Green Sun: Anthology

Privateers

Lightning lit up the sky over the Celestial Sea, storm rains pelting the surf that was churning underneath the severe winds. In the middle of this storm, a single ship fought against the waves. Before the war, his sailing ship was top-of-the-line, fastest wooden vessel on the water, and one of the best armed pirating vessels that plagued the seas. Then Tiberium made landfall, and Equestria underwent a military expansion the likes no one had seen since the days of Commander Hurricane, and suddenly ships of steel that had once been a rare sight were ruling the waves near GDI coastlines.

Life on the sea had always been a bit harsh for pirates given how many of the world’s governments wanted them all dead or arrested, and the sudden influx of organized navies didn’t make it any easier.. Although they were widely considered a soon to be extinct way of life before the war began, the world-spanning Tiberium War had completely changed the fortunes of Harrier Ironwing and his entire crew. Working on the sea against the GDI Navy was out of the question, but working with them was an offer that nearly surprised the feathers off the salty old pirate. Receiving his Letter of Marque was both a proud and controversial day not just for Harrier, but for the dozens of pirate crews that GDI had contracted. For him, it was a question of loyalty; his home nation had aligned with Nod, but his home nation had also disowned him a dozen times over before the war had started, and now he not only had free reign to target any vessel flying Nod colors, but to keep any ship he could tackle.

GDI had originally thought nothing of this, given the Brotherhood’s navy was mostly focused around overwhelming numbers of smaller, faster ships rather than the floating fortresses of their eagle-clad rivals. They had thought that the most he’d be able to do would be to harass Nod’s merchant navy, maybe help disrupt supply lines overseas to the battlefields that GDI wasn’t able to fully commit to. They thought that he’d be lucky to get away unscathed if he ran across a purpose built Nod warship. It wasn’t until Ironwing managed to capture a corvette in the closing weeks of the war that GDI truly realized what they had unleashed on the water.

Harrier smiled as water from a particularly tall wave splashed over the bow of the Stormcutter, originally the Pinkie Pie, a Nod missile corvette. He had been happy with the upgrade, and ever since he managed to capture this capable vessel, he relished the chances to test her against the worst tempests he could find given the surprising lack of targets on the ocean this time of year. With more than enough room for Ironwing’s 50-griffon crew, and enough firepower to challenge anything short of a cruiser thanks to the full stock of ordinance left on board, the Stormcutter was all Ironwing could have asked for and more. The real prize though, was the cloaking device that she came with, something that Ironwing wouldn’t have been able to even guess at its operation if half the ship’s original crew hadn’t agreed to sign on with the famous griffon.

A hundred pirates strong, with enough fuel in the bunkers to last a year without Nod prey, and more than enough missiles sitting in their tubes to outgun anything they couldn’t outrun. All he needed now was a Brotherhood ship, though they were getting increasingly hard to find given how the war had ended a mere six months ago.

“Captain, radar is showing a contact….” one of his crew stated over the gale outside of the bridge, a pony that had jumped ship rather than get tossed off of it.

“Colors?” Ironwing asked, looking back at his ‘radar officer’, a position he still wasn’t used to having under his command. After a few moments of peering at the displays around his station, the unicorn gave a feral grin back to his commander.

“Brotherhood, logistics, posing as a GDI merchmantmare, but we have her transponder in our library.”

“Action stations!” Ironwing bellowed, and all throughout the ship klaxons blared. Pirates from every walk of life, including a particularly well-off unicorn mare that Ironwing was sure used to be married to some Canterlot bigwig with a blue mustache, all sprung into action and found their battle stations throughout the vessel. Even as waves crashed across her bow and wind tore at her superstructure, the only thing that gave anyone on his ship pause was the occasional strike of lightning on the water as they approached their lumbering target.

“Hit the cloak.” Ironwing ordered with a smile, his red plumage seeming to come to life at the prospect of another hunt, his black eyes shining like he was fresh out of the nest all over again.

“Cloaking.” another griffon answered. With the tell-tale shimmering of Nod stealth tech, the Stormcutter disappeared from view, with only the lightning causing her invisibility shield to glitch.

“Give warning and announce us; time to go to work, everyone!” Ironwing commanded jovially, his boisterous tone being matched by a hearty, predatory laugh as the merchantmare tried to turn and run.

To the Nod vessel they were chasing, it looked like a ghost ship was hunting them.

To the GDI navy, this well-armed privateer was a small price to pay to keep Nod’s dwindling sea power under control.

To Harrier Irongwing, it was just another day of enjoying the best job he ever had.