Mare Space

MARE SPACE

CEC Mission ER529

Status Update...

USG Vermilion En Route to Aegis System...

Primary Mission Assets...

...Sky "Skysaac" Lark - Engineering and Ship Systems Specialist...

...Crystal Clear - Computer Specialist...

...Wire Cord - Chief Security Officer...

Directive A: Locate Mining Vessel USG Pinkimura

Directive B: Diagnose and Repair Communications Blackout

Time to Contact: 3 Minutes...

Sky Lark, a unicorn currently bearing a look of mixed hope and worry gleaming in her red-colored eyes, watched the holographic screen form in front of her. Footage of her girlfriend, a short-haired, pink-furred earth pony named Charcoal Oven slowly formed on its surface. The all-too-short prerecorded message, one that the unicorn received less than a week before, showed Charcoal in a startlingly distressed state.

"Skysaac, it's me. I wish I could talk to you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything," she said, her voice full of what sounded like panic and confusion as the screen was constantly bugged by a haze of static. "I wish I could just talk to somepony. It's all falling apart here. I can't believe what's happening... It's strange... such a little thing-"

The screen cut to a tantalizing cloud of static and soon vanished from Sky's sight, as vague and enigmatic as it ever was. Now in her view instead, a pegasus pony dressed in business work attire, bearing a tan complexion to her fur and a darker shade of brown to her mane, stood in front of Sky. It was the Vermilion's computer specialist, Crystal Clear.

"How many times have you watched that thing, "Skysaac?"" Crystal asked, the vision of the ship going through faster-than-light travel shown from the shielded, glass panels in the shuttle's front, achieving such a feat thanks to its ShockPoint drive. Sky's brow curled in a slightly annoyed way at her coworker's words.

"Guess you really miss her," she continued in an understanding tone, turning her head around to look out the window panels. "Don't worry, we're almost there. You can look her up when we're on board. Sounds like you two have a lot of catching up to do."

"That's not even the half of it..." Sky replied under her breath in a small mumble, a small, unsure grin forming on her snout. No sooner had she spoke, the sight of hyperspace suddenly dissipated, revealing the sight of several dozen asteroids and rocky debris, all big and small, floating through the near, empty space. Behind them, its outline covering over half of the ship's viewing panel, was the planet of Aegis VII.

"Alright everypony, we're here," Wire Cord, the shuttle's chief security officer and a brown-furred earth pony with a mane as black as pitch, spoke up in his typical, deep voice. "Syncing our orbit now."

As he talked, Sky could feel as the shuttle started to slow until it began to float through the field of rocks, carefully maneuvering around the multiple projectiles. The unicorn kept her eyes focused on one of the smaller meteoroids that passed by, until her attention was caught by her crewmates again.

"All this trouble over that chunk of rock..." Crystal sighed, gazing at the sight of the planet that befell them, rubbing a hoof through her mane.

"Deep space mining is a very lucrative business, Ms. Clear," Wire chuckled, as the ship continued to steadily fly forward through the asteroid-strewn, zero-gravity environment. "Aegis Seven is a gold mine as a matter of fact. Well, at least according to the prospector pony's reports. Cobalt, Silicon, Osmium, Celestium... Now, where is she?"

Moments after he spoke, one of the larger asteroids, one with a fairly jagged surface, moved out of the way, revealing the sight of the enormous ship he talked about in coincidental fashion. "Ah! There she is," the earth pony went on. "We have visual contact."

"So that's the Pinkimura? Impressive..." Crystal commented, once she had a good view of the vessel, the entire ship emerging from hiding, displaying the bright, white, painted-on words of the Planetcracker's designation near its hull's base.

"The USG Pinkimura," Wire corrected, as Sky left her chair to look at the sight of the enormous vessel with them. "Biggest Planetcracker in her class. And it looks like they already popped the cork."

"Why's it all dark? I don't see any running lights," the pegasus asked in a concerned tone. Placing a hoof to his chin, Wire stroked his goatee and appeared to be wondering the same thing.

"Corporal, take us in closer and hail them," he commanded, raising a hoof to Corporal Chain, who was standing a few meters away at one of the stations. "...And stay clear of the debris field. We're here to fix their ship, not the other way around."

Chain did as he was told, and once they were close enough, he spoke into one of the radio coms nearby. "USG Pinkimura, this is the emergency maintenance team of the USG Vermilion responding to your distress call. Come in Pinkimura."

They all waited a few seconds, but no response came. As Sky tapped her hoof on the metal ground in an anxious manner, Crystal peered over to Wire and voiced an opinion. "You're going to need to boost the signal if their power is low."

"Yes, we know," Wire Cord nodded his in agreement, turning back to Chain. "Boost the signal."

After Chain did so, nothing still went on. Wire sighed before speaking again. "More."

"Never heard of a total communications blackout on one of these things," Crystal said. "You'd think with over a thousand ponies on board, somepony would pick up the phone-"

Interrupting her, the sound of an opposing frequency finally responded, however, it was chock-full of static. To Sky Lark's confusion, within the static was what sounded like utterly unintelligible, strange noises, and if the unicorn didn't know any better, she could swear that they sounded more like distorted growls than actual voices.

"What was that?" Corporal Chain inquired in a shocked tone, once the transmission ended as abruptly as it began.

"It's a busted array like we thought," Crystal Clear replied, pacing over a few feet from where she currently stood, before pacing back. "Sounds like they're having problems with their encoder. Wire, You get us down there and Sky and I can fix it. Forty-eight hours max."

"Alright, you heard the lady," Wire concurred. "Take us in. Let's see what needs fixing."

Sky watched as the shuttle drifted closer to the Pinkimura, the sheer, unrivaled size of the vessel shown in its full, impressive glory when they were close enough. Once it was within the proper distance, another corporal manning a nearby station, Broomstick, spoke up.

"Gravity tethers engaged," he stated, as he slowly moved several switches like he was trained to do. "Automatic docking procedure is go."

As the shuttle got closer, Sky took a deep breath, relieved that everything appeared to be going fine so far, and that she was mere minutes away from seeing her precious Charcoal. Her happiness was replaced with fear and surprise as an explosion went out from just in front of the Vermilion, causing everything aboard the shuttle to shake violently.

"What the hell?" Sky cried out, as she steadied her balance.

"Sir! The autodock-" Broomstick tried to speak, until he fell silent.

"What is it?" Wire asked in quick voice, as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"We're off track!" he replied, in a terrified yelp. "W-we're going to hit the hull!"

Setting to work, both he and Chain managed to pilot the ship past the outer mass of metal that was the Pinkimura's outer hull, and into the inside of the open landing bay of the vessel. They continued to shout out in panicked voices while the shuttle struggled to navigate through the dark interior of the Pinkimura, slamming into several walls, and causing the front panels of the small ship to crack. Knocked-loose wires sent out sparks as they dangled and shot out from the dented-open walls and ceiling.

"Hit the blast shields!" the chief officer immediately ordered, running over to where his nearest corporal was, grabbing onto a command panel for balance from another, sudden collision that knocked Sky over, thrusting her to floor when she was just a foot away from her seat. "Their guidance tether is damaged! Switch to manual. NOW!"

Crystal was quick to pipe in as she and Sky picked themselves up from the cold ground. "Inside the magnetic field? Are you insane?!" she practically screamed. "Abort!"

"NO!" Wire objected, as Sky jumped into her seat and pulled her safety belt over herself. "We can make it inside! Corporal, I gave you an order!"

"Th-the field's too strong!" Chain cried out from the other side of the room. "We're going t-"

A sudden, earsplitting crashing noise went out, silencing the pony from where he stood, only to be followed by a shriek of metal, then a scream from several of the crewmembers. All Sky could do was grip her seat as hard as she could, grind her teeth, close her eyes, and wait for this entire venture to be over.

Then everything went black.