Sky Trek: Children of the Night

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Luna drew quite a commotion as she walked through the small village center of Farpoint (Farpoint Island’s original colonists weren’t too great at original names). Though most of the civilians and Federation naval personnel spoke in whispers, it wasn’t hard for her elven ears to pick up what they were saying.

“Who the bumpkins is that?” one said.

“Wait, wait, I think I know her,” another replied.

“Yeah right. There’s no way in hell you know a girl like that, Harold.”

“Not like that, Kumar, I meant like I’ve seen her before. In the newspaper or something.”

“You dudes need to get out more,” a tired looking man said. “That’s Princess Luna for crying out loud. Well, former.”

“Former? Was she ousted or something?” Kumar asked.

“Naw, stepped down for Princess Twilight to take her place,” the man said.

A balding, stout-looking dwarf laughed out loud at that. “Princess Twilight? The five hells? Is there a Princess Morning, too?”

“Shut up, Frank,” an elven woman groaned. “Their culture has weird names - deal with it.”

“Why should I have to deal with it?” Frank pouted. “They’re the ones with weird names.”

“You would put it like that, wouldn’t you?” she said. “Ugh, dwarves .”

“Oh, now who’s being insensitive?”

Yet another person spoke up: “Hold up, though. I thought Equestria went 100% democracy. Why do they still have a princess?”

“They’re a parliamentary monarchy - princess is an honorary title,” Harold explained.

“Then what’s the point of having a princess at all if she can’t do nothing?” Kumar asked. “Also, shouldn’t she be a queen if she runs the place? Er, formerly ran the place?”

Finally, Luna had had enough. With a vein about to throb on her forehead, she turned towards the commentators. “Art thou finished?” she growled.

The group quickly silenced themselves, gazing away at her. Ths was save for the apparent bravest among the bunch - a Federation naval officer with the name badge ‘Lorne’. “Sorry about that, miss, just trying to clear some things up.”

Luna let out a deep sigh. “It is… alright. For the record, my… my sister and I stepped down for Princess Twilight to take our place many moons ago. Then... things happened and Equestria moved towards democracy.”

“You mean when your sister went missing?” the same elven woman from earlier called, before turning sheepish. “Oh, crap, sorry.”

Luna shivered slightly, glancing away from her.

“So without her influence, Twilight - still a weird name, by the way - couldn’t hold back the tides of progress, eh?” Frank said.

This time, a vein really did throb on her forehead. “It did not happen that way!”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say,” the dwarf laughed. “Well, you ain’t making any decrees here, princess. You hear that?”

“Frank! Shut the-”

“ENOUGH!” Luna finally roared, her voice practically a thunderclap.

The group practically collapsed at that. Not another word was spoken.

“Chief Navigator, is everything alright?” Picard’s voice echoed through her hand-held radio. “They heard thatfrom the Normander.”

Luna closed her eyes, pressing the transmit button on her radio. “Yes, Captain, everything is fine.”

“Worf and Shepard are still standing by. Are you sure you don’t want a security escort?”

“No, captain - I need to do this alone. There are already enough people around as it is - they may not appear if there are more.” She then raised her voice once more, shouting towards the surrounding woodland with what seemed to be a built-in megaphone. “ I KNOW YOU’RE LISTENING!”she called. “AND WE KNOW YOU HAVE OUR PEOPLE! YET WE DO NOT NEED TO QUARREL! COME SPEAK WITH ME! WE CAN, AS THEY SAY, WORK THIS OUT!”

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the elves among the group of onlookers wince. “By the light, why is she yelling?!”

“Pffft, you call that yelling?” Frank laughed. “Friggin’ pansy elves.”

“I am sorry,” Luna apologized. “I’m here on official Federation business; Enterprise business, to be specific.”

“The Enterprise?” one of the onlookers wearing a Skyfleet Medical uniform said. “They’re here already?”

“How else did she get here, newbie? She couldn’t have flown that far,” another medical officer said, stepping forward. “I’m Dr. Cox, soon to be Chief Medical Officer aboard the Enterprise. I’m guessing Mr. Worf already told you about what’s going on?”

“Situation?” Frank the Dwarf asked. “What situation?”

“A ‘none of your business’ kind of situation,” Dr. Cox growled.

Luna couldn’t help but smile slightly at that. “Indeed, Dr. Cox. Please, if you could help me get everyone out of sight-”

“Say no more,” the muscular doctor said, before turning towards the ten or so onlookers. He then stuck two fingers in his mouth and made a whistling sound nearly as loud as Luna’s shouts. “Alright lookie-loos and lookie-looettes, you heard the lady. If anyone isn’t indoors within the next ten seconds I’m going to start performing a proctology exams with my boot. Get the jist?”

The group paused, half-baffled and half-fearful.

“GET THE JIST?!” Dr. Cox roared.

“Sir, yes, sir!” one of the military personnel said sheepishly. Without any protest, they along with the rest of the group made their way into the various wooden structures surrounding them.

Dr. Cox gave a satisfied smile, before turning towards ‘newbie’. “Come on, newbie, that means us, too.”

“Do you think you can teach me how to whistle like that?” he said hopefully.

Dr. Cox gave him a blank look, before ‘guiding’ him into the nearby pub and grill.

Luna then took a deep breath, gazing at her surroundings. It would be awhile before the Thestrals responded, if they were to respond at all, so she reached for her radio.

“Captain?” she said.

“Yes?”

“Thank you for this,” she said solemnly.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Picard responded. “This was the natural course to take; the quickest way to resolve the situation peacefully.”

“Still, not everyone would be willing to give the Thestrals the benefit of the doubt,” Luna said. “My people, for instance…”

“Actions taken a thousand years ago do not reflect on who you are now,” Picard said. “What we were yesterday is not who we are today.”

“Perhaps that can be said for all of us,” Luna smiled.

“Indeed.”

There was a fairly lengthy moment of silence. Luna was about to give up hope. Then, her ear perked at the sound of rustling brush. On the opposite side of the village center, three figures moved into view.

Luna’s eyes widened at the sight. Not only were two Thestrals now visible, but a third figure, a young Skyfleet officer, as well. This was not out of her free will, however, for one of the Thestrals was holding what seemed to be a pistol to her forehead.

“Alright, princess,” the male Thestral doing the deed hissed. “You wanted us? Here we are.”

“Ronon…” a female sighed. “Perhaps a little respect?”

“Giving away respect isn’t my style, Teyla,” Ronon said. “It has to be earned."

Luna took a deep breath, trying to compose herself and clear her thoughts. “I am… happy you came. But is the hostage really necessary?”

The hostage piped up. “It’s alright, um--”

“Luna, Chief Navigator of the Enterprise,” she replied.

“Right,” the hostage nodded. “I’m Tasha Yar, Chief of Security. Not really doing that great of a job at the moment, as you can see… However, I really don’t think they mean any harm.”

“Uh huh,” Ronon said. “Keep telling yourself that. Walk!”

He shoved her forward, earning a wince from Teyla. Within moments, the two parties stood before each other on the dusty streets of Farpoint.

“I see you’ve given up your ancestral style of names,” Luna said. “Teyla? Ronon? Much different from things like ‘High Pitch’ and ‘Midnight Blossom’.”

“Times change,” Ronon said. “Just like you have.”

Luna winced. “If you’re referring to domestic matters, know that I tried with all my power to end your exile.”

Ronon laughed in her face. “You think that’s what I’m talking about? What makes you think we’d even want to come back to that place?”

“Ronon, we are not here to dig up old corpses,” Teyla said.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Or make any, I hope.”

Tasha gave her a look.

“Sorry, that was in bad taste,” Luna said, before clearing her throat. “However, I do believe Ms. Yar. Is this really the path you want to take?”

“Now you sound like that Klingon,” Teyla said, folding her arms. “As I told him, we did not choose it, your Federation did.”

“The one you happily jumped in bed with,” Ronon growled.

“It was not my decision,” Luna said. “Equestria is a democracy now. They chose that path.”

Teyla furrowed her brow. “If it still was, would you have?”

Luna blinked, glancing away from her. “It’s… complicated. The Federation, though it likes to say otherwise, is mainly dominated by humans. Given their past, I’m still not sure if I trust them completely. However, I do sincerely believe they want to be better than they were.”

“That seems a bit optimistic,” Teyla said.

“It’s the truth!” Tasha said. “Do you think we could build something like the Federation without a change in attitude?"

“Yap yap yap,” Ronon groaned. “That’s all you got, isn’t it?”

“Even if you believe that, I’m not sure--” Teyla suddenly paused for some reason, rubbing her temples.

“Are you alright?” Luna asked, sincerely.

“No,” Teyla said, still looking pained. “Terrible, actually.”

“What is wrong?” Luna said.

Teyla raised her eyebrows, glancing towards Ronon, then back at Luna. “So, you don’t know?”

Luna glanced at her pensively. “Know what?”

“What this is all about,” she continued.

Ronon shook his head. “Teyla, don’t.”

“No,” Teyla said. “If we are to talk, we need to put everything on the table.”

“Good,” Luna said, satisfied. “The root of the matter. You’re wondering why I’m here, yes? To tell you the truth, it was the humans’ idea. We need to know exactly why you want us off Farpoint in the first place. We seem to have done something to harm you, but we don’t know what it is.”

Teyla thought for a moment, before glancing at Tasha, nodding. “Go ahead.”

“It’s our radar,” Tasha said. “We should have tested the damned things more. The signal it gives off, it’s affecting these Thestrals. It seems to be giving them severe migraines. And I don’t mean something that you can just coffee away. Luna, they say it almost killed one of them already.”

Luna’s eyes widened. “Is this true?” she asked Teyla.

She nodded. “Unfortunately. We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but we do know the pain didn’t help.”

“Damnit, Teyla,” Ronon spat. “You shouldn’t have let her say that. Now that they know--”

“We can work to fix the problem,” Luna said.

“What are you going to do?” Ronon laughed. “Stop using radar wherever Thestrals live? You need them to cover your asses, don’t you? Wouldn’t make any strategic sense to give em’ up.”

“I don’t know,” Luna said, closing her eyes. “However, I do believe I can help you now if my assumption is correct...”

Teyla glanced at her curiously, perhaps even with a hint of trust in her eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

Without another word, Luna reached for her radio. “Captain, I need you to move the Enterprise further away from Farpoint.”

There was a pause before the response came. “Any particular reason why?”

“I can’t say - not now,” Luna spoke. “I just need you to... I just need you to trust me.”

“You are aware that if something were to happen, help will be even slower to arrive, yes?”

Luna smiled slightly. “Don’t worry, captain, I can take care of myself.”

Another pause. Ronon tapped his foot impatiently.

“Very well, CN,” Picard finally responded. “We’ve begun distancing ourselves another klick at maximum thrust. It will still take a few minutes, however. ”

“Wait,” Teyla said, looking as if she had just dipped herself into a soothing hotspring. “I can… I can already feel it.”

“Same,” Ronon said reluctantly.

“See?” Tasha said. “I told you Captain Picard would listen.”

“Doesn’t change anything,” Ronon growled. “If anyone tries anything funny, you still die.”

“Ronon, enough already,” Teyla groaned. “I realize you’re trying to help, but we are making progress here.”

“Uh huh,” Ronon said, narrowing his eyes. “We still haven’t gotten at the meat of the issue here.” He then glanced at Luna. “I’d like to trust you, princess, but I’ve got no reason to trust humans anymore than Equestrians, and if you had any sense, you wouldn’t either.”

“My people have shown me great kindness since my return,” Luna said. “They seem more accepting than they once were. As for the humans, they are… different from what I expected.” She then smiled slightly and, surprising even herself, added: “Especially Captain Picard. I do not believe he means harm towards anyone.”

To Luna’s delight, Teyla’s face was now filled with more curiosity than malice. “Would this… Picard be willing to talk to us?”

“Let me find out,” Luna said, turning on her radio. “Captain, the Thestrals formally wish to meet with you.”

His response was almost immediate. “It would be my pleasure."