(A tad late in posting, but here it is. Overwhelming work and underwhelming internet access.) Spoiler: Captain's Log - Day 5 My crew has become settled in quicker than I originally predicted. Both Port and Starboard Decks are set up and settled, and our final crew counts have been finished. 52 ponies, 15 griffons, 5 dragons, and 9 changelings... that we know of. This leaves us 12 open beds that I'm not comfortable with, so I've coordinated them all to the same back area of the 3rd deck. Our seekers are currently working their magic with the Space Ripper Drive, while our mechanics are working tirelessly to make sure every seam of our Purium Engine is intact so it can withstand the jump through Torn Space. While Violet Dream assures me no harm will come to it in Torn Space, I've seen technology and magic pull away from each other before... and while I don't quite understand what goes on inside of the equipment, I know that safety never hurt anypony... and I need to earn the trust of my crew if we're to be successful in finding the Ultimate Magic. Our first destination is a point in space where we've detected high energy radiations which the seekers believe could be magic. Could be. Or not. We shall see, and either result will allow us to gain a greater understanding of what we all seek out. The ship shadows much of Equestria from its position in the upper atmosphere. The launch from the space port was made a few hours ago, but there's still a feeling like a haze, almost like all this is an awesome dream for some of the stargazers now finally in the air. A special feeling of euphoria was with those who didn't have natural wings to begin with. The ship has quarters on the 1st and the 3rd floor. The quarters on the 1st floor are personal, while each room on the 3rd floor is shared. Our Security and Seekers have their crew quarters on Starboard, 3rd floor. Scouts and Staff are on Portside of the 3rd floor. Technicians and Bridge Crew have large rooms on the upper deck of the ship, supplying them with personal workbenches. The quarters on the 1st floor are bigger than most of the other crew quarters. The ship has 12 crystal-powered cannons that can be controlled two at a time from the 3rd floor by Security only. There are also two launcher bays for emergency crystal missile launches. This is also one underside dome rotational blaster on the underside of the ship, accessed from the 1st floor. From the 1st floor, there is engine access for Technicians with the main engine at the aft, and two thruster extentions at Starboard and Portside like wings. Important technical ship functions also exist on the aft of the 2nd floor. The Space Ripper Drive is accessable from the third floor at the aft, where Seekers have access. The Observation Deck is on the third floor with a wide view. Primary Bridge is on the 1st floor, while Tactical Bridge is on the 2nd floor. Briefing rooms, med bay, mess hall, kitchen, gymnasium, community restrooms, computer terminals, equipment storage and armory are all on the second floor. Azure Blitz is in the chamber of the Space Ripper Drive. This was a large circular room on the third floor above the engine. The drive was a large metallic cyllinder with clear round orbs in key locations all around it. When unicorns, (or otherwise magically capable being,) focused their Magic upon one of the orbs, it began to fill with energy, which then transfers to power lines that cris-cross all over the large cylinder that made up the drive. The energy didn't stay in the orbs long before slipping away quickly. The seekers of the chamber were doing their best to focus harder, and with less pause, trying to leave the least chance of energy crisis. It was really quite tiring, but made for a good bonding experience with the other unicorns and occasional changeling in the chamber. The two changelings that got positions as seekers seemed a bit more outcast than the rest, as most of the other unicorns ignored them, or didn't even want to speak to them. Starlight Speedster and Caramel Warmheart were both among the rest of the technical crew. Speedy was off and working on the right wing thruster, running final diagnostics on the stability and control of the magical crystals that were powering the electronics on the ship. Something was causing them to react oddly, and reports of this strange activity was spreading across the communication channels. Carrie was tracking power fluxuations in engine activity that the unicorn technicians were calling "crystal anxiety" but that seemed odd... they're just rocks. Right? The crystalline power lines and glass energy conductors were all in stable condition, at least. Silver Crescent, as an old Lunar Guard, has a sort of "honorary position" on the bridge of the ship, making sure no issues flare up with the bridge crew. He was also one of two security meant to ensure the personal safety of Captain Skyfarer, on the ship, or if he goes ashore. "Frenchie" was up on the observation deck with the other unassigned crew, staring into the blue skies of Equestria as the massive craft took off. The crew watched as the ship lifted through the clouds that occupied the upper atmosphere, which parted at the glass observation dome, clouds were cut apart by the ship much more easily than any pegasus could pull off. The watchers could also see ribbons of orange energy flowing over the surface of the ship itself, originating from a slowly growing ball of blackness that looked like a window into the stars, framed by a waving orange glow of power. The communication speakers made a short clicking sound, and then the captain's strong and commanding voice was heard, echoing throughout the ship: "Fillies... gentlecolts... mares and stallions... and our friendly dragons and griffons... today we mark a great day in history. Today we make the first leap into the great unknown, and the push to find the Ultimate Magic. I want to thank all of you onboard, for it is you who will make this all possible. I look forward to working with each one of you individually, to make this a successful mission... and to ensure that you can all return to the ones you leave behind this day. We are the ones who were selected, trained, and allowed to board... and let's make Equestria proud." The speaker system popped as the Captain took his hoof off the button. He looked at the viewport in front of the main bridge. "How long until the Space Ripper Drive is ready for use?" A purple scaled dragon on the bridge wearing a dark cloak slid a claw across the energy monitor. Justice, as he was known, was the main Seeker Liason on the bridge, at least at the moment. "Captain... the estimated time is less than ten minutes..." The Captain nodded, confirming that he heard the response.
Silver stood motionless in the corner, quietly observing the captain and crew. The ponies on the bridge displayed a wide range of emotions; some excited, some nervous, several clearly terrified. For his part, Silver felt very little. He'd stopped caring about anything a half century earlier, when his life's purpose had been stolen from him. The loss of the Night Princess had very nearly broken him. He'd spent fifty years searching for a way to undo what had happened. Now, a solution was in sight. The 'Ultimate Magic' was what he'd spent so long searching for. He'd finally be able to redeem himself for failing to reach Luna in time. This was it. It had to be.
Bien's eyes took up roughly half of her face as she stared out the open windows, taking in sights of which she never even knew existed. Sure, she had heard of them, but seeing them up close was a completely different story! "Mes princesses..." She muttered to herself, eyes only growing wider with every passing second. Bien Sabot took a deep breath suddenly, realizing she hadn't taken a real one since they took off. Taking a few deep lungfuls of air, she turned to the nearest pony and practically latched onto them. "Are you seeing this!?" She yelled, shaking them up and down. "WE'RE IN SPACE! HAHA!"
*Rattles around a dice for a moment.* The pony Bein latched onto shakes back and shouts. "SPAAAACE! It's incredible!" She pointed back to the dome. "Much less dull than I imagined! So many sparkles!" The red mane of the white mare hooked around with one of those new hairstyles that made it feel "futuristic and out there" in comparison to the more conservative hairstyles of most ponies.
(I completely forgot about this!) Azure had been staying in the space ripper engine for a while. Drinking away as she did her role on this ship. In a sort of ironic fashion drinking allowed her to concentrate more. She then heard someone screaming and looked outside and tossed her bottle at the wall,right next to the pony who was shouting about space. "WILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN!? FREAK OUT ALL YOU WANT BUT JUST SHUT UP!" She tried to walk up to them but kept on stumbling until she eventually gave up and went back to the engine to drink and work. "Pieces of loud *squee!* botherin' me... not able to *squee!*ing concentrate with these loud *squee!* faces..." she continued to complain about the crew under her breath as she got another bottle and started chugging down that one.
A light began to flash yellow on Silver's foreleg, indicating that the ship's internal sensors had registered possible hostility. He sighed. "Show me." The device projected a view of the engine room, showing a clearly intoxicated Unicorn shouting at two other ponies. A broken bottle lay on the the floor nearby. Silver saved the recording and sent it to Captain Skyfarer's computer, then shut down the projection. The mission had only just began, and there was already a problem.
Carrie was laying on her back in one of the engine's many access ports, staring incredulously up at the crystal cooldown reciprocator and the careless way in which it had been balanced. 'No wonder they were having power fluctuation problems,' she thought, 'my generators at home are better tuned than most of this equipment!' She could see she would have her work cut out for her, getting the ships systems up to full efficiency and keeping them there, and she was looking forward to every second of it.
Speedy had hooked up one of the power crystals to a hoof-held terminal. The readings seemed to fluctuate between stable and slightly underpowered. He grabbed a radio from the wall nearby. "Hey, Carrie? Do you read me? The crystals over here fine. How about you over there? Everything good?"
"Almost," Carrie replied, radio hanging from her overalls and screwdriver clenched between her teeth. She finished tightening the final adjustment screw, and smiled as the recipricator started up again, much smoother than before. "There." She crawled back out of the access hatch, and wiped her hooves. "Good as it's going to get without a major overhaul, Speedy." She said into her radio. "I'm sure I could get it more stable, but it'd probably take some time; maybe you could take a look at it later, see if you agree? I'm just gonna let it run for a bit now, make sure the fluctuations don't return."
Azure kept on drinking in the room of the space ripper engine without much to do, she just continued looking at the engine and then eventually passed out due to all the alcohol she had,she had passed out against the railing and her bottle crashed to the floor and broke,spilling alcohol all over and some of the alcohol started dripping off the edge and with some glass here and there as well.
The light began blinking again, the pattern of flashes indicating that a pony had fallen unconscious at their post. He opened the display and groaned audibly. The same pony from earlier had passed out in a puddle of booze and broken glass. This wouldn't do. They couldn't afford weak links. The mission was too important. Silver took the grav-lift down to the engine room. He quickly found the offending technician and jerked her to her hooves. "Wake up. Stand up straight. Explain yourself."
She snapped awake. "Agh! What happened!" She saw Silver standing in front of her and she blushed from embarrasment. "Uhh...sorry... I tend to pass out when i'm drunk...or bored...most of the times both..." She gave out a hiccup. Causing her to blush "Oh,still drunk." Azure was afraid of being fired or something like that. "I'm not fired am I? Or something like that?"
Silver frowned. "That's for the captain to decide." He pressed a button on his computer, and a pair of Security ponies arrived within moments. "Take this one to the brig to sober up. Send down a replacement tech for the time being, and have maintenance clean up this mess."
"Okay. Roger that. I'll head down there and take a look at it later tomorrow." He put the radio back on the wall and left to go to the mess hall. He yawned. "Jeez... I could really go for a coffee..." He muttered to himself, getting into an elevator.
Taking one final look around, Carrie decided to return to her quarters for a while, to study the ship's plans and see if she could figure out what improvements she could make. She spends the next couple of hours pouring over technical drawings, as well as checking the ship's manifest, to see what she had to work with.
The elevator opened and Speedy witnessed Azure get dragged past him. "How strange..." He dismissed it and went to the mess hall to get his coffee. After he had received his cup of coffee he headed to his quarters to rest. He had had a very early morning fixing the power crystal and he just wanted to rest.
