//------------------------------// // Tactics and Equipment // Story: [Forlorn Ascension]|[Rites of Dominion] // by Desrium //------------------------------// Learning experiences are funny things. There are the things one knows implicitly will stay with them and there are also the things which only become apparent in hindsight; and hindsight was not something Phineas was fond of. More so now, zooming through the sparkling void in hostile territory: a sector of space completely locked down by the Hoof-Talons. But there was no turning back now. Phineas knew that he had to keep going. His enemies were mighty and numerous, but he was quick and smart. Those traits would do him well. They had to. And though it was perilous, this sector was not without its sanctuaries. Meeting the Ghanax on the frozen planet proved there were other races that patrolled these star systems in addition to the Hoof-Talons. While the galactic scourge's hold on the territory was strong, it was not without resistance. Somewhere out there, others were waging their war on the pony-gryphon hybrids. That meant Phineas was not alone. Not completely. It was just a matter of time until he found others like his Shu'badi companions. Romaz once told him that war had corrupted the spirit of harmony, that the elements of friendship were powerless in such bleakness. Perhaps she was right in a broad sense of things. That did not mean the elements had disappeared, however. That did not mean that the galaxy was completely devoid of goodness and decency. She and her crew were proof of that. They were flawed individuals, people with their own faults and desires; but good people nonetheless. "We can lose our way. We can falter and make mistakes, but in the end we are all alive, aren't we? We would help each other make something great before we tear each other apart to live in the ruins of the aftermath, right?" *** "I wonder what Gaali would have made of this..." Phineas said to himself. He panned his gaze over his terminals and displays, trying to make sense of the data his instruments provided him with. He had his worth when it came to ship-to-ship combat. As a navigator...he was much less gifted. He wasn't a Gaali or Lightning Streak, for better and worse. He had to learn though, he couldn't keep depending on his shuttle to make his voyages for him. If he was going to make any headway in this conflict, he had to be in control. The shuttle's engines were inactive, the ship coasting along its course with its pursuers barely appearing on Phineas' readouts. While he was certain they were more than able to jump from star to star and alert other hunting groups, they didn't know he couldn't do just that. They could set up ambushes across dozens of systems, spanning across trillions of miles and then be left for days and weeks without a single sighting of the black and white craft. It was too fast to chase and too unpredictable to trap. But in the time Phineas spent drifting from the clutches of the Hoof-Talons, so many others were being subjected to their aggression. The time he spent in stasis was time he could probably use crippling one of their warships or denying them supplies! He needed something better. He needed to turn his shuttle craft into a space fighter. Until then, he had his ship calculate the time it would take to reach the next star system then put himself in the pod for the duration of the journey. It was supposed to be only four Equestrian days. He wouldn't reach his destination. *** His hoof pressed against the screen after the first quarter of the trip, still clad in his space suit. That was another one of his new protocols; in the case of a threat critically damaging or incapacitating the shuttle, he would be already prepared to respond to the emergency. He strapped into his seat, linked up with the ship and started to bring himself to speed on the situation. He didn't find one Hoof-Talon ship this time. He came across a whole squadron, one cruiser that had four lighter escort craft accompanying it. And this squadron was already in pitch combat with another group of ships. The largest one was slightly larger than the cruiser, its dark red hull sleek with rows of bright blue lights decorating it. It was longer than it was wide, its forward end recurved like the blade of a scythe while it's engine was the bulkiest part of it. The rest of the craft's structure tapered out from the gigantic propulsion system which comprised of six thrusters, each spewing blue flame from their exhausts. It had a super structure rising at a gradual slope at its rear with many pylons extending out from the sides. The extensions were swept forward and had spheres attached to their ends, entropic energy dancing around in the magical balls. From them, bolts of lightning were pelted at the Hoof-Talon cruiser, crackling across a magical barrier which surrounded it. A duo of smaller craft -around the same size as the shuttle- were flying evasive maneuvers, corkscrewing, diving and banking with the Hoof-Talon escorts moving accordingly, unable to be shaken. *** "Am I intruding on this party!?" Phineas shouted as he brought the shuttle into the commotion on trails of ivory, pulling up on one of the escorts. Diverting power from the engines, Startrot opened fire, golden spheres exploding against the escort's shield and forcing the fighter to break formation, lest it be overpowered and destroyed. The other three followed suit, peeling away and arching around so that all four of the fighters were evenly spaced out from each other with the black and white shuttle in the center of their formation. "Uh oh. Not good," the silver stallion said flatly, having the shuttle do a wide bank split seconds later as the fighters concentrated their fire on him, red and green pulses buzzing by the agile craft. One of the fighters broke apart into flames, the two ships hounded by them pummeling it with coordinated strikes, overtaking the craft's shield and promptly tearing it asunder with their weapons. "Three against three seems much more fair!" Phineas swerved and powered upwards underneath one of the three fighters, golden light funneling into his phasers and then blasting out, the dual beams punching right through its shield and ripping through the hull. The ship proceeded to explode, the shuttle bowling through the flaming cloud of debris, its red barrier rippling over the hull. "Three versus two, however... is considerably less so!" The Hoof-Talon fighters were the ones flying evasively now. They dipped, banked, rolled and swerved, the two other fighters matching their dance beat for beat, chasing them down with their own blasters. Phineas assisted them in ending the skirmish, flying overhead and firing phaser shot down, swiftly depleting the shields of the remaining escorts and leaving them to the whims of the fighters. *** Now the tide of battle had turned in the favor of the resistance forces, but the cruiser was still too strong an enemy for the main vessel to finish. The mystical lightning collided against the vessel's shield and dispersed with little effect on it, forming webs of light which faded away moments after. In retaliation, the cruiser's turrets aimed and fired, broad crimson beams slamming against its opponent's hull causing sparks to jump and flames to take hold. Seeing this, Phineas snarled: "How about a special kind of lightning?" He switched firing modes and the phasers started to channel their blasts. Flying in an arch, the stallion got himself into firing position, closing in on the cruiser from its left side. Rather than golden light, that same sickly glow of the disruptor shot swirled into the cannons, particles suspended at the end of the barrels, spinning around and around until yellowish bolts danced haphazardly around the end of the guns. A yellow-green glow emanated from within the phasers and after a few moments more of charging, the disruptor beams shot out, crashing against the cruiser's magical barrier. The energies spilled out across the shield, corroding it to the point of nonexistence before coating the hull itself. The craft's plating gave off a neon glow with the malignant energies which drained its Spell-core. The shuttle barrel rolled, Phineas getting ready to go for another attack. Startrot lined up his next pass and was making his approach when the brilliant light cut across his view. The curved portion of the red vessel's front end had slid downwards, revealing an especially large cannon: a Spell-core blaster. The two halves of the cruiser fell apart from each other, small pieces of debris floating in between the severed portions of the Hoof-Talon vessel. For a few moments, the wreck remained as such before explosions broke out from either piece in rapid succession. *** Static filled the cockpit with the odd burst in audio that was mostly gibberish anyway. Phineas grunted and attempted to hail the ship again, getting the same response. He growled irritably and laid his head on his instrumentation panel. Another issue he needed to rectify: being able to communicate properly. His PDA couldn't work with the Desolus and the shuttle's comm systems couldn't contact the larger craft. The technology was just too incompatible. He sighed, abandoning the effort. There was no getting around it. "So think!" Phineas scolded himself. "How the hell can I-?" His head jerked up without warning and he pulled his forelegs from the neuro-link sleeves. "... Duh." he thought, looking at his PDA. He took it off of its band and then reached into a toolbox, pulling out his Magi-flux Harmonizer. Shortly after, the silver stallion had created an adapter for the shuttle's communication systems. Amplifying the PDA's own signal, he tried to hail the vessel once more. "Unknown craft, identify yourself." said a gruff voice, presumably from the red ship. "Phineas Startrot," said the stallion. "No affiliation, currently..." He heard booming laughter from the other end of the transmission. "Did I say something... funny?" Phineas queried. "Do you not know yourself? You have a slight reputation in this sector, Federation pony," the voice replied. "A Ghanax transport has been spreading the message to lend you aid should you be discovered, for single... hoofedly... destroying a Draconix class warship with a shuttle, then proceeding to draw the attention of Hoof-Talon legionaries away from the refugees. They called you a ghost of the past; I assume it is because of your most ...dated vessel." "Wow." Phineas replied simply, somewhat overwhelmed. "They weren't kidding when they said they didn't take sacrifice lightly." "Indeed. And just as you have assisted the Ghanax, you have lent aid to us in a time of need. Is there anything that can be done to reward your bravery and courage?" Phineas grinned widely underneath his helmet. He paused for a moment to compose himself then asked: "If you have the resources to spare, I would like to make some adjustments to my ship. I find that it... leaves much to be desired for my intents and purposes." The person at the other end laughed heartily again. Phineas frowned, was that to mean no? Pulling up beside him was one of the fighter ships, the craft being roughly triangular in shape, blue with white stripes across the wings. "Follow me. I'll lead you to our storage hold!" the pilot said before twisting their ship around, flying to the carrier ship. *** The two fighters and Phineas' shuttle flew into a docking bay located near the engine section of the carrier. Its entrance was directly on the ship's underside, so when the three ships ascended into it, the large door slid shut underneath them and they were caught in an energy field. It was the same kind of magic that drew Phineas into the Desolus. He opened the canopy to see an assembly of the ship's crew members. Numbering six in all, they were a group of extremely thin beings that stood on a ring-platform which spanned from the bay's walls inward to the field emitters where the ships were held. They wore dark blue suits that had a metallic sheen to them and their skin was an oddly translucent green color. Their faces were devoid of actual features, their "flesh" unnaturally smooth and uniform with their brain being visible. They walked on four legs, had two arms and had a set of eight tentacles on each hand. The stallion was both amazed... and horrified. It made him wonder how the Ghanax looked underneath their bulky coats. He shuddered within his armor. "We recognize that you are unfamiliar with our kind. We are of the Yithith race," said the apparent leader of the group. They raised a hand, the tips of the tentacles beginning to glow as they did so. The other five mirrored the action. Lowering from the ceiling and stretching out from the walls were a multitude of mechanical arms which ended with a myriad of tools and utensils. "And we have been informed that you are in need of an... upgrade." *** When Phineas departed hours later, he left with a completely different spacecraft. In addition to an improved Spell-core engine that was even capable of interstellar warping, he was given an expanded weapon hold: two hardpoints beneath both wings where sustained laser cannons were mounted; the same guns employed by the Yithith fighters. The shuttle had become a formidable vehicle of battle. A true space fighter.