FTRD: Faster Than Rainbow Dash

They 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.