THOOOM!! VOOOooooooommmmmmm….
The Hydra was hurling through the horizon vortex with Enterprise still being towed behind them vis tractor beam. The stress on both ships was immense and threatened to tear both apart. On the Enterprise the jump was more like an unsteady rollercoaster ride, but the Hydra was breaking apart at the seams.
On the bridge of the Hydra everyone was scrambling to get where they needed to be. Ponies and changelings ran over, under, around, or a combination of them to get to the deeper parts of the ship. The outer hull was breaching and falling apart so Captain Trixie ordered everyone to move deeper into the ship.
Engineering was buzzing with all kinds of sounds and activity.
Pinkie Pie was running from station to station like a pink bolt of lightning. She would be on the base deck talking to a changeling crewman, then next moment she’d be two decks high talking to another pony and then back again in the blink of an eye. Most of the crew had become accustomed to her doing this, so it was mostly expected from the pink pony to do such.
“34 of 69! Get the valves closed on the second and third EPS manifolds!”
“Aye, Lt. Commander!”
The changeling ran off to do her assigned task, and Lt. Commander Pinkie Pie turned to face the core just as the sides burst into flames and sparks. A single pony caught fire and screamed out in a fiery pain. She then fell over the railing from the second deck and down to the bottom of the engine core as it blew again. This time it was followed by a violent shaking of the ship.
The engine room was now full of heat and steam. The engine core itself was expelling large amounts of dry plasma and coolant. Pinkie gasped dramatically and ran to the nearest communication pad.
“Coolant leak! Everyone facilitate the engine room! Now! Now! Everyone out!” Pinkie yelled pushing the groups of ponies and changelings along.
The pink pony ran to the engine core and looked down to see the pony from earlier still down there. Her uniform was charred black and her mane and tail were all but gone. She was barely moving. Pinkie climbed down and reached for the pony and pulled her over her shoulders to carry her. Pinkie was then assaulted by the smell of burned flesh and hair. Gagging she climbed quickly back up and hurled herself over the railing as the ship shook again.
Once over the railing she adjusted the pony on her back and continued to run out of the engine room as the dry plasma and coolant collided casing a smaller chemical reaction that burned at her tail and uniform. Pinkie skidded to a halt and slammed her hoof into the side panel which activated the emergency bulkheads, and sealed the engine room off from the ship.Two nine crewmen came to her and helped take the burned pony off the Lt. Commander’s back.
“Get her to sick bay!”
“Yes, Lt. Commander!” One of the ponies said, taking the injured pony with them.
Pinkie then returned to the panel and activated the internal communications.
“Engineering to bridge-THOOM!- if we don’t stop, the core is going to overload! I have several EPS manifolds ruptured there’s a coolant leak causing the core to overheat!” She yelled as the ship shook and the alarms sounded. “We need to stop otherwise we’ll end up destroying ourselves!”
*Engineering stand by!*
“Okay!” Pinkie said in a cheery voice smiling.
While waiting for a response Pinkie began humming a tune swingin back and forth in place as a pony went flying past her after an explosion sent her across the room. Two ponies went to help the poor pony. A changeling came running into the room on fire as several ponies put him out with a fire extinguishers. After about twenty seconds of chaos around her Pinkie’s ear twitched when the communication pad beeped.
“Bridge?” She asked the panel and waited.
*Engineering, we can’t shut down to H-Drive! We need you to manually deactivated it!*
“Okay!”
Pinkie happily skipped towards the back of engineering humming a happy tune with her step. She went to the back of engineering while everyone around her scurried about with their tasks. She went right up to a panel and pulled it off revealing a big red lever switch that read: Don’t Pull Except in Emergencies!
“Lt. Comander! What are you doing?!”
Pinkie looked at the switch, ignoring the pony behind her, and without wasting a second more she pulled it down. Suddenly the entire ship shut down as it shook violently before it decelerated and sent everyone on board flying across the rooms due to the intera dampeners failing.
The Hydra came out of the horizon vortex with the Enterprise right behind it. The tractor beam failed and the two ships went into a spiral as they exited the vortex The Hydra was completely powered down and Enterprise had to take a moment to get its bearings again. The human ship was quick to recover and was soon coming about to fly behind the Hydra who was still drifting aimlessly without power.
*EnterPrise Bridge*
Archer and his crew were quick to recover from the sudden change in speed since their ship was in peak condition. Archer was in his chair with his bridge crew in their stations. Lacom Reed was in tactical scanning the area for hostile ships. Hoshi was at communications scanning for any signals to indicate other ships in the area. T’pol was doing a ship wide system diagnostic to determine any damage to the Enterprise. Mayweather was at the helm controls steering the ship with the spinning Hydra as it drifted in open space.
Archer shook his head in his chair feeling a slight disorientation as he tried to adjust his collar from his uniform.
“What’s our status?” He asked to noone in particular.
T’pol was first to answer with the systems briefing.
“We have a minor power fluctuation in the antimatter regulators. Commander Tucker is working on the problem as we speak,” The Vulcan said calmly. “We also have taken minor damage to the dorsal plating but nothing extensively dangerous to report.”
Archer nodded his head looking at the view screen. It was blank black which meant it was completely off. Normally it would be showing the bow of the ship but now it was showing nothing. Archer walked to Lt. Reed, circling around his station and stood behind Reed and his chair looking over their sensor readings.
“What’s out there?”
“Not sure sir. Long range sensors are down,” Reed said with a hint of regret. “I’m working on the problem sir.”
“See to it you get sensors online as quickly as possible. I don’t want to be flying around blind.”
“Aye, sir.”
While Lt. Reed worked on the problem Archer hurried back to T’pol who had just finished scanning the Enterprise for any more mechanical failures.
“Captain, long range sensors were damaged by the anomaly we went through. Commander Tucker says it could be a few hours before we get the sensors online again.”
“Tell him to make it his priority,” Archer ordered walking to the lift. “You have the bridge Sub Commander.”
T’pol watched as Archer went to the lift and opened the door. As the human stepped in she stood up quickly getting his attention before the doors closed.
“What are you planning, Captain?” T’pol asked with a hint of concern in her tone.
Archer had been working with T’pol for years now. Her species, the Vulcans, were a race who believed in logic and a strict code of emotional control. The years they served together brought them close. For Archer, he considered T’pol among his short list of Vulcan friends, and he would trust her with his life. She too would trust her’s with him.
Taking a relaxing breath and expending his chest, Archer held his hand in the lift doors preventing them from closing. “I need to get to engineering. Hoshi contact the Hydra tell them we’ll assist them in any way we can.”
“Aye, sir.” Hoshi replied.
Archer nodded to T’pol, she nodded back, and he removed his hand from the door allowing them to close. Once he was sealed in the lift he could feel himself descending to the lower decks. From there he’d head to the back of the Enterprise where Engineering is.
Once he arrived on the deck Archer doubled back to follow the halls to the back of the ship where he turned left to another junction of two that connected engineering. There he was met with the sounds of loud clamoring and people yelling at one another from the upper decks to lower decks, and vice versa. In the center of it all was Charles Tucker, the main engineer and a man Archer would agree knew the NX Engine better than even the designer of the engine himself.
Tucker was busy keeping the engine running when he noticed Archer enter the hall hatch. He stopped what he was doing and quickly made his way down towards his captain.
“Captain, what's going on up there?” Tucker asked concerned. “We were in real trouble there for a minute. I was sure the engine was gonna blow with whatever you did.”
“We ran into some trouble. We caught an unexpected lift from our pony friends,” Archer said solemnly.
“Soooo, what now?”
“I need you to get a team ready. We’re going to get over to the Hydra and assist them,” Archer said patting Tuckers shoulder. “I’ll be bringing Phlox with us. They may have injured. Get that team ready, and have Kelby takeover engineering and meet with me in the shuttlebay.”
Archer started walking away leaving engineering and headed to the medical bay. It wasn't long before he was back in the turbolift heading down one deck. From there Archer headed to the medical bay where Dr. Phlox was busy helping the last of his patients. The doctor was just finishing a final scan of one of his patients when Archer came in.
Doctor Phlox finished his scan and turned to face his captain with his usual cheery smile and a warm open gesture with his arms.
“Captain? What can I do for you today? As you can see I’m quite busy,” Phlox said.
“I know Phlox,” Archer said sympathetically holding the Doctor’s arm with his hand. “But I need you to get your gear. I need you in the shuttlebay and get ready to go over to our friends ship. They may need help.”
Phlox of course made no attempt to dissuade Archer from this course of action. If lives were at stake Dr. Phlox was more than willing to lend a helping hand. Given the past actions Archer took it was no surprise he’d extend a helping hand to others. So it was no surprise to Archer when Dr. Phlox agreed to help without question.
Once the order was given Archer made his way back to the Shuttlebay, by the time he got the Commander Tucker and his engineering team were already there getting their gear into the shuttles. A few minutes later Phlox was in the shuttle bay with his gear. It was at this time Archer received word that the Hydra cleared them to take the shuttles to their landing bay. Once the order was given the two human shuttles were away to the Hydra as it continued to drift due to a complete power loss.
Captain's Log November 21, 2154
After our outrageous horizon jump I think I finally pushed the Hydra beyond its limits. We’re now adrift with no way to see where we’re going or have anyway to control it. Our systems are down life support is failing, and we have no idea what’s out there. We’re blind.
Sensors are down. All we have to go by are the visual reports from the crew across all decks while we attempt to repair the Hydra. Hopefully our human friends are in better condition than we are.
*Hydra*
In the Hydra’s shuttle bay Major Spitfire was being taken away to the medical bay. The crew was hard at work trying to get the main structure repaired, but the main power was down all over the ship. Life support was barely functioning and the ship was nearly pitch black like space.
The sounds of hooves and voices echoed throughout the silent ship. With no power the ship was eerily silent. The unicorns and changelings had been using basic illumination spells for a while now and many had collapsed from magical exhaustion from prolonged use. Private Scope was in the cargo bay beside the shuttlebay reloading his bomber with photon bombs, Corporal Pansy was helping him, and the other MAREs Commandos were tending to their fighters as well.
Commander Octavia was there too helping with the mech power loaders, bipedal machines that were used to carry heavy loads. She was assisting a group of ponies and changelings reenforce the superstructure of the ships shuttlebay.
Deeper in the ship Trixie was with Lt. Commander Pinkie Pie going over the ship's damage. Trixie sat in a chair across from Pinkie in a large circular room with one door for entry and exit. The center of the table was a ship wide 3D model with all systems and subsystems color coded and cycled by a specific order for review. Trixie sat frustrated as Pinkie Silently went over the ship systems. Trixie was a Captain, but she was also a Master Grade Engineer it would have been considered redundant for Pinkie to reiterate what Trixie could already see and understand for herself. What she saw was nothing but daunting.
“I can’t believe this,” Trixie grumbled under her breath.
Pinkie sighed shrugging her shoulders and gave Trixie and ‘I told you so’, look.
“Not a word Lt. Commander,” Trixie growled at the pink pony.
“I told you the Horizon Drive wasn’t ready, Captain,” She said glumly at Trixie’s harsh tone. “We didn’t have the power for a prolonged fight and we did a H-Jump at the sametime.”
“I KNOW!” Trixie yelled slamming her hooves on the table.
Pinkie flinched at her tone and the 3D display flickered slightly. Pinkie’s mane deflated at Trixie’s angered tone. Trixie sighed rubbing her mane back with her hooves and tried to calm herself. She rubbed the base of her horn and looked across at Pinkie Pie and tried to put on a softer expression.
“I’m sorry Lt. Commander. I’m just under a lot of stress. I didn’t want to activate the Horizon Drive, but we had no choice. It was either that or we’d end up someplace more dangerous than we were. Trust me we’re better off like this.”
Pinkie Pie nodded as she cycled through another set of systems. Again Trixie groaned this time slamming her head on the table. Pinkie flinched again but slowly made her way around the table and sat beside her unicorn captain. Pinkie was cautious. Her previous attempts to appease the unicorn always ended with her getting in trouble or angering and injuring her Captain. So this time she decided on a more subtle approach. Pinkie sat beside Trixie and gently patted her back trying to calm the unicorn as she groaned with her face flat on the table.
Trixie visibly relaxed as the pink hoof rubbed around her back in small circles. Trixie sighed flexing her shoulders and rolled her face to look at the pink pony beside her. Pinkie noticed her turning to face her and gave a weak smile at Trixie and took her hooves off her when she noticed a blank stare looking at her.
Trixie used her magic to hold Pinkie in place as she leaned upwards in her chair.
“Thanks Lt. Commander,” Trixie said patting Pinkie’s back.
Trixie looked over the damage to the ship again.
“I can’t believe this. Nothing, I mean NOTHING is going to work. Great. I’ve doomed the ship and crew because I made a selfish choice to save ourselves and our friends in the only way I thought possible.”
Pinkie shook her head, “No, Captain. It wasn’t your fault. We were dealt a bad hand from the start. The fuses and coils that were incorrectly typed for the ion cannon is what did us in. Not you,” Pinkie confided to her.
“Lt. Commander, what can we do to get main power back online?” Trixie asked.
“Not without help Captain,” Pinkie said twirling her mane. “We have no remaining spare parts and I’ve already rearranged more of the ship than I could say was safe to begin with. We need to get to a station and get repairs underway. We can’t do it ourselves.”
Trixie shook her head burying her head in her hooves when her PDA signaled her. She pulled out the PDA and looked to see she got a message from Octavia.
///Message Received///
Message received from: Octachello on November 21, 2154
Sent to: GP Trixie
Trixie, the Captain of the Enterprise has sent two shuttlecraft and is requesting permission to dock with us. They saying they wish to assist us with our repairs and injured.
PS I want a fancy dinner tonight. >->
Trixie chuckled at the message and wrote a quick reply.
///Reply Message///
Don’t worry love, after tonight The Great and Powerful Trixie is gonna make you feel like a Queen. Love you.
///Message Sent///
Trixie put her PDA back in her holster and looked back at the 3D image of the Hydra.
“That ion cannon fuse really messed us up didn’t it Lt Commander?” Trixie asked Pinkie.
The pink pony nodded bringing up a image of the ion cannon.
“Yeah, it sure did,” She said using a pointer. “I figured out what happened. While the fuses and coils weren’t designed for the ion cannons output, that alone wasn’t the sole reason for our crippling condition.”
Trixie quirked a brow. She was a master engineer and she knew the hydra’s systems pretty well for a Captain, but Trixie didn’t know what could have caused such a problem to occur, but she didn’t like what Pinkie had to say.
“No, it was also wired through the Horizon Drive. When we fired it damaged the horizon Drive and when we jumped the damaged drive was wired to over half the ship. You can guess what happened there.”
Trixie knew the answer. The ion cannon was designed to take power from every corner of a ship in equal measure to create a powerful energy burst. To prevent damaging any single system the ion cannons in the war fleet were designed to take energy equally from all sources they were wired to. There was one fatal drawback. If something as essential as the Horizon Drive was damaged, or in this case, had the wrong power fuses and coils it created an unstable power flow which overloaded the entire power grid and shorted out the entire ship. Fro what she just heard that was what happened to the Hydra and what left them in this crippled state.
Trixie took out her PDA again and made a note to have the ion cannon reviewed at a later time for possible removal. Once that was done she put the PDA away when the doors were forced open and Octavia came in with Archer and his team. Archer stepped around the group and made his way to Trixie. They had met a few times in person but it always struck the human male just how tall the ponies were. Most were just under four feet tall,and Trixie was as tall as his waist.
Archer greeted Trixie with a kind smile and a handshake with her hoof.
“It’s good to see you again, Captain Trixie,” Archer greeted her.
“You too, Captain Archer,” Trixie said back to him. “As you can see we have a lot of damage to my ship. I don’t think your engineer, despite his qualifications, could do this.”
Trixie gave a casual sideways glance to Commander Tucker as she emphasised this point. The engineer rolled his eyes and crossed his arms looking at Trixie directly.
“Ya’ll don’t know me very well. I can fix almost anything if I can get a good look at it,” Tucker said, with a hint of pride.
Trixie scoffed pointing at the 3D image of the Hydra and its systems, just as Octavia elbowed her.
“What!?” Trixie squealed glaring at Octavia.
Octavia rolled her eyes, “You know what you did.”
“Ugh,” Trixie groaned throwing herself into her chair and spun to face the 3D image of the ship. “Mr. Tucker. If you can fix this it’d be a miracle.”
Once Tucker looked at the image he quickly realized just how much work he had to do with his team.
“That’s a lot of red. How did this happen?” He asked.
Trixie sighed and offered a seat to all who were there. Once everyone was sat down Trixie and Pinkie explained the whole situation to the human team. Trixie explained the situation from when they left drydock to the first encounter with the Romulans and then to their jump to Mars. Everything after was self explanatory.
“-and that’s why we’re here now,” Trixie leaned back in her chair, creaking as she finished her story. “So tell me, Commander Tucker can you help us now that you know our situation?”
*Sigh* “I could see about getting some spare parts from Enterprise. We could have main power up in a couple of hours and maybe helm and a few other major systems.”
Archer leaned forward and looked at Trixie and then to Tucker. “See to it Commander, Captain Lulamoon, my ship will remain close by for support. We’re in open space and no place to hide.”
“Thank you Captain,” Trixie said standing up. “Let’s get to work.”
*DEET! DEET! DEET!*
Trixie’s ear twitched a the sound of her PDA going off. She pulled it up and saw she had a message from the bridge. She looked it over and became confused by what she read. Once she finished she levitated the PDA to Archer who read it.
“We may have a problem.” He said giving the PDA back to Trixie.
“What kind of problem?” Octavia asked.
Archer looked at his friend Tucker and gave him an odd look. It was a tired worried look one that both Commander Tucker and Dr. Phlox seemed to recognize. The message eluded Octavia and Pinkie but Trixie realized what it was. It was a look that a leader gave his or her troops or people when they knew bad news was going to follow. Archer stood up and adjusted his collar like a nervous habit.
“We’re approaching a drydock out in open space. My crew and I are familiar with it. That means we know where we are as well. We’re on the Romulan border.” Archer said looking at everyone.
“Several years ago enterprise came across an seemingly abandoned space dock. It was self automated and could adjust to fit any sized ship. It was able to repair Enterprise from heavy damage we sustain in a Romulan minefield sometime earlier,” He explained. “When repairs were complete there was an accident that took one of my crew. We soon discovered that the station's computer core was using the synaptic pathways of humanoid hosts to enhance its processing capabilities. It took my crewman to replace another humanoid who died in the ‘brain ‘ of this station. We saved my crewman and destroyed the station, or so we thought.”
Octavia, Trixie, and Pinkie looked at one another.
“We have to do this Captain. We won’t get far without this kind of help. Even With Commander Tucker and his team we’ll never get home or very far in our condition,” Pinkie said, and Octavia nodded in agreement.
Trixie sat silent for a moment before she spoke in a low soft voice.
“What is the condition of Ensign Duskwing?” She asked.
“She hasn’t gotten any better Captain,” Octavia said.
Archer and the other humans looked confused but then were taken aback when Trixie stood up and struck her hoof against her chest with a loud pound.
“Captain Archer. I need you and your team to help get my ship operational to get us to the dock please.” Trixie asked of him.