Two Minutes Later…

As the Regent blew out of the lower bay of the Redoubtable the radio lit up. “We’ve got an incoming contact… Oh shit.” From my position in the cockpit of the heavily modified Condor we could see a massive ship glide through the slipspace portal. Even at the great distance I could still get an impression that the ship was far larger than even the cruiser that we were facing.

“Forget about that thing, we’ve still got a job to do!” What you could notice on the Regent was how you rock about in a maneuver, due to less than optimal inertial dampening. As we banked towards the Pioneer you could feel the sliding motion in the seat of your pants. Even as the forward shields flared under fire from the destroyer. “Although we still need to get aboard that ship…”

“Roland calling HMS Regent, do you copy?”

The voice sounded entirely foreign to me, yet this individual managed to pick up on our comms channels. “This is Commander Dart. Who am I speaking with?”

The old holotank off to my left flickered to life and a golden-colored figure of a human developed. “I’m Roland, AI of the UNSC Infinity. What’s your situation?”

My thoughts immediately flashed back to the large ship that had only just dropped out of slipspace moments before. “I’m sorry, but why would I tell a potential enemy anything?”

“Because we wouldn’t be here unless Dusk didn’t send a bunch of highly sensitive files to the head of Fleetcom.” The AI retorted.

The name of my missing predecessor stuck in my mind for a brief moment. “Dusk?” I asked.

“The one and only.” said Roland. “Right now he’s leading a team down to the surface, Dodge City to be precise. In the meantime Infinity should be able to keep the Anvil distracted so you can do… Well, whatever it is you’re planning.”

“If you’re on our side can you get me a copy of the remote access codes to the Pioneer?”

“Wait for it… Done!” A set of codes flashed across the readout in front of me. “You should be able to trigger the universal docking port on the aft part of the superstructure.”

I turned around in my chair and nodded at Comet. He typed away for a few seconds before a light blinked green on his display. “We’ve got access. Your orders?”

“Shut down their weapons.” I ordered. As I turned back to the controls I noticed a few more splashes of rounds against our forward shields, followed by a whole lot of nothing. “Alright, stand by.” I brought the Regent in over the top of the ship, bringing it to a halt perpendicular to the yellow-striped docking port.

“Do you even know how to dock this thing?” Roland asked.

For a moment I thought that I did, but instead shook my head. “I take it you’re offering to take the stick?”

Roland’s hologram nodded. “I think you’ve got some work to do Commander.”

I abandoned the chair and walked back into the troop compartment. In addition to my unit Captain Sentry had assembled three other teams of Special Forces operators. But today those fifteen ponies instead were working as temporary assignments to Blaze Squad. Suddenly the deck shuddered and a hissing was heard from the rear compartment door. “Looks like we’re hooked up…”

“What’s the plan Commander?” Flash asked.

“Alpha will take the bridge, the rest of you hold here and try to get access to ship systems from the local terminals.” I replied. “Once you manage to do that start sealing off the crew where you can. That should help lessen resistance.”

Flash nodded and got up from his chair. “Then let's get to work.”

I didn’t need to say anything else, as my unit was had already made their way to the hatch. As I joined them Steeljack handed me an assault rifle. “You good?”

I nodded, then reached over and hit the release for the hatch. It opened to reveal a tunnel about twenty feet long that led to an open hatch, showing one of the Destroyer’s corridors. I would’ve imagined that in the seconds it took to board the ship that some crew would’ve already tried to prevent our progress… Yet even as I took a position to cover the docking port there wasn’t any sign of crew or ship security.

“You know, most ponies don’t just let someone walk in their front door unannounced.” Strike observed.

“Knucklehead over here might be onto something.” Comet added. “We should be up to our necks in security by now.”

“Sentry, find a terminal.” I ordered. “Alpha, we’re moving on the bridge!”

As Don led us down the corridor away from the docking port my radio chirped to life. “Commander, Roland here. How are things looking over there?”

“They’re going Roland.” I replied. “It’s a bit quiet though…”

“So no security?”

“Nope. Not even a red carpet.”

Roland hummed something to himself over the radio before snapping out of his apparent train of thought. “Well this is odd. Internal sensors are showing three people right on top of you… But the system keeps resetting. Call me crazy but I don’t think that they’re working right.”

“Sounds like we're running on visuals.” Don observed.

“Exactly what I was thinking Sargent.”

Don sighed, probably rolling his eyes under his visor. “It’s Lieutenant Commander these days.”

“When did that happen? You’re a-”

“I’m not an ODST, not anymore Roland.” The trooper said. “Officially I’m a member of the Royal Guard.”

Roland didn’t say anything for a minute, obviously processing what he had just heard. “What exactly happened? Dusk’s files make reference to ONI assisting the Enclave-”

“ONI tried to kill all the humans that are working with us Roland.” Comet said, cutting off Don. “They obviously failed miserably when you take into account that we’ve got just shy of seven hundred of them helping us fight both ONI and the Enclave.”

“Just shy of seven hundred? All three of the ships had full complements when they went missing. What happened?”

“Where we didn’t have a destination solution.” Don explained. “When we didn’t drop out of slipspace with In Amber Clad, Captain Baxter realized that our drive core was drawing power. The crews on Coral Sea and Redoubtable must’ve realized the same thing because they forced drive core shutdowns. We didn’t have to do a thing because we got pulled back into realspace with the other two ships.”

“They forced a core shutdown while in slipspace?”

Don nodded. “And they suffered the consequences accordingly. The shutdown created a massive radiation pulse… Every single person on the Redoubtable and Coral Sea died in agony. We managed to recover and decontaminate the ship's two years ago, and even then it took Princess Celestia the better part of a week to work her magic and make those ships save to board. Four years had already passed, so there was a significant amount of decomposed matter that needed to be cleared off those ships… We inevitably loaded the corpses into a pelican that was remotely piloted into the sun. After another week of sterilization work both ships were brought planetside and hidden away in the Everfree until we could repair them.”

“So how long have you been using them?” Roland asked.

“About two days ago we captured an Enclave drydock on some island in the Western Sea.” I said. “Repairs and retrofits were only finished on Redoubtable and Coral Sea earlier today. It was either get them ready or we’d only have that franken-Condor and the Paris to stare down ONI’s task group.”

“Franken-Condor… You mean to tell me that a species with little to no experience in constructing space-capable craft managed to make a bunch of retrofits and modifications on what were essentially hand-me-downs in the matter of two days?”

I forced off a shrug and smirked. “We’ve got one really smart pony that spearheaded the effort. And even her work was based off of prior designs and notes that Dusk developed when he constructed the Guardian.”

“Now that brings back some memories…” Steeljack muttered. “I remember when he first showed Twilight that ship. I know the mare is smart, but that was a whole different side to her… She reminded me of a kid that just had a candy bar for the first time.”

“It was something new for her to learn.” I added. “Right after he disappeared the only other pony who could make sense of Dusk’s notes and designs was Twilight, so I had copies made and given to her.”

“So this Twilight character… What does she do?”

“Officially she’s one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, a set of magical artifacts that have been used in times of crisis throughout our history. Other than that she’s picked up the ceremonial title “Princess of Friendship” after she ascended to Alicornhood, but she is essentially a researcher for the Princess.”

Something flashed Don’s shoulder and Roland’s avatar finally joined us. “From what I understand your species hasn’t seen war and its effects until relatively recently. And you’ve got a civilian designing weapons of mass destruction when compared to your own level of technological development. How the hell does this lady handle it?”

“Twilight has proven surprisingly adaptable.” I pointed out. “As have the other five bearers of the Elements. About a week after Dusk’s disappearance there was an attack staged against a carnival in Manehattan while the six of them were visiting… Suffice to say they’ve all seen some psychological scarring, but from that day Twilight viewed it as her duty to use her knowledge to develop defenses that we could use, while the others have put a wide berth between the war. As a matter of fact the Regent served as Twilight’s testbed and prototype for designs she derived from Dusk’s notes.”

“You’re forgetting she only chose to use it after she kept failing to put the Guardian back together.” Steeljack added. “That was what, a month after Redoubtable was stationed in the Everfree?”

I nodded. “Right about then if I remember correctly.”

“So you’ve got a genius working for you.” Roland observed. “That's great and all, but how did Dusk even come up with half of his ideas?”

“If I may…” Comet interrupted. “Roland, as I’m sure you’re aware we undertook an extra-universal mission number of years ago.”

“Dusk’s data does have a written account of the incident… It was the first Wasteland Expedition, right?”

Comet nodded. “Exactly. After his encounter with the Project Ichor database, Dusk’s whole method of thinking changed. While the memories did eventually fade from his reach, we’ve theorized that there was enough raw technical data forced on him to influence his thinking. He can’t simply recite the information that he obtained, but he’s been prone to bursts of ‘inspiration’ in which he drew up his weapons designs. I can only assume that it's the presence of the knowledge in his subconsciousness that been feeding those efforts.”

“Well that’s definitely different…”

“It certainly is.” I replied. By now we had made it to a far wider hallway deeper in the vessel. “Roland, you have a map. Where are we now?”

“Main access corridor to the bridge.” The AI answered. “Wide enough where the crew can erect barricades and establish fighting positions if boarded.”

As I looked down the empty hallway I couldn’t help but frown. “And there still isn’t any signs of the crew… Roland?”

“Give me a minute…” I saw his avatar frown then shake its head. “Sensors are still acting up. I’ve got nothing.”

It almost seems too good to be true… But I’ve got a nagging feeling that we’re walking into a trap. “Who’s got flashbangs?” I asked.

Don pulled one off his belt and tossed it to me. “And I’ve got a few more where that came from.”

I simply pointed at both sides of the large sliding door at the end of the hall. “Alright, prep to breach.”

Roland’s avatar blinked out of existence as Don and I took up positions on either side of the door. Comet and Strike took their places behind us while Steeljack pulled a crowbar off his belt and stuck it in the seam of the door. With some work he managed to pry enough room so he could fit his hands in and make use of the enhanced physical abilities that Project Ichor provided. After a few seconds of struggling he managed to open the door enough where a small hole was created in the center.

Don quickly stepped forward with another flashbang, chucked the pin clear and tossed the grey cylinder through the opening.

BANG!

As traces of smoke began to waft through the opening I pulled the emergency release for the door. As it silently slid back to reveal the bridge itself another important discovery was revealed.

“There’s no one here.” Don observed as the five us us marched into the destroyer’s nerve center.

As we made our way past the rows of computer monitors I noticed that a number of them simply read ‘R/C’. “Are you seeing this Roland?”

“Indeed I am.” The AI replied. “Mr. Tremble’s helmet camera is functioning just-”

“Then what are we looking at?” I asked, cutting off the AI.

“R/C is an abbreviation for remote control… Mr. Tremble, can you plug your tacpad into one of these stations?” Don didn’t say a word as he pulled a tether out from under his left greave and plugged it into the open port on the tactical console. “There we go, just give me-” Suddenly the screens flashed, and they all turned blue. “Got it. Looks like the Anvil had full control of the Pioneer. Transmitting the access codes caused the whole system to freeze up, and that messed with the false sensor readings that boarding parties were meant to find.”

I strode forward to the helm and noticed that it was reading ready. “Do we have full control of the ship?” I asked.

“You do.” said Roland. “What are you planning?”

“Well to start I need a full inventory.” Don pointed out. “Can you find it?”

“Already done.” Roland replied. Across the bridge screens reports began to scroll across. “From the look of things the Pioneer only has functioning point defense guns. There’s no missiles, no nukes, no-”

“Will it still blow up?” I asked.

“It certainly will. What are you thinking? Maybe ram the-”

“I need a collision course laid in Roland.” I pulled out a small thumbdrive and plugged it into the open port on the helm. “You’ll find the coordinates stored on the removable drive.”

Roland’s avatar appeared in front of me, along with a map of the Badlands with the location of the Enclave base highlighted. “Using the Pioneer as the missile? Good thinking.” Almost immediately after he said that the screen lit up with flashing red letters; collision warning “Autopilot is set and all the safeties are disabled. Anything else that you need done?”

“Set the atmosphere to vent once the Regent breaks away.” Steeljack ordered. “I highly doubt that the crew on the Anvil will simply allow their oversized drone to crash into an ally’s facility.”

I nodded in agreement. “Can you do it Roland?”

“Consider it done Commander.” Roland’s avatar disappeared once more and Don unplugged his remote line. “Starting now you’ve got two minutes to get off this bucket, otherwise you’ll end up extra crispy.”

“Fine by me.” I muttered. “Let’s go home Alpha!”

Instead of the cautious walk in the five of us broke into a run. All around us speakers blared alarms while a scratchy feminine voice kept repeating ‘collision warning’. In the few minutes that it took us to reach the docking port I started noticing flashes of orange light flare across the outer windows. Even crossing the extended port you could tell that there was a distinct difference of air temperature.

I didn’t even stop once I made it to the Regent’s cockpit, but even the view out the window was starting to take on an orange glow beyond the flaring of the shields. “Hurry up with that hatch!” I yelled.

I didn’t have to look down at the display, Comet instead rushed in and got into the upper station. “We’re good to go.”

“Warning, shields are at 50%.” came the monotone Twilight-voiced alert.

“No sense in waiting around then.” I slammed the throttle all the way forward and the Regent bucked and a grinding noise made itself known throughout the ship before the deck lurched and I was able to maneuver the Regent up and out of the very outer layers of the atmosphere. But that calm was shattered by a shockwave that shook the entire ship, and sent ponies to the deck if the groans and yelps from the rear compartment were any indication.

“What the hell was that?” Comet managed to groan.

That’s when Roland’s avatar appeared in the holotank looking rather relieve. “Oh, good. You’re all still alive.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course we’re alive. Now would you mind telling me what the hell just happened?”

“You’re plan to use the Pioneer as a battering ram failed miserably.” Roland explained. “Looks like some charges went off on the fuel cells, blew the that old bucket apart and knocked it off course.”

“Well that’s a damn waste.” Comet muttered.

“You’ve essentially described the last two missions Comet.” I replied. His attitude changed the moment that his console began beeping. “We’ve got an incoming message. Priority from the looks of it.”

I hit the receive command on my terminal and the image changed from a blank screen to a human face. “Ah, Major Dooley. What’s can I do for the head of Castle security today?”

“You can start by getting your team down here Commander. I’ve got a VIP headed for our infirmary that needs a security detail.”

“Security?” Comet asked as he stood up over his station. “Why do you need operators to babysit? Don’t you have your own people for that?”

“I certainly do Corporal.” Dooley retorted. “But they don’t have Blaze Squadron’s training.”

I could only roll my eyes. “Fine… Who are we dealing with?”

“I don’t have a name just yet Commander, but I do know that the patient is dangerous.”

“What makes this ‘patient’ so dangerous that you need my team?” I asked.

“Its simple… You’re dealing with a Spartan.”

Author's Note

And now, coming eventually, will be the dreaded guard duty. But through that we get a reunion between Dart and Dusk, and some very important questions will be posed to the long-missing unicorn.

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker