Prism and the rover bounced and jostled around as the pair raced on down the bank of a mostly straight river. The lands around her had turned into a shallow valley of sorts, featuring a wide section of flatlands with hills off in the distance. One thing that bothered Prism was the diminished visibility beyond a dozen kilometers on an otherwise clear day. It’s gotta be those organic particles mentioned in that health advisory. Gaze through enough of them, and they act like fog.
Several soft bumps in the route brought Prism’s eyes to the ground racing past her. The thin layer of blue mold had given way to bacterial colonies and mushroom caps. Prism cooed at the giant masses of bacterial growths that looked like irregular pillows to her. The mushroom caps, most of all, caught her eye with the vast mixture of colors ranging from vibrant pink to drab green. While her mission came first, Prism’s heart fluttered as she was swept away by her explorer’s curiosity. Everything was new, everything! From the dirt to the very air she didn’t breathe. I - I can’t just drive by and not collect some samples. I - I just can’t! How else are we to know if any of it’s freaking edible!
One of the passing fungal pillows resembled cottage cheese more than anything else. Well, maybe it tastes like some kind of yogurt.
Built into her forelegs’ boots was a pair of mechanical claws modeled after a minotaur’s hands. With a few jolts of her hoof’s natural gripping magic, the four dexterous fingers extended and gave a metallic click as Prism tested them. She purred at how smooth her magic passed through the faux-hand. “Niiice, only the best gear for the Seeding. It feels even sharper than my personal set.”
Once her gauntlets were secure, Prism eased her way towards the back of the rover. She extended her wings to keep balance against the bouncing, jostling rover going at full speed. It didn’t take her long to locate the small cargo pod with some empty sample boxes. “Joe, slow down just a bit while I gather some specimens.”
~“Affirmative.”~
The bumpiness died down a bit with Prism looking around for an enticing target. With so many to choose from Prism had a flashback to her being just a little filly gazing into a candy store. Should I get those black things? Oh, maybe that triple colored red, blue, and orange moss! “Aaahhh! Why are there so many choices!?” Prism bit her lip trying to find something that stood out in a crowd of colorful species. As luck would have it, ponies had an unerring ability to pick out a particular person or thing amidst a dense crowd of color. That very same talent allowed Prism to avoid passing by her perfect target.
Caught in the middle of a ring of blue fungal growths was a few purple mushroom caps next to a mound of grey-orange mold. Ha! Kinda like momma and Praxia.
With her prey selected, Prism found a safe place on Joe to store her rifle before vaulting into the air and flying over to collect the toadstool first. Grabbing a knife off her back, Prism kicked up a storm of spores as she flapped her wings to slow down. The cloud was so thick Prism instinctively held her breath before scoffing at herself. “Really glad my air’s all internal.”
Taking her knife, Prism started cutting the dense web of tendrils between the cap and the ground. Weird, each one feels like it has the same tensile strength of nylon, but slices like paper.
Stuffing the odd purple mushroom cap in the first box, Prism moved on to the grey-orange mass of fungus. This time, Prism tested the consistency with her knife and found it was like cutting through pudding. That’s a mental image I didn’t need… Unless this stuff’s actually delicious.
While using her blade as a butter knife, Prism scraped off a healthy chunk of the mold, and into the awaiting plastic box. As she collected her sample, Prism inadvertently revealed something very hard and bleached white which the mold was using as a bed.
Interesting. Maybe a calcium growth of some kind?
Intrigued, Prism retracted her mechanical fingers so she could rub more of the mold away. Bah, with this boot on, I can’t feel the texture. The wet goopy fungus sloughed away to reveal a long row of teeth along a jawline. “Whoa.” Eager, pushed away the thick grey-orange gunk to discover the teeth were easily the size of her hoof. “So there is giant animal life here after all, and if these teeth are any sign… A carnivore, no doubt about it.”
~“Alert. Pathfinder Prism Flash. Distance between you and this unit is beyond safety recommendations.”~
Prism practically jumped at the news and fumbled to close the lids on the specimens and tuck them under her legs before taking to the air. “Hold on, I’m coming!”
Prism sprinted through the air for well over a kilometer, following both Joe’s transponder and the trail of crunched flora. Despite her training, the weight of the suit and samples took its toll on her. Between ragged breaths, Prism called her rover yet again. “Okay, Joe hold position, and soak up some sun, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
~“By your will, Pathfinder.”~
Even through her weary flight, Prism started to notice a growing number of small animals, most no larger than a squirrel. Yet it was not the alien rodents that worried her. Still, the last thing we need are alien rats or cockroaches. “Joe, patch me into Seed One. They’re going to want to know what I found.”
Back in the unfolding colony, Twilight was enjoying lunch as per her usual fashion: absently devouring a sandwich while primarily focusing on her work. Okay, that handles the survey team for that geothermal hot spot the last of the probes detected, and it gets the botanists and zoologists outside to study the native life around the ship. I better go check how the first domiciles are coming along.
Twilight was already riding down in the elevator to do just that with only a couple other ponies there too. Both of them had noticed Twilight’s vacant stare as she focused on her personal HUD, and left her alone. Twilight might have stayed that way the whole trip down were it not for the elevator making an early stop to pick up Spike and let the other two ponies off.
Spike recognized the signs of a distracted sister as well. “Pilot to bombardier, you there?” he called loudly enough to break her concentration.
Twilight blinked a few times to bring her attention back to the present. “Huh? Oh, Spike. How’s work?”
“Actually, work is what brought me here.” Spike took an electronic tablet off his belt and waved it at Twilight to transfer data to her headset. “Prism found something troubling.”
“She’s not in danger is she?” Twilight asked worriedly as she accessed the files. The first was a video recording from Prism’s helmet. It didn’t take long for Twilight’s fear to morph into mild exasperation when Prism appeared to be nowhere near a care package. “Typical. I ask her to find critical fuel and she gathers flora samples instead.”
“It’s probably for the best.” Spike crossed his arms, sounding as unnervingly calm as ever. “Ship’s scanners have detected a great deal of movement along the perimeter across the river, but the underbrush is much higher over there. The satellite can’t get a good look at whatever’s causing it.”
Twilight was starting to wonder why she was watching the video. “You don’t think it’s natives do you? The satellite never picked up any signs of civilization.”
“Sapient life? I doubt it. Animals? I bet my bottom bit on that,” Spike punctuated by tapping his tablet. “One thing is clear, we’ve got a real possibility of having more than the small rodents and fish roaming the area.” Spike waited for Twilight’s unamused grimace to turn back to worry with a hint of scientific curiosity as she reached the part of the video with the skull.
“Those teeth are bigger than a manticore’s!”
Spike nodded in agreement. “That’s why I think we should accelerate the original plan to have my crew run security for the workers. We just landed on a planet that has big predators and no natural fear of ponies.”
He left Twilight to connect the dots, which led her to end up closing the video and giving Spike a firm look. “Not even a day on this world and we’re already under physical threat. As if the energy crisis wasn’t bad enough.”
“Well I wouldn’t go that far.” Spike shrugged at the mention of it. “We haven’t actually seen anything bigger than a dog so far. We can hope that all the beasties smell is our metal and plastic suits and think we’re unappetizing.”
Twilight gave Spike a critical eye. “Since when are you such an optimist about security concerns?”
“New world, new hope I suppose,” Spike chuckled weakly.
“Well, I’d like to keep that hope alive by not allowing anypony to get kidnapped and eaten by an alien timber wolf or xeno-hydra.” Twilight paused when the elevator reached her stop. She waved Spike to join her as she made her way down the hallway towards the Colonial Command Center that was being assembled. Thus far, there was only a hodgepodge of chairs and terminals with engineers working everywhere to get it up and running by week’s end. At the very least, Spike and Twilight had a few chairs and a couple of ceiling mounted screen available to them. “Voyager, I have a new protocol to implement.”
~“Awaiting your word, Colonial Princess.”~
“Wild animals are going to be a real hazard just like back ho- like back on Equis.” Twilight had to catch herself from saying ‘home’. I’m going to have to break that thinking. I have to think of this world as home from now on. Spike tilted his head at her over the sudden silence. Thankfully though, Twilight returned to the present quickly enough to avoid him speaking out. “All personnel leaving the ship must be armed at all times.”
~“Decree logged.”~
Several passing ponies grew visibly concerned at the new protocol. The new hope of a peaceful world started to dwindle. Twilight turned to Spike with more motherly concern than she would have liked. “I want you to keep the medivac primed and ready for take-off. If any of the Pathfinders radio trouble, evacuate them immediately.”
“That still leaves the Pathfinders vulnerable out there.” Spike studied Twilight’s grim expression as they passed into the command center. “It’d take the medivac hours to reach any one of them.”
“This is what they’ve trained for,” Twilight replied with forced objectivity. “And one way or another, we need that thorium. Pass a warning to the rest of them to watch out for large wildlife.”
By the time Prism returned to the rover, she was just about dead on her wings. Even for a pegasus as physically fit as she was, sprinting such a distance in weather that might as well have been a sauna to her was heavily exhausting. Stupid suit. Saying this temp is just fine, my fabulous plot! she grumbled to herself. She made a mental note to increase her suit’s cooling system a few more degrees, regardless of the energy cost.
Breathlessly, she reached the rover and practically collapsed on top of it. "All right Joe, full speed ahead,” she commanded with a shaky wave of her hoof.
~"Affirmative."~
While the rover's tires ground at the dirt, Prism took a few minutes to catch her breath. The alien, partly cloudy sky above moved on by as Prism laid panting on her back, heedless of the bumps in the nonexistent road. Gotta secure the momma cap and Praxia mold. With that thought, she dragged herself back up to a sitting position and placed her new samples inside the small cargo area towards the back.
After that, she gingerly made her way towards her seat and pulled a pair of tubes out of the rover, socketing one onto the right saddlebag. O2 in place. The other tube went to her helmet. A nozzle extended, allowing Prism to take several long gulps of Super Water™.
By the time she quenched her thirst, the general warning of predators was sent to both her and the rest of the Pathfinders. Heh, I’m already savin’ lives. Roll that up and smoke it, Ruby.
After having her fill, Prism detached the water hose and lounged in her seat while staring at the unspoiled wilderness that surrounded her, taking it all in. Despite the temperate heat being too hot for her tastes, the sight of so much life was a welcome compromise.
The terrain was starting to morph into rolling, tall hills with Joe’s motors whining higher to keep up the pace.
Now that she was keeping an eye out for them, Prism saw a few scattered animals dispersed between the thinning undergrowth. Minutes rolled by as long, grass-like red plants started to dominate the ground as the fungi gave way. Looking ahead, Prism saw only a few scattered giant fungi and mushrooms ahead while the red grass held dominance. I wonder if that grass really is a plant analog, instead of just more fungi.
Before she could leap off to collect samples, the rover made an announcement. ~“Arrival at resource pod imminent.”~
Sure enough, as Joe crested the hill and started moving down the short slope, Prism caught sight of an obelisk-like structure that was playing host to an assortment of grasping flowering vines.
“Good work, Joe.”
Prism took off yet again and raced over to the pod. She saw several squirrel sized animals panic at her approach and sped away into the underbrush and rocky burrows. Prism paid them no mind as she orbited the pod once before settling down at the front of it. Good, it’s intact, and the locals don’t seem to have wormed their way inside.
Prism ignored the sound of the rover’s heavy wheels coming up behind her as she used her helmet to activate the dormant computer in the pod. “Interfacing… and… I’m in.”
With a loud hiss, the nearest panel on the pod cracked open, but required Prism to cut the vines away to allow it to open fully. Cold cryogenic gases escaped as well. Her heart soared at the prospect of an easy jackpot of thorium.
As expected, Prism found a large steel-grey case with a black handle easily matching the size of her torso. The pod, as a whole, was full of them. But Prism knew that the pods typically only carried one type of thing or another, not an assortment.
Prism pulled the cold heavy case off and onto the ground. There, she wiped away the ice covering the diode that would allow her helmet to read the contents. “Corn seeds… Ah hell.” Prism slouched on the ground and thumped the useless case. Damn. This is just a seed pod incase our seed library was lost.
Smoldering for a bit, Prism slowly let her duty drag her up to her hooves and shove the case back into the pod. From there she ordered the pod to close and seal back up. ~“Seed Actual, this is November One.”~
Surprisingly it was Spike who answered directly, making Prism stiffen to attention. ~“Go ahead, November. We’re reading you arrived at the first pod.”~
~“Affirmative. It’s just a seed pod.”~ The mild disappointment was clearly evident in Prism’s tone, but Spike retained his reassuring command voice.
~“Acknowledged. Move on to pod seven.”~
~“Copy that.”~ Prism climbed back aboard her rover which dutifully started churning up dirt to get moving.
Prism settled down in her seat, trying to keep herself in place instead of wandering off to hunt samples in this target rich environment. Even the short distance between the pod and the next crest of the hill brought dozens of new species to her attention. “Arrrrg! I bet those lab coats back at base are having a field day!”
As time rolled on, and Prism’s rover chewed away at the ground, she caught the reports of her fellow Pathfinders. The list of findings danced across her eyes, bringing a snarky grin to her face. So no pony’s found any thorium yet? Then I still got a chance.
Joe powered along the rolling landscape of tall red grass, the occasional columns of fungi, and the rare beastie that was too slow to avoid getting spotted. Off in the distance, nestled in a wide valley was what Prism at first thought to be a string of green algae infested ponds and lakes. They were surrounded by irregularly spaced, densely packed, tall and vibrant fungi, some of the larger toadstools reaching two stories tall. While animal noises and calls had been noticeable ever since leaving the rocky ground around Seed One, here a whole cacophony of sound roared from the shallow valley.
With moderately obvious land paths crisscrossing in between the bodies of water, Prism was content to let the rover navigate itself through the maze as she kept her father’s rifle ready for the first sign of hostile wildlife. A watering hole of this size has got to attract something dangerous.
Thankfully, the rover’s size, speed, and unnatural color made any animal they came across flee out of the way. There was however, one group that made Prism nervous. As Joe turned on a natural bend in the path, Prism caught sight of a large clearing next to one of the green lakes where several larger animals were drinking.
These squat creatures had large bulbous green carapaces on their backs, each with a long wide tail that curled up and over. Three of these creatures passively studied Prism as she passed by, while Prism observed them in kind. Unlike the fleshy growth on the creatures’ backs, the head was armored with bone and its eyes were far too small and sunken into the bone for Prism to get a good read.
What unnerved the Pathfinder most was that the four creatures didn’t flee, growl, nor did they posture for dominance. They studied her with primal curiosity that made the hairs on her neck stand on end, her grip tightened around her rifle.
As quickly as she had seen these four lumbering beasts, they were gone as the forest of fungi grew thick as the rover rumbled on. Why do I get the feeling those things will try to make me lunch one day?
While the sun would have allowed Prism to go another hour or so, the cloud cover was getting very dense, which in turn was limiting to Joe.
~“Alert. Solar input reaching untenable levels. Recommend immediately setting camp.”~
“Well I guess here is as good as we’re going to get in these wetlands.” Prism climbed into the air to get a better survey of the campsite. Joe had stopped right on a low mound of dirt, giving the pair a foot or two height boost from the rest of the wetlands. The ground was strangely dry for the habitat, but Prism wasn’t going to complain.
The site was also adjacent to one of the smaller murky green ponds that lacked the same level of overgrowth that its bigger cousins had. Lastly the tired Pathfinder was still another three kilometers from the next resupply pod. Glad we did our homework on this world. These days are barely over an hour longer than the ones back on Equis. It shouldn’t take too long to adapt.
After checking around the perimeter and inadvertently scaring any small critters away, Prism was satisfied. “Alright, Joe initiate camper mode while I investigate this pool over here.”
Balancing on its six wheeled legs, the rover propped itself up a little higher than its travel configuration, and had its wheels push down into the dirt to anchor the rover in place. Lastly, the undercarriage slid down to provide a slightly cramped boxy steel tent complete with flooring and an airlock.
Meanwhile, Prism had collected another sample box and scoop off of the rover. She flew over to the nearby pool and found a small outcrop of rock to land on. The pond was deeply green in the fading light of twilight so Prism activated her helmet’s flashlight to see. The water bubbled occasionally with what looked like channels of fluid moving slowly just under the surface. “I bet this stuff reeks like month old socks.”
Taking a scoop in her mechanical hand she dipped it down only to meet unusually viscous resistance. The liquid oozed into the scoop and produced a shurping smack upon being removed.
“I hope the lab coats can figure out why the natives drink this stuff.”
Prism gingerly sealed the container and flew back over to Joe. From there she secured her latest sample in a separate cargo-pod on the left side just behind the rotor engine. Satisfied, she ducked inside the airlock at the rear of the rover. She found herself in a room so cramped that even a pony as fit and lean as her was squashed between two walls and a dark room lit only by her helmet’s enhanced vision.
~“Begin decon procedure.”~
A small jet black gem descended towards the middle of Prism’s back in just such a way to allow her to touch it with a wing. The black crystal drank deeply of her magic as it flooded the tight room with toxic black magic. The black tar of mana seeped into every nook and crany. No crevice, no matter how small, was left untouched. Thanks to being the source of this magic, Prism was entirely immune to the magic’s lethal effect.
~“Scanning… Decon successful.”~
Silently, with the grace that came with years of practice in such tight confines, Prism removed her wing from the black crystal as a new golden crystal took its place. Within seconds of contact with Prism’s magic, the chamber was saturated with holy magic, purging the room back to its original pristine state.
At last, the inner wall of the metal tent slid up to reveal a simple foam mat, a tiny blue light crystal, and a package of military-grade rations. “Home sweet home.”
Over the next hour, Prism climbed out of her suit and performed maintenance and spot checks on all of her gear before eating. Not trusting the unknown wildlife, Prism put her suit and helmet back on before dozing off on the thin mat with her rifle held close.
Joe remained on low power, save for a set of cameras set on a periscope keeping watch.
As the shining sun fully dipped below the horizon, the pools of the valley shook along their surface. A choking mist started to appear as spores in the trillions began to rise. Over the next few hours, Joe paid the mist no mind, save to record it for scientific investigation later, focusing more on any animals that might approach. Neither the machine nor pony had guessed it was not the wildlife that was the greatest danger here.
Later on in the dead of night, Praxia watched with pride as she stood within the prefabricated local control center of the power plant. All along the far side of the river adjacent to Seed One, the next set of printed solar panels were being hooked up. At this rate, we’ll be done by sunrise.
Praxia downed the last of her coffee, which at this point was little more a thick sludge that assaulted her with a bitter aftertaste. Nevertheless she choked it down to stay awake. Twilight was counting on her expedience, and come hell or high water, she would exceed her teacher’s expectations.
While Praxia doubted the hell part would be an issue, the high water was another matter. While Seed One and the domiciles were located upon a high ridge above the river, the solar farm was barely half a foot above the waterline.
Even with her accelerated construction plan, a full third of her work crew was hard at work building a levee to keep any possible floodwaters at bay. It might not be such a bad idea to build a dam at some point when we have the time and resources.
Yet the thing that bothered her most was the contingent of fifty eight marines patrolling the exterior area of the worksite. None of them had so much as lifted a hoof to aid in construction, aside from assisting in placing flood lights all along the area.
Were it anybody else, a civilian foreman would have just let the soldiers do their own thing as long as they didn’t hamper the work crews, but Praxia was by no means going to let that slide. It wasn’t helping that she refused to go to sleep until construction was done. “Lieutenant Trench,” she called out to the trooper leaning against the wall next to the entrance. He had his standard issue mana rifle at the ready, but the long hours had made it droop in his grip. “Would you tell your colts to at least help in moving dirt for the levee or digging up the soil for the power lines?”
The thestral officer gave her an appraising look. “Nope.”
The small group of electricians installing the control consoles slowed their work to listen in. Praxia flattened her ears. “You have over fifty able bodied soldiers out there doing nothing but walking around looking tough. The least you could do is some grunt work to help make sure this plant is up by sunrise.”
Despite Praxia’s relation to the princess giving her serious clout, Spike was arguably on higher ground than Praxia. “And tire my soldiers out in case some xeno-hydra happens by? Forget it. Captain Spike’s orders are very clear. You do the work, and we do the fighting.”
“Fight what?” Praxia countered tactfully, knowing she’d get nowhere by getting emotional. “A few space wolves? Maybe some cosmic carrots?”
Trench was glad his polarized helmet hid his rolling eyes. Orders or not, it wasn’t wise to gain the ire of the Princess’ right hoof. He checked the clock on his personal display to see it was nearly time to switch the guard. “There are worse things to worry about than a few patrolling marines.”
As if to prove his point, a call came in from the easternmost patrol and was heard by everyone in the control room. ~“Sir, we’ve got a lot of movement out here and it’s headed our way.”~
Trench gave Praxia a smug grin before answering, getting a sour look from Praxia for his efforts. ~“Alpha and Bravo squad, I need all of you up front with Charlie staying behind to guard the work crew. We only get one chance to make a first impression here people.”~ Trench gave a slightly mocking bow towards Praxia. “Would you care to allow your staff to join us in the colony’s defense?”
Praxia ground her teeth for a moment before she recollected herself. “You made your point. Just go.”
“As you wish.” Lieutenant Trench made to leave the building while Praxia turned to the central control board. Local security had yet to be installed, but she knew enough tricks with computers to tap into the rifle cameras of the marines. With everyone being hoof picked for their anti-criminal leanings, network security’s quite lax.
The construction crew inside the room gathered around the lone changeling once she brought the camera feeds up on the monitor.
A line of thirty four soldiers were racing to make a staggered line formation. Most of the soldiers switched to thermal imaging, finally revealing the wave of creatures prowling just behind the cleared away line in the tall red grass. As the marines took position, more and more bright orange spots materialized on the thermals.
However, whatever beings or animals were hiding in the grass remained there long after the last of the troops got into position. Praxia half wondered if Twilight was being awakened by the event. If she even went to sleep at all.
A short series of commands were flying between Seed One and the ground troops with Praxia catching a few of them. Good. Spike wants to hold fire, if for nothing else than to conserve ammunition.
The standoff between the marines and the alien beings lasted for what felt like hours as both Praxia and most of the workers waited and watched. That was until Praxia realized this and got on the civilian comms. ~“Get back to work! Let the soldier boys do their job so we can do ours. The colony needs this plant!”~
Thanks to Charlie squad taking up positions close to the field workers, the civilians sluggishly went back to work, only to keep their sidearms at the ready.
Praxia gave a stern look at the electricians in the control center. “Well, go on! I’ll keep an eye on this and if we need to fall back, I’ll tell everypony the moment we need to.”
After giving uncomfortable acknowledgements, the civilians obeyed, allowing Praxia to refocus on the soldiers. Her eyes dilated and her ears shot straight back up as several aliens, each easily the size of a timber wolf, boldly stepped out of the grass. The insectoid beings stood on four legs, yet had a pair of arms that ended in lethal scythes akin to a praying mantis. Six beady little eyes adorned their heads with several long and wide spines forming a sort of armored mane. The largest of these creatures, easily rivaling a manticore, stood at the center.
Nervous chatter danced around the troops with Spike reassuringly repeating his order to hold fire. Praxia couldn’t help but notice a few of the troopers call the beasts an assortment of names, ranging from bug cub to ant-thing. Yet the one that caught her ear was one mare calling them wolf beetles. Strangely fitting.
As for Praxia, she studied the creatures intently while bringing her face closer to the screens. She noticed no act on the aliens’ part to communicate, whether to the ponies or between each other. Strange… Even pack animals would be looking to the alpha for direction. Maybe they can do it all through pheromones.
The brief stare down ended when the alpha wolf beetle rose up on its hind legs and thrashed four limbs at the air and howled an ear splitting howl with the other wolves joining in almost immediately.
Alarmed chatter sprang up instantly among the soldiers, with requests to open fire filling the radio channels. ~“Hold steady, Marines. Don’t fire unless they begin to charge.”~
The wolf beetles’ howls became even louder with many of them starting to dig at the ground, clawing large divots in the soft ground. The threat was one that passed all language barriers, yet Praxia saw something slightly different. Wasting no time, she tapped a few controls to patch her into Seed One’s command. ~“Captain Spike, have your marines fire into the ground in front of the aliens, and yell back at them.”~
Spike had been inches from giving the order to fire, yet the request caught him off guard. ~“To what end? These things don’t look like they’d fear a bit of yelling.”~
~“Trust me, captain, I’ve seen this before. It should work.”~
Knowing time was essential, Spike only took half a second to finally give in. “We’ll do it your way, Praxia, but I’m scrambling the hellcat combat drones just in case.”~
After Spike gave the order, Praxia watched intently as the marines joined in the yelling, cursing, and firing rounds at the dirt in front of the aliens. The ground churned and broke as rifle grenades landed just close enough to lightly pepper the wolves with shrapnel too slow to pierce their thick hide.
Praxia grinned as the alpha wolf beetle landed back on all fours after a particularly reckless marine with a machine gun partially closed the distance, roaring a relatively new Equestrian battle-cry, “For Twiliiight!” repeatedly, and firing his weapon in the air. The loud retorts of his weapon was enough to cow the alpha back. It lowered its posture with the other wolves quickly following suit.
The quartet of rover sized drones and the thumping noise of their rotor blades was the last straw. Yowling all the while, the aliens fled back to the grass. All but two of them disappeared entirely from Seed One’s sensors, while the those two remained just barely within range.
~“Good work marines. Stand back down to yellow alert.”~ Spike ordered the drones to recall before addressing Praxia. ~“Mind telling me how you figured out they weren’t just going to answer aggression with aggression?”~
Feeling rather proud of herself, Praxia let her professional tone slip as she stood a little taller than usual. ~“They reminded me of the Gelraths from the Jungles. Those animals would bluster and peacock around much the same way. If you didn’t assert your dominance they attacked you without end, if you stood up for yourself, they’d respect you.
~“I’m sure any zoologist worth their salt could tell you that, captain.”~
Spike hummed approvingly, and took note to remember Praxia’s quick thinking. With the danger passed, he allowed himself a few moments to think. ~“I think you’re onto something.”~ There was a short pause as he accessed the science corps’ roster, which also gave Praxia time to smooth out the work crews still a bit shaken by the militant showboating. ~“I’ll start poaching some of the lab coats to work as advisors for future confrontations with these creatures. In the meantime, well done, Praxia. I’ll be sure to let Twilight know of your role here tonight.”~
~“Thank you, Captain.”~ Praxia’s pride multiplied tenfold at the prospect of Spike himself giving accolades to Twilight about her. She glanced around the room, and found the electricians were nose-deep in the walls and floors to notice her hip hop on the tips of her hooves giving silent ‘yipees’.
Yet as quickly as it had come, Praxia’s little cheering session died away to be replaced by her typical hard nosed demeanor. That loss of cheer was compounded by worry starting to settle in. If it took a squad of soldiers to cow those things, how are Prism and the rest of the Pathfinders going to fare?
That niggling thought would hound her throughout the rest of the night.
While the marines succeeded in driving off the local wildlife, Prism slept like a log within the rover’s protective steel ‘tent’. With the worst direct threat being only a few bits of fungus trying to claw its way up the anchored wheels, even the simplistic AI, Joe, was about to log yet another peaceful hour. In fact, the only thing the rover saw or heard of local fauna were mating calls and rustling fungus as rodent sized critters ran around, oblivious to the comparatively gargantuan machine.
If there was one thing that still concerned the AI, it was the dense soupy fog that had rolled in, covering most of the ‘tent’ beneath it. If it had had more acute sensors, it would have noticed the dense green mist that seeped into every nook and cranny was slowly but surely eating away at every square inch of exposed metal, paint, and plastic. Joe’s entire outer skin was being corroded as the cloud of airborne spores attacked the foreign machine.