"Darn synthesizer, can't even make a good meat pie." The little alien scrambled to pick up the small pie from its receptacle as his shuttle rushed along. It was a slow vessel, only capable of warp 3.5 on a good day, and today was one of the worst, a measly 1.2 registering on the console.
"Looks like I may not make it to Dynox II for 3 cycles yet. Better let them know." He started pulling up the communications array to align it for contacting the trade planet when the sensor pad behind him bleeped its warning. "Now what?"
Turning around he saw a spatial disturbance. It was small but he would need to make a small correction to make sure his ship didn't have to drop out of warp to pass through it. This delay would cost him another half a cycle. "I don't think my buyer is going to be awfully understanding about this. That's odd..." Though obsolete, the sensors had once belonged on a scientific cruiser from the Lynix, one of the most sophisticated civilizations in this area of the Delta Quadrant. It showed that the anomaly was increasing in size, and that space-time was warping.
It was showing signs of a wormhole.
"Well, aren't I lucky? Someone will pay a fortune for these sensor readings. Maybe I can stick around just a little while longer..." He informed his buyer that he'd be a day late due to the incident, giving him some time to gather the precious data. "Maybe I'll be able to fix the synthesizer after all." The pie looked bad, but at least it didn't taste as bad.
Might not be that bad of a cycle after all.
Forest hailed Enterprise, hoping he'd get through.
Hoshi answered with the sound of a frantic crew behind her. "Sir, bout time you got here, the Captain has been waiting for you." Without saying anything else she patched him to the helm, letting Archer have control of the situation.
"Archer, tell me you haven't thought about doing anything stupid yet."
"Oh, I've had thoughts." Archer kept his answer short as he had to focus and avoid three salvos from the spheres. "Took your asses long enough. What'd you have to do, blow up the UE building?"
'Tempted...' Forest didn't want to let his feelings be displayed like that. "No, but I probably won't be welcomed back. We've got the defense forces inbound."
"Tell them to keep their distance. These vampire-beings will beam aboard any unprotected ship. I've already have them on several decks since our shields started to fail." Archer saw Enterprise's cannons strike a finishing blow to another sphere. He had to suppress a yelp of joy as it exploded and heavily damaged another one that had been near it.
"All right you heard the man. Raise shields, bring all weapons to bear and give orders out for those who don't have shields to remain at long distance and fire on anything they can. How long until our other reinforcements get here?"
"The Vulcans are five minutes, Andorians six, and I can't get a hold of the Klingons."
"Tell them that if they don't get their asses in gear they are going to miss the fight of a lifetime and the honor will be all ours." Forest thought that would get them to pour on the speed. "How about Xena Station? Are they ready?"
"Yes sir, the Verteron Relay Station is on standby for coordinates." Forest smirked as he gave the order to target the enemy fleet.
"If they want to target our blood so bad, I think it's only fair we make them pay for every drop. Tell Enterprise to be ready to back off."
"A Verteron Beam? But its range is only out to the edge of the Oort cloud, we are far beyond..." Archer listened as the Xena Relay Station was explained to him. "Well I'll be a son of a bitch."
Archer turned the ship around and disengaged. The enemy decided to wait for their comrades and stayed where they were. Enterprise was bruised, beaten, and leaking plasma, but she was limping from the battle.
They were still alive.
He avoided the friendly artillery fire by moving through it and changing his course every few seconds so as to keep him from giving away everyone's defense position. Everyone let go of the breath they'd been holding. Andorian, Vulcan, and Human all were helping each other repair what they could, rescue their fellow beings, and beat back the intruders that still struggled their way through the ship.
Not one of them at this point thought of themselves as outsiders to the others, but instead they were one crew, one people, and one society.
On Mars, the Verteron array charged to full power and aimed for the reflector on the small dwarf planet over 94 AU away. This of course was not what the array was meant to do, but the workers had performed miracles in such a short time.
This shot would likely cause the array to have to cool for over half an hour, but at this setting should destroy any ships it touched even at the ranges it was firing at. The bad part normally would have been that the beam would have taken weeks just to reach Xena Station. The Vulcans had supplied the innovation to solve this by creating a temporary tear just above the array which led out to the station, the tear was only able to allow energy to travel through, and so the ship that was opening the tear was essentially abandoned from the battle. Supposedly there was another Vulcan vessel over Xena now prepping to create another tear to take the beam all the way to the fleet.
One of the workers wondered out loud why they needed to fire on Xena at all. Their supervisor explained this simply that Xena would expand the diameter of the beam to the point it resembled a wave, therefore able to hit more ships. He then gave the order to fire once all of the lights turned green
The Enterprise would spend months in dry-dock before being able to even travel about Sol under impulse, let alone go to warp. More than likely she'd be retired and scrapped in favor of a newer model. 'Never be the same though…' Archer thought as he surveyed the bridge finally, letting the pent up fear and adrenaline wash over him as they crossed the front line of the forming armada. By no means were they safe, but he could allow himself time to breathe and act as captain of his ship…what was left of it.
The only untouched panels seemed to be by tactical; Reed's trained calm must have spread out through the systems. Amazingly they still had all of their offensive capabilities, but couldn't take much more in terms of hits. Hoshi sat dazed as she heard the ship moan and groan. T'Pol had one arm in a sling and was being helped by one of the crewman coordinate the repairs.
"Hoshi." Archer walked over on unsteady legs and touched her shoulder, bringing her out of her fear filled world. "Are you going to be alright?" He got a nod from the Ensign. "Good. Patch me through to the Admiral please, on the main…in my ready room."
"Your ready room is without power." T'Pol wheezed softly as the crewman bumped into her arm. Even with the medicine Phlox had given her the arm still hurt a great deal, having only been given enough treatment to keep her in active working order, and not set and dealt with as it should have been. "Please, use my station." She stood up and looked like she was about to fall over.
"Report to sickbay and get checked out." He got a look from her. "I'll be down myself right after I get done." Archer moved over to the now vacated station and picked up the headpiece for private communications and nodded to Hoshi after T'Pol disappeared in the turbo lift.
"Admiral…"
"Let's cut the crap today John. You've earned it."
"You don't need to tell me twice sir. Why are we holding back?"
"A little surprise is on its way from Mars John."
"They have reinforcements coming in as well." He looked at the station's sensors. "About 2 minutes out as far as I can tell."
"I know. We picked them up as well." Archer heard him giving an order but couldn't make out what it was. "Just stand back and let this do its job. Tell everyone thank you. Even though that isn't even going to start repaying them for the work they've done."
"I will sir. If you don't mind I need to go visit sickbay. Mr. Reed will be in command while I am away. Can I ask you a question sir?"
"You can ask anything of anyone at this point I'd say."
"Did I just lose my command?"
"No John, you might be shacked up for a while, but I'll personally see to it you don't lose her." With that Forrest signed off and returned to readying for the next phase of the battle. Archer was led off by a medical aide after he nodded to Reed, who in turn looked over what he'd been given command of and could only think:
"God help anyone that comes across a ship named Enterprise."
The Verteron Beam hit Xena Station at 94.3% of its initial output. This was a higher than expected value and the engineers and scientists noted this for future research. Even the Vulcans were amazed that what they were doing worked so well, though of course "amazement" was best intoned by one with a deadpan "Fascinating."
Timing in battle is always an element that has a large dose of luck involved. This time luck favored the armada in defense as their enemy's reinforcements dropped out of warp and took positions alongside their battered brethren and began to move forward just as the beam, now wave, exited the final tear. To say the effects of such a thing were devastating would be an understatement. Out of 57 ships, only 2 were left.
And these 2 were disabled.
Archer received the news and rushed to the bridge, forgetting his earlier injury. As he arrived, a loud roar of cheering erupted. Even the Vulcans let slip bits of emotions as the tangible pressure that had pressed down on all of them the last few days suddenly was relieved. It is even rumored that an Andorian kissed one of the Vulcans, but since no picture was taken this is still just rumor.
The image that everyone on the bridge soon burned into their eyes was one Jonathon Archer, crying as he sat on the remains of his captain's chair. "Thank you Dad. She's a great ship." He couldn't hold them back anymore. He cried for the dead in his own crew and the ones he had been forced to murder. He cried for the pain and agony those in sickbay were suffering. He cried for everyone on the ship that couldn't.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" A figure flashed onto the bridge, a towel around her body and another around her head, a hole burned through it and still smoldering. "WHO THE HELL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT BEAM BURNING THROUGH MY SHOWER!" Everyone on the bridge was shocked and stunned silent. The figure peered at Archer for a moment. "Human…who is familiar with your species…oh yes…" She turned around and yelled at the top of her lungs. "Q!"
"You rang?"
"You have got to be joking. You were not at that battle because it never happened. Stop telling me fairy tales."
"Sorry Jean-Luc, but you told me to tell you about the origins of them and I told you I wouldn't until you were on your deathbed, so here I am keeping a promise. You shouldn't be aggravating me so much. A promise from a Q is a very precious thing. I think I'm the only one to make one to a lower life form in…well…at least a few eons."
"Q. This is your pet species what the hell are they doing with technology that rips into the Continuum?" She started tapping her foot against the deck plating as she watched the man snap his fingers trying to get away. "Oh no trickster, you are answering for this one. You've been fiddling around in their development haven't you? Been leading them to go in ways they aren't supposed to…in ways they shouldn't for almost a millennium. I'll see you punished for this. Maybe the others would lock you away for a while and keep you from peeping on me."
"Now that's unfair! I have never been caught, therefore how can you accuse me of that."
"Stop sidetracking! You have been fiddling around with these lower beings, so fix it or I swear you will not like what happens."
"Yes yes…but only because these fine people—"
"NOW!"
With a snap of his fingers the disabled ships disappeared and things were changed dramatically.
The spatial warping had now become a full tear as two ships drifted out of it. They were disabled and showed no life signs. "My cycle just hit the jackpot!" He took his ship in closer for inspection and was surprised when life forms suddenly appeared on his bridge as a hum faded away behind them.
"You will be assimilated." The female bit into the alien's neck, inserting the small nanobots through her fangs.
"So that is it? You are responsible for the Borg?" Picard stared up as the Q shrugged.
"More or less. Who'd have thought that they would live? I was just sweeping them under the rug hoping the continuum would leave me alone. Instead they made me a nice little prison until I promised not to interfere so directly in your development. That and I had to wait for the pre-arranged time for me to make the initial bridging of contact between us. Formal first contact in your terms is still millennia away."
"You are responsible for the Borg…" Picard couldn't get this thought off of his mind. Though his illness had rotted away his brain and taken from him most of his sanity, this burned through it all and in one last shining of fire Q felt the old man's hands close around his neck.
"So after all this time. It took that story to get you to be violent to me." Q chuckled as Picard let go and sat back down on his bed, exhausted by even this level of physicality. "I wish I would have known, I might have told you sooner."
"Q…come here." Picard motioned for the being to lean down as he felt his life leaving him.
"Oh, you want me to help you to hurt me is that it?" Picard shook his head.
"I….forgive…you…" With that, Picard's eyes closed and the biobed registered that the old man's artificial heart had given out.
"No one has ever said that…" Q looked down. "Maybe this was the better path for your species…." For the first time since he'd started toying with what he'd come to think of as his personal pet, Q took a moment and acknowledged that had they met in different circumstances, Q could have come to call him friend even despite the vast differences in their existences. At this time though there was nothing more he could do even if he wanted, for the continuum wanted the man dead for finding out what Q had just told him. It was one of the most closely kept secrets just below one other: the Borg had partially assimilated a Q, and had made themselves invulnerable to them as far as their destruction.
Of all the things they could do, there was only one thing they couldn't do, and that was remove those that targeted the blood of mortals to make them part of their own continuum. For a race of beings priding themselves on their superiority, this was the most damaging fact that could ever be recognized.
But that wasn't Q's problem. He had a new captain to toy with. The Enterprise-G had just left space dock, and he wanted to go see who was in the Captain's chair.
"Sometimes it sucks to be a Q." Q looked down at Picard's body. "Don't tell anyone I said that." He chuckled as he snapped his fingers.