Project Riddick: Pitch Black
by RavensDagger
Chapters
Systems Failure
Pilot Lance Wing tapped the control panel in front of him one last time before sighing. “It’s real, we are no longer on the shipping lane; something pushed us off.”
He turned to Fry, the docking pilot that had awoken him from cryo moments ago. She was stretching her limbs while toggling different knobs and keys with her magic. “Debris? Look at this.” She pointed to a screen that showed electromagnetic frequencies. “I think we went through a meteor shower.”
He rubbed the back of his head then shook himself. “We’re venting air! The hull is breached!” He swore and floated over to the com unit at the back of the room. He strapped himself into the harness and tried to contact the captain. “I’ve got nothing here!”
“Running a diagnostic.” Fry tapped her hooves against the side of one of the old computers in frustration. “It says that the forward control station is gone!”
The two looked at each other in realization. They both scampered over to the closet and started to put on their protective gear. The light brown suit clashed against the indigo blue of her fur. “Get to the secondary command unit ASAP, I’ll holler for help.”
Fry pushed off with her hooves, heading for the harness at the far end of the room when she deviated and hit the floor. “Gravity?” He heard her and paused on his was to the comms. He looked at a nearby screen. “Zero point three times Equestrian gravity: we’re entering an orbit! Get eyes out there!”
He used his wings to speed up. He reached the computer that controlled the entire communication array just as she arrived at the piloting post. “Opening exterior shields.” The wall in front of her split in half and pulled apart, revealing the powerful light of a sun that lit up the shadowed room. Fry held a hoof to her face while she tapped in various commands. “UV shields up.” She sighed and looked out once more, this time the world was clear. There were three planets within their view and they were heading right for one. Fry turned to Lance Wing. “Off-course by how much again?”
“One sec.” he tapped a command into the console. “Almost six degrees, why?”
“Get that rescue message out now; were about to crash land.” At this, Lance edged above the stack of electronics and stared at the great orange planet that was approaching quickly.
“Huh.” Lacking words he jammed his hooves into the machinery and quickly entered the appropriate codes. “This is transport ship Hunter-Gretzel, we are inbound to point Five-Zero-One, our ship has been driven off-course, our captain is MIA. We are requesting immediate help. I repeat, we request immediate help!”
“Opening air brakes, we’re about to hit atmo!” Fry grabbed a series of levers and shut them all down, clanking could be heard throughout the hull. The view port in front of her was now filled with planet; it was all that she could see. The orange and brown world of swirling clouds was growing larger by the second.
Suddenly the entire ship rocked as her view port filled with flames caused by the ship’s nose burning up.
“This is transport and cargo ship Hunter-Gretzel, we are inbound to point Five-Zero-One; we have forty civilian passengers on board. Our ship has been driven off course, our captain is MIA. We are requesting immediate help!” Lance’s voice filled with panic when one of the lights on his dash flashed red.
“We lost comm! How’d we lose comm?” Fry had an answer for him when she saw the lumbering antenna at the front of the ship bend itself backwards and rip apart in the heat of the oncoming atmosphere.
Suddenly the rocking stopped and was replaced by an eerie silence. “We are through. Applying all air brakes, I’ll try to steer this baby into a nice landing!”
Fry pulled on the levers that activated the air brakes with her magic. As each brake opened the ship received a noticeable decrease in speed. “We might make it!”
“Come on Fry, slow her down!”
“Trying!”
The ship suddenly lurched as the nose rose up above its tail end. “No, no, no, no, no: can’t have this!” Fry swore as the ship gained more speed: upside-down the brakes were completely useless. She looked around for a solution, when her eye caught the “jettison cargo” controls. She smirked before stabbing at the buttons above her head. The ship shook violently when the rear section ripped off and twisted away. “Almost, come on baby; you can do it.” Fry petted the dashboard of the ship affectionately.
“Did you jettison our cargo?”
“Can’t sell it if we’re dead!”
“Point taken, just don’t eject section eight.”
Fry jabbed at the controls once more, and again the ship righted itself as it lost weight at the back. “Just one more. We’re in section seven, we should be fine as long as the wall holds!”
“No, don’t! That compartment holds the passengers!” Lance Wing yelled as he was tossed violently in his seat. “For Celestia’s sake, don’t.”
Fry considered his words for a few seconds before looking out her window and seeing the ground quickly approaching. “Sorry Lance,” She said gravely before lifting the tab and pressing the button.
Nothing happened.
“As senior officer of this ship I remove your ability to use any of its systems.” Lance Wing stared her down while entering his command code into the mainframe.
“What the hay Lance! This isn’t the time for an ethical debate! Release the capsule!”
“I am sorry.” The ship rent as it hit the ground in a resounding crash.
Big thanks for the folks over at BROHOOF for their help and inspiration to write and to TheWattsMan for the epic editing.
Crashed
Fry groaned and took in a deep breath. She reached down and undid the clasp on her safety harness, and quickly realized her mistake as she crashed onto the ground. The ship was on its side and was still rocking gently.
“Oh, right; we crashed.” The indigo mare righted herself and poked her head through the so-called unbreakable glass that had not lived up to its name. The Hunter-Gretzel was torn in half at one of its junctions. The ship had embedded itself into the deep sand and was still settling into position in the blinding sun. “Crap.”
Fry gingerly walked over the now sideways control panels and computer units until she reached Lance wing. “Hiya Fry.” The pegasi coughed violently, spitting out blood that splattered the screen of his communication unit. A two hoof long bar was protruding from his chest.
“Dammit Lance, you had to get hurt on our first ride together, huh?” Her attempts at humour only made the situation seem more dire. Lance gave her a pleading look as she walked away quietly. “I’ll look around, I’m sure there is something we can do about... that.”
The door had been pried open by the impact and had a pony-sized hole which she squeezed into. The compartment she entered looked nothing like what it had just moments ago: what was once a room filled with rows and rows of cryo chambers was now a deformed maze of broken pipes and dangling circuitry.
Fry sighed before heading to the center of the wrecked room where a console was located; it was broken beyond repair. “Crap.”
She walked over to a nearby cryo chamber and looked into it. Inside, a young earth pony dangled in its harness, surrounded by now dead machinery. Fry punched a command into the chamber’s simplistic computer and backed away as the chamber opened with a hiss.
Once the mist cleared, Fry waved her hoof to clear the air and advanced upon the young pony. “You alright?”
The little Green earth pony coughed and sputtered to life. “What the hay?”
Fry quickly unclasped the harness and helped the pony unto its hooves. “You okay kid?”
The green pony surveyed the room before answering. “I am, but this ship ain’t. What the hay happened?”
“We’ll have time to explain later. You know how to work one of these?” Fry pointed at the screen of the cryo chamber.
“Easy-peasy. I could do it with my eyes closed and a hoof tied behind my back.” Fry smirked a little at the young pony’s confidence before remembering her task and pointing at the other cryo pods in the chamber. “Get to it.”
Both of them went to work opening the pods. After opening each chamber they trotted down to the next one, Fry skipping the ones that were damaged beyond repair and covering the young pony’s eyes lest he see the splatters of blood adorning the glass of others. The last chamber had a heavy lock on it that Fry decided wasn’t worth her time.
Once their work was done, Fry went around and released the ponies that were still alive from their harnesses. When she inspected her work she counted those who were left alive. Twelve ponies stood before her in various degrees of groggy and confused.
“Okay, listen up everypony. We ran into some... difficulties and were forced to land on this planet. We are all that's left here. Now first thing’s first, is there a doctor among you? No? Damn it. Alright then, form into groups and search the ship: we need medical supplies!”
“Who are you?” A richly dressed pony raised a hoof half-heartedly as if in school. He had a cutie mark of an ancient bit.
“Obviously she is part of the crew, or whats left of it. Now shut up and listen to the unicorn.” This came from a brown pegasi who was flapping his wings restlessly.
“Fine, this obviously won’t work. You have thirty seconds to introduce yourselves, then we move out and find meds, understood?” Fry tapped a hoof into the steel grating, leaving no room for misunderstandings.
“Introductions, really? How childish!” the well dressed earth pony scoffed.
“Well then, let’s start with you!” The brown pegasi threateningly flew towards the earth pony and landed only a hoof length away.
“Fine. My name is Stately Fuss, I am a renowned collector of fine antiques from the pre-lunar period, and you? Are you some sort of bouncer?”
“Heh, I’m Bit Chaser. I’m a bounty hunter. That right there is my bounty.” The brown pegasus pointed towards the padlocked cryo-chamber at the far end of the compartment.
“Who is it?” Asked Fry.
Bit Chaser turned to her and gave her a menacing smirk. “Riddick.”
The little earth pony gasped loudly at the name, attracting the attention of everypony present. The pony was buried in a opened suitcase that most certainly did not belong to it. “The Riddick? Wow, he’s famous!” At seeing everyponys look, the little pony smiled sheepishly and spoke on slightly nervous. “I’m Morgan Drive. But all my friends call me Hyper-Drive. Adults call me Hyper.”
“Hmm, I believe it is my turn? My name is Dusk Shine. My little followers and I are disciples of the great Twilight Sparkle.” The azure blue unicorn bowed slightly and waved in the general direction of two fillies and a colt who hid behind her.
“Damn, one of those.” Bit Chaser muttered loud enough to gain four looks of disapproval.
A yellow pegasus mare and an equally yellow buck that were holding close to each other split as the mare headed towards Hyper Drive to take care of the young colt. “That is my wife, Amber Care. I’m Carnival Fare.”
“I am Fry. Great, is that everypony? Can we go and look for medical supplies now? My friend over there really needs it!” Fry’s impatience was clearly visible as was her worry.
“I may have what you need with me.” Dusk Shine dug into one of the many piles of luggage that had been tossed around in the crash and was quickly aided by her disciples and Hyper.
“Found it!” Hyper pulled out a purple and blue bag out from the pile.
“That is indeed it. Your friend must be blessed by Twilight for us to find aid so efficiently.” Dusk smiled as she opened the case revealing lots of religious paraphernalia, clothes and a small first aid kit.
“Sure hope so.” Fry looked at the group and thought. “Those who are not needed, scour the ship -or what’s left- for anything useful. The baggage compartment was over there.” Fry pointed them in the right direction and then lead Dusk towards her dying friend.
Survivors
survivors
Bit Chaser quickly and efficiently searched through pile after pile of junk in an attempt to properly arm himself. The other ponies around him seemed more interested in finding a meal or their own belongings than anything else. He knew that Riddick was awake by now and plotting to find a way out of his cryo chamber-turned-cage.
“Celestia dammit, I can’t find anything!”
“I for once agree with you, as surprising as that may sound.” Stately Fuss was trying to open the door to the next compartment. He had searched high and low for the lever to crack open the heavy metal door, but hadn’t found it anywhere yet. The fact that the ship was on its side and that the door was half-dozen hoof lengths above him did not help.
Bit Chaser flew over to the rich would-be noble and suppressed his urge to knock him out. “What’s wrong Fussy? Too warm for ya?”
“My name is Stately Fuss, not ‘Fussy’, and I am attempting to open this doorway.”
Chaser facehoofed in mid air and gently tapped the rusting panel at the side of the entrance. The door opened with a hiss and let in a blinding light that made everypony in the room cringe back.
“Whats up with the light? Shut it off!” Carnival Fare placed himself between the light and his wife who was taking care of the four fillies and colts present.
Hyper used the opportunity to escape the motherly figure and scavenge the ship for fun things to do.
“It’s the sun?” Bit Chaser’s eye slowly got used to the increase in light as he stuck his head out of the doorway that was supposed to lead to the next compartment of the ship.
In front of him was a desert filled with small hills and dunes. “Huh. That would explain the heat.”
“Hey Fussy, I found the other room you were looking for. Hope nothing important was in it.” Chaser smiled at the rich pony who tried and eventually succeeded at putting his head through the doorway.
“Oh my, that may be a problem.” The rest of the ship, another three cargo holds, was a few hundred hoof-lengths away, half buried in the shallow sand and still up side up.
Amber Care told the children to behave and flew towards the hole in the wall. “Looks like the air brakes kept them close to the ship until we crashed.” Amber observed. “Might be a few things left intact in there. Main engine is in the fifth hold on this kind of ship, right?” She pointed at the compartment helpfully labeled with a giant green ‘five’. “If we can drag that to the secondary control room...” Amber was distracted when one of the fillies yelped. She flew away to the rescue.
Bit Chaser and Stately Fuss looked at each other slightly impressed by the mares knowledge. “Regardless. My things are in that section. I must retrieve them at once.”
Bit Chaser was going to rap the earth pony behind the head but was interrupted by a piercing scream. He rushed out of the section and into the one holding the cyro-chambers.
Hyper Drive was sitting on his rump looking dazed. Amber rushed to him and hugged the colt.
“Whats wrong twerp! I was busy.” Instead of answering the hyperactive foal pointed behind Chaser.
The brown pegasi looked at the cyro-chamber that was supposed to hold Riddick. The heavy padlock had been opened and was now draped across the ships wall turned floor. The door was wide open and dangling. Riddick was nowhere to be seen.
“Dammit kid what happened!” Bit Chaser burst out at the foal.
“I wanted to see him.” Hyper stared at the bully defiantly.
Just as Chaser was going to mare-slap him across the snout Dusk trotted into the room via the hole at the front of the compartment. “You’d better all come and see this.”
In the other room Fry was kneeling over the body of Lance Wing
Fry held back her tears as Lance’s breathing slowly came to a halt. Before dieing he had given her his access codes to the ships entire mechanisms. “I am so sorry.” She whispered to him before closing his eyes.