Humanity is at war with an alien race, but will soon discover that their enemies' greatest weapons are also their greatest liabilities.
Sometimes, life hands you lemons. Other times, it duct tapes a grenade to your face.
The human race has been at war with the savage Emrini for fifty years. Just as the tide begins to turn in our favor, however, they begin utilizing three new super soldiers; Earth Crackers, Energy Keepers, and Cloud Busters. Now, victory no longer seems assured. But during a solo mission on the planet Rokan, Shadow Soldier Kuro finds an Energy Keeper, and what he discovers will change the course of the war, and of humanity's future.
"This is Shadow Soldier Kuro. Stealth Drop successful. Commencing mission."
"Understood. Keep your guard up, we're getting a lot of non-Emrini signals down there. You go loud down there, we won't get another chance."
"That's why I'm here and not a bunch of marines."
"Copy that. Primary objective is destruction of the forward command post and acquisition of enemy battle plans. Good luck. Initiating radio silence. Over and out."
I pulled my Stealth Popper off my back and pulled back the bolt, chambering the first round as my brain's conditioning ran through the guns specifications automatically. 30-round magazine. Sub-sonic rounds. Built-in suppressor. Variable zoom scope from twice normal up to five times normal with helmet visor integration, allowing me to aim accurately no matter where the gun is in reference to my head. Bull pup construction. Side slots for extra magazines on either side of the stock. Semi-automatic or three-round-burst fire capability. Big enough for one-shot kills. Small enough not to dislocate your shoulder during rapid trigger pulls. Versatile enough to hold its own in any situation. The perfect weapon for a stealth operative like me.
After a quick check to make sure everything on my Popper was still in working order, I checked my sidearm, a not-quite standard version of the Guardian. What's a Guardian? A magazine fed pistol that fires 14-gauge shotgun shells. Why is mine "not-quite" standard? Because I use incendiary shells. An eight-round magazine full of cylinders of fiery death. Some people say I'm paranoid. I prefer the term "well-prepared".
I grabbed the det-sticks, throwing knives, and combat machete out of my pod, put them in their spaces on my armor, and did a systems check of my suit to make sure my HUD and stealth camo weren't damaged in the crash. Satisfied that my power catcher was still functioning as well, I moved forward towards the small blip that signified the location of the command post. It was almost a full klick away, but if I was able to get through the forest here without issue, I would be able to get there in about an hour. Now it was just a matter of navigating the brush. I returned my gun to its resting place on my back and drew my machete, cutting through the foliage to make my trip a little easier.
After about twenty minutes of hacking, I could hear the sounds of heavy machinery. I stashed my machete and pulled out my gun again, moving forward and activating my camouflage. I saw my limbs melt away into nothing more than distortions of light, and poked my head past a branch to look down a small cliff at where the machinery sounds were coming from. What I found was a large mining operation filled with heavy digging vehicles, Emrini workers, and about five Earth Crackers.
But what caught my eye was a raised platform in the center of the area acting as a stage for a single Emrini. He had spines at the end of his scaly tail, three spikes curving backward protruded from his spine, and his saurian body was visibly larger than the others in the area. All the physical signs of an alpha. But none of the decorative ones. Alphas were military commanders and spec ops soldiers, not dig site managers. I used the camera in my helmet to get several pictures of him from every angle he gave me, zooming in enough to see two large claw marks across his left eye. The mark of an alpha who lost a duel with another alpha. I just wish I knew why they did that sort of thing. There were lots of guesses, but no definitive proof to support any of them. That explained why he was here, though. Not good enough to fight, but not useless enough to discharge.
I kept the pictures, but continued moving. I had bigger fish to fry than a simple digging operation. I moved around the enormous hole that the machines had created, turning off my camo and moving back into the forest to conceal myself instead of wasting power. I managed to get away from the site without attracting any attention, and soon found myself following a river through the small ravine it had cut in the ground. The forest steadily grew thicker, until I was pretty sure it had passed into the classification of 'jungle'. The river then decided it was a good time to turn away from my destination, and I had to climb up the wall of dirt, roots and vines in front of me to continue moving forward. Before I had gone ten feet, though, I heard a loud, metallic clang. I moved toward the sound and activated my stealth unit again as I got closer. I pushed aside a branch, and through the leaves in front of me, I could see a large, egg-shaped object in the middle of a clearing with a number of Emrini and an Energy Keeper.
I froze when I saw it, having heard the stories of what they could do, but never having been unlucky enough to have to fight one. The ability to control almost anything, like some sort of telekinesis, with no regard for the laws of physics. I stood still for a minute, and did a count of the Emrini. Seven total, and all with melee weapons only. Their predator instincts and far more deadly adaptations gave them a preference of melee weapons over ranged weapons, unlike humans. They were already outfitted with claws on their hands and feet, not to mention their thick, powerful tails and mouths full of dagger-like teeth, but natural weapons could only do so much against manufactured armor. Six of them were minors, with a single major as a leader figure. Not too much of a problem, but only if I could kill them all before they called for help. They didn't need to run for backup when their large lungs and low-pitched vocal chords allowed their calls to be heard for miles in any environment. I decided that getting rid of the Energy Keeper first would be the smartest move, since its back was still facing me, and I brought my gun up, zooming in to the back of its head to see if there were any obvious weak points.
Instead, I found something far more interesting: a small bulb of glowing electronics in the back of its helmet. I studied it for a moment, trying to remember where I had seen it before, until I suddenly flashed back to the group of humans about ten years ago who had 'defected' and started riots on the planet Archimedes. However, when some of the 'defectors' started to have mental breakdowns in public areas and pulled the bulbs out of their own heads, it was obvious these people were not in control of themselves. Further attempts by the Emrini to mentally enslave humans were even less successful, and were eventually given up on. Apparently, though, these creatures didn't have the same mental power we do, because nobody had ever seen one of them go against their masters.
With the knowledge that the Energy Keeper might not want to be fighting for its controllers, I moved around to one side so I could get a clear shot at the bulb without hurting the creature itself. Unable to do so, I climbed a tree and moved closer along a branch, allowing me to see everything in the clearing without being detected. I chose the order of attack that I would use to kill the Emrini present, then took aim at the bulb on the back of the Energy Keeper's helmet. I squeezed the trigger, and a small pop came from my weapon as the bulb shattered, attracting the attention of the Emrini. I quickly took aim at the one farthest away, which was not being looking at and another pop sounded as I fired a bullet directly into his forehead, killing him instantly. I rapidly took aim and fired at each other Emrini, from back to front, killing all of them before they knew what was happening and could call for help. This was made easier due to their interest in the staggering Energy Keeper. The major was still trying to get the Keeper to respond when his head caved in and some of his blood exploded out from the bottom of his jaw. This got her (at least, I was pretty sure it was a her, based on body parts) attention, and she fell backwards with a small squeak.
I jumped from my perch, allowing the impact gel in my boots to absorb the shock of the fifteen-foot drop. It was obvious she knew where I was, considering how loud the thud from my landing was, and I dropped my stealth as I walked over to her so she wouldn't feel like she was talking to thin air. She scooted back a bit before she hit a tree, and I could tell she had been under the mind control's influence for a while from the clumsy movements she was making. There's a difference between fear and lack of muscle control. I crouched down so I could be on eye level and slightly less intimidating. This was, after all, why I never painted a skull on the front of my helmet.
"Are you feeling better now?" Her head moved backward a bit in surprise, and I could imagine her eyes widening under her faceplate.
"Well?" She nodded this time, and I continued. "Can you speak?" She tried to answer verbally, but all that came out was a garbled mess of sounds. She shook her head like she was trying to clear it, and I could sense the rising panic in her as she unsuccessfully continued trying to speak. "Okay, okay. Calm down. Your brain hasn't fully recovered from the mind control yet, so you don't have total control over your fine motor functions. They'll come back, don't worry. For now, let me get that plug out of your head." I leaned her forward slightly to reach the back of her head, and felt around until I had the remains of the bulb in my fingers. "This is going to hurt, but it will let the wounds start healing sooner. Whatever you do, don't scream. We can't afford being detected yet, okay?" She nodded her understanding, and I counted to three before yanking the plug out. It was different than the ones that had been used on humans. Like it was designed to be pulled out on a regular basis. I checked the holes in her head to find that they weren't bleeding. They had been drilled or similarly opened before the plug had been inserted, most likely to allow the plug to be removed easily so it could be adjusted. This explained more fully why they had never been able to break the control. It was constantly being readjusted so their minds wouldn't become accustomed to it. I crushed the remains of the device to ensure its uselessness, and turned back to the Energy Keeper. She was flexing her fingers and legs to try and get feeling back into them, and I helped her up to see if she could walk. She stretched some more, before turning back to me and wrapping me in a hug.
"Uh... You're welcome?" She gave a short laugh at my uncertainty of being hugged, and removed herself from my personal space. "Anyway, not to sound rude, but you're not my actual objective here. There's a command post about three hundred meters that way, and I need to get rid of it. You can come along, if you can stay out of sight and quiet, or you can stay here, and I'll leave a track beacon with you to mark this as the LZ for pickup. Your choice." She put a hand to her chin for a moment before pointing at me. "So you're coming?" A nod. "Then you'll have to do exactly what I tell you. No questions, no hesitation. Understand?" Another nod. "Good. Now come on, we've got a command post to blow up."
After another twenty-five minutes of moving through the jungle, we came to the top of a large cliff overlooking the command post. We laid down to minimize our chances of being detected, and I flipped down the binocular attachment on my helmet. I zoomed in to get a good look at the box-and-bubble shaped structure, and found that there were Emrini everywhere, including five alphas with firearms patrolling the perimeter and two snipers on the roof. I studied the movements of the guards for a minute, once again grateful for being born with photographic memory. I had been expecting this to be difficult, but the fact that there were snipers here meant that this post was more important than we originally thought. Which also meant that its destruction was even more critical. I zoomed out, and started looking for a way down that didn't involve jumping off or being detected. I found it off to our right, where the cliff was sloped enough that trees and other foliage could grow on it. We moved to the mostly-concealed incline, and worked our way down. When we got to the bottom, we went further to our right, staying low behind some bushes as we went. There was another cliff here, but much larger than the last one, dropping straight down to the ocean below. Perfect for a drop-catch pickup. I pulled a track beacon off my leg plate, and handed it to the Energy Keeper.
"Here's the plan: I'm going to go in and plant the explosives. You stay here, and when I go in, count to ten, then press this button. When I come back out, we're going to jump off this cliff so that the Cormorant can catch us and be out of here without stopping. Understand?" She nodded, and I turned back to face the command post. I drew my Popper, and waited for the guards to move where none of them would see me except the sniper. I then sprinted toward the building, putting a bullet in the sniper's brain as I ran, and caught his body and gun as I passed under them so that they wouldn't make any noise. Setting them on the ground inside where they wouldn't be seen, I switched my Popper to its three-round-burst setting and made my way to the main computer room. There was a single Emrini there working at the console, and I used my knife to kill him without wasting ammo. I then pulled out a data eater from my utility belt and plugged it into the console, allowing it to copy the data from the system while I planted the explosives downstairs. I moved to the generator room, and killed the two engineers working there before they could raise an alarm. I extracted the det-sticks from their case on my leg, and set the timers. I put one under the main control console, one next to the fuel tanks, and the last two under the generator itself. When I was done, I went back to the command room and activated the second function of the data eater: a virus upload into the system. When it finished, I unplugged it, and put it back in its place on my belt.
I was about to leave when something caught my eye outside the window. I wasn't sure what was wrong at first, but after staring out the window for a moment, I realized that no guards were moving outside. They were gone. As I turned to the door to make my way out, I felt a strange tingling all over my body. After my initial cautionary reflex at this feeling, I looked up as the door opened to reveal a very pissed-off Emrini, who started yelling just before everything went white, then black, then white again, and suddenly I was laying on my back, looking at the sky. I turned to see the Energy Keeper sitting there, panting slightly. I didn't have time to question whether my transportation was her doing, though, because I could already hear the cries of the Emrini inside. Looking up again through the cloudless sky, I could just make out a small, black dot. The Cormorant that would pick us up. I turned my comm channel back on so I could inform the pilot of the extra personnel.
"Cormorant pilot, this is Shadow Soldier Kuro. I have a friendly Energy Keeper in tow, and we need a drop-catch. Aim for the ocean next to the cliff." When I finished, I heard an excited voice that sounded like that of a road train driver answer me.
"Shadow Soldier, this's Cormorant five-two-five Big Wing. I copy your last, but did you say a friendly Energy Keeper?"
"Confirm. Friendly Energy Keeper for drop-catch extraction. Count it off, Big Wing."
"Copy that. Run on five. One... Two... Three... Four... Five!"
We ran at the cliff and propelled ourselves away to give the Cormorant room to move. I heard the engines screaming at us as we fell, and soon I saw the bottom of the flying wing pass over us. The rear cargo bay door opened, and braking flaps along the length of the aircraft opened to match our speed. I helped the Energy Keeper maneuver into the bay, and then lay down against the floor as the pilot pulled up sharply and our bodies were pressed into the floor. The ship leveled out, and we stood up. I checked my system clock as we continued and got her attention before counting down from three on my fingers and then making a motion like I was pulling on a train whistle. As soon as I did, the command post burst apart in a flaming explosion that we felt the shockwave from a few seconds later as it rocked the Cormorant.
"Damn, son. Ya think ya used enough explosives, there? Shit."
"Better too much than not enough, right?"
He laughed at that, before cursing under his breath.
"We got us a bogey at our nine o'clock, buddy. Looks like a Cloud Buster signal, but its goin' way too fast."
"How fast we talkin', here? Mach two? Three?"
"Mach seven," he deadpanned, with a slight touch of fear in his voice. My eyes went wide.
"MACH SEVEN!?! That's not possible!"
"But there it is. I hope you got a plan, cause my brain just dumped everything it had into my stomach, and then my stomach dumped everything it had into my pants."
I felt a tug on my arm, and turned my head to see the Energy Keeper gesturing in the direction of the enemy Cloud Buster and pointing to herself. It took me a few seconds to comprehend her meaning.
"You know this person? How can you be sure?" She put up a forefinger forcefully, and I had to think about this new gesture for another second before getting it. "There's only one person you've heard of that can move that fast?" She nodded confidently. I thought for a moment, and quickly had a plan. A sketchy, unlikely-to-succeed plan, but a plan nonetheless.
"Big Wing, turn away from the Cloud Buster."
"We gonna try to outrun it?"
"No, I'm going to give it a target. Keep the bay doors open until I say."
I turned to the open doors as the Cormorant turned, and watched as a black dot in the distance quickly got closer. I motioned for the Energy Keeper to get out of the way, and took on the most arrogantly confident stance I could. The black dot quickly came close enough to identify as a Cloud Buster. When it was close enough to see details, I extended an arm in front of me and held my first two fingers out slightly, before flicking them towards me twice. I saw the winged creature twitch, and then rush forward as it fell for my taunt. As soon as she (again, assuming based on body structure) was inside, I yelled into my mic as I was tackled to the ground.
"Close the doors, now!" I heard the doors start to close, and I began to grapple with the Cloud Buster in earnest. We rolled across the floor of the ship as she tried to strangle me and I tried to grab the mind control unit on the back of her helmet. I finally figured out that my current strategy wasn't working, so I let her get on top of me so I could pull her elbows down, putting the mind control unit inside my reach. I held her collar with my left hand and grabbed the offensive hunk of metal with my right. I yanked it out, and found myself able to breathe again as she screamed in pain and fell off of me. When she stopped screaming, she was very lethargic at first, like she had just woken up. I put the mind control unit in a pouch on my belt, then told the pilot to head back to the command ship as I moved the Cloud Buster to one of the seats and strapped her and the Keeper in for atmospheric escape. I moved to the seat across from them and strapped myself in just as the first rumbles of atmospheric escape started. After several seconds of increasing rumbling and rattling, everything abruptly went still and silent. I finally relaxed, leaning my head back and closing my eyes in the weightlessness as the tension and adrenaline from the last hour and a half wore off and left me mentally drained. I eventually felt us start to decelerate, and I could hear the pilot explain who was on board to the flight control monitor over the radio. When we landed, I didn't move, save to motion for the other two to sit still. The bay doors opened, and I continued to stay still as several marines came in, unstrapped us, and escorted us out into the hangar. Waiting for us was the ship's captain, Admiral Leeroy "Jenkins" Tornak. I saluted, and his mirroring of my gesture told me I wasn't in trouble. Yet.
"And I take it this is the Cloud Buster and Energy Keeper you encountered planetside?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you believe them to be non-hostile?"
"I do, sir."
"Why?"
In answer to his last question, I pulled the mind control unit out of my belt and presented it to him, along with the data eater. He took both items and examined the bulb for a few seconds, unsure of what it was. I gestured for the Energy Keeper to turn around, and I pointed out the matching port on the back of her helmet. Realization came across the admiral's face, and he looked down at the object in his hand with new interest. His face quickly turned to one of disgust as he finally understood the purpose of the bulb, and I saw him barely restrain himself from destroying it. That was one of the things we had in common: we hated seeing injustice and the pain of others. Mentally, we were actually very similar. He and I were both smart, particularly for non-scientist personnel, and we held a lot of the same views on a variety of topics. Physically, though, we could only have been more different if one of us was female. I have black hair and eyes, shoulders as broad as a barn, and I tower over most folks, even with my shoes off, at 6'4". Leeroy, however, had blonde hair, blue eyes, a thin, wiry frame, and barely came up to my shoulders at 5'10". After a moment of regaining his self-control, he handed the items to one of the marines who were there for security.
"Take these to engineering. I want a full report on them by tomorrow morning." The marine snapped a quick salute, then ran off to deliver the items. "This is asinine. I can't believe the Emrini are actually trying this shit again. Didn't they learn from last time?" He shook his head in exasperation.
"Sir, if I may?" He nodded, and I continued. "The openings I found on the back of the heads of the Cloud Buster and Energy Keeper appeared to be more purposeful. Like the plugs were designed to be removed on a regular basis. I believe the mind control units were regularly readjusted to prevent mental acclimation to their effects by the subject, allowing longer-term mind control with lower probability of unit failure." The admiral considered this for a moment, and then nodded.
"That sounds likely. I'll have you debriefed later. Right now, we need to get these two some new clothes. I'm sure the tech boys want a look at their armor, and I don't think they want to stay in there longer than they have to. Take 'em down to the barracks, and get them some regular clothes. We should be back in friendly space in a few hours, and we can get them properly evaluated, but until then, you're their chaperone. I don't doubt your judgement, but I still can't let a pair of recently-hostile individuals run around unsupervised. I'll send someone to debrief you while you get them situated."
"Yes, sir!"
"Dismissed, soldier." With that, he turned on his heel and strode out, and the marines dispersed, leaving me with the two aliens. I assumed that Big Wing had already left to change his clothes. I waved for them to follow me, and we made our way to the barracks. I got some spare uniforms from the lodgemaster, and helped the two of them out of their armor. By this point, they already had most of their fine motor control back, and were able to dress themselves without issue. I did, however, finally get to see their faces after they got their helmets off. It was interesting, to say the least. Their heads almost looked like a horse's, with large, articulate ears and a flat snout. What really stood out, though, were their eyes, which took up almost half of their faces. I also discovered they had tails, although these had been cut, along with their hair, in order to fit in their armor. The most surprising details to me, however, was that they had very colorful hair and fur, and their legs ended in hooves instead of feet. The Energy Keeper was purple, with a deep lavender and pink-striped tail and hair to match, and the Could Buster's hair and tail were all the colors of the rainbow while her fur was a light blue. I also suddenly realized how small they were. Granted, I'm a tall guy, but these two couldn't have been more than 5'5". Their armor had added a few inches to both of their profiles, apparently. Once their armor was off and they were getting dressed, I decided to switch outfits as well. I removed my armor, revealing my night-black hair and eyes, and stashed it in my locker once I was dressed again. I then started the auto-wash cycle before strapping my guns on, putting in my earpiece communicator, and taking my charges and their armor down to the lab. The place was already a feeding frenzy of scientists talking and debating about the information on the data eater and how the mind control unit worked, and when we walked in, I nearly had to start getting violent against the more... socially inept scientists, who were getting way too far into all three of our personal spaces to get a look at the new arrivals without their armor on, as well as the armor itself. After all, we had only ever seen their uniforms. No one before now had been able to take one down without blowing it to smithereens along with the surrounding area, removing any chance of useful information being collected from them. Once they had calmed down a bit, I set all the armor pieces on a clear workbench and turned to the guy in charge as the other scientists began grabbing various pieces of the armor and moving back to their stations.
"Hello there. I'm Doctor Albert Pernaki, the chief science officer here. You must be Shadow Soldier Kuro." He reached out a hand, and I shook it, noticing how strong his grip was for a scientist.
"Right on the money. Your buddies seem rather excited about all this. It normally this busy in here?"
"No, but your mission success and the mental control unit you brought back deserve this level of attention from the science and R&D departments, both. The gentlemen in the experimental equipment programs are going to have a field day with what you brought back."
"Good to know I'm appreciated. You get anything out of that little bulb from hell, yet?"
"Yes, actually. You were correct in your guess that it was adjusted on a regular basis. We also confirmed that it gives off a radio frequency of some kind. We have hypothesized that there is most likely an individual controller for each subject, capable of taking direct control of the subject at any time through the unit. We've already deactivated it, and once we isolate the frequency, we should be able to develop a counter-frequency, allowing us to deactivate the units from a safe distance, and free the subjects from the Emrini's control without hurting them."
"Sweet. I'm going to take these two to the mess hall, since I'm hungry and I'll bet they're starving. Let me know if you get anything big."
"With pleasure, Sergeant."
We left the lab and I took a left towards the mess hall, or as I liked to call it: the eating place. On the way, I decided to check on the vocal abilities of our guests.
"You two talkin' again yet? Or are your speech pieces still fubar'd?" The Energy Keeper moved her mouth around a bit before clearing her throat. Her voice was a bit raspy from disuse, but she was still perfectly coherent.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend, Rainbow Dash." I could tell from her articulated speech that she was well-read and studied on a regular basis.
"Nice to finally hear your voice. In case you haven't caught it already, my name's Kuro. Kuro Maldone. What about you, Dasher? Your speakin' pieces back to normal?" She coughed and hacked a few times, but she still wasn't able to make any legible sounds come out, and shook her head. "That's alright. You probably just need some fluids and munchies. Once we get some sustenance in you, you'll most likely be fine again. Don't worry about it." We got into an elevator and I hit the button for the floor we wanted. "By the way, you two will probably want to try to remember anything you can from when you were under. The higher-ups will probably cut you some slack if you can remember anything particularly important. You're not going to get in trouble if you don't, but I should warn you now that a lot of people are going to give you a hard time. You may not have wanted to, but technically you were working for the Emrini, and there's going to be a lot of distrust because of it." The elevator stopped, and we turned right as we got off towards the eating place. "You don't have to talk to me about any of it if you don't want to, I just figured it would be worth asking if you were able to give us any extra information. And if there's anything bugging you from when you were zombified, I can show you where the psychiatrist's office is. Most folks think they'll be fine without talking about whatever's nagging at their brain, but I can attest to how effective it can be to just get it out and be done with it." We were at the mess hall now, and I held the door open for them as we went in. It was relatively empty, considering the fact that none of the major meals were being served at that point, but I did see one table with a few people around it. "Yo! Shadows!" As soon as they heard me, they turned around and started up their usual storm of greetings when they saw my face.
"Commander-dude!"
"Hey boss!"
"Comrade Sergeant, good to see you with all your parts."
"I'm glad you made it back safely, Kuro-sama."
The last one in the group, a guy nearly twice my size, got up and strode over to me at the end, and I let him pick me up in the giant bear hug that served as his greeting to people he was fond of. He put me down after a moment, and I took a second to get my ribs out of my lungs and catch my breath. Then, I made the introductions.
"Guys, I'd like you to meet a couple new friends of mine: Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash." I moved to one side to reveal them, and I saw lots of raised eyebrows from my squad. "Twilight, Rainbow, this is my squad. The grizzled-lookin' badass cyborg over there is Lance Corporal Dimitri Reznov. The guy next to him is Private Ron Daniels. This chilled-out motherfucker is Private First Class Casey Gerard, but everyone calls him 'Groove'. The nice Japanese lady over here is my Lieutenant, Corporal Toyoko Yamashita, and this big guy," I gave him a couple pats on the shoulder, "is Private Carlton Macmahon. In response to your questions, however," I said as I turned back to my squad, "yes, Twilight is an Energy Keeper and Rainbow is a Cloud Buster. Yes, I expect you all to play nice. And yes, they are friendly. I'll explain everything soon. But right now I'm hungry, and the Admiral said he would be sending someone down for a debrief, so I don't want to have to tell the story twice if I don't have to. Any other questions?" Groove raised his hand, and I nodded to him. He looked at the other two, and I knew he was about to say the same crazy thing he always does when he meets new people. I still remember how unnerved I was when the first thing he said to me was ask me out. I'm still not sure if he was serious or not.
"So are either of you single?" Both of our guests blushed and widened their eyes in surprise, and Dimitri gave him a disapproving glare, but he wasn't paying attention. I squeezed my eyes shut to show my antaganation, and when I opened them, I could see him trying to hold back a grin.
"Groove, knock it off. If for no other reason than I don't think they're ready for your special brand of crazy yet." He made a disappointed sound, and I rolled my eyes before turning back to my charges. "C'mon, let's get you two some nutrients. I would say 'food', but that would imply something that has taste, which this stuff does not. At least the water's real, though." Suddenly, something occurred to me about them. "By the way, do you have any sort of special diet? Vegetarian, or something? Because I know there are plenty of humans that don't eat meat, and I don't want to give you something you can't or won't eat." Their eyes went wide, and I knew I was right with my guess. I also found out that Rainbow had relearned how to speak, finally.
"You eat meat?" she rasped out, her eyes still wide with shock.
"Yeah, I thought that might be an issue. Your bodies have enough features that resemble Earth horses that it occurred to me you might be herbivores. And yes, most humans eat meat to some degree or another. Some people don't eat meat at all, though, and I can get the people working the line to give you vegetarian stuff instead, if you want." They both nodded dumbly, and I ordered for all three of us so that nothing they would find even more offensive would wind up on their trays. I say 'more offensive' because to be honest, this stuff was already pretty offensive to begin with. We brought our edibles back to the table and sat down, at which point I heard the door to the area open again. I turned to see who the new arrival was, and found a guy with nicer clothes, glasses, and a clipboard coming in. The debriefer. I waved to get his attention, and he came over when he noticed me. He sat down across the table, and pulled out a recorder.
"Sergeant Kuro Maldone?" I nodded once as I ate. "I assume you know why I'm here?" I nodded again. "Good. That makes this easier. I need your account of the mission, and if they're able, the um... other two's as well." He glanced at Twilight and Rainbow and shifted in his seat as he said this, and I could tell he wasn't comfortable being in such close proximity to beings he had probably been trained on how to run away from. I could also tell he didn't want to be here longer than he had to, and I decided to give both sides a reprieve, instead.
"I don't think that's a good idea yet. They just regained their ability to speak, and I'm sure they're even more exhausted than I am after today." Rainbow slowly nodded her agreement to this, and the debriefer visibly relaxed.
"Okay, then." He clicked on his recorder, and I started recounting the day's events. He occasionally asked a question, but was otherwise silent as his pen scratched away at the paper on his clipboard. When I was finished, the pen scratched for a few more seconds before he flipped another page and handed both items to me. "I just need your signature at the bottom to show you understand everything about this, and you're good to go." I skimmed through the document to make sure there weren't any glaring issues, and once I was sure there weren't any, I signed the line at the bottom and handed his pen and clipboard back to him. He clicked his recorder off, and gave a short salute before leaving us to ourselves. The first one to speak, surprisingly, was not Groove, but Ron.
"So, Twilight. Is it true you can do all sorts of crazy, reality-bending mental shit? It's been bugging me for a while, but I'm not exactly eager to take on an Energy Keeper to find out." She nodded, and swallowed the last bite of her food before answering verbally. Her voice had come back completely by now, and I had to admit, she had a nice voice.
"I wouldn't call it that, but yes, I can do things that appear to defy the laws of physics." Her horn lit up with a soft purple glow, and a fork was soon enveloped in the same glow, floating in midair. At our reactions to the demonstration, her face took on a quizzical look. "You act like you've never seen magic before. Is this really that surprising?"
"Well, considering that magic doesn't actually exist, da." Leave it to Reznov to be as blunt as possible.
"Huh. Well, it isn't too surprising you can't use magic, considering you don't have horns. By the way, why do you keep calling me an 'Energy Keeper'?" I was about to answer when I was interrupted by a loud rumble rolling through the ship and a voice coming from my earpiece.
"Ship's company, this is Admiral Tornak. We have reentered friendly space. We will be docking at the planet Agrigate's orbital station soon. We will be staying for 72 hours." Twilight looked like she was about to say something, but I put a finger up to let her know to wait. "All non-essential personnel have leave to exit the ship and go on-world. Essential personnel must stay on the station in case of emergency. Shadow Squad two-five-eight, please report to the bridge. That is all." We got up, and I motioned for Rainbow and Twilight to follow.
"Looks like our day isn't over yet. As to your question, though, Twilight, the term 'Energy Keeper' came about because of your apparent ability to manipulate an unkown form of powerful energy. We weren't able to see any of your actual bodies because of the armor, so we couldn't come up with proper classifications for you, species-wise. 'Cloud Buster' was a term that came up when several of them cleared a storm that would have concealed a very important advance back on the planet Tarsus. We almost lost the fight because of it. The Earth Crackers got their name after one of them wiped out an entire battalion by burying all of them, and itself, under a rockslide by collapsing the ravine wall. By kicking it. Once." I heard Rainbow let out a small 'woah' before Twilight started talking again.
"But, not even an Earth Pony has that kind of strength. Was the wall weakened, or damaged, maybe?" I wasn't expecting the term 'Earth Pony', but I quickly recognized it as the actual name of the species. Her confusion at this feat of strength also confirmed something else we had guessed.
"No, but our scientists have been speculating that their armor has strength enhancement qualities. We already knew that Cloud Busters had flight boosters to allow them to move faster, and we figured they also had special armor to deal with the increased g-forces, and someone else managed to get enough camera footage of an Energy Keeper at work for our scientists to determine a shift in the energy aura after a certain distance, so it wasn't much of a stretch to think that the Earth Crackers -sorry,ponies- had strength enhancement technology in their suits. So what are you two called, anyway? I assume since you have different parts, you aren't Earth Ponies as well, right?" I looked back at them as we waited for the elevator, and Twilight nodded. Rainbow was too busy looking at all the various things in the ship to pay any attention.
"Yes. I'm a Unicorn, and Rainbow is a Pegasus. There is also one more type of pony. They're called Alicorns, they have a horn and wings, and they are very rare. There are only three that I've met, and they're all royalty." She seemed to be about to start talking further, when she looked like she suddenly remembered something, closed her mouth, and began staring at the ground with her ears pinned back. Before I could react, Toyoko spoke up.
"You were friends with one?" Twilight nodded. "Then don't worry. They will be fine." Twilight looked up at her, confusion apparent on her face.
"How do you know?" Toyoko simply smiled her usual kind, mysterious smile and turned to get into the elevator, with Ron, Carlton, and a smiling Groove following behind her. As the door closed, we saw Toyoko smile again, and then the elevator door closed, and they were gone. I sighed and shook my head as Twilight looked at me questioningly.
"I really hate it when she does that," I said as I scratched my head in slight embarrassment.
"Hate it when who does what?" Rainbow Dash asked as she came back from inspecting the electronic bulletin board for the past five minutes.
"Toyoko has a sort of... sixth sense, I guess is the best word for it. She can just know how things will turn out without any evidence whatsoever. It sounds crazy, but she's never let me down before, and she's not the type to say things just to make someone feel better. It may take a while, but she said the truth. And if I have any say in it, nothing is going to prove her wrong, alright?" Twilight nodded, and she seemed much calmer as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. We stepped inside, and I sat on the floor, Reznov mirroring me. Twilight and Rainbow got in after, looking at us quizzically. "You two might want to sit down as well." I pushed the button for the command deck, and the doors closed as the two ponies sat down. As soon as the door mechanism stopped, the elevator shot upwards, and I could see the looks of surprise on our guests' faces as the g-forces from the rapid-movement elevator pushed all of us into the floor. A couple of seconds later, the elevator slowed enough for us to stand back up, and the doors opened as we stopped. Reznov and I had to help up the other two, and they had to regain their balance once they were back on their hooves. We stepped out, where the rest of the squad was waiting, and we did a quick brush-down of ourselves before continuing down the hall towards the bridge. When we entered, I knew something was up. The Admiral wasn't in his command seat; he was standing behind it and off to one side. When he looked at me, his face didn't change, he simply turned back to face forward. Doctor Pernaki was there as well, and I had the churning feeling in my gut that said something I wouldn't like was about to happen. My squad and I lined up against a currently-unused wall, and sure enough, someone else stood up out of the command chair. All I could think when I saw his face was Oh dear god, why him? He walked over to us, and I wondered why anyone would have thought it was a good idea to send Admiral Cordon Fallshen to a first-contact situation.
"I asked who the hell you think you are, soldier."
"Sir, Shadow Soldier Sergeant Kuro Maldone of Shadow Squad two-five-eight, sir."
"And what in God's name possessed you to bring two hostile units on board an Earth Sphere Defense Vessel without restraints, Shadow Soldier Sergeant Kuro Maldone of Shadow Squad two-five-eight?"
"Sir. I discovered mind control units placed on the spinal columns of both individuals. They were under the influence of these units for an elongated period of time, but after the removal of the units, neither individual displayed any cause for alarm nor any violent tendencies toward anyone. I believe them to be a non-threat, and will accept all responsibility for them while under my care. Sir."
The Admiral put his face less than an inch from mine, staring hard into my eyes. As usual, his brown hair was styled back, with his bangs practically glued into place to look like fangs. He was also wearing his color contacts, which turned his eyes a blood red. They really were necessary for him to see, but he always had them colored the same way. He was also a couple inches shorter than I am, but still fully capable of looking me in the eye. After a moment, he relented, apparently satisfied with my answer. He gave the evil-eye to the rest of my squad, before turning to Twilight and Rainbow. When he spoke, his voice was a low, threatening growl.
"You two had best watch your asses. I find out that either of you fucked up even ONCE, and I will personally ensure that you never see natural light again. Am I understood?" They both stood stock still as he spoke, and nodded stiffly when he was finished. He gave us all a final warning glance, before stalking out of the room. No one said a word or moved a muscle for a few moments. When we were sure he was gone, Admiral Tornak nodded once at us, and we all relaxed. I decided to get the obvious question out of the way first.
"Permission to speak freely, Admiral?"
"Granted."
"What the fuck was Admiral Fallshen doing here?" He took a moment to collect himself again before speaking.
"He was already here on Agrigate when we arrived. Local Command decided he was most appropriate for the situation, and called him in from what was apparently his vacation." He returned to his chair, obviously still a little shaken from the unexpected visitor. He leaned his head on one hand, and sighed as he rubbed his temples. I smirked a bit, and decided to give him his usual dose of after-mission smart-ass remarks anyway.
"Long day?" He uncovered enough of his eyes to glare at me as I leaned against the nearby railing.
"Well, let's see. I have to send a single person into enemy territory to go destroy a building without any backup or radio contact. When I finally find out he succeeded, I also discover he has an Energy Keeper with him, and then he manages to capture a Cloud Buster during pickup, as well. Now we have two hostiles en route to my ship, and I don't find out they're friendly until they're walking around in front of me and I'm being handed a souped-up version of the mind control devices found on human victims ten years ago. And to top it all off, we get back to friendly space for the first time in a week just for me to be told that Cordon Fallshen will be coming aboard for an appraisal of our guests. How do you think I'm doing?" My smirk grew.
"I didn't ask how you were doing. I just asked if it had been a long day." If looks could kill, I would have lit up like a wooden effigy by then.
"Is there a reason you're still on my bridge?" I gave him the most innocent smile I could.
"I still haven't been given any orders, and I believe Doctor Pernaki has something to say." There was a snicker behind me that sounded suspiciously like Ron before a small cough that sounded suspiciously like Dimitri's elbow. I turned to find Ron doubled over and gasping for air while Dimitri simply stood next to him calmly and everyone else held back laughter. Dr. Pernaki then took a few steps forward so that the Admiral and I could both see him.
"Yes, actually, I do have something to report. A few things, in fact. The first is that we have confirmed the presence of performance-improving technology in the armor of the two new arrivals. The second is that we have isolated the frequency for the mind-control units, and we're working on a counter-frequency. Also, one of our more.... experimental scientists has begun working on new armor for the Energy Keeper and Cloud Buster. I told him it might never be used, but he insisted. Finally, we have managed to crack the cypher on the information the Sergeant obtained, and are currently in the process of decoding it. It should be finished in an hour or two." Tornak seemed to relax a little when he finished, and I could almost hear the gears in his head turning again. After a few moments of silent contemplation, he started giving out assignments.
"Alright. Doctor, go back to the lab, and get to work making something we can use that counter-frequency with to take out the mind controllers. Also, I want regular updates on that armor. If any of these guys want to start fighting for us once they're under their own control again, I want them properly equipped. Sergeant, your team has leave while we're docked. I want our guests interviewed first, but after that, they're free. You're chaperoning, though. The newbies don't leave the ship, and you are to stay with them at all times." I raised an eyebrow at this.
"All times, sir?"
"All times, Sergeant." He stared at me for a moment, driving his point home. I groaned and nodded my head in understanding of his order. He looked us over once then stood up. "If no one has anything else to bring up, then you are dismissed." When no one spoke up, he nodded once before moving towards the door to the observation deck. The rest of us filed out, and we gave a short farewell to Pernaki as he got on an elevator, and we continued towards the debrief room. As we walked, I decided to give Twilight and Rainbow some early warnings.
"Okay, you two, pay attention for a minute. We're going down to get you debriefed, and you need to know a couple of things. First, none of us will be in there with you. We'll be watching, but it will just be you and the debriefer in there. You need to tell him everything you remember. And I do mean everything. No matter how painful it is, you need to tell him or it won't be considered the truth. Everyone knows how depraved the Emrini are, but the laws we have in place prevent addendums to debriefing sessions, so don't hold anything back. Even if you have a complete breakdown, just get through it. Otherwise, the records will consider it to have not happened. Also, anything you can remember about them tactically will get you friends in high places, more than likely. And go over as much of your planet's history as possible. The more we know about you and where you came from, the more likely Central Command will be to send troops to your world once we find it. This will also help smooth over any rescue operations we initiate. Got all that?" They both nodded as we came into the debriefing wait room. We all took seats and used the chance to get what little rest we could after the taxing events of the day. After a few minutes, a pair of marines walked in and came over to me.
"I take it the debriefer is ready, then?" I asked without opening my eyes. I heard them jolt in place at my unexpected notice of their presence, but one of them quickly answered my question anyway.
"Yes, sir. We were sent to escort the subjects into the observation room." I sighed to get my body awake from its relaxed state, then stood up as everyone else roused themselves from slumber. Twilight and Rainbow were already awake, apparently having been too nervous to relax.
"Well, lead on, gents." They both gave curt nods, then turned and started walking back towards the door they came from. The rest of us waited for the guests of honor to go first before following along as well. We walked down a short hallway, and came to a pair of doors a few feet from each other on the left wall. The guards opened the further door, and took their places on either side. Both of our charges looked at the room beyond fearfully, then looked to me pleadingly as the rest of my team entered the other door. I gave them my most encouraging grin, a quick recap of what to do during the debriefing, then sent them in before following my squad into the observation room. It was relatively large, but still slightly cramped with all of us in there. Through the one-way glass, we saw Twilight and Rainbow situate themselves before the debriefer came in and sat down across from them. He pulled up a briefcase, and started unloading it onto the table. When he finished, there was some paper, a couple of pens, a stack of documents, and an audio recorder lying on the table. He took one of the blank sheets of paper and wrote down what I assumed to be his introductory statement for his notes before setting it down and clicking on the recorder.
"Debriefing file nine-two-eight-seven-six-four. Friendly Energy Keeper and Cloud Buster found to be under the influence of mind control technology. Session will document subjects' history before and during mind control subjugation, and attempt to determine possibility of lingering malignant tendencies. Energy Keeper, please state your name." The suddenness of the command caught her off-guard, but she quickly recovered.
"Twilight Sparkle, sir." He made a note on his paper before returning his attention to the purple-furred unicorn and speaking again.
"Twilight Sparkle, during this session, it may be necessary for me to ask questions of a personal or uncomfortable nature. In order for this debriefing to be as accurate as possible, and to ensure you are entitled to appropiate help with no undue stress caused by miscommunication, I will need you to answer all of these questions to the best of your ability, and as truthfully as you are able. I am an impartial individual, who bears you no ill will or malicious intent. I assure you that no matter how discomforting these questions are, they are entirely necessary for us to properly evaluate your position. This session will be recorded, and anything you say or do will be used as appropriate in a court situation. Any facts that you omit from your answers will be considered untrue, and will not be considered by any official of the law during their judgements. Do you understand and agree to what I have asked of you?" She took a breath to help calm herself, and nodded. "Please use vocal responses during the session to prevent confusion and misinterpretation."
"S-sorry. Yes, I understand and agree." He nodded, and wrote another small note on his paper. He then turned his attention to Rainbow Dash, and copied the procedure. When he was done with both, he got a new sheet of paper and made some notes before starting in earnest.
As his questions were answered, my mind created an image of the world these two had come from. Their country, Equestria, was particularly impressive. Populated by the three pony races, and ruled by a pair of sisters, Luna and Celestia, with no war or famine, and crime rates so low it would be a dream for any cop or attorney in terms of workload. To me, it sounded like a utopia. The other countries of their world, ruled by griffons, zebras and dragons, didn't sound as peaceful, but certainly better than most places humans inhabited. Then the questions turned to the Emrini. I knew I wasn't going to like this part, but it was still worse than I thought it would be. They had invaded almost without warning, and their world's lack of technology prevented them from being able to fight back effectively. They were overrun, their homes were burned, the sick or elderly were slaughtered, and the children were forced to mine the plentiful gemstones and precious metals of their world while the strongest and most physically fit members of their society were put under the influence of the mind control units, and forced to fight the Emrini's war for them. During the story, Twilight broke down into tears multiple times, and Rainbow looked like she was doing all she could not to do the same. I had slowly become more and more infuriated as she continued, and I knew the worst was yet to come. Sure enough, the debriefer asked the question I had been expecting since the beginning.
"At any point, did the Emrini use you for sexual acts?" I could tell right away that he wasn't comfortable asking this, and I could see both women stiffen at the question. I barely registered Twilight's voice as she squeaked out an affirmative, and Rainbow's voice cracked as she answered similarly. The first time rape of a human woman by an Emrini was reported, many people had dismissed it simply because of how atrocious it seemed. No one could have imagined how depraved they really were.
The Emrini race evolved in such a way that females are not born very often. This fact led to two major parts of their culture. The first is that they worship their females as divine gifts and messengers, treating them with more respect and care than a royal, although the sole purpose of female Emrini is to choose powerful males and mate with them to create stronger young. The second effect of this was the Emrini creating a drug that mutates the DNA of reproductive cells when injected into another species. This means that the Emrini are capable of successfully procreating with any creature they find, even non-sentient life. They kidnap any females they find, keeping them in buildings built for the singular purpose of breeding. Apparently, the mind controllers were not removed merely for adjustments. They were removed for copulation purposes, as well. As Twilight stuttered through her descriptions of what happened during those periods, I could feel myself becoming enraged. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around to see Toyoko staring worriedly at me. At my confused expression, she looked down. I followed her gaze to find my own hands bleeding, dripping onto the floor. I unclenched my fingers, pulling slightly to remove my nails from the flesh of my palm, and took a couple of calming breaths.
"Dimitri, could you please give me some bandages?" He reached down to his metal leg, and produced a roll of antiseptic bandage and a rag before handing them both over to me. I wiped off the excess blood, then turned back to the observation window as I wrapped up my hands. I heard Dimitri walk up, but kept my eyes on Twilight, who had recovered from her most recent breakdown and was almost finished with her story.
"Sir, are you sure you don't require a tranquilizer?" I took a deep breath, and used my teeth to cut the bandage. I then tucked the end in, and started on my other hand before responding.
"Yes, Dimitri. I'm fine now. Thank you, though." He backed off, and I continued listening to the debrief. They were almost finished, now, but apparently Twilight had something she wanted to add.
"One other thing you should probably know: we, along with our other four friends, have access to a set of artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. The Elements are extremely powerful, and if we can find our friends and the Elements themselves, we may be able to drive the Emrini off our world. I don't know for certain, though. We never got a chance to use them during the invasion, so I don't have any data regarding their effectiveness." The debriefer scratched madly at his paper to get down all the information before speaking again.
"Do you have any idea where your friends or these artifacts are now?" Twilight scrunched her eyes in thought, obviously wrestling with her own memory to recall the information.
"I think they're back on the planet we were on. I'm not entirely sure, but it seems likely. I remember a lot of ponies I knew being kept with us when we were locked up. And the Emrini had no reason to think we were special, so they probably just shipped us all together. As for the Elements themselves, I have no idea. For all I know, they were melted down to create other things." The debriefer wrote down some more notes, then tapped his chin with his pen in thought.
"Your analysis does stand to reason, but that's not my call. I will take the records for this session to Admiral Tornak, and he will relay the information appropriately. Once a decision has been made regarding actions to be taken pertaining to you, you will be notified. For now, though," He handed them each half of the short stack of documents, held together by paper clips. "Please read through these packets, and ensure you understand them. When you do, please sign them so that we may begin working to gain you full citizenship and the legal rights and protections that come with it. Thank you for your time." With that, he packed his things and left. Twilight and Rainbow sat there, and my squad and I made our way into the room with them. I sat in the chair previously occupied by the debriefer, and I could see how miserable they both looked from the bad memories that had been dredged up. Carlton came up behind them, and hunched slightly as he wrapped his arms around them, a small whine escaping him as he attempted to comfort the two. It didn't entirely work, but now they had something solid to lean against as their emotions poured out. I gave a meaningful glance to Reznov, and he nodded before snapping his fingers twice and motioning for Ron and Groove to follow him. They did, leaving Carlton, Toyoko and I with the distressed women. I moved to my right around the table, next to Rainbow, and sat one leg on the edge before gently running my fingers across her cheek. She grabbed my hand and held it to her face, quietly crying into it, oblivious to my blood-stained bandages. Meanwhile, Toyoko had slipped under Carlton's arm to cradle Twilight, who was crying openly, muffled by the cloth around her face. We stayed there for a couple of minutes, until they had regained their composure. They still sniffled occasionally, but were otherwise back to stable emotional levels. Even so, however, I could tell they were tired. I had Carlton pick them up gently, and carry them back to the barracks area. I checked with the chambermaster to see which room they were in, and he pointed me to the room right next to mine. By the time we made our way over they were both asleep, and after some slight convincing, Carlton and Toyoko left to enjoy their leave once we had put them in their beds. I left a small communicator in the room where they would find it, along with a note on how to use the thing, then locked the door and went into my own room. I sat down and started going over everything that had occurred that day while I changed into my sleeping pants. I eventually decided on my course of action for tomorrow, and turned the light off before laying down in bed to sleep. Well, whatever happens, it can't possibly be worse than what I heard about today.
"Whether or not Leeroy has anything specific he wants me to take care of."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then you get the grand tour. And an interview, either way. I got a directive when I woke up this morning saying that further 'interrogation' was needed to determine what our next course of action is. Honestly, you'd think they would at least try not to sound like assholes when they send these things out." This got a small smile out of Twilight as she resumed her meal. They had both recovered quite a bit after a good night's sleep, and she and I had been talking over breakfast while Rainbow tore into her food like she was starved. Which, considering her previous place of residence, was probably true. Even so, I pulled the second tray of food she had gotten out of her reach before she did something we'd all regret. Not unexpectedly, she took exception to that.
"Hey! That's mine!" I pulled the tray further as she leaned over to reach for it.
"I'm aware of that, Rainbow, but I want to make sure you actually want it right now before your body decides you ate too much and regurgitates it all. I've seen several people who had been starved eat way too much when they got back, and puke it all up again because their bodies weren't used to that much food anymore. Wait fifteen minutes, and if you're still hungry, you can have it back." She gave me a pitiful look, but when she realized it wasn't working, she gave up and sat back down with an audible 'humph' as she crossed her arms. Twilight and I finished the rest of our meals in relative quiet, and sure enough, when we were finished Rainbow didn't want that second tray anymore. Turned out there was a little too much on the first tray, for that matter. We went back to their quarters, and I opened the door so Rainbow could run to the bathroom and get rid of some of the excess food she ate. As sounds of chunky liquid hitting water came from the bathroom, I noticed two packages on the small table that was in the room.
"Ah! They already finished them!" I walked over and picked up both items, which were identical, while Twilight looked at me curiously from her seat on her bed.
"What are they?" she asked with her head cocked to one side.
"Presents. Something to help you pass the time when you don't have anything to do." I handed one to her, then the other to Rainbow as she came out of the bathroom moaning miserably. She looked at it a moment, then back at me.
"This isn't food, is it?" she asked cautiously. I laughed a bit before shaking my head, at which point she ripped the paper off like a kid opening a present. Inside was a box, and she opened that to reveal a piece of glass held on all sides by half-inch wide and sixteenth-inch thick metal. The whole thing was about the same size as a sheet of paper, although it weighed quite a bit more. Twilight had gotten hers out at this point, and they both studied their new possessions curiously. Finally, Twilight spoke.
"Okay, I give up. What are these?" I came over, and pointed at the button on one of the short edges. She pushed it, and the screen lit up, surprising both of them.
"It's a digi-pad. I had the archivists load up as much as they could for you both overnight, so if you get stuck in here for whatever reason, you have something to occupy yourselves. There should be plenty on those, but they had to keep a lot of the more sensitive stuff out, since you still haven't been given full clearance as citizens yet. Even so, I'm impressed they finished so quickly. I wasn't expecting those to show up until tonight, at the earliest." As Rainbow turned hers on and as they both started going through the contents and controls, my earpiece came on.
"Shadow Soldier Kuro, please escort your charges to the bridge immediately for further questioning."
"Alright, you two, time for your questionnaire. C'mon." They put their new pads on the bed and clicked them off, then we all made our way up to the bridge. Leeroy was waiting for us, standing in the center of the area, looking out the main window. When we came in, he turned around to address us.
"Kuro, Twilight, Rainbow. Thank you for coming. I figured you would probably be more comfortable here than down in the debriefing room. I wanted to talk to you two about something you mentioned yesterday, Twilight. You said that your other friends were mostly likely back on Rokan, the planet where we found you. With them, you have ownership over items called 'Elements of Harmony', and that these items would most likely be able to drive the Emrini off your world. I would like you to elaborate on this, if you could." Twilight and Rainbow sat down in a couple of chairs, and I took my usual position leaning on the rail that divided the rear consoles from the main command area.
"Well, the Elements of Harmony are powerful magical artifacts, and they were used a couple of times through history by Princess Celestia to save Equestria, but we and our friends inherited them when Nightmare Moon returned. She was the alternate personality of Princess Luna, Celestia's sister, who tried to cause eternal night for Equestria one thousand years ago before Celestia banished her to the moon."
"Hold on a moment," Leeroy interrupted. "You're telling me that one thousand years ago, one of your rulers went insane, tried to cause eternal night, was banished to the moon for a thousand years by her sister, and that both of them are still alive?" She nodded, and he and I shared a skeptical look before returning our attention to her. She looked at us both, then her ears pinned back.
"You don't believe me?" I could hear the desperation in her voice, and decided to cut in.
"Twilight, what you just told us disregards about five different laws of nature that have been set in stone for over two millennia. That said, there have been plenty of 'laws'," I made air quotes on the word, "of nature that were definitively proven wrong by modern science over the years. Do we believe you right now? No. But that doesn't mean you can't prove otherwise. Chances are that once we meet them, both your princesses will prove lots of things we think about the universe wrong. But until then, we can't just take your word for it that you have a pair of nigh-immortal beings who apparently control your planet's day and night cycle ruling your country. Sorry, but that's just how it is." She seemed disappointed by this, but sighed and nodded her understanding.
"In any case," Leeroy continued, "the Elements of Harmony. What are they, exactly?" Twilight took another moment to regain her composure, then continued.
"The Elements themselves are the physical manifestation of the six qualities that preserve harmony in Equestria. Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty come together to form the sixth Element, Magic. Rainbow Dash is the bearer of Loyalty, and I'm the bearer of Magic. When the Elements are used together, they can unleash huge amounts of magical energy, sealing evil forces or beings, and restoring entire cities that have been destroyed. It only works on magical damage, though. Most of what the Emrini did will have to be rebuilt the hard way. If we had the Elements, though, we might be able to stop them from doing any more damage. I just wish we could undo the horrors some of the ponies have had to go through. I don't even want to think about what they did to some of our friends...." She pulled her legs to her chest, hugging her knees. I could tell she was seriously worried, and the look on the admiral's face told me he could, too. Then he said something I hadn't expected.
"Well, I can't help you undo what has already happened, but I can help you prevent it from happening further." All three of us looked at him with confused expressions, and he grinned before continuing. "After your debriefing yesterday, I requested permission to return to Rokan. Pernaki is, at most, hours away from a device capable of rendering the mind control units worthless, and your new armor sets will be complete by the time we're ready to leave tomorrow. The approval message for a second trip to Rokan to save your friends there came in twenty minutes ago. The crew will return the morning after tomorrow, but once they're back we'll send a message out for another two ships to assist us in a full-scale invasion. The Emrini are looking for something down there, and that combined with the fact that we can now turn almost a quarter of their forces against them is more than enough reason to go back. Now the only question is whether or not you'll be going down along with the other troops." I could feel a vengeful smile growing on my face at the idea of the Emrini finally getting everything they deserved as Twilight and Rainbow sat there with slack jaws at this revelation, that they might be able to see their friends again so soon. I already knew they would need some time to think about it, though, so-
"I'm in." Or maybe I'm just an overly sympathetic idiot.
Rainbow stood up, squaring her shoulders and flaring her wings slightly. It was impressive how powerful she seemed, considering how small and colorful she is. At Leeroy's surprise, she kept going.
"I know what kind of monsters these guys are. If I can make the suffering of my friends shorter by even a second by going down there myself, then I'll do it. No questions asked." Her resolve was obvious, but I needed to make sure she was ready, first.
"Are you prepared to kill?" She turned around, slightly surprised by the question. I put on an emotionless face, to ensure she understood the full implications of what I was saying. "Are you prepared to end the life of another living being? One who has their own family and friends to return to? One who believes they are in the right just as much as you do? Are you prepared to end not just what they are, but everything they have ever been, or ever will be?" She dipped her head in thought, and when she looked at me again, her eyes were alight with determination. She nodded once, a definitive, unhesitating move. Suddenly, Twilight got up from her seat as well.
"I'm going too. You'll need someone with communication skills that the other ponies will recognize. And I'll be able to help out a lot with my magic, since the Emrini won't be prepared to deal with it." Leeroy and I shared a look before he shrugged and continued.
"Alright, then. Kuro, I assume you know what to do?" I nodded. "Good. Now-" He cut himself off and put a hand to his earpiece, and I saw his eyebrows go up. "It seems the counter-frequency device is already finished. Go ahead and take a look at that before taking care of these two."
"Yes, sir. Just make sure War Master knows what's going on. He gets cranky if we don't tell him about this sort of thing." I gave a quick salute, and motioned for Twilight and Rainbow to follow me. We left the bridge, and I led back through the winding corridors of the ship to science division. When we got there, several of the individuals working there were gathered around a table, and off to one side, Dr. Pernaki was looking at some charts on a large screen. As the door shut automatically behind us, he turned around with a very satisfied grin on his face.
"Came to see the new toy?" he teased.
"You know it, Doc. Let's see what you got." He nodded, and headed towards one of the smaller back rooms. Sitting on the table inside was a small cylinder with antennae sticking out from the sides at ninety-degree angles from each other. He gently picked it up, and held it by the base so we could get a good look at it. I peered at it closely, and easily noticed the flaw with the design.
"It needs to be planted manually, doesn't it?" He nodded.
"Yes, unfortunately none of the other designs worked powerfully or reliably enough to be used. The antennae are needed to get a full radius sweep, and although they fold up so they can be carried, they're too fragile to be thrown around. It does have a decent range, though, as well as a remote activation, but you will need to place it down and lure the mind controlled victims to it in order to utilize it effectively."
"What's the maximum effective range?" I asked as I straightened up again.
"One hundred feet. As I said, it's decent, but you'll still need to get them pretty close to do anything." I nodded my understanding as I worked out how to use it in the field. Once I had a few ideas, I nodded again.
"Ok. Thanks, Doc. Do what you need to to get some more of these things made. We're going to need all we can get down there until we find the control point. I need to get these two ready for boots on the ground, though. They want to go in with us, so I get to make sure they'll actually be able to do anything when we get there. I'll see you later." I waved back as we left.
"No, you're not prepared. You don't know how to fight, you know how to attack. And you don't know how to stay safe, you know how to get away." We came to an elevator, and they gave me confused looks as we waited.
"What's the difference?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm going to show you." I grinned smugly as the elevator doors opened and we got on. "First, though, I'm going to enjoy the fuck out of basically having the entire ship to myself. Most of the time, it's a freaking zoo in this place. Barely enough room to breathe with everyone running around to wherever."
"Oh, please." Rainbow said disbelievingly. "It couldn't be that bad. I mean this is a big ship, but how many ponies could it possibly need?" I looked at her with a 'you really want to know?' look but she wasn't impressed. So I told her.
"About eight thousand." They both went wide-eyed at the number. "And that's just a skeleton crew. Usually there's around fifteen thousand guys who work on the ship itself. That's not counting the pilots and soldiers who actually get sent out on a regular basis, like me. Including us, that number reaches somewhere around thirty to forty thousand." The elevator stopped, and they were jolted out of their shock at the sheer size of the crew. I continued leading them through the ship, reveling in the emptiness of the halls we went through. For once, I could walk normally without worrying about getting run over. It was glorious.
We eventually came to a large door, which had stencil-painted letters above it which read 'Colosseum'. We went in, and I took a glance around. It was a massive area, with a total of five levels; two above, two below. The walls were lined with large tubes, which had glass fronts. I started making my way towards the back as I called out for the room's caretaker.
"War Master. You online?" I asked to no one visible. A series of lights began to coalesce on the top floor as we started up, and when we got there, a hologram was waiting for us. He was covered in nightmare-inducing armor, with dangerously pointed edges and red trim, as well as a skull design on his helmet with glowing red spots where the eyes would be. I heard Twilight and Rainbow stop and shudder at his sudden appearance, and then he spoke with a deep, almost growling voice.
"I am always online, Sergeant Maldone. I must always be ready for an emergency that may require my attention. But what did you actually need? I doubt you came here just to talk." I nodded, and went over to the last tube in the row to prep it for Twilight.
"Correct. These two want to help in the invasion we have planned for Rokan, but they need training first. We'll need you to use the time warp feature so I can take them through all of basic training. Before we begin, though, you may need to recalibrate the system a bit to conform to their brainwaves. Otherwise, who knows what will happen?" The hologram nodded, and I waved over the newbies. "Alright, War, what do we need to do?" He walked over, and put a hand over the control panel for the tube next to the one I was using.
"First, you get in here, as a baseline. I will need to compare their brainwaves to yours in order to obtain the most accurate data. Then, they will get into the other containers, and I will begin running a comparison matrix to properly ascertain what parts of their brain are different. Once that is finished, I will build them virtual bodies for them to use, and make any adjustments necessary once they are in." I nodded my understanding, and got into the tube as he finished the prep. "You will be in a sort of nebulous state when you first go in, but that is normal. Once I have completed the comparison and their new virtual bodies, I will begin the simulation, and you will have normal control again. Are you ready?"
"I can't think of any more questions, so yeah. Jack me in, War." He nodded, and everything turned black as I went into the simulation.
"Scanning brainwave frequencies.... Completed. Creating baseline.... Completed. Determining brainwave discrepancies of new users.... ... ... Completed."
"That mean we're good to go, War Master?"
"Affirmative. All systems nominal. Creating digital bodies for use in simulation.... Completed. Are you ready to begin combat simulation?"
"You know it."
"Initializing..." There was a nearly blinding light, then the strange sensation of my sim-body being built around my consciousness. When the program finished, I opened my eyes and looked around to see which environment War Master had loaded. I was on a large, grassy ledge overlooking a sea on one side, while the other side was a cliff face with several caves in it.
So, he decided on Cliff Caves, huh? That should do fine. Makes it easy for me, at least.
I noticed two bright lights off to one side, and waited while Twilight and Rainbow went through their first body-build. Really quite an excruciating experience, that first time. The system has to figure out how each piece of your body needs to work, as well as how your brain is reacting to each part it puts in, so during the first download, you feel every part of your body come into existence, then attach itself to you while the program figures out whether or not anything is going horribly wrong yet. Which of course means that the first thing everyone does is-
"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!"
-scream. Perfectly understandable. Feeling the raw nerve endings on every single cell of your entire body attach to one another in sequence isn't exactly a day at the spa. Unless it's a really shitty spa, obviously. Even then, though, it would probably still be preferable to this particular experience. Oh, look, they finished.
The two of them laid there for a minute, hyperventilating slightly and looking like they were trying not to pass out. I gave them a couple moments before collecting myself and putting on my drill sergeant attitude.
"On your feet, ladies." They both looked at me like I was crazy. Which I am, but that's not the point.
"Seriously?" Rainbow said incredulously. "We just got here. Can't we take a minute to get used to it?"
"No. Now get up. We don't have time to screw around here. Move it." They both got up, giving me unhappy looks.
"Okay, so what do we do, here, anyway?" Rainbow asked. "I don't think this is going to help us get stronger, since we aren't actually moving."
"We aren't here to make you stronger. Your time under the control of the Emrini took care of that already. We're here to teach you tactics and skills. The best way to do that is to have you learn through trial and error. The simulation is actually running us at an accelerated speed, so a few days outside equals approximately one week's worth of experience in here. We'll get out to stretch and eat and whatnot every so often as we go through. While we're in here, though, I'll be putting you through the wringer. So let's get started, shall we?" I went through the basic rules they would have to follow just like every other new recruit, and when I asked if they had questions, Rainbow asked the one thing I knew she would say.
"What happens if we break a rule?" she said with a grin. "You gonna kick us out or something?" I had had my hands behind my back the whole time, and I mentally asked War Master to spawn a Headcase pistol into my hand as I answered.
"No, I'll do this." I pulled the newly-spawned weapon out from behind my back, and before she could react, fired a bullet right between her eyes.
BANG!
Her head jerked backward, pulling the rest of her body with it, and she fell to the ground, dead. Twilight stared at her friend's corpse, shocked at what she had just witnessed.
"You- You killed her...." She turned back to me, just as I pointed the gun at her.
BANG!
Twilight's body followed a similar trajectory to Dash's, hitting the ground with a weak bounce before coming to rest next to her friend. I took the time while they respawned to reload. When they rematerialized in front of me, they both had terrified looks on their faces, and stood perfectly straight, waiting for orders.
"Any time one of you fails to follow the rules, you will both be punished according to the transgression. Any other questions?" I asked in the calmest voice ever.
"SIR, NO, SIR!" They chorused with obvious fear.
"Good. First thing's first. You both need to learn melee combat. The Emrini pride themselves on their ability to kill anything that gets in their way with the weapons they're born with. That means you have to know how to fight them hand-to-hand without getting yourselves killed. Before I can do that, though, I need to know what I'm working with. War Master, bring up the power test." A large machine, which had a spring-loaded pad on one end, materialized next to us. "The first test is simple: hit the pad as hard as you can. Don't worry about hurting yourself, you'll be fine. Just give it your best hit." Rainbow flashed a confident smirk, then strode over to it. She reared her arm back, and I could already tell where this was going. She extended her arm all the way, hitting the circle of soft material dead center. A small readout on top of the device showed the number seventy-two, and she made the same mistake as every other new recruit who saw that there was only enough room for one more digit on the readout.
"Yes! Seventy-two out of a hundred! That can't be a bad score!" She said excitedly as she walked back to her spot. Twilight moved over to replace her in front of the tester. She took a slightly more technical position, then pulled back as far as she could before slamming her fist into almost the exact same spot as Rainbow. This time, though, the score counter only showed fifty-eight. She went back to her spot, and Rainbow gave her a comforting pat on the back, though it was obvious how confident she was of her own score.
"That's decent, for a first try." Rainbow's jaw dropped at that, but before she could protest, I walked over to the device, and set my own stance. With a single swift motion, I extended my arm behind me, leaned forward, and slammed my fist into the center of the target for all I was worth. I could tell my sudden movement had caught both of them off guard by the sound of their hooves readjusting as they steadied themselves. We all looked up at the readout, and waited for it to stop.
Final score: seven hundred and fifty eight.
Rainbow nearly fell over at this, and Twilight just looked at me with fear in her eyes.
"Now. Do either of you know why my score is so much higher?" Rainbow raised her hand, and I nodded to her.
"Sir. Is it because you're a lot stronger than us? Sir?" I shook my head in the negative.
"No. The reason your scores were so low is because of your technique. You were aiming for the target itself with your punch, I wasn't. So the question is: where was I aiming?" I waited for either of them to come up with an answer, but when they couldn't I sighed and moved back to the machine. "The answer is: behind the target. If your strike stops at the surface of your target, all of the energy you use is wasted when your movement stops. You want the energy to go into the opponent, so to do that you have to try and put your attack's end point on the other side of your target. See?" As I explained all this, I copied the words with my movements, showing the difference in power and posture between correct and incorrect technique. Once I was done, I had each of them try again. Rainbow got a score of six hundred and eighty nine, Twilight's was six hundred and seventeen. "Now you understand how much difference the right technique can make. Time to move on to the actual training." Both their jaws fell at this, though Rainbow managed to recover first.
"What do you mean, 'actual training'? What do you call what we've been doing, then? Playtime?!" She waved her arms a little for emphasis.
"I call it 'losing bad habits'. Also," BANG! BANG! After they respawned, we moved on to actual combat practice. I had them fight each other first, so that I could correct flaws in their respective techniques. Once I was satisfied that their fighting habits were no longer atrocious, I fought Rainbow while Twilight studied the differences between my movements and their own. When Rainbow couldn't take any more, I switched the two. I sent them at each other again afterward, and they both lasted much longer than before. There were various points where they forgot one or more rules, and depending on what precisely it was, I gave them a different death. At one point, Rainbow got so worked up she just railed at me for a while, and when she was done, I threw them both off the cliffside, before explaining that while in the simulation, I was just their trainer, not their friend. When I was satisfied that they were prepared, I took on both at once, starting out with a bare minimum of effort on my part, and slowly ratcheting up how hard I was trying against them. After almost two hours, Rainbow managed to get the first solid hit on me.
"HAHA! Finally got ya!... Sir." She had a sudden look of worry as I picked myself up. I checked the system clock, finding that we had experienced nearly forty hours of training in less than one realtime day. It was, however, getting late, and I decided it was time to wrap up.
"War Master, take us out. Time for dinner, ladies." I could see looks of relief and vague excitement as my body faded away, and I woke up back in the Colosseum. I got out of my pod and stretched, having not been in there for a while. Certainly not for that long. Once the other two had regained the use of their real bodies, we all went down to the mess hall and got dinner. The place was damn near deserted, which made it just a little bit creepy due to the sheer size of the room. I led them back to their room, and went back to my own to find a letter on my desk. Well that's weird. Who the hell uses letters anymore? I inspected the envelope to make sure there wasn't anything obviously dangerous about it before checking to see if anyone left their name. Not finding one, I opened it and extracted the contents.
Kuro,
I require your immediate assistance in the engineering labs.
Please come as soon as you are able.
Dr. Pernaki
Well, that explains who put this here, I thought as I put the letter in my shredder. I left the room, and made sure the girls didn't require my immediate attention with anything before heading down to see what Pernaki needed. When I got to Engineering, the place was a hornet's nest of activity. Wading through the crowd, I managed to get to my target and question him on why I was needed so urgently. He pulled me into a closed-off lab and shut the door, muffling the sounds of everyone else so we didn't have to yell.
"Sergeant. I asked for your presence because I felt you should know that you may have some new tech available to you during the invasion." This got my attention.
"Like what, doc?" He turned to one of the screens in the room, and brought up a diagram of a gauntlet with a cone-like device mounted on it, similar to the Armshots used by Cyber Battalion. I studied the image for a moment, noting the spiral power conduits and the emission point near the tip. The design was exotic, to put it lightly. I had never seen a weapon like this before. It was almost like it was designed to simply emit force, rather than fire a projectile. My eyes widened as I realized what I was looking at, and I snapped my head toward Pernaki, the confident smile on his face the only confirmation I needed. I stared at the diagram for a few moments, my brain barely comprehending what this meant. Finally, I raised a single arm toward the good doctor, with my palm facing him. He easily understood the gesture, slapping my hand with his own in a self-indulgent high five. But he had every right to be a little self-indulgent right now. After all, he had figured out how to make humans capable of magic. After finding out that all that was left was construction and catastrophic failure testing, I went back to my room, and got some of the best sleep of my life.
The next morning, the newbies and I were treated to some boxed Real Food, courtesy of Toyoko and Ron. Technically, they had disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer, coming back like that, but I was most certainly not going to berate them for bringing back food with actual taste to it. Tabasco sauce is amazing, but it can only do so much. Once we had eaten, we went back to the Colosseum, with Toyoko and Ron in tow. We all went in, and the other two watched while I finished basic melee training with Twilight and Rainbow. Once I felt they were ready, I stopped them with an outstretched hand.
"Good. Now it's time to move on to the next part: Know Thy Enemy. Punching an opponent will only get you so far in combat. You have to know where to punch them, or you'll just wear yourself out. War, bring up the Emrini study file." A single, life-sized copy of an Emrini Minor appeared, and I started pacing around it as the girls got a closer look at it. "Now, based on what you see, what kind of creature would you classify this as?" They studied it for a few more moments before Twilight answered.
"Well, I originally thought they were reptilian, but close up, it looks like their scales are actually fur." I nodded.
"Correct. Though they have many features and habits that make them appear to be reptiles, they are actually mammals. Their fur grows in twisting paths around each other, resulting in the appearance of 'scales'. Also, they have slitted pupils, which look just like many reptiles', but are actually more functionally similar to a cat. The giveaway is their feet. They have large claws, but between the claws are small tufts of short, fluffy fur. This means that unlike reptiles, which are slow, lazy, susceptible to cold temperatures, and have difficulty staying active outside of warm areas, Emrini are capable of functioning in any conditions you or I can function in. Sometimes, they can even do it better because their fur traps so much air, giving them an extra layer of protection, or giving them greater buoyancy in bodies of water." I continued lecturing them on every way an Emrini could kill something, and every method of preventing all of them from ever succeeding. They practiced against single opponents for a while, until I received a message from War Master.
"Sergeant, the new armor sets for the trainees are finished, and I have the technical data. Shall I begin a combat simulation?" I opened up the files, and scanned over them quickly before making my decision.
"Yes. Deactivate current simulation and wait for my activation." He sent a confirmation, and the current Emrini copies the girls were fighting disappeared, much to their confusion. They turned toward me for explanation, and I stepped forward as two large containers appeared off to the side. "Alright, newbies. Time for an actual combat simulation. Engineering has finished the designs for your new armor, and the files have been downloaded to us for you to use. Get in the chambers and suit up. Once you're finished, I'll give you your objectives for the excercise." They each got into a container, and I willed myself into my own armor as they were introduced to their new outfits. Once they were finished, they stepped out and I had to admit, the designs looked good.
Rainbow's was obviously built for speed, with smooth curves and long lines making up most of the suit to make as little drag as possible. There were soft-shell covers for each individual feather attached with ball joints to a long, flexible, three-part support strut on each wing's leading edge. The helmet, when tilted back, would mesh evenly with the back of her armor, leading air straight into the two intakes for the ramjets that sat side-by-side between her wings. Her tail was hidden underneath a skirt of armor, made of overlapping plates that scraped a little when she moved, and on the backs of her hooves were what appeared to be pulse engines, most likely for rapid acceleration.
Twilight's armor, by contrast, almost looked bulky. There was a miniature shield generator on her left arm, and her right sported a hardlight sword module. She also had skirt armor, but it was much longer in the rear than Rainbow's, and a shell covered her entire back, though it didn't appear to restrict her movement any. Her legs had hover units attached to them, and it was apparent by the cables leading from her horn to all of her new accessories that all of it could be powered herself, if necessary. The two major similarities were the visors on their helmets, which had a much wider field of view for their peripheral vision than a human's, and the large stabilizer bases for their hooves, making it easier for them to stand with all of their new equipment.
They both walked out a little shakily, unused to the weight ratio of their armor. As they finally stabilized themselves, I stepped forward and got their attention with a clap. Twilight managed to react without losing balance, but Rainbow was not as graceful. She groaned as she managed a sitting position.
"Geez. How the hay are we supposed to move with all this stuff on? I feel like somepony turned my body around without my head. And how did you get into your armor so fast? I didn't see a thing for you to go into to change. Unless you just switched your clothes out in the open, here." I could practically see the grin on her face, and I decided to ignore the slip-up she just made in favor of weirding her out.
"Actually, that's exactly what I did." As expected, she jolted with surprise. "But as for how you're going to move around now, the answer is simple: very quickly." They both cocked their heads in confusion, and I sent War Master the activation code internally. As the disembodied voice that everyone on the ship knew so well started the match, I picked out my Mower loadout, which consisted of an S15A Trench Sentry LMG, a W1A3 Black Bomber grenade launcher, and extended magazines, complimented by an echolocator short range tracking system. I got into my favorite position, crouching in front of one of the larger rocks at the edge of the cliff we were on, and readied my weapons as Twilight and Rainbow looked around confusedly. "I would suggest you two prepare yourselves." Before they could respond, a howl came from one of the caves, and I raised my machine gun. "Sooner, rather than later, probably." Before they could question me further, several Emrini minors came running out of the tunnel, howling and snarling. I managed to take out the ones headed for me fairly easily, but the others were not so lucky. Twilight was stabbed in the gut, and Rainbow was knocked off the side of the cliff. I killed the rest without much trouble, and waited for my two trainees to respawn. By the time they did, the next wave was on its way. They did much better than the first time, and as the waves progressed, so did their skills, reactions, and tactics. Eventually, they were able to hold their own without me. Rainbow even remembered she could fly at some point. As they battled against each wave, the rest of my squad showed up to watch. Since I was not currently needed, I decided to find out their opinions.
"Well," Dimitri began, "it looks to me as if our little trainees have never fought before in their lives. They definitely need work on actually attacking things." I nodded, and looked at Ron as he started talking.
"I don't know, man, I think they really haven't ever been in any sort of real fight before, not even a schoolyard scuffle. Like the Emrini were the first beings they've ever felt any sort of major negative emotions toward. If only everyone could be so easygoing."
"Yeah, man, no kidding." Everyone turned with slight surprise as Groove started talking. "It's almost like they don't want anyone getting hurt even a little bit. Can you imagine how ridiculously chill their planet must have been for that kind of attitude? I would have loved to see that kind of peace. Man."
"Indeed, Groove-san. But this is not their planet. This is a war. If they choose to fight, they must be ready to kill. No hesitation, no mercy. Though I think everyone would rather spare them this experience if we could." Everyone nodded in agreement with Toyoko as Twilight and Rainbow finished their current wave. A horn sounded, signaling the end of the excercise, and the disembodied voice rang through the simulation as Twilight and Rainbow collapsed with exhaustion.
"Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. External clock says we have less than twenty-four hours until launch. Time for some real-world preparations."
"Alright, ladies, time for some hardware practice. You probably won't need them very much, but basic knowledge of how to use a gun is going to save you sooner or later. Any questions before we start?"
"Yeah. How the hay am I supposed to use one of these while flying? It's big, bulky, and definitely not designed for flight."
"You'll be using a different model. This is just for familiarity and identification purposes. That way you'll be able to pick up almost any weapon and figure out how it works fairly quickly. Anything else?"
"I don't think so."
"Good. Now let's get started." I picked up a weapon from the table next to me, and held it up to give them a good look. "This is a standard-issue M15S2 'Soldier Buddy' Assault Rifle." Dash snickered at the name. "Don't laugh. It got that name for a reason. This gun is powerful enough to punch through a concrete wall from fifty meters, and kill the Emrini behind it. This model has kept more men alive than I can count, and it's been in service for almost thirty-five years. This thing is still around because it's just that good. When equipped with a scope and a long barrel, it can be used as a sniper rifle. Give it a box magazine and a foregrip, it becomes a light machine gun. Put an underbarrel shotgun attachment on it, you can use it for any range you want. This weapon is powerful enough and adaptable enough that it is arguably the best weapon in our entire arsenal. Base magazine size of forty, ammo counter built into the sight rail, bull-pup construction, ambidextrous design, and pulse-fire technology also make it one of the most reliable firearms to date. Now, let's get you set up." I placed two rifles on tables in the firing booths, and next to each one, I placed two full magazines. I picked up the first one again, and motioned for them to follow me over to the third booth. We all grabbed some ear protection off the wall, and I turned to give them a better view of what I was doing. "Now, when loading a firearm of any kind, the first, and most obvious, step is to make sure everything is pointing forward. A lot of magazines aren't designed to be obvious in which direction they're supposed to face, and I've seen more than one person screw up what is a fairly simply task. Once everything is in place, line up the box with the loading track, and slide it into the weapon." I copied the instruction with the magazine I was holding, and heard a soft click as the box locked in place. "The weapon is now loaded, but oftentimes there will be extra room for the magazine or clip to move around in, so to make sure you don't get a jam or misfire, smack the bottom of the box and make sure it's all the way in. Once you do that, pull back the readying handle until it clicks, and force it forward to prepare the first round." Again, I copied the instruction with the weapon I was holding. "The gun is now 'locked and loaded'. The first shot is in the chamber, there is a full magazine attached, and the shot counter on top," I tapped the small screen built into the bottom of the sight, "is reading your ammo count correctly. However, there are two more steps. The first is judging the situation and deciding which fire mode you want, and the second is readying yourself to fire. For the first few tests, we'll be using single-fire only, but later we'll get into the other two modes. Readying yourself, however, is a little more involved. First, you typically don't want to be standing. Standing up makes you far more visible, far less accurate, and more susceptible to recoil. The only time you should be firing a weapon at your full height is when you're moving fast and you want to deter attackers. When you're trying to actually hit something, you should be still, and make yourself as small as you can." I dropped onto one knee, and leveled the weapon against my shoulder. "This is the correct firing position for most situations. Occasionally, you'll be sitting or laying down, but most of your time spent firing will be like this." I switched the gun to semi-automatic. "Now I have the safety off, and the gun is hot. When firing, keep both eyes open. A lot of people will naturally want to shut their off-hand eye, and you probably will, too. You have to force it to stay open. You'll have a better view of your surroundings, and a better idea of how far away your target is. Once you have the front and rear sights of the gun lined up, put your target so that it is visible through the openings in the sights. Don't try to get any sort of fancy shot or cool effect, just aim for the middle. 'Center mass', as it's called. This will make it so that if your gun is a little off, or the target makes a small movement, or something else comes into play that you didn't foresee, you'll have a much better chance of hitting them anyway. Now put your earplugs in and pay attention." I waited for them to put the hearing protection in, then reset the gun against my shoulder before slowly and carefully taking aim at the target downrange. It was only twenty-five meters away, but I wanted to make a bit of a show to get the point across to do it right. I squeezed the trigger, and the firearm kicked back against my shoulder as the report echoed around the firing room. I put the safety back on, and removed my ear muffs as the target slid forward on the track. I turned towards my trainees, and raised an eyebrow at their shocked faces before Rainbow started talking.
"That was really loud!" She practically yelled it, and I motioned for her to lower her voice a little. "Sorry. I just wasn't expecting quite that level of sound! I mean, that was probably the loudest thing I've ever heard, and I've heard the Royal Canterlot Voice. I figured the simulation was just exaggerating the volume a bit to make it easier." By now, they had both taken their earplugs out, and I shook my head.
"Actually, the simulation lowers the volume. Most weapons we use are quite a bit louder than that. But getting back on topic, come here and look at the target paper." I stepped aside, and allowed them to get a better look. As I had intended, the bullet hole was directly in the center of the paper, in the middle of the bullseye. "This is what a weapon that is properly handled will do: exactly what you want. I wanted to put a bullet in the middle of the target, and that's where it went. I don't expect either of you to be this good on your first try, but I do expect you to be consistently close by the time we're done here. You ready to try it out yourselves?" I was met with two enthusiastic nods, and I got started setting them up. I was finished with Twilight and half-finished double-checking Rainbow's setup when I noticed Dimitri enter the observation room next door. Once they were both ready and firing, I went through the sound buffer room to join him.
"So, commander, you think they'll be ready in time?" He punctuated the statement with a lazy wave in their direction and a raised eyebrow in mine.
"Probably. They're motivated, and they've learned pretty quickly so far, but there's still a possibility they won't finish quickly enough." He nodded his concurrence, and we lapsed into silence for minute, watching the two ponies quickly adjust to firing their new weapons. After they had stopped nearly falling over, he spoke again.
"Well, as much as I wish I were here because I didn't have anything better to do, I'm afraid I do have a message for you from the captain." This got my attention.
"Oh? What did he need? We get a new objective or something?" Dimitri shook his head.
"Nothing so exciting. He said to meet him in Containment. Something about another test for the newbies. No idea what he could be testing down there, though. He said he wanted to see you soon, too. Don't worry, I'll stay here and make sure the recruits don't kill themselves. You find out what he needed." I nodded, and took one last look at the others to make sure there wasn't any imminent emergency before taking my leave. When I got there, I found Leeroy looking over the prisoner list before he noticed me.
"Kuro. I suppose you're wondering why I called you here?"
"Yes, sir. Dimitri said something about another test, but he didn't go into specifics with it. What did you have in mind?" I was genuinely curious about his idea, but the serious look on his face told me I probably wouldn't like it. Sure enough, I didn't. I tried to think of something else, tried to get him to change his plan, but he insisted, and I couldn't fault his logic. We needed to be sure of them, and we couldn't have them holding back when it would mean the deaths of our own soldiers. Once I had accepted the decision, I gave a quick salute, and turned to go back to the firing range. When I arrived, I found Groove and Ron had joined Dimitri in the observation room. I spoke, but it was quiet, and easy to read into.
"How are they doing?" They all gave me a worried glance before Dimitri answered.
"Better than when you left. I showed them the other two fire modes while you were gone. Rainbow can get almost the whole magazine within the first three rings on full auto, but Twilight seems to prefer the three-round-burst function. What about you? Sounds like the Admiral said something you didn't like. That doesn't happen too often."
"No, it doesn't. But it did, so let's get his over with, already. Time for the last test." I pressed the buzzer that would signal Twilight and Rainbow to stop, and once they did, I returned to the firing room. "Alright, ladies. Looks like we're done here. Before you're cleared for combat, though, the Admiral has one more test for you. Let's go." We cleaned up the spent casings and equipment, then I led them back to Containment. We went in, and were led to one of the interrogation rooms without furniture where, once again, Leeroy was waiting for us. I let Twilight and Rainbow move ahead of me as we entered, and pulled the others off to the side to watch.
"I see you finished everything else, ladies. Before we begin, I want to ask you something. Do you think you are ready?" They seemed caught off-guard a little, but after thinking a moment, they both nodded.
"Yeah, we're ready. Just wait, we'll be kicking butt in no time once we're down there." Rainbow declared, puffing out her chest and spreading her wings slightly for emphasis. Twilight just nodded again, obviously nervous about the whole situation.
"I see. Then let's get on with it. This last test is not a matter of passing or failing. It is a matter of morality and ideals. Whether you do what I ask is entirely up to you, but if you do not, I will not be able to let you assist in the invasion. Also know that what I will ask of you is most certainly not standard protocol. I am only doing this because we do not have time for a full evaluation, and I must know, without doubt, that you are both ready." He keyed the intercom on the wall. "Warden, bring in the two I asked for." He let go of the button, and confirmation of the message came through a moment later. We waited for a minute or so before there was a knock on the door. Ron opened it, and two marines came in with a pair of Emrini minors in restraints. They shoved their charges up against the wall, facing us, and Leeroy nodded for them to leave. They did, and the two prisoners sneered as they saw the ponies. They started talking to each other in their own language, and while most of the others in the room didn't know what they were saying, the Admiral and I could understand their sick, perverted conversation just fine. One of them laughed as the other started taunting us, and I finally decided to shut them up.
<You're aware we can understand you just fine, right?> Suddenly, their twisted jokes seemed a lot less funny to them as I spoke perfectly in the same language they had been using. <That's what I thought.> With the two of them silenced, I returned my attention to the ship's commander as he pulled a pair of old M14 rifles out of a case that was laying on the floor behind him. I could already see that there wasn't a magazine in either one, and I wondered, briefly, how they would be used before I figured it out. He handed one to Rainbow, then the other to Twilight, and returned to his previous position. They looked at the weapons in their hands, then back to him for an explanation.
"Your test is simple. I need to know that you'll be effective on the front line, because my men will be down there with you, and I can't have them dying because you hesitated. So, to prove to me that you are indeed ready, I want you to carry out the execution sentence on these two Emrini." Everyone else in the room -Twilight, Rainbow, my subordinates, and even the Emrini- was visibly startled at the order. Twilight started shaking as she looked at the weapon in her hands, while Rainbow simply stood there in shock. In my peripheral vision, I could see my squadmates shifting uncomfortably as they mentally debated whether they should intervene. Finally, Twilight broke the silence in an attempt to delay the inevitable.
"How are we supposed to use these? I mean, they're not loaded, and I don't think you want us to beat them to death, right?" She had a worried grin that gave away just how futile she knew the argument was. Sure enough, the Admiral nodded.
"There is precisely one bullet loaded into each weapon. You will have one chance to prove to me that you are ready. If you miss, then it will count as 'not ready'. If you choose not to, it wil count as 'not ready'. As I said before, do not be concerned with passing or failing. Whether or not you are ready is your choice, and if you are not, then there will be no repurcussion or punishment. The only decision I make that will be effected by the outcome of this test is whether or not you will be part of the invasion force. If you cannot, and you wish to join later, you will still be allowed to go through normal training procedure. This will not, in any way, effect how anyone on this ship views you. With all of that said, do either of you want to back out now?" Both of them stared at their hands, occasionally glancing at each other, my squadmates and I, or the Emrini. Leeroy waited patiently, and after almost two full minutes, Rainbow finally moved. She reset her grip on the firearm, and widened her stance slightly.
"I'll- I'll do it." Her voice cracked a little, but Leeroy nodded, and showed her where to stand. Once she was set up, he looked expectantly at Twilight. She made several starts and stops, obviously having trouble deciding, until she finally took a deep breath and, somewhat shakily, made her way to the spot next to Rainbow. They waited for a moment as everyone put on ear protection, and the Admiral took his place behind them. He took one last glance around to ensure we were ready before calling out his orders.
"Ready!" The two ponies shifted their grip as they set the guns' stocks to their shoulders and flicked off the safeties. "Aim!" They lifted the weapons and took up firing stances, putting the muzzles of the weapons to the Emrinis' heads. There was a pause, and I felt everything around me slow down as the tension set off my body's self-defense mechanisms, my brain processing nothing but sight as I waited for an instantaneous eternity. The moment was broken with the final order. "Fire!" The two shots were almost perfectly in unison. A single hole in the head of each Emrini poured blood all over the floor. I saw Rainbow barely hold back her gag reflex, even as Twilight looked about ready to completely give in to hers. Ron and Groove took the M14's, and Dimitri and I guided the ponies out of the room. We took them to the nearest bathroom, and waited while they gathered their wits again. They came back out almost five minutes later, looking utterly miserable. They both collapsed against the wall, heads in their arms, and we waited once more while they came to terms with what had happened. Leeroy found us soon after, and told me that Ron and Groove had already gone down to the lockers to get ready. He also told me that the armor for our newest recruits was already down there and waiting. I checked my watch, and found that we were getting close to ready hour. We roused the girls, and led them to the locker room. Most of the people in the area had already come and gone, but there were still enough to make the newbies nervous. Twilight, in particular, seemed more on-edge than usual.
"Something wrong?" I asked as I pulled my armor from my locker. She was stroking what little hair she had at an almost manic tempo, but stopped when I spoke. She looked around, and I followed her sweep to see a number of soldiers -men and women- staring at the two of them with less stealth than they probably thought they had. I cocked my head with as much curiousity as possible, and called them out. "Someone have something to say?" Having been caught, most of them quickly returned to suiting up, and Twilight muttered a quiet thanks as she and Rainbow moved to the lockers Leeroy had told me were theirs. I donned my gear with the practiced ease of the veteran I am, and found both of them struggling to get theirs on. I helped them finish, not failing to notice the way they hid themselves from me any time they thought they were at all exposed, and I quickly concluded that the only reason they had been able to change in front of me before was because they were too worn out to care. Once I was finished with Twilight, I moved on to Rainbow, but paused when the unicorn started talking.
"Hey, Kuro. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. Don't know if I'll have an answer you like, though."
"What did it feel like when you first killed somepony?" I considered the question, slowly buckling one of Rainbow's gauntlets as I recalled the appropriate memory. It had been a long time ago, before I originally joined the marines. Some dumb fuck tried to mug me with a knife, but a life in the backstreets of Mars makes you cautious of every sound, shadow, and sensation. Bottom line: my knife was bigger. I could still feel the blood running over my hands as the light faded from his eyes.
"Like a child. I felt like I had done something unforgivable, like I had broken one of the laws of the universe itself. I didn't want to have anything to do with anything for a while, and I nearly lost the job I was working at at the time because of it. It seemed like something inside me died, and left a hollow, empty space that could never be fixed. Why do you ask?" I finished tightening Rainbow's shoulder plates, and turned around to see Twilight crying silently.
"I just wanted to make sure this was normal. I feel horrible. Like I'm a monster that shouldn't exist." She choked back a sob, and I put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.
"You'll be alright. And I can assure you that you're not a monster. You've drawn blood, and you have a lot of bad experiences beyond that, but you're no monster, I can guarantee that." She wiped her eyes of tears, and looked at me with a sniffle.
"How can you be so sure?" I looked her square in the eyes and told her the truth.
"Because monsters don't feel remorse." She seemed surprised by this, and after a moment, I saw a small smile on her lips. She once again suddenly hugged me, but this time I was ready.
"Thank you, Kuro. That makes me feel a lot better."
"Anytime. Now, let's get going. We've got ponies to save."
"What?! What do you mean we aren't going with you?"
"Just that. You'll be going down later with one of the marine platoons, along with Carlton and Ron."
"So you're telling me we busted our butts for almost three weeks' worth of work, just to find out that you'll be doing something else entirely?"
"Not quite. My team and I will be part of the forward strike force. We'll take down as many control centers as we can overnight, then everyone else will come down at dawn, when the majority of their forces will be most tired and prone to ill-preparedness." We stepped through a large automatic door, coming out into Nexus Wheel Beta. The three Wheels along the length of the ship were easily the largest single areas of the ship, acting as hubs for every other area in a maze-like system of stairs, elevators, moving walkways, and doors. I led the other two down a flight of stairs to our left as Rainbow continued attempting to justify letting them go with us.
"Come on! We worked so hard to get here. Doesn't all that training count for anything?" She was trying to use the pleading-eye stare on me again, but I kept moving, and she quickly gave up.
"It does, but not as much as you apparently think. Tell me, how much training do you think soldiers in your army went through for basic?" We got onto a moving walkway, which would take us the rest of the way to our destination, albeit at a slightly slower pace. I leaned against the railing as Rainbow answered my question.
"We don't have an army. Not really, anyway. I mean there's the royal guard, and I guess they have ponies stationed around Equestria, but it's not considered an army by most folks." That, I found surprising. It also gave me better insight into just how peaceful their home was. If they didn't even have a standing army, then they weren't just unfamiliar with war, they probably didn't even really know what a war was until the Emrini showed up.
"Alright, then. How much basic training do Royal Guards get?" She thought about it for a moment, apparently trying to recall a memory.
"Let's see... I remember talking to one guard while we were staying at the palace at some point, and he said it was about four weeks, I think." I sighed and shook my head, prompting curious looks from both ponies. "What?"
"Basic training length for a brand new recruit is three months in our army." This got a big reaction from both of them. Their eyes widened, and their shoulders slumped in shock. "In order to be eligible for Shadow Soldier training, you have to go through marine training, which is four months long, be in service for at least five years, and then you have to go through the physical and mental testing phase to see if you're sufficiently healthy for Shadow training, which is another two and a half months on top of it all. Still think you're on my level?" Both of them slowly shook their heads, dumbfounded by the amount of time it took to get to where I was. "Good. Now stop complaining. I'm going to have enough to listen to when Ron finds out he'll be going with you."
"Why would he complain about that? He seemed to like us just fine." I nodded as we finally entered the hangar area, where both she and Twilight started gawking at the size of some of our machines.
"He does, but what he doesn't like is having to wait. You and the squad you'll be with won't go down until more than eight hours after the rest of my squad touches down. That's why he'll complain at me." They smiled a bit in amusement, and followed me off the walkway as I spotted my squad. I called Carlton and Ron over with their equipment, and sure enough, he figured out what was happening and started complaining before we even started moving. He pleaded, begged, and even made a couple insignificant threats, like putting water balloons in my bed. I ignored him as we went, and when I made a beeline for one of the parked Kingfishers, he gave up with a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a sob. I got them introduced to the platoon's leader, a rougher Staff Sergeant by the name of Clive Klaxton. He struck me as the by-the-book type of commander, and I figured it would be good for all of them to go with him on this particular assignment. Once they were set up and everyone understood what they would be doing on the ground, I headed back to the Drop Shooter I'd be taking with the others. I put my helmet on, and logged into the ship's computer network to access the mission briefing. A loading screen appeared, and then disappeared a moment later to make way for the briefing video. Diagrams, charts, maps and battle plans flashed across the screen to illustrate the audio's instructions.
"Shadow Squad two-five-eight. Commander: Sergeant Kuro Maldone. Deployment strategy: use of Drop Shooter multi-person atmospheric entry device during natural meteor shower. Primary objective: Emrini dig site previously discovered on planet Rokan. Secondary objective: breeding shelter uncovered by satellite imaging. Additional objective: large, egg-like devices scattered throughout enemy territory believed to be relay stations for mental control units. Destruction or deactivation on all devices is recommended to disrupt and remove Emrini control over Earth Cracker, Energy Keeper, and Cloud Buster units. Use of lethal force against units under mental domination is determined as a last resort measure only. Attempt liberation of mind controlled units before use of fatal options. Final objective: secure any available materials or personnel appearing to be of sensitive or high-profile nature. Briefing completed. Time until deployment: eighty-five minutes. Transmission closing." I logged out of the ship's system, and took a seat next to the Shooter to get some sleep. I woke up later to the sound of a timer warning going off in my helmet. With fifteen minutes to drop time, I started my final check and prep of my equipment before hearing my name being called. I looked to my right to see Dr. Pernaki moving towards me with the magic harnesser. I stopped what I was doing to speak with him.
"Looks like you managed to finish just in time."
"Indeed. We had a couple of problems, but the errors have been corrected and the system works perfectly now." He grinned with satsifaction at the technological marvel as he offered it to me.
"Well, I have to say I'm impressed with how fast you've been working, Doc, but unfortunately I won't be taking this with me." He seemed more than a little surprised by this.
"What? But why not? You seemed most interested in using it earlier."
"I was, and I still am. But it occurred to me that the Emrini may have magic detection capability to detect and apprehend ponies who have escaped, and if that's the case then we can't risk early detection on this mission. Once we're able to confirm that they don't have the ability to track magic energy signatures, I'm sure your work will see more than its fair share of usage. But for now, I can't take it with me. Sorry." He seemed a little disappointed, but he fully understood, and returned to his lab after wishing us luck. I finished double-checking my gear, and did a quick check of everyone else's before climbing into my space on the Shooter. While we waited the last few minutes, I mentally prepared myself. Hanging from the hand- and foot-holds of my pod, I flexed my combat muscles, twitching slightly in place as I imagined various scenarios and developed strategies and counter-strategies. All too soon, though, the warning alarm buzzed, and the hangar floor was stirred up with activity. I strapped in, and watched the edges of the pod as my hatch was sealed by technicians outside. Satisfied that there weren't any breaches, I opened my short-range communicator.
"Alright, folks, call it in. This is a major operation, so we're doing it by the book. Toyoko, you copy?"
"Hai. All equipment is functional, and pod is sealed. I am ready."
"Dimitri. All systems green?"
"Copy. All biotech is at full capacity and charge. All readings nominal."
"Groove. Coordinates confirmed?"
"Roger that, big man. All computer inputs match, all gps systems are synched. Let's go get the party set up, already."
"Launch crew, this is Shadow Squad two-five-eight. We are green and ready for deployment."
"Shadow Squad two-five-eight ready for deployment. Initiating carrier arm sequence." A huge, four-fingered grasper moved over our Shooter, and slowly lowered until it contacted the nose shield. A second later, the fingers began to curl, gripping the front of the vessel like an egg. "Carrier arm attached. Moving Drop Shooter to bay door six." We slowly rose, until we were sitting ten feet off the floor, then we swayed slightly as the arm moved towards the bay doors. It moved over door six, then froze there as the airlock closed around us. "Initiating drop in five... four... three... two... one..." My body jerked forward as the carrier arm let go, and we fell out of the ship. I grabbed the control sticks, and tilted them left, pushing us away from the ship before we hit the hull as it passed. Rokan came into view, and I started the auto-entry. The Shooter started moving on its own as I let go of the controls, and soon we were near the meteors that would serve as our cover. The vessel lurched as we entered the atmosphere, and we quickly felt the temperature start to rise. The nose shield's heat reduction components prevented us from roasting alive, but it still got really uncomfortable, really fast. As we started to see the meteors around us vaporizing and exploding, the Shooter tilted downward. There was a quiet cranking sound as the nose shield started getting pushed back, until a short clunk sounded. A moment later, I felt and saw my pod lift away from the main body, allowing the wings to flare out and slow me down, making the pod much more bearable as the temperature dropped.
"Everyone confirm successful separation." I turned the pod as i fell to make visual confirmation everyone had separated before the whole thing burned up on entry. Looking around, I saw all three pods doing circles as they each called over their safety. "Alright, fall in. We'll be landing near where I came down last time, so let's see where we are." I brought up the pod's internal map and found where we were in reference to the new landing zone, as well as where the old one was, so I would have a better idea of distances. Once I figured out where everything was, I turned my pod right, aiming for the area we were designated to land in. We couldn't use the same spot as last time, unfortunately, due to the fact that they had probably already figured out where it was. When we got close enough, I dropped into a steep dive, pulling up over the trees as I skimmed along the tops. As we approached I started swerving left and right to burn off momentum, and from my rearview camera feed, I could see the others doing the same. Our insertion zone came into view, and I shifted my position to prepare for landing. "Alright, everyone, get ready. Landing sequence in five... four... three... two... one.... Flare up!" I pulled up on my controls until the pod pointed skyward, then pulled the triggers. Two tanks of compressed air in the nose of the craft released their payload forward, driving the entire thing backwards, which was now also down. The tail spike embedded itself into the ground, the long piece of metal acting as a lever to hold the rest of it upright above ground. I popped the hatch, and stepped out to collect my gear while the others finished their landing procedures. Once we had all finished outfitting ourselves, we set our waypoints and synched our HUDs again to make sure no one would get lost. We found our way to the dig site quickly, fanning out around it to get as many viewpoints as possible. Along the way we came across two of the relay transmitters, and opened them up in order to yank out the power supply. By the time we actually got into position, we were fifteen minutes behind schedule. "Alright, guys, we need to move. No mistakes, get it right the first time." We started slowly making our way down into the dig site, until about halfway down when Groove called for a stop.
"Boss, there's a workhouse or warehouse or something right below you, built into the cliff wall. Looks like someone's home, too. Lights are on, and there's someone or something making shadows." I paused for a moment to improvise.
"Alright, I'll deal with whoever is in there. The rest of you start laying charges and counter-frequency arrays. Move fast, we're behind time." We finished making our way to the ground, and I quickly hid myself against the wall of the bunker Groove spotted. Peeking in, I could see an alpha moving around inside, obviously frustrated with whatever was on the table. I moved to the door, and pulled a tube of nano-jelly from my belt. I smeared it around the door handle so it would open noiselessly, and made my way inside. Deciding that caution was the better part of valor, I went through the rest of the surprisingly small building first, picking up a couple of impressive-looking blueprints on the way. When I got back, the Emrini that had been pacing around was now sitting on an uncomfortable-looking metal chair, slouched in a haphazard position, and holding a bottle of something that appeared to be alcoholic. Now that I could see his face, the scars over his left eye were obvious. It was the manager of the dig. He was staring blankly out the window, so I activated my cloak and drew my stun gun. As soon as I took a step, though, he spoke.
"You may as well turn that silly device off. I smelled you the moment you came in. Not that it matters now. Just shoot me and get it over with. I don't care anymore. I didn't even get to finish my haksra." That made me stop and think. Why would an alpha want to die? I decided this was worth the effort, and deactivated my stealth. He looked at me for a moment before taking a swig of his drink. "Go ahead, whenever you're ready."
"I'm not here to kill you." He looked at me quizzically.
"Oh?"
"No. In fact, you're not even the main reason I'm here." He rolled his eyes.
"Amazing. I've fallen so far even you don't see me as an important figure anymore." He took another drink.
"What does that mean?" He sighed once he swallowed, and gave me a calculating look.
"Why should you care? I'm not important, remember?"
"What makes you say that? Just because I'm not here for the exact purpose of killing you means you aren't a target?" He snorted once.
"Why wouldn't it? We're going to lose the war, why would you need any of us alive? The only ones you wouldn't plan on having assassinated are the ones who aren't enough of a threat to warrant any real effort, right?" Another swig.
"Just because we're winning doesn't mean there aren't questions we haven't been able to answer. And judging by the amount of equipment you have here, this excavation is pretty high-level. Which means you know something we probably want to find out about." He stared at me for a moment, weighing my words. He suddenly snorted again, and leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees.
"So what, then? Torture me until I tell you? Or just use our mind controllers on me, get it all quick? I should tell you now, you won't get much enjoyment out of me. I don't have anything left to lose, none of us do. Might as well tell you everything and maybe make it less painful for some of them." I paused for a moment to process that. Why would he assume we would torture him? And why would he assume we would enjoy it? I decided that the rest of my questions could wait until we got back.
"No, nothing like that. Although I will let you finish your haksra." He chuckled at that.
"You're too kind." He upturned the drink, chugging the rest of it before throwing the empty bottle into a trash can in the corner. "So now what?"
"This." I aimed my stun gun at him and pulled the trigger. His whole body was stiff for a moment, then went limp as he faded into unconsciousness. I picked him up, and moved him back to the bedroom I had spotted beforehand. After locking all the doors so he couldn't get out, and sabotaging the radio so he couldn't call for help if he hadn't already, I went back outside to find the others keeping themselves hidden nearby. Toyoko was first to speak.
"What happened in there? You were occupied for some time."
"Yeah," Groove added, "you have a heart-to-heart with him first? Shared a beer, maybe?"
"Not quite. Apparently their alcohol is called haksra." All of them jolted with expected surprise, and I allowed myself a small grin under my helmet. "I'll tell the story later. For now, let's start moving toward the broodhouse. I want to finish this up quickly." The others nodded, and we made our way back up and out of the excavation area. I checked our time, and found that we had fallen far behind schedule. We made a beeline for our next destination, but stopped after less than a minute. We had come across a small, prison-like building, with guards patrolling the area. I had the others surround the building, then activated my stealth unit again and carefully made my way inside. The interior of the place matched the exterior. Cells lined the walls, and each one held no less than three ponies. This place was the size of a small mansion, but it looked tiny in reference to the number of prisoners it held. I left before I could lose my composure, but I made a mental note to turn the building into less than rubble when we came back. After that, we regrouped once more and finally set out for our final stop. By the time we got there, it was almost dawn. Outside, there was already a large group of Emrini waiting to get in after their night shift. Now I was starting to get hot under the collar.
"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. We can't take out this many on our own, the invasion force is about to deploy, and it looks like-" The doors suddenly opened on the broodhouse, and a cheer went up from the congregation as they flooded the building. "-they're about to let them in." A low growl escaped my throat, and I could hear roots pop as my fingers clenched and ripped the blades of grass under them from their homes. The rest of my squad moved away from me a bit just as the screaming started. Even from a distance, the pain and despair in the pleas for mercy were obvious. I could feel my body pushing itself off the ground, even as my mind continued showing me memories and imaginings of what happened in those buildings. Then there was a scream unlike any other. Desperation and sorrow filled the sound, and I bolted out of cover, sprinting for the door like a mad dog. I rammed the entrance, roaring as my gaze swept over the scene of carnal hell in front of me.
"Don't worry... just fine. Look, he's coming around now."
"Oough." I flexed my fingers and toes as I slowly came to, and rolled my head to one side as I opened an eye. Light flooded my vision, and I closed it again. Groaning once more, I stretched the rest of my body, earning a satisfying array of pops and cracks as my joints reset themselves into place. I rolled over onto my hands and knees, and stood up. I nearly fell back over, but a hand held me up.
"Easy, Sergeant. You just woke up, and you weren't out for very long." I shook my head to clear it a bit before responding.
"What-cough-what's the damage?" The hand led me to a tree to lean against, and I could now recognize the voice as Dimitri, though my vision was still tinged with red.
"Thirty-six Emrini, zero civilian, zero friendly." I rolled my neck, eliciting more pops from the vertebrae.
"Good. How's our timetable?" I winced as the sound of someone shouting orders came through my helmet's internal speakers, and right into my still over-sensitive ears.
"Technically we're behind schedule, but Groove was able to go back and set off the traps we left at the dig. He called in a couple minutes ago, said he had things under control." I nodded and took off my helmet.
"What about Toyoko?" Dimitri handed me a rag, and I started wiping off my face.
"She took Carlton and Ron east. Shadow Squad two-three-nine had one of their cloaks glitch out, and they can't get into their objective." Finished with my face, I handed the rag back and put my helmet back on.
"Alright. What about the marines, and Twilight and Rainbow?" He pointed behind him with a thumb, and I saw the marines standing guard while Twilight administered aid to the ponies. Rainbow, however, was standing just a few steps away from me with her arms crossed.
"They got here near the end of your episode. A group of stragglers had come up, laughing and talking loudly. Apparently loud enough for you to hear, since you then jumped out the third-story window and killed all of them with a few well-placed removals of flesh. You passed out just after that."
"Goody. At least now I know why my legs hurt. Reactions?" I continued stretching my body as he answered.
"Better than some. Rainbow isn't too happy about not being told, but Twilight said she trusted you enough not to worry. Klaxton told his squad to get over it as soon as they started talking. I don't think he cares either way." I nodded once more, and he handed me my Popper. I walked over to Rainbow, and she looked at me expectantly while Dimitri went to help Twilight.
"I'm guessing you're curious about my little tantrum back there, right?" She snorted derisively.
"An understatement if I've ever heard one, but yeah. And more importantly, why you didn't tell us." I could tell from her voice she was fairly pissed about being left in the dark on this, but we didn't have time for a full explanation here.
"I didn't tell you simply because I don't like people getting all up-in-arms about it when they find out that they've been hanging out with a berserker, and because I didn't think it would come up so soon. As for what exactly happened, you'll have to wait. The explanation for it is long and complicated, something we don't have the luxury for right now. So the real question is, are you going to make a big deal of it, or are you going to keep trusting me?" She tensed up a bit, and I could tell she didn't like either option too much. Eventually, though, she relented with an exaggerated sigh.
"Fine, but you owe us all one hell of an explanation when we get back, you hear me?" She pointed a finger in my face, and I nodded. "Good. So what are we doing now?" I honestly didn't expect her to be that willing, but I guess her friends came first.
"We need to go back to the west. There was some kind of prison there, with a good number of ponies inside. Once we get them out, we can call for evac." I started moving toward the group in front of the broodhouse. "Dimitri! We're moving! Klaxton, I need a few guys to bring with me. Who can you spare?" He had a total of five of his platoon go with me, and we had made our way to the prison in short order. Once there, I activated my cloak and cleared one of the entrances. The rest ran through the small open area quickly, and I hastily moved up to the door for the main cell block area. Meanwhile, Dimtri and a couple of the others went through the side corridors to the control room, as I took Rainbow and the rest of them inside. Ignoring the fact that my ears were going to be screaming with pain as a direct result, I tossed a blinder grenade up over the rail on the top floor, and we all opened fire on the Emrini below, my head feeling like it would split from the sound. The entire area was cleared in seconds, though, and we moved along the cells, breaking them open as we went. Once they were all open, I ordered a clearing of the building. All of us searched through the small complex, killing off the Emrini as we moved. Once outside again, I turned on my main communicator.
"Command, this is Shadow Squad two-five-eight commander Kuro Maldone. I have a whole mess of ponies here that need an evac. What can you do for me?" There was static for a moment before I heard a response.
"Shadow Squad one-nine-seven has an LZ cleared half a klick south of your position. Take all refugees there, and transport will pick them up shortly."
"Thanks, Command. Alright, everyone, listen up! We've got a ways to walk, so let's get moving! We'll pick up the others first, then we're getting all of you the hell off this planet!" Hopeful murmurs went up through the crowd of gathered ponies. "Come on, folks! We're burning daylight, here!" We headed back to where Twilight and the rest were waiting, and a significant number of the ponies I had with me started sprinting forward at the women we had freed. A number of the men from the prison apparently had girlfriends or spouses in the group, and several tearful reunions were made. As much as it made me feel all warm and fuzzy, though, it would have to wait. I turned on my helmet's speaker function, and lowered the internal sound levels. I had barely been able to deal with the echoing sounds in the prison, I wasn't about to deal with hurting myself with my own yelling. I jumped onto a large rock nearby to start my orders. "Okay, people, we need to go! It's not far, but we need to get you all to safety fast! Follow me, I'll show you where we're going." I jumped back down, and made my way through the crowd. They followed me easily, the stronger and healthier individuals helping those with greater injuries. The forest made moving more difficult, but we still made good time, only taking about fifteen minutes. Sure enough, when we arrived there was a large area cleared of any hostile activity, with several Remora tiltrotor vehicles hovering above to provide cover. The entire clearing was filled with Kingfishers, though. Several of them had the medic cross on them, and the wounded were immediately sent there. When all of them were loaded up, they took off, but there was still a large crowd of ponies left behind. I decided to check in on my subordinates to see who needed help.
"Groove, this is Kuro. You good at the dig site?"
"Yeah, boss, but I've got nowhere to bring these folks! You have anything, yet?"
"Yeah, just head for Dimitri's signal. I have one more passenger to pick up from the office you spotted last night."
"You mean that Emrini you shared the whatever with?"
"That's the one. Was he still there?"
"Dunno. He wasn't outside, and the door was still shut, so probably. I'm gonna head out now. See you on the way." The comm went silent, and I let Dimitri know what was going on before I left. Halfway there, I indeed came across Groove, with about five more ponies following him. I told him to wait at the evac zone for me, and continued on my way. Once I arrived, I decided to take the ramps down this time, and got to the bottom much faster. Inside the building itself, I found the alpha right where I left him, though he was awake now. He saw me come in, and got up so he could turn around and let me cuff him. We got out without trouble, and I called in my prisoner.
"Command, I need a prisoner shuttle at the evac zone in ten minutes. I found an Emrini alpha who was willing to go quietly for once, and I'm on my way now. Think you can swing that for me?"
"Absolutely, Sergeant. We have a Kingfisher en route now, we'll redirect it to you."
"Thanks. We'll be there soon." I directed the alpha towards the LZ, and we showed up not long after. As soon as Rainbow laid eyes on him, though, I had to move quickly to stop her from doing something stupid. I maneuvered myself between the two, and used my larger size and greater strength to keep her still while Dimitri and Groove took the alpha to the Kingfisher.
"Let me go! He's the one who did this to us! He's the reason we're all like this! I'll kill him for it! You hear me, you bastard!? I'm gonna kill you!" She struggled as I held her, but the Kingfisher was gone before my grip loosened. The moment she was free, she spun around and punched me in the jaw. I was glad I still had my helmet on, because it hurt anyway. The next punch didn't connect as I caught her arm, and in her anger, she tried once more, only to find her other hand stopped as well. Her thrashing quickly slowed down and stopped as she realized she wasn't going to get another shot in. I let her go, and she collapsed to her knees, sobbing quietly. "You were supposed to be helping us. How can you just let him leave like that? Is this what you consider fair?" I could hear the hatred in her voice, as well as the honest confusion.
"It's called 'compromise', Rainbow. And it's the one thing that can end this war faster." Twilight came over and helped her friend back up. "Did you find the rest of your friends, Twilight?" She nodded. "Good. I want all of you on the next shuttle up. You'll do more good with the other ponies than you will with us. Just stay away from that alpha. We still need him, and you don't have any authority yet, so don't start going off half-cocked again. I'll help finish up here, then head back. We'll talk after." They relunctantly complied, and the rest of the day went by without any more unexpected distress.
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When my squad finally got back, I was exhausted. We had been sent to two other sites, and the number of ponies that had been colletively freed was incredible. But the day wasn't over yet, so I changed quickly and made my way to the communal room that had been cleared out for the new arrivals. Looking around, I spotted Twilight and Rainbow without too much trouble and made my way over to them. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow was still mad, but I held up a hand for her to wait just a bit longer.
"How are they, Twilight?" She looked at me with sad eyes.
"Bad. Really bad. Applejack is still coherent, but she's so worried about her family she's barely able to do anything other than eat. Rarity looks like she hasn't slept properly in weeks, and she keeps mumbling to herself. Pinkie won't respond to anything, and she hasn't so much as grinned since we found her. Fluttershy, though," she turned her gaze to a yellow pegasus with a pink mane, "apparently she was their favorite. Rainbow and I were more desirable as combat units, so we didn't have to get... personal with the Emrini very often, but I don't think Fluttershy was ever sent out at all. She doesn't even have a port in her head. She won't speak, she won't eat, it's like her body is still alive, but her mind is just... gone." I could tell Twilight was holding back her tears.
"Don't worry, we'll help them. They'll be better soon enough, I promise." I heard Rainbow humph behind me.
"Yeah, right. Like you even care. You weren't even willing to kill the one in charge, why should you be interested in helping us, huh? You have no idea what we've been through, or what we've lost! All you care about is whether or not you win your stupid war!" I turned to see her glaring at me, accusation burning in her eyes.
"And you don't care about the war?" She huffed.
"No, I don't! All I care about is going home, and getting everypony else home, too! Your war has done nothing but cause problems for us, and I for one don't want any more to do with it!" I could already tell there was something else bothering her, but that could wait. She needed to hear some flat-out truth first.
"Too bad." She went wide-eyed at that. "At this point, you don't really have a choice. You're stuck here. We don't know where your planet is, and even when we do find out, you won't be able to go back until the Emrini are beaten. You think they just stumbled on your world? You think that just because they get kicked out, they'll leave you alone? You're an idiot. That's not how war works. A conflict of this magnitude doesn't end until one side is so beaten that they can't ever get back up again. We aren't fighting to defend ourselves anymore. We're fighting so that we can put an end to it all. When we win-and we will win, now that you aren't under their control-we're going to put their entire planet under martial law. They won't be able to so much as go for a walk without us knowing. And as for your world, that will take months of combat to get back from their control. Possibly years. And, of course there's the reconstruction. I heard you tell the story yourself. You know what they really did that day? They ambushed you. They were prepared for every possible counter-measure you had. They had planned out that attack weeks, maybe even months, in advance, and carried it out like the predators they are. But you know what? We're going to beat them, because humans are better predators, and we're going to be able to hunt them far more effectively once the alpha we found starts talking. And once that's all finished, then you can go home. Then you can try to forget that any of this happened. Emphasis on try. But for now... Twilight, let one of the medics take Fluttershy to the intensive care unit. They have tech that should be able to fix her at least partially. Just give the others some time, and make sure they know you're with them. They'll need as much emotional condolence as you can give. Rainbow and I will be back soon." I beckoned the blue pegasus to follow me, and I led her to the closest observation room. The window currently faced towards the planet, and we could see the occasional ship moving to or from the surface. I knew she was still hurting, but she needed to get whatever was bugging her out of her system before she really started to lose it. I lowered my voice a bit, and went back to the softer tones I use when I'm trying to be nice. "You know, Rainbow, I didn't really expect you to go off on me quite so vehemently. I already know you aren't happy about the alpha we brought in, but something else is bothering you, I can tell. Talk to me, maybe I can sort things out for you." She shifted her position for a few moments, obviously having not expected me to guess so quickly, or be so nice about it. She wasn't quiet for long, though.
"It happened right after the drop. I rushed forward to try and get there faster, but I kept getting stalled and delayed by Emrini who were either patrolling, or waiting for us. One of the ambushes I came across was armed with guns. A marine pulled me into a ditch, and told me to keep my head down. Once we thought all the shooters were dead, he stood up and started yelling about how I was going to get us all killed. In the middle of him telling me to stay with the group, his head just... exploded to one side. We had missed one of the snipers in a tree, and he had shot the guy right after he stood up. I couldn't move. All I could do was stare at his body. He had been in the middle of a sentence, and boom, he was dead. Just like that. And it was my fault. If I hadn't been in such a hurry, he wouldn't have been yelling, and he might have seen that sniper. Or maybe the sniper wouldn't have targeted him at all, or someone else might have seen it. But no, I had to go and rush forward, and get someone killed. I-I can't deal with that. I can tell myself the Emrini are monsters, but that just lets me ignore what I'm doing. With this I can't even do that! It's the invasion all over again. I try my hardest, fly as fast as I can, but at the end of it all I'm still useless, completely helpless to make anything do what I want, or do anything to help my friends." She started crying at the end, and I couldn't fault her for it. But that didn't change the course of action we needed to take.
"You're not useless, just inexperienced." She looked at me incredulously. "I know what useless looks like, and you're not it. You're young, and you don't have the years of living with war that we do. All you need is training, and combat experience. We can give you that, but right now, there's something far more important you need to do." She wiped her eyes and sniffled.
"What's that?" I guided her back to the communal room with the others, and pointed to her friends, laying there listlessly.
"You need to be there for the ones you care about so you can help them. They're hurting now, and they need someone they know won't abandon them. They need you. So stay here for now, and the rest can come later. Don't worry, everything will work out soon enough. I promise.."
"Not good. They went through a lot, and all of them are going to need some serious medical help before they start to really get better."
"Fucking wonderful. At least we have all of them. We got incredibly lucky with you finding Twilight, you know."
"I'm aware. By the way, have we gotten anything useful from that data I pulled?"
"Actually, we got quite a bit. Apparently they're planning a strike on Tarsus to try and take it back. There's also one small piece of data with heavier encryption than the rest. Much heavier. And part of it looks like coordinates."
"Well that could be interesting. Maybe our new friend could decode it for us."
"That's the hope." Leeroy and I got off the elevator, and made our way to Containment. We were brought to one of the interrogation rooms, and waited while the alpha I found was brought in. He sat down, and the guard closed the door behind him. Leeroy pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of the bag he had brought with him, and immediately got started. From my spot leaning against the wall, I could easily see what he would be writing.
"So," he began, "let's start with the obvious question: what's your name?" The alpha seemed surprised, but he answered anyway.
"Argronne Leskanze. Though I'm not sure why you care." Leeroy wrote down the name, using his own knowledge of the language to figure out the spelling.
"I ask for two reasons. The first is that I want to be able to refer to you appropriately during this questioning, and the second is so that any paperwork that needs to be filled out will have an actual name on it. Now, the biggest question directly concerning you, right now, is what you were looking for in that dig site. That was quite an operation, not something anyone would invest in without significant reason. So what was yours?" Argronne smirked a bit, like he knew we would ask that.
"I honestly don't know. None of us do. All we knew was that we had subsurface readings of something underground that was manufactured. Something big. Some said it's a ship. Others said it's a weapon. All I can say for certain is that the size of the hole we were digging was not exaggerated, and we still had a good ways to go before we got to the object itself." Leeroy copied it all on his paper, then wrote a couple of his own theories down as well.
"So why did they send you to oversee the whole thing? You are an alpha, shouldn't you be somewhere more important?" A barking laugh came from our prisoner before he spoke.
"Is that what you call us? Hehe. No matter. I was sent there because I lost a supremacy duel to a younger Senkir. He slashed my eye, and the fight was decided. But as was his right, the Senkir chose to send me to Rokan, instead of letting me retire. He had been my subordinate, and decided to make my life miserable as petty revenge for keeping him busy so often."
"So you were fairly high-ranked, correct?" He shrugged.
"Higher than most. Nowhere near the top, though. Plenty of others who ordered me around, too." Leeroy tapped his pen on the table for a few seconds, then finally broached the subject I was most interested in.
"So how much work did you do with encoding and cyphers during your career?" Argronne tilted his head curiously.
"A bit. It was rather important to know all the codes and keys for secret missives and special commands. Why?" The Admiral pulled a single sheet of paper, half-filled with what looked to me like gibberish, out of his bag and handed it over.
"I was wondering if you could do anything with this for us." He picked it up with one claw, then started reading it over as he traced each line with the other. After a moment, he tilted his head again.
"Maybe, but I would need time and work material. Perhaps a couple of simple tools." Leeroy smiled appreciatively.
"I think I can arrange that."
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After some further questioning on the nature of their operations on Rokan, Leeroy and I left. He headed for his office to appropriate supplies and fill out the necessary paperwork, while I went to the medical area to check up on the ponies who had been admitted in, particularly Fluttershy. Most of them were in respectable shape, with a few exceptions. Fluttershy, however, obviously still had a long road to recovery. As soon as I entered, even the smell seemed more unhealthy than usual for the area. The various monitoring instruments were showing only weak readings, and she herself looked like she was on her deathbed. There were tubes in her nose, a jury-rigged oxygen mask over her muzzle, and various intravenous attachments surrounding her bed's headboard. Twilight was sitting in a chair next to the bed, her head on her knees as she hugged her legs and watched her near-comatose friend.
"She doing any better?" The purple-furred unicorn spun around at the sound of my voice, but relaxed when she saw me.
"No. The doctor said that she was in probably the worst shape he'd ever seen. I think the only reason she -or any of us, really- is still alive is because the Emrini made sure we still ate. After all, don't want your partner to die in the middle of the ride, right?" I could hear how much hate and sadness she felt at the end, and moved forward to put a hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be alright. We'll figure out where your planet is, we'll win the war, and you'll all be able to go home."
"I don't want to go back." I had to blink a couple of times to process that properly.
"What? Why not?" She tensed up, and turned away for a moment before answering.
"Because it won't be home anymore. It'll be destroyed, changed, and almost unrecognizable. I won't be able to go back there, just to find everything I ever knew gone or destroyed. I don't think I could deal with that. I'm not strong enough."
"Yes you are. You've managed to get through everything the Emrini did to you, something plenty of other people can't do. What you knew can be rebuilt, what you lost can be replaced, and eventually, the pain will start to subside. It won't ever go away completely, but it will no longer be an agonizing wound, just a bitter memory of what once was. And although it it will have changed, don't ever give up on going home." She turned back to me with a curious look.
"Why are you so insistent about it?"
"Because I know what it's like to not have a home to come back to." She straightened up a bit, and her eyes widened in surprise.
"What? But, how is that even possible? I mean, surely you have extended family or something somewhere, right?" I snorted, and shook my head.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they want anything to do with me, or I them. They're all selfish fucks, and most of my childhood was spent in an orphanage, thanks to them. But that's not what I meant. When I was sent to the orphanage, the person who was supposed to be taking care of us usually decided he had better things to do. So, the orphanage itself wasn't any safer than anywhere else, and not long after I arrived, I left. I learned how to get by on my own, whether it was by begging, stealing or scavenging. Those were some of the worst years of my life, and I don't intend on letting any of you experience that. Trust me, if one of you was to wind up on your own on one of our worlds, you wouldn't last long." She nodded, a thoughtful expression on her features.
"Is that why you were so mean to Rainbow earlier?"
"Mostly. But I could hear the raw despair she was feeling. She was ready to just lay down, and let the rest of the galaxy pass her by for the rest of her life. I wasn't willing to let her, so I used an old drill sergeant tactic: I pushed her to the limit. When someone is backed into a corner, and their only options are to fight, or die, self-preservation instincts start kicking in. They aren't willing to die, so they fight. I was counting on the same sort of reaction from Rainbow, and I'm fairly certain it worked. Once she realizes just how much damage was done to the other ponies, she'll force herself to put her willpower back together again, and she won't be as prone to mental damage as before, if at all. Of course, neither of you are going back into the field unless you really want to, and certainly not without a proper training regimen first. What you went through with me was just a crash course. The real thing is much more intense." She seemed rather worried about that statement, but her expression was quickly replaced by remembrance.
"Speaking of survival mechanisms, you still haven't explained what happened to you when we freed the other mares."
"No, I guess I haven't, have I? I suppose we should go find Rainbow so I can explain that whole process." We left the medical ward, and found her with the others. She had managed to get Pinkie to start moving around on her own and observe her surroundings, but Rarity was a sobbing wreck of misery while Applejack looked on with a level of sorrow I had only seen a few times before. The pegasus herself was standing next to Pinkie, glancing back at the other two often to make sure their conditions hadn't changed.
"Rainbow." She turned to me at the sound of my voice, then led Pinkie back to her spot next to Rarity before joining Twilight and me. "How are they all doing?"
"A little better now. I got Rarity to at least start accepting what happened. Pinkie is still a wreck, though. She can move on her own, but her eyes look unfocused, like she isn't really seeing anything, ya know? At least Applejack should be fine, once we find her family. Anyway, what did you need?"
"A couple of things. First, we need to get you debriefed for the mission records. Same drill as before, but shorter. Also, I figured I should tell you how my berserking works." She nodded, and turned her full attention to me as we started walking. "It's actually a genetic disorder. It's extremely rare, rare enough that I've only ever heard of one other person with the condition, and he died over seventy years ago. Basically, when I get sufficiently angry, my body produces larger amounts of certain chemicals, like adrenaline, than a normal person. Also, my circulatory system goes haywire, causing a surge of red blood cell production, and an increase in blood flow to my brain. The sudden and extreme increase in blood and stress-induced chemicals forces my brain into a life-or-death state of function, which removes all of my body's normal built-in safeties. My muscles use their full strength, my brain processes more sight data, and all of my other senses become more sensitive. In short, I temporarily become a super-human. The drawbacks, however, are rather hefty. The first is that in this state, I can't reason. My logical functions shut down in order for my brain to process the data from the overload of everything else, and my body just runs on instinct for the duration, which means that there's a very real possibility of me hurting or killing someone that isn't actually a target. The second major drawback is that while my blood cell production is heightened, my blood pressure continues to rise constantly. This results in smaller blood vessels throughout my body, particularly my eyes, bursting and bleeding freely. I've had multiple people comment on the appearance of 'tears of blood'. And, of course, once all that adds up sufficiently, I simply pass out. The worst part for me personally, though, is the hangover when I wake up. That much damage to that much of my body doesn't just go away instantly. I still feel sore from the bout you witnessed, although it's not nearly as painful as when I first woke up. The largest risk, however, is that the human body isn't designed to handle our full strength for an extended period of time. It is entirely possible for me to severely injure myself, even by ripping the muscle tissue from my bones with my own power. Which is also why I have a medical order to not go on any other missions for two weeks following an incident." Their faces were etched with amazement, concern, and more than a little disgust, but I couldn't tell if that was good for me or bad for me. Unfortunately, I didn't get to find out, as a new directive came over the radio.
"Shadow Soldier Kuro Maldone, please bring Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash to the bridge at once. Thank you." I didn't know what Leeroy could need from all of us at this point, so I quickly decided it had to be urgent, and told Twilight and Rainbow that we were taking a detour to the bridge first. When we finally arrived, the Admiral was pacing the room at an alarming speed. Something was definitely amiss.
"Thank you for being here so quickly, Kuro. We have a huge problem, and if it isn't resolved soon, it could cause absolutely massive problems in the future." He pulled an audio recorder from his pocket. "This is the recording that was taken during the initial debriefing of Twilight and Rainbow. I want you to listen to it. You should be able to figure out the issue we have quickly enough." He pressed the play button, and the device hummed to life before emitting a familiar voice.
"Debriefing file nine-two-eight-seven-six-four. Friendly Energy Keeper and Cloud Buster found to be under the influence of mind control technology. Session will document subjects' history before and during mind control subjugation, and attempt to determine possibility of lingering malignant tendencies. Energy Keeper, please state your name." I was unsure of what I was listening for, until I heard Twilight's voice. It was unmistakable, but the sounds were not English. It was no language I had ever heard before. I looked up at Leeroy to see him with an unhappy, unsure expression, then turned to Twilight and Rainbow to find them just as confused. As the recording went on, it became clear that something had happened to either the words or the recorder, even if we didn't know what, exactly. Leeroy clicked the recorder back off, and returned it to his pocket.
"I hope I don't need to explain the matter at hand?" I shook my head, and turned back to Twilight.
"You probably know more about your species than anyone else here. Do you have any idea what's going on?" She shook her head, looking flustered.
"I-I have no clue! When we were in there, it sounded like he was speaking perfect Equestrian! I have no idea what could have caused the recording to change!" I thought for a second before I noticed a couple of small discrepancies.
She said 'Equestrian'. And it sounded like she thought the debriefer's speech was changed, not theirs. I wonder... I looked to Leeroy, and he seemed to have arrived at the same answer. "So, you think that the debriefer's speech was changed on the recording?"
"Yeah, but I have no idea how." She shrugged in confusion.
"Well, then, maybe we do." She looked at Leeroy as he folded his arms. "I don't think the recording was changed at all. I think that right now, you two aren't speaking the same language as us." Her eyes went wide.
"But, if that's the case, why isn't it the same on the recording?"
"Most likely because the recording is an inanimate object without the ability to reason or speak. My most plausible theory is that this is being caused by some sort of natural ability you have, most likely tied to your capacity for energy manipulation. Whatever is causing this phenomenon would simply translate the words spoken into something recognizable by the one being spoken to. Since an audio recorder like this doesn't have to recognize the words, however, it wouldn't be affected. Meanwhile, something that does have speech recognition, like War Master, for example, would be affected." Rainbow looked at him suspiciously.
"You seem to have thought that through pretty well." He shrugged in response.
"It occurred to me that you had other intelligent races on your planet, and I had enough time to work it out while I waited. I just wanted to make sure you would hear something different, thereby giving more evidence to back up my idea. Now we just need to figure out how it works so we can turn it off, and then get your actual language deciphered and translated. For now, though, I'll need to make a new copy of this file with someone else translating for you. As it is, it's useless. We can't provide it as evidence for anything, because we don't know the language. We'll need to get that done soon, too, so that it doesn't become yet another problem for us. Right now, though, I'll let you take care of what you were doing. Just be ready to be called."
"Actually, Leeroy, I was already taking them down to get debriefed from the last mission." I turned my attention to them. "You two think you're up for retelling your story now, or do you want some time to recover first?" They thought for a moment, and looked at each other before Rainbow spoke up.
"Let's get it over with now. Better to do it quickly than let it linger. Like a bandaid, right?" I nodded my agreement.
"Well then, let's go." We each threw a quick salute to the Admiral, then went back down to the debrief area. This time, the waiting area outside had several people sitting around for their turn. I saw some empty seats near a wall, and after Twilight and Rainbow were seated, I went and put us on the ready list before joining them again. There were a number of people looking at us, and several hushed whispers before a braver marine finally decided to come over and say something. He pulled a chair over and spun it around so he would be sitting backwards while looking at them.
"So can you guys really do magic?" He looked rather excited, and I could tell he was barely suppressing a grin. I wasn't surprised about the question, but Twilight seemed unsure, stared at as she was by so many people.
"Um... Yeah, although I'm not sure why it's such a big deal." The guy looked like he was about to fall out of his chair.
"'Big deal'? This is a huge deal! For the last millenium and a half, we thought magic wasn't possible! Now, you come into the picture sounding like it's something anyone can do. Our entire society is going to get flipped on its head when everyone finds out about this. There is going to be a revolution! Oh, man, I gotta see you do something! Please? Please? Please?" He had an expression I thought would have been appropriate on the face of a child on Christmas, but it seemed to only make Twilight more nervous. Rainbow, meanwhile, looked like she was ready to pounce anyone who got too close.
"Uh, well, I don't really have anything to do, right now. If you can come up with something, I might be able to do that, though." The guy suddenly put on a look of concentration, but I thought of something first.
"Can you teleport others?" She started at my voice, but quickly nodded.
"Yes." She turned back to the other guy. "Would you like me to do that?" He seemed about ready to nod his head right off his shoulders. Her horn lit, and suddenly I felt a very familiar tingling. Before I could react, though, I was one again subjected to a white-black-white sequence before I found myself in midair halfway across the room.
"Whoa!" I fell hard onto my ass, and the room erupted in laughter as I picked myself back up. Soon, the crowd was calling out various tricks, and Twilight obliged them all. It wasn't long before Rainbow joined in, and as people filed in and out of the room, they both put on a rather impressive show. It certainly passed the time quickly enough, and the gathered men and women all gave a disappointed moan when they left. I was called shortly after, and once I was done recounting my memory of the mission's events, I came back out to see the two of them being given friendly pats and promises of safety from or vengeance on the Emrini for both them and the rest of the ponies. I could tell how much it helped them to hear it all by how relaxed they were.
"You two seem to be a bit less on edge now." Twilight nodded.
"Yeah. Seeing so many people who care about us enough to come and tell us they're willing to fight to free the others is just incredible. In Equestria, there were a lot of intelligent species, but I don't think any of them would have acted like this. Even the Zebras were fairly isolated, and they were probably the friendliest out of all the other nations." I nodded my understanding. I had guessed the other species on her planet had been less than friendly, so confirmation of it didn't surprise me too much.
"I hope they had the forethought to have someone translate for you during your debrief from the last mission." She chuckled, and gave a quick nod. "Well then, you ready for the retell?" She sighed as everyone else went back to their own business, and she shook her head.
"No, but I don't think I ever will be, so let's get it over with." We gathered Rainbow, and proceeded back to the same debriefing and observation rooms that we used before. After a minute or two of waiting, we also found out that the same guy as before would be doing the debriefing, although he was now accompanied by who I assumed would be the translator. After unpacking his things, I noticed that he had two recorders this time. He clicked one of them on, and the session started.
"Debriefing file nine-two-eight-seven-six-four addendum. Previous session found that subjects have a passive ability to translate any words heard by them or others nearby into the natural language of the listener. Current session will use recording of previous session and translator to confirm original testimony." The rest of the time was spent with them repeating word for word the same things they said before. This time, though, they managed to stay much more composed. Twilight still wound up crying more than once, but she needed much less time to recover. Once they were done, I offered to take them back to their room, but they decided to stay with their friends instead. On the way, I received a message on my email. I read through it, and let the writer know where we were headed.
"Looks like you two get to meet someone else today, as well." I looked back to see them both with attentive looks, eyes open and ears turned forward. "She'll be meeting us up at the communal room." They both tilted their heads to one side, and asked the same question at the same time.
"Rainbow, he obviously wants to do the introductions face-to-face, or he would have told us already."
"That is correct, Twilight."
"Well that doesn't make me feel much better."
"I don't think it was supposed to, to be honest." Rainbow stuck her tongue out at me in response as we reached the bottom of the elevator. Stepping out, we turned right, and quickly found ourselves back in the communal room with the other ponies. The place was much more packed than before, though, due to all the humans who were also present. Most were moving around, ferrying various food and medical supplies around, but there were plenty just sitting around, letting the ponies talk and vent their problems and worries, or telling their own stories and lifting their spirits. We made our way to where Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie had been, and found them with exactly the blond-haired cyborg I wanted to see. As we approached, I could see their reactions to her last joke, although I couldn't hear the punchline itself. Applejack chuckled slightly, Rarity looked like her jaw was about to fall off in horror, and Pinkie smiled just wide enough for her teeth to flash. Rainbow immediately went to the pink mare's side when she saw her smile, inadvertently startling the joke teller to the ground as she suddenly appeared from behind her. I walked up just as she was recovering, and offered a hand to help her up.
"Hey there, beautiful. Need some assistance?" Her eyes instantly lit up when she saw me, and she grabbed my hand, pulling herself up quickly so she could immediately shove her lips against mine while her arms went around my neck as quickly as mine went around her waist. We kept it short, but I could see the usual fire in her eyes that promised she would be taking far more time once we were out of public. We turned back to find almost all of the ponies we had been with staring in surprise.
"Ladies, allow me to introduce you to my girlfriend, Tillie Rhone. Tillie, this is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rainbow Dash. I believe you've already met the others, yes?" Twilight and Rainbow waved as I introduced them, and Tillie nodded at my last question.
"Yep. I was just telling them about the time we were on Sawcus, when you fell into that pit?" I reflexively brought a hand to my face and groaned.
"You just love that story, don't you?" She giggled at my expense.
"Yep. Almost as much as you." I shook my head as the ponies started chatting with one another.
"Anyway. So what are you doing here? Other than ruining my reputation?" She gave me a fake shocked look.
"What, I can't just take some time to see my boyfriend while our ships are nearby?"
"No, actually, you can't. It's against regulation to take any sort of personal outing before alert status has been lifted. So there must be another reason for you to be here. I'm just the bonus for you personally." She rolled her eyes.
"Just like you to get straight to the point. Yes, I am here for another reason. Specifically, them." She pointed to Twilight and her friends, and I raised an eyebrow.
"What for? They haven't been causing any trouble, that I know of, and everyone seems to be getting along with them just fine."
"Yes, which is why they're being called to Archimedes."
"Already? Usually it takes at least a month for the Judges to take up a hearing."
"Yes, but usually the hearings don't involve an alien race, and they usually don't have a recommendation from someone as highly ranked and respected as Admiral Fallshen." I reflexively whistled. Cordon Fallshen giving a voluntary recommendation for anyone was nearly unheard of.
"I take it that your squad will be helping escort them, then?" She nodded.
"Yep. The others are still busy with cleanup direction, but Arnold wanted me to come over early and let you know."
"I'm glad he did. This changes my plans considerably. Before anything else, though, I want to check up on Fluttershy again to see if she's improved any." Rainbow and Twilight looked up when they heard that, and followed along a we went back to the intensive care area. The entire place seemed to have improved considerably, and Fluttershy was noticeably better. Her breathing was less labored, and several of the various intravenous instruments had been removed. I decided to check the diagnostic while the others looked her over.
Well, this could be a lot better. Multiple internal injuries, complete absence of body control functions, possible coma... sigh... It's going to take a lot of medical help before she's even close to moving on her own again, let alone back to however she was before. Although... As I thought about a possible solution to the second problem, Tillie was looking over my shoulder, and tapped me to motion for a private conversation. We stepped out into the hall, and I turned to keep an eye on the others while she spoke.
"Kuro, that chart was not a good sign." I could tell she was worried; she had the big, pleading eyes on that hoped I had something good to say.
"No, it wasn't. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to do everything in my power to help." She leaned on my side, and put her arms around me as she sighed.
"I should hope not. You're probably their best chance right now, although maybe not the best qualified, and they've all got a long road ahead of them." I nodded as I put my own arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah, but they've got a lot of powerful friends now, and none of us are going to let them down." We stood there for a few more seconds before I remembered something. "Oh, crap! They can't understand English writing!" I broke off from the embrace, and continued speaking as I crow-hopped down the hall. "Tillie, I need you to keep an eye on them for a couple minutes! I'll be right back!" I gave her enough time to wave her assent, then took off sprinting back to the barracks. As soon as I got to their room, I did a quick search to find the citizenship forms, grabbed them and a couple of pens from the desk, and sprinted back. Tillie had brought them back out to the communal room, and Rainbow and Twilight were now conversing with Applejack and Rarity. I slowed back down to a safer speed as I approached, and came to a stop next to them.
"You two need to get these filled out right away." They looked at me in confusion.
"Why?" Rainbow asked with her head to the side. "It's not like we're going anywhere any time soon, right?"
"Actually, we are. We're going to a planet called Archimedes, the center of most of our military, as well as the home of the Judges, eleven gargantuan supercomputers designed to be the perfect unbiased judiciaries. We'll be going there to petition for your citizenship, as well as petitioning for action to be taken towards finding and freeing your planet." I handed one of the forms and a pen to Tillie, and sat down. "If we're going to have any chance of getting a favorable result, though, we need to have all of the documentation finished before we arrive." The next hour and a half was spent sitting there, reading the forms to Rainbow and Twilight, explaining what they didn't understand, and filling in the appropriate spaces for them. When we finally finished, I put the packets together and stood up as I rubbed my eyes free of the strain from staring at paperwork for too long.
"Okay, I'll get these into the system, and we should be good to go. Wait here, I'll be back soon." They all nodded, and I picked my way through the swirling mass of bodies that separated me from the exit. I jogged down to the Active Archives, and handed the forms over to the person in charge of filing petitions. Satisfied that everything was done that I could do, I hurried back. When I arrived, there was a new addition to the group.
He was a large, darker-skinned man, with exceptionally pale hair. The part that really stuck out about him, though, was that his entire left arm was replaced by a large metallic limb, ending in a huge, four-fingered claw. His left leg was almost as intimidating, though it was only from the knee down that was replaced. The foot itself had two front-facing toes, with retractible claws, and a third toe facing backward that had a tube on it, which I happened to know was hooked up to a flamethrower system. Arnold was not a man to leave behind evidence on the battlefield, which was a big part of why he was chosen to lead the Cyber Battalion's Shadow Squad. With that flamethrower, he didn't even have to stop and aim. He could just walk by, turn it on, and the fire would take care of the rest. Maybe not the nicest or cleanest system, but it got the job done when he was in a hurry. He turned, and I had to suppress a shudder at the appearance of his upper left jaw, which was also replaced with metal prosthesis. I still don't know how that happened, and it still gave me a weird sensation in my own mouth whenever I saw it.
"Kuro. Nice to see you again. Hopefully you haven't been causing too much trouble lately?" It wasn't said in a joking manner, but I wasn't exactly his favorite person. "I see you still have difficulty doing your paperwork in an expedient fashion." I really wasn't his favorite person.
"Good to see you, too, Arnold. I was hoping we could skip most of the idle chatter and insults this time, though, seeing as we have company." He narrowed his eyes dangerously, and leaned forward as Tillie got ready to do damage control in my peripheral vision.
"If you can keep your trap shut, then I'm all for it."
"Agreed." He removed himself from my personal space as the others relaxed, and turned to Tillie.
"Corporal, I expect you to stay on schedule, regardless of personal matters or distractions." She saluted her assurances, and he gave me one final warning glare before leaving to take care of his own business.
"What was his problem?" Rainbow asked once he was out of earshot. "He really seemed like he hated your guts, Kuro." I nodded.
"He used to be my commander. I was still pretty stupid back then, never got my reports in quickly or did my chores how he wanted them done. Always went my own way on that sort of thing. So of course when I got transferred from Cyber Battalion to Shadow Battalion, and a promotion to go with it, he absolutely hated me. Even more so now that I'm his equal in terms of rank." She accepted that explanation, which was good since I wasn't about to tell them the biggest reason I'm eternally on his shit list. Applejack suddenly let out a huge yawn, and everyone else seemed to slump a little at the reminder of how long they had been up for. "How about we all go to bed? None of us seem to be needed for anything right now, so there shouldn't be any reason for us to stay up and wear ourselves out." They all agreed quickly, and after deciding that Rainbow and Applejack would stay behind to watch after Pinkie, I took Twilight and Rarity back to the dorms.
After making sure they wouldn't need anything, since they still weren't technically allowed to roam free around the ship, I closed the door and went into my own room. Inside, I found Tillie laying on my bed, already in her sleepwear and watching me with half-lidded eyes
"You really do move in and out of clothing faster than anyone else I've met." She giggled.
"You should know. You've seen me do it enough times." I chuckled as I got myself ready, and soon joined her beneath the blanket.
"It's always nice when we get to do this."
"They say distance makes the heart grow fonder."
----------------------------------------
The next morning, I checked my missives to find that two other ships had come during the night, and we were scheduled to leave in about an hour. I got dressed, woke Tillie up, and collected the unicorns from the other room before heading for the food place. We got our own breakfasts, and headed up to the communal room with some extra stuff for the others. When we got there, I was surprised to find that there were almost no ponies or humans up and about yet. The ones that were up were quietly eating and conversing amongst themselves on the opposite side of the room from a giant, multi-colored pile near one wall. Apparently the ponies had decided that sleeping all together was preferable to spreading out, and honestly I couldn't blame them for wanting some friendly contact after what they had been through. Most of the humans that were still sleeping had situated themselves in a sort of protective barrier around the outer edge of the huge pile of bodies, although there was the occasional human that could be seen in the pile. The ones on the outside edge were the only ones with blankets, most likely because everyone else was warm enough sharing body heat. I managed to spot Rainbow's trademark mane near the edge of the pile against the wall, and stealthily made my way over to her. I crouched next to her, and gently shook her awake, trying not to disturb the other ponies nearby.
"Rainbow. Rainbow, come on, it's time to get up." She shifted a little, and waved one hand in my general direction to try and make me leave. I rolled her back over, and this time she slapped my arm in the laziest attempt to keep sleeping that I had ever seen. I shook her one more time, and she groaned a bit before giving a big yawn and moving away from Applejack to get up. She stretched, and gave another yawn before giving me a tired glare while Tillie put one of the trays of food in my hand.
"What's so important that you had to wake me up for it?" I brought the tray into view, and smirked in satisfaction as her eyes lit up a little. She took the tray, sat down, and immediately started eating, speaking between bites. "So what's... all this about?... You don't... do this sort... of thing... without a reason."
"Because you know me so well, right? Anyway, we need to get you and Twilight ready, since you'll be the ones appearing before the Judges. And since we'll be heading out in about an hour, we need to get you both briefed on what's expected of you while you're in there." She nodded, and I glanced to the pile of sleeping bodies again. "By the way, is this sort of thing normal at all? It doesn't seem like something that happens often, considering how haphazard everyone's orientations are." Twilight answered as she came up, Rainbow opting to focus on her food instead.
"No, it isn't. I would guess that everyone just decided they wanted to stay close to their friends, and this looks like almost everypony from Ponyville, so most of them knew each other already. They probably just started grouping together until they all amalgamated into one big pile. I would guess that most of the humans decided that they should stay on the edges, that way the ponies can be closer to their friends and family." I nodded, and looked back to Rainbow to see her just finishing her meal.
"You two ready to go?" They both nodded, but before I say any more, Rarity spoke.
"I do have one question before you wander off. Why are you only taking them? Why not take Applejack and myself, as well?"
"Well for starters, they're the only ones who have the paperwork completed. Second, I don't want to take too many of you, that way I can still predict enough to make a difference as to whether the Judges will rule in our favor. Lastly, I don't want to have to keep track of a large group. The city the Judges are in - Altipolis - is big, and easy to get lost in if you don't pay attention. We can't afford spending time looking for one of you if that happens, so we have to make sure the group stays together. Besides, if we can get two ponies approved for citizenship, the rest of you will have a much easier time of it when it's your turn." She raised an eyebrow at me.
"And what if we don't want to become citizens?" I blinked. That hadn't even occurred to me.
"Why wouldn't you? Without citizenship, you're basically a prisoner of war. You won't be allowed off the ship, and you won't have any of the rights and protections that a citizen does. I don't see how that's a better alternative." She sighed, and I could tell I was about to get one of those 'it should have been obvious' explanations.
"Because, it also means we'd then be subject to all of your laws, like taxes. None of us have money, and I don't think that you would accept our currency anyway. Not only that, but what about our own planet? If we're all citizens by the time it's out of Emrini control, then what happens? You take control of our planet instead since we're technically your citizens and therefore still subject to all your rules? I'm sorry, but that doesn't sound too benevolent to me." She crossed her arms, waiting for a response.
"Actually, this isn't full citizenship. We've had problems with people born outside of Earth's sphere of control before, and we have laws that prevent exactly the scenario you just described. When Sawcus was first colonized, the people there were independent explorers. So, they decided to claim the planet in their own names, and there was a huge debacle about whether or not they would be allowed to develop a completely separate government there. That argument was also what sparked the creation of the Judges in the first place. A lot of people had personal interests in that planet, due to the huge amounts of valuable materials it has, and there were a lot of instances of attempted foul play. None of them were successful enough to affect Sawcus' independence, though. The final verdict was that the planet would be treated as a separate allied entity, similar to how countries ally themselves without interfering too heavily in each other's politics. Then there were a whole bunch of people who were born without citizenship, tried to go there, and then come back to get citizenship after engaging in various criminal activities. Because full citizenship would have given them sufficient protection to avoid full prosecution and punishment, laws were put in place to make 'sub-citizenship', which would give them the ability to move freely within the Earth sphere, but without being able to dodge the law. Similarly, there were a number of people with Earth sphere citizenship who went to Sawcus, then got into political positions where they could force the planet back into Earth sphere jurisdiction." The three ponies looked at me with slight horror until Rarity spoke again.
"Why would they do all that? And why didn't anyone stop them sooner?"
"You have to understand, Rarity, that humans are cunning creatures. And those of us who give in to greed are usually willing to do just about anything to get what they want. Most of these plans were years, even decades in one case, in the making. They put a lot of effort and money into these schemes, and they covered their tracks exceptionally well. The fact that none of them actually succeeded is a testament to the skill of the people who uncovered them." Twilight looked at me skeptically.
"That seems just a little arrogant, don't you think?" She leaned forward as Rainbow and Rarity shrugged in agreement. I just smiled a little.
"I guess you'll have to see for yourself. What you've seen so far is just scratching the surface of what we've accomplished. And I haven't even told you everything that I've had done to myself yet, either." They all seemed surprised at that. "But for now, we need to get moving. The ship is already warping, so we have to get finished quickly."
"Alright, then. Showtime, people. Remember your lines." The door opened, and Arnold led the way out into the orbital elevator docking area. On either side, our two squads made a perimeter, with Carlton in the back. I kept pace in the middle, behind Twilight and Rainbow as they made their way forward. We instantly started attracting attention, which was unsurprising given that everyone other than the ponies was in full combat armor. Rainbow and Twilight immediately started looking around, seeing all the various advertisements flashing on the walls and the aug'ers who worked there. I gave them each a tap on the shoulder to keep them moving, and we soon found ourselves at our destination: a reserved elevator car where there wouldn't be any civilians around to fluster the ponies. As soon as the doors closed behind us, Twilight, unsurprisingly, had questions.
"What was all that? Those signs were talking! And what was with those guys with the weird helmets? It was like they moved on their own! And I'm sure I saw at least one other alien in there! I thought you said we were the only friendly ones your race has come into contact with?"
"I did. The 'alien' you saw was a splicer. Someone who has used DNA modification to give themselves animal traits. They're pretty common, since the process was fine-tuned sufficiently for it to not have the old side effects of making the person super aggressive and about as illogical as you can get, not to mention that they also became much more susceptible to disease, since their immune systems usually got fucked up in the process. The helmets moving on their own are something else entirely, though. They're a type of cyborg known as an aug'er, short for 'augmentation user'. Basically, they got cybernetic pieces to enhance some part of their body. They don't actually need the augs to function properly, but they want them sufficiently to go through the surgery. Aug'ers usually get something that will be particularly useful for something they do regularly, though, so don't go thinking it's completely superfluous. Those guys, for example, looked like they were using theirs for electrical work. The talking signs were just electronic billboards. Nothing special there." She seemed pretty impressed at all of it, but Rainbow didn't look too particularly fazed.
"That was really cool, but I don't think it lived up to expectations."
"Why's that?"
"Well, you made it out to be some sort of huge, mountainous city. It really wasn't that big." I was confused for a moment, and then it came to me.
"You thought that was Altipolis?" She suddenly looked unsure.
"Um, yeah. Are you saying it wasn't?" At this point, almost everyone started laughing, while Arnold and Carlton just shook their heads.
"Rainbow, that wasn't Altipolis. That was the docking station for the orbital elevator." They both suddenly went wide-eyed.
"Wait. That was a dock?! As in, like, an ocean port?" I nodded. Her jaw fell. "But, where's the city, then?" I gestured to one of the windows.
"You're about to see. First, though, we need to go through the transition point." They both looked at me in confusion. "Right now, we're upside down in reference to where we'll be landing." They scrunched up their faces in thought, and Twilight gasped when she figured out what that meant.
"You mean that right now, we're falling head-first toward the planet?"
"Fast enough to simulate gravity 5/8ths of our home world of Earth. The elevator is ridiculously tall, and the cars need to move at an equally ridiculous speed in order to make them effecient enough to use." They both suddenly shuddered at what that meant if the thing failed. "Yeah, if it falls, we're pretty much all gonna die. Don't worry, though. The chances of one of these actually breaking are about equal with your chances of surviving the impact." Neither of them looked too reassured by that, and Twilight's ears were flat against her head as Rainbow started looking around with a slight case of obvious claustrophobia.
"Have any of them ever fallen before?"
"One. The third installation on Mars. That wasn't because of any problem with the system itself, though. Some dumb fuck decided it was a good idea to show up to work drunk. He lost control of his freighter, smashed right into the thing. Killed about half a million people. That happened before we even came across the Emrini, though. About... seventy years, I wanna say? Anyway, that's one elevator that's gone down out of about sixty-five that have been built. We're safe here. Don't worry." They both calmed down considerably after that before an automated message came over the speakers.
"All passengers, please prepare for gravity transition. All passengers, please prepare for gravity transition."
"Alright, everyone get set up! Twilight, Rainbow, come here so I can show you what to do." We walked over to the wall, where there were several handholds attached to the window partitions. "Alright, so here's what's going to happen. The elevator is going to slow down sufficiently that we'll be in free fall. When this happens, you're going to feel weightless. The handles are so that you can keep yourselves oriented correctly. Hang on, and stay calm. The elevator will tilt on its own, but it turns slowly, so don't rush and panic. Just keep yourself level with the wall." I felt the car decelerating as I spoke, and by the time I was done, I could feel my equipment starting to float off me.
"Aren't you going to hold onto one of these, too?" Twilight asked. I shook my head.
"No, I've done this enough times that I can reorient myself without it. Which means I'm able to help you if something does happen." My feet stopped supporting my weight, and my body suddenly became aware of which way was actually down. After quickly fighting down the instinctive fear that came with that sensation, I focused my attention on keeping the other two calm. Twilight was coping by simply using the handle to push herself toward the floor, but Rainbow's reflexive wing flaps weren't doing her any favors. Once she managed to get herself back upright, though, she was fine. I floated in the air, looking around to make sure no one else had made a mistake. Satisfied that I didn't need to help prevent an accident, I turned back around, spinning slowly so I didn't fly out of control. Twilight and Rainbow were now holding themselves against the floor successfully, and the former decided now was a good time to ask one more question.
"So, what do we do when we get out?"
"There will be two pairs of Pangolin transports waiting for us."
"Pairs? Why do we need so many?"
"It's standard operating procedure for high value individuals. One set's a decoy, so if anyone who knows about you decides to make a poor life decision, they're just as likely to go after the false pair." They both gave me worried looks as the car began to tilt.
"What do you mean by 'poor life decision'?" I shifted my weight around to spin myself in time with the elevator.
"I mean 'try to hurt or kill you'." They obviously weren't comfortable with that, but they needed to know the dangers that could present themselves. "I'm about to tell you something very important, so listen closely. Everyone you've met so far - me, my squad, the rest of the crew, even Arnold and Staff Sergeant Klaxton - have treated you appropriately for the level of importance you signify. I don't think you've realized this yet, but you are about to kickstart the next chapter of human history, and I can say without a doubt in my mind that it will see changes in our technology, society, and customs that people, even from as little as fifty years ago, wouldn't have been able to foresee. That fact is going to scare a lot of people. Humans cannot be mentally categorized together as a species. Every single person in existence is different from every other in some way. And that means that there are people out there who aren't going to be happy about your appearance. They are going to shun you, hate you, and discriminate against you for no reason other than that you are different, and your arrival means that their life is going to change. There are lots of folks who don't like change, because to them, it signifies loss of interest in old ideas. Those who have power don't want to relinquish that power, and the public losing interest in whatever gives them that power is the greatest threat they know. Fortunately, there are more people who are willing to embrace change. Particularly those with very little power, and those who see ways to profit from change. You'll probably meet at least one person from each group before we leave." The car started decelerating again, and I slowly floated back to the floor as they processed what I said, looks of fear and hopefulness fighting for a place on their faces. "For the moment, just enjoy the scenery. Welcome to Altipolis, humanity's first home away from home." They turned around, and let out soft exclamations as the protective tube opened up, allowing us to see the city.
Massive skyscrapers reached up to greet us as we descended. They were well-cleaned up here, and massive advertisements for various products flashed from the upper stories. Archimedes had gravity only 3/4s that of Earth, so our already-impressive structures had gained even greater heights here, supporting each other with dozens of interconnecting walkways and light roadways. Someone who lives in the upper floors would be able to easily move between buildings without ever touching the ground thanks to the expert designs that went into the city's creation, either on foot or in a light vehicle, most often an Autobike. The Pangolins we would be using were of a rare size, as most of the people who lived in the heights didn't have need of a full car, even if they were willing to risk going over a weak bridge support. We came down on the south side of the city, and even from here we could see the Judges on the north side, the western panels of their protective housings shining in the morning light. The view was obstructed as we approached the ground, and the windows were filled with buildings rising around us as we slowed even further. Everyone moved toward the door, and I moved Twilight and Rainbow back to the middle of the group. The car jolted to a stop, and I saw everyone ready themselves for a worst-case scenario.
We exited the elevator, and I was instantly on high alert. The city was huge, and the population density was immense, especially here. If someone did decide to try something stupid, it wouldn't take much effort for them to get within killing distance. Fortunately, we were already prepared. Our escort party already knew what to look for in the crowd to identify threats, and sniper nests had been set up when we initially docked to provide overwatch for the entire operation. The four Pangolins were parked nearby, facing away from each other. The Pangolin APCs were designed for high-speed, short-range deployment, and their armor was built so that the vehicle's sides flare outward, creating an effective impromptu section of cover. Right now, that armor was flared to help prevent anyone who might be watching from being able to tell which one we would load the ponies into. We made our way between the plates, and everyone got situated into two of the vehicles. The other two were already loaded with other soldiers carrying equally heavy-duty equipment, prepared for any violent eventualities. Once we were in, the plates closed around us, creating a slightly claustrophobic area. I relaxed more once the vehicle started moving, and I listened to the radio as the snipers communicated when we entered and exited their field of view. The Pangolin tilted upward, and stayed that way for several seconds. When it leveled out again, I checked my HUD's altimeter.
Elevation increased by one hundred feet. Looks like we're taking the side streets. I felt the Pangolin make turns as we went, doubling back multiple times and climbing ramps at various intervals, before I heard the engine rev higher than before. Back on the main road. We're close, now. If anyone's going to try anything, it'll be soon. As it turned out, no one did, but as soon as we were out of the APC, there were reporters everywhere. The occupants from the other Pangolins were already trying to hold them back, but the camera flashes and half-heard questions were enough to set my nerves back on edge and fluster both Twilight and Rainbow as they got out. I put a hand on each of their shoulders to guide them through the crowd.
"Just keep moving! We need to get inside, and these idiots will wind up keeping you here for another three hours if you let them." We swiftly climbed the stairs up to the main building, aided by the rest of the group clearing a path for us. Once in, the reporters stopped following us, knowing full well that any unauthorized entrance without a damn good reason would land them in the defendant's chair for trespassing and disturbing the system. Only extremely important cases ever made it to the Judges, and no one had the patience to be held back by some schmuck who doesn't understand personal space, so very specific laws had been put in place to prevent it from happening. Everyone sat down, and I went over to the registrar to get the process of getting the ponies out there started. After making sure everything was ready, I went and sat down next them, their flattened ears giving away their trepidation.
"You two still worried?" They both nodded, and Twilight spoke up.
"What if we don't pass? What if they decide we're too much of a threat? We could be arrested on the spot! Or experimented on! Even you wouldn't be able to keep them from doing that! And then we'll never see home, and everypony else wil think we're failures, and what about the Princesses? They might never be free again! What if-" I decided not to let this get any worse by laying a hand over her muzzle, which instantly got her to stop.
"Okay, first of all, even if you are somehow denied citizenship, all that will happen is that you'll be brought back to the ship until we find your planet. After that, we'll probably just leave a ship or two in orbit for security. And you won't be arrested or experimented with. Even if you both decided you wanted to fight us, you wouldn't make it out of the city. Not only that, but there just aren't enough of your species for you to be considered a proper threat for that sort of reaction, and we have more than enough laws to prevent any sort of horror movie lab scene. You're worrying over something that you really don't need to. We have more than enough experience with your habits and evidence of your behavior patterns now to make a sufficient case for you, and chances are that we'll get a more than competent representative. Just relax. We'll be in there for less than an hour, I guarantee it." Twilight didn't seem too enthused.
"Would we really not make it out of the city?"
"Yeah. We have enough security to protect you from a small army, but we could turn that around frighteningly quickly if needed. But to make you feel better, think about this: If we have that much firepower for a security detail, how much do we have pointed at the Emrini?" They both thought about it for a moment, and their eyes went wide. "Yeah. Relax, you'll be fine. Just try not to say something that is blatantly aggressive. That's about the only thing that could botch this up." Twilight nodded, and after looking around for a moment, Rainbow spoke up again.
"So, how long are we supposed to be waiting for?" I shrugged.
"Dunno. Could be ten minutes, could be two hours. Depends on how quickly the cases that came before us go. Until then, we just have to be patient." I decided to take advantage of the fact that my helmet prevented anyone from seeing my face, turned off my helmet's outer speaker function, set a proximity alert for the room, and drifted off to sleep. Didn't want to go in there without proper rest, right?
"This way, please. The Judges are ready for your petition."
I yawned a little under my helmet as everyone got up. I let Twilight and Rainbow go first, and we all followed after them as the lady guiding us took us to the main elevator. When we got there, she turned around and gave us a slight glare.
"You are aware, Sergeants, that only one spokesperson is allowed with them?" Both ponies snapped around to look at me, obviously unprepared to go in without the company of the two squads.
"We're aware. Arnold? You have a preference?"
"I don't know either of them well enough to be of assistance to anyone, in any way. You go."
"Alright, then." I stepped forward as the rest turned back, and Twilight and Rainbow's faces were both filled with worry.
"I will go over the main rules one more time, just in case. There is to be no out-of-turn speaking, no actions taken by any individual without express permission from the bailiff, and everyone in the court is required to tell the truth to the best of their ability. You may proceed." She moved aside, and we stepped into the elevator that would take us to the courtroom itself. When the doors closed, Rainbow turned to me with her arms folded.
"You could have told us the others would be staying behind." I took off my helmet and put my gun away.
"I did, back when we were going over the rules in the first place. Remember?" She thought about it for a moment, then deflated slightly.
"Oh. Right. You did." I rolled my eyes.
"Anyway. You two need to mentally prepare yourselves. The time you spend out there is going to decide the future of pretty much your entire race, so you need to be ready." They both started regulating their breathing as the responsibility they had was suddenly made very clear. "Just try to stay as calm as possible. I know there's a lot of pressure, but your society isn't the only one resting on this. We tried to keep all this as quiet as possible, but there will have been leaks. You already saw the reporters outside. There's going to be just as many cameras during the hearing, and all of humanity will be watching you, making opinions on what you do in there. Don't worry, though. I know you both well enough to know that you'll be fine. Just be honest, that's all." Rainbow looked at me like I had grown another head.
"Seriously?! That's your big piece of advice? We have the future of our entire planet riding on this, and that's all you've got?!" I nodded.
"Because that's all you need. Like I said, I know you both quite well now. Just be honest, and try to stay calm. As long as you think out your answers, you'll come away from this just fine. So relax. It's time for your close-up." The elevator stopped, and the doors opened into a short hallway. I tucked my helmet under my arm, and started leading them forward. There were guards on either side of the doors at the end of the hallway, who opened them for us as we approached. We stepped out, into a massive glass umbrella which covered the entire court floor, and all eleven of the Judges. Each of the massive towers had a face at the top, carved to look down in silent criticism of all who entered. Between them, huge stands of bleachers were packed with people eager to see the hearing, and in some cases, to make the report of their career, while at least a dozen remote-controlled cameras flew around, focusing in on us as we entered. On either side of us, there was a small booth. Typically used by the defense and prosecution, they would be used now for the supporter and denier. I just hoped we got a supporter who knew what they were doing.
"Case file: three-six-five-nine-nine-six-eight-one." The sound rumbled through the area, silencing the crowd as the lead Judge began the proceedings. "This hearing is to determine the eligibility of the Energy Keeper known as Twilight Sparkle, and the Cloud Buster known as Rainbow Dash, to be admitted pseudo-citizenship in the Earth Sphere Union after the discovery of mind control mechanisms on both individuals. All forms have been filled and completed properly. All directly concerned individuals are present. Are there any who wish to present further evidence before this hearing begins?" There was a long silence as the Judge waited for a response, but none came. "Then we shall begin. Does this petition have a supporter?" I swallowed the lump in my throat as the reply came.
"This petition has a supporter."
I know that voice. I looked up at the supporter booth as Admiral Fallshen stepped up into view. The spectators erupted into murmurs and whispers at the unexpected presence, but quickly went quiet again at the sound of a large, piston-like gavel slamming against the ground in front of the Judge.
"I, Admiral Cordon Fallshen, support this petition, and its signers."
Well that was unexpected. Although now I'm even more worried about who's in the other booth.
"Very well. Does this petition have a denier?"
"This petition has a denier." I looked up with fear as a definitely female voice came from the denier booth.
No, no, please not her! My silent plea was smashed to dust as Admiral Teresa "Impasse" Kulinen stepped into view. If Fallshen was scary, then this lady was downright demonic. Her mouth and nose were normal, but everything above that was metal. Her entire right arm was prosthetic, and her left was almost completely hidden with augs. Her legs were similar, with the thighs covered in weapon holsters, and her lower legs riddled with ammo space. On her back was a large metal box, with four small 'wings'. A booster pack, designed for high-speed movement without the aid of a vehicle. About as fitting a commander for the Cyber Battalion as there could be. Now I knew things were going to be tense. This wasn't the first time I had seen these two butt heads, but it was the first time I was involved, and for good reason. Admiral Kulinen had a reputation for distrusting everyone she met, and killing anything she thought was hostile. And I was pretty sure the ponies fell into both categories.
"I, Admiral Teresa Kulinen, would deny this petition, and its signers."
"Very well. Do the petitioners have a spokesperson?" I forced myself to calm down, and stepped forward.
"These petitioners have a spokesperson." I am so far out of my league, it isn't even funny. But if these two are going to be able to live their lives in peace later, I don't have a choice in this. Admiral Kulinen stared down at me from the corner of my eye. "I, Sergeant Kuro Maldone, will speak on behalf of the petitioners on matters for which they require assistance."
"Very well. Are there any others who wish to support or deny the petition?" Once again, silence reigned. "If no others wish to participate, then this hearing shall now be taken!" The piston-gavel struck twice, and the glass dome we were under went dark, allowing several lights to accentuate the Judges, the Admirals, the ponies, and myself.
Well, this is terrifying. Note to self: do everything possible to not come back here. Ever. Again.
"Supporter. Your opening statement, please."
"Of course." Fallshen shifted some stuff around on the small desk that was hidden from my position, and cleared his throat once before starting. "Over the course of the past three weeks, the aliens known as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash have been on board the Heavy Insertion Cruiser Star Spectre. During their stay, they have exhibited not only a lack of hostility, but also a desire for acceptance and friendship that goes beyond even our own attempts for peace with the Emrini. It is my belief that we should allow them pseudo-citizenship, so that when we win the war, they will have some idea of our society, and will be able to more easily integrate with the Earth Sphere, should they or others of their planet wish. I would also like to stress the fact that during their time with the crew of the Star Spectre, they assisted with the invasion of Rokan and the removal of Emrini presence there. Furthermore, I have videographic evidence of their value and loyalty both on and off the battlefield, as well as the records of their time being trained by Sergeant Maldone in the Coliseum VR program. Finally, I have several written testimonies from crew members of the Star Spectre, all of whom state their support of this action being taken. As such, I believe that permitting them standard pseudo-citizenship would be a safe and logical next step in peaceful relations with other sentient races." He set his papers down, and we returned our attention to the Judge.
"Extensive evidence, indeed. Denier. Your opening statement, please."
"With pleasure. As Admiral Fallshen stated, the petitioners have been aboard an Earth Sphere Defense vessel for the past three weeks. However, before that time, they were under Emrini control and command for close to two years. We already know that the Emrini have the technology to force their will onto the minds of others. We also know that the Emrini are willing to do anything to anyone in order to get what they want. It is entirely possible that some or all of these beings have had mental conditioning during that time to act as spies for the Emrini, should this precise situation occur. Further, there could be any number of side effects we don't know about that have caused latent violent tendencies to become present, or become more pronounced, in the petitioners or their friends. Finally, I have brought various reports and two pieces of video footage of the abilities of these beings, which will show how dangerous they would be, should they become hostile towards those around them. As such, I believe that further monitoring and testing should be administered before permitting them pseudo-citizenship."
"Your argument has adequate reason to be considered, and, should you have sufficiently convincing evidence, to be enacted. Speaker. Do you have any opening statements?" I thought for a moment, and then nodded.
"I do. As you already know, I have been with these two almost constantly since I discovered them and brought them back. During that time, they have shown absolutely no indication whatsoever of having any residual hostility towards us, or any lingering loyalty to the Emrini."
"A reliable testimony. Are there any who wish to add their testimony?" Silence filled the court once more. "Then it is time to make your pleas. Supporter, show us why these two should be given pseudo-citizenship in the Earth Sphere Union."
"Yes, your honor. Firstly, I would like to draw attention to the mind control units themselves. As we know, similar units were used five years ago on this very planet. Since then, the victims of these units have not shown any lasting effects. They have not shown any increased levels of aggression, and they have not shown any level of sympathy for the Emrini cause. There is no reason, based on precedent, to believe that any form of residual effect is present on the petitioners. Next, I would like to bring up the data records from the Coliseum, as well as the report made by War Master, its caretaker and curator. The data itself shows a distinct similarity to the human mind, and an equally distinct lack of violent thought processing capability. They are simply not born for war. War Master himself states his analysis on this. Quote; 'These beings are strangely like humans in their brain functions, but the fact that they are herbivores, and therefore unequipped with the instinctive bloodlust of a predator, makes them uncomfortable, unaccustomed, and unwilling to cause harm of any kind upon another being. The only reason they have any desire to fight the Emrini is to release their friends from the Emrini's horrific treatment.' End quote. This proves, without doubt, that the petitioners have no desire to initiate any sort of combat. Next, I have the camera files from the helmet of one of the soldiers who was tasked with escorting them during the invasion. Would the bailiff please bring up the video player?" The individual in question nodded, and went over to a small console, where he pressed a button to make a four-way display ascend from the floor. The screens turned on, and an image of the inside of a Kingfisher appeared, obviously taken with a helmet-cam. On the other side, across from the camera, sat Twilight and Rainbow, both in their armor.
"Alright, people, listen up! We're going in hot, so everyone needs to be ready. Check your guns, check your ammo, check your armor. This is one big rescue operation, and we can't afford screw-ups. That means you, Jaron! I want this done right. No fancy showing off, no messing around. We go down, we kill the Emrini, we get the prisoners, we get out. Everyone got that?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. Here we go!"
The entire image rocked, and a few seconds later, the main hatch opened, allowing the people inside to file out. As soon as they had their feet on the ground, guns were firing. Twilight already had her shield up when she appeared, and put herself between the Emrini and the soldiers while Rainbow zoomed forward over the rest. Within seconds, the group that had assaulted them was wiped out, and the entire squad ran forward at the order from their CO. The group continued through the trees, following the rainbow trail that marked the path of their pegasus guide. They came out of the forest into a small camp, where Rainbow was zipping back and forth, keeping the Emrini distracted and firing off potshots until the rest of the squad came in, guns blazing. Twilight continued giving cover to the marines close to her, and once more, the Emrini were silenced quickly. The video went dark, and the screens receded back into their space in the floor.
"As you can all see, the petitioners are more than willing to assist us in our efforts against the Emrini. Moreover, they are capable of keeping our own combatants safer than they otherwise would be. However, this loyalty is not confined to the battlefield. One of the members of the squad shown, Lance Corporal Derek Salmont, was killed during the invasion. The petitioner Rainbow Dash has already stated that she will be attending the funeral as a sign of respect." Another wave of murmurs went through the crowd, and I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She nodded, and I turned back around. "Finally, I would like to read a few excerpts I found to be particularly interesting in the testimonies I collected. Quote; 'This is humanity's chance to prove what we stand for.' Quote; 'They obviously aren't violent. To deny them even the most basic rights provided by pseudo-citizenship would be nothing more than hypocrisy.' Quote; 'They're the Emrini's enemies just as much as us, if not more so. They didn't have the technology to defend themselves, and to not offer them the protection we can provide is cruelty, plain and simple.' Obviously, these are some of the more extreme statements, but there are plenty of others." Fallshen realigned the papers he was holding, and set them aside so he could put his hands behind his back, signaling the end of his statement.
"You make a sturdy argument, Admiral Fallshen. Admiral Kulinen, do you still wish to deny the petition?"
"Yes, your honor."
"Then you may begin."
"Thank you. While I will concede that the probability of the petitioners having lasting effects from the mind control units is low, that does not mean it is impossible, nor do we have any proper precedent for them. The only other instances of these devices being used have been with humans, and the petitioners are most certainly not human. We have almost no information on their biology, and as such we have no way of knowing whether any sort of conditioning was placed upon them during their time under Emrini captivity. Furthermore, it has already been stated that the mind control units placed upon the petitioners are not the same as the ones that were used on the human victims, and are far more effective. Secondly, the report from the AI unit War Master can hardly be considered an expert opinion. He does not have the data or programming of a neurological AI, and therefore cannot be regarded as adequately equipped for a proper evaluation of anyone's brain patterns. Third, I feel that the true motives of the Cloud Buster Rainbow Dash regarding her attendance of Lance Corporal Derek Salmont's funeral should be addressed. She was, at least in part, responsible for his death, having been far too impatient and reckless in her attempts to recover her friends. This recklessness resulted in the entire squad being put under heavy fire by a well-equipped group of Emrini, and Lance Corporal Salmont was killed after the fight by a sniper which had not been detected, due to aggravation in all of the squad's members caused by the petitioner's lack of foresight and preparation." The Admiral paused as more mutterings went sweeping through the crowd, and Rainbow's whole head drooped. A loud slam sounded from the gavel, and everyone's attention was instantly drawn back to the Judge.
"Petitioner Rainbow Dash. This accusation is a significant one, and could seriously damage your standing in this hearing. Do you have anything you wish to say regarding the allegation that you are an indirect cause of death for Lance Corporal Derek Salmont?" All attention was suddenly focused on Rainbow, and I could see her shaking slightly as she thought out her answer. After a moment, she nodded.
"I do. First, that I fully admit that my actions had a direct impact on the attentiveness of all present. Had I had more control over myself, he might not have died. Second, I have already spoken with his commander and the rest of his squad, and they have expressed their gratitude at my offer to attend his funeral. Third, I have no argument against whatever the appropriate punishment for this situation is normally, but if I'm to be punished, I would like to remind you that Twilight did not have anything to do with his death, and should not be held responsible." The crowd once again started talking amongst themselves, and I could see Admiral Kulinen in her booth, giving Rainbow a curious look.
"It is rare for anyone to freely admit to being responsible for another's death, on any level. To be able to do so is impressive. Denier, please continue."
"Thank you, your honor. To finish up my case, I would like to show a few clips of what little footage we have taken of these beings while under Emrini influence. Bailiff, if you would please bring the video player back up?" The bailiff once again activated the four-way, and another helmet-cam video began playing. This one appeared to be happening in a city, though the various piles of rubble and occasional crater made it obvious that combat had been going on for some time there. The helmet's wearer was standing next to a window, with one of his squadmates standing on the other side. The video shifted as he looked around the frame, and showed an empty street.
"Where is it? Where'd it go?"
"I don't know, man, but we'd better get out of here before it comes back."
The image snapped from side to side as the marine looked up and down the street, and then he climbed out the window, still watching around him with short breaths. His partner climbed out after him, and the two started heading down the road. They only got a few steps, though, before something fell to the ground in front of them. Both marines made exclamations at the sudden appearance, but quickly identified it as the body of another member of their squad. The camera snapped up to where the body had come from, and showed a unicorn standing on top of what was left of a flagpole sticking out from the building. The two marines immediately opened fire, but a blue shield appeared, deflecting their bullets away. The mind-controlled unicorn jumped down from the pole, and started slowly advancing on them. The marine that wasn't carrying the camera ran forward, holding his gun next to his hip in a bayonet charge position. The unicorn put out one hand towards him, and he stopped. The unicorn picked him up with telekinesis, and swung him up and around, impaling him through the chest on the flagpole that it had been standing on. The survivor pulled out his own knife, throwing his gun to the ground and shouting challenges as he advanced. When the unicorn was close enough, he made a downward stab at its neck, which was stopped with a single arm. The unicorn grabbed his knife arm, then his other and lowered its horn. The marine's death was punctuated with a strangled scream of terror, and the sound of bones cracking and flesh tearing. When the unicorn pulled its head away, the horn was covered in blood, which trickled down its faceplate. The camera fell to the ground, still attached to the dead marine's head. The video ended with the image rolling to look at the building again, and the screens went black. I turned around to see Rainbow holding her muzzle with both hands, and Twilight leaning against the wall with one arm, both of them obviously doing their best to not hurl all over the courtroom floor. I checked on Rainbow first, since she was closer, and after making sure she would hold her breakfast down, I went over to Twilight. She was heaving, but she managed to keep everything down until the sensation passed. Once she had herself back under control, we returned to our previous positions.
"Are the petitioners able to continue?"
"Yes, your honor."
"Please refrain from vomiting in the court. Denier, you may continue."
"Thank you, your honor. This next recording is somewhat less explicit, so the petitioners should have less issue with it." The screens showed something dramatically different this time. It appeared to be some sort of informational video based on the military. The guy the camera was centered on was holding a microphone, was obviously not used to wearing the body armor he had on, and the quality was much higher than that of the helmet-cams. They were walking along, with what looked like a cliff behind them. The guy with the microphone was keeping pace with a marine, who seemed fairly at ease.
"Here we are on patrol with our chaperones for our stay, hoping not to find anything, although I'm sure many at home will be somewhat disappointed to hear that we aren't planning any action. But tell me, Sergeant, what's the worst thing you've encountered on one of your patrols?"
"Oh, that's an easy one. I was on Sawcus not too long ago, and while I was doing a perimeter sweep, I found an Emrini alpha setting up explosives on the north wall of our base. Fortunately, I had found him before he managed to finish wiring it, and my partner and I were able to take him down. Bastard got one good swipe on my buddy's leg, though, and almost gutted me before we finally got a clean shot on his neck. My partner got an honorable discharge, and I-"
The Sergeant stopped suddenly, and put his hand to one ear, listening to his radio feed.
"What? They're sure? Right, we're heading back now. Come on, we need to move."
"Sergeant, what's going on?"
"Intel reports that there may be an Earth Cracker in the area."
"What? B-but how do they know?"
"They have their methods. Right now, we need to get back to the main road. There'll be a truck waiting to pick us up."
The camera kept rolling as they started jogging back they way they had come, but the sound of a falling tree halted them in their tracks. The Sergeant pulled the microphone guy back from the impact point, and sure enough, an Earth Cracker jumped out of the trees, landing on the one that it had presumably just knocked over. The marine managed to duck when the Cracker jumped at them, but microphone-guy wasn't as fast. The pony's right hoof connected with the guy's arm, and he went flying. The camera followed him as he impacted the cliff wall, bouncing off it like a doll thrown by a child having a tantrum. Obviously, he was dead by that point. The camera turned back around as the operator fell backward and started crawling away in reverse. To his credit, he never stopped doing his job, but he really should have been running to the rendezvous at that point. The Sergeant and the other marine that had been with them were keeping the Earth Cracker on the defensive, but one good strike on the wall brought a shower of impressively-sized rocks falling down around them, breaking their focus as the two marines scrambled to not get crushed. The Sergeant tripped over one of the fallen stones, and knocked his head on another as he fell. The Earth Cracker picked him up, and threw him face-first into the wall, visibly breaking his helmet apart. Unsurprisingly, he slumped to the ground dead. The other marine, at this point, had managed to get his gun into a firing position, and opened up on the pony, unleashing the full-auto fury of his weapon to almost no effect whatsoever. The rounds simply didn't penetrate the armor as the warrior bent its legs and jumped, high enough that the sections of the armor it was wearing were no longer distinguishable from each other. The marine quickly displaced himself, and dove behind a particularly large boulder as the Earth Cracker came back down, creating a small tremor that kicked up a huge cloud of dust, and made the cameraman drop his recorder. Several bursts of gunfire sounded, but the dust obscured any view of what was happening. When the camera's surroundings were finally visible again, the Earth Cracker was revealed, holding the marine by his throat as he struggled to free himself. The remote-controlled killer seemed to suddenly get tired of watching its prey squirm, and threw him at a small tree, which buckled and fell at the impact. The cameraman's breathing suddenly got much louder and shorter, as he found himself the only remaining target for the seemingly unstoppable menace. As the Earth Cracker started moving towards him, though, a new voice rang out.
"Hey! Shakey-legs!"
The image spun to show a new marine looking down at them from the cliff top, rocket launcher ready to fire. The explosive screamed toward the pony, and the resulting explosion concealed its position entirely for a moment. The shockwave bowled over the cameraman, but when he pulled his shaking viewfinder back, the smoke cleared to reveal nothing but a hoof remaining of the threat. The screen went dark once more, and the four-way returned to its home in the floor tiles. Looking back again, Rainbow was looking exceptionally pale, and Twilight didn't seem like she was going to last much longer.
"As you can all see, there is more than sufficient reason to be concerned that these petitioners could turn out to still be under some form of Emrini domination. If just one of them can do everything we just saw, who's to say how much damage fifty of them could do? Or a hundred? If we are to allow them citizenship, on any level, then we must first know the full extents and limitations of their abilities, and find ways of keeping ourselves safe in the event that one or more of them do decide to attempt violence." I heard several murmurs of agreement, but after a few seconds of silence, what the Judge said next surprised me a little.
"Unfortunately, Admiral, you have only succeeded in confirming the supporter's claims of the petitioners' lack of violent tendencies."
"WHAT?!"
"During both pieces of footage, the petitioners had difficulty in simply controlling their gag reflex. We have deliberated, and decided that the probability of the petitioners having adequate training to be able to activate their gag reflex at will is insufficient to believe that they are showing false reactions. Sergeant Maldone, however, had no problem seeing either file. Therefore, it is the opinion of this court that the petitioners Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash do not have a capacity for hostility sufficient to deny them pseudo-citizenship. In addition, the opinions of the AI unit War Master are sufficiently informed as to neurological matters to be taken as fact. Furthermore, the conduct of Rainbow Dash is not, in any way, inferior to, or any more malicious than, any Private who has entered their first combat scenario. As such, this court hereby enacts the demands of petition three-six-five-nine-nine-six-eight-one. Petitioners Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash shall be given the status of pseudo-citizenship, and all rights, privileges, and protections thereof. This court is adjourned."
"What do you have to complain about?! You weren't the one who had your entire race depending on you!"
"No, but you don't know the reputations of the Admirals, either. Those two are scary, when they feel like it."
"Either way, we made it. What's our next step, Kuro?"
"First, we rest. All three of us need will need some downtime after that much stress for that long. After that, we'll probably go get you some new clothes. I'll bet you're both sick of wearing military duds, right?" Both of them nodded, and I leaned back against the wall of the elevator. When the verdict had been decided, we moved quickly, though I had gotten a good enough glance at Kulinen to see the furious look she had on at having lost. The elevator stopped, and we got off to see the rest of my squad, as well as Arnold and his squad, waiting for us.
"Hey-hey! You guys made it!" I grabbed Ron's hand as he swung it around into a handshake, then let go so he could give the ponies a hug. "So boss-man, does this mean we get to celebrate? Huh, huh?" He waggled his eyebrows at me, but I shook my head.
"Maybe tomorrow, Ron. Right now, I need some food, and I'm sure they could use the same."
"Awww, you always shoot me down on this stuff."
"Someone has to, and I am your CO." Ron started pouting, and I turned to Arnold, who had come up with the obvious intention of conversation.
"Looks like you managed not to screw this one up, Maldone. And since we are no longer needed here, my squad and I will be taking our leave. We have a few other duties to attend to while we are on Archimedes."
"No problem." Tillie came over, and gave me a goodbye hug before turning away again and walking off with the rest of her squad. I watched her leave for a few moments, then turned my attention back to Twilight and Rainbow. "Alright, before we go anywhere, I want to tell you both what to expect when we get outside. You remember all the reporters and cameras that were out front and in the courtroom?"
"Yeah."
"Of course."
"That was nothing." They both looked scared at that idea. "If the number of reporters out there before the hearing was any indication, then we'll be seeing a veritable sea of bodies outside when we leave. Many of them will support your presence, but there will probably be just as many who want you to disappear. Ignore both sides. Stay with me, and let the others deal with the crowd. They're not worth the effort." They nodded, visibly intimidated by the idea of so many people all trying to talk to them at once. "Once we're away from the main group, we can find somewhere to get lunch. There's a couple of different places I know of in Altipolis, so I'm sure we can find something you'll eat." Twilight nodded, and I could see Rainbow starting to daydream about whatever her favorite food is, apparent by the string of drool starting to dribble from her muzzle. "First, though, we need to get past the crowd." We made our way back to the entrance, and sure enough, I could see throngs of people outside, waiting in either excitement or anger for the ponies.
Well, here we go.
I had Carlton go first, and we filed out of the building. As soon as Twilight and Rainbow stepped out, the dull roar of the crowd shot up to a deafening thunder of shouts. Praise, hate, acceptance, and discrimination were all equally accounted for in the mob, and we were hard-pressed on all sides by people who wanted to get a better look, or take a picture, or hurl another threat. Carlton moved people aside as gently as possible, and the others kept them out of arm's reach as we passed. We got back to the Pangolins, and soon we were leaving the huge crowd behind. I decided on a restaurant that would suit the ponies as well as my squad, and instructed the marine driving to take us there. Along the way, I removed as much of my armor as I could, setting it in the seat next to me as Ron did the same. Twilight and Rainbow, sitting across from us, watched in confusion and mild discomfort. Finally, Twilight asked the question I had been waiting for.
"Do you guys normally change in the back of vehicles like this?" I chuckled.
"No, only when we don't have time to go back to the ship first. Technically, we aren't supposed to do it at all, but as long as we keep all of our stuff locked up tight, no one really cares." We finished shedding the heaviest parts of our armor, put them in the lockboxes under the seats, and sat back against the wall. A few minutes later, the Pangolin stopped, and we got out in front of a small diner. Good enough to have some veggie-only options for the ponies, but not so fancy that people had trouble pronouncing everything in the menu. We went in, and although the hostess at the front obviously wasn't expecting a group of our size or composition, she managed to do her job without staring dumbly at us.
"Hello. Are you all together?"
"Yep. The technicolor ones, too." She looked past me, and cocked her head to one side in surprise at seeing Twilight and Rainbow.
"Um... Okay." She grabbed menus for us, and lead us to one of the larger tables in the back. Once we were seated, she left and we all started looking through the various dishes they had. Our waitress, a cheetah splicer, came up after a moment, and we all gave her drink orders before going back to deciding what we were each going to have. After several minutes of discussion, everyone had chosen their food, and we started talking around. Unsurprisingly, Groove started it up.
"So, I've been wondering for a while now, what kind of music do you girls have, back home? Anything really good?" They both seemed a little sad, thinking about their home world, but getting them talking about anything would help them recover, even if only a little.
"Well, a lot of music on our planet was actually fueled by magic." This got my attention. "Basically, somepony, or several ponies, would feel so strongly about something that the ambient magic around them would activate, allowing them to sing about it. If other ponies nearby had something to add, the music would guide them into the song, letting them go along with it, too. Of course, some songs we sang happened on a regular basis." She turned to Rainbow with a giggle. "Hey, remember my first Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville?" Rainbow rolled her eyes with a grin.
"Of course. You nearly killed yourself like, four times, before you finally figured out a way to be really helpful." The rest of us let them dwell in their memories for a moment before I elaborated.
"What about music that doesn't spawn from magic? Any notables there?" Groove gave me his best I-see-what-you-did-there grin, then turned his attention to the answer.
"Yes. In fact, there were a couple of ponies who lived in Ponyville that could play instruments. Lyra plays various lyres and harps, then there was Noteworthy, who did mostly composing. Oh, and Vinyl Scratch. Or DJ Pon-3, as she's known on stage. She had a cottage on the north side, as a place for her to relax every so often. I don't think she was with the group we found, though. In fact, there's a lot of ponies I know that we didn't find. I hope they're okay..." Both of them started getting depressed again at the thought, as the waitress came up with our drinks. She handed them out, and we placed our orders for our meals. After she walked off, I decided to get them talking again.
"So, you have electronic music?" Twilight nodded.
"Yeah. It's pretty new, though. Only about five or six years old, I think. And Vinyl was really good at it. I remember she played at my brother's wedding. I wound up singing a song with magic, anyway, but once that was done, she carried the party through the rest of the night. And my brother, well, he was happier on that night than anyone else I've seen, before or since. I really miss him. And Spike, and the Crusaders, and my parents..." She nearly lost it for a moment, and just as I was about to decide she needed a moment, she spoke up again. "Kuro."
"Yeah?"
"If you can find our planet. Find our friends, and our families... Will they still be the same?" She had her head down, blocking my view of her eyes. I sighed, and leaned back in my chair a bit.
"No. I'd be lying if I said I thought any of them would be unchanged after being held captive by the Emrini, but I can tell you that they'll still be who you remember. Your brother will still be your brother, your parents will still be your parents, etc, etc. All we have to do is get to them." She looked up again, and although I could see the tear marks on her fur, there was a new determination in her eyes. The determination of someone who has decided that they're going to make something happen, and woe to those who would try to stop them. The determination I had been trying to spark since I started helping them.
"Then I'm going to do everything I can to help." I grinned.
"Well, to start, you'll need to learn how to eat around humans. That means that you'll have to get comfortable around the smell of meat." She nodded once. No hesitation, no fear, no doubt. She's ready for training. She won't break, now. She might need an occasional word of encouragement, but she'll push back. I'll have to get that process started sooner than I thought, I guess. "Also, you might want to go clean your face. You've got a bunch of matted spots in your fur, now. Toyoko, you mind going with her? I don't want anyone getting any stupid ideas."
"Of course, sir." The two of them got up and left, giving Rainbow a perfect chance to glare at me.
"What's your game?" I gave her the most innocent look I could make.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"You've been a lot nicer to Twilight than you have to me. Why? Do I just piss you off? Or do you just not like my mane?" I grinned at the second part.
"Two reasons. One: you're a numbskull. You mean well, yes, and you're not stupid, not by a long shot. But you don't think things through enough. And if I have to verbally beat you into using your brain properly every time you make a mistake in order to get you to think before you act, then I will. Two: you haven't broken yet. I'm trying to make you break faster." She seemed genuinely confused by this, as did Ron. Dimitri just chuckled into his glass.
"What does that even mean? 'Make me break faster'? How is that going to help me?" I smiled over the rim of my glass as I answered.
"You saw what just happened with Twilight, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"That was her breaking. She couldn't take the emotional strain anymore, and for just a moment, her mind wanted to simply stop. Stop working, stop trying, stop doing. Just lay down, and let everything else steamroll over her. She basically threw out one last rope. She tried one last time, to make everything better, by asking me if everyone would be the same. I could have told her 'yes'. I could have said that everything and everyone would have come back, and you would all wake up one morning, and it would all be one, big, communal nightmare. But I didn't. Because that's not what she needed to hear. We could do that, if necessary. But we won't. Because that's not how life works. When you fall down, you have to learn how to pick yourself up again. She threw out one last rope, and I tied it down. I didn't pull it up, and I didn't let it fall again. And the fact that she has the ability to fix her own life herself, is what will really make her strong, now that she's aware of it. Once she gets started, she won't need my help anymore. She'll be able to go out, and save the rest of her friends and her family herself. No one will be able to stop her, once she goes through training. You haven't gone through that moment, yet. You're a defier. You can bounce back from almost anything, and deal with it in no time. It's what makes others look up to you. They see you go through something difficult, something they don't think they could do, and they instinctively know that you can be counted on. I'm sure you did something like that when you first met Twilight, right?" She looked shocked for a moment, but when she got her thoughts together again she nodded.
"Yeah. It was when we were getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. I was supposed to get the sky clear, but she didn't believe me when I said that I could do it whenever, and it would be done in time. I did it in ten seconds, and she pretty much never questioned me about that sort of thing again."
"Exactly. You said that the Element of Loyalty was the one you carry, right?" She nodded again. "That's because you can take so much more pressure than most can. Anyone can depend on you, and they do. But you're so accustomed to putting on a brave face for everyone else, that it's become permanent. You can't easily put it away, and let your emotions out. If you plan on properly recovering, though, you'll have to. The stress of the situation you're in right now isn't going to go away. You need to let it out sooner or later, and you'll be better off once you do. Even the strongest need an occasional moment where they can be weak." She seemed to actually absorb some of what I was saying, and we ended the conversation as Twilight and Toyoko returned. "Feel better now, Twilight?"
"Yes, much. Really hungry, too."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that's our food coming over now." Twilight turned around, and as I predicted, the waitress was indeed carrying our orders. Once the various dishes were passed out, everyone shut up for a few moments to get started eating. Obviously, Twilight and Rainbow had salads, but the rest of us had various meats in our dishes. I personally had a steak, with some cut potatoes and rice. Once we had all gotten a good way in, Twilight spoke up again.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask; do you have any idea how long rehabilitation will take for our friends? It's already been a while." I shook my head as I swallowed.
"Unfortunately, no. Most of them shouldn't take too long, but I don't have enough medical training to really give an accurate estimate. And even the doctors won't know how long it'll take Fluttershy, not until her condition starts to improve. Sorry." She nodded, and the table went quiet again. Various bits of conversation went back and forth every so often over the rest of the meal, until we all finished and it was time to leave. We each paid for our own part of the check, with me covering our guests, since they didn't have any money yet. We thanked the waitress, and headed back out into the early-summer weather. We walked down to the Pangolins, and I decided to make good on my offer of new clothes. I had the driver take us to the nearest mall, and we all piled out once more. We headed in, and I let Ron, Dimitri, and Carlton wander off while Toyoko, Groove, and I led Twilight and Rainbow to a clothing store.
"Hey, Toyoko. Since the rest of us are pretty much clueless about this sort of thing, would you mind helping them out? I doubt we'd be any use anyway." She laughed once, and nodded as Groove came up.
"Hey, I could help! I'm great at this sort of thing." Both Twilight and Rainbow blushed visibly through their fur. I just grabbed him gently by the face and started pushing him away toward the auto sport store.
"Thank you, Toyoko. Come find me when you're done." Once I managed to get Groove looking at new radio and speaker systems, I went over to the seats to see if anything caught my eye. An hour later, and I had orders for two new seats, a set of pedals, and yet another subwoofer. I looked over to the door when I heard the chime, and got Groove's attention after seeing that it was Toyoko. We walked out, and I had to agree with Groove's reflexive whistle. They looked good.
Twilight had on a short skirt, a black tank top, and a white button-down t-shirt that had the first four buttons undone. Rainbow had picked out a pair of black sport shorts with a matching sport bra, and a short-sleeved denim jacket that she left open. I didn't expect them to have anything for hooves, so I wasn't surprised to see them barefoot. Well, bare-hoofed, I guess. Either way, I approved. And so did Groove, by the way he walked around them to look at them from every angle. As soon as he came back to the front, he put his hand to his chin, like he was thinking hard about something. He suddenly nodded, and gave them his biggest grin with a simultaneous thumbs-up.
"That is sufficiently sexy for you to wear." He proclaimed.
Unsurprisingly, Rainbow decked him.
I immediately burst into laughter, while Toyoko just nodded like a teacher who is pleased with their student's progress. Which, now that I think about it, is probably what had just happened. I got myself under control, and clapped a couple times to get everyone's attention.
"Alright, now that we're done screwing around, let's go get the others and get back to the ship. Leeroy is probably wondering where we are, by now." As I expected, we found them at the game store, getting ready to leave. Each of them had their own game, so it took a good five minutes for all of them to get finished checking out. Also as I expected, Dimitri got a puzzle game, Carlton got a platformer, and Ron got an RTS. Incredibly predictable, the lot of them. After Ron got himself back under control from finding out how Groove got a fat lip, we all headed back out to the Pangolins, though not before I grabbed a couple of pretzels for the drivers. Obviously, they appreciated getting some reward for sitting out in the car for so long. We got back to the elevator without incident, and the ride up was equally uneventful, although Twilight did suddenly understand why you don't wear loose clothing - like, for example, a skirt - in zero-g. And since we were docked, the whole ship was like that. My squad and I still had our mag-boots on, fortunately, so Twilight and Rainbow just held onto me and Dimitri, respectively, to keep from floating away entirely. We headed back up to the communal area first, to check on the others. We didn't expect, however, to hear music coming down the hallway, accompanied by a menagerie of personnel walking and floating through the hall in various states of happiness. Once we reached the communal room itself, though, the reason for this was readily apparent. The entire area was being used for a party, which appeared to be in full swing, if the slightly-drunken sounds of people singing to the music and telling each other jokes was anything to go by. As I looked in wonder upon the zero-gravity celebration, I noticed a pink blur moving back and forth throughout the crowd of people and ponies floating around. The blur suddenly started getting closer, and although my instinct was to put it face-first into the floor because of how quickly it approached, I decided that probably wasn't an appropriate reaction, considering the circumstances. Sure enough, the pink blur revealed itself to be Pinkie Pie, though I only knew it was her because she was the only pony there with that much pink on her body. Her mane and tail had both turned into curly, poofy messes, and her eyes didn't have the sadness that had been present the last time I saw her.
"Hi guys! I've been waiting for you to get back! After all, what's a party without all of your best friends there, too, right?" She floated up a little, and managed to swing herself forward to hug both Twilight and Rainbow, regardless of the fact that they were both still somewhat attached to Dimitri and myself. "Come on! We're already really far in, you need to party extra-hard to make up!" She pulled the two off of us, and disappeared into the sea of people. I had the others go put their stuff away, then followed the pink pony into the crowd. I managed not to smash into anyone, and ended up on the far side of the room, where Applejack and Rarity were holding themselves against the floor and wall to keep from floating away, with Twilight and Rainbow having joined the small group of other ponies they were talking to. As I came up, Applejack greeted me.
"Hey there! So, what do ya think of the party?"
"I think I've never seen someone attempt a party without gravity, before. I take it this is Pinkie's work?" Rainbow nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, yeah. No one can throw a party like Pinkie Pie can. That mare is a master of party-making."
"I don't know if I'd say I'm a master, Dashie." Everyone snapped their attention back to Pinkie as she appeared above us with a plate of cupcakes. "After all, there's always some way to make it better. Cupcake?" All of them instantly reached for one, and she turned the tray to me. I sighed and pulled my helmet off.
"Well, since you went to the effort, I might as well find out what you ponies can do with your cooking." I grabbed the last one on the tray, and took a small bite. I immediately had to chew it up and get it down my throat, as my body suddenly started going into convulsions of laughter. It was like I had just taken a bite of solid euphoria, but I had no idea what she put in there to make it do that. I would have been able to tell if it was drugged, and it most certainly wasn't. I doubled over, and had to put one hand against the wall for support. "Woo! Heh heh hee hee. That, uh... That is one hell of a cupcake you've got, there, you know that? Wow. I don't think I've ever eaten anything that good before. Damn."
"Really? And here I thought they weren't as good as usual. *Gasp!* Unless you've never had a cupcake before! Have you?" I nodded.
"Yeah, I have. None of them were anywhere near that level, though. Jeez. I'm gonna have to be careful around your baking, or I might get addicted." We all laughed at that. "Anyway, I'm going to go check on Fluttershy. Any of you want to come?" They all nodded, although Pinkie's mood visibly declined at the mention of her incapacitated friend. We floated around the rest of the partyers, and exited toward the infirmary. It was noticeably less occupied than before, but there was still a good number of ponies and humans lying around. They had straps laid over them now, to keep them from floating away, but they were loose enough that if a patient needed to go somewhere urgently, they could. We entered Fluttershy's room, and found it to be somewhat less grim than before. The monitors were now showing strong readings, indicating her improving condition. I left for a moment to find the doctor, and came across him administering some medication to one of the less-damaged patients.
"Hey, doc. You available?"
"Just a moment. There, that should do it. As long as the pain doesn't get any worse tomorrow, you'll be free to go, private."
"Thanks, doc."
"Of course. Now," he turned to me. "What did you need?"
"Just any status updates there may be on Fluttershy. The pony in the ICU?" He nodded.
"Yes, she's been in rather dire straits since she got here, but it looks like the zero-g is doing her good. I take it her friends are in there now?"
"Yep."
"Then let's go join them. I'll give you all the full rundown." I followed him back, and we found the ponies sitting and floating around her, looking like they were all hoping she would suddenly wake up. The doctor pulled the analysis chart off the footboard, and flipped through it for a moment. He returned to the front page, and cleared his throat so that everyone heard what he said. "Alright, I've got good news, and bad news. Good news is, she's making very good progress. In most cases where someone goes into a coma due to sexual abuse, it takes at least two months for them to regain consciousness. At the rate she's going, your friend will be awake within a week. Also, her inner organs don't seem to have any sort of damage, so she won't need any form of extraneous treatment on that front. The bad news is, her wings appear to have atrophied." All of their expressions fell at that, and I knew it was a big deal. I may not have wings, but if someone said my arms had atrophied, I certainly wouldn't be too thrilled about it. "It may still be possible to save them, but there is a very real possibility that they'll never work properly again. With some research into your wing structure, it'll be maybe a year before we have viable prosthetics, though, so although it might not be much, she could be able to fly again, even if the wings have gotten bad enough they need to be amputated." Rainbow tried her best to stomp up to him, but she forgot that there wasn't any gravity, and wound up floating toward the ceiling. I pulled her back down, and held her shoulder so she didn't float off again.
"Don't even talk about amputation, cause it's not gonna happen. She's gonna wake up, and she's gonna get better. There is no way I'm letting one of my best friends get her wings cut off. Not after everything else we've been through, and not because of what those bastard Emrini did to her." She had tears coming out of her eyes, now, and although I could tell the doctor wanted to tell her it would be alright, he did his job and shrugged.
"I just state facts. There is a very real possibility that you're right. It's entirely possible that she'll make a full recovery. But it's equally possible that she won't. And you'll need to be ready for that eventuality, if it comes to pass." Anything that Rainbow had to say in response was cut off by a weak cough coming from the bed. Everyone's attention was instantaneously drawn to the pale yellow pegasus as she coughed a couple more times, and her eyes flickered open. Rainbow was next to her before I could blink.
"Fluttershy? How you doing? You need anything?" Fluttershy turned her head just a little bit, looking up at the other pegasus for several seconds before speaking.
"F-Fluttershy? What are you talking about? C'mon, it's me, Dash. I'm your friend, remember?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know that name. And who's Fluttershy?"
"It's not funny, Fluttershy! Come on, you have to know your own name! Please, tell me you're just trying to make a bad joke! Please!"
"I don't think I'd ever make a joke that hurt someone. I'm sorry, but I really don't know you. And I've never heard the name 'Fluttershy' before." Rainbow practically collapsed onto the edge of the bed, obviously disbelieving of the situation. The others were in similar states as the doctor stepped forward.
"Well, this is... unexpected, to say the least. And although I'd like to let you all stay, I'm afraid I need some space in order to do a proper analysis of what can be done to fix this. Sergeant, if would?" I nodded, and crouched down next to Rainbow.
"Come on, Rainbow, we need to move. She won't get better until the doctors can look at the problem more closely." She hesitated for a moment, then nodded and stood up. I gestured for the rest to follow, and we all left. Outside, the party had died down considerably with the absence of Pinkie, and I led them all back to the far wall. I sat down nearby, and started planning out everything that had to be done.
Let's see... First, we have to deal with Fluttershy. They should be able to do a basic mind meld, and fix her that way, but I should get in contact with the Artisan, just in case. Then there's the matter of getting the rest of the ponies signed up for citizenship that want it, and when Twilight and Rainbow are ready to start training, I need to get them signed up for that. Although... I should probably see if Pernaki has made any progress working out their language, since they'll need to learn ours in order to fill out the forms and whatnot. Yeah. When the others get back, I'll check up on the doc, then get in touch with the Artisan. After that, the medical team should have some more info on Fluttershy's condition. I just hope it's not too bad... With my plans set, I looked over the five ponies that were with me.
Pinkie was still wandering around, acting the part of the hostess with an impressive resilience, though a not-so-impressive mask on her true emotions. Rainbow had her head in her hands, her entire body tensed like she might explode at the slightest provocation. Twilight seemed to be in deep concentration, probably working out her own plans for the near future. Rarity was watching Pinkie with admiration, and maybe a little envy at her friend's ability to go right back to being herself, even if it was faked. Applejack, though, she had her fists clenched, one arm against the wall with her head pressed against it, and into the metal slightly. I could tell, though, that she was crying. An occasional small speck of refracted light as her tears floated away made it easy to see from where I was. She's going to want to fight. She's pissed, now. I guess I need to start putting things together. I looked back to the door, and saw my squad come in, redressed in their normal clothes. I kicked off toward the ceiling, and bounced off it to land in front of them, reactivating my mag-boots while they formed up around me to listen to what I had to say.
"Alright, everyone, I've got a lot of work to do. Fluttershy woke up, but she has amnesia. She doesn't remember any of the others, or herself. She's been blanked. The doctors are looking at her now to see what treatments they can use, but I'm going to check on another option, just in case. Also, I need to get paperwork ready for any other ponies who want to try for citizenship, and I'm going to check with the science division to see if they've made any progress with the linguistics project. I need all of you to stay here, and do what you can to help. Contact me if the doctors decide to do anything before I get back." They all nodded, and moved past me toward the ponies as I left the room. First stop, engineering and science.
A few minutes later, I walked into the science division's gravity wheel, careful not to lose any parts as the doorways matched up and slowly closed off again. Moving through the area, I noticed several blueprints of what looked like pony-based equipment, as well as a couple of testing stations for new devices that had already been constructed. Eventually, I found Dr. Pernaki, sitting in front of a simulation of what appeared to be a new flight suit. He turned as I came in, and stood up to greet me.
"Ah, Sergeant Maldone. Nice to see you again. What did you need?"
"Just an update. How's the language decode going?" He tilted his head at one of the adjoining doors, and I followed him into another room, filled with people typing furiously at various computers.
"This is the linguistics team that was put together to figure out the ponies' language. So far, we've made some relatively impressive progress, but there's still a lot we don't know."
"I take it you just got a whole bunch of recordings from the debriefing files, and used those?" He nodded.
"Correct. We now know that their sentence structure is almost identical to English, and once we had that figured out, we managed to decipher several different words right off the bat. The species names, for example, are 'pana', for ponies as a whole, 'unia', for unicorns, 'erna', for the earth ponies, and 'pena', for the pegasi. Also, we've discovered something particularly interesting from one of the unia." I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Already using the correct terms and everything, too, huh? Ok, I'll bite. What's the big shocker?"
"On their world, a human is a mythological being known as a 'honra'." That threw me off for a moment.
"Wait, what?"
"Well, they're all mythological beings on our world, right? And we already know that there are other creatures on their world from our mythology, so it makes some sense, doesn't it? The real question is: how do our worlds know about each other?" He was right. It did make sense. And the implications of the two worlds having contact previously were immense. There weren't many possibilities, and none of them were particularly comforting.
"I don't know. Let the Admiral know, he'll want to hear about that. Anything else I should know about?"
"Nothing pressing. We've been fine-tuning the magic harnesser, and we've already come up with several improvements to existing technology with biological data from the ponies, but it's not particularly specific to you."
"Alright, then. I have a couple other errands to run, so I'll see you later."
"Until next time, Sergeant." I went back to my quarters, careful not to kill myself on the rotating door, and quickly sent a message to the Artisan, telling him of my possible visit. Once it was on its way, I sent in a request for citizenship forms for the rest of the ponies we had on board, and started back up to the communal room. When I got there, it had calmed down considerably, but the ponies I was looking for were easily recognizable, right where I had left them, with my squad keeping them company. I floated over, and landed next to Toyoko.
"Any news yet?" She shook her head gently, making her hair float around.
"Not yet. They should be done soon, though. Ron just got back, he said they looked like they were putting everything away."
"Good. I want to know what needs to be done soon, that way we can get it finished, and get these ponies healthy again. All this morbidity is starting to irk me. I'm going to go see if I can get a prognosis, I'll be right back." I pushed myself over toward the ICU, but about halfway there, the doors opened, revealing the doctor we had been talking to before. I landed next to him, leaning on impact from the extra momentum I hadn't bled off yet. "Well that was good timing. How's she look?" He sighed.
"I think you might want to see for yourself." Ah, crap. That's never good.
I followed him in, and he took me to another room, where several different scans showed what appeared to be a lopsided, asymmetric brain.
"As I'm sure you know, pony biology has already been determined as being extremely similar to our own. Their brains, in particular, are almost identical. Obviously, this means that an image of a healthy pony's brain would be comparable to a human's. The images you're seeing are scans of Fluttershy's brain."
"...Holy shit."
"Indeed. The tissue is excessively swollen, and any attempts to tamper with her neural patterns now could cause serious, permanent damage." I tore my gaze away from the misshapen images, and turned back to the doctor.
"So what you're saying is, you don't currently have any way of helping her."
"I'm afraid not. Until the swelling goes down, I wouldn't dare even the most basic of procedures. If something were to go wrong, she could end up being crippled. Or worse." I knew what he meant. A brain operation gone wrong could kill you, if you were lucky, or it could turn you into a vegetable. Completely aware of your surroundings, but unable to do anything. Not move, not speak, not eat, not even hold your waste in when you were done digesting. Definitely not a fate I would want to risk, given any other option.
"So what's the expectation on when she'll be healthy enough for an operation?"
"Basic physical operation? A month. Basic mind meld operation? Six weeks. Maybe seven." I nodded.
"Have you told her yet?"
"No. I'm not sure we should, given that the stress could make things worse. For now, she needs rest more than anything else. And we've already had orders placed for higher-quality food for all of them, so she'll be getting plenty of nutrients, as well. I plan on overseeing this case personally, as do several other colleagues of mine. Don't worry, she's in good hands."
"Oh, I already know that, but I always worry. That's why I'll be having one of my squad on guard duty at all times."
"You really think that's necessary?"
"No, but this whole situation burns me up, so I'm a little more paranoid than usual." He nodded his agreement, and I walked back out to the communal room to call over the two I wanted to take care of this. "Carlton! Groove! Get in here, double-time!" They both launched themselves around the bodies in front of them, and landed in front of me. "Alright you two, pay attention." I guided them back to the room with the scanner images. "This is what Fluttershy's brain currently looks like. It's supposed to look like one of ours." They both gave me worried looks. "My thoughts exactly. The doctors have already said that they're going to do everything they can, at all times, but I don't feel good about leaving her alone up here without some protective firepower. From this point onward, you two are on guard duty. I want at least one of you to have line-of-sight with her at all times. I don't care how you make it happen, that's the primary directive on this. You both already know why I want you here. Make me look smart on this. Who's taking first watch?" Carlton raised his hand first. Groove just shrugged. "Alright, then. Groove, I suggest you get some sleep."
"Yes, sir!" As he left, Carlton and I returned to Fluttershy's room. She looked pretty miserable, unable to remember anything. She looked up as we entered, and lifted her fingers in a small wave of greeting.
"Hey there, Fluttershy. You feeling any better?"
"Not really. Is that really my name?"
"From what the others have told me, yeah. They also told me you were the nicest pony any of them had ever met."
"Well, I don't know why I wouldn't be nice..."
"A good way of looking at things, if a little naive. Now, you probably already know this, but you're not going to be able to go anywhere for a while. Your head got really badly hurt, and until it heals on its own more, we can't do much to help you. While you're here, though, the doctors are going to do everything they can to make the process go faster, and your friends will be around to keep you company most of the time. This situation, however, has left me a little paranoid that something else might happen to you, and more than a little angry about what you had to go through. So, I'm going to have two of my team, Groove, who is currently resting in preparation for his shift, and Carlton here, who's going to be with you first. You don't have to be quiet while they're around, though. You can ask them anything you want, and you can talk to them as much as you like. Just don't expect much response from Carlton. He's mute, but he's a better listener than most, and he'll give you feedback when you need it. You need anything, just tell whichever one of them is with you, and they'll get someone who can take care of it. You have any questions for me before I go?"
"Just one. Why do you want to help me so much?" I smiled a little.
"Well, I don't know why I wouldn't help you." She blinked twice, then gave me a bigger smile than I had seen yet. She settled back into the covers, and Carlton got situated in a chair in the corner of the room as I shut the door.
"I think I know exactly why you want to help her." I turned to see Rainbow staring at me with her arms folded. "I think you guys just want us to help you by using the Elements of Harmony. Am I right?"
"Not even close." She wasn't expecting that, as her posture relaxed, suddenly unsure of herself. "Your magical artifacts may have been powerful on your world, but from what I've heard, they are not very powerful in comparison to our own weapons. Just cheaper. Although even that's debatable, considering possible casualty figures during setup and deployment of that weapon type. More important right now, though, is the fact that you've now confronted me on several occasions regarding my motives and logic. I'm curious as to why." She suddenly tightened up her body, looking away defensively.
"None of your business!" I cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, you've certainly gone to great lengths to make it my business. I'm not going away, Rainbow. You ponies just became the most important part of this whole war. If we manage to get the rest of you out of Emrini control, we've essentially won. They won't be able to keep up against us after that. So, instead of fuming about it for however much longer you'll be here, why don't you tell me what you're so worried about? Maybe I can do something about it." She fought with herself about it for a few seconds, then sighed.
"When I was little, I went to flight school. While I was there, my dad was maimed by a dragon, who had come to Cloudsdale because he thought somepony had stolen something from him. Obviously, not a good image for dragons. But while I was there, I also became friends with a griffon named Gilda. I thought she was really cool, but we fell out of contact afterward. One day, she just showed up in Ponyville out of the blue. I thought she would like it there, but I later found out that she had been treating all of my friends like garbage. She had done a lot of really mean things to most of them, and the town in general. It ended with her attempting to really hurt Pinkie, but she ended up hurting me, instead. Add to that, everything the Emrini did, and maybe you're able to figure out why I'm not exactly trusting of predators?" I nodded.
"That does clear it up considerably. In response, however, I'd like to tell you something about humans. We have a class of weaponry called 'nukes'. These are, by far, the most powerful and destructive weapons in our arsenal. The largest one we have is capable of destroying a small country. Care to guess how many times in our history these weapons have been used?"
"I dunno... A hundred?"
"Twice." Her jaw went slack. "They were used twice, right after their creation, to end a war that would have gone for at least another ten years without them. Since then, we have used every other means available to end a conflict. We have, for almost two hundred years, not truly needed to use nuclear warheads in combat. They have always been a last resort, and there has always been a better way. I tell you this in order to make what I am about to tell you more meaningful. Humans, individually, are very impulsive. Most people have difficulty seeing beyond their own personal experiences and opinions. As a whole, however, we are far more thoughtful. Get as few as three people with different views into the same room, and forbid them from attempting to harm each other, and you have a surprisingly dependable way of making decisions. That's not to say it's infallible, not by a long shot, but it's a lot better than having one guy calling all the shots. I have put a significant amount of effort into being that effective at making decisions on my own. I have to, or else my berserker condition would be kicking in every other day. Most of the other people on this ship have trained themselves similarly, because if they don't it could cost them their lives, or worse, the lives of those close to them. What I'm getting at, Rainbow, is that although you have more than sufficient reason not to trust without evidence, you do not have enough reason to accuse without evidence. I don't mind you being suspicious, I really don't. In fact, I approve of it. Being suspicious keeps you alert, keeps you aware. Keeps you alive. But you don't want to be accusatory, because one day, you're going to accuse someone, and they're going to get pissed off. And then you really will have to worry about them. Do you understand?" She thought about it for several seconds.
"I think so.... Basically, don't trust someone until you know them, but don't assume they're out to get you?" I smiled.
"I might just get through to you yet I assume you heard what Fluttershy's condition is?" She nodded. "Alright, then. Go ahead in. I'll let your friends know what's going on." She went inside, and I told everyone else the situation. Needless to say, they weren't thrilled about it. After they went in, I headed back to my quarters. I was tired, and I needed some sleep.
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I woke up in a city. Not any city I recognized, though. It seemed... medieval. There were cobblestones making up the road, and the buildings were made of white bricks, capped by ornate, cylindrical pyramid shapes, like castle spires. I turned around, noting the complete lack of population, only to find myself at the front gate of what appeared to be an actual, inhabited castle. It was massive, and well-kept, with various foliage and stylized images of the sun and moon everywhere. The gates and main doors were open, so I walked inside, already understanding that this was a dream. I had on my casual clothes, not my military ones, and I knew I hadn't simply been unconscious for a long time, because my hair hadn't grown any. I had decided a long time ago that if I started having memory loss, I wouldn't cut my hair, as a way of keeping track of time. And since I still had it short, that hadn't happened. Which meant, this was a dream. I entered the castle, and intantly, sound hit my ears. A thousand voices, sobbing and wailing in misery. It was so loud, I instinctively grabbed my ears and fell to my knees. Now there was no way this was anything but a dream. Sound didn't work like that. I forced myself back up, working past the pain. I followed the crying, the sounds growing louder with every step. It didn't take long for me to climb about halfway up the castle, arriving in front of a pair of doors at the end of a hallway. The noise was so loud, now, it rattled my bones. I moved forward anyway, my ability to breathe becoming hampered as my ribs vibrated against my lungs. About halfway there, I suddenly remembered I was dreaming. I exhaled, and didn't inhale. I let the sound pass me, without actually touching me. I stood back up, and walked the remainder of the hallway with ease. When I reached the doors, I placed one hand against each, and pushed. They swung open, and the crying suddenly stopped. I knew I had reached my destination. When I entered, I was mildly surprised to find what appeared to be a throne room, filled with ponies. I walked in, looking at them each in turn. All three species were accounted for, and their colors varied wildly. As I approached the throne itself, a tired, but still authoritative voice called out, echoing weirdly in the dream space.
"Who, and what, art thou?" I looked up again, to find a pony with wings, and a visibly longer horn, sitting on the throne. She was obviously not in good health, but the defiance in her eyes showed that she was far from beaten.
"My name is Kuro Maldone, Sergeant of the United Earth Sphere Defense Force. I'm a human. Or as you call us, a honra." The assembled ponies broke out into quiet whispering. The pony on the throne looked at me curiously.
"How didst thou come to be here? This place is under my watch, and should not be capable of being intruded upon." I shrugged.
"I honestly don't know. I just fell asleep, and now I'm here. I assume this is some sort of dream world, yes?"
"Indeed. And since thou appear not to be hostile, I shall introduce myself. I am Luna, Princess of the Night, and co-ruler of Equestria."
"I see." I looked around, noting the absence of any other alicorns. "How come you're the only one here? Where are Celestia and Cadence?" The entire room burst out with conversation, and Luna stood up, her eyes widened in shock.
"How dost thou know of mine sister and niece?"
"I found out about all three of you from a purple unicorn named Twilight Sparkle." The conversations ceased as Luna seemed to grow weak in the knees.
"Twilight? Twilight is with thou? And what of the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony? Dost thou have them, as well?"
"Yes. All safe on board the Star Spectre." And now I've confirmed the existence of magical superweapons. "We also have most of the population of the town of Ponyville with them." She sat back down in her throne, smiling slightly. After a moment, she returned her gaze to meet mine.
"And what art thy plans for them?"
"First, figure out where your planet is. Then, kick out the Emrini. After that, we'll be returning any others we find to your world, as well. The only ones who won't come back are those who choose to help us fight. But that will be their choice, and theirs alone." She seemed satisfied with that.
"It is good to hear they are finally free. I am, however, still curious as to how you got here." I shrugged again, as the room started to fade.
"I don't know, but it looks like my time here is up for now. Once we find you, we'll speak again, I'm sure." I barely heard her answer.
"Yes, sir. I can remember it more clearly than any other lucid dream I've had. I'm fairly certain it was real."
"We'll ask Twilight. If she confirms what you witnessed about Luna's powers, then we can take what you learned as fact. Anything else to report?"
"No, sir."
"Well, then, let's go." Leeroy got up from his seat, and I stepped aside for him, before following along as he strode down to the communal room, dodging various people flying down the corridors as we went. When we arrived, the atmosphere had settled into a light depression. Apparently, word had gotten around about Fluttershy, and the ponies were in low spirits because of it. I made a mental note to see if one of my other comrades could help, but continued on anyway. The two of us made our way to the room she was in, where Twilight and the others were floating around, offering various experiences to try and get her to remember something. The Admiral didn't waste time, however, in getting their attention.
"Twilight Sparkle?" She turned from where she was holding herself in a chair.
"Yes?"
"Would you mind stepping outside for a moment, please?"
"Um... Sure." She pushed toward us, and we left the room once more. Outside, she used the wall to stop herself and stay put. "So, what's the problem?" She smiled nervously.
"I just wanted to ask a couple of follow-up questions regarding one of the princesses you mentioned. Luna. To start, you said that she was capable of moving the moon, and changing star patterns, correct?" Twilight nodded. "Were there any other significant abilities or duties she possessed?" She nodded again.
"Yes, of course. For starters, she was also known for blessing newlyweds, as well as being a mathematical genius, and therefore doing most of the country's taxes. But one of the more common duties she performed was helping ponies in their dreams. She could enter any other pony's dream, and communicate with them there."
"What about creating a dream space, and bringing others there? Would she be able to do that?"
"Well... I'm not sure, to be honest. It sounds like something she could do, but I've never heard of it before. Why do you ask?" Leeroy nodded to me, and I returned it before speaking.
"Because I just woke up from a dream where I was talking to her." Twilight leaned forward as her eyes went wide. "She seemed tired, but when I mentioned you, she got excited. I told her you and the others were safe, and that we're already working on freeing the rest of your planet, and it seemed to have quite an effect. I didn't speak with her for long, though. I woke up before I could get any more info." The effect on her was immediate. Her mouth broke out in a huge smile, and her posture relaxed, causing her to float freely again.
"That's fantastic! If Luna was still mostly alright, then Celestia and Cadence should be, too!" She seemed like she might start hyperventilating from excitement, for a moment. "What about the others you saw? Can you remember any details about them?" I shook my head.
"No. There were a lot of ponies there, of all three subspecies. Too many for me to really recall any significant details about any single one, especially from a dream." She nodded, her excitement stymied, but still present.
"Well, at least it's something. This makes it even more important, though, that we figure out where they are. And more important that we get ready." Leeroy nodded.
"Agreed. Gather your friends, and bring them back out to the communal room, please."
"Um, sure." Twilight went back in, and I gave the Admiral a questioning look. He simply nodded in the direction of the communal room, and started walking back out. I followed him, and soon we were joined by Twilight and her friends in the open area. They went out a ways, and Leeroy clapped his hands loudly and deliberately until he had the attention of everyone in the room.
"Now that I have your attention, I have some very important news. As you all know, your planet and the rest of your species are still under Emrini control. And while we will be doing everything in our power to change that, I'm sure some of you would like to personally ensure the well-being of your friends and families. As such, any ponies who wish to enlist in our military will be given a form for pseudo-citizenship, and the necessary paperwork to go through recruitment procedures. Anyone who is interested in this, inform one of the ship's crew, and they will acquire the forms for you. That is all." I followed him out, and once we left earshot of the ponies, I quickened my pace to walk next to him.
"That was a pretty executive decision, there. You sure it was a good idea, doing that without the paperwork?" He raised an eyebrow at me.
"What makes you think I didn't do the paperwork?" I smirked back at him.
"Please, Leeroy. I know you like the back of my hand. There's no way you did the paperwork. It wouldn't have gone through yet." He smiled again.
"No, I didn't. I didn't need to. I got a directive from high command today, telling me to recruit as many ponies as possible. Apparently, they want to make as good an impression as possible, making sure they understand just how seriously we're taking this. I'm not entirely convinced it will work how they want it to, but I don't have any problem with these ponies getting training, and certainly not with them not being around for us to have to feed. You already know that every ounce counts on a ship like this." I nodded.
"Yeah, I do. But command wanting to make a good impression? That doesn't quite make sense. If they wanted to do that, why not use the usual technique of giving them a whole bunch of free stuff? It seems to me more like they want to put the ponies' powers to work for us. Not entirely benevolent, in my opinion."
"I don't know, Sergeant. All I was told was that command wanted to make a good impression by letting them fight. Beyond that, I have no idea." Yeah, this didn't sound at all suspicious. Not like I could do anything about it, though. If command wanted to put the ponies to work for our military, the best I would be able to do is convince the ponies themselves not to join. And that probably wouldn't work too well, given that most of them still had heavy stakes on the outcome of the war. Even if it did, I would land enemies in really high places, that I wouldn't be able to touch. And then I wouldn't be able to help anyone. Even so, the idea that our own people would take advantage of them further after everything else got me riled up again. I saluted a farewell to the Admiral, and broke away toward the training facilities. As I walked, I continued thinking about everything that had happened to them up to this point. The mind control devices, the breeding houses, the overpopulated prisons, the killing they had been forced to participate in, and the pitiful condition they had been reduced to during their captivity. From what I had heard described by the ponies, they had essentially been living in paradise. And now it was gone. Broken. Destroyed. Irrevocably, undeniably obliterated. Sure, it could be rebuilt, but like Twilight had said, it would never be the same place again. All because the Emrini couldn't be bothered to try being peaceful, and we weren't smart enough to figure out that they had been enslaved. My pace increased as I got more heated, until I finally reached the gym. I raced through changing into a workout suit, and immediately started assaulting one of the punching bags, which had been designed with zero gravity in mind, tethered to both the floor and the ceiling. I beat on it, for I don't know how long, until I could see the imprints of my fists in the material. Still unsatisfied, I moved around to the other side, and continued my beatdown of the poor, sand-filled bag. I was raging, now. Barely in control of my berserker condition. All I could think of was breaking the body of every single Emrini that attempted to stop me from getting these ponies home. I didn't care what it took, they were going to make it. And I held the same opinion of high command. If they thought, for even one microsecond, that I wouldn't go rogue to keep these innocents safe, then there was going to be a day where they didn't wake up. After I finally burned off my anger, I leaned against the punching bag, panting and sweating and possibly bleeding again.
"You really need to stop letting your empathy get ahold of you like that." I didn't turn around. I recognized the voice as Leeroy.
"How long have I been in here?"
"Four hours. All of your squad tried to get through to you first, one by one, but after they failed, they reported it to me, and I let them leave, since I already knew you weren't going to get any worse. That was about an hour and a half ago." I nodded, starting to feel the fatigue as the adrenaline wore off.
"What about the whole 'recruitment' thing?"
"Going well. Most of the ponies wanted to sign up, actually. Including the rest of our HVIs. Except Fluttershy, for obvious reasons." That was surprising.
"All of them? I didn't take Pinkie or Rarity to be the fighting type." He made a dismissive noise.
"Me neither. But I guess that shows how much we know, huh?" That got a laugh out of me.
"So, is this the part where I get lectured about not going berserk in a non-combat situation because it scares the pants off of everyone?" He laughed once in response.
"No, if I was going to do that, it would have happened already. I'm just here to make sure you get back to your room in one piece." I finally managed to work up the will to move, shifting my weight to lean in such a way I could see him. He was floating in the middle of the room, staring at an old, slightly worn photograph. I already knew what was on it. Two boys; a tall one with black hair and eyes, standing proudly with numerous scrapes and bruises all over him, and his arms crossed in defiance, with the other leaning his head and arm on the taller one's shoulder, with brown hair, blue eyes, a cut lip from where someone else had punched him, and tears visible from a reflection of light. The tall one wore a grin of victory, whereas the short one had a smile that came with the knowledge that he'd never be without backup. He put the picture back in his pocket, and motioned for me to get moving.
"Come on, let's go."
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Another night of sleep later, and I was feeling a whole lot better. I once more headed to the communal room with the ponies in it, and went over to talk to the five friends.
"So, I hear you ladies are planning on all going into training." They all nodded. "Most of you, I can understand, but what about you, Rarity? I figured you wouldn't want anything to do with this, considering how high-class you seem to be." She smiled that special, 'oh, please' smile that all women seem to be capable of.
"Normally, you would be right. I typically loathe getting into the thick of things like this. But I have several very personal reasons to do this myself. Most importantly, my sister. She's strong, but this is most likely too much for her and her friends. I plan on carrying her out of whatever hole they put her in myself. Even if I have to rip every single Emrini standing between us limb from limb." The level of calmness she had while saying this was downright creepy. Note to self: never piss off Rarity.
"What about you, Pinkie? Family reasons, too?" She nodded.
"Yeah. I have two sisters about the same age as me still missing. And then there's the Cake twins. I don't even know what would have happened to them." That killed the mood instantly. All of them certainly seemed to have more than sufficient reason to go through with this, which was more than enough reason for me to assist them.
"Well then, let me give you some advice before you get your papers filled out: Don't let your anger become your reason for fighting." They looked at me, confused. "While you're in training, it's easy to let your goals change from 'save my family' to 'kill my enemies'. Most people don't even notice it, and it's what causes them the most problems. Being angry is fine. Anger being your only motivation is not. When that happens, everything else just starts to fade, and you lose sight of what you really care about. So make sure you keep your reasons for fighting the same." They all seemed to actually understand what I was saying, and nodded their assurances. "On another note, how's Fluttershy doing? Any better than before?" Once more, five pairs of ears drooped. It would have been funny, if it wasn't so damn depressing.
"No," Twilight started, "not even a little. She still can't remember anything, and nothing we say or do seems to trigger any memories."
"Just give it time. Once her head heals on its own more, she'll start remembering things by herself. And since all of you will be heading off for training soon anyway, that'll give her plenty of time to get started. Relax, she's in good hands." They all sighed, and Twilight spoke up again.
"I just wish there was more we could do."
"No use wishing. Just let the doctors do their jobs, and you do yours. She'll get through this, I promise."
----------------------------------------
Two weeks later, all of the paperwork had gone through the system, and the ponies were ready for training. Everyone said their goodbyes, and most of the ship's crew were present to see the shuttle off as it took them to the training grounds on the other side of the planet. It was quiet after that, and I took a few extra days to myself, using the time to check up on my various investments and bank accounts, as well as my estate on Mars, which was currently in my housekeeper's care. During this time, Fluttershy's condition markedly improved. She was up and walking around again, although she still couldn't remember anything, and her wings didn't seem to be regaining muscle properly. I didn't have too much time to think about it, though, because I soon received an encrypted message on my computer's secure connection from local command.
Shadow Soldier Sergeant Kuro Maldone
Your presence is required on-world, at the Altipolis police station, precinct twelve. This request is designated as priority one urgency, and level six security. Possible breach of planetary defenses. Report for duty immediately. Bring armaments. Upon completion of reading this message, purge contents and delete all remaining evidence.
UESDF High Command, Communications Division
I read it over twice more, just to let it all sink in, then sent my destroyer program after the files connected to it. I was quite proud of myself for having created that program. Completely erases all information that is connected to a given file, then saves the file and deletes that. Makes it nearly impossible to retrieve information from anything once it's finished. After I was satisfied that that was done, I headed back down to the armory. I didn't think I would need my full suit, but the message specifically told me to bring guns. I decided to bring my own Soldier Buddy, and a Stormbringer shotgun. The rifle, so I would be able to use range to my advantage if necessary, and the shotgun for two reasons. First, it was built small, which let me carry it and the full-sized Soldier Buddy without too much issue. Second, it was built with a Metal Storm design, which meant that every time I pumped it, another shell was ready to fire. Pump it four times with a full clip, and the entire thing fires at once. A veritable wall of death, even at mid-range. At close range, it was practically an explosive, from how little was left of the target. And with the two of them together, I would be ready for a fight at any range.
Two hours later, and I was at my destination. It looked like any other police station in the city; big, utilitarian, and it had the words 'Altipolis Police Station Number 12' painted in huge, white letters above the door, making sure that no one could miss it for what it is. I walked in, and headed straight for the receptionist desk. She seemed startled at first by a six-foot-tall guy carrying an assault rifle and a shotgun, but she quickly realized who I was and came out to guide me personally. She led me down one of the larger hallways, and into the main area of the station. Various personnel were milling about, obviously disconcerted as a whole about whatever was going on. I continued following my guide, until she stopped to one side of a door marked 'Commissioner Seelah Randall'. I nodded my thanks, and she left. I opened the door, and stepped into a fairly well-kept office. The desk was clean of extraneous materials, and what was on it was in an obvious organizational pattern. There were a few plaques on the wall, which looked to be awards of some sort, and a bookcase in one corner stuffed with what looked like case note binders. I didn't really register anything beyond the obvious, though, as my attention was focused on the woman leaning over the desk, staring at what appeared to be a map of part of the city. She was pretty tall, about 5'9", probably, and was wearing a tight-fitting white button-up shirt, a black short-sleeved kevlar jacket, and loose black kevlar pants. She had long red hair held back in a ponytail, striking green eyes, and possibly the largest chest I'd ever seen in person, though that didn't seem to stop her clothes from holding it all in. She stood up straight as the door closed, and spoke with an air of practiced authority.
"You must be Sergeant Maldone."
"I am. So, what's got you all so frazzled that you deemed it necessary to call for a Shadow Soldier?"
"We received a report two days ago that there is an Emrini somewhere in the city." My mind blanked out for half a second, then properly absorbed the information.
"How the fuck did an Emrini get here? We are literally in the middle of the military!"
"I don't know, but from what we've gathered so far, it's just the one. The problem is, we don't have any idea where it could be hiding, or how long it's been here."
"Obviously. So, where was it spotted?"
"Here, on the east side." She tapped the map, not far from where we were. "A group of kids were heading home after soccer practice at school, when they heard something rummaging around in an alley. One of them had a flashlight, and shined it down the alley to find an Emrini, digging through a garbage bin. Obviously, it scared the shit out of him. All three of them screamed, and it noticed them. As soon as it charged, though, they all ran. Two blocks later, they finally stopped and looked back, only to find an empty street. For whatever reason, it didn't chase them. We haven't been able to find anything since." I nodded.
"Alright. I want to talk to those kids again, make sure there isn't anything else, then I'll check out the alley."
"Sounds good to me. I'm coming with you, though. This is way too important to leave you alone with it, and I don't feel comfortable letting anyone else know about it just yet."
"Agreed. Let's go."
Half an hour later, I was standing outside a high school, still armed, with the commissioner. She led the way inside, and headed for the principal's office. The secretary said that he was currently busy, and to wait. The commissioner sat down, while I decided to go for a less friendly posture leaning against the wall with my arms crossed. A few minutes later, the door opened and a rather punk-looking teenager exited the room.
"Try not to do anything that would land you here again, Zach."
"Yeah, whatever." The teen left, obviously having not paid any attention to what the principal had been saying. The principal, for his part, sighed and rubbed his temples. He was an older man, the edges of his hair white, and gradually turning a dark brown where it was denser. He didn't have any bald spots, though, so he wasn't that old. He stood at somewhere around 5'5". Pretty short, nowadays, but his stance was that of someone who believed in what he did, and he was proud to say so. Having regained his composure, he turned to us.
"Anyway. Yes, what can I do for you today, commissioner? Hopefully not another notice of truancy?" Seelah stood up, smiling as she shook his hand.
"No, not today. I just came over to talk to a couple of kids who reported some suspicious activity a couple days ago. Would you mind if we talked to them for a little?"
"Of course not! It's good to hear that at least some of the students here are able to talk to the police without being in handcuffs." As we went into his office, she gave him the names of the kids we needed to talk to, and he called them over the intercom to come to the office. A minute later, all three were standing with us, though I was leaning against the wall behind the door, preventing them from noticing me when they came in. They all seemed honest enough, if a little trashy. All of them were wearing jeans that were probably three sizes too big, and held up with straps and belts. The first one, a white kid that was about 5'3", was also wearing a white tank top and had a tattoo of a hard-edged red butterfly on his right shoulder. The second one was a dark-skinned girl with short hair, who stood at almost exactly five feet tall, had on a red t-shirt and a black leather jacket. The last one was hispanic, the tallest of the bunch at around 5'7", and wore a simple black long-sleeved shirt.
"Okay," the commissioner began, "I just need the testimony you three gave me the other day again, to make sure nothing changes. It's standard procedure, so no need to worry about being questioned a second time. It doesn't mean anything about whether or not anyone believes you." Before they started, I turned on a jammer that would disrupt any surveillance equipment trying to pick up the conversation from outside. I wasn't particularly worried, but there were procedures about this sort of thing, and this warranted a higher level of paranoia than usual. "So, go ahead and tell me what happened when you saw the Emrini." The first kid spoke up right off the bat.
"Well, like we said, we were coming home from soccer practice. The team had all decided to stay later than usual, for a scrimmage. By the time we left, it was dark out. The three of us live right next to each other, though, so we weren't too worried about it. Anyway, we passed by one of the bigger alleys, between a couple of restaurants, when this big clattering comes from down in the dark somewhere." He finished, and the tall one spoke up to continue the story.
"Yeah! I had my flashlight with me like I always do - see?" He pulled a small LED flashlight out of his pocket, proving that he carried it around with him. "- so I turned it on to look in. We went in a little ways to try and see better first, and when we found that Emrini there, he was going through the garbage, like a hobo or something. We all screamed - I mean, come on, who wouldn't? - and it turned around, screaming right back." He shuddered at the memory as the girl finally spoke up.
"Obviously, we ran. We weren't gonna fight that thing! I mean, I'm all for heroes, but us trying to take down an Emrini would not have gone well." Seelah nodded in agreement as she jotted down a few last notes.
"You made the right call. None of you have the training for that sort of confrontation. I think we're just about done here. Right?" I stepped forward, making all three of them spin around and gasp as I spoke and finally made my presence known.
"Almost. I just need to know two things; first, if the Emrini you saw seemed particularly large, or if it had spines on its back or tail." They shook their heads 'no'. "Okay, good. Second, if there was anything else in that alley that seemed out of place. An open door, a lowered fire escape, anything. Do you remember something being different about the area from any other time you've seen it?" They all calmed down as I spoke, and shook their heads again. I sighed. "I didn't think you would. Most people have trouble observing their surroundings properly when the adrenaline starts pumping. You're all free to go back to class." They nodded and left, closing the door behind them. "So, Commissioner? Any discrepancies?" Seelah shook her head.
"Nope. Almost word-for-word the same story. I was already pretty certain they were telling the truth, but now I'm convinced." I nodded my agreement.
"Yeah. Which means there's been an Emrini minor running around Altipolis, doing who-knows-what for who-knows-how-long. We need to find him. Now. Let's get to that alley, see if I can figure out where he went." She nodded, put away her notebook, and we both waved our goodbyes to the principal as we left. A short walk later, we were standing in front of a police cordon placed around the alley in question. The commissioner flashed her badge, and the officers present lifted the tape for us. Seelah stood off to one side, allowing me full access to the area. Unfortunately, nothing jumped out at me as being an obvious solution. I walked the full length, but found nothing other than locked doors to the restaurants that used the dumpsters, basic fire escape ladders, and an overturned trash can next to a manhole.
Wait a second....
I turned back to the manhole, and knelt down to inspect it more closely. As I thought, the manhole had scratch marks right next to it in the pavement. Like someone had moved it without the proper tools. I put the middle finger of each hand into the two holes in the cover, and heaved it out of its home. I pulled my own flashlight out of my pocket, and shined it down into the hole. At the bottom, there were several visible scratch marks in the concrete, even at that distance. I put the cover back, and returned to Commissioner Seelah.
"Well? Find anything useful?"
"Not just useful. I found out where this fucker is hiding. Get me city sewer maintenance. I need to talk to them ASAP." An hour later, we walked in the front door of a plain, white building labelled 'Sewage Treatment and Maintenance'. The receptionist directed us toward the director's office, and we quickly made our way there. As soon as we were in, he motioned for us to sit down. The place was nice enough, though perhaps lacking in the decoration department.
"So," he started with a little too much enthusiasm, giving away his nervousness, "what can I do to help you today?"
"I need access to your employee records, and the full sewer network." I wasn't wasting any time on this, much to his confusion.
"Um, sure. Although I'm curious as to why you would need all that."
"Does the term 'level six security' mean anything to you?" Apparently it did, because the color drained from his face.
"Right. Sewer and employee database record access, coming right up."
"Thank you."
----------------------------------------
An hour later, Seelah and I had sifted through about half the records of employees who worked in that area. I hadn't expected it to go quickly, though. We were looking for a veritable needle in a haystack, and it was possible someone had done something, either inadvertently or on purpose, to make the search harder. I was about to suggest getting something to eat, when Seelah gave a shout of triumph.
"I found it! Mercury Mercer, no picture, no birth certificate, no place of residence, paychecks made out to cash, and no fingerprint data or social security number." I came over, and sure enough, the file was practically empty.
"Don't get excited yet. We'll go through the rest first, make sure there aren't any others like that. Then we'll move. First, we have to make certain we aren't barking up the wrong tree. Going after the wrong guy prematurely could cost us a lot of valuable time. Can't afford to make mistakes like that on this one." She nodded her agreement, and I went back to my seat. With renewed confidence, we blazed through the rest of the files, finding three more employees with similarly empty records. One in four. Much better numbers than previous. We returned to the director's office, printed files in hand, and placed them in front of him so he could read the names. "We need to talk to all four of these employees. I suggest calling all of them at once while they're on duty, make it seem more like an inspection or something, so the one we really want doesn't get too suspicious." He nodded, and placed the papers back on his desk.
"I'll call the district supervisor, let him know what's going on."
-----------------------------------------
Another two hours later, and I was in the sewers, Seelah standing next to me in the shadows near where the supervisor would be gathering the employees for a surprise 'tool inspection'. Numerous police officers had already been positioned throughout the sewers, each armed with hard rubber bullets, stun guns, and halogen flashlights, to take the Emrini down without killing him. I wanted him alive, so we could find out what he had been doing down here, and for how long. If it came down to it, though, I still had my shotgun and rifle, just in case things got too risky. I started planning out a chase, so if he bolted, I would be ready to cut him off. I was shaken out of my musings, however, by a tap on my arm. I turned to see Seelah biting her lip nervously.
"So... if this works, and you're available afterward..." I decided to nip this in the bud.
"I'm taken."
"Oh." We lapsed back into silence, and waited for the supervisor to call in the mock inspection. When he did, it wasn't long before the relatively open area became crowded with bodies, all decked out in uniforms and sewer-cleaning equipment. Two figures, though, caught my eye. The first was hunched over, and had on a long, brown cloak, obscuring the wearer's features entirely. The other was also hunched over, but had on what appeared to be a hazmat suit with a darkened view window. Either one could be an Emrini, the way they were dressed. I would find out which soon enough, though. The supervisor went through the ranks, saying each person's name in turn as he went, making sure we could hear each one.
"Get ready," I whispered, "It's about to get loud down here." I tensed my muscles as the supervisor approached the guy with the hazmat suit. He said the employee's name like every other, but it wasn't one of the ones we picked out. In fact, I remembered the file. He had a skin condition that required him to wear that suit at all times, and it needed to have a dark window to prevent the condition from getting agitated. And then there was one... I moved forward, straight toward the cloaked employee. As I approached, though, the supervisor glanced in my direction, then in the employee's. He seemed to notice this, and turned to see what the supervisor was looking at. And then all hell broke loose. He immediately spun around, and shoved through the few people between him and the exit. He leaped over the water, making his cloak flare to reveal his tail, wrapped around his midsection like a cummerbund, eliciting cries of fear and confusion from the assembled workers.
"He's bolting! All units, get ready!" I immediately began pursuit as Seelah issued her orders, making the same jump as the Emrini, even with my guns. I ran full-tilt after him, reminding myself of the route I had planned out earlier for this direction. I made an early left, and then the next right, watching the Emrini pass the exit significantly closer than he had been before. I slid around the corner, picking up my speed again as I stood back up. I heard shots fired, but the sound of continued fire, followed by cursing, told me the chase was still on. I followed him through the tunnels, until we had left the perimeter that had originally been set up to prevent him from going too far. Now, it was just me, chasing him back to wherever he was headed. I kept on him the whole way, only slowing down for corners, to keep from falling into the river of garbage we ran next to, and losing even more time to the sludge.
Eventually, I knew we were getting near the end of the system. We had run a significant way, and he had gone in a relatively straight line. He made one last turn, and I followed him into a large, open area. The sewage dropped off into a cavern, echoing around the space and drowning out any direction to other sounds. I readied my shotgun again, moving forward slowly as I more closely surveyed the environment. The entire area was shrouded in darkness, making it hard to see, but I could make out enough. The walkway I had been on continued into the open air as a catwalk, suspended from the ceiling by thick cables. The catwalk led to one of four large pillars, coming from the ground far below, and more catwalks connected them to other spillways from other directions. The rest of the space was filled with numerous levels of catwalks, connecting to an uncountable number of valves and consoles. Obviously, this was a control center of some sort, possibly forgotten by the sewage treatment facility staff entirely. The pillars, though, interested me the most. There was what appeared to be surveillance equipment filling the top of one, and its neighbor was topped with what appeared to be a bedroom, sans the 'room'. There was a large bed, magazines strewn about the floor, and a dresser with several photographs on it. I approached the first pillar, with the surveillance equipment, and noticed, as I got closer, that none of it seemed to be turned on. In fact, most of the machines looked like they hadn't been touched in a long time. I relaxed my pose, and called out to the Emrini. I knew he was in there somewhere, hiding in the shadows.
"You might as well come out, now! I found you out, I followed you to your base of operations, and now I know about your equipment. Whatever you were hoping to achieve here, you've failed. It won't take me long to get out of here, and once I do, I'll have the whole military down here, sniffing you out. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. You decide to cooperate, though, and I might be able to make your life a little less painful." I took a few steps forward, searching the darkness for any signs of movement.
<And what would you know of pain, human? You have all the women you could ask for, all the food you could eat, and cities that reach into the clouds. What could you possibly know of my pain? What could you possibly know of my toil?> The sound echoed off the walls, accentuating the snarling and hostility in his voice. I decided to see what kind of effect me using his language would have.
<You'd be surprised. Mercury.> There was silence for several seconds.
<How did you figure that out?>
<We looked through the employee database before coming down here. Only four individuals had little enough information that they could be Emrini, and the supervisor called out two of them before you ran. I figured it was Mercury, because the other guy had a birthday registered.> More silence.
<You are... surprisingly intelligent. But how? How can you be so clear-minded? I saw the woman standing next to you. You should be in a state of stupor, at best.>
What the hell are you talking about? I thought curiously.
<You mind elaborating on that last bit?>
<You mean... you're not affected by the pheromones? How can that be? How can you not be sent into a frenzy like every other male?>
This could explain quite a bit, if I can get him to keep talking about it.
<What, you think humans just go nuts every time we smell a chick? If that happened, we wouldn't get anything done. Although that does explain your species' lack of rational thought most of the time, if that's how you work.> I heard a snarl from the blackness, obviously not happy about being insulted.
<Watch your tongue, human. You are still the hunted, not the hunter.> I grinned.
<Not as much as you might think. Haven't you been wondering why I haven't moved? I've been listening to the way your voice echoes. I already know that you're three walkways up, above the next pillar over. I'm just supposed to bring you in alive for questioning, if possible, so I didn't bother shooting you.> Once more, the cavern fell quiet, except for the waterfalls. After a few seconds, the shape I had picked out as the Emrini stood up, exactly where I predicted. He jumped down from catwalk to catwalk, until he landed heavily next to the bed. He stood up, and put his claws above his head.
<Fine. You win. Just don't shoot me, and I'll tell you what you want.>
<Don't give me a reason to.> I walked up behind him, keeping my shotgun ready as I put a set of handcuffs on him, specially designed to hold an Emrini's tail as well, to prevent them from using it to escape. Once he was bound, I turned him around, and started walking back the way we came.
"So, do I keep calling you Mercury Mercer, or do you have a more accurate name?"
"Mercury is fine. I prefer it to my given name."
"Why's that?"
"Because I have started to question my purpose." I cocked an eyebrow at the young Emrini sitting across from me. He was obviously nervous, fidgeting and shifting in his seat almost nonstop.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I was sent here as a spy, to try and find a way to weaken your defenses for an invasion.... I have since found reason not to." I considered the situation a little more closely. He had obviously been unprepared for a conflict when I found him out, and he had fled without a moment's hesitation. Moreover, the equipment recovered from his little lair hadn't been used for anything other than decoration for what appeared to be weeks, if not months. Up to this point, he had yet to show any of the usual strategies or intentions of other Emrini. Which meant there was something fundamentally different about how he thought.
"And what would this reason be?" He looked up, his eyes showing a small flicker of hope that seemed to be rapidly fading into despair.
"I found a way to mate without having anyone try to stop me." That piqued my interest.
"And what would that be, exactly? I can't think of any way to do that with a human without encountering at least some resistance. Care to explain?" He looked around, as if debating whether or not telling me would be beneficial to him in the long run. After a few seconds, he sighed.
"It was shortly after I arrived here. I was on the surface, scouting for threats. I found an area where there were lots of people, who looked like they were sort of... broken. They seemed very hateful, and most had their faces covered. There were several women, though, who were calling out to men. Talking about a 'good time', and inviting them to private rooms."
"Prostitutes," I deduced. He nodded.
"Yes. I figured it out after another two trips. I approached one of them, managing to hold myself back, thanks to some sort of artificial scent she was wearing."
"Perfume."
"So that's what it's called. Anyway, I used the same excuse for my cloak as before; that I was disfigured, and asked her if she would let me go with her. She said 'As long as you have the money, I wouldn't care if you were an Emrini. You give me what I want, and I'll do whatever you want.'"
"So, you deactivated your surveillance equipment to keep your superiors from finding out what you were doing?"
"Yes. I told them there was a malfunction. A few days later, I told them there was increased patrolling, possibly from a detection of my equipment, and that I would be out of contact for some time."
"And how long ago was this?"
"About two weeks ago. As expected, I haven't heard anything from them since."
"Before we get any more off-track, here, let's get back to how you got on the planet. And what you're doing here. Shall we?" He nodded again. "First of all, how did you get past planetary defenses? They should have picked you up long before you even got to the atmosphere. So why didn't they?"
"Several years ago, one of our recovery teams found a pod on Tarsus, back when it was under our control. Since then, the scientist sector has been studying it, trying to recreate it. About a year ago, they succeeded. The first couple weren't quite good enough, but a few months ago, they decided the one they had would be able to get past your security."
"And that's the one you came in on." He nodded again.
"Yes. It was made for more prolonged flight, so a full-sized ship wouldn't give it away. I was in that pod for several days, though they had made it so I would have plenty of provisions." We're going to have to find this thing, see if any of their modifications would be useful to us.
"So how long ago did you actually come down?"
"That was probably... a month and a half ago, now? About that." I nodded again, copying the information onto my notepad.
"So, what was your actual duty here?"
"I was supposed to find out battle plans, troop training and movements, weapons manufacturing-"
"Anything pertaining to military endeavors, basically?"
"Yes. After I found that woman, though, I decided to see if I could find a way to... escape, I suppose."
"Escape? Sounds like you weren't too keen on going back to your own world, or seeing your relatives again."
"We don't really keep track of who our relatives are. And I... wasn't exactly the strongest around."
"That does seem to be the biggest factor of who's in charge in your society."
"Yes. The strongest Denka usually takes over as the alpha of a given group of other Denka. For a small Denka like me, though, that isn't typically a happy occasion. After I found out about a specialized, solo mission, I signed up without even asking what it was. I just needed to get out." I studied him carefully for several moments, watching him curl up slightly as his eyes narrowed. He obviously wasn't lying.
"So, you decided that it wasn't worth sticking around your old home, and signed on the dotted line without a second thought or a single glance back. Somehow, though, I feel like that was longer ago than a few months. When did you find out about this?"
"Two years ago. I wasn't the only applicant, but I was smarter than the rest. Everyone was able to get through physical training fine, but I was the only one capable of fully completing the technology training."
"I find it hard to believe that you had no problem simply leaving behind all the comforts of your home world. You had no problem giving up meals, warmth, a nice bed? Oh, and of course, let's not forget the breeding houses. You just left?" He was silent for a while, before he sighed.
"To be honest, yes. I didn't really have those things. The alpha of my group decided very early on that I would be his toy. He got all the best parts of my food, and he sold my bed to get a better one for himself. Most of the 'warmth' I ever felt was my own blood after a beatdown when he needed to hurt something. As for the breeding houses, well, I didn't go most of the time because I was too busy recovering from my injuries. The first time I did go, well, I couldn't take the screams." I cocked an eyebrow curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"It sounded... familiar. It reminded me of what I had gone through. I couldn't do anything to them, hearing that sound. It just... hurt too much." I twirled my pen, contemplating what he said. On the one hand, he could simply be lying to try and garner pity and mercy. On the other hand, he could be telling the truth, in which case condemning him wouldn't just be hypocritical, it would just be downright cruel. I tapped the pen on the table a few times as I made a decision.
"Well, Mercury, it seems to me that as of yet, we don't really have a case against you for anything more than possession of surveillance equipment, which isn't actually illegal." He suddenly looked up, obviously confused. "There's a couple other people who will want to talk to you before anything else happens, though, so for now you're stuck here. We'll see how things progress from here." I stood up, but he spoke again before I left.
"So, I'm not going to be imprisoned?" I turned back with my hand on the knob, keeping my face as blank as possible.
"Not yet." I exited the room, and went into the next one to see Leeroy standing at the observation window.
"And you talk to me about 'executive decisions'?" I shrugged.
"As of yet, we can't actually pin him on any sort of crime, other than being an Emrini in the first place. And let's be honest here, humanity has already gone through the whole 'racial segregation' thing already. I like to think there's enough people out there who can think properly that we won't have to repeat that era." The Admiral nodded in agreement.
"So, now what?"
"You're asking me? I'm just a Sergeant in the Shadow Battalion. I don't have that sort of authority." He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm asking you as a person. What do you think we should do with him?" I looked back through the glass at Mercury. He seemed both scared and excited simultaneously from the possibilities of what could happen.
"They're going to try to take back Tarsus, right? I think we should put him somewhere comfy, wait until that whole mess is decided, then put him back where he was."
"In Altipolis?"
"What better place to keep an eye on him? He was working down there for at least a few weeks, and from the employee file I saw, he was doing a pretty good job. So long as he keeps out of trouble, and doesn't send anything back to the rest of their fleet, I don't see any reason to lock him up. He certainly seems capable of controlling himself." Leeroy nodded again, and went silent for a while. Finally, he nodded again.
"Alright. I'll take care of the paperwork, see if that can happen. Although I am curious. Why do you seem so eager to let this happen?"
"Two reasons: One, I'm fighting in this war to make peace, not to just put us in charge. Two: I believe in second chances. Speaking of which, I have another one I need to take care of, if you're done with me."
"Affirmative. You're dismissed, Sergeant." I snapped a quick salute, then turned back around and left. Once more, I found myself headed up to the medical wing to Fluttershy's room. When I got there, I found Carlton making various gestures as Fluttershy giggled wildly.
"Looks like you're feeling a good deal better." She got herself under control as best she could, though giggles still permeated her sentences.
"I was just - heehee - just listening to Carlton tell me about when he was still in the marines, and he had to drag two of his squad - heheh - back through a bunch of brush because they knocked each other out in a fistfight, and their commander got mad." I looked at Carlton and raised an eyebrow, to which he made several whistles. Fluttershy looked at him intently for a moment, like she was listening, then turned back to me. "He says he's sorry you never got to hear the story." That made it click.
"You can understand him to that degree?" She nodded.
"Yes. I don't know how, though. It's just sort of... instinctive." I had already known that Carlton could communicate certain things through whistling and various other sounds, but this level of coherence was unheard of.
"So you can understand what he means just through whistling?" She nodded. "That's... interesting. And more than enough reason for me to be sure of my next move." They both looked at me, confused. "I have a couple things to get first, but let the doctors know that I'll be back. And tell them to get Fluttershy ready to go outside. I have somewhere to take her." Carlton saluted, and I headed back to my quarters. Once there, I reached under the bed and pulled out a small, black wooden box. After opening it and making sure the item inside was still in the same state I last left it in, I headed over to wake up Groove. Once he was up and ready, we went back up to the medical wing, where the doctors were in quite the tizzy about letting Fluttershy go out. I came up to the head doctor, and whistled loudly to get them to be quiet so we could actually talk without screaming at one another over the din.
"Sergeant, I understand that you may have good intentions, but I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to take her off this ship as she is!" I nodded.
"Alright. What do I need to do to make you let her out?" He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Th-th-that's not what I mean! She is in no state to be outside of the medical wing, let alone the middle of a crowded city! It's absurd! It's preposterous! It's.. It's..."
"Idiotic?" I offered. He flailed for a moment.
"Well... yes! Taking her outside as she is could have any number of effects! She could catch some other disease, she could sustain further injury, she could be targeted by a terrorist group-"
"None of which are problems present where I'll be taking her." He looked at me, confused.
"Where could you possibly be going where none of those could happen?"
"The Masquerade." His eyes widened.
"But, only Maskers know where the Masquerade is. It changes all the time!"
"Yep." I kept a level stare on him the entire time. He got the hint.
"You...?" I nodded once. "Um. Well.... I suppose that could be a solution, considering that we can't operate. And you're sure there's no danger?"
"The Masquerade was started with the express purpose of helping people find their place and make everyone's lives easier. They don't tolerate those who would prey on others for personal gain. And neither does my squad, who will be going with me." He looked at me closely for several seconds, then sighed.
"Fine, but not before we do several tests and ensure that you are properly equipped to handle any medical emergencies."
"Absolutely." Two and a half hours later, Fluttershy now had a whole new set of clothes, a special hat that would transfer any serious fluctuations in her condition to my arm computer, which would then sound an alarm, her own arm computer, which had a real-time readout of her physical condition, and Carlton had a backpack filled with various medical equipment, in case something truly serious came up, while Groove had a messenger bag filled with more mundane supplies. "Is that everything?"
"I think so," he replied, "but let me double-check the list one more time." After making certain that nothing had been left out, he was finally satisfied that she would be safe enough to let her go. I didn't waste any more time, and sent messages to the rest of my squad to meet us at the elevator dock. Once we were all assembled, I lead them out into the station, and we took one of the cars down to the planet. Obviously, Fluttershy was pretty freaked out by the method through which we would get to the ground, but Carlton and Groove had built up enough of a rapport with her to get her to calm down. When we reached the bottom, I took the lead once more, guiding the group down, into the lower streets. I already knew the general area to look in, I just needed to spot the signs I was looking for. After a few minutes of walking, I found one. Just a guy, standing on the corner, leaning against the streetlight with a kerchief around his nose and mouth, like one of those Old West bandits, but much less menacing. I walked up next to him, and looked around. I spotted the next sign down the street. A flyer, proclaiming 'The Greatest Ball in the Galaxy', taped to a power line. Now I knew the direction, we just needed to get there. It didn't take long. Soon, we were standing in front of what appeared to have once been some sort of mansion, back during the early days of interstellar exploration. It had obviously been repaired, rebuilt, and renovated multiple times, apparent from the wildly different architecture the building now had in various places. Out front, there were two people playing chess, one wearing what appeared to be an old gas mask, and the other wearing a box that looked like it was supposed to be a T.V. that wasn't getting any reception. They turned toward us as I opened the gate, and stood up as we entered. The one with the gas mask spoke once we were all in, obviously female from the voice.
"Prostrate yourself," she began.
"Stand and be acknowledged," I finished. Both of them started in surprise, then immediately stood to either side to let us pass. Toyoko quickened her pace to walk even with me.
"Why did they seem surprised that you knew the passphrase?"
"Because that wasn't the one they were expecting." She cocked her head, but I waved at her to let her know I'd tell her later. I opened the door, and stood aside to let the others in. The entryway was massive, as the mansion's exterior suggested, but what shocked the others was how many people were there. The entire room was filled with various people milling about, all wearing masks, and no two the same. Every mask was just a little different from the last, and every one had markings on it, differentiating it further. As they took in the scene, I noticed several stares being directed at us. I moved the group off to one side, and introduced them to the gathering.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Masquerade."
"This is the Masquerade, a gathering originally organized in order to help people more accurately figure out what they're like, what they can do, and how they can use their skills and talents as productive members of society."
"Any particular reason it's in an old-ass mansion that looks like it hasn't been properly cared for in years?"
"Yes, actually. The original organizers made a rulebook very early on, and one of the rules is that the Masquerade always be held in a place that isn't taken care of by the city, or by someone who is well-off. It prevents the Masquerade from becoming profitable, and keeps focus on people that actually need assistance, rather than shifting towards those who already have power, and would use their influence to control those who seek out the Masquerade to fix their lives. Keeps it from turning into a method for personal gain." I led them off to the right as I explained, more stares following us as we left. I opened the door quietly, out of habit, and gestured for the others to stay silent as we entered. We moved through another partition, into a workshop filled with various tools, and walls lined with clean, brand-new masks of various styles and colors. The room's single occupant was seated at a lathe, working at another masterpiece. I stopped a respectful distance away, and once more put a finger to my lips for silence before adjusting my stance to wait. A minute later, the sound of wood on metal ceased, and the man at the lathe held his work up, running his fingers over it to check for minuscule flaws. A moment later, he nodded and put it to one side as he stood up and addressed me.
"It has been quite some time since you and I last spoke, Sergeant Maldone." His voice rumbled through the room, commanding respect but at the same time thinly hiding a laughter that told all who heard him that they had nothing to fear in his presence. "But I suppose I can forgive you, seeing as how you brought friends with you." He turned around, eliciting a few gasps from my compatriots. He was obviously old, from his graying hair and slight wrinkles, but the powerful muscles that made up his body told of someone who still trained as hard as any other to ensure his physical health. His beard was longer than the last time I saw him, reaching down to just below his collarbone, but his face was just the same, minus an extra wrinkle or two. He still had a grand smile, proving his self-confidence and happiness to all in sight, despite the scars that crisscrossed his face. And of course, his eyes were clouded over, staring at the ceiling, despite the shine of life and joy they still radiated. He lumbered over, and put my face in his massive hands as I stood still, barely keeping from breaking out in a smile at seeing one of my oldest friends again, even if he did make me feel small at his gargantuan height of 6'9". "My, my. You've been quite busy, haven't you? New splices, higher rank, and... oh, a girlfriend, have you?" He grinned even wider than he already was, before clapping me on both shoulders. "Ha, HA! Made quite the place for yourself since the old days, haven't you? Can barely believe it's still you! But that quiet step of yours hasn't changed one bit, no sir! You're still that same little kid that showed up in my workshop all those years ago, aren't you?" I laughed despite myself.
"Heheh. And you haven't forgotten a single thing about me, have you, Artisan? Yeah, I'm still the same little fool as always. And although I plan on having some time to catch up with you, that's not the main reason I'm here." He nodded like the old sage he was, still smiling slightly.
"Right. Your message. Alright, then, let's have a look, shall we?" He moved over to Fluttershy, who shrunk away slightly. "There, there, little one. No need for fear in these walls. I'm just going to read you for a bit, and we'll see what I'm working with, alright?" She glanced over to me, and I nodded gently. She swallowed, then nodded and relaxed her stance. The Artisan gently cupped her cheeks, and slowly moved his hands over her face. "Hmmm. A gentle soul, you are. I don't think I've met anyone like you before in my life. But then again, I've never met anyone who isn't human, before. But now... you don't remember your own kindness, do you?" Fluttershy's eyes widened, and she looked over at me, prompting another bout of laughter from the Artisan. "No, he didn't tell me. I've been doing this for decades, child. I still remember when little Kuro first came to the Masquerade, back when I still lived on Mars. Confused and enraged, he was. Worst case of anger management I've ever had to deal with. But look how he turned out, eh? Don't worry, little one. I'll have your mask ready in no time. Assuming, of course, that you actually want one. I don't make any promises as to the effectiveness of our particular method, and it's not my choice if you don't want one. But if you think this will help, it'll only take me a few minutes to finish it. So? What do you think?" He pulled his hands back, and folded them in front of himself. Fluttershy drooped her head, obviously thinking hard about it. Eventually, she spoke.
"What... What exactly is the mask for?"
"The purpose of the mask is quite simple: to act as a physical metaphor for your soul. When it is given to you, it is blank. As you continue through your life, you discover things about yourself. Your talents, your flaws, your likes and dislikes. For each facet of your personality that you believe is permanent, or is too important to you to change, you draw a picture on the mask to symbolize that that part of you will always be there, and never go away. Not for anyone, not for anything. Once you have drawn enough symbols on your mask, you will understand yourself on a level beyond that which most can even begin to comprehend. Then, you will design your own symbol, to encompass the most prominent parts of yourself, that describe you most accurately. When this happens, you will know. There will be know doubt. No questions left to answer. You will see the image you have drawn, most often depicted on the back of the mask, and you will simply think, 'This is me. And I am satisfied.' And any others who see it will agree." She considered his words for several moments, then turned to me.
"Is that how it happened for you?" I nodded.
"When you know what to put as yourself, that'll be all there is to it. Once I had placed several drawings on my mask, I designed my symbol in about a half an hour. When I finished, there weren't any questions left to be asked, like he said. I just felt that it was me. I don't know any better way to put it." She nodded, and went silent again.
"I think... I think I'd like to try this. I don't remember anything, but maybe giving myself some visuals will help." The Artisan nodded, then turned to me again.
"Why don't you show her your mask, while you're waiting? Oh, and there's going to be an Ascension today, if you all want to stick around and see that. I need to get to work on this mask. Not every day I get to make one for an alien." I nodded, and led them back out. We headed to the back, up the stairs toward the entrance to what would have probably been a ballroom at one point, and therefore would be the only room large enough to house the entire congregation. Once again, we were stopped by two other maskers at the door.
"See yourself," this one began.
"Know yourself," I finished. Once again, they both jolted in place before standing aside. Once we passed the threshold, Toyoko came up to me again.
"You've now caught two sets of security off-guard. How?"
"Let's go get some seats first," I pointed up at what looked like had once been a dining area, "I'll tell you all when we're not in the middle of the walkway." We headed up to one of the larger tables, and everyone sat down. "So, I'll start with some background info, for Fluttershy and anyone else here who doesn't know the Masquerade too well. The entire idea behind the Masquerade is that everyone has somewhere that they can be both happy, and productive. In order to more efficiently figure out what that place is, the original creators decided to use masks. Masks have been used throughout history to convey messages about the wearer to others, and they decided to see if that could work for the wearers themselves, as well. They started making their own masks, and making symbols to draw on the masks to mean different things about the person's personality. After a while, the movement became very popular. Popular enough to start garnering attention from politicians, businesses, and the media. Before long, they were being inundated with people who had no intention of helping or joining, aggravating some of the more... volatile members. One particularly nasty incident involving an especially pushy reporter and a masker with a tendency toward violent outbursts prompted them to start putting in methods of keeping out those who would intrude for their own gain. This included the adoption of passphrases, physical training routines for long-term members, and the decision to move the Masquerade's meeting place every couple of weeks, leaving signs out in the area to direct those who knew what to look for."
"That still doesn't explain why the guards were surprised at you," Toyoko argued. "If they're expecting someone to know what to say, why would they not expect you to?"
"Because the phrase I used isn't used by new members. It's only known and used by maskers who have completed their personal symbol, and gone through the Ascension ceremony. The phrase they were expecting at the front gate was 'discover your roots,' and the phrase the ones just now were expecting was 'find yourself.' They didn't think they would get the passphrase of an Ascended, thus their surprise." They all nodded, and Ron pointed at the box I had brought with me, which was now sitting on the table.
"So, is that your mask?" I nodded.
"Yes. I've kept it in this box for a long time now. I suppose I should show you, since this is the main reason I thought of bringing Fluttershy here in the first place." I slowly opened the box, and gingerly lifted out my mask. It was made of two pieces of black wood, one covering the front and the other covering the back, connected by ratcheting slides. I held it up, showing them the symbols I had marked it with. On the left eye, a red teardrop hung from the inner edge. The right eye, in comparison, was surrounded by flames, which swept back slightly, as if the mask was in motion. The left cheek had a shield, overlaid with a simple longsword. The right cheek and mouth were covered in stylized teeth, simple triangles that drew up into a cruel sneer. The top of the mask, in contrast to the rest, had a simple, almost crude drawing, of a man, a woman, and a child holding hands as they walked. Behind them, walking alone, was a slightly taller child, watching the viewer with a deadly stare. On the back, however, there was a distinctly more impressive etching. A shield, scratched into the wood itself, and covered in spikes and chains. The Dark Spiked Shield. They all looked at it closely, occasionally glancing back at me as they did. Finally, I showed them the shield, and after studying that for several seconds, they each nodded while studying me. Dimitri voiced his opinion right away.
"Well, the Artisan wasn't lying when he said that anyone would agree with your symbol. That's you, alright." The others nodded in agreement. Fluttershy stared for a few more seconds before speaking.
"Is... Is that how they normally look?" I shrugged.
"I wouldn't know. Ascending the Masquerade is a big deal, and doesn't happen often. When it does, most of the people who attempt it aren't actually ready. They aren't sure, and the symbol they've made has either not been drawn on their mask at all, or it's been drawn with something easily removed. I've only met one other person with their mask completed, and his symbol was of a fist wrapped in bandages. Appropriate for someone who was stuck in an illegal fighting ring until he organized the other fighters in a coup and took the whole thing down from the inside out. My guess is that yours wouldn't look anything like mine, though. You don't seem the type." She nodded again, and we fell silent. Looking around, I noticed that the room we were in had filled up considerably. The Ascension was beginning. I checked my watch, seeing that we still had plenty of time before the Artisan would have Fluttershy's mask prepared. We all got settled in, and turned to comfortable positions to watch. The ceremony went as it usually did. Five applicants, and only one success. The new Ascended was met with cheers from the congregation, and I decided to add my own applause to the dull roar. The other four returned to the crowd, which then slowly dispersed. We returned to the Artisan's workshop, and found him once more seated at his lathe. We waited for him to finish, and he stood up, bringing into view a newly-made mask, built for a pony's head. It was pure white, and as with mine, it was separated into two pieces: one for the front, one for the back. Unlike mine, however, this one had two slots for the ears, and a third opening along the top for her mane. He brought it over, and held it out to its new owner. Fluttershy gently picked it up out of his hands, and studied it for a moment before just as gently putting it on her head. She shifted it for a few moments, getting her mane and ears through their respective openings and making them comfortable. Once she stopped moving the mask around, she gave her head a few turns, ensuring that she had full mobility of her neck, as well as swiveling her ears around to make sure they weren't hindered, either. Once she was finished, she nodded.
"I think... I think this will help. I can just sort of... feel it." She moved forward and gave the Artisan a hug, which he readily returned. "Thank you. Even if it doesn't end up fixing everything, I'm happy that so many people are trying to help."
"Of course, little one. That is, after all, why the Masquerade exists." They separated again, and we all headed out, calling out our farewells as we left the Artisan to his work. We made our way back to the elevator, and got in line to go up. As we waited, I turned to Fluttershy, still wearing her mask.
"So, are you glad I brought you out here?" She nodded.
"Yes. I still don't remember anything about myself, but now I feel like there's a way back, instead of just hoping and waiting and taking random attempts to make something come back. And even if I don't, now I have a way to remake myself. So, maybe I'l get back to normal anyway. I do have one question, though."
"What's that?"
"Why did you join the Masquerade? The Artisan said something about you being angry, but what did he mean?" I sighed.
"I don't think you're quite ready for that story yet, Fluttershy. Maybe some other time." She didn't seem entirely satisfied, but she let it go anyway. We boarded the elevator, and were soon back on board the Star Spectre.
The next month and a half passed without incident, while the crew of the Star Spectre worked with the planetary crews to get the ship back to full functionality. I did my part as well, helping with repairs and maintenance where I could, and assisting other combat units with equipment care otherwise. It was during one of these sessions with a marine squad that my arm computer pinged at me. I pulled up my sleeve to look at it, and found a new message waiting for me. Curious, I tapped on the icon, and the message filled the screen.
Sergeant Kuro Maldone
Please report to the bridge as soon as you are able. I have some new orders for you.
Admiral Leeroy Tornak
I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, so I decided to just not question it for now. I summarized a couple of the more important points that we hadn't gotten to yet, then excused myself and headed toward the bridge. Once there, I found Leeroy lounging in his command chair, obviously at ease, almost like he was happy about something.
Oh dear. What are these orders? Please tell me it's not like the Sawcus incident again. He got up as I neared, and handed me a sheet of paper.
To Sergeant Kuro Maldone, Shadow Squad 258,
Priority 4 directive.
You are hereby designated as inspector and proctor for the final examination of recruitment squad 329, located on Pincer Island, to be administered in one week and two days.
UESDF High Command
I read over the directive again, making sure I hadn't missed anything. Once I finished, I handed it back to Leeroy.
"Isn't that the squad Twilight and her friends were put in?" He nodded. "Why would they pick me to proctor the final examination?"
"Apparently, High Command seems to think that your relationship with the ponies will assist you in some way. That's my best guess, anyway."
"I don't know... Usually, High Command tends to prefer everyone to just have 'professional' relationships. This doesn't seem quite right. Like there's something else going on." He shrugged.
"Sergeant, I think you're over-thinking it. Honestly, they most likely just don't want the knowledge of the ponies' presence to be too widespread yet." I mulled it over for a moment, then sighed.
"Yeah, probably. I suppose I should start getting everything ready, huh?" He grinned.
"Yep. Lots of paperwork to do before you leave." I groaned.
"Understood. Just keep us from combusting, alright?"
"Ha. Yes, sir."
"Thank you." I looked out the window of the Remora, down at the training facility as it neared. It was easily the largest compound in use, at over five hundred square kilometers. Pincer Island. Occasionally described as "Parris Island Junior", the place had a reputation for only using the hardest, meanest, most ridiculous methods and staff to train its recruits. And I, for one, found the place rather nostalgic.
Hey, that's my old dorm building! And there's the obstacle course, and the firing range. Oh wow, I think I can hear Daniels from all the way up here. I figured by now, he would have yelled his own vocal chords out, but apparently he's still as loud as ever. Impressive.
As the tiltrotor descended, the sound I heard got louder. Yup, that's Daniels, alright. No one curses that much. Or throws insults that well. Or makes sure everyone knows how badly you fucked up that thoroughly. I finally disembarked, and looked around for the tight-assed drill sergeant. He was too easily understood to be very far. Sure enough, I spied him off to my right, yelling at...
Ho-ly shit. Is that Rainbow? Oh, I am going to love this. I decided to leave them alone for the moment, and let Daniels do his job as I made my way to the director's office. Once introductions and confirmations were made, he had one of his aides guide me back out to where Daniels was now screaming his head off at Twilight.
"HOLY FUCK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I SAID 'PUSH UP', NOT 'LIMP UP'! GOD DAMN, HOW DID YOU STUPID SHITS EVER BECOME INTELLIGENT?! THAT IS SUCH A PATHETIC SHOW OF UTTER WEAKNESS, IT ABSOLUTELY BAFFLES ME HOW YOU ARE NOT EXTINCT!"
"Still quite the impressive use of your own intelligence, if I do say so myself." He spun around, showing off the eternally-pissed-off expression he wore, accentuated by the prosthetic eye that shone red as it refocused on me.
"WELL FUCK ME SIDEWAYS AND CALL ME A WHORE! KURO-FUCKIN'-MALDONE. LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE WHO ISN'T A COMPLETELY WORTHLESS PILE OF SHIT HAS DECIDED TO GRACE YOU WITH HIS PRESENCE, MAGGOTS! SHOW SOME FUCKIN RESPECT AND SNAP TO, YOU STUPID FUCKS!" The group he was in charge of suddenly jumped to their feet, instantly going to attention as they regained their balance after working themselves so hard. Of the group, about half were ponies, and all five of the ones I knew were present. I glanced them over, then turned back to my own former drill sergeant. Still the same angry, tanned face, the same proud, expectant posture, and the same small glimmer of pride at having turned another group of untrained, clumsy recruits into well-trained, precision warriors.
"It's good to see you again, sir. Though I'm not here for a social visit." For about a quarter of a second, one corner of his mouth turned up in a grin. It looked weird, honestly.
"YEAH, I KNOW. YOU'RE HERE FOR THESE IDIOTS' LAST RUN. ANYTHING YOU WANT 'EM TO HEAR, FIRST?" I nodded, and he backed off a bit to give me space to pace in front of them.
"I know some of you, and some of you may know me, and what I'm like. Allow me to be clear; from this point forward, I am not 'Kuro Maldone'. I am your examiner. And I will not, for any reason, give any single one of you any leeway of any kind. If you do not meet the expectations set by High Command, just like everyone else, you will be denied. You will not graduate, you will not be given a squad, and you will not go on duty. Because if you are not ready, you will make mistakes. And if you make mistakes, then your targets will not go down. And if your targets do not go down, our soldiers will go down instead. That is not an acceptable outcome. So I suggest that any of you who have been slacking, or holding back, or in any way underperforming, get your fucking act together, if you intend on earning your place on the front lines. Do I make myself clear, recruits?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!"
"Damn right I do. Do I need to repeat myself?"
"SIR, NO, SIR!"
"Damn right I don't. Does anyone have any questions?"
"SIR, NO, SIR!"
"Damn right you don't. Your examination begins at 0800 hours. You are free to do as you please until then. I suggest you use the time wisely. DIS-MISSED." They saluted as one, and I returned it before they all started wandering off, and I made my way back to the main building, Daniels right behind me.
"You know, technically it's my call when they get to leave."
"Oh, please, we both know your pattern. You did it to me three fucking times, and I've heard every other recruit who went through you tell me the same thing." He laughed. It was creepy, hearing that sound come from him. It wasn't even particularly nasty, or anything. Just not a sound I imagined him ever making.
"Well, you're right about that. I still can't believe you threw the final twice just because you felt like you weren't ready. I didn't even know that was allowed."
"Yeah, well, it got me on your good side, right? So I must have been doing something right."
"Yeah. You were accepting of the fact that you could be better. Most of these dumbasses don't have half that level of ballsiness, being able to put up with me for three fucking runs. A lot of them don't even get through one. I had five dropouts this time. All human, too. I guess that's one point for the ponies, anyway." I held the door open for him as we entered the building. "The fuck do I look like? I'm not that old, yet." He walked in anyway, and I followed him. "Anyway, let's get you settled in. We had to get creative with the testing for the ponies, so the final's gonna take longer than usual. Couple days, at least. So why'd they pick you for this, anyway? I'd figure that a Shadow Soldier would have a few slightly more important things to take care of than a fuckin' final exam." I nodded.
"You'd think so, right? But no, these orders came from all the way at the top. Leeroy thinks High Command just doesn't want the ponies being well-known yet, but personally I think they're planning something else. I just have no idea what, yet."
"Well, whatever it is, it can wait. You need to get some sleep too, and this is your room." He unlocked the door and handed me the key. "See you in the morning, Sergeant." He saluted, and I returned it.
"You as well."
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That night, I had another dream of the castle I met Princess Luna in. She was still there, but no one else. Apparently, it was still daytime, which meant they weren't sleeping, and therefore out of her reach. We only talked briefly, but I found out more about the specifics of what was happening on their planet. The Emrini were in the process of building some kind of superweapon, but progress was being significantly hampered by a resistance force, which she believed was being led by changelings. I, having never heard of them, was curious about what they were, precisely.
"Well," she explained, "they look somewhat like ponies, but more bug-like. They have insect wings, chitin, and their forearms and lower legs have holes in them. One hive attempted a hostile takeover not long before the Emrini appeared, but from what little I've heard, they seem to be a different group. Or possibly the same group, with a new leader. Either way, they seem to be on our side." The dream started to fade soon after, and we said our goodbyes as I woke up.
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"ALRIGHT, YOU SORRY, SHITFACED EXCUSES FOR SOLDIERS, GET ON THE LINE! TIME TO SEE IF I'VE ACTUALLY MANAGED TO GET ANYTHING THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS!" As the recruits got themselves set up, I looked them over. For the most part, they were impeccable. Except for one guy near the back. I came up to him, and got right in his face.
"Name, recruit?"
"Sir, Martin Landown, Sir!"
"You forget anything this morning, Landown?"
"Sir, I am unaware of anything I might have forgotten, sir!"
"Care to take a guess, recruit?" Daniels had the screaming angry guy routine down pat, but I preferred to unnerve, rather than startle. The recruit was quiet for a few seconds, then his eyes widened in realization and he gulped.
"Sir, my name badge, sir?" I nodded.
"First try, not bad. But we don't go out with someone with an incomplete uniform. I suggest you sprint, if you don't want to miss too much. And don't leave your personal shit lying on the ground for someone useful to trip over." He ran off, and I returned to the head of the group. "Listen up, assholes! Today is the day that either makes you or breaks you. Do not make Sergeant Daniels look bad, or I will make you look a whole lot worse. Your examination starts now, so I hope you all prepared adequately for this. Endurance test is first. Five mile run. The route is marked with red flags. Start point is the north entrance. Go!" They all took off at a quick jog, with Rainbow leading the group, as I had predicted she would for any type of race-style event. Just as they rounded the corner, Landown came up and saluted. "No point saluting now, recruit. Test has started." He ran after the rest of his squad, and Daniels joined me in the leisurely stroll to the north entrance. "How many do you think will actually pass?"
"Most. There's a couple that will actually surprise me if they make it, but no borderliners in this group. Just future soldiers." We took our spots next to the marine that was already standing next to the open gate with a stopwatch, and settled in to wait. Fifteen minutes later, I could make out Rainbow making her way towards us. As she got closer, I could also see Applejack and Pinkie Pie trailing behind her. All three crossed the threshold, and the monitor with the stopwatch marked their times. Over the next ten minutes, the rest of the squad trickled in, mostly in twos and threes, with one group of six in the middle. After they were all back, we gave them all five minutes to rest, and then headed to the next part of the physical fitness test: pull-ups. They all passed without trouble, most of the ponies managing at least ten reps. Another five minutes to rest, and we were on the final part of the fitness section: crunches. Once more, every recruit passed, although one of them did make it questionable near the end, barely able to complete the required number. With all of them finished, we moved on to the next section: skill.
The first test was a basic obstacle course; wire crawl, tire run, wall climb, log jump, mud sprint. In that order. For the most part, none of them had any real problems. Rarity looked absolutely terrified of the wire crawl and the mud sprint, and more than a few recruits - humans and ponies both - had difficulty on the wall climb and mud sprint, but that's the idea. Once each recruit was through, they took a spot at the nearby shooting range, and took three shots at three targets, which popped up randomly from a group of fifteen, ensuring that none of them would simply predict which ones to fire at. They then went back through the obstacle course, and the timer stopped when they reached the beginning. When they had all finished, Daniels got them back in line for me to speak to.
"Well, recruits, looks like Sergeant Daniels didn't have to work with total scumbags after all, which means I don't have to stay up late tonight rearranging faces. Which means all of you get to go back to bed and get up early tomorrow to see if you can pass the last test. Feel lucky, yet?!"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
"Good, because you are. Dismissed, recruits." Once more, they returned to the barracks as I left with Daniels.
"You know," he began, "You really aren't cut out for drill duty." I snorted.
"What gave it away?" When we entered the main building again, the entrance clerk stood up and called to me.
"Sir! Sergeant Kuro Maldone, right?"
"That's me."
"This came in for you a few minutes ago from the Star Spectre." I cocked an eyebrow. Anything coming from the ship now must be pretty damn important, if it couldn't wait. I took the note he handed me, and opened it up as I continued. As I read, though, my pace slowed from the shock of what was written until I came to a complete stop. When I finished, I had to lean against the wall just to keep from collapsing from shock. I handed the note to Daniels when he leaned over to check on me. His reaction was only mildly better.
"Fuck me.... That's just... That's just not fair. Shit. How in the hell are we gonna tell them about this? They'll break down, sure as shit!" I nodded my concurrence.
"We don't tell them. Not yet. A lot of shit's about to go down hard, and we can't have them distracted at this point. I need to get to the communications room." I collected myself, and Daniels guided me to where I needed to go. Once we were there, I opened a channel to Leeroy.
"Kuro. I assume you got my message?"
"Yeah. You haven't told any of the others about this yet, have you?"
"No. We're keeping it tight under wraps for the moment. I was planning on telling them after Tarsus is safe again."
"Good idea. I'll keep finish up with the final training here, hopefully my bad poker face won't give us away. I'll see you when I get back."
"Copy that. Leeroy out." With that out of the way, I resumed my journey back to my room. I needed to sleep.
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The next morning, Daniels showed up at my door to bring me somewhere else for the last portion of the final exam. We headed down to another part of the complex, a huge building that looked to be about five stories tall, two hundred and fifty meters wide, and about half a kilometer long. Inside, the place was filled with VR pods, crammed together as tightly as possible along the catwalks that spanned the length and breadth of the entire structure. Off to one side, I recognized the recruits from our group, standing around in basic undergarments, designed for maximum synchronicity with the pods' body-based simulator components. As we approached, I could hear Twilight talking to the others.
"-and it hurts like you wouldn't believe! I could feel every single nerve being attached. Fortunately, it doesn't last long, and I don't think it happens more than once. But I figured you'd like to know beforehand, so you can be ready for it." The others nodded their gratitude as we joined them, Daniels getting right back into character as we did.
"OFFICERS ON DECK, MAGGOTS!" They had apparently not noticed us, because most of them nearly fell over at the sudden sound, scrambling to get in line. "THAT'S BETTER. NOW, AS YOU ALL KNOW, THIS IS YOUR LAST TEST. IF YOU FUCK THIS UP, IT WILL NOT MATTER HOW WELL YOU DID PREVIOUSLY. THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS, CADETS! IF YOU DO NOT PERFORM ADEQUATELY HERE, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO KICK YOUR STUPID SORRY ASS ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING, AND THEN KEEP KICKING YOU ALL THE WAY BACK HERE AGAIN! SO DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!" He focused in on Rainbow on the last sentence. "NOW FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN'T BOTHERED TO PAY ATTENTION BEFORE, THE LAST TEST WILL BE A COMBAT SIMULATION USING VIRTUAL REALITY PODS. IF YOU INTEND TO SURVIVE, I SUGGEST YOU CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS AND TACTICS CAREFULLY. NOW GET IN THOSE PODS, AND GET READY TO FIGHT, YOU FUCKERS!" The group once more scrabbled around for a moment, before disentangling themselves and getting in their assigned pods. Daniels led me over to the two instructor pods we'd be using, and I took off my boots and jacket before getting myself settled in. The lid closed, and everything went black for a moment. I regained my senses in a large canyon, filled with trees and some boulders. Rushrun Valley. Specifically designed for defensive tactic training. Good for new recruits. The sound of agonized screams filled the air as the recruits went through their first body-builds, while Twilight and Rainbow were cleanly deposited into the program. Their armor wasn't nearly as impressive as before, though. Apparently the original designs had been toned-down for mass production. Rainbow's was still streamlined, but lacked the thrusters on her hooves and some of the extra plating on her torso and joints. Twilight's was significantly changed, only retaining the shield generator, which now had a twin where the sword generator had been. Even the skirt armor had been shortened extensively, now almost equal in length to Rainbow's. Her armor had also been reduced, primarily focusing on her horn and vitals. They both still looked impressive, just not as impressive as before. The two of them immediately started setting up their loadouts, while Daniels spawned in and I used the instructor settings to float up where I could watch from above. Obviously, though, I could still hear Daniels as the rest of the recruits spawned in.
"UP UP UP, SHITHEADS! YOU'RE ON THE CLOCK, BETTER ACT LIKE IT! LET'S GO, PEOPLE, SKITTLES AND SEQUIN HAVE ALREADY STARTED, WHY HAVEN'T YOU!?"
Because Skittles and Sequin have been through this before, I thought with a grin as the others struggled to get their equipment set up. The horn that indicated the start of the match sounded, though, and several of them flailed for a moment as their selection screens disappeared before they were ready.
"LOOKS LIKE YOU WEREN'T FAST ENOUGH, ASSHOLES! HERE THEY COME!" Twilight and Rainbow got into semi-tactical positions on top of a pair of boulders while they could, while the rest opted to simply take cover behind trees, or lay down in the grass with LMGs to try and mow down the oncoming enemies. "TEST IS FIFTEEN WAVES, FUCKERS! LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING PAST WAVE TWO!" He floated up to me, and we watched as the first wave started moving toward them through the trees. Twilight and Rainbow were, as I expected, the most effective, having chosen sniper rifles to take down their targets through the trees at long range. Applejack had chosen a shotgun, and was behind one of the trees further up, waiting for the Emrini to get close before doing anything. Pinkie had picked out a Trench Sentry, and she was now out in the open, using short bursts to take down enemies efficiently. She was slowly moving backwards, though, and when she had passed Applejack's position, the orange mare revealed herself, picking off anyone that got too close. Rarity hung back with the rest of the group, handling her Soldier Buddy with more accuracy than I expected, until I noticed the blue tinge of magic around her horn that also covered the gun.
Clever girl. The first wave went by without too much trouble, and the recruits who hadn't finished setting up used the chance to the fullest extent. They all repositioned themselves, completing their equipment changes while calling out their strategies and positions. Wave two went even better than one, with the addition of another sniper, this one human. The group now had a semi-circular pattern against the main wall, with the snipers in the center, the shotgunners on the outer edge, and everyone else mixed in between them. One guy had decided to use explosives, and had the highest efficiency rating so far with just three grenades. The last Emrini fell, and Daniels activated a weapon drop.
"ORDINANCE INCOMING, IDIOTS! BETTER GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!" Rainbow took the opportunity to fly out to one of the further drop cases, switching out her pistol for an X-4 Twin Tube rocket launcher. It was a fairly basic piece of hardware, carrying two rockets at a time. The rockets themselves, though, were nothing more than flying grenades. Not even a wire-based guidance system. That thing took some proper skill to use effectively. One of the other pegasi decided flying out for another weapon was a good idea too, and came back with a V-3 Pellet Pounder submachine gun. Easily the smallest normal submachine gun in the arsenal, but just as easily the fastest. It has a fire rate of 1200 rounds per minute, and can make pretty good use of that fact with a massive, 150-round drum magazine plugged into the top. Fortunately, the bullets are small, 5mm rounds that don't take up much room, or the thing would be far too clunky to actually use. Instead of holding onto it, though, she passed it over to one of the humans who was low on ammo. The remaining waves passed similarly, until wave five, which saw the first casualty, Cadet Martin Landown. No fault of his, though. Just too many targets at once. As the waves progressed, more cadets fell until Applejack was the only one left at wave fourteen. She had spent the last three waves beating the Emrini with melee techniques, but her endurance was fading. The last round, she had gotten hold of another Trench Sentry from a drop, and most of the bullets had ended up in tree trunks. The horn sounded, and the clamor of a small horde of Emrini was immediately audible. As they advanced, Applejack walked calmly over to one of the trees, then waited another few seconds before giving it a swift kick, knocking it over into the one next to it. This confused me a moment, until the second tree let out a loud crack and fell over into another one, which also broke. Within seconds, I was watching the whole forest fall down like giant dominoes, with most of the Emrini getting caught underneath and being crushed to death. During the commotion, Applejack moved forward, finishing off any enemies that weren't killed by falling timber. I shared an impressed glance with Daniels, then returned my attention to the battlefield when she was done mopping up. As the timer ticked down between waves, Applejack surprised me yet again by taking off her helmet. She then walked calmly over to the side of the cliff, and set one hoof against a rock, similar to a track runner's starting position. As soon as the horn came on, she took off, sprinting full-tilt across the canyon at the oncoming tide of teeth and claws. When they finally met near the middle, all I could make out was Emrini being flung through the air every which way. As she neared the opposite wall, she leaped up, turning her legs toward the wall itself. From the distance I was at, I couldn't see her actually kick the wall, but when huge cracks started forming up the side, and boulders started falling out, I knew what she did, prompting me to move closer. As the rocks fell, she continued beating down any other targets that got too close, until one of them got a lucky swipe and tore a large gash in her stomach armor. She obviously felt it, but sent him flying with a punch to the jaw anyway. That turned out to be the last one that got close enough, too, as the rubble crushed every other Emrini that tried to advance on her. With the last one dead, the system's typical disembodied voice called out the completion of the exercise, and everything went dark again as we exited the system.
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"WELL, WELL, WELL. LOOKS LIKE I MANAGED TO MAKE YOU ALL USEFUL, AFTER ALL. AND NOW THAT YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED YOUR TRAINING, I CAN SAY WITH PRIDE THAT YOU WILL BE GETTING YOUR SQUAD ASSIGNMENTS TOMORROW MORNING. STAND TALL, CADETS! YOU JUST SURVIVED BASIC TRAINING ON PINCER ISLAND. AND THAT IS SOMETHING TO BE DAMN PROUD OF." With his speech finished, Daniels gave a full salute to the group, which was readily returned. "YOU NOW HAVE THE REST OF THE DAY TO YOURSELVES TO SPEND AS YOU SEE FIT. YOU NEED ONLY BE READY AT 0900 HOURS TOMORROW, SO YOU CAN MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEXT BUNCH OF SORRY FOOLS I HAVE TO DEAL WITH. SO YOU BETTER BE UP BRIGHT AND EARLY, FOLKS, CAUSE I'M NOT WAITING AROUND FOR YOU. DISMISSED!" Yet again, the group went back to their barracks, while Daniels and I returned to the administrator building to go through the paperwork. Which I still hate, by the way.
"Oh, it feels good to get off my hooves. Not being able to fly around everywhere was a serious pain in my flank."
"Sounds like you all had a grand old time."
"That's not funny. I don't think I trained that hard at the Wonderbolts Academy."
"Well, you'll be thrilled to hear that it only gets worse." They all looked at me incredulously before Rainbow threw her hands up in exasperation.
"Are you kidding?! What could be worse than that?"
"Being expected to do it on a regular basis by your CO." They all groaned. "Oh, and since you're all stationed on the Star Spectre, that means that I am your superior officer, and I am allowed to give you orders. Just so we're clear." They groaned again, but Twilight quickly pricked up curiously. Their ears made reading their emotions really easy.
"By the way, do you know why we were all assigned to the same place? Even the other ponies were sent there. How come?" I shrugged.
"Probably something to do with keeping track of all of you, or concentrating your communities, or something equally silly-sounding. I don't typically read too much into what High Command sends down the chain. There's a lot of decisions they make that seem really suspicious at first, and then everyone finds out that they just had really bizarre, stupid reasoning behind them. There was one time, I had just been promoted and given my first command position in the marines, and my squad and I were sent to Sawcus as part of a garrison force. We were sitting around in that base for almost a month, and nothing. No attack, no scout ships, not even a single saboteur. Turns out, someone had mistranslated the cipher on an intercepted message. So, they read it as 'Sawcus is weak', instead of 'Sawcus is lost'." They all chuckled a bit. "The two words are really similar in the Emrini language, so it's understandable, but it was so stupid. My first mission as a CO, and it turns out to be a dud. Go figure." I decided to keep my own current suspicions to myself for the moment, though, since I didn't see any reason to stress them out further. As the laughter died off, I felt the Remora we were riding in start to dip as we neared our destination. Before we landed, though, it seemed Pinkie had one last question. Her voice was, according to her friends, at its normal pitch and volume, but the sheer level of 'happy' that her voice had in it didn't seem like something someone should be capable of exuding on such a consistent basis.
"By the way, how's Fluttershy been? We haven't really gotten used to the mail here yet. Or the language. Or the buttons." I held up a hand for her to stop before she got too carried away.
"Alright, alright, I get it. You haven't talked to her in a while. She's actually doing much better now. I took her to get some help from an old group I used to be a part of, and it seems to have helped quite a bit. She still can't remember most of her time back on your world, but she can recall bits and pieces. You'll see her soon enough, don't worry. She's volunteered for civilian medic duty, so she'll be staying with us for some time, anyway."
"Yeah, that's Fluttershy, alright. Always trying to help somepony," Rainbow commented with a laugh.
I heard the pitch of the engines change, and the vessel slowed noticeably. We set down with a gentle bump, and quickly piled out onto the orbital elevator's helipad. The place was swarming with other cadets as well, all heading to one of the three massive ships now docked at this particular station. We got onto one of the elevator cars along with a throng of other newbies, and the car almost immediately started moving. Once we were back on the Star Spectre, I showed them to the marine barracks, separate from Shadow Battalion's dorm wing. Along the way, I filled them in on most of what had happened during their training, and what would be expected of them while on the ship. Once they had what few possessions they owned packed into their lockers, I brought them back to the medical wing, where Fluttershy typically helped out. At that particular moment, though, she was getting another brain scan done. We waited in the visitor area, and when she came out, all of their moods brightened. She rushed forward to hug her friends as soon as she saw them. I wondered, briefly, where her mask went before i saw it dangling from her belt.
"Rainbow! It's so good to see you again!" Rainbow, for her part, was shocked before she broke out in a wide grin.
"Flutters! So, does that mean your memory's back?" The others immediately perked up as well, and she gladly started talking with them.
"Not entirely, but I remember most of our time back home. Everything after the invasion is still a blank, but to be honest, I'm not sure I want to remember that." The statement instantly killed the mood, and I put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to turn around.
"No one will blame you if you don't, so don't worry about it too much." I turned to the rest. "I have a few other things to take care of, but since you're all part of the military now, you basically have the run of the place. You'll need your clearance cards first, though. Fluttershy, you remember where you got your ID card, right?" She nodded. "Take them there so they can get theirs, too, would you? If you do happen to get lost, just ask someone where the Clearance Department is. They should be able to get you there. I'll see you all later, alright?" They all waved and called goodbyes, and I headed back down to the science wing. After floating through the spinning door back into the low-level gravity wheel, I walked over to Pernaki's lab, careful not to disturb any of the other scientists or their experiments. I found him before I reached the lab, though, looking in on one of the testing rooms. I glanced in myself before talking to him, and saw a marine using - or attempting to use, anyway - the magic-harnesser that had been developed. The gauntlet itself was glowing a pale blue, and although the aura around it was larger than what I had seen Twilight using, it was also much more transparent. At the other end of the room, there were five boxes, each one a different color, and filled with different objects. One had feathers, another had tennis balls, and so on, getting heavier down the line. The marine had the aura wrapped around the feather box, but it was barely visible, and the box was merely rocking side to side. He was obviously trying to lift it, without much success.
"Disappointing, isn't it?" The sudden sound nearly made me punch the wall next to me on the backswing, and my heart rate tripled in half a second. "Apologies. You're probably more used to doing that to other people rather than have them do it to you." He gently tapped the glass in front of him. Looking closer, I quickly noticed both our images were reflected in it, making it apparent how he knew I was there. "I'm glad you didn't take it with you, now that I've had some time to see how ineffective it is. I would have hated to find out something went wrong because you depended on faulty equipment. It's getting better, but it's still nowhere near ready to be taken into the field. A simple case of overeagerness and pride, I suppose. Initial results were very promising, and had a high success rate, but for some reason, any testing done with live subjects fails. There aren't any harmful effects to the people using it, as far as we can tell, but they all mention some sort of distracting force that they can't identify. They can't keep the aura focused on the object long enough for enough a simple levitation, let alone any sort of advanced tactical maneuver." I walked up next to him as the marine below us sagged with exhaustion, and the feather box went still.
"Any particular reason you're telling me this? It's not like I can do anything about it." He sighed.
"No, I suppose not. I just felt I owed you an explanation."
"No harm, no foul, doc. I'm not going to hold something against you if you're not even sure what's causing the problem. Nothing to be gained by throwing blame around before the issue's been fixed. Any other new toys you guys have been working on for us?" He laughed a little.
"Of course. Just let me finish up here." He called a halt to the test, and the session was quickly recorded and packed up in minutes. Once he was done, he led me to another test room, though this one had a wind tunnel that dominated one wall, while the other had what looked like double-paned bulletproof glass protecting the observation area. Apparently there had been an accident or two in similar setups. What really caught my attention, however, were the three items hanging on the far wall. One looked almost like an exo-suit, with some sort of thrusters on all four limbs, and a menagerie of flaps and plates in every conceivable space. The next was a similar item, but had the addition of a pair of large wings, which folded downward near the base, like one of the old F-14 fighters, although these wings appeared to telescope, as well, if the gaps near the tips were any indication. The one that caught my eye, though, was the new one. It looked more like a coat than a combat suit, with two long pieces of fabric folded against the back, and held up by straps. In between the 'wings', though, was a pair of miniature ion engines. A good choice, considering the placement. Don't want anything spewing flames that close to my ass, that's for sure. The doctor gestured to the last suit.
"Care to try it out?" I raised an eyebrow back at the bulletproof glass.
"Is it safe?" He laughed again.
"Yes, it's safe. We've already tested it multiple times, fixed stitch- and magnet-strength problems, and added an extra layer of material for further strength. Also, we've been testing these in natural disaster-level wind speeds. We'll start at twenty kilometers per hour, and work up to about fifty. We'll see where that takes us."
"Alright, then." I shrugged and went to put on the suit. Once it was off the hook and on my shoulders, the design was much more apparent. It was surprisingly heavy, and I could hear hard objects knocking together in the wings and along the bottom half. The fluid movements gave away that there were dozens of whatever they were, and the fact that they were obviously capable of straightening into a rigid position made it easy to figure out that they were electromagnets. It's the only thing that would be cheap enough. The inside of the suit was more complex than I thought as well, with a spiderweb of a harness crisscrossing the entire inner portion. Once I had figured out where all the buckles and straps went, I pulled the hood up. The hood was only part of the headwear, though, as a flap on either side, where the collar would lay, flopped forward. I pulled the zipper on the abdomen section up to my neck, then pulled the two face covers up and buttoned the two straps on them around the back of my head, underneath the hood, which had a pair of zippers, which attached to the tops of the face covers. With all of that in place, I pulled the front zipper up the rest of the way, all the way under the hood. I turned my head to find my range of motion, and although my movement was restricted considerably, it wasn't as much as I had worried it would be, and the large clear plastic panels on the face covers gave me enough field of vision that it didn't bother me too much. I turned back to the observation deck, and Pernaki gave me a thumbs-up from his position at the controls. I tightened a couple more straps that I hadn't initially noticed on my arms, and stepped into the huge wind tunnel. The door hissed shut behind me as the latches made it airtight, and I moved into the middle of the tube as the fans at either end started spinning up. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't asked how to turn the thing on, and looked down at the front to see if I could figure it out before I got pancaked against the safety mesh behind me. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to notice the big, red button on the left side, which had a modulation dial built into it, though I wasn't sure what it might be controlling. I pressed the button, having to push fairly hard to get the spring mechanism to give in, and the wings on the suit quickly snapped open, the straps holding them fed by automatic reels in the shoulders. As the wind picked up, the two huge sails I now had attached to my back started to catch air. Before I got blown backwards, I got into a runner's preparation position, leveling my back out so the wings didn't catch the air rushing past. After a few more seconds, I could feel the wings beginning to pull upward, and I relaxed my position somewhat. The fans were now sounding a steady pitch, which was my cue that they were at speed. I looked back down at the suit, remembering the ion engines attached to me, and found three other buttons, with a vertical ellipse shape. I tried the first one, which was green, and a faint vibration along my back told me that the engines were now on. I decided to skip the second button, which was red, in favor of the third button, which was blue. The engine vibrations changed, and I felt the suit lose some of the tension against my shoulders. Which means the engines actually work, even in atmospheric conditions. Impressive.
I angled myself up slightly, and my feet left the ground. With my entire body unable to affect my movement anymore, I automatically straightened my legs out behind me, and put my arms stiff at my sides. I angled up further, and climbed up as the increased drag pushed me backward. Angling myself back down, I moved forward again. I was about halfway up the tube, more or less eight feet off the ground. I flattened myself, and felt the artificial gravity of the science wheel start to pull me back down. I counted off the seconds in my head until I could touch the floor, then jumped back up into the artificial breeze. I looked right, and jerked a thumb upwards to signal Pernaki to turn up the wind speed. I quickly got my wish, as the pitch of the fans increased slightly and I started getting pushed back again. I quickly dove, and grabbed the safety cable on the bottom of the tunnel. I was experienced with the high-speed techniques, but that doesn't make not using the cable any less stupid. I clipped it onto my belt, and let the wind kite me back up. Once I was stable again, I decided to test out the maneuverability of the new suit as much as I could, pulling several figure-8s and knife-edges before attempting a midair drop and re-deployment. It was a risky move, even in emergencies, and although I had only needed it once, I still made sure to practice it in case I needed it again. I maximized my height, planned out my motions, and slapped the wing control. The electromagnets shut off, and I fell a good six feet before hitting the button again. The wings snapped back out, and I jerked backward and upward as the wind pushed against them once more. I moved myself back to the viewing window, and and made a chopping motion to signal for them to shut it down. The fan speed slowly lowered, and I detached the cable as my feet touched back down, letting it retract back to its spot on the floor. I opened the door, and undid the various fasteners on the hood as Dr. Pernaki came up, smiling.
"I take it by that last stunt you enjoyed the new flight suit?" I nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, yeah. It's a lot lighter than the old ones. More maneuverable, too. One question, though. What's the dial on the wing power button for?"
"Ah, yes. Not the most obvious of functions. It's a moderated switch. Turn the dial clockwise, and it increases the electricity flow to the electromagnets in the wings. Turn it counter-clockwise, and it decreases power. We found during initial tests that the reels have trouble retracting the wings from a fully relaxed position. Moderating the power so that the wings slowly relax allows the reels to properly retract, so the wings aren't dragging on the ground all the time. It takes longer, but it seems to be preferable to the old systems, judging from the reactions various other test pilots have had so far." I tested the switch myself. It was definitely slower than the others, but not unacceptable. I also went slower than was probably necessary, giving myself time to see how the straps and wings interacted with each other. They scraped together somewhat, but the smooth design of both kept them from catching on each other. Yeah, this can work, with some practice.
"Not bad, doc. Anything else today?" He shook his head.
"Not unless you want to see the half-finished suit we have for the erna."
"Didn't we already finish that? I thought I saw them using one during testing back at the camp."
"No, that was just a blueprint. We added significantly more shielding, as well as bolt shoes for heavy weapons deployment operations." That was surprising.
"Bolt shoes? They're strong enough for that kind of thing?"
"Indeed. And the strength boosters in the new suits will make a 50-cal. machine gun seem like a squirming two-year-old."
"Whoa. That's a big fucking difference."
"Yes, but it's still not finished, unfortunately. We have a lot of construction left to do, and then testing, and fine-tuning, etc., etc."
"Well, good luck with that, then. I need to go see the Admiral about the Tarsus defense. Not sure what, precisely, he wants me to do with the newbies." I started moving toward the door.
"You mean the pana?" I stopped and looked back at him.
"They're marines, now. They're newbies." He didn't respond with anything more than a thoughtful expression, and I took my leave.
A few minutes later, I had my orders. Tarsus is covered in water, and while it's a sight to see, it doesn't make for easy combat scenarios. So, High Command decided it would be easier and safer to use a much older form of defending a desirable position.
"Being in this small, cramped cube for the next hour while I teach you how to work together."
"Nuh-uh. No way, man. I can barely take being in these hallways. No way am I getting in there." I narrowed my eyes at Rainbow.
"Yes, you are, because that is what is required. We're stationed on this side of the ship, which means we're the ones that'll be doing the shooting when the Emrini show up. Now get in there, or I'll stuff you in there myself." I jerked a finger at the opening to the Combat Cube, and Rainbow looked between me and the small portal indecisively. I took a threatening step towards her, and she finally caved.
"Alright, alright, fine! I'll get in the stupid box. Jeez, this is gonna suck." She floated over, and looked in, trying to figure out how, precisely, she would enter.
"Legs first, private. You're on the left." She realigned herself, and quickly disappeared through the entrance to the cube. "Twilight, you're next. Right side." She clambered in after her friend, and Dimitri followed her to take his place on the bottom seat. "Applejack, you're on the top gun."
"Alrighty."
Once they were all in and settled, I climbed in and sealed the main hatch. Once I was satisfied that the handle was as tight as I could get it, I moved to the second hatch, and twisted that shut as well. With the air seals sufficiently closed, I moved to the forward gunner seat, and put on the headset.
"CC Control Center, this is Shadow Soldier Kuro Maldone, requesting clearance for training sequence initiation on Combat Cube thirty-six. Can I get some elbow room down here for the newbies?" The speakers in the headset crackled to life.
"Combat Cube thirty-six, request for training clearance acknowledged. Please stand by." The line went silent for a few seconds, then the monitor came back on. "Combat Cube thirty-six, you and Combat Cube thirty-seven are cleared for training exercises. All flight units have been informed and have vacated your firing space. Target drones fifteen through twenty-eight have been deployed, and are now under command seat control for your cube."
"Thanks, Control. We'll try to be gentle." The line went silent again, and a heavy ka-thunk came from the back of the cube as the locks released, the hydraulic extension rails pushed us about fifty feet away from the ship, and the gun turrets on the cube deployed outward. Just far enough to see the formation the Star Spectre was now a part of.
Sixty-three ships from the Navy and Marines, plus the Nova Hammer, Power Battalion's carrier ship, and the Star Spectre itself. All of them in synchronized orbit around Tarsus, and all of them making preparations for the upcoming fight against the Emrini. Looking out at the I angle I had, the fleet almost looked like the surface of some artificial planet, with escort fighters and supply carriers flitting back and forth like big, metal bugs beneath the stars. I looked up into space for a moment, letting my mind feel like it was extending beyond my body, into the void, to find whatever lay out of reach.
"Alright," I was snapped out of my musings by Rainbow Dash's nervous voice, "so what are we doing, exactly?"
"We're teaching you how to work the turrets effectively." I tuned my headset to communicate with Combat Cube thirty-seven, which currently held the rest of my team, plus Pinkie Pie and Rarity, and minus Carlton. He couldn't actually fit into the Cubes, so I let him go and assist Fluttershy, instead. She still had a long way to go with her own rehabilitation, and she had plenty to do for others as a medic. She needed all the help she could get. "Toyoko, you all ready over there?"
"Almost, sir. Just making sure everyone's secure." I looked up and to my right as the other Cube extended, and I saw Toyoko wave her readiness to me.
"Alright, everyone, I'm assigning color designations now. Check your consoles." I gave each of the ponies the same color as their fur, to make things easy, and assigned black to my team and I. "Everyone ready? I'm sending out the target drones." I hit the release button on my console, and several small, ion-propelled drones detached from the main ship to float in front of us. "Here's the rules, ladies; each of you has a different color, while my team shares a color. Practice is over when one of you gets a higher score in a round than we do. Each round is ten minutes. Since we're just using the practice system, there aren't any rounds being fired. When you move the crosshairs over a drone, it'll show you a damage bar. Hold down the triggers, and the guns will send out an infrared beam, which will make the bar shrink. Make a bar disappear entirely, and you get a point. Sound easy enough?"
"Wait a second!" Rainbow interjected, "How are any of us supposed to beat all of you?!" I grinned to myself.
"Isn't that a mystery?" I heard grumbling from behind me, and keyed in the code to start the drones moving. "Alright, sequence has started! Get ready!" There was a three second countdown on the targeting display, and the drones began flying around, resetting their 'health' every time it reached zero. After the ten minutes were up, the drones stopped, and the scores appeared over the display. A cry of frustration came from Rainbow's chair.
"How the hay are we supposed to do this?! Look at that! I got the next-highest score, and you guys still got almost three times as many points!"
"It's not impossible, Rainbow. There are just as many of you as there are us." Rarity's voice cut in over my headset.
"Sergeant, while it might seem like that should make this fair, it really doesn't. None of us are even close to any of your skill levels."
"I'm aware of that, Rarity, but it does make quite a big difference. I'll give you a hint; pay attention to which drones my team and I fire at this time. Ready?" A momentary silence gave me my answer, and I restarted the training sequence. Once again, the timer ran out, and the scores were displayed. This time, though, Rainbow's score was slightly higher, and Rarity's was slightly lower.
They learn quick, it seems.
THWACK!
Most of them, anyway.
"I still can't get anywhere near you guys! What am I doing wrong!?"
"Rainbow, all you're doing wrong is target selection. Try a different strategy. Preferably one that doesn't involve assaulting your controls." I heard some more grumbling from her, and then Rarity came back on.
"Can you start it again, please? I think I've got it."
"Alright, if you think you've got the answer." I keyed in the code yet again, and the drones began their dance once more. As I saw each drone pass through my crosshairs and display its 'health', I noticed that more of them were missing some of their bar than before.
Looks like she figured it out. The time ran out, the drones stopped, and the target displays showed the scores. Rainbow's score had skyrocketed to almost three-quarters that of my team, and the rest had also significantly increased, except for Rarity, who had a whopping one point. Unsurprisingly to me, Rainbow's reaction was instantaneous.
"Whoa! I did way better that time! But what about you, Rarity? You only got one point?"
"That's because I gave them all to the rest of you, darling. I noticed that any time one of us shot a drone without bringing it to zero, Kuro's team completely ignored it. Instead, they focused their attentions on each other's targets, bringing them down much faster. So, instead of trying to increase my own score, I just shot as many as I could, so the rest of you would be able to finish them off." I started clapping.
"Very good, Rarity! The point of this exercise was not to see how good you are at aiming. We already have enough data on that from your time in boot camp. This exercise was for teamwork purposes. The Combat Cubes don't have very large guns, so in order to take down a target quickly, you have to have multiple guns focusing fire on it. Now, care to try it one more time, ladies?"
"Yeah!" they chorused.
"Alright, let's see how you do." I put in the code a fourth time, and the drones flew around again. Even without a live score counter, I could tell they were doing better than before. At the end of five minutes, the scores came up, and Rainbow let out a whoop of triumph. Her score was three points over my team's. "And that's the end of the game, people. Not bad." I deactivated the drones, and they flew back to their homes in the hull. Then I input the retraction code for the Cube, and the guns recessed into the sides as the hydraulics pulled us back to the ship. Once we were out, we waited for Toyoko and the others to join us before I addressed them all collectively.
"That was pretty good, but don't let it get to your head. This was practice, and you had a big handicap. In an actual combat scenario, it'll be a lot harder. We'll keep going later, though. Let's all get something to eat, first."
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I stared out at the stars, waiting. The girls had finished their gunner training two days ago, and now all that was left to do was wait for the Emrini ships to show up. In the meantime, though, I could let my mind wander and drift, creating and considering the possibilities of what might lie on the planets orbiting those far-off suns. Eventually, my thoughts shifted to the ponies' planet, and what was going to happen to it, instantly souring my mood. It was perfect timing, however, as the ship-wide alarm sounded and Leeroy's voice came through my headset.
"All units! Emrini lightspeed engine signatures detected! Prepare for combat! I repeat..."
I tuned out the rest as I set the controls for active firing and gripped the handles.
"Okay, everyone, time for all that training to pay off! Remember: cross your fields of fire, put as many bullets into oncoming ships as you can before they leave your targeting range." I could feel the movements of the other guns in the Cube as they moved in anticipation, and out in the starfield, I could see several pinpricks of light getting larger and brighter every second.
The Emrini ships, twenty in all, and covered in sharp edges and short-range, high-damage, shotgun-like armaments.
"Here we go! Get ready, this is for real, now!"
The ships snapped into view some distance away, giving themselves room to not smash into the planet itself, but something was off. The usual bluish glow of their force shields wasn't present. Obviously, no one wasted time exploiting that as Leeroy's orders were shouted over the comms.
"Their shields are down, they weren't expecting us! All guns open fire!" I eagerly obeyed, squeezing the triggers and sending shell after shell towards the enemy ships, adding the rattle of my turret to all the others, the heavy thumps of the main cannons underscoring the destructive symphony. As the ordinance flew towards them, though, the Emrini didn't react as they should have. Instead of scattering, and making it harder for us to hit them, they huddled together more tightly, like they were shielding something. A second later, that something became painfully obvious. A massive ship came out of lightspeed behind them, easily twice the size of any other, with two enormous, long-barreled cannons sitting on top of it. I adjusted my aim before the order came through my headset.
"All guns, focus fire on the new target! Take out those cannons!" The shining path of the bullets and explosives changed position as everyone shifted their aim, straight at the two huge tubes that were obviously meant for orbital bombardment. Any plans the Emrini had to use them, however, were turned to scrap as the combined might of our ships tore through them. With the biggest threat neutralized, each ship in our blockade turned to a new target, most of them opting to continue shredding what was obviously the command cruiser. A few seconds later, numerous smaller dots of light broke off from the main ships, most of which were now beginning to drift impotently as their crews and systems expired. Boarding vessels and fighter ships, attempting to close the combat range and perhaps save one or two of the remaining ships, began appearing on long-range radar. Our own fighters, most of them F-23 Phantoms and F-62 Drakes, began pouring out from the hangars of our fleet, meeting and destroying the vast majority of the incoming forces long before they made it to us, adding artificial, momentary stars to the view. Clouds of debris and shrapnel impacted the ship, one worryingly large piece bouncing off our Cube right above my left shoulder. What really caught my attention, however, were some of the bodies. Specifically, the non-Emrini ones from the boarding vessels. They all had wings, and bird-like heads, and most of them had long, feline tails.
"What are those things?" I wondered aloud. I wasn't expecting a response.
"They're griffons," Twilight said. Her voice sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "The griffons finally lost." I decided to leave it alone for the moment, and turned back to the carnage outside. The Emrini command cruiser was now floating helplessly, its bridge completely eradicated but everything else salvageable, as the Nova Hammer moved to inspect its remains.
"All units," Leeroy's voice came over the comms system, "objective completed. No other lightspeed energy signatures detected, planetary defenses on all other quadrants report clear stars. This fight's ours." I finally relaxed in my seat, and punched in the retraction code on my console. The Cube moved back towards the ship, and we all climbed out. Once we had rendezvoused with the others, I asked about the griffons.
"Well," Twilight began, "the griffons were, obviously, carnivores from our planet. The Griffon Kingdoms were to the east, across the Sea of Meditation. The sea itself is almost always calm, so trade was easy once Equestria managed to open successful negotiations with them, but they were well-known for their violent ways. Not all of them were like that, but enough of them were that when the Emrini attacked, the Griffons managed to keep them at bay for a while, and from what little I remember when we were captive, there was quite a resistance force doing everything they could to disrupt their plans. Obviously, that's not the case, anymore." I could tell that there weren't any deep feelings for the griffons in any of them, except maybe Rainbow Dash, but this still hurt them. It hurt me, too. Once again, the Emrini had caused our forces to kill innocents. To end lives that didn't deserve it. I snorted in frustration as Ron put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey. Boss. It's not our fault, remember. And it's not yours. It's theirs, and theirs alone. Besides, it's not like Valhalla denies those taken by lucky cowards, right?" I sighed and nodded. Ron was of a small minority who still actively worshipped Norse religion, and I didn't subscribe to it myself, but the idea of Valhalla still helped quite a bit.
"Thanks, Ron. Twilight, we need to let Leeroy know about this. Everyone else, you're free to relax for a while. C'mon, Twilight." We headed up to the bridge, and upon entering, saw both Leeroy and Admiral Fallshen listening to another pony speak.
"...they were trying to throw off their efforts with occasional assaults, but apparently they were caught." Leeroy glanced to me as we entered.
"Kuro, Twilight. Noticed the griffons, I take it?"
"Found out about that, already, huh?"
"Indeed. Noteworthy, here, was just telling us about them. Rescue and salvage crews have already been notified and sent out to look for survivors. We aren't expecting much, but hopefully there are at least a few still alive. Anything else to report?" I shook my head, and looked to Twilight. She stepped forward.
"I don't have anything else to add, but I do have a question, if I may." Leeroy gave Admiral Fallshen a questioning look, and Cordon nodded.
"Alright, then," he gestured to Twilight that she had the floor, "go ahead." She took a breath, and sighed before she began.
"I know there's work being done on this, but I was wondering if you had any idea when ships would be deployed to find our planet. It's been a while since we were freed, and we've all been curious about it." I saw Leeroy's ears twitch ever-so-slightly, indicating his anxiety at being asked this as he answered.
"Actually, we've already found it. The data Sergeant Maldone retrieved from Rokan contained a set of coordinates, which the alpha from the dig site was kind enough to translate for us. The probe came back about a week before you completed boot camp, and preparations for a liberation attempt are already underway. We just wanted to be sure you could focus during the shootout we just had, without thinking about your home too much." Twilight was practically quivering in excitement as a silly grin spread on her face.
"You mean... we'll get to go home soon?"
"Within another three or four months, would be my first guess." She made a 'squee' sound, and ran out excitedly, Noteworthy doing the same a second later. Most likely to spread the news. Once the door shut behind them, I spoke.
"Sirs, you are both aware of the situation, right?" It was mostly rhetorical, but they both nodded. "What's the plan for that?" Admiral Fallshen stepped forward.
"High command is already looking into possible solutions. Should they all prove ineffective, though, scout probes have already been dispatched to find a suitable, uninhabited world for relocation. It's already been decided that the military will be launching a full-scale evacuation once the Emrini have been removed from the area."
"Understood, sir. Permission to be dismissed?"
"Granted." I snapped a salute, and strode out to find the rest of my squad.