“Testing Wolfpack launch package.This is Wolfpack Carter, locking onto test target.”
The main communications screen on the Command Bridge of the Solus Invictus that was normally keyed into buoys that the Fortress had been leaving behind was instead testing the new sensors, a specific part of the vessel that had not been tested since their improvement at Nexus Station. One of the new Wolfpack Frigates, Wolfpack Carter, was on manoeuvres, their targeting array lighting up a nearby asteroid for testing purposes. Twilight stood between Rainbow and Starlight, her XO double-checking each parameter the Carter sent back through the link between the smaller craft and the main array onboard the Fortress, while Rainbow was simply eager to see what all the fuss was about with the new ships. As Twilight turned to give a set of orders, the first salvo of missiles departed from the Carter, forty-odd missiles each impacting with enough force to detonate a small bunker.
“It’s been a month, Twi.”
“I know.”
“And you’re just testing their weapons now?”
“Rainbow, if you recall, we also had a good many optical drives to scour through for information. That and we had to modify the old short-range Void Drives they had. They won’t have the range of the Fortress-based version of the Tunnel Drive, but they’ll be basic lifeboats just in case.”
Twilight, as she finished, floated a dataslate next to her, checking over information on the new drive systems, as something seemed slightly off as she double-checked the power readings. Starlight, looking up, simply shook her head, barking orders to her gunnery team onboard the Carter and making certain they were not simply firing the missiles without proper targeting. As she continued her dressing down of whoever was on the main missile batteries of the Carter, two other Wolfpacks moved into position, two more massive asteroids targeted in the local belt. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, wishing she had been able to send out a remote-controlled Interceptor flight to really test the targeting on those frigates, but Twilight had shot her down almost immediately, citing a constant need for resources draining any flight tests.
“Wolfpack Rockhoof, reporting confirmed solution. Ready to fire.”
“Wolfpack Killian, reporting in with confirmed target. Weapons ready.”
“Killian, Rockhoof, you may fire when ready.”
Two more impressive salvos erupted as both frigates let loose their complements at the same time. Rippling detonations, though only brief, cracked the asteroids into nothing but chunks, leaving blasted rock behind. The centres of each of the asteroids, however, was of far higher priority, massive, glowing clusters of strange composition floating in the vacuum of the void outside. As the Carter approached for retrieval, the Rockhoof and Killian returned to their berths, the massive docking zones finally fulfilling their true purpose instead of simply being the extra storage they had been utilized for beforehand. With a clunking connection, the frigates docked, the test crews disembarking for a full report.
Standing up from the chair she had been seated in for the last several hours, Twilight sighed as she reached down and readjusted her uniform trousers over her cybernetics. It had been a long day-cycle, and her thoughts were only of food and rest, the extensive weapons testing yielding a secondary objective that she was not discussing with some of her crew before they were able to understand what the strange glowing clusters were. Rainbow, turning to watch Twilight leave, quickly followed suit, the clanking of her legs on the metal of the deck plating Twilight’s cue to slow down before her friend tripped and slammed face-first into the floor again.
“Commander has left the Command Bridge. XO Starlight is in command.”
Without a word, Twilight simply turned, entering a Mag-Rail pod and planting herself in the seat as she closed her eyes, shaking her head as she looked around, her eyes landing on Rainbow as she sat herself down, breathing slowly as she glanced over at her commander. Rolling her eyes, Twilight wordlessly motioned up at the Mag-Rail, sighing as Rainbow raised an eyebrow, leaving her to ask the question of the pod’s computer.
“Computer, Cafeteria.”
With a hiss, the doors slid shut, sealing the pod hermetically before sliding off into the distance to where Rainbow knew a hot meal and a good conversation awaited. She had been more alert than the others, but something was certainly going on between Twilight and her security chief, Isaac Humphries. Ever since the first day away from the ice planet installation, it seemed that almost every spare moment was spent together. Rainbow was not as well-versed in relationships as Rarity was purported to be, but even she could see something was sparking between the two, even if it was something completely and utterly egg-headed in nature. Still, it helped to see Twilight smile, as she was still very much a loner compared to most of the crew.
“Still bothered by the reports out of Equus?”
“Bothered or annoyed? The Gryphon Hegemony is facing a disturbingly high amount of Lunarite aggression, while the Solarians, promising peace, gunned down half of a Seven-Day-War Anniversary parade. Celestia and Luna cannot act, as acting would actually legitimize the movements.”
“Isaac pass it along?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow as the pod slid to a stop, her voice choked out as the doors hissed open and the human in question stepping in to take a quick seat. Rainbow, smirking, watched her squirm in her seat as he sat down beside Twilight, seemingly oblivious of the situation he was finding himself in. Isaac, tapping some symbols on a dataslate in his hand, was conversing with one of the scientists down in Engineering, something about engines, the Tunnel Drive and a long distance the only things that Rainbow particularly understood.
“No, the variances are all wrong. Check the insertion ratio. I know you’re using Twilight’s calculations, but we need to- I’m... going to come by later. Keep up the good work, Doctor.”
“I will see you later, Chief. Nine Heavens keep you.”
“Nine Heavens keep you.”
The sudden awkwardness filled the air like a foul stench, choking out any hope of a normal conversation as the three of them stole quick glances at each other before staring down at the floor of the pod. Shaking her head, Rainbow checked a slot on the side of the panel, smiling as she tapped several symbols on her dataslate, the Hands gadget still attached even when she had been told long use was problematic. On the screen, a galaxy-wide-network game simply titled ‘Ghosts of Terra’ began to load, the psychological aspect of the entertainment program of varying popularity among the crew. Logging in, she was dismayed to find that her own character, using a specific scan of herself to be included in the game, had been locked due to something about ‘licensing issues’ or something. Glancing up, she could not help but smile at Twilight placing her head on Isaac’s chest, chuckling as she tapped out the parameters for a new character, smiling until the licensing issue notification popped up.
“Twilight.”
“Hmm...”
“Twilight. They’re having licensing issues with ‘Ghosts of Terra’ again.”
“Oh... uh...” Twilight trailed off as she floated the dataslate from Rainbow’s grasp over to where she could see it. Clear as day with a message blinking across the screen, Twilight’s half-lidded comfortable gaze was nearly instantaneously replaced with a much more serious, and somewhat angry expression, her eyes steely as she sat up. With some rather colourful muttering, she tapped several symbols on the dataslate, bringing up a direct connection with Akane Zvaro-Jun, the one woman in the entirety of the galaxy who had the merchandising rights for the... products that were being created with Twilight’s blessing. As the conversation started, it seemed far less than cordial to Rainbow, whose eyes gradually narrowed as Akane began to speak.
“Commander, I don’t know what you expect me to do-”
“Akane. We signed a contract. You get sole merchandising rights, and you gave two likenesses out to StarFall Studios for Ghosts of Terra. All I’m asking is why the licensing suddenly changed.”
“Such is the way of business, Commander. I’m not going to pretend you have an ear to the ground like I told you to have, but there are dealings behind the scenes that are keeping you in the game. Break our contract, and you’re out to the wolves.”
With that statement, Twilight sat dumbstruck as Akane disconnected, leaving the pod entirely quiet even as more crew members joined the trio inside. Rainbow’s eyes had gone from a simple annoyed and suspicious narrowing to a full-blown bulging out of pure rage, while Twilight’s expression bore the same volume of gaze that one who had dropped their hard-earned ice cream would have. Isaac stared at the dataslate that had slipped from Twilight’s etheric grasp, cracking on the ground. The sparking circuitry did little for the mood inside the Mag-Rail pod, the others who had joined them staring blankly at the damaged dataslate, a scorch mark below where it was laying.
“Business... Business be damned.”
Isaac stood up after his harshly whispered statement, his eyes set as he leaned against the wall of the Mag-Rail pod, his eyes glued to the floor as he sighed, breathing slowly as he centred himself and slowly but assuredly brought his heart rate down. Glancing back at Twilight, he gripped a hand-rail tightly, fury evident on his face as he watched the pod grind to a halt. An alarm briefly sounded, the location barely registered as the trio silently exited, Isaac turning away towards what he believed to be the Fortress’ exercise zone. Twilight turned in the opposite direction as she narrowed her eyes, putting her forehooves behind her in a human-esque fashion, mirroring a motion that she had seen some of the humans take as they pondered a dangerous question.
“Twilight.”
“No.”
“Twilight, you know we can’t break the- Twilight!” Rainbow stepped quickly in front of her friend, her eyes wide as she held her in place.
“Dash, we’ve got one shot.”
“I’ve seen the numbers, Twilight. One more match is all we need to worry about. Those credits will see us through to whatever crazy plan you and that human have made, but we have to see it through. The licensing issues aside, we’re gaining enough traction to do something, and-”
“Dash, I can’t do anything! If I keep pushing for more autonomy with Akane, the Committee pushes back, and we run the risk of losing our contract. Independent Fortresses do not last long in the Games.”
Sinking down against a nearby wall, Twilight stared up at the ceiling, her eyes fogging up as tears began to flow. The amount of stress that had been suddenly foisted upon her, coupled with a severe lack of sleep due to her work with Isaac on plotting the route to what had been fully confirmed as the ‘cradle of humanity,’ and the thought that they could be shut down at any moment had finally slammed into her like a cargo freighter at top speed. Lifting her up, Rainbow took her aside to a small alcove, a seat and a door allowing Twilight to not be visible to some of the individuals on the crew who were far more vocal about their newfound opposition to their commander. Quiet sobs began to emanate from the lavender cyborg as she let herself just cry properly for the first time in what could have been years, though Rainbow was never certain.
“Twi, Twi... come on. We’ve got a good crew, we’ve got the officers to corral the more, well, militant elements, and we do have the Wolfpack frigates from that frozen iceball of a planet. The Committee is determined to make us give up, to forget about- look where we are! We are in space, Twi! How many years would it have been before ponykind was able to see what we’ve seen? We are the first of our planet, every Griffon, Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth-Pony and Changeling onboard, in the stars. You haven’t given yourself time to just sit and look at the stars...”
“You sounded like there was something else you wanted to say, Rainbow.”
“Just that... there were reports from Ponyville about Solarian aggression. Apparently they don’t enjoy your message of friendship now that you are so far from home. It’s almost like they want ponies to tell them what to do, instead of figuring it out for themselves.”
With a dry chuckle, Twilight stood up, the servos in her legs recalibrating as she reared to her cybernetically-enhanced height. Rainbow gave her a half-smile, tapping open the door control before they nearly ran into Starlight, her eyes wild and panicking.
“W-Where have you two been? Isaac’s on a rampage in the simulator! Redheart and Fluttershy have said his vitals are far in excess of what is baseline for his species, and while I don’t actually know what that means, he’s on the verge of either a physical breakdown or complete catatonia. Again, what Redheart and Fluttershy said.”
Glancing at each other, the duo pushed past the second officer, leaving her to glance around before she got her bearings and began radioing to various members of the crew.
--------//|0|\\--------
“Fucking bullshit!”
Twilight ducked to dodge a half-torn punching bag having been tossed in her direction as Rainbow stood beside the doorway they had just entered, the human in question sweating, panting and cursing as he launched fist after fist into the hard-light boxing gear, each confirmed hit growing weaker and weaker as he broke virtual punching bag after punching bag. Twilight’s vision began to register the elevated adrenaline levels, as well as various other chemicals she was not entirely well-versed in. Whatever Isaac was doing, he was pushing his body well in excess of what humans could possibly handle, and was as close to catatonia as Fluttershy had stated to Starlight.
Sinking to his knees, Isaac tossed his boxing gloves to the side, falling forwards onto his stomach to roll onto his back. His chest felt as though it were on fire, his lungs barely drawing in air as he struggled to breathe. Each lungful of air he drew in felt like daggers on his ribs, his body battered from his self-inflicted ordeal. As he stretched out on the ground, he looked up, seeing Twilight shaking her head at him and sighing.
“Commander.”
“Humphries. You mind telling me why your blood-adrenaline ratio is almost twice the lethal limit for most humans?”
“Twice? I could have sworn I was four times the lethal amount,” Isaac remarked, sitting up and slowly shifting himself towards a nearby container, the simulated environment with the annihilated punching bags disappearing. His face fell as he stared at the ground, his eyes dark as he drew his knees to his chest. Without a word of warning, he bounced up, his facial expression barely moving as he stared down the wall farthest from him, as if he was daring the plates of the metal itself to challenge him.
“Isaac.”
“It’s just... this is what they did with the Miner’s Defiance. Cut our contracts, pushed us to the very brink, and then tossed us aside when we were no longer entertaining. I’ve no doubt that the rising anti-Harmony sentiment on your planet is partly their doing – they love to create ‘reasons’ for people to abandon the Games and go home.”
“So that’s it? Just get angry and do nothing?”
“Let me show you something.”
Without another word, Isaac approached a screen on the wall, entering a sequence of numbers that neither Twilight or Rainbow were familiar with. The room shifted as the simulator kicked in, displaying a recreation of some style of orbital battle between massive fleets. Isaac stood at the forefront of the simulation, staring down at the world being recreated from the code. Vessels exploded, interceptors dove, dodged and were destroyed, and he just stared, his eyes never deviating. As Twilight and Rainbow watched on, cracks began to show in the planet as the crust shook apart, both fleets ceasing their combat to attempt an escape.
“This was Arcturus Prime. Independent military consortium planet... and my homeworld. An invasion fleet from a neighbouring planetary coalition deigned it necessary to assault and destroy any hope we had of chasing a dream of freedom. Neither side was responsible for the planet cracking – instead, logs from the battle detected a highly energetic plasma burst emanating from the dark side of the planet, a beam of energy almost identical to those employed on those massive leviathans of ships that the Committee use to ‘keep worlds in line.’ The Enforcers.”
A massive vessel was identified in the footage, the recreation displaying the full size and complement of the craft, as well as the damage that the Enforcer itself took as it escaped from the area affected by the planet’s destruction. Hangar bays holding countless fighter, bomber and interceptor craft, weapon arrays that put even some of the larger Fortresses that Twilight was aware of to shame, and a star-drive that put the theory and practical thinking of her own Tunnel Drive to shame. A comparison was displayed, the Solus Invictus not even a tenth of the size. With the firepower and manpower that the Committee was able to field, she was beginning to get the picture that Isaac was painting.
“If they think they can get away with it, they will destroy everything you hold dear. We can do one more match, but after that, it is either we Tunnel to the Milky Way, or the Committee finds out and sends that after you, after everyone you love, and after your planet. Even the Thalrazyne don’t fight it. Thalra has three moons, but they used to have seven.” Isaac clenched his fist as he finished, tapping out the sequence to suspend the holographic recreation. Twilight glanced at Rainbow, meeting her eyes as the latter stepped back, leaving the Commander to move forwards and sit next to Isaac. Wordlessly, he lifted a dataslate, bringing up the current information about Equus. Short-range telemetry was not displaying anything out of the ordinary, but Twilight’s eyes began to widen as he switched the orbital view over to an infra-red scan. Massive heat signatures showed up, especially one massive one in particular, the exact same shape and drive signature as the massive Enforcer she was aware of.
“Then that means...”
“They’re ready to crack your planet if you ever step out of line and stop marching to their tune. The little squabble between the Solarians and Lunarites, that will be a simple footnote in the history of your world. I... I can’t...” Isaac trailed off as sobs began to wrack his body. Rainbow slowly walked towards the door, making certain the entrance was locked while Isaac continued his breakdown, his body shivering and shaking as he leaned into Twilight, crying on her foreleg’s shoulder as she rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. Something clicked in Rainbow’s head, her eyes narrowing as she glanced back to Twilight and Isaac, remembering the partial information she had gained from her habit of overhearing whenever she rode the Mag-Rail. Slowly walking towards Twilight and Isaac, she smiled as it all fell into place in her mind, the goal that her commander and her commander’s chief of security had been so secretive about. Information that normally would not have locked together in her mind, but for some reason, it made sense. The Tunnel Drive... they were going to push it far beyond its actual limits, and do something no one had ever done before.
“You’re going to jump from our galaxy to... I guess the one where humans come from, aren’t you, Twilight?”
“Rainbow, h-how did you find-”
“Isaac talks low and slow, but I do have a great memory. Isaac was talking about the Tunnel Drive, and maxing out its Magicite capacitor rods, wasn’t he? You’re going to try and burn out the drive, might find out something we can use against the Committee?”
Isaac stopped sobbing, looking straight up at the cyborg pegasus, the human realizing just how much he had integrated into the crew that he had stopped thinking of them as the competitors who had defeated his crew, and more of a new family he was part of. Pushing himself up to a standing position, he wiped his eyes and nose, tensing his face and lips as he slowly nodded. Returning to the simulation panel, he punched in the combination for his and Twilight’s research, creating the visualization of the cross-over between galaxies, a massive endeavour that Rainbow realized she barely understood the scope of. The power calculations alone would have been enormous, and Twilight was smirking as she walked around the beam of light cast from the center of Messier 83 to the edge of what was considered in their Fortress’ database as the ‘Cradle of Humanity,’ or the Milky Way Galaxy.
“This is... this is impossible! That’s a-”
“Supermassive black hole, the same type that exists at the center of almost every galaxy. Using it as a slingshot, we could gain enough momentum for one of the most powerful jumps in recorded history. The Committee sees us as weak, unmotivated, divisive. Let’s give your Coalition something to believe in, shall we?”
--------//|0|\\--------
Twilight waited for the communications buoy to log into the interstellar network, watching as Celestia’s and Luna’s icons pulsed as the request was parsed through several relays, sighing and releasing the breath she was holding as it made it through. Her enthusiasm was quickly dissipated when she saw the exhaustion and pain clearly evident on the faces of the diarchy. Luna was barely holding together, her face a mask of pain, confusion and suffering, while Celestia appeared to have barely slept in the last month from the sheer bags under her eyes. Isaac stepped forward, Rainbow flanking him as the three of them stood in stark contrast, crisp and clean uniforms at the ready.
“My dear Twilight. I wish you had called at a much better time. The reports we sent you via comms-relay were far less accurate than we expected. Swaths of Equestria have seceded to either Lunarite or Solarian control, and there is talk of dark whispers in the north. It appears that something old is returning. Is there any way to delay your match until we can deal with this?”
“I concur with my sister, dear Commander. We sit at the precipice of a new disaster, and our chief means of defence is far away in battle among the stars. We hope that you can return posthaste to assist our endeavour. Coalition Security Forces are far less equipped to deal with a threat that cannot be contained when they can disappear into crowds, and we are loath to simply start arresting our little ponies on account of them possibly being treasonous and loyal to a cause that would not build up our world.”
Twilight pursed her lips, taking the information with trepidation as she breathed slowly, pondering the new data with all the practised resolve of a scientist. The fact that the Solarians and Lunarites had consolidated power so quickly meant that their Earthshot operation could possibly be discovered, and end with the Committee vaporizing the planet out of sheer arrogance. Glancing over at Starlight, she watched her friend slowly nod, and start chattering into an earpiece microphone, grimacing as she sent out various orders, the main shift entering Command quickly and silently as they took their positions, gunnery stations and navigation computers at the ready.
“It is in the opinion of-”
“Twilight, this is your home. They’re tearing it apart, and we have the personnel and equipment to handle it. That and the fact that you can send the Cradle Shipyards you speak so highly of the schematics for the Wolfpack.”
Closing her eyes, she let herself engage in a deep self-conversation, letting her various aspects talk between themselves. All the information available said to her that she should intervene, and possibly be able to see her family again before she had to return to the stars, but more of her was wary, especially since she knew an Enforcer was in orbit. Though some small piece of her wondered if they were there simply to observe, she felt that it was not out-of-character for the Committee to be prepared to assault a world simply out of spite. However, the princesses were waiting for a response, and she was ill-prepared to give a good enough answer. Still, though, she was in charge, and all the pieces were on the board, even the pieces that were not as prevalent as others.
Opening her eyes again, she slid various files over to a ‘File Transfer’ icon, sending new data towards Luna in the Cradle, and tactical information to Celestia in Canterlot. Both sent acknowledgements that they had received the file, though Luna was far more shocked and terrified by some of the information sent to her compared to the calm and collected reaction of Celestia. Each was mirroring the other, unfortunately, in their immediate fear and mistrust of the information sent to them.
“An ‘Arc Cannon?’ This is-”
“Something we picked up on the iceball of a planet we just explored. Gained several of those Wolfpack Frigates I just sent the schematics for as well. Nanotech research is a little beyond us, but its applications are far more likely to be of immediate use.”
“And these ‘Thalrazyne-’”
“Believe in honour, above all else. Sort of like the Minotaur Tribes, when they started working with the Coalition,” Twilight stated, her point having been made. Starlight quietly approached her commander, placing a dataslate in her forehooves. With a sigh, Twilight glanced down, furrowing her brow as she realized the data that was in front of her. Starlight had just run the calculations for a maximum-burn Tunnelling, attempting to return to Equus as fast as possible. It would leave them Drive-less for a period of two weeks, but she was certain it was worth it. The power requirements would burn out almost three-quarters of their Magicite reserves, but the sheer speed at which they would Tunnel was beyond what she expected for capabilities.
“When can we expect you to return, then, Twilight?”
“As a human once said, ‘Look to the skies. When the shadows fall, you will know I am there.’”
With that, the connection was cut, neither from Twilight’s or the side of the Princesses. Something transitioned into Realspace a fair distance ahead of them, many, many small ships flanking several massive cruisers, each easily the size of half of the Fortress. The lights began to shine red, flashing as a klaxon alarm echoed throughout the hallways, Starlight calling all duty stations to confirm their readiness status.
Taking a seat, Twilight narrowed her eyes, staring out at the unknown fleet in front of her. Before she could utter a word, a massive piece of red text declared them to be Red Sun Pirates, apparently an infamous group that would attack anyone if they were paid enough. Gunnery stations began to send out firing solutions, cannons locking on and powering up as Rainbow narrowed her eyes, turning to start running towards one of the hangars.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Those ships will tear through our Field Projectors if we let them get close! Applejack said she had some sort of bomber wing ready to deploy, and I will not let those pirates get close! Deploy every interceptor we have, Twilight! I’ll meet them in the void!”
Twilight could not help but feel a sensation of foreboding and worry – the craft incoming outnumbered their interceptors by a factor of ten to one, and even the Wolfpack Frigates were slower than they were supposed to be in deployment. The Bastion had already shifted into a screening formation, attempting to keep the light bombing craft and enemy interceptors at bay with what appeared to be massive burst cannons, explosions dotting the area in front of the destroyer. Twilight stared at the tactical map that showed up, wings of ships quickly deploying and forming up into squadrons. She prayed and hoped that Rainbow was not taking the vanguard position, hoping that something would protect her.
--------//|0|\\--------
“All right, Eagle Wing! Form on me, we’re gonna slam straight up the middle, take on that torpedo boat! If those warheads get through, the Bastion is dead, and the Solus Invictus will be next! We need to buy time for the Wolfpacks to deploy and get into position! For Equestria!”
“For Equestria!”
If Rainbow was willing to admit, she felt a modicum of fear. She barely had enough metal to block a singular rail-cannon round, and any fire she took from one of the vessels larger than a frigate would rip her to pieces. Still, she barely trusted the reaction time of a quick-grown clone, and even less the signal lag between her and one of the Clone Avatars she would have used during a match. Her eyes narrowed as she linked into her bomber, the main engine array warming up and burning bright as she pushed the craft beyond its limits, her wing-ponies barely keeping up as she dove, twisted and twirled through incoming weapons fire, her heart-rate increasing exponentially the closer she got to a quick explosive decompression of a death. She could not let Twilight down, she would not let her down.
“Friends do for each other what they’re willing to. That’s how it works, Twilight.”
“TacNet established. Eagle Wing, proceed to target one-fourteen, Torpedo Frigate configuration.”
“Roger, flight. Eagle Wing, one-fourteen! We’re weapons free, let’s slam these bozos!”
Energy trails lanced off her wings as she dove and spun, the sheer directionless nature of space barely mattering to her as she felt more alive than she ever had before. The bomber was a part of her, and she was its master. Two lives, one of metal and motion, the other of meat and mettle. She smiled, right up until something slammed into her right side.
Tumbling around, she felt her harness disconnect, the explosive payload she carried disembarking through what amounted to a lack of outer plating, shells rocketing past as she panicked, trying to undo the harness before the inevitable destabilization of the bomber’s onboard fusion plant occurred. Seconds began to feel like hours as everything seemed to slow down, her mind logging every possible variable. She chuckled, wondering if Twilight saw the world like that constantly, but was brought back to reality by a countdown, the fusion plant reaching critical loss of containment. With a slow breath, she pulled her cockpit release, blazing out of the cockpit on a thruster sled, narrowing her eyes as something whizzed past, another object grazing her helmet just enough to create minor cracks.
“No, no no no no! I can’t go out like this! I can’t-” Rainbow’s voice was cut off as her helmet’s faceplate exploded outwards, sucking every breath she could have had out of her lungs. She could feel herself choking, suffocating in the vacuum of space as she felt herself slipping. Interceptors and bombers whizzed past, her comrades and fellow pilots risking and losing their lives to defend against the pirates that were making a concerted effort to destroy everything they had worked for. Closing her eyes, she felt her heart rate race, and then begin to slow down. She could hear voices, but she could not determine their origin, her mind fogging up and blanking as she simply floated away on the solar winds of the void.
“Rainbow!”