A Rescue and a Negotiation
A Rescue and a Negotiation: In which planning pays off, and good deeds are repaid.
The hydra considered itself the king of the Froggy Bottom Swamp. It had been years since anything had entered the swamp that could challenge its supremecy. So when it heard the crash, it fearlessly went to investigate, expecting either an upstart monster to be driven off, or something to eaten.
Three heads faced the direction of the crash as it trudged forward, the fourth head keeping watch in other directions. The fourth head came down to nudge head #3, indicating that it had seen something. The third head looked... and saw the one thing it truly respected as a threat.
Ponies. Lots and lots of ponies.
One pony was an appetizer. Four or five ponies were a meal. From ten, it could take a meal while the rest fled. Twenty ponies... well, the hydra could grab a meal, before fleeing the wrath of the others.
But hundreds of ponies? Not simply invading its swampy territory, but seeming to lay down hard things, making a path?
Heads #1, #3, and #4 turned to leave, pulling the body with them, even as #2 looked on longingly, stretching out as if to snap one up. #2 wasn’t that fast, but was dragged away none the less.
---=={***}==---
One of the advantages of Syoosi’s unique origin was the speed at which his mind operated. It had taken some time (and an encounter with a Betazoid telepath) for it to be realized, but he experienced time passing more slowly than others did, meaning his thoughts happened faster than those of others. He still spoke at the same speed he heard others speak to him, but could make sudden leaps of logic that confused others, or he could multitask efficiently, carrying on conversations while doing other tasks.
At the moment, Syoosi was trying to figure out just how much of his ship’s hull had survived, while doing the same survey for the crew. One hand flickered over a display showing a schematic of the ship. By now both nacelles were flagged with red, along with the bridge. Sickbay and environmental were both in yellow, along with the impulse engines. The shuttle bay was in green, but the access ways were red.
The deck in engineering was sloped, the inertial compensators and gravity generators dead, their power reserves drained by the effort of getting the crew to the surface alive. Subtle shifting under his feet told Syoosi that the ship hadn’t found a stable rest, but was likely still sinking.
Syoosi’s other hand danced over a chart of the ship’s crew that showed their name, rank, their duty station at the time of the attack, and what their com-badge was reporting. The little badges did a lot, acting as locator beacons, and tracking the wearer’s vital signs. Idly, Syoosi tapped into the transporter records, checking to see who Ensign Oasis had been able to beam off the ship.
“Engineering to Commander O’Niel. Skipper, please respond.”
Silence.
“Engineering to Lieutenant Commander Raat. Vulzy, please respond.”
Silence.
“Engineering to Lieutenant Bindalla. Bindalla, please respond.”
Sil-
“-this how this is supposed to work?”
“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing with the Commander’s com-badge?”
“Is that what’s this is called? Anyway, she put it on me, and told me to get help. You guys are in that big burning metal thing in the swamp, right?”
“A swamp? That’d explain the sinking feeling.”
“Right. I’m leading what looks like most of Ponyville to you.”
A smile spread across Syoosi’s face. “We’re not going anywhere. I’ll tell the others that you’re coming.”
---=={***}==---
Was this what Princess Celestia meant when she had said that they must prepare for war? The thought haunted Twilight Sparkle as the Ponyville Relief Column plowed through the Bog, their hooves making even the spongy ground shake. Normally an effort like this... well, it just wouldn’t happen this well, not without days of planning, but... Twilight had been planning, with the Mayor... If this was what war was like, then it wasn’t that bad, but then why did all the stories talk about how horrible war was?
But their swift progress was only possible with the help of the construction ponies that had come to Ponyville over the last week. Their skill, training, and strength enabled them to lay down a temporary road of stone and wood that would let them evacuate the crew swiftly... or bring needed supplies to the crash site. One of the two. The Mailmare, Ditzy Doo, was at their head, using her uncanny path finding skills to show them the most stable parts of the bog, and the fastest ways around the lakes.
Twilight was part of the foremost team of earth and unicorn ponies, slogging ahead of the Road Team. Their objective was to give immediate aid, either medical or rescue as appropriate, to the people on the crashed ship. They carried stretchers, first-aid kits, and firefighting equipment, including axes and pry bars.
Rainbow Dash and the pegasus ponies, the Sky Team, were acting as scouts, identifying the route their land bound friends would be able to follow. They were also keeping a watch out for monsters and other dangers.
Twilight Sparkle, as Ponyville’s Emergency Response Coordinator, was along so she could evaluate the needs of the new friends Rainbow Dash had brought home with her, so Spike could relay the instructions to Rarity’s Logistic Team, sending the message to Spaug at the Ponyville branch of Dragonfire Delivery.
Yet she couldn’t keep her mind focused on that problem of the near future. Instead she found her mind wandering into her imagination, thinking about just what these new friends were. Were they like ponies? And if not, what would they look like? And did their shape really matter? Zecora, for all her exotic appearance, was a good friend, both personally and to all in Ponyville, sharing her knowledge of herbs... And these new aliens had built a ship that could go in SPACE! It could go from one star to another! How much did they know? How much could they help Equestria? Could they unravel the Lost Formulas?
Twilight was so absorbed in her own thoughts, that it took Rainbow Dash several shouts, and Spike tugging on one of her ears, before she realized that someone wanted her attention.
“Sheesh, inattentive much?”
“Huh? Oh, Dash. Sorry, I was...” Twilight closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. She opened them again only just in time to jump over a root she would have tripped on. “Right. Focus on now. You wanted to say something?”
Rainbow Dash was gliding along, keeping pace with Twilight Sparkle. “Not me, but Syoosi, in the ship, wants to talk to you.”
“Ah, hate to break it to you, but I’m already hurrying there,” Twilight replied, a slightly sarcastic tone to her voice.
“Com-Badges mean distance doesn’t matter.”
The deep, resonant voice came out of thin air. This time Twilight did trip, spilling Spike as she tumbled into a mud puddle. The surprise wasn’t where the voice came from, it was-
“Wow! He sounds just like Flutterguy!” Spike exclaimed.
“Go, keep going!” Rainbow Dash said, waving off the ponies that slowed down to help Twilight. The athletic pegasus landed next to Twilight as Spike helped her up. “Starfleet officers have these badges that let them talk to each other over a distance,” Dash explained, pointing with her chin to the badge on her shoulder.
Twilight shook her head before speaking. “Right. Syoosi?” Twilight hesitated slightly on the unfamiliar name. “How can we help?”
The voice spoke from the badge. “There are fifty-eight crew on board that need to be evacuated or confirmed dead.” Twilight shuddered at the calm reference to death. “About half are injured, and may need assistance getting out. We’re taking on water, so time is pressing. How many ponies are you bringing?”
“There are about a hundred,” Twilight replied, “In this first wave. We’re building a temporary road behind us, and more are in Ponyville, getting ready to bring supplies out here.”
“A hundred ponies are enough to change my plans; Cargo Bay 3 is accessible topside, and we have some emergency supplies stored there. External hatch SCADA is green, so I can open it when you get here. How far out are you?”
As they talked, the ponies were walking up a low slope, wanting to keep up with the others but moving at a pace more reasonable for conversation. As they crested the top of the slope they realized that the crest was in fact the rim of the impact crater, as they could now see the U.S.S. Judges, in all her fallen glory. The prow of the ship’s saucer was jammed into the mud of the swamp, the aft end propped on an outcropping of rock. Both nacelles were gone, the pylon stumps glowing dull orange with plasma fires. The stern ‘hull’ between them had been twisted out of shape by the antimatter fuel explosion. Explosions had taken out the bridge, leaving only ripped, jagged metal at the crown of the saucer.
Twilight Sparkle watched the Ponyville Response Team decending the slope to the crashed ship, starting to spread out around the perimeter. A few even were taking careful steps onto the hull, but the purple unicorn could tell they needed more in the way of organization and direction. A smile played at her lips. They were ready and willing to help strangers at a moment’s notice.
“... We’re there. Open the hatches.”
---=={***}==---
The good news is that the Armory, benefiting from a design that put a premium on “Hard to break into,” had not completely collapsed, despite being on the bottom when U.S.S. Judges hit Equestria.
The bad news was that the room’s partial collapse, while being a factor in the rest of the ship taking less damage, had been enough to warp the frame of the door, and the impact had injured one of those in the room, and killed the other.
Ensign Tarah reflected that at least the broken neck meant that Crewman Der Trihs had died quickly, without suffering. In any case, suffering was something any warrior had to learn to accept and endure. Setting the fractured bone in her lower right leg had required that the Andorian steel her will against the intense pain, against which the cauterizing fire of the phasor was relatively mild. The head of security felt proud for being able to do what she had to do without hesitation.
But without anyone to be brave for, she was unable to restrain the scream of agony.
A few pieces of armor, skillfully adjusted, became a splint that held the bones in place, and a brace that let her stand without putting her weight on the break, even to walk, with care.
Alas, the makeshift treatment was not enough to let Tarah use her full strength, which meant that she was faced with the problem that a room that was hard to break into was also break out of. Unable to force the jammed door to slide aside, the scorch marks testified to her failure in using handheld phasor to cut through the tough alloy of the door. While the armory held a number of tools of destruction that Tarah could have used to force the issue, applying them in such a confined area would have been hazardous to herself... and to the stores of other equipment stored in the Armory. Given how today had been going, they might need all the weapons, armor, and personal shields they could get their hands on, and more, by the time this all ended.
Ensign Tarah was spared the need to follow the ancient human custom known as “macgivverin” by the message from Syoosi that help was being sent to get her out.
Tarah had just noticed the first encroachment of water into the compartment when she heard the voice from the other side of the door, clearly carrying through the half-inch gap between the door and the frame.
“Anypony- er, anybody in thar?”
A cough to clear her throat, before Tarah replied, “Yes.”
“Thn stand back.”
A few seconds passed, before something hit the door with a *SLAM!* that shook the floor.
“I don’t think you can force it that way, the door is reinforced-”
*SLAM!!*
“and... very...” Tarah broke off as she saw the huge dents forming in the metal.
*SLAM-TANG!!!*
“strong.” Tarah stared in disbelief as the door was forced to swing in. This feat had required that the top and bottom edges of the door, a centimeter thick of one of the toughest armors known to Starfleet, be sheared away to clear the floor and ceiling plates that had been pushed up against the door by the crash. Slowly, Tarah took her eyes from the bent metal that formed the door’s new ‘hinge’ to her rescuer, as he looked back over her shoulder at her.
This one was certainly bigger than Rainbow Dash, able to meet Tarah’s eyes as she stood up. He was built along more massive lines as well, easily out-massing anyone this side of one of those huge Gorn. His crimson coat was adorned with a green apple, sliced to show the seeds inside. He was wearing only a pair of saddle bags and some sort of rigid collar.
Tarah looked from the pony to the bent door, and back again, something nagging at the back of her mind as she gaped, trying to understand what she just saw happen.
“Miss?” the pony asked, as he turned to face her, “Ah’m Big Macintosh.”
The Andorian shook her head, relegating the impossible to her ‘later’ file, so she could deal with the present. “I’m very glad to meet you, Big Macintosh. I’m Ensign Tarah,” She gestured to her lower leg, “and while I can walk, I’d appreciate your help getting this-” no need to explain that they’re tools of war now “-equipment out.”
“What about him?” the pony pointed a hoof at the body of Crewman Der Thirs, a little surprised by her seemingly callous approach.
“He’s beyond help,” Tarah stated flatly, but did lean down to pull the com-badge from the chest of his uniform. The memory chip on board had recorded the cessation of vital signs, and would serve as evidence of death in the case they could not recover the body. “He died a warrior’s death, and deserves better,” Tarah admitted, duty warring with honor’s demands as she looked down at the remains, “but today, duty to the living comes first.”
Big Macintosh was silent for a long moment, then he nodded with a sigh. “Thn Ah reckon’ we should load up on this stuff,” he agreed, looking over the racks of energy weapons, suits of shiny armor, equipment kits, and shield belts, “Ah trust you know what all of this is worth takin’.”
---=={***}==---
Over the last several hours Twilight Sparkle and Lieutenant Syoosi had overseen the evacuation of the slowly sinking U.S.S. Judges, as the afternoon turned to the first colors of twilight. Overall, Twilight had been impressed. Not by the aliens’ exotic technology, the most advanced of which she had seen had been what seemed like a cart that floated above the ground without wheels; useful for moving things, but not really earthshaking. Instead, the purple unicorn was impressed by how well prepared they seemed for this, how organized they were. Each of the crew seemed to know exactly what they needed to do, and the emergency supplies they pulled out of the ship seemed almost magical in their mundane way. As she watched, wondering why they would make a crate so long, which would require more material for packaging than a cube design, two of the Starfleet nurses took the box apart, ignoring the contents... and putting an injured man on the lid, building the sides into an immobilizing, protective cocoon, so the man could be moved without risk of making his injuries worse.
Twilight Sparkle had briefly met Lieutenant Onehli, who was apparently the ‘Tactical Officer’ of the ship. Once the Road Team had reached the crash site, he had left with the first wave of wounded being taken back to Ponyville, to oversee setting up a camp just outside town. Twilight had noticed that he seemed oddly concerned with keeping an eye on the boxes taken from the ship, but hadn’t found a chance to ask about it.
The ship shuddered, sinking another ten centimeters, causing all around to briefly look at the ship with worry.
“How well are we progressing?” Twilight asked the very tall alien sitting next to her, who was looking at some sort of glass and metal tool. His seat was a black box he had carried out of the ship.
“We’ve accounted for everyone that was aboard,” Syoosi said with a half smile. “We’ve gotten everyone still alive out, I’m sure of that. As for materiel, we’ve already pulled out a lot, and what’s left on board isn’t worth the risk of going back in for it. We should suspend operations now, while there’s still enough light to travel with.”
He put down the data pad, standing up and doing some limbering up exercises. “Judges was a good ship, but now it’s a death trap.” He raised his arms to cup his hands around his mouth, shouting so that all the ponies and crew could hear. “EVERYONE GET CLEAR!”
Heads turned to face him, and people began to stream out of the ship, heading up the slope of the crater towards the temporary command post on the rim.
“Great work everypony!” Twilight congratulated them as they approached. “But now it’s time to gather up everything and everyone, and head back to Ponyville.”
A cheer rose from the crowd. As they began to flow past the command post and down the other side, Lieutenant Syoosi remained. He stood there, watching the U.S.S. Judges shudder and sink its way into the murk of the Froggy Bottom Bog. It was only once all that remained were the bubbles coming up that he reached down, lifted the computer core memory backup up to his shoulder, and turned to leave, walking into the deepening dusk under a twilit sky.
---=={***}==---
“Meanwhile, several hours ago,” Pinkie Pie said.
“Wait, what did she just say?” Sergeant Bulwark asked Applejack.
“I dunno, she doesn’t make much sense sometimes,” the farmer replied.
“I know, but,” Bulwark hesitated for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Making sense isn’t the point. Her ‘Pinkie Sense’ has no logical explanation, and that party she threw for me... Well, how do I tell if I should be paying more attention to what she’s saying?”
“Ooo, that’s a toughie. I reckon... we don’t need to worry now,” Applejack said, pausing to find a way to put her reasons into words. “She wasn’t facing anypony when she spoke, and she isn’t looking for a tuba or anything...”
“A tuba?”
“Ayep.”
“Do I want to know?
“Maybe I can tell you the story later, Sugarcube,” Applejack said with a smile, “but it’s a might bit long for now; we still have them.”
She gestured to where the other guards were questioning their three prisoners, grilling them for information, and not getting much for all their angry efforts. Only one of them was speaking, and the only things he was saying were variations on the theme of “I can’t tell you that.”
Bulwark nodded. The Sergeant, in addition to being one of the royal guard, had spent several years serving in the Canterlot Police Force. The Lieutenant barking questions at the three aliens did not have this experience. Bulwark could tell that the two aliens that were not talking were getting annoyed with the one that was, but were keeping quiet for some reason.
“You’re the Champion of Honesty,” Bulwark mused. “Go tell the Lieutenant to let you take over the questioning, I think those three...”
Applejack nodded, and moved to prod the officer in charge of the Guardponies.
As the pressure eased, the three were able to murmur among themselves.
“Be honest, Raat.”
“But the Prime Directive-“
“Too late. They are making the things to make them go.”
“She’s right, and there is the exception for when our lives are in danger.”
“I... don’t think we’re in danger, but...”
The spokesman of the three looked up, now facing Applejack. “Alright, I’ll try and answer your questions,” he said, “but I can’t explain everything, or tell you some things.”
“Ya’ll can start with who ya’ll are, and why ye’r here,” the farmer stated.
“I am Lieutenant Commander Raat, and these are Lieutenant Bindalla and Ensign Oasis. We represent Starfleet, and the United Federation of Planets. We came here,” he paused, taking a deep breath, “to return one Rainbow Dash, and to investigate possible actions of an Orion Syndicate group in enslaving members of a pre-warp culture.”
“And it’d be convenient if that was true,” Bulwark interjected. Applejack shot him an angry look, only to have him calmly turn away from the aliens to face her... and wink at her with the eye they couldn’t see. Applejack’s eyebrows rose briefly. “Lady Dash isn’t here to confirm your claims.”
“Now Sugarcube,” Applejack said soothingly, sliding into the role of ‘Good Guard’ to Bulwark’s ‘Bad Guard.’ “Ah’m sure that if’n they’re honest, they can find something to convince us of their good nature.”
Bulwark leaned his head to the side, putting on a show of considering Applejack’s words. “Maybe... if they can tell us something that would prove they weren’t working with the ones that kidnapped Rainbow Dash and the others,” he mused aloud, still sounding grumpy and stern.
“Something like,” the one indicated as ‘Oasis’ said, “how she and her friends encountered an angry manticore in the Everfree Forest?”
Applejack’s eyes narrowed briefly. She nodded, asking, “Did she tell ya’ll just why it was angry?”
“Because it had a thorn in its paw,” the blue haired alien replied. “That Fluttershy pulled out.”
“Thn I think we can trust you,” the Champion of Honesty ruled.
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Author's Notes:
This was another chapter that was interesting to write... If the rest of the chapters go this smoothly, there won't be any problem finishing this first story. I put extra care into Applejack and Big Macintosh's accents, tell me if it helps you 'hear' their voices. Also, this chapter features Ensign Tarah and Sergeant Bulwark, in their first 'on screen' appearances. They came out of nowhere in an interesting way.
With this update I am making the change to the story name; this should make naming future stories in the series more interesting, and make searching for the entire series easier.
What about the captain? Is she dead?
809299
Not tellin'. Yet.
My policy is to not answer in comments things that will be answered in the story, and I plan to address Delilah's fate in the next chapter.
I don't mean to ask a stupid question, but if the ship crashed, then shouldn't the ship be leaking deadly radiation? Warp plasma or otherwise. Like from what's left of whatever system that fed warp stuff into the engines?
That goes the good ship with good souls aboard. Rest easy old girl.
It's not looking good for ol' Delilah it seems.
But I am still not ruling out last second transporting or a bored Q. 
809691
That's a valid question! First, I'll note that the warp core was halted some time before the crash, back in An Arrival and An Ambush. As the ship was torn apart by the battle and the decent, the warp plasma would have vented into orbit and the upper atmosphere, which would handle most of the "immediately deadly" radiation. As for the longer term health risk radiation hazards, I may address those in the next chapter. Or I may add them to this chapter when I do the 'go back over' edit when I finish the first draft of everything.
Thanks for noticing something I hadn't thought to include!
809696
Good to see that I managed the mood I wanted for this chapter.
809691
I'd be more concerned with the photon torpedoes to be honest. Each one has a 1.5 kilogram antimatter warhead. If one of those went off... Well, let's just say it'd be bad for Equestria... To put it in context: one Photon Torpedo has a 64.3 megaton yield, the Tunguska event was equevalent to 15 megatons, and the most powerful warhead the US ever built is only a poultry 9 megatons. They are lucky none went off when the ship crashed.
Science! I love it! 
809771 all the same, the ship could become a death-bringer. Ether the quick kind [ an anti-matter warhead blow-up ] or the slow kind [ by slow, painful radiation ].
809771
See this? This is why I consider this all a "first draft." There's all sorts of stuff that I hadn't even THOUGHT about. I will say this: Federation Starship technology leans towards trying to make things as safe as possible, so it's reasonable that the torpedoes didn't detonate.
But I will say that there's still important things aboard the ship... Maybe. I'm still working out the details.
809812
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think Starfleet is going to want to recover as much of the ship wreckage as possible, even maybe set up a monitoring station to make sure long term effects are contained.
Of course, what Starfleet wants and what Starfleet gets may be two different things...
809812
True, though I imagine once Starfleet learns about the crash they'll be sending medical and relief starships. I'd suspect an Oberth or an Olympic (the class of vessel Crusher captianed in the series finale of Next Gen) with a cruiser of some sort, Galaxy or Sovereign most likely given the need for space for the wreckage. Foremost to clean up the crash site and secondly to prevent any worse tampering with a pre-warp society. The Federation Council is going to looooove it when they hear about this incident.
809864
Oh, Starfleet will be involved somehow with regards to clean-up. They can't leave the wreckage behind as even a small sample of the alloys used in the construction of the hull and structure of the ship in Equestrian hands/hooves is a strict no-no as far as the Prime Directive is concerned. How much contact Starfleet maintains with Equestria after all this is sorted out I don't know. If these Lost Formulas Twilight has been working on are Warp Theory like I suspect then the Prime Directive wont be an issue too much longer any ways. If not then I suspect the standard hidden observation posts. The effectiveness of those posts though...? Who knows.
809870 most likely. though i hope for a Noble-class or an Imperial-class version and a Horizon-class. It's too much to hope for an Odyssey-class.
809931
Given the Odyssey's are brand spanking new I don't think Starfleet has many of them to assign to a situation like this. A Noble or Imperial would be a good substitute for Galaxy or Sovereign. Personally I think it'd be funny if a Luna class showed up for the relief effort.
Luna: There is a class of ship named after me?
Starfleet Captain: Um, not exactly? It's named for the single moon orbiting our homeworld.
Luna: Oh, so you named your planet's moon after me?
I still use a Luna class vessel in STO when I play. I could fly around in one of them spiffy Science variant Odyssey classes, but I just love the lines of the Luna too much to give the class up.
809961 like I said; too much to hope for. In cannon as far at STO is anyways, the Enterprise and the Odyssey are the only ships of the class in service. Dude, a Luna Class SHOULD be one of the ships that comes.
now that i think about it, the SCE are not going to be happy that one of their re-built ships crashed.
809920
"Are you sure the locals can't see us in this observation post?"
"Completely sure."
"Then why does that pink one keep waving at us?"
"That... I can't explain."
"Well, do try one of the cupcakes she dropped off, they're great."
"..."
809931
Okay, here I will say something... In my story, the Odyssey Class Star Cruiser has yet to be introduced. This is because, in part, I plan to use elements from the Featured Mission Arcs in later stories, and I'm saying that the U.S.S. Enterprise-G was the second ship of the class, after the U.S.S. Odyssey, which is introduced during the events of Of Bajor.
810007 what, what happend to "F"? I liked Captain Shion...
810028
Whoops. I meant Enterprise-F. My goof.
810028
Did he get it blown up already? Poor Shion, he can't keep any ship from exploding can he?
810047 still now that i remember, it's still highly unlikely the ponies will ever see one. The Odyssey class was designed as an extreme long-range vessel.
810076 it was a goof; MetBoy meant "F".
810001
It really should. There is so much potential for teh funnies.
This story has made me think about doing a MLP/Star Trek cross over a few times, but I feel MetBoy is doing a great job and I don't have the time to put towards such a story with my other commitments. 
Maybe in a few months when I have more time/energy. 
810090
I saw, but I couldn't resist poking fun at Shion.
810105 Trollestia strikes AGAIN!!!
still. if I can, I vote Noble or Imperial Class. Oh and Luna Class.
810007
I've been chuckling for the last few minutes thinking about Pinkie and federation scientists with those holo-suits from Insurrection...
809961
810139
You're both missing an important point... Pulling out the remains of the U.S.S. Judges won't make for an interesting story on its own. In fact, it might only receive passing mention in Equestria Trek: The Search for Fluttershy
810098
That post there? That has INSTANTLY become one of the two greatest compliments I've received on this story. (The other being "I'm not into MLP, but I want to see the rest of this story" from a friend elsewhere) If you're up for it, we could work out a way so you could make a story in the same continuity, something I had been thinking about myself.
810216
Perhaps. I've never done a spin-off of someone else's work before, besides the obviousness fanfiction. I mean a spin-off of someone else's fanfiction. I have had some ideas about what I'd want to do with a Star Trek/MLP cross over. I even have a half finished STO fan-fiction that's been in limbo for a couple years I've thought about re-tooling. But with one story at about the half-way stage and another being edited for a second try at getting on EQ Daily I don't think I have the ability at the moment to do a third story justice. Well, maybe if I stopped playing Civ 5 and dabbling with STO/Secret World/Diablo 3.
Well this is certainly interesting. I'm interested in seeing what ships you send in for rescue. I agree with all previous comments, a Luna class needs to appear. BUT the Voyager class has the ability to land, which might come in handy.
And from your comment, no Oddy means no Atrox, which I am now the proud owner of, and so the time period would mean that I'm being thrown around space in my beat up old Dreadnought, and my Imperial hadn't beed refitted until recently. It now being The Octavia.
I have a question: Do you have pictures of the Judges' main crew? I like to know what the bridge crew look like.
812428
I could argue that the "timy-wimy ball" of MMO continuity means I could use whichever ship at whichever time, unless there's a story point connected to the introduction... But with the Atrox, it's not a new ship, it's just recently added to what Starfleet at large was using, which means if one shows up, there'll be an interesting story attached to how it did so!
812988
I could get screenshots for Delilah and most of the bridge crew, 'cept Maya, who is a character someone else is letting me borrow for this story. Said friend isn't into FiM, but was a good enough friend to let me borrow her when I asked nicely. (The chemistry between Maya and Delilah is so much fun! Also, I wanted someone among the bridge officers that would know stuff about Terran mythology.) But then I'd need a place to host them... maybe my old livejournal account would let me...
809870
809920
The Federation Council is going to have a total FIT. Incidents like this, where a single outside contact, causes a pre-warp culture to take a radically different course, are the sort of thing the Prime Directive was written to prevent. Even if it was the Orions who caused this change, and it was too late by the time U.S.S. Judges showed up, the council is going to be STEAMED.
But the Prime Directive still applies once a culture has developed warp technology the way the ponies are about to; the idea it enshrines is that a culture should develop on its own without undue outside influence against their will. An idea of political philosophy known as "self determination" applies. Remember that Equestria is the dominant, but not the only, culture on the planet; the Council doesn't approve of supporting one nation on a planet in conquering the others.
815101
True, but once warp travel has been developed things become easier as the Prime Directive is far more strict when it comes to pre-warp societies. Still, Equestria would have to ask for help and then a diplomatic envoy would have to approve of the help contingent on the political enviroment of the planet. The norm is for the Federation to wait until a single planetary government has been established before long term talks begin I believe. Some of my favourite episodes involve pre-warp societies and interactions with them. I managed to catch on tv last night the Next Gen ep where Data has his memory damaged and ends up causing and then fixing radiation poisoning in a pre-industrial village. I wonder where Equestria fits in given that it has schizo-tech qaulities. They wash their clothes in tubs, but have video games for instance...
814107
Time travel is way to confusing. I just go the Pinkie Pie way.
gread story i like
998597
Yeah, that's one of the details I'm not happy about, and will likely change when I do the 2nd pass edit.
Someone's a Schlock Mercenary fan.
I suppose sticklers for the Prime Directive would be pleased you don't realize the implications of that cart.