Yami To Boushi to Hon no Tabibito: Ever After

Chapter 13: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Lieutenant Smrhova raced to the observation deck, responding to a security alert. She had a back up officer on the bridge, but she was closest to respond. "Anything new to report?" she asked over the open link to the bridge tactical station.

"Three intruders, one apparently in medical distress." The bridge officer added disapprovingly, "A medical tech is there providing assistance."

Smrhova sighed. Hopefully the medic wouldn't end up a hostage, but they took their responsibility to help the injured seriously. "Keep monitoring," she ordered as she reached the doors.

The doors swished open, revealing crew members off to one side, three women on another with one woman collapsed on the floor with a medical officer tending her. Smrhova instantly registered the sheathed sword the one woman wore and the odd staff the other carried.

"We come in peace," the tall, black haired woman with the sword said, smiling wryly.

"Hazuki!" the other woman said urgently, "The ambient magical energies in this universe are nearly zero. It's incredible!"

"I think this is a mostly science based universe, Quill," Hazuki answered, "I'll explain later."

Quill accepted that, but continued, "Do you think that's why Lilith...?" She gestured to the out cold woman.

Smrhova didn't get a sense they were dangerous, but still approached warily. "Could someone explain what is going on?" she asked mildly.

The black haired woman hesitated. "We're other dimensional travelers," she confessed, "looking for a lost member of our people, more or less."

Smrhova digested that. "Well, it's not the strangest thing I've heard..." she admitted.

"Could we transport this woman to the medical bay?" the medic asked. She frowned, "I don't think it's critical but I don't like these readings."

"I'm not leaving her," the black haired woman said firmly.

Making a executive decision Smrhova tapped her communicator. "Five to beam to Sick Bay. Security level two."

And in a swish of golden light they were off.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Star Trek?" Quill echoed.

"It's a science fiction television show I watched in my home world. I never expected to actually be in it though," Hazuki admitted wryly.

Doctor Beverly Crusher-PIcard looked like Hazuki remembered, if a bit older. Tho her marrying Captain Picard was a surprise. The TV series had never gotten that far, as far as she could remember.

The doctor closed her tricorder. "She appears to be in a kind of shock," Beverly said, "but she brain wave activity and other vitals are returning to normal on their own."

Hazuki puffed out a breath, "That's a relief. Thank you."

"Now," the large Klingon and, surprisingly, the second in command, Worf said, "The Captain would like to speak with you."

"Of course," Hazuki nodded. She looked at Beverly, "Could you let us know if anything changes?"

"Certainly," Beverly responded gently.

It was so ODD seeing Worf in a red shift for command, rather than yellow security. They walked the halls of the Enterprise-E, and Hazuki had to do her best not to gawk. Quill looked very amused, not having the same references.

They went into a turbolift, and Hazuki was surprised at almost no feeling of motion. In seconds they arrived, and the doors opened onto the bridge. Hazuki really had to fight the urge to look around, instead following Worf along the rear of the bridge to the Captain's ready room.

Worf pressed a button by the door and Picard called, "Enter."

Captain Picard was checking a report on a data pad, but put it down at they entered. "Ladies," he nodded politely.

"Sir, thank you for your help," Hazuki said politely. "I'm Hazuki Azuma, this is Quill Fiat and our friend in your sick bay is Lilith."

"As I understand it, you are travelers from another universe?" Picard asked curiously.

"Yes," Hazuki nodded and sketched in the tale of Eve/Hatsumi's first disappearance, her return and her latest vanishing act.

"Fascinating," Picard acknowledged thoughtfully. "The parallels with many creation myths..." he murmured.

Worf cleared his throat before Picard could get too far off track.

Quill looked amused. Leaning forward she asked, "I assume this vessel has a fairly large crew, but could we try to find out if Eve had been here?"

Picard looked thoughtful, "Normally we protect the privacy of our crew members, but we could allow you to review images from our files for a match."

"Thank you," Hazuki smiled.

T'Ryssa Chen was, probably, the most cheerful Vulcan in the universe. "Call me Trys," she said cheerilly, "I've been assigned to help you." She sat at one of the consoles at the back of the bridge, "So how old would she have been? Special traits?"

"She's usually sixteen when she disappears, blond hair, red eyes and usually in good shape," Hazuki told her. "She's usually mute, but not always."

"Unless she was some kind of prodigy she's too young for crew," Trys noted with a smile, "but we often transport people in emergencies and such, Let's look through our files..."

Trys narrowed down the files o humanoids, starting with the past two years or so. They flipped by images on the screen, with Hazuki being able to stop them at any time.

"There!" Hazuki yelped.

"Amara Long, former resident of Deneva. We had her aboard due to the Borg attacks last year," Trys told her. "I remember her... there was some strangeness around her."

"Oh?" Quill asked.

"We were half way to our destination when she just disappeared from our emergency bunks. We did full scans, even backtracked our route to see if she had been taken off the ship somehow," Trys told her, "but found nothing."

"Right on her birthday," Hazuki murmured. She shook herself, looking frustrated. "Excuse me, I think I'll go check on Lilith..."

The two watched Hazuki leave, then Trys looked at Quill curiously. "Been a long trip?" she asked gently.

"A few weeks for me," Quill said, "longer for her. I think the excitement wore off a while ago."

"Hmm," Trys said, tho she couldn't really imagine that happening to her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hazuki stepped into the lift, grabbed the handle on the wall then said "Sickbay." With barely a jerk she was off. She HAD to smile as she muttered, "This is SO cool."

"HAZUKI!" a extremely cross voice bellowed.

Hazuki hurried in to find a revived Lilith sitting on the medical bed, looking cross. "You're all right then?" Hazuki smiled at her, relieved.

"You were worried about me?" Lilith asked teasingly.

Hazuki blushed. "Of course I was," she said, looking away.

Doctor Crusher-Picard smiled faintly. "I was about to call you," she noted, "Miss Lilith here woke up a few minutes ago. I'm monitoring her vitals, but she appears to be healthy."

"Thank you very much," Hazuki bowed.

"I'll be in my office if you need anything," Beverly added as she walked off.

"Sorry to worry you," Lilith sighed. She looked sheepish. "You know it takes energy to cross between worlds, correct?"

"Yeah," Hazuki said.

"To save energy I draw on the ambient power of the universe I'm traveling to," Lilith said, "so when we were coming here..."

"According to Quill there's almost no ambient magic here at all," Hazuki got where she was going, "so you tried to pull in power and got nothing."

"Yeah, and the shock pretty much knocked me silly," Lilith admitted.

"Well, I'm just glad you're okay," Hazuki took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"You know, your climbing into this bed with me would make me feel a LOT better," Lilith suggested archly.

"Lilith!" Hazuki blushed.

"I DO wonder where the magical energies of this universe went. It's almost like someone is hogging them," Lilith mused.

In a different part of the universe Q of the Q Continuim sneezed suddenly. Unaware of the Japanese tradition of people sneezing when people were talking about you, he shrugged and went off to bother a overly serious Captain...

To be continued...

Notes: I think it's a unofficial rule that EVERY multiverse crossover has to have a Star Trek story. This is novel-verse Next Gen, which has some new cast, Picard and Crusher finally got married and so on.