Humanity: Exodus

Captain Peak Cap stared into space through the window in front of him, lights flickering past the window as the ship he was aboard rocketed through hyperspace towards Equis, the home planet of the Equestrians. Groans rang out as the ship shuddered, a normal occurrence if the crews lack of reaction was to go by.

"Captain, We're approaching our exit path, ETA 3 minutes, beginning Removal Procedures and venting the Heat sinks," An ensign said from a small monitor just below the captains deck, "Engaging mitigation thrusters,"

The Bridge was immediately filled with a dull scream as several forward facing thrusters began to flare up, large gouts of purple energy rocketing towards the ship as its speed slowed down, realspace rushing forward to welcome the ship back from slipspace.

"Removal Procedure successful, Exit location was 2 K's off with a drift of just under 800 Km/h, Mana capacitors are currently at 67% and charging," The ensign looked to the captain, "We should be capable of engaging the FEU in just under an hour."

"Excellent, Wake the crew from cryo before they freeze," Peak ordered before turning around and trotting towards the ladder that descended down to to the Crew Deck of the Bridge.

His hoofs clanged on the metal plating as he headed towards the Elevator, his stomach grumbling as he moved forwards. Several Other ponies got up from their seats, all of them unicorns, and began to file towards the elevator, light conversation starting up as friends discussed family, entertainment and whatever else they talked with friends about. Just as Peak as about to step onto the elevator several klaxons began to ring out. The loud ring painful to the ponies sensitive ears.

"Captain, we have an unidentified contact off the starboard side, they're hailing us on an unknown frequency," A red unicorn from the communications station called out as a his horn sparked up, a red aura engulfing her horn and 2 bars on the panel.

"Patch it through to the main monitor, Corn Syrup, I want you to order all crew to battlestations, threat level bravo," Peak ordered, his voice firm and full of authority, "Ensign Whiplash, I want you to start relaying an encrypted channel to the nearest FLEETCOM Server and to begin broadcasting the communications,"

"Yes sir," Whiplash called out as his blue horn sparked, a similarly coloured aura wrapped around the Control Pad in front of him.

Peak quickly trotted back up to the Command Deck, a large ceremonial sword of gilded gold sat on his thigh, the sheath smacking his thigh with each step.

"Channel is open sir, they can hear us and vice versa," Whiplash called out as a monitor descended from the top of the bridge, the display lit up to reveal the other ships crew.

"This is the REN Harmony to unkown vessel, Identify yourself and state your intentions or we will fire upon you," Peak ordered as soon as the monitor stopped moving.

"This is the HIN Eternal Penitence to the REN Harmony, This is captain Hernandez Ferdid of the Human Imperial Navy, our ship is damaged and in need of assistance, Are you able to assist?" The creature on the monitor replied, its small beady gaze focused on peak.

"We can provide an assist, what exactly do you need?"

"We need several magnetic coils for our Antimatter chamber. Our jump to RealSpace threw ours out of alignment and we have no spares, or technicians required to replace them with,"

"You're in luck, as it seems we happen to have quite a few coils all nice and new, I will send a ship out with some technicians to install the new coils, although, may I ask, what are you creatures?"

"We're Hu-" The monitor cut as yet another klaxon cried out, this one a piercing shriek compared to the previous ringing.

"Sir! 3 new contacts just appeared on the long range scanners, They're flying gryphons Transponders," Whiplash called out from his station.

The Captain groaned, Gryphons were the last thing he needed during a first contact scenario,

"Power up weapons and divert power from the Mana Capacitors and direct it to the Lances, load torpedo tubes 1 - 10 and arm Shard launchers 2 - 4, Helmspony! Hard to port! We need to face these arrivals head on so the shields can soak up any incoming fire."

Various ponies called out their affirmatives as they carried out their tasks. The 12 Heavy lance batteries began to glow as power was provided to them, their enchantments automatically pinpointing weak spots in the Gryphons hulls in preparation for the command to fire. Various point defence Mana disperses began to spin up along the hull as a dull glow encircled the ship, its shields bursting to life with a light hum of energy. The shields reached full power just in time as the lead pirate vessel fired it main gun at the Pony ship, a large shell impacted the ships shields causing them to flare up as several Point Defence disperses overloaded from the impact, weakening the shield.

"Shields at 80% strength and holding, Lances are armed and the Shards loaded. Torpedo tubes 1 - 4 are loaded and ready to go, Tube 5 appears to have jammed while the rest are good to go as well, Power for the weapons are at full,"

"Excellent," Peak grinned, "Fire,"

Several loud screeches filled the void as the Lances discharged a large crimson beam, Torpedoes screaming out of their tubes into the void while shards roared towards the lead vessel. The Crimson beams cut wide swaths of hull, fires and explosions rocked the Pirate ship as it began to vent atmosphere. Just as the fires went out did the Shards connect. The tips of the shards rent large gaping holes in the armor plating before they detonated into a shower of acidic shards, the smaller shards melting even more armoured plating. Finally the Torpedoes impacted, large clouds of smoke and fire blooming out as the entire front of the enemy vessel was vaporised.

"Sir, weapons are reporting multiple Lance overloads while all our torpedoes are jammed and we only had those 4 Shards, all we got left are the Close Range Autocannons,"

"Enter knife fight range, order the gunners to spin up the Autocannons, 60mm Shard Core shells are authorised," Peak ordered, "Engineering, do we have enough juice to make a small flash jump?"

"Negative captain, all our juice is being fed into the Lances,"

"Buck," Peak swore as he slammed his fist on the command panel next to him, "alright then, ahead full, engage after burners, when we reach 60 meters make hard to port and open fire with all portside Autocannons, Aim for the bridge!"

"Aye sir,"

The REN Harmony rocketed forward as its engines roared to life, G-forces almost throwing the Captain off his hooves before Inertial Dampeners kicked in. Just as the Equestrian ship prepared to make a turn, a large thump echoed out. The Bridge crew looked around only for the left Gryphon ship exploding a large wreck, any flames extinguishing from the cold vacuum of space. Another dull thump echoed out and the last ship exploded in a hailstorm of super heated metal. Peak stared in awe, they didn't even see the round that destroyed the Gryphon ships.

"Helmspony, hard to port!" Peak shouted as the ship start to turn, the hull creaking at the manoeuvre.

"Sir, we're being hailed again,"

"Accept the call,"

The monitor once again lit up as the alien appeared on screen, more aliens could be seen shifting around the background.

"Captain," The alien began, "I only just realised that your ship isn't emitting a reactor signature, do you lack anti-matter reactors?"

Multiple ponies gasped at the word Anti-Matter.

"You use Anti-matter? We illegalised that millennium ago," shouted peak as he glared at the monitor.

The alien shifted slightly before muttering to himself.

"We illegalised that millennium ago!"

Captain Hernandez just stared at the screen before stifling a chuckle,