Chapter VII
Chapter VII
“NO!” Qualda screamed as he watched the beam rifle rounds tear through his security personal. “It can generate forcefields? How is that even possible!”
“What are your orders, sir?” Gelzok asked the fuming scientist.
Qualda thought about this for a second. This whole scenario was about to go sideways, and at this point he honestly cared more about his own life than whatever good the unicorn could do for his research. He might receive disciplinary action for what he was about to do, but he felt that after what had happened, he would take whatever his superiors would do to him over whatever fate these alien monsters could inflict.
“Seal off the area, then gas the subjects,” he said coldly.
Without hesitation, Gelzok began to punch in the codes that would close and seal the blast doors for the area. “Right sir, activating quarantine-”
However, Gelzok never got the chance to finish the thought. At that precise moment, electricity began to course through the console and root itself in the unsuspecting Dridune's spine. Gelzok would have screamed, but he lacked the vocal cords to do so.
Qualda gasped in shock as the unconscious technician fell from the chair, his body smoking slightly from the shock. Before Qualda could even contemplate what had happened, however, a cackling laughter started playing through the bridge's audio, interrupting his train of thought.
His head shot up, and for a second he wasn't even sure what he was looking at. The monitor's display had changed: Where before there was system readouts and station details, now there was only an animated laughing primate skull, under which were two femurs arranged in a cross shape.
A message then started to play through the speakers in Galactic Standard. Unfortunately for Dr. Qualda, the message was absolute gibberish since he only knew about four words in Galactic Standard.
That fact didn't make him any less terrified though.
* * *
Twilight was tired. More tired than she had ever felt before in her life.
While it was true that the magical feats that she had accomplished in the past far outstripped anything that she had recently done, she had still done a far greater amount than she had ever done before in a single three hour period.
On top of that, she was also suffering from malnutrition and sleep deprivation, so she wasn't exactly in the best shape of her life at the moment.
Taking a deep breath, she stumbled out of the room in a stupor. Upon leaving the room, however, she immediately began to gag as the scent of burnt flesh assaulted her nose, nearly causing her to throw up. She quickly glanced around to find the source of the smell, only to realize just what had happened outside of the room after she had lowered her spell.
She had heard stories of terrible battles from her brother before, when he had gotten into skirmishes with bandits from the neighboring Griffon Empire, but none of that had prepared her for an actual battlefield. Sure, she had fought during the changeling invasion, but she hadn't been fighting to kill.
Needless to say, she felt horrified at the sights and smells around her. While the logical part of her brain told her that it was necessary, that these monsters had tried to kill her and her allies, the far more innocent part of her couldn't help but ask if there was another way.
As she tried to block out the sights and smells around her, she unsteadily wandered over to where the strange biped was barking orders to the others, causing her to wonder how this 'translation device' of his worked. Her curiosity only increased as he repeatedly changed languages to suit the moment: One minute, he was croaking like that weird frog-thing, the next he sounded like a wolf announcing a kill.
It was all very perplexing, but she could deduce a few things based on how he acted. For starters, she notice that he seemed to zone out for a few second whenever he switched languages. Also, he seemed to only be able to speak one language at a time. This probably meant that the device affected the language center of the brain, and that it probably was located in his brain.
As fascinating as that was, the thought of a surgery to implant an object into a brain made her feel very queasy.
As she approached, she could feel her strength get weaker and weaker. Her head began to spin, and she felt the distinct need to pass out. Or vomit. Probably both.
In the back of her mind, she realized that she was going into mana shock, and that she should probably find a place to rest. The stubborn part of her wouldn't let that happen though. Not yet. They were still in a very real danger, and she had to get these people out before the monsters found them again.
The strange biped looked up from what he was doing as she approached. His eyes unfocused and dilated for a second, then returned to normal. “Are you okay? You look like you're on your last legs,” he said.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I just need... to...”
She wasn't able to finish her sentence though, as the symptoms of mana shock overtook her, sending her into convulsions.
She was faintly aware of the others calling to her, asking in tongues unknown if she was alright. she tried respond, to tell them that she would be fine, that all she needed was rest.
Unconsciousness, however, had other plans.
* * *
“Is anyone here a doctor?” Hale asked repeatedly in different tongues as he knelt next to the convulsing unicorn. As he looked around, he quickly realized that he was probably the most qualified person here to deal with this. Problem with that, however, was that the grand sum of his medical training was the first-aid merit badge he had earned while he was in Boy Scouts. It was still better than nothing, but it did nothing to help him with alien biology.
“...Mighty warrior, even if we had a doctor with us, we don't have time to deal with this now. The Dridune could regroup and fall upon us at any moment, or worse, activate their point-defense system and slay us,” Hexomer said in a rush as she knelt beside the captain. “I will carry her until she awakes, or until we find an appropriate place to hide.”
Captain Hale nodded as he picked up his stolen beam rifle. “You're right. Since you also have a translator, I'm going to need you to help me relay orders,” he said as he looked at the rest of the escaped prisoners briefly. Despite their fear, and obvious lack of training, they had still come forward of their own accord to help him make their escape. True, Hexomer had something to do with that, but he still could only salute that kind of courage.
As he stood there, he quickly he took stock of his assets. Apart from himself, Alik, Hexomer and Donny, there were five other individuals armed and ready. One, a short, frog-like individual, had taken a blast to the shoulder. However, he was still up and ready to fight, despite the wound. As for the rest of them, they had come through the last fight completely unscathed.
“Okay, our first priority is to find a terminal so that Donny can hack their systems, and I can hopefully recharge mine,” he said in Galactic Standard. “We don't have too much time before they rally their guards, so we need to hurry.”
He jerked his head forward and started down the hallway “Lets move!” he said, then repeated the order for the rest of them as he started down the hallway.
* * *
He was floating. Things seemed to be so peaceful. Was he dreaming? Was he dead? He wasn't sure, but he hoped that he wasn't. That would mean that his soul was being returned to the Emperor, and he wasn't really sure if he was ready for that yet. He had been a good soldier, but he had had almost heretical thoughts before about what they were doing. Didn't that make him a bad Dridune? Dridune weren't supposed to feel sorry for the enemy. Lesser species were their playthings, and as such, anything that they chose to do to those animals had to be right.
“...Father...”
...Then why did he feel so guilty? Why did he question the ethics of what they were doing? According to the teachings, he shouldn't feel this way... They were lessers...
“...Father! Please, wake...”
Wait, was he even dying? By all accounts, the pain should be leaving him. Instead it seemed to be growing, and he seemed to be getting heavier for some reason.
Slowly, blearily, Balvalt opened his eyes. He groaned slightly as he tried to get up, only to be restrained by his son.
“Easy, sir. Just take it easy,” he heard Halvok think as he held his father down with a shaking tentacled appendage. “You've been through a lot.”
Halvok didn't really need to say that though. The fact that Balvalt couldn't feel his legs probably meant that they had been blasted off, and his aching shoulder told him that without Mutation Therapy, he would probably never be able to hold a gun again. However, the nature of his wounds ensured that he wouldn't bleed out, and the fact that it felt like nothing vital had been hit meant that he wasn't in danger of organ failure. He would live, but he would wish that he hadn't for the next couple of weeks.
“You okay?” Halvok asked nervously.
“Yeah, other than having my legs blown off, but thats nothing a little time in the vats wont fix.” Balvalt grunted. In truth, he was in a great deal of pain, and would be unconscious if it hadn't been for the med-pack that Halvok had administered to him earlier. The med-pack was good, but it couldn't compare to hard anesthetics.
Its main purpose was to get soldiers back on their feet, not kill the pain.
“What happened?” Balvalt asked gruffly.
“I ran back as fast as I could to the closest security station, but the hallway was sealed off,” Halvok said with a note of despair.
“Do you mean that we're in a full security lock-down?” Balvalt asked in terror. He would have preferred to have been unconscious when the higher ups had decided to gas him.
Halvok shook his head. “I don't think so sir. I tried the console, but all I got was the same message in animal garbage,” he shook his head ruefully. “Sir, how is that even possible? It should take months for those animals to hack our systems. Those creatures only escaped about an hour ago!”
“I don't know either soldier, but I intend to find out. Do you know which way the beasts went?” Balvok grunted.
“I believe they went in that direction. And before you ask, yes, they took almost every weapon we had. All we have now is mine,” Halvok said as he bent down to pick up his father.
“That's to be expected. Lets just find a place to hole up until help arrives,” Balvalt said as he clenched his fangs in pain.
If they were able to keep their heads down, they just might survive this.
* * *
He looked up into the sky, cursing as he watched Freedom leave the planet behind. Freedom had always been a thorn in his side, constantly getting in the way of his plans. It was only fitting, then, that Freedom was the one to stop him and leave him behind to rot on this underdeveloped planet.
Law turned and started to make his way through the dense jungle, all while his mind chased itself around in circles. All in all, he felt that he had been given quite the gift. Frankly, he had expected Freedom to simply kill him after what he had done. Instead, Freedom had merely sentenced him to lifelong exile on this backwater rock. Law would have killed Freedom if their positions had been reversed, but honestly Law could see why the soft Freedom had decided on this course of action.
After all, genocide was a hard crime to bear.
They were the only two left, and Freedom just couldn't bring himself to finish the job that Law had started. Of course, at that point, Freedom no longer called him Law. No, Freedom, the self-righteous prick that he was, had started to call him by a different name entirely.
A name that Tyranny thought suited him quite nicely. After all, free will was the cause of all the hardships in the universe. If peace were to be achieved, the universe had to subvert their will to his.
He had almost done it too. He had dominated the lesser, underdeveloped races with but a thought, and had led them in war against the only beings that were immune to his mental domination.
The Forefathers were a powerful lot, but Tyranny's inside knowledge of their defenses allowed him to anticipate their every move. Tyranny couldn't help but smirk at the memory of his burning home-world. However, there had been one that he had not been able to anticipate.
Freedom. Freedom had fled at the sight of his approaching warships without a second thought, leaving the rest of the fleet behind to deal with Tyranny's forces. Tyranny had laughed at his cowardice, then had let him go, seeing as he had more powerful fish to fry. However, he had sent a token force to deal with the cowardly individual.
He had thought his victory assured at that point. The universe would finally be put back on track. Order would reign...
* * *
Twilight groaned as light shone through her closed eyelids. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to continue the dream that she had been having. It was a strange one, one that she was sure that she had had before, but from a different perspective...
She tried to pull her blanket over her head, but was foiled in her attempt by the fact that it was missing. As she searched around for the missing comforter, she could hear someone talking nearby, their words indecipherable despite how close they seemed to be.
“Spike... tell your friend to go home. It's too early...” she mumbled incoherently.
There was something wrong here, though. Not only was she unable to find her blanket, but she also seemed to be lying on something hard. In addition to these two facts, that strange voice didn't seem to be going away. Instead it seemed to get closer.
Tentatively, she opened her eyes, only to look up into the face of a nightmare.
“GHAAAAHH!!!” she screamed, reflexively throwing a telekinetic barrier in front of her to ward off the perceived threat.
Instead of attacking however, the insect-like creature backed off carefully, holding its fore-claws up in what it apparently thought was a placating gesture. It then turned its bizarre face towards someone behind it and said something in its strange, clicking voice.
Twilight watched wearily as another, different creature rushed over to where they were. Just as the odd, ape-like hominid approached her, everything that had happened over the past couple of days came rushing back to her. Her enslavement, her escape, and her efforts to free the others, all presented themselves to her, demanding her immediate attention.
The fact that her horn was aching, a sure sign of recent Thalmic Hyper-extension, did nothing to help her disoriented state of mind. As the strange hominid approached her, it said something that she didn't quite catch at first.
“I'm sorry, could you please say that again? The ringing in my ears hasn't quite subsided yet,” she groaned a bit louder than she meant as she lowered the barrier.
“I said are you alright?” he repeated.
“I'll be fine, I'm just suffering mana shock caused by Thalmic Hyper-extension,” she answered wearily.
There was an awkward pause that followed this statement, causing her to look up at the weird creature and notice the puzzled expression on its face. It's strange how expressive his face is. Not to mention that, if I'm reading his face right, how closely his facial expressions mirror Equestrian ones, despite the fact that those ears don't seem to move any.
“I'm not sure what you mean. I think my language doesn't have any words for the ones that you just used. Will you be alright? This won't happen very often, will it?” he said in a concerned tone of voice.
She shook her head ruefully. “I simply overextended myself. Used too much of my power,” her stomach decided to make itself known at that point, causing her to blush. “Not to mention that I haven't had a decent meal in forever,” she said, a bit embarrassed.
He grinned impishly at her when she said this, an expression that was only amplified by the scars that covered his face. “No worries, for what you've already done for us, the least I can do is buy you lunch when we get out of here. Hope you like pasta,” he said as he offered her a hand.
“Thank you...” she said as she took the hand and got back on her hooves.
As she stood up, she took a few seconds to get her bearings. The unlikely group of escapees seemed to be lurking in some kind of three way intersection, the wolf-like being was watching one of the hallways, while the lion-like being was watching the other. At the group's back there seemed to be a large steel wall which clashed too much with the uniform white hallways to be a regular feature. She was currently standing in one corner of the little cul-de-sac, while the strange blue hominid was crouched in the other corner. He seemed to have pulled apart the nearby wall, and was working on the various wires and tubes that had been revealed by his actions. Honestly, the sight made her feel like they were trapped in some sort of monster.
The thought wasn't very reassuring.
She swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat, however, then looked up at the creature in front of her. “What happened while I was unconscious?” she asked him.
His face turned into a grimace. “Surprisingly, not much. We reached the end of the hallway here, then encountered the blast door you see in front of you. At first we thought that the Dridune had enacted security protocols and were about to gas us, but Donny here quickly disproved that,” he said as he clapped the blue hominid on the back.
Donny looked up and said something that Twilight couldn't understand, then went back to his work once the strange hominid answered him. She wasn't sure what he meant by 'gas us', but based on the context, she was pretty sure that it was synonymous with death.
“What's happening then?” she asked cautiously.
“Well, it appears that a spy has infiltrated their base and screwed up their systems. As soon as they attempted to kill us, our spy locked down the whole station. Problem is that this also sealed us in here unless we can somehow get this thing open, or guess the password that the spy used,” he said.
While she wasn't sure what he meant by 'systems', Twilight Sparkle was still incredibly intelligent, and quickly guessed that this 'system' was some form of automation for the alien base. “So... I assume that we are safe from attack then?” she asked him.
“For the time being, but I wouldn't count on it staying that way. The Dridune will be trying to get at us, and as soon as Donny gets that door open, everything is just going to start all over again,” he said wearily as he plopped down on his rump.
She looked up at him as he sat down, then suddenly realized that she had never gotten this strange creature's name. “I'm Twilight Sparkle by the way, what's your name?” she asked him with a little hesitation.
“Lieutenant Captain Zachary Hale of the Galactic Alliance at your service ma'am,” he replied.
Lieutenant Captain? I wonder how high that puts him in his military? Based on how the others deferred to him, I'd have to say that he is probably pretty high... “What is the Galactic Alliance? Is that your government? Or a combined military?” she asked him, curiosity burning through her,
“A little bit of both, actually. Some of the civilizations have complete autonomy, while others are either partially, or fully governed by the Alliance itself. Mostly though, it exists to defend the free races from the Dridune,” he told her.
“How many races are in this Alliance then?” she asked him curiously.
“About a hundred.”
She gasped at him in wonder “one hundred? Just how terrible are these Dridune that it requires the combined might of a hundred civilizations just to keep them in check?” she asked him in fear.
Captain Hale looked at her with sadness in his eyes. “Your mistake there was assuming that we are actually holding our own in this war,” he told her.
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Glad to see this continuing. I'm interested in seeing where things go from here.
This story....
3740010 Yep, it's still going.
3740645 IT'S ALIVE!!!
what? 800 views? WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?
Wow I just could leave until I had gotten to this point. I even tried taking a break and reading something else but had to come back and read this till I finished. You sir have done a remarkable job in keeping my attention which is hard to do and award in itself. Plus, even though some areas felt rushed most of it was fantastic. Not everyone understands each other, a major thing people tend to forget and you've slightly made your own languages whether you borrowed from the many here on Earth or gibberish disguised as some, either way it is awesome! Keep it up!
I wonder if Freedom eventually went insane from loneliness and survivors guilt and started to cause a lot of chaos.
3752335 Well... I could tell you, but as River Song says:
achronos.de/tom/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/No_Spoilers_river_Song_doctor_Who.jpg
3752311 Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed my little piece of fiction so much! and yes, some areas I did rush simply because I was unsure how to get my idea across, so I gave it my best shot then moved on. If I hadn't done this, I never would have gotten this far into the story and would have been frozen at chapter 2...
...at roughly the third paragraph...
Yay! It's back! I might have more comments on this later.
Glad to see this back!
Just marathoned this, LOVE it! Keep up the good work!
3796090 I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much!
3796899
You got bronchitis hey, ain't nobody got time for that!
3796899
You got bronchitis hey, ain't nobody got time for that!
3803158 Nope!
3803242 nope train activate! Next stop:Shit city
WOOT! 900 VIEWS!!
“What's happing then?” she asked cautiously.
a slight spelling error I have brought to you, good sir. Other than this, I didn't see anything else wrong.
Keep up the good work, I'm really enjoying this.
Also, you got bronchitis? During finals?
3884881 Thanks for the catch! Also, I'm glad that you like it so much!
My brain has exploded. 1000 VIEWS?!?
...And now I must be going insane. because I'm sure that that said 100 likes.
3971776
You should celebrate by writing more :P
This story seems pretty cool, over a hundred different species in the alliance and the Dridune are still kicking ass? damn
. it will be interesting to see twilight face off a psywarrior, are their powers mainly controlled by mental fortitude or solely the psi gems? if the former, then I doubt there is a more organised mind in the galaxy when it comes to the purple pony. sorry im rambling, you have something that can be really enjoyable. good luck
! im shutting up now
.
4066948 Glad you like it so much! My next chapter will hopefully answer some of your questions. I'm working on it right now, but school takes priority for me, so please be patient.
I really like your way of storytelling. Deep background world building, no plotholes or "soft science" like how a translator device can somehow make everyone understand each other.
This is the most solid sci-fi I ever read, and I grew up on Jack Vance and the Dune series.
May I point out a few typo's?
Galactic Standard has capitals in the previous sentence but not here.
hadn't been for the med-pack
I also noticed you spell Manna with 2 "n". You are Jewish, right? I never saw any conflict between science and church, for here in Europe we used to have alchemists--scientists who believe that The Lord created us in His image to care for His creation and further it. Science was a way of Improvement. By improving yourself, studying and sporting, you can then improve the world which in turn causes you to learn more. An infinite loop of improvement.
I improve the world, thus I have a better life now and improved myself, thus I can improve the world even more, etc.
Improving includes making sure that you have everything you need to live, and even moving a rock so you can pass.
Uhm, sorry. Should I delete this last part? Theological debates seldom end well in my experience.
4141703 Your last part... what did that have to do with Mana?
Daaaaannng that is both awesome and deep
lets keep this up shall we?
Use interrobang (?!/!?)
This guy got mindflayed by one of his superiors who was lightyears away through a communication link just a little while ago. Yet he thinks the prisoners can do worse?
looked around
Here and elsewhere, sir should not be capitalized.
Apostrophes. that's, won't.
thaumic? Magical technobabble that works either way I suppose, but just checking.
Capitalize Equestrian if referring to the culture/nation (proper noun) and not the species (which would usually be referred to as equine).
Needs moar commas.
I cant be the only one that got the independence day ref am I ??
'she' should be capitalized, and there should be a 'to' after 'tried'.
Unless she's somehow tired after a surprise like that, I think you meant warily.
The comma here should be a semicolon.
This sentence is a bit wonky in structure. I'd write it as 'Problem is, that leaves us sealed/stuck in here unless/until we can get this thing open.'
This comma should be a period.
what are they like ur-quans?
Please don’t introduce so many story elements at once. This just confuses people.
I would know, because I’ve done it before and I intend to fix it.