The Mountain Ranger base nestled between the twin peaks was a hive of activity as the Rangers prepared for war. Word had come over the radio that the Revolutionaries had somehow gotten their claws on Princess Gilda, and were holding her hostage. The rangers were to provide the bulk of the response force, in addition to the joint special operations group. To her chagrin, Flitter had been chosen to lead the force on the attack, while the other officers kept an eye on the big picture from the fort's command bunker. Under her, she had a platoon of fifty rangers, all armed to the teeth and baying for action.

The hard trot to the staging area was along a treacherous trail that snaked up the side off the pass, and then down into the craggy expanse of sheer mountainside. The Revolutionaries had made their homes in the many caves in the mountain range, and had proven to be more than just a pain in the ass to pull out. They were stuck in like ticks, and with the amount of firepower coming down on them now, there was no doubt in anybody's mind that they would fight to the death for every single inch of ground.

As Flitter and her platoon neared the staging area, Flitter caught sight of Stalwart Liberty floating quietly above the mountain range. No doubt JSOG stood ready in their gunships, waiting for the ground forces outside the main cave complex to be cleared so they could land. That job would fall to Flitter's platoon, while the grisly work of clearing the caves would fall to Jack's men.

“Lieutenant Falenas!” A call went up the line from the front, and it saw Flitter pick up her pacing and canter across the treacherous path to the caller. It was Sergeant Minerva Aegis, and she'd called for a stop of the line. The orange mare nodded to Flitter as she cantered up. “We've got sightings of the rebels. Looks like they're in a frenzy.”

“Are we above them like we planned?” Flitter asked as she caught her breath.

“Yes ma’am. There's a couple sentries nestled into the rocks, but we've spotted them all and we're fairly confident they don't know we're here yet. We don't expect to hold that over them much longer.”

Mulling over her options and pulling out her map, Flitter began to reference their location. “Mark the sentries please.” Soon, four locations were marked out lightly, and a better plan began to form in her mind. As she planned things out, a call of identity went up the line, and Flitter perked. Apparently somebody had made contact with her platoon, and had used the proper counter sign.

Two ponies and a small griffon quickly made their way up the line, and Flitter was pleasantly surprised to find that she recognised two of them. “Ace, Baron, what are you doing out here?”

Baron saluted with Mythic, while the griffon only did it after he saw the others. “Mythic is our liaison, he's got a comms set keyed to our frequency. Myself and Recruit Hayha are finding a good sniping position to provide cover fire for the gunships and spotting.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Flitter nodded to them and pointed to a spot on the map. “This will be a fine spot for spotting. Does that rifle have a suppressor?”

As she gestured to the large rifle strapped to Simoh's side, the griffon only quirked a brow in confusion. “What is a suppressor?”

Rolling her eyes, Baron looked to Flitter and nodded. “We're kitted up to take out any sentries, don't worry. Just point them out and they're dead. Simoh's only been with us a week, so he doesn't know all the terminology yet, but he's a better shot than most of the group.”

“So what's the plan?” Sergeant Aegis asked testily as she looked to Flitter.

“We're following your lead, lieutenant.” Baron said. “You make the calls and we'll bring the heat.”

Nodding to her, Flitter went back to the map. “You two get into position and take out those sentries. We'll move up, and setup our staggered lines in the cover of the rocks. Once the outside forces are dealt with, squads one through three will move down and secure the area, while myself and squads four and five will maintain overwatch and comms. JSOG will then arrive, and begin their operation.” Flitter motioned out the plan to the squad leaders as they watched, and once orders were understood, she sent her squads out.

Word that the sentries had been felled came far faster than she'd expected, and plans began to move ahead at a faster pace. Her platoon maneuvered nearly perfectly to her plan, and only continued to impress him as they began precise fire drills on the rebels below them. As her squads fired, Flitter took up the radio and dialed in. “Come in JSOG operations lead, this is Lieutenant Falenas, First Platoon is finishing the ambush and moving forward to secure the area. Sentries are down and overwatch has been enacted.”

“Oh baby. Talk tactical to me.”

Flitter blinked a little in shock as the highly unprofessional response sat in her mind. It all came crashing down as she failed to suppress an amused snicker. “Hello Jack. Can you put your superior on?”

“Oh Lieutenant, haven't you heard? I am my superior.” Flitter could hear Jack grinning on the other end as he spoke. “Okay, that's that. Gunships are prepping for launch, we'll be there in five mikes. Hold position outside the cave entrances. I don't want any of yours getting smoked.”

“Copy that. See you snow side.” Flitter handed the radio back to Mythic as Minerva trotted up next to her.

“I have to say I'm shocked. I've never even heard of a operator pack giving control of an op to the ground pounders. Usually they let us do the dirty work and claim the glory for themselves.”

Smiling to her lead sergeant, Flitter simply shrugged. “What can I say? I've got an in with these hooligans.”

“If you say so… Anyways, squads one and three are nearly in position. Two suffered an injury, and he's coming back up to us for treatment. We're still on schedule.”

Flitter nodded sharply to that, and checked her rifle. “Okay people! Keep your eyes on and don't let any of our colts die.”

Snake and the other gunships came in hard and fast, skirting the mountain tops and only rising above them to dive down into the landing area. One of the ponies in the small clearing was kind enough to pop a smoke grenade, clearly marking the LZ. Swinging his gunship to the side, Snake commed the squad in the back. “Asses off the boat, five by five.”

“Grinder Squad is clear, we'll see you in a few, Snake.” Jack saluted the gunship pilot as he lifted off and circled as the other JSOG troopers were off-loaded by his wingmen. Jack spun a finger in the air, and gestured toward the cave. “Two squads, Grinder will take the spear point. Nova covers the rear. By the books people, we've got a VIP in there so watch your fire.”

“What books? There were books?”

“It's the thought that counts JSOG! Let's move!” Jack yelled, and his unit descended upon the cave entrance. Thanks to the rangers, the LZ was clear, as was the first section of caves. When they descended deeper however, the rebels made their positions known by firing volleys of muskets at the approaching squads. While the musket balls couldn't threaten Jack, they proved to be a rather unfortunate danger for everybody around him as they often shattered or hit the walls, spraying hot shrapnel about. Despite the hang up, JSOG was moving on schedule and clearing their way into the heart of the complex.

“It's like Afghanistan… but cold. Taven, did I ever tell you what Afghanistan was like?” Jack asked over the sound of thumping muskets and the whipcrack of returning fire.

“I can't say you have!” Taven yelled over the din.

“It was like this, but with assholes who had automatics, and it was hot as fuck!” Jack called back. “That entire section of continent was a hot bag of ass! Fucking awful! I'll take the cold any day.” Jack loosed a burst with his MG3, sending a counter attack to ground.

“It sounds like you're enjoying this!” Taven called back as he reloaded and repositioned Nova squad.

“Love your work, and you'll never work a day in your life!” Jack called with a laugh.

Outside, Flitter and her platoon held position and kept the area secured. Once in awhile, some poor rebel would burst from the cave and try to fly, only to hit the ground moments later with a neat little hole in his head.

While her rangers were becoming bored, Flitter was staying vigilant. The operation felt far too easy. The Revolutionaries never did anything this big. On top of that, how had the empire known where the particular entrance was? It all stank to Flitter. The rangers would have hit this system long ago if they had known it was of any importance. As she mulled the strange thought over, Flitter's eyes were drawn upwards when somebody called out. Another pair of airships were approaching, and disgorging griffons.

“Looks like the Empire's arrived…” Flitter muttered to herself as the small steel clad airships fell into a holding position as the pack of griffons landed. Flitter recognised some for their JSOG uniforms, but her instincts put her on edge. The griffons made too little noise, and only maneuvered to cover the cave entrance. About half of them faced her three squads in the clearing, and did nothing to make contact.

“Looks like the Empire's really got a stick up its ass over this.” Mythic commented idly. “I'm surprised to see Casus so quiet though… You couldn't pay him to keep his beak shut.”

Flitter simply grunted as she beckoned over Minerva. “I don't like this. It feels wrong. Have the men reposition and give the griffons space.”

Sergeant Aegis quirked a brow at Flitter from the order. “Ma'am?”

“It's probably nothing, just a gut feeling.”

Shaking her head, the Sergeant held a very faint smile. “It's fine ma'am, I trust your belly.” Without another word, the Sergeant split off and had the rangers reposition to better positions. The griffons said and did nothing in response.

“This doesn't feel right at all.”

Jack and his squads cut a hot swath through the rebels, and descended into the very guts of the cave system. They were passing by what seemed to be permanent housing, and signs of a lot of life. The attacking rebels seemed to peter out, and soon the only fire they came under was from rebels who were fleeing deeper into the cave.

“They're falling back to better positions, watch yourselves.” Jack called as he reloaded. He was ready this time, and had swapped the Milkor for a shotgun and several more belts of ammo that were criss-crossed over his breastplate.

His squads took heed of the warning, and fell into defensive posture behind him. Unfortunately, the ambush came far sooner than Jack had expected, and JSOG found themselves on the business end of roughly a platoon of muskets and stolen ranger guns. Jack had kicked down the door to the heart of the rebel operation. Oddly, the volley of fire didn't come, and a woman screamed.

“FUCK OFF WITH THE GUNS!”

Pulling his finger from the trigger guard, Jack stepped forward and motioned for his squads to hold in defensive positions. “We're only here for the princess. Put your weapons down and you'll be taken into custody by Equestria.”

The indignant griffon who had yelled bristled. “I am the princess, you fucking mongoloid!”

Jack pursed his lips and muttered at her insult. “Wow, rude.” With an exaggerated sigh, Jack worsened relations. “Well, excuuuuse me, Princess!”

As rather dapper looking griffon in a bright red uniform stepped forward, between the two before an insult war could break out. “Please! You've shown restraint, and you're with the Equestrians, please listen to what needs to be said. The situation is already dire, and if you are here, then time is not on our side!”

With the express desire to pinch the bridge of his nose between his fingers, but unable due to his helmet, Jack settled for another exasperated sigh. “Alright, we're listening. Talk fast though, kidnapping royalty tends to piss of big people.”

The red uniformed officer held up a paw. “Oh no sir, I'm not the one speaking. That would be Princess Gilda.”

“Oh joy.” Jack muttered to himself as he pulled off his helmet and fixed the pissed off princess with a professional stare. “I'm listening. Best start explaining why we're getting calls that you've been kidnapped.”

Growling loudly, Gilda raked her talons through her feathers. “Because! B-because my little brother staged a coup!”

Annoyance bled away from Jack fast, only to be replaced by immediate concern. “You've got my attention.”

Pacing before the operatives and the Revolutionaries, Gilda began to spill the beans. “He walked in with the military cabinet, and these… these huge white things! They grabbed the fat human, and he… my brother did something to Ada, and she shot my Mom! I ran…” Gilda spoke her last sentence quietly as she sank down into a nearby chair, and the Revolutionary officer patted her shoulder.

Jack's care for the princess became close to zero as his mind leapt about in a panic. When she said fat human, she obviously meant Petyr. But Ada… Ada would never turn on somebody like that. It had to be magic. Jack realized he'd been staring off into space when Taven nudged his hand.

“If any of this is true, Jack, we need to get her on board and back into Equestria right away.”

Nodding jerkily, Jack forced his mind to focus on the now. “Alright, listen up! Princess Gilda, you are coming with us.” Jack pointed a finger at the officer. “What's your name?”

The griffon perked, his greying head feathers doing a small bounce as he did. “Major Highwater of the first Revolutionary Army.”

“Major Highwater, you and your men are under arrest. You'll be taken to Stalwart Liberty, and then transported to Equestria for questioning.”

To his surprise, the Major nodded in agreement. “Acceptable. Better we follow now than end up hung by our necks. Come on men! Let us get out of these damn caves!” His men murmured their acceptance, and lowered their weapons. The Major strode forward, and offered the butt of a flintlock pistol to Jack. “I surrender, in the name of peace.”

Accepting the pistol with a wary expression, Jack nodded and stowed the weapon. “Okay JSOG, let's escort our new friends out.” Pulling his helmet back on, Jack tried to raise Mythic on comms. “Mythic? Come in, over.” All that met him in response was the soft crackle of no signal. “Just like Afghanistan… great. Okay people, we're too deep for comms to work, so I want signs and countersigns yelled on contact! I don't want any blue on blue!”

Major Highwater had spent the moment organising his red coats into a marching line, and called out cadence as they were led out of the caves. They certainly didn't sound like prisoners.

Flitter had remained on the ridge, her gut feeling about the griffons growing ever stronger the more she watched them. They paid her men so little attention, it was as if they were invisible. “Any luck raising Jack?”

Mythic shook his head. “No ma'am. The caves must be keeping us from catching his signal.”

“Lovely.” Flitter said with a sigh. “Hopefully he remembers the signs so he doesn't get shot by anybody.”

As Flitter spoke, the faint echo of cadence caused her ears to prick. “What the…”

Down in the clearing, the griffons all perked, and stood ready for whatever was to come out of the cave entrance. Soon, the cadence stopped, and somebody yelled a sign, and was greeted by a countersign. Flitter relaxed as Jack walked out of the cave with a few ponies from his squad following. He seemed to relax, and wave to one of his JSOG soldiers who stood opposite.

The large griffon Flitter recognised as Casus responded by lifting the recoilless rifle he'd been carrying, and shooting Jack in the face.

Flitter felt as if somebody had gut punched her when she watched as Jack jerked and spun from the explosive impact, before landing face first on the ground and falling still. The shrapnel from the blast had struck and killed one of his squad mates, and two more followed as the griffons opened fire with automatic weapons and cut them down where they stood.

Flitter stared in mental shock as her mind refused to accept what she was seeing. It took Minerva shaking her violently as the firefight below them devolved into a melee to shake her out of it. “Orders ma’am!”

“OPEN FIRE!” Flitter bellowed, and her platoon responded immediately by opening fire on the griffons below. The griffons were fast to take cover, but several were not fast enough as they were struck down. Casus didn't have a chance to reload or pull a second weapon as a sniper took the top of his head clean off. As the gunfire spiked again, the large radio set went nuts as several voices began calling mayday.

“This is Captain Chord of the HMS Stalwart Liberty to Twin Pass Ranger base! We are under attack from the griffon empi-” The signal cut as an explosion echoed across the mountain range, drawing Flitter's eyes momentarily. The bridge of the great ship was spewing fire, and it had smoke rising from its deck. Three smaller ships were firing on it with light cannons, and the larger ship had yet to raise its shields.

“This is Outpost Trotski! We're under attack! By the gods, there's an army of them!”

“This is Colonel Glow, all patrols return to base immediately and prepare for attack, the Empire has declared war on Equestria.”

Flitter stared in shock for a short moment, before her brain kicked into gear and she began bellowing orders. “Fire and advance! Take those griffons down and we'll help out Stalwart!” Readying her own rifle, Flitter found a firing position and began raining controlled bursts down on the opposition. As she fired, the odd rip-howl of a foreign machinegun met her ears. Glancing over, Flitter felt an immediate sense of relief as she saw Jack firing on the griffons. His attack lacked accuracy though, and his continuous spray of bullets only saw the JSOG traitors duck. Oddly, the others didn't. They stood their ground, firing on Flitter's platoon and the forces inside the cave.

A call of order went out, only to be followed by a rebel yell as a pack of red coated rebels swarmed out of the cave. The first musket barrage didn't do much to deter the imperial griffons, but it wasn't meant to, as the rebel platoon descended upon the imperial griffons with triangle bayonets mounted.

“Come in, Callsign Overwatch!” A voice called for Flitter over the radio, and Mythic yelled for her.

Galloping back up to the radio, Flitter took the phone from Mythic. “Callsign Overwatch, who is this?”

“This is Bombardier squadron, inbound on your position! Mark targets with smoke and we'll take them out!” Snake was on the other end of the radio, and Flitter knew that those gunships were loaded for bear. The only problem was, was that the rebels were currently mixed in with the Imperials, and any fire would kill swathes of both. Considering the rebels had been her enemies for months now, it was a hard call.

“Negative on air support, get the birds off of Stalwart Liberty's back! We can handle our mess.”

“Roger that, brace for it.”

The moment the words were spoken, the trio of gunships blazed over the mountain top over the battle and opened fire with rockets on the ships harassing Stalwart. The dumb fire rockets leapt from the gunships sides and struck against the hulls and command towers of the small ships. The fire began shifting off of Stalwart, and soon the air filled with flak. Flitter cursed as one of the ships broke free from the melee, and steamed hard toward them. It's guns opened up, shredding friendly and enemy alike as they chewed up the ground and mountainside.

“Get to cover!” Flitter yelled as she dove, and a stream of heavy rounds snapped overhead. Then, with all the speed it had started with, the machineguns fell silent. Peeking up, Flitter spotted the Imperial aeronauts manning the deck guns falling one by one to nearly silent sniperfire. “Clean up the Imperials! Now, First Platoon!” She began descending the goat trails while firing on targets of opportunity. Her men followed her lead, and began climbing down and firing as they went.

It didn't take long for the combined weight of two platoons to cut the imperial forces down, but despite their immediate area being clear, the air was still congested with flak.

Without warning, there was a concussive boom, and one of the imperial ships began sinking toward the mountain, wreathed in flames and shuddering with secondary detonations. It seemed that Stalwart had erected her shields, and was returning fire with her ground support howitzers at close range. The corvettes that had been harrying her were soon either listing dangerously, or falling in flames. To Flitter's relief, the gunships were circling back around to her, and several chariots had launched from the carrier. It seemed that they were evacuating everybody. With that settled, she turned her attention to the clearing. The red coats had made short work of the outmanned Imperials, though only half of the platoon sized force remained standing. Flitter's unit had survived with only a few casualties from the ship firing on them. The dead were gathered in the clearing, and the wounded were given priority when the heavy transports landed.

Flitter watched as Jack's squad all but carried him into one of the gunships; she could hardly get a glimpse of him through all the action, but when they loaded him into the gunship with the other wounded, he didn't sit up. With her worries hitting an all time high in tandem with her blood pressure, Flitter was one of the last to board the gunships. Moving next to the pilot, Flitter had to yell over the roar of the turbines. “Tell Stalwart that Twin Peaks is under attack! We need to get there as soon as possible to repel it!” The pilot simply nodded, and Flitter sank into her seat as they flew over the mountain range.

As the gunship landed and it's occupants piled out, Flitter looked across the flight deck and felt a mixed feeling of anguish and horror wash through her entire body. Fires burned unchecked across the deck, and smoke billowed from sections of her hull. Aeronauts were frantically running about, trying to extinguish the flames as the carrier lifted up from the mountain range and began moving.

“Sergeant Aegis!” Flitter yelled, getting Minerva's attention. “Take the rebels to the brig and make sure it's secure, then have everybody load up on ammo and grenades!”

The Sergeant saluted sharply, before galloping off to see the order done. Flitter couldn't do it herself, as she had far more important things to do. She began galloping across the flight deck, but her eyes were drawn by the medical teams rushing various JSOG, ranger, and rebel soldiers to the med bay as fast as possible. A heavy laden gurney trundled passed her to the elevator, and as she turned her head to regard it, she caught sight of what was left of Jack's head. Blood was leaking from the helmet freely, and all she could see inside the dark confine was oozing vital fluids, gleaming bone, and gristle. Shrapnel was sticking out from the ragged hole in the helmet, and the visor had shattered inward.

“He's under! Somebody call the armour tech up to get all of this off him! We needed him in surgery twenty minutes ago! Percy, keep that plasma up!” The doctor yelled at his orderlies and nurses as the elevator began its slow trundle downwards. Flitter watched the sight with a knot in her throat, until the elevator disappeared from sight.

Swallowing hard, Flitter shook her head and began climbing the stairs up the command tower as fast as her legs and wings would allow her.

The bridge was a scene of utter chaos, clashing with the calm demeanour of the command crew. The bridge had obviously taken several direct hits, as wires hung from the ceiling and sparked, and daylight shone in unimpeded by the tinted windows. Several consoles were ruined, and blood was drying on the equipment.

“Mr. Parson, has engineering finished their assessment of the shield generator?”

“Yes Captain! Engineering reports generators holding steady at eighty nine point six.”

“Excellent. Mr. Honey, any luck raising the Twin Pass base?” Flitter perked as she came to a halt next to the captain. More bodies joined her, and when she looked to the side, she felt a tide of relief when Taven smiled weakly to her and nodded. The JSOG officers had arrived.

“Yes sir, patching it into the meeting room.”

Captain Chord perked a brow. “This is no time for a long chat Mr. Honey. Patch them right through here.”

The tech simply shook his head and pointed toward the primary command console, which had a rather large, still smouldering hole in it. “No can do sir.”

“Ah. Carry on then.” Captain Chord turned toward the gathered officers and saluted, and received a disorganised salute back. “To the briefing room, if you would please.” The captain cantered into the briefing room, and laid out a large map of the area across the center table. It was of Twin Peaks. “Twin Peaks, how copy?”

The incoming voice was marred by static, but Flitter could tell it was Colonel Glow. “We read you Stalwart. Situation is black. Imperial second and fifth armies have mobilised through the pass, and a section of their new air navy has crossed with them.”

Flitter felt the knot in her stomach tightening into a solid ball of steel. The captain somehow held his calm demeanour. “Is there any way we can assist?”

“We'll hold the line.” The sentence sent a chill down Flitter's spine and she fought the desire to leap forward and yell at the Colonel for being an idiot. “We'll wait until their bulk is in the pass, and detonate our charges.”

Captain Chord had developed a rather large frown. “We are not leaving you to the eagles, Colonel.”

“Yes, you are!” Glow snapped back. “We will hold the line, we need you to begin the evacuation of the town! They'll be over run if we retreat. Rangers do not retreat.” A silence passed over the briefing room, before Chord leaned on the table and spoke.

“Affirmative. I have Lieutenant Falenas here. Do you have orders for her and her platoon?”

Flitter perked and stepped forward. Glow stayed silent for a moment, and interference grew worse. “Make our sacrifice worth it. You'll be the only active officer we have left after this. Regroup with fourth battalion. Make it count, Flitter. Your father would be proud.”

Stiffening and fighting the ball of steel in her throat, Flitter nodded. “Yes sir. We'll defend Equestria till our last breath.”

“Atta girl.” The interference saw the signal cut out, leaving them in the dark.

Taking a long, steadying breath, Captain Chord turned toward the officers. “Right now, we are the only mobilised fighting force within one hundred kilometers of the front. The Imperials are pushing forward in a combined arms charge, and we do not have the weaponry to deny them.” The Captain remained rigid as he spoke, and every officer present gave him their full attention. “As of right now, I induct you all into my command structure. Your soldiers are to defend Stalwart and help facilitate the evacuation of the town located at the base of the mountain.” Chord pointed toward the place on the map. “I need force reports from each of you.”

Flitter remained forward, and answered first. “First Ranger Platoon. Callsign Overwatch is at full strength, barring under a half dozen casualties. We're low on ammo but are fully equipped.”

Once Flitter finished her unfortunately small report, Taven stepped forward before the other two officers. “We lost our command structure in the ambush. Lt. Gunson was killed instantly, and Knight Captain Kessle is in no condition to fight. As of right now…” Taven seemed to think. “JSOG has taken a total loss of seventy percent... We've got more dead than wounded, and that's including the traitors. I am the only standing NCO.”

The Captain darkened at the report, but nodded nonetheless. “Understood, Sergeant. You and your soldiers are under the direct control of Lt. Falenas until further instructions.” Taven nodded his understanding, and the Captain seemed to consider things. As he thought, another call came from the bridge.

“Sir, nine Imperial corvettes and six cruisers have broken from the fighting and are in pursuit of us!”

“Son of a whore.” The captain cursed, surprising all in the room. “Get Maripony shipyards on the horn! Now!” He turned toward the officers. “Action stations!”

The gathered officers quickly filed out, and galloped off to their groups as the action stations alarm began blaring. Chord turned to the radio and waited as he was patched in. “Maripony shipyards, this is Captain Chord. The situation is deteriorating here and we could use back up.”

The tech on the other end sounded panicked. “I'm sorry sir! Imperial airships have just entered our airspace, and we're under attack!”

Fighting back another curse, Chord leaned on the console. Before he could ask his question, a familiar voice spoke. “This is Captain Alsan. We'll handle the flies, and make a hard burn to reinforce you. How Copy, Stalwart?”

Smiling thinly, Chord spoke, finally. “I read you loud and clear Marsa. Good hunting.”

With the signal cut, Captain Marsa Alsan sat back in her command chair as the bridge crew ran through their pre-flight checks. When the green across the board call went out, she smiled. “Power to vertical thrusters, detach couplings…. Now.” The ship shuddered as it's mooring couplings fell from the ship's hull. Dust rained from the hangar as it opened, and shells rained down on it. Captain Alsan idly watched as her view left the massive hangar, and went to the beautiful green fields surrounding the shipyard. A small fleet of imperial ships were firing on them, and the base defenders were in a pitched battle to fight off the invasion force. “Cannons forward, load one and three with AP.” Affirmatives echoed across the bridge as the three forward batteries shifted forward.

“Battery One, target the lead cruiser, compensate for elevation. Fire when ready.” Captain Alsan fought a big toothy smile as the triple 406mm guns of battery one boomed in rapid succession, and the leading imperial cruiser exploded mid air seconds later as the AP shells punched through its armour and detonated in its core.

With the body of Righteous Justice rising from the airbase, the tide shifted for the defenders.

“All gunners, pick your targets and fire. Engines to half.” Captain Alsan smirked as her ship moved forward and it's decks exploded with outbound fire. To groundside observers, it looked as if the large ship had suddenly burst into flames. Autocannons and dual fifties chattered and barked as they swatted the imperial invaders from the sky and riddle their vessels with holes as the big guns swiveled.

“Battery two, load HE and fire on large concentration of ground infantry, starboard side.” Battery two swung opposite of the others and dropped elevation before dropping the massive shells down on the approaching ground infantry. The concussive wave rolled back over the facility, breaking windows and rattling the shipyard defenders as the attackers simply ceased to exist.

“Captain, the munitions storage yard is reporting that the rest of our rounds are waiting for delivery!”

Marsa muttered a dark curse. “They couldn't have loaded the rest while we were docked. Tell them we'll make due with half capacity. Tell batteries to use single shots on targets until ordered otherwise.” The captain sat forward in her chair as the deck mounted autocannons shredded an imperial corvette, and it began to list dangerously toward the ground, dumping it's deck bound crew.

“Imperial air forces down seventy percent in strength, local anti air batteries coming online now captain!”

“About fucking time! I should strangle the overseer for being such a lazy cunt.” The bridge crew smiled thinly. They agreed, but they certainly couldn't voice that opinion right now. The defenders on the ground were rallying, and the remaining Imperials should have been retreating at any moment. Only, they didn't.

“Imperial forces have suffered eighty percent casualties ma'am! One cruiser and two corvettes left. Security forces report that they've secured the compound against infantry.”

Marsa glared at the enemy cruiser as it continued to fire at her ship. Their rounds weren't heavy enough to drop their shield, let alone cause serious damage if they impacted. The shield around the Righteous Justice was a smaller version of the one on Stalwart Liberty, but it was far more malleable. “Shields to one hundred percent, to our prow. Shift to face the enemy, engines to maximum!”

Her second turned to her, his muzzle twisted with confusion. “What's the plan Captain?”

At her smile, his worry doubled. “Terran tactic. When in doubt, ram the fucker.”

A mixed look of horror and excitement crossed her XO’s features, before he grabbed the radio receiver. “All hooves, all hooves, secure harness tethers and brace for impact.” Outside the ship, the deck crew lashed their harness lanyards to the many thick braided steel cables that ran the length of the ship to keep them from falling off during harsh maneuvers. A general alarm was sounded as the ship sped forward on it's oversized engines and it's shield formed over the prow of the ship.

Unlike other airships, which shared general shape with naval vessels, the Righteous Justice's prow was reversed so it was slopping upwards and toward the command tower. The prow itself was heavily armoured, and gilded into the form of a pegasus with its wings outstretched. The shield formed to the shape of the prow, allowing it to cleave into the opposing cruiser as it repositioned itself.

Slamming into the port side of the vessel, Righteous Justice shuddered from the impact as metal shrieked and buckled under the assault. The deck gunners began firing once again at the corvettes as they too tried to reposition. A fireball arced across the prow facing shield as the cruiser's munitions storage exploded, splitting the ship in half over Righteous Justice's prow.

As the imperial cruiser fell to earth in two, Captain Alsan frowned as the two corvettes simply continued to fight. “They should have retreated far earlier. They still aren't. What the hell is wrong with those Turkeys?” While she considered it, the second last corvette took a stitching line of autocannon rounds across its command deck, and the last had its aft section burst into flames. To her surprise, the griffons on board of both vessels began to leap across the small gaps, boarding her vessel despite being vastly outnumbered. “Reposition shields, port and starboard!” The shields leapt up, cutting a griffon in half and blocking two dozen more. The fifties began to chew through the ones that had been blocked, as her sailors began to engage the few that had made it through.

The captain watched from her perch as her crew slaughtered the few remaining Imperials. Most of her bridge crew busied themselves with their duties, but she found herself interested in how the Imperials showed absolutely no hesitation or fear. They almost seemed to act without thought as they threw themselves into battle in a last ditch attempt to damage the ship. What surprised her most, was that the griffons made so little noise as they fought, her own crew's war cries drowned anything they could have said. Turning away from the ending fight, Marsa knew she could trust her crew to finish it right. They were all ex-military, all of them itching for exactly this. Many peoples had claimed that Equestria was full of peace-mongers and herd driven cowards. While it was almost mostly true in Marsa's eyes, she knew that she and her crew were the bloody-minded exception to that rule.

Sitting in her chair, Captain Alsan buckled herself in. “Crew, begin spooling the Morozov Drive. Plot a course for Twin Peak Village. We have lives to save.”

Her XO once again took the comms and made the call as the order was passed to engineering. “All hooves, all hooves, brace for jump.” The deck crew all ran back to their weapons and strapped themselves in fully into their gunners berths.

Marsa could hear the reverberations on the drive spooling deep inside the vessel. She'd never had the chance to test exactly how fast it could go, but today she would certainly find out. She nestled into her seat, feeling the entire ship coil like a tiger ready to leap. She could feel the oversized engines humming with excess power, and she knew that mere seconds from that moment, she and her crew would be on the fastest vehicle on the entire planet. They would be remembered throughout history for this moment.

“Morozov drive spooled up Captain!”

“ENGAGE!”

Stalwart Liberty drifted over the small village, it's speakers blaring the emergency broadcast as ponies and griffons alike fled from their homes in droves.

“CITIZENS OF TWIN PEAK VILLAGE, PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE EVACUATION! TAKE ONLY CRITICAL SUPPLIES AND PROCEED TO THE TRAIN STATION, I REPEAT, CITIZENS OF TWIN PEAK VILLAGE-”

Flitter disappeared under the deck before the rest of the message could reach her ears, but she wasn't the pony who needed to hear it. The Imperial army was hot on their hooves, and they didn't seem like they would be stopping to let Stalwart catch it's breath. As the citizens of the village gathered at the train station, Imperial vessels were already entering the range of their guns. Stalwart’s crew were firing their seven howitzers as best as they could, but the guns were never meant to be used as a counter-air measure. Flitter's platoon had dug in on the flight deck, using mobile defense barriers to create ad hoc foxholes to fight from. Right now, she was on her way to the armoury to grab as many belts of ammo as she could possibly carry. As she galloped passed aeronauts scrambling for their stations, Flitter nearly ran over a panicking doctor. As she yelled her apology, the doctor grabbed her.

“Have you seen the Knight Captain!? He's gone missing from the medical bay!”

Cussing a blue streak in her mind, Flitter shook her head. “No, but I know where he might be. Come on.”

Thank god his legs listened.

Jack forced himself forward through the halls, one foot in front of the other. The world span, and he felt the need to vomit again. As he paused for a moment to retch, the ship shuddered with impact, and his mind was galvanized. Focusing with all of his might, he forced himself forward toward the brig.

The aeronauts standing guard of the door started at his sudden arrival and appearance. As Jack opened his mouth to tell them to get the hell out of the way and open the door, pain split his head open and blood dribbled from his gauze filled cheek and mouth. Shutting his mangled mouth, Jack breathed loudly through his nose as he fished out his PDA. Striding towards the door, he felt a very minor sense of relief as the guards stood aside and nodded.

Inside, Major Highwater was doing his best to keep spirits up despite the dire circumstances. The major perked upon hearing the door open, as did Princess Gilda. She was fuming over having been tossed in the brig during the mad scramble, and she planned to give the next pony she saw a very big piece of her mind. The thought of doing so with the person coming through the door fled her mind very quickly.

“I have to say, Knight Captain, I am pleasantly surprised you're still alive.” The major said lightly as he tried to stare the man in the eye. His other eye was a gauze filled socket, and a third of his face was ruined meat.

Jack grunted in response as he idly dribbles blood on the floor and finished his message. “Anyone who doesn't want to die on their knees, follow me.”

The prisoners all looked at each other, before standing to. The Major nodded at Jack and smiled. “We were hoping somebody would come and ask that. Issue is, unfortunately, is none of us have our weapons-” The Major paused as Jack pulled his flintlock from his armour's webbing. Attempting to grab the weapon, Major Highwater found himself pulled in closer to Jack and forced to make eye contact. The fury filled stare said everything the mangled human couldn't.

Do not fuck us.

Swallowing thickly at the unsaid message, the Major nodded, and found himself released. Jack grunted savagely at them all, before turning and striding from the armoury. “I believe… we are to follow.” Without another word, the Major followed after Jack's wake, and his men swiftly followed. Only Gilda remained, unmoving as she sat on the cold bench. The brig door closed with a bang, and she was left alone.

Jack led the unit of rebel soldiers into the JSOG armoury, and mentally thanked his armour for filling him up to the gills with morphine. Snatching their griffon pattern rifle from the rack, he beckoned the new griffons forward and began to give them a very fast, silent run down on the basic operation of the rifle. It took less than a minute, and by the end he was pushing rifles and loaded magazines into the soldiers chests. As the griffons stood about and tried to figure out the basic operation of their new space aged tech, Jack retrieved his MG3 and several belts of ammo. A second thought saw him sling the machinegun over his shoulder and pick up one of their few automatic shotguns and several drum magazines of 12g shells.

“Jack!”

The familiar voice caused his mind to swim slightly, forcing him to turn toward it. Flitter was striding through the armoury, and a doctor trailed behind her. He saw how she winced when he turned fully towards her, but she didn't avert her eyes. “Jack, you need to be in medical, you're badly wounded.”

He simply shook his head, almost in tandem with when the ship shuddered with another blow to its body. The doctor made a displeased noise and strode forward. “Knight Captain, you shouldn't even be alive. If you go out there now, I can give you no good odds that you will survive!” The doctor growled as he ignored her and pulled on a kevlar helmet. “Stop being stubborn and retreat!”

Snapping the chin strap in place, Jack fixed the doctor with his one eyed glare. “Rutreat hell.” He barked a slurred order that was likely a demand to follow, and strode out of the armoury, with the griffon rebels in tow.

Sighing as the doctor pulled her mane out, Flitter shook her head and began pulling belts of ammo across her body. Her boys still needed the rounds, and she wasn't going to get them all killed chasing Jack around.

The imperial forces had caught up with Stalwart, and now the incoming rounds weren't ranging shots. Infantry was landing in the village and rounding up a lot of the civilians who had been too slow to get to the ship. Stalwart was still loading civilians, even as the rounds began to pepper her shield. The flight crews were running themselves ragged as they leapt from train station to ship and back again, each time loaded with more terrified and confused civilians.

“To all bodies aboard Stalwart Liberty. We will not falter. We will not fail. Stand firm, and we'll weather this storm together.” Captain Chord's voice boomed across the ship as the infantry dug into the deck opened fire to deter the imperial infantry.

The imperial forces fell upon them in waves of bodies and incoming fire. Soon it became impossible to fire at any infantry beyond the shield as the imperial munitions poured into it and distorted everything beyond. Stalwart’s howitzer battery fired as fast as they could; the crews worked with as little uniform on as possible as they struggled and fought to keep the guns firing. The piles of brass were stacking high, and the gun barrels steamed against the cold air.

As the Imperials swarmed around the ship's shields, the worst news came.

“Captain! Engineering is reporting a malfunction in the shield generator! They say one of the coolant lines was destroyed in the earlier attack, and if we keep running it at maximum it'll overload!”

Chord closed his eyes and nodded to the rating, who quickly scampered off. Chord knew his next course of action. It was either reduce power to the shields over all, which would see the barrage of rounds punching through and destroying them, or focusing it all to one side, leaving the rest of his ship open for imperial infantry to flood in. Grabbing the radio, Chord made his broadcast.

“Warriors of the Stalwart Liberty, prepare for close combat.”

The moment the shields shifted, the imperial infantry took their advantage and pushed it. The battalion rolled over the port shields to the exposed starboard, and descended upon the Equestrians. The only saving grace the Equestrians had was their pre-established firing lanes and heavier automatic weaponry.

The fifty cals fired and fired until their boxes ran dry and their barrels melted; the rangers fired until their weapon muzzles spewed steam and their furniture smoked. The Revolutionaries fought for all they were worth, beak and claw. The new weapons did them little good, but served to act as force multipliers for the others. As the ammo ran dry and the flight deck was slick with blood, the imperial infantry charged again, and the pitched battle became a knife fight to the death.

Flitter screamed as hard as she could as she drove her bayonet into the chest of a young griffon who had just bludgeoned one of her stallions to death with a club. The griffon twisted as he was run through, but didn't utter a sound beside the air being forced from his lungs. Swinging his club at her and tearing his own guts out, the young griffon batted Flitter's helmet clear off as the strap broke and it went flying. Pulling the bayonet out of his steaming guts, Flitter rammed it in again, this time into his neck. With his spine severed, the griffon fell silently at her hooves, only to be replaced by another who charged her wordlessly.

Preparing her bayonet for the next attacker, Flitter was saved the trouble as an armoured forearm slammed into the griffons neck, and the blade held against it saw the griffons head fly off with a crack of snickersnack. Jack panted and spat blood before looking to Flitter with his wild eye. His face was covered in blood, and his armour had rivulets of it dribbling across the deck. To her amazement, he smiled to her with his ruined face, and bumped her shoulder.

“Good to see you too, Jack. We're in a bit of a spot right now.” Flitter pulled a half full magazine from one of the fallen and kicked it home in her magwell. She watched as Jack fumbled and fought with a heavy auto shotgun, before finally rocking it in and racking the action.

“Re'ey.” He slurred at her, before casting another glance over his shoulder. He turned and first a fast three round burst, before gesturing frantically toward the command tower. Flitter's eyes flicked up, and she could see small arms fire popping from the shattered windows, followed by a falling imperial body. The cause came soon after, as she spotted an open hatch and two dead aeronauts laying next to it.

“SERGEANT AEGIS!” Flitter boomed, drawing her NCO's attention over the melee. “WE'RE GOING TO SECURE THE BRIDGE!” FALL BACK TO THE COMMAND TOWER AND HOLD! TAVEN! GRAB BARON AND MYTHIC, LET'S GO!”

Her orders were followed quickly and efficiently, and Jack would have been beaming with pride if he wasn't treading in his own blood and doped up to his gills in morphine. The group of five made a hard line toward the bridge, and pounded up the stairs. Jack forced the bridge hatch open, and led the charge with his shotgun.

The navigator cried out as an imperial gutted him across his console, and Chord fired his pistol until it clicked empty. An entire squad of imperial saboteurs had gotten into the bridge, and now it was a frantic battle to just survive the next five seconds. The tide was turned when the five operatives dived into the fight, and Jack choke slammed the imperial NCO into the deck plating.

Bounding over Jack, Flitter tackled the imperial who was sneaking up on the captain, and proceeded to run her bayonet through his eye socket.

Taven's carbine ripped open the air as it perforated one of the few last Imperials, while a combination of small arms fire and Baron's magic saw the last one plunging backwards and out of sight when he fell out of the broken window.

“What's the ETA on our reinforcements!?” Flitter yelled at Chord as he wiped blood from his muzzle.

“Take a look.” Chord gestured toward the window, which afforded the squad a fine view of Righteous Justice approaching their position at Mach 2.1, it's frontal shields at full and it's afterburner wake visible. “The cavalry has arrived.”

“Hallefugginlooah.” Jack muttered before slumping against the wall and spitting out a glob of blood.

“All gunners, prioritise the infantry swarming Stalwart, batteries load AP and focus on the cruisers! Brace for deceleration!” Captain Alsan held her hoof up to mark, and waited until she was nearly on top of the battle. “Now! Pull up! Engines full! Crew brace for immediate maneuvers!”

Righteous Justice dropped from Mach speed almost directly on top of Stalwart, before making a hard maneuver that saw them drift across the larger ships bow as her guns chattered to life. Her gunners yelled and hollered as they chewed through the imperial infantry flying about, all while the cannon batteries found their targets. The rapid, overlapping thunderclaps of the massive guns shattered the sky and shook the great vessel below them, but only served to redouble the defenders fighting spirit as their attackers were slaughtered where they stood. Returning to her usual angle, Justice began to fly circles around the imperial navy as it struggled to move from its collected firing line. With the combined fire of both ships, it was a short battle, and each imperial vessel was falling onto the village below.

As the Imperials fought to a man, both captains realized that the falling ships were disgorging troops into the village below, and that the village itself was now hot. They couldn't fire upon it, for fear of hitting civilians. When word reached them that the evacuation flights were taking fire, there was a bright blue flash in the distance, in the direction of the ranger base.

“Somebody get Twin Peaks on the horn!” Captain Alsan yelled as her own medical teams crossed ships to help out Stalwart.

“Inbound communication!”

Perking slightly, Captain Alsan nodded to her comms officer. “Put it through, and patch to Stalwart.”

There was a momentary crackle, before the calm voice of Colonel Glow sounded on both ship bridges. “-Say again, I hereby order all standing combat units to surrender without violence. For the good of Equestria, we all must stand down. For Order.”

Flitter stared at the console for a long moment, before hardening. “Captain, may I?” With his nod, Flitter took the comms. “To all remaining combat units, disregard last. Colonel Glow and the officers of Twin Peaks base are to be considered compromised. This is first Lieutenant Falenas, and I am taking operational command over all remaining Ranger units.” As she released the comms, another call began to come through, only to be cut off as both ships switched signals.

“It seems we will have even less time now than we already had.” Chord winced as he sat, and held a hoof against his oozing side.

“Sir, you're wounded! I'll get the medic!” Flitter pulled herself away from Jack's fallen form, only to be waved off by the captain.

“It's only a flesh wound. The doctors have their hooves full as it is. We will survive, will we not, Knight Captain?” At Jack's plaintive grunt, the captain nodded in agreement. Picking up the comms, Chord dialed in Justice as it took up a patrol position around the besieged village. “Come in Marsa. We're floating wounded here. Do you have visuals on the pass?”

“Yeah.” The quick, quiet response did nothing to calm anybody. “Looks like two armies, and their entire air navy. Several dozen light cruisers, more corvettes, dozen heavy cruisers, and one big bastard. Couple supply ships I can see. They're steaming hard for us.”

“Estimated arrival?” Chord asked as he pinned an offered shirt against his side.

“At their current speed, five until they reach our gun range. Seven to theirs. Nine to the village.”

Chord closed his eyes. If they got that close, Stalwart would not be escaping, and Justice would be hard pressed. “We won't be able to get all of the civilians out. We need more time.”

Across the way, Marsa sat back into her chair and looked over her munitions report. The single digit numbers earned a hard wince from her. “We're out of time. If whatever’s got into their heads hadn't, we could likely convince them to hold position, but even the corvettes refuse to retreat. They'll just go through the casualties and crash into us.” Lifting her spy glass, Marsa cursed softly. “Look at the size of that ship. It's a damn dreadnaught!”

The griffon flagship looked to be larger than Stalwart Liberty, and bristling with more guns than Righteous Justice. It was already angling it's guns for when it reached range, which Marsa correctly assumed to be beyond their own. She found she was correct, as the mammoth guns belched in her spyglass.

“Hit thrusters, we can't be here!”

Justice's thrusters fired, shoving the ship roughly out of the way as the shells just narrowly missed them, and slammed into the village below. The pressure wave caused the windows to shake on the mighty vessels, and in Stalwart’s case, caused more glass to rain down on the deck. Marsa snatched up the comms and called Chord immediately. “That dreadnaught is finding its range, if we stay here, we're all dead, Cherry!”

Cursing brightly, Chord gasped in pain before gritting his teeth and grabbing his radio. “We can't leave, Marsa, we still have crews running civilians. There was to be hundreds left. We can't just leave them behind!”

As Captain Alsan opened her mouth to issue a rebuttal, a massive round struck her shields, and the generator overloaded, causing a cascade failure across the board. The bridge of the Righteous Justice went dark for a moment, before the lights came back on. “Damage report, helmsman, get us out of its range! All guns, find range and fire on the dreadnaught! Keep it busy!”

“Captain! Shield generator is down, and the engineers say it'll be minutes before it's back up from cool down!”

Punching her consoles, Captain Alsan nearly pulled the radio right out of the console. “Cherry! We can't take another hit like that! Shields are down and we're out of our optimum range!” The ship shuddered as all nine of her 405mm guns boomed and bucked. Their rounds mostly sailed true, despite the range. The crashed into the shimmering blue wall before the dreadnaught as it steamed forward, it's own shields unaffected by the barrage.

“Negative effect on target captain!”

“God's damn the Imperial war industry!” Marsa spat and held the radio close. “Cherry, please, we have to retreat!”

Pressing the radio receiver into his forehead, Captain Chord let out a long, even breath as he kept his eyes closed. “Sound the retreat. All crews are to return. Engines to full.”

As the ship responded and began to steam away from the village, Jack sat up from against the wall and forced himself to stand. “Buy yah time. Gunship. Need it.”

As everyone present looked toward the badly mangled human as if he'd spoken heresy, the captain simply shook his head. “Permission denied. You and your soldiers are in not condition to fight something like that.”

Shaking his head, and sending blood this way and that as he did so, Jack weakly spat another glob of blood onto the deck. “Can’ jus’ leave em… give em a chance.”

Chord forced himself to look away as his vessel left the hundreds of the remaining civilians on the ground stranded. “Lieutenant Falenas.”

Looking down, Flitter braced herself. “Yes sir.” Fluttering up behind Jack, she did her best to be gentle as she wrapped her foreleg around his throat. “Knight Captain Kessle, you're relieved of duty. Please sit… don't make me do this, Jack.”

Jack's armoured hands went to her forehoof, and gently rested on it as his injured mind tried to catch up. “Flittuh…” His voice sounded wounded beyond measure, and it struck at her core as he slowly slumped, and sat down heavily. As she removed her forehoof from his neck, he continued to hold onto her. “Flittuh…”

Nuzzling the uninjured side of his face, Flitter did her best to console him. “I'm so sorry Jack… I can't let you…”

As the ship medics found their way to the bridge as saw to the wounded crew, Captain Chord made his announcement. “Crew of the Stalwart Liberty. Today we have been dealt a terrible blow, and we've been forced to abandon those we promised to protect with our lives. Know that I did not make that call lightly, and that when the time comes, we will return and retake our lands. May the princesses guide us home.”

After his announcement, Captain Alsan made another call. “You made the right call, pulling back.”

“I know…” He winced as a doctor pulled the stitches in his side tight. “Equestria will need us. Hundreds for millions… I just pray the scales even out in the end.”

There was a momentary pause, before Marsa responded. “Long range comms have the princesses. They want an update. Are your long range comms still operational?” Chord glanced over his shoulder toward said communications console, which had been destroyed by autocannon fire. Once she heard the negative, Marsa rubbed her muzzle. “Stay on your ship, I doubt you're in any shape to move right now. I'll tell them what I can, but expect another debrief when we get back.”

“We have the Imperial princess onboard.” Chord spoke suddenly, almost surprising the other captain.

“That… that might change things.”

As his ships split up into their battle groups and swept upwards into the Equestrian border lands with their accompanying army group, Carolus looked over the Equestrian Badlands with a little trepidation. He had been told to come here by his lord, and he was loath to ignore such an order. However, he couldn't see anything of worth for kilometers in every direction.

When King Xerox and his honour guard materialized from Carolus’ crew, he found it to be quite the shock. The only thing that stopped a sudden and brutal firefight was the mask the changeling noble wore.

Smiling thinly, Carolus produced his own mask, showing it as the symbol of authority he knew it truly was. “Our lord has called a meeting between us. You have something we need.”

Xerox looked upon the griffon with a perfectly even expression. “I have four hundred warriors and infiltrators in every major Equestrian city. Our ex-queen’s plans were destroyed by the Equestrians.”

Perking a brow in curiosity, Carolus motioned for the changeling to follow him into the dreadnaught's luxury quarters. Once there, he finally spoke. “Tell me of the plans our lord set for her, and why you wear the mask of position.”

Looking around the opulent quarters. Xerox looked about as unimpressed as a changeling ever could. “Queen Chrysalis began the gathering of Terran weapons and the creation of a new warrior caste.”

“Weapons? My Empire can create hundreds of guns and thousands of bullets by the hour. More, now that our entire populace is working toward the glory of our lord.” Carolus sniffed lightly as he poured himself some of his father's beloved brandy.

“Terran weapons of mass destruction.”

The brandy being poured was paused as Carolus looked up. “You have my attention. However, when you say Terran, are you referencing humans? I do not see humans as being able to create much of anything besides a mess.”

Xerox simply stared. “I speak of the humans hailing from the planet known as Terra. If what was said is to be believed, then they are highly advanced and intelligent. One such human took it upon himself to destroy the weapons we had stockpiled, then killed Chrysalis while fighting off the hive.”

Snorting mildly, Carolus took a sip of his brandy. Say what he could about his father, the dead old man had great taste in alcohol. “I don't care for them. They are an anomaly, and they bow to our lord like any other. Now, about these weapons. Tell me of them.”

“Chemical and biological weapons engineered to claim the maximum amount of life possible while leaving facilities intact. The most virulent destroyed themselves within a set period, and proved to be one hundred percent fatal to all living beings.”

Smiling to himself, the griffon emperor sat back. “How ingenious. And you said they were all destroyed?”

“Yes. Almost all samples. Along with-”

“A shame.” Carolus set his glass aside. “Be thankful our lord has decided to forgive your failures, but do not expect him to forget. Do not expect me, to forget.”

“You-”

“Emperor Carolus. You will address me by my station.”

Xerox smiled thinly as he contained his emotions. “Emperor Carolus. You are not paying attention. If you had been, you would have realized I said almost all samples. The Terran Goliath was thorough, but he did not get all of it.”

Carolus’ beak clicked shut as he bit his tongue. So, they were still of use to him. “My scientists will take the remaining samples. Now, tell me of this Goliath.”

With the upstart Emperor finally paying attention, Xerox gave him a brief summary of the attack on his hive. “The Goliath is owned by the princesses. It will no doubt engage your forces and blunt our efforts considerably. I suggest we find it and kill it soon.”

Tapping a claw against his jaw, Carolus recalled the armoured human that had killed Forge's Progeny in the Crystal Empire. He then recalled the reports of the assassins he had hired to kill said human. A low hum emanated from him as he relaxed into his chair. “I have made a decision. We will bait this human, and we will capture him.”

Frowning as much as he would allow himself, Xerox simply glanced around the quarters. “Two hundred elites dead and wounded. How do you suggest we catch such a beast?”

As Carolus began to answer, he paused, and smiled broadly as he reached over and grabbed his ornate radio receiver. “Bring me my Bitch.”

The changeling perked a chitinous brow as the affirmative sounded. Less than a minute later, one of the emperor's honour guard stepped in with a human on a leash. Xerox tilted his head in curiosity as he felt a wave of unbridled hatred wash off the human as she looked to the floor. The woman was Terran, and very obviously so. She bore their inky flesh markings, and seemed to be in fantastic physical shape. However, this female’s face and bare arms were marred with dozens of fresh cuts and scratches, and her neck bore heavy bruising.

Carolus simply smiled. “We will draw him in with the female of the species.” He cast a smug look toward the woman. “There is a man. Like you. He wears armour. Do you know of him, Bitch?”

Xerox kept his features level as her emotions spiked. While tethered, it seemed the human still maintained some form of comprehension. Slowly, she began to nod. “Yes… Emperor…” She seemed to force every word out, and Xerox found himself mildly impressed by the willpower being unknowingly touted before him.

Unable to help himself, Xerox spoke. “What is his name? The goliath.”

The Terran woman slowly looked up into his eyes, and Xerox's wings fluttered in irrepressible primal agitation. “Knight. Captain. Jack. Kessle.” Xerox's brows both raise high as her emotions fed him greatly.

Chuckling to himself, Carolus swirled his brandy idly. “Bitch, you are to capture this, Knight Captain Kessle, however you can. Can you do that, Bitch?”

Ada grit her teeth tightly, and nodded slowly. “Yes… I will… capture… Jack…”

“For whom, Bitch.”

“For… my… Emperor.”

Author's Notes:

Whoo, this chapter was fun to write. I've been wanting to write this air battle for nearly a year now, and I hope to hell I did it alright.

On a separate note, every time I upload from google docs, Fimfiction utterly fucks my formatting and fills everything with broken Bolding brackets. Anyone else get that?