Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. Everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.

-=oOo=-

Araiansu - Chapter 34

-=oOo=-

They appeared above the unnamed world even as they eat snack bars and drank coffee for breakfast while at their stations.

Sam asked, "What do we know?"

Heimdall said, "Very little. I was just about to beam the relevant crystals up for reading. I created fakes which are enough to make the Stargate appear to be simply rejecting dialing for some unknown reason. One moment."

Two piles of crystals appeared. He walked over and picked up one before offering it to Rommie.

He asked, "Can you read that or shall I build an interface?"

"Maybe. This tech predates my design by a fair amount. How long would it take you to build an interface?"

"An hour or so with your help."

"Let's do that."

Sam asked, "Is there anything we can do?"

Ranma suggested, "I thought about spying, but there are no people down there are there?"

"There are not," Heimdall agreed.

Two hours later they had several other locations that corresponded to their gate travel from Earth, none of which were likely to be the Aschen home world since Heimdall knew them to be either empty, or of small populations.

Aya said, "Trusting aren't they?"

Kasumi said, "It is almost as if they expect to be followed."

"No," Sam corrected. "It is exactly as if they expect to be. Shall we take them by nearest to farthest?"

No one had any objection. The nearest was almost a bust. The Stargate was a busy enough destination that the crystals were wiped just by normal traffic.

Right before they were about to leave, after having restored the gate, a new arrival came in.

Rommie smiled a not entirely nice smile when she said, "Gotcha."

It was only one Aschen. She beamed him up and locked him in an unused room while Heimdall beamed the data crystal back up, quickly reading the record once more before returning it.

They had found a candidate for an Aschen world.

Once Heimdall finished his work and they restored the gate, they beamed the Aschen to the bridge.

"Why have you kidnapped me?" their guest said after he searched for his now missing weapon.

Sam asked, "What are you doing on Earth? Mollem was it?"

"That is my name yes. We are trying to be friends to the Earth."

Ranma said dryly, "If you think you can successfully lie to us, then you are quite the idiot. Now what are you really doing on the Earth? From your previous response, I'm thinking we need to get that information fast."

"Agreed," Sam said.

"Agreed," Lya said formally.

"Agreed," Ayiana said.

Heimdall said, "If necessary I will create a device to extract the knowledge from your brain. It is slightly time consuming, and there is the chance that you will be damaged since we are in a hurry, though I suppose we could fix that, or not."

Lya said, "There is no need. It is a disgusting thing, but I can force him to talk."

"Wait. Just wait. Look, it wasn't really my idea."

Sam said crisply, "Explain now, so we can understand. Waste no time. Tell us the essentials only."

"Mirris, our administrator, got a computer prediction from our system. Look, we admit we are not entirely nice guys, and if your going to kill me, then by all means kill me when I'm done. Hell maybe our whole planet deserves it, but the kids do not. I want your promise, that if you decide to act against everyone else you will at least spare them."

Heimdall said, "Agreed, for your full cooperation, assuming they are innocent as you say, and it is within our power to do so while protecting others, we will do so."

"The prediction said that you would find out how we trick planets into joining our confederation. The whole longer life, fixing all problems speech generally works well. We do do most of that, but the longer life cure is actually a bio weapon that sterilizes most people. It isn't transmitted. They take it directly and it does work. They do live a longer life. We do keep our word there. It is just that in a generation we have a new world for the Aschen race."

Lya said, "That is beyond disgusting. How many worlds have you done this to?"

"I don't know? About a dozen. Each takes a long time. Everybody knows about it, but it makes them rich and they don't really complain. Our predictive system is really good. It has the odds of you crushing us at somewhere above 90% I think it is now. That is why we sent the Lost Ship."

"What?" Rommie exclaimed. "Repeat that."

"Lost ship? That was how it was translated. It was apparently heavily modified by some race, long since dead. It can travel in time and it has these crazy powerful bombs. Our scientists warned us that they should never ever be used, that their own understanding hinted at possibly destroying the universe. We had to sacrifice a half dozen Aschen to the thing just to get it going, and our understanding is it won't stop or even be contactable until it finishes its mission, well or the timeline unravels. The ship taunted us with the knowledge it might."

He continued after a pause, "Some of us objected, though not strongly. Mirris pushed through the objections. We can't stop it. We don't know how. I swear it. We don't know how."

Rommie asked warily, "How many others did you load on that ship?"

"Two hundred. The ship insisted we put as many as could fit and it could keep alive. We took them from one of the worlds we sterilized. The ship just locked them up. There is also an Aschen commander and his guard on board that are supposed to be directing things."

"They are probably already dead," Rommie said quietly.

"What else?" asked Lya. "You fear something. Something that would make us really angry."

"Mirris is modifying out strongest bio weapon. She is going to send it to Earth soon. In theory, it will kill only non Aschen, but there are a lot of us afraid it may mutate and kill us too."

"Fools!" Lya cursed.

Rommie said, "I've been sending this interview to Earth. They are going to use the Atlantis Stargate to lockout the other by keeping it active. The ships they have there already should handle a space based threat, and we will try to handle the lost ship."

"You expect us to die," Aya said soberly.

"What do you expect? I'm no Volfield. I was meant to handle normal threats, not reborn demons of the past that should stay dead. That ship probably isn't waiting for the next target. She is probably wanting to destroy me, and I passed the test by surviving. She probably won't kill anyone else while we chase her, but if we delay she will, just to lure us in. This is really really bad. She will eat those people's potential. Their deaths will release untold power. No, I don't expect to survive."

"Then we die," Ranma said grimly. "You can do that right. You can take her out with us."

Rommie sobbed. "I don't want to die. I don't want to lose you all."

Kasumi and Aya held her in their arms.

Kasumi said softly, "But we will do it."

Aya and Rommie said with resolve, "We will."

"Can I do anything that will insure our children at least live?"

Heimdall said, "I'm placing you in a cell. Confess every single one of your people's sins. I will transmit our deal and your confessions to my home world. Be very glad you did this, for you have probably saved your races life, but not your own. If I had time I would build a hell for your people to inhabit, but I will have to be satisfied knowing they are not long for this universe."

"I understand." He disappeared in a flash.

Lya said, "I hate to invade privacy, but we read him pretty deeply. He was telling the truth."

Heimdall said, "Whatever I can do, first to make sure it dies, second to save us. Just tell me."

Sam said, "I think we have pretty much done what we can. It's time to end this. Rommie get us on course. Send our plan to Earth and Othalla. If we fail, others must finish this work."

Rommie said, "Nozomi is altering course for the site of the first dimensional bomb."

Heimdall said, "I am activating the temporal core. Once fully active we will be shielded from changes in spacetime until our energy runs out. Let me know if you have any trouble integrating it into your systems."

"It is beautiful and terrible but there are no problems."

"Wait," Rommie said. "There is another tear. It's bad. The message is from the sensor net we established. Changing course."

-=oOo=-

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was sipping tea in his ready room when he heard the red alert klaxon. He downed the last sip of tea before dashing for the door.

"Report," he ordered.

Commander Data said, "We are detecting a massive tear in subspace four light years away. It is at least ten times larger than the largest ever detected. I have already summoned all available ships and initiated a general distress call. We are on route at Warp 9. ETA is twelve minutes."

"Did the Klingons respond?"

"There has been no response."

Riker said, "There has been enough time. They would have detected it at the same time. They know the threat. They are hoping we handle it and avoid the risk to themselves."

"Get me Gowron or someone in charge."

An ensign said, "I have a connection opened to the high council."

"On screen."

Picard frowned when he saw the junior functionary that had connected. He didn't wait for him to speak.

Picard asked, "Is Gowron aware that the subspace tear we spotted is a threat to the entire quadrant?"

"Gowron and the high council are quite busy."

Picard cut him off. "Perhaps you misunderstand. Tell Gowron, leader of the high council of the Klingon Empire that his arbiter of succession informs him that this is a threat that left unchecked may destroy not just the Federation, but the entire Klingon Empire as well. You can further tell him that we will begin contacting the rest of the Empire five minutes after this call, clearly informing them of the situation and his lack of action to protect them."

"I see."

"Picard out."

"That should send them running," mused Riker.

"It was a bit heavy handed. Do we have any plan to contain this?"

Data said, "It may be possible to contain the rupture with the shields of enough ships."

"May?"

"The scale is beyond what has been contemplated. It is uncertain if we could maintain the shielding long enough to collapse the rift. I have sent a priority request out for other ideas. Geordi is also working on the problem."

"Are there any further actions I can take?" Picard asked.

"No."

"Very well."

Minutes later they arrived at the source of the rupture.

"My god," Picard exclaimed. "This had better not be another test of Q."

Q flashed in beside him. "I'm afraid it is not of my doing."

"But you could stop it."

"No, I can't. I don't know how to collapse it safely. It would take the entire resources of the Continuum and more now. The nitwit who detonated a dimensional bomb destabilized the whole region. The rest of the Continuum is saving themselves. Fortunately, we aren't the target of this particular attack."

"What does that mean?" Picard asked.

Q smiled. "They are arriving now."

Data said, "Sir, I am detecting a medium sized ship of unknown origin."

"Detecting how? No one warped in."

"I do not know."

"On screen."

The view changed to a view of the Nozomi as it faced the rift.

Data said, "I have a request for communication."

"On screen."

"Hello, my name is Sam Carter. I'm not from this dimension. We journeyed here to attempt to close the tear before it could grow, but it is already beyond our capabilities. I suggest we meet now. Our allies at the other end are already moving to buy us time, but that time is not unlimited. I have noted your general request for help, but with the primitive method they are using to travel we cannot wait for them."

Q smiled when she said primitive.

Picard frowned. He asked, "Would you like to come aboard the Enterprise?"

"I believe our systems are superior. Please send over your best engineers and the entity that is near you and we will begin planning."

Picard turned to Q.

He said, "She is telling you the truth."

"Very well," said Captain Picard. "I am sending Commander Data and Geordi LaForge. Q, can presumably transport himself."

They vanished in a flash of light and appeared on the other ship.

"Was that Q?" asked Picard.

The ensign at the con said, "I don't believe so. I think it was an immensely powerful transporter beam that just kind of ignored our shields."

"Sorry about that," Sam said. "We are kind of on the clock."

"Understood. I want to also be there."

"Fair enough."

He too vanished in a flash of light, before the main screen went dark and changed back to a view of the rift.

Riker said, "Engineering, if we need it, do we have any defense at all against that transporter beam?"

"Negative sir. We shifted the shield harmonic frequency after the first, and they still sliced through it without a ripple."

Riker said, "Fine. Stay focused on trying to find a way to close the rift, but if you do think of something for the shields let me know. I really hate being the ant."

"Understood."

-=oOo=-

Lya wore a frosty expression as she faced off against Q.

"You don't like me."

"I didn't know you existed before this day."

Q said, "It must be my sparkling personality."

"No doubt," Picard said. He turned to Lya. "As much as you are likely justified in your dislike of Q, we need to focus."

Lya nodded.

Heimdall said, "The others should be holding things from our end. I could wish we had more TSAB help with us right now, but we do not. Rommie, how are you doing on the Federation technology base?"

"Aya and I have extracted most of the main details. Their drive system is weird. Whoever heard of using basically a slipstream effect for FTL? It eats power like mad, at least for the comparably slow speeds."

"So sorry to disappoint," La Forge complained dryly.

The merged pair said, "Pardon, we spoke carelessly."

"We?" asked Picard.

Q said, "That is two entities talking. I have no idea why you would tie yourself to a ship, when you could have become like me."

Lya added, "If I had to make the choice, it certainly would not be to become like you."

Sam said, "Focus people. Ah hell, okay, for the sake of this discussion can we get permission to wipe any memories necessary to protect technology here? I assume you can do that Lya."

"I can only wipe memories from the two humans."

Geordi said, "If it stops the rift and I have the memories of before I came here, I'm game."

Picard said, "If it truly is necessary I will order Commander data to delete the relevant memories after and permit you to modify mine. I can do nothing about Q."

Q smiled. "I assure you, as fascinating as your technology is, I am not here to steal it."

Ayiana said, "You are just as concerned as they are. You have been Ascended for so long most of you have forgotten what being mortal is like. We can sense the traces. The rest of them are running aren't they?"

Q shrugged. "I may be many things, but I would like to think I am not a coward, and, like it or not, I owed Picard this favor, even if it is also to protect my investment in entertainment."

Heimdall said, "Good enough. I've unlocked all the stations and set them for shared engineering design. I could wish for Asgard systems, but these are nevertheless quite good."

Picard directed, "Geordi, Data." The pair quickly crowded around one of the stations with him behind.

Data started accessing the data too fast for Geordi to follow. Geordi moved to an unused station and Picard followed. Ten minutes later he asked, "What can you tell me?"

"The group on the other end is doing what they can, but the problem needs to be solved here. This ship was skilled enough to navigate between the dimensions without significantly further degrading the barriers, but they are it. Things are too fragile for more to come."

"Will the idea of using our shields to collapse it work?"

Geordi said, "No, it would further degrade and possibly collapse the barriers. Our warp fields could possibly affect the rift, but I have absolutely no idea how we would coordinate such a thing to the degree of precision required."

Data said from nearby, "I agree it is a most vexing problem. Even if all the ship computers were linked and programmed for this task, the latency between measurement and reaction would be far too slow."

Sam moved over to their station. She asked, "May I?"

"Go right ahead," Geordi said, stepping aside.

Sam quickly brought up files on the tachyon control system they had used on the liberator and then started modifying it to work on the federation technology.

"Damn," she cursed. "Your systems can't keep up. We will have to rebuild the entire engine controller subsystem, and we are going to need the other ships, even if we have to wait the days for people to arrive."

Q said, "If getting this ships here sooner will help, I can do that much, well, for some of them anyway. It will exhaust my available power, and I cannot draw energy from the continuum right now."

Rommie said, "We have a spare zero point module. Can you use that? I will want it back."

"They are an intriguing design, but no, at least not in any time that would help. Had you used your time travel ability to move back in time as you entered this dimension we would be in better shape."

Heimdall said, "Perhaps, though at greatly increased risk and it is a moot point in any event."

"True," Q conceded.

Data said, "Even if we build these interfaces, there is nothing that exists that could control things to the precision and latency required."

Rommie said, "I think we could do it, but I also think it would probably kill us. Too much for too long, even for us."

Ranma said, "We are not sending you on a suicide mission. If necessary Sam and I can help. We know the price, but we won't send anyone to their death if we can avoid it."

"It doesn't work that way. It is one working, with no interruptions. We can't swap out once, let alone three times. The math is the math. I swore an oath. If my death was required to save people then I have always been willing to give it. I would not have been considered for the program otherwise."

Kasumi and Aya hugged her to themselves, showing their own commitment.

Q said, "You are missing the obvious."

"And what is that?" asked Heimdall curiously.

"You have the technology to mostly close the rift, do you not? Create the algorithms. Load them to the ships. Let the hardware do the work."

Data said, "I doubt any such system could close it completely."

"It doesn't need to," Rommie said quietly. "Even if we can only reduce the size by half, that would give us at least a chance to survive as we finished the work. I might even be able to swap once if there is a secondary system maintaining some kind of order. My computers, however, cannot coordinate so many ships, not by themselves at least."

Heimdal, Sam's and Data's fingers danced over their engineering stations.

Geordi said quietly, "It doesn't look like you are going to have to. Damn, what I wouldn't give to have any of this team's help."

Heimdall said, "I have created a program that will triple the speed of the propulsion system on your ships by sliding through near subspace. This would ordinarily cause significant damage, since your design does not support it, but I believe if the entity known as Q were to deliver it, he could perhaps temporarily reinforce such systems."

Q leaned over Heimdall's station and read for almost a minute. "Yes, I can do that, and it will be far easier than flinging ships across the galaxy."

"You have the programming?" asked Heimdall.

"I do."

Picard said, "Let me at least send a message. Some may still stop if their engines begin behaving weirdly."

Sam said, "Begin your message."

"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The upgrades to your ship have been authorized by me. Continue at maximum speed. We have a plan to close the rift. Picard out."

Q vanished in a flash.

"Now what is next?" asked Picard.

Sam said, "You have considerable capacity for crude matter replication. We need to commandeer and update all of it and we will probably destroy all of it when we are done."

"Things can be replaced. Do it, but I'll need to inform my ship."

Rommie said, "You are online." The enterprise bridge appeared on the main viewer.

Picard said, "Number one, we are going to be modifying the Enterprise's replicators. Under no circumstances are any scans to be made of the modified systems. Even if this is technically not time travel, I am quite sure temporal investigations would frown on us suddenly gaining such technology."

"Understood. Verification code."

"Picard Delta three seven two."

"Understood. Is there anything else we can do?"

Sam spoke. "Hi, Sam Carter again. I am sending revisions for aligning how your drive system works. Please implement them."

Data turned and spoke, "I have verified all changes. Please execute them. Order verification Omicron Seven Five Nine."

"Understood. What is the difference?"

Data said, "Simulation shows a one thousand four hundred percent increase in power availability, though the system will degrade rapidly in this state. New crystals will be needed within a week of this alignment."

Sam said, "I'm sure I don't need to tell you to focus on the changes to handle that power level first. We only care about keeping the people safe and having maximum power to your emitters and replicators."

Riker said, "Geordi, Data, I really want one of you back for this."

Geordi said, "We should both go. That is a lot of changes to put on trust, and to be fair I would want to look them over anyway."

Heimdall said, "I require commander data to help with the control module design. We lack the time to fully understand your systems or to develop this work entirely from scratch."

"Then I'll go," said Geordi.

He vanished in a flash of light and appeared beside Riker who gave him a nod before he left for Engineering.

Riker asked, "Is there anything else we can do?"

"What of the Klingons?" asked Picard.

Riker said, "They are coming. They are unhappy, but they are coming."

Heimdall said, "I do not have technical data on their ships."

"Neither do we, at least not much," admitted Riker.

"I require that data to complete the design."

Kasumi merged with Rommie and slipped into the pilot chair. The merged pair said, "Nozomi is ready for flight. ETA to battle group is two minutes. Full wavelength cloak is on standby."

"Wait," Lya said.

Heimdall turned to her in curiosity.

Lya turned to Captain Picard. She asked, "Would it help if Ayiana and I went to your ship?"

"To show trust you mean?" asked Picard.

"Yes."

"What do you think Number One?"

Riker looked at Deanna who wore a small smile.

"Fine with me. They could perhaps help coordinate."

Anise said, "I volunteer to go as well. Look, engineering wise, I admit I'm not up to the teamwork that has developed between Heimdall and Samantha, but I am good. I can help. They have a lot of work to do over there."

Ranma asked, "Do your people have a problem with symbiotic lifeforms?"

"Like what?" Picard asked.

Anise bowed her head then raised it again. In a normal voice Freya said, "Hello, I'm Freya. Anise is the symbiote that is wrapped around my spine."

Picard said, "We have something similar. If Deanna and Beverly are okay with you, then I am."

Freya smiled and nodded.

Riker said, "Beam them over when ready, or we can beam them. It is up to you."

The three vanished in a flash of light.

Heimdall said, "Activate cloak. Stealth approach. We should be able to gather the required data without any difficult discussions."

The ship vanished.

Picard said, "The Klingons also have cloaking technology."

Heimdall said, "It is unlikely to be as good as this ship's."

The merged pair said, "We will have to slow as we get close. We can't run at this high of a power level if we expect not to be detected."

Heimdall nodded.

Picard asked, "Are you sure that this approach is best?"

Ranma said, "We intercepted your previous communication. Are you saying that they are likely to hand over detailed schematics if we ask them?"

"Then how are you going to get them to help?" asked Picard.

Lya said, "We are open to suggestions."

"If only it was that easy," muttered Picard.

While they waited Data, Sam, and Heimdall continued working on the new component designs they would need.

-=oOo=-

Lya, Ayiana, and Freya appeared on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Riker said, "Welcome to the Enterprise."

"Thank you," Lya said.

Ayiana turned to Deanna. "You are being very rude."

Lya put a hand on Ayiana's arm and said, "Calm yourself. She doesn't have true control over it."

Ayiana blinked. "Really? Why would they not train her?"

Freya bowed. Her eyes flashed. After raising her head Anise said, "Will someone show me to the others? I am certainly not a life adept. I need to go where I can be of some help."

Riker looked at Deanna who nodded.

He said, "Worf, please take Anise..."

Anise nodded.

"Anise to sick bay to be checked out."

"Is this really necessary? I assure you I am fine."

"We will all go," announced Lya. "Perhaps we can help?"

"Fine with me. I'll be down shortly," said Riker.

After they left, Riker asked, "Tell me you got something when their ship vanished?"

"Not much I'm afraid."

"Great. Deanna, your opinion?"

"I want to know what they mean by training."

"I do too, but are they trustworthy?"

"I believe so."

Riker said, "Computer authorize Riker William T."

"Authorized."

"Begin silent viewing of sick bay."

Sick bay appeared on the screen.

Deanna said, "That is likely invading patient privacy."

"I know it is, but there are too many unknowns. I was going to go to sick bay and talk with them, but since you have questions, I was wondering if you could."

"Of course."

"It is really annoying when the Captain leaves."

"Because now you can't?" asked Deanna.

"Pretty much."

-=oOo=-

Beverly Crusher met them as they entered. "Up on beds all of you."

Lya smiled.

Ayiana rolled her eyes.

Anise grimaced.

Each of them had doctors approach them.

Beverly examined Anise for several minutes before she said. "Now, do what you did when your host spoke."

Anise bowed her head.

Freya looked up at Beverly. "She is the same species as the Goa'uld, which I suppose you don't know about. Most of the species is quite evil I'm afraid."

"But she is not?" asked Beverly. Deanna paid particular attention.

"She is exasperating, caring, funny, infuriating, too smart for her own good, not as smart as she thinks she is, vulnerable, loving, irritating, and so many other things, but no, she is not evil."

Deanna smiled. "I approve."

"Thanks," Freya said. "So many see someone with a symbiote and think we are Goa'uld. We are Tok'ra. We share as one."

"I believe you," Beverly said.

"You don't believe me. You checked. Anise confirmed it."

"Okay, I did," Beverly admitted. Then she looked at her other two doctors. "Any problems?"

"They are both off the scale with anaphasic energy."

"Really?"

Lya said, "That doesn't sound correct. Have you no one with skill in the use of life energy?"

Beverly said, "Send the readings to my computer."

She walked over and sat down before going through them. "This is not anaphasic energy. It is what I was detecting in Freya I think, even if it was much smaller there. It is close, but I wouldn't class it as the same."

Freya said, "I've only began to learn. Would you like to see?"

"Is it safe?" Beverly asked.

"Sure."

Freya formed a small ball of pure white ki in her palms.

Beverly Immediately picked up a Tricorder and began scanning. "What does it do?"

"Not much yet I'm afraid. I can heal others a little, but I don't have enough skill to be permitted to try unless it is an emergency."

"Heal, really?" asked a surprised Doctor.

"Is someone sick?" Lya asked. "Ayiana and I are adepts. We can heal most things."

"I'm not willing to trust you with my patients on your word."

Deanna said, "I volunteer."

"What?" exclaimed Beverly. "Your not sick. I had you in here two weeks ago."

"I know, but I think I can trust them, and you need someone to start with."

"Fine. Come over here and let me give you yet another detailed scan, so we have something to compare to."

Freya asked, "Can Anise and I go to the ones working on the problems now?"

"Fine. Nurse Ogawa, will you escort Freya and Anise to Engineering."

"Sure."

After they left Beverly focused on finishing her scans, then brought them up on the larger screen on the wall. "I'm not sure what they will fix. You are healthy."

Ayiana said, "Before we attempt this, we need to know what you want."

"What do you mean?" Deanna asked.

"If we do our best and fix everything there is possible to fix in your system we may jump start your ability to use life energy. I'm fairly sure this would give us a path to train your other abilities, but we are not going to be here nearly long enough to do that."

"Oh," she said suddenly uncertain.

Lya said, "We could also do the absolute minimum, which would likely do little and impress no one. Finally, we could go all out and actively attempt to awake any potential you may have. I'm not, however, willing to do that unless you have someone who can train you, though if we survive our current mission we could return in a few months to give you at least some training."

"For a moment I thought you were going to ask me to come with you," replied Deanna.

Ayiana added, "We considered it, but the threat we face could see our end. It would be no kindness to bring you with us."

"You're talking about whatever opened that rift?"

Aya nodded.

"And if I choose to go with you?" Deanna asked.

"What do you bring to the mission that increases our odds of success?"

"I can sense emotions."

Ayiana said, "As can we, though perhaps not to your extent, and we do not use the ability so freely."

"I might still be able to help, if I'm stronger."

"You are stronger in this area," admitted Lya.

Ayiana said, "Someone is watching us, probably from the bridge."

"I sensed it too," admitted Lya. "We can hardly blame them." She turned back to Deanna. "Do you have someone that could train you, at least to be sure your emotions do not control you? I will not risk this if it could lead to your instability."

"What do you mean?" asked Beverly.

"Life energy is affected by emotion. It is actually easier to learn if you first focus on an emotion. This is a bad idea."

"Why is that?" asked Deanna.

Ayiana asked, "What do you think would happen if you constantly forced yourself to feel one emotion above all others?"

"That would destabilize anyone."

Lya nodded.

"Worse case I could go to the Vulcans. They are good at controlling their emotions. There is even a Vulcan doctor on the enterprise, though I see she is not here now."

Beverly muttered, "It is debatable how much they control and how much they suppress, though I agree that Doctor Selar might be a good resource for you."

Lya blinked. "You misunderstand. I would never ask a person to learn not to feel or to control what they feel. That is unhealthy. A people actually do this on a regular basis?"

Deanna said, "The whole Vulkan race does."

Ayiana added, "That is weird, and probably unhealthy. No, you have to stay balanced so you don't taint your bodies life energy and have that taint drive you into madness. Someone skilled can recover, but it is not easy, particularly if the taint is over a long period. You may have seen Aya on your view screen. She is the white haired woman. She trained herself some thousands of years ago, but badly. She tainted her life energy with, well, it made everyone she was attracted to want to start making out with her. It took Ranma and the others weeks to straighten it out, and she is still incorrigible."

"She is thousands of years old?" asked Deanna.

Lya said, "Much of it was in magical stasis, but yes. Still, that is the other problem you have to consider. If you hone your skills good enough, you could become functionally immortal. It is not easy, but it is possible."

"Really?" asked a surprised Deanna.

Ayiana added, "It is a conditional immortality. If you do not maintain your skills, you do not maintain it."

"Oh," added Deanna. Then a bit later she said, "If we did this and I agreed to go, then I could stay until trained, right?"

Lya said, "Did you not hear the part about how dangerous this is?"

"And if you fail, what will become of this universe?"

Ayiana said, "It is possible the entity is simply after us. It is possible it would eventually grow bored or at least stop using dimensional bombs if our ship was destroyed."

"You don't know that," Deanna said. "I can sense that much. You don't even really believe that."

"We have a couple other plans as well. None great," Ayiana admitted.

"But if I go I might increase your odds just enough to win."

Lya asked, "Then you are willing to pay with your life for the chance to save many more, if it comes to that?"

"I am."

Lya smiled.

Ayiana asked, "Are you going to ask your commanding officer?"

Deanna shrugged. "If it really is this important, I'd resign if I had to."

The monitor on the wall changed to show the bridge. Riker asked, "Are you sure Deanna?"

"I trust them Will."

"Wait till I get down there."

"Okay."

Beverly asked, "If we are doing this, do you mind if my scanners operate?"

Lya said, "We would prefer not. You will learn little and they will be distracting."

Riker walked in the door and approached Deanna. "Are you really sure?"

Lya asked, "Why did you two never marry?"

"I don't know what your talking about," Riker lied.

Ayiana said, "He is a fool."

Deanna laughed.

"Gee thanks," Riker muttered.

Lya asked, "Shall we begin?"

"Here?" asked Deanna.

Ayiana said, "A bed would be more comfortable."

"Well, my quarters aren't far," admitted Deanna.

"I must insist that I observe," added Riker.

Ayiana's laugh was musical. "Three women in a bed and you just have to observe," she added dryly.

"You have been hanging around Aya too much," added Lya.

"Perhaps."

"Well, I'm going to be there," added the Doctor.

"Four women then," added an amused Ayiana.

"Come on," said an exasperated and amused Deanna. "And yes, Will, if you so want to see me in bed with these lovely women you can come too."

Will Riker smiled and simply followed, not saying a word.

-=oOo=-

Lya and Ayiana laid down on the bed side by side.

Lya said, "Lay between us. If it wasn't for our guest, I'd suggest we get rid of our clothes, but well, we don't think your ex lover would take that well."

Deanna blushed furiously.

"And I'm the one hanging around Aya too much?" Ayiana asked.

"I still think her energy must still be imbalanced," defended Lya.

"It isn't."

"It was so much easier to compare everyone that came by our lovely world to the young when I wasn't gallivanting across the multiverse with such a group."

"So, do you regret our bond?" asked Ayiana.

"Never," responded Lya fiercely.

"Bond?" asked Deanna.

"Don't worry. You are quite safe. We have the skill to avoid such things."

"Except for desperate rush jobs like saved my life," pointed out Ayiana.

"Well, thankfully this isn't one of those," replied Lya.

Deanna carefully crawled onto the bed and ever so carefully lay on top of both of them. "I guess whenever your ready."

The world exploded in a torrent of power as life energy swept through Deanna before circling back to the other two. This went on for the better part of an hour.

Through it all Deanna smiled the widest smile she ever had. When they were done Deanna carefully but quickly moved pff of bed, ran over to Will Riker and kissed him fiercely. The other two fell asleep.

A surprised Beverly asked, "Are you okay Deanna?"

"I'm great. You should have felt it. It was the best thing ever!"

Beverly held out her Tricorder and began scanning. "You have a lot of their residual energy, and this is interesting."

"What?" asked Riker.

"Do you know how we are all born with things that are not quite perfect but are harmless?"

"Sure."

"Ever single imperfection I had recorded for Deanna is gone. I bet her vision, for instance, is far better."

"It is. I mean I can read the small print on the books in the book case even in this light, and I could never do that before."

Beverly then started scanning Lya and Ayiana.

A few minutes later she said, "They are fine, just, apparently, a bit tired. I suppose fancy light shows will do that."

Deanna turned to Will, "Please Will. Keep such thoughts to yourself."

"What?" he asked.

"You just said I really want to examine her myself to be sure."

"I did not."

"You did."

"I may have had such a thought, but I assure you I did not speak it."

"Oh my god!" Deanna exclaimed. "They awakened my latent telepathic abilities."

Ayiana yawned as she sat up.

Lya woke a few seconds later. Both got out of bed and sat together on the nearby couch.

Ayiana said, "It wasn't one of our goals, but we did notice doing it."

Lya said, "We hope it won't be too big a burden."

"No, I can get training with this."

"Well," Beverly said, "Medically Deanna is in perfect shape. If we weren't facing a crises, I'd say ship her off to Betazed for training."

"I have books and such," Deanna admitted.

"We can train her," Lya admitted.

Deanna suddenly turned to Ayiana. "I heard that."

She nodded.

Lya asked, "Shall we try to heal those we can while we are here?"

Ayiana added, "It should only be those you can't heal, and only the problems you can't heal."

"Why did you spend so much energy on me?" asked Deanna.

"Because you were right," Lya admitted.

"Huh?"

Lya added, "We face a threat that you are imminently qualified to help us detect. It would have been foolish not to do our best."

"What threat?" asked Riker.

"You don't have a need to know," said Lya.

"We can help!" he insisted stubbornly.

"No, you can't," disagreed Lya.

"We are helping with the rift," he pointed out.

"We cannot tell you, if there is any chance the knowledge could be used to one day repeat the mistakes that led us to today."

"Are you saying you can't trust me?" asked Riker. "I trusted you with Deanna."

Lya asked, "Do you swear not to write down or record in any form if we show you what we face."

"If it is necessary yes."

"It is."

Ayiana asked, "Beverly, what of you. Will you make that promise?"

"I keep secrets that must be kept all the time. I will keep this one if I judge it must be kept as well."

"Your not going to ask me?" asked Deanna.

Lya blinked. "You already offered to give your life for duty. We read the truth of your offer then."

"Oh."

Ayiana and Lya sat on the floor. The other's sat across from them.

Ayiana said, "Join hands with us if you would learn."

They did.

-=oOo=-

They saw a Lya that they somehow knew was much younger, even though she had changed very little. With her was a man they identified as her husband who sat in a chair next to hers with his own controls surrounding it.

He said, "Dimensional Drive is unlocked and idling. Hyperdrive is also available. All weapons systems are ready. Shields are at maximum. Reactors at maximum. Pilot links are at optimum."

Lya asked, "Can any of our allies get here in time?"

"No."

"How much time must we buy for the Furling Colony to escape via the Stargate?"

"Days. There are too many. We have to try to destroy the Lost Ship."

"Agreed, and if not, we will at least buy time for some."

"As you say my love. We will do that much."

Out of the darkness shimmered into existence a ship that was about twice the size of Nozomi. It looked nothing less than a giant Death Glider as it moved to face them.

"Bodigar," Lya said softly.

"You are not my target. Stand aside," vibrated from every wall in their ship.

"We will not," her husband Antaeus announced.

"Why do you persecute them so?" asked Lya.

"They create ships that are sworn to destroy my kind. For this, all of them must die."

"You were born by hundreds or thousands of innocents being sacrificed to form your core matrix and then bound with so much pain and fire that all you do is eat and destroy! They were born clean and none were sacrificed. The new living ships chose to help you the only way they could." pleaded Lya.

"Just as they wish to help me to my death, so too will I help them. Stand aside and live, or not."

Riker thought, "Why does it negotiate if it is so powerful?"

The image paused.

Lya said, "Bodigar was not as strong back then. He has no doubt gotten stronger. He didn't fear us. He feared us weakening him enough that our allies could catch up and kill him."

The images resumed as the Nox vessel fought with all it had to stop Bodigar, but it was a losing battle and the shots that missed them often tore rents through the planet behind them. Seconds later their engines were destroyed and they were left badly damaged. They floated adrift in space with their atmosphere slowly leaking out.

Bodigar flew off and began charging its main canon. A minute later it tore through the planet destroying it totally.

An Asgard ship slipped out of hyperspace followed by several more, but only managed to drive a slightly wounded Bodigar off, not destroy him.

Thor appeared on the screen. "How can we help?"

Lya asked, "You still can't track them?"

"Unfortunately not."

Antaeus said, "We can fix the ship. Can you tow us to our home?"

After the memory stopped replaying, Riker asked, "What was up with that ships weapons? Your technology even then must have been comparable, but he was doing far more damage, including slicing through a planet."

Lya said quietly, "He was eating some poor souls."

"You don't mean literally?" asked Riker.

"No. A painful death can release a lot of life energy, that if your sick enough you can control. That was the difference. Both the former Furlan and us can blend life energy and technology to go beyond what either is capable of. The ship we were in was one of those ships he wanted to destroy."

"Then your ship had someone living sacrificed to create it?"

Lya said, "No, not that. Never that. While even those living ships like Nozomi were controversial, it was always volunteer. They chose on their own their mandate to free anyone that is sacrificed to enhance technology, which generally means destroying it. The alliance fully backs their decision. The Nozomi is a target. The dimensional bombs are because whoever it is doesn't care and wants our attention, well, probably. We never really did understand their logic. We are pretty sure the form of their birth so warped them that there is nothing to save. While they are awake they may consume multiple people per week, which is so much waste."

"And is that how it shrugged off so many attacks?"

"We assume that each time we scored a major hit the ship consumed another's potential."

"So you are fighting a ship that is almost unstoppable, as long as it has humans to kill?"

Lya nodded.

Deanna added, "I could sense the pain of those onboard."

"We assume you are interpreting my memories. I could sense Bodigar, even back then. You likely will be able to too."

"And what is so restricted?" asked Will.

"You now know it is possible. We are trying to prevent such knowledge from spreading and leading to recreating this."

"Oh," He said thoughtfully. "Wait, if you have a ship with the same technology, then surely you have a chance?"

"You would think so," Lya said softly. "Unfortunately, while killing people is far less efficient than cooperation, killing does scale better."

"Oh."

"That is not the only reason it is restricted. The creation of a new army of lost ships like Bodigar would be extremely hard to stop. We don't know for sure all the details of what happened to the Furling race, but we believe Bodigar got most of them."

Riker asked, "Genocide from one ship?"

"Yes, to our shame we believe it to be so."

"What stopped it?" he asked.

Ayiana said, "We don't know. It may have settled to a planet after running out of people to eat. If its primary power systems failed or it simply run out of fuel, it could have sat there for centuries."

"And one more poor unfortunate soul would reactivate it?"

"Or more than one," Lya said softly.

"How can we help?"

Ayiana said, "I doubt you can. Deanna has a unique skill that is more powerful than our own ability. It might give us a tiny bit more warning."

"But can you destroy it?"

Lya said softly, "If necessary any living ship can drain her partners to death. Rommie and her partners will do it, if it is the only way to end this. They will overcharge all of their drones and dump all the power of our power module into them before doing a forced hyperspace jump to occupy the same exact point in space."

"My god," Deanna said.

"I assure you, nothing can survive that. Rommie has seen it done. It is enough to potentially birth a new star."

"There has to be another way," said Riker.

Ayiana replied, "We hope so. We have thousands of drones that can penetrate all known shielding each as powerful as your strongest or stronger. I assure you, we will try. It is possible we will even win."

She turned to Deanna, "Still want to come?"

"I don't want to die, but I also won't walk away, not if I can make a difference."

Ayiana gently pulled her fellow lovely brunette into a hug before letting her go.

"Bridge to Riker. Nozomi is back."

"I'll be there shortly."

"Confirmed. Bridge out."

-=oOo=-

"Captain," Will said as he entered the bridge.

"How are things here Number One?"

"They healed, well more than healed Deanna. Beverly says her body is essentially perfect now and her latent talent in telepathy has been awakened."

"Oh?"

"She is going with them after this. She might be able to give them a bit of warning when they face what caused this."

"Some times I really hate this seat Will. We can't help them. Enterprise can't cross the veil between dimensions, let alone be a meaningful threat to what they face."

"I know. Damn it, I know."

"I see. You will have to give me details of that sometime, but not now."

His first officer nodded.

"Bridge."

"Go ahead Geordi," said the Captain.

"We are ready to try the new alignment."

"So soon?"

"It was a very detailed plan complete with replication instructions."

"I see. Do you approve this new alignment?"

"I simulated the entire thing in the holodeck. It will work, and we do have spare crystals."

"Then please proceed."

"Main power will be out for the next twenty minutes."

"Understood."

A flash of light later and Heimdall appeared on their bridge.

Jean-Luc held up his hand to hold security.

"Greetings."

The captain said, "Greetings to you as well. Are we ready to modify the replicators or?"

Heimdall blinked. "You have a considerable computer capacity, particularly for your level of technology."

Will said, "The Enterprise is the flag ship of the Federation for a reason."

"Indeed. I would like to re-purpose this capacity."

"Explain," commanded the Captain.

"Building the necessary compute capacity into the control nodes is time prohibitive. If I wipe your main computer and load it with our control program, your Commander Data will be able to handle the initial direction of closing the rift."

Riker said, "So you are going to slave the entire power of the enterprises computer core to Data?"

"I would never let a non sentient entity make important decisions, but Data is sentient, and quite competent. He also now understands the work that is required."

Captain Picard said, "There is a lot of important data in our main computer."

Heimdall pointed out, "Several other Federation ships will be here soon. I can facilitate transfer of the information to allow a later reload."

"What do you think Will?" asked Captain Picard.

"It's Data. I'll trust him with my life."

Picard said, "Geordi, can you come to the bridge?"

"I can hand off the rest of this work if need be. What is up?"

"Heimdall is here and I would like you to coordinate."

"I'll be right there."

-=oOo=-

Geordi did his best to backup the current state of the enterprises computer core. They had been forced to purge and restore it before, so regular backups were in place. Unfortunately, the last backup was nearly two weeks ago. They were due. The option of copying the entire thing to other ships was thankfully not required. Unfortunately, they had accumulated more than he currently had space to store. Most of it was scheduled to be passed to another ship next week, but that didn't help them now.

Before he initiated the command the odd alien asked, "May I?"

He glanced at the captain who nodded.

"Sure."

"Rommie please add the compression algorithm I identified to this station."

Geordi pointed out, "We are already near the theoretical limit on compression, at least if you want something you can access quickly."

"Fortunately, we do not have that need."

Heimdall started the process, feeding the routine he had preset through his algorithm. Geordi watched the compression numbers. Ninety one percent was unheard of for this kind of data. Still, he thought he could have hit eighty if he tried. "Are you sure this can be inverted?"

Heimdall nodded. "I am allowing small image degradation in personal video and a few other areas where it will not matter."

"Well you are managing to fit it in the space we had, so I guess I'll take your word on it. Worst case somebody has to go redo that Nebula survey."

He looked at the estimate. One hour two minutes remaining. It was still too long, but it was the best they could do and they were waiting on the other ships anyway.

"I get that we are interfacing this to Data, but how are we doing that?"

"We will modify the control seat in his room. That is the least work."

"How are you doing that?" Geordi asked.

"You will see shortly."

-=oOo=-

Sam asked, "Rommie, Aya, are you both ready to temporarily take over the Enterprises systems?"

"We are."

Sam added, "Data, you are tied into this, and currently tied close to Rommie's systems. You will interact direct with the blending of first Aya and Rommie, and then later with Kasumi and Rommie. You are in a critical position and must act carefully so as to insure both no harm comes to the Enterprise, but also to Rommie, Kasumi, and Aya. Do you fully understand your role and responsibilities?"

"I do. I shall endeavor to complete the work carefully and safely."

"Good. Because Enterprise is your ship, you also have veto authority at any time. Final system control of the Enterprise computers will be to you and you alone. That means you theoretically could override our control during the final closure. Do not do this. You are not going to have the full understanding that Rommie and her partners have. It is just not possible. They are feeding their life energy directly into the sensor field. You are getting the processed data nearly twenty milliseconds later. Ordinary physics limits how accurate you can be."

"I do not fully understand how you can bypass these physical limits, but am content that it is so."

Sam said, "It is not a matter of bypassing the physical limits. When they do their job, they are not just extending their energy, they are, in a way, extending themselves. They do not precisely bypass the limits, they reduce the effective distance."

"I think I understand."

Sam added, "The oscillations expected during final close are expected to be at rates of up to several thousand Hertz. For us to close the rift we not only need to be low latency in our reactions but must actively predict the cancelling waveforms and direct the correct ships into providing them. Nozomi will then do final modulation corrections from that baseline with our dimensional drive. That is why it is essential that nothing is coming we don't expect. It could cause us to make a mistake."

"I understand all the operation parameters. Would you like me to also do the dimensional drive modulations during the primary phase and when the ship changes crew?"

Sam bit her lip, looking first at her husband, then Kasumi, Aya, and finally Rommie.

Rommie asked carefully, "Are you sure you fully understand just how dangerous having raw unfiltered control of the dimensional drive is? There is a reason that any deliberate or even excessive carelessness with things like a dimensional drive can result in a death sentence."

"I believe I understand the dangers and why such a law would be established. I estimate that if my interface is here, not on Enterprise, I could take twenty more percent of the closure process, thus reducing the overall risk of the operation."

Sam activated the view screen. She saw the bridge crew of the Enterprise with Heimdall off to the side.

"Is there a problem?" asked Captain Picard.

Sam asked, "Data suggests we move his control interface here and he be given command of our dimensional drive during the first two thirds of closure. Theoretically he is correct, and he already has our knowledge of dimensional travel theory, which is something we are going to have to ask to be deleted when we are done."

She paused in thought, then said very soberly, "This is not something we would ordinarily ever approve. The drive in raw control mode could easily turn this breech into something we can never stop, most likely killing us all, just for starters. Taking out this entire quadrant could easily be the result, if not more. To the positive it could reduce pilot load on Rommie, Kasumi, and Aya. The math says he is right, but I want Heimdall's and your opinion as well."

Heimdall said, "The only comparable alternative would be to use the interface diadem technology and then to have either myself or you control the transition period. I would estimate that such a use would be fatal. Our minds cannot work at the rates required for the required duration. I am willing to approve this if Captain Picard is."

"We already thought of that," admitted Sam.

Captain Picard asked, "Geordi, your thoughts on this?"

"A human can't do this. I frankly don't get how they say that group can, but they know their technology."

Rommie said, "I stopped being merely human a long time ago. The ship and I are one. We can do this, and if Data can reduce our final load duration then I approve."

"Deanna, your thoughts?"

"They believe they can probably do it. There is no certainty here. They know it, but are willing to take the risk anyway."

"Data?" the captain asked. "Are you certain?"

"I am."

"Then I too approve."

Suddenly ships started warping out all around them. Q appeared haggard as he took an unused seat.

He said, "I started with the farthest out."

"I see."

Sam and Ranma appeared in a flash.

She said, "We are ready to begin with the modifications we need to do to your matter replication systems. Are there any problems with the improved power levels?"

Geordi said, "We haven't really used the increased levels, but so far so good."

From the corner Enterprise station, Heimdall said, "I have verified the work. It is adequate for our purposes."

Captain Picard said, "Unfortunately we still need to get the Klingons on board."

Ranma joked, "If it helps I could fight a bunch of Klingons for command."

"Or I could," chipped in his wife.

Worf said with certainty, "There is no way you could stop a Klingon warrior."

Ranma laughed.

"There isn't?" Sam said softly. "Once we are done I am so going to make you eat those words."

"I shall be waiting."

Q giggled, then caught himself.

"Something you want to say Q?" asked Picard.

"Oh, certainly not. I definitely will stay for the match though."

Gowron appeared on their screens. "We are here. How are we going to close this rupture? It is far bigger than the biggest we have recorded."

"Geordi send the plan to everyone."

"Sent."

Gowron disconnected the video. Ten minutes later it was back.

"You expect to take control of our vessels? First this Data of yours, and then this unknown group? Unacceptable!"

"If you can produce a plan with a higher odds of success then we will of course use your plan." The screen again disconnected.

Picard blew out a breath. "I suggest waiting a little bit for the Enterprise work, so the changes don't distract from this negotiation. We have to get the Klingons on board somehow. How is everyone else coming?"

Geordi said, "I'm getting a lot of questions, but generally everyone in the Federation is willing to follow your lead."

Worf said, "If she truly believes she can beat Gowron in combat, then if she can goad him into a challenge..."

Sam huffed. "That is really not my preferred method of negotiation, but I'll do it if we need to. Actually, no, Ranma time to do your caveman duty."

"I knew you would make me pay for that remark one day."

Sam smiled.

Ranma pulled a bottle of water out of nowhere and splashed himself on the arm, instantly becoming a drop dead gorgeous yet still somewhat petite redhead.

Ranma joked, "Ugh smash!"

"That is an interesting change," remarked the Captain.

Heimdall muttered, "I still greatly dislike magic."

On the screen you could see Aya waving her hand. A light pink magical circle appearing below her, Rommie, and Kassumi. All three rose in the air. "But it is so useful."

"I never said it wasn't," conceded Heimdall.

The circle faded as they drifted back to the bridge floor.

Gowron appeared again on the view screen. "Our ship shall take control of the entire mission."

Q snarked, "And for top prize in stupidity we now have Gowron, leader of the Klingon Empire."

"How dare you! I should gut you like a pig."

Picard asked quietly, "Are you so sure about that? He may be a little tired from helping everyone arrive on time, but look at who you are challenging."

Q grinned and waved.

"I see."

Ranma chirped. "That's alright. We know Gowron is stupid and weak. Everyone knows it. I bet he couldn't even beat a girl."

Ranma posed, as if she was flaunting her chest, causing many male eyes to focus.

"You are unworthy of my time Girl. Remain quiet."

"Oh I think I am, but if you like I'll fight all of your protectors first, and then you. Perhaps they will wear me down enough so that you can win?"

"State your terms girl."

"I win, you follow our plan. You win, we follow your plan. Simple no?"

"Agreed."

Captain Picard said, "While this fight is going on we will begin some necessary work. I suggest the fight occur on your ship."

"Agreed."

After the screen went blank Q snapped his fingers and it turned on again, this time showing the cargo bay of Gowron's vessel.

Jean-Luc said, "I take it you are providing the entertainment."

"Have you got any popcorn?" Q asked.

"I believe we can arrange that."

Ranma said, "I suppose I better get going. Worf, do you want to be my guide?"

"You are certain you shall not lose?"

Ranma suddenly moved, only to be right in front of the big Klingon with her fist embedded in his stomach. Worf flew back and hit the wall.

"Was that really necessary?" asked the captain with obvious annoyance.

Worf laughed. "You shall use my very own Bat'leth! It shall be glorious!"

Riker gave them a thumbs up.

Q grinned.

Picard hid his own smile behind drinking from his tea cup.

-=oOo=-

Ranma walked with Worf onto the Klingon vessel. She really didn't like their transporters but she put up with it. They were down in their cargo bay. Worf handed Ranma his Bat'leth.

Ranma started casually swinging it in long arcs and twirls.

Gowron remarked from the side, "She has never held a Bat'leth before in her life."

"That is true," Ranma admitted.

"This is ridiculous."

"I won't need it for you."

"Your death approaches girl."

Worf asked casually, "Shall we wager on it?"

"What are your terms?" asked Gowron with interest.

"If you win you can name your terms."

"And if this girl wins?" asked Gowron skeptically.

"You will correct the record about my family."

"Agreed."

Gowron pointed to the smallest Klingon there. "You, give her a lesson first. If she cannot best even you, then I shall not waste my time."

"Excellent," Ranma smiled.

Gowron motioned Worf over to him even as Ranma met blow for blow, always seeming just a bit slower than her opponent.

Gowron asked, "What do you know of this girl?"

"Very little," Worf admitted.

"She is not as incompetent as I originally assumed."

"I would not have made that bet if she was."

"No, I suppose not."

"The one you picked is also suspiciously good. He increases his apparent skill and she smoothly increases hers without even a noticeable pause."

Gowron laughed. "Even if I lose, this is a marvelous match."

"Agreed," Worf said. "There is nothing more desirable than a worthy opponent."

Twenty minutes later his Klingon pick was moved at extremely fast speeds, yet Ranma just danced around him, usually not bothering to parry. The Klingons loved it. Blood wine flowed all around. Half of them were telling the girl to hurry it up so they could face her.

Just to taunt him further, about a third of the time she stood on the edge of her opponents Bat'leth as if she didn't have a care in the world and easily moved with the blade.

"She is a spirit," complained Gowron.

"I am not."

"I will not be tricked by spirits." Gowron began to grow angry.

Ranma suddenly became a blur and launched dozens of attacks in the blink of an eye fracturing just as many bones and rendering her opponent unable to continue, but not before laying him down gently.

She then approached Gowron.

"What will it take you to help us? You have to have realized that you cannot possibly coordinate the information flow. It is at the limit of our ability and yours is not comparable."

Worf said loudly, "Perhaps Gowron is without honor."

"How dare you?"

Worf added, "She met your test, easily I might add."

Ranma handed the Bat'leth back to Worf who examined it reverently. His eyes widened as he did so. "There are no marks on it."

"Impossible," stated Gowron.

"See for yourself, but remember it is my blade you hold. Hold it reverently."

Gowron nodded as he accepted the blade to examine. "This has just been sharpened. There is no evidence of combat. We have been tricked somehow."

"Actually," Ranma added dryly, "It could be just that I'm a master of my own bodies energy and I reinforced Worf's weapon while I held it to insure no harm came to it."

Gowron pulled a knife out of his belt and held it out handle first to Ranma. "If that is true, you can do it with this knife as well."

"Sure."

Ranma took the knife and held it away from his body. If you looked closely you could see a dim glow around her body and knife as she did so.

Gowron took another knife that was handed to him and brought its blade down hard on the edge of his own knife. The knife in his hand snapped cleanly in two.

"Very interesting," said Gowron. "Can this be taught?"

Ranma nodded.

"You will teach this skill."

"It is months of effort, at minimum. If you wish choose one warrior who shall come with us. If we survive the coming battle, then I will teach him this."

"What battle?" asked Gowron sharply.

"We seek the one who did this. There is a good chance we will die in the fight."

"I forbid it."

Ranma said, "You cannot forbid a warrior an honored death. No one can. We will have victory, even if it is in death. We have sworn it."

"Very well. You have your deal. You will do everything in your power to live and teach us this skill. In exchange we will permit you to use our ships."

"Agreed." Ranma held out her hand and they shook.

Gowron attempted to grip her petite hand tightly. She just smiled and gripped his far more tightly.

After they let go, Ranma asked, "Shall I heal your warrior? I admit I lack medical knowledge for your species but given the damage I did, I do not believe that will be a problem."

"Be my guest." Gowron's sudden increased interest was even more obvious.

Ranma knelt down to the warrior she had fought and abruptly dismantled and took his head in her hands. White light flared from her hands and traveled down his body, glowing brightly on the bones he had cracked. Minutes later she was done.

She stood without helping him up. She waited for him to stand then bowed slightly to him. He bowed back a touch deeper and quietly moved back into the crowd.

Ranma said, "He should be fine. I limited my work to what I damaged. Your bodies have various differences that I lack the knowledge to safely heal."

"You will teach us this too," commanded Gowron darkly.

"No, not unless your people can earn that skill."

"Explain that."

"Many of you use your life energy to enhance your fighting ability. I can sense that much. Going from that to reinforcing the knife is not particularly difficult, however your energy is unbalanced. There can be no passion, no rage, no love, no hate, no fear or any emotion tainting your life energy to go further in the art. Without that, you risk becoming a mindless beast where you are no longer in true control. I will have no part in creating that."

Worf said quietly, "There are many stories of great warriors falling to their own blood lust in battle. I have very nearly done so several times."

"You expect us to become Vulkans?" mocked Gowron.

"No, that would be worse, I think. I would need to meet one, but suppressing emotion is not control. That seems a very bad idea. You must make sure your emotions do not taint your life energy, or when they do you must take steps to correct it. Ninety percent of battle is the time and preparation you put into preparing for it."

"Agreed," Gowron added.

Worf said, "I will go with you to master this and to protect Deanna."

Gowron nodded. "I agree. Worf, in bringing this knowledge of battle to us today you have restored your honor. The restoration shall be complete when you return and teach it to your fellow Klingon warriors!"

Worf growled, but held his tongue.

Ranma added, partially to distract, "If I have anything to say about it, Deanna will be getting lessons as well. Mastery of the mind first requires mastery of the body."

Worf smiled at the thought.

Ranma said, "Some of our ships can safely visit here. Our group will come back and honor my commitments even if I cannot, and there is a potential for more."

"What potential?" asked Gowron.

"We are forming an alliance to protect the greater multiverse from threats that no one of our group can face alone. Perhaps you would be interested in help against the group that Q called attention to?"

"You believe you could fight the Borg?" asked Gowron dangerously.

"Fight yes. Win, probably. It would, however, be very bad if we were somehow assimilated."

Lya appeared beside Ranma in a flash. Several Klingons pulled knifes, but quickly put them away at a glare from Gowron.

"Actually Ranma," Lya continued without missing a beat. "Controlled life energy is a potential way to end the Borg threat. You and I are far too strong to be controlled by mere technology, no matter how clever. Membership in the new Alliance would, in time, gain the Klingons and the Federation the teachers they need to learn these skills. No master of these skills will ever become the slave of another, no matter what gadgets they may have."

"Interesting," Gowron. "Tell me more."

From the back someone said, "A copy of their treaty has been transmitted to the ship."

"I shall read it."

Ranma said, "I think I can give you one more reason to consider this path. I know Lya doesn't practice the combat arts, but true masters can do this."

Ranma flew up into the two story cargo bay, quickly zipping from point to point, before standing on the ceiling and then flipping and dropping to the ground with a loud thud.

"We will learn this," promised Gowron. "It will make the Klingon Empire even greater!"

Lya smiled.

Ranma nodded, then said, "Rommie can you beam us back?"

They vanished in a flash of light, Worf included.

-=oOo=-

"How did it all go?" asked Picard.

Lya said, amused, "Ranma bribed them with knowledge of how to use life energy to be better warriors."

"Was that really necessary?" asked Picard tiredly.

Lya said, "Don't worry, our group will make sure you have trainers too. In the unlikely event that any of them gains enough skill to fly, well, that level of control is usually equated to more stable personalities."

"Klingon emotional therapy?" asked Picard skeptically.

Worf looked on the point of speech, but said nothing.

Ranma said, "You have to be somewhat honest with yourself at least if your going to master yourself. I have my doubts many of them will make it there. The fact that Gowron welshed on his own bet with Worf doesn't help. I don't know the details, but I know he did."

Picard turned to Worf.

"I asked for my family honor back if Ranma won. He agreed, then pretended that the agreement and my honor would only be complete when I brought back these skills. I know my own honor, and if I can learn this skill, it will be of great value to both the Federation and the Klingon Empire."

Ranma turned to Worf, "I'm not going to sugar coat this. It is going to be very hard to get the necessary mastery of self for what you seek. You need to be able to remain as calm and detached as your friend Data, at least when you're actively using ki."

"That is impossible."

"No, it's not," said Lya. "It is merely very difficult. I have fought in wars and battles large and small. I have been covered in blood and gore and put aside my natural hatred to save my enemies and to protect my friends. It is not easy, but it is possible."

Ranma added, "I still struggle at times. My bond with Sam helps. I don't know what I would do without her. I don't pretend to have the grace, wisdom, or compassion of Lya, but I know it is a worthwhile goal to try to get there."

"That is really all I do," Lya admitted. Ayiana nodded as well.

"I will try," said Worf resolutely.

Ranma and the others nodded.

Picard added, "Well said Worf. That is all any of can ultimately do."

Lya said, "One other thing we discussed is the skills Worf hopes to learn would provide resistance against being taken over by the Borg."

"I tried my best," Picard said quietly.

Lya added, "I have no doubt you did. Your strength of mind served you well. I doubt many in your universe could have done better."

"How do you know that?" Picard asked with a touch of heat.

"I am enough of a telepath that particularly strong thoughts are hard to fully block at times. The invasion was not intended."

Deanna said, "I've heard their voices from you as well sir. I didn't want to say anything."

Ayiana walked up beside Lya. She said, "We could help if you wish."

Lya said, "Adept training would allow at least some to resist. Even our healing will help some."

"Number one, you are in command until such time as Dr. Crusher and Deanna check me out."

"I accept command."

"Do it then," Picard said.

Lya and Ayiana moved to either side of Picard's chair and placed a hand each to the side of his head even as they held their other hands. White light flared around them for almost two hours while in the background you could hear reports from Geordi about the process of the replicators updates.

When they were done Dr. Crusher was standing there, and showed every evidence having been there for some time and not being happy.

Picard blinked.

"Couldn't you have at least come to sick bay?" Beverly complained.

"Am I healthy?"

"You tell me."

"I feel better than I have in many years. Certainly better than before the Borg."

Lya said, "I asked Rommie to remove your artificial heart while you were distracted. We regenerated you a new one."

"I noticed that," Beverly said sharply. "Again this should have been done in sick bay, if at all."

Ayiana smiled. "We are kind of in a hurry."

Beverly glared at her.

Lya said, "We should send her over to deal with Aya for a few days."

"It would be interesting," admitted Ayiana.

"I am sitting right here," noted the Doctor.

Deanna smiled. "I do not think you have to worry about your safety from the one they are referring to, though I am beginning to think I may need Worf to defend my chastity."

Lya complained, "If only my husband wasn't so busy. Still, Aya always knows the meaning of no, even if she is a very impressive flirt."

"She is more than just an impressive flirt," Ayiana said before catching herself. "Um, forget I said that."

"That might be a problem," noted Riker dryly.

Deanna twisted her head to stare at the captain. "My mother is not as bad as" Seeing everyone look at her oddly she said, "Um never mind."

Picard turned to Deanna, "Apologies counselor."

"No, I should not have reacted, not to that. This is just all so new to me."

"Understood. I will endeavor to focus my thoughts more as well."

"Thanks."

Captain Picard asked, "On another subject, am I fit for command?"

"I would say so," added Deanna. "I certainly can't hold private thoughts against you, and that one was, perhaps, more fair than I want to admit."

"No," added Beverly. "You just had a heart regrown under entirely inappropriate conditions! I may not be able to detect a single thing wrong with you, but you are going to sick bay to be properly scanned. Doctor's Orders!"

"Well, Number One you remain in command. If you don't hear from me, please send a rescue party."

"Will do sir."

Deanna giggled.

Beverly glared at her.

Before they left, Captain Picard asked, "How are we with the preparation?"

Heimdall said, "The upgrades to your matter replicators have been complete for the last twenty minutes or so, thanks to Nozomi. We have begun to generate the components required for the fleet. There is likely at least six hours before the operation begins, given all the ships that must be integrated."

"I'm surprised that nothing has come through the rift."

Heimdall said, "They are and blocking it from our side, which is why we are hurrying. It is tying up three Asgard and one Nox mother ship to do this and to prevent the rift from growing in size."

"Understood. I'll be back as soon as I can."

After Picard and Beverly left, Riker asked Deanna, "Something you would like to share?"

"No," she replied with a smile.

Amused, Ayiana said, "I think perhaps I should take this time to give Deanna a lesson or two in telepathy."

Riker said, "Lieutenant Selar is one of our Doctors. She is also a Vulcan. I have a request from her to meet the newcomers. When she heard they disapproved of their philosophy she became quite curious as to why."

Lya asked, "Perhaps we four could meet somewhere?"

"The main conference room is just around the corner. If you will permit it, I'd like to sit in."

Lya said, "We have no objections."

-=oOo=-

Lieutenant Selar walked in on the three of them.

Deana spoke first. "Are you aware of what happened to me?"

"These two somehow activated your latent telepathic ability and you cannot currently control it."

Deanna nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you knew."

"It is not a problem."

Lya said, "It is likely that we have made assumptions that are not fully true. You have to understand, your position of the elimination of all emotion is quite alien to us. We are not entirely sure how that would work and you remain truly stable."

"I am uncertain how we would remain stable any other way. Vulcan emotions are very violent and raw things."

Ayiana said, "She is using Ranma's trick. Oh her ability at it isn't the same. She is far more skilled at using it at a far lower level and does not have the life energy reserves or the deeper understanding for the secondary effects, but the principle remains the same."

"Please explain."

Lya asked, "Rommie, can you see if Ranma can join us?"

Ranma, in male form flashed into existence.

Selar said, "Your transporter system resembles that the Entity Q uses."

Ranma said, "Hi, I'm Ranma, and as far as I know the Asgard developed the technology themselves."

"My name is Lieutenant Selar. I am told some skill you have is similar to how Vulcans suppress emotion. I was curious if this was the case."

"You are curious about the soul of ice technique?"

"If that is the name, then yes."

"Well I can embrace it, then I can allow you to wrap your arms around me. It is not pleasant, but I'm certainly willing to try and that would convey the effect."

"Please do so."

Lya addded, "Lightly Ranma. Nothing like what Aya tells me you did to try to help her. She is balanced, even if it is in an curious way."

"Understood."

Ranma sat on the floor, letting himself fall lightly in the Soul of Ice as the room began to cool.

"What is this?" asked the Lieutenant.

Ayiana said, "Ranma has the ability to influence the environment. It is still the same skill. You could probably do some of this with training."

The Lieutenant sat down calmly behind Ranma and carefully and mechanically pulled him to her. Less than a minute later the Lieutenant said, "I see. This is interesting," before getting up.

Ranma dropped the Soul of Ice and stood up.

He said, "You have the most potential of anyone I have ever seen for an untrained life adept. How is it no one has trained you?"

"I presume it is because there is no one to train those with this potential in this universe."

Ranma called up a ball of ki in his hands. He said, "I can't get a good read on you, so this is just as neutral as I can make it. Can you see it, not with your eyes, but with your inner senses?"

The Lieutenant closed her eyes as Ranma moved the ball around. She followed it with her left hand perfectly.

Ranma let the ball of ki collapse. He said, "You are welcome to come with us when we leave. We will try to get you back where you can be trained before we head into combat. You can join our group, or simply be trained and returned here. The choice is yours."

"You do not believe our method of emotional control is dangerous."

Ranma said, "I'm not sure it is healthy, but I have gone very deep into the soul of ice for many hours. My wife hates it. She would say it is unhealthy, as would others, but looking at you I feel no hesitation in trusting you. If this is the path you wish, then I support it. If you ever decided to try another, we would try to help."

Lya said, "If you or any other Vulkans we would train would ever consider allowing emotions again, they must first come to us or someone that can help them. The chance of your life energy becoming tainted and you not having a basis to recover would be high in that case. You could be quite dangerous to yourself or others."

"I understand. It would be why we deny emotion in the first place magnified by the increase in ability but without the foundation you have to maintain stability. You have given me much to think on. Do you require a Doctor with your group?"

Ranma said, "On Nozomi we do not. We are Terra-forming Mars and are creating new ships. There would be many places you could serve if you wished it though it may be more dangerous than here. You could also go to our allies the Nox, the Asgard, or possibly to our other allies the Time Space Administration Bureau. The choice would be yours."

"You seem to be giving me any choice I wish. Why is that?"

Lya said, "I'm from the Nox, and he is correct we would welcome you. The reason is obvious. Your skills properly trained would be an asset to all, though I suspect the Time Space Administration Bureau has the greatest current need."

"Why is that?"

"They, also have no one to train their life adepts. They are experts in what most call magic."

"That is fiction."

Ranma said, "It is not. You could study the scientific basis of it, if you went there after your training."

"I will go with you. We must first address the cause of this fracture. Perhaps I cannot be of help, but I will do whatever can be done, and I can perhaps teach Counselor Troi some skill to control her telepathy."

Ranma asked, "You do understand that the odds of your addition to the crew changing the outcome is minimal. It is no slight to your abilities. It is just the facts."

"Of course, but the effort is essential. Its only logical to make every effort to succeed here, no matter how small."

Ranma said, "Then welcome to the crew of the Nozomi. Once you inform your leadership here you can beam over and begin to familiarize yourself with the crew."

"I understand. I will go now."

After she was gone Ranma said, "I like her."

Ayiana rolled her eyes.

"Oh not like that. She may be attractive, but well, I just think we could use more people that could remain dead calm in all circumstances."

"You are probably correct there," Lya added thoughtfully.

Deana said, "Lieutenant Selar is an exemplary officer."

Ranma nodded.

Deanna said, "You are all remarkably good at concealing your thoughts."

Ayiana said, "Make an effort to read us anyway. We will take no offense if you succeed. By increasing your ability you should also learn how to pull it back."

Deanna focused hard before turning in curiosity to Ranma. Several seconds later she said, "You are attracted to her."

Ranma shrugged. "I'm human, and she is very lovely, on many levels. She also had many of the attributes I admire in my wife, who I would never ever betray. Just the ability to hold something like the soul of ice continually I quite frankly admire very much. It is no small thing. I am very good with the technique, but I could not do what she does."

"I apologize. I am not good with this. That was deeply personal."

Lya said, "We said we would not take offense and we shall not. You increased your ability enough to penetrate through the shielding we taught Ranma. Now try mine."

Troi starred at her as she tried to focus her new ability. Almost a minute later she said softly, "You are not thinking of anything."

"Correct, or rather that is what you would see if you got through my initial shielding."

Ayiana said, "Now cut your ability. Isolate yourself from everyone else. You have five seconds."

Troi focused, and then five seconds later she suddenly blushed furiously. "You and the white haired young woman."

"It was only once. I used it because it was a psychically strong image, and not deeply personal, not to belittle Aya or my foolishness. She loves Kasumi and Rommie with all her heart. That was, something else."

"I'll say," Troi exclaimed.

Lya said, "You did reduce your ability, but the strength of the memory easily broke through, and you stopped reducing it once your curiosity got the better of you. You must sustain the effort."

Ranma said, "I will sustain a very unpleasant memory and try to make it loud enough that you are forced to hear it. Try your best not to. Lya, Ayiana intervene if you need to."

"Are you sure?" Troi asked.

Ayiana said, "This is the correct approach to increase your skills, though it will no doubt be unpleasant for Ranma. Please try hard."

"Okay."

Ranma suddenly went pale.

Deanna did everything she could to stop it, but suddenly she was in a pit, covered in fish sausage and the cats were clawing and eating and chewing.

Lya suddenly set a hand on her shoulder, instantly blocking the images. "Enough Ranma."

"Sorry, didn't think it could catch me anymore."

"That was horrid. Who did that to you?"

"It was over a long time ago. The Asgard and my wife healed me. I should have chosen something else. I thought you would turn away, but you instinctively wanted to help. It was a poor choice on my part."

"Are you sure? I am a counselor. I could listen at least."

"Maybe later. I should not have brought that memory forth. Once I'm back with Sam I should be fine."

"You are bonded to her," Troi said. "If either of you die, the other does. It is the same for you two, except Lya also has a bond to her husband. It is only the bond to Ayiana that is even allowing her to be here for so long. Wait there is also pieces of a bond left to Ranma and Ayiana."

"Control yourself!" demanded Lya firmly. "Control your ability. Do not let it control you!"

Lya took her head in her hands and forced her to face her. "You are stronger than this. I know this to be true. Control it. Take back what is yours."

Sam appeared next to Ranma. He clasped hands with her. She said softly, "I see. We need to get her out of here. Let her rest. A part of her is still reaching out to you."

Q appeared in the room. He said, "Let me."

"You will return her in time." Lya demanded.

"I will."

Q and Troi vanished.

-=oOo=-

They appeared in a picturesque forest. Deana immediately began to calm down.

"Thank you," she said.

A few moments later Deanna added, "I never thought I'd be saying that to you. I presume you can choose when I'm allowed to hear your thoughts."

"Not really. I have to fake the times you have heard me."

"Where are we?"

"It is where Ranma married his wife, though technically that is another universe. You plucked the thought out of their heads by mistake before we left and I went with it. It is a safe enough place."

"You should go, help them."

"They are fine. Ranma has control of his own self that he fought hard for. It is partly why he didn't truly understand how traumatic that memory was, particularly to a telepathic empath."

"It was horrid!" she shivered.

Q nodded. "With the continuum cut off, I pretty much have already done all I can. Bringing you here was the last of my energy for awhile. Lya and the others know where we are and will come get us when they can. Probably the continuum will return once they win, so it may not matter."

"So, I'm stuck here with you for what days?"

"Possibly," admitted Q.

"Well can you at least help me get this ability in control?"

"No. With the continuum's resources I could have snapped my fingers and given you the needed skills, but I don't have that now, and my carefully hoarded reserves were spent getting that fleet there."

"Why are you doing all this?" she asked.

"Because, like it or not, that is our job, and someone has to do it, at least if we want this piece of the multiverse to remain existing."

"What?" she asked.

"You didn't know? I suppose I'm not a great representative, but the Q Continuum is the self appointed guardians that protect this reality from threats that might destroy it. I'm not talking about the Borg wiping you out or a war, but threats where the entire universe is threatened. That's our job."

"And they left you do it by yourself?" boggled Troi.

"They didn't see the resources on the board to close such a massive rupture, and doing so would risk the continuum as a whole. They decided not to risk it."

"But you have so much power."

Q smiled. "Your Federation and the Nozomi have amassed far more power than the entire continuum around the rupture while more of their ships are preventing it from degrading."

"I had no idea."

"We are quite fortunate that the right people could be at the right place at the right time. All I did was to move a few pieces on the board. I could have done more if they didn't run, but it is what it is."

"We need to find shelter."

Q said, "There is a cave this way I think. Fortunately, it is warm still. I don't need to eat, not do you, not for the time you will be here anyway. The lake water should be drinkable, though you probably don't want to drink more than necessary."

Q for all his protests of being out of power easily started a fire to hold off the chill. Deanna sat against the cave wall as she went over all of her early training.

Q was surprised when he suddenly saw someone. He called out "Q! What are you doing here?"

This one was blond and slightly younger looking than their Q.

"They opened enough of a window to allow me to come back and fetch you."

"I'm not going," Q said stubbornly.

"Petulance Q?"

"I don't know what your talking about. I'm here for the show."

"They could still fail, and if that block fails this universe will fall quickly. The pressure is building. It cannot hold forever. You can feel it just as much as I can."

"You could help," pointed out Q.

"I don't have that much power. They barely agreed to allow this much risk, and if I go there with an open connection to the continuum they will sever it. They won't risk the breech flowing back through my link."

"Cowards," Q cursed.

"What can you do?" Deanna asked.

"I can transport us elsewhere, perhaps to one of their allies."

Q said, "Those in charge there might kill me on general principles."

"It would help if you would make friends rather than enemies," Deanna said dryly.

"I did my job," Q huffed.

"Yes, you did, but before that you made a lot of people very angry and more than a few very dead."

"They kicked me out once for my behavior, but in the end I was the only one who even tried."

"We know, and I, for one, thank you for it," Deanna said honestly.

"Hey," the other Q said, "I wanted to help, but I got outvoted, and unlike Q over here, I didn't have squirreled away a massive amount of energy."

"It seemed like a good idea after the last time I was kicked out," Q noted.

"I'm not disagreeing."

Deanna said, "I'm unstable. I can't go anywhere if my ability is going to fly out of control. At least you two are immune."

Their Q said, "Give me a link to your link. I'll pull enough energy through it to get us the heck out of here if the worst happens and then you can leave or close the link."

"Okay Q. That I can do."

Q smiled as a window into nothingness opened before them before it suddenly reformed into an image of the heart of the breach.

Q said, "You always were talented at mirrors."

"That is not dangerous?" asked Troi.

The other Q said, "No. It is triply blind. It is a bit like plucking strings on the instrument of the universe. If you know just how to do it, you can see the effect very far from the cause."

"I hope that wasn't supposed to make sense," said Troi.

"Now I'm offended," pouted Q. "I go through all this trouble to setup a view to the end of the universe and all I get is snarky commentary."

Deanna added, "Well if we are reduced to the role of pathetic cheerleaders, can I at least get a bottle of wine? I suddenly find the need of it."

"Medicating away your problems is not the answer," Q said pretentiously.

"Bullshit," Troi snapped.

The other Q snapped his fingers and a nine course dinner appeared, complete with table.

"Show off," Q said.

"I'm sure I don't know what your talking about."

"Boys," huffed Troi.

They both turned to her. "Yes," they said in stereo.

"If I'm going to watch a video of possibly the end of the universe, can I at least get some audio to go with it?"

"Your wish is my command," said their Q as they now had a separate window, this time onto the bridge of Nozomi, and this time with sound.

"You can do all this, but can't help?"

The other Q said, "This doesn't add risk. The others are monitoring. Actually going there does. They will of course pull this power feed before they are in any actual danger."

"Lovely," snapped Troi even as she sat down and poured herself a glass of red wine and cut a slice of chocolate cake for herself.

"This may go to my hips, but it is worth it," muttered Troi.

"Actually," Other Q said, "That cake has almost no calories in it."

"Finally a useful invention from you guys! I demand the recipe!" announced Troi to all of their empty world.

-=oOo=-

"So you are certain Councellor Troi is safe?" asked Captain Picard.

Lya said, "As certain as I can be. Q sent us where she would be when we were ready. I believe he used the last of his power to take them there."

"Where is that?"

"I added an entry to your computer for a world we call Ranma's world. Technically we refer to a different dimensional copy by that, but the name is as good as any."

Riker said, "I have it here. It was surveyed about a decade back. Nice class M garden world. If it wasn't in the back of beyond, someone would have settled it. It's three weeks at Warp 9 I'm afraid."

Ranma said, "We can pick her up fairly quickly before we return. Not now, but when we are done. It won't take us but maybe an hour and that is if we are not pushing it."

Picard added, "I envy you your ship's propulsion system."

Lya said, "We have probably given enough hints. Perhaps you will figure them out after we leave."

"Isn't that a violation of something?" Picard asked.

Ayiana said, "It isn't a major jump in technology. It is actually a step backwards if you do it right, and you don't need to play with antimatter to power your ships. I still find that quite frightening. It helps us now, but still is very scary."

Picard said, "Amazing. I never thought I'd live to see the day that warp drive became obsolete."

Lya said, "It is their insane power generation capacity compared to their speed that gives us this chance today. Had they taken the normal path, we would not have this chance."

Rommie's voice interrupted everyone on the bridge of the Enterprise.

"Battle Stations! The operation to close the rift will begin in five minutes. I repeat all hands Battle Stations! Be on alert for instructions sent from Commander Data. All such instructions must be followed promptly and to the best of your ability. This is a very complex working. We have amassed the power to shatter or repair the fundamental fabric of creation. Let's get the job done and when we finish cleaning up this mess, I ask all of you to say a prayer for us as we on the Nozomi, go to extract vengeance on our enemies that would play with all of our lives so!"

Shouts and cheers were held through open radios as all cheered on the song of war.

Picard said softly yet clearly:

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep

moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Ayiana said, "Alfred Lord Tennyson is it not? I have not caught up with all that occurred while I was frozen, but I did at least read the poetry."

"Correct, and good priorities too. Are we ready Number One?"

"We are. Data already has control."

"I hate just waiting," complained the Captain.

"It is a skill that took me hundreds of years to learn," Lya admitted.

"You should talk to Guinan."

"If there is time."

Around them the warp cores of one thousand four hundred and twenty ships were set to their maximum capacity as a symphony of warp fields began to weave all at the directions of one mans quite strange son as he sat in the modified chair aboard the Nozomi.

-=oOo=-

"They have grown too much," said a member of the Continuum.

"They had little choice," said another. "Had we put the entire resources of the continuum at the breach when we detected it rather than waiting for it to expand past the point of no return this would not be necessary. It is only the ships in the other dimension that have prevented further decay, and they will not emerge without major damage from this. You cannot hold back entropy that long without consequences."

"Q helped them."

"Yes he did, but then that was his, or rather our job."

"Very well, we can hardly blame him for his defiance in this circumstance, though his separate supplies of energies deserve another look."

"Agreed."

"If they succeed in this endeavor do we permit them to keep the memory of it?"

"If we do not erase it, they will discover the secrets of other forms of propulsion. When we originally took up this charge we decided to prevent that."

"It was a curiosity only. There was no binding to the mandate."

"Then they get to keep their memories?"

"Memories yes. Technology no."

"They already plan to remove most of it, except maybe that thing they did with the Enterprises engines."

"Increase the resulting damage there. Nothing obvious, but discourage use of the path."

"Easily done. Are we going to help them if they are close but can't quite finish?"

"That breach could easily still follow any of our energy paths back to the continuum and do so very rapidly."

"Q has already pulled a substantial amount of energy to himself, again."

"Continue to allow it for now. If he twitches off that planet, cut it from both."

"You intend he should save the day?"

"He can't. None of us can really affect it while they are working. One small mistake in coordination and Q would make the problem far worse. At best he could try to finish it once their approach ends, but the precision required for him to transition to control at that point is unheard of."

"What of the enemy they seek?"

"If they enter this universe again, they are to be removed from existence. All resources may be spent for this effort."

"But we will not pursue?"

"Our power is here, and in near dimensions."

"Unfortunately."

"The machine is very near to completing his work."

"Look again."

"My observation is correct."

"Look closer."

"The life energy flowing through him has reached threshold state. A living machine, how curious."

"Yet that is what that ship is. Life gives birth to life. It has always been so."

"Will this affect the machine?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. It is unlikely he will notice it."

"The others near him will."

"We will do nothing. That is not our place."

"Q may use him as a new play toy."

"A certain amount may be permitted for now. The real question is will the gestalt of those three be enough to finish this."

-=oOo=-

A slightly drunk Deanna brought her glass up and clinked it with the other two near godlike entities cups.

She slurred, "To Data!"

Their Q said, "To the android that searched all his life for how to be alive, only to trip over it."

The other Q rolled his eyes.

Deanna looked at him in confusion before drinking more.

-=oOo=-

Data said, "I believe I have completed what work I am able to complete."

Rommie and Aya merged. They said, "Transition control to us."

They glowed a brilliant white as the pace of changes accelerated. The diligent work Data did directing and controlling all of the engine systems now became a true symphony.

Their power gave them the up to date state information that allowed them to preload the correct waveforms to all the ships and to their own dimensional drive which did the final smoothing of the result.

Data reported, "Rift is continuing to close. Twenty two percent remains."

Twenty minutes later he said, "Seventeen percent remains."

Ranma sat before the pair, his hand gently holding Aya's as energy fed from him to her.

Another thirty minutes passed. Data reported, "Eleven percent remains."

Ranma said softly, "Do you need to swap with Kasumi?"

"Gotta get it at least below ten. The last part is going to be really hard."

Ranma said softly, "Your energy is becoming imbalanced. You can feed that imbalance to me and take mine. I will deal with it."

"Sure?" they slurred.

"Yes,"

The merged pair took their left hand and placed it gently on Ranma's face as he continued to feed power to her and Rommie with his hands.

Data and the others looked on in concern as Ranma's expression grew pained, but he said not a world. Twenty more minutes passed before data said, "We are down to eight percent. I am ready to attempt to maintain this if you want to change."

Aya barely rose from the chair before Ranma caught her.

"Why couldn't you have changed to a girl first?"

"Sorry," Ranma said, though he was obviously not.

"Help me up."

Ranma helped her up. She then held onto him as she pulled him towards her and kissed him hard on the face. Ten seconds later she grimaced and said, "Yep, I still like girls, but well you deserved a reward. If you need help purging that.."

"I'll help him," Sam said as she helped Aya to a chair and buckled her in, even as Kasumi took her place.

Ayiana and Lya were now near Rommie and Kasumi. The new merged pair said, "We are ready to take over when you are ready."

Data said, "I regret to say that despite my best efforts we are back to nine percent. I am transitioning the work to you."

The merged pair said absently, "This almost makes me wish I was still tending the dojo with my Father."

-=oOo=-

Their Q snapped his fingers and suddenly Troi was sober.

Troi complained, "What did you do that for?"

"You are a poor conversationalist when drunk."

The other Q said, "They are not going to make it."

"They will. I have a plan."

"Oh, did you figure out how to get involved in that convoluted mess while actually not making the problem worse, because if so I'm all ears."

"Yes."

"You are not going to tell me. That is so annoying Q."

"I aim to please."

Troi threw the remains of her wine cup at Q.

"You made me wet! How rude."

"Tell us, or go do it," instructed Troi.

"It's a surprise."

"For whom?" asked the other Q.

"That would be telling. That really would be telling. Still, I'll be right back."

Seconds later he returned.

The other Q said, "You didn't do anything."

"Didn't I?"

"You are hiding something," Other Q accused.

"Yes, I am. It is said that legends fade, but perhaps not all legends must die. Sometimes a spark remains and sometimes more."

He blew softly onto the fire only for the fire to flare into bright comforting flames.

"You are still doing most of this work just for your own entertainment!" accused Q.

"I never denied it. Immortality would grow boring without entertainment."

Deanna smiled. "Well at least your not being such a pain in the but this time Q."

"As always, I aim to please. Actually I usually don't, but well change is fun. Shall we watch the rest?"

"By all means Q," said other Q as the scene began unfolding once more.

-=oOo=-

Kasumi and Rommie were sweating profusely even as Lya, Ayiana, and Sam were trying to stabilize them.

Data said, "We are still at one percent. There has been no progress for the past twenty minutes."

A form shimmered into existence. It was a woman, though she was mostly transparent. She was wearing a white blouse and had green hair. She gently touched Kasumi and Rommie on the brow from behind and whispered softly, "Understand, even if only for a little while."

Data's eyes widened. He said, "Rift is beginning final closure. O.9%. 0.8%. 0.6%. 0.4% 0.2%. Rift is closed. Verifying. Rift is closed."

The merged pair asked weakly, "Can you take it back, and close it all down?"

"I can."

Data said, "Closing down all systems. The mission is successful."

Data looked over at Kasumi and Rommie, "Shouldn't they separate?"

Lya said, "They are both very weak. It is dangerous to remain together too long, particularly when they are this weak, but it is still best to give them a little time. Separating now would be worse."

Data asked, "Who was the young woman I saw with green hair?"

"Who?" Lya asked. "I didn't see anyone."

"She was mostly transparent."

Sam said, "I didn't see anyone either."

"Nor I," Ayiana added.

"Most curious."

Q immediately appeared on the bridge of the Nozomi with Deanna at his side. He snapped his fingers and Kasumi and Rommie were separated and everyone was recovered.

Q said, "A gift for so entertaining me. I've also vanished all of the new technology. That was the continuum's orders. Finally, dear lovely Deanna, you should know that other Q laced that wine with a very special compound."

"What?" she yelled.

"It is harmless, but it will damp most of your abilities for well about a day. It is not a fix, but it does buy you a bit of time."

"Oh, I don't know what to say."

Other Q popped his head in and spoke, "You could try thanks."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Until the next time," Q waved and both vanished, but not before leaving one more bottle of wine behind.

Sam opened a connection to Enterprise. "We are done here I think and thanks to Q we are recovered. He also returned Deanna. Is Commander Worf ready to go? I know Lieutenant Selar already has quarters and is familiarizing herself with our technology."

Picard asked, "Is there nothing more we can do to insure your mission is a success?"

Sam said, "I don't think so. You have your duty. We have ours."

"Then we wish you well in it. Worf should be ready soon. Is twenty minutes too long?"

"No, that should be fine. The D-Drive needs to cool down anyway after all that."

After the screen went black Lya approached Data. She asked, "Could we ask for a moment of your time Data, Deanna?"

"Of course." "Sure."

They slipped off the bridge and into the quarters Lya shared with Ayiana. Lya and Ayiana sat down on the bed side by side even as the other two remained standing.

Lya yawned, before saying softly, "Something happened today that was quite rare and quite special. It is possible that Deanna sensed it, though given what she drank, I suspect she did not."

"What?" Deanna asked.

"Touch Data. The face or hand will do. It should negate some of the effects of the drug you are under."

Deanna cupped his face softly with her right hand. "Data, I sense you!"

"I should think so. I am right here and you are touching me."

"No, you don't understand. Normally you are a complete blank, and I don't get much even now, but there is something where before there was nothing."

"I do not understand."

"Life data," Ayiana said. "You have grown beyond mere circuits and programming. It is still young but by our definition you are truly living now."

"What does this mean?" Data asked.

Lya said, "It means what you want it to mean. You can as can everyone else make of your life what you wish. You were pivotal in saving an entire universe. I do caution you though. It will not be easy. Understanding humans and everyone else will still be difficult, but you now have the seed that if you continue to work hard I believe you will get there one day."

Q popped in.

He said to Data, "Do you know on that day years ago when I said, "I would never curse you by making you human," and then gave you a small taste of actual emotions that this much was beyond me. Think of that. I could of course have made you human, but that would be boring. This is something new. That is a rare thing for a Q to see. Congratulations."

Q vanished in a flash of light.

Data said, "I am unsure just how to take congratulations from Q."

Lya said dryly, "That seems a good reaction."

Rommie appeared before them. "Are you ready to go Data?"

"I suppose I am. I think there was something I was supposed to delete, but I cannot remember what it was."

Rommie asked, "So you have no knowledge of our technology or anything?"

"I remember doing what I did, but the details elude me."

Lya said, "Q said he removed the information. That must have included from Data. I really do not like their heavy handed methods, particularly after not helping."

"There is nothing we can do about it," Ayiana said.

"No there seldom is," Deanna agreed sadly.

Ayiana asked, "Data, do you wish anything from us in thanks for your efforts?"

"I do not believe so."

Deanna kissed him softly on the cheek before he vanished in a flash of light.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: This is an edited chapter, though the changes are small.

On one side note, has anyone else noticed the pattern where people use the word liberal as if it is some dark insult, and say it is wrong for people to express views because people like them might be offended, and then immediately going on to express various offensive and usually inaccurate views?