Taking the First Step isn't the Hardest...
Stedson woke up with a groan, his purple eyes were bloodshot and his yellow fur matted with dried tears. He saw that he was in the medical bay of the facility. He didn't know why he was here. That is until he saw the dead filly still cradled in his forelegs, her smile made him remember her final words.
“I’ll... miss you… daddy.”
The memory brought on fresh tears as he brought 522 closer to his body. It was at this time two of the researchers under him came into the room. He didn't care to remember their names right now.
“Doctor Cog, we were ordered by Upper Rear Admiral Day to prep 522 for cryogenic storage. Doctor Cog are you-” that's when they saw the screen monitoring 522's life signs had flat lined. “What did you do?!”
Stedson was immediately pulled away from 522 as the researchers scrambled to revive the dead filly. He just sat there on his haunches as he watched the futility of their actions before he met with the back end of a gauss rifle and was knocked out cold.
Inside one of the testing chambers, Stedson laid unconscious on the floor. Two guards in power armor stood nearby, armed oddly enough with baseball bats. Happy Day watched this from the same room where he saw 522 fail her evaluation.
He sighed deeply in disappointment. He had been in the middle of business negotiations with Mr. Shears, his contact in Consortium space, when one of his guards informed him that the product had been rendered worthless. Mr. Shears cut off the feed when he heard this. So much for offsetting the medical expenses.
Day's voice was heard over the intercom. “Please get Doctor Cog up on his hooves.” One of the guards walked over, picked up the unconscious pegasus and started shaking him like a ragdoll. When he stirred awake, he was dumped unceremoniously back down on the floor.
“Where am I?” he muttered weakly to himself as his eyes adjusted to the light.
“Do you have any idea why you're here doctor?” Still disoriented, Stedson couldn't respond to the question. Regardless, Day continued talking through the intercom. “I'll tell you what you've done doctor. You've cost us a lot of money when you terminated that IF unit. I should just kill you now and replace you with one of your assistants.” By now, Stedson had recovered from his daze. A look of fear evident on his face.
“However, I doubt your replacement will be able to do what you do. At least not without mistakes like that intern of yours. Do you remember what I did to her?” Stedson gulped as he remembered how Day had personally executed Bic in front of him to set an example. He nodded his head nervously.
“Good. That's why I'm going to let you live.” A hopeful smile crept onto his muzzle. “But...” the smile vanished. “ You broke my merchandise Stedson. However, you did give me 998 fully functional IF units so I can let that go. Still, I have to teach you a lesson about breaking my things. Say 'Hello' to Mr. Baseball bat!” The guards moved in on him brandishing their bats.
Stedson begged for mercy, but the resocs, programmed to obey only Happy Day, swung their bats continuously at the defenseless pony. He curled himself into a ball to protect himself as blow after painful blow struck his body. His screams of pain were soon punctuated with the sickening crunch of bones breaking from the impacts.
“I do believe that Doctor Cog has had enough. Take him to medical. He has work to do tomorrow.” The guards stopped the beating, picked up the battered pegasus, then took him to the medical bay. Before he blacked out from the pain, he heard Day say one more thing over the intercom.
“Don't screw this up Stedson!”
“Damn those inspectors! Damn them to Hell!” Stedson swore as he entered his quarters. It was spacious as befitting his position as head of the program, but to the geneticist it was just a place to bathe and sleep.
He shrugged off his lab coat, revealing both his now crippled wings underneath. He decided to hide them under his coat so he wouldn't be reminded of 522 so often. It was a moot point since he just authorized the harvesting of genetic materials from her remains when Day's inspectors demanded to know when the next batch would be put into production. He'll soon be given six thousand more reminders of 522 in the coming years.
He stepped into the shower and with a turn of the valve, a spray of water washed over him. Unlike the standard sonic cleansers the rest of the facility was fitted with, he had a regular shower which reminded him of the other comforts he no longer had. Unfortunately, due to the station's limited water supply, the shower head automatically turned off at the half-minute mark. He let out a frustrated sigh.
After drying himself off, Stedson climbed into his large bed and pulled the covers over himself. He was out like a light in minutes.
Hours later he woke up screaming, his fur wet with tears. He soon calmed down and groaned to himself. “Another bucking nightmare...” it was the same nightmare he had ever since 522's death a month ago. He saw it replaying in his mind...
He was inside the medical bay, but there were barely any lights on. A beam of light appeared from the darkness, showing 522 as she laid there on her bed with half of her rear right leg gone. She stirred awake and looked at him.
“Daddy... I can't feel my leg.” He walked slowly over to the filly, the syringe already in his grasp. The empty bottle of sedative rolled across the floor and out of sight. He went through the motions as he lied to her face before injecting her with the sedative.
“I’ll... miss you… daddy.” He wept as she passed away, apologizing over and over to the dead filly.
Then it became worse as the scenery changed to that of the observation room where he monitored the IF units' training from. Each unit was alone as they conducted their training like always. However something was different. He was hearing screams.
He rushed to the monitors and to his horror, the Iron Feather units were being overrun by zergs. One unit missed her last shot before the zergling tore her throat out. Another tried to fend off the zerglings with her hooves but was caught off guard when two zergling latched their claws onto her legs. She let out a terrified scream before she was brutally torn in two.
Similar scenes of slaughter occurred in each chamber, each death more gruesome than the next. Stedson collapsed unable to take any more of this torture his guilty conscience was putting him through.
It wasn't done yet.
“Daddy?” Stedson looked up and found himself back in the medical bay. This time however it was filled with multiple beds where dozens of injured IF units laid. A few had missing eyes, wings, some even had bloody stumps where their limbs used to be. A couple of units were so mutilated, it was a miracle they were even breathing.
All of them had wounds too serious to ever recover from.
“Can you fix us Daddy?” they echoed to him. He noticed he had a syringe in the palm of his precision gloves. It was 522 all over again, but on a much more massive scale. The IF units kept calling for him to help fix them like he did for 522. He struggled with the decision: Let all of them be sold off and suffer life as nothing more than slaves or lab rats in Consortium space? Or spare them from the fate that 522 escaped.
He always woke up from the pressure, unable to take any more of the fillies calling out to him, pleading for him to fix them. It was just too much.
“Daddy?” Stedson looked up and saw an orange pegasus filly standing on two legs in the doorway. Most of the researchers couldn't tell one IF unit from the next, nor did they bother to learn how. Having watched over them their entire lives, he could tell them apart from the little nuances in their behavior. An impressive feat since there were so many of them.
“588? Shouldn't you be in bed with the others?” the filly dropped to four legs and walked slowly over to him. She had a worried look in her eyes. “What is it 588?” she quietly went up to Stedson and stood back up on her hind legs. Stedson sat still as 588 stretched her hoof out his face and wiped away the tears.
“I miss her too daddy.” 588 had been close with 522. They were the closest of friends and sisters. She took it the hardest when he told the IF units of 522's 'adoption'. It killed him on the inside whenever he had to lie to their faces, but it was a necessity as the truth would demoralize them.
He'd been tempted more than once to reveal the truth to 522's sisters, but he was walking on thin ice with Day and his damnable inspectors.
He wrapped his forelegs around the filly's small frame and brought her close to him. “I... I know you do 588. I miss her just as much.” The filly let out a sniff and looked up at him imploringly with her big purple eyes.
“Can we go visit her?” Stedson paused when he heard the question. He knew that he'd be asked that exact question sooner or later. He just wished it had been later instead of now.
“I'm sorry 588, but we can't...”
“Why?”
“I wish I knew 588, I wish I knew.” The disappointed filly buried her face in his chest and cried. He stroked her mane wishing he could do more to comfort her.
He wondered if this is what being an actual father might be like. Even though they weren't his biological children he certainly felt a familial connection to the IF units. They already called him 'Daddy' on a regular basis, so he could consider them his daughters.
He shook his head softly at the absurd notion. They will be daughters that he'll have to send out into the battlefield one day. No matter how well trained they are, there are bound to be casualties. Even so, the crying filly being held in his arms allowed him to forget all that. For now, he was her father and that had to be good enough.
Stedson went over the instruments as he monitored the birth pods that held the six thousand clones of the second generation of Iron Feather units, designated the 01 series. Made from the same genetic makeup of 522, the clones had been incubating for almost a year now and were ready to be 'born'. He went over to another monitor and made sure everything was ready for the second generation IF units.
Unlike with the prototype generation where he had delegated certain tasks to his staff, he had personally supervised every stage of the whole process with this batch of clones. He did this mainly because he couldn't risk another mistake by his staff. He didn't want another Bic on his hooves.
The extra duties caused him a lot of stress, but it was a labor of love for his daughters. He lovingly looked at the clones sleeping peacefully in their pods. It was a shame they'll have to wake up to this harsh reality. At least they'll have him and their sisters to care for them.
“Look at them 522.” he whispered to an orange feather in his hoof. When they were harvesting the genetic materials from 522's remains, he discreetly took a feather as a memento. A tad morbid but it keeps him going during the stressful moments of his work.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a cough from behind him. That's right, the inspectors were here for their biannual inspections.
He quickly put the feather back into his lab coat and forced a smile on his face before turning around to greet them. The inspectors may be asses, but they were the asses who reported directly to Happy Day. One word from them and who knows what Day might do to him. He mentally shuddered at the thought.
The inspectors were the same ponies from the last inspection. Three ponies of different species. Oddly enough, they all had the same color palette; white fur with black manes. Even their blue eyes matched. When he first met the inspectors, he wondered if the ponies were triplets. He had heard of couples giving birth to foals that of different species before but never all three.
He'd been tempted to sneak some samples from them for testing, but the opportunity never presented itself.
“Greetings Inspectors. Good to see you've made it on time. We were getting worried that something had happened to you.” He saw that they had cameras with them, probably so they could record the 'birth' of the 01 series for Happy Day.
One of the inspectors stepped forward, the earth pony of the three, Mr. Spend Thrift. Despite his name, he looked modest in the same black suits that his associates also wore. Besides the fact that he had a bit of an attitude to him. He didn't know much about the inspector.
“Can the formalities Cog. We're here for an inspection, not to chat about pleasantries.” Stedson's smile faltered for a brief moment. He nodded and quietly led them out of the room where the pods were kept. Several engineers were moving about as they made the final checks for the clones' 'birth.'
The pegasus inspector, Steel Gaze, flew down to one of the pods. Ignoring the annoyed looks he was getting from the engineers, he took a closer look at the clone inside. He frowned before flying back to his fellow inspectors. “I see you've decided to keep the IF units as mares. I thought you'd have rectified the mistake that intern of yours made seven years ago.” Stedson learned from their first meeting that Steel Gaze had a bit of a complex.
In Gaze's opinion, which he always shared to those willing and unwilling to listen, all infantry in the army should exclusively be stallions, while the mares serve as medics and other support roles. The pegasus often went out of his way to deride the geneticists and the fillies under his care. Stedson just flashed him a confident smile.
“I left the 'mistake' as you put it alone. It was more efficient and cost effective to just utilize something that's already there. I doubt Day would be pleased if I had to waste more of his time and money just to make a change that he and I would both agree to be completely unnecessary. The prototype series has proven to be every bit as strong as any stallion. The 01 series will show the same results.” Steel Gaze opened his mouth to make a counter argument but was interrupted by the unicorn inspector, Peace Keeper.
Peace Keeper, was the least annoying and probably the most agreeable of the trio. Still, the way the unicorn carried himself rubbed him the wrong way. Stedson never did get along with upper class ponies. His last encounter with one actually landed him here in the first place.
“Now now Inspector Gaze, we're not here for a debate. Doctor Cog, as you were.”
“Of course Inspector Keeper-”
“Peace Keeper.” corrected the unicorn.
“Right, Inspector Peace Keeper, if you and your associates would follow me.” He led the three to a raised platform where a number of technicians were checking the array of monitors for any abnormalities. They couldn't afford to make any mistakes. After what happened to Bic, no one wanted make the inspectors, and by extension, the pony they reported to unhappy.
“Once the final checks are done, this is where we will initiate the Release Protocol for the pods.” He turned to one of the technicians, “How is everything coming along?” The technician looked over his datapad to confirm something.
“Everything is coming along smoothly Doctor Cog. We'll be ready to initiate the Release Protocol once the engineers clear out for the nannies.” The inspectors raised their collective brows.
“Nannies?” one of the inspectors inquired.
“It's what the staff decided to call the new interns who will be caring for the 01 series. They will be in charge of educating the units, so they'll be ready when they start their technical training as part of the program's expansion. I'll include the details in my next report.” Satisfied with the explanation, the inspectors followed Stedson off the platform where they saw an IF unit coming out of the medical bay.
“36? Are you alright?” the filly approached him on four legs. He saw that she was heavily bruised which was to be expected from combat training, but he noticed that her was breathing was a bit irregular. Steel Gaze noticed this and focused his camera on 36.
“I'm alright daddy, I just got careless in training. The instructor caught me off guard and got me good. I'll show him who's boss next time daddy!” He let out a chuckle at the filly's enthusiasm and ruffled her mane. 36 giggled at the sensation.
“Of course you will, but can you do daddy a big favor right now?” The filly nodded her head, eager to help her daddy in any way she could. “Alright 36, I need you to go back to the medical bay and wait for me ok?”
Confused by his request, she asked him, “Why daddy? I already got my nanite injection. Besides, won't the instructors get mad if I don't go back?”
“I'll talk to them for you. Be a good girl and wait for me in the medical bay. Daddy will be there soon.” 36 nodded before trotting off back to medical bay. Stedson turned back to the inspectors who weren't amused by his display of fatherly affection.
“You realize that they're just clones right, Cog?” Spend Thrift asked, his fellow inspectors nodded in agreement.
“Happy Day wants soldiers, not coddled fillies,” said Steel Gaze disdainfully. Calling the fillies, soldiers left a bad taste in his mouth.
“Indeed. I find your... 'coddling' of the IF units a tad unsettling,” added Peace Keeper.
“I know 'what' they are inspectors, but I found that by treating the IF Units as if they were my own daughters, they actually show a marked improvement in their performance. That's all there is to it.” Though unconvinced, the inspectors didn't call him out on his bluff and moved on with the inspection.
Stedson later brought them to the walkways above the testing chambers where they saw a squad of five IF units going up against a large number of zergling rushing at them. Armed with their small caliber rifles, the IF units fired off round after round into the small horde. With each shot fired, a zergling fell to the floor, dead. The last zerglings was soon put down as it crumpled down on the ground in a heap, blood oozing from the hole in its head.
After 522's death, Stedson had altered the training program so that none of the clones will have to do the combat exercise on their own. He reasoned that the IF units needed to learn how to work in teams since they'll be sent off into battlefields in groups. Thankfully the inspectors had bought his excuse, and apparently, so did Happy Day since he hasn't received any visits from the black stallion for a while.
Hearing the sound of hoofsteps overhead on the walkways, the IF units looked up. Their faces broke out into big happy grins at the sight of Stedson. They greeted him in a chorus of “Daddy!” He waved to them in acknowledgment. Some of them waved back at him. If it weren't for the gore splattered all over them, one would think that they were totally innocent fillies trying to get their father's attention.
One unit tried harder and actually flew up to the walkway with her small wings, a testament to their training. Day wanted the units to be capable soldiers in and out of power armor. The results so far have been very promising.
“Daddy! Did you see us take down those zergies?!” She was cut off by 101, who had flown up next to her sister.
“They're called 'zerglings' 77!” the filly's ears flattened against her head, her face pink with embarrassment.
“Oh yeah... Hehe. I knew that.”
“No you didn't!”
“Yes I did!”
“Nuh uh!”
“Ya huh!”
"Nuh uh!"
Stedson quickly stepped in before the fight got out of hoof. There were downsides to their genetically enhanced aggression. The last time the IF units argued like this, it ended up in a fight where both units were sent to medical with broken bones. Thankfully it was nothing an injection of nanites couldn't cure.
Still he needed to find a more efficient way to prevent the IF units from attacking each other. The conditioning they go through prevents them from attacking each other, but occasionally their aggression will override their conditioning. He'll need to adjust the conditioning a bit more to remedy that.
“Now now girls. You know better than to fight like this. Behave yourselves, we have 'guests'.” 77 and 101 quickly apologized to each other before flying back to the others. They knew they were to behave like good little soldiers when these 'guests' were around.
Stedson turned back to the inspectors who had been observing and recording his interaction with the IF units. They didn't like what they saw, but they remained silent on the matter. They all made a mental note to add this to their report when they got back.
The rest of the inspection was carried out with no further incidents and they were soon back at the platform. There were evidently fewer technicians now, the only ones left were there to operate the consoles for the Release Protocol. The same technician from earlier approached them.
“Ah Doctor Cog, we've been waiting for you. Everything is ready for the Release Protocol. All we need now are the authorization codes from you.” Stedson was presented with a pair of precision gloves and headset. With the gloves equipped, he smoothed back his brown mane and put on the headset. He then went to one of the larger consoles and started typing in the codes.
The pod floor suddenly went dark, the power being redirected to the pods. Thousands of pods hummed with life as the dim glow from the machinery pulsed with power. Stedson's eyes darted back and forth from monitor to monitor, making sure everything is as it should be. Once satisfied that everything was in order, he typed in the next sequence of the code.
The inspectors were unpleasantly surprised when they felt floor underneath them pull away. Stedson smiled to himself when he saw the inspectors jump away from the hole and fall flat on their collective rear ends. A terminal rose out of the hole and locked itself in place. It was a specialized terminal that had access to the more restricted functions of the facility, including the Release Protocol.
The inspectors watched on curiously as Stedson went over to the terminal and typed something in. A hidden panel on the terminal opened up, revealing a full body scanner and voice recognition device. An electronic female voice came from the terminal.
“Please remain still for scanning.” Stedson did so as a wave of light passed over his body. “Scan complete. Please input vocal password.” He cleared his throat and spoke into the device.
“Family.” With a beep, the device slid back into the terminal.
“Identity confirmed. Greetings Doctor Cog. It's been seven years, six months and-”
“I don't want a calendar count computer.” The terminal remained silent for a moment.
“My apologies Doctor Cog. How may I serve you today?”
“Initiate the Release Protocol.” A beep went off and the headset he wore beeped in response.
“Please input passphrase.” Stedson turned around and walked towards the edge of the platform. He looked down at all the pods below him. The last time he did this, he saw the clones as any scientist would. As mere test subjects. Now he saw them as his children. Children who were about to be born.
“Happy Birthday!” he shouted into the headset. A few of the technicians jumped at this,even the trio of inspectors were left dumbfounded by his outburst. They didn't expect the normally reserved geneticist to be so vocal.
“Passphrase confirmed. Initiating Release Protocol.” The pod floor suddenly came to life as the lights from the pods brightened to the point one could see the area clear as day. Pumps started draining the pods of the fluids the clones have lived in during their incubation.
Stedson's ears perked up when he heard the pods hissing open, followed by the bawling cries of thousands of foals being 'born'. It was almost deafening as the inspectors, who didn't have any ear protection, were forced to cover their ears.
“Alright nannies, you're cleared to collect the clones.” said one of the technicians over the intercom. With a few grumbles at their 'title', the interns moved in to carry out their assigned duty. Thankfully there were no complications as the nannies collected the clones onto a number of hovering vehicles fitted with dozens of cots for the foals.
Stedson watched the nannies take the foals away to another part of the facility. There they would be put through a medical exam to look for any defects or deformities in their bodies. As the geneticist who worked on their DNA, he was confident that there was nothing wrong with this batch of clones. However as their father, he couldn't help but feel worried for his daughters.
“Excellent work Doctor Cog.” Peace Keeper spoke up when he recovered from the ringing in his ears.
“Yeah, you delivered the goods Cog. Just make sure you work out the kinks with this batch.” Spend Thrift added.
“Indeed. Remember doctor, we want soldiers, not coddled fillies. So no more of this 'daddy' business. Is that understood?”
Stedson slowly nodded.
“Very good doctor. This concludes our inspection so we'll be on our way.” With that said, the trio of ponies left the platform and were led by a guard to the docking bay. The technicians also left to return to their duties elsewhere, leaving Stedson alone on the platform.
He tossed aside the headset and carefully took 522's feather from his lab coat. He twirled the feather wistfully between the fingers of his mechanical hand. He let out a soft sigh and gazed sadly at the crying foals below. “Happy birthday... my little angels.”
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You call this 'mature'?
Mature is being skinned alive, sliced open, and being forced to watch your own heart stop beating as life slowly drains from you in the form of blood. With more detail than I just used. Change it to 'teen', this is more heartbreaking then gory.
And by heartbreaking, I bucking mean heartbreaking.
3124497 I see,thank you for your comment. Now that I have a slightly better understanding. I'll make the changes.
I love how you're doing stuff. Just a friendly tip. The main chars are ponies, so try to change the curses a bit. Try turning hell to hay, and some others are optional, but don't use fuck, change that to buck.
3127557 Actually,according to Unholyheaven,the Dominion ponies more or less adopted terran culture so the use of human/terran expressions will be prevalent since the characters here are imperials. But the usage of buck will be considered if future readers dislike the 'f' word. Thanks for the tip.
3127624 No prob bro.
KRISSCHU OUT!
img.gawkerassets.com/img/18j2buroyrzljgif/ku-medium.gif
(once behind the bush)
27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lomqexOBG21qch4byo1_250.gif
Meh, didn't really resonate with me.
But a lot of tiny mistakes.
3127747 I appreciate your honesty. Mind pointing out some of my mistakes ?
3127778 Oh, it's just you forgot to put commas in front of many of the names. And something else I don't remember.
Hope you don't take offence, it's not bad, just I'm not one to fall for this kind of stuff.
3127624
I avoid the use of the f word like the plague. I've only said "shit" once because it was a reference to a scene from a show that I later linked in the comments.
But other than that, you are right. Imperials would use more human expressions. I just don't like relying heavily on deeper profanity.
3129056 Duly noted. At least you were honest and I did ask for readers to point out mistakes I made so thanks.
3130084 All right, good work, and best of luck!
Ah so sweet he's a great father giving the conditions he's forced with .
3143511 Thank you very much for the comment.
I'm working on the next chapter right now... well not really now since I'm replying to your comment and...
Oops,almost went off on topic didn't I ? Hehehe...back to writing!
It suddenly ocured to me that I'd never read your stories. Making course corrections now. You should do a Silververse story. I'm going to poke you with a stick now until you do. Ask anyone, that is a thing that I do.