The empty fast expanse of space. Cold and lonely, with only the stars for company. The stars with plants as friends. This corner of space was calm until a ship warped in.
The big white ship with orange stripes is known as the Kestrel. The ship is heavily damaged from a recent attack. Onboard the ship, the crew is running around as they try to fix the ship fast. The red lights flashed and the alarms screamed at the top of their lungs.
"Somepony shut that thing off!" Captain Flask yells into the coms. The lights and alarms stop as he slumps back into his chair, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle.
Captain Flask is a thin and tall dark red stallion. His hair spiked up like the general Spitfire's. His mane is red with blue streaks going through the bottom. His bent horn protrudes out of his head and parts his mane. He wears a white captain uniform with orange pants.
"How long till the FTL Drive is up again?" Flask asks as he pushes the button to the engine room. The screen in front of him flashes before showing the messy and partly destroyed engine room. Applejack, an orange earth mare, is hard at work on the engine. She wears a red shirt with blue mechanic suspenders, which were full of dirt and oil stains.
"It will be about a three, maybe five-minute partners," AppleJack says with her heavy southern accent. She stands up and grabs a clipboard as Flask pushes the button for shields. The screen flashes again and changes to a biggish room with a blue generator in the center. Sitting in a chair at the terminal connected to the generator is a yellow pegasus mare with a long pink mane. Her mane pulled back into a ponytail as she typed on the terminal. She wears a tight-fitting gray and orange jumper.
"Shield report Fluttershy?" Flask's sudden command causes Fluttershy to flinch and turn to the screen that shows Flask in the captain's room.
"I-it can't take much more. It only h-has t-two h-hits left," Fluttershy stutters as she looks at the terminal.
"Can you speed it up?"
"I-i'll try,"
"Do what you can Fluttershy," Flask finishes before pushing the button for the weapons room. The screen flashes as the surprisingly clean weapons room appears on the screen. Sittin' at the desk with three monitors is a purple alicorn mare with a purple mane. She wears a slight loss-fighting gray and orange jumper with a light purple coat over top. She types really fast on the keyboard as her eyes dart quickly between each of the screens showing different weapons systems.
"Twilight," Flask says.
"Burst Laser 2 is down, Artemis is slightly damaged, and Burst Laser 3 is completely down!" Twilight yells with slight franticness in her voice.
"What do you mean completely down?!" Flask yells in confusion.
"Flask! I mean it's gone!" Flask slumps back into his chair in surprise as he sighs. He looks around the room as he tries to think.
"Do what you can to fix the other two weapons before the rebels warp in," Flask says. Twilight nods, never once breaking concentration with the screens in front of her. Flask flips off the screen as he sighs. The screen now shows the fast empty space in front of him.
"Captain," A robotic-sounding voice resonates through the room.
"What is a computer?"
"Five rebel ships coming into warp in 10 seconds,"
"Great, they brought friends," Flask sighs as he switches the screen back to the shield room. "Get as much of the shields up as possible," He says, again scaring the little pegasus. "Rebel ships are inbound in 7 seconds," Fluttershy nods before switching the shields on. The ship hums to life as the light blue shields form around the kestrel.
"Applejack," Flask says as he turns to the engine room.
"Two minutes until the drive is ready to jump," Applejack says as she looks at the computer screen on the engine. Flask nods as he flips back to the weapons room.
"How are the weapons coming?"
"Burst Laser 2 is ready to fire," Twilight says as the weapon pulls out of the ship and starts to charge. Before Flask can reply, the entire ship shakes as the alarms turn back on.
Behind them is one of the rebels' main fleet ships. The entire ship is orange with white strips. Four more ships warp in around the kestrel.
"Everypony to battle stations!" Flask yells over the intercom.
"One more minute!" Applejack says, now sitting down at the desk and strapped into the chair. The ship shakes as Fluttershy speaks up.
"The shields can only take one more hit,"
"Twilight, fire back at them to try and delay them," Flask says as he switches to a camera pointed at the rebel ships. He gulps as he looks down at the fleet of ships. Three shots fly towards one of the ships. Hitting the engine, causing it to slow down. The other four ships fire at them. Two miss as the other two hits, damaging the doors and causing them to open.
"Emergency energy transfer to doors on the outside of the ship," Flask quickly commands the computer as the outside doors close, preventing oxygen from escaping.
"Missile inbound for shields, a direct hit will destroy the ship. Connecting in twenty seconds," The computer informs him.
"Nineteen more seconds before the FTL Drive is ready!" Applejack yells.
"Shit," Flask wispears as he switches to the star map. He looks over the warp points close to them.
"Damit! I placed us in a corner." Flask thinks. "The closest one is S2-4, but that would take two jumps we don't have and we would be in the middle of nowhere." Flask thinks over his options.
"All power to engines!" Flask yells over the intercoms.
"But Flask!" Twilight protests.
"No buts! This is our only chance," Flask says. The crew hesitated, but did what they were told to do. All power was diverted to the engines.
"Impact in t minus ten seconds," The computer says as Flask places his hand on the FTL warp drive button. "Nine, Eight," Flask's hands start to shake as fear starts to set into his brain. "Seven, six," His mind raises just as fast as the missile. "Five, four," His eyes tearing up at the memory of his wife and kids he left back at home to save the federation. "Three, two," Now it might just end up killing him.
"One," The computer says as Flask pushes the button for the warp drive.