Phantoms Of The Past

Phantoms Of The Past

By: AceTriggerhappy

*Hunter sighed* “This day just couldn’t get any worse could it?” Every alarm and warning light that could go off was; and explosions could be felt through the entire ship.

“Athena, I need a damage report!” Hunter shouted to the AI.

”Sensors are reporting fires on all decks, hull breaches detected in sector A and F, reactor containment is reporting major failure all exhaust plasma is venting into engineering, and life support if failing throughout the ship.” Athena chimed in.

    Suddenly he could feel a reverberation through the floor as everything that wasn’t secured began to float around the room.

“Hunter, Sensors are showing that artificial gravity is now offline.”

    “Ya think?” He said sarcastically.

    Hunter drifted over to the main view ports at the front of the bridge. “Well something must have worked right on this damned ship if I’m seeing a planet instead of a fleet. Athena, can you get any kind of reading on that planet or our location, and set a navpoint on my HUD for the nearest lifeboat.”

“All external sensors are offline; and right before we jumped, the station’s AI was able to gain brief access to some of the systems… all life boats were jettisoned” Hunter drifted. *no life boats means no getting off this ship before it crashes and burns need to think of an alternative!* He thought. “Athena! Are there…” all orbital insertion pods were also jettisoned right before the jump.” She commented cutting him off.

    “Fuck… well then, anything else on this ship that can survive reentry or are we stuck on this metal scrapheap plummeting to the surface of a planet? Hunter asked the AI.

“No, but inventory shows two Falcon class gunship’s and one Nighthawk class dropship in the hangar bay if it makes you feel any better.”

    “Not really, and how can the UES can drop trillions of fucking credits into this ship but they can’t bother putting in a Phoenix class dropship…” He was cut short in his rant by an explosion nearby, the shrapnel pinged harmlessly off his armor.

“Hunter I’ve set a nav point leading to the ships CNC, schematics show it’s a citadel set up; double reinforced blast doors and honeycombed bulkheads. I calculate your chances of surviving the crash if you secure yourself down in there at 24%.” Athena offered.

    “Well, it’s a lot higher than what you’ve given me and the team on our ops.” Hunter replied.

Before departing the ships bridge hunter floated over to a console and set all probes and satellites that were set up in their tubes to be launched, after he confirmed they had started to launch he made his way to the command and control room located at the center of the ship.

“Athena, do you have any estimate till we hit the ground?”  Hunter asked. “about four minutes and thirty-nine seconds, would you like a timer?” Athena asked. “Yes.” He remarked.

Hunter made his way into the CNC and hit the door switch watching the two blast doors close and seal with a hiss, he didn’t bother locking them as if he did survive the crash he didn’t want to have to experience again getting locked blastdoors opened with no power especially if they were damaged. He drifted his way to one of the seats on the far wall to notice the seats were too small for him to fit in with his armor on. He checked the time on his HUD while pulling out two small cables from his utility belt, the timer read *3:12* and was counting down fast. He hooked both cables to points on his armor then placed the other ends to the wall behind him and set off the thermite charge adhering them to the wall. *2:32*

“Hunter?”

“Yes, Athena?”

“I’m sorry about the others.” She said with synthesized sorrow in her voice.

“It’s not your fault, Razor decided that I was to be the one to survive while he and the others would hold their ground…. poor bastards.” he commented as the ship began to lurch and groan as it punched its way through the atmosphere. *0:21*

“It’s been an honor serving with you and the team, Hunter.” Athena said in simple tone.

“Likewise.” Hunter remarked as the ship made first contact with the ground the initial jolt snapped the cables that tethered him to the wall throwing him across the room he felt a sharp pain explode through his side before blacking out.

____________________________________________________________________________________

It looked like any other night that Luna kept a watch over but tonight was special it was the last night the comet would glow in the night sky.

“You know legend says that special events happen on the comets final passing day.” Celestia spoke out, making Luna’s ears perk up. Luna turned her head to see her sister walking out hovering a tray of tea in front of her.

“I know Tia I’ve read those dusty old tomes but I’ve yet to see anything interesting nor have I read about anything major since the last three recordings of its passing.” Luna commented. Celestia set the tray of tea down before speaking again and sitting next to her younger sister.”

“And yet … I’ve seen a few old legends come to pass the last few hundred years” Celestia spoke with a smile but it quickly faded when she watched Luna turn her head away with a hurt expression on her face

“Like mine?” Luna said with mournful tone.

“Luna, I never meant anything by that and I still regret the hasty decision I made back then, your my sister and no pony should ever have to do something like that…. One day never went by without me mourning for you.” Celestia ended her comment by offering Luna a cup of tea.

Luna accepted it and took a sip and with a smile, “You still haven’t gotten any better at making tea while I was away”

Celestia gave a small chuckle “ I guess I haven’t.”

Luna leaned her head against her older sister enjoying the warmth she gave off on this cold night. Both of them felt a sudden change to the air and looked up to see a beautiful aurora light up in a small part of the sky.

“And I thought you said nothing interesting was going to happen tonight” Celestia said while nuzzling her sisters neck”

“ I said I had yet to see…. What’s that?” Celestia looked up at the sky to where Luna was pointing.

“I … I ... It looks like a meteor, perhaps a piece of the comet broke off?” Celestia said to her sister.

“Oooo, I hope it doesn’t burn up! Imagine finding an intact piece!” Luna said, quivering with excitement.

Celestia started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach as the fireball grew bigger and bigger “I take back what I said” Luna remarked to herself in a nervous tone. They both watched the massive fireball streak across the sky before disappearing over the horizon to the north seconds later a flash could be seen followed not too long after by a low rumble. Celestia got up quickly and addressed her sister: “Luna, find Commander Redoubt and have him send out scouts to see if the Crystal Empire was affected by the impact and to attempt to locate whatever crashed to the ground, I must make preparations for the morning to address any fears that may arise.” As her sister hurried back into the castle Luna took flight looking for the commander of the royal guards.