Chapter 13: A father’s worry
P-21, Blackjack, Morning Glory and Lacunae teleported with the Alicorn’s magic on a heavily damaged Borg cube, drifting around Equestria’s atmosphere, visible as a small object in the sky from the ground.
At first, some sort of green portal appeared in the sky and the heavily damaged vessel came out, causing every pony to look at it in fear and awe, wondering what it was.
Then, several creatures covered in grey/ black armor appeared on the ground, outfitted with strange looking cybernetic implants, kidnapping ponies, Scotch Tape was among them.
So, her father and friends decided to save her, P-21 had once read when he was her age that the Borg were fictitious enemies in a human TV show called Star Trek, he couldn’t believe they were real.
P-21 was not the name he was given at birth, but being a male in the by mostly female inhabited Stable 99, his name was taken from him when he reached adolescence, he couldn’t remember his birth name. Among with the other Stallions, he should make sure the population would stay at 500.
While never having any direct contact with his daughter, believing that he wasn't fit to be a dad, he still cared greatly for her.
As such, he prayed the Borg hadn’t assimilated her yet.
As they didn’t wanted to alert the Borg, they teleported into an area of low importance.
It was a small room with a single alcove and a single operation table for Assimilation.
“Alright, stay calm, we don't want that they see us as threat. That means you, Rampage.” Blackjack made sure the safety of her shotgun was on. “With any luck, Scotch Tape hasn't been assimilated yet. Ok now were is she being held again?”
Morning Glory smiled at Blackjack “The assimilation chamber.”
The Unicorn facehoofed. “Of course it's in the name!”
“Yeah, yeah.” The immortal earth pony mumbled.
Morning Glory looked at a Borg drone that regenerated in an alcove in a corner in front of her.
”..That blank stare...can't tell what they're thinking.”
“As best as I can sense, they're intent on repairing their ship and don't consider us as threat.” The Alicorn said, able to hear the hive mind via telepathy.
The exit was blocked by a green force field, it flickered.
“If we’re going to move on, we’re going to have to drop that force field.“ Rampage looked around, seeing a box with a green circle in the middle, mounted on the wall, sparks came out of it.
“Destroying this disnode should deactivate it.” Glory suggested, Rampage swinged her hoofclaws at it, the disnode exploded, the force field as well as all Borg drones in the area shut down, falling lightly for- or backwards, their arms loose in the air.
“Alright, let’s move.” Blackjack took the lead, they walked along a hallway, past a human Borg that tipped on a terminal, ignoring them.
They came to an open hallway, containing several Borg alcoves, some of them empty, some others occupied by a drone, regenerating. There was an open view to the other side, a deep Abyss, separated this hallway from the other side, it stood several meters high.
“Wow, this place is huge!” The Pegasus commented, impressed.
As the white mare walked past an occupied alcove, the drone activated, stepping out and walking towards the group in a steady walk.
They aimed their weapons at the drone. “He’s coming right at us! Should I take him down?” The Alicorn asked, her Gatling gun trained on the drone.
“Stay down.” Blackjack replied, watching the drone’s movement.
The drone stopped as it as next to Rampage, giving her a glare, it’s red laser pointed at her head for a few seconds before moving on. The unicorn could swear that Rampage had gulped as the drone had glared at her.
At the end of the hallway, a blue force field shielded the doorway.
“A high security force field… I will attempt to override it.” The Pegasus mare tipped on a terminal, it did not respond. “This terminal is malfunctioning… P-21, take out that generator.” She pointed to a cylinder mounted at the wall next to the doorway, he placed explosives on it.
“Take cover!” He yelled as the explosives were placed, taking cover behind a support beam where another terminal was placed next to it.
Several flashes of green appeared in the room as Borg drones beamed in. “We got company!” He yelled, having his grenade launcher ready.
He counted two at the entrance, two on a platform above them and two to their left.
He noticed that those drones weren’t aliens or humans but some of the ponies the Borg had kidnapped, all three races, Earth ponies, Pegasus and Unicorns.
They all were covered in this grey armor, their manes’ gone, their expressions empty, one eye replaced by an eyepiece, their cutie marks hidden by the armor, their coats pale grey.
The horns of the unicorns and wings of the Pegasus were also covered in the armor.
He then took notice that the drones at the entrance, one Earth Pony and a Pegasus, as well as the two Pegasus on the platform, had got replaced their right fore legs with some kind of weapon.
“Wait, they’re just standing there…”Morning Glory found it strange, the former ponies were doing nothing, just staring empty into their direction.
“They must not consider us a threat.” Blackjack remembered them.
The Pegasus in the doorway raised it’s new ‘leg’.
As the unfeeling creature's eyes glowed with aggression, so too did its firearm. With a sharp 'thrum' of activation, it discharged with force a bolt of glowing green energy, compacted into a ball that rocketed across the room.
As it hit the wall behind them, barely missing the crew, it splashed like a pack of liquids, spraying the grate with a luminous, lime-colored substance that fizzed and crackled like acid, billowing smoke and steam.
P-21 sucked his teeth with dread as the Borg's rifle 'thrummed' again, its user picking out a fresh target.
“Well...” he sighed that’s new...”
The Earth pony raised its weapon too.
The Borg was armed with a weapon that, like most Borg weaponry, was unlike anything he'd ever seen before.
It was shaped almost like a pair of tongs with a flickering energy charge between the two heads, capped with battery packs at the base and, fitting in with much technology designed by its insidious culture, adorned with an untidy brace of fleshy wires leading all over the guard's body.
With a sharp, eerie hum, a thin, shimmering jet of bright lilac shot from the blank-faced guard's weapon. As it stretched forward, it curved with a misty trail, seeking a living target.
A tracking shot.
P-21 flung himself flat on his belly as the shot narrowly missed his head, almost singeing his mane, slamming into the wall in a small lighting cloud.
“They’re shooting!!!” Blackjack exclaimed, firing her shotgun at the two drones in front of her, hitting the Earth pony, it twitched from the shot, Morning Glory finished it off with a hit into the chest from her AER-14 Laser Rifle. The Drone fell onto his knees, then on its stomach.
The Pegasus had no chance against the Gatling gun, getting thrown in its back from the brutal force.
Rampage decided to took care of the two Unicorns on the left, they had no weapons, only their Assimilation tubes, closing in on her.
She kicked one of the Unicorns with her hind legs into the gut, it got thrown against the wall from the powerful kick, sparkling from the claws, falling on its stomach.
She lunged at the other with her forelegs, punching it several times.
The unicorn held his gut as it collapsed.
The blue Stallion aimed at the two Pegasus on the platform, firing a grenade, causing the drones to be blasted of it, landing defeated on their chests.
“Since when can the Borg shoot?!” Blackjack asked in disbelief as she reloaded her shotgun.
“They're obviously been isolated from the collective for some time, they must have adapted.” Morning Glory figured out.
“Great.” P-21 commented as the dead drones disappeared in green lights, dissolving.
“Well, good for us that they can’t adapt to projectiles. Or can they adapt and we haven’t seen it?” Blackjack commented on the Borg’s ability to shield themselves from energy weapons.
“I don’t know but I modified my rifle so that it changes frequency with each shot, so they can’t adapt to that.” The Pegasus mare replied proudly as they moved on.
The group walked down the hallway. P-21 walked past an alcove occupied by an assimilated Earth pony, it activated, stepping out as he was next to it.
He quickly hit it with his grenade launcher into the neck, it sparkled and spun around before dissolving.
The unicorn took the lead, walking down a ramp taking a left turn, coming to several assimilation chambers, their entrances protected by yellow force fields.
They stopped at the first chamber to their left.
“Look, it's Scotch Tape! We have to save her!” Glory exclaimed as she saw the poor foal.
The filly was restrained on what appeared to be an operation table. Her skin was lightly mottling, her mane was gone, her left eye replaced by an eyepiece, her still organic eye was weeping constantly. She screamed in pain as a drone surgically worked on her body.
“I’m on it!” P-21 exclaimed determined.
Seeing how the force field on the last chamber on the right deactivated, he made a run for it, a human drone was operating the chamber, raising it up, another was working on a terminal, ignoring him, so he jumped on the next platform in the other assimilation chamber, pressing the terminal to raise it.
“Hold on, Scotch Tape! Daddy’s coming!” He called out, galloping to the other side of the upper levels of the chambers, stopping with a screech as 3 Pony Borg drones activated from their alcoves.
The first in the middle seemed to be a bat pony, his eyes completely grey, no pupils or anything, a circle formed eyepiece replaced its right eye, connected with several tubes leading to its back, the right fore hoof replaced by this tong looking weapon.
To his left was a Pegasus, with what P-21 found strange, fangs in the upper and lower jaws. It had no weapon but a rectangular eyepiece replacing the left eye.
And to the right of the bat pony was a unicorn, having also completely, grey pale eyes and the right fore hoof was replaced with that energy beam weapon and the same eyepiece as the bat pony had on the right eye.
“Halt, intruder.” They spoke in a monotone voice.
“You will be assimilated.” The bat pony’s laser was pointed at P21.
“You must comply.” The Pegasus stared at him.
“State your intent.” The unicorn pointed its laser at the stallion’s head.
“Resistance is futile.” They spoke together before the Pegasus moved at a rapid speed towards the unassimilated pony, while the unicorn and bat pony raised their weapons.
P-21 dived to cover as they fired, pinning him down, in a flash of green, the Pegasus had teleported in front of him, grabbing his throat, causing him to gasp for air as its Assimilation tubes came out of the left hoof, getting closer to his skin.
Spotting his grenade launcher next to him, he kicked the Pegasus, causing the drone to stumble, and letting go. In the moment the Borg had recovered, the blue pony fired a grenade, due the short distance, it didn’t explode but the direct impact knocked the Pegasus against the wall, it fell over, staying motionless.
Peeking around the corner, P-21 took notice how patient the Borg were, quickly going back to cover as another beam almost hitting his mane.
“Hurry, they’re almost done!” His Pegasus friend warned.
Seeing what seemed to be a loose plate over the Unicorn, the Earth pony fired an indirect shot after having calculated the trajectories for it.
The grenade bounced off the wall, exploding above the plate, it fell on the Unicorn drone, it struggled helplessly to get free before shutting down.
Knowing that time was running out, seeing that the drone was standing next to the platform he needed to lower to get to his daughter, he decided to take it head on.
Running in a zigzag course, the Borg drone had problems to get an aim on him, he rushed at it, delivering a powerful strike to the throat, knocking the pat pony down.
It twitched and sparkled before it died.
P-21 smiled in satisfaction.
“Too late!” He heard Morning Glory’s voice in his ears.
“No…” Frantic, he lowered the platform, having to realize that Scotch Tape’s assimilation was complete, as the platform she was on, had been raised into a separated upper floor.
In a feeling of sadness and failure, he pressed a button on a terminal to deactivate the force field, so he could join the others.
“I failed…I failed!” He stomped the metal floor in anger.
The security mare instantly hugged him to calm her friend down.
“You have at least tried it, P-21. It was worth a try.”
Getting calmer, he asked, “What about the others, can we at least save them?”
The Pegasus used the terminal P-21 had used to deactivate the force field. “Sadly, no. Scotch Tape was the last pony to be assimilated, we took out every single one of the other assimilated ponies.”
Letting out a sigh, the male pony said, “Let’s get out of here, there’s nothing more we can do here.”
Lacunae’s horn started to glow and they vanished in a white light.
As P-21 opened his eyes, he found himself not on the ground, but still on the Borg vessel, the room had 4 Borg distributions nods in each corner on small platforms, protected by yellow force fields, there was also what appeared be a catwalk in the middle of the room.
“Uhh…Lacunae, what happened? Where are the others?” He asked.
“They are save back on the ground. There was some interference with you, so I had to send you back to the Borg vessel.” Lacunae replied telepathically to him.
“WHERE in the Borg vessel?” P-21 asked, not liking where he was.
“The Borg Central Plexus. Avoid alerting them to your presence, and I get you out shortly.”
He heard a humming sound, turning around, he saw that a blue force field had activated at the entrance, trapping him. “Too late.”
Steam came out of the middle of the room, an elevator got activated and the stallion grabbed his weapon, ready to face whatever would come to stop him.
To his horror, it was Scotch Tape, now a Borg Drone, her mane gone, her left eye replaced by an eyepiece, her coat grey, covered on exo-plating, her right foreleg replaced with a weapon that seemed to be a combination of both firearms of the Borg, her expression empty. She took a step forward.
“We are the Borg. Existence as you know it is over. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile.” Her voice was cold, emotionless, monotone.
She raised her weapon, firing an energy beam, her father ducked to evade it.
I can’t kill her! There must be something to take her out without killing her!
Then he got it.
The distribution nods!
Making a run for the distribution nod to his left, remembering that it deactivated the drones, if he could destroy them, it could deactivate the Borg Drone that was his daughter, so he could reserve what the Borg did to her.
She fired a shotgun like shot with the beam, but he was far enough that the spread created a gasp he used to evade it.
As he reached the first one, he smashed the terminal controlling the force field, deactivating it in the process.
Let's see how well you adapt without these.
He placed explosives on it and detonated it, the nod exploded in a small but dazzling blast, scattering chips of machinery, the platform raised up, the drone froze in the spot, twitching, making her open to attack.
P-21 went close, using direct impacts in the hope of knocking her out. The result was different from what he expected.
Scotch Tape collapsed on one knee with a grunt of pain and anger, a part of her exo-plating fell off, the fur of her knee of her left hind leg and her now grey fur on her gut was visible.
“Resistance is futile. You will be… …assimilated.” Her voice glitched.
That showed the stallion that his tactic seemed to work, so he went for the next adaptive node, evading a tracking shot by using the platform as cover.
After lowering the force field and destroying the node, the filly twitched again, leaving her open for more direct impacts.
This time she fell on her butt with another grunt of pain and anger, plating on her left foreleg and her right shoulder fell off.
“Futile is…Assimilated…You will be…resistance.” She glitched more.
The drone teleported on the catwalk, firing from there on her father, he avoided her shots, destroying the next distribution nod.
After hitting her two times, the filly teleported back to ground level, holding her head as she grunted again, the plating of her left foreleg fell off, the weapon too, leaving loose cables, parts of the armor sparkled from the damage.
“Assim…Resist…futile…”
This time, she tried to teleport behind him, trying to ram into him.
He made a sprint for the last one, destroying it too.
The filly drone sparkled and fell on her knees, defeated.
P-21 wasted no time, running over to her, gently holding her.
“Scotch Tape, can you hear me?” He asked worried, hoping she was still alive, as her eye was closed, the exo-platting made it difficult to check for breathing or a pulse
“Da…Daddy…” Her voice was weak, her eyepiece was blinking, showing that she was hurt pretty badly.
“Shh, save your strength. We get you out of here and reverse what they did to you.” He spoke gently.
A single tear leaved Scotch Tape’s normal eye. “I’m sorry…. Hurting you.”
“Don’t be, that wasn’t you. I don’t blame you.”
“I…love… you…Daddy…”
“Stay with me! You’re gonna be alright!” He yelled desperate, not wanting her to die.
Her eyepiece stopped to blink, her body went limp
“No…NO!” P-21 screamed, not believing that his daughter had died before his eyes.
Tears leaved his eyes as he mourned her, his beloved daughter, everything he had left after Stable 99 got destroyed, she had been everything for him.
“You killed our daughter!” Dusk Tape’s voice echoed in his head.
“No, I tried to save her!” He defended himself.
“You killed her! Our daughter! She died because of you!” Scotch Tape’s mother yelled, screeching in his eardrums, utterly berserk.
“I…I…” Only now, he noticed that his hooves were covered in his daughter’s blood.
He had killed her.
“I’m… so sorry...” he blamed himself, he had tried to save her, only to achieve her death.
P-21 gasped, breathing heavily, cold sweat running down his face as he awoke from his nightmare.
“S-Scotch Tape…” He buried his face in his hooves, crying himself to sleep.
After the young filly had vanished, the worry about her was keeping him awake at night or made him having terrible nightmares about her wellbeing.
In the next morning, he woke up with guilt feelings, sadness, having no longer self-confidence, not even wanting to get out of the bed of the new home Blackjack had required some time ago in the Chapel for herself and her friends, it was the former home of the founder of the Crusaders who had unfortunately died also some time ago.
There was a knock on the door. “Go away!” He yelled.
It opened anyway, Blackjack walked in.
“I’m fine.” The Stallion looked at her with tear filled eyes.
“P-21, I know how worried you are about her, we all are, hope is what we need now.” She gave him a friendly hug to cheer him up.
“It’s just…I don’t want to lose her. She almost died once, I can’t take it if she…”
“We both know that that young filly is very brave for her age and quick to learn, so I’m sure she’s fine. Sometimes, she’s like a daughter to me. And we’re doing everything we can to find her.”
“Thank you, Blackjack. Sometimes, I wonder if Duct Tape had been proud of me, or if she had been ashamed.” He returned the hug.
“I think, given what happened in Stable 99, forcing us to go, that she would have it wanted so, that you keep her safe.”
“You really think so?”
She smiled. “Yes. Maybe you should catch some fresh air to make you feel better.”
Yeah, I should. By the way, I appreciate what you think of my performance as father.”
“You’re welcome, that’s what friends are for.”
As P-21 was about to walk out, he saw Morning Glory, Rampage and Lacunae in the living room, the former 2 stretching themselves.
“Morning, P21.” The Pegasus smiled at him.
“Morning.” He returned the greeting.
“I want to let you know, if Scotch Tape is hurt, I’ll do anything I can to fix her up. I’m behind you.” She stretched her hoof out for a hoof bump, which the blue pony returned.
“And anypony who dares to hurt her has to mess with me!” Rampage exclaimed, showing how she cared for the young filly.
“And I will let you know first when I got news about her whereabouts.” Lacunae promised.
“I appreciate it. All of you.” He really liked that they all cared for her, helping where they could.
As he walked through the Chapel, the Crusaders greeted him, giving their condolences, he thanked them in return.
The Chapel was not a bad place to live, he liked it here a lot, it was better than Stable 99 in many things and the Crusaders helped each other no matter what.
It was only a few days since Scotch Tape had vanished, it was the same day she got her Cutie Mark, it had filled him with pride.
I wish you had been there to see this, Dusk Tape.
He had no doubt that Scotch Tape’s mother would have been also proud of her daughter getting her Cutie Mark. Dusk Tape, unlike other mares, actually treated him well, having a good relationship with him. While she died in an accident during work, leaving Scotch Tape to do her tasks, P-21 knew that Duct Tape would be forever alive in his and Scotch’s hearts.
He walked past the Crusader store, known as Charity's; Where We Ain't! run by the de-facto leader of the Crusaders, Charity.
A unicorn filly that was a very shrewd business pony, but lived up to her name when the situation called for it.
He decided to get in to see what she got in store, also saying hello to her.
“Welcome, how can I help you?” She asked friendly behind her counter, noticing it was P-21. “Good morning, P-21!”
“Morning, Charity.”
“Sorry for what happened to Scotch Tape. Here, take this Sparkle-Cola, I managed to buy for a discount. It’s on the house.”
“Thank you.” He enjoyed the beverage, It didn't do much to change his mood but the thought was appreciated in any case.
“You should be proud of Scotch Tape. She has achieved many things, you should be proud of, especially her Cutie Mark and improving our living conditions, If I may say so myself. For us Crusaders, she’s a special member.”
“Of course I am proud. Why shouldn’t I?”
“Good morning, Charity.” Another young voice sounded behind, it was Precious, adragon/pony hybrid and a good friend of Scotch Tape.
“Good morning, Precious.” The unicorn gave Scotch Tape’s friend also a Sparkle-Cola.
“Morning, Mr. P-21, I’m sorry to hear what happened to Scotch Tape.”
“P-21 is just fine.” She smiled at her.
“Okay. For me, your daughter is a friend anypony could ask for.”
“Glad to hear it.” It pleased him to hear this compliment.
“Have a nice day!” Both called out as he left.
Despite having a better mood, he still felt worry and a little bit anger.
Stupid Alicorn! Why did it have to fire that spell?! If it hadn’t, she would be still here, celebrating with us! Scotch Tape, my dear, sweet daughter, I can only pray you’re fine.
Suddenly, there was a cramping pain in his chest, like he had a heart attack.
He held his chest in pain.
What’s wrong? He wondered.
I…love… you…Daddy… echoed in his head.
His pupils went small in shock.
“No…NO!” He collapsed, tears leaving his eyes.
“SCOTCH TAPE!”