//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Memories and Warriors Part 2 // Story: Star Trek: Equestrian Assimilation // by firelordzx5 //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Memories and Warriors Part 2 "This is an interesting individual, don't you think Luna?" asked Celestia. “If this is an alien, it's possible that there is more life beyond Equestria's skies, probably even more than the common dragons, griffins and so on...” "Probably, fair sister. Relikia, do you know more about this creature apart from what we saw?" Luna asked. While she was most concerned for the well-being of their subject, the changeling knew something more. This was a delicate procedure. It was probable that they were surrounded by these creatures or aliens, or the Borg menace would probably be already upon them. "Yes, but only a few things. His name is Ta'lash Raleesh, his real species name is Gorn and he was the captain of hundreds of warriors in a battlecruiser." Relikia was not really a fan of mind magic or similar spells but she knew the time to use them. She was already searching for more memories of the Borg Drone Ta'lash. Three ponies were right next to her, the very same ponies that had threatened her. Twilight and Applejack were ashamed while Rainbow Dash was not. She still didn't trust her but maintained a neutral expression. "Relikia, I am sorry that we threatened you in that way-” Twilight started to say. "I'm not!" Rainbow interrupted only to be pulled back by her tail by Applejack. They traded glares. "Rainbow! She's an ambassador, not one a Chrysalis' vermin!" "And? She could be a spy from her!" Relikia pay no heed while her horn's tip touched the forehead of the reptilian drone, recharging it with other memories of his former self. Twilight was still next to her, listening to the loud little discussion of her two friends. Celestia was drinking tea while Luna just look on at Relikia's work. Zalune preferred to stay out of the heated discussion. "Silence!" Luna and Celestia winced at the words of the only pony that was bothered. Relikia, her horn charged, lifted her head up and and transferred the memories in the floating crystal ball. Done, she prepared the spell to review it but before doing that she turned around only to see the three mares looking at her. "I am already tired of being treated like scum by the nobles, guards and servants of the palace thanks to the actions of a hive different from mine. My mission as diplomat of Honeyrock is to create good relations with the ponie s of Equestria and stay in Canterlot to secure it. Because of my appearance, I was unable to properly begin my diplomatic duties. My mission ended before even beginning! The invasion from Darklust Hive, their aggressive tendencies marked Canterlot and probably the entire Equestria as well now. I gave myself a new mission. My mission... is survival..." Relikia was now on verge of tears. She turned around to preserve her dignity before anypony could see her, quietly sobbing. "Ah am sorry to hear that Relikia,” Applejack said “but Ah think you're exaggeratin'. No pony could hate you for what others did" "You have... no idea... of how wrong you are...” She turned again to the trio of mares, her eyes red and wet. With her left hoof she grab part of her mane and moved it aside, revealing a nasty scar on her neck. The mares gasped. Celestia and Luna's eyes widened. The only one that was unimpressed was Zalune, calmly sipping her drink without haste. "Relikia... what happened to your neck?!" said Celestia now concerned for Relikia's well-being. She remembered the day when Relikia entered the palace hooded with all her body covered by a coat when she was at a diplomatic reunion. At the end of the meeting she found blood in Relikia's seat... Perhaps... "Remember the day I come hooded into the reunion?" Relikia asked. Celestia and Luna nodded. "Before the reunion, I wanted to walk in the gardens cleaning my thoughts, planning my speeches and letters for my queen back in the BlackHoof Desert where my hive lives. Before I could get back to my quarters I got foalnapped. I didn't know my captors but... they questioned me, torturing me; ripping off my wings and cutting my skin with their swords, horns and daggers. They wanted information that I can't give. They raped me when my body was screaming in pain, begging them to stop. They took advantage of my tortured and bloody body. When I passe d out they threw me outside of Canterlot's walls, believing that I might die without anypony noticing..." "That's horrible!" Twilight gasped. Applejack was speechless. She held her hat and placed it on her chest. Rainbow Dash asked if she was lying and Applejack said no, she wasn't lying, she couldn't detect any lie in her speech, all this was plain truth. Rainbow become speechless too. "But... how you survive and more importantly, why you didn't tell us? If you were badly wounded you could have gone to the royal hospital!" Luna interjected, wanting more answers. "I got rescued by an alicorn. I thought it was you or Celestia, but it was somepony else. I don't exactly remember what happened next. The next thing I remember is that I was in Zalune's room being healed by her." The ponies looked at the zebra who was smiling while sipping her drink. "Who did that to you?!" Luna was upset. This was too much! Torture was outlawed in Equestria and those criminals who did such things were imprisoned or executed. Well no, Luna thought, not by Celestia's mandate but she would do it without regret. "I don't remember, but it was a unicorn stallion with white fur and blonde mane..." "Blueblood..." Another voice came from the main door of the library, filled with hatred and venom... Relikia could feel the hate of that mare mentioning the supposed name of her former captor. The three mares looked at the door only to see their two friends watching. "Rarity! Fluttershy!" Twilight called them by their names while Rainbow flew to them. Fluttershy was sobbing quietly while Rarity look upset. "Fluttershy! What's wrong?" Rainbow asked. She got no answer, instead Fluttershy flew right to Relikia, hugging her while sobbing at her neck. Relikia returned the hug. "How could they to torture you?! In my opinion, they are barbarians! They deserve to be punished for defiling a lady like yourself!" Rarity simply walked past her friends and faced Relikia. The princesses were glad that the rest of the Bearers (minus Pinkie) were welcoming her. "I am Rarity. Nice to meet you darling." "F-Fluttershy." The yellow pegasus retreated from the hug and hid behind Rarity. "Relikia of Honeyrock..." "This is heartwarming and all but we should continue before this creature run." Zalune gained the look of all present. The princesses traded a look and nodded in agreement, Twilight explained to her friend how the borg drone entered and attacked them. They were shocked at first but relieved that it was down. The crystal ball glowed and start another memory from Ta'lash appeared. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ta'lash Memories, I.K.S. Ragn'Arok, Klingon Negh'Var Ta'lash slowly woke up in a bed in Sickbay. His body was still in pain from the battle against the undine but most of his wounds were healed. The battle had almost cost him his arms but it was worth it. Killing an undine one to one was an achievement that only a few had obtained. When he struggled to rise up, his body didn't respond properly. "Today is not a good day to die..." "If I were you I shouldn't be getting out of the bed yet, captain." An orion female entered the sickbay. It was the medic. He hated the medics no matter what ship or world. He hated them with a passion, but today was different. He owned his life to the doctor. "Broken ribs, internal bleeding, head trauma, radiation sickness. I am impressed that you're still alive, captain. A week has passed since your little fight against the undine infiltrator." "But it was worth it, for the good of the ship and the crew." He tried to rise but was stopped by the orion girl. "Hold on, big boy. A week has passed but that doesn't mean you're completely healed." "That's no matter. How is the crew, where we are and what happened to the undine's sabotage?" "The crew is okay, we are back at Battle Group Omega for supplies and the subsystem is out of our ship." "Good, I'll go the bridge." When he finally rose, the orion stepped back and gave him a serious look. "Alright, but get yourself hurt again and I won't heal you the next time." The gorn captain opened a cabinet where most of his equipment had been stored. He put on his pointed shoulders, his kit, and his weapons. The gorn captain exited the sickbay and walked among his crew, others saluting him with respect. He made his way the bridge where most of his officers awaited. When he entered the bridge he noticed that there was no one there except for a shadowy figure in the captain's chair. Strange that none of his officers were present... "You're late. I hope they treated you well." The voice was metallic and deep, like a speaker of a helmet "It would be unpleasant to make you wait... my lord." He knew the voice too well. He use to server him on this very ship. The only problem was his species. He didn't hate the human race or any Federation race, but he hated to serve a being inferior to him. Blackheart was nothing like inferior. "I am here to assign you and your crew to a 'search and destroy' mission. There is an anomaly between the Hotep and Kassik systems - another star system. Search what is it in there and if it is dangerous... destroy it." On the main screen there were the coordinates of the star system and reports and data of the anomaly. Blackheart got out of the captain's seat and faced the gorn captain and former commander of the ship. Ta'lash hated to be seen weakened, but he didn't care. He was a respected warrior and his motto was: "Live today to fight another day." "Qapla' Captain, I know that you won't fail me. I have already sent other ships before but... they never returned. Whatever happened to those ships, don't let it happen to you." Blackheart walked to the turbolift and left Ta'lash alone on the bridge. Ta'lash sat down in his seat seeing the coordinates of a new star system where many Klingon ships had been lost. In a few minutes, the bridge officers returned to the bridge to find only a thoughtful gorn captain. Thruss, his new first officer and commander of the ship reported that the Lieutenant General had departed to his new flagship. Ta'lash ordened a course to go the location of the coordinates. Sometime after going warp, Thruss the tactical lethean asked the medical officer about the current status of the captain. She said that he was stable and could maintain himself thanks to his stubbornness. His only problem was his pride - to admit defeat would be the day of his own suicide. "Dropping out of warp," the helmsman announced as the ship arrived at an uncharted system with a M-class world with a single moon. The anomaly came from the planet itself. "Scanning the planet ... sir this planet fits with the reports and data from Blackheart. It seems that the planet emanates a harmless radiation... that come from the inhabitants themselves!" Curiosity mildly strikes the gorn captain. It seemed that the natives of that planet could bend the radiation... but it was useless, not made for harm. "Can you tell me more about the natives?" "Yes sir. Quadrupeds. Four types of them, with horns and wings quite similar to the extinct horses of the human and Federation homeworld of Earth. It seems they can control the weather and the soil with their radiation... Hold on! We have an explosion on the surface. It came from one their cities... on screen." The screen showed black horse-like creatures with insect features flying from a explosion in the city but the city itself look und amaged. The screen shut down and returned to the view of the planet as whole. "Interesting... too bad that is useless data... plot course back-" before Ta'lash could finish the alarm sounds. "What's going on!?" Ta'lash demanded. "Sir! Borg vessel inbound... it's a Borg Diamond, the queen herself!" The ship turned back only to be encounter by the borg diamond. Warping out at the same instant, the tractor beam from the diamond traps the Negh'Var and deactivates its sub-systems, leaving only life support remaining. "We are the Borg. Prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile." Only audio can be heard in the entire vessel as the borg beam drones in various part of the ship. "Sir, the borg have beamed drones in critical zones, we're being boarded!" Ta'lash had fought the borg before. Many times he had destroyed the borg drones with ease but today was different. The borg were attacking by surprise at the vital zones of the ship. Also the Borg queen herself was here! Why? Unless... the borg assimilated worlds... and if they assimilate this planet... He knew that his warriors might do something to stop the borg... but only for a while. "Activate the self-destruct! Erase the databank!" he ordered. He actived his comlink, connecting to the ship's entire address system. "All warriors, abandon ship! Today is NOT a good day to die!" "Sir, self-destruct has been activated and the databank is erased. We need to go to Shuttlebay Two in fifteen minutes!" Ta'lash and his officers exited the bridge only to encounter the crew warriors fighting against the borg drones. There was no time to fight against an enemy that was already overwhelming. They hurried up to the shuttlebay where only the weak and the sick were boarding the nearby shuttles while the warriors held back the drones. The fight was hopeless as more drones beam in. All his bridge officers including himself boarded the shuttle however the shuttlebay's hangar doors were closed. The engineer tried to open the hangar doors while in the shuttle, trying code after code but achieving nothing. "Dammit! The borg have overwritten the security codes of the hangar! The only way to open the doors is doing it manually the control room.” "But the entire shuttlebay is overrun by borg drones!" The officers argued but then they noticed something... "Where is the captain?" He knew what he was doing. He knew that it was suicidal but for the good of his crew he need to do it. He ran toward the control room while fighting the borg using only his fists and jaw full of sharp teeth. His size was clearly bigger that of a standard human, klingon or borg drone so that was not really a problem. "I was wrong... today... IS a good day to die!" He grabbed a borg drone and pulverized it, ripping off its arm and using it as melee weapon. While opening his way toward the c ontrol room, another drone tried to leap at his back, only to be grabbed and bitten by his jaws. He made his way and closed himself in the control room, trying to open the hangar but it was futile too. Frustrated, he destroyed the console with his fists and the hangar doors opened. His communicator activated only to hear his engineer. "Sir, are you crazy?!" "No, now flee, before the ship explodes!" "We can't leave you here sir!" "Just do it! Live today to fight another day!" The shuttle flew out the hangar, escaping from the imminent destruction of the Ragn'Arok. All the crewmembers status were unknown. There only being a few second before the ship exploded he got out of the control room and fought against the borg horde but the drones stopped after few moments. They were ignoring him. "SYSTEM SELF-DESTRUCT DEACTIVATED" is heard from the ship's speakers.. What?! How?! It's impossible! No one knows the deactivation codes except me! Various drones beamed out leaving only a few to start the assimilation process on the ship, ignoring Ta'lash for the moment. Then a borg successfully leaped at his back and beamed him with it out of the Ragn'Arok and inside the borg diamond.. "Get off!" He grabbed the drone and split it in two. He looked around to see what place he had been taken to. It was spacious and dark with only four columns or pylons in each section of the room. "Surprised?" A female voice is heard from behind of him. He looked back only to see the only borg that seemed to have personality - the queen herself. She was more machine than living being, only parts of her skin and "human" face remained in a frame that was mostly robot. "I am surprised that you out of your nexus," he growled, his voice filled with venom and malice. "Why not? I am far more interested in some planet filled with quadrupeds but to assimilate them would be... illogical. I need data from their abilities, their power..." "If you want the data we collected then you're too late. The entire databank of my ship is erased." "A shame but it will be unnecessary. The data I collected from the others ships are most useful plus..." A light illuminated one part of the room. There was one table with a native from the planet strapped to it struggling to be free. "HELP! ANYPONY HELP ME!" "...I will gather more data while assimilating these creatures..." "Liberate it!" "It would be illogical to do that. It is inevitable. This universe is imperfect. I try to correct that." Before he could attack "her" a borg drone attacked him from behind and injected nanites to assimilate him. He fell on his knee feeling how his body and mind changed, being slowly assimilated from within. His vision become darker until all was filled with darkness. What's happened to me...? Someone... help me... kill me... whatever... my body... hurts.... Something happened with his body. He couldn't open his eyes or control his body as whole. This is madness. He couldn't feel anything until he felt a kick at the neck. His vision returned, blurry. He only saw one orange creature kicking him in his left leg, forcing him to kneel down. His vision fully cleared and he saw his body... black carapace and borg parts. Then his mouth moved alone. "Ta'lash... borg... designation: 1...35..." So he was assimilated? His body was still in pain but regaining the will to move. Then the same orange creature kicking him the face again. He could feel the pain now. He had fallen on his back but he regained half of the control of his body. This was useless. He would be returned back to the Collective if they didn't do something. He tried to talk. ""Kill.... me.....!!" This startled the creatures he observed before something hit him and he returned to the nightmarish darkness. A computer voice sounded in his right ear. "DISCONNECTING FROM THE COLLECTIVE. STATUS: LIBERATED." I am... free? _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Back to reality, Library "This... is horrible!" Rarity was the first to talk. “This creature sacrificed himself to save his crew but in the end he was transformed into a metal monsters... well he is a monster but at least, a generous monster!” Fluttershy was looking teary-eyed at the creature until she saw... "Uhh.. girls?” "This queen must be the head of the Borg. I can't believe how somepony could be so cruel and yet remain calm," Celestia said with sternness in her voice. Luna nodded in agreement. "Perfection through converting anyone into metal beings... is twisted!" said Relikia "One of the nobles' foals was in that chamber with the queen. She is studying us," Luna said. "Yes, but he saw us! I mean he saw the climax of the invasion, Chrysalis' defeat and 'banishment'!" interjected Twilight. "This guy is so AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash yelled gaining the attention of the pony farmer. "Awesome, huh? This critter almost kill me!" she protested. "He almost kill you because he was controlled," Relikia said with Twilight next to her. Twilight nodded in agreement. Celestia and Luna began to talk to each other about this menace. Twilight joined in the conversation while Rainbow and Applejack were in their own discussion as was Zalune with Relikia. The only one left alone was Fluttershy. "Princesses, I must ask. This borg menace is controlled by a queen but we barely know about them. What we will do?" Twilight was concerned now. Nightmare Moon, parasprites, Discord and Chrysalis were one thing but aliens? This is too much! "I... don't know, Twilight. What we know now is that the borg have vast numbers but they are different from T a'lash." She was right. Ta'lash looked very different from the other borg of his memories. Although they were all bipedal like him, they look plain and pale. Some with black carapaces, other exposing everything even innards... like robotic undead. "Ehh... girls?" "But Applejack, this tough guy fought against a horde of these borg-guys or whatever and alone!" "Yes he is amazing and all, but he got defeated in the end!" "She cheated!" "GIRLS!" Fluttershy's small outburst gained the look of all the mares in the library. Twilight was the first to speak. "What is it Fluttershy?" "Ta'lash... is..." "What? what's wrong with him?" The curiosity of the mares soon transformed into small terror when they saw the borg drone rising up, with his only claw stroking his head, the eye implant on but in green instead of red. He spoke, addressing the ponies that looked on him with confusion and fear. "I am Captain Ta'lash Raleesh of the I.K.S Ragn'Arok and member of the Klingon Empire..."