//------------------------------// // Infiltration // Story: Assignment: Equestria // by Naxanz //------------------------------// “But why me sir?” asked Commander Trent perplexed, “Commander Miles is more qualified for the position of first officer than me.” “Listen,” sighed the captain moving closer to Trent and talking in a voice that only he could hear, “I know you the best out of all of the eligible commanders. Every since Nick betrayed us I’ve been a little less trustful of my crew, I need somebody who I can trust to be the new first officer and I feel that I can trust you the most. You’ve always been loyal to me and to Starfleet. Lately I’ve overheard some people calling me mean and cold hearted for attacking the ponies with seemingly no reason at all other than for the elements which I could easily just take from Canterlot. But trust me Trenton, I’ve got a plan.” “Okay,” replied the new first officer Trent taking a step back, “And believe me, I would never betray you sir…” --Canterlot Castle-- “She should be arriving soon,” guessed Twilight as everybody gathered in the Canterlot Castle throne room. It had been about a day since Celestia had contacted the Changeling Queen and everybody was becoming anxious as they awaited her arrival. “I do hope she doesn’t try to pull anything tricky,” sighed Rarity flipping her hair. “I still owe her a punch since the last time we met!” huffed Rainbow Dash as she hovered in the air. “Why do you guys hate her so much?” asked Nick as he watched Shining Armor walk into the room, “What did she do to you?” Before anypony could answer there was a sudden blast of trumpets and the main doors leading into the throne room suddenly swung open. Two black changelings marched into the room followed by Queen Chrysalis and another important looking changeling. Behind them marched four more changelings and two royal guards who were obviously escorting them all into the throne room. “I am here Celestia,” smiled the Queen slyly as she made her way to the center of the room. “Welcome,” replied Celestia cautiously. “Let’s get down to business,” exclaimed Chrysalis coldly, “I want to spend as little time here as possible.” “Okay, but first may I ask who that is?” asked Celestia nodding towards the important looking changeling. He was a buff changeling, slightly bigger then all of the others. He wore polished dark purple armor and carried with him a small short sword. “Him?” wondered Chrysalis turning to face the important looking changeling who was standing beside her, “Why he’s one of the top generals in my army. His name is Bellator.” “If the reason you called us here is true then we shall work with you to help overcome these humans, not because we care about you, but because the humans will most likely destroy us as well,” informed Bellator coldly. “Bellator is right,” confirmed Chrysalis turning to face Celestia again, “So let’s end this war as quickly as possible. Now, explain this plan that you called me all the way down to Canterlot for.” “I think it would be better if Nick were to explain the plan to you,” replied Celestia stepping aside and letting Nick take her place in front of the changelings, “He’s the one that came up with it after all.” Nick gulped as Chrysalis, Bellator, and the other six changelings all stared at him. “Well, uh, as you can see I’m a human…” “You’re the one that Celestia said was on our side,” interrupted Queen Chrysalis warily, “Am I correct?” “Yes, I’m fighting on the ponies’ side, but I still care for the humans and I want as little of them to die as possible,” replied Nick answering the Queen’s question, “Now, as for my plan. Is it really possible for you to take the form of another living creature?” Suddenly a small greenish fire flashed around Bellator and he almost instantly looked like Shining Armor. “Does this answer your question?” he asked; even his voice sounded like Shining Armor’s. Nick blinked a couple of times not believing his eyes, “Y-yes, yes it does…” Nick could hear Shining Armor clear his throat behind him, obviously disapproving the fact that Bellator had transformed into him. “…but can you transform into humans?” asked Nick still staring at Bellator in awe. Suddenly, all of the changeling except Chrysalis flashed into an exact copy of Nick. “But can you transform into humans?” mirrored the seven changelings back in Nick’s voice. They surprisingly even copied Nick’s Starfleet uniform. “Is there some sort of condition before you can change into somebody?” asked Nick somewhat taken aback by all of the copies of him. “To be able to transform into somebody we must see them first,” replied the Nick that Nick thought was Bellator, “And to be able to mimic their voice we must hear their voice as well.” “Okay, that’s perfect!” exclaimed Nick happily, “Now here’s the plan; one of you is going to disguise yourself as the captain, and the rest of you will be disguised as normal crewmen. Celestia will then teleport us all onto the Atropos during sleeping hours. The captain should be in his living quarters at that time. We will break in and kidnap the real one replacing him with the imposter. Then, using my communicator, I’ll signal down here that we want to be teleported back. We will then have the perfect leverage against the humans, their captain!” “Hmm, sounds good but I have a few questions,” spoke Chrysalis thoughtfully. “Yes?” “First of all, how would Celestia teleport you up there? She’s never seen the inside of the Atropos before. For a unicorn to be able to teleport somewhere they must have seen the place they are teleporting to at least once. They aren’t able to teleport somewhere they haven’t seen before.” “Good question, but Celestia has already told me this. Luckily I have a picture of my living quarters stored on Nicole.” “Who is this Nicole?” asked Chrysalis puzzled. “Oh, she’s not a living thing. No, she’s an electronic device that’s used for various purposes.” “Ah, I see… I’ve been informed that you humans are very technologically advanced. For example, you have a floating ship that sails between the stars.” “It’s called a starship,” corrected Nick, “Any other questions?” “Yes, why are we replacing the captain with a phony if all we want to do is kidnap him?” “Okay, here’s why, the captain is always on duty. Even during sleep hours. This means that he can be awoken at anytime if there is some sort of problem aboard the ship. If, for some reason, somebody were to need the captain and he gone then the ship would go into a total lock down and a search would be made for him. If he is not found aboard the ship then the worst is assumed and the first officer becomes captain. If that were to happen then when we reveal to the humans that we are holding the captain hostage it wouldn’t matter anymore because he wouldn’t be the captain anymore. There always has to be somebody in command; so, if the captain disappears then the first officer instantly becomes the captain.” “I see, but why wouldn’t we reveal to them that we have taken the captain hostage the moment he’s down here. That would be most likely before they’ve realized he’s missing,” proposed Bellator. “Yes, but unfortunately no outside contact can be made with the Atropos during sleeping hours,” sighed Nick, “We’d have to wait until the sleeping hours are over before we could contact them and tell them that we’ve taken the captain. It too risky; we should play it safe and use a phony.” “Okay, it all sounds good. I just have one more question,” spoke Chrysalis thoughtfully, “You said you would signal Celestia when you want to be teleported back down, but how are you supposed to do that when you’re so high up in the sky?” “Simple, I’ll leave Nicole down here. Then I’ll use my communicator to signal her when we’re ready to be teleported back. She can receive small messages over far distances. Any other questions about the plan?” asked Nick looking around the throne room. “No, I think that will be all,” replied Chrysalis, “But how do you expect us to change into the captain and crewmen if we’ve never seen them before?” “Here, I’ve got some pictures,” answered Nick quickly drawing Nicole from his belt and pulling up a holographic image of the captain. The Nick that was Bellator suddenly transformed into the captain. “Do you have a sample of his voice?” he asked still sounding like his normal self. “Nicole, play a small segment of my last call to the Atropos,” ordered Nick. “Loading…” replied Nicole without much emotion. After a few seconds she beeped and played a segment from Nick’s most recent call to the Atropos: “Where is he!?” barked the captain to somebody behind him, “I want you to track this call!” “Wait, please just listen to what I have to say first,” interrupted Nick trying to stay calm. “And what is that?” asked the captain mockingly. “Is that good master?” asked Nichole ending the call segment. “Yes,” replied Nick with a slight smile. --A few hours later during the Atropos sleeping hours-- It had taken awhile but Nick had actually been able to find six other pictures of six other crewmen. Although he didn’t have a voice for all of them he just advised all of the changelings to keep quiet while on the mission. Except for the one disguised as the captain, which was Bellator. They all stood in the throne room ready to be teleported up to the Atropos. All Nick had to do was give the word. “Okay, let’s get this over with,” sighed Bellator gruffly. “Are you ready?” asked Celestia. Her horn started to glow a yellowish color. Nick nodded at Celestia and suddenly there was a loud popping sound. The next thing he knew they were all in his living quarters aboard the Atropos. “Alright, follow me,” whispered Nick once he had gotten over the shock of being teleported. They all sneaked out of Nick’s living quarters and into an empty hallway. “The captain’s quarters are this way,” motioned Nick turning left down the hallway. The seven changelings all followed him in almost complete silence. They were almost to the captain’s quarters when suddenly one of the changelings, still not used to the fact of walking on two legs, tripped over his own feet and crashed into the door of somebody’s living quarters! He let out a small yelp of pain before quickly scrambling back up onto his feet hoping that nobody had heard him. But just as everybody was about to continue down the hallway again the door of the living quarters that the changeling had crashed into suddenly opened and everybody froze.