14 - Fuel Shortage
Xal’s Personal Log, Equus Year 3382 AD, September 28th.
My newfound abilities are progressing smoothly.
I am able to pick things up with my hooves with no issues, and my newfound capabilities in manipulating plants and the very soil in which they sit is… fascinating to say the least. Since our biology is most similar to the earth ponies, it is likely that should any others of my species come into contact with magic that they would gain the same abilities, the strength of said abilities varying from person to person.
My research into this magic, and into Equus’ history, has been most illuminating. And in that matter I have found a pleasant companion in Princess Twilight, who has been more than happy to assist in my studies. I detect an almost childlike glee when the subject of studying comes about, something I wouldn’t have expected from an apparently immortal pseudo goddess, but she is certainly full of surprises. It is comforting to know she and, if her stories are correct, the other Princesses remember that despite their abilities they are just people, not deities like some rulers in my species ancient past. God Kings and Queens who believed themselves untouchable, only to find out the contrary. Some of the closest examples I can find in their own history would be this ‘King Sombra’ and ‘Queen Chrysalis’. One was killed when Princess Twilight’s sister activated something called a ‘Crystal Heart’, and the beginning of the end for the second came when some of her people switched sides and aligned with somebody called ‘Thorax’.
Isn’t that part of an insect’s body?
Then again, who am I to judge an alien culture’s naming conventions?
Anyway, moving on. As for more recent matters, we have seen no signs of the Gaecha ships ever since we left the proto-nebula. Still, that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. We are remaining at warp and- ugh, I mean FTL. They are similar, but not identical, it is best I get used to the differing naming while I serve aboard the ES Harmony. They both produce the warp bubble, but FTL has magical components that warp drive does not, though both also use dilithium crystals. Though, they call them ‘stabilisation crystals’. Apparently their world is quite rich with it in various places, perhaps the magic on their world helped the deposits develop? Magic certainly seems to react well with the substance.
Anyway, as I was saying before the tangent, we remain at FTL to hopefully keep ahead of any pursuers. We have yet to-
GAH! What the hell was that?
Xal ended his log abruptly as the structure shook, things scattered along the table he sat at in his quarters rattles and fell from the table as he held on.
The field around the Harmony began to fluctuate, the single working nacelle seemed to almost sputter like an old automobile as the ship suddenly dropped out of FTL. The thaumatic drive came online and slowed the ship to a perfect stop in the middle of space.
“Senior officers report to the bridge, now!” Princess Twilight’s voice ordered over every intercom on every deck. “Repair teams to engineering!”
Xal rushed up from his seat and made his way over to the doorway, making sure his uniform was tidy and presentable as he went. While most of the crew didn’t wear uniforms, or clothes at all for that matter, he was still a part of the Sharin Navy, he wanted to make a good impression throughout their trip.
His superiors would chew him out if they found out otherwise.
As he exited his quarters and moved off down the corridor, he quickly came up on an intersection where he stumbled into Iynx and Nimble Star.
“Xal? What’s going on?” Nimble groggily asked, obviously having only just woken up.
“I’m afraid I know about as much as you do,” Xal stated. “Though we appear to have dropped out of FTL.”
Nimble groaned. “Nothing good then.”
“Come on you two!” Iynx gestured for them to keep moving. “The quicker we get to the bridge, the quicker we find the answers to our questions.”
Xal and Nimble both gave nods of agreement, and the three continued their way through the corridors. As they went, a repair team came bolting past heading directly for engineering in a hurry. Other members of the crew rushed to their stations, some having just awoken.
“Do you know where Silver Wrench and Geneser are?” Nimble asked.
“Well, Silver’s quarters are just ahead,” Iynx stated. “If he’s not there he will likely be already on the bridge. Geneser is likely on her way too.”
“Guy is a heavy sleeper, we may quickly want to check in,” Nimble suggested. “It will only take a few moments.”
“We’ll quickly knock as we pass by,” Iynx said. “But we can’t really delay, something big happened.”
“Well, here’s his room on the left,” Nimble stated, pointing to one doorway as the three came to a halt just beyond it.
Xal, being the closest, went to press the door’s chime, only for it to open up as he was doing so.
The three flinched backwards as both Silver Wrench and Geneser quickly bundled out of the room, but all of them froze up a little on seeing one another. Both had clearly just woken up, but as for why they were exiting the same quarters…
“Well then…” Xal raised an eyebrow. “I was unaware you two were mated.”
Iynx and Nimble Star snickered in amusement, caused the blushing Silver Wrench to glare at them in annoyance.
Xal looked at Iynx and Nimble Star in confusion. “I don’t see why this calls for snickering, it’s only natural for two people attracted to one another to do as they have done. I myself have mated around about twenty six times in my life, though I have yet to produce offspring.”
Iynx and Nimble Star’s snickers evolved into full blown laughter at the alien’s confusion, while Silver Wrench and Geneser only blushed deeper.
“Something is amiss, we don’t have time for this!” Geneser shouted, trying to get things back on track and away from the previous awkwardness.
Under the zebra’s wrathful gaze, Iynx and Nimble managed to get their laughter under control, the former wiping a tear from her eye.
“Sorry, sorry. But that was just precious!”
Xal shuffled awkwardly. “Perhaps I should do more research into your peoples' attitudes to such things in general conversation…”
“You do that,” Iynx said with a smirk. “But the Doc is right, we need to get moving.”
“Glad you agree,” Silver Wrench muttered, still a little peeved. “Come on.”
Shaking off the awkwardness from a moment earlier, despite Iynx and Nimble retaining their smirks, they set off again. Soon enough they were all packed into the turbolift heading up towards the dome atop the hull holding the bridge. When the doors opened, they found Princess Twilight already waiting for them, examine a console with a look of worry on her face.
“Princess?” Commander Iynx called out. “What happened?”
Twilight turned to meet the newcomer, though her expression remained unchanged.
“Nothing good, we’re in trouble to put it simply,” the Princess stated. “Silver Wrench, you may be interested in these reports from the engineering teams I sent.”
Silver Wrench replaced Princess Twilight at the console, the latter moving up next to the others a short distance behind the Chief Engineer.
Silver Wrench narrowed his eyes as he examined the reports for himself, his mood decreasing even further as he pressed onwards.
“Oh bucking Tartarus,” Silver Wrench muttered under his breath. “This is bad.”
“I thought you might agree,” Twilight commented. “We need a solution, soon.”
“Well don’t keep the rest of us in suspense,” Nimble Star stated. “What’s going on?”
Silver Wrench sighed, quickly skimming a few of the other parts of the report sent from engineering team. Once he had a full grasp of the situation, he turned to the others to explain.
“As we were changing shifts, it seems the computer logged an oscillating FTL disturbance running through the power systems, specifically in the photonic particle couplings. However, it dissipated after that so it wasn’t noticed due to the shift change.”
Silver pressed a button on the console and brought a diagnostic of the reactor core onto the screen.
“The disturbance was detected again just before we dropped out of FTL, this time it didn’t go however and caused a microscopic subspace variance in the matter-antimatter reaction. Our magical wards around the core tried to compensate, and succeeded, but the cost was a lot of our stabilisation crystals being drained and dumped.”
Only Xal and Twilight seemed to understand all of the Chief Engineer’s technobabble, the other three giving him blank looks.
“So… I didn’t get most of that,” Iynx commented. “But I know that stabilisation crystals is essentially the fuel for the reactor, we lost a bunch?”
“Pretty much,” Silver confirmed.
“How much, exactly?” Xal was the next to ask a question. “Exactly how bad was the loss?”
“Well…” Silver Wrench sighed. “Before we had enough crystals in the core to last months, more than enough to get us home. Now we have a few days at best.”
“In other words, we’re about to be stuck without FTL once more,” Princess Twilight finished. “And our trip home becomes a little longer.”
The momentary silence that followed said it all, this was one situation that none of them wanted to find themselves in.
“Well who needs FTL?” Nimble sarcastically commented. “We could make a potato farm for extra food, do some real survival stuff! You know, science the shit out of it!”
“We can do something about it, right?” Iynx asked, ignoring he friend’s comment. “Xal, you know more about this area of space than any of us. Is there nothing nearby at all?”
“If there was a spacefaring settlement nearby with sapient life, we could get the ship repaired and be home far faster,” Xal deadpanned. “I think I would have mentioned such a settlement. I may know this space better than you, but this is still right on our borders, your world is just outside of that in the cusp of uncharted space. Thus why we have only just met.”
Iynx sighed. “I know, but I had to ask.”
Xal hummed, but then entered deep though as something in the back of his mind began digging to the surface.
“Without these crystals, we’re just going to have to accept a longer trip,” Twilight stated solemnly. “It’s not ideal, but we cannot lose hope.”
“The crew we will have to tell,” Geneser reminded the Princess. “And they may not take it well.”
“Actually!” Xal suddenly shouted as the memory finally came to light in his mind. “There might be something!”
“I thought there weren’t any spacefaring settlements nearby?” Iynx frowned.
“There aren’t,” he responded, quickly making his way over to the helm and imputing some specific coordinates. “However, there is a sapient species I know of.”
“You do?” Twilight gave him an intrigued glance. “Who are they?”
“I only know of them, but not intimate details,” he explained. “They are a primitive species, bipedal I heard. As primitive as they are they have been left alone, and cannot help us. However, we did have a research station in orbit observing them for a time, but it was abandoned a few years ago. It’s a longshot, but there might be some crystals left aboard the station, along with some other equipment we may be able to salvage.”
“Wouldn’t something like that have already been salvaged by somepony?” Silver Wrench asked. “Salvagers, if not your navy.”
“Perhaps,” Xal admitted. “But as I said, this is right on the border far from our core worlds, and it isn’t overly well known. I only knew about it because the Serenity helped clear the station on its abandonment. Something may have been left behind, and by this point what do we have to lose?”
“I agree,” Twilight voiced her opinion. “How far is it from here?”
“A day or two at FTL off our present course,” Xal said. “We can make that, right?”
“We should be able to, just,” Silver stated.
Twilight nodded. “Then it is decided. We set course for this station and scavenge what we can. Also, I am curious about this primitive species that lives on the planet’s surface. We came out here to explore, so why don’t we do a bit of exploring while we’re at it?”
“It might even boost morale to do so,” Xal agreed. “Though we shouldn’t hang around for too long, lest they catch up to us.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Twilight promised. “For now, get us to that station, and keep an eye on our situation in engineering. I’d rather it didn’t get any worse than it already is.”
“Aye ma’am,” Silver Wrench stated. “I’ll see it done.”
“Very well, dismissed.”
After the coordinates were plotted, and the command given, the Harmony’s engines came to life once more. The ship performed a turn away from the direction of Equus and began to head towards its new destination. The nacelle glowed with mana energies just before the ship jolted forwards back to FTL, heading towards the station in which the crew had laid their hopes.
Somebody asked for a 'The Martian' joke, they got it... 
My Sharin Scout (named the Serenity II) and Jerico's hydrolite wrecked a small fleet of pirates trying to raid us. The gun we added to the top of the Serentiy is ridiculous, even the hydrolite itself or the Harmony get blown away by it, shields be damned 
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Great chapter!
I assume xal's species look to sexual acts in a more logical view and to be only committed for reproduction? That's what I got from the snipet. I'm betting right now that the primitive bipedalism aren't human, but something similar to the minotaurs. Lastly please tell me that part about thorax was all you and not part of the leaked episode, I've been trying my damnedest to keep away from spoilers.
7626896 I'm going by my prediction as to what would happen based on what little I know, I'm saving the finale until the rest of the season is done.
If I'm correct, it stays, if not, it can be changed (or not, alternate universe and all)
Haven't read the story, but seeing as this is on the front page, I figured I point this out:
Should be "of".
7626907 oh thank you thank you thank you.
i suppose i'll have to save my super special curse phrase for another time.
I understood that reference.
Hmm, can only wonder who these new aliens are. I don’t see a human tag, so it can’t be us… more OC aliens!
When I read the Martian joke I lost my shit... so bipedal species... I wonder is it by any chance... kerbals?
7627439 Ok, thank you! :D
If they need to find a beryllium sphere, they better watch out for little green men, and pebbles ...
Joke aside, good chapter again!
7627517 you are the first person I know of to quote Galaxy quest in... Ever, I am a very happy Swiss-cheese bug.
Just something I caught.
'out' should be 'our'.
Great story.
A bipedal race. Either kerbals or humans. Though you'd think humans would've noticed them by now unless they had cloaking tech.
Kerbals, well, they'd probably just call the station a magical Boulder and be done with it.
I predict the 'bipedal species' are Kerbals, maybe they'll meet Jeb?
Maybe?
Eh.
So, neither Ponies nor Sharin have discovered how to recrystalize dilithium yet huh?
7628555
7628359
7627215
Why is everyone so obsessed with Kerbals? (They aren't them or humans BTW, there are no humans on Equestria's side of the mirror)
7628780
Kerbals are love, Kerbals are life.
Eh.
THANK YOU
7628780
Because who doesn't like to make exploded rockets held together by spit and faith, with just enough boosters to make it to their destination mostly intact?
Just read this story .. and I love it! More please11
I thought it was only test flight between homeworld and colony. It surely wasn't exploration mission if i remember corectly.
7631059 It was a test flight, but she's referring more to the Harmony's primary purpose, and what it should have been doing by that point in time.
Didn't the Serenity actually have some some sort of ridiculous AA cannon or something bolted on top of it at one point?
Star Trek Cliches:
* Technobabble
* Warp Core failure
* Also Technobabble
Let's see where this goes
What's the game your playing called?
Also, is the planet of Apes?
8306990
It's Space Engineers.
8307094
I love "the martin" reference you made. well done.
The Martian make a strong case for carrying a basic garden seed pack on any and all future exo-planetary expeditions. I'm surprised they didn't have any dried beans or rice in their food stores that could have been planted as well (granted rice requires a huge amount of water).
7628780 Because Kerbal Space Program is amazing. I learned more about orbital mechanics from KSP than I have reading a dozen books on it.
8664612
I say amen to that! 🚀
I know this is an old story and I don't even know if you're still active but I'm really really excited with this. Honestly, I don't even want to take the time to comment- I just want to move to the next chapter!!
I'm absolutely in love!!