//------------------------------// // Chapter 68: Temporary Victory // Story: Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// Soon Rainbow received news of Haven's temporary victory. Her friends had done all the work- they managed to trap the mutated ponies in a place where their melee weapons were of no use, and slowly finished them off with ranged weapons from the surrounding buildings. A good two thirds of the SF troops were dead after entering the Tunnels. Thanks to Daring, Silver, AL and multiple other ponies' efforts; the Tunnels were a lethal trap for anypony coming in without knowing the layout. Silver led a squad and sneaked around shortcuts and hidden pathways, ambushing SF troops as they walked past. Hit and run, as it always was- but whatever indignities must be said about the strategy, it worked. The only casualties were only ever Science Faction due to the speed and unexpectedness of each attack by Silver and her team. Zealo and Magnum shared a reunion and spread out around the Tunnels with their own team, placing mines and explosive charges at points where AL observed would be tread upon by enemy forces soon. They would first blow the charges, have Silver's team lose a few shots, then run and hide again to wait. Whatever Haven soldiers left in the Tunnels finished the job. Octavia, Terra, and Neon led a surface assault which drove half of the enemy forces northwest and the other half northeast, dividing their power. For some reason Valkyrie wasn't sending reinforcements, but that could be a concern for later and a blessing for now. Noteworthy and Lightning Dust teamed up to bring destructive havoc on what little remains of the SF occupation in Haven, blowing over buildings right on top of the enemies' heads. Scootaloo, AL, and several other ponies co-ordinated the Haven fighters from HQ, forming strategies together and giving out orders. Messengers had to run or fly out onto the battlefield to areas where comms had been cut offline, making things a little bit more difficult. Scootaloo was starting to become a little emotional by the end of all the planning. The death of her two dearest childhood friends was starting to haunt her, and AL temporarily relieved her of her position before things got out of hoof. The fillies and foals out back had been protected by Halcyon long enough for reinforcements to arrive- she held off against five Science Faction mechs alone. Only one filly died, and it was because she panicked and ran out onto the battlefield. She was killed by a stray shell- and while there wasn't anything left of her, Halcyon at least had the liberty of telling the grieving parents that it was fast and painless- but that would be something to do after she recovers from her own injuries and spent body. So that's what war was. But this is a war that Equestria had never before witnessed- it was a senseless killing- where there would only be one surviving side by the end of it. Civilians and soldiers alike were getting slaughtered, and it didn't matter who you were or which side you were on. Haven is a small victory. One amongst countless others all around the world as the Wardens or otherwise lead different parts of Equestria to stand up against their technologically advanced overlords. But they were losing too- the coup was still fragile. There was still a trump card which has yet to be accounted for- one in the hands of Valkyrie. When the Barricade fell... That was what gave hope. A symbol destroyed. Back then people hadn't realized how many ponies died on that Science Faction behemoth. Now that death was all around them, they were beginning to see what they had truly put into motion. A war with no real purpose but to slaughter the enemy. A war with no meaning because it traded one's freedom for another's. Arguably Valkyrie was evil- but that was just one pony. Countless others were dying while we try to get at her- and maybe they're the real ones fighting for their own world. Their own government. Their own leader. After all, evil always believes it's doing good. But then again- since both Magic and Science believe their own goals to be righteous- who's the evil one? It had been seven hours since Eclipse was killed. Rainbow was in her cell again after AL made the augmentations she requested- who then promptly deleted any record of it from AL's memory bank as a precaution. With AL's approval first, of course. There was a buzz, and the cell door opened. Octavia walked in, walking with a bit of a limp because of her metal rear right hoof. She almost looked a few years older from how tired she was, but there was smile on her face. Something Rainbow gazed at with curiosity. "We won, RD." Octavia laughed, sitting down. "We got Haven back on our own." Rainbow grinned, whistled, and looked up at the ceiling. "And I didn't have to lift a hoof. I should do this more often." She chuckled. "Told you we can handle things too." Octavia punched her lightly on the shoulder. "Yeah." Rainbow said, closing her eyes. After that conversation she had with her, she panicked a lot less considering the circumstances. A period of silence followed as the two bathed in their mental relief. "Uh... Rainbow? You might wanna come up to HQ. Need you to confirm something." Rainbow looked up to the speakers at her own voice, then glanced at Octavia. "Silver's calling." Octavia said, standing up. "She called for you. Probably is important- you better come." "Got it." Rainbow said, standing up. The red glow from her cyber eye seemed to rival that of her cleaver's. "Rainbow's here. You talk to her and sort things out before I get AL to shut you out forever." Silver was saying as Rainbow entered the small command center, Silver's remaining holographic models still drifting about in space. "I'm monitoring all systems. No foreign programs or unauthorized access attempts detected." AL said. "What's going on?" Rainbow asked, pushing aside a few annoying holograms as she walked in, Octavia close behind. Silver looked up, a relieved expression flashing across her face as she spotted her alternate universe counterpart. "Blithy's on the line. But it could be Val herself." She said. "Blithy." Rainbow answered immediately, and Silver huffed with a roll of her eyes. "Rainbow? Pah, thank Celestia. Valkyrie here." Rainbow raised an eyebrow, and the holographic words 'scanning' appeared as a silent message from AL. It changed to 'no digital hostilities detected' a second later. "The hell do you want?" Rainbow spoke. "Blithy is here too. Look, I need to catch you up on a few things before I can explain why I'M here." Valkyrie said, sighing. And so she told Rainbow and all who listened about how Val was a splinter, and that Valkyrie was a separate conscience inside Blithy's head with the ability to swap controls of the body around between the two. "Blithy's in charge right now, keeping Val distracted. She doesn't seem to know of the Magic digital network, which is why she can't access it- but Blithy's body from our world can, which is what I'm partially using to talk to you." "So that's why your voice is all funny." Octavia raised an eyebrow. "The words you're speaking right now are directly formulated from inside your brain." A moment of silence. "Essentially, yes." Valkyrie sighed. "And we are... Expected to believe this?" Rainbow folded her arms. "No, I suppose not. But I can provide you with information, whether or not you choose to believe it." Rainbow stared at the terminal for a moment. "Baaah I'm just messing with ya." Valkyrie sighed. "Listen. Val's talking about some sort of crazy ancient science project." Rainbow raised an eyebrow, her cybernetic eye shimmering. Valkyrie seemed to acknowledge her skepticism by the radio silence. "Does... 'Genesis' sound familiar?" That caught Rainbow's attention, and Octavia's- that was what they were meant to find out about when they were dumped into this universe in Manehatten. "Well it has something to do with the sun. Can't say if Val's gone crazy or not, but she plans to go there. Judging from what I've heard, the COLOSSUS is down; so I'm not sure how else she plans on doing it. Apparently there's some sort of ancient castle in the sun itself, and somehow that controls the entire universe. Also she has an activation key type of device, although I have no idea what it's for." Valkyrie mentally tapped her chin. "What do you mean you have no idea? Just think, what would YOU need a key for?" "Backdoor?" Valkyrie answered, and Octavia face-hoofed. "Right now it could be for anything. Val has something big planned, and we don't know what it is. Great." Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "Right now she's in Valhalla, some sort of main building like the CMC tower in Haven." Valkyrie sighed. "But I guess you already know that. Also, she keeps blabbering on about something- ahem, someone- called 'Penumbra'. Not sure if that means anything to you." "It doesn't." Rainbow muttered in frustration, turning away. "Wait! I also heard Val say this once- 'Project Ascension'. Starshine was meant to execute the first step of the project, although still there's no telling what it is." Rainbow paused. "Project Ascension? I've heard that somewhere before..." She raked through her brain, almost coming up empty- but then... "Applejack mentioned it in her video." Her eyes brightened for a moment, then dimmed again. "Still doesn't tell us anything about the project." "Val is keeping this very discreet." Valkyrie nodded mentally. "I'll see if Blithy can get more out of her. In the meantime, take her down fast." "Got it." Rainbow said. "Oh, and Valkyrie?" "Hmmm?" Rainbow sighed. "Make sure Blithy is okay. You keep the both you safe, alright? Blithy is strong, but not as strong as you are. Even if you're both immortal. I'm just going to trust you this once, don't betray it." Valkyrie didn't say anything for a moment. Rainbow thought the connection was lost or something, shortly before she spoke again. "I will." Then the connection terminated. "AL, have you analyzed Eclipse's armor?" Rainbow turned away from the terminal. "I have. The particle manipulators were damaged, but I managed to theoretically reconstruct them. Changes have been made to the requested vehicles." AL said. "Good. Val isn't sending reinforcements for her troops, and I want to know why. In the meantime while we wait for the rest of our army to arrive from down south, do you mind sending out a recon unit?" Rainbow brought up a few holographic screens, cycling through the camera feeds. "No available units left. Raider, the company manufacturing and storing our remote controlled units; was destroyed by the COLOSSUS's dark matter cannon. All units were destroyed." AL replied. "Send out a salvage team for scraps and assemble one. We need to be able to keep track of things." Rainbow said. "Can't we just use one of the cars? Don't we have, like; fifty?" Silver raised an arm. Rainbow raised an eyebrow up at the camera in the corner. "Could work." AL said, and Rainbow looked back down again. "Do that then. But still send out a salvage team, an aerial drone would be better. The car will suffice for now. Just survey the area, see if the reason behind Val's withdrawal is environmental or otherwise. After all, we did have that big orbital crash come in a while ago. Might be magical radiation." Rainbow reasoned. "Bring basic testing equipment." "Loading the car now. Should be ready for surveying in thirty minutes or less." AL said. "Good." Rainbow said. "Now we just need to-" her sentence was interrupted by another signal from the comms, a familiar stallion's voice. And it sounded like he had gone a week without sleep. "...Captain Shining Armor of the M.F. CYCLOPS... Calling for survivors in Haven... Does anyone copy..." "Copy! I copy!" Rainbow yelled, and Octavia clapped hooves with Silver. Finally, contact with reinforcements! Good to know they were still out there. "Shining Armor, this is Rainbow Dash from Haven. We have sustained heavy casualties but retrieved a temporary victory. We are being sustained by supplies from an underground storage, over." There was a pause, and for a second Rainbow thought they had lost the signal or something. "Copy Rainbow. There are only a few ships remaining of the fleet... We're guarding the surface as per Spitfire's orders. Science Faction ships have retreated back towards the sun." Rainbow and Octavia shared a look. What the hell is Val planning... Looks like Valkyrie wasn't joking about the sun being a key point. "We need to evacuate civilians to a safer zone. Can you do that?" Rainbow asked. Haven was growing colder and colder by the minute since the shields were down, and was quickly being consumed by the relentless Arctic weather. Also, Haven was technically still a warzone- hell, the entire Arctic North was a warzone. "Copy. Our ships are fifty minutes out, approximately. Further reinforcements will be there in five hours." Shining Armor said. "Wait, you've made contact with the rest of the Wardens?" Octavia jutted in. "Affirmative. Blaze's forces from Tartarus and the Badlands will arrive a few hours later than Tesla's from Western Equestria." Shining Armor replied. "You sound tired." Rainbow pointed out. "Many things have happened." Shining Armor stated the obvious, but avoided the question. "Rest, Shining Armor. We'll need every ounce of strength left for this final push against the science faction." Rainbow looked down, a weak sigh escaping her lips. One last push... And it should be the end... She didn't want to bring Twilight up, nor Cadence. She could barely imagine the pain he was in. She could understand losing a friend, but not a sibling or a lover. She was surprised he was still here as a captain after everything. "Thank you for your concerns, Rainbow..." Shining Armor sighed as well, undoubtedly thinking about the same ponies as Rainbow currently was. "...but I have to see this one through. No more mistakes." Rainbow nodded, tearing up a little. She quickly blinked it back though, and took a deep breath. Looking up, THIS was the time to act tough. She nodded again. "No more mistakes." She repeated his words, in her own context. "Captain Shining Armor, out." The comms went silent. Rainbow stood still for several seconds, then moved to bring up a dozen holographic tables and screens. "What are you doing?" Octavia approached, Rainbow's hooves a blur of motion as she arranged this and changed that. "Making some final adjustments." She replied, then backed away and shoved a single big screen she pieced together from the others towards the far wall. A blueprint of some sort. "AL, do we have enough resources for this plan?" "Well, twenty of these; perhaps just barely." AL said, her forcefully cheerful voice sounding thoughtful. "Good. I want these done in five hours." Rainbow leaned forward into an actual table, tapping her hooves on its surface. "By the time our reinforcements reach us, I'll give them one day of rest- but then, hopefully; it's time to take care of things- once and for all." The door to the room opened, and Dainty and Lily trotted in- the former holding a few spare microchips, the latter with a screwdriver in her mouth. Rainbow turned around, and all eyes turned to her. While the fillies didn't know, Octavia and the others would consider her as 'unstable' at the moment. They were going to keep a close eye on her. "Girls." Rainbow smiled weakly, crouching down. "I see Halcyon kept you two safe?" Dainty grinned. "She was super awesome! All these bad ponies kept coming, and she just threw them away with a flick of her hoof!" She rose up on her rears and made a few punching motions with her fronts. "She could make water FLY!" Lily added, and Octavia patted her head. Rainbow didn't speak for a moment as she stood still, the smile frozen on her face growing more and more forced by the second. Dainty had a few bruises, probably from running around. She was ignoring them, and she could tell. Even she knew not to let her worry. Dainty was still rambling on about how awesome the Warden of Water was when Rainbow pulled her into a tight hug. Dainty smelt of engine oil, and Rainbow gunpowder. "Uh... Sis?" Dainty raised an eyebrow, though Rainbow didn't see it. Rainbow let go, sighing and smiling to herself. She looked up, and for some reason she looked a little older than she was. "I'm... I'm just glad you're safe." She said. Dainty's face was half bathed in the red glow from her cybernetic eye. Standing up, Rainbow gave Dainty one last ruffle behind the ears before turning to the holograms still floating in the air. Why did it have to be this way? Her plan up to this point had always been to get it over and done with, finish the job fast. But she was making a mistake, one she made long ago. She was working so hard to protect something that she'd never even get a chance to experience it again. * "Our reinforcements have arrived, and we have assembled a drone for reconnaissance." AL announced. "Should we proceed with the plan?" "No." Rainbow held up a hoof. "No?" "No." Rainbow sighed, taking a sip from her glass of whiskey. She had asked to be left alone again, in the command center; under the excuse of coming up with a plan. "If I may ask, why?" Rainbow got up, taking the glass with her and gently swirling its golden contents. She took another drink, and AL contemplated her silence. "Tell me, AL; what are the chances of all of us surviving this last mission? Including all the unknown variables and risks?" Rainbow asked, leaning against the table. She looked down at her glass. "Hmm. This stuff is good." "All of you? As in Blaze, Halcyon, Neon-" "All of us." Rainbow said. "Together." All AL's camera could get was a back view of Rainbow. The artificial intelligence couldn't tell what she was trying to do. "It's a point seven percent chance." She replied, after a moment of silence. Rainbow didn't say anything. She just took another sip. "And the chances of none of us making it back?" "Twenty one percent." This time Rainbow chuckled, and lifted the glass to her lips once again. "We're all going to bucking die." She drank. "The likelihood of at least seventy percent of you surviving is thirty percent, mind you-" "That's not the point, AL!" Rainbow snapped, and the AI shut up. She sighed, shaking her head. "Sorry, didn't mean to growl. It's just... Since we're all going to die anyway, might as well..." She drifted off. "Yes?" Rainbow stared at the dark corner for a while, thinking. Then she turned around, and grinned. "...throw a big party."