A New Enemy

Flurry made a recording that detailed the situation and that she was escaping and gave the disc to Spike. He climbed into an escape pod while Flurry boarded her own ship. Both were launched at the same time and the Harmony was blown to bits. Some of the shrapnel hit the Peacekeeper and sent Flurry hurtling through space. Spike succumbed to his injuries and died when he was two-thirds of the way back to Eqqus after three years. Flurry was not sure what would happen to her. Her ship had gotten stuck inside a cave in another asteroid that was near the rim of the nebula, and she had no radio contact.

One and a half years later...

Cadence was informed of a capsule entering Equus' atmosphere over the Celestial Sea. She was taken by pegasus chariot to the splashdown area just as the parachutes were opening. When the capsule was retrieved, her heart sank when she saw Spike lying dead inside. When she pulled him out, she saw the video log DVD in his claws and grabbed it for examination. Through the static, she saw Flurry Heart with panic in her eyes and was able to make out what she was saying.

"This is Flurry Heart, prior to boarding the Peacekeeper. This is the last log from the Harmony. We came across a crashed ship in an uncharted nebula. It was full of alien eggs and had come from a planet at star coordinates X: 43, Y: 87, Z: 30. We examined one of the eggs and it abruptly hatched. It was a queen of the Syknoian race. She managed to send Equus' star coordinates before the self-destruct killed her. I am the only one who survived. Everybody else, including Spike, is dead. He was hit by a toxic acid from the queen's mouth and the others were eaten until only bare bones remained. Equus must prepare for war against the Syknoians and hopefully destroy them for good. Also, I pray that someone manages to rescue me."

Cadence was horrified by the report, but she wasted no time in preparing everyone. Soon, the time had come to defend the planet from these new attackers. They started coming after two years, but Equus' army was ready. They fought valiantly and held back the Syknoians. Eventually, Cadence commissioned the construction of an entire fleet of starships to travel to the home world and to destroy it.

TO BE CONTINUED...

What will happen now? Is this the end of Equus, or will these new attackers be vanquished?