//------------------------------//
// A Ghost of a Chance 
// Story: The Rock in the Gulch 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

Doc was there almost immediately to examine Church...but his report was unpleasant.  There was nothing he could do, Church was dead.  Caboose proved to be inconsolable, as he wailed about having 'killed New Daddy' as he clung tightly to Maud...who oddly showed no reaction to the events whatsoever.

Tucker wasn't much of one for emotional moments, so he instead did what he felt he had to do.  He quickly stripped Church of his armor and cybernetic arm for use in making armor for Maud as requested, and then buried what was left respectfully beside Captain Flowers.  He then took the armor, Caboose, and Maud back to Blue Base so he could figure out what to do next.  "Okay...I have no idea what I'm doing here," he said as he picked up the armor and examined it.  "I'm not really good with tools, maybe I should...ask Grif for help?  He seems to have made a lot..."

"Tools?" Caboose asked curiously.  "Why do you need tools?"

"Church asked me to turn his armor into armor for Maud," Tucker explained.  "But...I don't know the first thing about it, or where to begin-"

"Oh!" Caboose declared eagerly.  "I can do that!  I'm good with tools and machines!  Let me try!"

Tucker glanced askance at Caboose.  "I dunno, rookie.  You didn't seem to handle that tank very well..."

"Please?" Caboose begged.  "I need to make up for that..."

Tucker sighed.  "Tell you what.  Draw up a schematic for complete armor and weapons for her, and if I can read it we'll talk-"

"Done!" Caboose declared eagerly as he held up a completed schematic.  "I've been working on it ever since New Daddy went boom, cause I don't want my pony sis to go boom."



Tucker stared at the image for a time.  "...okay," he said finally.  "It doesn't look...too bad.  Let's see what you've got."  He pushed the armor and arm over to him.  "In the meantime, I'm going to contact command.  We're badly outnumbered, and Maud just lost her Dad.  I think I can fix both of those with one call."

"You can bring New Daddy back from the dead?" Caboose gasped excitedly.

"...not exactly," Tucker corrected as he turned to go.  Once he'd left the room, he opened his communicator.  "Private First Class Tucker to Blue Command.  Private First Class Tucker to Blue Command."

"Blue Command, this is Vic!" the response came.  "How can I be helping you on this fine day?"

"We're down two men, and two of our remaining number are emotional wrecks, and we're outnumbered two to one," Tucker responded quickly.  "We need backup as soon as we can get it!"

"Eeyikes!" Vic answered with a wince in his voice.  "That does sound bad.  Well, I can send you some backup in a few weeks-"

"Actually, I was hoping you could send us a Freelancer," Tucker interrupted.  "A...specific Freelancer."

"If you know the call sign, I can see if they're available," Vic responded readily.  "I've got one available to get there by the end of the day..."





Several hours later, Doc, Caboose, and Maud were standing atop Blue Base as Caboose put the finishing touches on Maud's armor.  "And...there we go!" Caboose declared happily.  "How does that feel?"

"It feels fine," Maud replied as she moved about in the armor, it having been reshaped and molded to her frame.

"And since there was so much extra material, it'll grow with you!" Caboose declared happily.

"Good job," Maud praised calmly.

Doc carefully observed from the side, using his helmet's scanner to read off the details of the new armor's specs, along with the weapons Caboose had included, which were currently collapsed inward to Maud's sides like saddlebags.



"That's some...interesting armor," he observed calmly.  "With some...unique functions..."

"Yeah, I tried to give it everything," Caboose confirmed happily.

"Yes, I'm certain the...latte maker was very important," Doc observed.  "Important enough to cannibalize the central cooling unit."

"Maud's too cool anyway," Caboose countered happily.  "And everyone loves coffee!"

"Even when it...tastes like gravel..." Doc allowed.

"She eats rocks."

"And of course, if she has a latte maker she needs cupholders," Doc allowed somewhat sarcastically.  "I'm sure that was a very good use for the very expensive data archive terminal I put in the cybernetic arm you cannibalized for that purpose."

"It was the right shape," Caboose confirmed.  "What does expensive mean?"

Doc glanced towards the rapidly fluctuating teleporter atop Blue Base.  "And you cannibalized the teleporter receiver matrix, which means the teleporter now will send someone anywhere...to make a system to let Maud teleport back to Blue Base whenever she wants to."

"Well, she can teleport anyway," Caboose allowed.  "This way, she won't get lost anymore."

"And you took apart the Base's communication systems...to give her an FM radio," Doc observed.

"Only the best for little sis!" Caboose declared proudly.

"Tuned to an endless polka channel."

"Everybody loves polka!"

"I managed to retune it," Maud offered calmly.  "I only get one song, but I like it."

"But how did you make the weapons collapse that small?" Doc asked curiously, poking the bags that barely seemed large enough for books, let along weapons nearly bigger than Maud.

"Oh, Maud has magic," Caboose declared happily.  "I made the armor tap that to make that work.  But I kept getting this weird Isis error about fragmentary echo retention...but the radio and audio systems work fine, so I turned those off."

Maud blinked as mentioning it briefly called the error message onto her HUD.




A.I. Sys Error: Interface Circuitry Malfunction
Unknown energy type
AI Fragment insertion may cause echo retention upon removal




Since she didn't understand what that meant, she blinked it away and decided to ignore it.

"Tuuuuckerrrr..." a ghostly voice began to echo.  "Tuuuuckerrrr..."  A ghostly image of a troop in the same armor as the Reds and Blues, but white, appeared before them.  "I come back with a- and he's not even here!"  The ghostly aspect of the voice vanished, becoming much clearer and familiar.  "I make all this effort to pierce the veil and come back as a ghost to give him an important warning, and he doesn't even stick around to hear it!"

"New Daddy's a ghost!" Caboose wailed out.

"Hi Dad," Maud greeted calmly, the slightest bit of warmth in her voice.  "Took you long enough."

The ghost of Church turned to Maud in surprise.  "I...have no idea what that is supposed to mean," he observed thoughtfully.  "But I see your armor is finished."

"I made it!" Caboose declared happily.

"Huh, good job rookie," Church observed idly.  "Now where's Tucker?"

"Probably off training," Doc observed thoughtfully.  "He already called Command about getting backup and taking care of Maud."

"Wait, and?" Church asked in confusion.  "How could he take care of both?"

"He said he called in Maud's Mom," Doc allowed readily.  "Not sure who that is-"

"He called in Tex?!" Church screamed out in shock.

"Is...is that who he called?" Doc asked nervously.

"Yes, that's who he called!" Caboose declared happily.  "He said so!"

Church stared at the group in silence.  "...that flocking cockbite son of a finch!" he screamed out in rage.  "I am so haunting him and making sure he never gets any!"

"Cockbite?" Maud asked curiously.

"He's talking about a rooster!" Caboose declared happily.

"Ah."