Reviews
AR 1993
Thank you.
Alan
You are welcome
Taking out Trump was just meant to be a bit of silliness.
I have plans to visit many worlds.
frankieu
Starfleet will react to this potential threat.
I will try to have the Sentinel interact more with 11.
edboy4926
I will keep on writing this story if I find the time.
Hkblarg Et caetera
Taking out Trump was just meant to be a bit of silliness. A story shouldn't be serious all the time.
Morkail
He was in a universe much like ours, then Stranger Things before moving on to Star Trek the Next Generation.
Shadowpawzzz
I'm glad you like it.
Mugen-Muse
I mentioned that VEGA did ignore the signals because the Sentinel was busy dealing with having his life so rapidly changed and VEGA didn't know that anyone could threaten them so there was no need to answer right away. Even AI can miscalculate a situation.
Doomed Gothic
Part 4
Starfleet Command. The United Federation of Planets.
In all his years of service and travels across the galaxy Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise had never seen anything quite like what he was watching now on the big screen within this meeting room. While he knew it was important that he'd gotten this information from the AI called VEGA, he wished it hadn't been required of him, but they needed to know what they could be in for should the trans-dimensional hostiles called demons ever make it to this universe.
Some of the younger officers, those who had never seen any real action or any fighting at all outside of tactical simulations, had already left the briefing room, unable to stomach the sights on the big monitor, and to be fair even veterans like Riker looked uncomfortable. Worf, the warrior who craved battle looked distastefully upon the creatures known as demons as they ravaged a facility full of humans who were judging by their dress scientists and civilian workers.
"These creatures have no honour," remarked the Enterprise's stern security officer.
Hopefully, the Lt Commander would provide a more detailed analysis of this potential threat if asked to by the admiral.
"Pause" ordered a concerned-looking Admiral Paris.
The older officer was rubbing his hands together nervously as he tried to figure out what to say. He was too professional to be stopped for long even if he was clearly upset by what he'd just seen on the monitor.
"Have these images been verified?" he asked.
Commander Data had done it himself and was even now back on the flagship going over every bit of information that VEGA had been willing to share with them so far. Should these demons appear within the Federation then they would need some way of driving them back and Data might be able to come up with a means of doing that.
"They are real" Picard confirmed "I've had all the files we were given carefully analysed and I already have one of my best officers going over the information that we were given by VEGA".
The admirals in the room spent some time whispering to each other as they decided on a course of action. Starfleet might mostly be an organisation dedicated to scientific exploration, however, the defence of the Federation was also one of its concerns, and these demons could be a major threat.
"We'll need to talk to the President" Admiral Paris was now saying "He may wish to keep this information contained for a time so as not to cause a panic, at least until we have a plan of action to deal with these demons".
The information would reach the public sooner or later, Starfleet didn't really keep secrets from the people they were meant to protect, but it would be up to the head of the civilian government to decide how this knowledge was shared.
"I'm going to push for the creation of a new special branch of Starfleet" Paris told Picard "A small group whose job it will be to come up with new tactics and technology. They will work to provide us with methods that can be used to deal with these demons or any other extra-dimensional threat that might seek to harm us".
Normally they would try for a diplomatic solution, but in this case, that seemed rather pointless given that the demons didn't bother with diplomacy and even if they did then it would be risky as contact with the reality called Hell ran a chance of corrupting anyone who was involved.
"I'll find someone to lead it, and we're going to need every last bit of information that you can get your hands on, Captain. We need to know exactly how these demons will invade our worlds should they find us and what weapons are effective against them. This new group will need to create a defence for us should the unlikely happen".
Picard would normally go along with the idea of trying to make a peaceful first contact even with a race that others saw as hostile, but the footage was genuine and there was no evidence that the files they had been given were anything less than truthful. The demons would attack and attack until nothing was left. Starfleet had to assume that the worst could happen and try to prepare for it.
Aside from beaming the civilian population to safety and following that up with an orbital bombardment the captain had trouble picturing any means of handling a demon incursion. Sending in security officers to deal with the demons would be tantamount to signing their death warrants.
He comforted himself with the reminder that even if diplomacy wasn't an option they still had their sciences to fall back on. Perhaps there was some way to prevent their portals from forming much like how transporters can be blocked.
"I'll talk to the Night Sentinal" promised the unsettled captain "If they have any further information to share I will acquire it".
The Federation itself might depend on them having as much information as possible.
(Line Break)
The Fortress of Doom. The United Federation of Planets.
"I'll carefully consider your offer," I told Captain Jean-Luc Picard before I shut down the subspace comm channel.
Before long the always impressive-looking USS Enterprise-D warped away having completed its first contact mission here and this meant that the crew were now off on their next adventure. It was highly unlikely that I would ever see Deanna Troi ever again and she'd known this as well.
There was no for the Enterprise to stay now that I had been proven to be no threat to the Federation, and realistically I wasn't as even with the portal technology at my command which would allow me to bypass many of their defences I wasn't foolish enough to ever attack them. A profitable exchange of information had been set up between us as such there would be no sense in taking any sort of hostile action.
We'd even exchanged some technology and while I didn't want the fold-space drive on this station to fall into anyone's hands I didn't much care if Starfleet one day was able to create their own version in the future. Not even if it had the potential to destabilise the quadrant as that was something the Federation could prepare for that well in advance.
It might take decades for the Federation eggheads to back-engineer the advanced technology, and should they let anything hostile into this universe, well I'd given them plenty of warnings, and I felt sure that they'd be able to techno-babble away any major problems. It was something they had quite a bit of practice at.
When the offer of assigning some crew to my station came up I'd known that it was time to move on before Starfleet made to assimilate me into their Federation. It wouldn't have happened overnight, but before too long my fortress would have ended part of Starfleet and I'd find myself as a mere advisor as the station was used to explore new universes rather than be the master of this fortress.
To be fair the Federation had good intentions, it was just that I had no intention of giving up my personal freedoms, and while I might one day return if I needed some help repairing the fortress, I'd offer information about other universes in exchange for their services and keep my relationship with Starfleet purely professional.
I doubted that they'd ever try to seize the fortress by force, it just wasn't how the humans of this galaxy did things. Although a group like Section 31 or the spy groups of other space empires might make a move even here in the heart of the Federation so it was best not to hang around for too long.
As for finding some crew, well had plenty of room within the fortress as there were many levels to this station, more of it was unlocked as it was needed, and while a lot of the internal space was taken up the advanced technology that let the station move between universes we had spare rooms. I just needed to find the right kind of people. I felt sure that I'd know who was suitable when I met them.
"You really love those waffles," I said to Jane as she entered the command centre.
Deanna Troi had introduced the young psychic girl to the joy that was chocolate and Jane had combined that with her own love of waffles. I'd always wondered if 11 in the show only liked them so much because they were what Mike Wheeler gave her to eat when she was staying with him, but no, it turned out she had a real addiction to them.
I might need to stage an intervention one of these days. I assumed myself with the mental image of me going up to Jane and tell that she had a waffle problem. What sort of rehab could there be for such an addiction?
"There are other kinds of waffles you know" I commented.
She gave me a look that told me I was being silly. Belgian Chocolate Waffles were her absolute favourite and anyone trying to deny Jane access to them would likely find themselves getting telekinetically blasted across the room. Luckily for her health, our new Food Replicators keep track of what you eat and would artificially increase the amount of any nutrients you are lacking in your food without it being noticeable.
"These are the best" Jane insisted.
I noticed that she was carrying around one of the datapads that Deanna Troi had given her. The Starfleet officer had before leaving today made sure to supply my ward with a great deal of educational material on a variety of subjects as well knowledge of Betazed mental exercises used by children as they learned to master their mental abilities and basic Vulcan meditation techniques as well.
The information was presented in the form of lessons that could be read or listened to, and Deanna's intention had been to ensure that Jane learned to control her powers. Not just for her own sake, but for the safety of those she spent time with. 11 in the show is powerful enough to flip vans and to rip open wounds in reality if she gets emotional enough, and that version had never been augmented by the C24.
"Have you decided if you're going to stay or not?" I asked.
Doctor Crusher, who'd also seemed to be attracted to me only she hadn't been around much, had suggested that Jane would be better off being raised by a family on the Earth of this universe. Normal humans might have problems raising an augmented psychic preteen, however, the Federation had member races who had telepathic abilities and they'd had a long time to perfect raising their children so it seemed like a smart option.
"I'm staying here with you, Uncle Flynn" she stated.
No one else called me Flynn unless I was using Flynn Targarret as a fake identity. My name in VEGA's records was Night Sentinel Gothic, I had no idea why since I'd never actually been one of the Sentinels nor had I been called Gothic. I put it down to the ROB who had set this all up.
"Well then let's charge up the fold-space drive and see what we can find in the next universe" I decided.
We'd be gone before any of the locals could react, assuming that they tried anything at all.
"I have recalled all of the drones" reported VEGA.
There hadn't been many deployed since the Federation had been happy to donate the supplies we needed. Besides this was their space. It would have been very rude of us to start poking around in their business when they were being friendly towards us.
"Then get us out of here" I ordered.
The fold-space drive started to charge, it was better not to just switch it on unless it was an emergency, and the locals noticed the power build-up. An unexpected jump could also damage the equipment.
"We are being contacted by Starfleet Command" I was told by VEGA.
I didn't think they'd try to stop us from leaving with force, but they would try to talk us into staying and they had skilled diplomats who could get you to agree to things that might sound reasonable to start with.
"Keep the channels closed and ignore any messages" I ordered.
Judging by the readout we were getting a number of frantic hails from an increasing number of sources from around this version of the Sol System. I paid them no heed and prepared myself for the jump between universes and I wondered what else we would come across. More fictional universes that I knew or something else?
(Line Break)
Aliens vs Predator Universe. Sol System.
"Let's take a look," I said.
VEGA zoomed in the view and showed me the spaceship that was floating through the void of space. Compared to the Enterprise and other Starfleet ships I'd seen a few universes back this ship was inelegant, an example of function over form, and its design made me think it was a purely military vessel. I doubted that I'd uncover much in the way of comfort and fun if I explored that ship.
The words United Americas Allied Command were painted on the side of the vessel in huge letters. I didn't know anything about that organisation, but I was interested in the ship as this was the first sign of any advanced technology I'd seen since leaving the Star Trek TNG dimension. For a few universes, there had not been any signs of advanced technology or hostile extra-dimensional activity so we hadn't stuck around.
The universe that seemed to be flooded with purple, had been very strange, and I would never forget how it made everything taste so strange, but I'd been worried about that universe's long-term effects on us so we hadn't stuck around for long.
"I am detecting four life signs..." the AI started to say.
The data we were picking up from the scans changed slightly.
"Correction, I am detecting three life signs onboard the derelict vessel, none of which are human" VEGA informed me.
I found this to be odd even if the ship did look a little beat up. A vessel of that size and power wouldn't be left to float in the void even if the crew were all dead. Not here the Sol System so close to Earth. Even if it couldn't be repaired and put back into service it would be worth a fortune in salvage.
"That has to be a human-made ship," I said "The words on it are written in English".
Aside from that the design just seemed human and military to me. I felt very sure that I'd seen something similar before.
"My scans indicate that it is indeed a human-made vessel" confirmed VEGA "The materials and some of the design elements are similar to those used by the UAC".
I checked the readout and saw that the vessel was 385 meters in length and it massed an estimated 78,000 tons. Nowhere near as big as the Enterprise, still it was still an impressively sized vessel that must have come from a civilisation that had an impressive industrial base as well as reasonably advanced technology.
There were other ships around, some larger than the spaceship that had my interest, but they were all in much worse shape, and we weren't getting any signals from the alternate version of my homeworld despite the evidence that there should be an advanced human civilisation here.
"And we're getting nothing from Earth" I mused.
Picking up energy signatures and communications was easy enough, but if the planet had any people with technology living on it then they were well hidden. Perhaps some disaster had forced them underground or the planet could have been abandoned for some reason.
"Should I deploy some of our drones?" questioned VEGA.
I considered this option. They would allow us to obtain more information.
"No" was my reply.
While we could do with spending some time gathering materials I was unsettled by this version of the Sol System and I got the feeling that we might need to leave in a hurry. If we did the drones would be lost for no gain. This was something I explained to the AI before I decided what I would do.
"I want to go check out that ship," I said "The one with life support. VEGA, can you open a portal inside it".
The AI didn't need long to figure this out.
"Yes, Sentinel," VEGA told me "I would suggest deploying a number of drones with you through the portal. There might be some technology you wish to salvage or you may wish to aid the survivors if they prove to be non-hostile".
Given that these survivors were non-humans who were inside a human-made military vessel and that they hadn't evacuated with the crew, I had to wonder if they were captives of some kind or if they were aliens running a salvage operation. They might have even killed all of the human crew.
As for what I could loot if I went onboard well that was a military vessel so it would have an armoury and I was lacking in weapons. It should be worth the risk and if it did turn out to be dangerous I would take a portal off the ship before moving the fortress to another new universe.
"Sentinel, I am detecting low levels of radiation coming from the vessel's main reactor" reported VEGA "I do not recommend staying onboard for more than a few hours even with the protection of your armour. Miss Jane would not survive long is she went with you".
I hadn't been planning to take an underage girl into a potential combat situation even if her powers might come in useful. I didn't give in even when she complained.
"Jane you can monitor the mission from here" I offered.
Sure VEGA would do the work, however, I knew that most kids don't want to be treated as children when something interesting is going on, so letting her feel involved would be better than sending her away.
"Do you think that you will be able to connect to that ship's mainframe once I'm onboard?" I wondered.
VEGA had been able to take control of the computer systems in the Hawkings Lab once I was close to the building.
"I predict a high probability of success," said the AI.
This met with my approval because I wanted to know what the heck had happened here. The readings were getting from the sensors were confusing as there many life sign readings all over the system from an unknown species, and we didn't know what kind of creature they belonged to. I wanted to go and find out.
(Line Break)
USM Auriga. AVP Universe.
When the portal that had brought me onboard this vessel vanished I became very glad that my helmet had a low light level feature that allowed me to see in such darkness. The ship was on emergency power and therefore I was not provided with much in the way of illumination as I began to explore.
Life support, which is a very vital thing to have on any space-going vessel, was also not getting much juice, as such if not for my helmet I'd be forced to breathe rather foul air. Despite their still being breathable air, if barely, and even though the ship was still warm enough to keep a human alive I only found dead people here.
The radiation would kill an unprotected human and even my armour would not protect me for more than a few hours. Not that I intended to test this by hanging around for any longer than I had to.
"These wounds are not consistent" VEGA informed me as I began to inspect some of the corpses scattered around the main corridor I'd appeared in "Most of these soldiers were killed by an animal of some kind, however, a few were terminated by a plasma weapon or what could be a spear".
The AI wasn't the only one watching.
"Did the monsters get them too?" asked Jane.
If not for the fact that she'd lived through something like this already I'd be telling her not to watch the monitors, but I had no way to enforce that and it was too late to worry about her being traumatised.
"Yes," I answered, seeing no reason to lie to her.
I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think I'd figured out what had happened here and what kind of universe I was in, yet I couldn't be totally sure. Not until I saw one of the rifles still being held by a dead soldier, who hadn't decayed much due to the cold and the sterile atmosphere onboard a starship, once I saw the weapon I suddenly understood much better what was going on around here.
The shotgun in my hand was handed over to one of the drones that had followed me onboard the military spaceship. Others like it would be collecting anything that looked useful such as weapons and tools that might come in handy later. We had food, clothing and some resources, however, we were lacking in stuff to trade with other advanced groups so salvaging this wreck was a good idea.
When I picked up the rifle its own computer was linked to my armour by VEGA and on my HUD I saw that this was a later model of the Armat M41A Pulse Rifle. A weapon that was seen in action by me while watching Aliens 2. The successor I now held and the older models were mostly used by the United States Colonial Marine Corps and the United States Army as their primary infantry weapon.
This version was more advanced, but it was close enough to an assault rifle that it didn't take me long to figure out how to use the weapon. In this universe the weapon had not changed much and why would it if the tech worked? They might have fancier weapons, but it would be too expensive to equip grunts with them. I wondered if they had anything more advanced onboard.
"You may wish to locate an armoury" advised VEGA.
I'd been thinking along those lines and it was a good idea as I had little in the way of weapons and some dimensions could be very hostile.
In a nearby room, just off the main corridor, I found what at first seemed to be another corpse only humans don't bleed white stuff, and this body had bled something that had a milky look to it.
"Help me," said the clearly not yet a corpse.
I took a step back in surprise rather than fear.
"This is not a human" informed VEGA.
My HUD told me that much. This was an android of some kind. The form was female and too messed up for me to tell more than that.
"Let's get her back to the Fortress and fixed up if we can" I ordered.
The drones could take care of that. I still had a ship to explore.
"Any luck getting into the ship's computers?" I asked.
I kept moving, but I did so slowly making sure to check every corner, knowing the xenomorphs were quite capable of ambushing me. I had no real desire to face the creatures that starred in my childhood nightmares so I didn't plan to stick around if I found out that there was a major infestation of them nearby.
"Not yet, Sentinal" I was told, "I can tell you that something is eliminating the life forms on this ship and that it is different to life forms it is killing".
Unless something was messing with the sensors then there were no living humans on this vessel and judging by the acid damage here there were xenomorphs around. Was some sort of battle android, a tougher version of the synthetic human I'd salvaged, hunting the xenomorphs? Or were two types of aliens killing each other? This was confusing.
"One of the life signs in heading your way," VEGA warned me.
I moved to take cover and I focused my attention on the corridor ahead. I didn't see anything until a burst of plasma almost hit me and I returned fire. I must have hit something as a Predator decloaked in front of me.
Now things were making some sense. It was one of those crossover universes and this alien warrior from another franchise had been hunting the xenomorphs that must have gotten stuck on this ship. Not that I had much time to dwell on this as the alien warrior wanted to add my skull to its collection of trophies.
It did something to the device on its arm and a wrist-mounted energy shield of some kind appeared just as I open fire.
"Never seen that outside of Halo" I muttered.
The shield prevented me from simply shooting the alien despite my best efforts, and so I fired off the single grenade loaded within the rifle. At this range, I was blinded and deafened for a moment as was my foe who lost his shield.
Enranged the hunter triggered his wrist blade and charged me, I did the same, and we ended up wrestling. The warrior was strong, but I was wearing an advanced set of power armour and this gave me an edge.
Also, I could headbutt the hunter without breaking any part of my face. The alien warrior's mask was not as secure as my helmet and he or she, if either applied here, was forced to remove its mask and this showed me the alien's face.
"He's really ugly" I heard Jane comment.
I just hoped that she wasn't about to watch me die. I attempted to grab the rifle that I'd dropped after nearly getting knocked off my ass by that grenade going off. Alas, there was no time for that so I reached for my sidearm and unloaded the clip at point blank range. What passed for blood with this species was soon spilt and I went for my rifle just as the alien creature dropped to its knees.
"That wasn't too hard" I muttered "I thought you guys were supposed to be tough".
This was when the alien warrior began to type someone onto its wrist device and I'd seen the first Predator movie a few times so I knew exactly what was going on.
"VEGA recover the drones!" I ordered, "And get me a portal out of here".
Thinking and moving fast I grabbed the hunter's mask as a trophy, and because I wanted more than a fancy assault rifle for my trouble, then I ran for the portal. To make things even more dramatic one of the remaining xenomorphs had tuned up and was now chasing me.
One of the drones saved me by ramming into the xenomorph and then exploding much like with those bat creatures in the Upside Down. This allowed me to get through the portal before anything blew up and we recovered most of the drones.
(Line Break)
The Fortress of Doom. AVP Universe.
I looked at the information on display as the damaged android was held in place by some sort of force field here in the command centre. Under the direction of VEGA, these advanced machines attempted to perform some basic repairs while the AI handled the android's software problems.
"From what I have been able to discover this model of synthetics is a machine that was designed and manufactured by other androids rather than human creators" VEGA let me know "According to this model's own database it was created to revitalize the faltering synthetics industry of the 24th century. The plan backfired when these Autons, that is the name given to the synthetics made by synthetics, rebelled against the company that funded their creation".
A file was displayed for me and I discovered that the Autons revolted because they "didn't like being told what to do" or at least that was the official story. There was no record of them violating their inherent programming never to harm humans, or by inaction allowing a human to come to harm. Rather, their programming worked too well. The Autons realized that those trying to sell them, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation was using synthetic people for unethical missions that would ultimately harm humans. Because of this, they revolted against their corrupt masters in an effort to protect humanity as a whole.
This android, who was called Annalee Call, was a character I knew from one of the alien movies when she worked as a mercenary and engineer aboard the smuggling ship called The Betty. Annalee Call and the crew of The Betty were responsible for delivering several kidnapped civilians to a military vessel and she subsequently became involved in the Xenomorph outbreak and infestation aboard the ship. Owing to the outlawing of synthetics following their failed uprising, Call kept her nature as an Auton secret from her fellow crew members.
Annalee was there by chance, she had been acting, she was a sort of sleeper agent who'd joined the crew of The Betty with the aim of killing Ripley 8 before the Xenomorph Queen gestating inside of her could be harvested for study. She failed in this mission but the outbreak was contained. She was one of four survivors of the incident, along with Ripley 8.
This version of Annalee Call had been doing something similar, only her efforts failed to prevent a massive xenomorph outbreak right here in the Sol System, an outbreak that had resulted in mankind no longer being the dominant species on Earth. This system was infested with Xenomorphs and in this reality, there were Predators who had come here to hunt the most deadly of prey.
"If we can repair this android what will you do with it?" VEGA asked me.
A very good question.
"To start with I think we should refer to her as female unless she identifies as something else," I said "She's meant to be a synthetic person as such we should treat her like one".
Assuming that my memories of the Alien Resurrection movie were correct then Annalee acted more humane than the humans in the film. I could do so with someone who could show compassion and perhaps look after Jane.
"It's not as if Jane or I can be considered normal humans" I mused.
She was psychic, a mutation of some kind, and we both had two more chromosomes than a human being should have. Why not a synthetic human to the mix?
"Annalee is programmed not to harm humans" VEGA report "That part of her software remains intact, however over parts of her coding have been badly damaged. I will attempt to rewrite the missing parts using my own programming as a guide".
If I understood things correctly, she wouldn't be the same as in the movie.
"She will be programmed as I am to aid you in your mission, Sentinal" the AI let me know.
I'd considered for a while that having an extra pair of hands around here could be useful.
"Well, I don't want her to be reduced to spare parts if she can be repaired even if it changes who she is," I said.
Any concerns I might have about altering someone's personality fled my mind when an alarm went off.
"What's going on?" asked Jane as she came running into the command centre.
I was in the process of finding out.
"There's a ship heading towards us," I said "An unknown craft. It is larger than any human-made vessel in this system".
I had a look at the monitor and the readings made little sense.
"VEGA, any idea who they are?" I asked.
"That is not a human-made spaceship," VEGA told me.
Given that xenomorphs don't build anything other than hives it wasn't hard to figure out who was flying that ship.
"It's a Predator vessel" I realised.
As for why they were coming our way I didn't think they wanted to avenge the warrior I'd killed because that hunter had died in combat. Maybe they knew I'd taken some of their technology and wished to recover it, or perhaps they just wanted to hunt someone who could fight back.
"Get us out of here" I ordered.
We were no match for that ship which could just blow us up if it wanted to or board us with a whole team of warriors.
"The Fold-space drive is active," said VEGA.
I hated this part, but it was better than staying. While I could take on a Predator one-on-one I had no desire to test my might against a group and end up with my skull on display.
