//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eleven: War and Diplomacy (Spoilers!) 
// Story: Star Trek: Equestrian Assimilation 
// by kofiddleboy 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11: War and Diplomacy. 
Equestria.
Three Days have passed since the First Contact and Shining Armor’s return, and since his cryptic news about the Tal'shiar Cell's leader. When he woke up, being able to remember nothing but sudden flashbacks, the three Admirals initiated the Operation: "Road of Damnation". The mission was basically search and destroy in planetary scale. Officers from each faction started to search and scan for any Tal'shiar signals in Equestria. First, however, the Klingons and Romulans tried to extend their searches to Zebricia and the Gryphon kingdom, without contacting their respective governments.
The intense radiation from the surface heavily obscured the three faction’s sensors, which led to the deployment of Danube, Tiercel, Toron, and various other classes of shuttles to the surface, where they found two abandoned Tal'shiar bases in the badlands and one poorly defended in Zebrica's Grand River.
The situation in Equestria has been vastly improving, shuttles from the various ships in orbit landing to gather the corpses left over from the sphere for disposal or possible liberation. Two assimilated ponies were found, one alive and, hopefully, a candidate for liberation. The other, unfortunately, was found slashed apart by the distinctive curve of a Klingon Bat’Leth. Joyus news for one family, devastating for another, both coming from a noble caste. Shining and Cadence returned to the Crystal Empire, thanks to the Federation’s medical resources. What would normally be weeks of bed rest ended in hours, leaving him.... well, healthy as a horse. Before his departure, he issued a formal apology to the allied captains, as well as to his friends, the guards, and Relikia, for the actions of his clone.
The next day, the three faction’s ambassadors arrived.
First up was the captain of the U.S.S. Tewkesbury, Tyler Chambers. Vaner’s orders were to ensure smooth diplomatic relations with the Equestrians. Human, young-looking and redheaded, he fashionably rocked the federation diplomatic uniform, along with his short beard. His two escorts also rocked the OMEGA uniforms.
The Klingons sent the captain of the I.K.S. WraithGuard. David was a normal Human male with brown hair, and a short beard much like Chamber’s; unlike him, he wore the traditional Klingon uniform. Poised like a warrior ready for battle, he was escorted by two Klingon Honor Guards, their armor similar but with lower shoulder pads and less vivid red stylings.
Finally, a familiar face arrived. Shenek, the Reman captain of the R.R.W. Jolan Tru, arrived somewhat miffed that he had to go during the day. Being a nocturnal species, it was understandable. For his sake, the meetings were held at dusk. He was escorted by two Reman Shadow Guards.
The news of their arrival graced the ears of the other ambassadors, namely Razorclaw and Darkwing, who wanted to meet these aliens and establish a relationship with these new empires. However, Tyler requested only three ambassadors to be with the Princess at any time. Enraged, the dragon and gryphon insisted that, if they weren’t included in the talks, they would break off all relations with Equestria. Much to the allied captain’s dismay, Celestia folded and allowed them in.
***
Canterlot Palace. 7:30 P.M
“I already told you, we aren’t interested in establishing talks with either of your nations!” Tyler sighed. The relentless dragon and gryphon duo had been tag-teaming him and the other ambassadors to establish trade agreements. David was also annoyed, and Shenek was resting his head in his hands, resisting the urge to telekinetically vaporize the two “ambassadors”.
“We have everything that you could possibly need!” The Gryphon, Razorclaw, continued to insist. Mainly to try and establish the Gryphon kingdom as a superpower, both him and Darkwing were desperately trying to assert themselves. Suddenly, Shenek snapped.
"Like what?" 
Darkwing and Razorclaw both drew a blank. They simply had nothing to offer the captains didn’t already have.
"There is one thing you can offer, both of you." David piped up,  being unnaturally quiet. Dreams of grandeur suddenly flooded the two ambassador’s heads.
"Really?" They snapped up, almost exactly in unison.
“You can let us search your lands for bases of the terrorist organization known as the Tal’Shiar.”
"Terrorist organization?!" Again, in unison.
Darkwing adamantly insisted that there were no terror cells anywhere in or near his land.
“You probably wouldn’t know about it.” Tyler chimed in. “We can offer you medical and humanitarian aid if you need it.” Still rather displeased, Shenek looked over to the only two equines that were saying nothing, Relikia and Zalune.
“You two are strangely silent. Do you wish to speak?”
“I do not. We have nothing to offer or request, and technology is not a new concept to us. I am more worried about these ‘terrorists’ you speak of.” Uncharacteristically not in rhyme, Zalune had finally spoken up. 
"I was thinking about something else. The Borg may also be interested in my people as well.” Relikia also spoke.
“Why do you think that?” David asked.
“Well, We Changelings can use Unicornian magic, and if the Borg are interested in the ponies, they may be interested in us as well.”
Apprehensively, David asked, “Changelings?”
"Changelings, my people are called Changelings." 
The Captains and escorts tensed at the word, especially the Klingons. In the Dominion war, the Changelings were the main spies and saboteurs for the Dominion, as well as the “Founders”. The “Founders” were gods to their artificially created races, such as the Vorta and the Jem’Haddar. The infiltration into the Klingon high council, by both the Dominion and the Undine, was still fresh in the minds of many Klingons. With all these new threats, the Klingon empire is on red alert for any signs of honorless Quhame’Quv To be immediately destroyed.
Yeah, Klingons have a tendency to go overboard on everything.
One of David’s guards suddenly spoke. “Changelings, huh? Do you have any subjects, like the Vorta or Jem’Haddar?”
“I...Don’t quite know what you mean by that, but no. We don’t have any subjects  at all.”
“Facinating!” Strangely out of character for David, he pulled out a tricorder and pointed it at Relikia. “So how do you change form, then?”
With a sigh, Relikia stood up and burst into vivid, red flames. Suddenly, what appeared to be Shenek was left standing there.
"This is how we shift.” Her voice had also changed to Shenek’s. While this moderately impressed Tyler and the OMEGA guards, Shenek remained slightly less uninterested while the Klingon guards, showing no emotion thanks to their masked helmets, appeared uneasy. Their weapons were primed.
“Fascinating! A massive energy buildup occurs during shifting, similar to the Undine’s. However, a thin energy field forms around you, creating the appearance of Shenek. Your voice changed as well, is that an anatomic change?”
“Yes, we have separate vocal chords and tracheas.” Relikia said, using her normal voice.
"Intriguing. Can you tell me why you fear the Borg’s involvement now?” The princesses were oddly silent, allowing the various ambassadors learn more about each other’s cultures.
"Well, from what I’ve seen inside Ta'lash’s head, their goal is-"
"Wait... Inside Captain Ta'lash's head? Like mind reading?" David was suddenly no longer pensive, and instead jumped to a more defensive tone. This gained the attention of Tyler and his guards. Shenek, on the other hand, wasn’t surprised. He continued drinking the tea Celestia had suddenly teleported in front of him. He still wasn’t fazed.
"Yes, it was necessary to-" Suddenly, one of the Klingon Guards stepped forward and yelled in an alien tongue. The Equestrian ambassadors couldn’t understand it, but the Universal Translator-linked captains could.
"I knew it! She is another honorless petaQ! This is an outrage! Probing the mind of one of our captains!” The guard thrust his disruptor forward at Relikia, who still had no idea what was going on. David stood up, turned around, and pointed his disruptor pistol at the guard with impossible speed.
“Stand down! Stand DOWN!” David was in a rage, but the guard didn’t show any signs of doing that.
“Captain! She probed the mind of one of our captains! And she uses honorless shapeshifting tactics! That’s why we were in a war with the Federation, because of dishonorable infiltrators!” Luna began to charge her magic, but stopped with the sound of disruptor fire.
The offending guard dropped to the ground, which earned a few startled yelps and a scream from Zalune. David turned to the guard left standing.
“Make sure he stays down, and when we get back to the ship lock him in the brig." The other guard nodded, pointing his rifle at his fallen comrade.
"What?" Asked David, getting annoyed by the stares skewering him from around the room.
"Y-you killed him! You killed your own guard!" Razorclaw exclaimed in disbelief.
“I didn’t kill him, I stunned him. He disobeyed orders, and he was threatening you.” He said, motioning to Relikia. “He will be disciplined appropriately when we return to our ship. Now, let’s continue the meeting.”
"Actually, I think the meeting is over." Said Celestia, for the first time in a while.
“Very well. I will return tomorrow, hopefully with a more obedient guard. Good night, your highnesses.” With a slight bow, he left. His guard, carrying the fallen one, followed shortly after. Darkwing and Razorclaw left as well, just leaving the Human, the Romulan, The Zebrician, and the Changeling. Celestia and Luna remained where they were.
"What just happened? Was that guard was about to kill me?" Relikia looked a little shaken.
“Actually, that was to be expected. Klingons aren’t fond of telepathic species, even if they’re a part of the Empire. The Great Houses were once infiltrated by a shapeshifting species, also called the Changelings, that caused strife between the rulers. Another shapeshifting species, The Undine, also infiltrated the High Council. They were an extremely xenophobic race, that wreaked enough havoc to launch all three of us into an intergalactic war.” Shenek explained, lowering Luna’s blood pressure for a bit, then jacking it right back up.
“What is the plot? Ally with them, why did you not?” The familiar Zebrician rhyming system kicking back into gear.
With a bit of a sigh, Shenek launched into the same explanation he had told countless others. “The Federation tried, but the Changelings were part of the Dominion, a group aiming for total control of the galaxy, starting with us. They created servitor races, namely the Vorta and the Jem’Haddar. That’s what David was asking you about before. They desperately called the Klingon and Romulan empires to join the fight, but the Dominion gained allies of their own. Eventually we won, but there were heavy casualties. The Undine, however, were a different case. Way off in the Delta quadrant, where the Borg are from, they tried to open a rift into a region of subspace called ‘Fluidic Space’, that is inhabited by the Undine. For better or for worse, the Borg’s assimilation nanoprobes were completely ineffective.”
Relikia continued to ponder the situation. “But wouldn’t that be a good thing? Why didn’t you ally with them?”
“They don’t see us like you do. They are extremely xenophobic, which means they see everyone else as a threat. The only want our complete destruction, to ‘cleanse’ and ‘purify’ the galaxy. I’m off to look around for a bit, explore the castle, stuff like that.” With that, he exited, leaving only Tyler at the mercy of the multi-colored friendship equines.
“I’ll be in my shuttle. There are new reports coming  in about the Tal’Shiar, and it’s my duty to review them.” He was about to turn and leave, when Celestia called to him.
"Why don't you stay in the castle for the night? We have some spare rooms." Celestia said, in a motherly tone. Unable to refuse, he nodded.
"I would like that. It also comes as a surprise to me that you physically control the solar and lunar bodies. Is it difficult?” Tyler got up out of his chair and followed the Princesses.
“Oh, that’s nothing when you have thousands of years of practice.” Celestia said with a wink. Expecting surprise on Tyler’s face, she instead got sorrow and understanding.
“Huh. Immortal? It must be hard watching everyone you know grow old and die around you.” He looked down for a bit. “Sorry if that’s annoying you.”
“That isn’t a problem,” Celestia said, soothing as ever, “We’re more interested in you.” The thought of another immortal being flipping through their minds.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you much. Is this the room?”
The princesses nodded. 
"Excellent! I’ll see you tomorrow, princesses.” With a slight bow, he closed the doors.
"He seems to be a good man. What are your thoughts on him?" Celestia asked, turning to her lunar sibling.
"I agree, but is he... you know... an Immortal?" she asked.
"I believe he is, or at least knows the weight of it. Someone close to him died, I can definitely see it in his eyes." They both nodded and returned to their respective duties, waiting in preparation of the next day’s duties. The Equestrian ambassadors would be traveling to the orbiting ships the next day, and they all needed to be well rested.
Canterlot palace, Garden
Shenek was contemplating the moon, studying his surroundings and admiring the beauty of the stars. For some reason, it made him feel... nostalgic? It reminded him of his life as slave for the Romulan Star Empire ‘s Mining Labors, Being part of the Dominion Wars, seeing the rise of Shinzon as Praetor of the empire...
No. The ‘Nostalgia’ was just rage and despair wrapped in a bundle of false emotion. During the Dominion War, his friends were killed in a suicide assault to a Jem'hadar base. He was in the same D’Deridex  battlecruiser.  While he managed to escape the singularity core, his friends weren’t as fortunate. For some reason, he always blamed the Romulans for their deaths.
No. He had a very good reason.
During Shinzon’s reign, he thought it would be different. There was little opposition from the Romulans, and everything seemed good. But Shinzon wanted revenge against the Federation and Humanity by destroying Earth. His flagship, the Scimitar[/], was destroyed by the crew of the Enterprise.
After that, the Romulans returned to power. The Remans didn’t give up, though. They demanded a world where they could live free, but the new praetor didn’t believe in that. There were multiple skirmishes, but, in the end, Donatra gave the Remans full citizenship and a place in the Senate. However, nothing really changed between the two peoples.
That is, until it was discovered that Remus couldn’t be mined for Dilithium anymore. While rejecting the offer for a continent, the Remans accepted the offer for a new homeworld. Thus, the Remans made the move to Crateris.
But everything changed with Xiomec, the Reman General, and Donatra’s disappearance during the Hobus Supernova that destroyed Romulus. Things finally boiled over with the Tal Shiar’s aggressive movements and Sela’s rise to power. 
“So, you’re here in the garden. Normally it’s closed at night, only the Princesses or guards usually come here. He could tell from the voice that it was Relikia, the Changeling ambassador.
“I was so lost I decided to come by the gardens ... And think.” his eyes still fixated on the moon, he was able to feel a similar presence approach from behind him.
"Relikia, Shenek, I wasn't expecting you two here."
“I was just conversing with the Captain here,  Princess. I’m more surprised that you aren’t in the night courts.” Relikia responded.
“Since my return, nopony really goes to the night courts. Most of the royal duties are done by my sister, and thanks to that I’ve had time to learn modern Equestrian. I’ve been keeping up with the customs, and I hope i’ve been successful.” She was a little sad about the night courts thing, but she turned to the Reman captain with a smile in her face. she wanted to learn more about the Remans since the first contact, but her smile faded when she noticed the sadness and hint of anger on the Reman’s face, outlined by the moonlight.
“You seem to have quite the interest in my species, Princess.” He turned to look at the two equines with a fairly neutral expression on his face.
“I’m sorry if I came at a bad time, I can come back later.”
“Oh, I have time. I have already sent my reports to the Admiral, and this is probably your last chance to ask. The Admiral assigned me and my ship to the Zebrician Tal Shiar bases. I’m sorry, but you won’t be seeing me tomorrow.”  Luna looked disappointed.
“Who will be the Republic’s ambassador?” Relikia snapped out of her daze.
“A young captain by the name of Keidak has been selected by the admiral already.”
“When are you coming back” Luna was slightly saddened a bit more. 
“I don’t think I will” He answered very plainly, but that was enough to elicit another reaction, surprise, and then a frown in Luna’s face. Relikia remained stoic, but her disappointment was still evident.
“Wha-Why?” Luna asked. 
“I will be returning to New Romulus afterwards, for supplies, maintenance, a computer overhaul, hull micro-fracture repairs, warp-field calibration, singlularity core replacements and a good deal more. I’m surprised my ship is still functional. We took quite a beating fighting the Borg, and my ship is just a prototype for a new class of ships. Anyway, what are your questions?” Luna looked at him, with a soft smile, happy she would get her questions answered.
“Tell me about the Reman culture. We have a long night for talking.” Luna sat down on a nearby bench with Relikia. Shenek sighed inwardly.
It was going to be a long night.
***
Canterlot Palace, Throne room, Morning
Today was the day for the Equestrian ambassadors. Celestia had written a letter to the Elements, seeing as they were the best candidates for ensuring smooth diplomatic relations with the aliens. The captains all had different opinions of Equestria, her ponies, and their missions. Twilight and her friends were far better qualified for this task.
Luna now couldn’t sleep. Shenek’s tale was frightening. It was also interesting, and she learned much about the Remans. Free from the slavery of the Romulan Star Empire and finally free in the Republic, she felt...happy for them. She learned how the Remans strived for liberty and freedom from the Tal Shiar’s tyranny, Sela’s state-sponsored torture and oppression, and all of the other terrible things the Remans had been forced through.  She also learned more about the Hobus supernova that destroyed Romulus and Remus, killing billions of Romulans and Remans, earning some tears shed from both Luna and Relikia. When Celestia was told of everything, she was surprised and saddened, both by the tale of Shenek’s species, and of the news of his departure. She, however, understood and bid him farewell.
The Princesses began their trek to Canterlot’s central plaza, where they would make an announcement to all of Equestria, making official the relationship between the ponies and their space-faring counterparts. A crowd of ponies, from reporters to buisinessponies were gathered, ready to extend their wealth to the stars, mixed in amongst nobles that wanted news of their loved ones, and others who wished to find a position between the stars they’ve admired all their lives. 
“Ready, Tia?” Luna turned and asked her sister, already on the podium.
"Yes, Lulu... Ahem!" The crowd silenced almost immediately, waiting for the Princess to explain all of the recent occurrences.
“My little ponies...” Celestia began with that familiar phrasing, “Just recently, Equestria was visited by many different beings and empires from the stars and beyond. As you may remember, three days ago, a black sphere descended from that same space and wreaked devastating destruction upon everything in its path. Not even the most powerful magic under my command could halt it.” She lifted the shawl she had had draped over her back, revealing an ugly line of scar tissue where her once majestic wing had been.
“I was dying, and in our darkest hour, heinous machinations began to appear from the sphere. They began to abduct us, using us to create more of them. There was nothing we could do. But then, a miracle occurred.” As she said that, a rippling woosh could be heard from the sky, and a sizable portion of Canterlot was covered with a bird-like shadow. It was Shenek’s Ha’Feh warbird decloaking and leaving orbit. It rose into the sky, it’s powerful green impulse engines thrumming away. It rose into the air, getting smaller and smaller, until it stopped. It lingered for a second, and then suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but two very long, green streaks.
"What was that? It looked like a giant bird!"
"A bird?! It was too big to be a bird!”
"I remember that, it’s the alien spaceship that repelled the sphere!"
Many of the ponies chittered and whispered amongst themselves, until the Princess caught their attention with a very audible chuckle.
“That....” She said, motioning with her hoof upward at the now-vanishing warp trails, “Was the miracle. Well, a third of it. The aliens came to our aid and stood victorious against the machines.” She stood there, looking over the stunned ponies, until a lone hoof drifted up out of the crowd. “Yes?”
“What were those machines? And what did they want?” The reporter seemed to be asking out of his own curiosity, rather than that of his employer’s.
“They are called the Borg. They’ve augmented themselves with machinery, to make themselves better. But their mistake was letting it into their minds. They’re all linked into a collective ‘hive mind’, and they strive for perfection by ‘assimilating’ individuals or even whole planets to gain their knowledge. These people become mindless drones, set out through the control of the collective to assimilate others and gain their knowledge. Each drone is a victim of the collective’s twisted goal of perfection and total assimilation.” The ponies began to mutter amongst themselves about yet another existence-threatening apocalypse. Luna stepped forwards and began to speak.
“What my sister is trying to say is that an evil race of machines is here for the sole purpose of our enslavement, to use us to conquer the galaxy. Not as ponies, but as a part of their mind. Thankfully, they were repelled by heroes from three intergalactic empires. We owe our lives to the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, and the New Romulan Republic.”