A New Hope

by computerneek

Chapter 4

She finally reaches the top of the final hill, and Fort Flurry comes into view. She lets out a gentle cheer, turning to smile back at the thing that had so nearly killed her.

She’d been freaked out the first time it had moved; she hadn’t heard it at all, just glanced behind her and there it was. It’s been following her here, in fits and starts; it moves far faster than she does, simply waiting for her to get a good distance away before closing the distance. She’d even watched it move, once- and for all its size, for all the dust flying up from the trenches it’s leaving in the ground behind it, it had moved absolutely silently. Each night, she’s taken shelter under the giant wheels, using them as protection against the cold. Each day, she’d progress further and further along her journey.

Food has, slowly, grown easier to find. It makes sense; she is headed south, out of the Frozen North.

At her smile, the mountain begins moving again. She shudders at the thought of what would have happened to her had it decided to move while she was using it for shelter. It rises up the hill next to her, stopping at the peak, in clear view of the fort. She smiles at it. “I found it!” she squeaks. “I found the fort!”

After a few more moments of its calm non-response, she turns to trot towards the fort. She’s recovered enough of her strength, by now, to gallop. She preened her wings just a few nights after setting out- and realized just how useful even painful, damaged feathers are in protecting her against the cold. Fresh feathers are beginning to show, growing in. They’re beginning to afford her some protection- and she’s looking forward to the warmth of indoors once again. Even a campfire would be a blessing, at this point.

---

I have followed her this far; I may as well follow her to the end. Now, as she seems suddenly excited at the top of that hill, including smiling back at me, I deduce a near-certain chance she’s at least located her destination, and progress forwards to look. This time, rather than stopping behind her, I pull up next to her, astride of the hill, to get a better view of her destination. While she continues her excitation, I scan the structure up ahead.

It would seem to be a small fort. I detect a few ponies on the walls, but it does not strike me as enough of them. They could be hiding below the parapet to attract an attack on their own terms, or they could be low on available soldiers- or a combination of the two: Low on soldiers, and trying to LOOK like they’re trying to attract an attack, thereby to prevent such a motion!

Two of these three high-chance possibilities suggest active enemy soldiers at close proximity to the base- potentially behind a hill or something. The third suggests either a low-value base or recent, successfully routed enemy activity in the area- with a potential for stragglers. And a low-value base will often be mopped up without issue by an enemy army. As I perform a wide-angle sensor scan of the area, I review my situation.

It has taken a small fraction of the power I’ve produced this last week to keep up with her. Most of the rest, I have dedicated to ammunition manufacture. In each stopping spot, I have scavenged a short radius for resources, using an increasing number of nanites. I have left my armor untouched- and successfully acquired some resources for a few rounds. I currently possess four HE rounds for my functioning Howitzer cannon and two quarter-ton missiles. This aside from the hydrogen I’ve acquired; I have enough of that for two rounds on my secondary, though I lack the power necessary to fire the weapon more than once.

It is worth note- while my remaining functional cannons might be limited to the Howitzer, the three-meter secondary Hellbore, and the four-meter main battery, they are not my only functioning weapons systems. As a matter of fact, I crossed off my entire VLS as useless towards the end of my battle prior to coming to this world, for lack of ammo; right now, approximately five percent of all my VLS launch cells are functional… Far more than I have missiles to fill, even for a single shot.

As she travels forwards to the base, I rotate in place, positioning the base square in the middle of the intersection in fields of fire from my Howitzer and secondary Hellbore, and initiate resource scavenging on my new position. Hardly 3.71 seconds pass before I discover signs of a nearby ore vein. I elect to hold my current position for some time longer. I will cover this base against attack while I recover resources for the manufacture of additional ammunition… and fusion reactor parts.

After all, the main reason I haven’t topped off all my energy ammo tanks with the snow and ice I’ve been driving through is for lack of power.

---

She slows as she approaches the base. She knows what’s going to come next. She’s going to have to call out to the guards. Draw their attention.

Once she does that, her bright colors- and her wings, even if she can’t actually fly right now- should help her identify herself as a friend. To authenticate her entry.

Proving her identity will be harder. She doesn’t have her necklace, and her cutie mark is still invisible.

Eating, once inside the base, will be even harder. It’ll be virtually impossible to use the utensils.

She closes her eyes. It’ll be worth it.

She looks back at the thing. It’s stopped on that hill- which is now significantly further away than it had ever let her get before. She freezes, staring back at it for a few seconds. Is it afraid to follow?

She closes her eyes, shakes her head. Of course not. It’s content that she’ll be safe inside the base. Then she opens her eyes again, tilting her head slightly. It’s not facing the base. No- it’s facing slightly off to the left… Its right. She looks in that direction. Had something drawn its attention?

She doesn’t see anything.

She turns back to the base, and takes a deep breath. She lets it go, working up the courage. Now’s the time- she’s going to yell up to them, draw their attention. She takes in another breath-

“Who approaches the gate?” somepony calls.

Her startled yelp is rather louder than she’d intended. She shudders for a couple seconds before spreading her wings, drawing in another breath. “I-I-I…” she stutters. With volume.

“Pony,” the guard at the top states, before disappearing behind the culvert. “Definitely pony.”

She lets the rest of the breath out as a sigh as the gates begin to grind open- and walks slowly in. She forces herself not to hide behind it, to walk through the middle. Where all the guards can see her.

As she comes in the gate, one trots up next to her and begins muttering in her ear. She starts by shying away from him, but she eventually stops as the earth pony’s message works its way into her brain. By the time he’s finished, her eyes are about as wide open as they can get.

And she has a mission.

According to the Guard, a Minotaur force has occupied the administrative buildings. All the unicorns were killed when they arrived- and the minotaurs are forcing the guards to watch the walls.

The only reason they’re doing that quietly, rather than going to war or fleeing to another base, is so they can keep tabs on something of extreme value.

Her Element of Harmony.

They’ve already discreetly sent a pegasus runner- one of the few survivors from that initial raid- to the nearest unoccupied fort with the report. Two earth pony runners have also been sent, to two other unoccupied forts.

They have a plan for how to steal it back- and the Guard thinks she might be exactly what they need to pull it off. Once the necklace is acquired, they plan to flee- with her too, hopefully- to the nearby Fort Dash. The same fort the first runner is destined for, and one of Equestria’s six impregnable bases.

He describes her part in the plan. She basically just grabs it and runs; the only hard part will be looking inconspicuous until she can acquire the necklace.

It’ll take a few days for them to get used to her enough for her to slip past them, though.

---

Three days have passed. I have remained in place; no ponies have entered nor exited the base. Since my necklace-mare demonstrated worried behavior patterns both before the Guard called out to her and after she entered the gate, I have not put any effort into my fusion plants. Rather, I have worked on a recon drone.

Assembly has just finished; the drone has just been charged and is slotting into position in my magazine now.

Necklace, as I will nickname her, has not reappeared. She has also not been the only pony demonstrating suspicious behaviors. I have spotted more than one set of guards take cover behind the culverts- that is, cover from INSIDE the base, rather than outside- for what looked like whispered conversations.

Something is wrong. I need only discover what.

I launch my drone as soon as it is in position. With this full charge, I can fly it for up to twenty-four hours before I must dock it once again for recharge. For every hour I fly it, I must rest in direct sunlight for about half an hour to recover the power spent. As such, even now as it flies towards the base in the late morning, I am producing more power than I am using, even including the drone.

My drone engages stealth. Active stealth on this six-billion-credit piece of equipment costs virtually no power; passive stealth does almost everything already. Thus, my invisible drone shortly overflies the walls. As I observed a minute ago, there are no ponies on the walls.

I see ponies on the ground in the base. I see Minotaurs on the ground inside the base. I detect the electromagnetic signature of Necklace’ biochemical reactor inside one of the administration buildings. I detect her necklace, in the same building. I scan the motion patterns I see. I come to a conclusion.

They are making an attempt to steal the necklace. I see a Guard standing by the gate- not guarding it, as he’s supposed to, but actually ready to pop the latch and run for it.

I run an analysis. I make a prediction.

They will fail. The Minotaurs will catch them.

I have enough power floating around for one and a half full-powered shots on my secondary Hellbore. I have no less than eight HE Howitzer rounds. I have a working ring penetrator and three rounds for it; I have devoted some of my ammo-reserved resources into small arms repair. I have four quarter-ton missiles. I have hydrogen for three Hellbore rounds.

I see away for them to succeed. They need a distraction.

I fire one Howitzer cannon, once, and feed power to my tracks.

Comments

[LostArchivist]

High explosives make everything better. Especially distractions.

[computerneek]

9164335
Oh yes, they most certainly do!

And sometime tomorrowtoday, it's just past midnight, I'll be posting the next chapter. YES, it's already ready!

[hyperburn3r]

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