After he had finished giving orders the captain took a few steps back and fell into his bridge chair.
Nick approached him seriously and asked, “Why are you doing this?”
“Why?” replied the captain looking confused, “Because do know what these elements could do for the human race? They’re virtually an unlimited power source!”
“You have no right to take them!” countered Nick furiously.
“Oh, I have every right to take them!” spat back the captain, “They attacked us first and they’re an inferior life form!”
“They’re a very kind and loving race! Maybe you could organize a peace conference, because you can’t just take away what is rightfully theirs! It belongs to them, and if you try to take those elements away from them I’ll…”
“You’ll what!” fumed the captain standing up.
Nick realized that he had finally gone too far. The captain hated when his authority was challenged, and now his cold maroon colored eyes seemed to pierce right through Nicks very sole as he stared down at him.
“I could have you punished for disobeying and/or threatening the captain!” roared the captain irately, “But I’ll go easy on you just this once and tell you to get the fuck off of my bridge! And I don’t want to see your face around here again for a long time!”
“Yes sir!” replied Nick in a cold sweat before making a dash for the door.
Once off of the bridge Nick took a deep breath. He was going to have to find another way to help his newly made friends. Normally he would never defy the captain, or any other commanding officer for that matter, but the captain was truly wrong. He had no right to steal from the Equestrians. Unless, they really did attack the humans first? Nick couldn’t see that happening, but, if they did, then the captain would actually have the right to wage war with them. Nick pushed that thought to the back of his mind; right now his top priority is to find a way to get off the Atropos and fast. As Nick walked down a hall he bumped into Mark who was talking to one of the top scientists on the ship named Damion Mach, or just Dr. Mach.
“Hey, Nick,” greeted Mark with a smile, “I was just talkin’ with Dr. Mach here about that horse thing that they are conducting tests on. I’m no scientist, in fact, I’m only head of communications, but I still love to learn about alien life. I find it interesting don’t you?”
“Oh crap!” thought Nick worriedly; he had completely forgotten about the pony scheduled to be dissected in the “Alien species study” lab!
“Mark, I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to talk right now… I got to go!” replied Nick as he pushed past Mark and started speed walking down the hall.
Once Nick was in an elevator and heading down towards the lab sector of the Atropos he realized that he was being way to irrational. There was no way he’d be able to free the pony scheduled to be dissected, at least, not with all of the scientists and crewmen walking around. He’d have to wait until the sleep hours on the Atropos when very few men are on duty. That’s when he would free the captured pony and secretly fly down to Equestria. Until then he would just hang out in his living quarters and act normal.
--5 hours later (sleep hours)--
Nick peeked his head out from the door of his living quarters and scanned the dimly lit hallway. Ninety percent of the men aboard the Atropos were off duty and sleeping now. It was the perfect time for Nick to make his move. He slowly made his way to the lab section of the Atropos, dodging the occasional crewman on sleep shift. Once there he found the door labeled “Alien species study” and slipped inside. The lab was very dark with only one dim overhead light on. Nick found the light switch and turned the rest on. The sudden burst of bright light made Nick squint his eyes until they adjusted. He then walked over to the fiberglass wall and looked down into the white room below. Just as he had hoped, the brown pony was still there.
“Who’s there?” called up the brown pony looking confused.
Nick must have awoken it from sleeping.
“Somebody that’s here to help…” replied Nick as he headed for an elevator that led straight down into the room below.
It was a one way elevator. Anyone could use it to go down into the room below, but to be able to come back up they would have to punch in a pass code to open the elevator doors.
Nick descended down to the room and the doors slid open.
“Quick! Hop in!” motioned Nick to the brown pony as he held the doors open.
The pony trotted over to the elevator and climbed inside with Nick.
“Wow, this is just fascinating!” exclaimed the brown pony as the elevator started to ascend, “I always knew that there was alien life out there somewhere but nopony would ever believe me.”
“What’s your name?” inquired Nick as the doors reopened.
“Dr. Whooves, and yours?”
“Nick…”
“Nice to meet you Nick, you know this place is pretty amazing don’t you think? I mean, this technology is extraordinary!”
Nick raised an eyebrow, “You sound like you’re having a good time?”
“That’s because I am. This place is great… of course, I do wish that they’d give me some more ponies to keep me company though.”
“Apparently he doesn’t know that he was scheduled to be dissected,” thought Nick as they made their way to the exit of the lab.
“Listen, I’m going to take you back to Equestria, but I need you to follow me, do what I do, and keep quiet.”
“Awww, I can’t stay for a little while longer?”
Nick did a face palm as he opened the exit door, “Trust me, you don’t want to stay…”
With that said Nick crept into the hallway, followed by Dr. Hooves, and started making his way towards the F-56 docking sector. He knew what he had to do, even if it meant stealing-or ah, borrowing an F-56 without permission. Nick was a little over half way to the docking sector when suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps coming from around a corner that he was approaching. He stopped and wildly swung his head back and forth looking for a place to hide. It would only be a matter of seconds before the oncoming person would round the corner. Realizing that there was no way of escape Nick prepared for the worst as the unknown man finally came into view. It was Commander Trenton, the commanding officer of Nick’s patrol and also a pretty good friend.
“Nick?” inquired the commander somewhat gruffly, “Why are you up so late? It’s the sleeping hours for the ship.”
“I uhhh…” stuttered Nick.
Apparently the commander hadn’t noticed Dr. Whooves yet who was hiding behind Nick.
“Umm… ya know… just doin’, uh, stuff…” stammered Nick with a shrug.
The commander cocked his head giving Nick a strange look.
“What’s that brown thing behind you?” asked the commander taking a step forwards.
“Oh, it’s uh, nothing sir…” replied Nick breaking into a cold sweat.
“Sir?” posed the commander raising an eyebrow, “You never call me sir Nick; unless, of course, we’re on mission.”
Now the commander knew that something was up. Nick never called him “commander” or “sir” when they were not on an operation. A few months ago their patrol’s old commander died of an unfortunate cause and the captain had elected Trent out of their patrol to replace him. Because the new commander used to be their rank, and because they were all pretty good friends, he didn’t mind when they were casual with him. But although they were friends Nick knew that the commander’s job came before friendship for him and that he wouldn’t hesitate about turning Nick in.
“That’s the alien test subject isn’t it Nick?” asked the commander as he started advancing towards Nick.
“Listen Trent, you just caught me off guard, that’s all,” replied Nick trying to act cool, “I was ordered to move it to the dissection lab for a final analysis.”
Still looking confused the commander countered, “But during the sleeping hours? And why you? You’re a starplane pilot and a scout…”
“Uh, you know, it was the captain. You heard about how he got angry with me right? Well, for punishment he ordered me to do whatever anybody asks me to do for the rest of the day, and it just so happened that Dr. Mach asked me to deliver this test subject to the dissection lab for him,” lied Nick.
“Ok then…” nodded the commander slowly still looking a little baffled, “Well that’s a first. I’ve never heard of the captain doing that before.”
“Yeah, me neither. I was surprised too,” answered Nick.
“I’ll see ya around then Nick. I was just heading back to my living quarters. I’ve been having a little trouble sleeping lately and sometimes walking around helps,” yawned the commander as he ambled past Nick.
“That was a close one,” thought Nick as he continued down the hall, “I can’t believe that Trent actually fell for that.”
“Were you serious about the whole dissection thing?” asked Dr. Whooves nervously as they finally reached the F-56 docking sector.
“No, but you were scheduled to be dissected tomorrow. That’s why I’m saving you,” replied Nick as he flashed his ID card at a wall scanner that granted him access into the hangar.
Dr. Whooves gulped at Nick’s response as they made their way down the hangar. Nick stopped at a random starplane which he jumped up into followed by Dr. Hooves.
“Thankfully these things can hold up to two passengers,” called back Nick to Dr. Whooves who was now seated behind him.
With that Nick pushed the power button, which had a build in fingerprint scanner to ensure that the person flying the starplane was a certified pilot, and the F-56 hummed to life. He then lowered the top of the starplane locking it into place and creating an air-lock.
“Equestria, here we come!” shouted Nick as the F-56 slowly ascended before shooting out of the Atropos and into the vacuum of space.
But before Nick was able to get more than about 500 miles away from the Atropos his starplane was suddenly hit by something hard. Nick got a sick feeling in his stomach as his main screen beeped a few times before displaying a holographic image of the captain.
“So, Nick, you thought you could just take your little pony friend, steal an F-56 starplane, and then fly back to the planet? Hmmm?” inquired the captain mockingly, “I knew that you didn’t necessarily agree with what I had said, but I had no idea that it would drive you to the point of stealing a starplane. I’ll give you one warning right now Nick; turn back now and your punishment won’t be as bad. But if you don’t then you’ll be guilty of treason and will be punished for treason!”
Nick knew that the punishment for treason was death, and he also knew that what had hit him before was a laser from one of three other F-56 armored starplanes that were following him. So, basically the captain was saying to either turn back now and be severely punished or get shot out of the sky.