//------------------------------// // -12- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// Lunch had become quite an interesting discussion between a fashion loving pony and a hunting dragon. “That’s why I avoided my parents dropping my sister on me again; if I hadn’t then my little sister might have been killed by the Jump Module exploding.” It was a good thing that Rarity had avoided her parents, but Sweetie Belle still found a way to get into trouble anyway. The food at the restaurant was pretty good, now if only her company wasn’t so loud with her croutons. “I love my sister dearly; it’s just that she’s causes incredibly destructive incidents and has little in her head about self preservation in the name of earning her cutie mark. Goodness knows I’m having enough problems keeping myself afloat, having to deal with Sweetie Belle on top of all that? I’m not exactly made of money or have a lot of it to go around and I’m already planning on staffing a larger ship than the one I currently own. ” “So you got into a dire situation and got out of it with a few scares for it, that must have been a rather harrowing experience for you. I’ve met a few types of space monsters myself as well, even ran into a biological grey goo situation and that was a rather nasty affair. Thankfully burning or freezing temperatures can kill off most biological grey goo situations; a fire extinguisher is quite handy in that respect. Otherwise make sure you’re at least armed and ready to shoot at the first thing to move in the shadows if you ever end up in that kind of situation again, because shooting first might save your life.” It sounded like Ember has had a personal history with Sifter Drifter infested ships. She was enjoying the food and the conversation with Rarity, though she became a bit melancholy after hearing Rarity talk about her little sister and what sounded like her somewhat responsible if annoyingly highly vacant parents. “You know, you’re lucky that you’re able to talk with your family. Talking with you makes me wish I got to know my little sibling; don’t exactly know what became of their egg as it went missing. Then there’s the fact that dad and I weren’t exactly seeing things eye to eye before I left, not like it’s that easy to see eye to eye with someone who weighs well above five hundred tons, is fifty times your size and can carry you around in their mouth. Speaking of general size, I don’t know how my mother managed my father as she was barely any bigger than I am and she was a biped type dragon when she was still around. Dad is a classic giant quadruped dragon.” “When she was still around… what happened to your mother?” It felt a little odd for Rarity to continue working up a friendly demeanor with a bounty hunting dragon, especially concerning said dragons livelihood revolving around killing and or capturing targets of interest. Rarity wasn’t interested in Ember’s job and the violence that was a part of it. It was why Rarity wasn’t asking too many questions about what exactly Ember did in great detail. She was however interested in knowing the dragon herself. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this… my mom, she got ill. Like my mother was really ill… dragons are known to be resilient to a lot of things and sicknesses are very rare and even impossible when you’re a certain kind of dragon.” Ember would say that talking less about her larger than life father was for the better, as he was quite literally larger than most life and dragons back on Equus. She took another crunchy bite out of her spicy salad before continuing. “Mom was an unlucky one in a million chance; it occurred not long after my sibling’s egg was laid which probably left her weak enough for her to get sick like she did. The sickness that was killing her slowly degraded her ability to remember things and well… it wasn’t pretty given how quickly she faded away.” “Oh my…” Rarity didn’t know what to say, seeing Ember crying was a little upsetting. Here she thought the bounty hunter was an all rough and tumble kind of girl, only to see that she was sensitive and just as friendly as the first time they met. She found Ember to be quite amiable so far despite what the dragon does for a living and was having a little trouble trying to find words to comfort her with. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.” “She was always calling me her warm and tender little spark, my name was the last thing to remain in her memory and she remembered it to her dying breath. Dad was a bit upset that she forgot his name, but that was a few days before that and he told me that my mother loved me more than life itself and would have loved my sibling just as much. She was the last one that was seen with my sibling’s egg, goodness knows what happened to it.” Looking away from the pony that she was sharing a nice meal with, Ember continued on her rather despondent line of thinking after she took out her pouch and tossed a few small emeralds into her mouth to chew on. “My dad did his best to raise me after that for sure, but I’m not on speaking terms with him now and haven’t been for a while. So be glad you still have the ability to talk to your parents and little sister, you’ll never know when the ones you love will be gone.” “I won’t ask what is going on between you and your father, but I would like to turn the topic to something a bit more pleasant than how badly some parts of our lives are going at the moment. I’ve managed to get my business started at the very least, which is something positive for me to think of. You don’t seem to be doing too poorly in bits and you’re doing whatever it is you want to do right?” Their meals were almost finished and Rarity was trying to perk the dragon up, the poor dear was dreary to be around like this. “Speaking of business, you wouldn’t happen to need a dress or an EVA suit would you Miss McFlame? I can make regular clothing too if you need something a little less fancy, I can make you something nice at the very least. All you need to do is ask.” “An EVA suit maybe, I try to minimize how much work I do in space though. The times I do work in space are usually spent around asteroid outposts and mining facilities, gems and jewels are always cheapest closest to the source. Two months worth of food money for me is a lot in comparison to how much money that may mean for you. So since I have enough myself for a while… waiter, check for us two together please!” Ember’s mood wasn’t lifting very much, but at least she was still talking and she seemed at ease around Rarity. The waiter brought a check over to them, which was when Ember immediately paid for her meal and Rarity’s which surprised the pony at her generosity. The food wasn’t expensive, but it was a very nice gesture. “You sound like you need all the money you can get at the moment, this one is on me. Hold on a second, I need to get a picture of us so I can inform your folks how you’re doing and any message you might want me to send to them as well. I want you to confirm that we met and that you’re alright.” “Well okay then, I want you to record what I’m about to say.” Rarity gave quick message for her parents, basically telling them about how she started her business and that she was going to be busy for the foreseeable future getting things in gear so they’d have to be the ones to watch Sweetie for a while. She even got a picture with Ember on the dragon’s durable data pad, after that they left the counter and made their way for the door. “Thank you for paying for lunch Ember.” “Don’t mention it, I’ll send the message off as soon as I can. Speaking of messages, the triple P sent out a message recently to all bounty hunters, mercenaries and privateers about defending the planet from an infester if it hits.” Ember turned to Rarity as they exited the restaurant. “If that monstrosity makes landfall, it’s going to get rather nasty around here. Especially if a hunting season is called, you had better get off the planet quickly if that happens. Maybe we’ll see each other for lunch again sometime; it’s nice to have a friend that I can talk to even if we don’t have much in common. Stay safe Miss Belle or Rarity if you prefer.” Hunting season was a bad thing for most normal people; bounty hunters and other mercenaries however flocked to a hunting season call to prove their mettle as the call usually involved something big and absolutely dangerous. It gave them something resembling a carte blanche to do what was necessary to take out the threat involved. In the bounty hunting world it was the fastest and most dangerous way to earn money, but you had to have proof of your kills and the threat level was always the highest you can get when a hunting season was warranted. After giving a short wave to Rarity, Ember took the helmet that was strapped to her thigh and put it on while spreading her magnificent looking wings lightly covered in armor plating that had definitely long since seen better days. With a mighty leap the dragon took off into the air heading for the sky, all while managing the weight of her armor and rifle quite handily after several struggling flaps. Presumably Ember was going to chase down more bounties and on that note Rarity had to get back to business. With lunch finished the pony had a meeting with three Parascine that had her wondering what the psychic jellyfishes would commission of her. - Parascine rarely wore clothing and the times they did it was for utility purposes, such as a place to put a weapon or a data pad. Ponies shared this trait of going without clothing most of the time and got along with the Parascine with relatively little conflict in the arena of apparel. On the subject of law’s involving clothing, it was perfectly acceptable for some species to go around without clothing, nudity wasn’t a problem unless you were specifically being an exhibitionist and or flailing what was supposed to stay private everywhere. Some planets were clothing mandatory and there was a light form of dress code that many had to follow while they were on that planet. Ewesen was not one of the ones that strictly enforced the wearing of apparel and was another clothing optional planet like Desserzon. - “You want me to make what? Well now, this should be a challenge even for someone of my skill. I am, if anything, a believer in trying to fit my clientele with what they want.” Rarity had thought that what the Parascine had wanted would be an interesting order. She was disappointed slightly as the order was mundane, though it was big in size and a rather unique challenge to her skills. She now had a lot of water resistant socks to make. “How long, what colors, how many, exactly how thick and anything else you want in particular in the design of these socks? Also which tentacles will you be wearing them on and do you mind if I take measurements?” A moment of silence followed as the blue glowing sentient giant jellyfish moved forward to hold out a tentacle and waved it in a friendly manner, it’s nucleic spheres inside what passed for its head glowed slightly for a bit. “Right then let’s get started.” A lot of socks for a family of three, well Rarity had made weirder things. She wasn’t disturbed in the slightest that the male Parascine had talked psychically to her; while they could talk normally it was much faster for them to communicate mentally. Socks were a bit of an odd thing to the pony species, Rarity wasn’t going to go on a rant about it. The order was quite benign in just being colorful socks; a less benign order would have had lingerie based socks that ponies used for playing around with or cuddling. - “I’m just so happy to have Mr. Welder back!” Greta was hugging her welding torch and smiling as they sat in a hangar waiting for the next job, they went to work while they were waiting on the end results of the ownership over Derringer before they moved on. “Why don’t you marry him, he sounds like a hot guy.” Of course Gilda was speaking sarcastically about her friends inherently disturbing attraction for her welding torch, what did the welding torch have that she didn’t as a friend? She was hot headed and could just as easily bind two piece of metal together with a laser cannon and her raw fury when pointed at it. “We’re just friends Gilda, besides he made sure we didn’t get sick from eating those horrid tasting monsters. No parasite or bacteria can survive a plasma welder’s raw fury and beauty.” Greta nuzzled her beak against the metallic object she was cradling. The two griffons were sitting in a hangar controlled by the Planetary Protection Patrol; they were currently waiting for their next quick job. They were allowed to use any materials and or supplies that the triple P had in stock, they were being monitored to make sure they were performing their jobs optimally and didn’t take any extra materials. Quite frankly the two felt a little insulted that they needed minders to babysit them. It was a bit warranted given they were civilians in what counted as military sector at a yellow alert status. The triple P would enter red alert if the planet was in imminent danger and if the fleet they sent out didn’t stop the MOM. “Well with the way you are going on about it, I’d think you were the mechanical engineer and I’m the technical one.” Tapping her claw against the ground, Gilda waited for the sign to light up. When the sign did light up, it meant they were ready to start doing their jobs on repairing, refueling and cleaning the nearest ship again. They were being paid by the ship and so far they’ve been through five in such a short amount of time. “Speaking of technical, since I’m technically trying to be Rarity’s crew member shouldn’t we call her about our release or something?” Looking upon their next task Greta saw Gilda perk up when she saw it was a fighter. “Do whatever you want Greta, as long as it isn’t too stupid or sappy.” The blank response from Gilda had Greta instantly taking notice of her friend’s sudden shift in demeanor. The fighter looked like an elongated somewhat flat diamond shape with a pointy long nose at the front and an upraised stumpy pointed tail end. The rear seat had control of an energy turret above the thrusters and below the pointed tail end, along with control of several supporting functions that were necessary to pilot the ship effectively. The co-pilot would mostly watch the butt of the ship and what was effectively the radar of the fighter when the pilot couldn’t, they were also responsible for in flight troubleshooting. The front seat was for the pilot who had control of the forward laser cannons, two heavy ordinance tubes that could be loaded with various weapons and the most control over the direction the ship is going in. It had a nice red color scheme and could unfold two wings from the underside during atmospheric conditions for better flight control. The two thrusters looked a bit damaged, the canopy was cracked in several places, the rear turret looked like it had been punched inwards by a big meaty fist, there were scorch marks all over it, it looked to have completely lost its shields at some point and one of the landing struts was horribly bent, but overall the thing was beautiful to Gilda who clearly wanted a fighter like this one. “Gilda, you’re being a drooling idiot.” Now it was Greta’s turn to be the cynical one. “Yeah, whatever you say Greta.” Gilda intoned blankly as she moved forward to fix this ship before her eyes. She liked any fighter, but a well designed new one like this that can inspire such awe even in its messed up state? She loved them and what they were capable of. Too bad they won’t sell the newest model fighters to civilians; this thing was a Javelin. It was a fighter that was made for jackknifing through enemy formations at break everything speeds should you hit something and come to a complete stop. In technicality hitting anything at full speed nose first in one of these fighters wasn’t as lethal as it initially sounds. Javelins were specifically engineered with shielding systems that could be altered mid-flight, it allowed for things like someone puncturing and boarding an enemy vessel in a commando style manner. Well, if they could get close enough in one while keeping the shields working at least above a fifty percent capacity to take the brunt of the impact. In case of severe damage the outer shell of the fighter could be ditched in an emergency, thus making the fighter a smaller target in what was termed Evade Mode. Evade Mode left the fighter entirely defenseless if it lost its shields, but still capable of flight and or making entry through a planet’s atmosphere in an emergency. The Javelin before them didn’t obviously drop its shell and needed quite a bit of work; it was easier to put a new shell on one than to train a new pilot. Gilda let out a worrying squeal of delight, as she got closer to examine the Javelin with her claws. Standing behind her was Greta, who shook her head with a small smile on her beak as she lifted Mr. Welder and approached the fighter while putting on her face shield. This was the first Javelin they’ve ever worked on and it was going to be fun times for the Garage Griffons. So named by the people that watched them happily go to work and for their expertise in repairs, modifications or outright upgrading something on every ship they came into contact with. Even a minor thruster improvement by these two was noted by their watchers. “I recommend a bonus for those two.” Paul Strag the officer previously saddled with watching the two griffons found that he was doing so again, it wasn’t ironic in the slightest as he was specifically assigned to keep a tab on the two to make sure nothing happened to them. It was all just busy work given to him by Officer Lirutiy. If at least four other officers agreed with his sentiment, those two would be getting a little extra cash flow their way. - It was the end of the day and Rarity was getting a nice massage since Vera hadn’t left and was unlikely to do so given that she finally met someone who could actually pay attention to her for more than five seconds at a time. “Meowstress Rarity, we’re getting a call from Geoptis Station. Do you want me to put it on speaker?” A happy Opal queried, as the days she could be unrepentantly lazy were the best days ever. She was still having trouble focusing on Vera for any amount of time and decided to just have a Cat follow her around pointing its manipulator directly at her at all times. Vera didn’t seem to mind or notice at all. “Yes, please do darling.” Rarity was relaxed and happily enjoying the motions Vera was putting her body through, apparently she was more stressed than she thought she was. At least Vera had a knack for making ponies ignore all forms of stress for a while. The Parascine had wanted a lot of water resistant socks with varying degrees of specification as to how they wanted them to look and feel. It was odd, but it was work and took her a while to satisfy her odd customers. The lengths she went to just to make others happy. The reason why it was so stressful? She had to make hundreds of socks in just a few hours of varying shapes, lengths and random colors. “Hey boss lady we’ve been cleared, how are things going on the planet? Do you need anything while we’re up here?” it was Greta being ridiculously perky again and Rarity was wondering if she could actually get her some of the things she needed. “Greta, you and Gilda are out of questioning and holding? Well that’s nice to know. Do you know where I can get a good price on a jump module and some turrets for the Caravel Boutique? I’m not having any luck at the moment.” It was a good thing Rarity asked, because the response was more than she could have ever hoped for. She thought something was odd in the way Greta called her boss lady, but she just went with it. “Why would you need to buy them? Heck we can probably work a deal for the materials cheap and just build what you need for you. I’m assuming because of the low funds you can’t exactly afford one at market price at the moment.” Continuing on in an upbeat manner, Greta didn’t let Rarity get a word out. “You’ll soon learn to trust our skills boss lady; we’ll get right on it. So give us some time to get you what you need, we’re already doing some jobs for the triple P and we’ll be able to buy enough materials to possibly build you a warp module from scratch. Trust me; we’re working really hard up here… aside from me being on break at the moment. Now if only Gilda can stop fawning over the Javelin we’ve been working on for a minute.” “Screw you Greta; I want to own one of these!” Was Gilda’s less than friendly response to Greta’s jab at her going on about the fighter with sparkly eyes, it was as disturbing as it sounded. “Maybe we can do that later Gilda, if only you’ll actually give me the time of day after making that offer for once.” It sounded like Greta was frustrated with Gilda for more reasons than just having to deal with her on a daily basis. “If the claim for the Derringer goes through, then we can think about owning a whole collection of fighters personally built by us. That means we need to support the boss lady’s claim as much as we can.” “Right, I’m doing an all night run then. Tell the boss lady we’ll get what she needs for her ship. All she has to do is not get us killed and or die herself.” It sounded like Gilda was properly motivated to get her ass in gear; she was loud enough for Rarity to hear her over what was obviously a busy and loud hangar. “We’re going to need a barrel of coffee; we can sleep when we’re dead Greta!” “Well it sounds like you have things well in hand, thank you for calling me to tell me you’ll get right on some of the problems I’m facing Greta.” Now Rarity had to worry about food and other supplies to feed her growing crew. “It’s also nice to know that you’re doing alright darling, please make sure Gilda doesn’t work herself to death.” - “Yes, for that is my only one true job and purpose in life. Thank you for noticing boss lady.” Greta rolled her eyes before smiling as she turned to Gilda who was already inspecting the next ship. Hopefully the watchers took notice that Rarity accepted them as crew members, if their boss lady couldn’t get back in a week then the dream had to be kept alive through other methods. She didn’t know what Gilda would do if the dream of owning her own hangar were to crash and burn slightly. - Coco slammed roughly into the wall and she squeaked before ducking out of the way of the grasping claw that crashed through it a second later. She was panicking and wondering why a Ceantir was after her, heck the previous blow to her chest should have caved it in and she should have been seriously hurt. She was lucky to be alive, if the pain wracking her body wasn’t selling it. She wanted to know where Sassy kept running off to and after helping Rarity with a lot of socks, she had lost Sassy’s trail and went back to where she lost it. Judging by its appearance the Ceantir was male and rather intelligent for its species. Coco was just minding her own business and was looking around for Sassy’s whereabouts when the Ceantir charged her from out of one alleyway knocked her bodily into another one with a single agonizing blow. Coco got up and started to half gallop, half limp away. Facing a Ceantir’s strength wasn’t a laughing matter and the earth pony wasn’t an idiot, why she wasn’t dead yet remained to be seen as it pulled its gun and fired at her. She quickly ducked behind a dumpster and cowered slightly. “Why are you after me, what did I ever do to you?” Coco hoped it knew how to talk, because she didn’t know much aside from the fact that they were scary and big. “You are in the way of my hunt prey; you’ll be good bait for Flamethrower.” The warbling voice of the Ceantir sounded a lot closer than Coco was expecting which was why she bolted to be chased down a by a volley of energy blasts that didn’t seem very powerful. Getting in the way of a Ceantir, even if by relative proximity, was tantamount to being suicidal. “Oh goddess, I think he’s trying to take me alive!” Coco yelled as she rammed her way through a door with surprising strength and out of the path of the shots blasting at the ground just on her heels. Taking her alive certainly explained why he hadn’t killed her with that first hit. Looking around the room she just ran into, it was a bar full of bounty hunters. The Ceantir loomed behind her and suddenly there were quite a lot of weapons aimed in her general direction. “Um, I’m not going to be lucky enough to just leave this room quietly am I?” “It’s just not your day is it lassie?” A material rifle toting Macropussian stated with a hint of amusement in her scot accented voice. “You just brought everyone a nice payday if we can get him alive; also consider us interested in why such an elusive quarry is after you. So… you all know the rules lads!” Coco’s ears fell and she dove quickly forward towards the nearest empty table and two rounds clipped the edge of her right ear. A shot went through the right side of her front left leg as the room became an absolute madhouse after she sent a chair flying into someone’s face from the reflexive kick caused by her injury. Coco lamented the fact that she had just started a bar brawl by accident.