The sleek ship hummed quietly and alone in the dark expanse of space, at kilometer long it looked like a fish without a fin or tail banking to its right and left, spinning in space in an odd dance as it moved thousands of kilometers as second a trail of blue light expelled from its flank.
Turning the ship would take one sixth of an hour and if it where to push its engines as hard as it could, it would reach the closest planet in just a few hours, it is one of the many guardians of this solar system, a ship made to fight in wars where the enemy had never been seen, where the opponents had every advantage.
From the shadow of a moon a hail of light spat towards the ship followed by a blob of darkness created by whatever dark technology the enigma used to operate there fowl ships.
Arcing in a graceful loop the fish ship glowed with a purple sparkle before suddenly it was gone, the hail of light passing by where it was as with a flash, it appeared behind the dark blob barely a thousand kilometers away.
As if stunned to inaction the blob did not move as the fish spat its own hail of light as well as conventional missiles and a weapon that created dots of darkness that tore into the Enigma illuminating it for the first time in the war of three hundred years.
In an instant the Enigma was freed of its darkness, a ugly looking cigar with thousands of pockmarks dug into its hull from the barrage, as if seeing its demise as the hands of the fish ship it chose to rend itself apart rather than face destruction at the hooves of their enemy.
With a flash of light the Enigma was turned to scraps of metal so small they were almost useless and a field of sparkling water and blood spinning in the void of space.
“Captain, Project Sunset is suffering magical backlash but is otherwise functional, the talismans across the ship have all burnt out at once, our shields are down and we won't be doing that teleport again until we get a refit” her horn aglow a small mare sat enclosed in a cage of arcane energy regulating the ships many magical subsystems as they failed one by one.
“Captain, scans indicated that the Enigma self destructed, there is nothing left for us to study, looks like they will remain an enigma.” A stallion with a silver crown showing though his short dark blue mane sighed slumping back into his chair shaking his head.
“Lower battle readiness to code yellow and begin emergency repairs, priority on crew followed by the engine, I want to get a report back in a reasonable time dammit!” Lifting her striped hoof to the com system built into her command console she activated the ship wide communication system “This is the Captain, We have destroyed the enigma ship” the roar of approval from the beaten and bloody crew was a dull vibration that could be heard even in the armored battle bridge as hooves thundered on the steel floors and screeches of passionate griffins filled the Loyalty Class Ship.
The first victory in an endless war had just been won.
It had taken the Ship two days to crawl back to the tiny planet it called home. Two days on a ship immersed in celebration, a pony more burns than skin had cried not in pain but in joy as her friends told her the news, the ships stocks were used to dull the startling relief of finally being able to effectively fight the Enigma.
But deep within the ships core, its innermost chamber, the rivalries were unheard.
“The short range jump was far more effective than we anticipated, it would seem that the Enigma were completely unprepared for it, this proves once and for all that the networked computers where the security risk, how they infiltrated even our most primitive systems remains a mystery”
“We can't rely on un-networked computers to develop all of our new technology, with our labs so far apart just transporting the data would add years to the development time.”
“One of my scientists has made a breakthrough in crystallized nano chips, if we are lucky the Enigma worms might be incompatible.”
“Do we even know how they will respond? We have never destroyed one of their ships before... their behavior is chaotic at the best of times”
“Hardly dear, we know that each scout is followed by a fleet exactly nine months after it jumps out of the system, we have never had a chance like this, the scout never saw our fleet”
“You think we should mobilize the fleet? What makes you think they will fare any better than before”
“Oh she of little faith, the new captain, I like her”
“Zhanya? What makes her better than the others?”
“She is barking! Off the wall! Madder than our dear Twilight!”
“HAY!”
“My drones have found her to be nothing but collected, what makes you think she is insane?”
“Well firstly there are many wonderful flavors of madness, she just happens to be one of the least fun and most useful flavors, like strawberry!”
“That explains nothing”
“That calm collected little zebra out maneuvered an opponent in space for over six hours without accessing her computer simulation once, she did it all by eye”
For another hour the many figures dwindled, each leaving to address other concerns until only two remained there avatars vanishing from the holographic sweet.
“What do you think he meant?”
“I just think he likes her, unlike you he actually says what he means”
“Oh so harsh my little pony, I always say what I mean”
“Your entire life is one big deception”
“You feeling okay? that magical backlash must have been harsh...” The quiet was defining.
“... I will always be here for you if you need me”
“I know.”
