Episode 21: Opposites Attract
Stargate Command
Daniel Jackson tried to sip from the warm mug of tea placed in front of him, but his shaking hands merely spilled the liquid down his shirt before it could reach his lips. Samantha reached over and took the cup from him, smiling reassuringly.
"We're glad to have you back, Daniel."
"Thanks," he muttered. Samantha patted his hand and Teal'c nodded slowly at the archeologist. Looking over at General Hammond Daniel asked, "Has anyone spoken with, um, Councilor Troi? Maybe I should go see her."
"Mr. LaForge is breaking the news, Daniel. You can see her when you get your strength up."
"It's probably not best you see her in your present condition, Daniel," Dr. Frasier said soothingly. No one had wanted to mention it, but Jackson looked a wreck after his encounter and subsequent interrogation by the Assembled constructs.
"How are the others doing, Doctor? Goliath and Chellis?"
Dr. Frasier swallowed hard and leaned over the table, resting on her elbows as her fingers worked her temples, "Chellis has an anatomy I have never encountered before, so I don't know if he is fine or not. He says he is anyway. I tried to examine Goliath but he just brushed me off. Then, about an hour ago at sunrise, he turned to stone."
"What?" Carter asked, incredulous.
"You heard me, he just turned into a statue. Apparently it is common among his species…whatever that is. At sunset he said he will return to normal."
Col. O'Neill and LaForge entered the conference room, interrupting the Doctor's weary account. LaForge looked exhausted, dark shadows visible under his artificial eyes. O'Neill threw himself into a chair and patted Jackson on the back. LaForge sat next to Carter, withdrawing a datapad.
"Any word from Captain Picard? O'Neill ventured. Normally he would get a mild thrill out of asking such a bizarre question, but the day's events had drained him of any levity for the moment. Hammond shook his head. "Listen, when we finish up here, I'm going to pop over and break the news to them."
"Commander LaForge and I have been going over the information Data and the Doctor extracted from their visit to the communications array," Carter began, "It turns out some of the data packets he downloaded were compressed information streams. Using the Enterprise computers, we managed to de-crypt most of the information."
"There communication compression is impressive," LaForge added, "they are able to convey terrific amounts of information with little bandwidth."
Carter lifted a remote control and pointed it at the large wall-mounted monitor, hitting a switch. An image of a planet appeared, orbiting slowly around. LaForge and the Major both stood and moved to opposite sides of the viewer.
"What do we have here?" General Hammond asked.
"This is the Great Machine, General."
"That's a planet," O'Neill said.
"I know. Apparently there is a massive complex underneath the surface of this planet, and it's what the constructs have been looking for all this time. It's possesses some kind of temporal manipulation technology."
"What's the in the corner?" O'Neill asked, pointing to the lower left.
"It appears to be a space station in orbit, roughly 8500 meters in length. From what we could uncover, its technology is inferior to the Federation or the Assembled. A variety of life forms were scanned, the majority human. It won't be able to protect the planet of the Assembled decide to send a ship…or a fleet."
"From what we can surmise," LaForge said, "with their incursion into our universe and the databases downloaded, the Assembled's level of technology should be the equivalent to the Federation."
"Until such a time that they find a universe with more advanced technology," Teal'c said.
"Correct. And when they do, we believe that they will head straight for this planet."
"Why do they want this planet?"
LaForge sighed heavily as Carter changed the view to a series of planets, all inter-connected, "We were able to uncover some equations from the Assembled database."
"By reverse engineering these equations, we uncovered some startling information."
"The Assembled have been looking for a device similar to this Great Machine – where they first heard of it we don't know, but the device can apparently manipulate time and space. The Assembled plan on making some modifications to the device, implanting their own Incursion Engine technology. Using it, they will cross-connect this Machine with the potentially infinite number of parallel Great Machines that exist in the multi-verse."
"Once this is complete, they'll activate a 'dimensional wave' that will disrupt the barrier between the universes, essentially collapsing them until only one remains. You can guess which one that would be - their own. That is the 'Great Fall' Data uncovered when he first interfaced with their databanks."
The group sat, completely stunned into silence.
"Then we'll just have to stop them," Councilor Troi said from the doorway, "anyway we can."
USS Enterprise
Doctor Crusher stood on the Bridge, reading a datapad. She had assumed command of the ship since most of the Bridge personnel were at Stargate Command or otherwise occupied. Worf was sending a message to the High Council, informing them he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from his diplomatic duties until this issue with the Assembled was resolved.
"Doctor, er, Captain," the helm officer said, looking away from his console, "two vessels are approaching."
"Identify them."
"They are Federation vessels. The USS Defiant and the…this can't be right."
"What is it, Ensign?"
"It's the USS Voyager."
"What? Hail them."
"Voyager to Enterprise," the communication channel suddenly broke in, "this is Admiral Janeway. Sorry for the unexpected visit but secrecy at the moment is of the utmost importance. We have come to assist…and we brought along some surprises."
Imperial Star Destroyer
"Consider yourself lucky," the lead Stormtrooper said, "Lord Vader is otherwise occupied. We're to escort you to the detention level for questioning."
"I must stress," Picard said, "time is of the essence. At any moment you could be attacked by the Assembled scouts. From what we have seen…"
"Oh, and what? These scouts are going to appear out of thin air? Is that how you managed to get aboard?" The guards began to laugh just as the air around them grew charged with energy. A column of light formed and a distinctive hum echoed in their ears. Col. O'Neill soon stepped out of the beam of light, took notice of his surroundings and removed his hands from his weapon.
"Whoops," he said.
"Greetings, Colonel," Data said.
"Diplomacy not working so well, huh?" O'Neill asked.
"It seems so," Picard sighed.
"Get these men to detention!" the lead guard bellowed, "And get Lord Vader down here now!"
Detention Level
"So 'Lord Vader', huh? Probably some over-the-top villain type. Big cape and everything."
"Have you been held prisoner before?" Picard asked.
"Oh lots. And there is always some super-dramatic guy in charge to do the questioning. He'll probably be like the System Lords, all grave speech and threats."
"Have you heard from Dr. Jackson and Captain Riker?" Data inquired.
"Yeah, about that. That's partially the reason I came here. Listen, there is no easy way to say this. Captain Riker…he didn't make it."
Picard and Data stared for a long moment at the Colonel. Picard then stood, straightened his uniform, and leaned against a wall. The wind seemed to have been knocked out of him.
"Riker and Daniel were making their way to the conduit when another construct arrived and attacked them. Riker made sure as many people got out as possible, and pushed Daniel out of the way of an energy blast."
"Wil…is dead."
O'Neill stood and placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder. He could feel it vibrate with tension. The man seemed to age before his very eyes, "I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't want to have to tell you this way, but you should know."
Picard inhaled sharply, "Of course. We're military men, you and I, Colonel. We can grieve for our fallen friends later. Right now, we must push those feelings aside. We must…" he paused a moment, his façade breaking, "Deanna…"
"She knows."
Data was about to say something when the door to their cell suddenly opened, two guards entering and leveling their weapons. From beyond the doorway the labored sound of breathing could be heard. The entrance filled with the body of a cloaked man, his body encased in gleaming black armour. He rose to his full height as he arrived, the entry too small for his impressive height. He placed his hands on his hips, studying the three men. A silver cylinder swung back and forth against his leg, clipped haphazardly to his belt. An officer scurried behind the large man, scowling at the prisoners.
"Darth Vader, I presume?" O'Neill asked, his eyebrow raised.
Vader said nothing, only continued to study the men. Picard returned the gaze in kind, analyzing his opponent. Vader's movement into the cell was oddly graceful and yet somehow erratic. His movement perhaps guided by synthetic means. From the sound of the assisted breathing, Picard mused that Vader was not an android like Data, but most likely a mix of human and cybernetic implants. From the way he held himself, he had grown accustomed to the artificially powered existence. A perfect blend of man and machine.
"I'm Captain Picard, of the USS Enterprise. This is my Science Officer, Lieutenant-Commander Data. The gentleman is Colonel Jack O'Neill, of Stargate Command."
"Two L's," O'Neill said, lifting two fingers.
"How have you come aboard my ship?" Vader stated. His voice echoed in the room, hissing out from beneath his helmet in a menacing tone, demanding no interference.
"We come from a parallel universe. We arrived here to warn you of a grave threat," Data answered.
"Indeed?"
"You are in great danger. We predict within a short time a robot from another universe will venture here and attempt to download your technology."
"Madness!" The officer scoffed, "Lord Vader, allow me to question them. Our interrogation drone…"
"Be silent," Vader said. The officer promptly shut his mouth, rubbing his neck in a worried fashion, "their uniforms are unlike any we have seen, and their weapons are both advanced and…" Vader turned slightly to O'Neill, "primitive."
"They get the job done," O'Neill responded, shrugging.
"My Lord, I would be remiss if I did not mention we have located Princess Organa's vessel. We near Tatooine."
"I sense no deception in these two."
"Let me study the droid then. Surely…" Vader raised a hand and the officer fell silent once more.
"Since these people have arrived I have been troubled. There is a great disturbance in the Force. Are you the reason?"
O'Neill leaned backwards and mouthed "force?" to Data. Data merely shook his head. O'Neill shrugged and looked back at Vader, "Look, all I know is at some point a giant robot is going to pop in here like we did and steal all your stuff. We came here to warn you and see if we can help. And since we are here, may I suggest you get that asthma checked out. You sound all phlegmy."
Picard shook his head and began to say something when O'Neill went white and rigid. Deep in his chest a gurgling noise could be heard. The Colonel's spine and shoulders were bent backwards, and he began to rise off the floor, his eyes growing wide. He was obviously choking.
"Stop this! We mean you no harm."
"We shall see," Vader said.
O'Neill continued to writhe helplessly in front of the Starfleet officers. Vader continued to choke the man when a claxon suddenly erupted around them. O'Neill dropped to the floor, gasping for air. The officer ran from the room and into the hall, hitting a communication panel and yelling for an update.
"I take it back," O'Neill gasped, "the System Lords have nothing on you."
"Intruder alert!" the officer called out to Vader.
"Darth Vader," Data said urgently, "you must cut power to that deck. Cut power to whatever computer consoles you have there. Your guards are no match for them."
"Lord Vader," the officer in the hall shouted, "a large droid HAS appeared on the ship! Our guards are trying to stop it but their weapons are ineffective."
"You have spoken the truth, as I suspected," Vader said to the men. Turing towards the hall he ordered, "cut power to that deck immediately. Destroy any computer consoles there remotely if you have too. Wipe them clean. Where is this droid?"
"The hanger deck, my Lord."
"Open the hanger doors and remove the force fields. Blast the droid into space. Target it with the turbo-lasers the minute you get a visual."
"At once, Lord Vader."
"It seems," Lord Vader said to Picard, "you now have an ally in this. Come with me and tell me everything you know about this threat. I sense it is greater than anything we may imagine."