Salvage a Better Life

by law abiding pony

6: Merchant's Creed 285

A week after departing Felicia Shipyard, The Cloud Jumper was burning at top speed towards the ruins of Ponoplious Station. The long dead industrial heart of the system orbited over the third moon of a pale green gas giant just outside the inner asteroid belt. It was risky venturing past the moderate safety of the inner sectors, but the rewards were too tempting. So tempting in fact that Live Wire had to remind himself repeatedly to be on the lookout for any threats. With the Rainbow Dash still in port when they left, that left the fighter and corvette patrols to protect friendly space. But with the shipyard in the solar north and Trireme in the solar east, that left them dangerously exposed in the southwest. However, with their new turrets and armor, even Winter felt comfortable that they could fend off scout attacks.

Still, he felt more at ease with his marefriend here to lend her experienced eyes. Presently, he was in the pilot’s seat with Winter Gale leaning over his shoulder due to the cockpit being a one-pony place. While he wanted to sneak in the occasional kiss or nuzzle, the mare was in her element and was so focused on instruction that it surprised her each time. The latest nuzzle finally broke her concentration entirely.

“Wire, you are hopeless, you know that?” she said with a light giggle and an easy smile as she enjoyed the constant attention. “I’ve been here a week now and you keep acting like this.”

“Can you blame me? A fool caught the eye of a shining star, and you expect him not to enjoy every moment of it?”

Outwardly, Winter was all too happy to accept his love, but inwardly, she was still surprised with herself. To think I used to curse the day I joined the Navy. Would I have found such a stallion back home, or would I still be a lone soul constantly chasing the short lived and the brave until love became an impossible dream? Considering where they were, the short-lived part was unfortunately still on the table, but at least now she could stand at his side.

Looming in the void beyond was the first gas giant of the system: Discord. It was a mass of green, yellow, and brown gas that sped around in distinct bands, and possessed no less than eight storms that had persisted since before the first settlers arrived. Their destination was in orbit of the brown and gray wind-blown rocky fifth moon: Ponopilous station. It used to be the beating heart of manufacturing for the whole sector. Now though, all that remained was a shattered wreck, and was only the heart of a minefield now.

“Alright, Casanova, we’re close to our approach. As much as it pains me, how about less kisses and more focus?”

His yielding smile faltered and his gaze drifted, a sign to her that Sprocket was talking to him. He winced a second later, making Winter’s heart sink. A few moments of unconscious head shakes and nods later, he ended the call and spoke up with a touch of humor. “Apparently Sprocket was too distracted maintaining the fuel lines to focus properly. Which probably means she was salivating over our destination. At any rate, a water pipe burst on her face. Can you head down there with a vacuum while I manage things here?”

A sullen expression marred Winter’s face, and she pulled back into the hallway. “Why do I get the feeling she asked you to do it?”

Live Wire was not oblivious to the rift between the two mares, and that it was in no small way his fault. He got up off the chair to face her with a pained look. “Winny, I - I told her to watch what she says around you, and apparently she took that as don’t say anything. If you’re that uncomfortable with it, I’ll go.”

Shocked, Winter shrinked back and lifted a forehoof a bit. “I - I understand our first face-to-face was surprisingly crass, but…” She hesitated, not wanting the admonishment on her lips to pass through. He wants me to go to help heal things. Now that she knew his plan, Winter couldn’t bring herself to reprimand him for it. “Stay here, boogie bear, I'll go.” She leaned forward and pecked him on the lips, just to ensure he wasn’t left thinking she was mad.

---

Several days earlier, an angular and angry red centauri corvette prowled closer to the core worlds. The bridge, if the three person room could be called that, stank of medication. Several bottles of Galatea were scattered around Thaddeus’ seat. It was a ‘beverage’ meant to slowly cure addiction. Whether it worked or not would have to wait until they returned to port. Seated next to him was Felin. If Thaddeus flew and navigated the ship, she was the comms officer and flight director for the three fighters clamped under the corvette. The third seat belonged to a kirin who was the fire director and he maintained overwatch for the corvette’s systems.

They were prowling in the depths while parsing out the latest intel on their quarry. What they had though was paltry at best.

Thaddeus drank the swill of his Galatea, having long since learned to tolerate the foul sticky taste. In a drawer, a dozen pill bottles resided to aid his hasty effort in repairing his addled mind. On his screen was a zoomed out view of Felicia. A single blue line heading away from the shipyard marked his prey. Unfortunately, their flight plan was missing past the first day of travel.

Felin leaned over to him. She had splurged on herself and had a tailor fix her uniform. It was patchy, and not all of the colors were the same shade, but at least it wasn’t going to fall apart. “Have any idea where they went?”

He rubbed his sweating face, trying to ignore the aches, pains, and other much worse side effects of his treatment. “So they went solar south… could make an interception easier.” He furrowed his brow and narrowed his gaze. “Provided they didn’t change course. Just have to narrow down where they plan to go.” He turned his gaze to his trusted second. “Felin, do we have access to the Innies’ comms network?”

The drake cleared her throat, briefly filling the room with brimstone. “The Commodore was not exactly forthcoming about who or what our sources are. As for our intel, what you have now is what we got.”

He grumbled obscenities at the universe. “There never was such truncated information access back in the day.”

Rather than answer, Felin let the sentiment lie. “We do know of what sites a salvager might visit on that heading.” Using her implant, she sent the information to his screen.

Rubbing his forehead in an attempt to stay focused, Thaddeus scrutinized the fifteen new green dots on his screen. He was no salvager, but he had ideas. Battlefields and stations. There's no shortage of opportunities. Humming in thought, he faced Felin. “Any chance we know which ones have already been picked clean by previous savage efforts?”

“Not off hand, but I’ll contact home and see if anyone bothered tracking such things.”

Thaddeus didn’t have much hope in that effort, so he refocused on the map. He had not been in overall command of the war effort, but he was among the inner circle. There’s plenty of battle sites… but still…

For hours he mulled over the data. Felin came through for him just before dinner, and he was able to knock off several sites and two derelict stations off the list. What remained was simply too vast of an area to effectively track a single ship.

It was late, and he still clawed at the problem even as the night shift took over around him. Only Felin remained at his side, deciding to rest only when Thaddeus did the same.

Gah! I’m not getting anywhere with this. Giving up on trying to parse out what location could possibly offer the best salvage, he at last directed his thoughts to his second. “They went to Sword Fall. They obviously have knowledge over naval equipment. So they could be going after Fey’s Rest, as it’s the closest to them. But that means their skipper is a navy veteran, and will go elsewhere to avoid being too obvious with their movements. But on the other hand, Harper’s Folly is twice Fey’s size, so more profit. Further than that, perhaps they will select a civilian station to throw us off. In that case…” He stopped, and grumbled madly.

Having been a student of his as well as his second, Felin had not been mentally idle on the question either. “Sir, perhaps you're missing the nose for the face.”

Giving her a puzzled look, he said, “I don’t follow.”

“During my own investigation, home base stated this was the Cloud Jumper’s first job. It's entirely possible that the ponies want us to think the crew are civilians to throw us off.”

He winced as he thought it over. It wasn’t a bad observation, but he- “Wait.” He sat up in his chair, his mind racing. “Cloud Jumper. What I fool I am for not seeing it!”

The sheer excitement and energy took Felin by surprise. “See what sir?”

“It was the vessel’s first job. That much we know, and the first thing they do is retrieve the body of my erstwhile rival, yes?” Thaddeus grew more animated now, as if he were twenty years younger. He tapped the screen to bring up one of the green dots. “This freighter captain is bold. Perhaps too much for their own good. They want fame. Glory. Tell me, Felin. What could cause a bigger stir than Gleaming Light’s recovery?”

To aid Felin, he rotated the screen to face her. On it was a massive derelict station tucked away in orbit over a dusty moon.

“Ponopilous?” she started, searching his intense gaze for clues. “It was the industrial center of the Initiative before the war. Do you think they’re going there to locate schematics or irreplaceable machinery?”

“Think bigger.” Thaddeus eyed the screen with a certainty known only by the bold, the knowledgeable, or the foolish. “You recall the Initiative was planning on using Ponopilous as a forge nexus for future expansion? That includes creating mass nullifiers for future gateways like Faraway Station.”

Felin was left doubtful. “If I may, sir. If there was still an intact nullifier at Ponopilous, surely the Innies would have retrieved it long ago.”

“One would think,” he conceded with a wave of both hands. “Perhaps our salvagers are testing their luck, hoping to find one. Barring that perhaps they are there to take the machines necessary to manufacture the nullifiers. Either way.” Thaddeus tapped the screen as the old admiral shined through. “That’s where they’re going. And the best part is, we can get there a day ahead of them.”

---

Back in the present day, the Cloud Jumper was nearing the dusty moon, and Live Wire was easing his way into orbit around it. The minefield around Ponopilous was tight around the old station rather than loosely spread out like it was at Sword Fall, but he readied the IFF code early, just to be safe. With no threats even passively revealing themselves since leaving the shipyard, he was lazily whistling an advertisement tune.

Down below, Winter came through with the vacuum, and was in the crawl space Wiggly Sprocket had been repairing. She dutifully sucked up each floating globule of water, only now it was getting harder to do with the ship decelerating a bit.

Knowing just how dangerous free floating water could be, the mares had barely shared a few words between them before Winter got to work vacuuming up the water. Being so close to Sprocket, Winter wanted to speak up, but the vacuum was a convenient excuse for her nerves to still her tongue.

So they sat there for a few uncomfortable minutes. Sprocket was finishing up her work ensuring the piping was intact, and Winter collected the loose water.

Yet soon enough it was all clear, and the convenient whine of the vacuum came to a close. Part of Winter wanted to give farewells and be done with it, but she stopped herself. If I can face down pirates, I can face her too. Clearing her throat, Winter fell back on her mother’s teachings. “Wiggly Sprocket, I have to apologize to you.” The mechanic twisted an ear at her, but still was still elbow deep in work, so that was the best Winter was going to get. “I want to clear the air between us. I…” She stopped herself. Winter was no idiot. She had seen plenty of ponies like her in the navy, and treating her like she would someone at her home was never going to work. So Winter decided to play her part. “I think you really need a stallion in your life.”

Wiggly Sprocket was so taken aback by the comment she banged her head on the panel’s frame. Rubbing the lump on the back of her head, Sprocket pulled back to study the thestral who bore a jesting expression. “Where did that come from?”

Mother, forgive me for being so crass. Winter fell into the same teasing manner she had used in the locker room. She waggled a hoof, gesturing at all of Sprocket’s soaked clothes and face. “The fact that you’re sopping wet while neck deep in the Cloud’s pipes. Honestly, sister, at least have your lowest standard require a pulse.”

A surprised but an oh so malicious grin cleaved Wiggly’s muzzle. “Oh yeah? At least I don’t scream like a banshee when you and Wire get going. I could move to the last cabin down and still hear you barking like a seal.”

Seeing she was making progress, Winter didn’t let up. “What can I say? Wire knows what he’s doing. You on the other hoof had the nerve to ask your own brother to clean up your mess.” She pointed a wing at the vacuum with a head shake. “That’s just mean.”

Wiggly Sprocket laughed with a humorous, toothy grin. “Alright, I’ll let you win this round. We good?” She thrust a hoof out to shake.

Barely remembering to maintain her casual demeanor, Winter eagerly shook it. “We good.”

Wiggly was about to speak when the lights cut out and turned red with a three note alarm sounding from the hallway outside. Winter reacted first, instantly falling into her training. “We’re under attack!” Winter’s demeanor instantly changed to being firmly in command. “Wiggs, plan A! Take the code box to the cabins!”

The hair rose on Sprocket’s neck and yelled out as Winter stared at her with a demand for haste in her eyes. “Plan A? The box. Ah, yes. Okay.”

The sailor knew civilians could lock up, so she held Wiggly’s face tightly and her eyes zeroed in on her own. “Good. After that, get a suit on! Stay focused and we’ll be fine.”

Hoping the message was well received, Winter sprinted off to the cockpit.

Panic threatened to take hold of Sprocket. Now that Winter was gone, so was her anchor. No! Wiggly laid a hoof on a wall, and gazed at the ship around her. They’re not going to hurt my baby! So she squashed her panic as a mother protecting her child. Sprocket hastily gathered up her tools to leave. First the code box, then I better get to my tool cabinet. If we get hit, I’ll be ready to do something from there.

---

Out there in low orbit of the dusty moon sat Thaddeus’ corvette. The quiet snooping probe he had placed ahead of time gave him plenty of warning of when the Cloud Jumper would arrive. And arrive it did.

He had more than enough time to position the three short-ranged fighters he carried, so when he launched the hacking attempt, the freighter was flanked on both sides with his vessel holding the center between the Cloud Jumper and Ponipopolus station.

He rubbed his cleanly shaven chin as he watched for the freighter's next move, and thus far, all it had done was slow down into a stationary orbit. Ultimately, his fighters were largely for show, as he wanted to take the freighter undamaged.

“How’s it look?” he directed to the kirin seated just ahead of him.

Blazing Dagger was a young, but eager stallion who had joined him with the hope of being on a ship with better discipline than the rest of the pirate navy. So he wanted to make a good showing, yet the growing scowl on his face lowered his chances. “I don’t understand, sir. My viruses hit a stronger defense barrier than any civvy ship I’ve seen yet. I should get through though, it’s only a matter of time. I did manage to partially take over their comms. Unless they take an axe to the wiring, they have to listen to you.”

“Very good.” Thaddeus gave his EW expert more time to work as he himself pulled up the scanner. “It seems they managed to scrounge up some capital grade defense guns.”

Felin nodded in grim agreement. “I believe those are type fifty one star shards. Well suited to counter missiles and rail slugs, and would give a careless fighter a difficult fight. But our corvette is more than enough to bring it down.”

“Their own armor seems impressive for their size,” Thaddeus mused aloud. He touched the twin engine pods on screen. “But not here and here. Be sure to focus our efforts there should it come down to that. Have our fighters move in quick, ruin the engines, and let gravity do the rest of the work for us.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll relay the orders.”

“Excellent. I think we’ve let them sweat long enough.” Thaddeus ran his fingers through his short cropped hair to smooth it down and readied himself to speak over the radio. <Civilian freighter, under the Treaty of Claxian IV, you are hereby ordered to surrender your vessel and accept borders. Your ship is forfeit and your crew will be escorted to the nearest Initiative station or ship. I will give you one minute to respond.>

Felin hummed aloud. “Sir, they are civilians. Perhaps we should give them time to finish soiling themselves before we open fire.”

“A fair point.” <I’m feeling generous. You have five minutes.>

---

Winter flew over to the cockpit so fast she brakes herself by landing on the hatch on all fours. She then swiped the open button and leaned over Live Wire. She had already donned her space suit and was holding his as well. “How are we looking?”

The stallion was sweating profusely and would have jumped out of his seat were it not for the straps. He swallowed the lump in his throat and saw the suit she was holding. “Ahhh - four ships. Three fighters and a bigger one.”

“Get up and get suited.” Winter was already unbuckling him, fully expecting the stallion to be frozen in fear. As expected, he had a death grip on the seat, so she gently ran a hoof down his glowing horn. The act made him cry out in pain, yet it had the desired effect of loosening him up. “Sorry later. Get up!”

Already forgetting about the act, he dumbly nodded and clambered out so she could take over. Once the seat locked into place, she ran her cord out of her neck and plugged it into the console.

From there, she took over general control of everything, including the electronic defenses. This is normally Jerrycan’s job, but I’ll have to make due. She quickly assessed the centauri ships outside, and saw they had yet to make an aggressive move, so she shifted her focus to the cyber battle.

Multiple breaches, and it looks like the defense barriers I installed are slowly getting picked apart. Partitioning part of her attention on reinforcing what had not yet been compromised, she turned her attention to the guns’ sensors. Really wish I had a jammer module, or at least some form of countermeasures.

None of it looked good. She had prepared to go up against a long range fighter or two, but the corvette was a wrinkle she had no physical means to defeat. She focused on it in particular. The corvette mostly resembled a Hawker c-47; which shared the red angular design ubiquitous with the Ruby Navy. More important to her was the twin coil battery on the front and whether or not it possessed the anti-shipping torpedoes the class was known for.

Even without the torpedoes, that coil gun can out range us, and the thing is definitely faster too. Her only hope was that the armor Sprocket acquired would hold.

“Okay, I’m suited up. What now?”

She looked back at Live Wire who was doing his best to hold onto his wits. “I’m going to be swamped with piloting and EW. Can you handle the guns?”

“I - I have no idea how to fire those things.”

“What I wouldn’t give for a proper combat AI.” Winter closed her eyes tightly to think. “Okay. You won’t have to. Just mark the targets and let the guns do the work. All you The Rubies are going to muck with our targeting. You just have to help sift through the noise. You remember how I showed you?”

“Y-yeah. Sure.”

“Good. Find a place to buckle down.” Giving him an almost automatic kiss, she turned back to the control panels. Seeing that Sprocket was suited up, Winter hit a few commands, and caused the Cloud Jumper to depressurize the whole ship.

<Times up.> The stern voice over the radio made Winter jump.

Winter took a long deep breath, and clicked the radio. <What are you demands?> Inwardly, she chided herself for forgetting to ask Wire why they weren’t being shot yet.

The masculine tone came back with the barest note of annoyance coloring an otherwise strong, unflappably calm, command voice. It was one she was familiar with as it was one custom both navies of the Alliance and Initiative shared. <As stated, you will surrender your vessel and accept borders. Do so peacefully, and you will be returned unharmed to the nearest Initiative station or vessel.>

<Unharmed? You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?> Winter didn’t care what his answer was, only that it bought her time to think. I locked off control over the engines and flight controls. Now I just need an escape.

The enemy commander’s response were a few coil shots that flew over the freighter. <You don’t have a choice either way.>

As she tried to wrack her brain for a solution, Wiggly Sprocket chimed in over the internal comms. <Winter, I don’t care what you do, but we are not surrendering to those damned slavers!> Her voice quivered badly, but the pegacorn had enough strength in her words to mean it.

<Same here!> Wire added with equal terror. <If they set one hoof on this ship I’ll - I’ll rupture the antimatter containment! I will not be a slave!>

That was it then. If surrender was off the table, there was only one thing to do: run.

Winter opened the comms with a steady calm she had acquired from her work. I don’t know if the Rubies heard that, but here goes. <Alright. Fine, we’ll come to you.>

She started the engines slowly at first, careful to not set the enemy off just yet.

<Civilian freighter, cut your engines immediately or we will open fire.> His voice was stern, and carried a ready threat of violence.

Wire, I hope you can get a few good shots off. Winter’s target was Poniopolous and its minefield. If he actually cares that much to gather us up as slaves, I bet he won’t target the escape pods. <As you wish,> she lied while spiking the engines straight into travel drive.

The freighter flashed red warnings, and she squashed them all and aimed her nose down the corvette’s throat.

Seconds later, the coilguns flashed. Both slugs slammed into the canopy, and went right over Winter’s helmet before slamming into the back, penetrating the cargo hold and crashing into the rear armor.

The travel drive flashed a shutdown warning, but all Winter wanted was the burst of acceleration. Still trying to shake off nearly getting pulped, she hastily cycled the engines to a slower maneuver settings that wouldn’t fall apart at getting shot.

The fighters started moving in and opened fire. Pulse lasers were already burning plates off the engines and the struts. Winter flipped on automatic targeting for the guns, and the turrets barked to life.

Winter internally counted down the seconds before the coilgun could fire again while rolling the Cloud Jumper to throw off the fighters’ aim.

“Fire!” Winter Gale jammed the stick up right before the coilguns fired. The shots slammed into the port side of the canopy, completely ripping away that entire side of the cockpit. Were it not for the seat anchoring her, she would have been blown out. Shrapnel cut across her suit, causing multiple breeches that were instantly sealed by internal foam.

She stared out of the jagged gaping hole where the brown moon loomed below. The sensors were still functional, and she barely saw a fighter lining up to strafe the cockpit. Rotating the ship back around, she barely got steel between herself and the fighter.

The turrets still blazed away, but Winter could see it was all badly inaccurate. Sensor ghosts, general noise, and false leads were throwing the aim off so badly Live Wire might as well have not fired at all.

Four seconds!

The Cloud Jumper reached spitting distance to the corvette, forcing it to thrust away where the freighter flew between it and the moon. Winter mentally prodded Live Wire’s attention to the corvette. The turrets dutifully turned to the much closer target. At such range, even the fouled sensors couldn’t miss. <Light him up!>

The turrets barked quickly as the two ships blazed by one another. She cheered loudly as five good hits were scored in a line from stem to stern. Yet it seemed the corvette was unfazed. It rotated quickly and fired its coilguns again, this time completely obliterating the port engine.

The Cloud Jumper threatened to spin in place as the starboard engine kept burning. Acting quickly, Winter cut the power in half and fired the maneuvering thrusters as hard as they could go to stabilize their heading.

<What was that?!> Sprocket all but shrieked from the jarring maneuver.

Winter’s mouth was bone dry, but she managed to croak out, <we lost something. Just - just hang on.>

<Damn it. Damn it!>

<Wiggs, where are you going?>

It was all Winter heard before she cut the internal channel. She better not try to come up here. Winter cringed once more at the hole to her left. For her sake.

Damage warnings signaled the fighters were trying to focus down the remaining engine. Keeping the ship stable was already near impossible, but to lose that too?

<Guys, I’m running out of options here!> Winter’s panic was rising as temperature warnings for the engine was redlining.

Suddenly, the whole freighter jerked as the coilguns fired again. The forward turret was shot right out of its mounting. The capacitor cooked off, and burned out, inadvertently creating a short-lived thruster down to the moon. Winter struggled to compensate, only to be hit again where the armor was thickest. She tried desperately to correct their heading, but the shot had angled them further down towards the moon.

Her efforts made her movement too predictable and the fighters pounced. The starboard engine was shot apart by a single strafing run, with pieces scattering all over. Even with thrusters on full burn, she was starting to lose against the moon’s gravity. As if to spite her further, the coils fired again. The freighter jerked once more, further down into the moon’s gravity.

More warnings flooded Winter’s vision, but the one that confirmed her fears read: orbit decay terminal. Recommend abandon ship.

<If you’re still listening, pony.> The same calm voice carried an air of respect in it. <You acquitted yourself most commendably. Pass onto Terra knowing you took three of my sailors with you.>

At that, the attack viruses stilled, and the jamming ceased. As they sank closer towards the dense atmosphere, Winter sent full power to the maneuvering thrusters to save the ship.

Yet her descent was only slowing. As her awareness spread to the cleared up sensors she frantically started trying to think of a backup plan. She searched the lands directly below Ponopilous. Multiple returns of alloys came back quickly, but one thing surprised her. A large pocket of oxygen. Big red font flashed in front of her vision, warning that reentry was inescapable. No, no, no! She had barely had over a minute before reentry made the escape pods worthless. Without double checking it, she commanded the autopilot to direct both the ship and escape pods to the vicinity.

Winter switched the internal comms back on as she hastily unbuckled the seat and unplugged herself from the controls. <Wire, Sprocket, if you haven’t already, get to the escape pods on the double!>

Their panicked replies were lost to her as Winter raced to get further inside so the unsteady rocking of the ship didn’t slow her down. She got to the closest bulkhead, only to see it had been closed during the fight, and the first coil shot had ripped it off completely. She raced to the ladder just past the ruined bulkhead, and down two floors. Although the thrusters were keeping the Cloud Jumper from tumbling, the growing pull of gravity made every step a danger. She couldn’t risk trying to fly at this point.

She managed to crawl onto the last deck to find the siblings struggling to shove a pony-sized box into one of the empty escape pods. Live Wire pulled away upon hearing Winter emerge onto the deck while Sprocket slapped the door shut. <Winter, come on!> He braced himself against the wall, and lit his horn. He helped pull Winter fully into the passageway and towards himself.

The two almost collided, but Winter managed to hook a hoof onto a rung before impact. She saw the sudden fright on his face upon seeing the damage on her suit. <I’m fine. We need to leave!>

Sprocket shoulder checked the box all the way inside the door and slammed it shut. <Did you at least make those bastards pay?>

Winter scrambled into her pod, and attempted to tie herself down into the lone seat within while Live Wire did the same in his own. <I got a few of them.>

It wasn’t even remotely close enough, but Sprocket was too high on adrenaline and staying alive to do more than snort her dubious approval.

The battle damage and beginnings of reentry threatened to tear the ship apart at any moment.

With everyone inside their pods, Winter remotely shut the hatches and tried to peer through the sensors. However, all she got back was static. Damn!

The only thing left was make sure she and Live Wire were strapped in, and pray that Wiggly Sprocket did the same in her pod. <Get ready to launch!>

<Are you sure we’ll survive in these things?> Live Wire’s voice was badly garbled, but the rising panic was loud and clear.

<We’ll be fine.> Sprocket chimed in from her pod. The steel in her voice sounded alien coming from her.

Having no choice but to trust Wiggly’s talents, Winter hit the button. <Hold on!> The charges blew and all four pods were violently ejected from their doomed home.

Author's Note:

And so ends the 1st arc. Will our heroes survive the dusty moon, or will they become one with its barren ground? Well, it's the end of arc 1, not the story, so take a guess.

Comments

[Doge of Venucci]

Cloud Jumper rest in peace, you where a damm fine ship.

[Leaderothala]

Mah god its barely get flightworthy and already shredded to Pieces.. Poor cloud jumper

[Farenth Vega]

Surprised to see the ship meet such a fate so soon. Willing to bet that means they'll be stumbling across something better soon though. Looking forward to more.

[Kanzuke]

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

I wish we got to spend more time aboard Cloud Hopper, just a few more slice of life moments with Wiggly working on the ship, Live learning to fly her, Winter missing amenities only a cruiser could offer, etc. To give us a chance to be hit as hard by this loss as Wiggly will be.
Maybe instead of the flashback to Thaddeus (which I actually managed to miss the 'earlier' part of initially and was wondering why it had taken several days to vacuum up the water ) keep it all linear and open with what was going on aboard the Hopper at that time?

[Pensive]

With how often the text switches up between using Wiggy or Sprocket for Twi, I'm having a difficult time figuring who is who.