CHAPTER IV: Strategy and Tactics

The Bridge was a hive of activity, ponies of all kinds were checking arcane interfaces, there were unicorns casting spells on machines, pegasi and thestrals flying to and from interfaces, and a hoof-full of earth ponies arguing with their crew members. “Thaumaturgic conduits A-7 to B-12 have been rerouted from life support to ballista control,” A small stallion with a yellow mane and pale lime coat announced to the room, wearing heavy robes trimmed with blue, with the symbol of the Order decorating his sides.

“Good,” A stallion standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by the Masters of the ship, replied, turning to me. “Master of Strategy Iron Keep, it appears that your favourite student has returned,” A sly smile formed on Steeled Hull’s lips.

I was outside of my armour and carrying around a small mound of books on my back, mostly tomes on Geomancy, the Knightly Orders, History, and general information about the planet Magnus. “What?” A slightly confused Iron Keep turned, in full battle armour including the visor and faceplate, then upon seeing me gave a growl, “That damn-” He sighed, “Sir, I am aware of her skills and her relation to you, but sir, I’m two decades older than her and you will need a strategist when prosecuting a war, not a tactician.”

“A war needs a strategy, but I’m more concerned with surviving the battle… Marble Merlon,” He addressed me.

“Umm… S-Sorry, about Bastion.” I muttered.

“He isn’t the only one to believe this is a bad idea,” The robe-wearing unicorn stallion, Reactor Breach, the Master of Electromancers, interjected, “But he’s certainly the worst.”

“Bad idea!?” Chuckled Iron Keep, “I finally get to do my job! And against those self-righteous bastards no less!”

“Still, a civil war is bad for political stability… And might agitate the Kingdom of the Sun.”

“Reactor, you always were a timid little buck,” Purred a pale orangish-red mare with a white mane, she wore glasses underneath armour that was more dress than protective equipment, and gave a harsh chuckle at Reactor’s flustered expression, “Well… I don’t think charging into combat is the best idea, but I don’t think any of you appreciate how boring it is to play with pirates… Once you’ve penetrated a hundred ships, blowing their reactors, it tends to get boring…” Then her tone suddenly shot up, giving her a maniacal expression, “But now I get to test my ballistas on actual defences!”

“Photon…” Steeled Hull gave an exasperated grunt, “Let us return to the problem at hoof… Merlon, tell us what you’ve found out about the Argent’s defences.”

I cleared my throat then turned to the arcane projector. We were still in the void, right above Magnus’s polar region, the thaumaturgic scanners projecting a topographical map of the magnetic north pole. “The Order Argent, while secretive about most of their facilities, are nothing if not boastful. The Castle Obenschnee, the headquarters of their forces on this world, rests in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains in the north and west, making a ground-based attack from these directions nearly impossible… And to the south and east are large rolling hills and glaciers, difficult terrain.”

“What about an attack from above…” Asked Iron Keep.

“Too many ground defences, In this,” I lifted up a book that talks about the Knightly Order’s holdings on Magnus, “It says that they have at least ten surface-to-air siege towers built into the main keep, it doesn’t tell us their armaments, and we can be sure that they have hidden defences built into the mountains.”

“So, what do you suggest, I can’t just let the ground forces have all the fun,” Replied Photon Shot.

“We send in some warriors here,” I pointed to an area behind the hills, relatively flat, and out of range of ballista and trebuchet shots, “One squad of knights backed up by a regiment of hoofmares, the knights can deal with the towers and any hidden fortifications, meanwhile the hoofmares assault the first line of defence… Here,” I pointed again to a strange dip in the topography, most likely a trench.

“And once the towers are silenced, we glass the castle.”

“No, wars are won using information, we can’t just bomb the place to dust… We need to take prisoners and steal intel, as well as any salvageable equipment,” Interjected Steeled Hull.

“So then, what do we do,” A disappointed Photon replied.

With a sigh, I continued, “You will provide covering fire, if you see a line of siege rams advancing, or the Argents bringing up catapults and arbalests, or see them rallying for a counterattack, make sure to stop them and sow as much chaos among their ranks as possible.”

Photon still looked disappointed but gave a slight smile anyway. “After we’ve taken out their anti-ship defences and breached their lines of defence, we land the ship in the valley I’ve pointed out, then bring up our own siege rams and siege weapons, then we move over the hill and storm the castle.”

“We won’t have the numbers,” Said Steeled Hull, “We have only a hoof-full of fighting ponies, meanwhile the castle, even at minimum garrison, has at least thrice our number.”

“And that’s where I can help,” A voice called out from the arcane projector. The projection split, showing on one side the topographical map, and on the other a familiar orange-eyed mare. “I’ve sent the Strigoi to assist you.”

“Numbers?” I asked.

With a roll of her eyes, Cacophony replied, “Two-thirds of a regiment of hoofmares, a two full teams of knights… A hoof full of working siege rams, I believe we had two in working condition last time I checked.”

“Are they good?”

“I’ve been planning this for six years now, and this isn’t the first time we’ve had to fight the Argents.”

“And this ship, the Strigoi, what’s its specifications.”

“Light cruiser, or something along those lines, it’s made from materials we’ve salvaged from the Rockhoof belt, originally it was a pirate vessel… We don’t have any thaumaturgic shields, but we do have plenty of armour.”

“Well… That’s good enough for me, they’ll still have numerical superiority, but I think our surprise attack will even the field.”

“You can trust my knights to put up a good fight, they’re easily worth more than a dozen Argents.”

“Speaking of knights,” Said Steeled Hull, “You said that this plan required a group of knights to disable the anti-ship weaponry.”

“Correct,” I replied.

“I’m promoting you and your team to knights, most of you only have a year or a half until you officially complete your training, but we’re going to need every capable warrior in the coming weeks.”

I bowed my head… to my grandfather, somewhat unnecessary. “Thank you sir.”

He gave a chuckle, “There’s no need for such formalities.”

“Sir, we’ll be entering the atmosphere in thirty minutes,” One of the bridge ponies said.

“Well then, go inform the rest of your team and gather in the armoury.”

Armoury II was a storm of activity, there a pair of ponies, one thestral and one unicorn, were busy inside the alchemical engine of a ram. “Hey Silver, pass me that talisman,” Said the unicorn, his head buried within the ram’s hull. Around him were two other rams, on one a pair of ponies were chatting, meanwhile the other was unattended. And around the rams were the frames of siege weapons, several were almost triangular wooden frames connected to wooden wagons, atop which were large metal wheels connected to a long tubular contraption with a diameter about the size of my head, a catapult.

Numerous ponies of various species, even a hoof-full of griffons, were loading large brass and lead shells into the machines, stacking them atop their frames. “Wait, that talisman, or that talisman,” Replied Silvertread.

“You know the one I mean!”

“No, I don’t, one welds shit together, the other bores holes… Oh, hey Merlon.”

Silvertread was wearing the grey and blue uniform of a technomage, strangely matching his fur, “Silver, my team has unofficially been promoted to knights, will you be ready to handle the siege when the time comes.”

“All I care about is surviving the battle,” Muttered the unicorn.

“I wish Steeled Hull wasn’t going through with this, but I suppose I have no choice in the matter, seeing how you handled Bastion.”

“There was no choice, he was going to contact the Argents, then we would have been in more trouble.”

“Yep… That’s why I’m still going along with the Grand Master’s apparent madness.”

“Silver…”

He simply rolled his eyes, “You’re going to tear this kingdom apart, and none of us can stop you, we just have to go along and see what lunacy comes of it.”

“Forgive my bro today, he’s just a bit bothersome today… Sure, I don’t fully agree with the Grand Master’s actions, but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing the ‘mutants’ legalized… After all, I’m a unicorn and I’m still treated like an equal.”

Silvertread gave a grunt. “We’ll see, but a quick word of warning, if you start turning your arbalest on our mares, Photon Shot has a much bigger one,” And she’ll probably take orgasmic glee in firing it. I shuttered, earning me a curious look from the unicorn.

“Don’t worry, I’m the driver of this little scrap heap, if Silver does anything out of place I’ll be happy to drive us off a cliff…” The unicorn mused. I couldn't suppress a chuckle.

The aft tower was a relative calm in the storm of activity, that didn’t mean much though. Ponies were attaching cables to ports and wiring up magical machinery, all into or out of a massive structure in the centre. It looked like a larger version of the crossbow, mounted to a tungsten base, it rotated around the centre, around the walls of the tower were numerous indentations all sealed with brick, the firing ports. The ballista had a long tungsten beam as a core, covered in tubing, wiring, ports, and various bits of machinery, on both sides near the end of the shaft were pony-sized copper radiators, and at the rear of the shaft was a spoked wheel connected to a huge bundle of cabling. The bow part of the ballista were two large tungsten fins with hexagonal cells built into their frame, each had a glimmering ruby set into their centre, and extending from their ends were copper cables the width of my torso that led back into the central shaft. The front end of the machine was a long copper tube with a hole at the end, with a diamond-shaped tungsten head.

The ballista was rotated by steel chains that went along the walls of the tower and were controlled by a system of pulleys and rotors. One mare, a pegasus, was working the primary control talisman, built into a pedestal at the end of the room, showing a magical projection of the weapon’s targeting spells.

“Hey Gamma! Need any help!” I called out.

“Not from you!”

I trotted up and stared into the projection with her, “So, you think we can do it?”

“Capture an entire Order Argent base, yes,” Wow, I found someone that actually has faith in victory. “That is assuming the Knights can capture the anti-void towers…”

I gave a chuckle, “I’ll be leading that part of the battle, my squires have been promoted.”

“Well… Now I’m even less sure about this.”

A silence followed, or at least what passed for silence in one of the primary weapons towers. With a sigh, Gamma Ray continued “Photon works us day and night, trying to perfect firing solutions and repairing the slightest fault in the ballistas… She’ll berate us for half an hour should we miss a target, or fail to penetrate the armour. I dread the lecture we’ll get once this battle’s over.”

“Why?

“Well,” She sighed, “We’re going into Magnus’ polar regions, there’ll be tonnes and tonnes of ice and snow… Shiny, white, reflective surfaces, that’ll play havoc with the ballista’s beams, but it does carry an advantage, whenever we hit the ground all that water will be vaporized instantly, causing steam explosions and even a miss will still cause plenty of damage. But that causes another problem, between all the cold air and skin-melting steam, IR sensors are going to be practically useless, we’ll mostly be relying on optical data for our shots.”

“So, what does that mean for us?”

“It means that the infantry’s job gets a bit harder, since now you’ll be dodging not just the enemy’s fire, but also ours.”

“What can you do about that.”

“Avoid aiming at anything too close to you, other than that you’re on your own… But I will give you a piece of advice, avoid the craters left in our wake, they’ll still be searing hot, even in this environment,” And magically active. “But at least the knights get the pleasure of tungsten armour.”

“What’s that,” Asked Goldsparkle.

“I don’t know,” Replied Rusty Bit. The room was small and dark, lit by the glow from arcane interfaces, but even at this hour, in the earliest hours of dawn, it had to be operated. A tapestry was hung on the far wall showing the symbol of a pair of crystals intertwined by magical waves, above was written the words ‘Castle Obenschnee Communications Room’. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping with the rest of the day-shift.”

“I can’t leave you alone here all night, plus, looks like you found something.”

“I doubt it, from the size and shape it looks like a stray asteroid, and all the thaumaturgic sensors pick up is some stray energy, possibly a mining rig or ship debris. It looks like another vessel is moving away from it, possibly a response team.”

“Is it just me, or is that smaller ship moving toward the planet.”

“It’s moving into polar orbit, same with that Order Luna vessel.”

“Bastion,” I said, feeling a twinge of guilt. He didn’t respond. The cells were generally guarded when prisoners were aboard, however for this one, none were needed, thus I was allowed to trot in once I had identified myself. Bastion sat in the corner, a look of anger crossed his muzzle once he saw me enter. “Sorry about locking you up, but-”

“You're going to get us all killed.”

“Me! You were trying to contact the Argents! They’d have blown this ship apart, and you along with it.”

“It is better to die a hero than live a traitor!”

“I know, Blue, Silky, and Pine drilled that into every last one of us.”

“It seems like somepony wasn’t paying attention in school.”

“I was paying more attention than you, has all that running, jumping, and being hit finally damaged your brain,” I drew my eyes to his exposed cutie mark, a target.

“I’d think a pony with your cutie mark would see how inept this plan is.”

“You’re talking to the pony in charge of the plan.”

“Figures,” He huffed, “At least rose isn’t here to see you anymore.”

That bastard! I tried to force the words out of my mouth, but my body locked up, muscles growing unnaturally tense.

“That little filly cared for you every single day, imagine what she’d think when she sees that her own best friend is planning to slaughter hundreds!”

“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. You were her friend too! You have no right to insult both of us.

“Ten more minutes until atmospheric entry, all knights gather in Armoury I,” A voice echoed from the crystals embedded within the wall.

“I’ll be leaving now.”

Bastion gave a chuckle before rolling himself up into a ball at the end of the cell.

The ship shook, a deep and rumbling noise, my hooves felt weak as the shockwave hit, soon followed with a wave of magic that forced all the air out of my body. It was a sensation I had felt plenty of times before, but today it was stronger. We had breached the atmospheric sheath going faster than we should have, I was suddenly reminded of a burning corona of light that bathed my town in pure golden sunlight.

“Ready,” I asked.

Bricks shook under my hooves, deep rumbling booms echoed through stone and metal to reach my ears. Polished armour, a deep, dark, grey, much like that of volcanic stone, clung to my body through insulated padding and mail, enchanted so as to not increase my weight. Over my wings were thick armoured plates, shaped to look like metal feathers, lending them a strange appearance, as if the wings of some giant black bird were draped over that of a pony-sized bat. Across my back, holes cut in them for my wings, were white cloth banners, trimmed in black, decorated with the silhouette of a crescent moon swallowing a four-pointed star, much like a tapestry draped across my withers.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I didn’t think my first battle would be against other Thestrals,” Gilded Gate replied. The air started to taste of ozone, and a tingling feeling echoed across my body, the entire ship alive with magical energies as the ballistas and thaumaturgic shields charged.

The plate armour kept my whole body sealed to the air, even my tail was clenched down by metal bands that prevented air from seeping in. Atop my head was a metal helmet, a full semicircle tilted back to allow vision, a thick brim and crest gave it shape, complete with a half-faceplate that covered my head down to my muzzle, holes carved in for my eyes, and a beaked mask that covered my muzzle and lower head, giving me the appearance of a pony-sized bird. Underneath this, my coat was a light grey and mane a dark grey, with golden slit-eyes.

“Merlon, you’re the tactician, what happens when we hit the ground?” Asked a bluish stallion, Portcullis, a shiver in his voice, although I couldn’t tell if it was one of fear or cold.

The armoury was filled with mares and stallions of an array of colours, all armoured just like myself. In their mouths or with their hooves were a host of weaponry, swords, shields, crossbows, bows, halberds… Spearshafts were strapped to their flanks, spearheads on the opposite flank. One of us was bearing the standard, standing straight in the absence of wind. The walls were made from dark bricks, reinforced with equally dark metal, this same material comprised the floor tiles, and the doors, great stone slabs that moved up and down on chains, enchanted to not let any air pass when closed.

“We’ll be descending into one of the primary defensive trenches, after crippling their defences, the hoofmares will advance toward the second line of defence. The ship’s out of the line of fire of the castle’s primary anti-orbital batteries, but they’ll undoubtedly have secondary batteries all around the mountain, it’s our job to secure this valley,” And hopefully Gamma Ray can cripple the enemy’s forces before our job begins. Seemingly on cue, the electric feeling in the air vanished for a second, leaving an ominous void in the room, the sound of a ballista firing echoed in from somewhere to the front of the ship, then as soon as it left, the feeling returned.

From above a small jewel embedded into the wall glowed with light and released a deep dinging noise like a great bell. “That’s our cue! Ready to descend!” One, two, three… I thought to myself, waiting as the sound of cogwheels filled the air, there came a rumbling shutter from a large, slanted, door. Four, five, six… The door lifted upward with surprising speed, revealing a snowy landscape… Mountains surrounding an elongated valley, all a stark white, a flurry of wind and snow started filling the armoury. Seven, eight, nine… Below, some great distance, the specific distance unknown to me, was a long, shallow, stone-walled moat, from within beams of striking red fanned out into a horde of ponies on the surface. Ten.

“Now! Cry havoc!” I shouted across the room, blunted by the roaring winds, this shout was matched by nearly every other pony, twenty shouts of ‘Cry havoc’ joining my own, I bitterly noted that there should have been twenty-five. Then with a flick of my wings and a thrust of my hind legs, I fell out into the cold air.

A flash of blinding light illuminated the frozen ground, the telltale sign of a ship entering the atmospheric sheath. Cogwheel looked up from his book, staring into the sky from the firing slits in the anti-orbital battery O-12. “An Order Luna ship?” He said, “Why is it here? And why is it coming in at such a shallow angle?”

“Do you think it’s damaged, attempting an emergency landing in the valley?” Asked Lightning Glow.

“No, it looks fine, better than fine.”

“Reactor damage, or perhaps an accident in one of the capacitor bays?”

As she said that, the ship began to give off a slight glow, hardly enough to recognize if you weren't looking too hard at it. The air around the vessel shimmered and sparkled as if the entire thing was caught in telekinesis, yet somehow there was no grand display of light or arcane sheath had that been the case.

“I-It’s charging its shields, why-” As I responded, then there was a speck of movement and a faint red light emanating from one of the towers on the ship’s bottom, thestral eyes picking up what would have been impossible to see at this distance.

“By Luna! It’s going to fire!” Shouted Lightning.

“Quickly, get-” The world went a blinding red, searing heat erupting in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, the world liquified, then vaporized, then plasmafied, then all feeling was gone as quickly as it came.

Author's Note

So, we've finally looped back around to the beginning, now the Seige has begun. To be honest, I was hoping to get this chapter out sooner, but a combination of disinterest, school, and simple lethargy took me down in the end... Time to go play Skyrim for the ten thousandth time.