Crossword, a budding Steel Ranger in the Far South Contingency, finally gets a chance to prove herself in the field, but everything is stacked against her. What will it take for her to reach her dream?
Crossword is a Steel Ranger in training. Being born into the Far South Contingent as an initiate, she had only one goal in her life: To don the uniform of the Steel Ranger's and bring order the Wastelands of the Far South and beyond. However she lacks many of the practical skills needed for a ranger, being better suited as a scribe. She needs the adventure, and the only way to prove herself is to be brave. Little does she know that the honourable Steel Rangers of the Far South Contingent that she had learned about in books and training, are only a fraction of the actual truth.
What will she discover, what will she become and will she follow her heart?
Expect the same sort of level of gore in the original Fallout: Equestria story, but dulled down to teen level, if there is a demand for more detail, let me know in the comments
Also go easy on the criticism, I really appreciate those who correct grammar and spelling and missing ponyisms, but don’t be too harsh, I'm open to suggestions always
Story inspired by Kkat's popular story Fallout: Equestria. I recommend reading it first before reading the Prologue. It's long, but so worth it :)
"Hard to say, Sir. The thunderstorm out here is messing with my compass, is yours working?"
----- Video Footage Salvaged - Merging Channels -----
On the screen was a vast expanse of dried, red dirt. Above, just in view from the camera, was a deep void of dark clouds. A thin, lethal looking, red lightning bolt emerged from the bleak, curtained sky and curved back upwards like a surreal form of sea monster lurking in the clouds.
"I doubt it," came a voice from off screen, clearly in awe of the unnatural event occurring above him.
The one known as "Timber" from which the perspective was coming from appeared to ignore the reply as he kept focused, looking at the accurately drawn map strapped to his foreleg. Upon it featured many different lines and symbols. The most prevalent of which was a large, heavily drawn, red ring that encompassed one of many little cogs printed upon its crusty surface, their 'objective point'.
"Well? What do we have to go on here? We have the co-ordinates from Paladin Crane, but we can't even use them because of this weather? And I don't trust that piece of crap to lead us anywhere, I'm more comfortable with my E.F.S!" complained the voice off-screen . Timber remained silent as he concentrated on the map in front of him.
"I mean what the hell are we supposed to be looking for out here! I'm supposed to be leading this damn mission, and I don't have a fucking clue!" he ranted on.
Timber appeared to focus on what appeared to be a wrinkle in the paper. He looked up to see a rather large crevice in front of him. He took a double take between the map and the crevice, seemingly getting his bearings as he connected the landmarks.
"Are you even listening to me?!" he shouted, heightening in aggravation
It took him another five seconds to answer
"I think I..."
----- Video Footage Lost -----
A loud clatter of metal and the sounds of a struggle were heard
"YOU DARE IGNORE YOUR SUPERIOR, DO YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT!"
"No... Ah... Sir" His voice quiet as he was taken by surprise
"BULLSHIT! WE HAVE LOST SEVEN KNIGHTS TO THIS HELLHOLE AND WE ARE THE ONLY ONES LEFT!" he raged
"You don't think I knowAAHHHHH!" he attempted to respond before a loud whine of bending metal was heard
"OF COURSE YOU FUCKING KNOW THAT, YOU KILLED ONE OF THEM CARELESSLY! BY REGULATION, YOU SHOULD SHARE THE SAME FATE FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE YOU BASTARD!"
The whining carried on, getting quieter as it met more resistance. But it was cut short by a much larger sound, so loud the microphone could not record it accurately. Instead all that was heard was a hideous, ear raping amount of static and microphone crackle. But it ended as sharply as it came in a deathly silence.
----- A/V Source Corrupted -----
----- Moving to next backup -----
Suddenly the sound of heavy breathing was heard and the heavy galloping of steel clad hooves. The breathing was irregular, taking short raspy breaths, but after every few, a large painful one followed by an unhealthy cough. This carried on for the next few minutes before a loud crumbling sound emerged followed by a yelp and the loud clatter of steel, and a final grunt.
----- Video Footage Salvaged - Merging Channels -----
On screen was a viscous darknes, revealing no detail of where Timber was except for the plume of light coming from the hole above, occasionally emitting a glow of red from the lightning. As the camera feed adjusts to the lower brightness, a mess of dirt and strewn rocks was all that could be seen. The quality of the camera lacked much more than what it had done before, showing small fractures and coloured lines across the screen. Small coughs were heard as he bagan to shuffle but the familiar loud screech returned and he remained still and looked up ever so slowly. All went silent until suddenly a large form poked through the hole above, plugging the light and obscuring it from further observation. Fifthteen seconds passed with complete silence and darkness until finally the form withdrew from the hole slowly, unable to identify what it was.
Timber let out a large wheasy breath and took another few back in. He struggled as he lifted his foreleg revealing most of the map had been torn off leaving only a symbol. A circle with the words "Project 17" embedded arround it. Within the ring was the metal face of a pony with pupiless, green, glowing eyes. He dropped his foreleg heavily with a large clank and his head did the same, looking toward the darkness beyond the pillar of light coming from the hole above. He coughed 3 times more before he said…
“What has this all been for. An entire squad including the Crusader. And for what?”
He sighed staring into the nothingness, admitting defeat as more stones crumbled from the hole emitting more light upon the refuse in front of him. He carried on watching this when he noticed something besides stone and dust. Metal. Steel to be more exact. And printed upon the part of it which was visible, was what he and his lost squad had been looking for all along. The symbol from the map. Project 17.
He began to move slowly, attempting to dislodge the stones that covered his armour. He struggled releasing more coughs and splutters when a large creaking sound of metal was heard behind him. He carried on struggling, appearing to ignore the sound, seemingly filled with adrenaline to finish his goal.
----- Recording interupted - End Of Playback -----
I stood there analysing the footage I received from the dead, armoured, equine I had exterminated in front of me. It left me more and more confused as I walked back through the corridoors which I have come to know as my home. It was silent, all I could hear was the sound of my trotting through the narrow underground corridors. I advanced through the interconnected network of tunnels holding the source of the footage in my anti-gravity field. While I did, I further surmised what I had learned from the footage. I had seen these creatures before. A shape similar to that of an Equus ferus caballus but covered in steel based armour, reinforced with many strengthening properties, as well as bearing an Arcane Matrix, allowing me to see their final moments. They follow a strict military code with a ranking system as well as carrying a high level of honour. Their main goals being to hunt down technological artifacts, which adds up why they are searching here. Most of the creatures that had made it down here into the facility, such as this 'Steel Ranger' as I have come to know them as, did not live long afterwards. Many complications, such as the security system, levels of radiation and chemical poisoning (nicknamed by some of them as 'taint'), and that creatures above have lead to their definate or near demise. It is only I that stood between them and death. And that is where my protocol takes over.
----- Protocol List -----
1. You are not to harm another living being unless it means breaking Protocols 2 & 3 2. If on the brink of death, you are to exterminate any living being's on site. 3. If under threat from another living being, you are permitted to defend your self or other by any means
I emerged into the cubical central atrium of the facility. Within was the same steel panneled walls with a large operating computer at each of the four corners. I placed the black box I received from the deceased creature on the desk of the closest computer in the room. I then moved in front of one of the six large tubes that occupied the center of the room. The tube that encased me only 5 years ago, and stared upon myself. In the reflection coming from the tempered glass, I saw the face of a being with bright green glowing eyes and a metal face. But it was nowhere near the same as the one I killed only moments ago, but something entirely different. And it leaves the same unanswered question I am forced to bear every operating minute since my initiation…
"...to prove to everypony, I have what it takes..."
“Sprint!”
"...to become the best of best..."
“Crossword!”
"...A Steel Ranger."
------------------------------------
A Heart Of Steel
Chapter 1 - What It Takes
------------------------------------
"Crossword! For the second time!" shouted the Paladin at the panel. His helmet was off revealing the turquoise, dreary face half covered by a navy mane, laying it on his hoof, clearly taking pride in his next task, but I didn't care. It was my chance today to go on my first hunt. I will be assigned to a squad today and sent out on my first mission by next week. All my training had been leading up to this, all the trials, protocols and painstaking training exercises. But no longer. It was for real this time, and I will show my worth, despite anypony else's doubts. I took my first step through the tight crowd of other 'knights-to-be', slipping through all their circles and groups. Some turned their heads to look at me with disapproving glares, like I didn't know how they already felt. I knew they all didn't want me here, but I am, and I have every reason to be.
Here in question, was what we initiates called the Watering Hole. Its name was taken from the location the base was set up in, which was a huge crater that was rumoured to have housed a lake long ago. As for why it was said to be a watering hole, it had many stories, to many to recount. The watering hole was one of the bases of the Far South Contingent and was used as a training facility for initiates. I had been in the central hall for the past 2 hours waiting for my name to be called, so I may confirm my entry in the the Knights.
I broke away from the condescending crowd of ponies to lay my eyes on the place that would decide my future, a slightly rusty, scrap-metal desk. Planting both of my fore-hooves on the desk in front of me, I awaited my instructions. Upon the desk was an assortment of paperwork, some in seemingly unorganised piles, some scrawn up into balls and left everywhere else and the floor. The only organised part of the desk was the fixed name tag at the front: Paladin Iron Sight.
"Certification?" He asked monotonously, probably for the hundredth time today
I delved into my saddle bag to retrieve an envelope with a broken seal; it was of a Steel Ranger Helmet with a Gear around it, belonging to the Council of Elders. Within it contained my official certification stating I had passed military induction. I handed this over to the Paladin who dropped it upon his desk. Opening it swiftly, he analysed the document checking everything is in order, but he stopped at something. He closed his head in further to ensure he had read it correctly.
"It says here that you fell just short if passing your self-defence module? Is this correct?" he inquired, showing a slight bit of interest, probably the most he has had all day
"That's... correct" I replied as firmly as possible.
But this got me worried, it only took one stamp, and I would have to redo everything. It was true that I had 'slightly' failed my self-defence, and it is also true that out of everything, that is the most important thing a ranger must know how to do. But what I may have lacked there, I made up for in strategy, leadership, analysis and navigation. Better than anyone the Far South Contingency had ever recruited.
"Hmm... Are you sure you can handle yourself in the field? Last thing we need is someone as achieving as yourself being lost in the wastes, in my opinion you would have made a better scribe." he admitted, showing a slight amount of worry, but I could be wrong.
"I... I... will be fine." beginning to crack from the pressure, his eyes were breaking through my facade. This was as good as over, I tried at least I guess.
Releasing a sigh, he lifted his hoof to the stamp on his right and lifted it above the paper. I shut my eyes, not being able to bear the sight of him crushing my dreams with his red ink.
*Clunk*
"Leave through the room on your right." he commanded, slightly reluctant to give his answer
The bottom of the paper collided with my hoof as he returned the certificate. I slowly opened my eyes, relinquishing a tear as looked upon my decided destiny for the next year.
Green. Pass. I was in?
"You passed me?" shocked at his strange decision
"Yeeeahhh... I'll probably regret it later on, but I can't be bothered to fill out the paperwork for failed initiates." he explained rather selfishly.
But that didn't stop me from forgetting my common sense as I launching myself over the desk, knocking over his already disorganised paperwork, and throwing my hooves around him.
"Ahhh, get off me!" he roared, capturing everyponies attention in the room.
It took me 5 seconds afterwards to realise what I had done and collapsed to the floor in front of him below his desk. I stared up to be greeted by an extremely menacing expression emanating from the Paladin. He poked his head down so he was only millimetres from my muzzle. I could smell the rage in his breath, the shear fury emanating from his eyes and hitting my emotions hard.
"You dare do that again, I won't just reject that certificate, but I will leave you out in the wastes to rot! You hear me?!" he shouted under his breath, maintaining his furiousness, yet preventing the rest of the room from hearing.
"Y... Yes S... Sir." beginning to whimper again from the atmosphere he was creating.
"WELL!? GET MOVING, BEFORE I DO IT!" he screamed in my face. The sudden changes in tone making me slam my head into the desk above me. I then scampered out from under it, snapped up my certificate in my mouth, and galloped through the door on the right.
I dropped my tray onto the table grabbing the attention of my friend, Cherry Strudel. Cherry had a dark cherry coat with her namesake cutie mark. Her mane was naturally curly with streaks of beige and chestnut and had cerise irises. She met my face and then returned to eating her Apple. I sat my flank on the bench and planted my head on my hooves and carried on staring at her. She knew I was waiting for her to speak, but she knew whatever she could say, wouldn't hold off the prevailing argument. She eventually met my face again when she finished the apple and sighed when she saw her efforts to ignore me had failed.
"Nice lump" she commented, pointing out the large swelling below my horn stub from where I hit the table. But I didn't reply, she was dodging the argument, I just maintained my scowl. Eventually after finishing her reconstituted juice, she sighed again
"What do you think I can do?" she said, avoiding my gaze still and looking to her right at the stallion tables.
"Umm, I don't know, how about throwing in a word to get me off the lame border patrol they put me on. You know I wanted to be on a scouting mission, or a hunting mission, or something that would get me out of here, not one that would keep me here." I complained.
"Yeah, I have a say in where each initiate gets put, but they voted unanimously against putting you out into the field. Just be glad I got you a job that gets you outside in power armour, otherwise it would have been canteen work for you after how you tried to romance Iron Sight." she smirked after mentioning his name.
I began to blush, but quickly shook it off. Cherry Strudel, being the star initiate of the Watering Hole was given the unique ability of having a say in job placement for new knights. I was hoping that me being her best friend, she would fight for me to get a good job, but that didn’t happen.
"You knew how much it meant to me getting into the Knights. You can't blame me for showing a little happiness. It’s one of the most important days of my life"
I heard her mutter some sort of comeback under her breath, something to do with my love life.
"Hey, just you remember who got you through that thing with hacking Crusader Mellow's terminal so you could delete that dirt he had on you. You still owe me for that." I argued
"And I held up my side of the bargain, you’re in power armour tomorrow, and without me you wouldn't, what else do you want me to do? Huh?" she shrugged
I sighed; clearly my destiny was going to be taken in baby steps. And I guess border patrol isn't too bad. I would get to be in power armour, and have some more chances to practise firing weapons. Plus it gives me the chance to earn the trust of the governing rangers here at the Watering Hole. And it definitely beats having to spend the next year of my life with Little Miss Cranky Hooves in the canteen; even thinking about it brings premonitions of scrubbing the floor as she pours more of her tasteless slop on the floor. I admit defeat and got stuck into my food, forgetting it had gone cold by wasting my time in that argument. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more heated and interesting
"In my opinion, the best way to get this job done is to treat everywhere like a blank piece of paper, a huge one. Try to tell your mind that everything here is normal, so then you can better notice anything unusual." my mentor droned on.
"Umm, Hmm." my show of interest was clearly lacking. Heated and interesting my flank! Who was I trying to fool, this is horrifically boring. My mentor's enthusiastic attitude overlooked my disinterest entirely, just as well I guess. Despite the hatred of this job I was now developing, I had to face the facts, this armour was pretty cool. I had been in training armour before as an initiate, but the many of the features were stripped back to allow for errors we may have. We were only equipped with stun weaponry so we could cause little harm to each other or the mentors teaching us. We were taught to use many different weapons however such as grenade launchers, sniper rifles and Gatling guns outside of the armour against targets, but we were also tasked with killing another being, half alive. A ghoul.
It was our final ballistic weapons trial in the self defence module; we were tasked with killing a moving, hostile target. I was pretty skilled in taking down the targets with little ammunition spent; enough to keep up with the average pass level. The initiates in the assessment with me all thought it would just be another moving target that instead of staring at you, fired bullets randomly over the range. We were a surprisingly under-equipped contingency from what I have learned, which made this assumption add up, but we were completely wrong. We were led roughly half a mile from the Range where we arrived at a cage, alone towards the edge of the Watering Hole. It contained a simulated wasteland environment with wreckage, random holes and small bodies of water which we were told to be treated as radioactive. We were instructed that one of us would enter at a time and we would have to defend ourselves from the hostile target. Following our normal order of ability, I went last. The leading rangers went into the small building connected to the cage to monitor us from afar. Up first was top of the class, Cherry Strudel herself. She entered the cage and took cover behind some sky wagon wreckage. At the other end of the cage from here was a small steel shutter where the 'target' would deploy from. We all waited silently, not expecting what would come next. The shutter hit the top of the frame with a loud clack which made a few of us, including me, jump in fright. However nothing emerged, we all uniformly peered around the corner to see inside the doorway, but all that was enclosed within was darkness. But suddenly there was a groan. A deep, quiet groan that sounded painful. I looked to my left to see who made the noise but they all stared between each other asking the exact same question. Then a putrid smell of something rotting reached our muzzles that made us all gag. We returned our gazes to the doorway.
"Is it broken?!" Cherry Strudel shouted from the other end of the cage.
I was about to shout back to her 'I think so' when something emerged from the shutter at last. A dark green leg left the confines of the darkness and made its debut in the cage. We all gasped as it occurred to us that the hostile target was not in fact another cardboard cut-out, but a living target, possibly a raider! But then another foreleg entered the light and I then connected the smell. The second leg had lost all its fur, and was even stripped of flesh in places, revealing the yellow tinged bone beneath. The head then drooped out, revealing its pupil less eyes. It wasn't living at all, it was undead. A large gulp came from the stallion next to me, also beginning to shudder at the sight of the had-been pony. I however did not show or feel any form of fear, as I had in fact read about these beings before. These ponies had been alive but after death had been kept alive by excess amounts of radiation, referred to as Ghouls. Many treated Ghouls as hostile beings but many in fact remain sane of mind, only going feral after a long time after resurrection. This ghoul did not appear to be feral, it was definitely aware of our presence as it had painfully raised its neck to look at us all. It looked to me, much longer than the others. It appeared to want to say something by how its mouth was shuddering, but was unable; it also showed a little sadness in its expression. It then began to meander towards the perimeter of the cage, closer to me. I stayed my ground as my classmates began to back step away from the edge. It stopped with its head pressing at the cage, making no attempt to gnaw away at it or free itself, but stared what appeared to be longingly into my visor. I then began to feel pity for it, it clearly was not feral, it may have been confused as it was unable to talk, but it did not deserve to be locked away here, it was a pony at the end of the day, not a monster. I lifted my hoof from the ground and began to place it on the fence.
BANG
1 inch away from the fence, the entire form of the Ghoul in front of me exploded, knocking me back on to my flank. I look up to see that the Ghoul is no longer there, leaving a few bones strewn across the ground. I was speechless.
"Did I pass!" shouted Cherry from the centre of the cage, reloading her grenade launcher.
"Congratulations, Cherry Strudel, 100% as always." came the voice of our mentor from the intercom
I remained there; shocked at the atrocity she had just committed showing no regret. She had just killed an innocent pony, with no remorse. How could she live with herself, let alone jumping for joy about it?
And you can guess what happened when it came to my turn, I stood there in the cage, a grim feeling down my spine, knowing I would have to kill one. If I didn't, I would fail my entire weapons handling module and doom any chances of me becoming a knight. But at what cost? Was it worth it? To end another life so I could succeed?
I look to my side to see all of my classmates watching eagerly with their helmets off, Cherry smiling at me, lipping to me "You can do it". I was still angry at her for what she had done, but I didn’t let it get to me, I had to focus. Before I could fully make the decision, the shutter opened again for the last time, revealing instantly a yellow pegasus ghoul. It was missing a wing, exposing the conjoining bone but was otherwise fairly unscathed compared to some of the others here. The only other scar I could see was a large strike stretching from behind its neck and up to its right eye, preventing it from opening. It stood there for a few moments as did I, holding my nerve. Maybe I could find some way of knocking it out rather than killing it, possibly fooling the mentors to think that I had killed it. At least its life would then be off my conscience. However I was equipped with dual 50 Cal shotguns which would definitely rip its head off rather than knocking it out. I scanned my surroundings looking for anything I could use, a rock, some debris, anything. But nothing here looks harmless enough to knock it out without killing it; all I could see was jagged pieces of wood and sharp metal. But I then heard the sound of hoof steps. They were quick in pace, and rapidly speeding up. I glanced up and did a double take. The ghoul was galloping right towards me, snarling and flapping its one remaining wing. None of the ghouls we had seen today had done this, but why this one, unless... It was feral!
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I shouted as I panicked and began to run.
I heard gasps from outside the cage as my panic was shared with them. The ghoul stayed hot on my tail as it carried on snapping at me. I didn't know what to do, it may not be able to harm me while in this suit, but that's an absolute guess, plus it was emitting radiation also, which will definitely do me no good as these initiate grade power armour suits had no form of anti-radiation. The sooner I got rid of it, the quicker I’ll be out of the cage, but it was still a living being, it’s just suffering some serious mental problems, it’s still a pony. I carried on contemplating my next move as a galloped away until my hoof was met with some wreckage and I toppled over onto my back. I was dazed by my clumsiness but was soon brought back to attention when the ghoul dived on top of me, landing face to face. It began to bite at my visor, scratching it, I tried to remain calm so I could think of a resolution, but that was before a chip appeared in the visor. I screamed. This was the end of me here. Forget becoming a knight, I was going to become ghoul chowder. I screamed for help for what seemed like ages as the cracks began to stretch across my visor.
BOOM
Everything went black as I was thrown upwards into the air and landed with my armour taking the impact. I opened my eyes and looked at the carcass of my former enemy. I rolled onto my back as help approached me, bringing a stretcher. I drifted between conscience as I was taken to a medical bay, but I later found out that I had passed my module, but not by my own doing, but from one of Cherry's leftover Remote Explosives, which she activated stealthily when she saw me in trouble.
That moment that made me famous around the contingency as the Ghoul Hugger. But it soon turned negative when an investigation found out about Cherry's explosive, so in the end they gave me a pass but not a full one, as well as giving both of us a 3 week long punishment of cleaning the Watering Hole locker rooms, definitely a bit harsh.
Two hours had passed since I had started my second shift on lookout, and it had only just occurred to me that this job really doesn't get any more interesting. All there was to do was look at rocks, dirt, the odd crevice or two and... Oh, and nearly forgot, more rocks. Occasionally a party of knights left or entered the gate, going out to bring order to the wastes and bring back whatever treasure they may find. That's what I found exciting about becoming a knight, we get the best of both worlds, and we help others and hunt down lost technology. That's what I had learned in my orientation and made me 100% set on becoming a knight.
I examined one party returning from their mission. As they walked through the gate, the Crusader at the back looked up at me and nodded. His armour had a long red smear going from the lower left part of his neck down to his left foreleg. I returned the nod but I noticed something drop from his armour. I couldn't get a good look at what it was but I took note of where it was. I looked to my left and right to see nobody, not even my mentor monitoring the gate. Taking the best chance I had while the gate was closed, I sneaked down from the post above the gate and approached the location where the object was. Below me I identified it; it was an electronic key, very rare, only the select few carry these as they are used to access restricted areas of the Contingency. I had seen them before when we had to learn about the various forms of technology used by the Rangers. I picked it up and clipped it to the bar on the side of my neck; I would return it to him when my shift was over. But then as I returned to my post, it got me wondering. Crusaders had a direct influence on the placement of new initiates in the Contingency. Maybe this key could let me get an inside scoop on why I was placed here, because I honestly think Cherry played me here to save her own flank.
It was settled, tonight was Stakeout Night, and hasn’t done one of those in a while. I chuckled at the thought of it, it got me really excited, but I would need some help. And it definitely wasn't going to be Cherry Strudel.
I was in hybernation mode from last night as I was beginning to overheat due to the base's Air Conditioning failing, but I can now hear the fans working once again, but also I could hear something else. As soon as my visuals activate, I see a large rat in front of me. However this rat appeared to be mutated, developing sharp long fangs, similar to a prehistoric creature I had researched called a Sabre-toothed Tiger. Its fur, rather than the normal brown to black scheme, was tinged dark green; its eyes were still black but had pinprick red dots in the centre. I immediately seized it in my Anti-Gravity Field before it could run away, but when I began to lift myself up, the mutant rat emitted a high pitch squeal, unusual to its species. Following this, five more rats of a regular variety escaped from a panel on my side carrying various parts with them in their fangs, and scurried off into the tunnels.
I looked at my readout and saw that a vital part of my Eyes Forward Sparkle was missing among the parts they stole, disabling my combat systems. Without it, I could not fulfil my protocols and protect the base as well as myself. It was of vital importance to regain those parts, so I immediately gave chance after them still keeping the mutant rat in my field. Using the barely functional E.F.S, I could track their positions in the tunnels and look for ways to intercept them. But it looks like they are making all the right turns, knowing where to go exactly that would prevent me from catching them. But they encroached upon a dead end, giving me a chance.
I slid into the opening and looked upon the sandstone wall that ended this tunnel. At its bottom were the five rats reering at the wall, trying to find a way through, impossibly. My entire weapons array was disabled due to the capacitor one of the rat has in its possession, so exterminating them is not an option. I could use my Anti-Gravity Field to just enclose them, but it would mean me losing the one I had in my grasp now, which was reluctantly not an option either. I looked to my environment to see if there was anything in the vicinity I could use to my advantage, but sadly the tunnel ended with solid smooth sandstone with the walls and ceiling showing no exploitable devices or suitable debris. This meant resorting to my final option, and while it has a 78.2% chance of working, its costs were great, but so was the loss of this capacitor.
Two years back, while researching the experiments that were being undertaken at Project 17, a strange experiment was undertaken, nicknamed "Overwing". Its purpose was to reconstruct the already existing Power Armour created by the Ministry of Wartime Technology and worn by Steel Rangers, with the ability to take flight. The need came so that those on the ground could combat any future threats from the Grand Pegasus Enclave. While there were never any recordings of a serious attack from the Enclave in the databanks available to me, the experiment went ahead anyway. The outcome was inconclusive due to many complications with the engineering, as well as a a number of issues arrising from within the Ministry of Awesome, who's engineers were contributing towards the experiment. But yet after researching it, I found that remnants of its code, both original and modified, were found in my system. I may be ill practised as I have no room to test the Overwing here, but I know that its turbines can be fully controlled, giving me my only option.
The plan would be to use the Overwing turbines to produce a reverse air flow strong enough to keep the rats in the tunnel, and also drag them close enough for me to manually terminate them. The catch to this plan would be the use of my one non-renewable fuel source, diesel. The crude-oil based chemical contained inside me is the only volume I have found after my explorations of the base, meaning once it is used; I won't be able to use the Overwing again. I calculate, taking into account the amount of revolutions needed to create the necessary air flow and the 10 metre distance I will need to pull the rats, that my fuel tank will be depleted by 25%.
I deliberated this for exactly half a minute when the mutant rat emitted another loud shriek. This echoed down the tunnel, reaching the rats who immediately upon hearing it, began to act. They charged. This needed a different strategy. They were advancing along the tunnel towards me at an increasing pace, beginning to squeak in a seemingly aggressive way. Using the Overwing was now out of the picture, but then it occurred to me. The entire time I was chasing these rats, I was aware that they were a neutral party, stealing parts, but unarmed. This meant that my E.F.S would not have targeted them as hostile, but now that they are in a hostile like stance, charging towards me, they must be hostile.
I didn’t need a differentiation capacitor to see this, not any longer.
Bypassing Security
Weapons Array Activated
E.F.S Fully Functional
I locked targets on all of the rats now at 5 metres from me. Choosing the cleanest method of eliminating them, I open up my left side panel and reveal my Mark 2 - Incinerator. Powering up the Magical Energy Beam, I set the entire tunnel alight
I sat in the Library of Project 17. An oval room surrounded wall to wall with bookshelves roughly six metres high. In the centre, I was sat at one of five desks, this one being the grand central one made of ivory wood. In front of me was my current project that I had worked on since I had become bored of my normal scheduled functions, maintenance, cleaning and scavenging. Instead it's a book. But this book was not finished. It was started by a significant member of the scientists based here at one time, named Dr Redthorn. Dr. Redthorn was responsible for work on the central experiments here in the base. He had his name written across many things here, from programs to books, a whole library of them. When I first discovered the Library, it allowed me to research much of the basic knowledge I now have in my personal databanks, but when I finally reached the last bookshelf, I noticed all the books were either blank or partly finished. One book took my interest in particular, titled "A Guide to the Species of Equis". The book was unfinished, but contained various entries of different creatures found across the lands above. I learned what I could but the empty pages left me with a new directive, to fill in any pages that Dr. Redthorn missed or could not fill. He had already made detailed entries on the base species so far, many of the new entries I had made are mutations of those. I had tried to use the book to identify what I was exactly, however none of the entries seemed to match any of my capabilities. None of the books in the library did.
The mutant rat sat in a small cage on the desk. I had created the cage from strewn metal bars I had found on the way back from the incinerated area. It squealed constantly, begging for freedom from his imprisonment. However I was not done with him, I needed to sketch an accurate drawing of it first, then a detailed log of its defining features as well as any biological abilities it may have. Often or not, these mutated creatures had some very fascinating abilities. Once I found a bat, extremely mutated and violent. It was no match for my Incinerator at close range but I managed to recover a fairly intact carcass. Unlike the regular bats haunting the lower levels of the base, these had developed a taste for blood of any type, such as the rats and other creatures that find their way in. They also developed into incredible sizes compared to their genetic parents making them a force to reckon with if confronted.
I remembered while drawing the sketch that this rat appeared to have some form of control over the other regular rats. Rats by nature do not have a hive mind or a dominant rat; they often grouped or went solo, making this rat very unique indeed. It didn't appear to physically assert itself above the rats, but it did have that squeek. It must have developed a way of producing a frequency that was hypnotic towards others of its species, making it some form of self-elected leader. I finished my sketch for the entry and closed the book. I returned it to its position in the "unfinished bookcase" and placed my oculars on the rat that remained in the cage. I decided to call it an Alpha Rat, due to its assertation as a leader. But now its usefulness had come to an end. After the annoyance it had caused me today, despite discovering I no longer needed a differentiation capacitor, I could not risk it theiving any more property of the M.W.T. I approached the cage with the rat now silent, possibly wondering what was next. I activated my Anti-Gravity Field around its neck and before it could release a full squeak, I swiftly snapped its neck.
A clatter came from the chute as the dead body of the Alpha Rat dropped into the depths of Project 17. There, the 'Bloodwings' (As I come to know them as from video logs) would take care of it, rather than traveling up to main floors looking for live prey, resulting in more work for me.
My charge was beginning to get low, so I began to make my way back to the central lab to recharge. I went over the events of the day today, it’s been two weeks since the last new entry in the book, and I’m beginning to believe that I’m running out of creatures to document around here. If the guide was finished, then the entire library was finished, and I would be left with nothing to do. Unless...
I left Project 17 to go to the surface?
There must be an endless amount of creatures that have yet to be documented. My directive would be satisfied forever. But. No. I couldn’t do it, my protocol requires me to be here to protect the base from intruders such as the Steel Rangers, and I could not deny that. However, I was never sure what I was actually protecting. I knew the entire contents of Project 17, but I could never find anything unique, just parts and information. I questioned at one time if the library was the goal of these intrusions, or possibly the weaponry hidden in the lower floors. Possibly the computers in the central hub were their target, it was hard to say, especially when all I understood from my intruders is that they were just as unsure as I am.
I entered the hub once again and walked up to my pod. To the side were two buttons, green and red. I pressed the green button and the pod began to rumble as the front slid forward and up, revealing a number of mechanised tentacles. They came to life and reached out to plug into my neck, chest and my legs. I was then lifted into the pod and slotted into place with a loud whine of metal on metal scratching. The lid slid over and my oculars shut down. I would be charging for approximately 48 hours, hopefully some more life was waiting for me to document afterwards, maybe even a few puzzles to solve. That would be nice.
Tap Tap Tap. Tap. Knock. The last one slightly louder than the others. I had to use this code as he didn’t like company and only talks to the few ponies he can trust. His dorm was hidden way at the back of the Watering Hole, where the grubbiest buildings were, and this one was the least cared for. Rust was found in many places in the corridors and the dorms as well as being infested with rats, and possibly the odd bloodwing or two maybe, but I was yet to see them. The reason why these dorms were in such disarray was because they were reserved for rangers who had broken rules and protocols of some sort and were no longer permitted to socialise with the others. It was like they became a different species who had to become quarantined from the other, good rangers. But funnily enough, the higher ups of the base never really cared about the huge hole in the fence at the back which allowed free entry and exit, if you were clever about it.
The door opened just a crack and a single eye with a blue iris stared at me. It looked me up and down, dilating slightly showing how nervous he was about opening his door.
"Crossword? Is that you?" he said quickly and quietly, trying not to draw attention of anypony else nearby.
"Yeah, I just need some help with something, can I come in?" I asked, reflecting his quietness, even the slightest fright would mean he would lock the door completely for a week and answer no-one, as I have learned before.
The door closed completely. I wasn't too loud was I? I looked to my sides and saw nopony in the corridor, and I definitely didn't hear any hoof steps either. But then the door opened wider and I was met with a navy blue stallion with a frizzy deep indigo mane and tail mixed with a few grey hairs. There was a slight sign that it used to be highlighted with different coloured streaks, but they were faded and unrecognisable. He turned to his side revealing his cutie mark, a terminal with what looked like a cracked screen.
Serial Crack was an ex-scribe of the Steel Rangers who specified in fixing up or cracking information from terminals or devices collected from Ranger Acquisition Missions. He was one of the best hackers in the Fillydelphia Contingent many years ago, arguably some said in the entirety of the Steel Rangers. With his reputation, he was given great trust by the higher-ups of the Contingent, allowing him to use advanced terminals and equipment to complete his jobs if his team’s equipment didn’t meet his needs. He took much pride in what he did but while using some of these private terminals, he noticed interesting documents and information that raised questions to him. He devoted nearly half of his work time to decrypting these files and discovering their secrets, but he was soon caught in the act. Accessing top secret information like that was punishable by exile in the wasteland or even death.
After a heavily fought tribunal held by the Council of Elders themselves, it was decided that he would be allowed to remain in the Custody of the Steel Rangers within the compound containing the lowest level information as well as being the most remote. This lead to him ending up in the Far South Contingent in the Watering Hole, restricted to this very room. His shattered reputation lead to many of the ponies here to come to ridicule and hurt him for his treachery, leading to his scars and the 'crack' on his cutie mark. These events resulted in his now recluse lifestyle, hiding away in his room, only answering to a certain select group who he considered safe. I was one of the few ponies here which he allowed into his small clique, as well as being what I considered his best friend.
"C'mon, what are you waiting for?" He whispered loudly as possible, also gesturing quickly to get inside. I trotted hurriedly into his room where he nearly slammed the door, but stopped it in inch before it reached the frame, closing it easily. He then advanced to the modified locking system on his door. As an expert hacker, he didn’t trust in many of the technological advances the rangers have had, such as the electronic door lock, so he removed it opting for a manual approach of sliding locks, bolts and chains as well as a large metal bar that slides over the entire width of the door. At last he sighed with relief and changed his posture to look a little more relaxed. He turned to me after his final check on his door.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked, much calmer than before, almost an entirely different pony. His voice had a much higher volume now that the soundproofing he had installed was not compromised. His expression was much cooler, his upper eyelids now slightly closed.
"Sure, we may be here a while, I’m in need of your expertise." I replied, also making the sound of work enticing for him.
Talking about a pony’s talent round here, albeit quite restricted as the palette often included being tactical, sharp eyed, strong, if you were a knight. For a scribe, their talents were a little more varied, many scribes take a lot of pride in their specialty just as much as a knight would. Serial was the opposite due to his collapse. He often dreaded the talent he had now, but without it he was nothing and it was the only thing that kept him occupied while he was restricted to his room. I often came to Serial to keep him company while I was in my last 5 years of initiation. I learnt about him during one of our lectures on hacking and the dangers of overstepping the skill. I learnt many of the base techniques, but some of them seemed to go straight over my head. Hacking piqued my interest from the beginning, and I would be very disappointed if I failed it, as it would have given me quite the edge with such a skill in the field. So learning that Serial Crack was present in the Watering Hole, I went about finding where he was, sneaking in into the Old Scribes Building and knocking on his door. It made me wonder to this day why I was an exception to his normal rules on opening the door to strangers, but from that day, he taught me everything I know now, becoming a mentor of sorts.
"Well. I better use the big mugs then. Must be pretty important if you can’t figure it out. Take a seat" he smirked as he walked into his small kitchen.
I approached the centre of his dorm, a room with walls and floor covered by plans, notes and different codes from his research. In the middle were two make-shift sofas he had crafted from the junk that gets thrown at his door when other scribes and guards pass it. Despite some of the junky, unappealing items included in the makeup of the furniture, it was surprisingly more comfy than the metal furniture used in the other buildings, certainly better than in my dorm. If there was a need, he would make a great crafts-pony.
I settle down on one of the sofas and walk through the plan I have so far. When I got off duty, I went and scouted round the command building. I know it has 3 floors, but being as we have over 30 Crusaders based here, as well as the paladins, and Elder Cucumber Salad when he decided to stay, I find it unlikely all those offices can fit in there. So some conclusions I have drawn is that they must be sharing offices possibly, fitting more than one desk in a room. Or they might have their terminals in the officer’s dorms. But even so, I honestly can't find a way of gaining access to the command building undetected, let alone into a Crusader's dorm which is filled with ponies all the time. I needed advice, maybe a way of remotely hacking the terminal if it were possible. It might be a touchy topic, but Serial has experience in this as well as hacking, so hopefully my years of friendship should pay off today.
A few minutes later, Serial re-enters his sitting room carrying two rather large mugs in his magic. He places them onto the small metal table in-between the two sofas and takes his seat opposite me.
"So then, Crossword. What is it that requires me? Must be something pretty big if hacking Mellow's terminal didn't need my intervention?" he replied, not showing any form of anger.
I showed a look of dismay when he brought that up. He made a strong point that he didn't want me using my skills for personal gain. Hacking Crusader Mellow's Terminal when it was in the repair bay was one such example of me breaking his rule, one I had neglected to mention to him.
"I guess it's not an appropriate question to ask how you found that out. But I promise it was for a good reason, and definitely nothing that would have gotten me or you into serious trouble." I defended, I may have evaded the truth slightly, but the reasons for it were legitimate.
Crusader Mellow always had it out for me, and when Cherry Strudel befriended me, his hatred became shared, becoming one of the few officers who actually hated her. He managed to catch Cherry going through the answers for one of the theory exams, being as she was more of a practical mare, answering questions was never really her style. He had video evidence from the cameras that he was going to use in an incriminating report to Star Paladin Hard Harrow, the Head Knight of the Watering Hole. It would ruin her chances at being a knight, as well as stopping the support she was giving me also as she would be isolated for it.
"Whatever you say. Now, what do you need?" he asked, relieved he didn’t take my actions further.
"Well, if you didn't know, I managed to get into the knights in the end, I passed my initiation." I explained, hopefully starting with something good will lighten the mood a bit.
"Congratulations, I thought you would do it, you’re a very knowledgeable pony." he smiled, making me blush. Despite him being a bit emotionally unstable, he always was able to make me happy, no matter what mood I was in.
"However, I asked Cherry Strudel to see if she could get me on a mission outside of the Watering Hole, preferably an acquisition mission. But it didn't go quite to plan, and I'm now on the border patrol instead." I looked down when I said the last part, putting emphasis that I was disappointed in this.
"I see, well I can see where this conversation is going," he stated, seeing straight through my façade.
"You want me to break into a terminal and get you onto a different job?" he sighed, clearly saddened by his guess at my proposition.
"No... Actually? Wait. No, that’s not what I was going to do at all. 'I' was going to do the hacking. But all I wanted to do was find out why I was put on border patrol. I think Cherry lied to me when she said she would get me on an out-of-base mission. I just need a way of finding and getting to the right terminal." I explained. I hoped it might change his opinion, but that was really wishful thinking.
"Seems a bit of a weak reason to go through all the effort, just to prove a fact." he sceptisised. It was true, I may have cared a bit too much about proving my conscience, I was obsessive like that. But I was willing to take the risk, especially knowing I could possibly change the records a bit. Ok. Maybe that did make this much more worthwhile doing.
"Ok, I’ll be honest. I did not even consider changing the records to get me on a different mission. But do you think that’s possible?" I enquired. He sighed and looked up to the water stained ceiling. He looked back down towards the table and took grasp of his mug with his magic and took a long drink out of it. After, he placed a hoof to his forehead in a look of annoyance or frustration.
"Ok. Forgetting my morals here. Say you were successful and you get on this mission. I am pretty sure that somepony will find it suspicious that a knight chosen to be on one of these missions, which are often very prestigious for a fresh knight to get, to now be on border patrol. And to add more mystery to the equation, 'you' are then found to taking his place. I don't mean to offend, but I think this would smell a bit fishy don't you think?" he criticised. He pretty much destroyed my idea in one statement. I have no idea of what to do now.
"Plus, from experience, there is no way into these rooms or offices anymore as they have these new electronic keys to activate everything from locks to terminals." he carried on. My ears pricked up when he mentioned the key.
"Well now that you mention it, I happened to acquire a key from a Crusader while I was on the border." I flash the key in front of him, hanging from my hoof.
His eyes then widen at the sight of it. I have never seen him so affixed to something other than his papers and his terminal.
"Can I?" he asked, surrounding the key in his magic.
I nodded and he took the key from my hoof and levitated it a few inches from his face. I reached for my mug, struggling to grasp it being as they were better designed for magic users with its absence of a handle. Using both of my hooves I took a drink and quickly placed it back on the table as I began to lose grasp of it.
"Fascinating work of technology these. I have seen schematics of them before they were implemented, but it looks like they really overhauled the design since then. Security loops, a much better encryption level, even a Near Field Sparkler. Damn,0 do they have some technicians up in Manehattan or what?." admired Serial, seemingly forgetting any anger he developed towards my idea.
"So, what do you think?" I enquire his interest in the key appearing to flip the tables a bit.
He carries on examining it, for the fact that the key is only 3 inches long, it’s surprising how much you can see in it. But after a while, his look of interest begins to cloud and he lowers the key to look at me, more sullen now.
"I don't know, I’m torn really. I have never been more tempted in my entire life to see what this key unlocks. But I swore to myself that I wouldn't do this again," he lectures. But then the corners of his mouth began to prick up a bit
"However, all the information, videos, logs and records stored by these are invaluable, which lead to them using these keys." he argues with himself. The speed at which he was talking appeared to increase.
"So, you'll do it?" I press. I should be feeling guilty here; it was like I was tempting somepony to get back onto drugs or something. But I needed to do this, for the good of my future, and my stubbornness. Boy do I feel cruel.
He contemplates it by nodding his head from side to side, warring with his conscience and his heart. He lifts his head up to the ceiling again but drops it sharply while saying...
"Yes!" shouting it louder than I have ever heard him speak since I had met him. His irises appeared to grow very small when he said this, looking only a little bit deranged.
He leaps out of his seat and lands awkwardly at his terminal. After righting himself he logs in into it with a furiosity I would only have expected from myself when I’m hacking. He was definitely motivated, and this gave me some hope, but there was still the issue of making this seem believable. After a minute or so, he brings up a map of the Watering Hole, zooming in on the Command Building.
"Ok, I know for a fact that they wouldn't keep terminals needing a key like this in the dorms or anywhere else on site except for the command building. Another fact is that these keys are given on a per room basis, meaning they don’t share with other knights." he surmises. His method of deduction literally took the words right out of my mouth.
"Ok, so how do they fit all those rooms in there, I doubt it’s like a flank to flank arrangement in there." I argue.
"I see your point, but there is one thing we can try. Can you fetch that box of parts in the corner?" he commands, having an apparent light bulb.
I wade my way across his paperwork to arrive at a bunch of boxes containing a various assortment of electronic parts and wires. I pull out the biggest one and use my head to push it along the floor, knocking over a dozen paper stacks. Arriving at the terminal, Serial has already retrieved a tool kit and a single paper from his sea of paper cuts. It’s a wonder to me how he got both of these thing so quick, even with magic.
He looks down into the mountain of geekiness and retrieves several or so parts simultaneously and takes tool after tool from his kit as he assembles some sort of device. Finally after only a short few minutes of skilled work, he attaches it to a wire connected to the terminal. He then picks up the key and plugs it into his new creation. Suddenly the terminal flashes with various different messages and errors as the unconventional way we have plugged the key in is recognised by the terminal.
"Eureka!" he announced a bit cliché as I have read many geniuses say this in books I have read.
"Now, if I’m correct, this key should identify the whereabouts of the terminal it corresponds to in the building. Being as all the terminals are linked in the Watering Hole, even with encryption, its location should match up right about... Oh wow!" he exclaims, bewildered by something on the screen.
I was about to ask what when I saw the map of the Command Building shift to an upright position, and then some structures appeared underground. The Command Building had an underground complex. And a green blip appeared on the bottom floor, the Crusader's terminal.
"That makes so much sense, but also much, much harder to get to." I state, slightly saddened. I had to face facts, a terminal, five floors below an off limits building is impenetrable.
"Maybe not," Serial replies, a new idea forming in his head.
"Another Crusader who visits me from time to time popped by yesterday complaining about the fact that the Elder wants a full inspection of all the dorms saying that ammunition has been going missing and it needs to be found. Cucumber Salad seems certain that the Knights and Initiates have nothing to do with it, so nearly 'all' of the officers will be out of the building tomorrow afternoon. That gives you a brilliant chance." he grins, turning to me with a crazy hypnotic look.
"This is happening, it’s really happening! I’m so excited! Espionage, sneaking, stealth. Oh wow, I could only dream of it." I begin to squeal, Serial also beginning to copy me in a freaky sort of way but I ignored it. He's not been this happy in a long time, who was I to take it from him.
"Right, so there are likely to be cameras around the building, so we will need to find a way around those, I also assume there will be other doors locked which this key cannot unlock. There is also the risk that there may be armed anti-intruder systems in there possibly. I know Manehattan had them down in the black archives where they kept all the good stuff. Goes without mentioning that this will be similar." Serial begins to weigh. He fetched a blank piece of paper from a dispenser on the wall and collected a pen and began jotting down all of the complications he could think of.
Five minutes later he presented the list to me, and with each complication, my ears began to droop again. It’s not that it seemed impossible now, but it looked just downright horrific. I wouldn’t just be caught down there if I wasn’t careful, but I could die. Burned to a crisp, disintegrated, and even liquidated. Serial could see the look of fear on my face as I read through the list.
"Hey, don't worry; you’ll be in Power Armour, that stuff won't even leave a scratch on you... Exaggerating slightly of course." he smiled cheerily.
"Wait, What? How can I get it when it's in the armoury? I have to return it when I’m off duty." I attacked, yet he remained calm and looked full of himself.
"Follow me." he instructs as he leaves the terminal and approaches the door. He begins to undo the latches and chains.
"Serial! What are you doing!?" I shout, concerned about him breaking his dorm arrest
"Relax, I’m not leaving." he reassures me
He opens the door just a crack and gestures for me to come to him. Approaching the door he points across the hallway to the dorm opposite.
"Over there, is the dorm of a scribe who was an ex-knight. He was sent here because he became deranged I heard, and not from the field weirdly enough. For some crazy reason though, they let him keep his power armour, but I heard a commotion a few nights back that he had passed away. But one thing I didn’t hear was the sound of the armour being removed. If you can fetch the armour from his room, then I can adjust it for you to take into the Command Building tomorrow" he explains to me.
"That’s a bit. Grim, isn't it? Plus how am I supposed to haul that thing across the hallway without attracting any attention, or breaking my back?" I complain. Almost as soon as I finished my sentence he had a rope and cart beneath his hoof.
"Need I say more?" he wittingly remarked.
"What happened to you?"
He chuckled as he kicked the equipment to me
I heard a click as the magnet I placed on the lock panel of the door fell off into my hoof. These electronic locks were much easier to use than the traditional key lock, but consequently, they were much easier to crack. Just a simple magnet on the right part of the latch opens it up nice and clean. The doors edges open and I take a peek inside. The format of the dorm was predictably similar to Serial's dorm. I did notice that it was much better furnished, but was covered in up with cloth. For the love of Celestia, I hope that they didn’t leave the body in here. I took a sniff and I was relieved to not smell any signs of discomposure, besides the dampness of the structure itself.
I take a few more steps inside, dropping my magnet in my saddlebag and towing the cart behind me. I was now completely inside the dorm, and I didn't like it one bit. It felt empty, which was obvious. But the fact I knew it was lived in, made it seem quite eerie and depressing at the same time. Everything being covered in cloth was like the rangers wished to forget this pony had passed away, despite whatever he had done, like a cover up. No pun intended. I looked around the room for something that nearly resembled Power Armour. It shouldn't be too hard being as most of the stuff in here was furniture, and I’m pretty sure that making property of the Ministry into furniture was punishable by the fullest extent. Makes sense really, I mean who on earth would make a coffee table out of one of the most incredible feats of engineering the world has ever known. My eyes finally arrive upon a cloth which seemed to have more jagged edges than the others, I also noticed that it seemed to have four trails where it had been pushed or dragged into the corner of the room. Approaching it I noticed it was not of a considerable size, being as the previous owner was a stallion, but more my size. This was brilliant. I raised my hoof to the corner of the cloth and yanked it off revealing something more than Power Armour.
Before my eyes laid a legacy. From my studies, some of the armour issued was not of a standard quality. The Ministry attempted to tweak with the design, outputting something which would be much more reliable, quicker and powerful. The result was not what was intended at all and was abandoned, however some of them were recovered from certain Ministry factories, and one of them in question was right here. The Mk III. Featuring a unique design overall which was designed to be more streamlined, plated with a rare black mineral that was said to make it 2x as strong as steel. It is also one of the few classes of armour which had backup Magical Energy Weapons installed as standard. Very few of these were made as the labour force was not able to cater for the demands needed, as well as the fact its design carried so many faults. Thus Project 2, as it was called, was shutdown, leaving them scattered across the lands.
I stood there a little longer, taking in the sight of the relic when suddenly I heard voices from out in the corridor. Soon enough I heard Serial's door slam shut, and I realised I had left mine wide open. Crap what was I going to do; if they caught me in here I was through. Maybe I could hide under a cloth, being as there were plenty here. No, too predictable, they would see me easily. Then. It hit me.
"Hey, what did you say we were doing again? I can't for the life of me remember" asked one of the Knights
"I told you, Gravy. We're here to collect that Power Armour. You know, that snazzy one that old coot keeps in his room" the other responded.
"Oh, I remember now. Damn what would I do without you, Pierce." admired Gravy.
"Nothing probably if I was partnered with some..." Pierce retorted, but was interupted.
*SLAM*
"Hey, that came from near that coot's room!" exclaimed Pierce's partner
The pair of them gallop round the corner to arrive at the room
"What’s his door doing open? I have the only key except for the quartermaster. And he wouldn’t be nosing round the likes of here" Pierce questions.
"Maybe someone came to take the armour we were supposed to collect?" Gravy suggested
Pierce thinks for a moment
"Nah, that’s absurd. Only Harrow and us two know about the armour being kept here. Plus who in their right mind would dare steal one of the rarest pieces of technology and honestly think they would get away with it." Pierce rejected, rolling his eyes to emphasise how stupid that sounded.
Suddenly a sound came from behind them, almost like a laugh, but they shrugged it off.
"Well, just to be sure, well do a quick search." Pierce concluded
"You got it!" Gravy shouted enthusiastically
They both enter the room and start circling round it, one hugging the left wall, the other on the right. They started looking under all the cloths, in all the cupboards and even under the carpets, but to no avail.
"Nothing!?" called Pierce
"Nope, just a large cart, probably left it for us. You?" replied Gravy
"Nope, I call this a joke, let’s get this job done so we can head over to Lion's" he conceded
They both return to the centre of the room and lay their eyes upon the Mk III Armour. They eyes widened at the sight of how incredible it looked compared to theirs.
"Come on, you take the rear." commanded Pierce as he began to tie a rope around the fore hooves of the armour.
Gravy took his position at the tail and lowered his head to begin pushing the armour onto the cart.
"Oh dear Celestia, what have I got her into?" regretted Serial, hearing the commotion coming from across the hall.
They lied when they said this armour was a legacy of engineering, more like a legacy of pain. This thing was digging into my flank and chest so badly I thought I would break some bones eventually. I could barely see out of my visor as it wasn't powered, leaving it tinted a deep black.
What I did know was that I was being pulled along on my cart by two other rangers. I didn't recognise them too well, but from their attitudes, they didn't seem to be Crusaders or anything higher. The one taking the front, Pierce, had what appeared to be a blood red coat with a cutie mark that looked like a bullet with a slip-stream. The other, Gravy, was out of my sight, but had a deep and uneducated voice. Pierce appeared to be taking the lead on all of this, I would have to be more weary of him when making my escape. My view was locked at a 45 degree angle, making it very difficult to get my bearings and figure out where I’m going. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Ugh, how long have we gotta go, I can't see a thing back here?" grunted Gravy
"Another few minutes, it's just round another corner." answered Pierce
I believe somepony must have requested that the armour has to be returned to the armoury, which wasn't a surprise. But that would mean I would be stuck inside there until I was retrieved. The place was designed to be a small replica of a Stable, the hardest place to break into during an invasion if there was to be one, containing a portion of the pride and joy of the contingent. And I certainly wasn't going to be hanging around with Water Talismans and Sprite-bots, no matter how electric the atmosphere may be.
One thing that intrigued me is that it was still the afternoon, and nopony has even attempted to investigate the unusual black-plated power armour that was being lugged through the Watering Hole. I mean, surely there had to be at least one pony who noticed it, I know I would.
Suddenly the cart came to a halt. Pierce dropped the rope onto the floor and walked off, out of my cone of vision with Gravy following his tail soon after.
"What do we d..." Gravy asked but was cut off suddenly
"Quiet. We're not supposed to be here remember." hushed Pierce.
Interesting. I'm sure if they are recovering something for the armoury under orders, they are within their right to be here. Where else would they put me that was restricted? I heard the sound of a shutter. The sound was prolonged and very quiet as the two of them attempted to maintain their stealth. Strange. The armoury door was like four-foot thick, it made a much more powerful noise than that, and it can only be opened by the on-duty guard.
But forgetting that, this was as good a moment as any to start my escape. Their eyes would be off me and I assume I'd have a direct line of escape from here. I used my teeth to push the release button on the mouth grip of the helmet as well as pushing my left hind hoof into the emergency pressure plate below it to trigger a manual release. I kept pushing into both of them as hard as I could but to no avail, possibly a bit tough being as it's quite old. Beads of sweat began to develop as my jaw muscles began to give up. I stopped and let out a breath just to see that Pierce had returned to pick up the rope. Time was running out, and I’m past being stealthy. I attempted stomp on the button instead which emitted a clanking noise, but it was drowned out by the wheels of the cart rolling on the ground. But among all the noise, no audible, unlocking clicks. Pierce dropped the rope and escaped my vision again. I tried with all my might thrusting my leg once more and following it through, until I heard a loud clack. Finally. But the armour still wouldn't budge.
BASH!
Oh no. That was the shutter.
I had been standing suspended in this armour for what had been hours. There were no lights, giving me nothing to examine in my limited field of view, the visor just made the dark... darker. I had attempted to start the armour up, but I didn't even get a spark. I went through every possible way to start it up as I was sure it wasn't broken, it was in such a good condition that it was impossible. Bar the releases I guess. I was stuck like this. The armour wouldn't start, the release mechanism was jammed, and nopony was likely to attempt to put the armour on as it was vintage and obsolete.
What felt like hours later, I heard the sound of a door opening in front of me, about a metre or two away. My eyes were bathed in light, and damn did I miss it already, despite them burning in their sockets for the first ten seconds. The sound of hoof steps approached until I saw the figure. A beige unicorn stallion with black frizzy mane the stretched down his neck. He was wearing a utility barding with various electrical tools and wires sticking out of it. One of the repair ponies we had acquired from one of the stables just at the border of Equestria most likely. From what I heard, a team of knights rescued them from a ghoul attack and have been a valuable asset to the Watering Hole since, performing maintenance around the place. He appeared to give me the once over and reached into one of his pockets with his magic and revealed a power jack. He attached one end to his Pip-buck and and put the other end into one of the ports in the side of my neck. My visor sparked up suddenly with a little battery symbol, revealing the power armour in fact was completely drained. The repair pony also recognised this I guess as he produced a great sigh.
"I'm soooo not in the mood for recharging this armour, as well as reconfiguring it," he complains, throwing his head to the ceiling.
"Pfft, tomorrow's work, I can find an excuse for Harrow." and he threw the extra pockets strapped to his barding on the floor below and left, leaving the light on.
Ok, so the armour does function just fine, but there is no power to actually release the locks or power up, and the manual release is jammed. Completely stranded. I begin to scream and shuffle in frustration for a few minutes. Surprisingly nopony heard me as the door remained firmly shut. I take a look at the equipment the repair pony left. I saw plenty of different length wires, jacks, screwdrivers, a small crowbar and... A spark battery. With a power jack and that spark battery, I should be able to charge the armour just enough to get out. But there was no physical way to do it. That repair pony can just flick the stuff around with his magic, which was a skill I had to sacrifice to be able to choose to do Knight training. But hey, I had plenty of time, I guess it was worth some pathetic shot. I had used some very basic forms of magic as a filly but only in the forms of levitation, very appropriate right about now. I began to focus, I hardly expected much to happen as I had no horn from which to emit my magic.
3 minutes of focus and nothing happened, not even a glow from above. I carried on further, almost thinking I might be able to discover some sort of trippy dimension at the back of mind or something as I heard some weird resonating hum. It grew louder and louder as my concentration carried on further. I decided to give up after a few more minutes but was unable. I was lost in shear concentration and couldn't find a way out. I then heard the lamp lighting the room beginning to flicker and buzz violently, and similar sounds came from different areas around me, including the floor where the spark battery was. Suddenly a powerful chill swept across my brain and down my spine just as a huge booming sound of lightning sounded throughout the room. My eyes shot open just to see lots of electric bolts darting across the room towards me. I shut my eyes out of fear and screamed yet again.
I stood there suspended by the armour still, eyes clenched shut. I peeped one of my eyes, surprised I was not in searing pain. What the buck did I just do? Did I do that? No that's impossible. I could only levitate tiny things as a filly, how could a hornless unicorn create some sort of... EMP... from her stub? Then in my series of questions, my visor once again lit up, but not with a battery symbol or another error. A start-up prompt? How is 'that' possible? I'm getting overwhelmed with developments here. The suit was drained and surely that EMP would have frazzled the last of whatever was left inside it. But... didn't those electric... things... come to me? And I clearly didn't conduct it. So the armour must have. I charged up my armour with some sort of electricity... magnet... using magic. Without a horn...
Serial Crack was glued to his terminal, hoping for a good sign that Crossword was still breathing and not caught. Last he needed was somepony, his friend... his 'best' friend, following in his footsteps. However he had to tip his hat to the ingenuity she had to hide in the armour, there couldn't of been another way out of that pickle. But that didn't draw from the fact she was in danger. Over the past two hours his ecstasy had diminished to guilt. He never wanted this for Crossword, he shouldn't of allowed her to encourage him, nothing good will come of this.
Upon his terminal screen was a radar, displaying all the Steel Rangers activated power armour in its radius, which covered most of the Watering Hole. The radar was linked to the large antenna sat upon the roof of the building. It was used for long distance radio broadcasts, but was also very good at detecting energy crystals, the ones in power armour specifically. He had his hopes that the Mark III had a unique gem contained within it due to its different architecture. This gem will show up differently on the radar to the other readings, revealing Crosswords location. But to his dismay, nothing had appeared yet that matched the specs. No readings in the armoury, just the usual guard outside it. The command building didn't appear to have much going on. Harrow was in his office, A couple of senior paladins on the floor below, and an assortment of crusaders on the floors stretching to the ground. Around its base, was a perimeter fence, making the front the only accessible entrance. Occasionally a knight entered, occasionally one left, like clockwork.
But... that didn't look like clockwork. Two signatures within the perimeter fence, at the back of the building. That's not normally accessible by anypony. The two knights made slow progress around the building within the perimeter for a few minutes until stopping at the rear. What could they possibly be doing there? The pair didn't budge for a moment, but the whole thing got more peculiar when they disappeared suddenly. It must be a glitch or something. Only way that could happen is if their armour powered down or they entered a room that was cloaked or something, which was absurd being as nopony out there would have that sort of technology.
I pondered on this further, watching as the same two signatures reappeared a minute or so later and leave the perimeter. It must be some sort of glitch developing from my make-shift setup, but despite it making no sense, it was just to unusual. And coincidental. Two knights came to pick up that armour. The armour that Star Paladin Hard Harrow wanted, not the Elder, or the Armour. It may just be a simple delegation, but he had always struck me as somepony with something up hidden his magazine. The fact that he always left unannounced was not the suspicious part, it's the way he goes about it. One day he'll be here, the next he would be gone, leaving even Cucumber Salad in the dark I have heard. I was never much of a trusting pony, but I smelled a rat. There might have been a possibility he is retrieving this armour unofficially, but for what purpose would he need it.
Suddenly I heard a large boom. It didn't sound like a bomb mind you, but more like some kind of pulse. Like a sonic boom I guess. Soon after hearing it, my entire dorm was left in darkness, my terminal abruptly left on a black screen.
What just happened?
"Evacuation now, everypony! I want all of you standing in front of your dorms ASAP!" shouted a clearly senior figure of the Watering Hole
Shit. I was hoping this day would never come, but sadly this was one of the few things that would mean me having to leave the safety of my den. I did have a contingency however for if an evacuation was initiated...
Star Paladin Hard Harrow looked down upon the Watering Hole from the emergency assembly point halfway up the crater. He was in deep though. How could such as damn simple job like this end up in shambles. I was looking after the most insignificant part of the whole Contingent, who in their right mind would attack here when there was a Head Quarters with much more equipment they could go for. Damn these fucking recruits, they don't have a hope in Tartarus to become true Steel Rangers.
Images of his last mission, the mission that ruined his life, came back to haunt him again. It was guaranteed to be a success, but I was given the worst team I could ever imagine. They blamed me for getting them all killed when it was clearly down to their ability. So here I am, in a place training more lousy recruits, to apparently make me learn from 'my' mistake. Those memories pinched a nerve every single time. I kicked my bare hoof to the ground, cracking what was beneath it. Fucking Cucumber Salad and his ideas. He should have just stripped me of my rank.
"Sir!" saluted a Paladin who approached him from behind
He returned from his angered thoughts and kept his gaze upon the Watering Hole
"You better have some reassuring news for me, 'cus I'm blowing a gasket here" he replied, remaining calm but visibly twitching with inner rage.
"From what our searches tell us, there wasn't a bomb at all. It appears that some sort of EMP went off near the main generator outside the Command Building. The engineers are working on restoring power, they say it will be a few hours. Otherwise, no damage has been inflicted, zero casualties.... Sir." reported the Paladin.
There was a long stretch of time where Hard Harrow spoke nothing, remained still, even his twitch was absent. A warm, dusty draught passed the pair of them, leaving the young Paladin slightly nervous. He was warned that bringing a report to Harrow never went smoothly. Suddenly Harrow turned to face him with a blank face.
"Get everypony back inside as soon as power is restored, I need to go back and check something." commanded the Star Paladin. He then returned his gaze to the Watering Hole and began to walk down the crater.
"But... Sir! I forgot! Cucumber Salad, he wants a report from ..." he pressed, but immediately regretted his words as Harrow stopped, his left hoof in mid-air.
He turned head to the Paladin, his face striking an incalculable amount of fear into his bones. Just when the face reduced his confidence to nothing, he changed his direction, approaching the Paladin who was now collapsed before him. He shoved his face in front of him and asked simply...
"I. Will report to him. When I. See. Fit." Harrow told the Paladin simply. Spelling the words out to him so he understood, his left eye twitching constantly as he stared at him with a deranged look.
"Of... course..." replied the Paladin, shuddering in fear of him.
"Of course. WHAT!" he blasted, the power of his voice literally throwing the frightened Paladin back.
"Of... C...c...course... Sir" the Paladin struggled the get the words out.
Harrow's mouth began to peak at the edges, smirking at the whelp he had made of the newly promoted Paladin.
"Good," he spat. Raising his head and resuming his path towards the base.
"Pleasure meeting you, newbie." he chuckled sinisterly, leaving the Paladin emotionally destroyed, lying in the dirt, staring at a hole in the hard rock crater, the same shape as a pony hoof.
I peered round the corner of the doorway to see the entire population of the Command Building leaving in file, following the instruction of two Senior Paladins standing either side of the doors. A siren had been blaring for the past 10 minutes, ever since that EMP went off. This entire espionage thing has been blown out of proportion here. I just wanted to get something off a terminal, now everypony in the Watering Hole was being evacuated. I don’t see a good ending to this. I messed up big time here.
However, this was a great opportunity. The electric devices in the Watering Hole appear to be down completely except for power armour apparently. They must think it's some sort of attack or something. But on the brighter side of things, there would nothing preventing me from getting to the bottom floor. I just had to bide my time, I’ll review my great escape and alibi when I achieve my mission. I retract my steel-clad head behind the frame of door. It's probably best I keep this on now, especially as it's working. I held back a squee as it dawned upon me what I was actually wearing and operating. This was gong to be fun.
After the ghost cleared about 10 minutes later, I slowly made my way out of what was apparently a secure repair bay, with an unlocked door. Scouting around the the seemingly empty main floor, I was happy to say that the command building was completely empty. Locating the route to the stairs, I literally skipped (or at least what would pass as skipping while in power armour) like a filly through the hallways towards them. No defences to worry about, no guards to hide myself from and no cameras to dodge. The armour really did show its worth being extremely light compared to the standard model and providing a night vision feature so I can find my way in the dark. It easily let me travel down the stairs two at a time with a slight jump. I passed all the office doors which were jammed open, all of which being empty to my relief. Inside them was the same, uniform sort of layout. Occasionally there were a pair of desks when the office was shared, but the decor down here was very bleak. Compared the the dorms anyway.
Reaching the bottom floor I counted each of the doors. It was number seven on the left hoof side. 1, 3, 5, and 7... There it was, wide open. I stepped in to see the format was identical to all the others on this floor and the two above me. An iron desk with a terminal embedded into it. A couple of paper filing trays, pen pot, the sort of stuff you would expect to see in a office I guess. I took my position at the terminal and plugged it in to my suit to power it up.
My prayers were answered finding the terminal unlocked when I placed the key in a slot behind the keyboard, opening up a bunch of random files. The terminals across the building appeared to sync with each other, sharing notes with each other. All of them appeared to have dates, so I sifted through until I found the same day as my entry into the knights. Nothing there, just a list of random names and such. The day before had more files, a mission list, armour distribution tables, and a job assignment roster. Bingo. Checking through I look at the title.
Right, so now I know exactly who was responsible, but I need more. I flicked through, seeing if somepony was writing minutes for the meeting, until I found a video. It was filmed. A monitor was located across the room in the wall, I moved over to it and attempted to do some crazy yoga position to plug both peripherals into my suit. I had more than enough power to do it thanks to that EMP. The monitor flipped on with a spark from the socket and played the clip until it came to my assessment...
"Ok, next Initiate, Crossword." announced Pearl Barley.
"Nope, deny it. She is trouble, will never be fit for duty.. Personally I think she should be put in the Scribes Roster if we have to do something with her." retorted Mallow
"On what grounds? Sound like this Initiate did something pretty bad to earn such a bad reputation from you?" questioned the Elder
"Where do I start," replied Mellow rolling his eyes with a snarky tone
"Hacking in to my personal terminal, aiding and abetting this Initiate here to cheat on her exam, and most importantly, nearly got herself killed in the Cage by a ghoul, never attempting to fire, just running away like a coward. She is a danger to herself and others, and I can be vouched for by the staff teaching her I’m sure."
"Well we already disputed the case of the hacking and found the evidence inconclusive. As for her abilities, I see your point. I'm going over her file now and there does appear to be a strong fault in her ability to shoot and kill. Her accuracy and skill with a weapon is satisfactory however, just the killing part from what I can see." Cucumber analysed
"And don't you think that that small fault in her file, is actually a big part in being a knight? What sort of Knight can't kill!?" shouted the Crusader, bashing his hoof on the table.
"I second that." stated Harrow, his head to the ceiling with a lack of interest in the conversation.
"If I may, Sir" spoke up Cherry
"Go ahead." he accepted
All eyes in the room were now on her, even Harrow left one eye staring at her.
"I can vouch that she would be a great Knight. I've known her since we both joined the programme together. She has a decent skill with weaponry, more importantly in how they work, exceeding my skills in that area admittedly. She may not be able to follow through a kill, but I think she needs more time. She was and still is an avid reader, which meant she wasn't really involved with all the extra stuff to do with target practise. I believe if we gave her the chance, she would be a valuable asset to any team. Highly knowledgeable, skilled and her single most powerful aspect. Determination. So strong, some would call it obsession." spoke Cherry, giving a very heartfelt speech from what I could see, her face showed very strong emotions as she spoke each word.
There was silence as everyone thought through what was said, with the exception of Harrow who seemed to fall asleep halfway through the speech. Mellow appeared to glare at her when Cherry returned his gaze, smirking a little.
"I see that her file supports all of what you say," acknowledges Cucumber
"It appears that she would make an invaluable scribe, but the problem with scribes is that they are unskilled in the field, making them a risk in the wastelands. Being as she is capable of showing the base skills needed of a knight, and the knowledge of a scribe, it makes her very promising in my eyes. But the issue of the killing is still there. Sadly I agree with Mellow, despite how strongly you feel on this Cherry."
"I concur," Pearl Barley spoke up.
"I do think she would fit in well with the Knights, with the correct applied practise. If we keep her out of the field for now, and say, put her on a safer job, one that would be very hard to mess up. I think she would gather that experience easily within a year or so. She is a very rare individual I must say, to lose her would be a great loss."
"What sort of job did you have in mind?" asked the Elder
"Possibly some local sweeps of the crater, border patrol? Nothing to intensive or risky. Most she will find out there is a stray Bloodwing or something. If we have some more capable Knights with her, the peer pressure will kick in soon enough." suggested Pearl
"I don't know, sweeps recently have uncovered some pretty dangerous hazards, I’ve only put senior knights on the job recently just in case, isn't that right?" questioned Cucumber, nudging Hard Harrow who was snoring next to him.
He woke loudly, nearly falling off his chair.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah... I put them on the sweep..." he moaned, not happy about being awoken.
"Hmm... Border Patrol is a possibility. I like the sound of that, she can practise her aim, even take a shot at some of those pests we have. Kill two pegasi with one stone." the Elder brainstormed, beginning to warm up to the idea
"You can't be serious, your actually considering this train wreck?" complained Mellow
"Yes, and if you have a problem with my personal decision in this matter, you can hand over your key, your armour and you can kick you own flank out of here, is that clear?" threatened the Elder quite sharply.
Mellow grumbled slightly but kept his mouth shut.
"Alright then Cherry. I will accept her to Border Patrol, but nothing more, at least until we see an improvement. However, if you truly feel she will fit in to the knights, I need something from you to prove your words are honest." the room returning their gaze back upon her.
"What did you have in mind, Sir." returned Cherry, her voice showed a slight tremble.
"We have had a very important mission going now for a very long time. I have sent countless numbers of parties on it, but none never have returned. However after the last attempt, I left it a little while. Admittedly the parties I sent were a little under skilled for what I see now as a very specialised task. We were considering... looking at some of the talent we have here now... putting you on this mission." the Elder explained.
"How many parties have failed, are they still alive?" inquired Cherry, she wore a look of fear upon her.
"Five parties to date. We have no information to tell us they are alive or deceased, missing in action is all we can say." he answered
"I'm not sure, is there something else I can do?" pleaded Cherry
"No. This is your promise. I highly doubt that this time we'll fail, we have great ponies on this mission this time, I'll be damned to see none of you return, empty saddled or with the objective. So are you in?" the Elder passed over a piece of paper with a pen.
Cherry took them both and examined the details upon what she must have considered a waiver of sorts. The pen held in her mouth was trembling as she began to relinquish a tear. Pearl took notice of this and went around the table to comfort her.
"I can really see you care for your friend, but we don’t live in a world of friends, we live in a harsh world where we must think of ourselves more than others. I'm sure we can find another way of getting Crossword into the knights in a few years time when she grows up a bit but..."
"I promised her. I don't break promises." she interrupted
"Well. I'm leading this mission, and I personally selected everyone on it, including you. I've watched you become a very strong pony from when you first began training, I watched all of you, and I only choose the best of the best."
Cherry looks up to her, giving her a very confused face.
"I believe in the team, and we sure as hell are coming back. Having you, Cherry Strudel, on the team will only make our chances of success greater." complemented Pearl
Pearl placed a hoof on her back and then made her way back to her seat. Cherry sniffed up the last of her tears, and placed the pen on the paper. After signing the waiver, she kicked it back across the table to the Elder.
"Very good, I'll put you on Pearl's roster and Crossword on the Border. I suggest you go back to your dorm and cool off a bit, thank you for you help in the meeting so far Cherry." said the Elder, again showing a little emotion for her.
Cherry spoke nothing as she got up from her seat and left the room.
The video clip was reaching it's end as they all began to leave the room, Pearl leaving last just when...
"Pearl? Just a minute." requested Cucumber
"Sure. What did you need, Sir?" the Paladin replied
"How sure are you that you and this team can wrap up this mission once and for all? I have made enough tries at this and lost enough Rangers to make me question if this is worth it?" he questioned
"I am just a desperate to find out what it holds out there as you are. Clearly if the past attempts failed consistently, it must be well protected, and extremely important. The Ministry wouldn't have placed something unimportant out there in the Bale-lands, it has to be of worth to us." convinced Pearl
"As long as your certain. The mystery of Project 17 has gone on long enough." the Elder said in a half relieved, half regretful manner before making his exit.
Damn was I wrong, I got everything seriously wrong. She really 'did' try her best to get me through to the Knights. And even though she didn't get me all the way, she made a big sacrifice from how it sounded to me.
Project 17? Where have I heard that before. It was connected to the Ministry of Wartime Technology according to Pearl Barley. Possibly it was a part of same system as Project 2, the Mark III Power Armour I was wearing now. That must mean they had a whole line of 'Projects' they were working on that were kept secret, as I've only seen reference to the first two. Project 1 was the original incarnation of the Power Armour which was modified eventually into the standard model used today. Was Project 17 another variation of Power Armour? That must mean there are seventeen different types of Power Armour out there for the taking, and the one the Elder was aiming for must have been extra important. Where did they say it was again... the Bale-lands. No wonder nopony has returned.
The Bale-lands was the region further south of us. It is in the middle of no-ponies land between Equestria and the zebra homeland, Zebrica. It gets it's name due to the rumours that Zebras used it as a testing ground for Balefire explosives and weaponry, poisoning everything around it. It must have been an accident putting the base there, as nopony would have set up a base there in a place as unforgiving as that. Depending on when these 'Projects' were setup, they might have done it before the first tests were started maybe. Those poor ponies... They couldn't of stood a chance.
The full extents of the damage from those Balefire experiments have never been seen in pony let alone documented. So I can't imagine what peril those previous Rangers had to go through to get to Project 17. Cherry put her life on the line for me, I would never of imagined she would do that for anypony. Let alone me...
A tear rolled from my eye. This wasn't good enough, I don't want to be a knight like this. She shouldn't have to get herself killed for me, I don't deserve that at all. Unplugging myself from wall screen, I looked to the screen I checked through more of the files listed there. A few files after the video was the main copy of the roster containing all of the details of where each promoted Initiate would go. Among the roster were entries for Cherry Strudel and me:
Urrgh. I wish they gave me a better specialty name than that, no imagination. Looking up and down the list, the other entries had cooler names like Munitions Expert, Physical Combat Specialist... Toaster Repair Pony... Okay maybe it wasn't that bad then. But I couldn't resist. I backspaced out my original specialty and replaced it with: Technical Advisor
Much better. Wait.... I can edit this. I face-hooved, realising I could change things, possibly for the better. I just needed to change Cherry's position to something else. I began to replace her position when I realised something. Both Pearl Barley and the Elder are expecting her on that mission, her absence would cause an investigation for sure. I guess she's locked in to this thing now... But she shouldn't have to do it without her friend. I moved to 'my' roster entry. I can't change mine either, they would definitely think something is up if they saw I was on that mission, I'm surely not considered the "best of the best" by Pearl Barley. However... I'm sure I could make myself look like it.
I jumped around the file system making new entries, academic notes and physical exercise results, all for a new knight joining the Watering Hole. A knight called... Shadow... Step? I'm not good at this naming stuff, but I guess since I've got this armour now, it's accurate at least. Agile, camouflaged and quiet, works for me I guess. Plus if it looked like I was transfered, it would look like the armour was mine personally. But then I ran into a obstruction... My voice. I could still be recognised if they were to hear me speak. Unless I didnt.
I remember a pony in my younger training class had a speach impediment that allowed him to get off of many of the more gruelling excersises that we were put through. Luna I envied him so much, but he did end up on cafeteria permanently. I guess lazyness doesn't pay off forever. But I did take a page from his... very empty work book. I listed on my profile that I was mute, it was simple to pull off and it would prevent anypony from finding out my true self. I also gave myself grades rivalling Cherry Strudel's, guaranteeing my ponysona would be justified on the mission. Now all that was left is to clear the missing link. I deleted my entry from the job roster, replacing it with this:
That should do it. I thought it would be safe to pretend I was a stallion just to clear up any coincidences if they were to arise. Chances are some smart alec will make a connection from my disappearance and the appearance of Shadow Step. Plus how hard could it be? As long as I kept to the fact I couldn't talk, nothing I could do could give away I wasn't who I actually am, at least until the Bale-lands maybe. I've never truly had much of an interest in stallions. From my experiences with them, they just shout at and criticise you for being a mare. Many of them still believe being a knight is stallions job, but they are a dying group now. Serial was never like that I guess, one of the few exceptions. I've seen other mares have relationships with them, but I don't see it, at least for me. Love doesn't interest me, I'm way too focused all the time to care about that. Things like this were 'way' more interesting.
Suddenly I heard the sound of trotting down the stairs just up the hallway outside. Shit. They're coming back into the building from the looks of it. I quickly unplugged everything from the console and left the electronic key on the desk in its rightful place. Moving behind the door swiftly and propping myself against the wall on two hooves, I escaped the sight of another pony walking in...
Peering thought the crack between the door and the filing cabinet next to me I saw the stallion had a black coat with visible red scars across his body, even covering his unrecognisable cutie mark. His mane was short and unkempt. It appeared to be a deep red but showed some signs of going grey and even missing in places. He scanned the room appearing as though he was looking for something. His face then came into view as he moved from the right side to the left side of the room. Once I saw the scar stretching from his mutilated ear to this mouth, I knew who it was. It was Hard Harrow, but what was he doing here, surely his office was upstairs. He lifted his hoof to look at his PipBuck, squinting at the display and grunting
"Urgh, why isn't this crap working! It's clearly not here!" he shouts in frustration. He bashes the PipBuck against the door, forcing the solid metal slab millimetres from my face, the door stop preventing it from going any further.
He moves away from the door and approaches the desk, examining the papers. He spots the key and moves his hoof to it. Busted. I'm out of here. Emerging from behind the door slowly, I leave the room as quietly as possible. I place my fore hooves gently upon the floor and stretch around the door as much as the armour would allow. I successfully leave the doorway and enter the hall, beginning a brisk trot to the stairs.
"Why would he leave his key in here. He would have needed it to get out... WAIT A MINUTE!" exclaimed Harrow.
I was up two steps just when Harrow slides out of the office spotting me.
"You thieving little cunt! Don't you fucking move!" commanded the furious looking Star Paladin. I stood there with my front left hoof hovering above the third step, looking to him from across the hallway. His face carried the famed 'Hard Harrow Twitch of Death' which he fired at me, staring me up and down. He was wearing his off duty uniform and holstering some form of pistol. His stance showed he was prepared to charge at me any moment.
"Where. Did you get that!?" he attempted to shout, but it ended up raspy, probably from shock or something. I did not reply to him, despite being caught, I still had my identity relatively hidden from him. I still stood a chance of getting out of this, possibly scot-free.
"Tell me!" He tried again, but despite being threatened by a high ranking superior, I kept my cool. I had the upper hand here. Although it shouldn't really come to this, I was clearly better equipped than him, and quicker as well.
He then took a large step forward, staying low to the ground so he could easily attempt to dodge anything I fired at him. I reversed and climbed another step of the staircase to keep my distance.
"I said don't move!" he screamed again, reclaiming his voice apparently
It must have been this point that I went from wetting myself with fear, to finding this slightly amusing. Experimentally, I moved a few steps back, which to my amusement, made Harrow back track with a growl. I tilted my head to the side and lifted my hoof and waved it to the side, the overall gesture saying "Oh please". He then began to bear his teeth, growing even more furious. I wonder if he had a limit?
"You think your so tough in that suit?" he asked mockingly. I nodded vigorously, sniggering quietly.
He reached to his holster to take his weapon. Ok then, he's going for that approach, now where is 'my' weapon. I push the button with my teeth that I guessed armed the weapons system. I was met with a new, red heads up display with targeting features littering my vision, featuring E.F.S and S.A.T.S. The magical energy rifles on either side of my armour make a whirring sound as they charged up.
"Hmm... You could do that. If you wanted to be disintegrated completely by this?" He spoke before he drew a magical energy pistol. Well that is something you don't see every day. Those types of pistols were not standard issue from the armoury, it must be a personal one of his.
But seriously! Disintegrated? By that? That thing couldn't even disintegrate regular power armour completely, let alone this power armour with it's plating. He's clearly bluffing thinking I don't know my weapons. But I'll play along for now. I tilt my head to the side again which makes him grin.
"Oh? You don't recognise this?" he asks, mocking surprise. I shake my head to him slowly.
"Of course you don't, it's one of kind. Never has a magical energy weapon been engineered to its finest, it's body is a work of art itself..." He went one about it. It did have a rather unique body from the ones I've seen pictured in books. But he was clearly trying to fool the wrong sort of pony. I could see the standard M.W.T branding on the base nonetheless, indicating it was still the same architecture and power as all the rest of the other energy pistols.
While he carried on glorifying, I initiated my S.A.T.S and targeted the butt of the weapon. Hopefully this would disarm him as well as debilitate him, allowing me enough time to escape without harming him. Locked on, I fired a low energy shot from my left holstered energy rifle. It was a perfect shot, the force knocking the pistol from his mouth, melting the butt slightly, and even knocking Harrow back onto his rump. He released a loud groan, surprised at the sudden shots fired. Ticking all but one of the boxes, I began to sprint upstairs.
Fourth Floor... Galloping as fast as I could. I still couldn't understand why I wasn't wetting myself with fear or something. Third Floor... Taking down a Star Paladin was treason to its highest degree, even if it wasn't lethal. Second Floor... But out of the many Star Paladins I've heard of from stories, he was hardly worth his title. First Floor... But one thing I really did notice when I picked him off. Ground Floor... I had never felt so alive!
I burst out of the front doors of the Command Building and took cover behind a planning room outside. Taking a look around both corners, it still appeared that the Watering Hole was evacuated. No sign of anypony, not even a scouting patrol. I must still be ahead of them... Perfect. The best place to go right now would be Serial's dorm. Wait... Crap!
I left my cover and galloped to Serial's dorm building. Because of me, Serial might be in big trouble. He never leaves his room, not just because he's technically not allowed, but he's a dead pony walking if he does. I bash the door down of the dorm building and head to the last junction of hallways, taking a left and reaching his door.
"Serial! You in there?!" I shout desperately, knocking on the door violently to the correct beat. But I hear nothing from inside. I reach for the doorknob just for the sake of trying, only to find his door unlocked. I deep ache develops in my chest with it reaching up my throat. I take a deep breath.
'He's smart, he wouldn't let anything happen to him'. I push the door open slowly. Peeking through I see the door to the kitchen, which looks normal and intact. Pushing the door open wide I step through, revealing the central room... Oh Celestia!
"NOOO!" I screamed. I rush into the room and reach the sofa, knocking the coffee table to the left side of the room. In front of me was the body of Serial Crack, but in a very sorry state. I activate my E.F.S to confirm the worst, no signal... He was gone. I drop my head and begin to sob. I see a knife below me that must have been used to kill him. I sat there in front of the sofa, multiple emotions going through my head. Anguish, rage and... Guilt. I caused this. I exposed him to whoever did this. Why didn't I just stay on the border. This would never have hap-
The front door slammed behind me and I jumped up enabling my weapons, ready for a firefight. I turn around to see the unbelievable.
"You know the rules, Crossword," Serial scolds her. "Keep the door closed."
My eyes widen as I quickly do a double take between the apparent fake body and the real one talking to me now.
"Bu-bu-but how?" I stammered, my chest beginning to have some sort of war being waged within it.
He walks into the room and collects the coffee table with the assistance of his magic.
"Well I've always thought that eventually something would happen that would mean I would need to leave the dorm. And obviously that would be the end of me. So using some spare textiles, food packaging and other scrap that ends up here, I made a dummy. So I hide, they come in and see me dead. Seems simp-AAHHHH!" Serial collapsed beneath me as reach to hug him.
"I-thought-you-were-dead-and-I-caused-it-because-I-started-the-evacuation-with-an-EMP-thing-with-my-horn-and-I-was-chased-by-Hard-Harrow-and-shot-a-pistol-out-of-his-mouth-and-it-was," I take a huge breath and was about to resume when I started hear some painful groans below me. I completely forgot the shear amount of weight I had.
"Ahh, Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" I leap off of the navy unicorn and reach down to lift him back on his hooves.
"It's. Umph. Fine," Serial places a hoof on his neck, a look of pain across his face. "I thought I was going to end up like that dummy."
"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" I asked, a little worry still in my throat.
"Nah, I'm good. I'm not a wrinkly yet," Serial attempted to joke. "But I didn't get a word you said to me earlier. Let's take a sit down, I'll make some drinks while you take off that armour."
Serial gives me a look up and down, producing a facial expression of awe, before trotting to the kitchen.
After half an hour, I had explained my entire experience inside the armour, the Command Building, the EMP, the video, Project 17 and Hard Harrow. Serial didn't interject throughout my story, taking everything in. He took another sip from his mug before saying a word.
"So then, your very lucky." stated Serial before taking another sip. I gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, forgetting the fact your on this mission now, I'll get to that. But the fact you can still use your magic. That's a very rare skill. I've heard of only one unicorn that was able to do a spell with his horn removed, and that was just levitation." He nodded as he spoke, impressed with my apparent discovery.
"But I'm not even sure that was me, I mean it's impossible for magic to work with technology at that sort of level... Isn't it?" I questioned myself. It's something I've never quite considered. I mean magic can be used to interact with a terminal, like a keyboard and stuff. But to actually effect technology like an EMP was a weird thought.
"Well I wouldn't say it's impossible. Magic should never really be considered to have a limit. I guess we never have researched magic much, at least I'm not aware of the Rangers doing it. But magic can do incredible things if you put the right amount of training into it." Serial lectures.
"But I don't have a horn. Explain how that's possible." I point to the stub on my head where my horn used to be.
"I guess that's true, but it's quite the coincidence that the room you were in was not far at all from the Watering Hole's Power Array." He argued
"Wait. Really!" that set me back. Maybe it was possible.
"And this 'Project 17' thing, very interesting. I've not heard of any of these Projects. But you say that the Black Power Armour was part of Project 2. It would make sense that they started doing more 'Power Armour' based experiments. Must have been really wrapped under covers though if they didn't even name them." Serial put a hoof to his chin.
"Well. The Elder seemed very keen on getting his hooves on whatever it is. So much that's he was willing to risk those other Rangers on it." I added
"You sure it was a good move? Putting your self on that mission sounds really sketchy, let alone the fact you'll have to fake your identity. How are you going to be able to pull that off?" criticised the unicorn.
"Well I had a few ideas in my head. But I was hoping you could help me with that?" I put a hoof behind my head. I've really asked so much of him today, I should hardly expect him to say-
"Yeah, sure." he accepted. He met my surprised face after looking through some documents on the floor.
"Err... Well then. What did you have in mind?" I questioned.
Serial Crack lifted a map of the Watering Hole from the corner of his room and placed it on the table. He retrieved a pen and circled a few places upon it. He then retrieved a blank piece of paper and jotted down a list of seemingly random objects.
"Let's work with this alias you have made for yourself, Shadow Step." he looks to me with that grin he had earlier today. Looks like I've turned on 'that' part of his brain again. What was I in for?
Crusader Milkshake had had quite the day. As he strolled down the hallway to the bottom floor of the Command Building, he recapped how his squad took down five Bloodwings on one patrol, getting a recommendation for a promotion, and having to handle his first evacuation. He was pretty tired, but he had to do one last thing.
All the security doors were still jammed open from that power surge so there was no need for his key. He was lucky as well as he appeared to have lost it somewhere, possibly around when he returned to the base. He remembered nodding to that new knight on the border, remembering how he was there once at the start of his time as a knight also. He approached his office on the bottom floor when he noticed something. His office door was the only one open on this floor. Maybe he just forgot to close it when he left this morning.
He enters the room and takes off his armour, leaving it in the corner. Sighing with relief from his restraints he turned to look to his desk when he jumped out of his fur.
"Hello there," spoke Hard Harrow. He sat in the Crusader's chair, a magical energy pistol lying next to him and an electronic key hanging on his hoof. "Missing something?"
"S-s-sir, I wasn't expecting you." stuttered the bright yellow pony.
"Of course you weren't, I just came down here to try and find something of mine." The Paladin put a lot of emphasis on the 'mine'.
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Sir. I can't imagine how any of your property would have ended up down here." explained Milkshake
Hard Harrow snorted a single laugh.
"A very common answer... for a LIAR!" Harrow's voice broke suddenly at the end into a shout. "You don't think I'd figure out your filthy little plot to take 'my' armour?"
The Crusader's face became very confused.
"I don't understand what you mean, Sir?" he insisted
Hard Harrow slammed him to the ground. He face seething with rage and bearing his teeth.
"You filthy, fucking thief. I've already figured you out, there's no point in lying. Now tell me where the armour is!" he demanded
"I-I don't know wh-what you mean? What armour? Mine is over there in the corn-AHHH!" wailed Milkshake as Harrow jammed his hoof into his snout.
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" he yelled
"I don't know!" the crusader cried, breaking into tears.
Hard Harrow sighed. "Pathetic, I guess 'this' should motivate you."
A bright white glow was then emitted that made the Crusader squint for a moment. When he looked again, he saw the magical energy pistol pointed to his face, enveloped in a white haze. He gasped in fright as he looked past the firearms to see a bewildering sight. He was levitating the gun, without a horn.
"Now then, Milkshake. Tell me where the fucking armour is, or I'll turn you into dust," he asked calmly, setting each word out, trying to make it easier to understand.
"I-err... May know where it, well." His eyes darted about, both confused at what was going on and trying to think of something he could say.
"Yes? Go on?" the Paladin encouraged. He pressed the pistol further into his face.
"Erm... I think I saw... S-something outside before I came in... It l-looked unusual." suggested Milkshake
Hard Harrow's eyes narrowed. "What colour was it?"
"Steel, of course... Right?" confirmed the Crusader, a tear leaving his eye.
The Star Paladin sighed. "Wrong answer." He charged the weapon and fired just before Milkshake could scream, rendering him into ashes.
He rose from the remains and holstered his weapon. Looking to his PipBuck, he attempted to locate the armour again. Nothing. NOTHING! He slammed the PipBuck to the ground, creating yet another small dent in its casing.
"I WANT THAT ARMOUR! ARGGHHHH!" Hard Harrow flipped the office table in frustration, littering the floor with paperwork and knocking the terminal over, smashing it's screen. Turning to the chair, he picked up the electronic key and hung it on the hook at the front of the door and closed it behind him.
Advancing up the stairs, he calmed himself and rethought his plan. Despite the failure this time in retrieving the armour, he wouldn't stop there, he 'couldn't' stop there. Clearly there was a pony out there that knew their stuff. They knew how to operate the armour, they could identify energy weapons, those are skills that are very rare. It was just a matter of finding out which pony in this hole had them. He could pick out quite a few names that could be the culprit, but he couldn't act on it. Not with the Elder breathing down his back at least.
He looked down to his energy pistol in its holster. The Star Paladin was getting fed up of answering to that prissy scumbag. But this time, he wasn't going to stand for it. This armour is essential for his plans. And anything that gets in his way, would end up with the same fate as that Crusader. Levitating his pistol again and cocking it, he looked to his PipBuck, acquiring the location of the Cucumber Salad. Perfect. Lounging in his office. He wouldn't see this coming, not in the slightest. He laughed maniacally as he took the 'long way' round the building, heading for the top floor, the Elder's Office.
The air conditioning was really due for some proper attention. I admit that my own personal directives have distracted me slightly from my actual programmed duties, but it was certainly much more optimal for me to repair it every now and then, instead of every single day. That left we with so much more time to continue restoring Dr. Redthorn's books before I needed to recharge.
I had fetched a toolbox from the maintenance bay and was soldering a loose wire within the central air conditioning control box. It had come loose due to the extreme heat emitted from the wiring, so hot it melts the adhesive of the tape and the iron. I have not attempted understand how a cooling system like this gets so hot. This particular one had come loose three times now, but I have failed to find a more effective way of fixing it with the resources I have. The best I could do was solder it back into place and seal it with more conductive tape.
I levitated the tape roll, rolling it round the remaining flecks of exposed raw wiring, coating it with two shiny layers. Using more would possibly fix this issue more permanently, but I'm running out of the tape as it is, I have to conserve it as best as I can. It seemed more viable every day that I should go and scavenge for more resources outside of the compound. My spare energy reserves in my pod were getting lower every day. If they become empty, I would not be able to keep myself going as my energy would dry up. As well as that, there are the repair materials, restoring the ammunition supply and not to mention the lack of ink. Without any ink... I would be completely without a function, not even one of my personal making.
With the faulty wire patched I send a jolt of energy through the circuit using the manual switch inside and begin to hear the fans oscillating once again. At least for now I didn’t have to worry about terminals overheating in hear, that would certainly of added to the scavenger list. I back my head out of the maintenance shaft and seal it up with the screwdriver. The A/C Control Box was on the lower of the top floors, above me were three more floors, the one above me containing my pod. Below me was another floor, but the facility went even deeper than that, but beyond my access. Over to my left, I see the secondary exit leading out of Project 17 into the cave. I wonder if it would be that bad if I just take a look around outside. I've done it before to exterminate intruders, so it wouldn't be much different if I went to look for parts. It was doing me and the compound a service. Maybe a there would be new creature to document on the way? I turn back to re-enter the main lab, just to drop off the toolbox and pick up the Dr. Redthorn’s 'A Guide to the Species of Equis'. But after taking only four steps, a loud siren sounds throughout the facility. It's the perimeter alarm, something is outside Project 17. That's awfully quick however, the last alarm only went off last week, and they’re normally months apart. This was extremely unusual.
Dropping the toolbox to the ground, I look up to see the first of the three red warning lights flashing. The alarm was coming from the main door on the topmost floor. That door lead straight outside into the surface above and had been set off only twice in my lifetime, both of which were falsely triggered. Galloping, I depart from the secondary door and control box and take the next tunnel on the right, darting to the uppermost floor. Reaching the final hallway, within the darkness I see a pinprick orange glow coming from the centre of the door, making a precise three hundred and sixty motion. It appeared to be drawing a circle with molten metal. A breach. This was fascinating. Normally invaders get debilitated when falling into the cave or reaching the main door in this case, but never has an invader attempted to take down any of the doors without me first going out there to remove them.
E.F.S Activated
Weapons Array Initialised
I take a decent offensive position around ten meters from the door just behind a ridge in the right wall, obscuring most of me from sight. The glow grew much brighter and parts of the door appeared to be melting in certain places. They must have been using an extremely powerful energy weapon to break down that door, it's made of two foot thick steel. The glow then began to subside as the centre of the door melted away to reveal a perfect circular hole. I open both my side panels and activate my Long Range Energy Beam Rifles. Locking both onto the steaming breech in the door.
"FIRST WAVE, MOVE IN!" shouted a gruff voice from somewhere behind the door.
Okay here we go, take it slow. That's what he said. There was nothing to worry about in this place. According to the brief from Enclave HQ, this place has been abandoned shortly before the bombs fell. They said it was a simple first mission for us, and my other team members and commander have complete faith in that. So why do I get the feeling that something's going to go wrong. I guess it's just my nature with things like this
As the steam clears from our breach attempt, all we see is darkness on the other side. Maybe it was just me being overly dramatic. I duck and traverse through the door, my armour holding off the radiant heat being emitted from the molten steel. This base was certainly well hidden and secure. The laser beam we took with us needed four pegasi to carry, it was enormous. I'm more than certain it was rare or even one of a kind.
I emerge through the hole and move to the side to allow the rest of my wing to come through. I couldn't see anything down there, it was pitch black. Activating my Night Vision swiftly solved that problem, soon followed by my E.F.S. The radar-like wave passed over my vision but beeped upon finding a red bar. I was just about to warn the others when it began to flicker.
There was faint red light above us that glowed intermittently, most likely a built in alarm system. I waited as the rest of the other wings emerged through the breach and took their positions. Thundercrack jumps through and takes his position next to me.
"How you feeling?" He asks, a little nervousness about him.
"A lot better than before, I was thinking there was going to be turrets pointing at us when we arrived." I explained with a sigh
"That would have been bad, but even that couldn't be worse than obstacle training, were still living to see the day after those." he turns to meet my gaze. I could tell he was smiling at me. I had known Thundercrack since joining the Advanced Division of the Enclave. We helped each other out a lot and both got to this stage. I'm not sure what I would have done without him really.
Sergeant Tropical Drift poked his head through the breech finally and observed the darkness in front of him.
"All clear, Sir!" I announced. I check with the others and they all appear to be nodding in agreement. This looked good, very good.
"Brilliant, first wing stick to me. second wing scout the right, third wing take the left. We're nearly on the homestretch everypony. All Clear!" he commands. I join in as he's met with a loud: "SIR, YES SIR!"
I was lucky enough to be in the first wing with the Sergeant so I stay back and allow the first two wings to advance into the darkness. After some room was made, we formed a diamond formation arround Tropical Drift. I take my position at the rear of the diamond just as Thudercrack bumps his flank to mine on the left.
"We watching each other's flanks then?" he asks cheekily, taking his position behind me.
"I don't think I could resist." I laugh to him. Yeah. We're like that.
"Stop flirting you two and stay on task!" shouted the Mellow Brook, the Second-in-command who took the pole position at the front.
We then set oof down the tunnel. I followed in formation at the back. It was important I covered our flank to ensure we didn't get... well... flanked I guess. Ground manoeuvres are a great weakness for us pegasi and we tend to avoid them unless in situations like this tunnel where it was vital for us to use them for success. However the pitch black surrounding we were attempting to traverse made my job that little bit more stressful. The night vision did allow me to see a great distance, but it sure didn't beat daylight, or even wasteland light. The glow from the alarm at the door faded away, but the other lights alarm lights adorning the rest of the tunnel seemed to either of blown a fuse or had gotten damaged in other ways maybe. However I don't need to worry so much about where I was going. Thundercrack's flank gave me a little support as well as the rest of the wing eliminating or guiding around other obstacles. I just needed to be concerned about what was lurking in the dark, just out of my view...
GULP
E.F.S: Total Entity Confirmation - 36
E.F.S: Total Hostile Confirmation - 36
Okay then, this is more invaders than I anticipated. I am certain I wouldn't be able to take all of them down at once, they appear to be extremely well organised unlike the previous encounters outside. Plus they had me in an enclosed space which has disadvantages also.
They were Equestrian-like from their shape, but their outlining feature was what was attached to their sides. They had bird-like wings. I had seen this before in Dr. Redthorns "Guide to the Species of Equis". There were three common types of 'pony' as the common dialect referred to them as. There was the regular form, Earth. Unicorns who were able to wield the mana using their horns. And then there was the pegasi, being able to fly with their wings. They must be pegasi, I have never seen one myself other than the drawings provided in the guide. That also explained the different armour they were wearing, which had a clear difference from the steel I was used to seeing. It appears from their organisation another faction similar to those of the Steel Rangers is attempting to steal the technology within. I would have to document this further to keep the guide up to date, but I need to eliminate the threat first. I take a slow tactical retreat, analysing their movements and deducing what their action plan was.
They appear to be in three groups, apparently called 'wings'. They appeared to be splitting up to find what they are looking for which gives me an advantage. A 'wing' of twelve was much more manageable than a squadron of thirty six. The plan of action logically appeared to be to pick them off wing by wing, one by one. The other thing to bear in mind is that leader, the one that appeared to be managing the entire operation. He appeared to know exactly what he was looking for, very intriguing. Maybe it would be better to eliminate the squadron, but spare him to get some answers. The plan was set.
I turn and position myself in the next room on the left, The Spare Parts Storage.
The first wing had searched through all the scrap equipment on the shelves, in the cabinets and strewn across the floors. It didn't appear as though they found anything they were looking for, if they did, that would be surprising. Soon one of them approached the only room in the Spare Parts Storage Area, one that would make taking out this wing extremely simple.
"Area Clear! Let's get this room done!" shouted the one closest to the door. It appears they also have sub-leaders, how very interesting. The sub-leader entered the room with the rest of the wing following him. Luckily they missed the faded warning sign that said that it was the sterilisation chamber for any irradiated or tainted equipment. More usefully, not designed for decontaminationating live specimens
Walking into the Spare Parts Storage, I slowly approach the open door of the chamber, hearing the sounds of shuffling armour, moving objects and frustrated grunts being emitted by the soldiers. Being deep in their search, they didn't notice me slowly closing the chamber door until the latch clicked and I pulled up the external lock. The entire wing went silent, looking upon the door and my head peeking just through the frosty window. They all then stared upon me, possibly unsure what to make of the sudden development. This soon changed though when I noticed that some of the weapons holstered on their armour began to glow. Those energy weapons, if they were engineered like the one that breeched the front door, would make little work of this one. I quickly yanked the lever next to the door, lighting a rotating amber light above both sides of the door. After, I then dived behind a desk to take cover from the shots that would soon be penetrating the door.
The sterilising chamber uses a special type of chemical that eliminates all kinds of radiation and, from what the lab notes had explained on the matter, was also rather effective on the phenomena known as 'taint'. However, to organic matter, this chemical doubled off as a deadly neurotoxin. It takes only seconds to cause instant heart failure and burn flesh upon exposure to even the tiniest concentration of it. The chemical was aimed to be issued in the form of a wet wipe named a 'RadWipe' that would remove radiation from any object that happened to be exposed, but was sent back to the labs to be rethought due to the consequences upon holding it or even breathing near it. However, it still appeared to be used in cases such as this sterilising chamber.
I began to hear the stray fire of energy weapons inside the chamber along with the wailing and screaming of the soldiers who were firing them. One penetrated the door allowing the gas to escape, making a high pitch whistling sound. The chemical soon began to fill the parts bay at a rapid pace causing me to back out of the room, I couldn't allow harm to befall me now. I had another two wings to deal with to secure Project 17.
The firing began to slow gradually to a stop, after the last shot I heard a loud thump of armor.
E.F.S Total Entity Confirmation - 0
E.F.S Total Hostile Confirmation - 0
With that wing covered, I made my leave to escape the oncoming gas. Two more wings to go.
We had been advancing down the same tunnel for what seemed like an hour. I had my Novasurge Rifle primed and ready for anything that could pop out and surprise us, but I was confident nothing of the sort would happen now after so long. Who was I kidding really?
"You see anything?" whispers Thundercrack behind me.
"Nope, just dark, a little more dark and... Hey wait... I think I see some dark over there." I joke, he nudges back.
"Very funny, stay focused though, we don't want anything to happen." he warned
"Chill, nothing's appeared or looked suspicious so far. I'm pretty sure that we would have had trouble by now, if we were going to get some." I reassure the dark pegasi. He grunts in acknowledgement
"Look alive! Large room ahead!" I hear the second-in-command, Mellow Brook, shout back to us.
This must be it. Apparently the place the Sergeant was looking for was literally a single decent into a central part of the base. What was very bizarre however, or at least I think is bizarre, is how he hasn't informed us of what we are looking for. Not even the slightest hint. It's been wrapped under covers so thick that our departure to this wasteland is apparently completely classified. He just expected the other two wings to look for intel and anything unusual. 'It will be obvious if you find it' I remember him saying, I just rolled my eyes to how absurd that sounded.. Still, I did feel extremely honoured that Thunder and I were picked for such a prestigious mission.
As the archway passed over my head I shifted my position to match our current formation, a 'v' shape, that progressively surrounded the rim. This room was lit somewhat dimly from the centre, much better compared to the pitch black tunnel we had just traversed. It was circular, and didn't seem at all cramped compared to the rest of Project 17 that we had already seen. There appeared to be some sort of pod positioned in the middle of the room which was the source of the faint green light. The insides of it was not visible through the aged, frosty glass. I looked towards the edges of the room to see some terminals. Thinking I could get some credit for ingenuity, I make a move for the closest one to see if there was any intel Icould gather from them. However after turning the corner of the table, I was met with a very different sight to what I wanted.
"HOSTILE!" I scream as I launch back and re-enable my rifle. I received five other teammates behind me within a few seconds to back me up. The ranger didn't appear to move, in fact now that the glow from our rifles lit up the corner better, it looked incapacitated. The armour was laying on its side against the wall in a very peculiar position. The Sergeant then appeared from behind us and approached the armour, revealing a puddle of blood beneath it. I think I was about to follow in suit as the blood drained from my head. Something was down here. I was right all along.
"False alarm, he's dead. As you were," Drift announces, before pointing to me and Thundercrack who moved to stand next to me. "You two on me, we're cracking this pod open."
"Sir!" we salute, following him to face the green pod in the middle of the room. It appeared to be made out of the same steel as the rest of the base, but had fine, circuit-like lines running over its body apparently pulsing the same faint green colour. It looked very spooky in the dim light. The Sergeant looked down to the panel. A green button and a red button, the labels had be worn away by the apparent freeze and thaw of the years, also creating cracks in the rusty iron casing.
"Well, any guess which one?" He turns to look at us.
"Sir, I would say go with the red button, Sir!" suggests Thunder
I was sceptical at the suggestion, I have no idea how this technology works round here, let alone who engineered it. My guess would be M.W.T but some parts resemble early Enclave designs, such as the archways and floor plan from what I could see so far. But I had no clue which button, so I just nodded. Tropical Drift then turned back to face the buttons. He lifted his hoof and tapped the red button. A very unhealthy whirring sound then was emitted from the pod as the face of it began to creak open. The whole wing turned to face the pod as they were mesmerised with what could possibly be within. Steam flowed out of the pod obscuring its contents as the lid slowly reached its peak. Suddenly the radio in the Sergeants helmet crackled:
"SIR! ABORT THE MISSION! UNKNOWN HOSTILE HAS TAKEN OUT BOTH WINGS! ABO-" the speech ends abruptly with static. It's all coming true. My fears and assumptions. Did I make this happen? What will we do?
I swiftly entered the Central Lab without gaining the attention of the remaining wing. They were all gathered around my pod, the leader bellowing out orders. They appeared to have opened my pod oddly, but that could be used to my advantage. I saw an opening as one of the soldiers stepped back out of the peripheral vision of those next to it. Approaching slowly, I quickly place both of my arms around his neck and twist it, breaking the support of his armour and his neck in one motion. I lower him gently to the floor and position myself slightly behind the group, observing the events.
"Okay, there is nothing to panic about everypony! We have a great strategic advantage here. There's only three entrances into this room and no vents or other entry points. Whatever this 'thing' is, we can hold it off and eliminate it easily if we stick to our training and protocols. You hear me!" the leader reassures them.
"SIR, YES SIR!" resonates around me as the ten remaining soldiers stamp their hooves.
But just as planned, when the leader takes a step backwards towards the pod, makes a very loud 'clack' sound. The robotic tentacles then darted out of the pod and seized their leader. They wrapped around his neck, each hoof and waist before beginning to retract, pulling him back inside. All of the soldiers gasp and arm their weapons attached to their armour.
"STOP! Hold you fire! Look be-" he yells but was muffled as a tentacle covers his mouth. The soldiers glance among each other after that cut off warning was delivered to them. I activated my S.A.T.S before one of them notices me and oscillate my rifles to face the soldier to the left and right of me. Upon hearing the sound of my mechanics, the two pegasi turn to face me...
A loud pair of bangs came from behind me followed by some groans. I turn sharply and gasp at the sight. Two teammates had been shot down, huge punctures to both of their helmets with no sign of them struggling. My E.F.S confirmed they were dead. Looking up I see something in the darkness. There were two green lights floating in the gloom. All of us turned our weapons upon it, lighting it up to reveal what looked like a Steel Ranger, but very different. The Ranger was much more slender than others I had seen before. It had two shotguns on its back, pointing them at each of the corpses. It was made of the same type of steel that I recognised but was bolted much more thoroughly in many more places. The only exception to that was the open hatch from where the shotguns appeared to emerge on each side. It also appeared to be missing the normal ear spaces that their power armour had, instead having long thin attenas. The face was missing any form of breathing implement, just flat steel, no holes at all. It also didn't have the steel equivalent of a mane and tail either. But the most unique part about it was the eyes. The armour had no visor, but instead had bright green glowing eyes. It stood in an upright, stoic posture, examining everything in front of it. The E.F.S attempted to scan the figure revealing a flickering red bar darting around my visor. Either my E.F.S was faulty or it was being jammed or interfered with somehow.
"STAND DOWN!" demanded Mellow Brook
The Ranger did not move one inch, but kept its weapons raised upon the corpses. It appeared to be staring past me at the pod. Turning my head I see the Sergeant being sealed inside it, hidden from our view. I turn back then to the Ranger, who was looking to me now, its head tilted slightly. What did it want? If it was killing us, it would have tried by now.
"By Order of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, you are to surrender your weapons and hand yourself over, Ranger!" the second commander instructed rather brutally. There was indeed some shock in her voice. The Ranger however made no move to follow her commands.
"State your name!" the soldier next to me commanded. It turned its gaze to him but said nothing.
"What do you want?" I tried a different question. But received no better response. It then turned its gaze to the corpse to its left, its armour still intact. It moved a hoof forward slowly but was met with Mellow's charging weapon...
"FREEZE! I SAID DONT MOVE!" repeated Mellow Brook. It ceased movement upon hearing her, but looked up to meet her eyes, now turning amber and rotating the shotguns to face her. They were at a stalemate. But, she then made a grave mistake. She fired her rifle, and upon hearing the click of the trigger, the Ranger's eyes turned a deep red and suddenly shifted to the side, dodging the Ray and leaving all of our fields of view.
"Find it! Watch your flank!" she warned as she pointed her rifle around, attempting to find the ranger.
The Grand Pegasus Enclave. So this was who I was faced with...
Clearly very militarian just like the Steel Rangers from my observations so far. I wonder if the unexplored surface is under some form of military rule. The chances made it highly unlikely, but the probability of anything at the moment was questionable with all this new information.
They clearly wouldn't trust me as a non-hostile. I was evaluating whether it was worth making peace with these intruders so I could identify what they were looking for. But that fell to ruin quickly. I was taking shelter behind a terminal desk, watching as hazy lights drifted across the wall attempting to find me. The darkness appears to be playing a disadvantage to me due to my eye lights. The glowing had always been something I was used to. They allowed me light up where I was going without any other form of artificial light source or night vision. But maybe switching them off is an option in this case. They weren't exactly an essential function, they are really used just to identify my status, such as my hostility.
Shutting down external light sources
It was much darker without their usual guiding light. But I guess the spotlights from the Enclave weaponry would provide me with the illumination I needed right now and my E.F.S should complete the rest of the job. I peeked up to survey the situation. The remaining eight units were scouring the room, looking for any sign of me. They seemed out of formation, at least compared to before. But more to my advantage, they were separated quite sparsely. I ducked quickly out of the range of a rogue light before leaping over the desk sprinting swiftly towards the closest target.
One thing I analysed from these 'Enclave' soldiers armour that differed from the Rangers besides design, is that they appeared to mitigate less physical damage. The energy gems used in powering their armour seemed to use more projectile based damage reduction. This could possibly be due to the fact pegasi seem to be more adept at flying combat than hoof to hoof. Putting distance between them and their threat was a common strategy found in all of their formations and fighting styles.
Utilising this apparent weakness, I use my generated velocity from the leap and dash and channel it into a quick firm blow with my hoof. I landed it just below its ear, denting the armour a few inches deep. I calculated that this particular position would disable the soldier from calling for help, minimising the chance of drawing attention. I was correct, it knocked the soldier out, most likely dealing some skeletal damage and head trauma. The remaining velocity I carried allowed me to push the soldier into a corner behind some cabling before repositioning myself, ready to strike again.
Peeking out once more I noticed the soldiers have inconveniently began to conglomerate upon my vicinity. This would mean I would have to bide my time a little before aiming to eliminate more of them. But productively, I did have some Enclave armour here to analyse. I levitated the weapon upon the corpses back to take a better look at it. It was definitely an energy weapon, but rather unique. It glowed with an orange light I noticed, very irregular from normal energy weapons. I didn't recognise it under the 'M.W.T Weapons Compendium' in the Library either. This must be a custom build, or it might have been engineered by another operator, maybe even by the Enclave themselves. These pegasi really did intrigue me with every passing minute.
"You see anything yet?" I hear one of the male pegasi soldier ask from behind my hiding spot.
"Not a peep, maybe it's left, grouping up with more of them." replied a mare, slight amounts worry towards the end of her answer.
The armour appeared to have a strong resistance to both round ammunition and energy weapons. A shotgun at close range however made little work of their armour apparently. A shard of the armour brandished a familiar logo I had found in a number of books: The Ministry of Awesome. Not much was documented about them however which really didn't tell me much else. But one question then entered my head. I ejected the Orange Crystal Cartridge from the weapon and a whole Blue Crystal from my own matrix and raised it to a shard of the armour. Tipping some of the contents of the cartridge onto the compounded metal, it did appear to heat up upon contact with both. But under the Blue Crystal it retained its shape. The other Enclave Crystal dust bent the shard quite dramatically. It appeared their very strength was their own weakness. I reinsert my crystal back in place and the the remains of the crystal cartridge into the weapon, snapping off the appendage that attached it to the corpse. I have another idea...
Thudercrack slid up beside me, picking a really good moment. I was standing back from the conversation being held by the others, I couldn't cope with what had happened.
"You okay, Sarsaparilla?" he asks, a little sheepish.
"N-Not really." I sniff
Thundercrack sits us both on the floor. He then moves his hoof to the release catch for his helmet.
"No! We don't know if the air is-" I shout under my breath, just before I hear the hiss of his helmet pressurising. It comes off in his hoof and he takes a big breath, revealing his face. Thundercrack had dark black fur with mesmerising golden irises. He exhales before giving me a calm and reassuring look.
"Seems fine to me, quite refreshing actually." he concurred. He then reached to my helmet and released the catch. A flurry of air rushed out of the mask, revealing my bright yellow fur. My teary cyan eyes then met his. He dropped the mask and reached forward to hug me. I might have not felt it through the armour, but it gave me a little comfort.
"I-I just don't know I-if we'll see the clouds... again." I begin to sob
"Of course we will, we have that ranger on the run. I bet he doesn't even have any backup. The door was sealed, maybe he got trapped and they died off like that one next to the terminal?" Thundercrack reassure me, but I gulp at the mention of 'trapped'.
"Thunder?" I ask him. I meet his face again. "If we don't make it out of here, I just want to sa-"
I was about to finish when I hear a very loud energy charging sound behind us. We both turn around as we are met with a blinding orange light.
"TAKE COVEEEERRRR-" Mellow Brook shouted but faded to nothing when we saw five consecutive flashes, only milliseconds between apart. I close my eyes, blinded by the display. I whimpered in Thundercrack's grasp, hoping he wouldn't let go. He was the only thing keeping me from all out panic right now.
About a minute passes with silence when I hear Thunder gasp. I open my eyes, which were still stunned from the flashes. Gaining focus I see the worst thing I could have imagined right now. Mellow Brook and the rest of our team were rendered to ash.
"Oh no, please no!" I scream, pressing further into the stallion’s body. I try to look for the source of the firearms when my question was soon answered. A steel clad hoof stepped out and slammed heavily on the ground, making the floor of the room tremble beneath us. The ranger then fully emerged from behind a large metal tube, wielding a Novasurge Rifle upon its back.
"Un-be-lievable." exclaimed Thundercrack under his breath. Amazed at the sight of the ranger wielding the Enclave Novasurge Rifle. But that sound was enough to alert it of our position. Upon hearing him, its neck snaps round to face us, its eyes turning that haunting amber once more. I close my eyes again. I think this is the end...
Two life forms remain. They were disarmed already, and had their faces exposed making their extermination simple. I rotated the temporary clamp I had on the Enclave rifle to face the smaller of the two, the mare. She wasn't looking making the death more ethical. The blast would also most likely disintegrate both of them in one hit also.
Warning, Crystal Energy Inducer - Integrity Low
It appears overcharging the rifle had an impact, the weapon must have experienced a lot of damage. However it did make removing those other five soldiers very quick. Maybe it would be best to switch to another so I could study the weapon at a later point. I was about to release the clamp on the weapon when the stallion shoved aside the mare and leaped at me.
"Run!" he shouted in the middle of his leap
Emergency Vicinity Intrusion Protocol - Initiated
The protocol forced me to fire the energy rifle at the stallion that was quickly encroaching upon me. The rifle made a weak charging sound before firing a bright orange flash. I heard the gun cracking as the light dissipated, signalling the destruction of its energy inducer. But looking across the room, I see a rather gruesome sight. The shot from the rifle, which was not aided by S.A.T.S, had appeared to miss rather dramatically. The shot appeared to blast him a few meters away but also disintegrated only half of his body. The low power of the weapon upon firing didn't have enough energy to completely disintegrate him from the looks of things. His heart was still intact and visibly beating inside his chest. The Enclave armour he was wearing was completely obliterated on the other hoof, but left the upper half of his body, one hoof and his head intact. A lot of his fur had been singed, his mane also missing. One of his wings had become separated from him, the other most likely turned to ash. I hear a scream as the mare gets up from her daze and looks upon him with shock. She launches up from the ground and gallops to his side, appearing to cry over him.
I approach the pair of them quietly, beginning to hear some voices.
"Thunder, Thundercrack! Are you okay?!" She shouted at the corpse, but soon realised that the stallion was still conscious. I enabled my E.F.S to see that the corpse was highlighted amber now, but was fading fast. It was only a matter of time.
"Sasp... G-get o-out... O-ou.?" replied the stallion. He was extremely croaky, his eyes wide open, pupils minuscule in size from shock staring into the ceiling.
"No! No I'm not leaving you here!" she refuses before grasping him and beginning to flap upwards with her wings. She managed to lift him about a foot in the air before his remaining hoof crumbled out of her desperate grasp, landing back on the floor again. He coughs weakly from the impact, spitting up some blood.
"Y-you have to. Ssssave y-yours-elf." he struggles to get out his words, the disintegration process must still be working on his body. It was only a matter of moments before his central nervous system would be turned to ash.
"Never! I love you, Thunder! I would never leave your side! Just like you would never leave mine!" she smothers he face in his dry, still burning fur, blocking out most of her words after. I reached the corpse, just out of her sight. He had closed his eyes now, the E.F.S signalling him to be deceased as his amber bar disappeared. The mare cried there for the next five minutes while I watched her. I had already dropped the enclave weapon and primed my Incinerator when I reached her. But something was wrong. I couldn't fire it due to something arguing with the process. A glitch? No, it didn't display the same sort of problems as glitches in the past. Maybe some form of loose circuit again? Those rats did some serious damage to my internals, but it seemed too coincidental for a problem to arise now.
My attention was diverted back to the mare as she lifts her head, tears streaming from her face before turning to me. Her face strangely neutral in expression despite the flow of apparent emotion coming from her eyes. She carried on staring at me as she got up and slowly approached me, trembling upon each hoof step. The E.F.S identified her as not-hostile but I kept the Incinerator angled at her in case it changed. The last pegasus soldier arrived just in front of me, the Incinerator right in front of her, pointed at her face. I couldn't figure out what her goal was at defeating me by doing this. At this range, it just made the Incinerator eliminate her much more quickly and with little effort. But I answered my own question when she sighed and lay her head against the large barrel of my weapon.
"Do it." she asked, tears still running down her face. Her voice carried the same emotion as her face did upon approaching me. She asked me to assist her in suicide. I couldn't do that. My protocols instructed me that doing so is against my purpose of creation. I was no longer under threat or on the brink of death.
Action Denied - Breach of Protocol 1
"I said do it!" she pleaded, bashing her head against the weapon with a hoof either side of it. "I'm done, Please don't let me suffer any longer."
I was broken inside. My squad, my wing and... my Thunder. They were all gone because this Ranger killed them. I give it the perfect chance to kill me easily, and it doesn't. It wants to make me suffer even more after what I've been through. I just want it all to end. They didn't lie when they said these savages were ruthless. Stories of how they ripped through the stables, killing everything that fought back, and leaving the rest to the wastes, these monsters had no hearts. Suddenly the weapon withdrew, dropping my body to the floor. I look back up to see its hoof pointing, his green eyes gazing upon me. In the direction he was indicating, I saw the door, the door back to the surface. He wanted me to leave? Shouldn't it be leaving itself? Maybe I was being held hostage? But I did as it instructed, beginning a slow, weak trot towards what I hoped was my final destination.
Advancing back up towards the breech, the ranger following behind me, no weapon armed at all. I don't understand what it planned on doing to me. Maybe it was going to take me to be imprisoned somewhere in one of their compounds, tortured for intelligence. Maybe stripped of my armour and sold away, possibly to one of those slaver convoys I had seen before. Whatever it was, they could do it, I had lost all will in my life now. There was no way the Enclave would accept me back, I would just be labelled as a deserter and exiled anyway. My life was over as an Enclave soldier, and a pegasus.
The smoke had cleared completely from the main door now, revealing the Bale-land storm outside. I stood in front of the circular incision, remembering how not long ago we came in a team, now I walk alone. I look back to see the ranger once again. He was unarmed, with green eyes yet again, those eyes that seemed even more soulless than a regular visor. But those eyes were not staring at me, but past me. Looking into the dusty storm that raged on outside. The counter on the right leg my right leg had begun to tick slowly as I approached the breach, indicating the radiation level rising. We managed to control how many rads we were exposed to by flying just below the clouds and diving at the end. I had lost all the strength I would need to fly, maybe the radiation would dull the pain I had as well.
I had just put one hoof upon the breach in the door when the cold touch of steel softly pressed upon my neck. My face was then met with my enclave helmet that floated down in front of my vision. I don't know how it got there, or why the ranger seemed to be supporting me, but all that helmet reminded me of... was my failure. I whacked it to the side out of my sight and shrugged of the cold touch on my neck and advanced to my hopeful oblivion.
Calculating chances of survival
Average RAD intake over body mass -259 Rads/day Concentration of poison gas -High Possible encounters with carnivorous or hostile life forms -63% Likely Hydration state -Poor Starvation level -High
Estimated length of survival - 1 day
If she took the helmet, that would have eliminated the gas poisoning and some of the RAD intake, but she didn't. It looked like survival was the last thing on her mind. Normally a concern for an intruders survival was never considered in my protocol or my personal interests, but added with this new fault I was developing, I was ready to adapt to anything right now.
She emerged from the other side of the door and began to walk off into the storm. It was a slow constant pace, one that showed her exhaustion and possible other feelings. Staring at the fading view of the Enclave soldier left me thinking about how I could have handled this situation better. The soldier took five more paces before stopping abruptly, looking back confused.
"Why are you just waiting there? Haven't you got to take me to your headquarters?" she asked, her voice breaking, sniffling at the same time. She coughed a few times also from the dust being thrown at her. I slowly shake my head from side to side before backing away and pulling the lever to close the emergency hatch over the door. She carries on looking at me, stunned at my response.
"You’re not a ranger, are you?" she concluded with no change in her expression. But before I could give her a nod she turned back out into the storm. Her chest expanded as she took a deep breath before she continued her decent into the flurry of the irradiated desert. Just as her body began to be obscured by its dark brown grasp, the shutter fell over the breach, securing Project 17 from its first intrusion under my watch. I was left in darkness once again, with only the glow of my eyes to keep me company. As well as the trapped Enclave leader in my pod, but this feeling in my chest didn't leave me in a good position to interrogate him. I settled down in front of the door and began to rest, I needed to think upon things a little.
