30 Worlds: Megaforce, Episode XII: "The Last Hope"
by William "Blissey" Raymer
Based on the Warner Bros. Domestic Pay-TV, Cable and Network Features series
Babylon 5 and Crusade
Created by J. Michael Straczynski
"Princess Scarlett" character taken from the Sofia the First fanfiction series The Scarlet Saga
Written by jakevoronkov1
"Skips" character taken from the Cartoon Network series Regular Show
Created by J.G. Quintel
"Xur" character taken from the Universal Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures (as successor-in-interest to Lorimar Productions) film The Last Starfighter
Written by Jonathan Betuel
Previously on 30 Worlds: Megaforce...
The Enterprise arrived in the Unaligned World of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on a mission to ensure the union of that world's two Key components—inventor Flint Lockwood and meteorologist Samantha "Sam" Sparks—which was threatened by an alliance of the Army of Inter-Universal Chaos and the remnants of a corporation that attempted to use one of Lockwood's inventions for evil purposes.
A few days before the ceremony, the Enterprise crew learned that the A.I.C. was attempting to make people think that Sam and Flint had broken things off by two doctored video log messages. But when Steve, Flint's pet monkey and best friend, proved that the messages were fakes, the crew rallied help from the citizens of Swallow Falls—human and foodimal [food-animal hybrid] alike—and drove the A.I.C. away.
PROLOGUE
Prince William, blood heir to the lost kingdom of Cinnabar, sat in his quarters aboard the Dimensional Defense Vessel Enterprise and continued to read the files on the world the Enterprise was about to visit.
His work was interrupted by the ringing of his door chime. "Come," William said. The doors opened, revealing Princess Sofia I—William's bride-to-be and member of the royal family of Enchancia. "Hey, Sofia," William said.
"Hey there yourself, William," Sofia said. "Another interesting one?" "Yeah," William said. "Our biggest one yet, for the dimension's Earth is at stake."
"How so?" Sofia asked as she sat down across from William. "E.R.I.N. will explain when we arrive. How are the Lockwoods?" William asked.
"I've already got them working with Zenon, Phineas and Ferb in the Science Labs," Sofia said. "Good," William said. "We're just shy of the halfway point in our mission, and I think that the worst is yet to come."
"C.I.C. to Prince William and Princess Sofia," a voice on the room's communications system said. William turned to his computer terminal and tapped a key. "Go ahead, Jeanne," William said.
The face of Jeanne, friend and assistant to the witch-warrior Bayonetta, appeared on the terminal's screen. "We are approaching the interphase coordinates for the Unaligned World of Babylon 5, sir," she said.
"On our way, Jeanne," Sofia said. "Sofia, out." Sofia reached out and tapped a control to close the channel.
In the Enterprise's briefing room, William and Sofia stood next to the holographic projector in the center of the room as the ship's senior officers filed in. "Prince William to C.I.C. Miss Matthews, are you receiving?" William said.
A projection formed near where Jeanne and Bayonetta were sitting. The image of Riley Matthews nodded. "Loud and clear, William," she said.
"Now that that's settled, let's begin," William said. "E.R.I.N.?" The holographic projection of E.R.I.N., the Enterprise's artificial intelligence system, appeared as the Briefing Room lights dimmed. "Nearly five years ago to the inhabitants of this world, Earth became threatened by a plague of unimaginable impact," E.R.I.N. said.
"It was unleashed by an alien species known as the Drakh. The Interstellar Alliance, the ruling body of this world, believes that the Drakh were operating under orders left to them by a species known colloquially as the 'Shadows,' when the Shadows disappeared beyond the rim of the known galaxy three years before that," E.R.I.N. continued.
As E.R.I.N. said that, a holographic projection showed footage of the battle that culminated with the Drakh deploying the plague in Earth's atmosphere.
"However, Master Yen Sid believes that the Drakh were actually operating under the direction of the A.I.C.," E.R.I.N. concluded.
"I.A. scientists calculated that the plague would take five years to adjust to Earth's atmosphere and the genetic profile of the human body," Isabella Garcia-Shapiro said. "Our mission in this world begins with us finding a cure to this plague."
"How?" Tris Prior said. "With us," Commander Meap said. "Master Yen Sid says that the blood of Meap's people contains an enzyme that counteracts the effects of the Drakh plague," E.R.I.N. said. "We will make contact with the research vessel Excalibur and deliver the cure to them."
"Upon the successful deployment of the cure, we will be sent forward to 2271, where we will meet the Key from this world," E.R.I.N. said. "Lennier, the half-human, half-Minbari son of by-then-former I.A. President John Sheridan and his wife, Delenn."
A holographic image of Lennier appeared in place of the footage of the Drakh battle. "Lennier is the first-known hybrid biological offspring of the human and Minbari species," E.R.I.N. said. "As such, he represents the future of both peoples."
"So he's a Key in more ways than one," Riley said. "Exactly, Riley," E.R.I.N. said. "All right, everyone," William said. "Riley, as soon as we come out of interphase, send a hailing message to the Excalibur using our cover story."
"Which is?" Riley asked. "We're a civilian transport vessel owned and employed by Edgars Industries—a noted corporation based on Mars—that stumbled upon the location of a cure for the Drakh plague while making a transport run from space station Babylon 5 to Proxima III. After dropping off our client, we headed to the coordinates she specified and found a alien corpse," E.R.I.N. said.
"After performing an autopsy, Dr. Shapiro discovered that the previously-uncatalogued species the corpse belonged to had an enzyme that destroyed the plague sample that we had in our cryo-storage system," E.R.I.N. continued. "After all, all ships had been given orders from the Interstellar Alliance to contact the Excalibur with any leads they may discover."
"Understood," Riley said. "Gook luck to us all," William said. "Dismissed."
::TBC::