Deep Rock Equestria: Into The Abyss

by The Atlantean

13. [Rainbow Dash] Salvagers, Part 1

Full Mission Roll:
2 Mini M.U.L.E.s, 15 Apoca Blooms, Haz 2, Crystalline Caverns
Warning: N/A, Anomaly: N/A
Machine Event: N/A
Encounters: N/A
Extra Resources: Bittergem x1, Compressed Gold x1
Roll System in Phase 3

The Drop Pod clanged its way back into its docking station on the Space Rig, shuddering to a stop as the station’s magnetic clamps locked it into place. When the shaking subsided, Rainbow Dash stood from her seat and stretched.

“I’d say that was a pretty awesome mission,” she said. “We got one of those Bittergem things, which looked pretty valuable. Ready for another trip?”

“No,” Rarity groaned. “I think I hit my head on something on the way back to the Pod.”

“Stop being such a baby. It was probably just a rock.”

“Have you hit your head on the ceiling while sprinting towards a giant drill to escape an unending horde of monstrous bugs?”

“No, but you don’t have to be so dramatic about it.”

Rarity leaned back in her seat and sighed. “I suppose I am being a little too dramatic. In any case, I’m not doing another mission today. We can see what our assignment mission rolled next for us in the morning.”

---------------------------------

The next morning, Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed and groggily walked to the mission hologram near the Drop Pod, barely acknowledging Rarity’s open bedroom door. as she approached, the mission selection screen was replaced by a small bit of text:

+++MISSION GENERATION SOFTWARE UPDATE 32 ONLINE+++

“What’s Update 32?” she asked nobody in particular. “Like a game update?”

“Not really. It’s your mission assigner,” Twilight said from behind her. She gently pushed Rainbow out of the way, handed her a steaming mug of coffee, and tapped some controls. “You also have two new mission types DRG can assign to you. Since you started before they were released by Management, they’re already available, but I’d recommend finishing your current assignment before trying either.”

“What are they?”

“Escort Duty, where you protect a massive drill machine we call the ‘Drilldozer’ as it locates and extracts an Ommoran Hearthstone, and On-Site Refining, where you extract a predetermined amount of Liquid Morkite from nearby wells and pump it to a refinery that you send back to orbit once it’s full. Pretty simple stuff, really. The discovery teams have outdone themselves.”

Rainbow sipped the coffee and instantly felt a little more alive. “What do we need this stuff for?”

“Who knows?” Twilight smiled. “All that matters is that Management thinks it’s worth it to send miners to get this stuff. I have to warn you, though: I’ve heard rumors that the discovery teams have found two new biomes and several tougher evolutionary variants of the creatures you’ve already encountered. They’ll patch them into ‘Update 33’ once they’ve confirmed discovery, but those new bug variants might spread all over Hoxxes by the time they do it.”

“Well, that’s not something I wanted to hear so early in the morning,” Rarity said from the equipment workbench. “Did you sleep well, Rainbow Dash? I’ve already rolled our mission. We’re doing a Salvage Operation in the Crystalline Caverns today. Haz Two.”

“Not really.”

“I can imagine. Heidei did wonders for my head last night, so I slept soundly as a cat.”

“That’s good,” Applejack said. She stood by her bedroom door with her armor rig already donned. “Salvage Operation today? What exactly does that entail?”

“We find and repair two or three Mini M.U.L.E.’s--in today’s case, two--and then repair and refuel a damaged Drop Pod to go home. I’m told we’ll dock in the salvage hangar and then come back here upon our return.”

“Is this an assignment mission?”

“Well, the order of assignment missions has changed,” Twilight answered. “Whatever happened, the update knocked you girls around the assignment a bit--probably a bug. You’ll have to do this Salvage Operation and then backtrack to do an On-Site Refining mission. Once you do both missions, you’ll be back on the correct assignment path, and Management will grant you access to the Dense Biozone and Glacial Strata.” She checked her watch. “Oh, I’m gonna be late. See you all tonight!”

Twilight left the console at a run. She bounded down a corridor and turned a corner, disappearing into the station.

“Well, let’s get started, then,” Applejack said. “Anyone know where Sunset is?”

“I’m right here,” Sunset grumbled as her door hissed open. “You all left your comms on, so I heard everything. And Rainbow Dash, you snore way too loud.”

Rainbow, now fully awake, frowned. “I don’t snore!”

“We’re not having this conversation, girls,” Rarity said before Sunset could respond. “Get your gear, eat your breakfasts, and board the Drop Pod. If you have the money and crafting materials, I recommend looking into acquiring more upgrades for your weapons.”

Everyone grumbled but followed her instructions. Rainbow finished the mug Twilight had given her and visited Pinkie Pie at the bar to order some more coffee, while Sunset donned her gear and Applejack worked some upgrades. Despite Pinkie’s reassurances, Rainbow couldn’t help but feel nervous about going down again. This time, they would be entering a cave already swarming with bugs.

---------------------------------

The Drop Pod’s doors clanged open as its drill stopped, and the now normal twenty-meter drop as the pod fell from the entrance cave’s ceiling to its floor gave Rainbow Dash momentary weightlessness followed by a bone-crushing halt. Outside, the light gray of the Crystalline Caverns glowed in the Pod’s lights. Purple reflective crystals and a light blue one that glowed with energy dotted the cavern.

“This is a Salvage mission!” Mission Control called as the four girls jogged off the ramp. “A previous crew lost their Mini M.U.L.E.'s, their Drop Pod, and their lives in this cave. Find and repair the lost M.U.L.E.’s, get the Drop Pod operational, and return to base. Expect heavy infestation--and try not to mess it up like your former colleagues!”

“Here we go, girls!” Rarity called. “Let’s make Fluttershy proud.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on,” Rainbow replied as she ran into the dark and threw a flare. “Where are the bugs? I still have a score to settle!”

“As a team, if you please!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and lowered her gun so she could shake her arms. Who put Rarity in charge? She didn’t vote for her. Was it Sunset? Applejack would’ve taken charge herself if she wasn’t so focused on her drills, so it couldn’t be her.

Whatever. Rainbow shook the thoughts out of her head and pulled her minigun off the ground. A Glyphid shrieked nearby, but it was a little muffled as if it was behind a wall of rock--which was most likely the case given that they were in a cave.

“Ah found the dirt! Let’s get movin’!” Applejack called, using her laser pointer to mark a waypoint on the compacted dirt blocking their path.

She’d already drilled straight to the other side by the time Rainbow made it to her waypoint. Sunset hopped down the sharp incline, rifle in hand, while Rarity waited for her friend to jog the length of their starting cavern. She dropped another flare as their previous ones began to dim.

“Is it still a little heavy?” Rarity asked as Rainbow approached. “We can have Twilight work on it some more once we get back if you want.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Maybe one of those suit mounts like Applejack has for her drills?” Rainbow panted.

“If you need a break, just tell us. We’ll wait for you.” With that, Rarity gracefully stepped down the drilled tunnel into the caves beyond.

Rainbow scanned the cave around once more before following her friend.

---------------------------------

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Rainbow Dash, dear, could you please stop with the noises?”

Rainbow stepped back, offended. “It’s not me, Rarity. I don’t know what the heck is doing that.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not her,” Sunset called. “I think it’s one of the Mini M.U.L.E.’s. The one next to me is beeping like crazy.”

Rarity sighed. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. I guess I’m just used to you and Pinkie Pie’s antics.”

“It’s fine,” Rainbow grumbled.

The two walked under Sunset flares until they met her standing over a small green M.U.L.E. missing three legs and blinking its emergency lights like it was the end of the world. Rainbow looked around. Several M.U.L.E. legs were scattered about, glowing in the dark.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Rarity said. She knelt and petted the broken machine. “I think our job here is to fix these. Sunset, would you be a dear and find me three legs? Rainbow, you and Applejack should go look for resources--specifically Nitra, Jadiz, and Bismor. Gold if you can manage.”

“Sure thing, Rarity,” Applejack said. She tapped Rainbow’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”

As they wandered through the large cavern, Rainbow spotted a large blinking orange light off to the side. With a few more steps, she could see a rusty Drop Pod in the center of the offshoot room, and the “eyes” of its dwarf-face front were the source of the lights. The door into the pod was sealed shut.

“Well, what do you know?” Applejack breathed. “Ah think we found the team.”

“Or what’s left of it,” Rainbow agreed. “You think they’re in the Pod?”

“Nah. The Minis wouldn’t be out heah if they hadn’t left it.”

Rainbow gulped. “Any Cave Leeches?”

“Not that Ah see. Might be some over there,” Applejack said, gesturing to the darkest part of the cave with her flamethrower. “Say, what’s that?” She pointed to a group of pinkish crystals sticking out of the ground nearby.

“I don’t know. Could be pink Jadiz.”

“No, Ah think it’s another Bittergem.”

“Like the one we found at the end of the cave yesterday?”

“Yeah, exactly like that.” Applejack swapped for her drills and tunneled down through the crystals and rock for a few seconds. “Yup, it’s another. Two in a row. We’re gettin’ real lucky.”

“Don’t jinx us, Applejack.”

“Ah won’t.” She dumped the Bittergem into Molly, which had followed them, and scanned the cavern as another of Sunset’s flares fired across the dark and stuck itself in the ceiling. “Hey, there’s the other Mini.”

“Should we fix it or leave it for Rarity?”

“If you could leave it and secure the Pod, that would be great,” Rarity said over their comms. “Have you found any Nitra?”

“Not down here, but there’s some on the ceiling that Sunset’s flare let me see,” Rainbow replied after a second of panicked scanning, pointing at a patch near the roof. Seconds later, a platform materialized under the vein, and Sunset was grappling toward it.

“Anything else?” Rarity asked.

“Found a Bittergem.”

“That’s good. They’re worth a pretty penny. Oh, if I could just use some shards to decorate my armor! I think it would be absolutely perfect!”

“Well done,” Mission Control stated. “The M.U.L.E. is working again!”

“Alright, we’re gonna go secure the Pod,” Applejack said. “Come on, Rainbow, we’re not done yet.”

“Why are you doing everything she says? She’s not our boss.”

“Because Ah think she knows what she’s doing more than Ah do. Fire a zipline, will ya?”

Rainbow shook her head and switched to her zipline launcher. With some careful aim, she sent it almost perfectly next to the broken Drop Pod. she hooked herself to it and let it carry her over the cave floor as Applejack followed.

“What’s our secondary today again?”

“Apoca Blooms, Ah think. Ah already grabbed six.”

“We should be good then.” Rainbow released her hook and dropped next to a computer box. “Let’s get ready to go.”

---------------------------------

Rarity dropped from the zipline as Rainbow smacked the computer box with a hammer. The two Mini M.U.L.E.’s had been repaired, and they had followed Molly back to the Drop Pod, docking with a series of clanks and whirs. “Once we establish this uplink, we should be good to go. We have 85 Nitra, so we can call a supply drop if we need one.”

“Uplink ready,’ Mission Control reported. “Triangulation initiated. Do not leave the Triangulation Zone or we will lose the connection. We only have one shot at this!”

“We have to what?” Sunset asked.

“Stay in the bubble as indicated by the green hologram,” Rarity said. “At least one of us must be in here at all times until the satellites triangulate the Pod’s exact position.”

“Swarm detected. Get ready, they’ll be with you shortly.”

In the distance, fiery red particles floated out of the wall some distance from the Drop Pod, and a roar that none of them had hoped to hear again echoed through the caves.

Author's Note:

Funny how things work out. Finished Part 2 of this mission before this one. But hey, that means you guys don't have to wait as long for it!

Also, updating their "mission generation software" is how I'll incorporate future DRG updates into the story.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

In the distance, fiery red particles floated out of the wall some distance from the Drop Pod, and a roar that none of them had hoped to hear again echoed through the caves.

I swear, what is it with bulks and salvage missions? Ah well, it's only haz 2, it'll go down easily enough under massed fire.

[The Atlantean]

10649990
They know you can't leave the zone, so they try to get the jump on you.

[Cheshirek4t]

And then fluttershy comes out, dressed in fine glyphid silks and riding an oppressor, a golden crown dotted with precious gemstones and sharp fangs adorning her head