//------------------------------// // Chapter 59: Ticket to Freedom // Story: The Koprulu Sector // by TheKopruluSectorUnion //------------------------------// Near the outskirts of the mountainside town, a lone earth pony was pushing an antigravity cart through the snow-covered streets of the abandoned outskirts as she made her way to the wreck site of the Iron Will in the distance. When the Iron Will was shot down in the beginning of the Diamond Dogs’ assault, the survivors left onboard had died when the ship crashed into the buildings on the outskirts of the city below, killing many of the innocents that didn’t evacuate in time. Miraculously, despite all the punishment it took during the assault, the Iron Will had survived the impact mostly intact; a testament to Dominion engineering albeit a hollow one since the Iron Will’s sturdy neosteel hulls failed to protect the lives of its crew and passengers. However, due to the same neosteel hull, most of the technology that went into the Iron Will’s construction was still intact, which was the very reason why the Dominion had deployed several recovery teams down to the wreckage to recover whatever they could and to destroy whatever they couldn’t. The earth pony was a member of one such team but just like her, many of the recovery teams sent down here weren’t native to Cadia and as such aren’t used to the harsh weather of the icy world, which slowed down the recovery effort to a snail’s pace. “Achooo!” the mare sneezed as she shivered from the cold winds blowing around her. She pulled the hood of her artic uniform down even tighter to keep the wind from blowing in her face. She muttered curses through chattering teeth as she pushed the cart along. “Stupid commander, kicking me out! Does he want to freeze my flanks off out-” the mare stopped when she heard something besides her, moving through the snow. Whatever she just heard, it sounded like the mechanical footfalls of power armor, but the guards that escorted her team shouldn’t be back so soon. She then remembered the news reports about the psychotic clones left behind on the planet and became scared for her life as her eyes darted back and forth. In her panicked state, she didn’t notice the pony sneaking up behind her until a precision glove came out in front of her and held her muzzle shut, rendering her unable to scream. The mare flailed her limbs as she struggled to escape her abductor until she felt a sudden prick in the back of her neck that caused her body to go limp. Her abductor was soon joined by a pony in power armor who helped carry the unconscious mare into one of the nearby buildings. At the wreck site of the Iron Will, dozens of ponies were busy carrying out the salvage operation as they recovered and cataloged every piece of technology they could find in the wrecked cruiser before being shipped out back to the base camp set up in the nearby settlement. Due to the presence of feral zerg in the area, a full contingent of Dominion marines had been deployed to protect the personnel from the zerg and any other potential threats. Since the Iron Will was such a large ship, the recovery teams and subsequently, the marines that guarded them, had to split up into smaller groups to speed up the already slow recovery process. And coupled with the poor visibility caused by the unrelenting snowstorm, made an already difficult task of protecting the recovery team even more so for the marines. In one section of the wreckage, one of the marines stationed there spotted something in the distance and instinctively raised his rifle while signaling his squadmates to do the same. His HUD showed him two heat signatures making their way towards them but due to the interference caused by the constant snowfall, that’s all he could get. “This is a restricted area! Whoever’s out there, show yourselves or we’ll open fire!” the squad leader shouted out in an authoritative voice. The guards eventually saw two figures making their way towards them, one of them was a fellow Dominion marine and beside him was a cyan mare pushing an Anti-Grav cart, one look at her uniform and the guards instantly recognized her as a member of the recovery team. “Easy there, we’re friendly!” the marine called out before he gestured to the mare beside him and said, “I believe that she’s expected.” The squad leader nodded to the marine before he lowered his rifle, his subordinates following suit before he asked, “Why is she so late? And why aren’t you at your post?” “The lady had a run in with a pack of zerglings.” The marine explained. “I scared them off and escorted her here.” “Good work. Now get back to your post.” The squad leader ordered. Then the mare sheepishly spoke up. “Um...do you mind if he comes with me?...I'm still pretty rattled from the whole thing and I'm scared that there might be more zerg crawling around.” “Sorry miss, but orders are orders.” The lead guard replied, “I suggest that you move along, we’re behind schedule as it is.” “Oh. Okay...” She quietly uttered in disappointment before she pushed the Anti-Grav cart pass the other guards, and through the makeshift entrance made from the gaping hole in the side of the ship’s hull. Just as the mare went out of sight, her escort turned to the squad leader and said, “Look, that mare is pretty hot and I think I can score her, but I need a little time to work her a little more. So mind letting me through?” “Not my problem. Now return to your post before I inform your CO about your behavior.” the lead guard threatened but the marine didn’t back down. “Ah, come on man. It’s been months since I had a mare, and I'm willing to bet that the rest of you are in the same boat. So hook a brotha' up would ya?” the marine pleaded, but the guard remained silent on the matter. The marine sighed and said. “Look, I promise that I'll ask her if she has friends, I’ll send them over to you guys. Deal?” The lead guard remained unmoved by the offer but his subordinates weren’t as quick to refuse the offer as they muttered amongst themselves. They soon came to an agreement as one of them approached their commanding officer and said, “He’s right Sarge, it’s been ages since any of us had a good roll in the hay.” “See? Even your men want this, so come on. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Deal?” The marine said as he offered his hand for a handshake, which the sergeant shook in agreement. “Deal, makes sure her friends are hot, I don’t want you sending us any fat and, or ugly chicks. And don't even think about pranking us by sending some guy friends that are on her team, or I’ll have you on latrine duty for a year! Got it?” the sergeant threatened. “Got it.” The marine replied before saluting and chased after the mare, but before he entered the ship, he turned around and said to the guards jokingly, “By the way, I really like your shoe laces.” The guards stared at him blankly for a while, before one asked. “Does anyone know what the fuck this guy's on about?” The others shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads in response. The marine sighed in mild disappointment, “Nevermind.” He said before he walked through the entrance while raising his arm in a waving gesture, saying. “See you later, fellas.” The guards all shrugged at each other before they returned to their positions, wondering how such an eccentric stallion was recruited without being resoc-ed. When the marine finally caught up to the mare, he saw that the pegasus had her forelegs crossed as she glaring at him for some reason and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?” “'I think I can score her?'” she said as she parroted his words before letting out a snort, “Stallions. You’re all the same!” “Oh please Miss Dash, like you mares are any different.” Eye Glass retorted as he lifted up his visor, rolling his eyes at her, “Besides, it was just part of the act.” “Pfft, whatever. Just don’t get any ideas gramps.” Rainbow Dash threatened as she glared at the older stallion. “I wouldn't even dream of wasting my time with something that's not worth the bother.” The unicorn casually replied. “You better d-...Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her face flushing red in embarrassment. The old stallion just laughed at the flustered mare's reaction and thought how easy it was to tease the mare. After he felt that he had enough of the pegasus glaring daggers at him, he changed the topic. “Really liked your acting skills back there. You really had those guards fooled back there.” Rainbow Dash beamed the stallion’s compliment as she exclaimed, “You did?!” she paused when she realized how childlike her reaction was. She cleared her throat before repeating with herself in a much calmer fashion. “You did?” “Yeah.” Eye Glass replied, “If working as a mercenary doesn’t work out for you, I’m sure you could try a hand at acting.” “Yeah right.” she scoffed and rolled her eyes but asked in a softer voice, “Do you really think I should? “I’m sure you’d be a hit on the big screen.” He honestly replied, causing Rainbow Dash to blush again, but she shook her head when she saw the cocky smirk on his face. She snorted at the older stallion and cleared her throat before changing the subject. “So what are we supposed to look for again?” Eye Glass typed in a command into the computer built his arm before a holographic list projected itself on the inside of his head casing and let out a whistle at the long list. “We sure got our work cut out for us.” “Well? What do we need?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently. “Looks like we need to get our hands on a ten core processor, a few terabytes of hard drive, a couple hundred gigs of RAM, a data plating, power conduits, aluminum or curium bridges, a cooling unit, USB ports, a working keyboard, console systems, any sort of software plates, and if possible - some operational system templates.” When he finished, Rainbow Dash had a blank look on her face as she tried to make sense of what Eye Glass just told her, but gave up a quarter of the way through and asked, “Okay, can you spit that out in a little less geek?” The stallion sighed and rolled his eyes, before putting his metallic hand over them, before saying. “Look for anything green and techy-looking.” “I don't know how to break this to you gramps, but everything here is ‘techy-looking.’” The pegasus said, pointing to the various bits of the ship that fit his description, which was basically everything in sight. “You know what, just push the cart. I’ll go look for the parts.” Eye Glass stated before he walked into the nearest room as he started rummaging through the debris for the things on Apple Bloom’s list. Rainbow Dash grumbled to herself as she pushed the cart in after him Lyra looked at her partner worriedly as she laid him facedown onto the small bed inside their meager medbay. Despite the ship being top of the line, the medbay was only outfitted with a single bed and a medicine chest that was nothing more than a glorified first aid kit. Which was why she had told Seeker to search the pirate ship for more medical supplies while she tried to stabilize Skyfall’s weakening condition. She tore off his chest-guard before pulling out her knife to cut away his suit so she could get a closer look at the bullet wound in his lower back. With the top of his blood-soaked suit out of the way, she could see that the wound was bleeding profusely as her partner’s face was becoming paler by the minute. With little time to spare, Lyra levitated out a bottle of ethanol, some cotton, and a roll of bandages out of the cabinet and proceeded to clean his wound as fast as she could before she lifted him up with her magic and wrapped the bandages around him. Once she was done, she took a nanite injector and stuck the needle into him. Skyfall let out a sharp gasp as the nanites entered his bloodstream, but before the mare could ease up she noticed that Skyfall wasn’t breathing. “Oh no you don't you loudmouth bastard!” she exclaimed before she flipped Skyfall onto his back and pried his mouth open. She took a deep breath, closed her mouth over his and exhaled the air into his lungs. After doing so three times, she moved her hooves over his chest and began pumping it repeatedly. She repeated the process over and over until she had to finally stop and rest as her partner had literally taken the breath out of her lungs. As she recovered, she stared at his body, which despite her efforts remained unmoving. She became so frustrated that she suddenly smacked him across the face with all her might. “Come on you son of a bitch! Live!” she screamed, but the stallion remained unmoving, much to her dismay. The unicorn dropped to her knees and was about to break down into tears when she heard a loud intake of air. She opened her eyes and instantly brightened up at the sight of her partner finally breathing. Overcome with relief, she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and nuzzled him, her tears wetting his fur. “I’m so happy that you’re alive!” she exclaimed before she realized what she just said and immediately pulled away from Skyfall, letting him fall back onto the bed. She quickly came up with an excuse that the stress had caused her to say those words but sighed in relief when she saw that Skyfall was still unconscious, saving her from an embarrassing situation. However, she became worried again when she saw how shallow his breathing was. Since the ship wasn’t fitted with a medical scanner, Lyra pulled her goggles over her eyes and used them as a makeshift X-ray. She switched the settings so that it would allow her to see what was going on in his body. She sighed in relief when she saw the nanites working to repair the damage to his body, but became worried when she noticed that his liver was bleeding. Curious about what was going on, she zoomed in on the liver and saw that the nanites were constantly trying to stop the bleeding, but the wound kept reopening every time it was closed for some reason. She then changed the settings on her goggles until she saw something small inside his liver, she zoomed in even closer until she saw the outline of the bullet he was shot with, and it was hindering the nanites from healing the wound. She knew that if she didn’t get Skyfall to a proper medical facility soon, he would die from internal bleeding but even if she pushed the ship’s warp engines to their limits and used up all the nanite shots left onboard, they wouldn’t be able to reach Korhal in time to save him. No matter what she did, her partner would die. Just as she was about to give up on saving him, Seeker entered the medbay with another pony close behind her. “I’ve scoured the ship as you’ve asked, but I'm afraid that these are all the medical supplies aboard the ship.” The Dark Templar said as she handed a small bag to her, which held only a few stimpacks, a single roll of bandages and two nanite injectors, hardly enough to keep Skyfall stable for the trip back to Korhal. “Who’s that?” Lyra asked as she stared at the pony behind Seeker. The pony was a light blue unicorn mare who wore a flowing robe that was tattered in places, but it wasn’t so tattered that she couldn’t see the symbols of Celestia’s Sun on them, signifying that she was a mage from the New Canterlot Vatican. “I found her locked in the brig. She claims to be a healer and I thought she’d be useful to us.” Seeker explained as she glared at the pony behind her. “Go ahead and introduce yourself, witch.” The mare harrumphed at Seeker before she approached Lyra, giving her a closer look at the umojan unicorn. The mare looked like she was in need of a healer herself as she was covered in cuts and bruises, obvious signs of the Rust Reavers’ ‘hospitality’, but despite her injuries, she carried herself with an air of superiority around her. “What’s your name, mage?” Lyra asked. “My name?” the mare smiled before she flared opened her robes in a dramatic fashion, “You can call me, The Great and Powerful Trixie!” Lyra’s eyes twitched at the mare’s overly dramatic introduction. She had heard that Umojans, especially mages, were pompous and self-absorbed, but never to the extent that they'd refer to themselves in the third person. “Alright…Trixie, can you tell me what’s an Umojan mage doing all the way out here aboard a pirate ship?” Lyra asked curiously. “Trixie could ask the same of you and your Khalai companion, Imperial.” The mare haughtily replied. “And for your information, Trixie was excommunicated from the Vatican.” “Why were you exiled then?” Lyra asked hesitantly, unsure if she wanted to find out more about the pompous mare. “They found out that Trixie was operating a clinic without permission.” The mare answered as she brushed aside a stray lock of her silvery mane. “Sounds rather harsh for such a small crime.” Lyra said in return. “But back to the question, what were you doing locked up in the brig?” “The Vatican takes its laws very seriously, and though it pains Trixie to say this, we’re not here to talk about Trixie, are we?” Trixie asked as she looked at the stallion lying on the bed. Lyra didn’t trust the mare but she was Skyfall’s only shot at survival so she stepped aside and let the strange mare examine her partner, but kept an eye on her just in case she tried anything suspicious. The blue unicorn walked over to the unconscious stallion and examined him briefly before lighting up her horn in a pale violet light, and bathed Skyfall in it for a few minutes before stopping. “Why isn’t he waking up?” Lyra asked impatiently. “Calm yourself. That was just a scanning spell.” Trixie sternly replied. “Well, can you help him?” Lyra asked, a bit of desperation in her voice, which the umojan mare caught on as she smiled. “Trixie can keep him stabilized long enough until you can take me back to my home in the New Sydney System where I can heal him properly.” “That was not part of the deal, witch!” Seeker cut in angrily, Lyra had lost control for a brief moment, but she quickly reinforced her will on her as she pacified the Dark Templar with another illusion. “Come on Seeker, you look tired. Let's get you back into the cryo pod so you can rest.” “Why don’t you listen to Sovereign? You must be tired after all that has happened.” Lyra suggested. “Yes…tired…excuse me, I must...rest.” Seeker muttered listlessly before she bowed to them and left. Trixie watched curiously at how the aggressive Dark Templar had suddenly become so docile but disregarded the matter as it was inconsequential to her needs. She turned to Lyra and asked, “So, will you take Trixie back home or not, Ghost?” Lyra narrowed her eyes at the mare but one look at Skyfall’s unconscious form told her that she had no choice and nodded, “Fine, but if you’re going to be traveling with us for a while, I want you to stop referring yourself in the third person.” “Trixie makes no promises.” She said in return, making Lyra sigh in exasperation at the strange mare. This was going to be a long trip. “There, that’s one more for the pile.” Eye Glass said as he tossed a part over to Rainbow Dash who caught it in her precision gloves and added to the pile of parts on the cart, which had grown significantly since they started looking. It had taken them hours of navigating the through massive wreck and digging through the debris just to get the parts, all while avoiding the actual members of the recovery team. And with the latest addition to the pile they were finally done with the list, they even got a couple of extras as spares to be on the safe side. They were on their way out when Eye Glass stopped dead in his tracks, causing Rainbow to bump the cart into him as its contents almost spilled to the floor. “Hey! What gives?” Rainbow shouted in complaint. Eye Glass pointed up at a broken doorway that had a sign over it which read: HANGAR BAY 1. “We’ve already gotten everything we came for, why bother looking through a hangar?” Eye Glass ignored her as he pried the damaged doors open with his arms and stepped into the massive hangar, followed by a reluctant Rainbow Dash. Most of the hangar had collapsed when the Iron Will crashed, but the rest that had remained intact was partially buried under a layer of snow, which was coming through the massive hole in the ceiling. “We’re here because there are terminals here that contain special software which I thought might be useful to your friend.” Eye Glass finally explained as he started looking around the hangar. “Do you mean a terminal like that one?” Rainbow Dash asked as she pointed at something buried under the snow. Eye Glass walked over to the spot brushed aside the snow and found the terminal he was looking for. “Good eye you got there, Miss Dash.” The unicorn complimented her. “Thanks, but it’s just a pegasi thing. As a flier, it’s important to stay aware of your surroundings, especially when you’re flying at high speeds.” The pegasus explained. “A very useful trait to have.” Eye Glass noted before he ripped open the terminal and pulled out the data core containing the software he was looking for. He added the data core to the pile of parts they had collected. “So, we done here or what? I’m dying to get back to the hotel for a nice hot shower.” Rainbow said as she shivered from the cold. The uniform she wore wasn’t as good as the Cadian leather suit at keeping in body heat. “Yeah sure, I think it’s about time that we head-” Eye Glass paused mid-sentence when his eyes caught something glinting in the distance. “Hold on a second, is that what I think it is?” he said as he turned on the lights in his armor and gasped when he saw it, “Ho-lee-shiet! It is! Miss Dash, you have got to see this!” “What? What is it?” Rainbow asked as she turned around to see what made Eye Glass so excited, but the excitement in her face fell when she saw her companion examining a starfighter, half of which had been crushed by the fallen ceiling. “That's it? A broken space bucket?” “Says the mare who flies around in a rusty cargo shuttle that went obsolete fifty years ago.” Eye Glass retorted. “Hey! Tom’s not obsolete, he’s a classic!” Eye Glass rolled his eye at her statement, “Classic? I’ll tell you what’s a classic…” he said as he placed his hand on the side of the damaged starfighter, “…this! The B-4 Phantom MK II Starfighter, now this is a classic.” “So what? That piece of junk can’t fly anymore.” Rainbow scoffed, but Eye Glass ignored her comment as he started looking around the side of the fighter, knocking on its fuselage every so often. “What the hell are you doing?” she called out to him. “When I was a kid I was really into fast space ships, especially military models like this one. Guess I never grew out of it really.” Eye Glass explained as he kept knocking. “Anyways, this little beauty was a personal favorite of mine, and I had learned its construction by heart. The Phantom MK IIs have a-” “Did you have a girlfriend as a colt?” Dash interjected for a moment. “No, why?” The stallion questioned back. “From what you just told me, it's not that surprising.” She said as she snickered at her own joke. “That was a low blow, Miss Dash.” Eye Glass snorted at the mare who shrugged at him. He resumed his knocking until he heard a different noise, “Found it!” he exclaimed excitedly as he brought out his HFB and spun it to its maximum speed before he started cutting into the starfighter. Rainbow Dash covered her ears to protect them from the grinding noise Eye Glass was making as he slowly cut away a large hole in the fuselage. When the hole was finally done, he put away the HFB and used his hands to make the hole even bigger as he pried open the fuselage. Once he was satisfied with the size of the hole, he stuck his hands into it and started pulling out the machinery within at random, as he ripped out various bits and pieces of equipment that he threw behind him dismissively as he pulled out more pieces. He eventually pulled out a strange looking object, which he handled with much more care than he did with the other parts he pulled it out of the fighter. Wondering what he had pulled out, Rainbow went over to his side to take a closer look at the object. The device was almost as large as she was, but she wasn’t familiar with the design. All she could tell that the device appeared to be an integral part of the Phantom since various lengths of cables still connected it to the ship. “What the heck is that thing?” Rainbow asked. Eye Glass opened his mouth to speak, “Tell me in less geek this time, kay?” she quickly added. “Fine, have it your way.” The stallion smirked at her in return, “Anyways, this, Miss Dash…” he said as he patted the device, “…is your ticket off world.”