Q stood there, smug as ever. Alona was still startled to find him standing on her bridge, she wasn't expecting this. Other captains logs began to float through her head about him. Irrational, irresponsible, impulsive, did not care about anyone, did anything he wanted. One point he wanted to "mate" with Admiral Janeway. Now, here he was, standing on her bridge with a shit-eating grin on his face. She knew she couldn't harm him, but if she could, she probably would have at least knocked that fucking grin off his face. "What have you done to my ship?" Alona demanded.
"Come now captain, what makes you think I had anything to do with the particular predicament your ship and crew are currently in?" Q said.
"Well, for one thing, you're standing on my bridge. I'd say that alone raises questions"
Q snickered, "Fair enough, well, Captain, lets talk in private" he said, then snapped his fingers. In a flash Q and Alona were standing in the middle of a desert, she didn't know which one or what planet she was on. After glancing around she settled her gaze back on Q.
"Excellent! Tell me Captain, do you consider yourself truly human? I mean after all, you are pretty, well, not what one would call a normal human" Q said.
"Yes, I consider myself human, I have been just genetically...adjusted"
"Tisk, tisk, Captain, isn't that illegal?"
"What I am doesn't matter, tell me Q, what do you want with me and my ship?"
Q sighed, "So serious, just like Kathy was when I first met her" he shrugged and continued, "I want to tell you a little story, its about how a single Romulans revenge created a new reality. You remember the supernova in the Romulus system? That supernova was glorious, even though it was what you might call man-made"
"Get to the point" Alona said. Wait...man-made? What the hell does that mean?
"Impatient are we? Fine, as you are aware, Ambassador Spock tried to intercept the supernova with Red Matter"
"Yes the Narada and the Ambassadors ship, the Jellyfish, were both sucked into the black hole that Red Matter created and were destroyed"
A flash happened and they were in mid-1800s garb in an old classroom, Q was holding a pointing stick and a piece of chalk.
"Ah my dear, that's where you are wrong, you see, that wasn't quite the outcome of that particular black hole. The Red Matter created black hole, combined with the energies of the supernova created a portal, to the past. Particularly straight into the path of an old Federation starship which a very famous Starfleet captain was born on"
Alona thought for a moment, then it donned on her, "Kirk, James Kirk"
"Correct, I guess that genetically enhanced brain of yours isn't so bad off. You're a bit slow on the uptake though, by now Jean-Luc or Kathy would be handling this situation. Anyway, the portal was that was created was investigated by the U.S.S. Kelvin, well the first through the portal was Nero and the Narada, so in Nero's rage, he destroyed the Kelvin. Well actually, George Kirk rammed it into the Narada, but that's splitting hairs. Regardless, baby James and Winona Kirk managed to escape on a shuttle before George died in his blaze of glory.
"But that didn't stop Nero. As he was pulling the wreckage of the Kelvin from his ship, Nero was even more angry, he drifted into Klingon space, and was captured. After a few years he and his crew escaped, got to the Narada and destroyed an entire Klingon fleet. From there he waited, 18 of your years he waited in this timeline, waiting for Ambassador Spock to come through, and when he did, he captured the Jellyfish and the good Ambassador. Afterwards he blamed Spock for what happened to Romulus and the death of his wife, then vowed to take something precious from Spock. After exiling Spock to a nearby planet while on his way to Vulcan, he took the Red Matter, drilled a hole to the core of Vulcan and dropped some into the core, destroying the planet, then set course for Earth to do the same thing. Fortunately, James Kirk is as resourceful and lucky in this reality as he was where you came from. He killed Nero using the Red Matter that he was going to use on Earth, but he also saved Ambassador Spock, in which Young Spock met the Ambassador.
"Now, here's the curious part. I expected this universe to explode in fire and death when those two met, but nothing happened. Intrigued, I looked into this reality further. Ah yes, Ally...may I call you that?" Q continued on a little bit but she had stopped focusing on him for a moment, she noticed he began to write on the nearby chalkboard.
Ambassador Spock is alive, let alone in this timeline. She supposed he had no means to get home and with Vulcan being destroyed she figured he could assume another name and help rebuild. She thought about it for a moment, Endeavour being in this reality could really damage the timeline, its been polluted enough but at the same time they could take Ambassador Spock back home to his proper reality.
"So, I came to this particular discovery, they are going to appear here in this reality, near this moment in time" Q finished. He looked at Alona.
"Have you been listening?" he demanded.
"I'm sorry, I am still a little stunned at what you have told me about this timeline. What was it you discovered?" Alona asked.
Figures, she wasn't paying attention. At least she was polite about it. Q sighed, "Ally, do you remember hearing about the Dominion Fleet that was supposed to reinforce the Dominion forces that disappeared while in the Wormhole?"
"Yes"
"They're going to appear here, apparently those entities in the Wormhole cannot contain them any longer and want to expel them to anywhere but DS9's front door. They're coming and soon"
"Why are you telling me this and why me?"
"Because I'm feeling generous and I like this reality and timeline, its spunky. The reason I chose you is because there might be some...oh, personal connections to this place you may find to be intriguing. Also because you trained under Kathy and she is a merciless primate, so, you should be worth something"
"Q, I am afraid we can't do anything. Our presence here can destabilize or even cause adverse effects on this timeline which has been polluted enough by Nero and Ambassador Spock. So, please, send us back" Alona thought of the Temporal Prime Directive. She should get Spock if shes going to leave though. His presence in this timeline could be polluting it.
"Yes, Yes, Temporal Prime Directive and all that. Trust me Captain, this timeline actually needs your help. And besides, I'll throw in a little incentive. One of a personal nature"
"I don't take bribes"
"Oh really? How about I show your ships doctor on how to cure your sterility. While you're here see if you can get Ambassador Spock to come with you and I will get you home faster. Tell me Ally, how would you like to be able to have a family? Don't hide it, I know you've wanted one for some time" Q said with a smile.
Alona squinted at him. He's trying to manipulate my emotions, I know it, but...having a family. Children. She shook her head. Its a bribe, I can't take it. Her mind shifted gears quickly, wait a second, a single Sovereign versus a Dominion Fleet? no way in hell we could survive against odds like that.
Q chuckled, "Only if you want to die, sure then, stand alone. My suggestion would be to improvise. I am sure you could get Starfleet to ready a fleet to intercept this incoming fleet" he said as if he read her mind.
"When will they be here?"
Q shrugged, "To me, time is irrelevant, however, to sate your primitive observation of time" He stuck his finger in his mouth then pulled it out and held it up as if he was finding the direction of the wind, "I'd say one of your years, perhaps two. These types of things you can never be sure of"
"Bullshit, you know. Besides, Starfleet can't even build a ship in that time"
"Ally, my dear, I love to say it but that's not my problem"
"Why don't you snap your fingers and stop all this from happening? After all, you like this reality and timeline"
Q laughed, "Where is the fun in that? Also, I would like to see how well trained the so called protégé of Kathy really is"
Alona sighed, "How do I know you're not lying to me, trying to get me to damage this already wounded reality and timeline?" she asked.
"I can do that on my own, I wouldn't need you or your help in doing that"
"Point taken. Fine, but I am not doing it for to satisfy your twisted games but to protect the people of this timeline. I take it that I can reveal that I am from the future?"
"I don't see how it could hurt, after all, Ambassador Spock is here. Who knows what he has revealed to people or how he has effected the timeline" Q said with a Mona Lisa smile.
"Just take me back to my ship, so I can get to work" Alona said, obviously she was getting irritated.
"Very well, remember, take the good Ambassador with you and I'll assist you in getting home faster and...regardless if you get him, I will help you with your genetic disability" Q held up his hand, "I know you don't accept bribes, call it a gift. Theres one more thing to do" Q snapped his fingers. A PADD appeared in his hand and he handed it over to Alona.
"You may need this my dear, Its some crucial information and your orders per Admiral Janeway" Q said.
"Per Admiral Janeway?" Alona asked as she took the PADD.
"I am a Q Ally, I can be anywhere I want, even two places at once. Enjoy the information on the PADD Captain, time to get to work. Ciao" Q snapped his fingers.
In a flash Alona was back on her bridge. She glanced around, gathering her bearings. Another flash and the lights came back online, the bridge watch began to hurry about, trying to find out what happened. All systems were reading normal, EPS conduits were operating normally, no fire, and no emergency shut down of the warp core. She sat down in her chair.
"What the status of that incoming Starfleet vessel?" Alona asked without missing a beat.
"The ship is the U.S.S. Bellerophon. she just dropped out of warp about 800,000 klicks off our port beam" Kim said, then added, "What did Q want Captain?"
"One thing at a time Harry, one thing at a time" Alona replied.
"What is the Bellerophon doing? She hailing us?" Alona asked, turning her attention back to the bridge.
"Not yet ma'am, sensors indicate shes charged weapons and her shields are up. Shall I raise our shields and charge weapons?" Viir'Keim asked.
"No Viir-Keim, but be ready to raise shields. In the mean time, I want a tactical analysis of this kind of Constitution-class vessel, I want to know if she can hurt us" Alona said.
"Their hailing us" Radis said.
"On screen" Alona said.
"Captain, if they find out we're from the future..." Radis began, Alona held up her hand silencing him.
"Commander, Ambassador Spock is here in this reality, Vulcan's been destroyed and that ship out there doesn't look like any Constitution-class that I know of. Now, On screen, that's an order" Alona said, looking at him.
"Aye, ma'am"
A face and shoulders appeared, a human, sitting in the Captains chair. He stood and took a step forward. Alona was taken aback. It was Nathan Taylor, Captain of the Kelvin back where she was from. At least it was the spitting image of him, probably a great, great, great grandfather.
"Endeavour, I am Jack Taylor, Captain of the Starfleet ship Bellerophon. We received your distress signal"
"We're being scanned" T'saal quietly said.
"Captain Taylor, I am Captain Alona Benson of the Federation starship Endeavour. We had a slight computer malfunction which caused our distress signal to be sent out. We're glad you were in the area and were able to respond but we're-"
"Captain, lets cut the horseshit. What kind of ship is that? Our scanners are picking up advanced weapon systems, phasers we've never seen or dreamed of existing, primary and secondary shielding, sensor palettes four times the size of a space stations sensor grid, an extensive communications relays. Are you part of Section 31?" Taylor said.
"Heh" she said. 'Straight to the point and doesn't fuck around' she thought. "I agree Captain, lets cut the horseshit. You see, the reason why you detected all this advanced technology is because we're not from here, well, this time anyway. We're from about 130 years into the future. We're here to intercept and destroy an enemy fleet and we're going to need Starfleets help to do it" Alona said.
'Better to throw all the cards out there' she thought. If Jack is anything like Nathan is, he'd hopefully understand. Kim looked at Alona, his brows furrowed. 'What the fuck is she doing?' Kim thought.
"Excuse me? 130 years into the future? I'm sorry Captain Benson, I have a hard time believing that" Taylor said.
Alona stood and took two paces forward, "Then Captain, explain Nero, explain the Red Matter that caused the destruction of Vulcan, explain the Narada" she said boldly.
"Classified information like that can be easily accessed by anyone with the proper authorization, Captain" Taylor replied.
"True, however, all I can tell you is this" Alona recounted the story Q had told her. Both crews were looking at their Captains.
"Now, in my time, since the Narada and the Jellyfish disappeared into a black hole, Red Matter has been outlawed throughout the Alpha Quadrant due to its destructive capabilities. It was rumored the Breen had fashioned a Red Matter Torpedo but those rumors proved to be unsubstantiated" she paused for a dramatic effect, "Also, you should consider the fact that I have charged my phasers and have had a lock on your warp core and bridge this entire time without you detecting it, I think is another significant factor that what I said is true" she finished.
"What?" Taylor said, then looked at one of his officers to confirm what Alona had said.
Viir-Keim looked at her and opened his mouth to say something but she glanced at him, he understood the look. Don't say anything. He entered a couple commands to get a weapons lock, but he didn't charge phasers, although made it look like he did. The officer Taylor looked at nodded, Taylors face changed from surprise to astonishment.
"Captain Taylor, if you'd like, we can beam you aboard and you can look around here for additional proof" Alona said.
"I don't think that will be necessary" Taylor said. He was still apprehensive.
"Then I would like to invite you over for Dinner, we had an extensive hydroponics bay" Alona said. She had remembered that ships of this time still used food processors and food synthesizers vice replicators, it was also quite a request to invite another crew over for a meal, tradition dictated he would have to respond and a refusal can be considered very insulting. Also, a "real meal" is appealing enough. Taylor, looked at his shoes then back up at Alona, he glanced back at his bridge crew, then back.
"Very well Captain Benson, I suspect you'll give us a tour of your ship before the meal" he said.
"Naturally. In fact, if it makes you feel better Captain, your party can come armed" Alona said. Taylor just nodded.
"Lets make sure we're synced, according my chronometer, its 1439 hours, is that correct?" Alona asked.
"Yes Captain, we'll take our meal at around 1900 hours if that's ok with you"
"Very well, we'll beam you over at 1730 for the tour"
"We'll see you then" Taylor said and ended the transmission.
"Daro, keep tabs on their outgoing message traffic, I want to know if their talking about us to anyone else. Also, have all senior staff meet in the conference room in 45 minutes" Alona said.
"Aye ma'am" Radis replied.
"Captain, the computer has finished its tactical analysis. Computer states that their shield system is a "Metaphysic" shield system, force-fields protect the bridge, life support, and main engineering. Its similar to the metaphasic shielding used back in the 23rd century captain. Also six ball turrent phaser banks capable of rapid fire phaser blasts on the saucer, three on the engineering hull, fore and aft photon launchers. Captain, if she fired on us, her torpedos would do the most damage. Her phasers wouldn't penetrate or do much damage to the shielding. If we didn't have shields up, the hull armor would absorb her phaser fire pretty well but I think her torpedos would be able to penetrate the armor. Bellerophons own defenses are no match for us ma'am, our phasers would be able to penetrate her shields in a couple shots. Our torpedos would-" Viir-Keim stopped as he glanced up to see Alona standing with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to one side.
"So you're saying we'd easily destroy her?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Good" She said with a smile, "At least we know we're not out gunned here. You know, I think even if we put a bunch of those Constitutions against the Dominion fleet coming the wormhole, the fight wouldn't last long. XO, lets talk. We need to get ready for dinner tonight" She said as she walked into her ready room, Kim following.
Time passed quickly, as did the preparations for the meeting. Jack Taylor wasn't sure how it would turn out, but with them being armed, he felt a little better. He was still amazed on how the Bellerophon didn't detect a weapons lock on her. He guessed that targeting systems and such must have gotten pretty good 130 years into the future, but then, who knows what kind of threats the Federation and Starfleet has to face in the future. Taylor contacted Starfleet about Endeavour and what her Captain asked, they notified him that they had launched a small task force to support him should Endeavour ended up being hostile. Nero and the Narada were still fresh in many Starfleet Admirals minds and the Vengeance Incident didn't help. It fueled the flames of suspicion of every officer in Starfleet for about a year or two. Everyone had to walk on eggshells and undergo vigorous tests in order to remain in command or to receive command of a starship.
Taylor had checked the ships computer on this "Dominion" but found nothing. So, as such, he contacted Starfleet. They had nothing on them, then Starfleet suggested he talk to Endeavour and get the information about the Dominion from them. A novel idea, so, following orders, he contacted Endeavour. Endeavour handed over all relevant data on the Dominion in less than 20 seconds, nearly filling their own computer information storage to capacity. While waiting for 1730 hours to come along, he'd began reading about the Dominion. The Jem'Hadar he found to be fascinating, while all the same frightening. A species that is genetically created and altered to be addicted to a substance that makes them stronger, faster, quickens their reflexes, heightens their senses, allows them to ignore pain and its highly addictive. The substance is poisonous to other species except the Jem'Hadar is another plus. Prevent your enemies from taking your own troops super drug.
The Vorta clones were another interesting species, but what scared him were Changlings. A being capable of taking shape of any sentient being, insect, bird, or inanimate object. Anyone could be suspect and what measures that were taken to detect them were severe but understandable. They would be practically impossible to detect, let alone, proven to be hard to kill. Hand-to-Hand combat with these beings was out of the question since they could form new limbs, fashion existing limbs into spears or blades, utilize them as tentacles for immobilizing or choking. They were resistant to directed energy weapons unless a lot of them were used.
Jack began reading about their ships as well, namely the Jem'Hadar had massive vessels, their capital ships are over 4,000 meters in length and armed as much as a space station. He continued reading for a couple more hours before his first officer notified him it was time to beam over to the Endeavour. When he arrived at the transporter room, everyone was already there. He had a reasonable detail, consisting of two security officers, himself, his Andorian first officer Braed, his tactical officer Miles Campbell, his vulcan science officer Ms. Sliirvak, and Engineering chief Vesten, a Tellerite.
"Captain, Endeavour informed us they are ready for transport" the transporter chief said.
Taylor cleared his throat, "Energize" he said.
When he materialized on the transporter pad of Endeavour his security officers drew their phasers and looked around. In front of the pad, with her hands clasped behind her back stood Captain Alona Benson. She was in an odd looking, almost leathery material but obviously Starfleet uniform. Red splashed across her shoulders with her last named on her right chest, four gold small squares lined above her name. On her left chest read "U.F.O.P. Starfleet" with a badge of an odd-looking Constitution-class looking ship over it. She had slightly bagged looking cargo pants made out of the same materials bloused into combat boots.
'Red? She's in operations and shes in command?' Taylor thought, then 'Damn, shes a looker'
She had her coffee-with-cream colored hair pulled back into what looked like a painful looking pony tail with not a single strand out of place. She appeared young too, maybe in her mid twenties to early thirties, she was probably about 170 centimeters tall and maybe 60 kilos soaking wet. Her grey eyes seemed to miss nothing, she had an athletic build that fit her near-perfect hourglass shaped body, her fading tan didn't seem to diminish her beauty. The only flaw he could see of her heart-shaped face was a small, yet sharp nose, if you call that a flaw.
Alona stepped forward and extended her hand with a smile, "Pleased to meet you Captain Taylor" she said. Taylor noticed she had a firm grip but it was controlled, this woman was a helluva lot stronger than she appeared. Alona turned slightly and pointed out the other officers behind her, "This is my Executive Officer and First Officer Commander Harry Kim, my Ops Officer Lieutenant Morgana Drake, and my Second Officer Lt. Commander Daro Radis" All of which stepped forward and shook Taylors hand when they were introduced.
Taylor nodded and introduced his officers, "This is my First Officer Commander Braed, my Tactical Officer Lieutenant Campbell, my Science Officer Lieutenant Sliirvak, and my Chief of Engineering, Lt. Commander Vesten" All of who stepped forward and shook Alona's hand when introduced. All seemed well so far.
"Welcome Aboard, please, this way" Alona said still smiling, turned and began leading them. When they stepped out into the corridor, they were all amazed at the size of the corridors. Large enough for at least three to four humans to stand shoulder to should across, they began to follow Captain Alona to a turbolift. When the doors opened, they were again amazed at the spaciousness of the ship. The turbolift was large enough for both parties to fit into and still have space to move around a bit. When the doors shut, Alona said "Hanger Deck" and thus began the tour of the Endeavour. Vesten wanted to get a extra close look at the Warp Core of the ship, considering that Starfleet hadn't considered making a warp core like this before however, he wasn't allowed to get too close to any console or to the warp core itself. Alona said she didn't want to damage the timeline or reality further by Starfleet getting their hands on advanced technology.
The tour took a little longer than expected considering some of Taylors party wanted to look a little closer at some ships systems, but not too close. When they reached the designated dining room, it was close to 1930. The meal started promptly after they were seated. Appetizers were set out, everything from salads to species specific foods were placed on the table. Alona took a dinner roll and cut it in half, the roll was still very warm and steamed in the center as she spread some butter over it.
"So, Captain Taylor, do you think that the commanding officers of the task force that's about an hour out will get here and enjoy a meal with me as well?" Alona asked as she bit into the roll.
Not breaking stride, Taylor replied, "I'm not sure Captain, that's a lot of hot air and brass in one spot. You sure you can handle that?" he smirked.
"I used to be the chief of staff for Starfleets Chief of Starship Operations, I think I can handle it"
"So, I noticed you're wearing red Captain Benson, how are you in command when you're in the Operations department?" Campbell asked.
"Starfleet's division colors changed in the mid-2300's. Red became command, gold became operations, and blue remained as science and medical" Alona said, heads nodded.
"Tell me about yourself Captain" Taylor said.
"Heh, well I was born in 2356 on Starbase 31. My father was in Starfleet while my mother worked for Starfleet as a civilian, so I followed in my fathers footsteps. I originally wanted to be an Aerospace pilot, flying fighters and bombers but I got into Warp Theory and never looked back. I was third engineer then second engineer on my first two assignments, then I got into Starfleets Advanced Tactical school and earned degrees in Photon Mechanics and Applied Weapons Theory. Afterwards I was a tactical officer for years, then broke that up in being an Operations Officer for a tour. I went into command then and here I am, well sort of" Alona replied. Her combadge chirped.
"Bridge to Captain Benson, Bellerophons requested reinforcements have arrived. We're sending friendship messages on all frequencies and channels. We're also stating we're hosting some of the senior officers of the Bellerophon for an evening meal. Captain, the reinforcements have their weapons charged and shields up" T'saal said.
Alona tapped her combadge, "Very well, continue sending messages and remain at yellow alert Lieutenant. If they decide to get antsy and fire on us, do not return fire, just bring the shields online. Benson out"
Taylor's group looked at one another.
"Captain, your communicator is on your uniform?" Braed asked.
"Actually, its essentially for the lack of a better term, sewn into the uniform. We call it a combadge, its part of the information share that we're authorized to give. The uniform jackets you see us wearing also is a light body armor, they can take a few phaser shots at high settings and are capable of resisting stun settings on most small arms" Kim said.
"To changed the subject, Captain, I noticed you don't have a recreation deck on board. On long voyages, how do your people remain preoccupied when not on duty?" Sliirvak asked.
"We have several recreational facilities aboard, such as a library, an extensive gymnasium with weight training facilities for a variety of species, also there are hand-to-hand combat mats for a variety of martial arts such as anbo-jytsu, Mak'bara, and Suus Mahna, gymnastics equipment, a small track, ancient weapons for weapons training when there isn't a phaser on hand and others disciplines. Theres also a phaser range for keeping proficient in small arms, then theres the holosuites and holodecks" Alona said.
"Holosuites? Holodecks?" Taylor asked.
Radis smiled, "Captain, when we're finished eating, how about we show you the wonders of holotechnology"