//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Decisions // Story: Strange New Worlds // by Blue Fire //------------------------------// "You better offer me a good explanation for this!" Tom Paris looked around, but he couldn't move. A pillar of golden light was surrounding and disabling him. In front of him he could see the ruler of the planet, furiously glancing at him. If not the fact that he could not move he would have backed off like most of the remaining natives did. Tom wasn't sure if they feared him or their raging princess more. "I...I have no idea what happened here." The helmsman stammered. "So the disappearance of my subjects just happened on its own." "Why should I or one of my comrades kidnap your people?" "You tell me." The whole audience was silently following the royal trial. "We have no reason to commit such an act of barbarity." "Maybe your crew thinks you are held as a hostage and decided to abduct my beloved subjects for an exchange." "That is absolute pointless, they could have locked directly on us and we would be out of your hair, excuse me, your mane within a second, Princess." "You just admitted that you know what happened here. You exactly knew which technology was used to bring misfortune over Equestria." "With due respect, your Majesty, there are over one thousand civilizations with access to Transporter technology, and there are many more out there we do not know. Prove my guilt in this case and I will take any punishment, but I swear that my people are not involved in this incident." Tom could feel the stun being removed, but he was still in the golden pillar and he was not curious about the things which would happen to him if he would touch it. The white Alicorn lit up her horn and, within a second, her sister, Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine and Twilight Sparkle appeared out of nowhere, looking equally confused. The solar goddess turned directly to Kathryn. "Captain, there has been an incident. Dozens of my subjects were kidnapped with the usage of advanced technology, as your helmsman stated. He also claimed that your species is innocent. I would like to believe you, but the evidence is against you. However, I am willing to give you a chance to clear this. I give you one week to prove your point of view. You are free to go, but you have to leave one crewmen behind as a precaution." The decision was greeted with complaints by the inhabitants of Ponyville. One brown, blue maned Pegasus spoke out what many thought. "Princess Celestia, why are you letting them get away with this?" "Patience, my subjects. The humans have the right to prove their innocence. But if they are unable to they will remain imprisoned in the Canterlot dungeons." "May I ask my crewmen a few questions first?" Janeway asked, confused by the situation. "You may. But I warn you, no false play and no tricks." "I promise." "Lieutenant, what did you see here?" "A grey shimmer appeared in the crowd, just like a transporter. Then they were dematerialized." "Anything else?" "No Captain." "Seven, did you get the uplink to the Voyager online?" "Yes Captain." "Janeway to Voyager." "Chakotay here. I am glad to hear you. Are you alright?" The Commander's voice sounded strange due to massive interference. "More or less." "What’s the problem, Captain?" "Someone beamed out a couple of locals and we are sued to be responsible. But they gave us a week to prove that we have nothing to do with this incident. The condition is that we leave one behind, as a precaution." "You cannot accept these conditions Kathryn!" The first officer complained. "I already did. The locals are peaceful besides this misunderstanding and I have a plan how to solve this problem quickly. But first I need to know, did you observe something unusual?" "A squadron of cloaked ships just destroyed a convoy with tricobalt weapons, told us that we witnessed a secret naval operation and that we shouldn't investigate further, else we will be terminated." "They just fired, without warning and they didn’t care about collateral damage?" Janeway interrupted. "Yes. After their onslaught they left the orbit with warp five towards a star system 8.4 light years away after the last ship's core went critical. We scanned the debris and found no survivors. There is nothing left where anybody could have survived. So what's your plan?" "Land the Voyager at a remote location and let the local rulers search the ship. This shouldn't take long." "That sounds reasonable. Any ideas for a landing site?" "No, but I'll ask the rulers..." The captain was cut off by sirens in the background. "What’s going on, Chakotay?" "The internal sensors have detected a hostile boarding party close to Main Engineering. We will take care of them. Chakotay out." "Princess, is this acceptable for you?" "I am not sure if this isn’t a trick to free your crew." "Your magic is far more advanced than our technology. Your sister accidentally crashed our shuttle, which is capable of the thousandfold light speed. I think resistance would be futile." This statement gained Janeway a sceptical and also a little offended view from Seven of Nine. "I really hope you are right, for your own wellbeing. As for the location I already have an idea." Celestia summoned a golden light, surrounding the group and enlightened the nightly Acre. "Citizens, do not panic and stay calm. We will sort this case out quickly." The light became brighter and the rural environment was replaced by the ruins of an old castle in the middle of a large forest. Celestia launched an orb of light, pushing the darkness out of the remains of the stronghold. "Captain, before you say anything, I want to apologize for my behavior. I do not believe that you are responsible for this incident, not anymore. Your arguments were logical and convincing. You have no reason to harm us. But I needed to show strength in front of my subjects. In past crises we failed and only my student Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved Equestria. You do not need to bring down your ship to prove anything." Twilight kept staring at the granite floor, avoiding eye contact with anybody. She seemed completely overwhelmed by the situation. "I accept your apology, Princess." "Please tell me, is our magic really this advanced, Captain?" "It definitely is unlike everything we have ever encountered before, so I cannot answer this question. I would need to run a few tests." "I know you have no reason to help Equestria, but could you please bring my subjects back?" Janeways communicator disrupted the conversation. "Chakotay to away team." "Janeway here. What happened up there?" "A small infiltration team jammed our scanners and docked their ship stareboard. They had a fusion charge with them but we could neutralize them quickly. Tuvok got a graze hit but he is already back on his feet. We have the ship in our hangar and the technology is identical with the raiding ships. So where should we land?" "This won't be necessary. All accusations against us were dropped. We are free to go." "I am glad to hear this, Captain." "There is still one problem remaining. What shall we do about the local situation?" "I am not sure Kathryn. There is too much to take into account. But we cannot simply use the Prime Directive as an ‘out of jail’ card." "What do you mean, Chakotay?" "The Prime Directive states that we must not interfere with local conflicts. But this time it is different. The authorities of this sector are nothing better than common pirates. I checked our sensor logs. We didn't detect any military valuable cargo aboard the convoy, neither contraband. Hence, the freighters weren't even armed." "This doesn't make sense after all. Why would they attack this convoy when it had no military purpose?" "Maybe there is a blockade of a system and they are trying to cut out food and supplies?" "But why should this be a secret operation then?" "I don't know. All I know is that we are not longer outsiders in this conflict. We were attacked without a reason or a warning. Out of nowhere a boarding party appeared and tried to plant a bomb next our warp core. If they hadn't triggered the intruder alert we would all be dead by now" "I need to think about it. Stay on yellow alert meanwhile. And prepare a shuttle to get us off this planet. Janeway out." "Will you help Equestria, Captain?" Celestia asked as Kathryn turned back to her. Her voice didn't sound very royal or powerful. "May I talk to my crew first?" "Of course." The Captain took her communicator into her hand and pressed a tiny button at the backside of it. "Why did you deactivated the universal translator, Captain?" Seven wanted to know. "They don't need to understand everything we say, especially about them." "I see." The former Borg drone answered and the other humans turned their translators off, too. "So Captain, what will we do?" "As Chakotay already stated, we can use the Prime Directive as an 'out of jail' card. Or we can try to solve this conflict. Apparently we are in the middle of a warzone and we could offer our services as a mediator." "What do you suggest? Shall we go to the system the stealth ships went to and say that we want to solve a conflict we have no idea about? I think we both know that this won't work. So shall we put a few torpedoes in them and force them into something?" "I see your point but there is no need to exaggerate." "I am not exaggerating, I am trying to be realistic." "Anyways, we cannot simply leave this behind, Captain. Innocent people are dying here!" Tom objected. "I know and I don't like that either. But as Seven already said, we are short on options. We should see if we can find anything useful in the databases of the ship in our hangar bay or from a merchant around here." "Do you really think there is a merchant in the middle of a warzone? ….Ok, if they are like the Ferengi, most likely." The helmsman answered his own question. "Depending on what we find out we will decide what we can do in this conflict." Janeway decided. "Captain, may I ask for a favor in the meantime?" "Of course, Seven." The Captain reassured her even if she was surprised about her requesting something. "I want to stay here and figure out what their magic is." "Scientific curiosity is not what I what I would expect from you. And no matter how much I appreciate this idea I fear I have to decline your wish. It would be too much interference." "According to my calculations it won't be." "Would you explain this a little further?" "There is a 87.3 percent possibility that the local 'magic' is more advanced than our technology or even the Borg. And as far I could understand the paintings in the conference room we have been earlier they have even some experience in space travel." "Ok Seven, I will ask the Princesses if they don't mind a human here, but are you sure you can handle being alone?" "I was Borg, I will adapt." "I have no worries about your abilities to handle new situations but I have doubts about your social skills." "I do not intend to participate in any social events. I will run a few test and then return to the Voyager." "I guess I am fighting at a lost post. Are you absolutely sure about this Seven?" "I am, Captain." "Which instruments do you need for your research?" "A medical and a radiation tricorder, datapads, a subspace scanner, a copy of the Borg database stored in my Alcoven and a device from the Doctor to regenerate." "Seven grew up, Captain. It seems that she becomes more and more human. Curiosity isn't a typical Borg trait after all." Tom joked "Do not interpret my search for perfection as curiosity. Knowledge is a part of perfection so I can reassure you that my motivation is completely Borg-nature." The former drone corrected harshly. "Well then..." Janeway turned her translator back on, and so did the crew. Seven only then noticed the fascinated views from the Equines. Of course they never heard anyone talking in English so this reaction was rather predictable. "Princess, we came to a conclusion. We will help you, but I cannot promise you anything. We have a track but it can turn out that we can bring back your subjects." "This is more than my sister and I hoped for. I cannot tell you how thankful we are." "There is one thing left I want to talk about." "Go on, Captain." "Seven of Nine asked for permission to stay here and study your magic. We need more data to understand it, but we also need to know if it is any reason to kidnap one of your kind." "I am happy to hear that you are interested in magic and I just know where you can do your research. My student Twilight will help you as far as she can." "I... But how can I help them? There are others who could do this better than me..." Celestia's student stuttered. "Twilight, you are the Element of Magic. I cannot think of anypony more qualified." The solar goddess answered calming. She also acknowledged that the blue coated princess was more sceptical about the humans than her sister was. She had to talk to Luna later to investigate another thesis. While her Captain called for a shuttle to pick them up and bring down the requested equipment Seven already planned her experiments. Magic does not exist so there must be another explanation for the phenomenons, right?