Lord Antono Refa didn't like being away from Centauri Prime. Every moment he was away from the Royal Court meant a chance that the Emperor could make his own decisions.
With just one minute by himself, Cartagia could ruin everything Refa had been working hard for.
However, this was important enough for him to leave Court. Certainly much more important than any meeting of the Centaurum in which Refa had a seat. Anything decreed and passed by the Centaurum could easily be overturned by a single word from the Emperor, so Refa wasn't worried about that. It was only the young fool in the throne that he was worried about.
He looked at a monitor showing empty space, then at a noble lord standing beside him. The Centauri lord was so fat that Refa wondered if that was the reason Tolonian doorways were so wide. The fat lord turned to check out the shipyards and ships shown through the windows of the space station they were standing on, and said, "Lord Refa, I'm sure all will be satisfactory for you and the Royal Court. The Emperor himself will be...ecstatic."
Refa peered at the lord through narrowed eyes. "Does he know what it is that will be...'satisfactory' for us?"
"Oh no! Even the Grand Fleet Admiral believes I am merely trying to improve the efficiency of our warships. Which is the truth anyway."
"Lord Caen Tavari, I tire of this oblique approach. I have urgent business back on Homeworld."
The governor and fief-holder of Tolonius VII created a smile on his fat face. "We have set up monitoring stations outside of the Mokafa System, just outside the defense scanning range of Mokafa Station. We are about to send a battlecruiser to the edge of the system. Alone."
Refa raised both eyebrows. "Primus battlecruisers are notoriously expensive to replace. Even though they are strong, the Drazi wouldn't allow any to leave unharmed. Especially this close to their most important research station."
Lord Tavari waved off Refa's concerns and rang for a servant with refreshments. "Misinformation agents have told the Drazi to expect the ship in that part of the system. They will be on time to...deal with the battlecruiser. They cannot resist taking such a prize. Watch."
In the monitor, a jumppoint opened and a Primus battlecruiser came out and held its position at the edge of the star system in Drazi space. Refa took a sweetmeat wrapped around G'Quon Eth seeds off of a servant's proffered platter and watched the monitor carefully. If that Primus was destroyed, or worse, captured, the military would reconsider its contract with House Tavari, and the Royal Court, spurred by suggestions of treason, would become more open to the idea of transferring the fiefdom of Tolonius to another House or even back to the Imperium.
Finally, Lord Refa could see six Drazi sunhawks arrive at the scene. They must have been on the way from Mokafa Station already when the battlecruiser arrived. Lord Tavari's information leak clearly worked. He knew that the Drazi Freehold couldn't afford to put jumpengines on its warships. Feeling the mild high from the G'Quon Eth seeds, Refa frowned. He noticed something wrong. "Why hasn't the battlecruiser opened fire?"
Lord Tavari grinned and gestured at the monitor for Refa to keep watching.
Two of the sunhawks finally got in range of the battlecruiser and opened fire. As the Drazi energy bolts appeared, Refa thought about how best to discredit House Tavari at the Royal Court and to distance himself from his connections to Lord Tavari.
Then the energy bolts splashed against an invisible barrier, never touching the lone Centauri battlecruiser.
Refa's mouth fell open at the sight.
The battlecruiser finally opened fire, retaliating. The Primus also began to slowly maneuver, to lumber around to face the greatest number of sunhawks. The rest of the Drazi fleet came within range. The first two sunhawks did nothing, taking severe damages, obviously stunned at this latest development. Then the entire Drazi fleet opened fire on the battlecruiser, creating a fireworks effect around the still-unharmed Centauri warship.
Refa frowned once more. "Isn't the Drazi government going to know about this?"
Tavari laughed. "We took every precaution, including jamming their communications just before they shot at our ship."
The battle on the monitor was now approaching its foregone spectacular conclusion. Refa shrewdly looked at Lord Tavari out the corner of his eyes. He know that Lord-General Marrago found an ally recently and referred that ally to House Tavari. Refa had connected his House to Tavari for that precise reason. "Who is this ally that we have?"
Lord Caen Tavari smiled. The fat man nodded at his House guards to open a door in a side of the room. A humanoid shape came out of the shadows cast by the filmy curtains in the corridor beyond. Refa's eyes widened at the sight. The alien, for clearly he was an alien, appeared human if not for his fierce diabolical appearance. His eyebrows slanted up like a Dilgar's. His ears tapered up to a point, giving him an elfish look, but unlike the gentle elves of legend, the alien looked dangerous. His dark silver checkered uniform was clearly military, with a dark green cloak draped over one shoulder and tucked into the alien's belt.
Lord Tavari waved a hand toward the alien as he looked proudly at the Emperor's representative. "May I introduce Sub-Commander Veron of the Romulan Star Empire?"
At the Transit Point near the Vree SystemA Sentri-class fighter departed a Primus-class battlecruiser. Its pilot took in the familiar sight of the small Centauri fleet assigned to guard this empty area of space as he took his fighter on an all too familiar patrol routine. Three Primuses and nine Vorchans. The pilot shook his head. It was enough to conquer a small world. The Royal Admiralty had even seen fit to begin the construction of a small station. The skeleton was already laid in with construction robots flitting around it like insects, allowing the shape of two pyramids with their bases stuck to each other to take form.
Another fighter from another Primus soon joined him on his patrol around the fleet.
A voice crackled into the fighter pilot's communication system. "Is that you, Desmo Ducati?
The fighter pilot chuckled. "Yes, Rem Lanas. The usual, yes?"
Desmo could hear the other fighter pilot sigh. "Too usual! When are we going to see some action?"
He thrust a finger under his false-gold Royal Guard helmet to scratch. "Rem, you know that the Admiralty's still worried about more ships popping up from nowhere here."
Rem groaned. "Perhaps we could ask a captain to bring his ship just two lightyears thataway, then we will have some action!"
Laughing, Desmo absent-mindedly adjusted his course to avoid another crisscrossing fighter patrol. "Which kind of action? Are you so bored that even some sport with a Vree is starting to look like fun?"
"Ugh! You are really sick, Desmo! Just using our six selves would break those tiny puny Vree bodies!"
"Look who's sick!" Desmo laughed. Just then everything appeared to dim for Desmo. He could hear Rem calling him with concern, but he sounded so far away. Impossibly far away.
"Desmo? You all right? Your fighter's shrinking! Desmo? Desmo!"
The universe flickered for Desmo.
Then everything brightened back to normal.
The Centauri fighter pilot gaped at what he was seeing now. Instead of the familiar and comforting Centauri fleet, there was a huge white space structure and several ships of similar color. The structure was clearly a space station of some kind, really tall and thick with a broad top. It was as if the designers of Babylon 5 had decided for the vertical instead of the horizontal. Blue lighting shone from the underside of that broad top which had large doors in itself, one of which was just closing. It looked like that Earth plant he'd seen high naval officers try out once when he was a server in the VIP mess hall. What was it? A...mishuhm? The ships were different from each other, but clearly, they were designed by the same people who built those extra-universal ships at Babylon 5 he'd seen in a naval debriefing.
He had accidently fallen into the extra-universals' home!
Desmo whispered, "Looks like I'm not in Scoria anymore."
One of the smaller ships, this one had a saucer held in by two cylinders while pylons connected the cylinders with a larger, but flat oval cylinder, emitted a shimmering blue beam with stars flickering inside. The beam, which was clearly their version of the attractor web, captured Desmo's Sentri fighter. A whine sounded in his cockpit and his skin began to feel like tiny insects crawling all over it. Blue-white light filled his sight, erasing the universe.
The tingling increased then began to decrease and Desmo was surprised to feel himelf standing rather than sitting. The light cleared to reveal a room. He could just see a humanoid shape standing at a console behind a dark glass. Two other beings were in the room as well, both of them aiming some kind of weapons straight at him. Their uniforms consisted of a dark red tunic held in by a black belt, and a pair of black pants. Insignias decorated the uniforms. One of the beings was very hairy, or is it furry?, with a bovine snout and eyes lost in deep cavities. The other was blue! With feathery white hair and antennae! He looked like a Gaim in a genetic engineering experiment gone horribly wrong.
Eyes bulging and body frozen by shock, Desmo whispered once more. "Definitely not in the Scoria Plains."
Chancellor's Tower, First City, Qo'noSChancellor Azetbur stole a look at a window. Outside, it was still very dark even though it should be noon. Filthy-looking clouds roiled in the sky. She could see a few people walking outside, swaddled in furs even though it was the middle of summer. What trees she could see had already dried out, dead, murdered by the cold darkness and the sun's radiation through the damaged ozone. Her world was dying.
Praxis.
Brigadier Kerla was speaking at his place at the conference table. "...battle. Survivors are being ferried to nearby colonies and outposts. The Federation has...freely...offered more transports."
"Magnanimous of them," said General Kor bitterly.
Kerla gave Kor a sharp look. Kerla didn't like Kor, especially when Kor was a 'genetically reformed' Fek'lhri. "The enemy has turned into the Romulan Empire." He looked significantly at Azetbur. "Let the Romulans deal with them!"
A general, with a glance at Kerla, spoke up. "Our military cartographers has plotted the enemy's course. It doesn't cross any Romulan star system. To the best of the knowledge of Imperial Intelligence, there's no Romulan outpost in the path, except the Neutral Zone stations."
Azetbur leaned forward with her elbows on the table. "Then they're not attacking the Romulans." She looked at the general. "The Federation?"
The general shrugged. "There's a Federation base right in their path."
The Chancellor thought for a while. "We can send military aid to that base."
The room nearly exploded at that.
General Kor was the loudest in his protests. "Pfagh! These softies don't deserve our help! They keep 'helping' us, trying to make us as soft as them! Let them learn the mistake of being soft! Let them know the difference between kittens and targs!"
Azetbur simply stared at Kor who then quieted under her eyes. It is known that a woman's look can cut deeper than a knife. And the Chancellor took that knowledge to heart and honed it as well as any swordsmith.
"General, if the Federation wasn't so soft, they would have simply...imposed an embargo on us and forced us to run our resources through when Praxis blew. Then we would have died much faster and sooner. Do you really want such a dishonorable death? Not just your death, but the death of our whole people?"
Kor avoided her look, twisting his lips as if to snarl, but he didn't snarl. That satisfied the Chancellor of the Klingon Imperial Empire.
Azetbur looked around at those gathered at the table. "The Federation pour supplies on us. The Federation sends ships for our defense against the intruders. They fought alongside us at Klach D'Kel Bracht, dying glorious deaths for those who they've hated for decades. They ask for nothing in return. Nothing except peace. All of that without forcing us to lose honor and ask for those kind of help. I say the Federation has been extremely honorable. My father would be glad, not spiteful." Seeing that there were no more protests, she turned to Kerla. "Brigadier, you will send ships to this base."
Kerla appeared reluctant.
"Brigadier Kerla?"
"Ah, Madam Chancellor...." Kerla looked at the window pointedly. "All of our ships are tied up in the move to New Qo'noS and in maintaining the Empire, keeping the flames of rebellion out of the outlying colonies and subject worlds. The fleet we sent against the intruders strained our resources to the limits. If we divert ships for the Federation, even with their transports and terraformers helping now, the new homeworld won't be ready in time and more people will die...needlessly and without honor."
Azetbur pursed her lips. That would mean people blaming the Federation for the unnecessary deaths and sufferings. And that would mean stronger calls for war with the Federation, even in the High Council itself in spite of the Khitomer Accords. Azetbur sighed. She couldn't possibly ask the Federation to send more ships for the move to the new homeworld just to spare a few warships for their base. That would mean losing honor for the Empire as a while and subsequently, she would lose her standing in the High Council. High Councillors would begin to override or even ignore her decrees...and assassination attempts would become frequent. Noble Houses would begin to openly jockey for her position. Kahless! Politics were a lot more complicating than she'd ever thought when she was named Chancellor in the place of her father, Gorkon. She was a Klingon but she felt like politics were turning her into a Romulan.
No wonder previous Chancellors appeared to have aged too fast.
General Kor added, "Chancellor, even if we do send the ships, the enemy would reach the base at present speed before they arrive. The ships will only be defending worthless debris."
Azetbur glanced down the side of her chair and her fingers began stroking the huge horn that belonged to her father. She looked back at her fellow Klingons. "Send a message to the Federation. Warn them of the enemy's course. That's all we can do for them. For now."
USS Enterprise
Dr. McCoy entered the captain's office and handed a report to Captain Kirk who then skimmed it. Upon reaching an item in the report, Kirk looked up at the doctor with surprise.
"Murder?"
McCoy grimaced. "Yes, Jim. The weapon was clearly EarthForce, but quantum scans of the DNA on the weapon were conclusive. Dr. Nashiin was murdered by one of our people on the Hakudo Maru."
Putting the compadd down on his desk, Kirk leaned forward to study his friend more closely. "Are you sure? Everyone on that ship are citizens of either the Federation or Betazed. With EarthForce trying to seize the ship, things would be very confusing."
McCoy frowned at him. "Jim, you know better than anyone else that people, no matter the species, are corruptible. The computers found a match for the DNA profile. It's Dr. John Howard."
Grimly, Kirk tapped a companel in his desk. "Kirk to Spock. Assemble a security team. Put Dr. John Howard under arrest on the charge of murder. Contact Director T'Sara to keep a close watch on Dr. Howard."
"Yes, Captain."
Starbase 10Commodore Basil Quinteros studied the man behind the force field of the starbase brig. He looked human, yet he wasn't. He was wearing a white and silver uniform that reminded him of when he watched a revival of the Changing of the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace on Earth. Quinteros had seen the helmet that would complete the man's attire. He glanced at a security officer. They had quickly captured him because this part of the Federation was on heightened alert ever since Starfleet Command had figured that the alien invader that defeated the allied fleet at Klach D'Kel Bracht was coming here. After repeated threats to the Federation heart worlds, especially Earth, by lone powerful aliens, the wary alert was understandable.
"You sure he's not Klingon?"
"No, sir. Though his bioscans match the records of the smooth Klingons before the Imperial Klingons appear to have taken over their empire, he is not a Klingon."
Quinteros put a finger to his chin, thinking. This man's fighter had suddenly appeared out of the quantum fissure. If bioscans identified him as a Klingon subspecies, he wondered if.... He picked up a compadd and pecked in an order on it, bringing up a picture. Looking at it to be sure the picture was of an Imperial Klingon, the commodore walked to the edge of the energy force field and held up the compadd toward the man in the brig. The man looked up at it and his eyes bulged. "Xon!" He backed up to the back of the brig, falling onto the padded bench.
Quinteros leaned forward, making sure his nose didn't touch the dangerous force field, and said, "I take it you know this species?"
The man nodded furiously. "How did you get that picture? The Xon have been extinct for two thousand years!"
"I see. What is your name and rank?"
The man looked at Quinteros' face, saw determination there and slumped. "Desmo Ducati, Lujant of the Royal Navy of the Great Centauri Republic."
"Where did you come from?"
"My family's on Marigol and Davo. Ah, the beauty of the Davo starlace flowers kissing the night sky full of stars. The beauty of Davo cannot match my people's homeworld. It's Centauri Prime, you know. I heard that humans once called my home star Zeta Tucanae. Ridiculous name, I think."
Quinteros looked back down at the compadd and changed its orders to show a picture of a verdant-looking planet with two moons. Turning it back to Desmo, he asked, "Is this your homeworld?"
Desmo lurched forward and reached a hand towards the picture. The force field glowed and hissed, causing Desmo to quickly withdraw his hand with a hiss of his own. He whispered, "Centauri Prime."
Nodding, Quinteros pressed a button beside the brig entrance, closing the comm channel. Turning to the security officer, "Just as I thought. A Preserver duplicate world."
"Sir?"
"This man says his homeworld is in the Zeta Tucanae star system. We know there's no indigenous sentient species on any planet in that system, although ruins of a civilization were found on the third planet by dilithium miners on its second moon." The commodore held up the picture. "This is Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld. Before it was ruined by Praxis. Exactly the same as Zeta Tucanae III."
The security officer gaped, amazed. Preservers! Something else that Desmo said lit a light in the officer's mind. "Sir...he mentioned humans...."
Quinteros nodded. "I noticed. Has the Preservers created a duplicate human world in another universe?" He turned back to the brig and reactivated the comm channel. "Mr. Ducati, you have humans in your universe. Where do they come from?"
Desmo gave Quinteros an odd look. "You are humans. Don't you know Earth?"
Quinteros and the security officer stared at Desmo with surprise. Another universe with its own Earth! The commodore remembered reading something like that in classified files about Kirk's mission to Halka. It must not be the same universe. Otherwise, this...'Centauri' would be very afraid of humans, or Terrans as they would be known in that particular universe. He knew that from the technical analysis of the alien fighter craft that the 'Centauri Republic' would likely be too primitive to resist anything that a Terran Empire would throw at it.
Though...why?
Why has every alternate universe the Federation knew so far contained its own Earth? It was rare to find any of the other alien homeworlds in other universes. Why was that true? Shouldn't there be other universes that do not have Earths, but any one of the other alien homeworlds? Quinteros decided to leave that question for Federation scientists and philosophers for now.
Desmo spoke up, now angry as if just realizing something. "If you know Earth, then you also know that the Earth Alliance is an ally of the Centauri Republic. I demand to speak with a representative of the Earth government. Or better, one from the Centauri government." Desmo smiled ferally. "Law advocates will bring you down for my mistreatment."
Quinteros sighed exasperatedly. "Mr. Ducati, we don—" The starbase shook. The lights dimmed a bit, then went back to normal. Red alert klaxons began wailing. The commodore looked up in surprise. Starbase 10 was a big starbase. Anything capable of shaking it would have to be...equally big and powerful.
Desmo Ducati sat back on the bench and leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "My guess is that the Royal Navy has come looking for me." He smiled, revealing his sharp teeth. "I would suggest you...capitulate."
Commodore Quinteros was already running out the doors for the turbolift to the command tower.
xxxxxxxx
Species 3259 Subset B successfully bypassed. Cube 578 now arriving at Spatial Grid 7396, Octant-66-omega. Scanning source of interdimensional activity. Scanning adjacent space structure and vessels. Primary occupants consist of Species 5618. Vessels are similar to those encountered at grid K7-DY100-B4. Cube 578 now receiving communication from space structure.
"This is Commander Olga Makan, standing for Basil Quinteros, Commodore of the Federation Starbase 10. You are in Federation territory. Please identify yourself."
The individual self-designated 'Olga Makan' is analysed to be a member of Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regeneration abilities.
Assimilation is irrelevant to the primary task. Adjacent space structure and vessels are irrelevant. Ignore query of the individual designated 'Olga Makan'.
Warning: vessels and space structure arming weapons and firing. Damage: 13 percent. Repairing damage and adapting to Species 5618 weapons.
Threat assessment: space structure has capability to damage. Opening frequencies to structure and all vessels.
"We are the Borg. Your interference is irrelevant. Resistance is futile."
Adaption complete.
Cube 578 firing phaser 45 at space structure designated 'Starbase 10'.
Scan of interdimensional anomaly complete. New task: investigate the new quantum universe indicated in the scan. Priority level raised from 5 to 3.
We shall comply.
Activating transwarp coils and channeling transwarp energy at interdimensional anomaly.
Species 5618 vessels firing. Damage: 5.7 percent. Adaption does not fit the optimal requirements. Re-adapting.
Continue interdimensional activity.
xxxxxxx
Commodore Basil Quinteros watched in horror as the huge cubical ship swatted at Federation starships all too easily.
A tactical officer reported, "Sir! They're doing some...weird subspace-warp field wedging into the fissure."
Quinteros saw the readings. He blanched. "That's transwarp technology." He looked up and could see the fissure becoming visible...and widening. It was already big enough to allow an Oberth-class starship through and still widening. "All ships, fire at will! Fire at will! Stop that ship!"
The night soon lit up with countless phasers and photon torpedoes slamming into the Borg cube. The damage was painfully visible, yet it didn't seem to faze the Borg.
"Sir!"
Quinteros looked over at the officer calling for his attention. He went to look at what the officer was seeing in the subsidiary tactical scanner. The sensors seemed to be reading vessels through the quantum fissure. The reading wasn't clear, but those were obviously a small fleet of large ships. He looked up at the cube. The fissure was now half as wide as the Borg vessel.
"Continue firing!" Quinteros whirled to point at a lieutenant manning a station. "You! Divert all power to weapons! Shave some from even life support!" The commodore hurried to a communication panel and slammed it to activate it. "Control Tower! Open all port doors! Order all armed vessels to leave the starbase! Once any of them is out the doors, order them to open fire on that ship! Fighter squadrons, go!"
All around the drydock section, cavernous doors began sliding open and the smaller ships docked within began to emerge. Fighters of all classes quickly departed the starbase, phasers firing.
The Borg cube kept returning fire. Clearly, it was capable of multi-tasking as the cube began moving towards the widening fissure while shooting defensively at the Federation craft. Starships kept receiving crippling damages and a few began exploding. Fighters were completely ignored. The fissure was now wide enough to allow the Borg cube through. The transwarp wedge deactivated and the cube halted firing at the Federationers. The massive cube gracefully moved into the quantum fissure.
Basil Quinteros ordered the communications officer to send warnings to the vessels detected beyond the fissure. The comm officer reported that the aliens were not receiving anything. The commodore blanched. My God. They don't know what's coming!
Centauri Fleet at the Transit Point near the Vree SystemLord-Admiral Jarissi stared as this...glowing hole appeared and widened. He ordered the fleet to take defense formations and all fighters launched. He, and everyone else, stared again as a huge cube emerged. Once the cubical ship had completely exited the hole in space, it turned to face the Centauri fleet. A cube, of all things. Militarily speaking, a cube was such an ungainly thing to have as a warship. Yet, this cube appeared to move gracefully.
An officer appeared at Jarissi's side. "Lord Admiral, they're trying to talk to us. Audio only."
"Let's hear it."
Soon a voice came out of the speakers. It sounded as if billions were speaking as one.
"We are the Borg. Existence as you know it is over. Your culture will adapt to serve us. Your technological and biological distinctions will be added to our own. Lower your defenses and surrender your ships. Resistance is futile."
Lord-Admiral Jarissi frowned at the arrogance of these...Borg. After all, they were one ship against a fleet of Centauri warships. They were about to find out about Centauri resistance. He gave an order.
"Everyone, fire!"
Epsilon 3Draal sensed a disturbance in the fabric of the universe. This disturbance was similar to what he sensed through the Great Machine when the extra-universal ships transited into his universe, separate from that terrifying disturbance that emanated from the dark superbeing known as the Dark One. However, this disturbance felt much stronger, bigger even, if size could be applied to a sensation.
Draal, Custodian of the Great Machine, cast his mind to reach through the Great Machine's ethereal network, reaching, reaching and rushing through a network conduit to the source of the disturbance. Upon reaching the source, he whispered, "In Valen's name!"
He knew there were terrors to freeze the soul in the universe. This is one such terror. A cubical ship seemingly built of pipes with soft green light glowing from within. He cautiously probed the vessel. Any machine in the universe was vulnerable to the probings of the Great Machine, excepting those of the First Ones, of course. He saw walking bodies with mechanical parts grafted into them. He felt no life at all from any of the bodies. A true mechanical hive-mind.
Bio-mechanical drones taken from many different alien species. Drones.
Uh-oh. The hive-mind has detected his probings. It shouldn't be able to do that. Draal quickly withdrew from inside the cube's workings. He watched in horror as the cube easily and brutally cut down the Centauri fleet. Drones suddenly appeared inside several Centauri ships out of nowhere and began converting their crewmen into more drones.
Teleportation technology!
That, more than anything else, proved that the cubical vessel came from the universe of the Newcomers.
Draal has idled too long. He brought his mind back into his body in the Great Machine and then began once more to reach into the network. This time, he put all the power of the Machine into his reach. He must talk to all the Great Machines scattered throughout the galaxy about this latest threat.
He knew that if knew about the Great Machines, it would seek to seize them, to...assimilate them.
Hakudo MaruDr. John Howard could feel the furtive glances of the Betazoids on the ship. It began soon after the senior Betazoid came from a meeting with Director T'Sara in her office.
They knew.
It wouldn't be long before security from those narrow-minded Starfleeters came to arrest him. He had stuffed a few clothes and some currency, including gold, he had collected on Babylon 5 into a business briefcase. He hesitated just once and that was to decide whether to take his tricorder along with the stolen small handphaser.
Now prepared, he walked in the direction of the shuttle bay. He made sure to act as if nothing was amiss, ignoring the Betazoids' glances. To prevent any of them from reading his intent in his mind, he mentally reviewed a hymn from Ancient Egypt. His father had given him a copy of Pharaoh Akhenaton's Hymn to the Aton, thus beginning John Howard's interest in archaeology.
At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon,
When thou shinest as the Aton by day,
Thou drivest away the darkness
and givest thy rays.
The shuttle bay doors came into sight. A guard was already posted there. Howard frowned. There was never a guard posted there. T'Sara was trying to cut off all avenues of escape for him.
Howard pulled out his handphaser and just as the guard was turning to look at him.
"Hey, sir! You can—!"
The guard slumped down to the deck as a phaser shot killed him. John Howard glanced down at his weapon, realizing his error. He shrugged down at the guard.
"Oops. Guess I forgot. You know how things are.... Too many things to keep in my mind."
That was another murder added his charges. Howard shrugged as he entered the shuttle bay. He looked around at the bay. Now which shuttle should he take? A Starfleet-loaned shuttle would be too recognizable. Besides, it would certainly have a transponder. That Betazoid shuttle that belonged to the late Lady Neclauna Nore? No warp capability and no weapons, although a Centauri gladly buy it for the luxurious exotic arrangement inside.
His eyes soon settled on the two-decked Vulcan shuttle that came with the Surak-class ship. The Hak'Mar. It was named in memory of both the Hakudo Maru's present name and its original Vulcan name, Shi'Mar. The ring around it indicated warp capability for the shuttle. Built in the days before the Federation's shield technology made it unnecessary, the shuttle's hull would be thick and strong as armor. T'Sara, out of respect for Lady Neclauna and the Betazoids, improved the shuttle's comfort, including a fully stocked food replicator imported from high-tech Vulcan. John Howard smiled as he went to the Vulcan shuttle.
xxxxxxxx
Spock, having been informed by a report of phaser fire at the entrance to the civilian ship's shuttle bay, led his security team quickly through the entrance. One of the security officers swore. Even though he was a Vulcan, Spock felt the situation certainly called for some swearing. A Vulcan-built shuttle was already lifting from the shuttle bay deck and turning around to face the closed bay doors.
"He can't get out," pointed out another security officer unnecessarily.
"Indeed," said Spock, although he had doubts about that. "Phasers on maximum. Aim for the shuttle engines."
Phaser beams lashed out only to splash against the shuttle's shields. Spock raised an eyebrow. That part of the shuttle's construction wasn't in the original specifications. The security team kept on firing, hoping to wear out the shields and hit the engines. Spock took out a communicator. "Spock to Enterprise. Dr. John Howard is attempting to escape in a shuttlecraft. Request Enterprise to—"
The Vulcan shuttle fired its main phaser cannon, blasting the bay doors out into space. Instantly, there was a hurricane roar in the shuttle bay as the atmosphere vented out into space. Spock quickly allowed his communicator to fly out of his hand as he grabbed for a piping beside the bay entrance door. Unfortunately, most of the six-men security team flew out to their death in the cold of space.
The engine ring around the ruddy-colored shuttle emitted a blue glow as John Howard left the Hakudo Maru to freedom.
The hurricane roar soon quieted as the atmosphere spent itself. Spock and the two remaining security officers immediately blew out all air out of their lungs. If they held their breaths, the vacuum would tear the air out of their lungs, causing serious internal damages. Once the wind weakened enough, Spock set his feet back on the deck and quickly ran to a control panel while the security officers began thrashing with eyes squeezed shut against the painful swell of the eyes. Feeling his own eyes burn in the absence of atmospheric pressure against the eyes' own biological pressure, Spock instantly memorized the control panel and squeezed his eyes shut. Moving his fingers from memory, a force field activated over the destroyed bay doors and the atmospheric cyclers began repressurizing the shuttle bay.
He knew there wouldn't be enough time for the pressurizing to save the two officers painfully thrashing on the deck. Spock inputted an emergency command, forcing the entrance door to open. Once more, they felt wind as the atmosphere of the ship rushed to fill the vacuum in the shuttle bay. They would live. For now.
Babylon 5The column of transporter effect faded and John Howard stood in a dim corridor. According to the shuttle's scan, this would be Red 15. By now, the stupid Starfleeters would figure out that he wasn't on the shuttle anymore. An automated program would take the shuttle to warp, then discretely bring it back to behind the third planet of the system, Epsilon 3.
Howard heard a noise and he quickly hid behind a corner. He griped his handphaser and checked his tricorder. A human.
The human soon got close enough for Dr. Howard to hear him muttering to himself.
"Not fair. No, it's not fair. I shouldn't suffer. Chaotic times? I'll chaos them!"
Howard peeked around the corner in time to see the human man set something down. The archaeologist checked his tricorder to see what the object was. A bomb. Of some considerable power. The man nervously looked around and quickly walked away into the dim distance.
John Howard made a small smile. The man seemed promising. He decided to follow and study this man closely.
xxxxxxxx
Ambassador Londo Mollari walked up to a tube door and pressed a button for the tube car. The door soon opened, revealing G'Kar within the tube car. Londo and the former Narn ambassador stared at each other, expressionless.
"I...I'll wait for the next one."
G'Kar merely stared expressionlessly at Londo.
Suddenly, there was a large explosion down the corridor. Londo frantically looked around for an escape from the roiling flames. There was only one escape: the tube car itself with G'Kar in it. Londo dove through the closing tube door even as the flames licked at his feet.
The tube car shook and fell down its shaft. Safety mechanisms engaged as the car halted, causing its two occupants to fall heavily onto its floor. Londo lost consciousness.
USS Excelsior
Tuvok looked up from his console. "Captain Sulu, an explosion has occurred in the Red Sector of Babylon 5. It is considerably more destructive than the explosion that damaged the Customs Sector."
Sulu went over to the communications console and reached over Janice Rand's shoulder to activate a channel. "Enterprise, did you pick up that explosion?"
Uhura's voice floated out of the speaker. "Yes, Excelsior. We are assisting Babylon 5 in tracking down the terrorist. Can you beam out the survivors?"
Sulu glanced at Lieutenant Akaar who shrugged. "We're working on it. Sulu out."
Babylon 5, two hours laterLondo looked up at the ceiling of the tube car and bellowed, "We're in here! Can anyone hear us?!"
G'Kar giggled and said in a tiny high voice. "I hear you!"
Londo was getting tired of G'Kar's facade of madness. He shouted once more at the ceiling. "In here!!"
G'Kar grinned foolishly and said in the same tiny high voice, "We're in here!"
The Centauri ambassador frowned down at G'Kar. Madness. Perhaps he should introduce the crazy Narn to Minister Virini. Or better yet, the Emperor himself. From what he has heard from Vir and Timov, young Cartagia certainly knew how to handle Narns. "What was it the humans would have said about my situation? 'Out of the fire, into the hot pan.' Yes, that's it."
A high whine sounded in the tube car. Another bomb! Londo widened his eyes and looked despairingly at G'Kar who was now smiling quite widely and maniacally. "We're dying!"
The Narn cackled.
But the whine wasn't that of another bomb about to go off. Starlight enveloped both of them and all they could see was glittering blue-white light. When the light faded, they found themselves standing on a platform, and Starfleet medics rushed over to them. A fat blue-skinned man waved a scanning device at Londo.
"Ambassador, you're on the Excelsior. I'm Doctor Altos Viger."
Londo laughed, too grateful for the rescue to be amazed at the teleportation technology just demonstrated. "There, you see! I'm going to live!"
G'Kar was looking disappointed and gave Dr. Altos a dirty look as the Bolian waved his medical scanner over the Narn. "So it would seem. Well, it is an imperfect universe."
Londo pulled his lips back from his sharp teeth with a hiss. "Bastard!"
G'Kar responded with the same attitude. "Monster!"
"Fanatic!"
"Murderer!"
"You are insane!"
The medics looked at each other as Dr. Altos scoffed and said, "Any allegations of insanity must go through me. Neither of you is a doctor. Let me be the judge."
G'Kar laughed in Altos' face. "I guarantee your devices will certify me as insane." He looked back at Londo. "That is why we will win!"
Altos rolled his eyes as Londo muttered, "'Go be the ambassador to Babylon 5,' they said. 'It will be an easy assignment!' Ah, I hate my life!"
G'Kar grinned. "So do I!"
"Shut up!"
Altos sighed. "You two shut up." The Bolian nodded at two medics who promptly pressed hyposprays to the patients' necks, sedating them. As the comatose Londo and G'Kar were put on antigrav stretchers, Altos had one more order to give. "Better put them in separate wards. I'm not about to clean up the first murder to happen in my sickbay!"
USS Enterprise
Uhura turned in her chair. "Sir, Chief Garibaldi is asking for you."
"Put him on," curtly ordered Kirk. He was still peeved about not catching Dr. John Howard.
"Captain Kirk, the terrorist just said something about an explosion bright as the sun, but the stuff he got isn't capable of anything that big. I got a hunch. Can you check out the fusion reactor?"
"Stand by." Kirk looked down at Chekov, signaling him to scan the space station's fusion reactor.
Pavel Chekov shook his head. "The radiation is interfering with the scans. There is an indication of unrelated power at the reactor. Nothing more."
Kirk didn't like it when the universe seem to keep interfering with what he could do. "Mr. Garibaldi, we are reading some kind of power separate from the fusion reactor. We can't do anything more for you."
"All right. I'm scrambling a zero-g team. Garibaldi out."xxxxxxxxx
The Constitution-class starship moved to the reactor tail of Babylon 5 for a closer look while the zero-g team scurried inside for a search.
Babylon 5Sheridan was getting tense. If he didn't bring the madman around, everyone on the station would be dead. "Carlson, this isn't going to work! Look, even if you do get off station, you really think you're gonna get away with this? We've got your ID flagged to every Earth base for thirty light years in every direction! There's nowhere you can go!"
Robert J. Carlson was now frantically pacing around his room. He screamed at Sheridan. "That's enough! Sit down! You're making me nervous!"
Sheridan had to keep the man from finding out about the comlink up his ass. "I'd rather stand."
"I said sit down!" Carlson pushed Sheridan backward to a chair. Shaking his head, Carlson lost his glasses. Seeing that the man was now at a ragged and dangerous edge, Captain Sheridan sat down on a chair.
A beep sounded from under Sheridan.
Carlson's face shifted from fury to confused despair. "What the hell was that?"
USS Enterprise
Uhura widened her eyes as she eavesdropped on Garibaldi's communications. "Sir! They've run out of time!"
Kirk looked at Chekov with tight urgency in his eyes. Chekov said, "The team is moving the bomb. It's still in the radioactive field!"
"Keep trying!"
"Sir, the bomb's barely out of the field now. I'm not sure we can confirm a lock on it."
"Lock anyway!"
A tractor beam reached into the hatch on the station's reactor tail and grabbed the bomb, startling the extraction crew. The tractor beam quickly pulled the bomb out of the hatch and slung it away from Babylon 5, releasing it. Soon, the bomb blew harmlessly in space.
Babylon 5Carlson waited for the fiery cleansing of his soul. It didn't happen. There wasn't even a vibration in the space station.
"No! It didn't.... It's not fair! It's not fair!!"
Sheridan seized the opportunity to stand up and wound up his arm for a vicious punch. His fist was flying at Carlson's face when ribbons of red light wrapped around and covered the terrorist. Carlson was already insubstantial enough for the fist to sail right through his head. Sheridan lost his balance and followed his fist down to the floor.
"What the hell?!"
Vulcan shuttle Hak'Mar
Robert Carlson patted his own body and looked around the small room with fearful wide eyes. He crouched down closer to the transporter pad when a frosted glass door slid open, revealing a man in professional Federation civilian clothes.
"I'm Dr. John Howard. You don't have to suffer anymore. Where would you like to go?"
Carlson drew back away from Howard's proffered hand. "Nowhere! I'm dead! My ID has been flagged on every Earth base in 30 lightyears!"
Howard smiled. "Every Earth base.... What about alien bases?"
"Aliens! No, I don't want those filthy things! They ruined Earth! It's their fault that the times are hard for Earth! I lost my job, my wife, my home because of them...." Carlson broke down crying.
Howard frowned and shook his head. He hoped it wasn't a mistake to rescue this man. "Since you love chaos, how about we go to the heart of chaos?"
Tearfully, Carlson looked up. "What do you mean?"
"Centauri Prime. I do hope that the Centauri are not too...alien for you."
A new hope shone on Carlson's face. He shook his head vigorously. "No! The Centauri, they're good! Yes, they've been good to us. If they gave Earth jumptech, they will give me life!"
"Life. Yes...life." Howard smiled mirthlessly.
The Vulcan shuttle Hak'Mar kept warping towards the 40 Eridani System as long as it was in the Starfleeters' sensor range, then made a course change. Its nose was now aimed at the star that was Centauri Prime's sun.
ISN (InterStellar News Network)
A woman was speaking at her towering desk. A box containing a picture of a spiny black ship in hyperspace appeared over her shoulder. A question mark with the colors of the Earth Alliance was laid over this picture.
"...still debating about the unknown ship found in hyperspace by EarthForce fighter pilot Lieutenant Warren Keffer at the cost of his life. Rumors about this ship's civilization abound in the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and outlying Earth colonies, almost all ominous...and dubious. The destruction of the Arisia 3 Mining Colony a few months ago is rumored to be attributed to the alien ship. Our panelists, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli of the Vatican and Senator Susanna Luchenko of the Russ—"
The female newscaster halted and held a hand to her earpiece to listen. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Looking back at the camera, she said, "Breaking news. A Centauri frontier colony has been found destroyed. Mary T. Moore, our Centauri Royal Navy consultant, is at the scene. Mary?"
A woman with dark red hair held a microphone to her mouth. She was standing in front of what appeared to be a massive crater in the middle of a valley. "Cynthia, behind me is, or was, the capital of the Centauri colony of Morbis—"
Cynthia Torqueman, the female newscaster, interrupted the reporter. "Colony? All I see is the crater behind you."
"Yes, Cynthia. The crater didn't exist when the colony was still here. A colonial city of 900 Centauri residents appeared to either have been so destroyed, vaporized that this crater has resulted from that destruction...."
"You said 'or'...."
"Well, it's hard to believe.... Royal Navy analysts believe that instead of being destroyed, the colony was scooped up from orbit."
Cynthia did a double take. "Scooped? You mean someone used a shovel big enough to pick up an entire colony?"
"Like I said, Cynthia, it's hard to believe. It has been done to all of the other cities on Morbis. The Centauri insist that this was done, not with a shovel as you suggest, but with a powerful attractor plasma web."
Cynthia, for once, was at a loss for words. She turned away from the screen showing the reporter Mary Moore in front of the massive crater and faced the camera. "Um.... We have Senator Susanna Luchenko of the Russian Consortium online with a comment."
The stern-looking but handsome Russian woman sat at a plush armchair beside a window. The top of a red medieval fortifaction wall could be seen through the curtained window. The wall partially hid the fantasy colorful towers topped with golden onion-domes that made up the St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square. The senator faced the camera squarely. "Citizens, this is a difficult time for Earth. The important Arisia 3 Mining Colony mysteriously destroyed. Blatant piracy in the Janos System. Terrorism right here on beloved Earth, and on Mars, Proxima 3 and Babylon 5. Lieutenant Warren Keffer heroically died finding the black ship in hyperspace. The extra-universal ships endangering the peace we have worked so hard to have with the Centauri Republic. And now this mysterious and brutal attack on Morbis, one of the colonies of our ally. My heart goes out to those who have suffered in these chaotic times. If Earth is to be an island of peace and order in a sea of troubled stars, we must strive together for the goodness of Earth. To help achieve peace in our precious lives, the Senate will pursue a much closer alliance with the Centauri. An economic and military alliance with the Republic will free us from the burdens of keeping order and peace in the inhuman areas of the galaxy." Susanna held out a hand towards the camera. "Citizens, help us build a bond with our cousins, the Centauri!"
Cynthia Torqueman was back onscreen. "There you have it, citizens. The Centauri frontier colony of Morbis destroyed by a very powerful alien force. Is it connected to the black ship in hyperspace? Or...." The camera came in for a close shot of the newscaster's face. "Is it connected to the pirate ships unfairly seeking sanctuary at Babylon 5? Citizens of Earth, you decide."