Pony by Day, Mercenary by Night

Okay, well this is my first fanfic, so please tell me if I can improve this in any way.  Anyway, here’s the prologue!

Date: December 14, 2147

Rishi Station

Sector IV

Galactic Coordinates (796, 1257, 1342)

Sev had just finished clearing the base of any remaining resistance; his assassination had been successful. His wristblades gleaming with the blood of a still living insurrectionist still impaled on it.  Sev twisted his wristblade, and slashed across the insurrectionist’s stomach and watched as he spilled his entrails over the floor, he proceeded to pick up the entrails and hang the insurrectionist with them.  He then stabbed another barely alive insurrectionist with his other wristblade watching as the first one squirmed and struggled to free his throat of the death hold his intestines had it in.  Sev then threw the corpse off his other blade and proceeded to walk down a blood splattered corridor.  Blood that he caused to be splattered at that.

Around him were the corpses of various military leaders gathered together to plan a united strike against The Legion.  Sev had worked for many of these men, he didn’t care, so long as his paycheck was signed he didn’t care who signed it.  This contract from the Legion was easy, everything was becoming easy, he found himself missing the old days where everything provided at least a small challenge, back when most of his friends were alive.

“C’mon Ghost let’s go.” He called to a figure clad in a white hooded robe with the disappearing outline of a man over the left part of his chest, signifying his role as team stealth expert.

“…”Ghost replied.

He was on his way back to his ship where the rest of his squad was waiting for him, the dull light emitted from an insurrectionist guard’s helmet shining over his sleek, black, blood splattered, biomorph armor.

He navigated the red-stained corridors until he finally reached a hangar.  There he saw the rest of his squad.  Six other soldiers clad in armor with an insignia on the left chest-plate to signify their position in the squad.  Sev’s was a skull, signifying his rank as leader.  To the left of his ship was a lean, short mercenary who went by the name or Fixer.  A wrench adorned the left chestplate of his grey armor signifying his position as the team engineer. “Umm s-sir? We k-kind of have to hold position for a bit, as it t-turns out, when Misha crash landed the ship in here, he C-CRASH landed.   So I’ll need some time to repair the engines, the c-cooling systems were completely fried, but I think I might be able to j-jury-rig them if I can get some scrap metal, I’ll j-just keep working on the engines for now sir..”  Fixer muttered.

Sev looked on with cold indifference as he yelled to a taller, more muscular figure clad in yellow armor, this one, with a bandolier mark on his chest-plate as well a bandolier draped over his right chest-plate signifying his position as the team’s heavy gunner.

“Kad!” Sev called out

“Yes boss?”

“Did you manage to disable the tractor beams on the ship?”

“Yes sir, there was a lot of resistance, but I killed all the engineers on this rock except for Fixer, so nobody will be able to operate the tractor beams when we leave.”

“Good, now go look for some scrap metal, Fixer’s gonna need it to repair the ship.”

“Yes sir.”  Kad then proceeded to walk down a second hall leading out of the hangar to search for scrap metal.

Sev then proceeded to grab the forehead of his armor out of irritation as he spoke to Misha, a figure clad in purple armor, this one in a fetal position on the floor, clasping his head with both hands.  He had a fuel tank on his chest-plate signifying his position as team vehicle expert, driver, and pilot.  “Dammit Misha, what did I tell you about drinking while piloting?!  You nearly killed us!”

“Hey boss, iz not that bad, none of team died this time”

“Dammit Misha, we don’t need a repeat of Teth.”

“Boss, we agree to never speak of that again, and it was not so bad”

“You bombed the wrong city”

“How was I supposed to know that target city was west of drop site?”

Sev facepalmed, “Misha, you were 500 kilometers west of the destination, not only did you miss with that very expensive bomb the we had to pay for, but you also caused mass panic and crashed the ship into the building we were in breaking both of Scorch’s legs. We had to carry him out of that city after you botched that air strike while we were chased by the local militia.  If you weren’t such a good pilot while sober, I’d have skinned you alive by now”

“Easy boss, easy, I will not drink as much while on job.  Now, could you please stop yelling? I want to suffer from hangover in peace.”

“Fine, Scorch!  Did you plant the charges at the structural foundations for the base?  We don’t want to leave behind any traces of this operation, we’re being paid the big bucks to be especially clean with this mission if you recall.”

“Yessir”  Spoke Scorch, a shorter figure clad in green armor, on his chest-plate was a hand grenade with its pin pulled, signifying his position as demolitions expert “I’m just working on the last one here in the hangar!  Now, was it red-green-blue? Or blue-green-red?

“Seriously, how is he our explosives expert?” Muttered Farshot, a tall, muscular figure in blue armor; on his chest-plate, a red sniper-reticule, signifying his position as team sniper. “I mean, is it really a good idea to let him near explosives?”

“Shut it Farshot, or I’ll stick some fuel rods in your toilet again” Scorch retorted.

Farshot went silent as he recalled the memory shuddering ever so slightly as he recalled the state of his bathroom, ‘There was shit everywhere (shudders) lets just accept this for now’

“Whatever”  He replied

Gunfire and explosions could be heard shortly afterward as Kad came running down the hall a bloodied helmet full of scrap metal in his arms and an army of Bloodthirsty Trishian bunnies at his heels.  ‘SHIT!  WHY WOULD ANYONE KEEP THESE THINGS IN A MILLITARY BASE?!  THEY’RE TOO DANGEROUS TO KEEP IN ENCLOSED AREAS!!!  I'M PRETTY SURE THERE ARE REGULATIONS AGAINST KEEPING THESE THINGS IN AREAS WITH HIGH CIVILIAN POPULATIONS!!!’ Kad thought, as he was pursued by an army of bloodthirsty bunnies.  His hopes for survival were quickly renewed as he saw the familliar shape of the hangar door.

“HURRY SEAL THE HANGAR DOOR!  I THINK THIS PLACE IS INFESTED WITH THEM!”  Kad yelled.  Sev wasted no time sealing the hangar door as Kad slid though the small gap created while the door slowly slid down.  “I think this place is infested with those things, I checked the lower levels of the base, and it’s a total bloodbath, there are dead civilians everywhere.” Kad reported

“Its okay now, the evil bunnies are behind that duranium door, they aren’t getting in here, anyways, FIXER! Is this enough scrap metal?”  Sev asked

“Geez boss! I thought I asked you to speak quietly? This hangover iz already bad enough as it iz! Ow.”  Misha complained

“IS THIS QUIET ENOUGH FOR YOU?!”  Sev yelled as Misha cringed in pain and re-entered his fetal postion.  “YES!?!?! GOOD! NOW! QUIT YOUR BITCHING SO WE CAN FOCUS ON THE MISSION!”  Sev yelled as Misha curled up into an even tighter ball.

“umm s-sir? That’s enough scrap metal, thanks again, I hope this wasn’t too much trouble Kad…” Fixer whispered.

“Not at all Fixer, oh, sir? Permission to speak freely?"  Kad asked

"Granted"

"I think Misha passed out.”

“Great, just fucking great, now who’s gonna fly us off of this rock?” Sev asked.

“Relax sir, I’ll wake him up” Piped up Rex, another stocky built figure slightly shorter than Kad, but taller than Sev, this one, with a blue cross on his orange chest-plate signifying his position as team medic.  He then proceeded to lift up Misha and repeatedly pimp-smack him until he woke up.  “There, feeling better now Misha?”

“Dammit Rex, if you were not such good medic and knew how to make mysterious potion that cure hangover, I would kill you on spot.”

“I love you too Misha, now, get up”

“He’s right Misha, Fixer repaired the ship while you were passed out, now, get your lazy ass in there, we need to get off this rock before Scorch’s charges go off.”  Sev ordered.

“Get on ship I’ll warm up engine” Misha replied.

They all then boarded the ship, and entered the command room.  Misha taking his spot on the Pilot’s seat, the rest sitting in whatever seats they could find.

With the engines warmed up, Misha launched the Ripper from the hangar and they flew out as Scorch activated his detonator and several explosions were heard.  None of zeta squad looked out the window, all there would be to greet them would be a sight that they had seen countless times before.  None of them, except for Scorch; like an artist, he watched as the building imploded on itself due to its structural support collapsing; criticizing himself over small errors.  “Dammit, I used too much explosive on pillar 3, and placed the charge on pillar 17 too high up, mind you, the building still collapsed so my job is done, but still, coulda done it better, it woulda looked better for sure.  Hey sir!”

“Yes Scorch?”

“How much longer till we get paid? Cuz its Beer-o-clock right now and I’m gonna need my pay cuz its gonna be happy hour at Space Benny’s in a while and I don’t wanna miss it!”

“Provided Misha doesn’t get us killed with his drunken piloting, I’d say approximately two hours to get to the Legion capital.”

“Great! Hey EVERYONE! AFTER WE GET PAID, DRINKS ARE ON ME!” Scorch exclaimed as Zeta squad cheered except for Ghost who simply looked on impassively

“…” His own silent cheer.

Four hours later

Zeta squad was relaxing at Space Benny’s.  A well-known space bar that catered to all kinds of patrons.  Scorch had just ordered another round for the squad and Farshot was hitting on some nearby women when explosions and screams could be heard in the distance.

“What the hell was that?”  Scorch asked.

“Dunno let’s check it out squad, FARSHOT! Get over here! It’s not like you have a chance to tap it anyway!”

“Alright.” Farshot grumbled.

Zeta squad proceeded to leave Space Benny’s and Misha looked up into the sky.  He gas greeted by a large, red ball, floating in the atmosphere.

“What in hell iz that!?” Misha asked while pointing at it.

“I don’t know Misha” Rex replied.  “But it looks interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before except for orbital ray cannons, but those always emit a high pitched screeching noise before they fire, man what ever that is I wish I could study it, the possibilities are endless, I mean it looks like its charging up massive amounts of energy-“

Rex was cut off by a high pitched screech.

“Oh, fuck” was all Rex could get out as a pillar of burning fire descended from the sky obliterating everything in its path and leaving an ionizing odor in the air.

“RUN!!!”  Was all Sev had to yell for Zeta Squad to promptly begin running off, back towards their ship as the column of fire proceeded to ionize the city, trailing in their wake.

Zeta squad managed to get back inside their ship while Misha was stumbling while spitting out a chain of profanities volatile enough to make the toughest of space pirates think twice before entering into a conversation with him.

“Dammit Misha! Hurry up, you’re the only one of us who know how to fly this piece of shit!”  Spat Farshot as he fumbled with his keys, trying to unlock the door to the Ripper, he was rewarded with a satisfying click as the tumbler moved out of place, allowing the ship to scan him to confirm his identity the door promptly opened.

“INCOMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING” yelled Misha as he promptly tackled all of Zeta squad into the ship.

“MISHA!  Start up the ship NOW!  I don’t care where we go just activate hyperwarp and get us off this rock!”

“But boss, using hyperwarp while not in space in danger-“ Misha tried to say before being cut off by Sev

“Misha it’s either we take the risk, or we die.”

That was the only incentive Misha needed as he activated hyerwarp on the ship.

Time- unknown

Location- Unknown

Fixer was hyperventilating at this point.  He had just barely escaped an orbital death ray and was aboard the Ripper with Rex trying to console him.

“Easy now Fixer, calm down, everythings all better now, I hope.”  Rex said

AS if the universe just wanted to show him that it thought he was a little shit, the the ship was filled with an eerie red glow as deafening alarms went off.

“Well, I say, this is a rather interesting conundrum is it not chaps?  What do you suppose it is this time? Pirates? Raiders?  Perhaps a local crime cartel has attempted to intercept us to attempt to extort remuneration for passage through their territory?  Or better yet, perhaps its local law enforcement.” Misha piped up.

“Misha, shut up and get to the bridge!” Sev yelled.

“Well I never!” Misha indignantly muttered.

The rest of you, Fixer, go to the engines and cooling room, make sure everything is correct, Kad and Farshot, mount the turrets, Rex, slap scorch till he’s awake.  Ghost, you’re with me, we’re running a system check to make sure nothing is too bad with the rest of our systems.”

“…” Ghost responded, the anxiety ever so present in his voice.

“Umm, chaps, I’m not quite sure how to put this”  Misha interrupted “But well, it seems as though we’re either in uncharted space, which is impossible because the engine didn’t have enough fuel to travel to uncharted space, or we’re in another dimension, which is just as improbable because its never been done before.”

“Permission to speak freely sir?”  Kad asked

“Granted.”

“Thank you sir.  Misha, what in hell would make you say that?”

“Well Kad, if you don’t believe me, take a look at this holoscreen.”

“I don’t get it, it’s blank”

“My point exactly!”

“Misha, I don’t understand…”

“Well Kad, the holoscreen you’re looking at, is supposed to be a map, however, said map is blank, said map, also contained all known planets in our universe.  If it’s blank, then that means-”

“We’re not in Kansas anymore!” Piped up Scorch.

“My sentiments exactly, oh, and I forgot to mention, I did a systems check from here, and it appears as though all of our systems are fried except for life support, which might I add is dying.” Replied Misha

“What? What the hell are we supposed to do?”  Sev yelled

“Well sir, the systems are completely extirpated, life support should last us at most, another 24 hold on, sir, can you see that planet?  With any luck, the life support systems, and our biomorph armor will be able to last us long enough to reach it!”

“No, we’re too far off, and our trajectory wouldn’t allow for us to come near the planet, that is, unless the planet has an abnormally strong gravitational field.  DAMMIT!  What are we supposed to do!”  Yelled Sev; for once in his life, he was dumbfounded, he’d been in countless situations where he had to stare death in its face, surrounded by enemies, each with weapons pointed at his head, chest and-

“THRUSTERPACKS and ROCKET!” yelled Scorch.

“Hey, look everyone! I found my thrusterpacks and rocket!”  Said scorch, beaming.

Sev ignored him, and started thinking aloud while conversing with Misha.

“You said all the systems are fried so, odds are, even if we do manage to land, it’ll be a crash landing, and survival probability will vary depending on the gravitational force that the planet exerts on us.  And we’re in space, so our only hope is if we drift towards WAIT! I HAVE IT!  Well, it’ll be a long shot, but it’s the only shot we’ve got, we’re going to need Scorch’s thruster packs for this though.”

“M-my thrusterpacks sir? What do you need my thruster packs for?” asked Scorch, wearily.

“Scorch, think about it, we’re in space, the engines are dead, what can your thruster packs give us that we need NOW?”

“Thrust?”

“Good!  Now go get them, and activate you biomorph armor, place them on the portside of the ship, with any luck, we’ll be able to hit that planet.”

“On it sir!”

“SQUAD! ARMOR UP AND BRACE FOR CRASH LANDING!”  Yelled Sev

“Affirmative sir” Zeta squad unanimously said.

Three minutes later

The red light were blinking extremely rapidly and the Sirens were now signifying that black squad was gonna get fucked up unless they did something about it.  Scorch was back inside the Ripper and was still in his armor.

“Scorch! Don’t take off your armor, and get to the bulkhead now!”

“Yes sir.”

Fourteen hours later

The squad awoke to find that their ship was flooding, water seeping in through cracks in the hull.

“C’mon squad let’s move!  The ship is flooding, and we need to find a way out of here!”

The crew proceeded down a now slightly flooded corridor, water reaching up to their ankles, and rising.  They proceeded to walk until they reached a locked door.

“Kad, you’re the strongest of us here, get that door open.” Ordered Sev

“With pleasure sir.”

Kad then proceeded to rip the reinforced duranium door off its hinges and threw it into a corner.  The crew then proceeded down the corridor until they came upon a hatch leading to the outside world.  The sight they were met with upon opening the hatch was a forest.  The moonlit sky providing an eerie light through the nearby forest canopy.

“Keep your helmets on squad, we still don’t know if this air is safe to breathe or not.” Sev said.

“Hey, sir?  I’ve got some scanning equipment in my room, can I get it to test the atmosphere?” Replied Rex

“Fine, and take Fixer with you.  FIXER!”

“Y-yes sir?”

“Escort Rex to his quarters and then go see if you can salvage anything from the ship, if you two need anything, call for help with your gauntlets and we’ll sent you someone ASAP.”

Rex and Fixer both replied with an affirmative at the same time

“The rest of you, are going to guard the ship”

“Ghost, you’re with me, c’mon we’re gonna scout the area for any nearby civilization.”

“…” replied Ghost

After trekking for two hours, Sev and Ghost stumbled upon a wall.

“Yep, it’s a wall alright”

“…”

“Alrighty then Ghost, lets scale this thing.”

“…”

As Sev and Ghost climbed the wall, they heard two voices,

“Shit!  Ghost, shut up and stay quiet, I hear someone coming.”

“…”

“And so then I was like, ‘baby I can use this horn for more than just one kind of magic if you catch my drift’” Piped up a …unicorn? To another unicorn both wearing a dark blue armor.

Sev and Ghost just watched in awe as two talking…horses?  No wait, they had horns.  Walked out of the castle while talking.

“Ghost did you just see that?”

“…” Ghost replied in awe and bewilderment.

“Well, anyways, I think its time we investigate this place further.

“…” Ghost agreed

They made their way over the castle walls, avoiding any guards.  Years of assassinations and demolition contracts in areas similar to this had honed them in the skill of avoiding detection.They made their way onto the castle and observed as the two most regal looking creatures they had ever seen; one had a coat as alabaster as the very castle itself with a mane that flowed with a spectum of colors in a nonexistent wind, the other, the other, a dark blue matching with the very night sky, its mane another shade of dark blue with what appeared to be stars floating in it stood on a balcony, conversing.  Both were yet again-horses wait, they had horns and wings, what were winged horses called again? Oh, yeah, pegasi.  One started floating and her horn was glowing, a strange glow could be seen on the moon; the same color of the horses’ horn, as it moved across the sky.

“Ghost! Did you see that?” Sev whispered

“…”  Ghost was going apeshit at this point at the sheer incredulousness of the situation

“Well Celly, what do you think of our night sky now?  WE played around with the constellations a bit.”  The blue one said while giggling, its voice imparting its gender.

“Oh Luna, what did you do now? LUNA that’s not very appropriate, what if some foals see that?” The white one said.

“Oh relax sister, we will fix it.” Replied the blue one

Ghost and Sev continued to hug the castle wall and waited for them both to leave the balcony.

Then, all of a sudden, the blue one’s voice popped up.

“Sister! Did you see that?”

Now, I’m sure that a few of you are wondering what the hell happened to Misha after the warp.  The answer?  He’s sober.  Why? You ask? Simple, hyperwarping while ON a planet also eliminates the effects of alcohol by ionizing all substances in the blood also effectively neutralizing any drugs or adrenaline that may be present in the bloodstream.  However, with Misha, a complete lack of alcohol in his blood makes him act like that ^ so yeah, that’s why he’s usually drunk most of the time.

End chapter

Well, that was the prologue.

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