Ch2

USS Enterprise. Location- Lorington System

Picard is walking around the bridge when Data picks up a signal on his console.

"Captain, we are recieving a signal from Starfleet"

"On Screen"

"Captain Picard, good to see you."

"Good to see you two Admiral Janeway, I am curious to know what is concerning Starfleet this time?"

"Oh, nothing, but one of our science ships, the USS Newton has found an artifact in deep space near a system that was once occupied by the Iconians, we are bringing the fleet there with an antimatter reactor to activate the artifact to see what it does, we would like you to observe and make sure to counter any hostile action this artifact may take just to be safe.

"This may be an interesting undertaking. Data, set course to the USS Newton, maximum warp"

"Aye sir, course set"

"Good luck, Janeway out."

"Engage warp Mr. Data"

The Enterprise engaged warp and headed to meet with the USS Newton and the rest of the fleet. They were pretty close to the sector of deep space that the USS Newton was in so they got there a few seconds before the rest of the fleet was able to get there.

"Captain, the rest of the fleet is arriving, I suggest we go to Yellow Alert sir, just so we can be prepared in case there is hostile action taken"

"Yellow Alert, keep us a safe distance from the artifact Mr. Data"

"Aye sir."

Consulor Troi was looking nervous, she knew something was not right about the artifact, she could sense it"

"Consulor, whats wrong, you look nervous?" Riker asked.

"I am sensing a really powerful force here, its old and inactive, I would describe it as "sleeping". I have never felt anything quite like it before."

"Noted, keep sensors monitering the artifact."

One of the ships launched two shuttles both attached to an antimatter reactor in the middle, the shuttles were automated to make sure that no one wold get killed if there was an accident. The two shuttles hovered above the artifact, and slowly lowered the reactor to it. The commanding ship sent the signal to attach the reactor and once the reactor hit, the object lit up and an energy bubble emminated from the entire artifact, destroying both shuttles. The top of the artifact then opened up and a swirling blue vortex appeared.

"Mr. Data, what just happened?" Picard asked.

"It appears the artifact just raised some sort of shielding, very powerful, it destroyed both shuttles and sensors read the inside of the vortex to be a subspace domain of some sort."

"Any idea on what is on the other side?"

"Sensors indicate it is space, but I am noticing that there is a variation of a quantum flux. Captain, this vortex is leading to a parallel universe. Sir, we are picking ships coming through, they seem to have the same shielding the artifact has."

"Open a channel, unknown vessels, this is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation Starship Enterprise, we are scientific explorers on a mission to seek new races. We are wondering if it is possible to assemble a meeting of our peoples."

"No response sir."

"Mr. Data, tactical analysis of those ships."

"They appear to be partially organic in nature. I am reading massive tachyon trails coming from their ships, it could be their means of communication. I am reading massive anti-matter particle stores in the front of their ships, could be a weapons system, it is very powerful."

"Is it armed?"

"Unknown sir."

"Consulor Troi, what do you sense?" Picard asked, he as well as the other captains started to get nervous of the ships coming through, as all of them looked like Species 8472 ships which were very powerful, although they were twice the length of a shuttlecraft.

"I am sensing that they are very powerful, an overwhelming sense of ambition, they are very telepathic, and they feel as the best way I can describe it, "dark". They seem to be reaching into my mind."

Consuler Troi suddenly stiffened and her eyes went to the back of her head and her eyes were glowing red. Her new appearence made the others on the bridge nervous.

"Who or what are you?" Picard demanded.

"We are the Nesh'Rhak, we are Gods and superior to all so-called sentients. Your worlds and civilizations shall fall before us and be vanquished. We shall dominate all."

Consuler Troi collasped to the floor as the being left her. Security rushed to her aid and took her to sickbay.

"Red Alert, all hands to battle stations, arm phasers and quantum torpedoes." Picard yelled.

The ships suddenly lit up in the front as they fired anti-matter bolts, most of the ships were caught by surprise as their shields were lowered. The bolts hit and damaged most of the ships they hit. Some went completly through the hulls.

"Fire phasers on the nearest ships"

The Enterprise and several ships that had shields raised when the ships attacked fired phasers on the ships, their shields let out a ripple as they were hit.

"Data, what is the status of our fleet and the enemy ships?"

"Sir, the enemy ships although small seem very advanced, they are using some form of gravimetric shielding, it takes several powerful, accurate shots to destroy them. Their weapons are very powerful, highly energized antimatter bolts, our shields cannot take much of a pounding from those weapons. Our fleet has lost 5 ships out of the 17 present. Many are already damaged, they seem to be concentrating on the damaged ships to be sure they are destroyed, they do not seem to want any survivors left behind."

"Fire quantum torpedoes"

The torpedoes hit several of the ships, it seemed to have more of an effect against them as well placed single shots took them out. The Nesh'Rhak ships continued firing. The Enterprise was hit by several shots, and its shields seemed to be faltering.

"Shields down to 25 percent, they will not hold out much longer sir." Data announced.

"Open a channel to the rest of the fleet and send a signal to Starfleet, inform them of our current situation and request reinforcements."

"Aye sir, new ships are starting to come through, sensors indicate they are 3/4ths of a mile long, they are heavily shielded. I would say that these are the capital ships of the species. They seem to be very powerful as they seem to have several weapons in the front. They are carrying an unknown power source, it seems to be generating twice as much energy as a Starbase does."

"Open a channel to the fleet and tell them to target the largest ships coming through, fire quantum torpedoes at the ships in rapid succession."

Data complied, and the ships kept firing torpedoes on the capital ships as the enemy fighters hammered the Federation ships. The torpedoes hit and their shields were barely phased by the impact. Lights seemed to form at the frontal barrles of the ships and fired blue beams of energy at the remaining Federation ships, their shields buckled and they were finally destroyed. The beams seemed to recharge quickly and continued to decimate the Federation ships.

"Data, what are those ships firing?"

"They appear to be firing beams of coherent energy, the energy densities are massive. There are traced of matter-antimatter reaction in the beams which indicates they are some advanced form of the antimatter weapons the fighters are using."

Picard started nervously at the viewscreen as the ships continued to hammer and decimate the fleet, there was suddenly a bright flash of light and Picard was teleported into the very courtroom he first seen near Farpoint Station when he first met Q, only difference was that it was empty. He knew who was behind this.

"Hello mon capitaine"

"Q, what is the meaning of this, why have I been brought here"

"My oh my Captain, what have thou done this time, messing with things beyond your own understanding. Seems that humanity and your Federation are now being put to the test"

"Q, are you behind this?"

"Oh no, you have opened a big mistake, you have no idea what you have let out. They are more powerful than enemy you have ever seen, they are ambitious, worlds, civilizations, galaxies, and multiple universes have fallen before them to any species smart enough to open the doorway. This is the true Pandora's Box. They are relentless, they will never stop in their conquest. They would make the Borg and Species 8472 tremble. It is only a matter of months before this quadrent falls before them. You cannot stop them. Not even the billion year old Vorlons and Shadows could defeat them. The races that managed to defeat them and destroy the gate only did so out of luck. I do not think that luck is on your side mon capitaine.

"Q, is there any way we can beat them?"

"They are too advanced for your pathetic alliance of species to beat. They can make the crews of your starships go mad and fight each other. I doubt that any defense you put up will last. This shall be the final test your species will face before being exterminated like the savage race they are"

"Can you show me how they were defeated in one universe, please, I admit, we are scared and we wish anything, any way we can defend ourselves from them."

"Fine, watch carefully."

Q teleported Picard to a strange universe, ships were fighting each other, multitudes of strange ships were fighting the same species and ships that had come through the gate. No one seemed to notice Q and Picard in deep space. Picard noticed that all of the ships were firing at the gate until a hole opened up and a man with what appeared to be a nuclear weapon entered. After a few minutes, he left and the gateway detonated.

"As I said mon capitaine, just luck. This is only shortly what happened after they opened the gateway, it is too late for you my dear mon capitaine."

Q left and teleported Picard back to the bridge of the Enterprise. He was now scared. He had no clue what to do to this species.

"Data, hail the rest of the remaining fleet, since the enemy ships will not accept our surrender, we must retreat, tell them to fall back to the nearest Starbase, we must regroup and try to see if we can beat them in numbers."

The rest of the fleet that still survived warped out of the system as the damaged ships got destroyed. The capital ships fired multiple beams that hit many ships and destroyed them all. No survivors were left. They were relentless.

Editors note- This concludes chapter 2. Im glad I have finally got this great idea up to speed. Next chapters will have a few surprise appearences. Hope you all enjoy-Kevin