CHAPTER 4: FIRST CONTACT

"So what do we do with him?" Najen asked, moving her head slightly in the direction of the Imperial boy.

"Okay," James began, taking charge as usual. "Let's recap. This guy's from some kind of 'Galactic Empire'. And this Empire's at war with people called the Rebel Alliance. Akiran here was chasing a Rebel ship with his whatchamacallit-fighter-"

"-TIE fighter," T'Lor supplied.

"Yeah," James replied. "So he was chasing them in his TIE fighter and they got sucked in right before he did. So these Rebel guys are probably with us too, we just haven't met them yet."

"Long-range scanners have picked up another vessel," Najen offered helpfully.

"Yeah," James went on, barely acknowledging the Bajoran. "So now we need to go find them. Maybe they'll know what's going on."

"They probably caused it," the Imperial pilot said bluntly. "You can't trust those Rebels."

Akiran had finally believed the cadets when they told him they weren't from any Rebel Alliance. Now he was slightly friendlier toward them- but he continued to stare at K'Bhena and Levek with extreme distrust written all over his face. Najen didn't blame him.

"Trustworthy or otherwise, we need to find them," T'Lor said. "Perhaps these...'Rebels'...know of a possible exit point from this void. I suggest we chart a course toward them immediately."

"Okay, let's do that," James said, still pretending to be the Captain. "What's our ETA?"

"Estimated time of arrival is thirty minutes at full impulse speed," T'Lor calculated, doing the complex mathematics without the aid of the computer. Clearly her large Vulcan brain was enough.

"What about *warp* speed?" James pressed.

"I would not recommend using warp speed at this time. It would needlessly drain our power reserves."

"I suggest you listen to the Vulcan, O Fearless Leader," Levek added mockingly. "Or we'll end up with a repeat of last time."

"That wasn't my fault!" James protested.

"What do you mean 'it wasn't my fault'?" K'Bhena asked. "You're the one that beamed him aboard. Are you trying to deny your responsibility? Only a coward does something like that. Have you any honor, son of Kirk?"

"Of course I have honor," James replied. "And I'm not Kirk's son; I'm his great-great-grandnephew."

"Oh, of course!" K'Bhena said, sarcastic. "Why, you are so closely related to him, why don't we promote you to be our Captain?" She beat her chest once in a mocking Klingon salute. "Qapla, great-great-whatever of Kirk!"

"Strange," the Romulan mused, sounding lost in thought.

"What?" Najen asked.

Levek replied, "Oh, I was just remarking at the irony that James T. Kirk was once a hated enemy of the Romulan Star Empire, and here I am in the same shuttlecraft as one of his descendents." He learned forward and gave James a grin that looked amused and threatening all at the same time. "You know, there are many Romulans that would love to see his head hung high in our Senate Hall. But..." Levek grinned mischievously. "Perhaps they would settle for the head of his great-great-grandnephew."

The Klingon laughed in spite of her hatred of Levek. Najen's lips turned upward at the expression on James's pale face.

James pretended to be his normal cocky self. "Oh, ha ha," he replied, sarcastic. "Very funny."

T'Lor raised one eyebrow in controlled exasperation. "I shall never understand why other species find jokes of this violent nature humorous."

Neither did T'Lor understand why the five others in the cockpit suddenly laughed at her.

"So," James said, breaking up the laughter. "It seems as if we have a bit of a wait. Do any of you know how to play 'I Spy'?"



"I spy something.black," Cale said, looking out the window into the starless void. "Now guess what it is."

Talela shook her head and laughed. "Does that really need an answer, Cale?" Koby rumbled his laughter as well.

A normal person might wonder why they were playing "I Spy" in the middle of what could possibly be a life or death situation. Well, one reason was that if they started to think about that way, they'd go crazy. Seeing as there was nothing they could do to improve their situation at the moment, Talela had suggested a game as a diversion. And so there they were.

Then Cale looked down. "Hey, there's some kind of ship heading this way! Weird...I've never seen anything like it before."

The small ship suddenly came into view. It was sleek and metallic, like most other spaceships. And yet, its design was...different somehow.

"Their intentions aren't hostile," Talela said.

"How do you know?" Cale asked.

Talela grinned. "It's a Jedi thing."

Koby growled something to Cale. "The ship's trying to contact us?" Cale repeated. Koby nodded and put the transmission on the intercom.

"This is the Federation shuttlecraft Ticonderoga." The intercom emitted a calm female voice that sounded neither relieved nor panicked. "Please respond."

Cale immediately reached for the intercom unit. "Uh, this is the cargo ship Riata Ky Hwi. We read you loud and clear. So.what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Apparently the same thing you are doing," replied another voice, this time a sarcastic male.

"Are you a part of a political group known as the 'Rebel Alliance'?" the first voice asked, cutting the male off.

Cale and Koby looked at each other. They were finished. Clearly this ship was some kind of new Imperial design.

"Maybe we should go out fighting," Cale muttered.

But Talela had other ideas. She spoke into the intercom:

"Yes, we are."

Cale and Koby looked at Talela as if she were crazy. "What did you do?" Cale asked, glaring at her.

"Don't worry," Talela replied smoothly. "They aren't Imperials."

"How would you know?" Cale demanded. "I bet even a Jedi makes mistakes." Koby growled his agreement and fixed Talela with a glare of his own.

"Just trust me," Talela said.

Then the female voice spoke again:

"It would be more efficient to talk in person. Shall I transport you over here?"

"Yes," Talela replied, thinking that she was about to hear directions for docking procedures. Instead, her whole body began to tingle and all she saw was a bluish-gray haze.



"Transport complete," Najen reported.

Akiran looked over her shoulder. "That technology is amazing," he muttered, his voice full of wonder. "This could really help the Empire win the war. Could you...?"

"No," James replied firmly. " 'We are not allowed to interfere with the normal development of other cultures,' " he quoted from the Starfleet Survival Guide. "In other words: we don't give out technology. It's against the Prime Directive."

Akiran sighed, disappointed. He had just imagined being welcomed back to the Empire with praise and honors for having brought transporter technology to his superiors. He would no longer be a lowly pilot trainee. He would have his own parade, of course, and maybe even meet with the Emperor himself. Akiran felt his daydream dissipate and sighed again. Oh well, it was good for the two seconds it lasted.

Maybe there was a way he still could, Akiran plotted. Maybe he could just take it...he knew where the Starfleeters were hiding his blaster...

Akiran shook his head. No, he was at war with the Rebel Alliance-not with this Starfleet from another galaxy. Besides he didn't want to hold anyone at gunpoint again. The alien girl, Najen, still gave him suspicious sideways looks and turned slightly paler when he was near.

Akiran felt guilty for that. Why couldn't he have taken someone else hostage, like that pointy-eared T'Lor? It wouldn't have affected her as much as it had Najen.

Akiran gave Najen another sideways glance, wondering if it would be appropriate to apologize. Then he realized that without those nose ridges she would be rather good-looking...

NO! Akiran thought suddenly, realizing the treasonous nature of his own thoughts. She was an alien, no matter how close to Human she appeared. And didn't the Emperor say that all aliens were bad, that it was humanity's job to impose order upon the galaxy?

Then Akiran turned around to confront the newly-arrived Rebels. They were the ones he should be paying attention to-not some alien girl.



"What is this?" the new Human boy demanded.

T'Lor took a good look at the "Rebels". The first was a Human boy, about the height of James. He was wearing dirty, snow-covered clothes and had messy brown hair. Logically, T'Lor assumed that he had been active for some time before their arrival. In a battle, perhaps.

The next was a Human girl wearing strange pale-blue robes. She had violet- colored hair. On her belt was a simple-looking metallic cylinder. The girl's pale green eyes seemed to pierce into T'Lor's mind. It was...unsettling. And yet, however illogical as it seemed, T'Lor felt a sort of...connection with the violet-haired girl. That was unsettling as well.

T'Lor took a deep breath and concentrated. Her worry went away, replaced by curiosity. That was an emotion that was tolerable, but she would keep it under control.

The third and last person was of a species T'Lor had never before seen. He was humanoid, and yet his entire skin was covered with bushy brown fur. T'Lor scanned him with a tricorder, but his species wasn't even on record!

"That's a Wookie," Akiran explained, stepping back. "You'll want to lock him up immediately."

The Wookie roared at that suggestion.

"Be calm," T'Lor said, trying to pacify the Wookie. "No one will lock you up."

"But you locked ME up!" Akiran interrupted, outraged. "That's because you ATTACKED us," James explained. "The...uh, Wokky hasn't."

"It's Wookie," the disheveled boy "Rebel" corrected, stepping forward. "And who are you?"

"We are Starfleet cadets and representatives of the United Federation of Planets," T'Lor said smoothly.

The boy frowned. "I've heard of the IMPERIAL Starfleet. But you don't wear their uniforms. And I've never heard of any 'United Federation of Planets'."

Akiran stepped forward to explain. "These people are not from our galaxy. They know nothing of the Empire, or the war, or anything about our galaxy."

"Wait a sec," the ragged-looking Human said, scrutinizing Akiran, or rather, his uniform. "You're an Imperial!"

"Yes," Akiran replied tersely. "And you're a Rebel."

"Oh, I can see we're all going to be one big, happy group of lost cadets," Levek muttered. "Better bring out the phasers."

James glared at Levek. "You're not helping," he hissed.

Then the violet-haired girl stepped forward with a suggestion. "I think a few explanations are in order..."