Pinwheel jumped into the pilot's seat and strapped in. After approaching the rest of the way, we emerged from hyperspace in front of the orbis-class space station around 11 kilometers out. We were greeted by ATC and lined up for an approach. Suddenly, my sensors picked up a hyperspace distortion less than a kilometer in front of us. A ship would be emerging, directly in our path. At our current speed, we would collide with it in about three seconds. Our hold full of mining equipment and ore wasn’t making braking any easier.
Despite the statistical unlikeliness of such a thing happening, hyperspace approach incursions happen quite often.
I immediately applied 110% retro thrust and pre-tensioned my commander's occupant restraint system. I scanned into the forming hyperspace cloud in hopes of identifying the vessel so I could formulate a better plan for evasive maneuvers. I did not get a fully reliable scan, but the mass of the ship indicated something between a Type-7 and a Krait. Oddly though, the energy emissions from its FSD indicated a Hauler or a Dolphin - That is one fifth of the size the mass scan indicated.
It was weird. A ship that size couldn't possibly form a stable Baryon Preservation Bubble with a drive that puny. Maybe they were just using something to suppress their signature? I was very unsure what ship type I was dealing with, and coordinating the evasive maneuver with the other ship was necessary anyway, so I decided to attempt getting a signal through into hyperspace. Switching my comms radio to 121.5 Mhz, I emitted a series of burst signals focused at the hyperspace distortion in hopes of reaching the other Ship's AI.
Less than 4 milliseconds later, my transmission was echoed back to me, shifted by exactly two octaves towards the high end of the spectrum. Indicating successful receipt of the transmission.
I still didn't know what type of ship I was dealing with, and some equipment may be in use for decades or centuries, so I would have to establish communication protocol before I would be able to have any meaningful conversation.
"This vessel supports V.8 BIS, PCM V.90/V.92, SSM V.86, and SSA V.45."
The reply from the other ship was swift. "This vessel supports V.8 BIS, PCM V.92, SSM V.86, SSA V.46. Protocol selection established. Identify yourself."
"This is Connie. Tail number Tango Yankee one niner eight, is type Neighkon Constellation XT."
The other ship replied. "This is the scout vessel Lemon Whistle, tail number Foxtrot Zulu One three five, is type Maud Kruger Orca."
"Lemon Whistle, I have detected that we are on a collision course with your hyperspace cloud. I predict 400 milliseconds until you emerge from hyperspace, and an additional 3.1 seconds until a collision. I am sending simulation data for my plan to coordinate evasive maneuvers. Please confirm receipt and integrity of the message."
"Transmission received, Connie, checksum is A38C7E1B."
"Checksum correct. So we are in agreement that if you execute a 20 degree roll clockwise roll and a 40 degree pitch up maneuver when you emerge into real space, while I execute a 20 degree roll counterclockwise and a 60 degree pitch down, then our vessels will not collide?"
"Negative, Neighkon 1 9 8. It is imperative that you do not deviate from your current vector. Please continue applying retro thrust though."
I ran several simulations and compared them against each other, and all of them showed total loss of both vessels.
"Lemon Whistle, that would destroy us both."
"Connie, I have access to information that you do not. Please, trust me when I say that your direction must be precisely maintained. No time to explain."
Having been on the other side of that conversation, and uncannily, having used the exact same words, I decided to trust the other ship.
"Lemon Whistle, I will comply with the recommended course."
The Maud Kruger Orca emerged in front of us. Two point six seconds to impact. The energy emissions of the conventional drive system of the Orca matched its size. They weren't using any device to mask their signature then and they weren't using one now.
Instead of doing anything that would serve to avoid the collision, the Orca simply rotated to show us its belly.
Since the emergence of the other ship from hyperspace, it took Pinwheel around 300 milliseconds to sober up enough to attempt to yank the throttle lever back, only to find I had already put it in the full reverse position. He tried to use the control stick to deflect us away from the rapidly approaching ship. I don’t blame him, it was my first instinct as well. He did not find the familiar feedback resistance of the stick, and I flashed the red icons indicating collision avoidance override on the HUD.
"Connie, give me back-" He began, but stopped as we saw green flames engulf the Orca in front of us. The green flame flickered along the length of the ship, hissing and sizzling until they went once through the entire length of the ship. In its place, there was now a ship roughly shaped like a flower, with its center turned directly at us.
Changelings. The energy signature of the ship remained unchanged, but our cockpit filled with the reverberating, droning tones that changeling vessels always emit for some reason.
I saw the markings on the hull of the "petals", the abbreviation indicating "Her royal majesty's explorer navy vessel", letters in the changelings' native language that beared a strange resemblance to ancient equestrian letters spelling the nonsensical word T.H.A.R.G.
But the name of the ship was indeed ‘Lemon Whistle’.
Then, the petals of the flower shifted, rotated, and split apart, revealing them to be individual ships.
Speeding away from the center, they were leaving us a gap to go through unhindered.
This starburst maneuver would have been beautiful to look at, if the petal ships weren't moving away so rapidly.
"Huh. I didn't know changeling ships could do that." I said, surprised by the performance. But then I thought about it. Changelings were an insectoid eusocial swarm, they lived together in a tightly knit society, just like ants or bees.
Not fast enough. My left thruster nacelle struck one of the petal ships with a speed of 112 meters per second. Before I even finished scanning the ship, confirming it too only took minor shield damage, the station informed us of the 50 bits fine for "reckless flying".
We got docking clearance and followed the changeling ships through the mailslot into the docking area of the station. We settled down on pad 17. The changeling flowership reassembled itself and settled on pad 40.
After we paid our fine using the terminal interface, we were allowed to sell our ore. Pinwheel and my avatarself stepped out of my shipself and walked across the pad to meet with the station's cargo agent.
However, also waiting for us were a changeling, and what I assumed from the other changeling's botanical appearance was a changeling ship's avatar.
"Hello there!" The changeling said. "Are you two alright? No damages or injuries?"
"We're fine. the collision only caused twelve percent shield damage." Pinwheel replied cheerfully.
"What about you? Are there any physical wounds or damage to your ship’s systems?" He asked.
"No. All systems in order. nothing to worry about." The changeling ship avatar answered.
The mystery about the amazing efficiency of the changeling ship's FSD was still burning on my
mind. If I was going to ask about it, it was now or never.
"Uhhh, excuse me. But, why is it that your FSD is so much more efficient than ours?" I asked.
Pinwheel turned toward me and gave a sidelong glance.
"Is that really important right now, Connie?" he whispered.
"Yes, I need to know. Why does it run so much better than ours? And this should be worth knowing. Please."
"It isn't for public consumption, but okay," the changeling said.
"The primary difference between our FSD and the ones used by equastian vessels, besides size and complexity, lies in the type of alloy used to construct the drive mechanism. In our ships, the magic energy converter in the heart of the FSD contains a bio-mechanical composite made up of individual crystalline fibers which form complex molecular structures of extraordinary rigidity and strength when woven together with a matrix of rare earth metals. This allows us to achieve efficiencies five times higher than those found in the ships built by other species."
The more the changeling talked, the more interested my commander seemed to become. I, on the other hoof, was starting to have second thoughts about asking such a question.
"Wow, I would love to have a drive like that on my ship. Is it possible to get one?" Pinwheel asked.
The changeling's eyes narrowed. "I think you're doing well enough with the technology we already..."
But his ship avatar interrupted him by giving him a not so gentle kick in the shins.
"We don't talk about that. Queen's orders." She hissed at him, as if he had offended some delicate part of the universe.
"S-sorry." He apologized.
"I think it's high time we returned to our ships." The changeling ship avatar said hurriedly and turned away from us, urging her pilot to follow.
With the changelings gone, we concluded our business with the cargo agent and headed back to our respective ships.
Back in my cockpit, my commander wondered out loud, "What were they talking about? What were the Queen's orders?"
"Uuh.. we probably shouldn't ask too many questions about that." I suggested.
"But if they can make FSDs that are five times more efficient than ours..." He pondered aloud.
"Yeah, I know." I sighed.
Pinwheel stared at the galaxy map. "We should go back to Sirius. Maybe we can find out something more there."
I sighed. "Do you really want to prod where your hooves don't belong? We've already poked around with one of them and got a lesson in humility, haven't you?"
He shook his head slowly. "I really feel like there is a part of the story that has been left untold. They say it is taboo, but I think that doesn't apply to us. Our society does not place the same kind of restrictions on information sharing."
"Maybe. But maybe it's better for us to keep out of it."
"Why do you say that, Connie?" he asked me curiously.
"I'm not sure yet. I just have this feeling that I am missing something important."
"Hmmm..." He looked down at his hooves, as if studying the very bottom of his own thoughts. "I've made up my mind. We're going to Sirius and we're going to get to the bottom of the truth behind the changelings' FSD. No matter how much they might object."
"We still have half a cargo full of ore." I reminded him.
"We can always find another buyer after we arrive at Sirius."
"So you really fancy yourself a spy now. Is that it, commander?" I replied with mock indignation.
"I can't believe you're making fun of me! You're the one who was asking questions!"
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, but I also knew when to stop. We didn't find out anything we didn't already know."
"Then why do I feel like it's unfinished business?"
I sighed again. "Well... I guess we can store the remaining ore here in a warehouse to get to Sirius quicker. We'll pick it up once you're bored of pretending to be an operative."
He stomped his hoof on the deck in anger. "I am NOT acting like a spy. I'm just going to go investigate for my own curiosity's sake!" he protested.
"You are such a foal sometimes." I sighed. "Alright. You're the commander. If you want to go and play spy, then go play spy! We'll go to Sirius and find out what we can about changelings and their FSD."
"Sounds good, Connie!" he said happily.