//------------------------------// // Mission Log 20: Reunion // Story: Stolen Minds // by TcogArchitect //------------------------------// Published February 14th, 2014 "Oh, it feels good to get off my hooves. Not being able to fly around everywhere was a serious pain in my flank." "Sounds like you all had a grand old time." "That's not funny. I don't think I trained that hard at the Wonderbolts Academy." "Well, you'll be thrilled to hear that it only gets worse." They all looked at me incredulously before Rainbow threw her hands up in exasperation. "Are you kidding?! What could be worse than that?" "Being expected to do it on a regular basis by your CO." They all groaned. "Oh, and since you're all stationed on the Star Spectre, that means that I am your superior officer, and I am allowed to give you orders. Just so we're clear." They groaned again, but Twilight quickly pricked up curiously. Their ears made reading their emotions really easy. "By the way, do you know why we were all assigned to the same place? Even the other ponies were sent there. How come?" I shrugged. "Probably something to do with keeping track of all of you, or concentrating your communities, or something equally silly-sounding. I don't typically read too much into what High Command sends down the chain. There's a lot of decisions they make that seem really suspicious at first, and then everyone finds out that they just had really bizarre, stupid reasoning behind them. There was one time, I had just been promoted and given my first command position in the marines, and my squad and I were sent to Sawcus as part of a garrison force. We were sitting around in that base for almost a month, and nothing. No attack, no scout ships, not even a single saboteur. Turns out, someone had mistranslated the cipher on an intercepted message. So, they read it as 'Sawcus is weak', instead of 'Sawcus is lost'." They all chuckled a bit. "The two words are really similar in the Emrini language, so it's understandable, but it was so stupid. My first mission as a CO, and it turns out to be a dud. Go figure." I decided to keep my own current suspicions to myself for the moment, though, since I didn't see any reason to stress them out further. As the laughter died off, I felt the Remora we were riding in start to dip as we neared our destination. Before we landed, though, it seemed Pinkie had one last question. Her voice was, according to her friends, at its normal pitch and volume, but the sheer level of 'happy' that her voice had in it didn't seem like something someone should be capable of exuding on such a consistent basis. "By the way, how's Fluttershy been? We haven't really gotten used to the mail here yet. Or the language. Or the buttons." I held up a hand for her to stop before she got too carried away. "Alright, alright, I get it. You haven't talked to her in a while. She's actually doing much better now. I took her to get some help from an old group I used to be a part of, and it seems to have helped quite a bit. She still can't remember most of her time back on your world, but she can recall bits and pieces. You'll see her soon enough, don't worry. She's volunteered for civilian medic duty, so she'll be staying with us for some time, anyway." "Yeah, that's Fluttershy, alright. Always trying to help somepony," Rainbow commented with a laugh. I heard the pitch of the engines change, and the vessel slowed noticeably. We set down with a gentle bump, and quickly piled out onto the orbital elevator's helipad. The place was swarming with other cadets as well, all heading to one of the three massive ships now docked at this particular station. We got onto one of the elevator cars along with a throng of other newbies, and the car almost immediately started moving. Once we were back on the Star Spectre, I showed them to the marine barracks, separate from Shadow Battalion's dorm wing. Along the way, I filled them in on most of what had happened during their training, and what would be expected of them while on the ship. Once they had what few possessions they owned packed into their lockers, I brought them back to the medical wing, where Fluttershy typically helped out. At that particular moment, though, she was getting another brain scan done. We waited in the visitor area, and when she came out, all of their moods brightened. She rushed forward to hug her friends as soon as she saw them. I wondered, briefly, where her mask went before i saw it dangling from her belt. "Rainbow! It's so good to see you again!" Rainbow, for her part, was shocked before she broke out in a wide grin. "Flutters! So, does that mean your memory's back?" The others immediately perked up as well, and she gladly started talking with them. "Not entirely, but I remember most of our time back home. Everything after the invasion is still a blank, but to be honest, I'm not sure I want to remember that." The statement instantly killed the mood, and I put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to turn around. "No one will blame you if you don't, so don't worry about it too much." I turned to the rest. "I have a few other things to take care of, but since you're all part of the military now, you basically have the run of the place. You'll need your clearance cards first, though. Fluttershy, you remember where you got your ID card, right?" She nodded. "Take them there so they can get theirs, too, would you? If you do happen to get lost, just ask someone where the Clearance Department is. They should be able to get you there. I'll see you all later, alright?" They all waved and called goodbyes, and I headed back down to the science wing. After floating through the spinning door back into the low-level gravity wheel, I walked over to Pernaki's lab, careful not to disturb any of the other scientists or their experiments. I found him before I reached the lab, though, looking in on one of the testing rooms. I glanced in myself before talking to him, and saw a marine using - or attempting to use, anyway - the magic-harnesser that had been developed. The gauntlet itself was glowing a pale blue, and although the aura around it was larger than what I had seen Twilight using, it was also much more transparent. At the other end of the room, there were five boxes, each one a different color, and filled with different objects. One had feathers, another had tennis balls, and so on, getting heavier down the line. The marine had the aura wrapped around the feather box, but it was barely visible, and the box was merely rocking side to side. He was obviously trying to lift it, without much success. "Disappointing, isn't it?" The sudden sound nearly made me punch the wall next to me on the backswing, and my heart rate tripled in half a second. "Apologies. You're probably more used to doing that to other people rather than have them do it to you." He gently tapped the glass in front of him. Looking closer, I quickly noticed both our images were reflected in it, making it apparent how he knew I was there. "I'm glad you didn't take it with you, now that I've had some time to see how ineffective it is. I would have hated to find out something went wrong because you depended on faulty equipment. It's getting better, but it's still nowhere near ready to be taken into the field. A simple case of overeagerness and pride, I suppose. Initial results were very promising, and had a high success rate, but for some reason, any testing done with live subjects fails. There aren't any harmful effects to the people using it, as far as we can tell, but they all mention some sort of distracting force that they can't identify. They can't keep the aura focused on the object long enough for enough a simple levitation, let alone any sort of advanced tactical maneuver." I walked up next to him as the marine below us sagged with exhaustion, and the feather box went still. "Any particular reason you're telling me this? It's not like I can do anything about it." He sighed. "No, I suppose not. I just felt I owed you an explanation." "No harm, no foul, doc. I'm not going to hold something against you if you're not even sure what's causing the problem. Nothing to be gained by throwing blame around before the issue's been fixed. Any other new toys you guys have been working on for us?" He laughed a little. "Of course. Just let me finish up here." He called a halt to the test, and the session was quickly recorded and packed up in minutes. Once he was done, he led me to another test room, though this one had a wind tunnel that dominated one wall, while the other had what looked like double-paned bulletproof glass protecting the observation area. Apparently there had been an accident or two in similar setups. What really caught my attention, however, were the three items hanging on the far wall. One looked almost like an exo-suit, with some sort of thrusters on all four limbs, and a menagerie of flaps and plates in every conceivable space. The next was a similar item, but had the addition of a pair of large wings, which folded downward near the base, like one of the old F-14 fighters, although these wings appeared to telescope, as well, if the gaps near the tips were any indication. The one that caught my eye, though, was the new one. It looked more like a coat than a combat suit, with two long pieces of fabric folded against the back, and held up by straps. In between the 'wings', though, was a pair of miniature ion engines. A good choice, considering the placement. Don't want anything spewing flames that close to my ass, that's for sure. The doctor gestured to the last suit. "Care to try it out?" I raised an eyebrow back at the bulletproof glass. "Is it safe?" He laughed again. "Yes, it's safe. We've already tested it multiple times, fixed stitch- and magnet-strength problems, and added an extra layer of material for further strength. Also, we've been testing these in natural disaster-level wind speeds. We'll start at twenty kilometers per hour, and work up to about fifty. We'll see where that takes us." "Alright, then." I shrugged and went to put on the suit. Once it was off the hook and on my shoulders, the design was much more apparent. It was surprisingly heavy, and I could hear hard objects knocking together in the wings and along the bottom half. The fluid movements gave away that there were dozens of whatever they were, and the fact that they were obviously capable of straightening into a rigid position made it easy to figure out that they were electromagnets. It's the only thing that would be cheap enough. The inside of the suit was more complex than I thought as well, with a spiderweb of a harness crisscrossing the entire inner portion. Once I had figured out where all the buckles and straps went, I pulled the hood up. The hood was only part of the headwear, though, as a flap on either side, where the collar would lay, flopped forward. I pulled the zipper on the abdomen section up to my neck, then pulled the two face covers up and buttoned the two straps on them around the back of my head, underneath the hood, which had a pair of zippers, which attached to the tops of the face covers. With all of that in place, I pulled the front zipper up the rest of the way, all the way under the hood. I turned my head to find my range of motion, and although my movement was restricted considerably, it wasn't as much as I had worried it would be, and the large clear plastic panels on the face covers gave me enough field of vision that it didn't bother me too much. I turned back to the observation deck, and Pernaki gave me a thumbs-up from his position at the controls. I tightened a couple more straps that I hadn't initially noticed on my arms, and stepped into the huge wind tunnel. The door hissed shut behind me as the latches made it airtight, and I moved into the middle of the tube as the fans at either end started spinning up. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't asked how to turn the thing on, and looked down at the front to see if I could figure it out before I got pancaked against the safety mesh behind me. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to notice the big, red button on the left side, which had a modulation dial built into it, though I wasn't sure what it might be controlling. I pressed the button, having to push fairly hard to get the spring mechanism to give in, and the wings on the suit quickly snapped open, the straps holding them fed by automatic reels in the shoulders. As the wind picked up, the two huge sails I now had attached to my back started to catch air. Before I got blown backwards, I got into a runner's preparation position, leveling my back out so the wings didn't catch the air rushing past. After a few more seconds, I could feel the wings beginning to pull upward, and I relaxed my position somewhat. The fans were now sounding a steady pitch, which was my cue that they were at speed. I looked back down at the suit, remembering the ion engines attached to me, and found three other buttons, with a vertical ellipse shape. I tried the first one, which was green, and a faint vibration along my back told me that the engines were now on. I decided to skip the second button, which was red, in favor of the third button, which was blue. The engine vibrations changed, and I felt the suit lose some of the tension against my shoulders. Which means the engines actually work, even in atmospheric conditions. Impressive. I angled myself up slightly, and my feet left the ground. With my entire body unable to affect my movement anymore, I automatically straightened my legs out behind me, and put my arms stiff at my sides. I angled up further, and climbed up as the increased drag pushed me backward. Angling myself back down, I moved forward again. I was about halfway up the tube, more or less eight feet off the ground. I flattened myself, and felt the artificial gravity of the science wheel start to pull me back down. I counted off the seconds in my head until I could touch the floor, then jumped back up into the artificial breeze. I looked right, and jerked a thumb upwards to signal Pernaki to turn up the wind speed. I quickly got my wish, as the pitch of the fans increased slightly and I started getting pushed back again. I quickly dove, and grabbed the safety cable on the bottom of the tunnel. I was experienced with the high-speed techniques, but that doesn't make not using the cable any less stupid. I clipped it onto my belt, and let the wind kite me back up. Once I was stable again, I decided to test out the maneuverability of the new suit as much as I could, pulling several figure-8s and knife-edges before attempting a midair drop and re-deployment. It was a risky move, even in emergencies, and although I had only needed it once, I still made sure to practice it in case I needed it again. I maximized my height, planned out my motions, and slapped the wing control. The electromagnets shut off, and I fell a good six feet before hitting the button again. The wings snapped back out, and I jerked backward and upward as the wind pushed against them once more. I moved myself back to the viewing window, and and made a chopping motion to signal for them to shut it down. The fan speed slowly lowered, and I detached the cable as my feet touched back down, letting it retract back to its spot on the floor. I opened the door, and undid the various fasteners on the hood as Dr. Pernaki came up, smiling. "I take it by that last stunt you enjoyed the new flight suit?" I nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah. It's a lot lighter than the old ones. More maneuverable, too. One question, though. What's the dial on the wing power button for?" "Ah, yes. Not the most obvious of functions. It's a moderated switch. Turn the dial clockwise, and it increases the electricity flow to the electromagnets in the wings. Turn it counter-clockwise, and it decreases power. We found during initial tests that the reels have trouble retracting the wings from a fully relaxed position. Moderating the power so that the wings slowly relax allows the reels to properly retract, so the wings aren't dragging on the ground all the time. It takes longer, but it seems to be preferable to the old systems, judging from the reactions various other test pilots have had so far." I tested the switch myself. It was definitely slower than the others, but not unacceptable. I also went slower than was probably necessary, giving myself time to see how the straps and wings interacted with each other. They scraped together somewhat, but the smooth design of both kept them from catching on each other. Yeah, this can work, with some practice. "Not bad, doc. Anything else today?" He shook his head. "Not unless you want to see the half-finished suit we have for the erna." "Didn't we already finish that? I thought I saw them using one during testing back at the camp." "No, that was just a blueprint. We added significantly more shielding, as well as bolt shoes for heavy weapons deployment operations." That was surprising. "Bolt shoes? They're strong enough for that kind of thing?" "Indeed. And the strength boosters in the new suits will make a 50-cal. machine gun seem like a squirming two-year-old." "Whoa. That's a big fucking difference." "Yes, but it's still not finished, unfortunately. We have a lot of construction left to do, and then testing, and fine-tuning, etc., etc." "Well, good luck with that, then. I need to go see the Admiral about the Tarsus defense. Not sure what, precisely, he wants me to do with the newbies." I started moving toward the door. "You mean the pana?" I stopped and looked back at him. "They're marines, now. They're newbies." He didn't respond with anything more than a thoughtful expression, and I took my leave. A few minutes later, I had my orders. Tarsus is covered in water, and while it's a sight to see, it doesn't make for easy combat scenarios. So, High Command decided it would be easier and safer to use a much older form of defending a desirable position. We would build a wall.