Phantoms Of The Past

Twilight  sat on the chariot with Hunter. She had been trying for the last several hours  to start a conversation with him.  So far, he’d been noncompliant.  Giving either a simple answer or a grunt.

Twilight had all but given up when Hunter broke the silence. “I’ve heard a few times now about an Empire up here in the North.  Even though the books I’ve read say nothing about any kind of civilization up here.”

Twilight, excited that Hunter had finally decided to speak, answered.  “Well it was missing for a thousand years and only recently came back.”

Hunter shook his head. “How do you misplace an Empire?”

“Well, a thousand years ago, an evil unicorn…” Twilight began before Hunter cut her off.

“It was a rhetorical question.  I’m not really interested in a history lesson right now.”  Hunter replied as Twilight scowled at him.

A few more hours passed and the air began to take on a chilling freeze.  They made their way deeper into the Crystal Mountains and Hunter donned his helmet to fight off the frigid air. He attempted one last time to get his suit to start up without any results.

Watching as Luna’s chariot moved in closer to them, he was still awed by the fact that only a few Pegasi could move a loaded chariot at that speed.  Luna shouted over to them. “We should be seeing the wreck within a few minutes.”

Sure enough, after they crested a few small peaks, Hunter could see the ship. What was left of it anyway. His gut sank at seeing the state the ship was in.

Twilight eyes went wide when she saw the massive vessel.

“Your kind managed to make something that massive fly?”

Hunter gave half a laugh.  “It’s pretty small compared to other ships. I think the biggest ship in service is a Dreadnought.  The UES Unyielding.  She’s about…five kilometers long.  Now that I’m thinking about it; I believe the ancient colony ships from the Federation where almost three times that size.  Although, no one has seen them for about six hundred years.”

Twilight was awed by the fact that Humans could build ships larger than cities.  She looked up at him and tried to peer through his visor to gauge his emotions, but gave up. “So how are we supposed to get your ship flying again?”  She asked.

Hunter sighed as he looked back at the wreck. “She won’t be flying ever again.”

“Are you sure it can’t be fixed?” She asked, trying to be optimistic.

“After a crash like this, the ship is basically scrapped.  Being in such a remote place, I doubt we can salvage much either. So, unless you can lift it up and toss it back into space with your magic. I’m stuck here until one of us can think up an alternative.”

Twilight pondered at the idea of lifting something that massive and moving it.  The amount of ponies that would be needed to even move it an inch was staggering.

They landed and everyone disembarked.  The group moved towards a small welcoming party. At the head of it, was a regal looking white unicorn.

“Shining!” Twilight shouted in excitement after seeing her brother.

“Twilly! It’s good to see you again.” Shining Armor said as he gave his sister a big hug.

“Prince Shining, what brings you here?” Luna asked as she nodded in his direction.

Shining returned the gesture, and replied. “Cadence heard that you would be coming. She asked me to be here to greet you all.”

Shining looked past the group at the massive figure that was now approaching. It took off its helmet and he was met with a very grizzly looking creature.  “So, this is the special guest I have been hearing about.” Shining commented.

Hunter, ignoring all the formalities, got straight to the point.  “Has anything been removed from the ship?”

Shining shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. If anything was taken, it shouldn’t be far away.”

“Good, now get everyone out.” Hunter said flatly before heading towards the wreckage.

“Wait…what? Why?” Shining stammered.

Hunter turned his head to look at the white unicorn. “I have things I need to do. Unless you want whoever is inside to be killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would start ordering them to drop what they’re doing and to get the hell outside.”

Hunter continued walking towards the side of the ship as Luna turned to Shining.  “I believe it would be a good idea to do as he asked.”

Shining nodded, and called one of the nearby officers over.  Luna watched as lieutenant Gallant came forward to receive his orders.  “Lieutenant, I need you to go and gather up all the teams that are inside the ship. Have them stop their work and report to the camp outside.  Until further notice, they have orders to stay there.”

“Right away your highness.” The pony saluted before leaving to carry out his orders.

Luna and the others caught up to Hunter as he was starting to climb one of the ladders built into the side of the ship. He worked his way towards one of the few intact cargo bay doors and hoped that it was still capable of opening.  He found the manual release and called to the ponies below him.  “I would move out of the way if I were you!”

He waited for them to move before he pulled the lever. A massive screeching sound  started as the massive cargo ramp  began opening.  It halted with a loud bang as the hydraulics jammed.

“Dammit! Really gotta make this hard don’t ya?”

Hunter climbed higher while cursing the door. Once he reached the top, he looked around for the small black and yellow striped hatch.  Finding it, he ripped the panel off and pulled on a handle attached to one of the cylinders inside.  Pulling it out as far as it would go, he gave it a turn and pushed.  It clicked and turned green.

He repeated this with the next three cylinders and then pulled on the handle next to the hatch.  Explosive charges sheared away the hydraulic arms and sent the massive ramp crashing down.  Startling the ponies and throwing up a cloud of snow.

With the ramp open, hunter slid down the ladder and jumped off several feet above the ground. He regained his posture, and climbed up onto the ramp. Not bothering to help the others up.

Luna was curious as to why Hunters mood seemed to have changed since they left Canterlot. He was acting like something was troubling him.  She brushed it aside, and as the last of the ponies made their way onto the ramp they scrambled to catch up.

The group now inside, Hunter began to look around the massive room. The ponies noted that it seemed like they had entered into this ship’s cargo hold. Crates were thrown about everywhere and most had broken open. Hunter ignored it all and headed for a specific place within the room.

Making his way through the mess, Hunter searched for the most important things in the room. He found them under a pile of broken crates. Cleared away, the debris revealed his teams footlockers. It had been tough, but  they had managed to smuggle them aboard.

Seeing his teammates footlockers, and knowing they were dead, hit Hunter harder that he thought it would.  He pushed the thoughts out of his head, knowing that he couldn’t think about them right now.  He concentrated on the task at hand and began to take his right gauntlet off.

The group was fixated on Hunters hand. They had only been able to see his head so far, and they noted the scars and the short nails on the end of his fingers. They watched as he placed his hand above a small screen on one of the footlockers and it bathed his hand in a red light.  The light changed directions several times before turning green and flashing. After a few moments, the light turned off and the bolts on the locker slid away.

With his foot locker open, Hunter moved his personal belongings aside and pulled out two small containers. One had a red cross embossed on it, while other had a radiation symbol. He took off his the chest piece, laying it onto his foot locker, and began to undo a small hatch on the backplate. Pulling it open, he grabbed the dead powercore, opened the small box and placed the dead one inside.

He pulled out his only replacement,the only one still glowing red, and placed it into his armor. Replacing the cover, he donned his armor again. To his relief, the suit booted up and ran a quick diagnostic.  Showing his suit was in working order.

He then flipped open the holopad on his wrist and manipulated the projection screen to bring up a schematic of the ship. He marked the reactors core on the projection and wondered what would have happened if Ghost hadn’t sent him a copy after he infiltrated the systems.

The girls were all mesmerized at what Hunter was doing. Twilight studied the projection in awe.  She watched as he manipulated the light like it was solid.  “I thought you didn’t have magic Hunter? Twilight asked, still puzzled by the amazing display.

“I don’t.” He said while as he also marked down the location of the armory and CNC.

“Then how do you explain what you are doing?” She asked again

“It’s just a simple semi solid holographic emitter….. and I have no clue how this technology actually works.  You have fancy magic, I have a fancy projector.”

With his route mapped out, he picked up the first aid kit popped it open and pulled out a syringe of a bluish grey, metallic looking substance. Taking off his helmet, he pulled down the neck of his armor’s nano layer and jammed the needle into his neck.  He stiffened, as he injected himself with the substance. When the syringe was half empty, he placed it back into the case with a shaky hand.  His entire body felt like it was on fire.

Fluttershy approached Hunter, noticing his pain. “Are…are you okay?”

Hunter waved her away with his hand while gritting his teeth.  “Yes, just a…. minor side effect... of the… nanites.”

Taking a deep breath the fire finally started to fade.  Feeling rejuvenated, he replaced his helmet and closed his footlocker.  Being done with the cargo hold, he began to make his way out. He headed towards the reactor, but stopped when he saw the group following him.

“You know, I said I wanted everyone out of this ship.”

Luna spoke up for the group.  “Yes, but we can help you if you need us too.  We will stay behind you so we’re not in your way.”

Hunter shook his head and grudgingly complied.  “Whatever, I don’t have time to argue.  It’s your funeral if you touch something and it fries you.”

They followed him as he made his way through the ship.  The lights on his suit and the faint light from the few magic users horn’s were the only things that lit the hallways. Several times, they had to backtrack and find a new route after discovering the previous one was blocked with debris. Over half an hour passed by the time they came to the engineering room door.  Hunter opened a panel on the wall and flipped one of the  switches.  They all heard a pop as the door opened about an inch.

Hunter grabbed the door and began to pull against it.  Straining himself as it slowly opened.  “Well since you’re all here.” He grunted. “How about you use some of that fancy magic and help me get this thing open?”

Luna, Twilight, and Rarity used their magic to help and the door opened a bit faster.  At the halfway point, Hunter let go and stepped inside. Following him, the ponies noticed something odd about the massive room. Everything  inside the engineering bay was slagged.

“What in tarnation happened in here?” Applejack asked as she looked at all the melted objects, warped walls, and floor that the light revealed.  Hunter pulled out a couple chemlights from his belt and snapped them.  Tossing them around the room and lighting it up a bit more.

“This is the result of a massive design flaw in the reactors cooling system.  Causing the entire engineering bay turn into the surface of the sun….  At least it would have been a quick death for any poor bastard caught in here.”

Hunter continued on to the main reactor room to find it surprisingly intact.  Compared of course, to the rest of the engineering deck. Pulling out a few more chemlights, he placed them around the main reactor control panel.

“I’m guessing none of you know about nuclear physics or how to restart a class C fusion reactor?”  Hunter asked the group, and was rewarded with confused glances.  “Don’t feel bad; Neither do I.”

Hunter made his way to the main reactor’s blast doors and used its manual release.   Opening the door, he stepped inside and before he could close it the ponies tried to follow him.   Blocking their path he told them, “Okay, you’re all are crazy for even following me through the ship.  This is a lot more dangerous than that. So, unless you really want to know what it’s like to be inside the center of a star.  Following me is suicide.”

“Then how are you supposed to survive in there?” Twilight asked.  Not being able to understand why he was going into an environment like that.

“If I’m lucky and don’t fuck anything up, I should be able to make it out before I’m vaporized… Worst case scenario, I somehow royally mess up and vaporize half the ship along with anything near it.”

The ponies backed off as he shut the first blast door.  He made his way to the next and began working on getting it open.  This one door was a lot trickier than the first.  You had to hit two of the manual releases at the same time to get the door to open.

After getting past the door, he closed it behind him and walked to the center of the reactor chamber.  Hunter talked to himself as he walked. “Okay, this can’t be too different from a Class A.  I know how to restart a core on one of those manually and Class C reactors are only about thirty years newer.”

He lifted up the reactor control panel and was somewhat surprised there was a diagram telling him what to do.  The instructions were fairly confusing since he wasn’t a skilled engineer, but he figured out the basics.

“Would be a good time for you to guide my hand Voodoo… or you could just be sitting there laughing because I never listened to you when you tried to explain this kind of shit.”

After that sarcastic remark, he flipped the switch to release the tritium into the core. Then he started priming the lasers that would jumpstart the fusion process.  “Here’s hoping you bastards remembered to install the fission batteries for the lasers.”

Hunter hit the igniter and the room began to hum as the lasers charged.  With a loud snap, the lasers fired, ionizing the air around them.  The control panel started to lower and that was his cue to get the hell out of there.  Hunter made his way to the door and had trouble flipping both switches at the same time.

His suit was blaring a heat warning at him as he began panicking.  “You fucking piece of shit open!”  After another try he got the door open and slipped inside as the corners of his armor started to glow red.  The nano layer started to char and as he turned to shut the door the core ignited.  The light from the fusion reaction made Hunter’s visor automatically polarize to the max setting.  Trying to protect him from the intense flash of light, but failing.

The heat coming from the chamber started to make his gloves glow as he attempt to shut the door.  He could feel the skin on his hands starting to burn as he managed to get the door shut, but not before the room was superheated.  His entire suit was failing as he started being baked alive and passed out from the heat.