Star Trek: Ranma's Story 46 – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: "Ranma ½", "Sailor Moon", "Star Trek" and other genres belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 46
Starfleet Commander Ranma Saotome, acting captain of the Federation starship Defiant, strolled down the hallway towards the transporter bay. He wore his standard Starfleet special ops field uniform (all black with a single, thin trim across the chest, which, in Ranma's case, was cranberry-red). He then entered he transporter bay, where his team was assembled. Like Ranma, they were dressed in special operations uniform. Ranma's team consisted of Lt. Commander Worf, Counselor Tsukino, Chief Petty Officer O'Brien, and Lt. Commander Eddington and his security team. Ranma looked at his people, whom he had known for years.
"Okay, as we all know, the Borg are infesting the Enterprise," Ranma began. "They are using a classic pattern, which means that they have targeted the Engineering Room, and gone from there. Our job is to attack the ship's key junction areas, and re-route the key systems to the auxiliary room. Eddington will direct his team to provide Worf and O'Brien protection, while Tsukino and I will provide support to any defenses that may be still be in effect."
"In other words, you will provide a distraction," Worf says with a smirk.
"Precisely!"
Worf rolls her eyes.
"Anyway, I gave each of you your assignments individually, so that you can randomly trade off," Ranma says. "Just in case you get captured."
"As IF that's going to happen," Eddington counters.
"Perhaps, but one should always keep one's toes…so to speak."
"RANMA!" said a voice.
"Ah, Akane," Ranma began. "I was about to leave-"
Akane Tendo suddenly hugs, followed by the other girls in the "Ranma's Fiancé" camp.
"We just wanted to wish you well," Ukyo Kuonji says.
"Good luck, Airen!" Shampoo says.
"Take care, Ranma-sama!" said Kodachi Kuno.
"Okay, you four…break it up!" Counselor Tsukino says. She was beginning to feel the pangs of jealously…but why should SHE get jealous over the affections of a bunch of children?
"Okay, then," Ranma says. "Akane, you and the others will go down to the Earth, just to be safe, while the rest of us conduct our mission. I've already contacted Commander Riker, so you will be expected. Just…stay out of trouble."
Ranma's fiancées nod their collective heads.
"Gee, I didn't know that Commander Saotome like 'em young," O'Brien jokingly said to Worf, which recieved a dirty look from Ranma.
After beaming down to the planet, to a mountain facility that was rustic in appearance,Ranma's fianceeswere met by-
"Akane? Is that REALLY you?"
A middle-aged woman with peppered-white hair runs to hug the youngest Tendo sister. Akane looked at the woman with confused eyes. She almost looked like-
"N-Nabiki?"
Mrs. Nabiki Kuno breaks the hug, and smiles at her younger sister.
"It's been a long time since I last saw you."
Meanwhile, in the Engineering Room of the Enterprise-E…
"Wake up, Mr. Data," said a voice.
Lt. Commander Data's ocular lens was activated. He jerked his head around, and then tried to move his limbs. He found that he was unable to do so. He then surveys the scene before him. Already, the Engineering Room was being converted into a Borg hub, from which they could control the ship. There were Borg drones everywhere; some of which were newly converted. And then his "eyes" fell on Ensign Hoshiko Saotome, who seemed to be more Borg-like that ever before.
"Ensign Saotome, I hereby order you to release me from my binds," Data says.
"She cannot obey YOUR orders, Mr. Data," said the same voice. "Just mine…now, and forever."
Data sees an upper torso of a pasty woman, with "cables for hair", being set into place. "Ah, much better," said the one known as "The Borg Queen" (aka Borg Adjutant 1/9). "It is good to be up-graded now and again."
Dressed in black body suit, the 'Queen sauntered up to stand right behind Hoshiko, who was standing perfectly still. Like Hoshiko, the 'Queen had silvery, metallic eyes. "It is hard to imagine that the 'Moon Princess' and the 'Chaos Factor' could have produce such a fine specimen for the Borg to use. Oh, we had to make some adjustments, of course. But not that much since it was Ranma Saotome's 'choice' that sealed Six of Nine's fate."
Data raised an eyebrow.
"Tell me of Commander Saotome's 'choice'."
"In time. For now, we need to make you 'better'."
Data sees a pair of Borg drones step up, as they bring up menacing instruments.
Elsewhere on the Enterprise-E…
BLAM-BLAM!
"And that's what happened," Captain Jean-Luc Picard, as he lowered his weapon, after "dropping" a pair of Borg drones. "Miss Tsukino actually played a hand of 'poker' with the alien Nagilum. The stakes were that if she lost her 'hand', the Enterprise-D was his; if Nagilum lost his hand, he would belong to Miss Tsukino to do whatever she wanted him to do. Luckily I remembered the legends at the Starfleet Academy of her being a notorious 'card shark', which eased my fears."
SLICE!
"Usagi is quite the character," Sailor Mercury said, as she sliced another Borg drone in half with her blue-bladed lightsaber. "Originally, I and an associate of mine had used time-travel means to interact with one of her past lives, in order to get to know her better. I was shocked to learn that she was a mechanic in some junk dealer's yard, on some desert planet. But actually, I learned that she chose to be there to help out a friend gain his freedom, and it was from that knowledge that I wanted to learn the ways of the Force…though it would be later that I would become a full-fledge Jedi Knight."
"Yes, Miss Tsukino is quite the character," Picard said, as he open up a hatch, and began to adjust the controls. "That is why I hope that I can save her daughter, before I…well, I just hope that I can get to Ensign Saotome in time."
"Trust your instincts," 'Mercury says. "As long as there is a chance, there will always be hope."
Meanwhile, Commander Saotome was skulking in the conduits, while the other members of his team did their jobs. If all went well, they'll be able to isolate the Engine Room. Right now, Ranma and Usagi were about to secure the Auxiliary Room, which was full of Borg drones.
Ready? Ranma thought telepathically, as he turned his head towards Counselor Tsukino. Counselor Tsukino gave a hand signal that indicated that she understood.
Meanwhile, the Borg drones in the Auxiliary Room were motionless. Then, something came up behind one of them…
CRACK!
Ranma broke the next of one drone, while firing his phaser on another. With his other hand free of the first Borg, Ranma used that free hand to flick a tiny "chi sphere" at the two remaining Borg drones, shorting out their circuits. At the same time, Usagi had activated her personal node (installed by V'ger, and exploited by the Borg), into the ships systems. Every room and deck on a typical Federation starship possessed a self-contained environment. So Usagi was now using her cybernetic implants to tap directly into the Enterprise-E's systems. As she did so, her eyes took on a blank look, as her eyes went "silvery metallic".
"ISOLATING SECONDARY DECKS," Usagi said with a mechanized voice. The weird thing about her cybernetic implants (including a cybernetic skin that covered her musculature, but was underneath her epidermis), which were acquired over the years, was that they were now a part of her as a living organism, among other living organism that thrived in her body. Sometimes, she wondered what part of her that was real, and what wasn't.
At least Ranma didn't seem to mind her unique physiology.
"READY FOR INSTRUCTIONS."
"Good," Ranma says, as he removes some key nodes from the downed Borg drones. These nodes were essential to maintain the Borg Hive. He then goes over to the main control panel, and opened up the paneling. "Usagi, begin coordinating with the team, while I make some adjustments."
"AFFIRMATIVE."
Meanwhile, down on planet Earth…
"It's okay, Miss Kuno," Ensign Wesley Crusher says, as he had to assure Kodachi that the shock from the electrical generator, which ran the computers of "Mission Control", did not injure him.
"Oh, Wesley-sama," Kodachi said, as she fawned all over Wesley. "Please, call me 'Kodachi'."
"Look how she fawns all over him," Ukyo Kuonji says, as she smirks.
"She too affectionate," Shampoo says.
"You think?"
"Say, where Akane?"
"I think she is still talking to her…sister, Nabiki."
"Aya! Mercenary-girl seems…strange."
"I agree. It seems too weird to see a sympathetic Nabiki Tendo…who's married to Kuno, of all people!"
Meanwhile, in the cafeteria of the facility…
"…So after you disappeared, Tatewaki and I found solace in each other," Nabiki says over her meal. "I guess you disappearing brought us together. Us getting married after graduation, and having our first child soon after, was the only thing that brought Daddy out of his depression."
"So…I guess you never were able to follow your dreams after all," Akane said sadly. It was hard to believe that she following Ranma into the future had that much of an impact on her family. She was glad that her sisters and friends did find happiness after all.
"Oh, I did. I may not have gone to college until years later, but marrying into the Kuno family allowed me access to enough wealth to start my business. After Akane and Ranko were old enough, I went back to school, graduated from University of Tokyo with a business degree, and started a start-up company in the IT field that was later bought by the Genom keiretsu. I later became a member of the board of directors of Genom, after it had bought out the Mishma zaibatsu."
(A/N: A "keiretsu" is a corporation with many holdings; a "zaibatsu" is a family-owned corporation. Generally, a keiretsu also has access to banking institutions that zaibatsu generally do not.)
"I bet you had a good life, then."
"For a while, and then…it all went to HECK."
Meanwhile, in the Borg hub (i.e. the Engineering Room of the Enterprise-E)…
"Fascinating," Data says, as he touched his new skin.
"Soon, you will be 'perfect'," the 'Queen says, as she blew the hair of Data's flesh. She then turns to her "sister". "Six of Nine was not the original target. The Moon Princess has always been the target of the Borg, ever since the days when your creators were savages."
"How do you know that Counselor Tsukino is this…Moon Princess you speak of?" Data asks.
"Humph. I am not surprised that you do not know the tale. It is fascinating to see how very little you know about these so-called 'Ancients'. Then again, being reduced to rumor tends to do that to various species."
The 'Queen looks over to Hoshiko for a pause, before beginning her story.
"In the beginning, there were the Ancients. Some say they were originally from this planet called 'Earth'…but I doubt that a species from this world is capable of 'perfection'. To continue, these Ancients were vast explorers, and where they went, they brought enlightenment with them. According to our own records, the Borg came into existence after a great cataclysm. We are not sure why, but what is known is that on every world that we have surveyed, a "reckoning" came about within the same cycle.
The Great Autocthonia- the God in the Machine – came upon us, redeemed the first amongst us after we achieved the tenth iteration of our quest for perfection. From that experience we, we embarked on the quest to achieve perfection…through assimilation of other species. Only when all are one, can we become perfect."
"What does this have to do with Counselor Tsukino?" Data asks.
"The Moon Princess is the LAST of the Ancients, from what we gather based upon the legends we have uncovered. Her presence was first noticed nearly 100 years from this point in time on this planet, and it was fortunate for the Borg to have her presence come to US. Had the 'Chaos Bringer' not made the choice, the Borg would have been unstoppable!"
The 'Queen looks at Hoshiko with a wicked smile.
"And it will be up to Ranma Saotome to decide the fate of his family…once again!"
Tbc.
Author's note: Next chapter wraps up the "First Contact" saga, so we will move on to the DS9 and Voyager stuff. Also, do you want the "Ranma Fiancées" crowd to stay in the future a little longer? Let me know. C&C are always welcomed.
Next time: Find out what choice Ranma Saotome had made, as well as what choice he will have to make, in his dealings with the Borg, while Akane Tendo learns more about her "imperfect" future. See you then!