//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Confrontation // Story: FTL: Stowaway // by Dolphy Blue Drake //------------------------------// Just as The Kestrel was about to jump away from Equis’ space, a black starship with cyan markings and an emblem of a cyan eagle bearing the letters “MFK” jumped to the same beacon. “Captain!  Another ship is here!”  Twilight announced as the Sensors began scanning the newcomer.  “Do you recognize it?”  With the push of a button, the available information about the other ship was distributed to all consoles. “That’s not good…” Malott muttered before addressing Twilight.  “Yes, Ensign, I do recognize it.  That’s a Rebel cruiser.  And not just any Rebel cruiser, either.  That’s an Eliminator-class Rebel cruiser!” “And that’s bad, right?” Twilight said lamely. “They’re always armed to the teeth,” the Captain explained rapidly, “and like all Rebel cruisers, they have ship-mounted Anti-Ship Batteries.  These are very dangerous opponents, and I’d rather not fight them if we can avoid it.” He was about to give the order to retreat to the next FTL beacon, but hesitated as his eyes flicked over to the great blue-green planet to his right. Malott had a mission that took priority over everything else, and for a moment, a small voice urged him to give the order to launch. “What do we do now, Captain?” Malott blinked, looking down at the sensors’ display.  His attention focused on a single blip in the Sensors system room.  Almost immediately he felt the pang of guilt; Malott had made a promise.  The newcomer to The Kestrel was technically under his command, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. After a long moment, his hand balled into a fist.  “We can’t just let your homeworld fall to the Rebels.” Malott growled when his badge broke out into static.  “Shoot!  We’re being hailed!” "Prepare to die, Federation scum!” a female voice suddenly cut in.  “We noticed the life signs on that planet—we know that you established first contact!  This won't be allowed to stand! “As soon as we destroy that pathetic tin can you call a cruiser, we'll take news of this world back to Command, and we'll return in force to enslave them!” the Rebel captain taunted.  “You've foolishly sealed not just your own doom, but theirs, as well!" As alarms blared, Malott fell back unto his training and opened a ship-wide channel.  “All hands, man your battlestations!” Meanwhile, on the surface, all of Equestria saw the black object appear in the sky.  The Federation’s craft hadn’t left yet, and as lights started to fly back and forth between the two craft, it grew immediately clear that the Federation ship was under attack. Celestia and Luna immediately knew what they had to do, and called for every unicorn in the Royal Guard to assemble outside. Within minutes the palace garrison had congregated in the courtyard. “Brave soldiers of Equestria!” Celestia began as she addressed the assembled troops.  “Above us, a group who have allied themselves with us is under attack!  The black object in the sky belongs to the enemy!” Heads craned upwards to see the dark figure against the blue skies.  Pointing to it, Celestia yelled, “We need to do our part to assist them in any way we can!  Combine your magic into one attack and launch it at the enemy ship!  Do not let up until the enemy craft is dealt with!” The courtyard rang with a single affirmative as the soldiers replied as one.  The guards soon began to focus their magic into a single growing sphere of hard magic. “Captain Malott!” Twilight called.  “It says here that the enemy has a—” She paused momentarily as she read the words in her mind.  “A ‘Zoltan Super Shield.’” Twilight finished, noting to herself to look up what that exactly meant later.  “How bad is that, exactly?” “Pretty bad,” Matthieu’s voice piped up.  “A Zoltan shield is extremely rare to see on any ship besides a Zoltan-built one.”  The gunner ran some quick calculations in his head, and he found himself grimacing at the results.  “And with our meager weapons, it’ll take awhile to take down.” Suddenly, the enemy ship vanished, as if it had never been there. “Captain,” Matthieu said, his tone tainted by a growing sense of worry, “they’ve cloaked! I can’t get a weapon lock!” “Don’t panic just yet, Ensign,” Malott said calmly.  “I doubt they’ve upgraded that system at all.  After five seconds, it should wear off.” Amazingly, the captain was right on the money:  the Rebel ship reappeared after exactly five seconds.  Any relief from its reappearance died nearly instantly as alarms suddenly went off, and the words “INTRUDERS DETECTED” appeared on all screens. “Boarders!  We’ve got boarders!” Nazia’s voice cried out, soon followed by distant shouts.  “Four of them just beamed into the Engine room!” “Lieutenant Nazia, retreat to the Medbay,” Malott ordered.  “Commander Xin Xin, open the airlock doors behind the Engines.” “Affirmative, Captain,” Xin Xin droned as a whooshing sound came from the back of the ship.  From Nazia’s channel there was only the sounds of blaster shots and grunts of pain while the engineer made her escape. The image of the Engine room started to gain a reddish hue on the monitors as the Rebel boarders continued to fire at the systems over and over.  A system energy bar on the monitors turned red as the systems grew ever more damaged. Twilight stared at her display with a stumped glare. What would venting the engine room achieve?  After all, Princess Luna had explained that her innate pony magic had enabled her to breathe during her banishment to the moon, so Twilight had no idea how such a tactic could have any effect. “Captain!  How will venting out the air stop the boarders?” Twilight inquired curiously. It took the briefest of moments before she wanted to smack herself in the face.  They don’t have any magic! Malott momentarily glared at the blip that was Twilight Sparkle, forgetting for a moment that she was not accustomed to space.  “Space is a vacuum, Ensign,” Malott briefly explained, watching the enemy boarders suddenly make a beeline for the sealed blast doors to try to force them open as the room’s image became covered with diagonal red stripes.  “No one can breathe in a vacuum.” “Sorry, Captain,” Twilight apologized, feeling her cheeks burn from her stupid question from before.  “Princess Luna discovered that it is possible for ponies to survive in space with their magic,” she explained.  “I ah, I just forgot that you don’t have magic.” “Well, we can’t breathe in ssspaccce,” T’ten’s hissing voice joined in, speaking patiently.  “If you poniesss can breathe in ssspaccce, then that’sss jussst you.  The ressst of usss sssuffocate in thisss void.”  There was a short beat.  “Well, there are legendsss of another raccce that can sssurvive the vacuum of ssspaccce, but there’sss no evidenccce that they exissst.” The boarders appeared to be growing frantic, grasping their throats as scans provided by The Kestrel confirmed they were getting weaker.  In fact, according to the scans, they were on the verge of death before they suddenly vanished, reappearing on board the enemy vessel just as Matthieu’s repeated volleys had finally beaten down the Zoltan shield. “The enemy is firing!” Malott growled.  “Evasive maneuvers!  Commander Xin Xin!  Reseal the doors!  Lieutenant Nazia!  Return to your station!”  He began to punch in some commands on his console.  “I’m diverting all the auxiliary power we can spare to the Engines from the Bridge!” The enemy cruiser fired a blue rocket, a red rocket, two purple blasts of energy, and finally, a red beam that raked across the ship.  The beam would have cut straight across the bridge were it not deflected harmlessly out into space due to the The Kestrel’s upgraded shields. The purple blasts were also blocked, but the rockets cut through the shields as if they weren’t even there.  The red one missed, but the blue one struck the Engine room. After a static burst from the Engines channel a very quiet voice came through the din.  “Captain!”  Nazia called, “that was a Khione Missile! They ion-locked the Engines!” “The ion missssile locked up the Ssshieldsss, too!” T’ten’s voice growled, still managing to hiss at the same time.  “At leassst that Apollo Misssile misssed usss!  Now isss not the time to be dealing with firesss!” A new alert caught Malott’s attention.  “They’re deploying drones! Three of them!”  Observing the display before him, he ran his finger over every drone, trying to identify them. “A Mark I Defense Drone, a Mark I Combat Drone, and…”  Malott paused before muttering, “No, not one of those!” The Captain reopened the shipwide channel.  “They’ve got a Mark I Anti-Ship Ion Drone!” The Defense Drone shot one of The Kestrel’s missiles, the projectile harmlessly exploding before it could reach its target. “Oh, come on!” Matthieu groaned. The Combat Drone began firing purple blasts at the cruiser. The bursts failed to penetrate the shields completely, but the fire did make the shields less effective, as they had to regenerate after every strike. The Ion Drone began firing blue spheres of energy at The Kestrel, and each one that hit weakened the shields further, leaving it up to the ship’s engines to evade the firepower of the enemy cruiser. Twilight watched the battle unfold with a growing sense of trepidation.  The craft had rocked slightly when the blue rocket had struck The Kestrel, and it was only then that she had realized that she was perhaps in it over her head.  The Engineer had been shot at with those “blasters!”  Had it only been the luck of the draw that the boarders hadn’t teleported straight into her station? Before the Alicorn could contemplate any further, a new symbol popped up on her display.  It was a green triangle with the letters ASB etched across it. “Captain!  The Sensors are detecting an Anti-Ship Battery being launched!” Twilight reported. Malott was about to say that she must’ve been reading her display wrong, but a cursory glance at his own console produced a green triangle.  He did a double-take and re-read the green symbol: “ASB—Allies!” “What in the name of—?” Before the Captain could finish his thought, a massive sphere of energy smashed into the Rebel ship, shearing off a sizeable chunk of the hull. “That was magic!” Twilight gasped.  “Captain!  It looks like Equestria is helping in this fight!” There were many questions as to just how the locals down below were providing such support, but right there and then, Malott didn’t really care; all he saw was a friendly battery, and he’d use it to its full advantage. “Well, we can use all the help we can get right now,” he said in a stunned tone, almost tittering, and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “The enemy’s Artillery is fully charged!” Twilight announced as more warnings flashed and sirens blared. The Captain immediately sobered up and shouted, “Brace for impact!”  Immediately after the command, a sphere of pale yellow energy fired from the Rebel cruiser and headed straight for The Kestrel. The projectile smashed into The Kestrel, doing considerable damage and tearing a hole in an empty room.  The whole ship shook, but held firm. Malott recovered quickly enough, and barked into his badge.  “Aim for the enemy’s Weapons System, Ensign Matthieu!  We can’t take continuous bombardments from so many weapons!” “Yes, Captain!” the weapons technician replied.  “Target locked, weapons charging!” Suddenly, the enemy craft vanished from sight again. “Captain!  They’ve cloaked again!” Matthieu exclaimed, panic in his voice.  “I can’t do anything!” “So, they think they can stall us out, huh?” the captain snarled.  “Wait five seconds, Ensign.  It’ll pass, just like last time.” Just as before, the enemy craft reappeared after a mere five seconds, and The Kestrel responded in kind by firing three purple blasts and a missile at the enemy ship. The enemy Defense Drone fired at the missile, but the missile made it through.  It struck true into the enemy’s Weapons room and damaged the system.  As a result, the launcher that had fired the blue missile retracted itself back into the hull of the cruiser. The laser barrage was absorbed by the enemy’s shields however.  Luckily, another quick volley got through before they could regenerate and dealt even greater damage to the Weapons room, knocking out the weapon that had fired the red beam. “Another attack is being fired from the surface!” Twilight cheered, jumping up from her seat.  “That Rebel ship should be almost defeated after this!” The next shot tore straight through the enemy’s Shields System, killing the already faint blue bubble around the cruiser. Twilight watched, unable to control her excited shakes, as the bars indicating the integrity of the Rebel cruiser’s hull shrank in number.  A small part of her wondered just how she had gone from dreading what was to come to looking forward to it, as if somepony flipped a switch.  She was beginning to draw connections to the high one experienced during, say, a rollercoaster ride, when a new symbol appeared on her display. “I’m picking up chatter from the Rebel ship, Captain!” Twilight announced.  “Should I patch it into the intercom?” “Do it,” Malott ordered. After Twilight punched a few buttons, the whole crew heard renewed alarm sirens, though not from their ship. "—can't continue to take this kind of punishment!” the captain from before screamed.  “Charge the FTL Drive and get us out of here!  We can't deliver our information if we're dead!" Renewed vigor flowing through his very veins, Malott cried, “Hurry!  Finish them off!” He pointed straight at the enemy ship on his display, as if his gunner was right there with him.  “We can’t let them inform the Rebel Fleet, the locals will be overrun by the Rebels if we can’t buy them more time to prepare!” Suddenly, a fourth drone joined the other three, and Malott bit back a curse. “They’ve got a Repair Drone!” the Captain said, frustrated.  “Open fire, gunner!  We have to destroy them before they get away!” The enemy happened to cloak right at that moment, giving the fourth drone time to slowly patch up its hull before the drone broke apart.   At the same time, the Sensors gave an indication that the enemy’s FTL Drive was charging. An increasingly irked Matthieu began to rap his knuckles against his keyboard, impatiently muttering, “Come on, come on, come on...” Right as the cloak faded, Matthieu let loose another volley of shots at the crippled ship, but they failed to destroy it.  A groan filled the communications channel. Twilight was on the edge of her seat.  Just how much punishment could that ship take?  A flashing red light caught her eye. Her breath quickened when she read “JUMP IMMINENT.” “Captain!  Jump imminent!” Twilight exclaimed, panic beginning to overtake her. Another shot from the surface flew towards the enemy ship, but with a loud hum and a single line of yellow light, the Rebel ship managed to get away right before impact. Malott stared at the now empty space on his screen where the Rebel cruiser occupied and slunk back into his padded seat.  The Kestrel had survived a difficult encounter, but there were no two ways about it: Twilight’s people were in serious trouble. He straightened himself with a dejected sigh and spoke calmly, almost as if out of breath, into the intercom.  “Ensign Sparkle, are you still there?” “Yes, Captain,” came the disheartened response. “Damage report?” Trying her best not to tear up, Twilight looked over the monitor.  “Hull integrity has lost five bars in that fight.” “A sixth then,” Mallot provided, running a hand along his face. “Anything else?” “Um, the room right behind mine has a breach and is entirely out of air,” Twilight reported, sniffing.  “Nothing else to report.” “Well, I never thought I’d survive a run-in with an Eliminator,” Malott said, stretching in his seat, “let alone so well.  We’re in your people’s debt, it seems.  But this isn’t over; we’re going to have to chase them down.” Even as he finished saying that, the man racked his mind for possible ways to achieve that.  Without long-range scanners or sensors, there was very little chance that The Kestrel could pursue that cruiser. In the open channel he heard some more sniffing from Twilight’s station. Malott opened up a private channel. “Ensign?” The sniveling stopped. “Yes, Captain?” Twilight whispered in a pained tone. “You did good.” Even though he couldn’t see it, the Captain could imagine the grateful smile among the tears on that lilac muzzle. “Thank you,” Twilight said in a quiet voice, belatedly adding, “Captain.” Malott felt an upwards tug at the corners of his mouth and nodded to himself. He made to close the communication. “Captain?” Twilight suddenly piped up, sniffing once more.  “The sensors have one more thing to report.  I just missed it at first.” “Go ahead, Ensign,” the Captain said, his smile falling in anticipation of more bad news.  “What do you have to report?” “Nothing bad, sir,” Twilight replied, her voice starting to fill with a sliver of hope.  “The enemy’s FTL drive was horribly damaged in the fight, so they were unable to mask their signature.  The sensors have a perfect lock on their trajectory.  We could chase them down now, if you want.” “Well…” Malott really wanted to make up for even considering abandoning the locals to the Rebels.  He had too many regrets already, and he didn’t want to add any more to the list. Even so, the Rebel Fleet was gaining on them with every jump they made.  Sure, they could only track them when they made a jump to another beacon, but he wasn’t sure if they could chase down the enemy and make it out of the sector before the Rebels caught up to them. “I’m sorry, Ensign,” he began, his own voice shaking with remorse.  “We might not have enough time.  The main Rebel Fleet is still pursuing us.  If they catch up to us, we’ll have to fight our way through them all the way to the exit beacon.” The Captain didn’t even need to use the communication channel to know that the pony had begun tearing up again. This was beginning to look all too familiar, painfully so. “I don’t want to say this, but—” Just then, Malott’s communicator signalled a call from Celestia, so he closed the channel to answer the call. After touching the option to answer, Malott was greeted with Celestia’s concerned face. “My sincerest apologies, Your Highness,” he began glumly, quickly rubbing at his eye.  “They got away.  We have a lock on them so we can pursue them, but the Rebel Fleet is getting closer and closer every time we make an FTL jump.” Malott shook his head.  “I don’t know if we can finish them off and leave the sector before the Rebels catch up to us.” “How are they able to track you, Captain?”  Celestia inquired, her frown starting to soften as if she felt she could offer help. The man was about to politely thank her for the concern and tell the Princess that it was very unlikely that she could do anything to help. Then he remembered how absurd it had been when the same low-tech locals had provided him and his crew with ASB support: that sort of weapons platform was rare, even within the Federation. So, he decided to humor Celestia.  “Well,” Malott began, “every time we make an FTL jump the Rebels can locate what we call a warp signature and advance towards us.”  He paused for a moment, thinking how he could simplify astrophysics into terms that the diarch could understand.  “I suppose you can compare the signature to, erm, a— a trail that can be followed. “The Rebels only stop after each jump because the ship’s autopilot has The Kestrel orbit beacons and planets erratically” Malott explained.  “They can’t lock onto us very well like that, so the pattern confuses them until we make another jump.” “What if we were to make you untraceable?” Luna’s voice suggested as the Princess of the Night walked into the projected area.  “We couldn’t make it permanent, mind you, but I’m certain we could make it last for quite a while.” Again, the skeptical side of Malott almost wanted to scoff at the suggestion, but he had seen what they had achieved earlier. “Is there anywhere where we could land The Kestrel?” Malott asked, raising an eyebrow in interest.  “She’s quite large.” “Nowhere close to Canterlot, unfortunately,” Celestia admitted.  “However, there may be another way.  That smaller ship you used to land near Ponyville.  How many of them do you have?” “The Kestrel used to be the Federation’s Flagship, so she’s got five shuttles,” Malott replied with a grin.  “Are you suggesting that we bring some of your people up here to assist in making us untraceable?” “Exactly,” Luna confirmed with her own smirk and a nod.  “Twilight’s friends would like to see her one last time before you have to leave, anyway.  That,” she continued, her voice softening, “and I’d like to have a look at your craft, myself.  In the olden days, I was more than just the princess who summoned the night and calmed dreams, you know.  I used to be Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.” Suddenly, Luna’s face fell.  “After certain… things happened, Celly forbade me to resume my role as head of the armed forces, but I’ve always had the more tactical mind of the two of us.”  Turning to her sister, Luna’s smirk returned, a mischievous glint in her eye.  “Isn’t that right, Sister?” Celestia groaned as her face turned beet-red.  “Please don’t bring up all the military errors I made in your absence.” “If you allow me to resume my role as head of the military until this problem is dealt with, I won’t,” Luna said with a chuckle.  “Do we have a deal, Sister?” “Fine!” Celestia huffed.  Until the enemy is defeated, you can have your old post back.  Just please don’t bring them up!” Malott cleared his throat to remind the sisters that he was still on the line, prompting a startled flinch from both Alicorns. “Sorry about that, Captain,” Celestia chuckled sheepishly.  “I didn’t mean to ignore you.” “That’s alright, Your Highness,” the captain said with a patient smile.  “We can get the shuttles down to the surface in about ten minutes.  I can remotely control them from here.” After pressing a few buttons on his console, Malott nodded.  “They’re on their way to you now.  I look forward to meeting you in person soon, Princess Luna.” “The feeling is mutual, Captain Malott,” the navy Alicorn replied warmly before the sisters cut the connection. Pressing his combadge, Malott said, “Ensign Sparkle?  Do you read?” “Yes, Captain?” the Alicorn’s voice replied. “Some of your people are going to come up here to help us in keeping the Rebel Fleet from tracking us,” Malott explained.  “Before they get here, could you help repair that breach in the hull?  I mean, since you can apparently breathe up here and all.” “Of course, Captain,” Twilight’s voice replied.  “It’s the least I can do to help out around here.” Twilight got up from her seat before trotting over to the door leading to the breached room.  After pressing her hoof to the pad on the wall, the door opened, allowing her entrance into the damaged room. In an instant, her body reacted to the lack of heat and air by projecting a bubble of air the same color as her magic. So, this is how we’re able to breathe in space? she thought as she began rummaging through a repair kit attached to the wall.  I wish I had the time and ability to study it. Filing that thought away for later, Twilight levitated a welder out of the kit, donned the protective mask that came with it, then switched it on.  Luckily, the Sensors room had granted her complete access to the ship’s data suite, which she’d studied to learn everything she could about the various skills required for serving in the Federation Fleet:  combat, weapons operation, shields operation, repairs, piloting, and engine management.  Though she had yet to apply any of that knowledge (and there was still much for her to learn), Twilight was getting the feeling it was going to feel like second nature in no time. Her feeling was dead-on.  She’d never welded something like this before, but everything just seemed to click, the knowledge quickly turning into instinct as she continued repairing the breach. After a few more seconds the hole was successfully repaired, allowing warmth and air to fill the room once more.  As the environment returned to normal, the magic bubble faded away, no longer required for keeping her alive. Touching a hoof to her combadge, Twilight gave her report.  “Captain, I’ve repaired the breach.”  She took in a deep breath: the air felt cool, but it was gradually warming up.  “The internal atmosphere is returning to normal.” “Great job, Ensign,” Malott replied, his voice filled with a sense of pride that Twilight found infectious.  “That was really quick!  You’re a natural!” “Thank you, sir,” Twilight chuckled as her face started to feel warmer.  “It’s the least I could do to help out.” “Well, since we’re going to be staying at this beacon a bit longer than I originally anticipated…” Malott’s voice trailed off before the ship-wide intercom began broadcasting his words to the whole crew. “Everyone, you’re free to leave your stations for the time being,” he announced.  “Feel free to socialize in the quarters deck.  I’ll be heading there as soon as the shuttles return.  At that time, please assemble in the mess hall for a crew meeting.  You’re all dismissed until then.” Deciding that now was as good a time as any to check on Spike, Twilight headed straight for the lift and rode it down to the quarters deck. Heading straight for room number five to check on the young dragon, Twilight hoped that he hadn’t been too shaken up by the effects of the recent battle.