The date is December 1, 2205. The Earth Federation Cosmo Force, the Earth's collective military force, is on high alert following the recent destruction of the planet Garmillas, the capital planet of Great Garmillas Empire, and the planet Iscandar, home to the Iscandarians, both of whom were major intergalactic allies of the Earth Federation.
With little-to-no information on the perpetrators and their motives, the Earth Federation President has issued a state of emergency for the Earth and her colonies, fearing a possible attack by the mysterious enemy.
As many of the Earth's active warships are deployed to either secure the federation's interstellar borders or provide aid to the survivors of the planet Garmillas, a lone ship leaves port on a remote mining colony for an entirely different mission.
The ship in question is the Vanguard Battleship Defender, a member of the venerable Dreadnought-class of Space Battleships originally launched in late 2202. Extremely versatile and relatively cheap to produce, Dreadnought-class variants have been used to fulfill a variety of roles, ranging from Starfighter Carrier to Supply Ship to even Colony Vessels.
However, Defender's mission today was something far different from what she was originally built for. With the death of majority of the Garmillas government and military leadership, the Earth Federation Military Command have chosen to break their noninterference policy and have sent the Defender on a mission to initiate peaceful first contact with a series of little-known alien civilizations on the planet of Eques Prime.
Their ultimate goal is to create alliances with the planet's many nations, allowing the Earth to gain access to the "magic" utilized by the natives, use it to potentially augment and improve the Cosmo Force's current technology, and establish a colony on the planet so it can act as a second Earth should the worst thing possible happen.
But with how little is known about the planet, it was imperative that a ship like the Defender and a captain with experience in alien civilizations were chosen to accompany the team of diplomats assigned to the mission and ensure their safety.
Thankfully, the ship's new captain was once a citizen of the most powerful nation on the planet, though her current form makes it difficult to discern that fact at a glance.
POV: Captain Sarah Solace (Formerly known as Sunset Shimmer)
"Captain, all shipboard systems are reporting to be fully functional and ready to go." Simon, my Chief Tactical Officer and Second-In-Command, stated as the ship arrived at the edge of the HD-7924 system. "We may proceed with the operation on your command, ma'am."
"Captain, I'm receiving an incoming call from HQ." Sophia, my Chief Communications officer, reported before Commander-in-Chief Heikuro Todo appeared on the large screen located on the ceiling above.
"Please tell me the mission has been called off." I thought to myself as I saluted the Commander. "Greetings Commander, are there any updates regarding Operation Firm Handshake?"
"Yes, Captain Solace, the Emergency Garmillan government has assigned an envoy to join you on this mission. Their ship is en route to the Eques system as we speak." Commander Todo replied, that information shooting down any hopes I might have had about not going back there.
"I see, thank you for the update Commander. Is there any other reason as to why you would contact us directly?" I asked the commander. "I mean no disrespect sir, but I find it odd that the commander of the entire EFCF would go out of his way to make contact with a single ship for such a small update.
"I only want to request a private conversation with you later, Captain." Commander Todo relented after a few moments. "It involves your family, something I know you wish to keep private."
While my nature as a former Equestrian is well known among the upper levels of the command structure, the overall populace and even the crew that currently serve under me are not aware of my true origins.
The official government report instead states that I was the sole surviving member of my family, all of whom supposedly perished in 2192 during some of the initial planet-bomb attacks that occurred during the early years of the Earth-Garmillas war.
While I wondered at first why the truth was not revealed after the war ended, I quickly learned the reason when I saw the immense xenophobia that many humans held towards the newly allied Garmillans. I now have a suspicion that some of the higher-ups have been planning this mission for some time now, using the destruction of Garmillas partially as an excuse to start the operation.
"Understood, after we set up the necessary communications infrastructure, I will contact you before continuing with the operation." I said before saluting the commander and closing the channel. "All hands, prepare for a long-distance warp!"
"It has been almost sixteen years since I left... Will she recognize me? Does she even remember me?" I thought to myself as my crew began preparations for FTL travel. "As much as I am the best candidate to lead this mission, if Celestia recognizes me, it could jeopardize the entire plan."
"Increasing Wave Motion Engine output from thirty-two to ninety-nine percent, setting speed to thirty-three space knots." Samuel, my Chief Navigator, reported as the ship accelerated to warp-speed. "Entering Warp in Three... Two... One... Warp!"
The Defender then 'jumped the gap' in spacetime and after what felt like one nanosecond later, we arrived at the edge of the Eques system, over one hundred and fifty lightyears from Earth. As we moved towards the second planet in the system, radar picked up another ship approaching us from our starboard side.
"That is most likely the Garmillan vessel carrying their diplomats." I thought before turning to Sophia. "Hail them, I want to speak with their captain and discuss what the plan going forward will be."
Two hours later...
POV: Princess Twilight Sparkle
It was nearly time for Princess Celestia to lower the sun, I was almost finished with the last session of Day Court that is part of Princess Celestia's lesson meant to teach me how to deal with government bureaucracy when an extremely loud rumble sounding much like an engine roared overhead.
"What the buck was THAT?" I thought to myself as I stood from my seat and began heading to the exit. "Excuse me Sir Blacksteel, but I must excuse-"
"Your highness! We've got a situation!" A panicking royal guard shouted as he threw open the doors. "Amassiveairshipjustappearedoutofnowhereand-"
"Calm down, can you please explain to me what is going on?" I asked the guard, whose insignia told me was a sergeant, as I stopped him from running around the room with my magic. "Slowly."
"Forgive me, Princess Twilight." The sergeant apologized as he bowed to me, something I am still uncomfortable with. "I forgot that Princess Celestia was in her study and that you were in charge of Day Court for today."
"It's fine, sergeant, can you please explain what just happened?" I asked the guard again. "What was that loud rumble? It sounded like a-"
"Sir! The large airship just launched a smaller one out its rear!" Another guard, a private this time, shouted as he ran into the throne room. "The mini-airship is on its way here now!"
"What? What did you just say?" I asked, now extremely confused by what I'm hearing. "Never mind that, you two go get Princess Celestia, I will go and investigate this... 'mini-airship' you speak of."
"Yes your highness!" They both saluted me (another thing I am still not used to) before running off in the direction of Princess Celestia's study.
"What is going on today?" I asked myself as I quickly made my way to the castle gate, arriving just in time to see something white land in a courtyard not too far from the Castle. "That must be the so-called 'mini-airship', but if that's the mini, where is the... Sweet Celestia's Sun!"
Far from the city, seemingly above the maximum altitude of even Equestria's greatest airships, was a massive grey ship hovering above the countryside. Despite being a fair distance away, it was clearly larger than anything we have every constructed and possibly much more advanced if the lack of a distinct gas bag was any indicator.
"Heads up! We've got incoming!" I heard one of the guard officers cry out as two bipedal creatures came down the street from where the white object had landed.
Both wore something similar in design to the spacesuits we had in development, albiet in a forest green color with armor plates all over the body. One biped carried a suitcase while the other a rectangular gray object that I assumed was a weapon judging by how similarly the creature held it to a Pegasus guard holding a crossbow.
As the two approached, the guards on duty formed a shield wall was around me, which made the two pause before one started laughing, their voice being amplified by speakers seemingly built into their armor.
"Spears?! Are they seriously threatening us with such archaic weapons?" He asked his companion, who just facepalmed their helmet in response.
"Our suits may be puncture resistant, they're not puncture proof, so I suggest you stop laughing at the armed aliens we've been sent here to make friends with." The second creature said after whacking the first in the back of the head. "Besides, the Papal Swiss Guard still use Halberds ceremonially, so these soldiers might just be doing the same."
As the two creatures began to argue, Princess Celestia arrived along with the two guards from earlier. After being brought up to speed by one of the on-duty officers, she had the guards stand down before the two of us approached the two still-arguing bipeds.
"Greetings, I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria." She said, which stopped the two bipeds from fighting for a moment before they continued much more ferociously.
"Great, now you've got us in trouble with this nation's royalty!" The second creature shouted as her companion. "We were sent here to make peaceful first contact with an alien civilization and you've screwed us over with your antics!"
"Excuse me, but-" I tried to intervene, but was quickly cut off.
"I screwed us? You were the one who had to bring up the Swiss Guard!" The first creature shouted back. "You know that I don't count bodyguards as military personnel, so the fact that they use Halberds as ceremonial weapons shouldn't help your argument!"
"ENOUGH!" We all heard someone shout from behind the two creatures.
As we all turned to see who shouted, I noticed that a second mini-airship was now parked beside the first. I then saw three more creatures approach, two of which clad in the same armor as the first group, but their leader wore a less bulky suit that was gray in color and had a more heavily tinted helmet, which made identifying specific facial features near impossible.
"Captain? Why are you here?" The first creature asked as the two saluted the one in gray. "Shouldn't you be on the ship, preparing for the diplomatic meeting?"
"I was, but you guys took so long to even arrange the meeting that I decided to just come down here on my own." The Captain's voice caused a look of recognition to flash across Princess Celestia's face. "I will see that both of you receive some form of punishment for your actions today."
"Apologies Captain, what are our orders now?" The second creature asked the Captain, who was silent for a second before answering.
"Just head back to the ship, I will take it from here." The Captain said before turning their attention to us. "On behalf of the Earth Federation, I apologize for my subordinates here and hope we can start over."
"Sunset Shimmer, i-is that you?" Princess Celestia's voice was shaky, something I had previously thought impossible.
"Well, there goes that plan." The Captain said before removing their helmet, revealing a being with red and yellow hair and light blue eyes. "Hello Princess, it's been a while."
Several Hours Earlier...
POV: Lieutenant Commander Simon Pershing
"So, that's the plan Captain?" I asked Captain Solace as we walked from the briefing room to the mess hall. "We're going to fly the Defender into the airspace of their largest city and basically ask them to 'take us to their leader.'?"
"You've been dying to say that, haven't you lieutenant?" She replied with a mixture of frustration and annoyance. "I've already heard the other captains joke around with that phrase when the decision was still out on who was going on this mission."
"It's a classic line, even if it is over two centuries old." I said with a grin. "Besides, how else will we ask to be brought to the highest ranking government official they have?"
"I was thinking of something similar to that, but more along the lines of 'we seek an audience with the ruler of these lands'." She shot back, before explaining. "We know they haven't developed spaceflight yet, so they are at best early-to-mid 1900s in comparison to our history and at worst, they're still in the renaissance age."
"So you're trying to keep the message as neutral as possible, that's actually a pretty good idea." I realized as we reached the mess hall and lined up for food. "Given the wide timeframe, a more specialized request like 'We request an meeting with the president' might sound weird to ask if their government is feudal and their leader is a monarch."
"Exactly, so we have to be as general in our communications as possible if we are going to avoid insulting someone." She said as she picked up her hamburger from the OMCS (Organic Material Cycle System). "Anyway, I'll see you later at the bridge, we'll begin the first phase of the operation after I meet with Commander Todo."
"Something feels off, how is it that we only have outdated information on this planet and its natives? It doesn't make any sense." I thought to myself as the Captain walked off. "It's almost like we were spying on them for years before the Garmillas war, but that is pretty much impossible since we've only had the ability to leave the Sol System for barely six years."
"Could it be we have another 'Envoy of Iscandar' situation?" I realized, remembering what happened when the planet of Iscandar made first contact with us.
It happened during the Garmillas-Earth war, when the Earth's surface was nothing more than irradiated rock due to the weaponized meteors known planet-bombs being employed by the Garmillans. Queen Stasha of the planet Iscandar, the planetary sibling of Garmillas, took pity on us and sent her two sisters, Sasha and Yurisha, to Earth in order to aid us in a test of her creation.
The test was to travel from Earth to Iscandar, collect the Iscandarian device known as the 'Cosmo Reverse', and return with it safely. The problem was that Iscandar was over one hundred sixty-eight thousand lightyears away from Earth and that the planet bomb radiation would have rendered the Human race extinct in a single year.
Since we didn't have anything capable of faster-than-light travel, Sasha and Yurisha brought parts and schematics for us to use in the creation the ship, named the Space Battleship Yamato, that was to make the journey to Iscandar alone. Sasha died when her ship's engines failed, while Yurisha survived her arrival, but was left in a coma following a terrorist bombing.
When the Yamato, built from the restored remains of her ancient battleship namesake, first took flight, Yurisha's unconscious body was set inside the ship's automatic navigation room to act as the map for the ship's computer so it could plan the route to Iscandar. After she woke up from her coma halfway through the trip, Yurisha acted as an observer for the crew and would eventually use her observations to plead our case to her sister when she denied us the Cosmo Reverse.
"Is possible? Could there a native of Eques Prime onboard, right now?" I asked myself as I tried to recall if there was any suspicious cargo brought aboard. "But there was nothing strange brought onboard in the cargo, so it seems unlikely that they are in a coma like Yurisha was.
As I ate my food, my mind sorted through all the possible options for how the native was kept hidden from the wider crew, slowly dismissing them one by one, before eventually landing on one last possible answer...
That they are hiding as a member of the crew...
Thirty Minutes Later...
POV: Captain Sarah Solace
"Commander, do you read me?" I asked before the computer screen flickered to life, revealing an image of Commander Todo sitting in his office. "Ah, there you are Commander."
"Please set aside my rank for now, this is supposed to be an informal meeting." He said before the screen split to reveal Captain Saki Todo, his daughter and captain of the Research Ship Ginga, sitting in her personal quarters. "Ah, my daughter, good to see you again."
"Hello again, Captain Solace, Commander Todo." Saki would say as she saluted, still following her habit of always including rank in her conversations. "It's been a while since we last spoke."
"Saki, please, this is supposed to be a casual conversation." Heikuro sighed before turning back to me. "Now that we are all here, let me be the first to say, I know you have reservations about going home, but-"
"Will all due respect, Earth is my home, Equestria might as well be a foreign land to me now." I interrupted, barely keeping my emotions in check. "Not only has it been over a decade-and-a-half since I lived there, but my memories of Earth have, for the most part, been more positive than my memories of Equestria."
"I understand, but you know very well that you are the only one with experience with this planet." Saki spoke up before her father. "As much as it is possible for your wish to be granted, do you really want to leave open the possibility for the Bolar Federation to take the planet over and enslave its population?"
"No! As much as I... disagree with my family, I would rather suffer the pain of my past than let others suffer the consequences of my inaction." I said, choosing my words carefully as to avoid insulting Saki, who has a unsteady relationship with her father. "I just hope that I'm not recognized. The last time I was there, I was not exactly on good terms with Princess Celestia."
"As long as you keep to the plan, you should be able to set the conditions for your reveal to both your crew and your old home." Heikuro said with a gentle smile. "Besides, if you were last seen almost sixteen years ago, I doubt that anyone would recognize you now."
Present Time...
POV: Captain Sarah Solace
"Sunset Shimmer, i-is that you?" Princess Celestia asked with a shaky voice as I watched the two insubordinate Cavalrymen walked back to their Cosmo Seagull.
"Really, Heikuro? Nobody would recognize me?" I thought as she stood there, her expression somewhere between fearful and hopeful. "Next time we speak, I will have to remind you that my teacher is several millennia old."
"Well, there goes that plan." I said before taking off my helmet and revealing my face to the Solar Princess. "Hello Princess, it's been a while."
"Is this real? Is it really you?" She said, tears forming in her eyes as she approached me, only to stop when my two bodyguards aimed their rifles at her.
"Stand down, she's a friendly." I ordered them before turning back to Celestia. "Sorry about them, they don't know about our history."
"What do you mean Captain, do you really know her?" The Cavalryman on my right asked me as he lowered his rifle.
"I wanted to tell everyone after first contact, but yes, I know the Princess." I answered before I was bear hugged by Celestia. "She was my teacher when I lived here over fifteen years ago."
"I can't believe it's really you!" She said as she squeezed me with her all her strength. "All this time, I knew you were still alive, despite what everypony said!"
"Please let go, I can't breath." I managed to choke out before Celestia let go. "Wait, everyone thought I was dead? Why?"
"The tracking spell I placed on you when I first took you in as a student, it failed as soon as you went through the portal." She answered while wiping her tears away. "To make matters worse, when I tried to reopen the portal after thirty moons, it failed to open."
"That makes sense, Earth has no magic field and the portal was destroyed by the initial planet-bomb strikes in 2192." I thought before turning back to my soldiers. "Set up the radio, I'm going to ask the diplomats to come down here, the plan's been screwed and we're going to have to improvise."
"Roger that captain!" The two Cavalrymen replied before they began setting up the two-piece mobile radio that they carried on their backs.
"Excuse me, but what is that?" The purple Alicorn asked me as she cautiously approached me.
"Another Alicorn? Where did you come from? Last time I was here, you were not around." I asked myself before answering her. "That is a mobile radio, it's a device we use to communicate with others across distances over twenty kilometers. I don't believe we've met, what's-"
We’re off to outer space!
Protecting mother Earth!
To save, the human race!
Our Star Blazers!
"Sorry Captain! It seems that we accidentally set the frequency to that of the ship's recreational channels." The radioman said before switching the radio to the proper frequency. "There we go, the radio's ready for you captain."
"Thank you, now can I please have some privacy?" I asked everyone as I picked up the headset and put it on. "Some of the things I'm going discuss are considered need-to-know only."
"Sure thing captain." The two cavalrymen replied before ushering the two Alicorns away.
POV: Second Lieutenant Jack Ryan
"What was that song we heard?" The younger princess(?) asked us as we went down the street in order to give the Captain some space. "And what was it talking about?"
"It's the main theme song for a factual fiction show called 'Star Blazers'." Private Mike, my assigned partner and one of the newer additions to the Defender's infantry compliment, answered. "It recounts the adventures of the spaceship Yamato and her crew as they fought to save and protect our home world of Earth."
"The verse you heard was the opening of the song, which basically states the current mission of the Yamato." I continued before I was pulled away by the older princess. "Yes, your highness?"
"Your captain, how would you describe her?" She asked me while looking back the way we came. "After all these years apart, I want to know what is she like now."
"When we first met in basic training, she was cold, secretive, and manipulative. But after the hardships we endured over the years, she has become a firm, but fair captain that cares greatly for those under her." I answered as honestly as I could without breaking OPSEC (Operational Security).
"Hardships? What do you mean?" She asked, inquiring about the very thing I didn't have permission to disclose.
"I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to disclose that information for now, your highness, but what I can tell you is that it affected everyone differently." I said as I watched the captain come down the street. "Sometimes for the better, other times for the worse."
"Pack up your gear and head back to the Seagull, you two are being rotated out." She said as she put her helmet back on. "While I can't order you to do so, if possible, please keep what you learned here a secret for now."
"We will captain, I promise." I replied before giving the Princesses a small bow and heading back to the mobile radio set alongside Mike. "Things have just gotten a whole lot more interesting..."
Author's Note
For those who haven't watch Space Battleship Yamato, here is an image of a Dreadnought-class Space Battleship, the class of ship the Defender is a part of.
(Armament and capabilities will be explained in future chapters)
