//------------------------------//
// Welcome Aboard 
// Story: Stranded 
// by FoxMcCloud7921 
//------------------------------//

November 26, 2033 ANM
One year later…


The EAS Manehattan stood proudly in the docking bay, completed after a year of planning and building. It was one hundred seventy meters long and close to fifty meters tall. It had an arrowhead design, making it slightly smaller than the average warship but it also had a huge speed advantage. At least that was what the Alliance and ESP (Equestrian Space Program) were hoping for.
Today was the big day, and everyone was jittery over the Manehattan’s first departure. Tests had been done countlessly to make sure all systems were working perfectly and it was only after the ship passed these tests that supplies for the long journey ahead were put inside the ship ahead of time.
The mission that the Manehattan crew was about to take on was simple: search for new life as well as systems that could support ponykind. As such, a planetary system was located near the star Centaurus and has been dubbed the Alpha Centaurus System. If successful, the Alliance would be able to expand their colonization efforts across the galaxy. For a ship without FTL capabilities, it would have taken about five years to reach the system. Now, the Manehattan could get there in five days.
To say that Princess Twilight Sparkle was excited was an understatement. After many years of being a princess, she has been much better with controlling her emotions…most of the time. The glee on her face was apparent as she stared at her ship.
Technically while it was her ship (it belonged to the Alliance but same difference), it was the captain that called the shots. Twilight was merely a supervisor, an ambassador of Equus if you wanted to call her that. Now it was time for her to meet her crew: they were going to be getting to know one another for the next couple months. “I’ve got plenty of time before Celestia and the others show up. I’ll start with the junior officers: they need to know they’re just as important as the senior officers.



Captain Star Trotter was well known in the Alliance Navy. An earth pony with a slight amount of gray on his muzzle to show off his experience, Trotter had been involved in two skirmishes with marauders, one on Equus and one in space around the colony planet Harmony. 
The former was when he was an ensign and marauders, a group of griffins, pegasi and a few unicorns, managed a surprise attack on the corvette ship Radiant Dawn. The ship was mostly a transport vessel and had a small crew, which apparently drew the interest of this band of thugs. The crew didn’t have a chance.
The ship was taken hostage immediately and the pirates went through everything, looking for anything of major value. There was a slight glimmer of hope though. Ensign Trotter knew the ship more than some, and especially more than a dirty old pirate. He and the captain were being held together but they were able to send each other messages without the pirates noticing. As such, the two were able to enable lockdown procedures which separated the pirates from one another. They may have had the weapons but the crew had the numbers and they were able to overpower the pirates right on time before reinforcements showed up.
The latter was only a few years ago and that point Trotter was now Commander of the ship Ironhoof which even now was still an impressive warship. Known for its power rather than speed, it was a ship that few dared to mess with. Apparently no one told the group of pirates who had stolen an Alliance ship of their own.
To the Ironhoof’s crew’s credit, the pirates did play dirty, trying to take out the ship’s engines in an ambush. As the ship they stole was a much faster ship, it was able to do more damage in a shorter amount of time. The Ironhoof had one casualty in that fight and unfortunately it had been Captain Silver Star, who’d long be remembered as a pony that never backed down from a fight.
Suddenly, Trotter was now in command and he had to find a way to outwit the pirates. Luckily, they were in orbit of Harmony and it was then that Trotter came up with a plan. He had the ship shoot right past the pirates, which no doubt confused them but they didn’t pursue, they assumed that the ship was retreating. It was at that point that Trotter realized the thugs weren’t very intelligent.
The Ironhoof was a heavy ship but Trotter used that to his advantage as he swung around the planet, using it like a slingshot that brought them full circle, catching the enemy ship unaware. It was then that the ship’s weaponry did the rest and there was another left after the small skirmish.
It may not have been an act that won him a Medal of Bravery, but his quick thinking got him promoted to Captain and until had been serving the Ironhoof proudly. But after hearing about the Manehattan and getting recommendations not just from Princess Twilight but Princess Celestia as well, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Now he was staring at the ship he would be commanding. He had no issues with Princess Twilight accompanying them: one never turns down the aid and protection of a princess. It was a big galaxy out there after all.
Once he had been brought up to speed about the Manehattan’s weaponry and armor capabilities, he was now certain it could take on even the Ironhoof, and probably win in a fight too. For now, he was going to spend what free time he had before launch to meet the members of his crew as well.



Commander Pierre Bilodeau was looking at a tablet while sitting in a café in the large military base, going over checklists to make sure all supplies had already been put onto the ship. The griffin, who had brown coloring on his lower side, white in his chest area and a spot of black feathers on his head, descended from a large military family, but then again most griffins were with the military, one way or another. Born in the Imperial capital of Griffinstone, the Alliance had already formed by the time he was born and once he was of age, he enlisted immediately, much to his father’s joy. 
As such, he has seen countless missions in the system though his experience with space combat was limited. However, he was a formidable foe as many would say, capable of handling almost any weapon he could find, whether it was a blade or a phaser. Beings like griffins and pegasi had a large advantage due to their wings which meant they could easily carry weaponry which put them on equal ground with unicorns. Earth ponies were the least fortunate, but they could do the most damage with their bare hooves if they wanted to.
Out of the corner of his eye, Pierre could see an earth pony approaching him, one that he recognized immediately. He quickly got to his feet and saluted. “Captain.”
“At ease Commander,” Trotter said. “I’m only using this time to meet the entire crew before we depart.”
Pierre smiled slightly. “I was under the impression we already met sir.”
Trotter chuckled. “Yes, you’re right about that, but perhaps you can tell me where I can find the rest of the senior officers. Namely Lieutenant Fire Blaze and Engineer Brimstone.”
“Ah yes Blaze…I think she’s helping the others load up supplies on the ship. As for Brimstone…well I’m pretty sure he’s running diagnostic tests for the millionth time.”
“How fortunate they’re in the same area,” Trotter said as he started to towards the docking bay. He then paused for a moment before he looked back at the griffin. “By the way, once we’re on our way, you and I have a score to settle.”
Pierre grinned. “If you want to lose more bits, be my guest. I’ll gladly take them.”
“I’m still under the impression you cheated.”
“That’s a terrible stereotype!” Trotter only chuckled as he made his way towards the ship.



Lieutenant Fire Blaze was panting slightly after hefting a large container of foodstuffs into the cargo area of the ship. A proud pegasus (as were all, or so she thought), most ponies around her said she was a spitting image of the late Captain Spitfire, former leader of the Wonderbolts all those years ago. That was because she was Blaze’s great-great-great-great-great-grandmother and she had no problem accepting that.
Most in her line had followed suit of joining the Wonderbolts, but once the Alliance formed and space-travel became a real thing, most in her family had diverted off towards joining the EUP while some joined the ESP. As for Blaze, she was a decorated officer of the Alliance Navy and again hoof-picked to join the Manehattan’s crew.
She didn’t know most of the ponies and griffins (she thought she saw a dragon somewhere, hopefully one that doesn’t grow too big), but she was easy to get along with, for the most part. However, she did know Commander Bilodeau because they definitely had history. They both joined the Navy at a young age right after school and they had a rivalry of sorts. This was typical of pegasi and griffins: both had wings and big egos. Of course, the rivalry died down somewhat as they got older but now that they were serving on the same ship, Blaze was more than happy to pour fuel on the fire once again, even if he was her superior officer.
Once she was finished loading, she stood near the loading ramp, giving herself a small break before she went off to her next duty. She noticed Captain Star Trotter approaching and sat up straight and straightened out her uniform before saluting in his direction. “Good morning sir.”
Trotter chuckled. “With the discipline you all have, this might be the best crew I ever worked with. At ease Lieutenant. I just wanted to check up on you and see how everything was going.”
“We’re right on schedule sir. I just finished loading up all our foodstuffs. Should be enough to last us a few years as long as nothing goes wrong.”
“I’d be careful about saying that,” Trotter said. “If everything goes right in our mission, I’ll consider us very lucky then. Commander Bilodeau speaks highly of you.”
Blaze had a look of surprise on her face. “He does, sir?”
Trotter smiled. “Of course. Says your one of the finest officers in the Navy and that I should be grateful to have you part of this crew.”
“Okay he definitely did not say that.”
“Well…okay perhaps I’m paraphrasing here…”
Blaze snorted. “Figures…well I appreciate the kind words. But more importantly, I want to prove my worth to you sir.”
“You’ll have your chance Blaze and I’ll certainly be looking forward to it. You wouldn’t by chance know where Engineer Brimstone is, do you?”
“Yes sir, he’s in the warp reactor chamber still probably. He’s been down there for almost an hour.”
“Better safe than sorry I suppose,” Trotter shrugged slightly. “Keep at it then Blaze.”
“Yes sir.”
Trotter made his way into the ship and had to take a moment to gather his surroundings once he took the elevator to the main floor. The design for the ship was most impressive. The command area was large enough to allow easy access and was mostly dominated by the large panel in the middle which would display a large map of the galaxy. Just ahead was a small hallway that led to the cockpit. Trotter made a note to see the pilot after they left.
There were four floors on the ship. The main room he was on was the third, while the first was where the cargo area was and the fourth was the captain’s private quarters. He then went back to the elevator and took it down to the second floor.
The loud humming he heard once the doors opened told him that the reactor was running. Trotter had to remind himself that this was a dangerous area. There were two reactors, one that powered the large engines of the ship, and the other that powered the warp or FTL drive. The engine reactor was powered by a large crystal that extracted magical energy that pretty much supplied the entirety of the ship. The FTL drive was similar but the crystal used was actually pony-made as opposed to being made by nature. The FTL reactor only activated once the ship went to warp speed but the crystal that powered the ship had to be much more resistant due to fluxes in power which made these crystals a much needed accessory. As such, they were practically impossible to break using brute strength.
The reactors were on opposite sides of the floor and it was at the FTL reactor that Trotter found Engineer Brimstone. The red unicorn was looking at his tablet, most likely running diagnostic tests on the reactors to make sure everything was in the green. “I hope I’m not interrupting Engineer…” he said.
The unicorn almost jumped and quickly turned towards the captain. “Captain, I didn’t hear you coming in,” he said, quickly saluting.
“It is kind of hard to hear in here,” Trotter said. “At ease Engineer. How does everything look?”
“The entire ship is purring like a baby manticore so I’d say all is good,” Brimstone said.
“Glad to hear. I’ll be honest my experience with engineering is a bit spotty.”
“That’s why I’m here sir,” Brimstone nodded.
“If you don’t mind me asking…does your family do forging?”
“Ah…to be honest sir I get that question a lot,” Brimstone said. “Actually, I’m Brimstone III, named after my father and grandfather. Making weaponry is nice and all, I admit I’m good with my hooves, but I wanted to do more to challenge myself. So therefore I got into engineering and found myself working on a small number of ships.” He glanced around the floor. “Of course, nothing like this, so this ought to be a challenge but one I’ve already gladly accepted.”
“Well considering you’ve been assigned a whole team to yourself, I’m sure we’ll be in good hooves.” Trotter couldn’t help but stare at the reactor. “So…has this been tested before?”
“Of course,” Brimstone nodded. “We first tested with a smaller version on a smaller cruiser and we had instant success. However, it wasn’t as simple to make the reactor bigger to accommodate a bigger ship. We were a bit delayed due to the testing but this reactor has been put through five different testings in different situations and she’s handled herself beautifully.”
“I’ll let you continue your work,” Trotter said. He looked at his watch. “Less than two hours til launch…” As he made his way back up to the cargo area, he decided to have a quick word with Princess Twilight before they were to depart.