HMS Endeavor, Mission Clock at 21:15
Dusk

When I thought of something less intimidating than power armor the last thing I’d expect to find in the armory was a captain’s uniform. “I guess it’s time to make an impression…” I muttered to myself before hitting the door button for the bridge. The door slid open to reveal the ten assembled ponies, cats and human all surrounding the holotable. “Sorry to keep you all waiting.”

Amore was the first one to pay me any mind. “Don’t worry about it Dusk, we were just all getting acquainted. I believe you know Tygra?”

I glanced at the cat in question and nodded. “Judging by what you said back on your ship, I take it that at least some of you have had some dealing with Pumyra.”

Some looks made their way among the cats before the one standing next to Amore nodded. “Pumyra was one of us at one point… But after Thundera fell she was twisted and became an agent of Mumm-Ra. She betrayed us and handed him a powerful artifact in the process.”

“It’s goes without saying that we’re all still a bit raw over it.” Tygra added.

“Fair enough, in similar circumstances I’d probably still be sore myself.” I said. “But now onto a bigger question. Who is this ‘Mumm-Ra’? I know the name, but how dangerous is this guy?”

“Incredibly, and that’s probably putting it a bit lightly.” The large imposing figure that Rush identified as Panthro explained. “He’s a warmonger bent on dominating every species on Third Earth. The only thing we have going right now is that he isn’t at full power.”

“Then let's solve that.” I offered. “Greyscale?”

The AI’s avatar appeared over the table and managed to elicit some looks of surprise and confusion from the cats. “I’m online sir.”

“What do you have on that structure?”

Over the table blue holographic representation of the pyramid developed. “Based off of my scans it appears that there is a rather strong shield of some sort protecting it. As such bombardment with missiles or the point defense guns would likely prove ineffective.”

I nodded and looked over at the cat standing next to Amore. “Too bad for Mumm-Ra that we’ve got a trump card. Greyscale, give me a firing solution for the MAC.”

“While I can give you a firing solution, that is the best that I can do.” The AI answered, easily taking the wind out of my sails.

“And why is that?” I asked.

A diagram of the ship appeared over the holotable with the MAC and the associated systems all marked as grey. “It appears that one of the main power conduits down in the engineering section was disabled when the Lucian Alliance boarded us yesterday, and it has yet to be repaired.”

“Damnit…” I muttered. “Archer? Take Amore and Blueblood. I want that MAC back online.”

“But neither of us know the specifics to the MAC or it’s systems.” Archer pointed out.

“Grey will walk you through the repair.” I groaned in return. “Now get going!”

As Amore stepped away from the holotable I saw Panthro step back as well. “I’ll go see what I can do.”

After a few seconds I heard the door slide open, and then closed after the third pair of footsteps walked out into the corridor. “So what now?” Tygra asked.
“Now that they’re out of the way I can get to work.” I said as I nodded at Rush. “Grab the medical kit and get the defibrillator ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Greyscale, initiate a twenty second vent cycle on the bridge airlock. Keep those outer doors closed and keep an eye on the occupant’s lifesigns.” I ordered, making an about face and marching over to the airlock’s inner door.

“Do you realize what you’re doing?” Amore’s companion asked.

“Damn right I do. Get ready Rush!”

As I looked through the glass I could see that Pumyra must have woken up at one point, because she was against the bottom of the door and banging on it. “Damnit, you’re gonna kill her!”

“That’s the idea.” I checked the status panel next to the door, the readout now saying ‘cycle complete’. After another moment the banging stopped. “Grey, what do you got?”

“The prisoner’s life signs are fading.” The AI replied. “I’m detecting a heartbeat but no respiratory activity, compartment temperature is now at -100 degrees celsius.”

I felt someone grab the collar of my jacket and whip me around. “You’re insane!”

Tygra managed to haul the other cat off me rather quickly. “Lion-O, just calm down!”

“Sir, I’m no longer detecting lifesigns.” Grey announced.

I turned back around and hit the release. There was a rush of air into the airlock as the door hissed open, allowing the lifeless cat to slump over. Rush beat me to the punch, dragging the lifeless body out of the opening before the airlock doors resealed. “Get ready Rush…” I knelt down and lifted Pumyra’s left eyelid open. For a split second her iris was purple, but immediately faded to a brilliant hazel color. “All right, hit her!” I yelled as I put scrambled back to my feet.

Rush didn’t bother trying to move the cat’s armor out of the way. He instead slapped the paddles against the metal chestplate and released over one hundred volts of electricity. Pumyra convulsed for a moment before relaxing against the deck. Rush quickly tossed the defibrillator off to the side and pressed two of his fingers to the side of Pumrya’s neck. “I’ve got a pulse…” He then moved his hand and held it palm-up over her mouth. “And she’s breathing.”

That was all I needed to hear to relax. “Good…” I turned around and for a moment forgot for that five of our guests had watched the whole ordeal. I looked to the two younger members of the group. “Listen, you two go down to the infirmary and break out some blankets. I’ve got a feeling that our friend here is going to be a bit cold when she wakes up.”

As the two young cats took off, they were followed by the only standing female, leaving Tygra and Lion-O standing and watching. “Just what makes you think she’ll be cold?” Tygra asked.

“Pumyra was just exposed to hard vacuum. That’s cold enough where even momentary exposure could induce hypothermia.” I explained. “She easily was exposed for ten seconds at minimum.”

“Then tell me this…” Lion-O said, stepping forward in an attempt to likely intimidate me. “Why did you do it?”

“Did you ever see the purple coloring in Pumyra’s eyes?” I asked. “When we were fighting I saw it. It was the same color as Mumm-Ra’s magic, and now it’s gone.”

“We did something similar to this with one of our officers.” Rush said as he got to his feet. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to actually go through with something quite like this.”

I shrugged in response. “Well if Mumm-Ra can revive and brainwash a living being, I can do that and break the control.”

“And just what made you think of that?” Tygra asked.

“When we were fighting down on the planet Pumyra said something about killing me so Mumm-Ra could make a general out of me.” I said as I knelt down next to the stirring cat. “It wasn’t too much of a stretch to put two and two together in that Mumm-Ra did something similar to her.”

Suddenly Pumyra’s eyes sprung open and she sat up panting like she had run a mile. “Whiskers, it’s cold!” She yelled as she started shivering.

I unzipped my jacket, pulled it off and threw it around the cat’s shoulders. “Just take it easy, you’re alright.”

Pumyra must have recognized my voice because her head almost spun right off with how fast she turned. “Didn’t I try to kill you?”

“And you failed miserably.” I said softly. “Believe me, you weren’t the first to fail at it. Now how do you feel? Other than cold of course, considering that we already established that fact.”

Pumyra was silent for a moment as she started down at her feet. “There’s nothing there…” I heard her whisper.

“You mean a lack of an imposing presence in your mind? Everything seems to be clearer?” I asked in return.

The cat nodded. “How did you know?”

“I’ve dealt with my fair share of brainwashed peons in my time.” I said, patting the cat’s shoulder. “You think you can stand?” Pumrya didn’t nod or say anything, instead stumbling as she tried to get to her feet. I looked at Rush, pointed and wrapped Pumyra’s arm over my shoulder. “Alright, one, two…” Rush didn’t wait for the last count before he started getting up. By the time the three of us were on our feet, Pumyra was starting to look rather dizzy. “You OK?”

Pumyra nodded. “Just a bit light-headed.”

I felt Rush tap my arm, and I leaned back around Pumyra’s head. “Infirmary then?”

I nodded. “Where else would we go?”

***

Endeavor Infirmary, One Hour Later

When we showed up in the infirmary I was glad to see that the young cats had gathered just about every blanket off the various infirmary beds and piled them by the door. But as soon as we showed up Amore took Pumyra off of Rush and I before herding both of us out into the hall with the cats that had come down earlier, Cheetara, Wilykit and Wilykat. It was a good forty five minutes before the former princess let any of us into the infirmary. As Amore put it, ‘Give us some privacy!’. When she finally let us back in she had managed to get Pumyra out of her armor and into a set of scrubs that she had dug out of the store room, and had wrapped the cat under a pile of at least three heavy blankets. Only Lion-O joined the rest of my crew in the infirmary, his own companions opting to avoid the infirmary all together.

Since being let in there had been an uncomfortable silence that no one seemed to want to break. Finally Archer had enough and broke the ice. “Wonderful weather we’re having.” She innocently observed.

While weather didn’t do us any good in the artificially supported environment of the Endeavor, Archer’s question successfully broke the tension in the room. In an unexpected turn Pumyra actually smiled, something that I didn’t expect to see given her present situation. “I guess it is…” She muttered.

“So how are you feeling?” Blueblood asked.

“I could be worse.” Pumyra answered.

“You’re right. You could be worse.” Amore observed. “Dusk, you do know that you could’ve killed her, right?”

“Well I technically did.” I retorted. “Pumyra was dead for all of what? Thirty seconds?”

Amore rolled her eyes. “So why did you bring her aboard in the first place?”

“Because we need intel.” I said, turning my attention to Pumyra. “So what exactly were you doing for Mumm-Ra?”

“He recently made me one of his generals.” Pumyra offered.

“Was there anything specific he had you working on? Maybe something recent?” Archer asked, probably figuring where I was going with my questions.

“I was told to get his army ready to move. We had units returning to the pyramid to regroup, but I don’t know what he was planning to do with them.” She answered.

“So there’s a force of evil gathering his army for… Who knows what.” I said as I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Grey, can you monitor that pyramid?”

“I’ll get right on it sir.” The AI’s bodiless voice said.

“There is something else we should talk about.” Amore said as she picked up a tablet and tapped away at it, and a hologram grew from the small projector attached to it showing three separate charts. “I was going over some or sensor logs that we picked up, and I found something.” Two of the charts lit up after she said that. “This chart here on the left is the reading that our sensors took of the energy that was surrounding Equis when we first left. And this one here on the right is the background radiation of the Void.”

As I studied the charts an important thought came to mind. “Those look rather similar.” I observed.

“That’s what I said, and then I pulled up your armor’s sensor logs.” Amore said as the final chart lit up. “These are readings that your suit picked up when you confronted Mumm-Ra.”

I don’t think I was the only one a bit shook by the data that Amore was laying out. While the intensity scales for each chart were drastically different, the energy itself was identical. “Could Mumm-Ra be responsible for the attack on Equis?” Archer asked.

“I don’t know…” Pumyra said. “I know he’s powerful but this… I just don’t know.”

“Well there’s obviously a connection.” I said. “Pumyra you’re our resident hands-on expert on Mumm-Ra, and we know he’s gathering his army. Even if he isn’t responsible, he’s still a threat we can’t ignore.”

“I’ll go let the others know what’s happening.” Lion-O said, finally breaking his silence just before he left the infirmary.

“So what happens now?” Pumyra asked. “Am I still your prisoner?”

“Not even close.” I said, trying to sound reassuring. “I don’t know what your history with Lion-O and the rest of those cats is, but I doubt they’ll be all that willing to let you tag along with them. So I’ve got an offer for you…”

“Here we go again...” Blueblood muttered.

“What?” I asked as I turned to look at the prince. “There’s still only five of us and an AI, and we still need to run this ship.” I turned back to Pumyra and tried to smile. “I want you to join us Pumyra. We need all the help we can get, and I don’t think that staying up here is all that appealing to you.”

“You’re right.” Pumyra replied. “I have no problem joining your little group on a trial basis, only because I don’t know any of you yet. But I do have one question.”

I nodded. “What is it?”

“What do you call yourselves?” The cat asked.

It took a moment, but I finally realized what Pumyra meant. We’ve been at this for about a day and we’re really just a nameless bunch of misfits. But then it hit me. We didn’t need to come up with a new name, but we could revive an old one. “Well Pumyra… Welcome to Blaze Squad.”

Author's Note

Damn, Dusk is stone-cold, isn't he? As time goes on we'll see a bit more to that side of him...

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