By Chaoseternus
Heres a joke for you, two ships, the Enterprise NCC 1701-E and the Dauntless class Indefatigable both investigate an unusual gate, which one ends up in the wrong universe?
Discontinuity: USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E"Clearing event horizon now"
"Warp drive is off-line"
"Sensors are jammed, apparently a side-effect of the artificial wormhole"
"Shields just activated, passives picking up sensor emissions"
Picard grimaced, shouting over the din into the smoky bridge, "Any sign of the source of those sensor emissions?"
"No, sir. Sensors still have not cleared; according to diagnostics the main computer is trying to adapt the sensors to account for a shift in universal constants" Data replied.
The bridge stilled, going silent as everyone went silent at their stations, listening with dread filled ears for Data's next message, for his confirmation of the trouble they had fallen into.
Picard shared a wary; disturbed look with his 2IC, Commander Riker "Any other indications we have crossed into another universe?"
"I am attempting to ascertain that now" he replied, his hands moving at superhuman speed over the console, "It is confirmed, sensors have adapted for a minor shift in universal constants and are clearing now. However this may be a localised phenomenon, until sensors clear completely I am unable to tell if we have crossed into…"
"Unidentified vessel, this is Commander Ewing of the Royal Space Service Warship Indefatigable, you are in contested territory, identify yourself and your intentions immediately or be considered hostile"
"This is Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise, we come in…"
"The Starship Enterprise and her voyages are a TV series here, however my science advisor has seen fit to remind me you came through an inter-dimensional gate, therefore we will give you the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Stand by to receive shuttlecraft, this isn't a place for radio communications"
"Did he say, TV series?" Riker asked.
"I believe he did, Commander" Data replied.
"This could get interesting Number one, take the bridge, I'll meet our guests"
Picard looked stonily over his senior officers as they digested Ewing 's story, Earth at war, parasites that took unwilling human hosts, refugees, genocide and ascendants.
And the Tau'ri, the only group consistently fighting for freedom from a divided and unknowing world. If truth were to be told, it reminded him far too much of the few examples of twentieth century science fiction he had read, all the war and destruction of twentieth century earth carried forth into space, except in this case humanity was innocent, relatively speaking.
They were the victims, they were the ones fighting for freedom, and they were the ones whose racial memories were tainted because of an alien race.
This was no safe place to be, this universe was a warzone.
Yet, they needed the assistance of the RSS, they had more knowledge of the standard gates, and the gatebuilders, knowledge which would be very helpful in dissecting the device.
For the time being, they would have to accept the hospitality offered by the Commander, and hope they were doing the same thing, hope they weren't going to have to breech the prime directive too much.
Discontinuity: RSS03 Indefatigable"Sir! Priority one signal from Thundersdawn, it's a recall" Powell said, "mentions an anticipated attack by Maktenos, a major security breech and a probable refugee fleet inbound"
Ewing gestured angrily for the message paper, reading furiously through it dark message, "Christ, it never rains but it pours, prep the shuttle, I'll need to go back over to Enterprise and explain this mess, and recall our people from the device"
"Yes sir"
Discontinuity: USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E"…and that I am afraid to say is that, we have been recalled so we can not stay here and help you and if you stay here alone you will be pray to any passing Goa'uld Ha'tak or mothership.
And you will not likely last long against either of those"
Picard nodded, mentally under estimating the Ha'taks capabilities based on Ewing 's words, no ship was that powerful after all, "I'm sure we shall manage, we must try everything we can to get home and our window of opportunity may be small"
Ewing 's eyes raised sardonically, "I'm sure" he drawled, laying the sarcasm on thick, "We'll be back as soon as we can to assist, good day to you"
Ewing left the room swiftly, heading back to his shuttle escorted by two of the Enterprise 's security officers, all the way he was vowing to himself to do one thing, set a bet with the ships unofficial bookmaker.
Enterprise would find herself chased to Earth, her tail between her legs, of that he had no doubt.
"Data, you have the bridge" registered on his ears as a weary Picard left the bridge, his shift over.
"Aye sir" the android replied, his hands still frantically racing over the controls of the sensors at a pace no human could match, swiftly drawing as much information from the sensors as he could.
He paused momentarily as new data arrived from an unexpected direction, a brief surge of energy similar enough to that caused by Indefatigable's departure that he wondered for 2.5microseconds if they had returned for some reason, the thought was dismissed. The signature was similar enough to be the same type of drive, but it appeared to be of different manufacture.
If the information from the Indefatigable was correct, they were not to be trifled with. Unfortunately, they were at war with the Goa'uld as they admitted so their information had to be taken with a pinch of salt.
"Unidentified vessel, this is your God Iblis, you will pledge your allegiance to me your God or you will die a thousand deaths by my hand"
Data quirked his head as the vessel charged into the nebula, heading straight for the device and them. Strange, if the RSS warship was to be believed, their sensors shouldn't be able to penetrate accurately this far into the nebula, unless…
He checked his console again, looking for something specific; he found it, transmissions aimed at the Goa'uld vessel from the device.
That could be a problem.
Data swiftly hit his console, triggering the Red Alert to sound throughout the Enterprise E as Iblis spoke again.
"You dare ignore your God? You have one final chance to announce your allegiance to me before I destroy you!"
Data ignored him, his face bent over the sensors pulling every byte of data he could from the sensors, he calculated they would be forced to leave and soon.
A ball of energy left the vessel and Data swiftly overrode the helm controls, attempting to evade, pushing his shock at the energy levels the sensors had registered from the weapon out of his mind.
The ball hit, enveloping the shields and the ship shock, like an old schooner in a gale as she shields died, killed by one shot from the device.
Data paused for a full half second in shock, then in the absence of the Captain, made an executive decision.
Tapping frantically at the controls, he dived the ship at maximum impulse out of the nebula, ignoring the alarms as the navigational deflectors struggled to maintain integrity against the crushing force of the nebula gases at high speed, twisting the ship violently, straining the vessels integrity to avoid the energy blasts heading their way.
Finally, they were clear of the nebula, clear to go to warp.
At maximum warp, Enterprise fled the Edonia nebula heading for Tau'ri controlled space.
Picard sat, a shocked expression on his face as he digested Data's report, one shot one shot was all it had taken to take his vessels shields down, to totally slag the primary generators.
And slagged they were, totally beyond repair they would have to be rebuilt before Enterprise would have any functional shields again, a dry-dock job. Only, they were in an alternate reality and so Federation dry-dock facilities were unavailable.
Picard had to admit, it was primarily his fault, it was he who had so badly underestimated the capabilities of the Goa'ulds, confident that Ewing had been exaggerating.
If Data was to be believed, Ewing had understated the threat, not overstated it.
Grimly Picard acknowledged the report, grateful that Data had been on the bridge at the time, he had no doubt that the only reason they were alive was because of Data's extremely fast responses.
At least their sensors had picked up no indications of warp capability from the Goa'uld, so they should be able to complete their escape to Earth unmolested.
But then, they would have to decide what to do to survive. The prime directive was unfortunately an issue, one he might be forced to ignore in order to keep his people alive and safe.
And they still had the issue of the Goa'uld control of the interdimensional gate, something that for the sake of the federation, let alone this Earth would have to be dealt with, and fast.