//------------------------------// // Part 1. // Story: Rescue at Midnight Station // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// The asteroid continues on its long orbit of the binary stars in the star system. It’s small, smaller than even a proto-moon, but it is large enough to have its own gravity. Miniscule compared to a larger moon or even a planet. Its core would be highly prized by sentient species all over the galaxy, a mix of duranium, uranium, titanium, and iron, with a smattering of dilithium crystals. The asteroid was likely formed when some larger body collapsed in on itself then exploded. It’s surface, though, is covered with a layer of dust accreted over millennia from impacts with smaller asteroids that pulverized and ground themselves down to sand. The nearly negligible gravity is enough to keep that dust together, coating the asteroid to a depth of tens of meters. The asteroid rotates in its orbit, bringing a few structures of the underlying rock into periods of starlight and immense darkness. The terminator between light and dark moves rapidly across the surface, and for a moment, more than just dust is visible to anyone who would be able to see. A wedge-shaped structure peeks out from the dust of the asteroid’s surface. It glints momentarily in the bright light of the stars of the system, though more dust is settling, and before long, the entire structure would end up completely buried, covered in a layer of sand of the asteroid. As the stars set in the fantastically short day, black lettering on the hull can be seen, NCC-74656. And above the registry number, emblazoned proudly on the depowered starship, USS Voyager. Star Trek Voyager Rescue At Midnight Station Naomi Wildman, the youngest crewmember of the starship Voyager walks through the deserted corridors.The ships battery powered emergency lighting provides minimal illumination. She stumbles a bit as the artificial gravity fluctuates in low power mode. “Mom?” She calls out, her voice filled with almost a desperate hope and sadness, “Neelix? Anyone?” Her calls echo down the hallway for a moment, yet there is no reply, just the sounds of systems failing. She reaches to a computer terminal, at her touch the terminal remains black. She moans softly, on battery power, most of the computer terminals won’t work. She looks down, thinking of the ship where things are, then brightens, she knows of a few spots where the computer would still be working. She walks down the corridor, turning to the turbolift. The doors part at her approach, she turns and faces the doors as they close, “Bridge.” She says softly. The computer chirps and the turbolift hums as it moves. Though it seems to be slower than usual. How low are the batteries on the ship? Finally, the doors open and she steps out onto the deserted bridge. “Computer.” She is greeted by the regular acknowledgement of the computer system, “Why is the ship on low power mode?” The computer takes a moment to process, then the feminine voice of the computer pipes up, “The warp core was taken automatically offline due to computer failures. Fusion reactors are available.” “What is the power level of the emergency batteries?” “Seventeen percent.” Naomi’s eyes widen, she heads over to the engineering terminal, once she gets there, she closes her eyes, trying to remember the engineering training she’s received from Seven of Nine. She quickly smiles and her fingers fly across the keypads. The computer chirps in response, but after a few moments, an error signal sounds, “Structural damage affecting multiple systems including relay systems on deck fifteen is preventing secondary power initialization.” Naomi sighs and continues her work, finally, the computer chirps in response as she bypasses the damages systems for pathways in the interior of the ship capable of carrying the power. Finally the fusion generators located next to the impulse engines fire to life. After only a few minutes, they are at full power, and quickly the ship starts to awaken as the secondary power systems take up the load. Lights all throughout the ship brighten as other emergency systems power down and the primary systems take over. Naomi smiles as the computer continues to respond to her touch. Finally, she looks up at the speaker in the ceiling, “Computer.” After the computer chirps in response, “Where is my mom?” “Ensign Wildman is not aboard the ship.” Naomi frowns, “Where is Captain Janeway?” “Captain Janeway is not aboard the ship.” Naomi suppresses the desire to whine, “Is anyone aboard except for me?” The computer chirps a few times, then, “Internal sensors are offline, no active communicators are present aboard the Voyager.” She looks down at the status display, all fusion reactors show on the status board as online. Her fingers fly over the keypads again, and shortly the computer chirps. “Internal sensors online and calibrated. Stand by.” Naomi stares fixedly at the status display until the computer chirps again, “There are life signs present on the bridge and cargo bay two.” “Seven!” Naomi rushes to the turbolift. This time, the turbolift hums normally as it moves through the ship. Naomi smiles as the doors open and she trots happily toward the door to cargo bay 2. She slaps the door open control and watches the doors slowly slide open. She takes a step in, “Seven?” Silence greets her. She moves over to the Borg alcoves along the wall of the cargo bay, and Seven’s alcove is empty. The others are not, “Mezoti, Azan, Rebi, where are Seven and Icheb?” The other Borg children stand there, motionless. Naomi stops for a moment, getting her breath. Finally, she moves over to the console, pressing the buttons to end their regeneration cycles. With an audible click, all three Borg children drop to the floor. Naomi rushes over to Mezoti and brings the girl onto her lap, “Oh, please, wake up.” She moans as she pats the girl’s face gently. After a few moments, Mezoti’s eyes flash open. “What happened?” She croaks. Naomi fights to keep back tears, “Everyone is gone!” Rebi stirs and sits up, “Gone!?” Naomi nods, “Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine, my mom! Everyone is missing. Mezoti sits up, “I remember some sort of energy surge, it caused some damage, so backup systems brought me to the alcove.” She looks at the other children, who nod. She looks at Naomi, “What happened to you?” Naomi looks down, “I was in my quarters, and everything went white.” She stops and sighs, “I woke up under my bed. I don’t know how I got there. Then I started looking for everyone. The ship was on emergency batteries, and they were really low. I think we were unconscious for a while.” Mezoti stands up, “Well, there’s an easy way to find out. Computer.” “Working.” “When was the power surge that knocked out the crew.” The computer chirps a few times, “An unknown energy surge damaged systems at seventeen-forty-three.” Naomi glances at the time display, “So, we’ve been out for about eighteen hours. Whoever did this is long gone.” She stands up, “We need to find an adult.” She stops for a moment, brightening, “The Doctor has his emergency command hologram mode. We can get him to help get the ship working!” She streaks for the door, the other children in tow. “Computer!” Naomi calls as she skids to a stop inside sickbay, “Activate Emergency Medical Hologram.” The computer chirps, then sounds an error, “The EMH program is currently offline.” "What?"Mezoti inquires as she walks over to the holographic control panel and taps on it, looking at a menu, "He's not just offline, his programs not stored in the data bank anymore." Naimi reaches up, feeling around and picks up the doctor’s mobile emitter. She sits back, looking at it, "But he never leaves sickbay without this. Whoever took the adults must have taken the doctor too." "Maybe his program was transferred to the holodeck," Azan starts and begins tapping on the a computer terminal. Joining Azan, Rebi begins helping, "There are several programs the doctor could, or would, seek refuge in." Both boys nod once in unison as they begin bringing up files, Azan calling out the names. "Marseilles, France." "Doctor not present, no characters found." "Florence, Italy." "Di Vinci's workshop, no characters found." Fairhaven." "Doctor is not present, setting unaffected, only characters present are...the children." Naomi sits back, “Whoever they were, they took every adult from Voyager, holographic, and real.” She looks around at the faces arrayed around her. “What are we going to do?” The Borg children all look down, silence reigns in sickbay for several long moments, punctuated by suppressed sobs from the children. Mizati comes to herself for a moment and looks at Naomi, "They only took the adults?" "Equestria!" Naomi says, "Computer, status of the Equestria program." "99% of characters present." Smiling brightly Naomi looks at the other children."Computer, activate Twilight Sparkle and transfer her to the Sickbay." The computer chirps in reply, and after a few moments, Princess Twilight Sparkle shimmers into existence on the sickbay. She shakes her head for a moment, then looks up, “Naomi!” She shouts gleefully. She gallops over and rears up to hug Naomi. Who enthusiastically hugs back. Finally, she pulls away. “I thought you were going to visit on Saturday. I’m not complaining, any time I get to see my friend…” she trails off at the look on Naomi’s face, “Naomi…what’s wrong?” She glances around, “Who are these other humans? Are they your friends?” Naomi smiles wanly, “We are friends, but something horrible has happened.” Twilight glances around, “Well, the Doctor hasn’t visited Equestria in a while, and I don’t see him here, where is he?” “All of the adults are gone, every single one, even holographic people have been removed from the computer.” Twilight furrows her brows, “What? How? Is that even possible?” “A self-aware holoprogram?” Mezoti says, moving closer and touching Twilight’s outstretched wing. The alicorn folds her wings and looks curiously at the young lady. “You have machinery implanted, are you like Seven of Nine?” Mezoti nods, eyes wide, “You know about the ship outside your program?” “Yes.” She glances back at Naomi. Rebi steps up, “How?” Twilight stops for a moment, looking at Naomi, then over at the twins, “It’s a long story. But we need to figure out what happened. We need to get the Captain back.” “But where do we start?” Mezoti says. Twilight sits down and puts a hoof to her chin, “Well, we can get to the bridge, see if we can scan around and find where anypony is.” “Anypony?” Rebi says. “What does that mean?” Azan finishes, getting a blink from Twilight Sparkle. She flushes, “Sorry, it’s what I’m used to saying back in Equestria.” She walks over, her horn lighting, “Well, since the Doctor isn’t here, I don’t think he’ll mind me taking this.” She fits the mobile emitter behind her ear and flickers for a moment as her program is transferred to the device. She gallops to the door, looking back, “Are you going to come?” *** The bridge is quiet in a strange way. There are the sounds of controls being operated, buttons being tapped, but the normal small talk of the crew is missing. The quips from Tom to Tuvok. Harry Kim’s hopeful voice. It has been over an hour since the makeshift crew of the Voyager had started working, and hardly a word was spoken. Twilight stood at tactical on her hind legs, supporting herself with one front leg as she works the panel. Azan and Rebi work as a team at the engineering terminal while Mezoti sits at ops working the small screens there. Naomi, the good captain’s assistant, sits in the first officers chair, using his displays as she works. The small team barely speaking as they struggle with the systems. With a frustrated huff Twilight tilts her head back, looking up towards the ceiling and calls out, “Spike? SPIKE!” Naomi jumps before glancing up and back from her commandeered chair. “Spike's not here.” “Oh right, I guess I’m used to having him around when I’m working,” Twilight says with a blush then shakes her head, “Okay, external sensors are coming online, but I’m still not getting anything. Just static.” Naomi looks back at the main display then taps on her console.“I’m getting a lot of feedback.” Ruffling her wings, Twilight shakes her head. “Well, the sensors are operational, but we can’t see anything.” Naomi pops up from her seat and moves over to Twilight, glancing at the displays, “Remember, there is some damage on deck fifteen.” Twilight’s eyes widen, “Shifting to tactical display.” On the screen, a wireframe of Voyager appears, along with the sensor data. Finally, a better picture emerges, “We’ve soft-landed.” Naomi blinks, “Huh?” “We’ve impacted something with enough gravity to hold us, but the structural damage is minor at worst. We were just drifting, not under power. So, we just got drawn to it.” “Well, can we move away?” Twilight concentrates on her console, finally she looks up at the other kids, her face bleak, “Some of the circuit pathways are shorted out.There’s minor damage all over the ship. We simply can’t reroute enough to get the impulse engines online, and thrusters are iffy as well.” She sighs, “We have to do some serious repairs to get the ship moving at all.” “But whoever took my mom and the other adults are getting away, we need to find them, Twilight.” Twilight leans over, using a wing to bring the young girl closer to her, “We aren’t giving up.” She taps a display, “The Delta Flyer is still here. And it looks like the shuttle bay can be opened, we will have to split up to find them.” She taps a few keys, "The dust covering the ship is thinnest near the shuttle bay. We can move it." Azan steps up, “Rebi and I…” “Will stay here and start repairs.” Rebi finishes. Mezoti moves up next to Naomi, “I’ll help Naomi. We’ll get the Delta Flyer ready and going.” “Oh, no. You aren’t going without me!” Twilight says. Then she glances at the boys, “But you might need some help.” She smiles brightly, “come with me.” The children look at each other as the purple alicorn bounces over the console and gallops for the turbolift. The door dutifully opens as she approaches, she glances back. “You coming?” Again, the children look at each other, Twilight’s impatient prancing finally gets them to move, and they crowd into the turbolift with her. As Twilight enters sickbay, she calls out, “Computer, I need you to activate and transfer a pony from the Equestria program to Sickbay.” After a few moments, “Please identify the character you wish transferred.” Twilight smiles as she hops up on the Doctor’s chair.Unfortunately, the chair begins to spin as her mass hits it, quickly she uses her magic to stop the chair before settling down. Once settled, she lights her horn again and slides it over to the console and she starts working, “Don’t let Rainbow Dash on these chairs, she’ll be spinning for hours…or until she makes Pinkie Pie throw up from dizziness.” Naomi moves up next to her as the alicorn’s hooves tap keypads on the display. “You’re not bringing Rainbow Dash, are you?” Twilight smiles at Naomi, “Nope, another friend, one who’s really good at organizing. But she doesn’t have enough information right now.I’m having her learn the ship’s specs quickly before she arrives, also all the current technical data on what’s going on right now.” She stops with the computer surface, “There we go.Okay, computer, transfer her here.” The computer chirps a few times, then another pony materializes in sickbay. This one is pink, with a violet mane and tail with a lavender streak. The three brilliant cut gems are emblazoned on her flank sparkle for a moment as she fully materializes. Spreading her forelegs, she shakes herself out vigorously. “Wow does that ever make your hair stand on end.” “Amethyst!” Twilight calls out, hopping off the chair and running over to the other pony, hugging her tightly, “How do you feel?” “Am I all here? And is my mane poofed out from all that energy?” Twilight laughs, “Your mane’s fine and yes, you’re all here.” “That was pretty weird!” Amethyst says, putting a hoof to her head, she finally brightens, “I knew we were on SOME kind of ship, but this is really weird. I got the scrolls you sent and read up on them.” Twilight smiles, “I know, you are not in your element, but you have said that you are the best organizer in Ponyville.” Amethyst smiles, “None better.” She stops and flushes, “Except for you, Twilight.” Twilight puts a hoof around Amethyst, “Amethyst Star, meet Rebi and Azan.” Amethyst offers a hoof, which gets shaken by each boy, “Just call me Sparkler.” “Pleased to…” Rebi says. Followed by Azan, “meet you, Sparkler.” Rebi tilted his head looking at Azan a moment then at Amethyst, “Scrolls?” “Well yeah, I had to read up on the ship before coming here.” “But that’s not…”Rebi started but Amethyst was quick to cut them off. “It was far more polite and felt nicer for me to say, than she cracked open my program and dumped a ton of info into it. I’ll stick with, I read it before getting here.” Amethyst said, “The idea of someone cracking open my head and rooting around in my memories is just a little offsetting.” Twilight smiles, then she sits down, “Unfortunately, you can’t leave sickbay, you have to tell the computer to transfer you where there are holo-emitters. Which means here, or the holodecks. So, your job will be to organize everything, keep track of what’s been repaired, and what needs work. You’ll be able to use the com system to talk to Azan and Rebi and keep them apprised of what’s going on.” Sparkler hops up on the chair and looks at the computer terminal, “The only downside is, now that I know about these, I kinda want one in Ponyville, just so I can store my music, books, and photos on.” Twilight giggles, “I’ve gave your program the information to make it possible for you to help. And the computer terminals here should have enough access to be able to do what you need to do.” She stops and smiles at Naomi and Mezoti, “And we will go to the shuttle bay, and get the Delta Flyer up and going.” Her horn lights and another computer terminal lights up. “I’ve sent the commands to get the systems on the Flyer starting up. Should be warmed up by the time we get there.” The girls follow Twilight as she trots out of sickbay. *** The hatch at the rear of the shuttle hisses as it slides slowly open, revealing the interior of the craft. Trotting in, Twilight takes her seat in the pilot’s chair of the Delta Flyer, her horn alight as she manipulates the controls. “Ohhh, manual controls, this is so much easier and more fun.” Mezoti walks in and sits down at the engineering station and taps a few buttons, “All systems functioning within normal parameters.” “Ouch, you sound like an android saying that,” Naomi says as she sits down at the science console, “closing rear hatch. Force fields in place, opening bay doors.” Slowly the outer doors of the shuttle bay began to open, instantly the shield takes the load and shimmers as sand and dust presses against it, trying to invade the bay. Twilight takes a deep breath, “Okay girls, ready?” “Ready, the debris is not that bad, no large rocks or anything,” Naomi says, her fingers flying over the controls. She glances over at Mezoti, “The program you found to sweep debris should work here.” A loud thunk is heard though the shuttle, “Docking clamps are engaged, we are locked to the deck,” Twilight says, looking over her shoulder, “Your turn.” “Give me a sec, this isn’t as easy as I thought,” Mezoti says, “Okay, tractor beam polarity is reversed. We now have our shovel, operation dig out is a go.” The tractor beam at the front of the delta flyer hums as it begins pushing against the sand in waves. Slowly, push after push, more and more sand and dust are cleared until finally they can see space outside. After a few minutes of careful work by the former Borg, the shuttle has cleared a large enough hole to fly out. “Releasing clamps.” A loud thunk sounds throughout the cabin, “and here we go.” Twilight taps a few keys and the shuttle moves out with small puffs from the thruster system. As the Flyer passes through the environmental containment force field, it enters deep space.Twilight looks down at the ship slowly, noting the microgravity of the asteroid that Voyager has landed on. With quick manipulation of the controls, the shuttle moves to a high orbit of the asteroid. She turns it back to look at Voyager. “Oh, wow.” Naomi says, looking at the somnolent starship through the window. Twilight activates the active scanners, “It’s buried under several tons of dust, but with the low gravity, once they get the impulse engines running, extricating the ship won’t be too hard.” She brings up a schematic from her scans, “The damage doesn’t look too bad though. Some minor buckling, maybe a few dents in the saucer section and the engineering section. Though the navigational deflector looks completely fouled.” “Oh, B’elanna is gonna have a field day with that.” Mezoti says softly, then she turns and looks at Twilight. “Will the boys be able to get it working?” Twilight looks, “I’m no engineer, but from what I can see here, I think they can get it working, just not perfectly. Probably enough for warp five or so.” Naomi sighs, “I guess that will have to be enough.” She concentrates on her own console, “The ship’s ion trail, it trails off a few light minutes from here, she must have drifted for a couple of hours before landing there.” She taps again, “But the trail is pretty good, I think we can follow it. Twilight, take us on a course of two-thirty-two by seventy-four.” As Twilight enters in the orders, the small ship begins to rotate on its axis. Twilight applies impulse thrust and the sublight engines of the Delta Flyer push it forward. The shuttle accelerates to a percentage of the speed of light, though with as vast space is, they lose sensor contact with Voyager fairly quickly. Time passes slowly as they continue on, sensors following the vapor trail of the Voyager. Finally, the sensor displays light up, getting Twilight’s attention. She studies the screen for a moment, “Okay, Naomi, keep the sensors on passive.” She glances back with a smile, then she settles down to read the displays. “Yep, ‘Listen first then look,’ Just like Chakotay said in survival class,” Naomi murmurs. Mezoti shakes her head, “He was talking about rabbits doing that.” “Look at the size of those warp trails,” Twilight said her wings going up in surprise. Mezoti leans over and looks, “It seems like ships keep running over it, I have multiple trails following the same paths, like a patrol route.” “Good eye, as keen as a pegasus there,” Twilight says looking back. “Enhanced optics,” Mezoti says softly. “I’ve got another trail, much smaller, it’s following a course avoiding the other warp trails,” Naomi says, “here’s the signature.” Extending the scanning range Twilight tilted her head, “What do we have here? I’ve got a warp core and subspace field, it’s a small one though, traveling at warp one point five. Based on the size, it looks like a small cargo ship.”She taps the controls and a small thump announces a launch. “I’m launching a micro probe. We can hail them through it without giving away our position.” She sits and waits as the small device moves away from the Flyer. “Okay, universal translator tied in, I’m hailing them.” She says as she taps the com controls. “This is the shuttle Delta Flyer to the unknown cargo vessel, please respond.” She waits a few moments, then repeats her hail. Finally, the speakers crackle in response, “Delta Flyer, this is the trading vessel Scoop. We copy you.” Twilight looks around, her hoof pressed on the mute button, “I don’t think they would understand a couple of children and a purple quadruped, so we should keep this on audio only.” The girls nod, and she releases the mute. “Our vessel was attacked, and a good number of the crew was taken. It happened in this area. Do you have any information?” The voice on the other end becomes instantly guarded, “Did they take even holographic characters from the ship’s computers?” Twilight nods, “Yes, they did. Every adult holographic character, every adult from the ship itself.” She hears a sigh, “Yeah, we know them. They call themselves the Keritians. They’ve been raiding more often in the area. Looking for workers for their station on Keritos V.” Twilight frowns, puzzled, “That name is weird.” She shakes her head, “Where did they take every…one?” “Oh no, you don’t want to go there. You’ll end up working there.” “Not if I can help it!” Twilight growls softly. She stops and shakes her head, then louder, “They are a danger to everyone if they keep abducting the ship crews. We will do everything we can to stop them.” “How can the crew of a shuttle that’s been preyed upon by the Keritians help?” Twilight looks back at the girls, “Well, let’s just say we are very motivated. Please, tell me everything you know about them.” *** Rebi and Azan have been close all their lives. When the Borg took them and joined them to the collective, they stayed with each other on the same ship. Even when freed from the collective, they kept their Borg interlink between each other. Sharing thoughts, ideas, and often choosing to speak to each other through the interlink instead of vocalizing, they made an effective pair. Holding his hand out of service hatch, Azan only has to wait moments for Rebi to hand him the tool he needs. Quickly the arm vanishes back into the access port followed by a small whirring sound. The deflector control room on deck eleven has several crawl spaces and connecting tubes, but the pair is concerned with the primary control array, where they had all the coverings off. Nodding, Rebi walks over to the portable replicator unit they had wired into the EPS conduits. Selecting fabrication mode, the replicator hums for a moment as it creates the requested component. He pulls out a component and examines it.Azan slides out and sits up, inspecting the part he pulled out, holds out his hand as Rebi hands him the replacement. Trading parts Azan vanishes back into the tunnel. Running new cables to the ODN junction Azan attaches the small terminal, replacing the small burned out one.As Azan connects the final optical fibers to the terminal the lights and primary computer terminal flashes to life. Almost instantly, the screen on the terminal gains a lavender face, “So, sensors are restored in here.” She glances around, “Umm, I can’t see either of you. Are the sensors calibrated right?” Rebi moves to where the visual sensor can see him, “We are here. We have sensors...” “And power online, but we still have more to do.”Azan finished as he poked out of the crawl space. “I understand.” Sparkler says. Her eyes fasten on the boys as they move onto another access port. They start working, with the pony watching them. Finally, she shifts on her chair, “You two don’t talk much.” Azan glances at Sparkler, “We do most of our communicating…” Rebi takes up for Azan, “via what’s left of our Borg link. We don’t need to communicate much…” “Verbally.” Azan finishes. The boys look at each other. “The Borg. The information Twilight gave me on them was pretty scary. About as bad as the changeling drones we faced a few times,” She shakes her head, her ears flattening back feeling the hair on her back rise. “And Voyager took five former Borg into their family.” “Yes.” Rebi says as the systems for the deflector power up. Azan leaned over looking at the screen, “You had scary drones?” Sparkler nodded, “They weren’t cyborgs or such.They were insect like, twisted and corrupted creatures called changelings. Lead by a queen, her drones would harvest other life forms for her to feed on.” The two boys look at each other and blink a few times, before both look at the screen. “I was in Canterlot for the royal wedding when they attacked, there were tens of thousands of them. I grabbed Dinky, a little foal and tried to run but they were everywhere,” she flattens her ears and a shiver goes down her back. “I couldn’t let them hurt Dinky.” “Can we hear the full story?”Azan asked. Sparkler shakes her head, “Later maybe, but we have to much work to do.The main deflector is still offline.” Grabbing a large bar Rebi and Azan both push it up.A loud clank and hiss is heard, followed by a soft humming sound. Sparkler giggles and clops her hooves together. “Okay, that’s awesome. Deflector control is working again!” Running between three terminals, Sparkler shakes her head, “Computer, how come I can’t get a display of power distribution networks?” “Medical terminal three does not have sufficient space to utilize the requested display properly,” The computer responds promptly. “Great, which terminals do have sufficient space?” Sparkler looks around the medbay, waiting on the computer. After a few chirps, “The engineering station on main bridge, engineering stations one through ten in main engineering, power maintenance station on deck fifteen, deflector maintenance station on deck…” “Okay, and which of these locations have holoprojectors?” Sparkler props up her cheek with one hoof while tapping on the control panel with her other hoof. Her ear flicks in time with the computer chirps. “None.” “And I’m stuck here, or… the holodeck.” She stops for a long moment, finally she brightens, “Computer is it possible to create a holographic bridge and transfer ship functions there?” “Affirmative, holodecks are capable of being used as axillary bridge or control rooms,” the computer chirps in reply. That gets a big smile from Sparkler, “Computer, activate Holodeck two, and build a complete replica of the main bridge there. Then transfer the command functions there.” The computer, chirps for several moments, finally the feminine voice of the computer speaks up, “Program complete. Authorization is required to transfer command functions. Sparkler grumbles, “As if the computer doesn’t know almost everypony is gone. Well, let’s hope that code that Twilight stuck in my skull helps.” She projects her voice towards the ceiling, “Authorization Sparkler two-nine-beta-seven.” Her eyes widen as the computer chirps a for a few seconds, finally it answers, “Command codes have been transferred.” She looks at the boys, “I can use the status boards on the bridge to help.” She narrows her eyes for a moment, “Computer, transfer program Amethyst Star to holodeck two.” The boys look at each other as she disappears from the com screen. Azan moves over to the computer terminal, pressing the keypads he hums softly as he works. Rebi moves to the station next to him and continues the work. “Okay, I’m on the holographic bridge.” Sparkler says as her form blinks onto the com screen. She taps on a control, “Oh good, you are purging the dust from the deflector systems.” She taps the screen, “Then we will have to do a final purge once we extricate the ship from the asteroid. But at least we will be able to initialize the systems before powering up.” “You talk a lot.” Rebi says, looking at Sparkler on the com. The pony flinches, her ears flicking back and forth, “Well, it would help if you two were to talk back to me. We are supposed to be working together.” Azan stands up, “You tell us what we need to know, and where to work next, and we inform you of what we’ve done,” Rebi stands next to his brother, “even though you can see the completed work on the status monitors.” Azan turns towards the door, “And you work the computer from your end.” Sparkler flushes, looking down, then her ears flatten back, “Well, talking to you helps me think, so I’m going to keep talking to you, whether you respond or not.” She flicks her ears and growls, “Well, whatever knocked everypony out also affected your main computer. The filing system is a mess. Parsing errors everywhere. Makes me glad the holodeck systems are in fairly decent shape, except for all the characters missing from the other programs.” She taps her chin with a hoof, “Well, that’s a problem for after we are underway. I see you are done in deflector control for now. Time to bring the warp core online.” “Heading to Engineering.” Rebi says. “Oh, no need.” The visual sensor follows as Sparkler trots over to the engineering station on the bridge, “You’ve repaired enough circuits, I can do it from here. Head to the bridge.” She stops for a moment, “Well, the holographic bridge on holodeck two.” The boys look at each other and shrug. As Sparkler works, automatic systems in engineering hum to life. Using power from the fusion reactors, the warp core lights up as the superconducting magnets along the entire core heat up, setting up the magnetic field for the reaction. Sparkler watches the status monitors as she tells the computer to adjust the dilithium crystal at the heart of the matter and anti-matter reaction chamber to be in alignment for the upcoming reaction. “Okay, setting the ratio so we can start the reaction.” She presses a few pads on the terminal. At her command, deuterium from the upper reaction storage tank is pumped to the injectors at the very top of the warp core. Soon, the pumps and injectors are primed. At the opposite end, a few grams of anti-matter are magnetically pumped from the anti-matter containment and the anti-matter injectors are likewise primed. This fact is relayed to the engineering terminal on the holographic bridge as the holodeck doors open, letting Rebi and Azan in. They move to the terminal with Sparkler, she points at the status display. “We are ready to power up.” The boys nod and she presses a final keypad. The injectors on both sides fire, the anti-deuterium from the lower injectors is pressed together by the magnets along the warp core, sending the miniscule stream to the dilithium crystal, it being charged by the power system allows the anti-matter to pass through it without actually touching the crystal structure, to meet the deuterium being brought in from the top. Matter and anti-matter interact, each annihilating the other in a massive burst of energy. The greater amount of deuterium absorbing the energy and becoming a super high energy plasma, which is directed down the plasma flow conduits towards the warp engines. The warp nacelles of the starship glow blue as the primary power systems of the ship start to take over. Sparkler sits back happily, “setting power systems to automatic.” She looks over at the boys, “That was easy.” That gets a small laugh from them, Azan moves over to the navigation panel, he sits down, “Navigation and helm online.” Rebi moves over to tactical, “We can move the ship, now.” Sparkler taps a few keys, “We are ready, let’s get off of this rock.” *** “Well, we really don’t know much about them. Not many escape from that station of theirs. They work the living until they die, and holographic until their programs degrade. They aren’t much for maintenance on the programs.” Twilight looks up at the speaker the other captain’s voice is being emitted from and shudders, “Do you know where it is?” “Not exactly, they don’t advertise their location, but what we do know was from one of their ships had suffered a power loss. The salvager's were able to access their computers and glean some information that wasn’t messed up in whatever caused their warp core to go offline.” The other voice stops for a moment, “Well, the Keritians don’t go through a normal growth cycle like most humanoids.” Naomi speaks up, “Growth cycle?” “Yeah, you know, conceived, are born, are babies which grow into children which grow into adults. That’s how it is for most species. Not the Keritians, no. They hatch, pretty much fully grown. They don’t have a childhood. That’s one reason they don’t pick children up from the ships they attack. They use a powerful stun ray which usually overloads the other ship’s shielding. And they prefer to catch a ship unawares, without shields being up. But once they stun everyone, they transport everything that meets their criteria of a living, sapient creature.” “What are those criteria?” Mezoti says. “Oh, anything over about a meter and a half, weighing over about sixty-five kilos. Must be bipedal, don’t want to grab a big dog or something like that, right?” That gets a chuckle, “Then they whisk them away to their station, and then whomever they’ve stolen will be ore miners for the rest of their lives.” “Sounds dreadful.” Naomi murmurs softly. “Yeah, well. That’s about all we know about them.” Twilight clears her throat, “Thank you so much for the information.” “Yeah, no problem, I hope you find your families.” Twilight moves to close the connection, then she stops, “What’s the name of this place, where they take those they steal.” “Oh, yeah. It’s called Midnight Station.” The com clicks as the other side closes the connection. “Midnight station?” Twilight mumbles softly as she thinks about the name. It shouldn’t bother her, but something about it triggers old memories. A cold shiver runs down the entire length of her back as the fur stands on end, her mouth instantly goes dry as her eyes widen, flattening her ears, she whimpers, “Celestia no.”