“Representative’s Log Stardate 32120809.0930. It feels surreal that I’m currently out in Extra Galactic Space courtesy of a technology once thought to be fictional. Then again given the size of the known Universe, perhaps it isn’t so surprising. What’s more surprising is the USS Equestria’s discovery of the Salvation, an ancient D’Deridex Class Romulan Warbird, of the Tal’Shiar flavor. With any luck we can find common ground and work out a path forward.”

On the USS Equestria Alpha Segment, Representative Harlok stepped into the transporter room, where he saw Cmdr Sela, LtC Yamik Captain Maxima already there. “Captain Maxima, LtC Yamik, Cmdr Sela.” He acknowledged.

Proxima saw the Representative enter and she nodded his way in acknowledgement. “Good morning Representative Harlok.” She said.

“I trust everyone had a good night?” Harlok asked.

“I do believe so. I hope your quarters proved to be adequate Representative?” Sela asked.

“Yes, they are adequate. Thank you for hosting me.” Harlok responded.

“Of course, Representative. Feel free to stay as long as you need.” Captain Maxima responded.

At that moment, Harmony spoke up through the ship’s intercom system. “Excuse me Cmdr Yamik. But if I may have a moment of your time? I believe I may have discovered something odd.” She said.

“Odd JWO CyberSpark?” Yamik asked.

“The best way I can describe it is a bug in the system.” Harmony responded.

At the mention of a bug, Yamik, being a security officer, got a feeling of what Harmony meant, through her requesting him specifically. “Where did you find it?” Yamik asked.

“Near the computer core. I feel it is connected to my systems.” Harmony said.

“Yamik, go help Harmony out.” Proxima ordered.

“Way ahead of you Captain. Excuse me Representative.” Yamik replied as he turned and practically sprinted out of the Transporter Room.

Harlok watched Yamik leave, and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Pardon my curiosity, but what would a “bug in the system” refer to in this case?” He asked.

“I do believe that JWO CyberSpark has detected an attempted hack of our system. Given the bug was in the computer core.” Sela replied, before Captain Maxima interjected.

“There are only two possible suspects for who could have planted that bug. The Terrorcons we fought yesterday, or the Romulans.” Proxima said.

At the mention of the Romulans, Harlok nodded in acknowledgement. “I see. Given we are dealing with Tal’Siar. I would not put it past them to attempt this.” He stated.

“Neither would I. But let’s not jump to conclusions until Yamik makes a full report.” Proxima responded.

“Captain.” The transporter controller at the console spoke up. “Sorry to interrupt but the Romulans are ready to beam aboard.” They said.

“By all means then. Energize.” Maxima responded.

The transporter controller acknowledged and beamed the Romulans onboard. In a flash, Cmdr Verak appeared on the pad, along with 5 other Romulans. Proxima let out a smile. “Welcome onboard the Equestria gentlemen.” She said. “For those of you who do not know yet, I am Captain Proxima Maxima.” She introduced herself. “And with me I have Commander Sela, my first officer and Representative Harlok, here at the request of the Federation Council.” She introduced her companions.

“Thank you Captain.” Verak replied, stepping off the pad and shaking hands with the three. “In the spirit of introductions, with me I have my bridge crew. Subcommander G’Nor my first officer, and chief of tactical and Security. Our doctor and head scientist Lieutenant K’Roy, our Chief Operations Engineer Lt F’lock, our chief Intelligence officer Lieutenant T’Mia, and our counselor, Lieutenant B’Lursa.” He introduced his bridge crew.

While Verak was introducing them, the other Romulan officers couldn’t stop staring at Proxima. They had been told that Maxima was not like the captain they’d typically encounter in Starfleet, but they did not expect it to be in appearance. “I thought you were joking G’Nor.” F’Lock commented.

“But no, she actually looks like an animal.” K’Roy whispered.

“They’re just letting anyone into Starfleet these days it seems.” G’Nor said.

While four of them were whispering to each other, the other two Romulans, B’Lursa and T’Mia, couldn’t help but discreetly roll their eyes, hearing their conversation. B’Lursa wouldn’t deny that Captain Maxima wasn’t what she expected, but she at least had the decency to not talk behind her back so to speak. As did T’Mia.

While Proxima, having enhanced hearing, picked up on it and tried not to let it get to her. Sela and Harlok too heard it and merely shared a glance, not surprised that they were just openly belittling Proxima. And Verak couldn’t help but feel disappointed in his officers. After a moment, Harlok cleared his throat. “I do believe that we should proceed to the conference room for this meeting.” Harlok suggested.

“Yes. That is a good idea.” Proxima responded. “Right this way gentlemen.” She said, gesturing for the door.

While the Verak and his officers followed Harlok out, with Proxima close behind, Sela stayed back for a moment to recompose herself from wanting to deck the Romulans.

Once the door closed, Sela heard the transporter controller speak up. “So who were they whispering about? Harlok or Maxima?” They asked.

“Captain Maxima.” Sela replied. “They were belittling her within ear shot.” She explained.

“Ya know I did expect them to be surprised, because Maxima’s kind have only been around so to speak for the last 5 years, way after they would have died.” The controller commented. “But you’d think they’d at least have the decency to not talk about it like that.”

“You would think that.” Sela responded in agreement, before walking off after the group. “But it does seem at least two of them do.” She added, noting that neither T’Mia or B’Lursa opened their mouths as she walked out of the top after the group.

(Start to about 1:24)
Space: The final frontier. This is the story of the USS Equestria. A ship fresh out of construction, with a crew fresh from the Academy. Together they will embark on a mission of discovery, and evolution. They will explore a strange new frontier, seek out new life and a new civilization, and boldly go farther than anyone has ever gone.

Deep in the Equestria’s structure, Harmony in her projection form stood in the computer core chamber, which doubled at her Cybertronian Brain Module so to speak, and she was looking right at a green mechanical flying bug that had attached itself to the computer core. She was intrigued by the strange entity, having never seen anything like it before. “Fascinating.” She mused to herself.

At that moment, The door slid open and Yamik rushed in. “Alright. Where is it?” He asked, referring to the bug Harmony reported.

“Right there.” Harmony responded, pointing to the bug.

Yamik looked to where Harmony was gesturing, and saw the green mechanical fly. “A green bug. Oh this absolutely has Romulans written all over it.” He said, letting out a sigh as he activated his combadge tricorder. “When did you first feel this?” He asked.

“Last night.” Harmony responded. “I felt it connect but I did not feel any different otherwise so I assumed it could wait until you were awake.” She reasoned.

Before Yamik could respond, his Scans confirmed his suspicions. “Ok, I’m gonna preface this by saying that I place no blame on you. Your logic makes sense and you wouldn’t truly know any better. But you should have absolutely reported it the nanosecond you felt this thing.” He said as he reached up and plucked the bug away from Harmony’s brain, disconnecting it.

“I get the feeling that this thing is a much larger threat than I thought.” Harmony deduced.

“That’s because it is.” Yamik responded, holding the bug for Harmony to see closer. “This is a Romulan Tal’Shiar level 10 Covert Ops Espionage Drone. Used to get into the most secure computer systems.” He explained, reading the results from his scans.

“That sounds bad.” Harmony replied.

“It is. This thing seems to have had unrestricted access to everything stored in your brain module. The Federation Database, information on our cargo. Everything.” Yamik explained. “And it was transmitting copies of the data to the Salvation. Meaning they now know more than they ever should.” He said.

“Should we alert the captain?” Harmony asked, becoming a little scared now.

“Now’s as good a time as any since we can catch those Romulan Petaqs right in the act.” Yamik said, shaking his head he gestured for Harmony to follow him, which she did. Along the way, Yamik tapped his combadge. “Yamik to all Security Officers. I want round the clock patrols and guards at all critical areas of the Equestria until we are no longer in contact with the Salvation. Cargo bay as well. We had a security breach last night that could lead to an attempted theft of the Elements of Harmony, the Cyber Compass, or the Lifepods.” He ordered. “Harmony?” He asked.

“Yes sir?” Harmony replied.

“It looks like your Multi-Projection ability is going to come in handy again. I’d like you to keep a sharp eye on Engineering and the Cargo Bay.” Yamik instructed. “Report anything suspicious.” He said.

“Aye sir.” Harmony responded as the two proceeded to the conference room.

In the conference room, the rest of the Equestria senior staff, Harlok, and the Salvation Senior Staff sat around a table, listening to LtC Prestine’s analysis of what might have happened to bring the Salvation out into Extra Galactic Space. “Think of it as roadways on a planet.” She said when showing them the Super Tachyon Eddie theory. “Tachyon Eddies are the streets in a city, while Super Eddies are the highways that connect cities together.” She explained. “Larger, longer, and with faster speeds.” She said.

“Intriguing.” K’Roy, who was very interested in the analysis, chimed in. “The Romulan Institution of Sciences had once toyed with this theory as well. But we didn’t exactly have time to work on it before...well, before Hobus went boom.”

“But still, Tachyon Eddies of any kind shouldn’t affect anything other than a solar Sail, right?” F’Lock asked.

“Normal Eddies only affect solar sails.” Prestine replied. “But with this one, I would garner a guess that the tachyons were so densely packed together, and were far more numerous, that they were able to affect ANY ship that ran into it.” She said. “Including the Salvation.”

“That might explain the damage we saw.” Baker pointed out. “The Eddie was moving so fast that the tachyons hit the Salvation like a baseball bat and pulled it in.” She theorized.

“Baseball Bat?” Verak asked, raising an eyebrow.

“An ancient earth game.” Norman Responded. “It involves someone throwing a ball and someone else trying to hit that ball with a stick. And by the sound of it, the Salvation was used like a ball to the Tachyon’s bat.” He said.

Verak and his senior staff glanced at each other, perplexed by the analogy, but K’roy nonetheless nodded in agreement. “Probably the best explanation we’re going to get at this point.” He said.

“Agreed.” Verak said. “Thank you LtC Prestine. That was very enlightening.” He said.

Harlok nodded. “Right, now onto the big question in the room.” He said.

“The logs from the Salvation indicated that you lot were tasked with finding a new homeworld to begin a new Empire.” Proxima stated. “Is that true?” She asked.

“What we were doing is none of Starfleet’s-” G’Nor started, before Verak cut him off.

“G’Nor!” Verak snapped. “We talked about this. Play nice.” He said.

G’Nor groveled under his breath, but shut up and sat back. Verak cleared his throat. “To answer your question. Yes we were tasked with starting a new Empire, far away from the Federation.” He said.

Harlok nodded. “Well I for one can certainly understand why you were sent out…to an extent.” He said, having become privy to the Romulans blaming the Federation. “That being said, the N’Var government and the wider Federation are prepared to welcome you back to your ancient origin Homeworld.” He announced. “I would think that you’d want to find a home as soon as possible. Especially with all the problems you encountered.” He mused.

Verak hesitated, wondering how best to phrase what he wanted to say. “You know we are Tal’Shiar Agents, right?” He asked. Recognizing the infamy in the Tal’Shiar and the crimes against the galaxy they committed.

“Yes. We are aware. Being that any atrocities or crimes you committed are 8 centuries old, holding you accountable at this point just seems silly.” Harlok responded. “So, as the humans say, your slates are clean.” He said.

Verak nodded in acknowledgement. “Very generous of you.” He said. “Is that our only option? Return to Vulcan…or, N’Var?” He corrected himself.

“Of course not.” Proxima responded. “We’re merely giving you the option. If you wish to continue your journey. We can help you fix up your ship. And, we can give you a potential planet to check out.” She said, a hologram of the nearby M-Class world appearing in the room. “The Equestria picked this up not too long ago. It’s uninhabited, and with conditions similar to Romulus.” She explained.

At the mention of the conditions, the Romulans all shared glances, feeling varying levels of homesickness. Verak could immediately tell what his staff was thinking. “It is worth checking out.” He said.

No one got to say another word as the door to the conference room slid open and Yamik entered, Harmony following behind. “Captain. Excuse the interruption but we have a problem.” He announced.

Proxima initially saw Yamik and Harmony and smiled, glad Yamik was now able to join. But her smile wavered when she heard there was a problem. “This is our chief of Security LtC Yamik Pado and Junior Warrant Officer in training Harmony CyberSpark.” She introduced the newcomers. “What’s the situation Yamik?” She asked.

Yamik held up the bug, which he had deactivated, and tossed it onto the table. “We found this attached to our computer core moments ago, after Harmony here reported the disturbance.” He said, keeping an eye on the Romulan’s expressions.

Verak had a surprised look on his face, recognizing what was just tossed onto the table. “Wait…is that…?”

“A Tal’Shiar level 10 espionage Drone.” Yamik said. “Origin point, the Salvation.” He announced.

At that revelation, the Equestria senior staff and Harlok all turned their attention to the Romulans. Verak meanwhile was confused as all hell. He certainly never ordered the use of the drone.

“…What did the Drone get access to?” Proxima asked.

“It had unrestricted access to everything the computer core did.” Harmony replied. “Meaning the Salvation has everything.” She said.

“…Captain I can assure you I did not have a hand in this.” Verak said. “I did not order this drone’s use.” He said.

“Well, someone had to have sent it.” Yamik said. “And given it’s a Tal’Shiar device, doesn’t exactly leave us with a lot of suspects now does it.” He said.

Verak, recognizing the same conclusion, turned to his senior staff. “Do any of you know about this?” He asked.

“I didn’t even know we had any of these active.” F’Lock said.

“I’m a ship’s counselor, I don’t even touch these things.” B’Lursa said.

“I was busy making sure we didn’t have any illnesses or wounded.” K’Roy defended himself.

G’Nor and T’Mia stayed quiet, T’Mia more over not wanting to face Verak’s wrath. Verak noticed the two were quiet. “T’Mia. You’re the intelligence officer. These drones absolutely fall under your purview. Did you send this?” Verak pressed.

“…Yes, I did.” T’Mia admitted. “Under direct orders from G’Nor.” She ratted G’Nor out.

“That is untrue.” G’Nor replied.

Verak couldn’t help but facepalm at G’Nor’s response, it was absolutely telling. “Captain Maxima.” He said. “If you wish for G’Nor to be booted off your ship, you’ll get no objections from me.” He told her.

“Why only me? T’Mia was the one who—” G’Nor protested before Verak angrily cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear it. I gave you direct orders to not do anything without my authorization. And I know for a fact T’Mia wouldn’t have done this without being ordered to do so.” Verak scolded G’Nor.

“So you’d punish me for following Tal’Shiar General Order one? Have you lost your mind?” G’Nor asked. Taking leave of the fact that they were not alone.

Proxima, not wanting for this to get out of hoof, cleared her throat. The Equestria Senior staff recognized what was coming and plugged their ears, as did Harlok after being urged by Sela.

“And just who would we even send that information to G’Nor? We’re out in the middle of nowhere, the LAST of the old Romulan Star Empire, literally and figuratively.” Verak said.

“That is irrelevant. It’s still Tal’Shiar—” G’Nor started before the room erupted in a deafening voice.

“ENOUGH!” Explained Proxima in her Royal Canterlot Voice. Verak and G’Nor shut up and the Romulans instinctively got up and backed away. Chills running down their spines. Proxima smirked, seeing she scared the crap out of them. Which was what she wanted. “Alright. Here’s what’s going to happen. Yamik, take G’Nor back to the transporter room and get him off our ship.” She ordered.

“With pleasure Captain.” Yamik responded, approaching G’Nor.

G’Nor, hearing that, attempted to grab the bug, but Proxima quickly stopped him by lighting up her extended horn and taking the drone in her magic, and out of his reach. G’Nor simply groveled as Yamik grabbed his arm and dragged him out of there, Harmony following.

With G’Nor gone, the remaining Romulans slowly took their seats again. “Please accept my apologies Captain.” Verak told Proxima. “G’Nor went behind my back to do this. Rest assured he’ll face disciplinary action upon my return.”

“I apologize as well. I heard Verak’s order. I should have stuck to it.” T’Mia spoke up.

Recomposing herself, Proxima’s smile returned to her muzzle. “You may take whatever action against him you feel is appropriate, for us the matter is closed.” She said.

“That said.” Shron chimed in. “We strongly advise against attempting to act on any of the information you have obtained. Trust me, it will not end well for you.” He warned.

“We have no intentions to act on it.” Verak responded.

“Although...I will admit to taking a look. A Living starship is fascinating, to say the least.” T’Mia commented. “There have been such entities before, but nothing like this.” She said.

Out in the Corridor, G’Nor struggled to get his arm out of Yamik’s grip. “Grrr. I can WALK you know!” He said. “And clearly you can keep me in line with your little pet Starship. Given what I saw from your records.” He added.

Harmony blinked, stopping in her tracks. “Pet Starship?” She asked. “Is he referring to me?” She asked.

“Who else would I be referring to you damn freakship.” G’Nor asked, continuing to spew insults.

Yamik, already pissed off, pulled G’Nor hard and slammed him up against the Equestria’s bulkhead, twisting his arm painfully behind his back. “Listen here you worthless Petaq.” He said. “This, “freakship”, has the firepower to eliminate the last remnant of the old Romulan Star Empire before you would ever so much as scratch her shields.” He warned. “And that would be the Salvation at full power. In her current state, she would not stand even an iota of a chance.” He said.

G’Nor gasped and winced as he was pinned. “Gah. You federation fools let an animal command this ship. No shot you would be able to destroy us.” He said through the pain of the arm twist.

“Oh can’t we?” Yamik asked. “Go on then, try something. I dare you.” He said.

“Nngh. You will pay for this Tellarite. You and your puny friends violated the treaty of Algeron.” G’Nor stated. “That means war.”

“The Treaty of Algeron was voided centuries ago. Ever since the Romulans reunified with the Vulcans.” Yamik corrected him. “You have no legs to stand on.” He said as he proceeded to pull G’Nor off the bulkhead and dragged him into the transporter room, shoving him up onto the pad.

G’Nor managed to catch himself as he stumbled onto the pad. After adjusting his uniform, he angrily glared at Yamik. “This isn’t—” He was saying before Yamik had the transport controller beam G’Nor back to the Salvation mid sentence.

Harmony watched the whole incident unfold, and felt a chill down her spine when G’Nor sent them that last angry glare. “Sir? Should we be concerned about what that guy might do?” She asked.

“Cautious, yes, concerned. Well so long as he’s smart and remembers any act against us puts everything he holds dear at risk, I feel we should be fine.” Yamik responded. “Sorry you had to see that Harmony.” He added.

“Sounds like it was warranted.” Harmony said, recalling all the probably derogatory terms G’Nor used when referring to her and Proxima. “…Am I really a freakship?” Harmony asked, the question coming to mind after hearing that come out of G’Nor’s mouth.

Yamik opened his mouth, before the transporter controller beat him to it. “Absolutely not Harmony.” The controller said, Harmony and Yamik glancing their way. The controller continued. “You are not a freakship and never will be. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” They said.

“Took the words right out of my mouth Ensign Bluric.” Yamik responded with a smile.

Harmony nodded, smiling herself. “Alright. Thanks Bluric.” She said, appreciating the kind words.

Satisfied that all was good, Yamik tapped his combadge. “Yamik to Maxima. G’Nor’s been booted off our ship and put on the blacklist, the only time he’ll be onboard again is if the Salvation’s gonna blow and we’re saving the crew.” He announced.

“Very good Yamik. We’re on our way to the mess hall. Care to join?” Proxima asked.

“Of course Captain.” Yamik responded as he cut the connection. “Care to join us in the mess Harmony?” He asked.

“Absolutely.” Harmony responded, walking out with Yamik.

On the Salvation, G’Nor appeared in one of the Transporter rooms of the Salvation. “-Over you steaming pile of-” He cut himself off when he realized he was back on the Salvation. Growling to himself, he stormed out of the transporter room, slamming a hand on the intercom system on the corridor bulkhead. “Go through that data we got from the Federation vessel. Find out what their power source is. And anything else of interest!” He ordered.

“Aye sir.” An officer on the other end said.

“And start assembling a strike team to go in and raid that ship. Whatever is of interest I want on this vessel as soon as possible.” G’Nor added.

“Sir?” The officer on the other end asked, not sure about that last order.

“Assemble a strike team to raid the ship. That’s an order!” G’Nor growled, getting really pissed.

“A-aye sir.” The officer on the other end replied, uncertainly.

Satisfied, G’Nor proceeded back to the bridge of the Salvation. Committed to retaliating against the Equestria for, what he saw, a treaty Violation. Completely taking leave of the apparent fact that the Treaty had been void for centuries.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

So fun fact, for a week and a bit, I actually didn't have a Chapter 25 before this one. I only noticed tonight, Oops. Lol

But yeah. THX for reading and see you next time!