Man, Mare, Machine

Sct-1: Scout-one reporting.

Crnl Gd-2: Go ahead scout.

Sct-1: Presence has alerted small portion of populace, seeking orders.

Crnl Gd-2: Too risky to maneuver past alerted townsfolk, stay secluded until reclamation team can descend.

Sct-1: Which team will handle retrieval?

Crnl Gd-2: Valkyrie squad will handle it. Sky-high, scout-one.

Sct-1: Yes sir.

The forest was no longer a smart place to hide, there was too high a chance of discovery by that flyer making another surprise return. The scout began to head for the mountains near the edge of town, he could survive on the supplies in his pack until the rescue team arrived. Even as he thought it, he mentally retched, those 'supplies' would serve better as a weapon than as any kind of food.

This was a comfortable planet, very temperate without having too much or too little humidity. The wildlife itself was very interesting. Never before had he seen an animal with bark for skin, could they produce chlorophyll as well? It completely redefined the ideas of biological energy production if they could. He was sure that the research team would be interested in getting their grubby mitts on a few, most animals were not allowed on the ships due to the increase in oxygen usage, that could be ignored if the animal was producing oxygen.

He had also seen some strange chicken-like creature, it had been in the middle of some sort of stare-down with a rabbit before he arrived. He had tried avoiding it but it noticed him and tried getting in his face with those fangs. He broke it's neck.

He decided against leaving it to rot, taking a small portion with him. Who knows, he thought as he finished carving, maybe it tastes like chicken.

A cadet walked toward the Captain, handing him a small electronic book. "Sir, I have comprised a full list of currently identified intelligent species."

He grabbed the book, giving him a quick nod. "Excellent work, that was much quicker than I expected."

"It was nothing sir." He replied. "I actually quite enjoy organizing the biological information."

"Glad to hear it." He gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. "You'll be getting a job with intelligence division at that rate. Who knows, maybe when I finally kick the bucket we'll have someone who can do the paperwork around here!"

"No offense sir, but it's hard to imagine something killing you."

"Don't go trying to butter me up, son." He spoke with a certain seriousness but it was clear that he understood the miscommunicated meaning of the cadet's words.

"N-no that isn't what I meant! It's just that you seem so energetic... even though you're...uh..."

"Old enough that if I acted my age I'd die?" He asked with a slightly bemused expression, finding the cadet's fidgety demeanor oddly relaxing if only due to the complete lack of authority behind it.

"That isn't what I was planning on saying sir."

"Maybe," He uttered as he sank back into his Captain's chair, groaning a little as he slid into the comfortable material. "but it would have been closer to the truth." He pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Really didn't need to discover another species right now, too much logistical work."

Celestia was getting ready for bed, she had just finished wishing Luna goodnight and was eager to go to sleep. Before she could reach her pillow, she heard Luna teleport into her room.

"Sister, we have found something."

"What is it Luna?" She asked while letting a small yawn escape, she didn't need to concern herself with appearances as much when it was just her sister around.

"Come to your balcony."

She walked out to the balcony, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "What is it you want me to see?"

"The sky."

"It looks like your usual night." She did a small twitch, not meaning for her comment to come out like that, but it appears Luna had completely tuned her response out.

"No sister, watch."

Luna used some of her magic. Across the sky, small stars twinkled that weren't there before. With a small accent from her horn, the stars started moving around the sky like a whirlpool.

Celestia thought it was indeed a wonderful spectacle, but she quickly noticed something. In one small part of the sky, the stars didn't shine. It was a patch of black.

"What is it?" She asked.

"We have no idea, it has been there all night. No matter what we try, it stays dark."

"This seems ominous, but let's avoid making any rash deductions right now. Thank you for bringing this to my attention Luna."

"Goodnight sister."

She teleported away, leaving Celestia to her thoughts.

The scout sat within the cave he had found on the mountainside. His beacon had been going for a few hours, he hoped that the fleet had some reason to swing-by so they could get him quicker. It had started raining about twenty minutes ago, had his beacon only been a few generations less advanced, that could have been a real problem. As it was, it reduced the chances of an animal messing with it. It also allowed him to start a fire without fear of natives being out to see it.

He heard the faint sound of a sonic boom, followed by a loud thud from above his cave, he might have been worried, but he knew what it was.

A tall, slim figure stepped into the mouth of his cave. She was wearing black armor with a amber cover over the face. As she approached, the visor retracted into the helmet, revealing a pretty pale face. As she removed her helmet, a long stream of greenish-blond hair fell out, tied together neatly in a braid. Without a word, she sat across from him in the cave.

"You're here pretty early, did the fall go okay?" He asked. He didn't get any response, just a 'look'. It wasn't really a mean look, more of a 'let's just try our hardest to get this done with as soon as possible' look.

Speaking of looks, the scout had to admit that he had never seen a Valkyrie that wasn't pleasant to look at, maybe it was a requirement? If it was, they certainly would never admit it. She wasn't pure human, her hair and eyes could give that away at a glance, but whatever she was, it was either very diluted or simply a combination of too many different genes. He had to shake himself a little to gather his thoughts after he realized that analyzing the woman's face was more than a little inappropriate when he himself was wearing a mask.

The Valkyries were, primarily, a shock troop meant for breaking an enemy's front line but they were also called on for orbital pickup regularly. They reported directly to chairwoman Angelica and were, according to rumors, given quite a short leash during their training, not to say there were that many units that had a simple time of training, the scouts certainly didn't, it just made it that much more interesting that there was supposedly a more difficult regiment. Of course, those rumors could have easily just been a load of bunk created by the overactive minds of fan-boys but it was hard to not give the rumors some thought when you really got  to see them in action.

They still wouldn't be able to leave until the rain stopped. Unlike the beacon, orbital transfer had a higher margin of error during severe weather, a margin that was just high enough to make them have to stay in a damp cave for the rest of the night.

He noticed that the Valkyrie was looking toward the cave entrance fairly often. "You can look around if you like, doesn't bother me." His mask caused his voice to be heavily traced with static, he didn't like it, it made him think of those dime-a-dozen space-marines from those old TV shows with the giant suits of ugly armor.

She just stood up and headed toward the cave entrance, staring at the landscape. He briefly thought about joining her, but decided against it.

The scout just removed his backpack and laid his head on it. This mission had been a bust. Sure he had gathered a decent amount of intel but being discovered this fast just made him feel... not pathetic, more like disappointing, as if he had just permanently earned a big red sticker on his military report card. It didn't matter if he was discovered by the most eagle-eyed flyer of their race, he had been found and ordered back to base. "I'm getting another recon." He muttered to himself. He hadn't opened his comm so the only noise that came out was a faint whisper.

The Valkyrie looked in his direction with an odd look. They must have augmented hearing too he thought to himself, slightly embarrassed at getting noticed.

Instead of answering her look, he mumbled some sort of goodnight before going to sleep, not actually thinking about how much she would be able to make out of it.

This mission is a complete waste of time. Sent planet-side just to recover a single scout, and of course it would have to be right after I start moving in to the new place too. I should make this guy pay me back, maybe make him finish the rest of the unpacking while I relax.

Valkyries were a little sensitive about missions that they felt were non-essential, after the years of training required for their position, getting sent to bring some soldier home felt like needless busywork.

She knew her frustration was misplaced, it was just that she knew this was going to be a mission comprised of waiting around and doing nothing.

(Image by shadcarlos)