Chapter 1
It’s been a decade since I left the rest of the human race behind, 10 long years since I began exploring space and making upgrades to my ship, weapons and armor. In that time I’ve met a couple alien races, one of which was just beginning its journey into space.
Now, my ship was on its way to the next set of coordinates, the last planet being left far behind. Beautiful little planet that one was, had great beaches with bioluminescent particles in the sand, making them mirror the night sky sans the multicolored bodies of neighboring galaxies. The forests were good too, even if there were only a couple types I could find; one of which I found made great carving material. The things literally change color three times a week, I was astounded when I cut one down and saw the red, green, and blue rings; another upside was that they grew as big as redwood trees so I didn’t need to take a whole lot. I made sure to save it’s coordinates for a later date.
Anyways, I should really stop spacing out, especially when I’m in the process of working on my Mobius mk. IV Hyper-adaptive Exoskeleton. I have been working on this particular prototype armor for a little bit over a year now, the many setbacks of interstellar travel having extended the development phase. Now, finally, the armor was almost complete and ready for testing.
Upon attaching the last circuit, I stood up, wiping the sweat from my brow, and looked upon my creation; hundreds of overlapping pieces of durasteel acting like the scales of a reptile, all of which are protecting the vital hardware installed within. I pulled up a holographic keyboard and punched in a few commands, watching as the armor retracted into something that resembled a scale covered backpack.
Oh, this is just perfect. I thought. I just can’t wait to test this out. Picking up the armor pack and slinging it over my shoulder, I looked out the window to see my next destination come into view, a quaint little planet in a solar system much like Sol but about 2 or 3 galactic clusters away. “Sigma, please scan the planet upon entering orbit for signs of life, if signs show positive, please send stealth drones to determine threat levels.”
“Sure Grim,” the disembodied voice of the ships AI replied, “What will you do should life be discovered with moderate threat?”
I stood there in silence, watching as the planet drew closer, “I’m not entirely sure, probably take a cautious approach, it worked the last two times.”
“Might I suggest resting before going planetside?”
I grinned and gave the planet another look-over before turning around and heading for the door, “Yeah, sleep sounds good right now, wake me when the scans are done and the drones are back.”
The ship was coming apart, we had to escape. After learning of the government knowingly sending our friends on suicide missions, fully expecting them to die, Sarah and I took action and planned a coup. It was only now we realized how unprepared we really were, sure I had the technology to bring about the destruction of frigate-class ships, but what we didn’t have was the resources to combat an armada.
We ran through corridor after corridor, picking off any personnel that dared get in our way, trying to cleave a path for the hanger. The ship shuddered as another explosion ripped through the hull, depressurizing a whichever deck it was on. Undeterred by the movement under our feet, we continued on, the hanger in sight; so close yet so far.
After what felt like hours of running, we finally made it. Bursting into the hanger, I instantly made a b-line for my ship; Sigma had started the engines and it was starting to lift off the ground, opening the shuttle bay and turning it toward us so we could have a quick escape. Another explosion rocked the ship and gunfire sounded behind us followed by bullets whizzing by our heads.
I jumped into the shuttle bay and instinctively grabbed the laser rifle I’d left close by to provide cover fire. I turn back and begin firing at the soldiers while keeping an eye on Sarah. It was all pointless, this memory plagued my dreams for years, by now I know what happens every time no matter how hard I try to prevent it.
Everything began to slow to a crawl; I could see each and every bullet that flew through the air. Just as she jumped, the bullet ripped through the thin material of her uniform and punched through the center of her chest. The last thing that played through was me seeing Sarah’s limp body lying in the medical bay and the debris of the Goliath and many other ships floating around earth.
I awoke with a start, the memory fresh in my mind again, even after all these years.
“Grim, the drones are back reporting a civilized species of equines of various types, and one of them had apparently spotted one of the drones and followed it here. There also appears to be a language barrier, so I suggest you tread carefully until I can finish the translation.”
I grumbled and sat up, “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind; please tell the cook to prep breakfast, I’ll be out in a minute.”
“It shall be done. I shall leave you to our guest, don’t keep her waiting too long.”
I slowly got up and grabbed my mechanical eye from the nightstand, popping it in and activating it as I walked to the closet to pick out a clean t-shirt and some work pants.
(Luna, 3rd person)
Out in the hall, the dark blue alicorn sat, observing everything and absolutely giddy with excitement about actually discovering an alien species. She was slightly worried about the fact that the ship seemed to be abandoned but those worries were quashed when the little… projection, for lack of a better word, spoke to the door at the end of the hall and something else answered sounding like it had just woken up. A brief conversation passed between the two before the little one disappeared.
She thought back to the first room she found herself in; it was a small recreational area with a couple sofas and large window-like panes on the walls, a small bar located close to the door and stocked with many different drinks, five of which appeared to be open, each with varying amounts of liquid. The open bottles seemed to be the only sign that anything actually lived there until she started following the little transparent creature.
Most of the doors in the hallway she walked were closed, the one that wasn’t showed an expansive workshop, from the brief glimpse she got, Luna was able to see all kinds of tools and machines that dwarfed anything Equestria could even hope to imagine. One other thing caught her eye, a strange looking scythe; the entire thing looked to be made of silver with blue lines running up and down the upper half and red lines running along the bottom half with a clear break between the two. Luna couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of what the scythe was used for.
A slight hissing noise shook her out of her thoughts and averted her gaze back to the door. What stepped out was a much larger version of the thing she followed here; it had no coat to speak of save for the silver mane atop its head and it lacked a muzzle. The eyes were next to catch her attention; one, a calm blue that shows it’s seen more than it should have, while the other looked metallic and glowed with a dim green light with a long jagged scar running over it, stopping just at the upper lip.
He raised an arm and swiped at the air making several small window-like transparent projections appear with strange items in each. Luna watched the alien flick through the boxes at a speed she was having trouble keeping up with, before he stopped and tapped the box he was looking for. Her eyes widened as dark blue rose with white rings rippling from the center of the petals slowly materialized in his hand and held it to her.
Luna carefully took it in her magical embrace, examining it closer, with a simple scanning spell it didn’t have any special properties that were harmful but found that it could survive without air. She looked back to the alien to see he had gained a friendly smile. This was going far better than she initially thought it would. She would properly thank him, but there was a language barrier and didn’t know how he would act should she try to cast a translation spell on him, so she just settled with returning the smile.
The alien motioned for her to follow as he began walking down the hallway; she did so, after tucking the flower behind her ear, with a spring in her step and wondering how they were going to communicate.
The walk was short lived as her escort stopped at a door adjacent to the workshop and opened it to reveal a dining room, furnished with a single table with six chairs around it and pictures mounted on the wall, all depicting six others, the one she was with among them. It seemed a little bit too similar to Twilight and her friends, as they all looked happy, until she saw that, on the next wall, the pictures started losing some of the other aliens until it was just two; the silver haired one and a dark haired female, both looking saddened but forcing a smile. After that picture, the frames hung empty.
The alien clapped his hands, Luna’s gaze whipping around in time to see multiple robotic arm come from the ceiling with plates of food, most of which she could recognize; pancakes, waffles, some assorted fruits, and other foods that looked absolutely strange, yet not entirely distasteful. She continued to watch as her host walked up to the picture before his friends started disappearing from them, plucked it off the wall and walked to the head of the table and propped it up on a stand before taking a seat in the middle of one side.
Luna couldn't help but feel saddened by the fact that this creature had to go through loosing each one of his friends, possibly in a horrible manner, judging by the scars shown on him and that some of them appeared to be missing limbs. Nothing deserves to lose so much. She took the seat opposite of him and raised a glass of, hopefully, orange juice that’d come down with the food. It was copied with a coffee mug and a small speech in his language, which was cut off as a ripple went through the air and he paused to glance at Luna then back to the picture with a sad smile.
“I will not die, old friends.”