Title: Captain Anonymous - Chapter 2 - We Come In Peace Author: somewritefag Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/vXPAj1VB First Edit: Sunday 9th of August 2015 09:26:17 AM CDT Last Edit: Last edit on: Sunday 9th of August 2015 12:16:53 PM CDT                                         Captain Anonymous - Chapter 2 - We Come In Peace ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   >You decide to make a grand entrance, gently landing your craft in the middle of the town square. As the door slowly slides open, you try to make yourself seem as non-imposing as possible, raising your hands slightly and speaking calmly, but loudly enough so that the ponies can hear you.   “Ponies, we mean you no harm. You have nothing to fear from me.”   >You restate this several times, even though many of the ponies are already running away in fear and the town begins to erupt into panicked chaos. After the ten or fifteenth time of repeating yourself, a few of them seem to calm down a bit, simply staring at you in small groups, though still trembling anxiously. It's not long before the Princess appears, along with 5 other ponies, all of whom appear to be prepared for combat   >Twilight scowls at you, casting a shield around herself and her friends.   >"Who and what are you, and what do you want from us?" she demands as she paws at the ground, "My brother sent word to us that you were caught by one of his patrols spying on the Crystal Empire. Whatever your intentions are, I can assure you that we are more than capable of defending ourselves," she adds "and unlike my brothers' soldiers, I never miss," she grits her teeth, her horn glowing brighter.   "Are you the Princess of this settlement?" you ask.   >"I am a princess, why do you ask?" she replies, still postured defensively, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.   >You bow your head slightly, your heart racing in your chest as you do your best to maintain an air of confidence and friendliness.   "It is a great honor to meet you, your highness," you offer in a warm tone with a friendly smile. "Regarding your question, I want nothing but to make peaceful contact with you and your subjects. I am from another world that is a great distance from here. My people are explorers, seeking to reach out to other lifeforms in the universe and befriend them. I am Captain Anonymous, my species are called ‘humans.’ You may have detected my vessel in orbit. That is how we travel between worlds, in great vessels called starships that are able to take us anywhere we wish to go.”   “I am responsible for all of the people aboard that starship. I am their leader. I sent some of them to the surface to try to learn more about you before we officially made contact, however one of my landing craft was attacked by someone in the kingdom to the north. I was very troubled by the potential for hostility to develop between us, so I arrived here with the hope to show our good will and peaceful intent. Please believe me when I say our intentions are pure and sincere. We have no wish to harm you in any way. All we desire is an open exchange of culture, technology, and whatever else we might share with one another on friendly terms."   >There is a long, awkward silence before you continue.   "Of course, this is entirely contingent upon your wishes your highness; if you would like us to leave and never come back, we will do so upon your request, though with thorough disappointment that we lost an opportunity to learn more about a world and people as unique as yours.   >Twilight eyes you with skepticism as you speak, remaining silent for several moments after you finish. She closes her eyes, and her horn glows.   >"You say you come in peace, that you’re explorers. So tell me then, what do explorers need with these?"   >Above her glowing horn a detailed purple holographic schematic of your ship appears. It spins and rotates, zooming in on each one of your ship’s weapons platforms one by one. You’re captivated by the fact she’s able to bring up such a detailed schematic like this out of thin air, seemingly at will. You don’t see any sort of device on or near her that could be projecting such an image. She also zooms in on the dense armor protecting the ship’s hull. The image vanishes as she continues to speak to you.   >"I don't know about where you come from, but on my world if history has taught us anything, it's that conquerors often arrive with the words 'we are your friends.' Our kingdom has faced many threats in many different forms, and even though we have always dealt with them accordingly, experience has taught us to be leery of newcomers," Twilight says, still not prepared to accept what you’re saying.   >You relax your posture a bit, and cautiously take a step toward her.   "You know, that's eerily similar to an ancient saying we used to have back on Earth. Our own history is rife with such examples, and I don't blame you one bit for being suspicious. Our ship’s weapons and hull armor are purely for self-defense, I promise you. I chose to come to the surface alone and unarmed: an act in good faith to demonstrate our intent. I firmly believed that I would not be harmed by you and your people. Most of the information I have been able to gather indicated to me that, overall, you are a peace-loving race. We have standing orders when making contact with a new race, that if we come under attack we are to leave promptly. However, I just couldn’t do that in this case.   I blatantly and willingly defied those orders, and as a result broke my peoples’ laws by coming here. All because I was so intrigued by you and your world that I desperately wanted to make friendly contact. Perhaps even more importantly, I also wanted to make sure the incident with - what did you call them, the 'Crystal Empire?' - didn't escalate into something tragic."   >The ponies still don't look like they believe you, though more of the town’s citizens have slowly returned to the scene and are staring at you, whispering to each other in huddled groups in the distance. You’re beginning to wonder if you’ve made a mistake by coming here – and self-doubt is not a feeling you’re accustomed to. You can count on one hand the times you’ve ever second-guessed yourself in any command decision you’ve made throughout your entire career.   >You maintain your smile and slight bow of your head as you take another step toward the princess.   "Your highness – you know, I keep calling you that. Am I being proper, or do you prefer something else?"   >She seems slightly more at ease the more you talk, finally lowering the magical shield she had cast over herself and her friends, but still watching your every move closely.   >"You can just call me Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."   >Your smile widens.   "Ah, see Twilight? We're already on a first-name basis, we’re practically best friends now!" you joke, giving a hearty chuckle and winking at her, desperately trying to ease her tension as sweat begins to bead on your forehead.   >You catch her smile briefly before the scowl returns to her face and she takes a step back.   >"You seem sincere enough, and I’d like to be able to believe you, but you’re going to have to earn our trust, it’s not given freely. You want to learn more about us you say. You want to be our allies, you say. You speak of peace and friendship, yet at the same time you still have a powerful device, a ‘starship,’ in the skies above us which is heavily armed and armored. Are we to be your friends ‘or else?’ Regardless of your speeches, you’ll forgive me if I haven’t completely shaken the feeling of coercion yet."   >You place a hand on your forehead and sigh.   "Twilight, you’re obviously wise enough to have become a leader here. Just think about the situation for a moment and consider the circumstances. If we wanted to attack you, don’t you think we would have done so by now? If we came here to conquer you, do you really think we would only have brought one ship with us? If our intent were hostile would I really be standing here before you, unarmed and defenseless? What do I have to do to prove to you that I'm being genuine here?"   >Twilight sits on her haunches, pondering your words, her head moving and eyes darting around as she thinks, her head tilted somewhat toward the ground. Though her overall posture and demeanor has eased further, she still appears deeply conflicted.   >"Honestly, I don’t know," she says.   "Can I make a request?" you ask, Twilight simply nodding in response.   "Could you arrange a meeting between us, and the other rulers of the local kingdoms?"   >Twilight stands back up on all four hooves and nods. The edge in her voice is almost gone as she replies.   >“That can be arranged, and I think it would probably be prudent given the circumstances.”   “Excellent. I’m pleased that we finally seem to be making some progress here and-“   >You’re interrupted as loud a crackling noise comes over your radio, accompanied by a frantic voice and alarm klaxon screeching in the background. Your first officer is calling out to you, there is definitely something wrong, and your suspicions are immediately confirmed.   >"First officer to Captain, we're taking heavy fire from unknown weapons on the surface. Armor plating is failing, we’ve taken multiple direct hits. Port and fore weapons arrays are still online, we are prepared to return fire. Requesting permission to engage hostiles, repeat, we are under heavy attack, requesting permission to engage, over."   >Your response is instantaneous.   "Captain to First Officer, permission denied, take evasive maneuvers and break orbit immediately, do not engage, I repeat, do not return fire. Contact me when you're out of range with a full damage report, Captain out."   >You look at Twilight, frowning in frustration and starting to feel a little fear as your eyes widen slightly, taking a step back from her. Everything seems to be backfiring. You also start to feel a little bit of anger as you ball up your fist – if any of your crew were hurt or killed in that attack you’re going to find a way to make whoever was responsible answer for it. There's a long, drawn out and awkward silence, the air is heavy with tension before it’s finally broken. Your radio begins to crackle and a voice comes through once again, much more clearly this time.   >"First officer to Captain, please come in, over."   >You hesitate for a moment before responding, closing your eyes and bracing yourself for the worst of what you might hear.   "Captain here, report."   >"The ship is out of weapons range, but she’s taken a beating, sir.”   >There’s a brief pause before you reply.   “I read you. Requesting detailed damage report, over.”   >“Aye sir. Full damage report is as follows: We’ve sustained moderate to heavy damage to the armor plating across all decks starboard side. There is a hull breach spanning decks three four and five, the emergency bulkheads successfully lowered and contained the breaches, and are currently holding stable. The starboard weapons array is severely damaged, long-range sensors are offline. Lateral thrusters are inoperative due to a coolant leak, and starboard oxygen recycling units three and four have been destroyed. The artificial gravity network has failed on decks three through seven, evacuations underway where appropriate. The entire quick-travel lift system is offline, blocking off some areas of the ship as a result. Rescue operations are underway for crew members stranded in quick lifts. We sustained minor damage to the QT drive."   >There’s another tense silence before you reply again.   “Casualties?”   >”No casualties or serious injuries to report, sir. Twelve crew members suffered minor burns and lacerations, and are being treated in sickbay, all expected to make a full recovery.”   >You’re overwhelmed with relief that your crew fared far better than you were expecting, closing your eyes and sighing deeply as your shoulders relax.   “Captain to First Officer, report acknowledged, hold posi-“   >”Oh, there’s one other thing captain,” he interrupts.   “Go ahead,” you reply.   >”You’re not gonna like this,”   “Report.”   >”You know that bottle of vintage Lavarian ale you were saving for a special occasion?”   “What of it?”   >”The storage shelf it was in fell and it shattered during the attack sir. Sorry.”   “What!? Do you have any idea how much I spent on that!? How did-”   >”I’m just shitting you, captain,” your first officer replies in a fit of laughter, “as far as I know it’s safe and intact.”   “You asshole,” you reply, also beginning to laugh, Twilight raising an eyebrow at you in confusion as you do so. As the laughter begins to die down, your first officer speaks again.   >”Sir, though the ship has suffered significant damage, she’ll be fine eventually. Repairs are already underway. However, it seems abundantly clear to me that negotiations aren’t going so well down there. I almost didn’t expect to hear a response from you. Are you in any danger?”   >You hesitate as you turn your head toward Twilight, looking directly into her eyes, and then smiling at her as you respond.   “I’m in no danger here. I’ve been having a pleasant conversation with a Princess Twilight Sparkle. Most of the locals seem afraid of me, but I think I’m making a little progress. Don’t worry, we’re still going to salvage this first contact mission, I’m going to make sure of that.”   >”Understood, sir. Any further orders? Any way we may be of assistance?”   “Negative. Hold position and continue repairs, report back to me in 24 hours.”   >”Aye captain. Stay safe. First officer out.”   >The radio crackles and falls silent.   >You look at the ground, kicking the dirt as you speak to Twilight, hands in your pockets   "Well now, let’s see," you begin, "my ship is now useless in protecting me. For all intents and purposes she’s disabled, considering how badly she was shot up. I’m unarmed and alone on a planet where at least one powerful faction really, really doesn’t want me or my people around, as evidenced by not one but two completely unprovoked attacks. I’m standing before a princess who is still suspicious of my motives, practically begging for her friendship from a now-completely powerless position, when she could probably have me executed on a whim. I’m completely at your mercy at the moment.”   >You waver for a moment, looking back up at Twilight before continuing.   “Any other reasonable man in my situation would likely be utterly terrified. I admit, I’m a little worried about the situation, but I’m still confident we’ll get this all sorted out eventually. Despite our harsh introduction I get the feeling that, at your core, you’re not a violent pony at all, Twilight, just very protective of your subjects, as any good leader should be. I can’t resent you for that.”   >You look at the ground again, hesitating once more.   “So Twilight, you now have all the cards and I have an empty hand, so I guess the next move is yours.”   >Twilight sighs, finally letting her guard down and starting to really believe for the first time this might all be a big misunderstanding, though she still doesn’t trust you. She turns and fires a beam of pure energy from her horn at your landing craft, causing a small explosion and irreparable damage to it, startling you and causing your heart to race.   >”I’m sorry about that, Anonymous, but I can’t risk letting you leave, not yet,” she says. “Your friends will be back for you eventually, but in the mean time we need to hold that meeting that you requested. Please come with me, captain.”   >You comply, in no position to refuse as her friends surround you. She leads you to her castle, and once inside to one of the many ornately decorated and luxurious rooms which appear to be guest suites. You had expected to be led to some kind of dungeon, but instead are pleasantly surprised by your accommodations. If this is supposed to be a prison cell, you can’t even imagine what a VIP suite must look like. Twilight creates a force-field at the door as you enter the room, then turns to speak to her friends.   >"I want somepony guarding him at all times, take shifts. He is not to be left alone under any circumstances. I'm going to Canterlot to consult with the princesses."   >Twilight simply shoots you a quick glance, her expression unreadable, before she departs.   >Somewhat drained by the day’s events you lay down on the bed, which is shockingly comfortable. You sleep soundly for quite a while, though you’re not sure for how long. You do, however, know it’s been long enough that you should have heard back from your first officer already, and reach into your pocket. It’s only now that you discover your radio had been confiscated when you were sealed in this room. You give a frustrated sigh and fall back down onto the bed.