The Valiant

Book 1: The Crucible

Chapter 2: The Homefleet

"Of course assaulting a Homefleet is impossible. I mean honestly, have you seen how many ships are in the supporting armada? Thousands. And a Homeship could probably destroy an armada on it's own, let alone when supported by an armada." -Ret. Admiral Soarin Wynters; Solar 15th exploration fleet

The Poseidon and the Wave Breaker had one destination at the moment- Solar waters. If Thunderlane's contact in the Solar Fleet was still reliable, the solar Homefleet was stationed at the Forlorn Isle, near the edge of what was regarded as Solar territory. That meant one of two things.

Either Celestia was back on the warpath, or she was on patrol. Twilight sincerely hoped it was the latter...

All worries aside though, the two ships- Twilight's U-boat moving at periscope depth- sailed towards the Forlorn Isle. The two arrived without issue, around eleven O' clock at night, western sea time.

Sure enough, they were halted by a massive Halifax class Broadsider battleship. Twilight surfaced the sub to avoid conflict, as a Halifax class Broadsider could go toe to toe with both the Breaker and the Poseidon. At this close range, a Broadsider would win hands down.

Broadsiders, like monitors, were subtypes of Battleships. Whereas monitors had massive guns, but much weaker armor, Broadaiders had large caliber but short ranged guns, and extremely thick armor. The armor on a Halifax class, for example,was designed to be 3.3 meters thick at the deck, and 3.8 at the belt.

Respectfully, neither side made defensive manouvers against each other, and guns were kept at rest position. A rowboat was sent from the Broadsider, carrying the Halifax's officer.

The officer of this particular Halifax class Broadsider knew Sparkle quite well, and Sparkle knew her quite well. "Welcome aboard my humble vessel, captain." Twilight greeted.

The mare snorted. "Humble is not how I'd put it, Sparkle. All the same, it's good to see you." The two shook hands.

Twilight smiled, faintly. "And you too, Sunset Shimmer." The red and yellow maned unicorn mare smiled as well.

"Alright, let's get to business. It's nice, catching up, but I'd imagine you have business around here?"

"Straight to the point, as always..." Twilight reminisced. She shook her head and continued. "Thunderlane and I need to speak with Celestia. It's urgent."

Shimmer frowned. "Urgent?"

Twilight nodded. "We got fired upon by a Griffonic Dreadnought class." Sunset blinked once. Twice.

An hour or so later and the former solar captain, along with the former king of pirates, sat in front of Celestia, who was sitting behind her office desk, on board the SES Radiant.

"So you both mean to tell me that a Griffonic national vessel fired upon both of your ships in the middle of The Crucible?" Celestia inquired, sipping at a cup of tea.

Thunderlane supplied the answer. "Aye. She nearly shot out one of my aft engine blocks. Twilight sunk it with a torpedo to the ammunition storage, but if not for that, she'd have sunk my Artedeux."

Twilight continued. "We were hoping that you would have known why the vessel fired upon us."

Celestia frowned. "I do not know why a lone Griffonic vessel would have fired upon two ships flying flags of neutrality, dreadnought or otherwise. A dreadnought is no good against a U-boat, and they hardly keep up with newer vessels like the Atedeux class ships as it is."

"Could they have been pirates flying a friendly flag?" Twilight inquired.

Thunderlane snorted. "What, against a neutral flag? They'd have sooner assumed we were changeling vessels or armed merchants and steered clear...no, this was a Griffonic vessel, with it's own orders."

"The captain could have had their own goals in mind, as well." The solar empire's monarch sipped at her tea. "They are griffons, after all. They aren't the most...authority-respecting race on Gaia."

"But then why would they have fired upon us, even accounting for that? I haven't made any griffons mad, and as far as I know, neither has Thunderlane." Twilight interjected, with said stallion nodding to confirm her supposition.

Celestia ran a hand down her dress' chest area, smoothing out a wrinkle in the fabric. "Then I do not see a reason that gave them plausible reason to fire upon you."

"Well...could a...you know...." Twilight trailed off, making a small circle with her right index finger. "A...uh... You know... Could they have ordered it?"

"Who, Twilight? You may have trained under my guidance a while ago, but that doesn't mean I understand what you mean when you deign not to say it aloud." The elder alicorn chuckled. "I am many things, but a telepath is not one of those things."

Twilight gulped, her throat dry. "Don't take this the wrong way, Celestia, but...uhm...could a Solarist have ordered them to attack us?"

Celestia paused, and the room temperature seemed to drop several degrees. "What?"

Twilight raised her hands in self-defense. " just hear me out, Celestia. You and I both know you maintain good relations with the Griffonic empire. Could a rogue, or angry Solarist have bought a Griffonic ship and it's crew, and ordered them to hunt me or Thunderlane down?"

"Twilight, do not point fingers at my ponies, please?"

Twilight met Celestia's gaze, and stood up from the desk. "Answer the question, your highness."

Celestia stood up as well. "Get. Out."

Thunderlane rose to his feet, but said nothing.

Twilight continued to press for answers. "Celestia, you have to admit it could be possible for an angry Solarist to have ordered us to be fired upon!"

Celestia's ethereal mane began to flicker with orange and yellow specks racing through it, her body shook with anger, and her eyes were nearly popping out of her sockets. The sun goddess' horn lit up in it's tell-tale yellow aura, and with a flash of light, both Twilight and Thunderlane found themselves in the SES Radiant's main dry dock.

All Homeship class battleships were outfitted with two or three miniature dry-docks, capable of holding up to two aircraft carrier class naval vessels, or five battleships. The Homeship dry docks operated like a canal lock would have, back in the old world. The dock is separated into three sections: the exit, the middle, and the docking station itself. Ships sailed into the middle of the lock, which was then sealed, and the water drained out. The ships were at this point suspended by massive lift cranes, powered by the Homeship's massive Diesel engines, and carried into the docking station, where they are set to rest for the duration of the dock. The whole process takes about a half hour, but can take up to two hours, depending on the type of ship.

This type of dry dock was where Twilight and Thunderlane now found themselves.

"Great!" Twilight groaned, balling her fists. "I ought to-"

"Ought to what, Twilight? You did piss her off on her own ship." Thunderlane reminded the alicorn mare.

"True, that was my fault, but we do still need answers."

The pirate stallion nodded. "Time to question the other half."

"The other half?" Thunderlane nodded, and smirked.

"Yeah, the other half." Just what the "other half" was, Twilight would have to wait to find out.