Later that night, Princess Luna couldn't sleep. Despite the sinfully opulent cloud bed making her comfortable, her mind constantly wandered with thoughts about the resident alien duo. Some thoughts were inane, like if Alex and Rose had clothes other than the somewhat armored and form fitting ones they wore. Luna knew it was a non-issue, since they'd explained how something in the air didn't mix with their, well Alex's biology. Rose was an enigma that Luna could not firmly figure out. They firmly believed her when Rose said she was artificial, but did that make her body an extension of the ship, or the ship an extension of her body. Silly thoughts really, but Luna still found them crossing her mind.

Through the evening, Princess Luna had dozed on and off, occasionally fixing the odd bad dream here, giving a good dream a poke into a great one, and so on. She did love her given tasks as steward of dreams, despite the memory of how she started with that being lost to time. Time flies far too fast to an immortal after all. In her mind's eye, Luna slowly circled the dream that Alex was currently having. Despite the odd reaction last time from her forcing an entry into the dream, Luna felt a need to help in this case. Anger, sadness, and regret boiled from the dream like pus from a gravely infected wound, and that was something she could not abide. With a prayer to something, somewhere, the princess lay fully down and let her magic flow. She barely noticed the light her horn cast, before being whisked wholly into something unfamiliar.

The magic flowed around in Luna's vision until it coalesced into, well, she wasn't quite sure. It was as if she were watching events through another's eyes. After some thought, it was decided that this was in fact more of a memory being viewed as a dream than anything. In this case, it was through Alex's eyes. Some knowledge was provided by her magic and the connection between Luna and their newest resident. So she could read the scrolling text on the armored glass in front of her... well, his eyes, but for some things, still lacked the knowledge to back the ability to read.

More importantly and attention grabbing was feeling what Alex felt. That was certainly a new discovery from this little venture. It was odd to fidget to scratch an itch inside her flight suit, because the controls needed to be hands on. More embarrassingly was realizing how uncomfortable the armored codpiece was to a stallion, when experiencing it first hoof. Through the large windows at the head of the craft, light streamed by while a counter displayed in a corner of her vision. It simply said 'Jump Remaining: 0:09:42:56' and was rapidly counting down. The more the number dropped, the more Alex's dread seeped into the princess. It was as if something horrible were about to occur, but short of destroying the dream and not knowing the end result to Alex, Luna would have to endure. At roughly the five minute mark, Luna felt herself, well, Alex speak. His real voice, not the translation, was a bit rough and distinguished, but pleasant enough she guessed. The words were another thing entirely though.

"Wraith flight, Wraith lead. Final mission brief is condensed as follows. The UTE military assets on Vergon VI have been captured by revolutionary forces, along with the planetary governor and his staff being executed by the same rebels. Naturally the UTE won’t stand for this. Any outbound craft have been interdicted by the 6th fleet so far.”

Even Luna felt a need to pause from the statements Alex was making.

"Unfortunately, the rebels have also seized the local defense grid and have shot down any UTN ship entering orbit. To put it simply, we are going to be riding a meteor shower in as cover. Once we’re in place, flights from the 147th will wild weasel the small craft air defences then burn out of atmo. We’ll clear our drop zones and get our chalks on the ground. Your AI have the individual targets and drop sites for you. After deployment, any space capable craft are secondary targets. Stay low, hit hard, and burn out. The AI will handle the outbound navigation to get around the incoming UTN Franklin, callsign Archangel, which will be on station deploying assets. How copy?"

From a pragmatic side of things, Luna understood how this could save many lives. If it weren't for being able to feel the swirling emotions inside Alex, she'd have considered him a damaged person from his near emotionless speech. A quartet of voices simply saying things like 'Wrath two, copy' and so on were spoken in Luna's ear for a moment, before she felt her lips moving again.

"Wraith flight, Wraith lead. Copy all. Commence combat operations. Out."

With no control over it, a closed fist banged against the armored faceplate as Alex growled, startling the Princess. Anger flowed from him in every direction, understandably so given the orders he had. It faded quickly as a familiar voice spoke softly to him.

"You know we have to do this, Alex. There isn't another way and you know it. It's almost time though, so I need to spin up the link. It'll be okay, I promise. We're not going down, and if we do, you'll still have me. Only a few months of your service left after all, so it'll be okay."

Without touching a button, armor began to lower over the canopy and blocking the colorful lights. Although, Luna was more intrigued about what this 'link' thing was, and how the corner of the display formerly said [STANDBY] now displayed a countdown. At zero, everything faded to black for an eternity. There was nothing, no light, nor sound, taste, touch, or sensation. The purest oblivion known to anything.

Then the universe exploded into her eyes. The consoles, the windows, nay, the entire ship disappeared. All that was left was the sensation of controls in Luna's hands, yet she could not see them. It was as if Luna were flying through space on her own, except for the displays floating wherever her vision turned. The formerly streaming lights were replaced by an unfamiliar planet looming closer by the second. Here and there floated the wrecked hulk of another spacecraft from one side or the other, some still venting atmosphere, others glowing softly or dark, but all dead.

What surprised Luna the most was inside of this unknown space where it seemed reality was bent, a very familiar red maned person stood to the side. Her form fitting uniform was studded with what Luna assumed were commendations of some sort or another, some with clusters, others singles, but there were many of them glittering against the deep blue uniform. If it weren't for Luna riding the memory through Alex's eyes, she'd have sworn Rose was glaring at her for a moment.

"The ship is rigged for dive, Commander. Ready on command."

There was no reply from Alex except new text scrolling at the periphery of their vision. Normally these words would have concerned Luna, except that it it was rather obvious that Alex had survived these events. Regardless, it was unsettling to see no reaction as many, many important words highlighted in red scrolled by. Words like [GRAV OFFLINE] and [O2 OFFLINE] weren't exactly happy words and all.

With the planet quickly filling her vision, Luna chose to ignore the text and focus on the hundreds of rocks ahead of them. Some were already starting to glow softly in the thickening air around the planet. Similar small flames flickered on the edges of her vision as the unknown craft shot into the atmosphere of the planet. If it weren't for knowing about a plague, Luna would have called the planet pretty at best. Vergon VI was a muddle of dull greens and brown that was everywhere Luna looked.

While the flames licked at their vision, the princess simply sat back and enjoyed the view. There was little else to do until Rose spoke again as all the former scrolling warnings all flickered, then flashed solid green before everything turned white.

"Primary and secondary shields at a hundred twenty percent. Plasma bubble stable. Bringing all systems online and counteracting interference."

While not knowing what this 'plasma bubble' was, Luna thought it nice that the view quickly cleared to show a massive mountain range below. Having an idea of what was to come, the princess decided to simply enjoy what she could before the violence began.

Soon enough, the mountains were practically close enough to touch, with easily visible, yet odd looking trees dotting their surfaces. More importantly was a plateau rising in the distance. It overlooked different valleys and canyons, but also had several glowing markers hovering over it. With a push of the stick, the Corvus dove into the nearest valley, screaming along just below the sound barrier, with trees thrashing below from her passing.

“Rodriguez to all hands. ETA to airstrike 3 minutes. Drop zone in 5. Commence final checks.”

Luna was thoroughly enjoying the flight, taking every opportunity to look at the alien terrain and strange flora that called it home. They were quickly closing on the plateau at the end of the valley they were currently rocketing through. Through the trip, the Princess had slowly picked up on what most of the displays meant, even in a limited sense. Then again, she knew there were only moments left to enjoy the quiet. Through everything filling her vision, Luna saw a series of dart like shapes flash through her vision towards their destination.

“Rodriguez to all hands. Fast movers inbound. Commence station link and prepare for contact. 30 seconds to drop zone.”

The Princess had thought the ship moved fast before. She was sorely wrong as a hand shoved the throttle forward to the stops, making them rocket toward the rocky slope. With barely more than a handful of meters between them, the gunship screamed over the edge and toward the perimeter of the captured and now damaged base. Bright flames marked where defenses were just a few seconds before, leaving the concrete walls and bunkers shattered and aflame.

“All hands, DZ in sight. All weapons cleared hot.”

As Alex’s voice rang through her ears, a green outline flickered to life around one of the buildings in the distance. It appeared to be a tall tower with a heavy wall around it. Something easily defensible, should someone be on hoof… er… foot. Considering they were flying at quite a speed, it was less of an issue. More attention grabbing was the series of flashes in the distance in a rapid pattern. Before the lights could close the distance, the simple [STANDBY] in the corner of Luna’s vision changed [ONLINE] and time appeared to hardly move as Rose spoke. The distant blurs of light were just slowly crawling across the gap towards their ship.

“Incoming fire bearing 017. Highlighted. Unable to evade before impact. Routing auxiliary power to shields to offset. Targeting solution available, data networked to other stations.”

It was only a moment, the tiniest fragment in time frozen for a heartbeat before it resumed with the flares of light slamming into the shields. Flaring light filled their vision, but the ship flew on. Rising further above the concrete below, Alex spoke three single words before the chaos began.

“Guns guns guns…”

While she know the Corvus was similar to what Alex piloted in this memory, Luna didn’t quite understand why it was called a gunship until this moment. With Alex linked to the ship, providing will and direction, and Rose on guidance, anywhere he looked, the weapons were already turning. At the press of a button, the entire ship rocked, burning bright lights pulsed away again and again into where the sighting pips were resting. Every hit an explosion or gout of flame. It only took a few eternally long seconds for the gunship to close the distance, screaming over the rubble of whatever defenses had fired. Despite the altitude, Luna could see bodies sprawled everywhere below, some falling as they passed from the smaller turrets cutting them down.

Even though Luna know it was only 30 seconds to reach the tower, it felt like forever. Time seemed to slow over and over as Rose would point out some detail or another. Incoming fire, secondary targets, or other useful errata, before things would flow properly again. Eventually at the end of the longest seconds of her life, they were hovering above the roof of the large concrete tower. Through the internal cameras, she could see soldiers in suits similar to the large one worn by Alex leaping out of the ship through the airlock and boarding collar.

“Chalks one and two away… Chalks three and four away. Wraith Lead retasking for secondary targets and outbound burn.”

Leaving the soldiers on the rooftop to their fates, the gunship spun in place before diving towards the tarmac, guns blazing. They shot straight towards a large blocky craft attempting to rise on columns of flame, before weapons reached out and swatted it from the sky. Several times, this dance repeated. Some firing weapons back and connecting, others attempting to run and hide. A lucky few shots did more than fizzle against their shields, slamming into the hull, slapping the ship sideways. Glowing scars adorned the ship here and there while it fought on.

“All units, Archangel on final approach. On station in 30 seconds. Out.”

Hearing that, the gunship shot clear of the area, skimming the edges of the concrete around the base and firing at any target of opportunity that presented itself. A scant few heartbeats later, a flame wreathed arrowhead shaped craft burst through the clouds. The black arrowhead shape dwarfed the smaller craft by a large margin. Almost immediately, weapons fire burst out from ports all over the frigate, beams of energy and pulses of bright light slammed into any spots of resistance below.

“Archangel, Wraith lead. Wraith flight outbound from AO. Good hunting. Wraith lead out.”

Through Alex, Luna could feel the hard control stick in her hands, pulling back until the gunship was near vertical. Vibration jostled her back and forth as the ship accelerated faster and faster until the air was glowing against the shield protecting everything within. At least until everything froze and a very irritated voice spoke from behind her.

"Did you know that Alex hated himself for shooting down that freighter? It took me a lot of effort to keep him from drinking it away. Intel said all the ships at the field were captured by the rebels. They were wrong. He burned a ship full of refugees, mostly women and children that their families fought to get them to. What made it worse was that he was acquitted of wrongdoing, which was exactly what his guilt didn't need. That was the start of his decision to leave the navy at the end of his enlistment term. But since you're here peeping where I thought things were private, let's have a little chat, you and I. Woman to... mare I guess."

Something about Rose's tone gave Luna a bit of a chill. Let alone the confusing fact that the Princess swore the dream she entered was Alex's. Mentally poking at the edges of the "world" they were in, the dream was far more rigid and unforgiving than she'd ever felt before, as if under the edges of consciousness were bands of steel holding it together in a way she couldn't understand. In her shock, Luna spoke the first thing that came to mind. It was a simple thing, yet revealed to be profound in the end.

"What are you?"

Rose's sparkling eyes and irritated grin were her response. Next Chapter: 27. Bright neurons in a dark mind Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes