“Come in, Med Unit.” Rainbow Dash, chief Valkyrie of the Yggdrasil flight team stood out and watched the twin gas giants spin in their orbits and thought of what the Sun looked like before the loss of the solar system brought humanity towards the stars.
I could be sleeping right now. Doesn’t she know how tiring guard duty is? Never know when a Changeling Hive could come up and wreck havoc on us.
Her communicator lit up like the underside of a heat lamp. “Dashie, I told you that the cosmic rays are too strong outside the plasma force field.”
“Whatever. Come on ‘Shy. And I know that you do like me coming in so much.” Dash grinned through her space suit as she grabbed a nearby rung with her hand and guided herself down the ladder towards the heart of the Celestina. Prime real estate for any human that didn’t want to be Changeling food- though that was leaning more towards a children’s tale for all Dash could care.
“Do be careful. The two nearby stars are much heavier than our ship. Do I have to warn you about the training for space suits again?” Dash felt that there had to be a little bit of a joke in there somewhere.
“Rule one: The idea that a space suit protects you from debris going at a ridiculous speed is complete and utter crap. If a little rock hits you- expect the worst. Blood boiling, etc.” Dash groaned, the Academy's core administrator Spitfire could be a hardass when it came to following the rules to the letter when it came to job assignment, but she got the job done.
Fluttershy laughed a small bit at that. “Now you better fix the communication link. Sensors do indicate that something is out there and it hit them pretty hard. Twilight would be angry if I didn’t send someone out there to check.”
“So I get to check.” Fluttershy may have been the chief science and medical officer on the Sol Class cruiser that had been the home of least four generations of humanity after the Earth was split in half by a Changeling Behemoth later codenamed Leviathan in the 22nd century. But she was a terrible anti-grav user and could barely get off the ground.
Earth, the big blue ball of life, was so terribly wiped out that humanity had to go out in space.So the dregs of humanity spread out in different directions to run away from the alien menace that wiped them out with extreme prejudice. Changelings weren't your average aliens- they were ruthless and wanted no more than to suck out the emotions of every food source possible.
“Stupid comm link. Who cares if its broken? Its not like we’ve heard anything from the other colony ships.” Rainbow Dash stepped over some old wire housings as she continued the mile long trek towards the disturbance. She would have used her suit’s hover capabilities but Captain Twilight had banned that after they had almost lost Ditzy after her coolant in the suit broke down.
So long walk it was. She could at least take her time with it and enjoy the view.
***
A life aboard the Celestina was repetitive. Morning: Wake up, photosynthesize with a person that you like, small talk, and fix some broken down machine that hasn’t worked right in seven decades. Noon: Lunch and a possible break in the gymnasium before continuing work. Evening: Dinner, possibly a show or two, and sleep.
Rinse and repeat until you either die of boredom or eventual organ failure. And then you go to the trash heap as a source of fuel to get all that unused green energy you got stored up.
All that meant was that most humans on the Celestina were very good at liking their jobs and hoping that no mythical space aliens got inside their precious colony ship that had birthed them and would use them as energy reserves when dead..
“Nah, no way. Hasn’t been a Changeling seen in the Delta Quadrant in like a thousand years. Its just a fairy tale, Sweetie.” Apple Bloom. resident tinkerer of the 1027th class of recruits walked on towards the mess hall. Her uniform was dingy and unkempt from the constant work that she did- mainly in the hydroponics and solarium biospheres that grew the food that was needed weekly for the crew. Gene splicing human DNA with plant genes gave most of the crew under fifteen the capability to use sunlight as a viable food source.
“Come on you guys. My sister said that she heard from the Captain herself that Changeling density has increased ever since we entered Delta. The scanners went all wonky when we passed that Earthlike planet a few spins back.”
Sweetie was lithe and frail, unlike Applebloom, and her test scores had made the Captain very interested in her possible use as a self interfacing computer. Interfacing directly with computers made the piloting of the Celestina easier. Turning a ship the size of a dwarf planet was difficult, even with the mental dampeners inserted directly into the spinal column. Fatalities were no longer common after that was implemented in the second century in Celestina- but the symptoms of chronic overstimulation involved bleeding from the eyes and heavy vomiting so the Med Bay was always on high alert.
“Pssh. Like that matters, Dash will just take them out with her Brynhildr. I mean it has a laser cannon and thrusters and who knows what else.” Scootaloo went off in her own fantasy world while her friends rolled their eyes.
Scootaloo was part of the junior grade Valkyries and her anti-gravity unit allowed her with limited flight capabilities throughout the expanse of the ship. All mech suit pilots were equipped with the tech so that they could easily flit around and go outside of the ship withoout needing to consult the Captain every waking moment.
“God, Scoots. Get a hobby. You know how you failed in the simulation unit.”
“Whatever. That was a Type 4 mobile armor. Its not our damn fault for losing so much tech when the memory banks were wiped during the Changeling Invasion.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that.” The trio continued into the mess hall and took their places in line. The daily special was a few supplements and some artificial meat that was grown by the hydroponics area of the ship. Most people grew to like the weekly meals since it gave them time with their friends and gave them needed nutrients that photosynthesis did not give them via solar light.
***
Dash continued through the outside hatches that connected the residential block to the comm station with little more than a quick slide through the contamination showers and hitting the airlock to let the air into the quiet vacuum of space. The silence was deafening with her biosensors being the only sound that kept her company. She sighed as the spinning gas giants that had been so pretty.a mile or so back seemed foreboding with their coronal brilliance.
“What the-” Dash stopped as the comm tower came into view. When Fluttershy had said it was down, she hadn’t told Dash how bad it might look.
Scraps of metal floated through space, their sharp edges on full display as the intruder that destroyed it floated gently in the abyss.
“Come in Fluttershy, I think I just found out what happened.”
Radio silence broke and Fluttershy’s excited voice came over the line. “What is it? Is it a Changeling exoskeleton or hive mind synapses?” Fluttershy’s mad experimental science to explain the behavior of Changelings made Dash flinch with how often the remains of a enemy husk was just left out and stared at closely after an autopsy,
“No- its definitely humanoid.”
The Celestina slowly turned in its twelve hour rotational period as its newest passenger peacefully slept in his bed of crystals. Slowly he breathed in and out, somehow unaffected from there being no oxygen in space. Dash snatched a floating piece of debris and stared at it.
“Biomechanic lifeform. Manakete Project. codename: Spike.”
***
Breathe in. Breathe out. Twilight opened her neuromancer application and quietly slid into command. The young captain was silent as the information slid over her body in short pulses of synaptic pleasure and the disturbance was noted in the central hub of real time.
(Addendum: Protocol in how to deal with perceived Changeling attack in seventy two hours. Use the Norns superhardrive memory modus and talk directly to previous captains of commendable service and reference all possible outcomes in survivability, tactics, and general death necessity. . .)
(Chance of survival without outside unforeseen factors- forty five percent with the activation of the thermonuclear thrusters to change the projected direction. Advise caution since maintenance of the thermonuclear reactors have been falling into the hands of the anti-war faction.)
-C.E.L.E.S.T.I.A
Twilight shut off her mental link and yanked out the wires and cables that had connected her to the system mainframe. She had been the best neuromancer in her class ten years ago, but the captain’s chair was no place for a neuromancer. They were known as the most integrated with the ship’s hardware and were usually the best at being the second in command. And there was a normally unspoken rule that neuromancers were not right for the job of captain after Sombra’s rebellion during a Changeling attack.
Getting out of her chair and walking over to the holoscreen, she called up the Med Bay to figure out what to do with the new addition to her crew and how she could use him. The face of Fluttershy stared back with a surprised look on her face, her metal blue orb rotating ever so gently in its socket.
“Captain. is this about the new medical anomaly?”
Twilight hated the formality of being Captain. If it was her choice, she’d abolish all this military crap and make everyone friends or some junk like that. “Shy, just Twilight please. And yes, read me any strange readings that this boy gave your instruments.”
Fluttershy’s one normal eye blinked at that and she took a while to regain her composure. Clearing her throat with a slight cough, she began to read her nearby notes.
“Uh yes, let’s see. Out of the truly bizarre ones- he is somehow able to breathe in space. I do not know how exactly, but he might be of a humanoid species that breathes in dark matter or some exotic particles as its main source of air. Though I did find that he was able to breathe air as well. Further study, , ,”
“Please continue at a bit faster pace. I do like the scientific aspects of the ship, but I do have more pressing concerns than what he uses as a source of air.”
“Oh. Okay then. Well, I did find that the whole biomechanical thing that Dash had found isn’t completely out of the picture. He does seem to have an entire set of little nanomachines in his bloodstream and they seem to react to danger by making him shapeshift into necessary forms. Though, that was mainly hypothetical since shapeshifting is highly unstable and I do believe that there would be a main form that would explain some of his stranger aspects in anatomy.”
“Like what?”
Fluttershy brushed a strand of pink hair out of her face with her hand. ":His internal organs have some strange resistance to harm and when I tried to poke at them with a finger, they burned my hand badly enough that I needed to activate my nanomachines to heal the damage. After trying other experiments, his body reacts to danger violently."
Twilight winced at that. "No further then. Fluttershy, would you be up for tea this coming week?"
"I believe so- I could push back some of the annual physicals without much trouble. Is that fine?"
Twilight nodded and without much more than that, she flicked off the power of the holoscreen and turned away to think about what Fluttershy said. The idea that even a simple touch could burn the heavily modded human in a matter of seconds was something to be feared and used. for her own plans. The ship was top priority and if his biomechanical side could rival a Valkyrie's mech in sheer firepower and danger prevention- he'd be a valuable asset.
***
Spike awoke in a comfy bed. He was glad that he wasn't drifting out in space anymore- the inky blackness of the void could drive some people mad with boredom as the light-years crept on by. He tried to remember what happened to land him in the spacecraft that brought him here, but his mind was an utter blank.
A knock came from the door and the young man glanced over to seea girl with long rainbow colored hair wearing some skintight suit walk in and nod at him. Reaching for a chair, the girl sat down and stared at him. Spike tried to whistle but his throat was dry. Silence reigned in the small room until the girl spoke up.
"Hey, kid. I'm Rainbow Dash and I was the one who saved you from space. Mind telling me why a kid like you had a spaceship and ran into our very important stuff that doesn't work at all?" Raibow grinned at her little jab at the useless hunk of metal that the Celestina was. Most things were useless and dumb- unlike her Brynhildr.
Spike blinked. "Dunno. One moment I was- somewhere- and now I'm in this bed. Where am I anyway?'
"First of all, you're in my bed and secondly, you are home. Well not your home. But this'll be your home until we figure out what to do with you." Rainbow stretched, her back arching to relax the tired muscles from the day's long walk with her new charge. Twilight had been all up in her face about how since she had found the kid, she had to take care of him as well.
Spike's stomach growled. "Is there any food around here?"
"Yeah- just down in the dining hall. What do you want?"
"Metal." Rainbow Dash waited for the punch line. When the green haired boy didn't laugh, she realized that he was being serious.
"What's your name?"
"Spike." Rainbow Dash was currently pulling off her space suit for her own personal comfort and she carefully handled each and every one of the antigrav units in her suit with tender loving care as her mind whirled around in the possibilities for pranks on Applejack or making Pinkie Pie bake some metal cupcakes for a laugh or two.
"Here's hoping I won't regret this later." Rainbow Dash was ready to take her cold war pranking to the next level. "Spike, have you ever heard what happens when you live in a giant ship made of metal when you eat a few loose screws by the hydroponic area. . ."
***
52 Hours until the Changeling Attack
Pain. Everything was pain seeping in a kaleidoscope of colors, emotions, and scents. The Changeling Behemoth found the small one that he had been tasked to follow by mother and the trail was ready for the kill. The hybrid Changeling with abilities that came straight out of the fairy tales that mother had stolen from the humans. She was eternal, she was loving, and she was unforgiving in failure. He was scared of her sometimes. He could not fail.
He spread his wings of void and his element was kindled in his chest as the wisps of antimatter met the outside world, his trail waqs a flash of blinding light as the antimatter was annihilated by its opposite brother in the grand cosmic scheme of things. He was on the hunt and he would not be turned away.