> Fuel Run
>  by iluvponies35
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Blastoff
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was only a matter of time before ponies took to the stars.
For millennia, many of those that had inhabited the wide, magical expanse of Equestria would spend their nights with their heads turned up towards the sky. Most merely admired it, a select few dared to map or study it, but they all shared a common wonder, dreaming of what might be up there. Some even dreamed of going up there, letting their hooves touch foreign soil and breathing in an alien landscape, but, at least for a time, they remained only dreams.
127 years ago, Ponykind finally dared to take its first steps into the vast unknown. Progress was slow and messy at first, as it usually is, but soon the rockets began regularly streaking into the sky, ponies riding atop rumbling towers of metal and flame towards an unknown fate. There were accidents, even tragedies, but success was inevitable, and soon it was clear that space was a new frontier that Ponykind would not only explore, but learn to live and grow in.
But space remains a dangerous business. Years of trials and tribulations have brought about great improvements to space exploration, and the field is safer now than ever before. Despite this, death is an ever-present threat, and for the average blue-collar space worker, closer than they may realize.


=====


"Alright Star, today's the big day..."
Starry Night bit her lip as she ran a brush through her luscious silvery mane, grimacing as it briefly caught on a knot stuck in one of the purple wisps of hair scattered throughout before it evened out. Satisfied she gave it a once over in the mirror, then checked her faded pink coat for any dirt or debris, before finally settling on her bright sapphire blue eyes. She blinked. Yep, definitely her.
She could hardly believe this day had finally arrived. After years of studying and months of training, today was the day she would finally (hopefully) be accepted as a full astronaut of the Equestrian Space Agency. Ever since she was a filly she was obsessed with the stars, and dreamed of being where she was now, never settling for a boring Equestria-bound job, even as her peers told her space was no place for a simple earth pony. She stepped to the side, turning her head to admire her cutie mark. The black swirl peppered with stars on her flank had always told her otherwise, a sign she was meant for this since they day she got it while out searching the skies with a telescope one night.
If nothing else, the fact she'd made it this far already put her leagues ahead of most earth ponies (though she still hoped for good news as anything else would likely make her cry). And as she stepped out of her bathroom into her dorm proper, she took a look around the room for what was hopefully the last time. It was certainly nicer than her old college dorm, and  bit more spacious too, featuring a full set of cooking amenities, a decent-sized bed, and plenty of drawers and cupboards. As her eyes fell upon a clock mounted on the wall, she blinked and realized all her progress was about to go down the drain if she didn't get to administration immediately.
"Shit!" she cursed, immediately scrambling to get ready. Starry slammed some bread into her toaster and let it cook while hurrying to get on her navy blue uniform. After zipping it up she tensely waited for her toast, and was out the door as soon as it was ready. Galloping down the hall of ESA cadet dorms while munching on her boring breakfast, Starry barrelled around corners, through doors, and past a few stunned employees who shouted at her to slow down
The Equestrian Space Center was a massive complex, especially compared to how it had been just a few decades ago. Starry had grown up reading all the space-related news she could, and her time spent here had dashed a lot of her preconceived notions. There were training buildings, classrooms, flight control, rocket workshops, and miles of office complex, the last of which she had to partially traverse on her way towards her goal. By the time she reached administration she was out of breath and her cheeks were red with embarrassment, but relieved to find herself exactly on time.
Trotting up behind a line of other cadets, Starry began the tense wait. At this point in their training, each cadet was to meet personally with the head of the academy to answer some final questions and be giving either acceptance or rejection as a full astronaut. From her spot at the back of the line, she had plenty of time to think and plenty of time to worry endlessly about all the possibilities going round her head.
Slowly but surely the line moved along, one pony entering the head's office as soon as another left. Most cadets leaving had dour looks on their faces, while a select few left smiling ear to ear. It wasn't hard to guess what was going on, and Starry Night felt a lump in her throat as she realized the odds she was going up against. There was no going back now though, she just had to know, no matter if it was good or bad. As the minutes ticked down and she took the front of the line she stood there, tapping her hooves, until the door opened and out popped a cadet with a look that screamed rejection. With a deep breath, she carefully stepped into the office.
Sitting behind a massive pine wood desk was the comparatively small Major Prism Dash, head of the ESA's training academy and grand-daughter of the famous Rainbow Dash. One would've never guessed, if not for the multicolor mane reminiscent of her ancestor's. The aquamarine pegasus looked up from a hoofful of papers and met Starry's nervous eyes with her own. Starry had only met Prism a few times in person, and today was the first time would be properly conversing with each other. Beckoning to a chair, Starry obliged and nearly stumbled over as she went to take a seat.
"Cadet Starry Night," Prism finally began after a drawn-out silence. "Impressive record for an earth pony." Starry bristled, mostly out of pride, though also mildly unnerved by the comment, which Prism interpreted. "No offense of course, there simply aren't a lot of earth ponies signing up for the space program," she added.
Prism set down the paper she was looking at and picked up another. "Test scores a little low, but passable. Good sim results, not very cool under pressure, but that's expected for a first timer. Though tell me Starry Night, why are you here?"
Starry was taken aback, but after a few seconds found the courage to answer. "B-because I want to be an astronaut, ma'am."
Prism snorted. "So did everypony else that walked through those doors. One more time, why are you here?"
Starry gulped. How was she supposed to answer that? Her mouth remained tightly shut for what felt like a full minute while she thought of what to say. Finally, "because I really want to be an astronaut, ma'am. It's been my dream since I was young to do everything in my power to go to space, and to help build a better future, not just for myself but for all of ponykind." It was the best she could come up with.
The resulting silence hung in the air for way too long, before Prism finally smiled, balled up the paper with Starry's test scores, and tossed it into a wastebasket. "Sorry for scaring you cadet, I'll admit this is all just for show. I already made up my mind a week ago to accept you into the program. Your scores could definitely be better, but they're still way in the top half of your class, and your determination speaks volumes. Congratulations."
Starry balked. "R-really, ma'am?"
Prism nodded with a knowing smile. "Space is dangerous. There may be over a thousand of us up there right now, but that doesn't mean I just let in anyone these days. I can tell when a pony has what it takes, and you're definitely one of them."
"Th-thank you! Uh, ma'am!" Starry struggled to keep still, her heart fluttering. "Um, what happens now though?"
Leaning back in her chair, Prism sighed. "Tonight there'll be a celebration in the event hall for those that passed such as yourself. Aside from that, not much for the time being. Celestial station has a partial crew rotation coming in a few weeks, you'll be sent up then, three month tour doing whatever you're asked to do, then three months of shore leave before it starts all over again. Besides that, enjoy yourself. Your allowed to stay in your dorm or head home, either way you'll get a call a week before launch day."
"Thank you ma'am!" Starry repeated with a salute, trotting out of the office as lightly as a pegasi on clouds while her heart swelled with pride.


=====


The celebration that night reminded Starry Night a lot of her college graduation, at least at first. Once the (admittedly boring) ceremony was out of the way, everypony was free to mingle for the rest of the night, treated to a wide array of expensive snacks and drinks, though predictably no alcohol. During the ceremony she had noticed there were quite a few more cadets present than had been in her class. Quickly she realized it was for all of the different classes, or rather, astronaut specializations offered at the space center. Starry had spent her time going into Engineering, and tonight her group was situated between Piloting and Science, with several other groups around the room.
Being more on the quiet side, Starry had spent most of the afterparty near the end of a buffet table. It was hard enough learning some of the names in her engineering class, now she was well and truly lost. The little pony in her head told her to go out and socialize with some of her future crewmates, but she stubbornly remained in the comfort of the quiet corner next to the punch bowl.
"Good punch?"
Starry jumped a bit, not noticing the pegasi stallion that had walked up on her flank. Beneath the cadet uniform like hers she could make out a light brown coat, and his hair the same if not a few shades darker, though the uniform came down over his cutie mark. "Umm, it's alright," she started.
With a smile, the stallion walked up to the bowl and poured himself a glass before stepping up next to her. "Can't say I've seen you around before, I take it you're not in botany?"
Starry shook her head. "Engineering."
"Ah, well then, you got one of the more interesting jobs huh? Here I'm just glad I didn't go into service, imagine that," he chuckled. "Oh, right, name's Wind Catcher."
"Starry Night."
"Hm, fitting name," he smiled.
"More fitting than a pegasus going into botany I'd say," she teased, a bit of warmth starting to show in her once-timid voice.
Wind Catcher chuckled. "Wasn't my first choice, but it's a fun side hobby and my advisor said I'd have a better chance if that's what I went down. All the predictions say orbital farming is gonna be big soon."
"Doesn't that mean a lot of sitting around watching plants though?" she wondered.
Wind shrugged. "Probably. Then again, it's in space. I reckon that alone makes it all worth it."
"Oh definitely! They said I'd be on the Celestial station crew transfer next month, I can't wait!" Starry beamed, feeling herself finally start to relax a little more.
Her new friend grinned. "Ey, you too? Reckon we'll see each other around then, assuming they don't have me stuck in hydroponics all day."
"Hopefully."
After meeting Wind Catcher, the night passed quickly for Starry, as they chatted and exchanged what they knew about the job ahead. Eventually they bid farewell, but she hoped to see him again before launch day. For now she returned to her dorm once more for the night, and tucked herself into bed, eager to start counting the days till launch.


=====
3 Weeks Later...


Starry Night had seen all the pictures, even watched a few launches live. But now, standing near the bottom of the gargantuan Wayfarer-class rocket, she found out just how much it dwarfed her. It consisted of two parts; a massive first stage which took up most of the height, which itself was mostly fuel tanks encased in featureless metal sheets save for the cluster of engines on the bottom. The second part was what she'd actually be riding in, and was best described as a resembling a massive silver bullet, plus some fins and reinforced glass windows. She'd heard it was based on a design by a private company, bought and optimized by the Equestrian Space Agency. It was fully reusable, could carry a massive cargo load, and had served for many years as the main method of transport to and from Equestria's orbital stations.
And today she'd be adding her name to the long list of crazy ponies that had allowed themselves to be strapped into one.
"I knew it would be bigger in person, but...wow," breathed a high-pitched voice beside her. Nearly forgetting she wasn't alone, Starry turned her head to look at her friend Mint Chip, a light green unicorn mare with black and brown splotched mane. The orange flightsuit everypony was in made it hard to identify cutie marks, but Mint's was (perhaps predictably) a scoop of mint ice cream. Mint was one of the few from engineering Starry had managed to get to know a little, and while they hadn't time to properly interact many times, she was looking forward to getting to know her a little better. Not like there'd be much else to do in her free time on a space station.
What she did know of Mint Chip already is that the unicorn had spent a few years as an ice cream salespony, tinkering on the side until she heard of the growing need for jobs in space. Apparently selling ice cream didn't pay well anymore, so she returned to college for an aerospace degree and wound up here. Mint had privately stated she'd hop on the opportunity to make real ice cream in space instead of the freeze dried garbage they got. It wouldn't be long until they found out how committed to that promise she was.
Starry turned to her other side and craned her neck. She'd seen Wind Catcher as well, but he was too far down to get a chance to talk. The two of them had kept in touch a little, but it was difficult, being in different specializations. She was looking forward to talking to him more up on the station as well. For now they sat single file at the foot of a massive scaffolded elevator which would bring them up to the rocket's entry hatch, waiting for the ground crew to finish the checks necessary to allow them to begin boarding. After that, a few more checks, and then, hopefully, they'd be on their way up. Even now, with hundreds of regular launches a year, it still took forever to get going.
"How long till you think we'll be up there?" Mint Chip finally inquired.
"Hopefully before the end of the year," Starry quipped. "Bit cloudy today, figured they'd have the weatherponies clear the skies."
"Eh, not a big deal as long as they have it under control," Mint droned. "Can't imagine what would happen if that thing got struck by lightning."
"I heard it happened to an unmanned supply ship a few months back," chimed in a third member of the engineering team. "Knocked out guidance systems for a good minute or two, almost crashed into the ocean."
"Charming."
Before they could continue chatting about all the horrible things that could go wrong, a voice came on a nearby intercom clearing them to board the elevator. A dozen ponies, Starry included, stepped onboard, the first of three groups prepared to board. As the soft sands of Cape Maneaveral grew small below them, Starry forced herself to look straight ahead and occupy herself by counting the seconds and checking over her orange flightsuit.
A minute later the elevator rumbled to a stop, well over a hundred meters above the ground. Starry carefully shuffled along with the rest of her crew, chancing a look down past the railings. She was not afraid of heights, she definitely wouldn't be here if she was, but the view still churned her stomach.
"You know if you think about it, falling off is one of the better things that could happen to us today," somepony decided to quip, eliciting a nervous chuckle from almost everypony else up there.
Up close, nothing about the rocket was small, save for the crew hatches in the side, as was to be expected. When it was Starry's turn to slip through, she briefly struggled; she was lean for an earth pony, but the hatch was smaller yet. With a huff, she finally made it through, then began ascending a ladder in the center of the ship. Per her orders she hopped off at level two, one of several passenger areas just below the main command module. With no assigned seating, minimal windows for passengers, and Starry being one of the first up there, she trotted over to the seat in front of the largest porthole she could find and strapped in.
An hour passed for Starry in that seat, while she waited, first for the rest of the first dozen to file in, then the second, then third. After that the minutes ticked away in agonizing silence, though she presumed the ground and flight crews were going through another few sets of checks. Mint Chip took the seat next to her, so Starry decided to pass the time with some small talk.
"After all this time you'd think there'd be a better way to get us into space than on these huge rockets," Starry commented.
"I hear Chariot Dynamics is almost done with their prototype of a single stage to orbit. Not as much room though. Chemical rockets are still the most cost effective method," Mint replied.
Finally the speaker system crackled: "Attention crew, this is your pilot Stormy Weather speaking. Mission control has cleared us for launch today," - a small cheer passed through the passenger quarters - "ignition in t minus ten minutes, remember to strap yourselves in and put your helmets on!"
Immediately Starry felt the gravity of the situation sink in. Her chest tightened with fear and excitement. This was really happening. She forced herself to take deep, shaky breaths trying to calm her nerves, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.
"You good Star? You look like you've seen a ghost," Mint piped up.
Starry looked over at her friend. Mint looked terrified in her own right, though was keeping it in better than Starry could. "This is really h-happening, huh," Starry breathed.
"This is what we signed up for. No going back now, heh," Mint nervously laughed.
For many of the rookies packed in the passenger compartment, those ten minutes passed agonizingly slow. For Starry Night, it was still agonizingly fast. She blinked, and suddenly the pilots were giving the five-minute warning. She barely remembered to pull out her helmet and squeeze it on, her shaky hooves failing with the clasps a few times. By the time she felt well and truly ready, it was down to the last minute.
Ten seconds left. The engines started to rumble, and the whole rocket shook.
Five seconds. Starry looked over at her friend.
Four.
"Ready for this?"
Three
Mint looked back.
Two
"Nope."
One.
"IGNITION!"
OH CELESTIA!
Months of training were meant to prepare an astronaut for a wide array of situations. No amount of training, however, can prepare a pony for their first launch. Some are fine. Most scream, or laugh hysterically. For Starry Night, as she felt the ground lurch beneath her and heard the roar of the engines and the distant kssssh of the launch tower disengaging, she expressed her emotions by tightly shutting her eyes.
As the rocket lurched off the pad and the g-force inside nearly doubled, Starry Night felt her heart pounding in her chest, the only sound louder than the rockets billowing a hundred meters beneath her. Through it all she could hear screaming, laughing, and excited hollering, and a bit of all three from Mint Chip.
An eternity passed before the rumbling finally started to even out, whereupon Starry finally opened her eyes. From her view through the porthole in front of her, all she could see was clouds whizzing by, finally giving way to blue sunny skies as they passed above the clouds. It wasn't the first time she'd bore witness to such a sight, as some of the airships she'd been on climbed this high, but she was left in awe at how quickly it all went by.
Starry's eyes remained transfixed to the tiny window, watching as the clouds receded, giving way to the growing curvature of Equestria itself. The sky began to turn black, and the blue tint became confined to a thin strip of haze at the edge of the globe. As black began to encompass most of her view, she also began to notice the stars creeping into view, countless lights of varying size spread out across the otherwise empty void. It was then she realized her anxiety had disappeared.
Finally she spoke. "Wow..."
"Incredible," Mint breathed lightly beside her.
A murmur went up around the cabin as more and more ponies bore witness to the beauty of space. As if sensing the change in attitudes, the ship's intercom finally spoke for the first time since they had lifted off the pad. "Beautiful sight, ain't it everypony? I tell you, it'll never get old. Do keep your seatbelts and helmets on though, we're not quite in orbit yet. Main engine cutoff in three...two..."
Suddenly the very last weight on Starry's shoulders lifted, and the feeling of weightlessness finally began to set in. She remembered spending months in the training center's diving pool, as it was the closest one could get to zero g back on Equestria, but it was nothing compared to this. She lifted a hoof and drew it through the air, feeling no resistance in the process, and laughed to herself.
Her fun was briefly interrupted, as the whole craft briefly lurched, and she fearfully wondered if something had gone wrong before the intercom once again kicked in. "Good separation of main booster, we'll begin our orbital insertion in a minute or two here."
A minute later though, a loud hollow 'thunk' was heard, followed by another. Suddenly the whole craft found itself pelted by a series of tiny collisions, causing an air of concern among the passenger cabin.
"Relax everypony, just a debris field, the ship's rated to handle this. Assuming of course they didn't leave anything bigger up here!" laughed the intercom.
"Oh how I wish I picked a more serious profession," Mint Chip groaned as the shaking and pelting sounds died away.
"Debris field clear, beginning orbital insertion burn. Next stop: Celestial station!"
The engines kicked in again, but nothing like before. Everypony was gently pushed into their seats as the orbital engines began their final corrections. Starry Night couldn't stop herself from grinning.
"That was the most terrifying experience of my life and I can't WAIT to do it again!" she shouted.
> 2. Station Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Attention crew, we are on final approach to Celestial station, approximately a kilometer out. Regulations say buckle your seatbelts three hundred meters out, till then, enjoy the view!"
The intercom crackled as it turned off once again. Starry Night hardly noticed what had been said, too busy gazing out the porthole at the station in question, her face flanked by Mint Chip and several other starstruck cadets.
Celestial station was, at least for now, the pinnacle of Equestria's orbital construction capabilities. Construction had started shortly before Starry was born, and she'd followed it ever since she was a teen. Purpose built to be a massive orbital hub and jumping-off point for all of the Equestrian Space Agency's planned and ongoing missions, it now resembled a tiny city in its size and facilities. Space for around 250 full-time residents, research, hydroponics, living spaces, engineering, a massive docking hub, an observation deck. Even a bar if the rumors were true.
Through the porthole, the station's form slowly drew closer and closer into view, allowing Starry to fully take in all the details she'd seen in books and the news. The heart of the station was a massive, thick disk housing most of its amenities, with a thinner outer ring connected to it via many spokes and tubes. In the station's early days the whole system  spun to provide artificial gravity to the station. Today though, improvements in arcanotechnology meant artificial gravity was provided to the entire station by means of a massive infused crystal that mages and scientists at the ESA had worked for years on to perfect. The ring still spun, but at a much lower speed, mostly for decoration.
Protruding from both ends of the disk was a long thick tube, which she heard contained an elevator to and from most parts of the station. The tube was a lot shorter at the 'top' of the station, ending in a large glass observation dome. Below that, in the spaces between, were a dozen or so long spindles reaching out, ending in docking bays where she could see other Wayfarer-class ships were parked, and some other different designs. Large metal trusses connected each bay, and each ship bay was surrounded by scaffolding that was part of the station and contained docking clamps. It wouldn't be long before they were parked in one too.
On the underside of the disk was the longer end of the central station tube. Here, large cylindrical drums protruded out in six uniform directions, housing most of the station's guts. Only hydroponics could be easily identified, from the vast number of windows and faint green tint about them. Besides that, the structures were known to contain research labs, engineering spaces, and lots of storage space for both physical objects and liquids, such as water and all types of different rocket fuels. Below all that, the tube tapered off, before expanding once more into a bird's nest of metal trusses, wiring, and general radio and communication arrays. Just before that though, four much smaller tubes extended out in a plus formation, a part of the station that was still 'under construction', though it remained to be seen what more could, or needed to be added. The one thing it truly lacked was construction spaces, though that was intentional, as the space required for orbital construction varied greatly, and was already handled by a hoofful of other space stations.
"Done hogging the view?" Mint Chip scoffed.
Embarrassed, Starry Night slowly pulled back. In her fascination, her head began to encompass the entire porthole, and everypony except Mint Chip was too nice to point it out. With an apologetic smile she went to step away from the window, only to remember gravity was no longer a thing, and gasp as she went slowly sailing into a support beam.
Starry sighed. This zero gravity thing would still take some getting used to, especially for an earth pony like herself. Unicorns had all sorts of telekinetic abilities to help orient themselves, and pegasi had wings to ease themselves along in pressurized environments, in addition to just being used to sailing through the air. Starry only had her four own hooves and whatever she could grab with them to propel herself along.
"Six hundred meters out from station rendezvous everypony! Stay sharp!" the intercom blared once more.
Unwilling to return to her seat just yet, and having drank in her fill of the station's sights, Starry decided to spend what time she had mingling. There was nothing saying she couldn't move between the ship's levels (well, excluding the bridge of course), and she'd been meaning to chat with Wind Catcher again. With a misjudged push off her support column, she barely grabbed the ship's central ladder in time, and slowly made her way down to the next level.
Emerging from the central spire into a room of flight seats identical to the previous, Starry looked around. Spotting nopony familiar, she climbed around to the opposite side of the spire and saw Wind Catcher chatting with an orange-furred, black-maned unicorn stallion. He caught her eye and waved her over, so she pushed herself off and floated over to the two.
"Fancy seeing you here, Star," Wind said eagerly. "Starry Night, this here's Countdown, we were just chatting."
Starry and Countdown exchanged pleasantries. "You in botany too?" Starry asked.
"Nah, pilot. I keep telling Wind he shoulda gone into that, but he's having none of it," Countdown laughed.
Wind scoffed. "Bah, everypony wants to be a pilot these days, might as well be playing the lottery to get accepted."
"You just don't have the leadership skills to be one," Countdown teased, eliciting an eye roll.
Starry giggled. "You two enjoy the ride up?"
"I did, he screamed," Countdown was quick to respond.
"O-only a little!" Wind stammered, face growing warm. Eager to change the subject already he asked, "How bout you? How's zero g?"
"Taking some getting used to," Starry sighed, "but really fun when I don't have to worry about getting from one place to the other."
"Well the station has artificial gravity, reckon you'll be right at home then," Wind replied.
"Speaking of which, you seen it yet? It's huge!" Starry beamed.
"I wish these portholes were bigger, but yeah. I knew it'd be bigger in person but...damn," Wind said lightly, sneaking another glance out the window in the process.
"Certainly is a marvel of engineering. Can't wait to look around inside, not many pictures of that on the internet," Countdown noted.
"Attention crew, we are on final approach to Celestial station, please return to your seats!" The intercom crackled, followed shortly by a jaunty guitar tune.
"Ah well, see you two on the other side then!" Starry waved her pink hoof goodbye, returning to the central spire and climbing back up to her cabin. She returned to her seat next to Mint Chip, and buckled in. As the rocket began to shift oddly from various course corrections, Starry leaned back blissfully, listening to the muffled lyrics of the song talking about a future not so different from theirs as she waited for them to dock.
	Gather round you colts and fillies, listen for a bit
I've a story of a spacer mare, a mare as tough as grit
Space station Annie was her name, or so the crew would talk
And she spent her days in the cargo bays, or occasional spacewalk!


=====


Docking, as it turned out, was still an arduous process.
Approaching the station after orbital insertion had been about three hours. From the time when they buckled back in to successful dock with the station was easily another hour. Back in the earlier days of the space program, a successful launch to a successful dock could take hours to days. Even though this was still a big upgrade, docking remained a tense and dangerous procedure, and so it was still painfully boring. Starry, Mint, and everypony else was required to stay buckled in for the entire time, safety protocol in case an overcorrection with the engines sent ponies flying, or in case of something much worse that Starry preferred not to speculate about.
At any rate, Starry was happy when it was over. A loud 'clunk' echoed through the spacecraft as it finally made contact with the docking port. The pilots could be heard chatting about some additional checks before the port was engaged and pressurized. A minute later more thunks echoed from outside as the bay's docking clamps extended and held the ship firmly in place. A minute later they were instructed to remove their helmets and unbuckle, approaching the central spire in an orderly manner and climbing up towards the docking connection.
"Alright everypony, listen up," came the pilot's voice through the intercom as Starry was climbing up. "Right now you're all still in zero g, but you'll start to feel the effects of the station's gravity gem kicking in as you climb through the umbilical. There's a nice big red line painted on the floor, try keep you hooves on that and you won't bonk your head."
The pilot continued to drone on about a few other safety considerations, though Starry didn't pay much attention; most of it was trivial or had already been drilled in at the academy. The only other notable bit of info was to wait in the main docking rotunda (the room she'd come out in) for a station tender and further instructions. She kept it in the back of her mind as it came her turn to head down the umbilical.
Though no space had been spared in the construction of the umbilical, it was still roomy, even to Starry, who figured some cargo had to come through it occasionally. Positioning herself above the red line, she grabbed on to a set of handlebars on either side of it and began climbing her way..up? Down? Forward? At least the transport shuttle made it clear. Fun as it was, zero g still hurt her brain.
No one had told Starry how long the umbilical was, but she guessed it had to be around a hundred feet. Or maybe it just felt that way. With a pony at her front and back, stopping was not an option, so she put her head down and inched forward. Soon she began to feel gravity kicking in, as she had been warned, and transitioned from using the rungs to trotting along. At first it was awkward, still feeling way too light, but the gravity quickly improved and she was quickly trotting down the umbilical much as one would expect down on Equestria.
Starry and the rest of the crew eventually exited through an open hatch and came to the rotunda that had been talked about, a massive, circular, and mostly featureless room where each of the umbilicals exited to. The walls were all an identical off-white, and the floor was a giant metal grate with poorly-hidden wires and electronics underneath. At the center of the room, however, most of the space was taken up by what was not one, but multiple elevator entrances. Perhaps she had glossed over it, but she didn't remember there being more than one elevator, although now that she thought about it, a place this big needed them.
As the astronauts gathered round the rotunda, one of the elevators suddenly dinged and opened to reveal a pair of ponies, one white unicorn stallion and one green pegasus mare, each wearing noticeably more casual navy blue suits. "Evening rookies, hope you all had a nice flight!" announced the mare. "My name's Flight Deck, and this is Coffee Break, Chief of Operations and Chief of Personnel respectively. It's our job and pleasure to welcome you all to Celestial station and get you acquainted with the station and its facilities. Now as soon as I'm done yapping at you all I'm gonna pile myself and as many newbies as I can into this lift and we'll head on down. Coffee Break will stay here and coordinate the rest of you, then when everypony's accounted for we'll start the tour. Questions will come later. Get to it!"
Being near the front of the line, Starry was one of the lucky first inside the elevator, bunching up tight while still giving Flight Deck room to breath, lest she reprimand them somehow. The elevator ride passed in silence, although Starry almost groaned when she realized even the elevators on a space station played easy-listening muzak. Whether it was a deliberate choice, or cruel sense of humor she'd never know, only that she hated it. When they arrived at their floor and the doors opened though, she couldn't help but gasp.
Before them was a massive, tall room, many times the size of the previous one. Her immediate reaction was that it looked kinda like a Manehattan train station, with its multiple levels, wide open space, and numerous desks and doors to unknown rooms lining the walls. Directly before them was a sizable seating area, with an information desk in the back, flanked by private offices. To the left and right it opened up into large hallways where she noted signs for a cafeteria, lounge, dorms, and bathrooms, among others. In the corners of the current room were metal staircases leading up to a second level with what appeared to be more private offices and staff areas.
Right in front of them though, in the middle of a seating area, was a life-sized marble statue. Three ponies dressed in space suits, one from each pony race, stood tightly together with their heads turned up towards the heavens. Detail was lacking on all but the most central features, perhaps on purpose. Behind them, a much more detailed sculpture of Princess Luna stood, smiling down at the three with her wings outstretched. At the foot of it all was a golden plaque, too far away to read for now, but Starry knew it would probably bring her to tears if she read it; the statue and the message behind it was already giving her a warm, fuzzy feeling in her breast. "Beautiful..."she whispered to herself.
A minute later, when all were accounted for, Flight Deck and Coffee Break once again took to the front of the group. "This room we're in right now is, well, arrivals and departures," Coffee Break started to explain, it finally being his turn to speak, "it's not very active right now save for us, but you'll see more buzz whenever the ESA has something big going on." He pointed behind them, at the two offices Starry had seen earlier. "That's my office on the right, and Flight Deck's on the left. The two of us jointly handle mission assignments, so when you're called on a mission you'll meet with one of us first thing."
After a short description of some of the station's history and other trivial locations in the current room, the group headed down the right hallway. Coffee Break and Flight Deck began trading off pointing out each of the station's facilities, laying down rules and guidelines, and giving historical tidbits. As they traveled clockwise relative to the elevators, they passed the cafeteria, kitchen, lounge and game room, bathrooms, hospital, and requisitions desk in that order save for corridors to the outer ring where dorms were, before coming back around to arrivals. This time there were a few more crewmates waiting with clipboards and boxes.
"-And that concludes the tour, everypony," Flight Deck finished. "Any additional questions, stop by our office. For now, our assistants will get you checked in and assigned to a room, just form an orderly line."
Starry Night sighed. Even up here they couldn't escape bureaucracy. She parked herself in line, and a few minutes later was on her way with two more objects in her possession: The first was a key to a designated dorm, hers number 157 out of the 250 or so on the station. The second was a data pad with digital screen that slipped around one of her legs like a cuff. It reminded her of something she'd seen in a piece of media ages ago, but couldn't quite remember the names.
Trotting down a hall into the station hub's outer ring, Starry found herself in front of the living quarters, doors as far as the eye could see (not that far due to the outer ring's curvature), on three levels with railings and several staircases. Opposite the dorms were scattered bits of furniture to make it seem more homely; desks, chairs, benches, potted plants, and paintings. It took her a second to take note of the door numbers near her and deduce which way her room was, then set off down the hall.
A short walk later, Starry came to room number 157, and inserted her key. She wasn't sure what she expected, but the inside of the dorm was somehow much less than she figured. The room was cramped, reminiscent of a broom closet. To her immediate left was a closet and some drawers built into the wall, while on her right was a door to a even tinier bathroom. She opened the door and was dismayed to find little more than a toilet, basin and the smallest shower known to ponykind. Beyond that, a bed just barely big enough for her form was built into the wall at the far end of the room, and next to it was a small desk with a few writing utensils and a radio. If there was any consolation, it was that instead of a wall next to her bed, there was a full-size window to view the stars from. At least she wouldn't go completely crazy.
After getting her bearings and taking stock of all the clothes and toiletries the room had been stocked with, Starry finally felt the day's excitement catching up on her. Yawning loudly, she stepped over to her bed and flopped down, spending the time before she fell asleep getting acquainted with her data pad.


=====


Starry Night awoke many hours later to a loud buzzing sound above her head. She rolled onto her back and was mildly surprised to find the ceiling above her bed had a digital clock display built in, with some buttons to set an alarm. Didn't notice that before...The clock read 6 AM sharp, prompting her to groan and haul her carcass out of bed. After going about her morning routine, she finally changed out of her grimy orange flightsuit and slipped on a more casual blue uniform. Miraculously she managed to slip it over her earth pony form, though it clearly wasn't meant for her, as it came down way short of where it probably should have, and was uncomfortably tight. Something to bring up with requisitions probably.
For the time being though, she was hungry. There was still plenty to do and get acquainted with, but right now she needed food in her belly. Gathering what little she had, she left her room and briskly trotted down the hall towards the station's cafeteria. There she found a long line of ponies, but no sign of anypony she knew yet. She didn't have high hopes for the food; but when all she got on her plate were two different color piles of mush, a bowl of the saddest looking leafy greens she'd ever seen, and a juice packet, she knew she was in for a long haul.
While she waited for somepony she recognized to arrive, Starry sat herself down at the vacant end of one table, and began poking at her 'food'. Save for the juice, it was all practically tasteless, with only the faintest vegetable flavor. The texture reminded her of mashed potatoes, which one of the piles probably was, and while not particularly offensive, she wasn't looking forward to eating this on the daily.
"Hey there, you're one of the newbies, right?" Starry looked up at a jet-black pegasus mare with a silvery mane looking at her from across the table.
"Oh, yeah. Name's Starry Night, yours?"
"Docking Bay. Everypony calls me Doc though," she chuckled, reaching a hoof out which Starry reciprocated. "I'm on my third tour right now, so I got plenty to share, and I know  a newbie like you has questions."
Finally, somepony to show her the ropes. "Well, for starters..." Starry looked down at her plate, "Just what in Celestia's name am I eating?"
Doc squinted. "Looks like you got mashed potatoes and carrots with a side salad. Though anypony who's been around more than a week calls it nutrient paste. It sucks, but you get used to it."
Starry stuck her tongue out. "Would've at least preferred an MRE."
"Oh you'll get to eat plenty of them, don't worry. Hydroponics just had a good harvest recently and nothing goes to waste here. Should be a cargo shuttle soon with some provisions. Maybe if we're lucky they'll actually cook something!"
Starry Night started drilling Docking Bay with questions as she tried to eat, asking about everything she hadn't been briefed on, or caught her curiosity, and getting an answer for most of them. At some point she finally noticed Wind Catcher and Mint Chip had finally came in for breakfast, with Countdown in tow.
"I take it you all know each other?' Doc observed as Starry's acquaintances took seats next to or across from her.
"Reasonably well," Mint replied. "Me and Star mostly, and those two," she pointed at Wind and Countdown. "Enough to stick together so we all don't lose our heads up here."
"Smart, making friends is more or less required up here. Operations tends to play nicer when assigning missions to ponies that know each other."
"Speaking of which, how does mission assignment work anyway?" Countdown piped up.
Doc raised an eyebrow. "They didn't tell you yet? Ah wait, you all probably haven't had orientation yet. At any rate, operations has a mission list available from your data pads, updates daily and gives some details on the job. Give it about a week or so for you newbies and you'll get called into Flight Deck or Coffee's office for a mission assignment. Not much choice in the matter starting out besides who you do it with, but get a few under your belt and see what happens.
"Orientation? Yeah I think we're having that after breakfast here. Arrivals lounge, right?" Mint asked. Starry nodded.
"By the way, what specialization did you all go into?" Doc wondered.
"Engineering," Mint and Starry said simultaneously.
"Pilot," Countdown smirked.
"Uh, botany," Wind ginned nervously.
"Good, good, good," Doc droned. "Botany though? Sheesh dude, no offense, but you'd be lucky to get much more than a crew transfer to another station."
Wind laughed. "Yeah I kinda figured. I don't mind though, seemed like one of the more relaxing jobs up here. Glad I didn't go into service though."
Doc narrowed her eyes. "Hey buddy, I work service, requisitions specifically." Wind gulped. "But eh, I know what you mean. Just remember though, nopony's gonna notice or care when I throw your limited edition Daring Do comic out the airlock."
"Heh, sorry," Wind rubbed the back of his neck.
"Could still be worse though. You could work construction," Doc laughed.
"What's so bad about construction?" Starry asked.
Doc whistled. "Hoo boy, that's about one of the most dangerous jobs you can get up here. Spending all day in zero g, working with heavy equipment, massive metal panels, and all sorts of electronics and fuel lines. Just last week I heard a construction worker had their leg, ah, 'forcibly amputated' getting it caught between some panels." Everypony at the table shivered.
"...One of the most dangerous?" Starry decided to ask. "What else?"
"Engineering." Doc grinned.


=====
6 Days Later...


BZZT BZZT BZZT.
Snapping awake, Starry Night groaned and reached a hoof up to turn off the accursed alarm above her sleeping space. With a yawn and a few smacks of her lips, she rolled out of bed and trotted over to her bathroom for a morning shower. As she cleaned herself off, she reflected on her time here so far. Going on a week into her tour, she was finally starting to make sense of the station and its methods. Docking Bay had been a great help in assisting her and her friends with all the stuff that hadn't been gone over in training. She had even confirmed that, while the station did not have a bar, requisitions kept a stash of liquor, only available to those with something to barter or a favor to cash in. 
With a week under her belt, Starry was due for a beginner assignment sooner or later. She'd heard it was also possible (though it hopefully wouldn't happen to her), to spend a week down in the station's engineering spaces, monitoring equipment and making the odd repair, all while getting a more hooves-on feel for all the equipment up in space. Beggars couldn't be choosers of course, but she still hoped for a long haul mission; the station was already feeling stuffy and she longed to see some of the facilities and constructions around the moon and the outer planets.
Emerging from the shower feeling refreshed, Starry dug into her limited wardrobe and donned a fresh new uniform. After checking her data pad (nothing new), she trotted off down the hall for some breakfast. The menu still hadn't changed at all, and her heart sank as two slops of nutrient paste, a juice, and some limp greens fell on her plate. As she went over to the tables she found Mint Chip and Docking Bay had already beaten her there, though she didn't engage in conversation immediately. Instead she absently looked around the room.
As was expected, most of the ponies on the space station were either unicorns or pegasi, as they usually had the easiest time living and working up here. She did notice a few earth ponies, surprisingly, though including herself she didn't think they numbered more than a dozen. In one corner she noticed an odd looking pony, fuzzy ears, bright yellows eyes, and...Oh wow a bat pony? Don't see them often, much less up here, she thought to herself.
"Hey Star, how you holding up?" Mint asked through a mouthful of breakfast.
"Hm? Oh, fine I suppose. We're due to be assigned to something today, holding out for something good." Starry replied wistfully.
Doc was busy tapping away at her data pad, but still found the time to interject. "Relax, it's honestly pretty unlikely you'll be assigned to a station shift. Space is busier now than ever, lots of spots need filling. By the way Chip, that cargo shuttle's coming in later. I'll see if I can sneak you some cream and sugar."
While Mint and Doc hashed out a business deal they had made earlier, Starry returned to her food and attempted to stomach it. As she did so, she was interrupted by a sudden chime from her data pad and brought it up to find a notification. "Mission Assignment for First-Time Astronauts". Well now, that was promising. Opening it up, she started reading some of the details.
"Yo, you get that too?" Mint asked, suddenly leaning over Starry's shoulder.
Doc looked up. "Finally getting assigned to something, huh? I gotta get going in a second here, stop by requisitions afterward and tell me how it goes though."
Starry nodded in return, and looked back down at the notification as she began to read aloud. "If you're reading this, congratulations on surviving your first week on Celestial station, very funny. Uh, at 0800 hours head to arrivals, form groups if desired with other crew, and prepared to be called into our offices for assignment. Not all members of a group are guaranteed slot on the same mission, blah blah blah..."
"Hmm, pretty straightforward. What do you reckon, should we ask Wind Catcher and Countdown?"
"Of course, better than getting some stranger." Starry smiled.


=====


After finishing breakfast and sitting around for a bit, Starry and the rest of her newly-minted friend group found themselves in the middle of arrivals, mingling with dozens of other ponies, while Flight Deck and Coffee Break went around gauging who wanted to be grouped, and who wanted (or had) to be on their own. They passed the time with some small talk until, after half an hour of being there, a spot opened up in Flight Deck's office and she called them in.
The green pegasus glanced up at them, brushing her yellow hair out of her eyes before addressing them:"Alright, let's get down to business. Just to make sure, you're all hoping to get assigned together?" A chorus of nods. "Alright, occupations?
"Engineer."
"Engineer."
"Pilot."
"Botanist."
"Botanist?" Flight Deck frowned. "That might be a liiiiittle tricky, stay behind when we're done here and I'll see what I can do. As for the rest of you, I have a tanker full of liquid hydrogen docked at Luna station that needs to get to Polaris station in orbit around Thraxis ASAP. About three weeks round-trip, should even out your first month here nicely. I'll have uhhhh, Chart Topper as mission CO, he's been around for a few tours." After tapping a few things into her data pad and writing down a note, she finally looked at the group directly. "Any questions?"
The group exchanged glaces. "No ma'am."
"Good. Wind Catcher stay behind, rest of you I expect to be ready and waiting in arrivals by 0600 hours tomorrow."
"Well that kinda sucks," Countdown complained once they were outside the office. "Hope they don't send him too far."
"Should be easy enough to keep in touch, still sucks though." Mint stuck her tongue out. "Fuel run though? Yuck!"
Starry grinned. "Aww cmon, it's better than sticking around here! We'll finally be going places! And we'll be in space!"
Mint raised an eyebrow. "We're already in space."
"Yeah but...ah, you know what I mean."
"Mmhmm. I've just never seen somepony so excited to haul fuel before," Countdown snickered.
"It's a chance to see the Equestria system! Meet new ponies!" Starry insisted. " Think of it as an adventure!"
Mint and Countdown remained partially unconvinced, but deep down everypony was looking forward to some different sights and experiences. For now the trio parted ways, with Starry heading to the gym. Excitement consumed her thoughts for the rest of the day, and she slept restlessly that night, eager to take a few more steps into the cosmos.
> 3. The Draconequus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starry Night wasn't a morning pony. An almost laughable observation given her name, but that was merely a funny coincidence; she was usually fine. It had been a long time since she had been expected to get up at 5am for, well, anything though. After taking a quick shower, dressing herself, and packing up some personal amenities for the upcoming mission in her saddlebags; she stopped by the cafeteria for a cup of coffee in the hopes it would wash away the feeling of being utterly miserable.
Back on Equestria, 5am would still be dark out. Celestial station's orbit around the planet was two hours, with the sun visible for half of that each orbit. The lights on the station remained on at all times (though some dimmed at 'night' to stimulate sleep schedules), but Starry still found herself dumbfounded when she looked out one of the station windows and it was a coin toss of being dark or light out. As she walked down the hall she found herself in the middle of one of these transitions, the halls growing a bit darker as the sun dipped behind Equestria. With time to spare she sat and sipped her beverage, watching the sun become a sliver of light and eventually disappear for the next hour.
Then something happened that caught Starry slightly off-guard, as she had never witnessed it before. Equestria was enveloped by a faint golden shimmer, and moments later she witnessed the sun rapidly emerge from the opposite side of where it had disappeared, quickly disappearing from the window view and presumably ending up behind the station. A moment later the gold shimmer turned blue, and a few seconds later Starry watched the moon slide into view the same way the sun had come, and settle behind Equestria as the sun had earlier.
It took Starry a second to realize what had happened, but she almost laughed when it finally came to her. Celestia and Luna must be doing their jobs...Equestria, as it turned out, was at the center of its solar system, with the sun and moon occupying opposite sides of the same orbit around it. Equestria spun on its axis just fast enough that the sun and moon appeared locked in the sky, requiring Celestia and Luna to adjust them accordingly twice a day. Such a system had caused scientists and astronomers much grief, as they had yet to find a similar system, but that was their problem. Magic existed, and for Starry, that was explanation enough.
Checking the time, Starry found it would be a good idea to get down to arrivals soon. Gulping down the rest of her coffee and depositing the cup into the nearest trashcan, she trotted off down the hall. She found a number of ponies mingling in arrivals, including her friend group and a familiar brown pegasus.
"Yo, Wind!" Starry chirped as she trotted up to them. "You make the mission after all?"
Wind Catcher turned to look as Starry approached, smiling. "Oh, hey Star. Kinda sorta. Chief said Polaris station is down a botanist and you guys are headed that way anyway. You're stuck with me a little longer," he laughed, before looking down at his hooves muttering, "although she never specified what happened to the old one..."
Just then one of the nearby elevators opened. A group of weary-looking ponies trotted out, dressed in denim uniforms and hazard vests, their coats and manes clearly unkempt and blotted with dirt and grime. They were enthusiastically chatting to one another as they passed, but some of their words sounded hollow and the bags under their eyes were obvious. The group watched them pass with interest before Starry finally piped up. "Now who are they?"
"Asteroid miners," came a gruff voice behind them. Starry turned to see a navy blue unicorn trotting up, his face sporting an odd mix of a messy brown mane and a well-kept mustache, a pair of fiery red eyes in between. "Looks like they're heading down on shore leave soon. Wouldn't be surprised if it'll be the first time they've showered in months."
"Are you, uh, Chart Topper?" Mint Chip asked.
The stallion chuckled. "Oh whoops, my manners. Yep, that's me. I take it you're the crew I was assigned?"
"Yep, fuel run out to Polaris station," Countdown replied.
"First time I take it?" They all nodded in response. "Well consider yourself lucky folks. Hauling fuel or cargo isn't the quickest or most glamorous job, but it's one of the easier ones. Good opportunity to give you folks some hooves-on training. Anyway we're right on schedule, let's get moving."
Piling into one of the elevators, Chart tapped a button and everypony waited in silence before the doors closed and the elevator lurched as it started traveling up towards the docking rotunda. Chart began listing of some basic mission details, stuff that Starry and co had already heard, though it didn't hurt to be reminded. The ship was the TK Draconequus, an older ship which lacked an official class designation on account of parts of it being cobbled together from other ships, hence the name, although Starry couldn't shake the nagging feeling that wasn't the only reason. It was 30 years old and apparently showing its age, though it had a massive fuel capacity matched by only a few ships in the space agency's fleet, and thus had managed to dodge decommissioning for so long.
"Would you believe me," laughed Chart, "if I said that ship is older than me?"
Mint Chip balked. "You're under 30?"
"28 exactly. I know I don't look or sound it, I guess it's true what they say about space changing a pony," he said with a sad glint in his eye. "Once you finish your fifth tour they just ask if you prefer to stay up here. So I did."
The elevator dinged, opening its doors to the docking rotunda. Chart led everypony out, trotting over to one of the many hatches, above which was a digital display with a number and name of whatever ship was docked. In bay six was their ship: SH-015. The group proceeded down the red-floored umbilical as Chart made small talk. Starry anticipated the change in gravity that had come before, and indeed her hooves began to feel lighter around the mid-point, though that strangely didn't last.
At the end of the umbilical it opened up into the spacious interior of their ship. What immediately struck Starry is that the ship was arranged with a clear gravitational pull in mind, contrary to the Wayfarer-class she first rode up on. Flight seats lined the walls, save for a few storage lockers in the back. At the back wall was a closed door marked 'engine room', she couldn't hope to guess what it contained. Directly on the opposite side was an open doorway to the cockpit; seats, computers, and a window with the vast view of space were just visible from her position. "Just what exactly is this?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Canter-class station hopper," Chart explained. "Pretty new model, built with efficiency AND comfort in mind, shockingly enough. Gravity gems in the floors, comfortable seats, no windows back here sadly, but the view from the cockpit is amazing." While Starry removed her saddlebags and started stuffing them in a compartment above her preferred seat, Chart turned to Countdown. "You're our pilot right? Flown anything besides sims before?"
"No sir."
"Today's your lucky day then. Gotta start somewhere, come with me I'll walk you through it. Don't worry, it's almost exactly like the sims."

=====

"SH-015 this is Celestial station, you are disengaged and clear for departure, best of luck out there."
"Copy that station, see you in three weeks," Countdown replied, turning the radio off before turning around in his seat. "Buckle up back there, we're heading out!"
A trio of clicks rang out as Starry and her partners buckled into their seats. The station hopper's RCS thrusters briefly kicked in, providing a small sense of movement as it eased away from the station. A minute later they were at a safe distance; the ship began to bank, then the main thrusters finally ignited, giving everypony a jolt as they were finally on their way.
"Course is plotted, heading is correct..." Chart announced slowly, "you can throttle down when the computer says so. Estimated arrival at Luna station should be in about, oh, two hours now."
"We won't be strapped in that whole time, will we?" Starry wondered.
"Oh of course not. Should be smooth sailing now barring any mid-course corrections. Feel free to come up here and admire the view."
Starry obliged, stepping up into the cockpit and peering over the shoulders of her pilot and commander at the expanse before them. It wasn't as good as the view from the station's observation deck, but the view still took her breath away. Out in the vast expanse of space, the distant stars shimmered against the inky black like distant gems. Directly ahead and just to the left was the moon in all its glory; a giant white marble hanging in the sky.
After a minute of quiet contemplation, Chart finally decided to break the silence. "You folks care to listen to some tunes?"
"Something tells me we don't have a choice," Countdown muttered.
Chart chuckled, "quite right young buck," then retrieved a CD from his pocket and inserted it into the ship's console. One button press later and soon the whole ship echoed with the upbeat melody of a piano and guitar duo, with lyrics shortly after:
	Three months out from Griffon station, tryna make a bit
I've just three-hundred to my name, I can't afford to quit
But space is wide and dark and cold and space can kinda suck
And if the engine blows again, I'm shor'ly out of luck


=====


The two hour journey passed quickly and uneventfully. Starry and crew had the great (mis)fortune of being treated to Chart Topper's extensive space shanty collection, and several tales of missions past. Starry only paid half attention until it was announced they entered orbit around the moon and that Luna station would be popping into view sooner or later.
Luna station was, like it's namesake, quite a bit smaller than Celestial station (about 1/3rd the crew capacity), and had been built more recently. However Celestial station was the main benefactor of the space agency's resources, leaving Luna station with just enough investment to keep it maintained and expand as necessary. Large sections of the station were still original, with new additions being made to work with what was already in place rather than replace anything. A good third of the station's amenities were said to be contained within artificial gravity rings, as trying to install gravity gems would be more trouble than it was worth. Princess Luna had passed a decree calling for massive overhauls to the station so that it might someday rival Celestia's, but progress was slow, especially this much further out in space.
Despite all its shortfalls, Luna station was still the largest station in orbit around the moon, and by far the most important as it served as a stopover for the few rapidly expanding lunar surface colonies. Luna station also had orbital docks to rival Celestial station's, with vast rows of pressurized tubes and steel trusses holding some of the largest spaceships ponies had built, including the Draoconequus.
As the station rolled into view, Starry made note of its almost chaotic construction. It's crew were clearly forced to work with a lot of what they already had. The 'original' station could be identified by a pair of spinning orbital rings built along a long central tube, with the occasional intersection leading out into who knows what. Old science, cargo, or hydroponics modules perhaps? At one end of the central structure it opened up into a large disk with protrusions that made it look like a smaller Celestial station, containing the main living spaces and the newest parts of the station. Behind all this, from their perspective at least, were the orbital dockyards, easily taking up half the station's total space with a number of ships already parked there.
Starry's chance to admire it was short-lived for the time being, as they were ordered to buckle in for final approach to the station. Countdown opened a comms channel and announced their business to the station as he began gently pulling in the ship to the nearest docking bay. As the docking clamps engaged and everypony breathed a sigh of relief, they began gathering their things and disembarking.
The docking rotunda for Luna station was a lot smaller, and the central hub only contained two elevators. Otherwise the layout was much of the same, although Starry noticed a few removed panels and exposed electronics here and there. After calling the elevator they stood there waiting for it to arrive, until eventually it dinged and the doors opened.
Standing on the other side was one of the last things Starry expected to see: a bat pony! Purple coat, dark blue hair, bright yellow eyes, and a knowing grin. She was a mare, dressed in an officer uniform similar to the ones Flight Deck and Coffee Break wore. "Welcome day dwellers," she greeted them, her voice thick with an accent that reminded Starry of Hayti. "My name's Reverie, captain of Luna station. What brings you here?"
Chart stepped forward, a smile on his face. "Pleasure seeing you again Reverie. Wish we could stay, but I got some first-timers here to help take the Draconequus out to Thraxis."
"Ah Chart Topper, been a hot minute," Reverie smiled. "Taking the Draconequus eh? I wondered where all that hydrogen was gonna go." She sized up the group in front of her then pouted. "Mm, I don't suppose your new crew has time for a tour, eh?"
Chart robbed his chin thoughtfully then grinned. "Well, maybe just a quick one."


=====


Luna station was much like Celestial station on the inside, although as one would expect, much smaller. Room for 60 permanent inhabitants, cafeteria, kitchen, lounge, so on and so forth. The one thing missing was a designated gym; instead the lounge room had a few sets of exercise gear. There was still a medical wing, but it was labelled a 'clinic' rather than a hospital, and it was explained it didn't have the facilities for any surgical procedures; anypony requiring that would be shipped back to Celestial station.
Despite the smaller corridors, lack of facilities, and patchwork construction in some places, Starry found it oddly homely. She wouldn't mind spending a tour here. There was still decent amounts of traffic through the station, heading into the outer planets or down to the lunar colony, but it was still noticeably less chaotic than Celestial station.
As Reverie began to wrap up the tour, Starry couldn't help but blurt out a question. "Say uh, Reverie. Are you the only bat pony here?"
Reverie almost laughed. "Nah, course not. There's about a dozen of us here, you can probably guess why. Day dwellers still outnumber us though."
Finally the group came back around to the arrivals lobby, a decent-sized room with chairs, an information desk, and a distinct lack of any furniture (or statues) besides a potted plant here and there.
"Reckon I should let you be off then, you folks got three long weeks ahead of you," Reverie stated, before sneaking a glance at Chart Topper. "Do stay put a second though, I have a parting gift for you old man."
"Dammit, she does that on purpose," Chart muttered once Reverie was out of earshot. "I'm not even out of my 20s."
"You know her that well, huh?" Wind remarked.
"Ayep, served a few missions with her over my time up here, she was usually the commander. Only natural they put her in charge of this place," Chart explained.
A minute or two later Reverie returned, an ornate glass bottle tucked under one hoof. "Bottle of wine," she announced, presenting it to Chart. "Nothing fancy, but you know how it is smuggling alcohol up here. Have a safe flight!"
Chart popped the bottle into his saddlebags and the group waved goodbye as Reverie trotted off to do important captain things. Chart led Starry and the rest down a previously-unexplored corridor labeled 'docks', which led into the long and winding tubes where the proper ships were parked.
"Mind your step," cautioned Chart. "There'll be signs, but they stopped putting gravity gems in the floor around here. The Draconequus should be in bay three."
Soon Starry felt her hooves grow lighter and lighter and stifled a sigh as she transitioned to using the handlebars lining the corridor.


=====


Starry wasn't sure what to expect when they passed through the docking port into the Draconequus proper, but she was hoping for a little more than a bare-bones airlock. After cycling it, all they were met with was a few lockers, an air tank dispenser, and three racks containing much more rigid and metallic spacesuits; hardsuits, rather. The room was about the size of her dorm back on Equestria. Besides the airlock, there were only only two doors, one for the engine room, and another for the habitation module and cockpit.
"Alright folks, fun's over," Chart announced as he floated over to a breaker and switched the lights on. "It's time to get this bitch in the air. Star, head back to the engine room and fire up the reactor, get us some internal power going. Mint, get the gravity ring spinning. Wind, uh, if you think you can assist in any way do so, and Countdown, you're with me in the cockpit."
With a salute, Starry kicked off the nearest wall and only missed the engine room door by a few inches. Bracing herself with one hoof, she used her other to push down on the massive lever locking the door in place. As she slipped inside she was met with the red glow of backup lights partially illuminating the dozen or so consoles and computer screens lining the wall. All over every surface were exposed pipes and wires, save for a large port in the wall with a nuclear trefoil above it and writing that was only partially intelligible from where she was standing. Next to it was a large metal casket with much of the same warnings. Must be fuel storage, and the port next to it is where you insert fuel rods.
Starry took a deep breath. Alright, first real assignment of your first real mission. Piece of cake, right? She immediately got to work. Starting a spaceship's reactor was one of many things gone over at the academy, and had been drilled enough she remembered the gist of it. Thankfully it was fully expected astronauts would be forgetful idiots, and the information for something as vital as this was printed on the wall in quick but concise wording.
First things first, she checked the fuel port. Empty. As it should be, but one could never be too sure. Floating over to the storage casket, she briefly struggled to open its heavy lid (more to do with zero G than a lack of strength), and retrieved a fresh fuel rod. Even on the older reactors the setup involved fuel rods that were firmly encased within a protective covering, meaning one could theoretically handle a rod for over an hour and still get a negligible dose of radiation. Though still preferable to having to suit up every time, superstition told her not to handle it any longer than need be.
After inserting the rod into the fuel port and firmly closing it, Starry turned to the console next to it. She booted it up and began carefully following the next few steps printed on the wall and watched as the automatic startup kicked in. A loud whirring began to rev up, until finally the lights kicked in. Several bars appeared on the screen for battery banks that began rapidly filling. Once they passed 90% the whirring cut out almost completely, meaning the reactor was in a low-power state that would only provide what they needed. Starry couldn't help but hoof-pump the air. Wooo, I did it!
"Nice job down there Star, reading good power levels," came Chart's voice through the intercom suddenly. Initially startled, the compliment caused her to grin. "Mint, how's the gravity ring?"
"Firing it up now that we have power," Mint replied, her voice also crackling through the subpar speaker. A few seconds elapsed. "Zero point one G and counting."
"Alright, the ring only goes up to three-quarters G or it risks ripping itself apart by spinning too fast. Muscle atrophy sucks so stay active!"
Once the ship's main systems were online, Chart called everypony up to the cockpit to strap in for departure. Still feeling satisfied with herself, Starry happily clicked her belt and barely managed to stay still as she waited for them to officially be off and running.
"Draconequus this is Luna station, pre-flight checks look good, you'll be clear for launch as soon as we release the docking clamps."
Countdown's hoof gently rubbed the throttle. Chart got a firey glint in his eye. Mint and WInd nervously shared a glance while Starry grinned from ear to ear. Distant thunks echoed throughout the ship as the docking clamps disengaged.
"Uhhh, Draconequus, I'm afraid we have bad news. Faulty docking clamp refuses to let go, I think we'll have to send somepony out to release it manually."
Instantly the mood in the cockpit deflated. Starry couldn't help but groan. All that excitement, just to end up with a delay? Positively unfair. She barely noticed the fire returning to Chart's eyes as he looked up thoughtfully.
"Copy that station. That's a bummer, but don't sweat one of your ponies." Chart turned around, glancing from Starry to Mint and back a few times before continuing. "I think some of my crew could use the practice."


=====


Ten minutes later Starry stood (floated, rather) in the middle of the ship's EVA room, dressed up to her neck in a hardsuit. Unlike a regular flightsuit, a hardsuit was a rigid full-body space suit designed to provide protection on extended spacewalks. Painted a brilliant white, with fully articulated joints and a built-in thruster pack, it was the latest and greatest from the space program. It was well padded inside too, though it still felt claustrophobic and she hadn't even gotten the helmet on yet.
"—and once you get up there you'll have to unbolt the cover, but instructions should be printed on the inside. Don't be afraid to ask if either of you two get lost, station channels remain open until you're back in the airlock," Chart finished explaining.
Starry nodded her head in dull acknowledgement. In reality she only heard about half of it and figured she could guess her way to success with the other half. Mint, next to her, nodded her head in the same way, though with noticeably less nervousness on her face.
Starry had to admit she wasn't looking forward to this. Starting the reactor in zero g had been easy enough, and releasing a docking clamp would theoretically be even easier. The main difference this time was there would be nothing but a stuffy hardsuit between her soft, fleshy body and the cold, uncaring vacuum of space. In addition, there'd be a lot fewer ways to tell up and down up there, and finally there was the incredibly unlikely (but still technically possible) chance of her floating off into nothingness if her tether snapped. At least the suit had magboots built in. That was a small comfort.
After strapping on an air tank and checking the pressure, Starry carefully lowered the hardsuit helmet ontop of her head, feeling it click into place. Instantly everything was muted save for her own breathing. Huff. Huff. Huff. Suddenly feeling much more claustrophobic, she took a few deep breaths and sat down as she waited for Mint. She could see their mouths moving a little bit, but everything was hopelessly muffled. Finally, once they were both ready, something clicked inside her helmet and she heard Mint's buzzy voice coming through a speaker.
"Alright, I guess we're good to go then."
"Excellent," Chart Topper this time. "Go step inside the airlock and I'll cycle it. Pull down on the red lever when you're ready, don't forget to tether yourself."
Starry and Mint obliged and a minute later they were staring out an open airlock. Besides the retraced umbilical and some scaffolding, there was nothing but the vast expanse of space before them. With a bit of hesitation, Starry finally jumped forward.
GuhhhhhHHHH! Starry felt her stomach drop a little as the safety of the ship dropped away under her, replaced by the empty void of space. The suit had built-in thrusters, but she wasn't about to start orienting herself until she felt her stomach stop twisting. Vomiting inside a spacesuit was not an experience she wanted. When the sensation subsided she finally began to orient herself, gently angling forward and pushing off towards her objective. She remembered to glance behind her, and saw Mint just on her tail.
"So Star," Chart's voice suddenly crackled in her helmet. "I never got the chance to ask, where are you from?"
Starry raised an eyebrow. "Any reason you're asking now?"
"Well I won't lie, it's not just curiosity. Talking with somepony on a space walk is the best way to keep 'em calm no matter how many times they've done it. Therefore you're ordered to start chatting," he chuckled.
Starry and Mint came to the top of the ship and looked around. They were above the main junction of the ship, behind them the extended gravity ring, and before them several dozen meters of massive white fuel tanks, some partially hidden behind the only docking arm still connected to the ship. In the background, just off to the left, the moon dominated the sky. She racked her brain but couldn't think of a decent retort. "Well uh, I'm from Fillydelphia. Sorta city outskirts, not a huge fan of busy downtown areas." Her eyes settled on the only one of the four docking clamps around this section of the ship that hadn't retracted. That had to be it.
"Fillydelphia. Visited once in my youth, fond memories. How bout you Mint?"
Pushing off from the top of the spaceship, the duo slowly drifted towards the top of the docking clamp. "Born in Coltorado, then moved out to Canterlot when I was kinda young and grew up there," Mint explained. They were coming up on their destination in a moment. Starry clicked together her magboots to activate them and held a hoof out in front of her. "Almost at the clamp by the way."
Starry felt her hoof connect with the metal structure and the magboot locked her in place. "Already? Good, good," Chart said. "You two got it from here. Anyway, how was it growing up in Fillydelphia?"
Rifling through the tools clipped to her suit, Starry laid her hoof on a power drill and brought it up to one of the four bolts holding down the clamp's maintenance panel. "It was alright I guess. Nothing too interesting."
As Starry started undoing the first bolt, Chart audibly sighed. "Please, everypony says that. No funny stories or anything?"
The first bolt finished unscrewing and started floating away before Mint caught it in her magic. Starry moved onto the other before responding. "Not that I can think of right now. I spent a lot of time inside reading, that's kinda what got me motivated to end up here. Where are you from anyway?"
"Me? Ponyville," Chart replied.
"Ponyville? That's a pretty backwater town, ain't it?" Mint piped up inbetween grabbing the second bolt.
"Nah, hardly. Not anymore at least. You folks should visit during shore leave, pretty busy place now, but still got that small town charm, y'know?"
The last two bolts came with the same ease. The panel carefully slid away, held in Mint's magic. Starry was faced with a whole lot of hydraulics, electronics, levers, and a comically undersized print of the instructions in the corner. She leaned in and began carefully reading. Step 1: Retrieve CLAMP RELEASE KEY and screw into CLAMP RELEASE PORT. Step 2: Pull on CLAMP RELEASE KEY to withdraw CLAMP RELEASE PORT and set interior switch to ON. And so forth.
While Starry worked, Mint watched on placidly. Finally she decided to say something again. "Say Chart, you work on the Draconequus before? You seemed awful familiar with it."
"Eh, this'll be uhhhh, my third time I think, second as mission commander. I've flown close to a hundred missions though and ships are made to have a lot of identical or similar systems," he explained. Starry only paid half attention. Step 4: Depress CLAMP RELEASE LEVER until docking arm is fully retracted.
With one hoof still held in place magnetically, Starry used her free one to pull down on the designated lever, then looked below her. Sure enough the arm was slowly approaching them. "Looks like the clamp released okay, it's almost retracted," she announced, receiving a satisfied grunt of acknowledgement. She watched it retract for a few more seconds before looking up at the panel. It was then she noticed the needle on a pressure gauge dipping into numbers on a red background. "Uhh Chart, something doesn't look ri-"
KLANG!
Starry felt her heart jump into her throat as something suddenly lurched and she felt the vibration of it throughout her whole suit. A split second later she felt her suit and helmet pelted with unknown fragments, one of which clipped her helmet with enough force to leave a scratch in the glass."GAHH!" She looked down in shock, noticing one of the arm's hydraulic pistons had more or less disintegrated, spraying hydraulic fluid and shards of metal in all directions.
"Star, Mint! You two good?" Chart yelled through the earpiece.
Starry looked up, meeting Mint's shocked expression with her own, though thankfully they both appeared unharmed. "Physically fine...i think. It uhhh, l-looks like one of the pistons e-exploded."
"Exploded?!"
"Wh-what she said," Mint steadily replied. "P-piston's gone. Shattered. Exploded. Whatever."
Chart cursed. "Guess that's why it didn't retract, huh? If it was ready to do that...Thank Celestia you're both alright though. Not much we can do about it so get back to the airlock."
Starry and Mint barely remembered to bolt the panel back on, doing so in utter silence while frequently taking glances at the shattered piece of machinery below them. They slowly glided their way back to the airlock, still refusing to speak a word. Before cycling it they each unhooked their tethers from their suits, then fired up the winches that would reel them back in. Starry felt a lump in her throat as her tether came back short, and looked down to find the other half she had just unclipped floating under her, its end frayed where the disintegrating piston had cut right through it.
Once the airlock cycled and the interior door opened, Starry trotted forward and jerked off her helmet, gasping as she released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"You good Star?" Chart asked, popping through one of the doors.
"Y-yeah, pretty good," she huffed, feeling her nerves start to settle. "I guess I didn't realize that could happen."
"Wish I had something to say besides 'it happens' but...yeah. Incidents like that are rare and hardsuits are really protective. You're safer than you think," he reassured.
"Yeah...thanks. What now then?"
"Well station wasn't too happy when I told them the news, but its under their jurisdiction now. The clamp retracted enough for us to get underway, so as soon as you're all strapped in again we'll fire up the engines," Chart explained, a smile returning to his face.
Chart returned the way he came, leaving Starry and Mint alone in the EVA room. Starry cradled her helmet in her hooves, staring long and hard at the scratch left in it until she felt a hoof on her shoulder.
"You good Star?"
Starry whipped around to see Mint's concerned expression. "...Yeah," she finally replied. "Just wasn't expecting my first spacewalk to go like that."
"Me neither. We're still here though. Just gotta be that much more careful next time," Mint reassured. "Now cmon, let's help each other out of these damn suits."


=====


A half hour later, after slipping out of their suits, buckling back into the cockpit, and listening to space traffic control go through the motions again, they were finally ready to depart. For real this time, barring a freak accident or act of Faust.
"Whenever you're ready Countdown," Chart said. "Nice and easy, this ship's quite a few times the weight of that station hopper."
The beads of sweat were obvious on Countdown's face as he began maneuvering the several-hundred ton tanker. Auxiliary thrusters kicked in, gently guiding the ship away from its bay, then away from the station. Once enough space had been cleared, and their bearing set, his hoof gently eased the throttle up. The ship began to hum as its massive plasma thrusters pulled the ship away from the station with increasing speed. Soon the throttle was at 100%, and Countdown finally withdrew his hoof with a sigh.
"Splendid. Burn will take about half an hour, and I'm afraid we can't leave till then. Anypony up for some space shanties?" Chart asked with a sly smirk.
With the exception of Countdown, every other hoof in the cockpit raised. Eventually, even he begrudgingly joined in.
"I'll admit I may have changed the words a bit for this one, but I'm sure you'll all catch on." He cleared his throat.
"I'm a, space tanker commandeer,
En route through the vacuum ocean of space,
A tanker captain in the high frontier,
Running three weeks out of Luna!"
Starry wasn't a singer, but she couldn't help but hum along. As it turned out, nopony else in the room was a singer either, but as more of them joined in it stopped sounding like a mess and more like an actual piece of music. She was the last to fully join in, but she didn't feel as embarrassed as she thought she would.
As the crew sung away their woes while the engines fired away, Starry realized how much she was looking forward to the next three weeks.
> 4. One Week Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the Draconequus was underway, its crew began moving to the artificial gravity ring where they'd spent the majority of the trip. Starry Night was the first in, carefully climbing down into the habitation ring, slowly feeling centrifugal force start to manifest itself. Never before was she so happy to finally feel weighty again, having spent enough time in zero-G that day to almost forget what it was like. Spinning fast enough to only produce three quarters of Equestria's gravity, she definitely felt something was lacking, but it felt good to walk normally again.
A bulkhead door separated the access ladder and the proper inside of the habitation ring. Starry pushed it open and immediately realized how cramped it was, being no more than three pony lengths wide, and about as long as the station hopper she'd taken. Stuffed into this space was a modest kitchen with tables and chairs in one corner, exercise equipment in the other, and a couch with TV and small bookshelf in the middle. The floor curved noticeably, which would take some getting used to, but was easy enough to traverse. Windows lined the far wall, and as she trotted up to them out of curiosity and looked up she found the center of the ship appear to rotate in place above her as the gravity ring made its rounds. Now that'll definitely take some getting used to.
"Hot damn, there's a TV in here?" Wind Catcher suddenly called out, the second to finish climbing down the ladder.
"Don't get too excited!" Chart's voice echoed from further up. "Relay satellites play less and less the further out we go. You'll probably still get the hoofball game, but it'll be a day late and the quality will be ass."
Soon the entire crew was piled into the tiny living space, sitting around and getting their bearings. Chart explained that beyond the living space there were dorms, bathrooms, and a hydroponics lab for a backup food source that altogether made up a little over half the ring's circumference. The rest was split between cargo space and subsystems for air and water.
"Well folks," Chart announced with a glance at his data pad, "it's been a long day. Everypony go get some sleep and we'll take stock tomorrow morning."
Starry hadn't realized it, but at this point she really was tired. Stifling a yawn, she funneled through the doorway to the bedrooms with the rest of the crew and stepped through the first open door she found.
Ah...lovely, was the first thing Starry thought upon being faced with a room that was somehow even smaller than her dorm on Celestial station. There was a bed built into the wall a dresser, and a broom closet's worth of floor space.At least there's still a window. And that was it. Still, it was a bed, and when she checked her data pad and found it was almost 11 at night Canterlot time, she had no reservations about slipping under the covers and dozing off.


=====


With no alarm to wake her up this time, Starry woke up bright and early at around 9am. Must've forgotten to set it. It was the banging on her door from Chart Topper that finally convinced her to get out of bed. With no private bathroom she had to trot down the hall to do her morning routine, though sleeping in meant there unfortunately wasn't time for a shower. After rushing to get dressed she made her way back to the common room to find the rest of the crew sitting around the breakfast table and chatting over coffee and MREs.
"Glad you're finally joining us, sleeping beauty," Countdown smirked.
Starry rolled her eyes. "Time is relative in space," she yawned, trotting over to the coffee machine to see what was left. Next to the machine was an MRE left out for her. Cinnamon oatmeal with strawberries. Gotta be better than nutrient paste. After pouring a cup of coffee and preparing the packaged meal, Starry finally took a seat at the table.
"Now that we're all here," Chart started, sneaking a glance in Starry's direction, "let's go over what's to be expected here."
"First of all, personal routine is important. I can't stress enough that muscle atrophy is gonna suck, so no less than an hour's exercise for all of us. Secondly, it's easy to start losing your mind up here, so try to keep yourselves occupied. If anypony feels stressed, talk to me first thing. I should also mention the computers in the cockpit can record and send video, if any of you have anything to say to your family.
"As for the ship itself, we'll be doing once-overs of the ship twice daily to make sure everything's running smoothly. Mint, Star, that's you two especially. Countdown, periodic checks of navigation systems to make sure we remain on course. Wind, you and me will take inventory and then I'll let you run wild in the hydroponics lab. Makes me feel better to know we have something growing in case of emergency.
"Beyond that," Chart finally smiled. "Enjoy yourselves. You're all certified spacers now. The future is in our hooves. Dismissed."
With a chorus of salutes, everypony got up and left the table, save for Starry as she was the only one still eating. Note to self, set alarm as soon as I'm done eating here. As she sat and chewed on a spoonful of rehydrated strawberries, she gazed out the window at the vast empty expanse before her. They were already far enough out that Equestria was a tiny blue marble in the window, with the sun a tiny speck of light next to it, and the moon having more or less disappeared.
Starry's thoughts remained empty, but she ate a lot slower as she remained transfixed to the blue dot suspended against the black, star-speckled backdrop.


=====


Shipkeeping was not a terribly hard job, merely a tedious one. First check the reactor, as that was the source of many problems if not properly maintained. All the computer displays had their numbers and bars exactly where they should be, and Starry couldn't see anything out of the ordinary with the reactor itself. Check it off and move on.
Next up would be air and water systems. Mint had already offered to check the main generators and recyclers, so Starry checked the individual vents and channels that distributed it to the entire ship. Temperature nominal, air pressure fine, oxygen levels good, no excessive carbon dioxide, no foreign contaminants. Check it off and move on.
Moving on, Starry and Mint split up the ship's main electrical systems, which was to say, anything that used power that wasn't the reactor or life support. Lighting, computers, batteries, and perhaps most importantly, engines. Firing up the engines was not an option at this point which partially limited her ability to confirm they were still working, but being one of the most sensitive parts of the ship, each were fitted with a million different diagnostics systems. All the numbers seemed to be in the green. Check it off and move on.
Finally, Starry and Mint were tasked with assessing the structural integrity of the ship itself. Search for any leaks, weak points, exposed or damaged electronics or structural parts. The gravity ring demanded special attention in this regard, as it's constant spinning meant a miniscule, but persistant strain. Thankfully it had not ripped itself apart yet so the crew could sleep easy for another night. By the time everything had been checked and double-checked, it was already well past noon, and protocol demanded she'd have to do it all again in the evening. At least she had a few hours to herself for the time being.
Aftering staring an computer screens in the cockpit for ten minutes, Starry was glad to once again have gravity acting on her. Stepping through the bulkhead into the common room, she found it entirely absent save for Countdown reading a book and fiddling with a salad at the dining table. Feeling a little hungry herself and having nopony else to talk to at the moment, she raided the cabinets for a can of soup, prepared it, and took a seat across from him at the table.
Countdown looked up a few times from his book, but otherwise paid no mind, even as she was sitting right across from him. Starry wasn't awkward enough to just sit there in silence the whole time, and peeked at his book hoping to find something to comment on.  Surviving Space for Foals.
"That's a neat looking book," Starry commented, hoping she sounded genuine; the title really did intrigue her.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, it actually is," Countdown spoke up, briefly flipping the book to gaze at the cover. "It's basically a technical manual, but the author really tried to make it fun and engaging to read."
Starry raised an eyebrow. "Reckon I might read it then, you almost done?"
Countdown haphazardly flipped some pages. "About halfway, but I've been skimming some of the stuff I already know. Think I'll be done before dinner. Found it in the bookshelf so don't worry about returning it."
"Looking forward to it," she replied, sipping a spoonful of pea soup. After downing the mediocre broth she added, "you know, I feel like I've hardly talked to you, even now that we're flying a mission together.
Smiling, Countdown set down his book. "Chat away then, I've been meaning to do the same with you."
"Well for starters, where are you from? And how'd you end up here?"
"Vanhoover. So's Wind Catcher if he never told you. Didn't mind the city, but as soon as I was old enough to hear about the space program I wanted it. Worked on airships for a time until I had enough bits and flight experience to get in. Rest is history as they say. How about you?"
"Man, you're almost as boring as me," Starry chuckled. "Fillydelphia, born and raised. Really wanted to be an astronaut too so I went to engineering school, did my best at the space center, and now here I am."
"Fillydelphia huh? What's the weather like out there, that's basically on the other side of Equestria from where I lived," Countdown wondered.
Starry shrugged. "Pretty mild honestly, what about Vanhoover?"
Countdown sighed. "Dark and dreary, rains just about every other day. It's right on the water so a lot of clouds form and the pegasi have to dump it somewhere. Seaddle is pretty similar."
"You ever been in the Smokey Mountains? I hear those are near, aren't they?" Starry wondered.
"Oh yeah, several times. Great place to hike or camp," he sighed wistfully. "..Damn it, I'm almost homesick now. Sure isn't as much to see out here," he gestured to the window, through which there was absolutely nothing save for the stars and the persistent blackness.
Starry frowned. "Maybe to the naked eye. If you have a telescope though, there are soooo many cool planets and stars and galaxies and nebulae and...well, you get the picture, to look at! Is there one on the ship by the way?"
Countdown scratched his chin. "Quite certain, you'd have to ask Chart about it."
Starry nearly slammed her hoof on the table. "Then if you're up for it sometime tonight or tomorrow I'll bring you, hay, the whole crew stargazing. It's my mark after all."
"Really now? Kinda hard to see anypony's mark under these suits."
Starry nodded. "Bunch of stars on a black swirl, got it stargazing years ago. I'd show you, but it's hard enough getting into this suit. What's yours?"
"Ship blasting off. Used to fire off model rockets with my dad," he said with a smile, "so I got it that way. Now that I think about it I'd probably be more suited for flight control, but I don't think I'd be satisfied on the ground with everything going on up here now."
Feeling a bit more familiar with the pony across from her, Starry returned to her soup, to find she had already eaten most of it. Naturally, she grabbed the bowl and brought it to her lips, downing what was left in one big gulp. "Ahhh. Well, nice talking to you Countdown. I was gonna go find Wind Catcher, you seen him around?"
"Think he's been in hydroponics since this morning."
Starry smiled. "Thanks, see you tonight then!"


=====


The hydroponics lab was much like the commons room in terms of size, but that was the only thing they had in common. Tables lined the walls, holding up beakers, bags, computers, and all sorts of lab equipment, but chiefly, more flowerpots than Starry had seen in some store displays. The center of the room was similar, but instead of tables there were large growing beds filled with fresh soil. Perhaps the most significant difference though was the lack of windows; the room was instead bathed in a faint purple light emanating from dozens of grow lamps affixed to the ceiling. At the other end of the room she could make out Wind Catcher mulling over a computer display.
Starry whistled. "A fuel tanker needs a lab like this?"
Wind looked up from his work and snapped around. "Oh, hey Star. Yeah, crazy isn't it? I thought the same at first."
Starry raised an eyebrow. "At first?"
Wind smirked. "It's called the Draconequus, remember? Chart told me it was a full-on exploration ship when it was first made. Then it started showing its age and the ESA figured it was only safe for it to be a transport ship."
"Ahhhh," Starry nodded. "Wonder what else he knows."
"You'll have to ask him when you can. He also mentioned there used to be a full science lab in here, but they stripped it out and now it's used for more cargo space."
"Neat," Starry said, trotting over to where Wind was working, taking note of some tiny green sprouts in the soil. "So how's the whole botany thing working out?"
Wind gestured to the growing beds. "Filled basically all of them. Got some carrots, potatoes, alfalfa and ferns."
"Ferns? Ponies don't usually eat those, do they?"
"Not in most parts of Equestria," Wind shook his head. "You can if you really want to. The main reason is they're pretty good oxygen recyclers and can remove some contaminants from the air. Lightens the load on the carbon scrubbers. Might even buy us a few hours if the air cuts out," he added with a chuckle.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Starry deadpanned before remarking, "everything seems to be growing pretty quickly."
Wind pointed to the ceiling with his hoof. "Magic-enhanced grow lights. Pretty neat huh?"
"Those are a thing?"
"They weren't until the space program really started uh, taking off," he laughed to himself before noticing Starry's dead expression. "Uh yeah, having a steady supply of food on long journeys is usually a good idea and you can't afford to wait months for a harvest. I reckon we'll have some fresh food before we even get to our destination."
Starry licked her lips. "Finally something other than freeze-dried meals."
Wind nodded with equal enthusiasm. "Sooo, how are you doing? Ship still flying alright?"
"Yep. Engineering's pretty boring when there's nothing to fix, but after what happened with the docking clamp it's probably better that way," she replied.
Wind frowned. "Ah yeah, I heard."
"Mmmhmm," Starry mumbled. "Though, I wouldn't mind doing another spacewalk. So long as nothing explodes on me this time."
"Lucky," Wind hissed, "if I ever have to do one it'll probably be because something went horribly wrong. I'd love to just do one to see what it's like."
Starry hit him playfully. "Ah cheer up, maybe if you ask nicely Chart could arrange something, who knows? By the way, I was planning on going stargazing with Countdown tonight after dinner, care to join?"
"Oh? Sure, can't say I've ever done it."
Starry very nearly got stars in her eyes. "Oh-ho, just you wait!"


=====


Another round of engineering inspection a few hours later passed without incident, much as before. It being good practice didn't make it anymore enjoyable, though Starry knew better than to hope for something to do, as that would certainly invite the wrath of the universe. Once it was done, Starry joined the rest of the crew for dinner, on schedule this time, and spent a quick meal chatting. This mostly consisted of Chart telling the story of that one time a friend of his nearly course corrected into the sun after Celestia had raised it. The rest of the crew regarded the tale with the same horrified fascination as a timberwolf attack, but enough time had passed for Chart to remember it fondly.
"Hey Chart," wondered Starry sometime after the story was finished, "is there a telescope on this ship?"
"There is indeed, I think it's down in the cockpit, you might have to open up a panel to access it," he replied. "Doing a little stargazing?"
Starry nodded vigorously. "Offered it to Wind and Countdown. Rest of you can join if you want."
"I'd love to, but I have some reading to get caught up on," he sighed.
"I was gonna catch the hoofball game, maybe next time," Mint announced.
After dinner was finished, Starry led the two stallions up into the central part of the ship. Being weightless again wasn't as bad as she remembered, though maybe it had to do with looking forward to their activity. The telescope was indeed behind a hinged panel (neatly labeled as such at least), and consisted of a large cupola in the side of the ship. The telescope was fitted inside it, and had a large number of controls for focusing and fine movement.
"Hot damn, if I had this as a foal I wouldn't have done anything else," she breathed, admiring the fine machinery before her.
Starry flipped through a nearby computer screen until she found what she was looking for; detailed star charts and and basic information regarding the ship's position and the telescope's bearing. "Now where do we start..." she wondered aloud, finally settling on the first celestial body she saw that could be easily seen through the telescope. Returning to the controls she maneuvered it into position and looked through the eyepiece to check.
She nearly gasped when she finally gazed through the sight. Through the lens was the unicorn nebula; a vast, deep purple spanse of molecular gas and dust arranged in such a way one could see a unicorn's outline if they really opened their minds. Splotches and wisps of white and pink danced around the nebula, and specks of white glinted in the darker regions; stars in the process of being born. It was one of the closest nebula to Equestria that scientists had discovered (relatively speaking, it was still light-years away), meaning on a good night Starry had been able to see it through some of her higher-end telescopes. But never before had she seen it in such incredible fidelity.
Having never seen the unicorn nebula like this before, Starry almost forgot her friends were waiting to see it as well. She tore herself away and regarded them with a nervous grin. "So uh, who's first?" she asked, gesturing to the scope.
Wind and Countdown both moved at once, but Wind was the first to verbally offer, giving him first dibs. Bringing himself to the telescope, he took one quick look through it and gasped, briefly coming up with a look of wonder before returning to the sight. "Wooow...that's incredible," he breathed.
"Well don't just hog it, let me see!" huffed Countdown.
Wind obliged, pushing back from the telescope and letting his friend take a peek, resulting in a similar reaction. While Countdown remained glued to the telescope, Wind turned to Starry. "What is that anyway?"
"Unicorn nebula. Never seen it before?" Starry asked. Wind shook his head. "Ah, well, I don't know if you look at many to begin with—" she nervously grinned, feeling like a nerd all of a sudden, "—but it's not the most well-known one, at least compared to the Horseshoe Nebula or the Timberwolf's Eye. It's about 13 light-years from Equestria, 4.3 light years across. It's one of my favorites though."
Countdown whistled, still glued to the scope. "I can see why."
"We still got plenty of time here, what's next?" asked Wind enthusiastically.
"Wellllll..." Starry returned to the star maps. "If you wanna look at some galaxies I think we'll be able to see Hoof's Object or the Eye of Sombra. Now those are some neat ones..."


=====


Shipkeeping was still a boring job, but now Starry didn't mind, having something to look forward to. After discovering the telescope she spent basically all of her free time using it. Wind and Countdown returned a few times, even Mint and Chart had found the time to join her for a bit. Suddenly three weeks drifting through the aether didn't seem so bad. Not that she didn't enjoy being in space, but the routine of it all had washed away some of the magic, at least until she found herself able to stargaze again.
Enough time had passed since the docking clamp incident that Starry was looking forward to trying a spacewalk again; sitting inside a stuffy spaceship all day when the beauty of space was all around her started to chip away at her psyche. Stargazing could only do so much. Though with no real need for anyone in the crew to step outside the ship, Starry could only sit idly by until the opportunity presented itself.
Hopefully not for anything serious.
Around nine days into the journey, Thraxis finally started to slide into view. A tiny reddish-brown dot at first, smaller than a marble in the ship's windows. By the end of the day though, it had grown exponentially larger from their perspective as they entered the mighty gas giant's gravity well.
Thraxis was the third planet out from Equestria. Between the two was Gelida, a frozen-over planet  2/3rds the size of Equestria with a trace atmosphere and little of note besides vast ice sheets covering the surface. Probes had found decent amounts of minerals under the surface though, which now made it home to one of the fastest-growing colonies outside of the moon. Thraxis on the other hoof was a massive gas giant, with swirling clouds of red, brown, and orange, over a dozen times larger than Equestria, but light enough that it was only a few times its mass.
Gas giants are made primarily of hydrogen, and Thraxis was no exception. It was hoped this might make into a huge fuel hub someday, though nopony had come up with a practical solution to harvest hydrogen from its atmosphere yet, and it might be many many moons until that happened. Hence why Starry was on this mission. What the planet did have for now were over a dozen moons, with two larger ones of note: Draco and Mephisto. Both lifeless, spherical hunks of rock, but rich in minerals, making them home to some start-up colonies as well.
Polaris station then, was the main base of operations for the Thraxis system. Not a backwater station by any means, in fact it had been built recently enough that every inch of living space was lined with gravity gems. It was a much smaller station though, having an even smaller permanent crew than Luna station, and most of its size being dominated by vast cargo spaces, fuel storage, or docking bays.
Starry only had a little time to truly appreciate the gas giant's awe-inspiring size from the habitation ring before she and everypony else was called down to buckle in for capture burn. "The planet's got a massive gravity well," Chart explained, "but at the speeds we're coming in I'd rather not wait. You'll have plenty of time to admire the view from inside the station." And so, once everypony was clicked into their seats, so began a half-hour capture burn, followed by only a hoofful of breaks as there were a lot of smaller burns and corrections to be made trying to intercept Polaris station.
"How's about another shanty while we wait, eh folks?" Chart offered. A chorus of nods was enough prompt for him to break into song. Starry joined in halfheartedly, keeping her eyes on the growing outline of Polaris against the swirling backdrop of clouds.

=====

"Welcome to Polaris station everypony, I hear you have some fuel we need?"
For as big as the Draconequus was, docking had gone fairly smoothly. An hour later Starry was happy to be stretching her legs again on the full gravity deck of Polaris. After over a week in space, normal gravity didn't feel so normal anymore, but it hadn't been long enough for her to have serious trouble walking.
The first pony to greet them was a portly stallion with a drab green coat and blonde mane with loose strands that threatened to poke his sapphire blue eyes. His uniform was a flashy crimson, a refreshing change from all the different shades of blue she'd gotten used to. A pair of silver pins on his chest revealed his name—Pallet Stacker—and his occupation—cargo technician. The one thing she noticed that really stuck out was his cutie mark embroidered right onto his suit: a stack of pallets no less. Now why hadn't anypony else thought of that?
"Ayep. Name's Chart Topper, got with me here four fresh crewmates and eight million gallons of liquid hydrogen," their captain explained.
Pallet whistled. "Hoo boy, that'll do us good for a few weeks. I'll alert the station commander and we'll see about hooking you up."
Moving over to an intercom, Pallet held a button and started speaking into it. Chart let him work and turned to the crew. "The way this usually works is somepony has to head outside in a hardsuit and manually hook up the fuel tanks," he turned to Starry and Mint, "that means one of you two. Care to draw straws?" he grinned.
One straw-drawing later, Starry came up with the short one. She feigned annoyance, but was privately glad for the change of pace. Getting to go on a spacewalk next to a massive spinning ball of colorful gasses? Count her in. "Nopony else coming with me?"
"The station might send one of their own if they feel like it, but probably not. It's a quick, one-pony job. Out and back inside in no time," Chart assured. Starry nodded in return.
A moment later Pallet returned. "Command's given the all-clear signal. Give it an hour before everything's in place and then we'll call one of you up to go connect the fuel line. In the meantime you're encouraged to get acquainted with the station."
With some quick goodbyes, the two parties separated. As Starry and her Crew made their way through reception, she began to take note of the station's interior. This reception area felt much like an office back on Equestria; a long, mostly featureless hallway broken up with doors and sparse hangings on one wall, and long tall windows on the other with part of the gas giant dominating the view. A desk was built into the wall, manned by a single pony who did little more than take names, ask about their reason for stay, and type away at a computer.
"Cafeteria is just down the hall, third door on the left. Guest dorms are the fourth." The receptionist slid five keycards across the desk. "Here are your room keys. I know you won't be staying for long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway," she said with a smile.
Starry hadn't thought much about the time, but a cursory glance at a wall clock told her it was almost 6pm Equestria time. She nearly did a double take, wondering how it had gotten so late already, but there was no use arguing with it. A brief stay on the station suddenly made a lot more sense. If nothing else it would hopefully be a chance for a hot meal for once.
One stop by the cafeteria later, Starry sat herself down at a table with a small snack in her hooves and spent her time chowing down. After devouring a freeze-dried ice cream sandwich, she decided to get herself acquainted with the station, and drop her bags off at her temporary room. Like every one of them so far, this one was also disappointingly small. She made her way around the station, getting a decent sense of its layout, until the station's intercom crackled to life asking for "a designated member of the TK Draconequus" to "please report to the docks." It took her a bit, being unfamiliar territory, but the excessive and redundant signing around the station helped prevent her from being totally lost.
Stepping into a large room full of EVA equipment, metal crates laying around, and airlocks in the back, Starry found Pallet Stacker and Chart chatting before both of them noticed her standing there. "Hey guys. Reckon it's time then?" she asked as she trotted over.
Pallet nodded. "Your ship's in position and our pumps are ready to go. All we need is for you to head out there and connect the fuel pipe. It'll be rolled up in the side of the station, just near the airlock."
Chart gestured to his earpiece. "I'll be in contact the whole time per usual. Best of luck out there lass."
With a dutiful nod, Starry opened up a nearby EVA locker and retrieved the hardsuit from inside. Seemingly identical to the ones back on the Draconequus, she spent the next few minutes carefully sliding into it. With the help of Chart, she donned her helmet, once again finding her senses dulled. Only her breathing and the subtle beating of her heart remained until the helmet's built-in headset crackled with Chart doing a quick test.
Standing inside the airlock, Starry clicked her magboots on and waited as the airlock depressurized. The distant-sounding hissing of the air filtering out died away, replaced by vacuum that carried no sound. As the outer door opened in front of her, she focused on the heightened huff huff huff of her own breathing to stay calm as she stepped forward and felt gravity start to disappear.
Before her was the Draconequus' rear section, a mass of bulbous white tanks containing absurd volumes of liquid hydrogen. More impressive though, was Thraxis dominating the space behind the ship. Starry tilted her head up as high as the hardsuit would allow, and could just barely make out the top of the gas giant some thousands of miles above her head. Space had made her feel small before, but this was on a whole other level.
"Alright star, nice and easy now," Chart reminded her. "See the pipe?" Ah, stay focused Star! she told herself. This was no time to have an existential crisis. She turned to her left and saw down a little ways, a large spool of hose in the side of the station. Carefully she activated the hardsuit's built-in thrusters and glided over, trying not to throw up her ice cream in the process. "Yeah, heading there now," she replied.
Upon closer inspection, she found the lengths of pipe to be as thick as her trunk. "Man, this is way thicker than I expected,'" she commented. A motorized winch allowed her to spool out plenty of slack, and the pipe was not lacking in places to grab on. As she located a connector port, she thought she heard Chart mutter something along the lines of "that's what she said." With a sudden clearing of his throat, he spoke up again. "It needs to be thick. Bigger pipe, more volume pumped. Nopony wants to be sitting here all day, least of all me."
"And what about me?" Starry scoffed. Finally her eyes found the port, and began floating over with the pipe firmly in her hooves.
"Ah but see, you're floating around in zero gravity," Chart replied, his voice sounding like he was grinning from ear to ear. "I'm actually sitting here!"
Starry rolled her eyes. A moment later her magboots connected with one of the fuel tanks, a little ways down from the connection port. "Almost at the fuel port," she announced.
"Good good," Chart crooned. "Once that's connected let me know and we'll start the pumps up. Then we'll just have you sit there till transfer is complete in case something goes wrong."
Nodding to herself, Starry brought the end of the hose up to the fuel port and carefully connected the two. With a quick stomp (as directed) on each of the four locks around the connector, the two ends were firmly mated and she stepped back in satisfaction. "All right, we're good to go. Anything else I gotta look for?"
"There'll be a pressure gauge there somewhere," Chart explained. "Just glance at that from time to time." His voice grew muffled as he yelled at somepony in the background to "start it up" and a few seconds later Starry watched as the little needle on the aforementioned gauge sprung to life and settled in a strip of green.
After a moment of watching it, and confirming nothing was up, Starry looked around. Sitting fairly high up on the whole station complex gave her an incredible view. She allowed herself to be distracted and watch the gas giant behind her, mesmerized by the pastel rust colors painting the planet's exterior. Soon she remembered to check the gauge, still no problems, and returned to planetgazing.
"Awfully quiet up there, Star," Chart teased. "Busy enjoying the view?"
Starry blushed. "Eheh. Maybe, yeah. It's quite a view you know."
"So long as you aren't dozing off I don't blame you. Much rather be out there actually. They've got me stuck doing paperwork while we wait," he complained.
"Space paperwork?" Starry faked a yawn. "Sounds fascinating." She glanced at the pressure gauge. Pushing the yellow a little, but still firmly in the green.
"Get used to requisition forms if you ever make it to captain, Star. Eeeeeverything requires them these days."
Starry grunted in acknowledgement. I'm perfectly fine where I am if it means I never have to do that. With little else to do while the tanks emptied, she shut off her microphone and hummed a tune to herself while she admired the view. Without a care in the world at that moment, she was wholly unprepared for the disaster that was about to strike.
The first thing she noticed was an odd glint up and to the side. Catching her curiosity, she turned and watched a distant diamond of light slowly grow brighter, growing faster and faster as the seconds ticked by. Initially curious, Starry began to feel a pit in her stomach as the strange object rapidly approached, barreling straight for the station. Whatever it was made contact a second later a few dozen meters from her position.
Starry felt her stomach drop and her voice caught in her throat as part of the station near the fuel tanks immediately disintegrated, shards of metal blowing outwards like a plume of sparkling metallic dust. Not a sound could be heard in the vacuum, but she felt a faint rumbling in her hooves a second later as the collision shook the station. Her radio clicked to life as somepony screamed in her ear, but the voice was indecipherable as she remained transfixed to the disaster before her.
Just when Starry thought it couldn't get worse, she began to notice a a sphere of red, orange and yellow emanating from the collision point. With horrified fascination, she watched as the fireball expanded, ripping into the station along the way before eventually slamming into her. With a scream she felt herself hit by a force strong enough to wind her through the hardsuit, that ripped her from the hull and sent her careening through the void. Losing all sense of direction as she tumbled through space, Starry did the only thing he could do and screamed. The last thing she felt before being knocked out was a dull thud and a splitting pain in her head.
> 5. Mitigated Disaster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


27 Minutes Earlier...

Prism Dash grunted a 'hello' to one of her associates as she trotted up the steps to the space center's mission control building. A giant wall of glass and steel marked the entrance to the famous building, the afternoon sun glinting off it in a way that demanded she squint her eyes. Stepping through the doors she came across a large central desk and dozens of doors off to both sides. Moving with purpose, she trotted down one of the many adjacent hallways towards the 'original' mission control.
Mission control was, in actuality, home to a number of rooms calling themselves mission control. The space program in recent years had grown to such sizes that one room was not enough. Now the ESA's hundreds of missions and assets were split up between half a dozen control rooms. The stuff in orbit around Equestria proper was enough to demand a dedicated room all to itself. Despite all this allocating, the very first mission control room remained as a place for the highest ranking members to keep an eye on the grand scheme of things, although very few missions reported directly to it.
Down the hall, round the corner, round another corner, and through a set of double doors was Prism's destination. She smiled to herself as she found herself in a room akin to a giant theater, with computers and chairs lining each level up and up towards a glass-encased room in the very back. The exact opposite wall was dominated with massive computer screens projecting all sorts of maps and data that only someone like her could hope to decipher. She was not here for any of that though; instead she clutched a wrapped object close to her chest as she made her way up the steps to the control booth where a certain somepony was said to be right now.
"Hey hey, Prism! Fancy seeing you here," a cream-colored earth pony stallion spoke up as Prism entered the control booth.
"Afternoon, Skywatch," Prism smiled. "And you Reverie," she added, turning to the bat pony at Skywatch's flank. "Glad to see you're back on the ground in one piece."
Reverie scoffed. "Please, I'm only here per doctor's orders. I'd still be up there if it weren't for silly things such as 'maximum cosmic radiation dose'."
Prism chuckled. "Well I hope the doctor didn't say anything about your drinking habits. Figured I'd bring a little something to celebrate your first day back in months," she said, jiggling the wrapped box in her hooves.
"Ah, about time I get to taste some real booze again," Reverie grinned.
As the present exchanged hooves, Prism turned to Skywatch. "So, what've you got on the roster this evening?"
Skywatch yawned. "Whole bunch of routine. Crew transfer to Canterhorn station soon, Draconequus arrived at Polaris station about an hour ago. Got a satellite at Thraxis to deorbit as well. Not much, but I've still been going since early this morning."
"Heh, that's what we all signed up for, huh? Anything I can stay around to watch, I did just come all this way..."
"Yeah, that deorbit should be happening any moment now, let me pull it up on the screen."
Skywatch tapped away at a nearby computer, bringing up a screen showing some orbital lines around a massive red-brown circle, and lines of data being vomited in a separate tab every second. The trio watched with mild interest as one of the orbits labelled 'TOM' turned red and began shrinking before their eyes.
"Thraxis Orbiter Mission...how long has that been up there?" Prims wondered.
"Two or three decades now, surprised it took this long to decommission it," Reverie commented.
"Hang on, something's up," muttered Skywatch as the orbit stopped shrinking sooner than expected. "Hey Weaver, what's up with TOM?" he yelled at the ground crew below.
A black-haired mare looked up towards the control booth. "That's all the delta V we have boss! Propellant's probably gone stale after all those years!" she yelled back.
Skywatch groaned. "Ah well, it still intersects the atmosphere, it might just take another orbit to..." his voice trailed off as he noticed something on the screen. A moment later his eyes shrunk to pinpricks. "Oh no," he whispered.
Reverie frowned. "Uhhh, something the matter?"
Skywatch turned to face her, a grim look on his face. "The new orbit intersects Polaris station. High likelihood of a collision. WEAVER! Transmission delay to Thraxis?" he yelled again.
"Little over half an hour boss!"
Skywatch, Prism, and Reverie all stared in abject horror at a tiny set of specific numbers displayed on the screen:  26:37, 26:36, 26:35, and counting.


=====


"Nngghh..."
When Starry came to, the first thing she noticed was the hissing. The second was the splitting headache, and the third was the fact she couldn't see out of one eye.
It didn't take long to put it all together. Horrified, Starry's good eye settled on the metal spike that had punctured her helmet and jammed into her left eye. Small beads of crimson floated around her helmet, some drawn to the spiderweb of fractures in the helmet's glass, which accounted for the hissing of air leaving her suit. Oh fuuuuck... An absolute doozy of a feeling washed over her as she realized just how ungodly lucky she was her helmet hadn't shattered. Although given her current situation, maybe a relatively quick death would've been preferable.
As the gravity of her predicament kicked in, Starry took a deep breath and screamed. "OH SWEET FUCKING CELESTIA I'M GONNA DIIIIIIE!" she wailed, kicking and screaming for several seconds until the little pony in her head reminded her this would just use up her air faster.
"Dammit dammit, dammit! Not like this. C'mon Star, you're still alive..." For now... As adrenaline kicked in, Starry forced herself to take a few deep, shuddering breaths, and began to take stock of the situation. She was floating around in space, Celestia knows how far from the station, which had just suffered a collision AND an explosion, with one good eye left, and her suit punctured and leaking air. None of this was good, but that seemed to be the worst of it. Now, what to do to start improving her situation...
"Ok uhhh, air, yeah. Please tell me there's something," she told herself, rifling through the tool belt built into her suit. She hadn't needed to so far, but she knew it was there, and could potentially hold something she needed. Finding only tools, she was about to despair until she pulled back something labeled 'Puncture Repair Kit'. "Ohhh thank you Celestia, they really do think of everything..."
Inside was a set of white, adhesive patches, instructions printed on each individual one. Following them to the tee, she prepared the synthetic patches one by one and carefully applied them to the area around her helmet puncture. It was clumsy work, and at one point she bumped the metal spike on accident, causing her to howl with pain as she felt the result deep inside her skull. Blinking through tears in her other eye, she forced herself to apply more until the faint hissing disappeared. Half of her helmet was now covered in the white square patches, but with one eye left it wasn't obscuring much anyway.
Starry released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Okay...that's one thing going my way now. Bring a hoof up, she lifted a cover on the hardsuit to expose a small screen with some basic info on it. "36 minutes of air...better than I thought," she told herself, trying not to think about the digital gauge telling her that was less than a fifth of its normal capacity. She stared at the screen until she noticed a different, more sobering reading. "No fuel remaining? But...how," she mumbled, looking behind her.
On the back of the hardsuit was a small squarish backpack containing fuel, some thrusters, and other equipment. A small part of hers was no longer there, having been sheared through by a piece of metal and cutting just deep enough to empty the fuel tanks. "Ohh no no no no, you're telling me I'm gonna FUCKING DRIFT TO MY DEATH OUT HERE?" she screamed, despair once again washing over her. She sobbed quietly to herself as she slowly drifted away, watching the station shrink from her view.
"H-hey, is this Starry's channel? Starry you there?"
Starry froze, hearing her headset crackle. The voice was faint and fuzzy, but not unintelligible. "Whah? Yeah, YEAH! I'm here!" she yelled, waiting in tense silence for a response. Seconds passed. No response. "Hello? B-but I...oh right I'm an idiot, the microphone." Starry floundered for the button to switch it back on, hoping that hadn't been severed as well. "H-hey you still there? I'm here!"
"Oh thank Celestia, you're alright," the voice huffed. "Where are you?"
"Floating away into the abyss," she laughed grimly. "No fuel, and barely any air left."
"WHAT, r-really? Shit shit shit, you're kidding me."
"Afraid not. Who is this anyway, I can barely hear you."
"Oh uh, it's Wind."
Starry sighed. "Glad you're alright at least. What about the others? Chart? What about the station? What in Celestia's name even happened?" she fired, voice growing steadily more frantic.
"Mint and Countdown are here with me. Whole station is basically huddled up in the living quarters. No sign of Chart. As far as we know something collided with the station and now half of it's destroyed or depressurized."
Starry felt her throat seize up with every word. It took a few shaky breaths before she could respond. "That's...fuck," she mumbled. "Can you guys come get me somehow?"
"Uh, we would," he was quick to respond, "but uhh, we're still trying to figure out the situation and find some spare suits. It...might be tight," he hesitated to say.
"I...see," she replied slowly, quietly despairing. I'm on my own here, aren't I?
"Hey, hey Starry, how far out from the station are you?" a new voice asked, though she still couldn't tell who.
"Uhhh." Starry looked around. It was hard to gauge, but the station still filled her field of view. "Hundred meters maybe? Why-"
"Ok ok good, do you have any heavy objects on you?"
"I...think? Who is this anyway, what are you getting at?"
The voice snickered. "It's Countdown. Star, don't you remember Neighton's third law?"
All of a sudden it came back to her. All the way back in grade school it was taught to her, but it was pushed to the back of her mind until she went through astronaut training. There it had been drilled into her mind again, but with no need to apply it, her mind once again shelved it. Until now. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," she muttered, realization dawning on her.
Ignoring the subsequent chatting in her earpiece, Starry's hooves rushed to her toolbelt and grabbed the first thing they touched: a flashlight. She checked behind her at the station, and after triangulating her position in her head, she drew her hoof back and threw the light with all her might.
The effect was immediate. Starry whooped with joy as she felt herself start to slowly tumble backwards, and she turned to see the station inching ever so slowly towards her for once. Yes yes yes, keep it up! she told herself, retrieving another object: a welder. She considered the object for a second, figured this was a better use of it, and tossed it as well. Her rotation sped up, but so did her trajectory toward the station.
"I take it you figured it out?" Countdown's voice crackled.
"Y-yeah!" Starry yelled excitedly. "I'm floating back now!"
"Ah, phew, finally some good news."
A different voice chimed in. "Hey Star, it's Mint. I know you probably have bigger problems right now, but it would help us a lot if you could get eyes on what happened out there."
Starry pursed her lips, checking her readings again. Down to 29 minutes of air. "Uhhh, probably," she muttered.
"We're gonna go dark and try to help out here, "Wind said, "but I'll keep this radio on me if you need or find anything. Good luck Starry."
"Yeah, sure. Love you guys," she replied, just before the radio cut out. She was left alone in deafening silence, nothing to do except watch the station draw closer.


=====


"At least these still work," Starry muttered, relief washing over her as her magboots contacted and firmly connected with part of the station. She found herself below it, in a nest of antennas, exposed wires, pipes, and maintenance hatches. She had barely found a big enough sheet of metal to place her hooves. Throwing objects until she was back where she wanted to be was wildly inaccurate, but she thanked her lucky stars she didn't miss her goal completely.
Her eye still stung, worse than before now that she'd calmed herself down and some of the adrenaline had worn off. The pain was a constant sharpness that refused to get better, even if the bleeding had stopped. Like having something in her eye, only a thousand times worse. For now all she could do was try to bear it and get back to an airlock in one piece. Having such a massive blind spot was just as annoying as the pain, but at least she'd be coming up on familiar territory soon.
Now with room to breathe (19 minutes of it exactly), she let herself hang there and formulate a plan. Okay, I don't know anything about the station's layout from outside, but I saw the Draconequus parked to my right,maybe twenty meters. If I can get over there, maybe the airlock's still working. It's close to where they want me to look anyway. It being near the site of the impact didn't fill her with much hope that everything still worked, but it was the best she had right now. With a glance around to get her bearings, she put one hoof in front of the other and started making her way over.
Slowly but surely Starry made her way towards the edge, and peeked up and over. The station's side was now apparent; a mostly featureless wall. Pressurized tubes and struts jutted out towards the hull of the Draconequus, sitting there mostly unharmed. Her eye drifted down towards the fuel tanks. The hose was still attached, floating limply. There were several gashes in it and the tanks as she peered closer, and a cloud of gaseous hydrogen hung in the area immediately surrounding it. She gulped, wondering what other destruction awaited her if the ship was in this bad a state.
Like a ping-pong ball she kicked off, bouncing herself off the girders, walls, and parts of the ship as she moved towards her goal. A thought entered her mind as she saw the ship's gravity ring sitting there motionless, and diverted her course for it, grabbing onto the outside of it. Shimmying her way up towards a better vantage point, Starry finally turned around and surveyed the damage.
To say the part of the station she had been near was destroyed would be an understatement; it looked straight up disintegrated. Through the clouds of gas and shards of metal floating about, she could make out a gaping hole in part of the station, its guts exposed. The power had cut out, but it looked like it was a cargo room. Debris was everywhere inside, chunks of pallets and crates drifting out into the void. Beyond it was where the station's fuels were stored, though there wasn't much left of that. Few tanks remained intact, most of them disintegrated or clearly blown apart. There was an odd, faint glow below it all, but she didn't have a good enough view to see it, and the sight was distressing enough already. She moved to turn on her radio and report what she found, until an unnatural movement caught her eye.
Starry squinted, looking down at the spot near the destroyed cargo bay where she noticed it. It was hard to make out amongst the shadows, but when it moved again she was sure of its location. Part of her wanted to ignore it, mentally write it off as a trick of the light so she could be clear in her goal of getting out of here, but that idea didn't sit right with her. She needed to investigate. With a glance at her hardsuit screen (15 minutes of air), she kicked off towards it.
As she drifted closer, Starry managed to make out finer details from what little light shined on it. It glinted in the light with a gold color, and when she got even closer she noticed a distinct pattern and...Wait...that's a pony!
Starry balked. It was a hardsuit, clear as day, and the movements had to be from somepony operating it. She grabbed hold of the nearest object and let it stop her movement so she could stay frozen and watch it. When the figure turned around, she nearly gasped.
Chart Topper's red eyes immediately met hers, and grew wide. A moment later he smiled, and Starry felt herself do the same. She waved and quickly floated over. Chart motioned for her to come closer, until he suddenly lurched forward and touched his helmet to hers.
"Well I'm glad to see you're in one piece...mostly," Chart chuckled. His voice was faint, but Starry could feel it reverberating through her helmet just enough to be legible.
Starry sighed deeply. "As am I," she replied, raising her voice as she realized how this was working. In the absence of a radio, she'd been taught pressing helmets together was enough to carry sound waves in an emergency situation. "The others are alright inside the station, but none of them saw you, so..."
"Good to hear," Chart said, glancing to his side. "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm sure you noticed we have some rather huge problems on our hooves. Until you came along I figured i was the only one trying to make sense of it."
Starry grimaced. "Yeah, no shit. Something collided with the station, saw it myself, and then a moment later it all just kinda...exploded."
Chart muttered something inaudible before raising his voice again. "Star, what's your radio frequency? If it still works we need to trot and talk here, I'm gonna need your help."
"Uhh, 103.5," she replied. Chart pulled back and dialed something into his hardsuit screen before switching something on his helmet.
"Can you hear me?" his voice came through in stunning clarity. Starry nodded, switched hers on, and told her hardsuit to connect to Chart's frequency.
"Loud and clear, how's this?"
"Perfect," Chart replied, immediately turning around and heading towards something. "Okay listen, whatever hit the station didn't just tear through the bay and fuel tanks, it also clipped the station's reactor."
Starry felt dread wash over her. "You mean?"
"Yes, we have an exposed nuclear reactor core just a few meters below us. I think a hot chunk of fissile material is what set off that explosion as well." Chart settled on a chunk of twisted metal. Starry could see the glow from before below them, and her suit produced a faint ticking.
"What do we do about it?"
"Well the vacuum of space will cool it eventually, but that's not the problem. That thing is pouring forth a ridiculous amount of radiation right now. The station's shielding isn't meant to handle that much. It'll slowly irradiate anypony close enough and fry the station's electronics so we won't be able to call for help. One of us has to find a way to eject it."	
Starry said nothing, instead slowly peering over the edge towards the glow. As the ticking in her suit grew louder and more frequent, she pulled herself back and it faded. "How do you propose we...do this..."
Chart sighed. "That's the question, ain't it? There's a way to purge it if you get up close, if you can stand the thought of being horribly irradiated in the process. I don't recommend that and I wouldn't let you anyway."
Starry glanced around at the pieces of shattered station around her. "Isn't there a way to purge it without getting that close?"
"Yes, that's what I've been trying to find, but it's damn near impossible to tell if it's still here with half the room missing."
While Chart went back to searching, Starry checked her air once more. An agonizing 12 minutes remained. Chart would understand if I went back...but then I'd basically be out of action with the station slowly dying anyway. She bit her lip. As long as I have air, I can help...
As she pondered her predicament, Starry noticed a sizable chunk of station plating drift near her. Irregularly shaped, with frayed edges, blackened from the explosion, and not much bigger than her, it nevertheless gave her an idea. "Hey Chart...station walls are lead lined, right? For cosmic radiation?"
"Yes, what are you..." Chart turned to look in her direction, his eyes falling on the piece of metal Starry was inspecting with a hoof. "You're damn crazy."
"Do you have a better idea?" she gulped. "I forgot to mention, but I'm kinda running out of air here."
From what she could see through his helmet, Chart was visibly conflicted. His body remained rigid for a few seconds, until he audibly sighed. "Well...it will help a little. If you think you can get there in time," he sounded uncertain, but Starry could tell he didn't have any better options.
With his help, Starry grabbed the chunk of shielding and maneuvered it into a position they calculated was right in front of the open core. With a deep breath, she floated down, her heart rate spiking as her built-in geiger counter did the same. Though much less than before, she wasn't about to waste any time. Firmly planting her magboots on the makeshift shield, she immediately kicked off.
Starry had no way to see where she was going, all she could do was trust she was en route to the core, and would only know when she hit it or floated past. Sure enough the ticking in her suit intensified, growing louder and more frequent as she neared her goal. She did her best to block it out, focusing instead on the walls of the partially destroyed engine room.
Within seconds the ticking was no longer distinct, just a constant buzzing sound in her ear. To her horror, she began to notice a faint metallic taste in her mouth. Don't think about it, just hurry up. We have the technology to treat radiation poisoning, just don't stick around long enough to get cancer...
With her left eye out of action, Starry didn't notice the pipe sticking out of the ceiling. Her makeshift shield clipped it, and all of a sudden she felt herself lurch and partially change course. Feeling herself turn, she glanced to her right and felt her stomach drop as she was met with the sickly orange glow of the exposed reactor core staring right at her.
"NO NO NO, FUCK!" she screamed, her own panicked cries barely drowning out the sound of her geiger counter completely losing it. She frantically tried to bring the shield to bear to cover her again, but it was heavy and she had no way of controlling it without working thrusters. Abandoning all reason, she flung herself at the core, frantically glancing around for something, anything that might put an end to this. There were easily dozens of labeled buttons and levers, and she knew there was no time to read them all. As she began to sweat from the warmth of the radiation attacking her body, her eyes fell upon a large red lever. Encased in glass that had been shattered from the collision, bold yellow text marked it as 'EMERGENCY CORE DUMP'. She didn't think twice as she grabbed it and pulled with all her might.
Starry clung on for dear life, hoping desperately it did something. Only when she noticed her geiger counter dying away did she finally dare to open her eye and gaze at the place where the core once was. She looked down and saw an orange light rapidly growing dimmer. With a long, shuddering sigh she let her body go limp and drift aimlessly until Chart's voice brought her back. "Holy shit Star, are you okay?"
Starry wearily raised a hoof to her headset switch. "I think I'll be lucky if I survive the month, much less have foals...but the core's out."
Chart muttered something about her being crazy. "That's good to hear. Are you gonna be alright?"
Starry waited for her heart to stop pounding before swallowing deeply. "I...p-probably, yeah. What's next?"
"I was going to go inspect the Draconequus, see if it's in ship shape in case we need to evacuate. If you need to head to an airlock you should, but before you do that can you call up someone inside the station and see if they need anything?"
In the excitement, Starry had almost forgotten to report her findings back to her friends. At least with the core dumped she'd have some good news to go along with it. Switching her radio frequency, she opened her mouth. "Mint? Countdown? Wind? You guys still there?"
Mint's voice came back, sounding a lot clearer given Starry's much closer proximity to the station. "Star? You good? What's the situation out there?"
Starry glanced around the remnants of the station around her. "I'm still breathing. Something collided with the station near the cargo section, wiped it out and half of engineering. The reactor core was exposed so I had to dump it—" Mint briefly interjected with a "you WHAT?!" while Starry continued, "—Chart's here with me, I found him in a hardsuit trying to make sense of this as well. You?"
Mint remained quiet for a second. "That's...wow. How's Chart doing?"
"Ask him yourself, his frequency is uhhh, 101," Starry replied. "Listen, I'm running low on air here and we're trying to do everything we can to help, what's the situation in there?"
Mint's voice turned grim.. "I don't want you to panic too much, but from what I've seen and heard I think we're running out of air too."
"Eh? What's going on?" Starry felt a spike of fear.
"Station air alarms are starting to go off. We're losing air faster than we should be, even with the backup generators on. There's got to be a leak somewhere, but we're lack the tools to find and deal with it."
Starry quickly checked what was left on her suit's toolbelt. A welder was not among them. Oh...right... "I don't think I have the time for that, even if I, uh, had a welder. What are you guys gonna do? Any way I can help?"
"From what I heard I think the captain wants to evacuate, but nopony can tell what ships, if any, can still fly. If you take a look around..."
Starry looked behind her. Chart was already inspecting the hull of the Draconequus. "Chart said he was gonna inspect the Draconequus, that might be our best bet. Can you guys still make it on?"
"I think so, I'll tell the others. Let us know first thing if that changes," Mint said dutifully, and with a quiet pop, she grew silent.
Starry tuned her radio frequency back and kicked off towards the ship. "Hey Chart, it's not looking good. Station's running out of air and they think they'll have to evacuate. is the Draconequus good enough to fly?"
Chart looked over his shoulder until he saw her, then back at the ship. "Could use a second pair of eyes here, but I think so. No serious damage to the gravity ring or any of the crew compartments. Doesn't necessarily mean she's ready to go though."
Starry chewed the inside of her cheek as she surveyed the damage. In several places there were scratches, dents, or small holes, but she agreed that none of it looked serious. She understood what he meant though: in the case of the small holes it might've damaged some surface-level electronics, but there was nothing that could be done about that besides hope it wasn't serious. What concerned her more though, was the state of the engines, having been closest to the explosion. "i think it'll be fine, but I don't think that's what we should be worrying about. I'm going to go check on the engines," she replied, boosting herself off the gravity ring to float down towards the rear of the ship.
The Draconequus, as she'd found out days earlier, had a cluster of five engines at the rear of the ship. High power plasma engines that demanded lots of electricity, but provided decent thrust with excellent efficiency. So long as at least one was working they stood a chance of getting out. She could make some incredibly basic repairs if need be, but the engine design was too complex for her if anything more serious had happened. There wouldn't be time anyway; as she checked her air again, her heart sank to find she was down to 5 minutes.
The engines were spaced well apart from each other in a cross formation, and as Starry approached, she could see the two closest to her were damaged beyond her understanding. She bit her lip, hoping the central one might still work. As she came to a position where she could view all of the engines, she looked closer. The central engine was clearly damaged, not to the degree of the others, but it still made her heart sink. As if a cruel joke, the remaining two looked perfectly fine; they would work, but the thrust would be uneven enough that it would be too risky to fire them at all.
"Bad news Chart," she started. "The only engine without damage is unevenly placed."
Chart sighed. "Dammit. What of the others?"
"Outer two are clearly destroyed. The middle one I might be able to fix—"
"Then by all means do it!" he cut her off. "We're running out of options here!'
Putting her head down, Starry took a closer look at the middle engine's damage. After surveying it for a bit, she determined the damage, at least externally, was contained to the engine's nozzle and one of the magnetic coils. The nozzle was heavily dented and the coil was exposed with its copper wiring hopelessly frayed. Both would need to be replaced, but it just so happened the other engines functioned just fine as spare parts. All that was left was to figure out how to disassemble them. "Chart I think I can salvage the middle engine with parts from the others," she informed, before getting to work.
First, Starry closely inspected the damaged sections from some sort of attachment point, but there weren't any obvious ones. Biting her lip, she checked further up at the base of the engine, where she finally found it bolted to the ship, with metal fuel lines leading in. Alright that's not ideal, but if I can replace the whole engine that'll work too...Just gotta hurry...
Starry checked her toolbelt, taking stock of what was left. A power drill, a small box full of different heads for it, a crowbar, and some spare coils of wire. Yes, this would do. Retrieving the drill, she squeezed her hoof in where the engine was attached and began undoing each of the bolts keeping it in place. She panicked a little as they began floating off into space with no way for her to keep them stored, but there'd be plenty more she could salvage from the other engines once the hard part was done. She glanced at her air meter. 3 and a half minutes. Plenty of time, plenty of time...
Starry finished with the main bolts, and started on the fuel lines, having to switch the head out to do so. Once the engine floated freely she moved to push it out of the way, to find she moved before it did. She tried a better position near the base, bracing her self against the ship with her forelegs while her back ones pushed. Even in zero gravity this thing felt like it weighed a ton, and Starry grit her teeth and strained as she felt it start to budge. "Cmoooon! Nnnnnghhhh!"
Nearly slipping and losing her grip as the engine finally floated away, Starry caught herself and watched it go. The engine port was exposed now, revealing all sorts of electrical coils and wires she had only a cursory understanding of. "Alright, halfway there..." she muttered to herself as she began unsecuring the undamaged engine. Less than 3 minutes of air left, she could do this.
A minute later the other engine was unsecured, she just needed to push it into position. The problem now was that it was still extraordinarily heavy and she had even less to grip onto. She settled on grabbing a hold of the exposed engine port and hoping she didn't damage anything by doing so, and pulling with her free arm. Earth pony strength don't fail me now...
"HhhrrrrRRRGGGGG!" Starry groaned, pulling on the engine with all her might, only to feel it barely moving towards her. She keep it up, feeling blood pound in her head and in her injured eye socket as she willed the heavy piece of machinery to move. When her strength had nothing left to give she snapped back in exhaustion, but the engine was finally coming towards her. Ah, finally...wait, wait SHIT!
Starry tried to stop the engine where she wanted it, but being as heavy as it was, she was unable to stop it from sailing past the engine port towards her. Realizing she needed to move or get squished between two engines, she propelled herself up, but not fast enough. Her rear left hoof was caught between them, and she screamed as she felt the engines crush her hardsuit and the leg underneath. "AHHHHHH FUCK!"
"Starry are you okay?" Chart's voice came back full of worry.
Starry looked down at the damage. The unsecured engine bounced off, leaving her room to pull back her leg. The hardsuit was folded and cracked, and she could feel her leg getting cold in between the stabs of pain. A warning on her hardsuit's display screen told her she was losing air again. "I a-almost have it, b-but I could really, nngh, use s-some help."
Chart said he'd be there and the connection cut, but Starry wasn't about to wait. I'm so close, I won't have enough air to wait for him to get here. Gotta finish this now! she told herself, blinking through the pain as she moved to try pushing the engine again. One good leg was still enough to get good leverage.
While the parts of her leg that weren't numb rapidly grew colder, Starry frantically moved the engine into the desired position, forcing herself to go slow enough so as to not have to repeat this again. When it was finally lined up she snatched up one of the bolts that was floating around and slammed it into one of the holes before going at it with the drill. She continued nabbing as many bolts as she could until she came up short and resorted to cannibalizing one from one of the destroyed engines.
Soon the engine was firmly attached, and all that was left was to connect the fuel lines. Almost...there...Her leg had grown almost completely numb and her chest was starting to feel painfully cold as well. She ignored the warning alarms starting to go off inside her suit as she finished one of the two fuel lines and started on the other. Out of the corner of her remaining eye she could see a figure floating towards her. She sucked in a breath through her teeth as she drilled another bolt into place, but her lungs remained unsatisfied. Just...a little...
Clunk! The final bolt stopped snugly in place. Starry leaned back in relief, turning to wave at Chart rapidly heading towards her. "It's...it's good," she gasped, kicking over towards him only to cry out in pain as she used her bad leg on accident.
"Damn crazy pony, you've saved us all. Cmon, let's go home," he replied, grabbing a hold of her and helping guide her back towards the airlock with his working thruster pack. Starry would've replied, but there wasn't enough air left in her lungs to do so. She gasped for another breath, to find there wasn't anything to breathe in. All she could do was will him to go faster as she dangled in his hooves.
The airlock slowly drifted into view, but it seemed to take an eternity to get there. Starry wearily looked up, trying to keep her eyes locked on it as darkness swam in the edges of her vision. Her lungs hurt and her whole body felt cold. As the airlock's details began to grow larger, she raised a hoof, ready to undo the airtight clasp around the base of her helmet.
Floating into the airlock, the doors shut behind them. She didn't waste time and undid the clasp, hearing a faint hiss as the airlock started pressurizing. Her vision almost completely black, she started gasping for any scrap of air to replace the feeling of hot pins and needles in her chest. it took ages, but the pain eventually faded. As feeling returned, the fading adrenaline, wounds, freezing temperatures, and radiation sickness finally caught up with her. Starry unceremoniously vomited all over the inside of her helmet and then passed out.


=====


Starry opened her eyes, to find a bright light shining on her, and closed them out of pain. She felt completely and utterly wiped out, but the pain in her head was mostly faded. Cracking her eyes open a tiny bit, she slowly opened them as she adjusted to the light. Her head felt like a lead weight as she lifted it to look around. A hospital setting, machines and equipment everywhere, with herself hooked up to a few. She crashed back onto the pillow with a loud sigh. Well...I'm still alive at least.
Lifting her left hoof, she found it lightly bandaged with an IV needle inserted. Carefully she brought it to her face and poked around her left eye socket, to find there was still nothing there. A shame, but at least the rod was gone. She checked her rear hoof as well, finding...nothing. "Huh?" she whispered, straining to lift herself up and get a better look. She pulled back the covers to find half ot it missing, a bandaged stump halfway down. She gasped, her eyes remaining locked on the sight until she lost track of time and slumped back down in defeat.
The sound of hooves approaching prompted Starry to lift her head, just in time to see a nurse walk through the door, a blue unicorn in bright white scrubs. The two locked eyes and the nurse smiled. "Ah good, was wondering when you'd wake up."
Starry blinked. "Ugh, where a-HACK!" She coughed loudly for a few seconds, before groaning and taking a breath. "Where...am I?" she rasped, throat feeling like sandpaper.
"Let me get you a drink first," she offered, filling a cup from a nearby sink. "This is Ursa Minor station, in orbit around Mephisto. As of, uh, a few hours ago, we're the only orbital station around Thraxis with working medical facilities."
Starry carefully took the cup and drank deeply and greedily. She cleared her throat a few times, and when she spoke again it was a lot less gruff. "I...see. Wh-what all happened? How long have I been out?"
"Not sure, six hours maybe?" the nurse explained. "i heard your ship evacuated that long ago. You in particular have been in surgery for about two of those."
"I can see that," Starry said neutrally with a glance down at her leg.
The nurse's eyes followed her gaze. "...Yeah. Compression fracture combined with prolonged exposure to a vacuum. The frostbite burns will heal, but there was no saving that part of the leg. I'm sorry."
She blinked. "And the eye?" Starry wondered.
"You're very lucky the metal bar we removed didn't go deeper or shatter your helmet. The eye itself is gone though." The nurse chippered up suddenly. "On the positive side, prosthetics for both are an option once you get back to Equestria. We would, but even if we had the prosthetics, we don't have the equipment for that kind of surgery."
Starry raised an eyebrow. "Back to Equestria? Aren't there other stations that would have that?"
The nurse bit her lip. "There are, but you also received a hefty dose of radiation back there. Not enough to be lethal, but you've more than fulfilled your tour's maximum dose so you'll have to be groundbound for a few months."
Starry deflated. A few months? "Huh. O-okay then," she replied, her voice cracking a little.
"But beyond that," the nurse smiled again, "you have a clean bill of health. You'll be transferred out in a week. In the meantime your friends were wondering about you, want me to send them in?"
Starry finally cracked a tiny smile. "Sure."
As she waited, Starry resumed taking stock of her surroundings. She managed to locate a switch on the side of the bed that when operated, lifted the headrest so that she could comfortably sit up in the bed. Once she had it where she wanted it, she reached for another swig of water and put the glass down just as Mint, Wind, and Countdown filed through the door.
Starry locked eyes with them for a good few seconds until Mint finally decided to break the silence. "You look like shit!"
Starry chuckled a bit. "Heh, I'll bet I do. Kinda feel like it to, though not as much as I thought I would at least."
Wind just gawked. "You didn't mention losing an eye!"
With a frown, Starry brought her hoof to the empty socket. "Sadly. Chart didn't tell you?"
"Too busy filling us in on all the crazy stuff you did, probably forgot to mention it," Countdown chimed in.
"Where is he anyway?" Starry wondered, craning her neck to look behind them."
"Waiting out in the hallway," Wind answered with a point of his hoof. "Told us to go in first."
"Wants me all to himself, huh?" Starry grinned. "Looks like I'm gonna get chewed out guyyysss..."
"After the crazy shit you pulled? You serious?" Mint exclaimed, narrowing her eyes. "...They got you high on morphine or something?"
Starry grinned even wider. "Damn I wish! Oh yeah, if he forgot to mention the eye, then..."
Yanking back the covers, Starry revealed the bandaged stump that was her leg. Wind and Countdown visibly recoiled. Mint stared at it with disturbed fascination. "Horseapples, Star, how'd that happen?"
"Wellll..." Starry started from the moment she'd gone out the airlock to start pumping fuel, and recollected from there. Her trio of friends remained close by the bedside as they listened to her first-hoof account of the disaster that had befallen them. Occasionally one of them would interject with a question, but otherwise kept silent.
"—and then, well, I woke up here," Starry finished, with a wave of her hoof. She let herself lean back and relax as she waited for them to respond.
"Well that's...wow," Wind finally said. "You really did save all our hides back there."
"You seem pretty upbeat for somepony that just went through all that," Mint added. "You sure it's not the morphine?"
Starry shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I'm just happy to see you guys. And to be alive," she replied, her face falling a little.
"What happens now?" Countdown wondered.
"Transferred back to Equestria proper. I'll get a prosthetic leg and eye. Something about being grounded for a few months cause of all the radiation I soaked up." The mood in the room fell as Starry drew quiet. The three across from her exchanged nervous glances.
"I'll be fine guys," Starry tried to sound a little cheerier. "It's...just gonna suck not being up here, even after all that happened."
"There's always video calls," Countdown offered. "If you don't try to hit us up, we're gonna be the sad ones here."
Starry smiled softly. "I will."
Wind reached into his saddlebags, retrieving a small wrapped package. "Well, I think we should finally let Chart in, but here. Figured we should get you a little get well gift," he said, depositing it on her bedside table.
Starry waved goodbye as her friends left the room, then quickly took the package in her hooves and opened it up. Inside was a freeze-dried ice cream sandwich, with some writing on the paper. Get well soon messages from her friends, plus a small note from Mint:
Best thing I could find in this place's cafeteria. Nurse said you aren't allowed to have it, so we smuggled it in. IOU the real deal when we get back on shore leave. - Mint. Starry smiled to herself and hid both the package and note away, just in time to look up and see Chart entering the room.
"Looking a lot better without that rod sticking out of you," Chart chuckled.
"Feels a lot better too," Starry replied. "Still feel completely wiped out though."
"Reckon that's normal after what they did to you. Thank Celestia you're still here though, I doubt I would've lasted if I went through what you did."
"Earth pony genes I guess," Starry smiled. "Say, did we ever figure out what exactly happened back there?"
Chart's face fell. "Around the time everything was going down we picked up a warning from mission control. Something about trying to deorbit a satellite but it accidentally ended up on a collision course with the station, and we needed to evacuate if we were still there."
"A satellite?" Starry whispered. "Hard to believe it caused all...that."
"Aye. There was one casualty, some poor sap hanging around in the cargo bay when it all went down. No serious injuries at least, except for, well, you," he said with a light jab at her. "But otherwise the worst is past us."
Starry glanced up at the ceiling with a quiet 'mmm'. "So...what happens now?"
"Besides your extended shore leave?" Seeing Starry's wide eyes he added, "Oh, the nurse filled me in. Shame you won't be flying with us for a while. Not much you'll have to do though besides help me with a mountain of incident reports."
Starry groaned. "Here I thought I'd be able to escape the paperwork."
Having stood near the foot of her bed so far, Chart finally pulled up a chair closer to her. "It's unavoidable in a situation like this, but don't worry, I'll help you through it. If it's any consolation I was actually meaning to float the thought of a promotion by you as well."
Starry blinked. "A promotion?" Equestria's space program didn't have much in the way of ranks, merely occupations, though certain management positions required a lot more experience.
Chart nodded. "Well, sorta. Basically I could use somepony with your tenacity to accompany me on future missions. That means putting in a good word with command and a pay raise. Spots for your friends too, if they want it, if you don't want to spend too much time away from them."
"Really? Wow..." she whispered. A special spot in Chart's crew just for her? Was she even qualified? "I'll...have to think about it. Gonna be a while before I'm flying again anyway."
"If you so desire. In the meantime I have a little get well soon gift of my own," he said, reaching into his saddlebags and pulling out a familiar bottle.
"Is that..."
Chart grinned. "Luna station's private stock. I am most definitely not allowed to give this to you right now, so don't say anything." He telekinetically grabbed a glass from across the room and floated it over, then popped open the bottle of wine and slightly filled each glass. "To a...mission I guess. Not a successful one, but we're still here, and I think you deserve it after all you've been through."
Starry took the glass in her hooves and gulped down what little was there. The taste was subtle, but sweet, and tasted mainly of grapes. She wasn't much of an alcohol drinker, but enjoyed it all the same. She motioned for more, but Chart shook his head.
"Don't think I should give you that much, gotta save some for the rest of the crew anyway. There'll be plenty of time for more when you're out of here," he said.
Pouting, Starry set the glass back down. "Fair, I'll hold you to it though."
"Before I head out of here," Chart started, retrieving a slip of paper and a pencil from his saddlebags, "I wanted to ask your opinion on a song I'm writing."
Starry raised her eyebrow. "Eh? A song? About what?"
"You," Chart smiled.
"Ehhh?"
"Aye. A lot of those space shanties are fictional, but a few aren't. Not everyday I get to write one about a living, breathing hero," he winked.
Starry's heart fluttered and she blushed a little. Me? A hero? "Well, alright then...l-let's hear it!"
Chart smiled and cleared his throat, scanning his lyric sheet for a moment before bursting out into song. It wasn't the best thing she'd heard, certainly not sung solo like this, but she could tell it was the start of something great.
"It started one fine day on a simple little fuel run,
On out to a planet where quite a few had gone.
We didn't expect excitement, a thought that seemed quite fair.
But our hides remain intact because of just one spacer mare..."