"Mayday, mayday. This is Captain Lockhoof of the H.M.S. Genesis. We have experienced an explosive decompression in Cargo Bay A-130 and have lost auto-pilot and AI systems. We have shut down all engines and are diverting all our power towards essential systems and stabilization of the FTL drive." The captain lifted his hoof from the communications panel and counted the seconds. After a full minute he put his hoof back down and repeated his mayday call. His Co-Pilot, a young pegasus stallion dressed in a traditional equestrian navy uniform, was calmly reading through a large list.
"Captain, I have completed the emergency checklist for power-failure and engine-failure. The explosive decompression checklist requires that the site be inspected by the flight engineer. Shall I wake the rest of the crew?"
The captain thought for a moment. "Negative. It's risky to wake them until we can get our power situation under control." The captain reached into the compartment above his control panel and pulled out a face mask with a large tube hanging from it. "Take this, without our AI and monitoring systems, I have no way to be 100% sure that the oxygen membrane is still holding."
"Yes sir." The young stallion fastened the mask securely to his face before opening the door that led to the the other sections of the ship.
"One more thing." The young stallion stopped and turned his attention back to Captain Lockhoof, "If anything goes wrong or if you believe the situation has become dangerous, you are to return back to the bridge immediately." The stallion nodded and continued out the door.
The young pegasus stallion slowly made his way down the dark hallways of the ship. The signature hum of the engines was absent and the only thing that disturbed the darkness was the occasional dim-red glow of an emergency guide-light. The lights were meant to help guide personnel and passengers through the ships labyrinthian hallways during a power failure. Of course, the stallion didn't need to follow the lights. He had walked the halls of the large ship many times and, as the flight engineer, he meticulously studied the vessel's layout and core systems. The red guide lights ended as the stallion entered the maintenance hallways of the ship. These hallways were rarely used and when they were, it was usually only briefly so that an engineer or mechanic could repair a small issue such as a short-circuit or reboot the air-conditioning systems. The maintenance hallways were narrow and uncomfortable to navigate due to the lower than ideal ceiling. The stallion didn't want to spend more time than he had to in there. He made his way to an exit, pushing the door open.
*clank*
The young engineer quickly swung his head to face the sound. It came from one of the larger hallways outside the maintenance hallways. The stallion started to slowly follow the noise when his focus was interrupted by a hiss of static.
"Pr-*hiss*- Priv----- Ge----box. Private Gearbox, come in." The young stallion reached for the communicator on his uniform. "I've managed to get the short range communication system going. I'm not sure how long I can keep the signal up, but it appears to be fine for now. If you can hear this, please confirm you're position." Private Gearbox brought the communicator to his lips and pressed down on the small red button.
"Private Gearbox reporting in, Sir. I can hear you loud and clear. Over."
"Have you made it to A-130 yet? Over."
"No, sir. I am still a few minutes out. Over."
"Roger that. Remember, don't get yourself into any trouble. I am going to need you up here on the bridge as soon as you're done down there. Over and Out."
Private gearbox put his communicator back into its pocket on his belt. He took one more look down the dimly lit hall before turning around and continuing on his way to cargo bay A-130.
"Anti-gravs?"
"Active and stable, sir."
"Fuel?"
"Levels look good."
"FTL drive."
"Primed and ready."
"I guess that's it then." A large stallion dressed in an elegant white uniform put his checklist under his seat and returned his attention to the control grid in front of him. Lights danced across the steel-swept table as holographic numbers merged into complex algorithms and almost uninterpretable data. The stallion watched the numbers for a moment before sliding his hoof along the panel's smooth surface and watching as dancing lights created a blue screen along the glass screen in front of him. The face of a blue mare with thick glasses flickered to life as the screen projected her likeness. "This is Captain Lockhoof of the H.M.S. Genesis. We have completed our pre-flight checklist and are requesting permission to activate the FTL drive."
"Captain, this is control. You are clear to make your jump. Godspeed, sir."
With a nod and one final look to his first mate, the Captain reached forward and lifted a small lid with his hoof, revealing a small red button. With one final breath, he pushed the button and was deafened by the incredible roar of his engines – then, there was silence...
"Showtime." A pony in a black spacesuit drifted through the vacuum. His dark spacesuit provided the perfect camouflage against the blackness of the universe. His weightless flight ended as he grabbed on to a piece of floating debris, causing the chunk of metal to slowly drift and spin. "Clear." Another pony drifted through the darkness in an identical spacesuit. The debris' weightless spin was altered slightly as she slowly pulled herself against the metal.
A dull-green light brushed over the metal as the second pony slowly waved her hoof across it. "Titanium alloy, aluminium alloy and the bits floating back there are some kind of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer. This looks like our guy."
"Looks like he got into a bit of trouble. What do ya' reckon it was? Pirates? Some sort of collision?"
"I don't see any tell-tale scarring on this hull. If it was a pirate attack, there would be much more significant damage. Most of the hull around here is still drifting about in large chunks."
"What about a high speed impact? Reckon our guy took a hit from something then?" The stallion kicked off the chunk of metal and drifted towards another. "The debris here are all rather strange. This piece has almost identical scarring patterns as the one you're at. The metal hull is slightly bent and the carbon-fiber is slightly splintered, but there is no heat-scarring or scratches that would indicate an attack or impact." The stallion waved his hoof over the new chunk of debris as the dull-green light swept over. "Scans results are almost identical to the others. What are we missing?"
The mare carefully examined her piece of free-floating debris. To her disappointment, the wasn't any evidence to connect it to an explosion or impact either. Nothing was adding up. The damage seemed significant, and the carbon-fiber wouldn't have splintered without a significant force acting upon it. Then it hit her. "Aurum, what was the default hull color of this class of ship?"
Aurum thought for a moment as a he pondered the strange question. "It would have probably been frost-white or something similar."
"Then why is the white side of the hull bent outwards."
Aurum's eyes widened under his helmet as a sudden realization hit him. The ship was damaged by an explosion, but it wasn't a missile attack or impact. "The explosion came from inside the ship..." Aurum took a moment to bask in his cleverness before the mare issued her next command.
"New Objective: Find the cockpit and figure out what the hell happened here."
