//------------------------------// // Undiscovered Country // Story: Adventures Across Space // by zalla661 //------------------------------// It has been five months since Trixie received notice that her parents had died. Since then she's been hard at work keeping up with her classes for the time remaining at the Academy. On November 9, 2154 she graduated at the top of her class with a Command recommendation. After a three week recovery period, Trixie partook in the Officers Initiation Ceremony where she was awarded the rank of Captain. Trixie then went to the ENQ Space Port, where she was taking a shuttle to her ship, the Hydra. Shuttle on route Space Dock Trixie sat in a shuttlepod looking out the view port. Stars littered her view as the sky beck devoid of color. Darkness consumed the shuttlepod, and Trixie thought about what was coming once she was on the Hydra. She stared blankly out the viewport thinking about her parents, and how she didn't end on good terms with them. Not that she hated them, she loved them dearly, the issue was they didn't see eye to eye. The last time she saw them, she had fought with them and left without so much as a goodbye. Now, she regrets never making amends. As she thought about her parents, the shuttlepod made a sharp right turn causing her to shift in her seat. Trixie glanced at the pilot briefly before looking out the cockpit viewport. Her heart melted as a massive vessel entered view, the NX-20, formally known as the Hydra. It was a massive vessel compared to previous ships. It had a long hull that curved up to a point, like a small birds beak. It had two massive nacelles sticking slightly out the sides of the ship near the back, slightly bent downwards, connected to a upper module housing the H-drive aft of the ship. It was several shades of grey in a digital-like design, and had no markings on it. This struck Trixie as odd, all ships were named and tagged to identify them from the outside, so why wasn't the hydra? Trixie never thought why the ships were ever designed to show their names on the hull, they just did and she never asked why. Now, seeing no name she thought it strange. She watched through the view port as the shuttlepod circled around the ship heading to the aft. once the shuttle reached the aft, it slowly went beneath the ship coming up to a docking port just under the command center. The shuttle turned away from the ship, then slowly began to reverse towards the Hydra's port. The pilot, having done this hundreds of times, masterfully danced his hooves across the console directing the shuttle without so much as a word. It seemed so effortless from Trixie's perspective. A minute later the grinding of metal on metal was heard as the shuttle mated with the Hydra's port. The shuttle jolted slightly to a halt, as soft hiss was heard shortly after. The pilot pressed a few more buttons and the console spoke, "Equalizing pressure. Please wait." Trixie stood by the doors, grabbing her duffel bag, she couldn't wait to get on the Hydra and begin her job as Captain. She once again thought of her parents, wondering if they were watching her from… well, wherever they were. She never really thought about what came after death, but now she couldn't help but wonder what it was like to die. "Pressure equalized." The computer stated. She took a deep breath and waited for the doors to open. When they did she left the shuttle without a word. She found herself in the cargo bay, ponies, griffons, and changelings, were hard at work gathering supplies and storing them. All of them were wearing standard uniforms, black boots and colored shirt tops based on their job, and ranks/insignia's. There were Thrane here too, but none of them were a part of the crew, they were specialists who assisted in the construction of the NX-20 class. Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! Trixie looked to her side as a loader mech walked by. It was approximately 4 meters high, bipedal design, with two arms carrying a massive container easily three times the size of the mech. The pilot was in the body of the mech with a roll cage style cockpit with several monitors projected in front of him. The arms and legs were very minimalist in design. Simple frame wires, and minimal armor cover which made it look incomplete, but it was one of the sturdiest loaders designed to date. As the pilot walked by he noticed Trixie and side stepped simultaneously walking into another loader knocking over several containers. Trixie used her magic to prevent him and his mech from falling, allowing him to regain balance. "Thanks for the save ma'ma." he said turning to face Trixie, who simply nodded. "ENSIIIGGN!" a familiar voice echoed through the entire bay. It was the voice of one very angry earth pony, a pony you had to work HARD to invoke even the slightest bit of agitation from, Commander Octavia. "What in the hell was that!" she barked at him walking straight up to the mech. She then pointed to the containers which were now open with odd shaped cylinders in them. "Do you KNOW what these are ensign?" she asked. The mech looked to the container and back to the Commander. The pilot was nervous as he noticed what he was carrying, and knocked over. "yes ma'am! they're the experimental torpedoes that use antimatter warheads ma'am!" he stated. "Yes ensign, ANTIMATTER!" she hopped onto the mech poking the glass causing the pilot to move the mech back, Her eyes were dilated and her left eye began to twitch slightly. It was quite comical to observe. "You could have taken out not only yourself, but everyone in this bay! Along with most of the bay! Watch what you're doing next time!" Her ear twitched to the sound of laughter. She turned about to scold whoever was laughing, before she noticed it was Trixie. She held a hoof over her mouth trying hard not to laugh even more, she wasn't very successful. Octavia simply stared at Trixie blushing in embarrassment from her outburst. Jumping down from the mech, Octavia adjusted her uniform, then turned to the pilot with a stoic expression. "As you were ensign!" she barked at him. He saluted then proceeded to clean up the fallen torpedoes. Trixie approached Octavia with a huge grin. "Well, somepony is having a bad day." she jabbed at the Commander. "Well, it seems you're in good spirits now." Octavia responded pushing the hoof away. "I never thought I'd see the day you'd laugh again. well, since we were children I guess." Octavia gestured to the turbo lift, leading Trixie to it. The doors opened with a loud hiss, and both ponies entered. Octavia pressed a button on the console labeled 'bridge', causing the doors to close with another hiss, and the turbo lift began to rise. Trixie read the monitor taking note of each deck. Wow, over ten decks 12 total that's amazing! Those Thrane sure know how to make ships. she thought. Octavia stood at attention waiting for the lift to reach its destination. "So Trixie, or should I say, Captain?" she looked from the corner of her eye to Trixie. "How have you been since the incident? Lyra's been asking about you." she pressed a button and the lift came to a halt. Trixie looked at her taking a deep breath. "I've been busy with graduation and final exams. The time for mourning came and went, as it always does." Trixie reached for the console pressing the same button Octavia did, and the lift continued. "You know, you can talk to us Trixie. You don't have to take this all by yourself." "I know what I'm doing Commander." she glared at Octavia. "I don't need anyone to help me through this. I can take care of myself." "What about Spitfire? Lyra, Me?" this caused Trixie to pause. She looked at Octavia in confusion. "You say YOU don't need anyone, but have you considered what WE felt when you shut us out? AGAIN?" she snarled. Trixie took a step back, feeling uncomfortable, she looked at Octavia with concern. "What do you mean, again?" Octavia took a step closer causing Trixie to back against the wall of the lift. "You know damn well what I mean! You left us to go to the Academy! You left ME your friend!" She hissed jabbing Trixie in the chest. "We use to be best friends you and I, now … I don't know what we are anymore." she turned away from Trixie. "You may command this ship, and I'll follow your orders, but you'll have to work hard to earn back my trust Trixie." Trixie looked down in shame. Yes, she did leave with no intention of looking back, but she hoped it wouldn't hurt her friends for her to leave. Of course, Trixie figured this out long ago, it just hurt to hear it from one of her friends. She respected Octavia, it hurt her greatly to hear her distrust her. "I'm sorry, Octy. I really am." She grabbed hold of Octavia's shoulder. "I promise I learned my lesson, just be patient with me. I'll prove you CAN trust me again." "I know you will." she replied. The doors to the turbolift opened revealing the bridge. It was relatively simple layout. It was a half circle with the Captains Chair in the center, five different stations positioned around the chair. At the back was the command center for mission briefing with senior staff and the turbolift left of it. The bridge was dull grey and silver colored with colorful buttons, and displays of the Hydra's system depending on the station. As they entered the bridge a pony called out, "Officers on the bridge." It was Lyra who was standing at the communication station. All the ponies stood at attention as the Trixie and Octavia made their way onto the bridge. "As you were." Trixie stated, and everyone went back to work. Looking at the crew Trixie took note of each individual. Lyra was at the comm. station, she's the one who called the crew to attention, a changeling at the helm 3rd of 5, tactical was a white unicorn with a blue mane with a visor of sorts named Vinyl Scratch, the security station was empty, and the science station had a griffon, that was really odd. The griffon was working at the console not looking at what was going on around him, then he left the station and went to the security station taking a seat. I'll have to find out his role from Octavia before we leave. Turning to Octavia she leaned over to whisper in her ear. "So, who's the griffon? What's his role on the ship?" She asked Octavia. Octavia looked back to her whispering back. "His name is Claw, Lt. Claw. He's our Chief of Security. The best we have." she took her seat next to Trixie's. "I'll introduce you later." "Thanks." Trixie said sitting down in her seat. "Commander." Octavia looked to Lyra who had a headset over one ear. "The Dock Master is requesting an update on the ships status." "Tell the Dock Master we're ready to leave space dock, and that, Captain Trixie Lulamoon has arrived and assumed Command." Octavia replied to Lyra. Lyra nodded and sent a message to the Dock Master. A minute later Lyra spoke again. "Dock Master has granted clearance to leave space dock when ready Captain." Trixie took a deep breath before standing up, looking around at the bridge crew she noticed the science station was empty still. She looked back to Octavia with a curious expression. "Where's our Science Officer, Commander?" "We're to pick up our Science Officer once we leave space dock, Captain." she gestured to the empty station. "We'll be heading to rendezvous with the Haymaker at the Jansis 12 Refinement Colony, where we'll transfer Lt. Sunny Smiles to the Hydra." "Thank you, Commander." Trixie said. She then glanced to Lyra. "Open a channel to the Dock Master." Lyra complied with the command. After a series of button pushes later she slipped her headset off. "Channel's open, Captain." Lyra said. "Space Dock this is Hydra. Requesting permission to depart." "This is Space Dock, Hydra permission to depart is granted. Good luck out there." said a male voice over the comm. "Acknowledged, Hydra out." Trixie sat back down looking at the changeling. "3rd of 5, clear all moorings please." The changeling complied with the command. "Aye ma'am, clear all moorings." He started to work on the console, as loud clanking noises were heard. The docking clamps removed themselves from the Hydra's hull, slowly retracting into the dock itself. Once complete the Hydra's engines came to life, causing a slight vibration throughout the ship. "All moorings cleared, Captain." 3rd of 5 stated. Trixie took a deep breath, she then pushed a button on her personal console opening a ship wide comm. "Attention crew of the Hydra, this is your Captain speaking. I wanted to say before we head out from dock that... I know it'll be tough out there. We're on a mission of peace, and exploration. We'll be far from home over the next year, going into uncharted space. There's no telling what we'll find out there, but I want all of you to know, that if we stand firm and keep a level head we can take on any challenge we face out there." she then circled the bridge continuing. "I guarantee we will run into trouble out there. And when we do, we will be prepared for it. Were the best of the best from Equis Command, so let's go out there to the undiscovered country and make history." She made her way back to her seat silencing the comm. She then looked to 3rd of 5."3rd of 5, take us out 1/4 impulse." "Aye ma'am, 1/4 impulse." he said. As her worked the console the ship began to vibrate slightly before the dampeners kicked in, reducing the vibrations to the point of near non-existence. Then the ship began to pull out of space dock, clearing the docks cage like appendages, the Hydra made its way into open space. "Heading, Captain?" 3rd of 5 asked. Trixie looked to him and then the view screen. "Set course for Jansis 12 Refining Colony Ensign. Best possible speed. Let's see what the Hydras got." With that said, 3rd of 5 began setting coordinates to the Jansis Colonies. Once finished he input the execute command. This made the Hydra's nacelles go parallel to the main hull, a bright light enveloped the ship as the H-drive propelled the ship forward into a bright blue blur, instantly disappearing from sight to its destination.