CLASSIFICATION: Crossover of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Beauty and The Beast, with guest cameos from Quantum Leap and Forever Knight.
SPOILER WARNING: Occurs after "The Quality of Life in ST:TNG and the last season of BATB.
RATING: T
CONTENT WARNING: This story depicts scenes of violence and/or their aftermath. If depictions of this nature disturb you, you may wish to read something other than this story.
DISCLAIMER: Star Trek belongs to Paramount, Beauty and The Beast belongs to Ron Koslow, Quantum Leap belongs to Bellisarius Productions, and Forever Knight belongs to James Parriott. This is a work of amateur fiction, and is not intended to infringe on any copyrights. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. I'm too broke to be sued, anyway. (But if any of you think my literary skill presents that much of a risk, feel free to HIRE me!)
SUMMARY: Q sends Counsellor Troi back to the twentieth century to settle a bet about "true love". Picard must rescue her before she wants to stay there forever.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welcome to my very first attempt at producing a fanfic. I first began writing it in 1993 (after my annual BATB zine shipment was FINALLY delivered), and posted it on the Star Trek conference of the Intelec echo-mail network. In the beginning, it was to be pure ST:TNG/BATB, but before long I found myself inserting cameo crossovers of every show I liked during that period. Unfortunately, I ran out of inspiration at the end of Part XII, and the series died a natural death. That set the tone for all the other multipart xovers I subsequently attempted, prompting me to register here as "Dr. Schubert, master of the unfinished fanfic." (Fortunately I discovered drabbles. :) ) This story represents the longest fanfic I've written to date, and (IMHO) one of the best. If I get some good reviews I may be inspired to actually finish it.
by Dalton S. Spence
Prologue - "What's past is ..."
"Captain's Log: Stardate 46327.22
Once again, we have been ordered by Starfleet Command to abort our current mission and return to Earth without explanation. Since we arrived, Counsellor Troi and I have been ordered to beam down to a location beneath the ancient city of New York. While a sensor scan of the location (done on my authority) did not not detect any traces of trialic radiation, I cannot help but note the similarity to the beginning of our recent mission involving the Devidian incursion into 19th century San Francisco.(1) Although it is more than likely that my suspicions are unfounded, I cannot shake this vague feeling of foreboding."
"The tunnels under New York have seen many strange things over the last seven centuries," said the Professor as he led the pair through the convoluted stone and brick passage ways. "During the city's recent sept-centennial celebrations(2), certain documents were found that led to the discovery of a subterranean community that existed here under the city from the mid-twentieth to the early twenty-first century. While we are still piecing together the evidence, our most valuable find was a series of paintings discovered in the upper tunnels. They are apparently a chronicle of the history of the community, beginning in early 1950's and extending until the mid 1990's."
"What happened to them?" asked the Captain, intrigued with the idea that a secret community could exist under the busiest city of that era.
"We don't know yet," admitted the Professor as they emerged into a well lit area with smooth walls. "But whatever happened, it didn't happen suddenly. Although the living quarter's and some of the larger furniture remain, most of the personal effects and records are gone. Those that remain have been badly damaged by the dampness down here."
As they began to look at the pictures, Troi remarked, "You can tell the artist really cared about her subjects."
"Her?" asked the Captain, somewhat bemused.
"The images and composition do tend to indicate a feminine personality. See the importance that she places on the children, and those that care for them..."
They stopped, looking at the image of a bearded man, holding a rather unusual child. The face of the child looked somewhat feline, with a cleft upper lip, and a flattened nose. The fingernails were almost like small claws, and the artist left the impression of downy fur on the hands and arms.
"Those two seem to be the central figures of the community," continued the Professor, "with the man being the leader. He appears to have been a physician, since there are several pictures where he treats various injuries, and one where he is actually performing surgery. Although many others are shown in this gallery, they are most often shown in their relation to the man, or the child."
As they progressed down the tunnel, they saw other pictures of the child, as he grew to manhood. "Do you think he was an alien?" Picard asked wondering just why he was here.
"Maybe that, maybe an early genetic experiment. Even they don't seem to have known. But even though he must have been very strong, he seems to have been a rather gentle fellow. At least, until he met ... her."
They stopped, looking at a picture of two people. One was the strange cat like child, now grown into leonine adulthood. A proud figure, he stood tall and strong, gazing down gently at the other. The other was a beautiful woman, dressed in clothes showing her to be a resident of the city above. There could be no mistake about the feeling between them. Their love was an almost palpable thing, reaching across the borders of time and space. "Imzadi" murmured Troi, remembering.
The rest of the gallery was hidden behind tarps and scaffolding, as teams of experts tried to restore images damaged by dampness and time. "It appears to have been a classic tragic love story. We aren't sure how much of it was real, and how much legend. We do know that she was murdered, and left a child behind. We even have tentative identification from old computer records. She worked for the city as a lawyer in the assistant district attorney's office. Her name was Catherine Chandler."
"All this is very interesting, I'm sure," interrupted Picard, only mildly impatient. "But what has all this to do with us?"
"Perhaps Dr. Bennett could explain better than I," replied the Professor, as they approached an attractive, red headed woman who was working very intently with a specialized tricorder.
As she looked up, a look of startled recognition appeared on Deanna's face. "DeeDee," she exclaimed, "whatever are you doing here?" Remembering her captain, she turned to him, saying "Captain Picard, this is Dr. Dolores Bennett, an old friend of mine from the academy, and a terrific anthropologist. We took a course in "Humanoid Imagery" together. But I thought you were still on Kolodus IV, working on the Voradic holograms."
"I came home for the sept-centennial celebrations and got hooked into this." She grinned sheepishly. "Actually, I jumped at the chance. There have been legends about this place in my family for generations, but everyone thought they were just stories."
She moved the group over to a section of wall covered by a tarp. "There was an old water main over this section that burst about 150 years ago. We've been restoring the pictures for the last couple of years, and when the technicians finished this section, they brought me in to analyse it. When I saw it, I immediately called Starfleet Command. You'll see why," she said as she removed the tarp.
The picture was of the cat-man carrying a woman in his arms. There was a look of sadness on his face. But the woman was not the one from the other picture. Instead of the clothing of that period, she wore a Starfleet uniform. Deanna stiffened in shock. "It's ... me!" she gasped, stunned.
"Oh, merde," muttered the captain, "not again!" As he moved Deanna away from the picture, he noticed a small mark, like a letter, underneath the hand of the creature. Pausing to examine the mark more closely, his face suddenly turned red with anger. Picking up that feeling, Deanna turned to him, her eyes questioning. His answer was only one word, but that was all that was needed. "Q!"
REFERENCES
1. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Time's Arrow I & II, STARDATE: 45959.1-46001.3
2. "The town was seized (1664) by the English and was renamed New York." p. 675, The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language (Lexicon Publications Inc., 1987). In the first season episode The Neutral Zone (SD: 41986.0), we learn the Earth year is 2364. This story takes place during the sixth season, after The Quality of Life (SD: 46307.2).