//------------------------------//
// Episode 10: Equestria, we have a problem 
// Story: Star Trek Equestria: Reformatted: Wild Access 
// by Captain_Cosmos 
//------------------------------//

“Security Chief’s log Stardate 32120703.12. Per after action protocols, security is doing a sweep of the Equestria to ensure no boarders squeaked through our shields. Remodulation of our shields has worked thus far but one of these days, the enemy could figure a way around it. But for the moment, I am proud to say the Equestria’s immune system that is her security force has been quite effective in keeping out the vermin.”

Yamik turned a corner on the Equestria, aiming his phaser, ready for a fight should one be necessary. When he found nothing but an empty corridor, he smiled and lowered his weapon and tapped his combadge. “Deck 5 cleared. All security teams report.” He said.

“Deck 2 cleared.”

“Deck 7 clear.”

“Deck 15 clear. No sign of Terrorcon squatters sir.” His security officers all reported.

Yamik smiled with pride as he responded. “Nice work everyone. Department meeting in two hours. Conference room B.” He ordered as he holstered his phaser and walked down the corridor. “And someone check on the precious cargo, Cyber Compass, and Harmony Core should still be in engineering, and the pod should still be in the lab.” He added




(Start to about 1:24)
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.



In the Shuttlebay, Kasey was on top of a shuttle installing a Cloaking device in order to give the craft more stealth capabilities, per captain Maxima’s orders. “You’d think Cloaking devices would be standard across the fleet, on all craft that might need them.” She commented.

“And they DID have Cloaking Devices on these things two decades ago, I wonder what might have made them think shuttles didn’t need cloaks.” Another Engineering officer commented.

“Probably some political nonsense the Federation seems to be good at entertaining. Anyone remember learning about the Treaty of Algeron in school?” Another officer asked.

“You mean that treaty the Federation signed that was in no way mutual and the treaty the Romulans violated on the regular without repercussions? Yep I remember that one.” Baker said. “I myself had to give a report about what I thought of it. Not to brag but I kinda went a bit overboard, making it a study on the mindset of the Federation of that time and prior and the problems with it.”

“Ooh, did you include the famous Vulcan Hello Incident at the Binary Stars in 2250 Cmdr?” Another officer asked.

“The one in which the Federation ignored what worked in the past and the result was a disaster? Oh you bet I did. Cardassians are very, very thorough.” Baker responded, soliciting a laugh from her team.

“Nice. Yeah I have to believe there were a few people in that era that went “Why the hell did we not just do what the Vulcans did?” Because if there was ever an adage that could be applied, it’s if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” An officer explained.

“No doubt.” Baker responded as she connected the final wire and smiled as the device powered. “Alright. This thing’s powered, let’s test it.” She said. “Power it up Obelisk!” She called.

Inside the shuttle, Lt. Obelisk heard Baker. “Acknowledged Cmdr.” He said as he powered up the cloak. From the outside, the shuttle vanished completely, leaving Baker, who was atop the shuttle, to look like she was floating.

After a few seconds an officer smiled. “I think we’re good.” They said.

“Sure looks like it, everything good in there Obelisk?” Baker asked.

“All readings nominal Cmdr. I dare say we now have a successful stealth shuttle.” Lt Obelisk responded.

“Great.” Baker said as she looked around. “Now we just need to do that 9 more times...yeah we’re working late tonight.” She commented.





Down on the planet, Harmony was studying a plant she came across and gathering readings, or at least she was trying to, the alien cat that they encountered earlier was making it difficult to focus when said cat kept nuzzling her, as if asking for attention. Nearby, Risa couldn’t help but snicker as she watched the scene and collected vegetation samples. “The cat must really like you Harmony.” She said.

“It seems that way.” Harmony responded as she finally stopped what she was doing and paid the cat some mind. “Any suggestions?” She asked Risa.

“Could give it a pet on the head.” Risa suggested. “If it’s anything like earth cats, then it’ll like it.” She explained.

Harmony decided to give it a go and pet the cat with her forehoof. The cat purred and nuzzled the hoof, clearly enjoying it. “Huh, look at that.” She commented. “You DO like that a lot.”

The cat purred again in response, and wrapped its tail around Harmony’s foreleg, as if attaching itself to her, clearly enjoying the attention. While she continued to pet the cat, her thoughts drifted back to the failing sensors. I kinda want to request that I be allowed to take the shuttle back to the ship so I can perform a full systems diagnostic…but that would probably strand the away team…

“Harmony? Prestine to CyberSpark.” The voice of Risa brought her out of her thoughts.

“Hm?” Harmony asked.

“You’re mooshing the cat in the face.” Prestine informed her.

Harmony looked down, and noticed her hoof was on the Cat’s face versus where it HAD been petting the cat on the head. “Oops, sorry little one.” Harmony apologized and moved her hoof back into position.

“You doing alright Harmony?” Prestine asked, concerned. “You have now spaced out twice today.”

Harmony sighed. “Sorry Cmdr. Just thinking about my sensors failing.” She explained. “Today coulda ended very differently if the ship was destroyed because I couldn’t detect the planetside Terrorcons.” She said.

Prestine chuckled and shook her head. “Eh don’t beat yourself up over it. It was probably the atmosphere causing interference. Not the first time sensors have failed, and it most likely won’t be the last. We’ll perform a system diagnostic just to be safe though.” She said.

“Alright Cmdr, that would be great.” Harmony responded, her spirits lifting again as she continued to pet the cat, while she did so, she went back to collecting samples using a grappling arm she had her saddle manifest.

While Harmony was multitasking, Prestine received a paging from her combadge. “Cmdr Prestine, it’s Ensign Trakkie. Sorry to bother you but Lt Grother’s stuck in quicksand and her combadge fell into the sand. Could use some assistance.” The officer on the other end said.

“There’s quicksand here?” Prestine asked. “I’ll be right there.” She said as she turned to Harmony. “I gotta go save Lt Grother. I shouldn’t be too long.” She said.

“Anything you want me to do?” Harmony asked.

“Just collect some samples. Preferably three of everything for comparison.” Prestine responded.

“Aye Cmdr.” Harmony responded.

Prestine nodded before she tapped her badge and disappeared in a flash insta-transport. While they had to take a shuttle to the planet’s surface because the atmosphere disrupted transporter signals from ship to planet, beaming from one location on the planet to another location on the same planet was still possible, leaving Harmony alone with the cat. Harmony smiled as she had her mission saddle manifest a storage container. “Well, Back to work.” She said, proceeding to start collecting samples.

The cat cocked its head to the side, as if wanting to ask what Harmony was doing, Harmony saw it, and decided to just humor the notion of pretending to have a conversation. “I’m currently collecting samples for analysis back on our starship. We’re explorers out here in this Satellite galaxy you call home.” She told the cat.

“So that means you DO have a Starship?” 

Harmony wasn’t looking at the cat so she at first didn’t think about where that female voice coulda come from. Instead, still thinking she was pretending to have a conversation with the cat, she nodded. “Yep. A starship. Not the biggest starship in the galaxy but decently sized.” She said.

“Does that mean you have a shuttle TO said starship?” Harmony was asked by the same voice.

“Yeah. That’s how—wait a minute.” Harmony finally realized she was hearing a voice, a female voice. She looked up from her container, which she just put a leaf into, and glanced around. “Uh…” She at first didn’t see anyone. “Hello?” She called out.

“Down here.” The voice said. Harmony glanced down, and saw the cat smiling at her.

When she saw the cat smiling, and also wagging its tail like a dog, Harmony started connecting the dots. “Y-you said that?” She asked.

“Yes.” She saw the cat respond. “You…can understand me right?” It asked.

Harmony honestly thought she was hearing things. This creature looked like an Earth Cat, and as far as she knew, earth cats couldn’t talk. She knew Caitians were alien cats and could talk, but the creature in front of her was not an anthropomorphic furball. “…Ok, either someone needs to check my processor, or something else is going on.” She said out loud, thinking she was going crazy.

The cat let out a cute giggle. “You’re funny.” The cat said. “Now, what’s this about a shuttle?” It asked.

Harmony was still trying to process what was going on, so she did the only thing she thought was the best course of action. She tapped her combadge. “Lt Cmdr Prestine, I need your superior Starfleet training.” She said.

Some distance away, Prestine was busy helping to heave Lt Grother out of the quicksand when she heard Harmony’s call. “What’s going on Harmony? A bit busy right now.” She said.

“Remember the cat we encountered? Yeah it can apparently talk, and seems to be on our level of sentience.” Harmony said.

Upon hearing that, Prestine’s eyes widened. “W-What did you just say?” She asked. 

“The Cat is talking, and it seems to know what we’re saying.” Harmony reported.

Prestine’s mind raced, but somehow, the first thought that came to her was saying what she said next. “Harmony, get back to the shuttle. Now! Abort survey!” She ordered as she switched channels. “Lt Cmdr Prestine to Equestria, we have a possible Prime Directive Violation! I’m aborting the survey and returning to the Equestria!” She told their ship. She cut the connection and turned to Ensign Trakkie. “Let’s get Grother out of this mess and double time it back to the shuttle.” She said.

“Wait, what Prime Directive Violation? We scanned this planet and didn’t find any intelligent life forms did we?” Trakkie asked.

“Something must have happened because Harmony’s found evidence that there IS intelligent life.” Prestine said. “Now pull.” She ordered.

Back over where Harmony was, she was confused by the order, but nonetheless complied. “Sorry little one. Gotta go.” Harmony said as she took off running.

The cat, watching Harmony go, frowned and took off in a run after her. “Hey! Wait up!” It called out.





“Science officer’s log supplemental. We have a possible contamination issue. We believed this planet to be devoid of intelligent life. Even after dispatching the Terrorcons. But Junior Warrant Officer Harmony CyberSpark has made a discovery that contradicts that belief. I’ve ordered all teams back to the shuttle, and the Equestria is currently tractoring any spatial debris so that it cannot collide with the planet. I only hope that we have not caused any irreparable damage to the natural progression of the planet.”

In space, the Equestria had broken up into its three segments and each was busy pushing the stellar debris from the battle so that it wouldn’t collide with the planet. On the alpha segment, Norman shook his head. “They failed to detect the Dark Energon signatures on the planet, they fail to detect the intelligent life, we need to run a diagnostic on our sensors.” He said. “Sooner rather than later.”

“All engineering personnel are working to retrofit our shuttles with cloaking devices.” Sela responded.

“Add it to their list.” Proxima said. “Paris, status on debris?”

“All wrecks successfully routed captain.” Paris responded.

“I suggest we send some DOTs over to gather intel.” Shron suggested. “See if we can either salvage or learn anything new.”

“Not a bad idea actually.” Yamik responded. “Any intel we can learn can be a major advantage.”

“Agreed. Norman, send out the DOTs.” Proxima ordered.

“Aye captain.” Norman responded, fulfilling the order.

Back on the planet, Harmony made it to the shuttle and quickly entered its confines. On the way, she had been given a brief overview of the Prime Directive and what it meant in relation to their current situation. Suffice to say she was now panicking for a few reasons. Not the least of which being that because it was HER sensors that failed to detect the intelligent life, she was responsible for this violation. “I can’t believe it. My first mission and I royally screwed it up before I even touched the planet.” She commented, Prestine’s statement about atmospheric interference completely forgotten. “Good job Harmony, way to make a bad first impression on the job.” She said. Her mind racing as she paced back and forth. “First thing to do when back on the ship, run a diagnostic. My sensors can’t be failing like this. The crew depends on them out here. They depend...on me...” It hit her like a shuttle to the face. But when she said it out loud, it dawned on her for the first time just how much the crew actually depended on her. Up until now, all she ever knew was that she was the ship and they were her crew. But it was so much more than that. The difference between the survival or death of 175 lives depended completely on her operating at 100%. “…They depend on me…” She repeated, the weight of that responsibility bearing down on her hard. “They’re counting on me…and I screwed up…”

“What was that? Harmony heard one of the other team members ask. Harmony turned her head to see two officers standing outside the still open shuttle.

Rather than answering them, Harmony’s processor took her to a different course of action...closing the shuttle without any word to the officers and lifting off in the shuttle. “I gotta get off this planet, get back to the ship, and run a system diagnostic.” She said. “I need to find out why my sensors failed and prevent it from happening again.” She said.

Back on the surface, the two officers were left shocked to see their shuttle taking off. “What in blazes?” One asked.

Their partner tapped their combadge to page Harmony. “Junior Warrant Officer CyberSpark! Land that shuttle! We are still waiting for the rest of the team!” They said, but there was no response. “CyberSpark. Harmony respond!” They tried to get Harmony to answer, but to no avail. “Aww cheeseballs.” They relented.

“We need to call it in.” The first officer said as they tapped their combadge. “Beta team reporting, JWO CyberSpark just hijacked our way back to the ship, until someone sends another shuttle we’re stranded.” They reported.

“CyberSpark did WHAT?!” Cmdr Prestine responded in shock

“She hijacked the shuttle, and we couldn’t get a response when we told her to land.” The second officer responded.

Up on the Equestria itself, Captain Maxima stood from her seat, having heard the report. “Norman, open a channel to Harmony.” She ordered.

“Aye sir, channel open.” Norman responded as he opened the channel.

“Junior Warrant Officer CyberSpark, this is Captain Maxima. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Proxima asked.

“I’m returning to the ship to perform a complete system diagnostic after I royally screwed up today.” Harmony responded. “It was my sensors failing that led to the prime directive being violated. I need to make sure it never happens again.” Harmony explained.

“Be it as it may seem.” Sela responded as she stood next to Proxima. “You also made another error in leaving the rest of your team behind. Yours is the only shuttle on active duty at the moment as all others are being retrofitted with cloaking devices.” She explained.

On the shuttle, Harmony shook her head. “Someone can fly this shuttle back down to the planet when I return commander, I cannot remain on--” She tried to say before she was cut off by the most unexpected thing.

“Hi there.” Harmony heard a familiar female voice suddenly. She jumped and turned her head to see the cart from before. “What the?!” She shrieked as she involuntarily backed away...right into the control console and pressing against the panel.

When that happened, both Harmony and the cat heard the shuttle powering down. The cat tilted her head to the side. “What was that?” She asked.

“That was the shuttle powering down!” Harmony responded as the shuttle began to fall out of the sky.

In space, Norman detected the shuttle’s power loss. “Captain, the shuttle lost power! It’s losing altitude and will crash!” He reported.

That raised several alarms with the bridge crew. “Harmony! What’s the problem!” Proxima called through the comm system.

“The cat got into the shuttle!” Harmony responded. “We’re going down. Attempting to--” Was the last thing they all heard before the connection cut off abruptly.

“Harmony, Harmony are you there?” Proxima asked, panic quickly seeping into the bridge.

“Impact confirmed sir.” Norman reported. “Shuttle is down.”

Everyone looked around the bridge, as if expecting power to go out, but nothing happened. Yamik spoke up after a sec. “If power isn’t down, that means Harmony’s still with us.” He said.

“I want that crash site found yesterday people!” Proxima responded. “Tell Baker to get a shuttle ready for extraction, and inform the away team that they’re now a search and rescue team.” Proxima ordered.

“Aye sir.” Everyone responded.

“According to the shuttle’s trajectory, it looks like Harmony crashed ten kliks west of its original landing site.” Norman reported.

“Inform our people down on that planet.” Proxima said.

On the surface, the rest of the away team watched as the shuttle went down, and they heard a faint explosion from the distance. “That can’t be good.” One said.

“Prestine to Equestria, is everything alright up there?” Prestine asked.

It took a second, but Prestine got a reply. “We’re all good up here, Cmdr. No system failures so Harmony’s consciousness survived the crash. We’re sending you her last known coordinates, we need you to go and rescue her. We’ll send a shuttle once you find her.” Norman said.

“Copy that, Prestine out.” Prestine responded as she cut the connection. “Cliff.” She said, turning to the giant autobot. “Scout ahead and find her.” She said.

“Right.” Cliff responded before transforming to car mode and racing off towards the crash site.

With him going ahead, Prestine turned to the rest of her team. “Let’s go people.” She said.

“Right.” Everyone said before they all took off in a run after Cliff.

To Be Continued...