"Move it! Get that fire out!" Shouted one of the officers in charge of damage control.

"We got wounded in here!" Shouted another as a doorway was pried open.

"Get them to medical quickly!" Ordered his superior as he directed rescue teams.

"More over here!" Called another.

It was total chaos throughout the ship, as rescue and damage control teams worked tirelessly to fight the multiple fires that had sprang up throughout the ship because of the emergency jump, followed by the ships unplanned planetary reentry.
Coupled with the many crew injured in those fires or suffering injuries from being tossed around from both times.

On the bridge, the command crew was sifting through the piles of incoming reports to best direct efforts and have the ship's systems restored.

"What's the situation with the wounded?" Asked Admiral Lindrake as he signed reports as fast as he could and directed crew members.

"Sir, medical reports that we currently have one hundred and three injured, mostly fractures of varying degrees as well as multiple burn victims." Reported the comms officer.

"And the dead?" Artemis asked the grim question.

"We've lost 27 sir, one from a broken neck, seven from head trauma, nine from being crushed by improperly secured cargo and ten couldn't escape the flames. Eight of those consisting of two Dagger flights who's bunk rooms were completely engulfed. Though from the looks of some of the injured, that's going to increase soon." The officer concluded his report.

"What about the boarding party in the starboard runway?" Artemis asked.

"Unknown sir, the launch lifts are damaged so we can't get rescue teams to them currently, but we're working on that as fast as possible." Was the officer's answer.

"Get it done, have them cut through the walls if necessary. I want everyone accounted for." The Admiral ordered.

"Aye sir."

"Are the guards ready Captain Valiant Heart?" Celestia asked the Captain of the Guard as she and Luna approached the pegasi pulled carriages. Each was loaded with a squad of the palace's best Royal Guards.

"Just give the word your majesty." Valiant Heart answered as he bowed to the ruler of the day.

"Good, My sister and I shall be accompanying you. We leave immediately." Princess Celestia ordered.

As they boarded one of the carriages, there was a purple flash of light as Twilight Sparkle appeared nearby.

"Princess! What's going on?" Asked the purple alicorn.

Luna and Celestia looked at Twilight before looking to each other.

"You know she'll follow if you don't tell her sister, we should just bring Twilight along." Luna told her sister. Celestia had to agree with her on this.

"Very well, come along Twilight, we shall explain along the way." Celestia instructed as the carriage door was opened for her.

Hesitating for a moment to think about it, Twilight quickly boarded the carriage along with the other two princess'

"How's the drive core looking Roman?" Lindrake asked the Head Engineer.

"Not good sir, too many of it's critical systems are fried. So unless we can get some new parts, we're not going anywhere." Roman Landon answered as he turned his attention away from his work and to the Admiral's image on the comm-link.

"Damn it, I was afraid of that. Looks like we're going to have to wait for the UCF to send out a search." Artemis said as he took off his cap and rubbed his palm across his hair.

"How about the sub-light engine reactor?" He asked.

"That looks like something we'll be able to fix, though we may have to salvage a few parts from the drive core." Answered Roman.

"Do it, like you said, it's not taking us anywhere." Artemis ordered.

"Aye sir, I'll get on it immediately." Roman confirmed before ending the call.

Admiral Lindrake took a deep breath to calm his nerves before putting his cap back on his head.
"What's the status of our other systems?" He inquired.

"Sir, Navigation is down, but since our FTL is also out of commission, that's not too big of an issue. Fire control is still online and it looks like all defensive and offensive batteries are reporting green. Luckily we had them all retracted before we jumped so they didn't suffer any damage.
Our sensor array's are currently rebooting and should be online shortly and damage crews have managed to get the runway lifts working again. Rescue teams are currently at the boarding party's drop ship now and it appears that they're all uninjured. Head Hunter engaged his magnetic locks upon touchdown so they were secured for the entire trip." Commander Bradich reported to the Admiral.

"Good, have a commendation drawn up for his quick thinking Commander." Lindrake sighed as some good news was finally starting to come in for a change.

"Aye sir, I'll have it ready for you to sign by the end of the day." Melissa saluted.

"Sensor array's are back online sir!" Called out one of the officers. "Wait... That can't be right..."

"What is it?" The Admiral asked.

"One moment sir, running a quick system diagnostic. It's probably just some inter....." He began but suddenly stopped as the diagnostic came up clear. "CONTACTS! LOTS OF THEM! Bearing nine five by seven two! They're coming from the top of the mountain!" The officer reported frantically.

Everyone on the bridge quickly remembered the shimmering bubble on the mountain top.

"General quarters! Have all available gunners report to their stations immediately, but have them hold their fire until I give the order to do so!" Artemis ordered as alarms began to sound. "We have a possible first contact situation, so until we know what we're dealing with, I'd rather not start a war."

"Aye sir!" Responded the comms officer. "All hands, general quarters, general quarters, this is not a drill! Multiple unknown contacts inbound, all available gunners are to report to your stations immediately and await further orders!"

As the carriages drew closer to the object, the princess' and their guards were able to make out more details.

Rising up around the middle appeared to be some sort of structure with what appeared to be wide tinted windows wrapping around the top.
Atop of that were many thin spires, all clustered together.
The main structure of the object was wide and long, looking much like a rectangular hexagon.

Celestia ordered the carriages to circle it so they could get a better look.

As they circled around it, they could see what appeared to be two large openings just above the midway point between the top and bottom of the main structure, set off to the sides of the front and back.

"Sister, if I did not know better, I would think this to be some sort of airship." Luna commented.

Once they had finished inspecting it from altitude, Celestia ordered the guards to set down near the object so they may inspect it on hoof.

Though as they drew closer, hidden ports all along the top of the object began opening, and what appeared to be cannons were raised up through them. Each and every one was quickly pointed directly at the carriage formation.

As her eyes widened, Twilight slightly turned her head to Luna. "I think you might be right princess."

"Pull back!" Celestia ordered the pegasi pulling the carriages.

"Sir! All gun crews are deployed and are now tracking the unknown targets, but some of them are giving some strange reports." One of the fire control directors informed the Admiral.

"What kind of reports?" Artemis asked as he faced the director.

"One moment sir, mount eighteen is sending us a live feed from his gun camera." Reported the officer as the video image was displayed on the main monitor.

What it showed brought silence throughout the entire command bridge.

"Can someone tell me exactly what I'm looking at here?" Artemis asked as he pulled his officer's cap from his head.

"Sir, it appears to be a bunch of flying ponies." Responded Commander Bradich.

Author's Note

Chapter four folks!
Hope you're enjoying it so far, because I know I am.
As always, I'll see you among the stars!