Today's writing: Changeling Space Program (Patreon)

Changeling Space Program

by Kris Overstreet

Chapter 17: Mission 23 - The Snack Supplies May Be Starting to Run a Little Low

Cherry Berry shifted in her chair, wishing she could see Chrysalis's face. 

"Well, little princess, you know we have a launch in two days' time," the queen said, growling every word.  "Yet you come here saying it's an emergency and you have to see us at once, pulling us out of vital simulator work." In Cherry's peripheral vision a blur of black and turquoise shifted slightly forward. "So make it good."

The two of them sat, side by side, across a conference table from Twilight Sparkle, who had come alone. Five minutes earlier the two of them had been in the simulator building along with the rest of the prime and backup crews for CSP-23.(461) Now they were here, and Chrysalis hadn't become any less annoyed in the walk from the simulation building to the administration building.

Cherry, on the other hoof, wasn't angry. If Twilight Sparkle was here, during an Equestrian Space Agency mission in flight, talking about an emergency, that could only mean one thing. She could see it; maybe Chrysalis was too annoyed to work it out for herself.

"We have a pony stranded in orbit around the moon," Twilight said quietly. 

Called it, Cherry thought, not feeling triumphant in the least. 

"One of the refueling valves malfunctioned earlier today," Twilight continued. "It probably got damaged days ago during the orbital refueling we did. Anyway, the valve wasn't properly capped after refueling, not that cap would have held under pressure anyway. It leaked fuel into the mid-deck, and in the process the loss of pressure caused the engines to malfunction. They lost power until they eventually flamed out, and the remaining fuel either vented through the pumps or into the compartment." Twilight's voice squeaked a little as she got to the end, and she stopped, swallowed, and got her composure back before continuing, "We have a stable orbit, but the ship has zero fuel, zero oxidizer, and not enough power in the thrusters to break orbit and return home before food supplies run out."

Cherry Berry found herself a bit choked up as well, and for that reason she didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, which was enough time for Chrysalis to take over the conversation. "You had better fill us in on the details," she said, all trace of her annoyance gone. "How many days of food does Rainbow Dash have left?"

"At full rations, nineteen days, not counting today," Twilight Sparkle said. "After the multiple rescues your space program performed back in spring, we doubled down on packing food supplies for emergencies. Rainbow launched with a thirty days's supply. But we don't have the rocket parts we need-"

"We'll come back to that," Chrysalis interrupted, raising a hoof. "Your steering rockets-"

"Maneuvering thrusters," Cherry muttered.

"Reaction control system," Twilight muttered at the same time.

"Whatever." Chrysalis dismissed the interruptions with a flip of the hoof. "As I understood it, they're rechargeable, just like the spacesuit thrusters. How long would it take to get home on those?"

Twilight shook her head. "The current generation of RCS batteries require time to recharge," she said. "We're still working on batteries efficient enough to provide steady thrust. With the weight of Amicitas and the thrusters on board, we can't do better than twenty meters per second of delta-V per day. It would take thirty-two days to escape the moon's gravitational sphere of influence, and then even more to drop our periapsis down to Equus atmosphere."

"What about the get-out-and-push thing?" Chrysalis asked. "Like Cherry Berry did."

"Rainbow Dash wouldn't even get half a meter per second of delta-V by getting out and pushing," Twilight said. "We already did the math. Three pushes in twenty-four hours, about 1.3 meters per second total. It might shave about two days total off the return flight. That's still longer than Dash has, even on half rations."

"I see," Chrysalis said, and Cherry could just make out the changeling queen nodding her head beside her. "And so, with one of your closest friends- and, might I add, one of the mares most vital for the defense of Equestria from people like me," she added with a special, drawn-out emphasis, "in horrible danger, you have come to us for aid." Cherry heard the soft clop of Chrysalis steepling her forehooves together. "What, specifically, can we do for you, princess?"

"All we need are some rocket components," Twilight Sparkle said quickly. "I have a list here, but the main items we need are a probe core, some fuel tanks, and a couple of Swivel engines. If we get those in ten days, we can launch-"

"Are you CRAZY?" That was Cherry Berry's voice; the words had slipped out before she'd realized they were in her mouth. And more words came afterwards, no real thought attached, but only pure pony emotion. "Anything could happen in that time! And we're going up there ourselves with a ship big enough to haul Rainbow Dash back!"

Twilight's eyes widened. "But won't that-"

"It won't be any trouble at all!" Chrysalis agreed... in a slightly louder than necessary voice, and in a tone that set off warning bells in Cherry's mind. "We can perform the rescue as part of our shakedown flight. We won't even need to change the rocket!" A hoof struck the table as the queen finished, "In fact, I shall personally fly the mission and guarantee the safe return of Rainbow Dash!"

"That's righ- whaaaaa?" Now Cherry Berry did take her eyes off Twilight, unable to stop herself from gaping at Chrysalis, who sat there looking smug and in control. "Hang on just a-"

"After all," Chrysalis continued, reaching a hoof to the side to firmly push Cherry back in her chair, "the Changeling Space Program is the preeminent organization where it comes to in-space rescues!  And we have a reputation to uphold!"

"Actually, I'd prefer Cherry to fly the rescue, if you don't mind," Twilight said quietly. "In fact I was going to ask her to help with-"

(stalled out here, will come back to it later)

Footnote:

(461) Prime crew: Cherry Berry commanding; Leonid the yak, backup pilot; Dragonfly, engineer. Backup crew: Chrysalis commanding; Fireball the dragon, backup pilot; Gordon the griffon, engineer.