Marine in Equestria
Chapter 89: The Beast
Previous Chapter Next Chapter"So this is where you lived for a thousand years?" Jeremy blinked in wonder as he walked along with Luna through gleaming halls of reinforced Plasteel (plastic-steel).
"Amazing, is it not?" His loving dark princess beamed. "Although it does lose much of its charm and wonder after a few hundred years of forced confinement."
"And how exactly did that work," he asked. "I mean, you're an immortal, couldn't you just walk out an airlock and fly back to earth?"
"Just because we are long lived does not mean we are immortal, removing our magic leaves us as vulnerable to death, as any other pony," Nightmare Moon stated from the head of the group. "And that was what Celestia did to us. She placed a magic shield over the moon palace that greatly reduced our abilities."
"Usually, when we want to go outside, we can erect a protective shield around ourselves with air inside," Luna elaborated. "But with our powers nullified, if we had stepped outside the palace, we would have suffocated and died in the vacuum of space."
"Harsh," Anon slowly shook his head.
"Indeed." Both night princesses nodded.
"However… you two do realize that the Moon Palace is just an abandoned human lunar colony, right?"
"I did figure that out," she smiled sheepishly. "After I met Mark and learned about human history."
"In this case it should be noted that WE figured it out," Nightmare Moon stated while Trixie trotted along taking notes. "Which is why we have brought our consorts here today, to share our palace with the one's we love."
"OHMYGODOHMYGOD!" Tobias darted from room to room and down the wide hallways ahead of the group, the slightly mad/ex-NASA scientist seemed absolutely astonished at what he saw. "This place is laid out exactly like Moonbase Alpha from Space 1999!"
"Say what now," Anon was taken aback.
"Space 1999, was a British sci-fi television show." The scientist exclaimed happily as he peered through another set of doors, definitely in total geek-out mode. "Holy shit, there's even a fully stocked Hydroponics bay!"
"British sci-fi television…" Jeremy blinked, "is that anything like Doctor Who, the time traveler Mark keeps talking about?"
"Now just hold on one fucking moment," Tobias spun on his heels and glared at Jeremy. "The Doctor isn't just some TV show… I happen to know he's real and lives in Ponyville."
"Okay, okay," the ex PFC relented, holding his hands as a sign of surrender.
"Come along Tobias, I think there is something you should see," Moon put a wing around his shoulder and guided him down the hall. A short walk later found the group before a set of double doors that slid open to reveal a large dark room beyond. "This," Moon smiled as she activated a power switch, "Is the Main Command Center."
Instantly Tobias went running to each of the command stations as they powered up, a gleeful look in his eyes. "This place is just like the show," the NASA man exclaimed before reading off each of the terminals. "We have everything from Medical, Reconnaissance, and Security… to Science and… Communications?"
"What's wrong Toby," Anon perked up. "Is the comm's station not accurate enough for you?"
"Ummm… No…" Tobias glanced up in confusion. "I was just wondering how long the 'Incoming Transmission' light has been blinking?"
"Say what now?" Moon and Luna demanded.
[Mark]
"Repeat, this is a warning from the colony ship RKA Argonautica. Three weeks ago we recovered a derelict space craft of unknown origins… an organic space craft… there were things on board the craft!" On screen, an agitated man who's collar showed lieutenant's bars, tried to get his wits together while delivering his last report. "Before we realized what they were, they had infested the Hibernation bay… all those people, dead. Those who weren't outright eaten, were used to make more… Oh God! He took a moment to gather himself, smacking his head a couple times.
"The things, we never gave them a name, they have an exoskeleton that's impervious to small arms fire, acid for blood, hard as hell to kill, and they act like a plague…" Slowly the Lt seemed to regain his faculties, his wild eyes focusing on something above the camera he was speaking to. "This ship and her entire crew are lost. If anyone receives this transmission, make no attempt to come to its point of origin. There is only death here now, and I'm leaving it behind. It is Christmas Day, the year of our Lord, 2194… This is..."
The man never got to finish, just as he was signing off something big and dark stood up behind him and… Celestia and her sisters turned away as the screen was covered in blood and chunks of brain. "So." Max turned and gave me a concerned look.
"Can you rewind the feed to the point just before his head explodes?" I asked as a cold pit began to form in my belly.
"Sure thing, Tobias showed me how." The Storm King nodded as the video began to rewind to the spot. Slowly it played until I told him to pause… and my fears became all too real. "Is that what I think it is?"
"It's a Xenomorph. God fucking damn it!" I scowled, throwing my helmet to the ground. "What the fuck kind of universe are we living in?!"
I swear, it's like we're a melting pot of crossovers for fucks sake!
"Hey, I got something," Toby called from another station, drawing everyone's attention. "The RKA Argonautica, built in conjunction by the United States, the Chinese, and the Russian Federal Space Agency. She was designed to be an Ark, her crew operating in 5 year shifts with 2/3rds of the crew remaining in hyper sleep in between shifts…"
"How many waking crew," I asked as a picture of the Argonautica appeared on the big view screen on the wall.
The diagram on the big screen showed a long tube segmented by a tapered disk, with each segment having a single ring/wheel thingy. According to the plans, the upper tube was for officers, Military, and VIP's, while the ring was left as parks and recreations. The lower was the homes and work space for the civilians, and the ring listed as farms. As for the oversized tapered disk, it was listed as Cryo-Sleep. At the very bottom of the ship was the drive section and shielding crap that I kind of ignored.
"A hundred ship's crew, two hundred military personnel, two hundred VIP's, and five hundred civilians/working class…" Tobias mumbled before shooting me a glance. "That's a thousand personnel living in five year shifts…"
"3,000 humans," Moon gave a low whistle. "That's got to be one hell of a big ship."
"But because it has cyro bays, then it would only be as big as it needed to house the bays and faculties for the sort-of skeleton crew needed to operate the ship." I said, crossing my arms. "So roughly a thousand humans awake, makes a smaller ship."
"Guys," Tobias spoke up. "I'm afraid I have bad news, and worse news."
"What's the worst news," I cringed as I asked.
"That ship is on a collision course with Equestria…"
"And the bad news," Luna blinked.
"We only have ten days before it passes close enough to the moon, to teleport onto the ship."
"Great, just great," I growled while rolling my eyes. "And how long after, will it reach earth?"
"Less than a day, 20 hours…" Toby sighed.
"Mark, I don't have to tell you that we can not chance that thing crashing to Equestria," Celestia stated as she watched me intently. "If any of those creatures survive…"
"Got it, get on board and find a way to destroy the ship," I nodded slowly before putting forth a major flaw in that plan. "So how do we get to the ship while it's still far enough away to divert?"
"Max, I think you can answer that one, can't you love," Celestia asked of her husband.
"Welllll…" he hesitated. I turned to him slowly, as the sound of a door creaking open came out from SOMEWHERE.
"Spill it T-Rex," I gave a growl as I put my arm around his shoulders and pulled him close.
"You know how your men scavenged what they could from the pelican that crashed?"
"Go on…"
"Well," he sighed, "The Pony Corps of Engineers and I got together and were able to bash together a working Pelican from all the pieces, then duplicate the blueprints for more."
"What did you say?" The pressure was increasing.
"While they belong to the palace guards, one per princess," Max clarified as he tried to get out of my ever tightening grasp. "The ponies have two fully functional D77-TC Pelican Dropships, each able to carry ten passengers comfortably. With a third nearly completed."
"Is there anything else you've been able to salvage without telling me?"
"A…A Warthog or two from the databanks," he smiled weakly, "but no weapons or tanks!"
"And just where are these Warthogs now?"
"Max owns one, and I own the other," Anon shot me a shit-eating grin. "Got a problem with that?" Instantly, I shot him the one handed salute and growled a bit.
"I better fucking get a duplicated one, or I swear to Odin y'all ain't gonna hear the end of this." After another moment of firmly grasping Max, I let him go and walked off.