Chapter 2 - Communications Breakdown
"Flurry," Nyx asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Who is that?"
"Nopony important," Flurry replied, gazing up at the Tumbleweed corvette hovering menacingly a few canters off the Dream's bow. Glancing backward, she saw its partner had taken up position at her stern.
"Still up to your old tricks I see," Nyx sighed, her eyes narrowing.
"Nyx, I…" Flurry began but wilted under cousin's stern glare.
"It doesn't matter," Nyx replied, letting out a measured breath. "All that matters is that you get our message to Harmony. Please, Flurry, there are lives at stake here."
"I won't let you down, Nyx," she replied firmly. "Even if I have to go to Harmony myself and drag them to you."
"That's not such a good idea—"
A sudden shudder had Flurry wincing as one of the corvettes scraped its nose across the Dream's bow. It wasn't hard enough to do any damage, merely scratching the paintwork, but it did send their intentions loud and clear.
"I gotta go, the locals are getting antsy," Flurry said, looking Nyx in the eye. "I'll come and get you, Nyx. You have my word. I’ll head to Harmony as soon as I finish up here."
"Flurry wait! You need to—" Nyx cried but was cut off as Flurry cut the channel.
Flurry glared at the offending Tumbleweed while steadying her breathing to try and calm her nerves. It sat there, only a few canters off her bow, close enough that she could see its turrets choosing the most effective spots on her ship to fire upon.
With a flex of her wings, Flurry sent a silent order to the Dream. Her ship's engines let out a reverberating hum as its Nexus core began to power up.
"Core output at seventy percent and rising," the computer reported, a stream of information pouring at Flurry as the Dream came to life.
Flurry kicked off from the container which the Dream was clamped onto, causing her bow to glance off the corvette's nose and knocking it upwards to tilt almost straight up. As the Tumbleweed struggled to reorientate itself, Flurry spotted the opening she was looking for. With a downward thrust of her wings, she brought her engines to full power and headed towards the gap.
As she did so, the Dream suddenly jerked, a shudder passing through the ship. The Dream issued a low metallic groan, flailing against an unseen bond like a fish on a hook.
A red warning icon, showing the still-attached tether, began flashing before her eyes. Looking downwards, she zoomed in to see that the harpoon was still firmly lodged inside the container.
"Tether malfunction, recall failed," the computer announced.
"Now isn't the time for 'I told you so', Whammy," she growled, delicately increasing the thrust pushing down on the container.
The tether twisted, tearing at the skin of the container but stubbornly remained stuck inside. The screech of metal became louder, as did the vibration shaking the Dream.
"Damn thing."
"Pirate vessel, power down immediately or we will open fire," the corvette commander demanded. "This is your final warning."
"Okay, if that's how you want to play it," Flurry snorted, flexing her forelegs and bringing up a targeting reticle in her vision.
“Five percent should do it,” she muttered to herself, licking her lips as the Dream's weapons powered up.
Flurry took careful aim at the tether link before gently squeezing the triggers. From beneath the Dream's nose, white hot bolts of energy streaked out in rapid succession, striking the area around the tether.
The tether link disintegrated in a plume of molten metal and the bolts continued on, cutting through the container like it was made of tissue paper. Flurry felt her stomach lurch as the Dream surged upwards, now free of its bindings. Considering how badly she had shot up the container, it was a miracle it hadn’t exploded. Whoops.
"Energy spike detected," the computer cheerfully noted as the Tumbleweed in front of Flurry lit up in an angry red highlight.
Flurry hastily cast her shield spell, enveloping the Dream in a shimmering golden bubble.
I just need to hold on long enough to break out, she hoped as the Tumbleweed's guns opened fire.
The golden shield surrounding the Dream flared brightly under the hail of fire, its surface rippling like water in a downpour. The Tumbleweed’s companion added its firepower to the punishing barrage, eager to join in on the kill.
Flurry grimaced as a percentage meter appeared in her vision, showing her energy reserves steadily being chipped away at by the assault. Her shields would hold for now, but she wasn’t going to sit idly by while they slowly pummelled her into submission. She surveyed the situation, searching for an opening, or somewhere she could force an exit, but they were hedging her in on all sides.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash, a shockwave buffeting all three ships as the damaged container exploded. A jet of bright blue plasma erupted from the container, peeling the metal skin open like a banana. Shrapnel splayed out in all directions, peppering the Tumbleweed ahead of Flurry as well as the surrounding containers.
The beleaguered corvette tried to veer off just as the neighboring container exploded as well, causing several others to come loose from their moorings. Dozens of crates of valuable cargo spilled from the shredded pod, spinning off wildly in all directions and colliding with everything in their path.
Flurry could only watch in horror as a chain reaction of destruction rippled along the Centipede's length. More containers broke loose, while others spilled their contents into the void.
"Oh, damn," Flurry gawped awkwardly. "Well, gotta go!"
Bringing her wings down, the Dream raced forward as her engines roared to life. She danced through the mess she had caused, heading towards the freighter’s stern.
Flurry felt like a filly again, running from her teachers after she accidently knocked the head off Aunty Twilight's statue at school. She couldn’t help but let out a giggle as she deftly wove between the spinning containers, narrowly avoiding an armored battle tank that had broken loose from its container.
Looking back, Flurry saw a Tumbleweed attempting to give chase, its wounded compatriot retreating. Rather than trying to avoid the debris, the corvette charged forward like a raging minotaur, bulldozing straight through the detritus.
The Alliance frigates were holding fire for now. Flurry guessed it was to avoid adding to the chaos she had wrought.
As Flurry turned her gaze, she gasped as the hulking form of a frigate slid out from behind the Centipede's stern. Its two Tumbleweeds were already detached, speeding toward her like a pair of attack dogs being let off their leash.
"Not that way," Flurry cried, flaring her wings and grimacing at the sudden stress of g-forces assaulting her body. Fighting against the pull of momentum, she beat her wings, flipping the ship 180 degrees and bringing her ship's engines to full power.
Flurry's eyes widened as she looked ahead, seeing the other Tumbleweed still ploughing towards her through the debris in its eagerness to get to her, guns blazing as they tried to get a bead on her.
“Chicken is it? I’m game if you are!” Flurry grinned, aiming the Dream towards the charging earth pony ship.
They sped towards each other like jousting knights, both exchanging fire as they recklessly barrelled forward. A few lucky blasts glanced off the Dream’s shield while Flurry’s shots gouged molten streaks in the Tumbleweed’s armoured hull.
With proximity warnings blaring in her ears, Flurry slammed power into the vertical thrusters and rolled the Dream onto its back, letting the Tumbleweed pass above her. As the Tumbleweed raced by, she spun her ship to bring her guns to bear on the passing earth pony ship, firing into its exposed engines. The engine nacelles exploded in a bright flash, reducing the whole engine assembly to molten slag.
The wounded corvette continued onwards, desperately trying to regain control as it was carried away by its momentum.
"Missile launch detected," the computer announced, warning indicators appearing in Flurry's peripheral vision. Evidently, her pursuers weren’t giving up that easily.
Diving back into the sprawling debris field she had created, Flurry ducked and weaved to give the missile a hard time tracking her. Within seconds, she was rewarded with an explosion flaring behind her.
Even at this distance, the explosion was big enough to take a chunk out of her shield strength, throwing twisted debris out in every direction.
Flurry leveled out and sped towards the freighter’s bow at full speed. She wasn't going to be able to shield herself amongst the scattered cargo forever, and it was only a matter of time before those Tumbleweeds pinned her in. She was going to have to break cover soon.
Ahead, two of the frigates had turned, showing her their broadsides. So many targeting alerts appeared that she just turned them off. The earth pony warships were holding fire for the moment, obviously waiting for her to clear the container ship.
"This is Captain Inkwell of the Alliance warship Cloverleaf. You are surrounded. You have no chance of escape. Surrender or be destroyed!" an eager stallion's voice warned over the comm channels.
Flurry could just imagine the officer rubbing his hooves together in glee at the thought of catching her, his imagination full of dreams of promotions and accolades.
As Flurry charged forward, she cleared the bow of the Centipede and shot out into open space. The moment she cleared the freighter's vicinity, she was rocked by explosions as the waiting warships opened fire. Both of the massive ships were firing, their flanks almost a solid line of muzzle flashes, and flak bursts filled her vision as shells went off all around her.
Flurry ducked and weaved through the torrent, the Dream giving constant predictions of the incoming ordinance. Even the military hardware installed in her ship was struggling with the sheer volume of it, the red trails of the computer's predictions becoming a mad tangle before her eyes.
The Dream shuddered from a flak burst which detonated a little too close for comfort, penetrating her shield and peppering the ship with shrapnel. Pain lanced up Flurry's left wing as the ship's interface registered minor damage from the hits.
The two frigates had now formed a wedge, with their corvettes covering the top and bottom. Everything seemed to be firing at her, bolts shrieking past her face as she plunged deeper into the thick of it.
Then, the gunfire seemed to slacken. Flurry braced herself as she saw a dozen bright balls of light streak out from each frigate, grey smoke trailing behind each one as they approached.
"A little overkill, wouldn't you say?" She winced as the swarm of deadly projectiles sped towards her.
Flurry clenched her teeth and targeted the lead missile, firing a burst from the Dream's guns as it came into range. She was rewarded by bright flashes as a chain reaction ripped through the first volley of missiles, but it was not enough to stop more than a few.
Folding her wings, Flurry brought the Dream into a steep dive before suddenly climbing as the missiles dove to track her. The unexpected manoeuvre caused the remaining missiles to overshoot, streaking past her and arching away.
The lumbering form of a frigate filled Flurry's vision like a great fire-spewing mountain. Her path forward was blocked and the barrage resumed with renewed vigor. Flak bursts went off all around her, the constant explosions threatening to overwhelm her shields.
A glance at her energy reserves caused Flurry to gasp as the percentage dropped dramatically after a near-miss. Much more of this and she’d be screwed once she bottomed out.
A substantial energy charge channeled through her horn as Flurry readied herself for her final gambit. She raced towards one of the frigates, getting so close that it forced the other to cease firing in order to avoid hitting it. Banking away only a few canters from its surface, Flurry could nearly see the weld lines on the individual hull plates.
Hoping she had guessed the right vector, she closed her eyes and cast the spell. The ship’s Nexus core surged as it amplified the raw thaumatic energy she provided, generating a massive version of Flurry’s personal teleportation spell. A blinding light shone for an instant, enveloping the Dream as it blinked out of existence.
She reappeared again, now greeted with open space. In the distance, she could see the ring of the mirrorgate and sped towards it at top speed.
Flurry looked back to the Alliance frigates, now milling around the stricken freighter like anxious parents. Her sudden teleport had caught them off-guard, but they were swiftly coming out of their stupor. Already, the Tumbleweeds were beginning to head in her direction, their angry radar pings like the siren of an approaching police car.
At this rate, they were going to catch up with her before she could reach the gate, and she really didn’t fancy a rematch, especially with her energy reserves as they were. That meant there was only one good option left to play.
"Computer, activate jump drive. Let's get out of here," Flurry said, letting out a weary sigh as her body drew on the last dregs of adrenaline still coursing through her system.
"Affirmative, spooling jump drive," the computer responded, a low rumble reverberating through the ship. Flurry winced from the sudden draw on her dwindling reserves as her ship began its charging sequence.
In Flurry's mind, she prepared the spell that would breach the barrier between realspace and the dimension of mirrorspace. As the spell began to manifest in her mind, the hum grew louder, eventually reaching a fever pitch.
"Jump drive fully charged. Ready to engage," the Dream's computer announced.
With a slow release of breath, Flurry cast the spell.
The thaumatic charge from the jump drive rushed outwards, focused on a point in space a dozen ship-lengths in front of the Dream. A brief flash of light was immediately followed by an expanding hole in reality. The portal stabilised, revealing a vortex of undulating energy that tore a tunnel into the swirling mayhem of mirrorspace.
With slow, practiced movements, Flurry eased the Dream forward, towards the vortex. As she entered it, she felt the subtle pull against her body—it was like she was standing against the current of a river. Following the current, the Dream began to speed up as it crossed the threshold between dimensions. Normal space vanished and was replaced by an oily maelstrom of colours, coursing and swirling to their own chaotic beat.
Once she had passed through, the tear in the fabric of reality sealed itself behind her, taking the threat of pursuit with it. Slumping deeper into the flight couch, Flurry allowed herself to relax, the tension in her body finally easing. Only a fool would try to attack in mirrorspace—one slip up and you'd be lost forever.
A small smile crept onto her face as she imagined what was going on aboard the Cloverleaf's bridge right about now.
Better luck next time, she thought, letting out a relieved chuckle and basking in the afterglow of a successful escape.
Now that the danger was behind her, Flurry checked the Dream for damage. She could still feel a tingling pain in her wings through the link, as if somepony had plucked out one of her feathers. As information flowed in from the Dream's sensors, it revealed only superficial damage to the outer hull. Ambrosia would chew her out when she got back, but the changeling always did tend to do that whenever a job got fun.
Flurry's thoughts turned back to her cousin and the trouble she had found herself in. After checking the comms frequencies once more, it was clear that Nyx's transmission was gone. She felt a sliver of guilt settle in the pit of her stomach. What was it Nyx had been trying to say at the end there? What if that was the last time they ever spoke?
Flurry shook her head. There was no time to be worrying about the what-ifs. She had to move forward. Nyx had ten hours left before her ship lost life support, with maybe an hour extra before it became an icy tomb.
She considered her options. Broken Bow was close by at only an hour's flight time away.
"What do you think, Whammy? Are there enough ponies at Broken Bow who’d be willing to help us?" she pondered aloud while keeping the Dream steady in the maelstrom. "I've got a few favours I could call in. Shot Glass? Maybe even Pot Luck? They both have ships big enough to take on her crew."
Flurry grimaced as she thought about it further. "No. I doubt Nyx would be willing to part with her ship in exchange for the rescue."
Then there was always… Flurry blanched, dismissing the thought as quickly as it came. "Briar Rose is out too." That mare would likely ransom the crew back to the Commonwealth—if she gave them back at all.
That being said, Nyx could probably cut through Briar's gang like a hot knife through butter. ‘Use those who try and use you’ was a common saying in Dragon’s Head. The notion did carry a certain appeal, getting Briar out of her mane once and for all.
Flurry scratched the idea. Now wasn't the time to be thinking selfishly when ponies’ lives were at risk. In fact, all options at Broken Bow were unlikely to pan out. Money was the only thing that could buy loyalty out here, and she was sorely lacking in that department.
As much as she hated to admit it, those Harmony ponies were probably Nyx's best option right now. Still, Flurry wasn't about to blindly trust them to get the job done—not with Nyx and her crew's lives on the line.
"What do you say we pay Harmony a visit and get this rescue moving?" Flurry asked, feeling Whammy against her chest.
"My my, agreeing with me twice in one day?" she remarked. "What is this universe coming to?"
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Those are some seriously powerful shields.
The Dream acting as an extension of Flurry down to pain at damage and teleportation is pretty cool. Makes me wonder what other things you can pull off with that kind of capability.
Ominous cut-ff warning from Nyx is ominous. Can't wait to see how the visit to Harmony turns sideways.
Huh. Curious to learn what the disadvantage of this is over using the gate. Is it just a matter of having to dip into your own reserves, or some deeper consequences?
I wonder what she's been spending the money on. The impression I got was that she's a pretty successful pirate, given the 50 million (bit?) bounty on her head, although to be fair there's still a lot about her background we don't know yet so perhaps the bounty is for other less-profitable activities.
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So close!
And I'm glad that my art of boredom amuses you. Though I am 100% sure that my assessment of Whammy can be nothing but the truth.
Nice, so Nyx left us on a cliffhanger and Flurry is her own star destroyer power source. Good to know. What could possibly go wrong?... what? And now to my darker thoughts, which a normal human being with common sense should take into the grave. But who cares for normal, I feel like playing your devil's advocate right now.
*must resist perverted joke* "..."
*screw it* "That's what she said."
Aha! A Harmony worship sect!
My poor eyes! It burns! Curse you, Imagination! And your little brother, Innuendo, too!
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As the story says, they were gonna catch up with her before she reached the gate. So to use the gate, she'd have to go through another fight first. And this time without being able to use the capital ships as cover.
Yeah let's just say that there is more going on with Flurry than meets the eye.
10165410
Why do you think Flurry is Ambrosia's favorite customer?
10165544
Right, I understand that Flurry had to use her jump drive to get away without a fight, but I was more wondering why using the gate seemed to be Flurry's first choice instead of using her own jump drive right away.
10165545
It certainly isn't because Flurry's an engaging conversationalist, is it
Mmm, as cool as it sounds, I'm not so sure a pony-to-ship interface like Flurry's generating pain to simulate ship damage probably wouldn't be that wise in the long run. What happens when the ship suffers a critical blow? Even if the interface has safeties to prevent too much pain, that pain would still be distracting for the user, hindering their ability to react to anything that might deliver the final blow to the ship or do anything that might allow both ship and operator to live to fight another day.
Technology in sci-fi, after all, is just as much about practicality as it is cool factor.
But all in all, just a minor quibble. Rest is still engaging as before.
10166006
There would be a maximum amount on the feedback signal, adjustable by the user's preferences. Think of it like haptic feedback devices but stronger.
10166006
Most of the time the effect of the link is minor, but some pilots (like Flurry) jack the interface up so they can get the maximum benefit from the link. The gamble is that any damage enough to cause detrimental feedback will likely destroy their ship anyways.
okay iv read them its pretty good.
Well, things are gettin' interesting! I'm liking this story so far and I'm very curious what would've driven Flurry out into being an Outlaw in space.
Yeah considering the contents of the cargo vessel were probably worth 3x the value of his own ship, I don't think he really had a chance of either.