//------------------------------// // Chapter IX: The Chase - Part II // Story: Star Trek Online: A Larger World // by Admiral Wyatt Stone //------------------------------// ~Unknown Region (2)~ The space within the sector was silent before a large vortex appeared, four ships flying fast out of it before closing. The Annorax began firing on the three Alliance starships once again as they did the same, purple, blue, and orange beams firing from each of the ships as they kept the chase on. Wyatt sat in his chair comfortably as he looked to the viewscreen, there seemed to be a blue colored nebula within the sector and, upon further inspection, several large, some even colossal, pieces of debris that were laid out across space, on the exterior of most pieces seemed to be hexagonal patterns on them while the other parts seemed to be simply large chunks of metal floating in space. "So much so soon, Nelen, have you taken a scan?" Wyatt said to his helms officer as she looked to him. "Yes sir, I believe the large pieces of debris were once a part of a spherical structure, perhaps a planet. The metal also has slight readings of damage caused by weapons fire from long ago, it seems that whatever this place was, it was apparently in the middle of a war." Wyatt slowly looked back to the screen to see the Annorax returning fire to the Kali, when the timeship started to overcharge one of it's polaron beams, a wave of laser bolts hit the Annorax, forcing the ship to break off for a moment. "Sir, there's several unknown ships nearby, they're coming towards us!" Lon tapped a button on his console to switch the viewscreen to another sight, several large, strange ships were closing in towards the four newcomers, one of the ships had a more curved look on its top, along with several spikes and fins along the sides, while the others were small ships with two large jet-like engines on the sides at the aft along with several parts that seemed to resemble guns of some sort. Shortly after seeing the unknown ships the nearby turbolift opened to show Jenny and 4 of her friends entered the room, Jenny looked to Wyatt before she spoke to him. "My sisters decided to help out with your friends, if that's no-" She stopped to see the new ships coming towards them. "What in the world are those things?!" "We're about to find out, keep our weapons and shields ready, try and hail them." Lon tapped the console a few times before a voice came through Wyatt's comms panel. "Unknown ships, you are in violation of territory of the Decepticon Regime, stand down and you will be escorted to our superiors!" Wyatt gave a worried expression as he replied. "As much as we'd like to listen, that'll have to wait, there's an enemy ship here that wants to try and tamper with other universes, including yours, and we're here to stop it." "Very well, then we will take care of your problem AND you as well!" The signal cut out as the Decepticon ships began firing at the four ships, which all retaliated with beams and torpedoes against the fighters and cruiser. Wyatt tapped his comms panel quickly before speaking to Twilight. "Stone to Sparkle, let's see if we can focus our efforts on those Decepticon ships, perhaps the cruiser could cause a major drain if we take it out!" "Right, we're forming up now, Sparkle out!" Wyatt then looked to the viewscreen as he saw the now larger battle, the scout ships began to close in on the Annorax while the cruiser engaged the three ships, apparently they'd realized the danger of the Annorax as they closed in on the timeship. The Amarillo shook as its shields were hit by several shots of energy from the warship before the Amarillo bit back with several phaser shots at the ship, the ship took the shots mercilessly as it seemed to have no shields on it, Wyatt then watched as a spread of photons shot out at the Decepticons, tearing the ship into millions of pieces as it exploded from the attack. "Well, that was a bit easy, wasn't it?" Wyatt said as he raised an eyebrow at the broken ship before T'Vrell looked to him. "Sir, I've detected another ship matching the configuration to the Decepticon fighters, however, it's closing on the ships attacking the Annorax." "Put it on viewer." The screen changed to a shot of the incoming ship T'Vrell mentioned, which started firing on it's sister ships in a vicious fashion, taking out three of the eleven ships as it sped around them. "See if you can hail the ship, and give it a hand!" The Admiral's comms panel sounded with a similar voice to the one they'd heard when the enemy ships first came. "What do you want with me? Don't attack my craft, I'm through serving Megatron's glitches and I'm joining the Autobots!" "This is Admiral Wyatt Stone of the Amarillo, we were actually going to help out, if that's not a problem!" Wyatt said to the pilot of the ship before he replied. "Good, and maybe Mr. Ramjet can help out in return, you said that ship those fighters are attacking is threatening us all? Help me with my old friends and I'll do what I can!" "No problem, Stone out." Wyatt tapped the comms off before he looked to Lon and ordered, "See if we can lend our new friend a hand, fire on those fighters!' Lon nodded before tapping his console a few times and several torpedoes and beams hit four of the remaining enemy fighters, the photons hitting three of the fighters along with a blue beam shortly after, blowing them to oblivion. The attack left only two of the Decepticon ships flying in space before the Kali made a good shot at the two remaining ships with a spread of photons, one of them being destroyed with ease while the other was hit but left to spiral towards one of the nearby pieces of the destroyed metal world. "Get me a focus on that ship." The screen changed to show the out-of-control ship, which seemed to shoot something out of it before it finally crashed into the debris, while the ejected object revealed itself to be a pilot, which appeared to be a strange-looking robot upon closer inspection, Wyatt was about to order a phaser shot at the being before it started to change, it's body parts shifting and changing until it shifted from a humanoid form into some kind of strange spaceship, about the size of a fighter from their realm, before it emitted a pair of thrusters and boosted at a fast speed, racing away from the battlefield and out into the sea of space as the other ships sat like sitting ducks. Wyatt then heard his comms panel beep and he tapped it. "I think we can let him go, he won't wanna fight us with what scrap he has." Ramjet said before Wyatt replied. "Yeah, so does your ship need repairs? I think my buddies in Engineering can fix you up." "Maybe later, it looks like your friend's trying to escape." Wyatt then looked to the screen to see the Annorax turning away from the three ships, a portal opening in front of it as Wyatt spoke. "Let's get our engines ready, don't let that portal close before we enter it!" Ramjet then spoke through the comms once again. "Oh speaking of help, let's see what I can do here!" The comms were silent for a moment before the ship jerked slightly, as if something hit the hull. "Sorry for the bump, my ship has attached to your engines to provide a faster boost. Hope it helps!" Ramjet answered Wyatt's worried curiosity before he replied. "Thanks, hang on though, it'll get bumpy. Stone out!" The comms cut out before the trio of ships boosted towards the Annorax, which had entered the portal by the time they'd reached her. "Everyone hang on, we're soaring in!" Everyone in the room hung onto the nearest thing they could reach before the ship entered the portal, the Equestria following behind next to the Kali before the portal flashed several times until it finally closed, the space around the debris field silent once again. The Annorax kept it's distance as it sped away from the ship, the Amarillo keeping up as it pursued the timeship. Wyatt then looked to Lon as he asked him, "Lon, try and fire a photon at them, see if we can get their shields down!" "Lucky for us, they're already down, let me see if I can hit one of those wings!" He said as he smirked while tapping on the console and firing several torpedoes at the Annorax, most of them missing while two of them hit two of the six fins on the aft end of the timeship, blowing them to smithereens before the portal around the ships fluctuated. "Everyone, brace yourselves!" Wyatt yelled before the ship shook and the portal opened up once again to reveal a bright nebula sporting orange and purple on the screen. The ships sped out of the anomaly before it closed, leaving the four ships in another foreign realm once again. "Report!" Wyatt ordered before Nelen tapped his console, taking a moment before responding. "We've entered another realm, sir, I'm detecting a lone ship in this area, it's unknown to our configuration, but they haven't noticed us!" "And the Annorax?" Wyatt asked the Voth officer before he checked his console again and replied. "She's attempting to generate another portal!" They looked to the screen to see their target boosting away from the trio of ships, a portal opening up after several seconds. "Stay on her, don't let her escape!" Lon tapped his console before the ship boosted towards the Annorax, the target entering the portal as they approached it. Nearby, a scout ship sailed slowly through the sea of space as it neared the brief incursion, the ship itself was slim, curving black lines covering the main areas of the ship, with red lines inside and white sections around the black sections of the hull. The ship had slim wings that slightly hung down under the ship, holding white colored engines that emitted plasma energy. On the side of the hull read a word in stylish text: "TEMPEST". On the bridge of the ship, an officer stood on a platform-like section connected to a floor near the window of the bridge, holographic screens hovering around the officer as she observed the site, the trio of strange ships were closing in on the portal as she spoke to one of her comrades as she witnessed the scene. "What's the status of those ships, Harper?" "They're on a pursuit course, Ryder, they're apparently involved in a battle as there were large amounts of damage to their target." Cora said as Sara turned to her current helmsman, Liam Kosta. "Set a course into that portal Kosta, let's see if we can lend a hand." Kosta nodded before she tapped a few keys on her console and the ship sped towards the portal, the portal fortunately held itself open long enough for the Tempest to make it through before the portal finally collapsed and they were stuck within the portal. In front of the ship was the four ships they were following, and they didn't look familiar to anyone on the ship. The closest ship was a slightly larger vessel that looked more like something out of an old sci-fi show from the ancient age of the 60s, though history records on the Tempest didn't record such a ship in the databanks. A saucer was held by a slim neck-like section which was also connected by a cylindrical hull that held two straight pylons that held up smaller cylindrical engines, that was the best that Ryder could describe it specifically. She then tapped one of the panels in front of her, waiting for a hail to come through for a moment before her wish had been granted as another screen appeared and showed a man's face on the screen, who gave a shocked look as she spoke. "I'm Commander Sara Ryder of the S.S.V. Tempest, we detected your ships and have noticed that you've been in combat. Care to explain?" The officer grew a frown as he answered her. "Well, I'd hoped we didn't intervene in your realm, I'm Admiral Wyatt Stone of the Amarillo, we're after a timeship known as the Annorax, her crew is intending to tamper with other realms, and we cannot allow that as it could jeopardize all of us." "Well, Admiral, since you have trouble and since we noticed it, mind if we help out? I'll see what I can do to keep you out of trouble." Sara asked the Admiral before he replied. "I might as well, we've made two other new friends as well, just be careful in here, turning in the portal could tear our ships apart." "No problemo, Ryder out." The signal cut out as she once again faced the four ships in the great chase as she thought to herself. "Let's hope that whatever we're getting into, we don't end up screwing ourselves afterwards." ~Unknown Realm (4)~ The star-filled sea of space was silent and void of battle as a lone starship sailed the stars, the ship had a bulky look to it, the front section seemed to be a wide command section of the ship, being held by a less wider, yet long neck which was also connected by an aft section that held the engines, two main engines on each wing. On the bridge of the ship, an officer stood at the windows of the bridge, several officers behind him manning the consoles near them as they operated the ship. The officer had seen much recently, he'd faced countless foes as a soldier of the Terran Dominion, most recently the forces of the Defenders of Man, and he'd now have a moment to get some peace and quiet, or at least he thought he would. He turned and walked over to the map console nearby his former spot and looked to his comrade. "So, Matt, you lookin' to do something for our time off-duty?" Matt gave a scoff as he answered his friend's question. "Not really, probably gonna get some sleep, practice on using my gear so I'm ready to smack some heads the next time we enter battle. What about you, Jim?" Jim gave a slight shrug as he replied. "Not much either, I've been planning on checking the maps later on to see if there's any trouble, but I think we'd better enjo-" A beeping noise interrupted his words as he turned to look, the sensors console near the window was alerting him of a nearby anomaly. Curious, he jogged up to the console to check it as he also noticed a strange vortex appearing out of nowhere. "I'm picking up some kind of anomaly forming nearby, something's coming out of it." He looked to the portal again before five ships emerged from the strange, blue portal, four of them engaging against a larger, strange-looking starship. He scanned the large ship that was under attack, and spoke up once he got results. "It looks like that large ship that's getting hammered is some kind of timeship, she seems to have an armload of weapons, as well as shielding. She's taking heavy damage from the other ships a-" He stopped as his scanner beeped again, this time in a way that signaled a sinister action. "..she's locking weapons on us! Red alert!" He then moved to another console as he set up defenses. He looked to the window again to see that the damaged timeship to see a projectile flying towards them from the ship, the weapon flew towards the Hyperion for a few seconds before one of the timeship's larger-scaled attackers raced around the ship to take the hit for the Terran battlecruiser, Jim closing his eyes for a moment and opening them again to see the battle once more. "It looks like that ship that just past us is the ally we're looking for, I'm gonna see if I can talk to them!" He tapped his console several times before a screen came up showing a humanoid being with a light purple skin color sitting in what he assumed was the center chair. He kept his focus on the officer as he spoke to her. "Well, I have to thank you for taking that hit for us, ma'am, we wouldn't have known what it could do." "Yeah, don't worry about that, I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle of the U.S.S. Equestria, and that ship that tried to attack you is attempting to toy around with your realm, as well as many others, and we're here to keep that from happening, we can't afford to destroy it, though, the ship is carrying a wanted criminal and we want him alive." "Well I hope you don't mind, but I think we need to help teach the scumbags driving that thing a lesson, we're forming up!" Jim said to the Princess before she replied. "Got it, just try not to get killed, Sparkle out!" Upon her sentence, the signal ceased and left Jim to look to the battle ahead. Another ship seemed to appear on the field, a small fighter-like ship was bombarding the timeship as it dodged the beams and projectiles that shot at it, it would also shift at certain points in time, but otherwise remain in the same form as it continued it's attacks. "Give that timeship all we have, rip it's teeth out!" Jim said as the ship fired several laser bolts towards the timeship, the ship's hull taking several new scratches as it fought. The other ships were keeping their focuses as well, as the Annorax shot out several torpedoes towards the ships, one of the ships, most of the time being the Amarillo, fired on the torpedoes to prevent them from hitting her allies. The Annorax kept itself sharp for several moments before the spherical section of the ship started to glow. "What the?! What is she do-" He stopped himself as the Annorax then duplicated itself, adding two more Annoraxes to the field. "That ship seems to have duplicated itself, prepare yourselves, everyone!" On the Equestria's bridge, the Annorax could be seen making a run for it as the ship turned and boosted away from the attacking ships, only seconds later did the two duplicates turn to the Equestria and bombard the ship with polaron beams and chroniton torpedoes. The shields took most of the beating, however, it wasn't until about two torpedoes were left that the shields went down and one of the beams scored a good shot of the hull, nearly striking the bridge. The impact shook the ship, Rarity and Sweetie Belle's console also exploded, knocking them back and forcing out a pair of screams as the ship took the vicious attack before firing back with nearly as much force courtesy of Trixie. "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity yelled as she quickly got up with Applejack's assistance and looked to her sister, who, upon rolling over, had a bloody scratch above her head, though it was not a fatal cut, as well as blood coming from her nose. "Applejack, help get my sister to sickba-" "No sis, I can manage, besides, I'm not stopping until this whole battle is over!" Sweetie told her older sister as she spoke to Applejack again. "Correction, get a medic up here, quickly!" Applejack nodded before heading back to her station to call a medical team up to the bridge while Rarity attended to her sister. Twilight looked at the screen again to see that the Annorax was starting to form another portal, as well as the two duplicates disappearing before Twilight yelled out. "She's getting away, don't let her get away!" Upon her order, the ship jerked for a moment as it shot towards the portal, which the Annorax entered upon them nearing it. The fleet of ships, now in a total of 5, went through the portal, which closed behind them and left the sea of space around it undisturbed once more.