Galaxy 12: Trivictian Sector

After having left the cafeteria, Thomas was greeted by two men who looked just as tired as he did. They were dressed in gray uniforms with blue details along with the standard U.F.A. emblem on their shoulders. The only noticeable difference between the two was their hair and eye color. One of them had brown hair with green eyes, and the other had gray with blue eyes.

They were fellow admirals who were stationed on the ship. It was common practice for U.F.A. ships to have more than one admiral on board, along with multiple command bridges for said admirals. This was to allow the ship to function smoothly if an admiral and or command bridge were to be lost.

“Good morning, sir” The one with blue eyes spoke, though it was rather slow.

“Morning Alvrest, Irwin. Walk with me,” Thomas nodded to them in the respective order. “I assume you’ve got the status report on Engineering core 12?”

“Unfortunately, I do,” Irwin spoke before pulling up the holopad he was carrying. He swiped across the screen a few times before flicking his fingers outwards to expand the file he was looking for. “As of 0600 this morning, EC12 submitted a report that there was a minor…”He trailed off, looking for the right word.

“Incident,” Alvrest finished. “It would appear that one of the shield generators was improperly mounted, and it caused an energy feedback which has fried a good portion of the wiring” Alvrest, who had pulled up his holopad as well, read off from the report.

Thomas shot an annoyed look to no one in particular before sighing. “Alright, what’s the estimated time of repairs?” They all stopped walking in the middle of the hallway as Thomas also pulled out his holopad to adjust his schedule.

“Around 3 hours is what I’ve been told, Sir,” Irwin responded.

“Well, I suppose that isn’t too bad. What of the shield generator itself?” Thomas said as he lowered his device to his side.

“No significant damage was taken, but they are running a diagnostic check on it just to be sure,” Alvrest answered.

‘Good thing that we weren’t the ones who put it in, otherwise I’d have to fill out another long-ass report.’ Thomas thought to himself.

“Alright, then. Send me the diagnostic report as soon as you can, and have EC12 send me any updates on the repair”. Thomas said before stopping next to an open elevator.

“Will do,” Irwin responded before moving into the elevator along with Alvrest. He noticed that Thomas wasn’t following suit. “Aren’t you coming?” He asked.

Thomas looked at the elevator with a nervous glance before shaking his head. “No I….” He paused for a brief moment. “I’ve got to check on some things. I’ll be up shortly.” He said before giving them a half-hearted two-finger salute. He then turned around and started to walk down the hallway. He only got a few feet before stopping and leaning on the wall.

He looked up at the lights on the ceiling, allowing his thoughts to run wild. He was exhausted, and he hadn’t been able to get any rest in a few weeks. While his body could certainly tolerate it under normal circumstances, he had been working non-stop.

He finally mustered up the courage to walk over and call the elevator. Within a few seconds, it chimed, and the doors opened. He hesitated for a second before entering.

“Gracie.” He said, followed by a few seconds of silence.

“Oh well, if it isn’t the rude one,” It responded. Thomas was surprised, though, and it sounded much less robotic than before.

Thomas swallowed hard before speaking. “Listen, I just want to apologize for earlier. I didn’t know that you were...sentient now” He looked around the rather spacious room waiting for its response. After not getting one, he decided to continue. “I really am sorry, I wasn’t informed, and..” He trailed off. “Well, you're a fully functioning A.I. now so...”

“I know” Its voice is much quieter and weaker now.

Thomas let out a long sigh as he leaned against the back wall. “I think...I think we got off on the wrong foot” He quickly realized his mistake. “Er, well, you get what I mean,” He said with a soft chuckle.

“Okay?” It responded.

“Okay. My name is Thomas Mc’Ortley, Lead Admiral of the GearFive Fleet.” He said with a salute, which earned a chuckle out of it, thought it was a very creepy chuckle. “I think you need to work on your laughing.”

“My name is Gracie, your ship’s new Artificial Intelligence. And for the record, I identify as a female.” She responded.

“Alright, then Gracie. It's nice to meet you.”

“Eh, it’s okay to meet you,” She said with some sass in her robotic voice.

“Could you please bring me up to the bridge?” He asked while pulling up his holopad.

“Sure. I mean its either that or drop the cable” She joked, though unfortunately, it went over his head. He dropped his holopad on the floor as his face took a horrified expression. “Umm...That was a joke. Too soon?” She asked in the same sorrowful voice from before.

“Ye-Yeah. Just a little” He released his tight grip on the railing that he hadn't realized he was doing. He rubbed his hands together before bending down and picking up the holopad. The elevator then started to move up. After only a minute, the elevator stopped once more. However, the doors didn’t open.

“One more thing before you go,” She spoke. “I want a holo-projector on the bridge,” She asked with a rather innocent voice.

Thomas looked at the closed doors realizing what she was doing. “You ‘Want,’ huh?” He asked as he knocked on the doors. He took a deep breath. ‘Well, I’ve already gotten this far with her, might as well continue to trust her,’ He thought to himself.

“Yes, I want a holo-projector, and not just some repurposed one. I want a dedicated one just for me” She sounded rather upset, and cheery at the same time.

A small smile crept on his face before he responded. “Alright, but none of this” He gestured to the closed elevator doors. “Ever again. Got it?”

“Deal” The doors then opened to reveal the bridge.

The bridge was three floors, all connected by either stairs or ramps. There were around 250 people all around the deck, either walking around or sitting down. The latter being the most prominent. Thomas managed to walk a few yards towards his seat, which was situated on the third floor, where he could see Alvrest and Irwin.

They were talking to someone when they saw him. Alvrest gave him a nod before continuing back to the conversation. Thomas moved over to his seat, which was a black padded seat. It wasn’t over the top in terms of design or function, so there wasn’t much to acknowledge.

He spun the chair and sat down before spinning back around. As he did this, a large holo-screen lit up. A large U.F.A. icon, a picture of two swords and a shield in front of Atlas, with comets at the sides and stars in the background. With the letters “U.F.A.” underneath it all. Beneath the icon was a spinning circle and a green loading bar below it. It only took a few seconds before it was completely loaded, and the large screen split into hundreds of smaller ones.

Thomas then noticed that the screen displayed a new number. It was the time and date of repairs. Which was showing that it was worked on not even 10 minutes ago? “Hey, Alvrest?”

“Yes?” He said while he broke away from his conversation.

“Was there something wrong with the computer? It shows that it was just recently updated.” Just as he finished, a new voice from a floor below called out.

“Engineering Core 12 came in not too long ago to check on the navigation systems.” The crewman called out.

“Alright, then. Nevermind.” He said before turning back to the screen.

Each screen had different information on it, some of which were continually changing. He glanced at all of them, lingering only on the ones that had an orange triangle in the bottom right corner. He eventually came upon a red triangle, which meant that there was a problem.

He made a motion with his hand as though he were grabbing and crushing the screen, which the screen shrunk in response, he then dragged his hand over to the center of the screen which was just showing an animated U.F.A. icon. He then flicked open his hand, and the screen changed to the one he grabbed.

“Time to get to work,” He grumbled to himself before making another hand motion, and a holographic keyboard popped up. He glanced at the time that was displayed just under the main screen. “0800, two hours to go,” He said with a shake of his head.

Some time later

Thomas was rubbing his forehead in agony before he slammed his hands down onto the console. “Son of a PRYDAK!” He cried out as the screen glitched out once again, closing all of his windows. His outburst was quickly met with many offended looks, to which he buried his head in his hands once more.

“Okay...Ignoring the very offensive comment,” Irwin spoke out from behind him. “What seems to be the problem?” He asked as he leaned over his seat to look at the blank holoscreen.

Thomas just held up his hand, motioning him to stop. He then raised his head to look at the blank screen. “Gracie,” He said with all the sweetness of a venus flytrap. “Please contact Engineering Core 13 for me”.

After a few short moments, a new holoscreen opened up to reveal a human man. He wore simple grey engineer clothes with “EC13” on the top right of his chest. The man was bald and had a faint scar above his left eyebrow. He appeared to be lying down and working on something off-screen. Thomas guessed that someone else was holding the camera.

“Lead Admiral?” He said with some confusion. “How can I help you?”

“Yes, can you possibly spare some COMPETENT” He shouted. “Men, to come and repair my computer?”

“Of course Admiral, I’ll have my second go up there and get on it.” He said while pushing himself up from the ground and grabbing the holopad from someone.

Thomas let out a sigh of relief before responding. “Thank you…?”

“Kalrin Reynolds, sir.”

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Reynolds” And with that, the transmission was cut off. He then looked over to Irwin. “Now as for you,” He said before spinning around to face him properly. “EC12 is to be permanently banned from all computer maintenance until further notice. Is that clear?”

Irwin just let out a laugh and nodded before turning around and walking off.

‘This just isn’t my day,’ Thomas thought as he spun his chair back around and stared defiantly at his malfunctioning computer screen.

Time: 1053

Now with a fully functioning computer, Thomas had managed to get the majority of the prep work done and was now just waiting for the reports from the other ships. He had just leaned back in his chair when he heard it.

The sound of death incarnate.

“Hello. Admiral Mc’Ortley,” The metallic voice spoke out from behind him. Thomas’s whole body tensed up, and he wasn’t the only one, multiple people who were close enough to hear it had also stopped working.

Thomas slowly spun around in his chair and was greeted to the sight of a 10-foot metal monster. A Mech.

The Mech quickly took note of how he and the rest of the crew around it were tense, and then took a step back. “I…” The Mech stopped, thinking over its next words carefully. “Apologize for startling you all.” It said in a cold, calculating tone. That’s when Irwin came walking up from behind it. He then took notice of the air in the room.

“Hey. Hey. Everything cool?" He asked while stopping next to the Mech’s side.

“I'm afraid that I have left a bad first impression on them,” It responded.

“Oh...shit. Hey, everyone, he’s cool." He said while patting its shoulder twice. The Mech turned it's head to look at Irwin.

“I am not sure that ‘cool,’ would be the appropriate metaphor for this emotional situation,” Irwin’s face twisted into confusion, and eventually into an eye roll.

“Lead Admiral Mc’Ortley, Lead Admiral Cal’Vrose is waiting for you in hangar 45”. Gracie said through the computer’s speakers.

I was now silently walking beside a rough-looking man. The man’s face was jagged and angular. His hair is a dull gray, and very short, the same went for his stubble on his face.

We two walked in silence, as one did not feel the need to, and the other was too nervous about speaking. We finally stopped their walk in front of a small door. The man then pressed his hand against the screen, and the door chimed and opened, revealing a relatively small room.

The room held very little in it, just a few chairs and a medium, circular, holo-projector. The man then grabbed two of the chairs and brought them over to the projector, which he promptly turned off.

“Well.” He paused, “Come sit.” He then gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the projector. “And do lock the door behind you.”

I nodded my head and moved from the doorway, making sure to lock it behind me. Once I sat down, I cleared his throat. “Admir-” The man shot him a sharp look that made me fall silent.

The man looked over me a few times before sighing heavily. “I trust you understand why I am here?” I nodded my head once more, causing the man to grumble. “Verbally, please.”

“I believe so,” I spoke, trying to regain some of my confidence.

Admiral Cal’Vrose was not a man to be messed with. He was one of the more easily recognizable names when it came to Admirals. After all, he had served in two of the most critical battles in our history. The Battle of Sandreon, and the Battle of Alphos Titanos. These facts alone told you of both his knowledge and ability, as well as his age.

“Then let me clear up any doubts or misconceptions. Despite how our brief time together has been so far, I am not here to cause any conflict.” I relaxed significantly upon hearing this. I had feared that my impromptu promotion had garnered a lot of distaste from the Union of Admirals.

“However”

‘shit'

“That does not mean I have come here to simply pat you on the back. There are some severe things we must discuss.”

‘Why can nothing ever be simple?’

‘Why can nothing ever be simple?’

Celestia wondered to herself. It had been nearly 950 years since her sister’s banishment. She was exhausted from her duties as the sole Princess of Equestria, the daily task of raising and lowering the sun, and her nightly job of doing the same for the moon.

Celestia sat on her throne, surrounded by bickering nobles. The most recent topic of discussion was the recently changed tax on imported and exported goods to and from other nations. One noble in particular, Golden Fields, a pegasus. Was arguing heavily against the tax change, and today was the day he would face justice.

“This is unfair! Why should MY business be taxed for exporting our goods! TWICE I might add.” Golden Fields practically shouted in another noble's face. This had been going on for a few hours, and Celestia had been awaiting word from her guards before she could act.

Finally, an earth pony royal guard opened the throne room door and entered. The nobles were too busy arguing to notice. The guard walked up to her and bowed before getting closer.

“Princess. We have just received word that the last of them have been caught, as well as a Griffon named Slight Talon. They were attempting to flee the country in a caravan,” He whispered, all the while keeping his eyes on the pegasus.

Celestia felt a rush of relief and thanked the guard and told him to return with more guards.

‘Alright, I’ve had enough of this charade,’ Celestia thought before stamping her hoof onto the floor, instantly silencing all the nobles. Golden looked over to her with anger still present on his face. But it soon melted once he saw the stare she gave him.

“Mr. Golden Fields. I will not have you pollute this conversation with your obviously biased opinion.” Her relatively calm yet stern voice made him shift uncomfortably.
“Furthermore, just because you are a noble does not mean that you are to be exempt from paying taxes” ‘As well as the law,’ She added in her mind.

“But Princess I-” He attempted to speak out in protest.

“You will not talk over me!” Celestia shouted in the royal canterlot voice and was now standing at full height. Golden looked around the room nervously as some of the nobles shot him looks of disgust, and others stood silent. “You have been fighting this for three weeks now, and not once have you given any meaningful information to help your case. Was it or was it not you who ordered the creation of a subsidiary in the Griffon Kingdom?” She was well aware of the answer but needed to buy more time for the guard to mobilize.

Golden glanced at Celestia, wanting to make sure that it was okay for him to talk. With a simple nod from her, he did so.

“Yes, Princess, I did order that” Celestia raised a hoof for him to stop talking.

“Then. As you should know, there is nothing wrong with creating a local subsidiary and tracking the income and expenses related to your business, if that’s what you had indeed planned. However, as your records have shown,” She purposefully stopped to gauge his reaction and was not disappointed. Golden had frozen up with fear at the mention of his records. Sweat was building up around his face, and his breathing became sharp.

‘I see, so you truly were oblivious to the raid last night.’ Celestia mused to herself.

“P-Pr-Princess, I can explain!” At this moment, several royal unicorn guards walked in. They each had a gold-tipped spear held in their dull yellow magic.

“I do not believe that will be necessary, as your personal logs have been acquired as well in the raid that transpired just last night” Her horn lit up a bright gold, and she used her magic to pull out a scroll which she had hidden behind her throne. Levitating it in the air, she proceeded to unroll it to read aloud what it said.

“Ahem!” She cleared her throat, and judging from the look on Golden’s face; he knew just which one this was. “My good friend Slight” She started, imitating Golden’s snobby accent. “The barbaric Princess doesn’t seem to be wavering in her opinion of the tax change. I need you to take and hide our money and assets. With any luck, in a few days, I will be leaving this shithole of a country and move to the Griffon Empire” She stopped and let the words sink into all of the nobles in the room. She scanned the scroll once more before laying her eyes on a particular section.

“Ah, yes. This is my favorite part.” She shifted back into the accent. “If any of the others so much as attempt to snitch, I’m leaving you to arrange their “accidents.” For if that whore of a Princess finds out about our operations, it won't be just me that goes down.”

With the last sentences said, all of the other nobles slowly backed away from Golden, who just sputtered out nonsense and tried to come up with anything to get him out of the mess. He looked towards one of the stained glass windows, and then looked down at his wings.

The act was not lost on Celestia, who grabbed him with her magic just as he started to make a dash for it. She brought him closer, and her eyes narrowed at the squirming figure before her. “Golden Fields. In the name of Equestria, I find you guilty of tax evasion, money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, fraud, treason, insurance fraud, 29 counts of blackmail”

She paused, giving herself a moment to say this correctly. “And the conspiracy to commit murder” The nobles in the room flinched as the word. What was worse was that she had said all of that without raising her voice.

The royal guards then moved over to Celestia, who promptly dropped the pegasus onto the ground, who was frozen with fear. One of the guards hit him with the wooden end of the pole and told him to stand, which he then did.

“Guards. You are to take Mr. Golden to the dungeons and lock him up. There will be no visitations allowed unless it is me.” The guards nodded in response before smacking the broken pegasus once more, and they led him out of the throne room.

The other nobles took this as their cue to leave. Each of them bowed courteously before booking it out of the throne room. Once they had all left, Celestia walked back over to her seat and collapsed. She started to rub her head with her hoof when she heard the door open once more. Glancing over, she saw the captain of her Royal Guard, Brilliant Steel.

She was a unicorn mare, with white fur and a dark blue mane. Her cutie mark was that of a silver sword guarding a book. She walked towards Celestia before bowing.

"You may rise."

"Your majesty, permission to speak freely?" The mare asked.

"Permission granted," Celestia said with a smirk.

"I am so glad this is bucking over," She groaned out as she fell backward onto the floor.

Celestia started to snicker at her behavior, before letting out a long sigh.
"Yes, I do believe that is something that both you and I can agree on. I trust none of them presented any trouble?" Celestia asked before walking down and standing next to the guard who was currently stretching.

"Hmm? Nope," She responded.

"That's good." She glanced at her prone form. "I'm not sure that this floor has been cleaned in a while, Ms. Brilliant." Celestia rubbed her hoof on the floor before bringing it up to blow the dust off that had gathered.

"I don't care, it's cold, and it makes me feel better." She responded.

"Hmm...Well, I would join you, but this coat is hard to keep clean. And I do seem to recall you promising me a spa treatment once this whole thing was over." Celestia then started to walk on past her towards the throne room doors.

"Cashing in already? Well, then let's go. Mother."

Author's Note

Well hello there...
Did you just?
Yeah...Yeah I'm ashamed...ANYWAYS!
And of course you're changing the topic.
Shut it. Now as I was saying, I'm sorry for the delay. But combine college, with COVID19, along with my laziness, stress and anxiety. Well lets just say it gets in the way. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything, mainly because Valen would die.
It's true, I am deathly allergic to sugar.
Stop interrupting my train of thought! Now my upload time for chapters, for anyone who is concerned,(but lets face it, that's not many people) is going to be either very fast or very slow at times. My motivation comes and goes whenever it pleases.
Also I feel I must apologize for the way this author's note is set up. I like to entertain myself by having conversations with characters from some of my other stories.
The colors are just for fun though.
Yeah I think they get it. But yeah, comment if you like, ask questions and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. But besides that, have a good day/night!
And stay safe out there!