Shell's eye flew open as he woke with a start. He sat in the darkness of a lopsided cabin, a dying candle as his only means of seeing his own pale sweat. With a shudder, he ran his hoof down his scarred face.
Several breaths later, he stood up, hobbling on the metal prosthetic. From extensive wear and tear, the brace was starting to lose its crystaline charge. It chaffed and bent at his still unmended forelimb, sending waves of pain through his body.
Nevertheless, he shuffled his way towards a bright slit, then pushed the doorframe open. His eye squinted into burning daylight as his ears were assaulted by the noise of hammers, power tools, and shouting ponies. Outside, the body of the Steel Wing rested—or at least most of it.
The battle with Rainbow Dash and the subsequent collapse had smashed several chunks in the hull, warping the port side beyond recognition. Currently, the enforcers and remaining crew were working around the clock to salvage the vessel, patch it up, and make it air-worthy once more. Thankfully, the ponies of the Steel Wing were not alone. Several airships hovered low to the burnt, charred-black remains of Foxtaur. Smoke continuously billowed over the south horizon from the smoldering forest as Shell's hooves took him from the shattered deck of his ship to the brown, ashen earth. He walked around crates of supplies that had been dropped off by escort vessels, and he navigated his way through thick groups of ponies sawing at what good trees remained of Foxtaur, converting them into raw planks of wood that could be use to patch the Steel Wing.
From a distance, Shell heard loud whistles and the shouts of stallions as search teams continued combing the burnt woods in search of the enforcers who were lost in the most recent air battle. Already, a pile had been formed of the cracked and shattered remains of managliders excavated from the fire-swept region.
Shell was silent during the entire walk. Through the edge of his vision, he became aware of enforcers glancing at him and immediately looking away as soon as he came within proximity. Despite the heroic efforts of everypony to salvage the ship, their morale was anything but chipper. Jittery anxiety ran through the group, so that their breaths alone kicked the dust and ash of the burnt fire constantly up into the air.
At last, the Prime Enforcer made his way to a row of supply crates that had been erected to form a crude table. Captain Filta had a map stretched out, and he was busy speaking to one group after another as ponies lined up to give reports and receive orders.
"Send two supplies of mana crystals to group ceti," Filta said, telekinetically scribbling onto a scorched piece of parchment. "Hopefully it will let them extinguish the flames so that they can salvage what's left of the fallen Stone Star."
"Aye, sir."
"And tell the east team to finish salvaging the cores out of those gliders!" Filta called out to another pony as he galloped away. "We need those if we're gonna get the Steel Wing back up into the air!"
Shell shuffled up, and Filta's gaze met him.
"Got some rest, I hope, sir..."
"I'll rest when I'm dead," Shell muttered. "What's the progress?"
"You want what I'd tell the Queen or the Honest to Spark truth?"
"You're the last pony on earth I'd expose to any amount of anger, Captain." Shell gestured towards the sheets. "How does it look?"
Filta sighed. "It could have worse. The Steel Wing is missing its central mast for the ballast support, and the hull along the port side is completely smashed. We were lucky to have survived with so many of our crew intact, but it doesn't change the fact that we need to patch up the hull and re-structure the mast or else we are not getting anywhere."
"How long, then?"
Filta took a deep breath, adjusted what was less of his tattered uniform, then said, "Four days. And even that is pushing it, sir. We won't know how well she will fly until we have her up in the air." Filta gestured towards the huge, fallen vessel in between charred lengths of trees. "If we really wanted the vessel to survive another ten years, it needs to be taken into port." He turned and gazed at Shell once again. "Blue Nova is the closest."
"Mmmm... The city is far from the eastern front. They're only equipped for supplying merchant vessels, not battleships."
"The Northern Facility is at least a week's flight from here at the Steel Wing's speed."
"It matters little," Shell said. "That Searonese metal mare could only have taken the target south." Shell's eye pierced the horizon in question. "We're all that lies between the bounty hunter's home and a return trip."
"A return trip?" Filta asked.
"It goes without saying just how tenacious the pegasus is," Shell droned. "She will break loose from her bonds—and when she does, she will head north." He turned and gazed coldly at the Captain. "That's where the only thing precious to her remains, though she'll likely be expecting two precious things."
Filta swallowed and said, "Four days is the best I can promise, sir. Three and a half, but that's assuming we can get the crane lifts up and running."
Shell gazed at the distant pile of managliders being collected. "You're salvaging them for their energy cores, correct?"
"Yes..."
"Would a triple-layered mana conductor assist in getting the cranes operational more swiftly?"
Filta did a double-take. "Well, of course! But the only such battery is being used to operate the communication array with the Council!"
Shell rubbed the fresh, gray stubble forming on his chin. He took a deep breath, gazing lethargically at the shattered husk of the Steel Wing. "Rip it out."
"Sir...?"
"The array is in disrepair. It was damaged too badly in the fall to be fixed."
"Sir, if that was the case, my deckhooves would have reported such to me..."
"I'm giving you my word as a Prime Enforcer..." Shell turned around, his cold eye glinting in the daylight. "It no longer serves us a purpose. Do you understand?"
Filta squinted at him for a few seconds, then gave a knowing breath. "Aye, sir. I understand."
"Good. The sooner we get off the ground, the better," Shell said. His metal prosthetic thumped with renewed vigor as he trotted off to survey the repair teams. "Do not count this day as a loss, Captain. So long as we have half the prize, victory awaits. Our fate now lies in the 'package' being delivered up north..."