Refugees
Chapter 13
“Junas Turner was the first indication that the galaxy was not inhabited solely by thugs and soldiers. He helped us when nobody else would, offered the use of his spacecraft, and it was his blaster that defended us on more than one occasion. He absolutely deserves a stained glass portrait in Canterlot Castle, though I'm not sure I trust the glasscutters to get his appearance right, since they've never seen a human.”
-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 275
Trips through hyperspace are a regular occurrence in the galaxy. Even before the formation of the Republic, ships blazed great hyperspace routes from star system to star system, like ancient mariners trying to find faster routes through the seas of their worlds in order to make commerce cheaper and more efficient.
But like roads on terrestrial worlds or skyways on gas giants, there were major highways through the galaxy: the Corellian Run, the Perlemian Trade Route, the Hydian Way. These well-traveled hyperlanes are the fastest way to get from point A to point B in the galaxy.
Which is why Junas was avoiding them like the plague.
For those routes, and others which were less-traveled but still important, were sure to contain Interdictor Cruiser patrols. Junas had been in the Alliance long enough to know that the captains of those ships were not known for their patience, and were always thorough when searching a captured ship. He’d heard plenty of tales of captains who were unexpectedly pulled out of hyperspace by the enormous gravity-well projectors on the Interdictor, which would trigger the failsafe system on the hyperdrive and cut it out prematurely. Their ships would be towed into the hangar bay on the wedge-shaped warship via tractor beam and gone over by the Imperials with a fine-tooth comb, their goal usually to locate and seize contraband.
Ponies wanted by the Galactic Empire would probably fall into that category.
Junas was in the pilot’s seat, his control board colored blue by the swirling vortex of the hyperspace tunnel they were occupying, his mind going over every star chart he had ever read, trying to think of a suitable route to Bestine from Endor. With over twelve million inhabited star systems though, finding a route that would not take them past an Imperial-aligned world was a major challenge indeed.
His computer was of no help. All navicomputers manufactured in the galaxy, no matter how old, were invariably linked via subspace radio to BoSS, the Bureau of Ships and Services. While BoSS was not technically an Imperial ministry or department, it was still locked into the most well-traveled routes, and those routes inevitably took him past an Imperial world at some point. No matter how he phrased his query, the computer would always take him to the Empire, and since his ship’s type, the Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300f, was known to be used frequently by the Rebellion for smuggling and gun-running due to its speed and agility, he would surely be stopped and searched.
No, he would have to do this the old-fashioned way.
Luckily part of his training as a Rebel scout was how to plot routes through hyperspace. It wasn’t complicated, just very, very tedious. The idea was to compute backwards the location of the stars around the ship in order to compensate for the time lag between where the star was when the light was transmitted and where it was currently, using the star maps to get the exact distance and using that to calculate the jump coordinates.
But still, there were over 400 billion stars in the galaxy, 180 million of which were inhabited and 12 million of which were part of the Empire. He truly had his work cut out for him. He took another sip of the now cold caf that he had the auto-chef make for him and went back to his flimsiplast map, using a grease pencil to mark out possible routes.
“Let’s see . . . I could . . . no, that system’s got three asteroid belts. Too hazardous for me. Maybe . . . yeah, I could swing past . . . no, that’s too close to Bespin . . .”
He scratched his head. He never had to do this usually, so he was a bit out of practice. Alliance Intelligence usually provided him with a route. But now he had people . . . er, ponies depending on him. He had to get this right.
The first time.
As he erased the latest error in planning, Twilight Sparkle joined him in the cockpit, hopping up in the copilot’s chair. He looked over at her, noting how the blue maelstrom outside the canopy intensified her pale lavender coat and indigo mane, elevating her already pretty appearance to a level rivaling Rarity.
She looked at the map he had spread over the console. “Are those star charts?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and right now I’m wracking my brain trying to plan a route to Bestine. That’s a planet in the Inner Rim of the galaxy, right up next to the Core. The proximity to the Imperial throne worlds isn’t important. They’ve got a cell on that world that I know of, and we can use them to find my home base.”
The unicorn’s brow furrowed. “Can’t you just call your home base on your radio?”
“No. The Empire would intercept any transmissions. I could actually send messages through this hyperspace tunnel using the Holonet, but the equipment to do that is controlled by the Empire.”
Twilight nodded, then turned her gaze toward the hypnotizing blue display in front of her. She watched as the swirling colors flew past, their shapes resembling a cross between crumpled paper and azure clouds of gas. “It’s so beautiful.”
He nodded. “Many a spacer has been hypnotized by it. In fact, early ships had shields over the windows to keep hyperspace scouts from becoming enraptured and refusing to exit hyperspace.”
The unicorn slowly shook her head, marveling at the revelation, yet understanding completely why they would choose never to exit such a place. The two of them looked out the window for a long while, letting the beauty of the otherworldly realm melt over them, a stark contrast to the last few horrible days.
Finally Twilight got up. “I better go check on Rainbow Dash and Applejack.”
“And I better get back to calculating our route.” Junas turned around and began plotting again, and Twilight walked out of the cockpit toward the main hold.
“Let’s see, if I . . .”
He paused.
Then he set his pencil down and looked back up at the vortex.
“Hmm . . . it really is beautiful.”
-----
Twilight stepped down out of the concentric corridor and into the large main hold which doubled as the ship’s lounge area. She rounded the table in front of the couch and sat down next to Celestia on the hard metal grating making up most of the floor. Pinkie Pie was off in another corner of the ship, exploring and taking everything in like a filly, making sure to heed Junas’ warning not to touch anything. Rarity was in the ‘fresher, getting her mane and hooves back to acceptable standards by using the tools she found in the maintenance bay as best she could to accomplish the task. Fluttershy was sitting alone in a corner of the room, wearing an expression of sadness and betrayal on her face, which Twilight was sure had to do with that droid’s betrayal. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were taking up the couch, doing their best to maintain a facade of toughness, but a careful glance would reveal how much pain they were in. As a practitioner of magic, Twilight had been the recipient of many back-blasts and ricochets, and she imagined a gunshot wound in this universe was similarly painful and just as difficult to heal.
She stole a look at their bandages. Even though they had been changed recently, they were now almost soaked with blood. Twilight knew that if they didn’t get medical attention soon they would probably perish from loss of blood. She had asked Junas why he didn’t have more extensive medical facilities on his ship, but he apologetically explained that because the Rebel Alliance was always a credit or two short, they didn’t always have the equipment to spare from the front lines.
As long as her friends didn’t move very much though, they would be okay until they arrived at their next destination.
Which would be acceptable to anypony but Rainbow Dash. When Twilight had explained that she would have to lay still in order to keep the wound from opening up any more than it had, the blue pegasus had protested profusely, and it took Applejack bringing up the fact that she needed to heal in order to have a hope of flying with the Wonderbolts when she got back home to get her to calm down enough to sit on the couch at all.
Twilight sighed. They were together, but the situation was anything but victorious.
Luna was gone, two of their team were seriously wounded, and without the princesses to raise the sun and moon their world would soon be uninhabitable.
Still, she had to keep her spirits up. So she did was she did best. She started talking.
“I wonder how long it’ll be before we get there.”
Nobody responded to her feeble attempt to begin a conversation. She couldn’t blame them, but they needed to cheer up so that they wouldn’t fall into despondency.
“Come on, guys. We need to cheer up a bit, don’t you think?”
This attempt had no more success than before.
Twilight sighed, then got up and addressed them all. “Look, I know we’re all worn and weary, but we need to keep our spirits up!”
“That’s easy for you to say, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash lifted her head to look at her friend. “You didn’t just get shot by an Imperial goon.”
Pinkie Pie, who had just bounced back from her little exploratory mission, nodded in agreement. “And look at poor Fluttershy! She’s barely said a word since we left! It’s like her mouth doesn’t work anymore!”
“And I know exactly why,” said Dash with a flare of anger. “It was that traitor, R2-D8.”
By this time Spike had awakened from his nap and was walking through the main corridor toward the lounge area. “What was that about R2-D8?”
“He betrayed us! That thing was working for the Empire the whole time! Of course, I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”
Applejack rolled her eyes at Rainbow. “Ya coulda brought it up, y’know.”
“Yeah? And who would’ve believed me? You were all just fine with letting that thing lead you around the forest!”
Spike raised his hands. “Hold on! Hold on! You mean R2-D8 was working for the Empire?”
“Didn’t you hear me? The little pile of horseapples was a bad guy the whole time!” She winced a bit as the pain in her side kept her from launching into the air in anger.
Twilight shook her head. “It just doesn’t make any sense! He didn’t have any reason to betray us!”
Dash scowled. “Twilight, come on! He didn’t need a reason! He was a spy!”
“Girls! Please!”
They all turned and looked at Celestia as she spoke. “I think our time would be better served discussing the present rather than the past.”
“I can help a little with that,” said Junas, who had returned from the cockpit. “We’re presently on course toward Bestine by way of Qat Chrystac. I don’t expect you to know what I’m talking about, but suffice it to say that we can get your friends to a medical facility soon.”
“Yeah, and I bet we’re on every wanted poster in the universe at this point!” Dash slumped. “All because of that stupid droid.”
Spike was still confused. “I still don’t understand how R2-D8 could have betrayed us. I mean, he seemed alright.”
Junas was apologetic. “If that droid was aligned with the Empire they could have programmed him to betray you very easily.”
“But darling,” said Rarity. “Fluttershy made friends with him!”
The Rebel scout took on a serious expression. “Let me explain something to you about Imperial droids. They are bound by the strongest programming in the galaxy to obey their Imperial masters. They are mind-wiped frequently in order to keep them from developing a personality, and in all likelihood that machine was wiped the moment it rolled into their base after bringing you six to the Empire’s doorstep. Despite your friend feeling like she was having a conversation with a living, breathing thing, all she did was lead you all straight into an Imperial trap.”
They all wore shocked and horrified expressions. Twilight was especially downtrodden. “How can they just wipe their minds? Those machines have personalities! They have feelings!” She paused. “Don’t they?”
Junas shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Imperial droids are usually devoid of personality. The one you encountered though was an infiltration unit. R2-units are an astromech droid, a type of computer-repair and astrogation droid, but this one was reprogrammed to be a spy. They probably picked it because the R2-series droid has an aesthetically pleasing shape and a vulnerable appearance.”
They all let the information sink in. Twilight then glanced at Fluttershy, a sympathetic expression forming on her face. That poor pony. How can anypony do something like this to somepony like Fluttershy? She forced back a wave of revulsion and anger, then turned around and sat back down next to Celestia. The older pony nuzzled her student. “Do not let the need for vengeance cloud your judgment, my little pony.”
Twilight looked up at her teacher and nodded with a weak smile. As soon as Celestia had turned her head however, Twilight let her smile fade into a sad frown, then laid down for some much-needed sleep.
-----
Space was parted in a microsecond and time was folded in on itself as the YT-1300 within which the nine rebels were traveling burst from hyperspace into realspace. The saucer-shaped vessel sped through the system, burning its engines until it came to a small planet with a moon orbiting it. The planet had no name as far as Junas knew, just a number assigned to it by ancient cartographers, and it had a highly toxic and corrosive atmosphere, so it was unsuitable to land on. The moon was airless, but it would prove easier to alight.
Guiding the small vessel over the terrain, Junas extended the landing pads and set the ship gently at the bottom of a giant crater, the gray surface providing camouflage for his ship.
As he switched off the cockpit controls, he headed back into the engineering section. He wouldn’t have needed to stop at all if the primary coolant tank didn’t show pressure loss. Without that coolant, the engine would overheat and they would either explode as the reactor went super-critical, or the hyperdrive would be lost and they would be stuck in hyperspace forever, unable to engage the engine and cross the hyper-plane into realspace.
On the way back he stopped by the maintenance bay to retrieve his tool belt, which shouldn’t have taken more than a few seconds. It wasn’t where he left it, however. “Pinkie Pie . . .” he muttered. That airheaded pony probably grabbed the tool belt and did something with it. He went back through the concentric corridor to the main hold where the ponies were sleeping and approached the pink party pony.
As she woke up she looked up at him with a smile. “Oh! Hi, Junas!”
“Pinkie, do you have any idea where my tool belt is?”
She looked confused. “Tool belt? I haven’t seen any tool belt.”
“Well you were hopping around the ship yesterday. I thought perhaps you might have taken it.”
The pony looked slightly offended. “I wouldn’t take your tool belt! You should ask Rarity. She was using some of the tools on her hooves, trying to get them pretty again.”
He sighed. “Thanks.”
Turning toward the other end of the hold, he walked toward the starboard crew cabin, where the white unicorn was using the captain’s bed, the most comfortable bed on the ship, to get her beauty sleep.
He walked down the corridor, past the cockpit, turret ladder, and boarding ramp until he got to the door next to the engineering section, which was where his personal quarters were. He didn’t mind the pony using his bed, provided she didn’t touch anything else. Like his tool belt.
He opened the door and strode over to the cubby in the wall containing the bed and its occupant. He gently shoved her shoulder. “Rarity?”
The pony turned her head to look at him.
What stared back at him was a horrifying, wrinkly green face with blank, light-green eyes. “What the FORCE?!” He jumped back so suddenly that he lost his balance and ended up sprawled on the floor, backing up as quickly as possible toward the wall.
Rarity removed the cucumbers from her eyes and looked at him with a bemused expression. “Honestly darling, haven’t you ever seen a lady with a mud mask on?”
Junas shook his head, trying to make his eyes believe that the voice he was hearing belonged to the same pony he had seen before. “Er, uh . . . no. Why are you doing that? I thought you spent a good hour in the ‘fresher yesterday trying to scrub the mud out of your coat.”
She rolled her eyes. “My dear, there is a difference between a mud mask and just plain old mud.”
“Fair enough, but how did you get mud out here in the middle of nowhere?”
She smiled excitedly. “Oh, it was nothing really! I just took a few basic ingredients from that wonderful machine in the lounge and found some cucumber slices in the refrigerator.”
Junas raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “So basically you’re wearing our food supply?”
Rarity’s face switched from excitement to sarcasm. “Well it’s not like I used the entire supply. One’s face simply can’t go –”
“Okay, fine. But what did you do with the tools you borrowed?”
“Oh! Silly me! I have them right here.” She hopped off the bunk, trotted to the closet, then opened the door and retrieved the tool belt. “You really should keep these clean, darling. I spent a good five minutes spitting out grease and oil after I grabbed the rasp with my mouth to file my hooves.”
Junas bit back a retort about how tools don’t generally need to be kept sparkling clean, then headed back to the engine room to deal with the coolant tank.
-----
After wrestling with the tank and its pumping mechanism before discovering that the problem was with the pressurizer, Junas headed back to the cockpit to get back in the skies, passing Twilight Sparkle on the way there. “Hello, Junas! Why did we stop?”
“Had a problem with the engine cooling system, but I took care of it.”
“The cooling system, eh? Is it a Freon-based system, or something utilizing a glycol product?”
He looked at the pony, surprised that the she would know anything about starship cooling systems. “Um, actually my ship uses non spin-sealed Tibanna gas. But it’s related to glycol, being an organic compound.”
“Fascinating!” The twinkle in her eye amused him; this pony was really intelligent!
She continued. “So where are we headed next? I’m kind of anxious to get out of this ship.”
“Me, too. Out next stop will be on a refueling outpost where we’ll refill the tanks, then we’ll be off to Qat Chrystac.” They rounded the bend and entered the cockpit. Junas sat down in the pilot’s seat and Twilight hopped into the copilot’s chair and buckled herself in.
As the human started initiating the ship’s startup sequence, Twilight gazed out the window to the stars surrounding them. “This is one of my favorite things to do.”
Junas looked up at her. “What’s that?”
“Stargaze. I can name every star in the night sky back home, and the planets in our solar system.” She put her elbows on the console and her hooves up to her chin to support it as she continued staring out into space. “But even on the clearest summer nights the stars don’t shine with this amount of clarity.”
He smiled at her enthusiasm. “A lack of atmosphere tends to have that effect. But once we take off, the glare from the sun will wash out the stars, so I would enjoy this while you can.”
She nodded.
After several minutes of waiting for the engine systems to warm up and the reactor core to get up to full reactivity, Junas released the landing claw that had been keeping them from bouncing along the moon’s low-gravity surface and hit the repulsorlifts, sending the ship rocketing toward the edge of the system for the jump to lightspeed.
“Looks like the navicomputer has finished the calculations. You ready for the jump, kid?”
A look of concern shot across Twilight’s face.
“Hey. You alright?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s get under way.”
He paused, unsure if she was holding back something, but then he shrugged and pulled the levers to initiate the jump to lightspeed.
Immediately Twilight grabbed her forehead with her hooves, squeezing her eyes shut at the intense pain in her forehead. “Agh!”
Junas grew concerned. “Hey, kid! Twilight!”
She waved him off. “I’m fine. This happened the last time we jumped to lightspeed. I’ll be alright in a minute.”
He frowned. “Hyperspace jumps don’t normally affect people like this.”
She managed to open one eye through the massive migraine she was suffering. “You mean this isn’t normal?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not. I mean, yes, some species have problems with hyperspace, but they don’t usually cause pain like this, merely discomfort.”
As the pain faded to a level which she could deal with, she wondered if the princess would know something about this. “I’ll be right back. Celestia could help me understand what’s going on.”
Twilight gingerly got up and out of the copilot’s chair and walked back to the main hold.
-----
The sun goddess was currently projecting a healing aura on Rarity, which she had just gotten through with using on herself. This was the second time a searing pain had entered her forehead through her horn, and it happened whenever this human’s vessel made a jump to lightspeed.
This was a bit of a concern. Was this an effect of a pony going faster than light? Did it pose a risk to their ability to use magic?
She looked up from her healing spell to see Twilight Sparkle entering the room. The student looked at her teacher. “You guys too, huh?”
The white alicorn nodded. “Yes, Rarity and I have been experiencing intense pain whenever this ship jumps to hyperspace. In all my years, I have never encountered anything like this.”
Rarity rubbed her forehead, glad that the princess knew of a healing spell. “Neither have I. It’s a most dreadful phenomenon.”
Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I wonder what could possibly cause this.” She looked at her mentor. “Princess, do you have any idea why jumping to hyperspace would give ponies a headache like this?”
The great alicorn shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not, my student. I truly have never heard of a phenomenon such as this. But you would be wrong to assume it affects all ponies.” She pointed to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who were napping on the couch. “Earth ponies and pegasi are not bothered at all by it, so I conclude that it only affects practitioners of magic.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes and nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, and that must be why Spike wasn’t bothered either.” She looked back up at the princess. “Could it be that going faster than the speed of light hurts our magic in some way, like maybe a drain in our potential?”
“I do not think so, my faithful student, but we must consider all possibilities.”
“I should certainly hope not,” said Rarity. “I don’t think I could stand it if this happened every time we did that!”
“Me too, Rarity,” said Twilight with a hint of concern. She shared her teacher’s fear that this might hinder their ability to use magic. What if every jump drained them somehow of magical power?
Then again, this might just be a baseless concern. It might simply be a side effect of their technology. But the fact that it only affected unicorns still bothered her.
She shook it off, then decided to make a few laps of the ship. The exercise would do her some good and clear her mind a bit. Besides, she was getting a little stir-crazy being bottled up in this metal canister for days on end, and the activity would take her mind off the monotony.
As she walked the circular path that led to every part of the ship, she began to wonder, not about her current magical conundrum, but the whereabouts of Princess Luna. Hewex had said she was bound for the Emperor himself. It was clear why he wanted the princess: if reports of their magical abilities had reached him, he would stop at nothing to control them, and Luna, being one of the most powerful alicorns who ever lived, would certainly fulfill whatever devious plan he had in mind for them.
Twilight began to mull over what she’d heard of him as she walked.
Apparently he was a human senator from a world known as Naboo who was elected to the most powerful position in the galaxy, then declared himself Emperor and took control of the population by force. This alone was enough to give Twilight a bit of trepidation, but she had read some books in the limited ship’s library contained on the main computer, and the history book mentioned speculation that the Emperor was a member of a cult known as The Sith. Sith were able to use a metaphysical entity known as The Force to manipulate their environment, not for good, but for evil. They were selfish, cold, calculating, and ambitious, and their aim was total galactic domination.
This Emperor had apparently achieved such.
Twilight shuddered. This galaxy was such a terrible place! And its ruler was as ruthless as Chrysalis and as powerful as Discord.
Oh Luna . . . may whatever gods operate in this universe watch over you.
-----
She had long since stopped bucking at the dense durasteel walls that made up her prison.
Not only did her hooves ache, but her leg muscles were burning as well.
But still, she remained resolute and determined to resist succumbing to her intense feelings of loneliness and hopelessness.
Luna paced back and forth in her small four meter square holding cell aboard the Imperial prison ship Damnation. She was quite confident that she would be rescued by her sister and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but for the time being she endured the cramped cell and lousy food.
The destination was not known to her, only that someone who called himself Emperor Palpatine wanted her, for purposes unknown.
The pain from her interrogation had thankfully ceased. These Imperials were going to pay for what they’ve done to her and her sister Celestia.
Oh Celestia . . .
They’d had such a short amount of time to spend together before being brusquely awakened and brutally tortured for information. And now they were separated by who knows how much distance.
She shed a tear at the thought. Nopony should have to be separated from their sister like this.
Nopony.
Luna’s rage at her captors built up in the form of a navy blue aura at the tip of her horn, and then lashed out.
The only thing keeping her from becoming the victim of her own barrage was the quick shield she threw up to catch the blast. She of course knew it would happen, but needed the release.
Something had been blocking her magic since she was first captured. Even when they were awakened she could feel that something was amiss and that she wouldn’t be able to use her magical abilities to defeat this Empire. But she could not figure out how these non-magical humans had managed to develop technology to defeat magic.
It was no matter now, though.
She was still in a prison ship, and was still being hauled toward an unknown destination for an unknown purpose.
And no matter how royal you are, no matter how old or regal you may be, fear of the unknown is one of the most powerful of them all.
-----
As the YT-1300 transport popped out of hyperspace, Twilight noted that the pain was less intense than before. This was a good sign. Perhaps she was getting used to whatever ill effects the jump to hyperspace produced. She took comfort in the fact that her magic was still just as strong as ever, which meant that whatever was causing the pain just needed to be muscled through.
She watched Junas as he deftly maneuvered the spacecraft through an asteroid belt, its lazy occupants drifting serenely through the black ocean upon which he sailed, and then as suddenly as they entered, they exited and headed toward a bright dot far toward the middle of the system. Twilight noted that the dot was not something she was actually looking at, but rather a projection of some sort of building or maybe a machine floating in the void. She figured Junas would know what it was.
“That? That’s fuel station Ergo, where we’re going to top off the tanks before we head to Qat Chrystac. It is under Imperial control, but security is a bit lax, so we shouldn’t worry about them searching the ship or anything. I’ll just play it cool, get some fuel, and get out. No worries.”
She nodded in agreement, but still caught the edge of concern in his tone, and she could guess why. In her time at Canterlot, with her special relationship with princess Celestia and he brother being Captain of the Royal Guard, she knew enough about security procedures that there would be a “Be On Look Out” for all of them after that incident on Endor.
Still, she had to trust that Junas knew what he was doing. This was his galaxy, after all. Maybe the Empire didn’t send out reports this far out of the way, or maybe they thought that the ponies were in another portion of space. Whatever the case, Twilight trusted the human to get them safely to the Rebel Alliance, where they would have the firepower and resources to rescue Luna from whatever evil plan the Emperor had in store for her.
As she was pondering this, she watched as the station got bigger and bigger, and she could see that it was shaped roughly like a giant spoked wheel: three inner arms surrounded a massive core with fuel tanks exposed and hanging underneath. A ring wrapped around those arms, and six docking bays resided along the edges of that. Above it all a control center watched over everything.
“I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Junas.”
He gave her a cocky grin. “Don’t worry, this isn’t the first time a Rebel ship has landed here.”
The docking controller asked for identification, which Junas provided (faked, of course), then after clearance was granted he gently guided his spacecraft toward the designated hangar, right up until the tractor beam locked on and started towing them in. Twilight gasped as the energy beam gave the hull a shudder.
“Relax, it’s just the automatic landing system.”
She gave him an apologetic grin, but still wish he had given her at least a little warning that that would happen.
The Rebel spacecraft was guided past a small menagerie of vehicles and vessels toward a bare parking spot in the fuel stained landing bay, and a slight shudder shook the ship as the landing gear made contact and depressed. Junas flipped a few switches and shut down the ship, then turned and headed toward the entry ramp. As he did he turned his head toward Twilight. “Better get in the engine room. The residual heat from the reactor should mask your signature. Tell Celestia and the others to do the same.”
She nodded, then started walking to the main hold.
-----
Junas paced a bit as he waited for the fuel pumps to deliver precious liquid metal to his starved baby. He had been flying on fumes since he left Endor, which was the only reason he had chosen an Imperial fuel depot. Ergo may be in the middle of nowhere and the home of smugglers, but it was still the only place within range of the last of his fuel supply. Nevertheless, beginning to pace after only just starting the fuel transfer process might look a bit suspicious, so he mentally forced himself to calm down, choosing instead to focus his attention on the designs of the ships in the hangar bay with him.
He was in the middle of examining an old Verpine Adventurer when he heard the fuel pump shut off. He frowned; it usually took at least five minutes to fill up the tanks on his ship.
He walked over to the pump machinery and hit the call button. A young voice answered.
“Yes?”
“Station control, I’ve got a fuel pump malfunction here. Can you send someone to check on it?”
“Uh, yes, that appears to be a computer problem, pilot. We’ve got someone working on it right now. Just hold still until we get it solved, okay?”
The tense tone of the young man on the other end told him that he was probably being forced to say that at gunpoint. Junas knew better than to simply fly out of the hangar; patrolling Star Destroyers would surely make mincemeat out of his vessel. Still, it was either that or stay here and pray the Imperial interrogation officer would be in a good mood. He pressed the comm. key.
“No problem, control. Just let me know when you get it fixed, okay?”
He threw up his hands in a gesture he hoped looked like a frustrated spacer tired of getting the short end of the Imperial stick, then walked up the ramp. As soon as he was clear of the entryway and any prying eyes that might look up the ramp, he raced back to the engine room. Twilight and Rarity were helping Rainbow Dash and Applejack to get as close to the reactor as possible, while Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Celestia were already kneeling next to it. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at his sudden appearance. “What’s going on? I thought you were supposed to be getting fuel for this thing!”
“There’s been a change of plans. Apparently the Empire knows who we are, and are preparing to seize this ship. I gotta get us out of here, but it may be another bumpy ride.”
Applejack nodded. “As long as we get to safety,” she said with a wince, “and preferably to some sorta hospital, it don’t really matter how bumpy the ride is, sugarcube.”
He nodded, then raced back to the cockpit.
As he sat down, he noticed a pair of Stormtroopers at the entrance to the hangar bay, gesturing at his ship. Apparently his guess had been right, but they were not moving particularly quickly so maybe they didn’t know that he knew. That gave him an edge.
After initiating the startup sequence, he quickly ran back to his quarters where he kept his personal weapons collection. It wasn’t much, but it did have a small selection of hand grenades.
-----
The two Stormtroopers at the entrance, who were waiting for reinforcements, never knew what hit them. The concussion grenades that Junas threw at them from the boarding ramp landed just inches away, and the troopers barely had time to scream before the charge blew and everything within a five meter radius was flattened by the blast wave produced by the grenades, including some fusion generators lying around. Their magnetic bottles decoupled, and the highly energetic contents within them made contact with the atmosphere, detonating in a white-hot explosion that sent shards of metal as well as gamma radiation flying all over the hangar. Luckily, Junas had ducked back into the ship before the resulting shrapnel tore through him as well.
He raced to the cockpit, passing Rarity on the way. “I don’t mean to be rude, darling, but could we have done without the explosion? My nerves simply can’t take much more of that.”
He shot her a sarcastic look. “Lady, you’re definitely going to experience a few more of those before we get to the Alliance.”
The scowl she huffed at him fell on deaf ears as he rounded the bend in the corridor and leaped into the pilot’s chair, flipping switches and initiating systems as quickly as he could.
Twilight and Rarity joined him in the cockpit, getting into the chairs and fastening the safety restraints clumsily. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” muttered Twilight.
Junas ignored her as he waited for the main reactor to ignite. He did a bit of calculation in his head and figured that he didn’t get more than a couple dozen liters of fuel before the Imperials shut off the pumps. Still, it was more than he’d had at Endor, and the hyperdrive would barely sip the fuel compared to how the ion drives gulped it.
As soon as the readout indicated that the fuel mix was balanced and the reactor output was at peak, he hit the repulsors and shoved the throttle forward violently, and they were all forced back in their seats as the acceleration compensator struggled to cancel out the sudden onset of inertial resistance.
The small freighter shot out of the hangar bay, its engines flaring white hot as Junas put the pedal to the metal. Yet again he was being forced to wait on the navicomputer to finish calculating a safe trajectory and feed him a set of coordinates.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” The fear in Twilight’s voice was evident.
“Not if they have anything to say about it.” Junas pointed out the cockpit window toward two Imperial Star Destroyers on an intercept course.
“There’s another one coming up behind us. He’ll be in weapons range in a few seconds.”
The sentence was punctuated by a loud thump on the hull as a shot from their pursuer impacted their aft shields.
“Or not.”
Junas scowled; these guys sure didn’t give up easy.
He spun the ship violently, then banked away, causing the Imperial cruiser’s guns to go wide. Their aim was quickly corrected, and several shots flew past the canopy.
“Come on you damn machine! Where are those coordinates?!”
Right on cue, the screen in front of him lit up with a list of numbers. “Just needed some love.” He turned to the pony sitting next to him. “Twilight, I need you to take control of the ship while I enter these into the computer.”
She nodded nervously, but if Spike could do it, she could too. She wrapped her hooves around the silver yoke, wedging the sticks into her fetlocks, then placed her rear hooves on the rudder pedals. She had to stretch a bit; the cockpit was designed with the humanoid frame in mind. But she was able to get into a reasonably comfortable position before a few close shots lit up her dashboard with a green hue, an event which elicited a scream out of Rarity.
The purple pony shot a look at her friend to quiet her, then concentrated on maneuvering the vessel, keeping the Imperial gunners guessing. Junas was still entering numbers into the computer, but she had no idea how much time it would take him. “Any guess on when you’ll be finished?”
“Just three more, kid.”
She wished he would stop calling her that. It was a bit disconcerting, especially considering she was probably more intelligent than he’d ever be. But still she weaved and bobbed through empty space, all the while trying to avoid being blasted apart by turbolaser fire.
Suddenly the two cruisers in front of them opened up, generating a deadly crossfire that both surprised and alarmed Twilight.
Junas sensed her fear. “Just keep weaving. They don’t want to hit their own ships, so if you keep between them they shouldn’t get too many hits.”
She nodded again, then concentrated on flying a winding path between the three great starships closing in on them. As she passed between the gargantuan destroyers, she made sure to keep the ship as level as possible, giving the gunners as small a target to shoot at as she could.
It worked. While sporadic shots did lance out at them, it was clear the gunners on those ships were reluctant to hit their own comrades. Her relief turned to nervousness as she remembered that once she was past them they would have a clear shot.
Luckily, it wouldn’t come to that.
“Okay everybody, hold on to something!” yelled Junas into the comlink. He pulled down on the levers and suddenly their world was enveloped by streaks of white.
-----
The small ship made several micro-jumps through hyperspace. It wasn’t a complicated idea, and was one which was standard operating procedure for anyone trying to evade Imperial authorities: jump to lightspeed as quickly as your navicomputer allows, travel for a few brief seconds, jump back to realspace, then repeat until your peace of mind is achieved.
Unfortunately, Twilight’s mind was anything but peaceful. Even though she was learning to control the pain, it still hurt to go to hyperspace, and being bombarded by wave after wave of migraines was driving her batty. So when they made the last jump to an old system in the outer rim containing an asteroid belt, Twilight trotted up to the cockpit to speak with Junas.
“Junas? I was wondering why we had to make all those jumps to hyperspace. Can’t the Empire track us anyway?”
He shook his head. “Sensor technology can track an object faster than light, but you have to be in pretty close proximity to get a good reading on someone’s escape vector due to issues with accuracy and parallax.”
The studious unicorn nodded in understanding, then decided to change the subject. “So why are we here?”
He pointed toward a faintly visible field of asteroids. “See that patch? There are plenty of places in there to hide from the Empire until I can find a better location to get fuel and supplies.”
“I thought you said the Empire couldn’t track us.”
“They can’t. But a random Imperial patrol might just happen to stumble on us, and it would be better to use the natural metals in the asteroids to mask our signature than sit out here in the middle of space for all to see.”
“Oh.”
That was twice she foolishly assumed too much about the Empire. She didn’t desire to repeat the experience any time soon.
“Besides that, my old girl here needs to rest her legs a bit, let the reactor cool, y’know? She’s been run hard and fast, and I need to go through her systems and make sure everything is ship-shape.”
Twilight nodded, then something occurred to her. “So what is your ship’s name?”
“Oh, I guess I never formally introduced you, did I?” He chuckled. “Twilight, meet the Maximum Thrust. Not really a fitting name considering she’s still got her stock engines, but she’ll still get you from point A to point B and save your skin in the process.”
Twilight nodded. “Sounds like a name someone would give a pony.”
“I’ve noticed that,” he nodded. “You guys have weird names, if you don’t mind me saying so. Rarity? Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? Heck, if I had it to do over again I’d name my ship with her name. It’s got a sort of speedy, yet flashy sound to it.”
Twilight chuckled. “That’s Rainbow, alright. She’d leave you in the dust in a heartbeat, but would never abandon you when it counts.”
A beeping sound interrupted their reverie. Junas checked his monitors. “Looks like we’re coming up on orbital insertion. I’ll have to take over from here; the auto-homing system depends on the destination being in possession of a tractor beam. So if you’ll excuse me . . .”
He deftly guided the ship around one of the larger asteroids, which might have passed for a moon around any planet in the Equestrian system, then as soon as he spotted a suitable crater to shield him from enemy probes, he set her down. A gentle thump reverberated through the ship as a whining sound indicated the activation of the landing claw system.
Junas unbuckled his restraints and headed back toward the engineering section. “Okay baby, time to check you out and see how much damage the Empire has inflicted on you.”
-----
After a thorough examination, Junas discovered several oil leaks, hydraulic fluid spills, as well as some minor structural damage from the destruction of the ship’s one and only laser turret. That was the part that hurt the most: his ship now had no teeth. And if they should get into another dogfight with TIE Fighters he didn’t know whether he would be able to defend them.
Now was not the time to worry about that. They were in the middle of nowhere, and right now the top priority was to find a suitable place to get fuel and maybe even a new laser cannon. He just hoped he would be able to charge it to his Alliance credit account; there was no way he’d be able to afford one on his meager salary as a scout.
Once the inspection tour was out of the way and he got all the minor fixits completed, he set about plotting a new course.
It wasn’t as easy as that, though. Now that the Empire knew exactly who they were and his ship’s markings, they would be easy prey for any Imperial captain who spotted them. Before, he had a better-than-average chance of sneaking into Imperial docking ports for R&R, but now he would have to avoid them completely. He sure wish Kyle Katarn had let him borrow Jan for this. She would have known every Imperial port that would be least likely to recognize him and his ship.
He looked through all his star charts, which were a tad out of date, and finally found one that showed this quadrant of space. Pencil in hand, he started working, plotting a new course to their next destination: Qat Chrystac.
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I wonder who else our heroes will run into once they reach the Rebels.
1261270 Time will tell.
Oh, I'm such a tease.
I hate to be this guy, but your ship is a little funky in the engineering dept. You mentioned that it had a reactor, and that the primary coolant had a leak. This would lead to overheating, but would not affect if it went supercritical or not. Meltdown is the name of the problem there. Secondly, the rapid fill, liquid metal fuel. No bueno. You have a reactor, not an internal combustion engine. It is not gasoline. Most reactors today carry fuel for twenty five years. The USS Enterprise, 51, was just decommissioned and it refueled just once. Just saying. The liquid metal COULD be a coolant however. Speaking of coolant, freon and glycol are all well and good, but what about water? Or Space? That would make for an excellent heat exchanger. Another thing! Fusion Reactions do not produce gamma radiation, so blowing up a Fusion generator should not release any gamma. Finally, greased and oiled tools are essential. Dry tools can bind up really quick unless they are plated. Even some graphite lube would be fine. The point there however, is that Junas would most likely be VERY upset that his tools were cleaned. Bad mojo.
Engineering aside, your story is well written, and very fun to read. Two more chapters until I am caught up, and please, forgive me for the rant.
For anyone that wants to know the layout of a stock YT-1300f light freighter:
YT-1300 deck plan
4129699 Oh you got to be fucking with me.
4243081 Dude, it's a standard model. The Falcon is a YT 1300 too, if memory serves. She's just been modded beyond recognition.
4129699 that looks almost like the millennium falcon
6999925
It is the same modle as the falcon
Could I get a recap of the previous chapters? It has been a while since I read them.