Arcturus Minerva watched with an open mouth as millions upon millions of falling stars burned through the atmosphere, every single one of them heading towards the north: what remained of the Gryphon kingdom, now controlled by the humans. For a moment, everything was silent. He stood in balcony of the tallest building of Apex, where he had the honour of speaking with Commander Feros. Together they had shared tension and the occasional laugh, and it had been an enlightening experience.

The whole colony fell into complete silence as both he and Kira stared upwards, watching the stars fall.

“Is... something wrong?” he asked, looking at the Commander. She continued to look up with a dumbfounded expression.

“What is...?” she muttered in response. Immediately, the whole city lit up. Sirens began to overwhelm the ever growing silence. Arcturus looked down to see humans leading his people into the depths of Apex.

Without saying a word, Kira Feros stepped back and turned around. “Changeling! Come with me!” she yelled as she began to run into the building. His mind went blank as he ran after her.

“What’s happening!?” he yelled, struggling to keep pace with her as they ran through the simple, metallic hallways of the tower.

“Something bad!”

Together they entered another room. Arcturus covered his eyes upon seeing the strobing lights and flashing screens of the tower’s control center. Human technicians worked rapidly on their consoles, their eyes wide with fear.

“Report!” Kira yelled, her voice muffled by the sirens. She and the changeling walked over to a console, where she pulled the technician's hand off of the control board and looked into his eyes. “I need a report, Ensign!”

“Y-Yes ma’am! We just lost contact with Vector overwatch! I’ve n-never seen so many troops being deployed by this! We didn’t know a full-on assault was scheduled!”

“Move!” She shoved the man away a sat down, working on the console. Arcturus’ legs began to shake as the Commander worked her way through various screens. What was happening? Was it his fault?

“Vector Overwatch, this is Apex control! What the hell is going on up there!?”

A comm-link opened up in the console, giving off static and gunshots. “M-... Everything’s gone to hell! They’re trying to get through the door!”

“Overwatch! Come on, get it together!”

“I... Multiple orbital launches and unauthorized leave of docked ships! I think they’re... they’re fleeing.”

“C-Commander...” Arcturus muttered, prodding the woman with his hoof. “What is happening?”

Kira slowly shook her head, looking into the changeling’s eyes. “Mutiny...”

The occasional spark lit up the room, thanks to a few damaged consoles. The viewscreens that surrounded the entire chamber had been cut off. All that was left was a dreadful silence as the men and women of the Vector’s command bridge aimed their sidearms at the metallic blast door. The old man in charge of the ship gripped his pistol tightly, taking cover behind a downed terminal.

Something crashed against the door, making it bend inwards.

Again.

And again.

A set of armored fingers pried their way through the middle of the door, and began to force it open. Every single soul in the bridge drew in a deep breath, preparing themselves to open fire, until the assaulter pulled their hands off of the gap, letting it close. Becker raised an eyebrow, an action which was followed by several gunshots and guttural screams coming from beyond the blast door, before everything fell silent again.

“Adam!” came a familiar voice, muffled by the several inches of metal between it and the bridge. “Adam, it’s me, Atlas! You in there!?”

Becker sighed out a deep breath, lowering his pistol. “He’s a friendly, let him in...”

The damaged set of doors slowly slid open, getting stuck half-way only to be forced open the rest of the way by a titanic man, who allowed his raider companion to walk in before crouching into the chamber. Adam Becker holstered his pistol and walked over to them, prompting a few relaxed sighs from the nearby technicians.

Atlas gave him a mock salute, placing his other hand on his chest, covering a few bullet holes. “You okay, Adam?”

“I’m fine, but what about you?”

The giant chuckled, then groaned in pain. “Well... getting here wasn’t pretty.”

The Admiral frowned and turned around, looking at the damaged command bridge. “Just look at this... Half of the ship is gone. Silverback took out most of our weapons, including many of our manufacturing capabilities....”

“Hold on,” Torres said, stepping closer to the Admiral. “Silverback did this?”

Adam Becker looked over his shoulder. “Yes... I never thought it would come to this.” He placed his hands on a set of railings, overlooking the bridge. “I understand that he wants to return, but that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past few months.”

Atlas titled his head to the side. “Then why’d he do it?”

“He lost his trust in me after he learned of your backgrounds. I told him we were going to turn ourselves in, but he didn’t listen.” He sighed, “All I wanted was to cooperate with the planet’s inhabitants, re-stock, and leave again... Jack’s willing to do anything to go back, I know it. Everyone in this bridge knows we’re lost in uncharted space, the problem is that no one wants to accept that... If he takes this ship and realizes that he can’t go back... then the future of this planet will not be bright.”

Becker shook his head. “He’s lived through a lot of shit, and it didn’t leave him quite right... A few months before Zeta-Twenty, he was supposed to go home. I.. extended his service.”

“Shit...” Torres whispered. “Why didn’t you discharge him?”

“I... I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” The old man looked down at the floor. “He’s a damn good soldier, who kept this ship together through the hardest of times... and he’s a good friend. He told me he wanted to keep fighting the Ubor, for his family... I never should’ve let him do that.” He rubbed his forehead with one hand and sighed. “Now he’s sitting in that colony of his, controlling what’s left of the Gryphon Kingdom, doing who knows what to them.”

A few moments were spent in silence, before Atlas spoke up, “What now?”

Adam closed his eyes, sighing, “We need to re-do the crew database... and get the support of the natives.” He turned around and looked up at Atlas. “See if there’s a dropship left, then get to Canterlot. Tell the Princesses about what happened... Jack’s not going to stop at anything.”

He watched from his balcony, from his unnamed colony, as Gryphons in electrical shackles worked all around the pseudo-city and smoke rose up from half-built planetary defense cannons. It had grown exponentially ever since he had taken control of the nation, mostly by the labor of the Gryphons, but it was only a temporary arrangement. Once he controlled the Vector, he would disassemble the colony and leave for good. Then the Gryphons could get back to whatever wars they desired.

“Sir?”

Silverback looked over his shoulder. “Yes?”

“The first groups of escapees are arriving. We estimate that by tomorrow we should be ready.”

“Good,” he replied. “Start building the walkers, for tomorrow we draw the line and see if Becker takes the bait... Stay safe, trooper.”

The man behind him saluted. “Yes sir!” he exclaimed before going back into the tower.