MLP 40K: For Celestia

by Moosetasm

Chapter 6: On their own, but not alone

Abyssinian Prime, high orbit

Tress

She was furious. What daring, what outrageousness, what insolence, what arrogance. "This is unacceptable, Interrogator." Her face was reminiscent of how it looked when he had demanded she take action on the bridge. She knew the effect was lessened by the fact that she was behind her expensive desk in her office instead of in her command chair on the bridge, most likely this was why the Interrogator had insisted they meet here. To mitigate the loss in height she had placed her hooves on the desk and was leaning over it while she hissed through gritted teeth. "I cannot spare any crew members, especially not my gunnery officer at this time."

Interrogator Tracks stood up from his seat with such speed that she reflexively fell back into her own chair, shocked. His voice boomed in the confined space. "Madam Captain. This is not a debate." His voice then lowered to something sounding more reasonable. "Besides, even if it were, your medical personnel have told me they will most likely not clear Miss Double Arc for over a month due to the broken wing and the other injuries. You and I both know you'll have those raiders smashed to pieces long before that."

Tress fumed in her chair. If she had been a unicorn, she was sure the room would have spontaneously combusted from the amount of frustration she was feeling. "You promise you'll give her back after we return?" Using her anger, she tried to keep the worry she felt out of her voice.

"You have my solemn vow." Tracks said before crossing his hoof in front of his chest then raising it to his eye.

Tress settled back into her chair, defeated. She didn't look forward to tracking the raiders without her gunner. It had been only three days and Double's replacement didn't even come close to her computation speed or accuracy. But the Interrogator was right. They'd destroy or be destroyed by the raiders before Double would be cleared for duty. Still, she hated this. He was stealing one of her crew. And he refused to say why. "If you don't return her in one piece, you'll get more than a cupcake in the eye." She doubted the veracity and wisdom of the threat they had just made, but the posturing put them more at ease.

The Interrogator have her a grim smile. "If anything happens, I'll let you do whatever you feel is necessary."

Small consolation, she thought as he left her office. When the door had closed, she brought her hoof down on the table hard, cracking the priceless finish. She hoofed the approval rune on the data slate which had the leave request for Double Arc.

- - - - - - - - - -

Free

"Can you believe him?" She said as she lifted a piece of her luggage into the belly of the shuttle. It seemed like she had been saying it a lot today, this seemed like maybe the hundredth time she had mentioned it that day cycle. Devoid looked at her with that quizzical expression one normally reserves for bizarre looking insects. She slapped his shoulder with a hoof. "Don't look at me like that!" She paused then whacked him a few more times for good measure.

"Sorry, sorry." He said while shielding his head from her little assault. She turned away with a neigh and a harrumph. "I didn't know you were that attracted to the boss." She spun back and saw he was sporting a devilish grin. "Oops!" He said, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated manner while rearing up and preparing to gallop off.

"You. You. You!" She stuttered as her face turned red.

"I know, right? It's always about me!" The grinning stallion took off like a shot, running around the side of the atmospheric craft, with her in close, furious pursuit.

- - - - - - - - - -

Tracks

He was trying to still his beating heart. The increase in blood pressure was causing spikes of pain to drive themselves through his recovering cranium. He knew the meeting would be uncomfortable but he had been pretty sure that at some point during the meeting that the captain was just going to reach into the desk, grab a las pistol, and shoot him on the spot. He knew that was supposed to be the Inquisition's thing, and that technically he couldn't be shot for any reason, but that didn't stop ponies from acting out in the moment. Sophic Fortune had regaled him a few times about some of her formally living colleagues whom had been killed by those whom they had pushed too far.

He truly regretted having to steal Double Arc, but a shared dream was not something he could just ignore. Especially since the Princess of the Night had apparently taken an interest in and directly intervened in this particular one. He shuddered at his recollection of the Royal Canterlot Voice. He needed to figure out what was going on and why it had happened. At least there was the consolation that Double Arc would be safer with him on an Equestrian hive world than she would be on a naval frigate that was busy playing cat-and-mouse with a raider ship.

He navigated the bland corridors of the Accord, slowly making his way to the private hangar. He was taking longer than normal due to his frequent stops to either catch his breath or to rub his temples in a vain attempt to turn off the pounding he felt. With any luck, Devoid and Free Fall would have used that extra time to make sure that everything was stowed in the shuttle. If they managed that they would be able to leave as soon as Double Arc arrived with her kitbag. As he walked in, he noticed that a good deal of their gear was still lying about. Not just that, some of it was knocked over.

He sighed in mild irritation. Free Fall was probably saying goodbye to the load crew and Devoid was probably... Tracks didn't want to think about that at the moment. He went to pick up one of the many cases he saw lying about when his ears twitched to a strange sound. He dropped the case and slowly walked around the side of the shuttle.

He face-hoofed. Which caused his headache to magnify a few million times. Free Fall was standing on Devoid's back while trying to garrote him with packing line. Devoid was making a noise that seemed halfway between choking and laughing. Free Fall looked furious, her face was a shade of red he didn't see very often on her.

He coughed loudly into his hoof. Two heads slowly rotated to face him. "Glad to see you waited until the shuttle was packed before you decided to do this." Devoid gave him the blank expression he was so adept at, and Free Fall somehow turned a darker shade of red. Tracks released another sigh. "C'mon, let's hoof it & get this sucker packed. We don't want our new temp to think we're a bunch of slackers, right? Dev, weren't you the one who said something about making first impressions when we came on board?"

With a little bit of grumbling the two separated themselves and, after brushing themselves off, started moving cases again. He was about to sigh yet again when he realized that they had just gone ahead and done what he had said on his first asking. He mentally gave himself a pat on the withers for a job well done.

- - - - - - - - - -

Double

"Promise to be careful, will you?" The normally unflappable Captain seemed in danger of losing her composure. It was something Double Arc never thought she would see in her lifetime. Somehow this last minute trip to have the Captain hand her her leave orders and wish her luck on her trip had turned into something a little more. "I know they say and maybe they even think that you'll be safe with them Double. Never forget that they are Inquisitors. They attract trouble like moths to flame. Never. Never trust that you are safe with them."

Double Arc did the only thing she could think to do in response and nodded her head.

Then the Captain opened a desk drawer and carefully placed something from it onto a part of the desk that seemed to have an ugly crack marring the otherwise pristine surface. The loud thunk of metal on wood resonated oddly in the office. Double looked at the item, an antique las pistol of spectacular craftsponyship. "Take it."

Double looked at the artifact and shook her head side to side. "I couldn't." She racked her brain for a plausible reason to decline the fantastic offer but failed spectacularly. "I... just couldn't."

Tress looked at her and began to speak. "It belonged to the last Captain of this ship. He gave it to me when he was promoted to Admiral and I was promoted to Captain." She seemed lost in the memory as she continued. "He said that where this went, so went the very soul of the Accord. The weapon is at least as old as the ship itself, you see." She leveled her gaze at Double. "You are as much a part of this ship now as this gun. You will take it with you to protect you from whatever those Inquisitors get you in to."

So Double placed her own hoof carefully, respectfully, even reverently upon the ancient pistol and slid it into one of the saddlebags she had packed for her trip. "Thank you, Captain. I'll take good care of it."

"You had better." The Captain said, almost back to her normal demeanor. "You break it, you buy it. And it's worth more than you could ever make in your career." Yes, she was definitely back to her old self. "I will expect you to return it when you come back." Now the Captain smiled. "Good luck."

- - - - - - - - - -

Animus

If pony emotions and words could be used to describe how he felt or what he was doing, it would come down to one phrase.

He seethed.

It was his lot in existence to hate, to despise. But now he had found a new focus for his rage. He had missed his chance, and he would be punished for it. He had failed to claim the unicorn as his master had instructed. It did not matter that there had been outside interference, it was his own fault for having used the dream-scape as his back door to the unicorn's mind. Now that avenue was closed to him and he would only be able to report failure. And his master did not tolerate failure. Oh, he was too valuable a tool to be discarded as so many of the others had been, but he knew that his punishment would be tortuous, even for a being such as himself.

So he observed the light in the darkness, the mote of being that marked the unicorn's presence in the magical realm of the Everfree. Oh he would have his vengeance on this puny thing, this mortal being, this, this, Tracks. He knew that before the end he would make this pitiful creature beg for him to take its life from it. And he would deny that request. Only when all it knew was in ruin and the creature had come to accept its new existence of suffering would he even consider letting it go. If he had a mouth he would have smiled at the thought.

Soon the thing and its companions would be leaving the soon-to-be metal tomb, approaching the planet where his master waited with the patience of one to whom the passage of time now seemed meaningless. Almost like himself, a being that knew what power hatred held. It was the only reason he was able to tolerate the humiliation of his servitude. Well, and he also knew that in the grand scheme of things even his master would have to face eternity eventually.

But not he. He always had been, always would be. His greatest consolation was that, in the end, he would eventually see them all fail. Horribly.

But for now, he seethed.