Stolen Minds

Chapters

Mission Log 1: New Evidence
Mission Log 2: Under the Hood
Mission Log 3: Debriefing
Mission Log 4: Grand Plans
Mission Log 5: Training
Mission Log 6: Live Fire
Mission Log 7: Insertion
Mission Log 8: Pain
Mission Log 9: Answers and Questions
Mission Log 10: Customs
Mission Log 11: Altipolis
Mission Log 12: Judgmental
Mission Log 13: Meat, Potatoes, and Pie
Mission Log 14: Hopes and Dreams
Mission Log 15: Ponies' Departure
Mission Log 16: Emrini in Altipolis
Mission Log 17: Second Chances
Mission Log 18: The Masquerade
Mission Log 19: Finals
Mission Log 20: Reunion
Mission Log 21: Tarsus

Mission Log 1: New Evidence

Published February 12th, 2013

"This is Shadow Soldier Kuro. Stealth Drop successful. Commencing mission."

"Understood. Keep your guard up, we're getting a lot of non-Emrini signals down there. You go loud down there, we won't get another chance."

"That's why I'm here and not a bunch of marines."

"Copy that. Primary objective is destruction of the forward command post and acquisition of enemy battle plans. Good luck. Initiating radio silence. Over and out."

I pulled my Stealth Popper off my back and pulled back the bolt, chambering the first round as my brain's conditioning ran through the guns specifications automatically. 30-round magazine. Sub-sonic rounds. Built-in suppressor. Variable zoom scope from twice normal up to five times normal with helmet visor integration, allowing me to aim accurately no matter where the gun is in reference to my head. Bull pup construction. Side slots for extra magazines on either side of the stock. Semi-automatic or three-round-burst fire capability. Big enough for one-shot kills. Small enough not to dislocate your shoulder during rapid trigger pulls. Versatile enough to hold its own in any situation. The perfect weapon for a stealth operative like me.

After a quick check to make sure everything on my Popper was still in working order, I checked my sidearm, a not-quite standard version of the Guardian. What's a Guardian? A magazine fed pistol that fires 14-gauge shotgun shells. Why is mine "not-quite" standard? Because I use incendiary shells. An eight-round magazine full of cylinders of fiery death. Some people say I'm paranoid. I prefer the term "well-prepared".

I grabbed the det-sticks, throwing knives, and combat machete out of my pod, put them in their spaces on my armor, and did a systems check of my suit to make sure my HUD and stealth camo weren't damaged in the crash. Satisfied that my power catcher was still functioning as well, I moved forward towards the small blip that signified the location of the command post. It was almost a full klick away, but if I was able to get through the forest here without issue, I would be able to get there in about an hour. Now it was just a matter of navigating the brush. I returned my gun to its resting place on my back and drew my machete, cutting through the foliage to make my trip a little easier.

After about twenty minutes of hacking, I could hear the sounds of heavy machinery. I stashed my machete and pulled out my gun again, moving forward and activating my camouflage. I saw my limbs melt away into nothing more than distortions of light, and poked my head past a branch to look down a small cliff at where the machinery sounds were coming from. What I found was a large mining operation filled with heavy digging vehicles, Emrini workers, and about five Earth Crackers.

But what caught my eye was a raised platform in the center of the area acting as a stage for a single Emrini. He had spines at the end of his scaly tail, three spikes curving backward protruded from his spine, and his saurian body was visibly larger than the others in the area. All the physical signs of an alpha. But none of the decorative ones. Alphas were military commanders and spec ops soldiers, not dig site managers. I used the camera in my helmet to get several pictures of him from every angle he gave me, zooming in enough to see two large claw marks across his left eye. The mark of an alpha who lost a duel with another alpha. I just wish I knew why they did that sort of thing. There were lots of guesses, but no definitive proof to support any of them. That explained why he was here, though. Not good enough to fight, but not useless enough to discharge.

I kept the pictures, but continued moving. I had bigger fish to fry than a simple digging operation. I moved around the enormous hole that the machines had created, turning off my camo and moving back into the forest to conceal myself instead of wasting power. I managed to get away from the site without attracting any attention, and soon found myself following a river through the small ravine it had cut in the ground. The forest steadily grew thicker, until I was pretty sure it had passed into the classification of 'jungle'. The river then decided it was a good time to turn away from my destination, and I had to climb up the wall of dirt, roots and vines in front of me to continue moving forward. Before I had gone ten feet, though, I heard a loud, metallic clang. I moved toward the sound and activated my stealth unit again as I got closer. I pushed aside a branch, and through the leaves in front of me, I could see a large, egg-shaped object in the middle of a clearing with a number of Emrini and an Energy Keeper.

I froze when I saw it, having heard the stories of what they could do, but never having been unlucky enough to have to fight one. The ability to control almost anything, like some sort of telekinesis, with no regard for the laws of physics. I stood still for a minute, and did a count of the Emrini. Seven total, and all with melee weapons only. Their predator instincts and far more deadly adaptations gave them a preference of melee weapons over ranged weapons, unlike humans. They were already outfitted with claws on their hands and feet, not to mention their thick, powerful tails and mouths full of dagger-like teeth, but natural weapons could only do so much against manufactured armor. Six of them were minors, with a single major as a leader figure. Not too much of a problem, but only if I could kill them all before they called for help. They didn't need to run for backup when their large lungs and low-pitched vocal chords allowed their calls to be heard for miles in any environment. I decided that getting rid of the Energy Keeper first would be the smartest move, since its back was still facing me, and I brought my gun up, zooming in to the back of its head to see if there were any obvious weak points.

Instead, I found something far more interesting: a small bulb of glowing electronics in the back of its helmet. I studied it for a moment, trying to remember where I had seen it before, until I suddenly flashed back to the group of humans about ten years ago who had 'defected' and started riots on the planet Archimedes. However, when some of the 'defectors' started to have mental breakdowns in public areas and pulled the bulbs out of their own heads, it was obvious these people were not in control of themselves. Further attempts by the Emrini to mentally enslave humans were even less successful, and were eventually given up on. Apparently, though, these creatures didn't have the same mental power we do, because nobody had ever seen one of them go against their masters.

With the knowledge that the Energy Keeper might not want to be fighting for its controllers, I moved around to one side so I could get a clear shot at the bulb without hurting the creature itself. Unable to do so, I climbed a tree and moved closer along a branch, allowing me to see everything in the clearing without being detected. I chose the order of attack that I would use to kill the Emrini present, then took aim at the bulb on the back of the Energy Keeper's helmet. I squeezed the trigger, and a small pop came from my weapon as the bulb shattered, attracting the attention of the Emrini. I quickly took aim at the one farthest away, which was not being looking at and another pop sounded as I fired a bullet directly into his forehead, killing him instantly. I rapidly took aim and fired at each other Emrini, from back to front, killing all of them before they knew what was happening and could call for help. This was made easier due to their interest in the staggering Energy Keeper. The major was still trying to get the Keeper to respond when his head caved in and some of his blood exploded out from the bottom of his jaw. This got her (at least, I was pretty sure it was a her, based on body parts) attention, and she fell backwards with a small squeak.

I jumped from my perch, allowing the impact gel in my boots to absorb the shock of the fifteen-foot drop. It was obvious she knew where I was, considering how loud the thud from my landing was, and I dropped my stealth as I walked over to her so she wouldn't feel like she was talking to thin air. She scooted back a bit before she hit a tree, and I could tell she had been under the mind control's influence for a while from the clumsy movements she was making. There's a difference between fear and lack of muscle control. I crouched down so I could be on eye level and slightly less intimidating. This was, after all, why I never painted a skull on the front of my helmet.

"Are you feeling better now?" Her head moved backward a bit in surprise, and I could imagine her eyes widening under her faceplate.

"Well?" She nodded this time, and I continued. "Can you speak?" She tried to answer verbally, but all that came out was a garbled mess of sounds. She shook her head like she was trying to clear it, and I could sense the rising panic in her as she unsuccessfully continued trying to speak. "Okay, okay. Calm down. Your brain hasn't fully recovered from the mind control yet, so you don't have total control over your fine motor functions. They'll come back, don't worry. For now, let me get that plug out of your head." I leaned her forward slightly to reach the back of her head, and felt around until I had the remains of the bulb in my fingers. "This is going to hurt, but it will let the wounds start healing sooner. Whatever you do, don't scream. We can't afford being detected yet, okay?" She nodded her understanding, and I counted to three before yanking the plug out. It was different than the ones that had been used on humans. Like it was designed to be pulled out on a regular basis. I checked the holes in her head to find that they weren't bleeding. They had been drilled or similarly opened before the plug had been inserted, most likely to allow the plug to be removed easily so it could be adjusted. This explained more fully why they had never been able to break the control. It was constantly being readjusted so their minds wouldn't become accustomed to it. I crushed the remains of the device to ensure its uselessness, and turned back to the Energy Keeper. She was flexing her fingers and legs to try and get feeling back into them, and I helped her up to see if she could walk. She stretched some more, before turning back to me and wrapping me in a hug.

"Uh... You're welcome?" She gave a short laugh at my uncertainty of being hugged, and removed herself from my personal space. "Anyway, not to sound rude, but you're not my actual objective here. There's a command post about three hundred meters that way, and I need to get rid of it. You can come along, if you can stay out of sight and quiet, or you can stay here, and I'll leave a track beacon with you to mark this as the LZ for pickup. Your choice." She put a hand to her chin for a moment before pointing at me. "So you're coming?" A nod. "Then you'll have to do exactly what I tell you. No questions, no hesitation. Understand?" Another nod. "Good. Now come on, we've got a command post to blow up."

After another twenty-five minutes of moving through the jungle, we came to the top of a large cliff overlooking the command post. We laid down to minimize our chances of being detected, and I flipped down the binocular attachment on my helmet. I zoomed in to get a good look at the box-and-bubble shaped structure, and found that there were Emrini everywhere, including five alphas with firearms patrolling the perimeter and two snipers on the roof. I studied the movements of the guards for a minute, once again grateful for being born with photographic memory. I had been expecting this to be difficult, but the fact that there were snipers here meant that this post was more important than we originally thought. Which also meant that its destruction was even more critical. I zoomed out, and started looking for a way down that didn't involve jumping off or being detected. I found it off to our right, where the cliff was sloped enough that trees and other foliage could grow on it. We moved to the mostly-concealed incline, and worked our way down. When we got to the bottom, we went further to our right, staying low behind some bushes as we went. There was another cliff here, but much larger than the last one, dropping straight down to the ocean below. Perfect for a drop-catch pickup. I pulled a track beacon off my leg plate, and handed it to the Energy Keeper.

"Here's the plan: I'm going to go in and plant the explosives. You stay here, and when I go in, count to ten, then press this button. When I come back out, we're going to jump off this cliff so that the Cormorant can catch us and be out of here without stopping. Understand?" She nodded, and I turned back to face the command post. I drew my Popper, and waited for the guards to move where none of them would see me except the sniper. I then sprinted toward the building, putting a bullet in the sniper's brain as I ran, and caught his body and gun as I passed under them so that they wouldn't make any noise. Setting them on the ground inside where they wouldn't be seen, I switched my Popper to its three-round-burst setting and made my way to the main computer room. There was a single Emrini there working at the console, and I used my knife to kill him without wasting ammo. I then pulled out a data eater from my utility belt and plugged it into the console, allowing it to copy the data from the system while I planted the explosives downstairs. I moved to the generator room, and killed the two engineers working there before they could raise an alarm. I extracted the det-sticks from their case on my leg, and set the timers. I put one under the main control console, one next to the fuel tanks, and the last two under the generator itself. When I was done, I went back to the command room and activated the second function of the data eater: a virus upload into the system. When it finished, I unplugged it, and put it back in its place on my belt.

I was about to leave when something caught my eye outside the window. I wasn't sure what was wrong at first, but after staring out the window for a moment, I realized that no guards were moving outside. They were gone. As I turned to the door to make my way out, I felt a strange tingling all over my body. After my initial cautionary reflex at this feeling, I looked up as the door opened to reveal a very pissed-off Emrini, who started yelling just before everything went white, then black, then white again, and suddenly I was laying on my back, looking at the sky. I turned to see the Energy Keeper sitting there, panting slightly. I didn't have time to question whether my transportation was her doing, though, because I could already hear the cries of the Emrini inside. Looking up again through the cloudless sky, I could just make out a small, black dot. The Cormorant that would pick us up. I turned my comm channel back on so I could inform the pilot of the extra personnel.

"Cormorant pilot, this is Shadow Soldier Kuro. I have a friendly Energy Keeper in tow, and we need a drop-catch. Aim for the ocean next to the cliff." When I finished, I heard an excited voice that sounded like that of a road train driver answer me.

"Shadow Soldier, this's Cormorant five-two-five Big Wing. I copy your last, but did you say a friendly Energy Keeper?"

"Confirm. Friendly Energy Keeper for drop-catch extraction. Count it off, Big Wing."

"Copy that. Run on five. One... Two... Three... Four... Five!"

We ran at the cliff and propelled ourselves away to give the Cormorant room to move. I heard the engines screaming at us as we fell, and soon I saw the bottom of the flying wing pass over us. The rear cargo bay door opened, and braking flaps along the length of the aircraft opened to match our speed. I helped the Energy Keeper maneuver into the bay, and then lay down against the floor as the pilot pulled up sharply and our bodies were pressed into the floor. The ship leveled out, and we stood up. I checked my system clock as we continued and got her attention before counting down from three on my fingers and then making a motion like I was pulling on a train whistle. As soon as I did, the command post burst apart in a flaming explosion that we felt the shockwave from a few seconds later as it rocked the Cormorant.

"Damn, son. Ya think ya used enough explosives, there? Shit."

"Better too much than not enough, right?"

He laughed at that, before cursing under his breath.

"We got us a bogey at our nine o'clock, buddy. Looks like a Cloud Buster signal, but its goin' way too fast."

"How fast we talkin', here? Mach two? Three?"

"Mach seven," he deadpanned, with a slight touch of fear in his voice. My eyes went wide.

"MACH SEVEN!?! That's not possible!"

"But there it is. I hope you got a plan, cause my brain just dumped everything it had into my stomach, and then my stomach dumped everything it had into my pants."

I felt a tug on my arm, and turned my head to see the Energy Keeper gesturing in the direction of the enemy Cloud Buster and pointing to herself. It took me a few seconds to comprehend her meaning.

"You know this person? How can you be sure?" She put up a forefinger forcefully, and I had to think about this new gesture for another second before getting it. "There's only one person you've heard of that can move that fast?" She nodded confidently. I thought for a moment, and quickly had a plan. A sketchy, unlikely-to-succeed plan, but a plan nonetheless.

"Big Wing, turn away from the Cloud Buster."

"We gonna try to outrun it?"

"No, I'm going to give it a target. Keep the bay doors open until I say."

I turned to the open doors as the Cormorant turned, and watched as a black dot in the distance quickly got closer. I motioned for the Energy Keeper to get out of the way, and took on the most arrogantly confident stance I could. The black dot quickly came close enough to identify as a Cloud Buster. When it was close enough to see details, I extended an arm in front of me and held my first two fingers out slightly, before flicking them towards me twice. I saw the winged creature twitch, and then rush forward as it fell for my taunt. As soon as she (again, assuming based on body structure) was inside, I yelled into my mic as I was tackled to the ground.

"Close the doors, now!" I heard the doors start to close, and I began to grapple with the Cloud Buster in earnest. We rolled across the floor of the ship as she tried to strangle me and I tried to grab the mind control unit on the back of her helmet. I finally figured out that my current strategy wasn't working, so I let her get on top of me so I could pull her elbows down, putting the mind control unit inside my reach. I held her collar with my left hand and grabbed the offensive hunk of metal with my right. I yanked it out, and found myself able to breathe again as she screamed in pain and fell off of me. When she stopped screaming, she was very lethargic at first, like she had just woken up. I put the mind control unit in a pouch on my belt, then told the pilot to head back to the command ship as I moved the Cloud Buster to one of the seats and strapped her and the Keeper in for atmospheric escape. I moved to the seat across from them and strapped myself in just as the first rumbles of atmospheric escape started. After several seconds of increasing rumbling and rattling, everything abruptly went still and silent. I finally relaxed, leaning my head back and closing my eyes in the weightlessness as the tension and adrenaline from the last hour and a half wore off and left me mentally drained. I eventually felt us start to decelerate, and I could hear the pilot explain who was on board to the flight control monitor over the radio. When we landed, I didn't move, save to motion for the other two to sit still. The bay doors opened, and I continued to stay still as several marines came in, unstrapped us, and escorted us out into the hangar. Waiting for us was the ship's captain, Admiral Leeroy "Jenkins" Tornak. I saluted, and his mirroring of my gesture told me I wasn't in trouble. Yet.

Mission Log 2: Under the Hood

Published February 12th, 2013

"Was your mission a success?"

"Yes, sir."

"And I take it this is the Cloud Buster and Energy Keeper you encountered planetside?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you believe them to be non-hostile?"

"I do, sir."

"Why?"

In answer to his last question, I pulled the mind control unit out of my belt and presented it to him, along with the data eater. He took both items and examined the bulb for a few seconds, unsure of what it was. I gestured for the Energy Keeper to turn around, and I pointed out the matching port on the back of her helmet. Realization came across the admiral's face, and he looked down at the object in his hand with new interest. His face quickly turned to one of disgust as he finally understood the purpose of the bulb, and I saw him barely restrain himself from destroying it. That was one of the things we had in common: we hated seeing injustice and the pain of others. Mentally, we were actually very similar. He and I were both smart, particularly for non-scientist personnel, and we held a lot of the same views on a variety of topics. Physically, though, we could only have been more different if one of us was female. I have black hair and eyes, shoulders as broad as a barn, and I tower over most folks, even with my shoes off, at 6'4". Leeroy, however, had blonde hair, blue eyes, a thin, wiry frame, and barely came up to my shoulders at 5'10". After a moment of regaining his self-control, he handed the items to one of the marines who were there for security.

"Take these to engineering. I want a full report on them by tomorrow morning." The marine snapped a quick salute, then ran off to deliver the items. "This is asinine. I can't believe the Emrini are actually trying this shit again. Didn't they learn from last time?" He shook his head in exasperation.

"Sir, if I may?" He nodded, and I continued. "The openings I found on the back of the heads of the Cloud Buster and Energy Keeper appeared to be more purposeful. Like the plugs were designed to be removed on a regular basis. I believe the mind control units were regularly readjusted to prevent mental acclimation to their effects by the subject, allowing longer-term mind control with lower probability of unit failure." The admiral considered this for a moment, and then nodded.

"That sounds likely. I'll have you debriefed later. Right now, we need to get these two some new clothes. I'm sure the tech boys want a look at their armor, and I don't think they want to stay in there longer than they have to. Take 'em down to the barracks, and get them some regular clothes. We should be back in friendly space in a few hours, and we can get them properly evaluated, but until then, you're their chaperone. I don't doubt your judgement, but I still can't let a pair of recently-hostile individuals run around unsupervised. I'll send someone to debrief you while you get them situated."

"Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed, soldier." With that, he turned on his heel and strode out, and the marines dispersed, leaving me with the two aliens. I assumed that Big Wing had already left to change his clothes. I waved for them to follow me, and we made our way to the barracks. I got some spare uniforms from the lodgemaster, and helped the two of them out of their armor. By this point, they already had most of their fine motor control back, and were able to dress themselves without issue. I did, however, finally get to see their faces after they got their helmets off. It was interesting, to say the least. Their heads almost looked like a horse's, with large, articulate ears and a flat snout. What really stood out, though, were their eyes, which took up almost half of their faces. I also discovered they had tails, although these had been cut, along with their hair, in order to fit in their armor. The most surprising details to me, however, was that they had very colorful hair and fur, and their legs ended in hooves instead of feet. The Energy Keeper was purple, with a deep lavender and pink-striped tail and hair to match, and the Could Buster's hair and tail were all the colors of the rainbow while her fur was a light blue. I also suddenly realized how small they were. Granted, I'm a tall guy, but these two couldn't have been more than 5'5". Their armor had added a few inches to both of their profiles, apparently. Once their armor was off and they were getting dressed, I decided to switch outfits as well. I removed my armor, revealing my night-black hair and eyes, and stashed it in my locker once I was dressed again. I then started the auto-wash cycle before strapping my guns on, putting in my earpiece communicator, and taking my charges and their armor down to the lab. The place was already a feeding frenzy of scientists talking and debating about the information on the data eater and how the mind control unit worked, and when we walked in, I nearly had to start getting violent against the more... socially inept scientists, who were getting way too far into all three of our personal spaces to get a look at the new arrivals without their armor on, as well as the armor itself. After all, we had only ever seen their uniforms. No one before now had been able to take one down without blowing it to smithereens along with the surrounding area, removing any chance of useful information being collected from them. Once they had calmed down a bit, I set all the armor pieces on a clear workbench and turned to the guy in charge as the other scientists began grabbing various pieces of the armor and moving back to their stations.

"Hello there. I'm Doctor Albert Pernaki, the chief science officer here. You must be Shadow Soldier Kuro." He reached out a hand, and I shook it, noticing how strong his grip was for a scientist.

"Right on the money. Your buddies seem rather excited about all this. It normally this busy in here?"

"No, but your mission success and the mental control unit you brought back deserve this level of attention from the science and R&D departments, both. The gentlemen in the experimental equipment programs are going to have a field day with what you brought back."

"Good to know I'm appreciated. You get anything out of that little bulb from hell, yet?"

"Yes, actually. You were correct in your guess that it was adjusted on a regular basis. We also confirmed that it gives off a radio frequency of some kind. We have hypothesized that there is most likely an individual controller for each subject, capable of taking direct control of the subject at any time through the unit. We've already deactivated it, and once we isolate the frequency, we should be able to develop a counter-frequency, allowing us to deactivate the units from a safe distance, and free the subjects from the Emrini's control without hurting them."

"Sweet. I'm going to take these two to the mess hall, since I'm hungry and I'll bet they're starving. Let me know if you get anything big."

"With pleasure, Sergeant."

We left the lab and I took a left towards the mess hall, or as I liked to call it: the eating place. On the way, I decided to check on the vocal abilities of our guests.

"You two talkin' again yet? Or are your speech pieces still fubar'd?" The Energy Keeper moved her mouth around a bit before clearing her throat. Her voice was a bit raspy from disuse, but she was still perfectly coherent.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend, Rainbow Dash." I could tell from her articulated speech that she was well-read and studied on a regular basis.

"Nice to finally hear your voice. In case you haven't caught it already, my name's Kuro. Kuro Maldone. What about you, Dasher? Your speakin' pieces back to normal?" She coughed and hacked a few times, but she still wasn't able to make any legible sounds come out, and shook her head. "That's alright. You probably just need some fluids and munchies. Once we get some sustenance in you, you'll most likely be fine again. Don't worry about it." We got into an elevator and I hit the button for the floor we wanted. "By the way, you two will probably want to try to remember anything you can from when you were under. The higher-ups will probably cut you some slack if you can remember anything particularly important. You're not going to get in trouble if you don't, but I should warn you now that a lot of people are going to give you a hard time. You may not have wanted to, but technically you were working for the Emrini, and there's going to be a lot of distrust because of it." The elevator stopped, and we turned right as we got off towards the eating place. "You don't have to talk to me about any of it if you don't want to, I just figured it would be worth asking if you were able to give us any extra information. And if there's anything bugging you from when you were zombified, I can show you where the psychiatrist's office is. Most folks think they'll be fine without talking about whatever's nagging at their brain, but I can attest to how effective it can be to just get it out and be done with it." We were at the mess hall now, and I held the door open for them as we went in. It was relatively empty, considering the fact that none of the major meals were being served at that point, but I did see one table with a few people around it. "Yo! Shadows!" As soon as they heard me, they turned around and started up their usual storm of greetings when they saw my face.

"Commander-dude!"

"Hey boss!"

"Comrade Sergeant, good to see you with all your parts."

"I'm glad you made it back safely, Kuro-sama."

The last one in the group, a guy nearly twice my size, got up and strode over to me at the end, and I let him pick me up in the giant bear hug that served as his greeting to people he was fond of. He put me down after a moment, and I took a second to get my ribs out of my lungs and catch my breath. Then, I made the introductions.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet a couple new friends of mine: Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash." I moved to one side to reveal them, and I saw lots of raised eyebrows from my squad. "Twilight, Rainbow, this is my squad. The grizzled-lookin' badass cyborg over there is Lance Corporal Dimitri Reznov. The guy next to him is Private Ron Daniels. This chilled-out motherfucker is Private First Class Casey Gerard, but everyone calls him 'Groove'. The nice Japanese lady over here is my Lieutenant, Corporal Toyoko Yamashita, and this big guy," I gave him a couple pats on the shoulder, "is Private Carlton Macmahon. In response to your questions, however," I said as I turned back to my squad, "yes, Twilight is an Energy Keeper and Rainbow is a Cloud Buster. Yes, I expect you all to play nice. And yes, they are friendly. I'll explain everything soon. But right now I'm hungry, and the Admiral said he would be sending someone down for a debrief, so I don't want to have to tell the story twice if I don't have to. Any other questions?" Groove raised his hand, and I nodded to him. He looked at the other two, and I knew he was about to say the same crazy thing he always does when he meets new people. I still remember how unnerved I was when the first thing he said to me was ask me out. I'm still not sure if he was serious or not.

"So are either of you single?" Both of our guests blushed and widened their eyes in surprise, and Dimitri gave him a disapproving glare, but he wasn't paying attention. I squeezed my eyes shut to show my antaganation, and when I opened them, I could see him trying to hold back a grin.

"Groove, knock it off. If for no other reason than I don't think they're ready for your special brand of crazy yet." He made a disappointed sound, and I rolled my eyes before turning back to my charges. "C'mon, let's get you two some nutrients. I would say 'food', but that would imply something that has taste, which this stuff does not. At least the water's real, though." Suddenly, something occurred to me about them. "By the way, do you have any sort of special diet? Vegetarian, or something? Because I know there are plenty of humans that don't eat meat, and I don't want to give you something you can't or won't eat." Their eyes went wide, and I knew I was right with my guess. I also found out that Rainbow had relearned how to speak, finally.

"You eat meat?" she rasped out, her eyes still wide with shock.

"Yeah, I thought that might be an issue. Your bodies have enough features that resemble Earth horses that it occurred to me you might be herbivores. And yes, most humans eat meat to some degree or another. Some people don't eat meat at all, though, and I can get the people working the line to give you vegetarian stuff instead, if you want." They both nodded dumbly, and I ordered for all three of us so that nothing they would find even more offensive would wind up on their trays. I say 'more offensive' because to be honest, this stuff was already pretty offensive to begin with. We brought our edibles back to the table and sat down, at which point I heard the door to the area open again. I turned to see who the new arrival was, and found a guy with nicer clothes, glasses, and a clipboard coming in. The debriefer. I waved to get his attention, and he came over when he noticed me. He sat down across the table, and pulled out a recorder.

"Sergeant Kuro Maldone?" I nodded once as I ate. "I assume you know why I'm here?" I nodded again. "Good. That makes this easier. I need your account of the mission, and if they're able, the um... other two's as well." He glanced at Twilight and Rainbow and shifted in his seat as he said this, and I could tell he wasn't comfortable being in such close proximity to beings he had probably been trained on how to run away from. I could also tell he didn't want to be here longer than he had to, and I decided to give both sides a reprieve, instead.

"I don't think that's a good idea yet. They just regained their ability to speak, and I'm sure they're even more exhausted than I am after today." Rainbow slowly nodded her agreement to this, and the debriefer visibly relaxed.

"Okay, then." He clicked on his recorder, and I started recounting the day's events. He occasionally asked a question, but was otherwise silent as his pen scratched away at the paper on his clipboard. When I was finished, the pen scratched for a few more seconds before he flipped another page and handed both items to me. "I just need your signature at the bottom to show you understand everything about this, and you're good to go." I skimmed through the document to make sure there weren't any glaring issues, and once I was sure there weren't any, I signed the line at the bottom and handed his pen and clipboard back to him. He clicked his recorder off, and gave a short salute before leaving us to ourselves. The first one to speak, surprisingly, was not Groove, but Ron.

"So, Twilight. Is it true you can do all sorts of crazy, reality-bending mental shit? It's been bugging me for a while, but I'm not exactly eager to take on an Energy Keeper to find out." She nodded, and swallowed the last bite of her food before answering verbally. Her voice had come back completely by now, and I had to admit, she had a nice voice.

"I wouldn't call it that, but yes, I can do things that appear to defy the laws of physics." Her horn lit up with a soft purple glow, and a fork was soon enveloped in the same glow, floating in midair. At our reactions to the demonstration, her face took on a quizzical look. "You act like you've never seen magic before. Is this really that surprising?"

"Well, considering that magic doesn't actually exist, da." Leave it to Reznov to be as blunt as possible.

"Huh. Well, it isn't too surprising you can't use magic, considering you don't have horns. By the way, why do you keep calling me an 'Energy Keeper'?" I was about to answer when I was interrupted by a loud rumble rolling through the ship and a voice coming from my earpiece.

"Ship's company, this is Admiral Tornak. We have reentered friendly space. We will be docking at the planet Agrigate's orbital station soon. We will be staying for 72 hours." Twilight looked like she was about to say something, but I put a finger up to let her know to wait. "All non-essential personnel have leave to exit the ship and go on-world. Essential personnel must stay on the station in case of emergency. Shadow Squad two-five-eight, please report to the bridge. That is all." We got up, and I motioned for Rainbow and Twilight to follow.

"Looks like our day isn't over yet. As to your question, though, Twilight, the term 'Energy Keeper' came about because of your apparent ability to manipulate an unkown form of powerful energy. We weren't able to see any of your actual bodies because of the armor, so we couldn't come up with proper classifications for you, species-wise. 'Cloud Buster' was a term that came up when several of them cleared a storm that would have concealed a very important advance back on the planet Tarsus. We almost lost the fight because of it. The Earth Crackers got their name after one of them wiped out an entire battalion by burying all of them, and itself, under a rockslide by collapsing the ravine wall. By kicking it. Once." I heard Rainbow let out a small 'woah' before Twilight started talking again.

"But, not even an Earth Pony has that kind of strength. Was the wall weakened, or damaged, maybe?" I wasn't expecting the term 'Earth Pony', but I quickly recognized it as the actual name of the species. Her confusion at this feat of strength also confirmed something else we had guessed.

"No, but our scientists have been speculating that their armor has strength enhancement qualities. We already knew that Cloud Busters had flight boosters to allow them to move faster, and we figured they also had special armor to deal with the increased g-forces, and someone else managed to get enough camera footage of an Energy Keeper at work for our scientists to determine a shift in the energy aura after a certain distance, so it wasn't much of a stretch to think that the Earth Crackers -sorry,ponies- had strength enhancement technology in their suits. So what are you two called, anyway? I assume since you have different parts, you aren't Earth Ponies as well, right?" I looked back at them as we waited for the elevator, and Twilight nodded. Rainbow was too busy looking at all the various things in the ship to pay any attention.

"Yes. I'm a Unicorn, and Rainbow is a Pegasus. There is also one more type of pony. They're called Alicorns, they have a horn and wings, and they are very rare. There are only three that I've met, and they're all royalty." She seemed to be about to start talking further, when she looked like she suddenly remembered something, closed her mouth, and began staring at the ground with her ears pinned back. Before I could react, Toyoko spoke up.

"You were friends with one?" Twilight nodded. "Then don't worry. They will be fine." Twilight looked up at her, confusion apparent on her face.

"How do you know?" Toyoko simply smiled her usual kind, mysterious smile and turned to get into the elevator, with Ron, Carlton, and a smiling Groove following behind her. As the door closed, we saw Toyoko smile again, and then the elevator door closed, and they were gone. I sighed and shook my head as Twilight looked at me questioningly.

"I really hate it when she does that," I said as I scratched my head in slight embarrassment.

"Hate it when who does what?" Rainbow Dash asked as she came back from inspecting the electronic bulletin board for the past five minutes.

"Toyoko has a sort of... sixth sense, I guess is the best word for it. She can just know how things will turn out without any evidence whatsoever. It sounds crazy, but she's never let me down before, and she's not the type to say things just to make someone feel better. It may take a while, but she said the truth. And if I have any say in it, nothing is going to prove her wrong, alright?" Twilight nodded, and she seemed much calmer as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. We stepped inside, and I sat on the floor, Reznov mirroring me. Twilight and Rainbow got in after, looking at us quizzically. "You two might want to sit down as well." I pushed the button for the command deck, and the doors closed as the two ponies sat down. As soon as the door mechanism stopped, the elevator shot upwards, and I could see the looks of surprise on our guests' faces as the g-forces from the rapid-movement elevator pushed all of us into the floor. A couple of seconds later, the elevator slowed enough for us to stand back up, and the doors opened as we stopped. Reznov and I had to help up the other two, and they had to regain their balance once they were back on their hooves. We stepped out, where the rest of the squad was waiting, and we did a quick brush-down of ourselves before continuing down the hall towards the bridge. When we entered, I knew something was up. The Admiral wasn't in his command seat; he was standing behind it and off to one side. When he looked at me, his face didn't change, he simply turned back to face forward. Doctor Pernaki was there as well, and I had the churning feeling in my gut that said something I wouldn't like was about to happen. My squad and I lined up against a currently-unused wall, and sure enough, someone else stood up out of the command chair. All I could think when I saw his face was Oh dear god, why him? He walked over to us, and I wondered why anyone would have thought it was a good idea to send Admiral Cordon Fallshen to a first-contact situation.

Mission Log 3: Debriefing

Published April 23rd, 2013

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Sir?"

"I asked who the hell you think you are, soldier."

"Sir, Shadow Soldier Sergeant Kuro Maldone of Shadow Squad two-five-eight, sir."

"And what in God's name possessed you to bring two hostile units on board an Earth Sphere Defense Vessel without restraints, Shadow Soldier Sergeant Kuro Maldone of Shadow Squad two-five-eight?"

"Sir. I discovered mind control units placed on the spinal columns of both individuals. They were under the influence of these units for an elongated period of time, but after the removal of the units, neither individual displayed any cause for alarm nor any violent tendencies toward anyone. I believe them to be a non-threat, and will accept all responsibility for them while under my care. Sir."

The Admiral put his face less than an inch from mine, staring hard into my eyes. As usual, his brown hair was styled back, with his bangs practically glued into place to look like fangs. He was also wearing his color contacts, which turned his eyes a blood red. They really were necessary for him to see, but he always had them colored the same way. He was also a couple inches shorter than I am, but still fully capable of looking me in the eye. After a moment, he relented, apparently satisfied with my answer. He gave the evil-eye to the rest of my squad, before turning to Twilight and Rainbow. When he spoke, his voice was a low, threatening growl.

"You two had best watch your asses. I find out that either of you fucked up even ONCE, and I will personally ensure that you never see natural light again. Am I understood?" They both stood stock still as he spoke, and nodded stiffly when he was finished. He gave us all a final warning glance, before stalking out of the room. No one said a word or moved a muscle for a few moments. When we were sure he was gone, Admiral Tornak nodded once at us, and we all relaxed. I decided to get the obvious question out of the way first.

"Permission to speak freely, Admiral?"

"Granted."

"What the fuck was Admiral Fallshen doing here?" He took a moment to collect himself again before speaking.

"He was already here on Agrigate when we arrived. Local Command decided he was most appropriate for the situation, and called him in from what was apparently his vacation." He returned to his chair, obviously still a little shaken from the unexpected visitor. He leaned his head on one hand, and sighed as he rubbed his temples. I smirked a bit, and decided to give him his usual dose of after-mission smart-ass remarks anyway.

"Long day?" He uncovered enough of his eyes to glare at me as I leaned against the nearby railing.

"Well, let's see. I have to send a single person into enemy territory to go destroy a building without any backup or radio contact. When I finally find out he succeeded, I also discover he has an Energy Keeper with him, and then he manages to capture a Cloud Buster during pickup, as well. Now we have two hostiles en route to my ship, and I don't find out they're friendly until they're walking around in front of me and I'm being handed a souped-up version of the mind control devices found on human victims ten years ago. And to top it all off, we get back to friendly space for the first time in a week just for me to be told that Cordon Fallshen will be coming aboard for an appraisal of our guests. How do you think I'm doing?" My smirk grew.

"I didn't ask how you were doing. I just asked if it had been a long day." If looks could kill, I would have lit up like a wooden effigy by then.

"Is there a reason you're still on my bridge?" I gave him the most innocent smile I could.

"I still haven't been given any orders, and I believe Doctor Pernaki has something to say." There was a snicker behind me that sounded suspiciously like Ron before a small cough that sounded suspiciously like Dimitri's elbow. I turned to find Ron doubled over and gasping for air while Dimitri simply stood next to him calmly and everyone else held back laughter. Dr. Pernaki then took a few steps forward so that the Admiral and I could both see him.

"Yes, actually, I do have something to report. A few things, in fact. The first is that we have confirmed the presence of performance-improving technology in the armor of the two new arrivals. The second is that we have isolated the frequency for the mind-control units, and we're working on a counter-frequency. Also, one of our more.... experimental scientists has begun working on new armor for the Energy Keeper and Cloud Buster. I told him it might never be used, but he insisted. Finally, we have managed to crack the cypher on the information the Sergeant obtained, and are currently in the process of decoding it. It should be finished in an hour or two." Tornak seemed to relax a little when he finished, and I could almost hear the gears in his head turning again. After a few moments of silent contemplation, he started giving out assignments.

"Alright. Doctor, go back to the lab, and get to work making something we can use that counter-frequency with to take out the mind controllers. Also, I want regular updates on that armor. If any of these guys want to start fighting for us once they're under their own control again, I want them properly equipped. Sergeant, your team has leave while we're docked. I want our guests interviewed first, but after that, they're free. You're chaperoning, though. The newbies don't leave the ship, and you are to stay with them at all times." I raised an eyebrow at this.

"All times, sir?"

"All times, Sergeant." He stared at me for a moment, driving his point home. I groaned and nodded my head in understanding of his order. He looked us over once then stood up. "If no one has anything else to bring up, then you are dismissed." When no one spoke up, he nodded once before moving towards the door to the observation deck. The rest of us filed out, and we gave a short farewell to Pernaki as he got on an elevator, and we continued towards the debrief room. As we walked, I decided to give Twilight and Rainbow some early warnings.

"Okay, you two, pay attention for a minute. We're going down to get you debriefed, and you need to know a couple of things. First, none of us will be in there with you. We'll be watching, but it will just be you and the debriefer in there. You need to tell him everything you remember. And I do mean everything. No matter how painful it is, you need to tell him or it won't be considered the truth. Everyone knows how depraved the Emrini are, but the laws we have in place prevent addendums to debriefing sessions, so don't hold anything back. Even if you have a complete breakdown, just get through it. Otherwise, the records will consider it to have not happened. Also, anything you can remember about them tactically will get you friends in high places, more than likely. And go over as much of your planet's history as possible. The more we know about you and where you came from, the more likely Central Command will be to send troops to your world once we find it. This will also help smooth over any rescue operations we initiate. Got all that?" They both nodded as we came into the debriefing wait room. We all took seats and used the chance to get what little rest we could after the taxing events of the day. After a few minutes, a pair of marines walked in and came over to me.

"I take it the debriefer is ready, then?" I asked without opening my eyes. I heard them jolt in place at my unexpected notice of their presence, but one of them quickly answered my question anyway.

"Yes, sir. We were sent to escort the subjects into the observation room." I sighed to get my body awake from its relaxed state, then stood up as everyone else roused themselves from slumber. Twilight and Rainbow were already awake, apparently having been too nervous to relax.

"Well, lead on, gents." They both gave curt nods, then turned and started walking back towards the door they came from. The rest of us waited for the guests of honor to go first before following along as well. We walked down a short hallway, and came to a pair of doors a few feet from each other on the left wall. The guards opened the further door, and took their places on either side. Both of our charges looked at the room beyond fearfully, then looked to me pleadingly as the rest of my team entered the other door. I gave them my most encouraging grin, a quick recap of what to do during the debriefing, then sent them in before following my squad into the observation room. It was relatively large, but still slightly cramped with all of us in there. Through the one-way glass, we saw Twilight and Rainbow situate themselves before the debriefer came in and sat down across from them. He pulled up a briefcase, and started unloading it onto the table. When he finished, there was some paper, a couple of pens, a stack of documents, and an audio recorder lying on the table. He took one of the blank sheets of paper and wrote down what I assumed to be his introductory statement for his notes before setting it down and clicking on the recorder.

"Debriefing file nine-two-eight-seven-six-four. Friendly Energy Keeper and Cloud Buster found to be under the influence of mind control technology. Session will document subjects' history before and during mind control subjugation, and attempt to determine possibility of lingering malignant tendencies. Energy Keeper, please state your name." The suddenness of the command caught her off-guard, but she quickly recovered.

"Twilight Sparkle, sir." He made a note on his paper before returning his attention to the purple-furred unicorn and speaking again.

"Twilight Sparkle, during this session, it may be necessary for me to ask questions of a personal or uncomfortable nature. In order for this debriefing to be as accurate as possible, and to ensure you are entitled to appropiate help with no undue stress caused by miscommunication, I will need you to answer all of these questions to the best of your ability, and as truthfully as you are able. I am an impartial individual, who bears you no ill will or malicious intent. I assure you that no matter how discomforting these questions are, they are entirely necessary for us to properly evaluate your position. This session will be recorded, and anything you say or do will be used as appropriate in a court situation. Any facts that you omit from your answers will be considered untrue, and will not be considered by any official of the law during their judgements. Do you understand and agree to what I have asked of you?" She took a breath to help calm herself, and nodded. "Please use vocal responses during the session to prevent confusion and misinterpretation."

"S-sorry. Yes, I understand and agree." He nodded, and wrote another small note on his paper. He then turned his attention to Rainbow Dash, and copied the procedure. When he was done with both, he got a new sheet of paper and made some notes before starting in earnest.

As his questions were answered, my mind created an image of the world these two had come from. Their country, Equestria, was particularly impressive. Populated by the three pony races, and ruled by a pair of sisters, Luna and Celestia, with no war or famine, and crime rates so low it would be a dream for any cop or attorney in terms of workload. To me, it sounded like a utopia. The other countries of their world, ruled by griffons, zebras and dragons, didn't sound as peaceful, but certainly better than most places humans inhabited. Then the questions turned to the Emrini. I knew I wasn't going to like this part, but it was still worse than I thought it would be. They had invaded almost without warning, and their world's lack of technology prevented them from being able to fight back effectively. They were overrun, their homes were burned, the sick or elderly were slaughtered, and the children were forced to mine the plentiful gemstones and precious metals of their world while the strongest and most physically fit members of their society were put under the influence of the mind control units, and forced to fight the Emrini's war for them. During the story, Twilight broke down into tears multiple times, and Rainbow looked like she was doing all she could not to do the same. I had slowly become more and more infuriated as she continued, and I knew the worst was yet to come. Sure enough, the debriefer asked the question I had been expecting since the beginning.

"At any point, did the Emrini use you for sexual acts?" I could tell right away that he wasn't comfortable asking this, and I could see both women stiffen at the question. I barely registered Twilight's voice as she squeaked out an affirmative, and Rainbow's voice cracked as she answered similarly. The first time rape of a human woman by an Emrini was reported, many people had dismissed it simply because of how atrocious it seemed. No one could have imagined how depraved they really were.

The Emrini race evolved in such a way that females are not born very often. This fact led to two major parts of their culture. The first is that they worship their females as divine gifts and messengers, treating them with more respect and care than a royal, although the sole purpose of female Emrini is to choose powerful males and mate with them to create stronger young. The second effect of this was the Emrini creating a drug that mutates the DNA of reproductive cells when injected into another species. This means that the Emrini are capable of successfully procreating with any creature they find, even non-sentient life. They kidnap any females they find, keeping them in buildings built for the singular purpose of breeding. Apparently, the mind controllers were not removed merely for adjustments. They were removed for copulation purposes, as well. As Twilight stuttered through her descriptions of what happened during those periods, I could feel myself becoming enraged. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I whipped around to see Toyoko staring worriedly at me. At my confused expression, she looked down. I followed her gaze to find my own hands bleeding, dripping onto the floor. I unclenched my fingers, pulling slightly to remove my nails from the flesh of my palm, and took a couple of calming breaths.

"Dimitri, could you please give me some bandages?" He reached down to his metal leg, and produced a roll of antiseptic bandage and a rag before handing them both over to me. I wiped off the excess blood, then turned back to the observation window as I wrapped up my hands. I heard Dimitri walk up, but kept my eyes on Twilight, who had recovered from her most recent breakdown and was almost finished with her story.

"Sir, are you sure you don't require a tranquilizer?" I took a deep breath, and used my teeth to cut the bandage. I then tucked the end in, and started on my other hand before responding.

"Yes, Dimitri. I'm fine now. Thank you, though." He backed off, and I continued listening to the debrief. They were almost finished, now, but apparently Twilight had something she wanted to add.

"One other thing you should probably know: we, along with our other four friends, have access to a set of artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. The Elements are extremely powerful, and if we can find our friends and the Elements themselves, we may be able to drive the Emrini off our world. I don't know for certain, though. We never got a chance to use them during the invasion, so I don't have any data regarding their effectiveness." The debriefer scratched madly at his paper to get down all the information before speaking again.

"Do you have any idea where your friends or these artifacts are now?" Twilight scrunched her eyes in thought, obviously wrestling with her own memory to recall the information.

"I think they're back on the planet we were on. I'm not entirely sure, but it seems likely. I remember a lot of ponies I knew being kept with us when we were locked up. And the Emrini had no reason to think we were special, so they probably just shipped us all together. As for the Elements themselves, I have no idea. For all I know, they were melted down to create other things." The debriefer wrote down some more notes, then tapped his chin with his pen in thought.

"Your analysis does stand to reason, but that's not my call. I will take the records for this session to Admiral Tornak, and he will relay the information appropriately. Once a decision has been made regarding actions to be taken pertaining to you, you will be notified. For now, though," He handed them each half of the short stack of documents, held together by paper clips. "Please read through these packets, and ensure you understand them. When you do, please sign them so that we may begin working to gain you full citizenship and the legal rights and protections that come with it. Thank you for your time." With that, he packed his things and left. Twilight and Rainbow sat there, and my squad and I made our way into the room with them. I sat in the chair previously occupied by the debriefer, and I could see how miserable they both looked from the bad memories that had been dredged up. Carlton came up behind them, and hunched slightly as he wrapped his arms around them, a small whine escaping him as he attempted to comfort the two. It didn't entirely work, but now they had something solid to lean against as their emotions poured out. I gave a meaningful glance to Reznov, and he nodded before snapping his fingers twice and motioning for Ron and Groove to follow him. They did, leaving Carlton, Toyoko and I with the distressed women. I moved to my right around the table, next to Rainbow, and sat one leg on the edge before gently running my fingers across her cheek. She grabbed my hand and held it to her face, quietly crying into it, oblivious to my blood-stained bandages. Meanwhile, Toyoko had slipped under Carlton's arm to cradle Twilight, who was crying openly, muffled by the cloth around her face. We stayed there for a couple of minutes, until they had regained their composure. They still sniffled occasionally, but were otherwise back to stable emotional levels. Even so, however, I could tell they were tired. I had Carlton pick them up gently, and carry them back to the barracks area. I checked with the chambermaster to see which room they were in, and he pointed me to the room right next to mine. By the time we made our way over they were both asleep, and after some slight convincing, Carlton and Toyoko left to enjoy their leave once we had put them in their beds. I left a small communicator in the room where they would find it, along with a note on how to use the thing, then locked the door and went into my own room. I sat down and started going over everything that had occurred that day while I changed into my sleeping pants. I eventually decided on my course of action for tomorrow, and turned the light off before laying down in bed to sleep. Well, whatever happens, it can't possibly be worse than what I heard about today.

Mission Log 4: Grand Plans

Published , 2013

"So, what are we doing today?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Whether or not Leeroy has anything specific he wants me to take care of."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then you get the grand tour. And an interview, either way. I got a directive when I woke up this morning saying that further 'interrogation' was needed to determine what our next course of action is. Honestly, you'd think they would at least try not to sound like assholes when they send these things out." This got a small smile out of Twilight as she resumed her meal. They had both recovered quite a bit after a good night's sleep, and she and I had been talking over breakfast while Rainbow tore into her food like she was starved. Which, considering her previous place of residence, was probably true. Even so, I pulled the second tray of food she had gotten out of her reach before she did something we'd all regret. Not unexpectedly, she took exception to that.

"Hey! That's mine!" I pulled the tray further as she leaned over to reach for it.

"I'm aware of that, Rainbow, but I want to make sure you actually want it right now before your body decides you ate too much and regurgitates it all. I've seen several people who had been starved eat way too much when they got back, and puke it all up again because their bodies weren't used to that much food anymore. Wait fifteen minutes, and if you're still hungry, you can have it back." She gave me a pitiful look, but when she realized it wasn't working, she gave up and sat back down with an audible 'humph' as she crossed her arms. Twilight and I finished the rest of our meals in relative quiet, and sure enough, when we were finished Rainbow didn't want that second tray anymore. Turned out there was a little too much on the first tray, for that matter. We went back to their quarters, and I opened the door so Rainbow could run to the bathroom and get rid of some of the excess food she ate. As sounds of chunky liquid hitting water came from the bathroom, I noticed two packages on the small table that was in the room.

"Ah! They already finished them!" I walked over and picked up both items, which were identical, while Twilight looked at me curiously from her seat on her bed.

"What are they?" she asked with her head cocked to one side.

"Presents. Something to help you pass the time when you don't have anything to do." I handed one to her, then the other to Rainbow as she came out of the bathroom moaning miserably. She looked at it a moment, then back at me.

"This isn't food, is it?" she asked cautiously. I laughed a bit before shaking my head, at which point she ripped the paper off like a kid opening a present. Inside was a box, and she opened that to reveal a piece of glass held on all sides by half-inch wide and sixteenth-inch thick metal. The whole thing was about the same size as a sheet of paper, although it weighed quite a bit more. Twilight had gotten hers out at this point, and they both studied their new possessions curiously. Finally, Twilight spoke.

"Okay, I give up. What are these?" I came over, and pointed at the button on one of the short edges. She pushed it, and the screen lit up, surprising both of them.

"It's a digi-pad. I had the archivists load up as much as they could for you both overnight, so if you get stuck in here for whatever reason, you have something to occupy yourselves. There should be plenty on those, but they had to keep a lot of the more sensitive stuff out, since you still haven't been given full clearance as citizens yet. Even so, I'm impressed they finished so quickly. I wasn't expecting those to show up until tonight, at the earliest." As Rainbow turned hers on and as they both started going through the contents and controls, my earpiece came on.

"Shadow Soldier Kuro, please escort your charges to the bridge immediately for further questioning."

"Alright, you two, time for your questionnaire. C'mon." They put their new pads on the bed and clicked them off, then we all made our way up to the bridge. Leeroy was waiting for us, standing in the center of the area, looking out the main window. When we came in, he turned around to address us.

"Kuro, Twilight, Rainbow. Thank you for coming. I figured you would probably be more comfortable here than down in the debriefing room. I wanted to talk to you two about something you mentioned yesterday, Twilight. You said that your other friends were mostly likely back on Rokan, the planet where we found you. With them, you have ownership over items called 'Elements of Harmony', and that these items would most likely be able to drive the Emrini off your world. I would like you to elaborate on this, if you could." Twilight and Rainbow sat down in a couple of chairs, and I took my usual position leaning on the rail that divided the rear consoles from the main command area.

"Well, the Elements of Harmony are powerful magical artifacts, and they were used a couple of times through history by Princess Celestia to save Equestria, but we and our friends inherited them when Nightmare Moon returned. She was the alternate personality of Princess Luna, Celestia's sister, who tried to cause eternal night for Equestria one thousand years ago before Celestia banished her to the moon."

"Hold on a moment," Leeroy interrupted. "You're telling me that one thousand years ago, one of your rulers went insane, tried to cause eternal night, was banished to the moon for a thousand years by her sister, and that both of them are still alive?" She nodded, and he and I shared a skeptical look before returning our attention to her. She looked at us both, then her ears pinned back.

"You don't believe me?" I could hear the desperation in her voice, and decided to cut in.

"Twilight, what you just told us disregards about five different laws of nature that have been set in stone for over two millennia. That said, there have been plenty of 'laws'," I made air quotes on the word, "of nature that were definitively proven wrong by modern science over the years. Do we believe you right now? No. But that doesn't mean you can't prove otherwise. Chances are that once we meet them, both your princesses will prove lots of things we think about the universe wrong. But until then, we can't just take your word for it that you have a pair of nigh-immortal beings who apparently control your planet's day and night cycle ruling your country. Sorry, but that's just how it is." She seemed disappointed by this, but sighed and nodded her understanding.

"In any case," Leeroy continued, "the Elements of Harmony. What are they, exactly?" Twilight took another moment to regain her composure, then continued.

"The Elements themselves are the physical manifestation of the six qualities that preserve harmony in Equestria. Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty come together to form the sixth Element, Magic. Rainbow Dash is the bearer of Loyalty, and I'm the bearer of Magic. When the Elements are used together, they can unleash huge amounts of magical energy, sealing evil forces or beings, and restoring entire cities that have been destroyed. It only works on magical damage, though. Most of what the Emrini did will have to be rebuilt the hard way. If we had the Elements, though, we might be able to stop them from doing any more damage. I just wish we could undo the horrors some of the ponies have had to go through. I don't even want to think about what they did to some of our friends...." She pulled her legs to her chest, hugging her knees. I could tell she was seriously worried, and the look on the admiral's face told me he could, too. Then he said something I hadn't expected.

"Well, I can't help you undo what has already happened, but I can help you prevent it from happening further." All three of us looked at him with confused expressions, and he grinned before continuing. "After your debriefing yesterday, I requested permission to return to Rokan. Pernaki is, at most, hours away from a device capable of rendering the mind control units worthless, and your new armor sets will be complete by the time we're ready to leave tomorrow. The approval message for a second trip to Rokan to save your friends there came in twenty minutes ago. The crew will return the morning after tomorrow, but once they're back we'll send a message out for another two ships to assist us in a full-scale invasion. The Emrini are looking for something down there, and that combined with the fact that we can now turn almost a quarter of their forces against them is more than enough reason to go back. Now the only question is whether or not you'll be going down along with the other troops." I could feel a vengeful smile growing on my face at the idea of the Emrini finally getting everything they deserved as Twilight and Rainbow sat there with slack jaws at this revelation, that they might be able to see their friends again so soon. I already knew they would need some time to think about it, though, so-

"I'm in." Or maybe I'm just an overly sympathetic idiot.

Rainbow stood up, squaring her shoulders and flaring her wings slightly. It was impressive how powerful she seemed, considering how small and colorful she is. At Leeroy's surprise, she kept going.

"I know what kind of monsters these guys are. If I can make the suffering of my friends shorter by even a second by going down there myself, then I'll do it. No questions asked." Her resolve was obvious, but I needed to make sure she was ready, first.

"Are you prepared to kill?" She turned around, slightly surprised by the question. I put on an emotionless face, to ensure she understood the full implications of what I was saying. "Are you prepared to end the life of another living being? One who has their own family and friends to return to? One who believes they are in the right just as much as you do? Are you prepared to end not just what they are, but everything they have ever been, or ever will be?" She dipped her head in thought, and when she looked at me again, her eyes were alight with determination. She nodded once, a definitive, unhesitating move. Suddenly, Twilight got up from her seat as well.

"I'm going too. You'll need someone with communication skills that the other ponies will recognize. And I'll be able to help out a lot with my magic, since the Emrini won't be prepared to deal with it." Leeroy and I shared a look before he shrugged and continued.

"Alright, then. Kuro, I assume you know what to do?" I nodded. "Good. Now-" He cut himself off and put a hand to his earpiece, and I saw his eyebrows go up. "It seems the counter-frequency device is already finished. Go ahead and take a look at that before taking care of these two."

"Yes, sir. Just make sure War Master knows what's going on. He gets cranky if we don't tell him about this sort of thing." I gave a quick salute, and motioned for Twilight and Rainbow to follow me. We left the bridge, and I led back through the winding corridors of the ship to science division. When we got there, several of the individuals working there were gathered around a table, and off to one side, Dr. Pernaki was looking at some charts on a large screen. As the door shut automatically behind us, he turned around with a very satisfied grin on his face.

"Came to see the new toy?" he teased.

"You know it, Doc. Let's see what you got." He nodded, and headed towards one of the smaller back rooms. Sitting on the table inside was a small cylinder with antennae sticking out from the sides at ninety-degree angles from each other. He gently picked it up, and held it by the base so we could get a good look at it. I peered at it closely, and easily noticed the flaw with the design.

"It needs to be planted manually, doesn't it?" He nodded.

"Yes, unfortunately none of the other designs worked powerfully or reliably enough to be used. The antennae are needed to get a full radius sweep, and although they fold up so they can be carried, they're too fragile to be thrown around. It does have a decent range, though, as well as a remote activation, but you will need to place it down and lure the mind controlled victims to it in order to utilize it effectively."

"What's the maximum effective range?" I asked as I straightened up again.

"One hundred feet. As I said, it's decent, but you'll still need to get them pretty close to do anything." I nodded my understanding as I worked out how to use it in the field. Once I had a few ideas, I nodded again.

"Ok. Thanks, Doc. Do what you need to to get some more of these things made. We're going to need all we can get down there until we find the control point. I need to get these two ready for boots on the ground, though. They want to go in with us, so I get to make sure they'll actually be able to do anything when we get there. I'll see you later." I waved back as we left.

"You as well, Sergeant."

As we left, Twilight began speaking.

"What did you mean by 'ready for boots on the ground'? We're already prepared. We know how to fight, we know how to not get killed, what more do we need?" I shook my head at her naiveté before answering.

"No, you're not prepared. You don't know how to fight, you know how to attack. And you don't know how to stay safe, you know how to get away." We came to an elevator, and they gave me confused looks as we waited.

"What's the difference?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm going to show you." I grinned smugly as the elevator doors opened and we got on. "First, though, I'm going to enjoy the fuck out of basically having the entire ship to myself. Most of the time, it's a freaking zoo in this place. Barely enough room to breathe with everyone running around to wherever."

"Oh, please." Rainbow said disbelievingly. "It couldn't be that bad. I mean this is a big ship, but how many ponies could it possibly need?" I looked at her with a 'you really want to know?' look but she wasn't impressed. So I told her.

"About eight thousand." They both went wide-eyed at the number. "And that's just a skeleton crew. Usually there's around fifteen thousand guys who work on the ship itself. That's not counting the pilots and soldiers who actually get sent out on a regular basis, like me. Including us, that number reaches somewhere around thirty to forty thousand." The elevator stopped, and they were jolted out of their shock at the sheer size of the crew. I continued leading them through the ship, reveling in the emptiness of the halls we went through. For once, I could walk normally without worrying about getting run over. It was glorious.

We eventually came to a large door, which had stencil-painted letters above it which read 'Colosseum'. We went in, and I took a glance around. It was a massive area, with a total of five levels; two above, two below. The walls were lined with large tubes, which had glass fronts. I started making my way towards the back as I called out for the room's caretaker.

"War Master. You online?" I asked to no one visible. A series of lights began to coalesce on the top floor as we started up, and when we got there, a hologram was waiting for us. He was covered in nightmare-inducing armor, with dangerously pointed edges and red trim, as well as a skull design on his helmet with glowing red spots where the eyes would be. I heard Twilight and Rainbow stop and shudder at his sudden appearance, and then he spoke with a deep, almost growling voice.

"I am always online, Sergeant Maldone. I must always be ready for an emergency that may require my attention. But what did you actually need? I doubt you came here just to talk." I nodded, and went over to the last tube in the row to prep it for Twilight.

"Correct. These two want to help in the invasion we have planned for Rokan, but they need training first. We'll need you to use the time warp feature so I can take them through all of basic training. Before we begin, though, you may need to recalibrate the system a bit to conform to their brainwaves. Otherwise, who knows what will happen?" The hologram nodded, and I waved over the newbies. "Alright, War, what do we need to do?" He walked over, and put a hand over the control panel for the tube next to the one I was using.

"First, you get in here, as a baseline. I will need to compare their brainwaves to yours in order to obtain the most accurate data. Then, they will get into the other containers, and I will begin running a comparison matrix to properly ascertain what parts of their brain are different. Once that is finished, I will build them virtual bodies for them to use, and make any adjustments necessary once they are in." I nodded my understanding, and got into the tube as he finished the prep. "You will be in a sort of nebulous state when you first go in, but that is normal. Once I have completed the comparison and their new virtual bodies, I will begin the simulation, and you will have normal control again. Are you ready?"

"I can't think of any more questions, so yeah. Jack me in, War." He nodded, and everything turned black as I went into the simulation.

Mission Log 5: Training