Timelapse

by Stik

Chapter 16

“Technically, that could have gone worse,” Riley said, helping Twilight Sparkle to her hooves again. “But not much worse.”

“What happened?” she asked groggily, rubbing her head and wincing. She had a nasty cut where she had hit the edge of a console. He pulled her hoof away and inspected it closely. It was already starting to clot, so there was no danger there. He held her head between his hands and peered into her eyes, trying to ascertain if she was concussed or not. He immediately gave up, their eyes were so big anyhow, he had no idea how to tell.

“The power unit we salvaged finally gave up. It was never designed to run propulsion like that. We came in far too hot. On the up side, we’re inside the Thala ship, which means we should have an atmosphere. They’ve got some sort of containment field that prevents their air getting out, even with holes in the hull.”

He looked around, checking the interior again. “The downside is that you’re trapped here, with me. I don’t suppose you have any sort of long-range version of that teleport spell, do you?”

She shook her head, he didn’t look particularly hopeful anyhow. “No, I have no idea how it would work from so far. Also, our momentum would be preserved.”

“Ah,” he said. “That would be messy.”

Twilight fidgeted on the spot, trying to find a place to stand amidst the consoles and machinery. Gravity was back, although it appeared to be at the wrong angle, or their ship was on its side. It was hard to tell, the heavy blast shields had automatically closed over the window, preventing any view to the outside. Limp airbags and rolls of netting hung from where they had deployed in the impact.

“Do you feel okay?”

She pulled a face. “As well as you could expect, considering the situation. Every time I go anywhere with you I start to wonder what I was thinking at the time.”

He chuckled and patted her shoulder before unbuckling her. “If it’s any consolation, I’m glad not to be alone.”

“How are we going to get back?” she asked, glancing over the darkened screens and control panels all around. There were flashing red warning symbols on some of the monitors, the ones that were still working. It was clear the command vehicle was wrecked.

“We’ll figure something out. The other fleet ship will have escape pods, we’ll have to hope they’ve left some for us.”

A frightful banging came from the hull of the ship, and they both jumped. “What’s that?”

“Nothing good, I’m sure,” he said in a hushed voice. “I’m not sure how susceptible the Thala tech will be to your magic, but don’t hold back with your horn this time. We’ve got nothing left to damage, and everything to gain.”

He grabbed his pack and rifle from where they’d been flung. Twilight stuffed the bag with the crystals deep inside and gave him a look which suggested he would severely regret losing them. The banging continued.

There was no power to cycle the door at the back, and the spaceframe had been warped badly enough that they were unable to wind the controls manually. There was nothing to do but sit back and wait for who – or what – ever was outside to break them out. Until that happened they were firmly trapped.

The banging eventually stopped and was replaced by the sound of a cutting torch and grinders. When the door finally gave way it was with a cloud of acrid smoke, and bright torches cut through like searchlights, catching them in the beams. Twilight was trembling with barely contained energy, and Riley’s finger very nearly pulled the trigger without his head being involved.

“Anyone alive in here?” came a human voice, and three men stepped forward through the smoke and dust. Riley nearly laughed in relief, and Twilight sagged visibly.

“Yes, thank god, yes,” he said, standing up and letting his rifle drop to his side. “Are we glad to see you.”

They followed the three men outside, emerging into a scene of impressive destruction. They had entered through a large gap between the Thala ship’s hull and the wreck of Alpha Ten and had continued to crash through several more bulkheads and interior structures before they came to rest. The front of their command pod was in tatters, the shields and spaceframe crushed inwards and utterly destroyed. Long scratches ran the full length and many internal parts were exposed. A few small fires still smouldered. The Thala atmosphere tended to have a lower ratio of oxygen than humans were used to, so fires were less of a problem, however it left everyone short of breath.

Riley indicated for Twilight to keep close, and she trotted next to him, practically touching. The group picked their way back through the wreckage, coming to meet the rest of the human survivors. An older man stood and met them, extending his hand with thick, calloused fingers. Riley shook it, and the grip was firm, but not through any intention to show off or show dominance, he was just a very large man.

“I’m Captain Falkirk. It’s good to see you alive, Collins. A lot of men were pissed when they left you behind.”

“Not the only ones who were upset,” he grumbled in return, then remembered his manners and saluted.

The older captain waved him away. “At ease. Understand you’re civilian now, no need to salute this old dog anymore.”

Riley snorted disdainfully through his nose. “I’m barely human if you believe the admiral.”

Falkirk laughed bitterly. “He sees the natives as an inconvenience, I believe. Orders is orders, anything that stands in the way is just a distraction. He’s a good man at heart, and you can’t argue his methods get shit done, but I reckon he’s made a mistake, allowing this beacon to remain under bug control. Should’ve made more effort to capture it. Valuable prize.”

“Or destroy it. Its presence here threatens the planet.”

“Maybe. It’s looking like that’s our only course of action now. We can’t hold this position much longer. We cleared this section of the ship and sealed ourselves in real tight, and now there’s nowt to do but wait. Lost comms with the fleet, counting on that they’d send rescue, but time is running out.”

“They’re not,” he said bluntly. “They’re prepping for the jump.”

Falkirk took it well, a bare flicker of anger across his face. He was an old soldier, he had been at the job for most of his life, he was no stranger to the sacrifices commanders had to make sometimes.

“Then it looks like we’re on our own,” he said, his voice low and measured.

Riley nodded. “Are your escape pods functional?”

“Barely,” he replied with a shake of his head. “We haven’t had the time to strip ‘em down, but things don’t look good. We came in pretty damn hard, most systems are out. This old tub sure ain’t moving from here again. She’s found her grave, at last, may she rest in peace. ”

Riley swore to himself, it was looking as though they were going to be trapped here. Twilight didn’t need to know for the meantime, though. “What’s the situation?”

“Grim. Seventeen of us left able. Plenty of weapons, but got no men to hold ‘em. We’ve set up defence turrets at choke points, so far they’re holding the beetles off. Theory is we took out the command cells when we crashed. Figure they’re largely running on instinct now.”

“That’s a good place to be,” he said, nodding and licking his lips. “We can work with that. Can you spare some men to attempt a run on the inner cells? This is an older design of ship, there’s a weakness in their central reactor that’ll let us blow their warp core, disable their beacon and prevent them from leaving. We can neutralise this threat.”

“You can do it?”

“Absolutely, but we have to get there first.”

Falkirk looked around uncertainly, his men were scattered around, alert but tired. Riley could see a few injured soldiers nearby, lying on bedrolls with a couple being tended by their remaining medics. Off in the gloomy distance of the organic innards of the ship he could see several body bags, gleaming white.

“Honestly, I don’t think you’d make it,” he said. “Way too far, way too many squibs.”

“I know these ships, captain, it’s a ten minute run from here to the core. Treble that for the skirmishes we’re bound to have and it’s not unfeasible. It’s the only chance we have.”

“Or we could see how far we get in the escape pods. Strip ‘em down, get them functional. We were waiting here for rescue, but sounds like that’s not coming after all.” He pointed a thick finger at Twilight who narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. Riley put a calming hand on her neck, scratching her gently with his fingertips. She relaxed a little under his touch and Falkirk continued, “now we know we’re on our own it looks a lot better to be marooned on their planet than up here.”

“We leave this beacon here and in a year the place will be swarming with Thala. There’s nowhere to hide. We have to do this first.”

Falkirk looked defeated, Riley knew he didn’t need that explaining to him. The man had seen a lot of battle, he knew what was coming if they just left.

Riley continued, trying to sound as convincing as possible. He was never comfortable with trying to persuade his superiors. “With respect, sir, the only way is to shut this place down before they can get the warp beacon online. Take out their drive and warp core, and they’re rendered harmless. They can’t fix that. They’ll just starve up here, eventually.

“Once this place is safe, then we can worry about the escape pods, we’ll fix as many of them as possible and get down to the surface. Take the engineers first, there’s the remains of the downed frigates on the surface, we can try and get one of them working again for shuttle duty to collect any stragglers. We can work something out.”

Falkirk mulled it over. Riley was aware how flaky the plan sounded. There were a lot of things that could, and undoubtedly would, go wrong, but it was the best he could come up with. The only really crucial goal was to disable the beacon, anything after that was a benefit. Discord or not, at least life would continue in Equestria.

“Alright. I don’t like it,” he said at last. “Not one bit. But I see your thinking. We can’t condemn their entire race to the Thala, not when we got the power to stop it, and not if any of us ever want to face judgement with a clean conscience.”

Riley saluted him again and the captain gave him a firm nod before turning to shout orders.

“What’s happening?” Twilight asked him, not understanding any of the conversation. He knelt down, keeping close to her, and took the elements out of his pack, entrusting them back to her care again.

“We’re going to shut this place down. The Thala are weak and disorientated, so we might have a chance. There’s some escape pods we can take back to the surface, afterwards.”

“I wish we were home,” she said quietly, leaning against him. “I don’t feel well.”

He put his arms around her and squeezed her gently. She leaned her head against the side of his, eyes closed and pressing herself back into his embrace.

He tried his hardest to sound reassuring. “It’s going to be okay, you know.”

She opened her large eyes on him. Inches away from his face they seemed to fill his entire vision, and her gentle breath was warm on his face. “I’m very afraid, Riley, so far from home. Is this what you feel like all the time? So far away from your friends?”

“I’ve been close to a friend this whole time,” he said with a silly smile, and she returned it, despite the sadness in her eyes. “We’ll get you back home, Twilight, I promise you. They’ll be leaving a team here to defend this area. You stay here with them, they’ll keep you safe.”

“Promise you’ll come back?”

“I swear it.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

“Uh,” he said intelligently.

She laughed and nudged his head with hers. “An ordinary promise will do. Go on, and good luck.”

He stood, a little reluctantly, then made his way over to where the captain was gathering his men around him. He introduced him to the ten, and Riley committed their names to memory. The computer in his head certainly had its uses, as he had discovered at parties shortly after settling in with it, winning any card game he chose to. Moments like that had almost made the constant headaches bearable at the time.

“Commander Warshofsky will be leading the mission,” Falkirk announced, handing him a biscuit bar. He tore into it hungrily, it had been a while since he’d eaten anything. “Got two decades’ experience fighting the bugs at close quarters, if any man can get you in there, it’s this one. Godspeed, to you all.”

“Can you maintain your defence with only seven men, captain?”

“Aye, there’s some more turrets to set up yet. Keep in contact, we’ll disable them when you’re on your way back.”

Riley took him aside by the arm. “Can I ask a favour? If things turn bad, get her in one of the escape pods. She stands a better chance that way. She shouldn’t be here at all, I was a fool to let her come. Don’t let her come after me, no matter what. If they take her… well, you know as well as I do what happens next.”

Falkirk glanced over at Twilight, who was watching them forlornly from where she lay on the floor in a dark corner, clutching the small bag to her chest. He nodded once, solemn and slow. “Will do.”

With a last wave to the unicorn Riley followed the other men out down one of the twisting corridors that served as the interconnects between cells in the ship. The Thala built their craft in a very different way to the humans, in fact ‘built’ was entirely the wrong word for it. ‘Grow’ would be a more accurate description, everything was extruded from a strange metallic alloy that had resisted most human efforts to replicate.

The layout was unconventional, rooms were rarely square, tending towards the spherical or hexagonal. The connections between them were like the branches of a tree, small tunnels joining together into larger and larger channels that would delve deep into the centre of the craft. At the very centre of it was the core, where the power source and complex machinery of the ship resided. It was also where the gravity generator sat, and that meant they simply had to keep working ‘down’ until they got to their goal.

The material of the wall and floors usually emitted a bright cyan light, but in this section of the ship the humans had managed to disable most of the conduits that powered it, usually by cutting into the walls in strategic locations to break the vein-like tubes that criss-crossed everything, ugly stains running down the walls and pooling in the depressions on the uneven floor. Without power the tunnels were dark and inhospitable to the light-loving Thala, and many of their bodies lay about, bullet-ridden corpses testament to the firepower the humans brought with them. Their own projectile weapons were generally quite ineffective, they tended to rely on sheer numbers and physical prowess to win their battles.

Riley catalogued the corpses as best he could, the Thala beacon-ships were staffed by a carefully regulated selection of castes that was tailored to the design of the ship, and so far the proportion of drones, warriors and other breeds seemed consistent, leading him to believe that the ship was indeed as old as it looked, and therefore vulnerable to the attack he had in mind.

“Fuckin’ bugs,” one of the soldiers was muttering, kicking at a corpse with his booted foot. “Don’t look so tough from up here.”

“Can it, Lear,” the commander snapped. Up ahead the bright blue light was intensifying. “We’re close. Keep your wits about you.”

Up ahead they came to a barricade where the tunnel had been purposefully collapsed with shaped charges. Two gun turrets were bolted to the metallic floor nearby, scanning back and forth with a rhythmic whirring sound. An uncountable number of Thala corpses were sprawled over the barricade, dripping their sickly brown fluids over one another. Evidently they had abandoned trying to attack. Riley began to give some credence to the captain’s theory that their hive intelligence had been damaged, ordinarily they would have stopped throwing themselves on the guns after only half that number. The Thala were blessedly predictable.

They clambered over the barricade, and Riley grimaced at the slime they had to crawl across. The going was slippery, and the bright azure light beyond hurt his eyes after so long in the dark. It didn’t last long, however, one of the troopers was busy destroying a junction with the butt of his rifle, and the glow was already fading along the corridor.

The sound and commotion inevitably attracted attention, however, and the howl of several drones came echoing up the corridor. Leading them was a warrior, far bigger, and far meaner. The marines were calm and organised and the ones in front immediately dropped to their knees and began firing, allowing those behind to clear shots over their head. Riley and another turned their backs, keeping a watch on their rear. A couple of drones came their way, but they were easy to take out. The main tunnel led the other way.

They moved efficiently as a group, four moving ahead at a time while the others covered them, then leapfrogging their team-mates until the cycle repeated. There were always more men ready with weapons than those moving. Riley directed the commander with hand signals, relying on his photographic memory of the layout. He had spent so many miserable months as a student studying the ships that he would never forget them as long as still breathed.

As they approached the core more and more enemies appeared, fighting more desperately. There was still some leadership caste around, he knew, somewhere something was making decisions still, although it was a far cry from their usual organised nature.

Their only incident came when a group of warrior caste broke through a wall from an adjacent corridor while they were engaged in a close battle with a large horde of mindless drones. There were seven of the formidable beasts, and they had killed one man before the squad even had time to react. They were too close for effective rifle fire but with the onslaught from the vicious drones they had been unable to mount a proper melee defence and another two men had fallen. They were dragged screaming down the corridor. Warshofsky had managed to shoot one between the eyes, but the other’s distraught wailing had been heard distantly for a long time after.

Riley limped along, one of them had taken a gouge out of his leg and it was starting to hurt, despite the hasty bandage their remaining medic had been able to apply.

“We’re close,” he hissed, taking them down another wide tunnel. The way was steep now, and they had to slither and climb more than run. Fortunately the walls of the corridor were rough and ridged like the inside of some monstrous ribcage, forming steps with ample holds. They were designed for the Thala’s clawed feet, but the human boots provided plenty of purchase as well. Fighting on them was another matter entirely, though, and they lost another soldier before they got to the relatively open space at the centre of the craft.

Thick supports wound their way from one side of the roughly spherical space to the other, organic looking nodules providing places for machinery to attach and for workers to sit. There were few fighter castes left here, fortunately, and they had a relatively easy time of working their way to one of the platforms in the centre. Riley worked while two of the soldiers kept the worker drones off his back, kicking and batting the smaller insects away.

Riley’s fingers prised parts of the machinery apart. It was tougher than it looked, he had only ever laid his hands on one before, and that was in the comfort of an Earth-side laboratory where he had a collection of the correct tools and many assistants. At the time there hadn’t been the ever-present fear of impending death, either. With the sound of battle filling the air around him he beat at the panels with the butt of his rifle, desperately delving deeper.

He pulled out a delicate, crystalline structure and smashed it repeatedly against a support beam, shattering it into small pieces that rattled on the chitinous floor underneath. “There,” he announced, standing up and further crushing it under his heel. They ground down with a satisfying crunch. “They won’t be able to replace that, and it’s rendered their beacon useless.”

He let out a deep breath, it was a relief, whatever happened next Equestria was safe from the Thala. Unless they had snuck a second beacon ship in somewhere else then there was no chance of them ever returning.

“Incoming,” said Warshofsky urgently, beckoning them to return back up to the top. The worker drones were buzzing around in a frenzy, alarmed. Riley began the climb back up, the other two behind him. “Hurry.”

There was a groan from the far side of the cell and the support he was on shuddered and shook. He risked a glance back, wishing he hadn’t. An enormous creature was reaching up, a taloned claw the size of his body swiping towards them. The other two marines didn’t stand a chance, but at least got off a few shots before they were torn away with strangled cries. Riley leapt at the last moment, and the tip of a finger caught his foot, pulling him sharply to one side.

He barely managed to hold on, swinging by one arm. One of the soldiers above was reaching for him, offering a hand. He grabbed it gratefully and was pulled up and out of the way of another swipe. The huge monster was large and the winding support structures got in its way, hindering its advancement. It was smashing through them regardless, sending fragments of the strange metal flying through the fetid air like darts.

“Retreat,” Warshofsky was bellowing above the noise. Drones were flooding in from one of the side tunnels, heading straight for them. Their leader, the fearsome bug that was scrabbling toward them, seemed to care little for them and batted a few out of its way in its effort to catch them.

Riley reached the main tunnel and scrambled frantically up the inclined surface, following the boots of the man in front. With a scream the boots were suddenly gone as their owner was swept off his feet by a Thala warrior. Riley raised his weapon and fired into the creature’s midsection, breaking its spine in a spray of brown. It dropped the marine as it fell and both went slithering back down into the hole below, into the waiting jaws of the leader.

“RPG,” yelled another marine, hefting a cylindrical device over his shoulder. Riley ducked, hands over his head as the projectile whistled past with a deafening hiss. Almost immediately there came an explosion that knocked the wind out of him and left his ears ringing. The hot shockwave spread up the tunnel, knocking detritus loose.

“It’s still coming,” someone yelled, and Riley forced his trembling arms and legs back into motion, dragging himself up the incline faster than he thought was possible. As it levelled out he ducked into a side tunnel, pulling the nearest marine with him, albeit with some difficulty as the guy was built like a wrestling champion. The tunnel was too small for the giant creature to follow, and he watched anxiously as it lumbered past, injured yet still doggedly following the others. He hoped they had the sense to do the same and find smaller spaces.

The huge man’s name was Andrews, he recalled, a solidly built young marine, his fresh face and lack of scars marking him as a relative newcomer to the game. He wondered if this was the man’s first real battle. If so then it was quite an introduction to the service, a new alien race and a battle against immense odds to destroy a major node in the enemy’s network.

“Follow me,” he told the marine breathlessly, and led them back out into the main corridor, darting to the other side. A warrior lunged at them but the marine’s quick reflexes saved their skin. It fell, cut cleanly in two around its spindly midsection, a testament to Andrews’ brutish strength. Its bladed limbs thrashed for a few seconds before lying still.

“Up here.” He scrambled up into another tunnel, halfway up the wall. If he had kept his bearings correctly then it should lead them the correct way, just by a more circuitous route that would avoid the larger tunnels. He leant down to help his companion up with a strained grunt, just in time as a swarm of the smaller drones rushed by underneath, apparently uninterested in pursuit and trying only to keep up with their leader.

The tunnel twisted and turned, but kept making its way upwards, so he was sure he was on the right path. The bright light all around faded suddenly and they were in near darkness, only the numerous small spots on the conduits and cabling just beneath the surface visible, twinkling like a colourful starry sky. A low, shuddering groan could be felt through the floor beneath them.

“The hell was that?” Andrews hissed, flicking his torch on and shining it in Riley’s eyes. He looked away in annoyance and the man dropped it apologetically, swinging it around. They were in a small bulge in the tunnel, a slightly wider area that looked as though it was being used for storage. Many pods were glued to the walls, some with alien symbols etched into the surface, some empty and some radiating a soft inner light. Slowly the walls resumed glowing again, although it was dimmer than before.

“Power surge,” he said, swallowing nervously. “The rocket must have damaged their power reactor, or that great lumbering beast knocked something loose.”

Andrews swore, spinning around wildly suddenly at the sound of skittering feet. A worker drone popped out of a tunnel and screeched at them before scuttling off. “How long’ve we got?”

“No idea,” he admitted, running his hand through his hair again in frustration. “Seconds, minutes, hours, we’ll know more when the next surge comes, they’re not too frequent yet, which is a good sign.”

As soon as the words left his lips there came another shuddering groan and the darkness returned. He swore again. “Less than thirty minutes. Run!”

He slung the rifle over his shoulder and began scrambling on all fours, moving as fast as he could. At one point they could see a drone in front, but the creature ignored them, running fast through the tunnels ahead. The ship was aware, he knew, it shared a distributed intelligence of sorts, and it would be panicking now that its own power supply was failing. The drones would likely ignore them for now.

Riley led them out into one of the larger corridors, eschewing safety for speed. If they had to get the escape pods working then it was crucial he had as much time to work as possible.

The gamble paid off and they made excellent time, their journey almost entirely unhindered. When they got back to the barricade he was horrified to find it smashed, and the turrets beyond were silent and inactive, bent and smashed.

“Twilight,” he breathed, starting to panic, if anything had happened to her he would never forgive himself. He yelled back at the marine to hurry and leapt over the barricade with a newfound burst of energy.

They careened around a corner to a scene of devastation, the remaining seven men had been slaughtered, there was blood everywhere, and it was difficult to know just how many corpses there were from the remaining pieces. He shone his torch around wildly, eyes wide and heart pounding like a jackhammer. He had told her they couldn’t see well in the dark, so she would have hidden there, but all the gloomy recesses he could find were empty. He screamed her name, but there was no answer.

Comments

[ancientdragonduelist]

WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED?! KEEP GOING!!

[Stik]

4102931 Site was down last night ;) Will try and pick it up again this evening

[ancientdragonduelist]

I think the human bureaucracy did fairly well in the beginning. It was showing the two SPECCIES running into each other, not just a few lone heroes. It also gave Riley his own backstory and made him feel much more natural. After a while, it did start to get too much, but you then moved on. Good move.

I'm actually surprised you've managed to keep the story focused. So often writers get bogged down trying to write too many characters or stay in one place too long. You've effectively dodged this by keeping to a set few ponies and Riley keeping the story fast-paced but also not feeling forced. Good call killing Riley's party. Kinda sad, but they weren't really contributing anymore, and were distracting from the budding Riley/Twilight relationship.

I loved Derpy's part. :) So many stories play her as a cameo, or dead serious. You've managed to keep every ponies' favorite mare her happy bubbly self without losing the serious core within. Poor Spike... 300 years alone...

Discord was written to near perfection. He's still arrogant, classy, and absolutely not to be trusted. You successfully fooled me that he would keep his word, up until he revealing the Elements to Riley. (Hugging Derpy, SQUEE) He's making total sense, while scheming in ways that aren't clear until its too late.

Thought it was over when Riley leaped out of his ship to save Twi. Most stories totally lose their direction and interest there. You've managed to keep that by getting them into the fleet to steal back the Elements, while also introducing the mysterious alien enemies, who remind me a lot of the Apariods from Star Fox Assault, if a lot less dangerous. They've fought the humans for years, they should've evolved better tactics than swarming. Humans can beat that without breaking a sweat.

Again, thought it was over, then you give us another band of humans, preventing from turning this into a two-against-the-world story, which feels so unrealistic. (This somehow does. Equestria...) The fights seemed a little too easy, but hey! You've setup the peg text cliffhanger here. The base was destroyed, and all it's occupants are lost. I'm honestly just as worried for Twilight as Riley right now. All my prediction powers can't guess where she and the Marines took refuge.

The Admiral feels more and more like a dick. Kidnapping ponies, leaving his men to die, ignoring an extremely vulnerable and extremely valuable beacon... I think he's fallen victim to the Starfleet Admiral trope and lost sight of what matters.

I'd really like to see a number of humans survive and start thier own little colony on Equestria. :) We've already seen how humans and ponies interact when humans have the upper hand, what about the other way around? (Read http://www.fimfiction.net/story/19300/the-man-with-two-names) Just a suggestion, ignore it if you have something better planned.

Humans have proved that while ferocious and kind-hearted, we can kind of be dicks. Especially in large numbers. I wonder if Earth as a whole will ever return to Equestria...

Got a proper review down, now that my head is clear. Still D'WAAing a bit from when Riley saved Twilight from the river. :) This is a well-written, captivating story. I wish I could write half as well as you could.