2 - The Crew
Captain Star Gazer's Log, June 29th, 3382 AD.
This is the day. The day I have been waiting not just since I got my cutie mark, but for all my life. My ship is due to launch later today, and I am keen to get underway. I just hope my previous command of the ES Clover has prepared me for this, though then again the ES Clover does not have an FTL Drive. I shouldn't complain though, the Clover is a good ship, and I wish her new captain all the best.
For now I intend to introduce myself to my new senior officers, we are going to be together for, if all goes well, a very long time after all.
Starbase Alpha, Mess Hall
The mess hall of Starbase Alpha was bustling with activity, excitement for the launch of the Harmony later that day was high.
Among the denizens of the cafeteria two individuals sat at a table by a window offering them an unmatched view of the planet below. They were the weapons officer and helmspony of the Harmony respectively, a griffon and an earth pony.
Helmspony Nimble Star whistled as he looked down upon Equus. “Take it all in, Iynx. We won’t be seeing it for a while.”
Nimble Star was a grey coated earth pony with a black mane. His eyes were green in colour.
The griffon he was talking to was largely similar in complexion to a griffon Princess Twilight had known in her early days, Gilda. However, unlike Gilda she had black coloured patterns surrounding her eyes and beak.
Iynx shrugged. “We will only be gone a few days. To Alpha Centaur and back again.”
“Don’t kill the atmosphere!” Nimble pouted.
“What atmosphere?”
“The atmosphere of anticipation!” Nimble replied. “Normally a trip to our colony on Alpha Centaur would take years under the power of thaumatic drive. We are making history!”
Nimble’s enthusiasm curved a bit. “Though, why are we going to the closest colony? Why not the furthest?”
“This is a test voyage, my friend,” Iynx rolled her eyes. “Princess Twilight just wants to make sure the thing works before undertaking any future missions.”
“That’s no fun,” Nimble sighed.
Iynx smirked. “And that, Nimble, is why you are still an ensign.”
“At least he is enthusiastic,” a male voice said as somepony pulled a char and sat at their table.
“Captain!” both jumped to attention.
“At ease,” Captain Star Gazer said, gesturing for them to sit. “I just wanted to meet my two new additions to the bridge crew.”
Star Gazer was well built Pegasus with a light blue coat and a shortly cut, blonde mane. His eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue than his coat, and his cutie mark was a small gathering of stars.
“Lieutenant Commander Iynx and Ensign Nimble Star, am I correct?” he asked the two.
“Yes sir,” Nimble responded. “That’s us.”
Star nodded. “I’ve read both of your files, but as it were I would rather hear about you from the horse’s mouth. I like to get to know my crew personally.”
“Of course,” Nimble nodded. “I’m Nimble Star, but you already know that of course. I was born in Cloudsdale twenty one years ago and enlisted at the age of sixteen, the moment I was of age. I graduated from the academy one year ago and I took the helm of one of our Celestial Class defence ships.”
“So I heard,” The Captain said. “I also heard you distinguished yourself quite a bit. Enough to be assigned as the helm officer of the first of the brand new Harmony Class of ships, my ship.”
“Yes, well…” Nimble shuffled. “About two months ago the ES Starswirl was hijacked while docked at Starbase Beta by rogue griffons. They had intended to use the ship to commit a terrorist attack against Canterlot, and the griffon flying was quite the pilot. Apparently he had served as a helmspony himself for a few years before resigning.”
Nimble took a quick swig of his glass of water before continuing. “Anyway, three ships gave chase. The ES Celestial, ES Crystal Heart and my ship, the ES Magic of Friendship. The Celestial and Crystal Heart fell behind, but we managed to overtake the Starswirl and come into weapons range. We disabled it, boarded it and took it back. However, the Starswirl was damaged beyond repair and scuttled soon after.”
“Impressive, you were the only helmspony able to keep up,” Star Gazer noted.
“Yes. Princess Twilight Sparkle had me assigned as the Harmony’s helmspony right after.”
“Wait,” Iynx interrupted. “Two months ago? Is that all it takes to learn how to fly an FTL starship?”
“FTL is intended to be largely automated. All I will need to do is place in course adjustments. It is at sub-light my skills are going to shine.”
The Captain turned to Iynx. “And what of you?”
“I’m a griffon, I was born in Griffonstone, I shoot things,” she simply said.
“That’s it?” Nimble deadpanned.
“That is all that needs to be said,” Iynx replied nonchalantly. “Besides, I’m more interested in our dear captain.”
“Me?” Star raised an eyebrow. “Well, I was born and raised in Ponyville. I served in Princess Twilight’s guard for a few years when I was younger before moving over to the space program. I was the weapons officer aboard the ES Defender for a few years. I earned a promotion to captain after working well in a mission organised by Princesses Luna and Twilight. Until recently I was in command of the ES Clover.”
Star Gazer looked towers a clock on the mess hall’s wall, shaking his head on seeing the time. “But I’m afraid that is enough of story time, I’m needed on the Harmony.” He got up to leave, turning back momentarily. “I look forward to serving with you both.”
ES Harmony, Sick Bay
The ES Harmony’s medical bay was a large rectangular shape with beds lining all around the outside. A large table spanned down the centre on which sat all sorts of equipment. At the opposite end of the entrance sat two more doors, one leading to a storage room and the other leading to intensive care. The room itself was an entirely medical white, the only exception was the padding on the beds, which was black in colour.
Right now as the ship prepared for launch few were in the medical bay. Those who were, were taking stock of their medical supplies to ensure they didn’t leave short of anything. The only exception was two at the far end, one sitting on the bed and one desperately trying to get the other to sit his flank down.
“If you will, could you please hold still?!” Chief Medical Officer Geneser, a female zebra, said in frustration to the constantly flinching unicorn as she tried to apply salve to a burn on his right foreleg.
“I’m sorry. It just stings more than a little,” the unicorn explained.
“Then you should have waited your turn, if you didn’t want to get that burn,” Geneser shook her head in disapproval. “For you to even dare, it’s like you don’t give a care.”
“Maintenance is behind schedule as it is. I’m the chief engineer, I needed to speed things along,” responded Chief Engineer Silver Wrench.
The zebra tutted in disapproval. “To fix the FTL Drive, we need you alive.”
Silver rolled his eyes. “Do you ever not speak in rhymes?”
“No,” was the answer she gave.
“That wasn’t a rhyme,” he jabbed.
Geneser simply gave him a deadpan look, and then went to apply the salve again.
Geneser was a zebra with green eyes and a short mane done in the style of a Mohawk. She lacked any traditional zebra jewellery and instead wore a white medical coat. She was in her late twenties and was born to a family of zebra shamans in Zebrica, hence the rhyming.
In contrast, Silver Wrench was a red unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane. His eyes were a light blue and he had a sliver wrench for a cutie mark. Unlike much of the crew, Silver wasn’t born on Equus. Rather, he was born on the planet Mares, his family stemming back to the original colonists.
“Ow!” he shouted as Geneser applied the salve and finished up.
“All done. Now try not to get another one,” Geneser suggested to him as she went to pack away the medical equipment and Silver jumped off the bed.
“I will do best. Burns are not exactly something I particularly enjoy, though they are not something entirely unfamiliar to me I will admit.”
The zebra he was talking with simply elected to roll her eyes.
“I suggest you get back to engineering. That is, unless you find medical so endearing,” she chuckled.
“Silver Wrench, sir?” a voice sounded over the sick bay intercom.
“Hold that thought,” Silver joked to Geneser as he went over to the nearest intercom to answer the call for him. “This is Silver Wrench, what is going on down there?”
“Sir, we have some fluctuations in some of the FTL drive’s mana injectors, we could use your help stabilising them.”
Silver wrench groaned. “I’m on my way.”
Silver turned back to Geneser. “However endearing sick bay may be, duty calls,” he winked, moving towards the exit.
Geneser momentarily raised an eyebrow, before just shaking her head with a small grin on her face.
Silver Wrench exited the sick bay and walked towards the lift at the end of the hallway that would take him to the lower decks where engineering was located. However, as he reached the door to the elevator it opened up to reveal four large forms.
Silver gave a respectful nod to the four princesses as they exited the elevator and he took his place within, the door closing a moment later.
“That was the chief engineer, was it not?” Luna asked.
“It was, his name is Silver Wrench,” Twilight responded. “Anyway, medical is at the end of the hallway, run by a zebra mare name Geneser.”
The four princesses came to the conclusion of their tour of the ship as the final lift moved on upwards to the final destination they had yet to visit. The bridge.
“Will the captain be here?” Cadance asked.
“Captain Star Gazer isn’t one for tardiness,” Twilight replied. “He’ll be there.”
“Star Gazer?” Luna said questioningly. “I recall that name.”
“He was part of the rescue mission to recover the survivors of that crashed freighter on Mares a few years back,” Twilight reminded her. “We promoted him to captain afterwards for his service.”
“Ah yes, I remember him now,” Luna smiled. “You picked the captain of this ship well.”
“I do so pride myself on my organisational skills,” Twilight smirked. “Besides, he practically begged for the chance to explore the cosmos further. Exploring the stars is his passion and special talent after all.”
The lift came to a halt as the two doors slid open.
“Right this way,” Twilight said as she stepped onto the bridge.
Mares and stallions sat at the various consoles in the circular room, some performing diagnostics of the systems with others making a few final adjustments to the new equipment. One engineer had his nose in the open helm as he tweaked with a few wires and circuits.
Viewing the organised chaos around him from the central captain’s chair was Star Gazer.
“Ensign,” he called out. “Put control on the view screen.”
“Yes sir,” the ensign in question said as she did as commanded.
A few moments later the view screen activated and changed the open view of the dock to Starbase Alpha’s command centre.
“Captain, we read you. What do you require?” one of the ponies in the command centre asked.
“My chief engineer informed me that one of the mana injectors was damaged due to a misalignment. It’s easily repairable but will go a lot quicker with some extra parts and hooves. We won’t launch on the deadline otherwise.”
“We will send a repair team over to the Harmony at once.”
“Thank you command, Harmony out,” The Captain thanked as the transmission was cut off.
“Troubles, Captain?” Twilight asked as she and the other approached.
“Princess,” Captain Star got up from his chair and saluted. “Just some teething issues ma’am, nothing we cannot handle or unexpected. The ship is brand new after all.”
Twilight nodded in understanding. “I see.”
“It is a pleasure to see you and Princess Luna again,” he said before turning to the other two princesses. “Princess Celestia, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, it is an honour to make your acquaintance.”
“The honour is ours, Captain,” Celestia greeted in return. “You have quite the ship.”
Star Gazer nodded. “She is something. I’m proud to be captain of such a fine vessel.”
“You’ve earned it,” Twilight assure him. “Will the ship be ready for launch on schedule?”
“Silver Wrench has things in hoof,” Star Gazer assured the lavender princess. “The remaining crew is on standby. I recently had the pleasure of introducing myself to Ensign Nimble Star and Lieutenant Commander Iynx. We will be off to Alpha Centaur and back in record time.”
“We’d better, I designed the ship and its engines after all,” Twilight said. “Should things go well, I will see it you and the crew go on a longer mission of exploration.”
“I greatly look forward to it,” The Captain bowed. “Who knows, we may encounter some other forms of life.”
“Keen to encounter aliens are we, Captain?” Cadance grinned.
“One can only hope,” he responded.
I'm using naval ranks for the crew, similar to how I use normal military ranks for the EUP.
If you are wondering about the zebra's name, it is Afrikaans for healer.
There are also colonies in three other systems, each of those colonies having two ships each currently. The remaining eight ships are in their home system: There are five Celestial Class defense vessels which were all named in this chapter and a sixth having been destroyed, one is the Harmony and the final two are freighters shipping things between the various colonies throughout the home system. Fourteen ships in total, as stated in the last chapter.
Also yes, Alpha Centaur is Alpha Centauri 
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This has me quite excited.
Calling it now, this is gonna go something like Voyager or Lost in Space.
i like where this is going
Whatever happens, do NOT stop writing this. Nice use of ranks, BTW.
More.
I'm more curious about how to pronounce 'Iynx'. I keep wanting to say 'lynx'.
7433991 I think it is either 'i' and 'inx' or 'yinx' in pronunciation.
I have a question, does Equus orbit it's sun or no?
Naval ranks are the way to go.
Not only does Star Trek set that precedent, but the closest current equivalent to being on a starship is being on a submarine.
Hmm, how big is Harmony's crew? Because from the sounds of it the ship is small and understaffed, if they need help and parts from the station in order to fix something as relatively simple as a fuel injector on time. Did Twilight design this thing with adequate crew and storage capabilities, I wonder ?
On another note, I'd advise against introducing more OCs for now, to let your readers adjust and properly absorb the ones that already got presented. When introducing OCs in general, it's typically a good idea to do so gradually and space the introductions out, instead of assaulting your readers with a whole bunch of them at once - people generally won't remember (nor be attached to) a bunch of names and faces presented to them all at once, which runs the risk of your OCs merging together into one, big, homogeneous "OC blob" with one being indistinguishable from the next. I'd suggest giving us a bit of time to get used to these ones and their voices before you throw more at us
7435094 I'm not going to be introducing any more OC's for a while. I just had to get them introduced since they are the crew, and like in Star Trek they will be about throughout. Other characters I plan on introducing don't turn up for ages yet.
Besides, as of next chapter we are going to space, its going to be a while before we meet any new characters face-to-face.
7435178
That's good to know - OC heavy stories need to be careful about the pace they introduce said characters in (and allow the time for properly establishing their unique voices and personalities), if they are to stick for the readers, otherwise it's easy to lose them in the crowd. Besides, the ship probably has crew in the hundreds, if not thousands (how big is it, actually? Both the ship and the crew?) - going into space wouldn't be an obstacle for more characters to appear on stage
7435185 Well most of the other crew are pretty much redshirts, the focus is going to be on the bridge crew and other senior officers.
The ship is about 1,500 feet in length and carries a crew of at least 800.
7435214 Star Trot/Tret Pony Star. St... Okay I'm super tired, can't think. but yes! Mostly the Bridge Crew, even though the captain isn't supposed to head down on missions himself, they always will, because raisins!
Best character intro ever. I like her already. I have a feeling her backstory will be really interesting.
Also, thank for you portraying an immortal Twilight that is not constantly saddened by the passing of her mortal friends. I like the nice transition in the prologue, almost like her reminiscing about her friends as she contemplates the historic moment about to happen.
I mean, I enjoy stories that explore that sort of theme, but it would be out of place here.
7435178 hey that last paragraph rymed also is it possible for fan art of the crew harmony and the celestia class? If its submitted ?
Saitama would approve!
pbs.twimg.com/media/CVhLgUZVAAECEvv.png
Wow. I can feel myself building the 'verse. It's a little annoying.
7492043 There's some irony to that.
i think it should be "then again"... a simple little error
I'd facehoof at the idea of a long duration starship captain meeting his or her senior officers for the first time on the day they leave port but...well, it is true to the original Starfleet's silly mumbletypeg excuse for a command structure.
You know what, screw it.
epic facehoof!!!
I can facehoof at epic silliness, even when it's sourced from the original crossover source material. It's a law. Pinkie Pie told me so.
Srsly, is that a capital I or lower case L? And, why?
8223953
I assume you're talking about Iynx? That's a name you know, Greek. It's a capital i.
Just picking this up now that it has hit completion, looking forward to the read! A little confused by the setting, however. There seems to be a strong militaristic tint to all this, which I don't really understand. This is a fully peaceful world, with all governments totally at peace with a united space program, and no real known hostile alien races to combat. Much of their space fleet appears to be comprised of battleships, and much of the crew of their new exploration/diplomatic vessel appear to be military folk with a history of armed conflict. Starfleet, on the other hand, lacks even a single vessel designed for combat (at first), and all ships are basically science vessels, with a few weapons for self-defense........honestly, the only reason the Federation WORKS as a concept in a universe willed with known hostile races is that they have a strong advantage in both sheer numbers AND technology, so even though all their ships are multi-purpose non-military craft staffed mostly with scientists and engineers, they can still compete (and often DOMINATE) in a fight.
..........thinking of it that way, this story may actually make more sense on a fundamental level then "Star Trek" itself. Huh. 😶
Mostly just posting this cause I've been doing a lot of reading on Star Trek lately, and I'm kind of itching for a debate on the topic. ^_^;
8257108
The Celestials were created to ensure safety, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
As for the Harmony and her crew. The Harmony is designed to seek new life and all that, but left with weapons to start with as once again they have no idea what dangers lay out there (as the NX was meant to, but they launched early and learnt that lesson the hard way with the elachi). Nimble was chosen as he is an experienced pilot, Iynx is a tactical officer (and a griffon, militaristic lineage is par for the course for most of them), Geneser and Silver Wrench are also highly experienced as a doctor and engineer respectively while the Captain has known Princess Twilight for a long time and beyond his career as a guard has a immense desire to explore and discover. Twilight knew what she was doing setting all this up.
And the Harmony, unlike the Celestials, is not purely designed for combat but is designed to fight back if push comes to shove.
8257360
So the Celestials were designed BECAUSE of the Harmony and colony ships, just in case they ran into anything hostile out there that tracked them home? Specifically as a precaution against hostile alien life? Seems a bit like too much foresight, but then again, one of their Alicorns has been shown to have prophetic dreams, and they seem to be AWARE that alien life exists (possible due to other magical means), so I'd totally buy that. XD If Humanity was 100% aware of alien life AND had its shit together, I'd like to think we'd be optimistic, but take a few precautionary measures as well. Keep the military fully functional, but in the meantime alter their job description to more humanitarian (ponytarian?) relief and emergency response....with active weapons installed and full combat training as a combination of "tradition" and "just in case". And the Captain joining not because of his military training, but because his experience in the guard gave him a strong understanding of their lead crew member........well, I have no doubt some foreign leaders would be grouchy and mumble about "nepotism", but it too makes sense when you consider that he's basically there to make sure Twilight's wishes are acted out in the most effective manner.
.........I REEEALLY enjoy overthinking things. :P Speaking of which, how do you imagine the chairs on board the Harmony being designed? For sitting on the haunches, or in a more traditional manner like Lyra? I'm mostly picturing the later, as it would ensure more stability in case of turbulence, and the former would probably be more without chairs entirely.
Feel free to ignore these little rants of mine if they don't interest you. I lack both certain skills and interest in writing long-form fiction, but mini-essays are MY preferred writing outlet. I also enjoy writing character bios that extend past the three page mark. :P Writing is fun, but we all have our preferences, ya know?
Ponies and their terrible sense for naming things.
8610195
Did you know there is a real place called human town? Or humanville. One of those. Anyways, lol, on with the story!!!
Space. These are the voyages of the ES HARMONY. (cue Star Trek theme) very cute and well done.
I like it their doing this the smart way. Establishing strong defenses then moving out.
Hopefully he’s no Kirk.
Also, why is Lynx’s name lowercase? Is that intentional?
9413432
It's an upper case 'i' not an L.
This should be made into a comic
If they have an emergency hologram doctor it should be fluttershy or Maud I can see ether
So will this take place in the Federation or will Equestria replace Sol and basically be Star Trek: Enterprise storyline.