Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter One: Enemies Within

An explosion rocked the far reaches of space as a fierce battle raged on. A massive blue space carrier sat in the crossfire of multiple enemy fighters, bits of hull and metal sliced away with each attack. On the bridge the captain shook in her chair and turned to her staff.

“Mac! Damage report!” the swamp green colored unicorn mare with straight black hair and tail yelled.

“Structural integrity holding stable! Magic Shielding has been broken through but hull damage is superficial! ARGH!” the pink and lavender stallion with a blonde striped mane was thrown to the floor in the resulting explosion, “My glasses!”

“Here! Don't get sloppy on us Mac! Flyboys! Are you gonna do something about those fighters!” the light turquoise earth pony mare tossed Mac Book his glasses. He fluffy teal striped flat yellow mane flowed in the breeze of the air conditioning, a green bow tied on her left ear.

“Working on it Nelly! These UPF guys are giving us hell! Dammit! One's on me!”

“I got you bro! Tornado! Guns guns guns!” the agile swing-wing space fighter snapped onto one of the UPF Cazador fighters. Their UPF enemy simply pulled a quick Split-S to evade the mares fire, “Damn! These Task Force Frostbite guys are as good as they say!”

“Avia! Don't hold back on me now! Thanks for the save little sis!” the cyan-blue pegasus stallion tipped his wings to his sister, who shared the same coat color but with a dark blue and orange mane that contrasted with her brothers bright red hair.

“No prob bro! AHH!” her scream was followed by an explosion that sent her fighter into an incendiary fireball, leaving nothing left but a flaming wreck that disintegrated into ash.

“AVIA! No!” her brother screamed into the intercom of his fighter and slammed a hoof into the side of his cockpit, “Dammit! J-Just dammit!”

“Jet! Cool it! We lost Avia but we still have six of us left against four of them! We can win this!” a stubborn and fiery blue pegasus relayed to his squadron mate. On his chest was a bright and furry orange heart that matched the color of his mane which was also stripped with green. His zealous eyes looked frantically for the enemy fighters only to be struck down with a guided missile right into his tail pipe, destroying his fighter.

“Captain Jet! We've lost Tough Heart and Avia! I suggest we try to retreat to fight another day!” a light blue mare flying a stealth fighter pulled up next to Jump Jet. Her shimmering optical cloak barely visible to her squadron leader.

“NEGATIVE! We stand and fight! If we try to run those Cazadors will run us down. We have to save our home dammit!” Jet looked out at the EMS Sky Buster. The large spacecraft carrier that they all called home, “We're not gonna dishonor my father's legacy by letting these traitors destroy one of the most important ships in Equestria's arsenal! We're not running, the Next Generation Joint Strike Force does not give up.”

“Captain, please be reasonable. We've lost two of our best pilots and your sister. We have to retreat. There is chivalry to run and fight another day rather than to sit here and die,” a handsome maroon male pegasus appeared on Jet's heads up display.

“WE. CAN'T. RUN! Those Cazadors have a built in hyperdrive while our fighters don't! And even if we disengaged in combat we leave my fathers namesake unprotected! Do you hear me Morning Shine?”

“He's right. If we fail the Sky Buster will fall and all our friends in it will die. We have to fight!” a light red unicorn male appeared over all of their screens.

“Thank you Piggle! Now come on! There's no time to grieve! We have to fight!” Jet ambushed one of the attacking Cazadors that strafed at their carriers anti-air guns, “Jump Jet! Fox Two! Fox Two!”

A back facing automated gun shot down both of the missiles launched by Jump Jet as the enemy spaceplane pulled away to start another attack run.

“Shit! That thing's got a hard kill weapons system!” Jet cursed into the microphone.

“Yah snooze ya lose kid!” a snark remark from the enemy pilot replied back to Jet. It was a Spinda Pokemorph with a mop of white hair, “They don't call me Strella for nothing.”

“Arrow! We've got your back. We'll show them what it means to be Task Force Frosbite Two,” the enemy flight leader and Buizel pilot radioed back to his wingman, “Quincy, Alyssa, focus down that F/A-38 and Morgan. Those two are the most annoying of the bunch.”

“Roger Mitch!” A Glaceon pilot pulled away to dive onto Jump Jet's plane, “Die!”

The beam of ice connected onto Jump Jet's fighter and disabled his magic enchanted control surfaces. With those frozen in place it was a quick kill for Quincy as his missiles impacted their target, sending oil and shrapnel into the pitch black of deep space.

“Permafrost, splash one bandit. Tally up another,” with casual glee he chuckled at his kill.

“Marksman! EML fired!” the railgun pods on the enemy fighter tore into Piggle's Morgan in a fiery blue plasma explosion that seeped into the vacuum. The Vulpix girl in the pilot seat smiled, “Scratch one...”

“You called?!” Alyssa's report was interrupted with a stream of 30mm tracers coming from an A-164 Wipeout painted with a deceptively cute cat face, the pilot being a peach pegasus mare with brown and purple mane, “Meow meow bitch! Heheheheee! That was for the commander!”

“Finally, we took one out... Good job Scratch but there is still more!” Morning breathed in a sigh of relief before shutting off his radio, “Jet... You didn't deserve that...”

“Morning! What are you waiting for! We have to keep fighting or we're gonna lose the Sky Buster for good! We can't let the UPF do this to us,” Night Petal radioed to Morning Shine from her stealth fighter.

Morning's face turned into a deeper shade of red as he looked at the mare on his display. He sighed again and collected himself, “You are right. We have to keep fighting. ARGH! NO!”

Morning's fighter was hit by an ice beam from one of the enemy Cazadors. There was another one diving from the top to finish the kill.

“Undertow, Vulpix Two!” one missile shot out of the enemy fighter and streaked to its disabled prey. It was only right before impact that Night Petal flew her cloaked fighter into the path of the missile, sacrificing herself for her friend.

“PETAL!” Morning saw the wreckage of the fighter explode and leak out atmosphere into space. With a final glance he could see the EMS Sky Buster in its final moments as the ship was bombarded with impunity. The once graceful and massive carrier snapped in half and blew away as magazines of bombs and missiles as well as fuel and oxygen exploded all at once to spread fire, jagged metal, and whatever was left of the crew into the harsh cold. Morning stood by as his final friend was chased down by two enemy Cazadors that ripped and tore into the metal and cockpit of the attack fighter. They left nothing but shattered fragments of twisted alloys and organs. This was the end.

“It was a good run my friends...” Morning closed his eyes as the screen on his fighter faded to black as the missiles impacted his lifeless fighter. It was all over.

SIMULATION OVER. TRAINING EXERCISE COMPLETE. FULL CONTROL RESTORED TO SIMULATED CASUALITIES.

“THAT! WAS! HORRIBLE TEAM!” Jet was very displeased as his ass was facing upwards in his seat when we was thrown about in the simulated augmented reality explosion, “Gotta say though, the UPF training augmented reality really got us going. I actually thought my sister died here.”

“No kidding, my heart was racing all that time. It was just so immersive,” Avia righted herself in her cockpit and pulled up to the guys of Task Force Frostbite, “That was a nice fight. Let's do that again some time!”

“One day Frostbite! You hear me! One day! We're gonna kick your flanks into the ground!” Jet chuckled as he waved his fighters butt to Mitch, who flicked a bit of his brown hair out of the way.

“Funny, every time we run through this wargame the Federation always wins. Are we really that good of warrior prodigies my cousin?”

“Probably. You are the son of the current UPF president and my mom was the best sniper in all of the UPF. It's kinda sad that I never got those genes,” the Glaceon shrugged.

“Well you definitely got your sperm donors genes! Hahaha!” Alyssa teased and stuck her tongue out to her friend.

“Shutup Alley,” Quincy rolled his eyes as she flew in formation.

“Well! You know the rules. Losers buy the drinks!” Strella giggled and formed with the rest of Frostbite.

“Fine, Apple Cider's on me. Yo Mac Book! Can you call your mom real quick?” Jet vectored his fighter into landing approach.

“Do I look like a bartender Jet?” Mac rolled his eyes.

“No, but can you ready up the drones to pass a round of booze? I lost the bet so I'll have to pony up. Come on man, it's been a long day.”

“Whatever Jumpy,” with a rapid clip clop of hooves into his keyboard swarms of drones surrounded the fighters landing onto the ship to help maintain the complex spacecraft.

WELCOME BACK PILOTS. I RECOMMEND A RELAXING ACTIVITY TO SETTLE YOUR NERVES.

“I recommend you shut your bitch ass up Susan,” Jet hopped out of his cockpit and greeted the ships AI, “Just get me a margarita and a round of drinks for these guys. On my tab.”

YES SIR CAPTAIN JUMP JET.

“Dumb drones,” Jet surveyed the automated hangar as only two crewponies stood by to guide the aircraft landing on the carrier. He stood by to look at Sugar Rush and Brain Storm as they started to peek into each fighter to gather data and maintain any odd dents from space debris. Swarms of mini repair drones by their sides to diagnose any problems.

Jet continued on followed by his buddies from the mission with Task Force Frostbite a few paces back talking amongst themselves. As they reached the bar a couple more of their friends were playing cards at one of the circular tables; two unicorns and an earth pony. The red unicorn by the name of Prelude waved to Jet as he came in.

“Yo Jump Jet! Simon, Frag, and I are playing cards against equinity. You wanna join in?” Prelude pushed his tinted goggles up underneath his black mane with pink highlights inherited from his parents. Large bullets sat neatly tucked into his chest and arm rigs that denoted him as the team sniper.

“Nah man. Gotta buy drinks for these assholes,” Jet whispered sarcastically to Prelude as he referred to Frostbite. Jet turned his attention to the light blue unicorn pony named Fragarach.

“Oh come on Jet. You're always up for a round of this stupid game. We're playing against a rubber chicken and it's kicking our asses right now. We need you to help beat it,” Frag smiled to his friend. Although he normally wore his power armor Frag was in a casual attire with only a green shirt and lack of pants, a small dogtag necklace swished back and forth as he moved about.

“Uh, dude there's something in your hair,” Jet pointed a hoof to a strange creature that rested inside the flowing grey and white stripped mane of Frag.

“HOLY-FUCK! SHIT!” he threw the alien centipede to the floor and it crawled away unharmed. The tiny creature laughed and hissed back underneath the door to Brain Storm's room, “Dammit! Why does Brainy keep that thing on the ship? That thing is gonna kill us one of these days.”

“You tell me, I didn't get my dad's love of bugs. At least you can talk to it,” Jet eyed the strange pet as it squirmed away. The peach coated earth pony, Simon, was laughing hysterically as he flipped through the cards.

“Okay! Which one of you said: 'Let's write a fan fiction about an army of skeletons fucking Princess Cadance using the chocolate mousse moose as lubricant?'” Simon pounded the table while laughing all the while. Frag and Prelude looked to each other in surprise then to the black and orange highlighted mane of the peach pony.

“That wasn't me!”

“Neither was I!” their gazes looked to the inanimate rubber chicken as they burst into equal fits of laughter and rage.

Simon threw himself back in his chair and was now rolling on the floor, “The damned rubber chicken beat us?!”

“Fuck my life man,” Frag composed himself as he got up, “You wanna play the next round?”

Jet got up to the bar counter as the rest of his friends came into the bar, “No thanks, put it on my tab Susan. Hey! Don't go crazy on the drinks okay? I'm only buying one round for you guys.”

He hopped off the bar stool and sighed.

“I gotta go pay my dad a visit. You guys go ahead and have fun,” Jet walked out of the bar and back to the hangar. Morning Shine looked at him with a bit of concern.

“Captain! Captain Jet! Hmm, is your brother always like this Avia?” Shine glanced over to Jet's sister.

Avia sighed, “Only when things are bothering him. Come on, let's get the ship captain to talk some sense into him.”

-----

Jet flew on through space and looked out into the cosmos. He let out a disappointed sigh as he flipped his fighter over and navigated an asteroid field to reach the planet the JSF was stationed to protect: Alpha Velocia 98 I. He radioed out to the ground controller below.

“Velocia 98 I, this is Captain Jump Jet of the NGJSF, callsign Vertical. Requesting permission to land.”

“Roger that Vertical. Proceed to landing pad 1-1, out.”

“Thanks ground control. Have my MRAP ready, I need to pay a visit again.”

“Roger that captain. Rough day huh?”

“...Yeah...” Jet shut off his radio and leaned back into his seat as the fighter vibrated as it pierced through the atmosphere. He saw the large city of New Ponyville through the overlay of his holographic heads up display as it directed him to land on one of the helipads of the New Ponyville Airbase. His VTOL fighter landed with a distinct wub wub sound that reverberated from the dubstep engines. As the canopy opened he wasted no time and jumped right out. He left his helmet behind on the seat as his straight red mane flowed in the breeze of helicopter rotors and jet blasts.

“Here you are sir! Your MRAP is ready,” one of the Equestrian marines saluted to Jet as he handed him a wheeled transport. Jet sighed again and simply shook the marine's hoof.

“Thanks,” he cleared his mind as he drove to the First Interstellar Cemetery located in downtown New Ponyville. He had made this journey many times before whenever he needed time to think for himself. He parked the car and eyed the many graves adorned with flowers and trinkets left by loved ones to the many heroes that gave their lives to defend Equestria's ventures into space. He was here to meet one dead pony in particular: his father.

He eyed the simple grave in the farthest corner of the graveyard. He eyed the inscription like he did many times before. It read: “A shining beacon of hope for all those who fought alongside him and to those who called him friend. A normal pony like you or I that did so many good things for Equestria and the worlds beyond. He was a friend, soldier, husband, and part of our family among the stars. Decorated and loved by many nations, liberator of lands like Vulcan Sol and Tidas Aurora. Sky Buster was one of the legends of our time.”

“Hi dad. It's me again,” Jet touched the tombstone and left some flowers for his dead father, “I need to talk to you about some things. About this whole JSF thing. I hate to admit it but Task Force Frostbite kicked our asses again in our usual wargames. It's been the fourth time we've fought against them and we still can't win. Dad, what am I doing wrong?”

The silent gravestone sat whistling the breeze.

“I know, I know. I give it all that I got and my team is one of the best, if not THE best in the whole military. But I just don't get it. I've studied your tactics, your history, and all the things you've done to protect Equestria and everything you held dear. Nelly wouldn't be alive today if you hadn't saved her father from those bugs that took your own life. I wanna be like you dad. Tell me, what is it that makes Task Force Frostbite so much more better than us?”

Jet looked at the grave as it gave back a silent answer.

“Hmph, when you put it that way you might be right. It's not that we're any less than them. But you might be right! We are equals, but they have the better technology. I've studied them too and how their tactics revolve around adaptive combat and fighting outnumbered. Guess I inherited some of your target fixation, haha!” Jet chuckled and patted the tombstone, “You always wanted to make sure that guy never gets away. You always were my guardian angel. Thanks a lot dad. I love you too.”

Jet arranged the flowers again as they blew in the wind. His heavy heart lifted as he saw the petals swirl into the heavens guided by his fathers ghost. He smiled and closed his eyes.

“Well, well, well,” Jet jumped as his commanding officer, Ship, stood behind him with Morning Shine and Avia.

“Um! Captain Ship,” he saluted frantically, “Ma'am! May I ask how long you've been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear everything,” she went up to him and patted his shoulder, “At ease soldier. You know, I expected full well that we weren't gonna come out on top in that engagement.”

“And you went on with it anyway?”

“Mhm,” she nodded, “Look around you. The rest of our friends are having fun. It's still technically peace time you know.”

“So Ma'am, why did you proceed with the simulated slaughter fest?”

“Because it was fun,” she gave a firm chuckle, “That, and I think we've finally cracked the secret to why TFF always kicks our flanks.”

“Oh! Do tell,” a smile shot across Jet's face as he went back to his MRAP.

“Later. Brainy has the scoop on what he's been working on to make sure we level the playing field against the UPF. Once we beat them we can pretty much take on anything at that point. The UPF is the most technologically advanced space empire out there.”

“Thanks for the good news captain. I needed that,” Jet now gave a contented sigh and relaxed into his seat at a red light.

“I told you before, I grew up being the big sister to my triplet siblings. Things were always hectic around the house. At the same time it really taught me how to be a good leader and mentor. I carry that same mentality towards all of the crew.”

“Yes ma'am! Thanks for watching all of our backs captain.”

“Of course. Oh dammit! My mom's calling me again,” Ship reached into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone, “Hello? Mom! This isn't the best time. Yes I'm on Alpha Velocia but I'm kinda in the middle of something. Si... No... Mama! Mom! You're doing it again!”

Jet was doing his best at keeping a straight face as his commanding officer continued to talk. He was failing as bits of laughter escaped from his mouth.

“No! Don't put dad on the phone! You're embarrassing me again! Sweet Filly Luna mom, no I don't have time to pick up the donuts from this planet. What's wrong with Donut Joe's anyway back home?! OH! It's too far! Yeah! Mom I'm ten lightyears away from Equestria you know that right? Mom... Mom! MOM! I'm hanging up now okay? Mom, I-Okay. Okay... Okay I love you too. Bye.”

“She wanted donuts?” Jet suppressed all his urge to laugh as they pulled into the airbase.

“Shut. Your. Face. Jump Jet,” Ship and the rest of her crew looked out to their carrier as it landed on the main airstrip. The massive craft took up the whole of the airbase runway with an impressive aura of shock and awe, “Let's just see what Brainy is up to then. Susan!”

YES CAPTAIN?

“Please pilot Jet's aircraft into the hangar. I am boarding the ship and got my hooves tied up,” Ship enlisted the help of Susan, the carriers artificial AI. It stood for Service Utility System And Network and it helped to keep the whole crew of the spacecraft down to only eighteen with vital crew positions filled in by the operatives of the Next Generation Joint Strike Force.

Several minutes later all of the crew of the EMS Sky Buster gathered at the war room to discuss a breakthrough fighting the Federation in mock battles. The universe was at peace for over twenty four years now with the Apex menace gone, but that didn't stop the United Pokemorph Federation from staging all manners of mock augmented reality conflict with all of its allies. Equus ranked as one of the lowest in the wargames circles among the major space empires. Even the Hylotl, an aquatic race known for its pacifism, outranked Equus with its brand new Imperial Hylotl Navy and Army. Next up on the list is the Avali. They were long term allies of the UPF and Equus ever since the war twenty four years ago. In the mock battles they could not hold a candle to the UPF heavy armor in occupying vital locations and their use of adaptive tactics. Not to mention the most advanced Federation weapons created by their mastermind scientist duo of David and Jill Rivers. Keeping up with the Federation was the alternate universe empire of Corneria. Close allies of the UPF for over forty years the two were inseparable ever since the UPF liberated them from a hidden enemy in an unjust war that shook both their nations. The highest rank was usually held by either the Federation or its Cornerian allies, with the Avali sometimes sneaking in a short lived victory. Hostilies between the Avians and Apex prevented them from taking part in the wargames and the humans funneled all of their resources to fixing their Earth homeworld from all the damage done by a titanic octopus alien, terraforming it back to its prime with the help of all the Coalition Nations.

Ship overviewed the situation described with the rest of her crew. All of them knew of these facts but most showed disinterest. Most, except for Jump Jet.

“Ship, we already know of this. As your diplomatic officer and ambassador I know the Federation all too well. We simply cannot beat their state of the art technology and weapons. War is their sport, they've turned it into a bloodless tournament and their soldiers, equipment, cultural upbringing, and all aspects of their lives revolve around armed conflict. They know every trick in the book and react with such speed and adaptiveness that only their closest allies can compete with them. It's a shame that they never export any of their most advanced technology to Equus while all their allies enjoy their shares,” Prince Iron Cross looked down at the situation. He flicked his long blue tail and adjusted his hat. The earth pony rested his head onto his hoof in boredom.

“Please Cross,” a white pegasus stallion halted his train of thought with his gentle and confident tone, “You should know me by now. Brain Storm, the foal super genius and son of the famed Aurora and Byter. And you, being Iron Cross, prince of Equestria and Germaneigh, son of Twilight and AnY. Come on now my best friend. You know I always have a plan for these situations.”

“Brainy is right. You should all take a listen to this,” Ship addressed to all the ponies in the room as the holographic projector activated to a hologram of the UPFs primary fighter: the Type 10 Cazador. Sugar Rush and Mac Book joined him on stage.

“As you can see here the Type 10 Cazador is the fighter used by the whole UPF Navy and Elite Corps. The special modified versions we encountered today were made especially for Task Force Frostbite. Well rounded and extremely deadly, these fighters are the pain in everyponies flanks.”

“As you can see, these fighters have been designed from the ground up to be modular, with every craft tailor made to each pilot. Each part is designed to be easily reworked and replaced with alternate engines, wings, armaments, you name it. I'm sure all of you are finding that dodging those super accurate missiles to be a pain?” Sugar Rush, the yellow coated and bright blue maned pegasus, talked in a flurry. A fast speaker and thinker, he was the mechanic of the EMS Sky Buster.

“Yeah! None of our current countermeasures work against them. I've studied their weapons too. These missiles don't rely on heat or a radar lock on to track targets. It's all electro-optical. The damned things lock onto the mere image and outlines of our planes! Combine that with thrust vectoring and the genius electromagnetic control surfaces and that missile is just as good in atmosphere or out in space. They've also got some fancy ass software that makes it double back around if it doesn't hit you the first time. I'm interested in what you wanna say Brainy. I really hope this plan of yours works,” Jump Jet expressed his concern.

“It's funny you mention that Jet,” Mac Book smiled to his annoying friend, “Brain and I cooked up a theoretical countermeasure to these missiles that might just give us the edge in fighter combat. Go ahead Brain, I just ran the simulations.”

“Thank you. Now as you know our engines are powered by sound and magic to propel our craft equally as well in atmosphere or in space. What I've done was a modification that emits a loud shockwave of sound carried in a magical pocket that will impact the electro-optical missiles and disrupt the major electronics of it. We will also couple this with an EMP pulse to make sure any pursuing missiles never make their mark. Any questions?”

Jet raised his hoof, “Gotta say guys: THAT IS AWESOME! You finally cracked the UPFs trump card.”

“I got a question. My stealth fighter still cannot be easily locked by electro-optical missiles, correct?” Night Petal raised her hoof to Brain Storm.

“Yes, that is true. Optical camouflage was our only defense against those missiles, albeit a very expensive one. Just watch out for the secondary tracking systems of some Federation missiles. Not all of them rely on electro-optical tracking.”

PRIORITY WARNING: NEW MISSION ALERT!

A new hologram replaced the image of the UPF fighter. It was a briefing for a new peacekeeping mission.

“Alright! Looks like the Federation is asking for our help in controlling some armed terrorists within their universe. Looks like we have to jump realms to get to Lylat,” Ship summarized the mission profile, “What you guys say? Should we partake?”

“Oh yeah! Some action would be nice,” Jet put on a zealous smirk as he flicked down his visor.

“I'm up for it,” his sister smiled.

“Meet you guys at the hangar!” Tough Heart was already on his way to his mech.

“Ready to jump Captain!” Mac rapidly prompted some commands into his portable computer and prepared the engines to make the universe jump.

“Joint Strike Force: LAUNCH!” with her order the ship broke past the light barrier and into a warp portal to the Federations home universe.