosity. Earlier, several small metal craft which had taken off northward and judging from the trails of smoke in the sky, were investigating something coming towards them. Now one of the larger ships had sped off to join them. There was only the sound of the ships for a few moments.
The smaller craft dispersed momentarily as several blue coloured projectile was shot from the small ship that had sped join them. A moment later, a sound similar to a several distant explosion reached her ears. The blue projectiles were exploding into clouds of some unknown material, right in the path of the mysterious thing coming in their direction.
Silence filled the air for a few seconds followed by the sound of a explosion, much more audible than the previous ones. It seemed that the mystery object had exploded on contact with the cloud. The small ship was already heading back for its fleet along with the smaller metal craft.
She turned to look at her own airship's progress and saw that it had reached the largest ship in the air. For a minute they stayed there, still in the air before the ships started descending.
They were landing.
Mark listened to the report from Captain Ali. The missile had been destroyed which had greatly removed the tension from the bridge, with a few cheers of victory but it had come at a cost. They had lost two of the eight T-7's they had in the explosion and the lightning had suffered damages as well. Above all, the part of the missile carrying the warhead had survived and fallen to the ground, meaning that it still had a chance to go off. They had to locate and disarm it.
Aside from that, it seemed that the airship had reached them. The crew in the observation posts closest to it had reported seeing bug-like four legged creatures manning it and presumably, gesturing them to land. The fact that they were able to understand their gestures was good as it meant that they wouldn't be as alien as they were assumed to be.
"Send a message to the Lightning that we are landing." Mark ordered. He turned to the monitor that showed the fleet of airships near the base of the great tower, thinking about how he will greet them. They were going to be the first Romani to establish contact with a new civilisation.
Whatever he was going to say, it had to be perfect.
Queen Chrysalis watched the fleet land and as she watched, she realised the true size of the ships. When the prince had come, she hadn't left the hive and instead had him come to her and was unable to witness the size of the ships herself.
Sand and rocks were kicked up by the rockets of the ships as they landed one by one. It was the smaller ones first followed by the larger ones. The ship carrying the small metal craft was the third from the last to land and did so gracefully, even though Chrysalis expected its legs to snap under its weight. The second last to land was slightly smaller but was heavily armoured and carried strange instruments on it, perhaps some kind of mobile command base.
The last to land was staggeringly gigantic- a veritable flying mountain. It was clear that this was the flagship of the fleet. The metallic emblem on the front end of the ship - a two headed eagle with three crowns, a sword in each claw and a shield on its chest depicting what was perhaps a landscape - looked down at her.
The armoured mountain landed, causing the ground to shake a bit and a large cloud of dust to be thrown up in the air.
It was clear from her expression that she was nervous. She was going to meet with the man who had almost single-handedly orchestrated an extremely successful campaign to conquer a land where he was always at a disadvantage. The heir to the throne of an empire that her hive could not compare to. A man whose people believed him to be a prophet who would usher in a new age of prosperity.
A man more powerful than her.
It was clear that she feared him.
She put on a brave face and was joined by her personal guard as she made her way to the ship. The ground around it was still hot from the landing. She could feel eyes on her as she stopped a small distance from the front of the ship. A few moments later, a ramp lowered from the bottom and several armoured soldiers armed with swords and stepped out, their faces obscured by skull shaped masks. They reached the ground and stood in two rows either side of the ramp.
Three men then descended. One was old with grey hair while another was somewhat younger. They both flanked a man who seemed younger than them both but was clearly the leader, the Grand Duke. The three descended the ramp followed by a pair of metal carriages that moved by themselves.
The carriages broke off and headed off into the desert to do something while the three men continued walking till they were in front of the soldiers. They discussed something among themselves for a few moments before they started approaching her.
They stopped a few meters from her and both parties stood there in silence for a few moments before Chrysalis gave a short bow and spoke up "You must be Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky."
The men were a bit surprised but they composed themself quickly. The Grand Duke then spoke, "Yes, I am. And you are?"
His voice was calm and kind but firm and it threw Chrysalis off a bit but she continued speaking, "I am Queen Chrysalis, ruler of all changelings of the Southern hives."
The Grand Duke didn't have much of a reaction to this information other than what was perhaps curiosity. The other two men's emotions told her much more, however. The younger one seemed to be a bit suspicious of her, trying to figure out weaknesses that they could exploit, in short, a warrior. The older one, however, seemed more curious than either of his comrades and in ways that weren't strictly military.
When the Grand Duke didn't say anything, she continued, "I suppose that you have come here chasing prince Ahmad of Gerat?"
The Grand Duke frowned a bit before speaking, "Prince Ahmad? He is leading the Gathering fleet?"
"You did not know he was leading the fleet?" Chrysalis asked. Wasn't he hunting the prince?
"No, we did not." the Grand Duke answered. "But I will thank you for telling us."
She seemed to have gotten on his good side but was still confused. "Were you here to hunt them down or was there any other purpose?" They would have known who commanded the fleet if they were here just to hunt it down but they didn't, meaning that they were here for some other reason.
The Grand Duke thought about his answer for a moment. Pytor and Daud both whispered something to him before he spoke, "Yes, we came this far from home for different reasons. I don't believe there is any harm in telling you." The Grand Duke took a breath before continuing, "We are here looking for an artefact of sorts named 'Project Salvation'. We need it to save our homeland from certain doom. The Gathering's fleet was unexpected but we suspect that they may be going after it too."
Chrysalis was about to reply when a raindrop fell on her muzzle. She looked up at the sky and noticed that it was starting to rain. The men had noticed that as well.
"I believe we can continue our talks inside." Chrysalis said to them, inviting them into the hive. The men seemed a bit weary of coming and Chrysalis half expected them to decline.
"I suppose we can." the Grand Duke said with a small smile.
"We have lost contact with the missile. Strike has failed." the operator announced, looking at symbols on the console's screen with fear in his voice.
The only sound left in the room was of the cooling fans of the consoles in the room. An officer stood behind the operator, thinking about what he would say to Prince Ahmad. The missile was one of the three nuclear missiles they had and it was the one with the largest warhead.
Prince Ahmad had promised the princesses of the land that he would destroy the changelings in the south. The missile could not have failed, nor could it have been shot down with the primitive technology the changelings had. It could mean only one thing.
The Grand Duke was close.
He feared and respected the Grand Duke very much, having heard the tales, from those that survived battles against him, of how effective his fleet was and how equally merciful they were. He considered stealing one of the lightnings, gathering whoever was not loyal to the prince, and desert or maybe defect.
"Should I inform the prince of this?" one of the men at the consoles asked hesitantly. It seemed that the defection would have to wait.
"No, it is my job to do that." the officer answered. He turned around and left the room and headed for an elevator. He stood alone in the elevator alone as it descended to the lowest level of the mobile fortress they were in. Even with all the armor and firepower they had, he was still fearful, just like almost all the others onboard. The only ones who were confident in their victory were the prince and his generals.
He stepped out of the elevator, into what was once the lower cargo bay. It had carried machines, material, and men earlier but now it had transformed into a factory, making parts for ships. He walked through the floor, avoiding workers and machinery, before stepping out onto a ramp.
The weather outside was cloudy and cold, unnatural for a summer. All around the factory ship were methane drills and pipes attached to them that went back to the ships. It was a blessing that methane was easier to find in Equestria. IN the distance, he saw a large colorful tent. He made his way to it.
Inside the tent were the princesses and the prince. They were talking about sharing technology with each other, with Equestria offering magical knowledge and equipment while the Gathering offered their knowledge on machines.
Both stopped when they saw hi enter.
"Ah, Captain Raza, I take it that you are here to inform us of the successful strike." prince Ahmad started.
Captain Raza, stood silent for a moment, thinking how he will deliver the news to them. The princesses had a suspicious look and it seemed that they knew something had gone wrong.
Captain Raza finally spoke, "The strike failed."
"What do you mean the strike failed? I was told that all the missiles had been checked thrice and had no problems!" prince Ahmad said, getting angry at the failure. He had promised the princesses that he'd wipe the changelings out but had failed and outed right in front of them.
"It was not a technical issue... the missile was shot down." Captain Raza clarified.
"You had assured us that the changelings would not have been able to fight back against your missile, prince Ahmad." princess Luna said, her voice showing suspicion of the prince.
"Correct. They should not have been able to, and they did not." Captain Raza answered. He paused to take a breath before continuing, "The only explanation is that... the Grand Duke has reached the changelings."
All in the tent remained silent, allowing the Captain to continue.
"We... do not know anything else as of now. I would suggest sending a ship to scout and gather information about the Romani fleet and what they are doing with the changelings."
"...Very well then. Captain Raza, I order you to gather a crew and take a lightning to go south and gather information on the Grand Duke's fleet." Prince Ahmad said.
From the inside, the hive was a truly spectacular sight. It was a great city, not built around a river but within a spire that reached high into the sky. Unlike Mark imagined, there was a lot of open space in the hive, as if the spire were hollow, allowing the changelings to fly between the different levels.
He watched it all as he, Admiral Daud, and General Pytor were taken to the top of the hive where the meeting room was. Along with them was Queen Chrysalis. She could sense the feeling of wonder the men were feeling. It was a brief break from the stress and anxiety that was common within the hive, and the hate and suspicion that outsiders felt for changelings.
It was not to last for long, however. The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. The group exited and walked down a hallway lined with elegant columns and paintings depicting past rulers and historical events.
They soon came upon a large door with a guard on either side. They opened it, allowing the group to enter, and closed it behind them. Inside was a rather plain looking meeting room with a large round table and several chairs around it.
"Please take a seat, the rest of the leaders will be here shortly." Chrysalis said as she took a seat.
The men took seats next to each other. Within a minute, two Griffins and a changeling entered and took their seats.
The meeting started.
"So you're the men with the metal ships." One of the Griffins, Red Feather, began, eyeing them with curiosity. She wore clothing similar to the khans of Great, Daud noted
"Yes, and I assume that you know why we are here." Mark replied.
"Yeah, your quest for revenge. Doesn't really matter as long as I get paid."
She was a mercenary, that much Mark could tell by her attitude. Despite being so far away from home, the people acted the same.
Almost everyone else was offended by her attitude to such a threat with the exception of the other griffin, who was mildly annoyed, and Queen Chrysalis, who didn't care about what she had to put up with as long as prince Ahmad was punished.
"Do we have a plan on how we will fight the Prince, now that he has allied with Equestria?" The other Griffin, Dawn Blade, asked, getting straight to the point.
"We'll have to split their forces. There is no chance that the airships will be able to take down the larger ships in their fleet." Pyotr answered, giving his opinion on how to deal with the situation.
"Or we could use our nuclear missiles." Daud said, giving another option. The room was silent for a moment, before the other changeling, Zahd, the commander of the Queen's army asked a question.
"How effective will they be?" He asked.
"Very effective, one can reduce a city to ash in a moment." Daud answered.
"They are a last resort, however. Thier power is rivalled only by the destruction they bring." Mark spoke, remembering the final days of the Gerati campaign and the death it brought. "We can call for reinforcements but they will take time to reach us. I'd suggest hit and run tactics to wear down the enemy before a direct assault."
The meeting had continued for a while when Queen Chrysalis decided that the strangers were trustworthy.
"I regret cutting this meeting short but I believe there is something important that you must see," she said to the humans in the room. They looked at eachother, confused as to why the meeting was ended so abruptly. The changelings were fine with it and left the room at a gesture from their queen.
The queen led the men out to the elevator, where they started descending. Mark thought that they would stop at the ground floor but the elevator kept descending. Soon, the only thing they could see was the rough wall of the elevator shaft in the dim yellow light of the elevator.
They came to a stop deep below the ground. The air was still and deathly quiet around them. In front of them was a brightly lit corridor. The place made the men uneasy.
"This way," said the queen as she took the lead and stepped off the elevator. The men followed.
"Long ago, my ancestor found this spire in th desert and made our home in it," began the queen as the walls around them started looking familiar to the men. "But they found this hole as well. They explored it and found one thing.
The vault."
The group stopped in a huge room which had an equally large vault gate in it. The room had a similar construction to the bunker in Khiva.
"Could this be it? Salvation?" asked Daud as he gazed upon the great door, hope in his eyes.
In front of the gate was a console. Without saying anything, Mark approached it and looked it over. It was clean but had no lights on. He read the texts on the few buttons on the console and pressed one, seemingly at random. The console lit up with green and red lights and the screen on it showed some text that only Mark could comprehend.
"Place hand on scanner." said the console as a flat glass piece on it lit up with blue light. It had the outline of a hand on it, telling Mark where to put his right hand. He placed his hand on it and the console started beeping.
A loud hiss filled the room as ancient hydraulics powered up. "Access granted. Welcome, savior." said the screen on the console. The gate took a minute to open, revealing a great dark room within. Lights inside turned on, revealing another long corridor.
The group walked the vault, wordlessly and filled with curiosity. The walls around them switched from being plain to being covered in engravings and murals that looked pristine, as if they were finished yesterday. The murals depicted a great empire which commanded vast armies and navies that reached to the skies where the two moons, Chandra and Kharu, recided. Then there was a change. There was only moon, Chandra, and the people looked miserable. A group of them travelled to a great spire where they dug into the earth and placed a single box. The vault.
The corridor ended and they were in one last room. It had a great cylindrical construct that radiated power. Its surface was covered in many pipes and lights that looked strangely organic in their placement. In front of the construct was a slab of stone that had a message carved onto it.
"May the Goddess Ishu ensure that no one but the savior harness the terrible power of this abomination and may he bring forth a new golden age," Mark read it out loud.
"You're the savior..." said the Queen quietly.
"This is salvation," said Pyotr, wonder in his eyes.
This was what they had come for and now, they had it.
