'Very, VERY short chapter that I quickly whipped up to send one, small message. I'M BACK!!'

Chapter 40: Offline

'What am I even going to do...' I thought as I paced back and forth the halls of the starship, getting soldiers saluting me along the way.

Suddenly, as if a light bulb lit up over my head, I had the perfect idea.

'Earth!' I thought with a wide smile. 'Of course!'

I quickly made my way back to my own personal ship, wanting to waste as little time as possible.

'I'll make a stop at earth and figure out something fun to do!' I smiled to myself as the door to my ship hissed open, and closed behind me.

Lucy immediately spoke up over the speakers as I sat down in the pilot seat.

"Have you chosen a location to hold your... date?" She asked with a bit of mirth.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded. "Yes, Lucy. We're going to earth. I want to go and make some reservations and plans before though so lets take a small trip there today."

As I powered up the engines and slowly rose off the ground, I punched in some coordinates and took off into the starry void. In an instant, the stars began to streak past me in long white lines, as we hurdled through space at unfathomable speeds.

I was going to make this date one to remember.

*******************************************

Perspective: Luna

"I don't know Cadence... this outfit makes my flank look a bit big..." I said aloud as I looked myself up and down in the mirror.

We were currently in a back room trying on different clothing items to try and find the perfect one, 'Trying' being the keyword.

"Oh trust me Luna it's not that bad. And I hear stallions are really lovin' mares with a big flank." Cadence said as she snickered.

Rolling my eyes, I huffed as I took the article of clothing off. I've tried on at least twenty different pieces of clothing and NOTHING speaks to me!

Shaking my head, I turned to the Mare who had been helping me pick the dresses. "Is there any more to try on?"

In response, she just shook her head. "I'm afraid not. It's not exactly easy to find a dress that matches your dark colors AND flowing mane with you know... bright stars."

I sighed and walked back into the main part of the shop, ready for another round of searching.

'There has to be something in here that's for me'

*******************************************

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ 4 HOURS LATER /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Luna! Come here I think I've found one that matches you perfectly!" Cadence called from across the store.

I quickly ran over to her voice and stopped in my tracks when I saw what she held in her magic. "Oh my..." I whispered.

The dress itself was simple, but at the same time matches me in every way. It was dark blue and purple, and draped along my forelegs. The dress also had small white stars all over, complete with a glass crown that rested atop my head.

Smiling, I looked it over some more.

'Yes... this is just perfect.'

*******************************************

Perspective: Jake

"Alright! We're all set! Dinner reservations, ready. Movie tickets, purchased. Now, to get back to Equis and wait until tomorrow!" I said happily as I closed the ships doors behind me as Lucy fired up the engines.

Lucy spoke up as we began gaining altitude, while I lay down in one of the in-wall beds. "Sounds like a plan, so shall we make haste?"

I nodded back as the sound of the FTL drive powering up began.

"Wake me when we get there Lucy, I'm gonna take a small nap." I spoke low.

Lucy quickly responded as the ship shot off into space. "Yes sir."

*******************************************

1 hour : 25 minutes : 56 seconds later

Lucy continued to monitor every single process as it flashed around in her brain, millions of times a second. Were the shields holding up? Were the engines okay? Anything overheating? These were things any AI was programmed to do with ease. However, there has always been one thing any small sized ship has never been equipped to handle. One type of attack that's always been notoriously powerful against machines.

This was one instance where Lucy noticed a small anomaly on their destination. A large source of energy blocking their path. Simple, move to dodge it right? Easy for an AI to work around.

However, what was not so simple, was how it followed to intercept us.

Just like that, Lucy felt true fear for the first time as she tried to activate an emergency beacon.

Just like that.

Everything went dark.

*******************************************

Perspective: Jake

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

My eyes were open the instant the sound made it to my ears. However only darkness met my eyes before I was violently flung across the cabin, and almost to my death. Moments before I made impact the emergency systems came online, restoring a little bit of power, enough to straighten out the ship which at the time was hurtling in space with no power and at intense G-Forces. I was immediately pulled to the floor by increased gravity for my own safety as the ship leveled itself out and quickly powered the shield back up to full, before it released me once more.

I looked around the cabin in the dull red light emitting from a not so large bulb in the roof.

"Lucy! Lucy what happened why'd we lose power!?" I shouted hoping she can still function on emergency systems.

I waited for a few moments before I heard some static through the speakers. "Elect- *Bzzt* p*lse... I ca*SKRRRR* nt-" Then silence.

"Shit!" I shouted as I ran to the main computer at the bridge. "Come on COME ON! Something has to be working here..." I yelled aloud in a panic and I tried different controls. "FUCK! It's all fucking fried!"

Trying to get control of my panicked state I took some deep, but shaky breaths, before the cabin suddenly lit up. But it was not, however, from the lights in the room. But the lights blaring in from the ship flying in front of my own.

A massive Verix battleship, and said ship immediately began pulling my ship in with some unseen force.

"Oh no.... nononono FUCK NO!" I shouted as I ran farther into the ship and searched for a weapon.

They were almost all destroyed from the unexpected power loss as they were presumably thrown across the ship and smashed into the walls. Much like how I could have turned out if luck hadn't been on my side. Scavenging what I could, I managed to recover a plasma pistol and a couple plasma grenades. Along with enough ammo for about 5 reloads.

"Okay... think think think..." I said aloud as my eyes lit up and I ran to my armory.

Upon entering I breathed a sigh of relief to see my spartan armor had stayed attached to his charging unit. I quickly ran to it and pulled the set on, hoping to god it will power up. I smiled as the suit immediately powered on and started tightening itself to my body.

"Okay... one more thing." I said aloud again as I ran to the front of the ship.

I started pulling apart the front computer until I reached the part I was most worried about. I pulled all the wires off it and looked it over. No bigger than a flash drive, but yet infinitely important.

'Lucy's Brain...' I thought to myself, and without hesitation, swallowed it whole.

Sadly, Lucy couldn't talk to me in my suit, as her whole system was based off the brain running in that drive. Copies of her are saved in drives just like that on big ships, but suits only act as a relay of sorts.

Mostly due to the massive amounts of power needed to run an AI brain.

I looked out the front window and saw I was entering the Battleship through it's underbelly now. I grabbed the emergency shutters and manually pulled them down over the window darkening the room almost completely, with the exception of the very small lines of light streaming through the shutters. I quickly ran over to the main door and took cover next to it, breathing heavily as my armor's helmet closed over my head.

The sound of metal banging outside the ship began, as I recited over what my higher-ups always told me. The memory of me standing next to many others as we listened to our commanding officer.

'There's never been a recorded case of a Verix Abduction! They've Always just chose the path of shoot on sight!'

*BANG*

'However! If you ever end up in a situation where they will actually attempt to take you as a prisoner of war...'

*BANG*

'REMEMBER THESE THREE THINGS! ONE! IF YOU HAVE AN AI WITH YOU, EITHER DESTROY THE POOR THING, OR HIDE IT'

*BAAAAANG*

'TWO! NEVER REVEAL THE LOCATION OF EARTH, OR ANY OTHER COLONY PLANET!'

*BAAAAAAAAANNNNNG*

'THREE! FIGHT TO THE BITTER GOD DAMN END!'

*BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG*

Tsssssssst....

As the door slid open, I immediately looked out, and opened fire on anything, and everything, that moved.

'There are so many of them...'

Author's Note

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