[Forlorn Ascension]|[Rites of Dominion]

by Desrium

On The Way To The Spell-core

There was a puff of vapor from the sides of the door followed by a sharp hiss. It took only seconds before the sound gave way to silence, the air vacating the next section completely. Phineas put the Harmonizer back in its usual place and then moved the door aside just a bit, looking around it and making sure there wasn't another ambush waiting for him on the other side. He only saw an empty spherical room that had the same dim red lights shining like in the holding bay, however, and entered without further delay. There were several large computer screens and keyboards which contoured to the curves of the room, and Phineas inspected the darkened screens, curious as to what useful information he could have gotten from them. He approached one and sat on his haunches, resting his front hooves on the keyboard as if he were about to start punching in a command.

"I could really use a map or something to help me out here..." Phineas thought. Knocking the ship's systems offline gave him a tactical edge, but at the same time created a mounting list of disadvantages as well! With mechanically locked doors needing to be cut into and valuable information being inaccessible, this supposed "last fight" with the Hoof-Talons was going to be a difficult one indeed. Startrot was going to need to be especially cunning and resourceful for this undertaking.

And resourceful, he was.

"Wait a minute..." he said to himself, pulling out his Harmonizer and giving it a ponderous look underneath his helmet. The tool was able to generate and manipulate fields of magical energy, as shown by its effect on the arcane grenades. Perhaps it would be able to reactivate a terminal? Even temporarily? The prospect was one worth exploring, especially if it meant being able to restore power to key systems Phineas might need in order to proceed. And so, he wasted no time in taking the computer's outer paneling apart, delving into its assembly like the engineer he was, applying all his expertise with working with alien technology in the hopes of gaining even more knowledge; insight that would be invaluable in defeating the Hoof-Talon scourge once and for all.

***

"Just a little bit... here and..." Phineas murmured as he tilted the Harmonizer slightly, an energetic stream of voltage snapping and crackling within the terminal assembly. It flowed from the head of the Magi-Flux Harmonizer and ran through a myriad of coils and strange crystals. The light pulsated, a light purplish color as Phineas experimented with varying intensities and mana frequencies, attempting to jump start the terminal and maintain the charge long enough to use the thing.

"C'mon... there it is!"

The energy started flowing through the components and the screen flickered back to life. Alien symbols ran across the screen as it rebooted, Phineas could only guess it was some kind of crash report. At the sound of a beep, the terminal access prompt appeared and Phineas linked it up to his PDA, translating the display. In a matter of minutes he had a schematic of the scientific vessel at his disposal, and an incident log from one of the crewmembers who was on the lower level of the ship when the Hoof-Talons first mounted their attack. It was extremely brief, the PDA marking its run-time at just over forty seconds. Phineas decided to give it a listen as he made his away out of the formerly-pressurized room. Instead of cutting through the locking mechanism of the next door he came across, he found a maintenance panel similar to those he was already used to working with and started to bring about a temporary charge.

"Detected a large warp signature. Got a contact- a Hoof-Talon ship!? It's barely holding itself together, but we don't have any guns to finish it off! Captain's ordering a stellar jump-!"

That part of the recording was only thirteen seconds long. The rest of it had strange warbling sounds which seemed to distort the quality of the log, making it crackle with static and change pitch at random. Fragmented screams of the crewmember had a strange tinny echo to it, rapid clanging on the metal was evident of them fleeing. The start of a blaster's drone was audible for an instant before the sound cut out and when it picked up again an instant later, there was the trailing end of a loud metallic thud. The audio log ended with a click and a beep.

The door opened just then without any noise, the room ahead having been vacuumed out in advance. Phineas shook his head and put the Harmonizer back in his toolbox. The recording confirmed the scenario he had inferred earlier, with the added detail that the Hoof-Talons had started killing off the crew as soon as they came aboard. Though he wondered if there was anyone left to save on his ship, his resolve had been made stronger still to expunge the monstrous hybrids and finally put an end to their crimes.

***

Phineas walked through the doorway and it closed behind him. Grates on top of the walls and ceiling opened and started to flood the room with air again. As the stallion walked through he started to hear his hoofsteps against the floor paneling again. Being in absolute silence for so long, it came as a mild surprise that there was more to be heard on this ship other than the sound of rushing air!

He raised his PDA and started plotting his route to the Spell-core from the holographic map, trailing many twisting and winding hallways with his eyes. There was no straightforward way to reach it from where he was, but if he took an access lift up three levels then it would be an almost direct walk to the engine room. Of course, both phases of his travel would be handled with his jetpack.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Phineas thought. He trotted through the room and into a hallway that was badly damaged, blackened and melted panels galore. At the end of the hallway was a body inside of a deep orange spacesuit lying front-side-down. Upon closer inspection, the silver stallion found that the alien was a four legged being that stood upright, most likely a Yithith. The middle of their back had been thoroughly burned through and a hole in the wall just a few feet in front of the body showed at which height the Yithith had been shot. It didn't take much of Phineas' skills in deduction to figure out that this was the unfortunate crewmember from the log.

"Bastards... gunned him down when he was unarmed and his back was turned..."

Phineas did his best to shift his attention back to his attack on the Spell-core. He looked away from the body to the service lift entrance a distance of a few strides away. The Yithith was so close to escape... but what would have happened if it had made it onto the lift? Would the Yithith have just been killed when they got off?

Such questions did not help Phineas in any way, so he tried not to think about them. Instead, he pulled out his crowbar, forced the door open and then deployed his boosters. He shot off into the chute, a thick cable dangling in its center and lines of red lights illuminating it at bare levels.

***

Three decks up, Phineas slowed his ascent until he came across the elevator door marked by a large alien glyph off to the right followed by a dash and numeral. He jabbed the crowbar into the side of the door and cautiously pried it open, peeking through the small slit it created. He saw nothing but an empty hallway-

Two volatile crimson blasts tore through the door, catching Phineas off guard. The first of the blind shots severed the cable dangling behind him and sent it sprawling about as the two pieces flew apart, but the other one smashed into his magical shielding and shattered it in one hit. He cut power to his jets and let himself drop a short distance, grabbing onto the side of the shaft with his magnetic grip -crowbar still in hoof- and kicking a rear hoof into the wall to make it sound as if he had fallen all the way down, the bang resonating through the chute. He then waited, firmly planted on the wall, his rifles hovering on either side of him, their aim set upwards.

Sure enough, when the Hoof-Talon pushed the door open the rest of the way and looked down to confirm the kill, magical bolts assaulted its helmet, depleting its shields and then shredding its face. It fell forwards into the chute and Phineas ducked as it hurtled past. Several seconds later, the distant thud reached his ears.

"So that's how long it would have really taken to fall from this height. Huh, go figure..."

Phineas put the crowbar back in the toolbox and started to scale the wall, managing how much strength his clamps held on to the wall, so that the sound of his hooves making contact with the metal wasn't so loud as to draw more attention than what the sound of his rifles going off would have gathered. Sure enough, when he reached the door and poked his head up over the floor, he saw that a band of four had appeared, no doubt to investigate the disappearance of the now-deceased soldier. Phineas retrieved a grenade and lobbed it out into the open, the metal orb rolling across the way into the midst of the four before jettisoning its casing. Its spikes planted it down in front of them and just as they started to spread out, the grenade exploded, a rush of green washing through the hallway. Phineas ducked down as the emerald flames erupted through the doorway, licking inches above him before receding back.

When Phineas looked up again, the corridor was singed and the air was charged, arcs of electricity jumping from the walls and floor and even rising through the air itself...