“All squads,” the Vector’s automated voice called out. “Report to your battle-stations!”

Luna stood inside a metallic, circular chamber. Exposed wires and cables signalled that the chamber had been set in an impromptu manner as to accommodate the growing number of soldiers that the ship held. Mechanical arms hung around her in a dormant state, waiting to be activated to continue the armoring procedure. She glanced around the chamber, shortly finding herself staring at the main screen in front of and above herself.

“Ready when you are, Princess,” an automated voice called out. With a single nod from Luna, the chamber whirred to life. Exposed gears and tubes began to function as the mechanical arms retracted into the walls. A three-dimensional printing mechanism began to circle her, rising from the bottom of her hooves to the tip of her horn, covering most of her body in a skin-tight suit. A few arms came back from hiding, plugging themselves into the sockets of the first layer. They filled and established a layer of gel between her fur and the suit itself.

She remained perfectly still and her breathing motion slowed to a steady and methodical pace. Each and every arm came back into the chamber, moving with mechanical precision, holding the pieces of her armor in place. The arms then began to swivel around her, soldering and slamming together the final pieces of the suit. She winced as a set of needles pierced into her spine, completing the link between mare and machine.

“Come on!” a changeling guardsman yelled. Luna sprinted across the hallway, dashing past several soldiers on her way. The Vector grumbled and groaned as it withstood the heat of combat.

“Argh!” she yelled, metallic pieces of the wall-plating fragmenting as the systems overloaded with damage. Once she picked her senses back up, she continued running. Another explosion sent a body flying past her, colliding with the wall next to her.

“We’ve got an enemy boarding party!” a guardsman called out, rushing past Luna and into another hallway. Right after, the sounds of gunfire and battle were the only things coming out of said hallway. Luna shook her head and continued her sprint, stopping once she came across a locked set of blast doors.

She looked around, spotting a couple of armored ponies nearby. “You two!” she yelled out for them. “Help me get this open!”

Once the order was received, the two guardsponies ran over to her, the metallic feet of their suit’s legs stomping with intensity. “Status on the locking mechanism?” one asked.

“Mostly fried-” the other pony, a mare, replied as a strong blast shook the innards of the Vector. “I can get it open… one minute!”

“Let us not waste time!” Luna said, turning to face the hallway as the mare in the suit began to work the control pad for the doors. The Princess shook her head, sighing out a breath.

“Where are you going, Princess?” the stallion asked, “We don’t see the higher-ups in the fray too often!”

“To the nearest hangar bay!” Luna called out.

“Deploying planetside, eh?”

“Done!” Luna and the stallion turned back as they heard a mechanical groan, finding the blast door halfway open. “This is as far as we go, Princess!”

“Good luck to you two!” Luna stepped through the opening between the doors. Once out, the blast doors sealed themselves with a loud clunk. She inhaled deeply, sighing out before continuing to sprint through the Vector’s vast hallways. Next to her, on the left side of the halls, holoscreens continuously lined the walls, displaying the outside of the Vector. As she ran, Luna gazed though the screens: her home planet’s surface blazing, the cracked moon, space stations, and the planet Aberration. All together in a twisted display of war. She gritted her teeth in anger and skidded to a stop, turning to the left and observing the fire the Vector and the Ubor fleet were exchanging.

A distant blast quaked the floor beneath her hooves, causing a momentary loss of balance. Once she regained her stance, she resumed dashing down the hall. Her mind, however, was in chaos. Never had she thought she would see her own planet, her home, in such a brutalized state, let alone from the perspective of the Vector. All she could do at the moment was to keep walking.

“Localized warning,” the Vector’s voice called as Luna trotted, “Section gravitational field, offline.”

Slowly, Luna began to float. Noticing the loss of weight keeping her down, she flapped her wings as to pull herself down and activated her armored hooves’ mag-pads. She then continued moving, albeit a bit slower, the floor shaking and the ship groaning as it endured the battle.

Reaching a junction, Luna looked up, feeling the gravity picking itself back up, and guiding herself towards the nearest tram station. The walls of that specific section all bore signs of combat. Sorch marks, missing panels, bulletholes, and bodies of both guardsmen and Ubor. She moved her gaze away from the halls themselves and continued her path. Shortly after, she was able to discern a couple of human heavy troopers guarding the tram station; a pile of dead Ubor near them.

“Princess,” one of them said, both saluting.

Luna peered around them, seeing that a tram was there and set to go. “I must use the tram system.” She looked back up at the two hulking men. “Is it working?”

“Yes Ma’am,” the trooper on the left said. “Some areas are inaccessible, but we can plot this tram to take you around those areas and get you to where you need to go… Or near.”

The Princess nodded. “To the nearest hangar bay.”

One of the troopers began working on the tram’s control console, the other watching his back as Luna stepped into the tram. A short observation revealed that the scars of battle were also present in the metallic box, as some of the windows were broken. She glanced over to the tram’s door, only to see them close, and with a final wave from the troopers, the tram began to speed up.

Luna moved over to the main window, the floor rumbling and the lights flashing. She watched as the tram sped past the factory area of the Vector, able to see the machinery producing war machines at full capacity, multiple guardsmen fighting off the invading Ubor. Shortly after, the tram left the vicinity of the factory and into the inner tunnels, only to re-emerge this time overlooking a massive hangar bay. The Princess looked on through the broken glass, a myriad of dropships being prepared for deployment, guardsmen running to and fro.

The tram slowed to a stop as it overlooked the hangar, its doors opening for Luna to hop out. She and a group of guardsmen soon found themselves running down the last hallway between them and the hangar.

The doors opened themselves for Luna and the Guardsmen, both parts of it sliding into the walls, their hydraulic systems hissing with pressure. Subsequently, the group ran out of the hallway and into the hangar itself, presented with the sight of the massive complex. The engines of the fighter vessels and dropships inside the hangar roared with intensity as they propelled the vehicles out of the hangar to join the fight in space itself. At the same time, battle-worn vessels slipped through the entrance of the hangar and settled down for re-arming and repairs. Guardsmen of all species ran from place to place, their armored legs making loud thudding sounds with each step they took.

“All local squads,” the Vector’s voice called out, “Report and prepare for planetside deployment.”

Luna made her way through the vast hangar, past guardsmen carrying munitions, tending to the wounded and performing impromptu repairs on the ships. She looked around for an available dropship. An unarmored guardspony bumped into her as she moved, prompting her to look over, seeing that the pony and a human were carrying a wounded changeling pilot. She moved away as to make room for them, then continued her search.

After a few seconds, her eyes locked onto a nearby dropship, its sides marked with the words, “HOT DROP.” Immediately, she rushed through the hangar, nearly colliding with a human on her way. The Sergeant leading the troops into the dropship stopped his motions and turned to her.

“Need to go planetside, Princess?” the rough-voiced human said, continuing to lead his troops into the transport vessel. “We can get you anywhere, so long as it’s near Apex!”

Luna nodded, beginning to walk up the ramp and into the ship, stopping midway in. She looked at the Sergeant and called out, “Where’s the main bulk of our forces?”

“Ponyville district!” the man replied, talking further into the ship. He motioned for Luna. “Now or never!”

The Princess nodded, walking into the troop bay. The Guardsmen inside, all mixed species, glanced at her and whispered to each other as she sat down and strapped herself tight.

“Never seen an alicorn go to combat,” the Sergeant said as he sat down opposite to Luna. “Let alone without a proper exoskeleton.”

“Magic doesn’t work against Ubor, or humans, does it?” one of the soldiers muttered.

“It depends on what spells one casts,” Luna replied, making her own horn glow white hot as a display. “Most weaponized spells work, unlike telekinesis.”

The dropship rumbled. “Prepare for takeoff,” the pilot called.

A Guardsmare spoke out loudly, “Didn’t they teach us in basic that even weaponized spells do jack shit to humans and non-magical beings?”

“That depends on who is casting the spell,” the Sergeant added, looking over at Luna. She nodded in return.

“Alright boys!” the pilot called through the intercom. “Saddle up! We’re taking off! Comms are five by five!”

With a slight rumble, the roar of the dropship’s engines reached Luna’s ears. Shortly after and with a low, audible clunk, she could feel as the troop vessel detached itself from the surface of the landing pad it was resting on. The roar intensified as the ship began to take flight. A set of holoscreens descended from the troop bay’s ceiling, displaying the surroundings of the ship as it left the Vector.

Luna looked up at the screens, observing as the massive contraption that was the Vector decreased in size as the dropship put distance between it and the supercarrier. Ubor ships could also be seen, circling the Vector as it and the Ubor exchanged turret and main cannon fire.

“So that’s Aberration, eh!?” a trooper inside the bay called out. Luna shifted her eyes across the screens, focusing on the dark, red planet. “Looks like a ball of metal!”

“The only thing keeping the integrity of both Earth and that thing is the magic forces of the former and the metallic structure of the later!”

“Why isn’t the Vector tearing it apart!?” someone else called.

“And risk that fucking thing falling onto Earth!? Hell no!”

Everyone in the troop bay fell silent as the ship rumbled. Afterwards, one of the troopers spoke up again, “I’m surprised the Vector’s still holding up!”

“Damn thing’s made to take a lot of pain!”

Suddenly, the dropship shook with intensity, the holoscreens retreating onto the ceiling. “We’ve got two trackers onto us!” the pilot yelled out. “Engaging in evasive maneuvers!” Luna and the troopers held onto the railings of their seats as they experienced the forces caused by the pilot as she tried to shake off the incoming missiles.

“Shit!” the trooper next top Luna exclaimed. “I don’t wanna die! Not like this!”

Luna looked over to him, giving the armored stallion a stern expression. “We will be fine!”

“Gods help us!”

An audible blast signalled one of the missiles hitting the ship, those inside experiencing the force of the explosion. Alarms began to sound inside the troop bay, along with strobing lights.

“Mayday! This is Hot Drop Ten Eightyseven! We’re going down, I repeat, we’re going down!”

Luna gritted her teeth, watching as the troopers next to her muttered silent prayers to themselves.

“Hold on people!” the pilot called out. “Hold on-!”