Solid Grounds felt the moment The Harmony Ascension dropped out of warp, the warm, constant hum of the reliable magi-drive powering down as the engines were called back online.

She stopped mid-pour of her latest experimental brew - a strong mix of Sleipniri and Akhal-Teke beans - to call the bridge. Harmony was not scheduled to drop out of warp for another half-cycle.

Golden Hour was there like usual to greet Sol with the report. 'Distress signal,' informed the older unicorn. There was a pause over the comms. 'They're using pre-reconciliation codes, Captain.'

Old codes. Solid Grounds started turning off her drip brewers. 'Shields up. Don't hail until I'm there.'
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Once on the bridge with eyes on the unfolding situation, Sol studied the image brought up on the view screen displaying the source of the dubious signal.

'It matches, at least,' Golden hummed from her seat besides the captain. 'Lessens the chance we're dealing with pirates.'

That was only a small relief. The Harmony could easily outrun pirates.

It was everything else that worried Solid Grounds.

And Golden knew that.

'Omma?'

The changeling shook their head. 'Nothing, Captain. Neither from the ship or the surrounding area. It's just us here, I'm afraid.'

'You want us to run into pirates!?' Nova Burst turned sharply in his seat to face Omma. The collar the Kirin wore to warn of any potential outbursts ticked up to a bright orange.

Omma was good about standing their ground against the hot-headed stallion. 'Of course not, but if there's no life signs aboard...'

'Then this is a recovery mission,' Solid confirmed.

In the darkness of space, the Lumina stood out like a beacon, her hull pristine as the day she left berth with no indication of outward damage. She had been an incredible vessel, the top of her line with all the state of the art bells and whistles afforded to her... or so they advertised to the desperate and wealthy masses clawing and climbing over each other to escape a magically-depleted Equus.

When The Lumina set off on her maiden voyage to a promised far-off pre-established colony, where her signal could no longer pierce through the expanding vastness, and went dark...

The story of the Lumina had been required reading in her engineering courses, Sol having studied the doomed ship's blueprints alongside thousands of other students. Reading them, the sheer lack of care and effort in regards to the ship's craftmanship and passenger safety had made her blood boil way back then.

And here, staring at the lost and now found Lumina, knowing without needing to look that her life support, built with the cheapest materials available, would have failed not long after the ship left radio range...

Sol took a deep breath. Listened to the quiet but always there engines of the Harmony Ascension.

'Okay,' she exhaled. 'Golden, Contact Horizon Station and let them know what we've found. Omma put together a team that can handle scouting the vessel, knowing what we're going to find. And Nova?'

'...Yes Captain?'

'Deep breaths, ensign. And remember how lucky we all are for each and every one we take.'