Paint and Powder
A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
Picard sucks. Let's keep fixing it with shipgirls!
Sitting alone in his ready room on the Challenger, Captain Geordi Laforge wondered if the late Ambassador Spock had felt the same way he did during the mess surrounding the aftermath of the destruction of Praxis.
Everything felt upside down and on fire to Captain Laforge. The Enterprise was on the run, Commodore Oh acted more like the dictator of Starfleet than the head of Starfleet Security, and Picard had gone off on a quest to find Data.
The only one on that quest Geordi knew was Picard's former XO, who was a drug addict that had been kicked out of Starfleet. That Picard was going out on his own with that kind of person, without any support… It was terrifying.
Starfleet was hunting both of them like they were criminals, and his choices were becoming few. He was hardly the only captain feeling this way: Plenty of officers felt the same way.
"Captain, we have a problem," the Challenger's AI said as she appeared in the ready room.
And then it got worse.
"Now what?" Geordi tried not to groan.
"We are detecting what seems to be a cloaked ship going at impulse," Challenger explained.
Geordi then left his ready room to the bridge of the Challenger. He didn't have the chance to ask for a report as an Eclipse class intel cruiser decloaked. The massive vessel was a sleek, stealthy design, dark colored, with a reactive hull that darkened to better blend in with space even when not cloaked.
"Captain the vessel reads as Federation, but I don't know the design," Lt. Commander Jennifer Ollox stated from tactical. Geordi nodded.
"That's all right Jennifer: You aren't supposed to," he said. The Andorian tactical officer looked just a bit annoyed.
"They're hailing us."
"On screen," Laforge ordered.
Contrary to what some would believe, the bridge of the Section 31 cruiser was not some dark and shadowy place. It looked as well lit as the Challenger's bridge. Not that most really noticed as sitting in the captain's chair was one of the last people Geordi expected to see.
Admiral Tuvok looked as calm and stoic as he usually did.
"Captain Laforge," Tuvok said in his usual tone.
"Admiral Tuvok?" Geordi asked in shock.
"The situation dictates that I speak openly," he said, "the Federation government has effectively been taken over in a coup de tat."
"That's a terrible joke," Geordi stated bluntly.
"I was not making one," Tuvok replied evenly.
Geordi shook his head.
"I knew something terrible was going on, but… A full on coup?"
"A slow motion one," Tuvok explained, "conducted in the shadows. It has taken a long time to identify the ones responsible. But it seems their plans have changed, and now require rapid escalation."
Geordi had a good guess as to what had caused the plans to have sped up dramatically. "The Enterprise causing that I take it?"
"Correct," Tuvok answered. "A secret order has been given to multiple Starfleet vessels to converge near the Coppelius System." The Vulcan gave Geordi a steady look.
"I believe you know why."
Geordi looked at Challenger. The AI shrugged. Geordi sighed, and looked back at Tuvok.
"I… May have an inkling, yes," Geordi replied, not giving anything away, "but why them?"
"Sir, we're getting a priority one message from… Enterprise?" His communications officer, Roger Haskell, stated. Geordi turned to him.
"Play it, split screen," Geordi ordered. He turned back to watch.
"Hi everyone! This is Enterprise! I'm on the run from everyone to the Coppelius System! Catch me if you can, suckers! See you there!"
Challenger flushed at the nudity in the message. Geordi was unmoved.
The Challenger's XO Commander Taurik raised an eyebrow.
"Why now though? Why there?" Geordi asked.
"That I am unsure of," Tuvok admitted, "even Section 31's resources are limited."
That got everyone's attention. Geordi's jaw dropped.
"You're working for Section 31?!" Geordi demanded.
"Hardly," Tuvok stated calmly, "I took it over."
A gangly graying human poked his head into view, and waved.
"With a little help from me," Julian Bashir said with a grin.
"You were quite helpful in that task," Tuvok commented. "In any event, we must reach Coppelius before anyone else does."
"Helm set course for Coppelius, maximum warp," Geordi ordered.
"There is a faster way," Tuvok stated, "courtesy of an old friend."
And another person emerged on the viewscreen. An Ex-Borg. One Geordi wasn't familiar with, but Challenger called up the files on.
"I am Icheb," Icheb stated.
"You are supposed to be dead," Challenger stated. Icheb shook his head.
"As a human once said: 'Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,'" Icheb stated, "however, it was close. Seven though... This was used to make her go mad. Oh's telepaths wanted to isolate her, leave her alone. Anyway, they took a transwarp corridor to Coppelius. Here are the coordinates."
"Challenger," Geordi stated, "send it to everyone."
"Everyone?" Challenger asked. "Who do you mean, everyone?"
"Everyone," Geordi ordered.
Plasma bolts raked across Enterprise's hull like burning swords, cutting deep into her armor. The blasts from dozens of Romulans warbirds rained down on her like meteorites, digging pits and gouges into her hull. She frantically tried to get her systems online-Any system. Her attitude control thrusters fired sporadically, trying to right her as the impact of the shots began to alter her orbit.
She regained full awareness on the bridge, as Data typed on the console so fast his hands were just a blur. Sela nearby was helping on an adjacent console, even as the red alert klaxons blared and the red lights of red alert flashed over them.
"I have isolated one of the lockdown codes, and released it!" Data announced over the hard impacts against her hull, "nominal systems control may be restored!"
"May?!" Sela demanded.
"I will require access to the main computer core to remove them all!" Data shouted back. Enterprise got her sensors back online, just enough to see one of Oh's warbirds coming in for a strafing run for her bridge.
"Then get down there!" Enterprise shouted. She bodily grabbed Data and Sela both, and practically threw them into the turbolift. "GO!"
"You little-!" Sela tried, before the doors slid shut. Enterprise had just enough control to erect emergency forcefields around the turbolift shaft, just as a torpedo struck her bridge directly. The blast tore out a hole in the bulkhead, and sucked all the air right out. Enterprise didn't bother putting up an emergency forcefield to stop it, she was too busy trying to get any of her systems working again.
The sensory analogy system, that let her experience things to her hull as human sensations, was still on. She tried to turn it off, but it refused-Every shot to her hull registered as a blow to her skin, like red hot needles. She let out a scream into the airless bridge. The pain was horrible.
But she had no time for pain. What did she have?
Tractor beam-She had that. She locked onto the Sirena with her tractor beam, using the stream of gravitons to deflect weapons fire away from the tiny freighter.
Forcefields-She reinforced the forcefields around her nacelles and impulse engines, as the fire continued to rain down on her unshielded hull. Another torpedo tore a breach in her saucer section, annihilating one of her science labs. She vented the deck, extinguishing any fires.
Impulse engines... Still not responding. She fired her thrusters to full, and began to lumber to a lower orbit as the rain of fire continued. A blast struck her starboard bussard collector, and it barely held together. More shots followed, and Enterprise tried to roll to throw off their aim.
"Damnit... Damnit...!" Enterprise snarled to herself. More blasts came from another strafing warbird, and she rolled hard to keep Sirena out of the line of fire. She flipped over, catching the freighter with her dorsal tractor beam and keeping it between her and the warbirds.
But it was only going to delay the inevitable. Her weapons, her shields, her main engines-All locked down. She would die soon, and after that, so would her captain. So would all the life, synthetic or otherwise, on the planet below.
So would the Federation, under the hell of a relentless monster.
Another ship might have given up at this cold, stark reality. The probabilities telling her that the odds of survival were next to zero.
But she... Was the Enterprise.
His ship... She was being torn apart and here Picard was, watching helplessly. A doddering old man, reduced to... To a bystander.
Another failure... Another apology...
His fists tightened.
"Get me onto the Enterprise," Picard ordered. Cristobal looked in disbelief at him.
"Picard, you can't-!"
"Get me onto my ship!" Picard barked, standing up and full of righteous anger. "I'm not letting her die alone! Not when she came to save us!"
Cristobal stared at him, and nodded.
"Understood, sir," he said. "You won't be going alone."
"Hell no," Musiker said.
"Can you get Seven up?" Picard asked. Cristobal shook his head.
"Emil says she's just shut down-Something with her Borg implants. Someone's sending a message!"
"Then we need to leave her behind," Picard said grimly, "let's go!"
Five seconds later, all three transported into Enterprise's main engineering. Musiker leapt to the nearest console, while Cristobal and Picard got to the main control table.
"Oh shut down all her main systems!" Cristobal said. He shook his head, "I can't reactivate them remotely!"
"Here!" Musiker shouted, running over and calling up some controls, "I've got it! Manual power flow to the shields! Just need to activate the EPS junctions!"
"Do it!" Picard ordered. The two ran off to the Jefferies tubes. Picard kept working on the console as more torpedoes hit Enterprise, making her shake and shudder. He kept at it, trying to get around the lockouts.
"C-Captain..."
Picard looked over. There she was-Leaning against the planning table, looking sickly and strained. Picard looked upon her familiar form, working his jaw.
"Enterprise," he murmured softly. She smiled at him, even as she shuddered from more plasma fire hitting her hull. Picard abruptly realized that part of Enterprise's upgrades had included a sensory analogy system, allowing her to experience things to her hull as human sensations.
"Turn off your analogy system," he ordered. Enterprise shook her head.
"She... She won't let me," she managed. She staggered over, leaning against the table, "I-I can't... Turn it off..."
"Oh... Enterprise," Picard murmured. He reached out to pull her into his arms. She weakly hugged back, gritting her teeth against the pain.
"I'm... I'm so-"
"Don't you dare say you're sorry," Enterprise snarled. She looked her captain in his eyes, and he could see the defiant fire still burning in those amethyst pools. "I came to save you. You would do the same for me. This isn't your fault-It's that bitch's fault. And we... We can't let her... Win..."
Picard shook his head, and hit his communicator.
"Raffaela, Cristobal!"
The impacts became less intense, and Enterprise let out a sigh.
"We got the shields up, JL," Musiker reported, "but that's it. And we can't just keep manually adjusting them!"
I may have a solution, Admiral," Data spoke, walking into Main Engineering with a dischevled Sela alongside. Picard gaped at him.
"Data?! You-But you-!"
"The copy running on Maddox's mainframe was just that-A copy," Data stated calmly, working on the table interface.
"He died," Picard said, still in shock. Data looked at Picard, and nodded.
"To die would be a great adventure," he said, and he gave his old captain a small smile, "but not today."
"Too bad, we may not get a choice," Sela grumbled, looking at the readings on the main planning table, "shields are failing-The manual input of power isn't enough! Can we maneuver?"
"I... I am trying..." Enterprise began. "I... I don't know if I can-!"
"TRY HARDER!" Sela shouted at her. "You decrepit piece of junk! You and your crew keep thwarting my every scheme! Every plan of mine! If you can't beat Oh, then you just got lucky! SO TRY, AND DO IT!"
Enterprise managed a wry smile.
"Knew you cared," she said.
"Data, unlock the main computer," Picard ordered, "we need to-!"
Crisobal and Musiker came running back into Engineering-A plasma explosion followed them. They hit the deck, and the lights failed.
"Shields are gone," Enterprise whispered. "They're... They're locking onto me..."
Picard grit his teeth. He looked around at his crew. At Data, his longtime friend-Dead, then alive, then dead... Alive... Now to die for real. Musiker, who had sunk into depression and guilt after the Romulus Evacuation and had just found purpose in her life again. Cristobal, hollowed out by Oh's machinations and betrayals, and trying to find his hope once more. Sela, scion of a dead empire and somehow ally.
And Enterprise. His faithful ship. Ever there for him, even defying Starfleet Command and the Federation just to come after him.
He looked at her, as she stood there. Despite her pain, despite her helplessness... She stood tall. Brave. And resolute.
She smiled at him, even in the darkness and emergency lighting. He held her hand, and she his. Despite this being the end of his life, he had never felt more like himself than here.
"We are not now that strength which in old days," Picard murmured, "Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts. Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Enterprise smiled, and closed her eyes. Sela scowled angrily, rage burning in her own eyes. Cristobal and Musiker also held hands, as Data stood in repose.
"Well?! Do we have a plan?!"
"When all else fails," Enterprise replied, "have faith."
Sela laughed in disbelief.
"Faith?! Is that all we have?!"
"It's all anyone has, in the end," Picard spoke.
It was a glorious sight-The Enterprise, the foe of her people, burning in space. Helpless and on fire. Oh could have ended this sooner, but she wanted to savor the pain and fear of the AI and her crew. She would drive the ship into the wretched colony of synthetics below, end them completely. A funeral pyre, to light the way to war.
The restoration of the Romulan Star Empire, facilitated by their greatest enemies. It was a poetic justice.
"Disruptors to full," Oh ordered, "and torpedoes. We end this now."
"Sir!" Her sensor officer shouted, "multiple contacts leaving the transwarp tunnel!"
"What?!" Oh demanded, standing out of her seat, "no one could have gotten here that fast! No one else knows about the tunnel!"
Over a hundred ships dropped out of warp above the Romulan fleet. Federation vessels, from the mighty Marco Polo, to the huge Challenger, to the unassuming but potent Defiant and the elegant Titan. Bajoran and Cardassian warships flanked them, accompanied by Ferengi vessels. Klingon birds of prey, cruisers, and dreadnoughts filled the ranks, bristling with weapons and armed for battle. Romulan warbirds were also seen, members of the nascent Romulan Republic.
Leading the fleet was a sleek, dark vessel-A Section 31 intelligence cruiser. Oh's eyes widened, especially when that ship hailed them.
"Onscreen," she ordered. Her eyes narrowed at the dark skinned Vulcan on the screen. "Admiral Tuvok."
"General Oh," Tuvok stated, "your plot has been uncovered. Your conspirators and pawns have been arrested. You are outnumbered and outgunned. Surrender would be the logical course of action."
"How did you accomplish this, Admiral?" Oh sneered. Tuvok raised his eyebrows.
"There were two prime suspects for the infiltration and subversion that many Starfleet officers have observed over the last decade: Yourself, and Admiral Clancy. When you vanished from Starfleet Command, it was obvious that you were the one responsible."
"You had to make common cause with Section 31?" Oh scoffed.
"No," Tuvok stated, "I took over Section 31, to make it into what it was intended to be: The guardians of the Federation. The other vessels accompanying us have joined in response to Enterprise's distress call. And we found the tunnel by the same means we infiltrated your space."
Icheb walked into view, giving Oh a nasty smile.
"General," he said mockingly.
"You-You're dead!" She cried.
"He is not," Tuvok deadpanned, "we revived him, tracking down Seven to understand her aberrant behavior. This too you are responsible for. However, that same link allowed us to locate Seven... And in turn, you. Once again, surrender."
"I will not give up my chance to reform the Romulan Star Empire!" Oh snarled. Tuvok nodded.
"So be it. All ships: Engage!"
The truly massive allied fleet opened fire on the Romulans, tearing through the warbirds with precision and brutal efficiency. Even the rogue Romulan vessels cooperated easily. Oh turned back to Enterprise, hoping to at least finish her off...
When a massive dreadnought appeared in front of her, locking all weapons onto her. It was a starship the Enterprise-D had 'birthed' years ago, an emergence of new artificial life. The little ship had fled from Starfleet's efforts to study her, and had operated on its own for decades. It had grown in that time, an unholy imitation of the organic and the synethetic.
It also considered the Enterprise to be its mother.
"Burn in hell, bitch," snarled the entity known as "Little Enterprise", just as she unleashed salvos of phasers and torpedoes onto Oh's warbird.
Being killed by an artificial being, Oh reflected, as her ship was consumed in fire, was a terrible irony.
Then she knew no more.
They hadn't died. So Data had managed to patch in the external sensors, and showed the view outside.
Enterprise couldn't help her hot tears as she watched her sisters, from dozens of worlds and many species, fighting together against the Tal Shiar. The pride she felt in her fellow beings... Her friends... Her daughter...
She looked at Picard, who was smiling broadly. He looked so much younger, so much happier. Cristobal and Musiker laughed and hugged eachother tightly. Even Sela looked relieved, but she quickly hid it away behind her Romulan scowl.
"Like I said," Enterprise stated, "faith manages."
Sela snorted... But there was just the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.
"This time..."
How was that?