//------------------------------// // Clash of Titans // Story: Adventures Across Space // by zalla661 //------------------------------// The Empress glared down on the Vice Admiral. The grey pegasus was shivering in fear under her rulers intense glare. She had not thought of who to blame should Twilight betray her. Though she expected it from the ambitious unicorn. She thought that perhaps it would have been better for her to tell the truth of the Admirals betrayal? In either case it was done. Quickly she thought back on a list of ponies who would have wanted to see Admiral Twilight dead. It was a very long list, but most of the candidates were either deceased or deathly loyal to the Empress such that the thought of offing her prized student wasn’t an option. In fact, the only other pony who tried to kill the former Admiral, aside from herself, was Captain Trixie. It was well known in the Empire of their rivalry, but neither went so far as to outright try and kill the other. Then she remembered the fight Twilight made to capture Trixie. Composing herself, the Vice Admiral adjusted her collar with her hoof and looked up at her Empress with a straight face. “She, that is Admiral Twilight was killed in a firefight while trying to capture Trixie on her ship,” Derpy lied. “We think there might have been a mutiny aboard the Hydra.” “A mutiny?” The dark blue alicorn asked incredulously. “I find that hard to believe with such a loyal crew.” The white unicorn across from her spoke up saying, “I agree with my Aunt Luna, Vice Admiral. It seems highly unlikely that such a thing would happen on, Lulu’s, ship.” The two pink alicorns nodded in agreement with him. Vice Admiral Derpy sighed, “Be that as it may be, Regent Blueblood, the fact is that the Admiral was killed, shot to death, while on the Hydra.” The grey pony flexed her wings nervously. “I can see no other reason why this happened unless Admiral Twilight attacked them and they responded with selfdefense.” The five ponies seemed to take this into consideration. The Empress seemed to be deepest in thought, when the youngest alicorn spoke up from her throne. “Aunty Celestia, perhaps Twilight did attack the Hydra.” She said calmly. The Empress flared her wings and mane, standing on her throne as her voice boomed over the room, “You dare suggest MY student would attack my sister’s student!? YOU DARE FLURRY HEART!?!” The young alicorn cowered under her aunt's threatening voice when the older pink alicorn spoke up. “But, Empress, your student has been at odds with Trixie for a long time,” She said flicking her mane with a hoof, looking rather bored. The Empress looked upon the alicorn. “So? What does that have to do with this?” Luna stepped on her throne flaring out her right wing at her sister. “Your student has actually threatened my student, in my presence I might add, on numerous occasions.” The white alicorn growled flaring out her wings with a frustrated growl. “Fine! That’s not the point!” The alicorn sat on her throne once again, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She then turned to her sister who stood silently by her side. “Luna, take you ship, the Avenger, and meet with the 3rd Fleet. I want you to spearhead the human fleet and wipe them out. Take the entity with you.” Luna slauted. “Yes, sister!” Turning to the side the blue alicorn marched down her throne and exited through a door off screen. The Empress then turned to face Vice Admiral Derpy through the main viewscreen. “Vice Admiral, join up with the 3rd Fleet. You are under my sister's command.” Derpy saluted to her Empress. “Yes my Empress!” The view screen went blank. The Empress turned to the two remaining alicorns. “Cadence, take your daughter Flurry Heart and take your ships to your fleets and deploy as instructed,” She said looking from one to the other. “I want the defense stations destroyed and I want you to destroy Earth. Go.” The alicorns left without a word leaving the Empress and Blueblood behind. “Regent Blueblood?” “Yes, aunty Celestia?” “Take your ships into sector S143-N. Destroy the planet Sirenum.” “Yes aunty.” Blueblood said, politely bowing to his aunt before leaving. The Empress, once alone, sighed allowing herself to relax a moment. She looked down at her throne thinking of her student and all the time she spent grooming her to be the new Empress. “All that time wasted.” She then looked out past where her main viewscreen was and out into the cosmos. She smiled thinking about the immense satisfaction she would have taking this reality under her empire. The battle would be intense, humans had a knack for being resilient, and had an unnerving knack for showing up when one least expected it. For now she had to prepare the Sol Dios for battle. *Hydra Bridge* Octavia sat in Trixie’s chair at the center of the Hydra bridge. She was commanding ponies all over the ship, preparing for the battle ahead. She was just about to send a communication to Enterprise, when said ship contacted her first. The main viewer opened with a picture of Captain Archer, in his bridge with a very disgruntled look over his aging face. Octavia smiled seeing a friendly face like Archers. “How are you Captain?” She asked her human ally. Archer sighed shaking his head slightly to the right before slapping his hips with his hands. “I would love to say, ‘good’ but that’d be a lie,” He said sitting down in his chair. “So, Commander, do you want to hear the bad news first of the worst news first?” Octavia took pause at his odd question. She thought things were bad now, but what would Archer tell her that could be worse than what was already going on?” “Um, let’s go with bad news, then worst news.” Archer sighed once more sagging his shoulders and resting his hands on his head. He then swept his hands back over his short hair, letting out a deep gurgle sound as the hands came to rest on his lap. “My science officer, T’pol tells me there is a Klingon fleet on its way here. They’re being lead by Duras, and his sole purpose is to kill me,” Archer said somberly. “He’s not with this Empire that's invading us, but he is going to attack anyone who gets in his way to get to me.” Octavia felt her headache return with a vengeance. She facehooked saying, “What could possibly be worse than telling me that we’re fighting a three way battle?” Archer paused for a moment. Octavia hated it when he did that. She always thought he was some bad joke in a drama sitcom, taking the dramatic pause before giving the bombshell of an answer to her query. Unfortunately, in this case she was mostly right. Archer inhaled deeply after a three second pause and said, “The worst news is that a large planet sized craft has appeared over our sun and the enemy fleet is forming around it. Smaller groups have broken off and left the system, another is preparing to strike we think.” “That’s not so bad,” Octavia said rubbing her ear. “Actually,” Archer said, raising his hand. “The planet sized craft is absorbing out sun. In three hours there won’t be a Sol Star left and our system will die.” “.... Damn the gods above.” Octavia cursed the cosmic heavens. Archer nodded giving Octavia a sympathetic look. “Yes, damn indeed. We do have some good news.” “Please! I’ll take any good news at this point!” Octavia all but bellowed wanting to hear anything to brighten her mood. “We have contacted our closest allies, several have replied saying they will offer whatever assistance they can. Octavia and the bridge crew all cheered at the news. “How many?” Octavia asked Archer. “That’s the catch. With everything that’s happened so far over the last few years, we’re only getting one hundred and fifty ships. Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian, and Xindi.” “Well, that’s good I guess,” Octavia said. From Archers end of the screen a voice called to him from off side, “Captain, the fleet is ready to deploy. That smaller fleet is heading for us.” Archer looked at Octavia. The two made eye contact with each other. “Will you join us, Commander?” Octavia nodded. “We’ll be at your side for this. We won’t let you down.” Archer nodded. He then turned around in his chair looking back to his vulcan science officer, T’pol. The Vulcan was busy at her station when she noticed Archer was facing her. “Yes, Captain?” “Send word to the fleet. We’re ready,” He ordered. “And send the Hydra our preliminary reports on the station over our star.” “Aye, sir.” T’pol looked down at her console and prepared to send the data they collected on the massive craft over the Sol Star. Once the data had been collected it was sent over to the Hydra. Once Vinyl Scratch got it, she gave the Commander  an affirmative nod.letting her know the data was received. Octavia then took a  moment to thank Archer for the intel and closed the channel. Octavia looked down at 3rd of 5. The little changeling was looking up at the Commander waiting for his orders. Octavia thought it was both sunny and sad that changelings devoted themselves to their leaders so much that it seemed to be the only reason for them to live. She wondered if it was really what it seemed. She never knew any changelings personally. Yes she met several but never once had she conversed with one. Putting her thoughts aside she looked at 3rd of 5 and ordered him to take the ship at the head of the fleet. Once there they waited for the signal to charge. Surrounding the Hydra was the entirety of Starfleet. The USS Enterprise and USS Columbia flanked the sleek ship on either side with the rest of the fleet behind them in several groups. As the enemy fleet came close to the earth blockade, the lead ship came to a halt, bringing the entire fleet to a standstill. The two fleets were evenly sized with three lead ships and the rest of the respective ships behind the leaderships. On the Hydra, Commander Octavia looked out at the enemy ships by the main viewscreen. The lead ship was small, perhaps the same size as the Hydra, but it was more advanced with a higher shield output, and more weapon nodes. To its side was two ships identical to the ISS Haymakers design. These ships however looked brand new. Their paint was a urban digital camo desgin and had several antennae sticking out from the front of the leading edges. The view screen came to life and on it was Princess Luna. Her black uniform and rapier at her side, and in the background was Trixie in chains, with a disfigured statue beside the unicorn surrounded by guards. “Greetings humans! I am Luna! Heiress to the Equis Empire!” The alicorn bellowed in a loud voice. “We demand your surrender to the Empire! Do so and you will be spared, don’t and you will die in glorious battle!” Octavia snorted, jerking her head to the side. *Such an arrogant pony.* She thought assessing the alicorn. She was Princess Luna. Yet everything about her was wrong. Octavia met the Princess once. Not personally but at a party for the christening of the Hydra. She was elegant and graceful, but very authoritative. Princess Luna had the charisma of a great leader and the skill of tongue to back it up, this Luna was a brute, and it showed. Octavia thought of this as her chance to make up for all her past failures since the Hydra departed from its drydock. As Octavia looked upon the viewer she took note of Trixie, who seemed to be staring at the statue at her side. Almost as if she were listening to it. She felt relieved to see the blue unicorn unharmed, sighing in relief. Then, a humans  voice broke the her thoughts as he came up on the view screen. It was an aged man probably in his sixties wearing a black suit with Starfleet markers on his shoulders, several medals, and Admiral Stars. The man gave Luna a tense but calm glare. It wasn’t full of hostility, but determination.As he spoke, the human spoke in a deep voice with a hint of a southern accent. “This is Admiral Gardner of Starfleet. We will not surrender to the likes of you,” The human said holding his hands together. “We will stand against you and all that you represent.” Luna laughed at the human, “Well, then it seems war is the only option.” Luna laughed again looking back to Trixie. “We shall crush your fleet under our hooves and claim your star system for our Empire!” Gardener nodded in a condescending manner at the pony. “We shall see.” After his words, Luna’s screen went blank leaving only an image of Admiral Gardner. The human looked around and gave a few last words of inspiration to the fleet before he finished saying, “Captain Archer, launch the fleet.” Once this signal was gone, Archer opened a channel line to the Hydra so he could have open communication with Commander Octavia. It was only with words they’d speak but it would be sufficient for now. “Are you ready, Commander?” He asked Octavia over the channel. Octavia flicked her tail with anticipation. She saw Trixie there with luna and wanted to save her badly, but for now she had to lead the fleet into battle. Trixie would always put the mission first. Such thoughts made Octavia sad. Was she really always going to play second fiddle to missions? She knew it was selfish but she couldn’t help feeling that way. Pushing these thoughts to the side, Octavia signaled Archer, “We’re ready, Captain. Follow my ships lead and have Columbia and the Apollo behind us. We’re going for the enemy flagship.” “Acknowledged.” Archer replied going silent. Octavia looked to 3rd of 5 once more. “3rd of 5, set course for the enemy flagship that signaled us,” Octavia commanded the changeling. “Yes, Commander!” Ever so diligently the tiny changeling huddled over his station and ran his holed hooves across his digital console. Like lightning he activated the ship's engines and propelled them forward towards the enemy fleet. Starfleet and their allies charged right behind as the Empire ships, lead by the Avenger and the Luna’s Revenge. Octavia was sweating in her seat as she watched the blank viewscreen. She was unsure of what to do and decided to take a look despite not wanting too. “Lt. Scratch! Bring up the main viewer!” Vinyl remained silent but powered the main viewer so the Commander could see what was happening outside the ship. Everyone looked to see the enemy fleet closing in on them like a dark grey cloud. As the ships closed in Claw had powered up weapons and loaded all the ships torpedo bays. Lyra was keeping the comm. Channels clean, while Sunset was busy at her station monitoring all the scans she took of the enemy ships, trying to find any weaknesses. As the fleets came to nearly point blank range Commander Octavia gave Claw the order to open fire on the Avenger. “Lt. Claw, fire a volley of torpedoes at the lead ship.” She said calmly. “Aye,” Claw replied. From the Hydra’s forward launchers twenty torpedoes flew out in groups of five from four different launchers at the Avenger. The ship quickly darted port, thus was only hit by half the torpedoes. The Avenger retaliated with a torpedo volley of her own. 3rd of 5 pitched the Hydra hard to port taking moderate damage from the torpedoes, but managed to minimize it by avoiding the majority like the enemy ship. Moments later both fleets began to exchange fire as the ships either collided with one another or broke formation to avoid collisions. Romulan ships split through Starfleet and its allies. Several of the smaller Romulan warbirds fired torpedoes at the more powerful Vulcan and Andorian ships. The Andorians retaliated by sending their largest ship into the Romulan fleet. The massive capital ship was easily the largest ship in this battle thus far, easily four lengths of the Hydra and twice as big, it was a massive ship to behold. Its sleek lengthy design gave it a very appealing look like a dark saber cutting through the Romulan fleet. Soaring through the enemy the Andorian Capital ship shot it’s high output particle cannons, easily cutting through the Romulan ships after hitting them with a few shots. This forced the Romulans to focus on the Andorians leaving the Empire ships to quell with Starfleet and the rest of their allies. At the head of the charge the Hydra slipped through the Romulan fleet with the Enterprise and Columbia at her tail, but due to the amount of ships weaving in and out of the way they were falling behind. 3rd of 5’s mastery over the Hydra made maneuvering the ship through the fleets easy. As 3rd of 5 took the Hydra into a small group of Romulan warbirds, the Andorian capital ship came through breaking the formation and firing its particle cannons destroying three ships and damaging the others. The Hydra’s disruptors tore through what remained of the other ships destroying the small group without getting hit once. Fro behind the Columbia and Enterprise fired torpedoes at an Empire cruiser heavily damaging it. The Empire ship turned hard about and returned fire on the human ships. The Enterprise took several direct hits while Colombia took the lead, shielding Enterprise with itself. On the bridge Octavia was gripping her chair like it was a life preserver. She could feel her body heat up and being to sweat. The sweat fell down her forehead and down her neck giving a much needed sense of coolness she needed. “3rd of 5, take us to the enemy flagship!” “Aye, ma’am!” 3rd of 5 took the hydra and darted straight down past another small group of Empire ships. Three of these ships turned to give chase to the Hydra opening fire as soon as they were in firing range. The Hydra took many direct hits after, shaking its frame under the constant fire of energy bolts. Octavia nearly fell out of her seat when a stray plasma torpedo collided with the Hydra after missing its intended target. This impact hit so hard the entire ship staggered to the side leaving it vulnerable to enemy fire. Octavia looked own at Trixie’s command chair reading the tactical dispaly. /// DAMAGE REPORT /// *Shield damage 6.6% Power regulator 3 & 4 down Meanwhile, 3rd of 5 struggled to get the ship back on course. The plasma torpedo had pushed the equine ship into another group of Romulan ships forcing them to scatter, but not without taking a few potshots at the Hydra as it past. Not missing a beat Octavia ordered Claw to open fire on the ships as they past, using her open comm. She sent a message to Archer and asked him to assist in this minor skirmish. In the seconds to come the Hydra past seven Romulan ships shooting all of them with great precision that Claw had come accustom to doing. The Romulan ships remained in formation but were an easy target since they were so focused on the Hydra to notice the Enterprise and Columbia. The two earth ships fired their phase cannons destroying three of the Romulan warbirds and forced the others to regroup. This left the way to the Empire lead ship in view heading straight for the Hydra with its two support ships right behind it. Octavia glared at the view screen at the ship with the distinct symbol of Luna's cutie Mark on it. The ship was long and recliner in shape with two large engines in the rear section side by side. Connecting these two sections was a wide Octavia section that acted as a hangar. What was most notable about this ship was the large barrel that looked to be built within the full length of the ship. Octavia observed this, being familiar with the Hydra’s ion cannon it was safe to assume this ship had a large weapon attached to that barrel, and there was no doubt it was fully functional. *Luna on the bridge of the Avenger* As the distance between the two groups closed in the Romulans had been forced to retreat due to poor formation flying and bad tactical decisions. The Romulans fled to rejoin the rest of the 3rd fleet. Luna sighed seeing their so called, ‘powerful allies’ flee from the simple human ships. She was surprised to see the fleet retreat as she brought her ship alongside the Luna’s Revenge and the Helios to charge the enemy lines. The blue alicorn looked to Trixie who was now glaring at her silently. “Don’t give me that look my student. You know we have to do this to succeed with our mission,” Luna said to Trixie. The alicon then turned to face the main viewscreen. She flexed her wings behind her back as though she were at parade rest. She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders before turning to her weapons officer, a threshold, or batpony as many came to know them as. “Commander! Charge the mass driver.” “Yes mistress!” The threshold replied. Moments later he tapped his console until a small red screen came up. From there he saw a circular node and tapped the edge with his hoof and spun it 360 degrees around until it became green. ///System Engaged/// WARNING MASS DRIVER ACTIVATED PROCEED? Y/N ? The threshold commander clicked the small Y, and powered up the mass driver. A small bar appeared to the side with a red percentage sign that indicated how much charge the mass driver had. Quickly it read 56%. 77% - 89.3% - 100% It took less than five seconds for the mass driver to completely charge from falah way. When it did the batpony saluted from his station and gave word to his mistress. “Mistress, the mass driver is charged! Shall I target the incoming craft?” He asked. Luna glanced out into the forming enemy fleet. She then noticed the Andorian capital ship, which was now leading the charge. At its side was the Hydra and the two earth vessels, Enterprise and Columbia. The alicorn shook her head and replied to her officer, “No, target the Andorian ship,” She said sitting down on her seat. “Let’s see just how powerful they really are. And how smart they are.” She finished with a sinister grin. *Enterprise Bridge* Archer was standing by his seat at the center of his bridge talking to the Andorian Supreme commander on their capital ship, the Vosa. He had been trying to convince the Supreme Commander not to charge into the enemy fleet head first without taking precautions. “-all I’m saying Supreme Commander, is that we don’t know the extent of their weapons and ships,” Archer said dissuading. “We have no idea what these other ships are or what they’re capable of.” The Andorian Supreme Commander was a fat blue skinned Andorian. He had chubby cheeks and a potbelly that could give some humans a run for their money. He had a look of arrogance in him, and a smug grin to match as he lazily waved off Archers warnings. “They are allied with the Romulans who attacked our homeworld!” He shouted to Archer. “We will not take this lying down!” Archer gave a short exasperated sigh. “I understand sir, but we can’t-” “I’ve heard enough!” The Commander said dismissively. “If you will cower like a Tellarite so be it. We won’t sit back while our allies are destroyed and our home attacked!” The moment he finished speaking the Supreme Commander hit his chair cutting off the main view screen. Archer sagged his shoulders in defeat, not sure of what to do. He looked around at his senior crew, as he did on many occasions. Though nothing was said, the looks they gave him suggested they supported him in his efforts to dissuade the Andorian commander of his foolhardy charge. Taking his seat Archer gave Mayweather, his helm officer, the go to follow the Hydra alongside the Andorian Supreme commander's ship. “Steady as she goes Mayweather, be ready for anything.” “Aye sir.” Mayweather replied powering the Enterprises engines coming alongside the Columbia and Hydra. As the fleet began to advance they noticed over ten ships of identical design took position as a mini blockade between the Empire and Starfleet. Noticing this Archer took caution and told Mayweather to fall back. As the Enterprise took back on its speed Mayweather gave them enough space to fall behind the Andorian capital ship in case something went wrong they could use it as cover. Columbia seemed to have the same idea and flanked the Enterprise opposite side of the ship. Lieutenant Reed then took note of a massive power surge coming from the line of ships. “Captain, I’m reading  power buildup emanating from the blockading ships,” He said looking over his readings. “I think they’re powering up some kind of weapons.” Archer felt unsettled. Something wasn’t right. The enemy was waiting for them to do something. Was it so simple that they were waiting for the fleet to come in range so they’d fire on them? Or perhaps it was a ploy to break them apart. No matter the case the fleet was dedicated now and nothing was going to stop them from the charge, or so he thought. DEET DEET! “Captain! The blockade is firing some kind of large scale cannons!” Quickly Archer ran behind Mayweather and gripped his shoulder. “Evasive action Mayweather!” “On it sir!” THOOM! The entire Enterprise shook when a large blue beam shot from the leading ship in the blockade hitting the Andorian capital ship head on and cut right through it like it was wet tissue paper. Archer looked at the screen as the Hydra suddenly shot forward into the enemy fleet as nine more particle beams fired from the other nine ships tearing through the larger ships in the fleet. Most of the larger ships from the Andorians and Xindi took the brunt of the fire, but a second volley hit the smaller starships from Starfleet and the Tellarites destroying them in seconds. Archer growled lowering his head in frustration. He then turned on his heels and ran back to his seat sitting down on it and securing himself he ordered Mayweather to follow the Hydra in. “Mr. Mayweather take us in full speed!” “Aye sir!” Archer then turned to face Lt. Reed, “Malcolm! Fire phase cannons and repair a torpedo spread! Fire on my command!” “Aye sir, torpedoes ready.” “Mayweather take us in behind the Hydra then as we pass the enemy blockade take us directly past the lateral hull of those blockading ships!” Archer ordered. “Yes, sir!” Mayweather replied with enthusiasm. “I’ll take us within a rock's throw away sir!” “Good, T’pol scan those ships.” The vulcan officer nodded silently taking several long detailed scans of the ships. I need a minute Captain. Mr. Mayweather, try to keep us within ten kilometers of the enemy ships.” “No problem.” Taking the Enterprise behind the Hydra was easy enough, butt the Equine ship was far more maneuverable than the Enterprise could ever hope to achieve. As the Hydra passed the enemy ships it twirled along the axis of one blockade ship shooting its disruptors at several focused points. Within the seconds of the pass, Lt Reed noticed the enemy shields had be dropped and prepared to fire his torpedo spread, but waited. “Captain? Permission to launch our spread?” He asked Archer. “Do it.” Taking no time Reed launched his torpedoes into the enemy ship right down the barrel as they passed. The interior of the ship began to explode as large sections of the ship gave way to balls of fire. Several explosions later the ship blew apart into two sections effectively disabling it. “Well done Mr. Reed, Mayweather.” Archer said patting mayweather on the  back. Archer took his seat once again. *Do I really get up this often?* He wondered, looking down at his seat. Remembering to think about it later he order the Enterprise to follow the hydra again ready for another pass. The Enterprise then flew back behind the Hydra as it made another mad dash to the next ship in the line. This time however, the enemy was prepared. While the Hydra and Enterprise charged behind enemy lines the rest of the fleet had now made contact with the blockading ships, which were now fully mobile and engaging. The Romulans had regained their foothold and were now engaging the enemy fleet with more precision and grace than they did before. Several larger warbirds decloak flying like giant falcons swooping down on their prey. They easily were four times the size of most ships and had a large wingspan with large spearlike nickels at the tips matched only by the long necks of the ships that lead to a hooked beak structures at the head. These larger Romulan vessels broke through Starfleet and its allies tearing their ships apart with green bolted disruptors and larger more powerful plasma torpedoes. There were six of these ships and all of them were alone taking larger groups of vessels on their own easily outmatching their adversaries ten to one. Archer looked at the green Romulan craft and gave T’pol a surprised look. After her scans were complete she had a most perplexed look. “This can’t be.” She said looking over her scans. “What is it?’ “My readings aren’t coming up right.” T’pol said as Archer joined her side. “According to these reading the carbon dating on those six Romulan vessels is -33.” “What?! Are you sure?” Archer asked worried. “Carbon dating is always positive, unless… Are you suggesting-” “I don’t know what I’m suggesting Captain.” T’pol admitted flatly. “Did you - THOOM! - did you run a diagnostic?” “Positive sir, I ran a diagnostic. The readings still can’t be right.” T’pol said looking at Archer. “Those ships are from the future.” Archer said worried looking at the viewer as these ‘future’ vessels flew around the battle.