Chapter 3 - Friendship in all the Wrong Places
USS - Kapyong
Equus Orbit
The start of Gamma-Shift began just like every other time Lydia had pulled this duty. Quiet. Uneventful. At least, that's what it was like in her head as she tried to block out the incessant yammering coming from Ensign Jackson at the little-used science station to the left of the center chair that she occupied. Why the captain insisted that the bridge be fully staffed for all shifts was beyond her, But mine is not to question why and all that. She thought.
Leaning back in the center chair, Lydia stretched her arms out and rolled her neck a few times. Inwardly, she smiled. Today marked her twelfth year in Starfleet, and her third week with that third half pip on her chest. With it came not only still being Chief of Flight Operations of the Kapyong, but being Second Officer as well, third in line on the chain of command. Who would have thought that little Lydia Johnson would get this far... She thought to herself.
"...then she said 'Daddy, why is his face like that?'" Jackson said before letting out a hearty laugh that quickly disappeared. "You're not listening to me are you?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, what?" Lydia said, admitting in an offhand manner that she was ignoring him.
"I talk too much about my kid, don't I?"
"Yes!" The whole bridge said in unison.
"Fine, none of you are invited to her birthday party next week." He said in a sarcastic tone. This sent everyone into a chuckle that was short lived.
A steady beep, repeating itself, was emanating from the Conn station.
"Ahem," Lydia said, getting the attention of Lieutenant Tevrell, the Kapyong's saurian gamma shift Conn officer.
"Oh, that's me huh." She said, quickly turning around and activating her console. "We're receiving a hail... this can't be right... It's on a civilian federation frequency."
"Didn't the last freighter leave the system a couple hours ago?" Lydia asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Ensign Harris said from the tactical station.
"Seems to be coming from the planet, but it's too weak to make a connection, must be coming from just over the horizon," Tavrell explained after analyzing her readings.
"Ok, Tavrell, increase orbital speed then put us in geostationary orbit over the source."
The bridge fell into a relative level of quiet for the next few minutes, with everyone doing their jobs with nothing else to do but wait till we were in range.
"We're receiving it loud and clear now, Ma'am, audio only," Tavrell announced.
"On speaker," Lydia ordered.
"This is a general distress call to any Vessel in orbit. There's been an avalanche at my location, requesting search and rescue assistance. I repeat, this is a general distress call..."
"Open a channel," Lydia told Tavrell, who hit a button on his console then nodded back. For a brief second, she thought she recognized the voice, but put it out of her mind and focused on the job. "This is Commander Johnson of the Kapyong responding to your distress call, who am I speaking with?" she asked.
"I knew you guys were still in orbit, This is Minister Scott from the Foreign Affairs office. There's been an avalanche at my location, we have multiple casualties and an unknown number still missing."
James?! she thought, the name suddenly coming to her. Lydia shook off her shock and went back to work, there were people in danger. "Copy that, Minister Scott, we'll have medics and S&R personnel at your location forthwith."
"Thank you Kapyong, but please hurry, my daughter is still on the mountain, Scott out."
"Alright people, you heard the man, let's get to work," Lydia said, addressing the bridge. "Yellow Alert," she ordered, sending the ship into a heightened alert status before pressing the ship-wide intercom to address the crew. "This is the bridge, all medical and security personnel prep for cold weather search and rescue operations. This is not a drill. Senior staff to the bridge."
The first thing Lydia noticed when she beamed down was the biting cold. Despite the sun being out, which was in the process of setting, and the sky being clear, the temperature was falling at a steady pace. Been a while since I've been somewhere cold. Lydia thought as she walked up to a group of three pegasi who seemed to be in charge of directing the search effort.
"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lydia Johnson, where's Minister Scott?" Lydia asked.
The blue coat covered pegasus with a bleach white mane glanced at Lydia then at the one with a yellow coat and pink hair, who despite having a worried expression let out a brief giggle then motioned to the third pegasus in the group the one with a brown coat.
"You're speaking with him." he said.
"Wait, what?" Lydia asked, obviously confused.
"I know, it's a long story that I don't mind explaining once we're finished here, but we have ponies missing on that mountain," James explained. "I'm the ranking government official here and I'm former Starfleet, so I've taken charge. That ok with you?" He asked.
"No issues here,"
"Ok, have your men pair off with a member of the ski patrol then start a standard search pattern up the mountain. I assume we're going to have shuttle support?"
"Affirmative," She answered, and as if on queue, one of the Kapyong's Type-10 shuttles roared into view above us then began a holding pattern above us.
"This is Shuttlecraft Gamow, tell us where to go."
"Fluttershy!" Another voice called out in the distance.
Turning to face it, she saw a Unicorn with a white coat and a pink and purple mane come running up to us.
"Sweetie Belle, what are you doing here?" The pink haired pegasus asked.
"I was attending a pediatrics conference in Vanhoover, when I heard what happened here, the Hospital sent me along with the medics." The unicorn explained. Must be a Doctor I guess. "Wait, where's Zoe?" She asked, which elicited a worried look on Fluttershy. "She's on the mountain?!" She asked, quickly turning her head towards the peak now wearing her own worried expression.
"Don't worry about that now, Doctor Belle," James said, using her title to get her attention. It obviously worked because her worried look faded in an instant. "The Ski Patrol's set up a triage area in the lodge and Starfleet has sent medics to assist." He explained further.
"Yes, and our surgical team is standing by for any critical cases," Lydia added.
"Alright, I'll go see to my Patients," She said after pulling Fluttershy into an embrace. "And James? Find Zoe." She ordered.
"Will do, Doc." He answered as he pulled Fluttershy into an embrace of his own.
"I'm going to join the search party, I'm sure Sweetie Belle could use your help." He told her. "Don't worry, I'll find her." He said, then headed off towards the mountain. Picking up her pace, she quickly caught up with him.
"So, this is what you've been up too." Lydia stated when she caught up and walked along his side. Pulling out her tricorder, she gave the area a quick scan. "There are some life signs three hundred meters ahead," She said, pointing off to their eleven o'clock.
"I could say the same about you." He countered. "Thought I didn't recognize you, huh? XO?" He asked.
"Not yet, Second Officer," she explained. After a short pause, she brought up the purple elephant between them. "Who's Zoe?"
"My daughter. She went looking for a missing classmate before the avalanche hit." He said sullenly, his ears splayed back, but they perked up when Lydia's tricorder gave off a positive sounding series of beeps.
Using the shovel she grabbed from her pack, she uncovered a unicorn that was wearing the same jacket as the ski patrol, no doubt caught in the avalanche. He was still breathing, thankfully, but a quick medical scan made her hit her comm-badge quickly.
"Kapyong, one critical case to beam directly to sickbay, severe hypothermia, and blunt force trauma."
Sapphire quietly wept in the darkness. Lying next to Zoe in an attempt to keep them both warm, despite the two youths being soaked and shivering. At least she's still shivering... she thought, remembering the safety lesson the ski patrol gave the first time that Ponyville Elementry took a ski trip here two years ago. If she's still shivering, then she's still alive.
"Stupid..." Sapphire spat out into the darkness. This had the effect of rousing Zoe from unconsciousness.
"Ow..." Zoe moaned as she slowly lifted her head.
"You're awake!" Sapphire said with obvious relief in her voice. "I was so scared."
"Why is it so dark?" Zoe asked.
"Oh," Sapphire responded. "I can fix that." With a grunt of concentration, Sapphire focused magic into her horn and a small ball of golden light formed on its tip, illuminating the hemispherical cave they were in. "That was quite the show you put on," She said, watching as the pony next to her struggled to get onto her hooves again.
Gingerly, Zoe walked into the center of the hemisphere and looked up, but her attention was drawn back to Sapphire by a quiet gasp.
"What?" Zoe asked.
"Look," She said with a smile, gesturing towards her flank.
Zoe let a smirk cross her face before descending into a fit of laughter that caused her to sit back on her haunches.
"What's so funny?" Sapphire asked, obviously confused.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Zoe turned to her. "It figures that I get my cutie-mark saving the life of somepony who only last week was calling me blank-flank, only to suffocate alongside her," Zoe said with deadpan seriousness.
"What?!" Sapphire asked, a little too loud, as her voice echoed inside the small ice structure.
"Not so loud," Zoe said taking her hooves off her ears. "We're slowly suffocating. Have been since the avalanche." She explained. "There's no air vent," Zoe said, gesturing her hoof towards the ceiling.
"What do we do?"
"It's not what we're going to do," Zoe started, "It's what you're going to do." She continued. "You're going to use your magic to melt a small hole in the roof of this thing."
"I can't do that!" Sapphire said in doubt.
"Sure you can," Zoe responded, "I've seen you heat up your lunch at school; same principle only amped up and focused at one point for longer." She explained.
"I'm not sure, can't you do it?"
"My head's killing me, that magic overload took a lot out of me, I couldn't levitate a pebble, let alone doing this. You're our only hope."
Letting out a deep breath, Sapphire struggled to get to her hooves. With Zoe letting her lean against her, she limped to the center of the hemisphere.
"Remember what Twilight taught us about casting spells we're unsure of," Zoe said, "Don't picture yourself doing it, but having already done it."
The light dimmed into nothing before brief golden flashes filled the cavern as magic swirled around Sapphire's horn before a beam of white hot light shot to the ceiling.
In the night sky on the mountain, a white light shined in the distance, but only briefly. This attracted the attention of two searchers, who started to quickly make their way to its source.
"Now what?" Sapphire asked.
"Now we wait," Zoe said, looking up through the hole, catching a glimpse of the moon, it's light just enough to let them see in the darkness. "And hope we don't freeze to death," Zoe said grimly. Sitting down next to Sapphire for warmth, they both settled into silence for several minutes until soft crying broke the silence. Looking to her left, Zoe could see the moonlight reflecting off Sapphire's tears.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm..." Sapphire responded between sobs, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? Getting us into this? That's not your fault, that bear set the avalanche off."
"No, that's not it!" Sapphire said, wiping tears away. "The way I treated you, it was horrible."
"Oh," Zoe said, taking aback, not expecting that at all. The two fillies couldn't meet each other's gaze and silence settled in for a brief moment again, this time, it was Zoe that broke it. "Why?" She asked as softly and honestly as she could.
"We were jealous."
"Jealous?"
"Yeah, you're a pretty intimidating pony, Zoe," Sapphire explained. "You're always so sure of yourself, and magic came so easily to you. The fact that your mom's an Element and your dad was human just made you stick out that much more."
"What do my parents have to do with this?"
"It just gave us something to latch onto," Sapphire admitted. "It was cruel, we knew how much it would push your buttons, and we did it anyways." She continued. "I can't speak for the others, but I'm sorry, I really am."
Zoe thought about what she had just heard. She got the feeling that Sapphire was being genuine.
"I know you are," Zoe finally said after a while.
"I know I can't ask you to forgive me right away, but let me make it up to you."
"I'll hold you to that, but first, let's make it through this," Zoe said, trying to be reassuring.
"Oh, happy birthday," Sapphire told her. Zoe attempted to respond but quickly turned he head upwards towards the soft muffled sounds of crunching snow.
"There's two life signs below us in a dome of ice,"
"You sure?"
"Positive,"
"Hey! We're down here!" Zoe shouted.
"We know, stand off to the side!" An indistinct muffled voice responded.
"What did they say?" Sapphire asked
"They asked us to stand off to the side,"
A high pitch whine filled the air, followed by a flash of heat as the top of their ice dome evaporated in a brilliant orange light. Standing at the edge of the new hole was a human Starfleet officer, who disappeared from view, but quickly returned, tossing a rope down the hole and repelled down. Right after him was Coldsnap, who glided down on her wings.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite trouble maker, and I see you found your friend." She said as she watched the human pulled two blankets out of his pack and wrap the two fillies.
"You two have mild to severe hypothermia, I'm going to transport you to the Kapyong for treatment. They'll also look at that leg." The Human said, consulting his medical tricorder, then tapped his comm-badge. "Rogers to Kapyong, two to transport to sickbay, mild to severe hypothermia, with one minor leg injury."
"Transport where?" Sapphire asked, confused. Zoe just smiled, knowing what was coming.
"Copy that, locking on... Energising." A disembodied voice said.
"What the heck!" Sapphire exclaimed as the transporter took hold.
"You should contact your boss, she'll want to let Minister Scott know you just rescued his daughter," Coldsnap said with a wink before jumping into the air with a powerful flap of her wings.
"I want to thank you for the help your medical staff gave us," Sweetie Belle said to the Captain of the Kapyong, a short Tellarite named Khashlinn Vonkal.
"You are most welcome, Doctor Belle," Vonkal said, giving a nod to the pony next to him.
"They're ready for transport," A female Starfleet officer said from the Transporter Room controls.
"Energise," Vonkal ordered.
On the small transporter pad before them, three forms began to shimmer into being, one of whom was screaming her head off.
"Mrs. Star, calm down, I told you it's just like teleporting. You're just fine" James told her, which seemed to have the desired effect.
"I know, but how do they do it without magic?" She asked
James thought about telling her that it involved being scanned down to the sub-atomic level by a molecular imaging scanner, disassembled and converted to a matter stream by the primary energising coils, transmitted and stored in a pattern buffer, kept in check by the Heisenberg compensator, then reassembled by the phase transition coil at the destination, but he thought better of it. Thankfully he didn't have to explain it anyways.
"Doctor Belle! Where's my daughter? Is she ok?" Ruby Star asked once she noticed the unicorn doctor.
"Mrs Star, your daughter is just fine. I just examined her, the Starfleet doctors took good care of her, she's just a little tired." Sweetie Belle explained.
"And Zoe?" Fluttershy asked, her look of worry mirrored on James' face as well.
"She's just fine, she won't stop asking any passing crewmember incessant questions." Captain Vonkal quipped with trademarked Tellarite rudeness.
"Yep, she's just fine," James said with a sarcastic tone, only to get thwapped upside the head with one of Fluttershy's wings.
"They're in the mess hall, along with the others that have been medically cleared. If you'll follow me." The Captain said, gesturing for his ships guests to exit the transporter room.
The Kapyong being a Defiant-Class vessel, the mess hall was a short walk away, and the worried parents soon found themselves in the crowded mess hall.
"You used to be a higher rank than my dad?" Zoe asked.
"Yep. But his experience helped me a lot. His advice and a little favour here and there got me to where I am today." Lydia explained to the young pony who hung onto her every word with rapt attention.
"Zoe/Sapphire!" Both mother's immediately said in unison, getting both fillies to turn and run.
"Mom!" They both exclaimed.
"I'm so happy you're safe, you scared me," Fluttershy told her daughter while pulling her into a hug.
"Are you ok?" Ruby asked, hugging her own daughter as well.
"I'm fine, mom, we both are," Sapphire said, looking at Zoe who returned a smile. "Mom! You have to see this!" Sapphire said, escaping her mother's embrace and making a beeline for the observation window.
Following her daughter, Ruby slowed her steps till she just stopped. To say she was speechless was an understatement.
"Quite a view, isn't it?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah..." Ruby said monosyllabically.
"Hehe... I was like that too when James showed me our planet from orbit the first time. Puts everything in perspective doesn't it?"
"Aren't you going to tell them?" Sapphire asked in a hushed tone.
"Quit pestering me, I will," Zoe responded.
"Tell us what?" James asked.
"Well..." Zoe started but fell silent before looking down to her right a couple times and waggling her eyebrows with a huge smile on her face.
"Wha... Holy... WOW! Fluttershy, look!" James exclaimed with excitement.
"Oh, sweetie! You got your cutie-mark!" Fluttershy said equally excited, trying to hold back tears of happiness. All around them, the ponies who were looking through the observation windows turned their gaze and began to congratulate the young filly, save one.
"What's a cutie-mark?" Rogers asked Coldsnap beside him.
"It's the mark on our flanks. It's generally accepted that it represents our inherent talent in some way, it's a big event in our lives, but some think it gives us clues to our destiny." She explained to the human medic.
"You sound like one of those," He stated.
She didn't respond but thought of her own cutie-mark, that of a set of skis sticking out of a pile of snow, and how she got it, helping a search party find missing ponies after an avalanche when she was a filly herself. At least she didn't lose someone she loved getting hers. She thought, trying to keep the memories of her brother at bay.
"Dad! I got a request." Zoe stated.
"What's that sweetheart?"
"We're still going to the concert tomorrow right?"
James looked over at Sweetie Belle who gave an affirmative nod. "Well, Doc says its ok, so yeah, we are."
"Well, do you mind giving up your ticket?" Zoe asked. "I... I wanted to ask Sapphire if she wanted to come."
Sorry about the long break in between chapters... again... I gotta stop making a habit of this...
Remember Lydia? Here's what she looks like...
USS Kapyong named for the Battle of Kapyong, where during the Korean War from April 22-25 1951, elements of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Royal Canadian Infantry, 2nd Battalion were tasked to occupy a key route to Seoul. Using hastily built defences, they faced down overwhelming numbers from the Chinese 118th Division.
During the 3 day battle, the Australian and Canadian forces bore the brunt of the Chinese offensive and held their ground and ensured that the Chinese did not advance on to United Nations Command, Central Front in Seoul while allowing the withdrawal of South Korean forces and elements of their own Brigade (British 27th Infantry Brigade).
For their efforts, the two Battalions were awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation, a rare honour for non-US military units, having only been awarded a handful of times. To this day, the Battle of Kapyong is regarded as the most famous actions fought by Australian and Canadian armies in Korea.
The Shuttlecraft Gamow is named after the famous theoretical physicist and cosmologist George Gamow, an early advocate and developer of Georges Lemaître's Big Bang Theory.
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6864002
Happy now?
7110575 Yes, yes I am.
So, more please? And I hope you take my suggestion about a exocomp character under consideration.
7110632
Unfortunately, what I have in mind doesn't allow for that, but what I do have in mind should be enough to satisfy you ;)
It lives
7110684
I know, I had to rewrite parts of it, must have missed some. If only I had an editor that could proof read chapters before they go up......
7111431
yeah, I was busy with schooling during February and March, but I got my Basic Security ticket and looking for work again, been unemployed since August.
Next chapter should come along nicely.
7110684
Issues should be fixed, but I don't think 4 instances out of a 3000+ word story is really 'severe'. But if you know an editor or proofreader (or would like to do so yourself), let me know.
8452192
Ah! MUCH better! May it stay dead!