Chapter 1: Lyra
Nearly everypony captured by the Bolkarn was used as slave labor in their many mines across the galaxy. I was lucky to escape that fate.
– Extract from When We Saw the Universe by Twilight Sparkle
The Dominator II hung above the planet Krankor. It was the only thing that could be seen in the planet’s sky, it didn’t even have a moon. The Dominator II was a long triangular spaceship, its shape splitting in half and ending in two points at the front. The ship had once been coated in gleaming gold paint but now most of that was gone, giving way to dank grey metal which was covered in uncountable battle scars. Dotted along the ship’s hull was a series of windows and doors, some of them lead to airlocks while others concealed the ship’s weaponry. The largest door was at the rear of the ship, just below its engines. This door led to the ship’s hanger bay, which began to open.
The thick slab of metal tilted downwards, any sound it would’ve made muted by the vacuum of space. As it opened it slowly revealed the gleaming lights of the hanger bay, like a beacon in the darkness. The hanger was full of countless ships of varying sizes, fighters, bombers, carriers, and many others. Ten carriers rose up from the floor and one by one shot through the open door. The carriers were simple grey blocks with a few windows dotted along the side. The only deviation from this basic shape was a cockpit mounted on the front, almost as though that had been an afterthought. The carriers were covered in almost as many scars as the Dominator II, though unlike their mother ship nobody had bothered to paint them with the exception of the large white numbers that adored each of them. The Carriers were used to transport troops, traveling a short distance from their mother ship parked in orbit to the surface of the planet below. That is, assuming they survived the journey.
Lyra was seated aboard Carrier 3. She was nervous; then again she always was before these assaults. There wasn’t much room to move about in her seat and everyone on board was packed in very tightly. Of course with missions like this it was best to try and fit as many in a carrier as you could. The black body armor she was wearing was also rather tight and not particularly comfortable but she’d gotten used to that over time, though she’d never been sure about her horn which stuck out through a hole in her helmet. It felt exposed; she thought it would be far too easy for it to be torn off in the heat of battle. She heard the built in radio in her helmet crack into life. Several of her companions winced as theirs did the same. Then Captain Twilight Sparkle spoke to them all.
“All right everypo... everyone, you all know the drill by now,” she said. “According to our sources there’re nearly a hundred slaves in these mines. We’ve also been told that the Bolkarn are using this planet for weapons storage so if you find any give us the location and get everyone away. We’ll send some Bombers down to deal with them. Understood?”
“Yes Captain Sparkle,” they all said in various languages.
“And Sergeant Heartstrings... Lyra.” Lyra’s ears pricked up as the captain addressed her (not easy when you’re wearing a helmet). “I haven’t been able to confirm this but... I think she’s here.”
Lyra felt her heart jump slightly.
“Thank you captain,” she said quietly.
“Heartstrings,” she heard O-Kaarn’s voice, not over the radio but in her head.
“I know, don’t let my own feelings get in the way of the mission.”
“Well yes, that too. But I was going to say good luck finding her, I hope you do.”
“Thanks O-Kaarn.”
Lyra glanced out of a small window on the opposite wall. She could see the planet getting closer to them. She’d heard a few things about Krankor, it used to be referred to as ‘The Dark Planet’. Lyra had seen and heard of several planets that could easily be described that way and Krankor certainly wasn’t one of them. Apparently there’d once been a small civilization on the planet. Lyra had heard the people of Krankor being described as evil, corrupt, proud, egotistical and very incompetent. Several decades ago the whole civilization had been suddenly wiped out, how exactly nobody knew or cared. Nobody missed them. Sometime after that the Bolkarn had moved in and set up their usual mining operation.
The carrier gave a slight jolt as it penetrated the planet’s atmosphere. Lyra could hear the air buffeting against the sides as it continued downwards making the whole thing shake violently. She heard loose components being jolted around in their place and she shut her eyes tight, willing the Carrier to stay in one piece. Of course she knew that if it did hold together there was worse to come. The ship gave a sudden lurch and almost flipped over as something hit its underside, they were under attack. They all knew that was going to happen sooner or later. More explosions rocked the carrier which began to return fire. Lyra felt completely useless, all she could do was just sit there and hold on tight while the ship was buffeted from nearly every angle. She gritted her teeth, desperately wanting to get into action. Then things started to go wrong. They heard the engines start to sputter and rattle, and then they gave out. Looks of horror spread across the faces of everyone on board that had a face as the carrier began to plummet.
NO! Not now, Lyra thought. Not when I was so close!
A speaker mounted just about the door to the cockpit gave a crackle and the panicked voice of the pilot came through it.
“We’ve lost the engines,” he said.
“Yeah, we noticed,” Lyra muttered.
“I’m going to try and set this thing down as best I can.”
The carrier shook and Lyra through the small window saw a wing metal folding out. They were going to glide down to the ground. The carrier continued to shake and rock as more gunfire struck its hull. Lyra thought she heard something behind her break, it sounded like something important. She had a bad idea about what it was. The whole carrier started to roll over several times. Lyra could hear the pilot shouting but couldn’t make out what he was saying over all the sounds of the wind and gunfire striking the carrier. Finally the carrier hit the ground in mid role, landing on one edge before tipping back onto its base. It skidded across the planet’s surface before finally coming to a halt when it collided with something. The carrier lurched and something in the cockpit smashed.
There was a mass exhaling of breath amongst them, they were all glad to be alive. Then they were having orders shouted at them and they all unstrapped themselves. Lyra and another pony, a stallion Earth pony, were ordered to check the cockpit. The force of the crash had jammed the cockpit door and they had trouble getting it open. When they finally opened it they found the cockpit empty. The pilot was gone along with his seat and one of the windows had been smashed. The seat was lying a small distance from the ship and the pilot a little further away. He wasn’t moving. In the distance Lyra could see Carrier 1 coming into land, taking just as much fire as they had but it was still in one piece. As the carrier descended a group of Bolkarn came over the rocks, heading straight for them.
From that distance Lyra could only make out the faint shapes of the Bolkarn but she’d seen enough of them to know what they looked like. The Bolkarn were humanoids that stood at around eight feet high with jet black skin and vast bulging muscles that gave them an enormous bulk. They all wore very basic black metal armor though the armor didn’t cover their entire bodies. The Bolkarn began to open fire on the downed carrier. Lyra and the other pony ducked behind the control console as bullets ricocheted off the ship, some coming through the broken window. Lyra could hear the others returning fire.
“Let’s go,” she said to the stallion and the two of them darted through the cockpit door and headed out of the carrier.
Outside there was chaos. The air was full of the sound of gunfire and ricocheting ammunition. The different noises mixed together and echoed off the rocky landscape. Lyra drew out her own gun and dived behind a rock with the stallion close behind her and they both began opening fire. Being an Earth pony the stallion couldn’t use a normal gun, you’d need hands and fingers for that. Instead he had a specially designed weapon strapped to one of his legs. The trigger was a large round button that he pressed with his other hoof. These were only used by Earth ponies and Pegasi though since unicorns like Lyra could just carry and fire a gun with magic, though Lyra didn’t need to.
The sound of bullets and energy blasts was almost deafening. Lyra didn’t like bullets; bullets were messy and agonizing if they didn’t kill you instantly. In fact, that was the only positive Lyra saw about being struck with one, there was a small chance that you might survive. Of course immediately after being shot with one you’d be in so much pain you’d probably wish you were dead anyway and what little time you had left wouldn’t be pleasant. Energy blasts on the other hand were quite different. An energy blast would kill you immediately. No blood, no mess, no pain, at least Lyra assumed there’d be no pain. An energy blast could also be set at a different intensity to only paralyze or stun your target rather than outright killing them.
Suddenly a hail of Bolkarn gunfire came straight towards their hiding place. They both ducked behind the rock, covering their heads as the bullets slammed into it or sailed straight over their heads. Lyra shouted something to the Stallion but he didn’t seem to be able to hear her, she could barely hear herself. Lyra’s horn lit up and her gun floated into the air, stopping just above the top of the rock. Then the trigger was squeezed and a volley of energy blasts burst forth from the barrel. She couldn’t aim it; instead she just swung it round randomly and hoped it was pointing in the general direction of the enemy. Then the sounds changed. The amount of Bolkarn gunfire had suddenly decreased.
“I guess that worked,” Lyra muttered to herself.
She peeked over the rock and quickly ducked back down again as a shot came her way. But she’d had enough time to see several dead Bolkarn lying amongst the rocks. The two of them began to open fire again, this time with fewer Bolkarn to worry about they concentrated their barrage on specific targets, though not the same ones at the same time. Fighting like this reminded Lyra of playing arcade games when she was a filly. Back then she’d mostly go for first person shooters but she wasn’t particularly good at them and never got on the scoreboard. Of course for those games she’d been firing magic at various monsters rather than blasting aliens with a gun. When playing those games she’d often be rather reckless. When you were attacked by an enemy you were supposed to duck for cover. Lyra would just stand there and continue shooting at them while they shot back and eventually killed her. She wasn’t going to make that sort of mistake now. She stayed behind the cover of the rock as more and more Bolkarn fell until finally there were none left here and orders came through their radios to advance.
They rushed forward, scrambling over rocks until the mine came into view. The mine was a vast hole in the ground that had been dug out over goodness knows how much time. The place was honeycombed with various tunnels leading deeper into the rock. Bits of equipment and machinery lay scattered about the place and in the distance at the top of the hole was a series of wooden huts, presumably where the slaves slept.
Well at least they let them sleep under a roof, Lyra thought, bad memories of cold rainy nights bubbling up at the back of her mind.
Down at the bottom of the mine a few of the squads where already fighting the Bolkarn and some of the slaves had joined in. And not just ponies, there were dozens of different creatures. Some great, some small and others incredibly bizarre in Lyra’s opinion! The Carrier 3 squad charged down into the mine to join them, all guns blazing. The few Bolkarn that weren’t occupied returned fire. Lyra could feel bullets bouncing off her helmet and one metal limb while others embedded themselves in her body armor. The stallion that’d been beside her tripped over as they went and his helmet flew off, almost immediately a bullet shot straight into his head. Lyra didn’t stop charging, there’d be time to think of the dead later assuming she wasn’t among them.
When Lyra reached the mine’s floor she immediately ran for some cover. There was a dead Bolkarn lying nearby which she dived behind. They were pretty big, much bigger then ponies anyway, so the body was suitable protection from the chaos around her. Blasts from her weapon joined the cacophony of noise that echoed around the mine. Some shots came her way but there was far too much going on for the Bolkarn to focus specifically on her. Another pony joined her behind the dead Bolkarn, an Earth pony named Battle Plan.
“You enjoying yourself?” she asked him.
“You bet I am!” Even if he hadn’t spoken the large grin plastered over his face would’ve given her the same answer.
A group of slaves came rushing out of a nearby tunnel, knocking down a Bolkarn who was unfortunate enough to get in their way. Noticing there were a few ponies amongst them Lyra was struck by a hunch. She grabbed one of the ponies as they ran past.
“Anybody else in there?” she asked them.
“I think so,” they said after a second, momentarily surprised by Lyra’s left forelimb which they were now gawking at.
“Thanks.” Lyra let them go and then turned to Battle Plan. “I’m going in there, cover me will you.”
Battle Plan nodded and Lyra charged straight for the tunnel. She didn’t stop running until she was at least ten feet into it. She took the opportunity to catch her breath and let her eyes adjust to the darkness. There was a time when she’d have lit the way with her horn but she’d learnt that that wasn’t a good idea. The light would only stretch a short way and her eyes would adjust for the light so they couldn’t see anything that it didn’t touch. Letting her eyes adjust for the darkness allowed her to see a lot more.
Lyra walked down the tunnel slowly and cautiously. The further down she went the quieter the sounds of the battle raging outside became and she noticed that the tunnel sloped downwards slightly. She kept looking left and right as she went, taking note of various side tunnels that didn’t seem to go very far as she went along. The first sign of life she came across was a Bolkarn lying on the floor. He was still conscious but clearly in a lot of pain, his breathing was heavy and he kept letting out weak moans. Lyra saw a pickaxe embedded in his torso with blood gushing from the wound. Lyra gave him a quick blast of her weapon after switching its power setting so that it would only stun him before proceeding onwards.
She didn’t know how long she’d been in that tunnel for or how far down she’d gone. She had been counting the number of side tunnels she’d passed but lost count after running into the injured Bolkarn. Then a sound made her stop. She stood there, listening. She could hear someone breathing and it didn’t sound like a Bolkarn. She glanced around looking for where the sound was coming from. She spotted a side tunnel and galloped down it. This one seemed longer then some of the others. As she continued into the tunnel she spotted something ahead of her. At first she couldn’t quite tell what it was except that it seemed to be white. As she got closer she realized it was a pony, and then she realized which pony it was. She decided that now she should light up her horn.
“BON BON!” Lyra shouted as she drew closer, probably a bit too loudly as it echoed around the tunnel.
Bon Bon looked up and saw a unicorn clad in black body armor with their face obscured by a dark helmet visor racing towards her. She gasped and backed away as Lyra came to a stop.
“Hey, relax sweetie,” Lyra said levitating her helmet off. “It’s me.”
Bon Bon’s face immediately switched from an expression of fear to one of sheer joy, she threw herself towards Lyra and flung her front legs round her neck and kissed her.
“You’ve no idea how much I’ve missed that,” Lyra said while stroking Bon Bon’s now rather dirty and untidy mane.
“I can probably gue– uh!” Bon Bon collapsed; the strength she’d managed to muster a moment ago had gone.
Lyra looked over her, Bon Bon was a mess. Her coat and tail were just as dirty as her mane and she was covered in cuts and bruises.
“I know,” Bon Bon said. “I look terrible.”
“No worse than I did when they got me out of a mine. In fact, I was definitely a lot worse.”
“Oh? Just how bad were y... what the hay is that?” Bon Bon had just spotted the mechanical limb that was where Lyra’s left foreleg should’ve been.
“What this?” Lyra waved the limb about, it emitted a few whirring sounds as it moved. “It’s an arm. I have an arm now. Arms are cool.”
Lyra grinned and wriggled her fingers at Bon Bon. Bon Bon just face hoofed.
“How did that happen?” she asked.
“I... I don’t want to talk about that,” Lyra said.
“How did you even get here?” Bon Bon asked.
“I joined the resistance. There’s a load of us outside right now fighting off the Bolkarn. I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”
“That would explain why all the Bolkarn rushed out suddenly. Everypony else just followed them when we were left alone. I was just too exhausted to follow them.”
“Well we need to get you out of here then.”
Bon Bon tried to stand up but collapsed again almost immediately. Lyra lifted Bon Bon up with some magic and placed the exhausted mare onto her back before putting her helmet back on.
“Thanks,” Bon Bon said.
“I’ll go slowly, but hold on tight.”
“Ok.”
“And I’ll need to check to see if there’s anyone else in this tunnel first.”
Lyra set off down the rest of the tunnel, it took longer than it really should’ve done but she didn’t mind, she was just glad that she’d found Bon Bon after all this time.
“How did you even know I was here?” Bon Bon asked her after she’d checked a fourth side tunnel.
“Actually I didn’t, we’ve just been raiding mines at random while I just crossed my fingers hoping you’d be there.”
“Oh.”
“But on the way down Captain Sparkle said she thought you might be here. Though I don’t know how she knew.”
Eventually they came to the end of the tunnel and since they hadn’t found anyone else they headed back to the exit. On the way out Lyra realized something, if there was still a battle going on outside Bon Bon didn’t have any kind of protection and sitting on Lyra’s back she’d be a pretty easy target and if Lyra made a quick dash for any nearby cover Bon Bon might accidentally fall off. She remembered the Bolkarn she’d found earlier, she thought about maybe taking his body armor and giving it to Bon Bon. But that probably wouldn’t work since the armor would be much too big and heavy for her. As they got closer to the exit Lyra realized that she needn’t have worried. The sounds of the battle had stopped but that didn’t mean they’d won. A few feet from the tunnel entrance Lyra set Bon Bon on the ground.
“Stay here, I’ll go see what’s happened,” she whispered.
Bon Bon just nodded and Lyra dashed off outside. Almost immediately she ran into Battle Plan.
“There you are,” he said. “I was just about to come and find you.”
“Well you’ve found me now, so what happened?”
“In short, we won.”
“How many did we lose?”
“I don’t know yet, best guess maybe about twenty.”
There were certainly a lot of bodies littered around the place, mostly Bolkarn though there were also quite a few slaves amongst the dead. The survivors were either herding Bolkarn prisoners out of the mine or gathering up the bodies, several others were leading (or sometimes carrying) slaves out of the tunnels. A few of the Carriers had been brought closer to the mine. Lyra saw Carrier 2 touchdown close to the edge while another, a little further away, took off and headed into the sky.
“It’s gonna take a lot of trips with the Carriers to get everyone back up there,” Battle Plan said.
“And we lost Carrier 3 too.”
“Yeah, I heard. So did you find anybody in there?”
“Just the one, guess who.”
Battle Plan’s eyes widened. “You mean...”
“Yep. I’ll go and get her.”
Lyra bounded back towards the tunnel and returned with Bon Bon on her back.
“So you’re Bon Bon,” Battle Plan said. “It’s nice to meet you at last.”
“You know who I am?” Bon Bon said, slightly surprised.
“Oh, I talk about you rather a lot,” Lyra told her.
“In fact sometimes it’s hard to get her to shut up,” Battle Plan said, and they all laughed.
“There’s a wounded Bolkarn in that tunnel,” Lyra told Battle Plan. “We’ll take a few others in there and bring him out. I stunned him but he might have woken up by now. I’ll join you once I’ve dropped Bon Bon off, where are the slaves being picked up?”
“We’re gathering them by the mine’s entrance.”
“Thanks, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Lyra headed over to the mine’s entrance and sure enough there was a small crowd of slaves of various different species there with a few ponies mixed in.
“So what happens now?” Bon Bon asked as Lyra set her down next to the crowd.
“I’m just going to leave you here for now while I help clean things up,” Lyra told her. “A carrier will take you up to our ship though I guess you’ll have to wait a while.”
“You’re going already?”
“I know, I don’t want to leave you again but I’ve got work to do. I’ll head back here when I’m done, but if you’re not here then I’ll see you back on the ship. Then we’ll have plenty of time together, ok?”
“Ok.”
“Good.” Lyra gave Bon Bon a quick kiss on the forehead. “See you soon sweetie.”
Lyra hadn’t returned by the time Bon Bon was put on board a Carrier with a bunch of other rescued slaves. The ride up to the Dominator II was a little rough, apparently the carrier had been damaged on the way down so it wasn’t working as well as it should. When they finally arrived they were immediately led out to the back of the hanger where a series of lifts were waiting for them. Before boarding one Bon Bon looked back to see the Carrier taking off again to bring back another batch of slaves.
All the slaves were led to the ship’s medical section, a lot of them were injured or just in poor condition from being overworked and underfed so they did need an examination. While she was there Bon Bon noticed that nearly every member of the crew was wearing a headset mostly made of white plastic save for a transparent orange visor that crossed over their eyes. The headsets also wrapped round the back of their heads with two bits that stuck into each ear. While Bon Bon was being looked over by one of the medics, who happened to be another pony, Lyra arrived. She was also wearing one of those headsets.
“How is she?” Lyra asked.
“She’ll be fine, she just needs some rest and a few decent meals that’s all,” the medic told her. “So she’s ok to leave now.”
“Thanks,” Lyra said. “Can you walk now, or do you want me to carry you again?” she asked Bon Bon.
“I’m fine walking,” Bon Bon replied. “But I wouldn’t mind if you carried me.” She gave Lyra a wink while she said that.
Lyra chuckled and headed out of the room with Bon Bon walking alongside her.
“I think we’ll head to the ship’s canteen,” Lyra said. “And while we’re there I can probably introduce you to some of my friends.”
The canteen was on a different level from the medical section so they headed towards an elevator at the end of the corridor. Lyra mentioned that there were shafts with ladders here and there on the ship but completely vertical ladders don’t mix well with hooves. Along the way Bon Bon noticed that some of the lights were flickering slightly, one of them had fallen off the wall and was now lying on the floor being completely ignored, and once they’d gotten in the elevator the lights in there flickered and went out. Lyra’s only response to that was a muttered “Not again!” Fortunately the elevator itself still worked.
The canteen turned out to be very close to the elevator, though there didn’t seem to be any indication of where it was. There was no sign on the door; in fact there weren’t any signs anywhere. All the corridors and doorways looked almost exactly the same.
“Yeah, you can get lost in here pretty easily,” Lyra said when Bon Bon commented on this. “There are some bits of the ship I’ve never seen and some bits I’ve only been to because I got lost! But it doesn’t take long to just memorize where everything you need to know about is.”
The door to the canteen opened by itself... almost. It got stuck after only opening partway, Lyra applied a bit of magic to force it open.
“Does that happen a lot?” Bon Bon asked.
“You have no idea!”
The canteen was incredibly noisy when they stepped through the door. It was packed full of various beings including a few ponies. Most of them were wearing the same headsets Bon Bon had seen on Lyra and other crew members.
“Hi everybody,” Lyra shouted at the crowd.
They all responded with what Bon Bon assumed was ‘hello’ but aside from the ponies they were all speaking in various different languages that she didn’t understand. Some of them weren’t even using regular speech, instead they communicated with growls or squeaks and other random noises. Bon Bon was all too aware of the language barrier since she’d encountered several different creatures that didn’t speak English in the mines and hadn’t been able to learn any of their languages. Lyra didn’t seem to be having any trouble understanding them at all. Lyra led Bon Bon over to the end of the room where several trays of food were waiting. It all looked artificial, mostly consisting of a thick liquid full of lumps of... something, and all in various random colors.
“Don’t worry, looks can be deceiving,” Lyra told her as they sampled some of it.
They found themselves places at a table where Battle Plan happened to be eating. He and Lyra began introducing Bon Bon to the various others that were there, of course aside from the ponies she couldn’t understand what any of them were saying to her with one exception.
“It’s good to finally meet you at last, I’m glad Lyra finally found you.”
Bon Bon almost jumped out of her seat when she heard that. It hadn’t come from any of the others; she’d heard it inside her head.
“I think you scared her O-Kaarn,” Lyra said.
Bon Bon looked round and saw a large sphere floating a few inches off the floor, its body covered in various swirling colors, mostly oranges, reds and browns. There was another smaller sphere floating round it, this one was a solid pale purple. Bon Bon saw a lump of food float out of a tray on the table in front of it and into the swirling mass of colors which rippled slightly as it passed through them.
“Bon Bon, this is Lieutenant Raarf O-Kaarn,” Lyra said. “His race is called the Orbitals, they communicate telepathically.”
“What does that mean?” Bon Bon asked.
“This is what it means,” said the voice in her head.
“Oh!”
“Don’t worry, I was a little surprised first time round too,” Lyra told her, giving her a pat on the back.
“I do understand it is a little hard to get used to for a non-telepathic life form,” O-Kaarn said.
After everybody had been introduced they all began talking about the mission to Krankor. Bon Bon just sat eating quietly. She wasn’t entirely sure about joining in with a conversation where she didn’t understand what most of those involved where saying though Lyra, Battle Plan and O-Kaarn would sometimes translate some bits for her. Lyra had been right about the food, while Bon Bon had no idea what she was eating it tasted alright and she was glad to have a decent meal for the first time in goodness knows how long.
It wasn’t until at least half an hour after they’d both finished eating that they finally left the canteen. A few of the others had departed beforehand and some more crew members had turned up. Lyra set off down the corridor away from the elevator and Bon Bon followed close behind her.
“My cabin is on this floor,” she told Bon Bon. “So we don’t have to worry about that elevator this time. It’ll probably break down altogether anyway… again. Anyway, what did you think of them all?”
“They seem alright,” Bon Bon said. “But I’m impressed that you could understand everypony. I didn’t expect you to be able to learn all those languages.”
“Everybody, Bon Bon.”
“Huh?”
“Say ‘everybody’. We dropped ‘everypony’ because a lot of the time not everyone present is a pony, so it would just seem a little silly.”
“Oh, I’ll try and remember that.”
“And to be honest, I haven’t learnt all those languages.”
“So how did you understand what everyp... sorry, everybody was saying?”
“This thing,” Lyra said tapping the headset she was wearing. “It translates everything being spoken for you. And I’ve got a spare one waiting back in my cabin. When I was given it I insisted on having another one for you when we were together again.”
“It looks rather uncomfortable.”
“Actually if it didn’t have the visor I don’t think you’d notice it was there at all. Besides it’s either one of these or sticking a fish in your ear.”
“Oh. Wait, what?”
“Don’t ask.”
They stopped outside a door that Bon Bon noticed had a crude attempt at Lyra’s Cutie Mark drawn on it and a drawing of her own just underneath it. Like with the canteen the door opened of its own accord though this one didn’t get stuck. The room itself wasn’t very big and it was rather bare. There was a shower in one corner, a few shelves built into the walls which were mostly empty and a bed in another corner.
“Bed’s only big enough for one I’m afraid,” Lyra said. “But I’ll let you have it, I’ll sleep on the floor. And you can use the shower if you like.”
“You bet I will!”
Bon Bon hadn’t had a chance to wash herself in over a year. It turned out she was a lot dirtier then she thought and she ended up taking longer in the shower then she expected. When she was done she looked around for a towel but couldn’t find one. Then an unexpected blast of hot air came from the different sides of the shower which dried her pretty quickly. When she stepped out she saw that Lyra had laid out some spare blankets on the floor that she’d extracted from a draw under the bed. She’d also taken off her arm which was now plugged into a small stand on a small table by the bed.
“It needs recharging,” Lyra explained. “It draws some of its power from my body’s own energy but that’s not really enough to keep it running so it needs its own power source.”
They heard something in the ceiling crackling, and then a voice came from a speaker mounted in the middle of it.
“Attention all crew, night period begins in ten minutes,” it said, and then it repeated the statement before shutting off.
“Night period?” Bon Bon asked.
“Yeah, up in space there’s no actual day or night so we have to make our own. They both last for ten hours each. So, time to get some sleep.”
Bon Bon felt a little confused about that. It’d been early morning when Lyra had rescued her from Krankor and that had only been a few hours ago. She did feel tired though mostly from exhaustion from working in the mines but that wasn’t as major as it had been earlier. She decided to go with it and climbed into the bed as Lyra pulled the blankets on the floor over herself.
“So, what are we doing tomorrow?” Bon Bon asked.
“Right now we’re heading to Xentrill,” Lyra said. “That’s pretty much our base planet. It’s suspended in Hyperspace.”
“In what?”
“Hyperspace.”
“What on earth is that?”
Lyra scratched her head with her right hoof. “Oh how do I explain this,” she muttered. “What did Captain Sparkle say it was... oh yeah, everywhere and nowhere and... what was the rest?”
“Huh?”
“I know, I don’t really get it either. All I really know is that it’s the best place to hide from the Bolkarn.”
“So they don’t know about Hyperspace?”
“Oh they know about it alright, they just don’t know which bit of Hyperspace it’s in. It’s like looking for a needle in a desert.”
Bon Bon laughed.
“One thing though.” Lyra now sounded very serious. “If we ever get separated from the Dominator II or any other ship we happen to be on the rule is we make our way back to Xentrill. And for that you’ll need the right Hyperspace coordinates so you should memorize them just in case.”
“Oh, what are they then?”
“914-621H,” Lyra said.
“914-62...” Bon Bon repeated, but fumbled on the last bit.
“...1H,” Lyra finished for her. “914-621H.”
Bon Bon repeated it again, getting the whole thing right this time. She repeated it a few more times until she was sure she’d remember it, then the speaker came to life again announcing the start of night period and the lights dimmed.
“Well good night then sweetie,” Lyra said, lying down and closing her eyes.
“Lyra,” Bon Bon said.
“Yeah?” Lyra looked round to see Bon Bon looking at her with a wide smile spread across her face, she’d lifted up part of the blanket on the bed and had backed up against the wall. “Come here.”
Lyra smiled. “Bon Bon, I told you that bed’s only big enough for one.”
“I can make room.” Bon Bon winked at her.
Lyra chuckled and climbed in beside her. There was only just enough room for both of them. Bon Bon wrapped both her forelegs around Lyra and pulled her as close as possible and then kissed her hard.
“You know,” Lyra said when they broke apart. “Sometimes... sometimes I have nightmares, nightmares about what’s happening to you.” She shivered slightly as she said this.
“Sometimes I’d find you dead or close to it only for you to die when I finally get to you. Or sometimes I’m running through caves calling your name and you’re calling back. But I can’t find you.”
Bon Bon pulled her close again, and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.
“And there was one where you were dead but then you stood up and attacked me shouting about why I didn’t come to save you.”
Lyra was crying now, Bon Bon wiped away some of her hears with a hoof. Then she brushed over the metal socket for Lyra’s arm. She looked at it sadly.
“And you know what the worst part was,” Lyra continued.
“What?”
“Waking up and finding that you weren’t there beside me.”
Bon Bon kissed her again.
“Well I’m here now,” she said quietly.
“I know.” Lyra smiled.