STAR TREK/THE REIGN: HIVE MIND

Fan fiction Crossover by Lance Berry

This first chapter is a little bit of a slow build-up as it establishes the two crews becoming familiar with their surroundings. I hope you like it though…

CHAPTER 1: IF I HAD A HAMMER…

The doors to the lift leading to the Enterprise bridge opened up, and Captain Travis Rand and his senior staff stepped out, gazing in wonder at the spacious bridge, which was at least a full half-size larger than their own aboard the Horizon.

"Looks like a living room," Mara commented, taking note of the open spaces and ample standing room between the three command chairs and the helm/navigational consoles.

"Cushy," Tholin agreed, an obvious distaste in his voice as he moved apart from the others, immediately sizing up the various consoles at the bridge's rear. "I thought you humans had things easy aboard our ship, until I woke up in one of the hotel beds here." Calvorians were known as a harsh race, taking pleasure in few creature comforts, as they believed such things were a distraction from maintaining a rigid posture of readiness for combat at any time. Calvorians were the fiercest warriors in the galaxy, and humans had been only the second race in history to stand against them in any sustained conflict. The Earth-Calvorian War had lasted 72 years, and was only brought to an end through the actions of the Horizon and its crew.

"Alright," Rand spoke up as he continued taking stock of the bridge. "We've all come to the conclusion this isn't a dream or mass hallucination. Near as we can tell, our entire crew is aboard this ship, this Enterprise, with us. We have no idea how we got here, and there's no force that we know of that's capable of doing this. But we need to find out what's going on, and how to get back to our own time. " He paused thoughtfully a moment, then said to the ship's comm, "Rand to crew—"

An assertive –breep!- from the ship's computer cut him off as the businesslike feminine voice said, "You are not authorized to use the comlink in such manner."

I'm really getting sick of that, Rand thought to himself, then turned to his crew. "Jamie, Tholin—we need to find a way around this," he said as he jabbed a thumb toward the ceiling, "and fast! I want the both of you in engineering, finding a way to dump this ship's command codes and install our own so we can be in charge."

"Travis, with all respect to Tholin and Jamie," Ben said, "If we're to believe the little bit of intel we've been able to find out, we're in the 24th Century! Getting a handle on this technology may be beyond them…beyond any of us!"

Rand considered his old friend's words carefully, then moved to stand before Jamie and Tholin. "Tholin, you're the best code breaker the Alliance has ever turned out. Jamie, you're the smartest human being that's ever lived."

"Well, one of…" the young chief engineer said bashfully, her face blushing slightly at the captain's compliment. Although it was true she was one of the rare breed of humans whose IQ was so high it couldn't be measured, Jamie never made a point to bring it up, as such an accomplished intellect as hers had actually managed to isolate her from the majority of social interaction with "average" humans throughout her life. Throughout her 21 years, being special, it turned out, had never made her feel special.

"The point is," Rand continued, "Do either of you think you can't do this?"

A low growl emanated from Tholin's throat, as the Calvorian tactical chief never shied away from a challenge of any kind. Jamie's left eyebrow raised slightly, signaling that she was also intrigued by the captain's dare. "We're on it, sir!" she said enthusiastically, and the duo headed to the lift, the doors of which closed behind them as the tube shunted them to their destination.

Rand looked to the rest of his staff. "Ben, you need to find Diviner Bova and help him locate all our crew and do whatever it takes to keep them calm until we can figure out what's going on." The captain glanced at Mara. "Much as I hate to admit it, the man is good at getting people to listen and get them organized." He looked back at Ben. "Get to it."

Ben Williams nodded and headed for the lift. He stepped in, his face scrunching up thoughtfully as he suddenly considered the enormous task of searching deck-by-deck for one man among 952 personnel, since he couldn't use the Enterprise's computer to locate him.

"What about me?" Mara asked as the lift doors closed behind the doctor.

"I need you up here on the bridge with me," Rand answered, then spread his arms wide to gesture at all the various consoles. "We need to figure out what these systems are, what they do, and how to gain control access to them…hopefully without blowing ourselves up in the process."

Mara nodded in agreement. The two split up—she checking out the consoles at the bridge's rear, and he heading down the walkway ramp to the two consoles at the front of the bridge, set into the floor just before the viewscreen. The screen showed an image of stars, but none of them were familiar to Rand. Although he couldn't feel the deck plates vibrate beneath his feet, he assumed from the static positioning of the stars that the Enterprise was holding position.

"Well, this is fairly straightforward," Mara called out to him from the rear. Rand turned partway to face her. "What is?"

"These panels are all labeled," she replied, pointing out a couple of the aft stations as she said, "Science I, Science II. Environmental, engineering. Jamie probably could've taken control of ship's functions from here."

Rand nodded. "Probably, but I want her working in the guts of this ship, getting to know it. We need as full an understanding of what we're getting into as possible."

"Agreed," Mara stated, then asked, "What info were you able to get out of the ship's computer before it cut you off?"

"We're aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, registry NCC-1701-D. Fifth 'starship' to bear the name, commissioned by Starfleet Command, which is the military branch of what's called the United Federation of Planets. Built at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars, and launched on October 4th, 2363. Captained by one Jean-Luc Picard, first officer William T. Riker. That's about it."

Mara nodded. "I got basically the same thing. I searched for ships named Horizon, and found they did have one 'starship' named such, but it was lost in 2168 after visiting some planet I'd never heard of." She turned more fully to Rand, leaning cautiously on the tactical console—being careful not to press any control panels as she did—and a look of piqued interest crossed her face. "United Federation of Planets? Wasn't that one of the names the various planetary leaders in our own time thought of, but crossed off the list, before they joined as the League of Allied Worlds?"

"You're right," Rand answered, and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "So maybe, somehow, we are in our own future…maybe the League has grown into this Federation, and our Heavy Cruiser designs have changed significantly. " He gestured at the wide space between the command chairs and forward consoles as he said, "It might look like a living room, but I have to say, I find it a little more welcoming than our own bridge."

Mara couldn't help it; a wistful smile spread across her face as she marveled aloud, "So the peace between Earth and the Calvorian Alliance lasted. Everything we've gone through, everything we've suffered…it wasn't in vain."

Mara's smile was infectious, and Rand found himself answering with a smile of his own, "Looks like. If this is the direction our future took, then it's all worth it."

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH…

"Well, one thing's for sure: these chairs aren't as comfortable as ours," Counselor Troi said only half-jokingly, as she took a seat on the right side of the table in the Horizon's Conference Room A. "And I have to say, now that I know this ship's gravity operates on the principle of centrifugal rotation," she added with a quick nod to one of the two large bay windows, where the stars floated by slowly in a downward motion, "I think I'm getting a little space-sick."

Seated beside her, Doctor Crusher reached over and patted Deanna's hand. "Now that I've seen the sickbay, I can give you something for that, if you'd like," she said with a playful wink. "Their medicines aren't quite as advanced as ours, but I'm sure there's something that'll do the trick."

"All right, then," Picard said, tugging downward on his shirt as he automatically took a seat at the head of the table, "Let's get down to business." He briefly glanced over his team: Counselor Troi, Doctor Crusher and Data were seated to his right, while Riker and Worf were on his left. There was an empty seat beside the Klingon security chief, as Geordi La Forge was standing beside a wall-mounted viewscreen at the room's far end. There were dsp's, found in a locker within the conference room, placed on the table in front of each officer. It had been about five hours since Picard and his crew had found themselves aboard this strange ship, but they had managed to get the "lay of the land" so to speak, within that time.

"Let's go over our current status," Picard said and looked to Will. "The crew? Have we accounted for everyone?"

Riker nodded assuredly. "Apparently, Q saw fit to transfer everyone—Starfleet personnel and their families—aboard the Horizon. So basically, we have 1,013 people fit into a space designed for 952. Fortunately, there are spare quarters on deck 33, with four beds to a room. Ensign Crusher is assigning families to those rooms first, with secondary crew personnel to the remaining spaces."

Picard nodded, somewhat pleased. "Very good. Counselor, what's the prevailing mood amongst the crew at the moment?"

"Apprehension, which is to be expected. Some of the more experienced Starfleet personnel who've been aboard our ship longer have begun to figure out that Q is the most likely reason for our being here, so there's some simmering anger as well. We need to watch that carefully, so no one unintentionally lashes out at anyone else in frustration. There's some fear among the smaller children aboard at suddenly being placed in such unfamiliar surroundings, but I believe their parents should be able to quell that, if only a bit."

Picard huffed lightly in annoyance. "I don't appreciate the fact that Q has placed families in jeopardy as well as the rest of us. I intend to let him know that, when he finally chooses to show himself."

"Have you tried summoning Q, Captain?" Doctor Crusher asked. "Calling out to him, or…"

"How, Doctor?" Picard replied, irked at the suggestion. "Short of falling on my knees and praying his name aloud—which I'm sure would delight our mischievous troublemaker to no end, and which I will never give him the satisfaction of doing—you know as well as I that Q will appear only when he's good and ready."

"Captain," Data said softly, "Have you considered the possibility that perhaps Q is not responsible for our current predicament?"

Picard's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Explain."

"We have on occasion, encountered other life-forms with powers similar to Q, if not directly rivaling his own. There was Nagilum, who we met during our star-mapping mission near the Morgana Quadrant. There was Kevin Uxbridge, the Douwd whom we encountered at the ruins of the Delta Rana IV colony—"

"Very insightful as always, Mr. Data," Picard cut in. "But none of those beings had Q's penchant for reckless mischief. And I would consider Nagilum to be a malevolent entity, at the least. No, I'm certain this is Q whom we're dealing with. This is his handiwork signature down to a T."

"So what do we do now, sir?" Worf asked.

"We collate what we've learned so far. Mister La Forge--?"

Geordi tabbed a panel on the viewscreen, which activated immediately. A picture of a stylized eagle with multicolored lines behind it appeared on the screen. "As you theorized, Captain, this technology—while being the product of 22nd Century tech from this universe—isn't as primitive as Data or I initially thought. I'd say the level of sophistication here is on par with anything from the latter half of the 23rd Century in our reality. The information you see here will also play out on your personalized pads in front of you, by the way."

Picard and the others glanced down at their dsp's. As Geordi had said, the stylized eagle was reproduced on each. Geordi clasped his hands together as he addressed the group: "Using a linkup with Data's neural net down in engineering, we were able to successfully interface with the Horizon's computer, and install in it falsified orders from UEF Command, stating that the ship had been assigned a new crew and captain. Once we're done with this briefing, everyone here will need to state their name, rank and serial number, in order to lock in their command status and have access to the ship's full archives and functions."

"Understood," Picard replied, a light exhalation escaping his nostrils. He was pleased his two officers had managed to get a handle on the situation in such a brief span of time.

"The Horizon has an extremely sophisticated 'smartware' system, Captain, as it is called here," Data offered. "Its A.L.A.N.—Autonomic Learning Algorithmic Nuances—are only a few steps down from a positronic net such as my own. It took three separate attempts by Geordi and I to successfully navigate through the hundreds of secure codes stored within the ship's computer mainframe in order to get to this point."

"That is pretty substantial," Riker commented. "And your efforts are appreciated, Data. Geordi--?"

Geordi tabbed a panel on the screen's side and several images began to progress. "The Horizon is the most powerful ship ever built by human beings in this reality. It's commanded by a senior staff of five, led by Captain David Christenson, regarded by many as a near living legend. I checked over his resume briefly…it's quite impressive. Anyway, this is a war ship we're on, armed to the teeth with energy rammers, antimatter torpedoes, a rail gun, and over five hundred laser emitters set into the vessel's outer hull."

"Laser emitters--?" Worf snorted derisively.

Geordi shook his head. "I wouldn't scoff at these, Worf. They're called lasers, because that's the tech term these people identify with. But if pressed to the task, this ship could go toe-to-toe with a Galaxy-class ship, even if only for a little while. Their lasers are almost as powerful as our phasers, and this ship could easily destroy a planet, if it had to."

There were looks of shock from around the table. "My god…" Deanna exclaimed, "What kind of people are these? Is this other universe a conquering one, like the Terran Empire?"

"No, they're not," Geordi assured her. "From what Data and I gathered by accessing the ship's history files, these humans had to adapt—quickly—to an unexpectedly harsh universe,

when the Calvorian Alliance tried to conquer them at the beginning of the century."

"Calvorian Alliance--?" Crusher prodded.

"A conquering species, native to this reality," Data replied, addressing first her, then all of them. "The Calvorians are a brutally warlike species, intent on conquering all worlds within their purview. As far as is known, their society is based on little more than the desire to allocate more celestial territory."

Riker cocked his head in puzzlement. "There aren't more detailed files on this species?"

Data shook his head. "The United Earth Force has very limited intelligence on the Alliance's societal structure, troop strength, or movements of its fleet, in spite of the fact the two sides have been at war for seven decades. I believe the expression 'playing it close to the vest' most uniquely sums up the Calvorian mindset, at least in this case."

"I would also tend to stress a certain urgency with getting our crew familiarized with this ship's systems, Captain," La Forge said. "Because wherever the Horizon's current position is within this universe, Q placed us here right in the middle of the Earth-Calvorian conflict. These people are at war."

Picard's eyes widened in realization. "Then I'd say this briefing is tabled, for the moment," Picard stated weightily. "Let's all get our command codes input to the ship's computer, and find out what the Horizon's current tactical status is. We need to be ready for anything."

IN THE 24th CENTURY…

"I have to say, I am really liking this ship, Captain," Jamie exclaimed with a smile as she and the other Horizon staff members took seats around the conference table aboard the Enterprise-D. It had been just over four hours since she and Tholin had begun familiarizing themselves with the starship's systems, and the newness of the technology had proven an invigorating thrill for Jamie's intellect and Tholin's skill at code-breaking.

Travis Rand took a seat at the head of the table and briefly glanced over his senior staff: Mara and Tholin sat on his right, while Jamie and Ben sat to his left. "And what is it about this ship that pleases you so much, Jamie?"

Jamie jumped out of her chair, looking for all the world like an excited kid about to open her first present on Christmas day, as she headed toward the wall-mounted viewscreen. "Well for one thing, this ship is a marvel of design simplicity," she said as she activated the screen and a schematic of the starship appeared. "Much like the Horizon, power distribution is controlled and shared through the emission of energy from the engines. Whereas ours are fusion, these people call theirs 'warp engines'. Rather than create artificial wormholes to tunnel through hyperspace, they use what's called a 'warp drive' to physically push the ship through space. The Enterprise's engines accomplish this through the controlled annihilation of matter and antimatter collision. "

"Didn't our scientists try something like that when Heavy Cruisers were first being constructed?" Mara asked.

Jamie shook her head lightly. "That was one of the options being considered, but at the time scientists didn't have enough of a handle on how to successfully control the reaction—or to process antimatter safely aboard a mobile ship—without endangering the lives of the crews. That's why we went in the direction of artificial wormholes and gravitational null-fields."

Rand nodded and glanced at Tholin. "What about the tactical aspects of this ship, and the situations it's encountered? What's going on at this point in history?"

"The Enterprise is one of thousands of ships of various classes within the military and explorative branch of Starfleet, which is a subdivision of the United Federation of Planets. The Federation was officially founded in 2161, and currently has more than 150 worlds within this union." Tholin paused a moment, his eyes sliding between Mara and Rand. "Captain…I know you and the Commander explained how hopeful you both are that this is our future. Yet it is not. I have made a thorough search of all historical records pertaining to the events of our time. This Federation is not an outgrowth of the League of Allied Worlds. In fact, there is no mention of Captain David Christenson, Travis Rand, any of us or anyone we know within our time."

Rand and Mara shared a disappointed look, but Mara seemed more crestfallen as she bowed her head slightly. Her late husband was the great love of her life, a passion uncontested. To think that there was no record of his very existence--!

"Then we're…what?...in another reality?" Ben posed the question, but it became immediately apparent to all that this was a statement of fact.

Jamie nodded slowly in acquiescence, then addressed them all: "Scientists from various worlds have theorized for years on the existence of alternate realities—realities that generally tend to splinter off from our own at key points, thus following a different flow of history. Yet some in the field have pounced upon the idea of what's known as 'parallel realities'—an entire universal, dimensional reality existing near our own, but with its own completely different history. In effect, it's no less real than our own, and is probably separated by a universal buffer from what we see around us."

"Jamie, between the four years of medical school, three years of residency and more time clocked on the field, I've had to amass a lot of information," Ben said, tapping his temple with a finger. "But you're making my head hurt! So you're saying we're not in some kind of alternate reality--?"

"No. An alternate reality would be an offshoot of our own timeline. We'd have quantifiable evidence of certain historical events we'd be aware of, with the accepted changes to how our history played out." She took a breath, then with her gaze focused mostly on Rand, she said gravely, "This is an entirely new reality, which means not only that finding the way back to ours is an unknown factor…but that finding a path back to the reality we know may be impossible."

Rand was taken aback by Jamie's proclamation, but he quickly regained his composure. "That's not going to happen," he said, with a meaningful look to his people. "We've pulled off the impossible before. This is just one more trick for us to master."

"On the plus side," Tholin spoke up, "Chief Hughes and I did manage to override this ship's computer and security systems. We placed the ship's computer into an initial test mode, to make it think it was undergoing a refit at Utopia Planitia, then brought it back up online in standard mode. I have input command codes for each of you, and so we now have full control of all this vessel's systems."

No sooner did Tholin finish informing the others, than the ship's ODN gave off a beep. Jamie turned to the viewscreen and tabbed in a couple commands. Her eyes widened and she looked to Rand. "We're receiving an incoming signal…from Starfleet Command."

Rand sat up a little straighter in his chair and exhaled. "Well, I guess we've gained control of this ship just in time." He gestured to Jamie. "Let's see it."

Jamie tabbed another panel on the screen's side. The logo of the Federation appeared briefly, but was quickly replaced by the image of a silver-haired man with a slightly receding hairline, in a definitively Starfleet uniform. "Jean-Luc, we—" The man stopped abruptly, and stared in surprise as his eyes took in the sight of Rand and his senior staff, sitting in the proper chairs of the Enterprise crew. "Who in the hell are you people, and where is Captain Picard and his staff!"

Rand got to his feet. He didn't appreciate being addressed so brusquely, but he understood the reason why, and was determined to attempt to respect the chain of command—even if this wasn't his military, or his universe. "My name is Travis Rand, sir. May I ask to whom it is I'm speaking?"

The elder man considered the question and the demeanor of the man asking it for only a moment before replying, "I am Admiral Hanson, of Starfleet. And just why is it, Mr. Rand, that you and I are even having this conversation?"

"That's Captain Rand, Admiral Hanson." Chain of command or not, Travis was determined to retain the address of his rank. "As for why we're here…let me see if I can explain this, since I haven't fully wrapped my mind around it…"

It took Rand only about five minutes to explain everything. For his part, Hanson listened without interrupting, nodding a couple of times as Rand laid out the sequence of events leading to this moment. When he was done, Hanson nodded once more, then said only one thing:

"Q."

Rand blinked in puzzlement. "I'm sorry, Admiral…what--?"

"Q, Captain Rand. It's a bit hard to explain, but Q is a being from another reality known only to us as the Q Continuum. He hails from a race of beings with extraordinary powers, which you and I couldn't even fully begin to fathom. Do they have Norse mythology in your reality, Captain Rand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then liken him to the trickster god, Loki. Q's emotional state is mercurial: malevolent, irascible, giddy, humorous, reckless, deadly…all of those words and their full definitions fit him perfectly. Captain Picard—the great man whose ship you've unintentionally appropriated—has had more than his fair share of dealings with him over the years. Q has meddled in Starfleet affairs several times, but he couldn't have chosen a worse time than now."

Rand's ears pricked up at this last statement. "What's the problem, Admiral?"

Hanson sat back in his chair, regarding Rand silently a moment. "You are a soldier, through and through, loyal to the core, aren't you, Captain? I can see it in you…that fire, that eagerness to serve. The problem is, this is not your affair. Forty starships are about to converge at Wolf 359 to do battle with one of the little menaces Q has seen fit to toss us in the path of before. They're called the Borg, Captain…and today, of all days, I needed Jean-Luc Picard, because he's dealt with them before. No one knows them better than he and his crew." Hanson rubbed his hand across his forehead, distraught, trying to figure out what to do next.

For Rand, there was no other decision to make. "Admiral, I don't know why this 'Q' of yours saw fit to deposit us here…but now that we are, let us help. We have full control over this ship. We can be of service—"

"Absolutely not!" Hanson broke in. "I have little doubt to the veracity of your claims, Captain Rand…the fact that you're here is full evidence that something is amiss, and that the only culprit possibly responsible could be Q. But you are also intruders aboard Starfleet property…and while I have no wish to treat you as hostiles, if you make any moves to utilize the Enterprise in any way, you and your crew will be arrested and charged as enemies of the Federation!"

On the viewscreen, Hanson quickly began tabbing in commands to a padd which was just out of view, although the sounds of the panels being touched could plainly be heard. "No, Captain…I appreciate the intent, but you and your people are to hold position exactly where you are. I've just signaled the Okinawa and Magellan to rendezvous at your position. They'll be there within the hour, so you are to remain there! Once the ships arrive, you and your crew will be beamed aboard their ships for holding and transport to the nearest starbase, with the Enterprise being towed there as well."

In spite of the tension of the situation, a wry smile crossed Hanson's face as he said, "The last thing I need to hear, whenever Jean-Luc returns, is how I allowed someone else to sit in his chair, let alone gallivant around the cosmos with his ship. If you want to help, just wish us luck, son. Hanson out." The transmission ceased as the Admiral tabbed a panel on his end, and the seal of the Federation appeared once again. Rand's crew looked at him expectantly. "I take it we're not really just going to sit here?" Ben asked, an amused chuckle slipping past his lips.

"Of course not," Rand answered. "I have no intention of letting my crew get 'beamed', whatever the hell that is, let alone simply being taken into custody. Maybe whoever this Q is, brought us here for a reason. Maybe he's in one of his beneficial moods today. Whatever the case, these people need help with this 'Borg', and I'm not going to sit by and let any lives be lost—even if this isn't our own universe. Let's get to the bridge…we need to figure out our position, the position of those ships heading our way, and how we're going to help these people take down these 'Borg'."

The new senior staff of the Enterprise all got to their feet, quickly exiting the conference room and heading out to their de facto bridge…