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All characters appearing in Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek Voyager are copyright Paramount Pictures. All characters appearing in the Star Wars saga are copyright Lucas Arts and the Walt Disney Cooperation. No infringement of these copyrights is intended and is not authorized by the copyright holder.
All original characters are the property of Celgress.
Star Trek/Star Wars – Galaxies Divided Episode Four – Truth And Lies
by
Celgress
"To protect her; that is your sole reason for existing, your sole objective."
"To watch over her from afar is the compromise between your existence and your wish."
Re: Zero The Frozen Bond (2020)
Star Trek Galaxy - January 1st, 2397 C.E (1 ABY)
A Planet in the Delta Quadrant, night
Wind-driven snow swirled around her. The cold wind bit like a thousand knives. She trudged on despite her discomfort pulling her hooded cream-colored cloak tightly around her body. "Only a little ways further." The dark-skinned Jedi Padawan told herself. There up ahead she saw him. Rushing forward she knelt next to the badly wounded male Talaxian Jedi Knight.
"Someone else is here aside from the female Dosi Sith we defeated. I think it might be one of the Seven. The other Talaxians used the word gikin (git-ken) which means undead, run Icicy (Ieese-Ah)." The Talaxian wheezed unable to move.
"Don't speak. Save your strength." Icicy said before she was overcome by a feeling of dread. The dark side grew heavy, suffocating.
Icicy activated her blue lightsaber as she rose. Her skin prickled. Ever so slowly she turned around to face the object of her dread a male Geonosian warrior clad in a grey tunic with a flipped back black hood. His baleful orange-red eyes regarded her with passing interest. Icicy assumed a Form III defensive stance.
"Who are you?" Icicy demanded.
"Darth Tenebrous." The Geonosian stated. "You Jedi have frustrated our plans for these orphans. We could have made great use of them many of whom are Force-sensitive. I lost a valuable apprentice along with many fine Jem'Hadar when I had to derail that anti-gravity transport because you meddled. You must be taught a lesson in respect, Jedi whelp."
"When you say 'we' who are you referencing?" Icicy asked buying herself valuable time hopefully her master would arrive soon. Icicy knew she was no match for one of the Seven.
Darth Tenebrous laughed. "You know full well who we are, whelp."
"The Kosst Amojan," Icicy said as softly as she could.
"Are you going to stand there all night further wasting my valuable time or are you going to attack me?" Darth Tenebrous said. "Come along, I'll give you the first strike. I'm unarmed. If you don't stop me I'll kill your fallen friend and take the surviving orphans to train as Sith acolytes, or become future vessels for us if they prove strong enough in the Force. Hurry before I lose patience. Strike me down, whelp, if you can."
With no other choice, Icicy flung herself at Darth Tenebrous. To her surprise, he did not move. Her blue blade sliced upward then back downward bisecting him twice yet he remained intact. What was happening?
A palm strike to the back of her head stunned her. Her lightsaber was deactivated and landed in the snow several feet away. Icicy lay on the ground blinking in confusion. "But, but, I cut you in half, twice." She stammered.
"How precious you thought you defeated me with such a sloppy flurry." Darth Tenebrous said from a different position than where he stood a second ago. He hoisted Icicy high into the air with the Force. A round net of red energy encircled her. Struggle as she might she could not break free even by using the Force.
"How?" Icicy asked bewildered.
"Afterimage, a simple technique used to fool the unwary. It typically only works on non-Force users. I'm surprised you fell for it, truly pathetic. Have the Jedi taught you nothing, whelp?" Darth Tenebrous taunted her while the net slowly contracted. "In three minutes you'll die crushed by my inescapable net of dark energy. Do you like it? Its creation was inspired by the infamous Tholian Web. Killing you is almost not worth my effort. If not for the satisfaction your painful demise will bring me after your interference, I would not even bother."
"Release her, and depart." Jedi Grand Master Shaak Ti commanded stepping out of the whirling blizzard. Her blue lightsaber shining brightly through the gloom a beacon of hope.
"Ah, Grandmaster Ti, finally a possible challenge." Darth Tenebrous said producing a crimson-bladed lightsaber seemingly from out of nowhere.
"You are one of the Seven." Shaak Ti said more than asked. She deactivated her lightsaber clipping the hilt to her belt. She selected a second lightsaber hilt and activated it to reveal a strange iridescent blade.
"Guilty," Darth Tenebrous said with a mock bow. "I am Darth Tenebrous. A different weapon will not save you, Jedi fool." Shaak Ti said nothing. She stood there allowing her opponent to make the first move.
Shaak Ti employed Form III against the Form II-Form IV hybrid variant used by Tenebrous. Ti waited patiently for over one minute deftly deflecting and blocking each fast and ferocious blow until Tenebrous made a mistake. He lowered his guard just enough for Ti to nick his left elbow with the tip of her lightsaber.
Darth Tenebrous chirped due to unexpected pain. His left arm had gone numb it soon hung uselessly at his side. A wound at his elbow shone with iridescent light a slimy iridescent liquid dripping from the wound which did not heal instantly as possessed Force-sensitive bodies usually did for him and his kind.
Shaak Ti sensed a deep confusion soon replaced by intense rage emitting from her opponent through the Force. "Confused?" Shaak Ti said pointing her special weapon at Tenebrous. "My lightsaber represents a perfect blending of Jedi knowledge and Federation technology. The blade is designed to deal out what many would term spiritual rather than physical damage. In basic terms, it severs the connection a wraith, like yourself, holds with the Cosmic Force. We estimate 5-7 blows should drive one of you out of a host body or perhaps destroy your unnatural existence, should we find out? I repeat, release my padawan unharmed and leave this place. I won't ask again."
"Perhaps some other time, Jedi scum." Darth Tenebrous said deactivating his lightsaber which was held in his still usable right hand. Tenebrous placed the hilt in a hidden pocket and then fired a short burst of red force lightning at the net that contained Icicy. "In less than two minutes my Jigen Bakudan will implode releasing enough destructive energy to vaporize everything within a 3 cubic kilometer radius. You can stop me from leaving or you can save your worthless apprentice and the orphans, choose wisely."
Shaak Ti immediately concentrated on using her Force abilities to defuse the net turned dark side time bomb. Darth Tenebrous was long gone by the time she stopped the chain reaction with great effort more than one minute later. Icicy ran to Ti who embraced her.
"I was so frightened master. I'm sorry I failed." Icicy said.
"There, there, my child. You are a good student. I could not ask for more." Shaak Ti said gently stroking the young woman's corn-rolled black hair. While the Milky Way Jedi Code allowed attachments Shaak Ti never thought she would have partaken in such until two years around the reform when Icicy arrived at the Temple. Ti made a promise to watch over the young child and help raise her a promise that soon grew into a deep bond of surrogate motherhood in all but name, a bond that some such as Mace Windu frowned upon.
Jedi Temple on Halka IIV Alpha Quadrant January 3rd, morning
"Everything seems in order with this shipment of supplies. Thank you, Captain Yates." Shaak Ti said signing the cargo manifest.
"How is she doing?" Kasidy Yates asked after initialing the pad. The two women were in Grand Master Ti's private office where they could speak freely without fear of being overheard.
"Icicy is doing wonderfully. She continues to grow and thrive. Soon she'll be ready to take the trials I suspect." Shaak Ti.
"I heard about what happened in the Delta Quadrant. I was naturally concerned." Kasidy said divulging the reason behind her earlier than scheduled arrival.
"There is nothing to worry about. The Kosst Amojan we encountered did not recognize Icicy." Shaak Ti said.
"Are you sure?" Kasidy said deeply concerned by the possibility.
"I'm sure. Our secret is safe. No one will ever know her true parentage." Shaak Ti reassured the freighter captain. "Do you want to talk with Icicy?"
"No, I'd rather not. I think it is for the best if I keep my distance. There are many people who would want to harm the daughter of the Emissary. It is best she remains Icicy the Jedi padawan and Rebecca Sisko remain dead." Kasidy said more than a hint of sadness in her voice.
"I know how hard this has been for you, Kasidy, but you've done the right thing. Icicy is safe here. No one will ever know her true parentage. She's only a Force-sensitive orphan one of many who has been sent to us over the last twenty years from every corner of this galaxy nothing more nothing less." Shaak Ti said.
"I wish there was another way. I know I couldn't have protected her from them or their followers. I learned that lesson a long-ago time." Kasidy said gazing off into the distance as if she was lost in thought or rather, perhaps, memories.
"I promise you Icicy is safe here and will remain safe. She'll have an extraordinary life and become a great Jedi." Shaak Ti said.
"A life I can never be part of." Kasidy sighed.
Sith Throne World of Urd'Darab (Uurd'Door-Aab) in the Sanim Lugorm (Saan-iim Luu-gurm) Sector Gamma Quadrant, afternoon
"You failed, Tenebrous, not only did you fail to return with the orphans, you lost an apprentice, a detachment of Jem'Hadar, and were injured by a new Jedi-Federation weapon proving its usefulness against us," Darth Vitiate spat from his seat. He wore the silver-haired body of a male Vulcan his favorite vessel.
"Tsk, tsk, task," Darth Nihilus admonished from his seat to the right of the Vitiate. The voice of his current body, a lanky green-haired male alien with almost translucent white skin, possessed a warbling quality many found disconcerting.
"I wouldn't have failed. Next time send me." Darth Sion said. He was seated to the left Vitiate and wore the muscular body of a male Dosi a favored species of his given their physically imposing forms.
"And/or me," Darth Nihilus warbled.
"I would have succeeded if not for the Jedi Grand Master's weapon." Darth Tenebrous insisted from where he sat opposite Nihilus in his freshly regenerated (via Sith Alchemy) Geonosian body. The Seven Sith Lords were seated around a large oblong table of polished black stone. Each seat was large and ornate carved from the same black stone as the table.
"We've wasted more than enough time on this matter," Darth Bane said. He was seated across from Vitiate and wore the body of a male Romulan. To his right sat his former apprentice and current lover turned wife Darth Zannah who wore a body of a female Roluman. Bane and Zannah often wore bodies of the same species to maintain, as they put it, physical compatibility. The other Kosst Amojan fund their attachment most distasteful.
"That we have, my love," Darth Zannah said smiling at Bane who smiled back.
"Tell me, Bane, doesn't it bother you that wifey here murdered you?" Darth Traya asked slyly earning herself a glare from Zannah. She was seated between Zannah and Sion. Traya wore her favored vessel the body of Starfleet officer Sonya Gomez.
Darth Bane shrugged. "I created the rule of two she was only following my will."
"Does it bother you that Nihilus and Scion tried to murder you, Traya?" Zannah fired back not at all please by the implication of Traya's words.
"I'm not sleeping with either of them, dear." Darth Traya said with a disingenuous smile.
"Perhaps death play turns you two on, hmm?" Darth Nihilus half giggled half warbled.
"Shut up, disgusting pervert. Our love is pure." Darth Zannah said now glaring at Nihilus who continued to giggle until Vitiate loudly slammed his fist on the table.
"We have far more important matters than Bane's and Zannah's love life that demand our attention. Our operatives inside Crytron Space indicate that the android Lore has finally made his move against the Federation." Darth Vitiate informed his brethren. "How should we make use of this impending crisis?"
"I assume you already have a plan?" Darth Bane inquired of the head of his order and nominal Emperor of the Sith Dominion.
"Of course," Darth Vitiate said with a sinister grin.
Vitiate spent the next hour explaining in painstaking detail his plan. A vote was then taken and the motion passed unanimously. Now it would be up to the governmental species of the SD the Vorta (administration), Jem'Hadar (military), Geonosians (engineering), and Neimoidians (economy) to implement their latest scheme.
Star Wars Galaxy – Unknown Regions January 4th, 1 ABY (2397 C.E)
"I am Locutus of Borg. Existence as you know it is over. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is and always will be futile." Locutus said to the forty-odd Chiss battleships arrayed against his massive tactical command cube.
The Chiss attacked pounding the tactical cube with everything they could muster. Locutus ignored them pursuing his strategy. The damage they caused was not enough to impede the mighty Borg vessel. After several minutes, Locutus feigned a retreat moving only fast enough so the Chiss could follow him. The region he carefully picked for this confrontation was littered with asteroids rich in metallic minerals and space debris from earlier battles. When Locutus had put enough distance between his tactical cube and the pursuing Chiss armada he activated a series of cloaked magnetic mines he placed earlier at regularly spaced intervals. Locutus transwarp jumped his tactical cube a system away. The mines meanwhile generated an immense magnetic vortex that drew in all the nearby asteroids, debris, and vessels bombarding the twirling Chiss battleships tearing their hauls apart. Once the magnetic storm abetted, Locutus returned beaming thousands of drones aboard the crippled vessels.
Locutus was happy as any non-Borg Queen or Princess could be. His mission was a complete success. Finally, they had assimilated a large group of Chiss along with a large quantity of their technology. After months of abject failure, the road to the incorporation of the Chiss Ascendancy into the newest branch of the Borg Collective was wide open. Only four sectors away lay the heavily defended Chiss Home World of Csilla their final objective for this leg of the campaign. But first, came their next objective the construction of a unimatrix complex complete with a transwarp hub to facilitate ease of travel through their burgeoning territory. Once the unimatrix-hub was completed and the Chiss Ascendancy assimilated they would begin the conquest of the entire galaxy. The Borg Collective would be victorious any other outcome was impossible, eventually, resistance always proved futile.
To Be Continued
Next Up –
Mission of Mercy