Chapter 6: Boarding Action
2119
15 MAY 05 MIL-STD CAL
Operation JAVELIN mission clock: T plus 07:33:25
540 kilometers off the Equestrian coast
Rain pelted off of Rainbow Dash’s visor, never sticking for more than a moment before being torn from the slick surface by wind. Though she was used to flying through storms, she had never flown through a tropical cyclone before. It was a downpour unlike anything she had ever experienced. Gale-force winds buffeted the formation, throwing ponies left and right as they struggled to keep a rough “V” shape. The sky constantly flickered with lightning, illuminating the raging sea below. Dash admitted a grudging respect for any sailors willing to brave such fierce weather on a ship, even one as large as a cargo vessel.
The formation flew just below the cloud ceiling, searching for the Azure Sky along its most likely route. Even in the brutal storm, it would be hard to hide an entire ship, but the crew seemed to be doing just that. By dead reckoning, the Azure Sky should have been found ten kilometers behind them, but the only thing there was more waves and rain. The ship’s captain must have known that there would be a boarding attempt, as the ship had completely veered off its original course.
A shearing gust slammed into the formation, battering it with turbulence and somehow, even heavier precipitation. Rainbow felt sorry for the two pegasi hauling the unicorn mission specialist. It would be impossible to carry a fully-grown mare long distances in fair weather, let alone through such a powerful storm. Instead, she was wearing the Towed Individual Glide Rig, a composite delta wing harnessed to her back with two steel towlines attached to the pegasi on either side of the flight leader. Riding the TIGR was bumpy, uncomfortable, and often nauseating for its passengers, but it was the only way for ground-bound ponies to deploy with RAID’s pegasi teams.
In this particular case, the unicorn was taking the unpleasant ride to magically search through the dozens of crates that would be found in the Azure Sky’s cargo hold. Though it would be possible for the Gamma Division operatives to pry open each crate individually, it would take hours to search everything, and it would leave them vulnerable to attack from the potentially hostile crew. The mission planners recognized that risk, and a second Individual Augmentee was added to the boarding party.
As the formation banked in unison, a stroke of lightning arced down from the sky, channeling its powerful energies directly into an operative on the edge of the group. The brilliant flash and immense blast stunned Rainbow Dash, leaving her blind and deaf as she fought to maintain flight. In her disoriented state, the first thoughts to pass through her mind were how glad she was that Ponyville did not have tropical weather.
The violence around her slowly came back into focus as she shook off the effects of the lightning’s fury. Her earpiece whined and popped in protest as the precisely aligned crystals at the base of her neck sparked with sympathetic energy at the proximity of the bolt. When the feedback finally faded, she could hear the unfortunate operative’s garbled transmissions as he struggled to stay airborne.
“I’m hit! May… ayday! Mayday! Los… itude, avionics… line! I’m… flat spin! Begi… overy pr… dures!”
Rainbow glanced down, catching a glimpse of the stricken pegasus. The tips of his feathers had been blackened and his weapon shorn off his armor by the bolt. He had managed to fall into a dangerous flat spin. Flying at such a low altitude, he did not have much time to pull up, and from the looks of it, he was having trouble recovering from his spin.
The flight leader’s voice came over the crystal comm. “Echo One-Four, break and recover Echo One-Six. Now!”
Another pegasus dropped out of the formation, diving towards her falling teammate. She quickly caught up to him with practiced precision despite the howling winds buffeting them. After a few harrowing seconds in a spin of her own, she righted both of them, regaining level flight barely fifty meters above the churning sea.
“One-Four to One-One. Six’s wings are injured and his armor is compromised. Weapon’s gone, too. Recommend we RTB. Over.”
“Copy that, One-Four,” the leader, Echo One-One, replied. “Assist in his return to base. If you go in the drink, Third Fleet will be on station for search and rescue. Remember to ditch your gear before being picked up. Over.”
“Roger, One-One. Echo One-Four and One-Six beginning egress from AO. Out.”
Dash grimaced at the last transmission. The objective was not even in sight and the boarding party was already down two operatives. She prayed it was not a sign of things to come and stuffed the thoughts into the back of her mind. If they were to complete the mission, each member would need to be totally focused, especially now that they were short-hooved.
The formation flew ahead for another fifteen minutes, their target nowhere to be seen. A sinking feeling settled into Rainbow’s gut as she realized the Azure Sky might have successfully evaded them. There had been no sign of the ship since they entered the storm, and the weather had only gotten worse. As it was, the boarding party was searching for a lone vessel in the middle of a tropical cyclone at night. Dash had half a mind to believe the ship had succumbed to the wind and waves, taking its suspicious cargo with it.
It was not her place to make such determinations, though, so she followed the flight leader through another bank, bringing the formation to a northeasterly heading. Fighting the growing exhaustion in her wings, Dash hoped the search would soon be called off. RAID operatives were the best in the world, but even they had limits. Making a difficult intercept was one thing, chasing ghosts in a storm was something else entirely.
The sky lit up again as tendrils of lightning angrily crawled across the clouds’ underbelly. In the light of the brilliant display, Dash caught something in the corner of her vision. The world was plunged back into darkness before she could get a good look at it, but she had been certain there was something on the ocean’s surface below them.
The anomaly had caught the flight leader’s attention as well, as her voice came over the team’s tactical frequency. “Surface contact, two o’clock. Adjust heading and altitude for recon pass.”
Angling her wings in unison with the formation around her, Dash banked right and traded altitude for speed. The operatives dipped low above the water, racing towards the phantom. Sea spray mixed with the torrential downpour, soaking the waterlogged pegasi even further. The unfortunate unicorn on the TIGR closed her eyes and prayed for her survival.
An indistinct shape appeared against the murky water. In a heartbeat, the shape had resolved into the sharp silhouette of a cargo vessel. Despite her breakneck speed, Dash could clearly read the white letters emblazoned on the ship’s stern – AZURE SKY.
“Contact identified!” One-One crowed. “Echo Team, green light! Green light to board!”
On the deck of the Azure Sky, the ship’s crew fought to stay afloat through the storm’s fury. They kept the hoods of their slickers up, preventing them from noticing the approaching pegasi until the operatives slammed onto the deck in front of them. In seconds, the ponies unfortunate enough to be on the main deck found themselves looking at the sharp end of RAID’s weapons.
Seconds later, the two pegasi attached to the TIGR released their tow lines, allowing the unicorn to glide onto the deck, flaring the delta wing at the last second to slow herself down. She rapidly unhooked from the wing, telekinetically drawing a pair of daggers.
Dash held her spear steady, barely centimeters from the surprised face of a green-coated mare.
“Don’t try anything funny,” she warned, staring directly into the crewpony’s eyes. “I guarantee I’m faster than you.”
To Dash’s right, a nearby hatch on the ship’s island flung open, revealing a grizzled zebra stallion in a tattered yellow raincoat. The sight of his fellow crewpony being held at spearpoint stunned him for a moment, but only just. He bellowed a ferocious war cry, lunging at Dash without regard for consequence.
Rainbow deftly leapt out of the way, rewarding the zebra with a vicious kick to his side as he passed. The impact knocked him off his hooves, sending him sliding across the deck and into the unforgiving metal corner of a shipping crate.
Seizing the opportunity, the green mare launched into her own assault. She, too, threw herself at Dash. The sailor collided headfirst with Dash’s hindquarters, toppling the lightweight pegasus. She slammed her hooves into the deck, trying to crush Dash’s head against the metal surface.
Dash rolled out of the way, quickly bringing her weapon to bear. Still on her side, she jabbed her spear forward, drawing a clean incision across the mare’s left side. She followed with a second strike to the left foreleg. The sailor cried out in pain, falling to her knees with a grimace.
Struggling on the slippery deck, Dash managed to stand up again just as the green crewpony bit onto a discarded length of chain. She swung the improvised weapon wildly. Rainbow ducked the first two strikes, holding out her spear to deflect the third. The chain coiled around the spear’s shaft as it hit. She snapped the spear back, nearly pulling the sailor’s teeth from her mouth. Before the chain could hit the deck, Rainbow dealt her attacker a powerful cross with her free foreleg, sending the mare down for good.
Behind them, the zebra stallion groaned as he lifted himself to his hooves. He inhaled raggedly, broken ribs making his breaths short and painful. The adrenaline coursing through his veins was the only thing keeping him conscious as he hobbled towards Rainbow. Hearing his approach, Dash only needed to flick his injured torso with her spear’s broadside to overwhelm him with pain. The stallion crumpled instantly.
A third sailor, a mule, appeared from behind a shipping crate, brandishing a heavy club in his mouth. Dash prepared to bring the confrontation to a swift end when an authoritative voice rang out from above.
“Stand down, sailors!”
Dash looked up to see the windows on the ship’s bridge lit up, revealing a zebra mare standing before a microphone. She surveyed the scene below. From her vantage point, she could see the same confrontation repeating itself all over the ship. Her sailors, though hardy and tough, were no match for the highly skilled boarders.
“Who commands this unprovoked attack?”
The flight leader gave a wounded sailor one last kick to keep him down before flying to the bridge, alighting on the catwalk in front of the windows.
“Interesting navigational choices, Captain,” she responded over the crystal comm. “Running dark while sailing through a storm isn’t a technique I’m familiar with.”
The captain snarled angrily. “Get off my ship before I call the authorities! Piracy will not stand in this day and age!”
Unperturbed, the boarding party’s leader turned to the unicorn and nodded. The windows glowed with a magical aura for a second before shattering into millions of tiny shards, allowing the lead operative to jump through and grab the stunned captain. None too gently, the captain was dropped to the main deck. RAID operatives quickly surrounded her prone form.
“Let me tell you how this is going to work,” the Echo One-One shouted over the wind. “We’re going to search your ship, and you’re going to stay out of our way. If you or one of your crew so much as sneezes at us, we’re sending them into the drink. Is that clear?”
The shock on the zebra captain’s face slowly faded into smoldering anger. “Very well,” she groaned. “Search every container, if you must. It will take you days, and the Equestrian Royal Navy will be prowling these waters as soon as the storm passes. You won’t get away with this.”
With a smirk, the leader nodded to her subordinates, who sheathed their weapons and gathered around the unicorn. She glanced down at the dazed zebra. “Yeah, I’m not particularly worried about the Navy interfering here.”
She trotted to the IA unicorn, mindful of the ship’s rocking in the swells, leaving Rainbow to guard the captain. After a brief conversation, the unicorn’s horn glowed blue as she approached one of the cargo containers. She slowly walked along its edge, holding her horn close to its metal sides. Two pegasi operatives stayed close by her side, wary for any threat from the crew.
Dash watched the ship’s captain carefully, holding the tip of her spear not quite against the zebra’s throat. Stereotypical zebra stoicism had returned to the Captain’s demeanor, though, leaving an unreadable expression on her face. The lack of a visible response left Dash nervous. She had expected more resistance, both from the crew and the Captain. Aside from the initial skirmish, everything had gone very smoothly for the operatives. It seemed as though they would be able to search the containers and be on their way in a minimal timeframe.
As much as Rainbow wanted to believe nothing would go wrong, she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Shock and awe would certainly minimize resistance from an unprepared opponent, but it would not completely knock them out. During training, her instructors had repeatedly drilled the importance of listening to gut instinct. “If something doesn’t feel right, tell somepony – it probably isn’t.”
She tapped the zebra with the flat of her spearhead. “Hey, you know what would be really awesome?” she asked rhetorically. “If you just stood there nice and still and didn’t make me kill you. I’d really prefer to, y’know… not kill you.”
Waving one of her fellow operatives over to take her place, Dash clipped her spear onto her back. “So please don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
She stepped away from the subdued captain, fighting the wind and rain as she made her way across the deck towards the boarding party’s leader. She found the lead operative walking alongside the unicorn, watching as the Individual Augmentee slowly scanned the length of another cargo container for suspicious items. Dash squeezed through the guarding ring of pegasi and approached the leader, who cocked her head at the sight of her second IA.
“I thought I told you to keep an eye on the Captain,” she shouted over the storm. “What’re you doing over here?”
“Something doesn’t feel right, ma’am,” Dash yelled in reply. “This whole operation is going too well. There’s gotta be a catch.”
One-One grimaced uneasily. “I was hoping I was the only one who thought something was off,” she said. “That zebra didn’t even put up a fight, which seemed a bit odd.”
Dash nodded in agreement. “There’s no way this is just another shipment, ma’am. They’re hiding something from us, and the captain of this rust bucket knows what and where it is.”
“Probably, but she’ll continue to deny it until we find evidence. Until then, we’ve just got to keep her from running or fighting back. That’s why I had you guarding her.” She eyed Dash with a dangerous glance. “You did leave somepony guarding her, right?”
“Of course, ma’am,” Rainbow replied in exasperation. “I’m not a complete idiot.”
One-One’s response was cut short by a surprised exclamation from the unicorn.
“Whoa! Hey, there’s something hot in this one,” she shouted, pointing at the container with her hoof.
Waving several of her operatives over, the leader trotted to the container’s heavy door. Like the rest of the ship’s cargo, it was held secure by a series of oversized padlocks. “Where’s our bolt cutter? Somepony get this thing unlocked!”
A large stallion removed the requested tool from his armor, grunting as he put all of his strength into cutting through the hardened steel. The first lock resisted for a few seconds before failing under the immense pressure of the bolt cutter’s jaws. With a loud crack, the metal sheared in two, hanging limply from the door.
The second and third locks met similar fates, each clanging to the deck as they were forcefully removed from the door. The leader gestured to a pair of operatives who quickly opened the doors, weapons drawn.
Inside, stacks of wooden crates formed an aisle down the center of the container, allowing the operatives to access every one without completely unloading it. The flight leader returned her katana to its sheath on her back, cautiously entering the container. She was closely followed by the unicorn, who continued to magically search for contraband.
One-One pushed on the lid of a crate and found it to be securely nailed in place. She unclipped a pry bar from her armor, wedging it underneath the lid and pulling down with all her weight. Nails creaked against wood in protest before slipping out entirely. A blue aura surrounded it as the unicorn levitated it out of the way, revealing the contents within.
“Well,” the leader remarked flatly, “I guess it’s technically iron.”
Within a specially made wooden rack, a dozen longswords packed the inside of the crate, their polished surfaces glinting as lightning flashed outside. One-One removed a specimen, examining the weapon’s craftsponyship with a trained eye. A curious frown deepened on her face. Facts were not adding up.
“Something ain’t right here,” she mumbled. Trotting outside, she approached Rainbow Dash, holding the sword for her to examine.
“You and I seem to be on the same wavelength today,” One-One began. “Maybe you’ll share my suspicions here. You see this?” She pointed to the center of the sword’s blade. “No blood groove. And here, at the hilt. There’s way too much play in the tang. This is low-quality work.”
Dash cocked her head. “Somepony in the Griffon Kingdon buying in bulk? Saving money on lousy weapons?”
The flight leader nodded. “My suspicion as well. I’d bet my wings that container is full of dirt-cheap discount weapons, all headed for the griffons.” She looked over her shoulder at the zebra mare and her guard. “Bring the Captain over here!”
A quick prod from the operative’s weapon was all it took to get the Captain moving. She slowly trudged across the deck, glaring daggers at the boarding party. One-One returned the favor.
“Well, Captain,” the leader spat, “I think I’ve found a rather disturbing discrepancy aboard your vessel. Your cargo manifest lists this crate as containing raw iron, but I found about sixty crates of these in there!” She held the sword at eye level, barely centimeters from the zebra’s face. “Care to explain?”
A tense silence fell on the group. Dash nervously gripped her spear. Her earlier feeling of unease had only been compounded by the discovery of the weapons.
The Captain gently brushed the sword aside. “It is true, that container is filled with crates of weapons. However, if you had bothered to read the manifest description, you would have noticed that these weapons are all decommissioned and scheduled for recycling at the Mosclaw Ironworks foundry. That is why they are listed as raw iron; it is all they are good for.”
To anypony else, it would have appeared that One-One’s expression did not change at the Captain’s revelation. Dash, however, had gone through the exact same rigorous indoctrination of discipline. She noticed the infinitesimally brief twitch on the leader’s face that accompanied the first gut-wrenching moments of self-doubt. A single involuntary tic in her eye, a slight tilt of the ear. Fortunately, the very training that kept One-One from betraying her loss of confidence also told her to stick to her gut instinct when things became unclear.
“Scrap metal, huh? I might buy that. Of course, you’ll probably have the invoice from the foundry on hoof, right? Because without it, that would be moving weapons across borders without a permit. Decommissioned or not, that’s smuggling.”
A sly smile crept onto her face. “I know a thing or two about smuggling, y’know. My Pop used to make his living as a rumrunner. Gave the Royal Guard a real headache for near a dozen years bootleggin’ outta Dodge City. He always used to say that there ain’t many rules when it comes to smuggling, but the biggest rule is to make sure the paperwork on all your legit cargo was pristine. Don’t wanna give snooping Customs ponies a reason to look any deeper, see?”
Before One-One could continue her anecdote, the zebra produced a small scroll from her saddlebag. “It is here, if you wish to read it. It accounts for every weapon in that container.”
The flight leader snatched the scroll. She read its entire length, her eyes widening in disbelief. Upon reaching the end, she shook her head, amazed. “I’m… not really sure what to say. It all checks out.”
“An apology would be a fine start,” the Captain replied acidly.
One-One began to stutter a hasty apology, but she was cut off by a surprised yelp echoing from the container.
“Gah! What in Tartarus?! Get outta here! Move!”
Three operatives darted out of the container in a near panic. The unicorn skidded out last, bolting towards the leader. “Ma’am! The thing I sensed in there? It’s an entire crate of arcane demolition charges, and it’s rigged to blow!”
All three ponies looked in horror towards the zebra, who was calm as ever. She leaned her muzzle into her saddlebag. “I have paperwork for those, too…”
The world slowed to a crawl as Dash watched the Captain produce a small black box. Without thinking, she swung her spear in a tight arc, knocking the device from the zebra’s mouth. It flew through the air, revealing a single switch beneath a safety cover.
At that moment, everything happened at once. The crew, who had been passive since the initial skirmish, suddenly threw themselves at the operatives once again. Attacking sailors converged on the small group clustered around the Captain, who fell to the deck from Dash’s strike. The detonator sailed towards the ship’s stern, sliding across the slick metal deckplates.
“Get the detonator!” One-One shouted, fending off a pair of attacking crewponies.
The unicorn operative concentrated on the small object, her horn glowing blue with magic. Before she could retrieve the device, though, a screaming sailor viciously tackled her from behind. The pair slipped and fell, grappling with each other in a deadly embrace as both pressed for an advantage. A particularly large swell tipped the deck precariously, sending both ponies sliding into the rows of containers.
Dash took to the air, bolting towards the detonator. It skittered erratically across the deck, bouncing and deflecting off of every bump and misaligned plate. Just as she made a desperate grab for it, a powerful gust of wind slammed her into a container, sending shock waves of pain through her wings with a sickening pop. Her spear came loose, clattering to the deck several meters away.
Crawling back to her hooves, she looked up just in time to see the zebra stallion she had soundly beaten earlier had gotten back on his hooves as well, giving chase to the detonator with all the speed his injured legs could muster. He could barely trot, but he was dangerously close to the device. It would be mere seconds before he retrieved it. There was no doubt in Rainbow’s mind that he was crazed enough to blow up the ship and everypony on it, himself included.
Stuffing the agony in her wings to the back of her mind, she sprinted after the wounded sailor, not caring that she lacked a weapon. With all her speed, she bashed her skull into his hindquarters, knocking the zebra onto his face. Before he could react, Dash was on his back, mercilessly and repeatedly driving her hooves into his skull. He tried to roll over her, but all he could manage was to slip onto his side before a vicious hoof to his jaw ended his resistance. He slumped to the deck, unconscious and bloodied.
Not pausing to consider the brutal act of violence she had just committed, Dash immediately looked up, scanning everywhere for any sign of the detonator. All around her, fellow operatives were fighting for their lives against the crew. Even though they were all highly trained warriors, the crew had them badly outnumbered, and signs of fatigue were beginning to show.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins. Conflicting objectives battled for control of her concentration. Should she help her fellow operatives? Was finding the detonator more important? If the flight was defeated in combat, they would almost certainly be executed and thrown into the ocean. If the sailors got to the detonator first, though, the whole engagement was moot. With a shout of pain and fury, Dash ran between the containers, desperately searching for the tiny black box.
Brilliant flashes of lightning lit the deck in disorienting strobes, throwing off Rainbow’s vision. Every time she thought she saw the detonator, the light showed it to be an odd shadow or a bit of detritus that had accumulated on the deck. She frantically darted between containers, avoiding the fights raging around her as her fellow operatives fought bravely against the savage crew.
She rounded a corner in time to see the stallion who had cut the locks use the same bolt cutter to knock one of the sailors over the ship’s lifeline, sending the unfortunate pony flailing into the black water with a single mighty swing. He dropped the heavy tool and returned to all fours, his body heaving as he panted from exertion.
Rainbow ran up to him, stabilizing his wobbly legs. “Are you okay?” she shouted over the howling wind.
The stallion nodded, licking his lips and wincing. “I’m fine! Just a couple of – nngh – scrapes here and there,” he grunted. “I need to find my wingpony. We got separated in the chaos.”
With that, he limped into the stacks. Dash considered following, but something unusual caught the corner of her eye. A mule was floating through the air, encapsulated in a glowing field of blue that rendered his wild struggles useless. He hovered over the water for a brief moment before the blue glow vanished, sending him into the sea with a final terrified bray.
Rainbow braced herself against the ship’s rocking and made her way aft along the main deck. After a slippery struggle against the metal slat floor, she found the flight’s second Individual Augmentee barely conscious, slumped pathetically against a container in a diluted puddle of red. Magical depletion, physical exertion, and wounds from combat had rendered the young unicorn nearly comatose. Recalling her combat first aid training, she checked for a pulse. She found a heartbeat, but it was weak and erratic. The mare’s wounds had already inflicted a heavy toll. Lacking any kind of medical equipment, Dash did the only thing that came to mind.
“Hey! Hey! Wake up! Don’t die on me here!” she shouted, her voice cracking. She shook the unicorn gently, taking care to avoid the crisscrossing slash wounds that had cut through the light armor.
With a groan, the unicorn stirred in Dash’s hooves. “Unngh… help…”
“I’m here! I’m not leaving!” Rainbow frantically looked around for anything that could be used to bandage the bleeding operative. All she could see was deckplate, metal containers, and ponies locked in mortal combat. She gritted her teeth, unwilling to accept that there was nothing she could do.
Taking a last glance around, a small object caught her eye. It had wedged itself between two containers, no longer skipping across the deck. Dash could hardly believe her eyes. It was the right size, the right shape…
“I gotta go, but I’ll be right back! I won’t leave you here!” she yelled over the storm. The wounded unicorn nodded her acknowledgement, wincing in pain.
Dash scrambled to the detonator, sliding to a stop on the slippery deck. It was tightly jammed between the containers, so much so that Dash was completely unable to budge it. She gripped it with her hooves, pulled with her teeth, and finally kicked it in frustration. “No! You are not just gonna stay there! Come out!”
She was taken aback by a blue aura that had formed around the device. Glancing back at the unicorn, she could see her teammate’s horn alight with the same arcane field. New determination welled up inside of her. She clamped her jaw onto the black box and pulled with all of her strength. It stayed put for a second, finally squealing in protest against the containers’ metal walls as it was pried out from between them. With a final powerful tug, Dash stumbled backwards and slipped on the deck. Clenched tightly in her jaw, marred with streaks of orange and yellow paint from being stuck in between the containers, was the Captain’s detonator.
With a triumphant cry, she returned to the unicorn’s side, activating her crystal comm. “This is Echo One-Eight! Emergency broadcast - all Echo Team members clear the area! Repeat, all Echo Team members, retreat to safe distance!”
“One-One here. What in Tartarus are you talking about, Eight?”
“I have the detonator! Get everypony off the ship!” Dash shouted.
“What?! Wait! The team isn’t clear yet!”
Dash propped the injured mare up on her shoulders, pinning the detonator to the deck with a hoof. She put her mouth directly next to the unicorn’s ear. “If you’ve got anything left in you, grab the detonator with your magic and let’s get off this ship!”
Weakly nodding, the unicorn’s horn lit up with a dim blue glow, grabbing the black box from underneath Dash’s hoof. She levitated it to her mouth, biting down on its metal frame.
Satisfied the detonator was secure, Dash returned to the comm. “We don’t have time! Get off the ship right now!”
“Luna save us… Everypony off the ship! Now! Disengage and get as far away as you can!”
Rainbow shuffled forward, assisting the mare’s limp with every step. “Come on! Don’t give up on me! I’m gonna get you outta here! Just keep moving!”
The pair inched towards the edge of the deck, making excruciatingly slow progress. In the back of her mind, Dash was aware that the retreat of her squad would leave the attacking sailors with only one target: her. She fought the urge to drag the unicorn across the deck and take off, fearful of exacerbating the wounds already endangering the mare’s life.
Her fears were confirmed when a burly red stallion appeared from between the stacks and spotted the mares limping away.
“There they are! Get ‘em!”
Faced with no other option, Dash wrapped her legs around the unicorn’s wounded torso and took to the sky, rapidly leaving the ship behind. A momentary sense of relief was overwhelmed by a wave of blinding pain from her wings. She had never experienced such overpowering agony in all her life. Even the paralyzing pain that followed the Wonderbolts’ evaluation paled in comparison. Her wings went limp, flatly refusing to keep her airborne. Both ponies plummeted into the inky water.
Below the water, the world was eerily calm. There was no sound, save for her own heartbeat. The unicorn next to her slowly gyrated in weightlessness. Dash wrapped a foreleg around her teammate, rapidly kicking with her hind legs to bring them back to the surface. The water dragged on her wings, sending screaming jolts of agony up her spine.
She broke the surface with a pained howl. The fight on board the ship had done more damage than she had realized, almost completely hidden by adrenaline. Taking to the air had been too much, though, overpowering the natural painkillers that had flooded her system. Even when floating limp in the water, her wings throbbed from an unknown injury.
Dash was able to think past the pain just long enough to notice crewponies lined up on the deck of the ship, each one frantically tying knots onto something. Nopony was headed for the lifeboats, which were barely steps away. She squinted into the rain, trying to discern the purpose of the curious activity.
A bolt of lighting brightly lit up the world. Dash gasped in horror as she finally saw what was happening. Every sailor on deck had a bow, and, secured to their arrows with string and twine, were the unmistakable green cylinders of arcane demolition charges.
Rainbow could only watch helplessly as the would-be archers drew back on their bows. With the power of an arcane charge attached, they would barely need to put their shots near her to score a fatal blow. Unable to move, she closed her eyes and waited for the hail of death.
The first thing she felt was a tremendous wall of heat, followed by a blinding yellow-orange flash and a blast of noise louder than she had ever imagined possible. Her hearing was reduced to a high-pitched ring. It felt like her eyes and coat were on fire. She could no longer feel the water around her.
Dash counted the beats of her heart. One… two… three… She was surprised that there was anything to count. Though she had never given the idea much thought, she had never considered that the afterlife would include something as tangible as a heartbeat. The only conclusion was that she must have somehow survived.
Opening her eyes again, she gazed in awe at the flaming hulk in front of her. The ship had been reduced to ribbons, shards of broken metal and wood littering the water. Flames danced on the water, casting a hellish glow over the wreckage as they mocked the rain’s attempts to extinguish them. There was no sign of the sailors who had, not a moment before, been ready to end Rainbow Dash once and for all.
To her side, the injured unicorn coughed and sputtered as she fought to stay above the waves. In her hooves, Dash saw the detonator, safety cover removed and switch thrown. Meeting Dash’s eyes with a weak smile, the unicorn tossed the black metal box aside. Rainbow returned the smile, wrapping a protective foreleg around the exhausted mare.
Knowing that neither of them would be able to move under their own power, Dash pulled a small cylindrical object from the armor on her belly. She struck it against a hoof several times, igniting a bright blue flame. She held the flare high. Her teammates would surely see the brightly contrasting signal among the flaming remains of the Azure Sky.
Just as she hoped, the silhouetted figure of an Echo Team pegasus flew overhead just minutes later, followed by the rest of the team. One of them dropped a self-inflating life raft, unfolding with a loud hiss. A pair of operatives assisted the Individual Augmentees as they climbed onto the raft. Finally safe, both Dash and the unicorn passed out barely seconds after making it aboard.
---
4:43 PM
May 17th, 1005 New Solar Calendar
“You are the craziest pony I’ve ever met.”
Gilda strode through the curtain surrounding Rainbow’s hospital bed with an incredulous smirk on her face. She sat on the cold tile, shaking her head at her assigned operative. “You must be legally insane or something, because only somepony with a death wish would detonate those charges as close as you did.”
Dash shifted slightly on the mattress, careful to avoid putting any weight on her wing muscles. “For your information, G, I’m not the one who hit the detonator. It was the nutcase I dragged off the ship.” She laughed half-heartedly. “You want insane? Anypony who rides one of those deathtrap glider things fits the bill.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen those in action a few times,” Gilda replied with a grimace. “They make flying through a thundercloud look like skating on greased ice. And this crazed filly rode the TIGR through a hurricane?”
“Tropical storm,” Dash corrected.
Gilda waved a claw dismissively. “Yeah, there’s such a huge difference, especially when you’re flying on a flimsy piece of junk like the TIGR. I’m surprised it didn’t come apart the second you could see the storm.”
“Heh. No kidding.”
“But still,” Gilda continued, “you’re absolutely crazy. Look at what you did to yourself.” She picked the chart off of Dash’s bed, reading off the doctors’ report. “Dislocations in both wings. Contusion on the left flank. Hairline fracture in the right shoulder. Multiple contusions to the back and face…” Gilda peered over the clipboard. “Well, that last one might be an improvement.”
Dash scowled wordlessly.
“I think I’ve made my point, though,” Gilda continued, replacing the clipboard on the bed’s railing. “You’re nuts.”
“I did what I had to,” Rainbow mumbled into her water glass. She took a long drink, grimacing as she finished the last of the cold liquid.
“Nasty water here?” Gilda asked with a raised eyebrow.
Dash shook her head, sticking out her tongue in disgust. “Water and ice… I’ve been around both of those way too much over the past few days. Last thing I wanna do is put them in my body.”
“Speaking of water,” the griffon began, “it looks like your little stunt in the storm the other day has been making big waves here, pun absolutely intended. All these ponies are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Just some old, beat-up swords would have been bad enough, but finding those charges really perked some ears.”
“They were ready to take the coward’s way out,” Rainbow replied acidly. “Nothing to get your feathers ruffled over.”
Gilda sighed. “That’s not the point. The fact that they were even able to get those things means that some jerk in the Griffon Kingdom has very good connections here. Not to mention that anyone smuggling that much heavy ordnance is, well, bad for us. If you hadn’t caught the Azure Sky, they would have offloaded those charges in a Griffon Kingdom port, bound for who-knows-where.”
She quickly stood up, peeking out of the curtains to make sure they were alone. Satisfied that the pair were the only ones around, she returned to Dash’s side, continuing her explanation in a conspiratorial whisper. “It’s got the senior brass ducking for cover. Some ponies are even talking about war with the Griffon Kingdom.”
Smirking she returned to her full height. “I hope it happens. Give me a chance to make them regret kicking my family out. Tear some stuff up for Equestria, y’know what I’m saying?”
Dash gave her a half-hearted nod, pretending to be very absorbed in her bandages. The thought of more violence grated against her consciousness.
“Well,” Gilda continued, patting her friend’s shoulder with a claw, “I’ll get my tailfeathers outta here and let you get some rest. I’ve had you removed from the rosters of all scheduled ops for the next month, so you’ve got some time to recover. I came here mostly to tell you that.
“Anyway, the docs should fix you up real nice. If they don’t, well…” she chuckled dryly, “I guess I’ll have to find some other pony crazy enough to take your spot.”
She turned and exited without another word, leaving Dash alone once again. A month of no missions would be a welcome break, especially after how drained the last three deployments had left her. Even after twenty-four consecutive hours of bed rest, she was still exhausted to the point where she could barely keep her eyes open for more than fifteen minutes at a time.
The doctors had explained her prognosis in detail. In order to get back into fighting shape, she would need to stay off her wings for at least two weeks, followed by two more weeks of progressively more strenuous physical therapy. As much as she hated the idea of being effectively grounded for four weeks, she had no choice in the matter. Until the completion of her treatment, she had been transferred to Epsilon Division, RAID’s medical department, and their nurses made Ponyville General look like a kindergarten classroom. Rainbow Dash would be following the regimen whether she liked it or not.
The first few days, though, were strict bed rest. She would have resisted such a prescription, but she lacked the energy to do most anything but lie down and pass out. When she was awake, though, her mind was churning with doubt.
What did I do wrong? I know something went bad, but I can’t figure out what!
You know what went wrong, a resolute voice countered from a remote corner of her mind. You found the contraband and the Captain tried to blow you up.
I could have stopped it.
The charges were rigged beforehand, it continued.
I could have searched the Captain’s bags.
You weren’t ordered to search them.
It’s my responsibility to protect the members of my team. There is no excuse for putting them in danger like that.
‘Putting them in danger like that’? How did you make this your fault? The team was carrying out its mission, and they were doing it so well that the only option the zebra was left with was to take everypony down with her.
That can’t be true. Nopony would blow themselves up over a few crates of swords and charges.
Welcome to your new life, Rainbow Dash! There are ponies out there who don’t play by civilized rules. You got your first real taste of that recently. Remember the griffon who shot his squadmate to keep her from getting captured? This is the face of the world you never saw back in Ponyville.
But they didn’t accomplish anything. Even if they had blown up all of us, they wouldn’t have gained anything from it.
You wouldn’t have been able to tell anypony about the weapons. Then whoever is behind all this gets to keep working completely unbeknownst to us. Whatever they’re working towards, the crew of that ship believed in it so much that they volunteered their lives to protect it. Your only mistake, besides underestimating them, would be to give anything less.
I’m in this one hundred and twenty percent. That doesn’t mean that I need to kill everyone who doesn’t like Equestria. Capturing them would have accomplished so much more. We could have questioned them for information, searched the rest of the ship…
Yes, you could have. But they chose not to surrender. When that happens, you aren’t left with many options. You saw the explosion. That should not leave any ambiguity about their intentions. Maybe you aren’t as committed as you think.
My loyalty is above question! For the love of Celestia, I’m the Element of Loyalty! If somepony wants to pick a fight with Equestria, then they’ll have to get through me!
We’ll see about that. Why didn’t you just fly away with the detonator as soon as you got it? You risked all the intelligence you gathered for the sake of your team. Isn’t Equestria more important than a few operatives?
I still got away. We all did. I even saved that injured unicorn. If I hadn’t stopped to help her, I wouldn’t have found the detonator. Even if I had found it, I would never have been able to pry it out alone. Looking out for my squadmates led to a successful mission.
True, but what if the enemy is faster next time? What if the Captain had a backup? What if there had been a manual detonator on the charges? What if they were set to a timer? All these things would have ended the whole operation in failure. You need to get your priorities straight before you deploy again. Next time, you might not get so lucky.
If I can complete the mission and keep my team alive, I’m going to take that option. Just because the bad guys sacrifice themselves needlessly doesn’t mean we have to.
A noble goal, to be sure, but you’re doubling down on your own skill and luck. Are you willing to accept the loss when your bet doesn’t play out?
Dash lay back on her pillow, unable to respond. The thought of both failing a mission and losing her entire team was too much to think about in her state. She closed her eyes, trying to force the idea from her mind. Arguing with herself had sapped the remainder of her energy, and she rolled onto her side, drifting off to sleep once again.
NEXT CHAPTER: “The Ponies With Green Faces”