Communication V
“Captain James.” said Sunek, standing to attention(1) as soon as he stepped onto the bridge.
“Sunek?” asked the Admiral. “Oh, and it's 'Admiral' now, by the -”
“Hey, how come now y'all are talkin' sense?” asked Applebloom, from under Sunek's right arm.
“It is because -” began Sunek.
“Wait!” interrupted Scootaloo, from under Sunek's left arm. “First! Where's the toilet? I gotta go!”
“Out that door, turn right, third door on the left.” said the Ferengi sitting slumped on the floor.
“Thanks!” Scootaloo wriggled frantically until Sunek let go, then dashed out the door full speed.
“So... why are y'all talkin' sense now?” asked Applebloom, as Sunek put her down as well.
“Doubtless we are now within range of a working universal translator,” said Sunek.
“It's surgically implanted in my ear.” said the Ferengi.
“What's a universal translator?” asked Applebloom.
“A fascinating piece of technology,” explained the Admiral, “it means that any people speaking almost any form of language can understand each other. In short, you hear us talking in your language, while we hear you talking in ours.”
Applebloom thought about this for a moment, and then said, “So y'mean Ah sound like you guys?”
“You appear to have retained an accent of some sort.” said the large, imposing Klingon warrior seated in the helmsman's chair.
“Ah see.” said Applebloom. “So... where 'xactly did you folk come from?”
“We had been captured by the Borg,” said Sunek patiently, “much as I imagine you had been. When your... friends came to rescue you, they managed to rescue us as well.”
“For which we owe them our gratitude.” said Var'aQ. “I, personally, would greatly appreciate a sparring match with one of our rescuers.”
“And right now,” said Celestia, “you're on your way back home.”
“You'll be there in just over three days.” added the Admiral. “Sunek's a good Vulcan – I'm sure he'll make sure you have enough to eat and a comfortable place to sleep over the next three days, until you're safely back.”
“If you and your friends will stay close to me,” offered Sunek, “I shall take all reasonable steps to ensure your safety.”
“I'll keep an eye on this scum.” said Var'aQ, pointing at the Ferengi with one thumb. “He won't bother you again, not if I have anything to say about it.”
“What about the other one?” asked Applebloom.
“...other one?” asked Var'aQ.
“There were two Ferengi.” pointed out Applebloom.
Var'aQ smiled, slowly. “I see.” he said. He stood up abruptly, grabbing Frem's arm. “This way,” he said, “we're going to go hunt your partner.” As he approached the door, it slid open, revealing a little orange pegasus on the other side.
“Scoots!” said Applebloom. “You find it alright?”
“Yeah, I found it.” said Scootaloo. “And the toilets in this place are seriously weird. I mean, I figured it out, but...”
“Most known sentient species,” said Sunek, “are approximately twice your height and bipedal. It is no coincidence that the plumbing should reflect this.”
“What's 'bipedal' mean, and how come you guys are talking Equestrian now?” asked Scootaloo.
* * *
“I don't remember much of it,” said Flam, quietly, “but what I do remember suggests it might be dangerous to remember more. It was... well, imagine you've somehow ended up with somepony else's mind in your head, fighting you for control over your body. You both know everything the other one knows, but you've got different aims, different things you want to do.”
“That doesn't sound pleasant.” said Flim. The two unicorns had wandered off to find somewhere to talk in private, and had ended up in the forward observation lounge; they sat side-by-side on the floor, surrounded by three chairs which did not take pony anatomy into account, and looked out at the stars.
“It wasn't,” said Flam, “but now imagine that instead of one other mind, there were... billions.”
There was a brief moment of silence while Flim considered this, and then he said “Billions? Are you sure?”
“No.” said Flam. “I'm pretty sure it was a good deal more than that. The Borg have taken over thousands of worlds, and they consider a world that holds twenty billion drones to be sparsely populated.”
There was another long silence.
“That can't be right.” said Flim, eventually. “I mean, surely the agriculture to sustain that amount of ponies alone...”
“They don't eat,” said Flam, “not like ponies do. They have this... machine. They put stuff in it – just about anything, really – and get some sort of stuff out that they swallow, but only when necessary. They don't care about taste. They sleep stacked up like logs in little alcoves, and they do that in shifts. They can pack themselves in like you wouldn't believe.”
There was another silence.
“Okay,” said Flim, eventually. “So there's billions of these Borg out there.”
“And I can remember them now.” said Flam. “Dimly. It's like... a faint echo of a memory of the Borg hivemind, whispering in my head. It wants... everything. The whole universe. Everyone and everything ever. It definitely wants me back.”
“I'm not sure,” continued Flam, “if I remember all of it, if I'll still be me afterwards, or if the memory will overwhelm my mind and take over as easily as the Borg took over me the first time.”
“I see.” said Flim. “Should we wait for the Bearers to wake up, and ask them to hit you with the Elements again?”
“Now, I didn't say that.” said Flam, with a grin. “It's only the vaguest echo of a memory of the Hivemind... but the Hivemind knows an incredible amount about this sort of technology.” He rapped on the floor of the ship with one hoof. “Flim, my brother, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy was nothing compared to the sort of mechanisms that are in my head now.” He placed one foreleg around Flim's shoulders and waved a hoof dramatically. “Imagine, Flim... a holodeck, a room that can show anypony their greatest desire... at a rate of ten – no, a hundred bits an hour – a half hour. One that runs on a fusion generator – powered by hydrogen – which can be produced easily and cheaply from just a little bit of water. And if they don't pay – we just turn off the room. Or imagine a device that can change anything to anything – rocks to diamonds, quills to sofas, branches to bits – at the mere touch of a button. Devices to take energy from sunlight, and store it as electricity; or a device, the size of your hoof, that can hold all the information in all the libraries in all Equestria!”
* * *
“...at which point,” Sunek finished off his summary of the de-borgification process for the Princess and the Admiral, “I attempted to initiate a mind meld with one of the ponies, in order to find out whether she had made any plans that needed to be completed.”
“Ah, so that was you.” said Celestia, nodding. “Luna – my sister – did mention that she'd noticed somebody trying to gain access to Twilight's mind while she slept. I do hope she didn't scare you too badly – she can be a little intimidating at times.”
“Your sister is aboard this ship?” asked Sunek.
“No,” said Celestia, “she's upstairs. Maintaining that link was rather exhausting for her.”
Sunek was silent for a long moment, and then he said “She's on the planet.”
“Yes.” said Celestia.
“A planet that will take us three days, at warp six, to reach.”
“That is correct.” said the Admiral, nodding.
“Is there some area along our path that requires us to slow down to safely navigate it?” asked Sunek.
“No,” said the Admiral. “It's a straight run. Full speed. You could go warp nine if that ship had the engine power.”
Sunek was silent for almost a minute as he considered this.
“And your sister,” he finally said, “at that range, not only maintained a telepathic link, but very decisively overpowered and cut off a link formed by direct touch?”
“That's right.” said Celestia, wondering where this was going. “I'm afraid she thought you might be the Borg; I'm sure she'll apologise when she wakes up.”
Once again, Sunek tried to work out the energy requirements of maintaining a telepathic link across several lightyears, and once again he got a very large number.
“And... no doubt she used some kind of amplifier?” he said.
“Oh, no.” said Celestia. “We've never managed to produce any sort of magic amplifier that can handle an alicorn's full sustained output; neither me nor my sister can use them.”
Sunek's eye twitched slightly. He quadruple-checked his calculations.
“She did shore up Twilight's mental defenses somewhat, while she was there.” continued Celestia. “And then she went and did the same for the other five Element-bearers, of course. I think that's the part that really wore her out.”
Sunek took the number he had worked out and multiplied it by six. His eye twitched again.
“This... is a 'prank', is it not?” he asked, cautiously. “A series of untrue and implausible statements, given to provoke a reaction?”
“No,” said Celestia, raising an eyebrow slightly. “Why would it be?”
“I have found,” said the Admiral, cautiously, “that it's often best not to ask an Equestrian certain questions. The answers can be rather disquieting, especially in light of what we do know they can do. I'd strongly recommend dealing with the immediate situation first, for the moment, and then you'll have the opportunity to find out more about our new allies later.”
Sunek blinked, twice, and then nodded. “Very well, Admiral.” he said.
(1) To the extent which one can while carrying a Crusader under each arm.
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I can just imagine a Starfleet Academy instructor sometime in the future; "And here we have the Flim and Flam brothers of Equestria; a prime example of the kind of cultural contamination that can be caused when the Prime Directive is ignored."
Star Trek: The Wrath of Rarity, coming soon to a theater near you!
poor Sunek
his poor little Vulcan mind just can't handle the stress of magic being real
come on, someone tell him what they did to a Q, I want to see him have a nervous breakdown
The Flimflams should be careful about that "branches to bits" alteration. Surely even conmen can appreciate the hazards of devaluing a currency.
In any case, good transition chapter. It's nice to get back to ponies casually blowing Starfleet minds. Though Flam hearing echoes of the Collective even after getting harmonized can't be good. Especially if the Borg can trace him...
Ah well, for now, I'm enjoying the breather. Looking forward to more.
I like it ......another!!!
4257273
I've got to leave some sequel potential, don't I?
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Oh, I have plans for Sunek. Don't worry, he's going to be able to see Disqord's statue in person.
4257727
Don't worry, they'll carefully consider the consequences before launching any schemes.
...of course, they will consider "have to leave town really quickly with lots of money" to be a very positive outcome.
It's not so much that he's hearing them, as that he's remembering them. Flam was a part of the Borg hivemind; while that was true, Flam knew all that the Borg knew. The Elements of Harmony wiped all Borg technology out of him - so the Borg can't trace him, and he can't get real-time updates from the Hivemind - and also wiped his memories to preserve his sanity.
And that would have been the end of it; except, back when Flim woke him up he realised that he was missing a few days' worth of memories, so he asked Flim to cast Mnemosyne's Memory Restorer to help him recover the missing memories. And so now he (vaguely) remembers knowing all that the Borg knew. He's missing a lot of detail (and a lot of what he does remember will turn out to be useless unless he can find a source of isolinear chips on Equestria), but if one combines the bits he does remember with what he and Flim know about mechanics and Equestrian magic, one could end up with some very interesting concepts...
4257273
Techinally, it was not ignored as they did achieve FTL, nor did Starfleet provide the information.
It be more of the example of what happens to borg drones. However, it brings a intersting question if the Changlings and other assimulated if they posses the same knolwdge of technology from the shadow in their mings. I have the feeling the UFP will go through an even larger technology boom in the ten years from now, along with their Klingon allies.
4257839
Have patience...
4257852
Technically, the Prime Directive still doesn't allow Starfleet to share technology with Equestria, despite Luna's brief achievement of FTL - partially because the Equestrians haven't united their entire planet under a single government yet (most species do that well before achieving warp) and partially because the only reason Luna achieved warp speed at all was because she'd seen how the Enterprise did it as it approached the planet (technically, already a breach of the Prime Directive).
Though you're right that the fact that the knowledge came from the Borg means that Flam didn't break the Prime Directive.
4257884
Actually, if they achieve FTL, I think it was indicated that with the goverment's content, they could guide the technological devlopment or trade if they both have something they want. Sort of how the vulcans did with humans after first contact. Though that is rare since Starfleet is often either too advance or not advance enough to trade in technology.
4257851 Given how the Flim Flam brothers are a reference to early 20th century con men aren't then prone to cutting corners? And with vague memories of concepts quite above their normal understanding that's a rather bad idea. Especially given that they intend to be bringing magic into the mix. I expect a LOT of things t go boom on them.
Also Doesn't Picard Still hear echo's of the Borg when he get's too close to them? I'm not sure how he'd handle learning about Equestria's rather shocking past with the Borg given how the Borg bring out the Ahab/Kahn in him
4257588
Any sufficiently analyzed magic is no different from from science!
DAMN I WAS HOPING THAT SCOOTS WAS GOING TO WET HERSELF
4561911
you are a very strange human
Starfleet Instructor: "Luna, Princess of the Equestrian Diarchy, holds the duty of controlling the orbit of their Moon. (We've been over this, they control their own orbit, people! There should not be questions about this!) Unlike Princess Celestia she also holds the other global duty of maintaining the dreamscapes of every single being on the planet at the same time, catering to their individual needs and wishes to make their dreams pleasant and sometimes using them to communicate at length. She has also been known to combine the different dreams of over thirty separate beings into a single dreamscape, permitting them lucid dreaming and all while she was under intense emotional duress. Her range does not just cover their planet though. She has also contacted, protected and reinforce the mental barriers of six Equestrian citizens on a ship at distance from the planet at three days on warp six.
This information was confirmed by Princess Celestia over a video transmission with Admiral James. A team of Vulcans proficient in the mind arts crunched some numbers. At first they thought that someone had breached the Prime Directive for Equestrians to have that sort of technology. When Princess Celestia and the Admiral informed them that they do all of this biologically, that no amplifier on the planet even comes close to being able to process an Alicorn's full power, let alone create and sustain an output of any kind, plus that Luna does this every night while asleep, wakes up before sunrise the next morning fully refreshed and with enough power to fulfill her moon-related duties and them some, with sanity intact, and has been doing this for decades; several of the Vulcan team had minor mental breakdowns.
A copy of this information was sent, by request and with Equestrian Royal permission, back to Vulcan to their experts. Their top man saw the figures and apparently fainted trying to comprehend how this could be achieved mechanically, let alone biologically, if storing that much power in one place would even be possible, let alone processing it, without blowing up the planet.
Now that you've had this lecture, you now know why Princess Luna has been nicknamed by Starfleet 'the Vulcan Breaker'."
4257884 Not to mention that Equus fought off the Borg at least 2 or 3 times AND a member of the Q Continuum. The Federation's Prime Directive is to protect primitive civilizations--in this case, it might very well be the Federation that needs protecting.
One more matter to bring up which has always been a serious plot hole in Star Trek: The Federation's Prime Directive is law ONLY within the Federation--it is not legally binding on citizens of non-Federation members outside the territory of the UFP...which means, legally, the Ferengi, as well as the Borg, are exempt from any such enforcement of the law.
But if anyone thinks this simply leaves Equus at the mercy of the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, etc--I redirect their attention to the first paragraph in this post
7959712 Yeah, I imagine that the Federation's diplomatic manual for Equestria starts out with "Princess Celestia can throw a star around and does so every day. Do NOT make her angry."
And, technically, the Prime Directive doesn't prevent the Federation from forming a blockade around the protected culture's home world and keeping everyone else out. Or even just refusing to trade with anyone who messes with primitives in Foundation territory. (That'll keep most Ferengi out, because the Federation trade is worth more than a few primitive planets).
4257588
Once Sunek confirms his calculations, he will be able to accept them. Powerful psionic ability is common to Vulcans, only the magnitude has shifted...
4257588
Nono, that's what the relatively weak one he tried to mind meld with did to a Q. An alicorn is a whole different kettle of fishqebabs.
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Poor Sunek. If only he realized how inefficient all known methods of transmitting telepathic power were.
The problem is, he's thinking in direct-mapped Euclidean space.