Phoenix

Chapter 1

"Overlord, this is Poet 1-5. I have reached the bridge and am going to start the emergency dump procedure. How copy."

The man leaned his rifle against the table as he activated the touch controls on the bridge of the ship, the Celeste. A capitol ship which had been lost in the NPR uprising.

"Good copy, Poet. Overlord has detected a massive spike in the bowels of the ship. Overlord believes it to be a weapon. Overlord advises you to light a fire under your feet on that emergency dump procedure. How copy?"

"Copy, standby."

"Venus!" The man called to his AI companion.

"I have analyzed the energy spike Overlord detected and I must agree with him. However, while I am not trying to make the situation even more urgent, my scans indicate it has enough power capability to destroy the Milky Way and the Andromeda. I second Overlord's position to light a fire and hurry up."

The marine paused, the red klaxons blaring on the bridge, perhaps he had misheard.

"Venus, did you just say the Milky Way and Andromeda?"

"Yes, I did."

The confirmation was enough to light a fire under his feet as he began to swipe through commands.

"Venus get into the system and begin dumping any cargo on the ship. Dump anything that you can that isn't necessary to the ships movement. How are the lifesigns on the ship?"

There was a pause as Venus scanned the ship.

"I have no IFF signatures on the ship, all Imperial troops have evacuated. I am picking up 347 life signs in 417 living quarters."

"Okay, with the exception of the bridge layer, reroute all power to the engines, give me everything she's got, including life support. How much time is left on the BL's charge."

"The bridge layer has a minute and thirty seconds until it has enough power to fire."

"And the weapon?"

"As it is a one-off design, I can not tell you exactly, however calculations put it at approximately one minute fifty seconds."

"Oh... fuck, that's cutting it way close. Overlord! This is Poet 1-5. Venus has indicated that it is indeed a weapon that has the power output to destroy the Milky Way and the Andromeda. I am going to open a bridge and dump the ship into that and immediately close the bridge. With any luck, that will dampen the detonation to survivable levels."

"Copy, Poet. What's time? Over."

"Overlord, the BL has a minute ten. Over."

"And the weapon? Over."

"Overlord, Venus puts it at approximately a minute thirty. Over."

There was a pause in communications. A deep breath came over the marine's comms.

"Copy that Poet. With any luck, we'll see you on the flip-side. God speed. Out."

Twenty seconds might seem like quite a while, but the Celeste was not a small ship. It was several miles long. If he was going to get it into the bridge, he'd have to get it moving now.

"Venus activate thrusters, bring them to full power, I want us moving yesterday. As soon as that BL is charged, open a bridge and put us in there. Venus..."

The man looked down at his gloved hand, squeezing it closed to make a fist and opening it.

"We're not coming back from this one."

"I must agree, however, you didn't earn your name for nothing."

The marine leaned on the table, until an alarm in his helmet brought his focus back. He quickly noted the countdown timer, forty-five seconds until the bridge layer was charged.

"You are receiving a call from Lakia. Would you like to a-"

"Answer." The call was quickly patched through his helmet, as a woman's voice, identified as Lakia, filtered in through the built-in communications set.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"What's happening?"

Thirty-five seconds.

"Nothing much."

"After the... first attack, I was brought to a bunker by legionnaires. They wouldn't give me any information more then I just needed to follow them. "

"Yeah, I know... I sent them after you. Is everyone else okay? Your mom, dad, brother?"

"Yeah, everyone got here safe. Inaya is shaken, but physically fine."

Twenty seconds.

Silence.

"Listen, I have something I need to tell you something. I just found this out..."

Fifteen seconds. He had to do it now.

"Lak... why don't you tell me this when I get back? "

Sounding disheartened, Lakia responded.

"Y-yeah... just,"

Ten seconds.

"Lakia, I love you. And I promise you I'll be back. And I never break promises. From day one, I've never broken one I made to you.

Five seconds.

"Just... just make sure you get back. Okay?"

"The bridge layer is being activated right, prepare for massive gravitational flux." Venus informed him.

"I promise, Lakia."

With those last words, the call ended and the marine got back to the work in front of him.

"Activating gravitational compensators, Venus, give me current speed, begin terminal countdown."

".1% of speed of light. Terminal countdown begun, nineteen seconds to fire."

"Distance to bridge?"

"Fourth of an AU. Approximate time to crossing: twelve seconds. Terminal countdown at seventeen seconds."

"Give me more power to the boosters!"

"Terminal countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five. Contact. Four, three, ship is covered. Closing bridge. Standby. Bridge closed successfully"

The marine let go of a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. From the bridge's viewing screen, he could see the blackness and nothingness of the closed bridge.

"Massive power spike detected in cargo bay. Weapon beginning detonation. Twenty seconds to detonation based of building energy readings. Scans of databanks indicate the Celeste was designed with an emergency teleport function that would separate the front of the ship from the rest to prevent capture of VIPs. Activating emergency teleport. Navigation systems destroyed, inputting random."

"Venus..." The marine mumbled.

"Twelve seconds to detonation, eleven seconds to teleportation."

"Ah... fuck..."

"Teleportation: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,"

An explosion rocked the ship, as the front of the ship was forcefully removed from the rest of the ship.

"Ah! Fuck!" He shouted, as he was knocked down by the explosion.

"Four, three, two, one. Teleport initiated."

The front of the ship shimmered, and then disappeared, as the unknown weapon had finally built up enough power to trigger its final detonation.

The explosion occurred faster then the speed of light. And in normal space, it would have utterly destroyed anything nearby.

But in the nothingness of the void, with no way to escape, there was a question to whether or not it had even occurred.

(-)

Clover looked behind her, as the ponies run to escape the encroaching wendigoes.

“There! The cave!” She yells. The ponies begin dashing for the cave.

They make it to the cave, and Clover takes one last look to the sky, as a massive visible shockwave flows through it. It hits the ground and everything shakes. It’s so strong even the wendigoes stop.

Clover quickly retreats into the cave.

(-)

High above the planet, a ship materializes, the front of the Celeste. An explosion in the auxiliary engines rock the ship. The explosion will reach the planet a full three hours before the ship will.

The marine struggles to his feet.

"Well, I'll be..."

The marine paused as stared at the icy white planet.

He raised his hands, and shouted.

"Ha! Fuck you, Death! I fuckin' won again! You! Can't! Kill! Me! I made a fuckin' promise and I fully fuckin' intend to keep that fuckin' promise, you fuckin' worthless, overrated hack! Venus! What's our location?"

"Standby, scanning... no nearby quasars located. No Imperial signals located. No signals indicative of an advanced civilization located."

"Fuck!"

"Scans of the nearby planet, hereto designated UX3234, reveals an average surface temperature of -68 Fahrenheit. Violent winds and constant snow. Scans indicate the presences of very large biological beings, consistent with the size and shape of previously recorded Wendigo incursions."

"What's the time 'til planet fall?"

"Time until planet fall is approximately six hours, forty minutes."

"Well... we have a little while. Before we make planet fall, begin sending out distress signals. We might be here for a while."

"I would very much love to if I could, however, D-"

The marine cut the embedded AI off.

"Let me guess, some retarded military engineer decided to build the bridges with no redundant long range communication systems and the only ones we had were just blown up by a super powerful bomb, is that what you were going to say?"

There was a pause, before the AI spoke once more.

"... More or less, yes."

The marine calmly took his helmet off, revealing a tanned face,complimented by closely cut brown hair, as he brought his gloved hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinching it, closing his eyes.

"Absolutely. Fucking. Amazing."

The marine let go of his nose, snapping his eyes open, revealing a left blue eye and a right green eye.

"Venus, how do the auxiliary engines look."

"Standby, running diagnostics... Diagnostics complete. Two out of six are functional. Two of the four non-functional engines are repairable. One has blown up and the other is completely dead, it is returning no signal. We have enough to safely make planet fall. But we are not going anywhere besides that planet, we do not have enough power to escape its gravity."

"Right, I'll head down to the bay and see what I can do for those other engines. Venus, you keep an eye on the ship and give her power where she's needed."

With that, the marine left the bridge. Itself no longer occupied with any living souls.

The ship drifted slowly in vastness of space, towards the tumultuous planet. There would be a fight waiting for him down there. The marine knew this. But whatever it was, it wouldn't stand against him. At least not successfully.

Author's Notes:

I'm back!

Sort of...

As always:

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