30 Worlds: Megaforce, Episode XVIII: "Golden Voyagers"

CHAPTER EIGHT

Aboard DDV Amidala

Three Hours After the Defiant's Contact

William was feeling more upbeat about finding the A.I.C.'s anomaly generator following the contacts with the Prime Enterprise and the Defiant. "Incoming coded signal from the Voyager, William," Mal said. "It is marked 'For Prince William's Eyes Only.'"

William activated his tactical eyepiece and ordered Mal to send him Voyager's message. It was a text message from Captain Janeway:

Prince William-

We have been visited by the being we call "Q2," the son of the Q being that has been pestering Starfleet since the Enterprise-D first encountered him during the Farpoint Mission of 2364. Q2 says that the A.I.C. has captured his father, and that he is being forced to power the A.I.C.'s anomaly generator.

Please advise us on what we should do next.

Captain Kathryn Janeway

William deactivated his eyepiece and looked at Mal. "Mal, open a coded channel to the Voyager and transmit the following text message," William said.

He tapped several buttons on the command chair arm. On Mal's display, the words"Investigate your lead as best you can, Voyager. Just remember your orders regarding engaging the A.I.C. Prince William" appeared. "Message sent, William," Mal said after tapping the "Send" control.

"Sofia, we need to talk," William said before gesturing for Mal to take over command. Sofia followed William into the Ready Room. "What was that all about, William?" Sofia asked as soon as the Ready Room doors slid closed.

"Sofia, I just got a message from Captain Janeway," William said. "A Q is powering the A.I.C.'s anomaly generator."

A concerned look spread over Sofia's face. "And with a Q at the heart of it, the A.I.C. might just be unstoppable," she said. "Sofia, nothing is unstoppable," William said, taking Sofia by the hand. "We just gotta know where to stop it."

"You mean, find the A.I.C. headquarters, find the generator, free Q and shut it down?" Sofia asked. "Exactly," William said.

"Bridge to Prince William," Mal said. "Go ahead, Mal," William said. "We're getting a hail from the Enterprise NX-01," Mal said.

"Put it through," William said as a display on the Ready Room desk slid into place. Captain Archer appeared on the display. "Prince William, Princess Sofia, we've rendezvoused with a ship claiming to be sent by Queen Scarlett," Archer said. "I've sent you the details of the contact in order to confirm the assignment."

The file opened on William's monitor. "Thank you, Jonathan. I'll get back to you after I discuss this with Aunt Scarlett. Amidala, out," William said.

William then tapped a series of controls on the monitor's base. The image of Queen Scarlett appeared on the screen. "William, what's going on?" Scarlett said. "Aunt Scarlett, are you familiar with a vessel with the designation NSEA Protector?" William asked.

"Ah, yes, the Protector," Scarlett said. "I sent them to assist the NX-01. Is that what you're asking about?" Scarlett said. "Yeah," William said. "Captain Archer just wanted some confirmation." "Well, he has it," Scarlett said. "Take care of yourselves, you two."

"We will, Scarlett," Sofia said. "Good luck," Scarlett said before the display went blank. William picked up a personal display device and wrote a message on it. "Sofia, tell Mal to send this to the NX-01," William said.

Sofia nodded, then exited the Ready Room.

Fifteen minutes later, Sofia returned to William in the Ready Room, p.a.d. still in hand. "William, we've received an update from Captain Archer," Sofia said before handing William the device.

William checked its screen and found a message from Captain Archer, which read:

Prince William-

Prior to our rendezvous, the Protector's sensors tracked an energy surge coming from the Bajor system. It coincided with the Prime Enterprise's own readings on the sector. Based on this detail, we can only conclude that the A.I.C.'s headquarters in this world are located in or around the Bajor system.

Captain Jonathan Archer

A few hours later, the Amidala came out of hyper-light on the outskirts of Starbase Yorktown's security perimeter and saw the Starfleet ships. On the Bridge, William was in the command chair when Mal reported, "Incoming hail from the Enterprise-D."

"On screen," William said. Captain Picard was in the Enterprise-D's command chair as the ship's Bridge appeared on the Amidala's viewscreen. "Prince William, Commander Data and I require a private audience with you and Queen Scarlett. We discovered a piece of information during our investigation of the Genesis Planet that you two have to see in person," Picard said.

A few minutes later, William and Scarlett sat in the Amidala's Ready Room as Picard and Data walked in. "Jean-Luc, Data, what's going on?" William asked.

"Data and I were examining the files on an A.I.C. data recorder that we found on Genesis, and we discovered a message from Cedric," Picard said. Scarlett tensed at the mention of Cedric's name. "Prince William informed us of how Cedric killed your father, Queen Scarlett," Data said. "However, as it turns out, he had to do it."

In the blink of an eye, Scarlett pinned Data to the Ready Room bulkhead, her hand hovering close to Data's hidden shut-off switch. "Hear the message out, Queen Scarlett," Picard said.

Data held up an isolinear chip, which Scarlett swiped out of Data's hand in a lightning-fast motion. Scarlett then tossed William the chip, which he put in the monitor's chip reader. Scarlett then joined William in watching the monitor's display.

"Hello, my son," Cedric said. "If you and Scarlett are watching this message, then one of the Starfleet ships has been able to discover the A.I.C. data recorder I placed on the Genesis Planet of the 'Yesteryear timeline' in the Unaligned World of Star Trek. Listen very carefully."

"Every action I have perpetrated, such as the killing of King Marcus of Cinnabar, has been in the execution of my mission to investigate the A.I.C. I had to gain Great Leader Xur's trust, and in order to do so, I had to kill my brother. While I lament having to do so, I felt that to go against my orders would mean the total destruction of every dimension," Cedric continued. "The orders came directly from Master Yen Sid, who wanted to ensure that my son, William, would be able to grow to an age where he could take on his destiny to defeat the A.I.C. If I didn't kill King Marcus, Xur would have killed my entire family—including William."

Scarlett shot a shocked glance at William. "Scarlett, I know you loved my brother as your father and got very upset when he died. Please know that I did not want to do it. As Ambassador Spock once said, 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one,'" Cedric finished.

The display faded. William looked over at Scarlett and gasped at what he saw. Tears were beginning to fall from Scarlett's eyes. "Aunt Scarlett, what's wrong?" William said.

"How could I have been so blind?" Scarlett said. "Scarlett, you really could not have known," William said, placing an arm around Scarlett's shoulders. "You can only carry on and honor your father's memory by helping rid us all of the A.I.C.'s evil."

Scarlett looked at William. "You're wise beyond your years, my nephew," Scarlett said. "All because of your teachings, Scarlett," William said before hugging Scarlett. "Jean-Luc, you and Data had better return to your Enterprise. We make way for the Bajor system as soon as our Scarlett Army reinforcements get here."

Picard and Data nodded, then exited the Ready Room. "Scarlett, you should return to Cinnabar. I'll take care of things here," William said.

Scarlett nodded, then disappeared. William took a deep breath, then tapped a control on his desk. "Attention, all ships and personnel. This is Prince William," William began. "We've found our final destination: the Bajor sector. As soon as our reinforcements from the Scarlett Army arrive, all of our ships will proceed to Bajor and attempt to defeat the A.I.C."

Aboard the Enterprise-A, Kelvin Kirk and his Bridge crew listened intently as William continued: "All of you are the finest in your chosen fields and in your dimensions of origin. Hopefully, together, we will prevail."

Aboard the Prime Enterprise, Prime Kirk and his crew listened as William went on: "The A.I.C. are sure to come at us with all of their power. But, trust in yourselves and the crews you are a part of, and we can do anything."

Aboard the Enterprise-D, Commander Riker sat in the command chair and stroked his beard as William's speech continued: "You six crews from this world's various time planes are among the best and the brightest in the history of this dimension. Together, from across time and space, you have worked to ensure that this entire universe has a fighting chance to live."

On the Defiant, Captain Sisko stood with one hand on his command chair's headrest and smiled as William took a sip of tea, then continued: "I'm not gonna lie to you: it might be difficult, even dangerous. Some of us might not even make it. But, for every one person in our armada that falls, five more will continue the fight!"

On Voyager, Janeway and Chakotay watched as William rose from his chair and exited the Amidala's Ready Room onto the Bridge. "We of the Scarlett Army stand with you in the defense of this dimension and those that lay beyond the veil. So, let's be steadfast in our convictions and get the job done," William continued.

On the Enterprise NX-01, Archer looked at his crew. They had been through the horrors of the Romulan War, so they knew better than any of the other ships what they could encounter when they would fight the A.I.C. But, they were ready. "Together and as one, we sail into the unknown," William said. "Prince William, out."

On the Bridge of the Amidala, Sofia looked at William and smiled. "William, that was an amazing speech," Sofia said. "And I meant every word of it," William responded.

"Your Highness, multiple dimensional folds opening," Sergeant Tamora Calhoun said from the Tactical station. On the viewscreen, multiple ships belonging to the Scarlett Army exited dimensional folds. "Scarlett Army vessels, this is Prince William. Let's do it," William said.

As one, all fourteen ships in the combined Starfleet/Scarlett Army armada accelerated into warp drive, headed together into battle.

Next time, the battle for the Unaligned World of Star Trek finally begins...

::TBC::