Star Trek: A Knights Gambit

by Sparky Brony


Chapter 5.

Commander Riker’s eyes pop open, confusion reigns for a long moment since he isn’t in his bed, or on the Enterprise actually. He blinks a few times, then memories resurface and he smiles at the sleeping pony curled up against his chest. This one is cream colored, with the most striking bicolored mane and tail, a deep purplish blue and bright pink.

Apparently somepony else was woken by his slight movements. A warm breath is against his ear and teeth gently grasp his earlobe for a moment. “Good morning, stud.”

“Lyra!” Riker breathes.

Her forelegs snake around him and she hugs him to her chest, her strength getting a groan from the tall human. “Told ya it was gonna be a magical night, didn’t I?”

He finds his face flushing. “Yeah.” He rolls onto his back, getting his hand underneath her withers and pulling her up close to him. “It definitely was magical.”

She smiles demurely. “I was a little worried that since our bodies are shaped so differently, there’d be…” She blushes this time. “equipment problems.”

He reaches his head over a bit and kisses her cheek. “Nope, no equipment problems.”

On the floor next to the bed, his communicator chirps. “Enterprise to Riker.”

Riker’s eyes widen, but Lyra lights her horn and brings his uniform shirt up. She taps the communicator. “Commander Riker is indisposed right now, this is Lrya Heartstrings.”

Captain Picard’s voice comes through. “Where is my first officer?”

Riker groans as Lyra giggles throatily. “I’m here Captain.”

“Did I interrupt anything?”

He looks down at his lack of clothing. “Well, no Captain, nothing was interrupted.”

"Just doing some interspecies research," Lyra says with smile and wink at Riker.

Riker makes a grab for the communicator floating in the air putting his finger over his mouth to Lyra.

“I see. That being said, I just retrieved messages from our probe. The Galaxy will be here in half an hour. I want you to talk to Captain Sershek about the colonists he’ll be taking on.” After a Pause, "If you are done, shall i have you beamed up immediately?"

Looking down at his pants, Riker cringes, "Actually sir, there are a few last things I need to check on here. I will signal when I'm ready."

"How long will you need?" Picard asked firmly.

“Half an hour, I’ll beam up in ten then.”

“Good, out.”

He looks over and bright blue eyes are looking up at him, a predatory look is on the Earth pony’s face. She glances at Lyra. “So, we’ve got ten minutes.” She taps her chin. “I think we can find a way to fill that time, right Lyra?”

Lyra’s forehoof moves down his body. “Oh, I think we can make good use of that time.”

Riker’s eyes widen as the mares move. “Oh boy.”

***

When the Galaxy class starship was designed, the first one was to be the test bed for the technology involved in the Federation’s newest flagship. The second one, the USS Yamato, was actually launched first, then the Enterprise. Though the first, the USS Galaxy, after years of testing and redesigning, was finally commissioned into the Federation Starfleet. And while the name Enterprise is on the lips of nearly every Federation citizens, the Galaxy has earned her own reputation as a science and exploration vessel. Luck was with the Enterprise when the call was sent out for every ship that could help with pulling as many ponies off their world, the Galaxy was the first to respond to the urgent subspace call. Though Captain Ivek Sershek has had a long career with Starfleet, he really doesn’t know Jean Luc Picard all that well. With his pointed ears and green tinge to his skin, and the straight haircut typical of Vulcans, he doesn’t really stand out physically, smaller in stature than his first officer, Lt. Cmdr Manya Zaitsev, who is typical of human females in Sershek’s experience. He looks at her, noting a slight bead of sweat on her brow.

“Commander, it is illogical to assume there will be problem. The Enterprise passed through the barrier with no issue.”

She nods jerkily. “I know, Keptin…” She looks out at the scanner produced view on the screen. She clears her throat and straightens her uniform tunic. “Take us in slow. One quarter impulse until we clear the barrier, nav.”

“Aye Commander.”

Sershek nods curtly. “Tactical, ensure our structural integrity field is at maximum, and the shields as well.”

“Aye Captain.”

“Now, all we do is wait until we get through.” He says softly.

From the ops panel, the Tellarite operations officer calls out. “We will impact the barrier in ten seconds.”

Zaitsev glances at her captain, though the Vulcan is his usual calm and unflappable self. She finds some of her stress bleeding off at the seeming unconcern of her Captain.

“Four…three…two…one…impact.” The ship lurches as the saucer section begins to penetrate the barrier, energy dancing along the shields and forward part of the hull.

“REPORT!” The Commander calls.

“Gravitic shear is much higher than the Enterprise reported,” The science officer called out.

Sparks fly from a console as a panel blows out, “I have an EPS Overload, forward sections, deck six and seven.”

The ship jerks again badly as the engineering hull and nacelles make contact with the barrier.

“Barrier is showing nearly twice as dense as reported,” the science officer calls out before being thrown to the ground as the lights shift to emergency lighting. The bridge bathed in the red glow of flashing lights.

“There must be a logical explanation…” The Captain starts then, everything goes quiet.

The shaking stops almost as suddenly as it started, the lighting shifts back to normal, as the ship drifts into the pocket.

“Damage reports coming in, nothing too serious, a few blown EPS conduits, some minor buckling on the outer hull.”

“We have casualty reports coming in, all sections reporting mostly minor injuries from the rough ride.”

“Understood. What about the system?” Sershek says softly.

“Sir, it is exactly as our messages from the Enterprise say. A small system, consisting of…” The Tellarite frowns, his brow furrowing. “An unexplainable sun in orbit nearly the same distance as most moons, an actual moon, and the planet. The Enterprise is in a parking orbit above the main continent of the Planet.”

The human at the tactical station chirps out. “We are being hailed by the Enterprise.”

Sershek nods. “Put Captain Picard on screen.”

Only seconds pass before the main viewscreen changes from the unusual planetary system to the reserved smile of Captain Jean Luc Picard. “Welcome to the Equestrian system, Captain.”

“Our ride through the barrier was a bit more…” He looks at his first officer before looking back at Picard. “Violent than was reported.”

The android officer at ops speaks up. “Captain Sershek, "Sir, I might have a possible explanation. When the size of the barrier was reduced, it may have increased the power available to it. Thus making it somewhat harder to cross."

"Somewhat? I've been in ion storms that weren't that bumpy."

“Any damage?”

“Nothing serious, I will have engineers go over affected sections, and I do recommend that penetrating the barrier be done on thrusters only.”

“Understood, Captain.”

Sershek nods. “We are ready to receive the…” He looks questioningly at Picard. “Ponies?”

Picard nods. “This most definitely is a special case, yes, they are intelligent quadrupeds, and they have abilities that have yet to be quantified. Though we are working to change that fact.”

“When will the first colonists be beaming up.”

“Within the hour, from some of their larger cities, we have nearly ten-thousand ponies ready to come aboard the Galaxy.”

Sershek’s eyes widen. “That’s a bit more than we were expecting, Captain.”

“My Lt. Commander Data has calculated space and energy requirements for a starship of your size, and using all spare cargo bays, you should be able to handle that many.” Picard’s eyes dart to his second officer and back. “And the first of the dragons will have to be beamed up directly into your main shuttle bay.”

Sershek’s eyes widen slightly. “Dragons?”

“We have sent a full biological survey report to Starfleet, detailing the multitude of species on this planet. The colonists know they need to bring representative samples of flora and fauna of their world for colonizing. Most of your colonists will be coming from the city of Manehattan.”

“Surely you are joking, Captain. Manehattan? How would they have names that would be puns in your language?”

Picard smiles. “Yes, and there are also cities called Vanhoover, Baltimare, and other names that are ponylike translations of Earth cities. We suspect that it’s a translation glitch, but are working with Princess Celestia and Prince Blueblood on organizing the ponies for transport.”

“You do realize that it will take several hours to transport that many aboard.”

“Understood. Commander Riker is ready to beam over and give you details for the transportation of the ponies aboard.”

Surshek nods. “Galaxy, out.”

***

The engineering department aboard a starship is one of the larger departments aboard ship, even larger than the science department. Keeping main engineering staffed 24/7 is only part of the duties. Ships away from port have ongoing maintenance that occupies much of the engineers time. Geordie LaForge is standing in the airlock on the starboard side of the engineering hull of the Enterprise. Other members of his staff have suited up, and are working on the sensor arrays on the outer edge of the saucer section. His group is going to work on the starboard arrays, starting just behind the main deflector dish and moving aft. On a floating cart next to him is the various replicated components to be installed. Normally, such extensive work would be done at a spacedock, but they don’t have time to be refitted.

The Enterprise, along with all Galaxy class starships has plenty of room designed for such expansion, whether out in the field or in space dock.

“Okay, commander, you ready?”

Geordie looks at the display on his helmet and nods. “Yeah. Go ahead and open the outer hatch.” He grabs a hold of the cart as the air evacuates from the airlock. In only moments, the outer hatch slowly opens and he picks up a foot slightly to test the magnetic boots, again. Even with a transporter room detailed on standby to make sure anyone who loses their grip on the hull is beamed aboard, going EVA is not usually fun. Geordie walks forward, pulling the cart as he walks down the hull of the Enterprise. A quick glance around at the saucer section shows a good dozen engineers working on the various lateral arrays of the ship’s sensor suites.

He stops, looking at the equipment bay before him. “Okay, Yvonne, powering down the first array here.” A touch of the computer pad opens up a hidden control panel. He taps a few keys and the entire sensor assembly lifts itself away from the body of the array. He pulls the first sensor crystal from the cart and reaches forward to push it into the slot it’s designed for.

“Whatcha doin?”

Geordie frowns. “Keep the frequency clear Yvonne, I don’t need any distractions here.”

Yvonne’s voice comes through his com. “I didn’t say anything Commander.”

“No, she didn’t. I did.” The other voice says.

“What the?” Geordie looks around and flinches back at the pony face way too close for comfort. He takes a step back, looking at the pony floating upside down before him. His VISOR doesn’t give him the color resolution like most humans, but he can see the contrast of the light colored crescent moon on black splotch on her flank, along with the wings and horn of an alicorn, he can make an educated guess. “Princess Luna?”

She grins, though her mouth doesn’t move, yet he can hear her voice. “In the flesh.” He stops, she’s not wearing any sort of space suit, she’s simply floating in space in front of him. Curious, he reaches out and touches her. She giggles. “Yes, I’m actually here, not some sort of projection.”

“How?”

Again that giggle. “I first came out here out of sheer curiosity, two of these huge ships in orbit around our home, I just wanted to get an idea of the scale of ships that my little ponies will be going to an entirely new world on, then I saw your crew actually walking outside your ships. So, again, I ask, whatcha doin?”

Geordie shakes his head slightly. “You know how we can’t sense your magic?” At her nod he continues. “Well, this is the solution.” He holds up the new sensor assembly. “By using these crystals in both our passive and active sensor arrays, we can detect your magic.”

She tilts her head to the side. “And you know this works, how?”

He smiles at her. “Because we tested the technology with Lyra. She helped us develop it from your magic detectors for restricted areas. We were able to build a setup that has been tested and works.”

She smiles brightly. “That is utterly amazing.”

“May I ask you a question, Princess?”

“Of course you may.”

“How are you out here? There’s no air, you aren’t wearing a suit.”

Her tinkling laugh resounds through his head. “Oh, my little…human. I am an alicorn. I am not fully flesh like the ponies are. I can survive in conditions that any other pony would quickly perish in. I am magic.”

“Yeah, but sound doesn’t carry in space, without air to transmit it.”

“True, and you notice, I’m not speaking with my mouth, but you can hear my voice clearly.”

“Exactly.”

She grins. “I am using my magic, Mr. LaForge, I am making the air in your helmet vibrate with my voice, so you can hear me as easily as I can sense the vibrations you make to hear what you are saying.”

He tilts his head to the side for a long moment before clearing his throat. “Well, then. I have several arrays to upgrade, if you will excuse me.”

“Oh, nonsense, I shall help you!” Her magic grabs one of the sensor assemblies off the cart and she walks over to another sensor package. The keypad glows momentarily before the larger terminal’s access door opens. In only moments the package has unsheathed itself and is awaiting the installation of the new sensor. “Like this?” She places the device in its cradle.

He nods before taking a tool and tightening down the array. “Then you have to secure it, like this?”

She frowns for a moment before brightening. “One good thing about magic, my young human, is I can shape it into anything I wish it to be.” She arranges magical fields to be shaped identically to the tool in his hand. She floats the shape into the clamp and the sensor array is tightened into its connection port, allowing the sensor to light up and show it’s ready. She leans back. “Huzzah!” She looks at him. “How many more need to be installed.”

Speechless, the chief engineer of the USS Enterprise gestures to the cart with quite a few more of the sensor arrays ready to be installed. She bounds over and grabs a dozen of them. “This will be so much fun.”

Geordie shakes his head, this is going to be a very interesting experience.

***

Captain Picard walks through the corridors of deck nine. Though he’s been tipped off by several crew members, what he’s seeing is rather shocking. A long line of crew members are patiently waiting along the edge of the corridor, the line of crewers snaking into holodeck two. He nods at the crew members as he passes them and walks into the holodeck before stopping. Before him is a large industrial kitchen, though the proportions are more geared to the shorter ponies, the line ends before a large buffet table with various dishes being served to the crew by several ponies. One of the first ponies to arrive on board the ship, an orange colored mare with three apples on her flank, along with a blonde mane and tail tipped by a red ribbon notices him and smiles brightly. “Ahh, Captain Picard!” She gestures for a light blue mare with a two toned pink mane and tail with pink cupcakes on her flank to come take her place. “Thank ya, sugar cube.” She trots over to Picard. “When I heard the sorry state of your food replicator thingies, I decided to make sure your crew is well fed.” She looks back at the crew taking on plates of food and walking from the holodeck.

“Our replicators work quite well…” He says before being stopped by a sour look from the earth pony mare.

“I’ve tasted your apple pie, Captain.” She says flatly. “Your fancy replicators can produce basic fare, but you should know the crew of a ship survives on good food. Why, you have hydroponics bays for growing fresh produce.”

“How do you…?”

“I talked with yeh Commander Data.” She smiles brightly. “And Reginald Barclay has explained that your systems record a scan of example of food, then replicates it, with some minor errors, on demand.” She holds up a hoof. “Now, that’s just fine for basic needs. But ah’ve talked to quite a few of your crew, and many prefer to replicate basic foodstuffs, and cook their own meals, making their own meals out of basic ingredients. Though you have entire cargo bays with different foodstuffs that don’t replicate well. So, the Apple family is going to help you!”

“I don’t think this is an effective use of our time, Miss Applejack.”

She stops for a long moment, looking back at the ponies working hard in the kitchen before looking back at the tall human. “Captain, ah’m not a mage, nor do I know all the ins and outs of starship engineering. For what Twilight’s doin, I can’t do much except read books and hopefully find something to give to my friend.” She smiles again. “But this…this I can do. Ah’m a strong back and strong legs to build, to grow and harvest food, and yes, cook. If I can make the ponies here feel helpful, and feed your crew in the process, I call that a win in my book. Hold on a moment.”

She trots towards the table, returning balancing a plate with a thick slice of pie with a large dollop of ice cream which she offers to the Captain. “I asked your cargo transporter operator to bring up enough bushels of apples to fill up one of your cargo bays. We also have tree seedlings brought up as well, since we might have to abandon our home world. And don’t you worry, we had a mage put a preservative spell on the food so it will not be spoiling in your cargo bay.” She shifts her weight. “We also had pork and chicken products brought aboard since so many of your crew are omnivores. You should try the fried chicken. But first, I want yah to try this.”

Picard contemplates the pony standing before him. He has a feeling if he refused, she would attempt with all of her might to shove the food down his throat, and be nice about it the entire time. He reaches out and picks up the plate. He can feel the eyes of every crew member in the holodeck on his back as he plunges the fork into the thick yet flaky crust. He eyes the bite on the fork for a long moment before mentally shrugging and placing it in his mouth.

As the flavor hits his tongue, his eyes involuntarily close, and he fights with every fiber of his being to not moan in pleasure. The pie is sheer ambrosia, one of the absolutely most pleasurable things he’s ever put in his mouth. He stands there for a long moment, chewing on this absolute slice of heaven. When he opens his eyes, he can see that this pony knows exactly what has been transpiring. She leans closer. “Yes, everything we make is this good.”

He looks around, noting that plates and food are not disappearing as the crew leave the holodeck. Applejack smiles at him. “Your engineer, Reg, is amazing with the holodeck. He told me how it works, and while most of it went over my head, he did say that physical things like the plates and silverware are replicated. And we are bringing the food in from outside the holodeck. And it created all these wonderful cooking tools that we are using. Pinkie Pie and the Cakes are in heaven, better decked out than even the Canterlot castle kitchens, or so I’m told.” She smiles brightly. “I asked my kin to come up and help.” She stops, her smile freezing on her face. “If we aren’t able to save our home, at least we have a place to work, to make others happy.” She blinks a few times. “But no worries, Captain. Your crew will be well fed while we are here.” She looks at the hatch. “Oh, Mister Worf! Are you back for seconds? Or would that be thirds?” She dashes back into the kitchen as Lt. Worf ends up next to Picard.

Picard looks at the Klingon officer. “I wouldn’t think the fare the ponies make would be to your liking.”

Worf glowers. “They have a way with…” He looks at the mare walking back to him, a platter balanced on her back. “Baked goods, captain.”

Picard’s eyebrows rise as Applejack easily transfers the platter off her back and into his security officer’s hands. “Okay, we’ve got apple fritters, brown betty’s, apple tarts, apple cobbler, apple strudel, deep fried apple pie, baked cinnamon apples, caramel stuffed apples, and lastly, and apple blossom tart.”

“Thank you, Applejack.”

She adjusts her hat. “It’s my pleasure. And remember our deal now.”

Worf looks back at Picard then at Applejack. “I will.” He turns around, laden with the mass of confectionaries, and leaves the holodeck.

Picard glances curiously at the orange mare. “Your deal?”

She nods. “He said that Klingon baking puts human confectionaries to shame. Since they are a warrior race, Klingons need high calorie foods before battle. And while I’ve heard of some of the usual foods his people eat, he did say that Klingon baking is an art form.”

Picard glances at the door where he security chief disappeared through, then back at Applejack. Finally, he smiles brightly at her. “If the crew is happy with the arrangement, keep up what you are doing, then.”

Applejack brightens. “Thank you so much, Captain. Tonight’s supper might be to your liking, we’ve been going through some of your recipes from your home world. And the big highlight of tonight’s supper will be ratatouille, seems to be a relatively simple dish, and some of the vegetables we grow are similar enough to what you have to make it. I’ve tried the early samples.” She sidles up to him a bit. “And I think you’ll love it.”

Picard nods. “If it’s of the same quality as that pie, I will have to try it, Applejack.”

“Proud to be of service, Captain.”

***


Twilight Sparkle huffs as she exits the turbolift. The computer panel on the wall has lit up and is showing her to her destination. She’s on deck twelve, and she was told that much of the deck was taken up by the department she’s supposed to report to. She turns at the computer’s direction and passes through a door. Though she does marvel at how the doors sense her approach and open for her so easily.

“Good morning, Twilight!”

Twilight skids to a stop. “How do you know morning or evening on a starship in orbit?”

Dr. Beverly Crusher gestures to a chronometer display. “Just by what time it is.”

Twilight looks at the display, “Wait a moment, when you arrived, you were about eight or nine hours out of sync with Ponyville and Canterlot.”

Dr. Crusher nods. “When we are in extended contact with a species, for diplomatic reasons we will adjust our chronometers to coincide with the rhythm of the species we are communicating with. It’s easier to sync up our days like this. We don’t have to deal with a sun rising and falling, so the time of day is rather flexible. And we can’t forget time dilation thanks to moving at relativistic speeds.”

Twilight blinks a few times before she remembers why she was in sickbay. “Okay.” She says sourly. “But I don’t know why I need to be here.”

Crusher pats the biobed. Twilight cocks her head to the side then hops up on the bed. She does note that displays light up as she gets comfortable on the bed. Dr. Crusher pulls out a tricorder. “This is a medical device, and our initial scans your first day here didn’t have Geordie’s new innovation to detect your magic. So, we are rescanning you all with these new scanners.” She points up. “Engineering has been very busy, in addition to our shipboard sensors, our internal sensors are being upgraded with the new crystal scanners. It will be a while, but every sensor system on the ship will end up being able to detect your magic.” She pulls out the handheld scanner. Continuing to talk as she scans the alicorn. “While I really do appreciate you and your friends allowing us to scan you then and now. But it’s even more important now with these new scanning abilities. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both have had these detailed scans in the last couple of hours. Rarity is scheduled to come in a bit later. But since you are an alicorn…” She stops, looking at the display for a long moment.

“What?” Twilight feels her heart starting to race. “Is there something wrong?”

Dr. Crusher blinks and shakes her head as though to fend off a fly. Then she looks at Twilight. “Wow, I think I’ve got more questions than before. Geordie was told something by Princess Luna while he was working on the hull. That alicorns are…not fully mortal?” She looks at Twilight.

Twilight nods. “That’s right.” She smiles at the human. “We will have to have some serious conversations about alicorns.” She looks at the door to sickbay. “But I would much prefer to continue my work.”

Dr. Crusher gulps. “Don’t worry Twilight, I will get you back to your task quickly. But let’s discuss my findings, okay?”

Twilight’s ears flex back. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Beverly clears her throat. “Okay, the medical sensors in the bed and in my tricorder record various measurements of your health and physical condition. One new innovation with the new magical scanners show how much magic you have available to you. We couldn’t measure that before, but we can now.” She looks at Twilight. “Would it be possible to have any other alicorn’s come here and consent to be scanned, since a good baseline would be with multiple subjects.”

Twilight looks down. “I don’t know, we can ask Princess Luna, and I don’t know about the rest…” She trails off, looking up at the human plaintively. “What’s going on?”

Dr. Crusher turns to her computer display. “Okay, I can say for certain that you don’t have a specific gland for storing magic. But the energy is stored within you, all throughout your body.” She taps her screen for a few moments, and different ponies scans show up side by side. “Pinkie Pie is actually quite unusual. Her before scan and after the enhancements. You can see, she shines quite strongly with magic. You’ve told us that earth ponies tend to have less expressed magic than others. But based on these scans, and yes, Applejack and Apple Bloom are among the ponies I’ve scanned with the new system. Earth ponies have a large magical store.” She taps a few keys. “Among the pegasi, since their magic is expressed in their wings, we can read their wing power as an expression of their thaumic energy. And your friend, Rainbow Dash, has exceptionally high wing power. So yes, she also has a good amount of magical expression in her body.”

“This, I already know, Doctor. What’s going on?”

“Well, I have to get some more examples of unicorns. Lyra Heartstrings is scheduled for another examination, as well as some of the colonists planning on coming on board the Enterprise. But let’s move on to Alicorns. Since you are the only representative we’ve been able to scan. Let me show you.”

Twilight gasps as the new scans show up. “I’m positively glowing with magic?”

Crusher nods. “You have an exceptional amount of ability, Twilight. Far more than the strongest unicorn we’ve scanned so far, and that would be your friend, Starlight.”

“I already knew about my magical potential, I am the element of magic.” She lights her horn and uses her magic on the screen. “I know one book that has been scanned into your computer. On Alicorns, by Lightfoot.” Part of the screen fills with text. “This book is actually quite interesting, since it was sourced from some old interviews with Princess Celestia and Luna, as well as some material which is much harder to get a hoof on. But there were alicorns before they royal sisters, before Cadance and myself. This is one thing about your computer system which I really love, since we can refer to ancient books like that, and also with the new revelations from the forbidden archives of the Castle of the Two Sisters, we can learn so much. Alicorns, be they ascended like us, or the born ones from before the cataclysm, have an aspect to them. You know Celestia, and Luna, and their dominion of the sun and moon, we all have our aspect.” She leans closer, looking at the text. “Wow, learning your language has been a fascinating process.” She blinks. “But I digress.” She clears her throat. “Alicorns are special, and one reason we are royalty, because we have magic in great stores just being the ponies we are. But we are literally the embodiment of our aspect. For me, it’s magic. I am magic.” She smiles at the human. “And now your systems can see that?”

Dr. Crusher nods before tapping more keys. “You also told me the life expectancy of ponies, how it’s vastly different between the different tribes of ponies, with earth ponies being the longest lived, and the unicorns the shortest, with pegasi as being in between?”

Twilight nods. “I was a unicorn, but things have changed when I ascended.”

“No kidding. Based on my scans, your body heals from the day to day far better than humans or any pony species. You are resilient to the point of being absurd. I don’t see an upper limit to your life span. You said Princess Celestia and Luna are well in excess of a thousand years old?”

“Yes.”

Dr. Crusher puts up the representative scans of Twilight’s friends. “Well, I have good news for you, then. Based on my scans, you will not outlive your friends.”