//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: One in a Million Chance // Story: Star Trek Online: Sacrifice - Part II // by Admiral Wyatt Stone //------------------------------// "It must have a weak point, everything does!" Weakness. You have a chance of failure when you have a weakness, it could be losing your friends or a valuable device that could do a load of good, but nonetheless such a hole could provide a weakness. My initial weakness was being reluctant to kill raiders when I first stepped hoof out into the Wasteland, I would've strained myself if I'd given in completely to Party Time Mintals, I would've died in Fillydeplhia if I hadn't used my telekinetic skills to get Xenith and I out of the city, my plan against the Goddess would have failed if I hadn't removed my memories, and I couldn't have went into the S.P.P. if we didn't have Spike with us to burn me and send me inside. And now I had a weakness while fighting against J'ula and her band of minions... the loss of my friends. --------- As my friends and I stared at the large superweapon up in the sky, I looked down to my Pipbuck and tapped it, attempting to access the cameras of the Aquarius. My friends looked at my small device as I tapped one of the ship's frequencies, the view of the Aquarius' bridge appearing on the small screen. I could see Rainbow Dash and the six students entering view and hopping into their stations as Calamity spoke up. "So, that's the Aquarius yer friends are flyin'?" I nodded before he asked another question. "Is that the ship's name or somethin'?" I shook my head as I answered my friend. "No, that's its class of ship, the Aquarius class ships usually don't have names." Calamity frowned as he spoke up. "Well, I tell ya, that ship deserves a name of its own, at least. If Princess Twilight'll allow it, what do ya think we should call it?" I thought back to our previous rides in the Wasteland, back when we first entered Manehattan, we came across an old, surprisingly functional transport we named the Sky Bandit. She served us well in our ventures across the land, well, at least until she was destroyed by the Wonderbolts (our Wonderbolts), who were apart of the Enclave until we showed them Calamity's memories thanks to our old friend from the Twilight Society, Life Bloom. Of course, we'd replaced the old transport with an Enclave transport called the Tortoise, as far as I knew, she was somewhere in a shack here, but I didn't ask. I looked to Calamity as I asked him, "How about Sky Bandit Mk II? You know, to remember our old ride?" Calamity gave a smile as he approved of the name, the two of us looking back at the screen as I tapped it again. "Here, I'll set it to where we have a larger view." The Pipbuck's screen glowed as it shot out an expanding ray of light, the view of the Aquarius' bridge appearing in front of the town a second later. Several townsponies gathered around, some being my mother, Homage, Fluttershy, Ditzy Doo and her daughter Silver Bell, all of us watching as the ship separated from the docking station in the aft section of the Harmony. The crowd let out oohs and aahs as they watched the small escort turn to the right, making its way towards the battle station. I heard a voice on my Pipbuck as Snowdrop spoke through the Aquarius' comms. "Remember, at least one good shot should do it! The hole's only about two meters long, but the ship's targeting should guide them in!" My friends and I gasped as we heard Snowdrop's news, Velvet turning to me. "Two meters?! I know I'm not an expert on Alliance weaponry, but how can they make a shot that small?!" My friend said with worry as we continued watching, Rainbow Dash tapping her console as she spoke up. "I'm picking up another warp signature, it's an ally!" As the rainbow-maned pegasus said that, I could see another anomaly appear outside the window as a large ship appeared out of it, it had a familiar appearance to the other bulbous ships I saw back at Taloraan in orbit. "This is Nom Carver of the Alliance starship Freedom's Dawn, we're here to help!" I heard a male voice say through the Aquarius' comms as the ship turned towards the battle station, several small objects launching from the hangar bay on the side. They must've been fighters. "This is Wedge Antillies of Rogue Squadron, we'll cover the Aquarius as they make their run. Lock S-foils into attack position." I heard a familiar voice say as the fighters flew towards the Aquarius, the ships flying in formation a minute later. I tapped a button on my Pipbuck as I enabled communications, speaking through my small device. "Littlepip to Freedom's Dawn, can you give us more intel on that station?" "Yes, I believe so. My people have faced this weapon before, it's called the Death Star, it can fire a superlaser with enough power to destroy a planet. Fortunately, as I'm sure you've discovered, there's a weakness on the station, but to get to it, we must take out the deflection towers near the trench!" Captain Nom said as we watched the Aquarius fly closer to the station's trench, firing Phasers at its surface. "The two escorting frigates are heading towards the Freedom's Dawn, we'll distract them!" The captain of the Alliance carrier said as the two Birds of Prey fired on the large ship. Rainbow Dash turned to Gallus as she said, "Let's see if we can't make that job easier. Gallus, fire a torpedo at all the towers we can hit!" The griffon nodded as he tapped the console, five torpedoes shooting out of the small escort and flying towards five of the towers, each torpedo destroying them with one hit. "Good shot, Gallus!" Rainbow said as she neared the trench, firing phasers down into it, devastating the turrets below. "We'll take care of the last three!" I heard the voice of the armored soldier I saved back on the Lukara say as the Aquarius flew over the long trench, there were several more turrets ahead of the trench, not to mention several bulky sections within it. "I'm hitting full impulse, the exhaust port's only about 200 meters away!" The cyan pegasus said as the ship sped up, nearing the far away end of the trench. I heard Wedge's voice through the Pipbuck as the Aquarius was only about 100 meters from the exhaust port. "All towers destroyed! You're in the clear, Dash!" "Great, Gallus, get me two torpedoes at the ready, high-yield!" As the Aquarius slowed down, Gallus wasted no time in tapping his console before replying. "They're ready on your word!" The griffon said as the ship neared the edge of the trench, I think I could see the two meter hole that was the exhaust port. "Now!" As soon as Rainbow Dash said that, Gallus tapped the console as the torpedoes fired, the Aquarius flying up as the torpedoes flew into the hole. "They went in!" The crowd behind me and my friends let out cheers as we watched the small escort and the fighters of Rogue Squadron flying away from the Death Star, all of us looking up towards the sky to see the large battle station. A moment later, the sky glowed a bright orange as the Death Star exploded, a loud boom reaching our ears a few seconds after the light show. My friends and I joined in the cheers and cries of joy of the crowd as we watched the explosion, Wedge letting out a cry of excitement before speaking. "Yeehaw! Just like the battle over Yavin, one in a million!" Our celebration was short lived as Rainbow Dash's console beeped, all of us turning to face the screen showing the Aquarius. "Those two Birds of Prey are changing course to our location! They're closing in!" I looked to the ship's window to see the two Klingon ships, both emitting smoke and fire from their fight with the Freedom's Dawn. "We'll beam you out of there, Apple Bloom, get a transporter lock on 'em!" Applejack said as her younger sister did her work, Rainbow's team disappearing in fields of blue a few seconds later. As I tapped the Pipbuck again, the screen changed to show the Harmony's bridge, the Aquarius visible on the viewscreen. The two Birds of Prey showed no mercy as they pummeled the little escort, blowing it to nothing but flaming pieces of metal in seconds. As we all gasped in shock, Apple Bloom brought relief to our ears as she spoke. "I've got 'em all!" As we watched the two Klingon ships break off, they fired blue beams of energy, another portal opening before them. As the Stratus sped towards them, the two ships sped inside, a pair of tiny objects launching from the ship on the right before the portal closed behind them. As we watched the two tiny objects fly towards the planet, I heard Twilight speak up. "We'll we may have lost the Aquarius, but it's good that Equus is safe from harm for the most part." As the crowd let out low cheers and breaths of relief, my friends looked up to see the two small objects from orbit flying towards us. They looked like miniaturized versions of the Klingon raider ships that were used by House Mo'kai, they each had several fins coming off of the middle of the ship, along with a small cockpit. The cockpit, however, was instead a blue colored glowing light that faced the front of the ship. Calamity flapped his wings as he started to take to the air, but I put a hoof on him as he hovered in midair. "Wait, they don't look like they're going to hurt us." My friend reluctantly nodded as he landed, watching the two drone ships stop in front of the crowd. As they backed up to the edges of the crowd, the lights on them glowed brighter as a wall of energy was deployed in front of us. The wall started to shift as it built an image, which looked faintly like a pony until it focused some more, revealing the image of Red Eye, who gave a smug expression as he looked at us all. The crowd gave various expressions as they saw the villainous stallion, some angry or scared as he spoke to us. "Well, it seems the people of the Equestrian Wasteland have proven far more impressive than I expected." My friends and I all glared at him as Velvet spoke angrily. "How dare you show yourself in this place?! You aren't welcome here, Red Eye!" "Why have you returned to us?" Xenith spat at the cyberpony as he replied. "I have come to lead the Equestrian Wasteland back to it's former glory, of course!" He said with a smile, none of us being phased by his words. "With an armada of Klingon warships behind you?!" I said back angrily as he responded to me. "I believe some of your people would still welcome me, Littlepip... surely you remember my followers who'd escaped your clutches." Calamity flew up to his holographic image as he yelled, "Even if they're still out there somewhere in t' Wastes, they're few an' scattered! The rest o' us would rather die than side with t' likes of you!" The crowd let out cries of anger and agreement as they glared at our old enemy, the pony who'd made thousands suffer under his rule. "It would seem so, though it seems you've also forgotten who has the higher power here, have you not?" He said before chuckling, the rest of us looking on in frustrated confusion as he continued. "Allow me to demonstrate the power of our greatest weapon..." As he finished, the screen shifted to show the Star Forge, or at least a section of it, a portal opening to what looked like a star on the other side. The four lower pylons of the structure generated a ball of energy before striking at the star, it's light flickering as its energy was drained away. A minute or so passed until the beam stopped, the portal closing as a door on the side of the Star Forge opened, a large ship exiting out of it. The ship was a bit similar to the star destroyers I saw over Taloraan, except for the fact that the bridge was much smaller, a large set of dark grey armor and structures being present on its surface. We all stared in shock and awe as we witnessed the gargantuan ship leave its birthplace, the doors behind it closing as the screen shifted back to Red Eye, who was smirking as if he'd already won the battle. "Oh, that was only a fraction of what this place can make. We built that Death Star you all saw a short while ago with it as well." As he looked at our stunned faces, he aimed his eyes at me. "I'd highly suggest you surrender while you still can, Littlepip. It won't be long until our great armada is ready to depart," He looked up to the sky for a moment before he continued. "...And not even your mighty Alliance will be able to stop us." "We'll see about that, Red Eye." I spat once more as he let out a laugh, the screen flickering as the signal faded with Red Eye's laugh. As the two drones rejoined they fired a pair of blue beams, a small portal opening as they both flew in, the portal closing as they entered. After the drones disappeared, I looked to my friends, their faces stern as they listened to me. "Well, I think we now have a good glimpse of what we're up against." They all nodded as I heard a chirp from my communicator, I tapped it and heard a male voice on the other end. "This is Captain Walker of the U.S.S. Pastak, we've come to inform you that we request you and the Harmony's presence at New Khitomer, we're needed for a briefing." My friends and the crowd listened as I replied back. "Got it, we'll be up there in a moment, though I need to check something real quick, should'nt take longer than half an hour." "Understood, we'll hold position in orbit until you're ready. Pastak out." As the Pastak cut communications, I heard the voice of the Sebrova's captain. "The Sebrova will take the survivors from the Ticonderoga back to New Khitomer and stop for repairs. I hate to say it, but we probably won't be there for the good fight." "Don't worry, you've done all you can. Thank you, captain." I said as he replied back. "You're welcome. Sebrova out." As the signal cut out, I looked to my friends, Calamity raising an eyebrow as he spoke. "So whatch'a need to look fer, Lil'Pip?" I looked at him with a smile as I replied. "I wonder, do you guys still have the Tortoise around someplace?" --------- My friends and I made our way to our boxcar home, it was a comfortable looking home, with some lights affixed over the door and within the house. There were also colors painted all over the boxcar, all done my Silver Bell when she and Ditzy Doo came to stay at the town. As we trotted up to the other side of the house, Calamity spoke up. "There she is." He said with a smile as we saw it, the old Enclave transport that we used during our final assault on Red Eye and during the defeat of the Enclave ten years ago, it was a large sky-tank that had several turrets along it's hull, two fins on the side of the ship. "She's old, but she c'n still fly. We've used 'er plenty o' times in the past decade since 'Pip stayed in the S.P.P., and she'll keep on goin' as long as we keep 'er all fixed up!" Calamity said as he smacked the old sky-tank lightly with a hoof, myself growing a smile as I spoke up. "That's incredible, mind if I get a scan?" Calamity nodded as I tapped my Pipbuck, getting the details on the ship's layout as well as checking the ship for damage and worn out parts. When the scan was done, I looked to my pegasus friend, who smiled as I asked, "I'm glad she's still with us, Calamity, because I think I have an idea for this ship." He raised an eyebrow as I continued. "How would you guys feel if I had her upgraded to a combat shuttle?" My friends eyes were wide with surprise, especially Calamity's. "Uh, Lil'Pip, are ya sure yer up for somethin' like that?" "Of course, I built that irradiated warp core, so I'm sure I could do something like that." My friends gave curious looks as Velvet spoke. "What kind of upgrades were you thinking of, Littlepip?" I smiled as I started pointing to various areas of the Tortoise, explaining my idea. "I think we could add sturdier armor, especially some neutronium alloy, we could add some warp engines to this thing, shields, and a micro photon torpedo launcher. She'd be unstoppable if we did that!" My friends nodded and murmured positive comments as they liked my idea, Calamity walked up to me and asked, "Ah think that's a great idea, we'll still keep the name, right?" "Definitely, though I was thinking of adding a little prefix like "S.S." or-" I stopped as we all heard a noise, it sounded like a crack of thunder, but there were no storm clouds hovering over us. As we looked up to the sky I could see five columns of black smoke flying towards us, each crackling with lightning. After probing my thoughts for an answer, I recognized them instantly. "The Wonderbolts?" I said with surprise as they all landed around us, one of them trotting over to us, opening her helmet to reveal her face. She had a flaming orange mane with a cloud white coat, I remembered her name being Skydive. "Hello, Littlepip, I see you've gotten out of the S.P.P. recently." Skydive said to me as I replied, a little surprised at the Wonderbolts' sudden arrival. "Ah, Skydive, it's good to see you." I said as I raised an eyebrow. "What are you all doing here?" "I told you we'd look you all up after the dust settled, and, well, here we are." She said as she let out a chuckle, the other elite flyers standing sternly as she continued. "We all heard about the attack by that lady you call J'ula, along with the news about Red Eye, and we want to help." My mouth opened, shocked by their request to assist us as Calamity spoke up. "Now wait a minute, y'all want t' help us fight against a foe that has an entire space armada waitin' fer us t' attack?" "Indeed." The ebony colored mare with a violet mane and tail named Jet said before continuing. "We may have stayed out of the fighting during the end of the Enclave, but we feel it's time to do something right, something that will save lives and keep Equestria safe from harm." "And we're not taking no for an answer." Skydive said as they all stood around us, Calamity opening his mouth to speak until we heard another group of voices. "And neither are we." A chorus of female voices said as three alicorns appeared, these weren't the same ones from the Lukara, but rather the ones that helped Velvet Remedy break into the Enclave fortress over Neighvarro ten years ago. The Wonderbolts readied themselves for a fight, but Velvet put a hoof up to stop them, signaling that they were friendly. I stood, surprised by the additional support I was getting for my mission. The blue alicorn leading her sisters spoke up. "As far as we know, the Star Forge may have weapons and defenses we don't know of, so we'll accompany you aboard so you can succeed in your mission." "I hope you've got space for us in the hangar bay," Skydive said as she pointed to the sky above us. "because we're planning on blasting some Klingons out of the stars!" I looked to all my new companions, who awaited my response. "We'd be glad to have you with us during the mission, and I'm sure the Alliance will want you all there." The Wonderbolts saluted as one of them walked over to Calamity, his appearance being familiar as he opened his helmet. It was Gutshot. "Hey Calamity," The gunmetal grey stallion with an electric sea green mane said as he talked to his old rival. "I'm very sorry about what happened back at Everfree, and when we head up there to fight against those Klingon friends of yours, I hope I can make you proud." "It ain't no big deal," Calamity said as he wrapped a forearm around his former rival. "and Ah'm sure y'all will be rackin' the most kills up there. I'm countin' on it." The two smiled at the thought as I tapped my combadge, the little device chirping twice as I spoke into it. "Littlepip to Harmony, we're ready to beam up, and we're bringing some additional guests aboard to help out in our mission, including a small vehicle." Twilight sounded pleased when she heard the news. "Great, we've got some space for the shuttle, and our transporter room's all set for you all." I looked to my companions as I asked, "You all ready to head out?" My friends and the alicorns nodded in agreement, the Wonderbolts all saluting as I spoke into my combadge again. "We're ready when you are." "All right, stand by." As the signal shut off, Velvet looked to me as she asked me a question. "Um, Littlepip? This transporter thing isn't going to hurt, is it?" "Oh, no. At most, you'll feel a little weird, that's all." As I replied to my friend, we were all surrounded by blue fields of energy, including the Tortoise. Our vision blurred as we vanished from the Wasteland, beaming to the Harmony a moment later. When we left, we'd all head to New Khitomer to set our battle plan, and after that, we'd be taking part in what was probably the biggest battle the Alliance would ever face.