The ship rocked and shuddered. A constant barrage of asteroids and beam fire from the opposing Rebel ship was taking its toll on the HMS Lunar Wrath. Captain Ditzella “Derpy” Doo shouted to her daughter over the ship’s intercom, “Dinky! We have a hull breach in Sector B! Patch that, quick!”
A hiss of static responded to Derpy. The reply sounded dim and distant, “Where in Sector B?”
“The restrooms!”
“At least we won’t have to empty the waste tanks.”
“Not the time for jokes!”
“Relax Mom, I’m on it. And stop yelling before you make yourself hoarse.” With that, Dinky galloped away from her console and out of the weapons systems to patch the hull breach. Doors between the metallic corridors hissed open as Dinky rushed her way through the ship.
As the door to the restrooms slid open, the decompression and lack of oxygen was painfully noticeable, hitting Dinky like a hammer. Anything loose was being sucked violently towards a hole in the wall which lead to the airless void of space. The hole itself wasn't very large, perhaps a hoof's width or two across, but Dinky knew of smaller problems that had bested better ships before.
The unicorn entered the maintenance closet attached to the restrooms in search of Quikpatch. Quikpatch, a semi-organic, magically enhanced substance made of millions of tiny nanobots, was used to patch hull breaches in a pinch. Mass-produced by the Engi, it is a sticky salve that holds together with incredible force. Using an applicator, it could be quickly applied to seal a breach of any size, assuming enough Quikpatch is available. It was no permanent solution, but it worked well enough to get to a repair port without dying of asphyxiation.
“Where where where where where…” Dinky muttered as she tossed the maintenance room into a mess, pulling items haphazardly off of shelves in a desperate search for the patching substance. Despite her frantic searching, Dinky found none. Groaning in frustration, she kicked over a nearby box, scattering its contents across the mess that already covered the floor. It was then that something caught Dinky’s eye. Levitating the object to her face, she grinned. It wasn't Quikpatch by a long shot, but it would have to do for now. Besides, they always said it could fix anything.
“Oh, Mom is so gonna kill me for this,” she said, still smiling. She got to work.
____________
The gray pegasus on the bridge sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. How could things have gotten this bad? she wondered. Now was not the time to dwell, she realized, when she looked up and frantically began maneuvering the craft to avoid the next oncoming asteroid large enough to pose a threat to their shields; a difficult task considering the half functioning bridge and controls. Clear for the time being, she hailed the third and last member of their crew, Engineer First Class Carrot Top. “How are the shields coming along, Carrot?”
“I’m working on—” Derpy heard a loud zap followed by a shout from Carrot Top’s end. “—it. Don’t worry, I can fix this.” Carrot Top finished.
“Well, fix it faster. I think the Rebels almost have the next barrage charged. We can’t take much more and I can’t keep—” Derpy made a sudden dip to the ship’s course, narrowly avoiding another asteroid and causing Carrot to stumble. “Keep this up much longer.”
“Almost got it, Cap. Just gotta put this wire there, that one here, and—shoot, was it the red one or the blue one that goes there?”
“Carrot!”
“Oh! Silly me, it’s the orange one that goes there. That one goes here. Connect the blue ones back aaaannd…” With a resounding whoop, the shields came back online not a moment too soon, as the next barrage from the Rebels stuck and was deflected or absorbed by the shield.
“Oh Carrot, I could kiss you right now!” Derpy shouted.
“Didn’t know you were into that sort of thing, Mom,” Dinky called over the intercom.
The breach in the restrooms was now patched, according to the sensors on Derpy’s console. In response to her daughter's comment, Derpy’s face went as red as the light that was now indicating that the engine room was currently aflame. Derpy shouted, “Fire! Fire in the engine room! Door controls are nonfunctional, I can’t vent it. Dinky, Carrot, get on it!”
The shield control room and restrooms were respectively where Carrot and Dinky were before Derpy reported the fire. Shield control consisted of the portion of the ship known as Sector C, while Sector B held the restroom, among other things, and was directly adjacent to Sector C. Their destination, the engine room, was tucked between Sectors B and C in the back of the spacecraft. Dinky Doo and Carrot Top rushed through the triangularly-shaped ship to the engine room, hooves clanging on the metal floors and grates. Carrot Top stuck to following the narrow halls through the vessel, while Dinky cut through the cafeteria. The unicorn saved a few precious seconds of her journey by leaping from table to table, rather than going around them. The Lunar Wrath was a very small ship, not meant to be staffed by more than nine or ten ponies. This being the case, travel between different rooms was usually short, especially when running at full gallop.
We're always running around like ants, Dinky mused as she leapt from the final table and hit the ground running, skidding through the doorway as it opened. We need more ponies on this ship. We're horribly understaffed. Turning left, Dinky ran towards the junction ahead. The blur of yellow she saw indicated that Carrot Top had arrived as well.
The two ponies entered the engine room, grabbing a fire extinguisher off the wall on the way. They then proceeded to douse the flame-covered room.
“It’s hotter than Celestia’s rage in here,” Carrot Top huffed as she put out a small fire on the right side of the room. The yellow-orange glow of the fire that reflected off the metallic surfaces of the room and engine would have been quite pretty to watch had it not been so unconditionally dangerous. Several of these metallic surfaces were red hot from constant exposure to the fire, as wires hanging from the walls sparked, their rubber coating having become melted slag on the floor.
The ship swooped left as Derpy managed to avoid an asteroid and two of the three lasers that attempted to penetrate the shields. The third was absorbed harmlessly.
Meanwhile, Dinky and Carrot were making headway, putting out fires with their extinguishers while working their way closer and closer to the engine. The ordinarily blue core inside one of the engine's glass-encased pistons was glowing red and pumping at a speed that certainly wasn't normal, while a number of the large engine's other pistons seemed to be struggling to pump at their usual rate. Finally, with all the fires under control, the purple unicorn and yellow earth pony looked at the red-hot piston. They then locked gazes before simultaneously nodding. Aiming their extinguishers at the offending piston, they unleashed the foamy fire suppressant. It sizzled and smoked, the red glow of the piston's core eventually beginning to lessen and finally die down entirely.
“Rerouting power from that portion of the engine until we can get that fixed,” Carrot Top said, more to herself than Dinky, as she tapped a few keys on the somewhat charred control panel. The offending piston stopped moving. "You know, we wouldn't have nearly as many problems if we didn't have such an outdated engine," the earth pony sighed.
Shaking her head, Carrot Top turned to Dinky, saying, “Well that went—” before being cut off by a spray of fire suppressant to the face. She blinked several times, the blank look on her face contorting into one of anger. She shouted at the now-grinning Dinky, “What was that for?”
“Your hair was orange. I thought it was on fire.”
“My hair is always orange.”
“Which is why I thought it was on fire. You look pretty steamed, though, it's a good thing I sprayed you before you started another blaze.” It was taking all of Dinky's restraint to not burst out laughing at the foam-covered mare, but a snort of laughter led to a fit of giggles before she fell to the floor laughing.
Carrot Top grumbled, dragging a hoof across her foamed face to wipe the mess away, before she flicked it at Dinky. The unicorn's face was now just as covered with foam as Carrot Top’s. They both stared at each other for a moment, and before long, the two of them were rolling on the floor in fits of hysterical laughter.
The intercom in the engine room crackled as Derpy’s voice spoke, “Looks like you got the fires under control. Good. Now one of you start fixing that thing and the other get to work on the guns. We may be able to move, but we couldn't hurt a fly like this.”
Their laughter finally died down to chuckles until it altogether stopped. Dinky got up off the floor, wiping the foam off her face, saying, “I’ll handle the guns, they’re my specialty. Can you handle this, Carrot?”
Carrot Top rose as well. “Relax. I’m an engineer, practically born for this.”
“So that’s what those carrots on your flank mean. Always thought they symbolized… gardening, or something silly like that.”
Carrot Top glared hotly at Dinky. Giggling, Dinky asked, “Do I need to spray you again?”
Carrot Top snatched a fire extinguisher off the floor and pointed the nozzle at Dinky, spraying Dinky with a salvo of foam. Dinky ran out of the room laughing, trailing the white foam behind her. When Dinky was gone, Carrot Top dropped the extinguisher and got to work on the engine, pulling tools out of her singed blue overalls.
____________
Dinky trotted into the weapons control room. Examining the screens that depicted each weapon, its current charge status, and state of repair, she nodded to herself. The ship still shuddered every now and then, but the shields were taking the brunt of the damage very effectively. All she needed to do was get the weapons up and running, Dinky could then set them to Autofire and assist Carrot Top with the engine repairs. Finally, they could make a jump to the next FTL beacon and escape the death trap they were currently ensnared in. With any luck a repair station would be nearby after the jump, as they could do with some major hull repairs. Dinky did not think her mother would like how she handled the bathroom breach, but her temporary solution was still holding, plus she reinforced it with a bit of magic just to be safe, so all was well for the time being.
Dinky set to work, rewiring and patching cables, swapping parts, and getting everything in working order. It took a little while, and it wasn’t pretty by a long shot, but it worked. Dinky called the engine room over the intercom, “How’s it look in there, Carrot?”
Carrot Top responded, “I’m about halfway done. Do you have any clue how much damage a direct hit by an Artemis missile and a fire can do to an engine? Well, let me tell you. A lot.”
“I’m just about set in here. Still have to program the targeting, run some calibrations, and put it on Autofire. I’ll be down to help soon.”
“I’ll take any help I can get. I’d like to get out of this place soon. Really not fond of, you know, getting smashed to bits by giant rocks.”
“I know what you mean. This place really... rocks your socks off, eh Carrot?”
Dinky got no response.
“Carrot? Carrot Top? Carrot, what happened?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing happened. I just refuse to acknowledge that comment.”
“I... you... Geez, Carrot, you almost gave me a heart attack. I see you’re not interested in my specific brand of witty humor right now. I need to call Mom and see what Rebel systems she wants me to target. Be down in a few.”
Dinky switched comm channels from the engine room to the bridge. “Mom, weapons are up and ready. Targets?”
Derpy’s voice was full of a strange malice reserved explicitly for when her daughter was in danger as she said, “One missile at the shields, and sustained laser fire on the oxygen production. Rerouting power from the med bay to the lasers, I want them firing at one hundred and ten percent capacity, minimum. Understood?” Derpy's tone of voice frightened Dinky.
Dinky hesitated. She wasn't used to hearing such unabashed hatred from her mother. Usually, she preferred simply annihilating opponents as opposed to slowly suffocating them. It was pointlessly cruel otherwise. “Yes, Mom.” Dinky wasn't sure what possessed her mother to go to these levels, but she did as she was told. An order is an order, especially when the captain is your mother.
Queuing the targets, Dinky ran several accuracy calibrations while the weapons charged. Under prime conditions, Dinky could aim something as bulky and inaccurate as a ship's missile launcher to hit a target square on from three miles off, but current conditions could hardly be considered “prime.” The ship’s Autofire systems weren't nearly as accurate as a well-trained pony manning the station, but it beat not having anything shooting at all if left unstaffed.
Dinky set the weapons to charge above their usual capacity with the rerouted energy from the med bay. Overcharging weapons was exceptionally dangerous, and if not done properly could cause serious consequences. The extra power gave the lasers more bang for their buck, but at the risk of having them backfire or simply explode.
Calibrations run, power routed, targets selected and weapons charging, there was nothing more Dinky could do. She made her way back to the engine room to assist Carrot Top with the engine repairs. As Dinky entered the engine room, Carrot Top poked her grease- and oil-stained head out of a maintenance hatch, a bundle of cables hanging from her mouth.
“Cn thh hanth ee thath renth?” Carrot said with a mouthful of cables.
“Can I… what?”
Carrot Top spat out the cables. “Hand me that wrench,” she repeated.
Dinky levitated a wrench from a nearby toolbox into Carrot’s jaw. “Thanfs,” she said, wrench clenched in her teeth. She ducked back into the hatch and began tightening bolts. Dinky grabbed the toolbox and hopped into the hatch with Carrot. As they were working, the Lunar Wrath shot off her first return-fire on the Rebel ship.
“Looks like the missile hit the target. Enemy shields are damaged, but still functioning. One laser hit and was deflected,” Derpy reported over the intercom.
Together, Carrot and Dinky finished the remaining work record time. Dinky clambered out of the hatch and, grunting with the effort, helped Carrot do the same.
“Feels like somepony needs to lay off the carrot cake,” Dinky said as Carrot finally stood up, now out of the hatch.
“Also sounds like somepony needs to lay off the rude comments.”
“‘Rude?’ I’m insulted. My comments are nothing short of clever and situationally suitable,” Dinky retorted.
“Clever? You just used a fat joke. That’s not clever, that’s foalish.”
Dinky stuck her tongue out at Carrot as the intercom buzzed again, “I can’t keep looking at the readouts and piloting. Dinky, get back on the weapons. Carrot, I want you to give me a constant stream of info from the sensors,” Derpy ordered.
“On it, Cap,” Carrot Top responded.
“Yes, Mom,” Dinky said.
Carrot Top ran to the bridge to the sensor readout console while Dinky went back to the weapons control room.
Derpy spoke first, “Carrot Top. Report.”
“Enemy ship is a standard Rebel scout. Sensors picking up four life forms of average equine stature. Shields seem damaged but under repair. The asteroids are doing nothing to them.”
“Firing next volley!” Dinky called.
“Wait for it…” Carrot said. “Wait for it… and the missile is a hit! Enemy shields down. Lasers one, two and three are… all direct hits! I can—oh, dear,” Carrot Top sounded frightened of something.
“What happened, Carrot? Report!”
“All three lasers hit the Rebel O2 room. The room itself tore completely off their ship, venting somepony into space with it. I can see him now, on—on the cameras. Dear Celestia, he’s just writhing in agony and…"
“At ease, Carrot. Report on the rest of the ship.”
“Oh, um,” Carrot cleared her throat. “Right. I’m seeing a hull breach caused by stray asteroids now that the shields are down. Also looks like they sealed off the torn section of the ship. Two life forms in the shield systems, presumably doing repairs, and a third on the helm. The Rebels just fired off their next shots!”
Derpy mentally calculated the distance between the two ships, in relation to their current heading and the missile and laser velocities. She had to time this right. Mumbling to herself, she counted down, “Three… two… one… NOW!”
The ship rolled a full three hundred and sixty degrees. The artificial gravity and centripetal force were enough to not cause everypony to fly towards the ceiling, but the maneuver was still sudden enough to knock both Dinky and Carrot off their hooves. Derpy was buckled into her chair, and so was unaffected. All four enemy projectiles missed.
“I always knew Peppy had good advice!” Derpy cheered.
“Who’s Peppy?” Dinky asked.
“Long story. I’ll tell you another day. Are their shields still down, Carrot?”
“Yes Captain, still down.” Something blipped on Carrot’s console. “Cap, they’re prepping for an FTL jump!”
“Dinky, fire two lasers at their engine. They won’t get away that easily.”
“Charged. Firing.”
“Both direct hits, Cap.” Carrot chimed in.
“Good. And now we wait.”
“Wait? Why would we wait, Captain? Why not take them before their—” another beep on Carrot’s console. “…shields are back up. Like that.”
“Relax Carrot. That just makes it easier for us.”
“For us to…?”
“Just watch the life forms. Tell me how they’re reacting.”
“Well, the two who repaired the shields are moving to the med bay now. Moving very sluggishly. Getting slower. Slower… one stopped. Now reading only two life forms on the ship. The second stopped at the med bay doors. One life form.”
A blinking notification caught Derpy’s attention on the bridge: it was an incoming transmission request. Curiosity piqued, she accepted. A video feed of the last remaining crew member of the Rebel ship was broadcast to all video monitors across the Lunar Wrath. An orange coated unicorn with a red mane and tail greeted the viewers. He wore an olive colored hat, jacket and pair of pants, all embossed with the Rebel logo: the head of a menacing looking pony with a goatee, two different wings sprouting from either side of the head from which two different horns grew. The unicorn was clearly in pain, and coughing quite a bit.
“Federation,” he spoke, noting the dark blue hat with the Society of the Silver Moon's insignia which Derpy wore.
“Rebellion scum,” Derpy retorted.
“You don’t understand the—” he had a coughing fit. When he regained control of himself, he continued. “—the significance of the data you have stolen. The entire Rebel fleet has your jump signature; they will be on your tail every moment of your soon to be shortened lives. If you value your lives, you may still save yourselves yet. Delete the data. Change ships. Join the Rebellion.” He was wheezing at this point, struggling to keep himself propped on the console and within view of the camera.
“I don’t understand how you got the data, and at this rate I never will. I know you think that the Rebellion is correct. I know it. You just refuse to betray your leaders; I admire that. The Rebellion would benefit greatly from your talents. Look deeply and tell me that you do not believe in the cause of the Rebellion.”
Derpy considered this. Could he be trying to talk his way to safety? Did he think they would bring him on their ship, perhaps out of pity? “The only thing I believe,” Derpy finally said, “is that you aren’t dying quick enough. I have the decency to wait until my foes are vanquished before I take my winnings, unlike the Rebels who tear their spoils of war from their still breathing victims. I have vital data to get to the higher-ups of the Skylar Federation, and I’ll need every little bit of help I can get. Starting with stripping your ship.”
The Rebel captain sighed. “These ponies—my crew—had family, you know. Two stallions, one mare. I knew the mare’s family personally. Sunlight, her name was. Wonderful husband and two beautiful children. Husband didn't much care for the war, but understood the Rebellion’s point of view. I respected him for that. If only you could understand like he could.” He had another coughing fit, much longer than his previous one.
Derpy spoke up, “I have family too. Dinky, my daughter. She serves on this ship; the one you almost destroyed." Derpy punctuated with a stomp of her hoof. "I protect my family and serve a cause I believe in.” she paused before asking, “What is your name, captain?”
The stallion barked a harsh laugh. “Ha! Call me ‘captain’ of my dying ship and dead crew. Captain always goes down with the ship, no? Very well. I am Refugio Razor, captain of the once beautiful Tulip; named after my long-deceased wife. Perhaps I shall meet her in the afterlife. I support the Rebellion until death do us part, as it very soon will. And yourself?”
“I am Ditzella Doo, captain of the HMS Lunar Wrath. I support the Federation until I deliver this data and longer still. Not even death could part me from my mission.”
Refugio struggled a smile. “I applaud your courage and bravery, Ditzella. Know that I hold no grudge, and were I in your position would do no different than you have done.”
Derpy tilted her head in confusion. “No grudge? I’m surprised. Every other Rebel I’ve come across had nothing but vengeance on their minds. Why the change of heart?”
Throughout the conversation, he had noticeably more and more difficulty holding himself up. Now he slumped back onto the chair in front of the console. The oxygen deprivation was taking a serious toll on him. He didn't have long.
“On my home planet, we believe that in forgiving those who have wronged us, we are held to be better than them. We carry the souls of those whom we have done wrong by throughout our lives as a weight. Upon death, we must ascend a great mountain burdened with this weight; the more weight, the longer the trip. Only by reaching the peak will one truly ascend to the afterlife.” He paused, catching his breath with what little air remained. “A great insult among my culture is, ‘may you have one more soul to carry.’ In forgiving our enemies, we believe to increase their own burdens.
“I was never one for petty insults, though. May you serve your cause better than I have served mine. On behalf of me, my crew, and our families… we forgive you.” His head drooped to his chest.
Derpy didn’t move for several minutes. Tiny asteroids pelted the shield like rain on an umbrella. Still, Derpy sat motionless, her head hung low. Dinky turned off the intercoms, shut off the video transmission, and began walking to the engine room, considering the exchange that had just occurred. A door in front of her opened and she saw Carrot Top.
They were silent for a while. Dinky finally asked, “So, how do you feel about that?”
Carrot Top hesitated. Dinky could understand, she didn’t quite know how to feel herself.
“I think you should get your mother to her bed. She’s had a long day. I’ll salvage what I can from their ship.”
“We're in the middle of an asteroid field, Carrot,” Dinky responded.
"Then get your mother to bed, get back to the pilot's seat, and tow their ship—and ours, for that matter—out of it. Then I can get to work while you comfort your mother."
"Still, Carrot, going alone?"
“And what are they going to do? Come back and try to eat me? Space zombies, now that’s something I’d rather not see. Just trust me on this, your mother needs you.”
Dinky nodded. “Just be careful. Grab a radio and call if anything goes wrong.”
They parted ways. Carrot headed to the equipment lockers to get the zero-gravity and space-walk equipment, while Dinky went to the bridge.