Chief Engineer Silver Wrench’s Personal Log, 20th July, 3382 AD.
We’ve done what we can.
There is no chance we can repair the FTL drive without obtaining parts we don’t currently have in stock. What he have that wasn’t used in our current patch jobs was destroyed in the attack. I still wonder who they were and why they attacked us, but in my own opinion we stumbled across a crime scene of sorts, they having destroyed another ship before our arrival judging by the debris field. They wanted no witnesses. I could be wrong of course, but that’s my guess.
But they definitely destroyed that ship, as an analysis on the hull fragment we recovered has proven. We found traces of weapons fire matching that of the ships which attacked us.
Anyway, I have managed to repair the thaumatic drive well enough, and we are proceeding full speed back towards Equus. Or as fast as we can with only one engine working.
Not like it helps us much, being at sub-light and all.
We did what we could for the communications systems, so we could get out the distress call Geneser suggested. However, we had about as much luck with that as the FTL drive. We managed to bring ship-to-ship communications back online, but long range is a no-go, similar situation with the sensors. We can’t even let home know that we are alive. They’re probably holding memorials right about now.
Never thought I’d actually be late for my own funeral.
ES Harmony
Silver Wrench finished his log, looking up from the console he was working at towards the large reactor beyond it. The casing was cracked and scorched, but all breaches had been sealed up. The components within hummed gently, though too many were still offline for Silver Wrench’s liking.
Not that he could do anything about it by this point.
Silver Wrench sighed. His team had done all they could and now was tasked with simply maintaining the ship, a job that was now a lot harder than when they left Starbase Alpha. Too many decks were still exposed to space and sealed off, too much of the ship had been left uninhabitable.
Still, on the bright side, power levels were now stable and power had been returned to the lower decks. This meant space was freed for the crew, and this no more bunking up. This was a relief to Silver Wrench who had found himself sharing his quarters with a first year ensign with little to no personal hygiene.
Silver Wrench glanced over towards the time being displayed on the console screen, raising from his seat moments later with a stretch. His duty was over and the night’s crew would be taking over. In the meantime he and other senior officers were due in the captain’s mess for dinner.
If there was one thing they didn’t lose much of during the attack, it was thankfully food and water. They still had years’ worth of food left and the water recycling system was still operational, giving them an indefinite supply. However, food was predicted to run out just short of home even with their rationing schemes in place, so it would be the cryogenic pods for them for the final leg of the trip.
Still, that was a ways off. As such there was little use worrying about it, by this point all any of them could do was roll with the punches and keep moving on forward to their destination.
And right now for Silver Wrench, his destination was fulfilling an empty stomach.
He moved away from the main console and down the staircase to the ground floor of engineering, he passed by crew beginning the night shift as he made his way out of the doorway and into the hallways. He passed by the cargo bays and hanger bays as he made his way though the lower decks to the very centre of the ship. Signs of damage were still visible, the odd scorch on panels and sealed off hallway leading out into open space, but in all Silver could almost pretend things were normal again as he passed by a few ponies and other species all either on duty or heading to their rooms to call it a night.
He could almost imagine Luna’s bright moon in the sky, its light and the light of the cities on it shining down to the planet below.
Doors slid open as Silver reached the centre of the ship on the lower decks. Machinery was organised neatly throughout the room and a bridge spanned over a pit in the centre, the pit contained several gravity generators whirling away as they span. On the bridge sat a control panel which Silver knew held the auxiliary controls for both the artificial gravity and oxygen generation. An elevator stood a short way away which quickly carried Silver Wrench up from the bottom of the ship all the way to the top command dome.
When the doors opened and Silver Wrench stepped out onto a dome shaped chamber with a large antennae like device coming down from the ceiling and through several decks, the drop surrounded by railings. Just down a few corridors were the lifts to the bridge, though Silver took a different route as the bridge was not his destination. After walking to the outer edges of the command dome and making his way through the corridors, glancing out the windows into space once or twice as he went, he finally came upon the captain’s mess just in time to bump into Commander Iynx.
“Commander,” he nodded in greeting as they both converged onto the door. “Just come from the bridge?”
“Of course,” she responded.
“How are the repairs?”
“Fine, thank you,” Iynx said. “Nice to have fully functioning shields. Not that it would do us much good if those ships turn up.”
Silver groaned. “Don’t even remind me.”
“Sorry but, those things just cut straight through!”
“You sound almost in awe as you say that,” Silver raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I would love to get my talons on their weapons. They certainly packed quite the punch,” Iynx stated. “Then I could install them on the Harmony and give them a taste of their own medicine.”
“I wish,” Silver chuckled. “Still, they are far behind us and the Princess is waiting so… ladies first.”
Iynx gave him a deadpan look. “Well then, as your superior officer I order you to get your ass inside before I kick it in.”
“Woah okay my lady, my apologies.”
Iynx rolled her eyes, but couldn’t supress a small grin. “Just go in already.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle ate with the Harmony’s senior officers in the captain’s mess. Their portions were quite small due to the rationing of food she had ordered, but it was enough.
The group were talking among themselves, apparently Nimble Star and Iynx were in some kind of debate. However, Twilight wasn’t paying them much mind, being more consumed by her own thoughts.
“What do you think, Princess?” Silver Wrench asked.
“Yes, I would like to hear your report on who it is you support,” Genser said as she ate some of her own herbal bread.
“Hmm? What?” Twilight was shaken from her musings. “Apologies, I was in my own thoughts. Who am I supporting?”
“Iynx and Nimble Star were just debating alternate realities,” Silver Wrench explained.
“I said there is probably a universe where we won the fight against our attackers, and another where we were the evil attackers instead,” Nimble Star said.
“A mirror universe,” Silver noted.
“Exactly!”
Iynx rolled her eyes. “The Harmony is science. What you describe is Science Fiction. There are no such things like alternate realities! Tell him, Princess!”
Twilight just sat there somewhat awkwardly. “Um, about that…”
Iynx’s jaw dropped. “You’ve to be kidding me. You are kidding? Right?”
Princess Twilight shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I am not, Iynx. I myself have visited another world.”
All eyes turned to Twilight, widening at her words.
“What?” Nimble Star mumbled. “How? When? Where? Why?”
“It was a long time ago,” Twilight began to explain, looking out the window. “A long time before even I was born, Starswirl the Bearded created a magical mirror which he used to cast the Sirens out of Equestria to a place where magic would not exist. Princess Celestia had asked Princess Cadance to hold onto this mirror for her at the Crystal Empire, a mirror that was in reality a portal to another world. The mirror is now in my possession.”
“So you went in?” Nimble asked.
“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “Several times for varied reasons. It leads to an alternate version of Equus, named Earth by its inhabitants. Said inhabitants are hairless apes called humans who, when I visited, seemed to have a higher level of technology than us at the time. I had friends in that world. However, after a while we fell out of contact and I stopped visiting, I haven’t seen what they made of themselves since then.”
“Were these humans the only inhabitants?” Iynx asked.
“I thought you didn’t believe in alternate realities,” Nimble jabbed.
Iynx glared at him. “I changed my mind.”
“To answer your question,” Twilight interrupted them. “Yes, they were. And they were far more divided than us, being split into dozens of countries covering the globe. The country my friends inhabited was called the United States of America. That was two thousand years ago from our perspective, though our two time streams were out of sync as long as the portal was inactive, theirs being slower than ours I believe.
“So time on Earth was not as fast?” Geneser asked. “Then who can say how much time for them has passed?”
Twilight hummed. “Perhaps I should have a look through on our return, see how they are doing. Not all humans were exactly… friendly. But with humans like the friends I knew I think they found a future for themselves.”
“Space travel like us?” Nimble suggested.
Twilight nodded. “Perhaps. Who knows, they may have met other races and created alliances with them.”
Iynx raised an eyebrow. “What, like a Federation of sorts?”
“Perhaps,” Twilight said. “They did seem like the enterprising type.”
“Well I think-“
Iynx was interrupted when the intercom started beeping.
“And who might that be?” Silver asked to nopony in particular.
Iynx got up from her seat and went over to the device, and as she activated it the voice of the individual in charge of the night shift on the bridge came over the intercom.
“This is Commander Iynx, what is it?” the griffon asked.
“Commander, your presence and that of the other officers and the Princess is requested immediately.”
Iynx sighed. “On our way.”
The Bridge
Princess Twilight stepped off the bridge with the senior officers just behind her.
“Report,” she ordered as the night’s crew was relieved.
“Ma’am,” one of them reported in. “Our sensors have picked up some reading we were unable to understand.”
“What do you mean ‘weren’t able to understand’?” Twilight asked sternly.
“Princess, the sensors aren’t working properly,” Silver Wrench reminded her. “We were no able to fully repair them much like communications.”
“Ah, I see,” Twilight conceded. “Continue.”
“Well,” the pony shifed nervously, intimidated by the large alicorn. “The lieutenant is correct, but we were able to make out that it is an object. Metallic in nature.”
“Metalic?” Twilight said questioningly. “Like a ship?”
“Or perhaps a station,” the pony said. “Or something else of the type, or none of the above. We won’t know unless we get closer.”
“How far is it?” Commander Iynx asked.
“At FTL we could be there in a few hours,” the pony stated. “But at current speeds, it will take approximately a month.”
“A month? We can’t afford to deviate that far from our course,” Twilight said solemnly.
“It’s actually directly in our path, more or less,” the pony explained. “Only a small adjustment is needed to the helm.
“If I may speak, your highness?” Iynx spoke up. “We should be cautious, but I recommend at least investigating. Whatever it is could help us.”
“Even wreckage could potentially provide us with components we desperately need,” Silver Wrench added.”
“I understand what the Commander is trying to infer, and I very much concur”, Geneser too agreed.
Twilight closed her eyes in thought, before nodding. “Very well, set course for your mysterious object, but be cautious; I don’t want a repeat of recent events, understood?”
“Yes, your highness!”
Deep Space, a month from the Harmony’s current position
A small green coloured ship floated lifelessly through space. The ship was quite bulbous in appearance with two engines protruding closely either side of the hull. Very little power seemed to be flowing through the ship, only the odd flicker danced across its darkened frame.
Inside was not much better. Objects floated freely due to the lack of gravity and few lights lit the interior. However, at the very back of the vessel what little power was left was being channelled into one particular system.
And it is here that the single survivor slept in ice, waiting to be found.