FTRD: Faster Than Rainbow Dashby Bboxer98ChaptersPrologueChapter 1: Intruder Altert?Chapter 3: The mysteries of mining base 111Chapter 4: ExterminatusChapter 5: SuffocationChapter 6: AdmissionsChapter 7: The AncientsRewrite hereChapter 2: Big guns and break outsPrologueThe large cruiser In front of them seemed to stretch on forever. It's many windows all sparked a light and its orange and blue hull glowed immensely. The bright nebula in the distance made the ship look as a giant silhouette in powered down sections. "Damn, that ship is huge." Duke exclaimed. "Heh, you can say that again." Chuckled Presidio. Their tiny Celestial federation ship was nothing compared to the behemoth Lunar rebellion cruiser. Their engines buzzed quietly through the ship. Duke pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him and spoke to the ships AI, Cam. "Cam, I want you to hover near the docking bay, perform preliminary docking checks and request entry." Duke said aloud. "Certainly sir." The ships AI replied back to him. The ships engines charged and they flew upward to what looked like the outline of the docking bay. A few beeps and the flicker of a few lights went and the docking bay door opened. A flood of light poured out and the two shielded their eyes, they lowered their hooves and looked at the docking bay. "Okay Cam nice and slow" Duke said as the ship glided towards the entrance. The ship passed through a blue shield and it seemed to pass through the interior of the ship. The Kestrel soon came to a halt and two mechanical arms came down and clamped onto it. A green light appeared on the screen. Duke turned to presidio. "I would suggest going to go get your things." A smile appeared on her face. "Of course captain" Presidio unbuckled herself and walked to a door at the far end of the room. With a slide of the door she left. Duke pressed a button on the console in front of him. "This is The Federation Peace Envoy class Kestrel. All systems green,over." Duke waited a while and was soon replied. "Copy, all systems green closing bay doors, releasing air lock. Welcome aboard the Crystal Converger." * They walked through the white metal hallways with two of the cruisers guards, they both had rifles slung over their shoulders. Duke looked camouflaged with his white coat. The only thing making him stand out was his blonde mane and his green eyes. The guards Armour matched the ship, a bright orange and blue streaks down the leggings and across the body. They came up to a door and they stopped. "Unauthorized weaponry is restricted on board." One of the guards said through his helmet. Duke turned to Presidio and nodded. She unslung her rifle, it messed her purple mane and pulled her pistol out of its holster, it was almost invisible on her dark blue coat, she handed it to the guards. "Thank you, right this way." The guard said as they finally started moving again. The large doors slid open and they walked through. Several doors darted off to different corridors and ponies all dressed in power Armour or a rebellion uniform walked around chatting to each other. They seemed to stop to look at Duke and Presidio. They continued moving with the guards even through the eerie silence. They came to another large door except this one was lone and had orange lights around it. "The Admiral will see you now" They both started walking ahead but the guard put a hoof up. "Alone." The guard said coldly. Duke nodded and the doors slid open. "I'll be fine Presidio." "Have fun." Presidio called back as he walked away with the guards. He trotted In and the doors slid closed behind him. The room he was in was a bright chrome white like all the others and the window at the far end of the room gazed into space. There was a console at the far end of the room and a table In the center. There was a sign above another door to his left that read "Captains Quarters." "On my own now I guess. " Duke thought. The doors to the Captains Quarters opened and a pony in a finely decorated uniform came out. "I am Admiral Solitarious." He said as he slowly walked towards the table in the centre. He grabbed the chair and sat down. "Please,sit down." Duke trotted over and sat down. "Thank you Admiral, might I say what a fine ship you are piloting." Duke said. The Admiral seemed proud. "Why thank you, the Crystal Converger, finest ship in the Lunar navy." Duke chuckled."I'm sure it is, now, business." The Admiral sat up. "Ah yes, your superiors sent here to talk about your surrender." Duke shook his head. "Umm, no I am here to talk about peace, we think it is time that the fighting was done," The Admirals horn lit up with magic and a pitcher of water and two glasses rose from the table. He poured the glasses of water and sent one to Duke. "Thank you." Duke said while eyeing the Admiral cautiously. The Admiral took a sip and looked at him. His watch beeped and he looked at it. "So, Duke is it, you pilot a Peace Envoy, correct?" Duke was confused by the question. "Uh, yes Admiral." The Admiral chuckled. "Then would you care to inform me why your ship is armed with attack drones and laser weaponry." Duke chuckled. "We'll you see Admiral..." He stopped and pulled the chair out from underneath him and swung it at the Admiral. The chair cracked against the side of his head and he fell to the floor,dazed but still conscious. Duke put a hoof to his ear. "Presidio,we got to work fast!" Presidios voice soon responded. "Aye aye captain." Duke laughed at her calling him Captain, he didn't even have the rank yet. Duke ran to the console on the far side of the room and jammed a transmitter into it. Duke raised his hoof to his ear. "Cam, download all info on the Rebellion fleet." "Certainly sir, beginning bypass of firewalls,estimated download time 15 minutes." Duke looked at the Admiral who had just staggered back up on his hooves, blood dripped down the side of his face. "We don't have that much time Cam" Cam went silent. "Calculating... A wireless connection can be made but they will know our ships signature and can track us, once we jump the connection will be severed." Duke thought for a moment but was cut off by a blaze of red lights and the scream of an alarm, Duke turned and found the Admiral laughing. "Have... fun with...the guards." He said with bated breath. Duke punched the Admiral in the face and he collapsed. Duke turned back to the console. "Do it Cam." He ran for the doors and they slid open. Duke stopped as he was greeted with laser fire. The shots just missed him as he dove behind the table. "Buck." "Presidio,uhh a little..." He stopped as he heard shots and screams from the door. He stood back up. Presidio was standing there with her rifle charged. Her wings splattered with blood. Bodies surrounded her and blood was seeping across the ground. One of the guards moaned and reached for his pistol but Presidio slammed the butt of her rifle into his face and he stopped moving. "Shall we go?" Presidio asked. "Never thought you would ask." * They clambered onto the ship, laser fire following behind them. "Cam seal doors!" Duke screamed The doors slammed shut and locked themselves. Duke to the bridge and sat down, he started pressing buttons but a red light would always appear. "DAMNIT! They locked us in docking." Presidio soon came in and sat next to him. "I think I can deal with that." She said as she pulled a detonator out of a pocket in her armor. Duke stared at it, mouth agape "Sometimes I don't know whether to be impressed or very scared." Presidio chuckled and clicked the detonator. A loud bang shook the ship and the docking bay doors opened in front of them. The mechanical arms holding them in place powered down and fell limp. The vacuum of space soon filled the docking chamber and their ship drifted there. Duke slammed his hoof down onto the console and the ship shot out of the docking bay. He looked at his watch showing the download time. 79% "Buck we can't leave yet,download isn't done yet." Presidio tapped him on the shoulder and coughed. Duke turned to see she was holding another detonator. "I just won't ask how." He grabbed it and flicked the switch. They both watched as most of the lights on the ship went dark and the engines cooled. Cam soon broke the silence. "Firewalls bypassed, download complete." Duke smiled. "Plot a course for the Celestial Federation Fleet." The ship started to hum and it soon a rainbow colour filled the windows in front of them. The ship soon disappeared as it shot at intense speeds into the distant Nebula. Chapter 1: Intruder Altert?Their ship just came out of Rainbow speed. They had appeared in a nebula, not a large one but one with a violent enough storm to knock off engines and sensors. Duke peered out the window into the nebula. All he saw was cloud, purple cloud, with the occasional flash of lightning. "Cam, how's radiation shielding holding?" "100% sir, I estimate that the shielding will last for exactly 3.4 years without unnecessary calamities." Duke walked towards the door and it slid open, the hallway stretched in front of him. The nebula knocked out their lighting for most of the ship, the hallway was cold and dark. "Can't even see my own hoof in front of my face." Duke mumbled to himself. He heard a hoof step behind him and he spun around and drew his weapon,pointing it into the darkness in front of him. "Cam, transfer power from bridge to this room." "Certainly sir." The lights flickered for a moment and Duke strained to see what was in the room. The lights finally stabled and dukes eyes adjusted. He looked around and saw nothing, just the same chrome white walls he sees everyday. He holstered his pistol and trotted away. "Cam, revert last order." The lights shut off once again. * "Ugh, why don't you work." Presidio shouted at the engine. Duke walked in and chuckled. "Machine not agreeing with you again?" Presidio threw a spanner to the floor. Presidio had her implant out. It was connected to the side of her head near her ear, it extends an places a green glass plate in front of her eye. "No, it just doesn't want to work." Duke chuckled again as he trotted over to the exposed engine in the floor. "Here let me try." He said as he picked up a spanner and clambered down to the platform below. He looked at the engine, coolant wires ran over it and a large fuel sign sat above a large amount of pistons. He tapped the engine and and circuit board fell out. Duke looked at Presidio and she climbed out of the engine platform and trotted away and left the engine room. She shouted behind her "Show off." Duke chuckled. He began to work on the engine and tested it several times with Cam. He was just about done when he heard some footsteps behind him. He turned, only to be greeted by the window gazing at the nebula outside. He stared for a moment and turned back to the engine. "I need to stop hitting the cider" he thought. * Presidio and Duke both sat In the bridge and ate dinner. Artificially grown steak, organic potato, slug gravy and a shot of home made vodka. "The engines fixed, finally." Duke explained. "Someone forgot to rewire the circuitry and divert water cooling." He continued. Presidio stuck her tongue out at him. "I also think I'm sick." Presidio stopped eating and finished her mouthful. "With what."she said with half a mouth still full of food. "I don't know, I'm hearing noises." Presidio laughed "Haha, you've been drinking too much." Duke didn't laugh. Presidio stopped laughing and sighed. "If it'll make you feel better,we can ask Cam to scan you." Duke looked outside. "Okay." After a few seconds of silence Cam spoke. "No foreign virus's detected." Duke sighed. "See, nothing." Presidio said. "Now we better get some rest, we have to jump a few sectors to get away from the Rebel fleet." Presidio stood and left the room but before she left she said "Duke, try to get some sleep." He mumbled and she took this as a yes. * Duke woke in his sleep to the sound of weapons powering up. He put on his armor and picked up his pistol quickly. "Cam who's in the Weapons Control Room." There was no reply. "Buck." He left the room and walked through the darkened hallways. The purple nebula outside have some light to the hallways. A flash of lightning made him jump and lit the room up briefly before retreating back into darkness. He soon found the weapons control room and opened the door and aimed his pistol into the room. Inside was a large arachnid like species, It looked like a giant spider, back from home but it had large hairs on its legs and instead of pincers it had spikes, almost like javelins. Duke hesitated as he watched it crushing the console and throwing things around the room. Duke fired two shots and hit its legs. It screamed in pain and spun around, it's eyes glowed a fire ruby red, the two pincer like spikes shot towards him, he didn't have enough time to get out the way. The spikes hit him straight in the chest, making him release all his breath. They pierced his armor like butter and blood sprayed everywhere. Duke froze, his hooves became weak and he dropped his pistol. His eyes dimmed and he collapsed to his knees, soon darkness engulfed his eyes. * Duke jolted out of his bed breathing heavily. He patted his chest to find no wounds. "Just a dream, just a dream." He muttered with quick heavy breaths Duke got out of his bed and put on his armor. He attached his thigh holster and placed his pistol inside. Duke grabbed a nutrition tube from his desk and plugged it into his side. He hated nutrition tubes, it was just a way of eating without eating. He walked to the bridge and Presidio was there doing system check ups. "Good morning. Good sleep?" Presidio asked. Duke was dazed and didn't hear her. "Hello? You there?" Duke shook his head and looked at her. "Sorry what was that?" Presidio laughed. "Sleep? Was it good?" Duke still seemed to take a while to process the question in his mind. "Oh yes,yes." He trotted over and sat down in his chair. It was a very comfortable chair for this kind of ship. He looked around at the console and seemed confused. Duke then hit a few buttons and spoke. "Cam, plot a course out of the nebula." The engines hummed and they once again only saw Rainbows through the windows. They came out in an empty sector of space, only the flicker of stars and the distant nebula behind them lit outside. "Captain, I am detecting an intruder alert." Cam said in his monotone AI voice. Duke sat up straight and started speaking urgently. "Where?!" Cam waited a while and then replied. "Weapons control." Dukes face turned pale and his heart sank. Presidio stood and galloped to a locker at the far side of the room and pulled a rifle out. "C'mon lets get the bucker." Duke sat there hesitant but eventually stood. He unholstered his pistol and they both galloped to the Weapons Control Room. "Cam, lock all exits from the WCR." Presidio shouted. As they approached the control room the doors lights turned red to show it was locked. They both stacked up on the door. "Cam on my mark unlock east entrance. Presidio looked at Duke. "Ready" Duke looked back at her with a plain expression. "Ready" "Three, two, one, Mark!" With the final call the doors unlocked and they both charged into the room. There a yellow male unicorn stood looking confused saw them charge in and dove to the ground. "Don't shoot, for Celestias sake Don't shoot." The unicorn was in a rebellion power armor. He was cowering on the ground obviously distressed. "Name and rank? Now!" Duke shouted at him. He whimpered and covered his head with his hooves. "Steel, Steel Perito, weapons expert." Duke stared at him. "Why are you here? How did you get on my ship?" Duke questioned. Steel mumbled and soon spoke louder. "Umm.. I was ordered to search for weapons and then uh alarms went off and then I was thrown against the wall from Rainbow speed and then the systems went down and then i got locked in the room and..." He was cut off by presidio shooting her gun against the ground. Duke looked at her. "Thank you Presidio." Duke looked back to Steel. "Now, what to do with you." Chapter 3: The mysteries of mining base 111Once again they were sitting in the brig. The once trashed room had been cleaned and they were sitting at the table again. "Why?" Duke asked solemnly. Steel just sat there, his eyes avoiding Dukes. Duke slammed his hoof on the table and in bent leaving a large dent in it. Steel jumped and found him looking at Duke. "Why goddammit?!" "Have you ever heard of a pirate that surrendered or let his prey go?!" Duke sat there in silence. "Exactly, you would've fallen for that trap." They both became silent again. "But why. Why help us. You could've ran out that room and teleported to a nearby station." Steel diverted his gaze away from him. "Because... Because, you didn't kill me when you had the chance. I felt like I needed to repay the favor." Duke sat back and he chuckled. "So... I'm going to give you a choice now. We fly to the nearest station and drop you... Or, you stick around for a while longer." Steel smiled. "I thought you said there wasn't enough time to drop me off." Duke shrugged. "I took a shot in the dark and it turns out we were, but, not anymore." Steel looked out the window at the weapon mounts on the side of the ship. "If I leave you guys are going to blow yourself to pieces with the way I saw you using those missiles." Duke smiled. "And that blast laser, it was practically begging you to stop." Duke laughed. "I'm taking this as yes you'll stay." Steel nodded. "Of course." Duke stood up and stuck out his hoof. They shook hooves. "Welcome aboard the Kestrel." * The Kestrel was gliding across the black abyss of space. A large blue planet with several rings was nearby. Several moons orbited it. Duke had just finished filing Steel into the system. Duke let out a enormous sigh. "That's another problem off of my plate." Duke turned to Presidio. "How long till the next jump?" Presidio brought up a screen with lists of numbers, all changing. Duke struggled to understand what any of them meant. "2 hours." Duke stared at Presidio with a puzzled look. "How did you understand all those numbers." Presidio laughed. "I don't understand any of them, I just look at the bottom of the screen." He looked to the bottom of the screen. It read FTR: 2 hours. Duke snorted. "Could've fooled me." Duke looked back out into space at the large planet. "Might as well look around for a bit. Cam, any signals around." Cam responded almost instantaneously. "A distress signal on the planet below. Signature: Mining Base. ID: 111 Duke sat up. "Message along with it?" "Negative." Duke slumped back down into his seat. "Presidio." Presidio's ears pricked and she turned to him. "Keen for a little field trip?" Presidio grinned from ear to ear. "Of course you are." Duke muttered to himself. * The sound of the teleported soon died out and the three crew members were standing in a giant plain of land their rifles aimed ready for enemies waiting The sky was an unusually light blue, looked like ice. The ground was hard but thick expanses of grass were laid in front of them. There were giant mountains all around them, it seemed they had landed in what seems like a giant crater, flat but due to the mountains it felt like it. They began walking across the plains. "Where is that signal coming from?" Duke asked Presidio. Presidio tapped her implant and the green glass passed over her eye. She looked around and pointed towards one of the mountains. "East, 2 clicks." Steel groaned. "Why did we drop here then, why not somewhere closer to there?" Presidio laughed as she walked forward. "What, can't take a bit a walking?" Duke chuckled as they all started slowly walking. * They had climbed over a small hill when their objective was in sight. They all stopped and stared at the view in front of them. A giant building was built on the side of the mountain. Twisted metal from several ships littered the ground. The building was half missing and a large amount of rubble was on the ground. A cave sat underneath the half ruined building. "A ship graveyard." Duke sighed. Steel started to look worried. "Were we lured here?" "If we were lured here, our ship would already be down here. No , it's something else." Duke replied. "Let's go, 2 meter spread, safety off, return fire only." They slowly moved forwards and they passed through the ship graveyard. Skeletons lay underneath metal or strewn out across the piles of ships. Presidio turned slowly around to check their behind. She looked up to the mining base and saw a small glint. "SNIPER!" He screamed as she tackled Steel to the ground. A round hit the ground next to them. They all scrambled for cover. "Bullets, now those are old fashioned." Presidio remarked. She peaked over the cover but quickly ducked as another shot just missed her head. Duke peaked over and ducked. "There's a cave over there, we can make it." They all looked over to it. "Zigzag running, on my mark." Duke counted down and shouted the final. They all started running towards the cave In a zigzag movement to avoid sniper fire. A bullet hit Steel in the hind leg and he collapsed. Presidio skidded to a halt and charged back to him. She sprayed laser fire up to the snipers position. Se grabbed his collar ad started dragging him. Presidio dragged him all the way to the front of the cave and threw him in before rolling in herself. Steel clutched his leg In agony. Blood was pouring out of the hole in his armor. "Shit, went right through me." He was breathing quicker now. They had both crouched near Steel. "Did you bring the medical supplies?" Duke asked Presidio. "No, I wasn't expecting to get shot by 800 year old bullets today." Presidio snapped back. "Buck." Duke breathed. "Presidio stay with steel, I'm going to find this Bucker." He stood up and walked to the back of the cave with his rifle slung over his shoulder. "Duke, this is a cave, there's nothing back there." Presidio said. Duke didn't turn he just mumbled back to them. His voice echoed off of the walls. "This isn't a cave. It's a mine." * Duke had traversed most of the mine looking for a way up. Dust slowly seeped from the ceiling and the air was damp and dusty. Several laser cutters were strewn across the floor. "Where the buck are all the workers?" Duke thought to himself. Dukes finger was on the trigger of his rifle. He looked around in the darkness. "Can't see me own hoof in front of my face." He muttered. He pulled out a torch and shone it in front of him. It didn't light much, only about 3 meters of ground was visible in front of him. His hoofsteps echoed throughout the mine. He didn't know how long he walked for, felt like 20 minutes had gone. A small cage soon came into view, it's grating rusted. There was an opening at the front. The top of the cage had thick wires going straight up. A green button was illuminated next to it. "An elevator?" Duke said aloud. The elevator seemed a little too old for Dukes liking but he had no thee choice. He climbed in and hit the button on his way. A hum of a generator and whirring if gears started and the elevator jolted and slowly ascended the mine. * Light came into view and Duke shielded his eyes. He lowered his hoof and looked around as the elevator came to a halt. The room in front of him was purely made of concrete, a large amount of it missing. It was in the shape of a dome and the center had a giant cylindrical pillar. Rubble lay across the floor and on top of large crates around the room. Large sheets of fabric hang from the ceiling. He aimed his rifle around the room cautiously. An opening was at the opposite side of the room and he slowly paced towards it. A small beep was heard and Dukes ears pricked. One of the sheets hanging for the ceiling fell and a large gun on a tripod was there. A laser pointer was aimed at him and he quickly dove behind cover as the gun whirred to life. The barrel of it was cylindrical with more cylinders on it. It spun and a blaze of bullets flew across the room. Duke kept his head low as the wall behind him was being torn apart. It had ripped a whole hole through the wall letting in some sun and a cool breeze. The gun seemed to fire forever. Soon a large array of clicks was heard, repetitive and loud. Duke peaked over. The gun had run out of ammo. Duke laughed. "Is that it?" He asked aloud. As if a angel had heard him a crate on robotic wheels rolled over and it reloaded the gun. "You've got to be kidding me." It whirred to life again and duke rolled across the floor, bullets cracking the ground behind him. He rolled behind another crate. The gun was still blowing half the room to pieces. He patted his chest looking for anything to help him. He finally found his belt of grenades. He ripped an ion grenade off of his chest plate. He pulled the pin and threw it over the crate. A blue lightning emitted around the room and the gun stopped. Duke looked over and a fury of sparks was flying from the back of the gun. He slowly walked out from behind his cover, rifle raised. He pushed the gun over and it made a loud crash as it hit the floor. He looked impressed. The gun was weakly wired but was meant to take out intruders quickly. It was wired to all the other crates for ammo. He turned away from the gun and walked out the room. He entered another room, but this one seemed more as a living space. There was a fire and some chairs pulled up, the wall covered in crazy algorithms. Duke raised his rifle. "Someone was here recently." Duke thought. He panned the room looking for more evidence of life or where he or she went. He heard a clatter of metal coming from around a corner. He slowly walked around the corner. A red earth pony was sifting through a pile of junk. He had bandages around his hooves and head. His mane was a dark silver. Duke raised his weapon. He didn't know what to say. He thought about what to say and not scare him away. Duke stumbled and accidentally kicked a wrench across the floor. The pony ears pricked and he span around to see what was there. Duke stood there frozen with an awkward expression on his face. "What is this?" He said In an unusually high pitched voice. "Another pony to join poor Sparky?" Duke tapped his ear piece. "Cam, what info have you got on this guy." The pony was shaking his head back and fourth and mumbling to himself. "Cursum Scream, apart if the 17th exploration force, engineer, presumed dead 27.4 years ago." Duke stared at him. "You poor bastard." * Presidio sat next to Steel, keeping pressure on his wound. "Thank you." He coughed. They managed to find some cloth soon after Duke had left and they bandaged his wound. "So, what's it like to be shot with a 800 year old bullet." Steel laughed. "It hurts like a bitch if that's what your asking." Presidio stopped putting pressure on the bandaged wound. "There I think it will hold." Presidio said. "Thanks." "Don't mention it." A loud shock wave was heard that made them both twist their heads. "What was that." Steel asked. "Let me check." Presidio ran outside and looked around. "There's nothing here..." She fell silent as she looked to the skies. 3 rebel warships loomed over the planet. She tapped her earpiece. "Duke we got a bit of a problem here." Chapter 4: Exterminatus"Duke we gotta leave. NOW!" Presidio shouted into her ear piece. It almost deafened Duke. "Give me a moment will ya." He turned back to the earth pony. "Cam, skip profile checks on this guy. Check mental state now." Duke paced back and fourth impatiently. "Sanity levels: caution needed." Duke punched the air. "Buck." He looked at him and Presidio came online again. "Today would be nice Duke." Duke quickly thought of what to do. "Buck it, you on your feet, we are leaving." The earth pony scramble to his feet. "Cam, divert all power to fall stabilizers." His suit powered down. "Hold on to me." Duke said. The earth pony grabbed his shoulders while moving his head and giggling. Duke started to run to a window at the far end of the room. "I wouldn't recommend that sir." Cam commented "Shut up Cam." He hit the glass with full force and it shattered and they began to fall. * The weapons bay of the warship was crowded. Weapons being taken back and fourth. Hermes was moving a crate of missiles across the room. He walked to a large cannon and started to load it. A speaker soon came on. "Cease regular weapons loading. Begin preparation of Exterminatus beam. Hermes's heart sank. A large laser rose from the floor and they all went to a console around it. "Aim for grid 17-42 quadrant 3." The laser moved into position slowly. It soon stopped and was aimed straight for the mining base. "Begin charge, and may Luna have mercy on our souls." * Presidio paced back and fourth inside the cave. "Bucking hell, where is he?" She muttered. Steel sat on the ground putting pressure on his bandaged wound. Presdio stopped pacing and walked to Steel. "Buck it we're leaving." She bent down and picked Steel up and slung him over her shoulder. She headed for the mouth of the cave. Her ears pricked and she stopped. It was like a screaming noise. Presidio heard a dull thud, followed by the clattering of shattered glass. The dust cleared, and she peered through the thin void. "Son of a BITCH!" Duke yelled, clutching a dislodged leg. A crazy looking earth pony sat in the dirt, shrugging. Duke looked up to Presidio. "Leaving were you?" Duke asked with a hint of agony. He pushed his leg back into position and gave a quiet yelp. Presidio laughed. "Just.Who's that?" Duke looked over his shoulder. "Eh, don't ask, I still don't even know." Duke put him down onto his hooves. He wobbled a bit but then started shaking his head again. They stared at him in confusion. "If you wouldn't mind I'd like to get moving thanks." Steel said. They snapped out of their trance and Duke put his hoof to his earpiece. "Cam,how long for you to be in teleport range." "Calculating... Precisely 2 minutes 27 seconds." Cam replied. "Buck" Duke breathed "Just get it done Cam." "C'mon lets move to a defensible position if the fleet decides to send some company." Presidio said bluntly. They started moving out from under the base back into the debris field. But suddenly Duke stopped and his heart sank. He charged and tackled Presidio and Steel to the ground as a shot went by. "Bucking hell Duke I thought that new guy was the sniper. Who the buck is up there?!" Presidio shouted as they ran for cover. Duke turned to the earth pony. "Who else was with you." The earth pony laughed hysterically. "Nopony with me. Only me... And the machines." Duke suddenly realized. "It's an automated sniper." "Bucking brilliant." Presidio cursed. Another shot went by and clanged as it hit the cover they were behind. Presidio emerged from the cover and took a few shots and she strafed across to the cover that the earth pony was behind. She hid again. She felt something grab her belt where her pistol was and she turned, but it was already too late. The earth pony had the pistol and had charged out. "NOOOO!" Duke screamed. The rifle shot at the earth pony and he shot at the same time. The laser from the pistol hit the metal sniper bullet and melted it and continued on and went up the barrel of the rifle melting the insides. A loud bang was heard and all went quiet. They looked at him mouths agape and he was frozen in time still pointing the pistol at the rifle in the base. "That sniper was ages away and you just took one shot? And destroyed it? How?" Presdio asked. He lowered the pistol and threw it to Presidio who caught it. "Too much spare time." He said quietly. They all stood and regrouped. Duke picked Steel up and carried him. Suddenly a bright red flash and a loud bang stopped them in their tracks. One of the cruisers had shot a weapon none of them had ever seen. Duke quickly put his hoof to his ear. "Cam, ETA? NOW!" "10 seconds." The beam struck the surface of the planet and the very ground shook beneath them. In the distance a wave of fire was approaching. They started backing away. "CAM" "8 seconds." They started moving back at a faster rate. The wave was getting closer an it was scorching the planet. They turned and started to run. "GODDAMIT CAM!" "5 seconds." They all were running now, the sound of the wave of fire growing louder, it's slow rumble made them run faster. "CAM" "3" The heat around them was rising. "2" The sound now deafened them. "1" * They were in the control room all running still. They all charged but skidded to stop themselves. Duke however didn't and continued running straight into the wall. He landed on the ground. His arm was on fire and he furiously hit it to put it out. The fire went away and he rolled over breathing heavily. Presidio came over and offered her hoof. Duke grabbed it and she helped bring him back up. "Okay. Get Steel to the infirmary, the new pony to the interrogation cells, Cam plot a course out of here." Presidio slung Steel over her shoulder and led the new pony to the cells. Duke turned and looked out the window behind him. The once green planet was a ghastly red and the planets very she'll split open, lava flows ran through the planet. Duke stared at the planet before it shot away into a rainbow color as they entered Rainbow speed. Duke trotted to his seat and flopped into it. Not soon after Duke drifted to sleep. Chapter 5: SuffocationDukes face was hot, in fact his whole body was hot. He forced his eyes open and he was staring into a wasteland. The ground was scorched and lava flowed all over. It looked like the planet he had just left. Duke tried to climb to his feet but they didn't respond. "The buck?" He said loudly. His voice seemed to echo. He looked up and ahead of himself. He heard laughter, not cynical laughter, but the laughter of a filly. "Wha?" Duke mumbled as he strained to look forward. He then saw it. A small yellow filly with blue hair was running around laughing. Duke forced himself to his feet and tried to follow. The child ran in this vast heat as Duke strained with every step. He was just about to reach the child, he stuck out his hoof to him. The child turned but there was something odd. The fillies eyes were missing and blood poured out from them, the skin on his face peeling off. The filly screamed a scream of a banshee, and Duke fell to his knees. He covered his ears and slowly looked up. The filly was still screaming at him. He saw movement behind it and he struggled to see what it was. It moved at unusually fast speeds. It then ran in front of Duke and pushed him to the ground. The ground scorched his back as he screamed in pain. The thing was know on top of him, it was the same giant spiders from his previous dream. It's eyes raged a fire red and it shot a javelin at his chest. It missed his heart but he was now screaming. The spider injected something into him that made it feel like his blood was on fire, it was like being electrocuted. He couldn't move, only scream, it was the only thing he could do now. The spider shot another javelin straight for his head and it hit with a loud crack and everything went black. * Duke woke up with a jolt. He was still in his armchair. He panted like crazy and sweat covered his body. The doors slid open and Presidio trotted in. "Steel is going to be fine and our guest is situated in the..." She stopped as she saw Duke. "Jeeze, you look a mess, you okay." Duke was still panting. "Bad dream,that's all." The room fell silent. "So, you were saying something about our guest?" Duke said breaking the silence. Presidio continued staring but then shook her head. "Uh, yeah he's in the interrogation room if you want to see him." Duke nodded and bit his tongue. "OK,Cam do a physcology test and then research background." "Certainly." The screen shot several files up. "Name: Cursum Scream, Occupation: engineer, outstanding awards: Invented FTR, presumed KIA 27 years ago while transporting antique weaponry." Dukes mouth hung open. He stood up and strode out the room to the interrogation room. * The doors slid open and Duke walked through with the same shocked expression on his face. Presidio was in the room, sitting across from Cursum. "Duke, just in time to join us." Presidio chimed. Duke didn't move. "Presidio... You do know who that is right." Presidio looked to Cursum an then back to duke. "No. Why?" "That's Cursum Scream, and before you ask, yes, THAT Cursum Scream." Presidio's mouth hung. She turned to Cursum. "Everypony thought you were dead!" Cursum chuckled and continued moving his head in its odd movement. "Never! An innovator never leaves his work unfinished." Dukes ears pricked. "Sorry, did you say unfinished?" Cursums smile grew. "No, my first invention was a test, much more ideas planned, infinite potential, very quick but very silent, tests showed promise." Cursum said with an excited tone. "You've been gone for 27 years, a lot has changed." Duke said solemnly. Cursum didn't hear him and continued speaking, more like rambling. "New FTR drive, quantum energies backed by .... Dark matter and radio waves. Hmm, overload problematic, could cause gamma radiation and dematerialization, will have to increase reactor capabil...." Presidio clapped her hooves and Cursum stopped speaking and stared at them. He then squinted his eyes and his ears pricked, his eyes then widened to the size of saucers. "Your engine, may I see it?" Duke and Presidio looked at each other. "I guess we could allow him minimal access with me around." Presidio said. Duke frowned. "OK, but keep your eyes on him, we still have a mission to complete." Presidio nodded and led Cursum out of the room. Duke took one last glance at the room before leaving. * Steel was lying on the white infirmary bed. The bed was unusually hard but the soft pillows compensated for it. A bench with many tubes, vials and other medical equipment was on the far side of the room. The doors slid open smoothly and Duke wondered in eying the steel walls. "How you feeling?" Duke asked "I've been better. The new guy sure knows how to programme, bullet ripped my leg apart." Duke looked down to his leg. It had been covered with mechanical clasps and looked like a normal armor boot, but it was smaller and had more mechanics. "The boot will allow me to walk until it heals up." Duke examined the boot more. "Well it better heal fast, I need you at your peak, the boot is pretty cool though." Duke commented. Steel laughed. "Pretty cool? Ha. It's a bucking pain, it's like having one leg taller than the rest." They both laughed at this comment. An awkward silence then consumed them. "Well, I hope you get better Steel." "Thanks" Duke slowly an awkwardly left the room. The door slid closed behind him. Suddenly a loud clang was heard and Duke looked down the corridor. It was coming from the engines room. Duke ran and the door to the engine room slid open. Cursum was sitting on the engine throwing spanners and tools around. "Where is it? Where is it? Ah ha, found you." Cursum pulled out a large cable. "What is he doing?!" Duke shouted to Presidio. "I don't know, I brought him in here and then he started saying something about finishing his work, a larger reactor and flying snakes." Duke sighed and nodded his head. "Cursum! What in the federations fleet are you doing." Duke shouted. "Fixing mistakes, good engine but sloppy wiring and power, rerouting power to acceleration would show more results." Cursum started clawing at the engine and pulling out wires. "Get him out of there!" Duke yelled. Presidio climbed onto the engine only to trip over loose wiring and cables. "Move this, change that aaaannnnd add this." Cursum continued raving on. He pulled a small device from his belt and jammed it into the engine core. The lights flickered and the power went out. The engine died with a slow whir. Suddenly everything buzzed back to life. Duke was frozen and slowly looked around the room. "What, Did you do?" Duke asked slowly. "A better question is, is what is outside?" Presidio said. Duke ran to the starboard window and saw only space. It was normal until he noticed the engines. A blaze of rainbows shot from behind it, instead of its dull orange. Duke looked at it with his mouth agape. "But.... The engines only do that when in Rainbow speed, how did you?" Duke was cut off. "Changed reactor power distribution, moved data disc A to C, and ordered a drink." Duke smiled. "After what you've just done, a drink sounds reasonable." * They were all sitting round a table in the mess. A bottle of vodka sat in the center and shot glasses scattered the table. They were all chatting, loudly and they were laughing hysterically. "So I climbed into the bed and then I realized, I was 1 floor down and my girlfriend waited all night while I was getting dragged out by security." Cursum said loudly before laughing. They all joined in with him, Cursum banged the table with his hoof. The laughing died down and it led to a strangely comfortable silence. They all stared at each other in their comfortable silence. "Do you think if we get back with this info that we can win the war?" Presidio asked silently. "It has to, if not, well, a lot of ponies will die." Duke said stretching his hooves behind his back. "What is the info anyways?" Steel asked. Duke leaned forward and tapped a few keys on a console in front of him. An Image appeared of a ship, a behemoth of a ship, one with vast weaponry and seemed to stretch on for miles. It had the colors of the Rebellion and their insignia on the underside. "The rebellion flagship, The Crystal Converger, the pinnacle of their fleet. This ship contains a vast amount of info on us and them, if destroyed, the Rebels will be blinded." Duke announced crossing his hooves. Another silence enveloped them. They all studied the images. Duke broke the silence. "It also is commandeered by the Rebellion Admiral, Admiral Solitarious." The silence deepened as they gathered the news. Presidio was the only one who had already heard the info and Steel was only just learning about their archives of info on them, Cursum looked at the pictures and continued moving his head. "If we fail, the Rebels will crush the Feder...." Duke was cut off by the lights flickering. A warning light appeared. "Sir, a Pirate camouflaged ship has opened fire, ion weaponry, shields are disabled." Cam said. They all clambered out of their seats. As soon as they were standing they began running towards their stations before a loud explosion rocked the ship. The lights went out completely and only emergency lighting was on. The room was a glowing red from the lighting. "Cam, Status report." Duke shouted. "Missile hit, hull breach in the systems room, doors are offline." Duke slammed his hoof on the ground. He climbed back onto his hooves. Another ion shot hit them sending electrical currents through the ship. "Sir, weapons are offline, attempting anti-ion counter measures." Cam said. They all stood around dumb struck. "Recommended course of action sir?" Presidio asked. "Prepare a jump and repair vital systems." Duke said quickly. "MOVE!" They all scattered and manually tried to bypass the doors. Duke walked to the window and saw the ship. It was like an oval just with jagged edges and was painted a dark purple. It fired another missile. "Grab something!!" Duke shouted. They all grabbed something before the missile violently shook the ship. "Life-support offline sir." "Buck, buck, BUCK!!" Duke swore. The pirate ships bottom opened and a laser emerged from inside. Dukes heart sank, with no shields that laser would cut through them like a knife through jelly. It fired and Duke closed his eyes. He felt his heart in his throat and waited to be sucked into space. But it didn't come, instead Cams voice came on. "Fires in medical bay, weapon control and airlock." Dukes heart stopped. A fate worse then death is waiting for it to happen and watching it as it gets closer to you. Duke slowly walked backwards. They were all still trying to bypass the doors. "C'mon, C'MON!!" Presidio shouted. "Presidio." Duke said quietly. She ignored him and continued. "It's over." Presidio continue fiddling with the wires inside the wall. Steel stopped and walked to her. Her hooves were shaking inside the opening in the wall. Tears slid down her face. "Presidio?" Steel whispered. "I have to try, I have to." She continued. "Presidio." Steel said again. "I have to try, we have to continue the missi..." Steel grabbed her hooves and slowly pulled them out of the wall. He turned her around and hugged her. She was crying now, she put her face into his shoulder. "We have to try." She whispered. Steel said nothing and just held her. She buried her face into his shoulder. "We have to." Chapter 6: AdmissionsThe dim red emergency light shone brightly, briefly outlining them. The room looked and felt different. They all sat around the metal table, Dukes rubbed his head and Presidio had her head down, her blue mane sprawled outwards. Steel had his arm around her, he was looking down, dazed, confused, hypnotized. Cursum sat there, strangely still, even his head had stopped its odd movement. Cam broke the eerie silence. "Oxygen at 67%." Duke sighed. "Thank you Cam, cease notifications." A beep went off and the room fell silent again. Steel broke the silence. "It's amazing how that you only realize how short life is before you die." Presidio looked up at him. "Something you regret in life?" She said Smiling Duke chuckled. "I regret something in life, never actually getting the rank of Captain." Steel looked at him In interest. "How are you flying this Beast of a ship then." Duke licked his lips "Well, before the war I was a crew member on a pirate vessel, I was the First mate and we were making fortunes across the galaxy. The captain started doing things me and the rest of the other crew didn't like, so... I killed him." The room fell silent. "I then took the ship, but we were attacked. They sent droids aboard and they got everyone, I just managed to jump away." They sat there listening in to his story, Presidio had put her hooves underneath her chin and Steel crossed his legs. "I then ran out of fuel and the Federation found me, I then did small freelance jobs for them." Steel eyes widened. "You were a mercenary?" Duke laughed. "Yes, yes I was. Long story short, I signed up with them and they let me keep my ship and they gave me a small crew." They all looked at him still in interest. "What about you Steel." Duke said pouring himself a drink. Steel shrugged and put his hooves on the table. "My story isn't as 'eye opening' but when I was, uhh around 18, my academy had a, what they called 'A ball', that was actually just a lot of booze and a lot of really loud music... and there was a girl there." Steel looked down seemingly lost in trance. They all chuckled a bit at Steel "And I was to scared to talk to her, I wanted to ask her to dance but...I didn't and she died the very next year." The room fell silent again. "I'm so sorry Steel." Presidio said. "How did it happen." Duke asked. Steel looked out the window into space, the stars seemed infinite and bright. "A group of Federation Sympathizers, when the war started, came and forced us to join... She said no." Tears had filled his eyes. He turned to Duke. "And that is why, I joined the Rebellion." He said sadly. A tear streamed down his face. Presidio wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry Steel." She whispered. "It was a long time ago, but... Thanks. What about you Presidio." She wiped her nose and sat up. "Regrets? Nah." Duke put down his glass. "Bullshit, you have to have something." She sat up laughing. "OK,OK,OK. When I was about 7, I traded my brother for a hover bike." The room erupted with laughter. "You tried to give your brother away... For a bike. Ha. Priceless." Presidio folded her arms and sat back. "Only regret in life, mainly cause I had to save up to buy him a bike." Everyone was laughing now. The laughing died down and all eyes turned to Cursum. Cursum looked back at them curious. "Story? Story! I have no story." Presidio laughed. "You have to have at least one regret." Cursum looked away from them sheepishly. They all looked at him with anticipation. "When I crashed on the death world, rules were created, kill to survive, scavenge to kill, kill to find, find to kill, all paths lead to the same end... Death. I did things i never wished i did... and i would do anything to change it" The mood seemed to drain from the room. They all stared at their hooves . Duke broke the silence. "Cam, put on some music." "Certainly sir, preference." Duke thought for a moment. "Genre: Jazz. Artist: J artison W." A smooth saxophone tune started to play through the speakers. Presidio smiled. "Ah, you love this guy don't you." Duke shrugged. "I don't love him, he's just a good player." Presidio laughed. "I swear he's the only Artist you have." Duke chuckled. "Sir, fires have depleted our oxygen supplies and they are critical." Duke stopped and he bit his lip. "Thank you, and Cam... It's been an honour." "Thank you sir." * Duke was tapping the table. They had all stopped speaking finally and they all felt tired from the lack of oxygen. Steel sat by the window with Presidio, not speaking. Steel slowly stood up. "Uhh, Duke? You might wanna see this." Duke sighed and slowly stood, his walking was slow and sluggish. Duke got to the window and peered outside. He scrunched his face in confusion. "What the hell." He breathed. Outside, three warships glided, they didn't reassemble any known ship. The ship was a diamond blue and the entire structure seemed to be made of crystal, there was no visible entrance and only a giant shard of what seemed to be the actual ship. A small chunk broke off of one of the ships and slowly glided to the pirate ship waiting to strip The Kestrel of goods. The shard hit the ship and electricity surrounded the ship, it slithered and climbed all over until the ship looked nothing but a large ball of electricity. The electrical charge expanded and then thinned out until it disappeared. The ship was no longer there. An alarm soon went off, the red alarm didn't seem to make much of a difference to the room. "Intruders on board." Cam said plainly. Duke moved away from the window. "Presidio? Do you have your rifle?" Presidio shook her head. "Left it on my bunk." Duke nodded. He turned around and looked to the door. As soon as he did it slid open and a normal pony walked through. His coat was a pale blue and his mane a dark silver. He saw Duke and electricity soon wreathed around his hooves. The pony got closer to Duke. Presidio stood and ran in front of him, throwing a punch. The pony rose his hoof and blocked it, shocking Presidio as she stumbled back. She threw another but this time he grabbed her hoof and jabbed her neck. She shook and fell to the ground, electricity bounced around her and spasmed on the floor. Steel looked down at her. "You bucker!" He shouted as he picked up a chair and charged. The pony raised his hoof and Steel started rising off the floor. "What the buck!? Let me down!" The pony had no expressions and he punched the air with his hoof and Steels eyes rolled back and he stopped moving. The pony now stood in front of Duke. Duke was frozen, Unknowing on what to do. He then felt a large thud against his neck and then a large shock. He looked to the pony who had just hit him. Duke looked to his arm and saw electricity around it. "Buck" he muttered as he collapsed and all went black. Chapter 7: The AncientsDuke couldn't see anything. Everything was black, as if he was blind. He could hear his heart beat, slow and loud, like a great drum. The sound of rising bubbles filled his ears, the sound a kettle makes when it is fully boiled, yet there was no heat, everything was calm, silent, peaceful. Light soon filled Dukes eyes as he slowly opened them. He opened his eyes fully and peered around him. He was submerged in some sort of liquid, it was a very light blue and it bubbled. Duke noticed that there was a breath mask over his muzzle. His breathing was normal. He tried to see out of the glass in front of him but all he saw was blurs. One of the blurs approached the glass and spoke behind him, it was muffled. The blur then moved to a square prism and started touching it. The liquid began to drain from the chamber. The water drained away and Duke fell onto the ground, breathing heavily all of a sudden. His mane was wet and heavy. The glass opened with a hiss as the chamber pressurized. Duke tore off the mask on his muzzle onto the floor. He looked up to the figure in front of him. It was the same pony that came into his ship and incapacitated them. He raised a hoof to grab him, but he felt weak and lowered it. "You will feel weak, with time it shall pass." He said. Duke tried to speak back but his throat was dry. "I apologize for the intrusion of your ship and the assault of your comrades, I was afraid you would retaliate." He continued. "Where... Where are they?" Duke asked with a raspy voice. "Over there" He gestured next to his glass capsule. "My name is Tolvan, I am medical officer aboard this cruiser." Duke looked up at him, breathing heavily. "My I ask your name?" Tolvan continued. Duke swallowed. "Duke... My name is Duke." Tolvan nodded. "Water." Duke said. Tolvan looked around and placed his hoof by a sigil on a cabinet and lightning went from his hoof to the sigils. The cabinet opened and Tolvan pulled out a canister and handed it to Duke. Duke fumbled as he opened the canister with shaking hooves. The canister opened with a satisfying click and he started to gulp down the water. It dripped out the corners of his mouth. He lowered the canister and breathed. He looked at the surrounding room, it was a bright white but with a slight tinge of blue, the same blue from the outside of the ship. "Where am I?" Duke asked plainly. Tolvan turned away from him. "Ah, that I cannot tell you. You see, I cannot expose the safety of my race." Duke stated at him blankly taking heavy breaths. He stared at Tolvan wrecking his brain and trying to piece together the information around him. "What are you exactly?" Duke Breathed heavily. "We are known as the Ar'lockhs, we have studied the races around us and we are more commonly known as The Ancients. Stories have been told of us apparently defending the galaxy. Duke continued his stare at Tolvan. "I was told stories... as a child of such a race... They said you fought... away daemons that threatened this galaxy... and nearly turned into a giant nebula." Duke said between breaths. "My I ask what happened to your ship" Tolvan asked. "We were..." Duke was cut off as a door at the far end of the room opened. A similar pony walked in. He was clad in a golden Armour, a silver sword hung from his belt. Tolvan snapped to attention as he saw the new figure. "Sir, I wasn't expecting you." The figure looked to Tolvan, his silver mane sprawled over his Armour. "Stand easy Tolvan, you know how I feel about the unclean aboard my ship." The pony said with a deep voice. Duke looked confused as he looked up to the new figure "Unclean?" The pony turned to Duke. "Unclean" He exclaimed. "The unclean are those that have not passed our challenges and are therefore unfit of any rights in our species. Duke took the information in and looked back at the pony. The pony began to trot back and fourth across the room. "Now, if you wish to remain on our ship and not suffocate on yours, you must take the rite, for honors sake of course." "And if I refuse?" Duke asked questionably. The pony stopped moving and turned to him. "I will have to vent you into space." Duke grinned his teeth and stared straight into his eyes. He nodded his head silently. The pony clapped his hooves. "OK, let's get to work." * Duke lay on a table. He had several machines around him, tubes were connected to his arms and hooves. Tolvan stood over him. "You will be pushed into your mind where we will set a staging ground, once inside you will not remember this encounter and you would be in another ponies hooves, same mind different body." He said intelligently. The captain of the ship, still In his golden Armour came over. "This first test will test your will, if you pass you will continue, if not, then you will be punished and then you must try again, good luck." The captain said as he nodded his head to Tolvan who flicked a lever down. Fluids pumped into Dukes body and then it seemed that the world exploded in front of his eyes as all went white. * Stalactites hung from the ceiling. Duke stood with several other ponies all dressed In black robes. Though it wasn't duke, he was a crimson red pony with a yellow mane, his eyes were as dark as a Carbonados. He was standing in a line formation with four others. They were in a large dome chamber, stalactites covered the ceiling, the low hum of wind was heard and the dripping of water, unusually loud. In the center of the dome chamber was a pit, a pit with half of a bridge now used as a platform. Another figure in black knelt on this platform. He rose and started to slowly trot towards them. "This is the day, you will begin your accession my children. Today is the day you strike down your foes. Today is the day we take back what was ours." He announced raising his hooves. "Bring fourth out enemies and let us bathe them in fury and death!" He shouted. As soon as he did, five ordinary looking ponies crawled into the room, their manes covered with dirt, their hooves soaked in blood. They crawled in front of each of the black robed figures and Duke. "Brother Arthor, you will go first." Duke seemed to respond to the name as if it were his own. He grabbed the pony by the mane and dragged in to the platform. The pony moaned as it was dragged across the ground. The leader stared Into his eyes, his grin as sharp as daggers and his eyes as black as night. The leader produced a small dagger and handed it to Arthor. It had engravings on it, spirals and whirls surrounded the hilt. The leader moved away as Arthor raised the dagger to the ponies throat. An overwhelming anger filled him, he wanted to do it so badly, he wanted to bathe in the blood if those who questioned him and strike down all who opposed him. The pony looked up to him and looked into his eyes. Arthor stared back and he froze. His anger seemed to melt away and all he saw in the pony was not fear but sorrow and disappointment. Arthor lowered the dagger and slowly turned around. "Brother? Are you alright?" The leader asked. Arthor began to chuckle, this chuckle grew into a laugh, a maniacal laugh. "Oh, brothers I am fine. The real question is... Are you?" He seemed to say. And as fast as lighting Arthor had ran and drove the dagger into the leaders gut. He pushed and twisted the dagger. Blood poured down the dagger and onto his hooves. The others ran from their line formation towards him. They grabbed him, but it was already to late. He ripped the dagger out and spun, slitting one of their throats. Another threw a punch but he blocked it with his fore hoof and punched him in the gut, over and over again until he was spitting blood. Another charged him with another dagger screaming. Arthor spun the pony spitting blood around and the pony plunged the dagger into his friends heart. Arthor kicked the pony he was holding, and as he fell the pony grabbed hold of the other and they went tumbling over the edge of the pit. The last one looked at the destruction around him and charged Arthor, hooves flailing. Arthor moved out of the way and the pony went running off the edge of the pit screaming. Arthor grinned as he turned to face the pony he saved. As soon as he did the world flashed white again. * Duke woke with a jolt, his breath loud and heavy, sweat covered his brow. Tolvan and the captain still stood over him. They were both smiling. "Congratulations, you passed." The captain said. "Not many, even our own race, can withstand that, I am impressed." Duke looked up at him. "What was that?" The captain looked at the wall next to him. "That. That was the execution of the cult of Carbonados, the cult of the black diamond, it was a dark and perilous time and they were planning on destroying all life. The pony you had control of was Arthor, an agent of our race who was corrupted by them, he killed all of them and then disappeared without a trace, that was seven hundred years ago. " Duke looked at him in disbelief. "So, are you ready for your next test?" The captain asked. Dukes mouth hung. He tried to speak but he still couldn't process in his mind what was happening. "Good" The captain said. * They had moved to another area of the ship. They were now situated in a large room. The walls were metallic and rusted. Dim light lit the surrounding area. The walls had engravings and cuts in them. The captain walked up in his golden Armour. "This will be your last test, we have more but they are only used for our own race" he said. He walked over to a wall behind Duke and placed his hoof in an engraving. Lightning bounced from his hoof to the engraving and all the engravings, severs and cuts seemed to lit up an aqua blue. A large block of the wall released and slowly moved out. Inside the block were several weapons, a giant war hammer was the first there, the second was a mace as dark as night and the last was a sword that gleamed even in the dim light of the room. "Choose your weapon." The captain said as he walked away from the wall. Duke walked over and picked up the gleaming sword. As it came off the rack it made a loud hiss as metal slid across metal. Duke held it up to the light as the weapon rack receded back into the wall. Duke turned to the center of the room where the captain stood. "Are we fighting?" Duke asked as he stared at his sword. "That we are, your race may communicate the best through speech, but ours is best in battle, to see another's movements and to reply in kind is how we as a race communicate." The captain said as he slowly took his sword out of his scabbard. He looked up to Duke. "Let's dance." He jolted his hoof that was holding the sword and lightning began emoting from it. He ran towards Duke. Just before he got to Duke he took a jump and slammed his sword down. Dukes sword flung up to meet it just in time. He staggered back. The captain started striking and Duke was parrying slowly. "You think to much when you fight... Let it go." The captain said between blows. Duke started striking back and they were now stepping back and fourth attacking each other. Duke began to parry and attack just as the Captain was. The captain stepped back and spun striking the Dukes sword. The force was so great that the sword split in two. Duke fell to the ground staring at the broken sword. The captain walked over to him. Duke quickly grabbed what was left of his sword and struck upwards. The captain merely struck it aside. "Anger should not control you." He said. He bent down kneeling over Duke and hit him across the face. He stuck his hooves onto his chest, pinning him down. Duke grabbed the Captains hoof trying to escape. Duke stopped struggling as he felt a tingling sensation over his hooves. He looked to them. His hooves were now emitting electricity just as Tolvan and the captain does. He stared at his hooves for a while before striking them up at the Captains chest. Electricity sparked against the golden Armour and it exploded with great light as they were both thrown across the room. Duke opened his eyes after the blinding light. The captain was on the other side of the room, electricity bounced across his Armour. "How?" He mumbled. Duke stared at his arms as electricity continued wreathing around them. They grew more violently and Duke was now waving his arms to stop the electricity spreading. "No.... NO, NO, NO." The Captain screamed. The room flashed as Dukes electricity exploded. Duke felt his body collapse and it felt like he was on fire. His body wasn't responding to his brain and soon he couldn't see anything. Rewrite hereThis work is currently being rewritten, first chapter is here: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/260893/ftl-corsair Chapter 2: Big guns and break outsThey all sat in the brig. The room was fairly small but they managed to fit. Steel was stuffing food into his mouth. He said he was locked in that room for a whole day, and he ate the food as if he were a rabid dog. He looked up and stopped eating. His mouth was full of food, it looked like his cheeks would burst. "Your probably wanting to know what to do with me." Steel said with a his full mouth. He swallowed and spoke again. "Drop me off at the nearest station and I'll be out of your manes." He said putting his utensils down and stretching. Duke continues to stare at him and Presidio just looked back and fourth at the two. Duke stood up. "We can't do that. The Lunar fleet are practically stepping on our tails." He paced back and fourth across the room. Steel looked at him worried. "Your going to have to stick in here until we get back to Federation controlled space." Steel stood up quickly. "Now, come on, be rational at least." Duke stopped and turned to him. "I'm sorry that's just not possible, you and everyone apart of that Rebellion are war criminals, millions have died because of your "so called" brighter future." Steel looked to the floor and slowly sat back down. He sighed. Duke turned and started to walk out with Presidio. "Sit tight and make yourself comfortable, it's going to be a long trip." The door closed behind him and turned red. Steel put his head Into his hooves. "Now what" * Duke sat in his chair and rubbed his head with his hooves. He moaned, he had a splitting headache. Presidio turned from her seat and looked at him. "You okay Duke." He groaned back at her. Presidio laughed. "You look worse than me with a hangover." Duke chuckled. "It's just one bloody problem after another. So where are we." Presidio swiped across her screen and a 3D image of the galaxy appeared. "We're here." Presidio said as a marker appeared on the map. "The Federation fleet is here." Another marker appeared but much further than there current location. "Jeeze we have quite a lot of space to cover." Presidio didn't say anything, she only stares at her own console. "And the Lunar fleet is here." Another marker appeared and was sitting right next to their position. "I guess you were right when you said they were right on our tails." Dukes mouth was slightly open and his eyes wide. "But, we went through that nebula, how did they..." Duke stopped. "Steel." Duke muttered. "Presidio hold the deck, I've got some business to settle." He stood from his chair and walked out the room. * Steel had his head down on the table. "Gah so bored. There has to be something to do in this bloody room." Steel thought. The doors in front of him turned green and they slid open. He raised his head from the table and looked at the door. Duke practically charged In. He threw the table to one side of the room and it made a loud crash. Steel fell out his chair and tried moving backwards but his hooves kept slipping. Duke picked him up by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "Where is it!?" Steel looked at him fearfully. "Where's what?" He asked confused. Duke punched him in the face. "Your bugged aren't you." Steel looked even more confused. "Bugged? What!?" Duke punched him in the stomach. "Tracking device! Where is it!?" Steel was winded and struggled to breathe. "I'm...not...bugged" he said between breaths. Duke threw him to the ground. "That's bullshit." He pulled out his pistol and shot the ground next to Steel, the impact zone was black from the laser shot. Steel crawled back and his back touched the wall again. Duke pressed his gun against Steels head. Steel had tears in his eyes now. Duke stared at him with blind fury. He was about to shoot when the alarms went off. Duke put his pistol away. "Buck, what now." "Pirates just jumped into our vicinity." Cam said. Duke looked back to Steel. His eyes were filled with tears and he was shaking. "If you so what move from this room, I swear I'll vent you into space myself." He galloped out of the room and the door slid shut behind him. They locked themselves. Steel was still breathing hard and lay down. "Holy crap." He muttered under his breath. * The bridge was ablaze with red warning lights. Duke trotted into the room and sat down. "Status report." A list of system power rose from his console. "All systems green sir." Cam reported. Duke waved his hoof over the screen and the list disappeared. He looked at the ship. It looked like an alliance ship, just painted with purple streaks and had the pirate insignia on it, a scull and tentacles. "Hail them." A few moments later an video feed with a Pegasus appeared. He wore a dark black Armour and the room around him was dim. Only a few ponies were seen behind him. "In the name of the Celestial Federation, I ask that you power your weapons down and let us pass." Duke said in his most commanding voice ever. Presidio couldn't help but sneak a laugh. The Captain of the pirate ship grinned, baring his teeth. They were a clear white, but they had all been sharpened to a point "Hmm, I think not." He turned his head and shouted behind him. "Open fire." Duke cut the feed and hit a few buttons. Out the side windows weapons slowly raised out of the wings. They stopped and they charged. Presidio tapped a metal implant on the side of her head and a green screen slides across her left eye. Her implant allowed her to manually take control of the guns and other systems from anywhere on the ship. The other ship had its weapons primed and started to open fire. A missile shot from the ship. "Cam, evasive maneuvers." The ship darted upwards but it was no use, the missile had redirected. "Brace for impact." Presidio said plainly. A loud explosion sounded and alarms went off. "Damage report." Presidio flicked a screen to him. "Shields are down. Recharging." A blue ball came from the pirate ship. "Ion blast!" Duke shouted. The blast hit and it's electrical charge ran through the ship. The lights turned off and the engine powered down. "Get systems back online. Now!" * Steel sat on the floor in his small chamber. An explosion made him tumble over. "What the buck." He looked outside the window and saw another ship. His eyes widened. Another shot from the ship came, it was blue and looked lightning was inside it. "Ah shit." The blast hit and the room went dark. He backed away from the window. The lights came back on and the door was unlocked. Steel quickly ran to it and it slid open. The hallways lights flickered and another explosion echoed and he heard large laser and plasma shots being fired at the other ship. He ran down the hallway, with no sense of direction he ran through the hallways looking for something useful he could use. He found a door and the lights above it flickered. It read Weapons Control Room. A smile climbed onto his face. He opened the door and ran inside. * "Keep up the fire, Cam continue evasive maneuvers." Duke commanded. Their weapons were laser based and they had one missile launcher. "Target their shields." Presidio continued to tap things on the console. Suddenly her console turned red and made a loud beeping noise every time she tried to do something. "What the buck." Presidio said slamming her hoof down onto the console. "What." Duke asked urgently. "The weapons console isn't responsive anymore." Duke looked outside at their weapons which were still firing except at a rate that none of them had ever seen. "Then how are they still firing?" Duke was running his head again. "Cam, bring up security cameras for the brig and the WCR. Two screens appeared. The brig was empty and Steel was operating the weapons. Duke slammed his hoof on the console. "God dammit! Presidio get down there. Cause once this is over I'm going to rip him a new one." Presidio tapped her implant and it moved back into her head. She picked up her rifle and galloped out the door. "Cam, lock exits to the WCR." Cam responded. "They are already locked sir." Duke sighed. Suddenly a green light appeared on his console. He tapped it and video feed started. There was fire all around in the feed and most of it was static. The pirate Captain was there. He was obviously traumatized. "Please cease fire we'll give you whatever you want." Duke just managed to make out the message. "We are trying to but we have had a malfunct..." Duke was cut off by the missile launcher shooting. The missile hit the ship square on the bridge and the camera feed turned to total static. The pirate ship exploded in front of him sending out a shock wave that made him stumble. Debris flew everywhere. The purple streaked ship was no where to be seen and only bits remained. Duke looked out into space angered but sympathetic to the pirates. He then remembered why this happened and he marched out of the bridge.
PrologueThe large cruiser In front of them seemed to stretch on forever. It's many windows all sparked a light and its orange and blue hull glowed immensely. The bright nebula in the distance made the ship look as a giant silhouette in powered down sections. "Damn, that ship is huge." Duke exclaimed. "Heh, you can say that again." Chuckled Presidio. Their tiny Celestial federation ship was nothing compared to the behemoth Lunar rebellion cruiser. Their engines buzzed quietly through the ship. Duke pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him and spoke to the ships AI, Cam. "Cam, I want you to hover near the docking bay, perform preliminary docking checks and request entry." Duke said aloud. "Certainly sir." The ships AI replied back to him. The ships engines charged and they flew upward to what looked like the outline of the docking bay. A few beeps and the flicker of a few lights went and the docking bay door opened. A flood of light poured out and the two shielded their eyes, they lowered their hooves and looked at the docking bay. "Okay Cam nice and slow" Duke said as the ship glided towards the entrance. The ship passed through a blue shield and it seemed to pass through the interior of the ship. The Kestrel soon came to a halt and two mechanical arms came down and clamped onto it. A green light appeared on the screen. Duke turned to presidio. "I would suggest going to go get your things." A smile appeared on her face. "Of course captain" Presidio unbuckled herself and walked to a door at the far end of the room. With a slide of the door she left. Duke pressed a button on the console in front of him. "This is The Federation Peace Envoy class Kestrel. All systems green,over." Duke waited a while and was soon replied. "Copy, all systems green closing bay doors, releasing air lock. Welcome aboard the Crystal Converger." * They walked through the white metal hallways with two of the cruisers guards, they both had rifles slung over their shoulders. Duke looked camouflaged with his white coat. The only thing making him stand out was his blonde mane and his green eyes. The guards Armour matched the ship, a bright orange and blue streaks down the leggings and across the body. They came up to a door and they stopped. "Unauthorized weaponry is restricted on board." One of the guards said through his helmet. Duke turned to Presidio and nodded. She unslung her rifle, it messed her purple mane and pulled her pistol out of its holster, it was almost invisible on her dark blue coat, she handed it to the guards. "Thank you, right this way." The guard said as they finally started moving again. The large doors slid open and they walked through. Several doors darted off to different corridors and ponies all dressed in power Armour or a rebellion uniform walked around chatting to each other. They seemed to stop to look at Duke and Presidio. They continued moving with the guards even through the eerie silence. They came to another large door except this one was lone and had orange lights around it. "The Admiral will see you now" They both started walking ahead but the guard put a hoof up. "Alone." The guard said coldly. Duke nodded and the doors slid open. "I'll be fine Presidio." "Have fun." Presidio called back as he walked away with the guards. He trotted In and the doors slid closed behind him. The room he was in was a bright chrome white like all the others and the window at the far end of the room gazed into space. There was a console at the far end of the room and a table In the center. There was a sign above another door to his left that read "Captains Quarters." "On my own now I guess. " Duke thought. The doors to the Captains Quarters opened and a pony in a finely decorated uniform came out. "I am Admiral Solitarious." He said as he slowly walked towards the table in the centre. He grabbed the chair and sat down. "Please,sit down." Duke trotted over and sat down. "Thank you Admiral, might I say what a fine ship you are piloting." Duke said. The Admiral seemed proud. "Why thank you, the Crystal Converger, finest ship in the Lunar navy." Duke chuckled."I'm sure it is, now, business." The Admiral sat up. "Ah yes, your superiors sent here to talk about your surrender." Duke shook his head. "Umm, no I am here to talk about peace, we think it is time that the fighting was done," The Admirals horn lit up with magic and a pitcher of water and two glasses rose from the table. He poured the glasses of water and sent one to Duke. "Thank you." Duke said while eyeing the Admiral cautiously. The Admiral took a sip and looked at him. His watch beeped and he looked at it. "So, Duke is it, you pilot a Peace Envoy, correct?" Duke was confused by the question. "Uh, yes Admiral." The Admiral chuckled. "Then would you care to inform me why your ship is armed with attack drones and laser weaponry." Duke chuckled. "We'll you see Admiral..." He stopped and pulled the chair out from underneath him and swung it at the Admiral. The chair cracked against the side of his head and he fell to the floor,dazed but still conscious. Duke put a hoof to his ear. "Presidio,we got to work fast!" Presidios voice soon responded. "Aye aye captain." Duke laughed at her calling him Captain, he didn't even have the rank yet. Duke ran to the console on the far side of the room and jammed a transmitter into it. Duke raised his hoof to his ear. "Cam, download all info on the Rebellion fleet." "Certainly sir, beginning bypass of firewalls,estimated download time 15 minutes." Duke looked at the Admiral who had just staggered back up on his hooves, blood dripped down the side of his face. "We don't have that much time Cam" Cam went silent. "Calculating... A wireless connection can be made but they will know our ships signature and can track us, once we jump the connection will be severed." Duke thought for a moment but was cut off by a blaze of red lights and the scream of an alarm, Duke turned and found the Admiral laughing. "Have... fun with...the guards." He said with bated breath. Duke punched the Admiral in the face and he collapsed. Duke turned back to the console. "Do it Cam." He ran for the doors and they slid open. Duke stopped as he was greeted with laser fire. The shots just missed him as he dove behind the table. "Buck." "Presidio,uhh a little..." He stopped as he heard shots and screams from the door. He stood back up. Presidio was standing there with her rifle charged. Her wings splattered with blood. Bodies surrounded her and blood was seeping across the ground. One of the guards moaned and reached for his pistol but Presidio slammed the butt of her rifle into his face and he stopped moving. "Shall we go?" Presidio asked. "Never thought you would ask." * They clambered onto the ship, laser fire following behind them. "Cam seal doors!" Duke screamed The doors slammed shut and locked themselves. Duke to the bridge and sat down, he started pressing buttons but a red light would always appear. "DAMNIT! They locked us in docking." Presidio soon came in and sat next to him. "I think I can deal with that." She said as she pulled a detonator out of a pocket in her armor. Duke stared at it, mouth agape "Sometimes I don't know whether to be impressed or very scared." Presidio chuckled and clicked the detonator. A loud bang shook the ship and the docking bay doors opened in front of them. The mechanical arms holding them in place powered down and fell limp. The vacuum of space soon filled the docking chamber and their ship drifted there. Duke slammed his hoof down onto the console and the ship shot out of the docking bay. He looked at his watch showing the download time. 79% "Buck we can't leave yet,download isn't done yet." Presidio tapped him on the shoulder and coughed. Duke turned to see she was holding another detonator. "I just won't ask how." He grabbed it and flicked the switch. They both watched as most of the lights on the ship went dark and the engines cooled. Cam soon broke the silence. "Firewalls bypassed, download complete." Duke smiled. "Plot a course for the Celestial Federation Fleet." The ship started to hum and it soon a rainbow colour filled the windows in front of them. The ship soon disappeared as it shot at intense speeds into the distant Nebula.
Chapter 1: Intruder Altert?Their ship just came out of Rainbow speed. They had appeared in a nebula, not a large one but one with a violent enough storm to knock off engines and sensors. Duke peered out the window into the nebula. All he saw was cloud, purple cloud, with the occasional flash of lightning. "Cam, how's radiation shielding holding?" "100% sir, I estimate that the shielding will last for exactly 3.4 years without unnecessary calamities." Duke walked towards the door and it slid open, the hallway stretched in front of him. The nebula knocked out their lighting for most of the ship, the hallway was cold and dark. "Can't even see my own hoof in front of my face." Duke mumbled to himself. He heard a hoof step behind him and he spun around and drew his weapon,pointing it into the darkness in front of him. "Cam, transfer power from bridge to this room." "Certainly sir." The lights flickered for a moment and Duke strained to see what was in the room. The lights finally stabled and dukes eyes adjusted. He looked around and saw nothing, just the same chrome white walls he sees everyday. He holstered his pistol and trotted away. "Cam, revert last order." The lights shut off once again. * "Ugh, why don't you work." Presidio shouted at the engine. Duke walked in and chuckled. "Machine not agreeing with you again?" Presidio threw a spanner to the floor. Presidio had her implant out. It was connected to the side of her head near her ear, it extends an places a green glass plate in front of her eye. "No, it just doesn't want to work." Duke chuckled again as he trotted over to the exposed engine in the floor. "Here let me try." He said as he picked up a spanner and clambered down to the platform below. He looked at the engine, coolant wires ran over it and a large fuel sign sat above a large amount of pistons. He tapped the engine and and circuit board fell out. Duke looked at Presidio and she climbed out of the engine platform and trotted away and left the engine room. She shouted behind her "Show off." Duke chuckled. He began to work on the engine and tested it several times with Cam. He was just about done when he heard some footsteps behind him. He turned, only to be greeted by the window gazing at the nebula outside. He stared for a moment and turned back to the engine. "I need to stop hitting the cider" he thought. * Presidio and Duke both sat In the bridge and ate dinner. Artificially grown steak, organic potato, slug gravy and a shot of home made vodka. "The engines fixed, finally." Duke explained. "Someone forgot to rewire the circuitry and divert water cooling." He continued. Presidio stuck her tongue out at him. "I also think I'm sick." Presidio stopped eating and finished her mouthful. "With what."she said with half a mouth still full of food. "I don't know, I'm hearing noises." Presidio laughed "Haha, you've been drinking too much." Duke didn't laugh. Presidio stopped laughing and sighed. "If it'll make you feel better,we can ask Cam to scan you." Duke looked outside. "Okay." After a few seconds of silence Cam spoke. "No foreign virus's detected." Duke sighed. "See, nothing." Presidio said. "Now we better get some rest, we have to jump a few sectors to get away from the Rebel fleet." Presidio stood and left the room but before she left she said "Duke, try to get some sleep." He mumbled and she took this as a yes. * Duke woke in his sleep to the sound of weapons powering up. He put on his armor and picked up his pistol quickly. "Cam who's in the Weapons Control Room." There was no reply. "Buck." He left the room and walked through the darkened hallways. The purple nebula outside have some light to the hallways. A flash of lightning made him jump and lit the room up briefly before retreating back into darkness. He soon found the weapons control room and opened the door and aimed his pistol into the room. Inside was a large arachnid like species, It looked like a giant spider, back from home but it had large hairs on its legs and instead of pincers it had spikes, almost like javelins. Duke hesitated as he watched it crushing the console and throwing things around the room. Duke fired two shots and hit its legs. It screamed in pain and spun around, it's eyes glowed a fire ruby red, the two pincer like spikes shot towards him, he didn't have enough time to get out the way. The spikes hit him straight in the chest, making him release all his breath. They pierced his armor like butter and blood sprayed everywhere. Duke froze, his hooves became weak and he dropped his pistol. His eyes dimmed and he collapsed to his knees, soon darkness engulfed his eyes. * Duke jolted out of his bed breathing heavily. He patted his chest to find no wounds. "Just a dream, just a dream." He muttered with quick heavy breaths Duke got out of his bed and put on his armor. He attached his thigh holster and placed his pistol inside. Duke grabbed a nutrition tube from his desk and plugged it into his side. He hated nutrition tubes, it was just a way of eating without eating. He walked to the bridge and Presidio was there doing system check ups. "Good morning. Good sleep?" Presidio asked. Duke was dazed and didn't hear her. "Hello? You there?" Duke shook his head and looked at her. "Sorry what was that?" Presidio laughed. "Sleep? Was it good?" Duke still seemed to take a while to process the question in his mind. "Oh yes,yes." He trotted over and sat down in his chair. It was a very comfortable chair for this kind of ship. He looked around at the console and seemed confused. Duke then hit a few buttons and spoke. "Cam, plot a course out of the nebula." The engines hummed and they once again only saw Rainbows through the windows. They came out in an empty sector of space, only the flicker of stars and the distant nebula behind them lit outside. "Captain, I am detecting an intruder alert." Cam said in his monotone AI voice. Duke sat up straight and started speaking urgently. "Where?!" Cam waited a while and then replied. "Weapons control." Dukes face turned pale and his heart sank. Presidio stood and galloped to a locker at the far side of the room and pulled a rifle out. "C'mon lets get the bucker." Duke sat there hesitant but eventually stood. He unholstered his pistol and they both galloped to the Weapons Control Room. "Cam, lock all exits from the WCR." Presidio shouted. As they approached the control room the doors lights turned red to show it was locked. They both stacked up on the door. "Cam on my mark unlock east entrance. Presidio looked at Duke. "Ready" Duke looked back at her with a plain expression. "Ready" "Three, two, one, Mark!" With the final call the doors unlocked and they both charged into the room. There a yellow male unicorn stood looking confused saw them charge in and dove to the ground. "Don't shoot, for Celestias sake Don't shoot." The unicorn was in a rebellion power armor. He was cowering on the ground obviously distressed. "Name and rank? Now!" Duke shouted at him. He whimpered and covered his head with his hooves. "Steel, Steel Perito, weapons expert." Duke stared at him. "Why are you here? How did you get on my ship?" Duke questioned. Steel mumbled and soon spoke louder. "Umm.. I was ordered to search for weapons and then uh alarms went off and then I was thrown against the wall from Rainbow speed and then the systems went down and then i got locked in the room and..." He was cut off by presidio shooting her gun against the ground. Duke looked at her. "Thank you Presidio." Duke looked back to Steel. "Now, what to do with you."
Chapter 3: The mysteries of mining base 111Once again they were sitting in the brig. The once trashed room had been cleaned and they were sitting at the table again. "Why?" Duke asked solemnly. Steel just sat there, his eyes avoiding Dukes. Duke slammed his hoof on the table and in bent leaving a large dent in it. Steel jumped and found him looking at Duke. "Why goddammit?!" "Have you ever heard of a pirate that surrendered or let his prey go?!" Duke sat there in silence. "Exactly, you would've fallen for that trap." They both became silent again. "But why. Why help us. You could've ran out that room and teleported to a nearby station." Steel diverted his gaze away from him. "Because... Because, you didn't kill me when you had the chance. I felt like I needed to repay the favor." Duke sat back and he chuckled. "So... I'm going to give you a choice now. We fly to the nearest station and drop you... Or, you stick around for a while longer." Steel smiled. "I thought you said there wasn't enough time to drop me off." Duke shrugged. "I took a shot in the dark and it turns out we were, but, not anymore." Steel looked out the window at the weapon mounts on the side of the ship. "If I leave you guys are going to blow yourself to pieces with the way I saw you using those missiles." Duke smiled. "And that blast laser, it was practically begging you to stop." Duke laughed. "I'm taking this as yes you'll stay." Steel nodded. "Of course." Duke stood up and stuck out his hoof. They shook hooves. "Welcome aboard the Kestrel." * The Kestrel was gliding across the black abyss of space. A large blue planet with several rings was nearby. Several moons orbited it. Duke had just finished filing Steel into the system. Duke let out a enormous sigh. "That's another problem off of my plate." Duke turned to Presidio. "How long till the next jump?" Presidio brought up a screen with lists of numbers, all changing. Duke struggled to understand what any of them meant. "2 hours." Duke stared at Presidio with a puzzled look. "How did you understand all those numbers." Presidio laughed. "I don't understand any of them, I just look at the bottom of the screen." He looked to the bottom of the screen. It read FTR: 2 hours. Duke snorted. "Could've fooled me." Duke looked back out into space at the large planet. "Might as well look around for a bit. Cam, any signals around." Cam responded almost instantaneously. "A distress signal on the planet below. Signature: Mining Base. ID: 111 Duke sat up. "Message along with it?" "Negative." Duke slumped back down into his seat. "Presidio." Presidio's ears pricked and she turned to him. "Keen for a little field trip?" Presidio grinned from ear to ear. "Of course you are." Duke muttered to himself. * The sound of the teleported soon died out and the three crew members were standing in a giant plain of land their rifles aimed ready for enemies waiting The sky was an unusually light blue, looked like ice. The ground was hard but thick expanses of grass were laid in front of them. There were giant mountains all around them, it seemed they had landed in what seems like a giant crater, flat but due to the mountains it felt like it. They began walking across the plains. "Where is that signal coming from?" Duke asked Presidio. Presidio tapped her implant and the green glass passed over her eye. She looked around and pointed towards one of the mountains. "East, 2 clicks." Steel groaned. "Why did we drop here then, why not somewhere closer to there?" Presidio laughed as she walked forward. "What, can't take a bit a walking?" Duke chuckled as they all started slowly walking. * They had climbed over a small hill when their objective was in sight. They all stopped and stared at the view in front of them. A giant building was built on the side of the mountain. Twisted metal from several ships littered the ground. The building was half missing and a large amount of rubble was on the ground. A cave sat underneath the half ruined building. "A ship graveyard." Duke sighed. Steel started to look worried. "Were we lured here?" "If we were lured here, our ship would already be down here. No , it's something else." Duke replied. "Let's go, 2 meter spread, safety off, return fire only." They slowly moved forwards and they passed through the ship graveyard. Skeletons lay underneath metal or strewn out across the piles of ships. Presidio turned slowly around to check their behind. She looked up to the mining base and saw a small glint. "SNIPER!" He screamed as she tackled Steel to the ground. A round hit the ground next to them. They all scrambled for cover. "Bullets, now those are old fashioned." Presidio remarked. She peaked over the cover but quickly ducked as another shot just missed her head. Duke peaked over and ducked. "There's a cave over there, we can make it." They all looked over to it. "Zigzag running, on my mark." Duke counted down and shouted the final. They all started running towards the cave In a zigzag movement to avoid sniper fire. A bullet hit Steel in the hind leg and he collapsed. Presidio skidded to a halt and charged back to him. She sprayed laser fire up to the snipers position. Se grabbed his collar ad started dragging him. Presidio dragged him all the way to the front of the cave and threw him in before rolling in herself. Steel clutched his leg In agony. Blood was pouring out of the hole in his armor. "Shit, went right through me." He was breathing quicker now. They had both crouched near Steel. "Did you bring the medical supplies?" Duke asked Presidio. "No, I wasn't expecting to get shot by 800 year old bullets today." Presidio snapped back. "Buck." Duke breathed. "Presidio stay with steel, I'm going to find this Bucker." He stood up and walked to the back of the cave with his rifle slung over his shoulder. "Duke, this is a cave, there's nothing back there." Presidio said. Duke didn't turn he just mumbled back to them. His voice echoed off of the walls. "This isn't a cave. It's a mine." * Duke had traversed most of the mine looking for a way up. Dust slowly seeped from the ceiling and the air was damp and dusty. Several laser cutters were strewn across the floor. "Where the buck are all the workers?" Duke thought to himself. Dukes finger was on the trigger of his rifle. He looked around in the darkness. "Can't see me own hoof in front of my face." He muttered. He pulled out a torch and shone it in front of him. It didn't light much, only about 3 meters of ground was visible in front of him. His hoofsteps echoed throughout the mine. He didn't know how long he walked for, felt like 20 minutes had gone. A small cage soon came into view, it's grating rusted. There was an opening at the front. The top of the cage had thick wires going straight up. A green button was illuminated next to it. "An elevator?" Duke said aloud. The elevator seemed a little too old for Dukes liking but he had no thee choice. He climbed in and hit the button on his way. A hum of a generator and whirring if gears started and the elevator jolted and slowly ascended the mine. * Light came into view and Duke shielded his eyes. He lowered his hoof and looked around as the elevator came to a halt. The room in front of him was purely made of concrete, a large amount of it missing. It was in the shape of a dome and the center had a giant cylindrical pillar. Rubble lay across the floor and on top of large crates around the room. Large sheets of fabric hang from the ceiling. He aimed his rifle around the room cautiously. An opening was at the opposite side of the room and he slowly paced towards it. A small beep was heard and Dukes ears pricked. One of the sheets hanging for the ceiling fell and a large gun on a tripod was there. A laser pointer was aimed at him and he quickly dove behind cover as the gun whirred to life. The barrel of it was cylindrical with more cylinders on it. It spun and a blaze of bullets flew across the room. Duke kept his head low as the wall behind him was being torn apart. It had ripped a whole hole through the wall letting in some sun and a cool breeze. The gun seemed to fire forever. Soon a large array of clicks was heard, repetitive and loud. Duke peaked over. The gun had run out of ammo. Duke laughed. "Is that it?" He asked aloud. As if a angel had heard him a crate on robotic wheels rolled over and it reloaded the gun. "You've got to be kidding me." It whirred to life again and duke rolled across the floor, bullets cracking the ground behind him. He rolled behind another crate. The gun was still blowing half the room to pieces. He patted his chest looking for anything to help him. He finally found his belt of grenades. He ripped an ion grenade off of his chest plate. He pulled the pin and threw it over the crate. A blue lightning emitted around the room and the gun stopped. Duke looked over and a fury of sparks was flying from the back of the gun. He slowly walked out from behind his cover, rifle raised. He pushed the gun over and it made a loud crash as it hit the floor. He looked impressed. The gun was weakly wired but was meant to take out intruders quickly. It was wired to all the other crates for ammo. He turned away from the gun and walked out the room. He entered another room, but this one seemed more as a living space. There was a fire and some chairs pulled up, the wall covered in crazy algorithms. Duke raised his rifle. "Someone was here recently." Duke thought. He panned the room looking for more evidence of life or where he or she went. He heard a clatter of metal coming from around a corner. He slowly walked around the corner. A red earth pony was sifting through a pile of junk. He had bandages around his hooves and head. His mane was a dark silver. Duke raised his weapon. He didn't know what to say. He thought about what to say and not scare him away. Duke stumbled and accidentally kicked a wrench across the floor. The pony ears pricked and he span around to see what was there. Duke stood there frozen with an awkward expression on his face. "What is this?" He said In an unusually high pitched voice. "Another pony to join poor Sparky?" Duke tapped his ear piece. "Cam, what info have you got on this guy." The pony was shaking his head back and fourth and mumbling to himself. "Cursum Scream, apart if the 17th exploration force, engineer, presumed dead 27.4 years ago." Duke stared at him. "You poor bastard." * Presidio sat next to Steel, keeping pressure on his wound. "Thank you." He coughed. They managed to find some cloth soon after Duke had left and they bandaged his wound. "So, what's it like to be shot with a 800 year old bullet." Steel laughed. "It hurts like a bitch if that's what your asking." Presidio stopped putting pressure on the bandaged wound. "There I think it will hold." Presidio said. "Thanks." "Don't mention it." A loud shock wave was heard that made them both twist their heads. "What was that." Steel asked. "Let me check." Presidio ran outside and looked around. "There's nothing here..." She fell silent as she looked to the skies. 3 rebel warships loomed over the planet. She tapped her earpiece. "Duke we got a bit of a problem here."
Chapter 4: Exterminatus"Duke we gotta leave. NOW!" Presidio shouted into her ear piece. It almost deafened Duke. "Give me a moment will ya." He turned back to the earth pony. "Cam, skip profile checks on this guy. Check mental state now." Duke paced back and fourth impatiently. "Sanity levels: caution needed." Duke punched the air. "Buck." He looked at him and Presidio came online again. "Today would be nice Duke." Duke quickly thought of what to do. "Buck it, you on your feet, we are leaving." The earth pony scramble to his feet. "Cam, divert all power to fall stabilizers." His suit powered down. "Hold on to me." Duke said. The earth pony grabbed his shoulders while moving his head and giggling. Duke started to run to a window at the far end of the room. "I wouldn't recommend that sir." Cam commented "Shut up Cam." He hit the glass with full force and it shattered and they began to fall. * The weapons bay of the warship was crowded. Weapons being taken back and fourth. Hermes was moving a crate of missiles across the room. He walked to a large cannon and started to load it. A speaker soon came on. "Cease regular weapons loading. Begin preparation of Exterminatus beam. Hermes's heart sank. A large laser rose from the floor and they all went to a console around it. "Aim for grid 17-42 quadrant 3." The laser moved into position slowly. It soon stopped and was aimed straight for the mining base. "Begin charge, and may Luna have mercy on our souls." * Presidio paced back and fourth inside the cave. "Bucking hell, where is he?" She muttered. Steel sat on the ground putting pressure on his bandaged wound. Presdio stopped pacing and walked to Steel. "Buck it we're leaving." She bent down and picked Steel up and slung him over her shoulder. She headed for the mouth of the cave. Her ears pricked and she stopped. It was like a screaming noise. Presidio heard a dull thud, followed by the clattering of shattered glass. The dust cleared, and she peered through the thin void. "Son of a BITCH!" Duke yelled, clutching a dislodged leg. A crazy looking earth pony sat in the dirt, shrugging. Duke looked up to Presidio. "Leaving were you?" Duke asked with a hint of agony. He pushed his leg back into position and gave a quiet yelp. Presidio laughed. "Just.Who's that?" Duke looked over his shoulder. "Eh, don't ask, I still don't even know." Duke put him down onto his hooves. He wobbled a bit but then started shaking his head again. They stared at him in confusion. "If you wouldn't mind I'd like to get moving thanks." Steel said. They snapped out of their trance and Duke put his hoof to his earpiece. "Cam,how long for you to be in teleport range." "Calculating... Precisely 2 minutes 27 seconds." Cam replied. "Buck" Duke breathed "Just get it done Cam." "C'mon lets move to a defensible position if the fleet decides to send some company." Presidio said bluntly. They started moving out from under the base back into the debris field. But suddenly Duke stopped and his heart sank. He charged and tackled Presidio and Steel to the ground as a shot went by. "Bucking hell Duke I thought that new guy was the sniper. Who the buck is up there?!" Presidio shouted as they ran for cover. Duke turned to the earth pony. "Who else was with you." The earth pony laughed hysterically. "Nopony with me. Only me... And the machines." Duke suddenly realized. "It's an automated sniper." "Bucking brilliant." Presidio cursed. Another shot went by and clanged as it hit the cover they were behind. Presidio emerged from the cover and took a few shots and she strafed across to the cover that the earth pony was behind. She hid again. She felt something grab her belt where her pistol was and she turned, but it was already too late. The earth pony had the pistol and had charged out. "NOOOO!" Duke screamed. The rifle shot at the earth pony and he shot at the same time. The laser from the pistol hit the metal sniper bullet and melted it and continued on and went up the barrel of the rifle melting the insides. A loud bang was heard and all went quiet. They looked at him mouths agape and he was frozen in time still pointing the pistol at the rifle in the base. "That sniper was ages away and you just took one shot? And destroyed it? How?" Presdio asked. He lowered the pistol and threw it to Presidio who caught it. "Too much spare time." He said quietly. They all stood and regrouped. Duke picked Steel up and carried him. Suddenly a bright red flash and a loud bang stopped them in their tracks. One of the cruisers had shot a weapon none of them had ever seen. Duke quickly put his hoof to his ear. "Cam, ETA? NOW!" "10 seconds." The beam struck the surface of the planet and the very ground shook beneath them. In the distance a wave of fire was approaching. They started backing away. "CAM" "8 seconds." They started moving back at a faster rate. The wave was getting closer an it was scorching the planet. They turned and started to run. "GODDAMIT CAM!" "5 seconds." They all were running now, the sound of the wave of fire growing louder, it's slow rumble made them run faster. "CAM" "3" The heat around them was rising. "2" The sound now deafened them. "1" * They were in the control room all running still. They all charged but skidded to stop themselves. Duke however didn't and continued running straight into the wall. He landed on the ground. His arm was on fire and he furiously hit it to put it out. The fire went away and he rolled over breathing heavily. Presidio came over and offered her hoof. Duke grabbed it and she helped bring him back up. "Okay. Get Steel to the infirmary, the new pony to the interrogation cells, Cam plot a course out of here." Presidio slung Steel over her shoulder and led the new pony to the cells. Duke turned and looked out the window behind him. The once green planet was a ghastly red and the planets very she'll split open, lava flows ran through the planet. Duke stared at the planet before it shot away into a rainbow color as they entered Rainbow speed. Duke trotted to his seat and flopped into it. Not soon after Duke drifted to sleep.
Chapter 5: SuffocationDukes face was hot, in fact his whole body was hot. He forced his eyes open and he was staring into a wasteland. The ground was scorched and lava flowed all over. It looked like the planet he had just left. Duke tried to climb to his feet but they didn't respond. "The buck?" He said loudly. His voice seemed to echo. He looked up and ahead of himself. He heard laughter, not cynical laughter, but the laughter of a filly. "Wha?" Duke mumbled as he strained to look forward. He then saw it. A small yellow filly with blue hair was running around laughing. Duke forced himself to his feet and tried to follow. The child ran in this vast heat as Duke strained with every step. He was just about to reach the child, he stuck out his hoof to him. The child turned but there was something odd. The fillies eyes were missing and blood poured out from them, the skin on his face peeling off. The filly screamed a scream of a banshee, and Duke fell to his knees. He covered his ears and slowly looked up. The filly was still screaming at him. He saw movement behind it and he struggled to see what it was. It moved at unusually fast speeds. It then ran in front of Duke and pushed him to the ground. The ground scorched his back as he screamed in pain. The thing was know on top of him, it was the same giant spiders from his previous dream. It's eyes raged a fire red and it shot a javelin at his chest. It missed his heart but he was now screaming. The spider injected something into him that made it feel like his blood was on fire, it was like being electrocuted. He couldn't move, only scream, it was the only thing he could do now. The spider shot another javelin straight for his head and it hit with a loud crack and everything went black. * Duke woke up with a jolt. He was still in his armchair. He panted like crazy and sweat covered his body. The doors slid open and Presidio trotted in. "Steel is going to be fine and our guest is situated in the..." She stopped as she saw Duke. "Jeeze, you look a mess, you okay." Duke was still panting. "Bad dream,that's all." The room fell silent. "So, you were saying something about our guest?" Duke said breaking the silence. Presidio continued staring but then shook her head. "Uh, yeah he's in the interrogation room if you want to see him." Duke nodded and bit his tongue. "OK,Cam do a physcology test and then research background." "Certainly." The screen shot several files up. "Name: Cursum Scream, Occupation: engineer, outstanding awards: Invented FTR, presumed KIA 27 years ago while transporting antique weaponry." Dukes mouth hung open. He stood up and strode out the room to the interrogation room. * The doors slid open and Duke walked through with the same shocked expression on his face. Presidio was in the room, sitting across from Cursum. "Duke, just in time to join us." Presidio chimed. Duke didn't move. "Presidio... You do know who that is right." Presidio looked to Cursum an then back to duke. "No. Why?" "That's Cursum Scream, and before you ask, yes, THAT Cursum Scream." Presidio's mouth hung. She turned to Cursum. "Everypony thought you were dead!" Cursum chuckled and continued moving his head in its odd movement. "Never! An innovator never leaves his work unfinished." Dukes ears pricked. "Sorry, did you say unfinished?" Cursums smile grew. "No, my first invention was a test, much more ideas planned, infinite potential, very quick but very silent, tests showed promise." Cursum said with an excited tone. "You've been gone for 27 years, a lot has changed." Duke said solemnly. Cursum didn't hear him and continued speaking, more like rambling. "New FTR drive, quantum energies backed by .... Dark matter and radio waves. Hmm, overload problematic, could cause gamma radiation and dematerialization, will have to increase reactor capabil...." Presidio clapped her hooves and Cursum stopped speaking and stared at them. He then squinted his eyes and his ears pricked, his eyes then widened to the size of saucers. "Your engine, may I see it?" Duke and Presidio looked at each other. "I guess we could allow him minimal access with me around." Presidio said. Duke frowned. "OK, but keep your eyes on him, we still have a mission to complete." Presidio nodded and led Cursum out of the room. Duke took one last glance at the room before leaving. * Steel was lying on the white infirmary bed. The bed was unusually hard but the soft pillows compensated for it. A bench with many tubes, vials and other medical equipment was on the far side of the room. The doors slid open smoothly and Duke wondered in eying the steel walls. "How you feeling?" Duke asked "I've been better. The new guy sure knows how to programme, bullet ripped my leg apart." Duke looked down to his leg. It had been covered with mechanical clasps and looked like a normal armor boot, but it was smaller and had more mechanics. "The boot will allow me to walk until it heals up." Duke examined the boot more. "Well it better heal fast, I need you at your peak, the boot is pretty cool though." Duke commented. Steel laughed. "Pretty cool? Ha. It's a bucking pain, it's like having one leg taller than the rest." They both laughed at this comment. An awkward silence then consumed them. "Well, I hope you get better Steel." "Thanks" Duke slowly an awkwardly left the room. The door slid closed behind him. Suddenly a loud clang was heard and Duke looked down the corridor. It was coming from the engines room. Duke ran and the door to the engine room slid open. Cursum was sitting on the engine throwing spanners and tools around. "Where is it? Where is it? Ah ha, found you." Cursum pulled out a large cable. "What is he doing?!" Duke shouted to Presidio. "I don't know, I brought him in here and then he started saying something about finishing his work, a larger reactor and flying snakes." Duke sighed and nodded his head. "Cursum! What in the federations fleet are you doing." Duke shouted. "Fixing mistakes, good engine but sloppy wiring and power, rerouting power to acceleration would show more results." Cursum started clawing at the engine and pulling out wires. "Get him out of there!" Duke yelled. Presidio climbed onto the engine only to trip over loose wiring and cables. "Move this, change that aaaannnnd add this." Cursum continued raving on. He pulled a small device from his belt and jammed it into the engine core. The lights flickered and the power went out. The engine died with a slow whir. Suddenly everything buzzed back to life. Duke was frozen and slowly looked around the room. "What, Did you do?" Duke asked slowly. "A better question is, is what is outside?" Presidio said. Duke ran to the starboard window and saw only space. It was normal until he noticed the engines. A blaze of rainbows shot from behind it, instead of its dull orange. Duke looked at it with his mouth agape. "But.... The engines only do that when in Rainbow speed, how did you?" Duke was cut off. "Changed reactor power distribution, moved data disc A to C, and ordered a drink." Duke smiled. "After what you've just done, a drink sounds reasonable." * They were all sitting round a table in the mess. A bottle of vodka sat in the center and shot glasses scattered the table. They were all chatting, loudly and they were laughing hysterically. "So I climbed into the bed and then I realized, I was 1 floor down and my girlfriend waited all night while I was getting dragged out by security." Cursum said loudly before laughing. They all joined in with him, Cursum banged the table with his hoof. The laughing died down and it led to a strangely comfortable silence. They all stared at each other in their comfortable silence. "Do you think if we get back with this info that we can win the war?" Presidio asked silently. "It has to, if not, well, a lot of ponies will die." Duke said stretching his hooves behind his back. "What is the info anyways?" Steel asked. Duke leaned forward and tapped a few keys on a console in front of him. An Image appeared of a ship, a behemoth of a ship, one with vast weaponry and seemed to stretch on for miles. It had the colors of the Rebellion and their insignia on the underside. "The rebellion flagship, The Crystal Converger, the pinnacle of their fleet. This ship contains a vast amount of info on us and them, if destroyed, the Rebels will be blinded." Duke announced crossing his hooves. Another silence enveloped them. They all studied the images. Duke broke the silence. "It also is commandeered by the Rebellion Admiral, Admiral Solitarious." The silence deepened as they gathered the news. Presidio was the only one who had already heard the info and Steel was only just learning about their archives of info on them, Cursum looked at the pictures and continued moving his head. "If we fail, the Rebels will crush the Feder...." Duke was cut off by the lights flickering. A warning light appeared. "Sir, a Pirate camouflaged ship has opened fire, ion weaponry, shields are disabled." Cam said. They all clambered out of their seats. As soon as they were standing they began running towards their stations before a loud explosion rocked the ship. The lights went out completely and only emergency lighting was on. The room was a glowing red from the lighting. "Cam, Status report." Duke shouted. "Missile hit, hull breach in the systems room, doors are offline." Duke slammed his hoof on the ground. He climbed back onto his hooves. Another ion shot hit them sending electrical currents through the ship. "Sir, weapons are offline, attempting anti-ion counter measures." Cam said. They all stood around dumb struck. "Recommended course of action sir?" Presidio asked. "Prepare a jump and repair vital systems." Duke said quickly. "MOVE!" They all scattered and manually tried to bypass the doors. Duke walked to the window and saw the ship. It was like an oval just with jagged edges and was painted a dark purple. It fired another missile. "Grab something!!" Duke shouted. They all grabbed something before the missile violently shook the ship. "Life-support offline sir." "Buck, buck, BUCK!!" Duke swore. The pirate ships bottom opened and a laser emerged from inside. Dukes heart sank, with no shields that laser would cut through them like a knife through jelly. It fired and Duke closed his eyes. He felt his heart in his throat and waited to be sucked into space. But it didn't come, instead Cams voice came on. "Fires in medical bay, weapon control and airlock." Dukes heart stopped. A fate worse then death is waiting for it to happen and watching it as it gets closer to you. Duke slowly walked backwards. They were all still trying to bypass the doors. "C'mon, C'MON!!" Presidio shouted. "Presidio." Duke said quietly. She ignored him and continued. "It's over." Presidio continue fiddling with the wires inside the wall. Steel stopped and walked to her. Her hooves were shaking inside the opening in the wall. Tears slid down her face. "Presidio?" Steel whispered. "I have to try, I have to." She continued. "Presidio." Steel said again. "I have to try, we have to continue the missi..." Steel grabbed her hooves and slowly pulled them out of the wall. He turned her around and hugged her. She was crying now, she put her face into his shoulder. "We have to try." She whispered. Steel said nothing and just held her. She buried her face into his shoulder. "We have to."
Chapter 6: AdmissionsThe dim red emergency light shone brightly, briefly outlining them. The room looked and felt different. They all sat around the metal table, Dukes rubbed his head and Presidio had her head down, her blue mane sprawled outwards. Steel had his arm around her, he was looking down, dazed, confused, hypnotized. Cursum sat there, strangely still, even his head had stopped its odd movement. Cam broke the eerie silence. "Oxygen at 67%." Duke sighed. "Thank you Cam, cease notifications." A beep went off and the room fell silent again. Steel broke the silence. "It's amazing how that you only realize how short life is before you die." Presidio looked up at him. "Something you regret in life?" She said Smiling Duke chuckled. "I regret something in life, never actually getting the rank of Captain." Steel looked at him In interest. "How are you flying this Beast of a ship then." Duke licked his lips "Well, before the war I was a crew member on a pirate vessel, I was the First mate and we were making fortunes across the galaxy. The captain started doing things me and the rest of the other crew didn't like, so... I killed him." The room fell silent. "I then took the ship, but we were attacked. They sent droids aboard and they got everyone, I just managed to jump away." They sat there listening in to his story, Presidio had put her hooves underneath her chin and Steel crossed his legs. "I then ran out of fuel and the Federation found me, I then did small freelance jobs for them." Steel eyes widened. "You were a mercenary?" Duke laughed. "Yes, yes I was. Long story short, I signed up with them and they let me keep my ship and they gave me a small crew." They all looked at him still in interest. "What about you Steel." Duke said pouring himself a drink. Steel shrugged and put his hooves on the table. "My story isn't as 'eye opening' but when I was, uhh around 18, my academy had a, what they called 'A ball', that was actually just a lot of booze and a lot of really loud music... and there was a girl there." Steel looked down seemingly lost in trance. They all chuckled a bit at Steel "And I was to scared to talk to her, I wanted to ask her to dance but...I didn't and she died the very next year." The room fell silent again. "I'm so sorry Steel." Presidio said. "How did it happen." Duke asked. Steel looked out the window into space, the stars seemed infinite and bright. "A group of Federation Sympathizers, when the war started, came and forced us to join... She said no." Tears had filled his eyes. He turned to Duke. "And that is why, I joined the Rebellion." He said sadly. A tear streamed down his face. Presidio wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry Steel." She whispered. "It was a long time ago, but... Thanks. What about you Presidio." She wiped her nose and sat up. "Regrets? Nah." Duke put down his glass. "Bullshit, you have to have something." She sat up laughing. "OK,OK,OK. When I was about 7, I traded my brother for a hover bike." The room erupted with laughter. "You tried to give your brother away... For a bike. Ha. Priceless." Presidio folded her arms and sat back. "Only regret in life, mainly cause I had to save up to buy him a bike." Everyone was laughing now. The laughing died down and all eyes turned to Cursum. Cursum looked back at them curious. "Story? Story! I have no story." Presidio laughed. "You have to have at least one regret." Cursum looked away from them sheepishly. They all looked at him with anticipation. "When I crashed on the death world, rules were created, kill to survive, scavenge to kill, kill to find, find to kill, all paths lead to the same end... Death. I did things i never wished i did... and i would do anything to change it" The mood seemed to drain from the room. They all stared at their hooves . Duke broke the silence. "Cam, put on some music." "Certainly sir, preference." Duke thought for a moment. "Genre: Jazz. Artist: J artison W." A smooth saxophone tune started to play through the speakers. Presidio smiled. "Ah, you love this guy don't you." Duke shrugged. "I don't love him, he's just a good player." Presidio laughed. "I swear he's the only Artist you have." Duke chuckled. "Sir, fires have depleted our oxygen supplies and they are critical." Duke stopped and he bit his lip. "Thank you, and Cam... It's been an honour." "Thank you sir." * Duke was tapping the table. They had all stopped speaking finally and they all felt tired from the lack of oxygen. Steel sat by the window with Presidio, not speaking. Steel slowly stood up. "Uhh, Duke? You might wanna see this." Duke sighed and slowly stood, his walking was slow and sluggish. Duke got to the window and peered outside. He scrunched his face in confusion. "What the hell." He breathed. Outside, three warships glided, they didn't reassemble any known ship. The ship was a diamond blue and the entire structure seemed to be made of crystal, there was no visible entrance and only a giant shard of what seemed to be the actual ship. A small chunk broke off of one of the ships and slowly glided to the pirate ship waiting to strip The Kestrel of goods. The shard hit the ship and electricity surrounded the ship, it slithered and climbed all over until the ship looked nothing but a large ball of electricity. The electrical charge expanded and then thinned out until it disappeared. The ship was no longer there. An alarm soon went off, the red alarm didn't seem to make much of a difference to the room. "Intruders on board." Cam said plainly. Duke moved away from the window. "Presidio? Do you have your rifle?" Presidio shook her head. "Left it on my bunk." Duke nodded. He turned around and looked to the door. As soon as he did it slid open and a normal pony walked through. His coat was a pale blue and his mane a dark silver. He saw Duke and electricity soon wreathed around his hooves. The pony got closer to Duke. Presidio stood and ran in front of him, throwing a punch. The pony rose his hoof and blocked it, shocking Presidio as she stumbled back. She threw another but this time he grabbed her hoof and jabbed her neck. She shook and fell to the ground, electricity bounced around her and spasmed on the floor. Steel looked down at her. "You bucker!" He shouted as he picked up a chair and charged. The pony raised his hoof and Steel started rising off the floor. "What the buck!? Let me down!" The pony had no expressions and he punched the air with his hoof and Steels eyes rolled back and he stopped moving. The pony now stood in front of Duke. Duke was frozen, Unknowing on what to do. He then felt a large thud against his neck and then a large shock. He looked to the pony who had just hit him. Duke looked to his arm and saw electricity around it. "Buck" he muttered as he collapsed and all went black.
Chapter 7: The AncientsDuke couldn't see anything. Everything was black, as if he was blind. He could hear his heart beat, slow and loud, like a great drum. The sound of rising bubbles filled his ears, the sound a kettle makes when it is fully boiled, yet there was no heat, everything was calm, silent, peaceful. Light soon filled Dukes eyes as he slowly opened them. He opened his eyes fully and peered around him. He was submerged in some sort of liquid, it was a very light blue and it bubbled. Duke noticed that there was a breath mask over his muzzle. His breathing was normal. He tried to see out of the glass in front of him but all he saw was blurs. One of the blurs approached the glass and spoke behind him, it was muffled. The blur then moved to a square prism and started touching it. The liquid began to drain from the chamber. The water drained away and Duke fell onto the ground, breathing heavily all of a sudden. His mane was wet and heavy. The glass opened with a hiss as the chamber pressurized. Duke tore off the mask on his muzzle onto the floor. He looked up to the figure in front of him. It was the same pony that came into his ship and incapacitated them. He raised a hoof to grab him, but he felt weak and lowered it. "You will feel weak, with time it shall pass." He said. Duke tried to speak back but his throat was dry. "I apologize for the intrusion of your ship and the assault of your comrades, I was afraid you would retaliate." He continued. "Where... Where are they?" Duke asked with a raspy voice. "Over there" He gestured next to his glass capsule. "My name is Tolvan, I am medical officer aboard this cruiser." Duke looked up at him, breathing heavily. "My I ask your name?" Tolvan continued. Duke swallowed. "Duke... My name is Duke." Tolvan nodded. "Water." Duke said. Tolvan looked around and placed his hoof by a sigil on a cabinet and lightning went from his hoof to the sigils. The cabinet opened and Tolvan pulled out a canister and handed it to Duke. Duke fumbled as he opened the canister with shaking hooves. The canister opened with a satisfying click and he started to gulp down the water. It dripped out the corners of his mouth. He lowered the canister and breathed. He looked at the surrounding room, it was a bright white but with a slight tinge of blue, the same blue from the outside of the ship. "Where am I?" Duke asked plainly. Tolvan turned away from him. "Ah, that I cannot tell you. You see, I cannot expose the safety of my race." Duke stated at him blankly taking heavy breaths. He stared at Tolvan wrecking his brain and trying to piece together the information around him. "What are you exactly?" Duke Breathed heavily. "We are known as the Ar'lockhs, we have studied the races around us and we are more commonly known as The Ancients. Stories have been told of us apparently defending the galaxy. Duke continued his stare at Tolvan. "I was told stories... as a child of such a race... They said you fought... away daemons that threatened this galaxy... and nearly turned into a giant nebula." Duke said between breaths. "My I ask what happened to your ship" Tolvan asked. "We were..." Duke was cut off as a door at the far end of the room opened. A similar pony walked in. He was clad in a golden Armour, a silver sword hung from his belt. Tolvan snapped to attention as he saw the new figure. "Sir, I wasn't expecting you." The figure looked to Tolvan, his silver mane sprawled over his Armour. "Stand easy Tolvan, you know how I feel about the unclean aboard my ship." The pony said with a deep voice. Duke looked confused as he looked up to the new figure "Unclean?" The pony turned to Duke. "Unclean" He exclaimed. "The unclean are those that have not passed our challenges and are therefore unfit of any rights in our species. Duke took the information in and looked back at the pony. The pony began to trot back and fourth across the room. "Now, if you wish to remain on our ship and not suffocate on yours, you must take the rite, for honors sake of course." "And if I refuse?" Duke asked questionably. The pony stopped moving and turned to him. "I will have to vent you into space." Duke grinned his teeth and stared straight into his eyes. He nodded his head silently. The pony clapped his hooves. "OK, let's get to work." * Duke lay on a table. He had several machines around him, tubes were connected to his arms and hooves. Tolvan stood over him. "You will be pushed into your mind where we will set a staging ground, once inside you will not remember this encounter and you would be in another ponies hooves, same mind different body." He said intelligently. The captain of the ship, still In his golden Armour came over. "This first test will test your will, if you pass you will continue, if not, then you will be punished and then you must try again, good luck." The captain said as he nodded his head to Tolvan who flicked a lever down. Fluids pumped into Dukes body and then it seemed that the world exploded in front of his eyes as all went white. * Stalactites hung from the ceiling. Duke stood with several other ponies all dressed In black robes. Though it wasn't duke, he was a crimson red pony with a yellow mane, his eyes were as dark as a Carbonados. He was standing in a line formation with four others. They were in a large dome chamber, stalactites covered the ceiling, the low hum of wind was heard and the dripping of water, unusually loud. In the center of the dome chamber was a pit, a pit with half of a bridge now used as a platform. Another figure in black knelt on this platform. He rose and started to slowly trot towards them. "This is the day, you will begin your accession my children. Today is the day you strike down your foes. Today is the day we take back what was ours." He announced raising his hooves. "Bring fourth out enemies and let us bathe them in fury and death!" He shouted. As soon as he did, five ordinary looking ponies crawled into the room, their manes covered with dirt, their hooves soaked in blood. They crawled in front of each of the black robed figures and Duke. "Brother Arthor, you will go first." Duke seemed to respond to the name as if it were his own. He grabbed the pony by the mane and dragged in to the platform. The pony moaned as it was dragged across the ground. The leader stared Into his eyes, his grin as sharp as daggers and his eyes as black as night. The leader produced a small dagger and handed it to Arthor. It had engravings on it, spirals and whirls surrounded the hilt. The leader moved away as Arthor raised the dagger to the ponies throat. An overwhelming anger filled him, he wanted to do it so badly, he wanted to bathe in the blood if those who questioned him and strike down all who opposed him. The pony looked up to him and looked into his eyes. Arthor stared back and he froze. His anger seemed to melt away and all he saw in the pony was not fear but sorrow and disappointment. Arthor lowered the dagger and slowly turned around. "Brother? Are you alright?" The leader asked. Arthor began to chuckle, this chuckle grew into a laugh, a maniacal laugh. "Oh, brothers I am fine. The real question is... Are you?" He seemed to say. And as fast as lighting Arthor had ran and drove the dagger into the leaders gut. He pushed and twisted the dagger. Blood poured down the dagger and onto his hooves. The others ran from their line formation towards him. They grabbed him, but it was already to late. He ripped the dagger out and spun, slitting one of their throats. Another threw a punch but he blocked it with his fore hoof and punched him in the gut, over and over again until he was spitting blood. Another charged him with another dagger screaming. Arthor spun the pony spitting blood around and the pony plunged the dagger into his friends heart. Arthor kicked the pony he was holding, and as he fell the pony grabbed hold of the other and they went tumbling over the edge of the pit. The last one looked at the destruction around him and charged Arthor, hooves flailing. Arthor moved out of the way and the pony went running off the edge of the pit screaming. Arthor grinned as he turned to face the pony he saved. As soon as he did the world flashed white again. * Duke woke with a jolt, his breath loud and heavy, sweat covered his brow. Tolvan and the captain still stood over him. They were both smiling. "Congratulations, you passed." The captain said. "Not many, even our own race, can withstand that, I am impressed." Duke looked up at him. "What was that?" The captain looked at the wall next to him. "That. That was the execution of the cult of Carbonados, the cult of the black diamond, it was a dark and perilous time and they were planning on destroying all life. The pony you had control of was Arthor, an agent of our race who was corrupted by them, he killed all of them and then disappeared without a trace, that was seven hundred years ago. " Duke looked at him in disbelief. "So, are you ready for your next test?" The captain asked. Dukes mouth hung. He tried to speak but he still couldn't process in his mind what was happening. "Good" The captain said. * They had moved to another area of the ship. They were now situated in a large room. The walls were metallic and rusted. Dim light lit the surrounding area. The walls had engravings and cuts in them. The captain walked up in his golden Armour. "This will be your last test, we have more but they are only used for our own race" he said. He walked over to a wall behind Duke and placed his hoof in an engraving. Lightning bounced from his hoof to the engraving and all the engravings, severs and cuts seemed to lit up an aqua blue. A large block of the wall released and slowly moved out. Inside the block were several weapons, a giant war hammer was the first there, the second was a mace as dark as night and the last was a sword that gleamed even in the dim light of the room. "Choose your weapon." The captain said as he walked away from the wall. Duke walked over and picked up the gleaming sword. As it came off the rack it made a loud hiss as metal slid across metal. Duke held it up to the light as the weapon rack receded back into the wall. Duke turned to the center of the room where the captain stood. "Are we fighting?" Duke asked as he stared at his sword. "That we are, your race may communicate the best through speech, but ours is best in battle, to see another's movements and to reply in kind is how we as a race communicate." The captain said as he slowly took his sword out of his scabbard. He looked up to Duke. "Let's dance." He jolted his hoof that was holding the sword and lightning began emoting from it. He ran towards Duke. Just before he got to Duke he took a jump and slammed his sword down. Dukes sword flung up to meet it just in time. He staggered back. The captain started striking and Duke was parrying slowly. "You think to much when you fight... Let it go." The captain said between blows. Duke started striking back and they were now stepping back and fourth attacking each other. Duke began to parry and attack just as the Captain was. The captain stepped back and spun striking the Dukes sword. The force was so great that the sword split in two. Duke fell to the ground staring at the broken sword. The captain walked over to him. Duke quickly grabbed what was left of his sword and struck upwards. The captain merely struck it aside. "Anger should not control you." He said. He bent down kneeling over Duke and hit him across the face. He stuck his hooves onto his chest, pinning him down. Duke grabbed the Captains hoof trying to escape. Duke stopped struggling as he felt a tingling sensation over his hooves. He looked to them. His hooves were now emitting electricity just as Tolvan and the captain does. He stared at his hooves for a while before striking them up at the Captains chest. Electricity sparked against the golden Armour and it exploded with great light as they were both thrown across the room. Duke opened his eyes after the blinding light. The captain was on the other side of the room, electricity bounced across his Armour. "How?" He mumbled. Duke stared at his arms as electricity continued wreathing around them. They grew more violently and Duke was now waving his arms to stop the electricity spreading. "No.... NO, NO, NO." The Captain screamed. The room flashed as Dukes electricity exploded. Duke felt his body collapse and it felt like he was on fire. His body wasn't responding to his brain and soon he couldn't see anything.
Rewrite hereThis work is currently being rewritten, first chapter is here: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/260893/ftl-corsair
Chapter 2: Big guns and break outsThey all sat in the brig. The room was fairly small but they managed to fit. Steel was stuffing food into his mouth. He said he was locked in that room for a whole day, and he ate the food as if he were a rabid dog. He looked up and stopped eating. His mouth was full of food, it looked like his cheeks would burst. "Your probably wanting to know what to do with me." Steel said with a his full mouth. He swallowed and spoke again. "Drop me off at the nearest station and I'll be out of your manes." He said putting his utensils down and stretching. Duke continues to stare at him and Presidio just looked back and fourth at the two. Duke stood up. "We can't do that. The Lunar fleet are practically stepping on our tails." He paced back and fourth across the room. Steel looked at him worried. "Your going to have to stick in here until we get back to Federation controlled space." Steel stood up quickly. "Now, come on, be rational at least." Duke stopped and turned to him. "I'm sorry that's just not possible, you and everyone apart of that Rebellion are war criminals, millions have died because of your "so called" brighter future." Steel looked to the floor and slowly sat back down. He sighed. Duke turned and started to walk out with Presidio. "Sit tight and make yourself comfortable, it's going to be a long trip." The door closed behind him and turned red. Steel put his head Into his hooves. "Now what" * Duke sat in his chair and rubbed his head with his hooves. He moaned, he had a splitting headache. Presidio turned from her seat and looked at him. "You okay Duke." He groaned back at her. Presidio laughed. "You look worse than me with a hangover." Duke chuckled. "It's just one bloody problem after another. So where are we." Presidio swiped across her screen and a 3D image of the galaxy appeared. "We're here." Presidio said as a marker appeared on the map. "The Federation fleet is here." Another marker appeared but much further than there current location. "Jeeze we have quite a lot of space to cover." Presidio didn't say anything, she only stares at her own console. "And the Lunar fleet is here." Another marker appeared and was sitting right next to their position. "I guess you were right when you said they were right on our tails." Dukes mouth was slightly open and his eyes wide. "But, we went through that nebula, how did they..." Duke stopped. "Steel." Duke muttered. "Presidio hold the deck, I've got some business to settle." He stood from his chair and walked out the room. * Steel had his head down on the table. "Gah so bored. There has to be something to do in this bloody room." Steel thought. The doors in front of him turned green and they slid open. He raised his head from the table and looked at the door. Duke practically charged In. He threw the table to one side of the room and it made a loud crash. Steel fell out his chair and tried moving backwards but his hooves kept slipping. Duke picked him up by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "Where is it!?" Steel looked at him fearfully. "Where's what?" He asked confused. Duke punched him in the face. "Your bugged aren't you." Steel looked even more confused. "Bugged? What!?" Duke punched him in the stomach. "Tracking device! Where is it!?" Steel was winded and struggled to breathe. "I'm...not...bugged" he said between breaths. Duke threw him to the ground. "That's bullshit." He pulled out his pistol and shot the ground next to Steel, the impact zone was black from the laser shot. Steel crawled back and his back touched the wall again. Duke pressed his gun against Steels head. Steel had tears in his eyes now. Duke stared at him with blind fury. He was about to shoot when the alarms went off. Duke put his pistol away. "Buck, what now." "Pirates just jumped into our vicinity." Cam said. Duke looked back to Steel. His eyes were filled with tears and he was shaking. "If you so what move from this room, I swear I'll vent you into space myself." He galloped out of the room and the door slid shut behind him. They locked themselves. Steel was still breathing hard and lay down. "Holy crap." He muttered under his breath. * The bridge was ablaze with red warning lights. Duke trotted into the room and sat down. "Status report." A list of system power rose from his console. "All systems green sir." Cam reported. Duke waved his hoof over the screen and the list disappeared. He looked at the ship. It looked like an alliance ship, just painted with purple streaks and had the pirate insignia on it, a scull and tentacles. "Hail them." A few moments later an video feed with a Pegasus appeared. He wore a dark black Armour and the room around him was dim. Only a few ponies were seen behind him. "In the name of the Celestial Federation, I ask that you power your weapons down and let us pass." Duke said in his most commanding voice ever. Presidio couldn't help but sneak a laugh. The Captain of the pirate ship grinned, baring his teeth. They were a clear white, but they had all been sharpened to a point "Hmm, I think not." He turned his head and shouted behind him. "Open fire." Duke cut the feed and hit a few buttons. Out the side windows weapons slowly raised out of the wings. They stopped and they charged. Presidio tapped a metal implant on the side of her head and a green screen slides across her left eye. Her implant allowed her to manually take control of the guns and other systems from anywhere on the ship. The other ship had its weapons primed and started to open fire. A missile shot from the ship. "Cam, evasive maneuvers." The ship darted upwards but it was no use, the missile had redirected. "Brace for impact." Presidio said plainly. A loud explosion sounded and alarms went off. "Damage report." Presidio flicked a screen to him. "Shields are down. Recharging." A blue ball came from the pirate ship. "Ion blast!" Duke shouted. The blast hit and it's electrical charge ran through the ship. The lights turned off and the engine powered down. "Get systems back online. Now!" * Steel sat on the floor in his small chamber. An explosion made him tumble over. "What the buck." He looked outside the window and saw another ship. His eyes widened. Another shot from the ship came, it was blue and looked lightning was inside it. "Ah shit." The blast hit and the room went dark. He backed away from the window. The lights came back on and the door was unlocked. Steel quickly ran to it and it slid open. The hallways lights flickered and another explosion echoed and he heard large laser and plasma shots being fired at the other ship. He ran down the hallway, with no sense of direction he ran through the hallways looking for something useful he could use. He found a door and the lights above it flickered. It read Weapons Control Room. A smile climbed onto his face. He opened the door and ran inside. * "Keep up the fire, Cam continue evasive maneuvers." Duke commanded. Their weapons were laser based and they had one missile launcher. "Target their shields." Presidio continued to tap things on the console. Suddenly her console turned red and made a loud beeping noise every time she tried to do something. "What the buck." Presidio said slamming her hoof down onto the console. "What." Duke asked urgently. "The weapons console isn't responsive anymore." Duke looked outside at their weapons which were still firing except at a rate that none of them had ever seen. "Then how are they still firing?" Duke was running his head again. "Cam, bring up security cameras for the brig and the WCR. Two screens appeared. The brig was empty and Steel was operating the weapons. Duke slammed his hoof on the console. "God dammit! Presidio get down there. Cause once this is over I'm going to rip him a new one." Presidio tapped her implant and it moved back into her head. She picked up her rifle and galloped out the door. "Cam, lock exits to the WCR." Cam responded. "They are already locked sir." Duke sighed. Suddenly a green light appeared on his console. He tapped it and video feed started. There was fire all around in the feed and most of it was static. The pirate Captain was there. He was obviously traumatized. "Please cease fire we'll give you whatever you want." Duke just managed to make out the message. "We are trying to but we have had a malfunct..." Duke was cut off by the missile launcher shooting. The missile hit the ship square on the bridge and the camera feed turned to total static. The pirate ship exploded in front of him sending out a shock wave that made him stumble. Debris flew everywhere. The purple streaked ship was no where to be seen and only bits remained. Duke looked out into space angered but sympathetic to the pirates. He then remembered why this happened and he marched out of the bridge.
