Destiny in the Stars Pt. 2
A few hours later, Captain Inman came out of his ready room, where he was studying some of the known wormholes for reference for the new one. What he had read made him think that this one might be an anomaly, for the ones he's read on all slowly made themselves know, not as suddenly as this one had. He had been talking to his science officer, T'beni, and once her excitement, for a Vulcan, had died down, she had similar doubts as to the veracity of this wormhole, as well as news of her own.
"Captain Inman to Ambassador Worf"
"Worf here, Captain"
"Sir, we have reason to assume that this wormhole is different to any Starfleet has encountered before, and it might be a one-way only"
"Are you saying that if we get to the other side, we can't come back?"
"No, sir, we ARE on the other side"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, sir, that we might not be able to go through or send a probe through."
"So, are we still going to it?"
"Yes, sir, we do not know if we can send a probe through or not, and there's no guarantee that we won't be able to send a message through"
"I see…"
Inman knew that there was a chance that a ship might come through from the other side, or the wormhole might be two-way after all. However, he also knew that Worf used to be a tactical officer on one of the Enterprises, so he decided to let the ambassador rest, and not worry about something that was out of his control. Earlier he had ordered his bridge crew to not say anything to the ambassador either, at least until they got to the wormhole and knew for sure.
"I will contact you again when we get there."
"Thank you, admiral. Keep me posted, if possible."
"Will do. Inman out."
'Well', Inman thought, 'that went better than expected.' It had, too. Thomas was expecting the ambassador to suggest defensive procedures, which Tom would have to comply with, for the relations between the Klingons and the Federation. Yes, after the Undine invasion of Earth Space Dock and Q'onos, the relations of their two galactic governments has improved dramatically, but there have still been Gorn, Orions, and Nausicaans preying on freighters, apparently for the fun of it, and against the wishes of the Klingon Defense Force (KDF).
"Shipmaster, wake up" Said a voice over the comm.
"I'm awake. What is it?" Voro'Tuyokee mumbled.
"Sir, there has been a problem with the Void Drive."
"WHAT?! Why was I not informed?!"
"Sir, the Hugarok just told me, and I chose to tell you right away."
"Hmph. Well, then you have chosen well. I am on my way"
"Yes, Sir."
While he didn't like the idea of the Void Drive having a problem while they were in the Void, he admitted to himself that his second in command had done the right thing in waking him. He would go and help the Hugarok as much as he could, as a token of goodwill. You would not want your best, and sometimes only, engineering species to suddenly rebel in the middle of repairs, something most other Elites could never understand.
Getting out of his cot, he went over to his armor and put on the gleaming golden-yellow suit on. He knew that most humans -he despised them even though they unknowingly helped him- must have thought the Elites slept in their armor, but he thought that was ridiculous, did they wear their combat suits on while sleeping? Did they keep them on while off duty? Of course not. That was war, however, as one side often thought nothing of the others except to dehumanize them, as the humans put it. (There was no equivalent in any of the Covenant languages)
While he knew that most of his superiors thought nothing of these pests, and often called them even worse names, he knew that if they were to incorporate them into the Covenant, instead of wiping them out, the Covenant would get the better deal of the two. Looking at them, they discovered all their technology without using any Forerunner Relics, even as the Covenant had to use Forerunner Relics to do anything. They couldn't even recharge their weapons, while the Humans would reuse theirs all the time, even if the human weapons were vastly inferior.
He went out of his room after he ate his morning rations (he wouldn't have a real meal until he got back to High Charity). He walked down the hallways until he got to the grav lift, then he went down into the Void Drive Room. He then went up to the lead Hugarok, Denser than Most, and asked what the situation was.
"10010101001-"
"DTM, you know Shipmaster doesn't speak that gibberish" grunted a nearby Elite
"Sorry, master" Denser than Most replied, through a translator. "I was merely excited at our unexpected discovery"
"And what would that be, Denser?" Voru asked.
"At first, I thought that our Void Drive was malfunctioning-"
"Do you mean it wasn't? Then why did one of your men send to wake me up?"
"I only realized what it was less than three minutes ago"
"Alright, then what is wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, per se."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing is wrong with our Drive, but we will be delayed in getting back to High Charity"
"By how long?"
"Calculating… Unknown"
"Alright, then WHY are we being delayed?"
"Cause unknown, but the Drive is in an odd state of temporal flux"
"I thought you said nothing was wrong with the Drive!"
"It will not be harmed, if we do not tamper with it while it is in this state"
"Alright, what are we to do until then?"
"I propose that all non-essential personnel be put into cryosleep until we come out, to conserve resources"
"Unacceptable, we need to find a way of getting our Drive functional again, and to do that, we need every one in this ship"
Suddenly, the ship lurched, forcing all but the Hugarok to the ground. After a few seconds, the lurching stopped and Voru'Tuyokee got up and dusted off his armor. Then his entire world changed.
"Sir," Voru's aide seemed urgent, "sir, the… the… the Drive… ha… has… disappeared!"
"What do you mean disappeared?" Voru replied
"I mean, it's GONE!"
Voru turned around and froze. It was gone all right, nowhere to be found, it wasn't on the floor, not in a wall, nowhere.
"Di-did it explode and we didn't feel it because of the lurching?"
"No sir, if it did, then this ship would not be intact" Denser replied
Then Voru's communicator beeped and his world changed even more.
"Yes?" Voru looked like he wanted anything to take his mind off the missing Drive.
"Sir, we came out of the Void, and, sir, there was an unknown ship waiting for us"
"Did they cause this?"
"Unknown, but they are hailing us"
A few hours earlier…
"Captain, we have arrived at the anomaly" stated T'Beni
"Good, let's take a few readings and we can continue to Q'onos to drop the ambassador off." Said Admiral Thomas Inman
"Not so fast, Mon Capitan" said a new, mischievous voice
He didn't even have to look to know who this new voice was. It was Q, a nearly omnipotent entity that a few Federation Captains have had dealings with, Inman included.
"Q. Never a dull moment when you're around"
"Do I detect some resentment in your voice? Aunt Kathy would never do such a thing."
"Maybe not, but Admiral Tuvok might."
"Ah, yes, my Vulcan friend. I hear you two have gotten quite close."
Inman knew it was a bait, but he had to correct him.
"Not quite close, but he have fought Undine and Borg together."
"Aha, I knew it, you are a teacher's pet!"
"That doesn't even make sense" stated Telata'ix
"Oh, look, my favorite Jem'hadar pet!" Q almost squealed. "Do you do tricks like 'roll over' or 'beg'?"
Telata'ix growled, which delighted Q to no end.
"Ooh, he's a mean one, Isaiah, why don't you put him down like you would a rabid dog?"
"Because he isn't a dog, he's a sentient being. Plus, he's only this way when you are around"
"Now, now, don't tell me you don't like when I'm around. As I recall, you and your crew enjoyed themselves last time we met."
Q was, of course, talking about the time when Q whisked them to a snowy planet where they had to fight living snowmen to survive, and when they did, they got new weapons, plasma based Bat'leths and Lirpas.
"Now Q, you know full well, we weren't enjoying that 'winter wonderland' as you put it."
"Then I guess you won't mind giving back those gifts I gave you…"
"Then again, I, for one, enjoyed the experience" Telata'ix quickly stated
"Careful, too many more statements like that, and I might start to like you." Q said, turning to him. "Alright you guys can keep them after all. You might even need them in the next few day, years, or whatever. I can never keep track of linear time."
With that, Q vanished. Moments later, the chief engineer, Thil, contacted the bridge.
"Thil to bridge"
"Captain Inman here"
"Sir, all power to the warp engines is gone, no matter what I do, the power drain keeps power away from warp. I don't know if this is a virus, malfunction, sabotage or what, but I don't know if we will be able to go to warp at all."
"I have an idea what happened Thil. Meet me in the conference room in ten." Inman replied "Captain Inman to all bridge officers, meeting in the conference room in ten minutes. Inman to Ambassador Worf"
"Worf here, is there a problem?"
"Sir, you might want to come to the conference room in nine minutes"
"What for?"
"Best not to say on an open frequency"
"Very well, I am on my way"
Five minutes later, in the conference room at a table, Admiral Inman contemplated how he would break the news to his officers, and more importantly, Worf.
"Sir, if I may" stated Inman's first officer, Elisa Flores
"Yes?"
"Worf may have experience with A Q, but not THIS Q, are you sure Worf can help?"
"Elisa, you know that the Q that Picard and Sisko tangled with is this Q's father, right?"
"No, sir, I did not know that"
"Not many people do. Admirals Janeway and Tuvok want it that way for a reason, so do not tell anyone outside this room"
"Why, sir?"
"I have no idea. I mean, it's not like it's a very valuable piece of information, or that anyone other than a Q can hurt a Q"
"Maybe Q asked to keep it a secret?"
"Maybe, but which one?"
Elisa was about to answer when Worf came in. He was in his battle uniform and he had a Bat'leth attached to his back. He stood next to the head of the table. He growled for a good few seconds and then he started speaking.
"Q visited me three minutes ago. He didn't say anything other than 'Is it a good day to die?' then he disappeared."
"I was hoping to tell you myself that Q came a few minutes ago, right before I called you."
"So, that's what this is about. I should have guessed after that little stunt he played. He's just like I remember, same smirk and same snobbish attitude."
"I think that Q was different than ours, then, because we didn't get your Q."
"Do you mean to tell me there are even more like him? I knew there were more Q, but THIS?"
"We've all heard horror stories about other crews getting different Q before. It would seem, however that Picard, Janeway, and Sisko all got the same Q."
"Ah, yes. I remember seeing him on both the Enterprise and Deep Space Nine. Perhaps we should figure out what two Q's were doing on the same ship at the same time, however."
"Yes, I agree. Our Q had recently sent us to a winter planet to fight for our survival. When we did survive, he gave us plasma based melee weapons. Right before he left this time, he said we might need them soon."
"And my Q asked me about an ancient Klingon proverb that is stated right before a battle is lost."
"Could it be that we are about to face a new species? One that is hostile?" This would be Telata'ix.
"An intriguing possibility, to say the least." T'Beni
"It could be that Q is stirring up the waters right before a first contact of a normally peaceful species, so he could see us go to war with an innocent race" Usynmyn, the Bajoran first officer.
"Both equally likely, but we should play this by ear, so we don't inadvertently start a new war with a new species." Inman
"Agreed, not to mention that relations between our two governments are strained as it is. If Starfleet were to start another war, the Klingons might withdraw support until they are strong enough to conquer the Federation."
"They would do that? Not very honorable" Thil
"To the Federation, maybe. But it is within the cultural norm for Klingons" explained T'Beni
"Okay. Let's get back to the problem at hand" Usynmyn
"Alright, so the plan is to wait here as if we have a choice, until something might or might not come out. If something does come out, we are to hail it. We will not raise shields or power weapons unless the other does so first. Got it?" Inman
This got a chorus of affirmatives.
"Alright. Dismissed, and let's get some rest before whatever happens, happens."
Thomas waited until everyone left before he went out and walked to the turbolift.
"Captains Quarters"
He got out and walked to his bed, where he found Q.
"Not now, Q, I'm tired and I need to be rested to take on whatever you are doing to us."
"Ah, Mon Capitan, you have finally gotten out of that bridge officer meeting. How boringly predictable. In order to 'take this challenge on' you will need to be unpredictable!"
"Can you get this visit over with, so I can sleep?"
"You disappoint me, captain." Q said in a depressed mannerism "You know I can make you fully able to do whatever I want you to do, all you need to do is ask."
"Fine. Can you please leave now?"
"You'll regret this, Isaiah. You'll wish you had asked me to tell you more about whatever is coming through that wormhole."
With that he disappeared, with Thomas wondering if he did, indeed, make a mistake. Still wondering, he got into his sleep clothes and into bed.
"Computer, lights off"
He had a fitful sleep. What happened next made it even worse.
"Captain to the bridge!"
"Inman here, what is it?"
"The wormhole is opening up!"
"I'm on my way. If a ship comes through before I get there, wait for me."
"Well, here it is. The moment of truth. Whatever this is, it is either dangerous or not. It's either an explorer or a warrior. Time to find out." Inman thought
He got to the turbolift.
"Bridge"
Right as he stepped onto the bridge, a ship started coming through. It looked like a combination Caitain Atrox carrier that was flattened, a saucer section of a Sovereign class, and had a few 'fins' on the bottom of it. It was also purple-red.
"T'Beni, open hailing frequencies."
