//------------------------------//
// 8 - Skirmish in the Void 
// Story: My Little Rogue Trader 
// by Tyrannosaurus_Tux 
//------------------------------//

Azure and I were headed back to the Captain's Quarters. The hallways and elevators that lies between us and our destinations were often crowded with people, people who always stopped to bow at the sight of us. That's a royal privilege for you. Humans, ponies, and more. All looking to me with reverence... and with sadness. They knew I was lost. Did they think I could not lead?

Before I doubted myself even more, alarms sounded. Without waiting for orders, my crewmen (and ponies) sprung into action. Before I could even ask what this newest crisis was, I was spirited away to the Bridge, a magical trick of Princess Azure Fire. I coughed, mind and body still reeling from the impossible compression and decompression of magical teleportation. Hooves helped me to sit down on my Lord Captain's Throne. More flashes of light at my side indicated the presence of my little Princesses. I wait for the feeling of snakes in my gut to subside. "Report," I command.

"We are ready for transition back into real space," said a voice from the Throne. It was Ameliki. "And, Lord Captain... please refrain from... experimenting when we're in the warp. Navigators have difficulty guiding a ship if blinded by... the Rogue Trader's presence." 

I grimaced and rubbed my mouth. "Understood. Sorry," I said, shrinking from his tone of voice. It carried the same long-suffering impatience that a parent would have if a child turned on a bright light inside their car. I blinked at the thought, even as it retreated back into the fog of my mind. "Are we ready, then?" I asked, flexing my hands.

From the chair's vox system came the answer, "We are, Lord Captain."

I breathed deeply. "Get us out of here." At once, I felt rather than saw a rift in the warp ahead of our ship. It was as though a break in the tendril clouds had been forcibly parted, and we escaped through it. 

As soon as the ship left the warp, a pressure on my skull lifted, one that I forgot was even there. Even with our protection, the warp's malice was felt. I was not looking forward to going back in again. I saw the stars again as the window plates lifted.  I smile and shiver. "Thank you, Navigator," I said, absentmindedly. I sat up when I what was an unmistakable sight; a planet, a white pearl suspended in the void. 

At my side, I saw Princess Twilight Sparkle hum, and then announce, "Rogue Trader, welcome to PS-25222-2."

I whistled. "Must not have named it yet. Lucky us.  We'll name it..." I stared at it. "Pearly White, or something."

Giggling, Twilight Sparkle remarked, "Perhaps we will, Rogue Trader. For now, we have our mission. Helmsman, take us in." 

So there was a Helmsman aboard this ship! I saw him, a very pale, augmented old man bow to Twilight Sparkle. I didn't need to do the job of steering this mountain of a ship! I allowed myself a smile. Little victories... Twilight saw my smile and asked, softly, with a laugh, "What? Did you think you had to steer?" I gestured towards the wheel in front of us as I nodded. "Well..." she considered. "Fair enough. I think you can do combat maneuvers with that." She looked at me seriously. "I wouldn't recommend it right now, though."

I nodded. "So where is this artifact? Reginald!"

I waited until the batpony walked up to my throne, and then I heard his report. His voice was professional and level. "The alien object that the Word Bearers were meant to scout out was in orbit of this word, PS-25... Pearly White."

I smirked. Reginald rolled his eyes and departed from the Throne. 

I glanced around the bridge, at all the expectant eyes. "Let's take a look, then. Have we got eyes on anything yet?"

Somebody shouted, "Auspex sweep still in progress!" 

I watched the pearl of a world slowly grow larger in the frontal window. I held up a hand and tried to clutch it. I rubbed it between my fingers and idly thought about how much this planet would be worth to me. That's what a Rogue Trader does, right? He finds a planet and makes a judgment on its value? From here, it didn't resemble a massive celestial object as much as it did a marble I could pluck out of the air and put around my neck, like a trophy. I saw a few metal necklaces laced with marbles back in my Captain's Quarters. It must be a physical collection of worlds that I owned. 

A physical representation of what I was responsible for.  As the planet, dubbed "Pearly" grew larger and larger in the view, it looked less and less like something I could put on a necklace and more like an infinite round canvas, broken up by mountain ranges, valleys... and scars. I was fairly certain what I was seeing might more be described as ravines, but the feeling I got from them was... sad. I couldn't put my finger on why, other than the fact that a planet having scars implies... very not good things. 

Finally, the silence of the bridge manning their stations and everyone not working trying to pierce Pearly with their eyes was broken up by the Auspex guy announcing, "We've got something! Low orbit, but we've got something!"

"Take us over," I called out. "Let's see what brought our Space Marines out here."

Now, Pearly White dominated the view of the windows, with the bridge crew shivering to imagine the cold that would await them down on the planet. The ship itself was pointed towards... something. I must have seen it first. 

A giant structure in space. It was a giant, bone-white, crescent-shaped... thing. It itched my brain to look at it, but I heard Twilight Sparkle gasp loudly. I traced my eyes on some diamond shapes that were built onto the lowest point of the crescent, the function of which I could not even begin to guess. Softly, she said aloud, "It's an Aeldari warp gate."

I turned to my Princess. "Twilight?" 

She shook her head and met my eyes with hers. "It's... an alien gateway, used to access an entirely different dimension of space."

Azure nodded, and added, "The Webway."

Silver Sword scoffed. With no small amount of mockery, she said, "From how dangerous it sounds, it might as well call it 'the white warp', like how we just left 'the purple warp'." My brain hurts now. The Emperor was interested in this stuff... that, I remember. 

"So," I mused. "There's an alien techy thing. Where are the Marines?"

"Auspex reads negative for Legion Astartes ships, Rogue Trader!" 

A mystery, but one whose answers were starting to form in my mind. Aliens, probably. An alarm from one of the terminals. A voice cried out, "Sensor contacts! Hostiles! Closing!" 

Damnit all. 

I wasted no time barking out, "Battle stations!" Red lights blared on, and an alarm horn sounded, strangely familiar. "How many?" I demanded. 

"Three escorts!"

"Seneschal!" I shouted and turned to Spike. "Break their ranks!"

He bowed, and then shouted out more orders with waves of a hand as he reared back up, the other holding a data slate. "Acquire the targets! Flank speed ahead!"

The ship's view wheeled around as we re-oriented to face the closing ships. I couldn't see them yet, but that doesn't change the situation on the bridge. "What sort of aliens are we fighting today?" I asked aloud. 

"From the auspex readings... Drukhari!" Shouted Mister Auspex Guy. 

I leaned over to Twilight, and asked, quietly, "Is that like... 'eldari'?"

She nodded, a grim frown forming on her face. "Very wicked aliens. Resistant to things like kindness or empathy."

Princess Silver Sword concurred, "It's always a mercy kill fighting those things."

Azure couldn't help but chuckle. "It'll never cease to amaze to me that the most effective way to interrogate one is to hold it in a plush room full of nice ponies. Their poor minds can't process it."

Finally, Forest Grace chipped in, saying, "They're cursed by the very entity they're trying to desperately to get away from."

My brain itched. Not now. Whatever these "druccary" are, they're about to get a taste of fury.  

"Fire as she bears, Spike," I said with growing irritation. "I'm in no mood for a prolonged engagement."

With Naval professionalism, Spike straightens out and orders the first weapons to be fired. "Torpedoes away!" I saw points of light eject from our bow, six missiles... torpedoes arcing away and toward the points of light. At once, I finally saw where the enemy ships had to be since their wicked-looking laser guns immediately fired at our volley. More than that, the previously hidden ships now revealed themselves from the darkness, shedding whatever protection from sight must have been used earlier. Spike grinned, as a hunter grins at a prey who just fouled up. 

"Fire lance batteries!"

The ship swings and a supermassive laser cannon beneath the ship fires first, a burst of golden light cutting its way through space to strike at the left-most ship of the formation. It breaks apart in an orange-purple fireball, much to my wide-eyed expression of wonder. The bridge crew cheered, a jubilous sound that cut through the haze of fear that built over me. The two other alien ships broke off, re-engaging whatever it was that shielded them from my sight. The torpedoes tracked targets only they could see, and exploded. It was too much to hope that we'd finish them all off at once, I supposed. 

Before anything else, I thought to shout, "Good hit, crew! Let's have another!" 

Another cheer. Maybe this "void combat" thing was a breeze. 

"They're on our sides!"

I really should stop tempting fate.

The bridge shook as the shields took a battering from the port and the starboard, the hateful energies threatening to pierce the shields and hulls to hurt the ship. My ship. My crew. My breath came in ragged gasps. I saw the two vessels out the windows now, which at this distance looked more like flying gray daggers than anything else.

"Fire broadside lasers!" I shrieked. "Kill them!" 

The turrets on both sides of the ship fired, the same golden light piercing and bracketing the attackers.  They didn't quite explode, but they didn't escape unscathed, either. I even saw bits of pieces fly off and bounce off the ship... they didn't bounce. 

"All hands, we're boarded!" Shouted Spike. "Fire the plasma macros as they bear!" The enemy ships had crisscrossed above the ship's beam, only to find themselves engulfed in blue fire from below the laser guns I could see. They exploded, much to the delight of the bridge crew. The sound reverberated across my bones and unsettled my stomach. How many aliens did we just kill? How many are attacking us on our own ship? 

"Status?" I asked. 

Spike set his slate into a pocket and placed a clawed hand to his ear. After a moment of listening, he reported, "We're seeing fighting on multiple decks. The Militia and the Guard wants blood today. Orders?"

I could imagine, no, hear the sound of distant fighting. Gunshots, screaming... 

"Prisoners are always valuable, Spike," said Princess Twilight Sparkle. "See to it."

I stood up, hand on sword. "Stop the attack," I added. "Any alien that falls into our hands..." I paused. "Will have a most interesting conversation with our Agent."

Princess Silver Sword rolled her eyes. "Throw them to the wolves, why don't you?" 

"Enough," I said. "We rally to the breach points." Everybody stared at me. "What?" 

In answer, I heard Polarscale's voice, calm and even, "Breaching vectors quarantined. Bulkheads sealed. Enemy isolated. Sector autogun turrets online. Gas dispensed at breach points. Sector combat teams deploying..."

I sat down and rubbed one of my wrists. "Oh," was all I had to offer. 

Princess Twilight giggled. "We're very practiced at this, Lord Captain," she reassured me. 

I could still hear the fighting, the dying. Everyone on the bridge was acting so casually. "Don't you hear that?" I asked.

Twilight's ears twitched. She looked around, and asked, "Hear what?" 

"The fighting below," I insisted with a gesture of my hand. 

Azure looked around, and said, worried, "Edo, they're half a kilometer of metal ahead and several decks below us." 

My brain buzzed. A grenade went off below with a rattling bang, but nobody on the bridge noticed. I gripped the seat's armchairs. Was I really so far away that I shouldn't hear it? I gulped. A pair of hooves wrapped around me. It was Forest Grace. "Whatever's wrong," she cooed. "We'll take care of it."

I sure hope so. I saw Spike, who looked at me with studious eyes. I sighed, trying to block the noise of the battle out with my voice. "What's the normal MO for after a space battle, Seneschal?"

At this, Spike allowed himself a small laugh. "We loot, Rogue Trader. We can send out shuttles to take trophies and valuables from the wrecks of their ships. We can send out the shuttles while we scan the planet for signs of the Word Bearer Space Marines."

The fighting had begun to dim. Only a few were left. I nodded. "Make it so," I commanded as I stood, staring at the now-distant gate... thing. I held my hands behind my back. "Perhaps these intruders will hold some clue."

"We can only hope, Rogue Trader," the Seneschal said as he bowed and departed. I continued to stare. My head itches. I closed my eyes. I steadied my breathing.

The ship had finally gone still, aside from the pulse of the engines, the chattering of the bridge crew, the whir of machinery, and... hoof steps moving towards me. I turned to see Twilight Sparkle, who first regarded the gate, then me. She cleared her throat, then suggested, "We ought to deploy a minefield around the gate. Keep any more bad guys from jumping on us."

I nodded, and she departed, presumably to give more orders. I stood on the bridge for a while, the din of battle and the feeling of adrenaline finally leaving my system, leaving me as tired as I ever was since I woke up that fateful day. However, I can sleep when I've found those marines and gotten the ship on its... her way home. I finally thought back to what I knew. A ship, of the Space Marines, came through here, on the orders of the Emperor. Those orders had to do with the gate that I'm now staring at. Was it to confirm its location? Destroy it?

...Use it? I shook my head.

So, if these wicked aliens attacked the Space Marines, and they were outmatched. What next? Did the Space Marines perish? Get captured? That option made my brain itch with ice. I thought briefly about if the Space Marines even needed help, but the fact that we were on a rescue mission put an end to that thought. That just left the system and its lone ice planet. There was a majestic beauty to it, one that promised a long, cold stay. Little wonder, then, that it looked remarkably uninhabited. I thought back to my marble collection... only a few were as white as this world was. 

Old Edo... would you have taken this planet for everything it's worth? I thought for a moment and turned my closed eye inward. Only if there was more to this world than ice and rock. 

I breathed, and Auspex Guy shouted again. 

"Lord Captain! We have a sensor contact with a crash site!" 

Bingo. That'll be the ship, I reckon. 

"Send out scouting parties," I said without hesitation. "We've got to find those Marines."

After another few moments, officers shouting over each other, I hardened my eyes. I rolled my shoulders and started the walk over to and then down the steps to my Throne. I found Twilight conversing with a few men, heavily armed. As she saw me, she walked over and reported, "Minimal casualties, Lord Captain! We've even secured a few prisoners, too."

I nodded, and said, "Good. Reginald will have some fun, I think. Come." I continued walking, my little Princesses on my heels.

"Let us go down together," I commanded. 

Twilight walked in front of me and asked, with fearful eyes, "Are you sure it's a good idea, Rogue Trader? You're still recovering from..." 

I held up a hand. After a moment, I knelt down and cupped Twilight's face with a hand. She leaned into it with closed eyes and sighed. I smirked. "I have to make myself useful sometime, my little Princess," I teased.

Polarscale walked over to me and looked me up and down. "Affirmative," he said. "The Rogue Trader's presence is not required... but exploring new worlds, especially to carry out his missions, is his prerogative."

That's the best friend spirit I'm talking about. I grin. 

"Prior to deployment, the Lord Captain will undergo re-armaments and will equip heavy armor. Is this acceptable?"

I shrug, then nod. 

"Good," Polarscale said as we walked to the elevator.





The shuttle I rode in on was... unusually roomy. I suppose I should be used to the spaces around me being all too roomy. The wide-winged craft held me, Polarscale, and the Princesses. It lightly rocked from the flight. 

I could hear buzzing in Polarscale's ear. The heavy plates I first saw in my bedroom now fit me like a glove, the armored coat making me feel... quite safe... even if the armor itself is almost easy enough to forget about. It had an unnaturally light quality to it, making me wonder if it was even supposed to be considered "heavy" armor at all. But... I could trust Polarscale. I could trust the Princesses. That much... I needed to be able to hold onto, even if I wasn't sure if I should.

A voice from the cockpit, transmitted over an electronic speaker, "Preparing for final approach. Landing zone is clear. First search parties are searching the wreck as we speak. Not much so far, though. Just corpses."

I nodded. "What happens if we don't find any marines at the ship?" I wondered aloud. 

Polarscale looked at me as he pondered the question, then answered, "Statistically unlikely. Astartes are assembled to withstand extreme conditions and extreme hostility."

Assembled?

"As... a matter of fact... supplements, promoting body repair..." mused Polarscale as he rummaged through something. 

I looked over to ask him, "What..." I paused when Polarscale placed a hand on my head to tilt it. I saw his other hand lower an injector. I grimaced at the pinch, then shivered as the injector's contents immediately hit my brain. 

"So what's this? Medicine, or something?" My head felt funny.

"Stimulants," replied Polarscale with a soft smile which turned into a frown as I swayed in my seat. 

I whited out.