Derring-Do and the Lost Kingdom

by Eh

Chapter Seven

"Ship's sunk. Captain's dead. What do we do?"
- Griffin distress letter, intercepted by Equestrian Navy

---

Location: Somewhere underneath the Gallian Trench
Time: 7:30 AM March 8th

The air-pocket that the crew had been forced into was immense. The greatest feature of it being an immense entrance of sorts in the shape of a strange animal that no one has ever seen before, which led into a tunnel of darkness. A large stairway led up to it, worn down by the passage of time, every other stair being nothing more than gravel or rocks. Two huge columns were posted on either side, with carvings of fire and ice on either one. At the bottom of the stairway and at the foot of a lake of water however, was a Shuttle, its cargo unloaded and beached on the shore and the damaged Sub-Pod. The cargo included a massive Siege Tank with its drill forming over half its length and its size being twice that of any truck the crew brought along with them. The rest were simple trucks of many variants, including one with a massive barrel on it, which Derring presumed carried the Balloon. Topping the cargo off was the crew of the Submarine, the Pytheas.

Or rather, what remained of the crew. They were assembled in a small mob just on the shore of the lake, all with mourning, grim, sad looks on their faces. Colgate broke from the group, in her telekinetic grasp a helmet with a single lit candle in it. She gently placed the helmet on the water and nudged it, letting it float away.

"Twenty-four hours ago," Lysander started, his mourning tone evident, "We started this expedition with two-hundred of the finest griffins, ponies and minotaurs I could ever hope to know."

"We're all that's left." He turned to address the thirty five people with him, "Now I won't beat around the bush, we're in deep. But we've crossed the Rubicon before, die or no die. If we pull together, as we've always had, then we'll make it through this."

"From now on," Lysander said, his mourning disappearing and replaced with an air of steely determination, "Everyone pulls double duty. Everyone drives, works, digs, and fight if necessary."

The crew felt their morale pumping up slightly, all quietly muttering agreements for Lysander. Lysander stopped at the head of the crowd and turned to address Derring.

"Derring, looks like all our hopes for survival rest on you." He pointed towards Derring, the crew turned to look at her with expressions of concern, "You and that little book."

Derring wore a look of concern. Theoretically, anyone could read this book, but it took an actual navigator to make sure they didn't accidentally drive off a cliff or into a pool of lava. She sighed, nodding at Lysander reluctantly, the potential fate of the entire crew was now on her hooves. She was determined not to let anyone else die.

"We're so dead." Archimedes deadpanned. A few crewmen shrugged and muttered in agreement, much to Derring's dismay.

"We'll take a breather, then get moving." Lysander said, flying out to a truck, "Sidonus, I want to know what we have left."

"Yes sir." Sidonus flew up alongside, "I've checked the trucks, so far we have seven trucks, the Siege Tank and the balloon."

"Good, we'll need a balloon in a cave." Lysander said. He climbed into the truck, "What else we got?"

"Enough food to last about two or three months if we ration. Weapons, one of the heavy guns survived including some of the flight harnesses and Mu still has his sizable stockpile of explosives." Sidonus explained, pecking at the crack in his beak.

"Good, if we come across any savages or monsters we'll at least have superior firepower." Lysander sighed, "That's all for now Sidonus, dismissed."

Sidonus flew off away from Lysander and over the motley survivors of the crew, who had separated into their little groups. The soldiers were hanging around the trucks, shooting the breeze. Archimedes and his Engineers were checking over Digger's Siege Tank, making sure nothing was out of place. Digger and Mu were loitering around the Sub-Pod, admiring the crack in its viewport (apparently oblivious to the fact that such a crack could've killed them). Braeburn, Trixie, and Vinyl were simply talking around the truck designated the food carrier. Derring and Penworthy were simply sitting by the lake. Much to his disappointment, Horner wasn't anywhere to be seen. Shame really, they could've used a minotaur, Sidonus thought. Sidonus flew down next to Derring and Penworthy and landed.

"You two alright?" Sidonus asked. They both looked up at him with expressions of concern, fear, and sadness.

"Not really." Derring said.

"People are dead now!" Penworthy added. Sidonus would've rolled his eyes but that would've seemed insensitive, the two ponies have probably never encountered people dying from something other than old age. The last thing they needed was someone telling them to just suck it up. Unfortunately, that was probably the only thing he could say at the moment. He was a soldier, not a psychiatrist.

"I don't like it as much as you do, just try and get past it." Sidonus said. Derring nodded, Penworthy sighed, "We'll make it through this as long as you all stay calm."

"Right, you can count on us Sidonus." Derring said. Sidonus nodded, satisfied with Derring's answer, then looked over to Penworthy, "You can count on Penworthy, she'll be fine."

"If you say so." Sidonus nodded then walked out elsewhere. Derring and Penworthy seemed dedicated. Derring especially now considering her role as the expedition's chief navigator. Penworthy, not sure what to make of her. He walked up to the Siege Tank and called out for Archimedes.

"What do you want Sidonus? I'm busy." Archimedes responded. Sidonus rolled his eyes and flew up to Archimedes, who was busy checking the drill.

"Just checking in."

"Well I'm fine if that's what you're asking." Archimedes said, "Now if you'll excuse me, this drill doesn't calibrate itself and it isn't going to last long with that dirty mutt behind the wheel."

"Alright then." Sidonus took his leave, he knew better than to initiate conversation with Archimedes while he was working. One of the scars on his face was a definite reminder of his mistake. His engineers had the same disposition as Archimedes. Much to Sidonus' frustration, those engineers were just as picky with other people as Archimedes was, combine that with a little hero worship and some fantastic racism and Sidonus is going to have a bad time with management. Sidonus noted that keeping the crew working as a whole without killing each was a lot easier when there was 200 of them where divisions were generally small and stamped out quickly. Now however, any kind of division could probably spell death for the entire expedition. He really didn't want to deal with it now however. He walked over to Mu and Digger, "How are you two holding up?"

"We are fine for the moment." Mu said, adjusting his glasses slightly, "Digger is shaken however."

"Clearly." Sidonus added. Digger was standing there, tapping the crack in the glass, testing it as it were. Sidonus could tell that behind those goggles was probably a stare reaching beyond the horizon, he's seen this kind of behavior before during the war after all, "You okay Digger?"

"Digger is fine." Digger said, "We could've been killed definitely but for now, Digger is fine."

"Alright. If you two need anything just call." Mu and Digger nodded, "Digger, you're gonna be up on the Siege Tank."

"Of course!" Digger suddenly perked up, "Digger would not have it any other way."

Sidonus nodded then walked away. Mu and Digger were relatively easy to work with, they kept to themselves most times. He just wished they weren't so eccentric, Digger especially. He briefly wondered why he was bothering checking in on everyone but pushed out of his thoughts. He figured everyone needed to be in tip-top shape if they were going to continue on. He walked over to the three ponies, Vinyl, Trixie, and Braeburn.

"Hey there Sid." Braeburn greeted. Vinyl and Trixie simply nodded, "Come ta check in?"

"Yeah, everything okay?" Sidonus asked.

"Eeyup, we're just about fixin' to get on the road. Ain't we girls?"

"Yeah." Vinyl added, "I mean, I know like nearly everyone's dead now, we've got no contact with the surface, and we're in a foreign environment that's going to try and kill us, but what the hay?"

"Indeed." Trixie said, "The Great and Powerful Trixie will continue on as long as everyone else does."

"Good. And Vinyl," Sidonus said. Vinyl looked up at Sidonus, confused, "Next time, don't bring that music."

Vinyl scoffed at the request. Sidonus walked away again, there wasn't much to check in with the cooks besides "do we have food." Vinyl was a different case altogether along with Trixie. Vinyl as the communications specialist was simply a nightmare because she doesn't work as well as she could (Her tracking the Sentinel was a rare moment in which she actually did something worthwhile.), the same problem with Trixie. Unlike Vinyl however, who could do things when spurred, Trixie was simply lazy and cowardly. G.A.R.D. however needed all the unicorns it could get since recruiting from the military was impossible, and Trixie just happened to be floating around Gryphonia at the time. Sidonus however could barely put up with it, just as long as Trixie didn't do anything stupid and Vinyl actually got around to transmitting orders, they were fine. Sidonus sighed, pecking at the crack in his beak again instinctively. He suddenly realized he had forgotten something, but what was it.

"Colgate." He muttered. He didn't see her after everyone dispersed from the group. Sidonus took a quick look around, not at the lake shore, not by any of the trucks, not by the Siege Tank. Maybe she was inside the Shuttle Sidonus thought. He made his way to the Shuttle quickly and entered. The Shuttle was a lot emptier now that the trucks and the Siege Tank were deposited. The Shuttle's electric generator had also been salvaged, so there little light inside. Sidonus started hearing a faint murmur in the Shuttle, and called out, "Colgate? You in here?"

"Yep! Definitely in here! Just looking for something as all! What are you doing here?" Colgate called back. Colgate wasn't that annoying as Trixie or Vinyl to Sidonus' relief, but the whole dentist thing lost its novelty to him ages ago.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Just trying to find my toothbrush! My special toothbrush! The one I always use because it's special!" Colgate responded. Sidonus rolled his eyes, "Have you seen it anywhere?"

"Nope." Sidonus responded. Colgate immediately appeared right next to him, surprising him. What really surprised him was that Colgate looked disheveled and dirty, as if she just got out of a battle, "What in Tartarus happened to you?"

"Just looking for my toothbrush you know..." Colgate looked down on the floor, kicking her hoof, "I mean, it's my real special toothbrush, I don't think I'd survive without it!"

"It's just a toothbrush." Sidonus said.

"Not just any toothbrush! It's a special toothbrush! It's brushes are specially tailored to be strong and flexible to allow it to reach around the gums, it uses little magical enchantments to break down plaque faster than your normal toothbrush and it can whiten teeth in under a minute with the right toothpaste!" Colgate creeped closer to whisper in Sidonus' ear, apparently with sensitive information, "It cost 6,000 bits."

"I see..." Sidonus shifted his eyes, the last thing he needed was an insane dentist, "Well we're moving out soon, so try and find it quickly."

"Got it sir! I'll have that elusive thing found in a jiffy!" Colgate quickly returned to searching inside the dark recesses of the Shuttle. Sidonus sighed and exited. As nice as Colgate was, she was simply obsessed with dentistry. Sidonus noted that besides the soldiers, that was pretty much all whom he needed to check on. He'd check on the soldiers, but Navy and Army never really meshed well, and he imagined that now wasn't the time to start anyway.

He flew over to one of the trucks and decided to take a quick nap while he still could. He sat inside the truck's cab and got himself comfortable. He was exhausted considering the recent debacle with the Sentinel, and since he knew he was going to have to drive he might as well get some sleep. Driving and piloting was in Sidonus' nature anyway, he never piloted something that big that fast since Crystal Cove during the war. He closed his eyes and let himself simply drift off to sleep.

*T*

"Well that was a short nap." Sidonus deadpanned. Anybody would be cranky after getting only about five minutes of sleep.

"Heh heh... well, sorry Sidonus." Penworthy said. She was sitting next to him in the truck. Sidonus sighed, sucking it up. He pressed a button underneath the steering, causing the engine to roar to life. Penworthy yelped in surpise, "What was that!?"

"That was the engine." Sidonus said. He really didn't want to have to explain how an engine works right now.

"Engine? What?" Penworthy scratched her head. There was good reason for her reaction to something simple to Sidonus. Internal combustion engines haven't seen widespread use in Equestria due to their sheer magical potential, compared to places like Gryphonia where magic was less common.

"It's what makes the truck go." Sidonus added, Penworthy nodded nervously. Sidonus pressed a foot on the pedal, causing the truck to lurch forward, startling Penworthy even further. Sidonus took a glance at her, she chuckled nervously and sat down, "At least put on your seat-belt."

Penworthy quickly put on her seat-belt. Sidonus drove the truck into the column of other trucks headed by the Siege Tank. Over the truck's radio, there came the static messages of check-ins from the other trucks.

"Digger." Lysander's voice rang out over the radio, "Take point."

"Acknowledged Boss!" The Siege Tank surged forward at over 15 Miles Per Hour. Not exactly fast, but at least the convoy could stick together at reasonable speed. Sidonus yawned, it was unlikely that he'd get any sleep anytime soon. Penworthy sat in her seat, looking around curiously. Riding in a truck was simply a foreign idea to her, one that Sidonus found understandable but still slightly funny, she looked like a scared filly. Regardless, Sidonus predicted that the pony's relatively naivety towards all this new technology was probably going to drive him up the wall.

The Convoy drove into the dark tunnel, the way opening up to its powerful and bright fog lights. Flanking the tunnel were groups of large columns as wide as the Siege Tank. The darkness around the convoy showed that the tunnel was far larger than any grand hall in Canterlot or a simple mineshaft. A battleship could fit into it and there still would be room to spare. Nonetheless, the Convoy continued, into the darkness, and on the road to Thule.

Comments

[Thespurgin]

And thus the real adventure began.