My Little Starcraft: Friendly Fire is Magic

by DuncanR

D06: Always expand before the two week mark

Jack stood atop the ring-shaped balcony built around the roof of the airborne command center. She raised a hoof to shield her eyes from the sun, and peered at the terrain far below: This region of the planet was a maze of winding rivers and small lakes, interspersed with the occasional flat-topped butte. The vegetation here was thicker, with a few large trees scattered here and there.

Rainbow Dash’s voice crackled through her headset. “See anything interesting?”

“Not so far,” she said, “but we can’t give up yet. Maintain present course.”

“Y’know, it’s real cool and all that our buildings can fly... but is there anything we could do to make ’em go faster? We’re moving at a snail’s pace!”

Jack shook her head. “It’s the only way,” she said. “This whole area is a honeycomb... nothing but islands of land separated by rivers and lakes. Land-based dudes would never be able to cross this sort of terrain, and we don’t have time to build any bridges. Just keep the command center flyin’ and we’ll find something eventually.”

Dash let out a groan. “Soooo... bored!”

“Yeah, I know. Just try to... wait a sec. I think I see somethin’.” She nudged her goggles down and zoomed in on a herd of huge armored beasts wandering across one of the isolated land-sections. “Check that: we’ve got Rhynadon activity!”

“Whoa! All the way out here!?”

“Looks like they live all over the planet.” Jack squinted at the beasts, menacingly. “I don’t think these ones can fly. We should be safe up here.”

“What if they spit acid or shoot spines or something?”

“Good point... we’d better take evasive action, just in case.” She ran along the balcony and watched the herd as a whole. “Seems like they can swim between the islands.”

“Great. Just great! They’ll be able to get us no matter where we build.”

Jack nudged her goggles back up onto her forehead and took out a clipboard. “Looks like they swim pretty slow. If we can surround an island with bunkers, we should be able to pick ’em of before the reach land.”

“Hey, I have a better idea! Why don’t we build a base on one of those little mountains? They can’t get up there, can they?”

Jack glanced at one of the nearby buttes. “Not a bad idea.”

“Whoa! Okay, there’s... hold on! There’s a whole bunch of blue dots on the map.”

“Are you sure that’s not us?”

“No, it’s a different kind of blue. And there’s a whole bunch of them, all in a line.”

“Sounds like sweet, sweet minerals to me!” Jack put her clipboard away and walked back to the entrance. “Head straight for it and land as close as you can. Not too close, though... a hundred meters oughta do it.”

“Gotcha.”

After half an hour, the command center levitated overtop of a particularly large section of land: a peanut-shaped island with a large butte that blocked off the middle part. They came to the far end of the island and lowered to the ground, deploying the support struts and opening the main bay door.

Rainbow Dash stepped onto the ramp dressed in baggy cargo pants and an armored leather vest. She kept her taterzooka at the ready as she scanned the horizon. The station had landed directly next to a long row of bright blue crystals growing out of the ground.

“Looks clear,” she said over the com. “No Rhynadons in sight... for now.”

The floor shook as the boxy SCV stepped up behind her. Jack’s voice came through the external speakers. “Ready to deploy, commander.”

Dash pursed her lips. “You go ahead and get started. I’m gonna do a fly-around while you work. Can’t be too careful.”

“Yes’m.”

The SCV hopped into the air slightly, and its hoof-mounted thrusters burst to life. Dash took to the air, swift and nimble, and circled around the command center. She scanned the terrain for any sign of motion.

“Hey,” she said. “Is this a lot of crystals?”

“Oh, yeah!” said Jack. “This is definitely somethin’ to write home about. If I was a prospector, I’d cash in and retire rich.”

“And what if you were a military commander?”

“Well... I’d bunker down and start buildin’. We’re gonna need a couple patches like this if we want to build anything serious.”

“It’s a good start, I guess.” Dash flew over the crystals and watched as the SCV carved them up into bite-sized chunks. “I don’t like this... the crystals are really close to the water. What’ll you do if the Rhynadons swim up close?”

“Dunno.”

Dash flew back and forth a few times, searching the water. “I’ll keep an eye on things for now,” she said, “but we gotta get some firepower as soon as possible. How do we do that?”

“Barracks,” Jack said, “but we oughta build a pastry depot first.”

“Again with the depot! Listen: the command center provides some supply, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, but only a little.”

“And that’s all we need right now. It’s just the two of us, right?”

“Well... I guess. But shouldn’t we plan for the future?”

“We’ll deal with the future when it gets here.” Dash flew back to the Command Center, took out her remote control, and pointed it at the terrain. “Okay. So how many minerals we got now?”

“Hundred’n sixty four.”

“Perfect.” Dash landed on the SCV’s head and tapped the remote against its thick, metal hull. “Step one: Select an SCV...”

Jack rolled her eyes. “Yer supposed to click my icon in the interface. It’s—” Jack flinched as the SCV’s console bleeped. “Oooh... kay. I guess you can just click on me for real. That works too.”

“Okay. Step two, push some buttons... step three, pick a spot.” She pointed the remote at a nearby patch of level ground and clicked a button. “Did ya get that?”

“Yup!” The SCV’s thrusters burst to life once more, and she moved towards the designated location. “I’ll take a little while to build it, mind.”

“Right, right.... eighty standard galactic space-seconds.” Dash tucked the remote away and took to the air. “This place seems safe enough for now. I’ll go scout out the rest of the island, real quick-like.”

“You be careful out there,” Jack said.

“Don’t worry about me. Just let me know when that ’rax is done.”

Dash flew low over the terrain, scanning the surface for anything of interest. The island they’d landed on was large and long, but the narrow middle part was blocked off by a butte. The minerals, as well as their current base of operations, were situated on the very tip of the western side.

She tapped the side of her headset. “You there, Jack?”

“Yes’m. ’Rax is almost done.”

“Already? Wow... seems like only yesterday we landed on this island.”

“We landed thirty seconds ago.”

“Yeah, I know... but it seems like only yesterday!” She slowed down and hovered in place. “I’ve just finished scouting the island: it looks like there’s another patch of minerals on the very opposite side.”

“That’s good to know. We’ve got plenty to last us, but more is always better.”

“I also saw one of those mountain thingies—the ones with the steep sides and flat tops—right in the middle of the island. I’ll take a closer look on the way back.”

“Y’know, even if there ain’t nuthin’ special there, it’d still make a mighty fine defensive position. We can build our vulnerable structures there and defend ’em with missile towers.”

“Hey, yeah... and then we can just fly our command center back and forth. Good idea!” Dash caught sight of the butte ahead, and began gaining altitude. “Huh. Looks flat enough to build on. No minerals, but there’s something... some kind of... whoa. Talk about weird.”

“Weird? What’s weird?”

“Just a sec. I’m gonna take a closer look.”

Rainbow Dash landed on the butte and walked over to a massive, gnarled tree. The branches were big and thick, and they all curled up into the air to form a tight bundle. Despite its barren, somber appearance, Dash could see bright green fruit and flowers budding along its surface. The tree cast a faint, greenish glow on the surrounding area.

Dash tapped her headset. “Jack? You’re not gonna believe this.”

“Tell me what yer lookin’ at. Take yer time.”

“It’s a big ugly tree, and it’s got these glowing green fruit. Can’t really get a good look. Maybe if I flew up and—”

“Negatory!” Jack shouted. “Do not approach the tree! If that’s what I think it is, it’s incredibly toxic!”

Dash flapped her wings and darted backwards. “Oh, jeez! Should we burn it?”

“No-no-no, don’t touch it! That there’s a Vesp-Apple tree: they’re incredibly valuable!”

“What do they do?”

“You gather up the fruit and turn it into vesp-apple juice. Then you turn that into vespene gas, and... why am I babblin’ about this!? There’s no time to waste! Get back to base, pronto!”

“Right! On my way!”

She leapt to the air and streaked back to the outpost in a matter of seconds. As she made the final approach, she saw a new structure next to the command center: it was divided into three vertical sections, and the whole thing was built like a fortress. As she watched, a series of construction gantries snapped apart and fell away from the building, disintegrating harmlessly.

Dash landed next to the SCV, and Jack opened the cockpit and climbed down next to her.

“Construction complete, commander!”

“Finally, we can build some dudes!” Dash reared up and rubbed her front hooves together, grinning eagerly. “Oh man, this is gonna be totally wicked! What kinda dudes can we build? Pegasus commandos, ya think?”

“Don’t you fret: if we got dirt pony marines, there ain’t no problem ya can’t solve!” Jack put her stetson on and marched up the ramp.

Dash followed after her. “Yeah, but pegasus commandos can fly. Think of all the rough terrain around here: they can jump up cliffs and cross over rivers! There’s nowhere to hide!”

Jack rolled her eyes. “That’s good for harassment, maybe, but Marines are tough as bricks, with plenty of firepower to boot. You’ll change yer mind once you see a bunker full of ’em!”

They walked up the ramp and into the barracks’s main hall: a long, five-story gymnasium with rows of shelves along every wall. They both stared at the massive stockpile of weapons on display: rifles, shotguns, machine pistols, grenade launchers... there were even a few shoulder-mounted rocket launchers here and there.

“No way!! Would you look at the size of this thing!?” Dash ran over to a shelf and grabbed a rifle as long as she was, nose to tail. As soon as she pulled the weapon off the shelves, it dragged her off balance and fell to the floor with a deafening clang. “How the heck am I supposed to carry this thing!?”

Jack grinned at her. “You’re supposed to wear a suit of powered armor first. But we can get you a tripod instead, if you’d prefer.”

Dash stroked her hoof along the side of the weapon. “C-14 ‘Impaler’ Gauss rifle?”

“You're pronouncing it wrong: ‘Gauss’ rhymes with ‘house’ or ‘mouse’.” She hauled the weapon off the floor and set it back on the shelf. “It’s a huge improvement over the C-13 ‘Eviscerator’: much better cooling system, and a bigger magazine capacity... and don’t even get me started on the C-12 ‘Stabs-You-Full-Of-Pointy-Metal-Spikes’ variant.”

“That’s cool and all, but I like flying. Is there anything smaller?”

Jack walked to the far end of the shelf. “This here’s the light infantry section. Help yerself!”

“Ooooh!” Dash flew up and took a smaller, boxy-looking weapon off the rack. “What’s this?”

“Nice choice,” said Jack. “That there’s a P-22 ‘Sickle’ machine pistol.”

“This is a pistol!?”

“A marine can hold it in one hoof,” she said, “but it’s a good defensive option for lighter infantry. Crewponies and technicians use ’em in case of emergencies.”

“Hey, check this out!” Dash reared up and grabbed a second machine pistol off the rack, aiming both at the same time. “Say hello to my leetle friends!”

Jack rolled her eyes. “Would you put that away? You’ll never hit anything like that.”

“Awww!”

“Seriously, Dash, the recoil is just too much. You’d have to be some kinda crazy psychopath to go into a real fight with two at once.”

“Fine, fine.” She stowed the second pistol, latching it to one side of her harness. “But I’m keeping a spare just in case. Now let’s quit noodling around, and start building dudes!”

They grinned at each other, excitedly. Rainbow Dash took out the remote control, tapped the nearest wall, and issued a build command. They turned around and watched in awe as a panel in the floor opened up: a circular platform raised into view and an array of mechanical arms began assembling a massive suit of armor, piece by piece. A vast collection of frames, pistons and cables snapped together, bit by bit, and a seamless sheath of armor layered overtop of it all. The mechanical arms retracted.

They both stared at the suit of mechanized armor for some time. It was huge, built like a battleship, and covered with little vents and glowing thrusters. They walked around it in a circle, staring at the seamlessly curved armor plates. The suit had a pair of saddlebags built right into it: there was a massive box-magazine on one side, and a colossal battle-rifle on the other... the same kind they’d seen earlier.

Jack let out a long, low whistle.

“Yeah,” said Dash, “I’m starting to think Pegasus Commandos might not be ‘all that’ after all.”

“I dunno,” said Jack, “this seems an awful lot bigger than the Marine suits I’m used to.”

Dash glanced around. “So... where’s the pilot?”

“Right,” said Jack. “Let’s check the mess hall.”

She ran to a nearby door and went into the next hall. “Hey! Where mah boyz at, y’all?”

Dash walked up behind her and looked at the empty, unused cafeteria.

“So...?”

Jack tugged her hat down. “Dang it, they’re probably loungin’ in the bunk-rooms. There’s jest no excuse for sleepin’ on the job.”

She ran back through the arsenal and into the last section of the barracks: a series of large bunkrooms connected by hallways and stairwells. She ran to each, poking her head in and rattling the door. “Come on, now! Ain’t no time to be sleepin’ on the job!”

They finished searching the last hallway and came to a balcony overlooking the main arsenal. Jack slowed to a halt and stared down at the empty hall.

Dash cleared her throat. “So... where’s the dudes?”

Jack frowned and leaned against the railing. “Ah don’t rightly know what’s wrong. There should be dudes here.”

“So... you built this whole barracks, right?”

“That ah did.”

“And you just expected a bunch of ponies to just magically appear once you were done?”

Jack stared at the main hall below. Eventually, she slumped against the railing. Dash gave her a gentle, reassuring pat on the back.

Bright red lights flashed across the ceiling, and a calm, robotic voice played over the loudspeakers. “Warning: Our base is under attack.”

Jack stood up straight. “Aah! Enemies? Where!? Who!?”

“Yeah, I told the main computer to register the Rhynadons as a hostile enemy force.” She flew to the ground level and readied her machine pistol. “We both knew this day would come. It was only a matter of time!”

Jack glanced around, nervously. “W-w-what do we do!?”

“Just like before: it’s up to us.” She pointed at the suit of powered armor. “One of us will have to suit up. There’s no other way!”

She set her jaw. “I’ll do it. We need you in the air.”

Dash nodded, resolutely.

Jack sprinted back through the corridors and down the stairs, and ran to the freshly assembled suit. “It’ll take me a few minutes to suit up! Can you hold ’em off till then?”

Dash hefted her bulky machine pistol. “You bet your flank I can.”

Dash hit the switch for the main bay door and somersaulted underneath it before it fully opened. She came out of the tumble in a kneeling posture, with her machine pistol at the ready. There were no Rhynadons in sight... instead, there was a giant mechanical robot standing in the clearing nearby. It had four legs and a pair of wings, but was only vaguely pony shaped. Its armor plating was patchy and ramshackle, but it bristled with a wide variety of heavy weapons.

Dash lowered her weapon. “Where’ve I seen that before?” she whispered.

The bay doors opened fully. Jack stepped up to the ramp clad in the powered armor, but took a nervous step back. “What the hey is that thing?” she said.

“Dunno. It doesn’t seem to be active, though.”

“Lan’ sakes, I hope not... It looks like it could chew us up for breakfast!”

Dash waved at her to stay put, then flew into the air and searched the outpost. There was nothing else out of place.

“Heeeey!” she shouted. “Anypony out there?”

There was no response. Dash scanned the horizon a while longer. Her ears twitched slightly.

“Hey,” Jack said over the comm, “see anything weird?”

“Sh-shush.” She closed her eyes and cupped her hooves by her ears. “I think I hear something. Just a sec.”

She flew down towards the command center, following her ears. As she approached, the sound became clearer: squealing electric guitars and a thumping drum baseline, rendered faint and squeaky by a set of cheap, tiny speakers. She looked down and saw a small, ragged hole in the roof of the command center. Every now and then, a bundle of cables or a bit of broken electronics flew out of the hole and fell to the ground below.

Dash pointed her weapon into the hole and cleared her throat, clearly and deliberately. The rummaging sounds ceased, and a strange creature poked her head out of the hole: half eagle, and half lion. She was wearing a tattered flak vest and a pair of extremely thick goggles.

“Wake up,” said Dash.

The Griffon stared at the barrel of her gun for a moment. “Grab a brush and put a little makeup,” she said.

“Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup.”

Jack marched over to the side of the command center and climbed up a ladder. “Who’s this?”

Dash tossed her head back and waved at the sky. “Why’d you leave the keys upon the table? Here you go create another fable!” she slammed her hooves back on the roof and glared at the griffon intensely. “You wanted to!”

The griffon climbed out of the makeshift hole, tossing aside a cutting torch and a set of giant bolt cutters. “Grab a brush and put a little makeup! You wanted to!”

Dash darted forward and pressed her face right up against the griffon’s. “Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup. You wanted to!”

“Why’d you leave the keys upon the table? You wanted to!”

They each held each other’s shoulders and sang together, sad and soulful.

“I don’t think you trust... in... myyyy... self-righteous suiciiiiide... I cry... when angels deserve toooo...” They both slammed their heads up and down, shaking their manes violently back and forth and screaming the last word with a guttural roar. “Diiiiiiiie!”

Jack climbed up the last rung of the ladder and watched, slack jawed, as Dash and the Griffon began slamming invisible electric guitars while taking on dramatic postures.

“What.”

Rainbow Dash laughed, and gave the griffon a vigorous hug: they held each other tightly, their heads turned away, and slapped each other on the back vigorously. “Oh, man it’s been years, mouse-breath! How’d you even get off of Dirtonis, anyways?”

“It takes more than that to knock me out of the game, hay-brain! I’ve been flyin’ around space for years now! How’d you get way out here?”

Jack cleared her throat. They turned to look at her, mildly annoyed.

“Would somepony tell me... if’n ya please... jest what the sam hill is goin’ on?”

“This here’s my best friend and hetero-life partner, Gilda the Griffon!” Dash gave her a friendly shove. “Back when I was a Pegasus Trooper, we’d hire her now and then for a little extra muscle. She’s the best in the biz!”

“You know it!” said Gilda. “But I never woulda made it through alive if I hadn’t had your sweet little butt watching my back.” She put Dash in a friendly headlock and rubbed her scaled knuckles against her head. “Seriously! This here is the best drop pilot you’ll ever see!”

Jack watched her, warily. “Yeah, so... does that mean we can trust her?”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Nah. Gilda’s always been a mercenary. A sometimes-good-girl, sometimes-sexy-bad-girl who only has one loyalty...”

“...And that’s to whoever’s got the sweet, sweet minerals!”

Jack watched as they both performed a complicated, half-hoof-half-talon fist-pound.

“That’s not exactly encouraging,” she said. “Does that mean we can hire her to work for us?”

“Oh yeah,” said Dash. “This is gonna rock!”

Gilda scratched the back of her head. “Actually, I’m already working on a job right now. It shouldn’t take long, though. You can hire me then if you still need the help.”

Jack arched an eyebrow. “A job? Who is it for?”

Dash shook her head. “Don’t even try asking. Once she’s been bought, she stays bought: She’d never betray her employer.”

“Pretty much,” Gilda said. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

There was an awkward pause. Gilda and Dash broke out laughing, and Jack nervously joined in.

Gilda pointed a talon at her. “Seriously, though. If you do find out who I’m working for, I will kill you.”

Dash pushed her talon away. “Aw, don’t mind her. She says that to everypony.”

“Right. So.” Jack pointed at the ragged hole in the roof of the command center. “And what about this?”

Gilda wiped her nose on her sleeve. “You might wanna get an SCV or something to patch that up. Might rain soon.”

“Good point.” Dash pointed at Jack. “Hey, could you get on that? Great. I’m gonna catch some hang-time with Gilda.”

Jack frowned at her. “Aren’t we a little bit curious to know why she was digging a hole in the roof of our command center?”

“Jeez, would you calm down already?”

Gilda nudged Dash with her elbow. “Hey, your new girlfriend seems kinda paranoid.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, tell me about.”

“Now hold on a jest a cotton-pickin’ minnit. Just because I’m—” Jack’s eyes snapped open. “Girlfriend!? That’s not...! We’re...!”

“Well, you’re a girl. Right?”

“Yeah, but—”

Dash nodded. “And we’re friends, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“See? Paranoid.” Dash bonked Jack on the head with her command remote, then pointed it at the hole in the roof. “Less talky, more fixy.”

Jack stared, slack-jawed, as they took to the air and hovered back to the main bay, talon-in-hoof. Their voices grew faint as they drifted away. “Hey, are you still any good at martial arts? It’s been forever since I had a sparring partner.”

“That’s sounds fun! I’ve got some wrestling moves I’ve been meaning to practice... I can’t wait to get all sweaty together!”

Jack stared down at the hole for a moment. She scrunched her eyes shut and let out a frustrated sigh.

Comments

[BlueNinja]

This here’s my best friend and hetero-life partner

... uh-huh. Not buying it.