Chapter 3: Total Chaos
On Coruscant, Jedi Master Mace Windu was just about to give the order to lift off. Yoda had already left to retrieve the clone army, but the rest of the Jedi were still here. Before he could say anything though, he felt a massive disturbance in the Force. It was like being hit by a Wookie. He had never felt anything that even compared.
Mace just sat in his seat. He tried to make sense of what he had just felt, but it was impossible to do so. A disturbance of that magnitude had to have affected an extremely large area. It was like the whole universe, or perhaps the Force itself, suddenly had just cried out in shock.
Mace wasn't sure what to do. He looked around and saw that the other Jedi in the ship seemed as stunned and shocked as he. Mace remembered his training well. Concentrate on the here and now. He stopped concentrating on the larger universe and just focused on his own immediate surroundings. He couldn't afford to be so absorbed in the larger picture that he lost focus on what was right in front of him. Something much closer could be threatening, and as distracted as they were, every Jedi here might miss it.
Mace sensed the confusion of the other Jedi. He felt beyond them to citizens of the planet. There was no mass panic or anything unordinary for the moment. He focused his mind into the space above Coruscant and nothing seemed too unfamiliar there. Satisfied that there was no immediate danger, Mace walked to the front of the ship to check with the pilot.
When he got there, he felt confusion in the pilot, which was unexpected since he was not a Jedi. The pilot turned to the Jedi Master and said, "Master Windu, I had permission to lift off, but have since been ordered to remain here. I'm not sure why."
Something was going on in the galaxy. "It appears that Obi-Wan is going to have to wait."
From The Emergence of a New Galaxy: A Brief History of the Milky Bi-Galaxy Following the Merging
By Nerns Lance
Copyright: Kendra Province, Bajoran Provisional Government. 2394 AD.
Translated into English 2422 AD. Used with Permission.
Chapter 2: Panicked Responses to the Merging
What caused the Merging is an issue that is still debated to this day. While the prominent belief among Bajorans is that the Prophets caused it to protect Bajor, there is no certain answer. The reactions of the various space-faring races to it in the first moments of the Milky Bi-Galaxy are less up to interpretation.
To help some of our younger readers understand just how terrified citizens of both galaxies were, imagine this: You are safe alone in your home, and all of a sudden, your house looks completely different. It is filled with items you did not leave there and there are several aliens inside. This is how civilizations all over the galaxy felt following the Merging.
The reactions of the space-faring civilizations varied considerably, but understandably, there was a lot of violence. Most civilizations, which detected thousands of ships seemingly magically appear within their space, initially thought that they were under attack. Many (although still a tiny minority) responded by firing on everything they saw. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 small battles occurred within 15 minutes of the Merging.
Generally speaking, the ex-Milky Way civilizations were the ones attacking and Republic ships were the defenders. This was largely true because of the different experiences of the two galaxies. In almost all cases, Milky Way worlds had more reason to fear invasion than their Republic counterparts. Few within the Milky Way had knowledge of much the galaxy beyond their own borders, many had territorial disputes with neighbors, and all had reason to fear the vast unknowns of the galaxy. By contrast, Republic worlds had existed in such a large and stable institution for so long that the concept of an external invasion seemed absurd.
Delta Quadrant, Republic/Kazon Space - Claimed by Halik Sect
The First Maje received word that an unknown ship had somehow penetrated right to the middle of his space. He ordered his ship to destroy the intruder. The Kazon powered their weapons and approached the vessel. Unfortunately for the Kazon, they were mistaken in assuming the smaller ship was less equipped than themselves. The ship raised shields before it was fired on and quickly returned fire. The Kazon were little match for the turbolasers and ion canons coming at them.
Gamma Quadrant -Dominion/Republic Space
A dozen Dominion patrol ships were keeping guard of one of the Dominion's larger cloning facilities. As they detected a large ship appear on their sensors, no questions were asked. Immediately, the Jem'Hadar warships set a course for it. Thirty seconds later, they were within weapons range. All 12 ships fired immediately. The ship's shields held for a moment, until a smaller Jem'Hadar vessel did a suicide run against the ship. After that, the Jem'Hadar beamed over and took control of the ruined vessel.
Galactic Center – Republic/Corta Space
Coruscant was a city planet. More than any other planet in the galaxy, it represented stability and order. From here, the decisions which would affect an entire galaxy were made. Even in this system which symbolized galactic order however, chaos was rampant. Coruscant's defenses were brought to their maximum alert level as the planets sensors detected starling changes around them.
Admiral Robinson watched his sensors closely as a ship of an unknown design entered the system. The ship was flying at speeds faster than light, but not in hyperspace.
"Stand by weapons. If they get any closer than half an AU from Coruscant, fire immediately."
His weapons officer acknowledged the orders quickly.
His sensor officer hit a few buttons. "Admiral, the ship has slowed and appears to be attempting to contact us."
The Corta Alliance would be the Republic's first official first contact with a new galaxy.
Delta Quadrant – Borg/Republic Space
Vessel design unknown. Species unknown. Weapons analyzed. Weapons inefficient to penetrate cube defenses. Cube 13569 assimilate. "We are the Borg, lower your shields and surrender your vessel. Your technological and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is Futile." Vessel attempting to leave system. Firing weapons. Shields down. Lock tractor beam. Assimilate vessel. Add technological and biological distinctiveness to our own.
On Coruscant, things were a mess. It had only been half an hour since the event (as it was becoming known), and they were receiving millions of distress and emergency calls. The government had never anticipated or planned for anything of this magnitude occurring. The Senate, which had been in session, had been evacuated in case this was some form of attack. The individual members were now in what were considered safe areas, and trying to figure out what was going on.
A great number of rumors had started going around the planet. One was that giant planet-sized ships were currently destroying whole systems. Another more humorous rumor was that a Republic scientist had been working on a new hyperdrive and had somehow transported the whole galaxy to this new place.
Chancellor Palpatine, for his part, had refused to leave the government chambers for safer corridors, preferring to remain as close to the information coming in as possible. He was currently in a control room which was being used to coordinate the systems defenses and gather as much information as possible from other systems.
A lead scientist broke away from an argument and approached the leader of the Republic. "Chancellor, if I may have a moment."
"Of course," said Palpatine.
"Sir, we still are working on the details, but I think we have enough evidence to suggest another galaxy, another spiral galaxy, has somehow merged with our own."
"How is that possible?"
"We don't know. There was certainly no galaxy about to collide with our own. Still, reports we are getting from all over the galaxy are suggesting the star count has nearly doubled everywhere."
Palpatine nodded and turned to his military commander. "These encounters we've had. How do the other species compare to ourselves?"
"Chancellor, it's far too early to say anything of that sort. We..."
Palpatine interrupted him. "I am aware it's all speculation at this point, but I would still appreciate an answer. Do they appear to have caused this event?"
The general sighed. "They have some faster than light device we have never seen before. On the other hand, we've scanned their ships and, for the most part, they seem primitive. It doesn't appear that all species are from the same government and they seem - I emphasize the word seem- just as confused as we are. So, no, my initial guess would be they didn't cause this."
Palpatine nodded. "Inform the senators that this does not appear to be attack and several primitive species seem just as confused about this as us."
The general was furious. "But we don't know that yet. Chancellor, I've had about 20 minutes to review this so far. There is far too little evidence..."
"General, I appreciate your concerns, but anything that will get the senate and other leaders to calm down now will do us no harm. I also want to be doing a galactic broadcast within the next 10 minutes."
"Yes sir."
On Geonosis, Anakin was the only Jedi in the galaxy who had stopped thinking about the massive disturbance in the Force. As the chariot led him to his certain death, he kissed Padme. In so many ways, the moment was terrible. They were about to be killed. The Separatists may well have the means and will to destroy all they both stood for.
In another equally real way though, the moment was perfect. There was no longer any hiding what they felt for each other. There were no longer any questions about what was allowed or proper. For a single moment, the only thing that mattered to both of them was that they loved each other. Nothing, not even a death sentence, could overshadow that fact.
After their lips parted, the couple got a look at where they're heading…or not heading? No sooner had the chariot left with them than it had turned around. They were heading back where they had come from. Padme asked, "Where are we going?"
"I don't know," Anakin responded. Did it have something to do with that disturbance in the Force? That had to be it. What in the galaxy was going on?
Palpatine sat in his chair in his office. He was told he was on and started.
"Greetings to all citizens of the Republic and all else who receive this transmission. For everyone receiving this not from my galaxy, I am Chancellor Palpatine representing the Galactic Republic which is made up of most the planets in our galaxy."
"As almost everyone is already aware, a major event has occurred. We here on Coruscant are doing our best to find out what has happened. It seems that our galaxy and that of another have somehow merged into one. The centers of both our galaxies are in about the same location, and the spiral arms follow similar courses as well. I would like to assure everyone that this does not appear to be an attack and would ask that restraint be shown by ships from both galaxies until we can sort things out."
"This merging threw many, if not all our ships, out of hyperspace. This was fortunate because without every additional star, planet, moon, and other astronomical phenomenon in the computers, every jump would be the equivalent of a blind jump. There could have been millions of deaths. For the time being, all ships in the Republic are ordered not to engage their hyperdrives. We will update our computers with every new item as soon as possible, but for the time being, I must insist this rule be obeyed. If you find yourself under attack or in an emergency situation use it carefully."
"Coruscant is capable of going through the numerous messages we are now getting. However, the sheer number of signals is slowing down response time to the true emergencies. I ask that, for the time being, citizens, ships, and member planets of the Republic only contact Coruscant if there is an emergency. Also, if anyone listening to this believes you know what has caused this event please contact us. If you are not from my galaxy, just ask a Republic ship for help if you are otherwise unable to reach Coruscant. I will contact the galaxy once again when we find out what's going on. Thank you everyone."
Benjamin Sisko walked into in his office on Deep Space 9. It felt good to be back. He walked to his desk and picked up his baseball. He smiled a little and threw it into the air.
As he caught the ball, his smile faded. What had the Prophets done? Sisko thought of their words. Most of it he didn't really understand, but one part of it came back to him quickly. They said he wasn't choosing to join them. What in the hell was that supposed to mean?
