Star Trek Online: Darkness Rising

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Chapter II: Stardate: Draconis III

Location: Alpha Quadrant, Breen Territory

Year: 2410 (1 1/2 months after the Battle of Procyon V)

The distant stars sparkled in the sea of space as ambience filled the area, some of them flying by as a ship soon passed through the area. The ship soared at warp towards the unknown sectors of the quadrant as it ventured to it's destination, its design was similar to an Oberth class science ship, looking as if it had been recently pulled out of the scrapyards. The ship had several scars and certain spots on the saucer that were once rusty were replaced with new plates of armor, especially the name. "U.S.S. Vinyl, NCC-WUB", was something that was seen to be quite strange when compared to usual Starfleet ships, but this one was for neutral use at the moment, on course for Starbase K-13, a lost space station that was recently reacquired at the Draconis system, and it would be a place that would soon get the ship up on it's feet later on.

On the bridge of the ship, 3 equines sat in newly placed seats as they operated the ship. The Captain's Chair was filled by a pony with glasses that had purple lens and a mane and tail with blue and turquoise as the main colors. On the left, a green mare with a green and white mane and tail sat at the communications station, while the seat next to her was a modified console controlling both weapons and shields, which was being operated by a mare with a bright whitish-yellow coat with a mane and tail in the colors of blue and pink. The ship was originally going to be scrapped by Starfleet engineers in order to make newer ships, but a civilian pony who'd helped out Twilight in earlier incidents, Vinyl Scratch, decided to make something unique with the old vessel, and bought the scrap heap in a heartbeat and afterwards flew the ship to a recently reacquired starbase along with her friends. Vinyl looked to Lyra at the comms station and spoke to her. "Well, I'd say that this old girl is working just fine despite her age, any issues so far?"

"Not at the moment, but she definitely won't be having any once we get this thing fixed up at Draconis. I can't believe you were actually able to get this rust-bucket, Vinyl, she must've been cheap when they were getting to scrapping her." Lyra said as the DJ replied.

"Nah, they seemed to be willing to let it off easily since the engineer was a Ferengi, and thanks to some latinum I won at a Dabo match back at Drozana, she was ours when I had the chance."

"Yeah, you may want to thank Twilight for taking us on that tour from months ago, and I assume you used some energy credits to fix the engines up?" Sweetie Drops asked as Vinyl answered her.

"Yeah, and if we hadn't visited that mining station at Vlugta, this beast would be resting in the shipyards for a bit." Vinyl smirked at the memory of blasting at rocks crisp with dilithium as she sat comfortably in the chair.

"Well, at least we have our ways in life, let me see how the Doctor's doing." Lyra said as she tapped a button on her console and spoke again. "Turner, you doing fine down there?"

"I believe so, I've gotten a few medical beds working, and Muffin here managed to get a replicator working again."

"Good, with that fixed up, we shouldn't have much trouble for rescuing a lost Deferi shuttle from a Breen attack or something like that, hopefully we'll be able to do more with sickbay once we get t-" She stopped as she heard a beeping noise from her console and saw a flash on it. "One sec Doc, I'm getting a message from... Princess Twilight?"

Vinyl smiled as she responded to her friends information with excitement. "Well, let's fire the viewscreen up so we can talk to her!" Lyra then tapped her console before the screen changed to show a slightly static image of Twilight, her face bearing a confused expression as she spoke.

"Can you hear us? We seem to be losing your signal." She sounded worried as Lyra tapped her console a few times and the screen became less fuzzy.

"That should fix the problem." She said before Twilight spoke again.

"Vinyl! What are you doing out here on a ship like that?!" Twilight said with shock and happiness as Vinyl responded.

"I managed to use some of my materials to get this old thing here, but she still needs some fixin'."

Twilight smiled as she asked her friend. "Well, I think my boys can do that for you, we're already waiting at Starbase K-13, so I think we can do something for that ship of yours. Is that a problem?"

"Not if it isn't for you, while we're holding out, I think the Doctor'll need a good shot of cider after fixing sickbay up with Derpy."

Twilight smirked as she responded. "Good, when you get here, I'll send a team over to get her ready. Understood?"

"Ya got it, Twilight. See you there!" Vinyl said as Twilight nodded and the screen changed to view the blackness of space, stars zooming by as they flew to K-13. Only mere moments after the transmission cut out did Bon Bon's console beep and the screen started to change.

"Vinyl, it looks like we've arrived, I'm setting up docking coordinates." Bon Bon said as they got a better view of their resting place; the sector was surrounded in a pink-purple colored nebula, and there was a planet within an asteroid ring, as well as a station. The station itself was mostly rusted, but had a few sections that seemed to have new hull added to them. The main section was a short, but large cylinder, with what seemed to have a open rectangular section that seemed to resemble a hangar. Under the large section was a less wider section that went down for a decent length, around the neck-like section were three cylinders that held similar sections to the main section, but with slight differences in each of their structures, under the neck was a smaller cylinder section that had a smaller one under it. Behind the arm-like cylinder sections around the station were about three long, rectangular sections that already had two ships on them, one was a Constitution class vessel from the 23rd Century that had the text, "NCC-1976" on the side of it's nacelle, while the other ship was a modified star cruiser with multiple purple and pink markings, the DJ could tell who flew the larger ship that sat docked at the station as they began their docking maneuvers. The ship slowly faced down and moved to the third docking bay at the lower part of the station, the ship slowly coming closer to the port until the side of the ship touched the docking port and finally stopped moving as the two connected.

Bon Bon gave a smile as she looked from the console and towards the screen. "And docking is complete, I think we can exit out from the ship from this area." After she tapped a few buttons, the screen changed to show a schematic of the ship, where a part of the left nacelle's front section blinked, indicating the docking airlock.

"Great, Lyra, let Turner and Derpy know that we're heading over and that we'll meet them there and let's head to the airlock." Lyra then turned to her console and tapped a button on it.

"Doc, I hope you're ready, we've docked and we'll be waiting for you at these coordinates." She tapped a few buttons on the console again as the stallion replied.

"Not a problem, Muffin and I'll be down there shortly."

"Got it." Lyra said as she cut the channel and stood on her hooves and the three mares made their way over to the turbolift, the doors closing upon entering it and taking them to the next deck. While the station was a bit old and in need of repair, the three couldn't wait to meet their friends once again on the station...

--K-13, Interior--

The station was albeit dark thanks to all the damage done, along with several pieces of broken metal large and small scattered all over the hallway, several officers in what seemed to be 23rd Century Starfleet and Klingon uniforms were using several tools to fix and enhance the damaged parts of the station. A nearby door opened to reveal a group of 10 ponies, Vinyl leading them all as they made their way to the turbolifts nearby. Minuette, Bon Bon, and Doctor Hooves were taking a glance at the officers, who looked to them and usually said "hello" to them or nodded in acknowledgement as they had work to do as the three of them walked. Once they reached the turbolifts, the group split into two groups of five and took the two turbolifts up to the main section.

Upon the lift stopping and the doors opening, the two groups reunited inside a room that, like the hallway, had several broken parts and damage all over the place, a balcony hung over them, officers standing on it as they walked towards the bar, which seemed to be the most clean from the rest of the room. Near some of the tables were two groups of ponies, Twilight and her friends stood at one end, and the other being Wyatt along with two of his officers, Miolii and Lon, who'd all obviously used their converter to change into their equine forms. Vinyl and Moon Dancer went up to the Princess and the three hugged each other as they started to speak. "I'm glad to see you here, girls, this place is in dire need of fixing up, but she should be able to suffice in the state she's in."

"I can see that, Twi. I think I should get to helping out while the Doc takes a rest with Derpy, how's the bar, by the way?" Vinyl asked her as Rainbow Dash replied.

"We've gotten several of those replicators fixed up, and the tables have been rearranged, so I think a good rest is alright here." The Doctor smiled as he decided to sit in one of the new chairs.

"Ah, that's good then, I think Muffin and I need a good drink after all that work in sickbay." He said as Applejack responded to him.

"Ya got that right, have a seat when you want to. Now Bon Bon, I hope it's not a problem, but the station's science lab is being worked on at the moment and I'd like you and Lyra to help me an' Applebloom out."

The two mares gave determined smirks as Bon Bon answered. "I think we can do that, seems like we should come more often so we can help out."

"Good, let's head down there, I'll be seeing you in a bit, Twilight." The farmgirl said to Twilight, who nodded before the trio made their way to the doors leading to the nearby lab.

Wyatt then walked over to join the conversation. "We'd recently found this ol' relic earlier when we were helping the Lukari out with exploring the galaxy, and after a squabble with Daimon Madran and his Nausicaan bandits, we managed to regain the station and make it a part of our fleet."

"Well, he surely won't be trying to retake this place after running to his pets now, will he?" Dash said as the group let out a laugh for a short moment before Miolii spoke up.

"Definitely, but it seems that we have bigger problems on our hands this time, when we visited Draconis III, we found that the planet had signs of a protomatter bomb detonation on the surface, and we suspect it might be an old enemy we fought back in the early 24th Century."

The group gave worried looks to the feline pony as Fluttershy asked her. "Who would they be, Commander?"

Miolii gave a frustrated look as she answered. "From what we can tell, they're known as the Tzenkethi, a race we and the Klingon Empire were at war with many decades ago. Like many others, Wyatt and I thought we were done having to fight them, but now, it seems that they may be getting ready to start another war with the Alliance."

Gasps and open mouths were the only response to her words before Minuette asked, "But, why would attack a planet like this? Last time I looked at the historical records, this place wasn't a part of Federation space when they attacked."

"Well, they would've destroyed this station if it was because of it, but it was most likely the inhabitants that were the prime target. For what reason? We don't know."

Everyone looked to the ground in silence for a moment, processing and thinking over the news they'd heard before Wyatt spoke up again. "But, we shouldn't have to worry about that for the moment, we've gotten several ships around the edge of the sector so they won't be getting through easily, so we can relax and help out with fixing this place up."

"Yeah, I've been wanting to get the defensive capabilities set up with Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Scoots here, so I think that does us for that job!" Scootaloo gave a smirk as Twilight spoke up as well.

"Indeed, on my part, I'm thinking about me and Flash getting this main area set up as best we can, and then relax for a bit."

"Not wanting to embarrass you, but do I hear a date over there, Twilight?" Dash asked as the Princess and her guard blushed a bit before Wyatt responded.

"You know, she's not the only one, Miolii and I are thinking about doing that after fixing the shuttlebay up there." The two smiled a bit before Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"Well, someone needs to keep the crew's spirits up, mind if I work on refreshments?" Wyatt nodded to her before she jumped in excitement, gaining smiles from a few noticing crewmen before Wyatt spoke up.

"Well, let's get started then, contact the transporter operator over there when you're done, understood?" The group nodded to him before he finished. "Good, let's go then." Everyone then made their way to their stations, Twilight and Flash staying in the main room while the others went through differing doors to head to their designated areas. Twilight gave a look to her guard, who looked to her with a smile as he spoke.

"Well, I think we'll need some time away from fighting and killing baddies out there, am I right?"

"Yeah, we'll be having more fun than others would expect." They both then began their work on fixing the nearby console on the wall near the left door. While repairs and upgrades for starbases and ships wasn't the couple's game all the time, at least they'd all have some peace and quiet, or at least they hoped, as they had an old foe causing genocide and destruction across the quadrant, and who knows when they would strike again later on.