The low hum of the dropship’s engines shook the cargo bay. Inside, four beings were attached magnetically to the walls by their backs, two on each side, all of them wearing the standard combat exosuit of the Colonial Guard.

Both his mind and his eyes were focused on the hologram displayed in front of him, courtesy of the generator in his exosuit’s forearm. He examined it closely: a green, holographic version of New Earth with the vague coordinates of a crash site. Pipsqueak let out a sigh and then looked up, the hologram displayed by his arm’s display turning off as he lowered it.

The blue eyes of Sergeant Kent were staring at him from the other side of the bay. “Been able to ping the android’s crash site yet, sir?”

The Commander shook his head, the eyes of Kent and the two twins locked on him for the time being. “Not completely.” The dropship began to rumble.

“We’re burning in, sir,” Private Mirror said through the intercom while piloting the ship. “I advise that we set up a clear objective.”

Pipsqueak brought his arm up again, checking the holographic map. “Set a course to Zebrica,” he said, letting his arm drop down. “The crash data leads there.”

“Copy that, sir.”

Everything leading up to this had gone by in what felt like a bright flash. Questions spawned inside his mind in an almost endless manner, as if he held the answers to everything. He simply continued to walk, to move, doing just as the world around him did: continue.

His life in Trottingham, the Vector war; challenges that presented themselves to him without end, without halt. Now, the battle on the Lunar complex. Having to fight alongside the Princess and the only remaining M.A.C unit known to still exist, and now trying to track down the latter, not knowing whether or not it perished in the last stand against an unknown enemy.

The dropship continued to rumble as he lost himself to his thoughts. What kept him going? Just another question he did not hold the answer to. It felt as if an almost mystical force was pushing him from behind with the sole purpose of making him move forth.

The three other Guardsmen in the troop bay continued to glance at him every passing moment, visibly begging for answers themselves. He simply returned them with the occasional frown, transmitting the only thought he had about the whole situation.

“Keep going.”

Kent looked over at him, tilting his head to the side. “Sir,” he said, pointing at his arm. Pipsqueak looked down to see the hologram light up once more, this time displaying more accurate data.

“Private,” he said, bringing his right hand over, using his mechanical fingers to start typing into the small interface. “It worked: I’ve got better coordinates now. Apparently the android landed somewhere near a small, remote village in inner Zebrica. I’m not sure wether it’s still functioning or not... I’m transmitting the location to you now.”

“Copy that, sir,” Mirror said through the intercom. “ETA is one minute.”

Pipsqueak relaxed, returning to his resting position and turning off the holomap. On the corner of his eye, he could see the two twin corporals talking to each other. He decided to listen in to their conversation.

“Some ride, eh?” the male one said, smiling.

“Universes, Jamble,” Prism said, clearly bothered by her brother’s constant talking. “Will you just shut up?”

Corporal Jamble huffed. “Come on, Prissy!” He looked at her with a grin on his face. “We survived a mercenary attack, fighting along Princess Luna herself, AND and android! And now we’re going to Zebrica!”

Pipsqueak glanced over to Kent, seeing the changeling’s eyes locked on the twins. “Shut the hell up, you two!”

“Fifteen seconds ‘till landing!” Mirror called out. “Better grab your gear!”

Nodding, Pipsqueak unlocked himself from the wall, reaching behind his back to grab a hold of his gauss rifle.

“Landing...”

A renewed heavy shake announced the dropship had landed at its intended point. The ramp began its descent, revealing to the eyes of Pipsqueak a scorching sun shining with intensity above a savannah-like area. His visor instantly polarized to compensate for the glare, letting him see beyond, a small village amongst the rocky hills. Buildings made of sandstone ruled it, and amongst it where some palm trees.

“Move it!” he called as the ramp touched down. “Clear the landing zone!” He raised his left arm to check the holomap as his team moved out of the dropship. The android’s signal had gotten much stronger, but the actual crash zone was around in a one or two kilometer radius.

Pipsqueak walked out, lowering his arm and turning the map off, holding his rifle tightly. Behind him, Private Mirror followed, stomping over next to him. “Any news on the location, sir?”

“It landed somewhere around two kilometers from here...” The Commander motioned towards the village. “We’re going in. At least one of them should’ve seen where it landed.”

His foot landed softly on the ground, digging itself into it. Small plants, green, others dead and brown, littered the main street of the desert village. The villagers themselves did what they could to hide from the five Guardsmen, but their efforts were of little to no use. The wind, whipped the nearby palm trees and lifted the sand off of the ground, making it cluster in the joints of his suit.

The Commander could see the heat signatures through his visor, from the villagers hiding inside their sandstone houses. He saw them moving, whispering to each other in their own language outside of the range of the suit’s “autotranslator,” unsure as to what to do. It was until one of the doors burst open under the scorching sun that the silence was broken. The Guardsmen turned to see two villagers, equine in anatomy, their bodies covered by cloaks, making their way over to them in a cautious manner.

Pipsqueak knew not to waste any more time, so he approached the two, his team tagging behind him. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed how unphased the two beings seemed; an expression that went unnoticed thanks to his visor.

Once the two factions reached a reasonable distance between one another, they stopped moving. The villagers looking up, their faces shadowed by their hoods, and the Guardsmen looking down at them, their faces hidden by their visors.

Surprisingly enough, it was the villagers who spoke first. “Sons of man...” the one in the front spoke, taller in figure, his voice deep, old, and carrying an accent propietary of the village. “We can only assume that you have come to our village, disturbing our peace, to take away our land.” He took off his cloak with one swift move of his right foreleg, revealing the stripped, scarred body of an old Zebra. Pipsqueak found himself staring into his eyes, one of them blind, as he continued to speak. “The answer, as has it been during the other three times you’ve come here, is no.”

The Commander looked over his shoulder, nodding as he placed his rifle over his back, prompting the other Guardsmen to do the same. He then looked back down at the Zebra. “It’s not that...” He motioned upwards. “We’re looking for something. I assume that you saw a big flash in the heavens-”

“You mean the photon-magic blast that took place just above the magisphere, Commander?” The Zebra chuckled as the Guardsmen looked at each other in sudden confusion. “Becoming the elder of a village, let alone in Zebrica itself, requires much study. And, I was a Guardsman once, myself.” He glanced over at the other villager, who had remained perfectly still and quiet during the entire exchange. “I am assuming that you came here for the object that landed nearby soon after the explosion, yes?”

Pipsqueak nodded. “Indeed we are. Once a Guardsman, always a Guardsman... So, will you help us?”

The Elder gave a single nod, then looked over to his companion. “Go, show them the way.”

He stopped walking as the villager leading him came to a halt as well. He found himself atop a small hill, overlooking a massive complex of canyons and cracks on the earth itself. The sun still remained high in the sky, the wind continued its effort to sandblast his suit.

A digital beep came from his left forearm; he raised it, the map activating itself to give him a more or less clear location of the crash site, as it was provided that they had gotten close enough to it. He then lowered it, turning it off. “Thank you.”

Without a word, the Zebra nodded and began his walk off. Pipsqueak grabbed a hold of his rifle, the armored feet of his suit landing with heavy thuds on the uneven terrain as he slid down the hill. His team followed suit, a cummulation of thumps and thuds as they walked forth.

Eventually, he met a cliff, the canyon itself. He looked down, seeing the crash site

at the bottom. After giving out a shrug, he jumped.

Pipsqueak crouched, sighing. The remains of the android scattered throughout the area. Pieces, just pieces, nothing that still moved or functioned, except for the small, bleeping chip he held in his left hand. Even then, it was the mere locational transmitter.

“Come on, sir,” Corporal Jamble said. The Commander stood up, unceremoniously dropping the piece he held in his hand before turning around to see his team looking at him. “Maybe we can rebuild it. Besides, it’s just an android-”

Pipsqueak’s visor slid open, revealing his angered expression. He used his free hand to point at the Corporal. “Just an android?! These “androids,” fought for us during the Vector war, gave their existence for us, and all we promised in exchange was that we would remember them!” He snorted angrily. “Any of you, tell me, did you know that? Did you remember them?”

The squad remained silent, only to be distracted when a flash of light and a blast coming from the sky forced them to look up, only to see a massive object breaking out of hyperspace with blazing fury.