"D-don't leave me a-alone...P-please, I don't want to die y-yet...It's really c-cold in here...."

"Steel Rain reporting, Admiral."

Admiral Miles was looking out of the bridge into the empty space when Steel entered. Miles was in his Black uniform, which was covered with medals from previous operations and combat against Equestrian Space Navy, the uniform also had the strips of royal purple to show his rank and relation to high command. He had a red coat with blue and black hair, his eyes the same color as the blue in his hair. He stared outward before turning his head slightly and looking at the reflection of Steels' form on the window. "Centurion, where is the rest of your squad?" he asked not looking back behind him.

"They are on the way. Should be anytime now, Sir," Steel stated calmly.

Miles made a small grunt of acknowledgement and continued staring outward, studying the stars and their beauty as well as thinking and choosing his words, all the while blocking out the sounds of troopers working on the computers in the bridge. He released a quiet sigh before turning around to face Steel, who was still stiff at attention for him, "Rest Centurion, you know as well as I that you don't need to do that," Miles pointed out.

Steel relaxed visibly and nodded, "I know... It's more of a habit or instinct," He admitted.

Miles chuckled, "Years in the army will do that to ya."

The sound of doors opening sounded through the bridge as the rest of the squad fell in. Miles watched them enter and come up behind Steel, giving small greetings to each other before falling quiet and looking at Miles expectantly.

Miles scanned them to make sure they were all here before beginning the mission debrief, "About time you all got here. We must start immediately," he said before waving them to a table in the middle of the bridge. They stood around it waiting for Miles to start. "Alright," he tapped the table with a hoof, bringing up a massive ship in the middle, it rotated slowly on an axis, "This is the research ship: Ut Bellum. This ship had gone quiet for quite some time, even IPESC messaged me to check it out," he paused to make sure they were listening, "When we just got into transmission range we got a message," he stopped and pressed a few buttons on the table.

A beep sounded from it as the Carmina Buranas' basic AI voice came out, "Message from the IRS Ut Bellum recording being played."

A screen showed up in place of the ship that was in the middle of the table. It show a unicorn scientist along with a few ponies behind him cowering in what seems like fear. "This is Doctor Testskript of the IRS Ut Bellum, along with the surviving crew inside the Coms Center." A loud bang got his attention and the others on screen. He sighed, "I'm running out of time to relay this message, but you must avoid this ship or destroy it..." Blizzard had a worried look on appear her face along with a few other members of the squad as gunfire and screams sounded from the audio background. Steel remained still with a stoic gaze. "I don't care how important or how expensive this ship is but you must understand one thing: If this gets out, all life as we know it will cease to exist or possibly be dreadfully endangered. Like I said, I don't care what valuable research is on here but you must destroy this ship!" The doctor yelled at the camera. Taking a deep breath he looked up at it, as if defeated, "Dr Testskript signing off." Right before the message ended, the sound of doors breaking open and dozens of screams and shrieks sounded throughout the bridge as the screen on the table cut out to static.

Miles sighed, getting most of the squad's attention, "Well there you go. The message of the year." He moved away and stepped up to the higher parts of the bridge before turning to them again. "That's why we must go and figure out what happen on that ship. Disregard what the doctor said on there, you are soldiers of the IPE and YOU will solve this mystery. Not only that but, command it whining at me to send a team there," he said with a hoof gesture towards them. "You will be given a transport to the Ut Bellum hanger bay. From there you will go around to the ships' main parts; The armory, cargo bay, Coms Center, Bridge, the Labs, and then back." The ship hologram had come back in the middle of the table and was marking locations of the said areas with a red dot. "The ship's power will possibly be offline, so you will need to turn that back on. To make things easier of course." A new dot pinged on the hologram at the back of the ship. Gearbox looked oddly giddy Striker noticed, if the almost jittery movements of his augmented limbs were any sign.

After a short silent study of the ship in front of him, Steel nodded curtly and looked at Miles, "It will be done."

Miles smiled, "Thank you Centurion."

Steel nodded once before facing the squad, "Well, lets get going. Pack up and go to Hanger bay 3 when you are ready. You will find a transport with me next to it." The squad nodded or murmured affirmative before leaving with Steel to their respective rooms.

"And Centurion..." Right before Steel could fully leave, he turned to see Miles looking at him, "Good luck and keep them safe."

Steel's lips rose a bit into a small smile, "Thank you, sir and I will."

Author's Note

Royal Purple Strips This shows the Elites or high commanders of the IPE. They are usually on Commissars(when they were still around), Admirals, Centurions(if they want to), and privileged troopers. When one is around one, they must always be at attention for them unless they have the Strip as well or they say otherwise.

This is a bit short, I'll be honest it feels longer when I wrote it....
The next one should be a long one.