//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Thunder of Celestia // by Cabochard //------------------------------// Chapter 6 “Are you stupid? That’s easily the most foalish idea I’ve heard since I became an Inquisitor!” yelled Blueblood. He clearly didn’t like Thunder’s latest idea. It seemed he didn’t like any of Thunder’s ideas lately. He was prone to suddenly insulting the poor captain, telling him just what he thought of his ideas. Any respect anypony on the Celestia had had for the Inquisition had disappeared the instant they met this particular Inquisitor. “Sir, we don’t have a choice. The Gladius and Equestrian’s Hope were heavily damaged during the last battle. It’s a miracle they can still move!” Thunder was clearly tired. And cranky. Blueblood had been keeping him up all the time, telling him how stupid his plans were. Sierra figured it was partly due to the fact his bugs and spritecams kept being discovered and deactivated, preventing him from knowing anything about what happened on board the flagship. After the Inquisition arrived, things had gotten easier, for a little while. Rebels surrendered much faster when they knew if they didn’t, they would be accused of heresy and corruption, and then destroyed. Then, Chaos had revealed its actual presence in the Segmentum Solaris. Demons and Chaos warships travelled through the Segmentum, attacking any ships they thought weren’t rebels, and even some they did. Such was the nature of Chaos, and strangely they never seemed to lose any support from the rebels. The fleet had been able to hold its own so far, but the latest battle with a squad of fully armed Chaos Annihilators had left several ships damaged and supposedly in serious need of repairs. Thunder had proposed they stop at a nearby planet, which they had scanned, for repairs, ammo refills, and refueling. Blueblood disagreed. Normally Thunder would have done it anyway, but he couldn’t afford any more insubordination. The fleet obeyed Thunder, not Blueblood. Sierra could see that, and she could also see that His Royal Highness Pain-in-the-Ass saw it too. As they argued, Sierra’s eyes drifted to their surroundings. The implants that made the Royal Guard so special permitted her to pay attention to many things at once, so she let her mind wander. They were all standing in the bridge, which looked somewhat like the Celestia’s bridge, except it was smaller and, instead of officers; there were servitors (brain dead ponies, usually criminals, that Shining Armor had specifically requested were not on board the Celestia) strapped into the control panels. Servitors would do anything, no matter the cost, as long as they were ordered to. They could not, however, do anything of their own accord, leaving only one person in command of the entire ship. It seemed a stupid system to Sierra; she relied on her ponies to keep her from making stupid decisions. Thunder had had to make a lot of trips to this ship lately, and required a guard. The Royal Guard had volunteered to provide it, and the squads switched off every visit. This time, it was Squad Sierra’s turn. “All right, fine. We will do it your way. But, if we get attacked by the forces of Chaos, it’s your head that will roll.” Sierra suddenly looked up, stunned by the fact that Blueblood had actually agreed to do something that Thunder had proposed. Then she saw the hastily applied makeup under his eyes, and her eye implants spotted the dark bags it concealed. Of course! Blueblood is still just a pony! His keeping Thunder up will be keeping him from his sleep too. For a moment, Sierra felt sorry for the Lord Inquisitor. Then, she remembered that if Thunder hadn’t been in the fleet, they would most likely have all been killed by Blueblood’s suicidal battle plans, which mostly consisted of sitting in one place and shooting at the enemy ships until they exploded. Thunder let out a sigh of relief, “Thank you, sir. I will retire back to my ship along with my guard. We should arrive at Arties Prime in ten hours. You have my word we will not be troubled. Squad Sierra, follow me.” Thunder went back to the boarding shuttle, escorted by Sierra and her Guardsponies. As they walked through the hallway, Sierra noticed the lack of actual ponies. Servitors walked through the hallways (well, actually, they were on wheels), but there were no ponies. The hallways lacked the rounded sides of the Celestia’s, and were instead perfectly rectangular, with sharp edges and brutal angles everywhere. There were no crew quarters, since servitors required no sleep. All this gave the inside and outside of the Inquisition ships a strange boxy appearance. There were certain things sticking out of the ships, but the basic shape was reminiscent of a book with no binding. Both sides went in after the first couple of meters, but came back out for the last couple. Same went for the front and back. There were no windows, and the whole thing was painted black, with white spots painted to look like stars. This made perfect camouflage in space. Nobody would see an Inquisition ship until it wanted them too. Too bad these marvels of engineering and stealth were commanded by such an incompetent loser. If the Royal Guard had ships like this well… it would make everything so much easier. Buffalorks and Eldeer would be completely oblivious to the approach of the Guard, making their destruction so much easier. Sierra drifted into a daydream about commanding ships like these. “…a group of Army soldiers, if you want.” said Thunder, snapping Sierra out of her reverie. “No sir, we’ll be fine. It’s good for us to stay on our toes, and we have nothing else to do while we’re in space.” answered Lightning Bolt, saving Sierra the embarrassment of having to ask him to repeat himself. He threw her a disapproving look, and then turned back to Thunder. “Besides, if you die, we’ll be left with that incompetent jackass to command us, and that’s not something I’d relish. If we get blown up in space, our augments won’t help us.” “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Thunder seemed deep in thought for a moment. “Anyway, when we get back, rest up. We’ll need you on that planet.” “Captain, didn’t you say it was safe?” asked Brother Blade Hoof, a newbie to Sierra’s squad. “Well, I never said that. I just said we scanned the planet, not what we found.” Thunder seemed incredibly proud of himself. “I may also have exaggerated the damage to the ships.” “Sir, what did you find down there?” asked Sierra, suddenly suspicious of the captain’s word games. “My scanner crew believes, BELIEVES, mind you, that there is a major Chaos base down there.” “Why didn’t you just tell the Inquisitor?” “Because if I had, there wouldn’t be a planet anymore. That and my ships are actually in need of resupplying and refueling. While we’re down there, I’ll need a couple Guard squads to find the base and destroy it. You won’t have any backup, so be careful. Don’t destroy anything you don’t have too. Chaos keeps track of its soldiers as well as we do, and we’ll need that info for any serious crusade.” “Sir, yes, sir!” Sierra saluted, and they spent the rest of the trip in silence. When they arrived, something occurred to Sierra. Chaos didn’t just land on a world, they changed it. They altered and corrupted a planet’s very essence, as well as the essence of its people. This meant that ponies usually didn’t need a scanner to find Chaos. So, why did Thunder think he could trick Blueblood into thinking that nothing weird was going on? She’d have to tell the next squad that guarded him to watch him. He could make a powerful enemy, and Chaos touched anyone not trained to protect their minds.