My Little Rogue Trader: Maretime Sector

Sunny Starscout was in a dimly lit place. A room where they brook criminals. Heretics. Sunny prayed she was neither. She had passed through to the Enforcer Aegis Station while she was detained. She didn't know whether to call this a law enforcement station, a fortress, a castle with a citadel, or all of the above. Sunny had little to do here but reflect on her impression of what her situation was... not to mention the foreboding bastion of order she was stuck in. Imperial Splendor was spared no expense, with a gold relief of the Arbites "I", complete with a fist grasping the scales of justice. Your soul weighed against your actions.

The Interrogation Room was bare steel. The chair that Sunny was chained to was bare steel. The table that Sunny sat at was bare steel. The door that locked Sunny into this room was bare steel, with a reinforced, steel-barred window.

Stuck. Alone. Pending judgment.

Sunny just didn't know what went wrong.

She shivered again, with all that she possessed in this life, it would seem, was in this room. She had no idea where her bag was, and she still wore the work jumpsuit that she unwittingly brought all way back from Datacomplex 8/33-2. What Sunny had to show for her time in Maretime, so far, was a wild night and a morning incarceration, it would appear.

Finally, the door slid open, allowing a pony walking on spurs to march through. Wait, spurs? Sure enough, the earth-colored, bearded earth pony that walked through that door wore cowboy boots on his hind legs, a big cowboy hat on his head, gold-black aviator shades, a white collared shirt, and jeans.

Jeans?

Sunny couldn't help but watch as this newcomer walked in and sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the table from her. Sunny's eyes widened as she realized that without the hat, this new colt would be shorter than she was. That did not at all, however, tempt her to think that she could at all fight her way past this.

At first, the pony said, nothing, simply content to stare at Sunny past those sunglasses. He'd tilt his head to look at her past his muzzle, or with one eye, or the other. Finally, he said, with a shockingly calm, baritone voice,

"Well... ain't this quite the mess you've found yourself in, Sunny Starscout?"

Huh?

Sunny coughed. "What?"

Tilting his head, the newcomer simply said, "You know... in a pickle. In a bind." He leaned forward, over the table. "Trouble."

Shakily, Sunset nodded. "Y-Yeah. First... uh, second day in... uh, Maretime Sector. Wake up after a night of partying and... get arrested for..." Sunny looks at the table, her eyes searching for the words they had used. "Possession of contraband."

The colt nodded. "It's a serious crime to bring military weapons and neuro-hallucinogens into Maretime Sector."

That's a new one on Sunny. "Huh? Hallucinogen?"

"The candy. Instant effect. I'd offer you one... but this interview would be..." A bearded smirk. "...Quite interrupted."

As Sunny imagined the sort of wild visions she might've seen had she taken one, the Sheriff shook his head. "No, I think you just got caught up in it. If I locked you up, Baker would more than likely try to snatch you up for his organization after your release."

The Arbites then mockingly imitated Tabby Baker, saying with an exaggerated rasp, "Isn't it terrible what they've done to you? Why don't you join up with me and my boys and girls and we'll make sure that mean ol' Johnny Law can't ever touch you again, alright?"

The colt then looked steadily at Sunny past his shades. "But the offer for help is only half of it. You have Administratum access codes. That means access to all sorts of secrets. Opportunities for criminal intent. You might've gained some sketchy friends, but what Baker will get is access."

That scummy son of a paperweight! Sunny knew he couldn't be trusted! Sunny slammed her hooves on the table. All that accomplished was cause the cosplaying cowboy colt to lean back in his chair and smile.

"Ah, but that plan's already shot up now, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Tell you what. I'll let you watch."

Sunny twitched. Huh?

Another bearded smile. "We got Baker. He's coming in to be processed. Come on."

The bindings around Sunny's limbs clicked open and fell off, clattering to the steel floor as they did so. The strange colt got up, and walked to the door, followed by an incredulous Sunny Starscout.

Before he raised a hoof to open the door, however, he turned around, and told Sunny, "Oh, and... by the way, I'm Roundhouse Kick, the Arbites Sheriff of this fine place." A bitter smile. "Welcome to Maretime Sector."

Sunny didn't know whether to be confused, relieved, frustrated, jubilant, or wary. Just outside, Sunny saw a pair of ponies waiting for the Sheriff and her. They smiled at her.

"Zipp? Hitch?"

The former had something of a smirk, and the colt was a little embarrassed.

"Hey, Sunny," said Zipp. "Had a nice party last night?"

Sunny sighed. She laughed, while Hitch said, ashamedly, "It was my responsibility to make sure you weren't being... lead away. Sorry."

She definitely would need to hear the full story of what in the worlds happened last night.

Without any other options present, Sunny decided to follow this Sheriff Kick out into the hallway and the holding cell area. There, amidst the collection of steel bars, harsh white lights, and steely-eyed Enforcers, Sunny saw a few familiar faces. Casey, Touchdown, and... Tabby Baker, who was the last to be unceremoniously thrown in on his stupid hatted face.

The old stallion shook with fury and moaned, "Motherfucker." He got up, only to turn around as the cell doors closed behind him. He reared up, gripping the bars with his hooves. "Hey!" He shouted. "What's the big idea!?" He then locked eyes with Sunny.

"You?!"

Before Sunny could think to say anything, the Sheriff had stepped in front of her. "Not her," he corrected. "Me."

"No shit," retorted Tabby. "Why'd you arrest us, huh? We got our clearance!"

What? Was this just some... bluster? Talking about... bribes?

"Sorry, Baker. Your sanction has been revoked. Opaline's orders."

Sunny looked between the impromptu staring contest between Tabby and Kick.

Tabby sighed. "Now he fuckin' tells me. Typical."

That just left the Sheriff to shrug. "Should've been just a bit faster, Candycolt. Or sneakier."

Tabby scoffed, "Forget the candy. I'll be King of Maretime Sector. You'll see."

That brought a dry laugh from Sheriff Kick. "Yeah, and the Rogue Trader himself will come down to give you the crown, will he?" He taunted.

That just earned a sneer from Tabby Baker, who shook his head. "You'll see," he growled. "You'll all fuckin' see."

It was then, just as everything to be looking up, an ear-splitting alarm rang throughout the Enforcer Bastion. It caused every pony's ears to fold back. The helmeted human enforcers raised their shotguns and rifles into a low ready stance. A deep, low, haunting tone, followed by sharp, high-pitched chirps of three. It sounded through Sunny's very bones, the old siren playing in impossibly loud tones. There was a rumbling reverberating throughout the Enforcer Bastion. Sunny wasn't sure if the shaking was from the alarm... or something else.

Wait. A low drone, followed by three high-pitched chirps...? But that could only mean...

Ancient speakers sounded throughout the fortress, and doubtlessly throughout the entire hive, let alone this district. The synthetic, masculine voice was impassive, the city's machine spirit simply reporting that the worst-case scenario had come to pass.

"Attention: Warp Storm Detected."

With blood rushing through her folded ears, covered by her hooves, Sunny hissed to herself, "Okay, just... calm down. We've been over this. What do we do in the event of a warp storm?" The cold, rockcrete floor of the hallway had no answer. The alarms continued to blare, the electronic sound drumming into Sunny's ears like the metronome of the damned.

The whispered, frantic question hung in the air about Sunny Starscout like the changing tides of realspace around the planet. Swirling. Choking. She could already see it in her mind's eye; a twisting, spasming maelstrom of hellish colors. Energies that blotted out the void and the stars. Even now, the warp storm erupted like split skin around an infected wound. A wound, once opened, spills forth with writhing parasites, eager to feast.

However, Sunny's recollection did come through for her this time.

The first step that one was supposed to take in the event of a warp storm was to get to safety. Sunny shook with relief. She was in jail! That's basically a fortress, especially with how this one, just on the edge of Maretime, was built!

The alarms continued to blare, and voices sounded all around. However, there was one that won out in getting Sunny's attention.

"Sunny. Sunny." She looked up to see the Sheriff meeting her gaze steadily. "This is an Ultima Ratio scenario."

Sunny's heart just about stopped. She hung her head. That would be the second part of the plan to respond to a warp storm; something that caused Sunny's eyes to twitch. After getting to shelter, the able-bodied should form militia units, and await orders. Sunny breathed hard through her muzzle. A hard sigh from the Sheriff.

"I hereby deputize you, Sunny Starscout." Sunny's head snapped back up, her veins turning to ice. The Sheriff, for his part, tensed his jaws with downturned lips.

"W-What do you mean?" Sunny stammered. "I... I'm just a..."

"A data analyst. I know," Roundhouse replied. "You're still wearing your datacomplex uniform."

Heat flashed across Sunny's face. She should at least change! Ponies, men, and a dragon techpriest raced all around, orders being barked, barely audible over the alarm that continued to ring.

With a shaky breath, Roundhouse said, "I'm just the Arbites Sheriff of Maretime Sector. Today, though? Today, we're soldiers."

He looked over to the two other ponies that Sunny had just met yesterday; Zipp and Hitch. "Get Sunny outfitted. There's a team I need back here."

It was then that none other than Tabby Baker chose this moment to make himself known by shouting, hooves wrapped around the vertical bars, "Hey! We can help, too!"

One of the Sheriff's eyebrows rose above his sunglasses. He looked up, thoughtfully, and then nodded, prodding Sunny with a hoof. "Go on now," he invited.

Sunny rose back onto her hooves, numbly following Hitch, who waved her along. Her ears twitched to hear the Sheriff shout, taunting, "Oh, yeah? Why should I trust you, shitbird?!"

It wrenched Sunny's guts to hear Kick use such harsh language after speaking softly towards her. The trot to the armory was a quiet affair, since the alarm was quietened. There were fireteams of men, ponies, and other imperium-kin that were racing to and fro. The Sheriff's words echoed in her ear.

"Today, we're soldiers."

Inside the Armory itself was pandemonium. Crates of surplus equipment were being wrenched open, with weapon racks being distributed freely and armorers working swiftly to fix armoring on frames. A few off-duty officers had already arrived to be kitted out, it would seem, judging by their casual wear. If Sunny's heart weren't trying to beat out of her chest, she would've laughed to see a collection of Enforcers leaving the armory, brandishing their weapons while wearing their gear over floral-patterned shirts and khaki shorts.

Sunny finally realized that Zipp Storm was talking to her as a plasteel helmet was fitted over her head, her ears poking through the protective head-covering.

"You got any weapons experience, Sunny?" Asked Zipp.

"W-Well," Sunny stammered. "My Dad used to take me to the range sometimes. We would rent shotguns—"

"Good enough," decided Zipp as she caught a thrown weapon, and slung the strap over Sunny's head.

Sunny could see a twin-barreled firearm come to rest at her right side, the muzzle pointing down past her flank. She looked at the enlarged action release, trigger, and trigger guard; a measure necessary to be able to be fired and loaded with hooves. The barrels were shrouded in a dark, cheese-grater-y heat shield. The furniture was likewise made of a pale, dark, synthetic material, stamped with the Maretime Sector Enforcer Department insignia. Was it already loaded?

Sunny couldn't focus as a combat vest came to a rest over her back, a pair of hands working to guide Sunny's hooves through the arm-holes. She felt some of the stiff plates that were inserted into the key areas of the vest.

"Today, we're soldiers."

She lowered her head and raised her left front hoof as a bandolier of shells was lowered onto Sunny's body. She could only stare at the bright red cartridges that promised both destruction and safety. She looked to see Zipp and Hitch in a similar state of preparation, each wearing their own sets of enforcer armor. Many others who were departing also were wearing helmets that covered the face, with eyes hidden behind sunglass-like visors.

A vox-box at Hitch's side squawked, and the Sheriff's buzzy voice came through, commanding, "Cadet Hitch, once you're done in the Armory, bring 3 maximum compliance collars and whatever melee weapons you can find in there."

Sunny's eyes widened. What could this mean? Hitch confirmed the order, and Zipp trotted over, nosing over a box of weaponry, a label on the side denoting that it was a collection of confiscated armaments.

"Looks like we'll need to use the evidence," bitterly noted Zipp.

"And you said today would be boring," bitterly teased Hitch.

"I can't believe this is happening," bitterly wheezed an increasingly hysterical Sunny. Hitch and Zipp exchanged a look, and Hitch moved in to wrap his forehooves around Sunny, his own shotgun resting on his own right side.

"Hey," he cooed. "It's gonna be okay."

Teary-eyed, Sunny returned the hug, a sob escaping her chest. Color briefly touched her face.

"C'mon," called Zipp after a good few second. "Time to see what Kick wants now."

Nodding, Sunny disentangled from Hitch and sniffed hard. "Alright," she said in resignation.

"Today, we're soldiers," Sunny recited. Hitch nodded, and the three of them departed from the armory, noticably emptier than when they had entered.

On the way back to the holding cells, the machine spirit of the Aegis Station spoke up through the ancient speakers, reporting, "Alert. Daemonic Incursion confirmed in Hive Cities Tertium, Quartum, and Secundum. Possible Incursions reported in Prime sublevels."

Daemons could already walk the Underhive, far below Sunny's hooves. The Gellar protection must be failing down there if warp entities could manifest freely.

Yet, as the implications of the report of the machine spirit sank into Sunny, there was still more.

"Alarm. Unknown hostile Xenos craft emerging from warp storm."

A new kind of alien race... from the twisted, hellish realm of Chaos?

Sunny's throat tightened, that dread lifting her hooves just a bit higher as she trotted faster behind Zipp and Hitch. Sunny noticed a bundle of collars bouncing on Zipp's side, against her wing, each of the enforcement devices emitting blinking red lights.

Soon enough, they were back at the holding cells, where the Sheriff, now wearing a calvary saber at his hip and some large-bore pistols in his holsters, was waiting. Even without armor, the Sheriff somehow looked as if he could kick through an adamantine wall. Zipp handed over the collars with a wing, and Kick unceremoniously threw the collars into the holding cell. There, Tabby picked one up with his hooves and grimaced. Sunny could see the suppressing ring on his horn, barely visible because of his own black Stetson.

"Aw, fuck," hissed Tabby. "These are bomb collars."

Sunny's eyes widened. So... that's what the Sheriff means by "maximum compliance."

With a grimace, the Sheriff sneered, "You wanted probation? There it is. You can either sit there and wait to see if we all get eaten alive, or you can put that on and help us fight and earn a bit of redemption."

Tabby stared intently at the collar. Sunny saw Casey and Touchdown likewise scrutinize their own collars, yet hesitate.

In the stillness, Sunny could hear the muted stampede of Enforcers and Arbites readying for action outside.

Tabby's hooves shook, and he gnashed his teeth. Finally, he shouted, "Fine! God... dammit." He reached up and clicked the collar over his neck.

Touchdown swiftly followed suit, his cock-sure grin back on his face. He joked, "Hey. Can't be any more dangerous than Blood Bowl back on New Awwle'ns II. We sure could use a few linebacker boyz here now, huh?" The collar clicked shut.

Casey still held her collar when she gritted her teeth and moaned, "Shut up, Touchdown." She met eyes with Tabby Baker. Finally, she clicked up her own collar and flicked her hair with a hoof. "I hope you know what you're doing, Baker."

Sighing, Baker leaned over and gave Casey a chaste kiss before saying, "Me too, baby. We just..." he sighed. "We gotta be Boy Scouts right now."

Sharing his sigh, and leaning her head onto his, Casey whispered, "...Alright."

Sunny looked back to the Sherriff to see him tap her, Hitch, and Zipp with a device. It bleeped, and the collars beeped and the lights on them turned blue. "There," informed Kick. "Now your collars are tuned to your life signs. If they don't detect it... boom." His muzzle twitched into a smile for just a moment. "Off with your head."

"Alert," the machine spirit of the Aegis Station machine spirit announced. "Defense batteries firing. Ear protection recommended."

Far above them all, on the surface levels of the hive, battleship-sized guns fired into the sky. Even down in the hive city itself, kilometers below the spires and the sky-piercing towers, the thunderous roar of a million macrocannons still rumbled its way to shake the rockcrete flooring beneath everyone's hooves. The sound, which would be undoubtedly deafening up on topside, was made into a dull roar by the distance, as if the hive city itself was a great, titanic dragon that awoke to fight the forces of darkness.

Wait. The Legio Dracomechanica of Hive Secundum! Surely they would already be rallying to battle! And the Mercator Guard! Dozens of Divisions of fighting men and women... and tanks! And the Battlefleet Skeinan, who would be shooting down lots of enemy ships, disgorging thousands of elite Voidsmen-at-arms from the defense fleet!

Sunny laughed. There were even the Emperor's own Angels of Death, the Space Marines, who had formed a new chapter, the Vaeringi of Hassia, under the Rogue Trader's watchful eye! Then, Sunny gasped. The Rogue Trader wasn't abroad, he was home, with the Princesses of Hassia! She grew up with the stories! The legends of their combat prowess and the true tales of their conquering! If anyone, save the Emperor and the Solarch and their Primarchs, could come to the rescue, it would be them!

"Feeling better?" Asked the Sheriff.

Sunny nodded. She recounted, "I just remembered all the Imperial Forces that are here! Even the Rogue Trader's here! Surely, we're saved!" The thunder of guns did not abate. If anything, it only intensified.

Roundhouse Kick shook his head with a smile. He said, "That's the spirit, Deputy! We still got to look out for ourselves here in Maretime and to that end..."

He turned to address Zipp and Hitch, "I need you to take our new Deputy Sunny, as well as these penal troopers, on a retrieval mission."

"Retrieval mission?!" Tabby cut in, still inside the cell. He flailed his forelimbs. "What the fuck is—"

Casey put a hoof over his mouth with a whispered, long-suffering hush. "Shush. Boy Scout, remember?!"

Ignoring the outburst from the cell, Roundhouse continued, "There is an Imperium Intelligence team on leave here in Maretime. Your job is to get them here, so they can aid in the defense. Two men, a pyromancer psyker woman, a squat, and an eldar exodite."

"An exodite, sir?" Asked Zipp. "Don't they really dislike leaving their Exodite worlds?"

Shaking his head again, Kick replied, growingly more irritated, "I wouldn't know. I just need you to get them back here. Their support team is already here in the Aegis Station."

Blinking, Hitch asked, with a tilted, helmeted head, "Who?"

To that, the Sheriff groaned and shouted, loudly, "Look, just... get them here, and we'll all have tea and a meet-and-greet! I need you out there, Officer!"

That triggered a salute from Zipp and Hitch, a motion that caused Sunny to quickly follow suit. Tabby Baker, Casey, and Touchdown stood at the cell door. Sheriff Roundhouse Kick unceremoniously opened the door with a stomp of his right hoof on the door controls.

The three newly minted penal troopers were met with meager offerings in terms of weapons; plain, New-Haytian machetes. Flat, wide, wedge-shaped blades and cord-wrapped hilts, the metal weapons gave Sunny the impression that they were cut from a sheet of plasteel and then sharpened.

"What, no guns?" Asked Tabby.

The Sheriff scoffed. "You'll earn those," he retorted, making way for the three. Tabby's blue eyes twitched but still stared into Kick's shades.

Finally, he relented with a huff, "Fuck'n... fine."

Another pony, a lithe reddish unicorn with brown eyes, a black mane, and a stupid-looking (by Sunny's reckoning) mustache ran up to the Sheriff. "Finally," said Kick. "LT, you've made it. What's the situation?"

The unicorn, LT, coughed, out of breath, wheezing, "I just got here. I heard there's Xenos coming?"

"I heard the announcement, same as everyone else, LT," rebuked the Sheriff.

Desperate, the LT then asked, with a whiny voice, "But where are they coming from?!"

The Sheriff's eyebrows shot up above his glasses and his jaw tensed. He showed his teeth. He looked around, seeing the faces of everyone else there. He breathed heavily. Then, he shouted, exasperated, "Sky! Fucking sky, you motherfucker!"

He shook his head. Sunny looked at the wide-eyed faces of everypony there. The LT, especially, was shrinking away, with ears folded to the back of his head. The Sheriff then shouted, "Get your gear! We still have weapons in the armory!"

Weapons. The Imp-Int Team. Wait a minute. Sunny blinked, then asked the Sheriff, "Won't the team out there need weapons?"

He shrugged, replying, "They're always armed." He then thrust a hoof forward, "Go!"

The 6 other ponies raced out, leaving the Sheriff and the LT to race elsewhere.