Categories > TV > Star Trek: The Next Generation > Catalyst
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Update: 140404, 080305, 170305, 230805, 311005, 150206, 220206
Disclaimer: Ranma and the Nerima Wrecking Crew belong to Rumiko Takahashi while Babylon 5, and Star Trek belong to all their creators respectively.
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Part 3:
Babylon 5 ....
"Any news from Liutenant Susan Ivanova?"
"None yet so far. But if she is aboard the USS Enterprise, there is a good chance that she might be a prisoner or dead already." the man in front of Sheridan replied.
"And she told you to leave?" Sheridan asked.
"Yes. She insisted it was a direct order."
"You may go, now."
"Thank you, Sir."
The man left.
"We have a big problem, Michael," Sheridan turned to his companion.
"I know John. But she knew the risks."
"Come. Let's go to the infirmary to take a look at our soldiers."
A few minutes later ....
"Still it doesn't make things any easier. What about the patient?" Sheridan asked the Doctor as they both arrived at the medical bay.
"The alien lifeform attached to his face is new to us. It's the first alien lifeform we've encountered that has a highly corrosive blood content. Removing the creature from his face turned out to be a real challenge as our surgical instruments had to be replaced each time the corrosive blood reacted with the metal in them. We were finally able to do so after replacing them using laser scalpels."
"That bad?" Garibaldi asked.
"Very corrosive," the doctor replied.
"What kind of lifeform has acid for blood?" Garibaldi asked slightly horrified by the doctor's analysis.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, this creature is the key. Also, if you think this is bad, you should take a look at what's inside him."
A picture of a serpent-like creature moving in the body of the soldier appeared on the monitor.
"Can you remove it?"
"Very difficult as it is moving all the time. Yet if we don't remove it from him, it would kill him."
"What do you mean?"
"This thing, whatever it is, is growing. Soon, it will reach the spacial limit provided to it by this person's body. Once that happens, it would have to leave the body to continue its growth."
"Can you kill the creature inside him without killing him?"
Before the doctor could answer, however, the creature turned its head sideways as if to look at them from the monitor.
Suddenly, the chest of the soldier began to shake as if something was trying to break out.
"Get away from him! Whatever's inside is coming out!" Sheridan shouted as he pulled his weapon out.
"Security! To the medical bay immediately!" Garibaldi shouted.
The body shook again. The head of a creature burst through the chest before leaping for cover as a hail of energy blasts streamed towards it. It dived for the doorway. Dived for freedom. Footsteps came rushing but the creature merely threw itself at one of the soldiers in the way, impaling him through the body before coming out the other side. Continuously moving, it leaped onto the face of the soldier, tearing out his eyes in the process before jumping for a small open hole into the darkness.
There was only one word going through everyone's mind. Damn!
In the debriefing room ....
"The station is on alert. All security personnel are looking for the creature as we speak."
"You seemed worried, Michael."
"This creature, whatever it is has already slain two of our men. A third person will never see the light of day. His eyes were permanently damaged by the claws of the creature and it is not even adult yet."
"So, any news about our visitor?" Sheridan asked trying to change the subject.
"The unconfirmed rumours about Earth Alliance being attacked by an unidentifed alien vessel are true. Though Clark is keeping the incident under wraps, we were able to obtained information through our spies and sympathizers in EA space. This is what we were able to gather about the ship."
John Sheridan merely nodded his head.
"The first thing is the ship utilises a stealth system unlike anything that we've ever encountered in the galaxy. The stealth field it generates renders it invisible to all sensors including visual sight and sound making it virtually undetectable. What is more, the ship is capable of targeting and firing at enemy vessels independently while in this 'stealth' mode. Something that none of the races or civilisations we've heard of have been able to do."
"The second thing is ... you wouldn't believe this .... sir, the ship is protected by shields, energy shields like the Abbai ships. According to our reports and from what we can see, those shields are strong enough to withstand a direct hit from a Shadow ship."
"Lastly, the ship was armed with energy weapons of a type we've never seen in use by any race in the galaxy. As you can see from the visual records on that were recovered, those energy weapons were strong enough to cut through the body of a Shadow ship. But that wasn't the only thing. Further examination of the alien vessel when it was visible showed we deduced to be missile bays of some type across its body. A careful study of its body revealed a total of twenty-seven of these missile bays."
"Your point being ... "
"None of its contents had ever been utilised in this battle."
"But the single most surprising thing of all was this, the commander of this so-called ship who identified himself as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. Take note, he was human and the name he used was French. When EA heard about that, they checked all the records that they had on Earth regarding a man with this name. There was nobody on Earth with such a name in a hundred years, John."
"Meaning?"
"This guy is either an alien in human guise or he came from a human colony we know nothing about."
"Now we're talking about secret government conspiracies and UFOs."
"Who knows? The truth is out there."
"You've been watching too much of that 20th century TV series, Michael."
"Everybody has their eccentricities, John."
"Is that all of it?"
"Just one final detail. When he identified himself as the ship's captain, he identified himself as the captain of the damaged ship, which bore the name, rather than the ship that he was on. Unless the ship that he was on had the same name as the damaged ship which I seriously doubt, we can only conclude that the ship he was on was not his. What was more, he referred to the USS Enterprise as Federation property which is strange considering the only Federation we know of in this galaxy is the Minbari Federation and none of the Minbari possessed ships of any of this nature."
"If that is the case, why did he appear to be giving orders on board that ship?"
"That is what we are still trying to determine. It could be any number of things from the ship being stolen to being captured to being bought or possibly being built by them. Due to insufficient information, we are still trying to determine all the possible alternatives."
"Any chances of that ship attacking Babylon 5?"
"Can't say for sure. Will we survive an attack by such a vessel? I'm not a person who believes in miracles, John. You saw what they did to all the EA and Centauri ships. The question we should be asking ourselves is what should we do if this Jean-Luc Picard comes here?"
"We'll do what we do when new alien races come calling."
"Say hi?"
"Right on target."
"Okay then John. Let's hope he's nice. Otherwise there would be trouble with a capital T."
"Just keep your fingers crossed, Michael."
"You got it."
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Centauri Prime ....
"This is preposterous! Practically unbelievable! The entire Centauri Fifth Fleet disabled by a single ship! What is to become of the mighty Centauri Empire?"
The man kneeling in front of the Emperor was too nervous to reply. But the second man behind him wasn't.
"The enemy ship had shields."
"Shields? Like those used by the Abbai?" the mad Emperor asked, a glint in his eye.
"Yes, your Majesty."
The Emperor remained silent for a few minutes before speaking.
"Lord Refa. I want you to take command of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Centauri Fleet. You will personally lead these forces to the Abbai star system. There you will launch a full-scale assault against them. Our main priority is the capture of the Abbai shield technology."
"Your Majesty, this attack will lead to a full-scale war with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Subduing the League of Non-Aligned Worlds is no easy task. The Vree have powerful ships, the," the second man kneeling was about to say more before he was cut off.
"Refa, do you take me for an ignorant fool? Once the Abbai star system has been secured and their shield technology integrated into our ships, General Rogmar will lead the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Centauri Fleet to assist you in the takeover of the League. Too long has the League been a thorn in the flesh of the Centauri!" the Emperor shouted as he got to his feet.
"Too long have they stymied the growth of the Centauri Empire! Too long have we been forced to play second fiddle to the other races in the galaxy! But no longer! This will end one way or another! When the dust settles, there will only be one galactic power! The mighty Centauri Republic! Power such as we have never known shall then be ours for the taking! And as for those who try to stop us? Let them try. They will be nothing but ashes before us!" he roared as his voice built to a fever pitch, resounding throughout the chambers of the Palace.
"But Your Majesty, Earth Alliance has declared war on us! It would be di-" the first man spoke.
"Immaterial! From what General Marragon has told me, their forces are just as badly damaged by the alien vessel as we are! What makes you think they would go after us straight away? Clark, being the paranoid dictator that he is, would first try to gather as much information as he can about the alien ship before making a move. He will spare no effort in first checking out the threat to his power base on Earth. The Captain of the alien vessel, a so-called human called Picard not under his control is of a far greater threat to him than us." the mad Emperor spoke.
The two Centauri nobles looked at the Emperor, puzzlement and disbelief in their faces.
"Refa, you are a strategist. I am really disappointed with you. You should know better. Let me tell you. I know how he thinks. Just as I know what you think," he replied an edge in his voice that hadn't been there before, giving the two kneeling Centauri nobles the jitters as he turned back to look at them.
"And now ... Prepare the fleet. Oh ... and Refa, if I were you, I would do everything to ensure victory. Your life and continued prosperity depends on it. Failure is not an option," the Emperor replied darkly, as he sat back down on the throne.
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Aboard the USS Enterprise ....
"Alright, who are you?" Susan asked warily as she studied the two men and the two heavily armoured seven-foot tall humanoids.
The man wearing non-reflective sunglasses suddenly pulled a mean-looking rifle from out of nowhere, startling her out of her wits. So quick were his movements that Susan's eyes failed to follow it. Seeing his drawn weapon and assuming the worst, Susan fired her weapon at him only to feel something pushed her hand aside. "Ranma Saotome," he replied evenly, letting go of her weapon hand as a spider-like creature fell to the ground dead before turning around to walk steadily out ... towards the corridor.
At the same time, a large black creature with ridges on its body fell to the ground dead at the entrance as a large hole could be seen in the middle of the head, courtesy of Susan's deflected shot. Speechless, Susan could only look at him and the two dead creatures. The man with pupiless eyes spoke, "Geordi LaForge, Chief Engineer for the Enterprise. Forgive my partner. He doesn't speak much." (For those of you who don't know, Ranma's been doing it on purpose ever since he discovered it gave him less problems in dealing with those of the opposite sex^_^)
Walking past the two heavily armoured humanoids, his gun pointing upwards, the T-900 glanced at them briefly before speaking to seemingly thin air, "Do show yourself. I know you're there." The larger humanoids in metal armour remained silent before raising their very sharp-looking spears and then ..... SKRIK! as the blades retracted back into its cylindrical-shaped metal body shortening it considerably.
Susan for her part thought he gone bananas but then .....
..... a third figure like the first two began to appear out of nowhere. It was dressed in a similar manner except for its smaller size. Ranma stopped in front of it. Reaching with its hand to its face, it pulled what appeared to be an unlocking mechanism. There was a hissing sound as gas leaked out of the strange apparatus. A pair of armoured hands lifted the face plate off.
Geordi could only look on in stunned amazement before saying, "Liutenant Yar?" at the unmasked figure in front of him.
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"So how ...."
"Did I wound up with them?" the short-haired blonde interjected.
"Long story. I would prefer to tell it when everyone's together," she replied with a smile.
Just then, the communicator on Geordi's vest rang. Before Geordi could answer, the short-haired blonde stopped him.
"By the way, don't let the crew of the Enterprise know about me yet. I would like to see the look on their faces when they do." she spoke eliciting a grin from the engineer.
"Alright then. Geordi here ... "
A couple of minutes later ....
"Good. They're coming," Geordi spoke as he saw what appeared to be small vessels approaching the Enterprise on the viewscreen.
"Who's coming?" Susan asked, instantly wary of the situation.
"The rest of the crew of the Enterprise. You will meet them very soon. There, the docking bay is finally open."
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A heavily armed and cloaked vessel was moving rapidly through the silence of deep space. No one knew it was there. Which was good. No one knew its destination which was even better.
"Captain, we're back at Last Haven," Data spoke as the ship dropped out of warp. Already they could see dozens of Scorpion-class attack fighters heading for the Enterprise. "I am receiving a transmission from the Enterprise."
"Captain. We have secured the Enterprise. All alien lifeforms have been cleared from it. We have a group of people though who claim to be from Babylon 5. Geordi out."
"Number One, take the bridge. Worf come with me. We're going to the Enterprise. Two to beam over." Picard spoke. Their was a shimmering light and both men disappeared to reappear on the bridge of the Enterprise.
"Captain, this is Liutenant Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5 and her exploration team."
"Be at ease, Liutenant. We mean you no harm. I am Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. This is Geordi whom you already know and we are Starfleet officers."
"Starfleet? What's that?" The Liutenant asked.
"Starfleet is the military wing of the Federation, a coming together of many races across the galaxy for the purpose of exploration, peace and the improvement of life.
"Races? I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Long ago when mankind first made his mark across the stars, they came into contact with many alien races. Some were friendly. Some were not. Others were downright alien as to be beyond normal human comprehension. We were fortunate that the first race that we encountered were the Vulcans who were only interested in peaceful exploration. They made contact with all of us at the same time and then soon negotiations and treaties followed. This contact between the Vulcans and the humans formed the basis of the Federation."
"Oh ..." Susan replied, barely believing her ears."
"Come. I would like to give you a tour of this ship once it is patched up. Perhaps you would like a drink at my briefing room," Picard replied.
"Very well." Susan replied.
"Picard to Data. Two to beam up."
"Wait a moment, Captain. There's somebody else who would like to join you."
"Oh? And where is .... " his words trailed off as he caught sight of someone walking up to him.
"Remember me, captain?" came the question.
The expression on Picard's face was priceless.
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Susan could not believe it. One moment she was on the damaged bridge of the Enterprise and the next moment she was on the bridge of another ship. Oh yes, she had seen it before. But experiencing it was an altogether different kind of thing. This so-called thing they called 'beaming' aboard the ship. Right now they seemed to be busy getting reacquainted with the short-haired blonde they called 'Liutenant Yar' and Susan was a beginning to feel a little left out about the whole thing.
"Give them time." a voice spoke.
Even as she turned her head, she knew it was the Captain.
"Forgive us for this inhospitality. It's just that you don't get to meet people that you've thought long dead and it's just a little overwhelming." the Captain spoke.
"I understand. How long have you known Liutenant Yar?" Susan asked.
"She was my first security officer serving on board the Enterprise before Worf. She went missing during the Romulan debacle for so long that Starfleet gave her up for dead and now she's turned up here of all places. It's rather unbelievable. Oh yes ... Where are my manners? It's time for you to meet the rest of the crew. Attention everyone!" the captain called out.
Everybody stopped whatever they were doing to listen to the Captain's words.
"This is Liutenant Ivanova from Babylon 5. Liutenant Ivanova, this is Data, Riker, Deanna Troi and Aiko." They each smiled at her as they were introduced.
"Do you always travel like this?" Susan asked as she studied the structure of the ship on the way to the corridor.
"When the need arises." the Captain replied non-chalantly.
"This is another ship, right?" Susan asked feeling a little stupid for asking the question but she had to be sure.
"Right."
"If you're the Captain of the USS Enterprise, then what is this ship? It looks so different on the inside compared with the USS Enterprise," Susan pointed out as they headed for the briefing room.
"You are very perceptive, Liutenant. This ship is known as the Warbird, Scimitar, a battleship built by the Remans, an alien race, on a dark world. For all their failings, they were excellent soldiers and weapon designers," Picard replied omitting their recent battle with the Remans and with that he went into a bit of the history and geo-political layout of the Alpha Quadrant.
After fifteen minutes .....
"So many races? You are not from this universe ..."" Susan asked.
"That's right. If you would like to know more about the history or layout of our universe, you can find it on this," Picard replied as he took out a disk.
"I can't accept this," Susan replied.
"Nonsense! Think of it as a gift and a token of our goodwill to your galaxy," the Captain replied.
"So what are you going to do now?"
"First we're going to sent you back home in which case you can act as a go-between for us and Babylon 5 while we figure a way out to go back to my universe," the Captain replied.
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Back on the Enterprise ....
Worf and Geordi were busy fixing the ship when one of the armoured figures passed them by. Almost immediately, Worf got to his feet and spoke,"By Kahless. Yautja." The armoured figure as if hearing its name, stopped and turned around. One of its hands reached towards the side of its face and pulled. There was a hissing sound as the mask came off. "You know this person Worf?" Geordi asked as got his first look at the face behind the mask.
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Major case of mental block syndrome .... I'll stop here .... Real bad case .... Help me somebody!!! Anybody!!! All ideas appreciated! Help!!!
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On Earth ...
There was a discussion going on in the most heavily defended area on the planet.
"Sir, the Centauri assault force has completely destroyed our fleet. What do we do?" a voice belonging to a uniformed man asked.
"Call in every available ship from the outer colonies back to the Sol system.
Earth must be protected," a second voice replied.
"But that will leave the outer colonies undefended from raiders and pirates," the first voice protested.
"The Centauri assault force in the Sol system must be dealt with immediately. The loss of Earth to any outside force would be a terrible blow to morale," the second voice explained.
"The separatists?" the first voice asked.
"They will be dealt with later. The Centauri assault force is a priority. Attack the fleet now while it is still helpless before reinforcements arrive," the second voice commanded.
"As you wish, Mr. President," the first voice replied.
"Oh and before you leave, activate the Shadow Omegas. Now is a good time to test them on the Centauri fleet before we bring them into play against the so-called Federation."
'Damn you, Picard. When I get my hands on you ...' the second man thought.
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On board a large, heavily-armed vessel in an uncharted star system ....
The comm-link rang up.
"Picard here."
"Captain, I have bad news."
"Oh?"
"The Enterprise has suffered severe structural damage from both the battle with the Scimitar and the collision with the Yautja vessel. Without the resources and equipment available at a Federation starship facility, the ship would probably never fly again. Fortunately, the detachable saucer section of the ship could be restored although its speed, shield and phaser strength have all been reduced by one-third each."
"What about the shuttles?"
"The shuttles are slightly dented but they're all in working order."
"Geordi would it be possible to integrate a phase cloaking device into the saucer section alone?"
"Yes although we would not be able to raise our shields nor will we be able to go into warp once the cloaking device is active."
"Not go into warp?"
"According to my calculations, a cloaking device of any type requires a significant amount of power. For the Scimitar, it won't be a problem but for the saucer section alone, we need more power to do all these things simultaneously. Do you still wish to go along with it, Captain?"
"Just do it, Geordi. I would rather have it available when not needed than have it not available when needed," Picard replied.
"Captain, I have a suggestion to make. How about integrating the Chronosphere into the propulsion systems of the ship? In that case, the saucer would still be able to cover large distances instantly even with the absence of warp capability." a female voice suggested.
"What do you think Geordi?"
"It is a novel idea but we should test it first."
"Data?"
"I agree with Liutenant LaForge. If this works out, it would be a revolution in space travel as we would be able to cover vast distances in a split second when needed. Something that we have never been able to do. Should it prove successful with the saucer section, then we could integrate it with the Scimitar as well."
"It would also prove to be an interesting study to see how two different cloaking technologies and propulsion systems can work together aboard the Scimitar," the android added.
"In that case, make it so. Picard out."
Seating at the center on the bridge of the Scimitar, Picard spoke, "Data, set a course for Babylon 5."
"Ready, Captain." Data replied.
"Engage."
The stars around the ship became straight lines of white light and the large cloaked vessel disappeared in a burst of starlight.
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Babylon 5 ...
"Ambassador Delenn, the Grey Council wishes to speak with you."
The Minbari Ambassador quickly headed for her room.
"Delenn here ... " she spoke.
"Any news on the alien ship?" a voice on the other end asked.
"Earth Alliance no longer holds it. The alien ship has disappeared. Rumours are flying all over the station that another alien ship was responsible for its disappearance," the Minbari ambassador replied.
"Are they true?" the voice on the other end asked again.
"I've to ask my sources about this," Delenn replied.
"Our spies in Centauri space inform us that this second alien ship disabled the entire Centauri Fifth Fleet consisting of 20 Primus warships and two hundred Vorchan fighters. More information is needed," the voice on the other end continued.
"I will do my best," Delenn replied.
"The Grey Council knows you will, Delenn," the communication ended.
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Meanwhile enroute to Babylon 5 ...
"Wow ... Just how fast are we going?" Susan asked as she looked through the windows on the bridge. The stars were passing by so fast that they seemed to streak by in straight lines instead of white dots liked they usually were.
"Approximately one thousand times the speed of light," the android replied upon hearing the question.
"That's not possible! Nothing can travel faster than light."
"In this 3D reality yes." Data replied.
Susan was going to say something else when the ship's computer rang out.
"Captain, I am picking up multiple signatures of several frigate-class ships up ahead."
An image of several large ships appeared on the viewscreen.
"Those are merchant ships, Captain." Susan spoke upon seeing the ships on screen.
"Captain, I am detecting several jump points activating around them."
A second group of ships suddenly appeared on the screen in a flash of light.
"Raiders." Susan spoke upon seeing the ships.
"Captain, we must stop them from attacking the merchant convoy. Merchant ships heading for Babylon 5 have been getting fewer and fewer since Clark stopped trading with Babylon 5. He has been attempting to starve out Babylon 5 for quite sometime now ever since failing to acquire Babylon 5 through force of arms," she added quickly.
"Data, hail the raiders."
"They're not responding, Sir."
"Fire a warning shot."
A beam of energy struck the side of the largest raider ship knocking it slightly out of position.
"Hail them once again."
"They're responding on audio only."
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the .... "
He was going to say 'USS Enterprise' again but stopped before he could say it as it didn't feel right.
"Warbird, Scimitar. Cease all hostile actions immediately or be destroyed."
Around him, the crew of the Enterprise listened to his words with a mixture of surprise and resignation.
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"Who? Show yourself!" the voice on the other end replied.
"Drop the cloak, Data."
"Aye, Captain."
Upon seeing the large, intimidating size and shape of the ship that had suddenly appeared before them, the raiders quickly decided that they had better things to do elsewhere and disappeared through the jump beacons present.
"Captain, we are receiving a transmission."
"On screen."
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To all my fanfic readers out there. You know who you are :-) Thanks for the fanfic ideas and suggestions received (especially the one on Liutenant Yar). Any more ideas and suggestions just email to me. THANKS A MILLION! ^_^
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The viewscreen appeared to show someone's face. There was static as power began fluctuating wildly all over the ship.
"Data, what's happening?"
"Sir, I am detecting a large build up of tachyon emissions synonymous to that of a time wave heading towards us. Something in the past has been altered and this change is sending ripples throughout the timestream. I recommend we raise shields," the android spoke.
"Brace for impact!" the captain commanded as a large ripple buffeted and shook the Scimitar.
"Primary shields down to 90%. Secondary shields operating at 100% efficiency."
Another ripple struck the ship, throwing everyone to the ground.
"Shields down to 80%. Secondary shields down to 94%."
"Sir, our long range communication and uplink to Lasthaven appears to have been disrupted in a manner similar to that of what we encountered in the Bazan Rift."
"Get us out of here."
After a few seconds …
"We are moving through spacetime in a very unusual manner. We could end up anywhere in the past, present or even the future. Captain, we appear to be on Earth ... "
"On Earth?"
"Yes, Sir. And from my readings we're in the Pacific Ocean too. The whole planet appears to be covered with some kind of strange energy. Some thing's got to be wrong ... "
"???"
"There appears to be more than a one hundred of this anomalies similar to what we encountered in this Bazan Rift opening and closing every minute all over the planet. Fifteen of them appear to be permanent tears through the spacetime continuum. This planet appears to be linked to more than a hundred different realities at one time."
"So we just emerged from one of this tear into this planet?"
"That would be right sir. And it appears that the dimensional tear has already closed behind us."
"Sir, I'm picking up what appears to be a submarine fifty miles from our position. They appear to be fighting some kind of ... sea monster?"
"Sea monster?"
"Yes sir."
"Take us there, Number One."
"Sir, if I may suggest ... ."
"Yes ... "
"We could save fuel if we were to travel through the ocean instead of through the air."
"Suggestion noted. Make it so ..."
"Yes Sir."
"Hail them."
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Three weeks later on Babylon 5 ...
Almost everyone was on edge. It had all started with one of the maintenance crew when there was a complaint from one of the Centauri guests, Count Rello, about the recent power failure in his room. He was happily reading the about the history of The Seven Years War when the lights went out. Naturally, he responded by calling the stationmaster, John Sheridan who sent a team of two maintenance workmen to his room.
At first, it was thought that the lights needed to be replaced in the Centauri merchant's room but a quick check proved that this was not the case. The maintenance crew worked to check the rest of the appliances and confirmed that they were in working order except that there was no power. After opening up the metal covers of the envoy's room it was found that one of the power cables had been cut. With something sharp ... like a knife.
Count Rello had, naturally, cried foul play and suspicion fell on the dastardly Narn for this petty act of wickedness. The Narn had quickly denied the accusation and accused the Centauri agent of trying to find an excuse to declare war on the remaining Narn survivors. The cable had been replaced but tensions had risen between both the Centauri and Narn inhabitants of the station.
Then, there was the Brakiri smuggler who was found dead in one of the more remote parts of the station. It seemed that the poor fellow had been torn to pieces by some ... that there was not much of him left to piece back together.
Since the dead alien was known to be a hardened criminal and a notorious gangster, it was assumed that he was killed in some inter-gang dispute. Although the forensics experts aboard the station had quite a difficult time identifying the murder weapon and pinpointing the actual time of his demise. As well as the strange slime next to him.
In the midst of all this as tensions continued to build up across the station ... more and more people (both humans and aliens) began disappearing ... first in the remote areas of the station ... then the more inhabited parts ... Power failures became more and more frequent. Tempers had also become shorter and violence more widespread. At one time, the violence had become so bad that Sheridan had nearly declared martial law aboard the station. In the midst of all this, they had yet to find the strange psychopathic murderer aboard the B5 station.
Since then, there had been many more unexplained occurences aboard the space station adding to the already rather tense atmosphere. Guard patrols which had doubled around the corridor and solitary confinement for some of the more violent inhabitants of the station certainly did not help matters. The heavily-armed guards fiddled their weapons nervously and never went around on patrol in groups of less than four.
It was this rather *welcoming* situation that Morden found himself in as he moved towards his prey. He maintained a calm façade and smiled in a friendly demeanor whenever he passed a contingent of guards. They in turn, nodded their heads in acknowledgement when they passed him in the corridor.
His unseen companions remained silent as they moved alongside him, one on each side. A strange feeling of unease began to feel his mind as his footsteps sounded on the metal corridor of the massive station. He had the feeling that he was being watched.
By what ... he did not know. Even his 'unseen' companions companions were starting to show their unease at their mysterious stalker. Still, whatever was watching him, had not tried anything - yet -. Though he felt it foolish for anyone or anything to try and attack him while he was being accompanied by his two unseen companions, it still did not soothe his fears.
After a minute or so of walking ... he could still feel the mysterious stalker's eyes on him. It was getting more and more disturbing. For once he felt like he was the hunted instead of the hunter. His eyes darted quickly from one corner of the dimly lit corridor to another to catch sight of the unseen stalker but there was nothing.
Brushing away his feelings of unease under a masked feeling of superiority, Morden tried to rein in his fear. Was he not Morden, the personal envoy of the Shadows themselves? Was he not Morden, the man who got even the mad Emperor Cartagia scraping at his feet? Was he not Morden, the man who had President Clark catering to his every whim? Was he not Morden, servant of the most powerful and ancient race in the galaxy? What had he to fear?
Feeling a flash of confidence, he proceeded on to his objective with a bigger gait than usual in his walk ... only to ... step on something rather sticky and slimy. He stopped for awhile to examine the strange slime sticking to his footgear when more fell from the ceiling ... What matter of thing was this? He wondered and turned to ask his companions.
Suddenly ... without warning ... there was a shriek of fear and scream of pain from them. Morden turned around to see one of the black bug-like creatures that usually accompanied him struggling with another strange alien creature on the metal ground. The fight was without a doubt quite unnerving.
Between the black bug-like creatures' shrieks of anger and pain mixed with hisses and growls of hostility from the alien creature, the screams he made sounded like music to his ears. His second companion creature leaped onto the alien creature and bit into its hard-like carapace armour.
Only to be thrown off just as quickly by the creature's tail into the wall of the station. The first companion slashed its claw into the alien creature, tearing a deep gash and shrieking just as loudly when its large pincer claw began dissolving as the blood from the alien creature dripped of it onto the station floor. Morden desperately wanted to help his associates but was unable to due to both the fear (when he saw the blood of the creature dissolving the ground that it fell on into smoke) and the terrifying speed that both creatures were moving at.
The second creature was also shrieking insanely in pain and anger as smoke hissed from its partially dissolved mandibles after having bitten the alien creature. Morden drew his gun. A weapon, more for function than for protection. For there was little need for him to use one as no one prior to this had been insane or stupid enough so far to risk the wrath of the mightiest race in the galaxy.
The alien creature that had attacked his unseen companions turned to face him. For the first time, since the attack, he was able to get a good look at the creature. It was the ugliest and most hideous creature he had ever come across in his life. A creature that had a mouth with sharp teeth inside another larger mouth with what seemed to be very sharp teeth. Slime and black ichor dripped from its mouth while corrosive blood that hissed like a snake whenever it came into contact with the ground, dripped from the various wounds all across its body.
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Update: 140404, 080305, 170305, 230805, 311005, 150206, 220206
Disclaimer: Ranma and the Nerima Wrecking Crew belong to Rumiko Takahashi while Babylon 5, and Star Trek belong to all their creators respectively.
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Part 3:
Babylon 5 ....
"Any news from Liutenant Susan Ivanova?"
"None yet so far. But if she is aboard the USS Enterprise, there is a good chance that she might be a prisoner or dead already." the man in front of Sheridan replied.
"And she told you to leave?" Sheridan asked.
"Yes. She insisted it was a direct order."
"You may go, now."
"Thank you, Sir."
The man left.
"We have a big problem, Michael," Sheridan turned to his companion.
"I know John. But she knew the risks."
"Come. Let's go to the infirmary to take a look at our soldiers."
A few minutes later ....
"Still it doesn't make things any easier. What about the patient?" Sheridan asked the Doctor as they both arrived at the medical bay.
"The alien lifeform attached to his face is new to us. It's the first alien lifeform we've encountered that has a highly corrosive blood content. Removing the creature from his face turned out to be a real challenge as our surgical instruments had to be replaced each time the corrosive blood reacted with the metal in them. We were finally able to do so after replacing them using laser scalpels."
"That bad?" Garibaldi asked.
"Very corrosive," the doctor replied.
"What kind of lifeform has acid for blood?" Garibaldi asked slightly horrified by the doctor's analysis.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, this creature is the key. Also, if you think this is bad, you should take a look at what's inside him."
A picture of a serpent-like creature moving in the body of the soldier appeared on the monitor.
"Can you remove it?"
"Very difficult as it is moving all the time. Yet if we don't remove it from him, it would kill him."
"What do you mean?"
"This thing, whatever it is, is growing. Soon, it will reach the spacial limit provided to it by this person's body. Once that happens, it would have to leave the body to continue its growth."
"Can you kill the creature inside him without killing him?"
Before the doctor could answer, however, the creature turned its head sideways as if to look at them from the monitor.
Suddenly, the chest of the soldier began to shake as if something was trying to break out.
"Get away from him! Whatever's inside is coming out!" Sheridan shouted as he pulled his weapon out.
"Security! To the medical bay immediately!" Garibaldi shouted.
The body shook again. The head of a creature burst through the chest before leaping for cover as a hail of energy blasts streamed towards it. It dived for the doorway. Dived for freedom. Footsteps came rushing but the creature merely threw itself at one of the soldiers in the way, impaling him through the body before coming out the other side. Continuously moving, it leaped onto the face of the soldier, tearing out his eyes in the process before jumping for a small open hole into the darkness.
There was only one word going through everyone's mind. Damn!
In the debriefing room ....
"The station is on alert. All security personnel are looking for the creature as we speak."
"You seemed worried, Michael."
"This creature, whatever it is has already slain two of our men. A third person will never see the light of day. His eyes were permanently damaged by the claws of the creature and it is not even adult yet."
"So, any news about our visitor?" Sheridan asked trying to change the subject.
"The unconfirmed rumours about Earth Alliance being attacked by an unidentifed alien vessel are true. Though Clark is keeping the incident under wraps, we were able to obtained information through our spies and sympathizers in EA space. This is what we were able to gather about the ship."
John Sheridan merely nodded his head.
"The first thing is the ship utilises a stealth system unlike anything that we've ever encountered in the galaxy. The stealth field it generates renders it invisible to all sensors including visual sight and sound making it virtually undetectable. What is more, the ship is capable of targeting and firing at enemy vessels independently while in this 'stealth' mode. Something that none of the races or civilisations we've heard of have been able to do."
"The second thing is ... you wouldn't believe this .... sir, the ship is protected by shields, energy shields like the Abbai ships. According to our reports and from what we can see, those shields are strong enough to withstand a direct hit from a Shadow ship."
"Lastly, the ship was armed with energy weapons of a type we've never seen in use by any race in the galaxy. As you can see from the visual records on that were recovered, those energy weapons were strong enough to cut through the body of a Shadow ship. But that wasn't the only thing. Further examination of the alien vessel when it was visible showed we deduced to be missile bays of some type across its body. A careful study of its body revealed a total of twenty-seven of these missile bays."
"Your point being ... "
"None of its contents had ever been utilised in this battle."
"But the single most surprising thing of all was this, the commander of this so-called ship who identified himself as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. Take note, he was human and the name he used was French. When EA heard about that, they checked all the records that they had on Earth regarding a man with this name. There was nobody on Earth with such a name in a hundred years, John."
"Meaning?"
"This guy is either an alien in human guise or he came from a human colony we know nothing about."
"Now we're talking about secret government conspiracies and UFOs."
"Who knows? The truth is out there."
"You've been watching too much of that 20th century TV series, Michael."
"Everybody has their eccentricities, John."
"Is that all of it?"
"Just one final detail. When he identified himself as the ship's captain, he identified himself as the captain of the damaged ship, which bore the name, rather than the ship that he was on. Unless the ship that he was on had the same name as the damaged ship which I seriously doubt, we can only conclude that the ship he was on was not his. What was more, he referred to the USS Enterprise as Federation property which is strange considering the only Federation we know of in this galaxy is the Minbari Federation and none of the Minbari possessed ships of any of this nature."
"If that is the case, why did he appear to be giving orders on board that ship?"
"That is what we are still trying to determine. It could be any number of things from the ship being stolen to being captured to being bought or possibly being built by them. Due to insufficient information, we are still trying to determine all the possible alternatives."
"Any chances of that ship attacking Babylon 5?"
"Can't say for sure. Will we survive an attack by such a vessel? I'm not a person who believes in miracles, John. You saw what they did to all the EA and Centauri ships. The question we should be asking ourselves is what should we do if this Jean-Luc Picard comes here?"
"We'll do what we do when new alien races come calling."
"Say hi?"
"Right on target."
"Okay then John. Let's hope he's nice. Otherwise there would be trouble with a capital T."
"Just keep your fingers crossed, Michael."
"You got it."
**********************
Centauri Prime ....
"This is preposterous! Practically unbelievable! The entire Centauri Fifth Fleet disabled by a single ship! What is to become of the mighty Centauri Empire?"
The man kneeling in front of the Emperor was too nervous to reply. But the second man behind him wasn't.
"The enemy ship had shields."
"Shields? Like those used by the Abbai?" the mad Emperor asked, a glint in his eye.
"Yes, your Majesty."
The Emperor remained silent for a few minutes before speaking.
"Lord Refa. I want you to take command of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Centauri Fleet. You will personally lead these forces to the Abbai star system. There you will launch a full-scale assault against them. Our main priority is the capture of the Abbai shield technology."
"Your Majesty, this attack will lead to a full-scale war with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Subduing the League of Non-Aligned Worlds is no easy task. The Vree have powerful ships, the," the second man kneeling was about to say more before he was cut off.
"Refa, do you take me for an ignorant fool? Once the Abbai star system has been secured and their shield technology integrated into our ships, General Rogmar will lead the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Centauri Fleet to assist you in the takeover of the League. Too long has the League been a thorn in the flesh of the Centauri!" the Emperor shouted as he got to his feet.
"Too long have they stymied the growth of the Centauri Empire! Too long have we been forced to play second fiddle to the other races in the galaxy! But no longer! This will end one way or another! When the dust settles, there will only be one galactic power! The mighty Centauri Republic! Power such as we have never known shall then be ours for the taking! And as for those who try to stop us? Let them try. They will be nothing but ashes before us!" he roared as his voice built to a fever pitch, resounding throughout the chambers of the Palace.
"But Your Majesty, Earth Alliance has declared war on us! It would be di-" the first man spoke.
"Immaterial! From what General Marragon has told me, their forces are just as badly damaged by the alien vessel as we are! What makes you think they would go after us straight away? Clark, being the paranoid dictator that he is, would first try to gather as much information as he can about the alien ship before making a move. He will spare no effort in first checking out the threat to his power base on Earth. The Captain of the alien vessel, a so-called human called Picard not under his control is of a far greater threat to him than us." the mad Emperor spoke.
The two Centauri nobles looked at the Emperor, puzzlement and disbelief in their faces.
"Refa, you are a strategist. I am really disappointed with you. You should know better. Let me tell you. I know how he thinks. Just as I know what you think," he replied an edge in his voice that hadn't been there before, giving the two kneeling Centauri nobles the jitters as he turned back to look at them.
"And now ... Prepare the fleet. Oh ... and Refa, if I were you, I would do everything to ensure victory. Your life and continued prosperity depends on it. Failure is not an option," the Emperor replied darkly, as he sat back down on the throne.
**********************
Aboard the USS Enterprise ....
"Alright, who are you?" Susan asked warily as she studied the two men and the two heavily armoured seven-foot tall humanoids.
The man wearing non-reflective sunglasses suddenly pulled a mean-looking rifle from out of nowhere, startling her out of her wits. So quick were his movements that Susan's eyes failed to follow it. Seeing his drawn weapon and assuming the worst, Susan fired her weapon at him only to feel something pushed her hand aside. "Ranma Saotome," he replied evenly, letting go of her weapon hand as a spider-like creature fell to the ground dead before turning around to walk steadily out ... towards the corridor.
At the same time, a large black creature with ridges on its body fell to the ground dead at the entrance as a large hole could be seen in the middle of the head, courtesy of Susan's deflected shot. Speechless, Susan could only look at him and the two dead creatures. The man with pupiless eyes spoke, "Geordi LaForge, Chief Engineer for the Enterprise. Forgive my partner. He doesn't speak much." (For those of you who don't know, Ranma's been doing it on purpose ever since he discovered it gave him less problems in dealing with those of the opposite sex^_^)
Walking past the two heavily armoured humanoids, his gun pointing upwards, the T-900 glanced at them briefly before speaking to seemingly thin air, "Do show yourself. I know you're there." The larger humanoids in metal armour remained silent before raising their very sharp-looking spears and then ..... SKRIK! as the blades retracted back into its cylindrical-shaped metal body shortening it considerably.
Susan for her part thought he gone bananas but then .....
..... a third figure like the first two began to appear out of nowhere. It was dressed in a similar manner except for its smaller size. Ranma stopped in front of it. Reaching with its hand to its face, it pulled what appeared to be an unlocking mechanism. There was a hissing sound as gas leaked out of the strange apparatus. A pair of armoured hands lifted the face plate off.
Geordi could only look on in stunned amazement before saying, "Liutenant Yar?" at the unmasked figure in front of him.
**********************
"So how ...."
"Did I wound up with them?" the short-haired blonde interjected.
"Long story. I would prefer to tell it when everyone's together," she replied with a smile.
Just then, the communicator on Geordi's vest rang. Before Geordi could answer, the short-haired blonde stopped him.
"By the way, don't let the crew of the Enterprise know about me yet. I would like to see the look on their faces when they do." she spoke eliciting a grin from the engineer.
"Alright then. Geordi here ... "
A couple of minutes later ....
"Good. They're coming," Geordi spoke as he saw what appeared to be small vessels approaching the Enterprise on the viewscreen.
"Who's coming?" Susan asked, instantly wary of the situation.
"The rest of the crew of the Enterprise. You will meet them very soon. There, the docking bay is finally open."
**********************
A heavily armed and cloaked vessel was moving rapidly through the silence of deep space. No one knew it was there. Which was good. No one knew its destination which was even better.
"Captain, we're back at Last Haven," Data spoke as the ship dropped out of warp. Already they could see dozens of Scorpion-class attack fighters heading for the Enterprise. "I am receiving a transmission from the Enterprise."
"Captain. We have secured the Enterprise. All alien lifeforms have been cleared from it. We have a group of people though who claim to be from Babylon 5. Geordi out."
"Number One, take the bridge. Worf come with me. We're going to the Enterprise. Two to beam over." Picard spoke. Their was a shimmering light and both men disappeared to reappear on the bridge of the Enterprise.
"Captain, this is Liutenant Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5 and her exploration team."
"Be at ease, Liutenant. We mean you no harm. I am Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. This is Geordi whom you already know and we are Starfleet officers."
"Starfleet? What's that?" The Liutenant asked.
"Starfleet is the military wing of the Federation, a coming together of many races across the galaxy for the purpose of exploration, peace and the improvement of life.
"Races? I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Long ago when mankind first made his mark across the stars, they came into contact with many alien races. Some were friendly. Some were not. Others were downright alien as to be beyond normal human comprehension. We were fortunate that the first race that we encountered were the Vulcans who were only interested in peaceful exploration. They made contact with all of us at the same time and then soon negotiations and treaties followed. This contact between the Vulcans and the humans formed the basis of the Federation."
"Oh ..." Susan replied, barely believing her ears."
"Come. I would like to give you a tour of this ship once it is patched up. Perhaps you would like a drink at my briefing room," Picard replied.
"Very well." Susan replied.
"Picard to Data. Two to beam up."
"Wait a moment, Captain. There's somebody else who would like to join you."
"Oh? And where is .... " his words trailed off as he caught sight of someone walking up to him.
"Remember me, captain?" came the question.
The expression on Picard's face was priceless.
**********************
Susan could not believe it. One moment she was on the damaged bridge of the Enterprise and the next moment she was on the bridge of another ship. Oh yes, she had seen it before. But experiencing it was an altogether different kind of thing. This so-called thing they called 'beaming' aboard the ship. Right now they seemed to be busy getting reacquainted with the short-haired blonde they called 'Liutenant Yar' and Susan was a beginning to feel a little left out about the whole thing.
"Give them time." a voice spoke.
Even as she turned her head, she knew it was the Captain.
"Forgive us for this inhospitality. It's just that you don't get to meet people that you've thought long dead and it's just a little overwhelming." the Captain spoke.
"I understand. How long have you known Liutenant Yar?" Susan asked.
"She was my first security officer serving on board the Enterprise before Worf. She went missing during the Romulan debacle for so long that Starfleet gave her up for dead and now she's turned up here of all places. It's rather unbelievable. Oh yes ... Where are my manners? It's time for you to meet the rest of the crew. Attention everyone!" the captain called out.
Everybody stopped whatever they were doing to listen to the Captain's words.
"This is Liutenant Ivanova from Babylon 5. Liutenant Ivanova, this is Data, Riker, Deanna Troi and Aiko." They each smiled at her as they were introduced.
"Do you always travel like this?" Susan asked as she studied the structure of the ship on the way to the corridor.
"When the need arises." the Captain replied non-chalantly.
"This is another ship, right?" Susan asked feeling a little stupid for asking the question but she had to be sure.
"Right."
"If you're the Captain of the USS Enterprise, then what is this ship? It looks so different on the inside compared with the USS Enterprise," Susan pointed out as they headed for the briefing room.
"You are very perceptive, Liutenant. This ship is known as the Warbird, Scimitar, a battleship built by the Remans, an alien race, on a dark world. For all their failings, they were excellent soldiers and weapon designers," Picard replied omitting their recent battle with the Remans and with that he went into a bit of the history and geo-political layout of the Alpha Quadrant.
After fifteen minutes .....
"So many races? You are not from this universe ..."" Susan asked.
"That's right. If you would like to know more about the history or layout of our universe, you can find it on this," Picard replied as he took out a disk.
"I can't accept this," Susan replied.
"Nonsense! Think of it as a gift and a token of our goodwill to your galaxy," the Captain replied.
"So what are you going to do now?"
"First we're going to sent you back home in which case you can act as a go-between for us and Babylon 5 while we figure a way out to go back to my universe," the Captain replied.
**********************
Back on the Enterprise ....
Worf and Geordi were busy fixing the ship when one of the armoured figures passed them by. Almost immediately, Worf got to his feet and spoke,"By Kahless. Yautja." The armoured figure as if hearing its name, stopped and turned around. One of its hands reached towards the side of its face and pulled. There was a hissing sound as the mask came off. "You know this person Worf?" Geordi asked as got his first look at the face behind the mask.
**********************
Major case of mental block syndrome .... I'll stop here .... Real bad case .... Help me somebody!!! Anybody!!! All ideas appreciated! Help!!!
**********************
On Earth ...
There was a discussion going on in the most heavily defended area on the planet.
"Sir, the Centauri assault force has completely destroyed our fleet. What do we do?" a voice belonging to a uniformed man asked.
"Call in every available ship from the outer colonies back to the Sol system.
Earth must be protected," a second voice replied.
"But that will leave the outer colonies undefended from raiders and pirates," the first voice protested.
"The Centauri assault force in the Sol system must be dealt with immediately. The loss of Earth to any outside force would be a terrible blow to morale," the second voice explained.
"The separatists?" the first voice asked.
"They will be dealt with later. The Centauri assault force is a priority. Attack the fleet now while it is still helpless before reinforcements arrive," the second voice commanded.
"As you wish, Mr. President," the first voice replied.
"Oh and before you leave, activate the Shadow Omegas. Now is a good time to test them on the Centauri fleet before we bring them into play against the so-called Federation."
'Damn you, Picard. When I get my hands on you ...' the second man thought.
**********************
On board a large, heavily-armed vessel in an uncharted star system ....
The comm-link rang up.
"Picard here."
"Captain, I have bad news."
"Oh?"
"The Enterprise has suffered severe structural damage from both the battle with the Scimitar and the collision with the Yautja vessel. Without the resources and equipment available at a Federation starship facility, the ship would probably never fly again. Fortunately, the detachable saucer section of the ship could be restored although its speed, shield and phaser strength have all been reduced by one-third each."
"What about the shuttles?"
"The shuttles are slightly dented but they're all in working order."
"Geordi would it be possible to integrate a phase cloaking device into the saucer section alone?"
"Yes although we would not be able to raise our shields nor will we be able to go into warp once the cloaking device is active."
"Not go into warp?"
"According to my calculations, a cloaking device of any type requires a significant amount of power. For the Scimitar, it won't be a problem but for the saucer section alone, we need more power to do all these things simultaneously. Do you still wish to go along with it, Captain?"
"Just do it, Geordi. I would rather have it available when not needed than have it not available when needed," Picard replied.
"Captain, I have a suggestion to make. How about integrating the Chronosphere into the propulsion systems of the ship? In that case, the saucer would still be able to cover large distances instantly even with the absence of warp capability." a female voice suggested.
"What do you think Geordi?"
"It is a novel idea but we should test it first."
"Data?"
"I agree with Liutenant LaForge. If this works out, it would be a revolution in space travel as we would be able to cover vast distances in a split second when needed. Something that we have never been able to do. Should it prove successful with the saucer section, then we could integrate it with the Scimitar as well."
"It would also prove to be an interesting study to see how two different cloaking technologies and propulsion systems can work together aboard the Scimitar," the android added.
"In that case, make it so. Picard out."
Seating at the center on the bridge of the Scimitar, Picard spoke, "Data, set a course for Babylon 5."
"Ready, Captain." Data replied.
"Engage."
The stars around the ship became straight lines of white light and the large cloaked vessel disappeared in a burst of starlight.
**********************
Babylon 5 ...
"Ambassador Delenn, the Grey Council wishes to speak with you."
The Minbari Ambassador quickly headed for her room.
"Delenn here ... " she spoke.
"Any news on the alien ship?" a voice on the other end asked.
"Earth Alliance no longer holds it. The alien ship has disappeared. Rumours are flying all over the station that another alien ship was responsible for its disappearance," the Minbari ambassador replied.
"Are they true?" the voice on the other end asked again.
"I've to ask my sources about this," Delenn replied.
"Our spies in Centauri space inform us that this second alien ship disabled the entire Centauri Fifth Fleet consisting of 20 Primus warships and two hundred Vorchan fighters. More information is needed," the voice on the other end continued.
"I will do my best," Delenn replied.
"The Grey Council knows you will, Delenn," the communication ended.
**********************
Meanwhile enroute to Babylon 5 ...
"Wow ... Just how fast are we going?" Susan asked as she looked through the windows on the bridge. The stars were passing by so fast that they seemed to streak by in straight lines instead of white dots liked they usually were.
"Approximately one thousand times the speed of light," the android replied upon hearing the question.
"That's not possible! Nothing can travel faster than light."
"In this 3D reality yes." Data replied.
Susan was going to say something else when the ship's computer rang out.
"Captain, I am picking up multiple signatures of several frigate-class ships up ahead."
An image of several large ships appeared on the viewscreen.
"Those are merchant ships, Captain." Susan spoke upon seeing the ships on screen.
"Captain, I am detecting several jump points activating around them."
A second group of ships suddenly appeared on the screen in a flash of light.
"Raiders." Susan spoke upon seeing the ships.
"Captain, we must stop them from attacking the merchant convoy. Merchant ships heading for Babylon 5 have been getting fewer and fewer since Clark stopped trading with Babylon 5. He has been attempting to starve out Babylon 5 for quite sometime now ever since failing to acquire Babylon 5 through force of arms," she added quickly.
"Data, hail the raiders."
"They're not responding, Sir."
"Fire a warning shot."
A beam of energy struck the side of the largest raider ship knocking it slightly out of position.
"Hail them once again."
"They're responding on audio only."
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the .... "
He was going to say 'USS Enterprise' again but stopped before he could say it as it didn't feel right.
"Warbird, Scimitar. Cease all hostile actions immediately or be destroyed."
Around him, the crew of the Enterprise listened to his words with a mixture of surprise and resignation.
**********************
"Who? Show yourself!" the voice on the other end replied.
"Drop the cloak, Data."
"Aye, Captain."
Upon seeing the large, intimidating size and shape of the ship that had suddenly appeared before them, the raiders quickly decided that they had better things to do elsewhere and disappeared through the jump beacons present.
"Captain, we are receiving a transmission."
"On screen."
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To all my fanfic readers out there. You know who you are :-) Thanks for the fanfic ideas and suggestions received (especially the one on Liutenant Yar). Any more ideas and suggestions just email to me. THANKS A MILLION! ^_^
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The viewscreen appeared to show someone's face. There was static as power began fluctuating wildly all over the ship.
"Data, what's happening?"
"Sir, I am detecting a large build up of tachyon emissions synonymous to that of a time wave heading towards us. Something in the past has been altered and this change is sending ripples throughout the timestream. I recommend we raise shields," the android spoke.
"Brace for impact!" the captain commanded as a large ripple buffeted and shook the Scimitar.
"Primary shields down to 90%. Secondary shields operating at 100% efficiency."
Another ripple struck the ship, throwing everyone to the ground.
"Shields down to 80%. Secondary shields down to 94%."
"Sir, our long range communication and uplink to Lasthaven appears to have been disrupted in a manner similar to that of what we encountered in the Bazan Rift."
"Get us out of here."
After a few seconds …
"We are moving through spacetime in a very unusual manner. We could end up anywhere in the past, present or even the future. Captain, we appear to be on Earth ... "
"On Earth?"
"Yes, Sir. And from my readings we're in the Pacific Ocean too. The whole planet appears to be covered with some kind of strange energy. Some thing's got to be wrong ... "
"???"
"There appears to be more than a one hundred of this anomalies similar to what we encountered in this Bazan Rift opening and closing every minute all over the planet. Fifteen of them appear to be permanent tears through the spacetime continuum. This planet appears to be linked to more than a hundred different realities at one time."
"So we just emerged from one of this tear into this planet?"
"That would be right sir. And it appears that the dimensional tear has already closed behind us."
"Sir, I'm picking up what appears to be a submarine fifty miles from our position. They appear to be fighting some kind of ... sea monster?"
"Sea monster?"
"Yes sir."
"Take us there, Number One."
"Sir, if I may suggest ... ."
"Yes ... "
"We could save fuel if we were to travel through the ocean instead of through the air."
"Suggestion noted. Make it so ..."
"Yes Sir."
"Hail them."
**********************
Three weeks later on Babylon 5 ...
Almost everyone was on edge. It had all started with one of the maintenance crew when there was a complaint from one of the Centauri guests, Count Rello, about the recent power failure in his room. He was happily reading the about the history of The Seven Years War when the lights went out. Naturally, he responded by calling the stationmaster, John Sheridan who sent a team of two maintenance workmen to his room.
At first, it was thought that the lights needed to be replaced in the Centauri merchant's room but a quick check proved that this was not the case. The maintenance crew worked to check the rest of the appliances and confirmed that they were in working order except that there was no power. After opening up the metal covers of the envoy's room it was found that one of the power cables had been cut. With something sharp ... like a knife.
Count Rello had, naturally, cried foul play and suspicion fell on the dastardly Narn for this petty act of wickedness. The Narn had quickly denied the accusation and accused the Centauri agent of trying to find an excuse to declare war on the remaining Narn survivors. The cable had been replaced but tensions had risen between both the Centauri and Narn inhabitants of the station.
Then, there was the Brakiri smuggler who was found dead in one of the more remote parts of the station. It seemed that the poor fellow had been torn to pieces by some ... that there was not much of him left to piece back together.
Since the dead alien was known to be a hardened criminal and a notorious gangster, it was assumed that he was killed in some inter-gang dispute. Although the forensics experts aboard the station had quite a difficult time identifying the murder weapon and pinpointing the actual time of his demise. As well as the strange slime next to him.
In the midst of all this as tensions continued to build up across the station ... more and more people (both humans and aliens) began disappearing ... first in the remote areas of the station ... then the more inhabited parts ... Power failures became more and more frequent. Tempers had also become shorter and violence more widespread. At one time, the violence had become so bad that Sheridan had nearly declared martial law aboard the station. In the midst of all this, they had yet to find the strange psychopathic murderer aboard the B5 station.
Since then, there had been many more unexplained occurences aboard the space station adding to the already rather tense atmosphere. Guard patrols which had doubled around the corridor and solitary confinement for some of the more violent inhabitants of the station certainly did not help matters. The heavily-armed guards fiddled their weapons nervously and never went around on patrol in groups of less than four.
It was this rather *welcoming* situation that Morden found himself in as he moved towards his prey. He maintained a calm façade and smiled in a friendly demeanor whenever he passed a contingent of guards. They in turn, nodded their heads in acknowledgement when they passed him in the corridor.
His unseen companions remained silent as they moved alongside him, one on each side. A strange feeling of unease began to feel his mind as his footsteps sounded on the metal corridor of the massive station. He had the feeling that he was being watched.
By what ... he did not know. Even his 'unseen' companions companions were starting to show their unease at their mysterious stalker. Still, whatever was watching him, had not tried anything - yet -. Though he felt it foolish for anyone or anything to try and attack him while he was being accompanied by his two unseen companions, it still did not soothe his fears.
After a minute or so of walking ... he could still feel the mysterious stalker's eyes on him. It was getting more and more disturbing. For once he felt like he was the hunted instead of the hunter. His eyes darted quickly from one corner of the dimly lit corridor to another to catch sight of the unseen stalker but there was nothing.
Brushing away his feelings of unease under a masked feeling of superiority, Morden tried to rein in his fear. Was he not Morden, the personal envoy of the Shadows themselves? Was he not Morden, the man who got even the mad Emperor Cartagia scraping at his feet? Was he not Morden, the man who had President Clark catering to his every whim? Was he not Morden, servant of the most powerful and ancient race in the galaxy? What had he to fear?
Feeling a flash of confidence, he proceeded on to his objective with a bigger gait than usual in his walk ... only to ... step on something rather sticky and slimy. He stopped for awhile to examine the strange slime sticking to his footgear when more fell from the ceiling ... What matter of thing was this? He wondered and turned to ask his companions.
Suddenly ... without warning ... there was a shriek of fear and scream of pain from them. Morden turned around to see one of the black bug-like creatures that usually accompanied him struggling with another strange alien creature on the metal ground. The fight was without a doubt quite unnerving.
Between the black bug-like creatures' shrieks of anger and pain mixed with hisses and growls of hostility from the alien creature, the screams he made sounded like music to his ears. His second companion creature leaped onto the alien creature and bit into its hard-like carapace armour.
Only to be thrown off just as quickly by the creature's tail into the wall of the station. The first companion slashed its claw into the alien creature, tearing a deep gash and shrieking just as loudly when its large pincer claw began dissolving as the blood from the alien creature dripped of it onto the station floor. Morden desperately wanted to help his associates but was unable to due to both the fear (when he saw the blood of the creature dissolving the ground that it fell on into smoke) and the terrifying speed that both creatures were moving at.
The second creature was also shrieking insanely in pain and anger as smoke hissed from its partially dissolved mandibles after having bitten the alien creature. Morden drew his gun. A weapon, more for function than for protection. For there was little need for him to use one as no one prior to this had been insane or stupid enough so far to risk the wrath of the mightiest race in the galaxy.
The alien creature that had attacked his unseen companions turned to face him. For the first time, since the attack, he was able to get a good look at the creature. It was the ugliest and most hideous creature he had ever come across in his life. A creature that had a mouth with sharp teeth inside another larger mouth with what seemed to be very sharp teeth. Slime and black ichor dripped from its mouth while corrosive blood that hissed like a snake whenever it came into contact with the ground, dripped from the various wounds all across its body.
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