As he watched his men go about their jobs his mind began to wander to better times with his wife on their personal beach on Poseidon he could smell the sea salt and hear the water crashing on the sand and he could just see his son at two building a sand castle smiling in glee at his creation. The cool ocean breeze going through his hair, his wife at his side enjoying the sun, for the first time in a long time he smiled a genuine smile. In that one moment he was back there with his beloved wife and his only son. He was brought out of his musings by an arrogant female voice.
"Well, well if I didn't see it myself I wouldn't believe it, you have a heart after all, it seems Q was right" he looked up to see a woman around mid twenties early thirties. She had long brown hair white skin and blue eyes that held a mischievous gleam in them. "I hate it when he is right"
"Who are you?" he asked as he got to his feet, the crew immediately drawn to the commanders voice all turned to see him being confronted by a woman in an admiral's dress uniform.
"Intruder alert" shouted the security officer, immediately the amber lights of a yellow alert came on the shields razed and security officers came through from the turbo lifts. There Morita assault rifles pointed at the woman.
"Oh please" she snapped her fingers the guns disappeared, the bridge crew was stunned silent, "I am Q of the Q continuum"
"Q?" asked Vaako as he signalled for the bridge crew to stand down.
"Yes Q, we are omnipotent, immortal and omniscient beings" she said as mentally she showed the bridge crew the whole universe in a way they could perceive and the feeling of unlimited power she gave off also gave them an idea of what this creature was.
Vaako was scared and amazed in equal measures but grudgingly accepted that there was nothing he could do to stop this woman if she decided to kill every one. He sat down again in shocked aw
"Well it seems that at least one of you overdeveloped monkeys can use that woefully under developed mind of yours" she said.
"My ready room please Q" said Vaako as he moved his arm to show her the way, at least there the crew couldn't see his fear.
"Admiral I do not think that" the look her lord gave her silenced her immediately
"Q, if you please" he repeated before turning to the XO "Mr Cowen you have the bridge" he said as the two disappeared into the ready room followed by the hiss and heavy clunk of the bulkhead door closing and sealing behind them.
When they entered Vaako sat down behind his desk and indicated for her to sit. She sat elegantly in the leather chair crossing her legs in a relaxed posture she smiled at him.
"Now Lady Q, what can I do for you" he said she continued smiled elegantly before responding.
"You are a lot more accommodating than the other commanders" she said "Picard is downright hostile and Janeway well she is a very irritating woman"
"Picard?" he asked "he has never mentioned you in his logs" Vaako was stunned "I would know if you or your species was mentioned, every log from the flag ship gets scrutinised before being sent to memory-alpha and a back up made to memory-beta"
She simply smiled
"Whoever said that it was your Picard" she said
A million and ten thoughts about the possible meaning then it hit him like the experimental nova bomb.
"Multiverse?" he asked
She nodded again, it was an older theory but a solid one and one he himself believes in.
"Yep" she said cheekily, she was feeling in a good mood today usually she didn't bother with lower beings but this was just fun, maybe Q was rubbing off on her.
"Well house Archer always chose who command enterprise, and I would find that they always choose the most anal uptight bastards they could find, except Kirk he was the best by far, a few more captains like him and we would have conquered the Klingon empire, Picard is no different from the usual, and it seems that it is the same in any universe" he said as the lady Q hid a laugh behind her hand.
"Yes he is a rather uptight man isn't he?" she smiled again
"And Janeway well she always was a passionate woman and very high strung, I expected her to go gray before she reached the rank of admiral" Again she nodded and smiled "what may I do for you lady Q" he asked
"It's not I want, it's what the Q continuum wants you to do"
"Oh and what is that?" he asked he had a sudden shudder of dread crawl up his spine
"It's simple really, we want you and your men" came another voice, this time it was a man and he was not alone with him was a teenager with brown hair.
"Why" he asked the man who was dressed in grand duke best military dress uniform, "why not someone else"
"Because technically this universe is not supposed to exist" he said as he closed on Vaako "and as such certain laws won't affect you"
"What do you mean, not supposed to exist" asked Vaako more than a little interested "if we aren't supposed to exist then why we do"
"Because my son decided to have some fun with this universe" said the male Q a hint of mischief and a glint of pride in his eyes
"But daaaaad" said the teenager in a whinny voice "this universe in way more fun than the federation universe". Vaako had no idea what this federation universe was or what the boy meant but his curiosity was peeked.
"Federation?" he asked interrupting the 'omnipotent being'
"Like your empire but more pacifists in political structure" explained the female Q.?
Vaako nodded in understanding, maybe that universe had it easier than this universe, and he hoped that in that universe his wife and son were alive and happy.
"So what are you going to do, snap your fingers and obliterate this universe?" he asked knowing that he couldn't fight these omnipotent beings even if he tried.
"No" said the older male Q "the continuum is interested in this universe and is now watching with bated breath as you move once again into war"
"So why are you here" he asked looking at the three godlike beings in front of him
"You my fine lord have done something I never thought I would see" said the male Q
"Oh and what have I done" his curiosity piqued
"You have impressed me" he stated but didn't say how
"Really, how have I done that" he said not knowing whether to be flattered or terrified
"By doing what you humans do best" he smiled "you right now are flying into certain doom but by doing so without care, just so you will save your empire"
"Save?" he asked "I am simply delaying the inevitable, giving enough time for my people to prepare"
"Yes but by doing so you will galvanise the people, not just the military but the common civilians the little people the plebs, imagine" he said as he wrapped his arm around Vaako's shoulders with his left arm and reaching out with his right, "the grate lord Vaako the armourer of the empire, the shield that guards the northern flank dead at the hands of the wretched Dominion" he said theatrically closing his hand into a fist letting go of Vaako and stalking around the desk making sure Vaako's eyes stayed locked onto him "and in your death the people who you know, who have met you and have changed because of you, they will rise up and a call shall be sent out, a call answered by the people," he smiled clutching his hands to the place where the human heart should be "Starfleet will morn your loss and your men, but they will not do anything about it," Vaako nodded in understanding this was part of what he had realised when he took the job, Starfleet can't be seen to acknowledge the actions of a 'rouge' "the people will turn to your brother who will open the Ares academies to all and expand the house fleet," he smirked at the shock on Vaako's face, he didn't think he was that popular, well maybe not him but his house "after all a noble lord such as yourself would not go rouge without reason, conspiracy theorists will be questioning you actions for century's, the Cardassian Union will ally with your house, after you helped them rebuild they will feel indebted to your house and shall begin the first step to joining the empire," he smiled at the thought of his so called fool's errand of helping the Cardassian people rebuild "section 31 will aide your house with their clandestine methods, the puppet Praetor that section 31 will make sure rises to the seat will also bring the Romulans down the long road of joining your empire, the Klingons will also ally with your house, mainly out of respect for you and your brothers battle prowess and will start to become one with the empire, through promise of battles and honour" he smiled "your sacrifice will give your empire valuable months in which to arm themselves in a style that you would be proud and giving them a uniting battle cry to rally behind"
"Why are you telling me this" asked Vaako
"Because we can" he said sitting of the edge of the desk "because we have need of you and because if you accept you will never see your home again, and you would want to know what happened and probably wouldn't stop pestering me for information"
"What could you need that I could supply, you have no need ships or armour, and you need no solders or money, what is it I can give you that you can't just create through thought alone"
"Well that is true, but even the continuum must obey certain laws" he said "we have a little situation that needs to be handled and we cannot directly interfere, we were about to give up when Jr hear got carless and let slip that he had created this little universe to his mother" a prideful smirk crossed his face, the boy looked slightly sheepish as his mother glared at him like he had just farted in front of her boss at an important meeting "I was so proud and the continuum was amazed at the military and scientific advances that you had created, you had done things that the universe you are based off is only beginning to understand"
"What my fool husband is trying to say is we need you for a special service there is a situation a few universes over that needs to be handled" she said
"Why me, why my men" he asked the female Q looked annoyed
"You should be proud that we are even considering using you to aid us, many beings would give their whole bodies for just a chance" the male Q looked at her with an expression that screamed let me deal with this before you screw it up, he thought it was slightly funny to be on the other side of that look.
"Well you are going to die and instead of wasting your talents in death we have come to recruit you" he smiled and draped his arm over the armoured shoulders of Lord Vaako "we are going to transport you your fleet and your men away to a new universe at a point where you can change it for better or worse" he said looking at Vaako with a slight smirk "after all we have no control over free will"
"What will I get for doing this" he asked "what is it for me and my men"
Then he said something that would make him accept
"Your wife" he said "and their loved ones, every person sacred in the hearts of your people"
It didn't take I micro second before
"I accept" he said holding out his hand for the male Q shake it, surprised by this he slowly moved his arm to shake the human's hand. Before he snapped his fingers and all three diapered in flash of white light, he could feel a wave on energy penetrating him like the feeling of being surrounded by static electricity build up before a bolt hit, Vaako felt the fleet stop with a sudden jolt, like the internal dampeners were out of sync with the ship, using the small computer on his desk he hooked up to the viewer he saw copies of his fleet move through the worm whole, out of the mouth and on into Dominion territory,
As the mouth closed once again as if it had never, been he felt a secondary jolt and could feel the ship moving again looking out of the window he saw as the warm gold colours gave way as harsh red and black colouring began to dot the walls, Vaako told the crew to ignore what had happened before setting up a conference with all his commanders and section leader to discuss what he had done.
USS Cromwell was a one of the ships that made up a six ship armada that was sent to search for the USS Voyager under captain Janeway who had vanished while chasing marquee in the badlands, the ships were the Ambassador classes USS Rodger Young and USS Cromwell, the USS Alamo, the USS York, USS Bannockburn and the USS Mannerheim, nebular class attack cruisers. These ships had vanished in an ion storm similar to that which took Voyager, Starfleet officially named them MIA and that section of the badlands was labelled quarantined not even the dominion would enter that zone.
They ended up stranded in another universe, in a part of space called the Epsilon Eridani, it didn't take long for before they made friends and enemies, in entering earth space they were confronted by a fleet of ships that were primitively advanced, after making first contact, deciding to help the beaten down Earth Alliance against an alien race bent on their utter annihilation the races name Minbari. But even with their help in upgrading the ships they couldn't get them into the field fast enough to make up the win to loss deficit. With Earth Alliance territory being invaded from almost all sides and the Minbari fleets routing all opposition Earth Alliance space was quickly overwhelmed and pushed back. Only two systems were out of Minbari hands Alpha Centauri and Sol, every day refugees from every colony poured back into Sol for the protection of the Earth Alliance main fleet. Consisting off over eighteen thousand ships, every ship either fresh out of ship dock or survivors from battle but those were few and far between. As the Minbari or bone heads as the military had started calling them tried there dam best to make sure there were minimal survivors. (Earth dome) General Hague was a battle hardened veteran and he was dam proud of the fact, he was tall around six two with light brown almost blond hair and hadn't shaved in a few weeks, his facial hair attested to that. He had heavy bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, the losses of friends and colleagues because of one man, a man that had been insisted on by that fool Morgan Clark; if he weren't dead he would have killed him himself. He was looking over the horror show that was the defence of Earth Alliance space, he had no tears left to shed, he went through all forty two thousand of such proud ships such as the EAS Mercury and many, many others, and there noble crews that would make any people proud to have them even two of them working in their military. He looked up at the tell tale sound and light show of a Federation teleportation device. He sighed even with their help they were being pushed back though they did give them a fighting chance. "Captain" he said as a young man materialised in front of him, he was of Hispanic descent quite well built and around five nine tall. "General" he said giving the man a salute. "What's the word" he asked the young man shook his head, then ran his hand through his short brown hair. "Its not great" he said "the ships have mostly been fully upgraded to the new tech, the polarized hull and gravity plating are easy to manufacture, and the refitting of the fusion engines is going well but the phase cannons are taking time to build and fit, because of the particle cannons you are using its like fitting a square peg into a round whole but were dealing so far" the general invited him to sit down. "How are your men" he asked "We've taken losses but were ok, the damage to the Rodger Young has been fully repaired and were recalibrating the weapons array, it should be fully functional in a few hours" "Your crews are miracle workers Captain Ibanez, but will it be enough?" he asked "I don't know" he sighed "but I hope it is" "And the defences on Alpha Centauri" "Complete and fully functional, the G.O.D's will be enough to give even the Borg pause" he said, the general nodded having read the history of the federation understood the threat of the Borg and they had dogged many of his nightmares just from reading about them, it still amazed him that these people were even hear, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "When should we be expecting company?" asked the general "We believe that they will attack Alpha first in the next few hours with our fleets hear and the planets defences set to auto fire on Minbari signatures, and the scanner disrupters we have deployed making them haft to come within firing range of the G.O.D's, we believe they will thin out there fleet and make them move more cautiously so we expect them with in the week" (Preview for the next chapter) "This is Grand Duke, Admiral Damon Vaako commander of the Olympus and Titanic fleets, defender of the northern sector, General and commander of the 16th, 09th, and 12th legions of the United Empire of Planets" his voice echoed through both fleets. "Minbari you will surrender or be destroyed" the communications officer indicated that the Minbari commander wanted to speak "You dare, you and your species shall be destroyed beneath the boot of the Minbari" the female Minbari shouted. "Then so it shall be" he said, the comm. officer opening the communications to the whole fleet. as he rose to his feet his armoured body giving a more intimidating presence "raise high the black flags, no pity, no mercy, I will shoot the first person I see with even a glimmer of pity with in him" he roared as his XO pressed a few buttons on his console "you Minbari, have unleashed a demon whose power you can't even begin to fathom, you have released a plague that will wipe the taint of your species from the galaxy, you have unshed the destruction of your species and any whom associate with you, pray Minbari to whatever god it is you pray to on the coldest harshest winters night for the gaze of the empire is now upon you." (Not been proof read or had additions made but I think the gist is fine)("Nid yw Duw ar ochr y bataliwn mawr ond y lluniau gorau" (god is not on the side of the big battalions but the best shots).)