Title: Captain Anonymous - Chapter 28 - Blood Lust Author: somewritefag Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/JTYtWZbC First Edit: Sunday 9th of August 2015 11:50:53 AM CDT Last Edit: Last edit on: Sunday 9th of August 2015 12:21:47 PM CDT                                         Captain Anonymous - Chapter 28 - Blood Lust ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >You’re not sure if anything you just said was any comfort at all to either of them.   “This is war, Twily my love. It’s absolutely brutal, and the further away from Equestria we can keep it, the better. What you saw today is just the tip of the iceberg. I love you Twily, and if you don’t want to participate in any more raids, I understand, but please think very carefully about everything I’ve said.”   >You pull her limp, weepy body into a hug, which she eventually reciprocates, silently crying on your shoulder.   “I belong to you, Twily. My whole universe revolves around you. But regardless of the fact that I worship you from horn to hoof, we’re still going to run into troubles and challenges that we’re going to have to face. Together. Some of those things might be incredibly painful, but I will always be there for you no matter what. It shattered my heart to see you genuinely afraid of me just now. I’d rather be tortured for a thousand years than see that look in your eyes again.”   >You squeeze her a little tighter and caress all over her body, focusing on all her little favorite spots that you know like the back of your hand at this point. She gives a mixed whimper and sigh as she presses her chin further against your shoulder and her head against the side of yours.   >You feel Shining leaning against your other side, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him up against you too. You lean back against your chair and sigh as you stroke and comfort the two ponies, who slowly seem to be forgiving you, or at the very least understanding what happened.   >They both soon fall asleep on you, emotionally and physically drained from what they just went through. You’re exhausted as well, but that knife plunged into your heart when you saw that fear in her eyes is still there, and you can’t seem to dislodge it.   >You know this is only the beginning and that there will be more fights and more raids. You wish you could help them better prepare psychologically and emotionally for what they’re going to have to go through.   >They may have had to fight strange, dangerous creatures before, but these ponies have never experienced a true war in all of its horror. You can already see they don’t handle it well, which just further reaffirms your feelings that you want to keep the fighting as far away from Equestria as possible.   >It takes quite a bit of effort, but you manage to pick up both sleeping ponies without waking them and carry them into the castle, gently laying Shining in your bed and Twilight in hers before going back outside. When you near where your ship was, you’re only able to find it because of the open door that appears to be hanging in thin air.   >You wonder if both spells are still fully active. You pull your sidearm and fire at the ship several times, every shot deflected. You try to feel where the barrier is with your hand but you can’t seem to find it. You set your pistol on its lowest power and fire short bursts, seeing where they’re deflected and then trying to press against the barrier with your hand, feeling nothing. You also aren’t blocked when you re-enter the ship, sitting lazily in the pilot’s seat and spinning around, looking back at the hold still full of hundreds of remote-detonated charges.   >Eventually your own physical, emotional, and psychological exhaustion catch up with you, and you fall asleep in the chair.   >You slowly begin to wake from your nap, hearing a repeating sound from the console indicating you’re being hailed. You groan and run your fingers through your hair, sniffing as you sit up in the seat and straighten your uniform, tapping a button on the console to accept the incoming hail.   >”It’s about damn time, Anon, we’ve been hailing you for almost an hour now.”   >You check the clock on a nearby display, you’d been asleep nearly 4 hours.   “Sorry bout that, was just taking a little nap. What can I do for you, ‘liv?”   >”You can get your ass up here you crazy son of a bitch! That video spread like wildfire, it’s sending everyone into a rabid frenzy. You’ve got everyone back at central command as well as about three quarters of the High Council practically lining up to suck your dick until it falls off and then kiss the hooves of your pony friends as they bow down to worship them as their new gods. We’ve been getting so many hails it’s knocked out our comms array three times now from the sheer volume. The Chief sent even MORE construction crews and raw materials. We’ve got a few heavy-duty construction ships here now too, and about 9,000 people working on construction alone. They’ve already got the lower thirteen decks of the station built, Anon. I’ve never seen anything like this.”   “’liv I need you to forget about clearance levels and ranks here for a sec. Has intelligence picked up any chatter from the rebels indicating they know how those shipyards were taken out?”   >”Everything that’s been passed down to me so far indicates they’re absolutely clueless. They think there was some sort of electromagnetic phenomenon that caused the shipyards’ destruction. Your cover hasn’t even begun to be blown.”   “It’s not gonna stay that way forever. Ytria started a timer on our window to actually be able to do damage with these attacks closing. When they realize what’s happening and start increasing security around vital areas of their ships and facilities then our strategy falls on its face.”   >”Are you and your friends planning any more attacks?”   >You shake your head.   “Their hearts aren’t in it, ‘liv. Turns out they don’t have much of a tolerance for that kind of violence. I’m not going to ask them to put themselves out there again, I’ve never seen anything hit them quite that hard psychologically before. If shit really hits the fan they’re not going to be able to handle it, ‘liv, we need to keep the war as far away from here as possible.”   >”Very disappointed to hear that. What do you plan to do about it, Anon?”   “I still have the ship, it’s still cloaked and shielded, and I still have a few hundred charges. Listen, I have a few pieces of business to take care of here, then I’ll rendezvous with you in about 15 minutes, okay? We still have a valuable tool here with this ship. We’ll figure something out. I’ll see you later. End comm.”   >You sigh, walking briskly into the castle to check on Shining and Twilight. They’re both fast asleep, and both have smiles on their faces. At least they’re okay now. You stroke Shining’s back a few times and pat him on the side, and gently kiss Twilight on the tip of her muzzle. You grab a scrap piece of paper and scribble out a quick note to Twilight, kissing her on the top of head and whispering ‘I love you’ what feels like a thousand times. You pause in her bedroom doorway to turn around and get one last good look at her.   “THIS is what I’m fighting for. Not the Confederacy,” you whisper to yourself. You know that’s a lie though, you’re doing it just as much for the Confederacy as you are for her. The outrage and hatred inside of you for these rebels has been rising exponentially. You want to make them suffer, and you’re going to enjoy it when you do.   >You immediately take the pilot’s seat of your ship and take off, reaching Canterlot in under a minute, setting down in the same spot you took off from. You find the first princess you can and tell them that Twilight and Shining Armor are back at her castle and safe, but that you’re going to be gone, possibly for a few days or more.   >”Where will you go, Anon?”   “Celestia, please keep a lid on this if I tell you…”   >She nods   “We have an opportunity here to put a hurt on the rebels, an opportunity that is rapidly diminishing. I’m going to be away fighting and sabotaging their facilities.”   >Celestia immediately gazes at you with motherly concern and begins to open her mouth   “Please don’t. Just make sure Twilight thinks I’m somewhere safe if she asks, okay?”   >Celestia nods.   >You hesitate for a few moments before throwing your arms around her in a tight hug. She replies by hugging you back with one forehoof and both of her wings.   >”Please come back safely, mister Anonymous.”   “Your Highness, I’m doing this for you. All of you. If I don’t return, if I perish, take some solace in the fact that it will have been in defense of my home, the land I love, where all the beings I care about the most in the universe are – Equestria.”   >As you begin walking away from her you turn and say one more thing   “But don’t worry about that, I’m coming back in one piece, big cuddly mommy-horse,” you laugh as you turn around, leaving Celestia sitting on her haunches with her head slightly tilted at you as you walk away.   >You rush through your pre-flight checks before taking off once again.   “Computer, hail the Admiral’s flagship,” you say as you rapidly leave the atmosphere, proceeding toward her ship at breakneck speed.   >”What’s the word, Anon?”   “’liv, open your docking bay doors and keep this channel open.”   >The Admiral nods to one of her subordinates out of view. You see the docking bay doors open.   “The automated docking systems on both ships aren’t going to function while Pegasus is camouflaged. I’m going to have to bring her in manually. Please stand by to engage magnetic clamps on my mark.”   >”Anon so help me, if you cause any more damage to my ship…”   “It’ll be your fault for breaking my concentration” you interrupt her. That shuts her up quick.   >You very carefully maneuver the ship into position, taking your time, painfully slow as you make sure you’re not going to collide with anything.   “And clamps…. NOW”   >You feel the magnetic docking clamps engage normally and sigh with relief as the doors are closed. As soon as the room is repressurized you exit into a corridor, pulling up a map of the ship on a local console and making your way to the nearest quick-lift.   “Bridge, double-time” you bark, the lift immediately taking off toward your destination. You step onto the bridge and ignore everything else that’s going on.   “’liv we need to talk now. Your ready room. Now,” you order, already walking that way. You don’t take a seat this time, instead staring out her window, catching a brief glimpse of the starbase that’s under construction – they’ve made impressive progress in a short period of time. The Admiral opens her mouth but you cut her off.   “Don’t talk, just listen, we don’t have time. Number one, have one of your engineers switch out the 5x pulse cannon capacitor aboard the Pegasus for a 100x capacitor. Number two, I need you to get me into some field gear so I can finally get out of this ridiculous fucking uniform and into something practical for combat. Preferably medium armor and a heavy pulse rifle. Have it brought here, now.”   >The Admiral begins tapping out your orders on a computer console, relaying them to the appropriate personnel as you continue to speak. You begin to remove your uniform as you continue, very neatly folding each piece and laying it neatly aside.   “Number three, have your 5 topmost elite marines meet me in the docking bay after I’m done changing. I want them frosty, heavily armed, and battle ready for multiple rapid insertion and extraction missions. Heavily armed but highly mobile. Don’t make me wait for them, I won’t be happy if they delay us.”   >A crewman enters the ready room and sees you standing in your underwear, clearing her throat, you turn to see that she’s brought you your field uniform, armor and rifle. You gear up as you continue speaking to the Admiral.   “Number four, individual independent oxygen supply helmets for each of us. Number five, I need several bottles of Noctazine in gaseous form, however much your sickbay can spare, I’ll take it. I want it waiting in Pegasus’ cargo hold when I get back to the docking bay.”   >You put your hands on both of the Admiral’s shoulders.   “And last, but most importantly. I was never here, we never spoke, your men never left this ship. Make this Crystal. Fucking. Clear. To your entire crew. Any of them talk, they’ll be court-marshalled, make up whatever charge you have to. If anyone asks I’m either on the surface or am busy on one of the other ships in the fleet doing something. Keep as tight of a fucking lid on this as you can until I return. You got all that?”   >The Admiral nods   “’liv, I owe you big time. No other admiral in the fleet would have let me do what you just did.”   >”Please Anon, I already knew you had a plan before you even docked, that wasn’t a surprise in the slightest. It’s good to see this spark, this passion in you again, Anon… come back safe… and good luck.”   >You give her a quick hug, then point at your neatly folded dress uniform.   “I’m gonna be back for that. That’s no ordinary dress uniform, it was a generous gift from a very dear friend. Don’t lose it.”   >She gives you a quick smile and nod before you turn to leave. The bridge officers stare at you as you depart, you completely ignore them, taking the most efficient path back to your ship. When you enter the docking bay you see five geared-up marines saluting you. You pace quickly back and forth in front of them.   “Gentlemen, we are ghosts. We are a mouse fart in a hurricane. We were never here, there, or anywhere else. We don’t exist. Pegasus doesn’t exist. You get me, soldiers?”   >”WE GET YOU, SIR!”   “Are you prepared to give your lives in the name of the Confederacy?”   >”OUR DUTY, OUR LOYALTY, OUR LIVES TO DEFEND THE CONFEDERACY, SIR!”   “Saddle up gentlemen. Get those oxygen helmets on quickly.”   >”YES SIR!”   >They quickly file into your ship, you follow after them, inspecting everything, making sure you got everything you requested and nothing was overlooked. You got an overwhelming supply of the gas you asked for, more than enough for this mission. The higher-power capacitor is in place – and there’s even a backup in case this one is damaged or fails.   >You tap a console as you seal your helmet.   “Pegasus to bridge, please open docking bay doors and clear moorings.”   >”Acknowledged, Pegasus”   >You see the doors beginning to open before you turn to speak to the men. The docking clamps disengage and Pegasus slowly begins to drift downward. You give a quick seconds-long burn on the dorsal thrusters to push yourself all the way out before addressing the men.   “Computer, vent all atmosphere.”   >The computer beeps harshly in protest.   >“This action will eliminate life support capacity on this vessel. Please provide authorization to override safety protocols if you wish to continue.”   “Computer recognize voice print Anonymous, Captain, commanding officer.”   >”Voice print recognized.”   “Authorize requested safety protocol override.”   >”Acknowledged, safety protocols are offline.”   “Vent all atmosphere, mute audio warnings.”   >”Warning; breathable air is being evacuated from this ship. Life support will be fully terminated within five minutes. There will be no further audio warnings.”   “Alright gentlemen, I’ll keep this short and sweet. You all saw the Ytria shipyard video?”   >”HOOH-Rah.”   “You’re going to help me make another one. Maybe even two or three. You get me?”   >”WE GET YOU, SIR!”   >one of them speaks up afterwards   >”SIR, IT IS A GREAT HONOR TO SERVE WITH YOU ON THIS MISSION. WE WILL FOLLOW YOU THROUGH THE GATES OF HELL AND BEYOND, SIR!”   >”HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH!”   >You pat the marine on the shoulder and smile at all of them   “Good man. Alright soldiers, here’s our specific plan. We swing Pegasus in, I blast a hole in the side of the shipyard and bring us alongside, opening Pegasus’ side door allowing us to board the station. You will be responsible for planting three remote-detonation charges on the magnetic seal around the fusion cores of the shipyards. This is obviously going to draw a lot of attention, we’ll need to move quickly. I’ll be on point and will toss an opened bottle of Noctazine in ahead of us, it should knock anyone in the vicinity out immediately. Any hostiles encountered, armed or unarmed, are to be eliminated on sight with extreme prejudice, whether they see any of us or not, understood?”   >“DEATH TO ANY WHO WOULD THREATEN THE SAFETY OF THE CITIZENRY OF THE CONFEDERACY!”   >“HOO-RAH!”   >Now this is the kind of team you needed from the very beginning. Pros unflinchingly following your orders to the letter.   “We’re going to handle detonation a little different this time around. Given the considerable attention we’ll be drawing, we’ll detonate the bombs as soon as we’re clear before moving on to the next station. One of you will need to remain on the ship in the pilot’s seat and be ready to get us away from the station as fast as possible. Now, are there any questions?”   >”SIR, HOW MANY TRAITORS DO WE HAVE THE PRIVELEGE OF KILLING TODAY, SIR?”   “If we hit all the stations I want to hit, between five and six thousand. Gentlemen, you’re professionals. I expect each attack to last an overall maximum of two minutes from our first shots to the detonation. Quickly decide amongst yourselves who will serve what role and how you will coordinate with each other. As I said, I will be on point for each boarding party, solely to eliminate hostiles. I expect whoever is planting the charges to ignore everything else. Whoever is going to be the escape pilot, be ready to take the helm the moment after I open fire to create our access point and maneuver us into place, so that I can prepare to board the moment were in range. Now, marines, are you ready to take a swim in some filthy rebel scum blood?”   >”SIR, YES SIR!”   “That’s what I wanted to hear.”   >You take a seat in the pilot’s chair and immediately jump to your first target   “Gentlemen, welcome to the Robusa system. Total number of targets here is five.”   >You accelerate rapidly to the nearest station, your scans reveal no ships in the system. You immediately swing in and open fire on the station, taking out their communications array before blasting open your insertion point and hopping out of your seat, the escape pilot immediately assuming your position and maneuvering the ship into place. You immediately unseal and toss in the canister of gas as you lead your team through the corridors, alarms blaring loudly in the station.   >As the man on point you’re forced to take out 5 hostiles on your way to the reactor. Your team gets the charges into place absurdly fast, surprising you before you lead them back to your ship. The way back is entirely clear.   “PUNCH IT!” you yell the moment you’re all back on board the ship.   >”SAFETY”   >”DETONATION!”   >The station is completely obliterated in seconds, all the marines cheering and laughing and bumping chests.   “Total time on that run?”   >”Two minutes fifty two seconds.”   “I expect our next kill to be faster than that, understood?”   >”YES SIR!”   >You take the helm, immediately swinging back around. You hadn’t considered the possibility that the other station might call for help. Rookie oversight on your part. You swing by the remaining stations and take out all of their comms arrays. You turn to the escape pilot.   “How’s your starship weapons control, marine?”   >”Sir, I like to think I’m a pretty good shot, sir.”   “You take the pilot’s seat for the rest of the targets in this system. Blow us open some nice access points, marine. And try not to have too much fun,” you say, patting him on the shoulder as he takes the pilot’s seat again and swings around.   >”Next target, sir?”   “Indulge yourself, marine. Whichever one you want.”   >”Yes, sir!”   >You make sure your rifle is fully recharged, another bottle of Noctazine gas at the ready. The marine actually manages to blast a better access point than you did, putting you much closer to the reactor. You toss the canister in once again as you take point, moving swiftly. You fire on anything you see move. You took out 12 hostiles this time, 10 of which were armed. You get pinned down momentarily on your retreat, but the enemies quickly succumb to the gas. As you walk past them you hesitate. You stare down at the unconscious soldiers, shooting them both in the back multiple times with a look of pure disgust on your face before you hurry back to the ship.   >”SAFETY!”   >”DETONATION!”   >”Next target!”   >You look at a console   “Two minutes fifteen seconds, we’ve still got some shaving to do, soldiers.”   >Whoever this marine is, he’s one hell of a combat pilot. He has you in position to board within two to three seconds after blasting open the access point.   >For the remaining targets in the system, you meet increasingly heavy resistance. On the last one you find yourself firing your weapon nonstop from the moment you board the ship. One of your men takes a hit to the shoulder, but is able to continue on.   >”SAFETY!”   >”DETONATION!”   >The marines cheer and celebrate once more as your final target is erased from existence. The injured marine is treated with a first-aid kit by one of the others. You place a hand on his uninjured shoulder.   “You stay hard to kill, marine.”   >”Yes, sir!”   >Back on Equestria, Twilight stretches and yawns as she finally wakes up. She sees your note right away and levitates it in front of her face.   “My sweet goddess Twilight: I know what we went through today was hard on you and Shining, and I’m sorry for that. It was wrong of me to use you and Shining the way I did. I love you more than anything in the world, my sweet Twily. It kills me whenever I hurt you, even if it’s unintentional. I set you and Shiny down in your beds and decided maybe it would be best if I went away for a day or two. Please don’t worry, I’m not upset with you and I’m not doing anything dangerous, I’ll be perfectly safe. I’m going to take the ship to go meet with the Admiral and take care of some other business, mostly a bunch of red tape and paperwork that needs to be filed with the proper commanding officers.   Please take this time to relax and pamper yourself. Shining, too. You both deserve a break. I wish I could pamper you myself but the longer I put this stuff off the worse it’s gonna be.   I love you with all of my heart, never forget that. Give Shiny my love, too.   I’ll see you both very soon.   -Anon”   >Twilight sighs and lets her head fall back onto her pillow, deeply contemplating your words from earlier, still troubled by her thoughts but starting to slowly take some of your words to heart. She begins to ponder that maybe some savagery is necessary in a desperate situation like this. If it’s us-or-them, even if it’s not clear cut, maybe the violence she took part in really WAS justified. Maybe what she did really DID contribute to Equestria’s safety. She continues to roll around in the bed, mentally tormenting herself.   >”SAFETY”   >”DETONATION!” >You pant heavily lying on the floor of the Pegasus, soaking in sweat underneath your armor. That was your last planned target. You look back and see that you still have enough supplies for several more strikes. You and the rest of your men are exhausted. Half way through your list you began to encounter heavy resistance at each successive target, being involved in extensive firefights your entire way to the reactor core, and even on the way back. You check a few other systems, and find that there are now rebel warships closely guarding any shipyard you jump to. The window is closed now.   “Computer, re-establish atmosphere and oxygen recycling.”   >”Bringing life support systems back online. Please wait at least five minutes before removing any individual oxygen supply apparatus from your body.”   >When the cabin finally properly repressurizes, you take off your helmet and toss it aside, stripping your armor away as well as you take the helm. You look back at your team and smile.   “You know what? Fuck all this cloak-and-dagger bullshit. I’m going to see to it that each of you receives a silver star for your performance today.” You look at the marine that took a hit to the shoulder, “and you, sir, are going to be receiving a golden cross as well for being injured in combat.”   >You turn to the helm and start to punch in the coordinates for your next destination before turning to them again   “You all went above and beyond for me, and in the process were all integral in our success today, each and every one of you. The service you have provided the citizens of the Confederacy is immeasurable. When we get back to the ship, I expect you to all prepare for your reward ceremony, because it’s going to take place immediately.”