Admiral Ichabod Crane of The HMS Archon stared at a birds eye view image of the ANE Fleet which was currently 20 miles from his fleet.
He was an old man with brown eyes and a well kept grey beard and hair, he was wearing a dark purple uniform with some red outlines.

He was staring at the formation of the 1000 strong ANE invasion fleet looking for any weaknesses, he noticed the weird weapons the ships seem to have, some of the ships have guns that was mainly a crystal with lenses taking the form of a barrel, some had the traditional ship cannons, some even where using primitive cannons on the sides but those ships were made from wood whilst the other ships were made from metal or gold, so they must be mothballed

'Either they are stupid to make a boat from a soft and heavy metal or it's just some fancy paint.' Ichabod thought

"My lord we have orders from Princess Serena, she said it's from the King," said a young Ensign, he was wearing a dark blue uniform and he had youthful green eyes and gelled blonde hair.

Ichabod took his eyes of the projection and gazed at the boy "What doe's the King have to say ?" Ichabod said with enough boredom that it'll make Jasper seem excited.

"Serena said that the king has authorised Code Black," Ichabod's eyes widened "He wants us to surprise the ANE fleet with the Spire Transit and erase them from existence." The ensign informed.

Ichabod stared at the ensign with shock, Code Black is only authorised when a powerful Corrupted presence has been discovered and the corrupted needs to be destroyed immediately before it spreads.

'If this ANE is working for the Corruption then they must be destroyed,' Ichabod witnessed first hand what the Corruption did, he was in Bowerstone when the Crawler and it's Darkness invaded and he saw the Corrupted swarm the old Tattered Spire.

"EVERYONE STOP FAFFING ABOUT AND GET TO YOUR POSTS THIS IS A CODE BLACK, CHARGE THE MAIN CANNON AND FIRE IT ON MY ORDERS !" Ichabod barked to his crew.

Everyone got up from their tea time and ran to certain places around the massive 2km ship, after everyone got to their places the top half of the ship shifted as the Archon's main gun turned towards the ANE fleet, a noticeable cloud of will started forming around the barrel occasionally some lighting would strike out, hitting a poor chicken attempting to fly.

"On your orders sir," says a crewmen.

"FIRE THE CANNON !"

[ANE POV]

A all white male gryphon wearing a white uniform was staring at a magically projected image of the human fleet trying to look for any weaknesses, what kept him staring at the fleet was the big black ship in the middle of the fleet.

'That will make the land invasion extremely hard we might have to call in reinforceme-' The gryphon stopped his thoughts when the top half of the black ship moved towards his fleet.

"CAPTAIN CHICKEN BEAK , THE BLACK SHIP IS CHARGING THEIR MAIN GUN !" shouted a zebra crewmen

Chicken Beaks eyes widened when he saw the clouds surrounding the gun barrel, and he nearly cried when he saw the lighting kill his poor cousin.

"PREPARE FOR EVASIVE MANEUVERS !" Chicken Beak shouted, his ship moving out of the way just in time as the main cannon fired a dark blue beam of light that went through their portside and then went through several other ships then it exploded taking out many more ships, in just a couple of seconds, half of the ANE fleet was destroyed.

Chicken Beak and the rest of his crew was knocked over by the beam hitting their ship and when they were getting up they were then knocked over again as the shockwave from the explosion rocked the ship.

"ORDER THE FLEET TO OPEN FIRE ON THE HUMANS !" Chicken Beak shouted, he looked at the human fleet but he noticed a flash of light and the black ship was nowhere to be seen.

[Archon POV]

"FIRE THE CANNON !" As soon as Ichabod said that the entire ship shook, the main gun letting out a beam of pure Will striking the ANE fleet causing an explosion that took out half their fleet.

"Bloody hell, the little buggers must be pissing themselves at the moment !" said a crewmen with a thick albion accent

Ichabod ignored him and went towards a big button with a image of the spire on it "All personnel, prepare for S.A.T (Spire Assisted Travel)" Ichabod announced through the ship wide radio before slamming his hand into the button.

Instantly a bolt of energy shot out from the tattered spire and hit the Archon, the energy from the bolt formed a glowing circle around it and the Archon disappeared.

"Admiral we have entered S.A.T, we will appear in the middle of the ANE fleet in 10 seconds." Informed the ensign

Ichabod nodded at the ensign before barking orders into the ship radio to prepare the weapons for their surprise attack, he looked outside the one way windows and all he could see was a blurred out world. they were quickly approaching the blurred images of gold, grey and brown ships, and a moment later they were right in the middle of the ANE fleet, the Archon was then surrounded by the glowing circle again as they re-entered the naturel world.

"EXITING S.A.T PREPARE TO OPEN FIRE !"

[ANE POV]

"CAPTAIN THE BLACK SHIP IS RIGHT BEHING US !" Shouted an earth pony

"SHEILDS NOW !" Chicken Beak commanded,

All ANE ships were surrounded by a pink aura before disappearing. Some ships weren't quick enough as they were torn apart by blue beams fired by the ships secondary cannons.

"17 ships down sir, no survivors," The zebra crewman said

"Focus fire on the black ship, we need that thing down before the rest of the humans get here." Chicken Beak ordered.

[3rd person]

Pink beams and cannon shells were fired at the Archon, they were either deflected by a blue over shield or they bounced of the black armour whilst the ANE ships were being torn apart by Will beams and lighting bolts, some ships would just randomly sink or get crushed by an unknown force.

Eventually the ANE carriers would release their fighters and bombers to attack the Archon, they manage to chip some of the armour but the Archon let out Shards made from the same material as the spire. They shot down the fighters with lighting attacks and any that got close were thrown into other ships or just crushed.

The Archons main cannon was starting to charge again as its other cannons let out a barrage of laser death, mincing the ANE.

ANE were then be hit by more cannons as the Albion fleet got into range. unlike the Archon they were firing shells and had steel armour [basically WW2 era British ships with a bit of steampunk], and the ANE fleet were quickly being destroyed, several ships decided to retreat but all but the fastest of them had a chance.

[Archon POV]

"Chase that ship quickly before it gets away !" Ichabod pointed at a particular ship that was moving quite fast.

"Sorry sir but the ships out of spire range, we'll sink if we go any further and its too manoeuvrable so there's no point in using the main gun." Informed the ensign

Ichabod sighed "Finish the rest off."

The main cannon turned towards the ANE fleet and fired, the beam wiped out the remaining ships. the battle was over.

[At the Tattered Spire]

The King stared at projection of the naval battle, he had a massive grin on his face, not only because of the overwhelming success of the HMS Archon but also because of the advancements of the Spire Soldier program.

'This is going to be great' The King thought before he walked up a flight of stairs, he then came across a crowded hall full of pods and scientists, all of the pods were full of Albions elite soldiers, all them have small shards of the spire inserted inside them most of them will not survive the power of the shards. the process to make soldiers of their kind was perfected by Lucien Fairfax but most of his research was lost when the last spire shattered, the surviving papers were in a vault in Castle Fairfax allowing him and his royal scientist to recreate Lucien's creations such as the shards.

As he walked to the end of the hall, he started to hear screams of pain as humans and other creatures alike were being tested on, he walked past a rather gruesome image of a prisoner from Ravenscar being vivisected.

After a while of walking and sniggering at the unfortunate test subjects. he came across a 13ft beast of a man surrounded by scienstists preforming various check-ups on him, there was several spire shards sticking out of his body, most notably his head which is now bold from the shards sticking out of his head, a clockwork exoskeleton was being placed on his body before being covered up by a thick black trench coat that covered up most of his face and a trifold hat was placed on his head, leaving only his glowing blue eyes visible.

He is know as the Alpha Commandant, a recreation of Lucien's commandant, both of them are almost clones but the Alpha Commandant is a lot bigger and is wearing modified clockwork power armour custom made to work along side with his powerful strength and endurance.

The AC gazed at the king and bowed when he got closer "My king it is an honour to be the first of my kind to kill in your name, when will I get to charge into the battlefield ? the scientists won't tell me when I'm ready," The AC said in a deep voice that sent vibrations through our ears.

"Well you will be ready in a year but we can't send you into battle without your a squad of your brothers and sisters, so around three years." The king informed AC, he seemed agitated at having to wait so long but he kept it hidden. " but if see it necessary I can assign you a mission if it requires a more specialized soldier."

AC smiled "I can live with that."

"Good, now follow me. we're going to see what the scientists have discovered from the ANE." The king said before walking of, the AC close behind.

The King and the AC walked towards an atrium, this was full of the ANE demons that were captured, Ponies with horns, wings or neither some looked like they were made from crystals, gryphons, yaks, minotaur's, diamond dogs, bloody dragons, zebras, and changelings.

All these were captured from the few ships that were capture and a few others who tried to sneak into Albion.

"Pathetic creature. They were foolish to think they would have stood a chance against us !" The AC commented whilst watching a injured dragon get slowly vivisected by a group of scientists, they could have made it painless but the creatures reaction to the pain was needed to get a better understanding of their psychology whilst their organs are cut out and studied.

The rest of the atrium had similar things going on with other species suffering the same treatment whilst others watch from their cells.

All species were in separated areas, two of each species were being cut open one male, one female, the others were either having tests preformed on them or they are locked up in their cells, glaring at us while we walk.

One dragon thought it would be a good idea to breath their fire at us, it burned a bit of my armour but he was treated with his spire collar activating and treating him to a wonderful thing called electricity.

The AC turned around and stormed to the dragons cell and grabbed it's neck through the bars then he repeatedly slammed the dragons face into the bars until his face had no scales left, his other cellmates tried to stop this but their collars forced them to the floor, all they could do was watch their friend get beaten.

The AC then walked back to me as if nothing had happened.

I stared at him then the broken body of the dragon and sighed with disappointment, then I got an idea "Guards, grab that dragon and have the quacks see how its body can handle disease." I ordered a bunch of guards that were walking by. these guards were heavily based of Lucien's own spire guards, but instead of thick black clothing they where wearing a black clockwork exoskeleton.

I then looked at the AC and gave him a pat on the back before walking through a corridor

After several minutes of walking past the screams of some prisoners and some empty pods, we reached the centre of the spire, it was a big building right in the middle of a massive abyss with bridges connecting the building to the rest of the spire.

After a few more minutes of walking they came across a heavily fortified and heavily guarded room.

In the middle of the room were the princesses, they were both strapped onto a 'Rehabilitation` Chair' shipped directly from Ravenscar Keep and fitted with a few spire shards to give it a bit more oomph.

Currently interrogating the princesses were one of the few successful SSS [Spire Super Soldier] she was getting very little information out of them but she hasn't activated the chair yet, no man and woman on Ergon has withstood it. It doesn't need to be used most of the time as the mere thought of it being used would get even the most stubborn person to tell everything they know, the only people who suffer the chair are people who underestimate it or don't know what it is.

[warning colourful language ahead]

"Tells us everything you know about your military, your secrets, your nations weak points and your numbers right NOW you furry feathered WANKS OR I'll BREAK YOUR FUCKING HORNS OFF AND SHOVE IT SO FAR UP YOUR ARSEHOLES THAT YOU WOULD BE PUKING BLOOD AND SHIT COVERED SHARDS !" said the rather creative super soldier, she was like a female version of the AC but only 7ft and she still has hair and isn't wearing a hat.

"WE SHALT NOT TELL THOU ANYTHING !" shouted Luna in defiance

"My little ponies will free us then we will destroy yo-AHHHH !" Celestia was cut of by her horn being broken off, she was then stabbed in the leg by it.

"TELLS ME EVERYTHING NOW YOU CUNT !" The horn was then pulled out of Celestia's leg and was stabbed in her other leg "OR I WILL MINDFUCK YOU AND THEN PROCEED TO KICK YOUR SPUNK STAINED BODY TILL ALL YOUR BONES ARE DUST !" She then kicked Celestia in the head, further damaging her already cracked skull

"GET OFF MY SISTER YOU BITC-*SKRIIIIIIP* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !" THE SSS ripped one of Luna's wings of and then grabbed her hand and impaled it on her own horn

"Was I taking to you," The SSS gave Luna a hard punch to her snout "CAUSE I SWEAR I WAS TALKING TO A CUM STAINED SLAG, NOT SOME LOUD MOUTHED BITCH WHO THINKS SHE CAN DO ANYTHING TO STOP THIS !" The SSS pulled Luna's mouth open and ripped some teeth out.

The king looked towards the AC who was just staring at the interrogation. He then slowly looked to the other guards in the room who were also just staring. He then turned back to the interrogation 'By the void... why didn't my brother think off this.'

"Now back to the cum whore,"Celestia got a boot to the head "Tell me everything, OR THE BLUE TWAT GETS HER JAW RIPPED OUT !" The SSS said whilst grabbing Luna's bottom teeth and gave it a nice tug.

"You wouldn't you filthy ape !" Celestia retorted.

The SSS gave Luna a harsh pull and dislocated her jaw, she then walked up to Celestia and ripped the horn out of her leg and impaled Celestia's hand to the chair.

She then went to Luna and took her hand of her horn, then she broke that horn off and stabbed Celestia's other hand.

She pulled Celestia's head up and kissed her before pulling a leaver next to the chair.

The chair sparked to life and Celestia received a shock that can only be found in a thunder gods wet dream. the shards on the chair worked desperately to keep Celesta alive and attempt to enter her mind whilst her will is weak.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"

One of the guards sighed "We're going to get sued by a kraken again."

Later that day a family of krakens were slamming their tentacles on the spire for several hours trying to get someone's attention, eventually the AC told them to leave.

The krakens then filed a complaint to the Albion Law department which was then brought to court and after a week of heated debate and a fist/tentacle fight between the AC and a kraken (which was seen as THE fight of the century) the Tattered Spire was sued for 100 gold

Author's Note

well it got violent at the end, but I lightened the mood with the krakens, now we know the power of the HMS Archon.
I made the HMS Archon purely defensive by having it have a very limited deployment range, we don't wan't a ship like that running around
there's a reference to a book from the 19th century, [got to love history] try and find it