Pipsqueak shook his head as he read the construction order again. "I don't believe this," he said to nopony in particular. "Hey," he then called out to the only other pony in the cargo bay. "How did you manage this?"
Berry looked up from where she was laying out pads on temporary tables. She wore her toolbelt, and her bright pink pad was clipped to it. "How'd I manage what?"
"This!" The pinto held up his pad. "Growl would never agree to all this. You didn't hack the computer again, did you?"
"No!" Berry gave a miserable huff. "I already said I was sorry, why does everypony want to keep bringing it up?"
"Then how did you convince her to do this?" He glanced back down at the pad. "Rebuilding this cargo bay into a spacedock specifically for your ship? Installing dedicated power and data sub-cores? Reinforcing the floor? This is not cheap work, and it will take everypony we've got since we still have repair work to perform on the station. Not to mention all the equipment we'll have to ship up from the surface and install. Why would she agree to this?"
With a sigh, Berry went back to arranging pads. "I gave her Granpa." she squared up the last pad she set down, lining it up with the one next to it. "Planet, coordinates," she said quietly, "how far down he's buried." She shook her head again. "They'll probably exhume his body and test it to make sure it's really him."
"Oh." Pip scratched his neck, and walked over so he wasn't shouting across the room. "Was he somepony important then?"
Berry shrugged. She fired up her personal pad, and used it to remotely activate the other twenty or so. "If he was, I never knew about it. His name was Grinparch Norland."
The colt froze. For a moment, he wasn't sure he heard her right. "Norland?" He asked for confirmation. "As in the super famous pirate captain? The one who defeated the Taraxian Raider's Coalition by himself? The terror of the galaxy until he disappeared fifty years ago? The pirate who made technological advancements that baffle scientists even today? That Grinparch Norland?"
Berry stared at him. "I didn't even know he was a pirate until yesterday."
"Oh, sorry." He busied himself with scrolling through the details of the work order. "I guess I still have a bit of a soft spot for pirates, have since I was a foal. But, hey, Norland was one of the few modern pirates that is generally considered to have made a positive impact on the galaxy."
Berry looked up in surprise. "Really?"
"Uh, yeah." The colt shrugged. "There was a documentary I saw, and it talked about the things he did. From what I remember, he operated in the fringe worlds mostly, developed all sorts of inventions, and never attacked civilians, only military research targets, criminal groups, and other pirates. He was searching for some ancient treasure, but never found it. Then, when he disappeared, raids and pirate attacks throughout the galaxy started happening more often. Hundreds of different groups are trying to amass wealth and power to fill the void one stallion left behind."
Berry stared down at her pad. "Do..." She rubbed her hoof at the screen, cleaning off the annoying drops of drops of water that somehow kept falling on it. "Do you think you could send me that documentary?"
"Of course." Pipsqueak walked over to her, head lowered as she noticed her crying as she hunched over her pad. "Hey, are you OK?"
She nodded quickly, and swiped at her face. "I feel so stupid for not seeing it. He told me I might have to do this someday, give him up to some military or investigative agency, and that I should make sure to bargain something out of it. But, he never told me why."
"The reason why is probably because he still has a massive bounty on his head." Pipsqueak let out a low, slow exhale as he thought about it. "In his heyday, the bounty was billions of Curraxan credits, the price of one of their cruisers he destroyed. It dropped when he signed a non-aggression pact with them, but it was still pretty high. Even if he's already, um, passed, being able to confirm that would be worth millions, if not billions of bits to the Assembly's Peacekeeping Council."
Berry let out an angry snort. "If it's that much, I shouldn't have let grumpy-pants include the computer repairs in the deal."
Pipsqueak choked back a laugh. Was she talking about Growl? It was true she could be grumpy at times, but no pony on the station would dare call her grumpy-pants to her face, not even James. "What computer repairs?"
Berry wiped her eyes one last time before looking up. "I fixed those old computer cores in storage, made them compatible with the current ones, and fixed the damage in the main computer from the recent attacks. The system's software was compromised nearly a month ago, and that pony that tried to kill us had been sending in fake shipments since then. We haven't been able to determine if it was just a smuggling operation, or if the plan was to attack the station all along, but that's how they got the explosives, monsters, and construction drones on board."
"Really? I'd been wondering about that." He scratched his chin. "But then, how did he manage to keep the monsters from going crazy until the time was right?"
"Cortical override tags," Berry answered, before going back to her pad.
Pipsqueak waited for her to expand on her answer, or perhaps pull up some relevant information on her pad, but she didn't. "And what is a cortical override tag?"
"It's a thing Granpa designed. It overrides portions of the brain controlling autonomous functions like sleeping and breathing."
Again, Pipsqueak waited for her to provide more exposition, and when she didn't, he offered a guess. "So, these tags were used to keep the monsters asleep? I saw one of those things up close when I was working on the wall in the cargo bay, and it had some tubes sticking out of it. He must have been feeding them IV nutrients."
"It kept them alive." Berry nodded. "But, with no solid food for that long, they still woke up hungry."
The colt watched her for a moment as she worked, hunched over her her pad, and eyes glued to the screen. "This thing with your grandfather is really bothering you, isn't it?"
She nodded without looking up. "It all seems so obvious now. Everything he taught me about electronics, teaching me how to fight, how to use weapons, and I never realized it." She wiped at her screen again, glad that it was, at the very least, spill proof. "The last thing he told me before he died, was to follow in grandma's steps, not his. 'Cherish those around you, and help them. Let them help you back. Build bonds of trust, not fear.'" She shook her head. "He apologized to me before he went to sleep. I keep thinking he knew he wasn't going to wake up, and I thought he was apologizing for that. But, now, I have to wonder, was he apologizing for who he was? Or for not telling me about it?"
Pipsqueak shrugged. He didn't know. Her grandfather was the only one who could answer that. "Either way, sounds like he worried more about you than for himself."
Berry nodded. "I know he did. And I'm going to do exactly what he told me."
She punched in a final command, and the holo-projectors on several pads fired up, linking together as they streamed a glowing grid into the open cargo bay. The bright white and blue lines expanded out towards the walls, mapping out the boundaries of walls and existing utilities.
The pads that weren't involved with scanning started collecting and processing the data. Quadrant by quadrant, portions of the holoscan were replaced by the ghostly representations of planned changes. Blueprints translated into 3d information, then projected into place.
When it was done, Pipsqueak let out a low whistle.
Berry looked up at the projected model of the Philomena's new dry-dock. Wide open space in the middle. Cranes, storage lockers, robotic arms, and utility connections lined the walls. Tractor beam emitters hung from the ceiling. Fabrication equipment of all kinds would be added later, once it was determined the sort of repairs the Philomena would need, and a small lounge would be placed along the interior wall.
Berry nodded slowly. "This is Granpa's last gift, and I'm going to use it to help everypony I can."
"You have what?!" The Curraxan that just shouted brought a hand to his forehead as the human next to him choked on his coffee. The reptilian exchanged glances with the gryphon beside him, then looked back at Growl. "Do you know what this means?"
Growl nodded as her eyes scanned the seven beings displayed on the big screen in her office. The heads of security for each of Canterlot's four other space stations, one high level official from planetary police, one advisor from the Assembly United Military Force, and one presidential aide. This was the Canterlot security council, of which, she was the newest member. "That's why I asked for this conference."
An ice-blue unicorn on the far end of the display cleared his throat. Sheriff Glacier of Station Beta, if Growl recalled correctly. "The timing of this is all rather convenient, isn't it? Pulling this out of your hat right after that embarassing-"
"Oh, shut up," Growl cut him off. "Calling the attack on my station embarrassing is like calling Kikurage a fever. It downplays the seriousness of the situation to fit it into a political narrative." She looked at the other members, but no one spoke up. She didn't care for politics, and this was a private meeting. She wasn't going to put up with vague accusations and subtlety. "Now, I'm sure you all have questions about what happened that day, and have rightly assumed that I left certain things out of my official report. So, allow me to answer those questions, and clear up this current matter at the same time."
The planetary official, the human who was just choking on his coffee, lifted his hand. "Before we get too far, Mrs. Growl, I need to bring up one thing. Are you aware of the pending lawsuit against you and your station? A copy has been filed with my office, and I want to be sure you aren't going to ignore it."
"The stallion who claims his son is being forcibly withheld from him and was placed in danger during this attack?" With a sigh, Growl crossed her hooves. "I loosen my security, on your recommendation, and you all want to treat me as the incompetent one? I find it hard to believe the claims, but I've already extended an invitation to the attorney to bring the client to my station and discuss this. The client has maintained anonymity so far, and I have no clue as to the identity of the colt he claims is his son. Kind of hard to act on such limited information. We are closing in on two thousand permanent station residents, and hundreds more pass through on a weekly basis. Our population is also fairly young, given the nature of our founding, and colts, under eighteen of course, currently number over two hundred. Include ages eighteen through twenty-four, and that number jumps to nearly six hundred. I included all types of pony, zebra, dragon-pony hybrids, and gryphon-pony hybrids in the count, since the client was described only as a stallion. And, of course. none of these colts are on any sort of missing pony list, domestic watch list, or any other sort of list I can find."
"Well. it seems like you have a handle on things," said the presidential aide. Growl couldn't remember the pegasus stallion's name, it was some kind of stone, Onyx, or Flint, or something. "We should focus on the larger matters, and let her run her station as she sees fit. She did come out of this attack with zero casualties, after all." He glanced down the table, adjusting the sunglasses he wore, even though he was inside. "How many deaths from drug overdoses alone has Beta had this year? fourteen? Sixteen if you count the dealer and grieving father killing each other over the daughter's overdose."
"Excuse me?" Glacier shot an angry look down at the well dressed pegasus. "We have a population of well over a million, Jasper. It's inevitable that a few ne'er-do-wells are going to fall through the cracks when you're that big."
"I hardly think a hurting father counts as a ne'er-do-well," Jasper continued calmly, "but, the point is, we all have problems. And, we should be focused on solving them, not assigning blame." He looked back at Growl. "Please, continue."
"Thank you." Growl surveyed the table again, glad that she wasn't planet-side to deal with them face to face. "I'll keep it short and to the point. Yes, I have the location of the body of Grinparch Norland, the galaxy's most wanted criminal, along with some additional information about the attack. The attack on Delta was carried out using technology and methods derived from Norland's work by a pony going by the name Visor, who was augmented with neural enhancements also derived from Norland's technology." She smiled faintly. This next part is going to cause an uproar. "Analysis of these devices, and tactics, was aided by Norland's Granddaughter, who is now a station resident. Also, left out of my previous report, was not only her role in all this, but the involvement of two COC representatives, an elder Dragon, two Furian super soldiers, an honest to goodness vampony, and a Celestial."
Silence reigned supreme for several seconds, until the unicorn mare, dressed in white robes and headdress and representing station Alpha, turned to look at the dragoness representative from station Gamma. "She's lost it."
"I thought you might say that." Growl reached for the pad on her desk. "So, I prepared this. This is footage from various security cameras during the atack."
She hit a prepared control that swapped her camera feed for security footage from the day of the attack. It was similar to the video she showed Astral, but with additional footage from later in the day, including the rescue of her security team from open space.
All the security council members watched in awe, except for Jasper. Growl watched him careful as he rubbed at his eyes. Every so often, he would glance back at the video, wince, and shake his head. Growl grabbed her pad, which was playing the same video, so she could gauge his reaction to specific parts.
She didn't have to wait long for a notable reaction. The drone in her office, and Astral's name scrawled in blood showed up, and he threw his hooves in the air. His next action was to pull out a pad of his own and start typing into it.
Wondering who he could be contacting, Growl almost dropped her pad when it pinged. She looked down and saw the notification. Priority message, from Jasper, Office of the President.
She glanced back at the screen. Jasper was looking straight at her, or rather, at the screen, but he wasn't paying attention to the video that replaced her like all the others. That look was for her, an addendum to the message he sent. He quietly left the table, slipping away while his colleagues' attention was still trapped by the action on screen.
Growl opened the short plain-text message.
"I need to discuss things with the president and others. Do not share the location of Norland's Body."
Growl raised an eyebrow. She wasn't planning on it in the the first place. She cut the video feed, and her face replaced the video on the council's screen. "I trust that's enough to give you an idea of what happened? The, 'Astral Plane' mentioned in the bloody message was unknowingly used to smuggle a piece of technology into the system roughly a week ago. When he was attacked in an effort to reclaim it, he managed to kill his attacker. This recent attack was revenge for that. The perpetrators may have ties to the remnants of the Norland pirates, as evidenced by the technology used, but the motives were clearly personal. I will continue to investigate, and will request help if it becomes necessary. Any questions?"
"Yes," Glacier answered almost immediately, "the location-"
"The location of Grinparch Norland will remain secret until I personally confirm it," Growl spoke over him, "his granddaughter volunteered this information of her own free will, and I wish to ensure that his remains are treated with respect and discretion. He may have been a criminal, but he was still a pony like the rest of us, and he was her only family for many years."
He scoffed. "And you trust her? The spawn of a pirate?"
Growl raised an eyebrow. "She detected and disabled the data probe you placed on our transmitter array, so I would go with yes."
"What?!" The stallion slammed his hoof on the table. "I resent the implication that-"
"Oh, save me the righteous indignation," Growl spoke over him again, "why don't you go home and check your computer's administrator list? Then tell me I'm wrong about where the probe was transmitting."
Alpha's representative spoke again. "Mrs. Growl, I apologize for my earlier comment." She was soft spoken as ever, but Growl respected her most out of the council because she always thought things through carefully before speaking. Growl thought of the mare as better than herself in that regard. Except for that wisecrack a moment ago. "In part of the video, there was a young stallion and a colorful filly fighting monsters alongside your security team. Is it standard procedure to allow children to put their lives on the line?"
"No." Growl answered simply. "Those two are a special case, and they were not sent there to fight. The colorful young mare is Ribbon Dancer, one of the Furian super soldiers I mentioned. She is one of my nurses, and a telepath. She went to the cargo bay to help search for injured. The young stallion's name is Mezzo-Forte Melody, he is the son of a close friend, and one of the Tankrit refugees. He is a close friend of Ribbon's, and went along to help. They ended up rescuing two civilians before joining the security forces in battle."
"A friend of a telepath?" The gryphon from science station O'Rourke asked in disbelief. "He probably just doesn't know."
"I assure you, he does." Growl smiled at the mean look Alpha's representative gave the gryphon, and wished she had at least tried to remember her name. "As does his family, who also count Ribbon as a friend. This includes his mother,who is a bounty hunter, trained in anti-psy techniques."
"In any case," the unicorn mare said loudly, bringing attention back to her, "the young Stallion uses an impressive amount of magic. Did he suffer exhaustion afterwards?"
Growl was a little confused by how much interest she was showing in the colt, especially given he was only on screen for a few seconds. "Not that I know of. He assisted efforts in the medical bay after this incident, and he was using his magic normally for several hours."
"I see." She rested her chin on a hoof hidden by the long sleeves of her robe. "I would like to meet him, if possible. Might I visit your station for your founding anniversary next month?"
"I don't any reason why not. And, I must say, surprised you remembered it." Growl was confused, but a month was more than enough time to figure out any hidden motivations she may have. "Though, it's up to him if he wishes to meet you."
She nodded slowly. "Understood."
It was the dragoness who spoke up next. "Might I tag along? You mentioned that there is an elder dragon on your station. If true, then it is a relative of mine." This statement drew surprised looks from everyone at the table except the representative from station alpha. With a sharp-toothed grin, the dragoness added, "don't be surprised, there are thousands of us out there. Not all of us feel the need to brag about it."
"Very well, I will extend formal invitations to each of you." Growl nodded slowly. " I will also keep the council updated as the situation develops."
The human raised his hand again. "Is no one going to mention the Vampony or the Celestial? Because it's kind of terrifying that those exist, let alone live in orbit."
"Says the guy who stabbed another guy," muttered the Curraxan, "with a pen."
The human looked over with a frown. "I am merely pointing out that the population of the planet may not be comfortable with supernatural blood-sucking creatures, or mythical entities that can survive in space and level entire cities, living above their heads."
"You stabbed him in the face," the lizard-man reminded him, "multiple times. I had to pressure wash my scales to get the smell of blood gone. A vampony can't be any more dangerous than a cornered human. And I've known plenty of unicorns that could wreak havoc if they put their minds to it. As long as they're on our side, who cares?"
Growl sighed, regretting her use of the word vampony, no matter how well it described Fluttershy. "I should probably add that the Celestial is a Canterlot Citizen, who lives on the surface, and works as a professor at Luna's Academy." All eyes snapped to her, then back to the human. "And with that, I'm signing off."
She shut down the video conference, and headed for the door. The incoming call notifications started playing before she was even halfway there.
She poked her head out the door, and waved a hoof at the nearest security guard. He was walking down the hall, not facing her, so she whistled to get his attention and called out, "Mica! Good thing you're here, I have a job for you."
He froze midstep, his back to her, and glanced around.
"You can't play it off like you didn't hear me," Growl warned him.
He turned around, forced smile on his face. "Wouldn't dream of it, ma'am. What did you need?"
"I'm stepping out for a moment," she said quietly, "answer my calls, but don't answer any questions unless it's about accommodations for next month's founding day festival."
"Huh, that time of year again." Mica scratched his head. "I forgot all about it, what with the whole attack on the station."
"Yes, it slipped my mind as well, until this morning, when I started receiving requests to invite Miss Sparkle as a guest of honor."
"Why not? She saved the station." He shrugged. "Mere hours after you punched her in the face to boot. Most folks wouldn't even be walking again in that time frame."
"Interesting hypothesis," Growl deadpanned, "care to test it?"
"Not really, no." Mica pointed into the room Growl was vacating. "I can hear incoming calls, I should probably answer them."
"Yes, probably." Growl headed out, and Mica ducked into the room behind her. "And no one from Beta gets invited!" she called back as she strolled away.
"Amen to that, ma'am!"
"Poor Mica," she muttered to herself. "He has no clue who I was talking to, or what I told them."
Well, what's done is done. Growl headed down the hall. It was almost lunch time, so she decided to head to medical and see if James was busy. If things were slow enough, they might be able to slip away for lunch. James has been wanting to try that new restaurant, the one with breakfast any time of day. Pretty odd choice for the first and only proper restaurant on the station, but with all the shifting schedules, it might be an excellent choice.
As she walked through the halls of the station, Growl greeted everyone she came across. Her words were greeted with waves and smiles. It was almost hard to believe that this was just days after the attack. The compiled reports put total injuries at fourty percent of the population.
Of course, that was counting every cut, scrape, and bruise that was reported in the after action report forms she sent out to every station resident. Mostly from the initial explosion shaking the station like a snowglobe. The number who actually sought treatment was much lower. Including security personnel, seven percent of the population required medical attention. And somehow, they managed that while being down a nurse.
Still, things needed to change. Five medical personnel may be sufficient for the day to day needs of the station, but they only made it through this crisis with the help of others. So many of the Tankrit, and several newer residents as well, were able to take charge in this crisis, and minimize the impact on the rest of the station. Perhaps it would be wise to formalize that arrangement?
Growl stopped and chewed her lip for a moment. Maybe citizen responders? Individuals who could volunteer for training that could help during an emergency. Not replacing full-time personnel, but augmenting them.
She started walking again. How did other stations handle things like this? Delta's size puts it in an awkward stage. It was getting too large to continue handling things like a village, but not yet large enough to be a city. There was no budget for expanding the staff more than a few new hires here and there. And repairs would likely eat up any expansion budgets for the next few months.
With a sigh, she realized she may have to speak with administrators from other stations, see if they could give advice. Perhaps that unicorn from Station Alpha would be willing to speak one on one? Beta was out of the question, she wouldn't be able to trust that Glacier wasn't trying to sabotage her.
Gamma was another possibility. The dragoness in charge there was the quiet sort, a watcher, and a listener. She rarely ever spoke during meetings, and never took sides, but she wrote in depth analyses based on discussions that were nothing short of inspirational. These texts would seldom take sides, but point out the benefits and flaws of different options. Surely, someone who thinks like that would be open to an exchange of ideas.
In the meantime, she would start small. At the very least, an expanded disaster preparedness program, some sort of volunteer training, and two more part time nurses. Or one full-timer.
Speaking of nurses, Ribbon really stepped up during all this. All three of them went above and beyond, especially Lilybelle, who managed to direct triage operations alone while James operated on the critically wounded. And Annabelle had undertaken a huge risk to save the injured elder dragon. But it really stood out that Ribbon, who usually helped from the sidelines, was right in the thick of it. It was a gamble, sending her back to the cargo bay with Mezzo, but it paid off. She wasn't sure on all the details, but those two were able to pull out the best in each other.
Ribbon was able to work around the injured, and not succumb to the pain. Mezzo was able to temper his judgement and think things through for a change. The angry colt she met on Tankra would never have been able to follow the order to leave a possible enemy alone. They also saved two foals from the clutches of hungry monsters. That they then wiped out every last one of those monsters was an unexpected bonus.
Perhaps it was time to formalize that arrangement as well. Mezzo was recently unemployed, after all. A strong young colt, bright and eager to help others, who knew the station and its residents? Sounds like prime material for a guard. And Ribbon, skilled in medicine, but unable to handle emergency calls alone due to her extreme empathy, could use a partner.
"It would be an interesting partnership," she mused. Mezzo could be given some formal medical training, to better assist Ribbon, and she was already fully trained in weaponry and combat.
Growl smiled. They could be a medical and security super team, a younger version of herself and James, almost.
Before she knew, it Growl was standing before the door to medical. It was odd, actually having a door, but she knew she would get used to it soon. Especially once the lettering was installed on the glass, telling everypony what the place was. She had plans for a larger sign above the door as well, but hit a roadblock trying to find a design she liked.
The door slid open, and Growl tore her attention from the empty space above and focused on the pony walking out. "Octavia?" she said with some surprise.
The grey mare was startled for a moment. Her mind was on other things as she walked, but was quickly pulled from distraction by the greeting. "Oh, Growl, good morning."
The green mare nodded. "I forgot, you're keeping yourself on the school schedule now, aren't you?"
Tavi shrugged. "It makes it easier on the days I teach music class. I can't seem to ignore my circadian rhythms like Vinyl does. I swear, she'll sleep until noon one day, and be up early enough to make everypony breakfast the next. I don't know how she does it."
"I don't either, but I know she shouldn't." Growl peeked inside the windows, at the bustling medical bay full of patients. There was no way James would be able to leave, so she ammended her plans. "Octavia, I haven't gotten a chance to check in with you since the attack, are you busy right now?"
She thought it over for a moment, then shook her head. "Honestly, I thought my appointment would take longer, so I have some free time."
They moved out of the doorway as another pony left, and Growl pointed in the general direction of the commissary. "Well, I was planning on trying out the new Donut Joe's, care to join me?"
The other mare made a face, like she smelled something sour. "I don't know, why don't we just grab a drink at the cafe?"
Growl put a hoof on her shoulder. "We talked about this. Did you eat breakfast today?"
Octavia nodded slowly, but quietly added, "It didn't stay down."
Growl sighed. "Sorry, I know there's days like that, but you need to keep eating solid food. You need the energy, now more than ever, and straying from routine causes stress you don't need." She looked at the floor for a moment. "But, if it's really bad, I can make some nutrient shakes that you should be able to handle."
The grey mare shook her head. "Don't trouble yourself, Growl. Everything that's happened lately just threw things off. I'm sure I'll start feeling better when I get back on schedule."
"Good," Growl gave her shoulder a soft pat. "So, did James show you the latest results?"
Octavia nodded happily. "He said things are looking good."
"Good? I saw the scans, you're almost clear," Growl whispered. "Speaking of, I have some news of my own to share, if you can keep it a secret."
Octavia scratched her chin. "I can try, but you know how pushy Vinyl can get if she feels left out of the loop."
"Hmm," Growl shrugged, " I'll risk it. Come on, I'll tell you over breakfast."
With a wince, Octavia followed as Growl started walking away. "How did I know you weren't going to let me get away?"