General Gilda stood at the main entrance of the Apex Citadel, flanked by heavy Colonial Guardsmen of her choosing. She looked down at her uniform, pristine, then looked back up at the night’s sky: a sight completed by the appearance of the human fleet.

She gulped as fighters and dropships began to stream out of every opening of the massive contraptions that floated overhead, mainly the USS Vector. Her stance stiffened as one of the dropships steered over towards her and the Citadel, burning through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound.

Moments of silence were spent as her and her guards watched it get ever so closer to them, like a falling star. Thoughts ran to and fro inside Gilda’s mind, wondering what Supreme Admiral Feros would say to her.

People of all species began to gather around the Citadel, some of them in complete silence, most of them cheering as the dropship slowed down and began to settle down. With a loud clunk, the ship landed in front of the Citadel, people hesitant to even get close to it. A low hiss emanated out of it as the ramp lowered itself down, revealing an entire squad of actual Guardsmen, their hulking bodies rushing out and forming a perimeter between the ship and the crowd. It was then, that a more slim, female human stepped out, heading towards Gilda and her guards.

“Atten-hut!” she called out, propping up a stiff salute along with the guards as Kira Feros walked up to her.

“At ease, General,” Feros said, her faceplate sliding backwards to reveal her commanding expression as Gilda and her guards lowered their salutes.

“Admiral Feros, it’s an honor to finally see you again.” Gilda looked up and popped a half-smile. “Let’s waste no time, we have something to show you,” she said as she nodded and turned around, calling out to her guards afterwards, “Escort formation, go!”

Gilda stepped into the elevator, followed by their guards. “Setting course for section eight. Please stand by,” the Citadel’s VI said as the elevator began ascending. Through several windows, those inside could see smoke rising from small parts of Apex, as well as the ever increasing crowd outside of the Citadel.

“I got from your reports that GoldenTalon staged a takeover,” Feros said. “Why is that?”

“After interrogating some of their soldiers,” Gilda replied, “we harvested some… information.” She turned to the human Admiral, sighing, “It seems they wished to return the world to its ‘Original’ state, even if that meant releasing the spirit of Nightmare Moon from the center of the moon. One phrase was repeated by each interroge, ‘Salvation through destruction’... They were out of their minds. Cultists,” she spat.

Kira Feros folded her arms, still looking out through the windows. “I see…” She looked over at Gilda. “And what exactly do you have prepared for me in Section Eight?”

Gilda pointed at the windows, just as the elevator slipped into the insides of the Citadel, only to re emerge, this time overlooking a cargo bay. In there, the broken pieces of a massive, bipedal war machine lay dormant. “It broke out of hyperspace a few hours before you, over Zebrica. It then went hostile on one of our groundteams, and had to plot an orbital strike to take it down.”

“I thought we were alone on this system…” Feros muttered.

“Not only that,” Gilda replied. “But it came with the corpse of a human.” She looked up at the Admiral, smiling. “Due to the way it’s constructed, it fits your records from before you came to our planet. We… have reason to believe it is Ubor.”

Feros’ eyes widened. “U-Ubor…?”

“Or rather,” Gilda looked back through the viewports. “Signs that the original USC may be closer than we think.”

The elevator stopped, Kira and the other humans rushing out towards the center of the cargo bay. Gilda followed suit. As they approached the monstrosity, one of the several technicians examining it walked up to Gilda and Feros, walking with them. “General, Admiral, we have important findings to share with you,” said the changeling technician. “The… supposed Ubor, had a hyperdrive built into it. It’s not conventional, though. We traced odd energy trails, similar to pony magic.”

“Cut to the chase,” Feros uttered as they stopped walking, facing the technician.

“Yes, Admiral,” he replied. “If I’m correct, and if you did not find anything while on your dormant hyperspace trip, then your very enemy may have found its way to this place…”

“Which means…” Gilda muttered.

The changeling grinned. “We may have found a way for you to get back home, Admiral.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the short chapters. I'm getting onto that, so expect longer stuff in the future.