June 16th, 2307 SET. Planet 2244 FB0 Engagement Zone.

The two fleets hovered just kilometers away from the killzone. The larger fleet of the Shadow Syndicate had begun to deploy its fighters, each diving into the EZ, eager for blood. The Expanse fleet returned the favor, dumping its fewer but more advanced fighters into the Zone as well, save for a few defenders who buzzed around key targets like wasps defending their home. As the two waves of fighters smashed into each other, the larger ships of the fleets began to make their move.

The first into the hellstorm were several Pegasi frigates from the NESC fleet. Their point defence turrets set the black space alight, bringing down swarms of SS fighters. In response, several destroyers from the Syndicate fleet charged in and unleashed their barrage of weaponry upon the first frigate. The agile frigate nimbly dodged the first volley and let loose its own heavy weapons into the nearest destroyer. The attack slammed into the hull of the lumbering ship, making it stall for a moment. It quickly righted itself and fired again at the frigate, this time striking the smaller craft in the middle, severing it two.

The other two frigates turned to avenge their fallen comrade, and fired their pulse cannons at the offender, who quickly retreated behind its friends. Soon, a wave of bombers struck against the remaining two frigates, crippling them. Only by quick intervention of three Starswirl-Class Destroyers did the frigates survive. The dual pulse cannons on the lead NESC Starswirl destroyer lit up the area in light blue, smashing into the side of the original attacker. The SS ship began to falter and die, venting crew and debris into open space. Upon seeing their teammate perish, the remaining two SS destroyers retreated back to safer space.

Rainbow sat in her cockpit, tapping her console in anticipation for the next attack made by the NESC. For the time being, she had been reunited with her old squadron on board the ESI-prowler Truth of Light. The chrome hangar bay was completely devoid of life, filled to the brim with the metal bodies of fighters and bombers. Rainbow cast her gaze around, noting that Ace was deeply involved with a holo-panel. She couldn’t see Spectre past Ace’s ship. To her left sat three bombers, each with moving heads inside the cockpits. Deliver the package, they’ll take care of the rest. She ran the objective through her mind once more, focusing on the upcoming task.

The Truth of Light sat in the belly of one of the three Luna-class carriers, the Loyalty, along with three other similar stealth prowlers and many other stealth strike craft. The docking bay was full of silence, not wanting to bring any more attention to the Loyalty then was already necessary. The ship, along with several picket ships and her 108 fighters, had began an actionless, yet tense journey around the outskirts of the battlefield. While the two fleets kicked and bashed at each others defences, the Loyalty had skirted most of the combat. Although it did occasionally get savaged by long ranged volleys from enemy ships, they rarely did anything to the hull.

When it did, however, the noise made Rainbow more and more agitated and nervous. The most recent offender must have been a missile salvo, since it sounded more like popcorn then explosions. The noise was enough to force her ears against her head inside of her helmet, since it was more annoying than anything. She also guessed that the Syndicate would be sending fighters to harass the task force since on more than one occasion, the whirr of repeated laser would reverberate all along the structure of the ship. So... annoying... In the middle of her thoughts, a new sound erupted into her ear: her intercom.

“This is Captain Flare, all task force ships, we have reached the drop zone. Remember your orders, do not engage the enemy until the fleet brings the fight to you. The other Luna carriers: The Harmony and the Generosity will attempt to corral the enemy around the planet. Maintain stealth parameters until you see the Honesty engage with her rail guns. Alright everypony. Good luck, good hunting and prepare for the drop.” The intercom cut itself off, leaving silence in its wake.

Rainbow ran the last part of the order through her head. Wait for the giant orange ship to start making little orange suns. Got it. She ran her hooves along the controls, preparing herself for the gratuitous amounts of no flying that were about to be had. More and more sitting around, not moving, not helping. The tension was really getting to Rainbow, and she knew it. I need to relax, a tense pony, is a dead pony. Be alert, not stiff. If I’m stiff, I’ll fly stiff. Easy target there...

The sound of decompression shook her from her thoughts. Her initial response was to almost power up her engines and launch out into space, but the presence of an unmoving door halted her progress. It wasn’t the prowler’s door opening, it was the carrier’s. She felt her ship lurch inside of the belly of the prowler. Bet if this ship was alive, it would be puking all the tiny ships out right now... She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought, and then chuckle harder at how a craft pouring ships out was like puking.

The sound of a sliding hinge pulled her attention away from her self-induced laughter. She cast a gaze towards the sound, realizing that Ace had pulled her hatch open. Rainbow did the same, a smile still on her face. As the hatch slid back over her head, Ace depolarized her mask and was first to talk. “Whatcha’ laughing at Bolt?”

“Heh, just bored, thought of something funny.” She grinned again. “Can’t imagine how the colonists feel.”

Ace grinned a bit too, and shook her head slightly. “I know how you feel. And we definitely know how they feel. It’s just like flight school all over again, except with the murderous ponies actually shooting back. Speaking of which, the Dauntless is back in action. Shouldn’t Command have sent them back to their homes? I mean, for buck’s sake they’re colonists, not pilots.” The smile had faded into seriousness, the face Rainbow had learned as Ace’s neutral face. It could mean anything, anything at all.

“I hear you. I’ve got friends fighting out there, more than I had originally wanted to bring along. But I’m gonna have to disagree with you on the ‘not pilots’ thing. Between all of them they have over twenty confirmed kills. Not shabby shooting if you ask me,” Rainbow said confidently. “I mean, they knew how to fly before they came here, and they also learned from the best.” Rainbow slid a hoof up to her chest and shot her squad leader a wink. “But remember who I learned that from.”

Ace smiled coolly. “The best of the best,” she turned her head away from Rainbow, “ain’t that right Spectre?”

A voice could be heard from behind the body of Ace’s lancer. “Whatever you say Cap’... Oh, I’ve been thinking—”

“Wow Spectre, are there no ends to your talents,” Rainbow shouted.

“Hah hah, funny Bolt. And... Celestia damn it... I forgot what I was going to say.”

Rainbow let out a small chortle. “Well, when you think of it. You let me know!” Rainbow mocked.

She was still grinning when the familiar sound of a cockpit opening sounded to her left. The nearest Angel bomber canopy had opened revealing a fully suited pony. “I thought that voice sounded familiar, Rainbow Dash.”

“Wait... I know your voice,” Rainbow said, her face scrunched in concentration. The pony tapped the side of her helmet, depolarizing the faceplate. Orange eyes surrounded by yellow fur met Rainbow’s gaze. “No way!” The pony reached up and plucked her helmet off, her fire mane falling out of the helmet. “Spitfire!” Rainbow leapt up out of her chair and landed down on the hangar deck. Spitfire did the same, landing with a thud. They bolted for each other, wrapping themselves in a firm hug.

“Hey Dash, how’ve you been?” Spitfire asked, laughing slightly.

Rainbow broke the hug, leaning back to get a good luck at her old friend. “Great! Well, good enough to not die I guess. So, before the catching up starts, let me ask. Why are you here? I thought the Wonderbolts were only a flight demonstration squadron.”

“C’mon Rainbow, you should know this. We may be a demonstration squadron, but only the greatest pilots can be in the squadron. We fight when we need to. So, you’re apart of the Lancer squadron that’s gonna keep those Syndicate dogs off our tail?” Spitfire asked, eyeing the cyan Lancer.

“You know it. You won’t find a better squadron in the 5th fleet. Hold on, I want you to meet my squadron mates,” Rainbow chatted, turning towards her other friends. As the two pilots passed Rainbow’s ship, Ace’s was first in view. “This is my squadron leader, Ace.” Spitfire flicked a salute towards Ace, who returned the favor.

“Ah, a member of the Wonderbolts. Spitfire right? I’m a huge fan, especially of the Section High Alpha maneuver. It’s amazing that you can do that in an Angel bomber in atmosphere, I can barely do it in a Lancer,” Ace said respectfully.

“Well I appreciate it. I’d be willing to bet that you could do some pretty cool stuff in your own bird though, I’m hoping anyway,” Spitfire replied with a wink.

“Don’t you worry your flaming tail, you got the best squadron in the Expanse backing you up,” Ace returned, her hoof striking the side of the Lancer as she did.

“I’m sure your squadron is the best Ace, what with Rainbow here.”
Rainbow stomped her hoof against the deck too, followed by a thump from further down.

“And that last bang must be the third guy, right?” Spitfire asked, leaning her head around the side.

“Yep, thats Spectre. He and I graduated from flight school together. We’ve been through a lot, ain’t that right buddy?” Rainbow boasted proudly.

“That’s right Bolt, and nice to meet you Spitfire, or should I say ma’am?” He asked smiling, raising his hoof to his head.

“That would be ‘Ma’am Ma’am’ to you soldier, or you could just call me Firebird if you’d like,” She replied, grinning darkly. “Nice to you meet you as well. And I have to say, if you graduated with Rainbow here, then you must be a damn good pilot as well.”

Spectre held his smile through the comment, “Well I’d like to think so, since I get to fly with these two,” he cast his hoof towards the other two, receiving a wink from Rainbow and a nod from Ace. “They’re the best squadmates and friends anypony could ask for.”

“Indeed. I’m sure you’ll do fine, keeping our tails non-burned I mean. You just keep the Shadows off our tail, we’ll take care of the big guns,” Spitfire said to the three pilots.

“You got it. Hey, I never asked, where did you meet Bolt?” Ace asked.

Rainbows eyes sparked at the question, but let Spitfire answer. “I was doing a show on Solstice when I heard about how she broke the record for the course. Since that record had been set by me, I had to go meet the mare who broke it. Went and sought her out, been in touch ever since,” Spitfire claimed. She wrapped a leg around Rainbow and pulled her in close, driving her other into the rainbow mane, shaking vigorously.

Rainbow began laughing, then shoved her friend away. “Knock it off! But in all reality, this is the first time we have ever flown together, what with you being a member of the Second Fleet. This is gonna be so awesome! We’re gonna kick some serious Syndicate tail out there.”

“Damn right we will! Am I right?” Spitfire all of a sudden shouted. When she got no more response from anypony other than a startled glance from Spectre, she shouted again. “AM I RIGHT?”

Rainbow was the first to get the cue, “Hoo-ah!” She belted. She whooped again and again, being joined by her squadmates and Spitfire, whose squadron had heard the commotion and started yelling too. Soon enough, all of the pilots in the bay were screaming and yelling and chanting. At the sound of this, Spitfire bolted up the stairway to the deck control platform. She stood over the railing and began to shout, “These shadow creeps think that they can come into our space, our territory, our land, and push us around? To kill and steal from us? Well they thought wrong, big time. We could roll this puny excuse for a fleet with our willpower alone, forget our ships. But just to add insult to injury, we’re gonna do it anyway! Just to prove how weak they really are, the main fleets will push them our way, and then, the fun begins. Our tiny task force, which has been so cleverly laid right under their noses, will rise out from nowhere and crush each ship that it touches. They call themselves the Shadow Syndicate, when we rise out of their shadows, they will have to no choice but to fall before ours and kiss the ground that they grace, these ‘Shadow’ members, we’re gonna show them the light!” A chorus of cheers erupted from the pilots below, all screaming for blood, war and victory. Rainbow even saw the controller in the tower throw his hoof into the air. “Now be ready my friends, they will crawl away from the power of the Second, Third, and Fifth fleets, right into our laps. And when that happens... the butcher’s work begins.

For twenty minutes, cheers and whoops from the pilots and deck crew reverberated around the ship, causing the Captain to even come down to the hangar and investigate reports of rioting.
When he found out what it was, his scowl stretched into a confident grin. He had slowly approached through a side-access corridor to see what was happening, and once he knew, he decided to make his presence known. He crept up the stairs where Spitfire had been and looked over the crowd below. “Hey! Be quiet!” He screamed. Instantly, all the ponies had silenced themselves and looked up at the Captain, saluting. “Y’all need to stop this yelling! Or else you’re gonna scare the rebs’ away before we even get a chance to kill them!” At the sound of the Captains words, the hangar re-erupted into screams and yells of anticipation.

Rainbow and Spitfire added their cheers into the crowd, yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. This continued on for another five minutes. Once the noise died down, Rainbow leaned towards Spitfire, “So, now that we’re all fired up, how long do you think we will have to wait to kill something?”

Spitfire’s chest was still heaving from all of the excitement, “I dunno... hopefully soon. I got a huge adrenaline kick and I want to use it. Let’s go check out the comms station and find out the progress of the Fleets.” The two mares trotted up the staircase to where two ponies were sitting with headphones on. “Hey, what’s the progress—”

The closest pony flicked a hoof at Spitfire, demanding her silence. His stern expression drew concern from the two pilots, “Something new has appeared on long range scanners. I don’t know what it is, but our Deep Space Detection Radar is pinging incoming.”

“Are they enemy ships?” Rainbow asked, knees bent and ready to run at the first sign of danger.

At first, the only response was silence from the pony, whose face was only inches away from the screen that illuminated his ruby eyes. Finally he replied, “Yes they are ships, but they are not matching any IFF tags. They aren’t NESC, but they aren’t SS either.”

“Who else could it be? Griffons? They haven’t bothered us since they tried that pitiful assault on Solstice,” Spitfire said, a sense of foreboding gripping her.

“They’re not Griffons either. They would have been identified with IFF tags. Who or whatever they are, we’ve never seen them before.”

Rainbow walked up behind the pony, looking at his screen. “Does the Captain know about this? What about the Admiral?”

“We’ve alerted the Captain, but we don’t want to make any connections to the Fleet in case the SS are listening in. If they knew we were here, it wouldn’t take much to wipe us out before we even got a fighting chance,” he said disquietly. “Wait, what?” His eyes shot open wide.

Rainbow and Spitfire both looked at each other, confused as to what was going on. “What do you mean, ‘What’?”

He tossed his hooves towards the screen, his faced riddled with confusion. “The ships just disappeared off the map!” He lurched forward in the chair, the seat groaning its displeasure. He began hitting buttons which seemed to Rainbow more like frantic slapping of the console. None of what the pony did would make the grey dots appear back on the screen. “I don’t like this, I don’t like this one bit.”

“Is it possible that they dropped out of slipspace?” Spitfire asked.

“It’s space. Anything is possible. However, it seems unlikely that a fleet would just drop out of slipspace without knowing where they were, considering that if they did it wrong they could end up smashing into something,” he said, eyeing his console suspiciously.

“How far away were they?” Rainbow asked cautiously.

“Far, at least a day in realspace. That doesn’t make me comfortable in the slightest though,” he mumbled. The ponies sat in silence for a while, waiting for something to happen. Spitfire was first to speak.

“A day in realspace shouldn’t interfere with our operations right now. We should focus on the mission at hand.” She turned towards Rainbow, “I wouldn’t let anypony else know. They have enough on their minds as is.” She swung her head back to the pony at the console. “Let the Captain know about what happened.”

“Roger, also, I would get back to your ships. The fleet is pushing the rebs our way. Won't be long until its go time,” the pony grumbled, never tearing his eyes away from the screen. Spitfire nodded and trotted down the staircase. Rainbow stood for a moment, watching the screen, waiting to see what happened next. After a few moments of silence, she left.

As she climbed back into her ship, she didn’t notice that she was scowling with ears tucked back. “Something wrong?” Came a voice. She looked at the source, noticing that it was Ace.

“No, its nothing. Just impatient is all. The longer away I am from my colonists, the more I worry about them,” Rainbow said. Will that was the case, she still couldn’t free her mind from the commotion from the comms booth.

“I’m sure they’re fine Bolt. Once this is over, we can get you back to them. And, if all goes well, we hopefully won't have to fight the Syndicate anymore. See if we can’t all get some down time, ya know?” Ace said soothingly.

“Yeah, but like thats going to happen...” Rainbow said, pessimism littering her voice.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We’re the best pilots in the damn fleet. That’s why we’re on this boat. And your friends are way in the back of the fleet, probably flying escort for one of the Luna carriers. And we know that the SS won't go anywhere near those things.” She said cheerfully.

Rainbow looked longingly at her ships radar, hoping for an inclination as to the current status of her friends. After her hopes didn’t come true, she faced Ace. “You’re right. Lets kick us some SS tail!”

Ace nodded, a dark smirk pulled at her face. It was then did the ship shake with commotion. “This is the Captain, we have dropped out of cloak, all ships, clear to launch!”

Rainbow's ears perked up at the news. She swiftly punched a button on her console, shutting the canopy. She pulled her helmet over her head and pulled the visor down, it's HUD syncing with the Lancer. All signs were green. The silence was torn apart by the screaming of depressurization. Here we go again...