Author's Note

This is the first time I've ever done a story and posted it so... publicly. So, please be gentle? I have a lot more story to write. But, I wanted to post this and get an idea of what everypony thinks if it so far. I would also love critiques on my writing style.

Thank you in advance and please enjoy!

Edit: Ok, I had my sister (yes my sister) Help me with story flow and spelling. It's more better now. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Remembering the Past

Chapter 1

Remembering the Past

It was supposed to be an easy job. All the information I was able to gather said it would be a single transport and escort taking a load of museum pieces through our normal hunting grounds. An easy job. Our last job. Once we sold the goods from this job my mare and I were getting out of the pirate business. Find a new little colony to raise a family on and live happily with our little fortune.

This was anything but an easy job. They were waiting for us, hidden in the same nebula we were using and when we attacked our fate was sealed.

“The drone is giving us a clear signal, Captain.”
The view port was over laided with the image form our drone. It showed the small corridor that led through the nebula, the only path for several sectors. The corprate transports can plot a jump trough to the other side, the smaller ones can’t make it all the way and most get lost running out of fuel or food. This makes them only use the paths available to them; Our hunting grounds.

“Good, let me know when our prey is in sight.”

I hopped down from my captain’s chair and made my way left to my ready room. A small place I could think in peace and the crew can get a hold of me quickly if a situation arose that need my attention. The door slid open at my approach. It wasn’t much, just a couple of couches and a small desk for reports to pile up on.

On one of the couches sat a pegasus mare. Her golden brown coat gleamed in the low light. Her red mane flicked slowly from the A/C. When the door opened, so did her emerald green eyes. She looked over her shoulder to me with a smile that could melt ice. My eyes Naturally fell to her flanks. Her cute mark was a pair of two different colored wires tied together in a bow. To my delight her tail was not covering up my intended target.

“Like what you see?”

She flicked her tail covering up, in order to get my attention. I blinked several time and shook my head. I quickly moved into the room letting the door close behind me. Red started to fill my cheeks as I looked into her eyes again. It had been nearly a year since we decided to be a couple. But, I still felt embarrassed looking at her like that.

“W-what are you doing here Hot Wire?” I said very timidly as I looked away from her. Finding my hoofs somehow more interesting.

“Is it a crime to come see my stallion?” She said in her cutest pout voice ever.

“N-no. It’s just – shouldn’t you be in engineering?” I was all flustered, in a good way. I looked at her for just a second before finding something else to occupy my vision. She was staring right at me. Like a tiger does just before it pounces on it’s prey. Just like our ship in hiding.

“I can make it to engineering in 10 seconds flat. These wings aren’t just for show you know.” She flared her wings out showing off her equisite wings.

“Right! Of Course!” I tried to trot past her to my desk: big mistake. With a single flap of her immense wings she tackled me to the deck, hoofs wrapped around my mid-section. We slid to a stop and she started nuzzling my neck. She knew my weak spots. I immediately seized up as a spark ran though my body and every hair stood on end. Then, just as quick I melted in her hoofs.

“Being as this is our last job, don’t you think we should start trying?” I was completely incoherent, giggling like a filly. I was still moving my legs trying to walk to my desk, and was obviously not getting anywhere. I was at such a disadvantage. All she had to do was lower her ears, give me the pouty lip and I would cave. This on the other hoof, was totally over the top. She had me and she knew it. Thankfully the InCom cracked open and saved me.

“Captain, target in sight.” That snapped me out of it. Thankfully, yet again, Hot Wire let me go. I jumped up and cantered over to the InCom panel. “Very good, prep for operation. I’ll be there shortly.”

I looked down at Hot Wire who was still looking at me with a questioning smirk. “Once we’ve sold all the loot. I’m all yours.” Her smirk spared into a full smile. I smiled back before taking a short breath and slapping my trademark stoic look on my face and rearranging my light blue mane with a teal accent line. Hot Wire bounced up and fallowed me out to the bridge.

“10,000 meters and closing, Captain.” Called out my number one as I entered the bridge. A good stallion, he had been doing this far longer than I had been alive. He never took command of a ship, said there was too much bureaucracy in being Captain.

“Excellent! Let’s get into position. Where’s their escort?”

The picture zoomed out showing a light cruiser toting a few guns and launchers in formation trailing starboard of the transport. A really big problem if we had to fight it head on. But that’s not our way.

“Once they pass take out the cruisers engines. Then, fire a shot across the transports bridge. If they don’t stop, smack’em with a couple missiles, let them know we mean business.”

I took my place in the captain's chair and Hot Wire sat next to me, as the two ship slowly move through the corridor.

After what seemed like forever! The two ship where finally making their way pass our ambush. Hot Wire made a noise making me glance over. She was yawning, her ears went limp and small tears formed at the edges of her tightly closed eyes. There were several things she did that looked adorable and this was one of them. I lend close and nuzzled her slightly. She approvingly lend into the gesture and smiled. Little did I know how important that last show of affection would be.

Sitting back I saw the two ships moving passed, now was the time to strike.

“Alright crew, let’s go make some money.” The crew cheered as they always did. Once they turned back to their consoles, system started coming online. “All section, sound off!”

“Magic reactor drawing at a rate of 4%. Power output at 40% and rising. Ready for combat operations in 10 seconds.”

“Sensors booting up in passive mode. Scope is clear. Ready for Hi-res scan in 2 minutes.”

“Targeting computer online. Magical Energy cannons charging. Missiles ready to fire.”

“Magic Barrier ready to deploy.”

Magic Barrier...

Thanks to a combination of science and natural unicorn magic we can project a powerful absorbant sphere around the ship. The crystals in the reactor double any magic that goes through them. A specialized chamber grants a unicorn a small portion of magic from all the unicorns on board. This is then channelled into the unicorn to cast or boost the barrier. The stronger the unicorn, the stronger the barrier. This technology is very expensive, and in most cases experimental.

“Reactor at combat levels.”

“Magical Energy Cannons fully charged, locked on and ready to fire.”

I raised a hoof into the air and brought it down quickly pointing at the light cruiser. “Fire!” The whole ship shook slightly as our first shot let loose. The cruiser didn’t have a chance, the triple beams ripped through their armor and engines with ease. They started to turn right due to loss of power in there starboard engines and listed slightly.

Our ship decended out from the nebula into view. The second cannon firing on the move right in front of the transport. As anticipated, they slammed their ship in reverse coming to a complete stop. I smirked with a toothy grin and hit the Coms panel on the holograghic display.

“Attention transport! Prepair to be boarded. If you don’t want to die, don’t get in our way and you can go home with your lives.” I waited a moment expecting the typical plea for mercy and asking us to not harm them, but it never came. Instead three new contacts charged out of the nebula. It was an ambush, and we were caught in the middle of it.

I had just enough time to order the barrier up before their first barrage. Obviously they weren’t looking to take any prisoners. The green barrier flashed with each hit form the three ships. It wasn’t going to last long.

“Report!” I barked over the sound of their unrelenting attack. I could feel the Magic Reactor pulling energy form my body. We weren’t going to last long and I needed to know what we there up against.

“One Battle Cruiser and two Destroyer escorts. The light Cruiser has also regained control and is locking on to us now.”

“The Magic Reactor has automatically switch to overdrive mode in order to maintain the barrier. The crystal are under major stress and are at the verge of fracturing.” Hot Wire had jumped onto a console to get a reading from the engine room.

“CAPTAIN?” Called out a very strained and scared voice muffled by a glass enclosure.

“What is it Emerald Shield?” I called out looking over my shoulder at the green mare in the barrier pod.

“I CAN”T HOLD THIS MUCH LONGER!” She cried out straining to hold her shield spell up.

“Helm! Full evasive maneuvers--” I was about to order return fire but I was cut off.

“Magical energy signature from the transport, sir! It’s a weapon!”

“What?” Before I could say anymore a dark pink pulse blasted from the transport ship. When it hit our barrier Emerald screamed in pain. The Barrier shattered like glass and the bombardment struck our hull with vengeance. The whole ship shook violently as high explosive shells struck our armor, cannon slugs impacted with a jolt, and missiles blew components off with each strike. Our point defense was spraying in all directions in an attempted to stop as many missile as possible.

“We have to get out of here! Jump the ship!” My number one yelled out. Barely holding on to the railing.

“HELM! Emergency jump now!” My helms pony didn’t even respond. He just lifted his hoof and smashed a piece of glass covering a big red button. But, nothing happened. He hit it again. Still nothing!

“Jump drive is down!” Called out Hot Wire.

“How much more of this can our armor take?” I turned to my number one.

“Fifteen seconds at most!” He yelled looking over a console. I looked to Hot Wire.

“Get to engineering! If you can’t fix it, call abandon ship.” She nodded, spared her wings and in one flap was gone down the hall. I jump off my chair and made my way to the Barrier chamber.

“Fire all weapons try to take out one of the destroyers.” I opened the chamber and grabbed Emerald Shield. Removing the crown from her head, I unceremoniously tossed her out. I Slammed the crown down on my own head, closing the chamber to focused.
A rush of magic filled my horn. It felt like a slug hammer hit me in the forehead. The energy was unrefined but, strong. I cursed under my breath, but managed to focus it into a spell, releasing a barrier surrounded our ship again. Each time a cannon shell or missile hit the barrier it felt like somepony had hit me with a hammer. The energy beams where worse, they felt like a dagger raking across my flanks.

Hot Wire’s voice called out form the InCom speakers around me. “Captain! The reactor has two fractured crystals! I’m not-AH!” My eyes shot open at her cry. “Are you ok?” “Fine. I’m not sure if we can jump. The power regulator is fried.”

I closed my eyes again from the news and more pain. Trying to hold the barrier and thinking of a solution at the same time wasn’t working. “Make the call, Hot Wire!” She went silent for moment. “Jump the moment it comes back online. I have an idea.” The Com line closed and I was left to my task to keep the barrier up.

My barrier only lasted a few seconds longer, but it felt like I had gone through an eternity of pain and suffering. The barrier faded to a low glow, then shattered like the last one. I fell out of the chamber barley conscious. The ship began to buckle under the bombardment. I was tossed about, not strong enough to hold on.

Just when I thought we were done for. My helms pony cried out. “Jump drive online!”

“JUMP NOW!” I called with all I had left. His hoof hit the button and in the blink of an eye everything stopped. No shaking. No explosions. No return fire. A variable silence compared to where we were.

“Jump complete, Captain!”

The whole ship lurched as the familiar star speckled blackness of space molded back into its place. Groans echoed though the ship’s hull as the emergency jump effect quickly wore off. Sparking power cables and smoke pluming tubes hung from the overhead. Several of my crew held different parts of their body in pain from getting thrashed about during the trouncing we just escaped.

“Report!” I groaned.

“Hull breaches on nearly every deck. The super structure has buckled on decks 2, 3, and 5.” My number one moved from screen to screen calling out our status as ordered. “Casualty report still coming in. Our magical energy reactor has fractured three of our four crystals. Life support stable, long range Coms are dead, short range Coms nominal, navigation is rebooting, and our weapons array is fried.” He looked away from the screens to me with wide eyes. “We’re lucky to be in one piece, let alone able to fly.”
I nodded in full realization of the situation. My mind raced with information and plans on how to resolve our current dilemma. Unfortunately, my train of thought was interrupted by a Com call from engineering. At first all I could hear was sparking and pops. Then a stallion spoke up coughing.

“Captain, we have a situation here.” More coughing fallowed.

“What’s the problem, Ratchet?” I had managed to get to my hoofs and hit the replay button on the display.

“You need to get down here. It’s Hot Wire.” A sharp breath clenched at my chest and my eyes widened. My chin quivered in doubt despite my fear locked body. I suddenly found the strength to run as fast as I could to engineering. My legs fumbled over debris in the hallways. In my panic I cared little for the other crew in my way.

The door to the engine room was closed and I slammed into the door at full speed. I heaved for breath as it looked in through one of the windows in the door. I could see her, she was laying on the floor. Not moving. I tried to teleport to the other side, but my horn fizzled out.

“Aah! No!” I cried turning to a panel on the wall. I tried to remove the sheet of metal that covered the manual door crank with my horn, and again it fizzled out. “Aah!” I yelled in frustration turning on the spot and bucking it with everything I had. The plate bent in and I pulled it off with my teeth. I grabbed the handle and cranked it as fast as I could.

The door creaked and squealed as it slowly opened. My muscles ached and my burst of energy was wearing off. My breathing was ragged and sweet filled my coat. Tears filled my eyes from pain I had never felt before. Finally the door was open enough for me to squeeze myself through. My body screamed at me to stop. My heart pounding in my chest threatening to pound it’s way out. My legs buckled more than once as I made my way to Hot Wire.

I collapsed next to her. Her chest was slowly moving up and down. A glimmer of hope struck me. I pulled myself to her, supporting her head I picked her up. She slowly turned to look at me. Again I froze in fear. Looking over her body the full realization hit me. She was dying. Her entire left side was burnt to a crisp, including her face. Her left wing was missing, only a charred pile of ash remained.

“Did it work?” Her voice struck my heart like a dagger. Tears started to flow freely and my whole body trembled.

“Y-yes. Yes it worked Hot Wire. We’re safe.” She smiled and opened her mouth again. But, no words came out. I read her lips the best I could through my tears.

I love you.

Pain akin to nothing else filled my heart, like a part of it had been ripped out. Mournful cries bellowed from me as I lost all control of my body and yet my troubles where still not over. The Coms crackled to life.

“Enemy contacts jumping in 100 kilometers out. Captain to the bridge!” My number one’s voice roared over the Com. I lifted my head from Hot Wire’s body. The edges of my vision was starting to darken. I gently laid her on the floor and started to rise to my hoofs when my vision went black.