//------------------------------// // Captain // Story: The Price of Citizenship // by Colgate is best pony //------------------------------// ECY 1008.9 Unknown System, Antaran Space Dear Applebloom, Sorry I haven’t been able to write you more often, and that the letters you do get are fairly short. I’m on a pretty tight leash here, and even when we’re back at [REDACTED], so my messages are probably thrice filtered before they get to you. [REDACTED] is doing well, if Scootaloo was wondering. Her new wing looks, as she would say, awesome, and she is settling in well to life on board [REDACTED]. I, on the other hand, am really not! Its strange, being in a ship 24 hours a day. We’re lucky enough to have one of those new gravity generators on board, so we’re not floating around all day, except when [REDACTED]. The lighting is pretty horrid though, and it can get mighty cold at times, despite the [REDACTED]. We just got back to port last week after quite a while in [REDACTED]. I’m sure I can’t tell you what we’re up to out here, but I really do think we’re helping the war effort. It took some getting used to, what with the new crew and all, but I think we may be saving some ponies, in the long run, at least. I don’t have much else to say, except that I love you and I miss you. I just hope I am making you proud, Apple Bloom. You’re a big pony now, but I know that even big ponies can get scared- I am a whole lot these days. But be brave, just like we talked about, and like I’m sure you already are. With any luck, I may be able to come home soon, but don’t get your hopes up. Although, since I’m now reporting to [REDACTED], it might happen sooner rather than later. Until then, keep your chin up. I love you, sis. Applejack ---- ESV Daring hung in space at the edge of the system, completely still. On board, in her cabin, Captain Applejack squirmed. Nothing about Daring’s current situation made her want to do much else. Eighteen hours earlier, Daring had intercepted an Antaran supply convoy and wasted it before most of the vessels could raise their shields. For the first time, though, the convoy was accompanied by an escort cruiser, and while it was easily dispatched with a high yield torpedo, its mere appearance bothered Applejack. On the one hoof, if the Antarans were worried about their supply chains to start protecting six vessel convoys in their own systems, Daring must have been doing quite a job of annoying the enemy, as Twilight Sparkle had requested. On the other hoof, the job certainly was going to be a mite more difficult over the coming weeks. After inspecting the cargo of the transports and being sure to leave nothing salvageable, the science officer on board Daring found an ion trail around the wreckage and called it to Applejack’s attention. The earth pony had no idea what the officer was saying, but he held back a roll of the eyes long enough to explain. “The concentration of fission ions in this area suggests a heavy traffic area- a highway, if you will. If we follow it, we may stumble upon something- a station, depot, even a small planet we’ve yet to discover.” Applejack thanked the unicorn and considered her options. Daring had a nearly full complement of torpedos, very little structural damage to consider, and the stealth systems were working as well as Twilight had hoped. When engaged, as they were now, the ship gave off zero heat, reflected zero light, and could hardly even be seen against the backdrop of space. Applejack (and even more so Rainbow Dash) felt confident that, with the element of surprise on her side, Daring could take on even some of the largest Antaran cruisers. At one hundred meters long, the Equestrian vessel was barely larger than the fleet’s escort frigates, but its armament equalled that of a Cloudsdale class destroyer. The extra teeth came at the cost of liveability on board; Daring had no entertainment systems, a meager galley, severely reduced hangar capabilities, and only one rest room (two, if Applejack’s private shower was counted). The crew, to Rainbow Dash’s dismay, used bunks on a shift basis, but it was a sacrifice most of them were willing to make for the opportunity to serve on such an important mission. All of this filtered through Applejack’s mind while she planned her next move. The crew was not quite in love with having somepony so inexperienced in charge, but her service on Antara, and the single, black bar she wore on her lapel to signal it, had them convinced to follow her wherever the mare wanted to go; they would not object were they to follow the ion trail. And, even if they did find a significant Antaran presence at the other end, the gunners could use their equipment to an exhilarating effect. Despite this, Applejack knew she must tread carefully. Daring was small and maneuverable enough to avoid almost anything the Ants threw at her, but all it took was one lucky hit on an essential subsystem to end the voyage prematurely. Even a glancing blow of enough intensity could puncture and depressurize the hull, which, given the size of the vessel, could kill everypony instantly. Worse still, if something frivolous was hit, Daring was weeks from any form of assistance, and Applejack couldn’t afford to be leaking fluids all over Antaran space. Any engagement could very well be the end of Celestia’s first Friendship class vessel. But she had a job to do, and like she had told Apple Bloom, she wanted to do it right. If they could find and destroy a supply depot, it would be an edge that Equestria might need, and she couldn’t afford to back down from such an opportunity. She toggled the comm at her station. “Helm, lay in coordinates to follow the ion trail. Not too close, though. And get Rainbow into the cockpit. No risks here. Applejack out.” ---- Three hours later, Daring was starting to get uncomfortably warm. Applejack had laid in a course running parallel to the ion field but a few thousand kilometers away from it, requiring the helm to zig and zag in order to regain the trail every so often. It added time to their journey, but the risk, at least from her original order, was too great for Applejack to consider following the trail directly. Now, with the temperature steadily rising and collars steadily unbuttoning, the rookie Captain started to wonder if the caution was really necessary. The Friendship class’ stealth systems were a mixture of simplicity and brilliance. Applejack hadn’t understood most of what Twilight meant when she spoke of “laser scrambling ablative armor” or “electro-magnetic counter measures”, but the former farm pony did understand one element extremely well: heat. In the cold vacuum of space, nothing could give an object away to Antaran sensors easier than the heat it emitted. Daring consisted mostly of modules designed, with the help of some serious unicorn magic, to have zero heat signature. The drive core, weapons systems, and shield generators were actually “cold blooded”, and could match the temperature of the environment outside the ship. To the untrained scanner, a sub-light speed Daring would be invisible on infrared scans, and it would take some doing to pick out its FTL drive signature to boot. While the unicorn scientists were celebrating with champagne back on Home, though, the crew in charge of making this new system work was running into a significant oversight. Because the vessel was designed to not emit heat, it was not equipped with heat emitting equipment. The result was a paradox that only an engineer could overlook: the body heat of seventy nervously sweating ponies in very close quarters, as well as the on board equipment not enchanted by the heat spell, built up with nowhere to go. Consequently, Applejack often found herself in command of a rather drowsy crew, and even she herself found the moist, thickening air to make her want to take a nap. She tried to put on a brave face for the crew, but the condensation on her brow gave away her consternation. Even Rainbow Dash had dropped any pretense of weathering the proverbial storm, although Applejack suspected that her drooped ears might have been more a result of nobody laughing after she joked about opening a window on the bridge for the eighth time. Uniforms unzipped, the crew continued to work silently, the hum of the ship’s systems droning in the background. Applejack had come to appreciate their quiet collectiveness. Unlike her army compatriots, she thought with a hole in her stomach, she found the Navy to be almost eerily understated. Every order was relayed with efficiency and carried out without her having to check in on anyone. There was no open boasting, nor reckless bravado; Rainbow Dash seemed to be the only exception. Perhaps, thought Applejack, it was a fighter pilot thing. Her comm unit clicked on and Cloud Reign, her peculiarly named second in command, addressed the captain. “Captain, we think we’ve found something.” “On my way up.” Applejack wished that Reign would be more sure of herself. The pegasus was smart, quick witted and knew her way around Daring like Applejack knew her way around Sweet Apple Acres. Her official title was “Ship’s Master”, meaning that she had been on board Daring, either figuratively or in reality, since it was nothing but a design. In all likelihood, she’d stay onboard the ship until she retired, or, perhaps more likely, went down with the ship. Applejack rose from her command position at the rear of the bridge. She could have looked at whatever Reign saw from her terminal, or even from a viewscreen in her freezing cold shower, if she wanted, but she liked being up at the bow, both because of and despite Rainbow Dash’s presence there. Rainbow was conspicuously absent at the moment, though, her pilot’s matrix sitting empty. The matrix was easily Rainbow Dash’s favorite thing in the entire universe at the moment, and with good reason. Daring could be piloted from four stations on board; the navigational station, which sat across the gangway from the matrix, or from emergency consoles in Applejack’s terminal and in engineering. The navstat was sufficient for setting waypoints, moving through subspace and in FTL drive, and for moving clumsily about in port. It was under the influence of the matrix, and especially of Rainbow Dash’s guidance, however, that Daring really showed her strength. The matrix was housed within a pony length, watermelon shaped pod, set off the starboard side of the bridge. The gunmetal silver of its framework gleaned in contrast to both the glass windows it housed, and to the dark blue of Daring’s interior. Inside lay a simple bench which, at present, had a silver headpiece atop it. And it was from this rather bare platform that Rainbow Dash was able to make Daring dance. Applejack had never been inside the pod, and had never been able to see its spell working, as the magic was tuned only to Pegasi. She did, though, remember the first time she saw Rainbow Dash exit the matrix. The mare was drenched in sweat, eyes wide open, and panting like she had just been in The Running of the Leaves. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend, who beamed. “I. Was. The. Ship!” “Beg your pardon?” “I saw myself. . . outside in space, I was flying out there! When I thought to go one way, I did! When I wanted to speed up, I sped up? Can you imagine how fast I was going? I must have been. . . well, really freaking fast!” She hadn’t stopped talking about it for four days. But by the end of her first week, Rainbow Dash had been able to weave Daring through space like she was in a Falcon-II. After two, it was like she really was the ship, and Applejack was very glad indeed that her bridge was installed on a very sensitive gyroscope. The matrix remained vacant unless Daring was in a combat situation, saving the vessel the severe stress that came with her maneuvering. In theory, any pegasus could operate it, but the crew found out fairly quickly that their collective odds of survival tripled with Rainbow Dash at the helm. As a result, the device was treated with a homely reverence; even the ship’s cleaning bots were programmed to ignore it, letting its occupant smudge the windows to her heart’s content. Applejack watched her reflection in the curve of the glass as Reign described the phenomenon, seventy five thousand kilometers off of the port bow. Thankfully, Reign understood her superior’s lack of scientific understanding. “It’s an Antaran device, and it’s giving off a whole lot of tachyons. In Equestrian, it’s an artificial sub space portal. Where it goes, we have no idea. But we’ve hit the end of our highway, that’s for sure.” She brought up a visual on the view screen. The construction was a massive, jet black group of rounded pylons, each orbiting a free floating obelisk. Alone, it would have been one of the most impressive constructions in the galaxy- indeed, it must have been twice the size of the original Celestia- but the fact that it could, somehow, create a sub space opening was startling. If the Antarans had this technology, EqCom would need to know. “Scan it. Get all we can. Helm! Get us out of here, back to communication range. On the double,” she barked to the bridge crew. Reign looked back with concern written across her face. “Don’t think that’s a good idea, Captain.” She pointed at the sensor screen, gesturing towards six new contacts it didn’t take a genius to figure out where they were headed. Moving quickly, Applejack brought up a display of the system Daring had been navigating. The portal, which likely led to another system in Antaran space, was in fact on the opposite side of the system from the natural one that allowed the vessel to enter the system in the first place. Unfortunately for its crew, the battle group (growing ever closer by the second) lay directly in between the two, and deviating enough to avoid them would put the ship dangerously close to inhabited planets. Applejack didn’t want to risk either option, because, as much as she believed in her ship’s stealth capabilities, six ships were a lot to sneak by, especially in FTL drive. There was only one real option on the table. Reign nodded, apparently coming to the same conclusion as the captain. “You see it too, right ma’am?” Applejack sighed and began to walk back to her command station. She replied without looking back. “Indeed. Clear for action and beat to quarters, if you please, Miss Reign. And get Rainbow Dash up here immediately. We’re going through that portal.”