STAR TREK: EQUESTRIA

by Alicorne


Chapter Twelve- The Soul of Cimarron

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE SOUL OF CIMARRON

The run to Alpha Centauri went without a hitch except for one event. An event that turned out to be very pivotal, in hindsight.
It was four days after Launch. We were scheduled to make planetfall late that afternoon to pick up the last of our personnel, a pair of civilian scientists. Sunny and I were looking forward to having dinner at the Starbase with Xantippe and Jerry after doing a little bit of shopping at a place Sunny remembered from her time there during the War. I hoped she wouldn’t clutter our cabin with a lot useless junk. I was thinking of how I could gently steer her into seeing reason when Merry spoke up.
“’Ere, Skipper! Oi got a distress call comin’ in. Audio only an’ it’s on a standard radio frequency. Really low power, too. Only picked it up by way of all the interference it made on the shield frequencies.”
I perked my ears up, interested. That style of distress beacon was phased out more than twenty years ago. Somepony had some seriously out-of-date equipment!
“Put on speaker.” Caper grunted. Merry nodded and pressed a switch.
The voice that filled the bridge was male and agitated. The sound quality was bad, being almost overrun by the static between the stars.
“This is First Mate Roundhouse of the Trading Vessel Soul of Cimarron, eighteen periods out of Earth in sector two. We’re under attack! I don’t know who they are! They dropped out of Warp right on top of us and opened fire. The engine is out and we have multiple hull breaches. Captain’s dead, hell, half the crew is dead already! We…” He paused, listening to excited voices in the background… and the sounds of weapons fire. Plasma bursts. Roundhouse came back on in a hurry. “We’re being boarded! I have a wife in Appleoosa. Her name is Cloth-of-Gold. Tell her…” There came a louder plasma burst, shouting, grunting, scuffling hooves. A final shot, suddenly truncated… then silence.
Merry said quietly. “…The time stamp on that was more than five years ago, Skipper. Judgin’ from the strength of the signal I don’t think anypony heard it on Earth or Alpha-C.”
Caper nodded, then. “Give coordinates to Helm. Advise Starbase Two of distress call. Tell them we go to investigate. See if you can find owners of Soul of Cimarron. Am sure they want to know what happened to ship and crew. Lieutenant Evee, change course and proceed to site at best speed.” The Captain’s look had hardened. The War had been bad enough without Piracy to go along with it. Depending on who took them out we might or might not have remains to bring back. I got the location from Merry’s board and had trained our long-range sensors on the locale. I bent over the hooded viewer at my station and watched the three-dimensional display build up as the data came in.
“Starry…” Caper said.
“On it, Captain!” Then, after the readings began to taper off… “I’m showing a small ship, about a class eleven vessel. Less than two thousand tons volume. Not a freighter with that amount of cargo space! … I’m showing zero energy readings, zero life readings… Massive damage to spaceframe and engine.” I paused and adjusted the scanners. “There are what appears to be, um, organic remains both onboard and a few thousand miles away. Bodies, I’d say.” I concluded quietly.
“Well, damn!” Merry muttered. “Poor bastards. Ya think they spaced ‘em?” I looked up and took in her grim expression. She shrugged. “Guess it was too much to ‘ope that they got what they wanted and left the survivors behind, wasn’t it? Bloody ‘Ell!” She smacked one hoof into the other.
One of the new crew, Ensign Crane, a Unicorn buck whose red uniform nearly blended with his coat but not his metallic green mane and tail, spoke up.
“Survivors? After five years?” He asked incredulously. When Merry looked at him he blanched and quickly added. “Ma’am.”
Merry shrugged again. “Stranger things ‘ave ‘appened, Mate! Loike ta think there’s always a chance, eh?”
I cleared my throat. “It isn’t impossible. Over the years there are several ships unaccounted for from Khan Singh to this day that weren‘t confirmed as destroyed. If the Warp Drive goes out and the ship can still make full impulse power they could disable their inertial dampers and head for the nearest star system in relativistic space, as long as the food holds out. A year or two for them could be decades to us. If they have stasis ability… “ I shrugged. “ They literally have all the time in the world to get where they want. Before the development of Time Warp Drive, Earth had plans to colonize the nearer stars that very way.” I tilted my head to my console. “They didn’t, though.”
Crane nodded, gulping.
“In any event.” The Captain rumbled. “Could be thought of as mercy. Better to be spaced then live life as slave in alien market!” Ten seconds of agony versus years of suffering, I guess. I had memories of Daddy telling me of Orions, Rigellians, and the odd Tellarite group all having a go at looting Equestris’ mineral stockpiles. No Equestrin had been taken alive… but they hadn’t been looking for slaves, either.
“I just wish I had those pirates on my scopes!” Evee put in. “I’d love to give them even just a few seconds of these new phased balefire weapons!” She reined in her tone a second later and announced. “Coming up on their position, sir.”
“Onscreen.” Caper said, then talking over his shoulder to Merry. “Advise Starbase Two we have found ship and will board her to investigate.”
I toggled the Main Viewer to life and we watched the hulk of the Soul of Cimarron grow rapidly. It hung in space at a skewed angle motionless after the attack that destroyed her five years earlier. Her hull was the dull bronze color of bitanium, (An alloy that had been superseded by tritanium and more exotic metals in the years since her construction.) scorch marks radiating from the gaping ruin of her drive and life systems. She was shaped rather like a flattened and stretched horseshoe, the entire ship less than a quarter as big as our Saucer section. The Warp Engine, obviously added after she was built, was situated on top in a dorsal mount. The cargo bay doors on the underside gaped wide. The pirates, apparently, had no transporters or spells to move the cargo and had taken it onboard manually.
“Oy!” The Captain grunted in surprise. “Is CT-200 design! In-system ship upgraded to Warp Drive. Was museum piece already when destroyed. Grandfather was engineer on one between Earth and Europa Station!” He watched the wreck intensely, then shrugged. “Was better than chemical rocket at least.”
I bent back over my viewer and reviewed my database. While we had access to a lot of information, fifty year old ship designs were not included. I remembered, enviously, that the proposed Heavy Cruiser Design was slated to contain pretty much the sum total of Federation knowledge in its computers. I had to admit defeat.
“I’ll take your word on that, Captain. Nothing in our database on civilian designs. Somepony, though, went to a lot of expense to convert a sublight ship into a Warp transport.”
Jerry was poring over his own display. “From what’s left I’d say that that is a First Generation Time Warp Drive. Warp two point five, maximum. Say Earth to Centauri in ninety-four days. Fast for the day! How much space do they have for cargo?”
I went back to work for a few seconds.
“I’m showing maybe three hundred tons capacity. …Doesn’t seem enough to pay for the antimatter, much less the enchanted dilithium crystals.” I mused.
“Maybe they were using straight lithium crystals…?” Jerry said doubtfully.
“Then they would have been running dangerously close to overload all the time. The unique four-dimensional properties of dilithium were certainly known at the time and would have been available… at an exorbitant cost. Still, it would have been worth the expense to ensure the safety of the ship, wouldn’t it?”
“You are saying, then,” Caper interrupted. “That ship is not a freighter?”
“Not one that made any money, anyway.” Jerry answered. “Unless they were hauling dilithium. Can’t think of what else they’d be able to ship in that bitty cargo hold that could turn a profit.”
The Captain looked as if someone had squirted lemon juice in his coffee.
“So… a small, fast, expensive ship with tiny cargo capacity is a target for pirates. I do not wish to cast aspersions on dead, but what does this suggest to both of you?”
The Mare in my mind facehoofed herself. Jerry, being the innocent soul he was, was still working it out.
“Smugglers.” I said flatly. Jerry frowned, then looked sheepish.
“Oh, yeah. Makes sense. Probably fronted as a transport for some companies’ Very Important Ponies. I wonder what were they smuggling?”
Caper bucked his chair around to address us both. “Will not know till we get there, nyet? Starry, take small party over to wreck and evaluate. We will stand by. Merry,” He swiveled in her direction and added in a softer tone. “Advise the Good Doctor that will be bringing remains of crew onboard to examine and store till we get to Starbase.”
I signaled for my replacement to come to the Bridge and went through the duty roster to see who was available to come with me to the ship. I picked a midshippony from Engineering, a bottle-green and black Earth Pony named Stimbolt and a violet and white Unicorn Mare from Security named Dazzle before going to the Quartermaster for an environmental suit.
The suits were pretty much the same ones I used during the War, the only real difference being the harness that held the environment pack and tools. Nowadays the harness was color-coded to whatever Department the wearer was assigned to. Mine was blue, the Middie and Chief Dazzle wore red. Honestly, what was wrong with just a plain brown EV suit? My suit, because it was so much bigger in certain places, had to be resynthesized a couple of times before it fit right. As a result I was the last one to show up in the transporter room.
Sunny and one of her Medical Ponies were chatting with the boarding party, towed antigrav gurneys lying dormant on the deck. Stimbolt and Dazzle came to attention quietly when I entered. Sunny looked puzzled that the conversation had come to such an abrupt end but her face lit up when she saw it was me.
“Aye, well ‘tis about time ye got here! What kept ye?”
“Trouble with the fit.” I said briefly, glancing meaningfully down at my chest for just an instant. I ignored the playful look in her eye. “All right, Ponies! We’ve picked up a five year old distress call from the ship out there. They were apparently attacked by Pirates. We’re going over to see what we can find out about who did it and why. Sunny, there are bodies in there we’ll be bringing back for identification and to ship back to the next of kin. Mr. Stimbolt I need you to see what state the ship’s systems are in and to pull the data from their Engineering. It’s a fifty year old civilian ship so I can’t tell you where to look. Chief Dazzle, I want you to scout out what parts of the ship you can get in to and see what you can determine about who hit them and with what. I’m going to the Bridge to access their database and get the logs and flight plans. We’ll gather up the remains and return, easy-peasy.” I paused for a moment. “It’s probably going to be rather… grim in there. These guys were pretty thorough. Just be prepared is all.” I cleared my throat. “It’s an old wreck so don’t take any chances trying to go someplace of do anything that puts you in danger. It’s five years too late to help these poor Ponies. This, unfortunately, isn’t a rescue mission.” Dazzle nodded and Stimbolt looked determined and a little grim.
“How many bodies d’ye ken?” Sunny asked softly.
I tried to shrug but the suit made that difficult. I shook my head instead. “Two for sure. With no life signs it’s hard to sift out the organic debris from corpses. Uh, there are four more scattered outside. We’ll be beaming those onboard when we leave.”
“Och, Celestia! N’ we’re no even out of Federation Space yet!” Sunny’s lips thinned and she looked grave. I wanted to kiss her, to comfort her, but I was a Starfleet Officer right now. As her Wife I would have to wait till later. She wasn’t cut out to deal with the dark side of the reality of a Universe that just didn’t care. The hoof I raised to her shoulder couldn’t feel her through the gauntlet, but I gave her a squeeze anyway. She felt it, regardless, and patted it with one of her own. That’s my Mare!
“Be safe!” She admonished, showing her Matronly side. “All o’ ye!” Then, showing her other side, “If I hae’ t’ treat anypony fer a stupid suit puncture or sprain I’ll be verra disappointed, ye ken?”
“Yes, Ma’am!” We chorused.
“Oh, gi’ on, the lot o’ ye!” She frowned, not too convincingly and flapped a hoof at the transport platform.
We trooped up the two steps and dogged our helmets and turned on our lights. The suits, activated by the helmets, pressurized and came online. As per regulation, we gave each other a visual once-over to make sure everything was in place.
“Ok, Chief!” I signaled the Unicorn buck at the transporter control. “Ready to transport.”
The Chief, Ratchet was his name, nodded and consulted his console. “I’m putting you in the cargo bay. The interior of the ship had too much debris drifting around to put you anywhere else.” He tweaked a medley of tones from his board and took hold of the three sliding controls that managed the triple-redundancy of the transport signal. “Ready!”
“Energize.” I said. I could imagine the subdued, warbling howl of the transporter building up. The pads beneath us flickered in opposition to the emitters above us in the alcove. It would take the better part of a minute for the system to cycle. A spell would have been faster, but there was no Unicorn waiting at our destination to provide a target. A lot of Ponies find particle transporters unsettling. Personally, I had no problem with good-old Earth Pony technology. Neither did Stimbolt.
“Are all Starfleet Doctors that snarky?” He wondered over the suit comm.
“You ought to try living with her!” I admonished quietly. The transporter room began to fade away. An instant later we were floating in the cargo bay of the Soul of Cimarron. Dazzle was chuckling.
I was about to hail the Hermes when Sunny’s voice came over the channel. “I heard that!” Oh, ponypies!
“Sunny, get off the comm! Hermes, this is the boarding party confirming transport. We’re proceeding inside.”
“Confirm, Commander. Transporter lock is steady.” Ratchet replied. “I’m switching you over to the Bridge. Good luck!” A distinctly feminine-sounding raspberry occurred in the background. “…I think you’re gonna need it!” He added in a lower tone.
I took hold of a railing perpendicular to my position and pulled myself into normal standing position for the wreck. Dazzle and Stimbolt did likewise and we cast our lights around. Vacuum made it a place of stark light and darkness. Pale grey walls, sporting an occasional dusting of frost here and there, spoke little of the events of half a decade earlier. Dark LED light panels, a scrap of paper, a stylus, an honest-to-Luna pencil, and a few sparkling crystals of ice or frozen air were all we could see. The bay doors framed a slowly careening vista of stars. A particularly bright one passed through the frame. Celestia’s Sun or Alpha Centauri? Given our position it could have been either one. I sighed and touched the comm button on my helmet ring.
“Hermes, Starry-Eyes here. Cargo bay is structurally intact and empty. I’m sending Stimbolt to Engineering and Dazzle going to recon. I’m heading for the Bridge.”
Caper’s voice came back. “Carry on, Commander. Keep us posted, da?”
“Will do, Captain. Boarding party out.”
“Hermes out.”
I released the comm and continued on the suit-to-suit frequency. “Let’s go, Ponies! Sing out if you find anything.”
“Aye-aye, Ma’am!”
“Roger that, Commander!”
There was a manual hatch leading out, the heavy door still flat against the wall still held open by the magnets that were meant to hold it open. Dazzle and Stimbolt made their way through and I went last, opting to go through horizontally instead of having to bend nearly double to negotiate the normal pony-sized door. The airlock was dogged open and we passed into a corridor that terminated in a ladder that passed through all the decks. No turbolifts on a ship this old, of course. According to the readings, Engineering was on the uppermost deck, the Bridge was the one below that. The remaining deck above the Cargo Bay were the living quarters, dining facility and storage, apparently. Dazzle got off there and Stimbolt and I continued up.
Unlike the cargo bay, the rest of the ship was seething with… junk.
“Lots of crap floating around in here.” Dazzle noted as we went up the ladder. “Blankets… clothes…personal effects. I got a few blast marks here. Looks like it’s from a medium-energy plasma weapon, probably in the ten to twenty kilowatt range. Not much cratering, mostly scorch and melt marks. Ah… I’ve got what looks like frozen blood on some of the walls. … Drifting around loose, too. I’m going to check out the crew quarters now. Structurally all intact here.” She sounded calm and business-like.
One deck up, I pushed off into a short corridor thick with debris. There were four hatches, two to each wall on either side. Another hatch stood open at the end of the corridor, the Bridge. I batted a drifting toothbrush away from my faceplate and peered through the clutter.
“Ok, Dazzle. I’m on the Bridge deck. It’s a mess up here, too.” I shooed a pillow out of the way as something caught my eye. “I have blast marks up here, too.” I took a closer look at the stuff tumbling around me. “Most of what I have here is all broken and burned. Must have happened when they stormed the Bridge.” A lamp still connected to its gooseneck mounting drifted by. The gooseneck ended in a charred and melted stump. I pulled myself up to look inside the nearest hatch.
It was a stateroom. Smaller, actually, than the quarters Sunny and I shared but plenty big by the standards of this ship’s day. The mattress, torn and slashed, blocked a lot of the view. Wads of batting and chunks of support gel engaged in an endless dogfight with the sheets and blankets. The dresser drawers were open, some of them were adrift every so often adding another nick to the once-opulent wood-paneled walls. Some male underwear slowly wrapped itself around my arm and I flicked it away thoughtlessly, sending myself into a spin just like a Cadet zero-g trainee, damnit! Glad that nopony saw that, I braced myself against the doorframe and got ready to move out.
“Hol-lee Luna!”
“What is it, Stimbolt?” I gave myself a gentle push and began icebreakering my way through the junk towards the Bridge.
“I just got off the ladder. Pretty clear up here. For all intents and purposes there is no Engineering. Just one hell of a gaping hole! I’m standing in what’s left of the bulkhead. Hatch’s gone. So’s the outer hull. The bulkheads between me and you seems to have held but everything in here is blasted to bits. I’ve got no radiation, the antiduterium must’ve bled off long ago. Secondary power cells are just gone! This place is just a shell. Uh, I don’t see any sign that anything’s been removed… Seems like anything salvageable was destroyed in the attack. There’s just nothing here except for a great view of the Hermes, Ma’am. I’m getting a data recording of what I’ve got. Should I come down to help with you of the Chief?”
Dazzle spoke up before I had a chance. Her voice sounded tired and disgusted.
“Buck me in the ears.” She stated under her breath. Then, more loudly. “I’ve got a body here. Male Unicorn. Third cabin on left, facing aft. He’s just a colt, damnit.” She never raised her voice. “Damn near blew his head off. Didn’t make it easy for them. Kid’s got a knife in his hoof. There’s blood on it.” She paused and I could imagine her leaning in closer. “Not Pony blood.” Then, softly, “Good for you, kid.”
“What was a kid doing onboard, anyway?” Stimbolt wondered.
“Having the last adventure of his lifetime.” Dazzle said flatly and Stimbolt shut up.
It occurred to me just then that neither of them were party to the idea that this was a smuggler’s ship on an unlawful venture. I wasn’t about to slur the memory just then. All that mattered in an uncaring Universe in that instant was that Ponies fought a hopeless battle. They fought hard and died swinging. Something rebellious in my genes stirred. I was suddenly proud of these… criminals. I shook my head. Sometimes being an Augment is… bemusing.
I stuck my head into the Bridge and stopped. Not unexpectedly the place was a shambles. Bits of shattered panels and electronics drifted around. Unlike a Starfleet Bridge there were just a few stations. The Captain, I recalled from somewhere, was more than likely the Helm and Navigator. Sciences was called Sensory and was combined with communications. Engineering was controlled from the Engine Room. Three chairs, two bodies. An Earth Pony mare and stallion in pale brown jumpsuits. Both of them scorched and disfigured by close-range weapons fire as if grenades had gone off in their bodies. He got it in the guts, she got shot in the chest. I turned myself to follow the body of the buck. First Mate Roundhouse, Mate of a mare named Cloth-of-Gold in Appleoosa on Earth, had his eyes still screwed up in a wince. Frost rimed his eyelashes as he floated in a cloud of flash-frozen blood and ashes. The moisture of his eyes sublimating from under the lids, no doubt. The Mare in my mind looked at me reprovingly for being so clinical in the face of pony tragedy. I blew her off. I still had a job to do.
“I have two bodies on the Bridge.” I heard myself say. “First Mate and unknown crewpony. Both dead by plasma fire. Stimbolt, get down here and get them down to the cargo bay. Dazzle, how many rooms do you have left to search?”
“Four.” Came the prompt reply. “I’ll bring the kid… and anypony else I find… down to the cargo bay when I’m done.”
I suppressed an urge to rub my eyes behind the faceplate. Suddenly I was so damn tired. “Roger that. Don’t forget to have a look through any terminals or personal data sets you find. We’re awfully short on information about what was going on here. Stimbolt, head up to their sickbay when you’re done and check out any computer systems you find there. I’ll see what I can get out of the ship’s computer. I‘ll contact the ship when we’re finished.”
When he arrived I gave Stimbolt a hand in maneuvering the corpses into the corridor. The young buck seemed to be holding up well… though he seemed to avoid taking a direct look at the bodies. I made a note to myself to talk with him afterwards just to see how he was holding up. Starfleet training can only prepare you for so much. The reality of an uncaring Universe can be a rough teacher…
The Cimarron’s computer, as I suspected, was pretty much a wash. The Pirates weren’t likely to leave anything In the database that would allow the authorities to identify or track down their stolen goods. I had to try, though. If only for the murdered crew.
One thing became apparent as I tried to salvage the files. The Pirates spent a lot of time trying to wring information out of the computer. Worm programs and hacks I’d never seen before! When they failed it seemed they turned a virus loose in the system and completely trashed the core. I put the pieces together and figured out the sequence of events. It all pointed to a systematic search that culminated in the destruction of the ships computer. The information they wanted, the manifest of the cargo, the Captain’s data about the same, wasn’t in the system! Therefore, it must be outside the system. If they had captured the recorded data there would have been no need to so thoroughly gut the computer. The data might still be onboard somewhere… but how to find it?
Stimbolt and Dazzle rejoined me on the Bridge while I was mulling that over. I filled them in quickly.
“So the Captain, or somepony, downloaded the data into some media somewhere.” Stimbolt said.
“Maybe into hardcopy?” Dazzle wondered.
Stimbolt snorted. “On plas sheets? It would be bigger than a set of encyclopedias! And when would he have had the time?”
“Hey, I’m just speculating here. You two have more computer savvy than I’ll ever have!”
I held up a hoof. “I’ve got an idea. Look,” I indicated the digitally eviscerated computer. “These computers use the same storage media we use today. Actually, this system is only a few years out of date. Remember? This ship is extensively retrofitted. Their computer uses data solids like ours does. Data solids are tuned synthetic molecularly-aligned quartz crystals. The information is stored directly on the lattice just above the atomic level.”
“And they’re heavy for their size.” Dazzle chimed in. “You can brain a pony with one. I know, I’ve seen it done.” I gave her an odd look that she ignored, wondering under what circumstances she’d found that out.
“Bingo!” Stimbolt exclaimed. “I think I know where she’s going with this! An intact crystal resonates at a standardized frequency. That’s why they use synthetics, to make them all behave at the same frequency!” He turned to Dazzle, so excited that he set himself into a spin. I felt better seeing that. I anchored myself with one hoof and grabbed him with the other.
“Precisely!” I said. “All we need do is set the ships sensors to scan for that frequency. We find a harmonic signal and we find the data solid!”
Dazzle pondered that. “That would work! Nothing else onboard would have the same frequency or you’d run the risk of blanking the information.” She nodded emphatically, grinning through her faceplate. “That’s why you wear the gold on your blue shirt, Commander!”
“Well, let’s hope we can salvage something good out of this barrel of horse apples.” I conceded the point humbly. “Let’s get on this.” I reached up and tabbed the comm. “Boarding Party to Hermes.”
The Captain’s voice came back almost immediately. “Hermes here, Commander. Report.”
“Sir. The ship is a complete write-off. We’ve recovered three dead crewponies. Drive section is gone. No hope of restoring power. The Cimarron’s computer had been ransacked in such a way to make me believe that all pertinent files have been downloaded and hidden somewhere onboard. I need the ship’s sensors to scan this vessel for the signature of the data solid. It’s our only hope to find out what was going on here.”
Caper grunted thoughtfully. “Pirates may have done same thing, da?”
Oof! I hadn’t thought of that. Oh, well. “I’m hoping they were in too much of a hurry to loot and scoot. Other than that I can’t think of anything else to try.”
“Is good idea, regardless. Wish I had thought it, Commander.”
“Well, when you write the report you can say you thought of it. Fine by me.”
“Ha. Ha. Nice try, bubula!” I could just see him waggling his finger at me. “Your idea, you write report. You can’t trick old Pony so easy, da? I will make sure to mention your resourceful idea in glowing detail in my log, hokay?”
Stimbolt chuckled and Dazzle shook her head inside her helmet. I smiled with my voice. “Gee, thanks. Standing by.”
“We scan now.” Caper kept the channel open and relayed the request to my replacement, an Earth Pony mare named Melody who came online a few moments later.
“Commander? I’m reading storage media in the ship’s computer core and a few terminals. Other than that the only readings I’m getting are on the Bridge.”
I perked up my ears inside the helmet. Stimbolt carefully spun around and started looking. Dazzle stirred, waiting to get the search narrowed down. “The core and the systems tied to it are wiped. Where on the Bridge is it in relation to us?”
I heard Melody tweaking her board in a series of muted beeps. “You’re right on top of it from what I can see. Somewhere within a few feet. I’m getting some interference… Is there a magically-powered device nearby?”
I did my own visual scan of the Bridge, just a bit irritated. Leave it to magic to muck up good, reliable technology…
“Negative.” I replied. “The Bridge is dark and…” I almost said ‘dead’. “Unpowered by anything. …How long would it take to decouple the magical enhancements to the sensors?”
“Take them offline and scan the straight EM frequencies?” Smart filly! She’d already seen where I was going with this. She had a bright future ahead of her. Should have been an Equestrin! “Better part of an hour. I can get a team on it straightaway.”
“Excuse me, Commander?” Dazzle came on the suit-to-suit channel.
“Stand by, Melody.” I switched frequencies. “You have an idea, Chief?”
Dazzle pointed at her horn with a gauntleted hoof. “I have a few spells I picked up as part of my training. One of them is for detecting magical objects. You know, like surveillance talismans, anti-detection screens, magical explosives, things like that. I can take a buck at finding whatever it is.” She waited patiently while I blinked.
“… Wow. I had no idea you ponies were even trained in stuff like that!”
She shrugged inside her suit. “You can enchant the damndest things to go up in a cloud of balefire. Part of the job. It’s not all cupcakes and parties out there.”
I nodded. “You just got yourself a job, Chief! Have at it.”
“Balefire booby traps?” Stimbolt wondered, looking aghast.
“Oh, yeah!” Dazzle turned herself carefully to look at the Midshippony. “We did a sweep once and found that somepony had rigged a toilet seat to go off when the target…”
“Ouch!” Stimbolt said as his imagination filled in the details.
“You joined Starfleet to look for bombs?” I interrupted, genuinely curious.
“Security training, Ma’am.” She gave me a slight smile. “Better than any Detective training planetside. Starfleet needs bomb squads as much as it needs starships. Lots of unfriendlies out there.”
“Wow.” I said again. “Everypony says I’ve led such a sheltered life. I guess they were right. It’s your show, Chief!” I waved her on and switched back to the Hermes. “Hold off on that, Melody. Dazzle’s going to try to isolate whatever it is.”
“Standing by, Commander.”
Dazzle paused for a moment, then her horn lit up with violet radiance. Stimbolt and I looked around to see if anything lit up in response. She gave an expert twitch of a hoof that propelled her in a slow transit of the Bridge, waving her head back and forth in gentle arcs. She frowned.
“Well… I’ve got something.” She checked her forward motion using Stimbolt who promptly rebounded slowly away, grabbing a console to stop himself. She drifted over to the Comm/Science station where Roundhouse made his last stand. “It’s in here, Commander. Somewhere.”
“That can’t be right. The storage in there is useless for anything except being an expensive paperweight.” I pointed out.
But Dazzle flipped herself upside-down and cautiously inserted her head under the console. After a moment she waved a hoof at us. “It’s under here. Inside the console! … Can’t find any panel or lock, though… Huh. Stimbolt, take a look, will you?”
Stimbolt crept hoof-over-hoof and looked under the console from the opposite side. Both their helmeted heads took up nearly all the space underneath so I drifted off to the side and waited. After a bit Dazzle pulled out and righted herself relative to myself, her horn still glowing.
“It’s inside all right. But I can’t make out how anypony could have put it in there.” I watched her chew her bottom lip thoughtfully. “Teleportation, maybe. But putting it somewhere you can’t even see would be a really neat trick. Anyhow, there’s two objects in there. The magical whatsit and something that feels like the data solid we’re looking for.” I wondered how she could ‘feel’ something with her horn, but squashed the thought.
“Good job, Chief. I’ll talk glowingly about you in my log!” Dazzle smirked as I grabbed the console and inverted myself to take a look.
Stimbolt glanced up as I eased my helmet inside to join him.
“I think the Chief nailed it on the head, Commander. As far as I can tell there’s no opening in here.” He said. “Had to have been teleported. I was just going to open it up.” He held up a vibrocutter from his toolkit. Basically an oscillating diamond blade on a handle, it was a general-purpose cutting tool capable of carving anything short of duranium. “This is just plastic. Shouldn’t take but a couple seconds.
I nodded to him and he sketched out a neat rectangle. On the last stroke the piece he cut came loose, half of it depressed inward and the other half sticking up. He carefully pinched the protruding bit between thumb and forefinger and drew it gingerly out.
“Careful! The edges are going to be sharp.” Rather than slide the piece out past him, and risking a slice to his suit, he backed out bodily with the thing in front of him. I eased forward as he left and took a peek inside…
Behind a lattice of dark fiber-optic cables was a narrow space between some transtator boards in which floated a bright yellow data solid slipped inside of…
I blinked three or four times as the Mare in my head kept rejecting the image of what I was seeing. Finally she just stared at her screen and joined me in a moment of disbelief!
It was a… statue. Well, a statuette, actually. Just a little big bigger than the rectangular data solid and made out of something white. It was shaped like some sort of four-legged Pegasus! Something from the Old Days when all Ponies went on four legs, if you believe that sort of thing. … I squinted, looking at it more closely. No, not a Pegasus. The wings were wrong. This thing had what looked like butterfly wings folded tight against its body and two thin antennae lying flat against its head. It was half crouched as if it were cowering, I found myself rejecting a wild notion that popped into my head for some reason that insisted that the little thing was crouching to fit in such a small place. The little face was looking upwards with a frozen expression of almost forlorn hope… I scowled at myself inside my helmet for wasting time on equimorphosizing an inanimate object. I took another look. The data solid was tucked between its legs like a napkin in a napkin holder. Why in the name of Luna’s Lavender Socks would somepony…. ?
Stimbolt stuck his head back inside. “What do you see, Commander?”
I started, my helmet bonking off the console and back onto the floor. I stopped myself in time to keep it from happening again and shot a cross look at the hapless Middie. “Damnit, Stimbolt!”
The Engineering pony drew back. “Sorry, Ma’am. Thought you saw me coming.”
“No, I didn’t. … Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.” I said sheepishly.
“Everything ok in there?” Dazzle asked, concerned.
“A-ok, Chief!” I called out. “It’s just that I have something weird in here.” I thought for a second. “Can you fire that spell up again? What can you tell me about the magical object? Is it a balefire trap?”
Stimbolt looked alarmed. “But if they wanted to destroy it wouldn’t it have been easier to do it when they were boarded in the first place? I mean, why bother hiding it then?”
Dazzles’ violet aura had enveloped the little thing, the shimmering light seeming to strike a spark of light into those tiny eyes. I tore my gaze away and looked at Stimbolt.
“Maybe the crew hoped somepony else would find the ship eventually. Somepony who could defuse the damn thing.” Without waiting for a reply, I continued. “What do you think, Dazzle?”
Dazzle waited a few more seconds before answering slowly.
“I… don’t know, Commander. I’m not getting a bomb vibe from it, exactly. There’s a lot of magic involved, but just what it is I can’t put my horn on it. Never came up against anything like it.” She paused for a moment. “Maybe I should take it out of there. I’ve got a shield spell…”
“Against balefire?” I asked. “No, you take Stimbolt back into the corridor and shut the door. Rig up your shield out there and wait.”
“Uh.” Stimbolt took a deep breath and kept most of the quaver out of his voice. “Look. I’m, ah, the lowest ranking pony here…”
“Zark off, kid!” Dazzle cut him off. “I have the training to…”
“And I have the pretty gold filigree on my sleeves that says I get the chance to order you both the hell out of here!” I said more sharply than I intended. I took a deep breath and went on. “Look, let’s not be melodramatic here. For all we know this thing is just rigged to fry the data solid, if it does anything at all. Stimbolt, give me that tool then the both of you get out of here. I’ll give you a shout when I’m done. When we get back to the ship you two can put me on report, ok? Now get going.” I reached for the vibrotool.
He handed it over slowly. I could see in his face that he was desperately trying to think of some way to change my mind. Dazzle kept grimly silent, but I could feel her disapproval.
I switched channels to just his suit alone. “Stimbolt. Do you really want an insubordination charge on your record this early in your career? I appreciate what you’re willing to do. Really, I do! You did all you could do, but it’s my Command so it’s my job, ok? Comes with the gold braid. Give me the tool and we’ll all laugh about this over dinner tonight.” I tossed him a smile. “Now, scram, Mister!”
The young buck gulped and put the cutter in my hoof and paused a moment before jerking himself away. His eyes sought mine and locked on. “So… How early in your career did you get your first insubordination reprimand?”
I held his gaze for a moment and deadpanned. “About three weeks. But it was wartime and everything happened faster in those days! Now, as my dear, old, Aunt used to say… ’G’wan, beat it!’” he scooted away and I re-enabled the general suit-to-suit channel in time to hear Dazzle.
“-me on, Kid! It’s her show now.” I waited a few moments and felt the deck vibrate as the door to the Bridge shut. Almost immediately Dazzles’ voice came back over my helmet. “All set, Commander. We’re in the first stateroom and my shield is up. Let’s hope we’re all just a bunch of silly ponies here.”
“Copy that, Dazzle. I’m going to get this thing out now.” I reached forward with the tool and paused. “Hey, Dazzle?”
“Commander?”
“If anything should happen… Tell Sunny…”
“Got it covered, Commander. …As the most expendable pony Stimbolt gets the job of telling her.”
“…Oh, hell no!” Stimbolt squawked! “That Alicorn scares the crap out of me! I‘ll take my chances with a bomb any day!”
I couldn’t help it, I broke up laughing! I was more nervous than I thought. When I could breathe again I assured the hapless Middie.
“Relax, Stimbolt. Sunny is all bark and no bite. If she does give you a hard time, though, tell her I’ll haunt the hell out of her!”
Dazzle chuckled. “Duly noted. Good luck, Commander.”
“Right!” I raised the cutter and sliced the fiber-optic lines, opening up a slice just long enough for me the reach in through. “I’ve cleared out the clutter and I’m reaching in for the data solid.” As an Augment I’m able to control a lot of what, in any other pony, would be involuntary physical processes. I quelled my heart rate and calmed my mind using the mental disciplines our ancestors developed back on Earth. Intellectually I realized that the odds that the damn thing would go off in my face weren’t likely. After all, why go to all this trouble to risk destroying such valuable data? …The mare in my mind pointed out that non-Augment ponies don’t always act rationally and played back a lot of Sunny’s antics by way of example. I sent her back a reply that made her tsk when she read her screens and reached in and grasped the little statue. For the record, I wasn’t shutting my eyes defensively I just happened to blink is all. I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“Got it. Come back in and we’ll all be silly ponies together!” I plucked the data solid from between the knees of the figure and flourished it as the hatch opened. Dazzle glided into the room to make an expert landing standing on the far wall followed by Stimbolt who contented himself pulling himself around and anchoring himself to the doorframe. He jerked to a halt when he saw what I was holding.
“That’s what we so worked up about?” He began to laugh.
“Nopony suspected that toilet seat either, kid.” Dazzle pointed out, shutting him up. Then she drifted closer, halting her forward motion on the console I just gutted. “Must have some sentimental value for somepony to invest that kind of enchantment. Can’t see why. Just a knacky piece of junk...” She reached out for the thing for a closer look. I handed it to her and the instant she took it her suit lights went out and the glare shielding of her faceplate opaqued! She reached reflexively to her suit controls, her body going tense. She flung the statue away.
I jammed the data solid into a pocket and, anchoring myself with one leg, spun her around to check her suit integrity. Stimbolt drifted up as fast as he could and began to jack his suit into hers to run a diagnostic.
“I’m not seeing any venting !” He called out. “Suit intact from here!”
“Here, too!” I acknowledged. Then, “Dazzle! Do you read me? Squeeze my hoof if your environment controls are working!” If she had a total life support failure her air would last a few minutes at least. The properties of the suit would keep her from freezing. Quite the opposite was the real danger. The suits were so thermally insulated that a pony could cook in their own juices if left unattended. I grabbed her gauntleted hoof and squeezed. She squeezed back and I relaxed just a little.
“…-at the Hell is go-…” Dazzles’ voice emerged in very irritated snatches between intervals of static. “-cuking Cadet! The rat-molesting little….curse on it! …never gonna liv-…-is down!”
“Take it easy, Chief. We’ve got you. Copy that the figure is cursed. Do you want an emergency beam out?” I was sorely tempted to send her back whether she wanted it or not… but she was feeling embarrassed enough already for falling for a booby trap ‘like a Cadet’, apparently.
Dazzle shook her head and made a negative gesture with her free hoof. “No. I’m g-… …you receiving.. -mander?”
I gave her hoof a squeeze. “Your transmissions are all broken up. Better stay off the channel unless something important comes up.”
She gave me a thumbs-up and relaxed just a little, her body language speaking volumes of profane prose.
“Stimbolt?”
The Middie replied distractedly. “It’s a… non-specific interruption of some of her suit systems. Life support is ok, comm channels are, obviously, uh, compromised. Suit sensors and lights are out. It’s just non-life threatening stuff, thank Celestia.”
“Sounds pretty specific in those regards to me, Stimbolt.” I observed.
“The physical location of the malfunction is non-specific, Ma’am. There’s no damage to the actual components, the power and data flow to the affected systems is being constantly obstructed at random points in the circuits. I would detect a computer virus, therefore, and obviously, this is magical in nature. Uh, I’ll try to be more precise in the future.” He got back to work.
“It wasn’t a criticism, Stimbolt. Just a reminder. .. Something you can pass along when you pick up a cuff full of gold braid.” I said gently. The young bucks’ eyes widened for a moment. I suspected that he thought his prospects of promotion were at their lowest point. His eyes darted to me for just an instant and I caught a spark of gratitude there. Hell, I was a Middie too, once upon a time.
Dazzle reached behind her, grabbing Stimbolt’s helmet and working downward until she could get hold of the young pony’s arm. She gave it a squeeze. Good for her!
“Um, right!” Stimbolt flustered. “Let me see what I can do to work around this. I think I can restore her systems using my suit.”
“Carry on, Mister!” I said. Dazzle tossed another thumbs-up in his direction as he set to work. I tabbed the ship’s channel again. “Boarding party to Hermes.”
“Everything hokay, Commander?” Caper sounded more curious than worried.
“We recovered the data, Sir. The magical object turned out to be a…” I paused, wondering how to put it best. “…Particularly well disguised and subtle sort of security device.” Dazzle threw a particularly grateful thumbs-up in my general direction. “Dazzle’s suit is experiencing some minor malfunctions. She’s inconvenienced, not endangered.” I added hurriedly.
Caper grunted. “We picked up odd readings on suit telemetry but did not interfere since life signs still strong and I trust judgment of Science Offic- I mean, Exec.” I could hear the smile.
“Both of us appreciate that, Captain. Give us a few minutes and we’ll be getting underway here. Boarding party out.”
“Da.”
I clicked off. “What’s the word, Stimbolt? Can we reboot the suit?”
“Gonna give it a try right now, Ma’am. Chief? Your suit is going to go offline. That should purge whatever is happening to it. I’ll do a quick diagnostic and re-initialize your systems. Should take about twenty seconds. If I run into a snag I’ll have you beamed back before you can say ‘applesauce’, all right?” Dazzle gave his arm a squeeze and another thumbs-up.
I chuckled. “Chief, you’re going to sprain your thumb if you keep talking so much! Just imagine what Doctor Cross would say!”
The Chief quickly folded her arms across her chest, tucking her hooves in her armpits. It was odd to think that the Love of my Life had my shipmates in such a terrorized state. I mentally shrugged. Alicorns!
“Take it away, Stimbolt.”
“Roger! Going offline in three… two… one!” He scrutinized the readouts on his arm display. “… Completely depowered. I’m getting no readings of any anomalous energy readings magical or otherwise.” He tapped a few commands and checked the cables linking his suit to hers. “All right. Re-initializing now!
Dazzles’ suit lights came on almost immediately, her faceplate depolarizing in accordance to the ambient light.
“That was a mighty quick twenty seconds!” She beamed at us both.
Stimbolt smiled winningly. “Old Engineering trick! The estimated time to repair is always at least twice as long as it actually takes. How else do you think we keep our reputations as miracle workers?”
I shook my head in my helmet. “I officially didn’t hear that! Welcome back, Chief. Everything all right?”
Dazzle checked her internal displays. “Everything’s all five-by-five in here. Just like nothing ever happened. Hey, thanks for the good word, Commander. Little Rock will still ream me a good one, but it won’t be as bad this way.”
“Come on, Chief! It wasn’t like you were taking an unwarranted risk or anything.”
“Yeah, maybe. But with things like that you only get exactly one mistake to make. Should have given it another spell-check before I even touched it. The question now is why it didn’t go off when you touched it?” She looked around. “Where’d the damn thing go anyway?”
“It’s probably in a million pieces by now.” I said. “It’s been cold-soaked at absolute zero for five years and you winged it away pretty good. Pity, it was a pretty little thing for all that it was cursed.” I began a slow spin to visually sweep the Bridge.
Stimbolt finished stowing his tools before he looked up. “Maybe it was rigged to go off on a magic-user? You might even had primed it when you scanned it. You know, gave it a target!”
Dazzle growled something under her breath along the lines of ’I’ll show it what a target feels like!’ as she, too, spun slowly.
We finished our spins within a second of each other, spotting nothing. Dazzle frowned.
“Must’ve rebounded into the corridor.”
Considering she had thrown it at a right angle, plus fifteen or so degrees in a vertical plane, I looked dubious. “That had to have been one hell of a fancy bank shot! I would have thought that it would have shattered. Well… we have the data solid, at least. Hopefully we’ll pick the little thing up on our way…”
While I spoke, I dropped my hand to the pouch in my suit where I’d stashed the ‘solid. I was intensely surprised when my hoof encountered something else. We all looked at the head of the little statuette sticking out of the pouch in stunned silence until Stimbolt cleared his throat.
“Remind me to never play pool against the Chief. Oddball in the side pocket!”
I plucked it out of the pouch. The data solid was tucked back between its legs again. …Of course it was!
“Well then.” I said, finally. “It’s definitely got some magic left, doesn’t it?” The Universe may not care but, sometimes, it’s just plain weird!
“Commander?” Dazzle looked at the little curio narrowly. “Could you take the data solid out again? And just let the little weirdo float there a bit. I’ll give it another going over.”
I plucked the yellow module out and stashed it away. A moment later the little thing was covered in the soft, violet aura of Dazzles’ horn.
“Ok.” She murmured. “I’m getting a much more subdued magical reading now. …Must be a minor enchantment to protect it and keep it clean or something. Pretty low-power stuff.” She peered at it closely as she telekinetically brought it closer to her faceplate. “Odd sort of feel to it, though. I’d almost bet my next shore leave that it isn’t Unicorn magic.”
“Maybe it’s a Zebra-made talisman of some sort.” Stimbolt volunteered, drifting up to look over her shoulder.
“Your guess is as good as mine!” I admitted. “I know about as much about magic as I do of Romulan drinking games. Glad it’s in one piece, though…”
The glow from Dazzles’ horn faded and she reached out to take it in hoof. “Though why anypony… or Zebra… would invest any magic in a five centicredit piece of junk like this is beyond me!” She plucked it out of the vacuum and stiffened as her lights went down again! A burst of static blurred her voice before cutting it off. “Celestia damn it!”
I managed to grab it away before she could hurl it against the far wall. I grabbed Dazzle to keep her from caroming off the ceiling. Stimbolt anchored himself and did the same, drawing his toolkit out with a free hoof.
“Uh, Chief? It’s my technical opinion that you should stop pissing it off!”
I sealed the curious curio up in my suit pouch and we rebooted Dazzles’ suit again with no problem. I wasn’t in the mood for any more ‘excitement’ so I shepherded our little group back to the cargo bay to bring the remains of the Cimarron’s’ crew back to the ship.
While I changed back into my uniform the Hermes had moved off to transport the other bodies aboard. Sunny was already in the briefing room by the time I’d arrived. She looked grim and a little angry. Well, at least she didn’t have to see those poor ponies drifting in the wreckage like so much junk…. I banished the memory as I took a seat next to her and picked up a cup of hot tea from the tray on the table. Stimbolt was sitting rigidly at attention to Caper’s immediate right with both hooves clasped in front of him on the table. Dazzle sat in a more relaxed, though scrupulously respectful, version of attention next to him. Caper, as usual, sat forward in his chair, leaning on an armrest. Chairs made for anypony else just don’t work for Pegasus wings. Xantippe had arranged herself just behind him on the left with her eyes cast courteously, as Zebras seem to reckon it, downward with her hooves clasped in an over-and-under fashion in front. One of the new tricorders was slung over her shoulder.
I’d brought the curio with me and deposited it on the table. Dazzle gave it a sour look, Stimbolt gave it glance and Sunny quirked an eyebrow at it, momentarily jarred out of her anger. For his part, Caper gave it a sad look and grunted.
“Ah! Such pretty little thing to bring back from such a somber place, da?” He shook his head and continued. “ Have been hearing reports from rest of boarding party. Is anything you wish to add to record, Commander?”
I took a sip from the cup then toyed with the thing idly. “No. We’re five years too late to help those poor ponies. Whoever hit them didn’t leave much. That ship is a wreck, pure and simple. Any luck with the data solid?”
Caper waggled a finger at me. “Was coming to that! Melody had begun decrypting information.” He sighed. “Am sorry to say that initial suspicions were true. These ponies were smuggling.”
“Is that t’ say that t’was all right they had t’ be killed like that, then?” Sunny said dangerously.
“No, Doctor Cross. It. Does. Not.” He gave her a broadside with his eyes that even Sunny had to slow down for before continuing. “Were still Federation citizens. Federation would have dealt with them more… appropriately, nyet? Would probably have finished serving sentence by now and been back making legal living and serving society instead of being corpses. Would have had chance, anyway. Not like what they got at hooves of pirates!” He released her from his gaze. Sunny, I could just see, was going to come back with something indignant so I stepped on her hoof. I got a dirty look but at least she shut up.
The Captain looked to the rest of us. “Soul of Cimarron was dealing in stolen antiquities. Manifest indicates that cargo was decorated stonework, polished stone facings, even a few worked stone blocks as well as some partial marble statuary. All from a site a few miles away from present-day Ponyville in Whitetail Wood Nature Preserve. According to data they were taking artifacts from what is considered to be the former Royal Residence of the Goddesses Celestia and Luna. According to legend.” He acknowledged. “Crew went in, grabbed what they could until orbiting ship could beam them up. Very slickly done! Must hand it to them for chutzpah!”
Dazzle frowned. “Who in their right minds would want to pay for that stuff?”
“Orions, apparently.” Caper shrugged. “Black Market antiquities appeal to diverse groups. What is broken stone to us is exotic curiosity for aliens. Is customer for anything, da?”
“But it wasna junk!” Sunny exclaimed, looking shocked. “This was part of something Celestia, aye, n’ Luna lived with! D’ye no ken?” She looked from face to face in disbelief. Dazzle didn’t quite roll her eyes. Stimbolt looked carefully at nothing at all while the Captain regarded her with a neutral expression. For my part, I laid a hoof on top of one of hers and gave it a soft squeeze.
“I do not say that artifacts have no cultural value.” The Captain continued carefully. “Theft is theft. Fate of Cimarron crew in no way deserved in any case, as good Doctor will agree, da?”
“O’ course!” Sunny shot back. “’Tis just th’ idea that somepony’d be stealin’ from th’ likes o’ them! …Or am I th’ only Pony who feels this way?” She sat back in her seat, spreading her wings a bit to make room. Her eyes traveled to each of us in turn.
Dazzle cleared her throat. “Assuming ‘they’ existed outside of mythology, that is. As it was they didn’t seem to be able to do much about the theft. …Unless you want to call death by Pirate some sort of ‘divine retribution’.” She made air quotes with her hooves, which irritated me on Sunny’s behalf.
So, for her sake, I spoke up. “Look, I’m an Earth Pony from Equestris. The Goddesses were strictly a Terrestrial phenomena but we brought the concept with us because, although they were the, ah, living embodiment of All Things Magical, they were also the living embodiment of All Things Pony, wings, horns, and know-how. My ancestors rejected Magic on principle but they never rejected the fact that they were still Ponies. The Goddesses were an Ideal, whether they actually lived or not and that was good enough for us. Other Ponies have other faiths and it’s not for any of us to denigrate them. All that we can say is that the crew of the Cimarron died while doing something illegal by the laws of the Federation. They weren’t evil and they certainly didn’t deserve to be butchered in deep space for mere credits!”
To her credit Dazzle looked contrite. She regarded me levelly for a few seconds before turning to Sunny.
“The Commander is right. Sorry, Doc! I wasn’t meaning to step on your hooves there.” She smirked bashfully at Sunny before continuing. “… I’m probably going to get the cold stethoscope next time I come in, aren’t I?”
“Och! Dinna fash yesel’! I grew up in a different environment ‘tis all.” Sunny waved a dismissive hoof and I had a sudden thought of her living through the bombing of Coventry and spending so much of her fillyhood living in fallout shelters. I loved her so much at that moment! “’Sides, if I were th’ truly vindictive type I’d be turnin’ yon bit o’ bric-a-brac loose on ye again, wouldn’t I?” … The smile she gave her told me the thought had crossed her mind.
Dazzle reared back although she was diagonally across the table from it. “Keep that thing away from me! I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot stimbolt! Er, well, you know what I mean, kid!”
Stimbolt had the grace not to chuckle at the Chief’s expense, but he did smile widely! “No problems, Chief! The little whatsit sure does seem to have it in for you, doesn’t it? So… is that thing part of the cargo?” He pointed across the table at the little figurine.
Caper shook his head and grunted a negative. “Was not listed. Is probably personal property of some crewpony. The Captain, maybe, since it was hidden with data.” He shrugged. “Pending claim by relatives who can identify is now just souvenir.”
“You uncovered it, Mister Stimbolt!” I began sliding it across the table. “It’s yours.”
But Stimbolt waved it off. “Me keep that thing in Engineering with all those Unicorns and magically-powered equipment? No thanks! Dazzle found it, anyway.”
“Don’t look at me! I’d just as soon chuck it in the recycler!” Dazzle crossed her arms and shook her head. “No. Way! I don’t even know what the damn thing is supposed to be anyway.”
“Oh, come now!” Sunny interjected. “’Tis a Fairy!” We gave her an assortment of blank looks and she continued. “One o’ Th’ Little Ponies, ye ken. Wee little magical folk fond o’ playin’ pranks n’ helpin’ out ‘round house. … Did none o’ ye ever had bedtime stories told t’ ye afore?” She looked pained. “What do they teach young ponies anymore? She cocked a challenging eyebrow at Dazzle for just a moment.
Dazzle shrugged. “I read the stories of the Light Bringer. You know, right after the Eugenics War. Always liked those stories even though no Pony could get that shot up that many times and live!”
“Grandmare always read me the classics.” Stimbolt put in. “All the stories of the Mares who wielded the Elements of Harmony back before ‘The Bad Old Days‘.” It was his turn to make air quotes. “… Nothing in those stories about Fairies, though.”
“Da! Rainbow Dash, the greatest of Mane Mares.” Caper looked reminiscent. “ Was good Rushin mare! Read them when was just little flyer.” Xantippe looked as if she were going to say something but bit her tongue, though her eyes sparkled at the thought of the Captain capering through the clouds as a colt.
Sunny rolled her eyes. “Am I detectin’ just a wee bit o’ Pegasai prejudice? Still, somepony had a bit o’ whimsy t’ enchant th’ little thing like that, to be sure.”
“Yeah.” Dazzle said sourly. “A veritable Pinky Pie. Har-dee-har-har.”
I pulled it back toward me by its little tail. “Right then. I’ll hang on to it. If anypony claims it, it’ll be in our cabin. Don’t worry, I won’t take it anywhere near Engineering or Security!” I winked to the other two ponies across from me. Dazzle, for the record, looked relieved.
Caper nodded. “Then for now we are done! We will get to Alpha Centauri tonight and turn over report to Starfleet. Will be in their hooves then.” He stirred and stood up. “If nothing else to add…?” He glanced around the room. “Dismissed.”
Everypony filed out of the room. As they left I gathered the little thing to me and stroked the tiny head. “Looks like you’re coming to live with us, Squirt! Hope you don’t snore, one in the cabin is bad enough!”
Sunny chuckled and shook her head. “Ye didna play wi’ dolls growin’ up, did ye?” Then she stood and flicked me with a wing. “And I dinna snore!”