[b]LIV [i]Starfire[/i][/b]
"Woah, captain! They're projecting some sort of energy field around us... it'll deflect the radiation and particle buildup!"
"Thank the gods for that, we won't have to worry about killing a trillion people when coming out of warp this time! Alright, I want all the negative mass we've got transferred to the warp ring! Divert all plasma to RCS thrusters, keep us on a stable trajectory!"
The ship began to move forward, strangely drifting faster and faster without any exhaust as negative mass was moved into the warp ring and compacted. As it broke the lightspeed barrier a gravity lensing effect obscured the ship, while also lighting up the skies of Char with a brilliant glow, leaving behind a trail of radiation as it accelerated away from the alien world. A message was sent to the shuttle in response.
"Thank you for your energy shield, we will arrive at Lakfakalle shortly. As we appear to breath the same gases, no atmospheric conditioning will be required in the meeting room. I thank you again for the energy shield, without it the transit would take days. However, with our negative mass reserves, we will be arriving right about now. Please prepare for landing, Archmage Duck..." Fairlan's vice trailed off for a moment, then snapped right back. "Duck de Steelhorn."

As if on cue, there was a slight lurch as the negative mass in the warp ring was ejected and the ship slowed to the same speed it was at before. It was in orbit of Lakfakalle, below it the brilliant blue shell known as the Great Barrier by those trapped on both sides of it. An invisible beam of energy erupted from the bow of the [i]Starfire[/i], ripping a circular hole in the shell. A shuttle was launched from the [i]Starfire[/i], carrying Fairlan and the ship's diplomatic officer. A single message was sent from that craft to the Equestrian shuttle as it descended through the tear towards the green land below.
"Follow us, we shall lead you to the meeting hall."

[b]LIV [i]Challenger[/i], Unnamed System[/b]
The [i]Challenger[/i] dropped out of warp, spewing a massive cloud of radiation behind it as a result of the particle buildup. Of course, that was certainly better than the radiation being ejected at the bow of the vessel. Though the crew couldn't possibly detect it due to their primitive scanners being bound by the speed of light, there were three groups making contact in the asteroid belt of the system. Of course, those groups definitely knew about the [i]Challenger[/i], as they had just sent a radiation shockwave behind it strong enough to rip away the atmospheres of the system's planets and instantly kill all life in the system. However, the [i]Challenger[/i] was only interested in colonizing a planet in the system, luckily for them, one of the planets happened to be suitable for habitation. They made a short warp jump to the planet, and launched the four colony pods, carrying a total of 500 people. The pods jetted into their designated geostationary orbits, then shot an anchor down to the planet. After six short minutes, those anchors impacted and the transfer of colonists down to the surface via space elevator began. The [i]Challenger[/i] put itself into an orbit allowing for maximum defensive coverage of the colonies, as well as an easy way to change orbits to focus on the defense of one or two.