Space is a Dangerous Place

Chapter 6

Act of Valor

Waking up from a nightmare is never fun, but when you lived that nightmare it was even worse. Even though I had completed my grieving and moved on with my life. I still lived through that horror and it still hunts me to this day. Never again would I allow anything like that to happen. It was one of my reasons for taking this position as head of Nayble station. Resent criminal activates had put it on the radar for not only the authorities.

Tangy rested ageist my side sleeping quietly. The cabin lights had been turned down low and most everypony was sleeping. Checking the time we were only a few minutes out from arrival. Looking out the window I watched as space zipped by like shooting stars. Faster then light travel, or FTL, made possible thanks to Princess Twilight Sparkle a thousand years ago. She had crafted a spell that creates a barrier around an object allowing it to exceeded the speed of light, while negating the effect of time dilation. Allowing travel between stars without leaving everything you knew behind.

A familiar lurch, pulled at me as the stars stopped streaking by and settled into their rightful place. Tangy stirred from her slumber along with the rest of the passengers. Quietly the InCom squeaked as the voice of the pilot spoke softly to the passengers.

“Good morning everypony. As you can tell we have dropped out of FTL. If you're on the left side of the craft, our destination will be in view shortly. We will be docking as scheduled, so please gather your possessions, and thank you for flying Pegaswift.”

Once the announcement was over my attention fell to Tangy. She slowly wiped the sleep from her eyes with a hoof and yawned. Smiling she looked up at me and I smiled back at the little filly.

“Sleep well?”

“Yeah.” She replied drowsily.

A glint from the window caught my interest. The shuttle started a holding pattern and tilted so the passengers could see their destination. A nearby nebula shed light on the station and she was massive! I heard rumors about how big she was, but none of them did justice! To say I was excited was an understatement. Good thing I was buckled in or I might of jump out of my seat.

“Have you never seen a station before?” Tangy quipped.

“I've seen quite a few stations. None of them have ever been this large. Not even the navel shipyards are this big.” Tangy giggled, probably from my colt like behavior.

“This is the largest mining station ever built. It was placed here so mining ships could harvest the local Asteroid System.” This new knowledge caught my fancy and I turned to Tangy.

“Asteroid System?” I've flown through a lot of systems, but I had never even heard of an Asteroid System before.

“Yep! The whole star system is nothing but asteroids.”

“That... that sounds like a nightmare to navigate.” I shivered at the thought.

“You're telling me.” A Stallion's voice came from behind us. We both turned and looked over the seats. The stallion frowned as we peeked over. I gulped looking at his scared face.

“Have you been there?” I asked sheepishly.

“Tartarus, yes I have and it's a maelstrom of death! I've lost two ships to that metal grinder. The only way in is by jumping and with everything moving all the time, you might jump right into a rock! Since that's not bad enough if you jump in 'safely' you're immediately pelted by micro meteors and if you're not quick to find the flow of debris fast enough you're likely to get smashed into one of the big ones.”

“Why can't you just fly in?” I asked.

“Nothing useful on the outer rim of the system and you'll get ripped up before you get close to anything good. Most ships can only last a few hours out there.”

“Yikes! What's so important out there you'd risk your life and ship for?”

“Gems mostly, rare ones.” There was a glint in his eye when he said that.

“Thank you for the information.” Tangy and I slid back into our seats. “Gem fever.” I shock my head.

“He's sick?” Tangy asked.

“No, no. It's um hard to explain.” Luckily the InCom piped up.

“Mares and gentlecolts, we have just been cleared for docking and will be making our final approach now. Please gather up all of your belongings before exiting the shuttle and welcome to Nayble station.” The InCom popped off.

“Ah. I'll get your bag.” I levitated Tangy's bag down from the over head for her.

“Thank you.” She took her bag then hugged my leg.

“No problem. I'll walk you off the shuttle and make sure you get to your mom.” Tangy acknowledged with a nod. Looking out the window the station was getting closer. With a light bump and a hiss we were connected to the station. The InCom came on again.

“We are now docked and may now exit the shuttle. Thank you again for traveling with Pegaswift and have a nice day.”

I unbuckled myself, then Tangy. Stepping down to the floor I dropped my bags on my back, Tangy did the same. We waited for an opening in the rushing herd getting off before moving for the exit. Stepping out of the cramped shuttle and into the large waiting area was a relief. The waiting area was about four ponies high and had ample room for the twenty or so ponies walking about.

A concerned looking mare caught my attention. She was craning her head around looking for somepony. Guessing this was Tangy's mother I guided Tangy over to her. As soon as Tangy saw her she ran toward her.

“Mama!” She called out.

“Oh Tangy there you are!” They nuzzled for a moment. The mare looked up at me. “And who's this?”

“This is Glimmer, mama. Ah, met'm on the trip. He's really nice and helped me.”

“Oh, thank you so much for watch my little Tangy.” Her face softened with relief. “I hope she wasn't any trouble.”

“No trouble at all. I was vary grateful to have somepony to talk to.”

“Well, if you need anything, just ask and I'll see what I can do.”

“Actually, I'm new to the station, and need to talk to security. Would you point me in the right direction?”

“Oh dear, did they loss one of your bags or something?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.” I shook my head and a hoof dismissively.

“Well, there's a security pony over there. She said she was waiting for someone.” She pointed to a mare in uniform.

“Perfect. Thanks.” I patted Tangy on the head and turned to leave. “See you later Tangy.”

“Bye, Glimmer. Be safe!” She waved goodbye.

I made my way through the crowd to the security mare. It was fairly easy to keep track of her since she was in uniform, kind of stands out. While approaching I was able to determine more about her. She stood up right and tall, no slouching at all. Her coat was green and well groomed with a cerulean blue mane, cut to regulations. Her eyes were purple and attentive. She was scanning the airlock to the shuttle.

“Excuse me.”

“Can I help you citizen?” She had a very authoritative voice and her question was text book.

“I sure hope you can.” Her head started to move before her eyes snapped to me. Her eyes scanned me for a moment.

“AH! Lieutenant-Commander!” She scrambled to face me and saluted. “Welcome to Nayble station, Sir! I'm Lieutenant Cerulean Shield, your second in command.”

“No need to salute Lieutenant, I'm not on duty or in uniform.” She lowered her salute and cleared her throat.

“Yes, Sir. I've assembled the crew at the security office for you.”

“Sound good, lets-” An explosion rocked that station knocking several of us to the deck, including myself. Red lights started flashing and the InCom was blaring a warning alarm.

“All ponies to action stations, we are under attack.”

“A bit late for a warning.” I groaned as I got up. “Is everypony okay? Is anypony hurt?”

A few in the crowd moaned, but none seemed injured. My ears swiveled when I heard a cracking sound. My hearing zeroed in on the sound. One of the windows looked like a spider web. I could hear whistling from the small holes already forming.

“Everypony get out of here!” Just as I yelled the window shattered. Rushing wind started to pull us to the opening. I grabbed onto the closest thing I could and watched the opening. I prayed to Celestia nopony would get pulled out before the automatic shutters closed. Loose objects flew out the broken window as we all held on, but the shutters weren't moving. Over the rushing wind I yell to Cerulean.

“Why aren't the shutters closing?”

“They're manual!” Tentatively she pointed to a panel on the wall. “Hoof access only! No magic!”

The panel was only a few feet away, but, with the rushing wind it might as well been a mile away. I lit up my horn and pushed magic into the runes on my hooves. I placed each one on the deck plating one at a time. I was now standing pushing against the rushing wind. Step by step I got closer until I was at the panel. I pulled the leaver with my mouth and removed the panel. The cover was ripped from my grasp and flew out the window. Bracing I lifted my right hoof and turned off the spell. Once it dissipated I hammered the button. I turned my head to watch and make sure they all closed. Just as it was slamming shut I saw something fly out.

“NO!” A mare screamed. I looked to see what had happened. It was Tangy's mother, her fore legs out stretched like she was trying to catch something. The situation clicked in my head, Tangy was sucked outside. I turned and pointed at Cerulean.

“You, rescue EVA, NOW!” With that I poured the vast majority of my magic into a bubble shield and locked onto the tracking rune I put on Tangy earlier. With my mental lock I put every last bit of my magic into a teleport spell. I could only hope it was enough.

With a flash everything around me disappeared. A massive ache shot through my horn, jolting my eyes open. I was in space. How far from the station I couldn't tell, but, I wasn't alone. Looking ahead of me she was there, just inside my shield. I reached to grab hold of Tangy and pulled her close. She wasn't breathing. I checked her pulse, it was weak but steady.

“Come on Tangy, breath.” I shook her lightly hoping she would start on her own, but to no avail. With no other choice I opened her mouth and pinched her nose placing my mouth over hers. I blow slowly watching her chest. Suddenly I got back pressure, pulling away she stated to cough and breath on her own. She began to cry and scream in pain. I pulled her close and held her tight.

“Oh sweet Luna your alive!” She continued to cry, but managed to get a hold of herself.

“I can't see. Why can't I see?”

“Stay calm Tangy and don't open your eyes. I got you, you're going to be fine.” I tried to comfort her.

“Glimmer? My eyes hurt and my ears and my nose and my bottom.”

“I know Tangy. You were in space for a few moments. But, I've got you. You're safe now.”

“I want my mama.”

“I'll take you to her. But, you need to stay calm right now. Can you do that for me?” She nodded her head on my chest and stayed quiet for a bit.

“Where are we?” She tried to look around. I quickly covered her face with a leg.

“Don't try to look around yet. Your eyes have been hurt by the vacuum of space. I don't want you to damage them any more.”

“Okay, I won't try again. But, Where are we? I can't hear anything.” I sighed. There was no point lying to her.

“We're still in space.” Tangy started to squirm.

“What are we going to do?”

“Nothing. There's nothing we can do, but wait.”

“Can't you teleport us back?” I shook my head even though she could see it.

“No. I'm all out of magic. I used the last of what I had to get to you.” I stroked her mane gently. “But, don't worry. Somepony is going to find us. They know we're out here and they're on their way.”

“Okay. I trust you.” Tangy curled up into a ball and I curled around her.

You'd be one of the few Tangy.