Captain's log: After several long weeks of quiet, finally some action. A colony has given a distress signal. I wonder if the insurrectionists have come out of hiding after all these years. I've waited quite a long time to put an end to them. I have the best ship in Celestia's fleet, and a loyal crew. I'll show these rebels what happens when you mess with the Celestial Empire.
"CAPTAIN!" yelled the navigator, " Our long range sensors have picked up what shows to be a fleet coming out from the relay."
The captain put her hoof on her command station, and brought up the sensors data. What seemed to be three small size objects, and one huge one in the middle. Could it be the missing Lunar Fleet? It can't be the insurrection, they don't have the resources to build something that big. she thought to herself. She looked back at the navigator and said,"Does the Admiral know?"
"Yes captain, all ships in the fleet are moving into battle formation."
She pushed the intercom button on the station and addressed her crew,"All ponies, report to battle stations, we have unknown ships heading our way. If they want to pick a fight, I want the crew of the Element of Magic to show them that we are a force to be reckon with. For Celestia." She ordered her comms station to open a link to the Admiral. The pony complied and the a video of the Admiral appeared on the command station.
"Admiral Keyes, the Element of Magic is reporting." said the Captain.
"Good to hear captain. These unknown ships could either be friendly, or a threat. I pray to Celestia that they don't want to cause harm." said Admiral Keyes.
"Admiral, could they be possibly the insurrection or the Lunar Fleet?" asked the captain.
"That I cannot say. There's no possible way the insurrection could fund a fleet of no more than two ships after the last conflict. They could pull an attack on a colony though. It can't possibly be the Lunar Fleet, we have no records of any ship like the any of the ones we just scan. Just stay on your toes. I don't want to tell your mother that you are KIA." said Admiral Keyes.
"She was very resistant of me joining the Royal Navy, but once I became a captain of a ship, she stop her nagging so much." replied the Captain.
Admiral Keyes closed the call. He looked out to the dark of space. If they are hostile, I hope that fourteen ships can take them on. he thought. The fleet moved in a standard formation. Flagship in the middle, frigates on the outside and destroyers in between. They came towards the relay. The unknown fleet was sitting idle nearby the relay. Then it began to move toward the equestrian fleet. Keyes ordered all guns to be ready. The gap between them grew smaller.
"Sir! We have large heat trails heading our way. They just fired at us!" yelled a crew member.
It was what the Admiral feared. Seeing the ships much closer showed that they were not made by ponies. The fact that fired shots much farther than their ships shows these are much more advance in technology. The shots raced from the black of space, and they hit their marks. Keyes was knocked to the floor. He stood back up and pulled up the damage report. His ship already took severe damage. Several hull breaches, and one engine down. The diagram of his ship on the screen seemed to glow red. He looked above and saw more shots coming at his ship. He looked at the bridge and saw complete chaos. Fire was everywhere, many crew members wounded. He ordered them to get to escape pods, but when he looked in front, all he could see was a bright light heading right at him.
The flagship was destroyed. Explosions came all over, and then the ship cracked into pieces in one massive explosion. The rest of the fleet returned fire. Next two ships took direct hits. Severe hull breaches. Unfortunate ponies were flung out into the cold. The fleet manage to get a couple of hits on the hostile fleet, but it didn't do much to them. They kept returning fire, and every shot fired, another ship was destroyed.
"Naz, get us out of here!" ordered the Captain.
"We can't leave the battle! Plus where are we going to go? The enemy is right in front of us, and they are kicking our plots." replied Naz.
"We'll lose them in the relay. Put power into the engines. This will be a bumpy ride." said the Captain.
The Element of Magic's engines powered up. The craft began moving towards the relay, dodging all the fire from the enemy. It pulled a barrel roll over a ship, and punched it towards the relay. The Captain looked at her monitor to see the fleet. Out of the fourteen ships that came, so far six were destroyed. It did not stop either. One ship tired to make a run to the relay, but one round from the large enemy ship stopped it dead. Many ships began shooting escape pods. On the monitor, many escape pod shuttles appeared. The Captain only hopped that the enemy would allow them to live, but there would also be no help for them. If they are being invaded, the entire Celestial Fleet could not stop these invaders. Then there was a huge shake on the ship, that knocked everypony to the ground. It wasn't good, one of the engines had been hit. The pilot put the ship and gave it all it had left. They are in range of the relay. One of the ships turned around to pursue them. The purple craft was coming at them fast. The pilot asks the Captain where does she want them to go. The Captain responds,"Anywhere, but here."
The ship is shot off from the relay. Zooming through the galaxy faster than the speed of light, to an unknown location. The Captain felt guilt for leaving the battle. All the lives being lost back there in the dead of space. For many crews, it was their first mission. Others had family back on Equestira, or other colonies. She wanted to stay and fight, but it would have meant the entire crew would have lost their lives. Now she has to figure out how they can go back there, and tell everypony, that they are being invaded by a hostile alien race.
Going out of the relay, the ship kept moving at a quarter of light speed. Naz tired to slow it down, but the controls were not responding. He tired to maneuver the craft, but still no response. Next the proximity warnings lit up all over the ship. They were on a collision course onto a planet. With no hope of changing the course, the Captain got on the intercom and ordered her crew.
"All ponies brace for impact, we'll be hitting the planet pretty damn hard. Plus put on oxygen masks, better safe than sorry." she said on the intercom. She looked around and asked, "Anypony know how much time do we have before impact?"
"We have about 7minutes till we meet the surface." said the navigator.
"Naz, when we are about 75,000 feet from the surface, try to get this ship up. We be better off landing belly first, than taking a nose dive." she told Naz.
"Aye, aye Captain." replied Naz.
The ship started to heat up from the friction of the atmosphere. It only got hotter as the ship kept going down. It began getting warm inside the ship, and it was shaking. The Captain held on to a nearby bar, as the shaking got more and more violent. The ship made the decent mostly intact. About 75,000 feet Naz tried to pull the ship up. Slowly the nose of the ship raised up, till the crew in the bridge could see the horizon. Then the ship fell toward the planet's surface. "Thirty seconds till impact." said the navigator. The Captain held her breath and closed her eyes. This could be it. I may never see home again. What will my mother think of me? she thought. She could still remember the day she told her mother that she joined the fleet.
"You did what?" yelled her mother.
"Mom, I want to do this. I want to see the galaxy." she replied.
"No daughter of mine is going to be a space marine."
"Mom, I'm going into the navy. I will almost never see combat. Plus what are the chances we will find any other space-traveling civilizations. I'll be fine mom."
"No, you're going to cancel your enlistment, and go back to your studies."
"MOM, I'm not a filly, anymore. I can make my own decisions."
"I will..."
She opened her eyes, and saw the comm message was lighting up. Before she could do anything, "Three, two, one, BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!" yelled the navigator.
The ship hit the planet's surface hard. It scraped across the dusty world, kicking up a sandstorm. One part of the ship broke off, and was sent flying east. It kept going for about a mile before stopping. The ship could never fly again. The damage was too great. The Captain rose slowly from what use to be the bridge of the ship. She looked around, and saw several ponies dead. Crushed at their stations. The navigator was wounded, but could still walk. She walked toward where Naz's station. What she found him, severely wounded. He had blood coming out of his nose, ears. He had cuts all over him. He was barely breathing. He looked over to his commanding officer,"I did it Captain. I did it." before he passed away. The Captain closed his eyes, and took his tags.
"Yes you did Naz, yes you did." she said to him.
"Ma'am, I'm going to look for any more survivors." said the navigator.
"Do it." she replied.
The navigator walked off the bridge in search of survivors. Meanwhile, the Captain went back to her station. It was mostly intact. She looked for the comm message she received before the impact. She found it and played it.
"This is Admiral Hackett, Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet. You have enter Alliance territory, identify yourself or we will fire."
Too late for firing at us she thought.
She got onto the comm, hoping it will work. "This is Captain Astra Sparkle of the Element of Magic, Celestial Empire. My ship has crashed and we have wounded. I need assistance please."
She waited for a bit. Nothing but static. She bowed her head, "Well no one's going to save us." she said walking away.
"We will be at your position shortly. Stay where you are. I'm sending a team to help you."
Astra came out of the wreckage of her ship. It was one of the finest ships in the entire fleet, now just a pile of scrap metal. Anypony could still read the letters on the port side. Astra walked towards the rear of the wreckage. Everywhere there was wires, lights, monitors, shards of metal decorated the ground. The port side cannons were bent. She then spotted a group of ponies when she reached the rear of the ship. The group was only ten ponies all together. Astra felt much better that several crew members survived. The total crew of the Element of Magic was about fifty. She headed towards the group.
"Hey look Farsight, the Captain did make it after all." said a crew member.
"I told you Corporal, now shut it." replied Farsight the navigator.
Farsight snapped to attention to welcome his Captain. Astra told him to be at ease.
"Is this everypony Farsight?" asked Astra.
"All we found so far. There may still be more in the wreck." replied Farsight.
"Alright," said Astra,"All ponies listen here, I need you to go through the ship and find anything you can that be useful. Medical supplies, weapons, rations, even a tool-kit. If you find another pony, bring them out here. We'll need to hold out here till we are rescued. Now move!"
The ponies move in groups around the wreck. Looking for the best hole to go in. Astra asked Farsight, " Do we know where the flight navigation data storage unit is?"
Farsight responded, " In a Element-Class freighter, the F.I.N.D. is stored in the engineering room, but that was the part of the ship that broke off when we hit the planet."
"We need that storage unit. It's the only way find our way home." said Astra.
"Captain, how in Celestia are we going get off this damn rock. The ship is pretty much shit-hammered." replied Naz.
"We are going to find a way off this planet, and you best watch your muzzle around me. Once everypony is back, we'll camp out here for the night, and at dawn, I'm going to the engineering bay and finding that storage unit." stated Astra.
"I'll come along too," Naz said puffing his chest out,"It could be to dangerous to go alone, and we have no idea where it could be."
"Or I could just follow the trail our ship left behind." replied Astra.
"Yeah..." said Naz feeling less masculine. He walked toward the group of ponies who manage to get a small fire made from components found in the mess hall. Astra stayed where she was to look out in the horizon. She looked on to the star falling into the horizon. The sky gave a light purple hue around the star, the light made gave the mountains a orange-reddish color. Astra thought to herself,'This is beautiful. I'm not sure if I want to go back to Equestria after seeing this. A mare can dream.'Astra continued to look onto the horizon, watching the star fall. As the last ray of light hits it's mark, the star fell into the horizon, and the sky darkened. Astra went over to where the group had set up some beds.
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The star came once again over the horizon to shine anew day. Astra woke from her sleep, stretched out her legs, and woke Naz. It took Naz longer to get up, but he quickly grabbed some supplies for the journey. Astra puts on a hood to shade her face from the star. She picks up a couple of water containers, and places them in a bag. Naz told her that he was good for the trip. The two set off to find the storage unit.
Crossing the red sands of the desert, the two ponies drank their water slowly. The land was dry, the air was arid. The temperature was extremely hot. Naz felt sweat all over himself. Astra looked around for some shade for them to take a break. She found a tall rock. One big enough to block a large portion of the star. She walked over to the rock, and sat herself down. She removed her hood, and used her magic to ring out the sweat. . Naz made it over to the shade and collapsed. He was drenched in sweat.
"Captain, even if we find the storage unit?" asked Naz,"How are we going to get off this rock?"
"I'm not sure Naz. I don't know if Fleet Admiral Dash will be sending ships out to search for anypony who lived in the attack." replied Astra.
"We also made a jump through a relay, and now we are in the middle of nowhere. How are they going to find us? Plus if they made it over to this rock, there's no point in finding the storage unit." said Naz.
"Finding that unit is essential. Not only does it store all flight data from the ship, but it has a long range emergency signal. It was meant for crews who are lost in deep space missions." replied Astra.
"Then why is that not the main S.O.S. signal then?" asked Naz drinking his water.
Astra took a breath, " It requires a ton of power to operate. One of the ship's systems would have to be disabled in order to operate. Most crews disable the engines, or weapon systems to power it. Before you ask my how are we going to power it. I thought that part through. There are still energy cells left on the ship at we can still use. I plan on connecting them to the storage unit, and activating the signal. This thing packs a huge signal. They'll hear us back on Equestria."
"What are we waiting around here for," said Naz standing up,"let's go find it."
Astra smiled and the two ponies pressed on. The star climbed up the sky. The two shook off the heat as they knew they were getting closer. Soon enough, the engineering part of the ship could be seen. Astra had a feeling of relief come over her mind. Soon we will be back home,she thought to herself. The two reached the wreckage. Parts scattered everywhere. It was surprising that most of it was intact.
"I'm going in to find the storage unit," said Astra,"stay out here and..."
"Wait, what am I going to do out here?" said Naz.
"Well I was just going to say out here. After all if this wreck starts crumbling, you can't teleport out." replied Astra.
"Since you put it that way." said Naz.
Naz found some shade and sat under it. Astra entered the wreckage. Inside the wreckage it was semi-well lit. Mostly due to the daylight. As she descended into the wreckage, it became darker, and darker. A few of the lights would still flicker, giving off sparks as they slowly lit up. Exposed electric wire decorated the floor. Astra used her magic to make a light. She gingerly walked across the floor. One wrong step and she'll fry herself. Going farther in, she found some rather strange marks and rather strange burns on the walls. The walls seemed to have large holes cut into them. Around the edges there were burn marks. The walls had burn marks that made perfect circles. Several blood spatters painted the walls too. There had to be ponies in this part of the ship. If they got hurt, the blood would make sense, but it being splattered on the wall makes no sense. Plus any ponies who survived would have been outside. Why aren't there any of them here? she thought. She came across the room where the storage unit is housed. The doors were already opened. She entered the room. She looked where the storage unit is housed. What she found, put her in shock.
"WHAT IN CELESTIA!!! THE UNIT IS GONE?!" she yelled. She walked to the other side of the room and her mouth dropped in horror. It was the engineering crew. Their bodies have been all piled up. Dead. Several have many holes riddled through their bodies.'Who could have done such a thing. Nopony would ever do such a thing. 'She realized that whoever did this was not a pony. It all made sense to her now. The blood splatters on the wall where her crew mates being killed. The burned holes where made for who ever murdered them a way to move across the ship. They took whatever they see valuable. She knew she had to get back to Naz, and the rest of her crew. She ran toward the exit, when she hit something. There was nothing there. She looked closer and what she ran into started to become visible. Standing in front of her was a being standing on two legs. It wore black armor on it's body, and it towered over her. She looked at its face, it was covered by a strange looking helmet. It had parts that pointed out from the back of its head. The being raised something to its shoulder, and fired a shot. A feeling of sleeplessness fell over Astra's body, and she collapsed.
"Boss I found another one." said the being on the comm.
"Good my lieutenant, it seems there may be more of these creatures here than we thought." replied another voice, "Please tell me, did you kill it?"
"No, I kept this one alive. This one may have more information." said the being.
"A good choice, bring it out here. I already killed the one we found out here. My scouts found more of the ship south from here."
"I'll be out soon. Regar out."
Regar got off his comm radio, and looked at Astra's body. "Looks like we are going to see you friends. No need to prepare your ship with all the cleaning work. Oh no we don't need that. I'll say, it looks...lived in."
He picked up her body and exited the wreckage. He loaded her onto one of the parked vehicles. Several more beings stood around the vehicle, and loaded up after he went in. The armored-plated machines' engines roared as they drove off to find the rest of the wrecked ship.
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Astra's eyes opened slowly. She took a breath, and started to lift herself off the ground. Her sight was blurry, and her hearing was off. She looked towards her ship and saw her crew lined up with their faces close on the ground. As her vision became more clear, she also saw many creatures that stood on two legs all around. They were various sizes, and colors. There was a purple-bluish one that stood behind the mess hall chef. The thing was holding a rather strange looking stick. Then came a loud sound from it, and the mess chef's head was blown away. The other creatures cheered on.
Astra now stood up on all four legs, but was still completely disoriented. One of the creatures kicked her leg, and she lost her balance. She got a face full of dirt. Upon raising her head from the dirt, she saw a figure walking towards her. It bent down, and put its hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him. The figure glared at her with its dark hawk like eyes. It had red paint on its face. When it ever talked, there were two mandibles that moved away from the rest of the face. It was speaking to her.
"My, my your a pretty one. Judging from the look of your uniform, you may be the one in charge of all these...hhhmmmm...I believe I don't know who your people, but you might be the first to ever see anything like us. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Barla Vao. I am a Turian." said Barla with a calm tone. He forced Astra to look over at the purple-bluish thing that just killed her crew mate.
"That is an Asari. A rather mixed race you can say. They can be very smart people," he paused,"but as you can see they are also very, very violent." He shifted her head over to a large alien. The armor made it look like a living tank. "That's a Krogan. You don't want to piss them off. Trust me" he said scratching under her chin.
He took his hand away from under her chin. He grabbed something from his side, and pointed it at her face. "This here is a gun. These tend to...damage anything you point at. Understand me?"
Astra stared at him. Barla put the gun up to her face. Pressing the weapon on her cheek. "Understand?" he grunted.
Astra continued to stare at him saying nothing. Barla took his gun off her cheek, he pointed it at one of her crew members. It was Farsight. Farsight yelled to Astra. "CAPTAIN, JUST AGREE WITH HIM! WE CAN'..." and a shot rang out. Farsight's body fell to the dust.
"I understood him. Now I know you understand what I'm saying. Now tell me where did you come from." said Barla with authority.
Astra struggled to get a word out of her mouth.The feeling of seeing one of her crew dying in front of her sent shock waves down her spine. Barla stood over her, waiting for an answer. He lifted his hand and gave a gesture. His gang knew what it meant. They loaded their weapons, and stood in front of the rest of her crew.
"Kill them." said Barla.
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!" yelled Astra as her crew was massacred. All their bodies laid on the ground. Each of their lives cut short. She had a memory rush in her mind. The day she became Captain of the Element of Magic. She worked endlessly to know all her crew. She was thinking about it when Barla grabbed her and lifted her by her throat.
"Now tell me, where are you from." said Barla,"Also why is your tech so similar too..."
Before Barla could finish, Astra's horn began glowing. He let her go, and she levitated there. He backed away with his gun.
"BIOTICS!!!" yelled Regar. The rest of the gang pointed their guns at Astra. Barla slowly approached her. Astra replied," I'll kill you. As Celesita as my witness I will end you no matter what it takes."
"Rather bold words. Those are some rather fancy biotics. I never seen anything like it before." said Barla.
"I'll stand by my words. If I die here on this planet, I'll make sure I get you." snapped Astra.
"Don't be foolish. You clearly can't take all of us on." Barla calmly said.
"Watch me try you bastard. I've been in situations where I took on twice as many." said Astra.
"You still have much to learn,,,hm, I never got your name." replied Barla.
"I'll tell you, but you since you only have a short amount of time in existence. Captain Astra Sparkle of the Element of Magic. I am a protector of my homeland of Equestria. I vow to defend it till the end of my life." said Astra proudly.
"Astra, you still have much to learn. For example: your completely outnumbered and surrounded." explained Barla.
"That won't make much of a difference. I just need to get you before my life is taken away." snarled Astra. She put herself in a pouncing position. Her leg muscles ready themselves for her to leap right at Barla.
"You have completely neglected that we are also behind you. "
Astra quickly looked behind her, and she saw the black armored turian that stunned her in the wreckage. She made a quick decision and leap for Barla. Barla quickly stepped to his left. Regar lined up his shot. Astra landed on the ground kicking up a cloud of red dust. She shot a magic bolt at Barla. A purple beam shot from her horn. It went straight for Barla. He manage to his right, but the bolt scratched his arm. He let out a grunt in the burning pain it left. Astra ready another bolt, but then a shot rang and she felt her right hind leg in horrible pain. She let out an enormous scream in pain. It felt as if a burning torch was pressed on her leg. She dropped to the ground, trying to deal with the pain. She tried to move her leg, but all it led to was more pain. Barla got close to her. She tired to crawl away. Barla grabbed her by her purple mane, and twisted her around so she was looking at him. All she could see was his red painted face, with his dark eyes
"Always know where your enemies are. You don't know anything do you? You never faced anything outside your own damn planet. I'll be glad to tell you that the galaxy is a dangerous place you people like you. Peaceful races are only food for the slavers, pirates, and crime cartels. You're too weak to do anything about it. I know you just want me dead, but I can't believe that you would die just to do so. I've had hundreds want me dead. Every government in the galaxy wants me dead. I'm one of the most wanted in the galaxy." said Barla.
He saw that Astra was trying to keep pressure on her wounded leg. "Hurts doesn't it? You may ask for a quick death to end all the pain, or we could leave you here to die. Death is something you want. I don't like letting people having what they want. I take it away. What I'll do instead is throw you in a cell. I'll find your homeworld, and I'll kill every single one of your people, and I'll have you watch. You can die, when your entire race is wiped off the face of the galaxy. Bearing the thought that you were the cause of your kind's demise is torture enough."
Barla walked away from her. He ordered his gang members to prepare the vehicles. His lieutenant Regar walked by Astra. He gave a short glance at her, and continued on whatever he was doing. He suddenly stopped in his tracks. He put his hand on the side of his helmet. He quickly dropped his hand, ran over to Barla. "Barla, we have Alliance incoming!"
"Damn," said Barla,"You must hold them off here, while I get out of here."
"Boss, are you leaving us here to die?" barked Regar.
"Regar, you listen to me. The Syndicate cannot survive without me. You should know that being part of the Syndicate, that you must lay down your life when called to. You can fight. If you live, I'll give you own ship."
Regar reloaded his rifle, and ran to a position where he could snipe from. Several aliens took up positions waiting for a fight.
The convoy of Alliance vehicles fast approached the wreckage. "Makos! Get the rockets!" yelled a krogan. A turian grabbed a rocket lancher, aimed it at a Mako. Before he could pull the trigger. The Makos open fire with their machine gun turrets. The turian got riddled with bullets, and dropped to the dirt. The gang returned fire. Two Makos pulled a hard turn, putting their left side facing the fire. This allowed the marines to have some cover as the exited the Mako safely. The marines threw some smoke grenades. Gray smoke filled the air around the wreckage. The marines made their advance.
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"Take that position Delta 2-4." ordered a marine.
"Copy that 3-8" replied the marine.
"0-7, 8-6, and 3-4 keep a tight formation. Our scans shown some krogan." ordered 3-8.
The squad moved together through the smoke. The walked thirteen meters in the thick smoke, then 3-8 gave a hand signal to halt. The squad stood there for a few seconds peering into the dense gray smoke. A figure moved towards them in the smoke, and its angry.
"KROGAN CHARGING!" yelled 0-7.
3-8 took his assault rife and put few rounds in the krogan's kneecaps. The alien ignored the pain, still sprinting at full speed. 8-6 took his shotgun from his back. He put a round right in the center of the alien's head. The slug hit it so hard, the krogan fell on its back. Soon rounds came though the smoke. Delta squad took cover. 3-8 tired to stick his head out to see where the fire was coming from, but the intense fire kept him down.
"Someone get a sensor up." said 3-8.
"On it." replied 8-6 quickly. He tossed a sensor up. The squad's radar showed four blips. There was no way they could get close to them.
"2-4, we have four hostiles pinning us down, can you take a few of them out from your positon?" 3-8 said on his radio.
"That won't be a problem lead." 2-4 said. He lined his sniper rifle to one of the hostile positions. He held his breath, waited for his heartbeat to slow down. He slowly pulled the trigger and took out one hostile. Quickly reloading, and re-aiming he took out a second hostile. Doing the same thing again, the third hostile was dropped in five seconds flat. He aimed for the final hostile. Before he could pull the trigger, he felt a burning sensation. His vision faded away. He looked at his chest, and saw a hole that went right through his armor.
"2-4!? 2-4 do you copy?! Damn," said 3-8," We've got a sniper here."
"Shit." replied 8-6.
The four men still stood behind their piece of cover, when a round object landed over their cover.
"GRENADE!!" yelled 3-8.
The men ran out from their cover as quickly as they could. 3-8 ran over to one of the gang's vehicles. He slowly moved down the right side. When he reached the rear, he stopped at the corner. Pulled his knife out of the sheath. With one quick maneuver he planted the knife right in the neck of a turian. He pushed him off, and put the knife back in the sheath. He move away, but was stopped by a purple blast. It knocked him off his feet. He looked around and saw an Asari glowing bright purple. He looked for his rifle, but it was out of reach. The Asari pulled her arm back, ready to give another blast. She got stopped by 8-6 tackling her from the side. 8-6 pointed his pistol at her, and put a round right in her face.
"Thanks 8-6." thanked 3-8.
"All in a days work." said 8-6.
0-7 found them a few seconds after. "Damn, looks like I missed the party." pouted 0-7.
"Where's 3-4?" asked 3-8.
3-4 slowly searched for the rest of his squad. He checked every corner, everything that looked like cover. He spotted a trail across the ground. He analyzed it, and determined that something was being dragged. He followed it cautiously. For all he could know, he could be walking right into a turret. Closely following the trail he came across what was making the trail. To him he saw a lavender colored horse, with clothing on. He was dumbstruck. He seen horses before, but never that color. On top of that a purple mane, and clothed? He walked up to it, with his rifle pointed at the horse.
Astra kept trying to move away. She gave up, and turned to 3-4. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked.
3-4 froze completely. He thought he was hallucinating. Right in front of him was a talking purple horse. However he saw that she was hurt, and went to examine her wound. Slowly approaching the wound he gently told her,"Don't worry, I'm going to try ease the pain."
From a pouch on his belt, he pulled out a small bottle. "I'm going to first clean the wound. This is going to sting."
He applied the spray on her leg. Astra was grinding her teeth. This time it felt like someone put a burning coal on her leg. 3-4 took a gel-like substance from his belt, and applied it on top of it.
"This should help you till we can get you to some trained medical operators." he assured her.
"Thank you." said Astra with a tear in her eye.
Before 3-4 could say anything to that, a grenade was landed right in front of them. He ran over to Astra, put his body over her, and rolled them away from the explosive. The grenade went off two seconds after it hit the ground. They manage to not get hit by any shrapnel, but the shockwave made them move another yard.
Astra opened her eyes, and saw the alien that saved her twice. He was laying face down, and it seem like he was dead. She reached her hoof to him, then she saw him twitch. The arms moved to push himself up. He manage to get on one of his knees. His helmet fell off as he full stood up. She looked at his face with awe. His face had several cuts on it, his hair golden, like one of her mother's friends. He took his hand to wipe the blood off his nose. He looked at it, "Damn, just when I think I lost enough blood in the past month."
He stood there examining how damaged he was. Astra continued to look at him. Her eyes got wide when she saw a light flicker behind him. She tired to get a bolt of magic ready, but couldn't muster the strength to do it. 3-4 saw her horn glowing. Now he thought he was going insane. A biotic horse? On top of that she was also acting strange. Like she warning him about something. He asked her,"What's wrong?"
"Behind you!" yelled Astra.
At that moment, 3-4 took one of his fists around, to land a straight punch right on Regar's helmet. The force of the hit, knocked Regar to the ground. 3-4 took up a fighting stance. Regar stood back up, and pulled out his knife. He was swinging it recklessly. The blade went up and down the side of 3-4. 3-4 moved out of Regar's reach. Regar was getting angry. He made a mad charge at 3-4. Giving a thrusting motion with the blade. 3-4 grabbed his hand, pushed it to the side, then gave a good chop to dislocate his elbow. Regar drop the blade, and took a massive uppercut. He hit the ground hard. 3-4 check him. Knocked out.
"3-4, come in 3-4. This is 3-8, what's your status over." 3-8 said over the radio.
3-4 put his finger over his ear piece,"3-8, this is 3-4. I've got someone here who is wounded, and needs medical help. I also have us a prisoner. Looks like he's Syndicate. Do we also know what happened to 2-4?"
A moment passed by,"2-4 is KIA 3-4."
3-4 clutched his hand into a fist.
"We currently have extraction on the way. Can you tell us on the status of the wounded?" responded 3-8.
"We're going to need vet. I'll have to explain later." replied 3-4.
3-4 walked over to Astra, and lifted her up. "Get some rest, it's going to be a long ride."
He carried her to the extraction point. They loaded on the ship with the rest of the squad. The ship lifted off from the dusty world into the black of space. There it landed in an Alliance frigate. The engines pushed the craft away from the planet. The world were the crew of the Element of Magic will rest till the end of time.
Astra slowly awoke from a long sleep. As her vision became more clear she notice something on her leg. She saw her leg wrapped up. She moved it up and down. She had feeling in her leg, and the pain wasn't there anymore. Next she heard something barking at her. She turned to see a dog barking at her.
"Dogs? Am I back home?" she thought to herself, "No that's not possible."
She looked around her surroundings. She was in a metal bar cage. Around her were various animals in cages, some of them having some injuries, while others looked just fine. "I'm in a vet office?!"she thought.
She stood up on her legs. She quickly examined the lock on her cage. Using her magic, she flipped the lock on the cage, and jumped out.
"Too easy" she said looking back at the cage.
When she turned her face forward, she saw a very large figure. He had pale skin, a large patch of fur under his nose. He was a very round. He had a shocked look on his face.
The two stared one another down. Astra thought he may be one of the people who saved her. so she slowly approached him. He quickly grabbed a long pole with a loop on the end.
"I don't know how you got out of your cage, but your'e going back in." he said.
"Are you one of the people who saved me back on the wretched planet?" replied Astra.
"Wait!! You talk?!" yelled the person.
"Yes I can." said Astra.
"I must be off my meds," he said turning his back to her, "Come on Archie, animals don't talk. Just turn around, and put that thing in the cage."
Archie turned back to Astra, with the pole. "Just put this thing around the neck, and stick it back to the cage." Archie said softly.
"That thing goes around my neck?" asked Astra.
Archie panicked and lunged at her with the pole. Astra used her magic to take it out of his hands and threw it behind her. Archie screamed, and jumped at her. Astra quickly dodged to her right and ran towards the door.
Archie picked himself up from off the floor and saw Astra running out of the door. He quickly ran over to the intercom and yelled, "WE HAVE BREECH!".
Archie waited a few seconds and a response came back, "Archie, you're fired."
Astra ran out of the room, into a smaller room, where she saw several aliens standing on two legs. She kept running towards what looked like an opening. She ran by one alien that stood tall in armor, it was battered, and on the left chest piece were the numbers 3-4.
He saw her running past him, he quickly yelled, "Hey, where are you going?!"
Astra didn't hear him as he ran out of the building. She ran without looking around her. All she did was dodge anything that was in her way. Dodging left and right of oncoming aliens. She kept going until she hit a very large alien, which knocked her to the ground. The alien wiped out a gun and pointed it right at her face.
She could recognize the species of alien she ran into. Krogan. This was a big one. He had scars on one side of his yellowish face. He was angry too.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" yelled the Krogan.
Astra tried to get an answer out but, she was cut off by a familiar voice.
"She's with me." said 3-4.
"Who the do you think you are?" asked the Krogan.
"Sargent Jeff Maxwell, Alliance Special Recon Division. My "pet" ran off when I took her to the vet." said 3-4.
Jeff hopped the krogan would buy his lie.
"Hmm, keep this thing on a leash, cause the next time I see it, it's going to be my next meal!" said the Krogan.
The alien walked away from them. Astra turned to her savior, and asked him, "Where am I? What is this place?"
Jeff walked closer to her, and got down to her eye level. "This is the Citadel."
Astra looked around her surroundings. She gazed on at all the lights on the streets, all the different aliens walking, some she could tell which was which, but many new ones to her. Then she looked up and saw another city on the other giant arm of the space station. It took her awhile to take it all in, as the sights were just simply magnificent. The lights shined all around her.
"This place is...huge." said Astra.
"I still have some sense of awe every time I come here." said Jeff.
Astra turned to Jeff and asked him, "So what are we going to do now? I have no idea how or even if I can go back to my home."
"Hey, listen here," Jeff said raising her head up," I know about a group of people who can help."
"Yeah, many can help, but how many can truly understand what has to be done." replied Astra.
"Was it Barla that did this to you? Killed your friends?" asked Jeff
"Yes. What was the point of asking that!" she snapped at him.
"What if I told you that the leader of the group hates Barla just as much as you do?" said Jeff.
"Show me." replied Astra.
Astra and Jeff made their way to a much darker side of the Citadel. Gone were the bright lights, and clean city streets, the deeper they went, the more trashier and dimmer the station became.
"Hard to think that up where all the business, politics, and life up top, there is a grimy, thug infested underworld. Why are we even down here if we are looking for someone whose going to hunt down Barla? Can't we use any other police force?" asked Astra.
"Allow me to quickly inform you on galactic law, the police force known as C-Sec, only take care of Citadel matters. Barla was one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy, and he still has a high bounty on his head. He won't show up on any major world in Citadel, or Alliance Space." said Jeff.
"So where would he be?" asked Astra.
"Terminus systems. It's the wild west over there. Only way to live is to be cut throat, and know how to use a gun." said Jeff.
Astra and Jeff walked till they reached a man with his hat over his head, and a lit cigarette in his mouth. He looked like he was asleep, but he was mumbling something.
"Hello?" said Astra.
The man fell out of his chair, and he stood back up with a tool in his hand. He jumped up on top of a tall box, and started shouting, "You ain't going to take me alive, you sonofabitches!"
He swung around the tool, and then he lost his balance and fell toward the ground. He let out several colorful words while he got back up on his feet. He took off his hat to re-adjust it. He took a good look at the two people in front of them.
"What the hell do you people want?" he said. Then he looked down at Astra, " And what in the hell is that?"
"We are here to see the Captain of this ship." said Jeff.
"You don't say? Then why don't you take you and your uh...pet thing there and..." the man replied. He quickly swung the tool at them. Jeff quickly grabbed his arm, disarmed the man, and pushed him to the floor.
"Well shit, you look tougher than I thought." said the man.
"Can we see the Captain of the ship now?" Jeff asked.
"Sure. Just don't throw me to the floor. By the way I'm Scooter. I do all the fixin' on the ship." said Scooter.
"Are you sure, the ship looks like it's seen better days." commented Astra.
"Hey now you, horned alien thing. All I do to the ship is some work on the pipes, an' some of the uh important parts. If I can my hands on it, I can fix it. There's some quarian here that does all the big ship mumbo jumbo that I don't understand." said Scooter.
"Horned alien? You haven't heard of a unicorn?" asked Astra.
"Let me tell you here missy. One I have heard of unicorns, and they ain't real. Two you're probably some lab experiment done by them lizard looking people." said Scooter. After he said that remark, Scooter was lifted off his feet, hovering above the ground upside down.
"Well shit, first I fell on by ass, now I'm going head first." said Scooter. Astra stopped channeling her magic, and let him fall on his head.
"Now can we see the Captain?" asked Astra.
"Go ahead." said Scooter.
Astra and Jeff walked aboard the ship. The place looked like a dump. The lighting inside was very dim, and the only lights that worked were all the red ones.
"This place was a little cleaner last time I was here." said Jeff.
Out in the corner there was a sound. Large foot steps came down the narrow hallway. Whatever was coming to them was big, and angry. Then the figure came into the flickering light above the hall. It was a massive krogan in black armor with blue lights. Astra hid behind Jeff's legs, low to the ground.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here. It seems the Red Arrow has come back on this fine ship once again." said the krogan.
"Let me guess is that the famous Rex the Ripper?" replied Jeff.
"Ha, ha! I knew you would come back! Tired of playing soldier Arrow?" Rex said shacking Jeff's hand.
"It's been too long." said Jeff.
"I see you also brought a pet." said Rex.
Astra snarled at Rex, she was about to shout at him, when Jeff replied, "No, she's not my pet. She's a friend."
"Hmm, what's she doing here?" asked Rex.
"That's why we are here to see him." said Jeff.
"You know he's still pissed off for what you did back on Omega." said Rex.
"I wouldn't be surprised." said Jeff," Do you know where he's at?"
"Map room. I can show you where it is." said Rex.
"I think the ship hasn't change much since I left." said Jeff.
Rex let out a laugh. He turned his eyes to Astra. Astra crouched lower to the ground. Last time she saw a korgan, it wanted her dead.
"What's your name?" he asked.
Astra was shy at first, "A-a-a-Astra Sparkle."
"Hmm, that much be a nice name for your people. If you two are not thrown out by the pissed off turian, come down to the armory. I still have your old armor Jeff, and we can get her something made." said Rex.
Rex walked passed them towards what looked like an elevator. Astra stood back up and looked at Jeff.
"Did he say turian?" asked Astra.
"Yep." said Jeff.
In Astra's mind she thought, Great every alien that tried to kill me is on this ship.
Author's Note
Sorry for such a long wait between these chapters. I've not only been busy, but have been writing on and off for many fics for a while. It's been a pain, but after a bit of a pause, I feel like i'm ready to come back and get more of this story done. There was pre-mature publish earlier for this chapter, that was a complete mistake.
