"This is most illogical captain" (editied)
Chapter 1, “This is most illogical captain”.
“Right, and is this system surveyed Doctor. That was the final asteroid scanned, with no exploitable worth”
Turning from her command desk, Dr Michelle Jones looked to the only other occupant of the science vessel; Sub Lieutenant Rachel Thomas, whom was wearing a pale blue uniform. Heaving a sigh of relief, Michael rubbed her head messing up her already unkempt brown hair.
“About time… what have we got; K Class star, three barren hunks of rock that have minimal mineral worth and a load of useless asteroids. The only use of this place is a few solar arrays around the sun”
“You know, I thought that exploring the stars would be fun and exciting!” exclaimed Michelle, before sitting back down, “I remember the stories my parents told me of when they watched the first ship leave our solar system. The stories of unknown danger, new species and planets- I was enraptured! This, this is just boring”
“You say that, but nothing beats seeing a sunrise on an alien planet”
“Hah. Anyway, I’ve plotted course to our warp point Doctor, ETA…. 86.5 hours. After that, a short run to E-17-21-9-19. It’s a recent discovery looking at the database, the observatory at Bernard have classed it as a G-VII”
Simply nodding in reply, Michelle stood up and left the bridge heading for her quarters. The UNS Campbeltown was a small recon ship, filled with scientific equipment and a shuttle filled with a handful of droids to aid exploration. The ship filled with state of the art equipment for science, had not so state of the art for creature comforts. What little room left over was given over to allow a nominal crew of two, with capacity for three if needed.
Passing the small galley, she entered her small 5 foot by 9 foot quarters. Spartan as everything else in the ship that wasn’t scientific equipment, with only the furniture not being made from Plasteel. Flopping herself down into the bed, Michelle stretched, trying to get the stiffness out of her muscles.
Not one for idleness, she reached out to grab her holo-pic. Casually flicking through various news updates and emails, filtering them to deal with later for the tedium of the sub-light. Satisfied, Michelle let out a squeal of excitement as she accessed her film archive- an indulgence and reward for another system surveyed. Nothing better to tackle the tedium of waiting till the next system. She just hoped that Rachel remembered to adjust the AI notification settings.
APPROACHING DESIGNATED WARP WAYPOINT- ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO THEIR STATIONS
“Eeek!” screeched Michelle as the alarm made her jump out of bed, “Fuck sake….. Rachel you are so dead! You hear me?!”
Picking herself off the floor, cursing and she grabbed her clothes from the wardrobe. Quickly donning the scarlet red uniform over her tank-top and underwear, Michelle made her way to the bridge. As the doors slid open, admitting her to the bridge, it revealed a smug faced Rachel slouching in her chair.
“Rachel, you’re an arse” grumbled Michelle as she sat herself down in her chair. Grunting as the other occupant of the room let off a short giggle.
“Not my fault you’re a heavy sleeper. Besides, I thought you said you liked the AI’s voice”
“Yea, that was before you started to pull this crap with the alerts after our third cycle”
Rachel remained silent as the pair focused on their work. While the warp calculations were computed by the on-board Ai, the UNS had strict policies over warp procedure. Many of these stemmed from when most warp drives were still experimental. Numerous lives were lost in winding up for FTL travel, some in fiery explosions leaving ship debris scattered light-years in the intended direction of travel, and others simply lost to the warp never arriving at their destination.
Content that all the pre-warp checks, both women looked at one another. Both nodding, they pressed their thumbs onto their consoles simultaneously. Unlocking the capacitors, power poured into the warp drives pushing the ship into speeds once claimed impossible. Upon reaching warp speed the lights within the ship switched to red.
Michelle leaned back deeper into her command chair, passively viewing ship status feeds. She knew full well that the ship was now fully under the Ai’s control, and there was nothing the pair of them could do if something went wrong. Even after making hundreds of similar jumps, the subconscious found ways to gnaw at the mind about all the possible outcomes where something goes wrong.
Like all journey’s, the ship cut off the warp drive ending the FTL propulsion. The ship slipped back into real space, idling waiting for the engines to cool. This was Michel’s least favourite moment in her travels, vulnerable and defenseless. One bad stroke of luck, she thought, and it’ll all be over.
Looking at the sensor readout, no space borne creatures or ships were detected in their immediate vicinity. An eerie silence descended upon the pair, both eager for the ship to complete its restart sequence. As the hours passed, their vigil continued though started to relax.
The air started to grow stale however as the hours passed, the scrubber having also to be reset due to the warp jump. Their breathing grew heavier as the pair’s bodies try to draw more oxygen out of the depleting supply.
With a snap-hiss and a clunk, the lights switched back to normal. Clean air flushed throughout the ship as the air scrubbers reactivate, shortly followed by other systems. Heaving a sigh of relief, Michelle powered up the impulse engine moving the ship towards the center of the gravity well- the white dwarf.
Michelle passively watched the diagnostic reports file across her computer screen, making a mental note that everything was running within the normal parameters. All she could do was simply wait for Rachel to finish the preliminary scan of the system, from which the pair would calculate the next step to take. Bored with inaction, Michelle started the boot protocol for the droids that inevitably be needed in the coming days.
While Michelle was activating the droids, Rachel was growing ever more confused. Unusual feedback in both the scan and visual reports kept filing themselves on her screen. With a huff of annoyance, she ran a quick diagnostics of the surveying equipment to ensure that there was no errors. Receiving confirmation that the equipment was working correctly, Rachel restarted the scans to confirm what she was informed of earlier was correct. Seeing the identical data, she raised her concerns with Michelle.
“Doc, I’m sending some data over to you. Umm, if what I’m seeing is correct, not even the Qieamulan Ascendancy can manage something like this”
“Rac- Sub Lieutenant, alright. Let’s see what we have here…..” as the minutes passed, Michelle wasn’t sure whether she was horrified or amazed at what was before her. “A system wide… shield?”
“Looking at its strength, personally Doc I’d say it’s more akin to the deflectors of old. The Qieamulan Ascendancy only just manage to shield their ringworlds, but an entire system is something else”
“I’m not seeing any information from within, guessing the energy field is blocking scans?”
“Yea. But we are able to get some visuals from within. There does seem to be at lest a sun and a single planet, can’t make anything else out though”
Taking a few deep breaths to help calm herself down, Michelle looked at the readings of the impossible feature, trying to make heads or tails of it. On her third read through something caught her eye;
“Lieutenant, have a get a more detailed scan of the energy field’s integrity. It looks rather low, would it be possible to push our way through?”
“Give me a few moments… hmmmmm, maybe? It’d be rather difficult, it would probably burn out our impulse drive…” replied Rachel. Biting her lower lip in concentration while absentmindedly tapping her foot. Running a few ideas through her mind, one struck.
“I have an idea, if we alter both the wavelength and frequency of our shield, we could slip through. There is still a risk of the drive dying on us, it’d be better than brute force”
“You’re the engineer, I’d say it’d be worth the risk. And you said that this work is boring” teased Michelle, receiving a glare for her comment. Chuckling, she wrote a short message giving a description of what they had discovered and what they intend to do. Satisfied, her fingers brushed gently against the send button on the screen, sending the subspace message back to Earth Command.
“Right, formalities done. Time to get our names in the history books girl. Make it so, Lieutenant”
With a smile on her face, Rachel made short work of the required adjustments. Upon completion, she gave a simple affirmative. Michelle increased power to the impulse drive, speeding the ship closer towards the energy field.
Anticipation permuted within the bridge, both being too excited and nervous to speak more than single words. Even the simple acknowledgement from Earth failed to break their concentration. Within an hour, UNS Campbelltown drew near the energy field. Slowing the ship to a crawl, Michelle wiped her brow. Sweat trickled down her back.
The ship’s shield made contact, arcs of plasma and electricity as the two fields merged together. Power surges flowed throughout the ship, threatening to overload the shield emitters along with various other systems. As the ship itself started to pass through, it slowed further, shaking vehemently. Grunting with annoyance, Michelle gently increased the output of the impulse drives.
Soon, as the ship forced its way though the energy field, arcs of electricity started to strike the hull. They danced across the exterior, bringing light to where there was darkness, causing no damage by searing the paint work. Yet this harmless light show foreshadowed the plasma. Great welts of hull was melted or outright destroyed as the plasma rippled along the hull.
Klaxons walled, while numerous warning popups covered Rachel’s screen. Sensing that it was do or die, Michelle diverted as much power to the impulse engine as feasible. The craft received numerous other plasma arc hits before it managed to push its way through. Smoking, damaged but still operation, UNS Campbelltown shot forward having the resistance of the energy field no longer impeding its progress.
Michelle reigned back the impulse drive. Heaving a short lived sigh of relief, she cast her eyes to the diagnostic reports. A groan crossed her lips, she guessed looking at the tip of the reports the ship would need months in one of shipyards for a comprehensive repair. I suppose the droids could do a patch job, thought Michelle.
“Miche- Doctor, can we not do that again? I know that I wanted some excitement, but, well, I think I may stick to the hyper-entertainment forums next time,” joked Rachel.
“Sure, hell, I’d pay for the both of us” chuckled Michelle. Sighing turned to face Rachel, “we took a lot of superficial damage making our way through there though. We may have some issues getting out… We’d may have to message for help if you can’t get a more accurate scan of the field since we’re now on the inside. Anyway we’ve got a job to do, so get those sensors working. I’d want to know what the hell is important enough for such drastic endeavor to shield an entire system!”
Rachel nodded vigorously, and with a goofy grin turned to her work. Looking back at her own console, Michelle activated a pair of Droids and set them to repair the hull with what supplies the ship had on hand. Within half a minute the droids were online awaiting for input. Scrolling through pre-loaded program options, she finally found the mode she was after.
The droids jerked into action, with one heading to the airlock while the other to the stores. Michelle stretched knowing that she had little to do while waiting for the droids to complete their task. Keeping an half an eye on the vid feeds of the droids, she started to draft a preliminary message back to Bernard.
“I, er, what, I, Doctor…… I, what?! This, this is most illogical captain!!” the panicked and confused voice of Rachel rang out, breaking the silence of the bridge.
“Will you stop quoting that damn show! What’s illogical, just send it to me” Michelle irritably replied.
As Michelle viewed the data being sent over, astonishment slowly filled her mind. As all she could see on her screen as a lone planet in the center of the system, with a K-VI class star distantly orbiting the planet.
Sound of rushing hooves echoed within the corridors Canterlot Castle. Staff and visitors alike were shoved aside by the cantering form of Princess Luna. Sweat started to speckle her haunches, running the maze of corridors trying to take the quickest route to the throne room. Her concern visible to any whom could see her face as she sped by.
After having accidently defenestrated a noble, Luna arrived at her destination. Not waiting for the guards to open the double doors for her, she pushed the doors open with her magic, only just managing to open them wide enough that it lightly scraped her barrel as she charged through.
She looked towards the throne, glad that her sister wasn’t holding court. Returning her gaze, Celestia momentarily looked relived for a distraction from the mountains of paper work that surrounded her. Upon seeing Luna’s expression however, this soon changed to worry.
Trying to regain her breath, Luna sat down onto the marble floor keeping direct eye contact with Celestia. Satisfied that she could speak normally, she took a deep breath.
“Something hast pierced the void sister. I dost not know what however, bar it was quite small” tersely informed Luna.
Celestia looked at the handful of guards within the room. Following an unspoken order, they left the Throne Room leaving the two sisters alone. Clearing her throat, Celestia descended from the throne, trying to avoid the stacks of paper, to where her sister sat. Embracing her in a hug that would put many cwtches to shame, she nuzzled Luna who gladly returned the gesture.
“Be strong lulu, for it seems that we now live in interesting times”
Author's Note
So new Sci-Fi story. I'd likely be slow updating this story.
Fairly heavy with world building so far, the next chapter will be a bit heavy aswell.
14/08/16- Edited for spelling issues and some reworking to clear some points up (hopefully)
“I’ve got to admit, Lieutenant, this has got to be one of the strangest things I’ve seen... stranger than that planet sized egg in M-5-7-7” calmly spoke Michelle, trying to hide the confusion within. Breaking the silence that had reigned within the bridge for the past couple of hours. Rachel simply nodded, too focused on operating the sensors to try and get a more accurate readings from the system around them. Grunting in annoyance as yet another calibration failed to remove the extreme level of background interference.
The ship ambled forward at speeds that made the first interplanetary ships of Earth look akin to racing cars of old. Michelle refused to go faster than quarter sub-light speed, until the navigation sensors were working within optimum tolerance. Not the first time, grimly thought Michelle shuddering with the memories of previous explorations gone wrong.
Progressing deeper into the system, the pair slowly learnt that there were further objects in the system than simply the star, planetoid and moon. Small clusters of asteroids formed into focus as the ship move within a few hundred miles of them, only for the asteroids to slip back into the interference clouding their view as the ship moved further away.
Grateful for Michelle’s caution, Rachel sighed and simply glared at her console. Having so many default configurations of the sensors failing was a pain, worse that all the manual reconfigurations so far had failed made it a personal insult to her pride. Yet she was simply glad that so far, anything that could be a threat was able to be picked out with a few hundred miles to spare.
“Please put your hooves together for our benefactor and ruler, Princess Luna!”
The maroon stallion bowed and moved off the podium to allow the Diarch take his place. Pausing to allow the applause die down, Luna surveyed the auditorium, taking in the sight of the small collection of ponies in attendance. Youths, students, university lecturers and simply hobbyists occupied the seats.
“Thank you, Solar Comet” giving the stallion a nod in acknowledgement, she took a deep breath as Luna faced the crowd. “After I halth returned just over two years ago, I was overjoyed when I learned from mine sister that the study of the stars had not died out during my banishment. Some of you will remember my reaction, however, when I learned the state it was in. So much knowledge hast been lost, most in the purges following my… banishment”
Pausing to elevate a glass of water to partake a sip from, Luna was pleased to note unhappy reaction of those in attendance.
“I sort out those whom hoarded what little knowledge of old and those willing to learn what was lost. I transformed bits into bricks, wood and parchment; without magic nor alchemy! The small annex added to the castle library has allowed a renaissance in Astronomy to begin. You all here, each and every one of thou are the seeds that will grow into a great tree. Your dedication has what has made Stars of Equestria, what it is today and-“
Cheers of gratitude reverberated around the room, forcing Luna to pause in her speech. Smirking, she waved a hoof to quieten the overly enthusiastic members. A few gave a sheepish smile in embarrassment as they sank back into their sky blue cushioned seats.
“As I was saying, you all are the key for much of the progress made. Without you, then all the bits spent would have been worthless. Indeed, Canterlot University hast even given the option to have a class in astronomy in their physics courses. All thanks to thine passion for the stars. To get to the point of my speech this fine evening during your Annual Meeting. At the behest of mineself and my sister; the Equestrian Government has agreed this very day, to open a new department into investigate what is beyond the void surrounding our solar system”
Stunned silence reigned. Whatever level of attention they were paying to her earlier, they were all now firmly affixed on her.
“Thou heard correctly, my explorers of the sky. With the advances of technology and magic in mine absence, we have been able to design the most powerful telescope in Equestrian history. Genelcolts and mares; we can build it, we have the technology, we have the capability of making the world’s first techno-magic telescope. Better than before, better, stronger, faster.”
A rousing cheer hit Luna like a tidal wave. Unlike before, everypony joined in. Basking in the approval, she felt some of her doubts return. Shrugging them off to live in the moment, Luna stepped down off the podium. With a quick flourish of magic, she teleported away.
Blinking back into existence on her personal balcony, Luna heaved a sigh of relief. Giving the news to those invested into space exploration was one thing, trying to convince the masses was another. Looking up into the early night sky she had created, a silent prayers pass over her lips.
It had been hard for both herself and Celestia to convince Parliament to grant the funds along with approval needed to get the project started. The “Search for Extra-Equis Intelligence Bill” was a hallow shadow of which Luna envisioned, but it was a start.
Casually walking into the warmth of her bedchambers, having enjoyed the chill of the night for long enough. When doing so, she levitated two scrolls from her shelves and unfurled them on a table sitting in the corner of her room. Taking a seat, Luna started to read through the second scroll filled with various statistics, while also making notes on the first scroll.
Her note taking went throughout the night, slowly but surely crossing out entire sections on the second scroll. Hours after the moon had passed its zenith, all but one section of the scroll had been finally crossed out.
Standing up, she stretched her stiffened muscles giving a quite murmur of happiness. Luna walked towards a large map of Equestria hung on her wall. Looking over the map, the mare spotted what she was looking for. A large grin passed across her face as she elevated a pin from one of her draws and placed it onto the map.
“Ponyville”
Author's Note
Princess Luna, Princess of Monologues!
Not as large as the first chapter, but helping built for future events and plot. Not the best chapter I've written either but in some ways necessary.
If you haven't realised the reference, have a read about S.E.T.I 
Author's Note
In Memorandum
Daniel & Carol
Collision Course
Chapter 3
Collision Course
“That’s the last sensor sweep Doctor”
“Thank you Lieutenant, how’s the analysis going?”
“The computer still thinks it’s just a K-VI”
Sighing, Michelle rubbed her face in exhaustion. Shattered was hope they’d discover the cause of its orbit at the sun itself. Well so much for that, she thought.
Michelle focused on her console, ignoring the sounds of Rachell leaving the command deck. Various data streams poured across her screen, none of which provided the answers she sought. Everything the sensors were relaying told them it was simply a typical star, yet no typical star orbits a planet.
“Alright” she sighed, “guess you’re not going to give up your secrets”
Giving the data readings one last glance, she closed the active feed to her screen. Any further documentation and analysis relegated to the onboard AI. Having a short stretch, Michelle brought up the project route onto the main display. It showed one further orbit of the star before slingshoting the craft around the planet, bringing into a orbit of the planet’s moon. Seeing nothing incorrect with the projected course, Michelle activated the computer to execute the manoeuvres.
Sitting back, she closed her eyes, day dreaming what it must have felt like for the first space farers from Earth. Days without inertial dampers or fission generators on their ships. All the while as the ship started to gently accelerate on its programmed course.
“Spike? Spike?!”
The mare’s cry echoes down the now darkened crystal hallways of her home. Her light purple ears flickering to and fro in a vain attempt to hear any retort from the young drake. Letting out a huff of frustration, she hoofed the floor. With a humph, the alicorn started to weave her spell. With an illuminating flash, Twilight reappears in the throne room. Her arrival causing a number of papers on the map nearby to scatter.
With a forlorn whiny, she casts a quick glance around the dimly light room before returning to her now cold chair. Upon placing her rump on the crystal chair, she levitates the scattered papers and began to resort them.
Grumbling, Twilight rereads the papers before her under candlelight. Just as she had done days before, and everyday since they had arrived. Their contents were sparse, but the implications made her drool with the potential research. Giggling in excitement, she clopped her forehooves together. Soon, she thought, soon.
The sun’s slow movement upwards in the sky soon sends its light to smother Equis in it’s warm embrace. Dispelling the shadows and recently formed morning dew around Ponyville. Twilight’s wings fluttered in the early morning sunlight, now pouring though the windows of the room.
Her ruminations and excitement over the papers were soon interrupted however, as sounds of grunting could be heard on the other side of the door. Looking over, Twilight saw the young Drake that she had been looking for. He was carrying two large plates over filled with Trottingham style pancakes, steam still rising off them still allowing Twilight to deduce they were freshly made. Though she had to suppress a chuckle when she spotted some batter that had ended up on his head.
“Spike!”
“Morning Twilight. I er, uff, made some pancakes for us!” he replied, grunting further as he laid the plates onto the map.
“Naww Spike, thank you. This explains why I couldn’t find you earlier”
“Heheh yea. Thought I’d treat you, after all, I am your number one assistant!”
With a loving chuckle, she lowers the papers to the table and rubs a forehoof on Spike’s head. He stepped away and grabbed one of the plates, electing to sit in Applejack’s chair. They both sat in silence, enjoying the pancakes. Though Twilight noticed some were overcooked while others were badly undercooked. Well he tried, she thought.
Spike finished his pancakes quickly, spreading crumbs across the chair and his face. Licking his plate clean, he hops down grinning. Noting the crumbs on his face, Twilight levitated some tissue paper over and, ignoring Spike’s objections, cleaned his face.
“Spike, hush, you’re covered in crumbs and batter. Can’t let you carry it through the castle.”
“Twilight! Come oooonnnn”
“There, done” she happily exclaimed, “do you have any plans for today? If not I could really do with some help. I’m expecting a delivery from Canterlot University”
“Errr, sorry Twilight, I agreed to help Rarity gem hunt today” he says bashfully, a gentle blush tinting his cheeks. “She’s had a rather large order to complete, and she insists that she needs Rubies for it”
Seeing his embarrassment, she coos and bristles his spines. Twilight smiles and gives a gentle nod in approval.
“Thanks Twilight, you’re the best” he replies, skipping out of the room in joy.
Watching Spike leave, the alicorn sighs knowing that her workload had increased. She looked back to the papers left on the top. Grimacing, she finishes her pancakes and sets to work.
A bitter wind whips around Canterlot Central Station and its goods yard, sapping the warmth from all therein. Within the station, ponies were boarding and alighting various passenger. The hubbub of the station itself carried over into the goods yard, where an olive-green pannier tank engine was idling. Behind the aforementioned locomotive, was a small carriage and several goods vans along with a single grey coloured flatbed waggon.
Teams of ponies hurried around, many shifting crates from various wagons into the goods vans. Hunching into their coats and scarfs, they muttered mute curses against the weather team making their work even more uncomfortable than it already was. One of the workponies gave occasional glances to the carriage, in a forlorn attempt to see within its tinted windows.
“Rocky, stop gawking and get to work” a gravelled voice cried.
Flinching, the earthpony briefly looks towards the source of the voice. Upon seeing the glaring supervisor, his magenta eyes widen before resuming his task with gusto. Lifting a box, he carried it over to the nearest goods van.
Within the aforementioned carriage, Princess Luna reclines on her well-padded seat flanked by a pair of hoof-maidens. One a teal coloured earth pony, while the other a auburn unicorn. She takes a small sip from her coffee while reviewing some correspondents and petitions on a small table. It was nothing of particular note, just further messages from ministers and nobles alike. All pleading for her intervention on one issue or another. With a grunt, she places the last disappointing letter back down.
“Rose Snow, can thou go seek the supervisor. I would like to leave with as much haste as possible”
“Yes m’lady” replied the earth pony hoofmaiden.
She curtsied, and trotted out of the cabin. With her departure, Luna takes another sip of her coffee and looks out of the window. Her external stoicism hiding the turmoil within.
“Time is short Velvet Aurora, this project must begin. We cannot let these,” she pauses and waves at the pile of letters looking back within the cabin. She resumes speaking with poison laced words, “these backwards ponies prevent this course of action.”
