A quartet of escape pods landed hard on the moon’s surface. The deafening roar of reentry blinds the survivors to everything but the noise. Retro thrusters had taken the edge off the impact that still kicks up clouds of ruddy red dust. The inside of Wiggly Sprocket’s pod was dimly lit by red emergency lights, and she was furious. Once the pod finally came to a rest, she felt unbearably heavy. Every movement was taxing, but in that moment she didn’t care. Fueled by her rage, she unbuckled herself and marched for the exit. Thankfully, the button rested near the new floor and she kicked it. Two explosive bolts fired, opening the door so fast it nearly broke the hinges.
A mix of thin brown and rusty dust and a dense atmosphere awaited her. It was bitterly cold outside as well, and she was only kept from death by her suit. Utter unaccustomed to such high gravity, Sprocket tripped trying to exit the pod. She fell flat on her face, and the impact was so hard it made her teeth rattle. More than pain, the mare from space was as alien to the moon as its barren surface was to life. Everything hurt as gravity over three times what she had ever experienced threatened to press her into the frigid loose dirt underneath her. Sprocket’s lungs struggled to take in air, her guts pulled her abdomen taut, her heart hammered in her ear as it struggled to keep her alive. Everything was being pulled down, even her eyelids felt heavy. A growing headache was forming as well as her brain was pressed against her skull. Panic started to creep in as Wiggly found it nearly impossible to take anything more than a shallow breath, she mustered her strength, grunting loudly from the effort, to spread her wings to try and use them to pick herself back up. However, they felt so sluggish and heavy that she could not raise them, so instead she spread them out along the ground, pushing dust along the way.
Her wings hummed incredibly loud in her ears, and she found the weight of the suit nearly vanish, but the same could not be said for her body. Still, it was enough for her to pull her hooves under herself and drag her way up to stand. A roar in the sky brought her gaze up to the broken remains of the Cloud Jumper as it careened towards the ground. Between the damage and forced reentry, the hull couldn’t take the stress any longer. Shortly before hitting the ground, the spine of the Cloud Jumper snapped and the freighter broke apart into a dozen pieces. She screamed in tearful agony as her beloved home was cast upon the frozen wastelands below to join the myriad of other wreckage from years prior.
She didn’t witness her brother and Winter emerge from their own pods as her tear-blurred eyes were fixed on the remains of her ship. The reactor exploded on impact, kicking up a fireball and dust storm that blasted hot wind over the pods. It knocked everyone to the ground, and would have burnt them to ciders were it not for their protective suits.
Anguish, abject rage, and horror roiled together into a loud cry as the Sprocket’s strength gave out under the enormous weight of it all. Tears flooded her eyes as she saw pieces of her beloved home rain down into a broken rest on this forsaken moon. “Why?!” She yelled through her fogging helmet. “Why, why?!” Craning her neck as best she could, Wiggly gazed up at the sky where the pirates were. “Why can’t you just leave us alone?! The war’s over you rutting bastards!”
Depression claimed her, and Wiggly curled in on herself as she wailed in grief.
Live Wire was close by, and was desperate to reach his sister, but the moon’s gravity was just as harsh on him. He was left practically a cripple by the immense pull of the moon they were now stranded on. <Wiggly, I’m coming.> He was no less affected by the loss of their ship, but he had to reach Sprocket. He had to protect her. If all he could do was offer a shoulder to cry on then, he would do it.
Winter had to kick her door back open, and she landed in the dust with some bruising and contusions. The burns and minor shrapnel damage from the cockpit being blown apart worried her, but she was otherwise alright. Between her implants and growing up on an Equiss sized planet, the mare needed only a minute or so to acclimate to the gravity. Feels like one G. Maybe a little more. She scanned her surroundings, and recoiled from the shattered remains of the Cloud Jumper. Her gaze then turned to the siblings, both on the ground. <Wire? Wiggly? Hold on!> Winter used a wing to pat her flank where she had strapped on a first aid kit, and was glad to see it was still in place. Winter tapped into her suit’s HUD, and checked the siblings’ health monitors. A frightful sight greeted her. Blood is starting to pool and there’s too much stress on their bones. It was all the signs of gravity sickness. What made it worse for Live Wire was that his implants were putting irregular stress on his skull and neck. This is bad. This is really bad!
“Wire!” She galloped to his side, and slid to a stop. She wanted to cradle him, but feared picking him up could harm him further. So she got in front of him to get his attention. “Wire, are you okay?”
The stallion looked into her amber cat-slit eyes and weakly smiled. “Yes. And no.” The weight was too much and he gave up the fight against gravity. “Everything hurts. I don’t - I…” He couldn’t take a full breath anymore.
“Hold on!” Winter pulled at her kit and yanked it open. There she found two sets of injector needles with the label: Accelatotian. It’ll have to do.
“Sorry in advance.” Winter claimed the first needle, prepared it, then moved around to Wire’s back. Given the naval origin of his suit, she knew it had an injector port. “There!” She sunk the needle inside and injected him. She threw the needle aside and without waiting for his recovery, grabbed the second and raced over to Sprocket.
The other mare was utterly inconsolable, and didn’t even acknowledge Winter administering the medication.
The drug took effect quickly. Wiggly’s strength surged, and magic reinforced her bones and organs. She took her first long deep breath since landing. The shock broke her sobbing into a coughing fit. Sprocket blinked her tears away, even as more came. She shakily climbed to her hooves with a gaze still fixed on her beloved home now a smoldering ruin. Renewed sobbing began as her heart broke completely. A weak hoof roped her into a feeble embrace.
“Wiggs, we’ll survive this.” Live Wire gripped her as hard as he could, and shook her for emphasis. “You hear me?”
The weeping mare muttered something unintelligible as she buried herself into his shoulder. She dearly wished there wasn’t a suit separating them.
Off to the side, Winter was coming down from the adrenaline rush, and sat down next to Live Wire. The mare was unsure if she could interrupt the siblings, only to be grateful when Live Wire weakly tried to pull her into the shared embrace. What surprised her was that Wiggly Sprocket did the same. While the siblings wept, part of Winter wanted to lose herself into the shared grief, but the sailor in her refused such a luxury. So she remained in the group hug, but her mind raced elsewhere so she could mentally process all that happened. She wasn’t nearly as attached to the Cloud Jumper as the siblings were, but time was against them. Winter internally debated on how soon she could interrupt them to ensure their survival.
Ultimately, it was Live Wire who calmed down enough to separate from the others. Winter Gale pulled back shortly after, looking over him fearfully. Alone, Wiggly stood up on woefully feeble legs to give her home one last look. Anger started to overtake her depression. Vengeance had to be enacted. “This is twice now those kracking centauri destroyed our home.”
She became incandescent with rage and rounded on the others. “We need to get off this rock, and find some way to make them pay for this!”
Live Wire’s eyes drifted over to the smoldering wreck that was fizzing out due to the lack of oxygen on the moon. His mood quickly matched his sister’s indignation step for step. “I’m with you, a hundred percent.”
They turned to Winter Gale in unison with murder in their eyes. The bat pony waved a placating hoof. “I’m all for zeroing some ‘taurs as much as the next pony, but we have to survive this moon first. The Accelatotian I gave you -” She averted her gaze in mounting concern. “It won’t last long. Half a day or so at best per dose.” The situation uprooted a deep fear in Winter. Unbidden and vivid memories of her previous coltfriends dying on the same battlefield as her, or hearing news of it bashed away all control and dominated her mind’s eye. Every fiber of her being wanted to see Live Wire survive to the point where she started shivering a bit from the fear of losing him.
The news robbed the siblings of their sudden fury, and stared at her in denial. Growling at her own weakness, Wiggly lifted a hoof to inspect her boot. Her muscles burned with effort as if she was holding her breath while sprinting. She could almost hear her joints creaking from the strain. “The Navy taught you some tricks to get out of trouble like this, right?”
“Tricks… Yeah.” Winter tried to recollect herself, but her anxiety was spiraling out of control. Oh yeah, suffering from gravity sickness, which the navy trains out of you, and stranded on a moon when no one even knows you’re marooned, totally going to be fine. Winter used a fang to bite her lip so she could control herself. Stop it with that talk!
Live Wire had let his hopes get run up by his sister, but ultimately he knew Winter Gale was the only way they would survive, and he could plainly see the pained expression she was desperately trying to mask but to no avail. His own spirits flagged to be as low as the Cloud Jumper itself.
As Wiggly Sprocket’s dying hopes were matched by her wilting expression, Winter managed to pull herself out of her own defeatist thoughts. “We have a chance. A real one!” That got the siblings’ attention as Winter gave her suit some commands before she scanned the horizon all around her. She stopped and pointed towards a plateau that wasn’t very far at all. “There! On the way down, the sensors spotted a pocket of oxygen.”
“Oxygen?!” Live Wire shared a bewildered look with a Sprocket who was trying to psych herself back up. “Isn’t the moon uninhabitable?”
“Exactly.” Winter also wanted to over excite herself so Live Wire would get worked up as well. “It could be anything. A…” She caught herself before saying crash. “It could be a shelter, or perhaps a secret facility made before the war.” She passed the marker to the others, hoping the short hike wouldn’t seem too daunting to a pair of spacers.
It wasn’t that far, not even a kilometer over a small hill that ended in a massive plateau that stretched for a hundred miles. Even with the drug giving Sprocket strength, it did little to make her forget the pull of gravity upon her, nor could it restore the fervor she held only moments ago. Still, she latched onto what anger she could to keep moving. “Sounds good. We should grab what we can carry.” Without another word, Wiggly made her way back to her pod.
In short order, Live Wire returned to their spot with a bag of water packets and ration bars. Winter found another medical kit with four more doses of Accelatotian, along with her pistol and multiple ammo charges.
Of them all, Wiggly was the only one who struggled to even lift her prize. It was her cutter and scanner. Were it not for the lightening effects of her Twilight’s Glove around her wings, she’d never lift even one of her tools. She got a puzzled look from the others. “What? We might have to cut our way in, and with the scanner, we can see if the air is breathable, oxygen or not.”
Live Wire let an ear flop over. “Why not cut off a door and use the tether gun to turn it into a sled? It’s not like we can use the pods anymore.”
Wiggly hummed in thought, although her mood dipped a bit at the thought. “But Coral’s art is on the doors too.” She looked at the four pods, painfully wrestling with the thought of destroying anything of what was left of the Cloud Jumper.
A long tense silence went by as Wiggly dearly wished to bring all her tools. Eventually, it was Winter who went into the nearest pod and pulled out a hammock shortly after. “Why not use one of these. Throw a blanket over it to keep the dust off, and we have a sled.”
A relieved smile plastered itself over Wiggly’s face. “Great idea!”
“I’ll pull it,” Winter offered readily. “You two save what strength you can.”
For being such a short distance, the gentle hill was murder on the two spacers. The Accelatotian kept them moving, but little more than that. Sprocket grasped onto her vendetta like a lifeline, and it gave her the willpower to keep putting one hoof in front of the other.
As Live Wire trudged alongside his sister, the long tedium of the walk dragged up the minutes before the battle over and over again. The more he ran it through his mind, the more guilt piled onto him. Though he could hide it from Winter, Wiggly Sprocket saw past the gravity weakness and nudged him while Winter was distracted moving the sled around a boulder. She switched her radio to a private channel. <Hey, just keep hydrated, and we’ll make it through.>
It was an opening for him, yet when he met her eyes, Live Wire gave only a hesitant nod. <Sure, Wiggs. Thanks.>
Sprocket wasn’t satisfied with his minimal answer, and rested a wing on him. <Tell me you’re not blaming yourself for something.>
He didn’t bother hiding his pained look from Wiggly of all people, but he still wanted to look strong in front of Winter. He glanced over his shoulder, unsure if she was bothering to tap into their channel. <Why shouldn’t I?> he spat out angrily. <I was the damned pilot when it all started. I-> He bit his tongue for a moment, only to let it loose again at Wiggly trying to shake him with her wing. <I was listening in on you two down in the maintenance tube. I was hoping you and Winter would hit it off, so all the damn uncomfortable meals and moments would stop. I should have been watching the rutting sensors! I might have caught something early. Maybe I could have noticed the virus attack before it got as far as it did. But no I was sticking my nose where it didn’t belong!>
His recriminations threatened to make Wiggly start thinking of all the ways she could have done something, Like gone and retrieved the vacuum herself. No! Wiggly violently shook her head before doing the same to her brother. <None of that talk!> she yelled loudly enough for Winter to hear her anyway. <We start down that road, we’ll start blaming each other before the day’s over. You want to cast blame? Do it to the ones who pulled the kracking triggers!> Renewed blind anger caused her to shove Live Wire away from her, and run a ways ahead to put some distance between them.
Live Wire was thrown off balance, and landed heavily on the dirt. Seeing this, Winter dropped the sled, and caught up to him. “Are you alright?” She gingerly prodded his flank and pelvis, checking for potential fractures.
Embarrassment flooded him in equal measures with his guilt. His whole rear right side ached, but he tried to downplay it. “I’m fine.” He couldn’t muster a smile for her though.
He starts to walk off, following after his sister and the waypoint beyond her. Winter frowns, and went back to retrieve the sled before dragging it fast enough to catch up with him. “Wire. You want one of my navy tricks?”
His mouth was a pressed line at the question, but he wasn’t feeling as combative as Sprocket. “Sure.”
Grunting a bit at the weight, Winter pressed on. “When we break for sleep tonight, I’m going to help you write an after-action report.” She expected the strange look he gave her. “I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years, Wire. Too many,” she added with time-worn pain. “It’s so easy to sit there for days or weeks agonizing over what could have been if I acted differently. That’s why they make all of us write these reports. It helps you crystalize what happened in a fight. If you can put what happened on ‘print’, I can help you make a better plan on how to respond next time.” She gently nudged him, trying to elicit some kind of good cheer. “And don’t worry, I’ll be making one for myself too.”
The caring love from Winter finally got a brief, stress relieving laugh out of him. Live Wire managed a truer, yet thread bare grin. “Thanks, Winny. I’ll take you up on that.”
Hours bled away as they marched forward, step by heavy step. They came at last upon a cave at top of the hill that went into the cliff of the plateau. Yet what unsettled Live Wire was how peculiar it was. Instead of just being a hole leading into the cliff face, there was a massive pale white bulge jutting out from the stone under their hooves that could easily fit half a city block. Though brown and rust-colored dust covered everything, as he got closer, the mouth of the cave did not look like the same kind of rock as everything else. The cave looked more worn down by the wind.
By now, Wiggly had fully come down from her adrenaline and her anger was bleeding away into resignation, leaving her badly winded. She slumped at the mouth of the cave to catch her breath. Live Wire was little better, but his curiosity kept him moving. Winter on the other hand had dropped the sled, and readied her pistol and started peering into the darkness within.
“I don’t like it,” the pilot warned with unease coloring her tone. “A structure like this right below Ponipolous? It’s got to have been a Ruby spy facility or something.”
“Or something…” He brushed the dust off to reveal oddly porous, smooth stone. Using his magic, he brushed off patches of dust here and there to reveal that whatever this rocky dome was, it was pale white that seemed to shimmer prismatically in the faint light of the distant star. “Bone. Does this look like bone to you?”
“Bone?!” Both mares were put on edge. Wiggly scrambled to stop leaning against the dome while Winter moved to Live Wire’s side to inspect his discovery.
Winter brushed the bone with a hoof and inspected it closely. “No… not bone per say. It looks more like coral.”
“Please tell me that’s some sort of natural thing on planets,” Wiggly asked with mounting ill-at-ease.
Winter glanced at her before stepping away from the unsettling wall. “It’s an ocean dwelling creature. Think of it as small animals that build ‘houses’ for themselves like this.” Winter looked over the oblong dome that was a little over twice as long as it was thick, if the cliff side was any indication. “But coral doesn’t grow in shapes like this… Or out of the water for that matter.”
Driven and distracted by curiosity, Sprocket unshouldered her scanner and switched it on. Even with her wings’ glove being on full power, she could barely lift the thing to aim it at the dome. “Well whatever it is, it’s airtight. There is a thick layer that is completely solid. It’s even giving off some strange power readings…. Nothing like a battery or reactor though.” Wiggly lethargically shook her head. “I can’t make horns or tails of it. This is a tech scanner, so it’s not giving me the whole picture.”
“So what can you see?” Live Wire asked as he tried to lean over her shoulder to look at the readout, but it was utterly lost on him as well.
“The whole bone-coral thing is hollow, for one, and I can see a building inside too.” Suddenly, Wiggly put her scanner down and walked away a couple steps while wagging her wings in exasperation. “Nope, I am not doing this. I lost my home, lost my ship, survived getting shot at again, I’m dying from too much gravity, nope I’m done. I am not waking into some forgotten biolab that probably has some super virus that’ll melt me inside my suit.”
Sighing in shared pain, Live Wire walked over to his sister. He placed a firm hoof on her withers. “Sprocket, I hate to say this, but we don’t have time for you to go Wigglynanas on us.” Not a second time, anyway. “Keep it together.”
She shot him a foul look, and a biting retort teetered on the edge of her tongue. “Rrraaa!” She kicked some dirt away. “Damn it all! I hate that you’re right.”
“Breathe and focus, Wiggs. When we get off this rock, I’ll find you a nice centauri shaped kicking bag for you to vent on. Deal?”
Shaking with indignation that Sprocket struggled to subdue, the pegacorn managed to bottle it up enough to function. “Deal.” She let off a few more angry breaths before reclaiming her scanner.
Winter Gale was unsure of what to make of that, save that she desperately needed to vent her emotions just as badly. Yet her training kept her nerves from being frayed by her inner turmoil.
The thought of revenge, no matter how minor, gave Sprocket strength. Wiggly gave her brother a tense nod. “Alright. Let’s do this together.”
“Together,” he replied with an approving huff.
Sprocket looked towards Winter Gale, resolve filled her voice and spirit. “Together?”
Giving a side smirk, Winter gave a crisp nod. “Together. If we all get off this rock, I’ll write a recommendation letter to a recruiter.”
Naval service. Now there was something Wiggly had only given passing thought to. After the Sundering, she and her brother only wanted to get on with their lives. But now… Now it was personal. “I might take you up on that.”
Winter readied her pistol once more and jerked her head towards the mouth of the cave. “Follow after me, Wiggly, keep that scanner up. If something dangerous pops up, pull my tail to stop me. Wire, keep eyes behind us and above. If somepony lives here, they might have left to investigate the crash site, and could potentially come in behind us.”
Sprocket hefted her scanner once more and stepped up to the cave. “Got it.” Taking a steadying breath, Sprocket started floating off the ground just enough to hold the scanner in her forehooves. Winter took point with the pistol, leaving Live Wire to bring up the rear.
The cave was narrow, and Wiggly was barely able to keep the edges of her wings from scraping along the walls. It wound and switched back in an unnatural manner, and was only a total of ten meters until they came to a blue, viscous, and slimy looking membrane. It covered the entrance completely from roof to floor.
“Ohh come on. By Celestia’s fat flank, if some movie monster is waiting for us on the other side, I better give it heartburn when it eats me.” Wiggly tried both the scanner and looking through the membrane, but she couldn’t make out much.
“What can you see?” Wire asked as he tried to crane his head around the last bend in the cave. The two mares made fully stepping into the last stretch impossible.
Shaking her head, Sprocket was left dubious. “Same thing as last time. The atmo composition is breathable and the humidity is high. Don’t know if I would trust the microbes yet. This slime wall isn’t caustic, so it should be safe to walk through. The building is not that far off but…” Wiggly tilted her head trying to make sense of the readout. “There’s a lot of stuff in there that is not rock or metal.”
“Then there’s only one way to find out. Winter stepped forward to confront the entrance, and in spite of the helmet, held her breath as she tried to step through the slime membrane.
It was like stepping through crude oil, and it resisted her every move. But as Winter got clear, the slime held itself together and released her to reform the barrier. Upon entering, the space was surprisingly lit by the coral dome above. The weak sunlight and reflections of the host gas giant gave the chamber enough to work with. In addition, the temperature was much higher than outside, reaching tropical levels. “Guys, you really need to see this.”
After momentary hesitation, the siblings followed after her. Even with the poor sunlight, all three turned their suit lamps on. Before them was what could only be called an overrun greenhouse.
Some sort of alien ferns and grass analogs covered the ground which looked like actual soil. A few flying insects buzzed around, and Wire pointed out a small reptile that scurried away after being seen.
“Gals, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think this is a terraforming research center.” Looking around, it seemed that the cave opened up at the center of what looked like an overgrown green house with a soft white and blue building dominating the center. The building in question looked unusual to be sure. Above the growths of moss and molds, it was what appeared to be a rather strangely aerodynamic design. Green and blue grasses grew tall enough to shroud almost the first floor of the building.
From what Sprocket could see with the scanner, the length of the structure was over twice the length of the Cloud Jumper and two decks taller. No, wait. It's not two decks, it's one deck, and each deck is taller than our standard. Looking to her right, there was an outcropping that looked like a stubby wing that ran from the top of the center to the ground. “Weird,” she said in a inquisitive hum. Checking her scanner more thoroughly, she arched an eyebrow. Her curiosity was greatly overtaking her anxiety of her condition. “The whole facility is raised up on struts.” Realization slowly dawned on her as her companions parroted her discovery. It can’t be. Tuning her scanner, Wiggly peered more closely at the section of the walls of the structure, starting from front to back. “Holy stars of Luna… This isn’t a building, it’s a ship!” She directed everyone’s attention to the scanner’s readout. “There’s no doubt about it, there are ten weapon emplacements all over this thing. It’s lean too, this thing is a predator.”
Looking at the ship with new eyes, Winter held her pistol close. “So why build a greenhouse around it? Let alone one made of coral.”
Wiggly hummed aloud as she switched to a thermal sensor, trying to see if she could spot dangerous monsters that way. Checking around, she only spotted a scattered number of insects and small game. What pulled her interest was the base of the platue. “Ahh ha. There's a thermal vent in the cliff face. That's where the heat's coming from.”
Live Wire closed in on the hull, wading through the grass that came up to his chin. Its thick growth made moving quite difficult. “I wonder if this stuff is edible.”
That particular comment reignited Winter's fear of a monster or worse, an unknown and hostile survivor. The fear of poison or bioengineered pathogens also took hold. She carefully scrutinized the whole area, looking for threats with greater paranoia than before. “Stay near the exit.” Winter took to the air to better survey the grounds. The roof of the ship was empty of life, although she remained wary of the naval batteries potentially twitching in her direction. They were three large batteries, easily matching the corvette’s coilguns. That she could see, seven other smaller emplacements were present as well.
What caught her eye most of all was a massive hole that had been blasted open towards the stern. Seeing nothing else, she turned her gaze to the grass and fern blanketed land. And then she saw it. Using her bionic eyes to zoom in confirmed her fears. She transmissed what she saw to the others’ helmets. <Look at that. There’s a long stretch of foliage that’s been uniformly cut. Somepony’s still here.>
Not wanting to remain out in the open any longer, Winter swooped back down to join the others. “There’s no telling how many could be watching us.”
On top of everything else, Sprocket was not about to be frightened off by a potential threat. “How wonderful. So we get to fight a movie monster, alien thing after all.” She changed some settings on her scanner and checked it over again. “I’m not reading any power sources. Wait, hold a bit.” She squinted her eyes since the reading barely registered on the screen. “Scratch that. I’m seeing one active battery.”
“How big?” Winter asked hastily, wishing they had brought the energy carbines with them.
Shaking her head, Sprocket put her scanner down to rest her legs. “Real small. Probably a tablet. If it’s a weapon power pack, it could only have a single shot. Maybe two.”
As the mares debated on what they saw, Live Wire was reviewing Winter’s recording. “What about that giant gash you found? We could get in through there, and maybe get some clues on who or what we’re dealing with.”
Fearful for his life, Winter was quick to cut Live Wire off. “It’s too dangerous. Any survivors here don’t need power to swing a pipe at you.”
“What other choice do we have?” Wire countered sharply in a regrettable burst of anger. “Terra take me, I’m not going to spend my last day or so in this universe cowering in a pod because it’s safe.” He instantly felt remorse rebuking Winter so strongly, but he pushed on all the same. “Now I don’t know about Wiggs, but I’m going in there. Death’s grip is already on my neck. At least a monster or deranged survivor would be quick about it.”
“That’s the spirit!” Sprocket walked up and bumped him in the shoulder. “We jumped into the abyss as soon as we fell from orbit. No point in playing safe while we’re still in free fall.”
Feeling like she was losing control, Winter needed to act before either of them got killed. “Before we do anything, maybe we should go grab the rest of our supplies first? If we’re staying, we best be prepared.”
Far away en route back to the ruby moon, Thaddeus sighed with a grumble. He drummed his worn armrest as he thought about the attack. He had not actually lost any sailors. If anything, Winter’s attack only caused a score of hull breaches. Thaddeus ran his ship like the old days, and all of his crew had been suited up.
If I was going down like that, I could pass easier knowing I had given my foe a bloody nose.
“Sir,” Felin announced to break his musings. “I have the Commodore on the comm.”
Clearing his throat, Thaddeus sat up straight and corrected his hair and clothes. He gave the drake a curt nod. “Put him through.”
The uncrowned king of the pirates manifested on the primary view screen, letting all three bridge members listen in. “There’s my admiral,” he said with a cruel grin and a welcoming spread of his arms. “My eyes tell me you’re leaving Ponipolous. I trust the mission was a success.”
“Yes, Commodore,” Thaddeus answered with no dramatic flare like the other centauri was displaying. He forwarded several files. “I’m sending you my full report and ship logs on the action. The pony salvagers are no more.”
The pirate king didn’t bother reading it, and only watched the video feed of the fight. After watching the Cloud Jumper plummet wreathed in flames, he set it on a loop beside him. “Such spunk from a couple of civilians. There is no shame in losing to foes like ponies.”
That got a ring of bewildered expressions from the bridge. Thaddeus in particular was getting a bit nervous. “The war was still honorable.” Even if we have thrown that away by debasing ourselves into pirate filth.
A brief puzzled look came from the commodore before it morphed into a scowl. “Honor and an empty sack is worth the sack, Thaddeus.” He waved his hand as if to clear the air. “I am not speaking of your assignment. You did well. What did not was the ambush we set for the Rainbow Dash. It launched a scout patrol ahead of itself for the first time in eight months. The ambush was discovered and against my orders, my ships fled like cowards before even a shot was fired”
“I thought the forces you had could have taken the Rainbow Dash in a straight fight either way.” That was a bold faced lie. Thaddeus was disgusted by the discipline from the other captains and crews. It was half the reason he lost himself in his cups to begin with.
“Perhaps if they were still the same sailors we had a decade ago. Now?” The commodore was livid, and the murder in his eyes was as naked as a star. “I had to coddle that useless captain to make him think he isn’t going to be welcomed home with a bullet. He’ll be executed for that embarrassing act alone, Nevermind his cowardice.” He jabbed a finger at something off camera. “We’re a laughing stock to our enemies. We outnumbered the Rainbow by every metric and we ran! I will not tolerate this again.”
“What would you have me do?” Thaddeus inquired firmly, his earlier nervousness morphing into a bit of bravado.
“I need that ship dead. Dead! I would rather repeat the Sword’s Fall before seeing today happen again.”
“I’m afraid, commodore, that without honor, all we have are pirates.” Thaddeus inclined his head, knowing full well he was poking the bear. “Easy money, easy blood, and pleasures of the flesh are all that motivate such refuse.”
Felin maintained an outwardly approving posture to her admiral’s rebuke, while the kirin below them was terrified as to how the commodore would react.
To his credit, the irate centauri maintained his composure at having his words thrown back at his face. “You want to prove honor has worth? Fine then. Return at once. The destroyer Bloodied Spirit will need a new master. She is yours if you think you can take down the Rainbow Dash.”
“A lone destroyer against a carrier?” Thaddeus retorted with astonishment.
The commodore gave a dismissive wave of a hand. “You can keep the corvette. I’ll even throw in the drone tender Silent Witness.”
It was less than half what the commodore had pulled together to go after the Rainbow Dash to begin with. He couldn’t help but to remember the flaming wreckage of the Cloud Jumper, only this time he would be in that vessel, doomed to burn. To die against such a foe. He truly has no honor if he doesn’t see this as a gift. Hiding a smirk of his own, Thaddeus addressed the pirate king firmly. “I get what supplies I need, and time to turn these cowards into proper sailors again.”
The commodore didn’t answer right away. Thaddeus’ proposal was as possible as it was dangerous. It would be oh so easy for Thaddeus to make the crews loyal to him instead of the commodore. Then again, what other port can he go to? The ponies wouldn’t accept a defection. Even if they did, his precious honor wouldn’t survive such an act. He still needs me. “Deal.”
A few hours later, Wiggly and Winter finished ferrying the supplies on top of the unknown vessel close to the hull breach.
Once they carried Live Wire up top, the three of them investigated the damage. The hull had been completely blown apart fairly close to the engine housing. The eight meter breach exposed the engineering section below. Wire whistled in amazement at the carnage below. “What do you think caused this?”
Winter was an expert in many things, but this left her stumped. “Couldn’t say. Internal explosion maybe. No blood or bodies though.”
Sprocket on the other hand was nose deep in her scanner. Certain residue and other factors made her shake her head. “If I had to guess… I’d swear this was caused by a mine.” The others turned to her in bewilderment. Wiggly pointed up to the sky above. “Yup, I’d put money on one of those doing this.” She wanted to rub her chin, but had to content herself with rubbing her helmet. “I’d say this ship found its way inside the minefield, got hit, and came down here for one reason or another.”
Live Wire gazed down the breech, and then up to the dome. “That doesn’t explain the coral greenhouse.”
“I still want to know who they are,” Winter chimed in with her ears flat and her danger sense on high alert. Her gaze zoomed in on dusty control panels and scattered chunks of metal. Her eyes narrowed upon seeing the buttons were far too small for hooves. “This isn’t one of ours, and this is too well armed to not be from someone’s navy. The Rubies certainly didn’t make this, and I can’t see the Union ever making a ship that isn’t an eyesore.”
“You think it could be one of the smaller states?” Wire asked with wavering curiosity.
Winter hummed unsurely. “As far as I knew, only the Rubies and us had a presence in the system before Faraway went down. It’s possible this could be a spy vessel from the smaller states, but I’d have to ask why come all the way out here.”
“Maybe to observe the war?” Live Wire put out there. “Not that it matters now. I say we go in, and kill any monster we see. It’d be a good final hooray.”
Fully in line with her brother, Wiggly was growing impossibly curious, desiring to delve inside. She leveled her scanner to check for a stable place to land, only to receive a surprise. A scowl marred her face as she swept the scanner back towards the bow. “Hey guys. You know that power signature I mentioned earlier? It moved.”
A short time earlier, life stirred deep within the strange vessel. Weak lights snapped on with a harsh buzz. A lone figure was snoozing on a squashed foam cot. A rectangular pad on a night stand had a cable running from it to midway down the figure’s short-furred tail which hung limply out from under the stained sheets.
Suddenly a blue bipedal feline hologram a few inches tall manifested above the pad. The female hologram looked at the sleeping figure and preemptively detached the charge cable which fell to the metal floor with a soft clatter. Then it started yelling while a klaxon yowled. “Danger! The emergency destruct system is now activated. The ship will detonate in t-minus ten minutes. The option to override destruct-”
An orange four-fingered furry hand slapped at the hologram, silencing the alarm. With a groan, a tired, scratchy, masculine voice croaked out. “I’m up, I’m up.”
With a second, longer groan, the being dragged himself up to a sitting posture. At first glance, one could mistake him for a unicorn. He possessed all the hallmarks: a straight spiraled horn, muzzle, pony ears, and twin destiny marks on his thighs depicting a breaking segment of DNA. The orange fur and blond mane is where the similarities thinned.
He shuffled off the bed to stand on two legs ending in hooves while his hands had pads on his fuzzy fingertips and palm. As he stretched his hands, claws emerged from his fingers and thumbs. He blinked cat-like eyes and wiped away the sleep. As his brain caught up, he looked down at his tail. A thin patch of blond ran from the top of the base down a few inches, and longer blond hair that naturally stood up a few inches gave the impression of a fish fin. He saw the charge cord hanging limp and flexed a muscle to have it retreat fully into his tail.
He finished his waking ritual by vigorously rubbing his face before letting off a forced gasp. He looked down at his holographic companion and smiled. “Morning, Mote.”
The hologram bowed in respect. “Greetings: And a good morning to you too, Doctor Morales. Your vitals are still looking strong, except for your iron and vitamin A is a little low.”
The news was a mild disappointment. “Show me please.” The pad sent a signal to him. Rather than artificial implants, Morales’ ears and tail doubled as biological transceivers, allowing the readings and charts to appear before his vision. His muzzle formed a pressed line. “Seems supplement forty isn’t as good as I thought it was.”
“Resignation: Poor flavor and poor nutrition. A pity the thorberry extract ran out.” Mote commanded the lights to brighten a bit, but with the doctor being the only steady source of power on the moon, she kept it low.
“Hopefully some of the icha moss has some blooms I can use.” After limbering up, Morales stepped over to his closet and sifted through a number of clothes. After the washing machine broke down, he was reduced to wearing hand washed articles. It was a practice he struggled with.
In the back, he found his uniform jumpsuit. He had not worn it in some time, so he grabbed it and performed the sniff test. Seems alright.
The one piece suit stretched easily, allowing him to don it without difficulty. Once on, he suddenly yanked the collar and allowed it to spring back. In a ripping wave, the suit tightened around his body, stopping midway up his arms and legs, while leaving his tail mostly uncovered. “Still fits,” he joked at Mote as he claimed a comb and used the hologram like a mirror to fix his too-long mane, but he wasn’t quite at the point of bothering to cut it short.
“Commentary: If it didn’t, I’d be worried,” Mote said without real emotion behind it.
He stepped back and sat back down to pull on some calf-high boots. “Anything new?”
“Recitation: Oh yes, the locals have released new episodes of Battlefleet Ferros, Days’ End, and Cooking with an Angry Drill Instructor.”
A delighted smile crossed his muzzle as he hopped to his hooves. “Finally! Show me while I make breakfast.” He pocketed Mote’s pad and made his way through the poorly lit hallways to the kitchen.
While doing as ordered Mote continued, “Addendum: I must also report that there has been no echoes or disturbances within hyperspace.”
No rescue is coming just yet. The news was unfortunate, but was still expected for four more years. He let off a long, disappointed sigh, but straightened himself up to bolster his spirits. “I suppose it is too much to hope that a local ship will crash with some intact fuel. A pity I can’t ask them for some.” That was one fact he loathed, but it couldn’t be helped. Only the captain had been authorized to make first contact, and she was long dead. Even if he ever got enough fuel to power the comms, the ship AI would stop him. And so, he had little recourse but to continue his morning routine. “Put the cooking show on first. Maybe I can pretend I’m eating their food.”
The ship’s interior was as clean as a make-shift broom would allow. The cleaning drones had long since broke down or lost power. Morales may not have enough chemicals for daily cleaning, but he did what he could to keep his home tidy. Arriving at the kitchen, he had long ago given up on powering the refrigeration unit. It was simply too large for him, and he had no skill in mechanical tinkering to make a smaller one. What he could do was throw together some of the grasses and ferns to make a salad with some insects or lizards to serve as protein. The supplements he fabricated served as foul dressing. It was utterly miserable fare, but it kept him going.
His tail swished with his laughter as the holo-show played out. The absurdity of the chef being forced to do push ups for every second the buttermilk pastry was overcooked left him in stitches. It was more than enough for him to pretend he was a judge for the tongue twisting salad before him.
When his meal was done, he dropped the bowl and fork into a slime filled sink. Rolling his sleeves up, he sunk his hands into the goo and pulled out two plates and several utensils.
It was an unsavory invention of his, one that was soundly rejected back when the crew still breathed. Yet the plates were left without so much as a crumb of food, and after a few minutes it all would be sterile enough to be used in surgery. If only it improved the flavor.
He finished putting everything away, then grabbed some garden shears and a plastic clippings bag out of a drawer. He sighed at the state of things. Graduated out of Danacy, only to end up gardening. Lazily shoulding the empty bag, he navigated the dark hallways to find the entry airlock. He had long since left the hatches open, but had introduced his slime ‘airlock’ here as well. He closed his eyes and stepped through sideways so his horn wouldn’t catch bits of it between it and his eyes.
Once clear he pressed Mote’s pad against the controls. The wall mounted controls lit up, allowing him to press it. With a loud hiss, the ramp unfolded and laid down onto the grass below.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped down into his future lunch. I wonder if the lizard population can handle me taking two for lunch. He sniffed the air to begin the hunt. He could always hew some foliage later. He walked out into the open where he had cut away last night.
Predatory instincts swept over him, and the hunt was on. And yet, something was wrong. His instincts raised high and he sniffed again. The foliage was dense and heavy in the air. But there was something new. His ears and tail rippled with faint radio signals. His instincts made him instantly go alert and sniffed again, smelling the dust from outside. What was that? The locals don’t use radio waves for comms.
Morales crouched low, placing his paw-like hands on the ground as his eyes scanned the grass for signs of disturbance. He twisted his tail and ears this way and that, trying to pick up the unfamiliar radio signals again. Did something change?
Around him came insect song and the occasional rustle of small game. Nothing strange so far. The dusty smell was getting stronger.
The radio signal came again. It was organized and clearly artifical. Encrypted too. Wait. It was both clear and low powered. And… above? He jerked his head up to find three suited figures staring down at him from on top of the ship.
For a long moment, they just stared at each other in disbelief, not entirely sure what they saw was real. As he recollected his wits, Morales noted two figures had horns much like himself. Ohhh no. The father species found me after all. “This is awkward.” He slowly, and carefully stood up to his full height. “How can this friend of ponies and Harmony help you?” I hope I said all the right things to avoid getting shot.