The Star Sisters: Journey of the Cosmic Warriors

"Hurry up with that Transmission oil!"  rang out a rough voice from the confines of a garage.  The voice belonged to a disgruntled stallion who's face was livid with scars.  The suit he was wearing was dark and baggy, so even though one could tell he wasn't a unicorn, they couldn't figure out if he was a pegasus or just fat.

"I need to be out of here yesterday!" He called out again.  A clamor of crashing metal rose up out of the garage, particularly around a small ship that appeared to be rigged with at least four cannons and an assortment of lasers.

"Cool your jets!" called out another voice, "I'm working here!"

"Well you need to work faster!" He yelled.  The stallion glanced over at the bay doors behind him as if they would burst open and guards would come flooding out of them.  Once again, more crashing was heard.

"Oy! What're you doing to my ship?!"

"If you must know....." the voice from earlier said, "I'm trying to replace a part in your jump drive.”  A loud wrenching noise tore through the cluttered room making the stallion grab his ears in pain.

“I never asked for that!” He hollered out, but all he got in return was more noise.  He finally couldn't take it anymore and began to make his way through the maze of machines and metal that was strewn throughout the garage.  The rough stallion couldn't help but think that a regular mechanic would cringe at such a messed up place, but then again this wasn't a regular place, and its owner wasn't an average mechanic.

He eventually managed to get to his ship and walked to the thrusters on its back where the warp drive was located.  There, he found the mechanic who was dressed up in a blue, full body suit that was smeared with grease and oil.  He was also wearing a welder’s mask, the same one he was wearing when the two had first met.  The mechanic never took it off the entire time the stallion had been there.  Because of this, even though it was obvious that he was a pony, the stallion couldn't tell what type he was.

The stallion walked up to the mechanic and forcefully pulled him away from the warp drive box.   He looked him in the eye, or where he thought the mechanic’s eyes were, and yelled at him.

“I wanted you to replace the transmission oil,” He said, “I did not want you to mess with my jump drive!”  The mechanic tilted his head a bit before shaking it.

“Look buddy,” He said in a muffled voice from the mask, “There was something leaking from it, so I checked it out.  Turns out you needed a new part for it, so I did you a favor and-“

“A FAVOR?!” the stallion roared, “I WANTED-” but before he could finish, the masked mechanic shoved him into a pile of scrap metal.  He then picked up a rather large wrench and hung it on his shoulder, ready to be used at a moment’s notice in case the stallion attacked.

“Yes,” He calmly stated as the stallion got up again, “A favor.  If I hadn't replaced that part then the drive would have exploded the next time you used it.  With the drive where it is, a rather poor choice might I add, it could have taken out your primary engines.  You would have been stranded, alone, in the vacuum of space with no way to send for help.” The stallion froze where he was as he considered this.  The mechanic motioned towards the ship and said, “You’re lucky I caught that.  Fixing jump drives can get pretty….expensive.”

The stallion narrowed his eyes and asked, “Your point is……”

“All I’m saying,” The mechanic said while examining the wrench, “seeing as jump drives aren't cheap, I could use some…compensation…for helping you out Mr…uh…Razor right?”  The stallion named Razor was furious at such a blatant demand of cash.  He picked up a piece of scrap and crushed it in his hooves.

“If you know what’s good for you….you’ll-“

BANG!

“HEY!” Razor exclaimed.  The mechanic had just smashed his wrench into the ship and had put a sizable dent in one of the thrusters.  Before Razor could come at him though, he found the wrench pointed at his face.

“I fixed this ship and I can take it apart.” The mechanic threatened, “Now, you either pay up and leave, or I tell the nearest Lunar outpost about your illegal weapons and parts in this hunk of metal. “  Razor opened his mouth to protest again, but the wrench jabbed him in his chest.  He scowled at the masked pony.

“You don’t know about me do you?” He asked in a cold voice.  The mechanic shook his head, but kept the wrench raised.  “I’m the notorious Razor Blade.” He explained, his voice now dripping with venom, “The one who slit and gutted three ambassadors from three different planets. I wasn’t hired to off them…no…I did it because it was fun…”  If this had any effect on the mechanic, the mask hid his emotions well, which didn’t matter since he replaced the wrench back on his shoulder with a casual look in his body language.

“I don’t know if you know this…” He said in a calm voice yet again, “but this entire station is filled with robots of all sorts and types.”  Razor raised an eyebrow.

“So?” He asked.

“So…” The masked stallion continued, “In the event of my death, they are all programmed to hunt down the one who killed me and make sure they never leave this ship alive, if another creature killed me that is…” As if to emphasize his point, an ominous moaning noise came out from an unknown source.  Razor gulped and asked one more question

“How much?”

The mechanic leaned on his large wrench and did some mental math before voicing his thoughts. “Well…” he pondered, “The replacement of the transmission oil and the jump drive repair comes to about……168 bits…”

“WHAT?!” Razor exclaimed, but the mechanic was already inspecting the dent he had made.

“…and with the added cost of banging out this nasty dent…I’d say the total price is a nice 175 bits.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”

“Give or take a few bits…yes.”  With that, the mechanic held out his hoof to Razor.  Razor looked like he was about to protest again, even beat up the mechanic, but he eventually just shoved his hoof into his suit and pulled out a hefty bag of bits.

“You’re lucky,” He said as he hoofed over the bag, “I’m in a hurry. Keep your ruddy change.” He spun around and walked over to the cockpit of his ship while the masked mechanic picked up the bag and set it on a nearby table.  After he worked out the dent he had made, he walked over to a large lever in the wall.

“Opening bay doors,” He said, and he pulled the lever.  A powerful grinding noise ripped through the recycled air of the garage.  The large doors that were in the opposite wall slowly lurched open, but instead of opening into the vast darkness of space, it opened up to the vast purple hue of space.  The hue was made from a force field that activated the moment the doors opened which kept the oxygen inside the garage.  Razor’s ship slowly activated as its pilot examined the instruments inside the cockpit to make sure nothing else was broken.  Once he was done, he revved up the engine jolted up into the air, the force of which knocked over a pile of discarded engine parts.

Just before he activated the main thrusters, he turned on the external com-link and yelled, “I won’t forget this you masked creep!” right before he took off, his ship easily passing through the barrier.  The mechanic waved good-bye and closed the bay doors.  Once they were secured, he picked up the bits and left the garage through a nearby passage.

On his way to the vault to store the bits he passed by a sweeper bot, a two legged broom with a bucket on its tail, that was cleaning up the hallway.  He waved to it and it waved back with its bucket before continuing its work.  The mechanic couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of the robot beating the crap out of Razor if Razor had actually killed him earlier.  While he was imagining this, he bumped into another of his creations.  This time it was one of the organizers from the small library he had.  It looked like a floating pair of claws with an eyeball, which, in retrospect, is what it was supposed to be.

“Hey Clyde,” the mechanic said after reading the small label on its body, “Can you do me a favor?” The robot nodded, so the masked pony gave him the bits and told him to take them to the vault.  Clyde saluted and sped off down another corridor, while the mechanic started to go towards the Captain’s Cabin.

The cabin, once he got there, was much more organized than the garage.  The rather large bed dominated the back wall with its blue covers and white pillows, and the dressers on either side of them had neatly organized books.  The warm lights illuminated the rough, grey metal walls and his small desk had various documents, a few machine parts, and a small device that was in the shape of a donut.  He was starting to take off his mask when the donut started to ring.

Rebidep! Rebidep!

Not wanting to make whoever was calling wait, he quickly took the donut shaped device and placed it on the ground in front of him.  He then pressed a small orange button on the side.

Moments later, multiple blue lights shot out from the donut's sides and arced into the space above it where they created a hologram.  The hologram was that of a pony in a what appeared to be a set of dark armor.  The pony was a stallion and had on a helmet that hid his features from the mechanic.  The symbol of the Lunar Republic, a crescent moon, was emblazoned on the chest.

"Hello Mr. Note," the mechanic said, "did you get your armor shined?"

"No Spark." The stallion said, "It's still the same as its always been."  He pulled off the helmet to reveal a kindly face with a long mane.  Even though he was tinted blue, the mechanic, could still make out Note's red mane and the two blue streaks that ran along it.  Note, a unicorn, was orange in color and he had on a playful smile.

"And call me Chaotic would you?" He asked the mechanic that was named Spark.

"No can do Note." Spark said, "Until we meet in person, It's only business between me and the Republic.  Speaking of business....." He slowly took off his mask to reveal a Light green face with a darker green mane.  His similar colored eyed lit up with a mischievous look.

"I placed that tracker on Razor's ship and disabled his jump drive.  I also messed with his weapons system to make him easier to catch." Spark said with a slight bow. Note rolled his eyes and walked off screen for a moment.  When he came back he seemed satisfied with whatever he had learned.

"We are receiving the transmission loud and clear." He said, "You will get your reward in the usual manner."  Note saluted to Spark, "The Lunar Republic thanks you for your service yet again Spark Plug."

"Oh please," Spark said as he peeled off his suit, "I'm just doing what you guys asked me to do."

"Still though," Note said putting hoof down, "Razor Blade has been a thorn in our side for a while.  How did you catch him?"

"That," Spark said while he kicked the greasy uniform off to the side, "is a secret.  I'll collect the bounty when I have time, but for now I'll just be flying around the Oveda System if you need me."

"I understand," Note said, "I'll keep in touch."  And with that, the metal donut shut off.  Spark picked it up and plopped it onto the desk once more.  He then went over to a com-link panel and switched it on.

"CAB?" He called into it.  Static. "CAB I know you're there! Talk to me!"  More static.  "CA-"

"WHAT?!" Yelled a loud voice behind him.  Spark spun around and was happy to see a small floating box in at the door.  The box didn't seem very impressive, especially since the words Computerized Artificial Box was on one side of it, but Spark still smiled when he saw it.

"There you are CAB." Spark said, "Where were you?"

"In the cockpit setting the coordinates to our usual drop off point for our bounties with the Republic." The box casually explained.  It then flew over to Spark's discarded suit.  A small clay slithered out of one of its sides and picked it up with ease.  "I take it that it worked seeing as you're still alive."

"Hey!" Spark exclaimed, yanking the suit out of the box's tiny claw, "I did program the bots on this ship to-"

"Yeah yeah," CAB said while spinning around, "And I bet he would have 'Slit and gutted' you too if I hadn't grinded one of the engines just then."

"So THAT was what the moaning was!"

"Yes, and now we have almost 200 more bits to add to the vault because of it."  CAB stopped spinning and glided over to the door.

"You seem pretty upset for being 200 bits richer...." Spark pointed out.

"Oh yeah? Well you just risked your life...AGAIN...to get them.  I swear Spark, you care more about money than us sometimes...."

"That's not true and you know it." Spark said defensively, "I do it FOR you guys.  I mean....how else am I supposed to afford new parts for you and The Knight?"

"I don't know....maybe...GETTING A MUCH SAFER JOB WITH THE EMPIRE?!" CAB yelled.  He started to shake as he spoke. "Or even the Republic for crying out loud! We take jobs from both of them ALL THE TIME!  Why don't you stop this business and settle down before you get yourself killed?!" Spark didn't answer for a long time.  He just stared at his old friend for a while before a small smile crept over his lips.

"And where's the fun in settling down?"  He asked the floating box.  CAB threw a pair of claws into the air as he left the cabin.

"I don't know why I even bother....." Spark heard him say as he left the room. The mechanic chuckled as he went into his bathroom to get ready for bed.  Swindling crooks out of their hard stolen bits was hard work after all.  After taking a quick shower and brushing his teeth, he walked over to the bed.  He was just about to leap into it when the Donut rang again.  Not expecting any more calls, he curiously set the device down again and pressed the button once more.  A picture of another unicorn, this one purple in the bluish glow, appeared this time.

"Hey Pluggy!" She said.  Spark smiled as he recognized his friend Pen Wright.  She was wearing her black glasses like usual and her purple mane was draped over a part of her face.

"Pen! What's up?" Spark Plug asked.

"Nothing much.  I noticed you were within com distance, so I wanted to say hi!" She replied.

"Ok....hi!"

"Very funny.....but hey! Me and that sweet tooth are going to drop by Mac's tomorrow.  Are you within jumping distance?"

"Hmmm.....I think so......how far is the Oveda System from Mac's again?"

"Close enough!" Pen exclaimed, "I'll tell Sweety that you're coming!"

"You do that.  I'm going to bed."  Spark said with a loud yawn.

"Long day?"

"Very." was all he said.  The two of them exchanged a bit of idle chatter before switching off.  Happy that he had plans for tomorrow, he finally fell into his large bed.  He roughed up the covers for a bit before he slowly fell asleep.