A Universe of Change: Realized Probability
Disclaimer: see chapter one.
Author's Notes: Hope u enjoy this.
Summary: The Enterprise C and D blunder into the borderland between the Scarren Empire and The Peacekeepers. This fic is a part of AlbertG's Ruinations series and has been written with his express permission.
Chapter Six Point of View
In the Scarren fortress of Katratzi, Emperor Staleek, resplendent in his finest sat in on his throne. He hid his fear well as War Minister Ahkna played the recording taken of a skirmish one of their dreadnaughts had been in, for the third time. The recording showed the dreadnaught engaging two minuscule Peacekeeper ships of unknown types. The Peacekeeper ships moved with a startling grace he hadn't see any ship equal except perhaps by Leviathans, and even then not at the speeds seen and recorded here. The two ships proceeded to use an unknown particle beam at first before firing only three missiles that moved at near light speed. They reduced the dreadnaught to its molecular constituents. In all, the engagement, the Emperor snorted, the fast skirmish, had lasted all of mere microts.
Microts, for frell's sake! screamed Staleek's mind in disbelief. The most powerful class of warship in the Scarren Empire wiped from existence in microts, by two small Peacekeeper vessels! It was unthinkable! And Unbelievable! And yet it had occurred! "Enough, turn it off," he ordered gruffly before Ahkna could play it again. Three times was more than enough for his tastes. Commandant Grayza was coming to Katratzi, in every communiqué she sounded so sure of herself; was this why? Did they have entire fleets of these new vessels hidden away? Another very disturbing thought came to him, she was so sure of herself, did that mean that she and the Peacekeepers truly had Wormhole weapons, as well? This could spell the end of the Scarren Empire! Of the entire Scarren people!
War Minister Ahkna opened her mouth and said, "We must retaliate now! This boldness of there's must not be allowed to pass unanswered!" she said arrogantly.
"Be silent!" he shouted at her, his mind was racing through the probabilities of this situation, "Leave me now, and allow me to think…and do not mention what has happened to anyone!" he commanded vehemently.
Commandant Grayza's reasons for coming to Katratzi were becoming darker by the microt.
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Onboard Commandant Grayza's Command Carrier, which was heading towards Katratzi, Commandant Grayza was relaxing in the bath in her utilitarian and functionally decorated quarters, mentally preparing herself for the coming meeting with the Scarrens.
"Ma'am, I think you'll want to see this," said Captain Braca to Commandant Grayza as he interrupting her bath.
Grayza's eyes flew open and she found Braca standing at the foot of her bath at attention, eyes in respectfully looking upwards.
"What is it, captain? Did I not tell you not to interrupt me except when we arrived at Katratzi?" she demanded irritably.
"Yes ma'am, but our spies on the Scarren border have relayed to us some disturbing footage," Braca replied seriously.
Grayza frowned, "Show me," she said impatiently.
Braca placed a holographic projector on the edge of the bath and activated it. The device Literature up and began to project a fuzzy image. The image quickly resolved itself into that of a Scarren Dreadnaught. The dreadnaught proceeded to open fire and launch fighters at two small white-gray ships.
What happened next made Grayza sit up in attention and draw closer to the projector.
The ships absorbed the dreadnaughts initial fire with ease and then started to move at impossible speeds while at the same time opening fire on the fighters, quickly destroying them. The larger vessel then had the audacity to strike at the dreadnaught itself, Grayza mused, thinking that the bigger ship had bitten off more than it could chew. Instead she watched in muted horror as the ship proceeded to fire red missiles of some sort that vaporized the dreadnaught in microts. The ships then left the system by some type of non-Hetch FTL drive in a flash of white light. The recording ended and Grayza turned on Braca predatorily. "Whom do these ships belong to?" she demanded.
"Apparently ma'am…us," Braca replied.
"WHAT?" she screamed at him drawing herself up to her full height and ignoring her nakedness, water dripping from her body.
Braca eyes flickered over her bare body and swallowed, "Our spies say that these ships sent down shuttles to a nearby Commerce planet. Our spies positively Identified the occupants as Sebacean, ma'am," he replied hesitantly, stressing that it was the spies that were saying these unknown ships belonged to the Peacekeepers. "But…"
"But what, Captain Braca?" she demanded irritably as he mind went over the possibility that someone in Peacekeeper Command could have built advanced warships without her knowledge.
"Ma'am there was writing on the hulls of the ship and…I recognize it ma'am, I've seen it before," he replied hesitantly.
She frowned at Braca and took a moment to look him over. She noticed that he seemed to be trembling slightly, "Well captain, where have you seen it before?" she prompted icily.
Braca swallowed nervously before answering quickly, "On Crichton's ship ma'am."
Grayza's eyes widened in surprise and she plopped back down into the water in surprise, causing waves to knock the holographic projector off of the side of the bath and onto the deck. Water also splashed onto the deck and Braca.
Her mind was reeling with incredible possibilities. Human warships? It couldn't be! Crichton was from a backwater planet. Both his interrogations at the hand of Scorpious and her Skreeth had proven that! Another very dark thought struck her. Had it all been a ploy for them in order to gain Intel? Crichton had proven resistant to most forms of interrogation, had he also managed to fool the Aurora chair? Had John's origins, from a primitive world called Earth, been merely a fabrication, put on solely for their benefit? The possibility was astounding and terrifying.
She shuddered. Did they have fleets of these ships AND wormholes weapons? Where they just waiting for the right moment to swoop down and overrun the Scarren Empire and the Peacekeepers? Had Crichton been sent here to destabilize the whole area in preparation for an invasion? She asked herself in horror. From that point of view, every action that Crichton had taken was suddenly making a great deal of sense to her.
This conferred even more importance to her mission to keep the peace between the Scarrens and the Peacekeepers-if they fought one another then the Humans would overrun them both with ease!
She turned to Braca, "Do not speak of this to anyone Captain! How long till we reach Katratzi?" she demanded in shock.
"We will be there shortly, ma'am…I was about to inform you when this arrived," he explained.
"Excellent captain, remember nothing much go wrong with these negations…nothing!" he exclaimed fiercely.
In Picard's Ready Room on the Enterprise-D, Captains Garret and Picard were snarling at each other across his desk over her decision to allow Commander Benjamin Sisko and Lieutenant Larz Dax to accompany Commander Crichton on some sort of mission
"Let me get this straight," declared Picard incredulous. "You allowed Commander Sisko and Lieutenant Dax go off with this man, that you yourself have said showed many signs of paranoia!"
Garret wincedPut that way it did sound a 'little' outrageous, "Yes I did," she answered defiantly.
"What the hell possessed you to allow such a thing?" he demanded irritably, ripping into her as if she was a junior officer.
Garret's eyes narrowed at his tone, "Captain Picard please remember that I am not some junior officer for you to snipe at! I am a Captain, who in fact is technically, senior to you! As to why I did that, since we have arrived in this dimension, we have been utterly lost, our people shot at for no discernable reason and you have annihilated a Scarren Dreadnaught…" she held up her hand to forestall his rebuff. "…albeit they did attack us first, still you could have disabled the vessel. Instead you proceeded to blast it to subatomic particles-as I see it this is our chance to make a friend," she told him acidly.
Picard glared back at her, and they locked eyes for several moments before Picard broke the contact. "So I see, let us just hope you have not sent two good officers-my officers-to their deaths," Picard retorted cuttingly.
"You needn't worry they aren't going on a suicide mission, Commander Crichton reassured me that it was a simple rescue mission, there shouldn't be any big problems," she reassured Picard, "He said he had a good plan worked out already."
"That's it? He didn't elaborate any more than that?" demanded Picard.
"No he didn't, besides there wasn't time," Garret said offhandedly.
Picard sat back in his chair; he didn't like this situation one bit. They had too little information for his liking…and not enough Intel on something was a sure way to loss any battle, albeit they weren't in conflict with anyone…well other than the Scarrens, he admitted darkly to himself.
"My gut tells me this was the right decision," reassured Garret.
Picard only scowled darkly in response, but he didn't add anything.
She continued anyway. "When they succeed, Commander Crichton will be much more receptive us, I assure you. Also during the course of our talks, he did let slip several facts that I think will make you more receptive to this risk."
Picard turned hooded eyes on her.
"Commander Crichton let slip that he does indeed know where Earth is," this caught Picard's attention, "…and also when we are."
Picard sat up straighter in his chair, "Well?" he demanded tersely.
Garret dropped a bombshell on Picard, "It's apparently the year 2003; closer to 2004," she stated evenly.
Picard's eyes widened in surprise as his anger was forgotten, "What?"
"It is now the beginning of the twenty-first century," Garret repeated clearly.
Picard's mind was racing, his mind latched the sudden implications of what he had done to the Scarren Dreadnaught, "But that means…"
She sprang the full meaning of their encounter with the Scarrens, "Yes, Earth has no interstellar capability to speak of and YOU may have made Earth an enemy that they will not be able to fight off for several centuries," Garret said coldly.
Picard sat back in his seat, coldness gripping in midsection, but something still didn't make sense, "Wait, if Earth have no interstellar capabilities then how did Commander Crichton get out here?" he asked with interest.
"Apparently it was some sort of an accident. He didn't elaborate that much," Garret replied "though as they were preparing to leave I did hear one of the aliens with him mention something about a latent wormhole."
"A wormhole? There aren't any wormholes in the vicinity of Earth close enough for an early twenty first centaury ship to reach at sublight speeds!" Picard exclaimed.
Garret just shrugged in response, "Apparently there are in this dimension." She paused, as she knew that Picard definitely had many other questions that she wouldn't be able to answer until Sisko and Crichton returned. "Either way, we won't be hearing from them or receiving any more answers till they return with their friend, somebody they called Scorpious."
Picard remained silent.
Garret changed the subject, "What about the UTs? Did Commander La Forge figure out why they weren't working properly?"
Picard nodded, "Apparently the transition to this dimension caused them to shift to another frequency, but it was only a slight change that is why at first glance they appeared to be operating normally. Geordie has already adjusted them all, including the ones with Sisko and Dax, neither we nor they should have a problem with them again."
"Good." Garret moved on to another more important subject. "What about Commander Data? What did he have to report?"
"He's found Earth," Picard answered lightly.
It was Garret's turn to be surprised, "What? And you're just telling me this now?" she demanded irately.
Picard shrugged, "Well you have been busy," he retorted.
Garret glared at him, but she let it slide. "Where is it?"
It was Picard's time to drop bombshells on Garret, "According to Mister Data's calculations it should be approximately one hundred light years past the far border of the Scarren Empire," he answered humorlessly.
Oh god no! thought Garret. "Please tell me you are kidding Jean-Luc…"
He shook his head negatively.
Garret sat back in her chair as the blood drained from her face in shock, her mind reeling this horrendous piece of information. Why they'd have to traverse the whole width and breadth of Scarren Empire to reach Earth and be able to protect it from the Scarrens reprisal that she knew was going to come from their destruction of the Scarren Dreadnaught.
"This is terrible!" she stated, "Especially given what Crichton told me quickly of the Scarrens"
Picard looked at her sharply, "What did he say?"
Ash-faced Garret looked at Picard, "He described them as being worse than the Peacekeepers and he called the Peacekeepers, quote 'Space Nazis'"
Picard's eyes widened in surprise and shock, this was not good…not good at all.
Author's Notes: Hope you like this chapter, Sorry for the delay and as always Read, Enjoy and Review!
