Tie it down 49%
Spike chewed nervously on the edge of his claws as he listened to Applejack’s running commentary on her work. He really would’ve rather been out there with her, to be the extra pair of claws if something went wrong. But Twilight needed tending, and they might need someone on the Equinox.
“That’s three high-tension lines straight into her belly,” Applejack said. “If she tries to take off and fly away now, all she’ll do is be our little tugboat.”
Spike had spent almost no time at all in medical during their voyage—there was no one to get him sick in the Equinox’s sterile environment, and he was too tough (or just not stupid enough) to get himself seriously hurt. As a result, while the crew quarters and some of the common areas had been worn down by his occupation, Medical had been sealed. It still smelled like new plastic, the counter tops were still white and not slightly yellowed with age.
Twilight was tucked safely into bed now, with the best medical care spike could give her.
Spike attempts first aid on Twilight. Success. Twilight will recover her magic in 1 week.
He was fairly sure the glue bandage he’d used on her horn was setting correctly, since the computer said there would already be signs of infection otherwise. Her monitor beeped in regular rhythm. “Guess we both get to test out the facilities,” he said, resting one claw on the edge of the bed. There was only one other bed in here, which for space doubled as the surgical table.
Their surgeon was asleep, of course. Like almost everything.
“Those… boarding spikes you’re using…” Spike said into the radio. “Are they going through into the ship?”
“You betcha they are,” Applejack said. But whatever air they had, it’s gone now.”
“So what happens?” Spike asked, walking over to the tiny circular window. It was on the wrong side of the ship, so all he could see through it was unfamiliar stars. I wonder which one of those is ours. “We, uh… k-killed them? Like they tried to kill us?”
Applejack was silent for a few moments. “I’m sorry you have to see this, Spike. I know you aren’t—”
“I’m older than you are,” Spike interrupted, before she could get any further. “I can handle it. Are we trying to kill them or not?”
“It would be easiest,” Applejack replied. “You’d think that out here in the cold, with space itself tryin’ to kill us, ponies would have more reason to work together. But as it turns out, that’s backwards. Bein’ nice and kind and forgivin’ is a luxury of grounders. Out here, a pony who lets a filter go out, well that might be the day that the whole station dies of carbon monoxide. Shoot a hole in the water tank, that’s what the foal next door needs to drink. If the pony on that ship is alive, it means we’ve got a prisoner to deal with. Equinox doesn’t have a brig.”
“Spiiiiiike—” mumbled a voice from the other side of the room.
Spike nearly dropped his radio, hurrying over to Twilight. “Twi, you there?”
Twilight attempts vigor check to return to consciousness. Critical Success
She nodded, eyes going perfectly clear. “Sorry, I was dreaming about something.” She reached up, clutching at her horn with one hoof and groaning loudly. “Why did you… test all the ship’s hammers on my head?”
Spike hurried over, opening one drawer and then another in search of the medication he wanted. Cryogenic vapor filled the air in a cloud as he went through, before he found what he was looking for. He unwrapped the plastic capsule, kicking the drawers shut all at once with one knee and sliding it into the nitrogen injector. “Hold still, computer suggested something for the pain.”
Twilight extended a hoof with surprising force, keeping him away. “Not yet. I… ugh… I think I know what the computer wants you to give me. I’ll go right back to limbo if you give me that.” She eyed the radio. “Stowaway?”
“Still a few hours before their engines come back,” Spike answered, holding out the radio with his other hand. That must hurt terribly, are you sure you don’t want—”
“Put it on the desk there. No, I’ll…” Her horn glowed for a second, then fizzled. She screamed, then melted back onto her bed in a wave of shivering protest. Spike didn’t wait for permission, he just hurried in and pressed the injector to her neck. There was a hiss, and Twilight stopped struggling. Her expression went placid, eyes glazing over.
“Uh… Spike?” Applejack’s voice came over the radio. “I think I see someone in the window.” There was a pause. “Yeah, that’s a pony for sure. Looks like they’re… wavin’ something. Maybe a radio?”
“I’ll try the prospector’s band.” Spike said. “Hold on.” Shame he’d just doped his captain. Twilight wouldn’t be making any more decisions for the next few hours at least.
He twisted the little dial, and instantly a voice resolved on the other end. Not a pony he’d ever heard before, a mare that sounded about the same age as Twilight and her friends. But what was age when every one of them had been in cryosleep caskets for decades?
“Equinox, can you hear me? Stop shooting those spikes into my ship!”
Spike couldn’t help himself—he laughed. “You mean the ship you stole?”
The voice made a frustrated sound. “I want to talk to the captain. Put Twilight on.”
He hesitated. Sharing what had happened to her probably wasn’t a great idea. “Twilight is too busy with important things,” he said. “You get me instead. Now surrender peacefully, and Applejack doesn’t have to blow up our prospector. Everyone lives.”
“Alright,” the voice didn’t even hesitate. “Running out of backup air for the suit… no point going down with the ship. Tell Applejack to hold her fire, and I’ll EVA across. You can arrest me.”
“Who are you?” Spike found himself asking. “Why did you try to kill us?”
“I’m running out of air,” the speaker answered, her voice increasingly annoyed. “I’ll be more willing to talk when I’m not about to die.”
It was Spike’s decision to make.
1. Accept the pony’s surrender. I don’t care what Applejack says, we can’t leave a pony to die. I’m the one who she hurt the most, and I say let her live. We can just throw her into stasis or something when we’re done interrogating her.
2. Wait her out. If she really only has a few hours left, then she won’t get engines back before she’s out of air. It’s cruel, but it’s no more than she could’ve done to us with a bomb on the hull. Maybe as the time runs out she’ll get more talkative, too.
3. Distract her. If I keep her busy, Applejack could try the EVA to disable the ship properly. Might be dangerous, but it was her idea. It will only get safer.
I vote option one. When space is out to kill you, showing mercy goes a long way. Now, if she tries a double-cross, killing then is always an option.
Option one, we need intel from her and the AJ plan just sounds like a good way to get AJ killed.
Option one, I cant think of anything else that would be good.
If anything goes wrong, we've got a dragon.
I concur with the other commenters. Option one
I feel like I should be salty on Twilight's behalf. Critical success to her Vigor check, and she gets just a few useless lines before she fscks herself up again and goes down for the count. If she's not going to get to do anything meaningful on a success (much less a CRITICAL success!), don't bother rolling.
That said, on to the choice!
I don't particularly like any of the options. Accepting surrender seems naive, waiting for the pony to die seems cruel, and doing the EVA seems pointless now that they have comms to an apparently coherent foe.
Still, the downside might just be least bad with #1. If the pony surrenders and attacks them, they're armed and outnumber her and at least have a fighting chance. If they wait for her to die, even if she doesn't have enough air to wait for controls to return, she might be able to rig bombs or something which take them all out. In other words, her knowing they want her to die might give her too much incentive to blow it all up so they both lose.
Option 2.
Maby I am just feeling angry today but after all the times she tried to eff up the mission and after all the times she almost killed all the innocent people on the ship I dont think she deserves a second chance.
The stowaway wants mercy when she has shown no desire to give it to others. She had a chance to talk and her answer was to set bombs and steal the prospector. Just by being there she has cost the mission resources and then cost even more when she stole the prospector and yet MORE when the crew had to chase her ass down. Resources that could have been used to build the alien computer thing. Resources that could have been used to wake up another crew member. Her actions alone have almost turned the mission into a failure. She is not worth the time or effort to save.
Let her die and pay the price for her choices the same way she tried to kill everyone else.
I’d say number one. If she is legitimately surrendering then she’ll leave the Prospecter immediately. This would allow the equinox to recover not only the prospector but whatever fuel it has left.
Since it is entirely possible the prisoner is a unicorn, Spike and Applejack need to also expect that possibility, and take appropriate measures to counter any spellcraft.
Plus, it’s not like the prisoner could hide the fact that she is a unicorn, due to the helmet having to accommodate for it. Since none of the other tribes’ helmets would fit her, her horn would be immediately visible the moment she steps out of the prospector.
Who are you - did not respond. Knows identity of Twilight and crew, is not in league with us = enemy agent.
Option 4 - destroy the prospector.
Sigh maybe too harsh. We can still use the machine once the invader has been removed.
Guess I'll go 2.
We're ponies and pony-related creatures. Forgiveness has historically worked out a good... uh, 93% of the time. Option one is the most in character option, and the most logical.
I would have been very disappointed at everyone in general if Option 2 had been winning. I simply cannot even slightly.entertain the idea that Spike would willingly watch a pony suffocate to death in front of him. He hasn't changed THAT much over his long trip, he is still kind of compassionate and merciful. Doing the right thing is rarely easy, but that doesn't stop it from being right; otherwise heroes wouldn't exist. :) Plus regardless of Applejack's surprisingly pessimistic attitude, while keeping everyone away might be SAFER, it also loses you the opportunity to gain more helping hooves, which is invaluable (how many times have they been short staffed already?) If they can befriend the stowaway who clearly has some.survival experience, it will make the team stronger. Either way though, I'm sticking with option 1 or at least 3; all other arguments aside, it's the most in-character.
Numera una. Aside from what everyone else has said, we need answers.
Somewhat glad my vote didn't win. As soon as I submitted it I felt like I probably killed Applejack. Oh look, the same option returns so I have a second chance to feel guilt.
So, our saboteur is still alive and willing to talk. I can't think of any way for her to hurt us right now, but she's still on a suicide mission. I have to assume she has no regard for her own well-being and at any moment she could pull a stunt like:
I'm all for second chances, but often a single chance is all they need to really screw you over. ...I don't have the heart to kill her. Let her come aboard. But ONE chance! Anything funny and I'll vote her shot, stabbed or airlocked! Whatever's closest!
Haven't read yet. I saw tying down won. This can only go badly IMO. Let's see if I'm right.
Edit: Still think this will end badly.
Take the stowaway prisoner. What the Equinox's crew needs is information. Take precautions, but let them in. Not sure what good going EVA at this point will do. The lander's tied down, and its passenger wants to come aboard. Do they have weapons for the crew to use? A metal pipe around to hold threateningly or something?
You know that this was completely unnecessary and only for humor, shame on you.
It is amusing.
9283834
Huh, that's a good reason. It's not overtly complicated, and it fits snugly with the canon.
1 it is!
9283927
Nah, don't shoot her. It's a waste of resources.
As long as the characters are aware that she is a true believer in her cause who was willing to destroy the whole ship and is proficient with explosives and traps things should not be too bad.
Even if it is a danger she should not be left to die alone in space, just make sure that she is not a threat once all information has been extracted from her putting her into the pod would be a great idea.
(Also as a side note, people who would be in this position and were left to die could get VERY creative about spiteful things.)
Well, "NOT NUMBER TWO" is my primary vote. But #1 seems clearly better than #3, too. I mean, she's EVAing to us. Even if she had something up her sleeve, the worst it could be is a suicide bomb stuffed into her suit, and that seems like something that can be controlled for more easily tan EVAing over to her ship that she's done who knows what with. Plus, anything OTHER than "okay, we'll allow you to surrender" will seem to her, justifiably, like "no, we're killing you instead".
Didn't expect to be editing this table a mere one chapter later, but...
Don't worry. As far as I know, the record for getting knocked out the most within the media I've watched goes to Ahsoka Tano from Clone Wars. The number to beat is 17.
No comment.
Moaning in bed one second, 100% coherent the next. Such is the immersion-breaking power of a nat 20. (Thankfully, Twi's next line about the hammers brought me right back in.)
Which brings us to the vote...
The fact that our stowaway is hiding in a spacesuit from the cold, pressureless, airless vacuum of space tells me that she doesn't have as much of a death wish we've been led to believe. The real question I have is, how well can Spike and AJ bluff? (And will it come down to dice rolls?) If they can wait her out just a bit while convincing her they're going to come out there eventually, they could extract some useful information here. Every time they call "Are you still there?" over the radio, it seems to the stowaway as if they're checking on her air supply and mental state, when they're actually making sure she's not causing any trouble. Problem is, I'm not sure how long they're actually going to wait. On principle and moral, I'd rather not kill. Plus, if she can be swayed, four crew would be better than three.
From a writing standpoint, we've been given two back-to-back chances to go for option number 3. I find that interesting, as this has only happened a few times, and now has happened back-to-back. It makes me nervous that this option has been sitting there this long, and we still haven't taken it.
If we bring her in immediately, we put her in an excellent position to lie. If we lead her on as if she's going to be rescued (and take our sweet time in doing so), I feel we'll get better answers and eventually rescue her. You know, once we're good and ready. Going with number 2.
“Start talking and THeN we can talk surrender. You’re not THAT short of air. Pray we like what we hear.”
9284462
Applejack does not bluff.
9283834
Pretty much this.
Bitch, if you have a few hours of air, you can sure as hell explain who you are and what the fuck you were doing before we consider any possible surrender. If you won't explain fuckall before we let you back on the ship, why do we have any reason to believe you'll not immediately plant a bomb or cut off life support as soon as the opportunity arises?
Few hours of air and not enough time to tell you what's going on? Bullshit, this is a trap. She had her chance. I vote 2.
The fact we already have laws and treaties on Earth about not letting anyone suffocate alone in space when anyone has the power to save them shows just how unacceptable option 2 is to ponies.
That said I'd (personally) be tempted to make her stew in it if it weren't for the fact that she'd probably EVA over on her own anyways and instead of being grateful be pissed.
Kindness is still an Equestrian cornerstone, isn't it?
Accepting surrender means you can try to get info on how the stowaway got aboard, and means less to fix on the prospector later compared to fully disabling it.
Option 2
I am not about to trust a saboteur and thief. Make them sweat, let them know where they stand. They will live, we talk, and then we can lock them in a room till the Captain is awake.