Chapters There is no peace in war.
Wreck of the U.N.S. Delta
The U.N.S. META
Armada Sparkle
The U.N.S. META lingered above the wreckage of it's sister U.N.S. DELTA . The META searched the wreckage. Huge pieces and small alike floated endlessly in the coldness of space. A few body's even were spotted among the wastage, but were picked up by scavenger drones and were brought back to the cruiser. Inside the META 's bridge, crew members simultaneously checked their own monitors and scanned the field through the bridge's large window.
"Admiral Yularren, we have drones inside the core reacter room. Waiting for your authorization to shut it down." As the crew member spoke, the admiral caressed his right wrist. He dropped his hand to his side and faced the young crew member.
"Very well, initiate protocol lima-niner. Re-call any units in the area to return to the ship and prepare to scuttle the DELTA ." Yularren said into the intercom, notifying all crew members.
Staff sergeant Ramirez bobbed his head up and down listening to some very old classic rock. The music was loud enough for him not to hear the radio broadcast. So he continued cutting away at a section of the DELTA with his plasma cutter. Captain "Lewie" Louis popped his head out of the the hatch and looked over to Ramirez.
"Hey Ramirez," He yelled into their communication system. "Damnit!" He looked up and grabbed a floating peice of scrap metal. He took aim and threw it at Ramirez. The scrap metal flew strait and didnt slow down. It missed Ramirez's space suit and instead clanged against the hull of the ship. Ramirez stopped cutting and turned to look at Lewie who was eagerly waving his hands to come back to the ship.
Ramirez strapped the plasma cutter to his waist and grabbed hold of his space tether. Gradually he made his way back over, but stopped and looked off to his right. "What the hell is that." both the captain and ramirez said.
On the bridge all the crew members were talking among them selves, but it soon fell dead silent as they all looked out the window. Admiral Yularren walked passed the stalled crew members and pressed a red button on a console.
"All units man your battle stations. I repeat man your battle stations!" All the crew members snapped out of their demeanor and rushed around the bridge. Outside the ship The main gun un-latched and became mobile and aimed at the ever growing cruiser in the distance. The admiral pressed the intercom button again. "Abort scuttling DELTA 's reactors. I say again abort." He looked at the green glowing light on his console, it turned off.
"X.O. status report."
"Sir, possible enemy cruiser is closing on our position. It's roughly about a mile long, so just about half the size of us."
"Alright contact the U.N.S. IOTA , we dont have any idea what they may or may not have." The X.O. nodded his head and began typing on a console.
"Shit!" yelled Lewie. Ramirez shook his head and began franticlly pulling himself to the shuttle. The unknown ship was basicly above them, casting it's shadow. Now the lights of their ship illuminated the surrounding area. Ramirez climbed inside and closed the hatch behind him. He practically ran to his seat even with zero gravity. The captain wasted no time in starting up the engines, they hummed as they plowed their way through space.
The Armada Sparkle made its way towards the wreckage site. Captain Thread sat in his chair and scanned the graveyard infront of him. No soul on the bridge of the armada spoke, they just sat in silence and kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Even though it was common for Thread's crew to meet the un-ordinary and make peace and harmony with sentient beings, he has never came across a ship grave yard though. Meaning that a battle had taken place here, so he kept an observant eye out. Before he knew it they were passing through the wreckage. A large piece floated past the bridge window. A crew member took a picture of it. Upon further inspection the piece had equestrian written on it.
"Captain sir, it appears to be witten in equestrian. Did we have any ships in the area?"
"No we shouldnt, this region is unexplored."
Once again silence fell on the bridge. Then out of the blue the proximity alarm went off, making every one on the bridge jump. Captain Thread jumped from his chair and peered out the window. "There." He stated, pointing at a small craft that sped across the wreckage.
"What is it sir?" asked another crewpony.
"It apears to be a small transport, or maybe a scavenger ship." He traced the ship as it moved. Eventually the ship Thread followed revealed yet another ship. This one being at least twice the size of his ship. He ran back to his chair and pressed a red button. the ship alarms went off and red lights circled around the ceiling.
Thread looked at his monitor and the weapon levels were charging up at a slow pace. He ignored the monitor and inspected the cruiser infront of him. It too had similiar writings as the destroyed one. On the left side of the ship which was now just discovered as U.N.S. META, a black hole opened up and had aqua clouds that spun around it. Another ship came out, looking very similiar to the META , but was named IOTA . The two massive ships were directly above the armada. "Pull the ship up!" shouted Thread. He didnt like the position he was currently in. "Send word to the princess that we are in a hot zone." A crew pony looked at the captain and then to his station as he began to send the memo to Princess Celestia.
The ship was in a steep incline as it started to climb at a rapid pace. Suddenly the Armada Sparkle stopped and it's ascent was cut off. The ship shook violently knocking the crew members off their hooves. Thread stood up. Another rupture made the ship tremble, but instead of making Thread fall to the deck, he began to float.
"Sir they hit the gravity displacer!" shouted a crew pony. The sound of popping and explosions rang on the armada's top hull. A loud boom ecohed through out the ship. The bridge began to glow yellow, then orange. Thread looked behind himself as a wall of fire screamed it's way up the hallways of the ship. Crew ponies were engoulfed in the flame and Thread was soon to follow.
Yularren watched the ship that the Iota and himself destroyed. Explosions ran up the length of the ship. The Iota announced its departure and entered slip space, leaving the META alone. Yularren walked over to his chair and pressed the intercom button.
"Attention all units. Stand down and scavenger teams prepare to set out again." Yularren sat back in his seat and sighed.
There is no peace in war.
Planet Horizon: Pony colony
U.N.S. Drop ship
U.N.S. Carlston
Celestia sat on her throne reading over the message the Armada Sparkle sent before it's catastrophic end. Did these beings wish for war? Or was it an accident? Celestia thought to her self, before coming up with a final decision.
"Send word to princess Luna and princess Cadence. Tell them that we are on the verge of war." With that Celestia's guard nodded and headed his way out of the room to the communications center. A servant was next to take the place of the guard.
"What is it Olive?" Celestia asked trying to hide the strain behind her voice.
"Your majesty, colony twelve has just sent word that two unknown ships are in the planet Horizon's orbit, and have destroyed Commander Fleet Hoove's fleet."
"What are the names of the hostile ships?" Celestia asked anger slightly rising in her calm voice.
"U.N.S. Carlston and U.N.S. Meta." Celestia nodded and waved the servant off. She bowed and trotted out of the throne room.
Admiral Yularren leaned over a console and kept pressing the replay button on the touch screen monitors.
"This is U.N.S. frigate Carlston to any friendly forces in the area. We have came under attack by unknown enemy ships. We are entering the planets atmosphere. We need assistance A.S.A.P. or we will be forced to crash land on unknown planet, Coordinates follow-" The sound of static filled the audio transmission.
"Would you like to play again sir?" The ships on board A.I. asked.
"No Vicky, I'd like for you to trace the signal of the Carlston."
"As you wish Admiral." A loading bar popped up on the monitor and labeled itself as tracing. Yularren stared at the loading bar as it hit the fifty percent mark. Yularren pressed the intercom button.
"Attention all crew, prepare for slip space jump." He looked back at the loading bar which was at nintynine percent loaded, then it jumped to one hundred. Vicky's voice came in through the Admiral's chair.
"Coordinates have been locked on sir, ready when you are."
"Do it." Yularren said. The ship shot a blue streak of light that grew outwards, making the slip space portal. The Meta made its way through and found a decent sized fleet made up of the ships the Meta had destroyed earlier. Yularren pressed the alarm system to notify all crew members to man battle stations. Once more the heavy main cannon came un-hooked and picked out it's nearest target.
"Hanger one and two, prepare drop ships for imeadient exvile, and load the package." Yularren said. Down in hanger one Anvil sqaud was preping for a search and rescue mission. Lead by Master Sergeant Burns, his sqaud was best in the fourth division. Their drop ship swung down and landed before them and opened it's back door. Before any one moved a box like object was loaded into the back.
"Ah shit, we get a fucking package this is rad." said Corporal jennings hopping up and down like bouncing ball. The others shook their heads and placed on they're helmets and activated motion sensor systems and comm-links. Straping them-selves in the back door closed and locked tight sealing in the air that was needed. The drop ship lurched forward making Anvil sqaud feel their inards move with the ship. Private Mattern pulled out a bag of M&M's and opened it, letting all it's conntents float around in the compartment.
"Never gets old." he stated.
"Yeah just make sure you pick them all up." Jennings teased. The pilot spoke next.
"I would appreciate that." They shared a laugh before it fll silent and a red light came on.
The Carlston could be seen in the planet's atmosphere burning up as it fell at a slow pace. The drop ships began their own entry and passed the Carlston at a faster but still slow speed. Five minutes later the drop ships seperated going their own ways to secure life boat crash sites. Anvil's bird banked hard left and shook so hard it undid the straps that held 'the package' in place.
"We're hit, brace for impact!" The pilot yelled as the drop ship went into a free fall. Spining out of control, the drop ship hit the side of a mountain. It knocked over a few trees and made a good sized crater. The drop ship lay still.
"Every one okay?" Master Sergeant Burns asked. The rest of his sqaud moaned in responce. Burns looked up into the cockpit, the pilot was dead. His head smashed into the control boards, and blood splattered all over it as well as the window. The drop ship shook again and the sensation of tipping over filled Anvil sqaud's body. The view out of the window showed light blue skies, but was replaced by veiw of the ground as the drop ship crashed onto a slope and began it's descent down the mountain side.
The drop ship hit a slanted rock and went up into air and then back down again and landed on the shore of a lake. The water splooshed on the space craft that had been thrown around to much. Burns was first to stand up. He limped his way over to the door. He placed his hand on a lever and pulled it down. There was a hiss and the door blew off it's hinges revealing the outside world. Burns stepped out and his clean black boots were now covered in sand. He turned back to the drop ship which was partially covered in water. He stepped back in and slipped on the back ramp. He helped himself up using the package as his support. What he didnt realize was that he accidentality activated it. The package transformed into a large walker and had to basicly hunch over. It's red eye came out and so did the two fifty caliber machine guns on it's back. It looked like a dog except the red eye was where the head would have been. It looked at Burns, it's red eye dialating and then going back to normal.
"Activate code charlie." The package buzzed and stepped out of the ship making it sway a bit. Burns followed it as it left behind what looked like chicken feet but had grips on the bottom making the sand imprints go in deeper. The package sat it's self down and transformed back into a cube, but it continued to humm.
Burns headed off into the edge of the forest getting a clear view of the sandy clearing. The package just sat there not moving. Not a moment to soon the rumble of a ship passed over him. The ship touched down on the beach about fifty five feet away from the package. What surprized Burns next was what came out of the ship. What appeared to be equine forms, wearing kevlar armor trotted out of the ship holding mysterious guns. They aproached the package, un-knowingly what would transpier next. One of the equines touched the package with its hoof. The package transformed while in the process flung the equine off into the forest and landed right beside Burns. Burns un-sheathed his combat knife and drove it into the neck of the pony.
Armor plating slid over the red eye of the package as it started prancing around just like a dog playing with a moving toy. The equines fired at the package with blue bolts coming out of the guns. The package took many hits but seemed unscathed. It fired the two fifty caliber guns on it's back in five round bursts, creating new holes in the enemy. The ponies bled out on the sandy ground. The ponies drop ship bagan to take off but was knocked back down to earth again as the package jumped on it's side and started pulling it apart, ripping shreds of metal off and throwing them in random directions. The ship crashed with a loud thud and the sounds of trees snapping in half. The package continued to rip apart the stealth black colored ship. The package broke the light blue tinted window revealing a pony in a olive drab jump suit and a brown helmet firing at the package with a side arm. The energy bolts faded off the surface of the package leaving only scorch marks where the bolts landed. The pony's gun fizzled signaling it was out of ammo. The pony let out a feminine scream as the package gave a mechanical roar. The package couldent reach the pony so it stuck it's steel claws in there instead and latched onto the pony. The pony struggled to break the clasp of the package. Soon the package dropped the pony pilot on the ground by her dead comrades and circled the pony as a carnivore would when intimidating its prey.
Burns came out of the tree line holstering his assault rifle and bearing his semi-auto pistol. He placed the barrel on the pilot's head. The pony quivered at the feeling of cold steel on her head.
"Oh please for the sweet mercy of Celestia don't kill me!" she pleaded. Burns looked up from the pony pilot and then to the package.
"Contact the Meta and any other friendly forces in the area to pick us up." The package acknowledged him with a mechanical whir.
In Horizon's orbit the Meta had destroyed twelve of the twenty cruisers and had taken little significant damage. It continued to chew its way through the equestrian cruisers. Each cruiser that was destroyed exploded in a horrific end that sent it down into the planet's atmosphere. Two equestrian ships made their way on both star board and port sides of the Meta. The main cannon continued to chew out more ships infront and the one hundred and ten deck guns laid waste to the ships on both sides. They met the same fate as the others. Six ships were left after two solid hours of fighting continued. One by one each ship fell within another hour.
"Sir it would seem that the battle is over." Vicky said in high spirits.
"It would seem that way, I want expeditionary units planet side to see what it is exactly we're dealing with." Yularren said rubbing his temples.
"Understood Admiral, notififying expeditionary units now."
There is no peace in war.
Gamma Nine: Pony controlled space
U.N.S. Stealth fighter
'The Package'
Cadence stood behind the Captain Iron; He was fleet admiral of Cadence's home fleet. They're current position was in Gamma Nine, a valuable source for resources could be found on all planets in the solar system. By far Cadence had the biggest fleet in all of Equestria, plus the biggest cruiser which was originally meant for colonization, but was now outfitted with some pretty large deck guns and two new expierimental cannons that fire mass amounts of super heated plasma. Now Cadence wondered why her aunt had sent her all the way out to the furthest galaxy and requested to destroy any unknown ships that had U.N.S. written on it.
"Captain? What in Equestria is that?" Cadence asked pointing with her hoof out the window. The captain squinted his eyes to look at what Cadence had pointed out.
"I dont see anything princess. Check the radar, will you?" he asked a pony sitting at a console. The pony checked and eventually shook his head no.
"See princess there isnt-" he was cut off by three small space craft that flew by the bridge window. The captain practicly jumped off his seat to the console infront of him. He pressed down on the alarm button, possibly a bit to hard because he broke it. The alarms blared and the chatter over the radio came to life. Off to the right a cruiser exploded.
"I want those fighters mopped up do you understand me?" Iron yelled into the communications microphone.
"Trying sir but they're not appearing on our radars."
"Just try your hardest!"
"This is Falcon two-one, requesting permission for take off?" The radio stayed silent for a second.
"Go ahead two-one, just watch yourself out there you dont have stealth on your side." Verona started the drop ships engine's. The ship took off and banked left headed towards the massive fleet before her. She made it to underneath the largest ship in the fleet and bagan to rise. She passed the bridge only taking one second to take a look inside before continued the ninty degree ascent. There was a small opening that she could set down on.
"You ready marines?" She asked looking back at the marines in her ride. They simply nodded. She turned back and pressed a grey button on the dashboard. The door became air tight and the back door opened.
The marines pulled out three packages, since there was no gravity it made moving them out easier. One by one they activated and they walked around making clunking sounds. The drop ship took off leaving the marines behind.
"Open it right there." Lance corporal Vance said pointing at a possible entry point. The packages set up a large air tight tent over it. The marines went in and went to work. The sound of plasma cutting through steel almost seemed silent.
Every pony on the bridge dared not breath when they heard many metallic thunks above them. It stopped for a second before sparks started to fall from the ceiling. All the ponies brought to bear their pistols.
"Get the princess out of her!" shouted Iron. Cadence left with another pony that escorted her out of the bridge. The red circle above them was almost complete. Nearing the completion the sparks stopped flying and the steel circle fell and made a loud thud. Nothing happened. A small stick fell down and it exploded blinding all the ponies inside. What happened next scared Iron to death, so he let out a scream as well did most of the crew.
Loud bangs echoed through out the hall ways of the ship and screams as well. Cadence looked back but saw what seemed to be two bipedals holding short barrels and were screaming. "Equestrian? " Cadence thought but was stopped as a robotic dog came around the corner.
"RUN!" shouted one of Cadence's guards pulling her. They ran as fast as their hooves could carry them. Cadence swore she heard one of the bipeds say sick them . The big dog ran and caught up within a second. It lunged and tackled one of Cadence's guards. The dog started to throw around her guard like a rag doll, as if it we're playing with a toy. They continued to run as two more of the dog things chased them. When they entered a more crowded area the dogs stopped and two long barrels came out and a distinctive click made every pony freeze. What seemed to be fire shot out of those barrels and killed every pony, spraying blood everywhere. Cadence was still left standing and looked directly at the dogs that seemed to mechanicaly breath with the rising and falling of a chest. The dogs began to circle Cadence, not caring for the bodies they stepped on.
The two bipeds came into the room and charged Cadence knocking her over.
"Command we have possible high value target......... Understood sir." The biped rolled Cadence over and placed straps on her. The biped slung Cadence over his shoulders and carried her out of the bloody room. Many cracks could be heard down the corridor. The hanger room appeared and in the middle sat a large ship, like the one Cadence saw earlier. More of the dogs walked around patrolling the area. Her vision of the hanger was replaced by a dark grey wall. They had entered the ship. The biped layed her on the floor to look at the outside.
"Go destroy anything you think might be important and bring back any intel." One biped said to the large dog, which grunted in reply. It took off down the hall ways of the ship.
The ships door closed and hissed. The sensation of movement made Cadence almost want to throw up. On the door sat a small window. She tried to get a good look outside but only found her fleet; two hundred strong to be only a giant play ground of destroyed cruisers. She sobbed to her self thinking, "What is going to happen next ?"
