Author's Note

Alright, Installment Two of hopefully many to come. As much direction as this story has I would like to try to make it reader driven as well. Not just yet, but down the road I may leave some chapters with a vote at the end. some answers will be given, sometimes it will just be pick door 1 2 or 3 and I have a preset path I planned to go for each choice.

Once again, any constructive criticism would be appreciated. Hope its to your liking. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight/evening/morning/afternoon.

Hot Extraction

A teenage Shawn held his mother as they waved goodbye to his father as he boarded the Hammond industries shuttle. His father was joining up with a quickly prospering company who specialized in robotics and had a quickly expanding mining operation. They also paid a competitive wage, and with his father being an experienced zero gee miner they gladly hired him on for a comfortable salary and gave him his own mining team to command.

No sooner had the shuttle lifted off, the skies darkened and Hammond Industries shuttles began warping into existence, dropping hordes of pilots and soldiers into the cities. He turned to his mother to see she was no longer there, but running down the landing platform towards the edge. Shouting after her, he gave chase.

"Mother! It's not safe!" he called to her, surprised by his voice and the toned muscles of his arm as he reached out toward her.

He looked down at his familiar flight suit and knew he was no longer a boy, but the solder Hammond Industries had forced him to become. He glanced back up to see the scene he knew all too vividly. The sniper perched on the shoulder of the titan, and the spray of blood and brain matter from the back of his mothers head.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed himself awake.

A red emergency notification flashed across his view screen inches from his face. he leaned back in his harness, cold from the sweat beading on his face and floating in front of him. It was just now he realized he was in his titan, and was weightless.

"Vital signs normal. Good morning Shawn. I've been trying to awaken you, but without access to the proper medical stims I could not."

"Hello Sadie," he rasped "Where are we? What's our status?"

"Location, unknown. No familiar star formations can be detected. Status. Oxygen at twenty percent. Estimated time before depleted, Seven Hours. Primary Weapon missing. Tactical Abilities and Ordinance Charged and ready. Multicore system functional."

"Great. No gun. What happened to the Ship? Did they make it?"

"Scans show the ship is with us. Drifting in unknown space. I used the short range communications array to communicate with the dumb AI on the ship to administer course corrections to bring it closer to us, and to check on the inhabitants. Vitals appear to be normal. One casualty was sustained aboard the ship. Identity Unknown, Sensors aboard the ship are not advanced enough for me to determine."

"Could've been worse I suppose. Well we should probably be at about the same percentage of remaining oxygen, judging by the size difference in the ships hold to our cockpit. We need to find a planet with a breathable atmosphere or we will die out here."

"I anticipated this need. I have been using our thrusters as well as the dropships, to guide us both towards a planet in the distance. ETA two hours seventeen minutes.
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Dillan was sitting in the corner of the dropship holding his mothers limp body. Silent tears rolled down his cheek when a quiet groan coming from her throat startled him. A fresh set of tears began to pour down his face, but this time out of joy.

A few more groans came from the jumble of people strewn about the cabin. Slowly the others who regained consciousness did their best to wake everyone up, when a shrill scream pierced the silence. Becky was holding Josh, whose neck was bent at an unnatural angle, and blood leaked from the corners of his eyes and from his ears. Tod and Dennis did the best to hold Becky as she hysterically tried to claw her way to Josh's corpse while Josh's father, crying, covered his son with his jacket.

"Hey, is everyone ok?" Called a voice from the cockpit.

The second titan pilot ducked through the small door, followed by the pilot of the ship. They observed as there was a mix of nods, and shakes. the pilots eyes fell on Josh, then looked to Becky who was still bawling. She knelt down next to her, took off her visor and lifted Becky's chin so she would look up at her.

"Hey. At least he went painless."

*SMACK*

Tod and Dennis grabbed onto Her again, this time to keep her from killing the pilot.

"HE WOULDN'T BE DEAD IF YOU BASTARDS DIDN'T HAVE TO COME HERE!" she screamed and spat at the pilot, still trying to grab onto her.

The pilot merely sat there still in shock at the red hand print on her face. John walked to the windows of the shuttle and stared out into the void of space.

"So where's this ship you said we would be going to, uh, Mr..." he asked, gesturing to the dropships pilot.

"Kale. And honestly sir. When we jumped. I don't know what happened. We started the warp, but then my instruments went off the charts. and next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sound of crying."

Suddenly a radio crackled throughout the ship, causing everyone to jump.
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"Shawn, there have been signs of movement aboard the dropship."

"Good, can you get me a radio channel open to them?"

"Standby."

A green indicator appeared on the screen meaning the connection was established so Shawn keyed his MIC.

"Attention Crew and passengers of the dropship. We appear to be drifting through space. Please, do not panic, as you have limited oxygen in the ship, enough to last you about seven hours if you conserve it. Luckily Sadie, my AI has routed us on a course that should bring us to a planet with a breathable atmosphere. its a bit more oxygen rich than your planet was, so it may burn a bit until our lungs adjust. Our estimated arrival time is a little over two hours. This channel is two way. Are there any questions, one at a time please, so I can hear you."

"Where Are we?" asked a womans' voice. She sounded injured.

"At the moment. Unknown. Sadie can not recognize any of the local constellations or solar systems to navigate. We haven't even received any transmission from localized stations. Current estimate is we are in an undiscovered planetary system."

"What are our orders Sir?" this was clearly the other Titan Pilot.

"Priorities; One. Make Landfall on Unknown planet. Two. Clear our landing site. Three. Find Shelter. Four. Food and Water. Five. Get our Distress Beacon up and running. Alright everyone, rest up, we have two hours before we enter the atmosphere. I want everyone to be ready and able when we touch down."
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"SPIKE!" Twilight shouted through the library.

Spike shot up from his bed startled by the sudden noise.

"SPIIIIIIIKE! I NEED YOU NOW!"

He ran as fast as he could to the balcony.

"What is it Twilight?"

"I need you to send this letter to Princess Luna, now."

"Now?" Spike asked, rubbing his eyes as he looked toward the clock. "But it's three in the morni..."

"She's the princess of the night Spike. Besides this is important."

"Alright alright." He said as he took the letter, then lit it ablaze, sending the little puff of green smoke whizzing through the air.

Twilight peered through the eyepiece of the telescope again, adjusting it slightly to keep the half sphere of terrain in her view. Nothing much different from before, aside from the fact that this one was easily twenty times larger than the previous one. and she caught a glimpse of something on the flat side. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make out what it was before it rotated out of view.
A loud crack of magic behind them caused them both to jump.

"Twilight Sparkle. We are glad you contacted Us." Princess Luna called out as she stepped up beside the smaller alicorn. "Tell Us of your findings."

Twilight resumed her spot at the telescope, and when she looked back through it she gasped. Her jaw slack, she merely gestured to the scope. Luna bent her neck low and gazed into the lens at the sphere of dirt.

The flat side rotated into view once more and her reaction was almost the same as Twilights. A house, not ponymade, two stories, made from materials she couldn't quite identify at this distance.

"Twilight, I think we should notify my Sist..." Luna began but stopped herself short. "Something isn't right. There is something else."
Just then two loud noises shattered the silence of the night, shortly followed by what sounded like a meteorite fell from space. Suddenly the Princess teleported from the room, gone in a flash just like that, leaving Twilight and Spike utterly confused.
With an earsplitting crack the Princess was suddenly in her sisters room followed by two guards.

"SISTER AWAKEN!" she commanded in the Royal Canterlot Voice. "WE NEED THY ATTENTION A MOMENT SOMETHING HAS TRANSPIRED."

"THEY'RE MY BANANAS!" Celestia shouted in her surprise of being awoken as the guards stifled their smiles.

"SISTER YOUR FRUIT CAN WAIT I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!" She shouted as she drug her across the floor with magic.

"I can walk Lulu, but you have to let me untangle from these blankets first." Celestia sighed.

Luna released the hold on her bedding and let her untangle and stand. She lead her down the hallway towards the observatory. Celestia was considering to continue poking fun at her sister but sensing the tense mood she was in she knew whatever it was, was serious.

Once in the vast room with the Large telescope she summoned Twilight and Spike, who appeared next to them, still just as confused as ever.

"Twilight Sparkle. Explain to my sister the nature of the task I had given you and your findings.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Prepare for Short range warp" Kale called over the intercom.

The Dropship and Titan warped from existence and blinked in about a hundred meters off the ground, at terminal velocity. The ship decelerated and pulled up, while the Titan had no choice but to plow into the forest, causing a teeth chattering rumble upon impact.

"Sadie. Assessment."

"Nitrogen, sixty four percent, Oxygen, thirty three percent, Unknown composition, Three percent.

"Well we don't have much choice on that three percent. Even if its toxic, we will be dead in four hours anyway by suffocation. Open the canopy."

With a metallic series of clicks and a hiss of equalizing pressure, the cockpit of the titan was flooded with the humid heavy air of the jungle. Shawn stepped from the towering suit and removed his pilots helmet. His hair, what little hair he hadn't shaved short, glistened with sweat in the moonlight. At least the temperature was tolerable, for now.

"The environment seems to be safe, for the time being, everyone regroup at the titan."

The dropship glided to the surface and shunt power to the engines and left the dim running lights on, to illuminate their surroundings. Once everyone was off the ship John marched right up to Shawn and punched him in the jaw. Not expecting the blow he dropped to the ground but quickly rolled backwards in a defensive posture and ended sitting, leaning against his titan with his sidearm drawn. The titan also snapped its canopy closed and took a hostile stance.

"That's for destroying my home and uprooting my family." he then extended a hand once accepted, pulled the pilot to his feet. "Now what do you need us to do."
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After catching Celestia up on everything that has happened over the past several months and this current night they sat quietly around the dining table as coffee and tea were set out for them by the night kitchen staff. The silence drove home the seriousness of the situation.

The random appearance of a nonpony built structure, floating in space. Followed by three unexplained noises. Even as outlandish as it seemed, Celestia had to keep an open mind to the possibility of extraequestrian life. Yet as she and her sister scanned the
planet for the fifth time, no other life could be detected.

"Maybe..." Twilight began, after sipping her tea. "Maybe it's because they don't have a magical presence to sense."

"That... That is very possible my dear Twilight. The thought had crossed my mind as well. It thrills, yet also terrifies me."

"How so Sister?" Luna asked, tilting her head quizzically.

"A being with the capability to traverse the stars without magic. What wonders they could bring us, and yet, what terrors as well."

The room fell silent again.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Alright that's the plan." Shawn said, as he planted his drawing stick in the mud.

Kale and the other pilot got in to the dropship and took off towards the lake they spotted from the air.

"Wouldn't we be safer on that thing?" Dennis asked.

"That depends." Shawn replied.

"On?"

"On if this planet is inhabited, if they have Anti Aircraft batteries, or if the wildlife is of size capable of attacking that ship."

"That's comforting."

The group trudged through the jungle, using the Titans floodlights to see where they were going. The titan Lead the group through the trees, clearing almost every bit of underbrush with its metallic feet. Making it much easier for the humans to follow on foot.
As they neared the location of the lake, their dropship screamed overhead, being quickly tailed by a large silent beast. the only noise that was heard was the mighty flap of the wings as it passed overhead, causing a large pressure wave to come over the group.
Suddenly a bright light erupted and everyone cheered for a moment as they thought the ship opened fire on the beast. It just so happened that it was the other way around.

A jet of flame left the mouth of the beast easily hundreds of feet long and scorched the underside of the ship as it gained altitude, its side gun blazing as it returned fire. They both disappeared behind the mountains in the distance as they shrunk into specks.

"And you wanted to ride the ship." Shawn said. "Lets move."

A few minutes later the parade of people emerged on the bank of a lake and breathed a sigh of relief as they relaxed. Shawn stood atop a rock and addressed everyone.

"Alright, we will remain here for the night. Sadie will be on overwatch, So get a good nights rest. We will wake, hydrate, bathe and then move out at dawn."

Suddenly the dropship, partially melted soared over the lake, skipped off the waters surface and slid to a stop on the shore a few hundred meters down from their camp. Everyone ran to see if they were ok, but slowed to a stop when Kale and the pilot stepped out of the wreckage, both wielding fire extinguishers. They then began hosing down the smoldering ship.

"We thought you were dead." Shawn said, approaching the two, once the fire was put out.

"Yeah so did we" the woman said. "By the way, Lieutenant Stacy Hins at your disposal Major." She saluted.
He returned the salute.

"I appreciate the gesture, really I do, but rank means nothing here. If you have a suggestion, bring it up. Everyone pulls their weight. We have no rank here. If everyone will agree, I will take lead of this team, but I want your input on everything else we need to do. If you have a better plan than I do, speak up." everyone stayed quiet.

"Alright, everyone. Bed. Tomorrow, Hydrate, Bathe, Salvage, Secure, Orient, Move."

Everyone dispersed into their own little sleeping areas, but no one strayed too far from the titan, after seeing that monstrous beast.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Sister did you feel that?" Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight to stop her from rambling possibilities.

"I did."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Such a big magical signature. Just gone." Celestia whispered.

"The death of a dragon." Luna replied as Twilight gasped.