Author's Note

Well, here's the new chapter as promised.

Chapter 11: Moral Implications...

The waiting was the worst.

Just waiting for a response from the team he sent down was making him extremely nervous. All communications with the team had been cut off about two hours ago, and now it was just silence. There were no messages to the ship, and no one was responding to any of the messages they sent. The admiral stared out of the glass of the bridge, his face about six inches away from said glass. If this kept on, then he'd have to send an entire boarding party to the ship. Whatever happened here, it was definitely not something to take lightly. According to the distress call, there had been an alien attack of some kind. He had to take everything into account. There could be disease on these aliens, both the intruders, and the victims. This could even be an elaborate scheme to sneak aboard and take out the leadership to cripple the crew's morale so they could take over the ship. You never could be too paranoid when you were in the middle of space in a metal box.

"Admiral Torag, we've spotted the shuttle we sent out a couple hours ago. It seems they had to jetison the cockpit from the rest of the shuttle for some reason. At this point, we can only assume that they met resistance. What is our course of action, sir?" His commander said, having appeared at Torag's side. The commander, whose name was Corrus, was fairly young for his rank, but rightly so. Corrus wasn't an idiot unlike some of the ponies working under Torag.

Torag grimaced a bit, "Commander Corrus, I want you to hail them, and tell them to put video up. I want to know who we're letting in. And get a bio-hazard team up there as soon as you can. I don't want any foreign diseases catching us by surprise."

Corrus nodded once and headed off, immediately barking orders at the crew to hail the shuttle. Torag had a bad feeling about all of this, and he hoped that his bad feeling didn't become reality. The last thing they needed was to be attacked by an unknown alien race while on a mission of deep space exploration. All of Equus was depending on them to get back safely by any means necessary. While he stared off at the approaching ship, he couldn't shake off a feeling of dread. Something told him that it was a mistake to let his team back in, but his hooves were tied. Protocol dictated that a scout team coming back from completely unknown territory had to be let in. The information they possessed was crucial to taking the next step forward towards evacuating survivors from the combat zone. No matter what happens in the next twenty-four hours, the combat zone cannot not reach the Voltage.

After about a minute of waiting, a video was pulled up in front of his chair and the enormous command cockpit window. The pilot could be seen, seemingly unharmed and safe. But another creature in the video caused a few gasps of surprise among the crew and a cocked eyebrow from Torag. It was a bipedal creature with masculine facial features, or at least that's what he thought it looked like. He had no idea what these creatures' faces looked like, so it could be a female for all he knew. He had to be the first one to make a move. He couldn't seem weak in front of an intelligent species, as that could have disastrous consequences.

Torag spoke up, his face adopting a look of authority, "Shady Daze, where is the rest of your ship and why are you with one of the aliens?"

Shady Daze glanced over at the alien next to him, who in turn glanced back, "Sir, this is Michael. He has information on what is happening on the Odyssey. We were attacked when we tried to leave after the deadline by some kind of... monsters. If I hadn't ejected the cockpit, we wouldn't be here. Though, we did lose a pony trying to escape... poor guy."

Torag grimaced a bit, "Attacked by monsters, you say? Well, this is certainly bad news... what about the rest of the team? Did they at least make it back to the ship?"

Shady's face faltered a bit, guilt and regret evident on his face, "They didn't get to the ship in time for the deadline. I have no information on what happened to them. I can only hope that they're safe... or at least alive."

Torag glanced around the silent command room, examining the faces of each individual before looking back at the screen in front of him, "We'll get a rescue team out there and get them out when we can..." he glanced over at Michael, "along with your people as well. We'll serve justice where it's due, I promise you that."

Michael's face, as it was at the beginning of the transmission, remained indifferent, "There is no saving the people on that ship. The things that infested the Odyssey are like nothing I've ever encountered. These things possess an insatiable hunger, which seeks only one thing. Blood. I want to ask you a question, admiral. Do you have any bodies in your morgue?"

Torag adopted a look of confusion, not really sure why a question like that had to be asked, "Yes, we have about forty-two bodies in the morgue... there was a disease running amok through the crew about a week back. We lost a lot of good ponies. But we managed to concoct a cure before it got too out of hoof. Now let me ask you a question... what's the point in asking that?"

Michael's face softened, "I'm sorry for your losses, but there's a bigger picture here that you need to see. There's a thing called the Marker... and those bodies are going to be used to kill every single member of your crew. Once it gets in the populace, it's like a plague... the monsters will tear through everything you hold dear without a moment's hesitation. If I were you, I would j-jett-i-so-... bo-... oppo..site..."

The transmission was suddenly filled with a ton of static for about thirty seconds, making words impossible to make out. As soon as it had started, it ended. The transmission shut itself down and the room erupted in a roar of disappointment and alarm. Ponies tried to hail the shuttle again, but nothing seemed to be working. Torag simply stared forward at where the screen had been, knowing that he had to act very soon. A shuttle with just the cockpit doesn't have a lot of oxygen in it, which meant that they would die and the blood would be on his hooves. He stood up and stared at the crew with a stern expression, though none of them had noticed him yet.

Torag suddenly yelled, breaking his silence and getting the attention of everyone in the room, "I want shuttle in the hanger NOW! And do not forget the bio-hazard team! They're going to die of suffocation in there if we don't get them on board. No questions, just do it!"

Corrus responded almost immediately by walking over to the communications panel and sent out a landing signal to the floating cockpit. The shuttle started flying towards the lower hangar doors, which was being filled with soldiers and bio-hazard scientists. Torag wondered what would become of them after all was said and done. Would they make it out of this alive, or would they become another dead ship, floating in the black unknown until some other poor fool found them. Every fiber of his being told him to deny the shuttle entry into the Voltage, but the rules were very specific. He may be the admiral, but there were boundaries that even he couldn't bypass. Hopefully his hunch was wrong. Unfortunately, they were rarely wrong. But sometimes, you just had to work with the hoof that you were dealt. Even if the odds were stacked against you, it was an admiral's job to persevere for the good of the crew. But that wasn't going to cut it anymore. Something was coming their way and hatred is all that will follow in its wake. The perfect storm.

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Michael stared out the cockpit window with a feeling of relief, knowing that this hell would soon be over. He had fought long and hard to get to this point and it was here at long last. There was a blue field of energy that separated the vacuum of space from the air-filled hangar, which seemed really advanced for a group of horses. He looked over at Shady Daze, knowing exactly what the horse... pony was feeling right now. Losing the ones you loved was like being hit in the chest with a sledgehammer and it takes a long time before you can move on from a hit like that. The ship passed through the energy barrier without any resistance, allowing Michael a better view of the inside of the hangar. It was a really bright and clean white with shiny, jet black trimming. The room was absolutely enormous. There were ships of many types in what looked to be the hundreds. Dozens upon dozens of ponies in armor and white suits of some kind could be seen erecting barriers and lines of defense.

Michael didn't blame them for wanting to be careful, but this put him in a hard position. They would probably keep him detained for fear of him being the enemy, or simply because he might be carrying a foreign disease. Shady seemed fine around him, but caution was definitely still advisable nevertheless. The ship slowly landed, facing the gathering crowd of military might. Shady seemed a little worried about what was happening, but he didn't say anything about his apparent discomfort. Michael, however, was just glad to see intelligent people... ponies... that didn't want to rip his throat out. Or maybe they did and he was in for an unpleasant surprise. Well, only time could tell at this point.

Shady looked over at Michael, "Alright, whatever happens, you are to follow any orders given to you. My kind doesn't know what happened on the Odyssey... you could be working for the monsters for all we know."

Michael looked down at his missing leg with a grimace, "Yeah, I'm an evil spy alright. I'm so dedicated to mindless monsters that I chopped my own leg off and risked blowing up in a shuttle. Yeah, that makes perfect sense."

Shady shot a look to Michael, telling the one-leg man that he wasn't amused, "Just do what you're told, okay? The last thing you want to do is be a dick to central command. Now, are you going to be a good boy, or should I bring out the paddle to teach you a thing or two about obedience?"

Michael saluted the now slightly grinning Shady, "Aye aye, capn'. I wouldn't dream of being a prick. Well, not right now anyway."

Shady got up and went to the back of the cockpit, entering a code into the door, his hoof now hovering over the release button. He seemed to be hesitating for a moment, as if he was unsure of something. The pony shrugged and pressed the button, which opened the door, letting in fresh oxygen. Michael had gotten a bit light headed from being in the cockpit too long with little oxygen, so this was a godsend. Michael followed Shady out, but were immediately crowded by ponies in white suits and some type of jet black power armor lined with neon blue lights. Michael's eyes glanced up at what looked to be a deep claw mark of some kind on the corner of the back of the cockpit. He frowned a bit, hoping that they hadn't picked up a hitchhiker. Those monsters could be really sneaky if they wanted to be and there was a lot of cover to hide behind in the room. Not to mention, there were small doors along the wall going into different parts of the ship, then there was a massive door at the front of the hangar, which was probably the direction where all of the ship's activity was located at.

No, they had dealt with the beasts back at the Odyssey. There was no way these things were intelligent enough to lay low until they had reached the Voltage. Michael couldn't help but smile as he was put into a wheel chair, happy that the attention he was getting wasn't hostile for once. His eyes tore away from a scientist who was talking to him to a door being opened, his instincts on high alert. He thought he had seen one of the flying beasts, but that was impossible. No, it was just his imagination. One couldn't expect their mind to not play tricks on you when you just survived an attack from monsters that looked as if they came from hell itself. He relaxed in the wheelchair and calmly answered any and all questions that were thrown his way. Things were finally looking up... and he was alive. He might be missing a leg, but it was better than being dead. His wife and child were waiting for him back on Earth and now he could go back to him. Thank god for ponies.