HMS Paris, Five Hours Later…
Dusk

I was standing on the hangar deck along with Faust as she maintained her portal back to Equestria. From that rainbow colored swirl stepped four figures that I was well acquainted with. “Good to see you Cosmo.”

Cosmo just grabbed my hand. “And here I was worried you were gonna leave us out of this little party.”

“Well if I knew bringing you four in was the plan, I would’ve just had you tag along to begin with.” I countered as we made for the elevator. “So how have you guys been anyway?”

I could tell by looking at Cloud and Sky that they were dealing with something that was rather annoying. “You don’t want to know right now.” My future brother-in-law finally admitted.

Stepping into the elevator, I still couldn’t help but be confused. “So what, you’re planning on telling me later then?”

“Preferably before you get a phone call.” Sky added.

I nodded and turned to Faust. “Is everyone on the bridge?”

“All the cats, Felix, Baxter. Basically everyone except us.”

As the door opened on to the bridge it was good to see that Faust was right. But what was happening didn’t look like a meeting, it looked like chaos. “Tim, what the hell is going on?” I asked.

“We’ve got multiple aerial contacts inbound, including one massive one. They’re twenty minutes out at their current speed.

“Do you have a visual?”

“We should right about-” The holotable suddenly shifted to a massive image of a diamond-shaped ship floating over the desert. “-now… Oh fuck.”

“That’s Mumm-Ra’s pyramid… And it’s flying.” Tygra observed.

“I think need to keep in mind that his pyramid was just a crashed spaceship. Obviously someone has been busy if that thing is flying again.” Lion-O added.

“Dusk, you’re in charge here. What’s your call?” Baxter asked. “That thing easily has us outsized, probably outgunned too.”

“And we’re the only ship available.” I countered. “Helm, lay in an intercept course. Tactical, begin preparing MAC firing solutions.”

“Ok… So fight it is.” Baxter said as he picked up the intercom. “General Quarters, all hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.”

“We still need to know the plan.” Faust said as she started punching up scans of Mumm-Ra’s ship.

Lucky me, I’m good at planning on the fly. “Alright, first things first is our entry and exfil point. We’ll use the MAC to blow a hole in that ship’s hull and we’ll take a Pelican in with both teams, Thundercats and Northern Guard. Once aboard we’ll move in force to the command center. We’ll get into the command center and clear it we hit Mumm-Ra with our big guns. That’ll be myself, Lion-O, Faust, Dawn and Cloud. While we’re doing that Jorge is going to lead a third team, consisting of him and Pumyra to try and download a copy of Mumm-Ra’s computers. They’ll be the first team out. Once they clear, our small fries will pull back. That’s Tygra, Cheetara, and the rest of the Northern Guard. That’ll leave us heavies to wage a fighting withdrawal in an attempt to draw out Mumm-Ra. Once we get him back to the extraction point, Faust will break out that spirit urn of hers and turn it on Mumm-Ra. After that it’ll just be a matter of getting off the ship, hit it with a bunch of nukes and go home.”

“That still assumes that Paris is able to hang in a firefight with that ship.” Baxter pointed out. “And to top that off we’ve only got one Shiva class warhead on board. If we use it, it needs to get past any point defense grids and shields otherwise it’ll be for naught.”

I nodded in agreement. “We’ll have to leave it to Jorge’s team to bring down the defenses then.”

“Why exactly are you having me go with Jorge?” Pumyra asked.

“You know Mumm-Ra’s ship, so you’ll know where to go to get the data we want.” I replied.

Pumyra seemed to accept my explanation and nodded. “When do we leave?”

I turned slightly and motioned to the elevator. “How about right now?”

***

Ten minutes later…

“Paris to Alpha One, what’s your status?”

I looked around the loaded Pelican before going for my radio. “We’re ready here Paris. Kick the door at your discretion.”

“Copy that, stand by.”

BOOM!

“What the hell was that?!” Tygra asked.

“That was Paris kicking the door wide open for us.” I said as the Pelican jolted and dropped out of the bottom of the hangar bay. “Alright, once we hit the ground we’re going to be on our own. We’ll have no support, so we need to play this to the letter.”

“Almost makes me wish you got the Armor of Omens to work…” Tygra said, directing the comment at Lion-O.

“Yeah, that would be helpful wouldn’t it?” Lion-O admitted.

Not that I knew what they were talking about, but it sounds like some sort of advantage we can use. “Mind sharing with the rest of the class?” I asked as the Pelican began to bank to the right.

“This gauntlet is supposed to deploy some sort of powered armor, but even with all of the power stones I can’t get the armor to deploy.”

I nodded as I looked over the golden gauntlet from my seat at the rear of the compartment. “That does sound like it would be helpful… Too bad.”

“Strike team, get ready to drop!” The pilot called over the intercom. The rear hatch swung upwards almost immediately to reveal the smashed interior of Mumm-Ra’s ship.

“Alright, lets go to work!” I shouted over the sounds of air ripping through the cabin. As such I ended up to be the first one to get my feet on the deckplates of Mumm-Ra’s ship. Aside from some blood splatters on the walls I didn’t see any lizards around. Likely any that had been in the compartment got vaporized by the MAC strike. It took only seconds for the Pelican to break off as the remainder of it’s passengers disembarked. “Pumyra, Jorge, get moving. Everyone else on me.”

Walking through the hallways bathed in flickering light, I began to get the impression that the MAC had done some serious damage to the internal systems. Yet it felt like the ship was still perfectly airborne. “Is anyone else a little creeped out right now?” Cloud asked from his spot at the back of the line.

“How so?” I called back.

“Well for starters there’s no sign of the crew.” He pointed out. “I doubt the MAC would’ve killed anyone outside of that external compartment cluster judging by the lack of damage we’re seeing.”

“Noble to Alpha, we’ve run into a problem.” Pumyra called over the radio, with the echos of chaingun fire in the background. “We’re cut off from one of the ancillary computer access terminals, and there isn’t another one in this section. We’re going to need some help getting at it.”

“Copy that Noble.” I glanced back and my eyes settled on the first cat I saw. “Lion-O, go find Pumyra and Jorge. Once you’re done with them double back to meet up with us.”

“Got it, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Lion-O replied before taking off back the way we came.

“I hope that we just didn’t make a mistake…” Faust whispered as she came up behind me.

“Oh come on, we’ll be fine. We’ve still got five heavy hitters. Even if Lion-O doesn’t get back in time we’ll probably be fine.” I offered in reply. As we kept moving we eventually came upon a large balcony overlooking a large chamber. Peering over the edge it looked like we were above the ship’s command center. But there was no sign of Mumm-Ra. In fact there was no sign of anyone or anything in the chamber, not even a throne like what we had seen on our last visit.

“Dad, behind us!”

I whipped around just in time to see Mumm-Ra blast the entire group off the balcony to the floor below. And boy did hitting that deck HURT., and it probably wasn’t helped by the fifty some odd foot fall to the floor. “Alright, that was a dick move!” I said as I got to my feet. Staring up at Mumm-Ra as he floated down to the deck. “I know you’re an asshole and whatnot, but did you HAVE to do that?!”

“I don’t think he cares Dusk.” Cloud said as he got to his feet. “Who else is up?”

I looked around quickly and noticed two things. First, beyond Cloud and myself everyone else seemed to have been knocked out by the fall. Second, Faust was missing. It was like she didn’t take the fall along with the rest of us. “Uh… No one.” I admitted as I turned back to face Mumm-Ra.

“So it’s just us versus impossible odds?” Cloud said as his wings started crackling with electricity.

As Mumm-Ra drew a large purple sword, I knew the answer. “Break right!”

Cloud zoomed off to the side, while I dashed left. It was a simple tactic to try and break Mumm-Ra’s attention between two separate targets. But as a blast of energy caught my side and sent me careening into the wall, I could see why that wasn’t working. Mumm-Ra hadn’t even looked at me, and instead had grabbed Cloud’s leg. As the thrusters on his armor flared as he tried to gain altitude, Mumm-Ra kept putting on more force before finally pulling Cloud right out of the sky. The pegasus flared his wings and tried striking the giant with his own lightning bolts, but it was all for naught as he got tossed. Tossed, I might add, right at me. As Cloud’s armored body slammed into me I remembered hearing footsteps as I hit the ground, shortly before feeling something strike the back of my head and descending into darkness

***

Concurrently aboard the HMS Endeavor
Archer

“So you’re telling me that Celestia is the one who gave the order?” For the better part of a day we had been trying to figure out why and where the Paris had gone during the night. We simply woke up and the ship in question was gone.

“That’s correct.” Admiral Beatie replied, his face on the monitor grimacing. “She didn’t even come to either of us, she just went right to Baxter and gave the order personally. At least that’s what she told me. And with her engines now up to Endeavor’s spec, who knows what friggin universe they’re even in!”

“General, the Paris just jumped back in!” The sensor officer called out from his station. “Admiral Baxter is already on his way over, I’ve got a request for docking at the bridge airlock.”

I glanced back at Beatie’s image before nodding. “Permission granted. Beatie, I’ll see if I can’t get some answers. Baxter has to know what’s going on.”

“Of course, good luck General. Beatie out.”

Baxter was already walking out of the airlock alongside Faust as the screen above the holotable went blank. “We’ve got a major problem.” Baxter said as he plugged a datachip into the bridge holotable. An image of a large, yet damaged, diamond shaped ship flickered into view. “Dusk and his strike team have been captured by Mumm-Ra.”

Now I’m no expert, but that’s not a good thing to hear. At all. “Ok… I take it you came back to develop a plan?”

“No, we need Endeavor and it’s tracking equipment to locate Dusk.” Faust explained.

“Shortly after the strike team boarded Mumm-Ra’s ship, they started jamming our communications and made for orbit. We pursued, but were unable to catch the ship before it jumped out. As of right now we have no way of locating Dusk without using Endeavor and her tracking equipment.”

I nodded and hit the shipwide intercom. “Amore, I need you and Rush on the bridge.”

“Archer, we need to get moving immediately.” Faust insisted. “How soon can Endeavor make orbit?”

“You have to give me a few minutes to get everything rolling Faust…” Suddenly a thought occurred. “Why weren’t you with Dusk or his team? It was your mission.”

“What, and let Mumm-Ra capture two Alicorns? No way, I wasn’t sticking around without options at my disposal.”

“You were with Dusk’s team then?” Faust nodded and I grabbed the bridge of my muzzle in frustration. “Great… Comms, get Admiral Beatie on the line.”

A few moments later Beatie’s face popped back into view on the comms panel over the holotable. “That was fast, what did you find?”

“Dusk and his strike team have been captured, Endeavor is deploying in pursuit.” I replied. “Get down to the shipyard Admiral, I’m ceding command of Task Force Torch to you until Baxter and I return.”

“Wait, you’re taking me with you?” Baxter asked, looking somewhat confused.

I nodded. “Someone needs to command Endeavor while I lead the rescue team, and that person is you Baxter.”

“Can I just ask how the hell Dusk got captured?” Beatie questioned.

I shrugged as I stared up at the screen. “I don’t know, but I’m thinking that Faust is partially to blame.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Shut it you coward!” I snapped, the stress of my morning finally catching up with me. “You could’ve very well have stayed and tried to help but instead you ditched your own flesh and blood, so I don’t want to fucking hear it!”

“Uh… Should I be concerned?” Beatie asked.

“Slightly.” I admitted. “Now get going, you’ve got work to do Admiral.” The screen went blank and I once again went to the intercom. “All available ODSTs and Polaris Squad, gear up. Briefing in the main hangar in twenty.”

“Helm, clear all moorings and prepare for departure, x-axis climb of thirty degrees on full burn.” Baxter added as he made for the command chair.

Once again, I found myself going off to clean up some other pony’s mistakes… Lovely.

Endeavor’s Starboard Hangar, Twenty Minutes Later…

All said about twenty fully equipped ODSTs had assembled alongside, as it turned out, the only shipboard member of Polaris Squad. “What’s the word Archer?” Commander Tremble asked.

“Alright, we’ve got a rescue mission. The Crown Prince has been captured and we’re the only ship capable of mounting a rescue attempt because we’re the only ship with the gear dedicated to tracking the Crown Prince… Yes, that’s just about as creepy as it sounds, but don’t get stuck on it.”

“So what are we doing General? Feet first drop?” One of the ODSTs asked.

“No, we’re boarding a hostile ship via Pelican while under fire. It’s the only way to make sure we all get in and out in one piece. We’re going in with three birds, one for us, one for the Prince’s strike team and a spare in case we need it.” I stopped for a moment before deciding to go on with my briefing. “You all need to be aware we’re possibly dealing with an Omega-tier threat. Use of any and all deadly force is authorized, and I stress any.”

“So creative killing is alright then?”

“If you want to call it that.” I admitted.

The ODSTs all started nodding. “What’s our role here General?”

“You’re all responsible for holding our landing zone. Tremble, myself and Faust are the rescue party.” There was a number of groans but I held my hand up. “If we don’t have a way out then there’s no point in launching a rescue mission. And keep in mind that we’re boarding a ship full of hostile aliens, so there’ll be plenty for you all to do.”

“Bridge to Archer, we’re in visual range of the hostile vessel. Tacnet is picking up active Equestrian transponders aboard that thing.”

“Alright, you heard the Admiral! Let’s get the lead out!” I shouted, pulling on the helmet to my armor. We had a pony to save.

***

Aboard Mumm-Ra’s Ship
Dusk

“Anyone catch that license plate?” I groaned as I sat up off the floor. It was clear by looking around that the lot of us had been tossed in some sort of holding cell, capped off on the far end by an energy shield of some sort.

“Yeah, I did.” Cloud said as he helped me to my feet. “I think it said Tempest, but I could be mistaken.”

I looked around at the assembled group and realized that we still missing a few faces. “Has anyone seen Jorge or Pumyra?”

Cloud shook his head. “Haven’t seen Lion-O or Faust either.”

Tygra, of course, was also missing. “What about Tygra?”

“Lizards took him away about an hour ago, I’d guess for interrogation.”

I nodded. “Alright, next order of business. How are we getting out of here?”

“Not conventionally, that much is clear.” Dawn said as she chimed in. “These walls are shielded like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We tried cutting through them, but nothing worked. Everything just bounced off.”

“That must be why we all still have our gear.” I observed. “With the shielding, there’s no need to disarm us. We can’t do jack anyway.” Suddenly the shield dropped, and some lizards came around the corner, tossed Tygra into the cell and reset the shields. To say he didn’t look pleasant would be an understatement, as blood was coating part of his face.

Cheetara was the first one over to the fallen cat, and propped him up against the cell wall. “Well, Mumm-Ra’s pissed.” He groaned.

“How so?” Sky asked as she slid in next to the cat and pulled out her first aid kit.

“Well for starters he thinks we did something to the engines.” Tygra explained. “I guess he left Third Earth, and now we’re who knows where.”

“Which means rescue is unlikely…” Cosmo observed. “We’re gonna have to break out of here ourselves, repair the engines and make a jump back to Third-”

BOOM!

“-Earth? What the hell was that?” Cosmo asked.

As soon as he asked, Cosmo’s radio crackled to life. “Atlas to Northern Guard strike team, does anyone read?”

“Atlas, this is Ranger. We read you loud and clear. Where are you?”

“Main hangar, about five hundred meters from your position. I’m heading your way now. What’s your situation?”

CREEEAAAK!

“I’m not sure… Although judging by some of the sounds this ship is making I think we’ll want to get out of here sooner rather than later.”

I knew what Cosmo was getting at. The sudden creaking noise. Likely Mumm-Ra didn’t bother to do any heavy structural repairs, so the ship very well could be starting to shake itself to pieces. But as the deck plates shuddered I noticed that the shield that capped off the cell flickered. “Did anyone else see that?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Dawn said. “Dad, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

I nodded, and stepped up to the shields. “On three. One… Two… Three!”

BZZZTTT!

The two of us stuck our hands into the shield and started putting magical electricity through the flickering construct. It took only a few scant seconds for the emitters to erupt into a shower of sparks as they failed. “Alright, let’s move!” I shouted at the group.

Sky ended up helping Tygra to his feet, followed by Cheetara and the rest of the Northern Guard. It was quick work, but Cosmo led the way towards the sounds of rifle fire and pulses from laser rifles. “Atlas, be advised that the strike team is foot mobile. I repeat, strike team is foot mobile.”

“Copy that Ranger-” The radio suddenly cut out as three lizards rounded the corner with weapons drawn.

“I got em!” Cloud shouted as he vaulted over the top of the group. He landed behind the lizards, smashing two of their heads together, and knocking the other to the ground with a swift kick to the back of it’s knee. That third lizard went down, tried to get back up, but failed as he received a kick to the back of the head from the armored pegasus. “We’re clear!”

We had to keep moving for obvious reasons, but ahead of us was the hangar. And that door was slowly being pried open by two Spartans, before a third figure in golden armor stepped in and stuck a massive beam between the two halves of the door. As we got closer I realized that the armor was stylized, surprisingly, as a lion. “Well I’ll be damned, Lion-O got the armor working.” Tygra managed to grunt as we hurried through the propped-open door.

As the last one through, I got pulled aside by the three armored figures. “Archer, glad you decided to drop in. Hope it wasn’t too much trouble.” I observed.

Archer motioned me to follow and the four of us began making our way towards the three pelicans that were sitting on the hangar floor. “We need to get off this bucket, now.”

“But we still need to take out Mumm-Ra.” I pointed out.

“Then worry about it after we’re off the ship that’s coming apart under fire from point defense guns.” Archer countered. “Dusk, this ship is dying. We can mop up what’s left after we’re all off.”

I looked around the hangar and counted at least twenty ODSTs alongside the rest of my strike team, missing members included. “Alright, you win… Saddle up you bunch of fillies, this party is over!” I shouted.

The ODSTs immediately began making for the Pelicans, some abandoning firefights they were in with the locals while others provided cover for the strike team as they made for the transports. In a matter of seconds it was all over, and I realized I was the last one standing on the deck as Mumm-Ra finally came into view out of the main corridor.

“Dusk, come on! We’ve got to go!” Archer called.

At this point there was material falling from the ceiling, so the Pelican ended up being the only safe place to go. Scrambling inside I hit the retract button and slid into one of the seats. But out in the hangar, Mumm-Ra just stood and stared at me as the hatch came up. I knew what it meant without much doubt. This fight wasn’t over yet.

Author's Note

And next up, we finally get down to the fight you've probably been waiting for!

Anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker