Octavia flinched, sitting bolt upright as she caught herself on the cusp of falling asleep for the third time within the hour. The command bridge was as quiet as ever, save for the usual hum of electronic equipment and the dull roar of the ship's engines. It was only the second day of the Defiance's month-long patrol assignment and Octavia was already bored out of her mind, and the rest of her crew wasn't faring much better. All of them had been hoping for some action, especially after their last assignment that consisted of nothing but monitoring traffic over a trading planet. So far, there had been nothing of the sort; jump after jump, scan after scan, there was never even the slightest bit of excitement. One of the very first lessons Octavia learned from the Imperial Navy is that space is a very, very boring place.
Seated all around her, in a semi-circular pattern, were Octavia's officers. A team of six, they worked well together, and they followed her orders faithfully; they were the very model of what a bridge crew should be like. This made it all the more frustrating to her that they were stationed on such a pointless patrol route, leaving all of this talent utterly wasted. She sighed heavily, leaning back in her cushioned command chair as her eyes skimmed over the bridge.
"Exciting work, isn't it? I'm just shakin' in my boots."
The voice came from the left, belonging to a tall, scrawny-looking mare at the comms station. With a deep blue coat and an equally dark green mane, Waterlily looked quite a bit like her namesake. Her accent was a dead giveaway to her outer rim roots, even if it had somewhat strangely melted into a combination with the stereotypical Imperial accent.
"That's one word for it. Just don't get too excited, we need you to stay focused." Octavia muttered, letting out a dry, humorless chuckle. She gave Waterlily a tired smile, who answered back with a playful wink, before turning to look at her sensors officer on her right. "Anything new on your end, Rainy?"
"No, ma'am. Just the same bunch of nothing as before." She replied, shaking her head without looking up from her console screen.
"Just keep an eye out. You never know when we might get lucky and end up having something to do."
After several seconds, it seemed that silence would be making a return for another long while. That was, until another voice piped up. This time coming from in front, Octavia glanced over and met the gaze of her pilot.
"It's about time for our next jump, captain. Do I have a green light?"
Sunny, as everyone had taken to calling him, was one of the best pilots Octavia had ever seen. He'd grown up working on and racing speeders, then graduated to flying starships when his parents shipped him off to the Imperial Naval Academy. He was the youngest officer on the bridge, a short earth pony with a golden yellow coat and a fiery red mane.
He had turned to look at Octavia over his shoulder, arching an eyebrow at her. Octavia merely nodded. This would make the fifth jump today, another in a long series of relatively short jumps through hyperspace along the predesignated route of their patrol. As Sunny pushed the button to confirm the jump, there was a faint, distant whirr as Defiance's hyperdrive warmed up. Octavia braced herself against her chair, knowing exactly what was about to happen. After a few seconds, the glowing specks outside the viewport abruptly stretched into star lines before disappearing into a swirling blue vortex as the Defiance entered hyperspace.
The inertia compensators lagged for just a fraction of a second, leading to the floor rumbling beneath everypony's hooves before settling. The bridge was bathed in blue light coming in from the transparisteel viewports across its front and sides, and Octavia eventually found herself forced to look away before the swirling gave her a headache.
Instead, she turned her attention toward the two weapons officers seated at the very front of her array of experts. A larger console occupied a spot at the front of the bridge, wide enough to house two workstations side by side. On the left was a pegasus stallion, and on the right sat a unicorn mare. Both of them looked bored out of their minds, the pegasus even having kicked his hind hooves up in order to recline in his chair.
Octavia loudly cleared her throat, prompting her lounging officer to first glance in her direction. When he realized he was staring right down the proverbial barrel of Octavia's stern glare, he quickly swung his legs to the side and dropped them back down onto the floor.
"Much better," Octavia said, before slowly relaxing once more. "How about you and Star run some diagnostics on your equipment? Quiet as things are out here, it pays to be ready just in case."
The mare quickly spun around to meet her captain's gaze as well, sitting up a little straighter in her seat and swiftly raising her hoof to her forehead for a salute. Her male colleague was slow to follow suit, having to adjust his crooked cap first before making a similar gesture with his right wing. As the two of them turned back to their stations, Star Chaser teasingly elbowed him in the side.
"Maybe this time you'll actually get done before we drop out of hyperspace. Wouldn't that be something, Sky?" She snickered, much to Sky Specter's annoyance, though he knew better than to shoot back with any snark of his own. Instead, he just rolled his eyes and got to work, making use of his hooves and his wingtips to tap away at the dozens of buttons on his console.
Then, save for the subtle tick-a-tack of ponies at work and the muted rumble of Defiance's engines, the bridge fell silent. Boredom was the only threat to the crew so far, and Octavia knew it would only be a matter of time before ponies began to feel restless. As the ship zipped through space faster than the speed of light, she rested her chin on her left forehoof and settled into a decidedly contemplative look.
Roughly two hours later, Defiance jostled as it dropped back into normal space. The only thing visible through the viewport was the north pole of a very bland-looking planet, though protocol dictated that a full sensor sweep must be made before deciding on an all-clear. Octavia glanced over to her right, pleased to see that Rainy had already started the process. It would be several seconds before the ship's sensors returned any data, though, and in the meantime, Octavia merely sat and watched her sensors officer at work. Eventually, a soft ping came from the console to indicate that the data had returned.
"Combat range clear..." Rainy began, reading off the results as they came up. "Mid-range clear, annnnd..." she broke off, narrowing her eyes as she read and reread the data on her screen.
"What's the matter?" Octavia asked, the slightest hint of tension creeping into her voice.
"Looks like...one- no, two unidentified ships a little over one hundred and fifty kilometers off our port side. Unknown size and configuration." Rainy turned around to look at her captain as she answered, the look on her face indicating that she was as confused as Octavia.
"Do you want me to try and hail them, maybe ask what the hell they're doing out in the middle of nowhere together?" Lily suggested, piping up from her station.
"Yes, try and get ahold of them. They might be stranded and in need of assistance." Octavia said, before turning to look at the Helm. "Sunny, bring us around to face them directly. Let them know we've spotted them while Lily works on sending them a message." Sunny nodded, and within seconds the ship was turning. There was some slight turbulence as the ship's compensators lagged behind the motion, the starscape outside the viewport blurring for the few seconds it took for Defiance to complete a ninety-degree turn. Once the ship was facing the marks that Rainy had indicated, it was revealed that there were indeed multiple ships in the distance. They were little more than ill-defined grayish blobs, and they were grouped tightly enough that it made it nearly impossible to pick out how many there were, let alone any specific details or identifying features.
After several seconds of silence, Lily spoke up again. "No response on the comms, captain. They're receiving, but they aren't answering."
"Not good," Octavia said, a tight frown on her face as she glanced over at her weapons officers. "Star, Specter; raise the shields and bring us up to full combat readiness. We might've just dropped in on something we weren't supposed to find."
"You got it, ma'am! Shields coming up to full power," Star said, with eagerness in her voice and a wide grin on her face.
"Here's hoping we finally get to blow something up!" Specter added, bearing a similar look of excitement whilst he worked his console. Octavia watched her officers at work, feeling a swell of pride within herself. That pride almost managed to outweigh her anxiety about whatever she was walking them into.
"Sunny, bring us into mid-range with the unidentified ships. We need to be able to figure out what we're looking at before we start planning our next move, and we need to be fast. They might already be working on making a jump to hyperspace." Octavia said. Nodding silently, Sunny got to work. A moment later, everypony on the bridge felt the floor beneath them lurch as the compensators lagged behind the ship's acceleration, though that quickly subsided. Octavia kept a close eye on the holographic tactical display that was built into her command chair, watching as the distance between Defiance and the unknown ships rapidly closed.
"That's close enough, Sunny," Octavia said once they'd closed to about ninety kilometers. "Lily, try and hail them one more time, and if they respond, put them through so I may speak with them directly. Rainy, you try and get a better reading on what we're dealing with now that we're closer."
All three officers got to work on their captain's orders simultaneously, and Rainy turned out to be the first to finish. "New readings, captain! Confirmed signatures of two ships, both mid-sized corvettes; they are both armed with multiple heavy laser batteries, and energy readings indicate that they are already at full combat readiness. Looks like they didn't miss our arrival."
Immediately after Rainy's report, Lily had hers. "Still no luck with hailing them, but I've left our comms open in case-"
"Stop where you are and power down your weapons! You are trespassing in Syndicate territory!" An angry, slightly garbled voice shouted over the bridge speakers.
"That came from one of the corvettes. Rude bastard, shouting at us before we've even introduced ourselves!" Lily said, suppressing a little snicker.
"Don't you worry, Lily," Octavia chastised, "we'll get our chance."
"Both ships are on the move, captain! Making a drive straight toward us - estimated twenty seconds before they enter combat range!" Rainy called from her station, just as the warning appeared on Octavia's tactical display.
"Weapons, make ready. Line up turbolaser and missile salvos on both ships, but hold your fire until I give the order." Octavia instructed, looking to Specter and Star. Both of the weapons officers nodded, working their controls with practiced precision as they entered targeting solutions for each of their respective weapons. By the time they were finished, the enemy ships were still five seconds away from coming into range of Defiance's guns. Octavia awaited them to make their move, whatever it was, with bated breath.
A few seconds later, Defiance rumbled slightly as both of the corvettes latched onto it with tractor beams. Though both corvettes were too small to stop Defiance by themselves, the combined strength of their beams could effectively hold the larger cruiser stationary - at least for a few moments. Octavia tensed her shoulders slightly as she realized that she'd just fallen right into a trap.
"Lily, connect us again. I'd like to have a little chat with these hotshots."
Waterlily nodded sharply, and a few button presses later, Octavia's microphone crackled to life. She pushed the button to transmit and leaned in, clearing her throat.
"You have but a few short moments to identify and explain yourself," she began, in a formal tone. "You have just antagonized the I.S.S. Defiance of the Imperial Navy. I am being very generous in giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming you did not properly identify us before moving in and making your threats. This system is fully within the jurisdiction of the Galactic Empire, and we have every right and reason to be here."
Releasing her button, Octavia sat up straight once more and awaited a response. She glanced up at her weapons officers, both of them still silently working their controls, and anxiously chewed her lip. A few moments passed in tense silence, but no response came.
"Ma'am, energy readings indicate their weapons are still fully charged," Rainy interjected, prompting Octavia to turn her way. "They've got us dead to rights here, we need to-"
Defiance shook and rumbled once again, this time accompanied by a series of bright flashes along her hull. A collection of gasps and startled yelps sounded out across the bridge as both corvettes laid into their target with a barrage of laser cannon fire. Red bolts streaked down from almost point-blank range, impacting the hull and dispersing their energy into the shields. Lights flickered and screen displays jumped up and down, but a moment later the fire stopped just as abruptly as it had started.
"Shields still holding at about fifty percent! We won't take another hit like that without some serious damage," Sky Specter said before Octavia could even ask for a status report. "Do we have permission to return fire?!"
"Yes! Full salvo, both targets, aim for their weapons clusters," Octavia quickly answered, pointing an authoritative hoof at both of her weapons officers. It took them less than a second to respond, keying in the firing solutions they'd already calculated moments ago.
Defiance's two heavy turbolaser batteries came to life in an instant, one turret aimed at each corvette as it released a withering barrage of green plasma bolts. They zipped across the couple hundred meters of space between Defiance and her foes, striking their lower hulls and creating similar bright flashes of light as their shields absorbed the impact. At the same time, concussion missiles ejected from their tubes at the nose of the Arquitens-class cruiser, floating forward before their thrusters activated and propelled them toward their targets. Four missiles were aimed at each ship, closing the distance at an almost leisurely pace compared to the lightning-fast lasers.
Both corvettes, labeled Mark One and Mark Two on Octavia's tactical display, immediately opened up with their point defense batteries in an attempt to protect themselves while simultaneously releasing their tractor beam hold on Defiance and starting to move. Mark One successfully shot down all four missiles, beginning to make distance with Defiance and banking left in order to stay in front of her. Mark Two was less fortunate. Two missiles were hit and detonated early, and a third was dodged completely, but the fourth and final missile struck true. The blast was visible from the Defiance's viewports, a ball of light signaling a direct hit to the corvette's center of mass.
Star and Sky both raised their hooves and cheered, though their celebration was suitably short-lived before they got back to working on their next firing solution.
"These look like some tough nuts to crack, ma'am. That missile hit knocked some of their targeting sensors offline, but all of their weapons are still active," Rainy announced, leaning in to her sensor display and furiously typing away to keep her instruments in tune and trained on the enemy.
"Helm, get us moving! Make sure we're still between the two of them," Octavia instructed, gripping the armrests of her chair in preparation. Defiance lurched forward a second later, engines burning at full tilt and rapidly closing the distance Mark One had just made with her. Mark Two was quickly left behind, angling toward Defiance's aft.
"Captain, we're going to pass directly under and in front of that one," Waterlily warned, standing right beside Octavia's chair as she stared out the windows at the worryingly close enemy ship. "They'll light us up just like before!"
Octavia merely held up a hoof, glancing up at her communications officer. "They're counting on it, and so am I."
