Heart of Courage

Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches in the vacant starboard lounge, nose nearly pressed up against one of the few actual windows in the patrol frigate. Her slow, deliberate breathing continuously replenished a patch of fog that gradually faded during her inhales. A quiet humming of Rainbow Dash’s never-ceasing ventilation system alone broke the silence in the room as it pumped in fresh air.

During combat, armored panels would slide down to cover this structural weakness, but with no imminent threats nearby, the purple unicorn took advantage of the amazing view the windows afforded. The surviving UEN vessel currently orbited around a lonely ice giant named Elissa in the griffon controlled system. A large number of orbital repair facilities revolved around the decently sized planet. UEN Whirlwind still remained in one such station as damage to the frigate had been extensive.

The lavender unicorn’s thoughts fell upon the fate of their other escort, the Sprague. A blast from a cygnul cruiser at point blank range had completely vaporized the warship. If it’s any consolation, Twilight, Captain James Fletcher had told her later in private, they didn’t feel any pain.

A twinge of agony flooded her upper chest. All of those ponies and humans… gone in a blink of an eye. They never even had a chance. Twilight pulled her gaze away from the fluffy turquoise sky in front of her and squeezed her eyelids shut. And those brave griffon pilots who charged forward in a suicide run; knowing they flew to their deaths; to protect their homes and loved ones. How much longer can we do this? How much longer can this war continue?

Thankfully, a hiss of pneumatic pistons interrupted her downward spiraling thoughts and her ears twitched around towards its source. In the faint reflection on the glass in front of her, she watched two ponies join her in the otherwise empty lounge. “Twilight!” The earth pony Dmitri Bearclaw yelled out in greeting, further breaking her somber mood.

“There you are,” a softer tone from the other pony contrasted the bellowing tones from Dmitri, “we’ve been looking all over for you.” Socket Wrench ruffled her wings before joining Twilight by the window.

The lavender mare smiled at each pony, happy for their company. “I thought I needed some time alone, but I’m glad you two are here.”

“Something bother you?” Dmitri wrapped a forehoof around Twilight’s shoulders, bringing her in for a short hug.

Twilight Sparkle gave the earth pony a cheeky grin. “I just wanted to collect my thoughts.” Her short-lived smile slowly faded, replaced with a faraway gaze. Attempting to distract her, Socket Wrench draped a feathery wing around the unicorn, interrupting her brooding.

On her other side, Dmitri enjoyed the view outside of the window and uncharacteristically remained quiet for a surprising amount of time. Though, this didn’t last too long as the earth pony seemed unable to handle extended amounts of silence. “Twilight,” he prodded, “do you enjoy flying?”

The mare raised an eyebrow at the thoughtless question. “I know that this may come as a shock to you, Dmitri, but I am a unicorn pony; not a pegasus.” Twilight smirked at the face the stallion made when he realized what he had asked.

“Nyet, I know… I did not mean… I am trying to say….” Dmitri Bearclaw’s mind went into overdrive as he tried to explain. Behind a giggling Twilight, Socket Wrench glared daggers at him.

“I know you have no wings!” The earth pony made a showy response of laughter while dismissing his earlier question with a raised forehoof. “That would be weird wouldn’t it?” He prodded the mare’s side where a nonexistent wing might have been. “Twilight Sparkle; an alicorn. You are most obviously unicorn pony!”

If Socket had been shooting daggers before, her eyes now shot plasma bolts at Dmitri. On the other hoof, Twilight remained none the wiser and she enjoyed the recovery of the bumbling earth pony. “Thanks, Dmitri.” She managed to say between laughs. “I really needed that. I feel a lot better.”

Dmitri shook his head and gestured towards the blue ice giant. “You’re welcome, but what I was trying to get at is; have you read about Jovian flying yet?”

The mare’s face scrunched up as she mulled over the phrase. “I know that gas giants are sometimes called Jovian worlds. They are almost completely made up of gas though. How could you safely fly in one?”

“We use microlight fliers and special protective suits. They have several redundant systems to ensure safety. That way it reduces the possibility of death by freezing, extreme weather, or falling into the planet’s crushing depths,” Socket the engineer, nonchalantly answered.

Twilight’s ears drooped and she gulped down in fear. “That sounds… intense.”

“Oh, it is!” Missing her apprehension, Dmitri fidgeted as he grew antsy. “I can have the ship’s printer build us a few fliers. By the time we get suited up, they should be ready.”

Twilight thought of Charybdis. The first such Jovian world she had encountered, she remembered brutal winds, lightning storms everywhere, and the maelstrom that tried to pull them down. And that was in a frigate! An entire warship! A shiver ran over the mare’s body and she took a step back from the window. “I don’t know. I think I’ll pass. I did not particularly enjoy the last gas giant we visited.”

“Oh, honey!” Socket walked forward and placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Elissa is nothing like Charybdis. This world is much smaller and tamer than that giant planet. The gravity in the upper atmosphere is barely higher than Harmony’s, and the only thing we need to worry about are sporadic thunderstorms which are slow and easy to fly around. You can see them coming from a hundred miles away!”

The unicorn halted her retreat but remained unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

“Da!” Dmitri bellowed. “I never flown this world, but I have done so on many like it. I find it rather… relaxing.”

Socket nodded at her companion and faced Twilight again. “It is an amazing experience that you will never forget.” She scratched her chin in thought before her eyes lit up. “I tell you what. How about Dmitri uses a one-seat flier and you and I can share a two-seater? That way, I can work the controls and all you have to do is enjoy the view!”

Twilight thought it over momentarily before giving in. “That actually sounds pretty nice! I could use the distraction.”

“Then it’s a plan.” Socket Wrench led the way off Rainbow Dash’s observation lounge. “Let’s go flying!”

Thin air gently rocked the UEN transport as it skimmed the upper reached of Elissa’s atmosphere. Tank still hadn’t been fully repaired so Twilight, Socket, and Dmitri caught a ride in Aspire, the other shuttle carried by the frigate. “We are reaching the drop zone. Lower the ramp,” Tempest Fury, their pegasi pilot, called over the radio. A human standing off to the side of the shuttle bay pulled down a lever, engaging the mechanism to lower the spacecraft’s rear ramp.

A light whistling of air mixed with whining hydraulics as more and more of the ice giant’s curved atmosphere became visible. Fully faced with the reality of what they were about to do, two purple forelegs wrapped tighter around the front bar of a large ultralight flier with a white-hooved grip. “I don’t know about this!” Twilight Sparkle yelled over her space suit’s radio. Next to her, Socket grimaced at the volume of her voice.

“You will be fine, dear.” The pegasus performed another check of their small craft’s idling engines. “You also don’t need to yell. I can hear you just fine over the comm.”

Twilight swallowed nervously and twisted her head around again. Behind them, Dmitri waved at the shuttle bay technician and readied himself on his flier. Returning the gesture with a thumbs-up, the human’s voice came over the radio. “Belt activating in three… two… one… go!” He then pressed a large black button on the wall. With an initial wobble, a conveyor belt in the floor came to life and slowly moved the two ultralights back towards the wide open sky. “Have fun, you ponies.”

The tail of Dmitri’s smaller flier stretched out over emptiness, and the wild earth pony released a hoot of excitement before the craft rocked up and slid out of the cargo bay, vanishing below the shuttle. Seeing this, Twilight’s blood ran ice cold and she began to seriously regret her decision to try Jovian flying. Oh, Celestia why am I doing this? Even though the pony’s instincts screamed at her to remove herself from this situation, she refused to give in. Instead, she continued watching as they crept closer to the edge.

Sitting next to her, Socket Wrench pushed the throttle forward on their flier’s console and its small main engines increased in power. Their tail reached open space and when Twilight stared down, she saw nothing but an endless sky. Oh dear Celestia! The mare’s mind screamed as their center of gravity left the shuttle. A heartbeat later, their ultralight tilted up, rolled back, and dropped towards the heart of Elissa.

Twilight Sparkle’s stomach clenched up as she experienced the strange sensation of weightlessness once again. For her benefit, the mare only uttered a single squeak of fear before clamping her mouth down. Aspire seemed to rocket away high above them as the two-seat ultralight plummeted ever faster.

“It’s alright, Twilight.” Socket’s calm and collected voice sounded in the unicorn’s ear. “Remember, we need to drop to a thicker portion of Elissa’s atmosphere. Everything is normal right now.”

Not trusting herself to respond verbally, Twilight Sparkle nodded instead. Her teeth ground together and she sucked down large gulps of fresh air continuously supplied by an advanced rebreather system on her back. Her view rotated forward as Socket rolled the ultralight over to dive nose first. With aerodynamics now working in their favor, turbulence levels dropped considerably.

Their gentle dive had a secondary effect as well. Twilight’s subconscious began to accept that she no longer faced an imminent death anymore. With that, the unicorn pony followed her lessons learned on the Rainbow Dash to control her breathing and nerves. Although, diving into the depths of a surface-less planet many times larger than Harmony still brought a sense of discomfort. Twilight could not help but remember the experience with the maelstrom encountered back on Charybdis.

It took some time, but slowly, Socket leveled them off above a layer of multifaceted cloud banks. She banked them around a tall fluffy cerulean spire and they entered a long corridor of calm weather. The combination of thicker air and increased flight speed allowed their tiny winged aircraft to perform the job it had been designed for. Instead of falling, they were now flying.

The reassuring feeling of gravity once more chased away the weightlessness that Twilight’s stomach despised. Now that their flight resembled something that the mare had grown used to, she finally felt at ease. Wiggling around in her restraints, she made herself comfortable before gazing around her.

Light green wispy streaks high above refracted the light of the solar system’s sun as it passed through bands of micro-sized ice crystals, thus creating dazzling rainbows. Several times further away than Harmony’s, the local star hovered almost directly overhead, only prominent because of its relative brightness compared to any of the other visible stellar pinpricks. A series of elongated points of light zipped by at speeds too fast to be natural satellites. Those must be the orbiting space stations. Twilight Sparkle’s face lit up. One of them might even be the Dash!

Twilight’s ears began to twitch as she noticed a new sound. A whistling grew louder and louder before a shadow soared barely overhead, resolving itself into another ultralight machine. Dmitri Bearclaw turned back to wave at the two mares who smirked and rolled their eyes at his sneaky flyby. Ignoring or not caring about their reaction, the earth pony eased back and took up position slightly behind the pair; content to match their leisurely flight.

Meanwhile, thicker clouds around them were drawn and twisted into swirling designs by localized wind currents, all the while displaying palates of oceanic colors. Some stretched away, pulled into oblong shapes by unseen jet streams. Others spiraled up into large mushroom topped structures many times the size of any city Twilight had visited. Glancing behind her, she caught sight of Aspire, following them a few hundred yards off to the side; yet, close enough to be there in case anything happened.

The shuttle’s presence had a reassuring effect that helped put the unicorn mare’s worries to rest. Twilight couldn’t help but crack a smile as the starship banked away to purposefully plunge through a fluffy wall of cyan, dragging along several swirling trails of vapor as a result. As if sensing her gaze, the pilot rolled the bulky craft around in a lazy barrel roll. It seems we aren’t the only ones having fun. Twilight let out a slight chuckle that did not go unnoticed by Socket Wrench.

Taking a moment to meet her gaze, the pegasus wore a huge cheesy grin, easily visible through her faceplate. “Enjoying yourself, Twilight?”

The unicorn slowly took in all of the scenery around her once again before answering. “This is amazing. It is so calm up here.” She shook her head and looked back at Socket. “It’s nothing like Charybdis was.”

“Not all gas giant planets are monsters. They are as different and unique as each one of us.” Socket adjusted the flier’s yoke, banking them down another long corridor of calm weather. “At our altitude, storms are fairly uncommon. They tend to accumulate much deeper.” At this, the pegasus pointed her free hoof downward, where the exposed skeleton of the ultralight allowed the ponies to see underneath them.

Though rare, clear conduits exposed the ice giant’s depths for observation. Unlike the calm climate at their level, dark storms of blue and black toiled in deep chasms that stretched far down to where even sunlight couldn’t reach. Brilliant cloud to cloud lightning flashed into short-lived existence as meteorological forces at work fought to equalize their unbalanced charges. The high energy release of untamed electricity flared as bright as the sun, further exposing a never ceasing turmoil that lurked within the Jovian planet.

The worst lightning storm Twilight had ever witnessed back in her old life completely paled in comparison with the weakest strikes seen below them. She began to think that it could not be any more impressive when off to their left, a continent-sized cumulonimbus cloud sparkled to life in a near blinding array of light. Thousands of white bolts streaked upwards, jumping erratically from point to point, stretching past their altitude and continuing up to the upper reaches of Elissa’s atmosphere where it eventually fizzled out.

“Wow!” Three ponies simultaneously shouted over the crackling radio.

“Did you see that?” A fourth voice joined them from the UEN shuttle.

Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt somewhat vulnerable. She had a feeling that their space suits might not fare so well against that much raw energy. “What was that?”

Socket pulled her eyes from where the light show had happened to meet Twilight’s nervous stare. “That was a lightning jet. They are very rare on worlds like Harmony, but they can happen anywhere with weather.”

Hearing the pegasus, their shuttle pilot’s voice came over the radio once more. “I hope you are right about that.”

“Tempest, you are safest one in sky right now. Quit being baby.” Dmitri called out the shuttle and the pony flying it.

The radio channel immediately filled with laughs and snickers, much to the pilot’s chagrin. “Very funny, Dmitri. I’ll have you know that I… hang on a second. I’m receiving a priority message from Captain Fletcher. Wait one.”

Twilight Sparkle and Socket Wrench shared a worried glance. Messages were never tagged as priority unless they dealt with a very serious matter that needed to be addressed as soon as possible. Assuming that their leisurely flight would most likely be canceled right away, the butterscotch pegasus went ahead and began angling their ultralight towards Aspire with Dmitri close behind.

Their fears proved to be correct when Tempest’s voice filled their speakers again. “I’ve been asked to gather you ponies up right now and make for the frigate at full speed. Apparently, the griffons are squawking mad on every form of communication they have. All of their quantum buoys are jam-packed with requests for reinforcements. Let’s not waste any time.”

Aspire’s engines flared and the large shuttle rapidly closed the distance between it and the micro fliers. Socket held their craft steady as the UEN ship’s slipstream knocked them around, but the pegasus had no trouble landing in the cargo bay. As soon as the two ponies leapt free, Dmitri came barreling in, bumping hard against the deck.

“Miss Twilight!” The human who oversaw their launch called over to her. “Can you push the ultralights out of the back? We don’t have time to stow them properly!”

Nodding, the lavender mare concentrated her will as her horn lit up in a violet nimbus. It was the easiest thing to lift the lightweight aircraft and drop them out of the open cargo bay. Both fliers flipped erratically through the air behind them, plunging down into the depths of Elissa where they would be soon crushed by the gas planet’s unforgiving pressure. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a small pang of pity at the fate of the twin machines. I was having such a good time.

Turning from the scene outside, Twilight made her way to the shuttle’s cockpit to safely strap in for their return journey. Already, warning alert symbols pulsed on the ship’s many data screens. Sitting down and wrestling with her seat’s buckles, the mare took in a deep breath. I wonder what it is this time….

“It’s a GDA, or gravitational distortion anomaly.” James Fletcher pointed it out on Twilight’s computer screen. Back on the Rainbow Dash’s bridge, they currently accelerated out towards the far reaches of the solar system. The clustered infrastructure orbiting Elissa made it a prime candidate for a possible attack.

“When a ship uses its warp drive, wrinkles in the local fabric of space precede the vessel’s arrival. It’s kind of like dropping a pebble into a still pond except the ripples happen before the actual impact. We can detect those distortions once they grow to a certain size. The larger the incoming mass, the larger the ripples.”

In front of Twilight, she studied the anomaly in question. Though it was located over a light hour from them, it was only a few light minutes from Valles. Her screen showed what should have been empty and unremarkable space, except that now, something sharply pulled and pushed at a point in the smooth gravitational metric that comprised the solar system.

“So, every time we teleport, Rainbow Dash creates ripples like that?” Twilight pointed at the sine-wave graph recording the phenomena. Looking back at a time history, she noticed that over time, the amplitudes had grown taller while the wave frequency continued to increase.

“Yes, but because the Dash is a patrol frigate, her signature is extremely small. In fact, a ship would have to be within a hundred kilometers of our exit point to even pick our transit up, and that is almost nothing when compared to the vastness of space. Even then, they would only have a couple seconds of warning.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. Many of her late nights had been spent researching into the ship that not only carried the name of one of her best friends, but was her home away from home. Patrol frigates were designed to be small, inconspicuous, and fast. It would not serve their purpose to have something alert an entire system of their impending arrival, like a giant flashing sign saying, I will be appearing right here!

“The strength of space-time ripples increases exponentially with mass. So an individual ship, or even a small flotilla, might not give any warning of their arrival, but when a large number of ships warp in simultaneously, it can be detected by sensitive equipment.” James continued on. “And when an entire fleet jumps in, there is plenty of warning time for that.”

Twilight Sparkle narrowed her brow in thought. “For how long can you watch an entire fleet teleport?”

James’ eyes lost focus and he took in a deep breath. “The largest direct engagement of the war so far was the battle over Pegasopolis. Nearly a thousand capital warships on both sides slugged it out for hours before the Cygnul withdrew. We might have been able to capitalize on the victory if the cost hadn’t been so high.”

His explanation of the battle trailed off and Twilight gave him a few seconds to continue before she asked her question. “Were you there for the entire fight?”

He nodded before getting back on subject. “We were refueling in-system for a standard reconnaissance mission when the warning net first sensed the GDA. Naturally, we stuck around to support our forces when they came in through Luna’s jump gate. There was plenty of time to prepare, since it took half an hour for their fleet to show up.”

Twilight studied her computer’s analysis more thoroughly, searching for one piece of information that she both feared but had to see. Situated beneath the system map, a timer continuously counted upwards from the initial time of first detection. Thirty three minutes… oh no…. The unicorn mare thought as a chill swept through her. Distracted by the ominous realization, she missed the human’s next words. “What did you say?”

“You don’t have to be here, Twilight.” James repeated. “You don’t have to watch this.”

She stared confusingly at him and it took a moment for his statement to sink in. “What do you mean?”

“We are safe on this vessel right now so you don’t need to be on the bridge with me. You can go to wait in Socket’s stateroom until it’s over if you want.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes drifted across the room, thinking hard before answering. “You all expect me to take up my element and stop this war. I want to play my part and I can’t do that hiding away from the horrors I will have to face.” James nodded his head, saying nothing, but Twilight caught a flicker of admiration in his eyes. The bridge grew quiet except for the muted sounds of digital notification alerts at various crew stations. Trying to keep her mind on track, the unicorn focused on her seat’s computer again.

Zooming away from the anomaly location, Twilight studied the local battlespace. The griffon Second Fleet that had arrived yesterday waited patiently between where the cygnul were sure to arrive and their colony Valles. Their bronze-hulled ships shared a standard design comprised of a long flat body with curving wing protrusions where they stored large ship-killing missiles. Several bombardment vessels formed the center of a hexagonal formation that stretched over hundreds of kilometers. Rainbow Dash would have looked miniscule next to any one of the capital warships.

Other than the local area around Valles, there were few other spacecraft transiting between planets. She only spotted a hoof-full of civilian vessels and most were trying to leave the solar system. Nearly the entire colony had already been evacuated to other safer worlds in response to the previous cygnul incursion.

“Captain!” Dmitri shouted back over his shoulder as alarms began blaring on the bridge. “They are coming through!”

Red warning lights flashed and all eyes went to the forward view screen which displayed a feed from one of their sensor probes recording the anomaly. Because of the drone’s remoteness from them, everything they watched live actually occurred over an hour ago. The machine did not have a faster than light communication capability and had to use regular light speed laser transmission instead.

In the center of the screen, the usual starry backdrop of stars twisted and warped around a single point. The sky appeared to boil across a thousand kilometers, as the fabric of space reacted to the imminent arrival of such a large amount of matter. Impressive looking in the visual spectrum, the x-ray and gamma emission screens appeared even stranger. Potent radiation sparkled in a dazzling show of energy emission.

Not waiting around for the cygnul fleet to fully arrive, the griffon fleet unleashed the first salvo of battle. White smoke-like trails sprung forth from the impeccably arranged formation, screaming forth soundlessly across the short intervening distance. The griffon barrage executed perfect timing to catch the initial wave of appearing cygnul ships. With a second or two at best to react, only a couple point defense beams flickered rapidly at the oncoming volley, striking missiles from the sky.

It proved to be too little, too late. Over ninety percent of the griffon weapons survived and they detonated amongst cygnul warships with nuclear ferocity. Short-lived suns flared into a fleeting existence, spraying superheated plasma across the arrival point. Larger cygnul ships broke in half or were knocked into chaotic spins, while smaller vessels outright boiled away from the intense heat. A couple blasts bore a brilliant blue hue from antimatter charges launched by the largest griffon ships. No enemy could survive such raw power from those weapons.

As the hazy wall of gas dispersed and cooled, more cygnul craft dropped into real space. Debris sparkled amongst their shields as the enemy formed up in a spear-shaped attack pattern. Already, griffon forces had launched a second missile barrage, combined with a few energy beams and railgun rounds. The faster weapons crossed the short intervening distance in a few seconds, further adding to the carnage.

Their assault did not go unanswered this time. Drone fighters poured forth from cygnul heavy cruisers and battlecruisers that also snapped off high energy particle beams traveling a hair’s breadth under the speed of light. These flared against griffon shields as the defenders lit up their sublight engines, trying to hinder cygnul firing solutions. The maneuver proved ineffective and the defenders of Valles suffered more than a few losses. Ships died on each side now, and both formations maneuvered to outflank the other.

Shells, beams, and rockets crossed each other over a distance of a few light seconds. In the intervening space, fighter squadrons on both sides engaged in a full on dogfight while the two fleets brought all weapons to bear, holding nothing back. Repeated direct hits withered down griffon shields on even the largest ships, but even as their armor melted away, they never slowed their firing.

Another massive wave of missiles leapt free of their silos, curving up and over the cloud of debris separating both groups of ships. In a coordinated maneuver, the heavy cygnul vessels formed a blockade, bringing their main armaments to bear on the incoming threat. Ship after ship blasted away at the nuclear swarm, swatting away many more of the griffon weapons than before. One of the cyg beams hit a payload of anti-matter and it self-ignited instantaneously, consuming everything around it.

The anti-matter bomb burned up all nearby missiles, but its death had one unintended consequence. Twilight watched as the cygnul lost track of any remaining missiles behind the bubble of expanding plasma. By the time they reacquired the remaining nuclear weapons, it was too late. Fusion charges bloomed and cygnul ships perished.

“James, it looks like the griffons are holding their own.” Twilight Sparkle leaned over to whisper to the human, not wanting to interrupt anyone else on the bridge. Crew members worked diligently in the tense atmosphere, monitoring the status of their ship as well as the battle raging for the solar system. She tried to not think about the lives being lost a billion kilometers away, looking instead at the situation from a cold calculating perspective. Is this what it’s like to have a position of authority? Am I forced to put all of my emotions aside for the greater good? Her stomach churned at the callous thought.

Pointing at his computer where she could see, he highlighted the gravitational distortion where space continued to churn. “There is still a large incoming amount of matter. We haven’t seen the full cygnul attack force yet.” The human frowned. “I think they are just trying to force the griffons to use up their precious missiles. Once their main stores are up, it will severely reduce their firing rates.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” The unicorn ran over their ship’s proficiencies in her head, simultaneously studying the local metric for anything that might give them a tactical edge. “Like how we helped out during the last attack?”

Captain Fletcher shook his head, expression still grim. “The cygnul had a lot fewer ships, and we had the element of surprise.” He poked his screen with an extended finger, bringing up a rotating readout of a cygnul battleship that had just dropped into real-space. The dark chitinous hull of the massive vessel resembled a wicked insect pupa of some kind. Long sharp protrusions jutting out of the ship’s nose cycled through a deep blue glow before emitting a high energy arcane blast. Next to it on the summary screen of the huge craft, a tiny image of Rainbow Dash helped convey the enormous size disparity.

“We can’t hold our own against something that powerful.” James finished, closing the detailed readout window on the cygnul vessel. More ships poured out of the enemy jump point, joining the fray against a kingdom fighting to protect its territory and its citizens.

The griffon’s situation grew worse. Cygnul forces now heavily outnumbered the defenders and they formed a large line of defense to provide cover for the rest of their ships warping in blind. Down to a single large missile bombardment ship, the bronze fleet swung around and fell back towards Valles. Orbital cannons fired away, keeping the cygs at bay for the moment. Severely reduced in numbers, griffon fighters pulled away from the chaotic skirmish, licking their wounds.

Several dozen titanic warships dropped in-system, their design terrifyingly familiar to Twilight. Long spindly arms extended wide and powerful shields winked on, easily weathering the assault from Valles’ defenses. Siege breakers… A knot twisted up in her gut. She remembered how effective a single one of those fifteen hundred meter long vessels could be. Their protective screens seemed to be able to shrug off an insane amount of damage.

Even more troubling, a series of long spindly ships marked as carriers on the tactical readout took in a close position behind the blockade of siege ships. Slowly rotating, they released clouds of drone fighters that swarmed off and away from the cygnul and griffon standoff. Accelerating out of the planet’s gravity well, these cygnul had a different target in mind.

“Captain, look at this.” Isamu Zhang used his station’s controls to change the view on the front screen on the bridge. A top down map of the solar system displayed the lines of battle near Valles and an icon pointed out the huge group of drones vectoring towards the outskirts of the system. A line stretched out from the wayward squadrons, highlighting their predicted route which would perfectly rendezvous with Rainbow Dash’s future position.

“They are coming after us, Captain.” Alice’s voice came over the speakers. “If we continue our heading and acceleration, they will catch us in four hours and thirty three minutes.” On the side of the front display, a timer appeared, counting down how long it would take for the cygnul drones to catch up.

“Very well,” James studied his computer intently. “Keep me informed if any of their warships try a short in-system hop. Keep our jump drives fully charged.”

“Yes, sir.”

Twilight Sparkle poked her screen with a forehoof, bringing up one of the incoming fighters. The stingray-shaped craft matched the ones that had chased their hover bike through the canyons on Valles, and she couldn’t help but briefly relive that terrifying flight. “James, are we in any trouble?”

“No, not exactly,” he shook his head. “We are clear of Elissa’s gravity well and can jump away in a moment’s notice. The problem is that the cygnul know this, yet they are only sending short range fighters after us. A smarter move would have been to use a few corvettes or frigates to warp over and hopefully catch us off guard.”

The lavender pony scrolled over to the main cygnul fleet. They seemed completely content with waiting at their jump point. Griffon kinetic warheads continued to impact upon the siege breaker’s shields with no effect. “What do you think they are….” She stopped when a loud ping interrupted her.

On James Fletcher’s armrest, the glowing transparent body of a miniature earth pony mare popped into existence. “Captain, I have Admiral Hellena on the line. She is relaying through a short range FTL buoy in far Elissa orbit so the delay should be fairly manageable.”

“Well, that means the griffons survive the next hour.” Isamu Zhang pointed forward at the front screen where the standoff continued a light hour away.

“Thank you, Alice. Please put it up on the main screen.” The human sat up straighter in his seat as the forward display switched over to show a worn out female griffon. She had dull grey feathers and a short golden curved beak. Her hazel eyes betrayed her exhaustion but she still emanated an indomitable aura.

It took a noticeable amount of time for the griffon to begin talking. “Captain Fletcher, I apologize for not contacting you sooner. First, I want to thank you and your crew for your efforts in saving our colony. The Kingdoms are forever grateful for the sacrifice of those who perished protecting Valles.”

James waited for her to finish speaking before waving his hand. “I understand. I know you have been busy evacuating and preparing for war. As for our actions against the first cygnul raiding party, we took advantage of a tactical situation and engaged the forces of an enemy of the United Equestrian Nations.”

He is downplaying our involvement. Twilight kept her composure calm and her eyes on the griffon admiral at the front of the room. It seemed that politics had become even more confusing and complex over the past couple millennia. I don’t think the Kingdoms would be happy to learn of the true reason behind the UEN’s choosing of this system for the negotiation location. Though, there is no way we could have known that the cygnul would take it this far, this quickly.

After the time lag period had passed, Admiral Hellena spoke again. “Whatever your reasons may be, your actions are why the Kingdoms ultimately decided to join with the United Equestrian Nations to fight the cygnul. We will fight side by side with you and we will see this through to the very end,” She paused but held up a single claw to indicate she still had something to say.

“The primary reason I am contacting you now, is because I have to warn you about the cygnul.” Every eye on the bridge now was now glued on the front screen. “They have cut you off from allied space and I believe they are about to make their move to take out your ship.”

For his benefit, the captain of their frigate did not twitch. Out of the corner of Twilight’s eye, she did see him move a hand to adjust their acceleration and vector to take them out of the solar system’s plane faster. Meanwhile, Admiral Hellena didn’t waste any more time. “Just now, our interstellar communications alerted us that all nearby griffon and UEN star systems are under heavy assault. Your fleets are better prepared than ours but they are still stretched too thin. You very well may be out of options.”

“Captain,” The little glowing pony stared up at James from her perch. “Take a look at what the Admiral just forwarded.” A map of local interstellar space popped up next to the communicator window, marking every system in range of their jump drive. Various sized stars populated their neighborhood, housing a wide array of infrastructure from simple mining facilities to fully developed garden planets. Every allied one had a flashing icon labeling it as under attack. Even the two outlier-controlled colonies were under siege.

“Shit,” Dmitri gestured at the spectacle. “It looks like cygnul are finally making their final move.”

As the new revelation set in, Alice tilted her head to the side and pawed at the armrest with a holographic hoof. “That’s strange.”

“What is it?” James Fletcher touched his screen, zooming in on a nearby yellow sun that, according to griffon reports, housed a UEN weapons research lab. A cygnul cruiser on a suicide run had rammed the station, forcing the local defenders to pull back in order to regroup.

“If the reports are correct, these attacks consist of a sizable force of heavy capital ships to keep allied forces busy while flotillas of fast attack corvettes and fighters patrol throughout the system.”

“What do you mean?”

“They aren’t fighting, sir.” Isamu spoke up from up front, apparently seeing whatever had troubled the A.I. “These small clusters of ships are evenly spread around the star’s gravity well. We could come out of warp anywhere in the system’s metric, and they would be close enough to catch us before we could recharge our jump drive.”

“Alice, what is the absolute farthest from a star that you can push our drive to safely transition back to real space?”

“It varies depending on stellar mass, but generally about ten billion kilometers, Captain. Anymore and we seriously risk becoming trapped in the warping dimension. Even at that remote distance, cygnul patrols are frequent enough to intercept us.”

“The cygnul want us to teleport so that we will be trapped.” Twilight Sparkle stared at the star map. Traveling to any one of them would end in nothing but their death. Except… wait…. That might not be the case. She thought as an idea formed in her head. It was crazy insane, but due to extenuating circumstances, it seemed their best chance. Unfortunately, before she could reveal her plan, the griffon admiral interrupted her.

“Captain Fletcher, four cygnul destroyers are vectoring your way! I believe the…” her warning ended abruptly as the ship jerked violently to the side. Red strobing flashes contrasted the traditional white bridge lights and it took a few seconds for the living members of the crew to recover.

Not bound by the same biological restrictions, their A.I. reacted much faster. Small shudders felt throughout the hull signified an effort to fight back as Rainbow Dash’s secondary turrets engaged their attackers. The feed with Admiral Hellena flickered and vanished to be replaced by a whirling of stars outside while they spun away from incoming fire.

“Captain!” Alice’s avatar had vanished at the first indication of danger and her voice now came from the ceiling speakers. “We have a cygnul destroyer two thousand kilometers off our stern. They got lucky with their jump, sir, and fired at us right away. Right now, they are trying to target us with their main guns but I’m making it difficult for them.

“We need to jump now!”

Another violent shudder rocked the patrol frigate’s hull. “I need coordinates, James! Where do you want to go?”

Torn with indecision, the human captain hesitated. Traveling to any UEN, griffon, or outlier star system in range would make them easy prey for the cygnul. They couldn’t stay put either, if the enemy warship on their tail was any indication. The only soul in the room who had an idea chose that moment to speak up.

“James!” Twilight fought against the acceleration of their ship to highlight a tiny white star on the local map. “Let’s go to Gateway!”

Alice took Rainbow Dash in a tight turn, avoiding a shot from the destroyer, but the particle beam passed by close enough to be visible on the front screen. Grunting from the g-forces, Isamu’s voice growled as they continued throwing off their pursuer’s aim. “But that’s a cygnul system!”

“She might be right,” Dmitri chimed in. “To attack with this many ships, they must have depleted their standing forces. We may have drop on them!”

A loud groaning of their hull complimented Alice’s mad maneuvering skills. Pushed to its limit, their ship threatened to break apart from the extreme stresses bleeding through the inertial dampeners. Even though they made it difficult for their pursuer, the cygnul warship on their tail refused to let up on the chase, firing away at them as quickly as it could recharge its main guns. Avoiding the cyg beams had an unintended side effect. Unable to continue accelerating, the destroyer closed in with their smaller frigate and it began to miss by less and less each time. They were running out of time.

“Do it Alice!” James Fletcher yelled out over the cacophony of warning alarms. “Take us to Gateway!”

“All hands, prepare for imminent jump.” The artificial pony announced over the ship’s speakers. With a gut wrenching jolt, the patrol frigate took a direct hit, overpowering her shields with a shudder that reverberated through her hull. The stars spun around through their front view screen as they focused in on a single dim point of light. Wasting no more time, space warped around the ship and the crew of the Rainbow Dash vanished from the universe.