//------------------------------//
// Preemptive Improvisation  
// Story: [Forlorn Ascension]|[Rites of Dominion] 
// by Desrium 
//------------------------------//

It was very dark in the holding bay. Silhouettes of large metal crates were visible amidst the shadows, highlighted by the emergency lights which cast a faint red glow from ports in the ceiling. Platforms and walkways were suspended over the bay and at the corners of the roughly cubic chamber were large rounded pillars. These pillars had circular plates with three light ports, but they too were dim and offered little illumination at all. With its entrance hanging open still, this part of the Hoof-Talon occupied ship was subjected to the absolute silence of the vacuum. 

After depressurizing the cockpit, Phineas raised the shuttle's screen and set off into the bay, jetting over to the floor and securing himself with the magnetic grip. His boosters folded away into his suit and he floated out the hover-platform rifles, the soft blue light they shed reflecting off of his armor. He saw the dull silvery tint of the chamber's walls and the bolts in the steel boxes which towered over him thanks to his visors, which filtered in and amplified the low lighting. The darkness would not be a hindrance, but it would not work in his favor either. If the Hoof-Talons didn't have equipment for dealing with the darkness, then his own weapons would give away his position. 

Phineas peeked out from behind the crates at one out of three large doorways leading into the rest of the ship. It looked secure enough, with three large metal latches that looked like they were firmly in locking position. He wouldn't be able to get them open with any small effort, whether the ship's systems were all active or not. 

He poked his head out from the other side of the crate to the entrance opposite the last. It looked very much the same way; secure and impassible without some serious work, work which he didn't have the time to do. As he turned to look at the central doorway, he saw that the problem of infiltrating the ship had become moot. Sparks started to leap from the door, rising up following the bulwark's seal and then reaching the latches. The white hot line continued uninterrupted for the rest of the door's height, where the sparks then stopped and a smoky vapor wafted away from the cut. 

The halves were pried apart with enough force to overpower the machines keeping them in place, the bisected latches coming out of their locks gradually. Though there was no sound hear, the resistance was evident by the next shower of sparks from the top and bottom of the door's parts as they slowly moved apart. A bright whitish-blue flash of light went off and there was no more struggle. The two heavy slabs rolled into the bay walls until they had nowhere else to go, coming to a quaking halt that reverberated through the chamber and caused the hanging platforms overhead to sway. The emergency lights flickered. 

Phineas ducked down, bracing his back against the container as he saw the first of the group of hybrids pour into the holding bay. "I don't think they appreciated my little trick..."

***

Phineas inched towards the edge to look past the corner of the crate, spotting two Hoof-Talons combing the aisle it created with another one positioned five feet away. He could only assume that there was a similar sight waiting for him if he were to look on the other side of the crate, and that they were all a few moments away from converging on him. The last time he was caught in a situation like that, he barely got away with his life. He wouldn't go through that again if he could help it. 

Acting in kind, Phineas retracted his rifles and turned to face the crate. With extreme care, he began to climb up its surface, regulating the pull his hooves had to make sure he wouldn't just find himself falling back into heap at their talons. He stopped just before the top of the metal box, just in case there were units keeping watch from above and eyed the floor. Sure enough, from either side of the crate two Hoof-Talon soldiers appeared. The four looked to each other and shook their heads before going on to patrol the rest of the holding bay. 

It was then the thought occurred to Phineas: if the soldiers didn't find him, they would destroy his shuttle to make sure he couldn't escape, period. 

"Can't allow that to happen!"

Now his mind was racing, formulating a plan with only one broad goal being the driving force: keeping their damn talons off of his ship. He activated his jetpack and deactivated the clamps simultaneously, shooting off away from the shuttle, counting on the light and energy spike to bait the soldiers. He came down on the other side of the holding bay and darted into cover, keeping tabs on his surroundings. His suit's readouts showed him the effects the suspense was having on his body, from his pounding heart to his rapid breathing. Another game of cat and mouse. 

***

It wasn't long at all before he saw the first of the soldiers pursuing him. The Hoof-Talon's movements were as methodical and cautious as his own; something Phineas found a little humorous, in spite of the circumstances. These Hoof-Talons had apparently learned not to underestimate their opponent. Nevertheless, Phineas did not lose focus on the matter at hoof. He couldn't afford to, lest he find himself surrounded on all sides with weapons primed to tear him apart. 

He slunk around the crate as the soldier approached from one side and then proceeded to climb. He wanted to get a visual on all of his enemies before he acted. He peeked over the crate and scanned the upper walkways for the black-suited Hoof-Talons. He saw two on a walkway and he braced himself for what he was about to do. 

The hover platforms came out again and the rifles deployed. The aiming guide appeared in Phineas' vision, centered on one of the platform supports. He opened fire, the guns going off with their popping and screeching, magical bolts making quick work of a whole row of supports as Phineas panned them down the length of the scaffold. The walkway swung away from underneath the hybrids, the soldiers tumbling down it. Phineas was able to dispatch one of them -a single shot rupturing their suit and exposing them to the vacuum being enough without considering the damage the bolt did to their body- but couldn't get the other before the soldier activated their own boosters and leveled out over the bay.

The soldier returned fire with their droning blasters and Phineas kicked off of the crate. He took flight on his booster pack, hovering little over a foot away from where he was previously, which had been turned to molten slag in split seconds. Liquified metal dribbled into the crate and fell to the floor, vapor rising from the sludge. Appearing from over the crates on their own packs were the rest of the soldiers, numbering ten in all. 

"At least they aren't screwing around with the shuttle!"

***

Phineas threw himself into a dive as the incinerating hail was sent his way. He saw his shielding materialize on more than one occasion before he was behind the crate and well after still, glowing holes left in the container. He hit the ground hard and tumbled behind another, bracing against it. By now all he could hear was the sound of his own heavy panting echoing within his helmet. Then he saw it land in front of him: an obsidian orb with two sallow rings wrapping around the center, pointy protrusions crackling with destabilizing magical energy. He immediately reached into his toolkit.

"I think one of you dropped this!" Phineas shouted as he rocketed up over the crate, the grenade suspended in a field generated by the Harmonizer. The energy surrounding it had been suppressed by the device, delaying the inevitable explosion substantially. Phineas pointed the Harmonizer toward a cluster of soldiers and with a strong pulse, sent the grenade soaring at them. They scattered before it was near enough to cause lethal damage, but it was enough to gain a moment of reprieve in the tense battle. The explosion of a vile green collection of flame and electricity didn't kill any, but the damage done to their suits was a major cause for concern that decommissioned a good chunk of the assault force. 

Startrot took the opportunity to get on the offensive. He flew erratically through the storm of blaster fire, though a storm that had lost most of its drive. He had many ways to avoid harm: jetting upwards, diving, rolling from side to side. It was no different from piloting his shuttle through a barrage of enemy ships. He got into a close range confrontation with the four soldiers unaffected by the blast, and they were doing all they could to keep away from the silver stallion. Now they were the ones diving behind containers to avoid rifle shots, which only proved to be to their detriment as Phineas scooped up molten metal with his Harmonizer and chucked it at them. When one of them slammed down on a crate and prepared to return fire, they were met with a coating of slag to the face and upper chest. Though he could not hear their howl of anguish, the way they reared and grasped at the fluid torture was enough indication of their suffering. A single shot to the head ended it. 

Once the favor of battle had shifted, the assault force did not have much longer to live. Their enemy had proven time and time again that he was a formidable -if not unlikely- warrior.

***

Eleven soldiers waited in ambush at the holding bay. In a matter of minutes, eleven soldiers were dead, strewn about the chamber, some sprawled out on the floors, others braced against crates, heads hanging limply. "One would think that the end of the line would be where you'd be most willing to change your tune," Phineas muttered as he searched the body of a soldier, finding another supply of grenades. Four more to add to the six he had taken already, he put them all in a toolbox. Unused, the grenades all had a casing covering their spines and when thrown, the casing ejected and armed the explosive. 

"I suppose if there's anything good to say about you monsters, it's that you stick to your guns. No pun intended..."

Before departing the holding bay, Phineas took a Hoof-Talon helmet and filled it with six of his arcane grenades. After a quick and relatively simple application of the Magi-Flux Harmonizer, he had improvised what was essentially a selective proximity mine: using the suit's own sensors to detect other Hoof-Talons and arming the grenades when they were near enough. He moved the body he took the helmet from to the entrance of the holding bay and laid the trap down on the corpse to make it inconspicuous.

"Just stay away from the spaceship and no one gets hurt... simple enough," the stallion mumbled to himself as headed into the bay's airlock chamber.

The soldiers were waiting for him there, but did not count on the disruptor blast. Upon reaching the pressurized door, Phineas pulled out the Harmonizer and began to slice into its locking mechanism. With this crisis on their... talons, there was one place one the ship where the hybrids would be most concentrated around, and that place was the Spell-core engine room. He had to make sure they couldn't bring back the ship's power and he had to clear out the threat. Going after the Spell-core took care of both problems...