//------------------------------// // Chapter X: Dangerous Problems, Grave Prices // Story: Star Trek Online: Into The Multiverse // by Admiral Wyatt Stone //------------------------------// Darkness and electrical noise filled the bridge as the ship finally came to a silent stop, no movement anywhere to be seen on the bridge. Moments passed until a low smacking noise erupted from the right side of the bridge. Someone slowly showed their head from the ground, Applejack with her sister next to her, having been protected by her shielding sister, groaned a little before whispering to her sister. "....I'm ahright." Applejack looked to the rest of the bridge, slowly, one by one, each of the crew slowly got up from their places, Rarity and Rainbow, both with bruises and slight cuts from the broken parts of the ship, releasing Sweetie and Scootaloo after checking them for injuries. Twilight, upon standing, felt a surge of pain from her right foreleg, she looked to see a cut on her hoof, dripping a small amount of blood. Worried about her fellow Admiral, she looked around the room only to stop upon hearing his groaning near the front left console. Once he stood, he looked battered, the only cut to his form being a small, but not fatal, cut above his eye. He looked to the viewscreen, only to see it's glass screen cracked and still attempting to show the sea of space while flashing with static. On the outer hull, the once magnificent face of the star cruiser was now wrought with a horrid, scratched, torn off hull, as well as several pieces of the ship drifting around it. The ship's name plate was nearly erased from the hull, with only fragments of her name left on the near-dead hulk of a saucer. Wyatt felt weak as he slowly made his way into the Captain's chair, grunting in pain as he sat his flank on the ruffled cushion. He heard Fluttershy inform him in a weak voice. "W-we... did it, the weapon's gone. The fleet's corresponding attack m-must have taken it out." The turbolift door to their left opened up to reveal Flash Sentry and Lon as they walked up to Wyatt and Twilight, showing injuries on themselves as well. Twilight gasped as she asked them in worry. "Thank God, are you two OK?" They both nodded before Lon added, "We managed to hang on to the rails in the Jefferies tube, saving us a few bits of hurt, though Flashy here nearly broke his arm trying to help me, we then raced up to here to see if you guys made it." Flash rolled his eyes at the engineer's jokey nickname. "Sorry if I tore her pretty face apart back there, Lon." Wyatt apologized to Lon as he turned to him. "Don't worry about that, me and my boys can fix her up after this is over." He said calmly. "...Da-Damage?" Wyatt asked Pinkie as he held his aching head. "Our forward hull's about ready to pop like a balloon, the engines have fortunately made it through, so we can move, but only little, emergency thrusters are still operational if we need them, I don't believe anyone's been killed since we're the only ones onbo-" She said before she was interrupted by her console powering off, before she tried to tap it in her hope of it coming back on, the rest of the lights and working consoles suddenly died out of power. The entire ship then became a drifting corpse in seconds as the ship's power had completely shut off. Wyatt then held on to his chair as everyone raced to their seats, sitting and activating the ship's safety restraint belts. "Our power systems are failing, everyone hang on tight!" The ship slowly turned over and fell towards the planet below, a piece of debris from the now broken lifeboat hitting the fragile hull, tearing a hole through it. The ship shook violently as they held on tight, Wyatt then thought of a way to save the ship as he deactivated his restraints, holding on to his chair as he spoke. "I don't think we're dead in the water yet, the power control room is nearby on deck 6, if Lon and I can get there, we might be able to get this ship back on her feet!" He then raced to the turbolift to the right of the ship and made his way out yelling to Lon. "Elisa, take the conn, come on, Lon!" "I just hope this isn't one trick that gets us all killed!" He replied back with worry. They raced down the halls upon exiting the turbolift, pieces of the ship falling around them as they made their way to the engine room. From sliding across down the rotating floors to walking on the walls, they took every chance they had around them as they raced to deck 6. They soon reached a hallway where the control room awaited them, a falling piece of metal hit Wyatt on his right hind leg, knocking him over before he grabbed onto the wall of the hallway, Lon joining him a couple of seconds after him. "Uhhh, DUCK!!" He yelled as a larger piece of debris came falling towards them, both of the officers ducking their heads before the debris hit the hall behind them, but also loosening their grip a little. "Wyatt, I can't hold on much longer!" "Grab on to me!" He ordered as Lon grabbed onto his chest and held on. Wyatt's hooves grew weaker for several seconds, forcing him to grit his teeth to boost them, but it didn't help much. Screaming, his hooves let go of the edge before a pair of human hands grabbed onto one of them, a familiar English voice booming out a second later. "I've got you, Admiral, hold on!" "David, my lad, a bottle of ale on me after this!" He said in relief as he was lifted up. David then warned them. "The ship's going to crash into the Changeling hive in four and a half minutes, I'll alert the crew, you go fix the engines!" "Got it!" Wyatt answered as he and Lon continued on towards the door of the control room. David then raced to the nearby turbolift to head to the bridge. The ship turned back upright as they attempted to open the door, until the door failed to operate. "It's damaged, Lon, see if you can fix it!" Lon nodded as he pulled out the nearby repair kit next to him and opened the console and attempted to activate it. Using reserve power nodes, they managed to get the door working, the position of the ship changing as it kept falling. Wyatt then attempted to open the door, this time it opened up, allowing the two inside. Toxic plasma gas sprouting from a leak nearby could be seen in the room as they entered, they noticed a container of breathing apparatuses and opened it. "Breathers! Here, put one on!" Now able to breathe, they then attempted to access the console. After another moment of work on the console, they then attempted to activate the emergency power systems, Wyatt's pupils shrunk as a message could be seen on the screen. "UNABLE TO COMPLY, POWER UNABLE TO BE ROUTED DUE TO MODERATE DAMAGE TO POWER REGULATORS." Both officers stared at the screen with looks of failure for a moment, until Lon looked to his commanding officer. "So that's it then, huh? The last thing we do is come down here to our alternative graves." Wyatt then gave a look of hope as he then thought of another way. "If it's risks we have to take, it's what I'll do." He then raced over to the door on the other side of the room leading to the maintenance section. Lon looked at him with horror as he asked, "What the hell are you doing?!" "I'm going in there to fix my ship!" "Are you crazy?! Even with that breather on, the radiation inside will hurt you, you'll be dead before you even touch the console!" He warned angrily. Wyatt breathed heavily as he halted for a moment, before turning to Lon and responding. "I know that, and that's why you need to stay here." He then punched Lon in his face with his hoof, knocking him out instantly. Placing him in the chair, he then returned to the door to override the door. As it opened, he went in and got down as he began to crawl his way through the shaft leading to the maintenance area. Upon reaching the hatch, he opened it before being greeted by a wave of turquoise gas before he stood up and looked around. A nearby activation console was seen before he noticed the problem, two of the power cables were damaged. Using the maintenance kit Lon had, he sprinted to it and opened the kit up to begin repairs. On the bridge, Dash held onto her console as she noticed the atmosphere of her home planet coming closer to them, she panicked as she shouted, "If we don't get power back online, we'll burn up in the atmosphere!" "Come on, Wyatt..." Twilight thought to herself worriedly as she looked to the broken viewscreen. The ship began to grow a faint orange color before small parts of the damaged hull slowly broke off and flew past the saucer, the saucer then being surrounded in a grey smoke ball as it fell to the planet below. In the maintenance section, Wyatt had now finished work on one of the cables, one more would bring the ship back to life. He grabbed the required tool, held the cord in place, and began sealing the tear. Moments passed before the cut was finally sealed, he then raced to the console and tapped the buttons on it. A second later the ship shook before Wyatt himself was shot across the room, hitting the open hatch leading back to the control room, after coughing a bit, he slowly began to crawl back into the shaft. The bridge came back to life with a slight amount of light as the consoles powered back up, Dash then looking over to Twilight and alerting her. "Power's back, thrusters ready!" "Max power to the thrusters, Dash!" She nodded and tapped the console a couple of times before the ship felt as if it were lifting up. "Hang on, guys, it's gonna get a little rocky!" High above the Changeling kingdom, several changelings out on a flight witnessed the descending vessel above them, while at a safe distance, they panicked for the endangered hive, screaming in terror as the ship fell, when it fell past the clouds, they heard a loud metal screech from under the clouds, two seconds later, they heard the sound of engines blasting before the broken, yet hovering saucer rose up from the surface, the minions cheering as the ship took a stationary position above the area. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief as she looked to her console. "Engines restored, impulse power and life support is coming back." "It's a miracle, Chrysalis' hive is safe!" Rarity cheered as the group breathed calmly, Twilight sitting back as she took a moment to rest. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last longer than a minute as the comms panel on the chair beeped and the princess answered it. "Lon to bridge, is everyone alright down there?" He asked before grunting a little. "Yes, the Changeling hive would've been lost if we hadn't saved the ship. Are you guys alright?" She answered with a tired tone. Lon hesitated for a moment before replying. "... Not exactly, everyone, you might wanna get down here right away, that son of a... he doesn't look too good." The signal cut out before Twilight could respond, looking to her friends, she ordered, "Everyone to the Control room, quick." The group immediately crammed themselves into all of the working turbolifts as they hurried towards deck 6. They were hoping this wasn't going to be a rough scene for them to witness, but as they would soon realize, great miracles often come with a great price, and it was something they weren't going to like knowing about upon reaching the control room.....