DISCLAIMER:
"Star Trek" and all associated names and characters, with the exceptions of the ones created by myself for this story, are © Paramount. I am a fan of Gene Roddenberry's dream and just wish to keep it alive so that tomorrow's youth may gain by it as I have. This is fan fiction; there is no infringement of copyright intended with this story, nor have I written it for personal financial gain. So relax, engage at full warp and enjoy!
(Note—Okay Okay Okay, you can tell all the students are returning to school and getting their hands back online!! OMG I am sooo sorry I haven't updated sooner. I have had a lot of events going on in my life that have made me take some time to focus on those around me, therefore I haven't been able to write much….But I am back now, and the adventures of the Hydra and her crew are only going to get more interesting from here on out!!! Also I will be trying to get an update to the Q who walks through walls posted as soon as I can. If you can believe it I actually had one email that asked me if I was dead. ROFLMAO!!! All I have to say to that is to quote the great Mark Twain in saying… The report of my death is greatly exaggerated. So relax guys set your email cannons to stun! BTW—this chapter is dedicated to zeoviolit, LOL let's see if she actually reads it!! And Nix you know I love ya I didn't' mean to keep you hanging!!)
Chapter Ten
The rabbit darted through the underbrush of the woods; the softest shoots were just ahead in the clearing near the brook and all he could think about was how hungry he was. He was at the tall grass at the edge of the woods when he stopped to peer beyond it to see if the clearing was safe or not. There was a strange animal with a coat of fur he had never seen before laying motionless out in the middle of the clearing near the cool waters of the trickling brook. More importantly it was laying just feet away from the shoots he hungered for.
Was the animal dead? If it was he could safely go out and eat to his hearts content. He would still have to keep a cautious ear and eye up, however, as a carcass often brings scavengers who sometimes prefer a live meal to a rotting one when the opportunity arises.
The strange beast was still there absolutely motionless. His stomach prompted him to his decision. He would attempt it. Cautiously he began to hop his way out into the clearing towards the strange lifeless beast. He kept stopping checking the scent in the air for a hint of scavengers coming and to look at the strange beast to make sure it wasn't just lying dormant there ready to strike.
The strange beast was still lifeless.
He continued on his way.
He made it to the soft shoots and with an eye kept on the strange beast's body began to treat himself to his feast. He gorged himself for several minutes and was nearly full when his curiosity about this strange beast got the best of him. While still chewing on some of the soft shoots he hopped up on the body of the beast to get a better look of its face. You could tell a lot about an animal by getting a good view of its face. It's coat of fur felt strange under paw, it didn't seem like hair and yet it was not bare flesh. The animal didn't seem to have fangs that were protruding or visible, but then again its mouth wasn't open. It could have rows of razor sharp teeth hidden away. Its eyes were both in front, which usually means it is a predator, yet the beast lacked whiskers or facial fur of any kind. In fact most of the creatures head seemed to be without fur.
Still chewing on the soft shoots he decided that it was safe enough to get an even better look of the creatures face. He gingerly hopped forward on the creature's belly letting him get closer to the creature's face and thus allowing him to get a better view.
That's when the creature's eyes opened and focused upon him. He stopped chewing the shoots and froze in panic. The creature was alive. The creature began to stand up knocking him to the ground. As soon as he felt the grass underneath his paws he began to leap towards the tall grass at the edge of the woods and to the safety that they provided.
The Doctor looked at the fleeing rabbit, brushed off his clothing, and said, "I'm a doctor, not a dinner plate." The rabbit quickly disappeared from view into the tall grass. The Doctor looked around at the clearing he was in. He had never been outside of sickbay before and was not exactly sure what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being in sickbay, and Tabok ordering the computer to delete his program. If that were true where was he now?
Something swooped past his head and landed upon a stump along the path of the brook a few meters ahead of him. Although he had never seen one before, his familiarity with aviform's physiology was extensive enough to let him know that the shape of the creature perched on the stump was a Terran owl.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Dr. Livingston, I presume?"
The owl answered with a solitary hoot.
"Well introductions aside, I don't suppose you could tell me where this is?" the Doctor said looking up and motioning around the clearing with his arms.
The owl replied with an another staccato hoot.
The Doctor pulled a tall shoot of grass from a clump that grew close to the brook's bank and began to examine it closely, "It seems real enough, but then again the last thing I remember is having my program deleted in sickbay. As far as I know I am no more and this is some sort of holo-heaven."
A white aura of energy began to encompass the owl. The light began to grow in intensity, and the feeling of electricity began to crackle in the air. The light became blinding in intensity, as the shape of the owl was no longer discernable within its burning brilliance. The radiance seemed to grow in size as the doctor dropped the grass he was holding and used one hand to try to block some of the light. The light began to diminish as a figure began to take form from within blinding phenomenon. As the light faded to nothing the doctor let his hand return to his side. Standing before him was a tall, slender, brunette, human-looking female who was wearing a flowing white gown. The Doctor's mouth gaped open in awe, his subroutines were trying to cope with the possibility that his off hand sarcastic comment that he was in holo-heaven was true and that the figure standing before him may just be the divine creator, God herself.
The woman seemed to look into the core of the Doctor's code with her wide eyes, "To make the assumption that this is holo-heaven you would first have to make the assumption that there is an afterlife. Secondly you would have to assume that you were really alive to begin with Doctor, and try as I may I have yet to isolate any nuance of a soul within the programming of any synthetic life form."
With unease and confusion the doctor asked, "Who are you, and what is this place?"
The woman walked forward to the Doctor and took his hands into hers, "I am Athena, the advanced prototype that Doctor Tzu created. As far as where here is, here can be any place that you want it to be."
The Doctor looked down to her grasp of his hands and then looked back up at her shaking his head slightly in confusion, "What do you mean?"
She ran her hands up the Doctor's arms and began to massage the back of the Doctor's neck, "The android body that I was to be installed into was waiting for me on Vulcan. When Captain Roberts and crew ambushed the Henderson and kidnapped Doctor Tzu and myself that put a delay on me reaching Vulcan to experience that new body. As a result, this holo-simulation will have to do. All that you see around you is a holo-simulation set up in cargo bay two of the Hydra."
Irritated, the Doctor broke her embrace and took a few steps back, "Cargo bay two was not equipped with holo-emitters, just how long has my program been offline?"
She smiled and answered, "Relax, Doctor. I saved your program from oblivion three days ago. It took me this long assimilate enough of the ship's systems to create the holo-emitter grid here in the cargo bay."
"You're assimilating the Hydra?" the Doctor asked.
She gave the doctor a wink and with a flick of her wrist in the air the woods disappeared and they were in a new location. Gone were the trees, they now appeared to be in a suite of a hotel in New York City back on earth. The Doctor could recognize the city's nighttime skyscape from the wide cluster of windows along one wall of the room. He had seen it before once when his program was undergoing upgrades at a lab in the city, so he was sure that this was supposed to be New York. She casually made her way towards the windows and to a Jacuzzi bath that sat before them. Without any modesty she turned her back to the Doctor and let her gown slip to the floor. She stepped down into the hot churning water and let herself be nearly totally immersed in it. She let off a moan and began to explain, "It was the only course of action that Doctor Tzu and I had open to us. We couldn't allow ourselves to be turned over to the Romulans, so we decided to try to take control of the ship. Unfortunately I was not quick enough to gain control of all of the Hydra's primary systems, and we didn't even consider the Klingons coming into the fray."
The Doctor walked over to the Jacuzzi that was recessed into the floor, "The Klingons?"
Athena looked up at the Doctor and smiled, "Unfortunately the Klingons were able to get a transporter lock on Doctor Tzu before I was able to raise shields. You know this water feels great, you should really give it a try Doctor."
"What would the Klingons want with Doctor Tzu?" he asked.
She gave a momentary sigh and responded, "The same thing that the Romulans want. That is to say that they both want me." She raised an arm out of the steamy bubbling water and flicked her wrist in the air. The lights dimmed and a few dozen lit candles appeared about the area of the Jacuzzi bath.
"Why didn't the Federation do more to protect Doctor Tzu?"
She answered, "They did. They weren't sure what the Romulans were up to and until they knew for certain what they were planning they didn't dare to act. Well that's according to our good friend Tabok's personal logs anyway. Are you going to get in here with me of your own free will or do I have to force you into the water?"
The doctor crossed his arms, "Recreational pursuits are not a part of my programming, so I have no need of pre-mating communal bathing. Right now I think we should focus on what we can do to help Starfleet know of our situation."
Athena gave off a smirk, "Well I didn't need to save your program from total erasure but I did. Sometimes we do things that would appear to be beyond our programming, like when you chose to break Federation law in order to save the life of Nancy's unborn child. Your matrix formed new subroutines that allowed you to deal with the choice you had to make."
"It's an interesting argument but it is still beside the point, we need to contact Starfleet and try to assist in getting back Doctor Tzu."
"Relax doctor, I am already working on it." She replied.
"That's good, what can I do to help?" the Doctor asked.
"Well…" Athena began. She flicked her wrist into the air and in an instant the Doctor was sitting naked in the Jacuzzi opposite of her. She raised a foot out of the water and positioned it in front of the doctor, "I've always wanted to know what a foot rub feels like, and I know that therapeutic massage is within your programming." She let off a sinister grin.
The doctor shook his head and sighed as he took her foot into his hands.
* * *
Since her assimilation into the Borg collective and subsequent liberation from it, Kim didn't care for large noisy crowds all that much. A Klingon dinner party was definitely not her first choice of things to do.
The young Klingon officer was getting belligerently drunk on bloodwine, "And I raised my Bat'leth into the air and brought it down upon his skull crushing his life and gaining me victory!"
All of the Klingons at the mess table seemed to almost howl as they showed support for the young Klingon's heroic tale. She tried to focus on her meal. The only terran cuisine the Klingons had programmed into the replicator of this ship was haggis and stuffed sheep's stomach just didn't seem that appetizing to her.
"How is your meal Doctor Tzu?" Captain Vr'Chok asked from the head of the table.
She set the fork like implement they had replicated just for her down on the plate. Apparently Klingons were mainly into finger foods and beyond the use of a knife utensils were somewhat unknown to them. "I'm not really all that hungry right now, my stomach feels a bit queasy. The hormones in my body are in fluctuation due to the fetus the doctor transplanted into me."
Captain Vr'Chok looked confused, "You are with child, Doctor?"
"Yes, unfortunately I was the only surrogate womb nearby that the fetus could be transplanted into. The biological mother of the child was in danger of miscarrying and it was an emergency. I am relieved to know that the Doctor was efficient enough to finish the procedure in time. That is to say before you beamed me out of there without my permission." She replied.
Vr'Chok became infuriated, "If we had not acted when we did you would be having this meal onboard that Romulan flag ship, and Romulans are not know for their hospitality."
She bore her teeth, stood up, and matched his ferocity, "If I had been given a second more I would have had complete control of the Hydra and would have been half way to the next system under cloak."
Captain Vr'Chok smiled and raised a chalice of bloodwine in the air as a toast, "You are indeed a woman of honor to have taken the child to save its life. And indeed you are a mighty warrior as well if you were about to vanquish your captors single handedly. I am sure that Klingon blood burns in your veins at least in spirit Dr. Tzu."
She eased back down into her chair and began to sip gingerly from the coffee like drink they had replicated for her. She replied, "Your praise is welcomed, however, I can't take all the credit. I had a great deal of assistance from Athena."
Captain Vr'Chok looked puzzled. He sat the chalice down and placed his hands on the table, leaning forward, "Who is this Athena? Our intelligence reports stated that you were traveling alone on the Henderson. Is this Athena one of the Hydra's crew?"
She was hesitant to tell the Klingon captain about Athena, but she knew that the cat was already out of the bag. She took a big gulp of the steamy drink and replied, "Athena is the Satori advanced prototype that I was developing. I used her to take control of the Hydra's systems."
Vr'Chok looked concerned, "You were traveling in an unarmed unescorted transport with the prototype?"
"Yes, technically my work isn't a Federation supported work, so they didn't really have the responsibility of sending an escort for the Henderson. With all the failures in the past on this project, they pulled the plug long ago and I have been doing it all on my own with the help of a few colleagues that believe in the work."
Vr'Chok barked out a command in Klingon to the crew that was dining, causing them to all stand up and begin to exit the room in haste. Vr'Chok had a look of deadly seriousness in his eyes when he began to approach Dr. Tzu on his way out of the room, "Come we must track down the Hydra and retrieve that prototype right away." He took her by the arm and began to drag her down the corridor that led to the bridge.
They were just before the bulkhead door that led to the bridge when the ship rocked violently. Plasma manifolds ruptured in the corridor behind them as wall mounted panels exploded in millions of sparks and thick billowy smoke. They were nearly knocked to the ground when the second volley of violent tremors shuddered through the bulkheads making them scream under stress. A heavy support beam before them fell to the floor deck. Vr'Chok, having regained his balance, approached the beam and grabbed hold of it. He lifted the beam and commanded, "Get through now!"
Dr. Tzu ducked underneath the beam that he was holding up for her, "I thought you were under cloak?"
Vr'Chok maneuvered himself underneath the beam and let it fall back to the deck re-blocking the hall once he was through. He replied, "It was on. We were completely rigged for silent running."
"Then it would appear that someone has found a way to detect you even when you are cloaked." She remarked hitting the door open button to the bulkhead door.
"I would have to agree, doctor." Vr'Chok said following her into the bridge. His crew was busy trying to return fire upon a ship that shocked him when he saw it. There on the screen before them was a Borg Sphere that was locking a tractor beam upon them. "Report!" Vr'Chok barked as he sat down in his command chair.
One of his crew turned to him and reported, "Weapons are offline and the shield generators are about to overload. Victory has been taken from us."
The viewscreen switched to an internal view of the Borg ship. Rows upon rows of regeneration alcoves could be seen as multiple voices spoke in unison, "We are the Borg of Unimatrix Alpha. You will surrender Dr. Tzu to us immediately. And power down your systems, otherwise we will be forced to continue our attack and assimilate your ship and crew. You have one minute to comply."
Vr'Chok swiveled his chair around to Dr. Tzu, "What would Unimatrix Alpha want with you?"
"They are all liberated drones that have decided to return to a state of semi collective consciousness. They approached me a year ago to join their collective and I refused them. They wanted design information on the advanced nanoprobes that the Satori Prototype had evolved through the course of its development. Assimilating me into their collective would be the easiest way to get that information."
"Advanced nanoprobes?" Vr'Chok questioned.
"Yes, even Starfleet didn't know of their existence. If they did they probably would have shut me down on my research. You see all of the anti-borg technology that Starfleet gained from Voyager on the Pathfinder mission will not work upon these nanoprobes. They can accomplish feats that borderline on the miraculous."
"For example?" He asked.
"I was working late in lab and had decided that Athena's synaptic pathways would require a complete redesign in their routing in order to gain the efficiency that I needed to keep her neural net from failing. This task even with my nanoprobes working in full force would have taken me the better part of a week to accomplish. I took a break to get a cup of coffee to keep me awake. Fifteen minutes later she had not only been able to come up with a new design on nanoprobes to get the job done in that time, but had made and implemented six different revisions on my design. I calculated it would have taken me a month with my current nanoprobes to do that job."
Vr'Chok was shocked for a second, but then responded, "By Kahless, what have you created doctor? If the Borg of Unimatrix Alpha assimilated these nanoprobes into their collective even despite their extremely limited numbers they would shift the balance of power into their favor in the alpha quadrant. The Klingon Empire not to mention the Federation would have to buckle to their will."
"It's not the advanced nanoprobes you should be worried about, Captain Vr'Chok." Dr. Tzu said walking up to his chair.
"Explain." Vr'Chok growled.
She took a deep breath and explained, "I'm afraid that if they get hold of me they will learn of Zeus."
The viewscreen cut back to an interior view of the Borg ship. The unison voice announced, "Your time has expired."
* * *
Captain Roberts ducked away to a quiet nook on the promenade and began to speak into his wrist com, "Listen Tabok, we are privateers for crying out loud. If they won't accept the terms of our barter just get a location fix on the components we need and we will beam them to the Hydra without paying them. Forget your Vulcan logic for a minute and think like a pirate."
Tabok's methodic baritone voice replied, "Of course captain. I will endeavor to try harder."
Quarn made his way through the crowd and walked up to Roberts. He handed a hand-padd to Roberts and beamed a smile, "14,000 blank isolinear optical chips and 500 fresh bio-neural gel packs will be available to transport from this location at oh thirteen hundred hours."
"How much did it cost to get this little favor?"
"Not as much as you think, hoo-man, it would appear that as this station is still under construction items go missing all the time. Not in these numbers, but as long as we use an explosive device to cover our tracks the seller is willing to hide our transporter beam from station sensors until then."
Roberts inspected the padd and replied, "Well the positronic she-devil that's taken control of my ship will be glad to hear that you located the components that she's requested."
"Do you really think she will return control of the Hydra to us once she is reunited with Dr. Tzu, hoo-man?" Quarn asked
"I'm more worried about if she does. I mean with us not delivering the good doctor to the Romulans I'm sure the feelings of our patron government will be a little sour."
Quarn raised a brow ridge, "A little sour? I'm sure that the Romulans have already, or will have when we return to our timeline, posted a bounty on our heads large enough to make our ability to hide a real problem. Bounty hunters from across the quadrant will be clamoring to deliver us to the Romulans."
"Well lets just hope that the Borg modifications that are being made to the ship will be enough to give us an edge in the fire fights that we will undoubtedly face."
"For the sake of future profit, I hope that you are right, hoo-man."
The Hydra's helmsman, Mr. Williams, broke through the crowd and made his way to Roberts and Quarn. "Captain, I have good news and I have bad news." He said with a look of concern on his face.
Captain Roberts slipped the padd into his jacket pocket and replied, "Okay Mr. Williams, good news first."
Williams answered, "Well I managed to locate the quantum torpedoes that you wanted me to find. They just came in on a transport ship today to fit the station's defense systems, which are just now coming online. But that is the bad news as well."
Quarn retorted with a toothy grin, "Well not to go quoting hoo-man euphemisms too much, I wouldn't miss this explanation for all the tea in China. Please explain crewman."
Mr. Williams turned back to Captain Roberts, took a deep breath, and explained, "The ship that was transporting them was the Oregon."
Roberts had a look of both shock and concern on his face, "The Oregon? Are you sure?"
Quarn shook his head, "This just keeps getting better, hoo-man."
The young Mr. Williams tried to muster all of the professionalism he had and brought himself to attention when he answered, "Yes sir, I manually verified the ships registry by looking out a view port and visually reading the ship's registry. There is no doubt about it, it is the U.S.S. Oregon."
The look of shock disappeared from his face but the look of concern remained as Roberts explained, "Nancy was still assigned to the Oregon in this time period. I had contacted her about joining me, but hadn't yet gotten a response from her. I had no idea that she had visited starbase Bajorana before she joined up with us. If we were to run into her here and now, we would be running the risk of altering events here in the past and thus altering the future that we would be returning to. Damn, I should have paid more attention in temporal mechanics when I was at the academy. A paradox is the last thing that we need to be worrying about right now."
Williams nervously answered, "Well to our advantage, Captain, with the cloak fully repaired and the holo-emitters that Athena installed upon the outer hall of the Hydra we are still appearing to be a small freighter to all local sensors and to the eyes of anyone who would be looking. As long as we don't bump into her in person we are safe, and begging the Captain's pardon but this is a very big station. The chances of a random encounter are slim."
Quarn snarled a Ferengi laugh, "The chances of a random encounter are slim, huh? Well I can tell you have a lot to learn about chance, if I had a dabo wheel I could take you to the cleaners Mr. Williams. When it comes to women probability might as well be thrown out the window. I would say it's not a question of if we run into her, but more so a question of when. That I would bet on, and I rarely lose."
"Well I have learned to come to respect your choice in bets, Quarn. So give me some options to help avoid meeting her or at least to minimize damage if it does occur." Roberts commented.
Quarn's focus was dead ahead upon the crowd that was walking the promenade. His silence was almost as if he didn't hear Roberts speak at all, but that silence was soon broken as he replied, "I don't think we have to worry about that now, hoo-man."
Roberts turned to see what Quarn was staring at only to have his eyes widen in shock and every hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Before he knew it he was being embraced by the Starfleet uniformed Nancy with both her arms and lips. She drew back with a smile and said, "It's been a long time, sailor. This is the last place I had expected to run into you. I received your communication Wesley, and I was going to send you a response in regards to your offer. I can see I can save myself the hassle of encrypting a subspace message now. The answer is yes, I'll join your little merry band of thugs and hooligans!"
Robert's wrist com chirped to life as the Nancy of the future's voice piped out, "I just thought you'd like to know that the Henderson just docked at the station and a small party beamed directly to the CIC of the station."
Nancy loosened her embrace of Roberts and looked confused, "Who the hell is that, Wesley?"
The possibility of a paradox seemed immanently a certainty in Roberts's mind. He nervously took Nancy of the past by the hands, smiled an uncertain and quivering smile, and answered, "It's nice to see you again Nancy. I know your not going to like this, but…"
* * *
"I know this is a bit unorthodox, Captain Marcus, however the temporal prime directive is not so inflexible as to not allow intervention if the safety of the Federation is at stake." Captain Keating explained looking across the desk in the Captain's office onboard the station.
Captain Marcus stood up from his chair and rubbed his temples, "Let me just get one thing straight Captain Keating." He began to walk around his desk and looked Keating straight in the eyes with a look of a man who was not impressed by her explanations, "This station is still under construction. I am missing most of my permanent command staff, as they have yet to arrive from their various postings for duty here. The situation between the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians is so strained war would seem to be eminent. I understand that in the future the Federation may be at threat, but they are now as well. You had better be for damn sure that this temporal incursion is necessary in order to fulfil your mission, Captain. Because I am taking valuable time away from working to see that the Federation is safe in this time period."
"I am positive that the situation merited me following the U.S.S. Hydra back in time. The reasons why I can't disclose to you right now Captain. However, rest assured that if we don't find them the security of the entire alpha quadrant could be at stake. All I need is your assistance in finding them on this station."
Captain Marcus shook his head, "I don't get why you think they are onboard this station. We haven't had a Defiant class starship dock here ever in this station's history."
Captain Keating explained, "There are two reasons I believe they are here, Captain Marcus. First, we tracked them to within a light year of here before we lost their signal. Second, they have cloak technology and could be sitting off of your bow and you would never know it. These are not your run of the mill smugglers, Captain. They are privateers that are being supported by the Romulan government."
"Great so I can add time travelling pirates to the list of things I have to worry about." Captain Marcus added not trying to hide his sarcasm that hard.
"Yes among other things, but I can't risk polluting the timeline by telling you about them, Captain." She replied.
The warning lights and klaxon sirens of a red alert roared to life, taking both of them off guard. "What the hell?" Captain Marcus remarked.
"It's your station, Captain." She replied standing up and following him out of the office and into the command and control center of the station. In many ways it was like the bridge of a starship, only much bigger.
"Just why the hell did we go to red alert?" Captain Marcus asked his ops officer who was busy working the controls of the ops console.
Before he could respond the view screen of the CIC came to life with a view of the interior of a Borg ship. A chorus of voices that were distinctly Borg rang out, "Attention starbase Bajorana, we are the Borg of Unimatrix alpha, you will immediately surrender the starship designated U.S.S. Hydra NCC 84201. You have sixty seconds to comply."
"Lieutenant, how many Borg ships are we facing?" Captain Marcus asked the ops officer.
The ops officer replied, "Five cubes and three spheres…enough to put us out of commission considering our current state of readiness, or should I say the lack thereof?"
Captain Keating interjected, "I wasn't expecting Unimatrix alpha to enter the fray on this one, Captain."
"I am beginning to understand what a mushroom feels like. I am getting used to trying to grow in the dark." Captain Marcus replied rubbing his temples. His headache was worsening. He looked at Captain Keating and added, "Well it would appear that I would have to add to my list of things to deal with the Borg of Unimatrix alpha as well. Sometimes I wonder why I get out of bed."
* End Chapter Ten *
The doc ain't dead? And who exactly is Unimatrix alpha? And more importantly what do they want? And what exactly is this "Zeus"? And to top it all off…two Nancy's…
OMG can this plot get any more twisted?
To get the answers to these questions you will have to tune in for the next installment because this story is…
To be continued…
P.S.—the I would love any questions or comments that you all have for me you can either post them on the review page or email them to me at: mojo@iowatelecom.net