Date January 26 3304
Time 0700 hrs

Location 60,000ly Light years from S.O.L. near The Abyss region.

"Commander, Sir, I believe miss Melody is waking up." A computerized female voice spoke through the speakers inside the cockpit. Getting the attention of Commander, Johnathan Nelson, or John as he would abbreviate his name.

"Is she now?" Commander Johnathan Neilson spoke up while diverting the nose of the ship away from an F class star causing the vessel's Fuel Scoop to automatically disengage and allow the hydrogen that was collected to be processed into the fuel tanks topping them off. Looking over to the holographic panel that read out information about the ship, John pulled back on the throttle and aligned the vessel with a nearby gas giant with metallic rings.

Keeping his course, Commander Johnathan Nelson began pulling back on the throttle again, and the speed of the vessel dropped smoothly from 30 light seconds to 30 kilometers/seconds before disengaging the Frame Shift Drive that allowed for faster than light travel. Dropping from Supercruise into Standard Space, he throttled back even more till the ship was brought to an unceremonious stop in the asteroid fields. "Athena, can you please, make sure to guide her to the kitchen and also shift power. I want four pips to systems, two to weapons, and deploy hardpoints along with a Condor as well."

"Expecting trouble way out here, Commander? We are 60,000 light-years from human-inhabited space and another 30,000 light-years from Colonia, sir. I highly doubt there would be any unwanted guest to breakfast, sir." Athen spoke again through the cockpits speakers.

"I know Athena, but you know I like to take precaution when Mely is on board," John replied as he motioned for the lights of the cockpit to power off before exiting through the automatic doors that slide open with a small hiss revealing an elevator. Stepping into the elevator, John pressed his desired level before the doors closed. Stretching his arms and neck, John felt the pops as his joints began to relieve the numbness that built up from hours of sitting still in the command chair. Sure the suit he wore under his clothing helped his mussel from entropy, but just getting up and stretching his legs was always better. "Athen, what's the status of the S.A.S. influence in Asturjin?"

"Current influence is holding at 20% sir, and by the looks of the economic readings, sir a Boom is expected for the system," Athen replied as the doors slid open, allowing John to step out in the corridor.

Taking a deep breath, John began to make his way into the kitchen; this journey was starting to take its toll on the Commander. He had spent most of his waking hours piloting the Shelter. Generally, on an expedition that would make him go so far away from human space, John would take the "Voice of Hope" a jump capable Anaconda built for exploration but, with how long he would be a way he couldn't leave his daughter back in Melvine Terminal for so long. So as any good father would do, he spent a good portion of his wealth and time making his Federal Corvette a jump capable vessel.

The Shelter, a heavy class fighter commissioned by The Federation weighed in at nearly 3000 tons, and at 167.8 meters from Bow to Stern. The vessel was something of a large ship, but that wasn't the only reason he chose to use the Shelter. The vessel had on board two Huge Plasma Accelerators that could do send out a ball of superheated hydrogen gas each, along with one large Turreted Beam laser that had an effective reach of 4 kilometers, followed by two more turreted beam laser that shared the same scope as the larger version. On the bow of the ship, two more lasers sat but on a Gimbal mount that the pilot could control with a range of 5 kilometers. The Shelter could, in effect, melt the hull of any ship that dared tried to oppose it. And like any fearsome vessel, the Shelter had onboard a shield generator that could take 5,000 Mega Joules of force before it would give way. All in all, the Shelter was a competent vessel even without the fighters it held in its bays, each supporting 15 F63 Condors 30 in all capable of 300ms and armed with dual plasma repeaters.

No expense was marked unnecessary for this vessel. Steps have even been made for redundancies as Auto Field Maintenance Units were installed alongside a repair limpet module that could program limpets to repair the hull should the shields fail. Even the hull of the ship was meant to take both kinetic and thermal damage. Millions of credits were spent on the Shelter to be its very namesake a Shelter from any form of damage that could be thrown at the vessel keeping its occupants safe.

Entering the kitchen, John got to work on cooking breakfast for his daughter and himself. "Athena, where is Mely now?"

"Miss Melody is currently in your bathroom," Athen replied. "Would you like me to relay a message to her for you?"

"No, just checking is all," John replied as he began to grab ingredients from the fridge. "But do me a favor and play favorites."

"Understood, sir, and last I check today is both your birthdays correct?" John hummed, signaling Athens's correct assumption. "Then let me the first to say, Happy birthday commander," Athen said while the song began to play just as the door opened, revealing a 4 ft 5 little girl wearing a shirt that was four sizes too big for her. It is her favorite shirt that she appropriated from the Commander nearly two months ago before the journey. On the shirt itself, the logo of Scorpius Arms Syndicate was emblazoned on the back with the words Strike Fast Strike First.

"Happy birthday daddy!" Melody shouted as she ran into the kitchen and latched on to Johns' leg giggling all the while.

"Happy birthday to you too Melody, how did you sleep?" John said as he put aside his work and grabbed his daughter in a hug, lifting her up before using his free hand to clear away Melody's red hair from her face revealing her emerald green eyes and a smile almost as bright as the center of milky way galaxy.

"I slept well, dad, but I wish we could have stayed in bed a bit longer," Melody said as she hugged her father and took notice of what he was doing." What are you making?" Melody asked.

"Well, what do you think I would make on such a special day like this one?" John replied as he looked down at Melody and, with a smile, bumped her nose with his pointer finger leaving a bit of batter on her nose.

"You're making pancakes!" Melody shouted, getting John to laugh and return to work on mixing the ingredients.

"Spingo!" John said with enthusiasm. "Now come on, we have a big day today, and I'm sure you are going to love it," John said with a smile as he began to pour batter into a pan he had set a while ago. "Oh, and before I forget, Athena get the cockpit ready for me, please."

"Consider it ready, Commander," Athen said as the two laughed at each other's antics.

____________________________________________________________

"That was delicious, dad!" Melody shouted with joyful glee as the doors to the cockpit opened, revealing the three command chairs and two pillars that added to the structural strength of the room and was placed evenly with the chairs. The cockpit was spacious enough to comfortably allow five adults to roam around. "So, what are we going to do today?" Melody asked her father as she rushed into the control room and turned around to face John while clasping her hands behind her back and leaning bowing a bit as she smiled.

"Well, today, you are going to put on your suit, and then I can teach you how to fly the Shelter," John said as he got a suit from a cabinet built into the wall alongside a helmet.

"You mean it!" Melody shouted as her face lit up as bright as a white dwarf.

"Yes, I do, now come on, let's get you into this thing." John smiled and led his daughter to the bathroom in the control room. "Now, off with the shirt so we can get this set up properly."

"Okay!" Melody shouted as the shirt flew off and landed on the command chair of the cockpit.

______________________________________________________________________

After a few minutes and laughter from the two, both walked out of the restroom. Melody now had on her very own Remlok suit meant to protect the wearer from the vacuum of space, the extreme temperatures, and even a few other benefits. Much like her father's but the accents, it was a stark black and green accent around her fingers, boots, and abdomen. The accents of Commander Johnathan Nelson was orange, but most of the suit was covered behind an all-grey suit with popped out color. On each shoulder was a different insignia on the right an Elite Trade rank and the left Elite Combat.

"How does it feel?" John asked as he knelt down behind Melody and began to bun up her hair so he could fit in her helmet.

"It feels like I'm wearing a hug!"

"Good," John laughed. "Now hold still, I need to set your helmet right," John said as the seal between the helmet and the suit was made. "Can you hear me, Mely?" John asked through the communication link that secured itself between the two helmets and the ship's intercom.

"Loud and clear, Commander!" Melody giggled as she turned around and gave a salute to her father like she's seen Federation and Imperial pilots do to her dad at times.

"Good, Cadet Melody Neilson, you have the helm," John said as Melody's face boomed with excitement as her helmet retracted into the suit. Rushing to the center chair, Melody strapped herself in like her father had taught her how before. "Athena Run simulation and set grid 1by 1by 1." John grabbed Melody's shirt that landed on the command seat and folded it nicely before putting it away in the cabinet from before.

"Understood Commander, grid set 1000 kilometers cubed. Weapon systems and other functions locked resetting power distributor three pips to systems and engines. Fighter set to Defensive; Cadet Melody Neilson has the Helm."

"All right, Melody, let's see how you do on your first flight," John said with a smile as he sat down in one of the open seats.

______________________________________________________________________

Looking out the canopy and at the information being fed to him by the holo-projections, Commander Johnathan Neilson was proud of how well his daughter was handling the simulation. At first, she would crash into the existing asteroids pushing some of them out of orbit and would cause a few to collide with each other creating debris to fill the view of the ship. With each collision brought a weak sorry, and tear-filled eyes looking at him that would only cause him to laugh and remind her of the strength of the shields protecting the ship from damage.

"Remember Melody, the Shelter can take hits, and you can always put more power into systems to reinforce the shields." John reminded his daughter. "And stop tearing up; it's our birthday, and there will be no tears today got it." Melody nodded to her head, feeling any guilt flee her. She trusted her father, wholeheartedly.

Shaking her head, she began to focus on the simulation obstacles. She started to become conformable with the basics of flight, and three hours into the exercise, she had scored a 100 on the basics.

"That's my Melody!" John Shouted as he got up from his seat. "Looks like you might get bumped up from Cadet to Midshipmen in no time." Placing his hand on his daughter, Melody turned to her father and smiled. "Maybe one day you, on this shoulder," John squeezed his daughter's left shoulder a bit. "One day, there will be an Elite insignia, and we both will be a father-daughter Elite team."

"Do you mean that, dad?" Melody asked, feeling the fatigue of piloting beginning to dawn on her causing to yawn.

"Yes, I do. Now let's go take a nap, sweetheart, you deserve it after that performance," John said as he began to undo the straps and picked up Melody in his arms, letting her rest her head on his shoulders. "Athen adjust for planetary gravity."

"Adjusting ship position for gravity standby," Athens said as the thrusters flared, causing the orientation of gravity to align properly. "Gravity alignment complete, Fuel Tank at 75%."

"Understood recall the fighter and shut down all non-essential modules," John said as he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the living quarters.

"Setting," Athen replied while the elevator descended to the proper floor, followed by the doors opening with a hiss as the magnetic locks disengaged.

Walking towards his cabin door. The door slid open, allowing both of them to enter. Stepping into the room, the door closed behind John. Looking about his room, the walls were decorated with photos of both Melody and himself in various locations they had visited, but all the images followed the same theme. It either had the Commander or his daughter or both. Every picture was void of a mother. Up against the inner wall was a desk bolted to the floor along with a magnetic charge. Even though he felt gravity, it's not always like this as the orientation of the ship to the closest celestial mass was what dictated the pull of gravity. He would have to check on a few things before he took a nap to ensure they were not broken.

Placing Melody down on his bed and tucking her in, John sat down next to her. Tapping on a panel next to his bed, he keyed in commands for the bed to secure its occupant in, getting up afterward he left the room to go to the restroom.

Walking up the restroom as the door slid aside with a hiss, John walked into the bathroom and turned to face the mirror. Staring into his reflection, John leaned over the sink and placed his head in the way of the faucet before turning it on, allowing the coolness of it to rush over his head. "Today's the day that she learns the truth, isn't it commander." Athena's voice came over the speakers. Cupping his hands together, he gathered a bit of the water and splashed his face before shutting off the flow and grabbing a nearby towel to dry off his hair and face.

"Yeah, it is she's ten years old now. Hard to believe I found you and her in space ten years ago." John replied solemnly, remembering the day as he moved his left hand up and began to trace a scar that stretches vertically along his face. Starting from his upper lip and ending just above his eyebrow. The incident that causes the now fading blemish that had taken his eye as well, but it had given just as much as it tock. Focusing on his left eye and the soft blue glow it emitted, he began to remember that day ten years ago.

"Sir, I've picked up four anomalies exiting Supercruise," Athens said as the ship's systems all came back online. Ripping John back into reality and out of his memories.

"What? How?" John shouted as he rushed out of the restroom and out into the hallway, where he hurried to the elevator—entering it just as the doors opened and closed with a low wine followed by the sound of a fighter being deployed from the bay reverberating throughout the ship.

"Inbound message Commander," Athena said as the elevator stopped its accent and opened, revealing the cockpit followed by the low whine of lifts powering up and moving the stored weapons back into place.

"Let it through and wake Mely up and call her up here," John said as he sat in the command chair and keyed in the command for the chair to secure its occupant before a message popped up in Johns H.U.D. letting him know that the weapons from the other four ships registered as on and tracking the Shelter.

"On it, Commander."

"Greetings, Commander, you know that you are a hard man to find," a male voice said over the comms link created by Athena.

"I'm well aware of that," John replied as the sound of an F63 Condor lining up on the right side of the ship filed his ears for a short moment.

"I see you don't trust us, Commander Neilson." The unknown man said as John set his turreted weapons to fire at will so that the guns could independently target and engage.

"Normally, when you are thousands of light-years from the core systems, you don't want to be bothered," John replied with a bit of venom in his voice.

"A man like you Commander should know very well that with your position, it was only a matter of time before a price was put on your head." The man said as the four ships came into sensor range of 8 kilometers. Switching from target to target, John scanned each one getting the pilots' name and combat rating. The four ships he faced caused him some worry. 2 Anacondas and 2 Asp Explorers

The Anaconda, a multi-purpose vessel classified as a large ship built by Faulcon DeLacy, is a vessel that could pack a decent punch along with a frameshift drive capable of 30ly fully kitted for combat. At 155 meters long, 62 meters wide, and 32 meters tall. Carrying an armament that rivals that of the Corvette the Anaconda could take into battle; two small hardpoints, two medium hardpoints, three large hardpoints, and finale one huge. The Anaconda or Conda, as it is referred to by Independent pilots, is a ship that could hit at level and a bit higher if needed and with two on the field a force indeed.

The Asp Explore another Multi-purpose medium-class vessel created by Lakon Spaceways. A smaller ship compared to the Anacondas, and Corvettes. At 55.6 meters long, 51.3 meters wide, and 19.7 meters tall. The vessel could be fitted with a combat loadout but at the cost of jump range. The Asp Explorer is able to bring to bear four small hardpoints and two mediums as well. What the Asp lost on firepower it gained in maneuverability being able to keep in the blind spots of larger ships—allowed for the Asp to use its limited weapons too much more of an effect.

Looking at what weapons he was up against, he felt his stomach drop—twenty-six weapons ranging from kinetic to thermal all primed and ready to engage. Looking over to his navigation panel, he selected the farthest system he could jump to and spun up the Frame Shift Drive sending all power to systems to reinforce shields.

"Leaving Commander Neilson? Is this how an Elite pilot like yourself deals with confrontations." The man said as his name was assigned to his voice.

"No, but an Elite pilot like myself knows when to fight and when to run," John replied as his grip on the flight stick tightened.

"Right, well raiders, time to get paid!" The man said as the four ships began to fire on the Shelter causing the shields to glow a soft green as all damage was being absorbed by the Shelters shields.

"Athena, cut the line!" John shouted as he stopped the F.S.D. and forced his ship forward while he fired off a salvo from the 2 Plasmas Accelerators hitting the lead ship. A bright yellow Anaconda, stripping the ship of its shields. "Athena, where's Melody!"

"I'm here, dad!" Melody cried as she rushed out of the elevator and into the cockpit.

"Good strap into one of the chairs, sweetie, and helmet on!"

"What's going on, daddy?"

"Looks like someone doesn't like me, sweetheart," John replied while he pitched the ship around and opened up all the weapons on Anaconda whos shields were still recovering from the earlier blast. Firing another volley and taking aim at the Anacondas power plant. Both shots found their mark destroying that vessels only means of power generation efficiently, leaving it dead in space. Taking fire from the remaining three ships, the odds were now in Johns's favor.

"Torpedoes incoming," Athena's voice rang out. John pushed that information to the back of his mind feeling confident that even with the capacitors at 80%, he would still have the shields to face all of them off. Lining up the Shelter on the last, Anaconda John fired off another volley, but the Commander of this one learned from the previous and boosted, sending all thrust to his vertical thrusters pushing the vessel upward, letting the supper heated grass to fizzle out in space. At the same time heard the torpedoes collide with the shields, and a second later Athena's voice. "Shield generator at 50%."

If anyone could see his face, they would say that it was the first time in years that Commander Johnathan Neilson went ghost white since becoming C.E.O. of Scorpius Arms Syndicate. Quickly ordering the fighter to attack the Anaconda being the most significant ship on the remaining three and being the only one to mass lock the Shelter. John placed all power to engines and pushed the Shelter as fast as it could go.

Boosting away at 278m/s, John could feel the force of inertia pushing him back into his seat as he punched in the farthest system he could get to, a mere 15 light-years away.

"Frameshift Drive Charging," Athena's voice rang through John's' ears, but looking at the counter in the center of his view, he could see the Anaconda was still giving chase as the counter seemed to go by at a snail's pace. Feeling the ship stutter a bit as the sound of laser fire reverberated throughout the entire ship. "Shields down to 10%."

Grabbing the throttle and switching off Flight assist to keep his momentum, John turned the ship around and re-deployed his weapons. The hull indicator to the bottom right was reading 90%, while the models on his right ranged from 100 to 50—the lowest being his Cargo Bay door spewing out a few tons of food and water.

Locking on the Anaconda, John fired off one of the plasma accelerators, and as he guessed, the pilot boosted up, avoiding the lethal salvo. Leading his target John fired off another round this one connecting and taking down his opponents shields to 50%. Switching all his weapons to target only, he began to fire on the vessel with all seven onboard armaments dealing massive damage to the ship and causing the heat on board to go from 47% to 90% as laser and plasma were fired from the Shelter with each weapon hitting their mark.

The Anacondas shields faded to nill under the constant barrage of thermal and kinetic damage. Soon thereafter, the Anaconda exploded with a massive light burning away all the oxygen the ship had onboard scattering the vessels remains to the void. But In a last-ditch effort, the pilot of the ship boosted the ship towards the Shelter, causing it to take damage from the blast, leaving the shields of the Shelter to fall.

With only the two Asp Explorers left, John felt confident and began to open fire on the closest one. The Asp explorers weren't as shielded or armored as the Anacondas before, so with little effort, they were eliminated with only two volleys each, but even then, they managed to get a few good hits on the Shelter.

When all was said and done, the Shelter was heavily damaged, modules were all below 50% even the canopy itself was showing signs of damage as a crack streak across like a spider web.

"Who were they, dad?" Melody asked as she unclasped her self from the chair she was in and walked over to John, who was sitting still in his chair, allowing the adrenaline to leave his body.

"They were bad people, sweetie and...and we should get going in case any more of their friends show up," John replied as he aimed the Shelter in the direction of the system and out of the asteroid fields. Powering up the F.S.D. again, the timer went by quickly as Melody climb on her father's lap and laid her head against his chest. "You should go sit down, Melody, you know it's not safe to sit on me when the ship is moving, especially at light speed." Looking down at his daughter, he could see the helmet open up, revealing her pouting face. Brushing away some hair from her face, John smiled warmly and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Gaining a giggle from the young girl, "Sorry, Melody, it may be our birthday, but I'm not going to give in on this one. You know very well what it's like after we exit hyperspace. Go on, back to your chair, and put back on your helmet. Athena reboot repair."

"Fine," Melody said with a bit of defeat in her voice as she made it back to her seat and waited for the suit to reconnect to the seat, cementing her in place before her helmet sealed itself.

"Understood, standby," Athen said as the ship shut down, activating the Emergency Life Support on the ship. Strings of code began to enter his field of view supplied to him by the prosthetic left eye. Before long, the ship's systems booted up, leading 24 minutes of emergency oxygen left out of the 25 minutes it could store.

With an audible click and a mild hum coming from the ship's F.S.D. as everything came back online, John Pushed the throttle forward, engaging the F.S.D. and throwing the ship into hyperspace.

Entering hyperspace, a colonoscope of colors flashed by the canopy as golds, blues, greens, and reds flashed by as the central star of the system came clear in view. Before long, the ship exited hyperspace and then supercruise as the star seem to move closer to the Shelter. Acting quickly, John again pointed the ship away from the start and looked on in horror as the Shelter began to overheat from 57% to 90% and finally 100+, causing sparks to flare out of the conceal. At 150% over the F.S.D. had cooled down enough and with the ship, quickly getting at 200% heat. The Shelter entered supercruise again, but this time the ship began to pick up speed from 30kls to 5ls in his hurry to get away from the ball of death. John inadvertently pointed the Shelter into a collision course with an earthlike world. Pulling back on the throttle, John tried his best to slow the ship down, but the controls weren't responding.

Feeling his stomach drop, John diverted more power to systems to and what he could to his thrusters as the distance between the Shelter and earthlike planet shrunk. Trying again on the controls, John could feel a bit of power to be given back to him, pitching the Shelter's bow up. He forced the ship to enter orbital cruise, slowing the vessel as it began to descend into the atmosphere of the planet. Causing the ship's heat to spike again this time easily, making it just over 60% heat before the F.S.D. gave out, causing the Shelter to tumble out of supercruise, putting a massive strain on the vessels structure integrity.

"DADDY!" John heard Melody cry out from her seat. John began to pull on the controls again doing his best to correct the ship's course only barely getting the pitch under his control. Pushing power to the Shelters thrusters as the altimeter on Johns hud came to life reading 30 kilometers as the gravity of the planet became prominent.

______________________________________________________________________

Sitting down on a marble bench in the Canterlot Royal Gardens, Octavia Melody sat and enjoyed the twinkling stars of the night sky. Feeling the cold breeze flow through her mane and fur. It was mid-winter, and her group had just finished their gig playing for those who wanted to get away from the Galla, that was happening in a ballroom not too far away from her. She never really found a reason to enjoy it, but being able to play on castle grounds did launch her career.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling all the headaches she had to deal with in the past week, Octavia stood up and stretched her arms above her head feeling the small pops of her joints expelling any pent-up stress before she brought her arms back down and began to smooth out her black dress.

"Ponies of Equestria, if I could please have your attention for a wonderful show," Octavia could hear Princess Luna's voice. "If I could ask you all to look towards the night sky and enjoy the falling stars, and may all your wishes come true."

Octavia looked to the sky, and with amazement in her eyes, she saw shooting stars illuminating the sky, but one star was the brightest of them all. Closing her eye's Octavia Melody made a wish, but when she opened her eyes again, that particular star was moving in her direction.

Feeling a pit in her stomach form, Octavia got up, and as the star got bigger and until the point, it didn't look like a star anymore but something strange and triangular. Feeling a warm air coming from the object, Octavia looked on as it roared overhead, frightening all who attended the Gala. A second later, a thunderous boom could be heard throughout the land.

=============================================================================================================================

User Identified///

Independent Pilot Federation ID[**********] Password[******]

Data Packet Requsted Federal Corvett///

Data recived F63 Codor///

Data on Andacond/////

Data reqeuest on ASP Explore/////

Data packet received...

Link Terminated.....

Author's Note

Greetings to the first installment of Shelter. This story is based on the wonderful Space exploration game Elite Dangerous and off my charter in said game. I hope you all enjoy this story as I plan to at least get it to 100k words. This will be one of my shorter stories. If you like this one please consider reading my other stuff on my profile. See you all out in the void.