//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Long Haul // by D1scordant //------------------------------// Chapter eight The hanger was a large squarish shaped room with a high ceiling and two large bay doors on the aft wall. Electro-magnetic hoists hung from the vaulted ceiling like branches, some suspending dropships and other support craft. One in particular, however, held Nebs’ attention more than the others. Hanging roughly in the center, was the Mercy. Her ship looked bad, burns and dents covered the hull, and the engines looked like they were barely attached. As she approached, a pale yellow unicorn mare stepped around the Mercy’s bow, then shot Nebs a warm grin. She had deep red hair, green eyes, and wore a dull grey jumpsuit. She levitated a tablet and stylus off of a nearby toolbox as she moved closer. “This your ship?” She asked in an accented voice. Nebs nodded slightly. “Good, I need you to sign some things,” She said, levitating the tablet and stylus into Nebs’ reach, “Then I can get to work.” Nebs took the stylus in her teeth and skimmed the document. Requisition forums, mostly, she wasn’t sure why she had to sign them, but then again, it’s not like she was an expert in military protocol. She signed, then released the stylus, and the unicorn set the items back on the toolbox. “I’m Rose Bloom by the way.” “Nebs.” Rose nodded and turned her head towards the Mercy. “She’ll look good as new when I’m done with her,” She said, “well, as close as I can get, anyway.” “Any Idea how long it’ll take?” Rose shrugged. “I haven’t even gotten to diagnostics yet, but I can tell you whoever was working on her before me was shite when it comes to repair. Looks like the eejit tried to take the x-zeros off. And don’t get me started on the shield projector. What in bloody hell did you run into?” It was Nebs’ turn to shrug. What exactly had she run into. She knew it was some kind of electro-magnetic anomaly. But nothing like that had ever been reported anywhere near the Hydra nebula, only gravity distortions. “I don’t know exactly. It was like a directed wave of electro-magnetism hit the ship, but that does’t happen naturally.” Roses face turned grave. “You didn’t happen to see any other ships on your sensors, did you?” Nebs shook her head, “No.” The unicorn cursed under her breath. “You need to go see the captain,” She said simply, “Tell him what you told me.” Nebs nodded once, then turned to leave. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nebs walked briskly through the wide halls of the warship, occasionally dodging and weaving through groups of crewponies or marines. At one point she had to step into a rec-room to let a pony in massive power armor trot past. As she began to leave the rec-room she heard him speak. “You see to be in quite the hurry, Miss Dusk. Mind telling me why?” She sighed heavily. She did not want to deal with this right now. “I’m going to talk to the captain, Greyhorn,” she replied. “About what?” “About the anomaly that knocked my ship out.” “Mind enlightening me on what that might of been?” “You could just ask Rose Bloom.” Greyhorn nickered. “You’re dodging the question, Miss Dusk,” He said in a low voice, “Please, tell me what you know.” “All I know, is that it was some sort of EMP, and it fried my ship, okay?” Greyhorn evaluated her for a moment, then left down the hall. He stopped and glared at her over his shoulder. “Oh, and, Miss Dusk. A little advice, your life will whole hell of a lot easier if you’re more open with me in the future.” Nebs huffed. “You want me to be more open, okay. I don’t like you. At all.” The Lieutenant snorted, but said nothing as he continued on his way. With that unpleasantness out of the way, Nebs continued to the bridge. The rest of the walk was relatively uneventful, but she had the feeling she was being watched. The door to the bridge was a dull, monotonous grey rectangle, bisected down the middle with yellow and black hazard stripes marking the seam. The door opened with a hiss as she approached, then closed behind her after she passed. As she walked towards the command area, she spotted Greyhorn’s lackeys loitering around. One had his helmet lying on the floor next to him as he chatted with a young ensign, the other, tracked her movements, his orange visor locked onto her. Ignoring his eyeless stare, she continued walking until CAITI appeared on a nearby vidscreen and spoke. “What’s up, pegasister?” “Hello, CAITI, I need to talk to the captain.” The AI’s avatar frowned for a moment. “He’s asleep at the moment,” she replied, “I can leave him a message, if you like.” “I think it might be really important,” Nebs insisted. CAITI paused for a moment, considering. “Like Celestia tier important?” “Not quite, but still important,” “Okay, Nebs, I’ll wake him up, but...” She paused, “...He won’t be too happy about it.” CAITI vanished from the screen, and Nebs looked around. Helmet was still staring at her as she took in the bridge. She returned his stare for a few moments, the stuck her tongue out at him. He simply glared in return. Creepy much? She was about to speak, when Arcturus’ voice came from the vidscreen. He looked tired, and Nebs instantly felt bad about waking him. “Good morning, Nebula. Need somthing?” “Yes, it’s something about my ship.” Isov nodded. “Alright, meet me in my quarters, and we’ll talk.” The vidscreen winked out, and CAITI reappeared. She grinned and pointed a hoof in the direction of a door marked as the command crew quarters. The door hissed open, and the pegasus strode into the small hallway beyond. Doors were set regularly along the walls on both sides, leading to the quarters of the various crewponies. At the end of the grey carpeted hall, was a door inlaid with ornate knots of gold and silver. Over the door, a glowing sign read 'CAPTAIN’S QUARTERS’.