The Transporter: Second Gear

by Unit_ZER0

Part 09: CV Joint

Pain.

Cole awoke to pain.

Not the sharp, searing agony of a flesh wound, or even the nauseating, gut-twisting wrongness of an internal injury, but the faded pain of injuries that were either mostly healed, or were being held at bay by heavy duty painkillers.

This was not good.

What had he been doing that had gotten himself this hurt?

He couldn’t remember.

It was right there, on the edge of his mind, but attempting to grasp the details, and bring them forth brought a wave of nausea.

So, for the moment, Cole lay in the darkness, inventorying what he could. There was a presence, like what is sensed when someone is standing behind you and your eyes are closed, but it felt indistinct.

If he focused, he could hear voices.

“How is he, Physician?”

“Not good, your highness, but he’ll heal. It’s fortunate our abilities work on him.”

“According to this, he has awakened, yes?”

“Not completely, ma’am. I don’t think even he could be awake now, not with what he’s been through.”

“We must determine what happened, may we attempt contact?”

“You may, Princess, but these readings – his physiology is just too different, so I’d like to wait until he’s completely stable.”

“I understand your concern, but he has information that we are in dire need of. I assure you, this is not the first time we - I have touched the mind of an injured being.”

“Understood, your highness. I would insist, however, that I remain, to assess his condition while you work.”

“I would not have it otherwise. If you would, please ensure we are undisturbed.”

“Of course.”

The voices spoke some more, but Cole was already slipping out of consciousness once more.

But, rather than the comforting darkness of oblivion, there was a sudden… pull, and Cole could feel a world of sorts beginning to be built up in his mind. Details traced themselves on his consciousness, hazy at first, but becoming more distinct with time.

There was grass beneath his feet, and a night sky overhead. Looking down, Cole found himself wearing two piece hospital pajamas, and standing on a hilltop, with the night sky stretched above like an immense canopy. Taking a deep breath, he felt crisp, cool night air filling his lungs. As he began to inspect his surroundings, the human heard a discreet cough to his left.

Turning, Cole saw an unusually tall, dark blue Pegasus – wait, that wasn’t right, the Pegasus had a horn… Alicorn? Yes, that was the correct word.

The Alicorn spoke in a cool, clear voice. “Mr. Cole, can you understand me?”

“…Yes… Am I dreaming? I must be…”

“Indeed you are, but this is also quite real. I am Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestria, Princess of the Night, and in charge of the Special Operations Division your experimental Transportation Division is a part of.”

Here, Cole displayed a moment’s confusion, before bowing respectfully. “I see, it is good to meet you again, your highness.”

“And I you, Mr. Cole, but we have little time for much in the way of formalities. Currently, your physical body resides in the Royal Infirmary. You sustained severe physical injuries, in addition to jump shock from a long-range teleport. We are communicating in a shared dreamspace created within your unconscious mind. At the same time, the royal Physicians are healing your injuries. As you can surmise, I have come to receive your report on how this came to be.”

There was a beat, where Cole processed this information. Then, the human’s features smoothed, and he skipped into the easy professionalism expected of him.

“Understood. In that case, your highness, I must apologize, but my memories of the events that led to this are more than a bit fragmented. I can remember starting my day, receiving the orders to transport a package, and working up a plan with the class. I had set it up as a lesson plan, and a real-life example.” Here, the human paused, and the look on his face grew grim. “Your highness, how did I get here? And did anyone else make it back with me?”

The Princess of the Night recognized the look. It was one she had seen on those who served with her many times. “You were found in the converted stable where you stored your vehicle. Miss Lulamoon was the one who brought you both back here. She also mentioned Sergeant Stormcloud insisted she transport only you and herself, since you have no magic of your own. The sergeant himself arrived only minutes ago, and is being treated for injuries as well.” Now, The Princess grew serious. “Mr. Cole, there is a way to help you remember, but it is not without risks. I would ask your permission to attempt this, but you may find it highly intrusive, as I am not sure of your species’ customs. At the same time, we must know what has occurred.”

The human nodded once. “I understand. I’m missing one of my students, and the package, so I also wish to know what happened.”

“Very well,” the Princess stated, approaching, and lighting her horn. “Let us begin.” As her eyes began to glow, Cole felt the haze begin to lift from his mind, as gentle mental fingers pushed back the mist, and the events from a few hours ago played out as if on a movie screen.

---

“So, what’s our destination?”

The disguised Royal looked back at Cole with a look that held a small amount of distaste. “We’re bringing the Ark of Queens to a remote outpost for Hive Mantis. They are considered a neutral third party, since both the hive which first encountered the ark, and Hive Chrysalis are disputing who should take custody of it, while the contents are analyzed, and the results shared among the hives.”

It was clear what the disguised changeling thought of the arrangement.

Seated beside her, Sergeant Stormcloud was forced to agree. “I don’t like it. It sounds like a power grab by our favorite changeling Royal. I wouldn’t be surprised if the queen tries the same stunt she did last time.”

As the Sergeant finshed, Cole noted the look of confusion on the face of the one person in the Elantra who hadn’t been present of their first adventure transporting the Ark.

“Don’t worry Miss Lulamoon, As I’m sure you read in the initial report, the last time an attempt was made on the item we’re transporting, it took place at night, and was planned in advance. As we discussed in class, the unscheduled nature of this move ought to buy us a measure of protection.”

The blue and silver unicorn nodded, and the wrinkled her muzzle in distaste. “I know we’re supposedly on friendly terms with some of them, but changelings still give me the creeps. It’s the holes, you know? How can something with that many holes still be alive? The fangs, ok, a little weird, but dragons and manticores have those.” Here, Trixie turned to include the two in the back seat in the conversation. “I just hope I never run into one of them unexpectedly. I’m trying to be a little nicer to different people, but I’m going to need to prepare to meet a changeling face-to-face.”

If he hadn’t been looking directly at her, Cole would have missed the brief expression that flitted across Earth Mover’s face. It was a mix of slightly pained anticipation at how the unicorn would react when she discovered she had not only met a changeling, but had been classmates with one since the beginning, but also a measure of relief that at least her reaction hadn’t been a virulently distasteful one.

Then Cole reassessed the fact that he was getting good at reading the emotions on alien faces, and silently let the matter drop.

---

As they rolled along, the sun continued to sink on the horizon, and most of the conversation shifted to more mundane topics, along with the occasional commentary on various sights seen as they continued out into the badlands.

After rolling past a particularly oddly shaped outcropping, the Elantra’s radar bleeped, and dots flickered into view. In the rear view, several of the dots revealed themselves to be flying changelings, who opened fire the instant they had visual.

Cole wordlessly slammed the throttle to the floor, and the Elantra’s supercharged engine roared in response, and the vehicle shot across the ground like a scalded cat.

Without being prompted, Earth Mover and Trixie immediately lit their horns, and began to scan the surrounding area.

“Cole, to the right!” Trixie shouted, gesturing at a rock formation fast approaching.

Instantly, the human hauled on the wheel, and the Elantra swept to the left, giving the structure a wide berth, as a large net flew over the top of it, and landed where the vehicle would have been had it swept past on its previous course.

Since the perspective of the playing memory was, naturally in the first person, all the two observers could do was guess at what happened next.

There was a sound from the right, “Cole, LOOK OUT!” in Earth Mover’s voice, and then the entire perspective shifted violently forwards and down, as the rear of the vehicle was apparently blasted into the air.

What followed was the dizzying perspective of rapidly tumbling end over end, as the airbags deployed immediately, and sounds of crunching metal and shattering glass were muted by a persistent high pitched whine, the visual perspective blacked out. Almost immediately after the tumbling stopped, vision returned, along with the whine, and the perspective revealed the vehicle was resting on its roof, pointing back along the path of travel.

Here the Princess stopped the “playback”, and looked across at Cole, who was wincing, and holding his arms close, as if protecting injured ribs.

“Are you well, Mr. Cole?”

“No, but I need to know what happens next.”

With a silent nod, the Princess turned back to the visual, and the playback continued.

One of Cole’s hands came into his visual field, covered in blood. With a shift, it dropped out of sight, and came back with a seatbelt cutter. An instant later, the perspective dropped, as Cole fell onto the ceiling of the now wrecked Elantra, and painfully rolled over.

All the Elantra’s windows had blown out in the crash, and all 6 airbags had deployed, the side curtain units shielding the occupants from the worst of the glass shrapnel. Beside him, Cole could see Trixie, a faint magical glow around her seat harness indicating she had gotten knocked around, but had survived. Her face had impacted the airbag, and a trickle of blood was coming from her left nostril.

Of the others, there was no sign.

Faintly at first, then a bit louder, sounds began to make themselves apparent to Cole’s battered eardrums. The crackle of a fire, the ping of cooling metal, the tinkle of settling glass. And another sound, the snap-hiss of discharging magic, and the buzz of changeling wings.

Cole reached over, and lightly slapped the side of Trixie’s face. “Hey, hey, wake up!”

With a groan, and then a gasp, the unicorn snapped awake. “Where – wait, did we? No, hang on.” With a surprising display of clarity, even when injured, Trixie undid her harness, and unceremoniously dropped to the roof. Rising unsteadily to her hooves, she looked at Cole blearily. “We’ve crashed.”

“Looks like they set off some kind of explosive”, the human agreed, as he started to drag himself outside.

It was clear the human was hurt, but Trixie followed along On the way out, Cole grabbed his trusty Glock 18c from its door holster, and belly crawled out under the overhang created by the Elantra’s wreckage. Trixie crawled out after him, and the two cautiously looked around the side of the wreck towards the fighting.

Now that they could see the source of the noise, it was clear the Sergeant was outnumbered, but the thestral was putting up an intense fight. As the pair looked on, the Sergeant delivered a flying reverse spin kick to the face of an oncoming changeling drone, and if the several collapsed bodies on the ground were anything to go by, this was the tail end of a much longer fight than anticipated, meaning Cole had been unconscious for a disconcertingly long time.

Trixie gasped at what she saw on the ground directly beneath the thestral. Huddled protectively over the Ark was another changeling, but this one had gold highlight and eyes, instead of the blues and greens of the attackers. Besides the color of the magic she was blasting back, the shape of her face made the fact that this was Earth Mover obvious. The scrapes and gashes along her chitinous body, and the awkward angle her left rear leg was bent at revealed that she hadn’t escaped the crash unscathed.

In a split second, the sergeant assessed the new arrivals, and came up with a plan. “Get to cover!” he shouted, as he knocked another attacker for a loop. “Lulamoon, prepare a long-distance jump, and get the others and the ark out of here!”

Cole didn’t hesitate, and brought his weapon up, firing at the next attacker attempting to ambush Earth Mover, and winging the changeling in the right foreleg. The unexpected sound of the Glock’s bark, and the screech of the injured changeling briefly halted the attacker’s momentum, before a group surged towards the human and unicorn.

Cole went to automatic, and targeted the oncoming changelings legs and wings, blasting away as the attackers erected shields to deflect his fire. The forceful impact of the bullets would shatter a shield, but they could rebuild as fast as the human could fire, so bullets that penetrated would only bruise, or glance off, instead of penetrating. In too short a time, the magazine was empty, and the human could feel his blood loss catching up with him.

As his vision faded out again, Cole could hear Trixie shout his name, before a group of drones tackled the temporarily distracted Earth Mover, and the telltale sound of a unicorn’s magic at full power filled his ears.

Comments

[Lord Legion]

Well that could've gone better for a first mission. Not to mention, Cole's car is wrecked...