After a pleasant two pony performance Octavia and Trixie lay in bed together resting. The long day had worn them out but they knew it was only a matter of time before the Haymaker would appear to assist them. The crew would need them to be strong.
Octavia wondered what Trixie had in mind for when the Haymaker arrived. If she knew Trixie she would have some crazy scheme thought up for any problem or more than likely she'd just wing it as she always did. One thing that upset the mare was Trixie's tendency to fly by the seam of her pants in everything she did. From her habit to acting impulsively, hence why they were here in the first place.
When they got back Octavia knew she'd have to tell her superiors what happened but feared telling the whole truth. She knew Trixie worked hard to get her command but it was her responsibility to report anything she felt was a danger to the crew and the ship to them. But if Trixie hadn't done what she did would the loss of life been greater?
She didn't know what to think. All she knew was she needed to get use to being in command, because Trixie wouldn't always be there to lead and as the Second Officer it would inevitably fall to her to lead the Hydra and crew in time of great peril.
She rolled over deep in thought getting a good look at the blue mare beside her. She smiled nuzzling her. Suddenly the alarms sounded and there came a beeping from beside the bed. Trixie's personal communicator was beeping signaling a message. Trixie reached over picking it up with her magic. Holding it in her aura she let open a second layer of magic pushing the ATC.
"Trixie here."
A second voice mistakable Lyra's came from the speaker. "Captain, the Haymaker is here and we need you on the bridge ASAP. We have trouble."
"On my way!" she replied shoving the device into her uniform pocket. "Come on, Octy! Duty calls!"
"I'm right behind you!"
The two mares made their way out of the room and down the halls of the ship heading straight for the bridge. Once there, after an intense climb for Trixie, the two commanding ponies took their positions at the center of the bridge.
"What's the situation?" Trixie asked Lyra.
"The Haymaker is under attack ma'am! It's the aliens from before." she said ominously.
Trixie and Octavia looked uneasily at one another. The aliens they defeated from before with ships that potentially had antimatter reactors of some sort. It made them feel uneasy. Trixie hit the internal comm. directing it towards engineering. After a quiet beep, she paused allowing the signal to reach its destination.
"Bridge to Lt Commander Pie."
"Pinkie here, Captain." the pink ponies high pitched voice squealed over the speaker.
Trixie's mane stood on end as did Octavia's to the shearing loudness of the voice over the speaker. Rubbing her ears Trixie spoke quietly into the speaker.
"Lt. Commander, are the torpedoes ready this time?" she asked in a serious tone.
Another brief pause passed before a calmed voice of Pinkie replied, "Yes Captain. I anticipated another attack and made weapons and shields a priority. We still don't have the ion cannon and shields are only at 68%"
Trixie nodded to Octavia who nodded back walking behind 3rd of 5, and whispered in his ear. The Hydra began to leave the asteroid ring and headed further outside the system while Trixie continued her conversation to the Lt Commander.
"Good work, Lt. Commander!" she said praising the mare. "Now, work on the-" BOOM!
The ship shook as green bolts of energy hit the port side of the ship. Three more bolts hit its port engine while a smaller ship flew over it fleeing from two green ships identical to the one that attacked Jansis 12.
The Haymaker. It wasn't the biggest ship in the Equis fleet but it wasn't the smallest. Of all the ships in the fleet the Haymaker was unique even for its class, the NX-17D. It was a special variant of the NX-17 which boasted heavy armor and a new experimental shield design. It was one of the most heavily armored ships, even more than the Hydra. While the Hydra had better shield ratings all across the board it had about half the amount in armor. Out of all the ships in the fleet, it was the only one that didn't look like a tube of metal with rockets strapped to its side.
The ship looked like a giant wart with two larger oval shaped ones under it as the main engines. Several smaller ones littered the main oval shaft of the craft. At the front was several antenna structures that was part to the external communication devices, before they started putting them inside the ship in the NX-19s.
Its shields turned a blue hue as the smaller craft circled around the Hydra while the smaller green ships turned hard about staying side by side retreating some distance before turning again to face down the Hydra and the Haymaker, which was now beside the saber shaped ship.
In the hydra's bridge Lyra was hard at work at her station when she received an incoming transmission. Slipping her headset around her neck she turn d in her seat to face her COs in their chairs.
"Captain! Incoming transmission, its the captain of the Haymaker!"
Trixie and Octavia looked at each other nodding.
"Put it through." Trixie ordered.
Lyra quickly slipped her headset back over her ears activating the main view screen. The image of the green crafts disappeared and was replaced by one with a pony at the center. The bridge of her ship in the background looked heavily damaged. Ponies ran all over back and forth as a large panel fell from above missing the mare in the center by inches. The mare was purple with a darker purple mane with a single pink highlight.
Trixie and the mare gasped initially seeing one another, but their expressions turned to hard glares as they both did their best to burn holes in each others heads.
"Lulamoon."
"Sparkle."
*Enterprise*
Captains star log stardate November 10th 2154. Enterprise has been in pursuit of the alien craft known as the Hydra with our, hopefully equine friends. After a great and lengthy conversation with Starfleet Command, we were sent out to find them, however, their jump methods have left us with no leads. As luck would have it they reemerged just outside our listening post at Pluto.
Hopefully we'll be able to get their cremates back to them and we can discuss compensation for their invaluable services and the damage they sustained.
Commander Charles Tucker III.
Chief Engineer of Enterprise and one of the best Engineers in all of Star Fleet.
He has served on the Enterprise all his career and had a brief stay on the USS Columbia the Enterprises sister ship commanded by Captain Erika Hernandez. He was tall and proud of his work. The engine of the Enterprise was his baby and no one dared tell him otherwise. Besides, the man practically lived in that said engine. He knew where every bolt, and beam was that he could disassemble it in his sleep if he wanted too.
He was humming to himself as he walked along the corridors heading back to his quarters. He was happy today. His engine was in perfect condition, and his replacement was already a master of the engine. With all that, he also had a great meal the chef made for him and with a happy belly he was ready to take a nice long nap he was long overdue for.
Now, he was not one to gripe about anything. At home back on Earth he was raised to be a proper gentleman and always took what was given to him with dignity and grace. Not to mention thankful. But today would prove that even he had his limits. Captain Archer, captain of the Enterprise had mandated that several crew members would be doubling up with their equine allies. Many refused to house the, animals, in their personal quarters but Commander Tucker was happy to take a few of them in, provided they didn't stink the place up.
It took some time but a few of the crew finally gave in, some, but few, were initially willing to allow the equines into their quarters. He was happy to allow two of them to stay together in his knowing it would probably upset them if they were separated. But when he entered his quarters something seemed off.
Immediately he heard moaning and screaming coming from his bathroom.
At first he was sure one of the equines was being hurt, possibly by one of the human crew, but then he heard loud grunts and moans from another voice, male.
"OH, hell no." he swore under his breath. "They are not..."
He marched towards the closed door opening it. The shower was running hot. Steam ruched out hitting his face making him feel a tinge of sweat over his brow. The screams and moans intensified as he entered the steamy room. To his left the shower was on and the curtains drawn. He stood in front of the curtain with his hands on his hips shaking his head.
He waited. For a minute until the screams got to their climax, then he quickly opened the curtains revealing two ponies, a mare and stallion, sandwiched against the wall.
The stallion was pushing his lower body up into the mares, who was twice his height and was standing upright leaning against the wall with her tongue hanging to the side. When the curtain was drawn back the stallion squeaked loudly retracting himself from the mare who turned to face him, then Tucker with an angry scowl.
The stallion however at least had the decency to look embarrassed doing his best to cover himself while the other two had a awkward face off.
The stallion, Scope, silently crept to dry himself while Pansy growled at Tucker. "Did you really have to interrupt?!'' she bellowed at the human shaking her hoof. "I was so close!"
But Tucker didn't even flinch. Keeping his right hand cupped at his sides he turned off the shower off with his left never blinking.
"No, there will be none of this," he gestured to the two ponies. "None! OF this in my shower or quarters! Now, I'm letting you two stay out of kindness and hospitality. All I ask is you don't go rutting each other in my shower. Take it somewhere else."
Just as the mare was about to retort, Scope scooted up to her, nuzzling her chin with his muzzle giving her a pleading look. The mare rolled her eyes pulling him closer and rubbed his mane.
"Fine. But if you interrupt us again I'll turn you inside out." Pansy threatened.
The human rolled his eyes walking out of the bathroom. "Just make yourselves decent and please, please don't do this again."
He then left closing the door behind him with Scope at his heels. The small stallion was about half his height and could easily be mistaken for a house pet. At the corner of the room was a pile of armor from both ponies. Their weapons were safely stored in the armory along with the human compilation of arms and weaponry.
Taking off his jumpsuit uniform, Tucker threw it into a retractable chute were his dirty uniforms were stored until cleaned. Scope went to lay in a small makeshift bed where he and Pansy were going to sleep. The stallion stood on the bed circleing it twice before lying down curled up like a cat and watched as Tucker put on some shorts.
A minute later the human realized the pony was staring at him, making him feel exposed.
"You mind turning around?" Tucker asked Scope, making a twirl of his hand.
It took a minute for the young pony to realize what he meant. Blushing he averted his gaze by shifting his body to where he was facing the wall.
"Sorry mate." he said quickly. "I didn't know your species was so keen on privacy."
"Well, don't you? I mean, doesn't you kind care about decency in public?"
"Actually, most ponies and, others of my home world don't usually wear clothes. They're more for the elite and the ones who do jobs that require them. Take me for example," he endeavored to explain as Tucker listened after finished dressing up. "I'm a solider, a private, in a famous military group known as MARES."
"MARES? As in a female horse?" Tucker asked without thinking.
"Actually horses are on my world but the term mares is universal for all equine species on my world." he pasued. "Are you decent?"
"Yeah, you can look now." Tucker chuckled.
Scope turned around to preposition himself on the plush bed. "As I was saying, MARES is an acronym for Mare Assault Recon and Espionage Squads. They are the best of the best all around fighter Equis has."
"Equis? Really?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is everything on your world a pun of some kind?" Tucker asked in an almost sarcastic tone.
"Not everything. There are all sorts of beings and creatures on my world." he held up his hoof as if to count on it. "Let's see there are three types of ponies, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns."
That caught Tuckers attention. "Right I remember some of your friends were unicorns, but pegasai?"
"It's plural for a pegasus."
"Oh, right I see." he said leaning back on the bed. "Please, continue."
Tucker was indeed fascinated by the little equine. He always loved to learn about new cultures, and here he was getting the crash course. It was truly amazing how something from human lore was common on his planet, Equis.
"Now as I was saying, three pony tribes, then there are griffins, dragons but they tend to keep to themselves. Then there are like I said, horses, oh yes and of course the changelings!"
"Changelings?"
"Hmm. Perhaps I shall start from the beginning?"
"Oh, please don't bore the poor human with your dull history lessons." came a snarky voice from Pansy.
The mare had a smug grin while the stallion scowled at her.
"My lessons aren't boring! You're just a muscle headed dunderhead!" he retorted.
Pansy rolled her eyes walking over to him and poked his forehead making him fall over. "Clutz." she said sitting beside him.
Jerkoff." Scope retorted to her.
"Bet you'd love that wouldn't you?" she asked in her best sultry voice.
That tanked it for Tucker. "That's it you've officially overstayed your welcome!"
With that he picked up the mare, her arms flailed as she screamed and kicked wildly with no effect.
"Unhoof me you ruffian! I am a dignified dainty mare! Release me at once! Scope! SCOOOPE! Help!"
The small stallion smirked waving to his friend as she was carried out of the room like a pet. She growled grinding her teeth as she swore unholy vengeance on the stallion. Tucker carried her through the ship until he reached another room. He pressed a button on the control panel making a chiming noise. Pansy was still kicking and demanding her release all up to this point.
Now she was silent wondering what the human was going to do with her. A moment later a voice called over a speaker telling him to enter. The door slid open and inside was a small quaint room. Candles littered every corner and at the center was a large glass table with a woman sitting on her knees in front of the table. She wore long black robes and her ears and eye brows were pointed, she looked as though she was just in prayer when she was interrupted.
The woman stood up to greet her visitors. "Commander. It's agreeable to see you again."
"T'pol I have a favor to ask." he said holding out his arms and dropping Pansy on the floor.
The mare bounced once on her bottom, she rubbed the sore spot on her bum tenderly shooting a menacing glare at him before turning her attention to the woman.
"What is this?" T'pol asked looking down at the pony.
"Her names Pansy. And she's a guest along with the other equines, er... I caught her and her... partner doing-private business in my bathroom"
Pansy groaned smacking her face with her hooves. "Good lord just say it human! We were fu-"
"MATING! They were mating in mah shower. Please keep her until we reach their ship T'pol I can handle the other, but this one..." he shook his head.
The woman nodded gesturing for the mare to sit across from her, as she herself sat down on the pillow again. Pansy looked up at Tucker who also pointed to a second pillow and she made her way to sit on it. It was soft and very plush. She liked it. Shortly after T'pol introduced herself and Tucker made his way back to his quarters, where he found the stallion fast asleep. He smiled thinking the pony was almost dog like. Slowly he crept towards his bed and slipped under the covers, his head rested on the soft pillow as he thought how strange his day was.
Then again, strange was exactly what he signed up for. He lay there for ten minutes before sleep finally took him for a ride down the road to dream land.