enginnering my way home

by kaviyarasank124

enginnering my way home

Engineering my way home. (Multicross, formerly DC-Arrowverse SI)

By: SpookyZalost

What would you do if you were suddenly launched into a parallel reality? well now I'm going to find out?

Status: ongoing

Published: 2022-01-18

Updated: 2022-07-09

Words: 134809

Chapters: 112

Original source: threads/990106

Exported with the assistance of

Origins 01

AN: Just trying something out while I get back into the swing of things, I want to be a better writer, so I'm giving it another go, starting small this time.

You ever have a particularly bad day suddenly go worse? I was starting to feel like this was going to be one of those days when my Jeep Cherokee died on me on the way to a campsite deep in the woods. I felt like an idiot as I got out the tool bag I keep under my rear bench seat and opened the hood while I waited for the steam to clear from the overheating radiator. Just what I needed, one of my fans died. I tried to get it spinning bypassing the toggle circuit with a 12 volt switched jumper I made for testing stuff and hooked the fan plug to the battery, but it just wouldn't cut on. Just had to wait until the radiator cooled, and maybe I could coast it down the mountain.

I sat there for several minutes when I heard a heavy thumping sound. The telltale grunt immediately told me I was in deep trouble, so I grabbed my rucksack and threw my tool bag in the back. That was when I was struck in the back, hard. My arms closed tightly around the rucksack as I felt myself fly forward and hit what felt like a solid brick wall, my modified trench keeping me from scraping my arms and legs, even if the inside pockets had things that were fairly sharp with the impact of the wall I hit.

Getting my bearings, I noticed that it was dark, not midday like it was a second ago. That wasn't even the beginning of what was wrong because I wasn't even in a forest anymore but an alleyway laying up against an actual brick wall. My first thought was that I was dead or hallucinating because this shouldn't be possible. However, I took a deep breath and tried to focus on my surroundings, pushing fear deep down as I took stock of my situation. As Sherlock Holmes would often say, "once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Or close to it, as I'd often add, accepting that there are things out there I couldn't begin to understand. Standing up and making sure my arms and legs weren't broken and applying a pressure point massage to my shoulders to help with the sudden tension headache from the impact, stretching to help relieve it further.

"ok, first order of business, where am I?" I moved as quietly as I could and made my way onto the main sidewalk of a busy street, I must have looked incredibly out of place with people giving me strange looks as they walked past. Entering a small café, I ordered some hot water and picked up a newspaper from the rack by the door. "grock" I nearly shouted the word because the date had to be wrong, I was nearly a full decade in the past, 2013. Apparently it was December 6th 2013, and I was in some place called Starling city given the name of the paper, the Starling City Gazette.

As the waitress served the pot of hot water and glass I asked for I reminded myself to be careful about currency and picked out some dollar coins from the coin pouch in my coat to give her as a tip, in 2022 with the global crisis going on you can't always trust a debit or credit card, so I always keep about 30 or so on me. Pulling one of the bags of tea leaves from my rucksack I placed them in the tea strainer and set it in the pot getting the odd look or two but replying with my best smile and nod to disarm the situation. Calming down with the aroma of the white jasmine tea, I began reading the article on the front page. "Hood strikes again, drug lord arrested after crew tied up and evidence delivered." The article went on to describe the arrow wounds and concern over the vigilante running rampant over the city stirring up trouble after disappearing over the summer.

Great, just what I needed, I knew the name of the city sounded familiar, but apparently I was in a comic universe, or possibly the TV one, I'd know possibly for sure once I had more info. Good news is, I might be able to find a way home here, I couldn't exactly remember events from the TV show let alone the comics, but this seemed early yet for the TV series, which fit with the news article. So either I was pre-particle accelerator explosion, or post, either way Cisco wasn't a dimension hopping meta yet. I don't think Lex Luthor was opening dimensional portals either. That just left John Constantine, if I can find him, since he likely knew a way to get me home, or a way to find out.

Reading to the back of the paper, there was another article about an upcoming event in central city, S.T.A.R. Labs was going to make a big announcement on December 11th with a lot of people protesting it. "Crap baskets", I nearly facepalmed right there, in a few days hundreds of people, including a lot of idiots and assholes, would get superpowers.

Origins 02

December 7th 2013 - Starling City

Spent last night in an abandoned office near what I was informed was some place called the glades. The locks weren't hard to get past if you know and practice at least some basic lock picking skill, and carry a multitool style lock pick set. For whatever reason the water was left on, so I was able to wash up in one of the office bathroom sinks and managed to find an old executive office with a couch to sleep on. I swear I was being followed today, so I had to be extra careful getting back to my temporary base while I got myself sorted here.

Luckily, some things remain the same between realities. Craigslist exists here too, and finding various handyman and locksmith gigs isn't too difficult as long as you don't mind getting paid under the table. I made around two hundred bucks today, which bought me a meal and some needed amenities like a decent shaving kit. I stashed what I didn't use in one of the locking filing cabinets, picking the lock open wasn't hard the first time, and who requires keys anyway?. Unfortunately, it was as I got my meal, I ran into my first problem here. I don't know the sociopolitical landscape, and I certainly don't know anybody I could turn to in a pinch.

It was as I was sitting down at a place called Big Belly Burger, that my table was surrounded by 3 rude dudes, your typical gang mentality punks really. "Can I help you with something?" I asked as they walled in the corner booth I was sitting at, the position giving me a clear view of the doors, classic overwatch tactics. "Yeah, you've been moving in on our turf, and I have a problem with that." Figuring it was the table they were on about, I proceeded to try and get up to leave, only for one of them to put his hand on my shoulder and push me back down into the seat. "Look, whatever it is that's going on, I'm sure we can work this out peacefully." I tried to talk my way out of this sudden shakedown when the bigger one grabbed me by my coat and yanked me up out of the booth. "No such thing" I was quickly shoved backwards, slamming into a jukebox in the corner. I noticed a guy get up from the counter, but everyone else remained seated staring at the commotion. The other two were laughing at my misfortune as the bigger guy walked towards me, intimidation radiating off him like heat off an engine on a hot day.

My hand grasped around for purchase to get myself on my feet, accidentally hitting several buttons on the jukebox before TNT by AC/DC started playing. "Alright" I sighed, taking a calming breath while rolling my shoulders and taking a combat stance. The big lug swung first, my hands moving on instinct to deflect and grab his wrist before twisting his arm backward and throwing him into one of his friends. The other guy started charging at me, so I slid my left foot backward and placed my hand on his shoulder, tripping him with my right, so he'd face plant. By this point, the bigger guy was up again, not so amused anymore at having been shoved around so easily. "Bad move" he growled before pulling out a butterfly knife and flicking it open.

Now at this point he could make two actions, he could swipe at me or stab. Stabbing is usually the default, so when he went for my stomach I sidestepped again moving just out of the way and grabbing his wrist applying pressure to a pressure point that forces the hand to open against its owner's will and dropping the knife into my other hand before I twisted his arm behind his back again, this time putting him in a thumb lock and holding him there. One of the other guys was moving to help him when the guy who was previously sitting at the counter grabbed them and threw a hard punch, knocking the dude unconscious. Our eyes met briefly and for an instant I felt his intent as I threw the bigger guy towards the counter guy and brought my arm around, my elbow smacking face plant dude in the face causing him to back off holding his bloody nose which just left the big guy who was now being held in a choke hold by my sudden ally. I walked up to them and threw the hardest gut punch I could at the last remaining enemy as he fell to the ground gasping for air. Reaching into my coat I found the zip ties I keep on my person for securing things and tied his thumbs together before moving onto the other unconscious dude, the guy with the bloody nose, taking off.

"Thanks for the help Mr-" "Diggle, John Diggle." I flick my wrist to close the butterfly knife I'd confiscated before I set it down on the table and sat down to begin waiting for the police to show, apparently the owner had called the police at the first sign of trouble. After what felt like an eternity of answering questions I was let go with the officers pocketing the knife, no point in letting illegal goods remain on the street right? I'd managed to finish my meal and had spent the next short while talking with John about where I'd learned to fight, going into detail about how I was picked on in high school and was sent by my family to take martial arts classes while my grandfather taught me wrestling from his high school days. That coupled with sparring with my girlfriend who takes kickboxing, as well as picking up some judo and karate to help round out things at least made my unrefined self-defense style workable against your average idiot, the occasional bar fight probably helped too, part of growing up near the Rockies I guess?. I still couldn't believe I was talking to Oliver's right-hand man, he looked a little different from what I remembered, but then again this wasn't an actor, so there had to be some differences. Things had to be wrapped up though, apparently John was going back to a friend of his, and I needed to get back to my temporary shelter, though I might want to think of moving soon, I swear It felt like someone was watching me.

Last edited: Jan 19, 2022

Origins 03

December 8th 2013.

Cops, there's cops outside the office building. What's weird is they aren't investigating the squatter aka me, but the dead guy across the street. The whole thing was unusual. First, a van pulls up, and two guys carry the body out, then within about ten minutes a cop car shows up, and they begin cordoning off the area. It seemed like an act to me. I got near the area and kept low while listening behind a nearby car.

"Max!" a younger girl shouted running towards the body, "get off, get off me!" suddenly a younger man rushes in to pull her out of the hands of what look like crooked cops who don't know the meaning of civil servant. "Hey, let her go" he shouts as he pulls her out of their grasp and gets her across the police line. "they're saying max ODed." "Was he using?" "No!, he made extra cash donating blood. You really think the hospital would let him donate if he was an addict?" Suddenly, the younger man slipped into the crime scene and took a photo with his phone before being chased out by the cops, the two of them leaving right after.

Great, just what I needed, crooked cops, a setup to hide a murder, and now two teenagers investigating crimes, what is this Scooby-Doo?. I waited until those kids were out of earshot before I slipped past the cops and grabbed a sample of his blood with a q-tip and a napkin, no idea what I was looking for, but maybe somebody could use this?. Plus there were blood streaks around his eyes, no way that was a drug overdose. I followed the two from a fairly far back distance, maybe they could tell me what was going on.

After a couple blocks I realized they were taking random turns and figured either they knew I was there and would confront me in a minute, or they were just playing it safe given the neighborhood. Suddenly they disappeared, so I picked up the pace and got jumped by the guy, catching me off guard and knocking me off my feet. "Who are you and why are you following us?" he asked, his voice hostile with an unspoken threat. "Odysseus, and if you're going to investigate max, you'll need this." I handed them the napkin wrapped q-tip. "It's a sample of his blood, you might be able to use it to find out what happened to that guy, snagged it when the cops were too busy being corrupt idiots."

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm, trying to stop me. We stared each other down before the girl pulled on his arm to get him to follow her. "I'll be checking out that clinic, I just hope whatever I find there isn't crap like some doctors doing evil science junk with a clinic as a front." with that I turned around and left, making up my mind as to what I had to do next. Was it stupid? Immensely, but there are few things I hate more than corrupt cops, murders, and cover-ups. It's why, even though I wasn't working anywhere important, I took pride in my government job back home. Plus, this reeked of a cover-up for something bigger than me.

After waiting a few hours, it wasn't hard to find the person who cleaned the place. The janitor had just come outside and started smoking a cigarette when I came up behind him and put him in the sleeper my grandfather taught me. Laying him against the wall just next to the door, I snagged his keys and made my way inside before I started hearing voices down the hall and ducked into a janitorial closet. "You're sure we're secure here?, I don't need someone discovering our little experiment." "Don't worry, my brothers and I will handle any unwanted interruptions." "Just to be safe, I'm going to burn the clinic tomorrow night, get rid of any evidence." the voices trailed off as they made their way elsewhere in the building, allowing me to slip out and find an empty office that had seen recent use.

Quickly picking the lock on the filing cabinet, I managed to find a name I recognized, Max, as well as several others with a stamped word on them, Mirakuru. "Oh, grok, just what I needed." I shook my head and tucked various folders into my coat before slipping out, doing my best to make it look like nobody was there. As I slipped out of the building and slipped into an alley way, a hand grasped my shoulder, causing me to jump, only to find someone I wasn't sure I was ready to encounter. Standing at just over 6 feet and towering over me was a man in a green hood with eye shadow or grease paint over his eyes. "You shouldn't be here" "You're" I paused, should I reveal what I know or play it safe.

"You're the vigilante, right? The Hood?" Best not to reveal all my cards just yet. He just stared at me, his eyes practically glowing in the shadow his hood created on his face. "Look, I was just investigating this so those two teenagers didn't get caught up in something dangerous, there's already dead people from whatever is going on." He continued to stare silently before asking in what had to be a fake deep voice for me to give him whatever I'd found. "Look, I know you've got this covered, but be careful, these guys are ubers and can break a normal man like a twig." With that, he nodded and shot an arrow into the nearest building, launching himself up onto the rooftops. "That's so cool" I muttered, quietly trying not to geek out, as I watched him vanish into the night.

Last edited: Jan 20, 2022

Origins 04

December 9th 2013

I swear it's felt like hours I've been watching this place after following that van this morning from the clinic. I ended up near a beach with an abandoned building with that van parked out front for hours and some poor sod struggling inside as I slipped into the second floor entrance up in the rafters and stuck to the shadows. It clicked where I'd seen this place before after I went inside, the chair in the middle being a rather obvious clue that this is where Roy got his superpowers. However, Roy wasn't here, instead it was some random person, looked to be off the street in heavily torn clothes. They were about to inject the man with some sort of green vile when the arrow came down and stopped it, the guy in the demon mask being knocked backward and the syringe falling out of his hands and skidding across the floor.

I grabbed the chili bombs I'd prepped after I broke into the clinic and kept moving behind the various shelves and crates, rolling across open spaces when there were pauses in the fighting. From what I could remember, Oliver got hurt pretty bad and nearly died here, so I had to be ready to distract the uber before he could do serious harm. But first, I came up behind demon mask and put him in a choke hold while applying pressure to his carotid artery in a crude approximation of a vulcan nerve pinch. His body went limp fairly quick, so I released him and tied his thumbs together with zip ties before snagging one of the green vials and slipping it into my coat, nabbing the nearby syringe while I was at it.

Sneaking around again, I released the guy in the chair just before The arrow was sent flying towards me, causing me to duck out of the way, the guy falling on the floor. I couldn't worry about him though because the uber focused his full attention on me now, with mask guy having somehow gotten out of his bonds already and escaped "grok!" I shouted before rolling out of the way of his charge, the Arrow coming to after the uber charged me a second time. This time I was ready as I threw one of my pepper bombs right at his face, his hand coming up to slap it away, not knowing that would trigger it due to it being made of paper and designed to turn into a cloud of pain and irritation on impact. "Not as good as tear gas, but that's not normal chili powder, it's made from dried Habanero peppers, guaranteed to disorient and debilitate even the strongest idiot on the other end of it." I smirked before ducking out of the way of a wild swing and rolled again before the vigilante shot him in the back of the leg, then his foot, pinning him down.

Tears streamed from his face as his eyes practically glowed red from the chili powder as he glared at the arrow, his full attention focused on the vigilante, while I tried my best to escape back to hiding and waiting in case Oliver needed more help. The guy literally ripped the arrows out of his legs as he charged at his original target, I quickly started taking stock of the handful of chili bombs I had left before I noticed the uber's legs starting to heal fairly rapidly. Great, he's got a healing factor, just what I needed, a knockoff wolverine without Hugh Jackman to make it cool. Suddenly Oliver was thrown through several crates just missing a shelf and ending up next to me, the uber still feeling around and struggling with the partial blindness he'd been given in the semi-dark factory. Propping up the vigilante and checking his pulse I quickly realized he was out cold, likely with a concussion given the impact, and I wasn't equipped to fight the uber, so I grabbed Oliver and dragged him out of the factory before escaping into a nearby warehouse and moving to an over-watch position near the door in case more uber goons showed up with a loud roar echoing through the area before I heard the heavy footsteps move away.

I sat there for hours waiting for the Arrow to wake up. When he finally did, he was clearly not happy given his body language as it spoke of anger, fear, frustration, he obviously was concerned as well. "Do you know how stupid that was going in there?" I slumped my shoulders, letting go of the tension I'd been holding in, praying he woke up. "Of course I do, why do you think I had chili bombs ready? I wasn't going to fight him, escape? Sure, but not fight him." he paused, taking stock of that thought process. "Look you weren't able to do much to him either right?, the guy has a healing factor, penetrating weapons won't do much of anything to him, not enough dps." "I'm trained to fight people like him, you're not!" he countered before his whole frame relaxed. "Mr hood, sir, look, I want this stuff to stop just as much as you do, and I'm new to the area, so I don't know the city as well as you do either, but I just can't stand by and watch people get hurt, killed even, by what, some psycho with a super soldier fetish?" I felt a bit heated at the implication that I wasn't able to fight back, but he wasn't wrong either, still when up against stronger opponents you need to fight smart and out think them.

We sat there in silence while I kept my ears open for intruders before I heard what I thought was john and someone else quickly running up to the warehouse, so I ducked into the shadows further back. "Oliver! Are you ok?!" "I'm fine, I got my ass handed to me, but I'm fine" John helped him up and they made their way out the door. While I made my own escape out the back I noticed John Diggle sparing a glance towards me as I escaped out another door hoping I didn't just make things worse for myself.

Last edited: Jan 20, 2022

Origins 05

December 9th 2013 - Arrow Cave/Arrow secret base

John Diggle, a man willing to lose it all for the sake of what he truly cared about. He was willing when he fought for his country and lost his brother, and he's willing even now as the ally of Oliver Queen, The Vigilante. The fight never really ends was his first thought as he helped Oliver onto the bed in their secret hideout. Always some new threat, some new enemy coming out of the woodwork, first it was Malcolm Merlin, now this new threat with super soldiers. It just never stops.

Something was bothering him though, why was he there? He just caught a glimpse of him on their way out, the guy in the trench coat who called himself Zalost. He expected Oliver to go in half cocked, but somehow this guy managed to get them both out of there alive despite the super human they were up against.

"Oliver, you need to tell me what happened in there." He was still making up his mind on this Leo guy, was he a threat, an ally. He was certainly forthcoming about where he'd learned to fight, but it wasn't anything like hardened military training or even remotely similar to what his friend went through. Instead, it was cobbled together, makeshift, with different techniques mixed in to fix any weaknesses.

"I told you, I saw him sneak into the factory and followed him, I wasn't sure he knew what he was up against after breaking into the clinic last night." he sounded tense, though that might be the bruised ribs from what looked like a sledgehammer at first with knuckle imprints.

"Right, the guy you got those files from. The guy I wanted to gauge better before you went in to try and get him to not make trouble on top of everything else."

"He wasn't there to fight Cyrus, but he clearly wasn't working for them either, something doesn't add up with all this, he was prepared for him, like he knew he was going to be there." Oliver paused as he noticed something in the pocket of his costume now that his ribs were bandaged, and pulled out some sort of brass syringe.

"You can't be serious." he noticed it was filled with some sort of green liquid. "When did he?" "Felicity, get this analyzed, I need to know everything you can tell me about it."

December 10th 2013

I turned the vial over in my hands, the green liquid almost glowing in the dim light of the office I was squatting in. "Ok, so I've got the mirakuru, now what, it's not like it's safe." I sighed as my head rested against the cool wall, the morning sunlight filtering in through the window. Setting it back into my coat pocket now wrapped in some cloth I found discarded to help protect the glass vial from shattering and impacts, I got up to get back to working on my project.

Sitting on a makeshift workbench was a stun-gun one of those crooked cops had dropped in the scuffle with those teenagers, I'd taken it apart to make sure there were no tracking devices on it and removed the serial number, no point in getting caught with a police weapon except getting sent to jail. Rigging up a charger for the battery wasn't too difficult, there was an old laptop charger and some scrap equipment I could pull resistors and capacitors from to set up the correct voltage and amperage from the multi-meter I keep in my rucksack for when I need to fix something or do something makeshift, the small pen soldering iron more than enough for patching wires and replacing small components with the battery pack I had charging with the solar panel during the day.

I aimed the freshly charged stun gun at a pile of papers and heard the telltale click of the tazer going off, nodding in approval before retracting the line and re-arming the gas cartridge with the hand full I'd picked up at a sporting goods store. They were cool with me trading supplies for fixing a serious leak in their stockroom instead of needing a plumber on record. I'd been taking jobs like this now for a couple of days from places around the poor parts of starling city, either in exchange for money or supplies, but only what I needed.

I was a long ways from being able to do something with the super soldier serum, and I wasn't wealthy either. I hated having to hide this from the hood, but I knew he would find me snagging it suspicious, and I was hoping that sneaking the syringe into his costume would be helpful since he didn't have Barry trying to save him or Roy recovering now due to my interference. It was around this time I heard someone trip and knock something over in the hallway, causing me to duck back into the shadows, my stun-gun at the ready.

"I'm telling you I heard he was staying here, the handyman who's been helping the glades, only asking for food or supplies in exchange for fixing stuff." my heart was beating so loud it was echoing in my ears, I didn't like combat, but it was a necessity sometimes, so I had to be ready for anything.

"Barry I know you want to investigate this case but really, you should just leave this guy alone, he probably had nothing to do with the fight at that factory last night." I paused and started to breathe deep to calm down before I heard the door turn, crap, why didn't I lock it?!

"Look the train broke down before I could head back, so I'm stuck here for the moment anyway, plus the description given by a witness to the incident matches the one given by those guys who got beat up at big belly burger recently as well as this handyman guy. And the chili powder on the floor of the factory was clearly made in a non-sterile environment, so it adds up."

They paused as our eyes met, and I had nowhere to go at that point. I stood up and walked over to the pair, mentally kicking myself and swearing to figure out what entity was toying with me. "Wasn't expecting visitors, sorry for the mess but, well, it was only supposed to be temporary anyway." I set the stun-gun down on the table and did my best to hide the anxiety I was feeling at having been discovered.

"Hi I'm Barry, and I just wanted to ask you some questions if that's alright?"

I sighed, he really was way too open and friendly, just like I remembered. I mentally wished him good tidings and decided to pull up one of the office chairs I stashed against the wall, this was probably going to take a minute and the woman who I quickly reminded myself was Felicity was eying the small workbench I'd set up, my tools set out from the stun gun I was working on, my watch off to the side since the wristband was a multi-tool for electronics stuff.

"Mr Allen, as I'm sure you're aware, I'm squatting in this office, as it is, it's dangerous to be wandering around here, so I'd prefer if you didn't stay too long, might bring attention and force me to relocate." The use of his last name had a slight reaction as he tried to hide the surprise in his features, I then turned to Felicity.

"Felicity Smoak right?, did Mr Queen put you up to this?" I asked being a bit more direct, I swear he'd never let her into this situation on a good day and is likely watching from a nearby rooftop.

She seemed a bit surprised at the question, clearly not expecting to it. "He doesn't know but how did you know who I-" I interrupted her raiding my hand "Anyone can find anything out with enough access to information, you should know that given your past." clearly I hit a nerve given her reaction but turned to Barry next.

"Mr Allen, to answer your likely questions, yes I was at that factory last night, and no I'm not connected to the murders, as a civilian CSI and consultant if you want to perform an arrest you need an on duty officer right? I'd be happy to answer whatever questions you might have but at the moment I'm afraid I've had a long night, so I will agree to meet with you at the diner two blocks west in a couple hours, alright?

Last edited: Jan 21, 2022

Origins 06

December 10th 2013

I knew I shouldn't have pushed things, I hate dealing with people when I'm exhausted, I tend to speak before I think and end up coming across as kind of a jerk, or at least that's how my girlfriend often described it. My friends say I become more zalost than normal, which I never quite got. As I walked into the diner, I knew I'd said too much because Oliver Queen and John Diggle were there, as well as Felicity and Barry. In for a penny in for a pound I thought to myself as I sat down, the waitress bringing over a pot of hot water at my request, I was going to need caffeine for this and put some Earl Grey into the pot to steep, say what you will about starling city but they at least have decent tea here.

"Ok, first things first, I wanted to apologize for behaving rude before, it'd been a very long night, and I wasn't expecting someone to just walk into my temporary base of operations." I sighed, realizing just how much I might have screwed things up playing my hand wrong earlier, and breathed in the aroma from the pot pouring the tea into a coffee cup provided by the diner.

"Now, I know you said you had questions Mr Allen, so let me just say there are some details that are not my secrets to tell, so answer me this question first, how well do you know Mr Queen?"

"I mean he's working with star city police on this series of thefts, why?"

"It'll become clear in a moment, but let me ask you one more thing. Who in all of star city had the opportunity to train in a woodland environment, has the overall body type, and most importantly has the financial backing to support being a vigilante? Think on that for a bit, because what I'm about to tell everyone is going to seem incredibly crazy and implausible, but given your background, I expect you might be the most likely to believe what I'm about to say."

"Felicity, I didn't actually learn about your past through the web, it's a long story, and I know you're keeping stuff secret. Just know you're nothing like your dad no matter how crazy you get with technology, take it from someone who knows shitty dads, you're a good person, not a chess master who plays at being Xanatos.

"Now that that's all out of the way, My first question for you all, have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?"

I spent the next while telling my story, how I grew up having gone through my own crucible, having been taken away from all I knew and put through hell for a year as a child. The discovery of and rescue of my sister only to see her make a series of bad decisions despite my efforts to be a good example. My oath never to become like the man who put me through that hell, to be stronger, smarter, a superior force of good to put an end to generations of evil. Of the challenges I overcame, training in martial arts and studying anything that held my interest to try and learn the secrets of everything and anything. I never stopped, I went further explaining that I was a traveler from another world, another earth and after quickly learning that Marvel Comics existed here explained how their world held the same status as marvel's in mine. Finally, I told the story of my last few days here, leaving out a few things since I was holding onto the mirakuru in case I was able to make it work.

"And that's my story, the Timeline has already changed with me being here, I can't stop helping people because I swore to always do so, but I will say this, Oliver, you were supposed to shoot Roy in the leg because he was going to investigate this whole mess, and you wanted to protect him. That's why I broke into the clinic to get those files, so that he wouldn't get caught up in this. The reason I was at the factory was simply because I wanted to make sure he wasn't strapped to that chair and being used by that uber and his master Brother Blood. One more important thing, Slade Wilson is alive, he goes by deathstroke now, and he's how they got the Mirakuru."

We sat in silence for several minutes, it felt like over an hour had passed since I started. I know it was a lot to take in, to find out that not only did other realities exist but that you were part of a fictional story in at least one of them, your secrets laid bare for an entire world to know. Barry was the first to speak up of course, a bit of shock but understanding as someone who also went through his own crucible at a young age. Oliver got up and left, frustration visible on his features at this hard truth, when he asked me why he should believe me I said one name, Shadow. Shortly after Diggle and Felicity went after him, I was certain he would find me later.

"Barry, since we're alone I have two more important things to tell you. The first is that You need to be in your lab during the particle accelerator test, if you aren't, the world will end, it's crucial. The second and most important is that you should tell Iris how you feel before tomorrow. Because if you wait it's going to be a very long and very hard road for the next few years but in the end you'll make it work, in a way, you could say hope is the source of your power, the hope you give to yourself, and to those around you."

I sat there for a while sipping my tea as the caffeine and warmth brought energy and life into me again, the warmth seeping deep into my joints and muscles, sore from sleeping in that office again. Barry had quickly left after telling him what I hoped would change things for the better, a lot clearly on his mind. After finishing the pot of tea I made it back to my hideout and began gathering my things, Felicity stopped by again, concern evident in her features after learning the truth.

"You're leaving then?" she asked, her hand resting against the door frame.

"Ms Smoke, Felicity, I actually need to get on a train, so I can be at the accelerator test tomorrow. I've got a madman to try and stop from getting superpowers, one who believes that becoming all mind and no heart will give him the secrets of everything. It's important I at least try."

"Will you be coming back?, You kind of dropped a pretty heavy bomb back there, and I'd understand if you decided to travel searching for a way back."

"So you do believe me then? Well actually I need to come back after this next trial is over with, Oliver knows someone who might be able to help, a man knowledgeable in both the arcane and parallel dimensions. Oh, and make sure Barry gets on that train. I'm not sure if I imparted just how important this whole thing is going to be, but it's going to change everything, not even I can stop the big one, but maybe I can re-direct the path of the smaller one."

"One more thing, could you do me a favor and keep my bag for me til I get back? I'm not sure what's going to happen next, but I don't want anything destroyed in the process. Got everything I need in my coat anyway."

With that I walked out of the office, the place in better shape than when I got there a few days ago, as I headed for central city. I wasn't sure how long I was going to be there. But I had to stop the thinker from being created and save all those people he'd end up killing in the process of gaining his ultimate power.

Last edited: Jan 22, 2022

Origins 07

December 11th 2013 - Central City

It was still early yet, but I managed to get here a bit earlier, so I could get to S.T.A.R. Labs first and keep an eye out for DeVoe. I just missed them after I'd done some digging in star city and was planning to visit their house first, but the train was late, and I didn't have a car, man I missed my jeep. As I waited at S.T.A.R. Labs for the ceremony to start, I felt a tap on my shoulder causing me to turn around only to see Barry standing there, the last place he should be.

"Mr Allen, don't you need to be in your lab?"

"I know, but I wanted to thank you and Felicity mentioned you were going to be here, something about a secret mission? Plus I wanted to thank you, I couldn't really tell iris how I felt, but I managed to write it down, I'm hoping to give it to her later."

I sighed because I wasn't sure if this would prevent Eddie Thawn from becoming romantically involved with Iris or not, but I had to make sure she got it later. After a brief goodbye, Barry headed back to his lab at the precinct, and a crowd was starting to form at the accelerator. It was then I noticed a black van pull off to a nearby parking lot and decided to go check it out. Two people, an older man and a woman, were tinkering with something inside. So I sat back and let them finish whatever they were working on.

Finally, the pair left, so I quickly picked the lock to the back and found what I was looking for, a weird metallic helmet with electrodes all along the inside. Let's put on our thinking caps folks, I absentmindedly thought to myself, bemused as I quickly got out of there, thinking cap in hand. Time passed, and I sat back watching the ceremony play out, Eobard wearing Harrison Well's face clearly knowing exactly what was going to happen, though he stopped glancing around the crowd as our eyes met. frak! I thought as I quickly looked away, praying I wasn't going to get a visit from the reverse flash later. I'd managed to slip out of there before things were over with when I was suddenly grabbed from behind.

"You!, You took my life's work!" I was in shock because Clifford DeVoe was actually pretty strong for an older academic, and I tried to break the hold using a judo technique before the thinking cap slipped out of the inside of my coat. I just managed to keep it away from him as he desperately tried to take it away.

"Mister DeVoe, you need to stop. It's not worth the cost to learn the secrets of everything, trust me on this!" he wouldn't listen, I continued to plead with him to stop fighting me, suddenly there was an intense pressure as a wall of energy was moving towards us, it nearly knocked me over before a bolt of lightning struck the helmet throwing me back away from it, the force as I hit the wall shattered something sharp in my left breast pocket. It was agonizing, like getting stabbed by dozens of tiny razors before suddenly everything felt like it was on fire, burning me from the inside out.

I screamed as the agonizing pain ripped through me in waves radiating out from where I'd been cut, quickly realizing that I'd forgotten to stash the Mirakuru vial, and I'd just been stabbed by it breaking. Even worse, I was tasting copper and was clearly bleeding, as I felt warm blood both on my chest and in my mouth coming up from my lungs as I coughed. I managed to see Mr DeVoe's Wife giving him chest compressions before everything began to grow dark.

I briefly woke up in what looked to be an ambulance, a breathing mask on my face. The Paramedic noted I was awake and mentioned my pulse was incredibly rapid at 180bpm before everything went dark again. The next time I woke up I was in an operating room, the doctors were panicking as they were removing the glass shards, but that feeling of drowning had stopped at least, though my mouth still tasted coppery. That was when another pulse of fire began flowing over me, rippling outward from deep inside my body, I screamed as the burning became agony again, and suddenly I felt all the hair on my body stand up like it was covered in static electricity before suddenly the operating room went dark and the machines went silent. Feeling exhausted again, I blacked out, not knowing what had just happened.

I finally woke up in what had to be a non-urgent care room, a curtain drawn for my privacy. I tried to get up, noting that I didn't feel any stiffness, cuts, or bruises anywhere, before sitting up fully and performing a self test. Fingers, toes, hands, arms, check, deep breath, count the first ten digits of pie, ok I was all here. No memory issues that I noticed, the semi-eidetic memory I'd trained while learning various skills was intact as I could recall details of what was going on. I quickly facepalmed as I realized that in my haste to stop DeVoe I'd forgotten to stash the vial of Mirakuru and gotten jabbed with it when the accelerator exploded, and we got zapped by that lightning bolt. Just what I needed, I'd been turned into an uber and who knows what else by the explosion, though it might have saved my life too given the healing factor. Gently reaching over and standing up I pulled the sensors off me and noted that my knee didn't hurt like it usually does either since that car hit my bike a decade ago, furthermore everything felt lighter too.

"Sir! You shouldn't be up and about?!" A nurse quickly came in after that, I guess I'd triggered some sort of alarm but was more in shock than anything as I was looking out the window rather than lying unconscious in bed. I turned to her voice and grinned, since I was in better shape than I had been in a long time.

"I'm not dead" I said softly, my throat pretty raw before I tried to clear it "water, need water" my raspy voice sounding and feeling like sandpaper. She quickly returned with a paper cup of water that I drank, remembering to drink it slowly, so my body didn't just reject it. I could tell just how dehydrated I was from the thick layer of mucus in the back of my throat, but it slowly cleared up as she got me a second then third cup. I stretched testing the limits of my body's movement before I decided to walk around, the room dark since it was clearly night outside stretching my legs as well before doing a few quick lunges. "I'm sorry for my abrupt movement but could you tell me where I am?"

She seemed to snap out of her shock at seeing a patient move from a presumed coma and quickly told me that I was in central city general hospital and had been taken there along with several other patients after the particle accelerator accident. "Two things then, first, I need my coat, second, could you tell me what room a mister Barry Allen is in?"

Last edited: Jan 23, 2022

Rising 01

December 20th - 2013

Eight days, I'd been unconscious for eight days after the accelerator accident, died half a dozen times only to come back moments after the doctors were to declare me dead. I was surprised I didn't have some kind of brain damage, though the doctor was testing me on several things, since I guess this was their first case of super healing on record. Unfortunately Clifford DeVoe died from cardiac arrest due to the lightning hitting the helmet, the mirakuru accident just barely saving me due to the regeneration. The doctor kept insisting I stay put for several days, but I managed to get them to agree to let me move about, so long as I was being monitored by a nurse.

The nurse, Ms Concord, was often assigned to me, something about freaking the other staff out. I spent the last sixteen hours being put through a battery of tests, taking blood samples, sent down to the PT room for physical ability tests, and generally just having my limits tested. Stranger still was that S.T.A.R. Labs was running the show and paying for the whole thing. I wasn't sure what to think of this because I hadn't seen Eobard show his face yet, but I'd finally gotten permission to visit Mr Allen after I refused to allow any further tests unless I was allowed my request.

I knocked gently at the door trying to be soft before Ms Concord opened the door allowing me in to see their unconscious coma patient. "Keep fighting, Barry" I said softly as I walked over to him and picked up the clipboard at the foot of the bed, noting the incredibly rapid heart rate and high electrolyte levels. There was a knock at the door before it opened, and a larger man I pretty quickly recognized as detective Joe West and his daughter Iris walked into the door.

"Excuse me but do you know Barry?" he asked before I turned around, setting the clipboard back at the foot of the bed.

"Yes, we met in Starling city, he was working with Mr Oliver Queen and myself on a case for SCPD. He's also a damn good CSI and had my back in a bad situation."

I paused for a moment, considering the ramifications of changing history again before I looked at them both. "Excuse me, there was something important Mr Allen kept going on about that I wanted to make sure was delivered, but I'm not exactly sure where it is… do you happen to have the coat he was wearing the night of the accident?" I got a strange look before a drawer was opened, and an envelope was taken out.

"This was in his coat pocket, no address written on it, so I was hoping he could tell me more about it when he woke up."

I felt my eyes widen as I realized that he had written it but wanted to deliver it in person, so I quickly took it from the detective and handed it to Iris.

"Want to tell me what this is about?" asked the detective as Iris began opening the letter and reading.

"Mr West, Barry was insistent she got that letter, if anything should happen to him, I wanted to make sure that no matter what it was delivered." Iris began welling up in tears as she read further, realizing that this was the true feelings of her long time friend and adoptive family, who'd been hiding it for the better part of his life. There was concern on the detective's face as I turned back to the bed, giving a silent prayer for his safety, now and in the future that's been thrust upon him. That was then there was a knock at the door again and Eobard walked in.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked as he walked into the room, standing off to the side.

"I told you before, Wells, Barry is not some science experiment and I won't let you use him as such even if it'll wake him up tomorrow!" shouted detective West, my own body tensing from the increased acuity of my hearing.

"Harrison Wells, we finally meet" I stated quickly putting a fake smile on to hide my real intentions.

"Ah yes, our John Doe, it seems my head of bio research Caitlin Snow has taken a real interest in you, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He reached out his hand in the traditional handshake, which was exactly what I was hoping for, as I grasped his hand and began applying ever-increasing pressure and pulled him in close. I could feel the bones in his hand start to give and snap as a pained expression began to form on the mask he was keeping up to hide his intent.

"You keep Mr Allen safe Eobard, I know you need him to get home, but he is more important than you can imagine." I let go of his hand after seeing a flash of red in his eyes from his powers while he was desperately trying to escape my vice-like grip crushing it, though it should heal in a few hours I was sure.

"That's one hell of a grip you have there, Mr?" I smirked before stretching "Zalost, that's what my friends call me anyway, Plumber, Handyman, Locksmith, Adventurer, and Traveler. Ever at the service of those in need." I did a simple bow at the last part before looking back to the west family "You can trust him to help Mr Allen, he does have some of the best experts in meta-human biology and advanced physics after all" I smirked before I walked out the door, Ms Concord following afterward.

"Is he going to be ok?, I was really worried with the sounds I heard coming from his hand." I took a deep sigh and turned to face her. "Mr Wells is going to be fine, now then, I need to get back to PT, would you be so kind as to show me the way Ms Concord?"

Last edited: Jan 24, 2022

Rising 02

December 24th - 2013

I was let out of the hospital yesterday. Under the condition that I visit star labs every day, so they can study the effects of my powers. I know this is really just Eobard wanting to keep a close eye on me, but it is nice basically getting to have my powers tested and see where my limits are right now. I'd been working out a lot recently actually as part of the PT for adapting to my new abilities. First my strength, apparently it's ten times stronger than peak human with the ability to easily lift the engine of a car averaging nearly a thousand pounds. To go with that though is that I need to be incredibly careful because I can easily break something fragile, like ceramic plates, or Eobard's hand.

My reflexes were fast too, forget a tennis ball launcher, I was able to catch a fastball from a rapid pitching machine at over one hundred miles per hour easily dodging even faster ones. I was no speedster, but I was certainly far beyond human. I'd already trained my senses as well, focusing in on the tiniest vibration and able to identify subtle variations in pitch, the faint coil whine of a circuit running hot, able to tell you what was in a casserole from across the room by smell alone. All of that was enhanced further to the point that I needed to be able to deafen it instead. I could see fourteen of the eight hundred stars in the Pleiades constellation with my naked eye, completely crushing the centurion vision test.

Strangely though I didn't feel enraged in fact my thoughts were also far faster and more complex than they ever were, I could plan out an entire scenario, not just dodging a projectile but the next dozen movements ahead, and their countermoves, and countermoves for those counters, and so on. It was like I could see the world, simulate it instantly in my mind, and play it out. And my stamina, I spent most of the morning casually jogging alongside traffic and easily traveled ten miles without feeling fatigued. Is this what it feels like to be Captain America? Or Wolverine? It's pretty insane, and I can see how the power can go to people's heads.

While I was on my jog, I also stopped by the grave site of Clifford DeVoe. He wasn't supposed to die, but his sacrifice might have saved dozens if not more people from his actions as The Thinker. I'd picked some flowers along the way to leave there and silently prayed for his well-being before making my way to S.T.A.R. Labs to check in with Caitlin, Cisco, as well as see how Barry was doing. Cisco and I got along for the most part, he was genuine in his interest in my abilities. Caitlin was a bit more removed, but I could understand why, Ronnie, her significant other, was believed to be lost in the accelerator explosion. Of course, I knew otherwise, but I wanted to make sure due to the timeline changes so after spending time at S.T.A.R. Labs I'd been staking out Professor Stein's house in the late afternoon into the evening waiting for Stein to show up in Ronnie's body.

It finally happened today, however, I found Ronnie standing outside before walking up to the home of Professor Stein I'd quickly taken a picture with my smartphone as proof and made my way over to him. "Professor Stein!" I shouted trying to get his attention, he seemed confused as I ran up to him quick as I could.

"Professor stein, you need to listen to me, I know you miss her, and I'll explain later, but I need you to come with me to S.T.A.R. Labs, you've been merged with someone in the accident due to project firestorm." He seemed lost, and a bit confused, but I did my best to try and keep him calm and convince him before we made our way there, the taxi driver having been told to charge it to Harrison Wells since it was technically his fault anyway.

It didn't take too long for us to reach the place, and I'd called ahead asking Cisco to prepare his equipment, stating it was an emergency having to do with what he had started calling meta-humans. Of course that didn't stop the panic and shock from Caitlin at seeing Ronnie again, but I had to intervene because it was Ronnie's body, but Stein was mostly the one in control of it right now. Much like in the show it was discovered that anti-psychotics cleared up the mind of the one in charge and at that point Cisco got in touch with the wife of professor Stein, Clarissa. It was also discovered that the body was unstable, but they had about a year to come up with a solution, which I was certain would be possible given the time they had.

It was late by this point, after several hours of testing and several healed burns while firestorm tried to get a handle on the situation, that I remembered it was actually Christmas Eve. Now at this point I'm not a Christian, not by a long shot, but I was raised as one, and I'd still attend Christmas mass so given it was around 8:30, I snuck out the door and went through the ritual until midnight as I did every year the communion and clarity of peace helping to ease my burdens for a while. I'd stayed for a bit afterward as well in deep thought pondering the existence of things since I knew that entities with godlike powers did exist in this world even if they didn't in my own when the Pastor came up to me asking if I was okay. I'd of course gave him a friendly smile, trying my best to simply thank him for his concern and getting an open invitation to talk if I needed it. It was late by that point, so I snuck back into my new temporary living quarters, really just a converted storage room and decided to get some rest for the night, I was going to need it if I was going to get back to starling, I needed to speak to Oliver about possibly helping me train these abilities further.

Rising 03

December 27th - 2013

I finally managed to slip away from S.T.A.R. Labs and got on a train to Starling city, there really was no argument since I seemed like I was in incredible health, but I was to check in daily to verify stuff, if only they knew that there were a lot more meta's coming. What I didn't expect since I didn't call anyone was for John Diggle to be waiting at the train station, he practically ambushed me save for my enhanced senses telling me someone was there.

"Mr Diggle, was not expecting you to be here?"

"Oliver insisted, besides, I hear you got superpowers, damn quick if you ask me."

"Not everyone had it easy, Barry's still in a coma, and well Scientists can only do so much, I actually was planning to see if maybe I could get some help getting better with these new abilities from someone who knows about testing and pushing limits."

It felt weird traveling by car given my tendency these days to jog across central city every morning, and it didn't take long until we pulled up outside the nightclub Verdant which I recalled was owned by Oliver and had his hideout underneath, at least until later on, but that wasn't relevant yet.

"You think you should be showing me the hood's secret hideout, mr diggle?" I chuckled a bit, but he seemed to take it in stride, I guess the reveal that I already had outside of context knowledge kinda negated the idea of secret hideouts. Taking the secret stairway in the alleyway down I walked into the open room finding both Oliver and Felicity already waiting there.

"I heard you've been busy in central city, enhanced physical and mental abilities, electromagnetic pulses, a professor dying of a heart attack."

"Okay, the last two were accidents, I was trying to stop him from becoming a moral-less monster and a lightning bolt struck his device zapping us both, also I don't know if I can do the pulse again or even how it happened."

"The mirakuru, where is it?" at that moment I knew he'd already figured out how I got the physical abilities.

"I'd taken one vial, one, because I wanted to talk to a biochemist in central city about a cure, it was shattered when I got thrown back by the lightning bolt and I got stabbed with shards of the vial coated in it, you weren't exactly talkative when I left either." The Room was tense Oliver seemed stressed, but I knew he was just concerned, a demon from his past hurting someone else was a big deal.

"Roy Harper, He was the person who was originally supposed to get it, remember? Fate seems to want to take a similar path, just never expected this." I immediately released the hand I realized was gripping the railing on the stairwell, an indent having been left there from the insane strength I was now capable of, silently chastising my self for losing some of my self-control I took a series of deep, controlled, breaths using the meditative focus I'd learned to deal with my own past to clear my mind and any strong emotions.

"To be honest, I came here wanting your help, you know this stuff better than anyone, and it was a complete accident that I was gifted powers at all given I'm a stranger to your world. I need to get a better handle on things, so I don't accidentally break something, or worse, someone."

"At least you have some training, why should I help you, you broke my trust, you knew that the mirakuru was too dangerous."

I stayed quiet, no more responses, no excuses, matching his stare and never taking my eye off him.

"You take the lead from me, but you need to tell me everything you know about the mirakuru and Slade Wilson"

"By your command Mr Queen" I bowed my head in respect, the man was a mixed martial arts master of a sort, and a hero, if anyone could teach me, it'd be him.

I'd spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening filling them in on everything I knew about the original events, what I could remember anyway which was much clearer since the accident, the thinking cap likely having some effect. Slade Wilsons plan, his desire for vengeance against Oliver, his plan to kill his family. I also warned him about Sebastian blood's upcoming run for election making him difficult to take on, laurel's possible involvement and blood's efforts to discredit her as part of Slade's revenge plans. As well as telling him that Sarah lance was alive and being pursued by the league of assassins, who plan to bring her home.

"That's all I really know and can talk about right now, I don't know the exact dates, but Nyssa isn't supposed to show up for another month, blood I think is already preparing to make his campaign speech in a week or two so if you want to do something act quickly. Just remember the warning about knowing too much about your own future, I will not tell you anything beyond this point unless it becomes relevant."

"Mr Queen, I'm sorry your past coming to light is filled with horrible things, but I know you can change things, save your mother, stop Slade, just be careful, you won't get another shot at this." I felt very tired having recounted what amounts to four or five months of story that may have already changed due to my efforts, but I was counting on the main series of events to stay the same, I doubted roy not getting powers would affect Slade's plans. That being said I had one other problem to deal with, Roy, Sin, and Thea were if I recalled correctly going to get in some serious trouble if I didn't do something about this murderer down in the glades, what I didn't know is that time is a fickle mistress and loves to stack the deck.

Last edited: Jan 26, 2022

Rising 04

A/N: First, I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback and positivity, it's very much appreciated and has helped me keep going further.

Second: I'm trying my best to post daily, between my job, working on getting the jeep going after having some issues starting it, and trying to equalize a new work/life balance. It's a challenge to myself that I want to write 1K words a day if possible so I wanted to give a heads-up in case I miss a day, I'll try to post double if/when I do!

December 29th - 2013.

I'd managed to set myself up in an abandoned factory district in the glades much like how I'd had the office setup before, it just seemed like nobody would notice a squatter, and it'd give me a good central point to monitor this hive of scum and villainy. At least as much as I could when I wasn't doing like before and offering work in exchange for resources, with a recent P.O. box being setup so S.T.A.R. Labs could send me something from Cisco's workbench to try out, apparently there were a lot of research opportunities from having an uber as a test subject, plus I was getting paid.

For some reason, Cisco seemed to think my EMP had something to do with the electrolyte levels in the ambulance and the much lower ones now. As such, he was having me try to generate a low level current and test it with a modified voltmeter/ammeter he'd set up that takes readings by contact and sends them back via satellite communication. I've been wearing it on my arm with the conductive arm-band he'd sent here yesterday, and it was my job today to take readings as I did various tasks today, eating, sleeping, exercising, to see if that had any noticeable change.

Today though, I had a mission I'd set out for myself, hoping to protect those teens who keep getting into trouble, especially Roy because he didn't get superpowers this time. As such, I made my way from the abandoned factory and took what I knew about the recent Starling Slasher murders and managed to get a general area where it was going on. I moved quickly after I heard a scream racing between alleyways, seeing a lady of the night pinned against a wall by a fairly bulky man, he looked like a body builder. I quickly noted his hand around her throat, which was consistent with previous murders, but for some reason he didn't have a knife out. Something wasn't right however because as the episode came back to me this guy was supposed to be a regular human not a seven-foot giant.

"Crap, ok, this isn't normal, the guy is either heavily using steroids or this is not the original starling slasher." That was when I noticed the blood on his shoes as he held her there before a quick hand jerk, and she was silent, collapsing on the ground. You've got to be kidding me, that was way too brutal!? I started taking deep slow breaths trying not to panic before picking up a piece of rebar that had been left on the ground, spinning it like the staff I was trained years ago.

His movements were strange, they were smooth and overly precise but also like he wasn't used to his own skin, then I noticed it, a red glow behind his eyes as a streetlight flickered immediately sending me on high alert. As he got closer I began spinning the staff moving it in front of me in long sweeping motions to try to maintain some distance, I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up to what looked like superhuman strength. He suddenly lunged in, so I swung high, the rebar impacting the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground with a clang like metal on metal.

That gave me a moment to think as I noticed the rebar was bent on the end and there wasn't very much blood on it at all, his face reflecting with a metallic shine where the rebar had hit him. What the hell is he, a terminator?!, some sort of body snatching cyborg?! I immediately turned the rebar around and threw the straight end like a spear where the rib cage was supposed to be at full strength, trying to pin it to the ground and give me a chance to escape. The rebar pierced the thing and went solidly into the ground, cracking the concrete from the force of the impact, the rebar standing straight up.

It stayed there staring at me as I immediately got my phone out, I was going to need serious help and Oliver might know something. That was then it started clawing its way up the rebar, pulling the rebar through it's pierced torso. No no no, this is bad, really bad. I sent a quick SOS to Oliver and Felicity's phones before snapping a picture of the monster and sending it as well, praying I could get help.

"You have been selected for termination by Lord Savage, Escape is futile" it stated in a cold almost mechanical voice. At that I broke out into a full speed run, I'd mostly been jogging before, but this was a full on sprint. Sparing a glance behind me to see it making chase, just keeping up with me, possibly because of the damage I'd inflicted on it. I'd been running for two blocks taking as many turns as I could when I heard a twang and the sound of a projectile impacting against metal before looking back to see that thing stop for a moment and begin searching the area before another one, this one with an explosive charge, impacted on its skull and detonated leaving more metal visible but otherwise not doing much but charring what looked to be an outer skin layer. Oliver dropped down next to me, taking stock of the situation as I picked up a piece of discarded pipe on the ground and pinched one end of it together as a makeshift spear, I'd managed to lead the thing into a construction site which had plenty of makeshift weapons.

"You didn't tell me about this guy" mentioned Oliver, his voice deep to hide his true voice

"This is new, he wasn't supposed to be here. Wrong universe, I think?" I replied back testing the weight of the modified pipe in my hand and finding the center of balance.

"You think?!" He fires another arrow, this one in the hole I made with the rebar, and detonates it inside the machine's torso, having a more noticeable effect.

"Well I'm not sure If you guys have the terminator movies here-" "Sure, who hasn't seen terminator, time travel, evil AI, changing the future." Felicity's voice comes over my phone despite not having called her, blasted techno wizards, I haven't figured that one out yet.

"Right, well back home there was a comic where superman of metropolis ended up fighting skynet in the future, I'm not sure if you have him on your earth, but that's for later." I paused, trying to organize my thoughts.

"Oliver, have you ever heard of Vandal Savage?" his expression seemed to indicate he was searching through his memories before Felicity interrupted again, apparently she'd found something. "Says here he's a conqueror and warlord and, wait, this can't be right, I'm finding records of him going back centuries."

"No that's right, he's immortal, there's a long story there, but more importantly where did this fracking toaster come from, that's what I want to know. It said Lord Savage had selected me for termination."

I threw the makeshift pipe spear at the machine's eye, shattering the lens and the pipe wedging its self in its skull, with the machine malfunctioning a bit but grasping the pipe and trying to pull it out. "Damn, I thought that would work"

Suddenly the machine ran at me, having forgotten about the pipe lodged in its skull and knocking me down gasping as it slammed its arm into my gut before standing over me yanking the pipe out of it's eye socket and aiming it at my chest.

"You will be terminated" It stated before another arrow was fired at it, this time the machine catching it and the explosion detonating in its hand damaging it, it's foot still pinning my chest to the ground.

It was distracted as Oliver was firing arrows at its head, one went wide and landed right next to me before I quickly realized that was on purpose because Oliver never misses, he trains for that on purpose. I grabbed the Arrow and jammed it into the thing's lower torso right at the leg joint and covered my face as it detonated, causing the machine to fall backwards without one of its legs and getting me free.

I quickly got up, nursing my bruised ribs, and saw a manhole cover yanking it up off the ground near where some workers had obviously been earlier. Another Arrow detonated against the machine as it was clawing it's way standing against the wall. At this point most of it's endo-skeleton was exposed, so I took the opportunity and grabbing the manhole cover by the edge and threw it like a Frisbee with the weight and force sheering the torso in half leaving the machine without its other leg and clawing its self forward with its good arm. I grabbed the pipe and ran up to it, this time aiming for the neck as it began clawing at my leg, digging deep gouges into my skin before I jammed it between the head and neck and trying to wedge it apart before a loud pop was heard, and the thing finally shut down. "Hasta la vista, you scrap heap."

I brushed myself off and began tending to my leg wounds, when noticed the meter on my arm was much higher than earlier, possibly because I may have been generating a lot more charge as my stress levels increased. Oliver grabbed the head as I hefted the rest of the machine's parts over my shoulder, and I followed him back to the arrow cave to figure out what was going on. Maybe Felicity can get some info out of what's left of the machine's computer with her techno wizardry.

Last edited: Jan 27, 2022

Rising 05

December 29th - 2013.

It was Late when John Diggle got a van from, somewhere, and brought it around with the remains of the machine loaded into the back the three of us made our way back to Verdant and I began unloading our mechanical menace into Felicity's tinkering and workshop in the arrow cave. I noticed that the tools were scattered about, so I let her be while she focused on whatever the hell this terminator ripoff was.

"I've seen some strange things, Oliver, but this is a new one."

"This one's not on me, it was after Zalost."

"Hey, I wasn't expecting an honest to gods terminator to show up, I wasn't even supposed to be in this universe!, just goes to show the timeline is changing and becoming unpredictable with my presence here."

"You keep talking about the timeline and future events, but how do you know things are supposed to play out like they did on your TV show?"

"I don't, but they seem to for the most part, the dates line up and the sequence of events line up for the most part, but I just don't know since I was observing it as a drama and not actually living it. Then again in most depictions you look more like Robin Hood than you do here, fancy haircut, hat, mustache with beard, blond hair, the whole deal." Felicity started cracking up at the bench, even Diggle was trying to hide a smile at the idea of Oliver looking like a medieval folk hero

"Look, obviously my being here caused ripples further down the timeline, enough that vandal savage would send an assassin to take me out, no idea what those changes are because I'm not a Time lord, or whatever the term is here." The room went dead silent, "Wait, you've seen doctor who? Is he real too?" felicity was the first to speak up, obviously far more curious about the meta knowledge, no matter how many times I try to hide behind the temporal prime directive.

"Not exactly, it's a long story, but in the far future humans master time travel, and become sort of like the time police, or something, I don't remember most of the details, and it shouldn't matter for several years anyway, though shouldn't doctor who be a given since your reality was fictional to me until I showed up here?, hell shouldn't all fictional people and groups exist somewhere, with all the good and bad that entails? I mean, you're taking apart a freaking terminator."

I felt like facepalming as whatever the thinking cap had done to my brain started having ideas connect in strange ways, pulling on ideas and things I'd learned about from far corners of my memories. Why hadn't the future time cops shown up and either erased me, taken me in, or tried to send me back already?, I was a time anomaly, right? Also, not a real terminator, apparently it was designed by a future version of Palmer Technologies. It was just heavily based on the idea of the terminator, including a neural network computer which used some kind of quantum molecular processor chip. What's worse is that it didn't seem to be a one off given the model number and series number printed inside the housing. Just what I needed, an army of killer robot assassins from the future.

While worrying about this, I also remembered I had asked Felicity to find and keep tabs on Sebastian Blood. Turns out, he was still applying for candidacy to become mayor of starling city… at least he was, until his application mysteriously was denied and barred from running for at least five years. Shot across the bow, Slade. Better back off now. Still had no idea where Slade's new hideout was, but this would at least set back his plans to try and take over starling city temporarily. In the meantime, I continued to train over the next few weeks until the old timeline re-asserted its self and Oliver's mother announces her candidacy for mayor against the old regime. mid-January.

When I wasn't training I was setting up my base in the old factory I'd picked, fixing up scrap machines where I could because I figured it could be useful to have rapid fabrication in the near future. Plus, super strength made moving things around a lot easier, even after Oliver's training helped me get a lot better fine control over my grip strength. Then the first of the major trials came in an encounter when I yanked some jerk off a lady of the night after he was clearly being way too forceful. And in the alley next to my factory hideout too.

"Listen buddy you got what you paid for now leave, caprice?" The man was terrified as he hung there by his shirt collar while his pants fell down around his ankles, the idiot having been in the middle of removing them. I put him down and gave him a light nudge as he stumbled and quickly took off out of the alleyway. I looked over the woman, a bruise forming near her left eye, and picked her up in my arms before taking off in a sprint towards the hospital. The whole way I had the feeling I was being followed but tried to ignore it since I had more pressing matters at the moment but as soon as I spoke to the nurse and left on my way home I felt the presence again and quickly turned around and saw nothing, only for someone to appear directly in front of me when I turned back slipping out of the shadows but leaning against a building.

Huh, that's new, I know Oliver could do it, but that's something to do with the league of assassins I guess, stealth is their expertise. I stood there for a good minute or so trying to figure out what to say or do when I was suddenly jumped from behind, though given she was suddenly running towards me. I wasn't sure what to do but whoever this other guy was he was heavy, so I crouched, and her staff hit the guy's skull with a metal clang before she backed off, the sound immediately sending me on alert.

It didn't say anything, but it was increasing its pressure like a hydraulic press and I could feel my arms start to ache from the force, so I fell backward and slammed it into the pavement before the arms released letting me free and allowing me to turn around seeing another seven foot giant of a man. Great, Oliver is going to be real mad another one showed up.

"Canary, get out of here, this guy is insanely dangerous, he's not even human."

"I got that from the metal skull."

"Unless you have some explosives in there, I don't think you're equipped to fight this guy." She immediately proved me wrong of course because while I rolled out of the way of a fist impacting the ground she came up behind it and stabbed her staff into it's torso jamming up it's waist joints before dodging out of the way of it suddenly turning backward giving me an opening to yank at the staff and try to inflict a lot of damage before I was blindsided by its arm swinging back with me still holding the staff but slamming against a nearby dumpster leaving a pretty sizable dent.

"Crap baskets" I mumbled with my head spinning before the telltale sound of an arrow firing before an explosion went off on the machine knocking it off its feet.

"Cavalry's here" I shouted to make sure Canary got out of the way and drawing the machine's attention back towards me. This is going to be a long night.

Rising 06

January - 2150

"He Continues to oppose me, ME! I'm supposed to be the only immortal, so where did he come from? That anomaly just appeared and everything went wrong!" a man with a scar across his left eye, blinded from the injury, paces in a concrete room, a holographic projection showing a twisted map of events floats over a table in the center of the room.

"Lord Savage, I've uncovered more logs from the temporal beacon you put in orbit, another infiltrator was destroyed, this time in 2014."

"Gideon, show me the playback."

A video play's showing a time code of January 20th 2014 22:13

"Cavalry's here!" shouted the target Identified as Zalost, though he seems different somehow from the one in the present. Another Explosion impacts the infiltrator before a metal bo staff smacks into it from just off-screen, creating a loud clang. The Machine strikes out, reaching for it's target as it got in close before a warning popped up indicating an overload. The image froze for a moment before it jumped forward, this time the infiltrator was clearly on it's side with a loud wrenching sound of metal tearing in the background.

"Freaking time traveling assassins, I'm going to figure out how he's doing this, even if I have to take the long way. Wait, is that thing still on?" suddenly, the image stopped.

"Go back, time code 250" the image paused just before the overload. "Zoom in on target, focus on eyes, enhance." the image zooms in to a closeup of their face, the eyes showed the reflection of the machine, a blue glow emitting from where a pair of hands were touching it. "Get me, Bryce, I need to have words with her about her infiltrator's weakness to electrical surges."

Suddenly, the room shakes and dust falls off the ceiling, disturbed by the impact. The Gideon hologram vanishes as the power fades in the chamber. Another hologram appears, this time a man who looks to be in their mid-forties, a long white beard and various bits of technology visible from inside a cloak with glowing blue eyes that seem to radiate electromagnetic energy.

"Hey Vandal, are you still hiding in that bunker?, if you don't come out soon, I'll finish liberating the rest of the people you've wrongly imprisoned. Or are you a coward?" the image is smirking as a transport drone zips past. "Oops, too late, well you know the old saying, in for a penny in for a pound, I'll be seeing you soon!"

The man's howl could be heard for miles around as the empty city above his bunker sat abandoned, most of it having been liberated for months. This wouldn't be the end of course, no matter what Vandal Savage wasn't going to give up on taking care of his long time enemy, still he had to escape and make plans. The Room shook as the central chamber took off and began making its way to the fallback point at near light speed, he'd return soon enough, and in the meantime, the dozen or so infiltrators would continue searching, he'd take care of his problem long before it became one and create his perfect world. The Time Masters had made a deal after all, eliminate the anomaly, and he'd get his wish.

January 21st - 2014

"Find anything Felicity?" Oliver asked as I idly made small voltage jumps between my fingers. The hair standing up on my arm as I did so. I could also feel something from the computers in the room too, like pins and needles but not part of my body.

"Just more of the same, whatever you guys did shorted out its software, and it's memory, I did find some sort of transponder though."

"Transponder, you mean somebody was giving this thing commands?" I asked as I walked over getting a closer look at the screen before it started glitching, so I backed away again, something was seriously screwy with these weird powers.

"Looks that way, though it still looks like tech I've never seen or heard of before, if I could just figure out how it all fits together."

"I still think I should get Cisco in on this over at S.T.A.R. Labs, he's kind of a tech genius, no offense felicity, you're brilliant as a hacker and programmer, but he's good at working with tech he's never seen before, or at least he will be."

"Isn't that the same Cisco who's currently working for an evil time traveling speedster which body snatched Harrison wells?"

"Yes, but Cisco isn't evil, he just doesn't know about Eobard. Besides, as skilled as Oliver is, none of us have what it takes to deal with him and survive right now, We need our own speedster and Barry is still in a coma."

"I still can't get over him becoming a superhero, I mean he's crazy good at forensics and deduction, but superpowers? A superhero? That just seems really unlikely."

"As Unlikely as me both surviving accidentally being enhanced by the mirakuru and getting superpowers at the same time?" I smirked, feeling a bit arrogant since things were looking up. The Woman I saved last night was released from the hospital this morning, only some minor bruises and would be fine. Suddenly I was thrown onto the ground as Oliver proceeded to knock the wind out of me.

"Don't get cocky, I've got enough going on with my mother running for mayor, Thea and her friends getting involved with The Canary, and now time traveling robots from the future. I need you to focus on training, this new power just means you're not done changing yet."

Oliver was right, I took a breath and let him help me back on my feet. I really didn't know why savage was trying to kill me in the past, nor what these powers were doing, but I had a feeling that I would learn something useful soon.

Rising 07

A/N: Hey so I got the jeep running today, woot!, also here's part 7 of rising, felt a bit inspired after being on the ground for 3 hours.

January 26th - 2014

I pulled myself out from underneath the vehicle I'd been working on the last few weeks, a tarp keeping me from laying on the cold hard ground below me, a wrench in my hand and my face covered in grease and oil. It felt good to be working on a jeep again, that was one of my few pleasures back home. This one I found in the junkyard a few blocks from here, the engine was good, crankshaft turned, no rust in the spark plugs though they needed replacing, seems like the u bolts snapped and someone got rid of it. A forest green 1996 Jeep Cherokee, not too different from Sleipnir besides the color.

So what was wrong with it? Well the starter was toast, it had no battery in it, and of course the front axle required an overhaul. I had the time and now the strength. So after dragging this here with a chain wrapped around my shoulders like a makeshift harness, and worked on it when I wasn't training with Oliver and smacking around overzealous perverts. I'd just finished replacing the starter and charging the battery after getting the rest of it in order when I got a surprise visit from Cisco of all people.

"Nice wheels, you been doing the work yourself?"

"Yeah, had one back home and I couldn't just let her sit and rot in that junkyard, plus it's great for focusing the mind and helping me control my strength, snapped several wrenches until I learned to be gentle trying to get rusty bolts loose." I felt a bit bad that I'd managed to exert enough force to snap or bend the half a dozen wrenches in the pile over in the corner of my makeshift workspace, but I guess it came with being superhuman. I climbed into the driver's seat and used a little bit of bio-electricity on the ignition wires after tying the rest together to hear it roar to life, a couple gallons of gas I'd carried from the gas station five blocks away serving as enough. Cisco climbed into the passenger seat and I decided to get more fuel as shakedown cruise.

"So what brings you to starling, Cisco?" I asked, feeling a bit bad that I hadn't gotten back in touch with them outside of reports on my abilities.

"Wells asked me to do some tests in person, something about recent spikes in your bio-electricity and some weird noise in the satellite uplink signal."

"Ah, I can explain, I've been getting into more stressful situations, you wouldn't believe half of what I've been dealing with."

"Anything to do with that robot hand you sent us?, because that was both crazy cool, and really advanced."

"Actually yeah, you wouldn't believe where I got it from, well maybe you might, ever see the terminator?"

"No way, killer cyborgs?, really?!"

"You better believe it, two now actually, though this time I somehow managed to fry it with my bio-electricity, like an electric eel but without the water. Needed to make direct contact with my hands and burned my fingertips and palms, but otherwise I think it hurt him more than me." I noticed Cisco taking notes, apparently nobody expected that much electrical discharge, despite the EMP back in the hospital.

I spent the next few hours running through a whole new set of tests on equipment he'd put together and brought with him. Finally, I'd dropped him off at a nearby hotel he was staying in, no guest room in my factory hideout, though I wasn't sure how he'd even found it, I needed to ask him about that later. I got a ping from Oliver on my phone about needing backup so instead of heading back I decided to drive to the coordinates Felicity relayed to me, the GPS app working with the satellites after I'd managed to get it to re-synchronize with them.

Pulling up into the alley, I turned off the lights and made my way over to where Diggle was holding what looked like some kind of ninja, right league of assassins, of course. He was saying something in what sounded like Aramaic and an image flashed of someone dressed like this taking a vial of poison, so I quickly pressure point jabbed his shoulders when I saw his hands moving.

"What was that for?!" shouted Oliver as I quickly took the bottle of poison from his grasp.

"Assassins don't get caught alive often, he wasn't going to tell you anything, also he's two days early." I dropped it into Oliver's hands for safe keeping and gave the now groaning assassin my meanest glare.

"I know you work for the league, so tell me where Nyssa is, otherwise I might have to go find the dragon and drag you before him a failure." I smirked as his eyes become even more panicked.

"Or, you know, I could just dislocate every bone in your body…" I yanked a piece of fence out of the ground and started bending it making a u shape before dropping it at his feet.

"I wouldn't keep him waiting, I've seen what he can do, and it's nasty" Diggle ad-libbed catching on to the trick I was playing.

"The Docks, she's waiting for Ta-er al-Sahfer, that's all I know." I cracked my knuckles and stretched before glaring at him

"That everything?" I did another long stretch with my back cracking along the joints.

"She's not planning to let anyone live" he seemed more panicked.

"Losing my patience, assassin."

Suddenly, Oliver steps in front of me. "Look I can't keep my friend contained here, you think I'd be able to stop him?, now talk."

He said something in Aramaic again the faint smell of feces in the air. Sighing, Oliver knocked him out, and I tied his hands and feet up with a flat piece of steel from that fence I tore up. Never really was one for intimidation, but super strength certainly helps, plus I really hate murders, rapists, and abusers, so I have no sympathy for them, present company excluded given they were trying to do good as heroes now.

"So who did they take? Sarah's Mother?, Officer Lance?"

"Laurel, she was taken from her apartment, Sarah went to talk to her when she found the note about it telling her to meet Nyssa." I facepalmed quickly, realizing that the timeline really had begun to change drastically.

"Oliver, you want me to come with?, act as backup in case you need some muscle?"

"Fine, but you follow my orders, you're not ready to fight someone like Nyssa."

Last edited: Feb 5, 2022

Rising 08

I followed Oliver in the jeep which I had yet to name, though I was partial to Durendal myself given the jeep was brought back and XJ's always seem to endure no matter what. I always name my vehicles, and this was no different. It didn't take us long to reach the waterfront and I parked it off to the side before securing it in case of thieves given the area.

Staying back I followed Oliver into the boat house that after a bit of scouting he'd located a few assassins standing guard. It didn't take long to enter, and Diggle hung back with me while Sarah went in first to confront Nyssa directly. I could feel the energy building up in my body as the anticipation grew, it was like my arms and legs were covered in pins and needles as the static crackled along them.

"You were supposed to come alone" Nyssa was waiting over by Laurel who was bound and gagged in a chair, the woman struggling when she saw her sister Sarah who she hadn't seen for years.

"Nyssa this has to stop, I just want an end to the killing, please!" Sarah was pleading with her while Oliver was in an over watch position in case she tried something. It was hard not to notice how damp it was, a pool of water was near the chair with it draining off towards the grate next to my feet, an idea began to form in case things went south, and I kneeled down with my hands raised while Sarah distracted the assassin princess.

"You swore allegiance to the league, I was instructed to bring you in, one way or another."

"I just can't take it anymore, I can't kill anymore, please!" Suddenly Nyssa embraced Sarah, and I was ready to make my move as she reached for her knife, quickly placing my left hand in the water and focusing the energy. My muscles ached as the heat raced down my arm and out my hand, electricity arcing as Nyssa and Sarah cried out before collapsing, Oliver quickly moved in to check on Sarah when the two assassins out front swooped in to grab Nyssa and run, Oliver shooting at them and wounding one in the leg as they managed to escape

"What was that?" Asked Oliver as I checked on my now burned left hand, the skin should begin healing shortly.

"I noticed the water on the ground, and she was reaching for a knife, so it seemed a good chance for an unexpected move." He checked Sarah's pulse and I noticed him relax.

"Besides, you said I couldn't fight her, right? I didn't fight her, I stunned her at range." Diggle patted my shoulder as Oliver released Laurel from the chair, the now liberated woman following us as Oliver carried the now unconscious Sarah out of the boat house.

"Ms Lance, would you like a lift to the hospital?" I asked, given Durendal was equipped to carry several passengers and could easily handle things, Oliver carefully laying Sarah down on the back seat. She nodded in consent as she climbed into the passenger seat, Oliver informing me he and Diggle would act as an escort. A short drive later and an hour of waiting for the doctor to finish checking them over, and it was deemed that both Laurel and Sarah were fine, though I doubt I'd seen the last of Nyssa and the league of assassins. The doctor was also worried about my burned hand, so I let them bandage it up and check it over, I knew it'd heal in a few hours but no harm in making sure.

Quentin Lance showed up shortly after, hugging both his daughters while Sarah filled him in on Nyssa, the league, and why they were after her. I mostly sat in the waiting room with Oliver keeping an eye on things in case they league tried again. It was decided to keep Sarah overnight given the electric shock, but laurel decided to keep her sister company with Oliver waiting on a nearby rooftop to watch over things and Diggle joined me in the jeep on stakeout.

"I know you said you electrocuted the robot a few days ago but seeing it is something different, superpowers man, what is this world coming to." I chuckled, knowing that I was mostly making things up as I went along and really needed a better grasp on where my limits really are.

"It's not all sunshine and rainbows, Mr Diggle, I mean every time I do that it burns the hell out of whatever body part it comes out of, even if I heal fast it still hurts like hell."

"Yeah but they seem a bit too well suited to you, I mean you pulled this out of the scrapyard, what, three weeks ago right?, and you're always tinkering with some gadget or device." He wasn't wrong, I mean yeah Durendal was a rescue, but it wasn't that bad, just needed some work.

"Perks of being both super strong and having an electric personality, Plus I always loved working on my jeep back home, it's just easier now than before." I grimaced thinking about the fact that my strength was still a pretty big hindrance in a world made for regular humans and everything feeling like it was made of flimsy stuff now. We chatted like that for a while before Diggle went to get some food, and Nyssa didn't show, but I was certain she was making other plans. It took one hell of a change of heart and some pretty extreme circumstances for her to release Sarah originally, I had no idea what was going to happen now, but it certainly wasn't good.

Dragon's Teeth 01

January 28th - 2014

I was awoken by one of the jury-rigged noise making traps going off. Fourth time in the last two days that someone tried to break into the factory, and this time I was ready for them. I'd managed to get Cisco to let me test a new carbon reinforced net that should prevent any blade from cutting it loose. I quickly climbed the ladder to the catwalk and made my way to the net now hanging just off to the side, a disgruntled assassin struggling to get out.

"So am I a target now, or are you guys just scouting about looking for your prey?" He continued to stare at me, keeping quiet as I watched, amused at the futile struggle.

"You guys are never alone, so where's the other one?" he continued to struggle when I heard another trap go off, this time a bear trap snapping shut on something. Answers that question. I made my way to the other sound after giving Oliver a heads-up, what I didn't expect was three more assassins trying to help the one out of the trap. I quietly hid behind some boxes, watching as they tried to pry the trap open, the strengthened springs difficult to separate even for my enhanced strength. Suddenly I heard a snap as the noise making part of the net trap fell to the floor and clattered about, the first one liberated from his prison. I waited quietly as two more raced into the room through the entrance I slipped in through and began speaking to the others in Aramaic before trying to pry the enhanced bear trap off their unfortunate compatriot. I snuck up behind one of them and placed my hand on his back, releasing a stun charge as he howled in pain and slumped with me keeping a grip on the back of his robe.

"So who sent you?, Nyssa? Ras? Maybe it was Talia?" the other five stopped what they were doing and turned to the sound, with me quickly throwing the unconscious assassin at the nearest one. I then dodged a few rapid strikes as another charged at me before I slipped the taser gun out of his holster and against his gut, stunning him next and letting him drop.

"You know if you guys were actually prepared you'd know I have enhanced strength, speed, reflexes" I rolled sideways dodging a roundhouse kick and sweeping his legs out from under him.

"And a great teacher." another one tried to stab me with a knife, but I grabbed his wrist and took it away, throwing it into a ceiling tile. I continued for another few minutes before an arrow flew through the window and impaled one. There were three remaining now with one trapped and two unconscious, the other two were battered and bruised, the third was trying to remove the arrow in his shoulder, while I was healing pretty fast. Suddenly, Oliver came in through the window and kicked one in the chest before punching him hard enough to knock him out too, leaving just two.

"I thought I told you not to fight these guys?" He wasn't amused at having six leagues of assassin members trying to take me out, but I could tell it was mostly just concern given what was going on.

"I didn't, they came here, got to say, they're not that smart if they got caught in my traps, I feel like this is home alone assassin edition."

"Nyssa must be testing you, sending grunts to test your defenses." I sighed as I grabbed one by the arm and judo flipped him into some boxes, the man limping as he tried to get up before I performed a hard punch to his gut knocking the wind out of him, Oliver had another in a choke hold until he passed out leaving the now winded and wounded one remaining and getting knocked out with a punch to the face.

"Got to say, not my kind of party, I prefer the kind with smart girls, video games, and junk food." Oliver's façade cracked for a moment at the joke before re-asserting its self. I'd have to keep trying, I swear I'd get him to lighten up just a bit sooner rather than later. As we tied up the group I decided to throw them over my shoulder and load them up in the back of Durendal lowering the back seat to make room before dropping them off in front of the police station. It was a bit of a chore to release the bear trap from the one's leg, but I was able to do reset it, the thing had proven effective tonight after all, maybe I'd put a few more around in unused rooms on the second floor.

I followed Oliver back to Verdant after that, I'd managed to snag a note off one of them which I was hoping might indicate what their mission was, but I couldn't read it, he might be able to though. As it turns out I did indeed have a death warrant out on me, apparently I'd insulted the dragon by dishonoring his daughter in combat.

I feared this wouldn't be the last group of idiots who came after me because when I came back to the factory I found the door smashed in and the word blood spray-painted everywhere in red. I'd nearly forgotten about Slade, but I guess brother Blood was still sore about being barred from the election. Especially given the equipment I'd spent time fixing up was smashed, luckily Durendal was with me. So it was spared the carnage.

Oliver was still following up on a lead as well trying to get in touch with John Constantine, he was apparently missing, or traveling, or something, but I had a feeling he'd show up when I least expected it. And besides, I think it was time for team arrow to go on a field trip, if the league was involved there was someone else I was aware of that might be able to do something about it, someone with ties to the dragon, and Talia al Ghul, Nyssas's sister. Looks like we'd be making a trip to Gotham, though Oliver still thought the Bat was a myth, I couldn't help feeling just a little amused at the idea of the Arrow and the Batman meeting properly.

Last edited: Feb 5, 2022

Dragons Teeth 02

January 31st - 2014 - Gotham city

It wasn't as it turns out very difficult to get onto the rooftop of the Gotham police department. Apparently, Commissioner Gordon owed Quentin a favor from a joint investigation years ago. Still, this was really the only way I could think of to reach the batman without revealing too much, since it was common knowledge that the bat signal was set up specifically to call him here.

"I still can't believe you talked me into coming here"

"Oliver, if we waited until you were supposed to visit, our contact would have retired already, and we're going to need all the help we can get against the league."

"He's a myth."

"Trust me, he'll show."

It didn't take more than a few minutes before the flaring of a cape alerted me to his arrival. Oliver tensing but resisting the instinct to draw his bow, Diggle standing by the door ready to step in just in case. He seemed massive in real life, like a looming shadow imposing terror on anyone caught in its gaze.

"Long way from Starling City, vigilante" "If you think you can come here and operate like you normally do-" I quickly interrupted, the paranoid and hostile tone Batman usually takes to any would be hero he doesn't know or trust.

"Sorry, actually we're here for your help, an old acquaintance of yours is after a friend and her family, the League of Assassins, I understand you had several run-ins with them and in particular the daughters of Ras al Ghul."

"The Canary, I've been keeping an eye on their movements after they surfaced in Starling. Why do you think I would be able to help you against the league?"

"Simple, You're the Batman, you're one of the most capable martial artists in the world, on top of being a literal genius, if anyone can help put this to rest it's you. Plus, I'm sure you can have Nightwing protect Gotham, or is he still robin here?"

I did my best to seem harmless despite my stature, in truth I was slightly taller than Bruce and certainly stronger, but he'd kick my ass in no time flat through sheer skill and willpower alone. Hell, he'd probably beat Oliver due to not having met or tained with Talia yet. I didn't want to get into a rooftop rumble with the Batman either way since it would probably not end well, and we were up here on good faith with the commissioner.

Our conversation was cut short as an explosion followed by maniacal laughter was heard in the distance. I turned towards Oliver, and in that split second he'd vanished. So cool.

"Alright, so he's not a myth, but we're still left without knowing anything." Oliver seemed irritated by the gruff nature of the ever brooding vigilante of Gotham. I just tried to shrug it off as two Alpha's ruffling feathers, since I knew both were good people at heart. Besides, we had to get back to Starling, between the league and Slade I didn't fancy its chances long term right now.

"He'll let us know, don't worry, he'll find us, he always does. Oh! And before I forget, he probably already knows your identity, he makes a habit of that. If it comes down to it, I'm fairly certain I know who he is, but can't be too careful."

A few nights later we were back in Starling, the league had been unusually quiet, though there were some random burglaries near the Starling City Zoo on top of the missing snake. Slade on the other hand had been busy. First, Sebastian Blood had begun a disinformation campaign against Oliver's mother as part of a way to sabotage her election. Then Slade actually stepped in personally to run in Sebastian's place. Likely escalating things in response to my efforts to crush his plans.

I'd spent the last few nights upgrading security in the factory with reinforced steel doors and modifying the basement level with an elevator to stash Durendal. as I was tinkering with some equipment, I noticed a shadow move across the rooftop windows, now reinforced with steel framework to prevent forced entry. Setting down the wrench I'd been using to tighten up the mechanisms of the CNC machine I'd managed to fix up, I turned around to come face to face with Batman now here in Starling.

"I've been waiting for you, I was starting to think you were going to stay out of it as a favor to Talia or something." He continued staring at me, the cowl giving him a menacing look.

"Talia's sister Nyssa has been busy, she's setup somewhere close to glades I suspect, it's near both the waterfront and the zoo which I suspect is where they've been getting the snake venom." He just continued staring, I wasn't sure if he was waiting for me to say more or if he was just that imposing, but it certainly wasn't what I expected. Why couldn't it have been Adam West batman?

"Look Mr Batman, sir, I'll follow your lead on this but the league needs to be stopped, I know The Arrow can handle Slade, and well I really should stop talking, is that normal?"

"Let Mr Queen know that I'll deal with the league, and that he'll hear from me if I need him." With that, he ran outside and shot off into the night, firing the grappling gun and disappearing into the darkness. As I took all this in, the only thing on my mind was how Oliver would not be happy about being sidelined in his own city. Hopefully both Slade and Nyssa would be dealt with soon because I only had half a year to come up with a plan to deal with Eobard, who knows what the changes to the timeline would do to that whole mess.

Last edited: Feb 5, 2022

Dragon's Teeth 03

RazeByFire said:

I like this approach to handling the League of Assassins, it makes sense in a DC continuity way. Will you be using Iain Glenn as Bruce Wayne or someone else? You're spoiled for choice there really.

Click to expand…

Click to shrink…

To be honest, I was thinking of having him not fully match the arrowverse one, but sound a bit like Kevin Conroy's batman, multiversal continuity errors and such, maybe a bit of JLU thrown in for personality leaning towards old Bruce from Batman Beyond with the jadedness. Since this is right before he retired in universe. Man, Bruce always has to snap and either completely or nearly break his code for him to retire… Only to come back later, with a successor, or a replacement, or some crisis that brings him out of retirement. "Gotham needs a Batman" - Amanda Waller

February 3rd - 2014

Why, why did the league decide that the answer to an unexpected problem is to terminate said problem instead of being peaceful. Oh right, Assassins. I continued spinning the 3ft piece of reinforced iron core steel pole in my hands, the practice Oliver had been having me do helping me better perfect the bo staff training I'd had years ago and turning it into a defensive zone to keep them from using knifes and swords. I'd also been deflecting projectiles with a rapid spinning technique that made it difficult for them to get past, with my reflexes allowing me to dodge the rest.

I'm glad I'd turned a large area of the factory into a sparring and training room for practice because it gave us room to fight the over a dozen assassins who'd swarmed my base, Bruce, Oliver, and Diggle fighting alongside me. Cisco had made some new conductive gloves to make it easier to send electric shocks electrifying the pole whenever I made contact with someone to provide additional shock damage, but they were still incredibly strong and outnumbered us three to one.

"Nyssa!" I shouted as she sat back, waiting for her minions to do the work for her.

"Is this really what you want?!, I took advantage of my environment, you're acting like I kicked your puppy, this is way overkill for a lucky break!"

"If you want to fight me, call off your dogs and fight me, one on one!"

"What are you doing?!" Oliver seemed panicked as I declared a challenge to Nyssa al Ghul hoping to keep her off balance with wit and reflexes.

"Putting an end to this, I won't kill her, the pit will heal even death, but she has to understand this vendetta with me, with Sarah, it's pointless." Of course, I knew Sarah lance was in coast city, we'd gotten her and her family out of starling until this whole mess blew over. Still would have been nice to have her backing us up, but having two targets in one place would have put too much risk on the rapidly changing timeline, and I needed her to live for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was to eventually lead the legends.

"You're a fool if you think you can take on the dragon, let alone his daughter." Nyssa remarked as she approached, the assassins forming a circle to prevent escape, ready to step in if anyone else tried to back me up.

"And you have no idea what I'm capable of, tell me, did it hurt knowing that Ras chose Talia over you, only for her to go off and form her own splinter group?" Her rage was powerful as she cried out charging at me full on, I side stepped and tried to use the pole to sweep her legs, but she leaped into the air, the edge of the pole slamming into her arms as she blocked, sending what should have been a taser pulse only for it to harmlessly discharge into the air.

"Rubber bracers? Smart, but you still have to contend with my strength, speed, and reflexes." I anchored the pole into the ground and got into the hand-to-hand combat stance Oliver had taught me while preparing for her next attack, the two of us circling each other like lions waiting for the other to leave an opening to strike. It wasn't long before I was met with a flurry of strikes, each one pinpoint accurate, each one aiming for a lethal spot on my body, and each one dodged or blocked due to my enhanced reflexes and speed. Suddenly I noticed an opening, it was for a split second as she went through the series of strikes, a regular person wouldn't have been able to utilize it due to her own speed and defense.

As she went in for another strike, this one aiming for my heart, I sidestepped, grabbed her arm, and threw a hard punch at her ribcage, the bones snapping under the force of the strike as she flew into the gathered assassins sending a few toppling over. I felt a bit like Neo against agent smith, an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. She struggled to stand, coughing up blood from the internal injuries I'd given her.

"You're not the only one who's been preparing Nyssa, I'm a stranger in a strange land. I'm well aware of the kinds of dangers that exist in this world, and I've been training to be ready for them. I'm not just fast, strong, and agile, I think fast too, I can see every move you make, every muscle twitch, every shift of your eyes as they focus on a target. You might be able to beat me with a cheap shot, but that has no honor, and for every moment we fight, I learn your techniques, your patterns, how to better and more efficiently best you."

Nyssa again roared as she charged forward, obviously I'd bruised her ego along with her ribs, I was hoping I could defeat her without killing her, I've never killed anyone. She was favoring her injured side as she again struck out, this time with the knife, which I quickly dodged and took away, throwing it at the Ceiling to get it out of the fight. Next she threw a series of throwing knives, each one glistening with something on their tips, I yanked the pole out of the ground and deflected them with a defensive spin knocking them off course before swinging rapidly, the pole striking her knee with an echoing crack, thunder crackling from outside as a storm moved in, rain tapping against the warehouse roof.

"You need to stop Nyssa" I said softly as I stood over her kneeling form, her looking up at me in frustration as she found herself unable to stand on her left leg, the impact severely injuring it along with the stun preventing the muscle from responding.

"Just Kill me!" she shouted, trying to claw at my leg, but with me quickly stepping back out of reach.

"There is no honor in killing someone who isn't a threat, and right now, with your injuries, you alone are not one."

Suddenly I heard a clapping sound as I turned to see none other than Slade Wilson emerge from a dark corner of the main floor. Oliver reached for his bow ready to end the war Slade had started, I myself got into a combat ready stance since he was one of the few people who could match me physically as I was right now, and far better trained and with more experience to boot.

"Relax, I'm not here to fight, in fact I guess you could say I'm here to repay a favor" he stated while helping Nyssa up, the assassins confused but awaiting their next order.

"You fight well, but you're still an amateur Zalost, Though you certainly know how to leverage your newfound strength you lack refinement." suddenly I had the wind knocked out of me, the whole world spinning as I collapsed on the ground struggling to breath.

"Go home, all of you, we'll pick this up soon enough, oh and Zalost, I'll be looking forward to our real fight." he began walking away with Nyssa in tow when Oliver shouted at him to wait, but he continued catching the arrow and sidestepping the batarang thrown at his feet before throwing the arrow at Batman who deflected it with his own arm bracers.

"Oliver, I shall be getting what you owe me soon enough for shadow as well as for myself, but now is not the time, oh and Bruce, I look forward to seeing Dick again, he was an excellent student for that brief time he trained under me." Suddenly he was gone, Oliver helping me up as Batman glared at the door Slade exited out of, the assassins preventing anyone from following before vanishing themselves.

"Great, Slade is working with the league, I got my ass handed to me with one punch, what's next, is Two Face going to show up and try to drop a giant coin on me?" Bruce coughed at that comment, clearly something similar happened in this reality at some point.

"He was right, you know how to fight, you lack discipline. You're going to need to learn more control if you have any hope of going up against Slade." Oliver was right in his assessment, but it still stung knowing I was a long ways from the greats, I just wanted to get home, not caught up in some Vigilante training arc.

"I might know someone" Stated Bruce as he stepped forward, his hand pulling a small pen and paper out of his utility belt and writing something down.

"In Japan there's someone I know and trust, my old master, an expert in control and how to fight the kind of people you'd be up against."

I remembered both Oliver and Bruce traveled the world learning their combat arts, Bruce for much longer than Oliver. Nodding to Bruce it seemed that they had a lot to talk about, with old enemies teaming up it seemed like a lot more was going to happen while I was away, though I was confident that despite being off the rails both Gotham and Starling were in good hands for now. I just hope them meeting changes things because Bruce retiring really put Gotham through hell and having allies might have just saved things.

Last edited: Feb 5, 2022

Dragons Teeth 04

February 8th - 2014

I've begun to notice something. I knew my ability to absorb information and learn things had improved since the accelerator, at least muscle memory and adapting to situations. But apparently languages and skills too. I didn't notice it much because I'm always trying to understand things on a fundamental level, makes it easy to solve any problem that comes my way.

In a few days, I'd somehow gone from rudimentary knowledge of japanese from watching a lot of anime with subtitles. To conversing with people well enough to navigate my way around the area, as well as beginning to read it as well. I'd started in tokyo of course, having taken a plane to get there, but from there I took a bus to lake yamanaka, picking up some supplies in town before making my way up the long pilgrimage in Bruce's instructions.

Over the last couple of days I made my way up the pathway heading towards the top of Mt, Fuji, staying in a cave, or near a waterfall as I embraced surviving in nature here. Finally, on the third day, I left the beaten path towards the coordinates on my watch, the little solar charger I'd brought with me keeping everything charged up. I'd just begun to crest a hill when I found what looked to be an isolated temple in the valley between Mt Fuji and Kamiyoshida.

I approached carefully, since if this was where I thought it was, then this place had more than enough trained martial artists to knock me on my ass a dozen times or more without trying. A young woman approached me as I ascended the steps, concerned that I might be lost and speaking in clear if broken English. She offered to take me to a nearby town as a guide but seemed surprised when I told her I'd been sent to find Sensei Yoru, more so when I spoke clear but still imperfect Japanese on top of it to avoid confusion, when in Rome right?

I was met at the temple gate by an elderly man, he had to be in his 70s but didn't look feeble in the least. I immediately bowed out of respect, first impressions are important, and this man taught the batman a significant amount of fighting techniques. I'd explained my situation to him, about needing control and that I needed to get stronger to protect people against a far stronger opponent. I swear this felt like a Karate kid moment with the kind of training Yoru Sensei had me doing. It didn't seem to have anything to do with combat training, but I figured it was just part of things.

Things went like that for the next month, I'd gotten word that Slade had agreed to a truce, things had gone quiet in Starling city, and I was focusing on gaining better control over my strength and abilities. Every morning I started with a run up and down the mountain, resting by a waterfall and meditating for an hour or so as I got a better feel over how my energy generation worked and how to control the output more precisely. Next I'd spend the next few hours doing Kata with the students, each one moving into the next, precision strikes being trained into muscle memory.

Finally, I'd also spend a few hours in the afternoon with the bo staff and training dummies, trying to strike hard without shattering the wood. In the evening, I'd run across Kamiyoshida and gather supplies, dodging the trees as I moved through the forest faster and faster every day to train my agility. Day in and day out the training went on, it became a habit and I followed without question. It was too important to become better, to try and master my new body, my new abilities.

One day three months in I was ambushed on my way back from town. It seemed the league wasn't giving me the chance to get strong enough to stand a chance and had their own plans as I felt more than heard the throwing knife shoot past my head, causing me to stop. My eyes closed as I tried to focus on the movement in the dark forest around me, the shadows hiding them from sight.

Their movements were different from the usual league assassins I'd been facing up until now, someone specialized maybe? I wasn't sure, but if I didn't move quickly, I wasn't going to make it back. They had incredible stealth and reflexes to match as I used the bo staf I carried on my back to deflect incoming projectiles but couldn't land a hit on them. They kept coming in nearly hitting me with lethal strikes, my own enhanced physiology giving me the ability to deflect or move just enough to avoid them.

"I'm not sure who you are, but if the league sent you, then they must be really afraid of something or really stupid to anger both the arrow and the bat."

"It doesn't matter, you won't leave here alive." he stated calmly, throwing another knife which I realized too late was a feint as he managed to land a devastating blow to my ribs, causing my heart to almost stop for a moment as I couldn't even breath. He seemed shocked I survived whatever that was and quickly hit me with a roundhouse kick, knocking me on the ground gasping for breath as I tried to take deep controlled breaths to get it back under control.

He struck again but this time I deflected it, another strike hitting me in the arm, leaving it limp at my side as the muscles refused to work. Recognizing this as a pressure point disabling move I've used, I began applying force to another point to bring feeling back into my arm and hands. It wasn't perfect, but it worked wonders for when my arm fell asleep from an awkward sleeping position.

"You're not the only one who can use pressure points to disarm your opponents' assassin." I responded, trying to goad him into making a mistake, overstepping, becoming overconfident, something. I was rewarded as this time he came out of the tress brandishing a short sword and coming in for a strike. I grabbed it with my hand, the blade cutting a deep gash as I arrested its movement gripping it hard before it was yanked out of my grasp, a foot shoving me onto the ground, the tip of the word not pointing at my neck.

"Your life ends here, and with it, the honor of the dragon will be restored" he proclaimed my death far too soon, however. My training in control allowing me to feel the electrical energy forming around my body, I needed to do something quick and shoved him off with my arm while rolling out of the way, the energy building and traveling down my arms, this time much more controlled than before. I could feel it cycling as I put my palms together, imitating the movements I'd seen repeated so many times in anime.

"You must have lost your mind in fear if you think you can fire energy like that." he started laughing, his confidence growing as I continued to focus the energy I'd been gathering and training this whole time.

"Funny thing about fiction assassin, from my perspective you shouldn't exist either, this whole world was once fiction, having superpowers was a laughable idea back home." I prayed this worked, I couldn't actually throw life force around, but containing energy with electromagnetic fields, creating plasma? If I could generate electricity it should be possible, in theory, with enough energy gathered. I just hoped I didn't blow up my hands, I wasn't sure about the limits of my regeneration yet.

A ball of light was forming in my hands, the heat immense as more and more energy formed starting to burn my hands, this time being drawn from what felt like the very air I was breathing, the irony of using what looked like an anime technique for the first time in the homeland of anime wasn't lost on me as I took in a deep breath, the focus allowing me to pour more and more energy from what felt like an endless reserve. First it was a soft red glow, then steadily moved through the spectrum of colors until it was a bright blue. Lightning arcing off my hands and around my body, striking the ground.

"Allow me to introduce you to the fourth state of matter assassin." suddenly I felt like a drained battery as I released it, the movement lightning quick as it just barely missed and splintered the tree where he was standing just moments ago, the ground scorched from the explosion. He seemed panicked as I took a deep breath and began channeling the energy again, the deep well seeping into my body as it was covered in a soft glow, a barrier of electromagnetic plasma around me evaporating the projectiles that flew my way.

"It's not possible!" he shouted as I reached out my hand, lightning arcing from my fingertips and striking his leg as he tried to dodge again, my other hand shooting more to hit him as he landed.

"With sufficient knowledge, anything is possible, you should know that given the league holds the secrets to eternal youth." suddenly a bright flash erupted in front of me, some sort of stun grenade as he vanished into the night. My whole body exhausted as I nearly collapsed and began making my way back to the temple. I still had a lot of training to do if I was going to put an end to this thing with Slade and the League.

Last edited: Feb 5, 2022

Dragon's Teeth 05

August 10th - 2014

Terror, that was what I felt as the plane's engines caught fire upon approaching near Starling City. I'd spent the last several months training under sensei Yoru, learning to refine my abilities as well as multiple combat doctrines. To say it was enlightening would be an understatement. Still, I really did not feel like dying before I actually made it home and immediately began focusing despite the people panicking on the plane.

I could tap into it regularly now, this deep well of electromagnetic energy which seemed bottomless and yet finite when used. First a soft glow began enveloping my body, then I felt it as it reached into the framework of the plane, the bits of metal reacting to my will as I strained to match it with the field on the ground repelling the plane and slowing its fall as I did so. Gently, the plane came to a landing in a nearby field, the pilot able to guide the now heavily slowed aircraft safely down.

I had no idea what had just happened, but I suspected it wasn't an accident or a bird strike like the pilot claimed over the intercom. Primarily because the wing was damaged by some form of projectile and not the normal damage you'd see from a failing engine. Having saved the plane, I was incredibly exhausted now and texted Oliver to let him know I would be delayed getting back. Apparently things hadn't gone well, and the city had nearly erupted into civil war due to Slade's machinations, save for Oliver and Sarah stopping his plan with help from Roy Harper, his new protégé.

To be honest, I was glad that Roy got picked up by Oliver anyway. Apparently he'd proven himself as a competent if unrefined fighter, and Oliver had decided it would be better to mentor him than let him continue getting into trouble fighting against the various drug and crime lords in the glades. Fate works in funny ways, I guess.

Having made sure the passengers were okay, I decided it was a nice night for a run and sprinted back the dozen or so miles to Starling city, my practiced running speed having increased to around forty miles per hour due to the Mirakuru mixing with dark matter. From there I began generating an electromagnetic field around my body and changed to skating across it, repelling myself self against the ground as I pushed off against the field giving me further momentum and pushing me up towards eighty. I'm no speedster, but I'm not slow either, my reaction time allowing me to easily dodge or leap over cars and other obstacles as I raced down the highway.

It didn't take more than ten or so minutes before I arrived back at the factory, the place heavily damaged from various break-ins and covered in graffiti. Guess I needed to reclaim my territory, though I was certain the underground portion was safe and thus protecting Durendal from hoodlums and crooks. Though it probably needed some maintenance after sitting for so long. Putting it off for now, I made my way towards Verdant, this time just running alongside traffic and quickly making my way there.

What surprised me was that the place was embroiled in some kind of battle, Thea had apparently been attacked by several League of Assassins members and Roy was protecting her before Oliver, Sarah, and Diggle showed up to even the odds. Felicity was obviously in the basement of course, but that would explain why I didn't get a response earlier, they were simply busy. Moving quickly, I charged in and clothes lined several, knocking them off their feet before landing several quick strikes to knock them unconscious.

"You really shouldn't have guys, I'm not very fun at parties and wanted to keep things casual." I've been working on my snark since it works great at distracting and riling up my enemies, keeps them off balance.

"You're late"

"My plane had technical difficulties, nobody died, I suspect after the fifth attempt on my life in the past month they're getting desperate." Yeah, they really tried to kill me despite the truce. Two were caught by Yoru himself, another by his students, and the other two, well you know about the first one, the second came prepared but wasn't prepared for my increased speed and wasn't really an issue since he was quickly blitzed.

"You didn't mention the last one."

"I didn't have time, it was on the way to the airport, and I'd decided to get a good workout in. No honor among criminals, am I right?"

Another got thrown into a post as I grabbed him by his arm, the throw a technique Sensei Yoru insisted I learn since it worked as a great counter, I love counters, and it meshes well with my focus on defense. There really were a lot of bad guys here, nearly two dozen in fact, though half that now were unconscious. An arrow flew by my face as narrowly dodged it, Nyssa taking pot shots from the second floor causing me to sigh in frustration before doing a running leap up there catching her off guard and snapping the bow with my hands.

"It's not polite to interrupt someone's dance, you know, it's a great way to piss a guy off." She immediately sliced at me with her knife, the movement feeling sluggish as I easily intercepted it and took it away from her.

"You shouldn't play with such dangerous toys either, might get hurt." I smirked before deflecting a series of rapid strikes then quickly knocking her out as well, her anger working against her quite heavily. I quickly threw her over my shoulder and whistled with my fingers to get everybody's attention.

"Hey wannabe assassins, if you want her back you've got to catch me, because if you can't, she's going away for a long time." I took off at a running sprint as a large number of them immediately gave chase, the few remaining to keep everyone else busy but likely being easily dispatched by team arrow. Quickly reaching my top speed, I slowed down to a reasonable twenty mile per hour jog to let them begin catching up. Picking up the pace again I heard the sound of motorcycles as they decided running after me was fruitless, so I decided to lead them away further, checking back and noting that they were paired up on four motorcycles trying to catch up to me.

Thinking quickly, I transitioned into a wall run and made it to the rooftops as I raced to get to the police station, hoping that some extra muscle might deter them. It went on for several blocks as several shots were taken at a distance, a few trying to now run along the rooftops with reinforcements having come in to aid them, suddenly I was blindsided by Slade throwing me on my back and tearing up the back of my jacket.

"Watch the threads, man, I just got this thing and don't feel like traveling back to Harajuku to get another one." I dusted my self off as I began walking to pick up the unconscious and now bruised Nyssa al Ghul when Slade threw something at my feet, causing me to step back before it detonated.

"You should forget the girl and focus on me, not that I'll let you walk away this time." I immediately got into a combat stance, this was going to be one heck of a battle, and I wasn't sure if I was ready.

Last edited: Feb 7, 2022

Dragon's Teeth 06

August 10th - 2014

Speed, agility, strength, Slade is my equal in every category, at least as far as physical enhancements. I've gotten better, but I'm still not a match for his skill and experience as a mercenary. My arm hangs limply at my side, numb from the first of many powerful strikes, my leg barely holding up my form as my body burns, the fire surging as it tries to repair its self. I could feel the exhaustion seeping deep into my bones as I dodged another strike deflecting and throwing him against a wall, our battle having moved from that rooftop into a small parking lot alongside a warehouse, thunder crackling above as the sky threatens to downpour.

"You have a lot of potential, six months of training, and you're able to stand against me." I'm hit by a powerful kick to the chest, my ribs bruising but not breaking this time as I'm sent backwards onto the ground, rolling as I tried to push through the pain of the impact.

"But it won't be enough, you can never stop me, Oliver certainly can't, the kid doesn't have the drive to kill, he lacks conviction." I manage to deflect another strike, but quickly take one to the gut, knocking the wind out of me again. His speed is unbelievable, it makes me wonder if he was holding back before against Oliver. I land hard against a truck, the tailgate shearing with the impact of my body against it gasping for breath, something shiny catches my eye and I grab it, desperate for some kind of weapon to give me an edge. Yanking it free from the box on top of it, I find myself holding a 1 1/2in wrench as big as my arm, the weight decent but not something I'd normally use other than that one time back home.

"You're right Slade, I don't have the experience to take you on, but there is one thing I have that you don't" I swing hard smacking the open end against his skull staying just out of reach.

"Science, engineering, ability, I'm not a fighter, I don't break things, I make them." I swing hard this time smashing against his arm at full force, the bone making a loud crack with the wrench vibrating like a bell in my hands making my sore arms hurt more.

"Anything you tear down I can build back up, stronger, better, more powerful!" I strike again, this time cracking several ribs. The battle seemingly turned in my favor, but it only lasted for a moment before he grabbed the wrench on my next swing, yanking me forward and grabbing me around the neck.

"All that bravado, all that spirit, it amounts to nothing!" I continued grabbing at my neck, my physical abilities keeping him from outright crushing my windpipe before he throws me to the ground, pinning me with his boot on my chest.

"First I will destroy this city that Oliver holds dear, his family, his friends, the place he protects, then I will find your family, your loved ones, and show you what it really means to face the dark as I did, you'll be just like me, stronger, more powerful, darker." I felt my ribs begin to buckle, the sharp pain in my chest making it incredibly difficult to breath. But I still had one ace up my sleeve as the rain began to fall around me, the sky filled with the very energy I needed to save myself, the power of science, the power that makes the entire world work. I began laughing, a manic grin on my face as he seemed confused, an arrow then strikes his shoulder and explodes, throwing him off me, the fire coursing through my body as I tapped into that endless well of energy reviving me, making it easier to stand again.

"You've forgotten something, Slade, I'm not just an uber like you, I don't just have enhanced physical abilities." I began to glow, the energy more powerful as the surrounding air became charged, lightning striking the ground and channeling toward my body.

"You think the only thing I did over there was train for control over my strength, my precision? No, I learned to do more than simply strike with electrical energy in my hands. I learned how to control the other half of my abilities, beyond strength, beyond agility, beyond everything you can throw at me." The energy collecting around my body began illuminating the surrounding area, energy condensing like a cloak around my entire form.

"The difference between you and I? You stared long into the abyss, you chose to let it consume you. Me? I illuminated it." Slade began backing away, unsure how to deal with this new threat, his sword was struck by electricity as I reached out my hand, quickly beginning to glow red-hot as he was forced to drop it.

"Even if you could reach them, You won't take my family, my friends, I won't let you!" I threw a condensed ball of plasma, the impact vaporizing the sword and turning the area around it into molten tar. I then reached out and felt the metal in his tools, his weapons, and began pulling on them, the force stronger than even his efforts at anchoring himself. I could feel Oliver ready to step in, the composite metals in his bow and arrows standing out amongst the industrial materials in the surrounding buildings.

I reached out, magnetizing the wrench and summoning it to my hand, the entire surface arcing like a tesla coil. Then I pulled again on Slade harder than before and swung the wrench again, this time discharging thousands of volts across his body while striking his arm as hard as I could, launching him into a solid steel beam. The entire thing bent with the impact weakening it as I felt my rage simmering, the energy had nowhere left to go since my target was now unconscious. Suddenly, lighting struck me from the sky, the energy shooting outward and discharging into the clouds as I collapsed onto my knees before falling unconscious. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the arrow cave a few hours later, the others waiting for me to wake up as my body continued to repair the battle damage thanks to the mirakuru's abilities.

Last edited: Feb 8, 2022

Thunder 01

August 14th - 2014

I'd ended up sleeping for two days after the battle with Slade. He was still breathing, but was currently being held in a high security prison, reinforced to counter his rediculous strength by A.R.G.U.S. I wasn't sure how I felt about that since Amanda Waller was still in charge and most versions of her painted her as someone who was often against heroes and vigilante's but also not always having the people's best interest at heart either. Still, if anyone could hold Slade for now, it'd be them. Problem is, I think he got hit too hard, he's been mute and was in a coma after what had to be an insane amount of energy discharged into his body to overcome the mirakuru's regeneration.

Nyssa escaped custody when being transported from police custody, which I expected, probably returning to the league's secret location in nada parbat after failing to recover her honor or her target Sarah Lance. The league wasn't done however, one last wrinkle was that Malcolm Merlin had tried to get at Thea while I was unconcious, Fortunately without the crazy showdown and death of their mother, Oliver was able to change the outcome and Thea wasn't taken away by Merlin.

I was just starting to get back on my feet doing exercises after making a full recovery, the regeneration ability giving me ridiculous endurance. When I'd gotten a text from Cisco about some problem in central city they needed my help with. I was fast, sure, but I didn't feel like running hundreds of miles, so rather than taking a train this time I locked up the factory and packed up what I could carry in Durendal and made my way to Central City. Along the way I drove through my hometown in Colorado, still not changing much, and really having been mostly untouched by the advent of supers. Though my house didn't exist here, instead it was part of the growing northern expansion the city council was doing and was mostly mixed use housing, the trailer park having been bought out instead of saved like in my home timeline.

Next I went through Smallville, the hometown of what would have been superman if this earth had one. It was exactly as I imagined it, a small town with a central main street area. Not really much else though I did drive past the Kent farm which was interesting to say the least. Finally, I continued following interstate 70 until I reached the outskirts of Central City, navigating through traffic until I'd gotten to S.T.A.R. Labs. What I didn't expect was to Find Barry Allen up and about early, two months early in fact.

"Mr Allen, I see you've woken up from your coma. Earlier than I expected, too."

"This is why you wanted me to return to my lab?, you knew this was going to happen."

"Yes, It was imperative that you be given these powers, though I wasn't expecting to get my own, not like this anyway."

"Get your own, You're the meta Cisco was talking about?!" I smirked and created a small ball of energy in my palm before letting it dissipate harmlessly into the air.

"You better believe it, honestly it was a real shock, being struck with dark matter lightning like you were, at the same time as getting stabbed by a dose of the mirakruru, it was painful, it was incredible. A lot has happened since you were last up and about, Barry. I'm strong, fast, everything about me was enhanced, and I can control electromagnetism on top of it. Though I'm not nearly as fast as you."

"You're mistaken, I'm not really fast" he seemed troubled by something, like a great weight was holding him down.

"In that case, why don't you show me to your training ground, show me what you can do." It didn't take long for us to get to a nearby airfield, I took Durendal while Barry rode with Cisco and Kaitlyn, Ronnie it seemed was still around, and they'd managed to separate him and professor stein safely, so it was already a better timeline than before. We both took our positions at the starting line, the goal? For Barry to catch me, just once.

"Alright, you're going to give me 5 seconds and then go, understood?" With that, I charged up that inner energy I'd been tapping into and began pushing against the ground, quickly accelerating to fifty then sixty miles per hour and climbing. The five seconds passed, and I heard a loud explosion as Barry began racing towards me, smirking I pushed off the ground and leaped into the air flipping backwards, dodging him as he shot past.

"You're fast, but You need to work on reacting to sudden changes!" He came back towards me moving lightning fast, this time I stepped sideways, his movements a blur but his reactions still slow enough that I could see his moved telegraphed ahead of time.

"Cisco, how fast is he moving?" I spoke into the headset mic as I again dodged the speedster before he slid to a stop and prepared for another go.

"One hundred fifty miles per hour!" not good enough, I knew he could go faster, way faster.

"Barry, stop trying to catch me and catch me, I know you can go faster than this!" he ran at me again, this time faster, but I still dodged him by a hairs breadth. "One eighty" Cisco repeated over the wireless.

"Listen, you need to focus Barry, there's a deep well, an endless reserve of energy both within you and around you, envelop it around you like a blanket, let it flow through you, stop resisting it!" he paused taking a deep breath as he got down into a runner's starting position, energy flowing along him, the speed force charging the air and reacting with my own electromagnetism.

"That's it Barry, draw it in, as much as you can, let it become the very air you breathe!" suddenly he was gone, fired off like a bullet racing past me before the force of a sonic boom knocked me over.

"No way, four hundred miles per hour." Cisco seemed in shock, my ear drums were ringing, but I could feel the heat as they regenerated.

"That's the way Barry, now focus, as you get close let the world slow down, picture time it's self coming under your will and don't miss!" in an instant I flew backwards into the ground rolling as I took the impact, Barry being thrown back from the force of my own electrical field shooting outwards. I quickly moved over to help him up, noting the scorch marks on the suit from the speed and electrical discharge.

"Excellent work, you went well over supersonic just then, might want to be careful of shattering glass if you run at full speed. You alright? I know I can be a bit, shocking to go up against" I smirked as he shook his head, an amused grin on his face.

"That was amazing, you still managed to do something despite how fast I was going."

"Ever hear of a man called Bruce Lee? He had a move called the one-inch punch. It was lighting fast, and could throw someone back ten feet in one inch of movement. And he wasn't an uber, just peak human. He held the belief that he needed to react without thinking, pure muscle memory and reactions. It made him unstoppable. One of the things I trained was a kind of defensive aura, inspired by this idea, it protects me from sudden attacks, provided I remember to keep it up." We started walking back as I continued talking about the abilities I'd learned and what he could now do with his speed.

"One more thing, Barry, I can sense electromagnetic energy, it's part of my gifts. When you channeled your power, it collected on you, you might be able to do more than simply run fast. I can show you how I throw it, but generating it is the challenge, what do you say?" He stared at me in shock for a moment before realizing I was serious.

"Let's do it."

Thunder 02

August 17th - 2014

"That's it Barry, a little more, keep running!" He continued running, the electromagnetic charge from what I quickly identified as a charged dielectric field being generated by the speed force was gathering around his body, like a generator converting kinetic energy into electrical he continued to move. The energy generated had to be well over half a million volts now, and it was time for him to release it.

"Now focus, don't stop running but slow down just a bit, focus, feel the energy, the force enveloping your body, you need to condense it into one place." I watched as he tried his hardest, the energy beginning to concentrate into his right arm, but it was still incredibly inefficient, he didn't have the fine control over it I did yet. Suddenly he spun, pitching it outward like a baseball player throwing a fastball, and released it right at me. Reacting quickly, I focused on the energy, its charge and guided it into my hands catching it and amplifying it more.

"Good! This is better than yesterday, you still lost a lot of the energy, but there's enough here to at least stun an opponent!" I continued containing the energy, adding double what I received and preparing the other half of the training. If he could generate it he could dissipate it, after all other speedsters knew how to throw lighting, but few knew how to control it fully.

"Prepare yourself Barry, I'm going to send it right back, get ready this time!" He slid to a stop, panicking as a sudden bolt of energy arced out, before his hand traced along it. I watched as the energy was being directed into his own speed, amplifying it further as he disappeared, moving faster than even my enhanced eyes could track.

"Barry?!" I shouted, hoping he hadn't just shot out of control before the energy hit me square in the chest, dissipating as I contained it and sent it into the ground. I found myself out of breath for a moment as I took deep breaths to bring myself back under control, the young speedster laughing as he'd far surpassed my expectations.

"Good work, though you forgot the first rule of combat." he seemed puzzled for a moment before a bit of energy zapped him in the back, arcing out of the ground and attracted to the charged field his speed force was generating.

Ow!

"Never drop your guard."

"Not fair, I didn't even see that coming!"

"And I didn't expect Slade to throw a gut punch after declaring a truce six months ago. Rule of Acquisition seventy-six, every once in a while declare peace, it confuses the hell out of your enemies." I sighed as I relaxed a bit, taking a breather in our training

"Look, the people you'll be up against? They won't play nice, many of them will be just as strong or stronger than I am, they'll have moves to defeat you at every turn. And they will fake peace if it means victory, never forget that, and never drop your guard." He seemed a bit disheartened about that, but I knew he meant well. I also knew he was aware of the realities of things, he works for the police for god's sake. Speaking of.

"Hey Barry, doesn't your shift start in like ten minutes?" He suddenly bolted with a quick gotta go, taking off to go work at the Central City Police Department.

"He's got a good heart, but he's got a lot to learn about fighting, then again this has been amazing training." I closed my hand as some of the speed force energy glowed yellow along my arm, the feeling unique in that it was both electromagnetism and something else, something tied deeply into the fabric of reality. I could almost feel it, but I didn't have the innate connection he did, still every time we fought I snagged a little, what little was dissipated or managed to connect, each time getting a better feel for it. Likewise, I could feel my own reactions growing as well the more I gathered, the more I was able to control.

I quickly ran over to Cisco and the rest as they continued to monitor Barry's training. Eobard seemed unusually relaxed these days, despite the sense I got that he might be watching me closely. I wasn't sure if he noticed I'd been able to absorb small amounts of the speed force, but I knew that he wanted it for himself, to get home. After a moment, I signaled for him to come over, so we could speak in private.

"He's learning fast, isn't he, Eobard?" I asked as the man seemed distracted by something for a moment.

"Yes, he's already learning much faster than I anticipated. But then you already knew that, didn't you Zalost?"

"Of course, After all, you're not the only one he could send home, but he needs to be ready. Speaking of, how did you get him to wake up two months early?"

"There's more than one way to tap into the speed force. In my time there were multiple speedsters, not just members of the flash lineage."

"Ah, Velocity, you must have used it to jump start his healing process, that could have serious consequences though. Too bad you can't rely on it to get home, since it can damage your connection further than it's already been."

"Everything okay here, guys?" Cisco came up concerned since Eobard (Wells), and I had been talking off to the side while they were packing things up, the young genius looking up to the man without knowing his real face.

"Everything's fine Cisco, we were just discussing ways to possibly get Barry even faster, though that might not be necessary with the stunt he pulled today. I knew I told him about the energy cloaking part, but I suspect feeding off of it was some kind of natural reflex as he began drawing on his source of power like nitro throwing more oxygen into an engine."

"Speaking of, did you hear that Barry stopped multiple crimes again yesterday? I swear he's stopping more and more criminals in the blink of an eye than the entire police department does in a month."

"I did, it's good that he's getting out there, but I just hope he doesn't get overconfident. That's when you slip up and people get hurt."

"Yes, we certainly don't want that, Mr Allen should focus on his training more than stopping petty thieves."

"You know he can't help it, Wells, it's part of who he is." Eobard and I have had this conversation several times, the man simply would not let go of trying to accelerate Barry's training at all costs, likely so he could kill him faster. Still I was saving every bit of excess speed force energy I could get without sapping it like he did, I had a feeling I was going to need it unless I could find a way to tap into it myself using my own abilities, being able to amplify it by adding my own powers into it wouldn't be enough.

A/N: early chapter, I felt a bit inspired and wanted to show the much faster progression relative to the show.

Who knows what sorts of consequences this will bring but I guess we'll find out.

Thunder 03

August 21st - 2014

It had to happen, but I wasn't expecting it for another month or so, the weather wizard. I forget his actual name, but effectively he's a metahuman who can control weather, and it's related elements. He can form ice, create massive tidal surges, throw lightning, and form storms and tornadoes. I just hope Barry will be ready this time, because he's definitely had more training than originally.

"Cisco, did you set up the satellites to scan for sudden pressure changes?"

"Yes, but this is really weird, it's like there's a storm cloud building over the central city mint and only the mint."

"Good, Tell Barry to meet me there, this is one meta we need to stop, fast." I raced over there now moving at nearly two hundred miles per hour as I surfed on the electromagnetic fields I generated around my body, riding the currents generated by the earth's geomagnetic field to give me increased speed. It was obvious when I was getting close, there was hale outside raining down damaging cars with Barry Dodging as much of it as he could while his opponent continued hurling wind, rain, ice, and even lightning at him, the latter of which was re-directed harmlessly away which eased my concerns.

"This ends here, Mardon!, I won't let you go any further!" I practically facepalmed as the ever stereotyped line was delivered before another bolt of lightning struck the ground near Barry, this time though I channeled it towards me and absorbed a large chunk of it using it to increase my strength.

"Flash, I'll deal with his lightning, just get in close and stop Mardon!" Another bolt was captured by me, this time hurling towards the clouds, as I started using it to channel and change the polarity to force its charge to repel against Barry's positive electromagnetic field. The bolts were now coming towards my negative charge and refusing to strike towards him feeding my own power and making it stronger, increasing the strength of my own electrical field and creating a plasma barrier to vaporize any ice thrown my way. Within moments with Mardon distracted he was captured by Barry who managed to restrain him before I applied a low voltage charge to knock him out. I figured the police could handle him at this point, and people were cheering as they left the bank with no one injured.

Barry of course vanished in a flash with me holding Mardon and loading him into the car with ease, wrapping his legs in a piece of damaged steel rod to keep him from simply running away. The police seemed nervous, but I gave them a salute before I took off back to S.T.A.R. Labs not saying a single word, the quick domino mask created by Cisco hiding my face for use in such situations. It wasn't more than maybe ten minutes before I got back, Barry having gotten there first of course and was retelling the story.

"And that was when he actually turned the lightning into a shield, rendering even the rocks and ice useless, so I could grab him."

"I still think you were the real hero, Barry" I stated, entering the room and stretching before sitting down on one of the office chairs.

"After all, you went running into danger, I was mostly backup, as it should be, flash. This is your city, you need to continue to get stronger, and continue training, so you can take threats like Mardon solo." he seemed a bit disheartened that I wouldn't be staying long term, but I had to stick around for a bit, someone had to guide him and Eobard wasn't exactly benevolent either.

"What, you thought I'd stick around forever? You know I need to go home eventually, I just don't know how yet. I'm a very long ways from there, worlds away, you could say."

"I've been thinking about that actually" this time Cisco chimed in, he'd been studying multiverse theory since I trusted him with my own secret, and I knew Eobard would have figured it out anyway. Still, it was difficult asking for help even when I was a normal human, now? Well I knew this was likely one of the few ways home since Oliver had yet to locate John Constantine.

"If each earth is separated by a vibrational frequency, then it might be possible to locate your earth if we can identify it. What's interesting is your quantum particles seem to have a double frequency shifting between them depending on how much energy you're channeling."

"Ok, then the question remains, is one of those frequencies different to the quantum frequency of your earth?"

"Yes, however I've yet to figure out how to lock onto it and open a breach between them, furthermore it's really radically different, it must be really far away from ours."

"I'm not surprised Cisco, I mean on my earth you guys are straight out of a work of fiction, same as Captain America, or the hulk is on yours. Still, if you can figure out how to construct an Einstein Rosenbridge and stabilize it, I might be able to get back." This was really my only actual hope, but I knew it would take time, and Cisco was a long ways away from realizing his own powers. Still that gave me an idea, I did offer to teach Cisco the mental focus and meditation techniques I'd learned, but I wasn't quite sure how I would go about activating his vibe powers. One thing I realized was with my body was vibrating at two frequencies now, I might be able to trigger it if I expose him to the other frequency.

"I really appreciate the help Cisco, If I manage to get home I'll probably have a lot of work to do to save my own world." I reached out to shake his hand, gripping his arm as I began raising my energy frequency, careful not to channel all but a small amount down that arm.

"Zalost what are you" he paused as I saw him distracted for a moment.

"Barry and I aren't the only metas in this room Cisco, I told you before, your lives are works of fiction back home, and I wanted to test something. So what did you see?"

"That was, I don't know what that was, but there were signs everywhere, it looked like you on them but, you were missing."

"Congrats, Cisco, you just got a glimpse of my earth. Your power, the power of connecting to other worlds, is just beginning."

"Yeah, hey, next time, give me a heads-up before you go doing something like that."

"Of course." It felt good to get this started, he might be able to help me return home, given enough time, since the distances were obviously way larger than he'd ever traveled in the show. I was starting to wonder about the nature of the timeline as well, as I'd been making changes since I got here, my knowledge directly affecting future events. Still, it didn't seem like I'd broken any serious time laws yet, since I wasn't from the future and changing my own past.

Thunder 04

September 1st - 2014

I'd slipped into Cisco's lab again, distracted though he was on trying to find a way to open a breach there was one side project I was concerned about and so kept sabotaging by making certain components DOA. I wanted to prevent the cold gun for as long as possible, Snart was powerful enough on his own without gaining that just yet, even if he does eventually become an anti-hero.

"I don't know what to tell you, Cisco, that super capacitor keeps shorting out whenever Barry does the whole lightning thing, which is often."

"Yes, but I need it to lower the molecular frequency, Something Barry mentioned, there was both a red and a yellow blur meaning there's another speedster, a murderer out there."

"I'll be fine, he'll be ready, and if not I'll back him up."

Still what I didn't know was that Cisco was working on another cold gun outside the lab, unfortunately his house got broken into last week and so it went missing as well which seriously put a damper on the relationship between Cisco and everybody else, well except me of course, I knew fate had to make it happen somehow. I'd immediately gone on high alert when a series of bank Robberies in Keystone City were being committed with some sort of ice gun, meaning either Mr Freeze was a long ways from Gotham or Snart had gotten a cold gun anyway, possibly with help from the former, finishing it. I'd gotten to work helping Cisco setup thermal tracking, with Barry deploying them throughout the city in a flash so Snart could be captured.

It didn't take more than a few hours before a moving source of temperature drops was detected heading in from keystone to central city. A van being chased by keystone city police, with the central city police working with them to set up a roadblock. I nodded to Barry who quickly grabbed my shoulder with the new trick of moving me with the speed force and I managed to channel it just enough to get there in the blink of an eye, exhausted but there. Honestly, as much as I like this trick, I wasn't really able to keep up as well as he could. Setting Barry down I burned off most of the remaining speed force energy charging at full speed using my enhanced strength to bring the van to a sudden and final stop body checking it like a football player.

Two men came out shooting assault rifles, so I yanked the now bent hood off what turned out to be an armored van and used it to get in close before crushing the guns much to the shock of all interested parties, Barry using his speed to try and deal with Snart. Realizing Snart was actually getting close and predicting Barry's movements, I decided to go in for a hulk style move and slammed my fists into the frame, lifting it up from the side and rocking it to throw him off balance. Of course, I got a blast of ice for my trouble, but it only held me for a moment before the kinetic energy of the muscle flex shattered the ice on my arms, leaving some minor ice burns which should regenerate shortly.

"Hey Frosty, did you steal that from Mr Freeze and just decide to ignore his look or are you planning on actually dropping the temps a bit, It's hot today." I shouted trying to get Snart's attention hoping to keep him busy as I charged the plasma barrier to negate the cold gun's attacks, worst case it'd maybe sap the barrier for a bit. Didn't stop him from trying though because he began firing a focused beam at the plasma barrier, my own energy just barely keeping up with the drain.

"Nice trick, won't do much though" Another more powerful blast erupted, freezing the plasma and turning it into a solid wall that i quickly smashed through, feeling heavily drained.

"One problem Snart, I'm not alone, remember?" He turned before the cold gun was quickly taken out of his hands by Barry, who'd just gotten done getting the area cleared and taking Snart's cohorts to jail.

"No cold gun, no partners, just us, what's your master plan now?"

"This" suddenly he shot off into the air using some sort of jetpack and escaping my grasp before I heard a beeping sound from the van which I quickly found was a bomb with a lot of explosives tied into it.

"Flash, we have to do something" I began trying to glitch it out, but every time I tried the timer dropped more quickly, forcing me to give up after a couple attempts. Suddenly it was gone with a flash of light as I just barely caught him picking it up and running with it, using his speed to kinetically launch it off the bridge and into the air before it detonated.

"Nice work!" Snart had managed to escape, but nobody was hurt and the truck's cargo was prevented from being stolen. The man was a genius alright, but I'd find him again, though he'd likely have to find another cold gun, so I'd be checking in with Bruce in case Victor Fries had some part in all this. On top of all that the cold gun might hold the key to dimensional control, if parts from it could be used to construct a device which could help isolate the frequencies and open a breach I might just be able to get home, maybe.

Of course, Barry left shortly after the debriefing, Cisco apologizing for working on the cold gun and having it locked deep inside a vault in S.T.A.R. Labs for now. Barry of course went home to see Iris. As it turns out, she never went out with Eddit as Barry's letter convinced her to wait for him, making that whole mess a non issue. I wasn't sure how that whole situation was going to play out but Joe and Iris were already aware of Barry's gifts after I'd sat everybody down for a talk, explaining to Barry that the whole secret identity thing and keeping it from your loved ones was a terrible cliché that often made things worse in the long run. Even if the detective wasn't fully on board with Barry going full superhero he appreciated the help the police had with dangerous criminals and lives saved.

Thunder 05

September 15th - 2014

"Damn it, he's getting better with that thing!" I shouted as a blast from the cold gun froze my legs solid, my barrier having long since been drained, while Barry is trying to distract him long enough for me to break free. Suddenly I yanked my leg free, then the other one, and began running towards him again, this time dodging by a hair's breadth, the cold leaving frost on my arm and shoulder from how close it was.

"It's going to take more than some frost bite to hold me Snart, I'm stronger than that even if you can weaken my barrier!" Another blast is fired directly in front of me, forcing me to change my stance and distribute my weight better, stomping down a bit harder to crack the ice and make it less slick. Suddenly, while I was trying to regain my balance I was frozen nearly solid, my barrier trying to activate and protecting me from it inside a bubble of solid air. Some sort of energy vortex preventing Barry from getting me out of the way. This was the third one I'd seen, counting the one that sent me here and the one on my way to the airport, which caused me to change course and run into that fifth assassin.

As Barry tried to get me out, one of Snart's new partners gave him a ride to escape with his ill-gotten gains, Barry also having been hit by a cold gun blast. Nearly twenty minutes later, I was finally free enough I could pull myself out of my icy cocoon, but it was still frustrating to take such a heavy loss. Still, those Energy vortexes were concerning. It wasn't normal for holes in reality to open up, particularly now, since the singularity hadn't formed over central city yet, weakening the barriers between earth 1 and 2. I decided to swallow my pride and ask Eobard about it, hoping he might have a clue as to what was going on.

"Breaches, Wormholes, Bridges, whatever you want to call them, that was what the satellites were indicating had opened up in the middle of your fight. You say this is the third one you've seen?"

"Yeah, the last one was during my time in Japan and the one before that was last December, Each time they appeared right next to me and then after a moment vanished without a trace."

"Sounds like someone is using you as an anchor point for opening breaches. I need you to wear this in case you encounter another one." He handed me a bracelet which looked oddly advanced, but I tried to shrug it off since I knew he was from the future and had all sorts of future tech knowledge. I went on with the rest of my day, trying my best to ignore the weighty bracelet on my right hand, my smartwatch securely fastened to my left one. Still, who knows when another breach could open, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week, it could be never. But if someone was trying to reach me, It could also mean someone back home found a way to bring me back. Though I doubted it because my earth was a long ways from stable wormhole travel.

While pondering this and chilling out in S.T.A.R. Labs briefing room, another breach opened right in front of me. This time was different however because I saw something coming through. I lowered myself into a combat stance and prepared to fight whatever or whoever was coming, but I certainly wasn't prepared for what actually came through. It looked a lot like my girl from back home, but her hair was different, Still she enveloped me almost immediately after crossing the breach before pulling on my arm begging me to go back home with her.

"I finally found you!, we need to go, please!"

"I can't, I'm sorry, but I'm needed here right now."

"But I miss you, we need you back, your parents, they died!" I was surprised at the news, but I calmed down, something wasn't right, she knew I was on bad terms with my actual parents and would have told me my grandparents instead. Continuing to resist without much trouble owing to my enhanced physiology, I finally gently picked her up in one arm to show how futile the struggle was, hoping she'd stop before suddenly someone else started coming through.

"Ugh temporal dissonance aside you're taking way too long!, just drag him through the damn portal already!" Ok, this was confusing, there was two of me now, one which was covered in some kind of exosuit and of course myself in my normal harness vest and trench covered in various things I find handy to keep on my person.

"Yeah no, there can't be two of me, I mean my home can't be subject to the same rules and laws as these universes, right?"

"Wrong idiot. The Multiverse is infinite and infinite in number within an infinite Metaverse. Just because your earth exists doesn't mean mine doesn't." I continued staring at him, something seemed off. Maybe it was the overwhelming confidence, or the strange feeling I got from him that he seemed tainted somehow, but he felt wrong. Or maybe it was the southern accent, which reminded me too much of that awful year of hell when I was little.

"So, why are you here?"

"To correct a mistake. I was trying to build a way home using Harrison Wells's speed cannon, and instead of connecting me to my universe, it connected me to yours. And when I closed it you'd already been sent through, depositing you in the next available universe, this one."

"Okay, but I can't go home yet, I've still got a lot of unfinished business here. I need to help Barry, defeat Eobard, Save Bruce."

"None of which will matter after I send you back and reset the timeline, now let's go." Suddenly he grabbed me, the exosuit actually surprisingly strong despite my protests. I could feel the electromagnetic energy then being sapped as it got stronger, seemingly using my own abilities against me before I was suddenly no longer in my S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Okay, so you managed to overpower me, now what because I still don't want to go back to my earth just yet, I mean there's a plague wreaking havoc on it, and I was hoping to maybe get some help curing it first."

"Who said anything about sending you back?" what? I was confused now as he suddenly grabbed me by the throat and slammed me down into some kind of chair.

"You said you were correcting a mistake!" I struggled trying to release my bindings, but the restraints must have been made of a similar technology to the exosuit because I could feel it turning my strength against me, the more I struggled, the harder it was to break free.

"Exactly, I accidentally brought the biggest threat to my plans here, and I don't plan on letting you interfere now that I've managed to capture you." I continued to struggle, concern on his face as I continued to apply force to the restraints, the sound of metal starting to be put on heavy stress as I continued pushing before everything went dark, a mechanized fist impacting directly with my face.

Thunder 06

I woke up sputtering and coughing, having been snapped out of whatever state of nothingness I'd been enveloped in. Something wasn't right because as far as I knew good and evil were just concepts, intent caused by choices and personality. It was all relative, and as far as I knew in his mind he was the good guy.

I was still restrained in the chair, but I now had all sorts of monitoring equipment, the bracelet Eobard had me wear on a nearby tray, a small pulse of energy emitting from it being picked up by my senses despite their weakened state. Still, he was currently missing from the room, and standing in front of me was the doppelgänger of my girl from back home.

"Your friend is kind of a dick, you know that, right?" I asked as I struggled a bit, stronger restraints keeping me from even straining the metal now.

"He's not my friend, he took me away. The world was taken so quickly by him. More than just using bizarre technology he was impossibly strong, impossibly fast. We already lost all our defenses after he made the world submit. He told me he'd send me back, if I did what he said." I decided to calm down and listen to her story, not like I was going anywhere, and apparently my corrupted duplicate was out dealing with some other mess.

September 16th - 2014

"Stein, I can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"Calm Down Mr Allen, Doctor Wells is working on tracking where they went, for now we can't do much else but wait."

"You saw the footage, that portal which got in the way with Snart, another of him came out of it, overpowered him somehow."

"That's exactly why we can't go in half cocked." Eobard entered the room, the wheelchair's motors softly whirring as he rolled up to a nearby computer terminal.

"I gave Zalost a sensor package after your encounter with Snart, it's been transmitting this entire time, the signal is very weak so narrowing it down has been difficult."

"I've been thinking about that actually" this time Cisco came jogging up from the lab carrying a tablet.

"He said he came from another universe, right? What if that was a breach, a tunnel between realities."

"That wouldn't explain why another version of himself came through." Stein seemed tense trying to work out the probability of such an event happening, unfamiliar with the new reality having been thrown at them.

"Yes, but in an infinite multiverse there must be other versions of us out there, right? So why not another him?"

"Cisco, we need a way to open one of those breaches."

"Look no one has been able to do this, at least on our earth, I have no idea how we're going to get over there." Cisco's response to Barry was a bit short, likely because he'd been working almost non-stop without rest trying to find a way to force open a doorway.

"I might have a way to do it, but you'll need to be a lot faster, Mr Allen" Eobard (wells) began drawing on one of the glass white boards they'd been keeping in the room.

"If you can get going fast enough, faster than you've gone so far, you might be able to generate enough energy to briefly force the breach open, but If you go through, there's no telling where it leads." A long series of equations taking speed and vibrational frequency into account were being written out, along with diagrams.

"Then he won't go through alone." Stein responded as he and Ronnie stepped up already, having agreed to step in and help.

"You're going to need more than a couple rookie superheroes" a gruff voice came from the entrance, the group on high alert as the Emerald archer himself, The Black Canary, and John Diggle walked into the room, pausing briefly after looking at the hōzen being worn by Ronnie and Caitlin

"No way, The Star City Vigilante, and The Canary. This may not be as impossible as I thought." Cisco was freaking out at having so many heroes in one place, One more watching from the outside waiting for a Chance to step in himself.

"I sure hope Bruce knows what he's doing calling me away from Bludhaven."

I still can't believe another me managed to actually put the world under his boot. I mean, I thought about it, but I gave up on the idea because it wouldn't be right to force the entire world to submit to a single person, even if that seemed like it would save it from its own stupidity. Worse is that I had a good idea what the divergence point was. He'd never been rescued like I was, never swore to become better than the evil he'd faced. Instead, that whole area was a smoking crater, a monument to peace he called it after firing a kinetic projectile from low orbit in 2016 erasing the town that ignored his pleas for help.

Technically, he wasn't evil, Just twisted. Everything that makes me who I am, twisted into a dark mirror by having the worst point become the beginning of a series of terrible circumstances. She wasn't sure beyond a certain point, other than that it happened over a short period of time. A mountain opened up and several rockets launched into the sky. A town's water table in the Carolina mountains rapidly draining, having been in the news up to that point due to how unusual it was.

Then it was quiet for a couple of years after that until the entire world went on alert, black objects with little to no radar signature impacted every capital simultaneously. Military bases caught off guard as their missiles refused to launch, planes suddenly shutting down and dropping out of the sky.

Then it was over, the whole world left helpless as a single word was displayed on every television and computer screen. "Checkmate" There were resistance movements of course, she tried to join one in California when she was caught. Imprisoned with the rest of the resistance members and given lenience in exchange for agreeing to one task. Then she was brought here, given instructions to capture me and here we were. They kept her locked in this room, instructed to keep an eye on me. Likely because he knew I wouldn't do anything, couldn't. And I doubted she could do much give the technology displayed.

An hour ago, I was also visited by this earth's Harrison Wells. He apparently was also being held captive, with this earth having been quickly conquered after Zoom was murdered just hours after trying to kill the flash. Zoom's powers were duplicated by the other me and his mask now on display in the main entrance way along with others to warn people off from rising up.

It was an incredibly bleak future to be sure, but I was certain that Eobard couldn't stand to have some other trans-dimensional traveler interfering in his plans. So I continued to hold out hope that either the other me would make a mistake with his overconfidence or the earth one heroes would find a way to get here, rise up against him. Though I wasn't sure they'd be enough.

A/N: I've actually got a bit of a backlog but I don't want to submit a really long post so I'm breaking this whole plot up into a few different pieces.

Thunder 07

A distant boom echoed in the facility I was locked up in. It'd been maybe two or three days, I think? I know I'd passed out twice, not counting that punch to the face. This was different from the normal behavior though, for one the power was out, meaning the chair wasn't sapping my electromagnetic powers. And for two, the door was quickly opened by this earth's Harrison (harry) Wells.

"C'mon, let's get moving! I don't know how long they can keep the sentries distracted." Deciding to follow his lead, I reached deep into my power reserve and yanked as hard as I could, ripping the shackles from the chair like thick cardboard before sweeping up my cell partner in a princess carry and following Harry out of the cell and down several corridors and hallways.

"Look if you're anything like my girl back home you probably don't like being held but trust me this is faster, and safer" I wasn't exactly going to leave her to that asshat. I'd had dark thoughts before that I mostly just ignored as immoral, so I had some inkling the kinds of things he would think of, and I certainly didn't want to know how much worse he'd get.

Quickly Harry stopped us as he entered another cell block, a heavily weakened and bruised teenage girl limping out before I changed positions and scooped her up, one in each arm now, and continued to follow him. Several of what he referred to as sentries were guarding the exit, preventing anyone from entering or exiting, nearly a dozen of them lined up like centurions awaiting commands from their leader. The design was vaguely familiar as well. At just over seven feet tall and built like giants with angular limbs, the machine's most obvious feature was the red light moving back and forth where the eyes would be, instantly causing me to chuckle as I realized he'd managed to have 'toasters' guarding his base. Wouldn't be the first time encountering out of setting things, but I knew he'd done this on purpose, since Cylons weren't native to the DC multiverse to my knowledge.

"Get down!" Harry shouted as I quickly yanked them around the corner, mentally chastising myself for dropping my guard. Cylons weren't exactly stupid, and if these were anything like their original counterparts or better, I was in for a real bit of trouble. Suddenly, several explosions rang out from the room, the dust clearing to reveal several piles of scrap and the handful of people who'd done the scrapping. First was Cisco, but not the Cisco I knew, for one thing he was left-handed, unlike the one I'd been getting to know. Next was a black cloaked version of Oliver in full league of assassins clothing. Next to him was Laurel, only she seemed far more relaxed at the destruction having been wreaked. Finally, at the head of the group was Jay Garrick, an older man resembling the pictures Barry had shown me of his father, only this one was wearing a variation of the flash costume.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" shouted Jay as I quickly picked up the two girls, following my would be rescuers with Harry watching my back as we escaped. Dopple-Cisco having opened a breach to gods know where. Next thing I knew we were inside a large concrete room with a large vault door on one side and several rooms inlaid throughout.

"I appreciate the save, but who exactly are you guys?" I asked, mostly directing my questions to Jay since he was the only one I was actually certain wasn't evil.

"The resistance, or at least one part of it. But we'll get into that later, for now I need to get you four checked out, especially her, she seems to have suffered quite a bit." he quickly guided what I soon learned was Jessie Wells, Harrison's daughter to their medical bay, the girl showing no signs of having become the speedster that I vaguely remembered her being. Thinking quickly, I reached into my pocket, the bracelet Eobard had given me being one of the few things I was able to snag on the way out on short notice.

"Hey Harrison, I might be able to get us some additional forces, but first I need your help with something, a way to send a message without getting tracked by my other half."

September 20th - 2014 - Earth 1

"Got it, we're about ready to test the speed cannon again, Barry." Cisco had just finished making the final adjustments and had begun powering up their own breaching device, the machine pointed directly at the weak point made when Zalost had been taken.

"Are you sure you're ready this time, Cisco? I mean, last time I was sent to the wrong earth and barely made it back with help from that earth's Heroes."

"Yes, the information your friend Clark and his group gave you along with readings from your trip back through, was enough for me to correct for the variables in the wormhole shifting, The thing's unstable though, so I can only hold it open for so long."

"You might want to hold off on that Cisco" Eobard (wells) Thawn interrupted their conversation, his screen showing a change in the tracking device going from a normal signal to one that was seemingly emitting pulses in a specific way.

"I believe Zalost has managed to contact us."

"What?!, how?" Cisco now surprised at the sudden change as he quickly made his way towards the computer screen, noticing a series of long and short pulses mixed in with the gravity wave's normal background signal.

"Look, see right there? It's some sort of signal attenuation in the gravity pulses."

"Wait, this looks familiar" Barry having quickly picked up on the signal's similarities to Morse. The signal repeated several times before a series of numbers played out in sequence with pauses first a long pulse then nine short pulses then two more long pulses

"Zero nine zero zero, oh nine hundred, that must be the time there or maybe a time for the message to repeat?"

"Give me a minute to decode the message" interrupted Cisco as he'd been writing down the long and short pulses from the recording and translating them into written words.

"Danger, stop. Unsafe, stop. Do Not Travel, stop."

"That seems pretty clear to me, wherever he is it's unsafe to travel there right now." After waiting around half an hour nine am came around and another signal was transmitted this one a series of numbers, one, three, five, seven, nine, repeating several times before the word copy thinking quickly Cisco managed to send a short message back. Eleven and thirteen. A short pause of about two minutes later another message was sent back confirming the sequence and verifying the situation. It would take several hours for them to decode all of it, each message having to be sent in short bursts of a dozen words or so to keep it from being too noticeable from the background noise.

They quickly learned about the situation on what Zalost referred to as Earth two. How his counterpart had invaded it and become its dictator before returning to his original earth and conquering that one too. How he'd also taken half a dozen others now under his rule before having set his sights on their earth as well as Zalost's home earth. New plans would need to be made to deal with what appeared to be a far greater threat than anyone was prepared for. One thing was for certain though, they wouldn't be going at it alone, and shortly after the last message Barry decided to use the speed cannon to make his way back to that third earth they'd found, they were going to need all the help they could get.

Thunder 08

September 23rd - 2014 - Earth 1

The meeting room was filled with nearly a dozen heroes in various costumes. From Starling city came Oliver Queen - The Arrow, and Sarah lance - the Black Canary. From Central City were the two members of Firestorm, Professor Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond, as well as Barry Allan - the Flash. From Bludhaven came the former protégé of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson - Nightwing who'd been recommended personally by him.

From Earth 38 came Clark Kent - Superman, as well as J'onn J'onzz - the Martian Manhunter the two not on the best of terms but putting things aside due to a major threat to all worlds. Finally, despite his protests Kara Danvers Clark's Cousin and fellow Kryptonian had tagged along to act as extra muscle under the watchful eye of her cousin as well as his friend who rarely left their earth's Gotham Bruce Wayne - The Batman, which both intrigued and confused Nightwing since both were gruff, grumpy, but for some reason this Bruce seemed uneasy around him.

The entire group had just gone through a training exercise preparing to make the transition to Earth 2 with Cisco monitoring both the unstable breach and the modified communications with Zalost and the earth 2 freedom fighters. Who apparently several had been liberated or saved from certain death when his doppelgänger was going around killing heroes as part of his takeover. Cisco had been trying to stabilize the wormhole and re-direct it to the location of the tracking beacon when an alert indicating another breach had been opened somewhere in Central City went off. The burst of Tachyons a huge clue as to the location of the anomaly.

Cisco quickly brought up the news feeds before the screen showed a series of rockets firing outwards and upwards into space with an unknown nature. Followed by a series of shadows that quickly materialized into what looked like an army of machines marching in line with each other, the Doppelgänger stepping through last along with what looked like another version of Caitlin with sharp blue eyes, and nearly a dozen other strangely dressed people with collars on their necks. Suddenly the news feeds cut out and a single video feed replaced them, some sort of camera drone zooming in on the Dopple-Zalost.

"People of Earth, hear me! Your world has been chosen as the next colony of my Grand Ascendancy. Submit and you will be rewarded, Resist and you will find it quickly futile. You have twenty-four hours to make your decision." Suddenly the screen shifts to a countdown with a timer indicating how much time the world had left to surrender.

"You weren't kidding about the whole world conquering thing" Kara quipped as she began stretching, getting ready to take the fight to them instead of waiting. The rest began checking their equipment, with time now having run out for a chance to stop him. Cisco also quickly fired off a message, only to learn that it was broadcasted on earth two as well. Zalost having let them know that they were working on a plan C to stop more machines from coming through as dozens more began marching through the stabilized wormhole.

In high orbit over the earth, the rockets had deployed a series of satellites with large communications dishes. Their position allowing them to relay the signal across the globe in every language, as well as jamming all communications. Next they began transmitting a signal to shut down every electronic or computer controlled defense system before deploying a series of probes out to any nearby asteroids for mining purposes, the goal to prepare a rapid strike response from orbit against anyone who'd stand against the new order. Clark and J'onn quickly launched to go investigate the satellites, while the rest began making their way to the staging point to at least put up some resistance against this new foe.

Earth 2

Zalost was desperately trying to come up with a way to destabilize the wormhole. He'd been studying this topic since it was key to his getting home, but somehow his Doppelgänger was years ahead of him, likely from whatever had brought him to this earth nearly two decades ago. He noted that they didn't even have the same powers, if what he had could be called powers given his strength was in that power suit that seemed related to the one he'd seen Lex Luthor wear in a few different appearances. Still there were resistance cells on the various earths his counterpart had conquered, and earth two had come up with a way to communicate between them, but most couldn't spare aid right now as the breaches were being guarded more heavily than usual. He just hoped they could find a way to shut down the breach generator without destroying it, since it could be his only way home.

Last edited: Feb 13, 2022

Thunder 09

September 23rd - 2014 - Earth 2.

"Alright, we're in" Oliver's Dopplegangar, who I learned went by Ataşehir and was Malcolm Merlyn's apprentice on this earth sent the communication back along the gravity wave communications Harry had rigged up, the communications fairly stealthy since we'd not been discovered yet from them. We were a three-man team, Atasehir, Jay, and I. Jay who was weakened but still able to move fairly quickly as a speedster, Atasehir's league of shadows stealth, and my own strength overcoming most obstacles. Yeah, on this earth it was called the league of shadows, similar group though.

We'd just made it into a hidden entrance to what intel indicated was a control and relay facility for the sentries. He obviously had never read the evil overlord's list because this violates rule 52 which states that an evil overlord will hire board certified architects and surveyors to examine facilities for any secret passages, tunnels etcetera that you don't know about. Not to mention rule 36 given the prison situation, no idea how he managed to conquer multiple earths with obvious mistakes like this. As we made it down the passageway and towards the core, I felt a strong feeling of electromagnetic energy, there was some kind of power source nearby. Quickly signaling to the others, I began guiding them towards what I thought was a main power system, carefully keeping my senses open for any kind of backup generator.

"This has to be it" I gestured to the large circular machine which had large amounts of energy, the thick cabling going to it obviously power conduits given the voltages required to send signals through space/time distortions. Atasehir placed several explosives in key spots while I ripped some cabling out of a nearby console and pinched the ends with a bit of what looked like copper to create a kind of wire hook to bridge several together before gesturing for them to get back and stabbing each end through the thick cable sheath, being rewarded by large amounts of current flowing into my body charging my abilities a bit.

"As nice as it would be to enjoy a free recharge this thing is going to short out and likely overload soon, so I suggest we get out of here, jay, think you can get him here out quickly, so I can focus on escaping?"

"Shouldn't be an issue" suddenly they were gone, and I began charging through the corridors, alarms blaring as passageways were trying to lock down, but the metal bulkheads tore like tissue paper as I slammed into them and charged out, the building detonating mere moments after my escape. The entire area had gone dark, likely anything tied to it had lost power and was trying to get emergency backups online. I just hopped I bought earth one a little more time while Reverb worked to locate the breach generator.

Earth 1

There was a huge battle going on in downtown central city, more and more machines were marching out of the breach, with an entire legion stepping through every few minutes to replace any that were lost in battle. Barry was using his speed to distract and do damage, channeling his speed force energy into massive speed gains before hurling bolts of lightning that would arc along and take out several machines. Oliver was firing explosive arrows and providing ranged cover, while Kara used her Kryptonian abilities to wreck any she could get her hands on.

Firestorm was dealing with the army of metahumans that had been brought through by Zalost's dopplegangar, the combined hero working to keep the metas off balance and scattered while Black Canary and Nightwing worked to take them down. Cisco continued to monitor things from S.T.A.R. Labs, a kind of shield having gone up that Wells had prepared after the first metas began causing trouble a few months back. He also kept in touch with Clark and J'onn who were trying to take down the satellites but had run into a nasty complication with them being both powered by a Kryptonite reactor and surrounded by some sort of field that prevented J'onn from simply phasing into them, so Clark was trying to weaken the barrier at range in the hopes that J'onn could remove the Kryptonite and allow him to dispose of the one they were working on.

Back on the ground, the leader of the invasion, Zalost's counterpart, used his powered armor to knock several heroes around once, even grabbing firestorm and nearly draining their energy enough to forcibly separate them before Kara managed to break his hold on them. He seemed incredibly confident until the armies stopped coming through. The machines on the ground standing at attention awaiting orders, allowing Barry and Kara to quickly destroy all but a handful who suddenly moved in to guard their master. The signal being transmitted also stopped and wasn't able to jam all frequencies anymore.

Suddenly Cisco got a message from Oliver, apparently multiple rocket launches had been initiated by a clandestine organization called A.R.G.U.S. targeting the satellites. The only problem was the satellites still had some sort of point defense system because minutes after the launch dozens of explosions were seen across the world, the satellites intact. Things weren't looking good since the remaining metas, robots, and Zalost himself were managing to stand their ground against the heroes, until suddenly the collars came off, and the metas began attacking the robots instead. Zalost began to move with bursts of speed not unlike Barry before striking his targets now, the force throwing people around and making it difficult to get close and do any real damage. At least until Oliver managed to fire several explosive arrows into the joints and limbs of the powered armor, the precision seemingly impossible outside of tales of people like sir Robin Hood.

The suit was slowing down after that, likely having received damage from the unexpected strikes, Kara taking advantage of it to fire energy beams from her eyes directly at the suit, weakening it further. It then became more difficult as the machines suddenly changed tactics and began acting defensively around Zalost moving in to guard him from further attacks. Then the breach began flickering and losing cohesion, causing him to began moving backward towards it, Barry taking the chance to run through it and try to go get their Zalost back before it closed.

Thunder 10

September 23rd - 2014 - Earth 2

I was practically shouting with glee when I got word that Reverb had managed to work with Harry to remotely destabilize the breach. Moments later, as a breach was opened to bring us back to base, I got a shock as Barry showed up right in front of us. Apparently the plan was to bring me back across before the breach fully destabilized, so I quickly said my goodbye's as Ataşehir and Jay made their way back to base while Barry placed his hand on my shoulder and the pair of us sharing speed force energy allowing us to quickly move towards this earth's breaching device. That was until we were suddenly blindsided, throwing me out of superspeed and tripping over myself into a wall past the breach.

"You thought you could fight me?, he who conquered half a dozen earths, your world is one of many, and this is merely a setback." I was in shock because he had Barry by the neck, holding him up in the air like Bane getting ready to break batman's back.

"Ok now you're being an even bigger idiot, I mean you're breaking rule six just now!" He paused looking at me really confused as I held my head in my hands doing my best to look disappointed. It was desperate sure but if he was anything like his actions showed then ego is a huge flaw with him, especially as a fellow eccentric scientist, even if he was evil.

"What are you on about?" he seemed really confused as I continued to casually get closer, looking forlorn at my duplicates obvious lack of competence at this whole evil overlord thing. I mean, he looks scary as all hell, got that powered armor thing, though it's obviously been heavily damaged by explosives and high energy beams. But he's still a version of me somewhere in there.

"Have you not read the handbook? The List of things an evil overlord should never do, read it?" Now I was feeling particularly smug, just in my time here alone I'd noted dozens of infractions and stupid decisions that were classic points of failure that even bond villains could admit had tripped them up.

"Ok, rule six, never gloat over your enemy's predicament before killing them. Your control center, Rule twenty-seven, Never build just one of anything important, always have redundancy. Rule Eleven, make sure you're secure in your superiority and don't leave weaker enemies alive. The list goes on, but these are rookie mistakes, man." I could practically feel the rage coming off him. It was like he'd never actually had someone critique his work before, and quickly became focused on me.

"You call yourself my evil twin, overlord of half a dozen earths, and you keep making noob mistakes like these? More like Bizzaro version. I mean come on, what's next, did you send captured heroines to your bed chambers for nighttime fun? Are you secretly planning to grow a goatee? Ooh! Let me guess, you killed Dante and That's what led Francisco to betray you since you left him alive." In the blink of an eye he'd dropped Barry and was right on top of me, the remaining speed force I'd borrowed giving me just enough reaction speed to sidestep his mechanized grasp before grabbing the machine arm and twisting it off the suit, a cut up and bloodied arm hanging off to the side of the suit's torso.

"So much for being invincible. Even Lex Luthor is a better overlord than you. He became President 'Legally' just to annoy his nemesis, but you? You can't even hit your mirror counterpart." He charged again and this time I felt a bit slower, but I managed to sidestep him and push him forward onto the ground, the machine momentarily disoriented as it tried to correct for the sudden loss of balance and get back up.

"By the way, by capturing me you broke rule three, mirror duplicate, half brother, it doesn't matter. Hell I know I'm a better man than-" suddenly his free arm grabbed me, his speed insane as it seemed to increase with his rage despite his suit being severely damaged.

"Shut up! If I wanted to be critiqued I'd ask for it, and certainly not from you, you miserable sack of-" I began chuckling since I'd gotten him exactly where I wanted him, the machine's power was being sapped by me this time, the damage having prevented it from efficiently stealing my strength and energy. I grabbed the remaining arm and began crushing it as I tightly held it in my grasp, the hand forcibly releasing me once it lost energy due to the damage.

"Now Flash!" In an instant, millions of volts flooded both of us as I began channeling the energy into myself and then into the suit, amplifying it as I pulled on my own reserves. It was painful of course, it always is with these levels of energy, but I could take it. My counterpart however was having a very bad day, his rage echoing throughout the room before the suit suddenly erupted outward throwing me back while he vanished in a bright flash, the torso vanishing with him into what looked like another breach.

"Good night Gracie" I chuckled, smirking before the exhaustion overcame me, Barry quickly running us both back through the breach and onto earth one right as it collapsed closed. Right into a crowd of cheering heroes and metahumans. Moments later I found myself back at S.T.A.R. Labs as Caitlin was prepping to check for any injuries after the experience, Barry helping me climb up onto the medical bed.

"Listen, Barry, Before I suddenly pass out into a coma or something, you need to know something. Those metahumans my duplicate was using, they're refugees. They need help and will likely be a pain in the ass, but they'll need as much assistance as can be given. Just don't go sending them back to their earths yet. The other me, he's not gone, he's just retreated and will likely return. The war isn't over, and they're just as much victims as the rest of us." He seemed to understand as I sighed, I hadn't expected to deal with crap like this so soon, but I was hoping that maybe Reverb and Harry could figure out the breaching device and get me home. Cisco had my vibrational frequency but evil me already managed to open a door there once, potentially the device could do it again.

Last edited: Feb 16, 2022

The Path's we choose.

September 26th - 2014

Things were starting to calm down a bit as I continued resting. I'd been out for a couple of days healing from the sudden strain put on my body battling my doppelgänger and was mostly just spending my off time tinkering with one thing or another keeping myself busy. When I wasn't helping Cisco narrow down the location of my home reality I was making upgrades to either my combat gear or servicing Durendal going over the various parts and ensuring everything was working smoothly. As I rolled out from under the Jeep I noticed Barry leaning against the entrance to the loading bay, seemingly bouncing between wanting to say something and trying to remain patient, an eternal struggle for a speedster I imagine.

"You know it's easier to just talk to me, I'd tell you if you were interrupting my concentration enough to be a problem."

"I uh, so I have a lot of questions, and I know you can't answer all of them because of how it'll mess up the timeline and stuff, but" I set my wrench down and began cleaning off the oil and grease from my hands and gave him my full attention.

"I actually don't think it matters at this point Barry, the timeline is completely different on earth two due to the long term effects of my doppelgänger, as well as on multiple earths, apparently. On top of that, I'm not from the future, so I'm not going to accidentally erase myself or something, and things have already changed drastically here too." I took a deep breath and stretched, getting ready to answer what could turn out to be a metric ton of questions.

"Okay, so I figured you'd know a lot about him and all since he's a version of you, but you also seemed to know way too much about being some kind of evil bad guy. I know you have all sort's of rules to be a better person, a better hero, but why would you have a list of rules to be a better villain as well?" so that was what this was about.

"Barry, I don't know if they have this on your earth, but back home there was a guy in the early to mid-nineties who created a list called the Overlord List. Effectively it looks at all of fiction, every slip up, every common mistake, every thing that allowed the hero to triumph in the end and how to avoid them just by sticking to what initially were one hundred rules every overlord should know. Mostly just good advice."

"Wait, so you weren't quoting from an actual super villain handbook?"

"I mean it's sort of like one, if it had been written by Leonard Snart or something" I got a weird look at the mention of captain cold, but he just didn't know Snart very well yet.

"Barry, Snart is a bad guy yes, but he's scarily competent, enjoys what he does, and most importantly, misunderstood, in time you may find him to be a very powerful ally because the one thing he hates most is being upstaged by idiots, and boy are most villains idiots. I was stupid enough to think I could pull a Spider-Man and distract him enough for him to slip up. He saw right through it and stayed on task instead, what does that tell you?"

"That I should focus on finding other ways to beat him?"

"Yes, but more importantly, you need to keep him on his toes, catch him off guard, use new tricks, get so fast he can't keep up no matter what he does. Snart is more than capable of being an overlord, easily conquering the world one piece at a time. Do you know why he doesn't? Because he enjoys being a thief, sees breaking into places as a challenge."

"Okay, but what does all this have to do with this overlord list thing?"

"Simple, that's the kind of person who created it. An entire community, actually. Obsessive, Nit picky, fans who spend way too much time focusing on one thing and are generally pretty smart about it. And Honestly? If I hadn't learned to become friends with people, settled down enough to find love for a while, learned to accept people who they are? I may very well have taken a similar path to my counterpart, the only difference? I realized the futility of trying to force the world to follow one path. Even if it's the perceived correct one."

"Tell you what, if I manage to make it back to my earth, I'll copy the list for you guys. Just don't go giving it to Snart or Lex Luthor or something. You don't need that kind of insanity." what I didn't realize was the list did in fact exist in this reality. It was just forgotten by time, since it'd never gained the popularity it did back home. I'd find out later after doing my usual dig through the ancient ruins of the early internet. Some things stay the same, while others change. Of course once Barry and Cisco got their hands on it, Thawn did too, and man I was praying this wouldn't bite me in the ass later.

Still, it felt weird to have them trying to be inconspicuous in watching me for a while. The idea that I might follow in my doppelgängers footsteps enough to keep them cautious when I started working on new projects in case I might suddenly go dark side. They weren't wrong, but the modified cold gun I'd come up with was to keep Thawn in check, not for use on Barry, and it had a biometric lock to prevent misuse. It was modified to steal speed force energy instead of all energy,

I knew Thawn wanted to siphon Barry's speed, so I allowed him to break in and study a fake version of the plans, just in case he was planning to use them for his own device. Things were moving rapidly now, and I needed to be ready. There was going to be a big showdown between the flash and reverse flash soon, and without zoom, I wasn't sure what was going to happen beyond that.

Reverse 01

October 20th - 2014

It finally happened, The reverse flash Finally showed up to challenge Barry during a mission. It started roughly an hour ago, Barry was running people out of a burning building, his speed difficult to calculate since he emptied an entire building in less than a couple seconds. Dozens of people having suddenly appeared at a safe distance outside, Barry was now racing inside trying to put out the fire, until he came flying out a window having been thrown from the inside out. Cisco's computer terminal showing him rapidly accelerating to a terminal velocity.

"Barry, your arms, move them circularly, opposite directions, really fast, now point them down, create a vortex!" I practically shouted over the radio before I began trying to tap into the speed force the way I'd seen Barry do. I'd been trying to do it since I got back, but I didn't have the innate connection he did so it was much more difficult, and I didn't get nearly as much speed out of it. Suddenly I felt it and the world slowed down, my instincts taking over as I shot out of the room, enhanced physiology allowing me to push off with a lot more force and launch myself at nearly four hundred miles per hour before my electromagnetism took over, and I was riding a field through the sky propelled by pure energy.

I couldn't maintain a speed force connection yet, but I was just barely able to use it like a boost for a few seconds. Of course, in those few seconds an eternity could happen depending on how much energy I gathered. I was there in moments, Barry taking my advice as he began trying to slow himself down but having trouble overcompensating since he wasn't used to moving in three dimensions. It was enough however as I caught his now slower falling form, letting the magnetic fields slow the fall further until we were safe on the ground. The crowd began cheering before suddenly screaming as a yellow streak came out and started charging at us before a bolt of yellow energy struck me dead center, my trained defenses collecting the negative tachyon charge and containing it, so it didn't do any harm.

Nodding to indicate I was okay, Barry went after him and I began converting the negative charge to a positive one, storing it as additional power in the hopes I could help him out. It took nearly twenty seconds to absorb and convert the charge, but I'd managed to save eighty percent of it as positive speed force energy and felt my connection grow with the surrounding energy. This wasn't like the small trickle I was used to, it seemingly enveloped me, surrounding my body in blue lightning as the world slowed down again. Grinning like a madman I felt the energy within and reached out to it's source, it was like something broke through from somewhere, and I felt connected to it, far more energy than I'd ever pulled as my power source within was echoing it like two beating hearts. Each one pulsed in sequence until the energy began syncing up, and suddenly it went from alternating forces to harmonic resonance, everything coming into focus.

As the world snapped back I could feel it now, a low hum in the back of my mind, a connection I hadn't been able to make until now, and then I was gone, my plasma barrier shielding me from the atmosphere and preventing energy from damaging my coat and clothes. I wasn't sure how long this would last, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth and began honing in on the negative energy charge, each turn like a gentle jog as the world was standing still. Suddenly Barry was running alongside me, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning before shooting out ahead, My own energy growing as I willed myself to catch up. Then Thawn was right in front of us, looking back with shock as he never expected two people to come after him like this.

Nodding to Barry I began converting all the energy that had been collecting against my plasma barrier into positively charged fields and started feeding it towards him, our training helping him gather it into himself as I continued to act as an additional source of power, his speed beginning to accelerate even more as I felt myself starting to slow until I was barely keeping up with them. Barry then gathered all the energy and wrapped it around himself, feeding it into his speed aura, and suddenly he was more than twice as fast. My insanely enhanced senses barely keeping up as it looked like Thawn was struck from multiple angles at once, Barry moving at least double to triple his speed while he desperately tried to move faster. I felt the energy building again, so I began pushing myself and began gaining slowly on the pair as Thawn was desperately defending against strikes from multiple directions, blindsiding him and forcing him to slow down just to defend himself.

"Thawn!" I shouted, causing him to turn and run at me, the moment's distraction suddenly having him get clothes-lined by a speeding Barry before I used the speed to strike him hard. His body coming to a sudden stop against my fist before being thrown back twenty feet from the force, slamming into a pile of boxes. I quickly moved over and grabbed Thawn pulling in whatever energy I could get my hands on, my research into anti-speedster tactics paying off due to my unique way of tapping into the various energy fields of the universe, with him shouting in rage as his connection to the negative speed force weakened. Barry kept his distance like we'd discussed, I wanted to disconnect him before he could escape and prevent further problems when I suddenly got an arm phasing right through my kidney. The pain was immense as I doubled over dropping him before he suddenly shot off with a massive red energy field arcing around his body, the negative speed force being fueled by his rage before he vanished in a tear in reality, Barry running after him.

"Damn it!" I shouted as I felt the reserve of energy begin to fade away. I desperately tried to reach out with my mind clinging to that feeling before suddenly I felt it again, that harmonic resonance and empowering force before I shot into the tear in space/time chasing after them hoping I wasn't too late to fix things.

Reverse 02

? - *!?

I was amazed at the feeling of moving through time, I could see everywhere and everything at once. Not just my timeline but everything that has, can, and will happen. It was overwhelming, and it took every last bit of focus I had to not become swept up in the current of time itself. Suddenly I noticed it, I could feel my destination calling to me, so I accelerated and in a flash I'd returned to normal space, hovering just off the ground as I used my electromagnetic abilities to rapidly decelerate from being thrown out of the temporal anomaly.

I was just outside a house as red and yellow light was flashing throughout it. I watched the front door splinter outward as Thawn crashed right at my feet, desperately trying to get his bearings before glaring up at me, shocked to find me here too. Of course, I quickly grappled him again trying to drain him dry, so he wouldn't be able to mess things up further, this time putting so much strength I felt joints and bones begin to crack.

"I know this was predestined Eobard, but what you're doing right now is not acceptable, you need to stop."

"No, he can't save her, none of you can!" Suddenly another yellow figure appeared, and another, there were half a dozen of them, time remnants. He was expecting something to stand in his way, always planning ahead, that's Eobard Thawn. I continued draining him until I felt the link break and him collapse, letting him go since he was no longer a threat, red lightning arcing around my body before becoming blue.

"per voluntatem meam, iam perdidisti" I felt another resonance, two now synchronizing with my energy fields. They felt like opposite charges but began forming some kind of alternating current of energy as the world seemed frozen. One side called to my darker impulses, the other to my hope, my focus on gaining strength to stand against the darkness. When you stare into the abyss it stares back into you, so I choose to light the darkness, becoming that which acts as balance. The world frozen as more and more energy continued pooling into me, an overwhelming and all encompassing force that pulled at me, calling me to go even faster.

I walked into the house, Eobard moments from killing Nora Allen, I gently pushed him backward and his frozen body floated towards the wall with Barry reaching out towards his mother. I gently picked her up and set her outside before coming back in and finding the younger Barry and moving him beside her. Then I set my hand on her shoulder and brought her into my time stream.

"Nora Allen?" I asked, as she looked disoriented, face stained with tears from pleading for her son's life.

"Who are you?, what's going on?" she watched as the half dozen Thawn time remnants floated towards the ground, my movements have displaced them and thrown them off balance moments before.

"It'd take a lot to explain, but I need to maintain the timeline, while also helping a friend. Normally you can't do this, but the funny thing about time? It's malleable. As long as you don't try to change fixed events, you can do a lot of pretty crazy stuff."

"Time, changing fixed events. That man, he was standing over me, I was about to die, a man in red was fighting him."

"That's Barry, your son, a hero where we come from. You were supposed to die, it was a fixed event that was crucial in allowing him to do all this."

"But if you can't change it, then why are you here?"

"I can't change the fact that Nora Allen Died tonight. That doesn't mean I can't also save Nora Allen and have a version die at the same time. It's a Schrödinger paradox" Barry needs to grow up without his mother, but he'll be taken care of by the West family, raised well, find love. I can bring you back to the present when this is done while still preserving the timeline." Suddenly I picked up all the Eobard clones and went back to get the original before placing my hand on Barry's shoulder, bringing him into the much faster timestream.

"Barry, you're interfering with time, you need to stop. This is a fixed event, you understand?"

"But she's my mother, I have to save her!"

"Damn it Barry! Right now, I'm so overcharged I could literally throw you into next tuesday and lock you out of this moment in time. Instead, I've got a plan, but you have to stop meddling with this point in time!" I set the Thawn clones down who were still frozen due to the speed at which we were moving and Barry followed me outside. Before staring in shock at his mother.

"Alright, I don't know if I'll be able to do this twice, but I've been thinking about ways to cheat time, we can't do this again, for anybody! So don't try this, okay?." I froze Nora for a moment and accelerated moving backwards a few seconds into the past, overlapping with myself. The timeline shifted and a version of her was brought outside the time stream. Then I took that version and placed her back in the house with Thawn ready to kill her. Next I took thawn's time duplicates and sapped them of their energy, amplifying myself further before shifting through time again, releasing them into the vortex and appearing a couple seconds later.

"Barry, I hope you appreciate what I'm doing, because this could break the universe if it's done wrong. And really piss off your earth's version of the time lords." Suddenly, normal time resumed and Nora was standing next to kid Barry and adult Barry. A scream comes out of the house before Thawn ran out and into a temporal anomaly, escaping to the future. I kneed down to the young Barry Allen, placing my hand gently on his shoulder as the old one watches on in disbelief.

"Barry, it's important that you listen, your mother is going away for a while, okay? But you'll see her again, until then tell a nice police officer is going to be taking care of you." I locked the door to the house and had Barry sit and wait for the police to come after having called them myself using a phone in the house and checking on Henry Allen to make sure he was still breathing.

"It's okay Barry." the two were incredibly close, and I hated having to break this up, but the timeline was going to return to normal and If I didn't fix this soon it would alter everything going forward. I lamented my own experiences with family and how lonely it sometimes felt, but knew that if the timeline was going to survive intact, this had to happen.

"Nora, we have to go." I gently pulled out something from my pocket, a pen with the words 'Cogito ergo sum' written on it.

"These words, I think therefor I am, never forget them. You are only as powerful as you make yourself, so make yourself the best version of you." I nodded to Barry, and we accelerated, Nora in tow, before we exited the timeline back to 2014. Quickly grabbing a newspaper nothing looked different, the article talking about the invasion a few weeks ago was still there, suddenly I saw where we were, and a fire was blazing before I saw the previous events play out before my eyes, first Thawn throws Barry out of a building, then I catch him, a battle takes place, and they're gone.

After they'd left the area, Barry raced back in to extinguish the fire using my advice to suck the oxygen out of the room then racing back out, the crowd cheering on their hero. I could feel the speed forces leaving me again, but something was still there, a small connection, just enough, so I ran back to S.T.A.R. Labs while Barry got to spend time with his paradoxically saved mother. Besides, I had a bone to pick with Thawn since I was pretty sure he exited the timeline here as well.

Reverse 03

"Thawn!" I shouted as I appeared back at S.T.A.R. Labs, having circled the place twice with no luck. I checked and everyone else was missing too, which was concerning to say the least. Normally, at least Cisco and Caitlin were here, but the place was empty, leaving me with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I continued to call upon both speed forces as I began moving in a grid pattern around the area, the world frozen every time I moved as I searched every shop, office, warehouse, and building to find them, praying that Eobard hadn't decided to use them as leverage. Mere moments later, Barry was racing up to me trying to get me to stop and explain what was going on.

"Barry it's the reverse flash, I think he took Caitlin and Cisco, they're not at S.T.A.R. Labs despite having been there when we left."

"Yeah, I know, they're with doctor wells checking on my mother back at Joe's place." I immediately facepalmed and stopped moving at super speed.

"Damn it Barry, I thought we were in the middle of a crisis, instead the reverse flash is gone again, and we've no leads, again."

"Hey, calm down, it's not like he's someone we know." I was seriously debating at this point if I should reveal the truth when he began giving me a weird look as if he could tell I wasn't telling him the whole story.

"No, that can't be right, he's someone we know? Who?"

"Barry I can't tell you yet, you're strong, but you're not fully ready to deal with him, and besides, I think he's burned off a lot of his speed force energy, so he won't be coming back for a while."

"No, not this time, he's the man who killed my mother, and put my father in jail, for years. I have to know who it is, you can't keep this from me." I was desperately searching for a way out, but I knew that Anywhere I went Barry could follow, so I had to come up with another way to handle this.

"Look I know you can keep secrets, but I'm sure you already have your suspicious as to who it is, so you tell me, who do you think it is Barry? I'll give you a hint, it's someone who knows way more about this than they're supposed to, someone native to your earth by the way since it's not me." I could practically see the gears turning as everything clicked in place, Barry suddenly racing off with me following as close as I could.

"Barry, you have to stop! He is a far bigger threat if his cover is blown than otherwise! We need to be smart about this!"

"I can't believe wells is the reverse flash! He ruined my life!"

"Technically he's not Harrison wells, he's just using his face due to future technology." Barry suddenly stopped before looking at me like I was crazy.

"Have I ever been wrong about this stuff? Look shortly after your mother was murdered a man named Eobard Thawn, the reverse flash became trapped in the past, the night of our little battle? He tried to enter the time stream, we went after him, but he fell out a few months after her death and discovered he was stranded there. So he arranged for Harrison Wells to have a car accident instantly killing his wife, then killed the wounded Wells and took his place. He killed your mother on purpose to force you to become the flash, then made the particle accelerator explode to grantee you'd get your powers earlier than originally."

"You knew! That's why you wanted me in my lab, you're just like him!, you forced me to get these powers!"

"Barry, stop! I had very good reasons for pushing you to become the flash. First, it's literally your destiny, Barry Allen becoming the flash is the core of your story. Second, I was changing things just by being there and there was too much at stake, the multiverse was at stake! In five years there will be a crisis that could destroy all of time and space, the entire multiverse. Except it's stopped, and you're key to saving it. God's I sound like the doctor now, going on about fixed events and determined outcomes while flipping the table."

He ran towards Joe's house with me in tow again, I wasn't sure what he was going to do, but I needed to make sure it wouldn't get any more out of hand. As I got there, Barry ignored my presence as Caitlin ran all sorts of medical tests on Nora. Wells was watching off to the side, keeping an eye on the entire room, an over watch position if I'd ever seen one.

"I've seen some crazy things, Barry, but creating a paradox takes the cake, how come the timeline isn't all messed up?" Cisco was of course the first one to ask, ever the curious one it was inevitable he'd bring it up.

"Zalost's doing actually, I'm not sure how he did it but somehow made a doppelgänger or a copy or something and that's who died that night. Then brought my mother to the present."

"A time remnant, actually. Don't worry, this one is the original, the difference is that for a few minutes back in 2000 she crossed over her own time stream, and then it resolved it's self as one died and the other lived leaving the timeline intact." I tried to keep the explanation simple, but I knew with this crowd, there's always someone who has to question things.

"That's still a paradox, the universe isn't going to come unraveled, is it? Ugh, this is giving me a massive headache." and there we go.

"Cisco, When dealing with time travel, it's better to just not think about it. It'll make your life easier." At that moment I noticed wells was missing, Barry too, then I began swearing under my breath.

"Sorry, I need to take care of something, I'll be back in a moment."

"Okay, make sure you tell-" and I was gone trying to track down the energy of Eobard and Barry with the two of them fighting openly across central city.

"God's damn it, Barry!" I swore as I took off after them. This was getting incredibly troublesome and either Thawn was stopped here or Barry might end up killed. I tapped into the two forces again and suddenly shot off, the world feeling frozen again as I made my way towards them now hoping to put an end to this.

Reverse 04

Time continued to stand still as I raced through central city. The energy I could feel from Thawn and Barry was immense and constantly rising as Thawn's rage, and Barry's continued amplification of his powers by wrapping it around himself, had them quickly rising ever higher. Each one matching any gains on the other. Every time I thought I'd honed in on them, they'd blink away, their fight taking them further and further away from the city proper until they ended up heading into the surrounding plains heading southward.

As I got closer I noticed rapid streaks of red and yellow striking at each other, every time they met a massive shockwave forced its self in all directions from the impact force, enough to shatter bone, their damage quickly being healed by their abilities. Channeling both energies I began accelerating again, I could feel the resonance growing as my electromagnetism harmonized with the positive and negative speed forces, alternating back and forth like a pendulum with the time between the two points growing as my connection grew. Suddenly I felt a surge and the two blurs were moving slowly but their velocity still increasing as they charged towards each other. It felt like I suddenly had a force pushing at my back as the two forces mixed, the resonance a discordant echo ringing throughout my body pushing me up to insane velocities, the world beginning to curve as I began reaching speeds measured in percentages of light speed, my EM field keeping the air from burning me to a crisp combined with the speed forces creating additional barriers on top of it.

In that instant, I knew exactly what I had to do. Thawn's movements were incredibly slow, his head turning in slow motion as his eyes widened, and he began trying to vibrate to make himself intangible. I could feel the energy of the speed forces within him and began drawing it towards me, pulling on it like I'd pull on the metals in an object and felt his energy begin to drain into myself, the sense of charge immense before his vibrations stopped, and he seemed frozen while I walked up to him.

Placing my hand on his chest I pulled deep within myself and took all of Thawns energy, plus anything I could pull from the surrounding area and within that well deep inside and released a massive burst, so much energy it looked like I'd nearly vaporized him, but I felt the negative speed force in him leave as I channeled that energy back into myself ripping away his connection and absorbing whatever traces remained. The only problem was he was still just starting to feel the effects as I hadn't fallen out of this new speed, the world wrapping around to the point that I could see everywhere as my eyes were able to take in photons millions of times faster than normal.

Barry approached in slow motion, trying to keep his eyes on what must have been a glowing blur with the various energies wrapped around me. I walked over to him and pulled him into my own level of speed, hoping he might have an idea how I could exit this state. He looked in awe at the world around us, a simple movement in the air creating sonic booms from the kinetic force emitted.

"Barry, Thawn's no longer a threat, his connection, I think it's been severed, something I saw someone like me do later in your timeline."

"He still killed my mother!"

"Except he didn't! She's alive!, right now!, I'll explain things to Joe, help you get your dad free, if I can ever leave this speed state."

"Where are we anyway?" He asked, trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

"If I had to guess? I'd say we're moving close to the speed of light, so fast the very photons are slowed down, though why I didn't just rip a hole in space-time or enter the speed force is anyone's guess. However, I need a conduit, I need to release it before I'm stuck here! It may already be too late." It was then I had a brilliant idea and gestured for Barry to come closer before I forced him out of my velocity, picked them both up, ran back to central city, dropped them off, then began using my electromagnetic energy to create a static walkway ahead of me and collecting it behind me. Sorry about this, Barry, but if this works, I might just be able to go home and sever my connection at the same time.

My plan? Simple, If I could get this new energy to vibrate at the right frequency, I should have more than ample energy to go home, I just had to rip a hole in reality again. But first I needed to make a stop, so after leaving a note on Durendal for Cisco, a quick run back to the year 2000 to leave a camera for a few minutes to record the events of the past, grabbing it, returning it to the present, and leaving it and a note for Joe in the present I made my way to Starling City.

What I found was disconcerting, the Arrow cave was under assault by nearly a dozen of those cyborg assassins vandal savage was sending from the future, another mess I guessed I was going to deal with. It took mere moments as their bodies underwent explosive disassembly with every strike, the force equivalent to several tons of TNT, carefully planning each strike to not hit anybody but leave a smoking pile of scrap instead. Then I left another note for Oliver and Felicity thanking them for being helpful and telling them to stop fighting things and get over themselves because I knew their outcome was to get together eventually anyway.

Another brief stopover in Gotham saw every super villain who was free suddenly locked up in Arkham, The Joker having been disarmed, disrobed, placed into an orange jumpsuit, and shackled to a wall with a hastily put in place set of wall shackles. The key was burred deep in the warden's desk, and a letter with evidence of every one of Jack Napier's crimes as The Joker, with proof of whom he actually was. Explaining things to Bruce, he wasn't happy at the impromptu night off given his entire rogues gallery was now locked up, but I also gave him Napier's dossier for his files before returning him to his own time flow.

The power was starting to lessen a bit now, so I knew it was time to go, I began racing along the ocean using my electromagnetic abilities to create a solid surface to push against as I pushed myself faster, reaching deeply within myself until I felt a new frequency calling me. Suddenly a rift opened, and I entered into a long tunnel of energy, the familiarity of it similar to time travel, but instead I was being called home. It was faint due to the large distance, but I continued racing towards it, moving faster and faster. At some point velocity had no meaning, I was passing realities as I felt them more than saw them due to the light no longer reaching my eyes, a dark void ahead of me. My connection was weakening the further I got from the multiverse I was in. Then suddenly I felt something slam into me, a dark chuckle as I fell out of the dimensional tunnel, floating helplessly through space at insane velocity.

There was no up or down, no left or right, but the stars were shooting past similarly to traveling faster than light, space/time distorting into a bubble of force and rapidly stealing any energy left, the pocket of air being maintained by the plasma wall was also fading, increasing my panic. Seconds later I saw a crazy sight, a massive ship flew above me, slowing down to match velocity before grabbing me in an energy beam. The blue glow slowing down my movement before I felt every atom in my body disassemble and re-assemble, collapsing on a hard surface and passing out, the last of the speed force having left my system almost instantly, the connection no longer there.

Last edited: Feb 25, 2022

Boldly Lost 01

"You're sure the force field will hold him?"

"Based on the doctor's analysis of his biology yes, there's a dampening field inside the force field to keep him from draining it, so I'm certain it'll hold him." My head felt like it was pounding, the noise of these people talking grating against the inside of my head. I noted that physically I seemed fine though, fingers, toes, everything seemed okay. A bit dehydrated given the dry feeling in my mouth, so some water might help, but otherwise no worse for wear considering what I'd just been through. Getting up my courage, I decided rather than playing possum, It might be best to find out just where I was and who these people were.

"You really don't need to restrain me, I mean you no harm." I sat up slowly, trying to keep my head from feeling like someone stabbed a spike through it. Gently touching the edge of the energy barrier I sensed around what looked to be some kind of science fiction medical bed, I could feel the two fields acting concurrent to one another. The inner one drained anything above a certain energy level, and the outer one created a dense energy field that could be considered solid to the uninitiated.

"That has yet to be seen. These are incredibly unusual circumstances, and the doctor tells me your DNA shows genetic augmentation from baseline human. On top of that, you were traveling through space, at warp, without a ship." The taller dark skinned man seemed incredibly familiar, his uniform black with yellow shoulders, then I noticed his ears and practically facepalmed, realizing I definitely had not come home.

"Okay, before I answer any questions, I need to know the date." I looked around quickly picking out the forehead ridges of the chief engineer, the balding head of the medical officer, and just entering the room in command red, the captain herself.

"The current stardate is five three two oh three." stated Tuvok clearly curious about my questioning

"No not the stardate, sorry, the current date, earth gregorian calendar."

"March fifteenth, twenty-three, seventy-six."

"Crap, okay so if I'm here, and it's the twenty-fourth century, and you guys don't get home until, scratch that I need to be careful what I say here, I have my own prime directive in this circumstance." That seemed to draw the attention of the group, with the captain quickly making her way to the forefront.

"Make it home? You mean, we actually make it back to earth?"

"Okay, enough, nothing else said leaves this room, am I understood?" the captain quickly put a damper on B'Elanna's enthusiasm

"Yes captain" everyone repeated, the chain of command clear.

"Okay, I'm going to have to get used to that while I'm stuck here until I either find a way home or can find the guardian of forever."

"Alright, introductions, My name is Zalost. I'm a traveler from another universe. And I stumbled into yours quite accidentally, in fact I'm pretty sure I was thrown out of my journey home and ended up wherever you found me. No idea how I was able to fly in space either, pretty sure it was a one time deal."

"Zalost? Why would you name yourself depressed in an obscure earth dialect?" The vaunted EMH, ever curious, but never a great bedside manner.

"Why would you choose Joe after so long?" I asked, seeing the look of confusion on his face, clearly not getting the reference or meaning. Though B'Elanna clearly thought it was at least a bit amusing, given she was trying not to laugh.

"Madam Captain, I'm asking for your help, I was augmented yes, by accident, and I just want to get home, I think you can sympathize with that given your current predicament? Besides, if my guess is right, we're a very long way from federation space, so you can't exactly do much other than lock me up in the brig anyway."

"We can discuss this after the Doctor has had a chance to check you over. Given the strange readings our sensors were getting, we can't be too careful."

"I can respect that, but could you at least lower the force field, It's really not doing much, and I promise not to hurt anyone, I've really gotten very good at being gentle when everything feels like cardboard strength wise." standing up I gently touched the force field to indicate my dislike of cramped spaces before the Captain nodded, and it ceased to be allowing me to walk away from the bed and reach out my hand in greeting.

"Now that's out of the way, It's a pleasure to meet you all, and I'll be happy to help however I can until a way back to my own reality can be created."

Boldly Lost 02

voidofsilence said:

I see we are treading into Star Trek. I guess this is now a multi-cross? While my knowledge of Star trek is slim, I don't think time travel is one of their central themes? His electro-magnetic powers might be a bit nerfed here without stronger sources to pull from. The again, Dc is a power scale all its own.

Click to expand…

Click to shrink…

It was always intended to be a multi-cross, but I didn't want to leave DC hanging, and it was a great starting point, really. As for power sources… matter/anti-matter reactors are normal in this setting, as is time travel, to the point that they have rules about non-interference and even a time agency by the 29th century as well as a temporal Cold War.

March 17th - 2376

"It's really fascinating captain, he's more than twice as strong as any augment on record with increased reaction time, balance, dexterity, and acuity to go with it. On top of that, his ability to retain information is only surpassed by seven of nine's who's cybernetic implants give her an edge." Captain Kathern Janeway was sitting in her ready room listening to the report from her chief medical officer, carefully looking for key details to determine if this augument they recovered was a threat or not. It wouldn't do well to have another Khan on board with everything else going on.

"Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end. It's remarkably similar to the genetic alterations underwent by the eugenics war era augments, but tissue scaring and signs of rapid regeneration shows that he wasn't altered in vitro but instead over a period of days in what had to be an incredibly painful process. Furthermore, his body is still adapting to whatever is going on, albeit more gradually." That was concerning, if the augmentations weren't done were they a risk to her crew, could it turn into some kind of augment plague? She had to have the doctor run a more in depth analysis.

"Then there's this, his body has been infused with dark matter. It's laced along these growths throughout his muscle fibers and seem to conduct some sort of electromagnetic field originating from this new organ here in the lower spinal area. I can't even begin to guess its purpose, but it seems to be the source of the energy fields we picked up on sensors." Now she was intrigued, she'd always been a scientist and explorer before she was given captaincy. And here were new frontiers in biology, human biology. It practically made her wish she had the resources of a research base to study it. But that would have to wait until they returned to the alpha quadrant.

"Doctor, as fascinating as all this is, does he show any signs of increased aggression or any normal problems that come with eugenics era augments?"

"Not exactly. There are signs that he might have increased cortisol generation as well as massive adrenaline boosts, but it all seems to be regulated by this growth in the brain connected to his hypothalamus. It seems to perform a similar function to what we've seen in Vulcan biology, and allows for greater focus and control over his emotional state."

"Would you say he's a threat to the ship?" Now for the big question, he'd been in sick bay for two days undergoing rigorous tests under the watchful eye of the doctor.

"Honestly? No more than anyone else, though he'll have to be careful with those electromagnetic bursts, I've had a portable dampening field generator setup for him to wear to keep it to a minimum for now. But I don't see any problems, he's remarkably calm given his situation."

"And that was when I picked up the engine and gently lowered it into place, so I could secure it with the mounting bolts, because just dropping it in there would have cracked the oil pan and I really didn't want to have to fix that again, pinched fingers or not." It was strange, I always figured I'd get along with a fellow tinkerer and gear head, but Tom was actually every bit the person I expected him to be, at least this far into the journey. He was kind of crude early on and really didn't like authority, but over time he got better.

"Wait, so you're telling me you actually physically put that heavy engine into your vehicle, with your bare hands?" he seemed shocked by the revelation, but I just shrugged, making a comment about perks of superhuman strength.

"It took some getting used to though, I bent like half a dozen wrenches because I wasn't fully used to my strength, I could bend steel rods like pretzels, so it was more an act of precision than anything else."

"When the captain finally lets you go, you'll have to check out this simulation I've got, it's a classic 1956 Cadillac that I've been putting together when I'm off duty."

"Hah! I love classic cars, though I'm more of a muscle car man myself. And jeeps, but I'd love to have a look."

"Trust me, it's got one heck of an engine, six liters V8 engine, four speed automatic. And that engine when she starts up." I got that feeling I get when I get excited about something, a small rush before I calmed myself down.

"Okay you win, soon as I get out of here you have to show me this car." Suddenly, the doctor came out of his office and walked over to us.

"As much fun as it is hearing you go on about ancient technology with someone who actually understands it, I've gotten word that the captain is giving our guest limited run of the ship, provided he wears this at all times to prevent any sudden bursts from shorting out our systems."

"A reasonable precaution doc, I think I should visit the mess hall first, I'm starving." my stomach began growling like an angry lion to show I wasn't kidding.

"Yes, that increased metabolism of yours, how did you handle back on that twenty-first century earth?"

"Like anybody else, I got jobs, I paid my way by helping others and putting my knowledge and strength to good use." I shrugged before heading out the door, the doctor reminding me to keep my caloric intake up, apparently some of it had been offset by my electromagnetic abilities, but I still ate enough for three people. Word must have gotten out though because people were giving me a wide berth down the hall. I wasn't sure if it was my huge stature or if they already knew I was superhuman. That was until someone wasn't paying attention and tripped over something, my reaction speed barely catching them.

"Careful, shipboard accidents may be a thing, but best not to cause your own." The woman must have been one of the dozens of unnamed crew that were rarely if ever shown on TV. She quickly thanked me and got back to whatever she was doing.

"You really are fast, remind me never to go against you in parisses squares."

"Hah! Yeah, I'd probably be disqualified anyway, too much of an unfair advantage."

Boldly Lost 03

March 19th - 2376

Finally, I'm no longer confined to the sickbay, but I still have to wear this monitor and that portable dampening field. I understand the captain's reluctance since I'm not baseline human, at least not anymore. But this level of mistrust makes me wonder if humans on this earth are really as uber-phobic despite having lived with aliens for the better part of three centuries. Still, I was making myself useful when I could. Often I'd find myself helping out with various basic tasks, my enhanced memory being incredibly useful for keeping track of logs, manifests, and tiny details.

In my off hours, I was given access to study entry level stuff to help me better acclimate to the twenty-fourth century. Having been given one of the spare quarters on the ship, it was quite comfortable and quiet. A window looked out the port side giving me a great view of the warp field fluctuations making it look like stars were shooting past. Honestly, I never dreamed I would become superhuman, let alone see this one day, but it was beautiful. Today was an exciting day, mostly because I was assigned to help seven of nine work on some project having to do with subspace communications and their efforts to reconnect with Starfleet. Given I'd already memorized a map of the ship, it didn't take me very long to find my way down to astrometrics, the massive screen taking up the wall and making me just a bit jealous since it was rare to see functional screens that big.

"The captain tells me you've managed to learn a significant amount on multidimensional field theory and subspace mechanics. I am to determine if you can be of use, assist me." yep just as I expected, direct and to the point, logical and precise. I let my enhanced ability to retain information as I went over the data on the terminal holding onto it and working on a pad as I went, the darn things a bit unwieldy compared to a classic keyboard and keypad but who was I to argue with twenty-fourth century design.

"This doesn't look right. According to this, the subspace region ahead of us is hampered with evidence of anomalies weakening the barriers between the layers." I got an eyebrow raise at that as she went over the logs I was viewing before quickly bringing it up on the large display and began double and triple checking my readings.

"You are correct, there is increased subspace turbulence, however this is still somewhat within normal variances for less traveled regions of subspace."

"Yes, but see this here, this indicates recent surges indicating some sort of anomaly surfacing and submerging consistently." I quickly followed my hunch and brought in additional sensor data including gravimetric fluctuations and energy bursts, despite being at the edge of the sensor resolution the region was a couple of weeks ahead of the ship's current path.

"I should report this to the captain. These signatures look similar to Spatial Anomaly five two one and could be potentially hazardous, though easily prevented with the right modifications." I quickly finished up going over the rest of the sensor logs and completed my assigned task for the day before following her out. I was never one to shirk my duties. Still, I didn't want to just stand around doing nothing either, so I continued reading as I made my way to the mess hall to await my next assignment.

"Come in" answered the captain to indicate whoever had pressed the door chime could enter her ready room, she was going over recent sensor logs of some nearby systems looking for objects of interest.

"Captain, Mister Zalost was going over the sensor logs and found something that warranted your attention." She accepted the pad and began going over the data before pausing on the notes on a spatial anomaly disrupting subspace.

"Any idea what this spatial anomaly might be? It looks like it might disrupt the warp drive."

"Yes, the Borg have encountered regions of space like this before. Spatial Anomaly Five two one. A gravitational disturbance which consumes ships and is attracted to energy sources." That had her attention, Chakotay had followed seven into the ready room and had a look himself, brows shooting up with interest.

"That sounds like a Graviton Ellipse"

"I was thinking that myself, tell me seven have the Borg developed any way to defend from or deflect the anomaly?"

"Yes, I can modify the shields to render the worst of it harmless and voyager could investigate safely, though I would warrant caution given the nature of the anomaly and it's effects on subspace."

"Work with B'Elanna on this, see if you can at least get a shuttle ready by the time we get close."

"Yes Captain." Seven turned to leave, departing with her usual abruptness, leaving the captain and first officer intrigued.

"She said Zalost found this in the sensor logs?" He asked, wondering just how much their guest had learned in the last few days.

"Yes, honestly I'm surprised he found it at all, at a glance it just looks like turbulence and noise. Tuvok also told me he was practicing some variation of Vulcan meditation techniques and had requested some rather unusual components from his replicator."

"Some kind of weapon?"

"No, outdated computer interface components. Buttons and schematics for a civilian model padd."

"Nothing too strange, he is from the twenty-first century. Starfleet regulations do allow for modifications to and construction of personal equipment if there's difficulty using standard issue devices."

"Yes, but I still want to keep a close eye on him."

"As I recall, captain, you were cautious about the Maquis crew members as well."

"Still he's an augment, there's a reason the federation banned the practice on humans."

"I could go speak to him if you'd like."

"Maybe, let's see how this anomaly goes."

Last edited: Feb 23, 2022

Boldly Lost 04

March 21st - 2376

Comfort, that was my goal with this knockoff cyberdeck. The means to allow me to easily work in this crazy twenty-fourth century technology while still being somewhat familiar. The thing was packed with all sorts of extras, including a universal interface I could place on equipment and all sorts of signal enhancers to make it easier to reach even through dampening fields and radiation belts. Slipping the strap over my shoulder, I slipped it onto my back and got to work helping seven with the upgrades to the ship in preparations for the anomaly field. Mostly as an extra pair of hands to make her work go faster, since I was still learning about shield harmonics and star ship engineering.

"Seven of nine, I'm curious, I know the rest of the crew seems uneasy around me as an augment, why aren't you?"

"Augmentations are irrelevant, you are useful, resourceful, you would have made an excellent drone." Well, that wasn't exactly heartwarming.

"Are you sure? I mean wouldn't my electromagnetic abilities interfere with the nano-probes?"

"They would adapt. As do I when faced with new experiences. The crew will do the same."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" I'd handed her a hyperspanner which was quickly becoming one of my favorite tools since it was effectively a multi tool in science fiction packaging. It was mostly quiet as we focused on our work. My own observations and study of the modifications giving me a better understanding of how the shield and power systems were laid out.

We'd gotten a significant portion of the shield upgrades online when I'd gotten a ping to my smartwatch, which was linked to the deck I was carrying on my back. Apparently it was the end of my shift, and I was to meet up with the security detail, so I had to bid seven a good evening. The look of intrigue at my watch told me she was curious about it, but simply stated that it was a crude but efficient way to maintain communication. It likely since The Borg used a hive mind, but I didn't mind it, I'd carried it with me so far, even if the tools on the wristband weren't all that useful in the twenty-fourth century.

As I made my way back, the security detail met me part way and escorted me to the mess hall. I knew it was mostly paranoia, but I understood the reasoning behind it. The augment crisis of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in this universe caused a lot of problems and eventually lead to the third world war. So it stood to reason that the federation, as utopian and broad-minded as they were, did not trust anyone who was heavily augmented for non medical reasons. In my case, it was an accident, and I wasn't out to commandeer the ship and force my way home that way. Which is what likely kept them from stuffing me in the brig or throwing me in stasis for the rest of the trip until I could be dealt with by their own officials back home.

Taking out the deck, I began going over today's reading, more warp theory with an updated refresher on quantum mechanical dynamics and some temporal chaos theory. Nobody seemed to mind me reading in the mess while I ate, but I certainly got a few stares at my own personal interface. That was until the chief engineer came over.

"That's definitely not Starfleet issue."

"No it certainly is not, for one thing this has actual tactile buttons unlike those touch surfaces you guys are always using." She seemed to be studying the deck closely as I was reading the holographic projection display I'd rigged up, the screen much easier to read than the tiny padds that were smaller than my tablet back home. Quickly scrolling through more information, I noticed she'd sat down across from me, an expression I couldn't quite read staring back at me.

"If you're expecting some arrogant speech about twenty-first century technology being superior or how I'm better than the non augments, forget it, even I'm not that arrogant, and I can bend steel with my bare hands."

"No, just trying to figure out if you're really like the rumors say."

"Ms Torres. The rumor mill can say whatever they want. Even before I was given augmentations, I'd grown used to being an outsider, and I certainly couldn't care less what people who apparently have way too much time on their hands have to say about someone they don't even know."

"You're certainly not like the stories I've heard about augments. Tom tells me you even chat with him about that hobby of his, working on ancient earth ground vehicles."

"Yeah, but I'm more interested in utility than looks. Drove one back on earth that I was always tinkering with when I didn't need to use it for travel or gathering supplies and equipment for stuff. Then again, my earth was radically different to yours in that era, we didn't have augments or world war three to deal with. A planet spanning super plague, sure, but wars were mostly regional. Still just as stupid, though."

"Yeah, that's what I've heard. It's hard to imagine a timeline without augments or the last major conflicts before earth's unification."

"I wasn't even augmented on my earth, it was an accident that I even got these abilities. Still doesn't mean I won't use them to help people, though. That's what I did on the last earth I was on, I tried to make a difference and ended up having to fight a mirror version of myself. I'm not looking to repeat that experience anytime soon." I powered off the terminal and got up to get a second helping, my increased metabolism making me feel famished. At this point, I could eat an entire turkey before starting to feel sated.

"You seem to like building things, any chance you wanted to be an engineer back home?" I paused, taking a close look at her, before I realized I was likely being interrogated.

"Astrobiologist actually, but since we had barely left earth, I put my efforts into fixing machines and designing solutions to problems. Life off world was an unknown that I was a long ways from getting a chance at exploring. I've found it relaxing to tinker with and improve on things after a stressful day. Plus there's always a little percussive maintenance if something gets stuck to take it out on." I really had nothing to hide, and I was trying to be more approachable than seven was, at least despite the two of us being superhuman through various means.

"As long as you don't go trying to take over main engineering, I'm sure I can find something for you to help with. You've already gained some idea on how our systems work, at least."

"Technology changes, but the principles of its design doesn't. Honestly, your design is very logical and easy enough to figure out with a sufficient understanding of what led up to it. Like vacuum tubes versus transistorized circuits. Two radically different systems, but working under similar enough principles that you can take knowledge from one and apply it to the other." I got an eyebrow raise at that, but I'd finished my third helping at this point and was going to head back to my quarters, sliding the shoulder strap of the deck on and heading out, promising to talk to her later.

Last edited: Feb 23, 2022

Boldly Lost 05

April 17th - 2376

Today was the day. We were entering the anomaly field and over the last couple of days I finally remembered why this anomaly seemed familiar, it was that one episode featuring the pre-warp Mars mission. I was kind of excited because in my off time I'd managed to fit a general purpose tricorder into the deck, making it an insanely functional device compared to normal equipment on the ship. I could now scan atmospheres, download information without specialized cables, act as a general purpose terminal, and while a bit bulkier than a padd It was easy enough to carry it on my back. I'd even managed to make it vacuum rated, which was a trick in of itself, but federation technology was pretty environmentally resistant.

As for the power source, it had a decent one, but I'd managed to include an electromagnetic coil on the back to wirelessly charge off my own bioelectric field. A fuse was inline with the power, of course to protect it from any sudden surges, B'Elanna's idea after I'd mentioned the issues with terminals exploding. Medical technology was such that burns could be treated easily, so not as much focus was put into fused relays to protect the consoles from overloading with the energies used. Of course, I called BS on that, since I saw no point in not just having redundancy and ways to bypass a failing circuit or drain it into large capacitor banks that could then safely be discharged back into the system. But then again, this was the 24th century, maybe they knew something I didn't. Still, I got the feeling she discussed it with the captain later and was likely why the engineering crew was working on the bridge terminals the last few days.

I'd been given the opportunity to go on the away mission with Chakotay, Tom, and Seven, as long as I wore the field dampener. My first away mission was exciting since I was getting to explore a spatial anomaly. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't hide my grin as I used my strength to load the equipment in one go, carrying several crates at once, leaving everyone else to focus on final checks in preparations for the anomaly. Then the ship shook, and I knew it was time to move.

The Captain ordered the ship to go on red alert as we were pulled out of warp, the anomaly being deflected away by seven's upgrades while the delta flyer flew out of the shuttle bay and made a close pass to get some sensor readings. The anomaly contained a lot of unusual elements and some familiar ones, including an aluminum alloy consistent with twenty-first century earth spacecraft. With the captain giving the go ahead to enter the anomaly and begin analyzing the interior.

"I don't see what the point is in exploring this anomaly, given its nature it's illogical to enter it."

"Seven, the exploration is the point. We can't predict what we'll find in there, but one must allow for the unexpected discovery." Chakotay was doing his best to keep seven on task given her reluctance, to me it looked more like the immaturity of being assimilated so young and regaining her humanity was showing through.

"He's right you know if I hadn't been exploring the wilderness I wouldn't have encountered the anomaly that sent me on my own journey and eventually brought me here. Sure I miss home, but I don't regret a moment of it, this has been the adventure of a lifetime." That brought pause to the pair before Tom indicated to us that we'd made it to the center of the anomaly. The three of us joining him up at the helm to get a better look at the outside. Eventually we found the spacecraft as well as readings from dozens of other ships, some familiar but most of unknown origins. Planning ahead, they began trying to tractor it out of the anomaly.

"_Ger to -Out of there -teroid about to imp-" Crap it's happening way too quickly, is this fate trying to stay on track again? I quickly got to the helm controls and pulled Chakotay away from the console, a massive burst of energy ripping through the console as a dark matter asteroid impacted with the anomaly, causing shock waves along its outer layers. While I absorbed the energy into myself, I felt my hands begin to burn from the burst of energy, then heal as what appeared to be tachyonic energy started tapping into the traces of the speed force still in my system. Time slowed down as I moved quickly and yanked off the panel to isolate the power conduits and channel the remaining energy into myself and keep the delta flyer from being damaged. Then before something else went wrong I found the shield emitters and tried to regulate a discharge into them and the surrounding environment, causing them to flare up a bright white before returning to their normal transparency with the rest of the spacecraft unharmed.

"What was that?!" I heard someone shout as I laid on the floor, exhausted and feeling drained. Likely from their perspective they saw me vanish and a lot of things happen at once followed by a bright flash and then me re-appearing on the floor.

"Tachyons, something I encountered in the last universe, no idea why that worked here, but ship is safe."

"Flyer, are you alright?!" I heard voyager over the communications link, Chakotay reporting everyone was okay, and they were going to continue tractoring the spacecraft out of the anomaly. The ride was smoother than on the way in, likely because I was completely drained and not emitting an electromagnetic field of any kind now. As the Elipse submerged back into subspace, the twenty-first century spacecraft was brought into the shuttle bay for study, the logs and any artifacts quickly recovered by various science and engineering teams.

After being checked over in sickbay by the doctor, I was instructed to report to the captain. Likely to explain why I was suddenly able to move at extreme velocity, So quickly, the ship's sensors reported that I was in multiple places at once for a few seconds. Now how to explain that I was able to tap into an extradimensional energy field using tachyons that gave me super speed, just not normally here since it didn't exist in this universe and my body was just using tachyons to generate the correct field for it briefly. I got the feeling I'd never be truly free to roam the ship since I hadn't mentioned this tidbit, but to be fair, I didn't think I would even be able to pull it off.

Boldly Lost 06

I spent an hour or so trying to explain the speed force and how I wasn't sure how I was able to use it in this universe to the captain. Apparently there had been tachyon based anomalies that federation ships had encountered before with similar effects, but my best guess was that the dark matter in the asteroid interacting with the anomaly had altered the burst of tachyons that hit the flyer in that energy burst, which allowed me to use it similarly to a speedster, albeit briefly given it wasn't a constant like the speed force back on earth one. The similarity of tachyons altering time in a similar way to warp fields using subspace to alter space also probably helped.

Of course, I refused to have them experiment on me under controlled conditions. At least not unless they could do so safely. I already knew the risks of an artificial speed force, and it might tamper with the results to use it on someone who'd already utilized the real thing. Still, I did learn one thing the doctor found unusual. I wasn't aging, he'd compared my cells from when I was on the ship, to when I left on the mission, to after I got back and as it turned out one of the unusual traits of my DNA was that my telomeres weren't becoming shorter but being repaired as part of my regeneration. This in turn contributed to my metabolism, which is why I felt like I was starving after I got back, my body had spent a ton of energy repairing its self. I was effectively immortal provided I didn't take an explosive to the face or jump into vacuum without a suit, or worse, decide to dive into a singularity.

This all gave me something to think on. I had lamenting having been turned into a superhuman and wondering if my time might be limited. However, it seemed that I had all the time in the multiverse to get home, provided I didn't care about the people I wanted to get home too. Shaking my head, I got back to eating my fourth helping of whatever the heck the doctor had devised to supplement my metabolism, I don't know why, but it was actually quite tasty. The doctor had made me spend the last few days resting after the anomaly, regardless of my ability to regenerate and get right back to work. Something about not being willing to test the limits of my regeneration even if I was probably going to live as long or longer than he would being a hologram.

Heading to the holodeck for the time I'd managed to schedule last week, I loaded up the exercise program I'd written, this one a recreation of the arrow cave, equipment and all. It wasn't too difficult to schedule time, as the crew usually used holodeck two and interacted in the group simulations Tom was running there. I guess even in the twenty-fourth century, larping was popular. I'd started with the usual stretches and warm-ups before moving onto the heavier duty stuff. First the practice dummy, a series of rapid strikes impacting it as I went through the various movements for the mixed combat style I'd learned from both Oliver, and Sensei Yoru. Then I had the computer simulate a training partner and did some staff training, you never know when you might need to use one. Finally, some target practice with the bow, shooting tennis balls I'd thrown with quick draw arrows, one impacted a pillar after having impaled the ball, an entry into the simulation having opened moments before with Tuvok of all people having nearly been missed.

"Can I help you with something, Mr Tuvok?" I asked as I set the bow down and began wiping off the sweat from my hands and transitioning to the salmon ladder as my final exercise of the day.

"Curious, it seems it is true that you are familiar with many combat forms." I yanked myself up to the third rung and kept going as I tried to focus on getting to the top.

"I thought I mentioned that already? It was why I'd first asked if I could join the security detail's morning exercises." I was now halfway up, preparing for the next rung.

"Indeed, however, your allotted holodeck time is up, and you are five minutes late for your tasks in engineering." I reached the top and yanked hard, shifting my weight and holding onto the bar before spinning it in a staff technique and landing in a crouch on the mat below.

"Sorry about that, I was curious if the holodeck could replicate the training grounds I'd been using when I trained under my old master. Seems a pretty good recreation. And I don't have to worry about breaking the practice dummy if I hit it a little too hard, which is nice." I'd finished wiping off the sweat and picked up my gear, promising to make my way to engineering after a quick sonic shower. About ten minutes later, I'd managed to make it and apologized to B'Elanna for being late. As a half Klingon she understood the need for training to reduce stress, it was in her blood after all. But made me promise to keep a closer track of time in the future.

I enjoyed my time in engineering, I did a lot of practical work, monitoring systems, making adjustments here and there, and mostly acting as an assistant to whoever required an extra pair of hands, it was nice. The fact that something being stuck had a different meaning for me compared to most members of the crew probably helped, since most work could be done with basic tools. One perk was that I was allowed pockets in the uniform I'd been given to wear when working. I was considered an enlisted personnel and given the rank of crewman after the captain had decided it was better to have me do something useful around the ship. The special tritanium adjustable wrench I'd come up with saving a lot of trouble when dealing with things that required manual effort to remove. A hyper spanner sat next to it in the shirt pocket of the uniform jacket, and the multitool watchband coupled with my smartwatch relaying information from the tricorder in the deck I carried around with me.

It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise when other engineering crew started wearing uniforms with pockets, besides B'Elanna had been wearing a kind of engineering jacket already, so I expected it to have happened sooner really. Still, time went by fast working that shift, and I took a walk in the airponics bay afterward. What I didn't realize was that crewman Porter was working in airponics today. Apparently botany was one of her studies at starfleet academy and had I know her shift was today I would have gone to the mess instead since I was trying to be less intrusive given what happened with Tom a few days ago. She quickly looked up from the padd she was working on and walked over, not expecting me to walk in.

"Zalost, I wasn't expecting you to come by, you're usually in the mess hall or helping out around the ship."

"I'm off duty now, and one of my studies back home was botany. Plus, I'm curious how airponics and hydroponics systems have advanced from what I was used to, back when I was experimenting with them." I'd been studying the coloration and shape of the leaves on what looked like a leafy green which reminded me of spinach but had purple lines along the middle.

"Well if you'd like I could show you around. We really don't do much in here besides monitor plant growth and nutrient levels, so the environmental sciences crew works a rotation here."

"Only if I'm not in the way, Ms Porter." Good, she didn't seem to be bothered by what happened the other day. I was probably worried about nothing and calmly listened to her explanations on the setup and design of the airponic chambers they were growing food in.

Last edited: Feb 25, 2022

Boldly Lost 07

May 10th - 2376

"I'm just saying. Sometimes it seems like the federation isn't living up to their full potential when dealing with legitimate threats. I get that they're all for peaceful exploration, but the galaxy isn't exactly a field of flowers. It's dangerous out here, enough that the federation is lucky it's super science keeps pace with it all." I swear, it's like they're oblivious to all the crap they pull out of nowhere just to solve problems. I've been trying to convince the chief engineer that voyager needs additional power storage for an increased burst of energy towards engines, weapons, shields, whatever needs it. But it's a tough sell.

"Super science? I mean, I guess it could seem that way for someone from over three hundred years ago."

"B'Elanna, you deflected a space/time anomaly by polarizing and inverting the polarity of your energy shields. I get that it's effective against charged objects, but where I come from we have a term for that, Technobabble. It doesn't always make sense to throw random science at something and hope it sticks without proper theoretical testing." I'd paused trying to give her time for that to sink in, it was kinda crazy the stuff they were doing out here.

"Aren't you the one who modified an outdated tool just to make it easier to work on something?"

"Tell that to your engineering staff, who appreciate having a tool that doesn't rely on a power source and can work anywhere. Look, my point is, the threats out here are seriously dangerous! You guys haven't even encountered a real Borg fleet since you rescued seven. And then there was that incident with the Hirogen, the Dreadnaught missiles, heck there was that telepathic space born thing which was leading people to their doom inside it's gaping maw like sirens guiding ships into Charybdis" I could see the gears turning as she started really thinking about the past few years out in the delta quadrant and all the crazy stuff they'd encountered flying in a mostly straight line.

"Okay point, but I'll need to have the captain okay it before I go dedicating the engineering staff to adding additional energy storage. Though the fuses definitely helped with the anomaly. I found half a dozen of them had blown to protect key systems when that tachyon burst hit us."

"To be fair, that might have been partly my fault, I was absorbing the tachyons to protect Chakotay and was trying to re-direct energy away from anything that could explode before re-routing it to the shields to bleed off into the anomaly. The alternative was an extra crispy first officer and a nearly dead spacecraft."

"Still proved the idea was sound. I've had my team working on improvements in their off time to see if we can help make them less prone to failure."

"Breakers, they're like a fuse, but it trips a switch which cuts the circuit. You put them inline with the fuse, that way, the fuse is your overflow and the breaker should stop most of it. Then you just check the system and if it doesn't trip the breaker again after you flip it back on, you're probably good. Better than exploding control panels on the bridge, anyway." I'd been discussing this while making my way towards the Astrometrics lab to do some routine adjustments when I heard seven talking about a micro wormhole near the ship. I wasn't sure if I should secure myself in my quarters or steal a shuttle and try to leave the ship, since this meant they were about to make contact with Starfleet command after several years.

"Crap, I knew things wouldn't last. Starfleet finally made contact with voyager"

"What makes you say that?" She paused as events unfolded exactly as I predicted moments before and giving me that look of curiosity she had when I'd mentioned them getting home back in sick bay a few weeks ago.

"There's a message coming through, on a Starfleet emergency channel"

"Let's hear it"

"This is lieutenant Reginald Barkley" I raised my eyebrow as B'Elanna and I had walked into the room and were listening. The message was brief, but the captain sent sensor logs, crew reports, etc. And Starfleet sent some comms upgrades and new communication technology specifications.

"Starfleet doesn't exactly like augments and unlike the Maquis I'm not a criminal, they can't just wave the charges or give me a pardon or something. I may need an escape plan if we make it back to earth." It may sound paranoid, but Julian Bashier is a model example of an incredibly well-adjusted augment who put his skills to use but nearly lost everything once the truth was out. I really didn't feel like being a lab rat or being isolated to some remote outpost simply because of the Dark matter infused Mirakuru cocktail I'd been hit with. I just wanted to get home.

"There are plenty of ways to disappear from Starfleet. If it comes down to it, I think Chakotay might know somebody who can help you."

"Thanks" I'd gotten the interest of seven of nine who'd been watching us closely, I guess it was kind of hard to hide the panic and fear at suddenly being known by an uber-phobic polity. Then again, she likely had some of the same concerns, given her former Borg status. Speaking of, now might be a good time to broach the subject of a certain transwarp network to the captain. Let her know what lays ahead and hope the lead time gives her an edge without the time travel shenanigans. That is, if the slipstream drive doesn't work, I had some ideas for that too.

Waiting for eternity 01

Personal Log, May twenty-fifth, twenty-three, seventy-six. I've started keeping log entries on advice from various crew members I've interacted with throughout the ship. I don't like the idea of Starfleet having access to mine, so I've encrypted them using a sequence that would take even memory alpha several centuries to decrypt. We encountered an unusual storm last week made up of neutron radiation which seemed to be shielding a bubble roughly twenty light years in size. It would have taken several weeks to go around it, but the captain insisted that we could traverse it without issue. That is, until the special warp field modifications went offline. Fortunately, with seven of nine's help and some extra muscle to move stuff around from myself, the ship was saved from being torn apart by whatever force had generated this neutronic storm.

In the center of the region it emanated from, there was also a large concentration of tachyonic energy. As of oh nine hundred hours this morning, the captain had decided that it might be a wormhole, but to me this all felt far too familiar. Instead of a wormhole, we found a strangely donut shaped object of planetary mass which was trapped inside a tachyon anomaly. The planet was trapped, moving at a rate of roughly a day every second and a year every six minutes. The captain was hoping to study the anomaly in the hopes of possibly unlocking my speed force powers on a ship wide scale to accelerate their trip home. Of course, I remembered fairly quickly the episode where voyager unintentionally became the god of a people and accidentally violated the prime directive, the ship's attempts to escape causing quakes and catastrophes on the rapidly advancing but primitive race below until said race pulled them free. To be honest the whole thing was hard to believe until you actually experienced it, by the time I'd managed to get the captain's attention it was too late, and the ship was trapped unable to escape the anomaly without causing further damage to the planet below.

The crew of course could not survive entering the anomaly, the doctor could from what I recalled, and then there was my own unique circumstances. I wasn't sure the effect it would have on me, but at this point I figured I'd offer it since I could make sure the holographic doctor was returned to the ship. I just hope they can keep a lock on him this time.

"And you're sure you can beam them back?"

"Yes, I've been working with seven on maintaining a lock despite the extreme temporal phase difference."

"Good, and good luck you two, I know this is only your second away mission Zalost but just remember the prime directive and focus on finding the source of the tachyon emissions."

"By your command captain" I stood ramrod straight and did my best at a mock salute before re-assuring her I would be careful. I wasn't allowed to take my deck with me, a real shame, but it couldn't be helped. The society down below was mostly late industrial age, and we wouldn't have even been sent down there if they hadn't tried to contact us first. Though I had to be careful because their efforts to make me look like the people down below were superficial at best.

As we beamed down, the world seemed to be moving incredibly rapidly. It felt like hours had passed as we beamed into a remote location, my body having suddenly entered hyper speed having an adverse reaction and causing me to pass out, vaguely noticing the doctor trying to help me lie down. When I came to, the doctor informed me I had been unconscious for roughly twenty-four hours and that my body had adapted by absorbing the ambient tachyon energy and becoming in phase with the rest of the planet, while he'd modified his mobile emitter to move at the accelerated rate. We were currently in a barn of a small farm on the outskirts of a nearby town and I mostly just felt like I'd taken a long nap but otherwise no worse for wear, the doctor reminding me that I was only able to adapt due to my unique physiology.

As I got my land legs back and regained my balance from the sense of slight nausea the tachyonic anomaly was giving me, I noticed that everything else seemed normal, as if I wasn't moving at twenty-four hours a second. I was also starting to feel like I'd been plugged into an outlet, as the electromagnetic energy in my body was being supercharged by the unusual geomagnetic fields being generated by what seven had called a Tachyon rich core. The planet was literally a planet sized version of the effect I used to tap into the speed force, which was kind of insane.

At this point I followed the doctor outside, it was incredibly early in the morning and the sun was just rising over the horizon. I'd decided that until told otherwise that direction was east, even if the doctor informed me that was north northwest magnetically it just made more sense to my mind to think of it that way instead of calling it spinward with the direction it set trailing or widdershins. So we traveled eastward until we found a river, then crossed it at a bridge and made our way towards town, where I worked my skilled magic and picked up a job as a general purpose handyman and engineer fixing stuff to earn local currency. While the doctor worked undercover to locate the observatory the transmission was sent from.

After a couple of days, he'd managed to get an atlas from a bookstore and overlaid it with the information he'd downloaded as to the location. Fortunately it was only a day's journey westward towards a costal city, and I'd just been paid for fixing another water heater for one of the apartments here, with more than enough to both feed myself and get us a pair of train tickets. So after thanking my clients and being offered a reference if I needed one where I was moving to for a job by one of the wealthier people I'd helped. We made our way to the first target of our mission, hoping to make contact with someone involved in the attempt to contact what they'd referred to as the ground shaker in their language.

Last edited: Feb 28, 2022

Waiting for eternity 02

Three days, that's how long we've been down here, it's only been three seconds back on the ship, but I was starting to get worried. I remembered the doctor had been left down here for three years, however I was hoping to avoid being left on planet because they couldn't get a lock. To help with things I'd been building a multi-frequency signal enhancer based on something I'd read in the ship's database about a pattern enhancer which I was planning to equip my deck with. Unfortunately, I'd had to leave all that behind, but I could at least enhance the signal enough to maybe help them lock onto the doctor's mobile emitter.

With the doctor acting as a distraction by imitating one of the guards It was pretty easy to pick the locks on the door, the design not much different from the pin and tumbler locks I used back home but with a slightly different keyway. Still with the lockpicking I'd practiced back home, and the improvements Oliver had helped me with to get much more proficient at it. I'd had very little trouble getting into the observatory's logs and finding record of the attempt. It had been nearly two centuries prior, indicating their development was slow relative to their timeframe when compared to an equivalent amount of time back home. On most earths, humanity had invented space travel within half a century of radio communications, but here they seemed to have gotten the technology early. Most of their technological advancement in fact was an effort to reach the skyship, the ground shaker.

After making a discreet exit, we made our way back to the apartment, and I began assembling the transponder to help voyager isolate and lock onto the doctor, preparing to use my abilities to help reduce the interference. I knew I might be stuck down here, but he had to get back, to report on what was going on. I also recorded a message of apology just in case that he could take up with him as an audio file and began setting things up, voyager was due to beam him up in a few days and I didn't want to be late.

"Alright doctor, I've got the signal amplifier setup to help with the dense tachyon fields and temporal dislocation, are you ready to return to the ship?"

"I know you asked me to hold onto that audio record, but do you really think you won't be able to make it back?"

"Trust me, I know what I'm talking about, oh! One last thing, take this as well, it's something I've spent no small amount of time copying down. I made a backup of the local record hall's scientific database, took me ages to take each one of those frames on that spool of film, but it should contain everything."

"Well, here's hoping you make it up anyway." Suddenly his holomatrix began to shimmer, and he slowed down his program which made him look like he was standing still, the bolt lock on the apartment keeping anyone from coming in or going out while the capacitor banks slowly discharged to aid in the transporter lock. My hope was, if this worked, I could spend a year or two here working on a better way to increase the field emitters and help voyager maintain their own lock on my biopattern, despite the strong EM field my body was generating. After a day and a half he was gone, and the emitters were almost fully discharged, so I powered them down and looked back up at the sky, the bright star telling me they were still there, even if only a few seconds had passed on the ship.

After several weeks I managed to modify an old AM radio transmitter and about once a month I'd climb the highest hill and spend a few hours transmitting a message to the ship. I was trying to relay as much information as possible as to what was going on down on the planet's surface, as well as my progress on a field enhancer. Unfortunately, after the first year all my work had been destroyed when a neighboring power decided to bomb the city, and it took out the lab I'd set up in my apartment. I got to work again trying, however It took much longer this time. The war was settled fairly peacefully with a treaty within a few weeks. However, I was pre-occupied helping rebuild the parts of the city that were rubble, doing my best to hide my abilities while working as an open contract engineer and general repair person. This time apparently I was able to live rent-free since I'd helped rebuild the building and the apartment manager was thankful for my various contributions.

Finally, after two and a half years, I felt the dematerialization process start at the agreed upon time and activated the field emitters. It was nice to live peacefully after the last universe I'd been in, but it'd also be nice to get back to trying to get home. I was hoping some of my research in breaching into the void between universes might help figure out a way to do just that. Suddenly there was an explosion down below and the building shook, smoke was rising from the street, someone had been hurt. I tried my best to remain still, but the frustration was making it difficult to control the strengthened energy fields I was generating, and suddenly that tingling feeling stopped with the field emitters suddenly catching fire.

"Damn it!" I shouted as the attempt at a transporter lock failed. It was difficult since I was never sure if they were still receiving my transmissions, but I could always hold out hope. What I didn't expect however was for a group of armed people to break into the apartment, weapons rapidly moving around before aiming directly at me.

"Okay, looks like today is not your lucky day, I'm in a particularly foul mood." Electricity was arcing off my body, lightning struck several of the men unconscious, with the rest trying to shoot me but failing as the projectiles hit the energy field and vaporized. I picked one up and slammed him into another guy, the third trying to run, but something told me to reach out, and I could feel the ferrous metals in his body armor. Yanking him towards me, I held him in the air, floating helpless with his gun on the floor.

"Now then, since your friends are all taking a nap, why don't you come in, and you can tell me all about what moron thought it was a good idea to shoot me?" A swift interrogation later, I'd managed to discover that apparently I was a random target. And it was a spot of bad luck that they'd chosen this building to try and raid and pillage while the explosion downstairs distracted the local officials. Growing bored, I decided to let him off with a warning, a minor jolt waking up his friends and the group fleeing in terror.

It was an unfortunate series of events because I was starting to get a bit comfortable here. Then again with them running out the door screaming about a monster, maybe it was better for me to leave. That was until they were being held at gunpoint by over a dozen of the local defense forces, the chief coming up to shake my hand, and thank me for helping them out once again.

As it turned out the fact that I wasn't like everyone else was a poorly kept secret but since I was always helping the last couple of years it'd been decided to let it pass. Even with the energy glow that subsided as I calmed down. It seemed that me pulling people out of the buildings during the bombing last year, as well as that one time I thought nobody was watching while I carried a water heater into the commissioner's home when he was supposed to have been away, were unfortunately noticed.

Deciding to officially introduce myself again, I figured maybe it wouldn't be too bad, as long as I didn't directly interfere with their development. I made up some story about being a traveler who'd gotten stuck here after the sky ship had tried to warn them about the upcoming war. And that I was mostly trying to help where I could, but that I was forbidden to tell them anything about the ship or how it worked until they were ready.

Worse was someone blabbed after my statement and a news agency ran with it, thus my secret was out pretty fast. I knew the captain wasn't going to be happy about this, but I was going to try and stay true to the prime directive for the most part. That was the plan anyway, though no plan survives first contact with the enemy, but damnit I was going to try and find a way to make this work.

Waiting for eternity 03

I was on my own, Voyager was too out of sync to provide any kind of advice, so I had to make up my mind as to what rules to follow regarding non-interference. I wasn't going to just give them anti-matter reactors and warp drive, but I could probably try to guide them away from a global conflict. At least that was my thinking, the people were generally peaceful with a focus on getting to the sky ship and a fear of retaliation from their supposed gods on the ship.

The first thing I did was allow my regeneration to repair the appearance changing work the doctor had done on me. It was best if the people were exposed to the idea of aliens and to confirm that the sky ship was indeed from a distant star. I got a lot of strange looks when people saw I didn't have the central cartilage piece and instead had a smooth forehead. But after a month or so it mostly subsided, and I'd gotten back to helping out wherever I could. I quickly found it difficult to lie low, but security wasn't really an issue since they lacked the advancements to harm me. I'd also set up a receiving array on the building I'd been living in, to communicate with Voyager and send reports. I was hoping I'd get some kind of update or instructions in a few years, giving the crew time to adjust for signal attenuation and decide what the next move should be.

After five years I finally got a reply back, at this point I'd moved and settled into a place closer to the central core of the city. They were doing everything they could to try to recover my signal, but mostly sent a series of instructions on how to handle first contact procedures. Also, apparently since I wasn't a federation citizen nor a Starfleet officer, I wasn't exactly going to be court-martialed either. Extenuating circumstances kind of made the prime directive moot, and reminded me of that time Picard went down to a planet to clear up misconceptions by a group of primitive vulcanoids.

In fact, I tried to follow his example whenever I was asked to advise on something. I was lucky the people of the southern subcontinent were relatively peaceful, but of the twenty-six nation states there were a handful who weren't interested in peace, but instead wanted to take me for themselves. And then there was that one religious group who had declared me a heretic since I didn't fit their view of the sky ship and the people who lived there. They were mostly regarded as unimportant, but I kept a close eye on them in case they tried any sort of modern crusade against the Central Protectorate, where I'd been living.

I'd met several world leaders, shook hands with diplomats from eighteen of the twenty-six polities, the group primarily consisting of a scientific and technological alliance who reminded me somewhat of the United Nations back home. I'd also been interviewed several times about the people on the sky ship. My response of course was mostly vague, I couldn't tell them about how it worked or how it got there, but I mostly relayed that our peoples were not too different, that they were a collection of worlds from dozens of planets, different people who looked radically different than I did from them, some were blue, some had fur, some had scales. One thing was important that I kept trying to get across though. Every race goes through a crucible, for some it's a series of wars, for others it's an environmental crisis. But one thing was made clear, the only way they could really make their way to the sky ship was to work towards peace and work together towards reaching outward.

I'd also tried to explain that the quakes weren't the sky ship's fault, but an accident as part of what brought them there. And that they'd been stuck and trying to get free of something and needed the people's help when they were advanced enough to do so. This of course spurred a massive leap in technological and scientific development as they were pushed onwards by the story I'd told of a people who were trapped above, desperately trying to get free without shaking the world below apart.

Stories were being written based on what I'd said, Children's TV shows were created to help younger generations understand the new narrative as told by Zalost of the sky people. The religious group sent missionaries to try and convince me to go into hiding, but I mostly offered instead to listen and patiently talk about the world they believed in, worshiping the sky people who weren't any less mortal than they were. I wasn't going to forcibly change their world view, but I could at least talk to them. And if they wouldn't listen, I wouldn't begrudge them that, it was really the only way to peacefully work with zealots.

After a decade It became clear that I wasn't aging like the people around me, I'd tried intentionally adding gray into my hair using the tool the doctor had left to make it easier to blend in and made up some story about my people having extended our lives through medical breakthroughs. But eventually it was clear I probably was going to outlive everyone around me. I'd tried to avoid settling down as well, staying in the lab underneath the house I'd moved to whenever I wasn't doing diplomatic work or giving advice on things. I lamented the fact that I hadn't just remained in hiding, but at the same time they'd averted two major wars so far thanks to the rapid technological advancement I had helped kick off. Their fossil fuel powered vehicles quickly gave way to electric and hydrogen powered ones after my warning about environmental disasters affecting their planet. The advancement completely homegrown after several engineers came up with newer methods, having worked hard to invent a better form of power generation.

After twenty-five years, things finally calmed down. I was the only fairly youthful looking person in the group of aging diplomats and dignitaries at the world council. There was concern as one of the more aggressive polities had been developing some new kind of superweapon, one that used what they described as the fundamental makeup of everything to create massive explosions and waves of death. Of course, I quickly recognized the description of an atomic weapon, so it was time to go visit this dangerous polity, maybe I could yet convince them to use this discovery for benevolent purposes instead of destroying everything.

Waiting for Eternity 04

"You have to let me through! It's imperative that I speak with your leaders regarding your research project!"

"I'm sorry, as much as I want to let one of the people from the great sky ship past. I have my instructions."

"I know about weapons like this, you guys don't know what you're messing with, it's dangerous to use atomic research this way." He was trying his best to ignore me at this point. I'd been given diplomatic papers which allowed me to traverse the nearby countries over the last several weeks, but I was being prevented from reaching the bunker these idiots were holing up in while in an arms race with two other polities. One of which already agreed to a treaty with the central republic after I'd sent that broadcast pleading for them to stop their research into atomic weapons. The other two were too embroiled in a conflict with each other and refused to back down unless the other did.

Sometimes it was difficult to restrain myself from wanting to directly interfere with the development of their world. It was when that idiot was dumping sludge into the reservoir back in T'kal city which provided water for several surrounding towns in the southern subcontinent. And it was when those idiots decided to bomb the apartment I was living in before, leading to my current residence. Still, I've continued to toe the line and mostly just trying to warn them of the dangers without taking direct control, no matter how easy it would be. What was more concerning is I've noticed a change in myself as well, with the increased energy density new abilities have been manifesting. I can't use the speed force because this whole planet is already working on flash time. But I have noticed that besides being able to summon tools with magnetism, I've gone to program something only to find it's already done. At first, I thought I'd just forgotten it, but last month I'd gotten a prototype kit and found it written in a programming language I recognized, rather than one native to this world. Something to look into when peace was restored.

I could feel the electrical signals moving through the wires as well as the radio receiver inside. That's when I had an idea. I'd been studying various communications, and they had something similar to Morse but adapted to their language which I'd learned several years ago, I knew most of the major languages on the planet already and several minor ones. I began reaching into the signal receiver and the radio crackled to life, The diplomat who'd come with me was chatting up the guardsman until he heard the radio begin beeping. He spent several minutes decoding the repeating message, a simple series of commands with the signature of the command group in the bunker I'd managed to copy, having listened to several. It was how I knew they were working on atomic weapons and were close to developing and testing a working bomb.

"Alright, no idea what changed, but high command says you can go in, I'll communicate ahead, so they let you through."

"Thank you for your continued efforts to protect your people guardsman" with that we were off and heading towards the main bunker, the rest of the guard standing aside as we made our way to a lift with a security key system.

"Okay, you have everything I asked for?" I asked the Central Republic representative who had come with me on this diplomatic mission.

"Sure, but how did you do that?"

"You guys already know one of my gifts is electromagnetism, I simply leveraged that to create a fake radio signal."

"You sky ship people are amazing" he said with awe and reverence, though I quickly corrected him since it was an ability unique to me, at least the way I did it.

Quickly picking the lock and turning the key, the elevator went down with the manual override engaged to get us to the lowest level where the bunker was situated. Upon opening, several guards turned and had received instructions to stop our entry. I had to step in, just this once. So when they got close enough, I yanked their guns away and grabbed both of them, sending a low voltage stun charge through their armor, leaving them unconscious and leaning against the wall. As I made my way through the main bunker door, mostly by overriding the system by turning the gears remotely by grabbing the teeth electromagnetically and pulling through, generating brief moments of polarization. As the door suddenly opened, several weapons were pointed across the table, with me standing in front of the diplomat and my traveling companion

"Alright, calm down, I don't normally get involved like this, but you guys and the other idiots up north are walking a dangerous path that could mean disastrous consequences for your world."

"How dare you come down here and force your way in! You said you wouldn't interfere!"

"I said a lot of things, and I haven't. But you need to listen to me about this, because I don't want to see you or anyone else have to suffer the horrors of atomic warfare."

"What is this at-om-ic word you are using."

"That's what I came here to talk to your people about, and I'll be heading up north next. On my world, we refer to the world you're tapping into as atoms, the very building blocks of everything around you, including yourselves. When those bonds are damaged it releases immense energy yes, but that energy comes at a cost. It infuses with everything around it, weakening the very bonds of anything exposed to that area for many years. Your great-grandchildren would be suffering if a war broke out using these weapons."

"Atomic weapons are ones that work by either splitting apart these atoms, or fusing them together to release energy and devastate everything, including polluting that area with high energy radiation and making it unusable!"

"Yes, our scientists have said as much, but why did you see fit to interfere now?"

"Because It's not the technology, but how you're using it! The world the sky ship originally came from suffered one of these wars. It took them a very long time to restore their world. And it took their whole world setting aside their differences and trying to work together to do it. After they met their own sky ship and it's people." I sighed because I was violating the prime directive big time just doing this. But these people had so much potential, and I'd mostly taken a hands-off approach, only gently nudging things when people came to me for advice on things. Their world had already developed so many great technologies and avoided a lot of pitfalls. This was one of those things, though I swore I'd stop if I could. The captain and federation would understand, they did as much next year when they found that old earth space probe and the atomic war it'd caused on that other planet.

"Look, in a way I'm doing for you what those people did for them, I'm willing to help negotiate peace. Just please consider it because trust me, if this goes bad, it won't end well, for any of us." After my statement and cautionary warning, I stood off to the side as the diplomat sat down and began trying to negotiate a stop to the atomic weapons research in exchange for a joint research pact towards atomic energy generation for power. I knew I'd have similar hurdles with the other polity, but what this group didn't know is that I'd received express permission to meet with them, provided I got these guys to stand down. I wouldn't need to force my way in and make a point, the way I just did.

Waiting for Eternity 05

Captain Janeway was sitting in her ready room, nursing the massive headache that this whole mess had turned into. She knew she shouldn't have sent Zalost down there. Every fiber in her body was telling her this was a huge mistake. Chakotay had been watching the broadcasts and keeping up with what had happened since the doctor had returned. First, Zalost had been exposed and turned this whole thing into a first contact scenario. Though given the circumstances, it certainly could have gone a lot worse. Then he'd actually stepped up and began acting as an advisor of all things, it mimicked Vulcan's role in earth's development after Zephram Cochrane's warp flight. Only these people were a pre-warp civilization. If he wasn't an independent, she would have had to court-martial and demote him upon his return, per Starfleet regulations. She likely would at least confine him to quarters when not on duty, after this was done.

As she was racking her brain about all this, Chakotay had brought her an urgent update regarding Zalost's activities down on the planet. For the last half hour conflict had been brewing between two of the major polities with both researching atomic weapons. That was until this latest video transimssion was picked up from the planet. Zalost was shaking hands with three leaders, having signed a treaty agreeing to give up atomic weapons in exchange for a research pact instead. She had to admit that was not what she was expecting, given he hadn't tried to conquer the planet in the last couple of hours. Radical advancement and maybe his own country, but certainly not working with them to stop an atomic war. What came shortly after brought her down to astrometrics right away. Apparently they were experimenting with space travel. Several satellites had been launched and voyager raised its orbit, which caused quakes on the planet.

A few minutes later a radio broadcast was being picked up, Zalost had transmitted a request that they try not to adjust their orbit again, apparently there was a plan in the works to safely get them out of the anomaly field, but it needed more time to develop. Doing the math quickly, she worked out that he had been on planet roughly thirty-five years. And the space program had been set back by the quakes, taking roughly half a decade to rebuild the infrastructure. He'd indicated that an image burst would follow, and astrometrics decoded it. Apparently they'd recently discovered gravity field generation and manipulation, and the plan was to construct a basic tractor beam to move them out of orbit safely. Something about the warp field and impulse drive anchoring them to the planet, similar to an inverse warp field. She had to trust his work because he'd had decades to work on the problem, but she still didn't like it.

We were getting close to getting voyager free and getting off the planet. The satellites I'd helped construct showed a decreasing tachyon field the further you got from the planet. One of the brilliant medical institutions in the northern continent had been working the problem for the last couple of decades, but just in case, I also had been sending their research along with the various readings to voyager every month. I was hoping the doctor could have something ready in case this didn't work, and we began to suffer the effects of shock from entering normal space/time after the tachyons had left our systems. The research pact had borne fruit after the first joint space launch, and various parties were helping others reach towards a goal of at least leaving the planet if not reaching the sky ship.

Fusion reactors were also being researched. It was much easier to use Graviton based AG field generators to create a kind of semi-natural fusion with a lot more energy coming out than being put in. That coupled with the lack of reliance on Fossil fuels and the near unlimited energy being generated from solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy more than solving the growing power needs for the forseeable future. Honestly, I was glad they'd managed to avoid the decades of war that would cause more strife than was needed. The lessons of other races from the various stories I'd told about Vulcans, Andoreans, Humans, Klingons, and other species acting as a catalyst to drive them towards working as one people.

Eventually they'd even been investigating genetic engineering, I wasn't going to stop them, of course. But I did caution them about taking it slowly and limiting things. For better or for worse being superhuman had drawbacks, it made you arrogant, self-assured, and a bit reckless. The only reason I hadn't given into it was that I was constantly reminding myself that it was better to teach than to do for them.

My home had to be rebuilt after Voyager had tried to raise her orbit, the quakes had completely collapsed it. As sad as I was to lose it. I'd been away on business for the day and had come home to it. A message having been left by Trinan my close friend and confidant. She'd come to check up on me in the wake of the destruction. She had been my aide and worked with me for the last decade, assigned by the Central Republic to help me keep track of things even if I didn't need it, it was appreciated.

One of the more interesting ways I'd learned to keep track of and balance information decades ago was using Vulcan meditation techniques Tuvok had sent me to create a kind of mind palace. It was easy enough to sort things once I'd gotten it organized, and made learning languages that much easier since I could store them individually inside my mind. No idea how much space I actually had, it just seemed to grow. But having a near photographic memory probably helped somehow.

I knew my time on this world was close to being over. It was sad to leave a planet I'd called home for nearly half a century, but we were so close now. I could use everything I'd learned to aid voyager in getting home. I even worked out how to use a tachyon field to enhance the processing rate and to detect fluctuations in the quantum slipstream drive, meaning they wouldn't need the delta flyer to fly ahead to give them warning. Provided they had the right algorithms in the computer, which I was going to recommend to B'Elanna when I got back.

I was going to miss all the friends I'd made here. Trinan the most, despite my efforts to try and keep some level of professionalism. I don't think the captain would approve of me fraternizing with the locals. Not like that, anyway. But the occasional dinner and visiting various technological and scientific expos shouldn't have been a problem. The issue was, I was their advisor, it might be seen as an abuse of power no matter how I felt on the matter.

After my forty-eighth year on the planet, everything was ready. The graviton field generators were prepared on the tractor ships, and I'd gotten a formula from the doctor which I quickly relayed to the scientists in the northern continent to produce an inoculation to help make the transition safe for the crews upon returning to normal space/time with the tachyon repulsors pulling them back into normal space-time. The long term goal was to use it to disperse the anomaly and discharge the tachyon core so the planet it's self could enter normal space/time, but for something the size of a ship it was doable with just a fusion reactor.

There was a huge celebration across the planet as the ships were ready to leave tomorrow. A grand festival celebrating the man from the sky ship returning home. I would have held off, but last year the last of the polities signed off on joining the alliance since it was clear there were new worlds to explore in the sky. I did the math and came to the conclusion that nearly five hours had passed since I left the ship. I'm sure not much had changed, but I wanted to get back, I needed to get home and had worked out several ways to do that, but the easiest was still to get voyager home and go see the guardian in the hopes that it'd send me home.

I climbed on board the lead ship and sat in one of the chairs meant for auxiliary crew. The ship gently taking off and rising into the sky on a heading towards Voyager, the six others in formation with us. As we approached, the tachyon dispersion field was activated and the ships returned to normal space, the inoculations making the transition easier, though I still felt incredibly sick to my stomach from the sudden drop into normal space/time. Using the meditation techniques I'd perfected, I focused my mind and stayed calm until it passed with the lead ship hailing Voyager and letting them know to brace for sudden shifts as the ship was pulled free.

Several people were surprised how different their world looked in normal space/time, with it looking like a swirling torus in space rather than the oddly shaped planet they saw from the satellites inside the tachyon field. As Voyager was pulled free, permission was given and the lead ship docked with Voyager along its primary hull. After checking the air was safe to breathe, the hatch was opened, and we were escorted to the shipboard briefing room. I wasn't going back down with them, but I'd said my goodbyes when I left. And mostly stood off to the side as the captain welcomed them to the ship as well as the galaxy at large.

At the rate things were going, they were due to discover warp drive within a day in normal time anyway. I didn't even have to encourage them, as they were studying it as a branch off the tachyon field dispersion and the anomaly they were stuck in. The captain of course kept things brief. The ship was going to leave soon, since they didn't want to be gone more than a decade or so. As the crew of the lead ship returned to their vessel, a greeting and a star map to show where the ship had come from per their request to answer one of the biggest questions of their history, I waited for everyone to leave. I knew the captain was going to want a debriefing and this was going to be a really long one. I just hoped Trinan was okay, she'd grow old and probably pass in a few hours if that medical breakthrough extending their ages didn't work out.

As voyager prepared to leave the system, the Tachyon field had begun to disperse and a final thank you and farewell was transmitted over subspace before Voyager jumped to warp. Watching the long range telemetry over the next few weeks, it seemed that they'd been working on the warp ship after the crew had returned. Long range sensors detected a flash of cherenkov radiation as their first ships reached warp one, which brought a grin to my face, knowing that these people would do well in the long term provided they were able to deal with any potential threats, like the Borg. I had warned them about them before I left, just in case. A warning to tread carefully and be tactful because not everybody was peaceful and benevolent.

A/N: this one was pretty dense, but required far less editing than previous parts. Hopefully the ending works. I always thought the ending in the original was a bit off since the federation's prime directive actually caused more problems than it solved due to the anomaly and all the problems it caused. Tthey deserved a better outcome really and a bit more fleshing out. Who knows, maybe by the 31st century the federation would at least be on good communications terms with them.

Last edited: Mar 3, 2022

Tsunkatse 01

Personal log, June twelfth, twenty-three, seventy-six. Voyager entered a low orbit over Norcadia, and I've been scrubbing plasma conduits for the last several weeks. The captain saw fit to allow me to join the crew on shore leave, and then went on to visit Pandari in a nearby system.

"You know, Neelix, you really should be more careful. I've had my fair share of sunburns, as my freckles can attest, but I don't know if Leola Root is as effective as a treatment from the doctor."

"It'll be fine, this is an old Talaxian remedy." I briefly wondered if it worked similar to Calamine Lotion when Chakotay and B'Elanna entered the Mess Hall

"Tell me that isn't lunch."

"No, fortunately it's not for eating, he's making a homeopathic sunburn remedy." The two seemed surprised, but after seeing Nelix's face, their body language showed pity.

"I wanted to see those beautiful Norcadian beaches and fell asleep under two suns." I walked over to a display terminal along the wall and called sickbay.

I vaguely remembered this not going well.

"Zalost to the doctor, could you come to the Mess Hall please? And bring whatever it is that the federation uses to treat severe sunburns."

"Yes, I heard about Neelix's remedy, I'll be down there shortly."

"Thanks."

"From what I've heard Tsunkatse is crude and pointless" There goes Seven with her Borg abruptness. She's been slowly getting better at being less harsh, though.

"Well, I guess I won't be saving you a seat"

"What about you? Tuvok, you appreciate the martial arts." Please don't ask me to join you guys, I was never into sports, exercise sure but to me sports, especially blood sports were never my thing. Well except battle bots, but that's more engineering that bloodsport. Just don't tell commander data I said that.

"I have other plans, there's a micro nebula approximately one point six light years from here on the verge of collapse."

"We'd like to take a shuttle to study it."

"Mind if I join you guys? I was never really one for blood sports, and exploring and studying new things is something I find relaxing."

"I figured Seven wouldn't get it, but you too, Zalost?"

"B'Elanna, I've fought enough for several life times. Honestly, after last month, I could use a little peaceful exploration." I wasn't kidding either, between everything that happened back on earth one, and then the crazy stuff on that tachyon planet. I gave the captain no guff about scrubbing the Plasma conduits… even if I cheated a bit by copying the frequencies the scrubber used and using my abilities to rapidly clear it off. I figured the captain already knew but couldn't complain about results, and it was fulfilling, kinda like pressure washing a muddy car.

After getting permission to go from the first officer who was left in charge by the captain as well as Tuvok and Seven, I packed whatever gear I needed and slipped the tachyon emitter I'd been working on over my left bicep. I vaguely remembered them being captured and forced to participate in that Tsunkatse thing, and I wanted to be ready to do whatever it took to stop their capture. A little over an hour later we were on the shuttle and heading on our way.

"Two hours, thirteen minutes, thirty-seven seconds. That is how long we have gone without verbal communication." It didn't feel like that long, I'd been spending the whole time either meditating or keeping an additional eye on sensors.

"Why is that remarkable?"

"The doctor encourages me to engage in conversation during awkward silences."

"Did you find the silence awkward?"

"No"

"Nor did I"

"Heads up, there's a vessel approaching on an intercept, distance three hundred thousand Kilometers." I'd already started activating the tachyon generator, it wouldn't be as powerful as a full-fledged Tachyon field, but it would at least give me a five times acceleration in speed for brief intervals.

"They're emitting a dampening field, systems failing, shields, weapons, comms." The power went dark and the sound of a transporter was heard, so I quickly absorbed the collected tachyons and time slowed down. As I moved aft I quickly located the bomb and overloaded the force field around it then began pulling its casing apart looking for the power source. Grabbing the hyperspanner I kept in my shirt pocket, I disconnected all the power leads and began absorbing the excess energy, channeling it down into the hull. The Object became inert, and I released my own dampening field to prevent any further transport with whatever energy I couldn't hold onto.

"Tuvok, Seven, the bomb is taken care of, see if you can get us out of here!" Suddenly, the shuttle shook as an energy field began attaching itself to the hull.

"They've locked onto us with a tractor beam" Tuvok responded cautiously as Seven had gone towards the back to try and create an inverse field to get the shuttle back up and running.

"What part of the hull?" I asked as I began trying to feel out the charge of the tractor beam.

"Aft" I moved over to the rear of the shuttle and focused where the field was strongest before draining my self with a feedback pulse through the hull and up into the tractor beam.

"Tractor is disabled." I didn't notice the drain had weakened the dampening field I was generating, and suddenly two men beamed on board and stunned both of them before firing at me.

"Alright, I don't know what you want, but I think you'll find me more than capable of kicking your asses. Let's make a deal, I'll go with you willingly if you just let them go." The fired at me again, but the stun beams were feeding my abilities, instead of weakening me, so I quickly yanked the guns away before grabbing one by his uniform. The feeling of being de-materialized caught me off guard, as I was still too weak after that feedback pulse to dampen things sufficiently. As soon as I re-materialized, I was tackled by a dozen others armed men. Tuvok and Seven being carried off as I continued to struggle, with more than half a dozen hanging off my frame and four or five laying on the ground unconscious.

"Let them go, you bastards! Before I rip this place asunder with my bare hands!"

"Well, well, looks like we have a real winner here. You're going to be our most popular attraction indeed. Incredible strength, speed, agility, and a shocking hidden power as well. Forget the drone, you're going to be our star competitor." I had a feeling I wasn't going to like where this was going.

Tsunkatse 02

I carefully pulled the domino mask over my eyes and tied my hair into a bun. The long hair being unsuited for combat as it went down past my shoulders and would make an easy target. I waited inside the entrance to the combat arena for the announcement to play, it was a blue match, so I wasn't going into a kill or be killed fight, but I really didn't want to fight anyone. I continued to reach out and feel for any electromagnetic fields I could use, but the localized dampening field continued to sap my abilities. The door opened, and I found myself staring down an alien who was almost as big as I was, and looked just as strong.

"At least Penk sent me a worthy fight this time."

"I really don't want to fight, you have no chance against my strength."

"We'll see about that" He throws a punch which I just about dodge grabbing his wrist and throwing him onto the ground, striking him on the back with the strange gloves. He gets up and throws a kick, this time, I grab his leg and spin, using the centrifugal force to launch him away from me across the ring.

"I'm serious, I don't want to hurt you!"

"Your words will do no good here." this time I was caught off guard as he threw a faint and struck my chest sensor with his other hand, the energy surging into my body. Unfortunately, I don't think it had the desired effect because he backed away shocked while I stood there smirking.

"I'm not all strength and speed, you'll find your attempts to put me down futile. But if you insist, come at me!" Once I realized I could recharge using the matches I decided to let him hit me a few times, the impacts would make me sore in the morning, but I might be able to get us out of here yet.

Chakotay couldn't believe his eyes, Zalost was in the ring taking on the Pendari champion, intentionally being hit and absorbing the impacts both physical and bioelectrically charged like he was made of stone. B'Elanna was trying to get a lock onto him, but all they could pick up were photonic signatures. Harry, Tom, Neelix, and himself were shouting Zalost's name, but he couldn't seem to hear them over the shouting. Suddenly, he grappled the champion in an arm lock and held one of the gloves near his chest plate, the bio electricity discharging but being channeled into his form. And after shoving him away he made a flexing gesture and the two in the arena flickered and vanished, the crowd shouting their disapproval after the intensely one-sided match.

"B'Elanna, see if you can find where that broadcast was coming from, I think Zalost just discharged some sort of energy pulse."

"What did you do?!" shouted Penk, the alien who was running this whole thing.

"Hey, you wanted me to fight at my strongest, and that's exactly what I did. I'm not all muscle you know, and you don't make it easy with that dampening field, which by the way is down." As I was saying that the gravity in the floor began increasing making it harder to breath, I think he was trying to keep me contained, but I continued to push through it. I began reaching into the floor and feeling for the AG field emitters when I realized I could almost feel how the signals were being relayed to them, an idea quickly forming as I reached out and reduced their strength to normal levels, arms crossed, and an eyebrow raised since his console told him it should be well over twenty gees in that room.

"Look, if you think twenty gees is enough to put me on the ground, then you don't know me very well." Suddenly I saw seven struggling up in the booth as two guards were holding them. My concern distracting me enough that I was quickly dogpiled by a group of shipboard guards and injected with something making my vision fade. When I regained conciseness I found that I was back in the barracks with Seven and Tuvok an old Hirogen seated across from us.

"You know, when I was a great hunter, you would have made an incredible trophy." He sighed, lamenting the loss of his freedom.

"You should know better than to test him. His generosity is vast, but only if you give him what he wants." I studied the Hirogen closely, no obvious falsehoods in his features.

"I let my arrogance get to me and didn't plan things out. He's holding them as hostages, the coward."

"Yes, and he will get his due soon enough. Still, I hope you'll make a good fight when we enter the ring. Because I certainly will not be holding back." I nearly facepalmed. I was going to need to conserve my strength since as long as I fought they wouldn't have to. Seven was working on trying to get into the ship's systems from the door mechanisms while Tuvok was mostly meditating, trying to focus on a way out of here no doubt.

"Tuvok if you have a plan, now's the time."

"I do not, but voyager should locate us soon, we shall make our escape then."

Tsunkatse 03

Two days, that's how long I've been here, I've fought in eight matches defeating each opponent. I was conserving my EM powers as well, but I got the feeling that Penk was getting tired of me constantly winning because he kept putting me up against scarier and scarier opponents. My next match however would be against the man who was mentoring me in Tsunkatse. An old Hirogen who was a master at this game. The match was my first red match, a battle to the death.

"I do not want to kill, anyone. Beat them within an inch of their life? Maybe if they deserve it, but never kill. I swore I wouldn't do that."

"You must do whatever it takes to survive. Voyager will be here soon enough." Just like that, I was escorted into the ring, the Hirogen standing apart from me. The match began, and he started moving in slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. I of course kept my guard up and didn't let hm out of my sight, electromagnetic energy sparking along my palms as I desperately reached out for some alternate way to put an end to this. Suddenly Penk looked distracted, the ring shook a bit as the arena took several weapon impacts. It seemed Voyager had found us and managed to find a weakness in their shields. Likely made stronger by my escape attempt. I knew they'd get Seven and Tuvok out first, but would need the arena's shields to be down to get us out.

"If we team up, we can escape from here! Penk is about to lose, look at his panicked features!" I pointed it out, but the Hirogen wanted no part of it.

"It doesn't matter, focus on the match, it's you or me, whoever survives wins! Now Kill me!" I lowered my guard and let him strike me several times, absorbing the energy discharges and using it to fuel my strength.

"I will not kill you! You do not deserve death at my hands, hunter." I tried to grapple him, but he easily avoided my guard and landed a few more hits on my chest plate.

"You are a truly worthy opponent. But I have spent years in this arena, I figured out your fighting style on the first day." I went for a leg sweep, but he easily dodged it. Suddenly I was struck from behind and felt more energy flow into my body, I could feel the dampening field trying to drain it, but my hope and desperation made it difficult as more and more was gathered.

"I know you can move faster than that! Stop toying with me and fight!" he went in to strike me again, this time aiming for my head with a roundhouse kick, so I dodged and hit him at about half strength, throwing him across the ring. I only intended to gently nudge him away as he hit the wall, and I regretted not controlling myself better. Then he began to stand up again, not deterred from the sudden impact.

"That's the way! Use your full power." He went in again, this time I felt it and dodged before intentionally going low and striking the ground at full strength, my hand briefly fracturing before trying to heal and a hole in the floor where it was. As I yanked my now injured hand free, I reached my left one into the hole and grabbed what I was looking for, a main power conduit. As I began absorbing power from the ship, I could hear Penk go into a panic. The Hirogen caught onto what I was doing and changed tactics as guards began to enter the arena, but by then it was too late. The lights had gone out, and emergency lighting had taken over.

"Stop that! Or I will have your friends killed!" he shouted as the room began to be illuminated by my energy field, the calm fury erupting into a blinding hot rage as people stepped away from the heat I was emitting with the air being converted to plasma.

"You don't even have them anymore, Penk!" I shouted as I discharged energy in all directions, multiple guards becoming unconscious.

"Do you even realize who you have here?! I am the Übermensch! I am stronger than ten men, more powerful than a nuclear reactor, faster than time, and more agile than the greatest athletes. Your barbarism is done!" I reached out and began controlling the AG fields in the booth, the Hirogen staying back but watching as Penk desperately held onto the console against increasing levels of artificial gravity.

"You mess with the bull, you get the horns!" I ripped into the side of the arena, the energy field enveloping my hands and melting handholds, the metal glowing red as I climbed upward until I got to the viewing room. Then I shattered the glass window, no idea what it was made of but not glass, or it would have shattered from the heat. Leaping in, I restored the gravity levels and grabbed Penk by his shirt collar.

"You want a fight Penk, you've got one, a red match I believe, so let's see how you fare!" I was getting ready to throw him into the arena as I felt that familiar tingle of someone trying to dematerialize me.

"It's your lucky day, I guess." I held onto him and relaxed the energy field before we were both transported back to voyager. As we both rematerialized, I pushed him into the armed security guards, Tuvok taking charge and having him sent to the brig.

"That was most unorthodox" Stated Tuvok as I released the excess energy harmlessly as heat, letting it radiate off me before I was back to a normal temperature, my hand mostly healed now.

"Yes, but effective. Though I do admit for a moment there I was going to throw him into the ring and make him fight, it would have been incredibly cathartic" The Vulcan security chief raised an eyebrow before nodding

"Indeed." we both left the room as I was instructed to meet with the captain for a debriefing. She wasn't happy about my participation, but let it slide since It was against my will. It seemed that I'd become an overnight sensation as "The Overman" on several planets who'd been watching the Tsunkatse matches. I just hopped this wouldn't come back to bite me later.

Trials 01

June thirtieth, twenty-three, seventy-six. I've been working practically nonstop since I returned to try and get the tachyon enhanced computer core online. Ideally it'll allow faster adaptation to incoming information with the tachyon field acting as an accelerator and allowing short bursts of instant calculation. I was forcibly given the day off by the captain after the tests showed promise, with a three times increase in computation rates over the old system. Though this came at a maintenance cost, Seven assured me she was working on regeneration nodes to counter this, utilizing Borg technology. Given my forced rest period, I decided to try out some ideas I'd been having regarding enhancing my interface with the deck.

"You know with your abilities it's fascinating you'd use such an archaic method of data entry like typing."

"Well it certainly works better than those ridiculous pads and-" I paused because I could have sworn there was somebody behind me. I began desperately searching the room before checking the closet and turning around to find myself face to face with a teenager of all things.

"I don't remember you with the crew. You really shouldn't bother someone by breaking into their quarters, security might get the wrong idea."

"I was getting bored watching humans all day. I don't see how dad does it, or why he's a fan of such a primitive species."

"Dad, wait. Oh no, oh gods no. Zalost to Tuvok, we've an uninvited guest, in my quarters."

"Could you elaborate?" Suddenly time slowed down to a crawl, I'd been forced into an accelerated state, though I didn't feel any tachyons, so it was disorienting.

"Junior, I told you to watch the humans, not meddle with them." I continued to watch this play out before the man turned towards me, dread filling me down to my bones as I instantly recognized him. The command red uniform, not withstanding. This could be no one other than that Q. His face looked a bit different, but that voice combined with its whimsical tone gave it away.

"And of all the people to reveal yourself to, you pick the craziest one of all." He seemed to be looking me over with some kind of barely restrained amusement. Studying me like he was studying a particularly interesting strain of bacteria.

"Still, you might be entertaining. You certainly entertained all those people with your ability to beat down weaker foes. Perhaps a test to see if the vaunted Super human can truly stand taller than his peers, or if he instead chooses to continue playing nice and sandbagging his way through his problems." I really was terrified, in an instant he could will me out of existence, force me to a fate worse than death, or worse.

"Ah, you seem to get it! It's not often humans truly get just how powerful a member of the continuum can be. Maybe this won't be a wash after all." Crap, he can read my thoughts, my inner monologue was as plain as paper. I needed to carefully consider things because I didn't want to give him any ideas.

"Hmm, ideas. Now that seems like fun. Though I doubt junior's dear aunt Kathy would appreciate being thrown into this test. What do you think, junior?" I'd decided it was better to just try to keep him out of my head instead, I started with just counting prime numbers before moving onto various songs I'd grown up listening to.

"You could always see how well he handles the Borg gauntlet."

"No, I've told you before junior, you don't provoke the Borg, as amusing as it would be to see him set loose on a cube the consequences would be a big problem for the continuum." I paused, finally getting some courage.

"I hate to break into the family drama, lord Q, sir. But as terrifying as you are, is there any way you could just send me home? I promise not to trouble your corner of the universe again." I could feel the goose bumps on my arms and neck as he got this knowing smile, obviously having come up with some sort of crazy scheme for his own amusement. And then everything went white before I found myself standing at home in my kitchen, a news report about a series of ships landing in all major capitals playing on the living room TV.

"Crap, did he even send me home? Or is this part of the test he's devised."

"Oh, I assure you, your trial has only begun. The question is, will you save your world or fail and watch it burn."

"Q! This wasn't what I meant!" Suddenly he vanished with a mocking laugh echoing from everywhere. Instantly I noticed a couple of things. First was that the ships hadn't opened up yet and remained stationary. Second, I still had my abilities, the electromagnetic energy keeping me a small distance away from the TV as the mostly unshielded coax interacting with it disrupted the signal.

"Guess It's time to figure out how to step up and fix things." I sighed before activating the tachyon generator on my arm. I'd been tweaking it to work off me as a power source, and I needed the accelerated time to figure out a solution to this problem. Most likely before Q sends me back to voyager, since it seemed he wouldn't be done with me just yet.

Last edited: Mar 8, 2022

Trials 02

The Very first thing I did was figure out where Sleipnir my jeep was. In my current state, I could probably move faster using the tachyons, but those were for limited bursts. As it turned out, it'd been towed back and was sitting in the driveway. No idea where everyone was, though. It was like my family had gone missing. Strange thing was, the Jeep was empty except for my basic toolkit. So I went to check my living quarters next, in case they'd put my stuff there.

As I grabbed my utility harness, and started equipping tools onto it as well as re-organizing the few I'd managed to come up with while on voyager, the communicator badge on the modified uniform I was wearing chirped to life.

"-to zalost, please respond." They're hailing me, does that mean they're within comms range? Is this even my earth or a replica, I had no idea what was going on.

"Chakotay, where's captain Janeway?"

"You tell me, you both vanished off the ship, and we suddenly appeared in orbit of earth."

"Well, It seems Q is up to his old tricks, and he's not alone."

"Q? Stay put, we'll try to beam you up"

"Herr Übermensch, where's the fun in that?" I could feel the transporter lock fail as Q's voice came from behind me. Quickly turning around, I found myself face to face with him again, a bit more irritated than before.

"Q I know you're putting me through some sort of test but where is Captain Janeway?"

"Observing, of course, she's in good hands spending a little time with her god son junior." I practically felt like facepalming before letting Chakotay know the Captain was safe, but with the Q's.

"Alright, Q, what's this test of yours."

"Simple, Save your world, that it."

"That's pretty ambiguous, do I just have to go deal with the invaders, or do you mean in a more broad sense because I refuse to be some kind of globe conqueror."

"Well, that certainly didn't stop you on that other planet you took an interest in."

"I didn't conquer them Q, I spent half a century acting as advisor and friend."

"We'll have to see about that." Suddenly he was gone again, and I had some peace and quiet.

"Don't count on it"

"Damn it Q!" I quickly finished doing an inventory and got to work using what I've learned so far to begin a much-needed upgrade at super speed. Any tools that weren't purely mechanical I modified to tap into myself as a power source through electromagnetic coils. Sensitive electronics were modified with makeshift shielding I set up out of sheets of aluminum. And per my request, I had my things sent down from the ship. My old smartphone quickly pulling emails, text messages, and other things I was waiting for to come in.

Going through them at hyper speed, I began to feel disheartened. She'd moved on, I'd been gone for eighteen months, and she'd found someone else. A musician of all things. Her last message was six months ago and was an email wishing me well. I wasn't sure if this was a trick from Q or not, but it was probably better not to put her through this. So I immediately got to work and loaded the jeep up with everything I thought I would need after installing the makeshift shield generator and swapping the engine for an electric one connected to the drive train. Getting things finally loaded up, I was met with a familiar group of people just outside, a box in each arm being set down as my eyes widened in shock.

"What are you all doing here?!" Before me stood Cisco Ramone, Oliver Queen, Seven of nine, B'Elanna Torres, and Trinan who was as young as I remembered her.

"Well I was helping Barry calibrate a tachyon enhancer, so he could take on Savitar when I was suddenly taken to an empty void, Oliver I recognized, but I wasn't sure why two characters from what I thought was an old Star Trek series, and an alien I didn't recognize were there too." Cisco seemed a bit concerned, but Oliver cut in next.

"Then this guy-"

"Q" Cisco corrected.

"Right, this Q guy showed up and said he was a god and that you needed our help."

"Okay, you need to talk to Felicity when you get back, because Q is like them, from Star Trek." Cisco's snark was still on point, though it had obviously been a few years since I last saw them.

"Okay, that tells me the how and the why, but I'm not quite sure what Q expects me to do here. He only said I had to save my world."

"Wouldn't be the first time you've stepped in to save an entire planet" Trinan was right, I could maybe do something, but I had no idea if the ships were hostile or friendly.

"Trinan, why are you here, I get Cisco, Oliver, B'Elanna, and Seven, but what was the last thing you remember?"

"Getting old, I always knew you made it safe, that you would eventually return home, after I became tired and was ready to die I found myself in a white void, that Q guy telling me I was needed, then the others showed up not long afterwards, but he promised me a second chance if I helped him." Oh gods, so she lived her life. That makes things easier, I suppose, though I wasn't sure what Q meant by a second chance.

"Did you meet her by the way? That girl you were always trying to get home to?" I felt disheartened, and it must have shown on my features as I tried to steel myself.

"She's moved on. Anyway, I've got to figure out how to get the world's attention, because if I'm seeing this right, the only thing keeping the world from committing an interstellar incident are the level heads in several nations who are keeping them occupied."

Trials 03

We were rapidly approaching America's capital, we'd stopped in Pennsylvania after driving for an entire day and night. Mostly switching off between B'Elanna, Cisco, Oliver, and myself taking four-hour shifts with Sleipnir completely full, with five people. Cisco of course instantly realized this was the jeep I'd talked about when I was restoring Durendal back in his universe. A bit newer, but not by much, and now modified to run off my natural bioelectric field.

Trinan was concerned, of course, since we'd become at least good friends back on her home world, but I mostly tried to ignore my personal life in favor of focusing on the world. I could deal with that after the world wasn't at possible risk of invasion by an unknown occupying force. After another couple hours, we'd reached the barricade that prevented anyone from entering or leaving Washington, DC. We turned back after a direct order from one of the military troops at the blockade, but my plan was to go on foot from here anyway.

Trinan of course was to stay back at the motel room and help coordinate things with Cisco, who was having trouble using his vibe powers here. Meanwhile, Oliver, Seven, B'Elanna, and I made our way past the troops and inward towards the capital. Voyager for whatever reason couldn't beam people up or down but could beam gear down and helped guide us with their sensors in orbit while Oliver kept a look-out and helped us stealthily move around planet side. Suddenly Oliver raised his hand as we stopped, we were two blocks from the White House where the ship had landed, the place surrounded by what could only be described as a wall of troops.

"Now what, we can't beam past them and the patrols don't have a large enough gap to-"

"We wait until dark, then I'll make a distraction and the rest of you will move in to investigate the ship." B'Elanna was of course right that we wouldn't be able to get past them, but Oliver interrupted her, causing a look of irritation before agreeing. Obviously, it was best to follow the lead of the stealth expert.

"I have a counter plan, I could release a field of tachyons, speed us all up, and we can slip right past them, after it's dark, and all make our way in."

"You can use the speed force here?"

"Sort of, I can simulate it, long story, Oliver. Suffice to say it only works for short bursts, but it should be enough to get us inside." we waited in a nearby abandoned building until nightfall, Cisco of course got his geeking out over Star Trek being real out of his system a while ago. But the mission took priority. Trinan was reaching out to try and make diplomatic contact with the world leaders who were keeping the world from outright attacking these people who'd merely landed their ships, and as night fell I did my thing and knocked out power to a large part of the city with a localized energy pulse before activating the tachyon generator and quickly getting us right up next to it.

"This thing looks less like any ship I'm familiar with and more like one of Tom's movies."

"Indeed, it does not resemble any ship created by a species the Borg have assimilated, nor do the power systems, crude though they seem."

"Figures Q would pick something no one would take seriously. Okay, scan for any entrances, once you find one I'll see if I can reach in and activate it." Suddenly, the hatch began to lower, as I realized they might have detected the abnormally advanced technology from the tricorders and of course my deck and Hyperspanner.

"Okay, look alive, follow first contact protocols." What walked down the ramp was an Orkish creature in a uniform reminiscent of the French military from the Victorian era. By this point, I didn't know if Q was being serious or not, until it turned towards me and fired off a shot. Thinking quickly, I grabbed the plasma projectile and spun around before releasing it back towards the thing.

"Alright, forget first contact, they fired first." Several more began descending the ramp only to be met by a combination of arrows, energy blasts, and phased nadion beams. More and more continued descending the ramp, I was leading the charge re-directing their weapons fire as I magnetically restrained the ramp preventing it from retracting back into the ship and charging into the ship.

Once onboard, the hallways were seemingly empty, so we continued further inward heading towards what I felt was the power source when two more came around the corner firing plasma weapons. My reaction speeds allowing me to dodge one and return the other, my hand slightly blistered but healing quickly. After getting in close and knocking them out, I noted that they smelled a bit like roast pork, probably from the ionizing barrier I kept up when using my abilities at full force, making contact with any exposed skin.

" -ger to -ost, ship under att-k." Great, Q said he wouldn't bring them into this, but I guess the game needed to be made more difficult. After a few more winding hallways, we found what should be both the central power core and a corridor leading to the bridge. I left B'Elanna and Seven to deal with the power core while Oliver and I made our way up to what should be the command deck. A bit further along and taking out another half dozen of the weird pig things, and we were met with what looked like a full battalion as well as the bridge crew waiting for us.

"Alright, look I would normally go with the whole we come in peace bit but you guys obviously don't, and I'm not having a great week. So why don't you get your porcine asses back to wherever you came from, and I won't decide to visit your world and carve you up for a Luau!" The response was about what I expected. They stared for a moment in confusion before firing at me, the plasma rounds impacting my barrier and not really doing much but obviously frustrating the lot of them. Suddenly the ship lurched, and I saw on the view screen that missiles had been fired at the ship.

"I guess cooler heads no longer prevail." I sighed before grabbing what had to be the captain and throwing him across the bridge and sitting down in the command chair, the rest of the aliens in shock and unsure how to take this sudden usurping of their captain's position.

After adjusting my posture in it I then released the magnetic hold I had on the landing ramp and closed the main hatch then began to head up into orbit. Of course, they tried to fight back but after several more threats to devour the entire crew and using their captain to knock several off their feet, the crew was now less willing to go against the person who was seemingly unable to be harmed and controlling their ship technopathically. I used the ship's communications to let seven and B'Elanna know what was going on and made my way towards what had to be a capital ship.

"Chakotay, head behind the moon and await further instructions, I'm going to see if I can try and get through to these idiots that you don't go invading my home world." Suddenly voyager moved out of range, two smaller ships beginning to enter pursuit before I sent a transmission to the larger capital ship to expect me because I would be introducing myself to their leaders personally. The two ships breaking off and entering into a defensive posture, weapons hot.

For those that don't know, the aliens are from the TNG episode Hide and Q. though I'm taking some liberties, Q has used them before in one of his tests. Previously for Commander Riker.

[img: . ]

How do you deal with a hostile force, sometimes it takes a shock to make them listen. Sometimes you need to speak softly and carry a big stick.

And sometimes, you just need to make it clear you mean business and resistance is futile, or so the borg would tell you.

Last edited: Mar 10, 2022

Trials 04

I wasn't sure what's been wrong with me this week. I felt irritated by Q of course. And the aliens invading what looked like my home, albeit one that's strangely off somehow, didn't help things. But what I was wondering if is this was made as a copy and if those emails and text messages were real or made up to further tick me off. Because I literally crossed several universes trying to get back to her. Still I couldn't expect her to wait I guess even if I pushed all opportunities aside to try and get home.

I'd continued to focus my will on the mission as these thoughts raced about in my head. It seemed like I was a bit quicker to anger since I got here. I didn't feel that different, but I've noticed that I've needed to do more meditation and control since I got injected with the mirakuru. Was the federation right about augments being dangerous? Did superior ability breed superior ambition, or was it all just talk because of how Khan and his ilk were raised? As we approached the ship, my frustrations were focused to a simmer as I mainly focused on the task at hand. Preventing war and making sure my world would become at peace by any means necessary.

As we got close, the ships continued to maintain a target lock on the one I'd commandeered. It's crew effectively hostages to guarantee our safety. Oliver of course stayed close by, I was concerned and asked him to stop me if I crossed the line and started to become like Slade. The ship of course easily docked inside the larger one, and we were met with an honor guard of sorts. The porcine aliens, not saying much, but two followed us off the ship and escorted us to the command room. The four of us entered what looked to be a large throne like chamber, Unsurprisingly in the center was a floating chair with Q sitting there looking smug, his son seated off to the side in a smaller chair.

"Surprise. Weren't expecting to find me here, were you?" The smugness of his expression continued to stoke my ire, but I let it slide because I needed to remain focused.

"Actually, I kind of figured you'd be on the command ship. No matter what problems you cause, you have to be in the middle of it, don't you. You were the sheriff of Nottingham, the rebel leader in the continuum war, and you personally offered to join the enterprise crew before introducing them to the Borg as one of your tests." His expression fell as the amused air around him deflated.

"Bah, you take all the fun out of things. Still, I suppose you're right. I certainly didn't expect you to make the first move and come here instead of waiting for the invading force to make theirs." I began focusing, trying to find something I could latch onto, something to control and try to control the terrain in my favor.

"In asymmetric warfare. The side which makes the first move is often the winner. And at the moment you're the more powerful, so I had to move first." Crap, that teasing expression is back again. I need to keep going, I'm getting closer to it. Just have to keep him talking.

"Why I wasn't expecting you to admit to someone being better than you, Herr Übermensch. It's almost like you're nothing like those horrible augments from earth's third world war." Found it, now, to shift things into my favor.

"If that's your metric Q, then I think you're in for one hell of a ride." Suddenly the lights dimmed, and the artificial gravity shut off and everyone except Q who remained seated in his chair, his son, and myself were floating upwards. I'd kept myself anchored by magnetizing my feet towards the floor.

"Oh yes, Your little ability to commune with machines. Come on! I know you can do better than that." Suddenly we vanished, and I was standing on the moon, without an atmosphere to breath and yet not suffocating.

"Ah yes, much better, a nice open field. So what are you going to do Übermensch. Will you truly strike first, earn the ire of the omnipotent me? Or will cooler heads prevail?"

"Egging me on isn't going to work, Q, I know the continuum doesn't like you messing with lower races. And I'll grant that we definitely are such a lower race right now. But you're the one that told Picard that the continuum had an interest in humanity's future. My outside context knowledge tells me it's because of humanity's potential. It's strength in overcoming any adversity. Even the Borg struggled with them."

"Not without my help of course, had they been caught unprepared they would have ended up just like all the others. Yes, they both needed a worthy adversary to keep them focused and away from stagnation."

"So Q, will you strike first, possibly earning the ire of the continuum, or is there a different trial you have in mind? Because I refuse to allow you to commit this barbarism against my world."

"Oh I assure you, I'm just getting started" With that everything vanished in a flash of light and I found myself suddenly in the United Nations building, The whole room filled with confused diplomats and leaders from every major nation with Q and myself on the center stage, and Oliver, B'Elanna, Seven, Cisco, and Trinan in the back towards one of the entrances.

"Hear me people of earth, this who man claims to be your champion has declared a Trial for your future!. Not one of combat, mind you. But one of my choosing. You have each been brought here as a representative of your pitiful nations to decide if he is worthy of the next challenge or not!" Each delegate had a large binder with what looked like my real name on the front as well as what I could tell was a detailed dossier on who I was, what I'd done, and what I could do.

"Crap Baskets." I sighed as everyone began to go over everything. I really hope Q isn't going to do something horrible like try to make me the chosen champion of earth or something.

Trials 05

"Q, I don't know why you're doing this, but I don't think it's going to end up the way you think it will."

"Of course it will, I'm omnipotent you know. I already know how this plays out, always have."

"You mean you knew Guinan was going to stab you with a fork when you became human?" He glared at me for a long moment before turning to face back towards the assembled nations. Obviously he'd only briefly considered just how in depth my memory and knowledge went, but I had a lot I could use to fight his quips with, and I was fairly certain he wasn't actually omnipotent. Just really advanced, like the ancients of Stargate.

"Alright, you've had a chance to look over the Dossier, now you must decide if he meets with your approval. And remember, I know everything, I am a Q after all. So don't try to hide your real intent." The room erupted into a chaotic symphony of shouting in more languages than I could count. World leaders were outraged that of all the people an American had been put forward, others were upset because they hadn't actually made the decision themselves, the only one who was quiet was the small group from the White House, the president, vice president, undersecretary, and chief of staff. After several minutes with Q enjoying every second of it. I of course began to grow irritated again and had to stop the chaos.

"Enough!" I shouted, my energy erupting as electricity discharged against anything metal. It appeared as if Zeus himself had declared a pause, with most of the smaller nations taken aback at the show of power. My aura flaring and flickering like a bonfire as I stood up and made sure to make eye contact with every single person in the room.

"I know you have your differences, this whole planet has been in constant conflict for as far back as I've cared to read, centuries, millennia. It doesn't matter right now! I am a citizen of Earth, I don't care if you're Chinese, Russian, Ugandan, Portuguese, or American. None of you have the slightest idea what you are up against here!" I could see by their expressions they weren't happy by my outburst, the universal translator linked to the com badge working overtime to convert it into every language spoken previously in the room.

"Who I am, And what I am, are two very different things. I was an American, I'd accidentally become lost somewhere very far from home and just managed to get back after the crazy ride that's been the last year and a half. But I do know one thing. I'm at least prepared to face whatever he has planned. I was the one who commandeered that ship in Washington. Primarily because I was to put a stop to things before anyone got hurt while you lot were busy debating if you should shoot first or give them flowers when they were standing at your front door prying the hinges off!"

"Then how come you speak such fluent Russian" Vlad, of course he'd be cautious of Americans, there's always been an uneasy truce since the end of the Cold War.

"A marvelous piece of technology. I don't know if you are familiar with him, but this man here was formerly a work of fiction on our world. And where he comes from, there's this device called a universal translator. It does exactly as the name suggests, it translates one language into another as if it were spoken by a native, within reason."

"I take great offense at having an American represent the future of not just my people, but the entire world. What makes you think you could do any better than one of my own people?" now China, Yeah this won't be easy, Xi hasn't exactly been on the best of terms with American leadership, especially after that whole debacle that caused the global plague.

"With great respect, sir, I understand your concerns. Your people haven't always gotten the best treatment. Hell, most of the nations here probably have a list of grievances several miles long. Me being placed as the leader of the world is not what's being discussed here. I wouldn't vote for myself nor want the position. And trust me, this is not the first time I've had the opportunity to claim a world for myself. Just know that no one on earth could match my physical, mental, and supernatural abilities. That includes channeling and controlling Electromagnetism on a grand scale, by the way." He seemed a bit cowed but certainly wasn't happy about it despite sitting back down. A lot of people had, actually.

"What I am suggesting for now is a pact, we should work together. Separate, we have no hope against those ships in orbit. Anyone would have realized that within the first hour. Instead, I will fight on our behalf, take on whatever challenge Q has put forth, and stand the victor or die trying. I vow this before all of you. I know I'm an unknown, but if you knew what I'd faced before, you'd realize you really aren't in a good position to choose someone better." More sat down, Russia, America, Germany, the UK, Mexico, and Canada were still wary Concern present on their features. Though of all of them, the president representing America seemed more prideful than anything that one of their people had become some kind of superhuman first.

The vote went pretty quickly, with a vote of one hundred thirty to sixty-five. The unhappy nations primarily ones who either had an issue with America or ones that simply were unhappy with the situation as a whole. Still, Q seemed bemused that it actually worked, even if a third of the room didn't agree with things. I of course sat down and took a deep breath as this was going on, my aura returning to a dull simmer before it began sinking in just what I'd agreed to, albeit temporarily.

Trials 06

There was no way of telling exactly what Q's next plan was. He was still running the show, and I was helplessly along for the ride, but after the majority agreement to let me stand for the world this time. He seemed incredibly amused by this outcome and was clapping his hands proclaiming that I'd truly past the first real trial, getting my chaotic world to actually agree on something, albeit briefly. And showing them that the universe is bigger than their local problems. The end result would have eventually led to a positive future, or so he claimed.

The whole room remained silent, unsure of what was going to happen next, when he snapped his fingers. In a flash of light, the room was emptied, and I briefly wondered what would happen next when I found myself and my allies back at my home again. Though with Q mysteriously absent which unnerved me to no small degree.

"Okay, now what?" I inquired as I looked around the living room in my house. It was rather cramped with the additional people, but we really couldn't do much until the next event occurred. After about ten minutes when I grabbed a sports bag and packed some stuff including a flash drive with hundreds of music albums and the DVD collections for voyager seasons six and seven. We were teleported again, this time finding ourselves in the mess hall of voyager, Q standing in his ever present federation uniform designed to mock the captains he usually dealt with.

"Q, are you going to keep teleporting me around to try and disorient me, or are you actually going to move onto your next test?"

"Ah, but your next test has already begun. The contents of which you will find out soon enough. Though before I go" Suddenly Cisco and Oliver vanished, likely returned to their Earth no worse for wear.

"What about Trinan? What is her part in all this, Q!" my tone betrayed my frustration with all this but trying to stay somewhat calm given I'd been yanked away from what might have been my earth once again. Like someone teasing a puppy by keeping the bone just out of reach.

"Oh don't worry, consider that a gift, to her a second chance, to you… well I suppose it gets lonely being a big scary augment on a ship that fears them. And before you ask, your world was never in any real danger, rather for them, it was an odd dream they should be waking up from. Your next test will resume in about a month, though I suspect you already know what's coming." I practically facepalmed because after consulting with Seven the last few weeks, we'd been able to determine that we were likely near the edge of Borg space, something I made sure the captain was aware of after our last discussion on my outsider knowledge.

Knowing that was the case, I had a suspicion the next trial would have to do with a certain disabled Borg cube. The group of neonatal drones, on board, being of interest to me because I wanted to save all of them this time. Including that particularly zealous one. The question was, how was I going to safely deal with him. It was something worth considering, but the pit in my stomach grew as I knew the danger Voyager would be put in just to make this work.

I certainly wasn't expecting Trinan to have been left with me on the ship, of course. But it was a welcome change, having someone with me who I'd become accustom to being there, back on the planet. And I quickly debriefed the captain as to the goings-on, including Q's decision to test me further and letting her know about the upcoming encounter. I was just hoping we could prepare without letting the cat out of the bag since the only people who knew about it were the Captain, Chakotay, and Seven, who I'd asked to be brought into the fold on this occasion as a consultant and Borg expert. Suffice to say, she was curious about what could cause an entire cube to become so damaged that only partially assimilated neonatal drones would survive. And so the next few weeks went like that as we planned, going off my own memories of how things played out as well as the footage I'd brought with me, a curiosity to the other three but the captain ordering the viewing of it as a last resort only despite my insistence that the timeline has already changed.

Of course, the Delta Flyer was never sent on an away mission. Instead, the long range sensors had been constantly scanning for unusual Borg signatures and after about three weeks we finally found one, the power levels having made it difficult until we got within half a dozen light years. As the ship approached I made my way to the bridge and there it was on the view screen. Floating in space playing possum, just waiting for a ship to fall into its trap.

"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile." The classic hail was projected as voyager got close enough to get detailed scans, but remained outside firing range as the cube sluggishly moved. Seven quickly noticed that the engines hadn't been damaged, but for some reason the cube wasn't being operated correctly.

"Your attempts at evasion are futile, you will be assimilated."

"Not today, and not by you." stated the captain before the cube began trying to get a lock with a tractor beam and failing.

"Alright Zalost, you're up, I want you, seven, and B'Elanna in the transporter room and on that cube as quick as you can. Save the kids, and try to keep that cube intact if you can."

"Yes mam." I resolutely acknowledged before racing to the transporter room, arriving just before B'Elanna with seven already waiting on the transporter pad.

"Energize" stated Seven as we beamed over. Steeling myself as I felt the process of being converted into energy and back into matter again. Appearing in an empty part of the cube, I knew we had the right place and Seven began scanning the place as B'Elanna and I kept watch, preparing for whatever might come at us since Q was also participating in this event this time.

"You might say I'm running the show" The amusement in his voice jarring as a Q like drone walked down the hallway, leaving me with a small amount of panic before standing between him and the others.

"Hello again Q."

A/N: For those that don't know. Q previously appeared as a borg drone in the live action movie/game Star Trek: BORG

No he wasn't actually assimilated, but apparently he could walk around a cube unhindered anyway.

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Last edited: Mar 11, 2022

Trials 07

"What did you do, Q?" He couldn't be serious, the Continuum avoids provoking the Borg, why was he toying with them here, now?!

"Herr, Übermensch, I told you before, I'm running the show. Your little group of adolescent Borg barely know I'm here, but we can't have things be too easy now, can we?" I wanted to give into my anger, my frustration at what should have been a well planned and prepared for mission. But the not so random omnipotent bastard was again toying with me, intentionally making things harder than they needed to be.

I glared at the drone form he'd chosen for this little incident before sighing and shoving past him. I wasn't going to let him get in the way, not this time. There was too much at stake, I had people I could help.

"B'Elanna, Seven, Ignore him, that's not actually a drone and if he does anything, stun him." He made a gesture like he was hurt, but the amused grin was clearly all part of him mocking my attempts to move forward. We both knew I couldn't really do that much to hurt him, though something felt consistently off as I continued deeper into the cube, creating a dampening field to shield us from the cube's sensors.

A bit further down the corridor, we came across one of the many assimilation chambers. This one had someone who was dead, their assimilation failed. Getting a closer look, I gently touched the arm before something stabbed into the soft tissue in my abdomen. The shock and pain disorienting me before I noticed the tubules retract.

"Stay still" Commanded Seven as she scanned the wound, the tissue healing up rapidly as my body began performing its own repairs.

"Damn it, that freaking stings! I guess the Borg don't care about pain." I began leaning against the wall to try and take some weight off, reaching outward with my abilities and desperately trying to find and deactivate any nanites. Suddenly I noticed that itching feeling go away, the wound returning to normal as I relaxed a bit.

"Strange, the nanoprobes seem to be decreasing."

"Good for me, I guess. Probably faulty and auto-deactivated due to whatever caused the big guy's failed assimilation." Suddenly, a young girl walked into the room, the incomplete armor and various cybernetic components giving away her Borg nature.

"He was incompatible, we were trying to improve our assimilation techniques." I watched as she continued standing in the entryway, observing carefully to make sure we weren't about to be ambushed.

"What is your designation?" stated Seven, questioning the drone.

"I am third." She remained silent after that, blocking our path forward. I went to turn around, find another way when two more entered from another entrance.

"You were foolish to come here, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile." It was at that moment I noticed Q was absent. Likely either finding ways to make things more difficult or watching to see what happens next.

"You will find my resistance far from futile, however, I'm not here to fight."

"Irrelevant, You will comply." The shorter of the two boys put emphasis on the last word, trying to force me to give into his demands.

"I am Zalost, and they are Seven of Nine tertiary adjunct of unimatrix zero one, and B'Elanna Torres, chief engineer of the USS Voyager."

"Seven of Nine, that's a Borg designation." The tallest one replied, confused as to why she did not resemble a drone.

"She is damaged, her exoplating and external components are missing." Stated the young girl known as third.

"I was Borg, I've since left the collective and regained my individuality."

"Irrelevant, you will add your biological distinctiveness to our own, resistance is futile."

"You must be first." he seemed a bit surprised at my response to his threats.

"Does he speak for all of you, or do you just follow him?" I asked, trying to figure a way out of this without conflict.

"Irrelevant!" shouted first, the others stepping back as he charged at me. I quickly grabbed him by the upper arms and held him in place, his feet dangling off the ground and his arms unable to be raised.

"Terrible idea there, you see I'm not like other species you've encountered, heck I don't even know if I count as human anymore. Kind of got a boost to everything." He continued to struggle, his incomplete cybernetics putting up some resistance but not enough, the others watched unsure of what to do.

"Assist me!, assimilate him!" First continued to shout orders before Seven came up behind him and injected him with a hypospray that had been concocted to specifically incapacitate drones. I gently set him down and eyed the other four.

"Like I said, you will find resistance far from futile with me. Now that he's taking a nap, why don't we all sit down and talk, I'm sure we can find a peaceful resolution." two more young drones entered the room, they looked to be twins, but after seeing first unconscious kept their distance.

"You incapacitated him" Stated who I recalled went by second, his voice glitching due to some sort of malfunction.

"It was necessary, he was going to endanger you all. I won't hurt you, I wasn't planning on hurting anyone, I just want you to calm down, and we can discuss things." Suddenly, an alarm began blaring throughout the cube.

"Another Maturation chamber is malfunctioning." Stated second before they all left, with me picking up first and following behind Seven and B'Elanna.

"Certainly an excellent use of strength, I've only seen data keep a drone at bay like that. Not that it will save you." Another sound as the air displaced indicated Q had vanished again. He was being incredibly annoying today, I was just thankful first would be out for several hours.

Trials 08

Without first's interference, it wasn't difficult to convince the other four to let us send the infant Borg to be treated by voyager's doctor. Second was far more level-headed than first was, and in my opinion a less aggressive leader. Seven of course then began going through the cube's communication logs while conducting repairs, delaying their escape and looking for the indicators the collective had decided to abandon the cube.

The whole time I had the feeling I was being watched. Mostly I was standing calmly, ready to step in and keeping an eye on First, The children seemed to bond with seven almost instantly. A fellow drone who'd been separated from the hive successfully, she was likely a role model for them. Suddenly, the cube rocked as something impacted it. The drones moved to different stations around the room, with seven bringing up a screen to see what was going on.

"What's going on?" I asked as the room shook again.

"We're under attack." The room shook another time, this time a bit less than before. The underdeveloped drones along with seven were working to help the cube adapt to the weapons fire. It wasn't ceasing entirely, but what I saw on the display gave me chills. Of all the things, half a dozen 8472 bioships had come out of nowhere and were attacking the cube.

"The Cube isn't adapting, we have insufficient drones." stated second as the others continued working to solve the problem. I of course had some ideas, but I really didn't want to try and link with anything like I had that alien ship. I'd been experimenting with using my electromagnetic abilities to commune with technology over the past few weeks and well that felt weird and took some getting used to. That coupled with Borg technology normally consuming anything it came in contact with made me more than a little hesitant to touch, let alone interface with it.

"Seven, Is that what I think it is?" The room shook again, this time sparks erupted from a wall as a power junction ruptured, the damage just missing the drones.

"Yes, a rift into fluidic space has opened eight hundred meters away."

"Okay, no time for fear then. Things have officially gone off the rails, and it looks like there's more going on than there would be otherwise." I jogged over to a Borg alcove and touched the interface console, trying to focus on it as I desperately raced to figure out what systems I needed. The odd thing was that the system was adapting its protocols as I brushed against them, adapting them to make them easier to utilize.

"What are you-"

"No time!, and Q I swear if this is your doing I will personally find a way to reach the continuum and convince them to leave you in a comet like they left Quinn." I suddenly found what I wanted as the system continued adapting to make things feel more natural, the whole system overwhelming at first before dulling a bit as I focused on what I required. Before anyone could say anything else, the shaking stopped as the cube was covered in a soft glow, hull plating and components repairing themselves at a rapid rate while I channeled the adaptive systems to generate a tachyon field around it.

In the back of my mind, I could feel something trying to intrude as I continued working desperately to bring things up to some kind of defensive status, striking out with cutting beams any time a ship came within range. Three bioships were destroyed before several more began coming through the rift. I was desperately searching for a way to force it closed as time continued to slow the stronger the tachyon field got, my mind accelerating as I surrounded myself in it, leaving my body's aura flaring up like a star about to go nova. With a simple thought I beamed everyone onto voyager and placed the cube between the anomaly and them firing gravimetric torpedoes and cutting beams which were tearing into the bioships as they continued to pour out of the anomaly.

"Having fun Herr Übermensch?" asked Q, no longer a drone in appearance as he seemed amused while I moved through the universe in slow motion, the tachyons accelerating my commands but limited by the ship's ability to move in real space even as I tried to project a subspace field around it to lower the mass more than it already was.

"Not now Q, I don't know what's going on, but this definitely is not supposed to happen. I'm not supposed to be here, the Collective shouldn't be trying to tap into me now that they feel the cube no longer acting derelict, and you certainly weren't supposed to show up for another year, but here we are."

"Paltry concerns, I assure you."

"Damn it, Q! Did you do this?!"

"Honestly? No, I was going to maybe bring in a crystalline entity or something, but this? No, the continuum put those Undine creatures on the do not pester list after they began breaching more than just Borg space during their little spat." I began generating an inverse gravimetric pulse to try and force the anomaly closed, the cube amplifying my will and complying. I didn't need drones, but it was taxing my abilities to maintain everything as I was doing this while swatting at bioships, the rift closing while leaving a dozen remaining as they swarmed the cube like angry hornets looking for a target to hit.

Grid seven one five, sub junction twelve damaged, reallocating resources. Another bioship went nova as I grabbed one in a tractor beam and inverted the field to shove it into two more, the group detonating, leaving just three now. I could hear them, the collective, thousands of voices speaking, reaching out to me, guiding me on how to fight 8472. Then something else took notice, a voice speaking to me, pleading with me to surrender, to give into the will of the hive, trying to seduce me over to it.

The last bioship collided with the cube, causing massive damage where it impacted. Moving quickly, I transported myself and most of a transwarp chamber into one of voyager's cargo bay's while initiating the self-destruct, leaving me suddenly without the alcove and the increasingly difficult to fight link to the collective. I felt exhausted before I caught myself on the edge of the access terminal for the transwarp drive I'd just forcibly removed after disconnecting it from the rest of the cube, the whole thing taking microseconds while seemingly an eternity for me. Then everything became dark as I felt the exhaustion take me. My last conscious thoughts were hoping those nanites hadn't received any commands while I wasn't paying attention, it'd suck to wake up a drone.

Transfiguration 01

Personal Log, July twenty-second, twenty-three, seventy-six. It's been two days since I passed out after having interfaced directly with an entire Borg ship. I woke up not too long ago and am just getting caught up on things and suffice to say I woke up to some surprises both welcome and unwelcome. The first was that the nanites didn't actually go dormant, at least not fully. I don't need the Tachyon generator anymore, apparently I now have one near that new organ, which helps regulate and generate electromagnetic energy the doctor discovered in his scans. Apparently I'm now cybernetically enhanced, albeit minimally, as the nanoprobes didn't actually start trying to override my consciousness and mostly just started making enhancements to my existing biology.

My sleep cycle has become even more anomalous than before, and I rarely need to eat now, as somehow my new cybernetic components supplement most of my biological needs through nano assembly like tiny replicators. It also encountered a rather shocking revelation that I've become even less human than I already was, since I wasn't quite a Borg either. Whether this was something engineered by Q or an accident I have no idea, but the doctor can't remove them as they've heavily integrated into my augmented biology.

The good news is, the nanoprobes don't seem to respond to Borg frequencies anymore either, something to do with how they went wrong and were disconnected and only respond to direct contact and my own electromagnetic based technopathy which is more like I'm directly manipulating the hardware in lieu of programming. Or at least that's what the doctor said after I brought up to him the new technological senses I was starting to feel a couple of weeks ago.

As excited as I was, I'm still unsettled by my experiences from my brush with the collective while in control of the cube. The hive was, invigorating, a singular mind without fear, or anger holding it back, awash in an eternity of pleasure and information. Able to reach out and do anything with the drones, an extension of its self. I was foreign, and it wanted to integrate me into that whole. Then there was her, I can only assume that was the queen, though I wasn't sure if there was one, or many, or just a protocol program. But It was like she was standing there with me, my nerves electrified as she tried to breach the mental defenses I spent the last few decades building to help control my abilities as well as sort through information. She nearly succeeded too, if I hadn't been forced to disconnect when I did I don't know if I would have at all.

I as I woke up I found myself face to face with an angry teenager in a force field, many of his cybernetics had been removed as they'd been malfunctioning, and he was suffering because of it. Though from his perspective, I suppose he'd do anything to return to the collective.

"First, you need to stop." I stared him down through the force field, his screaming had woken me up, so I was still feeling a bit groggy, but it wasn't anything I hadn't experienced before. He seemed a bit taken aback, likely from the electricity sparking off my body and interacting with the ionized field between us.

"You! You're responsible for this, this atrocity! You will return me to the collective, or I will prove myself to them by assimilating this ship, and it's crew."

"Yeah, that worked out great for you last time, didn't it? Look, you need to understand something. The collective? They abandoned you! Your ship was hit by a neurogenic virus that killed every drone on board except the six of you in your maturation chambers. The collective considers you too hazardous to re-integrate into the hive."

"The virus. Our problems started after Second was assimilated. This is his fault!"

"Yeah, well from what I understand he had no idea he'd been given to the Borg as a plague carrier, so don't go blaming him either. Now the poor leadership, that's on you. Might does not make right, no matter how strong you are. Trust me on that one." He continued to glare at me before turning away, his anger clearly cooling, but he needed some time to think and as I calmed my own abilities down the doctor materialized from thin air.

"You know you really need to be more careful with that temper of yours. You nearly destabilized my holomatrix."

"Sorry doc, look I'm feeling okay, so I should probably go quarantine myself in my quarters for a couple of days. I promise I'll call if I suddenly start sprouting implants and craving the souls of individuals." He raised an eyebrow at me while taking a reading on his medical tricorder.

"Hmm, it seems like you're still adjusting to your new biochemistry. I'm seeing increases in neurotransmitter density as well as the accompanying increase in acetylcholine, adenosine, and Serotonin while your dopamine levels remain low like before."

"Well, that explains why I don't feel hungry."

"You don't seem to need nearly as much, your hybrid Augment and Borg physiologies are combining together. What form that final combination will take I can only begin to guess, but neither has finished adapting to the other yet, causing conflicts. Still, amplifying your enhanced physiology further could cause adrenaline spikes, so be careful, an augment with mood swings tearing up the mess hall is the last thing we need."

As I began to leave sickbay, he called out to me again, letting me know that I don't actually have to quarantine since I didn't show any signs of being contagious. At that point, I'd decided maybe I should go see Seven, let her know what's going on. The Captain should be receiving a report as well, though I'm not entirely sure if she'll choose to vaporize me, scatter my atoms to the void with the transporter, or throw me out an airlock. I suppose she could just be cautious and let me live, but at this point we're into incredibly uncharted territory, and I'd made up my mind when I jacked that transwarp drive to get voyager home sooner if possible.

Side Story: Chaotica

"I'm telling you, Tom, Zalost doesn't seem the type to-"

"Lonzak, why have you not captured the intruders yet!"

"I stand corrected." Harry couldn't believe it, right in front of him was Zalost, playing the role of the main villain, Doctor Chaotica. Cheesy acting and over the top gestures and all, he and Tom watched on, hiding behind a pillar.

"My lord, they continue to evade capture even with the guards searching in groups of three like you instructed."

"Hmph. Useless! Perhaps I should have Satan's robot show you what happens to those who fail me?"

"No sir please! I beg you!" He walked over to the projected character who was shaking in terror as Zalost picked him up by his shirt collar and stared him in the eyes niches from his face.

"Bah! I shall deal with you later."

"By y-y-y-your will, Lord Chaotica." Lonzak took off running out of the room in terror as Zalost sat down on the throne in the center of the room, stroking a long beard and pressing a few buttons to project an image on what looked like an ancient cathode screen. Images of cities being destroyed as he began showing boredom. The whole thing unsettling to watch.

"I'd be impressed if you weren't so predictable. Hiding in the once place no one would think to look?" Tom took his cue to step out, with Harry continuing to watch behind the pillar.

"You won't get away with this, Chaotica!"

"Oh won't I though?" Suddenly, an energy field fell on them both.

"Not even your companion Buster Kincaid can hide from me, Proton. You continued to vex me, for a time. Thinking you could save your precious earth. But now, you shall witness its dismemberment!" The voice echoing in the projected room was rather surprising. Few knew how to project their voice like that, Harry briefly wondered if Zalost had ever studied ventriloquism before more cities began collapsing, people screaming in terror. His maniacal laughter far too practiced, to be normal.

"I shall remake the earth in my own image! And not even your precious Constance Goodheart can escape my all-knowing eyes." A pair of guards brought in the character, bound and chained, as she tried to escape. Tom banged against the energy field, acting his character's role incredibly well. The Guards forced her to kneel before the tyrant as he gently took her face in his hand, studying it closely while smirking as she struggled.

"Yes, she has promise. Guards take her to the palace's harem! And make sure she's prepared for this evening." A shout of Yes, Lord Chaotica! as they saluted with their hands against their chests like roman centurions. They then bowed before taking Constance out of the room, who continued to beg for help. Suddenly the room shook as the palace was rocked with explosions, Tom using the chance to escape the energy field as it went down.

"What?!" He shouted as Tom raced up the platform to fight and stop Chaotica's latest scheme. They came to blows with Zalost obviously holding back and feigning impacts, after a while it became clear that the battle wasn't doing much good.

"Fighting with your fists like a lower life form Proton? You should know better, for I am from a world whose gravity would crush you like the insect you are."

"I will stop you, Chaotica, one way or another." They continued fighting before an army of various characters began storming into the room, the palace still shaking.

"ah! I see you've brought your allies Proton, did you think it would be enough?"

"No, but they certainly make an excellent distraction!" As Tom quipped against the villain he reached for his ray gun and destroyed the panel, Harry escaping as the energy field fell, joining the cast of characters who were prepared to stop Chaotica's latest scheme at any cost and liberate the universe.

"No!" he shouted as the panel erupted into a shower of sparks and fire. Suddenly, he touched his hand to the ring on his other hand and vanished.

"Next time Proton! You'll pay for this!" Suddenly, the room began shaking as the palace began falling apart. Tom quickly grabbing harry and indicating that they should leave with Constance joining them in the halls, her guards seemingly having been defeated by one of Proton's ally's who set her free during the climactic battle. As they escaped and watched the palace collapse, the program ended and Zalost stood there in full Chaotica costume leaning against the holodeck's walls.

"I will admit, it was fun to play the villain. I just felt a bit bad because I broke so many rules on the overlord's list just to keep from being out of character."

"The overlords list?" asked Harry, curious about something which sounded like it might have been written by Khan himself.

"Something from my earth. It's a list of several hundred things to do if you ever become an evil overlord. Mostly a list of classic villain follies and how to prevent them. Rule zero is of course, 'Don't fight like a man, fight like an evil overlord'." Okay that's different, their database certainly never had anything like that in it, though it seemed harmless enough.

"I made a copy during that brief stint on my earth, I'll send it to you, it's a rather entertaining read." He seemed satisfied with his explanation as they left the holodeck, going their separate ways and likely returning to his quarters to change out of the costume.

"So Tom, how did you get Zalost to play Chaotica?"

"That was surprisingly easy. It seems he enjoys mad scientist and supervillain characters. Honestly, I'm less surprised and more shocked that he was able to play the role so well. Think we can get this to be a regular thing?"

"Maybe, but I wonder if Zalost realizes he'd be a far more fearsome villain than any hero should be, if this is an indication of his familiarity with the role." The thought of Zalost taking Khan's place in earth's history certainly made the ensign glad he chose to stand for benevolence and help anyone who needed it instead.

Transfiguration 02

Personal Log, July twenty-third, twenty-three seventy-six. As it turns out, the Captain was of two minds regarding my sudden beaming of an entire transwarp drive into cargo bay one. On the one hand, we have a full transwarp drive to study, including unfused coils, which I thought maybe B'Elanna could study to improve on her old design. On the other, I linked to the collective to do it and the queen would likely know of my existence, though. Truth be told I didn't tell her that part, mostly because I didn't want to deal with the consequences just yet, I'm actually going to see seven to talk to her about it first.

"And that's why I've come to you first, Seven. I was hoping you could maybe give me a better idea about how to deal with the recent revelations I've been saddled with." Seven seemed uncomfortable, but focused. It was hard to tell sometimes, as she mostly continued a lot of her borg behavior from when she was a drone, albeit with emotional flareups now and then. Honestly, I was expecting far less of an emotional wall given everything that happened. I shouldn't have been surprised when she called in the captain who arrived post-haste. Which brings us to my current predicament

"I see you went to seven instead of bringing whatever is going on to my attention first."

"She's the only one even remotely familiar with what I experienced on that cube. Well, her and maybe Jean Luc Picard, but he's currently half a galaxy away." her scowl continued to grow

"Honestly captain I was more in fear you would enact Transporter protocol twelve given my already augmented nature having been further augmented accidentally by malfunctioning Borg Technology."

"Protocol twelve, but that's for disposing of hazardus materials not living organisms, transporter safeties would have to be overridden to" she paused as I gave her the harshest glare since I'm certain she was aware the captain could override said safeties and make it look like a simple disposal of hazardous biological waste.

"Captain, my fears are not unwarranted. I'm acutely aware of the federation treats people like me. Hell, in the timeline without me here, the former Borg drones the federation ends up saving over the next few decades are treated horribly! Is it any wonder that I would be wary around you or anyone else with the ability to order my execution without question?" I could see the wheels turning as she considered all this, most of it likely was paranoia, but the very core was real. The federation treats augments like freaks of nature, isolated for study, not able to serve, kept somewhere they can be monitored twenty-four seven. It really wasn't that big a leap to see cybernetically enhanced humanoids treated similarly, especially former borg who'd been unwillingly party to any number of nightmare inducing horrors.

"I'll have to discuss this with the senior staff. But I see your point, much as it is. Now tell me what really happened on that cube?" I spent the next hour giving her the unaltered debriefing, skipping over the parts I knew she was already aware of and detailing exactly what happened between myself and the collective. It wasn't much more than a brief contact, a sense of overwhelming euphoria and strength. However, as I described it, I could tell seven knew exactly what I was talking about. The captain looking concerned as she considered the ramifications. And rightly so, as the collective likely already knew of me but was probably busy dealing with the latest Undine incursion, this time near the beta quadrant.

"So your plan, such as it is, is to combine the transwarp and slipstream technologies, and use one to control the other along with the tachyon enhanced computer core to adjust for the fluctuations along the way?"

"Effectively. The truth is, I've always suspected that the reason Transwarp looks different between when captain Picard encountered it in the late twenty-three, sixties and now is because of their assimilation of Arcturus and the Dauntless. Something you had a hand in, Captain. The speed increases alone are astronomical. From twenty times warp nine point six to speeds that make that look like warp three compared when using the full transwarp hub network through slipstream enhanced corridors." There, that tick, the crack in the command expression she kept up. I think she began to realize the consequences of what happened after I mentioned the dauntless. Granted, there really wasn't much they could do about it. But the gravity of the situation is now in place at least.

"I also grabbed something else while I was connected to the hive, but I needed time to figure out how to download it and instead used tachyon enhanced acceleration to rapidly enter it onto my personal padd. I wanted to bring it to your attention when I was sure I was right, but I have the coordinates for the nearest hub roughly two years journey away as well as the nearest exit aperture near Icheb's homeworld."

"And you're saying you could get us home within a few months?"

"Captain, I could bring your ship home within hours if the technology works. The problem is that the transwarp hub needs to be dealt with and from what I can remember the federation isn't exactly at fighting strength right now, let alone able to equip ships with an experimental hybrid drive technology. In the original timeline, it took a temporal incursion to get you home in two more years. The problem is, it needs to be taken out. Before a third Borg invasion of Earth is attempted. Because next time? It won't be just one cube if that exit aperture is opened up as close to earth as it was in the original timeline."

"Let's consider our options. You've given us the very key to getting home, but once again we need to travel into borg infested space and stop their efforts. When did the third Borg invasion take place?"

"Sometime before twenty-four oh four. From the way Admiral Janeway talked about it, the Borg would make several more attempts on the federation before sufficient defensive technologies were developed. And even then they likely got adapted to, making them mostly useless."

"Right. My future self, who came back to give Voyager several defensive and offensive upgrades. How do you know that's even going to happen in this timeline?"

"I don't. That's why I did some homework while I was down on the planet a few months ago. It's incomplete, but I was hoping to at least get the deployable armor working, if not both that and the transphasic torpedoes as well."

"Transphasic torpedoes." She paused, the word unfamiliar.

"Captain, you encountered the key technology roughly four years ago. Remember that prison you were captured in. The one with the man who thought you were his daughter?" That seemed to catch her off guard. Apparently, she hadn't told anyone outside of maybe Chakotay about that.

"Transphasic torpedoes must work similarly. It's the only way I could think of that would get past the Borg's adaptation. They likely travel along multiple subspace layers, the frequencies allowing them to at least partially bypass shields when they detonate. I suspect it has something to do with how torpedoes are fired at warp, maybe an increased power supply to allow the weapon to be slightly out of phase with normal space, in multiple phases at once. But that's the best I can think of."

"And you've been working on this for how long?"

"Roughly thirty years. Though I had to keep it in secret from Trinan back on the planet. I didn't want to give her people any technology they could use to destroy themselves. I also thought up some ways to do the ablative armor using replicator technology, but I've yet to test anything." It was at this point I knew I'd likely get the lab time I requested a while back. However, I wasn't sure if I could actually finish developing the prototypes in the next few months without tachyon acceleration. Still, I hoped this would keep the Captain from having me executed or marooned for the time being.

Transfiguration 03

Personal Log, July thirtieth, twenty-three, seventy-six. We got an unusual visitor today, apparently the federation still finds crewman returning from the dead an unusual experience, despite all the ways they could obtain true immortality. I guess there's still something in their culture that accepts rather than conquers death.

I'd been sitting in the mess hall enjoying my lunch while watching the former Borg drones enjoy their recreational time. Seven was strict but firm, sometimes a bit too much. I'd of course been disrupting Azan and Rebi's attempts at the Borg version of the psychic twins gambit, keeping them from using their neural interface, so they couldn't cheat.

"It's kind of amusing seeing Rebi struggle as his little trick with Azan completely fails." I quietly remarked to Icheb watching Azan completely mess up his move, giving Mezoti a free piece in the game.

"Trick?"

"Yeah, see Azan and Rebi keep trying to form a point to point technopathic link, but I've been disrupting their frequency for the last fifteen minutes, forcing them to play fair."

"How? I don't see any kind of subspace disruption technology." Ever the curious one, Icheb, formerly second, had inquired as to how it was possible to disrupt them the way I was so casually.

"I'm not like most humans, as you probably realized back on the cube. See, I'm rather unique in that I can control electromagnetism and apparently subspace after an accident with malfunctioning nanoprobes on your cube."

"I knew you were strong, but we really had no chance, did we?"

"I wouldn't say that, I was mostly holding back because of your adolescence. That could have been a fatal mistake had you taken advantage of it at the right time." Suddenly Azan lost the game and sat down frustrated, so I stopped interfering with their link. Seeing Ensign Kim walk in with a young woman, my vague recollection of events let me know this was the undead Lindsay Ballard I'd heard the crew talking about since her return to the ship. I also knew how tragically this would end.

"Icheb, I know it's difficult to get along with Seven, but the other former Borg look up to you. You need to set an example and help them by working with her. In a way you're like the eldest sibling in a family, that's just what they do, they help bring order to chaos by setting an example for the others." He raised an eyebrow, making me wonder if that was a typical Borg thing or just something to do with people ruled by logic, not that I was much different having mimicked the behavior since I was young myself.

Several hours later I'd just finished my duty shift. The captain had decided that I would get an unused lab on Deck eleven to construct and test the ablative armor and transphasic torpedo designs in a safe setting. The lab was near the outer hull and had emergency bulkheads in case of a breach. The gray starfleet uniform and non commission rank of crewman 2nd class showing on the collar.

I'd been working late, and was eating a late meal in the mess hall. I didn't really need to eat or sleep much anymore, but I enjoyed the activity. Of course, I was surprised to see a humanoid setup to mimic a human's appearance as the reanimated crewman walked into the mess hall. The slight differences in bone structure and coloration a clear indication that she wasn't human underneath, The doctor really was good at cosmetic surgery I suppose. But then that was natural for a hologram such as himself with such a wide variety of medical techniques in his database.

"You're not from the crew, but I noticed you earlier. Who exactly are you?" She asked me a bit curious as to the ship's new arrivals.

"Well, You probably noticed voyager has picked up a few extra crew since you left." I was doing my best to phrase things carefully because I really didn't know the limits of Kobali physiology and wasn't sure what she could and couldn't do.

"I'm Zalost, a traveler from another universe. Unfortunately, I'm a very long way from home and for the moment stuck here, so I've been helping Voyager out where I can."

"You seem mostly human, albeit on the big side.

"I'm not human, though, at least not anymore. I was accidentally enhanced similarly to your twenty-first century augments over a year ago. I was also given control over electromagnetism in that same accident. On top of that I was recently accidentally injected with faulty Borg nanoprobes enhancing my physiology further. I'm about as far from human as yourself if what the crew says is true."

"I suppose you do get it then, that feeling of trying to fit in but like you don't fully belong."

"Miss Ballard, or Jet'Laya, whoever you choose to be. That's your choice, you have that right the same as all sapients. Augmented, reanimated, or otherwise." She raised an eyebrow at that last descriptor, It was the closest I could think of, given how the Kobali use the dead as their form of continuing their race. Which reminded me of something I'd been thinking about to help restore myself if I ever got the chance to go home. As great as it is to be a superhuman, I really just wanted to find a balance and have been discussing genetic de-engineering with the doctor at length using retrovirii and nanites.

"Speaking of, you should go see the doctor, have him take another look at that Kobali pathogen before it's starts to reassert it's self." She looked at me a bit confused before, I handed her one of the padds I'd been using as storage while working using my deck.

"Tell him to go over my work on genetic reversion therapy. I think it might be relevant to you reclaiming your humanity."

With that, I stood up and left to get a couple of hours of sleep. The deck slung over my shoulder and the spare padds I'd been using slipped into a side pouch on my utility harness.

Transfiguraiton 04

I fell out of bed, heart beating a mile a minute, as the red alert klaxons began blaring, the ship shaking from weapons fire. Scrambling for my communicator, I quickly pressed it to find out what's going on only to be informed by the comms ensign that we were under attack by a Kobali vessel. It certainly wasn't great that they began attacking right away, but I was far more concerned because I thought we'd have more time to help Lindsay Ballard regain her former humanity.

"Zalost to the doctor"

"I'm kinda busy down here, what's up?"

"Did Ensign Ballard give you the research notes I handed her regarding reversing the Kobali retrovirus?"

"She did, very promising but a ways off from a workable solution, why?"

"You might need to move that up. I suspect she should be coming into sickbay soon, if she hasn't already. The Kobali ship is projecting some kind of weird energy field that I suspect might be triggering their genetic re-sequencing process."

"I've no idea how you were able to tell that much, but she is indeed having issues with the retrovirus reasserting it's self."

"Doctor, get her inside a dampening field. I'm going to go find the captain." I raced up from my quarters on deck eight ignoring the turbolift and activating my tachyon generator to accelerate my localized temporal field trying to get up to the bridge as quickly as possible. Most people likely saw a blur of grey and a force of wind. I was keeping myself from ruining the uniform by projecting a small energy field around myself, and before I knew it I was on the bridge, appearing in the blink of an eye.

"Captain, you need to get some distance from that ship, they're forcing a reactivation of Lindsay's re-sequencing pathogen." She stared at me for a long moment, likely wondering how I moved as quick as I did about the ship. The doors were a bother, but I managed to accelerate them by briefly bringing them into the tachyon field with me. Suddenly, Ensign Ballard came onto the bridge pleading with the captain to surrender her to the Kobali, so the ship could be saved.

"I apologize for my abruptness, captain but if I may speak frankly?"

"Go ahead?"

"Ms Ballard, I believe I stated this before, but you have the right to choose and through no action of your own you were killed and then reanimated by another group against your will. You may not have realized this, but they are forcing the issue even now to ensure you return to them."

"I know, but I can't stop what's happening, I both am and am not Lindsay Ballard, it's becoming very difficult to separate them!"

"You might notice that the pain is letting up and your memory issues are reducing, yes? There's a dampening field being projected which filters out the energy field they're using to force the process. I can escort you to sickbay, but you need to stay within it until this is over." She seemed at least a little surprised but agreed, the ship shook again, and the captain ordered me to get her back to sickbay quickly while she dealt with the Kobali. Generating a tachyon field, I reached out to Ensign Ballard's shoulder and projected the field around her too, the whole ship seeming to stand still.

"What did you do?!" She seemed panicked, as most would be when encountering flash time.

"Don't worry, we're just moving at an accelerated rate, we should be fine if we move quickly." With that, we quickly made our way to the sick bay, The doctor having picked up on our accelerated signatures and matched his holomatrix, so he could see us.

"Lie down on the biobed please. Zalost if you could activate the dampening field?"

"Of course doctor" with that I quickly accessed the controls, the ship for a moment experiencing separate temporal rates before returning to normal as the field went up, and we all returned to normal space/time.

"I'm going to start the first series of treatments to disable the virus that's re-sequencing your DNA and start reverting it from early medical exams." I left, thanking the doctor before using my speed to move around the ship, pulling people away from exploding conduits and hull breaches. The tachyon field waning as my energy levels dropped. Letting myself fall out of it, I ended up near engineering and quickly joined one of the engineering teams that were racing about to make repairs to the ship. I just hopped the captain was able to fend off the Kobali vessel.

After a harrowing dozen minutes or so, the shaking finally stopped, and I felt the field dissipate. A clear sign that the ship had left. Still, the repair crews had a lot of work ahead of them and I was doing what I could to help since there wasn't much else to do at the moment.

I'd later find out that the Kobali ship promised to return in greater numbers after voyager managed to disable them enough to escape, the subspace field familiar after my time spent here so far. Unfortunately it would take at least a week or so to regain the energy lost during that burst of tachyon energy, but it was worth it so after helping bring the ship back in order I got to work in the lab as I'd decided to focus on the ablative armor first.

Last edited: Mar 24, 2022

Transfiguraiton 05

Personal Log, September fifth, twenty-three, seventy-six. I've spent the last week trying to get the armor working on a small scale. The time I spent on Trinan's home world did not go to waste, and I was nearly there. So far I've consulted with both Seven of Nine and B'Elanna on methods for deploying it and have barely left the lab, and only to help make repairs when needed. Last week a crewman was injured in one of the Kobali attacks and the medkit on my harness came in clutch as I was able to quickly repair the surface wounds before getting them to sickbay. So far we haven't had any casualties, and Seven managed to adjust the shields to make their attacks less effective using Borg algorithms.

"Alright Tom, let's give it a test, deploy armor." The prototype ablative armor generators on the Delta Flyer activated, covering the surface in a thick layer of nanotech replicated alloy using technology based on both replicators and of all things the tool generators used in exocomps. First to generate a holographic matrix, then materialize it into an actual solid layer on top which could regenerate over time. Each sheet deploying from the generator outwards. Additionally, the armor could be polarized to provide additional protection against energy, but shields couldn't be used at the same time due to how it interfered with the shield matrix.

"Hah! It worked! I haven't gotten the transphasic torpedoes working yet, but this should at least give us an edge. It'll take a bit of time to scale things up for Voyager though." Zalost watched as the armor dissipated, with the generators retracting the deployed layers on command. The test a successful one given the short time they had. Even with him working using tachyon fields to speed up his progress, he still felt like they were cutting it close with lab tests being run in simulations to save time, so a real world weapons test was warranted. Suddenly the ship shook as another attack by half a dozen Kobali ships was underway.

"Do they ever give up?!" shouted Tom as I jogged into the shuttle and continued final system tests to look for programming flaws.

"No idea, we're currently treading the route not taken. But if there was ever a time to test things, it's now. Deploy the armor and take us out, let's give the Kobali the good news." I knew the captain wouldn't be particularly enthused about our impromptu test, but those ships kept coming back in groups, and I refused to let them take Lindsay by force. Especially after the doctor reported a few days ago that the restoration was working thanks to a little help from Borg nanoprobes.

As the Armor deployed, Tom and I slipped on the heads-up display's to let us see the outside. A design my new surprise pen pal Julian Bashir sent in a recent letter when I told him what I was working on. Us augments should look out for each other, right? And so far, he and I are the only ones working with star fleet in any sort of capacity at the moment.

"Report!"

"Shields are at thirty-seven percent and holding, Captain sensors have just detected an unauthorized shuttle launch."

"Ensign Ballard?"

"No" Suddenly the Delta Flyer now covered in armor plating swooped by the screen taking pot shots at the lead Kobali ship, the armor proving effective at deflecting their weapons fire as it dissipated against the ablative layers. The screen shifted as the Flyer hailed Voyager.

"Hope you don't mind the impromptu test captain, Alright Tom, target here, I'm manually tuning the nadeon fields to disrupt their shields, when they go down fire a photon into that conduit." Suddenly, the connection was dropped before the captain could order them to return to the ship.

"Captain, the shields are fluctuating on the lead vessel." he paused for two beats as the shields flared and went down.

"Ship Disabled, the others are falling back."

"As soon as the flyer is back, get us out of here."

A few hours later and a dressing down by the captain for not clearing the flyer's combat with her first, and everything was back to normal. The armor test was a success, and I was currently in the mess hall, sharing an evening meal with Trinan. The replicator may not be perfect, but it makes delicious stuffed peppers and fried tilapia.

"So your project was successful, then?"

"Yeah, the prototype worked, though it still needs some adjustments, maybe it can collect some of that wasted energy and feed it into the ablative generators to reinforce the armor."

"That's good… Do you know how much I freaked out at hearing you'd once again gotten in the middle of a combat situation?!"

"Trinan, It's fine, I never get into a situation I'm not confident I can walk away from."

"Even if you say that, it's still not something I'm fully comfortable with. You've been so busy since going on that ship. When are you going to take a break from all this?"

"Actually, the captain ordered me to take a few days of leave, something about overworking and acting reckless even if it saved us this time."

"In that case, you're coming with me and don't try to get out of it, I've already booked some holodeck time." She looked excited, I always figured she just moved on after I left, but with how she's been acting the past few days I got the feeling that my efforts to maintain a distance were being ignored.

"Umm okay?"

"I mean it, if you try to get away, there will be nowhere in the next dozen systems you can hide from me." Okay now she looked scary. I could tell her seriousness given the focused glare. Then again, she knew me better than most, given the ten years we spent as close friends back on her home world.

"Yes ma'am" I responded, a bit nervous despite my overwhelming strength and abilities. As I'd learned previously, she had other ways of getting me to do what she wanted. And really, it was always better to err on the side of caution, right?

Transfiguration 06

Personal log, September twelfth, twenty-three, seventy-six. We haven't seen any Kobali vessels in about a week. I've been working in the lab to implement the armor for Voyager now that the Flyer's test was successful, but there's just one problem, power. See as it turns out it takes a lot of energy to mass replicate a new hull and that energy needs to be stored somewhere. As such, I've been working on a couple solutions to this which should work in tandem. The first is that the armor generators need to store energy, enough to deploy the armor, making them a bit on the bulky side for a larger ship like Voyager. The second is, I'm working out if I can use the polarization to redirect weapons discharges back into the capacitor to feed the armor generators, but that part was proving far more complicated than expected. Even with Seven of nine bringing in some Borg insights into the issue.

I was late, christ on a cracker, I'm late. I'd actually dozed off in the lab after working to adjust how the polarization dissipates the energy to use those Borg algorithms Seven came up with, and now I was nearly forty minutes late for lunch with Trinan. As I entered the mess hall, however, I found her chatting with Ensign Ballard and Crewman Porter, apparently not having even gotten her food yet.

"Sorry I'm late, I actually just left the lab, the project is taking a lot of time, and I'm racing to get it ready for the next time we become under attack by somebody." Yeah, I've seen that look before. She was more than a bit irritated, but she also seemed to understand that I was working hard to protect everyone and took a deep sigh.

"You know as well as I do that you're terrible at managing your time when working on a project, just try to keep a better eye on things next time? I need to go, I'm helping in hydroponics."

"Trinan wait!" but she'd already walked off in a huff. I knew I'd messed up and would need to solve that later, especially after last week. Of course, Crewman Porter was trying to hide her amusement at my misfortune. Apparently, Harry Kim wasn't the only one on this ship having issues with romance. Sighing, I walked over to the replicator and got my usual fried tilapia, It was more of a comfort food than anything, but I needed to focus on the armor for now. I'd gotten the deployment to work no problem. It's the rest I was working on as I took out my deck and continued working the problem while eating my lunch. My hands rapidly moved over the keyboard, running simulations and looking at their outcomes as I tried to compensate for some of the more unusual energy types. If I could just find a way to mimic what the shield did.

That's when it hit me, a breakthrough. What if I tied the armor's power systems into the shield grid and used their energy dissipation features to provide additional power to the armor while adding a thin integrity layer shield over the armor for additional protection. I quickly got to work testing the theory in the simulations. If everything worked well, I would be able to test the new armor on the flyer by the end of the week and if the demonstration goes well, the captain may even implement it right away.

After another six days without a Kobali ship breathing down our necks, I figured maybe I could slow down. The new armor was a success on the flyer, and it scaled up well in holodeck simulations. So I'd been working with engineering crews round the clock to install the new generators onto Voyager's hull. Trinan of course was still upset, but I was hoping to make it up to her after all this was over. Next week we were actually visiting Icheb's homeworld to return him to his family, and I was hoping maybe I could visit the planet and have her come with.

Granted I tried to tell the captain that Icheb was the cause of the Borg cube shutting down, and the doctor did find the neurolytic pathogen, but it was a tough call, and she'd decided to wait and see how things played out. I just hoped we wouldn't have to nova a Borg cube. The armor was good, but I was counting on it as a surprise for the queen.

Of course, I wrote about this in my latest letter to Julian Bashir having explained that Icheb like himself was genetically engineered from a very young age though rather than made superior he was engineered as a living weapon, a plague carrier to damage the Borg. Suffice to say he wasn't too fond of the idea either, and the response I got back a few days later wished me luck but also outlined some useful sections of the Starfleet code of ethics and Starfleet charter that might help make my case to the captain.

In a way, I felt a bit protective over the kid, much as Seven did. In her case, he was a former Borg drone. In my case, he was a fellow augment. And I took grave offense to anyone who would use their children as weapons, even against a greater foe. Gods know I'd heard enough about child soldiers and suicide bombers back home, so I found it particularly offensive to let someone be assimilated just to infect the hive. Especially a child with so much potential.

By the way, we've been keeping in semiregular contact with starfleet for a while now. After I brought back the dvds of voyager from my brief visit home, I re-watched the upcoming episodes and stumbled upon the solution they were working on early. After going over the updated star charts they sent us, I worked with Seven to find a cyclic pulsar and transmitted the information across the center of the galaxy and to the MIDAS Array.

Their response of course was to do the same, and so we're now communicating with them on a weekly basis using the new hyper subspace technology that had been enhancing the long range communications array via bursts when the pulsars were at their peak. Getting the jump on this despite my concerns over Starfleet's vested interest in myself was important because the sooner Voyager was able to maintain contact with Starfleet command the better.

The captain had also taken the data I'd given her regarding the hubs, and several monitoring probes were placed near key aperatures in the alpha and beta quardrants to monitor for any Borg incursions in the hopes of getting an early warning. Of course, this is how we found out about the transwarp aperture near Icheb's home world, and so we were taking extra precautions and scanning for any transwarp activity to let us know if a cube was about to get the drop on us. I of course, was more concerned that I might snap at the two people who most held my ire at the moment. Icheb was a good kid, he didn't deserve life as a drone.

Last edited: Mar 26, 2022

Transfiguration 07

Personal Log, September seventeenth, twenty-three, seventy-six. After making sure to mask our warp signature and slipping past the transwarp aperture, we entered into an orbit over the Brunali home world. I briefly considered finding a way to force open and destabilize the conduit, but the risk of alerting the Borg to our presence and drawing them here was too great. Unfortunately, my shore leave plans to investigate the planet were cut short after Seven surprisingly continued her outbursts towards Icheb's parents Leucon and Yifay. I'm currently keeping an eye on things from a small probe that was deployed near the Transwarp aperture.

I was working in astrometrics with Seven today. It was easier to keep an eye on things from here, and I could get a lot of work done regarding looking for bennamite or similar materials to help build another slipstream drive. Seven seemed distracted, though, it was clear Icheb's departure and the similarity of their circumstances was getting to her.

"Seven what's wrong?" She seemed, troubled. I've seen her make similar expressions before but

"Icheb has decided to stay the night." Ah, that's why. Well, as long as they don't sedate him and send him to be assimilated like they originally did, we should be okay.

"It's okay Seven, I'm monitoring the transwarp conduit. I want to make sure they don't send him out on a ship again. Without us noticing."

"Your preparedness is, unusual, but welcome."

"Well it wasn't difficult to convince the captain and I don't think Icheb is going to be staying here. I was looking over what remains of Brunali law, and he's technically of age here and can make up his own mind. Plus he has a long range distress beacon built into that bracelet I sent him down with just in case." She glanced at me warily, unsure how to take that bit of knowledge.

"Look, for the moment we need to continue monitoring that conduit. I need to take more readings to see about maybe destabilizing it and making it look natural. You know how the Borg are." That got her attention, I forgot to mention I was planning to force the Borg to find another route to the one person who might be able to help me work on it. Suddenly more enthused, she practically took over the console as we got to work, seeing about liberating the Brunali from the ever present threat on their doorstep.

"Captain, I'm fairly certain this should work. As you know I've been experimenting with creating not only that new armor system but transphasic torpedoes and Seven and I have come up with a way to create a metaphasic field around a torpedo that when detonated will create a subspace compression wave which should destabilize a transwarp conduit for at least fifty light years. If it works, it'll look like a subspace compression anomaly."

"And Seven agrees with your estimates?"

"She helped me refine the technology. It's not the Borg buster I was hoping for just yet, but it should at least force the conduit away from the Brunali home world by getting them to think the conduits in the area will be unstable."

"Excellent work, both of you. How soon can we deploy it?"

"Give me six to eight hours, and we'll have a metaphasic torpedo ready"

Okay, I know this was something that needed to be done, but I really hated the idea of going anywhere near the Borg superhighway. If they ever caught on about what we were about to do, it wouldn't end well with all my hard work undone as we all became drones. The flyer was approaching the conduit with the armor deployed and a pair of metaphasic torpedoes loaded into the aft launchers.

Tom was guiding us close in a kind of silent running mode with power set to a minimum. Once we were within a hundred million kilometers, I could feel the energy of the conduit. It was like standing in a strong current, or a hurricane, the hairs on my arms standing on end as subspace was disrupted by the conduit.

"Alright, Tom, we're close enough."

"You sure? It's kind of empty here." Man sometimes I wish they could feel the ripples and flows in subspace like I did, they wouldn't want to get too close either.

"He's right, there's a low level gravimetric anomaly approximately six hundred thousand kilometers ahead."

"Perfect, Seven, open the gate if you please?" She raised her eyebrow at this but complied as the deflector began emitting tachyon pulses at the anomaly opening the transwarp conduit.

"Okay Tom, bring us about and fire our little gift, then get us to a safe distance, this isn't going to be pretty." The flyer came about, the stars shifting wildly as it did so, only we weren't moving, something was dragging us toward the anomaly. The metaphasic torpedoes heading right for the aperture, and at this rate we'd be caught in the shock wave.

"Hang on!" I shouted as the flyer shook, throwing us around the cabin like the beads in a pair of maracas. The armor took the brunt of it, with the integrity down to ten percent and the gravimetric anomaly was completely disrupted.

"Okay, let's not do that again anytime soon, agreed?" I asked as Tom brought the flyer's impulse thrusters back online and brought us back to voyager.

"That's weird, I'm detecting a ship traveling at warp nine point eight heading right for us. Wait, it's a false warp signature."

"Seven, is there a distress beacon operating on this frequency?" I asked as I entered the subspace frequency, the sensors picking up pulses, a kind of subspace telegraph with it pulsing an SOS in Morse code.

"Crap, they still sent Icheb to be captured by the Borg! Tom, can you intercept their ship? We know there's no Borg coming, not for a while anyway."

"On it" He declared as we began moving into range of the ship before beaming the only life sign aboard, a sleeping Icheb. Then making our way back to voyager, a photon impacting the ship and causing it to flash in a brief nova while we sped away at maximum impulse.

As we got back to Voyager, the captain was of two minds about things. On the one hand, the metaphasic torpedoes had wreaked havoc on the transwarp network in this region, disrupting conduits for up to one hundred light years in all directions. On the other, Icheb was still sent to his doom by his parents, and honestly I didn't blame her after the harsh communication she sent their way. Icheb of course declared he would never return after everything, the shock silencing them before communications were cut.

Icarus 01

Personal Log, November Fifteenth, twenty-three, seventy-six. After a lot of effort and a huge amount of help from Both B'Elanna and Seven, we've modified the delta flyer with both a tachyon field enhanced computer core and what I've begun referring to as a trans-slipstream drive based on a combination of B'Elanna's own slipstream drive research and what I was able to glean from the transwarp drive I'd commandeered from that cube before its destruction. We're planning to test it today, and I'm coming along for the ride. If all goes well, not even the Borg will be able to keep up with us, and the entire galaxy will be reachable in mere moments. And even better, we only needed trace amounts of benamite ore which was easily mined rather than needing to crystalize it thanks to the transwarp coil technology.

"Okay, Tom, just the final checklist to go over now. Is the tachyonic field stable?"

"Tachyonic field generators online and stable"

"Deflector enhancements online?"

"Confirmed enhancements online."

"Perfect, spool up the drive and let's see what a real world test can do!" I was so excited, the hum of the quantum field being generated by the trans-slipstream coils was audible like the sound of a turbine engine spooling up from inside the cockpit. The entire ship was covered in a soft aquamarine glow as the quantum field interacted with the tachyon emitters to force the slipstream to stay in sync with the ship.

"Delta Flyer to Voyager, we're ready to engage the trans-slipstream drive"

"We're ready when you are"

"Punch it tom!" With that, the flyer accelerated to three quarters impulse and began projecting the quantum field ahead of us while submersing itself into a kind of quantum space/time. Seven was monitoring the tachyon emitters, while B'Elanna kept an eye on the quantum field generator. The tunnel forming ahead was the same aquamarine that enveloped the flyer. The flyer's tachyon enhanced computer, easily keeping up with quantum fluctuations and compensating

"What's going on?!" shouted B'Elanna as the field began flickering.

"There's a chroniton buildup in the shield matrix, attempting to purge." Replied Seven as the trans-slipstream vortex began destabilizing, and we were starting to re-emerge from quantum space.

"Hang on, this is going to get rough" shouted Tom as we were thrown out of quantum space and back into normal space, traveling at full impulse with the engines offline. The flyer was out of control, barreling through the void. We were fortunate we weren't near any planetary systems, or we might crash into a planet.

"Shields are offline, the relays are fused." reported B'Elanna as they continued trying to get the ship back under control.

"How about the armor generators?" I questioned as the onboard RCS thrusters got the ship back under control, so we weren't just rapidly whipping around head over heals in space.

"Functional, but we'll have to take some systems offline to use them." Replied B'Elanna as the ship decelerated, eventually coming to a stop.

"Well, that was one heck of a ride, where are we?"

"Spatial grid nine four three, octant delta. Roughly thirteen hundred light years from our starting position. It would take voyager about six months to reach here" Wait, six months? Something important was supposed to happen in six months, what was it?

"We traveled that far in, what, two minutes?"

"Three point five two minutes." Crap, it just clicked.

"Tom, get that armor online, we're going to need it if my hunch is right." He looked at me a bit strangely but had learned at this point to trust my "hunches" given they'd gotten us out of a lot of scrapes since I ended up on voyager. Suddenly, as I was looking out the windows in a panic with B'Elanna and Seven, a bit confused. Then I found what I was looking for, a faint shimmering outline moving against the background star field. Suddenly, a large ship decloaked right in front of us, with Tom quickly maneuvering out of the way of weapons fire.

"Deploying armor!" he shouted as the ship quickly became encased in ablative armor, the impacts from the ship's disruptors barely penetrating it.

"What's an old Klingon D7 class ship doing out here?!"

"Doesn't matter, can we use the trans-slipstream drive to get away?!" I was panicked by this point because we were here a full half a year early and as far as those Klingons were concerned the federation were still their enemy.

"The Drive is damaged but functional."

"It only needs to work for a few minutes. Keep those shield generators offline and engage trans-slipstream jump." Suddenly I felt the flyer enter the trans-slipstream vortex, and we were safe, for now. The ride was much smoother this time, and Seven had gotten the armor to polarize against the chroniton particles after they were starting to build up on the ablative hull armor.

On voyager's Bridge, Harry Kim noticed an unusual quantum fluctuation as another trans-slipstream aperture formed roughly fifteen hundred kilometers starboard. The buildup of chroniton particles around it, ceasing as the Flyer exited the aperture and returned to normal space. Tuvok of course was the first to notice evidence of weapons fire on the deployed armor segments.

"Voyager to Delta flyer, is everything alright?"

"For the most part. Had a run in with some Klingons"

"Klingons? In the Delta quadrant?"

"Apparently, permission to return to the shuttle bay? We need to make some repairs."

"Permission granted."

Icarus 02

Personal log, December third, twenty-three, seventy-six. Gods, last week was awful. Some sort of subspace anomaly put the delta flyer off course, and it nearly crashed into an L class planet. Fortunately, the much more robust power systems managed to keep life support intact, and the shuttle instead drifted in a decaying orbit over the planet. In my own paranoia, I'd placed a tracking beacon with its own power supply in the shuttle's supplies and sent out the activation sequence on a broad spectrum subspace frequency, allowing us to narrow it down within a few days.

After recovering the Flyer with an injured B'Elanna as well as the escape pod containing Harry Kim, readings were taken of the planet, revealing it to be a primitive Iron Age civilization with similarities to neoclassical societies like Ancient Greece. Ever wary of primitive societies after the incident with the time accelerated planet, voyager kept its distance and placed a probe into orbit to monitor it after recovering the shuttle. I'm still working on scaling up the trans-slipstream drive and getting the bugs out of the system, but our tests are on hold until the flyer has received sufficient repairs. In the meantime I'm enjoying a brief reprieve as ordered by the captain.

"Keep going, Trinan, we're almost there!" I shouted as we were just reaching the top of a large mountain overlooking the rest of the island it was situated on. The side of the mountain had a large depression from what remained of a now extinct volcano, the sky stretching outwards to the sea with a pair of moons visible in the sky.

"It still amazes me just what the sky people's technology can do. I mean, you tell me it's a simulation, but it feels as real as the ship we just stepped off of as we entered the holodeck." Trinan was panting a bit as she struggled for words, the steep mountainside even giving me a bit of a workout.

"To be fair, I'm not sure if this is an actual recreation of Risa or not, but it's certainly a lovely place to go for a relaxing hike." As we reached the summit, the twin suns were low on the horizon, other islands were visible in the distance and stars had begun to appear overhead. Setting down the bag I'd had the holodeck generate before we started our climb, I opened it up to reveal a collapsible wood stove, and some collapsible chairs. Camping in the twenty-fourth century had become quite advanced. It wasn't quite capsule technology, but the materials allowed things to be condensed to a crazy degree for transport.

"After that hike, I bet you're hungry, huh?" I'd quickly set up the stove and chairs before opening a refrigerated pouch to reveal our dinner, a pair of hearty steaks with corn on the cob and bell peppers. I'd already checked with the doctor, and he said the food was edible to her people. Taking out a candle, lighting it, and placing it on a collapsible table between the chairs, I got to work stoking the fire and getting things prepped.

"Famished actually. I feel great though now that we're up here. The view is breathtaking, and I don't just mean the landscape." I felt a bit silly, but couldn't help the slight flush coming to my cheeks. She'd been pushing to actually make things work between us since she'd settled in on the ship. And who was I to turn down someone with so much enthusiasm, especially when I also harbored similar feelings despite my efforts to repress them. It was just easier to let things happen and see where things went, though I suspect Q was getting a ton of amusement from my escapades since he left her here in the first place.

"Trinan, that's… Well, it's certainly not unwelcome, but we're supposed to be relaxing." If looks were worth a thousand words, the cheeky grin I got in response was worth an entire novel. Several minutes and flirty comments later and the food was prepared, some sort of large flying animal soaring overhead as we enjoyed the sunset.

"Hold on tight, I'll get us out of here." I stated as I had her hold on, the equipment I'd replicated having been returned to the computer's storage.

"You mean we're not simply going to open an exit?" She asked as she wrapped her hands around my neck and I made sure she was secure on my back.

"I mean, we can, but this will be more fun." I smirked as I leaped off the side of the mountain, causing her to cry out in shock while I leaped from ledge to ledge down the sheer side of the former volcano. Letting the simulated gravity add momentum to our movements, I pushed off the ground and began moving faster before entering the canopy of the forest below. Swinging from branch to branch while keeping our pace and kicking off fairly solid trees as I adjusted our course, we rapidly made our way to the starting point, traversing the woods as if we were flying before finally landing in the open clearing near the beach.

"Okay, that was insane, seriously!"

"Nah, I had full control, plus the holodeck safeties were on, so we weren't going to get hurt. And I've always wanted to try taking parkour and really applying my abilities to it."

"You… That was still dangerous."

"Did you at least enjoy the free trip down?"

"That's neither here nor there. But yes, it was kinda fun. But please be more careful next time."

"Sure, I'll save it for when I need to run from ten plus foot tall predators" I couldn't help laughing as her face became stuck between shock, awe, and frustration. It was always nice to test the limits of my own abilities, and I'd thought about adding it as part of my training regimen, but I wasn't too sure making such feats a normal thing would be as accepted on the ship.

Last edited: Mar 30, 2022

Icarus 03

Personal log, December fifteenth, twenty-three, seventy-six. While performing long range scans looking for Benamite for the trans-slipstream drive, a federation distress call was picked up from a type 3 nebula. We went to investigate but found the nebula teaming with space parasites which nearly invaded the ship. Fortunately they couldn't infest me due to my unique nature and after towing the ship free of the nebula the flyer and voyager worked in conjunction with a couple modified shuttle to conduct a full baryon sweep of the ship. The ship we recovered? The USS Anticipation formerly captained by Jose Pizzaro who Captain Janeway had been colleagues with.

The Captain of course was rather shocked at my request for the vessel and incredibly reluctant, but we needed a test bed for the scaled up trans-slipstream drive. I'd managed to make my case, stating that technically since I was the only one able to actually remain on the ship and deal with the parasites during its recovery, as well as an independent sentient. And in the maritime law in my own time, I had salvage rights. Instead, we agreed to let me have a skeleton crew and command of her until we returned to federation space.

Surprisingly, of the crew who elected to join me, more than two thirds were former Maquis officers. I also asked Harry Kim if he wanted to be my first officer, since his only position on the bridge was as a general ensign. The captain actually insisted, likely so she could have crew members she trusted on the bridge, but it was still a surprise and after about a week in a mineral rich star system with me pulling double time using tachyon boosts I was able to get the Anticipation into a running state again as well as equipping both the Anticipation and Voyager with the Deployable armor system. Sadly, we were still looking for benamite for the trans-slipstream drive since we only really had enough for one of the two ships, and it would take time to fabricate the components to upgrade the anticipation's warp drive. Still, I'm excited to get underway

I stretched my legs as I exited the captain's quarters. I was sure former captain Pizzaro wouldn't mind, and I'd put his stuff into storage. Just to be safe, though, I performed several rituals among half a dozen species to ward off angry or evil spirits because you never knew with all the crap I'd seen recently. It wasn't a long walk from deck two to the bridge, and sitting in the first officer's chair was field commission lieutenant Harry Kim. LT Ayalla on the Conn, Lindsay Ballard at the engineering console, Crewman Chell was at operations, Ensign Murphy on science and long range sensors and Ensign Jarvis on tactical.

Honestly, it was a mishmash of various crew, but I'd picked each personally given their backgrounds. And each then selected a handful more for their respective departments to aid in the operations of the ship. In total, we had a crew of thirty, with voyager's own crew holding one hundred nineteen remaining. The most surprising addition however was Icheb who's requested to come of his own volition and Seven had personally set up his regeneration alcove in the Anticipation's main cargo bay. The doctor also forked his program our own EMH to help cover the medical bay, effectively cloning himself.

"Captain on the bridge" Announced Lt Kim, with the rest of the bridge crew standing from their stations and awaiting orders.

"At ease" I stated as I sat down in the captain's chair, a modification equipping all the seats with both four point harnesses and localized inertial dampeners per my insistence. Every console was equipped with fuses and breakers much like on voyager to prevent sudden explosions and as I settled in, I buckled in the harness and checked the controls with the various crew reporting in on the display.

"Chell, open communications with Voyager."

"Aye sir." he replied as the stars and void of space on the main display were replaced with Voyager's bridge.

"Captain, how's everyone settling in?"

"Just fine, ma'am, we're ready to match your course when ready."

"Excellent, Janeway out." The screen returned to the forward view and I looked over to Ensign Ballard.

"Lindsay, bring up the warp drive and prepare to match Voyager's course and speed." She replied in kobali before correcting herself with an aye sir. I failed to hide a smirk as I looked forward.

"We're at full power captain" Replied Lt Ayalla all systems were ready, and we were ready to start the Anticipation's shakedown cruise.

"Los!" I stated in my best commanding tone, taking the german shorthand from Los geht's meaning let's go. The german roots, tying into my heritage, the Nietzschian philosophy I followed, and superhuman abilities as an Über. The stars in front began to stretch as the Anticipation engaged its warp drive and joined voyager at warp eight cruising right behind her, with some modifications to the warp geometry made by a combination of Borg and Kobali algorithms from Lindsay and Seven. I'd planned to increase that if possible soon once the trans-slipstream drive was online.

Last edited: Apr 2, 2022

Icarus 04

Personal log, December twenty-seventh, twenty-three, seventy-six. I've been preparing something for the upcoming visit from Kes. I'm just hoping I can convince her to stop with the clip of her plea from the DVD version of the show. There are differences now, of course. But I've gotten everything I need ready, and the Captain has prepared my requests to aid their old crewmate this time without the temporal issues. To top it off, I'm certain we can bring Kes home using the trans-slipstream drive on the anticipation, even if it will take a few days.

"Captain, long range sensors have picked up a distress call on a federation frequency. A small vessel with an ocampan life form." Crewmen Chell was definitely settling in as the operations officer. The whole ship ran like clockwork despite the minimal crew. Honestly, with all that was going on, it was a wonder things worked as well as they did. Likely owing to their time on voyager and the federation's starfleet training.

"So it begins. Crewman Chell, respond with audio recording Zalost thirty-seven."

"Sir?"

"Trust me, We're going to nip a major problem in the bud." The ship seemed to drift in space for a bit before stopping its course. Another hail, this time directed at both Voyager and the Anticipation, came through, and I instructed Chell to bring it onscreen with the split view screen showing both Voyager's bridge and the sole inhabitant of the ship, an elderly Kes.

"Captain? I, I need to find a way to get home. What was I just doing!?"

"It's good to hear from you Kes, I take it you're yourself again?"

"Yes Captain, I was a bit lost, I, I'm going to find my own way, I need to get back to my people."

"Actually, we might be able to help with that. Neelix can come along if you'd like, but we have a new drive that can get you home in a few days."

"A few, that's incredible, but it's hard to believe you haven't gone home already."

"That's because it's not been tested yet, at least not on a ship this size." I interceded after a nod from Captain Janeway. To let me know she didn't seem unstable.

"That would be wonderful." Her expression softened as she realized her journey home would be happening, not through her powers, but the kindness of her friends and some luck. After her ship landed in the Anticipation's shuttle bay, The Captain, Tuvok, Neelix, Tom, and several of her friends beamed over to greet her. I of course came along to shake hands with the Ocompan and Trinan wanted to remain by my side, not that I was complaining.

"It's good to see you all again, I feel, different. I have no idea why I was like that?" It was now my turn to speak up, so I stepped forward and introduced myself.

"Greetings, my name is Zalost, temporary captain of this vessel. As for what happened, it's a long story, but we've been anticipating your arrival and the Doctor theorized that you might have gotten overwhelmed by strong negative emotions after leaving the ship nearly three years ago. The simplest solution was to bring you back out of that state. Speaking of, I've also had special psychic dampeners installed to help reduce any sudden spikes for the duration of our journey to Ocampa."

"Zalost. Interesting, you look human, but you don't seem like any human I've met."

"I'm not. I'm kind of lost myself actually, it's a long story, but I'm not from this universe. And A lot happened, suffice to say I'm simply myself."

"Your quarters are on Deck three. I've requested the things you left behind during your departure be transported there as well." Stated ensign Jarvis, who was working with Tuvok in all security matters as a joint shipboard task force.

The group made their way to the Anticipation's officer's mess on the starboard side of the ship. And I made my way to the bridge. I would have a few days to talk to Kes about the psychic thing and maybe get a feel for the strange energy frequencies she was emitting. Who knows, it could give me an edge in getting home.

After about a day of preparations and checking all the systems we were ready to initiate the long range trans-slipstream jump, the tachyon enhanced computer core was brought up to full, so it could make adjustments as needed, and we were at full power. Tuvok and Neelix both ended up coming along with us and Tom who had experience traveling using the trans-slipstream drive would be at the helm. If everything went well, we should be able to gather the materials to install the drive on Voyager next.

"Engineering, how's the power readings looking?" I asked, Lindsay Ballard replying from the engine room with an all clear. Seven was with her monitoring the quantum and tachyon field generators, making final adjustments to the algorithm using Borg derived field geometries.

"Alright. Tom, set a course for Ocampa and prepare to enter the trans-slipstream."

"Yes sir" He stated, bringing the trans-slipstream core online while the ship accelerated to three-quarter impulse.

"Los!" I commanded before we submerged past the quantum barrier. Ayalla was sitting in an auxiliary chair, monitoring things, so she could learn how to operate it. The Ship entered some turbulence at first owing to the design still being a work in progress, but the dual deflectors allowed for better field geometries than the flyer was capable of as well as the larger computer core making it easier to adjust for quantum variances.

"Well everybody, get comfortable" The flight plan has us stopping midway near the void, a large expanse of space on the border of Malon space in about two days for repairs and drive maintenance. Total travel time should be about four days to reach Ocampa if all goes well but I always plan for the worst just in case. I sat back in the captain's chair and watched the vortex stretch out in front of us on the view screen. It was definitely exciting to be able to make such a journey, and I was looking forward to meeting Kes's people myself.

Icarus 05

Personal Log, January first, twenty-three, seventy-seven. We've been scouring nearby systems for deposits of benamite to bring back to Voyager upon our return. Kes of course was more than happy to demonstrate some of her abilities, and I've been both monitoring space/time and feeling out the strength of her abilities with my own to get a sense for how she's psychically manipulating everything. As near as I can tell, she's directly manipulating particles on a sub-subatomic level, possibly altering the vibration of quantum strings. I'll say this, I certainly felt a bit jealous over her fine control of her abilities. It took me the better part of three decades to do the same, and she shows an impressive aptitude for manipulating electromagnetism, Much like myself.

"Show me again how you create that ball of plasma, try to slow it down a bit." Kes and I had reached an agreement to demonstrate our abilities to each other, so we could learn how they work. Apparently by tapping into whatever energy she was using I was beginning to manipulate not just energy but matter on a fundamental level. In turn, she's been learning the finer points of absolute control over energy and the charge of particles, similar to myself.

"I'll do my best." I focused on the surrounding energy, pulling it both from within and without as I trapped a pocket of air inside an ionized field and began building a charge within it, lightning arcing both within and around my hands. We'd been doing this in the main cargo bay to help isolate us from the rest of the ship to prevent damage. The sphere of plasma began to glow softly, first a faint red then slowly rising through the electromagnetic spectrum as I increased its energy until finally it was a brilliant blue/white. The heat starting to radiate outwards, but I'd since learned years ago to focus that too inward, using its own heat to feed the plasma more.

"That energy, I can almost see where it's coming from. Another place or realm filled with just light and power, but I can't quite touch it." That was new, I always wondered if I had my own force dimension I'd been tapping into like Barry had the speed force, but this is the first confirmation of it. Suddenly I shut off the flow and kept the plasma contained, letting it float gently as I let it go, keeping a focus on it with my mind reaching out as I'd been learning from Kes.

"That's -" Suddenly the ship shook, and the lights turned a dim red, the plasma ball illuminating the now darkened room.

"Zalost to bridge, status report?" My command was swift as I let the energy disperse. Now was not the time to have a self-contained ball of plasma bouncing around the ship during a potential crisis.

"Kim here. We're under attack by two Hirogen Apex class battleships. They were hiding in a nearby nebula and were practically on top of us when we detected them."

"Deploy hull armor and spool up the trans-slipstream drive, I'm heading to the bridge now." As I apologized for cutting our study of our gifts short, I slowed down time and raced up the two decks to the bridge from the main cargo bay on deck 3. Kes seemed like she saw me through the slowed down time but wasn't truly able to keep up, causing me to become curious if she herself could also access this ability through tachyons like my Borg enhanced inbuilt generators.

As I made it onto the bridge, I saw the two ships trying a pincer maneuver to keep the Anticipation from escaping their grasp. Luckily, Lt Ayala and Tom Paris were working together to really put the Anticipation through its paces as we swooped and nimbly dodged weapons fire with ease. Bringing the two forward torpedo tubes online and loading each with an experimental transphasic torpedo.

"Ayala, Tom, bring us behind target alpha."

"Jarvis, target the ship designated alpha and fire a transphasic torpedo." The ship rocked with another impact, with me internally feeling grateful the captain agreed to let me modify the seats with harnesses to keep people from being thrown about in combat.

"Aye sir" He replied as the Anticipation came up behind the Hirogen vessel and a gold flash rocketed out ahead of us before ripping right through the Hirogen ship's shields and causing it to go nova, the view screen dimming the bright display as the Anticipation flew through the debris field without a scratch.

"Sir, the second Hirogen ship is closing on our port side. They're hailing us." Announced Chell as the console beeped to indicate an incoming transmission.

"On screen." The forward image was changed to one showing the inside of a Hirogen vessel, the bridge open, with various trophies in the background. A being in armor with an almost saurian appearance stood dead center, with two others on either side.

"I am Alpha Kovarr, You are quite magnificent prey and are putting up a valiant fight. Tell me why you have chosen to invade Hirogen territory."

"Alpha Kovarr, I am Zalost, acting captain of this vessel, and we had no knowledge that this was your territory. We'd be more than happy to leave if that is your wish."

"No, you shall make excellent prey, stand down and prepare to be boarded, or we shall make you." I really did not like this guy. He was starting to really irritate me. I glanced over to ensign Ballard, and she gave me the all clear on trans-slipstream capability.

"Unfortunately for you, Kovarr, It's not your lucky day. May you find an equally worthy prey." I gave a nod and the Anticipation began accelerating, the Hirogen on the screen looking confused before the connection was cut and the enemy ship making chase. Suddenly we entered the quantum slipstream, and as the vortex formed ahead of us I relaxed in the chair, letting the tension flow out of me.

"Not the nicest bunch, those Hirogen."

"No, sir, our last few encounters with them got several people killed." Harry responded, I'd already known that voyager had more than a few brushes with them, many not always on screen, but it certainly was different in person. I then looked over to Lindsay and saw her relax as well. I'd nearly forgotten that her death was during a Hirogen attack.

"Ensign ballard, feel free to take a break, I can have seven take over for a bit if you need it."

"All good sir, thank you for asking." Watching the aquamarine vortex stretch out ahead of us, I decided to do some meditation while I had some time. Our next stop would be Ocampa.

Icarus 06

January third, twenty-three, seventy-seven. I'd been continuing to practice both teaching and learning from Kes, regarding both her abilities and my own. It's small, but I've started to be able to cause ripples in not just the electromagnetic field, but the subatomic bonds as well. As I continued to tap into what starfleet calls psionic energy, a sense of unease began to overcome me. Something was very wrong, but I wasn't sure what. I've continued to meditate on this, trying to feel out and see if any clues come to mind, but the only sense I get is dread and a feeling of intense heat.

"Alright crew, we don't know what we're going to be walking into but just in case, have the armor ready to deploy and keep the quantum field generators spooled up in case we need to get out of here quick."

"Aye sir" They responded, a bit of apprehension in their voices, but given this was Kazon territory there was no telling what we might be walking into. As the vortex dispersed, and we emerged back into normal space, I was suddenly struck with an intense feeling of fear, pain, and dread. Kes however started crying out, a nosebleed starting to form as the planet came into view, the sky dark as it was trapped in a global winter.

"By the gods, what happened?! Murphy, what are the sensors picking up?" I was dreading his answer as he read back obvious indications of weapons fire, cratering, and almost no life signs coming from the planet. Though they could be hiding in those underground cities which were shielded. Kes was holding onto the railing as I felt intense psychic imagery flood every fiber of my being, failing to tune it out and only saved by the mental exercises I'd learned from Tuvok and all but mastered in my time on Trinan's home world.

I tapped deep into that energy well and activated the tachyon field with the inbuilt generators. Feeling time slow as I focused on working through what I was seeing now that It was coming at me much more slowly. Fire, death, burning, rocks falling from above, it painted a horrible picture and I immediately walked over to and placed my hand on Kes's shoulder bringing her into my accelerated perception.

"What? Everyone is frozen." She seemed panicked but relaxed a little when she saw I wasn't and noticed everyone wasn't actually frozen but moving incredibly slowly.

"Welcome to what an old friend of mine calls flash time. Basically we're in an accelerated field of tachyons so our perception and experience of time is greatly enhanced compared to everything around us. Now tell me what's going on, Kes, what happened?" The reduced frequency of the imagery seemed to help her regain control over herself as she regained her balance.

"You did this once before, during the Hirogen attack, that's how you disappeared like that."

"Yes, I'll tell you more about how I do it later, for now I need you to tell me, what are you seeing Kes?"

"Ocampa, the city is burning, my people are being rounded up and killed, the survivors taken away by Kazon and something else. It feels familiar, but I can't see who it is."

"I'm seeing the same things, but something isn't right, I don't have as strong a grasp as you do."

"I can almost see it, but something is blocking me from seeing it."

"I will personally find out who did this, Kes, you have my word. Starting with those bastard Kazon." Suddenly, I dispersed the tachyon field, and we were back in normal space/time.

"Tom, Ayala, Set a course for the nearest Kazon sect, warp nine."

"Sir?" stated a surprised lieutenant Ayala as Tom began entering the coordinates.

"The Kazon bombed Ocampa. We're responding to an urgent request for aid from one of the few surviving members."

"Aye sir." Suddenly, the ship shook as several Kazon vessels uncloaked and surrounded us.

"Guess they came to us. Deploy armor and polarize it. Focus on their shields and engines. I want to know what happened here." In moments, the armor deployed as more weapons fire began rocking the ship, though it lessened as the armor finished covering the ship and the plating polarized to repel the weapons fire.

"Jarvis, Target the lead vessel, Aim to disable them. Ayala, evade them, pattern delta three. Tom, Kes, come with me, I've got a special assignment for you two. Harry, you have the bridge."

"Aye sir" the group replied as Kes and Tom joined me, Seven meeting us on deck four and joining us after I used my technopathic link to send a quick message to engineering.

"What's this about?" Tom asked as we stopped in front of a locked door and I entered a command override.

"I need a good pilot and some precog skills for something special I was working on before our little trip. I managed to finish it up shortly before we ran into those Hirogen." As we entered the room, Tom paused to take in the ship docked to the underside of the Anticipation, letting out a low whistle.

"Tachyon enhanced speed has its perks." I chuckled as the boarding ramp lowered, and the other three followed me in.

"Welcome aboard the Tsunami. She was the anticipation's wave rider class atmospheric shuttle, but I've kitted her out with some upgrades. Including her own ablative armor generators and both a forward and aft torpedo launcher, as well as a rear phaser and forward pulse cannons."

"She's got teeth, I'll give you that. So what's this special assignment you need us for?" asked Tom as he sat down at the pilot's console and went over the control interface, noting the similarities to the delta flyer's control panel.

"Simple, I'm going to board that lead ship, and you're going to get me there."

"Okay now you sound crazy."

"Only because I've been sandbagging this entire time, Tom. It's about time I stretched my legs, and after seeing what those bastards did to the Ocampa I'm itching to beat the crap out of the lot of them. Just chalk it up to needing to work out some of that augment aggression starfleet keeps going on about."

"I still don't like this, but you're the captain."

"I'll note your protest in my log. Now, los gets!" As the Tsunami undocked from its bay, the weapons extended out from the hull and the armor engaged while the in hull warp drive came online.

"Here goes nothing." I honestly really hoped this wouldn't be our last mission.

Cold Fury 01

Rage, that's what I remember most feeling as we nimbly dodged the weapons fire, with the Anticipation drawing off the majority of the Kazon ships. As the magnetic docking clamps normally used to dock the Tsunami onto the Anticipation were engaged and grappled onto the lead Kazon ship's hull, I made my way to the access hatch which used to be the main way of getting onboard the tsunami and began cutting into the enemy ship's hull by generating a focused plasma beam and cutting through it using my gifts. I'd dropped into the room below before the hatch closed behind me, with the Tsunami following my orders and returning to the Anticipation to help mop up the Kazon ships, leaving several including this one adrift and disabled.

As I began my trek towards the bridge, it didn't take long for me to run into angry Kazon trying to defend their ship. The weapons on their person were yanked out of their hands as I continued trying to feel for anything I could magnetize. Unfortunately a lot of their materials were cloth or non-magnetic, still I could swear I felt something else. I wasn't sure if it was part of the psionic energy I was tapping into, but I suddenly felt like I was reaching out with invisible hands and grasping them, with the group panicking as they were lifted into the air. The rage and fury at what these monsters had done to another sentient race feeding this growing power.

As I continued feeling around the energy field I began sensing from them, I started picking up on their fear, their hatred, but more importantly I started seeing images as well. Women kept in chains, children beaten. Several began to suffocate as my anger continued to grow and the pressure on their bodies in creased, their joints popping as the pressure continued to rise. I looked at the one who was at the head of the group, the one who had the biggest weapon and brought him within reach, The telekinetic hold weakening as he fell onto the floor before I grabbed him by his clothes and hoisted him up with my bare hands.

"You!, Where is your Maje!" I shouted with a commanding voice, my anger emitting a low growl as he squirmed in terror to get loose, his compatriots having passed out from the intense pressure being exerted on their bodies.

"He will kill you and everyone you care for. It was a mistake to come here, human." Raising an eyebrow, I slammed him into a bulkhead, his joints popping and the metal creaking as the force caused a Kazon shaped indent.

"I won't ask again. Where is your Maje!" This time he seemed a bit less sure of himself, and pointed to the growing group of Kazon standing between me and the bridge. I backhanded him, and he collapsed on the floor unconscious, the force likely giving him a concussion. I could smell the stench of fear and waste, as several weren't sure what to make of what was now happening. Looking to my left I grabbed a section of curved hull which resembled a hand hold and yanked it from the bulkhead, the length roughly four feet then straightened it into a pole and began spinning it with one hand while crouching into a defensive stance and glaring it the accumulated mass of Kazon standing in my way.

I felt a guttural roar tear its self from my lungs as I charged at the group slamming the pole into several and breaking ribs, arms, legs, anything the pole hit was struck with extreme force and several dents made into the metal. The most obvious of them was from my grip, making several finger shaped hand hold into the metal bar. More and more kept piling on, I'd had to have gone through at least twenty Kazon by now and was disarming them almost as soon as I felt them in range yanking their weapons away and crushing them before throwing them back with a telekinetic push.

Most intelligent species would have increased the ag fields in this section or opened it up to space. The Kazon weren't most species, let alone intelligent. The primitive slavers weren't prepared for what on earth would have once been called a demi-god. Finally, I got to the bridge with most of the bridge officers collapsing in their chairs from the ever-growing intensity of pressure being put on them, leaving just me and the maje of this battle group.

"Hah! So one of you worthless cowardly humans finally grew some stones. Tell me, what does it feel like to slaughter so many in one go? To leave them crippled and dying as you march towards your inevitable demise?" My response of course was to yank him off his feet and into my hands, crushing every last weapon as I did so, leaving him unarmed.

"I've been merciful so far, Kazon. Now tell me who ordered the attack on Ocampa, the planet out there?" He seemed overly confident, amused that I had refused to kill a single one of them, despite leaving them heavily injured and possibly crippled for life.

"The First Maje of all Kazon commanded we do this. To obtain powerful slaves who could grow quickly. Young women who would become of age in merely a handful of years, some of whom could be used as powerful weapons against fools like you."

"So they're alive?"

"Well, the ones who survived anyway. It was a glorious day, with many of our males satisfied for months afterwards." I squeezed his arm tightly, the bones cracking under my grip, causing him to howl out in pain.

"I'm losing my patience, Kazon. Where is this First Maje? Tell me, or I will take the information from you." He refused to answer, a smug look of defiance on his features. I tried to reach out again, like before when I saw the images, this time more slowly as I felt things. Numbers, Planets, stars, ships. I quickly sent the numbers to the deck on my back, they looked like coordinates. Then I reached out and began downloading the ship's database as well, hoping their recent flight patterns might reveal the location of this new Kazon leader.

What was really troubling was that he had a human by his side. Beaten, bloodied, and covered with scars, but he looked familiar. He had grey hair and a long beard, but those piercing blue eyes were the same as the ones that I saw in the mirror every day. That was when I knew how this first maje had managed to unite the various sects. My doppelgänger, somehow he'd ended up here and had been captured. While I was feeling a bit of vindication given all he'd done back on earth two he'd unfortunately introduced a new element to the equation making the Kazon in this region far more powerful than they should be.

"We're done here" I stated before overwhelming the Maje with a large electromagnetic discharge and causing his body to slump, barely breathing and smoking from the burn marks all over his body. Disabling the shields, I gave the command and was beamed back to the Anticipation, the Tsunami having already docked now that the battle was over. I had some planning to do, and I had to free the remaining Ocampa.

Last edited: Apr 7, 2022

Cold Fury 02

"Captain Janeway, I'm giving you a heads-up on what's happening at Ocampa. Attached are sensor readings as well as information gathered from a disabled Kazon warship. We've begun an investigation, as it seems an old enemy has either willingly or thorough duress been aiding the Kazon. Will send follow up within twenty-four hours. Message ends stardate 54007.3." The captain was less than enthused with what appeared to be a rogue federation ship with radically advanced technology. Still it wasn't the first time a starfleet vessel, and its commander had gone rogue to prevent a force from destabilizing a region of space, Captain Kirk did a similar when he went after khan, though things were different back then.

"Janeway to Chakotay, My ready room, now." She let a bit of her frustration slip through on that last part, but she needed to prepare a briefing for Starfleet to let them know what was going on. Without the trans-slipstream drive, they were years away from being able to help. So the best she could do was hope he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Jarvis, continue targeting weapons, shields, engines."

"Aye sir" I continued watching the view screen as more Kazon ships were left adrift. I'd made it a point to locate any Ocampan life signs on board those ships. They could be beamed over to the Anticipation, as well as the two captured Kazon carrier ships, formerly Trabe vessels. The Kazon themselves were all rounded up and left on a single ship, though not before I had key engine, shield, and weapons components beamed onboard the two carriers as spare parts.

While I was there I also left a little surprise in their system which completely destroyed their cloaking, comms, and any other enhancements it found outside the norm. As well as wiped their ship's database. At this point, we'd rescued nearly eighty Ocampa from those slaving bastards, and I continued to repeat the process of technologically regressing the Kazon ships as we continued toward the heart of this new Kazon alliance.

I'd been at this for the past week and lamented that Ocampa it's self was a loss, however I'd managed to find men, women, children. And a handful were even species I didn't recognize, but since they weren't Kazon I'd had them released anyway. Then there were the nearly two dozen alpha quadrant species members who I'd found on a slaver outpost just yesterday. Had the Caretaker captured them or had they been left here through some unfortunate act of the universe, I honestly had no clue, many were silent from the years of abuse they'd suffered.

As we continued to collect log data from the Kazon ships, it became easier and easier to infiltrate them. I noticed the systems practically giving me control through my technopathic link the more I interfaced with it. Their very ships became their worst enemies as I needed to use my abilities less and the ship simply walled them behind force fields, incapacitated them with strong AG fields, and locked them out of their own controls moments after I cut my way in. So far we'd taken out nearly two dozen Kazon ships of various sizes. But not many had the technological advancements we'd encountered on the first group.

Finally, after combining the logs, there were only three worlds all the vessels had been to in the last few years. Looking to Kes she focused and pointed out a specific one, and I gave the order with Ayala submerging us into trans-slipstream. In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the planet, mere seconds passing while traversing hundreds of lightyears. The Kazon carriers were making their way at warp eight and would arrive in under ten hours, so we had to hold out until then.

Engaging armor and entering silent running, the Anticipation parked on the far side of one of a pair of moons orbiting the planet, being as low emissions as possible to try and hide from any planetary sensors. Unfortunately, due to time constraints we couldn't find the chimerium required to power a cloak, so I couldn't construct one for the anticipation. Not with the running battle we were constantly fighting against growing numbers of Kazon ships. Foolishly, they seemed to be moving in to intercept us as we delved deeper into their territory, despite the losses in our wake. That's actually part of why we used the trans-slipstream drive. The Carriers could use their cloaks to evade Kazon patrols, but I doubted the Kazon had the technology to detect ships moving using the trans-slipstream drive.

After waiting six hours with probes having been deployed to monitor the planet, a facility was finally located deep underground. Difficult to transport into, but I trusted my crew, who'd more than proven themselves capable, to get us part way in. My goal was to set their operations back and liberate the slaves. And that's all I was intending to do.

Neelix and Kes had chosen to stay behind with the carriers, while Tuvok had opted to join me on the away mission along with my own security chief, Jarvis. Ayala, who as a former Maquis had several skills that could come in handy, Tom remaining onboard the anticipation with Harry in case of trouble. Seven of nine for engineering and system bypassing. And finally, Ensign Munro, who Tuvok had recommended as an on mission tactical support officer due to his work as part of Voyager's own hazard team.

Beaming down, we arrived in an empty corridor several dozen feet underground. We were two levels above a series of cells where various life signs were being held, including nearly sixty Ocampa. I could feel my rage building as we got closer, Tuvok advising caution and control as I reached out and silently commanded several to sleep, watching as they collapsed onto the ground before we moved past. After making our way outside the sealed door for the main holding area, I reached out and touched any Kazon I found inside and forced them into a state of unconsciousness, while also sending a command to the computer technopathically to put the sensors in the area on loop. I'd been getting a lot of practice doing both during my various boarding runs, and they hadn't seemed to develop a countermeasure yet.

After confirming this to be the case, I then grabbed the door and pulled with both electromagnetism and my own strength to tear it off it's hinges, leaving a gaping hole where a door once was. Still something felt wrong with a headache beginning to build the more I reached out to instruct people telepathically to back away before frying the force fields with high energy discharges, then instructing everyone to the center of the room before deploying transporter field enhancers to allow the Anticipation to begin beaming the slaves out.

As the last of the two hundred slaves were beamed aboard, I suddenly felt that psionic field dissipate, causing me to panic before two dozen Kazon began swarming the room, the leader of which stood next to a man in a long cloak hiding his face behind a mask. The man in the mask began laughing, clearly amused at our current state of affairs, with me stepping forward to put myself between the enemy and the away team.

"Oh this is good, ever the hero, always getting stronger, always keeping that human weakness to protect your friends. Not that it'll save you this time"

"Cut the crap, I know you're my doppelgänger. What I want to know is how you could work with them to commit these, these atrocities."

"Simple, I'm a pragmatist. At first, it was about survival, but they gave me so many things. And I gave them things in exchange. Though, their methods of treating their guests leave much to be desired."

"Enough" shouted the lead Kazon, what had to be the First Maje.

"I don't care about your little spat, they arrived here because your technology failed. I will kill them since you were unable to."

"Of course my Maje" I could just feel the smug amusement behind that mask with what remained of the psionic field. This wasn't going to be easy, so I gestured for the away team to stand down.

"Let's make this interesting, I challenge you for power as per the Kazon right of ascension." He stared at me as I disarmed myself, taking off my harness.

"Are you sure this is wise Zalost?" asked Tuvok concerned since the lead Kazon's abilities were unknown.

"No." I stated before taking a breath and looking over at Tuvok.

"Prah au si', nash-veh'll zahal-tor" He seemed surprised at me suddenly speaking Vulcan, but understood immediately and tapped his com badge three times with the away team quickly beaming out inside the transporter enhancement field just as a Kazon fired a weapon and destroyed one just a bit too late to stop them.

"Admirable, you are just as this one says, but that won't save you."

"Nor will your overconfidence save you First Maje.

Cold Fury 03

Overpowered, that was the first thought I got as the First Maje was quickly disarmed, his hand forced to drop his dagger after I numbly stepped aside and held his wrist in my vice-like grip, the bones creaking as I tried my best not to crush them like powder. That was until I threw him across the room and my counterpart injected him with something. The Kazon howled in pain, clawing at his skin as his muscles noticeably bulked up. Eventually he stopped rising slowly to his feet as his eyes became lucid, the intelligence once behind them now having taken a back seat.

"What did you do to him?" One of the other Kazon asked as I crouched, preparing a combat ready stance to deal with whatever tricks my doppelgänger had decided to pull this time.

"Just something to even the odds that I'd picked up shortly before I was sent here. A wonderful cocktail of neosteroids, analgesics, and most importantly, cognitive enhancers to boost his reaction time tenfold." The Kazon looked confused with most of the group joining him before the First Maje charged at me again. This time a guttural growl was emitted from his throat with spittle flying from his mouth.

"Seems to me someone's been playing mad scientist" I dodged and went to grab, but he just barely evaded my grasp. I ducked another wild swing, rolling out of the way.

"Unfortunately for you, I've chosen not spent the last half century sitting on my thumbs." I ripped anything metal I could find and began flinging them at the enhanced Kazon before tapping into the tachyon enhancers now embedded into my body, my technopathic connection also amplifying the ag fields which held him down with a strength of nearly ten gees. As time slowed down, I stretched before casually walking up to the Kazon and employed a trick both Tuvok and the Doctor had given me quite a bit of advice on when I'd asked them about this, stating my dislike of drawn out fights. Walking up behind him, I found the nerve cluster I was looking for and applied pressure as well as a low level bioelectric shock before dropping the tachyon field, appearing to have almost teleported right behind him, The surrounding group of Kazon staring in shock as their First Maje fell forward unconscious.

"What?!, you! What did you do?!"

"You think I wouldn't visit this universe and not learn the Vulcan death grip while I was here? Though he's still breathing, you might want to pick that up."

"Now then my dear counterpart, I do believe it's time for us to go, these Kazon are really starting to get on my nerves, fortunately I think I have just the solution." A pulse of energy radiated out across the room as nearly every Kazon collapsed, the psionic dampening field shutting off shortly after I'd found the controls to it.

"You won't get me, you think it's a coincidence you arrived here? Who do you think ensured your trip home would fail?"

"Ah, but I did visit home, courtesy of a rather benevolent trickster god."

"It doesn't matter, you will never get home, I'll make sure of it." At this point, I'd begun to grow tired of his ranting, so I used Psionics to hold him in place before disarming him of anything beyond the clothes on his back.

"That's not fair! You say I'm a monster, but you're the real monster, a freak of nature, you can never go home the way you are now!"

"Honestly? I don't want to anymore. I've been home, there's really nothing for me there. Though I might deign to visit once in a while after I've found a consistent method for traveling there that doesn't involve Q."

"You rang?"

"Q?!" Okay, he is still way more powerful than I am. I'd felt like I was being watched this whole time, but the way he just ripped reality a new one to appear was really, really humbling.

"Why thank you, it's good to see you still respect moi Herr Übermensch."

"Damn it Q please stop reading my mind. Also, why are you here?"

"Simple, the continuum wants to deal with your pitiful doppelgänger themselves. Apparently they were asked to handle it by a higher power since he's in their jurisdiction and well since I was in the neighborhood." Suddenly with a snap of Q's fingers Doppel-Zalost was bound in some very sturdy looking bindings as well as a collar, his form floating there just off the ground unable to get any leverage.

"And you didn't do this before now, why?"

"I told you. You still had one last trial. And you passed oh so wonderfully." I raised my eyebrow at this as he smirked.

"Oh, and one last thing. It seems that higher power, whoever they are, isn't done with you yet. So just keep that in mind." And then he vanished in a flash of light and radiation, Space/time separating briefly in his wake like the air around a thunderbolt.

"Okay, now I'm really humbled."

Over the next few hours, I systematically began going through their entire database, nabbing choice bits of information and technology while wiping it clean. My hope was to set the Kazon back at least a few decades if not centuries now that what I found out was a full third of their space fleet had been taken out of commission with no one able to repair it properly. If I didn't know better, I'd swear they were actually as dumb as the Packleds seemed. Nothing more than space Mongols riding on the backs of their conquests.

Once the two carrier ships arrived and the virus was transmitted to every Kazon ship in range, I beamed back onboard the Anticipation, and Kes had chosen to remain behind with the Ocampa to help them find a new home world. Meanwhile, I had several liberated slaves who belonged to a menagerie of alpha quadrant races to bring back home. On top of that, I still had two final missions to carry out before trying to return home. And I wasn't going to let anything get in my way.

Thousands of light years away in the heart of Borg space. A ship disengages from the unicomplex before engaging transwarp. The Diamond shaped vessel heading towards the far side of the Delta Quadrant. Deep inside a single mind focuses the will of thousands of drones, a single thought, Assimilation.

Last edited: Apr 10, 2022

Facing the storm 01

Personal Log, January twentieth, twenty-three, seventy-seven. After a long few days back using the trans-slipstream drive, we met up with Voyager. Neelix had been a bit sad to see Kes remain with the ocampa, but he really had no home back there, and I knew that there was a Talaxian colony near the delta quadrant border, though exactly where I wasn't quite sure. Captain Janeway of course wasn't very enthused about my crusade against the Kazon. But apparently it was covered under a special measures clause in the federation charter, given the outside influences my doppelgänger was having on the development of their culture.

"Alright B'Elanna, fire up the trans-slipstream drive and let's do a test, the anticipation will follow."

"Got it. Engaging trans-slipstream core."

"Zalost to anticipation, prepare to follow Voyager into trans-slipstream."

"Aye sir"

"Your ship captain, you give the order."

"Alright Tom, engage trans-slipstream"

"Aye captain." In moments, both Voyger and the Anticipation activated their trans-slipstream drives and began the test, just a short two thousand light year hop. It only lasted a minute or two, but the test was successful, with the armor deployed and the modified polarization of the plating repelling the chronotons away from the ship. With the test successful, we were only a matter of days away from getting the crew home to earth. But both the captain and I knew there was at least one loose end that needed tying up. As such, the crew was running their final checks while I met with her in her ready room.

"You know why I've asked you, Chakotay, and Seven to be present here?"

"Yes ma'am." I pulled out the small holographic projector from one of the pockets on the bandolier and set it down on the table, the relevant video files loaded into it already.

"As you all already know, I'm not exactly from your universe. Well, what I have here are two very important events that we have to take care of before returning to earth. We're a bit farther along than in the original timeline, but temporally, this is all going on right now." The information I'd gathered showed a wave form I'd pulled from a video file.

"Unimatrix Zero. A borg designation for a subconscious oasis where drones go to escape the hive. The queen wants it crushed and has been killing anyone who shows signs of this frequency to get access to it." The image changed again, this time to show a protostar in a dense nebula with an unusual structure with hexagonal apertures and Borg vessels entering what looked like transwarp corridors.

"A transwarp hub. As Seven has likely informed you, there are approximately six in the galaxy. This is one of them. Located in a nebula on the edge of the delta-beta quadrant border. You were supposed to encounter this roughly this time next year, but due to the new trans-slipstream drive, the timetable has been moved up. I have a plan to liberate the drones and take out the hub in a single go, but it's not going to be easy. I've already discussed this at length with the captain and have even been experimenting with a modification to the transphasic torpedoes to include a point singularity payload." Suddenly the ship went to red alert as I felt a disturbance in subspace, disorienting my senses.

"Tuvok, what's going on?" asked the captain as I sent a non-verbal text request to the Anticipation, with harry acting as first officer there.

"A temporal rift with Chronoton radiation is forming directly ahead." I continued tapping into the Anticipation's sensors and getting a full reading of the anomaly, as well as feeling it out with my abilities and sensing a ship coming through.

"Harry, reconfigure the deflector to emit an anti-tachyon pulse, Target that rift and fire on my command."

"aye sir." I waited until the small shuttle sized ship came through and noticed a pair of vorcha class battle cruisers trying to make their way to it from the other side.

"Fire" A beam of anti-tachyon energy shot out and struck the rift sealing it before the Klingons got through, a transmission coming through from the shuttle.

"Captain, open the shuttle bay, It seems we have a lot to discuss." A few hours later the admiral met the captain and I in her ready room, having just beamed on board.

"Normally I'd suggest your crew study my shuttle, inspect its weapons and armor, but you've already developed the technology, nearly a decade early on top of that. My shuttle also told me we arrived at the wrong date for you to be in this region of space. So tell me, captain, what's caused such a drastic change from mine timeline to yours?" Seeing the captain glance over at me, I couldn't help rubbing the back of my head, given I was out numbered by Janeway two to one.

"That's likely my fault. Acting captain Zalost of the anticipation, inventor of the trans-slipstream drive, transphasic torpedoes, and deployable armor generators." That stare, the idea that the original timeline remained unchanged enough for the time traveling captain to be sent back anyway. I swear this was Q's doing, but I had no way of knowing for sure.

"It's a long story, but as the captain and I were actually discussing before your arrival. I'm hoping to hit the Borg even harder than your plan would have. Plus, we don't need the hub to get home." The eyebrow raise there was palpable, but I could practically see a new plan forming in the admiral's head. And I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.

Facing the storm 02

"And so to make up for the changes in the timeline, I decided to take advantage of my well advantages and come up with the armor and weapons upgrades myself. It took me nearly fifty years plus some extra time on voyager in accelerated time, but that's how we're here now." The admiral was massaging her temples as she took everything in, it was clear that both versions Janeway weren't a fan of time altering shenanigans, but so far it'd given voyager a huge lead without giving a bonus to enemies of the federation.

"Well, this certainly explains a lot, but an augment from another universe is definitely something they never covered in the academy." She got up and set down the padd with the plan I'd been laying out for the captain to liberate the drones and deal a crippling blow to the Borg using the Hirogen communications network to send a massive subspace pulse to disrupt the hive combined with destroying the transwarp hubs through a chain reaction once the queen was down.

"This plan? It should work. The problem is, we need to strike fast, the queen has been watching voyager for some time, no doubt she already knows I'm here."

"Then might I make one further suggestion, admiral?"

Deep in a nebula near the beta quadrant a diamond shaped vessel was preparing to enter a transwarp conduit, inside the queen was making plans. Voyager had been joined by another ship and recently obtained whatever technology allowed it to traverse distances almost as fast as her transwarp hubs, but without the apertures. Suddenly she felt something, the voices were growing fainter, quieter.

Something was very wrong with the collective, and billions of voices suddenly grew silent, leaving just the several hundred on her personal ship with its unique shielding. Deciding to investigate, she began changing course to another conduit, this one to take her back to the unicomplex before her ship began being rocked by weapons fire from nearly a dozen formerly friendly vessels. Escaping into the conduit, she realized the shields wouldn't respond to her commands, her vessel had been cut off.

"Alright Jarvis. I've gotten word she's on her way, and we should expect her any minute. Just be ready with those singularity torpedoes."

"Aye sir." I watched as the conduit opened up directly ahead of us, the unicomplex completely disrupted as liberated drones continued fighting to take larger and larger sectors of it, even the cooperative had gotten in on the action with Chakotay having gone with tom in the flyer to deliver them to help establish an orderly effort to take over the kilometers long station.

"Fire" I commanded as the ship barely had the time to raise any kind of defense, not that it helped. The ship started to go nova at first before a quantum singularity formed at the point of impact, the explosion suddenly reversing as the diamond collapsed into a single point and evaporated in a flash of radiation and light. The only thing the queen saw was that vessel Janeway had reclaimed, covered in some kind of armor, waiting for her at her unicomplex. And then knew nothing more.

"Ayalla, Bring us to these coordinates provided by the cooperative. We're going to do a little explosive disassembly."

"Aye sir!" she seemed cheerful as the Borg were losing everything, the collective was in chaos, and the queen now eliminated, hopefully permanently this time. As the Anticipation entered trans-slipstream I could barely hold my breath as we exited and joined a fleet of formerly Borg vessels which were bombarding the local transwarp hub with graviton torpedoes, devastating its internal structure.

"Zalost to fleet, move back, we're going to collapse the protostar." The various borg vessels warped at least a light minute away from the protostar at the core of the nebula before the anticipation fired a singularity torpedo at the star, causing it to collapse in on itself and taking the hub with it. Between the flyer, voyager, and the anticipation, the transwarp network was completely disassembled, leaving a bunch of collapsing corridors in transwarp space.

Personal Log, January thirty-first, twenty-three, seventy-seven. With the borg's transwarp network destroyed, the queen taken off the board, at least for now, and the hive no longer a hive but groups of drones beginning to regain their individuality. I'm hopeful that the future set in place here is for the better. I've already asked captain janeway to relay the warning about the supernova threat to romulus. Admiral janeway meanwhile has decided to stick around for a while.

"This bodes well for augments in starfleet you know? Second augment to aid us, and both you and doctor Bashir have done nothing that would line up with the fears about aguments from the twenty-first century."

"Yes, admiral, though I'm just hoping everything goes according to plan."

"Let me worry about that, the Borg have been dealt a crippling blow, it'll take centuries for them to reclaim their status as a threat."

"And Neelix?"

"I've given him the coordinates of the talaxian colony."

"Good. Interestingly, you don't seem to be vanishing now that the timeline has changed. I'm not sure how these things work, though. I was never a Starfleet cadet nor versed in temporal mechanics."

"You may yet get your chance, provided you stick around."

"You know I can't. Thank you for the offer, though. And for giving me the coordinates to Gateway. I just hope it can get me truly home."

"Good luck" With that the admiral walked out the back of the delta flyer and I closed the hatch and left the anticipation, the pair of ships entering trans-slipstream on a course for earth while I engaged the flyer's trans-slipstream drive heading for Gateway, and The Guardian.

Last edited: Apr 16, 2022

Facing the storm 03

Personal log, date, unknown. It's been three days since I ended up in this place after stepping through the guardian's gateway. I'm fairly certain I'm not home, given the primitive architecture combined with the rather obvious jaffa walking around guarding the place. Of course, I've chosen to hide in plain site using a set of armor I'd taken off a jaffa I'd incapacitated. I knew that I wasn't anywhere close to home, given this was the wrong universe. My problem was finding out when.

I'd been wandering the corridors for a while following a group of guards on patrol, the facsimile of their head tattoo copied onto my own with a dermal regenerator and some techniques I'd learned from the doctor on my time among Trinan's people. I was fortunate she'd been left behind because I don't know what I'd do if she'd been taken by the Goa'uld. As I rounded a corner, the group came to a stop.

"Chel nok, her." the larger one obviously the leader commanded the group as they grabbed a woman, a younger man shouting at them no, no. Then the name Skaara got my attention, giving me an idea of when I was.

"Hal mek! Aray Kree" I ordered, causing the group to pause as the leader's headdress's eyes began to glow.

"Ha'taaka, Hak'tyl!" shouting, 'Free them child killer' In goa'uld may have been a bit harsh, but I couldn't think of any other way to get their undivided attention at that moment.

"Kel shak, Shin'tel?"

"Mok Teal'c?"

"Mak Teal'c. Kree!" Teal'c's helmet lowered, revealing the man behind the mask. I lowered my own helmet and raised my hands before sending the command to sleep to the two Jaffa guards.

"Kree Shak?!, Kree tal shal mak!"

"I am Zalost, and I am not of the Goa'uld, nor the Jaffa. I have come to liberate the people you are holding here."

"You speak the same language as the woman we took a few days back. Who or what are you?"

"In your language? A Hok'tar, though I am not of your universe, I am here to see to it, you do not take her or the boy."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because if you don't, I suppose I can leave you here to deal with Apophis if you choose not to aid me. Know this, the Tau'ri were already coming to save them. It would be better if we met them half way."

"The Tau'ri?! Those have not been heard from in generations!"

"I only regret not saving the tau'ri you captured Teal'c." He paused contemplating things before I walked next to him and signalled for Skaara to come over.

"Young man, you speak english yes?"

"Yes, Daniel taught me!"

"Good, tell these people to follow him, you and Sha're will head to the Chappa'Ai and wait for O'neill and Daniel. They will help you." He nodded furiously and began spreading the word.

"You can still save the Tau'ri woman, but it will be dangerous. She is with Apophis as one to be chosen for his bride."

"Excellent! I wasn't too late, where is his palace."

"He has a palace here on Chulak, I will show you to it."

"My thanks." I bowed respectfully and signalled for Skaara and Sha're to stay put until I returned.

After a good ten minutes of walking, we arrived at a large pyramidal structure with what looked like some kind of ship landed upon it. Teal'c seemed unsure of things but after placing my hand against the floor and feeling the information flow change, the ring platform signaled its activation, and we stepped inside being teleported upwards. Suddenly, a group of jaffa began charging down the corridor until teal'c surprised me.

"Kree! Hol, Mel!" the suddenly lowered their guard and I followed quietly as the jaffa followed in behind us. After making a few turns, we entered a side door into the hidden chamber with the guards standing outside. Finding who I was looking for, the woman was dressed in veils of semi-transparent fabric, leaving not much to the imagination.

"Quickly, come with us, all of you." the other women looked confused.

"Kree Hol!" This time the women began to follow the airforce woman as I began guiding them out to the hall, the jaffa guards suddenly falling unconscious with a mental suggestion as I noticed one reaching for a Zat.

"Kree tal shal mak! Shol'va!" I continued to ignore him as the women continued to head down the hall, a telepathic suggestion leading them to the ring platform.

"Shol'va! Kree!" They'd made it, and I gave the signal to teleport them downwards while leading them to a cluster of trees near the stargate. Turning to face the voice, I immediately knew I was in a lot of trouble as a man glared at me with hatred and fury, his eyes glowing with unearthly energy.

"Onak sha kree, shel Goa'uld."

"Mekta sha Goa'uld mel" I smirked, the idea that my god is dead must have either really ticked him off or at least confused him a bit, Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow of intrigue.

"Shol'va! Onak sha kree!"

"Mekta, Setak, Oz!" From there I simply gestured, and his hand device flew off his hand and into mine, causing his eyes to widen more.

"Hok'tar shol'va!" he became angrier before I shoved him into a wall telekinetically and leaving him unconscious.

"Time to go!" I quickly had Teal'c follow me, and we made our way to the prison, where Skaara and Sha're waited with the rest of the prisoners. Quickly guiding them to the stargate a horn was blaring in the distance behind us as Apophis was finally getting his bearings. Suddenly, the stargate erupted outward just as we crested the hill. With SG1 and SG2 coming through and immediately running for cover as we ran for the gate.

"What the hell is going on?!" O'Neill shouted before recognizing Skaara running towards them with the group.

"Daniel, get that gate figured out and dial us a way out of here!"

"I'm going to need a minute, jack!" Several jaffa began cresting the hill as prisoners and airforce personnel alike began attacking the legions of jaffa coming after us. Deciding now wasn't the time to be holding back, I reached out and raised a dense electromagnetic barrier to block weapon blasts but allowing kinetics through.

"Okay, that's useful, who's doing that?!"

"Later!" I shouted as I began yanking weapons off downed jaffa and flinging them into a pile.

"Anyone who can use them, grab one!" Suddenly, larger blasts began impacting the barrier as death gliders began soaring overhead.

"Got it!" shouted Daniel as the gate opened up with a kawoosh and the colonel radioed in that they would be coming in hot. The group began running into the gateway, with SG2 heading in first to keep the base from firing on everyone. Finally, Apophis made is appearance as more and more jaffa were downed with zats, staff weapons, and semi-automatic weapons fire.

"Shol'va Kree!"

"No! Kree, Mel, Zalost!, Goa'uld Kree Mel!" with that Apophis was suddenly pulled towards me while I electromagnetically yanked a pistol off the Colonel's belt, Apophis's second hand device yanked away with a thought and thrown into the pile. Holding him there in front of me helpless with no weapons, I held a gun pointed right at him.

"Jaffa! Hol mel!" I shouted as they paused, seeing their god suddenly helpless in the air, and with a strange weapon pointed at him. Waiting for the last of the refugees to go through, the colonel shouted at us to come with them. So while throwing Apophis at a group of Jaffa I leaped through with the stargate disengaging behind me. Moments later, we rematerialized in the SGC.

Last edited: Apr 18, 2022

Facing the storm 04

"Hold your fire! They're with us!" shouted Kawalski as I stood there, dozens of guns pointed at me and for the moment defenses down and unprepared to fend off an assault of this nature. Moments later the Iris closed behind me with the wormhole having disengaged just in case an unauthorized one was established.

"Colonel O'Neill, Kawalski, care to explain what's going on here?" General Hammond, I remembered him being a bit stiff early on, but ultimately he was on SG1's side.

"These two came charging at the gate with all these people escaping from the enemy, sir."

"Do you know what they are?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Actually, I'm not a Jaffa, general. I was working undercover to infiltrate Apophis's compound to save these people."

"Regardless SG's one and two, this sure to be interesting debriefing is set for oh seven thirty"

"Yes sir" O'Neill responded as you'd expect, Teal'c stood there taking everything in, and I mostly was reaching out to try and figure out if I could rig an escape in case of problems. Shortly before I left the planet I'd had my gear beamed onto the flyer which the guardian had so graciously allowed me to bring along and instructed it to head for earth using the trans-slipstream on autopilot once it was out of the system. Reaching out, I felt it respond to my mental command and smirked, knowing I had a way out.

It didn't take long for Apophis to start trying to come after us. The gate was constantly under assault as he sent wave after wave of jaffa on a suicide mission with no response back. I'd of course changed into the clothes they'd lent me after removing the armor, and used the dermal regenerator to remove the tattoo on my forehead, so I wouldn't keep getting mistaken for a jaffa. After getting a few hours of sleep, I woke up early due to my enhanced abilities and started my morning routine of exercises and research, my deck having been beamed down to me, so I could quickly and quietly gather intel.

"Unauthorized activation" came over the intercom as the alarms went off again. Leaving the deck to its business and setting it underneath the bed with the small holoemitter to cloak it, I followed the airman out of my temporary quarters and to the conference room overlooking the gate just outside the general's office.

"Damn, those goa'ulds are persistent."

"Well somebody pissed them off, speaking of, how did you do that anyway? That whole throwing him around in the air thing?"

"Telekinesis, It's a long story, but I can prove it. In fact, I can do a lot to help you guys out, if you'll let me."

"Can't wait to hear it." Obviously the Colonel was wary of me, but to be fair, I would be too if I encountered a superhuman and my only reference was earth television and the fact that he's kicking my enemy's ass. The gate thumped a few more times and disengaged, radiation teams checking out the surrounding area.

"You don't think they're actually sending people through, do you?"

"Be like bugs on a windshield." The colonel's signature wit was refreshing, though he still kept his eyes locked squarely on me. As one of the personel gave the all clear, General Hammond ordered the base to stand down. After another hour of the Goa'uld trying to send people through and failing, the attempts stopped.

"Now, then, I'd like you to tell me what is going on here."

"Well sir, it may be hard to believe, but I'm a traveler from another universe, one where your whole operation, your world, is a Television show featuring colonel O'Neill and his team going to other planets and fighting the good fight for people throughout the galaxy through the stargate."

"You're right, I do find that hard to believe. How do I know you're not an enemy infiltrator feeding me a line of bull?" This time the colonel responded, clearly irritated at being kept out of the loop.

"I know too much, for example, General Hammond, in nineteen sixty-nine, you encountered general O'Neill and his team during an accidental time travel mission, during that incident and your first experience with the stargate you received a note from your future self telling you to send them on that mission in a few years and to make sure this team gets together."

"Okay he's clearly lost his mind, I say we lock him up and-"

"Colonel, I don't know how to say this, but he's telling the truth."

"Sir?!"

"Those events did or will happen, though you weren't supposed to know about them yet."

"I don't believe this."

"How about a full demonstration of my abilities?" I made a simple gesture and the pen flew out of his hand and began levitating above my own before I casually got it to rotate slowly then activating a tachyon field I slowed time, stood up, took the pen, walked over to him, set it back on the table in front of him, walked back around, swapped Daniel and Kowalski's briefing papers, then sat back down and re-entered normal time.

"That was just two of multiple abilities I've been granted. If you'd like you can have your medic, doctor Frasier do a full examination." The entire room was completely silent as they tried to come to terms with what just happened.

"General I-"

"Colonel, given what I just witnessed and what you've told me about from your brief mission, I don't think we could realistically hold him right now."

"I also have a ship in lunar orbit doing scans for key technologies, personnel, and objects you may find of interest." I took out a small holoprojector and set it on the table.

"For example, in Antarctica there's a second stargate located here, as well as technologies scattered in ancient ruins across your planet that could prove helpful against non-terrestrial threats."

"Where did you get that?"

"My ship, it's part of that long story that I should debrief you all on."

Facing the storm 05

"And so that's the whole story." I'd just gotten through explaining the whole situation to them. O'Neill appreciated the fact that Star Trek was real in another universe and, while still wary, was barely containing his excitement when I offered to take him and his team onboard the flyer to tour the solar system up close when they weren't busy. Suddenly I got a ping from my ship letting me know it'd found what I was looking for.

"Ah, there we are. Took me a while to scan past their passive cloak. I have one more thing to report. You've had an Asgard studying your world, Illegally by his own laws, I might add, to try and fix a genetic problem they're dealing with."

"Asgard? You mentioned there were more races besides the Goa'uld, are they friendly or hostile?" The general seemed more amicable to the sudden revelations given everything else, I just hope things didn't go south.

"Usually ambivalent however they're definitely not hostile, maybe to the Goa'uld, but otherwise they protect worlds from the parasites until they're ready. See there's a treaty in place of planets protected by the Asgard from the Goa'uld however it isn't foolproof."

"And how do we reach these Asgard?"

"Well…" Suddenly I beamed Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, and their newest team member major Samantha Carter as well as General Hammond onboard the Delta Flyer.

"It would help if you were trying to reach them with sufficiently advanced technology." That feeling of anticipation was at it's peak before I used the holo-emitter to project them back into the conference room and let the base know to stand down. I'd had to keep the major from suddenly disassembling everything to figure out how it works almost immediately. Meanwhile, Colonel O'Neill on the other hand mostly just wanted to run his hands along the hull, likely to determine if he was hallucinating or not. Once the initial shock had worn off, I directed the ship's communications at the Asgard vessel sitting in a high orbit over earth.

"How have they not been detected by telescopes from the ground yet?" An appropriate question from the major given the situation, but not one without a reasonable answer.

"They've got some advanced types of camouflage to help them hide from races below a certain technological level."

"So it's a stealth ship?"

"It's a scouting, research, and survey vessel technically. However, Loki is not supposed to be here."

"I'm sorry Loki?" Daniel had quickly caught onto the name and looked more than a little nervous, as well as incredibly curious as to why these Asgard shared the names of the norse gods.

"Indeed, there were multiple races visiting your world and having an effect on your planet's distant past. The Asgard were protecting what would become the norse and germanic peoples from Goa'uld attacks millennia ago."

"That, actually, explains quite a lot."

"Asgard vessel, this is the Earth ship Delta Flyer. We bring you greetings from the people of earth. Please respond."

"Earth ship?"

"Well, it was technically built by humans, just not ones from this earth. And Starfleet isn't a polity here." After waiting for several minutes with the ship choosing not to respond, I thought I'd try a different tactic.

"Loki, I know it's you there. If you don't respond, I suppose I'll have to go find Thor, and." Suddenly, a communication came in with a rapidly speaking voice that sounded more like a tape playing backwards on fast-forward than anything else.

"This is not technology native to this world. Who are you, really."

"I am Zalost, a friend, and to be honest I really do need to get in touch with the Asgard high council. In exchange, I will send you a complete map of my unique genetic makeup."

"What is so unique about it?"

"I'm what the Goa'uld would call, a hok'tar." there was a long pause before I got a confirmation to wait for his reply.

"Now, we wait."

"So this Loki fellow, he's some sort of scientist?"

"A geneticist actually, Colonel. And he wasn't supposed to be here for another few years, I've no idea why he's here now." I then turned to General Hammond.

"I take it you already know what I'm going to say, general?"

"If it's about Teal'c we're still trying to decide how to deal with him."

"So here's how this was supposed to play out originally. First, Skaara and Sha're were supposed to become hosts to the Goa'uld. Then Daniel, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Teal'c were supposed to form SG1 and fight the Goa'uld while looking for them to bring them home. Teal'c was going to betray the Goa'uld for Earth regardless of his circumstances and In doing so he put his family at risk and drew the attention of the Jaffa rebels. One of which is his Master and teacher Bra'tak. They would become some of your greatest allies and to be frank Teal'c can be trusted."

"He never said anything about leaving behind his family."

"That's because he didn't want them to color your decision regarding having him aid you against his former masters. Honestly, if my actions to save Sha're and Skaara ended up with you keeping him imprisoned I was going to take him with me to meet another potential ally and have him work with them instead."

"You've put me in a very difficult position, Zalost. We may not be able to hold you but even suggesting what would be considered treason is a serious crime."

"Technically not treason, actually. I may be from the United States, but I'm not from your universe. Hell, I'm barely human these days." There was a palpable silence, since no one really had a response to that. I was technically an alien to their world, even if I was from another earth.

"Just give it some thought. As it is, I was going to offer to use the Flyer to help Teal'c ensure his family's safety rather than leaving them on Chulak."

Amongst serpents 01

Personal log, August fourth, Nineteen Ninety seven. It took the better part of a day for Loki to respond with a reply from the Asgard high council, but plans were being drawn to bring earth into the protected planets' treaty, which I was really hoping would buy time until I could work out how to better prepare them for the galaxy at large. In the meantime, I'd convinced the SGC to consider giving Teal'c amnesty in exchange for intel on the Goa'uld and research on his symbiote. Of course none of this would work out if I couldn't rescue Drey'auc and Rya'c his wife and son from Chulak, but I'd gotten permission to take SG1 on a stealth mission using the Flyer.

"We should arrive in a few minutes, I'm going to put us a few light minutes out to help avoid detection before dropping to silent running with armor deployed." The trans-slipstream drive really was an incredible feat of engineering. Fortunately, B'Elanna had managed to find a way to recrystallize and synthesize benamite before Voyager's return to the alpha quadrant. Still, even Teal'c seemed surprised by our travel time, maybe it was the speeds trans-slipstream was capable of but crossing the galaxy shouldn't have been that big a deal normally given hyperspace technology. Then again with trans-slipstream the travel time between earth and chulak or about thirty thousand light years was about three days.

"Zalost, are you sure the Goa'uld won't detect us? This is supposed to be a stealth mission, emphasis on stealth."

"Sorry, colonel, I wasn't able to get my hands on a cloaking device before I arrived to your universe. Silent running is the best I can do, though I'm fairly confident the armor will hold regardless." As the ship exited trans-slipstream, I shut down the shields and deployed the armor before engaging silent running. The shields wouldn't have been as much use, with the flyer's enhanced shields having a strength normally about two thirds that of a galaxy class, or roughly six hundred fifty megatons. They would be good for about three full power shots from a ha'tak which really isn't that useful even with all the evasion and sensor trickery the flyer was capable of.

"Alright, coming up on Chulak, looks like there's a ha'tak in orbit, so I'm going to do a quick scan and move behind the planet's moon." After getting a good scan of the settlement and bringing up the map on the screen, Teal'c pointed out where key points were, including where his wife and son should be. Then we waited for nightfall.

"Major Carter, I'm going to leave you onboard the Flyer to bring us back when I signal, okay?"

"I'll try, but I'm not sure how all this works."

"I've already pre-programmed the transporters to be mostly automated, just lock on and activate the beaming sequence. I can go over their intricacies in more detail later."

"If you say so." Slipping on the darkened cloak along with Teal'c, Colonel O'Neill, and Daniel, I instructed the computer to beam us to the designated coordinates in the forest some distance from the city which shared the name of the planet.

"Okay, Teal'c, where to first?"

"We must find my former mentor and long time friend Master Bra'tak, He will aid us without a doubt."

"Lead the way." I followed as he led us to a house on the outskirts. The structure appeared to be made of some kind of adobe and was constructed similarly to other buildings I'd seen on the planet.

"Obi tan!" Suddenly I had a weapon pointed at my head by what looked to be an older man in chain mail armor and some kind of light armor plating to protect against instantly lethal strikes.

"Tek matte Bra'tac."

"Teal'c?"

"It is good to see you, friend."

"It may not be, I was just on my way to lead your wife and son away from your house. I was warned that Apophis intends to burn it as a sign to all shol'va not to cross him."

"Then we must hurry." I stated, interrupting their reunion as the old jaffa master looked me over.

"You keep interesting company, Teal'c."

"Indeed. This is Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill of the Tau'ri. And this is Zalost."

"Zalost the Hok'tar? The one who calls himself Oz the great and powerful?" I got a look from both Daniel and O'Neill, who were struggling to contain their amusement at the name Oz causing fear among the Jaffa and Goa'uld alike.

"That would be me" I made a gesture and a rock flew into my hand before I crushed it in my grip, leaving the pebbles to drop as I opened it again.

"Then we may not be too late. Come! Quickly!" We were nearly at the edge of a clearing with another house when I could hear the rythmic thumping of boots on the ground approaching in the distance. Practically throwing the door open to his own house, he was caught off guard by Drey'auc coming at him from behind before realizing who it was.

"Teal'c?"

"I am here, where is Rya'c?

"Sleeping, but why are you here?, Apophis has ordered the Jaffa to kill you on sight!"

"No time, Teal'c, grab Rya'c. Zalost to Major Carter. Get ready to beam us back!"

"Ready here." Suddenly, Teal'c ran back into the room carrying his sleeping son.

"Do it." In an instant, the seven of us were beamed onboard the Flyer.

"So the Tau'ri have ships?"

"Actually, this one's mine, I'm helping Teal'c rescue his family." Bra'tac seemed to contemplate that for a moment when the ship's proximity alarm went off.

"Sir, you might want to get a look at this." Joining Major Carter up at the cockpit, Colonel O'Neill and I looked out the window to see a Ha'tac looming as it moved ever closer.

"Crap, they must be investigating us. Okay don't panic, Bra'tac I can get you back down on the planet, no one will know your part in things."

"Indeed, that may be best, I will see if I can help more Jaffa see the truth of the false gods." With that he was beamed down to the planet near our original beam in point.

"Alright, I don't think I'd like to get an up close look at the weapons those Ha'tak are equipped with, so let's get out of here." I brought the Flyer out of silent running and brought the impulse engines online while spooling up the trans-slipstream drive. A quick roll to the left dodged an energy blast before we began accelerating up to one quarter light speed and submerged into trans-slipstream space.

"That was too close. Everyone alright back there?" Getting an affirmative from everyone, I settled in for the long three-day trip back to earth. I was really not happy that the Goa'uld were clearly talking about the Hok'tar Oz the great and powerful. I just hoped they didn't figure out I was working with the Tau'ri or that could sink my efforts to get earth put under Asgard protection. Not to mention drawing the attention of Goa'uld like Nirti which is the last thing I want. That crazed mad scientist gave me the chills.

Last edited: Apr 20, 2022

Amongst serpents 02

Personal log, august twentieth, nineteen, ninetey-seven. After locating the second stargate in Antarctica as well as adjusting the ship's sensors to detect trace amounts of naquadah in bio signs across the planet a handful of Goa'uld were discovered across the planet. Fortunately, three of them appeared to be in some kind of storage containers, with a fourth maintaining his host. I'd been told that Seth would be dealt with as a high priority mission by a combined task force, the three in their canopic jars are being kept in cold storage for now deep in the levels of Cheyenne mountain to ensure they don't get loose. In the meantime Daniel has discovered something interesting from some old declassified tapes.

"Okay hold on Daniel, before you go racing to save Ernest Littlefield maybe a better idea of where this planet is would help. Did you get the address?"

"Yes, it's right here."

"Okay, let's see… with the way the coordinates are laid out, that puts this star in the direction of Aries approximately twelve light years out."

"Right, but there's no star at those coordinates."

"Well the gate goes there, maybe it's just a red dwarf that hasn't been found yet. Just a moment." I walked over to the MALP and placed a transponder on it that should be picked up within a light year or so through subspace.

"If we send this through, the flyer can hone in on it. There has to be a reason doctor Littlefield didn't come back, right?"

"No, that makes a lot of sense, actually."

"Okay, does someone want to tell me what's going on?!"

"Colonel O'Neill, good you're here. I was just trying to convince Daniel that maybe going after a lost explorer from earth without a ship in orbit is a bad idea."

"Lost explorer? Okay, Daniel, fill me in on what you guys are going on about." A brief explanation and a meeting with General Hammond later along with Daniel insisting that Catherine Langford go with them despite military protocol and the Malp was sent through and images sent back of a storm ridden world with a sweltering climate. After confirming the transponder was online I beamed SG1 as well as Catherine Langford onto the Flyer and entered trans-slipstream.

It didn't take long for us to get there, roughly about a minute or so. But after exiting trans-slipstream we quickly began picking up the transponder from an M seven type red dwarf roughly point zero nine stellar masses. Quickly changing course and engaging the normal warp drive, we arrived in orbit of the innermost of a pair of planets.

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, I'm picking up a single human life sign on the surface. It's in an old structure along the coast of one of the three continents. It's within a hundred yards of the MALP."

"Can you bring us down?"

"Yes, hang on." Descending into the planet's atmosphere wasn't a big deal, however, the flyer was being buffeted around by the turbulence of an oncoming storm moving towards the coast. Landing the flyer and lowering the rear hatch, the team began heading into the structure to find out who was living in it.

"Doctor Littlefield? Ernest?" Suddenly a man peaks out from behind a wall, completely nude and fairly malnourished and looking to be in his mid-seventies. I tried to look less embarrassed than I actually was as he cautiously approached us.

"We've come to bring you home, doctor Littlefield." After a lengthy explanation as to why he couldn't leave, partly because the DHD was heavily damaged, He brought us to a room with a rather massive holographic projector. Taking out my Deck I activated the built-in tricorder's functions and began scanning it to try and download the data while the rest of SG1 was either trying to figure out what was going on or in Daniel's case, trying to translate the messages.

"It's okay Daniel, I'm downloading the storage of this device, I can project it back at the base, so you don't need to rush."

"There's so much we don't know, though. I mean, this is an incredible find. It'd take a lifetime to even begin to understand it."

"It did"

The elderly man now wearing some spare clothes replicated back on the flyer was looking at the room longingly.

"Have you been able to work out the purpose of this place? Or who built it?" I inquired while monitoring the download.

"Heliopolis."

"Heliopolis?" asked Daniel

"Repository, Philosophy, Astronomy"

"I assume you mean the ancient Egyptian city. People would come from everywhere to gather there. Schollars, Community leaders. It was also the central place of worship for Ra." That immediately got my attention.

"Ra? Doctor littlefield this may be important, but did you find Egyptian Hieroglyphs? Possilby ones indicating Ra?" Earnest digs out his journal and hands it to Daniel.

"Four distinct languages unlike anything on Earth. Catherine says they're probably alien. Catherine?"

"She found me long ago." As his journal further indicated, he'd been hallucinating about his long-lost fiancé for years, decades. Daniel continued to read when the room suddenly shook from a fairly loud thunderclap.

"A storm is coming" stated Teal'c as he was moving the malp onto the flyer while I practically carried doctor Littlefield onto the ship for expediency.

"It comes every year."

"Every year?" asked Carter before another loud thunderclap sounded.

"No time, I've got the database backed up, let's go." I shouted over the rumbling, the wind picking up heavily.

"No! Wait!"

"No time! The flyer can use its tractor beam to unearth the gate and anything else later." Suddenly I raised the boarding ramp and ascended us back into orbit and out of the storm raging below. Everyone on board had been jostled around as I got us to safety. More interesting however were the readings I was getting from the outermost planet, a frozen wasteland on the outer edge of the habitable zone. Deep underneath though was another active power source.

"Well, this could be interesting. Mind a little side trip, Colonel?"

Among serpents 03

After scanning the Surface from the Flyer, I managed to find what looked to be a room deep inside with a breathable atmosphere, though no biosigns. Sending the MALP down with a subspace beacon modified as a relay, so its information could be received by the flyer. Checking to make sure everything was clear, we beamed down into what looked to be a large chamber completely unlike anything the Goa'uld were known to design.

"Hmm, Norse runes again. This must be an Asgard outpost. Though why it was monitoring Heliopolis I have no idea."

"Asgard? Like Loki?"

"Yes, though it's been on minimal power for some time, one moment." After poking around with the deck I'd set to scan the surrounding area, it picked up where the power source was in the next room behind a bulkhead door.

"Okay, power source is behind here. Daniel, can you make sense of these control symbols?" He walked over and began closely looking at them, using Ernest's journal as a reference.

"Should be this one, but it's lit up red."

"Right, let's see if I can get the interface terminal over there up and running, Major Carter, give me a hand?" Taking careful readings, I quickly realized the control crystal relays were similar to isoliniar chips and used a variation of optical computing and nano sub-processors. Beaming down the toolkit from the flyer to get a better idea what was wrong since the technology was similar, I began taking out the isolinear repair and reprogramming tools and got to work.

"Here we go, if I'm reading this right, the relays in several crystals were burned. My Deck has a micro replicator built into it, so I might be able to replace and repair them." taking out the deck and setting it to scan the crystals, some compatible replacements were quickly generated by the onboard computer and replicated from my own energy stores. Quickly slotting in the replacements, the system began coming back online and holographic displays began showing data. I set the deck onto one of the terminals and began using its inbuilt tricorder to interface with it and begin translation.

"Well, that's a problem. A lot of the structure has collapsed, and environmental systems are down throughout the base. I'll try to grab what I can from the database." Suddenly a blip came up on the screen and some text began flashing at me.

"Hmm, that's not good, it's giving a proximity alert, something just exited out of I think the word is Higher space? Says it's a ship belonging to the Etins. Goa'uld maybe?" I quickly linked with the Flyer's sensors and the readings were consistent with a Goa'uld ship, though much smaller than a ha'tak.

"Right, O'Neall, you and your team stay here, let me know when the database backup is complete."

"Now hold on a minute" suddenly I beamed away as he'd managed to grab my jacket in an effort to stop me from leaving. He paused and let me go after realizing we were no longer in the base.

"Well since you're here colonel. Could you take tactical?" I quickly pointed out shields, weapons, armor deployment, sensors. Then engaged warp to intercept the ship.

"Hmm, roughly the size of the flyer, but definitely goa'uld in origin."

"This system has been claimed by lord Apophis, state your business."

"Did he just speak English?"

"Colonel, I know you've seen Star Trek. It's the UT translating, it's had time to build up a Goa'uld language database." I practically wanted to facepalm, but it wasn't malicious, I think it was just surprised given they usually need Daniel to act as their translator.

"Okay, I've got to get me one of those."

"Goa'uld ship, you have no claim to this system. Please reverse course and leave the area." The ship suddenly began charging its weapons as alerts came up on the console.

"Please?"

"Hey, don't say I wasn't polite. Colonel targets those staff cannons, with the phasers, let's see if they can be disabled." I put the flyer into an evasive roll and raised its shields, then brought us underneath to give the colonel a clear shot with the rear phasers. A single shot ignited the naquadah in the staff cannon, vaporizing it and taking a chunk out of the hull, detonating in a bright flash.

"Nice!" he was piratically cheering as the ship began random maneuvers to try and make targeting more difficult.

"Those cannons shouldn't have detonated like that. I wonder if they use liquid naquadah like their smaller counterparts. If so, it may become unstable in the presence of nadeon discharges."

"Let carter figure that out, for now let's try and disable him before he goes back home." Smirking, I quickly had an idea after realizing they really didn't have much in the way of shields. At least not in the same way Starfleet did. Scanning the ship I found what I was looking for and beamed multiple crystals out of the control core, shutting down the ship and leaving it completely offline.

"What did you just do?"

"I pulled the command and control crystals, the central computer for the ship."

"Well, he's certainly not going anywhere now. Let's go back and get everybody."

"Let me do one better." Suddenly, I locked onto the Goa'uld ship with a tractor beam and began towing it behind the flyer.

"Spoils of war, and since this is space and thus international territory, I believe salvage rights apply?"

"There's Jaffa on that ship, don't you think that's a bit hasty?" Suddenly, several escape pods jettisoned from the ship floating behind it.

"You were saying colonel? Besides, I'd like a look at their FTL systems. I'm curious how they get around without warp drive."

Among serpents 04

Personal log, september fourth, nineteen ninety-seven. It's been a few weeks since I captured that Goa'uld scout ship, and boy did it have some great surprises inside. According to Teal'c it's known as a tel'tak and contains, among other things, a hyperdrive and a ring platform unfortunately he couldn't tell me how either worked other than how to operate them but after a closer study of the hyperdrive I learned it wasn't all that dissimilar to transwarp though much like quantum slipstream it was accessing yet another dimensional layer of the universe to travel. I've decided that after taking detailed scans of the hyperdrive to give the ship to the SGC. They would gain access to one anyway, and this should help them bootstrap their own program for building ships.

"This element, naquadah. It's pretty unstable. I'm not sure why everyone is using this denser variant which Teal'c called naquadriah for their ships when dilithium is present near or around these ore deposits." I'd been visiting the naquadah mines on Abydos after having taken Daniel Jackson and sg1 back there.

"I think that's exactly why, it releases enormous amounts of energy to open a hyperspace window. I could spend months or even years trying to figure out how it works."

"Major Carter. I don't think you get it. Hyperdrive technology as it is now is incredibly inefficient. It doesn't just open a doorway. Rather, it smashes a hole in the wall, for lack of a better analogy. It's inefficient, and I'm certain with some modifications could be done with far less energy requirements."

"That lines up with what Teal'c told us about them. They don't create so much as steal technology." I continued taking readings and samples to study, as well as identifying and carefully gathering a large number of dilithium crystals to bring back with me. Then after helping a small team from earth install an iris onto the Abydos gate to protect the Abydonians, as well as reuniting Skaara and Sha-Re with their people. We headed back via the stargate with the flyer making a trans-slipstream jump back to follow us on autopilot.

Exiting the stargate and following the major to her lab, I realized what had been bugging me about the series back in the day, knowing what I did about tech from back home and where it would be in twenty years.

"Say, Major Carter. One thing that always bothered me back when this was all just a TV show. Why did you guys never utilize a proper machine shop or additive manufacturing equipment for prototyping stuff? It was always made off site and assembled here instead."

"We actually do have a maintenance bay where we store the MALPs but for the most part a lot of our research takes place at area fifty-one."

"A bit on the nose, isn't it?" She just gave me a look that told me it was better not to press any further, likely because she said something similar once.

"Speaking of. While you don't have the computing power for a replicator, I did actually find some old schematics that I thought could be useful in getting you guys ready for what's out there. Namely, this." Suddenly I beamed a molecular re-arranger roughly the size of an oven into the lab.

"It's not much, but it's a start. It can take raw materials and convert them into refined materials and objects. Just don't expect it to make fully realized machines. I've included the schematics in this booklet on top."

"That's very generous, this could save months of assembly and manufacture work. But why?"

"Because it's imperative your planet gets ready for the Goa'uld. When you killed Ra, you started a war. And at the very least, Apophis knows where you are. He will be coming, and your world needs to be ready. In the original timeline, you got so damn lucky. This time you have the ancient outpost which should help. But it may not be enough."

"Are you saying you won't help defend us from the Goa'uld?"

"I'm saying I'm not entirely sure if I will always be here. It's actually why I've asked for the general to bring in the second foremost expert on the stargate after yourself." Suddenly a knock sounded at the door, and it opened to reveal a shouter man with a typical nerd vibe to him. Just in case though, I'd snagged some limes from the mess hall and pocketed them.

"What is with the multiverse and timing? Major Carter, meet Doctor Rodney McKay, oh and if he gets out of hand here." I handed her one of the limes, the confusion evident, but setting it down, not sure why she'd need one.

"If who gets out of hand?." Okay that's the McKay I remember from the show, a bit paranoid, a bit arrogant, a bit neurotic at times.

"Doctor McKay, I was hoping you could assist me with-"

"What is that?"

"Molecular assembler, it's used to-"

"Rearrange molecules, it's in the name. No need to explain it, whoever you are." And there's the arrogance and rudeness. Right time to put a stop to this before it gets out of hand.

"Zalost."

"Right Zalost not that you really know much about, Wait what's that in your hand? Is that citrus, I'm deathly allergic to citrus!"

"I know, You're also incredibly arrogant and have a tendency to not think everything through. However, you're also one of the most brilliant people on this planet, and Just remember I'm not just strong." I took a solid metal bar and bent it in my hands, with it making a loud groaning sound. My grip having left an indent into it's surface.

"I'm fast too, and not a native of this earth." I couldn't help it. I wasn't sure if it was the augmented genes making me more arrogant or just that he needed a swift kick in his ego, but since Major Sheppard wasn't a major in the air force, yet, it was the quick way to make sure he stayed in line. Though, his stuttering was kind of amusing. And there's those augment genes again.

"Relax, McKay, I won't actually hurt you. Just check your work with Major Carter and everything will be fine. Now, then where were we? Oh, yeah. The antarctic outpost. I'm going to need a drone when you find the storage for them. I want to see if I can replicate them to create a bigger stockpile.

Among serpents 05

Personal log, October twentieth, nineteen, ninety-seven. I've managed to scan the drones at the Antarctic outpost and completely refilled and refurbished the auxiliary stockpiles. It is my hope that when Apophis comes knocking, he'll be in for a rude awakening when a swarm Alteran drones shoot up from the surface and completely annihilate his ha'taks. In the meantime, I've been keeping a close eye on colonel Martin Kennedy, who continues to pester Teal'c regarding his time as a Jaffa. After their suggestion to send Teal'c to Langley airforce base for interrogation, I planted a micro tracker on his person to keep tabs on him.

"And that's exactly it, general, the NID is a corrupt arm of the United States military. Colonel Kennedy and Colonel Maybourn are operatives working for it and personally detestable people." Things were once again getting heated as I tried to nip a problem in the bud by going to the general about it. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to appreciate me casually placing a tracker on an airforce officer, even if he was working for a corrupt organization.

"Even if you could prove the NID is corrupt, there really isn't all that much I can do, Zalost."

"Just give me your word Teal'c won't be shipped off to some facility like area fifty-one or that complex under Langley. Otherwise, I may have to intervene."

"Once again, you make those thinly veiled threats. I'm not sure who's more of a threat to this planet right now, the Goa'uld, the NID, or you."

"I just want to ensure the stargate program remains intact under your command, General Hammond. It is imperative not only for the sake of your world but thousands of others that SG1 remains as it is, with you as the leader of this base."

"That may not be up to you, Zalost. As it is, I'm taking a huge risk just giving you the Antarctic gate for that project of yours around Tau Ceti."

"That benefits your world too General. By setting up an off world shipyard, it'll make defending earth that much easier long term, while keeping the stargate program a secret. Unless you'd prefer the truth get out now so the world can get over its panic?"

"Definitely not. Just please use more tact when dealing with accusations like you've been throwing around. Senator Kinsey is breathing down my neck regarding closing the stargate program after he somehow found out from colonel mayborn. Who I might add is currently under investigation for leaking top secret information."

"Speaking of the good senator, do you think anyone would notice him going missing for a few days?" That seemed to give the general pause. It wasn't even my idea, it was O'Neill's after he found out who was pushing Colonel Kennedy on getting Teal'c locked up for study. The two had begun to build a trust with each other, and it seemed like the colonel liked Teal'c having his back, as well as his understanding about the kinds of sentient rights violations the good senator and his pet colonels were involved in.

It certainly wasn't difficult to convince him and the general after noting the large cache of non-terrestrial technology in a warehouse in New Mexico which was under the control of a handful of corporations. But the idea of that kind of conspiracy was hard for anyone to accept. As it was, I'd been busy working on the first drone mining and fabrication ships for use at Tau Ceti now that the local hub station had been constructed, and a gate deployed there. I certainly couldn't remain on top of things on earth while getting everything setup, since setting up a star system as a manufacturing hub was a huge endeavor.

After another few rounds of nonsense and a few weeks of political irritation. Teal'c was declared to have diplomatic immunity, as I'd decided the best way to handle it was to give him asylum under my personal independent protection. It wasn't like anyone could debate I had the power to challenge the United States if not most of the world solo right now anyway. One of the conditions however was that the SGC would be allowed to set up an off world base as part of the Tau Ceti hub station. Personally, I had no problem with that since it would be safer to deploy from there anyway, but I still refused to allow NID operatives on site. This was primarily because I knew they'd go around trying to steal technology and sabotaging things if they were there.

"Welcome to Tau Ceti." I'd just finished getting this section of the station constructed with the artificial gravity online and set to point eight gees, the flyer currently docked in the first and only docking bay. SG1 of course was a bit in shock that this whole place could be constructed in about a month, but with the scaled up replicator I managed to assemble in my off time using time dilation, it was a piece of cake. The federation really does not play around when it comes to construction ability.

"As the first of what will hopefully be many guests to this station, I'd like to offer you free rein of the station's facilities. It's not much, but right now there are no planets currently habitable here." Showing everyone around, I went over the various facilities, from the sonic showers to the food replicators. I'd set up the off world base such that each SG team had a shared common area and private quarters to make it easier for them to assemble there. SG's 1 and 2 would be operating out of Tau Ceti for now, with their normal dialing schedule and operations resuming based on the Abydos list, as well as briefings being conducted remotely using some modified Asgard hologram technology I'd salvaged from the base.

"So these replicators, can they actually make literally any food?"

"Sure colonel. Computer, One meat lover's pizza, stuffed crust, three kinds of cheese." Suddenly, a large pizza appeared in the center of the table.

"It's setup this way to simply things like this, you'll find a smaller in wall variant in your quarters. So how's it taste?"

"Good enough for something that was never alive. I could get used to this, though."

"Glad to hear it, colonel." I chuckled as I moved on while quickly registering their security clearance codes to allow them access to various parts of the base.

"And finally we have the Embarkation room. Much like the SGC, it's visible from the command center, and it's even setup with both its own iris and defenses to prevent incursions. Primarily, this little jewel I nabbed out of the Asgard database on Heliopolis beta. It detects incoming travelers and if they aren't cleared first they're beamed to a holding cell on one of the gas giant's moons. Anyway, that constitutes our tour, get some sleep, you return to normal scheduled operations at oh nine hundred hours."

Among serpents 06

Personal log, November fifteenth, nineteen ninety-seven. After spending a few weeks in accelerated time while SG1 and 2 continued on their missions as mandated by the SGC, Kowalski and his team came upon a planet which triggered an immediate quarantine. In a panic, I found the backup of the EMH I'd left in the flyer in case I ever got the ability to bring him online. Fortunately, the Asgard computer core from Heliopolis two was large enough to run the EMH as well as the base, so after a bit of tinkering and constructing holo emitters in the sickbay. The EMH was brought online and SG2 was treated for a virus which was feeding on certain neurochemicals, causing them to regress.

I'd also brought the frozen Alteran from the antarctic base and beamed her into a medical stasis pod while the EMH continued to study the virus she was suffering from. With federation medicine, there should be minimal memory loss as well. It is my hope that she can provide more detail on the people who built the stargates as well as a clearer idea about how to use some of the technology.

"Okay, run that by me again?"

"We're investigating the cause for the people's lack of lifespan, but Colonel O'Neill only has a few days at the rate he's aging." I wanted to facepalm because I remembered this world. Fortunately, I'd been busy working on the Tau Ceti base as well as discussing plans to power both McMurdo and the ancient outpost using geothermal taps at the nearby volcano mount Erebus.

"Okay, I'll be coming through shortly. If It is what I think it is, this should be fairly easy to deal with." The stargate disconnected and I re-connected it coming from Tau Ceti to P3X-8596 or Argos as it's called by the locals. Stepping out of the gateway, I immediately began reaching out with my abilities and found the power source right underneath a large statue.

"Okay, Colonel, I've found the problem. You've been infected with a nanotechnological virus. But it's not airborne, in fact um well, Colonel did you erm, do make direct contact with any of the locals?"

"What? I, oh god, Kynthia." O'Neill practically facepalmed when he realized what had happened.

"Yep, this one spreads through contact. No worries, thought I'm going to disable the nanites, just give me a few minutes to get a feel for the code, and you should be fine to pull a Kirk."

"Hey, I didn't sleep with her, she was just very, forward." I of course already knew this, but well the federation was a bit more liberal in the sorts of things that come from cohabitation with and meeting aliens. And at least the Argosians were still human. Still I figured a little teasing wouldn't hurt.

Reaching out and making physical contact with the control module, I suddenly found a swarm of Goa'uld nanites trying to attack my own Borg nanoprobes as the two fought for control until a new hybrid nanotechnology began forming from the Borg ones assimilating them. My body quickly adapted and now contained traces of naquadah and some sort of alloy pulled from the casing of the control module to build the new hybrid nanoprobes.

"Well, that was unexpected."

"What was?" Inquired major carter as she continued taking readings from the tri-corder I'd insisted they take with them as part of their exploratory kit.

"Well you know my concern about my Borg nanoprobes being the reason for not allowing a proper medical screening back at the SGC, right?"

"Yes, though I don't know what this has to do with, wait, what happened?"

"Well, Pelops's nanites tried to infect me to protect their computer core after my nanoprobes were forcing an interface. My nanoprobes assimilated Pelops's Goa'uld nanites and adapted their technology."

"Is there a risk to everyone?!"

"No, they're inert other than the normal programming my own nanoprobes have. They may be more efficient at interfacing with Goa'uld technology, though. Anyway, the device is deactivated, and the nanites have been instructed to become inert." It's a bit more complicated than that, but I didn't need to go into too much detail. In fact, I'd gone ahead and modified the nanites to extend their telomeres and give the Argosians a life span of nearly two hundred earth years. I figured the colonel would find out eventually, but I'd worry about that later, since they couldn't be spread through contact anymore.

"Oh, and don't worry about the rapid aging, Just go check with the EMH back at Ceti base. He should be able to reverse any damage done." After the Colonel and everyone said their goodbye's and the gift of thousands of days was made clear to the Argosians we all made our way back for some much-needed rest.

Hostile Universe 01

Personal Log, December third, ninteen, nintey-seven. I got a visit from the Asgard last week. I have no idea how they found out about Tau Ceti. They were hoping my unique technology tree might help them against the replicators. Unfortunately, I'm only just starting to work out a new Hyper-Trans-Slipstream drive, which should allow me to possibly open up a gateway home.

I've also been investigating how the stargates open wormholes from readings taken during the formation of the event horizon in the hopes of creating either my own stargates or possibly a wormhole drive, which would render even a hybrid trans-slipstream/hyperdrive moot. After I'd made contact with and began opening trade negotiations with the Asgard for the deployable armor technology and trans-phasic torpedoes, as well as helping them integrate it into their ships. I received beam weapon technology and reactor technology that I'm hopeful will completely end the Goa'uld threat once the first few ships finish being built.

"And so that's why I asked you to come along, major. No offense, but from my memory, the replicators are vulnerable to kinetics and I could really use a second brainiac on this one."

"It's hard to believe you need my help with anything. Though I guess anything's possible."

"Don't sell yourself short, you're one of if not the most brilliant mind on earth, with very few people able to actually compete given the resources you have access to. It's why I set up Ceti base in the first place. To create a buffer, so earth can explore safely, and so brilliant minds like yourself and doctor McKay can actually explore new possibilities."

"Anyway, I've gone ahead and replicated both earth kinetics and a special weapon I'm hoping will catch the replicators by surprise." Opening a crate, I pulled out something that looked sort of like a bulky pulse rifle.

"This is the TR116, it's a special kinetic weapon originally designed to fight the Borg. There is also a variant which can snipe a target through walls via beaming technology. Equipped with Tritanium Bullets, this should be fairly effective against replicators. Especially since the bullets have a small anti-matter charge in the tip, effectively destroying sections of them outright rather than just scattering them." She held the weapon and checked it over with the careful consideration you'd expect from someone with military training before slinging it over her shoulder.

I had begun arming myself with my normal harness and some additional weapons attachment points, a shotgun on my back and a TR116 slung over my shoulder. Worst case, I was hoping I could just destroy them telekinetically. After confirming, we were approaching the crashed Asgard ship's crash site with the Biliskner in orbit over what turned out to be an older Asgard ship which had made its way to the far edge of the milkyway from Ida travelling nearly four and a half million light years.

"Alright, Major, it seems we're on a time clock. There was an Asgard commanding this vessel named Baldr, and he may yet live deep in the computer's systems." Beaming down to the crashed ship, we were quickly swarmed by the replicators investigating the burst of energy. Grabbing onto the materials in the blocks, I quickly threw them back against the wall and directed carter to focus on the ship's control panel and to work with Thor over the coms while I dealt with the infestation.

Let's see, if I remember correctly, the queen will be at or near the power core. Firing several shots from the shotgun, I took out several replicators, but they continued swarming towards me, so I had to resort to a combination of blasting holes in the group with the shot gun and shoving them back with electromagnetic and telekinetic pushes. After pushing through several more corridors with my presence keeping the replicators busy and focused on a singular target, I finally managed to make it near the power core with dense walls made up of replicator blocks in the way.

Reaching out to touch the replicator blocks, I could feel the communications running through them, but their protocols were difficult to penetrate and had their own defensive systems. Their hive minded network and focused singular purpose proved overwhelming to my own Borg nanotechnology, so I couldn't simply hack the replicators in the vicinity, forcing me to try another way after their attempts to adapt trigged them to try and hijack my own nanoprobes. I did manage to get some information out though and after feeling out the frequency that was holding them together I managed to disrupt the wall enough for me to walk through into the power core which was swarming with the machines.

"Major, I hope you've managed to find Baldr because I don't think even I can take on this many."

"Still working on locating him, Zalost, just try to stall if you can."

"Damn it!" Deciding to stop holding back as much, I quickly sent out a pulse to force the replicator blocks to disconnect within about five feet of me while I continued pushing my way towards the huge spider like queen. I couldn't fire the Anti-matter rounds because it might damage the power core, so I continued pushing and disassembling any replicators that came near me until they backed off a bit. Reaching out this time, I tried to interface with the Queen in the hopes of disrupting the swarm when I got its own limb piercing through my shoulder and interfacing with the nanites for my trouble. Suddenly I was beamed out of there along with carter who was holding a large crystal storage module with a handle on it.

"Zalost are you alright?" I was holding my shoulder where the replicator's limb had pierced me. For an instant I was connected with the local hive mind and knew all that they knew and vice versa. And what I saw terrified me.

"Thor, We have to destroy that ship. I'm instructing the flyer to target it with a singularity torpedo. The replicators have spread off the ship and are starting to consume the metals on the planet's surface."

"Won't that destroy the planet?"

"Yes major, but one planet is a fair cost to keeping the replicators out of the Milky Way for now. Firing singularity torpedo." Suddenly a bright yellow light shot out from the delta flyer and flew towards the planet, the torpedo specially modified to begin collapsing on impact and taking the planet with it and likely the star system once a proper quantum singularity formed rather than evaporating like normal.

"Thor I'm jumping to warp, I'll reach out again when we're at a safe distance." With both ships engaging their FTL drives, I watched on long range sensors as the planet began collapsing downwards with the crust being pulled inward while the singularity traveled downward towards the planet's core, the object having been replaced with a bright flash before distorting space-time around its self like a cloak against the cold. The moon fell in afterwards, and in due time the other planets in the system would be either consumed or thrown out of the system while the star was pulled apart by the growing singularity. It was beautiful in a way, but also terrifying to think this is what it would take to properly deal with a replicator incursion.

Hostile Universe 02

It was incredibly stupid to have gone onto that ship without engaging the tachyon field. I knew going in how dangerous the replicators might be, but so far I really hadn't encountered any major threats in this universe. Even with my accelerated healing and regenerative abilities, I should have known better, even though Apophis was a joke and earth wasn't actually a threat. Meanwhile, the Ori weren't due for a decade and any other major threats were currently in another galaxy, I was not expecting the timeline to change this much already.

I was at a loss as to how and why an Asgard ship containing replicators had made the journey to the Milky Way, but Thor had given his word that they would do their best to try and keep any further incursions to a minimum. Knowing they were out there was enough to get me a bit more focused on dealing with the Goa'uld problem first. So while doing my best to recall everything I could remember about the various stargate series and writing it down, I started noting things that could be useful. One idea I was reluctant to try but hoped could be useful was the ability to make hyperspace unsafe for travel. Something the Vanir, an offshoot of the Asgard, developed in the Pegasus galaxy. I also notified Thor about the Vanir in Pegasus. He'd quickly understood multiverse theory and my predicament as expected, but simply did not have the ships at the moment due to the replicator threat.

After making a note to look into hyperspace disruption for later, I got back to charting the coordinates of planets based on the data I compiled from dialing random gate addresses to train an AI to determine how they corresponded to positions in actual space. Rather than a Malp every planet that connected had a pair of type seven reconnaissance probes sent through to scan the planet, and it's system for hostiles as well as anything of note before entering into a high orbit and awaiting a second dial back. Once it was deemed no enemy presence was on the planet, it would be given the okay for an SG team to investigate on the ground and, if needed, make contact with the locals.

This went on for the next few weeks while I continued working away in the lab I'd set up in a more remote section of Ceti base. I'd left the automated assemblers going, gathering power from a handful of micro fusion reactors, with instructions to begin constructing a dyson swarm around Tau Ceti to power the shipyard which was working on the Gungnir. What I didn't expect was for someone to actually come looking for me, given the distance I'd tried to project after the replicator incident and a simple do not disturb request on the door.

"I've got it open, sir."

"Great work Carter."

"Thank you sir."

"Zalost, I know you're in there. General Hammond asked me to check on you and, woah, this place is a mess." As he looked around, the air pressure change scattered various papers filled with blueprints and equations which he couldn't even begin to guess at, though some looked like astronomical charts. Suddenly a hologram appeared in front of Colonel O'Neill and his team of Zalost only slightly transparent.

"Colonel, you really shouldn't go breaking into someone's private laboratory." He waved his hand through the hologram with irritation since it wasn't solid, trying to figure out where it was being projected from.

"Zalost? Where are you? I've been asked by General Hammond to check up on you. Something about overworking and stress after your encounter with those replicator things."

"Me? I'm sort of everywhere and nowhere right now. I just didn't have the knowledge, computing power, and physical ability to keep up with things."

"O'Neill, I believe I've found him." Teal'c had located the pod stashed in a remote part of the lab, Zalost's body laying there in stasis with a Borg inspired interface allowing him to directly hook up to Ceti base's computer.

"What did you do to yourself?!"

"I told you, I was insufficient, prone to mistakes. I needed to expand my ability to get a better handle on things. As it is, I've already found so much information from the databases on the Heliopolis planets. So many new ideas to try, new methods of travel that could make hyperdrive a thing of the past. I'm so close, I can finally do everything."

"Not everything." Suddenly a man appeared in the room with a flash of light and an intrigued look on his face.

"As amusing as it was watching you go down the path to madness, I was asked to step in. Something about a potential hive mind rivaling the Borg in a few centuries." The hologram shifted, and it's expression actually became cold as it locked eyes with the intruder.

"I've seen you before, I know Zalost said that fiction exists in other realities, but aren't you that Q guy who kept putting the enterprise through trials?"

"I see! I'm a work of fiction here? How quaint. Hmm, I believe it's time for a wardrobe change." Suddenly, in a flash of light, he went from wearing that black and red starfleet uniform to one resembling general hammonds but with more medals and the rank insignia of a five-star general.

"Much better, now then, It's time you left your little interface my Übermensch friend. You have things to do, and this is far from the way to do it. We certainly can't have you leaving yet."

"We?" He asked as a young woman appeared in yet another flash of light.

"Trinan?! No! You can't be here, It's too dangerous, if the Goa'uld ever captured you."

"So you left me there?! I had nowhere else to go, Zalost. The humans were very kind and offered me a place to stay, I spent a few years on earth, I even managed to convince Q to let me visit your home world to get a better idea of what made you the way you are."

"Sorry, but who are you?"

"We haven't met, I'm Trinan, but I do know who you are, Colonel. When Q told me where Zalost had ended up, I started watching reruns to try and figure out what he might be doing here. Though I never expected all this."

"Damn it, Q, I thought you weren't supposed to interfere in other realities. I mean, the continuum is supposed to be watching over my counterpart, and I know the ascended Alterans never would have agreed to let you interfere."

"Alright, can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?!"

"Hmm, I suppose I owe you that much. I did skip over a lot of details in my debriefing to the general regarding my time in the last universe. To put it simply, This is Q, yes that Q, and the woman with him is Trinan. She's a companion of mine who Q keeps sending along to keep me grounded, more or less?"

"Well we certainly have seen what happens when I'm not here, I mean look at this place, it's worse than the lab back home."

"Right, well, just a moment." Suddenly everything was shifted around rapidly and sorted via transporter beaming and force field projections organizing the lab space.

"You couldn't do that before."

"I wasn't interfaced with an entire space station and all its equipment."

"Look, just come out of there, alright? General Hammond requested you back on Earth days ago."

"Allow me" Suddenly in another blinding flash of light Zalost was no longer in the pod but standing there disconnected from everything and holding his head as if he was suffering from a massive headache.

"Gah! Everything is so much smaller again. Warn a guy would ya?!" Q just stood there bemused at Zalost's Misery while Trinan grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him out of the room, surprising everyone.

Hostile Universe 03

"Q What did you do?!" I felt enraged as I shouted into the air, the godling having vanished, leaving me with this unexpected situation. Trinan was currently exploring Ceti base while answering a literal mountain of questions from Daniel Jackson and major carter regarding where she came from, O'Neill tagging along to keep an eye on things. Surprisingly, Teal'c actually decided to make sure I didn't leave the base and was currently standing down the hall. Two things were very wrong right now. First, Trinan was clearly human now, given she lacked the appearance she had when I last saw her. Second, she was actually stronger too. If I didn't know better, I'd say Q did something between when I left her on the Anticipation and now, but I had no idea what and would need to find out as soon as possible.

"I know you can hear me, Q, why the hell are you here, how the hell did you get past the Alterans!"

"Well it certainly wasn't easy if you must know, but when my superior's superior makes a request I really can't refuse. Besides, even the leader of the Alterans couldn't refuse their command."

"What are you talking about? Superiors above the ascended Alternas and the Q continuum? This must be another trick or ploy or something."

"I told you before, I was asked to deal with your dopplegangar by a higher power. Even in the multiverse, there is a hierarchy above the various beings who watch over their universes. The only ones to successfully go against them cut their universes off from the whole. And even then there was some struggle."

"Just how many realities are there, and who the hell has the power to lock out a universe?"

"Far too many for even your augmented mind to comprehend. You really shouldn't ask questions you probably don't want the answers to."

"Q! I'm serious. I've already accepted that there are beings like you out there, what I don't like is people deciding to treat me as a chess piece."

"Temper, temper, wouldn't want to give into that anger you augments are so well known for." I could just barely tell he was building energy in defense, The sudden shift in reality on the edge of my senses as everything became amplified the more I gave into my emotional state. He must have noticed it too because he smirked in that arrogant knowing way.

"Or maybe you do. A word of advice from one powerful being to another. Chaos may be more fun, but it's when you focus that chaos that things truly take shape." In a flash, he vanished again, leaving me with far more questions than answers. For the moment, I had a lot to think about, so I decided to deal with whatever the SGC decided was needed now that I suddenly had time on my hands.

"So what made you decide it was better to lock yourself in a research lab and isolate from the group?" As helpful as they could be, I never did like being evaluated by psychiatrists. Plus, I was concerned about my emotional state these days. I was definitely being more driven by them than I used to be.

"Because I realized things were moving too fast. We weren't ready, hell, humanity wasn't ready for what's out there, and I needed to focus on the task at hand." That was an understatement. Here we are nearly a year from their second encounter with what's out there, and we've already encountered the replicators on top of the Goa'uld and the Jaffa. It was all happening way too quickly.

"So you feel that only you could prepare everything enough to be ready for coming threats?"

"I know I am. I'm barely human anymore, hell I know you've read my file, and know about what I'm capable of."

"Physically yes, but you were still human, once. It takes a toll on all of us to take such heavy burdens. It's the price we pay for taking on such responsibility, and now that everyone looks to you for guidance you've chosen to face it alone."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you need a break, let someone else take the reins for a bit. Stop pushing yourself to prepare for a threat that by your own admission may not arrive for another few years. I'm going to recommend some time off base, go where you like, but don't come back for at least a week."

"I could use the break, but."

"This is not up for debate, if you'd like I can have you escorted out of here. I know it probably won't do any good, but you don't seem the type to fight against innocent bystanders." he had me there, I really didn't want to hurt anyone if I could avoid it. It's why I usually resorted to non-lethal takedowns whenever possible. Getting up I resigned myself to the decided outcome and walked towards the door, closing it behind me.

"See you in a week or so!"

"As much fun as it would be going fishing with you, Colonel, I was actually thinking of taking this time to catch up with Trinan. Maybe help her get settled in on earth?"

"Oh sure, no problem, I was just offering, it's a great way to relax." I hated seeing him let down, but I just knew the others would do something similar. Since SG1 was put on leave for the next week, it seemed prudent that I focus on what was going on in front of me.

"See you in a week, Colonel." Heading to the elevator, I went up to the upper floor and met Trinan out in front of the base.

"So Trinan, it seems like a lot happened after I left. How in the world did you become human?"

"That, well, I've been human since I came back actually, Q changed my appearance, but I asked him to make it easier for me to get close to you."

"I must be the densest idiot in the multiverse if I didn't notice for over a year that you were no longer in the same body."

"Not quite, but close. I got the feeling you were always avoiding me, even back on the Anticipation."

"And of course you used the dermal regenerator to alter your appearance."

"Actually, it was your ship's doctor who helped me with that once Q's temporary changes wore off. He really is quite skilled at alterations like that." I practically facepalmed. I knew something was different, but I'd been so focused on solving all the major problems, I didn't notice the situation right in front of me. As I would find out, though, she wasn't entirely human either. It seemed Q still wasn't done playing the trickster. But, as I would eventually find out. That actually wouldn't matter.

Hostile Universe 04

It didn't take long to find the housing just outside Colorado Springs which was originally being given to me but with my staying in tau ceti was mostly going unused. Trinan didn't take long to find herself at home and, as I'd found out, I'd been given a considerable amount of funds in exchange for the advancements and information I'd been providing them. In my mind, it was all a ploy to get me to stay long term, but it certainly wasn't unwelcome. After stopping by a used car place to pickup what would be a still fairly new mid-nineties Jeep Cherokee in a gorgeous dark blue with a manual transmission, I took Trinan out to a nice dinner place in the hops of making up for lost time.

"And that's when I telekinetically grabbed him, yanked away his hand device and kept him hostage at gun point, forcing the Jaffa to stop firing until everyone was through the gate."

"You're getting better. You aren't relying as much on that super speed of yours anymore."

"I don't need it, for the most part. It's kind of overpowered and as dumb as this sounds. Against an enemy who can't actually do any real harm to your person, what's the point in going all out."

"That's what got you hurt, though. You underestimated those, what were they called? Replicators?"

"Yeah, I nearly lost us the entire mission because of my bad habit of trying to stay just above equal footing rather than going all out. Fortunately, Thor beamed me out of there before the replicator queen could do more than briefly establish a link between me and their local hive mind."

"Just, be more careful. It wouldn't hurt for you to use at least a little more power, so your enemies really do have no hope of beating you."

"That's the thing. I could literally solo a goa'uld fortified world if I wanted to. But it's important that the humans in this universe learn to deal with more powerful threats than themselves. Without that lesson, they will get wiped out when a bigger threat comes along."

"You mentioned the replicators, just what sorts of threats are waiting out there?"

"So I'm sure you've already begun to realize the universe is far bigger than even what the federation has access to, right? Out there are threats from other galaxies that make the Goa'uld look like chumps. The Replicators, The Wraith, but most frightening of all and the group that I'm not so sure I could go up against. The Ori."

"The Ori?"

"Oh yes. They're an offshoot of the people who became this universe's version of the Q. Millions of years ago, there was a schism among a group of humanoids in a galaxy far, far away. The ones that stayed behind became the Ori, the ones that left became the Alterans and seeded many galaxies with stargates. The Ori are quite literally a hostile faction of the very people who built the stargates."

"Okay, I can see why you might be concerned, but if they're like Q why aren't they here wreaking havoc?"

"Because they don't know we're here. The Alterans that ascended shielded this part of the universe from the Ori and have a kind of cold war thing going on between themselves where neither side can take the other. So long as they don't know we're here, they'll stay in that distant galaxy. If they learn of the people here, then they'll invade a far less prepared Milky Way and bring a religious crusade down on all our heads, with genetically enhanced psychic super humans leading the charge."

"People thinking they're gods seems to be a common theme here."

"Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. The federation was considered gods by your people at one point, even if it was unintentional. More importantly, you're human now. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"I might be stronger than most, but that's really it, I just have peak human strength, and reflexes, most of which I discovered after Q left me on your homeworld for a couple of years."

"Two years, that's a long time in a post plague world." It really was, when I left everyone had to wear masks and people hardly left their homes. Still, it was inevitable that things would return to normal eventually. Society had this drive that refused to stay stagnate.

"It is, though things were recovering and returning to a sense of normalcy when I left. And I can see why you want to go home. There are people who are looking for you and care about you ever since you vanished. But from what Q was telling me, you're currently being sent around by someone for a greater purpose."

"Yeah, that's what's scaring the hell out of me. That anyone could make both the ascended Alterans and the Q continuum do their bidding is something I'm struggling to come to terms with. I have some theories, but most of them lead down a road that just ends up making me want to give up in futility instead of actually returning some day." It was true, if even half of what Lovecraft wrote about was real out there somewhere, then there are beings that could literally erase all of existence just by waking up. Then I started thinking, maybe it'd be nice to settle down some day.

"Maybe when I return, you can stick around. You know, learn to live in the world I grew up in instead of this madness we've currently been thrust into." It was when I was making up my mind about what to do next when I noticed the entire place was unusually quiet, in fact it almost seemed like it was abandoned except for the weird looks the suddenly all male staff were giving me.

"Okay, is it just me or did it become a sausage fest in here while we were catching up?" Yeah, something was definitely off. I was already used to suppressing my baser instincts since I'd been doing so since I was a teenager, more so now that they'd been amplified by the mirakuru. But the more I ignored them, the more the headache that had started building continued to grow.

"Sausage fest? What does preserved meat have to do with anything? I do have this awful headache coming on though."

"So there really are men on this planet who can control themselves. Tell me, what god do you serve, human?" I felt a pair of arms lay themselves across my shoulders as an unexpected weight rested on my back.

"Trinan, if I start to act funny I want you to shoot me, in the leg if possible."

"Zalost?!"

"Just do it, I'm going to need the distraction. Do not get involved otherwise." Standing up and turning around while easily pulling away from the pair of seemingly slender but surprisingly strong arms which were just resting on my frame just moments ago, I came to the horror that I'd missed one. Sure I got all the Goa'uld in the canopic jar's, but this one escaped me, and she was arguably one of the most dangerous.

"So you call yourself Zalost? Interesting, do you normally rebuff a woman's advances so readily?"

"Only if they're mind controlling snake bastards. I believe your name was Hathor wasn't it?"

"I've been known to be called that, yes. But you may call me your goddess."

"I've met actual gods, you're not very impressive with your fancy chemistry ha'taaka" That look of surprise and fury could ignite a dead star with how sharp it'd become almost instantly. I'd managed to tick her off, now if I could just win this without drawing attention to my friends over in Cheyenne mountain.

"You'll regret that when I make you serve me"

"How about you bite me and I don't shove your arms down your throat."

"Then you choose death. A pity, you looked like you might have been an excellent first prime."

A/N: Just for a heads up. I've spent the last while trying to figure out what to do about my slip up not having grabbed Hathor in an earlier chapter. This made for a more interesting outcome. Let her go up against him directly and as a great experience for character development on earth.

Hostile Universe 05

It was a tense moment as Hathor and I stared each other down. Her eyes glowing with cold fury as the symbiote within suppressed the body it was inhabiting. I could feel it, though. Two sets of emotion, one hopeful that the nightmare would end. The other arrogantly thinking it could easily win. It was at that moment I'd decided not to kill her, but to find a way to save the host while killing the bastard parasite.

Deciding to create a bit of flair, I reached out with telekinesis and every door connecting to the room locked while the windows suddenly had tables fly up and block them, trapping us in this room together. Having done so without any gestures or letting Hathor leave my sight must have surprised her because her expression wavered slightly. The parasite shocked while the host's feelings of hope continued to grow.

"That, what are you?!"

"In your language? A Hok'tar. Though I'm a bit different from the ones Nirrti was messing with."

"It matters not, you will either succumb to me or die."

"Funny, Apophis said the same thing before I casually outclassed him. Speaking of which." I snapped my fingers and sent the sleep command to every last male in the room besides myself, all of Hathor's ensnared just becoming unconscious and laying on the floor. She took a couple steps back before I reached out with my hand and stopped her from moving, holding her there with just my force of will.

"Now then. Normally I wouldn't care, but you body jacking parasites require special conditions. So before I deal with you, I need to hear from your host."

"Nothing of the host remains, how do you expect to hear from an empty vessel."

"Wow, do you hear yourself? I swear, every single one of you is just an arrogant jackass who thinks they can maintain control. Let me tell you something, the host does remain. I know you can feel her in the back of your mind desperately trying to get free while you shove that voice down deep and suppress it." I'd never seen a Goa'uld look nervous before. I really was right on the money with this one, since I'd seen enough of the series alongside the vague emotions I got from the host despite the time passed.

"It matters not, when my fellow Goa'uld find out what you've done there will be no place you can" I reached out and silenced the snake, causing the eyes to widen in surprise from the sudden disconnect.

"First of all, the leader of the Goa'uld, Ra? He's dead. Wasn't even my doing, he was just an idiot who underestimated the humans. Second, why don't you shut up for a while, I've found what I was looking for." Reaching out a bit further I managed to block the parasite's control over the body albeit temporarily as I was fighting against it in a battle of minds and telekinetic control while preventing the parasite from doing anything I didn't want.

"Now then. As frightening as it is, I need you to tell me your name and how this monster managed to take control over you." It was during this story that I learned she was given up to the Goa'uld to save a king from the hoards who wanted to conquer his lands. It was remarkably similar to the ancient Greek myth of Andromeda, though without the turning someone to stone bit. Furthermore, she was forced to watch as her kingdom was eventually overtaken until a hero rose up to force the tyrants out.

"Seems pretty damning to me. Well then, as much as I'd like to enjoy my vacation it seems I've a host to liberate from a serpent" The symbiote at that moment tried to send signals in an effort to kill the tentatively named Andromeda, but I reached out, and this time actually destroyed the tendrils forcing it to try and escape since I continued keeping it from killing its host.

"Oh no, you don't." I reached out and grabbed the parasite with my mind before sending a telepathic message to Trinan to go into the kitchen and find a thermos, then fill it with water and bring it back out. Within moments, I forced the serpent inside and sealed the lid tightly, trapping it in there until I could figure out what to do with it.

"Thank you. It has been a very long time since I was freed from that thing. Why did you not kill it, though?"

"I need to study it, I'm hoping I can find a way to free everyone who is host to those things. Now then, I'm actually quite exhausted and have a headache of truly stellar proportions. But if you'll come with me, I have some friends who can help you." That was an understatement. With the general having gotten word what had happened and the capture of a Goa'uld which I'd handed over to them for study after taking detailed scans for the EMH to go over. He was in a kind of perplexed mood. On the one hand, I'd managed to capture a Goa'uld and liberate its host, which would mean finding help for Andromeda, either a new world or helping her acclimate to modern earth. On the other, I'd effectively gone against orders and used my abilities in public, as well as gotten involved in an incident.

After the debriefing and with a subspace transmission to Ceti base having been sent with the updated information on the parasite. I returned to my week off, helping Trinan get used to life on earth. It wasn't much, but it was nice. A lot of TV was the same, Voyager was airing weekly on UPN alongside DS9, The Simpsons was still good, and the Pentium two had just come out earlier this year with most computers running either dos or windows ninety-five with linux still fairly experimental and not as well known.

I knew what would be coming next, though. In a very short amount of time I would have a way to force the Goa'uld out of their hosts and in a couple of years ships to begin taking on the Goa'uld fleet. I just hoped I wouldn't be in for any more unwanted surprises.

Hostile Universe 06

Personal Log, December Twentieth, Nineteen, Ninety-seven. Two weeks ago, we found a planet that had been decimated by the Goa'uld. Whatever happened here, it left almost no survivors, save for a young girl. But just to be safe, I set up a holoprojector on the MALP and had the EMH come through to check on things. In short order, it was discovered that the young girl had been modified as a living weapon, but only in the presence of naquadah. Fortunately, through the EMH's federation medical database a treatment was quickly found, and the danger passed, allowing her to be sent to earth for study and education until she can come of age.

Meanwhile, a couple of days ago another probe located something I'd been looking for since I got here, the quantum mirror. It is my hope that by studying it I can find a way to leave, but until then it's been transported to a quickly constructed wing at Ceti base. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time until Apophis decides it's time to invade the earth now, so I'm heading to earth to debrief a government official on the reasons why earth should continue its own stargate program. From what I understand, he isn't aware of Ceti base yet.

"And that's why, senator, it is Vital that earth continue its operation of the stargate program. Not only are SG1 and the men and women trained and operating from this base key in defeating a threat that continues to plague the entire galaxy. A galaxy I might add you are a member of. But it is only a matter of time until they come here, Or did you forget all the Goa'uld who were either found dormant or active on this planet and captured with my assistance?."

"Threat? Yes the word threat has been used far too often by this country's military for expenditures that are often far more than we can afford. Do you know how much this program costs?"

"Seven-ish" Colonel O'Neill popped up in response but ever since this hearing had started it had been clear that the senator had already made up his mind on things.

"Seven billion four hundred and seven million dollars."

"Okay senator let me stop you right there. Those numbers are out of date. In fact I've recently been working on a new power system that will reduce that expenditure significantly as well as provide necessary materials without outside requests."

"That is irrelevant Mister Zalost. Frankly the threat coming through that gate, if it exists at all. Is too great and can be solved by simply closing it and sealing it forever."

"Look senator Kinsey. If you'd like I can show you first hand just how big a threat they are. In fact I actually have a small scout ship in orbit right now monitoring things. But frankly the Gungnir is still a few months out from being fully ready and doesn't have all it's weapons and defenses installed. It hasn't even completed it's shakedown cruise yet but if the Goa'uld show up tomorrow your world will need to be ready."

"Gungnir? I'm sorry but are you using United states resources to build a warship?"

"Actually no. I've established an independent colony about twelve light years from here and have been working with your government to construct the first in what should become a fleet of ships to defend this world. That's right world not just a single nation. Or did you think I would only protect Americans?"

"I-"

"You what? Do you even know who you are threatening senator?"

"I've not threatened anybody."

"Alright, let me put this in words you can understand. I am personally aiding your nation without any ulterior motive other than saving them from a threat that's due to show up on your doorstep in at most a couple of months. And if I by myself can do such a thing. What does that say about the real balance of power in this room? I may have been born an American on one version of reality, but I've long since moved past that, meaning your government has no hold over me. So do you want to continue peaceful arrangements, or would you rather I just take the decision out of your primitive hands and reveal the truth to the entire world. I'm sure Russia, China, and the European Union would all be more than happy to get one over on their American counterparts."

Everything went quiet as the senator stood there wide-eyed and stammering. Right before I got in his face I activated the tachyon field and used it for a moment of instant movement, every MP in the room briefly trying to reach for their weapons only to find them in a pile on the conference table unloaded and safeties on. The colonel seemed bemused, however General Hammond had a look of abject horror on his face.

"Senator, as I was once an American citizen over half a century ago, let me give you some advice. Despite what your goals may be, by ending the stargate program and funneling that funding into the NID and pleasing their wealthy backers. It simply will not work and will instead make earth far more enemies than allies. Ones that make even myself look pitiful in comparison. So go ahead, tell the senate appropriations committee that you want to take away the funding for this base. Because that's about to become irrelevant anyway. And there is jack all you can do about it. Oh, and the president as well as your superiors in the pentagon will be receiving a strongly worded letter as to why you could have just sabotaged America's ties with the Independent colony of Tau Ceti."

With that I sat down while the senator looked like he just had a stare down with Lucifer himself, The acrid stench beginning to flow into the room, a telling sign that he should be fortunate he chose to wear his brown pants today. As he tried to steel himself and gather his papers, a pair of MPs led him out of the room.

"Zalost, Can I speak with you privately, please?" Yep, the general wasn't happy. But it had to be said, and I really didn't like the man. Gods know, Thor could have been more eloquent than I was, but he had to be stopped here. Before the NID had a chance to really get going.

Last edited: May 4, 2022

Hostile Universe 07

Personal log, February fifth, nineteen, ninety-eight. Construction on the Gungnir has been progressing incredibly quickly. It was scheduled to be cleared for a shakedown cruise next week, but the shields, deployable armor, and weapons as well as most of the primary life support systems have been installed. As it is, I've never tried constructing a hyperdrive before. Using what I learned studying transwarp and slipstream technology to build the trans-slipstream drive, I'm hopeful I can stabilize the hyperspace window using transwarp technology.

Unfortunately, we may be running out of time. Bra'tac came through the gate this morning to warn us that Apophis and his son Klorel have launched a pair of ha'tak's to deal with Earth. While I think it's fortunate, he hasn't learned of Ceti-base yet. It seems I'm going to have to get the Gungnir up to spec in route because we're out of time.

"Major Carter, keep an eye on that hyperdrive stability. I don't think anyone's tried fueling a transwarp coil with naquada derived plasma before."

"Yes sir." As we were traversing hyperspace at insane speeds, the ship continued to shake from the temporal stresses being put on the chronoton field around the ship, which kept it in a stable configuration. The power wasn't fully there, but the dilithium found in some of Ceti VII's moons was more than enough to manage the subspace technology which currently kept everything working.

"Major Castleman, get SG's five through nine ready to beam over and capture one of those Ha'tak's. We're going to be deploying armor shortly after exiting hyperspace."

"Yes sir!" Suddenly the ship stopped shaking as it exited hyperspace right behind a pair of Ha'tak class ships which were moving in from lunar orbit.

"Unknown vessel, identify yourself." Apophis was surprised at a ship suddenly dropping out of hyperspace right on top of them. His voice had concern in it as the deployable armor activated and covered the entire hull in regenerative ablative armor which could tank the hits that got through the shields powered by a naquadah enhanced matter/anti-matter fusion core.

"This is Zalost, captain of the Tau'ri warship Gungnir. You are in Tau'ri space. Turn back or face the consequences."

"You dare command lord Apophis, hok'tar?!"

"You're out gunned, Apophis. Surrender and prepare to be boarded." He cut the communication immediately and began powering weapons. With a gesture, I did the same, commanding most of the ship using my neural link due to the lack of time to train a proper crew. The ship rocked as staff weapons began impacting against the shields, but weren't really much of a threat. Fortunately they couldn't hit us with those main cannons on the bottom since the Gungnir was outmaneuvering them using its impulse engines and a bit of trickery with sublight warp fields.

"Major Carter, Doctor Mckay, reroute power to the weapon batteries. We've got incoming death gliders." After getting an affirmative, I could feel the energy shift as the shields weakened slightly before the pluse phaser turrets along the hull came online and began saturating the area the death gliders were coming from with nadeon pulses. The first wing of death gliders just evaporated, while the second and third suffered heavy casualties and moved off to try and get out of range.

Leaving the automated targeting systems to handle the smaller ships, I began targeting the weapons emplacements and firing some Borg inspired energy pulses to drain the shields before using the phasers to detonate the liquid naquadah in the turrets. Massive craters were being left where they once were on the enemy ship as it tried to move out of range. The second was coming in range, so with their shields down I beamed the boarding party over to the first of the two Ha'tak's while targeting the second with the Asgard derived beam weapons.

"Last chance Apophis. Surrender and save me the resources I'm wasting taking down your ships." I transmitted that before firing on the still shielded and armed ha'tak and causing it to nova, leaving debris in its wake. From what I could tell, the ship the SG teams were boarding was Apophis's own flagship, and I'd beamed them into the engine core, so they could take it out first and prevent his escape. After getting confirmation that the ship had been mostly taken, but Apophis had holed himself in the bridge, I decided to beam over myself and assist them since the snake was liable to pull something sneaky.

"Alright, fill me in, has he made any threats or demands?"

"No, sir, the doors just sealed after the guards in the corridor went down with the TR116's."

"Excellent. I'll take it from here, stand back." Reaching out and feeling the energy flowing through the door, I sent a pulse to what looked to be the open/close mechanism and forcibly opened it, with the door opening and several staff cannon blasts and Zat'nekitel shots impacting against my plasma barrier. Reaching out, I fired a short electromagnetic discharge and fired at the weapons causing them to be dropped as several Jaffa received burns along their hands and arms, Apophis enraged at his situation with his eyes glowing.

"Just give up, resistance as you can see is futile, parasite." He reached for his hand device, but I simply stopped him and took it away, setting it aside while holding him up in the air.

"You know Hathor didn't put up as much of a fight as you did. But then you knew what you were getting into coming here, didn't you? Tell me, did Heruer mock you for losing to the humans? Or maybe Anubis has started to make his moves in the system lord hierarchy." Again, he continued to look defiant and refusing to answer.

"Well, it doesn't matter, soon you and your host shall be separated, and you'll be imprisoned without a host for a very long time. I wonder what the Tok'ra would trade for not one but two Goa'uld symbiotes?" He roared in rage before I injected him with a sedative at the base of the neck, ensuring both the symbiote, and its host would be unconscious for the time being and beaming them over to the Gungnir. For transport to a prison moon around Tau Ceti VII.

The Jaffa in the room were truly in shock, seeing their god made helpless before them. Several started to get up but were held at weapon point by Major Castleman and SG's 5 and 6 as well as Teal'c who'd aided them in navigating the ship. One even tried to take his own life, but the blade was snatched away with a simple telekinetic gesture before I had them tied up and left as prisoners of war for the earth teams to deal with. Beaming back onto the Gungnir I decided to leave Colonel O'Niell in command and get some rest. It was going to be a long debriefing and interrogation, and I would likely be required to stick around for the next few days.

Hostile Universe 08

Personal Log, February eighteenth, nineteen ninety-eight. It's been two weeks since Apophis's montherships were defeated at the hands of the somewhat unfinished Gungnir. Since then the power systems have been finished and crew training began with the recently promoted Lt Colonel Castleman having been given command of what I'd been terming MACOs after the old united earth unit as a recommendation to general Hammond. In the meantime I'd been experimenting with generating a quantum slipstream inside the trans-hyperspace conduit to try and push it a bit further.

"Doctor McKay, Spool up the anti-chronoton field."

"I'd just like to note that this is insane and will probably end up with all of us dead."

"Relax, doctor, I've got plenty of experience generating quantum slipstream tunnels. We're just going to be using it as a booster on top of the transwarp conduit inside hyperspace."

"Drive is online Zalost, quantum deflector connected to tachyon core."

"Excellent major Carter. Let's head out for a shakedown cruise. Course set for Chulak, engage drive." The ship entered trans-hyperspace fairly smoothly before engaging the slipstream generator to accelerate us further, arriving in mere moments and dropping out at what had to be nearly a thousand light years per second, nearly matching the Asgard hyperdrives in speed.

"A Goa'uld cargo ship is coming up from the planet." The crew I'd been given were a lot of experienced and cleared personnel, as well as a few scientists from area fifty-one who were studying the technology in hopes of eventually building earth's own variants of the ships.

"Bring it on screen." A small pyramidal ship approached the Gungnir and sat between us and Chulak. The air was tense until we began receiving a hail from the ship.

"Zalost, it seems your test was a success, welcome to Chulak"

"Master Bra'tac. It is good to see you again. Yes, we made the journey from earth to Chulak in just under a minute. Seems the new slipstream enhanced trans-hyperspace drive is good to go. How goes things on Chulak?"

"Slow, many struggle with their god having been defeated by humans, but they will see the truth of the false god in time."

"Indeed. Here's to hoping this will be the first of many friendly encounters between our people."

"Zalost, there's a ship exiting hyperspace, one Ha'tak, but it's heavily modified."

"Seems word gets around quick. Bra'tak head back down to the planet and prepare in case they have something up their sleeves." The transmission cut and the Ha'tak was brought on screen. Hmm, these power readings look different, deploy the armor and load the shield draining torpedoes into the forward tubes."

"Aye sir."

"Fire." One shot was fired after another with the special torpedoes impacting the enemy shields causing them to flare up until the last one impacted the hull of the Ha'tak.

"Theory confirmed. Alright, bring the pulse phaser turrets online and tell the MACOs to get ready to beam over. I have a hunch a certain Goa'uld is making his moves early." In moments, a team of a dozen trained marines led by Lt Colonel Castleman beamed over, armed with TR116's and several captured Zats from Apophis's Ha'tak.

It didn't take long to hear back that something was wrong because the MACOs began encountering heavy resistance as they got closer to the control core from some new heavily armored Jaffa with jackal heads, though they still went down given enough firepower. This pretty much confirmed my concerns that Anubis had begun his moves to begin capturing territory, a full three years early no less.

"Castleman, can you get to the core to begin capturing the ship?"

"We just arrived where the core should be. Something isn't right though, the systems have all been damaged and there's a screen with what looks like. Request to beam back right away, the self-destruct was initiated."

"Get them back here and get us to a safe distance!"

"Yes sir!" Just as we received them in the transporter room the ship shook as a bolt of energy began arcing out from the Ha'tak dumping its power core into the shields and armor which absorbed it and began overloading the drive and throwing us into an unstable hyperspace vortex at an extreme velocity. Within moments, we exited hyperspace after the engine had dumped enough power into hyperspace.

"Where are we?!"

"According to the computer, not in our galaxy anymore. We've traveled roughly three million light years."

"That's going to be a long trip home. Based on our test, the current travel time, we're looking at about six hours to get back, provided we can get the slipstream generator online."

"That may be a problem" A slightly panicked Rodney McKay just raced into the room with Major Carter likely staying behind to begin trying to get things up and running.

"What's the problem?"

"The tachyon core was damaged, I don't know if the Asgard computer core can compensate without it."

"Let me worry about that, in the meantime, let's begin taking scans of the system we're in. Might be useful resources to help us get home."

Sleeping Dragon 01

Personal log, February nineteenth, nineteen ninety-seven. The long range probes have gotten detailed scans of the system and a couple structures were found in the outer asteroid belt of the star system. Carter thinks the materials look similar to that used in the construction of the DHD's. If it is Alteran in origin, It pretty much confirms my theory that we're currently in the Pegasus dwarf irregular galaxy, in which case I want to get home sooner rather than later lest we poke the wraith.

I also found a surprise upon returning to my quarters for rest. Trinan had apparently been assigned to keep an eye on me on ship after my incident with Kinsey. Not that I minded, but I really needed to focus on getting us home, and she was a consistent distraction. Especially if we really are in Pegasus, since I can't just solo everything with her around.

"Major Carter, Doctor McKay, I think I've found the control panel, though It appears to have a genetic lock similar to Goa'uld technology."

"Really? It must be similar to the chair in Antarctica."

"That's what I was afraid of. We still don't know how Colonel O'Neill was able to accidentally activate it."

"Zalost, you might want to get down to the hangar bay. I think we've found something that doesn't belong."

"Crap baskets, okay, Castleman. Hold position, I'm on my way." Activating my tachyon field, I quickly made my way to the small docking bay at the bottom of the small mining outpost and found something I really didn't want to find. Sitting there was a wraith dart which looked like it hadn't been here very long, but the engines looked damaged. After quickly going over it to make sure there wasn't a sleeping wraith in the cockpit, I disengaged my tachyon field and met up with Lt Colonel Castleman and the MACOs.

"Stay alert, there may be hostiles in the area, Johnson, Thorstein, head back up and provide escort for our science team. Everybody else, let's begin a sweep, and tell me immediately if you start seeing anything strange, hallucinations, shadows, white hair."

"White hair?"

"Just trust me, if it has white hair it's not with our group, and is a threat."

"Just what do you know about this ship?"

"Trust me, If you find the owner of this ship, shoot it. The damn thing can and will drain you dry and leave you a withering husk."

"Are you telling me you think this thing belongs to some kind of space vampire?"

"Hah! A vampire wouldn't have me on edge. At least a vampire can be repulsed with some garlic or any number of other weaknesses. No Castleman, what we have here is a Wraith. Damn things have some kind of sucker in their hand, and they feed on the life force of humans."

"Right, I'll just keep my TR116 loaded and ready." He seemed to think I was joking at first. But I think he could tell pretty quickly with how serious I was being. That was when I could feel my awareness pick up on something moving in the shadows at the far end of the hangar bay. I signaled Casteman and the MACOs to stay close and began trying to ping it, but the only response back I got was a slight echo psychically, making it difficult to pin down where the bastard was. Suddenly I felt it, a slight movement coming in close and hidden by the shadows and psychic manipulations making it difficult to see what was around me as the room suddenly went dark.

"Get down!" I shouted as I reached out and felt something fleshy under my palm. The clammy texture, a bit off-putting before it suddenly became visible as I'd managed to grab it by the arm. It had some sort of hard mask that looked sort of like a cocoon in texture, and long white hair bound up in dreads. The sound it made was very insect like, and it continued trying to struggle to get free.

"Shoot the bastard!" There was a loud rapid fire bang as the thing took the kinetic impacts and slumped forward. I held up the arm to show them the hand with the sucker in the palm.

"Damn thing must have been starving. Still think I'm not serious, Castleman?"

"Just what we need, First space parasites with an ego, then machine bugs, now space vampires." I could see why this all seemed a bit crazy, given we're encountering it all much earlier than in the original timeline. But that's why I was helping them in the first place.

"At least we haven't run afoul of the cultists out to crusade the non-believers." I was a bit mentally exhausted after the battle of wills against the wraith, so I grabbed him and dragged him up to the room the science team was working on and dropped him in the center.

"Zalost I was just about to, what is that?"

"This doctor McKay is a Wraith. I'd like to put his body in stasis for study when we get back to Ceti base. I don't know if he's really dead or just knocked out, but It would be better if he was dead, trust me. Anyway, his ship is sitting in the hangar bay, I'd like to beam it onto the Gungnir for study since it uses a unique kind of beaming technology for transport."

"Right, and just how do you know so much?!"

"Ask Major Carter, it's a long story, but suffice to say I know way more than I should, Meredith."

"That, what?! No, it's Rodney, not."

"I'm well aware that your parents decided to name you Meredith, but you go by Rodney, your middle name. Just don't worry about it, for right now, have you found anything that can get the tachyon core back online?"

"Well, yes, actually, there are some dilithium deposits mixed in with the naquadah and other minerals from the asteroids being mined here."

"Good, beam over a few crates, I'll forward a list of materials needed to repair the tachyon core. Major Carter, how goes bypassing the genetic lock on the control interface?"

"Slow, but I've gotten into the basic systems. Enough to bring up a list of log entries from the commander. Still with what I can tell the outpost has been constantly being repaired since it was abandoned."

"Good, see if you can copy them. I'd like to find out what happened here. Good work, both of you. I'll be sure to forward my regards to General Hammond when we get back." I really didn't like the sound of that. If the wraith were using this place as some kind of repurposed mining outpost, then other wraith ships won't be far behind, after ugly over there doesn't check in.

Sleeping Dragon 02

Personal log, February twenty-second, nineteen-ninety seven. After a bit of deliberation, we've moved into a low orbit around a moon orbiting a gas giant in the outer fringes. It proved to be rich in deuterium which helped feed the plasma reactors along with small amounts of anti-matter being generated in the radiation belts. Probes were being sent out to the three or four planets in the system, however more interestingly was the stargate not too far from the outpost. Given the density of naquadah in this asteroid belt, it made sense that they'd have a gate to make shipping ore around easier. For the moment though, the space around the outpost and the gate are being monitored while a few warp capable probes make their way to nearby star systems to give us a better idea of where we're at.

"What do you have for me, major?"

"The good news is, the hyperdrive is fully operational, as well as the transwarp enhancer and subspace field generators. Unfortunately, the tachyon field generator is going to take a bit more work than we thought."

"At least we aren't stuck here. Anything useful from the probes yet?"

"Yes, actually, So far we've seen half a dozen ships like the one in the hangar bay come out of the gate. They must have a way to interface with it remotely because after scouting the area they were able to activate it and travel back through."

"Hmm, and you saw the symbols on the gate?"

"Yes, but they don't match any in our own galaxy, I've been working with Rodney and the rest of the science team on decrypting the database on the mining outpost to build a better picture, but so far the scouts seem to be traveling from a single address."

"Which of course would lead right into enemy territory, so that's a no-go. Alright, I might have an idea for at least getting some gate addresses out of that database, but I'm going to need a few hours now that we've got propulsion back online, and I can focus on it." That was an understatement, of course. I'd pretty much spent the last couple of days going over every inch of the various systems which were damaged and helping the various science and engineering crews familiarize themselves. Fixing any minor mistakes at lightning speed. The only time I couldn't use it was around the tachyon generator due to an issue with cascade reactions.

Still, it wasn't so bad and Trinan was understanding about my sixteen-hour days working on things. And I didn't want to stick around any longer than I had to, so I setup a smaller tachyon accelerator in my deck to rapidly cycle through with a Borg decryption algorithm seven had shown me once. After a couple of hours and a nice dinner with Trinan in the forward lounge area, I got a ping that the section of the database I had scanned for similar encryption to the DHD back in Tau Ceti finally finished giving me dozens of addresses. The real catch was finding a way to dial them.

"Okay McKay, keep an eye on that interface, its organic parts might get a bit toasty, but I want to see what kinds of signals it's putting out when a dialing sequence is entered." It was weird to sit in the cockpit of the dart. It was sort of a rubbery flesh material with some sort of organic mineral composite for the canopy. As I reached out I began trying to get a feel for how the system linked when suddenly part of it enveloped my hands. At that moment the dart and I were one and the address I'd picked was sent out from some kind of Em emitter on the underside of the dart.

"Got it! Looks like a series of pulses in a specific EM band. The Gungnir won't fit through the gate, but a probe can be sent through."

"Good, let's try a few more addresses and see how they correlate, I'm going to pick the other four from the top." A few minutes later and another few pulses, and It seemed like Rodney was able to make some sense of the data to begin a basic dialing program using the glyphs the probe recorded from the new type of stargate. Shutting down the dart, I hopped out of the cockpit and took in a breath of recycled air. For whatever reason, the darts were humid and contained trace organics that gave the whole thing a kind of musty smell.

After a few hours, half a dozen probes were sent through with their routes mapped. Two were hostile locations another two were over planets but finally one came through in some kind of ancient structure with writing matching the mining outpost albeit on the surface of a planet with a new type of DHD nearby. Deciding I'd had enough of monitoring things remotely, I quickly got working on a force field to protect the gate from unwanted intrusions and beamed it into the main cargo bay on a hastily made platform to secure it and a transmitter based on what we'd learned from the dart to send the EM frequency pulses. And not too soon either because as soon as the force field went up the gate activated and something impacted it.

"Oof, okay, so that just happened. Right dial the address we just found, that structure is worth investigating, especially given how far down the list it was."

"Dialing gate address" Came a reply over the comms before a weird kind of sound began coming out of the gate rather than the normal sound of stone grinding on stone. With all seven chevrons engaged, the gate activated, and I received a reply from the probe before stepping through with half of the MACOs as well as major Carter with McKay keeping an eye on things back on the ship.

"Spread out and relay back what you find, keep to within line of sight of the structure." The group began spreading out as I made my way inside, carefully tracing my hands along the inscriptions beneath the overgrowth and scanning it in to be translated by the deck using the information pulled from the outpost.

"Well that's interesting. To he who seeks knowledge, you must pass a trial, only he who is worthy may find what they seek. Most of this is decorative, but that's what's written here on the entrance."

"Sounds like we should be cautious, I'll cover you."

"Sounds like a plan, major." I stated as I carefully placed my hand on some kind of reader by the door before it lit up and opened with a resonant sound not unlike singing crystals. Of course, as the room lit up, I immediately was floored by what looked like holographic projectors in a central area as well as interface terminals and hundreds of shelves of tomes which looked to be remarkably preserved.

"I think we just hit the jack pot."

Sleeping Dragon 03

"They're all blank. Every single tome is blank!"

"Calm down, there must be a reason for this."

"I have a theory. Have you found anything on the system?"

"The padd is translating it, but I'm not able to get very far other than more references to some sort of trial." I continued searching the room until I noticed one book that stood out from the rest. It seemed older and had a rather unique patterning on it. A crystal was embedded into the spine and had a soft glow coming off it.

"Major Carter, I think I found something." reaching out to touch it, I was enveloped in a flash of light and felt the sudden shift I normally felt from being transported.

"Major?!" I shouted before calming down as I tried to take in my surroundings. The room was dimly lit and reminded me more of an underground dungeon than anything else. I immediately took out my padd and took note of my current position, beginning to draw a map the way you would when playing an old school RPG.

Okay, I just need to calmly find my way out of here, there's no return crystal, so this must be the trial right? The crystal had transported me to a dead end, so the only way out was forward. I carefully followed the right wall, following it around as it twisted and turned until I came across a fork splitting in two directions. Situated between them was a pedestal with an inscription on it.

The path of wisdom is fought with many trials only the worthy may pass and the unworthy shall remain lost forever. Choose wisely. Looking more closely, I noticed writing above the archways as well. The one on the right stated "Knowledge is power", the left one stated "Only knowledge can bring true power." I stood there for a while thinking, but remembered something I'd come to realize not long before I left on this crazy adventure.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, however absolute knowledge does not. Usually Absolute knowledge gives power and respect for that power rather than just being given power. Mostly because to gain absolute knowledge, you have to take the time to understand the knowledge and the power it gives. Taking the path to the left, the lights brightened a bit and the entrance sealed behind me, leaving me with a slight panic before I noted that I likely passed the first trial.

After what seemed like a bit of a long walk, I arrived at another pedestal. It had a set of crystals placed into various slots, and none of them were lit up. Each one was inscribed with various symbols I'd recognized as alchemical. Each crystal was a different color as well. Green, blue, white, red, Black, and a clear one. Looking over the various crystals It vaguely reminded me of the ancient elemental patterns, usually the colors were green for earth, blue for water, white for air, red for fire, black for darkness, and a gold or clear for light. Testing my theory I placed the green one in the earth symbol, and it lit up, each in order matching the color until I was left with just the clear one which much to my frustration was actually damaged.

"Frak!" I shouted before taking a breath and carefully observing the crystal and scanning it with my deck. I channeled a bit of my electromagnetism and fed the replicator in the deck to try and copy the crystal, but it still didn't work. Realizing there must be some sort of unknown component, I felt around until I could open the pedestal and found a series of crystals arranged and lit up rather like Isoliniar chips but not dissimilar to Asgard technology.

I was about to pull one out when a ghostly form of a woman dressed in white walked through the room and touched a seemingly random wall. I quickly became distracted as I tried to figure out what was going on, given there were no strange readings from the deck nor on my senses to indicate some sort of projection or hologram. Walking up to where she was standing, I tried to get a good look at her face, but she seemed focused on the wall.

"Miss, could you tell me what's going on?" She glanced over briefly before giving a gentle smile and disappearing, which left me with just more questions. The wall however felt warm and as I felt around suddenly opened to reveal another clear crystal sitting inside, a bit warm to the touch and glowing from where it was sitting. Taking it and placing it in the pedestal, the room lit up, and I found myself in front of a cliff with another of those crystals on the other side.

Well, this seems familiar, I thought as I picked up a handful of sand and tossed it outward. It reminded me of the temple from the last crusade more than anything. The sand, however, just fell into the abyss, crushing my initial theory that it might be an invisible path. Strangely I did feel something solid though when I felt out in front of me and I began crawling carefully feeling around until I got to the other side and being teleported back into the library.

"Zalost?!"

"Major Carter! I'm back."

"You were gone for six hours, where did you go?!"

"I'll debrief you later. For now, something is up with the books, I think? They look different." True to form, the flash of light that teleported me back had also somehow switched out the books. They had writing on them, though the contents were in english which surprised both myself and Major Carter.

"Get in touch with the Gungnir, see if they can get in orbit. I think this planet is going to be worth studying for a bit."

A/N: So that happened. I spent the last couple days trying to work out what would be good trials for him to pass, ones of the mind and perspective seemed fitting. And this would be his first brush with an ascended ancient, possibly.

destroyerdrone5 said:

So what's going on with the timeline, is a version of Elizabeth Weir still in stasis in atlantis due to travelling back in time, will another version of sg1 eventually show up at the sgc from an aborted timeline during the 1969 episode, is the Zpm that they stole from Ra when they travelled back in time during the episodes Moebius still there, which should be easy to check, all Zalost would have to do is check if O'Neill's pond has fish or not, if it does, that means there's a Zpm waiting to be collected in Egypt.

Click to expand…

Click to shrink…

That is correct, and he did scan the planet but ZPM's show up kinda funky on scanners. Zalost of course wasn't actively looking for them but that's the reason he's powering the Tau Ceti gate using power from the star in place of a ZPM. He doesn't actually need one given enough time and engineering.

Last edited: May 11, 2022

Sleeping Dragon 04

Personal log, March first, nineteen ninety-eight. After a week of studying this ancient library which contained a literal treasure trove of technology and alternate research paths, I got the feeling this was only a drop in the bucket of what Alteran technology had to offer. Of particular interest were all sorts of tomes on things like advanced computing and nanotechnologies, as well as some pretty advanced medical technology that puts even the federation to shame. It took me the better part of a week to transfer all this knowledge into the deck and several Isolinear rods for storing it, which I had replicated and beamed down after the Gungnir entered orbit.

It was quickly apparently why the Wraith hadn't touched this place as well. There were several ship wrecks in orbit that matched Wraith technology, as well as a few unknowns. Fortunately whatever defense systems this place had had long since lost power, but it seems this planet was abandoned long ago, leaving just this library which I found was named Bibliopolis or the city of the library. More interesting was a star map, which was what helped the Gungnir to get here and has been integrated into the ship's database to help develop a star map, with the computer having compensated for millennia of stellar drift. Of particular interest is a series of gate addresses which were labeled as important by the Alterans who lived here, calling themselves Lantaeans after settling here.

There was a dense series of tomes on the history of the lantaeans up to and including their exile from this galaxy, over a hundred million of years of history condensed down into what amounted to a brief overview with highlights on important events all the way up to roughly ten thousand years ago. Finally, there was a strange object embedded into the wall in the back of the library. I wasn't completely sure but if it really was an ancient repository I was in no way prepared to come out of it intact without some serious manipulation of my physical state and heavy reliance on my nanites to make changes as needed still I might survive, I wasn't sure.

It hadn't been a full minute since we lost comms from the Gungnir that I had a feeling we were in serious trouble. Stepping outside, the telltale whine of a small squadron of wraith darts was enough for me to order everyone to stay inside the library and race to the console to activate the defenses. Fortunately, there were still a handful of drones in the stockpile.

"Major Carter, have you gotten the Gungnir back on comms?"

"Yes but there's a lot of interference, I'm not sure if we can maintain the link let alone transporter locks."

"Oh, don't worry, we won't need a transporter lock. Just tell the Gungnir to keep that hive ship pinned down. I'm about to save our asses if this works like I think it should." Reaching into the control panel, I found the targeting sensors and began feeding data to the drones to target the hangar bays and fluctuate their energy frequencies similar to transphasic torpedoes before releasing them. In moments, the hive began to detonate as the darts struggled to intercept the now enhanced drone swarm, which was using my interface to more easily predict and evade the darts coming out of the hive ship. The building was rocked as another pair of darts impacted on the shield I'd been powering with my abilities in place of the nearly depleted ZPM, and I was beginning to feel exhausted trying to keep everything up. Suddenly, everything went silent, with the MACOs checking the outside to verify the lack of wraith darts.

"Zalost to Gungnir, status report."

"The hive ship jumped to hyperspace after the drones took out the dart bays."

"Perfect, alright, prepare to leave the system, I'll be up shortly." I cut the connection and walked over to the strange object on the wall.

"Major Carter. It's crucial that we return to our galaxy with the knowledge in this library. But more importantly we cannot let this thing go, in particular, if the wraith got their hands on it, and it is what I think it is. They would have all the knowledge of the ancients."

"How are you going to retrieve it, it didn't do anything when I checked it out and removing it would be difficult."

"I'm not. I'm going to transfer everything into a suitable storage device."

"Sir? I'm not sure that we have the time to download the entire database into isolinear rods."

"Who says we need rods? Just be ready to beam me back to the Gungir. Best case, I'll merely be unconscious."

"Wait, what are you." I placed my head into the repository's interface and used the nanites to mimic the way O'Neill's genes activated the ancient chair in Antarctica, before being suddenly grabbed with my head secured against the interface. Just before I began the interface, I activated a tachyon field and slowed down my interface with it by a significant rate. What was mere moments to the outside was hours to me of having the information transferred into my mind and the nanites creating data nods and preventing neurons from being overwritten. It was incredibly painful at first, but after a while I lost consciousness and the nanotechnology took over maintaining the flow rate using the tachyon field before I collapsed with the database now empty.

Sleeping Dragon 05

Initiating self diagnostics, limbs detected, vital systems operating within normal parameters, strange, I can feel people watching and monitoring things, but there's an air of fear and confusion. Opening my eyes I could see why I was standing rather than sleeping inside some sort of pod or chamber and I could feel trace levels of tachyon fields. What was stranger was that I was no longer tapping into psychic energy, it just sort of was with me. There was a squad of MACOs pointing TR116's at me as well, though for some reason I had a feeling these would no longer work on me due to whatever changes I just went through.

"Relax everyone, I'm not a threat and am perfectly fine" Huh weird, why didn't I use my mouth to say that?

"Did anybody else just hear that in their head?"

"Ok that's new, Rodney could you hand me a, wait never mind" Just by thinking about it a mirror flew into my hand allowing me to get a better look at myself. I'd changed, My hair was now a white blonde and my blue eyes had become an even more bright blue. Furthermore, I could feel the nanites moving, but there was something different, it was as if their programming was reprogrammed for a different purpose in a different way. Finally, it seemed like I'd grown personal transporter, shield, and cloaking nodes along with what looked like a new growth on my brain which seemed related to the now casual psychic usage I was capable of without relying on my electromagnetic abilities.

"I know where to get the materials for the tachyon generator now" Suddenly the ship began moving as I opened a hyperspace window and dropped us out in a system which was mostly asteroids and debris with a couple planets on the inner orbital planes and began beaming ore into the transporter buffer before feeding them to an industrial replicator in the cargo bay. Activating the tachyon field, I got moving and spent a good hour in flash time just repairing the tachyon field generator and any other systems pulling ores as needed and continuing to bring the ship back to working operation as well as improving the systems with the knowledge I now had access to as well as re-writing the hastily made gate program.

Dropping out of flash time, everyone had just caught up to me in the forward lounge working on the deck and having something to eat because I was famished. Then I stumbled upon what I was looking for, as I'd been looking for the coordinates to Lantaea from the database and was combining the ancient database with the addresses I'd pulled from the gate network when writing the program to get one that was currently locked out from outside travelers without a key. Without saying a word, I handed Sam a gate address with the word Atlantis written below it as well as a set of coordinates translated from the gate address.

"This is, you're serious?"

"Very, this is the lost city, the one from your legends, it is imperative that we secure it as a base here in Pegasus."

"So, are we heading back to earth now?" Suddenly, the ship entered another hyperspace window before the transwarp coils began forming a conduit and the quantum field generators accelerated that conduit further.

"I now have the gate address, and Ceti base has enough power to dial it without a zero point module. But I must make changes to the system. I was so wrong before about so many things. I now know why I am here." Within a couple of hours we arrived back at Ceti base and the Gungnir was docked for an overhaul. I'd been using the deck as an extension of my will to begin redesign and simulations of technologies and materials based on what I now had accessed to. Trinan had come to visit me a couple of times, but for some reason I couldn't focus on anything but what I was working on. I'd never been this focused before. As soon as we'd arrived back at Ceti base though, I found Trinan waiting for me outside my lab blocking my way.

"Zalost you have to stop, this is too much!"

"Stop what? I am merely bringing the threats to this universe to an end"

"You don't understand. There's something wrong, very wrong. You've been acting like the entire universe is merely a means to an end. And you haven't even said anything to me this whole time!"

"I've been busy"

"That's not it! I swear, every time you do something like this or change like this, you become less and less like you were. You've lost the part of you that makes you, you!"

"I am what I was always destined to be, Trinan. I can see so much more now, understand so much more, and I am not limited by the technology of this facility. I doubt even Anubis would be able to harm me now." Suddenly I realized what I had been overlooking and accessed the gate network, scanning for what I was looking for and constructing a device in flash time before sending it through to a seemingly random gate address.

"In fact, he won't be able to do anything now, his technology is no longer functional to contain him." She seemed, scared, that caught me off guard, I was just trying to help them, all of them. That was when I realized what I needed to do. Who started this whole thing, who sent me on this insane adventure in the first place? I thought it was some sort of super being or one of the DC universe's demons, but it wasn't. I realized it was somehow me starting the journey, so I would become this. And it was time,

I'd done enough, the SGC had access to so much more than in the original timeline, Apophis was no longer a threat, Anubis was neutralized, the rest of the Goa'uld would fall soon enough. The wraith had been awoken a bit early, but earth had the capability to deal with them handily, and they were still trapped in Pegasus for now. Something was indeed wrong, though. I'd felt it for a while, the energy of this form was growing at an exponential rate and would be a problem.

"I'm sorry Trinan, it seems I really did go too far. I can't stop it, but I can at least ensure everyone is safe." Opening a rift the way Cisco does using his vibe powers, I deposited myself a million kilometers from the station, enveloped in a field as the energy continued growing. I could feel it, the entire station was looking outside, waiting to see what would happen next. In an effort to reduce the energy build up, I found the point in time when I left and opened a rift, sending myself to that alley way all those years ago. But more importantly, I also messed with time to split it, so I'd never left leaving a copy instead. This way, the timeline would be corrected and two versions of me would exist.

I had the feeling Q already knew this would happen because I could feel him watching but unable to do anything. Moments before I was about to go nova, I suddenly felt enveloped in a warmth from everywhere and my body simply vanished. Then something began pulling me towards some greater power. A woman reached out with a kind face, she seemed familiar somehow. That's when I realized she was the one in the test of wisdom.

"You have taken the first true steps on the path. And you are now free."

"To be honest, I kind of want to go back. I know I did so much, but I can't just leave her. Is there any way you can return me to the way I was? Before all this, I mean?"

"That might be doable, but you won't remember. You might die if you did."

"That is okay, I just want the memories of what I did, but not how. I can learn it the hard way." In a flash I was suddenly laying at the foot of the stargate in Ceti base, a bit over exposed and feeling incredibly tired.

"Zalost?!" I felt the warm embrace of a pair of arms, strong but not too strong. Then I lost consciousness waking up in the sick bay waking up to the EMH running scans using a medical tricorder before Trinan stepped out of the shadows.

"Morning sleepyhead. How are you feeling?"

"I, what happened, I feel, small."

"I'm not quite sure what you experienced Zalost, but you are now more human than ever. No Borg nanites, no dark matter or extra organs. Just human."

"Wait, does this mean?!, yes! They did it. I, well, I'm sorry you had to go through that, Trinan." That was when I got slapped, she was obviously worried, but something also felt off. First, the EMH seemed a lot more responsive than I remembered. Second, Ceti base looked different, the design was more sleek and looking out the window I saw the shipyards were now far larger than they originally were, forming a ring around the super jovian planet.

"How much happened while we were away in Pegasus?"

Last edited: May 13, 2022

Sleeping Dragon 06

Personal Log, August tenth, nineteen, ninety-eight. Despite my memories of the incident, what happened during my brief moments prior to and during my ascension continue to elude me. I've spent the last week using Vulcan meditation techniques to try and recover as much as possible, but anything I learned using the Borg data nodes and during my contact with the ancient database has now left me. Furthermore, my enhancements are now gone too, leaving me with just what I have access to now and anything I learned the hard way, through detailed study, accelerated or otherwise.

That's not to say I'm not able to help out. I still know how most of the advanced technology works from having worked on it. I'm just limited to the abilities I was born with, which feels strange after having lived with my powers for half a century. One strange anomaly the EMH noted though was that I gained the Alteran gene marker which allows me to utilize their technology and part of the ancient database still exists in Ceti-base's computer core, however I'm going to have to study it the same as anything else. No shortcuts this time, or temporal acceleration outside of tachyon enhanced simulations, lest I shorten my now very human lifespan.

"Zalost, are you going to leave the lab or not? It's been a week, and you haven't even come out to eat."

"Don't need to, I can use the replicator for food and water." I stepped out of the lab wearing a now redesigned version of my federation uniform from my time on Voyager. A gauntlet adorned my wrist containing a refined version of the deck with a new power supply based on a deuterium based micro fusion reactor, a headband allowing a non-invasive neural interface to control the various panels on the device as well as a heads-up display linked to a small implant I had the doctor install into my visual cortex.

"Did you even sleep the last few days?" That was a good question. I vaguely remembered sleeping the other day after having come down from a stimulant high, but beyond that, I really wasn't feeling too tired right now. Giving a brief yawn and stretching, I looked at Trinan who continued to be concerned that despite my apparent resurrection and new body I still acted like I was an Übermensch.

"Look working on things, that's how I calm down and deal with stuff. It's how I've always been, even before I was enhanced. I'm nearly a hundred years old and have a body that's in its early twenties, without any old injuries or visual acuity problems. Do you really think I want to spend my time relaxing?" Clearly she wasn't amused as General O'Neill came around the corner, having been given command of the base during my several month absence. Which I'd always intended anyway because he wanted to retire but couldn't stand not being involved in what was going on out there now.

"He's finally out of that lab?"

"Yes I'm out of the lab general, by the way the uniform suits you. I know it might be strange to wear Starfleet colors, but I'm thankful you accepted the position."

"You had a good argument about someone who knows what's going on out there. Besides, during your time in Pegasus we managed to locate the Tok'ra you were so insistent about as well as had the Asgard consult on the next of the Javelin class ships, the Areadbhar."

"Great name, If it holds true the Replicators, the Wraith, the Goa'uld, none will know what hit them. I'm guessing the Tok'ra were looking for willing hosts?"

"Yeah, though thanks to your holographic doctor here, the host was healed and restored using something from that partial Lantean database you grabbed in Pegasus."

"Yeah, what happened with that anyway? I know I tried to download as much as I could, but we only grabbed what, ten percent? Twenty?"

"And only really a primer on the stargates, those drone weapons, and a large number of medical discoveries as well as references to some sort of wormhole drive and a gate address in Pegasus you labeled Atlantis." The major had just come into the room as I was asking about it. With Teal'c in tow, apparently Daniel Jackson had been kept busy with all the new language, culture, and historical research I'd brought back on the Alterans and so had decided to return to Abydose with his wife Sha're and study things there with earth having provided several quality of life improvements for the people there from the technology I'd gifted to them before my ascension.

"Major Carter, Teal'c, it's good to see you guys again."

"Indeed, have you returned to your former self?"

"Well as much as I can mentally at least. I'm still not in the physical shape I'd like to be, though. I was hoping that you could help me on that front."

"It would be my pleasure, Zalost."

"Good, I really need to put this new body through its proper paces. The doctor tells me I'm mostly human with a few refinements, I'm curious what those changes are."

Sleeping Dragon 07

The sound of metal on metal resounded from the private training room I'd set up on Ceti-base. I was going through my normal training routine, which I'd gotten more serious about since my return to human level abilities. Mostly because I figured The combined training regime my old sensei as well as Oliver had ingrained into me could keep me fit enough to deal with most threats out there. About midway through the salmon ladder, I noticed Teal'c had come in and was observing with curiosity as I continued to ascend higher.

"Teal'c, didn't hear you come in. Something I can help you with?" I reached the next rung with a push and a loud clang, just two from the top now.

"Indeed, you previously asked for a sparing partner and to learn some Jaffa fighting styles." I finally reached the top and hopped down, landing in a crouch with the bar now ready for a combat strike.

"Ah yes!, I've set up a sparing area over here." He continued to look at the salmon ladder, appraising the height even after I set the bar back on the lowest rung.

"Wanna give the ladder a go?" I asked, smirking, since I figured he'd likely have the ability to easily make it to the top. Taking the initiative, he hopped onto the lowest bar and did a few test pull-ups before yanking himself up two rungs with great force and just barely landing the bar in its holder. A moment longer and he shot up two more rungs before I noticed the exhaustion starting to take its toll, and he continued in single rung increments.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" The General had actually come up behind me, catching me off guard, given I didn't have superhuman senses anymore. It seemed I'd have to train my awareness all over again.

"Oh! Hey general, just doing some training. Teal'c is just going at the Salmon ladder, you wanna give it a go?"

"Maybe another time. I wanted to retire before all this, you know."

"True enough, well if you change your mind it's here." Tealc had just finished reaching the top and came down in a relaxed crouch, holding the bar and setting it back onto the bottom rung as I had done before.

"An interesting training device, Master Bra'tac would often have us climb trees for a similar exercise." I stretched my limbs a bit to limber them up before walking over to the bo'stafs and tossing one to Teal'c.

"Alright, show me what you've got Teal'c!" I readied myself after going through a few katas with the staff to verify I hadn't gone rusty after my time as a super human. He stood ready and came towards me with my own movements deflecting his staff and moving into a sweep which he quickly dodged and rolled out of the way of before coming up for another strike. It went on like this for nearly half an hour before my very human limitations began to set in, and he managed to hook my leg and knocking me on my ass, panting.

"Damn, I used to be so much better at this."

"Do not be concerned, Zalost. Few have stood against a first prime for so long without being a Jaffa themselves. And even among Jaffa few have withstood so many blows."

"Doesn't mean I didn't learn anything. I'm going to rest up a minute before heading for the holodeck for the Parkour side of training." I ordered my usual large bottle of water and practically downed the entire thing after that last workout. Making my way to the holodeck I activated PKTraining 1 and a rooftop materialized around me. It took me forever to fine tune the force field emitters and holoprojectors, but I managed to utilized what I learned on voyager and applied it during my brief stint as a near ascended to make it work in this universe and instructed the base to construct half a dozen of them.

From what I understand, the training and recreation part of the base came online about two months after I left. The automated assembly systems attaching it to the base using drones and the whole thing being fabricated at the rapidly growing automated fabrication and assembly yards. When they weren't making satellites for the Dyson swarm anyway.

Making sure the holodeck safeties were on I got a running start and leapt to the next building landing in a couching roll to continue the momentum as I began heading for the next rooftop and stopping after the third when the gap was too large to jump. Quickly taking out the compound bow, I fired a Zipline arrow and made sure both ends were secure before using the bow to slide onto the next rooftop and keep moving. With the replicator in my deck generating arrows as needed and a HUD being projected using holographic technology to assist my aim, It was pretty easy to keep moving like this. Finally, I reached the endpoint of the level with a timer indicating how long it took me at roughly twenty minutes to navigate the course.

If I keep this up, I don't think I'll need to worry about any surprise attacks. My body is in amazing shape, whatever those ascended ancients did I have no injuries whatsoever, and I still don't need glasses despite having them when I was human previously. Thinking to myself about how amazing everything was, I noticed Teal'c just catching up behind me, having nearly forgotten he was joining me in the parkour part of the exercise.

"So how was the Parkour part of the training?"

"Most enlightening. I can see why you continue to train in this manner."

"Groovy, you hungry?" he seemed to nod in approval, and we made our way to the mess for a well-earned meal. From what I understand, the food replicators had become quite popular with the various people now living on Ceti-Base. Some had even begun to experiment with new combinations of things they wouldn't normally be able to create using normal methods.

Challenging the gods 01.

"Last warning, leave the system or your ship and its crew will be detained."

"You dare make threats to the first prime of Lord Ba'al?"

"You wouldn't be the first, friend, now are you going to leave or not?" Weapons fire, well that's a no then. The flyer rocked as plasma bolts impacted against the armor, dispersing across it and feeding the nanotechnology to continue regenerating the armor. Why was I In the flyer and not one of the new ships being produced at the Tau Ceti shipyards? Because it could get to the other side of the system the quickest.

So how did this whole thing start? Well, word finally got out that Apophis wasn't dead, just captive. And several system lords were demanding we surrender him to them. But from what the Tok'ra who'd been helping us out had told us, Ba'al had decided to one up Heru'ur who wanted his own piece of the tau'ri who were personally taking down system lords, namely me. So what does Ba'al do? He sends a couple ha'tak to what he thinks is a minor outpost from an inferior planet.

Now I know that the Flyer is no match for one, let alone two ha'tak vessels straight on. But apparently my pre-ascended self had made some upgrades before he vanished. A few of those were some Alteran derived upgrades to the shields and armor, as well as somehow cramming a mini version of the Asgard beam cannon where the rear phaser used to be. Suffice to say it was still outmatched but packed a punch for a vessel dwarfed by the enemy capital ships.

Dodging and weaving around the first ha'tak I led a squadron of death gliders right into the bottom staff cannons slagging them one after another. My reflexes were still pretty high thanks to the training I'd kept up despite being human now, and the holodeck made great training alongside some lessons from Tom Paris himself back on Voyager. He'd even given me a special training program when I moved onto the anticipation.

As I dodged another wave of death gliders and several smaller plasma blasts, a wing of death glider derived Fenris class fighters came up behind me and began picking them off, having just gotten here from Ceti-base. Thanking my lucky stars and luring them into some pretty heavy cannon fire, I activated the last of the upgrades and engaged the phase cloak, bringing the flyer right close to the ha'tak's hull after entrusting the rest of the enemy's defenses to the Tau Ceti Defense Forces with three more wings on the way.

Beaming onto the lead ha'tak I activated the personal shield using liquid naquadah for a power source and began making my way down the hallways armed with a TR116 using non-lethal rounds to take out any enemy troops. I didn't want to blow up the ships, they were incredibly valuable. Otherwise, I'd have just fired transphasic torpedoes at them and called it a day.

Making my way to the main computer core, I continued to fight heavier and heavier resistance until I finally found the jaffa actually retreating after two dozen had been rendered incapacitated in my wake using carefully aimed shots. The command that the great and powerful OZ, the god slayer was on board and to retreat to critical areas having come over the ship wide communications.

Not long after I'd gotten my reprieve and after having disabled the computer by removing most of the control crystals, I started ascending towards the command deck. I'd encounter pockets of resistance along the way but finally after a bit of a walk and confirmation that the MACO's had captured the other ha'tak I forced open the doors and made my way to the control room, the first prime and half a dozen jaffa standing ready, though unexpectedly the first pime was actually being held at staff weapon point.

"I told you that your entire crew would be detained, now are you going to come along peacefully or do I need to use force?" Suddenly he shouted and fell over, with one of the jaffa guards having shot him with a zat. Unexpectedly, the jaffa on the bridge were actually part of the jaffa resistance, with Bra'tak's efforts having quickly begun spreading since Apophis's capture. Of course, I bowed as Teal'c often did to show respect and guided them to the shipyard for repairs. If they wanted one, they could have it, but I wasn't sure which jaffa were resistance members and which weren't. It was a good thing then that I had a separate area for non-cleared personnel at Ceti-base to debrief them.

Now of course earth wasn't too happy with my conditions to share technology but keep the ships captured. But well it wasn't technically piracy either, it was active salvage. And this was now our second ha'tak after apophis's two as well as the ever-growing fleet of captured pel'tak, tel'tak, and death gliders. I'd needed to re-purpose one of the shipyards into a scrapyard just because of all the ships that were coming to us right now from the arrogant goa'uld system lords.

It wouldn't be long before a proper fleet would be coming down on our heads, but I had some surprises in the works. Namely, a rather large beam cannon backed up by the ever-growing dyson swarm. It was my hope that should a proper fleet show up, I could use it to take out the biggest monster, just in case an Anubis style super ha'tak showed up.

Challenging the gods 02.

Personal log, October twentieth, nineteen, ninety-eight. It's been three weeks since the Goa'uld began sending fleets to Tau Ceti. I've accelerated the production of the in system defenses, as well as expanding the Dyson swarm. A lot of enemy ships have been swiftly dealt with by the well-trained men and women provided by not only the United States Air Force, but also Russia, the United Kingdom, and even China. It was a real shocker to find out that the pentagon reached out several years early, but it made sense, given Ceti base was in dire need of decent personnel.

Still, it was only a matter of time before Heru'ur, Ba'al, or any number of other System lords came to try and crush the Tau'ri now that they knew where Ceti base was, even if their fleets continued to not return. Well, other than ships piloted by rebel Jaffa who used the opportunity to spread into the upper ranks of various high ranking system lords by returning to report to them as survivors. From what I'd heard from the Tok'ra and Bra'tak. OZ the god slayer was becoming a name worthy of legend, with several Goa'uld captured while a way was being found to separate them from their hosts.

We were ready for anything they could throw at us now. A decent sized fleet was being refurbished, and the in system defense satellites equipped with singularity torpedoes, Asgard beams, pulse phaser cannons, and even a field of cloaked self replicating mines around the defense stations were deployed throughout the system to slow the fleets down and allow the Fenris class fighters to pick them off at their leisure. Well almost anything. I had yet to see the super ha'tak Anubis used in the series, and I wasn't willing to press my luck just yet. I just hoped the little surprise I had waiting near the Dyson swarm would be enough.

"Sir, another fleet has just dropped out of hyperspace, shall I re-direct a squadron to intercept?" I looked closely at the images being sent back by the long range sensors and nearly blanched at the massive ship surrounded by half a dozen smaller ha'tak class vessels.

"No, Kowalski, I'll deal with this. That has to be the system lord in charge, though whether it's Ba'al or Heru'ur is anyone's guess, given the system lords are split right now."

"Yes sir." Opening communications, I addressed the vessel, warning them to turn back or face the consequences. What I didn't expect was to get an annoyed and arrogant Heru'ur on the screen.

"Pitiful Tau'ri scum. You think that just because you can take on Ba'al you can face me? I've been waiting for the right moment to strike." Ba'al was the one sending all these fleets? Well, that answers a few questions. Probably his underling system lords too. Still, where the hell did Heru'ur get a super ha'tak? Deciding it might be better to deal with this in an unorthodox way, I scanned the ship and had a fleet of drone ships begin firing borg inspired shield draining torpedoes at it, rapidly depleting the shields and overloading power systems throughout the ship.

"Last chance Heru'ur. Leave this system or don't, your choice." Huh, a Goa'uld insult, well I guess I got my answer. Turning quickly to O'neill and Kawalski to let them know everything was ready, I quickly beamed to the holding cells and had a remote transporter system in the drone ships and beam Heru'ur from his now unshielded ship directly into a special room I'd set up. Double-checking to make sure the room was fairly dark and that the voice modulator and special contact lenses were in place, I waited patiently as the Rebel Jaffa and MACOs captured the now crippled fleet before entering the room.

"You dare take your god captive?!"

"Dare nothing, I summoned you here for a purpose, Heru'ur."

"No one commands a god Tau'ri fool."

"Then it pleases me to be the first, parasite." a soft chuckle emanating and echoing from throughout the room, having been setup to increase the intimidation factor. Teal'c actually approved of the idea of actually bringing terror to Heru'ur and was watching from a one way glass wall as things went down, several of the tactics one's he devised surprising me.

"You are to return to your system lords and warn them away from confronting myself and the Tau'ri, this system and the surrounding fifty light years is my domain."

"You control nothing, All will fall under Heru'ur, you have nothing to back your demands." At this I triggered the contacts to make my eyes glow gold in a similar manner to the Goa'uld themselves, only with a purple/black void causing him to flinch.

"And your position is highly dubious. I could easily place you with the others, or merely crush you. I'm sure you've heard of my abilities by now."

"Hmph, I've heard you are merely human now. Not even capable of doing half of what you once could."

"And you think that matters? It seems I've misjudged you snake, I suppose you'll just have to watch on as your precious flagship is reduced to scrap." Verifying the MACO's had cleared the ship of all troops and moved the rebel jaffa to the ha'taks I activated a holographic display and had some drones begin pulling the super ha'tak into the scrapping device. Beams reached out and took detailed scans of the ship, beaming anything of use out of it and into various cargo bays for study, before cutting beams began breaking it down into smaller chunks.

"You'll pay for what you've done hasshak, if not today, then soon enough!"

"I'll pay nothing. You belong to me now and like the others your host will be liberated. Of that I promise." Walking out of the room, I left him there screaming at the top of his lungs before a sedative gas was pumped in knocking him out and leaving him to join the other captured Goa'uld which now numbered nearly a dozen, a handful of which had been separated safely from their hosts who were comfortably staying in the civilian section of Ceti base and made comfortable.

Last edited: May 26, 2022

Challenging the gods 03

The Flyer shook as more ion cannons were absorbed by the ablative armor. I continued to dodge as much as I could, but the weapons satellites continued to fire on me as I approached the planet. Normally I wouldn't risk it but right now this was a mission of mercy and as much as I was looking forward to the Christmas party next week These people actually needed a rescue as the probe sent through the gate detected multiple life signs on the surface of the now uninhabitable planet near the gate.

As I dodged another shot of ionized plasma, the shots finally stopped as I approached the upper atmosphere, likely being hidden by the volcanic ash cloud being kicked out due to the planet's unstable tectonics from it's failing orbit. Coming in low, the transporters finally got a lock and began beaming the people onboard and relaying them to the transporters onboard the Gungnir which was sitting just out of range of the ion cannon satellites which had been scorching the flyer's hull.

After the last had been beamed aboard, I moved to a safe distance and managed to avoid the plasma bolts before jumping to warp and arriving at the gungnir. The Tollans weren't too happy about having been beamed aboard an alien ship, but were somewhat thankful about the rescue from what didn't appear to be a primitive race.

"Look, we're not interested in whatever you're selling, however you claim you can get us home?"

"Let me answer that, Colonel. Hello, I am Zalost, and I am sort of like humanity's benefactor. As far as helping you reach your new planet. That should be doable since our FTL drive can cross vast distances in a matter of days."

"How far is vast?" he asked, curious, since he seemed surprised to hear of such a thing.

"Four million light years in about a week, give or take." he seemed to noticeably relax before agreeing to give me the coordinates which I had the bridge put into the hyper trans-slipstream drive computer and engage the drive. Mere minutes later I was joined on the bridge by Omoc the leader of the Tollan refugees who seemed incredibly interested in how quickly we were able to traverse fifty thousand or so light years.

"Amazing, and you say you've only been traveling in ships for a couple of years?"

"Yes, it's a long story, but the Tau'ri of Earth sent a number of personel to aid in managing and helping to colonize the Tau Ceti system. Which has become both the central research and shipyard center for our little corner of the galaxy. I'd be delighted to tell you and your people more about it once this crisis is over, that is, if your government isn't adverse to diplomacy with us?"

"I will need to speak with our leaders. But you certainly meet the technological criteria."

"We had a similar rule back home known as the prime directive. I wouldn't have become Earth's benefactor if the need wasn't urgent with the threats to their homeworld after learning to use the gate system."

"Unknown vessel, this is the Tollan defense force, You are violating Tollan space. Leave or be destroyed." I raised my eyebrows before Omoc walked over to the communications console and I opened a channel for him.

"This is Omoc, we have refugees from Tollan and these people have generously brought us to our new home. Stand down." Suddenly the ships broke off and formed an escort instead as we entered the orbit of what I would learn was the new homeworld called Tollana.

"Worry not, I see no reason why the Curia wouldn't be interested in diplomacy, and we are very thankful for the rescue" Another man Narim had been far more amicable about communication with us, especially Major Carter who compared notes based on what she had learned from the Federation, Asgard, and fragments of the ancient database.

After spending the next few weeks in orbit and beaming to the surface to speak with the Tollan Curia I had the Ceti Shipyards around Yammu, construct several drones and the Gungnir was brought back to bring them to Tollan along with federation terraforming equipment to try and repair the Tollan home world. In exchange, there was the opening of talks regarding technological trade as well as a handheld phase shifting device which was immediately added to my combat armor after careful study and given to most of the engineers to aid in making repairs.

Finally, on the second week of january I returned home for some much-needed rest. The Goa'uld had been quiet the last few months after the capture of Heru'ur, but I had a feeling things were only just ramping up. Beaming down to my apartment, I arrived to find Trinan actually working on dinner given the local time of day.

"Welcome back"

"It's good to be back. Sorry I missed Christmas, but well, I was handling interstellar politics if that helps."

"Wouldn't be the first time" she chuckled as I recalled that indeed I had gotten involved previously on her own homeworld though I was a lot squishier now than I was then. Of course, the forward nature of her next move was a reminder that it had been several weeks, and she'd been very aggressive in her pursuit now that we were both mostly human. I was certainly going to be losing sleep tonight.

Challenging the gods 04

"Damn it Daniel, open the gate!" I shouted as we ran towards it, the ha'tak in orbit preventing the Gungnir from keeping a stable lock after the rest of the team and the Ancient database were beamed aboard.

"I'm trying! The ZPM must be dead, it's not responding!." I took a few shots with the AR116 and took down some of the Jaffa which were charging towards us, the planet's weird magnetosphere interfering with the intangibility device leaving me to rely on my personal shield which was only absorbing most of the staff blast's kinetic force winding me heavily. Suddenly an explosion in the sky rocked the planet, leaving me to wonder if it was the gungnir or that upgraded ha'tak which just went nova. Getting low to the ground, Doctor Jackson and I just narrowly avoided being knocked down by the force of the explosion, and I took the opportunity to fire a stun grenade at the Jaffa troops to knock them out for a bit.

"Zalost to Gungnir, you guys alright up there?"

"We're intact, but the transporter's damaged."

"How about the ring platform?"

"There isn't a receiving one on the surface, Ba'al's forces likely destroyed it."

"Alright, good a time as any to test the Gungnir's atmospheric flight tolerances, see if you can come in closer to get us."

"Major, Another group of Ha'tak's just dropped out of hyperspace."

"That might not be doable right now, sir, try to hold out until we can retrieve you. Carter out." Crap, okay, so Ba'al is clearly unhappy we got to the ancient database in the Milky Way first. The damn magnanimous egomaniac had managed to unite more than two thirds of the remaining Goa'uld under his wing, with the rest fighting for scraps. And unfortunately, his command wasn't stationary after the joint operation with the Tok'ra to destroy the system lord's main base with them in it. Traded matter replicators for their tunnel crystal technology as part of the deal, too.

"Daniel, I've got a portable fusion pack in the deck, it should power up the DHD, but you're going to have to act as lookout while I do this." Handing him the TR116 and pulling open the power panel, I quickly replicated a couple jumper wires and took out my tricorder to figure out where I needed to hook up to after removing the ZPM from the pedestal. Right as I was about to hook up the second power lead, the sound of dread filled my ears as a high-pitched echoing whine sounded in the sky. Looking up, I spotted three death gliders coming in and quickly yanked off my personal shield and tied it into the deck for power before sticking it on the DHD and amplifying the radius with several plasma blasts impacting on the ten-foot bubble around us.

"Okay, I've got it powered up, Dial Ceti base, now!" Quickly moving over to the control panel, he punched in the address the tricorder gave him and the gate activated allowing us to escape, but just barely as more staff blasts impacted the shield.

"Zalost to Gungnir, take that data and get back to Ceti-base. See you in a minute." Jumping through the gate with the ZPM clutched in my hands and the deck and personal shield yanked free, we just managed to make it before the gate disengaged again.

"Stand down!" Shouted General O'neill as the MACOs with TR116's and pulse phaser rifles had flooded into the room to intercept any enemy forces that got through. As the weapons emplacements in the room retracted into the walls and ceiling, I stood up and dusted myself off before shouting that I was okay only to be tackled by Trinan who'd been hanging around Ceti-base the last few weeks instead of our home on earth.

"Zalost you're okay!"

"Of course I am, was there any doubt?" I said cockily while smirking, since we just managed to take the treasure out from under the dragon's nose.

"You know better than to take risks like that! Major carter said there were nearly a Dozen of those enhanced ha'tak ships entering orbit when she jumped out of there."

"Ba'al must really want me dead then to send so many of his ships. That or he really wanted that database. Sucks to be him, I'm going to hook it up to the computer core as soon as an interface can be made."

"Zalost this is serious. I know you went and ascended, but lately you've been acting strangely cocky. Is this how you were before you got those abilities?"

"No, but I think I'm just in a really good place right now. I mean, We're here, in this amazing place. And thanks to Q I've got you with me. I want nothing more than for this to last for a long time." Getting up, I handed one of the MACOs the ZPM with instructions to bring it to Doctor McKay's lab for study and began heading to general O'neill's office for debrief once Sam and the crew of the Gungnir finished their system checks now that they'd made it safely back. Colonel Castleman was a good call for the ship's commander, he really took to the role well. Just as I was about to exit the room, however, the stargate began moving as an unscheduled activation occurred. And several heavy thunks impacted the barrier.

"Damn, he really doesn't give up, does he? Hey, Kowalski, did the tech's get the address that came from?" As They were looking over the coordinates, I noticed the wormhole hadn't closed yet before a Projection appeared in front of the gate featuring the egomaniac himself.

"Tau'ri pest, Hand over the ancient database." I couldn't help myself as I tried to make myself look imposing and stared down Ball's projection as best I could.

"Ba'al, Magnanimous fool and king cobra of the snake pit. What causes you to darken my doorstep?" He scowled at the insult before ignoring it.

"If you hand over the database, I could make things a lot easier for you. I am the head of the system lords, after all. If you don't then I'm afraid I will have no use for you in my new age." Quickly checking to make sure the long range sensors were online, and my little surprise was still intact and now fully operational, I smirked before doing my best impression of ignorance.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if you'd like, I could give you my database of snakeoil recipes. Maybe you can use them to scam an actual sap who believes you to be a god instead of pestering me?" His expression rapidly changed before the screen went dark.

"Do you have to keep taunting him like that?" Asked Trinan as I placed my arm around her and returned to making my way to the debriefing.

"Of course. Keeping your enemy off balance by keeping him focused on just you via taunting is heroics 101. Keeps a villain like ole Bachi ball from actually forming a proper plan. At least it should, anyway."

"As much as I enjoy seeing that guy get what's coming to him, what's your plan if he actually decides to do more than make idle threats?" General O'neill had been listening in as we approached his office, and Trinan stayed in her official capacity as my minder.

"Well, I had a project I'd been working on for the Dyson swarm since before Heru'ur's little stunt. Should he show up, I think he'll find the system defenses a bit more than he bargained for."

"I'm just saying he's as slippery as the slimeball he is. You shouldn't underestimate him" Just as O'neill finished that sentence another wormhole opened, only this time the radiological alarm sounded at the same time, indicating some kind of constant energy buildup.

"Crap baskets" I facepalmed because I'd forgotten about the ancient gate weapon I had yet to locate.

Challenging the gods 05

"Exiting HTS, sensors are picking up a large energy signature on planet, as well as a rather dense fleet in orbit."

"And this is why I wanted to exit on the edge of the system before we popped in, that's a huge fleet." I sighed as I practically facepalmed at how badly Ba'al was trying to play keep the super weapon away. He certainly wasn't taking chances this time.

"How long until the gate at Ceti-base becomes unstable?"

"With the power shunting system? Seventy-two hours."

"Thank you, Major. Alright, everyone, let's show Ba'al why you don't mess with us. McKay, how soon can you get those drones into the launch bay?"

"You mean now?! I haven't field tested them!"

"They're ancient drones, you lock onto a target and fire?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that."

"McKay!"

"Look, it's just a really complicated-"

"Alright I get it, we have time, Saunders, bring the cloak online, let's sneak up on them and go with plan B."

"Stealth drone mines?"

"Indeed, if we can't make a show of force, let's be sneaky and take them all out before they can fire a single shot. Teal'c, are you aware of any rebel Jaffa in Ba'al's fleet?"

"Not, after the fall of Heru'ur, it seems he began systematically killing any Jaffa that would not serve him and submit to a mental probe."

"So he's paranoid, aggressive, and likely has nothing to lose, but more importantly he's an overconfident arrogant bastard."

"As are many goa'uld."

"Right you are Teal'c, alright, let's get that opening strike in order." As the Gungnir activated a new ancient derived experimental phase cloak, a series of anti-matter warheads attached to probes with smaller cloaks were loaded into the torpedo tubes. Major Carter modified each one on a slightly different frequency to make it difficult to find them all. Once we were within a million kilometers, I gave the order and the entire ship went to silent running.

We came within a hundred meters of the nearly two dozen ha'tak class ships. The stealth mines slowly moving into position as they were deployed with each pass until half a dozen were around the motherships. After the mines were deployed, we moved behind one of the moons and kept the fleet on long range telemetry, patiently waiting for Ba'al to leave his ship.

"The target has just left the central ha'tak."

"Did the transporter room manage to intercept the matter stream?"

"No, he arrived on the planet's surface."

"I guess it'll be one hell of a lightshow then. Uncloak and detonate the mines." With the order given, suddenly, dozens of mines appeared as a dense swarm around the enemy fleet. A bright light lit up most of the star system as every single ship went nova, with any smaller craft also suffering severe damage if they weren't outright obliterated themselves.

"Bring us into a low orbit of the planet, right above that energy source. I'm going to head over to the transporter room."

"Yes sir."

I made my way down the corridors to the transporter room along with major carter. My transporter chief was an Asgard who had been assigned to us in an officer exchange program. Primarily to help them familiarize themselves with some of the new technology I'd gifted them in exchange for the computer core and the Doc's recent advances in saving their race. In exchange, they got a few of our best, including the more than happy to oblige Doctor Carson Beckett, who'd spent the last year working with the EMH on Ceti-base. A decision I was more than okay with given his record in medical and genetics research.

"Kvasir, I appreciate you helping us out with this. Have you managed to get a lock on the stargate?"

"Yes, but I must caution you, the gate is currently charged with a large amount of energy and will likely overload the transport buffers long before it can be rematerialized anywhere on the ship, the danger of the gate destructing is very high."

"That is a problem, I might have a solution though, see these weapons emplacements on the surface? Can you possibly beam them away instead?"

"That is, possible, yes."

"Alright let's disarm them then and see if we can take out the weapon, if not then we'll go with plan C and remove the gate from its pedestal and place it in orbit."

"That is ill-advised."

"Do you have a better plan?"

"No."

"Zalost to bridge, Kavasir is adjusting our targeting sensors, be ready for any Jaffa we manage to grab near the main cannons."

Ba'al thought he was having a great day. He finally got one over on that foolish Tau'ri hok-tar who had been interfering in his plans far too often. With this, while he wouldn't have gotten the database for himself, he would at least eliminate the threat, and that was worth a lot to the remaining system lords under him. Unfortunately, the bright flashes in the sky soured his mood, as he quickly found himself to have lost contact with the fleet in orbit.

"Jaffa, prepare the surface cannons, we've lost contact with the ha'tak in orbit."

"Yes my lord." After having killed so many shol'va he now had a loyal army who would die if he commanded it. Of course, the bomb implanted in their necks kind of guaranteed loyalty. It had been a very tense few minutes before another problem occurred. Kel-rak his new first prime came racing up with six other Jaffa elite warriors panicked and shouting that the weapons vanished into thin air.

"Tau-ri bastards! Now they're behaving like the Asgard?! Bring all remaining Jaffa here and launch any surviving gliders. We must protect this weapon at all costs!"

"By your will!" Nearly two dozen death gliders launched and began ascending in a pyramid formation before they were also taken out detonating with flashes of light from above the clouds causing Ba'al to begin grinding his teeth as the nearly sixty remaining troops swarmed the area around the weapon looking for any signs of Tau-ri forces. This time a series of bright purple flashes impacted the ground exploding around the weapon and knocking over some of the towers forcing it to shut off and the gate deactivating. Before he had a chance to curse the Tau-ri for once again ruining his plans, he felt suddenly very light as the room around him shimmered, and he found himself now trapped inside a grey room with a solid metal door.

"Zalost!" He shouted, banging on the door and demanding to be let go immediately.

"Great work Kavasir, Bridge, let's grab the gate and disarm this super weapon. Can't have it falling into the wrong hands again."

"Yes sir!"

Challenging the gods 06

Ba'al had been staring at the wall four what felt like hours, he'd screamed himself hoarse and for a moment thought he might have injured his hands banging on the door. Then the world blinked for just an instant, he'd barely noticed it but his hands no longer hurt as they did a moment ago and the dents had also ceased to be. Stroking his magnificent goatee he kicked the door and a hollow clang rang out before he had the sudden distinct feeling he was being watched.

"Had enough time to cool your heals there, Ba'al?"

"Wretched Tau-ri fool. Do you think this room can hold me? I'll find a way out my host already" He paused as he reached out trying to tap into the memories his host had. A man who was once known as a great thief and escape artist but rather than the silent rebellion they had settled into instead Ba'al felt nothing.

"So you finally noticed, huh? You think this is a room onboard my ship? Or in some prison somewhere? Well, you'd be partially right. You think that's your real body, or that you're breathing air right now?" Ba'al wanted to scream, he had suspected the Asgard were helping the Tau-ri for some time, but this reeked of their interference. His host was silent, and the room shimmered briefly, much to his horror before it shifted into a large common area with several of his other system lords walking about, many of whom were silently brooding.

"What is this trickery?!"

"Hmm, maybe you should ask one of your fellow system lords? You recognize most of them, right? Heru'ur, Apophis, Nirrti, Osiris, Cronus, just to name a few. Unfortunately, Hathor died in our encounter and Ra, well he was killed when his ship went nova by his own modified nuclear device." This infuriated the former system lord, he then paused and began to smirk since Anubis was also missing from the group gathered in this place.

"If you're thinking Anubis survived, you're wrong. He met with an unfortunate accident as he was scattered to the farthest reaches of the universe." Ba'al howled and released his fury as he tried to choke out the man standing behind him smugly watching the outburst, only for his hands to pass right through him like a ghost.

"Like I said, not your actual body, and I'm not technically here. Anyway, your host should be waking up soon, probably will want to thank me for liberating him like the two dozen others we've managed to liberate from you parasites."

"So how was that?"

"Most amusing, though I thought my encounter with Apophis after his transfer was equally entertaining."

"Well, Teal'c they're kinda helpless in there, what with the Goa'uld hooked up to Pandora's box here in Tartarus. A fitting and ironic fate given the box was supposed to contain all the evils of the world and what with them trapping hosts in their own bodies."

"Indeed. It is a fate far worse than death." As Teal'c and I were beamed over to Ceti-base for the debriefing regarding Ba'al's capture as well as any information the Asgard memory probes were able to ascertain from the parasite The two recently created Spear class cruisers the Vel, and the Tongobiri were investigating a series of locations that apparently hid a variety of powerful weapons and technologies. Meanwhile, the Gungnir was being dispatched to deal with the remainder of Ba'al's fleet and any remaining system lords they could find save for the Tok'ra infiltrators as well as Lord Yu and Zeus, both of whom were far less hostile than most others and had agreed to a pact of neutrality.

With the age of the Goa'uld rapidly coming to an end, I had begun setting my sights on liberating another galaxy and was preparing a special fleet to use the HTS drive and go deal with the wraith. It wouldn't take too much longer if everything went well. The replicators and Ori would be the only real remaining threats, and while the replicators might be a cause for concern, I'd gotten word that singularity torpedoes were proving incredibly effective against them.

The Ori weren't likely to show up here unless someone messed with the device that Daniel found in Glastonbury tor. Just to be sure, I had it secretly moved to a special bunker deep under the ice of Tiamat, the largest icy moon of Leviathan and host to some large crustaceans deep below the surface near the tidally heated core. The bunker itself was a large cavernous structure and was named after Daniel Jackson jokingly referred to as Domdaniel due to its location which just kinda stuck. Just as I was starting to settle down, however, a new surprise would be waiting in a remote system, one I was not expecting to run into anytime soon.

Last edited: Jun 15, 2022

Challenging the gods 07

"So the Tok'ra asked us to do the extraction on the Goa'uld here instead of handling it themselves?"

"Yes, apparently while being somewhat benevolent she's still a problem given her rivalry with Athena and antagonism towards Ba'al."

"Martouf, I won't kill the symbiote, However we can place Qetesh in Pandora's box with the rest of the Goa'uld, though Ba'al might not be too happy with the company."

"That's fine. Though, the host may need extraction. The population are unusually Zealous." Dropping out of HTS the Gungnir was cloaked, and we entered orbit of the planet. The Class F star shining brightly overhead of the tropical jungle world.

Deciding to get a better look at things, I beamed down with a handful of MACOs wearing cloaks to disguise ourselves among the populace. The crowd was growing as they were gathering around a large temple like structure, a carving depicting a Serpent coiled around a lotus blossom was inscribed in gold above the throne. The wall sconces kept the room dimly lit, and various handmaids and servants wearing fairly revealing clothes were scattered about performing rituals with the humans kneeling in front of the throne.

Sitting in the throne was a woman with long black hair and wearing similarly revealing clothes, offering almost no protection from the environment. She stared out into the room, casting her gaze over the worshipers as they presented her with various offerings of gold, jewels, and various kinds of handmade accessories. Suddenly, her gaze stopped over our little group.

"You there, come forward, I should like to see the face of our guest." I felt nervous because I was concerned we'd been found out already, not that we couldn't simply beam her and the rest of us out to accomplish the mission, but this was supposed to be a covert operation.

"Not them, just you there in the center." The MACOs knelt back down, concerned, since I was going in without backup. Still, I was doing my best to play my part in this. I came up to the throne and knelt down before the woman, suppressing my dislike of the Goa'uld as a whole, and took off the hood of my cloak.

"Hmm yes, This one seems unusually well suited, hmm, though I sense something behind those eyes." She placed her hand on my face and I continue to suppress everything using the Vulcan meditation techniques Tuvok had taught me to keep myself in check. That was when I noticed it, a slightly sweet perfume wafting off of her, it was making things a little hazy, and I noticed the men around her in particularly seemed to have been under some kind of spell. Unfortunately, as much as I tried to suppress it, my frustration and anger at the mind control attempt along with seeing people who had been under her thrall for a long time rose to the surface.

"Hmm yes, this one has spirit, I like a strong man, your resistance is simply intoxicating." I found myself unable to stand as she'd placed her hand on my shoulder and was suddenly wishing I had the augmented strength of before.

"Tell me, God slayer, did you really think you could hide from your goddess?, Though I have no intent to slay you, that would be such a waste of a good specimen."

"If you already know who I am, then why the game serpent? You must know that your days are numbered?"

"Yes, but that won't stop me from enjoying my final moments in this body."

"I'm sorry, I have someone already, and I'm not exactly interested in parasites."

"Such a small-minded individual. I will enjoy breaking you of that habit."

"Trinan is going to kill me." I mumbled while she smirked before nodding to her thralls, the MACO's beaming away but for some reason the transporter lock on me failing as I felt the pull of the transporter beam but without the de-materialization.

"They'll be back, they can't leave without their oh so glorious god slayer now, can they? You! Bring him to my chambers!"

"Yes my goddess." Stated one of the stronger looking thralls, and I was dragged out of their desperately trying to escape before two more grabbed me to prevent me from escaping. Moments later, I found myself chained to a wall as Qetesh loomed over me with an amused smirk, my own glare as harsh as the fires of creation themselves.

"You think these chains can hold me?"

"Yes, you do not show the signs of being a hok'tar unlike the stories I have heard. Something must have changed, but you are now merely a human. Albeit a very physically well-trained one, I wasn't lying when I said you were well suited." I shuddered at the lecherous gaze she was giving me, but I couldn't do much while she kept a close eye on my movements. I needed a way to escape before the nish'ta began to overwhelm my mental focus.

"You continue to resist my charms, why is that? Most men would have given in to their desires by now."

"I am not most men. I learned from the best the art of self-control. You'll find my mind a serene calm sea in the face of such woefully insufficient advances' parasite."

"So naive, I've barely scratched the surface on the technique's available to a goddess such as myself. You will soon learn why resisting me is so foolish." I tried to remain calm, her voice echoing as the nish'ta continued to slowly break down my mental barriers, I quickly realized she was attempting hypnotic suggestion and began thinking about prime numbers to try and keep my mind focused on something else while waiting for her to become distracted. The MACOs and the crew on the Gungnir would try to spring me, and that's when I needed to be ready to act firmly aware of the tiny lock picking kit in my left bracer.

Vala was not having a good anything. She had been stuck like this for years, watching as this creature had taken her body which her family had sold as a slave and used her for an uncountable number of terrible things. She'd enslaved entire worlds against her will and despite her best efforts to try and wrest control away, was constantly being silenced by the being now using her body for itself.

After several years, she finally gave up hope, that was until a group of humans in cloaks entered the temple. She noticed them pretty quickly, since she did not recognize any of them. Unfortunately, this drew the attention of the creature inside her head, and she regretted the fact that she could not stop anything that happened next.

That sickly sweet scent the thing used to draw in it's pray radiating off her despite her pleas to let them go as her hand reached out and held him in place. Despite the thing's assurances that they had complete control, she could feel it. He had a surprising strength and was almost able to push her back. Then she felt hope as despite the thing's command to kill the other cloaked figures, they vanished quickly in a shimmering light. They would be back, she was certain of it.

You can't tell me you aren't curious about this one?

I, why are you speaking to me now?

Because despite my best efforts, you have continued to resist any efforts to actually enjoy any of the servants and thralls under my preview.

That is because you are a monster, and I will not allow you to corrupt who I once was any further.

"Bring him to my chambers!"

"Yes my goddess" The thralls responded as they often did, and the creature smirked with her face. It was amused as the man continued to struggle, his long hair well-kept and groomed, the beard short. As the servants removed his cloak and warrior's attire, she noticed his muscles were lean but spoke of countless hours of training pushing the limits of his body. The shackles were quickly placed on his arms and legs, and he pulled at them, testing the strength of the naquadah enhanced metal's bonds.

"You continue to resist my charms, why is that?"

Yes, he's a lot stronger than those idiots you enthralled, you're going to lose, and I'll finally be free!

"I am not most men, I learned from the best in the art of self-control and my mind is calm and serene in the face of such woefully insufficient advances' parasite."

I am going to make him submit to me, and you won't stop me this time, girl.

Now, where have I heard that before?

Even you must admit this one is quite fetching, surely you can't say you don't want this one?

Not this way, no. She doubted herself as the thought entered her mind, the sense of amusement from the parasite filling the back of her mind.

"You will soon learn why resisting me is so foolish" She ran her hands over his muscles, feeling them tense at her touch, his eyes harsh and boring through her, giving the creature pause. Meanwhile, Vala secretly hoped he would somehow snap the chains that were strong enough to hold even a fellow god. The creature continued teasing him for what felt like ages as he strained against the restraints, desperately trying to resist against her touch.

Suddenly the room shook, and she paused, wondering what was going on as she felt something shift in the back of her mind. Hearing a click she turned around to see that one of his arms was free, and he was fiddling with the restraints on the other, the creature trying to stop his escape but finding that their shared body was unable to move as Vala put all her will into resisting it and keeping them rooted to the spot. Within moments, he was free and leaped up towards her, raising an eyebrow as she continued not to move.

"Here's hoping we can talk about this later, As for you Qetesh, I think you'll find we have ways of dealing with parasites like yourself. Zalost to Gungnir, two to beam up!" The room shifted as they were transported and just as suddenly the man jumped out of the way, and she was hit by some kind of energy several times until everything went dark.

"Cutting it kinda close there, weren't you?"

"Sorry, we had to deal with half a dozen Ha'tak's which were scanning the area looking for us after the MACOs returned from the surface."

"Well at least that's understandable, get us back to Ceti base for the procedure, I'm looking forward to throwing Qetesh in Pandora's Box."

"As you command, sir." The strange response from the crew he'd been getting lately was just the latest in a series of unusual changes since his return. For some reason, he'd recently been given an actual provisional rank after Ba'al's capture and was now often spending time on the Gungnir dealing with the remaining Goa'uld. Still, it was kind of nice to be given a command again after his time in Starfleet. And he knew Trinan understood why he was constantly heading out to deal with off world threats.

Reflections 01

Deep in Domdaniel below Tiamat's icy surface is a mirror seemingly encased in stone. It ripples as the universe is briefly connected to another one, the two overlapping then separating again, leaving a man in a blue uniform and a woman with long blond hair standing on the other side of it.

"Where are we? This doesn't look like P3R-233 or the SGC?" Suddenly the room was bathed in a red glow as an alarm claxon sounded, various objects surrounded by energy fields surrounded them, and they found themselves unable to leave the strange mirror's side. Suddenly there was a shimmering light and a man flanked by what looked like half a dozen SG personnel appeared.

"Computer stand down red alert." The speakers chirped, and the lights dimmed before the room shifted, and they were now standing in some kind of interrogation room.

"I've been waiting for this to happen. Welcome to Ceti-base."

"Ceti-base? What's going on? Who are you?"

"I am Zalost, a traveler of sorts, as you must no doubt already be familiar with alternate universes you could say I'm from a particularly distant one."

"This is not the reality I was expecting."

"I should think not. Originally, you were coming here to seek help in fighting Apophis and liberating your earth, correct?" He seemed rather intuitive, but that made sense if he himself was from another reality.

"Was your earth taken over by Apophis too? You've got a base near what I can only assume is Tau-Ceti given the name."

"No, actually, he was repelled… He's currently contained in pandora's box."

"Contained. You've managed to fight the Goa'uld and capture them?"

"Yes, with a lot of help. It's a very long story, but first, your inoculations, to prevent entropic cascade failure."

"What?!"

"It's a byproduct of the method you've used to travel. By using a quantum singularity and entangling particles to create a duplicate body here, you've created an issue of entropy. The universe would try to purge you if you didn't have these inoculations. Don't worry, you won't need the mirror to get back, as I've been having the computer narrow down your point of origin by the quantum frequency of your molecules."

"Okay, let's tone down the egg head talk, it's giving me a headache."

"Even in another universe, you certainly never change Kowalski."

"So tell me again why we're using the experimental untested wormhole drive on the Gungnir?"

"McKay, it'll be fine. Where I come from, it's been possible for a while to generate micro wormholes. Thanks to that ancient database, I now have the missing pieces to open something a bit more stable. The problem has always been isolating and stabilizing the opposite end at specific coordinates. Thus, the quantum mirror."

"Hold on, you're going to send a probe, through that ancient reality bridging device, to act as an anchor?"

"I'm leaving one here too, McKay. And I'm going to need both your help and both major carters in case the drive burns out." Zalost knew the best way to get on Rodney's good side was to feed his ego. Not too much, but just enough to guarantee his assistance. He learned that lesson during his time in Pegasus.

"How do you plan to control where the probe goes?"

"That's the easy part, I've already isolated the frequency of their reality, makes it easy to pinpoint an exit to a specific world. And let the computer cycle through until it has a match."

"R-Right, well um, let's get underway then."

"Activating quantum mirror."

"Deploying anchor."

"Anchor is away, phase cloak activated just before we lost contact."

"Perfect, okay we're going to give it five minutes then open the wormhole."

"Zalost to Ceti-base, we're ready here."

"Zalost, the Gungnir has a go, engage drive and godspeed."

"Keep the lights on. We'll be home soon." I watched as the vortex opened, the blue glow of cherenkov radiation erupted from the vortex, lighting up the area. I couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the unstable vortex before we were suddenly pulled into it. The gravimetric sheer just barely being compensated for by the inertial dampeners and feeling a bit like we were on a roller coaster ride as the wormhole twisted and turned in the space between universes. Time stretched and compressed, space distorted, finally we exited the wormhole after what felt like an eternity but what the ship's chronometer reported was only a few seconds.

"Status report."

"Quantum readings show we're in the right universe, we're in a parking orbit behind luna, Anchor probe is currently five million kliometers starboard."

"Good, begin scanning the planet, I want a full report on the kind of defenses Apophis has set up here."

"Yes sir!"

Last edited: Jun 18, 2022

Reflections 02

It had been a long day, we were currently in the planning room, and I was going over the details that we had gotten from the scans of the planet. Things were well and truly screwed over here and Apophis had set himself up in the SGC as his main base of operations, with his ship having landed on top of Cheyenne Mountain.

"Alright so that's the plan, we're going to beam canister's of the symbiote poison kindly provided by the Tok'ra into the SGC's air filtration system. This should eliminate Apophis and weaken his Jaffa enough to allow the teams to go in and recapture the base, as well as rescue any prisoners. Any questions?"

"Yes, what about this reality's version of Teal'c?" Damn it, Daniel, I really didn't want to have this debate, it nearly screwed the mission in the original timeline.

"Daniel, I know Teal'c is a great guy in our reality, but they messed up. They sent a nuclear warhead to Chulak and killed everyone he ever cared about. What makes you think he'll work with them?"

"Because Teal'c believes in freedom, and liberation for all Jaffa."

"And you're certain he still believes this?"

"Perhaps it would be easier if I spoke to him?" Now that's an idea, have this Teal'c meet our Teal'c clearly this can't go horribly, horribly wrong.

Teal'c was undergoing kel'noreem in the place he'd claimed for himself inside the Tau'ri base. His lord and god Apophis was making short work of the humans. And more and more militaries and defenses were being crushed with overwhelming force by the Jaffa. Suddenly he was shaken out of his deep state when he felt a strange feeling of nothingness for a brief moment and then was now sitting on the floor of an unknown room.

Looking around, he briefly considered what enemy would be capable of such a feat without ring transporters. The Asgard came to mind, but they weren't as active as they once were, and the Tau'ri hadn't had contact with them to his knowledge. He also noted that the technology didn't match what he knew of the advanced race, the design seemed closer to the Tollan or some of the places he'd been sent to recover lost technology. While he was trying to figure out a way to escape someone approached, and he looked at his captor surprised at the unusual appearance.

"Pathetic, you think this deception will fool anyone?"

"I am no illusion. And we have much to talk about Teal'c of Chulak."

"We have nothing to speak of, the Tau'ri destroyed Chulak. There was nothing left when I returned by ship after we were unable to return through the chappa'ai."

"The Tau'ri would not have destroyed Chulak, if Apophis had not come from there. In my reality, Chulak lives because they chose to send a force instead of destroying it, and would only do so as a last resort."

"You speak lies."

"I speak truth, would Bra'tak not have wanted us to slay the false gods and free all Jaffa from their tyranny?"

"Tell me this, does Cronus yet live?"

"He does however he is not free, a man I look up to as one of great power gave me the power to decide over his fate. He is trapped for all eternity, as all gods are inside a prison of their minds."

I'd gotten a message from Teal'c that the prisoner was ready for us, so I went down personally to speak with the other Teal'c.

"So you are the one he called the God slayer?"

"Well I've had a hand in removing several Goa'uld from their thrones and freeing the humans and Jaffa alike, yes."

"And just how do you intend to Kill the Apophis of this reality?"

"While we could just wipe out everything from orbit with this one ship. It would serve no purpose, we need your assistance Teal'c. We can deal with Apophis and the Goa'uld inside the base, but we need you to aid the surviving humans in retaking their world afterward."

"You still have not stated your plan."

"We have something given to us by the Tok'ra. It will kill the symbiotes when it's dispersed in the air."

"You have such a weapon?"

"Indeed we do. So tell me Teal'c of Chulak. Do we have your aid?" He nodded cautiously and joined us in the transporter room, being kept an eye on by his counterpart from our universe.

"Energizing." The six canisters dematerialized from the transporter pad, vanishing in a beam of light before rematerializing

inside the air ducts of the SGC. Several Jaffa heard a faint whistling sound, but by then it was too late, as several fell over. Apophis was busy enjoying his gains and would not awaken from his bed. The women escaping now that their captor was no longer breathing, his host having aged rapidly and died of heart failure in his sleep.

As both versions of Teal'c and three teams of MACOs beamed down with Major Carter and Kowalski along with myself, we found most of the Jaffa unconcious or delirious. Meanwhile, a group of fleeing women in revealing clothes quickly pointed us to a now dead Apophis, his body rapidly aged and completely unresponsive.

"He is dead. Truly, you have killed a god, I did not think I would live to see this day."

"It's not over yet, let's get this place under control, Kaufmann, Simmons, Franklin. Spread out and keep your TRs ready. Don't want any unwelcome surprises as the Jaffa learn of the downfall of their God. Most are still Zealots, after all."

"Sir!"

Kicking some space vampire aft. PT1

Six months, we spent six months helping the other earth get back on their feet but finally after Anubis was once again taken down the wormhole drive was activated and we arrived back in our home universe. Or at least what was supposed to be our home universe. As we exited the wormhole the proximity alarm went off and we had to immediately dodge a large chunk of slag and alloys.

"Kowalski, what's going on?"

"Debris sir, there's a large cloud of debris in lunar orbit."

"Get a communication open with earth, as well as Ceti-base. I need to know what happened while we were gone."

The Wraith. They were early, the scouting mission to Pegasus had gone off without a hitch and we'd managed to recover Atlantis however the wraith had gotten their hands on a ZPM and had followed them back. As we were approaching the Atlantis base on the far side of Luna it was evident the city had seen hell with most of the debris in orbit having been from destroyed hive ships as well as half a dozen spear class vessels.

With the Gungnir docked in the specially made expansion onto the city it was clear this wasn't an easy battle with several ships in heavily damaged states indicating that the battle wasn't too long ago. Worse was that dozens of hyperspace signatures had been picked up in the intergalactic void. Ships coming from Pegasus to the milky way all on a direct course for Earth.

"Is Ceti-base okay? Where's Trinan?" I'd practically been shouting as I ran into the command room. I'd been going over the mission reports as we descended and the more I looked them over the more I realized I should have been here.

"She's okay. She was brought into the SGC before the fighting started. Fortunately Rodney was able to finish the hyperspace interdiction system and keep them from jumping into LEO." I stared at the younger but still accomplished Doctor Elizabeth Weir realizing pretty quickly that she was currently in command of Atlantis meaning she didn't die in Pegasus.

"Alright, any idea where those hive ships are going to drop out?"

"They need to exit hyperspace near the outer rim to cool their hyper drives. Should be about here." I turned to find Rodney walking up and bringing up a map using a modified holographic display.

"Okay, get a signal to Ceti base to send a fleet there, tell O'Neill to include the BFR. I think it's time the Wraith learned just how badly they screwed the pooch."

After twenty minutes most of which was spent waiting, the fleet was assembled and I was currently waiting in the transporter room for the wraith to exit hyperspace. I'd been a bit nervous since I hadn't tested my latest project outside of the holodeck but today seemed as good a day as any given it's theoretical maneuverability. I'd been designing it specifically to deal with tougher targets like the wraith and of course to show a bit of overwhelming force. Suddenly I got word the hive ships had exited hyperspace so I opened the comms to every ship in the vicinity.

"You life sucking bastards. You wipe out the ancients, you hurt my friends, and now you want to finish the job? Now? Now I'm mad! Guess who's back, monsters!"

Both Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were wondering where Zalost had gone off to and why he'd requested a cargo container big enough to fit an AC130 in. But that all changed when the wraith dropped out of hyperspace and the container broke apart to reveal what had been inside. Floating in space at roughly forty feet tall was a large bipedal robot equipped with what could only be described as a backpack arsenal. Knowing Zalost Daniel Figured out pretty quick that BFR stood for Big Fracking Robot but that paled in comparison to the reality as Sam was mostly trying to figure out how exactly it should work given physics as they knew them got in the way, a lot.

As Zalost sent his clearly anger filled taunt at the wraith the hive ships began sending out darts like angry bees. Hundreds swarmed from the nearly thirty hive ships which sat back unloading plasma towards the fleet. the BFR dodging and weaving and darting about much like the Delta flyer but somehow with more grace and unloading any number of weapons at the darts detonating them instantly.

The darts continued to swarm Zalost as he unleashed what appeared to be a massive cloud of flack taking out several layers of them before they fell back and created a larger sphere shooting at the machine in the center. The energy discharges from the darts impacted on some kind of energy shield which flared up constantly but everybody knew there had to be a limit. That was then a large object began materializing in a similar manner to the replicators onboard most of the technology Zalost had brought with him. Shimmering into the robots large hands was what could only be described as a large cannon with dense cabling leading to the backpack on the machine.

"Hey you fracking vamps, you see this? This is my Boomstick!" The comms crackled a bit as he shouted into them, the very space around the BFR crackled with energy with the flack cloud glowing red hot and several more layers of darts vaporizing from the energy discharge, then the cannon fired and cored several hive ships in a row leading to them going nova. It was right around then the darts changed tactics and began doing kamikaze runs.

'Damn, I guess I finally got their full attention now.' I thought to myself as the cockpit rocked with the impacts of plasma and high energy particles hitting against the energy shield. The swarm of Darts were still acting like an angry cloud of bees but now they were also making suicide runs to try and ram me and prevent me from moving forward. After the fourth near miss I decided it was time to break out the CQC gear and exchanged the BFG for the energy staff.

I spun it as I'd been taught all those years ago sweeping as I took out any dart unfortunate enough to get too close. Slowly I continued to approach the hive ships, the darts moving with desperation as more and more continued to impact against the staff and the shields, the flack having been depleted about halfway there.

I wasn't alone however, I was backed by several squadrons of Dagger class attack fighters, each comparable or better than the Delta Flyer as far as combat capability. The fleet yards at Tau-ceti had been picking up the pace and expanding since the fight with Ba'al and the only issue wasn't so much ship production as crews to run them.

As the fighters acted as escorts another class of ships moved in behind them, these were based on Alkesh bombers and were designated Atlatl class. The Atlatls were making strafing runs on the hive ship hangar bays leading to tons of secondary explosions with several more hive ships going nova right there. Suddenly more Beam cannons struck out across the void and tore into the hive ship hulls leaving massive gashes and a few with damaged engines but slowly regenerating their damage.

Deciding I'd had enough I got close enough to one that I could fly inside the hangar bay several wraith firing hand weapons at me uselessly while I began spinning the staff and tearing holes into the hull ripping through the hive ship from the inside out. As I made my way towards the largest energy source I stopped, I'd reached an area that had me slightly angrier than before going from enraged to livid as I remembered the wraith likely brought their food source with them.

"Zalost to Fleet, have you been able to bypass their transport jamming?"

"No, why?"

"I might have an idea." I hopped out wearing powered armor with the suit protecting me from the vacuum the room had recently been converted into. Then I proceeded to tap into the enemy ship's computer systems secretly wishing I was still augmented as it took ages to get past their encryption, likely only a few minutes, and finally managed to find the command enabling their transport blocking.

"Okay Rodney here's what I need you to do. Tie in the transport buffers of every ship in the fleet, we're going to do a bit of rescuing while detonating naquadah enhanced singularity torpedoes on every one of these hive ships."

"That's okay, give me two minutes."

"Get it done McKay, if you don't, thousands of people will die." After I got the all clear I punched a hole through the uninhabited sections of the ship and got some distance before the remaining ships went nova only to collapse in on themselves.

"Did you get them?!"

"Yes, we got them,"

"Okay head back to Ceti-base. I think our new guests are going to need some time to adjust before we can get them back home."

A/N: Okay, I know it's been a bit, needed some inspiration for the next part and well stargate should be wrapping up soon-ish. just trying to work out where he should head next.