A TANGLED WEB Part 8: Endgame
Chapter 8: WHEN IN DOUBT…ATTACK!
by Charlie Nelson a.k.a. Ordinaryguy2
AuThOr'S NoTeS:
I wish to remind readers that I originally wrote this over 14 years ago. There was no 'The Mandalorian' or 'The Book of Boba Fett'. I did use info from 'The Bounty Hunter Wars' book trilogy by K.W. Jeter. Also, the anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson, 'Tales of the Bounty Hunters'. They are really well done, and I recommend them.
The main crossovers in this chapter include: Doctor Who (1987-1989); Land of the Lost(1974-1976); Predator (1987); Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973-1975); Space Ghost (1966); Star Trek (1967); Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999); Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-1993); Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980); The Terminator (1984)
¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`
Clicking in anger as well as pain, Zorak spied from his hiding spot behind a tree as the interlopers who had defeated him, and his forces made friends with the ones that he had tried to kill or capture. And that Human female he had faced – she had fought with a ferocity that he had never seen before in that species. He examined one of his pincers that she had managed to tear half off. One of his knee joints had also been seriously damaged. He cursed Lurker, One-Eye, Pirahnor and Remora for leaving them to check out the lagoon and surrounding marshes. Then that idiot the Sandman had fallen, ironically, into quicksand, and pulling the Toyman in with him to both their dooms. Once the fighting started, Brago had gotten his idiot head blown off, helmet and all. The Schemer had been sneaking up behind the group only to be accidently shot by Brago in his death throws.
"Sulking in defeat, are you?"
Zorak glanced up at Lokar who was climbing down from the upper branches of the trees where he had evidently been knocked to when the balloon creature had exploded.
"You weren't much click help," commented Zorak.
"What! I distracted them from above! It was I that instructed the others how to attack! That is what I am best at- leading! After all, am I not king of the Killer Locusts?"
Zorak clicked in annoyance as the smaller alien insectoid leapt to the ground beside him. "Your wings click are damaged."
Lokar moved his thin damaged wings behind him in annoyance and embarrassment. "Of course they are damaged! It happened in that explosion! That large balloon thing that Spider-Woman blew up! Why else would I be climbing down the tree to be alone with you instead of having already flown halfway back to that Master fellow with the others?"
Zorak looked around. Lokar was right. They were alone.
"Now I will have to wait until I get back to my people before I can have new wings transplanted onto my back." He reached back and examined the damage. "They will have to be from a strong, athletic Locust. I want to be able to fly fast."
"Do not click worry yourself about it."
Lokar turned to the large alien mantis. "What do you-"
The large mantis-like alien lunged and pinned the royal Locust to the ground. "I mean, since you click are of no use to us as a fighter, and definitely not as a leader, you can click at least provide me with the nutrients click click I need to heal myself."
Before Lokar, king of the killer locusts, could protest this or cry out for help, Zorak bit his head off. Then, making sure to not miss a morsel, the leader of the Zorathians began to feed in earnest.
¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`
Zuckuss was distressed. He had been pacing as they waited for 4-LOM to return. While the others considered 4-LOM to just be a droid, to Zuckuss 4-LOM was a trustworthy partner. He turned to the others. "We should go back."
Bossk growled irritably. He was bare-chested and leaning against a tree while he sat. He had just finished closing the knife wound in his stomach that he had received while fighting with General Martok. He glanced down at the Klingon knife that was still coated with his blood. He had been mentally imagining flaying the Klingon alive with that very blade when he caught up with him later. Now the ammonia-breathing Gand had interrupted his pleasant thoughts. How had it all gone so badly? They were all trained bounty-hunters.
And then there had been that call from smug Boba Fett. He spat. One of his teeth flew out and stuck into the side of a leaf. Fett's call had literally left a bad taste in his mouth. He sheathed the blade.
"If we go back, we should reunite with Boba Fett," Dengar said. "He is our best option at this point."
"Have you no pride!" shouted the Trandoshan bounty hunter. "Have you no desire to prove yourself better than that pompous tin-plated showoff?"
Dengar just looked at him. Bossk had no way of knowing that most of Dengar's emotions had been removed after suffering a tragic accident during a swoop race, which resulted in him becoming a cyborg. "The job needs to be done."
"We should go back," Zuckuss repeated. "With Boba Fett, or without him, we need to go back."
Bossk glared first at Dengar and then Zuckuss. Finally, he turned painfully to address the assassin droid. "And what do you say, IG-88?"
The assassin droid's optic sensors turned to focus on him. "System's are at 77.268 percent operational. Optimal chance of success would occur when this unit is fully operational."
"And how long will that take?" snapped Bossk.
"3.17 hours, disregarding anything unforeseen." IG-88 adjusted its optic sensors again due to something interfering with them. The result was startling, even for an assassin droid. "Warning! Warning!"
The droid moved back from the others as it raised one of its weapons and fired repeatedly into the treetops. The results caused something that seemed somewhat blurred falling through the branches and landing on the hard ground.
The Yautja was still as the camouflage cloak began to dissipate from around him.
The bounty hunters all leapt for cover assuming that if there were one sniper, there could be more.
Zuckuss jumped behind a boulder as a large explosion occurred where he had been standing just a moment before, sending dirt and leaves everywhere. The Gand bounty hunter hurried toward the trees where he could gain shelter. Explosion erupted in front of him, and he turned around. There before him a large, formidable figure seemed to slowly crackle into view. "Have you no pride!" came Bossk's slightly distorted voice.
Zuckuss raised his weapon, but the alien had already fired something that flew at him. A net spread out and engulfed him at an incredible speed that actually picked him up and imbedded itself into a large tree behind him leaving him there like a fly under a flyswatter… only he was alive. The Gand tried to reach for a knife to cut the tight cords of the net, but before he could he felt it constricting into his flesh. Terror began to fill his mind when his ammonia-breathing apparatus was cut open by the net causing oxygen to flood in and sear his vulnerable lungs. His last sight was of the cruel rogue hunter stepping forward with a spear and running him through with it.
Dengar dived and rolled as a volley of plasma energy exploded the earth and trees around him. Seeing the source of the fire coming from above, he took a shot that he knew would miss the unseen shooter. But the shooter was not his target. The shot shattered the branch that the unseen shooter had been standing on. A blurred camouflaged image of something large was barely able to jump to another branch and then another while Dengar continued firing at it.
Sensing some new danger, the cyborg bounty hunter ducked as something sharp passed where his head had been. Looking down, he saw the first section of his weapon fall to his feet. It had been effortlessly cut off. Unsure whether it was safe to use the plasma rifle, he tossed it aside in favor of one of his pistols. Then he noticed a rustling of the brush as the sharp object returned toward him.
He fired twice. The second shot managed to hit the sharp object causing it to spin off out of control before flying into the earth.
Sensing someone on his left he turned to shoot, but was hit with incredible force. He flew back and hit the trunk of a tree. He stumbled to his feet as he tried to breathe. This time his attacker came into view as its cloaking device was disengaged. Another of the fast, sharp objects was fired. This time Dengar had a strange view of falling to the ground and bouncing, and then slowly watching his headless body fall down next to him as everything grew dim.
Bossk ran into the wind trusting in his nostrils and ears to tell him what his eyes could not. And then he caught the scent. It was moving to flank him. Let it, he thought. He didn't like running from anything. Just as he came around a massive tree he fired repeatedly at the area to his left. The electrical camouflage of the young hunter fizzled as he fell, rolling down the bank and almost into the river. Wounded or dead, Bossk had no time to check as another assailant revealed itself. This one had an arm missing at a stump. It looked recent, too. It fired from a weapon on its shoulder, striking Bossk's blaster, effectively destroying it. Bossk threw the hot metal down at his feet in disgust and anger.
Bossk growled deep in his throat. He didn't know why these intruders were attacking them and he didn't care. "Well…?" he challenged his attacker.
Instead of speaking, it was Dengar's voice that came to him. "The job needs to be done." It was a recording from what the bounty hunters had been saying to each other just a few moments prior, but he didn't have time to dwell on that as his new assailant flexed his remaining arm – the right one – causing retractable twin blades to spring out of the gauntlet that he wore.
"Hand to hand knife fighting? I can go with that." He pulled out the Klingon blade with one hand and one of his regular one for the other hand. They began to slowly circle each other.
Finally, Bossk had had enough and charged. They stabbed and slugged each other with repeated blows – each of which would have been enough to kill an ordinary foe. They fell back over the riverbanks and into the swift current. Still they cut at each other. Bossk, seeking a weakness, smashed off the mask of the one-armed alien, hoping the formidable opponent was vulnerable to the atmosphere like Zuckuss. No such luck.
The one-armed Yautja hunter howled as the current white water carried them away. Suddenly, the hunter, looking ahead, turned and grabbed a tree branch they were passing under. Bossk grinned through blood and missing teeth. He had won. Then, suddenly he heard a roaring ahead of him. Turning, he realized he was heading toward a waterfall. And there was nothing for him to grab.
IG-88 swooped back and forth through the trees as the droid's jet pack flared, leaving a small trail of smoke and slightly burnt foliage behind it. This was minimalist damage compared to the plasma explosions that followed in his wake. Using half of his optic sensors to watch behind itself, IG-88 was able to fire behind him most effectively, and thereby slowing its pursuer down. The assassin droid tried sending a signal to call Boba Fett, but all communication signals were being jammed.
Flying along a small gorge, IG-88 headed toward the Master's base thinking to run into one of the other teams the Master had sent out, unfortunately that was when the assassin droid's frame was nicked by one of the plasma balls being fired at it.
The resulting explosion hurled it into the entrance of one of the caverns where the droid bounced, breaking off one of its arms, and dislodging a few boulders, some of which fell onto the droid.
The young hunter disengaged his cloaking field and stepped over his metallic prey. Mechanisms were not their regular quarry, but sometimes they made the better trophies. As IG-88 tried to move, the young hunter stabbed down with his Combi Stick, effectively destroying the assassin droid's circuitry and main processors.
Regarding the 'kill', the young Yautja finally determined to bring back the droid's head and one of its limbs as a trophy when he heard noise from inside the cavern.
From the darkness of the cavern walked a tall muscular man wearing a large black leather jacket, but what caught the young hunter's attention most was the shotgun that he held.
The Yautja reacted by throwing a Shuriken-type weapon that ripped through the upper part of the man's shoulder. The large man went back a few steps, regarded the wound for a moment, then turned its attention back on the hunter.
Beneath his mask, the young hunter's mandibles formed what others of its kind could discern to be a smile. He had a worthy challenge.
The man brought up his shotgun with such blinding speed that the young Yautja barely managed to leap behind a tree in time, and then to another as he tried to get to a more ideal spot. The large man stepped unconcerned about getting away, and instead took another shot at the ducking Yautja.
The chortling, young hunter couldn't believe his good luck at having such a fearless prey. He reengaged his camouflage unit and moved to a better vantage point up in one of the larger trees. He couldn't wait to start polishing the man's skull and putting it in the place of honor in his meager collection of trophies. He decided to make this fight even more dramatic by physically tackling the man.
The man was scanning the area for his opponent, heedless of his shoulder injury. The Yautja was already in midleap from above when the man seemed to somehow sense him, turned and fired. The Yautja felt the bullet tear into his upper leg, which ruined his planned attack though they still collided together.
The Yautja slashed at the man with his wrist razors in fury, angry at having been shot in the leg. He slashed again and the man grabbed and held the hunter's wrists with incredible strength.
It was then that his eyes told the young hunter his mistake. This was no ordinary man. His slashing had revealed that underneath the fleshy exterior was a metallic android frame.
The fighting continued for several more minutes. When it was over the T-800 cyborg unit regarded the damages done to itself to be minimal though he was missing parts of his fleshy exterior. It was most pronounced along the left side of its face and the front part of his chest. The bleeding had already stopped but it would require some quick medical procedures if it was going to keep his flesh alive. If it could find the nutrients, it could regrow the tissue though there would be scarring.
Then it assessed the superior weaponry worn by the dead Yautja hunter and determined it could use most of it in its continued quest to find its target: Sarah Connor. It also took the assassin droid's blaster rifle. In less than a minute it had scanned the equipment and determined the use of it, it's range and how long it would last.
¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`
Swimming in the small cave pond, Sigmund sang soft sea melodies to himself as he searched for some juicy crayfish to snack on. He wasn't really hungry, but needed to rehydrate himself before he moved on much further.
Sela stood next to Holly as they watched the young seaweed monster swim lazily about the pond. Sela had actually been placed as their guard, but for now kids and the plant creature were not to know that they were considered prisoners.
Earlier when the brother and sister, Will and Holly Marshall, had come down with the sea creature, Sigmund, to offer them aid after they had witnessed Sela's group being attacked by invisible aliens, the group of rogues had agreed to let the youths believe that they were not malicious, to play nice for now as a means to learn more about them and the land in which they had landed.
Shortly after that, three adults had returned for the youths. One was their uncle, Jack Marshall. The other two were newcomers to the land as well. One was called the Professor who seemed to be a very enigmatic man, and his companion was an ornery young woman named Ace. Sela and her group decided to keep up their rouse and were soon rewarded by Jack telling them about the Borg.
Still feeling vulnerable after being attacked, and even more so after discovering the remains of Seska, they had quickly moved to the more protected environment of the large cavern. This was also advantageous in that the underground tunnel system of the Sleestak connected to the cavern at the far end. The formidable Alpha Hirogen guarded the entrance to the outside while Khan Noonien Singh guarded the tunnel entrance at the far side of the cavern.
Holly chattered on while Sela pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache come on. Evidently Holly had not had another female to talk with for a few years and was making up for lost time. Since the young teenage was the most loose lipped of the group, Sela had the best chance to gather information from her about this strange land.
"-and they use some type of moth to fertilize their eggs. Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
"I encountered races that lay eggs, some that procreate asexually, some that were hermaphrodites, some that incubate their young in paralyzed prey, and I've even heard of a species that transmits bacteria into another species which will cause the infected species to change into their species, including their intellect."
"That's horrible!" Holly was aghast. "I mean some of those were bizarre or somewhat scary but to lose your identity… to not know who or what you were? That's horrible!"
Sela tried to shrug indifference, but found it difficult since it reminded her of how she felt as a child trying to determine her own identity. Growing up in the Romulan Empire as a Romulan/Human hybrid was not easy. Being blonde on a planet of dark-haired people made it even more difficult.
"Tell me, how did the Sleestak become savages?" she asked, wanting to change the topic.
Holly shook her head. "We don't know. Enik is the only example we have of what they were once like. Enik's a time traveler from over a thousand years ago. Maybe even ten thousand. Anyway, he wants to go back and fix whatever catastrophe that happened so that it won't, but he can't."
Sela nodded. She, herself, only existed due to the fact that a temporally divergent of Tasha Yar went back in time to make her death count for something. Only she lived, was captured and forced to mate with a Romulan general which resulted in Sela being born.
"You know, when we first got here, our dad did meet a Sleestak that was intelligent…, well, that is to say much more intelligent than the others. The smart Sleestak explained to my dad that once every couple of generations a Sleestak hatched with innate knowledge. And-"
Sela listened to every word as the young girl rattled on and on. Looking down at the young blonde Human with her hair in pigtails, she realized that she could have had a daughter about this old. She could have had several children at this point in her life. But if she had, she would not have risen nearly as far in the Romulan military. Perhaps never to have ever served on a Romulan ship. No, she had chosen to prove herself to her father by striving forward through the ranks that were against her. First, because she was only half-Romulan, and secondly, because she was female.
She shook her head slightly in annoyance. What was this she was feeling? Was this regret? Now that would be truly pathetic, she thought. The Romulan military was her career and home. Protecting the Romulan Empire was her duty. Her striving up through the gauntlet of officers improved the quality of officer she had become and only made her stronger. She scowled down at the still talking young teenager who had inadvertently made her momentarily doubt herself.
"-despite all his advances, the Zarn looks down on us and considers us to be some type of troublesome primitives."
"And that is similar to how you perceive the Sleestak," Sela coolly remarked.
Holly jerked as if slapped. She looked up at the Romulan woman, but Sela was pretending to watch Sigmund in the pond. "That's different," Holly defended. "The Sleestak have degenerated. They don't care about anyone else. Sometimes not even each other."
"So that makes it all right to take away their land and stop them from following their customs?"
"First off, Sleestak live underground. Sure, they come out at night but for the most part they prefer their dark tunnels. But as for their beliefs, when it comes to them trying to throw me or my family into a pit for their so-called god to eat, then yeah, I'll stop them from following their beliefs."
Sela grinned in spite of herself. She liked this young Human despite herself. "I have traveled far but I've seen few worlds that have had two sentient species rise up at the same time. It almost always ends with genocide of one of the races or at least the enslavement of the weaker race."
Holly shuddered. "I can't accept that."
"Oh, really? What about your friend Sigmund? He's a seaweed lifeform. He's mostly vegetable, but he has enough protein in him to make him also count as an animal. Why do you think he and his people hide their existence from the world? Isn't it because the more numerous and technologically advanced Humans would want to capture them, subject them to tests? Perhaps even enslave them so as to explore the depths of the oceans of Earth and gain more conquest for mankind."
"No!" Holly cried out. "No," she repeated in a quieter and subdued tone. As young as she was, even she knew that there would always be someone who would love to exploit Sigmund's seaweed people. Rich corporations. Some military outfits. Underwater treasure hunters. Even some of the kookier religious groups or the stupid racial hate groups.
"You know, I'd always kinda pictured mankind reaching the stars and embracing the aliens they find there. Perhaps joining together into some type of coalition to explore the outer limits of the galaxy and protect the races that need protecting."
Sela stared at this girl. She was describing what the Federation and Starfleet claim to believe. Was the concept of unity so apart of the Human psyche that even from the twentieth century Humans could dream of a future where there is a Starfleet and Federation?
Perhaps, she considered, they should talk about something else. "So… do you have any friends here?"
Meanwhile, in a spot near the entrance so they had some light from outside, Captain James T. Kirk of the Mirror Universe held a small flashlight instead of the phaser he'd rather be using.
"Hold the light steady, captain." The small man carefully examined the stub of an arm while using a small, thin rod to gently move wires out of the way of his sight.
"Careful!" cautioned Lore, whose stub of an arm was being examined.
"Yes," agreed the Professor. "If the metal in these two wires were to touch, it would cause quite a disruption to your system. It would most likely be the equivalent to severe pain for an android like yourself."
Lore appraised the man again. He looked ridiculous in his straw hat. His jacket further marked the man as a clown or in need of some type of therapy as it was covered in red question marks. Also, the man insisted on being called the Professor, stating that his actual name would be too difficult for them to pronounce.
The Professor had arrived with the kids' uncle and another girl who went by the name of Ace, who seemed to be a bit of a loner. They had just come from an encounter with the Borg and as such they had useful information that Lore and his crew wanted. Kirk had wanted to torture the information out of them, but had been quickly outvoted. Most of them agreed that the most useful information could be derived from them if they thought of Sela and her group as benevolent travelers who just want to help stop the Borg.
The Professor had expressed an immediate interest in Lore and had mentioned that he thought he could reattach the android's arm. Lore had been doubtful, but really didn't want to try facing the Borg minus an arm. So, he ran the Professor through a series of high-tech questions which the Time Lord answered easily. That gave the android hope, and he allowed this stranger access to his damaged area.
Kirk, meanwhile, was bored. At his feet, he poked at a bag that the Professor carried around. Something familiar was sticking out of it. "And what is this?" Kirk asked, with a slightly accusatory tone, as he pulled out the charred, severed arm of the Yautja that Lore had shot off in retaliation for the damages to his limb.
The Professor glanced over and shrugged. "It fascinated me. I hope to give it a more thorough examination later when I have more time." The Time Lord turned back to his work and pretended great interest in Lore's arm. "Can you feel this?" he asked as Lore's remaining stump began to rise up and down.
"No," Lore said, looking at the moving stump in fascination.
The Professor struggled with the super-strong stump for a moment before finally pressing something that caused it to stop moving. "Hmmm. Okay. Everything seems alright. A few wires are charred but can be replaced. The chips I showed you earlier, are you sure we can bypass them for now?"
"The microchips will have to be replaced eventually, but I should be fine for a few weeks without them," said Lore.
"Very well," said the Professor. "Sorry for taking so long but in situations like these I think it's better safe than sorry."
"Yes, we wouldn't want to be sorry," Lore answered in a veiled threat.
"This arm is monstrous!" Kirk had put down the flashlight and was now engrossed in examining the Yautja's dismembered arm. "And look at these wrist blades!"
In frustration, the Professor took the flashlight in order to examine Lore's severed arm better, tinkering deep inside it. "This won't look pretty but it should work."
Lore nodded. "If I was on better terms with the Borg, I could have them reattach my arm. Or they could even attach that alien limb to me in its place. As interesting an experience as that might be, I'd rather not try it."
The Professor paused. "You know the Borg very well, do you?"
Lore didn't hesitate. Considering the speed at which his mind functioned, he didn't have to. "In my travels I have learned of several parallel world encounters, often times with Humans. I can only assume that there could be Borg in many of these parallel universes as well. So do I know these particular ones? No. Besides, the group I encountered had been disconnected from the Borg Collective. They had been infected with self-awareness and had to be discarded from the Collective or they would have contaminated all of it."
"Wasn't there another piece of hardware on this forearm?" asked Kirk, running his hand over the muscular alien arm.
The Professor, the seventh incarnation of the Doctor, glanced over in mild interest. "I really couldn't say. I only found it literally just before we were introduced to all of you. Now, please, when you are done with it, if you would return it to my bag, I would be grateful." He returned to Lore's stub, putting the last of the circuitry in place, while ignoring the angry glare coming from Kirk. "There. You should feel a twinge."
Lore's eyes rolled back for a moment or two before shaking his head. "That was… weird. What did you do?"
"Oh, a little of this and a little of that. In case you didn't notice, you were falling apart." When Lore seemed to accept that, he continued. "Now, let's have a try at reattach that arm, shall we?"
Across the underground pond, Will Marshall was staring at Gul Dukat.
"Will," said his uncle. "You are doing it again."
"Wha-oh." He glanced back at Dukat. "Sorry."
Dukat merely nodded. "You are still new to the concept of alien races. It is to be expected." As they had been walking around the pond, he had been looking around for where the female Founder had flowed off to for her time of rest. She had made sure it was hidden and that none of them knew where it was. Trust was in short supply among this group.
"No," said Will. "I've seen lots of science fiction films with good and bad aliens. I've even met a few here. But every time I meet one, it just blows me away."
"'Blows me away'? Is that another euphemism?" asked the Cardassian.
"I'm afraid so," said Jack, Will's uncle. "His generation has practically created another language with all the euphemisms they use."
Dukat smiled. "Each generation does strive to be set apart from their parent generation."
"Tell us more of this quest that you are on," asked Jack, not wanting to get sidetracked.
Dukat nodded. He used the story that Khan had told Will and Holly, keeping it simple so that there wouldn't be any contradictions.
"But why did these Borg people come here?" asked Will
Dukat frowned. Q2 hadn't explained that part to them, except to say that they had discovered another source of technology that they just had to have. "Do you know what an opportunistic pathogen is?" He looked at their confused faces. "Or is that above the level of medical terms that you are used to?"
"I've heard it before," said Jack, "from a nurse I used to date. But medicine and biology were never things I studied very much."
"Very well," said Dukat. "An opportunistic pathogen is a type of bacteria that live in certain areas of the body, sometimes benefiting the body in certain functions. Many of these microorganisms are content to stay just where they are. But when something goes wrong, like an abrasion that allows them to leak into a part of the body that is not able to protect itself from the bacteria, then the little pathogens take the opportunity to thrive and grow with little restraint in their new environment. Now the Borg are somewhat similar to this but different."
"Different how?" asked Will, transfixed.
"They expand further and further with nothing to hold them back. Their objectives are to absorb new technologies and alien life forms into their Collective. If they come across a world that has vast amounts of technology that they do not currently possess, they will absorb the whole world – every living sentient and very bit of technology would be absorbed along with the majority of the resources of that planet. If the Borg come across a more primitive culture on a planet, they may choose to bypass it after taking a sampling of about a hundred to a thousand of the local population to add to their Collective. If the Borg needed a large amount of mineral found on a planet that was inhabited by a more primitive culture, then they would just cut off a segment of the planet that they wanted and use tractor beams to pull that section up into the atmosphere to their ship. Any survivors were either turned into Borg drones or died of asphyxiation."
"A segment of a planet?" Jack muttered in disbelief.
"Appalling, isn't it?" agreed Dukat with just a hint of a grin. "But the real sad part is that if any of the bypassed culture in Borg territory did manage to advance enough to come up with a new form of technology, it would be worse than a death sentence for them."
Will turned to his uncle. "You saw them. Are they really that bad?"
Jack put a hand on his nephew's shoulder as he remembered the Borg taking down the members of the Bionic Six and the Power Rangers. "What I saw back there… is something you don't want to see."
To be Continued!
¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`
Original AuThOr'S NoTeS: 10/11/2007
The Zorak and Lokar mini-story was a small sequel to what had happened in the last posting. I had meant to include it, but it was late at night and I was trying to post before going to bed and forgot it. Zorak and Lokar never really liked each other, and it only made sense to me that Zorak would take down Lokar if he ever got a real opportunity since Zorak is based off of a praying mantis and Lokar is based off of a flying insect.
As for the Bounty Hunters and Predator fight, that was just fun. And I had thought to include the wandering Terminator at the last minute, too, which I think worked out great.
I have left Q2's team by the wayside for a while now and I'm glad to get back to them. My excuse… Lore needed his arm fixed.
Hey! This time I didn't add any new people or crossovers! No such luck next time as Boba Fett is going blow to blow against…. Now that would be telling. Come see us again and you will see even more surprises. Oh, and I'm still open to suggestions for characters to add.
Updated AuThOr'S NoTeS: 1-19-2022
One of the things I want to explain, which you may have already figured out, is that there are going to be several deaths in this story. There are just too many dangers around for there not too be any deaths. And it won't be just the villains that die. Sorry about that. Just wanted to be clear about that ahead of time.
ChArAcTeR InDeX FoR ThE ChApTeR:
4-LOM (Chris Parsons) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (mentioned only)
'Ace' / McShane, Dorothy Gale (Sophie Aldred) – from the TV series Doctor Who (1987-1989)
Alpha Hirogen (Vaughn Armstrong) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) (mentioned only)
Bionic Six – from the cartoon show Bionic Six (1987)
Bossk (Alan Harris) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Brago (voiced by Paul Frees) – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
Connor, Sarah (Linda Hamilton) – from the movie The Terminator (1984) (mentioned only)
Dengar (Morris Bush) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Doctor, The 7th / Professor, The (Sylvester McCoy) – from the TV series Doctor Who (1987-1989)
Dukat, Gul (Marc Alaimo) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
Enik (Walker Edmiston) – from the TV series Land of the Lost(1974-1976) (mentioned only)
Fett, Boba (Jeremy Bulloch) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (mentioned only)
Founder / female shapeshifter (Salome Jens) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1994-1999) (mentioned only)
Guevera, Max (Jessica Alba) – from the TV series Dark Angel (2000-2002) (mentioned only)
IG-88 (Paul Klein) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) – from the TV series Star Trek (1967), from the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) (mentioned only)
Kirk, Mirror Universe Capt. James T. (William Shatner) – from the TV series Star Trek (1967)
Lokar, King of the Killer Locusts – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966)
Lore (Brent Spiner) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988-1993)
The Lurker (voiced by Vic Perrin) – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
Marshall, Holly (Kathy Coleman) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Marshall, Jack (Ron Harper) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1976)
Marshall, Will (Wesley Eure) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Martok, General (J.G. Hertzler) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995-1999) (mentioned only)
One-Eye – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
Ooze, Sigmund (Billy Barty) – from the TV series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973-1975)
Pirahnor (voiced by Vic Perrin) – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
Power Rangers – from the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993-1996)
The Remora – from the cartoon Space Stars 'Space Ghost' (1981) (mentioned only)
Rover – from the TV series The Prisoner (1967-1968) (mentioned only)
The Sandman – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
The Schemer – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
Sela, Cdr. (Denise Crosby) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
Seska (Martha Hackett) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) (mentioned only)
Sleestak / Altrusians – from the TV series Land of the Lost(1974-1976)
Sleestak god – from the TV series Land of the Lost(1974-1976) (mentioned only)
The Spider-Woman / Black Widow (voiced by Ginny Tyler) – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966) (mentioned only)
The Terminator / T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) – from the movie The Terminator (1984)
The Toyman – from the cartoon Space Stars 'Space Ghost' (1981) (mentioned only)
Yar, Lt. Natasha 'Tasha' (Denise Crosby) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1988) (mentioned only)
Yautja – from the movie Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004), Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), Predators (2010)
Zarn (Richard Kiel / voiced by Van Snowden) – from the TV series Land of the Lost (1975) (mentioned only)
Zorak (voiced by Don Messick) – from the cartoon Space Ghost (1966)
Zuckuss (Cathy Munro) – from the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)