McCoy’s patient was dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Her tiny body lay splayed out on the medical bed, her life signs dropping, and McCoy frantically trying to do something to slow her rapid descent.
Nurse Chapel looked on, assisting but equally confused as to what to do.
“Doctor, we’re losing her!”
“Yes, nurse, I can see that!” McCoy backed away and tapped on a datapad, trying to access the scans but finding them badly distorted. “Damn it, even the scans won’t work, they can’t get through her body!” He went back to her.
“We need to stop the internal bleeding--”
“I can see that too! But I don’t even know where to start, I’m a Starfleet doctor, I’m trained to deal with HUMANS! They give us special training for each alien on the crew, but this, I don’t even know where to start! She has massive internal injuries and burns from inside her bones, but I don’t even know what’s meant to be a heart or a lung or how her brain is put together--” He held up his hand, which was covered in a viscous and highly reflective silver substance. “I don’t even know if this is blood! How am I supposed to perform a transfusion if I don’t even know the starting basis for her biology?!”
He looked down at her little body as it struggled to take a breath. “Damn it, I need to attempt surgery!”
“But doctor, you don’t even know what her anatomy is or what kind of injury--”
“Damn it, I know that, but if I don’t do something now, we’ll lose her. I can’t even beam her down to her planet for help, the transporter tore her insides apart and she won’t survive another trip."
“I’m not qualified for this, I don’t know where to start.”
“I know.” McCoy’s rage calmed to steely resolve. “But we’re going to do the best we can. That’s all we can do.”
“We need a doctor trained in xenobiology.”
“Well that sure would be nice, but there aren’t exactly any around here apart from me.” McCoy wheeled over the surgical equipment and started attaching probes to where he suspected the brain and heart or hearts should be.
Nurse Chapel stood up. Her face had assumed its own expression of steely resolve. Then she ran to the storage area of the infirmary, pulling open an unused locker and pulling out a heavy piece of equipment.
McCoy stood up. “What in the Sam Hill are you--” Then he realized it. His eyes grew wide when he saw the machine. “No. NO! Damn it, Christine, put that back, we don’t need it!”
“You said yourself, you’re not equipped to do the job alone, and I’m no help. We need it, doctor, regardless of what your pride says.”
“NO! It will just make this harder, I can’t afford to have any distractions, get over here and--”
Chapel pulled the machine to the side of the surgical bed. It was a large mass of metal with wheels and a handle, its surface ridged with heat sinks to protect its delicate technology and an array of enormous, glimmering lenses mounted on the top facing in each direction. She attached a heavy cable to the base of it and ran it to a computer port.
“Christine, if you turn that on, I’ll have you—I’ll have you court-marshaled! You’ll be lancing boils on the lower decks of a colony garbage scow before we get to the next starbase—no, I'll have you demoted to a CALIFORNIA-CLASS ship--”
Chapel looked him in the eye. “And if this little pony makes it back home to her family, I’ll lance those boils with goddamn glee.”
She activated the system. The lenses ignited, filling sickbay with blue light that rapidly resolved into a translucent figure. This in turn resolved into a grainy, semi-human image of a barely-rendered balding man, its low-resolution hologram flickering in pulses as it moved.
It spoke with a distorted, mechanical voice. “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.”
“I have a xeno-equine patient with massive internal bleeding, transporter-related necrosis and severe internal burns from an unknown radio logical source.”
The hologram, although it barely had a face, looked at the patient, then back at McCoy.
“I’m a doctor, not a veterinar--”
“Don’t give me your holographic sass, you leaky bucket of photons! I need to perform a transfusion but I can’t even figure out what her blood is based on, and I need assistance with this surgery! And as soon as we’re done, you’re going straight out an airlock!”
“How rude.” The hologram looked down, and picked up a datapad and began entering data with extreme speed. “I am extrapolating the circulatory system based on known quadruped species, both sentient and sub-sentient, accommodating for an expansive brain. Additionally I am amalgamating all known non-iron blood hemoglobin equivalents to attempt to generate a universal form comparable with the medical replicator. I shall also perform the necessary surgery.”
The hologram attempted to pick up a scalpel, but it fell through his hand and speared itself into the floor.
“Oh,” it said. “It appears my matrix lacks density.”
“Like hell some hologram is going to do surgery in MY sickbay! You’re not even qualified to cut in the galley on meatloaf Mondays! Stop flapping your holographic gums and do something useful! Get on the head, the cortical stimulator barely works but it’s the only thing keeping her with us right now!”
“Because it is improperly calibrated for her brain configuration. It needs to be operated in manual mode.”
“Goddamn it, that’s not medicine, it’s homicide!”
“Not for me. My processing speed is more than adequate to handle it, if you are content to perform the surgery in accordance with my anatomical predictions.”
McCoy glowered, but gestured to Chapel. “Nurse, get her on anesthesia, then get the hemostats ready, we’re going to need a lot of them.”
Chapel nodded and started work. “Is there any chance this will work?”
McCoy, his hands covered in silver, looked up. “About the same chance a snowball has of knocking Satan of his own throne, Christine. But I don’t have time to care, I have medicine to practice.”
Great start blending everything. Lols to Celestia having forseen their first contact and written out instructions
A Gorn? My little Spikey just nibbled your silly crystals in your main engineering , He's a growing dragon after all
Captain Crunch er Kirk , How do you like your tea?
A Country Doctor? In a pigs eye,,,
Discord ! That space ship isn't a funny tennis racket ,,, Put Lunas moon down now! or I'll be so peeved!
Geesh these creatures are really ugly
I want to be the first to kiss an alien!
I know , I'll give them cake!
A interesting approach thats refreshingly more in line with the sci-fi horror of the original series. Only complaint is Kirk not doing anything until the equestrian ship broke. Kirk was a maverick. Most of the original series was him interfering with pre warp societies. Still enjoyed
Yay. New story.
Someone REALLY needs to get laid.
EMH, in this time period?
No. The main part of the EMH's program is the work and personality of Doctor McCoy over his more than 50 years of service in Starfleet. Thus, the EMH cannot exist when McCoy has only served for a decade.
The pilot thinking they were hostile, and the other ponies believing that... Is Twilight the only pony that sees some strange being and DOESN'T consider it a bad thing at first sight?
If there's anything that'll get me to read something Star Trek related despite my minimal foreknowledge, it's an Unwhole Hole adventure.
Fascinating stuff thus far. Definitely looking forward to seeing where you go with this. And here's hoping Spitfire gets blackballed for potentially wrecking first contact.
this has to continue, on the basis on the approach alone.
if this is not brought to an equally epic conclusion, it is you who is being sent out that air-lock.
but before we get to that part, I intend to see this adventure through.
preferably, in numerous chapters ; evn if preferaböy, just a bit longer, than the previous.
*sighs* I was hoping Luna would be the frontmare in this one. Tea and coffee contact is rougher than two species who properly can appreciate the same kind of cuppa in charge.
11017274
I mean, judging by Zecora's first episode? Pretty much yeah.
11017619
Ponies are both skittish and dumb. This is canon.
Still not excuse for Spitfire insulting and threatening an unknown alien race with spacefaring level of development. That´s the kind of behaviour which may end with your planet being nuked from orbit. Neither is the way you deal with a potential hostage situation.
I want it known that I am absolutely loving this story so far and would love to see it's conclusion.
It's a pretty good story, but so far the best parts are the Enterprise crew when being serious. The nods to the future series aren't doing much for me and I didn't care much for the ponies as portrayed
Hmm I’ll stick around for a few chapters and see how this goes. So far I’m enjoying this.
The ponies seem to be a little dumb but they are shown in show to be fairly xenophobic so. Well just have to see.
He lives!...and comes bearing a Star Trek crossover?!
...Haha, I was feeling confident because I just finished a TOS (partial re-)watch a few months ago, but then I saw you're using TAS characters and I didn't watch that so now I shall prepare to be slightly more confused! I can definitely get why you'd go with TOS though—it got really wacky compared to TNG.
Spitfire needs to cut back on the cocaine a little or she's gonna blow a gasket. And Marble needs...stress relief.
Looking forward to more!
I look forward to further chapters from you, so far most logically interesting indeed.
I understand playing a little loose with canon in order to tell the story you want to tell, but the EMH is way too far ahead of its time. Also a bit too sassy; matching that of mid-series Voyager's Doctor, rather than pilot episode Doctor.
Also, the path from warp 1 to warp 5 for humanity was just 100 years, not 200. Enterprise was set in the mid 22nd century.
11017666
Well her sum total "military experience" is being a literal show horse. In an agency that employs a mentally unbalanced shut-in as a test pilot. With no obvious grasp of the concept of discipline among anyone. I mean its not she ever considered the possibility that their best weapon would be outclassed by a hand phaser...
Sad part. I can see Cannon ponies doing exactly this. Then complaining about getting glassed from orbit because it was a Klingon or Romulan vessel.
I love it!
What update schedule do you have planned for this?
Coming back, I just realized. Spitfire wants to “Save” the ponies by theatening the “hostile aliens” ship which the ponies she wants to save are on… so, she wants to save the ponies, by pointing weapons at the ponies.
Very intelligent of you, Spitfire.
11017274
No replicators in this time period either. They were first introduced in The Next Generation, and then retconned into the verse by Enterprise. Kirk's ship had cooks and kitchens, and the food synthesizers were kind of like Japanese vending machines that mix and heat ingredients. Food supply limitations were a plot point in a couple episodes. Not being able to manuacture food beyond what existed in the stores, in By Any Other Name, the cook being shocked that the synthetic meat had been replaced with real meat in Charlie X, probably a few others.
But I get the impression this story is being played for laughs, and probably most readers here have never even seen the original series. Complete show accuracy probably isn't super important.
11018430
I was going to ask about the tech level of the Reboot movies, but you calling out that the prequel was anachronistic kind of defeats the point: This fic can be as "Kitchen Sink" as it wants, and it'll still fit into one of the canon timelines somehow.
...and yet, I'm fine with that. The show was always Soft Sci-Fi to begin with. As long as the fic keeps to the spirit of the franchise, it'll do a better job than some of the more recent series that the franchise has been putting out recently.
Edit: Added some groups. Hope the author is fine with that.
I'm liking this way, way more than I expected.
Well as a casual Trekkie and fan of mostly the original series, I've enjoyed it so far. Whether or not the Federation has the right tech level for the time period is inconsequential for me. Also, the ponies reactions to aliens were quite... comedic? It felt very Monty Python or Mel Brooks. I hope that was what you were going for.
Glad to see this at the top of the box. Unwhole Hole finally getting that deserved recognition.
Wow, a Star Trek crossover fic at the top of the box? Never seen that before, but I ain't complaining! Trek and Pony for the win! xD
11018459
Celestia: "Just try not to start a war while I'm gone, okay?"
Spitfire: "Mob! Mob, mob, mob, mob. Mob, mob. Angry, angry!"
11018828
maybe the author could add a character in that scene desperately trying to shut up the others from talking and facehoofing from the stupidity
You weren’t kidding about playing fast and loose with the lore. I don’t recall replicators or holograms in TOS. TNG/Voyager, sure. Iirc, TOS had synthesizers for some things but not everything.
And given Captain Archer’s dad worked with Zephram Cochrane, you’ve nearly tripled the time it took for humans to reach warp 5.
And it’s very much Random.
11018430
The NX-01 encountered replicator tech in the 2150s. It took the Federation until the early 2300s to figure out how to make it themselves, as the NX-01 never got ahold of a device, just described what it did.
As a member of STARFLEET International, this story is so all over the place with the tech, I can only say one thing:
DISQORD! Get away from that keyboard.
Kirk's enterprise did have a holodeck. It was shown during an episode of TAS, which Arex and M'Ress appeared. though the holodeck of Kirk's Enterprise was less advanced it still operated like the one on Picard's E2:pinkiehappynterprise. This story just debued the MK X EMH, The Doctor of Voyager's predecessor. And it showed a bug.
Ok ganna say this, clearly this is Star Trek the Animated Series Universe which was a little more "loose" with what they got away with scientifically speaking. Animated Trek tends to be that way, look at lower Decks, despite what the show runners say almost none of the crew on that show would have graduated Starfleet academy let alone been assigned to Starship!
11018828
What is this comedy tag you speak of, mortal? For this is more than mere comedy.
11019454
On the other hand it is canon. For all that it seems like it wouldn't fit, new stuff always retcons old stuff when looking at primary canon. That's true of TAS just as it is for Lower Decks.
11019467
Only one episode of TAS is considered cannon, and I am pretty sure Lower Decks will be retconed eventually due to being a parody series, or more likely shunted into a different universe, the mainstream has discovered the writing trope of the multi-verses and all the complications and wtf that comes with it. There are already two offical Main Cannon Universes in StarTrek that's to the J J Abrams film using time travel.
But regardless of that when it comes to this story it is a crossover fanfic so it's non-Cannon two times over already so parts will remind you of that if your focused heavily on details like dates and if Starfleet developed a technology themselves or not. Just cause they didn't make it themselves doesn't mean they couldn't have it.
11019484
By what justification are you saying that only one TAS episode is canon?
I see no reason why anything already existing would be shunted off to an alternate universe. Shunted to beta canon, maybe, but unlikely. There are only two known alternate universes in Star Trek, and both were established from the offset to be as such; the mirror universe and the Kelvin timeline.
And I get why MLP canon has been messed with here; there wouldn't be much of a story without spacefaring ponies. But Trek canon doesn't need changes like EMHs or changing the development time of the Warp 5 engine, in order to fit ponies into it. Changes from canon should serve the story, not be arbitrary.
Asking for the sake of knowing, what schedule do you post chapters by? Weekly would be a dream, but God knows life can't go our way all the time.
Thanks for the story, it's Great!
11019484
Lower Decks is where trek should have gone but Picard had to turn the future grimdark because they didn't learn from discovery. Lower Decks itself takes place a couple years after voyager so its this time of peace in the federation after ds9's dominion war
11019025
That would be the "and then retconned into the verse by Enterprise" mentioned in the message you're replying to.
11019102
"TAS" aka the cartoon that was produced several years after the original series ended. Another retcon. One that I suspect the majority of people aren't even aware existed.
While we're at, DS9 forgot about the Organian peace treaty and had klingons fighting the federation without the Organians Q-style destroying all of their ships. Star Trek the voyage home...the one with the whales, forgot about the global war on Earth that was supposed to be happening during that era, as established by Space Seed, AKA the Khan episode. TNG then forgot about those wars too. Enterprise and Voyager both messed up on Borg-related stuff with time travel. Etc.
This is all off the top of my head, and I'm sure there are countless more if anybody wants to plug it into google.
Point being, the various Star Trek shows have contradicted and retconned each other a bunch of times. In the case of the original series, even the TOS movies themselves contradicted stuff that happened in the TOS TV series they were based on. Arguing about "what really happened" isn't going to be productive. The author of this story can do whatever he wants, and it's not going to mess up the continuity any more than the official show writers have done time and time again.
11018828
I think Schizo Tech is in play here. The pony ship did warp 9.95, which is not only faster that Kirk's Enterprise, acording to Memory Alpha it's faster even than Picard's Enterprise too. And this was apparently the first warp-capable pony ship.
Team Enterprise here really should be expected to run into anachronism stew and baffling power mismatches. Some random red-shirt with a single phaser taking on an entire squad of spear-wielding guards in one scene, only to find individual unicorns like Shining Armor conjuring up city-wide theater shielding in the next. Stifling a laugh about primitive 4 megawatt lasers, only to then be surprised by Rainbow Dash shrugging off hypersonic collissions. Should keep them on their toes.
The princesses both fit very well in the Star Trek verse as energy beings in the style of Trelane, Apollo, the Organians, etc. Both have demonstrated a range of "godlike" powers, and both have demonstrated that even wearing a body at all is optional. Here's Celestia flying around as a ball of light then materializing a body to wear. Here's Luna operating three bodies independently of one another. Look up the Space Battles summary for Princess Celestia. She's probably in a similar category as Trelane, except a lot nicer.
11019597
The Organian Treaty ended when the Treaty of Khitomer went into effect. And, even before that, the Organians had told Kirk they would only get involved if large scale fighting between the two sides started again. During DS9, they were likely debating on what to do and/or being blocked by the Q Continuum.
11019511
Precedence establish by other franchises. When thing gets too convoluted and confusing writers will often take the option of alternate universe and alternate time lines. Star Trek has already done this, and the fandom is very much split on Lower Decks. The feeling by many it doesn't belong in cannon leads to a strong possibility in the future is will become non-cannon with it being a alternate timeline/universe being the explination.
But really again, the official cannon isn't much of a factor here, being a crossover it IS an alternate universe where the two franchises exist. Just like the X-Men/StarTrek comics/novels and the StarTrek/Transformers comic are thier own continuity, they are official alternate realities for the involved franchises.
11019539
I don't agree but this isn't really the place to discuss it. We ought to focus on this story.
11019597
TAS was meant to be the fourth season and included things they weren't able to do with the live action show. Events and details from which were used in later series of Star Trek helping to canonize it with the exceptions of episodes in TAS where they misused or stole others copyright material.
11019597
yet people remember Mr Arex & Lt M'Ress so the writer had at least seen The Animated Seties
11019539
The strongest point of Lower Decks is not taking itself seriously. You can enjoy it without thinking too much about canon even if you get the references.
In perspective, the Cerritos would have fit this story way better than the Enterprise.
11019520
I will be trying to post weekly. As per usual, the story is already written, I just control the chapter release (and sometimes make edits as necessary).
11020138
Nice. That's great to hear!