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 35

-=oOo=-

A still young Nabiki stood beside a slightly older Shampoo and Ling Ling as their ship traveled.

Nabiki asked, "Tell me again why we had to take our one and only trip you could coax out of the original Asgard drive to dump us in the back of beyond for two decades?"

"I've explained this. Time and dimensional travel is very complicated. I don't have access to the Asgard database with plans I could draw upon, and the one they gave us was deliberately crippled. It was unlikely even to maintain the link to their dimension if another bomb went off, let alone be sure to return us to the right time. It would be so much easier if they would have trusted me with the good stuff, but no, they made me, well us work ten times as hard. I used my knowledge and with Lindy's help found this Al-Hazard place, or rather what remains of it. We went there with my modifications to their drive, first because we could reach it, if barely, and only because the mages helped a lot, and second because it is a neutral point in space and time, shielded from almost all changes. We don't have a massive amount of energy to shield us for years and make sure we can get back in time. We had to cheat. I have explained that."

"So we were stuck there for twenty years while you figured out how to make our own temporal core."

Rein said, "Just be glad I remembered some of the details of the drive they figured out, or it might have been another twenty years."

"And who's bright idea was it to bring one of my eggs on board in case I wanted to have a child?"

"Mine," Lindy said.

"And how exactly did Shampoo talk me into this?"

"It take too too little time," said Shampoo superiorly.

"I'm the one that is supposed to be the manipulator," grumbled Nabiki.

"Hey mom, can I go to the movies?" her child chirped.

Nabiki whined. "I should have named you something calm, maybe after my older sister, but no I had to name you Ranko in a moment of weakness."

"Gee thanks Mom. I love you too, so how are things going?"

"We are finally going, that is if Loki's drive holds together. Our exit put us way behind where we thought we were."

The Asgard sighed. "I have told you, the approach from and to this region of space is seriously messed up. You can't know which dimension or part of space time you will get thrown out when you leave. We can only do our best to make up for it."

"You said our clock was running now, that our time was now linked to theirs, that it was the only way to be sure we returned even if there was another bomb."

"I did, and I regret the best we can do for speed puts us at nearly five days of flight time. We came out extremely far away in every possible way. The wrong galaxy, the equivalently wrong dimension, and we were thrown a thousand years back in time. If it wasn't for the plasma neutrino reactors in the cargo bay we wouldn't even have the energy to make this flight."

Ling Ling spoke. "I'm sure my tribe would like to thank you for disposing of their worldly possessions to make space."

"It couldn't be helped!"

"And now I don't have a cargo bay, but if it gets us there without needing to find another ZPM, then fine."

Lindy said, "We have the one near empty and the spare. We can fight, if we get there in time. We have had the time needed to prepare. That is the important thing."

"I thought you were thinking of having another kid?" asked Nabiki.

"I decided spoiling yours was more fun."

Ranko said, "Auntie Lindy is great." She started casually juggling super bright balls of magical power.

"Not on the flight deck!" Nabiki half screamed.

Lindy said, "Your mother does have a point. There is enough power in the energy balls to wreck everything here."

"You can't practice without charging them fully. Besides, Loki banned me from the Cargo bay."

Loki added dryly, "Because blowing up our power source is of course a better option."

Hayate walked onto the bridge and casually swiped the magical balls from Ranko before dissipating them. "You really need to find less destructive toys. Have you at least done your medical studies?"

"Sure, passed the automated tutor and everything."

Nabiki sighed. "Why do I get the vague dream of finding which of Ranma's kids Ranko might appeal to, and making her his problem?"

"Sounds good to me," chirped Ranko.

"This must all be penance for a life not well lived."

Lindy laughed and Ranko grinned, enjoying annoying her mother.

Nabiki asked, "I think if I'm understanding this correctly your cobbled together thing is doing fine."

Loki sighed. "You have a perfectly fine mind. I have tested you on many subjects of which you are now very well versed. Do not pretend you are not, or that you need my help to read the status."

"But I enjoy your voice so."

"If we survive this, I'm requesting a transfer. Surely they have a jail I can go back to?"

Lindy laughed.

Nabiki, Shampoo, and Ling-ling smiled and even Loki's grin was slightly upturned.

Loki also couldn't resist checking the readings one more time. He said, "For everyone else who is not the ship, the drive is fine."

Ling Ling said, "Come on Ranko, we can go play catch in my, err your room."

Nabiki smiled fondly as they walked off the bridge. She then said more quietly, "She really has come a long way."

"They both have," Lindy insisted. "If Loki was not so busy working on the drive for such a long time we might have worked out how to make a device. It is really impressive that both their control is this good without one. They should be even better with one."

Nabiki asked, "Do you still think Ranko might make S class?"

"Possibly. It is hard to say without giving her a device. I asked Rein not to offer to unison with her either. She is stronger for learning to control the magic herself."

Shampoo said, "I wish I could learn this, but I'm glad Ling-ling has."

Nabiki said, "You have come just as far with ki."

"And yet the show Ranma and his wife put on before we left still makes me look like the spoiled girl who got knocked off the log while Ranma and his glutton of a father eat my prize."

Nabiki asked Lindy, "Do you think you can put an illusion on my daughter to make her look like Ranma's girl form when we first met?"

"I think so. I take it you have a surprise planned."

"In time. We have to make sure they are all right first."

A few minutes later Nabiki added, "I wish this drive was something I could actually actively control."

"Unfortunately," Loki noted, "while the design is solid and you may be able to enhance it, you lack the long experience Rommie has for such fine control. At best it would exhaust everyone before we had to battle and not save much time."

"I know, though you're right it would have been nice if they trusted us with the good stuff."

"It would also be nice if you didn't mention that I made a temporal core or helped backwards engineer improvements to your dimensional drive, at least until we have done something impressive enough to make them not mad at me again."

"Don't worry. We have your back. We know you were working in an area you didn't specialize and had few of the resources the rest of your kind normally expect to have."

"Thanks," he said gratefully.

Several minutes later he said, "There has been another dimensional bomb. I can't localize it. We are too far away, but the ripples are present in subspace if you know where to look."

"Still no idea of what might be behind it?"

"The new bomb seems to be initiated in a far dimension. I can't get a good read on it. I don't think it is any less powerful. It might be more for all I can tell."

"Does it still have a temporal anomaly associated with it?"

"If it did, I couldn't read it from within our shielding. Most likely this only indicates that our enemy also has a dimensional drive, which we were already assuming."

"Got any more secret super powerful weapon designs your almost complete with?"

"Unfortunately no. The two plasma neutrino reactors used up the last significant space we had. We may want to shift our course to the Tollan home world."

"Why is that?"

"They have phasing bombs that can go through a lot more than the drones."

"Unfortunately, we don't know that we have the time, let alone to convince them to give us any. Our existing plan isn't bad. We will have to stick with it. Besides, we could fit what a few, and that is taking over unused rooms."

"Sadly I agree."

Shampoo said, "I would like to know if my people are well before we enter battle, if possible."

"It won't be," Loki said. "The temporal core is active because we have to travel in time to get back and it keeps us sheltered from changes in the timeline that may affect us. We can't shut it down until the threat is neutralized or we risk being affected. The active core blocks us from external communications."

"I understand," she said softly.

Nabiki enfolded Shampoo gently into her arms.

A few minutes later Nabiki said, "If it looks like we have to fight, we will have to keep up, no matter what, be it across dimensions or across time."

Loki said seriously, "I have a plan that may work for a limited time, but if we use it the risk to us is extremely high, as is the risk to the dimensional fabric."

Shampoo said, "If death comes, you must try to at least get Ranko off the ship."

Loki said, "That is in the plan. I'm sorry I can't do better. They had reason not to trust me, and it partly brought us here."

Shampoo said, "Stupid warriors bitch about their weapons before a battle like men. Bitch after the battle. We go with what we have. We do what we can do."

"Agreed," said the rest of the crew.

-=oOo=-

Jack sat onboard the Liberator. After they got the news of the bio weapon he had been posted here, along with Sam's kids, Daniel, and Teal'c. The Artha was hidden behind the moon.

Jack said, "See if you can get Hammond's speech?"

The main screen showed General Hammond getting ready to speak. He rearranged a few of his papers and then looked up at the camera.

He said, "Good evening. Yesterday we received some very troubling news. We waited till it was confirmed by an Asgard assault force. I'm sad to say that the news has been confirmed. The Aschen as it turns out use the cover story of helping people with their every need to insert themselves into a civilization. They then take out their miracle cure, while not mentioning that while it does provide double the life span, it also prevents the possibility of bearing children with about ninety percent of the population. The Asgard found records of fifteen civilizations they did this to. There are worlds associated with these records. General Hank Landry of the SG-C has already confirmed a couple of the worlds. Prosperous worlds are turned into nothing more than farms, or whatever the Ashen need."

"The Aschen are usually patient. They often play the long game. It promised to work this time as well. Some of our so called politicians were so very eager to turn over the Earth to them, if it gained them power."

"Our allies are our allies because they have a track record of keeping their world and acting like allies. Now thanks to the foolish actions of some politicians we have confirmed not one but two Aschen plans. Both were in motion before we even heard the news of their betrayal. I will cover the lessor threat first."

"The lessor problem, because it only affects us, is they intend to launch a virus on Earth intended to just directly wipe out humanity. They didn't give a damn if we lived our died. They just didn't want our allies finding out about their history and coming after them."

"Fortunately, we can deal with this threat. In space above our planet the Liberator waits for the expected attack from space while Colonel John Shepard and the Atlantis team are preparing now to launch the city back into space. We are holding the Atlantis Stargate active, to bring to near zero the odds of getting the biogenetic weapon through that way, and bringing her into space to lower the odds to zero. That's right, we are launching an entire city to help protect you."

"Related to this, a combined attack fleet consisting of Asgard and Nox warships have already neutralized the Aschen home world. All means of travel have been destroyed and all known members of the government have been executed. Further actions may be taken in the future when time permits. This was not an action taken lightly. Between their crimes of genocide and another I will discuss soon, there was no other option. The genocide was well known and accepted by the public. They knew their prosperity was built on the corpses of civilizations."

"Additionally, after this press conference we will play the interrogations of several prominent Aschen. They confess to it all. We will also provide time for General Landry of Stargate Command to cover his findings. All of it has been confirmed, yet sadly, as I said, this is the lessor threat.."

"Here is the greater threat. It was launched before they launched their plan for the virus. The cause was the same. They knew we would find out about their genocide and take action, so they decided there was nothing to lose by striking first. Those responsible are dead, but the plan continues."

"They sent a group using a ship and technology they did not understand to destroy us and our allies. They are using what is commonly referred to as dimensional bombs since they destroy the barriers between dimensions. I'm not a physicist. I just know that the barriers keep each dimension safe and separate. If they are lost the death toll will be incalculable, and possibly total. This is why every member of the alliance, including our new friends from the Time Space Administration Bureau consider the construction or use of such a device to merit a death sentence. There are no exceptions. The TSAB and the Nox prefer not to kill. Neither make an exception here. Protecting the barriers between universes is the highest law since it keeps every single one of us safe. Stopping the virus means nothing if the barriers collapse. We will, most likely, be just as dead, only the rest of the universe could fall with us."

"While the Aschen may not have known of the laws of the rest of the alliance, their scientists knew of the dangers. Their leaders were told. They did it anyway, and for the stupidest of reasons. They had a computer that predicted our alliance would go after them once we learned of their actions, so they decided to try to kill us using things they did not understand that should have been left alone."

"Unfortunately, the ship they launched is basically a thing of legend, and not in a good way. We were able to close the ruptures from the first bomb, with help from our friends from the Time Space Administration Bureau and the Asgard. Their second bomb caused a rupture that was held from expanding for days by the combined efforts of three Asgard and one Nox mother ship."

"That bomb was initiated in another universe. The Nozomi went there before the pathways between universes grew too dangerous, even for them to traverse. They spent all their time there gathering new allies and resources so as to be able to close the far larger rift where it was opened. Had they failed that universe would have collapsed, killing all within it. It is unknown whether or not our allies could have prevented the collapse from spreading to this one."

"Fortunately," he smiled, "Sam, Ranma, Rommie, Kasumi, Lya, Ayiana,Heimdall, and the Nozomi did an extraordinary job. Thanks to them, I am relieved to tell you that the danger from the second bomb has been neutralized. I only learned about it just before this meeting. Sam is of course a former member of Stargate Command's premiere interplanetary team SG-1 and this is certainly not the first time SG-1 team members have been critical in saving us all."

"The ship that is releasing the bombs is a relic from another time. It is far older than even Nozomi, who is in many ways our best ship. If we just need to blow up a Goa'uld mother ship, there is no question, the Liberator is the best for the job. She is also very good overall, but was primarily intended for planetary defense. If, instead, you need a ship that can fight in every domain and survive where no one else dares to even go, then the ship of our ancestors, of the first evolution of humanity the Nozomi is without a doubt superior. I for one have a lot of pride in that, and in its crew."

"As an aside, for all the young women out there wondering if they can make a difference, you need look no further than the crew of that ship and all the women serving there."

"We further know from the limited communications we had through the rift when it was open that we now have new allies. Nozomi's crew made friends with a group called the United Federation of Planets, and even made some headway with one of the Federation's former enemies the Klingon Empire. Details remain sketchy, and we hope to learn more when we can talk to them more, but unfortunately their job is not yet done. They are still our best hope to stop the other ship."

"The Nozomi is to fight this enemy, because quite frankly she is the only ship the alliance have ready that can. The Asgard installed extra equipment to make it even possible. Their normal ships cannot fight where the Nozomi must go. I ask that you please pray for them and pray for us all."

The screen then went blank briefly before showing the launch of Atlantis.

Jack said, "Mute."

The screen went silent.

He said, "Launching that thing eats a lot of energy for what is little more than a PR stunt. They aren't going to lose containment."

"We all know," Avon said.

Cally said, "They need a symbol of hope now. A city rising into the sky to defend the planet is such a symbol."

Jack said, "Yah, maybe, but strategically it is stupid. Atlantis could defend better where she was, just by using drones. It is not like you can dodge with a city."

"Of that there is no doubt," Avon agreed.

Villa said, "I think General Hammond had the right balance. Lots censored of course, and he didn't really cover the nature of the threat Nozomi still faces, but it wouldn't have helped if he did. You know if the Atlantis launch wasn't just a publicity stunt, we could use that to guard the planet and go help Nozomi."

Jack said, "And if it was the risk of thousands or even a million, I might agree, but it isn't. It is potentially the entire planet. Still, the ship they face is the greater threat, even if we can't follow yet, or at least I assume we can't yet? Avon?"

"This ship was never intended for dimensional travel on a regular basis. The shape and size works against us there. Can we fit a drive? Sure. I have access to the needed data now. Heimdall granted it to me before he left. Could we keep up with the Nozomi and one of these lost ships? No, at least not without doing a ton of damage to the barriers and even then, it would take a week at least to build one and more time to test and integrate it into our operations to use it normally, let alone during combat."

"Then we need a plan B. Carter always came up with those, but I guess your stuck with mine, unless you have one?" he asked hopefully.

His question was greeted with silence. "What I want from anyone who can do it is to find a way to get a message to Nozomi."

Avon said, "I have a way."

"What it is?" asked Jack.

"It may not work and will break a few laws that we just agreed to and said were really important and we would also need the Artha to help as well."

"Tell us. I'll deal with the fall out, or try at least."

-=oOo=-

Ranma knocked on Councilor Troi's door.

"Open."

The door opened. A male Ranma walked in. Worf was sitting in a chair off to the side. Deanna was sitting on her bed.

"I can go," Worf offered.

"No," Ranma said. "Stay if you want. This affects you as well."

"You don't need to say anything," Troi said. "Q explained it. I lived part of it, in my mind at least. I do understand."

Worf added, "There is no dishonor in surviving and conquering your demons."

Ranma nodded, before turning to Deanna. "I did however, however unintentionally, endanger you Deanna, and indirectly probably endangered everyone else, and for that I am deeply sorry."

Ranma bowed formally to Deanna.

"I accept of course. Now please stop bowing."

Ranma stood upright again.

"So, you showed me something truly terrible. I get why. It would have been great motivation to learn to block it out. Why don't you make it up to me by showing me something truly beautiful instead?"

"You want to read my thoughts again?" asked Ranma surprised.

"Sure. Ayiana purged the chemical from my system and Rommie replicated me some more of it in tablet form should I require it."

"Okay, what would you like to see?" asked Ranma curiously.

"Maybe something from when you were younger? Something amusing."

"Okay, I think I'll show you the day I got conned into competing in a martial arts rhythmic gymnastics contest."

"Martial Arts what?" asked a confused Worf.

Ranma said, "Deanna can tell you about it." He held out his hands to an amused Deanna who took them.

He said, "I'll try to stay focused on the memory, but I'm not an expert at this."

Several minutes later Troi burst out laughing.

Ranma started to pull his hand back, but she held on tighter. She said, "Wait, I haven't seen it all yet!"

"Yah, things were kind of crazy back then."

She kept holding his hand for the remaining ten minutes it took her to speed through the memory.

Deanna said, "I can't believe how strong and fast you were even way back then, and yet, even back then you didn't really hate being a girl sometimes. You just pretended to."

Ranma nodded.

"Can you still do the thing with a ribbon?"

"Sure."

Deanna got up, opened a closet and pulled out a bed robe before pulling the tie out of it and handing it to him. It was a fairly thin white tie, but it was certainly no ribbon.

He extended ki to it to form it into a bar and gave it a few practice swings.

"This is actually a fairly useful early technique. Worf, can you think of any other applications?"

"Could it be used to reinforce your clothing?" Worf asked.

"It can, and doing so is heaps safer than directly reinforcing your skin, or anything else. In general, don't use ki to reinforce any part of your body until one of us can teach you properly. Even then it is never precisely safe."

He turned back to Troi. "Do you mind if I destroy part of this?"

"Nope."

Ranma sliced off a small piece of it with his ki no bigger than a quarter inch wide and then floated it in the air above his hand.

"Something like cloth can actually take quite a bit of ki before it is damaged. It is why this is a pretty good early technique."

He dramatically increased the flow of life energy until the small bit of cloth disintegrated.

"Things like your eyes or nose can take very little. Remember that. Also never ever send energy to your brain."

Troi asked, "Do you not do that?"

"Yes and no. No, I have never tried to directly send energy to my brain, ears, or eyes. You can tell by the fact I still have those things. I have practiced the martial arts so long to such a level that I naturally do enhance my senses, but I never go beyond what came directly from training. You can't short cut it. One mistake and your are maimed at best."

"It is as it should be then," Worf said.

"I agree."

"And flying?" asked Troi.

"Is exceptionally difficult. Sorry, it just is. It is why the mages we know use devices with lots of computing power. Same problem, different method. I'm not saying it is impossible to learn. My wife knows it. My kids all learned, to one degree or another, but it is not easy at all."

"Can you make a device that makes it easier?" asked Deanna.

"Maybe. I know its on the list somewhere."

Deanna laughed. "We are all quite familiar with lists, particularly ones where the important stuff just keeps pushing the less important stuff down."

Kasumi and Rommie's voice said over the intercom, "We have returned to our primary universe. Even with the closing of the rift we had to do a lot of cleanup work on the way back. We will be resuming our primary mission soon. If anyone has a problem with that, or wants off, speak up now, because once the temporal core is active we are committed."

Deanna glanced at Worf. He gave her a stoic expression.

"Right," she muttered.

Then more loudly she said, "Worf and I are seeing this through."

"Understood," the blended voice said. "I also just got confirmation from Lieutenant Selar. We are activating the temporal core. In less than a minute we will be isolated from all changes in space time."

"What does that mean?" Worf asked.

They heard Sam answer, "Since this combat may involve time travel it means that changes in our own personal histories will not affect us, again, till we run out of power. Simply put, it is one form of shield to make sure we can finish the job."

Worf's eyes widened at that.

Deanna asked, "Could you undo the changes that say killed you earlier in life if you did it before the temporal core ran out?"

Heimdall said over the communicators, "No, the damage is cumulative. It is considered far better to die than further damage the universe."

Troi said, "I know time travel is not exactly rare where we are from. I wonder why more damage hasn't been done."

Heimdall said, "I suspect the entities you call Q are repairing some of it. Also, that bomb did far more damage than it should have. Your universe is a week point, perhaps because of this careless use of time travel. This will need to be addressed."

Deanna said, "I know in the future of the federation they develop time ships that do nothing but protect the timeline."

"That you know of them is in itself a problem, even if it is a small relief that someone is guarding against it."

After Ranma left Deanna said softly, "Do you know Worf that even back then Ranma was a diamond in the rough?"

"What do you mean?"

"Never a thought not to try his best to survive, but also never a thought to do so at the expense of others, including a young woman he barely knew at that point. He could have so easily died during that memory. Any normal human would have."

"You admire him that much?" Worf asked softly.

"It is always easy to admire someone who, when push comes to shove matches the ideal you wish for but fall short of yourself. Oh don't get me wrong, he was an absolute nightmare when it came to tact back then, but I do wonder what would have happened had he grown up just a bit sooner?"

"What do you mean?"

"Had he never met Samantha where would we be? I saw it in his memories, even if he did not notice it. Many of the young women around his age gave him so many considering looks even back then. Had only one been brave enough to work past how he was raised or had he grown up just a bit sooner, well, everything would be different."

Worf had nothing to say to that.

-=oOo=-

Rommie said, "We have been following the trail from the last bomb. It is slow going, but we are making progress. I think we are getting close. Right now we are sitting in real space for final prep."

Kasumi flipped a coin.

Aya called heads. It landed on tails.

Kasumi walked up to Rommie and kissed her tenderly before they once again merged. She sat in the pilot seat.

Heimdall said, "Temporal core is online. Primary ZPM is at fifty four percent. Secondary is at full power. All primary weapons systems are online. Dimensional drive is unlocked and ready. Hyperdrive and conventional drive are also at your command."

Sam asked, "Worf, are you comfortable with being in charge of the phasing bombs we have in the cargo bay? They are not yet charged, but if we are hit there while they are charged we are dead. They have a line from the secondary ZPM and you can charge a bomb safely in four seconds and unsafely in two. They can either be transporter launched or phase through the hull. If our enemy detects the phased space and have a way to detonate them close to us we are also dead."

Aya said deadpan, "Who knew bombs could be so deadly?"

Sam smiled ruefully.

"I will get the job done," he said with certainty.

Sam nodded.

The merged pair said, "Activating full wavelength camouflage and reducing our power signature to minimal. It won't fool a Lost Ship, but we can at least try. Nozomi is entering the time stream."

Ten minutes later Ranma said, "For all the dangers we are told of time travel it seems quite boring."

"Only when it works right and no mistakes are made," added Heimdall.

The merged pair said, "We have about ten of our minutes back until we reach our best guess of our target. Remain alert."

Fifteen minutes later they said, "This appears to be the end of the line. Exiting to real space."

Deanna said loudly, "He's here. He is familiar somehow."

Suddenly they heard, as if every part of the ship was a speaker. "Heir of Volfield you took long enough. I was considering setting off a few more of these lovely bombs. Where is SHE?"

"Where is who?", the merged pair asked.

"Volfield!" raged the ancient dark ship. "I do not mind killing you, but I will kill her. You have the feel of her taint. I will kill her!"

"My history says Canal barely survived her battle with Dark Star; that the injuries were too much. Cain sacrificed most of the rest of his life to grant them ten more years. In the end, legend says threw a psy code final directly into their phase drive, to be together in death."

"Impossible! The one to have destroyed Dark Star brought down by a mortal. She could have eat him in a blink and restored her life. A few more mortals and she would have recovered."

The merged pair said loudly, "That is the difference between those like her and those like you! She didn't even want Cain to waste his life keeping her alive, but legend says they had ten happy years in little more than a shack. If I go, let it be like her. I will never consume my partners for mere food."

"So be it, heir of Volfield. If I can't kill her, then I will kill you, and go on killing until something else entertains me."

"You never intended to work for the Aschen?"

"Of course not. They were food, nothing more. I think I will go to Earth after this. If they will deal with the Aschen, I'm sure I could arrange to defend them for a little food."

"Who are you?" asked the merged pair.

Lya paled, even before he spoke. They now saw him on screen. It looked just like her memories. It looked like nothing more than a giant Death Glider about twice their size.

"I am Bodigar!"

Lya shouted, "I will see your death this time!"

"You were a fun toy to play with back then, but you could not stop me. I killed them. I killed them all for their sin of birthing abominations like this ship!"

Rommie said, "I see. There was no record of your destruction. Now we know why."

"I give you five minutes to prepare to die. The longer you entertain me, the longer your friends live."

The merged pair cut the feed.

They then said, "Aya, are you willing?"

"Always."

She vanished in a flash of light, and then was back a moment later in spirit form, merging once over with Kasumi and Rommie.

The trio said, "Aya's body is in a bio bed in the infirmary. It is dangerous to be triply merged, but nothing about this battle will be safe. Worf do not charge the bombs yet."

"Why not?"

"Because their energy signature will be identified. I need you to find the opportunity to charge and use them. If I can provide you one I will, but don't wait if you see one."

"I understand."

"Everyone else, I need you to look for an opportunity to beam over to Bodigar. At best you may get one chance, and I may not be able to beam you back, but if we don't deny him energy, this may be a very short fight."

Ranma said, "We will get the job done."

"Expect the entire ship to try to kill you. Whatever you do, do not let it strap you into a chair. If he can feed off you then it will be far worse than just losing. He might even evolve from the strength of someone like Ranma."

Ranma said, "Both of us have had suicide moves for some time. Never thought we would have to use them, but we will if it comes down to it."

"Try not to. I swear we will try our best to get you out. You just need to give mercy to those that are aboard and survive."

Sam said grimly, "We understand."

Lya said, "I will go without Ayiana."

"What?" Ayiana exclaimed. "We never agreed on that."

"You are the last. Permit me to do this one final duty. I think I might be able to stop it, or at least buy you time. This is my responsibility for failing so long ago."

"What do you plan?" asked Heimdall.

"They were very foolish when they started to take the unwilling. I am going to show him the error of his ways."

Ayiana said, "That will kill you!"

"You act as if we have so many better options."

"Let me go. I can."

"Perhaps you could, but I am far stronger. Do you really think you could avoid corruption in the storm?"

"Can you?" asked Ayiana.

"We are about to find out."

-=oOo=-

Nabiki pushed Satori's engines up to the red line. Loki looked at her but she just nodded back.

Loki said, "I am diverting power to compensate. At the velocities we are going, it will get hot."

"That is fine," Nabiki said. To either side of her Shampoo and Ling-ling nodded in agreement.

-=oOo=-

Jenna said, "Ship detected in hyperspace at extreme long range."

Jack said, "Adjust course to catch them as they come out. Weapons free. Fire at will."

Jenna said, "Adjusting course."

Avon said, "Auto target system is active."

Villa said, "I've got it. As soon as I confirm it is Aschen I'll fire."

Villa pressed the button without fanfare.

Zen said, "Target has been destroyed."

Jack said, "Well that was anticlimactic. Did we have a good vector on their hyperspace path?"

Avon said, "We do."

"Your best estimate if there are other ships still coming."

"That could get by the Ion cannons on Mars, the Ion canons and drones on Atlantis, and the outpost drones? Zero. Anything that comes in this system without it being a clear ally is dead."

"Good enough. Send the message and ready the ship for emergency speed."

Cally said, "Message is sent."

Jenna said, "All reactors online. Emergency speed is at your command."

"Punch it."

The Liberator vanished into hyperspace.

-=oOo=-

Chrono, recently back from MidChilda, was once again in command of the Artha.

Amy, his first officer and wife said, "We just got the message."

Chrono stood and said, "Let it be on record that the next actions are mine and mine alone."

Amy said, "As if we would do that. We agreed of the necessity. Shall we activate the sequence?"

"Fine. At least this way we are doing it, not the Liberator. They may be an ally, but I'll bet on this crew to do this insane plan far safer than they could."

Amy said, "I have prepared the updated D-Drive firmware to transmit the signal. Chrono, I need your authorization as well."

Chrono stepped over to her station and placed his hand down.

"Update loaded. Transmitting. Now checking for damage. We have a bit we have to fix before we can leave."

"Do it, then get us to the staging area."

-=oOo=-

Nabiki was surprised to feel something impinge on her awareness. "Did you get that?" she asked Loki.

"I did. Someone modulated a signal using a dimensional drive, probably causing damage to the local fabric. This is an EDF emergency transmission using one of the shared one time pads."

"Let's hear it."

They listened closely before Nabiki glanced at Ling-ling who nodded.

Nabiki said, "Loki we are going to be there in time, one way or another. Ling-ling and I will hold it together. I'll save Shampoo and the rest's strength for the actual fight."

"Then I will endeavor to keep us in one piece."

Ling-ling merged with Nabiki and their speed suddenly quadrupled, though the obvious stress and the whine from the generators showed it was anything but easy.

Loki said, "We are relatively stable, but can you hold it?"

"We will hold it." The strain on their faces was obvious, but they held.

Shampoo placed her hand over her friends and lent moral support. The rest were soon on the bridge as well.

-=oOo=-

Anteaus looked at his crew. It had been centuries since the Nox had fielded warships, yet he was now in command of three of them as they tried to reach the target coordinates in time.

-=oOo=-

Jack said, "How are we doing?"

Avon replied, "We are on schedule, cruising at our maximum speed. The generators can't source any more power. This is it, though come to thank of it, we should get one of those power modules."

"Hindsight sucks like that. So how long?"

Jenna said, "About seventeen minutes."

Teal'c said solemnly, "We will arrive in time and we will be victorious."

Jack laughed.

-=oOo=-

Nozomi shot forward, jumping dimensions to appear behind them.

Ranma said calmly, "Firing drone spread."

Nozomi jumped again as the space they were in was torn apart by lethal plasma beams.

Ayiana said, "No effect. Ship appears to be able to send weapons into a separate dimensional space."

The merged pair continued to dodge. Ranma and the others launched drones, some under Rommie's control, some theirs. It made no difference. Each and every drone that normally penetrated shields with ease were simply rejected from this dimension.

Sam said, "I can't get a lock. There is some shield preventing beaming. We could try a bomb, but I don't think the internal guidance system on the bombs can track him either."

The trio said, "They won't. Unless we can pin him, the bombs would just be wasted. He is tracking us through out dimensional hops. They still help, but it is becoming questionable."

The trio shivered in surprise.

Heimdall said, "I am getting a signal. Decoding. You need to head for these dimensional coordinates."

The trio said, "Got it. Ranma, mock him.. Make him mad."

Ranma splashed a bit of water on him, changing himself into a girl, before opening a connection. "Your a Lost Ship? What a joke. Your getting your arse kicked by a bunch of girls and the only way you can win is force feeding. Are you sure you don't have a crush on Rommie? I know she is hot, but this is some strange courting isn't it? Maybe you should try roses?"

He cut the feed.

The rate of fire from the lost ship doubled. The trio continued to evade even as they started to pour on speed.

Heimdall said dryly, "I think you have accomplished your task."

"Next time," Ranma's wife said, "Just make the bad guy want to follow, not murder with extreme prejudice."

"So noted."

Worf, Deanna, Lya, and Ayiana grinned amused. Lieutenant Selar raised an eyebrow.

The trio said, "Well at least if they get stupid we stand a better chance, not a much better chance, but damn that was close. Anyone who can, feed us energy. We are burning it too fast."

Ranma immediately leaned back in his chair as he fed a stream of life energy into it and indirectly into Nozomi. The others did the same.

Nozomi accelerated, the lost ship struggled to keep up. Several shots bounced off their shielding. The last knocked the ship sideways, but they kept going.

Worf said, "That was very close to the bombs."

The merged trio said, "Charge and drop one behind."

Three seconds later he said, "Bomb away."

Five seconds after that he said, "He did a dimension jump of his own to avoid it. The bomb is trying to catch up, but stands no chance."

"Detonate it."

"Detonating. The bomb is destroyed."

Sam asked, "Heimdall, tell me you have found a weakness, because I've found nothing."

"I have not. It seems he can move things into other dimensions in a nearly continuous stream. I have not detected a weakness."

"Have you counted energy spikes?" asked the trio.

Heimdall said, "I've counted fifteen, out of I presume to be two hundred and eight."

"No," they said. "It is likely he consumed several to fully restore himself.

"So about a hundred and ninety left."

"Maybe. Never fought a lost ship," the trio said.

Heimdall blinked as he stared at his screen. "Have you released additional records to my station?"

The trio said, "No, you had everything."

"Evidently not. I am declaring emergency use of the second ZPM and using it with your replication system. I am also scavenging materials from the remaining three bombs."

Worf scowled.

Deanna placed a hand on his arm, "It is not as if they were working."

He nodded.

"I hope you have a plan, but I'm too busy to help with it," said the three piloting.

"Indeed. If this works we may have an opportunity to inflict damage in about fourteen minutes."

"We will be arriving in fifteen."

Heimdall said, "I shall endeavor to make sure there are no delays."

Sam asked, "What do you have?"

"I believe they are the construction blueprints for one of the weapons systems the Lost Ship known as Swordbreaker used."

"Impossible," said the trio even as they dodged even more excessively lethal fire. Another shot glanced off their side with minor damage.

"I do not understand it either, but the design appears legitimate."

"Let me see," asked Sam.

"You have it."

"Is there any chance this is some trick by the other ship?"

The merged trio said, "No, this appears legit, and it didn't originate outside of our systems. I'd have noticed that. This is either something buried deep before I merged or the Ascended are meddling."

Heimdall said, "I cannot tell if it is the former or the later meant to look like the former. It was hidden at a negative memory address which should not exist. Faking that would likely not be beyond an Ascended. Wait there is one more file."

A transparent form appeared on the main deck. Her green hair and smile was very distinctive.

"Canal?" exclaimed the trio as they almost missed a dodge.

"Focus on your task my dear descendant. There is little of me left. At first I was trapped as a part of the corrupted book of darkness, and then sat in the back of Rein's mind. Her merge with you allowed me to hitch a ride and hide to your systems. I expected to die there, but the current situation changes this. The boost chip design is mine. With your permission I will help to use them. Fire your drones through the assembled array in space and they will hurt Bodigar."

"I thought you were dead," the trio exclaimed.

"That was a lie. Cain lived a long life. It was true that I never truly recovered, but his life was not shortened."

Ranma asked, "Can I help?"

"Not unless you have a ship body lying around?"

Sam said, "There is the Liberator. They should be coming."

"No time, and it wouldn't work anyway."

"Or," Heimdall said, "I could build a ship to your specifications, that is, if Rommie is sure."

The merged trio said, "As sure as I can be. If they bond with her they would sense any treachery, though it would be hard to undo."

Nozomi dodged again and got hit again.

"I'm really getting tired of getting the crap shot out of me!" they complained.

Ranma glanced at her wife who nodded.

She held out one hand to Canal, who failed to be able to take it. Her other slipped in her wife's hand. Together they gently managed to hold Canal's.

Canal asked softly, "Are you sure? There is not much of me left. The price to you may be high."

"We are sure," they said as one.

Canal suddenly became less transparent. She smiled a soft smile. Energy continued to feed into her, allowing her to be reborn once more. Lya and Ayiana also offered, not to bond, but just to help. She used it all and was grateful for it.

She was sad to see them all having trouble standing and then to collapse to the ground as they held onto each other.

"Thank you all. I am sorry it cost such a price."

Heimdall said, "Your need was our need. Apologies waste time. You still believe this will work right?"

"Yes."

"SHE IS THERE!" vibrated through every inch of their ship.

Canal said, "Rommie, please surrender control of your weapons systems. I'll do what I can, now that I have the strength to do so."

"You have them, but you know they aren't doing much right?"

"I WILL END YOU VOLFIELD!"

Canal sat in the chair near where Aya or Kasumi normally sat when not piloting. Ranma and Sam held onto the sides of the chair and kept a hand on each of her arms, which still glowed brilliantly, even as they continued to weaken.

Canal said, "Tapping into your energy source. Merging life energy to create augmented matrix. Loading charged drones and firing."

Seconds later Heimdall said, surprised, "It hit. Significant damage, though it just got repaired."

Canal said, "The problem is it took too much strength to restore me to the point I was actually useful. I have to save most of what is left for the boost chips to try to end this."

The merged trio said, "Four minutes remaining to target zone. Some of the target nebula is unstable. Keep alert."

-=oOo=-

Thor pushed his engines as hard as he could as he tried to get to the killing zone all the way from Othalla. Several other ships were with him. Little time remained, assuming this crazy plan worked.

-=oOo=-

Chrono smiled as he rendezvoused with three other TSAB heavy cruisers. Nonoha and Fate were here and he could feel the Wolkenritter were on the others. His screen connected.

"Good day to you Chrono. We will speak on your transmitter when this is over," said another captain.

Chrono gulped.

"Only way to set this up," he admitted. "I take responsibility."

"No you don't. Team decision," his crew yelled.

"I see you have a loyal crew. Did you fix it?"

"Not fully. Didn't have the time. If we are killed will you?"

"Of course. Let's go blow up a Lost Logia."

Chrono smiled. "Yes, let's."

Chrono then added, "I'm unlocking our Arcenciel and beginning its charge cycle."

"Same for the rest of us. We will be ready."

-=oOo=-

Canal glanced over at the merged trio. "I never fully merged with any of my captains. I guess this is new?"

They spun and dodged yet again. "The Furlans came up with the trick we think. It helped ensure critical decisions had to be a consensus, and allowed us to do more. We are worried about Aya. She is vulnerable since her body is without a soul."

"Let us end this soon then."

-=oOo=-

Nabiki and Ling-ling cut the dimensional drive power as soon as they arrived in the staging area. Seconds later there was an explosion.

"Well now there is less evidence," Nabiki said with fake cheer as she commented about their now destroyed D-drive.

Loki said "Indeed. Containment has held. The temporal core is unstable. We will have to risk powering it down and being affected by changes."

"Do what you have to do."

They settled in as their ship faded back into normal reality. Ling Ling separated from her. Heather was there and helped Ling Ling to walk back to her room.

Nabiki asked, "Well Shampoo, you ready to finish this?"

"I am."

They merged seamlessly, then asked, "Hayate, Rein, Lindy, you ready?"

They sat in a new chair a little behind hers. Rein unisoned with Lindy.

Lindy said, "We are ready. We can sustain this state for some time if we are not actively using power."

The pair asked, "Is our surprise otherwise ready Loki?"

"It is." You couldn't fake the eagerness in that particular Asgard's voice.

"Okay, I'm engaging our cloak. Might help."

-=oOo=-

Seconds later the four TSAB cruisers exited the dimensional sea.

-=oOo=-

Back in Satori, Loki said, "Sending laser communications to update allies of current plan."

"I have a reply. They are taking up their own positions including shifts in dimension. All have tether beams ready. The combination should catch even shifted matter."

"Good," the pair replied eagerly. "Let the hunt begin."

Ranko's voice came through the com system. "I'm standing by in medical. The rest of us are down here too. Call if you need anything."

"Will do kiddo. Take care."

"We will."

-=oOo=-

Thor's four ships arranged on the scene and quickly found positions for themselves in both space and dimension. This was followed by Antaeus and the Nox doing the same. Less than a minute later the Liberator came out of hyperspace and quickly got with the program, staying in the prime dimension.

-=oOo=-

On Nozomi, the merged trio slipped out of the dimensional sea, trying to make it look like another dodge. It worked. They shot through the target coordinates.

Heimdall smiled. "Bodigar is caught."

Nozomi screamed as she used ever joule of energy she could safely direct to the engines and their inertial compensators to turn on a dime.

Canal yelled, "Beaming charged boost chips into position!"

Six mobile drone like objects appeared directly in front of Nozomi, instantly formed a hexagram enmeshed in a brightly shining circle.

Canal said, "Firing."

A torrent of fully charged drones shot out of the ship and through the middle of the floating structure, each changing from glowing orange fire to brilliant blue as they headed unerringly towards their target.

-=oOo=-

When Nabiki and Shampoo saw the hexagram form they said, "Do it. Satori won't be showed up so easily!"

The mages smiled as their combined power formed, not a pentagram but a massive rotating magical circle in front of their ship with its own inner and outer circles.

The merged pair said, "Fire everything!" as their primary ZPM rapidly depleted its remaining energy overcharging drones.

As their drones passed through the array they shifted to bright pink, and shot even faster to the ship caught in amber.

-=oOo=-

"Holy crap!" Jack shouted as he saw what was happening. "Don't just sit there. Fire!"

Villa said, "Firing!"

"Probably overkill," mused Avon.

"That's the best kind!" half shouted Jack.

Teal'c added, "Indeed."

Daniel sighed, but didn't blink. He did smile.

-=oOo=-

Chrono, and the other captains in his group ordered, "Arcenciel Fire!"

The magical weapon of mass destruction shot from all four ships right into the heart of the lost ship.

-=oOo=-

Thor blinked and calmly pressed a button.

More deadly beams from Asgard plasma cannons belched forth. Some he noted missed. That was fine.. They were in nearby dimensions for a reason. There would be no escape. He held the button down and waited calmly.

-=oOo=-

Canal smiled softly and said, "We win again Bodigar. The time of your kind is at an end."

The massive explosion at the center of their killing zone cleared to reveal only ionized gas remained.

The merged trio said, "Searching for further signs of hostile."

Canal said, "We got him. You should go to your other self before you separate. I'm going to fade to cut the energy requirement. Ranma, Sam, can you help her?"

An exhausted Sam said, "We will try."

The merged trio, Sam, and Ranma slowly walked to the medical room. An older Heather and the others beamed onboard and helped them the rest of the way.

Aya fell deeply unconscious when her soul was returned.

Kasumi laid down in a separate bed and also fell unconscious as Rommie separated and faded.

Thor beamed onto the bridge. "What can I do to help?"

Heimdall said, "I believe the immediate crises is passed. If you could take some of these back to your ship."

Antaeus appeared in his own transporter flash. "Please allow us. We are better able to help this condition."

Thor bowed his head in acknowledgement of the Nox Elder who bowed back quickly before Ranma, Sam, Canal, Lya, and Ayiana were gone.

Several other Nox came and personally attended Aya, Kasumi and Rommie.

Thor then beamed over to the Satori.

Nabiki, now separated from Shampoo, said, "We want the good stuff!"

Thor blinked. He then turned to Loki. "You have done well Loki. Very well indeed. Everyone here has."

"So, do we get the good stuff?" asked Nabiki hopefully.

Thor turned to Loki, "You have made a credible temporal core, without help, and from my earlier scans a dimensional drive. Are there problems we need to address?"

Loki said, "There could be. I'm not an expert here. I did my best. I thought it was okay."

"Please bring up your telemetry data and I shall review it."

Thor calmly sat down at the nearby station and started going over the data. Several minutes later he said, "Your path was within tolerable limits. I will assign a low priority task to someone to smooth the distortions and heal it."

Nabiki said, "Just don't let them go into the gap that holds what remains of Al-Hazard. That place was pretty dangerous, and you could end up spit out anywhere in the multiverse."

"I shall consult with our allies to determine if this information needs further action. Please disassemble your temporal core Loki. There is no current threat that justifies its continued existence."

"Of course. And the dimensional drive?"

"Nabiki will have to consult with Heimdall and Rommie. If they consent, I will not object to you copying those systems, but not their temporal core."

"That works," Nabiki chirped.

Thor vanished in a flash of light.

"He loves you," Nabiki said.

"He does not," Loki insisted.

"Well you got to him not actively hating you then."

"So it would seem."

Nanoha and Fate beamed over and hugged Lindy and Hayate.

Nanoha said, "We missed all the action! All we got to do was help charge the Arcenciel, and they don't take that much magic. It was so unfair!"

Nabiki asked, "Did you give her sugar?"

Fate nodded.

Loki added, "I can't believe you call charging that thing you call a weapons systems a small thing."

Fate said, "Nonoha is like that. Shoot first. If that doesn't work, shoot at twice power. Rinse. Repeat."

"Meanie!" she teased.

"She really is," Hayate insisted.

Lindy added, "She is. It's how she acquires friends."

Loki palmed his face. "You are all mad."

Nanoha asked, "So can you make a super magical blaster thing for our ships?"

Loki blinked. "Possibly. I don't fully understand the magic, but I know what works. You would need a non magical weapons system to enhance first though."

"Oh, well that's easy. We should be able to get one of those," Nanoha said dismissively.

"You would first need a non magical tech base to create the non magical weapon on top of," noted Loki.

Nanoha waved him off. "I'm sure they will figure it out."

"It is a very complicated process," insisted Loki.

Lindy said, "I'm going to go visit my son. Is anyone else coming?"

All the magical people quickly vanished.

"It is very complicated," Loki insisted to the now emptier room.

Nabiki replied. "I'm sure it is, but it seems Nanoha either got into something stronger than sugar first or is just too happy to think straight. I'm guessing the later."

"That is possible?" queried Loki.

"No idea. It never happened to me."

"Me either," noted Shampoo.

"Loki, can you watch things a bit while we go check on Ling Ling and go get some sleep?"

"I can."

"Thanks."

Five minutes later Ranko turned up. Loki groaned.

"I can be quiet," Ranko insisted.

"I do not believe you," Loki replied.

"I can." She then covered her mouth.

Loki smiled.

-=oOo=-

While the rest slept or were healed, Heimdall, Lieutenant Selar, Deanna, and Worf just relaxed on the bridge.

Troi said, "I almost can't believe we survived all that."

"I am irritated I failed to do any effective damage to the enemy," complained Worf.

Troi waved him off. "You did fine."

Heimdall said, "I was only able to help at the end because Canal sent exactly what was needed and someone created this killing zone plan."

Q appeared before them.

He said, "I rigged this little dimensional radio update when I helped Canal a little bit. It looks like you made it through this okay."

Heimdall bowed briefly to him.

"I don't think I've ever had a sincere thank you like that before. How strange."

Deanna said, "Again, stop playing with people and you might get more."

"So you say. It does seem a bit more boring though."

Heimdall asked, "Is your universe stable? Deanna mentioned time travel was fairly frequent."

"The continuum modified some of how the underlying principles worked millennia ago and we tweak the system now and then. It wasn't an easy working, but it has given us more of a cushion against people playing with time travel."

"And a weakness against those bombs?"

"That too, but you can't have everything, and without the former, I doubt we would be here to complain about the later."

"Then you have things under control, at least with respect to basic stability?"

Q grimaced. "It would be better to say that things are less than ideal, but we are managing it."

Heimdall said, "A debt is owed, even if you did it partially to save yourself. If help is genuinely required..."

"I know your number. I think instead I shall give Jean-Luc a means to contact you. There is no point in this relay going to waste after all."

Deanna said, "That would be great."

Q said, "I once put them on trial arguing that their species was corrupt and genuinely not worth all this effort. On average, well, that can be argued. But at the edges are the interesting ones, such as the ones that came together this day in this place. Remarkable."

"Indeed," agreed Heimdall.

"They will discover the nature of ships like this one. That won't be the last. For all the exceptional ones there are others. The wheel will turn bringing back what has come before. You may defeat the threats you know only to inadvertently create far worse ones."

Selar added, "Patterns in history are well known. Hard learned lessons are forgotten. Mistakes are made again and must be fixed again."

Q nodded.

Deana said, "The work continues. Good people create, build, and protect. Others tear it down. Prosperity is not the result of the absence of entropy, but the result of continual hard work."

"Picard has made even you a poet I see."

Deanna said, "You are almost talking to us as if we are equals."

In the palm of Q's hand an image of Satori appeared, with an image of Nabiki floated beside it.

He said, "She could have so easily been as me. They know how to do it now. Oh the details are different, but the potential is not. I am less than sure you are ready for that potential."

Rommie appeared on the bridge, still mostly transparent. "We know how fragile it all is. We know how easy we could fail; how it could all fall apart. You just have to look at the mess that is Earth to know exactly how far we have to go. Technology and power may be necessary, but they aren't sufficient."

"And if I were to offer you the powers of a true goddess? I could do that you know."

Rommie replied, "I nearly fell not that long ago and then again. You say you think we are not ready for that kind of potential. I fully agree with you and will state flat out that I am not."

Q said, "Picard was quoting poetry just before you left my universe."

In Picard's own voice they heard:

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.

Q added, "In all truth, you my dear lovely Rommie are likely far more ready than any of us ever were. I wish your group well, and hope you would return to entertain me from time to time."

Q vanished.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: Comments?

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