When the DTI Starhopper is critically damaged by an anomalous wormhole, Nick Fyxe the sole crew member on the ship is forced to deploy the ship's Survival Truck and airdrop from the ship with the trucks Parachutes. How will he react to the planet he
When the DTI Starhopper is critically damaged by an anomalous wormhole, Nick Fyxe the sole crew member on the ship is forced to deploy the ship's Survival Truck and airdrop from the ship with the trucks Parachutes. How will he react to the planet he finds himself on? how will he interact with the inhabitants? Join the ride as Nick learns to survive in this world.
DTI Starhopper - Current Mission - Investigate Anomalous readings in Sector X87
"Good morning sir! The galactic time is 0800. We are set to arrive in Sector X87 in a few hours. I suggest you wake up and get ready."
The greeting I had been expecting for weeks had finally come. After 3 weeks of traveling on Ion thrust after our WarpDrive started to display issues from the anomaly even so far out, we have finally arrived. Sitting up in bed I swung my digitigrade legs over the side of my bed and stepped onto the cold metal floor. "Thanks for the wakeup call Ziggy. Get the Coffee brewing and the suit charging, I've got a feeling I'm gonna need it."
"Of course sir! Coffee is brewing and will be waiting for you in the cafeteria. Your suit has been activated, I'm prepping its Operating System now."
Ok time to start the day, Walking over to my Wardrobe I pulled out the standard-issue jumpsuit that they give ships like this. Unfortunately, since the jumpsuit was designed to fit underneath the spacesuit it is incredibly tight. Like form-fitting skin tight. The suit is white and blue, with the letters D,T,I plastered across the chest. To compensate for the skin tightness I brought along several pairs of black cargo shorts. Slipping on a pair of shorts I felt my tail pop through the hole I had to cut in the back. Unfortunately with most of the company being humans none of the clothes were designed with my anatomy in mind, so I had to make some edits to the design. And by edits I mean I straight took a knife to the back end of all my clothes.
Walking over to the bathroom I brushed my teeth and rinsed out the hair on my head. Normally I'd take a long shower but I've started to run out of water. Looking in the mirror I saw the familiar form of me, A tall red fox with black arms and paws, The pads on my paws were a black color. My amber eyes with white sclera and my dark red hair that reaches down to my shoulders. I usually like to keep it short but I haven't been to a barber in weeks. My long digitigrade legs that allow me to move at speeds humans couldn't dream of. And my big fluffy ears that hear all.
Opening the mirror cabinet I pulled out my Mechanics Goggles and put them on around my neck. Though I don't remember where I got the goggles they've been with me my whole life, so I take them everywhere I go. To the point that if I don't have them on then the other people at DTI get worried and ask me where my goggles are. Turning I opened the door to the bathroom and proceeded out of my quarters and to the Cafeteria. As I came up to the door It slid open automatically.
And of course, as I walked in the Coffee was already ready. "Thanks, Ziggy, Don't know what I'd do without you." Taking the cup I downed It in one swig and proceeded to the stairwell.
"Are you sure you don't wanna eat something? You still have time."
"I do have time, yes, but I wanna spend that time readying the pod. Now that we are closer I want to update the shielding to the latest scanner data from the anomaly. Also, I want to do Preflight checks."
"Understood sir, I'll begin gathering the relevant data."
Upon reaching the bottom floor I turned toward the Airlock. Walking into the suit storage area I saw my Orange MiningSuit charged and ready to go. Now before you question why I brought a MiningSuit here Just know that suits are expensive and This ship is usually sent to rim worlds to mine resources and bring them back. But no matter how many times I told DTI that the Starhopper was never designed for this kind of thing they just didn't listen. Kept saying all their other ships were busy. When I reported that the jump drive had become scrambled by the anomaly they just told me to fly here on Ion Thrust.
Well, no time to complain now. Taking off my shorts I slid them into a locker and began to disassemble the suit so that I may put it on. After removing the jetpack/oxygen tank I removed the helmet and slid the suit off of the port. Unzipping the back I slipped into it and zipped it back up. Luckily THIS suit had me in mind, and it had an extension for the tail. after that, I put on the Jetpack/Oxygen tank and attached all of the tubes. And lastly, I put on the helmet, and immediately my HUD began to boot up. "Alrighty Ziggy, Begin Suit Checklist."
"You got it, sir! Oxygen Levels?" "100%" "HydrogenFuel Levels?" "100%" "Suit Battery Percentage?" "100%" "Suit Communications Antenna" "Operating Normally, At least inside the ship." "Suit Spotlights?" The spotlights attached to the Ear Portion of the helmet lit up the entire room for a few seconds before clicking off. "Operational"
"Suit checklist complete, you are clear to begin your workday." "Thanks, Ziggy, Get that scanner data to my suit's PDA." "Will do!" And with that, I walked into the airlock that lead into the main vehicle bay. Walking out of the other side I once again took note of the 2 vehicles in the bay. The SurvivalTruck that I designed to assist with mining missions. While Ziggy flew the ship she would bring us above a drop zone, from there I would climb into the truck and drop out the bottom door. The parachutes were designed to bring it to a gentle landing, even at full cargo capacity. The second vehicle in the room is the only vehicle in this sector NOT designed by me. It's a Surveyor Probe, Designed for scanning the anomaly and beaming the info back to the Main Ship via Laser Antenna.
Walking up to the probe I pulled up my PDA on my left are to view the new Data, only to find none. "Ziggy?" "I'm sorry sir, sensors are completely scrambled. We've got no eyes outside the ship." "Ziggy! this is something you tell me! you are flying the ship and without sensors, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW CLOSE WE ARE!!!!" Rushing towards the bridge I burst through the door and strapped myself into the helm. Opening the blast doors covering the viewport I almost shit myself.
There in front of the Starhopper was the biggest vortex I've ever seen. It looks like a portal but I don't want to find out the hard way. "ZIGGY FIRE RETRO ROCKETS!!!" And with that, the blast of the Starhoppers RetroRockets filled my ears with a mighty roar. But it did nothing. "Ziggy report!" "We're caught in the gravity well, sir! We don't have the thrust to escape!" "Seriously? I told them this ship wasn't designed for this! Beam out a distress signal!" "Communications are down sir!"
I was about to respond when suddenly an explosion rocked the ship and the thrusters stopped making noise. "Ziggy report!"
"That was the engines overheating and exploding! We're being pulled in!" Well that's it then, Only one thing to do now. "Ziggy! Activate Seige mode!"
"Seige mode activated! Blast doors closing, Diverting all power to energy shields!" The blast doors in front of me slammed shut and a barrier of blue hexagonal shapes formed over the exterior of the ship. The next thing I heard was "Its been an honor sir" from Ziggy before my vision went dark.
The silence woke me, for silence is a bad thing on a spaceship. Lifting my head from the headrest on the seat I’m strapped to I looked around. All the panels and computers in the room were dark. All except for the one I was sitting at. The helm of the ship. Tapping a few commands I attempted to restart the reactor, only to find it not present. Cursing at the situation I moved over to the backup batteries and switched them on. Suddenly the bridge came to life, Lights lit up and panels began displaying their proper information again. “Ziggy report!”
“I’m sorry, the personality construct you are trying to reach is no longer present in your ship. Please try again at a later date. “What the fuck?” Not present on the ship? Where the hell did she go? Guess I’m flying manual. Tapping a few commands into the console I told the blast doors in front of me to open. Only for the room to explosively decompress. Luckily I was wearing my helmet. The air shot out of the blast doors like a whirlwind. And calmed down a few moments later. And what I saw in front of me both amazed and scared the shit out of me. What I was in front of the ship, was a PLANET. Not even the red or orange like you’d expect out here, But fucking Earthlike shit. It was an amazing view.
What scared the shit out of me, was the fact that our engines are not working, our gyroscopes are fried so we are in a slight spin, and we are on a collision course with that planet. To make matters worse thanks to that vortex thing our shields are down. Ok Nick, gotta think fast here. First, I gotta close this blast door so that the atmosphere doesn’t melt me. Second I gotta get back to the vehicle bay and prep the truck for a hard drop. I trained for this shit, so let’s get it done.
Quickly tapping the relevant commands the blast door in front of me dropped shut. Immediately I unbuckled my seatbelt and moved toward the exit door. Though the gravity generator is offline my mag boots work fine. Unfortunately, the door was stuck. Opening the panel I disabled its power and moved my hands to the indents in the door and began to pull them apart. And just like that the door slid open, albeit slowly. Moving towards the vehicle bay I repeated the process with the ITS door and began prepping the rover.
Or that’s what I would have done had I not been stunned by the sight in front of me. The entire back end of the ship had been ripped open, leaving a massive hole in the back of the Vehicle Bay. Luckily the door for the truck still functioned. Climbing into the truck I double-checked the parachutes and they were OK. Survival Kit ready to go. Cargo empty but that’s OK. And now we wait.
After about 5 minutes the ship started to shake and a single thought shot through my head. We’ve hit the atmosphere. Buckling my straps I locked myself into the truck. And after a while, the violent shaking died down to vibration. Taking that as my signal I opened the drop door. And I was right. We were clear of the upper layers of the atmosphere, And just after I opened the door I heard the concussive boom of us breaking through the sound barrier. Activating the Pistons I felt the rover drop until we were sticking out the bottom of the ship. I felt the air rushing around the outside of the suit but I ignored it. Tapping a few commands I hovered over the Truck Release.
“Ok, on three. One, Two, THREE!” Punching in the last button I felt the rover drop. And the ship above me disappeared into the distance. “Ok, five, four, three, two, one, Deploy Parachutes!” Slamming my fist down against a bright green button I looked up and saw 4 parachutes shoot out above the Truck. Slowing my velocity down to well within safe landing limits. After a few moments I heard a massive BOOM as the ship hit the ground. 2 minutes later the Truck also landed down. Onto a snowy plain.
“Well shit, That's cold. Wish I had Ziggy here... Let’s see here, Ok voice-activated computer stuff. This is really old Dumb AI tech but I guess it will work.” Tapping a few keys I activated the Archaic system. “Computer, Triangulate Starhopper Crash site.”
Triangulating... ”Starhopper crash site Triangulated. Estimated Crashdown coordinates read 7km North of your current position.” “Well shit, Guess we got a drive ahead of us.” And with that, I shifted the truck into gear and began to accelerate.
”Weather Warning, SnowStorm Incoming. Seek Shelter Immediately. “Understood. I’ll look for a cave or something.” At least that’s what I would have done, had I not driven over a hill to see a massive dome of light in front of me. “Computer, What am I looking at?”
”Scanning, Warning! Uknown Energy Detected! Proceed with caution!” “Well shit, Computer how long until that storm hits?” Estimating... You have 1 minute to seek shelter before the storm hits. “Not really a choice then is there? FUCK IT!” I slammed my paw down on the accelerator and the truck shot forward. And we passed right through the barrier, into a green-looking area. With a city made out of fucking CRYSTALS filling the space. Unfortunately, I also saw the Starhopper, Nosed down right in what looks like the residential section. “Shit shit shit shit!!!!” Pushing the accelerator as far as it would go I sped towards the wreckage. Only for my momentum to suddenly hit zero as something pink and quadropedic appeared in front of the truck and grabbed it in some sort of telekinesis.
“Did anybody catch the plate number on that pink semi-truck?” I said, genuinely confused as to what the fuck just happened.
“No, but I did catch a criminal alien who almost squashed 450 of my subjects, luckily they were able to get out of the way in time.”
Subjects? Oh shit, this lady is the queen or some shit. Quickly unstrapping myself from the seat I climbed out the side of the truck with my hands in the air in a clear *I ain’t gonna try shit* gesture. “Look Ma’m I honestly didn’t know there was a city here. My ship was crashing and I couldn’t control where it was gonna land. I’m glad they all got out of the way.”
With that, she seemed to calm down a little. She released my truck from her grasp and motioned me back into it. “Use your machine to take us to the wreckage. I would like to examine the damage and have a little talk with you. You have a lot of explaining to do mister, uh right your name. What is it?” “Nick, Nick Fyxe” I responded as she climbed into the truck alongside me. Shifting it back into gear I slowly put my foot on the accelerator. Navigating us around to the indent the ship created in the ground when it crashed and continued moving. Driving us up to the back end of the ship I frowned. The entire rear section was gone. The reactor, AI core, computer system, AND thrust control modules were in there.
“Is something wrong Nick?” The pink horse-looking princess asked me.
“Yeah, something is definitely wrong. This ship will never fly again. All of the engineering section is just gone. Nowhere to be seen.”
“I’m assuming that was important?”
“Well yeah, considering it held the power source as well as all the control modules for the different thrusters as well as the AI Core which held one of my closest friends inside of it.”
“Oh, Oh dear.”
“Yeah, it was important.” Pulling up to the wreckage I put the truck in park and climbed out alongside tall bright and pink. “Oh yeah, I never got your name. Care to tell me?”
“Oh yes, where are my manners? My name is Princess Cadence! Sorry for the rough start. I made assumptions that weren’t true.
“Your fine, that tends to happen. Even back home. Anyways let’s get to this wreckage, and maybe we can have that talk you mentioned earlier.”
Walking up to the wreckage I whistled at the damage it caused to the surrounding area. From the looks of things, it landed about a kilometer back and then bounced twice, and then came to a sliding stop here. And destroyed MANY city blocks in the process. It's amazing that the inhabitants were able to get out of the way in time. Looking at the ship I began to survey what was left of it. Originally the bridge was connected to the hangar bay. And the hangar bay was connected to engineering and the stairwell leading to the living section. Engineering contained the Fusion Reactor and the WarpDrive. It also contained many of the computer systems responsible for running the different functions of the ship, such as the thruster control module. It also held the AI Core, and the AI Core held Ziggy.
Going off of that, well the entire hangar bay is here. There is a little bit of the floor from the engineering section left here. Walking up to it I fired the suit jetpack to launch me up onto the ledge. Approaching the door I heard a loud clop behind me as the princess landed on the ledge as well. Turning to her I saw the very confused expression she had on her face. "What is it?"
"You can fly?"
Oh, she means the jetpack. "Yeah I can, but only for short bursts. Otherwise, I'd burn up all the fuel and then I'd fall. The reason why that's bad is pretty self-explanatory."
"Oh, that makes sense. Is there anywhere still intact where we can talk?"
"Fortunately yes, The living quarters only really took up the front half of the ship. Mainly to avoid any consequences of sleeping directly next to our power source. So the bedrooms and cafeteria should all still be there. And thanks to backup batteries we should have power." Turning to the door I saw that the panel was glowing blue instead of the blackness that usually indicates no power. "Yep, we got power." Tapping the blue circle on the panel resulted in the door sliding open.
"Woah!"
"What?"
"that door just opened on its own, without magic."
"Uh, yeah?" Wait are they really this primitive?
"That's amazing!"
Hah! imagine if she saw the thing in its entirety. She would lose it! "Hah! you haven't seen anything yet. If only I could show you this thing flying. "
"Oh I would love to see it, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like that's going to happen,
"Unfortunately no. Sorry. Either way, the stairwell to the quarters is this way. Follow me." And with that, I lead her through the massive hangar bay to a door on the right side of the ship. After opening this one I led her into the airlock where I keep the suits.
"What's with all of the empty cabinets?"
"Huh? oh those." She was referring to the empty suit lockers. "Yeah turns out space suits are pretty expensive, so the one I'm wearing is the only one I actually have."
"But what if it's damaged?"
"Then I fix it."
"But what if you cant"
Turning my head to her I gave her the most intense look I could muster, but then I remembered that I was wearing a metal helmet with no glass. I actually look through a camera and a screen to see out of this thing. Instead, I chose to become sterner in my voice, then I continued. "If I can't fix the suit that keeps me alive. Then the results are self-explanatory. I die."
"Oh. Sorry"
"You're fine, follow me." Opting to keep my suit on I took her through the other end of the airlock to the stairwell. And then began climbing. A few stories later we were finally above the hangar and arrived at a door. Opening the door revealed a hallway of other doors with a much larger area at the end of it. This area is the Cafeteria, which we entered. The light was still on so that's a good sign. Going over to the fridge I realized that it was empty, likely because I finished it off long before we, no I crashed down.
"Crap"
"What is it?"
"I'm out of food, Sorry. Don't really have any tea to offer during this talk we're about to have."
"Oh that's fine, it's not like I was expecting any, especially considering the situation you've been put in."
So she went from murderous to apologetic to confused to apologetic again. Ok Fyxe, you got this. It's just first contact with an alien species. And your first time talking to a princess, You've got this right? Yeah!
After a few moments, both she and I were sat opposite each other at a table.
"Ok Princess Cadance, you mentioned you wanted to talk with me. We're at a proper table now so I suggest you shoot your questions now. You know, before I go off to start tearing shit apart to build a base out of it so that I can actually survive."
"Ok, so since it seems like a sore subject right now I won't ask about the circumstances of your arrival, For now, I will stick to questions that we can use to integrate you into our society since it appears your going to be staying with us for a while. We also have to discuss the fact that, tho accidentally. You did destroy many homes belonging to my subjects."
"Ah right. That. Yeah, there isn't a whole lot I can do about that. It's not like I had a whole lot of money to begin with. And I doubt that converts over to whatever currency you use. Which means I got jack shit to pay for new homes with. And I got priorities right now. As for anything you might need to integrate me or whatever, My full name is Nickolas Fire Fyxe. But I usually shorten the Nickolas part to just Nick. I've no idea why my middle name is Fire but it is. I speak 3 different languages and I'm an Engineer, Pilot, Miner, and I guess I could technically be part of the military if I didn't drop out of boot camp in favor of building and flying spaceships. I'm basically a jack of all trades kind of guy. Usually, if I'm asked to do something I can figure out a way to get it done, except for surveying space anomalies apparently. That's the only thing that has made me explode so far."
"Ok, so that's your name, occupation, and you've explained your financial situation. But how old are you?"
"To be entirely honest with you, I've got no idea. The earliest memories I have are like, 27 years ago, and I was an adult. I don't know when my birthday is so I've just been going off of the date I remember, September 29th. And my actual age is currently unknown."
"Oh! why don't you have any earlier memories?"
"I think it's some form of amnesia? I don't really know. All I know is that's about the time the humans found me. And that's when my problems started, Racist fuckers. Hell, they're racist against EACHOTHER! They're the same race for fucksake!"
"So you faced discrimination for not being a human?"
"Basically, they thought I was just another dumbass animal at first. Then I talked and they got really confused. Though they treated me as intelligent, they only did so to a degree. Considered me just another creature for them to tame. The first 12 years of my memories were spent fighting to actually get some fucking recognition and get a proper job. And even now they still hardly listen to any of the shit I tell them. Hell, I told them that my ship wasn't designed to go out surveying a space anomaly but they still fucking sent me. And now look at it! Split in half and crashlanded on another planet that seemingly popped into existence from out of nowhere. Or maybe I'm the one who fucking disappeared and reappeared. I don't fucking know and I don't fucking care. Even if I had the option I wouldn't go back. Fuck those guys."
"Well, That should be all the personal information I need. And I think I can wiggle the system a bit, might even be able to file this under the *acts of chaos* fund we have. It was originally put in place because of discord but since chaotic events tend to happen even without his presence we may be able to squeeze this into it."
"Well, at least that's some good news. Is there anywhere on the edge of the empire I can set up? I'm not gonna need a whole lot of space, just enough to house a refinery, assembler, a few wind turbines and solar panels, and a few batteries. Also a bedroom and cafeteria. but the cafeteria won't need to be as big since it's not intended for a crew of people just one."
"Sure, I'm pretty sure I can set you up with some land on the outskirts, nopony really likes to live that close to the barrier because they might accidentally leave it and enter the snowy mountains. I'll have it marked out with a fence border so that you know what you need to remain inside."
"Well thanks for that, I'm sure you've got things to take care of. I'm gonna start scrapping things down here and filling the truck with parts. I'll walk over to the giant castle-looking thing when I'm loaded up, that way you can point me in the right direction."
"Sounds like a plan mister Fyxe. I'll see you soon."
"See ya later Cadance."
And with that, her horn lit up and her body flashed as she disappeared. "Computer what just happened?"
"Analyzing. From visual records and energy readings, it appears a form of quantum tunneling. Or in simple terms, Teleportation." Well, I guess that makes sense. Welp, better get to work.
On the other side of the country, in Canterlot. A vine poked through the concrete floor of the castle, and a scream filled the air for a split second before it was silenced.
