A Tangled Web Part 4
Chapter 7
By Ordinaryguy2
SPACE
"Well, what do you think?" Apollo asked.
Starbuck took another look around before answering. "I feel like a tiny bug that's about to be smeared across an oncoming hull plate."
The two Colonial Warriors had managed to get back to the hanger without getting lost. They had been dismayed and furious about finding their ships half-taken apart, but then they spotted the Vipers belonging to Boomer and the rest of his pilots and borrowed two of them. Now, outside the Visitor mothership, everything seemed to have changed. Thirty motherships, each five miles long, swarmed over the slightly smaller three Cylon BaseShips.
As the two Viper pilots watched, intense laser power from one of the BaseShips bit deeply into one of the Visitor motherships, and thus knocking it into another mothership. Electrical fires fanned by escaping oxygen marked the damaged areas of both ships as they slowly limped away to assess their damages and begin repairs.
All three BaseShips managed to avoid being fired upon again by the Particle Beam Triax fired from the Leader's personal mothership. Then all three rushed towards the ship.
"Whoa! Looks like the Cylons figured out that it takes a few minutes to charge that Triax weapon before it can be fired again."
Apollo grunted in agreement with Starbuck. "Colonial and Cylon sensors must be a lot further advanced than the those of the Visitors or else the Visitors would have known better than to try hide something that gives off an energy reading that high."
"Live and learn," Starbuck answered stoically.
"At a moment like this that really is the answer. C'mon, let's get in there and see if we can distract at least one of those BaseShips." Apollo turned his Viper toward where all the much larger ships were gathering. Starbuck followed alongside.
As they flew towards the battle, both pilots noticed a large number of smaller vessels departing from the motherships.
"Looks like they got the same idea we did," commented Starbuck.
"The more the merrier," replied his friend.
"Why did you have to say that? Now look!"
A number of fighters could be seen leaving the BaseShips and adding to the brawl. The Cylon fighters soon discovered that the Visitor fighters did not have adequate protection against their superior firepower and were quickly putting a dent into the Visitor attack force. None of that did anything to stop two Cylon BaseShips from concentrating their firepower on a nearby mothership and causing it to explode.
Starbuck would have rather played tag in an asteroid field than go into the melee before him, especially since he had finally determined that he should settle down and ask Cassiopeia to become sealed with him.
"Ready?" asked Apollo as they neared the edge of the mad whirlwind of BaseShips, motherships and one-man fighter vessels.
Starbuck swallowed. "As ready as I'll even be, I guess."
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CRYOGENIC STORAGE AREA
Q and Q2's selected contestants moved smoothly into the room. Their arrival had not gone unnoticed and was welcomed. Jack O'Neill had made sure that they got through as quickly as possible thanks to a radio call from Ham Tyler.
"Glad you could make it," greeted O'Neill as they all took cover behind some benches. "I've been told you are familiar with these cyborg zombies from Hell." He let the statement hang there. He wasn't one for long introductions when things had to get done.
Dr. Crusher nodded. "They're called the Borg. Think of them as a virus that wants to infect all of us. What we have to do is eliminate them before that happens."
"Sounds good to me," agreed O'Neill, "but we can't seem to touch them with our laser weapons. And I don't know how long our jolly, green giant can keep them back."
"Giant?" asked the Starfleet doctor.
O'Neill motioned for them to peek over the side of the cabinet to the battle being fought on the other side.
Vash whistled. "Will you get a load of that body!"
Beverly mentally agreed with the adventurous Vash. Though only from a medical viewpoint, she reminded herself.
As they watched, the emerald behemoth known as the Hulk roared in pain as he was shot by a drone with another energy blast. The angry creature leaped at his attacker, swatting away the arm with the tubules, causing the arm to break in three places despite its metallic reinforcement. The Hulk picked his opponent up over his head, and then threw him into the far doorway, crushing two drones that were just entering the room. The Hulk roared in victory as well as warning at the drones to stay away.
Beverly, always a doctor first, had her medical tricorder out and was scanning the Hulk from her position. "Amazing. He's been infected by the Borg nanoprobes, but his body seems to be resisting their effect."
"He's been stabbed a few times now. He received his first stab in the chest. Turned the whole area gray. Now you can barely see it. Since then those Borg things have also stabbed him in the shoulder and the leg. If you watch closely you can see it slowly fading away."
Beverly shook her head in disbelief. "But how is he fighting off the nanoprobe infection?"
"I'm not sure exactly. But we do seem to have one guy around here that seems to be familiar with that creature. You might want to ask him if it's really important." O'Neill motioned to some of his men. They came out of their sheltered spots and quickly moved to some of the cryogenic sacs nearest to the fighting area and began taking them down. Everybody avoided making eye contact with the enraged green human, as per instructions. The Hulk looked at the men and women with distrustful eyes but otherwise made no aggressive moves toward them except a low rumbling growl.
"The main problem we are having is that all these cryogenic sacs contain people. We're doing our best to clear them out of the area and give the green guy more fighting room whenever there is a break in the fighting. Do you think your people can help with that?"
B'Elanna Torres nodded. "We can lay down a suppressing fire in order to give your people more time to clear the area. Our weapons were designed to be effective against their shields."
O'Neill grimaced. He didn't like the thought of having his people collecting the cryo sacs during the actual battles. "We could try it with a few volunteers, but I won't have my people risking their lives frivolously if it proves too dangerous."
"Understood," replied B'Elanna.
Beverly studied the readings gathered by her medical tricorder. "Amazing! Evidently, he's Human in origin."
"Amazing," agreed Vash as she continued to stare at the muscular green man.
"He also seems to be saturated in gamma radiation. Doesn't seem to radiate very much though. It seems mostly concentrated within him. That must be the cause of his mutation."
"I agree," responded a voice behind the Starfleet officer.
Beverly turned to see a handsome, lean man with greasy hair and in his late forties crouching near her wearing a Visitor uniform with the pants too big and the top too small. She also noticed that he was barefoot.
"Hi, I'm Jack McGee. I'm a newspaper reporter and I've been trailing the Hulk for years."
"The 'Hulk'?"
He pointed over at the muscular green man. "Can you think of a better name for him?"
"How 'bout 'the Hunk'?" contributed Vash as her eyes lustfully ran up and down the Hulk's body.
Beverly wanted to reprimand her but she knew that the archeologist/thief wouldn't listen to her and that it would only add more fuel to the fire between them. Instead she focused her attention back on Jack McGee who began to fill her in on what he knew of the Hulk and what he suspected about his physiology.
Meanwhile, Kira Nerys and B'Elanna made plans about where they should position themselves to get the best shots at the Borg as they entered the room. They moved quickly, avoiding the Hulk, and took cover.
B'Elanna was surprised when Harry moved in alongside of her behind a tipped over cart. "Hey, Harry. Find your own spot."
"This should be big enough for both of us," argued the young man.
"Something bothering you? You normally don't argue with me."
"I'm fine," he said as he drew a bead with his weapon toward the doorway.
B'Elanna studied her friend for a minute. She knew that he wasn't afraid. At least not unreasonably so. Yet he seemed rather preoccupied. And he wouldn't talk about it which usually means that Tom was involved in some way, but he was back in their universe on Deep Space Nine while Harry was here with her so… "Is Tom having you watch out for me?"
Harry sighed in defeat. "Well, you two did just get engaged and this is a rather dangerous mission involving unknown dangers on parallel worlds and the Borg." He looked at her straight in the eyes. "Can you really blame him?"
B'Elanna was about to try do just that when Kira's voice came over her comm-badge. "We have Borg activity."
Kim and Torres immediately were on alert. As they watched, a drone bent over the bodies sprawled in death blocking the doorway. The drone, a Visitor female, carefully took a component out of each of the bodies, then stepped away as the bodies disappeared in a shimmer of energy. With the bodies gone, more drones started coming through the doorway.
The Hulk bristled in his hatred of the vile creatures. He roared his challenge at the drones and stood his ground waiting to see if they would come at him.
Kira, Torres and Kim all leveled their weapons and prepared to fire. They were interrupted by a call from Dr. Crusher. "Crusher to Everybody. Let the Borg go to the Hulk. Just shoot the drones that don't go to him."
"Why?" asked Harry.
"He needs to keep fighting," answered Crusher. "His anger and his fighting keeps his gamma-irradiated metabolism going. The gamma radiation is interfering with the nanites that are already in his system and his incredible healing factors are cleaning up the damage they have already caused. As long as he doesn't get injected with more nanites, he'll be completely healed in five to ten minutes."
"How are we supposed to insure he doesn't get stabbed again if he's going to be fighting most of them?" B'Elanna demanded.
"Very careful shooting," came the reply. "Meanwhile, Kai Winn and I are going to be back here helping to open more of these cryogenic sacs. Good luck."
"We're going to need it," muttered B'Elanna. Even as she watched, the Hulk threw one of the drones against the fall wall where it hit with a sickening thud. Other drones continued on toward him unfazed and with tubules extended.
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SPACE
Apollo caused his viper to flip and madly flew closely along the side of the Cylon BaseShip at a breakneck speed as he tried to lose the two Clyon vessels pursuing him.
"Starbuck, are you open to give me a hand?"
"Are you kidding?" came the reply. "It would take me a centar just to find you in this mess! And that's if I was lucky!" He paused for a moment. "Are you going to be alright?"
"I'll manage," he replied as accomplished another barrel roll with his viper. Whatever he tried he just couldn't seem to lose his two tails.
Suddenly shots fired from one of the Visitor tankers hit the Cylon vessels. Though the laser weaponry wasn't enough to destroy the vessels outright, it was able to knock the two speeding vessels slightly off course and make it hit the hull of the BaseShip they were skimming along.
"Thanks whoever you are!" called out Apollo.
"Hey Apollo!" came a call over his comm system.
"I'm alright, Starbuck."
"I knew you would be. But that's not what I wanted you for."
"Something wrong?"
"Oh yeah, I just noticed a number of Cylon transport vessels heading toward that Visitor ship we were on."
Apollo paused in thought for a moment as he fired on another Cylon fighter. "Why would they do that? That mothership isn't even participating in all the fighting."
"I don't know, but-whoa!"
"Starbuck! Starbuck! Are you all right!"
"Yeah. Just received some 'friendly fire'. Suddenly I'm rather glad the Visitors weapons aren't as powerful as the Cylons."
A tremendous explosion occurred nearby sending a number of the smaller vessels crashing into each other or into one of the motherships.
"There goes another BaseShip."
"Yeah, that Particle Beam Triax of the Visitors is really cutting them down."
"Too bad they only have one."
Another massive explosion caused wreckage from other vessels to ricochet off the viper Apollo was using. "Boomer's going to want an explanation as to what I've been doing to his viper."
"That had to be another mothership going up. How many have they lost now? Five? Six?"
"Worse. I think we just lost our edge," explained Apollo.
"The Triax?"
"And the mothership it was on." Apollo took his frustrations out by firing on any and all Cylon vessels that crossed his path. Suddenly, he noticed a large number of the smaller vessels from both sides veering away. "What the…"
He looked over to the side and then quickly hurried away. "Starbuck! You aren't going to believe this!"
"The Battlestar Pegasus!" howled Starbuck over the comm system.
The colonial Battlestar moved up swiftly and opened fire at every weak point it could spot on its targeted BaseShip. Three missiles filled with solenite managed to get through the Cylon defenses and found their mark. As the Pegasus swerved away, half of the BaseShip erupted in explosions.
"The tides are definitely turning!" shouted Starbuck.
"About time," agreed Apollo. Just then a Cylon fighter passed in front of him before he could get a shot off. Apollo readied himself so that the next ship would not.
"So what do we do about the Cylons?" asked Starbuck.
"I think the Pegasus is already taking care of it, so we don't have to worry anymore. After all it's one BaseShip against a Battlestar and over twenty motherships."
"Not them. The ones that were heading toward the mothership that we were on before."
So much had been happening that Apollo just couldn't keep track of it all. Maybe this was a younger man's game. Maybe someone like-
"Hey, dad!" Apollo looked at his comm system in disbelief. "Did you leave anything for the rest of us?"
"Boxey?" Apollo was shocked at hearing his son's voice. "Where'd you come from?"
"Hitched a ride with the Pegasus. The Galactica will be here shortly and then we'll really clean up on the Cylons!"
The young man's enthusiasm reminded Apollo of what he and Starbuck must have been like as new recruits. "You can't imagine how good that is to hear. Meanwhile, I've got to contact a mothership about a pest problem."
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STERN SIDE SHUTTLE BAY ON THE MOTHERSHIP
The Doctor walked, deep in thought, down the end to the wall with his scarf wrapped twice around his neck and his hands in his pockets. Things were not working out at all on this mission. He hadn't even been able to meet up with his Starfleet allies. After their narrow escape from the Borg by fleeing into the ventilation system, they had managed to come out into the hall near the shuttle bay where they had first arrived on this mothership.
Just as he was about to enter the shuttle bay, he noticed Borg activity across the room. Centered all around his TARDIS. "Oh, now they have gone too far!"
Leela and the others hurried forward to see what was wrong now. "How do we get them away from the Tardis, Doctor?" asked Leela.
Her answer didn't come from the Doctor, but from the arrival of six vessels that did not match those already parked there. That seemed to interest many of the drones as sixteen of them turned from whatever duties they were working on and headed straight towards the new arrival. That left eight still analyzing the structure of the TARDIS.
The Doctor motioned for Kyle Bates to come forward. "Anyone you know?" he asked, pointing to the six vessels that were just beginning to open.
The dark-haired young man shook his head. "Never saw that model before. Think it's friendly?"
"We will just have to see."
A series of laser fire lashed out form the interior of the newly arrived vehicles which killed five drones instantly. The killers slowly walked out in single file. Each was humanoid in appearance and entirely encased in a type of body armor. But it was the exactness of their movements and the red light that flashed back and forth where their eyes should be that let the Doctor and the others know that these were robots. As they exited, they started to form rows with those in the front continuing to fire on the drones. That is until the drones suddenly stopped falling to the lasers fired at them.
The remaining Borg drones began returning fire on Cylons. One of them spoke. "We are the Borg. We will add your technological uniqueness to our collective. Resistance is futile."
"Hmm," thought the Doctor out loud, "I think they are right on that last part. Resistance doesn't seem to be going them any good at all." He felt a tapping on his shoulder. Turning he saw that Elizabeth was trying to get his attention. "Yes?"
"That console over there. It's blinking."
"Yes? What of it?"
"Well," she went on to explain, "it's a communication console."
The Doctor looked over at the console. It was only a little ways into the shuttle bay and nowhere near where all the fighting was going on, but whoever went out to check on the console would definitely be making a target of themselves. "Last time we were here, K-9 said that most of the communication lines throughout the ship were not functioning."
"But," Elizabeth persisted, "the blinking red light means that someone is trying to get an answer from here. Or maybe it's a general hail to whoever they can still communicate with."
"Oh, very well." The Time Lord brushed off his hat and then pulled it down hard onto his head. "Everybody wait here. I'll see who's calling."
Keeping low, the Doctor hurried over to the console while keeping an eye on the battle going on just a short distance from him. Sensing a presence behind him, he turned to find his companion, Leela. "Leela, what are you doing?"
"Guarding your back."
He was about to protest that she had been wounded recently, but realized that her pride would not stand for her backing down. Besides he could see Paul Forrester and his son Scott carefully watching the battle to make sure that it didn't come too close. He knew that the two of them would use their powers to protect Leela and the Doctor to the best of their ability while they were in such an exposed position. "Very well, Leela, but from now on listen to what I say."
"Of course, Doctor."
The Doctor just sighed and pushed the blinking light. "Hello? Hello? Anyone there?"
For a moment he thought no one was there. "Hello!" came the reply. "Where are you? And what is the situation where you are?"
"I'm in one of your shuttle bays. And the situation here is-" He took a moment to look around him. The Borg were easily winning. Some had stopped firing and were dismantling their fallen foes. Other drones were still advancing on the remaining Cylons. Those Cylons still functioning were trying to work out a means of defeating an enemy that they couldn't shoot but that could shoot them. "-the situation is getting very dangerous!"
An explosion caused by a Cylon tossing a small solenite bomb had decimated a small group of drones.
"And loud!" concluded the Doctor.
"Who are you? Are you a Visitor or a Human?" asked the voice on the comm system.
"Yes, I am, but you can call me the Doctor. And I'm neither Human nor Visitor. I'm here to help with your Borg problem."
There was a momentary pause, then a new voice. "My name's Tyler. Heard from some of my friends about some of your friends. The ones from Starquest."
"It's Starfleet," corrected the Doctor.
"Just checking," admitted Tyler.
"Mr. Tyler? Ham?"
The Doctor looked up to see that Elizabeth and Kyle had also come over to the console. "Leela, see what happens when you set such a bad example?"
The huntswoman looked confused. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
Before the Doctor could explain he realized that Elizabeth was already talking to the man named Tyler.
"-so the Leader had control of my mind the entire time. And when I was brought to his shuttlecraft, I-"
"Pardon me," interrupted the Doctor. "But I believe we have more important things to discuss with your friend."
Normally Kyle would have come to his girlfriend's defense, but the Doctor was right. He laid a hand on her shoulder so as to hint that they should go back to shelter.
"Just one thing then," Elizabeth said. "Ham, not only did Kyle and I not blow up in that shuttle explosion, but the Leader is alive here on the mothership as well."
"Already know that, hon," answered the voice through the speaker. "Kind of got a truce going on with him right now as we deal with other matters. And don't worry. I don't trust him any more than I'd trust Diana."
"We saw Diana, too," commented the starchild. "But she got away."
"All right, little lady. One question for you. Do you trust this Doctor fellow?"
"Yes, Mr. Tyler. And you can trust him, too. He saved our lives and has managed to keep us alive through some horrible situations. I think you'd like him."
"I don't know about that. He sounds British."
Kyle snickered. Elizabeth blushed. And the Doctor almost exploded. "I'm Gallifreain, not British, though Britain is a very lovely and relatively civilized country all things considered on this planet!"
Kyle and Elizabeth quickly said their goodbyes and left the Doctor and Leela to manage the console and deal with Ham Tyler.
"Those kids gave you a pretty good recommendation. I trust them so therefore I am going to trust you… for now."
The Time Lord wasn't sure at all what to think of this strange character he was talking to. He was definitely smart, dangerous and most definitely paranoid and rude. Yet somehow he had also earned the love and respect of Elizabeth. The Doctor really wanted to meet this fellow sometime in the future and learn more about him. "Yes, that's very good. Shall we get on with it then?"
"Yes. Can you give me the rundown on these Borg characters? Like what we can expect and what weaknesses of theirs we might be able to exploit."
The Doctor looked around at the battle around him. So far the Borgs and Cylons were concentrating on each other and were over two hundred yards from him so he decided to give Tyler the quick version about the Borg and their quest to incorporate whatever intelligent lifeforms and advanced technologies they come across into their collective. When he was finished, there was silence from the other end. The Doctor almost thought the line had gone dead.
"They can really do all that?" Tyler asked in amazement.
"They have been working on that objective since they got on board here," the Doctor pointed out.
"Yeah, I've heard of a few encounters."
"There is one other thing you should know."
"What's that?" asked Tyler.
"There are some Borg here now fighting some kind of robot soldiers. Know anything about that?"
"Yeah. Just got word of it a minute before talking to you. Consider them as unhealthy for you as the Borgs are. Now answer me this: Do you have a means of getting off this mothership?"
The Doctor looked at his TARDIS, which was still being examined by eight drones. Elizabeth, Paul and Scott should have no trouble removing those obstacles. "Yes."
"Good. You have fifteen minutes to get clear of the mothership. If you aren't off by then, I'm not responsible."
"What do you mean? Hello? Hello?" He looked back at the console and saw that the red light was out.
"Doctor?" asked Leela. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm not sure. But I have a really strong feeling that we had better be inside the TARDIS fifteen minutes from now."
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CRYOGENIC STORAGE AREA
Jack O'Neill hurried back to his people. He had just gotten off the radio with Tyler and he was getting to like the man less and less. "We got problems, people."
"We know," answered Samantha Carter, who was finally awake again. "The Borg have found an entrance at the far end of this cryo locker. Reports tell us that they are already assimilating those cryogenically stored and are advancing on our position here."
She looked away from the fighting to see how he was taking the news. "I've already sent a team of twenty to slow them down."
O'Neill looked down to the far end of the room. He couldn't see it. The Cryogenic Storage Area was more massive than any football stadium, plus it was packed with hibernating people stored in gel-filled sacks blocking his view. "Call them back immediately."
"But-" Samantha began to protest.
"We have to evacuate everyone we can off this ship in the next fourteen minutes," he explained.
She was about to protest the absurdity of that but she could tell from his face that he wasn't happy with the idea either. "Can you tell me why?'
"No clue. But I know better than to doubt a time limit given by Tyler."
"What!"
O'Neill saw one of the new people, a redheaded doctor, come up to him.
"We can't evacuate this place in place in fifteen minutes! There are tens of thousands of people stored in here! We'd be lucky if we could do it in fifteen days!" yelled Dr. Crusher. "We supposed to be here saving these people!"
Jack looked at her with hard eyes that had seen way to much death already in his life. "If we don't get those we have already revived out of here in the next fifteen minutes we will not have saved anyone. All we can do now is take the remnant we were able to revive and go. Do you understand?"
Beverly stood her ground for a second, but she realized that time was precious at the moment. "Yes, but I don't have to like it."
Word spread among the Humans quickly. A quick series of shots by B'Elanna and Harry Kim had the last of the drones in their section discontinued. The Hulk blocked the entrance the Borg had been using yet again by throwing desks and computer consoles at it. Dr. Crusher was having every available cart used for transporting people still in cryogenic sacs while those that had recently been freed from the sacs but not yet revived were being carried by other people.
"Okay, Dr. Banner. You have to come with us now." Samantha Carter walked out slowly to the green monolith of a man. Silently, she prayed the only prayer she could think of. Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul will keep…
The Hulk growled softly but made no other overtures of attack. There was something in Samantha's eyes that he found soothing. Most people's eyes were filled with fear or hate when they saw him. But her eyes… The Hulk began to relax.
Even though everyone was hurrying because they knew it was most likely a life or death timetable that they were up against, almost everybody stopped to stare at the metamorphosis happening before them.
Beverly was one of the first out of her amazed-like stupor. She immediately had her medical tricorder out to record the event. Waiting until it was complete, she hurried up to the slightly dazed man before her. "Just a moment, I'm scanning to see in you still have any remaining nanites inside your body."
Dr. Banner looked around at all the destruction in horror. Borg bodies littered the area here and there leaking white body fluids. "Did I - did I do all this?"
"Yes," answered Samantha. "And you most likely saved us all."
Dr. Banner looked at her in stunned disbelief.
"It's true, Banner."
The man who could turn into the Hulk looked over to see Jack McGee, the tabloid reporter that had chased him for years while trying to discern the identity of the Hulk, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh no! Not you!"
"Peace, Banner. Don't get riled up over me," McGee said. "We still got a situation here. Go with the young blonde. She'll fill you in on the detail. I'm going to help out here."
Reluctantly, Dr. David Bruce Banner nodded.
"I can't believe this," commented Beverly as she examined her tricorder. "According to this, you are perfectly normal. Except for a mild dose of radiation, I couldn't find anything wrong with you. Maybe if I do a more thorough exam."
Banner was about to comment, but Samantha beat him to it. "We don't have time for that, doctor. Those drones will be back in here soon and we still have a lot of people to clear."
Beverly nodded in agreement and hurried off.
"Excuse me," called a female voice behind them. "But if you two are about to leave, would you mind carrying our friend out with you?"
Dr. Banner found himself looking at an attractive young woman with a crab- like ridge on her forehead and a young Asian man. Each wore a yellow and black spandex uniform the likes of which he had never seen before. They were also carrying a dark haired woman with a strange ridge on the bridge of her nose and wearing a most unusual earring on her right ear. "I… what?"
The two introduced themselves and their unconscious companion. The young man seemed somewhat leery of Dr. Banner but that was quite understandable considering all the vicious fighting the young man had watched Banner's alter ego do just a few minutes prior. The woman, however, was very determined. "We have to stay to hold back the Borg when they break through again. But Major Kira was stunned by one of the Borg so if you could take her, we'd really appreciate it."
"Um, sure," he said as he took one of Major Kira's arms and Samantha took another.
"I'll help," commented Vash as hurried over. She had a strange look in her eye and B'Elanna saw right away that it was Dr. Banner that she interested in.
"Good," said the half-Klingon. "Vash, you can help us slow down the Borg. Go over there where Major Kira's position was."
Vash was about to protest, but realized it would make her look bad in Dr. Banner's eyes so she didn't. So, with a sigh, she set out for Major Kira's original position.
"An unusual woman," commented Dr. Banner. "Quite a handful, I bet."
"You have no idea," snorted B'Elanna. Sensing movement behind the last barricade, she quickly sent them off and then returned back to her cover with Harry. It would all be over soon, she thought. One way or the other.
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THE BRIDGE OF THE MOTHERSHIP
Ham put down the walkie-talkie. He felt much better knowing that Boomer had gotten his longtime friend, Chris Farber, to safety on a shuttle after having his heart mended. He had been worried when Boomer had said they had been chased by some of the Borg drones.
He still wasn't sure of what to think of Boomer's recommendation of giving a medal to a man named Gilligan. Apparently when they had been chased into the zoological area, which held a number of specimens from Sirius IV, Gilligan had somehow smashed open the glass wall that encased the sand crivit. The area immediately filled with the loose sand and impeded everyone's progress. The sand crivit, not liking the strangeness it sensed in the drones, attacked immediately, allowing Boomer and his entourage to escape unharmed and unhindered.
He checked the shuttle off with Hugo who nodded in acknowledgment. They were being extremely careful. Every shuttle that left the mothership had to confirm their takeoff with the bridge or Ham was prepared to blow that ship and whoever was on it to kingdom come. Though many complained at the extremes Tyler was taking, everyone had to admit that it was the only way to ensure that the Borg didn't get off the mothership.
The Leader and Lydia had gotten to a shuttle unhindered. Their only complaint was the strict watchfulness of Mike Donovan and Juliet. Ham didn't care if the Leader was supposed to be his ally at the moment or not, he was not about to give up the advantage he had over them.
Ham looked out at the vast expanse of space. The stars twinkling on and off as ships flew back and forth fighting each other. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
Hugo looked up from his monitor for a second. "Sir?"
"Space." His hand went out dramatically to the wide screen in front of him. "It's beautiful. At least the parts that us intelligent species haven't mucked up."
"Uh, yes sir," the Visitor admitted, finding that he agreed with this Human's assessment.
He turned to regard Hugo for a moment. "Say, what is this mothership called anyway? We've always called the ship over L.A. 'the mothership' because it was the one that hovered over Los Angeles, but what do you call it?"
"Uh, we call it-" Hugo made a hissing, coughing sound.
Ham's eyebrows raised "Can you give me a rough translation?"
Hugo looked a little uncomfortable. "It basically means 'The Conquering Destroyer'. I think the Leader named it. I believe he named most of them."
"Figures," Ham said, as he spat on the floor. He looked at the viewscreen again. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. Tell Arthur to resume command until we come over."
Ham, Hugo and five other people all got up and exited to the emergency escape shuttle underneath the bridge. Once they entered Ham took the seat right behind Arthur, who was piloting the mothership, and next to General Hammond, who was looking rather nervous.
"Everything alright?"
"So far, so good," answered Arthur.
"Good. It's out of my hands now anyway." Ham leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "Let me know if something unexpected happens. Otherwise, don't wake me until we land."
"You're going to sleep!" Hammond asked in disbelief. "We could die at any moment and you want to sleep!"
Ham opened one eye yet looked straight ahead. "To be or not to be: that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them. To die; to sleep no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. It is a consummation devoutly to be wished. To die; to sleep. To sleep? Perchance to dream! Aye, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There's the respect that makes calamity of so long life." Ham took a moment to reflect, and then shot a glance at the general with his one open eye.
"Oh, go to sleep, Hamlet!"
Ham obligingly closed his eye. But he did so with a smile.
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SPACE
Boxey pivoted his Viper into a hard curve in order to shoot the Cylon vessel in front of him. "Yeah!" He was determined to beat Starbuck best score of blowing up Cylon ships in a battle. And with this many Cylon ships around he actually had a chance to do just that. "That's another one for me!"
The last remaining Cylon BaseShip was putting up a furious battle. The only reason it was still remaining was that it had gotten a lucky shot at the Battlestar Pegasus, which had practically crippled it. The BaseShip ignored the less powerful motherships as it sought to destroy the Pegasus as it was still considered the greatest threat. The Pegasus, while having many of its weapons down, still had propulsion and was leading the BaseShip around in circles as it ducked around some of the motherships. Many of the small fighters, who had gotten caught up in their own smaller skirmishes and not paid attention, had crashed into one of the much larger vessels. This same fate almost took Boxey twice.
"Come on," he said to himself as he began setting himself up for another target. "Where is the Galactica already? It should be here by - Whoa!"
Boxey power-dived down as he just missed getting rammed by a five-mile long mothership.
"Man! They were in a hurry." Boxey watched the mothership head into the battle zone as he tried to calm down his heart rate. Then two things struck him as odd. One was that there was no sign of any damage to the hull surface while all the other motherships had damage all over. The second was that the mothership was going way faster than the other vessels dared to with all the other ships flying around. It was when Boxey saw that it wasn't slowing down that he realized what was about to happen.
Just before the collision with the BaseShip, a small escape vessel from the underside of the doomed mothership detached itself. Then the mothership and the BaseShip were no more.
Boxey sat there stunned for a moment as he watched the fireball from the explosion slowly fade away. He had not been prepared for something like that. It was just too horrible.
Another Cylon fighter went by and Boxey sighed. All that was left now was to clear away the remaining Cylon fighters. Then he could get some real rest. And maybe even find out what this was all about.
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TRANSPORT VESSEL
The people on board the vessel didn't know whether to cheer or cry. The Cylon and Borg threats were gone. But at what a price. Thousands of Visitors had still been aboard when the mothership had exploded. Some of them had not yet become drones and could have been saved. And tens of thousands of Humans had died in their cryogenic sleep. But the threat of both the Cylons and the Borg had merited the terrible deed.
Mike and Juliet held each other close to comfort each other. All over the transport vessel many others could be seen doing the same thing.
"Oh Mike! All this fighting-it's so horrible! Will it ever stop?"
Mike Donovan took his eyes off the screen showing the vast wreckage of ships. He looked coldly at the Leader, who was just sitting and observing those around him. "We will fight only if we have to and only as long as we are still in the right!"
The Leader regarded Mike with amusement. "How melodramatic! How self-righteous! How droll!"
Mike gently pushed Juliet away. "I wouldn't be so smug if I were you. Your people are on to you now. They know that you have been manipulating them. And they will want to take it out on your hide for what you've done to them, to Earth and to Sirius IV."
The Leader leaned over to Lydia on the pretense of whispering to her though he made no effort to keep his words from being heard. "Is he always so amusing?" He didn't wait for her to answer. Regarding Mike, the Leader's forked tongue briefly tasted the air. "Do you really think that I had to manipulate 'all' of my people?"
"We will deal with those who helped you of their own free will later. Trust me on that."
The Leader just continued his train of thought, as if Mike hadn't said anything. "Some were quite willing to help me strengthen my people, though not all of them were the best leaders, like Diana and Lydia." His eye caught Philip who was silently seething in the corner. "Therefore I converted men like Philip and his brother Martin to help fill my ranks. True, an extended leave away from me would let them slowly revert to their normal personalities, especially those I only had to mildly enforce their loyalty. That wasn't really a problem since all of those I have converted always proved to be very susceptible to my control when I came in close contact again."
The Leader's words raced through Mike's head. If what the Leader was saying was true, then all the Visitors there in the shuttle with him had either sided with the Leader of their own free will originally or could be taken over by the Leader's powers at any moment.
"Mike!" Willie was crouching on his seat trying to hold his head. "He's trying to get into my head!" Thelma, his fiancée, was already staring ahead with a glassy look on her face.
Mike went to pull out his laser pistol, only to be tackled from behind by Philip. After hitting the floor, he turned and elbowed his Visitor friend in the jaw. Philip, being much stronger and durable, remained unfazed and reached down with both hands and began to chock the life out of Mike.
All around the room, the loyal Visitors that had been taken prisoner, as well as the Fifth Column members, turned on the Humans. Sam Beckett was doing his best to use his martial arts to defend himself while his friend Al Calavicci tried to offer advice and provide distraction since he was just a hologram. Daniel Jackson had his hands full, as he wrestled with the much larger Lt. James, who was proving to be more than a challenge even though he was still shackled. Lydia had likewise attacked Juliet and the two began a rather vicious catfight that the Leader found amusing and thus kept anyone else from interfering.
The Leader was enjoying himself. His head was throbbing fiercely, but the moment was worth it. He had to hold his control over Philip and the others for just a few more minutes and they would belong to him again
He spotted George Fox, one of the Humans that had held him captive briefly, rolling on the floor as he fought with two Visitors. "Well, it's my persistent follower."
George managed to hit one of his foes in the throat just as he was going to spit venom in his face. As that foe pulled away, however, the other was able to secure a hold on him from behind. Unable to get away, George looked up at the Leader and spat.
A smile spread across the Leader's reptilian face. "I have plans for you, annoying one. It will be a long time before you die. And I will show you more pain than you will think you can bear. But you will. Repeatedly."
"Oh yeah. Allow me to show you one first." With that, George kicked out hard with his foot, catching the Leader between the legs. The Leader's eyes just about popped out of his head as he fell to his knees. George followed up with another kick; this time to the stomach.
The majority of the Visitors in the room stopped what they were doing and sagged for a moment as if they were puppets that had just had their strings cut and were realizing they could move on their own.
Sam Beckett, seeing that the Leader was the root of their problems, pushed his now docile and confused fighting partners away and started to run over to help. When he saw the slight glow in the Leader eyes, he leapt at him to catch him in a flying tackle.
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TRANSPORT VESSEL
"Please?"
"No!" relied Boomer.
"Pretty please?"
Boomer gave him a strange look. He had no idea what 'pretty' had to do with 'please' so he just chalked it up to another Earth cultural reference. "I said no."
"C'mon. Skipper let me steer the Minnow. I can do this, too."
"I don't know what a Minnow is, but this is a space vessel and there is no way I am letting you near the controls, Gilligan. The others warned me about you and your accident proneness."
Gilligan stuck out his lip as he pouted. "Okay, Boomer."
He left the cockpit area, where Boomer continued to direct the Visitor pilots. Off in one corner of the transport were the Visitor food preparers who were still under guard by some of Boomer's Warriors, mostly for their own protection than anything else now that a lot of their former menu items had been freed. The only one that was even willing to talk to them was Professor Roy Hinkley and that was mostly because he was trying to learn about the ingredients and all the effects of the cryogenic gel.
Ginger was in her element in the other corner as she played the Hollywood starlet to the hilt for the twenty people that they had rescued out of the cryo sacs. Skipper was happily watching along with the rest even though he had seen all her routines many times already.
"Why so glum, Gilligan. We've been rescued! You should be happy."
"Oh hi, Mr. Howell. It's nothing really. Boomer won't let me steer the spaceship is all."
Mr. Howell shuddered at the thought. "It took us about twenty years to get off that cursed island, boy. Do you want to get us stranded on another planet for another twenty? And we don't even have luggage with us this time. No, you are definitely not flying this spaceship!"
"Thurston, remember your blood pressure."
"Yes Lovey dear," said the old millionaire as he gently patted his wife's hand. "At least this time if we get stranded anywhere, we'll have lots of animals with us. This place is beginning to remind me of Noah's Ark. Especially the smell," he complained as he pushed a young lamb away.
Mary Ann had pleaded that they bring as many animals with them as they could when they received Tyler's evacuation notice. It wasn't long before she had everyone complying with her request. Even those who had just been revived from cryo-sleep and had little or no idea what was going on couldn't say no to her with her beating her dark eyelashes at them. Thus the transport had a wide variety of animals running loose, though the more potentially dangerous ones like the ostrich and warthog were tethered.
A large, fat orange cat with black stripes began rubbing against Mrs. Howell's leg and stopped over now and then to look up at her with sad, hungry eyes.
"I think he likes you, Mrs. Howell."
"Oh! Take him away! Take him away! I'm allergic to cats!" She buried her head in her husband's jacket. A dove flew over and landed on his other shoulder, which immediately caught the cat's attention. The orange cat practically ran up Mr. Howell's leg in its efforts to get the dove, but was grabbed by Gilligan instead.
Gilligan held the cat to his chest and softly petted its fur. "Easy, boy. I got you."
"That dreadful, dreadful mangy creature! Just look what it did to Thurston's trousers!"
Gilligan looked down and could see tears that the overweight feline had made when trying to climb with his claws. "Well, at least they're old pants."
"Of course they're old! I've had them for over twenty years! They are practically a family heirloom now!"
"I bet one of the first things you do when we get back to Earth is buy a whole new wardrobe, right?" said Gilligan, trying to change the subject.
Mrs. Howell's eyes lit up. "Oh Thurston! We'll be able to spend money again! Won't that be wonderful?"
"Not as wonderful as working out deals to make even more money again." He laughed at the thought as she tried to tidy up his appearance from the damage that the cat had done.
"Oh dear, you have something on your shoulder."
Mr. Howell went to brush it off, but stopped when he saw what it was. He reached for his handkerchief with a scowl. The dove had left the millionaire a deposit.
Gilligan walked away from the Howells to sort out his own thoughts. A lot had changed in twenty years and he no clue what he would do now that he was off the island. Seeing Mary Ann sitting with her new basset hound pup over by the laboratory, he headed over. "Hi, Mary Ann."
"Hi, Gilligan. Found a new friend?"
Gilligan sat down and scratched the orange cat behind its ear causing it to purr loudly. "I guess so. But I have no idea what to call him."
"Did you check his collar?"
"Collar?" Sure enough, there was a collar around the fat cat's neck. Gilligan gently eased the tag around to get a good look at it. "Hey, it says his name is Garfield. He's owned by a Jon Arbuckle."
"Arbuckle?" said Mary Ann as she pondered over the name. "I've heard that name somewhere before-but where…?"
A short-haired yellow mutt with it's tongue hanging way out hurried over to her. It put its front paws on her knees and gave the young basset hound in her lap a lick to the side of the head.
"Careful, Odie. The puppy is still young and you have to be gentle." She looked at the dog in front of her again. "Arbuckle. That's was on Odie's collar, too."
Gilligan looked from the cat he was holding to the dog on the ground. "You mean they have the same owner?"
"That's right," she said. "I looked at Odie's collar earlier."
"Oh, so these two guys must be friends." Gilligan bent down to put the cat down by the dog. The fighting was instantaneous as the dog and cat immediately attacked each other. Gilligan was on the receiving end as well because he was still holding the cat. Mary Ann shouted something to him, but he was too busy to listen. With a mighty heave, he pulled the cat away from the dog and over his head. But lost his balance as he began to spin around and was stopped when the laboratory door open, hitting him in the face.
Having been hit in the head, Gilligan didn't see the villainess Diana coming out of the laboratory carrying a laser pistol until it was too late. But for that matter, Diana didn't see the fat cat that landed in her face until it was too late, either.
Diana struggled wildly with the sudden attack from the sharp-clawed orange beast that was trying to carve her eyes out while another beast bit at her feet. The commotion continued until Boomer hurried up from the cockpit and disarmed the most infamous Visitor ever to walk on Earth. Gilligan was able to pull Garfield off a little later with some effort.
Several of the scratches on Diana's face had peeled off sections of her fake human skin, revealing the reptilian features beneath. She looked up with disdain at her captors. "You may have me now, but I-"
"Lady, shut up or I'll have Gilligan put the cat back on your face." Once Boomer had it explained to him exactly who Diana was, all he wanted to do was to hand her over to the proper authorities and make sure she gets what she deserves.
Turning to regard Gilligan, Boomer wasn't sure what to say. "It looks like you're a hero again."
"Does that mean that you'll let me fly the spaceship?" asked the excited skinny man.
"Nooo!" came the yells of the other castaways who knew Gilligan all too well.
Boomer smiled. "Maybe some other time, Gilligan."
Characters in order of appearance or mentioned:
Apollo, Capt. (Richard Hatch) – from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)
Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) – from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)
Boomer, Lt. (Herbert Jefferson, Jr.) – from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)
Cylons – from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)
Visitors– from the TV series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
The Leader (never seen) – from the TV series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
Cassiopeia (Laurette Spang) – from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979) (mentioned only)
Q (John de Lancie) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-?), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager (mentioned only)
Q2 – a character of my own that belongs to the Q Continuum
O'Neill, Col. Jack (Richard Dean Anderson) – from the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
Tyler, Ham 'The Fixer' (Michael Ironside) – from the TV series V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
Crusher, Dr. Beverly (Gates McFadden) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
Borg – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988)
Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) – from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1990-1991), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)
Hulk / Banner, David (Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno) – from the TV series The Incredible Hulk (1978-1982)
Torres, B'Elanna (Roxann Dawson) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
McGee, Jack (Jack Colvin) – from the TV series The Incredible Hulk (1978-1982)
Nerys, Col. Kira (Nana Visitor) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
Kim, Ensign Harry (Garrett Wang) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
Paris, Lt. Tom (Robert Duncan McNeill) – from the TV series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) (mentioned only)
Adami, Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) – from the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) (mentioned only)
Boxey (Noah Hathaway) – from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979)
Doctor, The 4th (Tom Baker) – from the TV series Doctor Who (1974-1981)
Leela (Louise Jameson) – from the TV series Doctor Who (1977-1978)
Bates, Kyle (Jeff Yagher) – from the TV series V- The Series (1984-1985)
Maxwell, Elizabeth (Jennifer Cooke) – from the TV series V- The Series (1984-1985)
K-9 Mark I (voiced by John Leeson) – from the TV series Doctor Who (1977-?) (mentioned only)
Forrester, Paul (Robert Hays) – from the movie and TV series Starman (1986-1987)
Hayden, Scott (Christopher Daniel Barnes) – from the TV series Starman (1986-1987)
Diana (Jane Badler) – from the TV series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
Carter, Samantha (Amanda Tapping) – from the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
Farber, Chris (Mickey Jones) – from the TV series V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985) (mentioned only)
Gilligan, Willy (Bob Denver) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Hugo – a Visitor of my own creation
Lydia (June Chadwick) – from the TV series V- The Series (1984-1985)
Donovan, Mike (Marc Singer) – from the TV series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
Parrish, Juliet (Faye Grant) – from the TV series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
Hammond, Major General George (Don S. Davis) – from the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
Philip (Frank Ashmore) – from the TV series V- The Series (1984-1985)
Martin (Frank Ashmore) – from the TV mini-series V: The Final Battle (1984) (mentioned only)
Willie (Robert Englund) – from the TV series V (1983), V: The Final Battle (1984), V- The Series (1984-1985)
Thelma (Marilyn Jones) – from the TV series V- The Series (1985)
Beckett, Dr. Sam (Scott Bakula) – from the TV series Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
Jackson, Dr. Daniel (Michael Shanks) – from the TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
Fox, Agent George (Michael Cavanaugh) – from the TV series Starman (1986-1987)
Grumby, Jonas 'Skipper' (Alan Hale, Jr.) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Hinkley, Prof. Roy (Russell Johnson) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Howell III, Thurston (Jim Backus) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Howell, Eunice Wentworth 'Lovey' (Natalie Schafer) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Summers, Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Grant, Ginger (Tina Louise) – from the TV series Gilligan's Island (1964-1967)
Garfield – from the comic strip Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1978-present (cameo)
Arbuckle, Jon – from the comic strip Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1978-present (mentioned only)
Odie – from the comic strip Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1978-present (cameo)