Future Tactics - The War Games

by TheFullCrumb

Chapter 16 - Frozen in Time

The trek over to their designated facility was not as gruelling as Onager had made it out to be. Rainbow was still somewhat apprehensive about whatever she had seen in the distance, but she had to agree that staying out in the open was more of a death sentence when they had crazy Luna-worshipping zealots attempting to rain down and attack them. Mentally kicking herself, Rainbow sighed as she missed the communications uplink that her normal suit had installed, her cold-suit’s radio barely penetrating through the recovering blizzard, the winds whipping about the catwalk they had found themselves on when not 50 metres from the door to the facility below. It was cold, and somewhere along the walk her suit’s heater had malfunctioned, as well as the ones everyone else was utilizing.

“We’ve got movement, but it looks like local wildlife, though I don’t think I would want to go up against something that survives in this!”

Swift, ever the comedian, tried to make light of several shadows that crawled along the snow, their shapes barely discernible from a large rock shape they had discovered earlier. Whatever it was, it would approach and then rapidly skitter off as if it had been spooked. Rainbow swung her rifle around, letting the digital crosshair on her HUD wander over the landscape as she closed one eye to give herself a better sight-line down the body of her weapon. The other members of her fireteam fanned out, taking up positions as they moved slowly along, buffeted by the ever-increasing wind that whipped and clawed at them like a dying rat.

“Yeah, yeah, I see the shape. Too big to be one of those weird spacer rats that some of the humans spoke of. Graawl maybe?”

“No!”

Everyone stopped to stare back at Rainbow, her body shaking and shivering as her eyes widened and the memories she thought she was done with flooding back. Onager pushed everyone else back as he put his hoof on hers, trying to bring her back to reality. The sniffling and sobbing, punctuated by pleas of terror, were unnerving to even Swift Strike, who began to realize just how bad the situation had been on that Torassi transport. Juniper hefted a small syringe, slamming it into Rainbow’s side, only letting it fall from her hooves when the injection was complete.

“I... I... what the- what the hell did you inject me with?”

“Anxiety suppressant. Human thing, helps people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which you have, Warrant. Suggest you talk with the ship therapist when we return to the Fortress.”

“That... might be a good idea. Yeah.”

Onager, shaking his head, leveraged himself against the hatch-door they had been moving towards, forcing the partially-frozen metal to cooperate as he turned the massive metal ring that served as the airlock mechanism, or at least the assumed airlock mechanism. Rainbow shook her head, aiming down her rifle again as she swore she could hear the noises and the weird clicking and clanking of the Graawl around her. The infected Torassi were there, she could almost feel them around her, but she could not see where they might strike from. Breathing deeply, she tried to center her focus, closing her eyes and breathing slowly in and out as she calmed her own heart.

As they stood hoof-deep in the snow that was building up on the catwalk, a resounding creaking and snapping noise, followed by the longest continuous sentence of pure profanity, brought all their attention back to Onager and the door. The door was slightly open, but the handle had snapped clean off from the cold, the metal fatigue obvious on closer inspection. Juniper, sliding in while attempting to negotiate her way around on the frozen catwalk, checked Onager’s rear legs, shaking her head when she started to pull out various injections and bandages.

“You broke your leg, you absolute idiot. This isn’t a fracture I can treat down here. If we stay out in this cold much longer, you’re going to be looking at cybernetic replacements. Gust, Rainbow, get that door open!”

Without waiting for another word, Garlic placed himself between Onager and the door, wrenching a piece of a nearby railing to use as a lever. Rainbow sighed, placing herself opposite Garlic as he pulled and she pushed, feeling the door protest as it pushed against the snow, creaking on ancient hinges as a rush of air blew past, a strange smell permeating through her helmet as she gagged slightly, bracing her cybernetic legs against the frame as she kicked hard, denting the hatch every kick until it was deformed enough to allow the fireteam to squeeze past her and take cover inside an elevator car that simply sat in the middle of what appeared to be some sort of shaft.

As Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief, a heavy thud from behind startled her as she looked at the hatch having closed itself, bent backwards in the opposite direction she had dented it. Pressing the release mechanisms on the neck of her helmet, she took the stuffy headgear off, breathing in the stale, musty bunker air as Onager sucked in air, Juniper removing the helmet as lights began to flicker on, the pale white light slightly blinding until their eyes adjusted.

“Looks like our only option is down. How’s Onager?”

“The short? His leg is going to get amputated. The long? He’s going to need to get both legs amputated to allow for equal length of cybernetics. Basically, he’s going to be a cyborg like you and the commander, Warrant.”

“Dammit, fuck, fuck, fuck! I didn’t think-”

“That’s the problem! You didn’t think, Onager!”

Rainbow turned away from the two of them, inspecting the elevator car and checking the electrical connections, Swift having decided prone was his best position to cover the doorway that was possibly never to open again from the sheer damage it had received. Sighing, she glanced at a nearby wall, her eyes registering the letters as she pieced together a mental map of where they had to go.

On the floor they sat on, an ‘Entrance Bunker,’ the only available way was down, the next accessible level about the equivalent of forty floors down towards the hangars. Some kind of research laboratory was down below, but Rainbow was unfortunately not well-versed on whatever ‘Nanotechnology’ was, but she was certain that Twilight would be incredibly interested in. The other levels were for engineering technologies, some sort of chemical research facility, and the several-floor high hangar levels. Something below the hangars had been scratched off the sign, though she could barely make it out.

“Hey, Gust. See that at the bottom there?”

“Hold up, just getting this helmet off. Hoo, the air tastes like the day after eating Griffonian cuisine! Yeah, that says ‘Holding Area.’”

“Just double-checking. Swift, you stay up here with Juniper and Onager. Garlic, you’re with me.”

“Who- argh, who put you in charge?”

Rainbow knelt down on one knee, narrowing her eyes as she brought her face level with Onager’s, her mouth drawn in a tight frown as she poked his barrel with her forehoof. Breathing slowly as she stood back up, she entered the elevator car, raising an eyebrow at Garlic, the heavy gunner darting his eyes between her and Onager, trying to decide between following orders and staying with the stallion who he had served for a long time. Shaking her head, Rainbow rolled her eyes, slowly stepping towards Garlic and Onager.

“We have frigates to find, and an entire research facility below us. Garlic’s more use to me than to you right now – no offence, by the way.”

“None taken. Heavy weapons like mine aren’t meant for corridors like this one.”

“Don’t forget to- ow! Don’t forget to pick us up when you’re done!”

Tossing up a half-hearted, dismissive wave, Rainbow chuckled as she stood head-and-shoulders above Garlic, the heavy gunner still massive even for a stallion. Tapping the switch to descend, she leaned against the side, slinging her rifle over her shoulder as she breathed slowly, shaking her head slowly to shake off the mental cobwebs. It was hard to concentrate with her own head rebelling, a headache beginning as she leaned against the rail on the inside of the elevator car. Looking up, she started to speak, but a stench wafting up through the grated bottom of the elevator car shut her up immediately, her immediate reaction to lose whatever she had eaten that day.

“I’ve sniffed worse things, Feathers.”

“Feathers?”

“You’re a Pegasus. That nickname’s a damn sight better than some of the others would have given you. Feathers is better than Featherduster, or Pillow Stuffer. Swift’s heard some of the worst that the Cradle could offer, and he still hates nicknames thanks to that.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, placing her helmet back on. After the seals finished re-seating themselves, she took a tentative breath, sighing as the smell was being properly filtered. Garlic sighed as he put his own helmet on, following suit as he tapped the side of his helmet, his own display no longer working. As she was about to crack a joke at his expense, Rainbow watched her own HUD deign it an appropriate time to shut off and refuse to come online again. Feeling herself begin to tense up, she lifted her rifle, tapping her flashlight on just as the lights in the elevator shaft and the car blinked off, the elevator still travelling in the darkness.

Still bathed in darkness, Rainbow felt the car stop as she shone her rifle’s light around, noticing several patches of strange black sludge covering the ground. Garlic bit down on his harness’ bit-trigger, his own Light Machine Gun flipping into a more combat-ready state as he narrowed his eyes, letting his helmet’s built-in lights blink one and illuminate that which Rainbow could not.

“It’s like someone shot out the lights down here.”

“It’s like one of those horror movies the humans keep watching.”

“You watch movies with them?”

Garlic chuckled as he approached the nearby hatch-door, his helmet lights illuminating a push-button not dissimilar to some of the controls aboard the Solus Invictus. He sighed as he pushed hard, startled backwards as the door hissed and shuddered, ancient hydraulics shifting and shaking as concrete fell from the ceiling and peppered their helmets. The door slowly slid open, revealing several humanoid corpses appearing to have been attempting to escape when something shot them. Other cadavers down the hall confirmed it, the dead still clutching old Union rifles. Breathing slowly and quietly, Rainbow slowly walked forward, the only sound she dared to make the metal tapping of her cybernetics on the concrete. Taking up a position at the first corner she could find, she glanced around the corner, seeing something move as she tapped off her suit and rifle flashlights.

“Got something here. It’s... human-like, but it’s like it’s made out of that weird goo near the doorway. Garlic?”

“Yeah, I see it. Fuck. It’s like someone dropped a gallon of that black sludge on someone and called it a day.”

“I’m gonna see if I can’t get past it. I’ve got a suppressor in one of my pouches.”

Rainbow sighed as she lifted her Equine Hand devices, feeling around in her chest rig’s pouches to find the long tube that served as a suppressor for her CRK-5. Finding purchase on the device in question, she slowly twisted it onto the barrel of her rifle, smiling as it locked into position on the final turn. Crouching and lifting her rifle to a good position in front of her eye, she shut her other eye, pulling back on the trigger and feeling the round exit the firearm, slamming into the back of the creature’s head. She was about to laugh when she saw a light in a hallway across the new room from her flicker, three black-sludge creatures standing still and staring at her with malicious red eyes, metal billhooks dripping with sludge in their hands. Blinking, she saw the creatures disappear, but she felt a tapping on her side as Garlic pointed behind them.

“Rainbow, I think we should abandon our position and get back to the elevator.”

“Yeah, I think so-” She stood up to come face to face with one of the creatures, the empty hole-face poking through the sludge and identifying the creature that Rainbow was staring down. The other two black-sludge creatures swung at Rainbow, barely missing as she rolled away, feeling one of her wing muscles get bruised as she landed wrong, squeezing the trigger to eliminate the Orohdo in front of her. The pictures she had been shown of the Orohdo showed them to be far more secretive, not wanting to be interfered with by those they deemed ‘lesser lifeforms.’ However, the aggressive nature of the three Sludge Orohdo was beginning to scare her as she felt something lock up. Her mind started to fog up as they reached towards her, something dark clawing at the edge of her vision.

That was, until a voice cut through the fog, and an entire magazine cut through the Orohdo.

“Get off the Warrant you reanimated robot rejects!”

Garlic was dumping as many rounds as he could muster into the Orohdo, the volume of fire simply too much for even the weird sludge-based three Orohdo to withstand. Rainbow regained control of her body, joining her compatriot in eliminating the other two as one went down. Black goo began to plaster the walls as they drained magazine after magazine, shaking as the cyborg aggressors were removed from the equation. Breathing heavily, Rainbow widened her eyes in anger as she stomped on the head of one of them, chuckling as she felt some modicum of relief from the splattering of the weird creature’s head.

“I hate these things. Twilight met some on Nexus, but they weren’t like this. Lunarites above coming down from the Fortress, and Orohdo super-drones down here. Hold up,” Rainbow stated, kneeling down into the sludge and lifting up some sort of attachment for her rifle’s barrel, the coils down the side indicating some form of a firing assist. Unscrewing the suppressor, she placed it back into her chest rig, locking in the new attachment and smirking as the coils lit up with blue electricity, her HUD finally rebooting and recovering. The Magnetic Rifle Assist, or, at least, that was what her HUD called it, was fully charged and apparently ready for firing.

“So, do we go further here... or should we just go down and get to the Hangars?”

“We do owe it to Twilight to figure out what to do here. Besides, we’re bound to find some more toys that we can use against them.”

Stepping softly in an attempt to lessen the impact of her steps on the concrete floor, Rainbow crept along, Garlic keeping his eyes peeled as their lights showed each corner, more corpses simply stacked in odd places and corners. The laboratory was dimly lit as they passed the entrance area, humans and Iiaynsin pinned against the walls as creatures skittered across the far end of a large rectangular room, the light too dim to accurately make out what they were. Checking her motion sensor, Rainbow sighed as they were still alone, just her and Garlic, and none of those crazy Sludge Orohdo around.

Creeping past the large room that was unfortunately devoid of anything they could legitimately retrieve, the two of them kept their wits about them as they stepped through into a massive laboratory, almost piece-for-piece similar to some of the laboratories that Rainbow had seen in the Cradle. The equipment appeared decrepit, the skeletons in old, tattered uniforms denoting the sheer amount of time it had been since someone had last entered. Rainbow sighed and grimaced, thanking Rarity for the filters on her helmet, and whoever was watching over them, even if it was not one of the Princesses.

Sweeping their helmet lights over the room, a glint from an object caused Garlic to pause, slowly creeping his way over until he found a small storage drive buried underneath a collapsed desk. With the lighting dim or severely lacking in several areas of the lab, he mused that it had been a miracle that he had even seen it. Motioning to Rainbow, he let her use her gadgets to lift the devastated desk from its placement, allowing him to snatch the drive out and hold it in his hooves as he examined it.

“Optical drive, Gust?”

“Looks like. It’s got that UEC logo I keep seeing. UEC was... Union of Earth’s Colonies, right?”

“Sounds right. Stow it for now. We should probably get back to the elevator, make our way down to the engineering areas. Might be more drives like that one we can swipe.”

Without a response, Garlic took point, sweeping from side to side as Rainbow took the rearguard, checking each corner as they passed through the area they had initially swept, on alert in case any of those Sludge Orohdo came back, though it seemed clear enough. With a sigh, and an uneventful trip, they stepped onto the creaking grated platform of the elevator, Garlic taking a seat as Rainbow pushed the downward direction switch. Leaning against the railing, she shook her head as she breathed slowly and deeply. Her body shuddered for a quick second as she glanced up through the cage of the elevator, staring at the entrance where the rest of the fireteam sat.

“They’ll be fine, Feathers. Swift and Juniper are some of the best, Onager too, even if he has a penchant for breaking limbs. We’ve been through worse in our training – Onager broke his jaw when we had to pause our survival training to rescue a convoy that had been attacked by those... sand worm things? I don’t remember the name of them-”

“Sandwyrms. Yeah. Everyone who went through survival training met those things. Everfree Desert’s got some of the largest ones I’ve ever seen. You know they’re not native to the planet? They grew from some modified grubs that were kept aboard the Solus Invictus back when it was the Kepler, before it was... rebuilt and all that.”

“Heh, damn. Wouldn’t have thought the humans would have gone that far to get even a little protein. Eyes up, we’re here. What’s the game plan, Warrant?”

Rainbow stopped, her gaze locking onto Garlic as it finally began to dawn on her, the sheer fact of just how much she outranked her entire fireteam. Onager was a sergeant, but she deferred to him, only taking over when he got injured. Now Garlic was giving her leeway to give orders, even though he and his team were much more experienced in the style of situation they were in, combat included. Just simply giving her that much was unsettling, even though she had been trained for a proper command position before. Breathing deeply, steeling her nerves, she glanced first at the wall, then down the corridor towards what looked like an automated assembly lin.

“Get in, find an optical drive – if there is one – and then push our way down towards the hangars. Take out any errant Orohdo that get in our way, and secure the frigates. Good enough?”

“Ha, better than Onager’s plans, Warrant. He’s mostly an improviser.”

Chuckling as they left the elevator cage, the first thing both of them noticed was how clean the Engineering area was. Conveyors lined the walls, the machinery having long sat unused and unmoving. Strange devices sat partially constructed on several steel-based tables, though what the material actually was, neither of them could discern. The technology on top of those tables, however, was something of an intense curiosity.

One table held what Rainbow could only describe as some manner of weapon, though it looked more like a drone engine rather than a weapon of war. The other table held various drives, enough to the point that she was rather confused as to if she should take some or all. The lettering on each was of a language she did not understand, although Twilight had prescribed to her several language comprehension courses courtesy of the Fortress’ database, none of which Rainbow had taken the time to even skim through.

Glancing around, she smiled as her eyes fell upon what she could only surmise was some kind of fabrication unit, and from the looks of it, it was very close to what Rarity used down in her workshop. It appeared far less refined, more industrial than anything, but her smile grew wider as she approached a still-active control panel, her Hands allowing her close access as she tapped the screen, swiping between materials and products until she was satisfied with one in particular. With a few additional taps, the machine creaked and groaned as it whirred to life, stitching together what appeared to be a cargo backpack of some sort. Garlic rolled his eyes as he checked out the strange thruster-like device on the table opposite the one covered in optical drives, startling himself as it melded with the weapon harness on his body, the ‘device’ shifting as if it was melting as it merged and reformed.

“Guess this whole facility was for researching that nano stuff.”

“I can’t activate my weapon harness. I can’t- wait, hold on.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes as she watched Garlic’s harness reactivate, but instead of the heavy machine-gun he had been toting before, a sleek, almost alien-esque device slung out, the boxy frame of the old weapon replaced with rounded curves and sparking coils. Taking a step back behind, Rainbow let him grip the trigger bit with a strange fascination as he squeezed, a blast of energy rippling throughout the room as a single round impacted a far wall and detonated, taking several parts of the conveyor system with it. Staring at the energy dissipating, blue crackling waves emanating from the powerful round that had left a crater in the wall, she was smirking as she glanced back, cocking her hip to one side as she mused about the device.

“Well, don’t let me get in your way, Gust. We only have one of me.”

“Orohdo won’t stand a chance, Feathers. Is your cargo pack done yet?”

Stepping over to the fabricator, Rainbow sighed as she pulled a mostly finished cargo backpack from its clutches, the machine beeping and whining with a reminder to insert more material before fabrication could continue. Swiping the optical drives from the table into it, she slung the pack over her shoulders, shifting her bearing to adjust for the new center of balance from the weight of the optical drives. Taking a deep breath, she jerked her head back towards the elevator cage, hefting her own rifle as she checked her magazine to make certain she still had plenty of ammunition. Garlic followed behind her as they re-entered the cage once more, Rainbow holding down the descent button as they passed the level for the chemical laboratories.

As the cage ground to a halt, Rainbow whistled as she looked up at the massive blast doors that separated her and Garlic from their objective. As she turned to comment to him about it, warning lights around the edge of the massive entrance began to cycle, the massive steel slabs that the door was comprised of squealing as they returned to their positions inside the wall, becoming smooth, featureless additions to the massive concrete frame of the door. Stepping through, she saw Fireteam Alpha already standing guard, Vasili standing at the door controls with a smile on his face, and a damaged helmet clipped to his belt.

“Well, here you are. Thought the rest of your team-”

“They’re up at the top of the shaft. Why not send one of your medics up there, Vasili? We might need the muscle to get Onager moving.”

“That big bastard broke something? Damn. Jackson, Hicks, on the cage, top level. Get the Warrant’s fireteam down here.”

Stepping into the room past Vasili, Rainbow could not help but whistle at the vessels still berthed in massive dry-dock cradles not unlike the one the Fortress took to orbit from. Long, boxy frames that were stark yet slender denoted the main portion of each craft, half-spheres dotting each side belying the true purpose of the Wolfpack. The rear of each was dominated by a massive engine exhaust, the powerful-looking drives something of a sobering moment for Rainbow, a reminder that they were still newcomers to the galactic stage, and that the humans and the other races of the galaxy had been at it far longer.

“Wolfpack Missile Frigates. Each of those bubble hardpoints? Self-reloading launcher. This whole facility was a Nanotechnology Research Facility. No wonder-”

“The Orohdo were here?”

“You fought ‘em too, huh? I guess I can’t have all the luck.”

Without warning, one of the frigates powered up, the engine glowing as plasma began to build inside the main exhaust, the massive round cone directing the energy, enormous hatches above rising as they shuddered and shook, the entire facility thundering as the Wolfpack began to rise, a message resonating over their radios as Green, muffled as he was, took to the skies, several transports slowing as their engines burned heavily to compensate for the sudden rush of air speeding past them. Shaking her head, Rainbow sat down, leaning forwards as Garlic took a seat next to her, smiling as he watched the other Wolfpack frigates come online and launch. With a hiss and a whoosh, he removed his helmet, setting it beside himself.

“It’s almost magical, being on this end of a launch.”

“Was it like this when the Solus Invictus launched?”

“Almost exactly like this. It’s a big galaxy, you know. Gotta appreciate beautiful moments like this. Hey, you think Equus might build a Drive Yard?”

Rainbow was barely paying any attention as she sighed, staring as the last of the Wolfpacks burned through the atmosphere and broke orbit, the tiny dots of light all that she could see through the blizzard as the drive plumes glowed. A thought crossed her mind, a thought about the Bastion, of all vessels. She wondered if the Gryphons had felt the same way witnessing it launch that she felt towards the Wolfpacks. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she jumped, rolling into a combat kneel and aiming her rifle around, tense right up until she saw Vasili laughing at her. Jackson and Hicks, the two he had sent for Onager, carried a stretcher past, the big stallion unconscious as he was carried to a waiting transport, the empty frigate berths providing ample room for embarking to leave.

“Maybe we’ll get one. Like the humans had on... what was that planet called, Warrant?”

“Mars. The Martian Drive Yards. It’s in the database.”

“Yeah. Maybe we’ll have something like that, building ships to explore.”

“Maybe,” Rainbow sighed, leaning forward to stand up quickly. “Maybe we will spread out like them, maybe we won’t. But now... now I think we have a better chance at maybe seeing that future.”

--------//|0|\\--------

“Wolfpacks Seven and Eight are docked, Commander. Fireteams Alpha and Fastball have reported back with one injured.”

Twilight perused over the After-Action Report given to her by Vasili, the report not having been asked for, but welcome all the same. Detailing out everything she was already aware of, she stopped when she reached the inventory of the drives that Rainbow had brought back. A majority of it was corrupted data, but there were some schematics beyond what they had ever dreamed, including the Aether Coil Cannon that the strange device had changed Corporal Garlic Gust’s heavy weapon into. They would be mining the data for a while, and while she was wary of any data that came her way, various starmaps had been discovered throughout the drives as well, including what appeared to be some way to cross from the M83 galactic core towards any point in what was called the ‘Milky Way’ galaxy. Though she found the idea dubious at best, she was nonetheless giddy at the concept of being able to not only travel throughout their own galaxy, but having the potential to meet the humans who had once launched massive fleets of vessels on missions of colonization and exploration.

“You know that we have to complete our next match before we even consider trying to Tunnel that far, you know? Magicite is finite, Twilight.”

“What do you mean?”

“You asked for numbers to be crunched, and here they are. If we were to launch at any point soon, we could quite possibly burn out the Tunnel Drive, maybe even exhaust most of our supply of Magicite rods. But... if we even have a remote chance at seeing Earth...”

“Maybe. Maybe, if we are lucky. But maybe we aren’t that lucky, Isaac.”

Isaac stepped back, looking up as Twilight stood to her full height, easily towering over him with her cybernetics. He had heard she had gained a large stature thanks to her upgrades, but even he was very much impressed with how tall she had become. Eight feet tall, she knelt down slightly to bring her eyes to level with his, the determination in her eyes set as she smiled, a smile he knew very well as the bringer of crazy ideas. Picking up a pen in her etheric field, Twilight began to draw on a nearby whiteboard, a board which Isaac could have sworn was not there a minute ago. Figures and calculations began to dot the board as Twilight pondered the questions she had been given. Trajectories and coordinates began to manifest on the board as she scribbled, crossed out and re-drew equation after equation. Isaac was smiling, but he was having an incredible time just barely keeping up, though he did enjoy watching her go full scientist on him. It seemed to be a passion of hers, and he was not one to prevent such a passion from growing.

“And match the poles- there! A comprehensive calculation map on how to keep the Tunnel Drive from burning out while transporting between galaxies!” Twilight smiled as Isaac clapped, her mind taking a break as she sat down, staring up at the whiteboard.

“Earth or bust, huh?”

“Twilight?”

“Earth or bust. We either make it to Earth or we’ll basically die trying. We’ve won so far, but it’s only been one match. We’re facing the Thalrazyne next, and I doubt they will make it easy on us. You think we’re-”

Twilight was interrupted as Isaac stood up, lifting her up and drawing her into a tight hug. Without a word, she smiled, returning the hug as the human chuckled, looking up at her with tears in his eyes. Widening her eyes in concern, she let go, pushing him back towards his chair as she sat down once more. She knew that to humans, especially people like Isaac, a promise of seeing Earth was something of a dream, something that could be wished for yet never achieved, and she had proven that the Fortress could make it back to the birthplace of the human race. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around herself, beaming a grin at Isaac as he smirked, a small half-smile as he looked at the whiteboard, the phrase ‘Earth or bust’ written boldly across the top. With a sigh, he stood, taking the pen from Twilight as he stared up at the phrase.

“’Earth or bust indeed.’ The Committee won’t like us jumping galaxies.”

“They haven’t had anyone try in over a millennium, Isaac.”

“I guess that’s why I like you, Twilight. You put your money where your mouth is.”

Isaac turned to see Twilight’s face tinge slightly red, her slight sideways glances at him slightly confusing as he set the pen down, lifting up the PDA with the report on it. Tapping through, he saw the full complement that was available on each of the frigates, smiling as he glanced at the technical specifications on each. Frigates like the Wolfpack were not designed to be able to jump in and out of a system without some kind of mothership, a carrier of sorts, but that also meant that when they would take the plunge, they would at least have a good chance at surviving the other end. Shaking his head, he slid his chair next to Twilight’s, putting an arm around her as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’ve got a match to prepare for, then, don’t we?”

“Yes we do, Commander. Let’s go kick some Thalrazyne ass.”

Author's Note:

Geez. I had the hardest time figuring out how I wanted to do this chapter. My home province in Canada is on fire, and there's a lot of smoke around, meaning it's hard to get a lot of stuff done in a timely manner.

I hope this chapter is enjoyable.

Also, I'm looking at getting new art done for the 'cover' of FT TWG. Might take a while. But I do this for you, the reader, because I value good stories, and I value bringing better and better worlds.

Comments

[BestinDworld]

issac and twi......possible shipping?

[TheFullCrumb]

10929026
Oh, you know how much I like to tease.