//------------------------------// // -60- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// A civilian ship came out of jump and they were immediately hailed, the civilian pilot immediately answered and was introduced to a slim white furred cat with long pink hair and a dazzling if strained smile with her arms behind her back. The cat looked adorable, but she didn’t seem very happy with whatever current circumstances were going on around her. “If you are here to dock at Antilur Station we are sorry for the inconvenience, but the station is currently undergoing issues with possibly demonic level entities and it would be a horrible idea to dock with the station at this time. If you proceed to do so and get captured, eaten or killed, you cannot blame us for not issuing you a warning.” The cat grew bigger on the screen looking the pilot and every other pony in the eyes. “So if you don’t want to have problems in the ways of continued living until the matter is resolved, avoid going near the space station, docking with it and or parking in any of its many hangars. Thank you. If you are having an emergency I would suggest you either wait for the problem to be finished or move on to the next place for supplies if you are able to.” The pilot looked at all the silent ships around the dark station and among them was one ship that was active, the only ship that was active not to mention the odd life sign readings bouncing around the station. They heeded warning and turned to go to someplace else as Antilur Station was apparently considered a bad place to be right now. “If you could please send help to prevent more incidents of docking with the station and whole crews disappearing as if into thin air, well that would be helpful thank you.” Opal tilted her head, smiled with her eyes and watched the pilot as they changed directions of the ship in question. - “Are you sure about this… you’re a rather meek individual Coco and unlike Chrysalis, Lightning, Ember, Saffron and maybe even Trapeze you’re not exactly well known for your combat skills. In fact I thought you’d avoid ever going back in there again after the hangar incident.” Vera wondered why Coco came to her of all ponies and asked her for an evaluation, she held up her left hoof to stop Coco from talking. “Before you say anything I’m aware that Rarity isn’t exactly well known for her combat expertise, but she’s still the captain of the ship and also apparently the Baroness of it as well. She’s surprisingly sturdy mentally after having described to me a rather horrific creature she saw on the last trip in there. I believe the bloated griffon corpse for a stinger at the end of its tail would put me off ever wanting to set hoof in there. Everyone knows you have a good work effort, but I don’t exactly see what you have to prove here or why you even want to go in there.” “I feel like I’m not doing enough for Rarity and I want to help the colonists too, well if they are still alive that is.” Coco had a serious look on her face and it made her look adorable, she couldn’t come off as threatening if she tried. “Rarity thinks differently given she’s paying you for all the work you do, though I don’t understand why you came to me when it is Rarity you have to convince.” At least Vera’s life would never be boring if she had to keep talking to these people that she called friends. “I was actually hoping that you could talk me out of going.” Coco winced at the flat stare Vera gave her. “Nope, I’m not doing that. If you want to go then you talk to Rarity and go. Just be aware of the fact that you are risking yourself should you go in there as is everyone involved.” If the most adorable member on the crew wanted to go then Vera wasn’t going to stop her, she was going to mention something about it. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still put off by all the screaming and noise I heard from what Ember calls Miasma. Please note that most of the ones going in there all have some form of combat experience; though Rarity still counts as civilian when compared to the many experiences the others have had in a life or death situation. What she did to Mind Field was probably the most impressive thing Rarity is capable of. Needless to say Rarity is still a civilian compared to the others going with her, a rather brave one at that.” “Yes and we run a civilian business off of this ship and the Caravel Boutique, why exactly is Rarity helping to solve a problem that has nothing to do us?” A sharp crack from Coco’s back eliciting a very shrill squeak from her. “You’re quite stressed out about this. Ember is probably a part of why Rarity is making it our business, but mostly it’s her need to be generous and help those in need that’s keeping her here.” Vera pulled her hooves from Coco to let her sit up. “The question she has likely asked herself is this, should we move on and not do something and would any pony think less of her for making such a call? Could she have lived with herself had she not done something? Ember is going back in there regardless of what we’re doing because it’s her job and she’s one of Rarity’s friends.” “I guess I still feel guilty about being so afraid of Ember before, she’s a nice dragon. That’s part of the reason why I want to help out.” Coco rubbed the back of her head with her left hoof. “Do you think I should go with them?” “My job is not to tell you what to do, but give advice and massage the stress out of everyone.” Vera snorted loudly and rolled her eyes before she put a hoof around Coco’s back and nuzzled her neck affectionately. “This whole crew is really quite stressful and there’s a lot of stress to go around, the only ones I can’t physically help is Opal and me. I could use a massage myself come to think of it, oh and you’ll tell me if Chrysalis does something entirely demented right? I’m expecting something really horrible of her since she really doesn’t care that much about us as she would Changeling lives; at least she is actually making an effort to be a good crew member so far. There are hardly any Changelings in space and I’ve been studying how separation has affected Ms. Dick and she’s surprisingly mentally sturdy, I’m just hoping that’s doesn’t mean she’s cold or hard to us or that she sees us beneath her.” - “We’ve modified the sunlight grenades to be a bit more explosive… okay who am I kidding, me and Greta are barely qualified to work with chemicals that are not related to possible variable fuel concoctions. We’re technically rocket scientists that can hardly do much else unless we really put our minds to it, a four wheeled tank is surprisingly not all that different from a fighter really and it’s surprisingly easy to land.” Qualified was putting the words lightly, Gilda did spend a lot of time researching alternative fuels on her and Greta’s off hours, when she eventually ended up building a fighter she was going to build it to work everywhere while being as efficient as possible. She was busy giving six modified and hopefully upgraded sunlight grenades to an EVA suited Coco who looked determined to go along as she clipped them to her tool belt. “So don’t be near these things when they go off and I’m sure that none of you need to be told to use them sparingly as we don’t have the supplies to necessarily make too many of them. Tell us how they work, should you survive this that is. If they almost kill you, then we’re most certainly very sorry for the inconvenience. I just want to be extra clear on the fact that this is not our area of expertise and would be more fitting of Ember’s given she’s a weapon tinkerer, just know that they explode on impact and only if the pin is removed.” “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you coming with us again Coco?” The concern in Rarity’s voice was not lost on the innocent looking mare. “You need someone who’s good at tech and maybe an extra set of eyes will help, plus the battery attachment to the impulse saddle needs a workout in places other than space. Testing proves to be good in that area, now we need a rough scenario to test it so we’re solving any issues that may come up in a slightly warmer environment.” Having detached her standard issue impulse saddle, Coco made sure that the battery modified impulse saddle was a closed system that couldn’t be drained by the miasma monster unless she actively used it after she put it on her back. She was working off the information that Opal got from Rarity and the others from the previous two trips, one of which she was a part of that was the hangar experiment. “That and both Gilda and Greta really don’t want to go in there and I’m the only other crew member that’s more of a general knowledge buff in technology that could be of enough use.” “Very well then, if you must come along then you simply will.” Though Rarity didn’t feel very good about letting one of her best friends go into the belly of the quiet beast. “Though I do have my reservations about this and as a captain or Baroness I could deny you, but I won’t. Just don’t put yourself in danger; I don’t need another friend on the long mend like Sassy.” “It’s going to be both quiet and scarily calm in there, unless we hear a Screamer and we’ll know when one of them is coming when we hear the distinctive screech they make. That last one echoed all over the place because of how empty the station seems.” Putting on her helmet and having it enfold around her head, horns and spines, Ember stood tall waiting to go back in for another look around. She’s had good food thanks to Saffron and Coriander, she’s slept soundly thanks to Rarity which was embarrassing for the both of them and lastly the most important thing was that she went to a bathroom and didn’t get attacked on the toilet. “I’ve had my rest. Now before we leave, has everyone gone to the bathroom, did you make sure to drink something to be hydrated, I’m sure you all have a full stomach as I watched you eat myself and hopefully we’re all mentally ready because we’re going back into hell. Antilur Station here we come. First order of business is where should we start looking? I’ve already searched the lower half of the station and I’ve been at this for the last week or so. My last trip was the longest one I took and I don’t need fluids nearly as badly as the rest of you do, we need a game plan.” “Have you already checked the still active locations like hydroponics, gravity generation, energy generation, life support and the like?” This was a group consisting of a little more than half their crew and her mother, so it was understandable that Opal was being a bit of a mama bear at the moment. “Yes, I’ve checked all those places and only found a lot of Dusks. No bodies of colonists slowly having the life drained out of them.” The tone Ember spoke in was one of no nonsense and complete honesty, she had been relentless in searching for the victims as there was no way a hundred thousand people from various races could disappear perfectly. She had the one hundred pound metal kanabo, which looked quite familiar to Coco, strapped to her back in addition to her bulky Trailblazer rifle that was fully loaded up with rocks and several pouches with ammunition to pour into her gun. “No source of the problem in any of those locations, just creatures that don’t make noise no matter how fast they move unless they touch something else and are very physical until you hit them hard enough. That’s why we need a place to start searching for the missing people. I don’t want to fail to save at least someone from this mess.” “I understand and I’m sure we’re right there with you Ember.” Trotting up to the dragon Rarity placed a suit covered hoof on her thigh. The dragon looked down at her with worried eyes. “Yeah, nobody messes with my main source of food!” Everyone turned to stare at Chrysalis. “What? I’m just being honest about my intentions; if an orchard got a bad case of rot wouldn’t you expect the farmer to fight the loss of food with tooth, nail and tail? Maybe magic if they happen to be the rare one percent of unicorn farmers?” Everyone on the away team sighed, most of the away team where good at combat with minor exceptions to Coco. At least Rarity had some experience with being shot at even if she wasn’t good in a close up confrontation. - “Accessing airlock, can we please give up after this? It seems like the danger is increasing the longer we take to solve this conundrum.” Opal’s voice came off as whining as much as worrying as she directed the drones to pop the airlock open. “Stop whining Opal, I’m with three of the most capable beings I could be with at the moment.” Somehow this conversation felt familiar to Rarity, she just couldn’t remember from where. “I’m not whining, I’m complaining. You could get hurt and I love having all my friends in one piece, it’s awfully dark in there, there are scary things that might try to eat you! It also must be so filthy given there are no workers to buff the corridors and the air must be practically full of dust thanks to the inability to control the oxygen production facility.” Okay now Opal was whining and Rarity remembered why this sounded familiar. The pitiful cat noises started up after. “If you want whining I can do that so you won’t go back in there if you ever come out again!” “Sorry Opal, my mind is very well made up. We’re going to try for the communications array to see if we can get that working so we can stay in contact more easily.” The airlock was a bit of a tight fit for Rarity when she had to compete with Chrysalis and her rocket launcher, Ember and her metal bat and somewhat bulky rifle. On top of Rarity’s problems Saffron, Lightning and Coco, two of which were armed with knives and Coco was only armed with a few grenades and her own physical strength which would be useful in situations where they needed to move something around. Lightning couldn’t use guns in an EVA suit and as such was carrying them as spares for Rarity or Chrysalis, her wings were stuck in compression pouches while using an EVA suit and that was her only method of using the pistols. Something would have to go very wrong for Lightning to start using pistols. “Quiet, I’m going first, be ready for anything.” Ember had chosen their point of entry this time. Instead of entering through the two hangars and the several nearby airlocks Rarity’s crew had accessed on one side of the station, they moved to the top of the station using Shining Jewel and entered through one of the stations upper airlocks. It was different from when they last entered the station; they were entering at this location based on the schematics for the station that Ember received at the beginning of her investigation. The airlock slid open and Ember quickly rolled out and swept her rifle form left to right, nothing happened, she did not ease up on the grip of her gun. She motioned for Rarity and the others to follow, Coco and Lightning in the middle Rarity and Saffron at the back, with Chrysalis taking up position with Ember of whom she barely spoke too since they’ve met. Chrysalis was carrying a rocket launcher with four rounds on her that can only be set off with an explosion or when fired from the launcher, the other thing was a material rifle that was small in comparison to Ember’s Trailblazer rifle. “So far nothing, you know I can’t begin to wonder how people think Equus is more dangerous than some places in outer space.” Chrysalis looked down the hallway they were going and Ember set the pace by walking forward ahead of her to the left of the airlock. “Be careful, just because it’s quiet doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. The reason why you didn’t run into too many Dusks is likely because they ran into me first; the silence should definitely make you more wary. They don’t make noises on their own and we’ve gone over that fact multiple times. At least they can’t do things like crawl along walls or the ceiling.” After Ember said this four helmets suddenly started to slowly slide their gazes towards the ceiling where there were vents big enough for a filly to pop out of, they turned back to Ember when she continued. “What I can’t understand is where this infestation, as you call it, could possibly put one hundred thousand bodies. Aside from the few that the Screamers might be using as parts of their own bodies, I don’t need to tell anyone this, but hope your suit doesn’t get a breach bad enough that the breach gel can’t seal off. Thanks for making sure my EVA suit was fixed up Rarity.” “Think nothing of it darling, I did it for free of my own volition towards a good cause. Aside from the fact that you make the suit look exquisite.” Rarity turned back around and pointed her light down the hallway they just walked down. Nothing was there and the rampant paranoia from before was starting to set in again. “I’m responsible for everyone on my ship, including guests like you and Mr. Spew.” Things were very quiet after that, the corridor had several branching off pathways and several doors, none which were the ones they were after. Ember had told them that data pads weren’t useful in this situation when the miasma would drain it dry in seconds, thankfully the HUD on her helmet could carry the information needed for them to get about. They eventually took a right to go deeper into the station, the controls to the communications array was close enough near the surface that Opal could stay in contact with them. Chrysalis had felt something earlier and had made mention of feeling the Screamer, but the Dusks eluded her ability to detect danger. “You know I’ve been constantly scanning the station since we got here and I’ve got to say that there might be something to the energy readings. I’m seeing some semblance of correlation between all the still active systems and the fact that the power is running to each one from the stations main reactor undiluted. Life signs are still spotty and bouncing all over the place in comparison.” If Opal were going to figure out a mystery and had a choice between Antilur Station and Vera, she’d choose the station because it sounded easier. “I’ve got not much to report and thought you would like to hear a friendly voice. It’s so quiet in there you can hear a pin drop, aside from you’re breathing I’m not picking up much of anything out of all of your suits.” They were entering a very expansive wide open room that was more than a footballs stadium length where many a pony would sit down and run the communications network that rant throughout the entire station. There were two levels to this particular facility and they were on the lower level and could see the upper level that was up the stairs to their left and right. Not a single movement or soul was to be seen here. All the entrances to this large room were between the two floors. The communications hub below was as dark as the rest of the station, Coco started to move forward and sweep her lights past the dark monitors as she walked down the central aisle towards the central system of this complex area. Every once in a while Chrysalis would stop and suddenly jerk her head down aisle to the left or right, thus making everyone else freeze up and turn their lights to what she was looking towards. “If it doesn’t feel emotions it’s more dangerous than someone who does.” Chrysalis had been seeing things again. She certainly hoped it was just her imagination that the three fingered claw was reaching out for her again. “Coco you said you’re the technology expert here, what can you get us when we get up to the communication hub?” “Not much if the hub isn’t working in the first place.” They were all on edge and sweeping their lights every which way the closer they got to the central communications hub of the station. They were rightfully wary of being attacked at the moment. “How bright do you suppose the central communications device gets?” Chrysalis finally caught on to something. It was very faint, but it was there for a second and when she looked she saw the three fingered claw disappearing into the shadows. “Why do you ask that?” Coco didn’t like the sound of that, but she was at the cylinder surrounded by monitors and work stations that ran the central communications for off station interactions. All the other communication stations were for interactions with the administration to and from the people inside the station. “If it turns on quickly enough I want you to turn it on when I say so. Nobody look directly at me for a minute.” Chrysalis could almost feel it now, a sense of wrongness in the air around them, something that felt like an emotion. It felt like anticipation? That was as close as Chrysalis could get to the feeling she was sensing. Coco was at the station with one light on her and three lights facing away from Chrysalis but still sweeping around the general aisles of computers, monitors and consoles, some of which had been knocked over onto the floor as if there actually had been some attempt at struggling. “Okay, wait for it… and… turn it on now!” When Coco hit the power switch, a large area was bathed in a faded blue light and a screech that didn’t sound like Ember’s Screamer monsters attracted all their attention to the one spot behind Chrysalis that they were ignoring. The black three fingered creature with bright yellow slit shaped eyes was grabbing at its head with its two arms and its thrashing became worse as all the lights were directed onto it, its legs kicked at the air as it wallowed on the ground in the sudden focused beams of light. In fact it sounded exactly like the noises Rarity had previously heard when she was in the hangar with Vera and the miasma previously, only this time the sound of tortured people was dying down to a dull throb. The shadow creature slowly started to shrink in the light and let off Miasma as if it were steam until nothing was left of it, where it gave off one last pitiful squeal before dying. The darkness permeating the room suddenly became a little bit brighter the second it perished. “Well… that was something.” Chrysalis stated flatly. “I knew I felt something, but it was horribly muted almost like it was hiding from my senses on purpose. Also it was after me in particular.” “I think we found something important to note here, do creatures that make things darker wherever they appear sound familiar?” Ember was logging this up to a new discovery. “They have to be the cause behind the Miasma. Is it just me, but does it seem a little bit brighter in here then it was before?” “That’s odd though, they drained the light out of the hangar we used to attract them, why couldn’t it drain the communications hub of its light?” Tilting her head questioningly Rarity stayed close to the lit communications hub as possible. “It’s because we either took it by surprise or it couldn’t drain the energy out of the hub before it was too late and the area lit up. Well they didn’t drain the atmospheric barrier now that I think of it and that gives off some modicum of light as well.” Saffron kept her light trained on the spot the creature had been. “That creature was practically a living shadow and only Chrysalis was able to sense it. It must have been what she saw earlier when we were in the city proper, aside from the one or two dusks.” “Yeah, but why was it trying to grab me though?” Here Chrysalis took a haughty stance and smiled to herself. “I mean I’m quite attractive and I wouldn’t mind some secret butt fun if I could get mine to expand, but why was it targeting me out of all of us specifically and no one else?” “Changelings are able to connect to a hive mind or sense danger when something gets emotionally aggressive correct?” In fact Rarity had seen it in action when Chrysalis was directing her forces back on Equus after the gala was crashed. “What if the infestation could detect that you’re a walking hive mind and was trying to pull you back into it thinking that you were a part of it? Have you tried to connect to your people recently or is the distance between you and them too vast given that we’re in an outpost in deep space?” “Hold on let me check, haven’t exactly… oh that isn’t good.” Chrysalis only closed her eyes for a few seconds and concentrated, she quickly found something highly disturbing and she drooped in her suit considerably. “On scale of one to ten on how lethal things are about to get, twenty would be applicable.” “What, what is it?” There was already a knife in Lightning’s hoof and she had her back to the communications center Coco was still accessing. “We now have a strong communications connection established that runs throughout the ship, I’ll be able to communicate with you much more easily now. Though my penetration can only run so deep, provided that the infestation doesn’t drain the energy out of the communications center.” Opal didn’t sound very happy because it could only be a matter of time before she was cut off from them. “I’m still not entering the stations systems for my own safety.” “Well good news with a side of bad, bad news in general and the worst possible news you probably don’t want to hear at this point in time.” Chrysalis turned to look Ember in the face. “First of all, I know where all the colonists are. That’s not exactly good news as they are all currently trapped inside the main cause of all this.” “Okay and where would that be?” Ember was paying attention to a shaking Chrysalis. “That’s not exactly what we should be worrying about at the moment; tell me after we survive the generally bad news being every single Dusks and Screamer on the station slowly coming at us all at once because I just closed off my open hive mind thus making them very interested in us.” Chrysalis levitated out her material rifle and checked the ammunition to see if it was loaded and that the safety was off. “It is coming for us and it isn’t happy about the fact that I noticed it curiously looking at my empty hive mind trying to join it with itself and then I just slammed what amounts to a mental door in its face while stealing as much information from it as I could. It’s not great at controlling its personal mind, but I’m not strong enough to subjugate it because it’s far more powerful than I am.” “If that’s not the worst news, then what is?” It sounded to Coco like things were about to get really bad real soon. “Imagine that there is only one real intelligence driving every single thing that is about to attack us on this station.” In fact Chrysalis was quite sure she’s never felt something so horrific before in all her life. “We’re not dealing with multiple entities; just one really big one that I haven’t been able to detect until now because I wasn’t looking inwards to see if I was compromised. Now that I have, I’m sensing one big glaring ball if gluttony, an all consuming hunger that really wants us in it belly and quite badly at that. I thought it was just me even though I ate plenty before we left. Ember’s labeled Screamers are more direct extensions of this thing and it built them out of the flesh of the dead colonists it has finished draining the life out of. Whereas the Dusks are definitely mindless drones made of nothing but raw energy, which is why they are so easy to destroy as they have no real physical form. As for the shadow thing we just saw, it was just a manifestation of its mind and is harmless, provided that our suits don’t become compromised in the coming scuffle. Oh from what little I’ve learned from looking into it, it can form those Dusks things anywhere and as many as the colonists it has fully consumed. So if you’ve had a constant sense of paranoia, then congratulations, you’re not actually paranoid as every manifestation of this one thing is actually out to get us now!” Rarity simply stayed quiet after hearing this news and levitated her two material pistols out. The air just became very tense and they heard the distant scream of a Screamer getting closer.