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Commanding Officer's Log 007
CMDR. Alex Rodriguez
U.T.E. Corvus
1151hrs 01 Aug, 2463 Local

Not a whole lot of excitement yesterday. Rose and I walked the treeline adjusting the sensors and audio deterrents. Other than a few that had fallen over slightly or minor tweaks here and there, they were in good shape. Considering the weird horse...thing we saw the other day, it can’t hurt to be careful. I did try one of the apples last night though. It was interesting but good, with a bit more bite than I’m used to. It was definitely an apple though. Saying that feels strange though. That was obviously a maintained orchard, so where are the keepers? How weird would it be if that quadruped was this planet's version of a guard dog. Anyhow, we're going to try to use the satellites to get a better view of the local area. It's not what they were designed for, but the orchard is really making me wonder. Plus, those apples were good albeit weird.

The maintenance is going according to schedule without any major hiccups. Rose swearing over the intercom a while ago. Apparently she didn’t realize how greasy one of the frame’s hands were, so she dropped a spanner between one of the vector nozzles and its enclosure. Her glitch reasserted itself during the rant, so Rose went from calling me regular insults to…well I’m not sure what. The only bit I caught was Rose saying I was making her mad as a bag of ferrets, and that I was dead from the neck up. She’s got issues. I tried not to laugh, I really did. It just didn’t work out that way.

In other news, we got the system clocks adjusted to local time. It turned out to be a really minor difference as the days are only slightly longer than those on Earth. According to Rose, a Terran day is 23 hours and 56 minutes. On this planet, they are 24 hours and 19 minutes. So a half hour longer...ish.

We have decided to leave the maintenance shelter in place after we finish repairs. Mostly to protect the ship from the elements. It’ll also allow Rose to set up a rolling shelter on the outside of the airlock for parts and tools. That way we’re not having to cycle the lock every time something unexpected happens with repairs. It’ll also double as a garage for one of the Shades. Those things are a pain to decon, so we’re just going to leave it outside. Two frames will just roll it three feet back if we take off, then forward the same to seal when we get back. Easy peasy.

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Sorry about that. Rose says that she has found a faint but weak signal from SAC-009. She’s not able to multitask running the ship, frames, her body, and the satellite network, so I’ll be doing a little recon work today. Considering I didn’t really have much planned yet, it sounds good to me. The signal is coming from about forty miles northeast of us. That would put the unit at a significantly shallower descent than we thought. If there’s a signal, there might be something salvageable after all.

Since it is just me today, I’ll be going outfitted for a survival situation. Better safe than sorry and all. So that’ll make whatever weapons and armor I decide, one of the Shades, and it’s complement of two microdrones. At least those are cheap. As a precaution, Rose is prepping the second Shade. Here’s hoping I won’t need a rescue.

Wish me luck

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It’s a weird feeling to be gearing up in full armor and weapons on an alien planet. If only the marines I’d served with could see me now. I was a pilot, we never got to do any of this stuff and barely got training to survive it in worst case scenarios. Now that I think about it, marooned on an unknown planet with no contact with civilization is kind of a worst case thing though.

As much as my hips are going to cramp up, I’m opting for the full plate today. I’ll be taking the same pulse rifle and beam pistol as the last outing. They may not be the most powerful weapons out there, but they are familiar. Identical versions are strapped in the cockpit of every UTE ship after all. God help me, but if I need more firepower I’ll have the Shade’s weapons.

Rose already had a survival kit pulled from storage and strapped to the back seat of the bike before I’d even made it outside. The hardsided pack made getting onto the humming scoutcraft a little more difficult, but still manageable. Rose had even bolted on both sets of mounts for the drones in anticipation of my arrival. Adjusting slightly, I unslung the pulse carbine and clipped it into a mount next to my leg. That way it was at hand but out of the way.

“You take too good care of me you know.”

All she did is laugh and pat me on the chest, making a dull thud against the armor plate. A soft twist on the throttle started me moving slowly while I checked the glowing displays and linked the bike’s systems to my armor. Fuel, weapons, available power, even a small radar display provided by one of the drones blinked into existence before my eyes. Nodding to my redheaded companion, I have the throttle a twist and started my journey in earnest. The last words I heard before passing into the trees were comforting at least.

“If you need me, all you have to do is say my name and I’ll be there.”

It was strangely relaxing to be zipping through the forest wherever and however I wanted. There was plenty of old and new growth everywhere, so I could zip over clumps of dense brush or skim the tops of ancient fallen trees. For a short while, my path followed a tiny creek downstream. It was barely wide enough to handle the Shade with a foot on either side, but seeing a trail of water shooting up as I passed was worth it. If it wasn’t for the near toxic atmosphere, this planet would be a near paradise. The miles just melted away under the bike and my enjoyment.

Before too long, the sensor package in the drones had managed to pick up the faint signal from probe 009. A moment later, a small directional arrow popped into the corner of my display to aim me in the general area I needed to go. Whoever designed the software for these things really knew what they were doing. A quarter mile before it would be able to start triangulating was certainly a good sign.

Well, I ended up stopping a touch short of the quarter mile. Rounding a thick cluster of trees, the road just ran out. Thank god for skimmers, but that was close. The front forks were dipping over the edge of what looked like a couple hundred yard high cliff. Even with the armor I doubt I’d get out of that in one piece.

“Hey Rose?”

I figured it would be a minute for her to respond, so I focused on carefully reversing the humming bike from the edge. I didn’t even notice the drone on the left fork unhooking until it popped completely free with a hiss, startling me. Not that I jerked the throttle making the bike shoot backwards or anything. That would just be silly.

Laughing, Rose chimed in, “You know, I was going to yell at you for almost driving off a cliff, but that makes me feel better. I thought you knew these have terrain mapping built in. Launch the recon drone and it’ll show you what’s coming up. You bought the high end stuff, don’t tell me you never read the manual.”

What can you possibly say to a woman that knows she has you cornered like that? With her mocking laughter ringing in my ears, I parked the bike and stepped off with a squish.

“And you stepped in probably the only pile of shit for miles. Today just isn’t your day is it?”

“Fuck me…”

The humming of the Shade went up in pitch a tiny bit as I leaned into it to push the bike sideways. It only went a foot or two before the computer adjusted, but it was still away from the pile I’d just stepped in. Just my luck. Ignoring the laughter, and refusing the urge to keep shaking my boot, I unlatched a panel inset on the bike. With a slight tug, the display came away in my hand to work as a tablet showing the data from the bike and drone.

“You know I’m not letting you in the airlock to decon from that. No way in hell I’m letting you drag alien shit into me. I’ll have the frames get out a hose until I think you are clean enough. Now if you’ll feel clean by the time we’re done is a different thing. Just remember that I am an adult and it’ll be okay.”

Yup. She’s in a mood. I just tuned it out and focused on the feed from the drone as it rose above the forest to triangulate the signal. Trees passed by as multicolored blurs when the display flipped through the different visible and near visible spectra. The display froze at thermal for a moment to reveal some wildlife running through the forest. When it couldn’t get a visual with other filters, the unit just panned and kept searching.

Eventually it settled on an area full of heat signatures yet covered by the canopy of trees. Unless I wanted to risk losing the drone, we’d have to settle with just the thermal view. All we could tell was they had four legs and there were a lot of them. Probably a nest of some kind, so completely not worth the risk of retrieval

“Well this turned out to be a shit show. I’m recalling the drone and heading back. I just wish you were joking about the hose, but the last thing I want is to track this onto the carpet.”

I stopped at the creek to drag my boot through the water. Knowing swirling it around wasn’t going to be enough, I rolled the Shade slightly to the side and stuck my foot out. It was impossible not to laugh since I was acting like a teenager. Shooting along above the running water at forty miles an hour and just skipping my boot along to blast the crud free.

“You are such a guy. Just splashing around in the water when there’s work to do. When you’re done, go a bit upstream and grab a sample for me okay.”

Grumbling to myself, I just let the Shade coast while we slowed. The moment we crossed onto shore the higher pitched whine turned back into a dull hum. It might seem silly, but it’s a good distinction to remember. Your vehicles tell you what’s going on by their noises. Same goes for women oddly enough.

Clambering off, I ignored the leaves and debris sticking to my dripping wet boots and focused on opening the survival bag. After unstrapping it and placing the case on the ground, I flipped the two latches. The case popped open with a dull hiss. They were always overpressured so they wouldn’t trap contaminants easily. Inside was a variety of packages designed to keep someone alive for as long as possible in the field. The two on top were always the water treatment and medical pouches.

Grabbing the second pouch, I ripped the top off it without much effort to reveal a set of vials. The gently gurgling water sounded nice as I stepped in up to my knees before dunking the full set of containers. Each one tested for different things and held several control samples just in case. Other than some pressure I couldn’t feel the cool water flowing around my legs. A guy can wish though.

“Alex, get on the bike.”

That got my attention fast as I capped the tubes.

“Stop fucking around and get on the damn bike. Leave the case. NOW!”

That didn’t sound good, so I just jammed the vials in a pouch and rushed out of the water. The dull crunching I’d heard earlier had turned into a crashing in that short moment, a mantra of ‘fuck fuck fuck’ repeating in my head as I jumped on the Shade and powered it up. Not even bothering to look back I just twisted the throttle and went.

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if the loud screeching was the Shade or whatever is behind me but I don’t like it. All I can see though the rear camera is scales and teeth, and I’m not going to stop to find out what it is. Where I had to dodge trees through the forest this thing just plowed through them, roaring and growling as it crushed the woods behind me. I just focused on dodging trees and staying ahead of the damn monster. Not that I expected it to do much against something that large, I flipped on the ultralight shields on the shade. At least seeing the glowing bubble pushing stuff away was a comfort.

“Rose! It’s not going away!”

The distance to the Corvus was down to a few miles and this thing just didn’t stop.

“Just keep coming to me. I already got a pulse rifle from the armory. If the squealers don’t scare it off, this should hurt it plenty.”

“Three miles and it’s not stopping. It’s still on my ass!”

Going as fast as I could push the bike through the trees wasn’t enough. The damn monster had started snapping it’s teeth behind me. Every step inching it closer and closer, almost brushing the paper thin shield.

Two miles. Two more miles. A minute. A minute and I’m safe. It’s still far enough away. I’ve got this. That’s not much more.

One mile. Come the fuck on! Go away you bastard!

“JINK LEFT!”

Not even thinking, I jammed the controls to the left to dodge a tree and a lunging set of jaws.

“Five seconds punch right and floor it. Incoming fire.”

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Slamming the controls the opposite direction and twisting the throttle to the limit, I shot away from the creature. A heartbeat later, a squealing shot of blue energy screamed by me. I have no idea how bad it hurt, but the howls of the thing sounded pissed.

Then I was airborne. It was just a moment but I got a good look at the fucker as it chomped down on the back seat of the shade. Teeth barely missing me before I was skidding across the grass of the clearing followed closely by the sparking wreckage of the scout. I couldn’t even say anything as the front forks slammed into my chest and dragged me under.
Everything pulsed red for a heartbeat as my head slammed into the ground with the bike astride me. It only lasted a moment before I could feel the auto-injectors in my armor go to work. That wasn’t a good sign, but after a moment I was feeling too good to care. I was going to get eaten by a dragon. On a planet that has mini horses on it. That shit was fucking funny. I could see a tail wrapping around the wreckage and probably my legs. I couldn’t feel them so no way to know for sure. At least it wouldn’t hurt.

“Get the FUCK away from him!”

What’s that big thing behind...ooooh. All I could do was close my eyes as the world turned to fire and noise. After it stopped, I was too tired to open them, even when the weight on my body was yanked away.

“Alex? Alex? Baby? I’ve got you. Lets get you to the infirmary, okay. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”

“Hey Rose? Why do I feel like I’m floating?”

“Because you’re hurt and I’m carrying you.”

“Hey Rose? What’s that loud noise?”

“That’s the airlock you goofball. Stay with me okay.”

“I’m cold Rose.”

“You would be, I’m cutting off your armor Alex. You’re kinda naked.”

“Did I seriously get attacked by a dragon?”

“Pretty sure that was a wyvern if it matters.”

“Oh, okay… why’s everything getting so da…”

In fact the monster the ponies were hunting for was this very feral wyvern. They were just minutes behind it, with Princess Luna growing more and more concerned as the path neared the home of Equestria’s strangest new residents. She’d hoped not to have to reveal herself just yet, but if it came to their defense both Luna and her guard would do it in a heartbeat.

They reached the clearing just in time to see the strange machine pinning the armored biped, the wyvern thrashing around attempting to reach it. The smaller creature was yelling at the monster, distracting it as some sort of machine lowered from the building. As he wyvern pounced, a storm of red filled the clearing with light and the sounds of a thousand banshees.

In a span of moments, all that was left of the foul creature was spatters of blood and chunks of smoking tissue littering the grass for dozens of yards behind it’s smoldering corpse. Without pause, the small biped reached the wreckage and to the amazement of everypony present, bodily threw it off it's injured compatriot. Seconds later, it was being carried through a doorway filled with flashing light.

The ponies sat there in the treeline stunned with the decisive violence and incredulity of what just happened. An entire swath of forest had been reduced to smoldering kindling in the span of heartbeats, let alone one a fierce predator. Only one thought echoed through Princess Luna’s mind as she gazed at the carnage.

“We...er...I think we’ll definitely need our sister’s advice on how to approach this.” Next Chapter: 10. Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 48 Minutes