Aces In Exile

**Chapter Eleven:

Scramble**

That one little word, only three little letters. Yet it is the cause of such pain and misery.

War.

The moment the announcement was made, every single human in the tavern knew what was to come. What had started out that night as a celebration, quickly took on a somber mood as some left while others sat in silence with their drinks.

"I guess this means that we won't get to have as much shore leave eh lieutenant?" Asked Lynne as she put on a small smile.

"No, i guess it doesn't." Alzack said as he downed his ale, stood up and walked out.

Back aboard the Pride, the announcement had been played throughout the ship over the intercom, bringing the same moods before the commander addressed the ship. "Everyone listen up, I know that you all thought that being here was going to be like a permanent holiday.

Unfortunately that ends now, as of now, all leave passes are to be canceled and all personnel are to be combat ready at all times. Drills will also be scheduled to bring combat readiness to peak levels. That is all, Artemis out."

As Alzack made his way back towards the ship, he watched as many of the local ponies who were still out at this hour made their way quickly to their homes. Only a few minutes before, they were all happy as could be. Now every one of them was as far from happy as possible.

Families who were out to dinner rushed their children to the safety of their homes, many of the foals not even knowing what was happening.

Guards tried to keep the panic to a minimum and marines were tasked with getting the crew and fliers back aboard to bring the ship up to combat alert. 'It's going to be a busy day.' Alzack thought as he made his way back.

Asterion:

"My lord, the dragons are awaiting you in the courtyard as you requested." One of Iron Heart's soldiers informed him as they entered the planning room.

"Good, then the time has come. Let us go and meet with them shall we?" Iron Heart replied as he stood from his seat and made his way to the balcony. Outside in the courtyard, flocks of dragons of all shapes and sizes waited for him to appear.

As he pushed open the large double doors, every single one of them looked towards him, their eyes showing their hunger for battle.

Iron Heart looked back towards them, studying each and every one of them before clearing his throat.

"Great Drakes of the Blasted Lands, your time has come. Long have you waited for this day, and long have I told you of the glory and treasures it would bring. Now it has finally come, the cowards of Canterlot shall burn before you, and their riches shall become yours.

Go forth and fulfill your destiny and let none stand in your way!" His speech was met by the mighty roars and cheers of the dragons as they took to the skies and headed for the pony capital. The call of greed beckoning them forward.

Back at the balcony, Iron Heart looked on with a sinister grin. 'Those foolish little equines think that they can stand up to me? Lets see how they stand after their princesses have been turned to cinders right in front of them.' He thought to himself as he slowly made his way back inside the planning room, to make ready for his invasion.

The Pride:

It was early morning and the crew of the ship had begun to stir from their rest as they slept off their drinks from the night before.

Alzack having not been a heavy drinker to start with was already up and putting on his uniform for the day while the rest of his flight were just getting out of their bunks. "Good morning dearies, ready for a busy day?" He asked in a cheery voice.

"Stop talking, need coffee." Lynne answered him as she rubbed her eyes and slowly began to dress.

Up on the command deck, checks were being sounded off on all of the ships critical and combat systems.

"Hey how are the missile batteries looking?" Asked one of the gun directors to another as he got an ammunition count for the ships defensive armaments. "Looking pretty good David, systems are green and the tubes are reloading just fine." Answered the other.

"Think we'll be starting the drills early Kyle?" David asked. His station partner looked over to him.

"I certainly hope not, half the crew has a hangover, I don't think we're ready." He replied as he went back to checking the weapon systems.

Inside the flight control, operators directed patrols to various sectors around the ship and the nearby settlements.

"Red three, shift patrol sector to alpha seven, keep an eye on that mountain pass." Ordered one of them.

"Roger tower, Red three changing course to one, one, five, over." Red three replied.

"Tower this is Yellow two, unknown contacts bearing two, two, eight, from my position. Range eighty." Called another pilot.

"Roger that Yellow two, see if you can get a visual but do not engage, could be refugees over." The flight controller warned.

"Copy, moving on intercept course." The pilot replied.

"Tower, Yellow two, more contacts, but radar signature is too small for airships over." He reported.

"Roger Yellow two, vectoring other patrols to your area for backup...." The operator started until a frantic call filled the radio.

"BANDITS BANDITS BANDITS! MY GOD THERE'S HUNDREDS OF THEM! NEED BACKUP NOW!" Yellow two yelled.

"Roger Yellow two, what's your status?" The operator asked as others directed patrols towards his assigned area.

"Fuel is good, weapons are clear but I don't think I'll stand a chance agai...." Yellow two began but was suddenly cut off by the sounds of warning alarms and the the sound of metal being crushed.

"Yellow two come in?" The operator called, but there was no response. "Does anyone have contact on Yellow two?" He asked.

"Green one, negative but am tracking multiple contacts on a direct heading for Canterlot from Yellow two's last known position." Answered one of the paroling planes.

"Sir, call from flight control, Yellow two has been taken down and multiple hostiles are being tracked on heading towards Canterlot."

The comms officer told the commander as he received the message from flight control.

"It's already begun... GENERAL QUARTERS NOW! GET EVERY PLANE IN THE AIR!" Artemis shouted. Alarms began ringing out all around the ship as men and women ran as fast as they could to man their stations.

"General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill, bandits on radar, heading oh five oh. Plotted course is Canterlot, all fighters, scramble, scramble, scramble."

"Get the ship airborne immediately, I want us put on station circling Canterlot, those ponies don't have anti-aircraft guns, but we do."

Ordered the commander. "Aye sir, powering up engines, bringing reactors off standby." Answered the chief pilot.

Meanwhile inside the hangars, every pilot scrambled to their fighters, strapping themselves in and doing pre-flight checks as fast as possible and one by one, moving towards the elevators to the flight decks.

"Red flight, ready for transfer." Red one called as the three of them ascended.

"Yellow flight, bring us up." The three remaining pilots were quickly brought topside, eager to get revenge for their fallen comrade.

Ponies all around Canterlot were going about their business as they would every day, none of them knew what was coming.

That was until the first flights of Daggers roared by overhead in full afterburner. City guards along the outer walls watched as they sped away, and small specks began to appear on the horizon. "What is that?" One of them asked his superior as he leaned forward and squinted to try and get a better look. "Well colt, that would be...." His superior began as one of the fighters released a missile at one of the dots.

After a short delay, said speck on the horizon was caught in a fireball as the other specks began to grow into mighty dragons.

"... That would be what you get paid for heading this way, SOUND THE ALARM!" The older guard finally finished as bells were rung all along the walls, finally alerting the citizens of the incoming danger.