GOD I am bored! Why the hell did captain Fick have to put me in charge of this detail? Why the hell can't we just use recruitment bots like the test of the COG? No these are “sensitive people” and require a “personal touch” I’m a goddamn grunt not a recruiter.

The central park of the station has been repurposed by the fleet and turned into a recruiting station. That seems more like an old earth county fair more than a military recruitment drive. Every nations military is here with several pieces of equipment out to draw in potential recruits.

The defence corps for the NAC, Expeditionary Force for the Nordics. Zulu shock assault, Siafu, and Star Force for the Africans, and finally the army, navy, and marines for the SRA.

Personally I prefer the NACs form of recruitment video over the Nordic one across the road. It's more starship troopers and less star trek if you know what I mean.

‘Fight beside Avery Fallon, medal of honor recipient and the butcher of Bagmare! He's doing his part. Are you? Do you have what it takes to be a citizen? Come on you apes, do you wanna live forever?’

“At least they paid me for that one.” I said leaning on one fist at my desk. “It does seem to be quite caned my love.” Miiora said standing at my side.

“If I have to listen to one more recruitment video about me, I'm going to shoot myself. This is bullshit.” I said resting my head on my desk.

“Calm Avery, this is important work we are doing.” Miiora said calmly running the tip of her tail along my arm as she leaned over and hugged me from behind. “Without this many slaves will never know freedom.”

I let out a sigh before responding. “Huhhh…. your right.”

The sound of hooves on pavement drew my attention and the partition in the tend opened just wide enough for me to see Charlotte wave at me from the tent across the street. When the tent flap closed there were three ponies standing in the tent. They let out a gasp at seeing Miiora before retaining their composure and waited silently for me to call on the first one.

“You. clop. your Name”

“Amethyst Spark” The pink unicorn said eyeing Miiora and I with apprehension. “Hmm. Reason for joining?”

“I hate the way the UEC is run, especially Princess luna's…”

Seeing the woman is about to go on a tangent I have no intention of listening to I raised my hand and cut her off. “Let me stop you right there, I don't care. Previous occupation?”

“Lunar guard, and after that I was Equestrian Army.” The unicorn said, a hint of pride in her voice. There was a deep hiss behind me and I turned to see Bra'tac enter the tent. The large crimson scaled tymerian male was wearing some mixture of the NACs standard hard shell battle armor and his old Prime guard kit.

“The lunar guard? Were you of the primes?” Bra'tac asked his voice full of mirth as he gripped his blazer staff tightly in his right hand.

“I was not I wasn't able to get a sponsor. Its a real pain in the ass.” The mare said straightening up her posture slightly. Behind her the two ponies that had entered with her quietly slipped out probably hoping I wounded notice. ‘Pussies. Maybe they'll go join the Nordics.’

“Indeed.” Was all Bra'tac said as I told the mare to stand still as I scanned her with my PDP. With that I cross referenced her with the database we had for known changeling infiltrators before asking for her hand. “A little forward aren't… Ow what the buck!”

I retracted the syringe and handed the vial to Miiora who took it and walked over to Armor's reaper who stood motionless in the corner. As she approached the machine its red eyes watched her draw near untill she was close enough to insert the vial into a port on its arm.

There was a metallic click and the vial drained into the THKs bio port. “No neo-changeling DNA detected… Master might I recommend allowing me to dispatch this creature.”

“No thanks Armor stand by. Alright… miss Amethyst Spark, sign this it's your terms of enlightenment. Basically it says you will serve the NAC defence corps in whatever branch to the best of your ability for a time of less than four years unless otherwise discharged.” The mare took the PDP I was holding out to her and signed before handing it back to me with a cocky smile.

“So where do I choose my service? Do I get to keep my rank? I was a...”

“You've got jokes, recruit. Shut up and follow this man here into the tent behind me. Once you are there you will enter a pod, you will not touch anything in that pod. It will decide what your aptitude is and where and how you will serve.”

“You, clop who just came in, name?”

“Road Layer sir.”

“Don't call me sir, I work for a living.”

“Come on kid what the fuck is that?... Come on harder, faster, you can hit harder than that you bitch!” I yell holding focus mitts up as my fellow nanotized MOTH slams his fists and knees into them. The knuckles of his right fist was split and bleeding with a layer of glistening bone white lanky nanites squirmed under the split skin.

“Talked to Gutsy lately?” He asked as he jumped and sent a knee towards my face. Blocking the strike I pivoted, ducked under a kick and thrust my palms out.

The kid I sponsored since his enlistment took the hit full in the ribs and flew across the room and smashed into an impervisteel support strut leaving a sizable dent. “Yeah, she aint bad for a clop. She's settling in pretty well, but she has a long way to go before the guys trust her.”

Fallon twisted violently earning a rather nasty wet pop from his back before slamming a fist into the floor as he stood. “What the fuck! God damn it!” He yelled driving the heel of his metal hand into the beam.

“You left yourself open with that last one Ice. Next time follow it up with something else right away don't give ‘em time to catch their breath.” Douglas said tossing two bulbs of water to both of us.

“Alright, that should be it for today. Let's get the team and find the shittyist bar around.” The onyx guard continued.

“How are we gonna pay?” Fallon asked as we walked out of the nanotized gym and into the normal SOCOM gym. “You didn't liberate any cash from the clops?” Douglas asked.

“No, i've been dead.” Fallon deadpanned.

“We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Glancing around I saw Wraith and Amp standing at the bench heckling a force recon marine as he struggled to lift the two hundred pound resistance bar. In another corner Bender and an army ranger from the 95th roughnecks were sparring a large kleese armed with only stun knives, it didn't appear to be going well. And finally the last member of MOTH team-1 Hijack, was having his ass handed to him by a pair of female, S.E.A.L.Ses? SEALS?

Fallon seemed to catch on to my train of thought and spoke up. “Hey I've got a question.” He said walking up to the two women who stopped kicking Hijack before turning to regard him. “What MOTH? Come to collect your buddy?”

“No not really. But this has been bothering my for months now so maybe you can clear it up?” The nanotized kid propositioned.

“Sure. Shoot.” The first woman said crossing her arms under her breasts.

“Ok so Seal stands for Sea, Air, Land. Right? And that's from the old United states.”

“Correct…”

“And SEALS stands for Sea, Air, Land, Space. And that's what the NAC has now.”

“Again correct. Are you going somewhere with this?” The woman asked leaning back on and shifting into a rather annoyed stance.

“What's the plural for SEALS?” That got her, woman looked like someone had kicked her in the chest.

“Um, seals?” The second woman who looked to be in her early thirties said after a second or two of thinking it over.

“Hang on! Wouldn't it be Sealses?” Another man spoke up from beside them.

“No, tha-that's not right. It would be seals.” Hijack said to the man standing back up. But then someone else from the other side of the room spoke up. “No, That wouldn't make any sense. It's already a plural.”

“Im telling you it's SEALSes. What are you gonna add an extra S to seals? That wouldn't make any sense.”

“No its-it's seals? Right? No. God damn it, now you've got me thinking about it. Thanks dick.”

Growing tired of the nonsense I decided to cut off gunny Fallon. “Alright let's figure this out and put an end to this. All those who say Seals raise your hand…” Twelve of the podheads in the room raised their hands. “Okay, All those who think its Sealses, raise your hands.” Again twelve other hands were in the air. “Fuck!”

“Locks disengaged…. cutting umbilical.”

“Defiant to, mother bird open the hatch.”

“Galactica control to Defiant, hanger door opening stand by… call the ball.”

“Doors’ open I've got the ball. Defiant disengaging in three, two, one. Mark, transferring control.”

“Stand by… Ryoko, my star ship, I have the stick.”

On the display I watched as Matthew my helmsman maneuvered the two hundred and thirty meter stealth frigate from its moorings. Small puffs of gas were ejected from ports along the hull propelling the Defiant out of the internal docking bay.

“Safe zone reached… coordinates entered. Ready for test. Beginning war game.”

“How does this thing work again?” I asked my android navigational officer while floating inverted over my command chair.

“Basically what that lanky “15” said is that the device has two settings. The first literally rips open a hole in our local space time and creates a temporary alcubierre node that we use to enter subspace. Once inside the tear, we enter subspace and travel the distance. And when we reach our destination we open a hole into realspace which will open just long enough for our ship to exit. Now the other setting, which is the one we are using now opens a temporary einstein rosen bridge or wormhole at the place it wants to jump to. The far end of the wormhole opens first, then the wormhole projects itself back to where the ship is and pulls the ship through. Apparently the reason the ship comes out of the far end of the wormhole a hectosecond before they enter the wormhole is because of the tiny time lag between when the far end of the wormhole is created and when the near end reaches back to the ship.” He said without taking his eyes off of the controls.

That completely blew my mind. “...What?”

“Basically it has two settings sir, one for long range, the one that opens an alcubierre node that we fly into. And the short range one that we are testing now that basically pulls us through.”

“Wait If this is the short range setting, then how did Galactica teleport out this far from human space?” I asked taking a sip from my coffee bulb.

“From what the flayed told us about what happens when the claw ship hit the Gally during that battle it basically supercharged the drive. Giving it a one time use long range jump that it then initiated sending us here after it was destroyed.”

“If that's the case, then why don't the flayed that are with us just jump back to lanky space instead of flying around with us?”

“Maybe they cant sir?” My Exo offered walking through the threshold to the bridge. “Perhaps “Perhaps they're too small to produce the energy output needed to open a long range wormhole. I mean 1 did say the Galactica, Donnager, Manitoba could open a hole into subspace with the drive. But that most of our other ships can't, so that would stand to reason that it is a power problem. I mean the Gally has what, Four type-six hydrogen fusion reactors? And the two annihilators have two each?”

“Hmm, that could explain why claw ships usually travel with a docked seed ship. They have enough power to spare to be able to use the long range setting.”

“Almost like using a dropship to deliver a tank instead of having it drive on the highway. It will get there eventually, but using the dropship will get it their faster.”

“Alright, People back on track. Navigation begin jump prep.”

“Aye aye sir!”

“Galactica actual, This is Defiant, we are L-drive charging. Clear wave.” On the display, the blue carrots marking the Galactica and her escorts began to drift from my ship.

“Spinning up the main drive, wavelengths are stable”

“Fingers crossed people. Begin jump prep… Three, two, one. Jump.”

“Triggering L-drive now sir!”

The image of the mining station hanging in the bottom right of the displays was abruptly washed out with white light. It took several seconds for the sensors to come back online but when the first images began to appear on the displays the station was gone. Instead of hanging on the bottom left of the screens was the systems gas giant.

“Jump successful!” The navigational officer yelled. A cheer went up throughout the bridge. I smiled pumping a fist before clearing my throat. “Alright, people, tactical what's our status?”

“L-drive is cooling down, reactor stable”

“Armor is at 100% sir with all weapons intact”

“Status of stealth coating?” It wouldn't be much help for our little stealth frigate if its main purpose for existence was diminished by this exercise.

“Coating status 100% captain, we’re hidden from radar.”

“Long-range coms are slightly on the fritz, we’ll get that fixed quickly sir.”

“Excellent. The Donnager should be arriving shortly.” And almost on cue, the space in front of our ship seemed to shift before a spiraling crimson hole flashed into existence before the massive siege breaker flew out of the tear in subspace.

“That's fucking cool.” One of the SI troopers stationed on the bridge said.

“Tactical, engage stealth, no active scanning, passive only. Helm Cut the engines, lets coast. Nav how long till the drive is back online?”

“Aye, sir. Switching to passive sensors..”

“Understood Captain, killing engines now”

“Count, zero five minutes until L-Drive ready.”

“I've never been so glad we don't use windows.” My Exo said as our diminutive ship passed within two thousand miles of the siege breakers ventral section.

“Windows in space are dumb, at the ranges involved you can't see anything,” I replied clicking my heels and landing beside the tactical.

On the display, the symbol marking the Donnager flashed an angry red for a simulated hostile. There was a cone emanating from that marker symbolizing the ships active scanning. As we watched in silence that cone swept around randomly like a searchlight.

“What's the counter?” I asked eyeing the torpedo magazine count. Unlike the big missile cruisers like the hammerhead class, Indianapolis stealth ships are equipped with exclusively with nuclear and plasma torpedoes in our magazines.

“Count, zero one point five minutes and steady sir”

“Tactical, lock plasma torpedoes, to these points on Donnager's hull and hold fire.” With a sweeping gesture, I sent the targeting packet to the gunnery crew.

“Target points received sir, standing by for your go” As we watched the “spotlight” sweated over our position before continuing.

“Stand by. Sir request to active on scanners. We can't keep working with” My Exo whispered as we watched our screens update with fifteen-minute old data.

“Negative, that would be like lighting a flair in a dark room. If they don't know we're here that sure as hell would let them know. Let them pass.”

“Sir, engineering believes they might be able to speed up charge time by 2%”

“Do it, helm stand by to engage engines.”

“Sending clearance, count zero one minutes till drive is ready”

“Engines on Standby. On your mark.” on the display the spotlight began sweeping back in our direction.

“Engineering reporting back in, calibration complete count is now 45 seconds”

“Gunnery put the fish in the water, but don't engage their engines. Helm, stand by to flip us about and move us out to point zero nine, mark two six seven green… maneuvering jets only, execute”

“Aye, sir. Fish in the pipes now and ready to swim.”

“Understood Captain, moving us to point zero nine, mark two six seven green”

“Fish in the water.” On the display, three whitish-blue carrots appeared beside Defiant's hull.

“Helm engage reactors, maximum burn, mark two six nine, point nine three one gold. Execute” I said before strapping into my crash couch.

“Aye aye, sir! Waking the reactors up and opening the throttle sir! Mark two six nine, point nine three one gold!”

“Captain, the count is now 30 seconds”

“Tactical, engage in active scanning. All hands secure for a full burn. Five, four, three, two, one. Burn.” The ship bucked as her two drives burned at maximum acceleration.

“Active scanners coming online, we’re in it now sir!”

The displays blinked to life updating with new information that wasn't several minutes old. The new displays painted a different picture than we were expecting. The Donnager was resting twenty thousand kilometers to our stirn, sweeping its active scanners back and forth before snapping that spotlight right at us as our drive came online.

“Shit. Helm, evasive. Gunnery light the torpedos,”

“Here comes the juice.” The helmsman said as the ship rotated on its axis and blasted on another vector. Then All I could do was fight to not pass out as the ship blasted its drives at a sustained twelve-g burn. “Cutting the leash and letting them loose captain!”

“Drive…. count!” I yelled as I felt my eyes beginning to turn to jelly under the acceleration. On the display, the three missiles slammed into the Donys hull.

“Count 5..4..3..2..1..zero! Drive is charged!” As we watched the Donnager swiveled its port railguns in our direction.

“Begin jump prep! Three… two… one… jump!”

“Jumping now sir!”

There was a flash and the next thing we knew we were back at the mining station. “Jump successful.”

“Kill the engine!” My Exo yelled from his crash couch.

“Killing engines now!”

“Go for turn around burn, and bring us back to Galactica, nice and easy.” I said reading the reports coming in from my screen. We had several reports of broken bones, two strokes, and one death. “Not bad for a high G burn.”

“Aye aye, sir! Bringing us home safe and sound”

“I wish we had that steroid mix the Nordics use on their ships. Instead, the NAC goes for the cheap stuff. It always makes me sick.” One of the SI troopers said before unceremoniously throwing up.

“I think that was a successful test.”

After our shift at the recruiting station ended Avery had departed to meet with his team leader, the onyx guard Douglas. As he walked back in the direction of the temporary base FOB we had set up in another park Charlotte exited her tent and came to my side dressed in her civilian clothes.

“Come on, show me around mon amie. I've never been to a former city before.” She said before grabbing my hand pushing me into a changing tent.

“Well, I believe there's a recreation center to the north of the favelas.” Mii'ora called out slipping out of her battle armor leaving her only in a set of tymerian issue S.I ACUs. “I do not have any civilian clothes with me Captain Dunois.”

“Don't worry about it I'm sure we'll find something cute while we're out.” My friend responded cheerfully as I walked out into the sunlit habitation dome. The two of us then began our walk into the city proper.

We passed storefronts as we walked together, and the freed slaves among the population seemed to marvel at our presence as we walked among them. Several of them thanked us, thanked me and the others of the slave cast who joined with the humans for rising up against our masters.

The feeling is… unsettling yet not entirely unwelcoming. It feels like I am giving back to the community that raised me. Eventually, the two of us made it out of the PRC or slave slums as we call it and into the colony proper. This is where the shops, bars and other forms of recreation could be found, and where our adventure began ultimately ending in the two of us at some form of a bath.

The curator of the bath had been kind enough to allow the two of us the use of one of the private baths. And when we entered I could feel the humidity doing wonders for my scales. My pre shed skin finally begins to soak in the moisture as I slid out of my ACU before slithering into the water to soak.

The bath was in fact quite large, large enough to hold at least half of an ATLAS-3 mech, so there was more than enough room for just the two of us. When Charlotte finally came in she had an orange towel wrapped around her breasts.

“Oooh, dieu qui se sent si bien.” She sighed as she too slipped in before taking a seat, submerging herself up to her neck.

"Oh, I just love a good hot bath," said Mii’ora as I gripped a large rock with my tail, "It keeps my scales so soft and supple. When it's time to shed my skin, it almost all comes off as one piece."

"It's almost too embarrassing to admit I like smelling like a lady," said Charlotte. “Especially when hanging around Avery and his people.” she sighed “Any other time we'd get dolled up as much as we want. In the military we've gotta be just as masculine” she smirked and said with a wink “No room for perfume and pretty faces”

“She knows how you feel. Sometimes it can be a tad much.” Miiora laughed lightly. There was something about being with Charlotte that let her express her more feminine side.

As we sat the two of us gazed up into the sky, watching the stars beyond the one-way ceiling and habit dome beyond. There is space above our heads hung the Galactica, her bulk hanging close to the colony. From here we could vaguely see her crimson running lights, and the massive triple-barreled primary weapons panning and tracking a comet as it passed by.

“Miira, what do you think of your team?” Charlotte asked as I draped myself on a large false rock. “What do you mean?”

She let out a sigh before “Well I know how you feel about Avery, that's a given I wouldn't be surprised if half of the people on the gally knew. But what about you know Trombley and the rest of them?”

“Michael Trombley is… well, Trombley is… to be honest, I feel a kinship with him like a brother. I have known Durge long before I was a free female. As for Anthony Forbes, Always has a joke or knows how to make me laugh Kresha it is good to have him back he's just fun to be around. Bra’tac is my brother and it is good to have him back in my life. Sugar Watkins is a fine addition to the team, and a good fire team leader, especially since Avery Fallon, can not be with us as long as he used to be.”

“It's good to know you're getting along with every… wait don't you have someone else on your team?”

“Yes, Levoy… something about the Levoy creature unnerves me. He seems to get along with Avery extremely well and the two of them seen so close. I wish I could relate to him as much as Levoy seems to be able. But he just unnerves me so...” I was cut out of my musing by the bell-like laugh of my friend.

“What is it? Why are you laughing at her? Do you not see...” I asked feeling rather self-conscious. Have I made an error somewhere in my exploration?

“Miiora, your jealous… of an android.” She laughed trying and failing not to break down. “Oh…” I whispered sliding from my perch and into the water.

Eventually the two of them moved from the bathhouse, which in and of itself had been expansive, and instead, they looked toward the oversized city. Someone one of the men from the 6th had called it a Megacity, which wasn’t the right name, but it seemed to fit.

As we walked we passed a courtyard where a destroyed Siafu sat. The machine knelt in the middle of the cobblestone courtyard, it's pure white armor was scorched by dragon fire but still held crimson crosses on its shoulder plates and head. The cockpit of the machine was a ruin, with a huge draconic combat knife embedded in its gorget.

Several men and women in glossy black armor with midnight blue highlights knelt around the machine. Each of them held ancient European style long swords, but the swords were a far cry from those used by the human's ancestors. The according to the leader of MOTH team-3, James “Crux” Tongea the blades of the templar are forged of impervisteal and held a monofilament edge.

“We die for For god, for earth, and the saint. Ferrum Corde. Deus vault.” The leader said before standing. “Ferrum Corde, Deus vault.” The rest called in response.

With that the Templar stood and began to disperse, moving away from the siafu mech. As we passed the leader of the Templar looked up his he was an aged male. Looking to be in his mid early to mid-fifties, his short-cropped gray hair and wrinkled face disguising the deadliest ATLAS pilot in the COG. For a time Casper Williams, a medal of honor recipient held the title but he betrayed Avery and joined the UEC.

The aged man smiled kindly before joining us on our walk. As we walked and talked I came to know the moth team leader more. He was a kind soul holding the air of a village elder my mother had taken my clutch and me to see on Tymer. He held a deeply ingrained sense of honor a stark contrast to…

“Do you hear that?” Charlotte asked cutting Tongea off. Tilting my head to the side I widened my membrane and listened. In the distance, we heard a slight grinding noise. “Yes.”

The three of us broke into a run and soon found ourselves bearing witness to quite a puzzling spectacle. There in the middle of the road My suiter his MOTH brothers and several other pod heads with various colors of berets pushed what looked to be an ancient rail car down the street.

“Three, two, one, PUSH!” Avery shouted pushing. His nanite enhanced muscles bulged, and sweat beaded and rolled down his bare chocolate skin as he strained.

At his side, two men with green berets moved forward and picked up a large wooden pole before taking it from the back and moving it to the front of the car. “What the hell are you doing!?” Tongea yelled stepping toward the special forces troopers.

Without skipping a beat Avery turned, “Well sir, there was this bar whose owner said they wouldn't serve slave beasts. So we are… liberating… this tram from the confines of its UEC oppressors.” sure enough on the side of the tram the words “Mashers bar and grill” shined in glittering text.

He seemed to nod at this while by my side Charlotte simply touched her fingertips to her forehead. “Hmm, is that so… tell me trooper, where exactly are you taking what must be a key strategic asset?”

Avery seemed to catch his second wind as one of the pod heads with a white beret came up and poured a brown fluid into his mouth. The brown liquid reeked of alcohol strong enough that I could smell it from the sidewalk. “To a secured location at the top of this hill.”

“I see.” He sighed. Turning she saw the familiar forms of my squad coming around a corner seemingly oblivious to the whole ordeal. “Tell me… trooper is there anything you or these brave men with you require to complete such a crucial mission?”

With that, the pod heads crowded around one another in a huddle before Avery waved them off shushing them. “Shut up… uuh, beer sir.”

Tongea seemed to ponder this for several seconds watching the grown men in front of him squirm like hatchlings. He held their gaze for several more seconds before laughing. “Mmmm, excellent. More beer is surely needed to complete such a crucial endeavor.”

For the first time since before Avery was taken prisoner by supreme commander Rarity and tortured, I laughed. Avery looked up and smiled before laughing as well. Soon there were thirty-odd humans and formers laughing in the street.

The salmon mained neophyte queen clutched in my top left claw squirmed as I held her aloft by the throat. Her brilliant red eyes glared daggers at me as she kicked and scratched at my silver and black gauntlet. Sucking in a rasping breath as I crushed her windpipe she croaked out final hate-filled sentience. “Your kind will not take our hive, beast. None of you have any right to it, not you, and not your slut queen.”

“My queen is safe on my homeworld inferior. I have faced Miasma and silenced Druhila. The fate of you and your queen Calliphora will be the same as theirs.” With a gentle tug, I clenched my claw into a fist. Crushing her throat, and shattered her carapace in a shower of pressurized green gore.

The movement to my right caught my attention and in retaliation, I struck out with my top hand. The changeling praetorian hissed as it advanced on my position but that is all it did. When It was within range to use its weapon I had already struck, punching my sword through his chest and out of his back.

The beast coughed and continued to hiss as it clawed at me, still trying to get to me even after I had killed its charge. With a twist of my wrist, I dragged the blade up and out through his shoulder gifting him a quick end.

From the shadows, another changeling moved to attack me. But as it lunged three cobalt bolts of magic slammed into its carapace. Behind me, another of my zaltule brothers scuttled forward bolt caster in hand. “Look at them scurry away brother. These creatures are indeed inferior to the Kleese.”

“Do not underestimate our foe brother. They do not flee from our assault but are instead falling back farther into their hive. No doubt to protect their egg chambers and their queens. With Luna’s grace, their over queen Caliphora will be there…” I say over both our clutch link. With a flick of the wrist, I clear the blood from my blade before checking my wrist computer.

A 3d map appears on my computer showing the twisting subterranean tunnel system. Many of the hives on this cleansing have been excavated under mountains. But this one is different, its complex of tunnels crisscross the entire mountain, honeycombing its way from the bottom to the top.

In the sky, I can see three of my super destroyers hovering over the mountain range pounding entrenched positions with concentrated fire. And in orbit I knew my three Kleese battlecruisers as well as a detachment of Shatter rocks fleet secured the high ground, keeping the hive isolated from the ACM fleet engaged throughout the system.

And on the ground twelve flashing cubes marked the different landing teams. Over the past several days' multiple attempts were made to strike the mountain with nuclear weapons but all have failed to do more than paltry damage. So in an effort to save time and by proxy lives, I have decided that despite my fellow commander's objections. To come down to the planet and remove the head of this resistance cell and old breed changeling hive, personality.

“Zaltule assault manapul, continue your advance, bring honor to the warrior caste. Armored manapul, separate into twos and commence a pincer maneuver on this group of hostiles.” My voice echoes slightly in my helmet as I eye the pad and my surroundings.

“Fleet master, a proto hive queen has been spotted falling farther back into the hive. Grant us the honor of hunting her down.” The first man of Assault manapul four said. His group was slightly farther down into the caves than I and my own manapul. ‘I must note his performance should he survive the battle.’

“Negative, your manapul is too far ahead. Hold your position and await reinforcement, then advance along this route. The over queen is here, I can smell her necrotic stench from here…” I growl into the speaker in my helmet. “As by your command fleet commander.”

Cutting the link I focus back to the task at hand and eye my own manapul. Nine Kleese soldiers of the worker cast, two young adult drakes, seven earth ponies, five tymerians, and finally twelve Kleese of the zaltule warrior cast.

Their remodeled Kleese style battle armor is scuffed from the days fighting but still shines dully. Unlike many of my fellow supreme commanders, I have not failed to outfit my ground forces with adequate equipment. So many of my peers think to have the best, and most ships will make one unstoppable. But to see the folly in that line of thinking one must only look to the examples of Rarity Belle, and supreme commander Ninka of the eleventh fleet.

“What are your orders fleet commander?” My second and primeus in command asks from my side. Turning a pupil in his direction I see his bronze and black colored armor gleaming slightly from the light of his blaze staff.

Hir'kell held the staff weapon in two big claws on his left side. The condenser at the tip of the weapon was folded back, and its aperture was dialed to emit a dazzling cobalt blue force blade. Clutched in his right top hand like a pistol or submachine gun is a condenser rifle, a relatively new design meant to operate the same way as the larger variants but on a smaller scale.

Our eyes meet for a brief second before I sweep them over my fellow zaltule and then my regular troops. “We will drive the inferiors from this hive, burn them where they stand and continue our march to glorious conquest! For the UEC, for the Empire!” I yelled igniting my swords enchanted edge and thrusting it into the air.

Around me, the Kleese in my manapul ignited their blades own enchantments, or thrust their force blades high. Instantly the air filled with dazzling blues, oranges, and reds, before filling with our battle cries.

Thrusting my sword farther into the cavern I yell out. “First Manapul!” Before dropping my sword arm to my site and raising an earther weapon. A mat black M-66, a trophy from one of their elite Onyx Guard. “Forward!”

Author's Notes:

Happy holidays and im sorry for the late update. I am moving into a new apartment and that has been the focus of most of my time.

Also I am looking for some original characters. So if you have some that you would like to see in the story send me a private message. They can be any race short of an adult dragon, alicorn, or draconis.

https://youtu.be/B2ILLWU4PIg