"So these 'runabouts' are just smaller versions of your ships?"
"Pretty much. They're not as powerful as a starship, nor do they have extensive medical or scientific facilities, but they're quite useful to get to distant places that don't require a starship," Barrington explained to Princess Luna, as they and the two other Starfleet officers walked back to the Thames. The Princess had asked several questions, which Barrington had been happy to answer.
"We also have four auxilary craft that we call 'work bees', which we use to repair any major damage to a starship or station, or to assemble structures in space," Telev added, taking part in the conversation. Velik walked behind the others, tricorder in hand as he performed various scans.
"Your ship must have a large hanger, if it is supposed to fit in all of these smaller ships," Princess Luna commented in awe.
"Actually, the Akira's hangar isn't as large as our sister ships. It helps that half of our hangar craft are quite small, the other half consists of our fighters, a couple of runabouts and a long range recon vessel." The Princess nodded in understanding, before frowning.
"Long range recon vessel...?" She asked inquisitively.
"A ship no bigger than a fighter, built for scouting a sector of space and harder to detect than a starship," Telev answered. They soon arrived at the runabout, Telev walking over to the door on the side of the ship and unlocking it, allowing the young Andorian and Velik inside.
"We'll just be a minute, your majesty," Barrington told the Princess, before he too ducked inside.
Telev was at the helm checking screen data, and Velik could be heard gathering items in the back. Barrington took a seat at the co-pilot's console and brought the ship's communications online.
"Thames to Akira, we have made successful contact with the Equestrians," Barrington said, activating a comm channel.
"This is Akira, we copy that captain," Lenara responded, an image of her in the captain's chair appearing on the console.
"Has there been any new activity?" Barrington asked.
"Not really sir, but we did have a hiccup with the sensors."
"A 'hiccup', commander?" Barrington arched an eyebrow.
"We're not sure what it was, it could be a byproduct of the system's unusual gravitational field..."
"Or it could be a cloaked ship." Barrington interjected, and the commander looked worried.
"We'll run a full sensor scan, and we have a diagnostic in progress. If there is a cloaked ship out there, we'll find it."
"Excellent, keep me aprised."
"Aye sir." Barrington was about to close the comm channel, when Lenara spoke up again. "There is one last thing sir. Lieutenant Quigly wanted to take the Kaneda out to see if he could detect anything beyond the system and the wormhole, for any evidence of other star systems or deep space objects." Barrington sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead.
"Tell Quigly permission denied. He can send as many probes as he wants out, but no one sets foot, or paw in his case, off the ship."
"Aye sir, but he won't like it," Lenara said, smiling slightly.
"Too bad. Barrington out." He deactivated the comm channel and sighed, not looking forward to the eventual confrontation with the Caitian.
Getting out of his seat, Barrington moved to the back of the runabout, passing Velik, who had several cases slung over his shoulder and in his hands. He went to his bunk, where a standard issue case with shoulder strap sat. Slinging it onto his shoulder, Barrington took a look around the runabout.
Telev and Velik were no longer aboard, having grabbed their belongings and left already. After a final glance, he powered down the ship, with the only light source filtering through the front windows of the ship. He walked outside, pausing to close the door and locking it, before joining his fellow officers and Equestrian royalty.
"We should have everything we need. Shall we head to our rooms?" Barrington enquired.
"We shall. Come, your rooms are not far away," Princess Luna replied, leading them back to the castle.
--------
Captain's Log: supplemental
So far, the hospitality of the Equestrians has been exemplilary. We have been given sizeable guest rooms with en-suite facilities and balcony access with a spectacular view of the countryside below. They had invited us to dinner, and provided for our dietry requirements to the best of their abilities.
My science officer has reported that the 'magic' that seems to exist around us is actually moving, according to his scans. He is planning to run further tests tomorrow.
Our designated pilot has also reported that he has made a new friend in the form of a member of the local Equestrian guard. He is going on a tour of their barracks here at the castle tomorrow, which would help give us an inkling to the capabilities of their armed forces.
I myself have a busy day of diplomatic negotiations tomorrow with the two rulers and the Equestrian Nobility. Hopefully these talks won't last too long, and that we can have a chance of relaxation.
Barrington finished typing his report and placed the PADD down on the table beside his bed. Checking around one last time around the room, making sure his uniform was neatly folded on the chair provided, his combadge placed next to the PADD, and that the room was secure, he got under the covers of his bed and relished the feeling of a soft and comfy bed. It had been a long time since he had slept in a bed like this, the last time was...
Barrington shook the grim feeling aside and turned onto his side, trying to get some rest.
--------
"This better be important gents," Lenara stated firmly as she strode into the briefing room, where Cameron, Hurglay and Quigly, who was filling in for Velik, waited for her. Cameron snickered and Hurglay raised an eyebrow, noticing that the commander was wearing her uniform jacket over her nightgown. Quigly scowled at everyone in the room, obviously not pleased by the commander's attire and his colleagues' reaction.
"We have finished our diagnostic of the sensors and have completed a full scan of an area of one light year," Quigly stated roughly, as Lenara took a seat at the head of the table.
"What did you find?" The first officer asked.
"That the hiccup with the sensors is not a technical problem. They definitely picked up something out there," Hurglay replied. "And whatever it is, it's cloaked."
"Are you sure about that?" Lenara asked, looking worried.
"Definitely. Whatever it is, it has a perfect cloak. We wouldn't have been able to detect it under normal circumstances," Hurglay said. Lenara gave them a confused glance.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"The gravitational field of this star system is in a constant state of fluctual tension, which is caused by the movement of this system's sun. Every two hours or so, there is a particular shift of the field and the ship is hit by a minor gravitational wave as the stellar masses shift positions. This same wave is also impacting against the cloaked object out there, since it's cloak doesn't protect it from physical impacts." Quigly explained, to which Lenara nodded in understanding.
"Do you know who it is out there?" She asked.
"Not a clue. The impacts from the wave are just enough to register on our sensors, but not enough to know the size or shape of the object," Cameron said.
"But we worked out a way to use the main phaser array to emit a low photon field, which would be only a fraction of the power of a phaser blast." Hurglay began, letting Quigly to finish off.
"This field would be dispersed across the distance between us and the object, and should hopefully tell us what it is in more detail." Lenara nodded thoughtfully, running the idea in her head.
"Would they be able to detect this photon field?" She asked.
"They shouldn't," Hurglay said.
"We think," Cameron added.
"...alright, do it. Let me know when you have something." The officers nodded. "Dismissed." Hurglay and Cameron filed out, but Quigly moved to block Lenara from leaving.
"Commander, about my request-"
"Permission denied, Quigly. Straight from the captain," Lenara interrupted, making the Caitian scowl once more.
"I don't recall asking the captain about my request, commander. I asked you," he said rather firmly.
"And I asked the captain, and he said no, lieutenant," Lenara replied with equal firmness, matching his scowl.
"I asked the current commanding officer of this ship, which is you. Not the captain."
"I may be the CO of the ship right now, but the captain is in charge of the mission. Your request could jepordize the mission and endanger the lives of this crew and those on the planet. The last thing we need is to draw attention, so I'll say it again: permission denied." Quigly was about to challenge the matter further but Lenara interrupted him again.
"Drop this subject and don't bring it up again, understood?" The two stared off at each other, either one dating the other to make a move.
After what seemed like an age, Quigly finally relented, backing off. "Understood, sir." With a swish of his tail he stormed out of the briefing room, leaving Lenara alone. Sighing, and after a minute to compose herself, Lenara left the room.
--------
Chirp-chirp
Chirp-chirp
Barrington grumbled, reaching an arm out from the bed and tapped his combadge. "Responding," he said gruffly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Ah, captain. Good morning," Velik replied, making Barrington scowl in annoyance.
"Velik! Don't you know what time it is?" The captain asked in annoyance, looking through the gap between the curtains that covered the doorway to the balcony.
"Approximately 0637, local time, sir. Revaltively early for most, it seems." Barrington sighed, bringing the palm of his hand to his face.
"What do you want..." he yawned, not yet awake enough to be dealing with the Vulcan science officer.
"The Equestrian Princesses have requested our presence at the main balcony by 0700. They wish to show us something," Velik replied, making Barrington shoot out of bed.
"Understood. I'll be there shortly," Barrington said, as he quickly began changing out of his night clothes and into his uniform. Barely five minutes later, he was zipping up his grey and black jacket over his red command shirt, making sure that the four pips signifying his rank were neatly in place, and attaching his utility belt which held his tricorder. Grabbing his PADD, he hurried out of his room, where a guard was waiting to escort him to the Princesses.
After a short walk through the darkened castle, Barrington was led out onto a spacious balcony that overlooked the castle grounds, where the Thames could be seen clearly, and the city beyond. Awaiting him were the two Princesses and his two officers.
"My apologies for my late arrival, your majesties," Barrington said as he approached them, pausing to bow momentarily.
"Oh it's alright captain. I have to wake my sister, or she'll sleep until noon," Princess Celestia replied with a warm smile as Princess Luna shot her elder sister an embarrassed scowl.
"My first officer does that with me as well. Sometimes, I wish I could just stay in bed all day," he commented, returning the smile.
"Oh, I know that feeling..." Celestia said, before turning her focus to the darkened sky, where the moon hung low over the horizon. "Now then, to the reason why I called you all here. You all know that my sister and I control our sun and moon?"
"How could we not?" Barrington answered.
"Well, the purpose of us all being here is for you to witness how we do it." At Celestia's statement, Barrington and Velik both whipped out their tricorders in record timing, flipping them open. Telev noticed this and reached for his own, clumsily trying to turn it on, and dropping it. He got there in the end, much to the amusement of the Princesses and a guard hanging by the doorway, whilst his superiors looked at him with a frown.
"Sister, it is time," Princess Luna said, and Celestia nodded. Both Princess turned to face the horizon together, both of them extending their great, feathery wings. The officers began to scan them, as Princess Luna slowly flapped her wings and ascended into the air, rising several meters off the balcony, before stopping. Her horn then ignited, covered in a shimmering light as she pointed it at the moon.
Slowly, Luna began to descend, bringing the moon down with her. The moment she touched back down on the balcony, the moon disappeared below the horizon. She stepped back, allowing Celestia to ignite her own horn with a similar, shimmering light and pointing it at the horizon. Slowly, she began her ascent, lifting the sun gracefully over and above the horizon, before slowly lowering herself back down. The sun was now low in the sky, and ascending at its own pace, as she turned to face the Starfleet officers. The more emotionally inclined of the three were wide eyed with awe, glancing between the Princesses, the sun, and their tricorders. The third of their party merely raised an eyebrow and muttered the word "fascinating".
--------
"Good morning folks," Lenara said as she made her way from the turbolift to the captain's chair, this time in her full uniform. "Are you sure it's ready?"
"Yes sir, we can begin whenever," Hurglay answered, mannin the tactical console behind the captain's chair.
"Alright, let's light 'em up." Hurglay nodded and pressed buttons on his console.
Outside, the main phaser array, that circled around the saucer section of the ship in the form of a thin black line, started to glow orange.
"It's working. Main phaser array is active. Partical count within the photon field is holding steady at four thousand particular per micrometer." Hurglay reported.
"Sensors have picked up something..." Ensign Delare reported from the ops console, next to the helm. "The particals have impacted the object. From what I can tell, it's shape appears to be mostly spherical, roughly 2 meters in diameter."
"Run it through the database, see what you can come up with," Lenara ordered, as she stared at the view screen that showed the starry expanse in which the object was hidden.
"Uh, commander? The object's moving..." Delare said looking confused.
"Damn! It must've detected the photon field." Hurglay snorted in frustration, slamming his fist down upon the console.
"Can we fire phasers?" Lenara asked.
"Not from this angle, it'd take too long to reconfigure the phaser strip," Hurglay replied.
"Right. Dennis, manoeuvre us around so we can use the stern starboard phaser strip."
"Aye sir," Clarke said, altering the ship's position.
"It's decloaking!" Delare exclaimed, as an image of a somewhat spherical green craft shimmered into existence upon the view screen.
"Tactical assessment," Lenara ordered, rising from her seat.
"Got it, it's a Romulan infiltrator drone. It has a cloaking device, type III shields and a point defense laser. A direct phaser blast should disable it," Hurglay reported.
"Good, fire when ready."
"Aye." Hurglay pressed a button, and a thin orange beam shot out from a phaser strip resting on a connecting joint between the nacelle arm, weapons pod support pylon, and the bridge that connected the rear of the ship with the saucer section.
The beam struck the object, lasting for a mere moment, before ceasing, leaving the stricken probe to drift aimlessly in space.
"The probe is disabled. Damage appears to be minimal," Delare reported. Lenara released a sigh, before rising out of her chair.
"Excellent. Transport it to the hangar bay and have an engineering team ready to crack it open. I'll be down there to lend a hand. You have the bridge Semias," Lenara stated, marching to the turbolift.
--------
"Of all the things I've seen... That has to be the most interesting thing I have witnessed in all my years of service," Barrington murmured, still in awe from the events of earlier. The three officers plus escorting guard were heading to the dining hall to have breakfast, before they started their various tasks for the day.
"Indeed. That was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity," Veliksaid, nodding in agreement
"Well, all this scientific data we collected should keep you busy for quite some time at least, lieutenant," Barrington said to Velik, who nodded once again. They rounded a corner, and the two were startled by a yelp from their third in their party. They turned to see Telev on his back on the floor, having collided with something.
That something turned out to be a Unicorn pony wearing an expensive and regal looking outfit, who was on hs rump and scowling from the impact.
"Bah! Who dares to block my way?! I'll have you arrested for such travesty you-!" The pony began, standing up and looking at Telev, before halting his speech abruptly. He stared in confusion, which escalated to horror when Telev got back to his feet, putting him twice the height of the pony.
"M-m-m-m-monster!" The pony squealed, back-pedaling away from the Andorian. Spotting the group's guard escort, he seized the armoured pony and dragged the poor guard in front of himself. "Defend me guard! Slay that monster before it kills us all!"
"Sir...?" Telev asked in confusion and worry, to which Barrington raised a hand to stay put, as he slowly crouched in front of the scared pony.
"We're sorry, we didn't mean to scare you. My name is Barrington, and these are my friends. We're from a very faraway place, and we mean you no harm," he said peacefully, and the pony seemed to relax just a little, loosening his grip on the guard. But it lasted for a second, before the pony shoved the guard at Barrington, sending the two into a heap on the floor as the pony ran away quickly down the hallway, screaming about monsters.
"Sir! Are you okay?" Telev asked with worry as he and Velik helped the guard and starship captain up respectively.
"I'm fine ensign, don't worry about me. Are you okay, miss...?" Barrington asked the guard, as she straightened her armour.
"Solar Wind, sir. Private Solar Wind," the Pegasus replied, ruffling her wings to make sure they were okay. "I must apologise for Prince Blueblood's actions. He is... Not very considerate of others."
"Ah, it's alright private. His reaction is not uncommon for us on diplomatic missions. But as Princess Celestia's son, shouldn't he have known of our presence here?" Barrington asked Solar Wind, who looked taken aback at first from the question, before bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
"Oh sweet Celestia... You think that- oh! No sir, he is not either of the princesses' offspring." Solar wind managed to say once she had stopped laughing. "Princess Celestia is only his surrogate aunt. His position of power is like that of any other noble."
"Then he would most likely be at the negotiation table then," Barrington summarized thoughtfully.
"Captain, I'm sorry for that incident. I didn't see him round the corner and-" Barrington raised a hand to stop Telev.
"It's fine, ensign. It was a accident. Now then, shall we continue? We're missing breakfast." The others nodded, and they started to make their way to the dining hall.
Luckily there were no other incidents, and they arrived at the dining hall, where their breakfast sat ready on plates at their places at the table. They ate in silence, before separating to perform their various duties for the day. Solar Wind, Telev's new friend, escorted him to the barracks, whereas Barrington was shown by another guard back to his quarters to change into his dress uniform, and Velik seemed to have wandered off somewhere, last sen with his tricorder In his hand and being slowly waved around.
--------
"We'll commander, you sure do like bringing me all these fancy Romulan toys, don'tcha? Just last week, I remember you giving me a Romulan antimatter generator to fiddle around with. Now I get a state of the art reconnaissance drone- with explosive booby traps no less!" Chief engineer lieutenant commander Toby Wight teased as he stood back from the dark green almost-spherical drone, several of its panels missing and bundles of cables dangling out as the engineering team worked to safely disarm the drone. "If I didn't know you better, I'd say you were hittin' on me," he added coyly, to which Lenara rolled her eyes at the Texan, despite her smile.
"Don't get your hopes up, cowboy. Concentrate on not adding a new exit for the hangar bay," she said. Wight sighed, still smiling, as he crouched back down beneath the drone, which was suspended in a hazy blue glow from the ceiling.
"Yeah, give me a sec... Ah ha!" He exclaimed, leaping up with a small black cube in his hand. "Got it: the primary detonator for any explosive traps to stop pesky Starfleet engineers like us from tampering. Not so tamper-proof now, aren'tcha?" He sneered at the detonator, shaking it, before tossing it at an engineer, who clumsily caught it. "Should be safe to access it's main computer now."
"Great job as always, cowboy." Wight nodded at the compliment, standing back to allow Lenara access to one of the exposed panels. Pulling out her tricorder and crouching down, she began to wirelessly access the drone's computer core. After several minutes of beating through the security software, she finally gained access to its data logs, transmitting them from her tricorder to the ship's main computer, in a quarantined location. Standing back up, she holstered her tricorder and started to stride away from the drone, saying "she's all yours" to Wight as she passed him.
After exiting the hangar, she quickly made her way to the nearest turbolift, riding it up two decks and stepping off near the computer lab; her destination. Upon entering the lab, she took a seat at one of the lab's consoles, bringing up the downloaded Romulan data stored in quarantine. After running a scan to check if the data had any hidden computer viruses, and seeing it was clean, she began to browse through the data.
--------
Barrington straightened his dress uniform, making sure it looked as neat and presentable as it should. Usually he would have preferred to wear his normal uniform- almost every time he had to wear a dress uniform, it was for informing families of lost crew members or attending funerals -but with the balance of power of the galaxy resting firmly on his shoulders, he decided that a formal approach to the negotiations would show the respect and seriousness of these life changing moments.
Attaching his combadge to the uniform, he looked around the room, before checking the time on his PADD, which was set to match the clocks on the planet. Seeing that it was nearly time for the meeting with the princesses and the nobles, he stepped out of his room and out into the hallway, where a guard was waiting to escort him to the meeting.
They walked in silence as they. Weaves through the castle's many halls, ascending a flight of stairs to an upper level at one point. Eventually, they arrived outside a set of mahogany doors, where Princess Celestia and Pincess Luna were waiting.
"Captain Barrington, I must compliment you on your outfit. It suits you very well," Princess Luna said, smiling. Barrington tried not to show any unease at the compliment, managing to return the smile, which Princess Luna accepted. But he saw out of the corner of his eye that her sister had noticed and had frowned at him, if only for a brief moment, before returning to express her calm and regal manner.
"I do apologise for our lack of formal wear, our tailor is currently indisposed at this current time," Princess Celestia said, drawing the captain's attention.
"It's quite alright, your majesty. You both look stunning with or without formal attire," Barrington replied, his smile now genuine. Both the Princesses nodded at the compliment, and a small rosy tint could just be discernible on the darker alicorn's cheeks.
"Why thank you captain. Are you ready to start the meeting?" Princess Celestia asked, to which Barrington nodded. "Excellent. Please wait here until we call you in." Nodding to her sister, the two princesses each grasped a handle of the two doors and opened them, stepping through.
"My dearest ponies, today we take a bold step into a new world. One full of prosperity, and a chance for Equestria to develop and evolve in ways we could never have imagined. Today marks the first diplomatic meeting between our fair nation, and one from beyond the stars, with hopes that we can forge an alliance with our new friends." Barrington listened as Princess Celestia gave her speech to the occupants of the room. "So without further ado, please welcome Richard Barrington: captain of the starship Akira and representative of the United Federation of Planets." Taking that as his cue, Barrington walked into the room.
It was a circular chamber, with the majority oft he space taken up by a large, circular wooden table, surrounded by seats. Various ponies, all unicorns, sat within these seats, with only three vacant. Two very regal looking cushions for the princesses, and a delicate looking lavender cushion for himself. All eyes of the roo were upon him, all varying from a degree of curiosity to slight fear. The princesses smiled at the gathered nobles, as silence reigned supreme.
Then one of the nobles abruptly stood up, staring at Barrington with a mix of fear and anger. "Auntie, how date you let this... Thing in here! I demand it be removed at once, or this 'meeting' is over!" The pony shouted, whom Barrington recognised as Prince Blueblood, taking the whole room by surprise. Then, several of the nobles also stood up, joining Prince Blueblood in voicing their opinions. The princesses's smiles faltered into worried frowns, as Barrington sighed internally.
It was going to be a long day...