//------------------------------// // 25 - Cornered // Story: Harmony Among The Stars // by tom117z //------------------------------// Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, December 24th, 3382 AD. Well, happy Hearthswarming Eve. It’s not quite what any of us imagined it would be as the year began, but it is what it is. Silver Wrench even managed to conjure up a hearthswarming tree, even though it’s made of metal. There isn’t much wood in space. Still, to celebrate the occasion we took a few days off of our voyage, and in those few days we diverted course to chart a newly formed proto star. It’s yet unnamed, but its new glow was certainly reminiscing of the Fire of Friendship that is described in the story. A new life, and unlimited possibilities. Will planets come to form around the star? Will any of them sprout life? Will they have their own princesses, heroes and villains? Castles, great kingdoms and eventually a civilisation to span the stars? I might live to see it, I might not. Who knows? Life is a great river, the currents ever changing, leading you to an unknowable destiny. Sorry, I’m in a philosophical mood. Not the first time, Spike used to chastise me for it. Said it annoyed him and made his head hurt. I miss that dragon. The ES Harmony continued its journey through space, several days behind due to the detour but the crew were in relatively good spirits. Planning was readily underway for a part in the mess hall on Hearthswarming Day, though that would probably mean they’d have to come to a dead stop for the day. Also, since it’s never a good idea to run a ship intoxicated, the entire command staff and some others would be taking care not to go too overboard in case anything came up needing their attention. Not that the ship had a huge supply of cider anyway, just a few that they were initially taking to Alpha Centaur, yet unopened. But either way, as far as the Princess was concerned all of her subjects deserved one day of true celebration, they wouldn’t let their circumstances ruin such a deeply held tradition. But that was still hours away, and for now the ship was running as well as it could in its condition. Princess Twilight was in her personal quarters since the day was new and she had only recently awakened, having only just recorded her morning log. She almost instinctively went for her regalia, only to remember that it had burnt to a crisp months ago. Shrugging, she then went into the bathroom and studied herself in the mirror, noting her ethereal mane was completely messed up, more than enough that it would have given Rarity a heart attack. Twilight spared a light chuckled at the image of the fashionista’s horrified expression, and then got to bringing her image back to at least some level of regality. However, as she began with that task a chime let her know that there was a visitor at her door. “Come in,” she loudly called out, more than enough for the sound to be carried out from the bathroom and through the door to her quarters. The doors slid open with an audible whoosh, the single extraterrestrial lifeform among the crew trotting in with the door closing automatically behind him. He looked briefly around before spotting the Princess still battling with her mane, Xal raising an eyebrow at just how much trouble it was seemingly giving her. “Is this a bad time, Twilight?” “No, not at all,” she responded. “Just a bit of morning routine.” “I must be honest, I’m not too surprised at your difficulties,” he stated. “Your mane does seem to have a life of its own.” “It is stubborn at times,” she agreed. “Is there something you needed?” “I just wanted to report that the barrels of ‘cider’ are being readied for tomorrow’s festivities.” Twilight smiled. “Ah. I see the crew is wasting no time.” “They are most eager,” Xal stated, seemingly a little confused. “I must admit, it is most perplexing at how eager they are. All to celebrate some old legend.” “It’s more than some old legend,” Twilight responded knowingly. “You can’t tell me that your people have nothing similar?” “Our people like to celebrate days of our births with family, but no big events such as this,” he explained. “Nothing like what I’ve read up about, these pageants and trees and presents. It is most peculiar.” Twilight finally managed to coax her mane back into place, exiting the bathroom and approaching Xal. “So how do your people celebrate birthdays if that’s all you celebrate?” “No gifts, such things are only usually done between lovers,” he stated. “It’s more of a social gathering, a time to give congratulations and relive old memories.” “Some back home would agree that is the best approach,” Twilight replied. “Others I’ve known, like an old pink friend of mine, would call that boring.” “What about you?” Twilight considered for a moment. “It depends on the year, and my mood. Though, normally it’s something a little more exciting, I have enough of the ‘quieter’ events in the Grand Galloping Gala alone.” “It surely can’t be as bad as you make it sound.” “Try repeating the exact same night yearly for two thousand years. Well, it can be a little more fun when Discord decides to show.” Xal hummed. “I still find you, among all of your kind, to be the most curious. I’ve said it before, but you’re not at all what you would expect from royalty of any kind.” “I can be when I’m needed to be,” Twilight stated. “Yes, that is true. I saw how you faced off against J’Poc, you are a terrifying sight for your enemies I’m sure.” “I’m sure there are many who would agree,” Twilight said almost regretfully, walking away from Xal and staring out the window into the depths of space. “I’ve killed. I’ve fought in wars. I can’t always be the town librarian and scholar on the side, I can’t always be the mare I’d like. But I do try when I can. I can’t ever forget the lessons taught to me so long ago.” “In my personal opinion, I would say you succeed on the whole,” Xal assured. “But I agree that you can’t always be that mare. Sometimes a Princess is needed more than a friend. It is only logical.” “I know,” she responded with a sigh. “But sometimes, on special days, I can be both.” “Like when you’re commanding this ship?” Twilight looked back at Xal, and she smiled. “Yes. These are my people, I must do everything my power allows to get them home. But still, nopony else has seen what we have. I’m a scholar, and explorer, I always have been. It may not be what we wanted, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. After all, we did meet you.” Xal went to reply, but a shockwave throughout the entire ship threw him from his hooves and towards the floor. Rivets threatened to buckle, a glass on the table fell and smashed and the stars outside the window stopped streaking past and came to a dead stop along with the ship. When Xal opened his eyes he found that he still hadn’t impacted with the floor, rather he was caught in a light lavender magical hue, one that gently righted him and deposited him back on his hooves. “Are you alright?” Twilight asked, having stayed on her hooves during the shockwave. “Are you hurt?” “No, thanks to you,” Xal responded. “What was that?” The Princess almost ran onto the bridge, all those within rushing from one station to the next as they barked out orders and read damage reports. Iynx and Nimble were both at their station, both of them acknowledged Twilight and Xal as they entered. “Princess!” Iynx spoke up urgently. “We’ve just… fallen out of FTL, the system won’t reboot!” “What do you mean it won’t reboot?” It was Nimble Star who responded. “Silver Wrench said that the reactor is fine, but we just can’t get the field to form around the ship.” “We can’t get a stable warp field…” Xal muttered. “Commander, your console.” The griffon stepped back. “Go right ahead.” Xal took her place at tactical, doing a quick scan on a system they had just been passing. Sure enough, he found just what he suspected. “There,” Xal stated, showing Iynx and the Princess a specific spot on the display. “That planet, there’s a subspace dampener on this planet that’s covering the whole system. It’s disrupting your FTL, disallowing the formation of what my people refer to as a warp field.” “Yes, that is the problem we’ve been having,” Iynx replied, peering over at the readout. “That design, I recognise it.” “You would. It’s gaecha.” The Princess closed her eyes for a moment, suppressed a growl of frustration, took in a deep breath and then opened her eyes again. “Are you saying that the gaecha set a trap for us?” “They knew our course,” Xal stated. “They must have gotten ahead when we were studying that proto star.” “I can’t believe they’re still following us,” Iynx remarked. “Talk about a grudge.” “We need to take that dampener out,” Twilight declared. “Can you detect where exactly on the planet it is?” “It is hard to pinpoint,” Xal reported. “We would need to get into orbit in order to get the exact location of the device. After that, a simple phaser burst should do it.” “Assuming it’s on the surface,” Iynx pointed out. “Any signs of life on that planet?” the Princess enquired. Xal shook his head. “No, it’s a dead rock, atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide. Not enough oxygen to support life such as ours.” “And life not like us?” “There are no readings. I assure you, it’s dead.” “Then we can fire a torpedo if necessary,” the Princess stated. “Just so long as that device is destroyed. Nimble Star! How far is the planet?” “If we put the thaumatic drive to full, about twelve hours.” “It’s going to be hard to miss, a dampener that size must be huge,” Iynx remarked. “The gaecha were busy,” Twilight agreed. “But I’m worried as to where they are. What else is in that system?” “Two other planets at the outer edges of the system, both are balls of ice,” Xal responded, looking through the sensor data. “One of the planets has a three moons, and at the very edge of the system is a sizable asteroid field. There’s… something odd about the asteroid field, the sensor data for it is still being analysed.” “Normally I’d be eager to discover a new anomaly, but we need to focus on the task at hoof,” Princess Twilight Sparkle commanded. “Set a course to the planet, we have very little time to waste.” “Aye ma’am,” Nimble dutifully responded, preparing to set course. The Princess sighed, looking up and out of the viewscreen. “We might be having company soon. I’m afraid Hearthswarming Day is cancelled.” “I’ll have the cider returned to the cargo bay,” Xal stated apologetically. “In the meantime-” “Hold on for just a moment,” Iynx interrupted. “Xal, could I have my station back for a moment?” The sharin complied, moving to the side and allowing Iynx to take over once again. She looked through each of the sensor reports several times, humming as her sharp eyes spotted something out of place. “Princess, I’m not sure but… does this seem right to you?” Twilight looked to where Iynx was gesturing on the readout, and her eyes widened. “No, not at all. That’s a blank spot, four blank spots to be exact where we’re not getting any sensor data. Almost as if nothing existed there at all, just a void.” “And there should be something, at least radiation from the star,” Iynx finished. “I’m going to run a diagnostic, one moment.” It took a few minutes of checking and double checking, but Xal and Princess Twilight were nothing but patient during that time. Both were both curious and worried as to why those four gaps were there, and what might be hidden behind them. With the gaecha dampener, and that specific number, the Princess already had a sinking feeling that she knew what it was. “There, there’s another signal underlying the dampener, one concealing those four spaces,” Iynx reported. “It’s causing our sensors to overlook them.” “Can you compensate for the interference?” Twilight asked. “Just watch me.” It only took a few button presses and power redirects, but Iynx was able to counteract the interference. And then Twilight’s fears were confirmed. Four gaecha warships were waiting in orbit around the planet, just waiting for the Harmony to try and take the dampener out. “Well, great,” Iynx muttered. “Not what I wanted to see.” “Why aren’t they just cloaked?” Twilight asked. “Why bother blocking the sensors?” “The dampener won’t affect their own warp engines, but might be affecting their cloak in some way,” Xal theorised. “But it matters little, they’re there.” “Shall I reverse course?” Nimble asked up from the helm. “Plot a course out of the area of effect?” “They’re undoubtedly watching us,” Twilight noted. “They would see if we changed course, and would warp to our location. As long as they think they are hidden, they will want to retain the element of surprise and wait for us to come to them.” “Take us out before we can even raise shield or fire back,” Iynx commented. “Clever bastards.” “Luckily, we’re even cleverer,” Nimble remarked. “But what now?” Xal asked. “We can’t flee and going to them is suicide. We’re cornered.”