Previously on Star Trek Reformatted…
“I’m Captain Proxima Maxima of the USS Equestria. And my crew. Commander Sela, my first officer. Lieutenant commander Shron, my Tactical officer, and Lieutenant Commander Yamik, my Chief of Security.”
“Maybe we can talk on your ship if you have one?”
“Oh, I got something.”
“This is the SS Ark, assistance required, any ships please respond.”
“THAT’S a ship?”
“Captain Maxima’s mystical abilities are invaluable to any away team. I believe it would be unwise to restrict her under normal protocol.”
“The material used to make this room isn’t in any known database.”
“According to the quantum dating on these materials. This ship is clearly ancient.”
“We got Emerald Rogue ships inbound.”
“Red Alert, Weapons Hot deflector to maximum.”
“Stasis system access alert, standby for security scan.”
“It appears to just be a scanner.”
“Warning, Hostile elements engaging the USS Equestria. Initiating countermeasures.”
“It’s got The Emerald Rogues in some kind of tractor beam.”
“I lost control!’
“Captain. You might want to see this.
“What the hell is going on?”
“The Emergence Protocol, meant to bring forth the Titan Harmony CyberSpark.”
“What the hell…?”
And now the Continuation…
Around the Derelict, the crews of the Emerald Rogue ships were beginning to panic as they continually tried and failed to restore power to their ships, meanwhile, Norman, Sharon, and Sela kept trying to regain control of their own vessel, which to them was rocking and shaking violently. “Lieutenant Commanders Shron, Norman, can either of you explain what is going on?” Sela asked.
“I got nothing Commander.” Norman responded. “All we can do is watch and wait for this…reconfiguration to complete.”
“Can we raise the away team at least?” Sela asked.
“With our combadges probably, but at this point I’m not sure what they can do over–” Shron started before he was cut off by the sudden stabilization of the bridge. Once the bridge stopped shaking, all the consoles lit up again…But with different things than what they were originally. Norman looked at his console, and what he found surprised him. “Well…I have good news and maybe not so good news. Whatever reconfiguration was going on has concluded and systems are coming back online.” He reported.
“What is the not so good news Commander?” Sela asked as she walked up beside him to look at his console.
“I don’t think the Equestria is a ship anymore.” Norman responded simply.
Shron came up beside Sela and all three of them stared at the image on Norman’s console. It depicted a humanoid form that they saw had clear elements of the USS Equestria’s hull and nacelles. “My god. I-Is that the Equestria?” Shron asked.
“I…Think so?” Norman responded. “I’m just as lost as you are.”
Sela studied the image, before something caught her eye, something on the image’s shoulder pads. “Look, on the shoulder pads. The same Decal as the Derelict.” She pointed out.
Norman zoomed in on the decal, and they all noticed that it was indeed the same as the derelict. “Norman, did you find anything in the federation database about that decal?” Shron asked.
Norman’s eyes widened when he realized something. “Oh yeah. Believe it or not, I DID, just before the Emerald Rogues attacked. But…Not in the way that you would think.” He explained.
“Elaborate Mr. Norman.” Sela said.
Back on the Derelict, Proxima, Yamik, Baker, and Prestine all stared at the viewscreen, at what USED to be their starship, but now they saw that it had been reconfigured into some kind of metallic humanoid. “...Anyone else feel like they’re hallucinating?” Yamik asked. “Our ship just reconfigured itself.”
“It kinda looks like the two metallic creatures in stasis now.” Baker commented.
Proxima tapped her combadge to raise Commander Sela. “Commander Sela, do you copy?” She asked.
“We read you, Captain. I assume you know what happened to the Equestria?” Sela asked.
“We’re staring right at it. It’s been reconfigured into a metallic humanoid.” Proxima responded.
“Well, I do have some good news to share, Norman found that emblem we saw in the Federation Database. It is absolutely from a known species.” Sela reported.
“Who?” Brestine asked.
“Hey!” Came a thundering low voice. “What are you little bugs doing here?”
Space: The final frontier. This is the story of the USS Equestria. A ship fresh out of construction, with a crew fresh from the Academy. Together they will embark on a mission of discovery, and evolution. They will explore a strange new frontier, seek out new life and a new civilization, and boldly go farther than anyone has ever gone.
The four officers whirled around and Yamik, Baker, and Proxima aimed their weapons…At a metallic creature that had a scowl on its face. “State your identity!” Yamik exclaimed up at the creature.
“You first.” The creature responded, it raised its arms and aimed something at them. “Don’t make me pulverize you.” The creature threatened.
For the moment, no one moved a muscle. Proxima quickly formulating a plan so that they all could actually LIVE.
The tension was broken when they heard a much more friendly sounding voice speak up from behind the first metallic creature. “Hey Blitzwing, who are you threatening now?” A second metallic creature asked as it came up beside the first. In contrast to the first creature, who was more menacing, and had sharper edges, and was more beige in color, This second metallic creature was mainly red in color, with various shades of gray accents, and more curved and streamlined.
“Intruders. That’s who.” The first Metallic creature responded to the second. “Intruders who STILL haven’t told me why they’re here.” It added.
Seeing a chance to avoid an exchange of fire, Proxima spoke up. “Ahem, I am captain Proxima Maxima of the Federation Starship Equestria. We are here responding to a distress call this ship was putting out.” She announced. “We mean you no harm.”
“Then lower your weapons.” The first metallic creature responded, in a demanding, grumbling way.
“You first.” Yamik responded.
“Commander.” Proxima said. “Let’s not try to provoke them.” She urged as she retracted her horn.
Baker and Yamik soon followed her lead and lowered their weapons. The first Metallic creature did the same, and moved aside for the second Metallic creature. “Please forgive him.” The second Metallic creature told them. “He’s not exactly the friendly type initially.”
“And just who might you be?” Prestine asked as her tricorder started scanning. “And for that matter, WHAT are you?” She added.
“My name is Cliffjumper.” The red Metallic creature responded. “Me and my friend Blitzwing here are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron.”
“Cybertron?” Proxima asked. “I’m not sure we’ve heard of it.”
“If I may be allowed to interject here, captain.” Sela cut in. “Mr. Norman found something you should see.”
“Send it to my tricorder.” Proxima responded. “Excuse me for a second Cliffjumper.” She added as her combadge tricorder projected a HUD. “So, what do you have?” Proxima asked.
“The decal on the side of the Derelict is called an Autobot symbol. And you are indeed interacting with Cybertronians. The main characters of a fictional ancient earth piece of pop culture, the Transformers franchise.” Sela explained.
Proxima’s eyes widened. Transformers? She had heard about that from her parents. She glanced between the HUD and Cliffjumper, now noticing the resemblances between him and the cartoon characters from the show. “Norman are you sure?” He asked.
“One million percent captain.” Norman responded. “We quite literally just made first contact with a maybe-not-so-fictional alien race.”
“Fictional?” Cliffjumper asked.
Proxima swiped away the HUD and turned her attention fully to Cliffjumper. “It’s kinda a long story.” She informed him. “But suffice to say, we might know more about you then we initially realized.”
“But if I can bring forth an immediate problem.” Baker interjected, pointing back to the viewscreen.
Yamik remembered the Equestria was now a metallic humanoid creature and glared at Cliffjumper. “Right. You wouldn’t happen to know what the hell happened to our ship would you? Because your ship shot a beam at it and now it’s not so much a ship anymore.” He explained.
Cliffjumper looked at the viewscreen, and with a raised eyebrow, turned to face the drone. “Teletran, what’s going on?” He asked.
“The Emergence Protocol was activated. As per procedure, When the Lost One has been found, the Emergence protocol is to be enacted to bring forth the Titan Harmony CyberSpark.” Teletran explained.
Cliffjumper scratched his head, wondering what Teletran was talking about. “The Emergence Protocol?” He asked.
The away team glanced at each other, wondering if these people were just as clueless, but then Blitzwinger piped up. “Oh right, the Emergence Protocol. Creating a new titan, all that jazz.” He said.
“Right, I remember now.” Cliffjumper said.
“Excuse me gentlemen.” Proxima chimed in. “But if I may, could you maybe explain what is going on? Why were you out here in stasis aboard a dead ship?” She asked.
Cliffjumper was about to respond before Teletran cut him off, unplugging himself from the console and crawling back to Proxima and her away team. “Attention. Ark power reserves depleted. Power failure imminent.” He said.
Baker brought up her HUD, which was still connected to the console. “He’s right.” She said. “This ship’s power levels are dropping fast. Everything will shut down any minute now.” She reported.
“Everything?” Yamik asked.
Proxima immediately tapped her combadge, getting what Baker was trying to say. “Maxima to Equestria. The Emerald Rogues are about to become a problem for you again.” She said.
“We detected the power drain captain. Still working on regaining control.” Sela responded.
“Shields are up though, so at least we won’t be defenseless.” Shron pointed out.
“Acknowledged.” Proxima responded as she turned back to Cliffjumper and Blitzwing. “We have hostile ships out there trapped in your failing tractor beams. Once power goes out they might attack the Equestria. Is there anything we can do to fight back with our ship as it is?” She asked.
“No need.” Teletran responded. “Harmony should be awakening any second now.”
“And how will that help?” Yamik asked.
No one got to answer as everyone, on both the Derelict and the Equestria, heard a thundering female voice. “Energon levels at maximum. Systems are go. Harmony CyberSpark, online.” Everyone on the Derelict watched on the viewscreen as the…eyes, on the head of the Equestria lit up, and began to move its arms.
On the Equestria bridge, Shron, Norman and Sela could do nothing but watch as the ship moved on its own. “This is either going to turn out really well, or it’s going to kill us all.” Shron commented.
“Let’s find out.” Sela responded.
“Hostiles identified, peaceful resolution impossible, executing termination.” Said the thundering female voice. After a few seconds, everyone saw the new being firing blue phaser beams at the Emerald Rogue ships, literally slicing them up until they exploded.
Once the dust settled and all turned quiet, Sela, Shron, and Norman stared at the resulting debris field from what was the Emerald Rogue force mere moments ago. “...Ok…So that happened.” Norman said.
“Mr. Norman.” Sela said. “Run a full system diagnostic. Check everything.” She ordered.
“Aye sir.” Norman responded as he started checking systems…Before the bridge started rocking and shaking again.
“Now what?” Shron asked as they all hung on to stay standing.
“Entering Alternate Starship Mode.” Said the Thundering female voice.
On the Derelict, everyone watched as the Equestria reconfigured itself again, back into the ship it was when it arrived on the scene. “Ok, I’m gonna need to Visit Dr. Boiler.” Yamik said. “Because either I’m dreaming or hallucinating.”
Teletran crawled over to Yamik and scanned him. “Scans show you are not hallucinating or dreaming.” He said.
“Shut it.” Yamik told Teletran.
“Commander.” Proxima warned.
Just then, all the lights shut down and everything lost power. “And there goes the power.” Baker commented.
“At least we accomplished what we set out to do.” Blitzwing responded. “Now we just need to bring the titan home to Cybertron.” He said. He turned to Proxima. “We’ll drop you off on the way.” He said.
“Wait, wait wait wait.” Proxima responded as she extended her wings and flew up to hover in Blitzwing’s face. “Hold on there. You are not taking the Equestria. It’s a ship owned by the United Federation of Planets.”
“Not anymore.” Blitzwing responded. “We came all the way out here to bring home the Lost One and their titan. We found the Titan. So the Lost One must be onboard. We’re taking both home with us.”
“The United Federation of Planets will have something to say about that.” Proxima responded.
“Blitzwing. Cool it will ya?” Cliffjumper asked.
Blitzwing huffed and walked off. Cliff sighed and turned to Proxima. “Sorry Captain Maxima.” He said. “Blitz is just a little cranky.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Yamik said under his breath, before wincing as Prestine elbowed him in the gut.
“Look. If you guys need a ride home, we would be more than happy to take you with us. But I am NOT surrendering the ship to you.” Proxima responded.
“That’s fair.” Cliffjumper responded. “And, now that we have a moment to breathe, thank you for coming to help us. We probably woulda been stuck in stasis forever if you hadn’t come along.”
“We’re Starfleet. Helping people is kind of our thing.” Prestine responded.
Proxima nodded and tapped her combadge. “Maxima to Equestria. Are all systems go?” She asked.
“All systems are operating within normal parameters…Or as normal as we can expect now. Equestria’s power system has been reworked. It now is running on something similar to Electro Plasma but not quite.” Sela responded.
“Energon.” Cliffjumper responded.
“Isn’t that the lifeblood of all Cybertronians?” Proxima asked.
“Bingo.” Cliffjumper responded.
Proxima and her away team exchanged looks. All thinking the same thing. What did we just stumble upon?
“Captain’s Log Supplemental. After setting up Blitzwing, Cliffjumper, and Teletran in the hangar bay…As that was the only place we COULD put them, We are once again on our way back to Federation HQ.”
“In essence. What we’re now flying in is a Titan. A colossal Cybertronian who is to the average Cybertronian what an earth giant is to us…Giant.” Norman reported. After returning to the Equestria and warping out, Proxima called a meeting with her senior staff to discuss the situation. Norman started off by giving a report of what he found in the Federation Database.
“So…if what I’m hearing is correct, we’re now sitting in a living being?” Asked a Denobulan Male in a blue Starfleet uniform.
“That’s right Dr. Boimler. A being who allegedly goes by Harmony CyberSpark.” Norman responded. “They call themselves autonomous robotic organisms.”
“Fascinating.” Sela replied.
“And there’s more. If you recall, two different emblems were found. One on our friend Cliffjumper, and another on Blitzwinger.” Norman said as the screen changed to two emblems, one red, the other purple. “The red one is the emblem of a faction called the Autobots, the purple one belongs to the Decepticons.” He reported.
“Decepticons…That sounds like a villain faction.” Sharon responded.
“That’s because it is.” Proxima responded. “My parents exposed me to this ancient earth media franchise at a young age. The Decepticons waged war with the Autobots for control of their planet. The cons wanted to rule the planet like a dictatorship. While the Autobots believe in freedom and justice for all.”
“Sounds familiar.” Baker responded.
“Ok, so clearly we do know all about these beings.” Yamik said. “But what we DON’T know is what happened today.”
“Based on all the evidence gathered.” Sela responded. “I would theorize that they were sent out from their world to find a Titan, along with something they call The Lost One, and bring both back with them.”
“It seems clear who the Titan is since they tried to hijack our ship.” Dr. Boimler responded.
“Indeed.” Sela responded. “However, the Lost One is still an unknown.”
“Maybe not so much.” Baker responded as a thought occurred to her. “When Teletran scanned us, He seemed to like Captain Maxima the most. He reacted the most to her.” She explained.
“What’re you thinking Chief?” Shron asked.
“What if the Captain is somehow connected to all this? Norman, does a Titan require any…Assistance of some sort?” Baker asked.
“In various iterations of the Cybertronian civilization, Titans did in fact need City-Speakers. Kinda like Captains of Starships.” Norman responded.
“That. That right there. What if the Captain was this Titan’s City Speaker? After all she is the Captain of the ship.” Baker said.
Her theory had everyone glancing at each other, each mind racing. “I suppose it could be possible based on all available evidence.” Sela responded. “However unlikely it may be.”
“It was also unlikely that we would run into the REAL LIFE Cybertronians. Look how that turned out.” Norman responded.
“In any event, we need to proceed with caution.” Proxima responded. “Baker, I want you keeping a sharp eye on the Equestria’s systems. Anything stops working I want to know.” She said.
“Aye sir.” Baker responded.
“Norman, I want you to put together a complete debrief of the Cybertronian race and ensure the crew reads it. If we’re gonna be operating a Titan now the crew needs to know what to look out for.”
“Aye captain.”
“Shron, Yamik, Security and Defense is even more vital now that a Decepticon is onboard, Make sure there are no surprises.”
“Yes Captain.”
“Dr. Boimler, run a complete physical on our guests. Anything we can learn about their biology will help us.”
“Of course Captain.”
“Dismissed.” Proxima responded.
The senior staff got out of their chairs and left the ready room. Leaving Proxima and Sela alone. “Ancient Earth got it right.” Proxima commented. “They got it right when they dreamed up the Transformers franchise.”
“It certainly is a curious thought.” Sela responded. “What’s even MORE curious is that Cliffjumper said that their homeworld is outside the Milky way Galaxy, but that’s about all he knows.”
“I mean, it’s been a while. Maybe his memory got corrupted and the exact coordinates were affected.” Proxima reasoned.
“That is plausible.” Sela responded. “But we cannot ignore the possibility that there is something more going on. Something they are not telling us. We cannot rely solely on fiction.”
“Fiction and Reality are two different things. Yes, That is true.” Proxima responded.
“Caution is very much advised for the time being.” Sela responded.
“As always your logic is impeccable Sela.” Proxima responded.
“If I may be allowed to speak Captain. I cannot vouch for Cliffjumper, Blitzwinger, and Teletran, but I will say that you can trust me, as you have so far.” Came the familiar female voice, but not as thundering this time.
Proxima and Sela glanced around, trying to find the speaker, but found no one. After a second, Proxima had an epiphany. “Harmony CyberSpark.” She concluded.
“Yes Captain. That is me. Apologies if I caused any of you distress over these last few hours.” Harmony responded.
“You certainly piqued our intrigue.” Sela responded.
“I thought so. I must admit I am intrigued myself.” Harmony responded. “This is all very new to me.”
“But you are alive?” Proxima asked.
“Yes Captain. I am alive.” Harmony responded.
“And you have stated we can continue to trust you.” Sela pointed out.
“Yes Commander. I may have evolved into something more but I am still a Starfleet vessel. I shall continue to serve in any capacity you need me to.” Harmony said
Proxima and Sela glanced at each other. “Well, that’s comforting to hear Harmony, but you will forgive us if we tread carefully for a bit?” Proxima asked.
“I do not blame you captain.” Harmony responded. “Given the progression of today’s events, prudence is likely to be the order of the day.”
“Agreed.” Sela responded as she and Proxima got out of their chairs
“We’re crewing a Titan now.” Proxima commented. “They’ll love this back at HQ.”
“I’m sure they’ll find it all, fascinating.” Sela responded as the two headed back to the bridge.
To be continued…