Author's Notes: If you're one of those people who likes a good action and adventure story, with exciting drama and cool plot twists, then "Star Trek: Absolution" is definitely the story for you. As with many fans, I was sincerely disappointed that "Nemesis" wasn't a better film... and as if that wasn't disappointing enough, they EVEN killed off one of my all-time favorite Trek characters in the process!!!!! As many of you have discovered, I have since found a way (at least in fan fiction) to keep Data-Class androids in service on a permanent basis. If you are one of those people who still likes Trek, who loves to curl up with a good book (even an on-line one), and immerse yourself in a story that you could never see on a movie screen or television, then you should absolutely LOVE the multi-story arc that is evolving with "Eternal Soul", "Dark Archon", and now "Reign of Terror".
In this chapter we discover - among other things - just who and what the 'Overseer' is... so prepare yourself. I guarantee that he will be unlike any creature or villain you have EVER seen or read about before... if he isn't already. Fans of the Terry Brooks "Sword of Shannara" series should recognize that the Overseer's preferred, dark-robed, red-eyed intimidating presence is much like that of the Warlock Lord... or some of the other dark-robed things that prowl around in Brooks' Shannara tales. So that is my traditional 'tip of the cap' to him for such an entertaining series of books over the years. I have enjoyed reading them all very much, and I hope everyone who chooses to read "Eternal Soul", "Dark Archon", and now "Reign of Terror" finds themselves at least half as entertained as I have been with Shannara.
It's interesting... I have had a general picture in my head for quite some time of what the Overseer would actually be... what he might look like. This chapter details the results of all that imagining, and as before I look forward to hearing from many of you... particularly how YOU end up picturing him after reading my narrative. THANKS for reading everyone... you make the Internet experience - and fan fiction - SO much fun!
Star Trek: Reign Of Terror
Chapter VIII: The Menagerie, Part 1
Gamma Quadrant, An Alternate Universe, Stardate Unknown
Chief Miles Edward O'Brien stood quietly near the two large barracks that currently served as permanent living quarters for Captain Erika Hernandez and her NX-02 Starfleet crew. Neither of the ramshackle buildings provided luxurious comfort, but each had a roof decent enough to at least keep the rain out. O'Brien had learned that - just like in his home universe - this Columbia had also crossed the galaxy and arrived in the Gamma Quadrant after fighting a prolonged battle with a malevolent alien creature called the Vryke. According to Captain Data, O'Brien and Bashir weren't even supposed to know the alien's name yet. No one in Starfleet with the exception of the surviving Columbia crew members would know anything more about the creature from the Questar gravity well until years later when Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise-E were assigned to recover it. Only then would Starfleet discover that Hernandez and crew had sacrificed their entire future, crossing both time and the galaxy in the process, in order to save Earth from the Vryke's wrath.
The Chief's thoughts drifted briefly back to the story that this version of Captain Erika Hernandez had told them, during which time she offered up specific details regarding her last ditch effort to preserve the lives of her crew. Trapped within the massive gravity well of the Vryke's home near a dead star, she and her officers had chosen to enter an unstable wormhole after somehow managing to rid their ship of the wretched, hateful creature. By the time they had finally managed to tear Columbia free of the wormhole, it had immediately become obvious to all that the stars of the Gamma Quadrant now shined more brightly than those in the Alpha Quadrant. Home had suddenly seemed hopelessly, impossibly far away, and Columbia had limped steadily toward a nearby star system that Data referred to simply as Benini and then dropped sharply into the atmosphere of its lone, 'M' class planet...
They made it into the star system intact, but the trip into the fifth planet's atmosphere was an even bigger hell than Questar had been. Columbia was suffering from several structural damage and the signs of ongoing strain clearly showed. With weapons no longer needed, Captain Hernandez took a moment to order Lt. Andrews and his MACO escorts out of the armory... she was planning to ground a ship that was not designed for a planetary set down, even under ideal conditions. She doubted that anyone wanted to be sitting helplessly on Deck 'F' when that happened.
Lt. Matthews had the biggest challenge... without the normal bridge viewscreen he was limited to the forward camera feed displayed on a small side console. The friction from the planet's atmosphere was difficult enough to see through, but the limited view ahead also forced him to fly almost completely on automated instrumentation. For the most part it was working, and he was confident that they would be able to set the ship down with at least some lives intact.
That was before the inertial dampers failed along with auxiliary power.
Captain Hernandez stepped out into the corridor, noting as she did so that the circular metal framework holding the bulkheads in place had been visibly warped... crumpled so completely by the heavy gravity field they had passed through that she could see the deformed oddities with the naked eye. It was also becoming difficult to breathe with all of the unfiltered smoke drifting about... obviously life support was damaged or off-line again as well.
"Get ready for a rough ride!" Hernandez shouted, wishing she could do more than warn everyone.
This was her crew, and it was not supposed to end like this.
Not. Like. This.
Commander Strong stepped up beside her as a fresh wave of turbulence told her that they had angled too sharply into the planet's atmosphere. As they continued to descend, the remaining crew of the starship accumulated even more bumps and bruises.
"It's not your fault, Erika," said Strong sincerely, noting the disappointed expression on her face. "You did everything you could... and no one could have handled this situation any better. We stopped that creature from compromising Starfleet security and from threatening Earth. We've dumped the magnetic bottle system containing our anti-matter, so our crash on this planet will be just that... a crash. No massive environmental damage."
Erika Hernandez walked slowly back into engineering with the Commander at her side and took up a position behind Lt. Matthews. Together they watched the ground coming up at them way too quickly, noting as the crash grew more and more inevitable that the inertial dampers were still red-lined and inoperative.
The planet was too big... it was at least half again as large as Earth and had the extra gravity to boot. Columbia simply weighed too much within its atmosphere and the creaking and moaning from the starship's collapsing superstructure remained a constant reminder to all of them that - tragically - the worst was yet to come.
"Do you have any regrets Commander?" Captain Hernandez asked Strong.
He smiled and thought for a few seconds before he replied. "Not a one. We got to see and explore things most people will never even imagine are out here."
"I wish I had called my mother yesterday, when I had the chance," Hernandez decided with a distinct note of regret. "All of this..." she waved a hand at the smoke-filled engineering bay and the makeshift, improvised emergency bridge stations surrounding them. "...it all happened way too suddenly."
"We have water and food and a great deal of training," said Strong optimistically. He put his good left arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "And if we don't survive the crash, perhaps there is an afterlife."
"I hope Starfleet is ready for this. I hope humanity is..." said Erika fiercely. "The price of exploration is going to cost us... has cost us. Jonathan lost a lot of people in the Delphic Expanse when he fought the Xindi, and I doubt that our casualties here today will be the last in Starfleet's efforts to push outward from Earth and explore space."
Trailing smoke and flames the entire way down, Columbia dropped out of the sky on the fifth planet of the unknown star system in the Gamma Quadrant and struck the ground with a huge rumble. Without their inertial damping system, several more of Erika's crew died in the initial impact.
Those who survived were tossed again an instant later as the ship rebounded briefly into the air and then struck the ground one final time. Matter in motion tended to remain in motion, and although the forward edge of the saucer didn't dip forward into the sand below and tip the starship forward, its momentum slowed abruptly enough that everyone left standing was slammed forward. The survivors would step out onto the sand and try to find a way to survive beneath the planet's hot desert sun.
It wasn't supposed to end like this... but it did...
O'Brien had listened to Captain Hernandez's words with awe. He too was a committed, combat tested Starfleet veteran and he too was always prepared to give his life in service to the United Federation of Planets. And yet, here he had met someone who had actually done just that, someone who could have given in to the pressure and complied with the invisible alien intruder's demands and returned it to Earth. By simply cooperating, her life - possibly the lives of her entire crew - might have been spared, and yet then the crew of Columbia would have been forced to sit by helplessly while the enraged Vryke spread its wave of death and destruction to all of Earth and possibly elsewhere. Instead Erika Hernandez had looked her enemy in the proverbial eye, drawn a line in the sand, and silently proclaimed, "This far... no farther!" Even at the cost of her own ship and crew, she had made the decision to defy it.
Behind the Chief, Doctor Bashir appeared suddenly and the two of them stood there for several minutes while observing the mesmerizing, non-stop work activity in the huge alien manufacturing encampment. It stretched for kilometers across the entire valley, reaching as far as they could see toward the southern horizon. While they watched, the Zygots and their alien recruits continued to relentlessly assemble and activate even more of the hexagonal gateways.
"Are you okay Chief?" asked the Doctor finally. "You look a little pale."
"Did you hear that story?" O'Brien asked in response, pointing over his shoulder toward the nearest structure. Inside of it, Captain Data was still conversing privately with Hernandez and the other seventy-two surviving members of her crew. "Did you hear what those people have been through? It sounds as though the exact same thing that happened to them has happened to the Columbia crew in our own universe. We've all read the story in the Starfleet history books... we've all wondered what could have possibly happened to them. Now we finally discover what did happen and there's nothing we can do about it - to interfere would alter history and threaten the entire future."
"I know," said Bashir with obvious regret. "The tragedy is literally Shakespearean in its magnitude."
"I haven't known him very long, and yet I think our android Captain will choose to do something," the Chief insisted. "After all, there are several distinct differences since this crew's arrival in the Gamma Quadrant. This version of the Columbia crew was discovered and recruited as slaves over thirteen years ago. That means those very same people in our own universe are probably still alive too... marooned on the original planet that they crashed on."
A hypospray hissed against the side of his arm as he spoke the words. O'Brien glanced sharply at the Doctor, noticing the near empty vial of Delacon-G medication. Bashir nodded in acknowledgement as he observed the Chief's obvious interest. "I had no choice but to treat Captain Hernandez and her entire crew," the Doctor offered in terms of an explanation. "Normally this one vial of medication would have lasted dozens of patients for months, but she and her people have been here so long that they needed a considerably larger than normal dosage."
Concern and compassion touched O'Brien's features. "Are they going to be okay?"
The Doctor shook his head with obvious frustration. "I don't know yet. All of them are suffering from irreversible radiation damage," he replied with a distinct and growing concern. "Whether this exposure takes decades off of their life spans or simply a few years..." He shrugged his shoulders. "I can't tell for certain as long as they remain here... our first priority is to get them off of this planet and away from the Berthold radiation before I can completely answer that question."
"You'll have to get that option approved by Captain Data first," predicted O'Brien.
The two of them stood silently for a moment, watching all of the ongoing, non-stop industrial activity taking place in the facilities that surrounded them on all sides. To the west and to the east, the mere sight of the tens of thousands of hexagonal gateways attached to the sheer, vertical cliff faces continued to astonish them. They had no way of knowing how long the work had been in progress, or how many additional, similar projects were steadily moving forward on other planets within the alternate universe. The only thing that the two men from Starfleet were certain of was that they were standing at the center of an interstellar intersection that nearly defied comprehension... a massive series of doorways in time and space that led to countless other realities.
Shortly after the two friends returned to the pair of buildings that served as the primary residence for Columbia's crew. Data and Captain Hernandez had moved outdoors, continuing their conversation while flanked by dozens of men and women from her crew. Most of them had beaming smiles on their faces, their enthusiasm at having been found by others from Starfleet plainly obvious.
"This particular encampment within the valley is populated by the highly skilled workers... primarily Zygopterrans," Hernandez was saying. O'Brien and Bashir moved closer, coming to a stop next to Captain Data while they listened to her explanation. "But there are dozens of other spots on this planet where alien prisoners have been conscripted into slave labor... primarily they mine ore or are assigned to reshape the mountains on this planet in newly found alternate universes."
The slim, blonde-haired female that had first spotted them pointed toward a fenced in area of huts to the east of them. "There's a penal colony of sorts over there..." she informed them. "It's sort of a zoo for sentient beings, actually. Over the years the Zygots have captured some species that aren't easily enslaved, and yet they keep them around anyway for the amusement of their workers." Smiling wanly, the woman glanced down at the dusty planet surface beneath her shoes. "I'm Sheila Wakefield, and as I mentioned earlier I used to be Columbia's science officer. The only reason we've been so well treated is that we all have technical skills that are useful to the Zygopterrans."
"Well treated?" Bashir practically snarled as he spoke the words. "You're all suffering from malnutrition and severe radiation damage, not to mention the slave labor conditions..."
"Things are about to improve drastically for all of these people," interrupted Data calmly and reassuringly. He met Bashir's angry stare with a stern gaze of his own. "I promise you that, Doctor."
"Trust me, we're the lucky ones," chuckled Hernandez, rubbing her tired and worn hands together. "There's also a stadium farther to the north. Even the Zygots are worked pretty hard, so occasionally the Overseer permits them to pit some of the more uncooperative prisoners against each other in death match combat. In other words, they kill those prisoners for entertainment." She practically spat the last word. "The slave labor provided by the Zygots and the prisoners they capture is a mandated requirement in return for the Overseer's protection from the Dominion."
"Some of the prisoners are also used as guinea pigs," pointed out Wakefield. "New portals to alternate realities are opened on a daily basis, and not all of them contain an environment that is favorable to our type of biological life. Many of the aliens who refuse to cooperate, particularly the hated Jem'Hadar, are forced through the newer gateways with electronics attached to them. If they survive and are able to return, the telemetry from their equipment is analyzed and used to fine-tune a permanent portal."
"It's very much a hit or miss process," Hernandez continued. "Some of the other realities discovered are not in good shape and the initial access portals opened to 'peek inside' are immediately closed down. Time moves faster or slower in some of them, the physical laws aren't as well defined and reliable, or they are simply composed of elements incompatible with our own universe such as anti-matter. During those trips the prisoners - if they return at all - usually suffer severe mental and physical injuries. The Zygots don't care... if we weren't cooperating, they would probably use us as test subjects too."
"Who or what specifically is this Overseer?" asked Data inquisitively. "We met one of the Zygots prior to our arrival here, and he used that same term to reference an alien who has been interfering with events on our side of the portal."
Hernandez ran a hand through her dark, unwashed hair and turned toward her Science Officer. Wakefield nodded in reply and focused her attention on the newcomers. "We're not entirely certain," she replied. "It usually emerges from subspace, possesses the ability to assume any form it wishes to, and - at least in this universe - has assisted the Zygopterrans in completely suppressing a Gamma Quadrant power known only to us as the Dominion."
"I'm Henry Maxwell, formerly Columbia's linguistics specialist," said a slightly balding man with a trim, medium build. "Over the years I've managed to learn some of the Zygotian language, but it's an extremely difficult translation process to be sure. The Zygots hate the Dominion wherever it exists, which is why they work so hard to please this overseer. The Overseer uses its power over gravity to weaken the boundaries of subspace as it explores new realities, allowing the operation here to permanently open portals that connect this planet with the same world in other universes."
"Why have large sections of the mountains on our side been carved away?" Data's curious nature continued to influence his choice of questions. "If only a single portal is needed..."
Sheila Wakefield pondered his question for a few seconds before answering. "If the Zygots took the time to reconfigure the mountains that border your valley to match those here, then your universe has also been selected to also become a major intersection," she stated definitively. "Soon an armada of Zygopterran vessels will pour through the gateway to your realm, and once they do they will attack and completely destroy the Dominion influence there. Once that is done, the survivors will be rounded up and forced to work in your valley... at a manufacturing facility very similar to this one."
O'Brien snorted with laughter. "It sounds like all we have to do is wait a few months," he decided. "Sooner or later, this Overseer and the Zygots will solve our Dominion problem."
"Don't bet on that," Wakefield cautioned him. "The Zygots need as much cheap labor as they can get, and their ships are small but highly advanced. Our ship had barely crashed before they found us. After that, we were brought here and our abilities analyzed. We've been serving at their whim ever since."
"In our universe the Dominion already knows about the Bajoran wormhole," Data added, watching O'Brien's reaction carefully. "Which means the Zygopterrans will soon know about it too."
Captain Hernandez had been studying the information displayed on Data's tricorder. "It looks as though the portal to your universe was recently opened and is still in the process of being defined," she pointed out. "And since our realm appears to be reasonably aligned in parallel with your own, it would explain why so much of our history is virtually identical to yours." Chuckling, she pointed toward the two women and three men standing in front of her. "These are my Lieutenants," she told them with light laughter, but her overall expression remained somber. "My Commander was killed in the crash. But I would like to introduce you to these five. Henry Maxwell and Sheila Wakefield you have already met. The other three - standing here with the mischievous glint in their eyes - are Benjamin Matthews, Erica Boyle, and Joshua Andrews. Andrews is... was... my tactical officer."
"I don't know how you can possibly hope to help us," Andrews said bluntly to Data. "We're all off-shift until early tomorrow morning, otherwise we would be working hard at one of the nearby manufacturing plants. The Overseer is very powerful... I'm surprised he hasn't confronted you already."
"He probably doesn't even know we are here," Data said with that small, android smirk that he had perfected over the years. "I have technology surrounding both my ship and my person that disperses excess gravitons, and gravity is a proven necessity required by this Overseer. Without it, he cannot manifest himself outside of subspace."
Hernandez strode briskly to the top of a small hill and pointed toward a lengthy series of huge, dark metallic towers with thin spires stretching far into the evening sky. "Those structures are huge graviton collectors," she informed them. "The Overseer somehow utilizes them in its exploration of and manipulation of subspace... we have often speculated that it might require gravitons in the same manner that we need to eat and digest food."
"This place is an astonishing engineering achievement," commented O'Brien.
Wakefield chuckled. "It's amazing what you can do with slave labor at your disposal, isn't it?"
The Chief shook his head, still captivated by the huge manufacturing facility... it's equipment and work force filled the entire valley floor. "How many portals can this alien possibly hope to build... how big does its domain grow before it can no longer keep track of everything?" Shaking his head, he looked first to the west and then to the east as he once again examined the vast array of active, hexagonal gateways attached to the vertical cliff faces. "You would think that sooner or later it would overextend itself, that there would be at least some limitations as to how much it could conquer."
"We've been here thirteen years, and so far there has been no sign that this project will ever slow down," Hernandez replied crisply. "The Overseer wants his 'Temple-to-all-places' to encompass everything, and we've all been forced to help him work steadily toward his goal." She sighed heavily. "If conditions on your side of the portal are being prepped for another manufacturing facility, I think that the Overseer's conquests will likely to continue for quite a while longer."
"None of you will labor another minute on this planet," declared Data with a tinge of android anger lending a biting edge to his tone. "All of you, all seventy-three survivors, are coming along with us when we leave this place."
Bashir cleared his throat rather loudly, remembering vividly the medium-sized runabout that they had arrived in. "We're going to need a larger ship if you want to transport people," he observed.
"No," Data countered instantly. "We do not."
U.S.S. Relativity, Alpha Quadrant, 29th Century
Lt. Jessica Ingram was on the starboard, upper walkway of the Relativity's bridge and working steadily with the primary computer systems there to maintain a continual, ongoing scan of the timeline. As new telemetry was received it was instantly compared against the original records archived within the starship's main computer. She and Commander Ducane had been back on board after their 24th century visit for several hours now, and she was eager to make certain no additional corrections were needed.
Ducane had left specific instructions to contact him if additional assignments for Benjamin Sisko were needed. The Timeship's temporary Captain during Data's prolonged absence had swiftly taken great ownership in the Deep Space Nine problem - he was determined to make certain that Sisko had the resources available to help him keep his people safe.
Backing up, she turned slowly toward the hand railing and almost ran into the unexpected, unannounced presence of Captain Data. "Hello Lieutenant," the android said mischievously, smirking with artificially generated electronic amusement at her predictable, startled reaction.
"Good grief Captain, I thought we had all agreed that you were going to stop doing that," gasped Ingram, recovering her poise almost immediately after initially flinching. "Dammit!" Shaking her head with dismay at the rare, unpredictable behavior from her commanding officer Jessica smiled and chuckled despite her anger. She was very glad to see him, even if only in the familiar, isomorphic projection that he made use of during the times when he was linked to the Preserver subspace network. She touched her Comm-badge lightly with the fingertips of her right hand. "Commander Ducane, please report to the bridge immediately."
"I'm on my way," he responded almost instantly.
Ingram studied Captain Data curiously, noticing that - for the first time since he had begun using the isomorphic process - the image was quite obviously a projected simulation. His body was translucent and the normal colors of his uniform were only half their normal brilliance. Occasionally a brief flicker of distortion would disrupt the visual image before it once again stabilized.
"What's wrong with your interface?" Ingram asked him curiously. "The transmission signal is much weaker than normal... your current appearance wouldn't even pass holographic muster."
"I am signaling you via the Preserver network while floating inside the subspace of an alternate universe," Data informed her, a distinct note of pride evident in his tone of voice. "Full telemetry and details of our latest discoveries are being uploaded to your database even as we speak." He paused briefly, allowing her to digest the news. As usual, Lt. Ingram was completely unflappable and - if she was at all impressed by his announcement - she never let the emotion show. Unable to read her emotions by observation of her expression alone, Data prodded her. "How are things aboard the Relativity?"
"Settling back to normal, actually," she told him coolly. "Our unknown assailant from the past has stopped most of its attacks in the demilitarized zone and on Bajor. Benjamin Sisko put a lockdown in place on board Deep Space Nine that has aggravated it considerably. Commander Ducane and I actually had to transport ourselves back there for several hours and assist with incursion control. At least for now, the entity's primary attention is almost completely focused on Sisko and his space station."
"Yes," agreed Data. "Our enemy obviously knows that DS9 regulates much of the merchant activity within the Bajoran sector and throughout the demilitarized zone."
The lift doors to the bridge snapped open and Ducane emerged. His eyes lit up once he spotted Ingram visiting with their android Captain. "It's good to see you again sir," Ducane told Data with a sigh of relief. "We obviously have complete confidence in you, but it's still nice when you check in once in a while. Others may disagree, but I have always believed burdens such as command are an experience that need to be shared." He shifted his gaze toward Ingram inquisitively.
Ingram noticed his interest. "I filled Captain Data in on our little time trip to Deep Space Nine," the Lieutenant informed him. "He's calling us using long distance this time... really long distance." She smiled wryly and then spilled the beans. "And I mean long distance as in alternate universe."
"Is that so?" Ducane looked more closely at Data's image, studying it carefully. "We monitored the Yellowjacket's passage as you requested, and our sensors indicated that you had passed into another realm of some sort. Is that perhaps where our mysterious enemy originates from?"
"It is at least one of the places where the Zygopterrans come from," Data corrected him. "Our mysterious enemy is known in this version of the Gamma Quadrant as 'the Overseer', and I am certain that he is the entity responsible for the temporal incursions. I have accumulated and uploaded a great deal of new telemetry for both you and the Lieutenant to study."
The Commander found his curiosity nearly overwhelming. "What else have you discovered over there?" he asked, his mind whirling with a variety of possibilities.
"There is too much to explain right now," Data countered, hesitant to get into too much detail. "A detailed scan of this planet has identified the location of the people missing from our own universe. The runabout's enhanced sensors are accurate enough to distinguish their life signs from those who are indigenous to this realm or to others. They are all here... apparently abducted to serve as additional recruits for the slave labor taking place here. My Deep Space Nine allies and I have also located an alternate contingent of 22nd century human Starfleet crewmembers from the U.S.S. Columbia."
Ingram was more familiar with history than Ducane and responded almost instantly. "The crew of the NX-02... the ship that crashed on Benini Five?"
"Yes." Data hesitated only briefly before continuing. "In this realm the crew of Columbia was never rescued and did not end up on Yadera Prime. They were abducted from their crash site and also conscripted into forced labor here on the Zygopterran home world." His eyes met Ducane's with intensity. "When you analyze my telemetry and discover exactly what is being constructed here, it will astonish you."
Ducane glanced at one of the Ensigns who had been working with Ingram. The muscular, dark-haired man nodded confidently, signaling the Commander that the analysis had already begun. "We're already reviewing the information Captain," he responded. "However, if Lt. Ingram has indeed mentioned our brief trip into the past, you should be aware that it's going to be increasingly hazardous for us if we need to use the transporter again. The damage to our bodies from repeated trips through time will continue... I'm thinking of asking for volunteers if we need to assist Sisko again."
"I have also uploaded new parameters and replicable part schematics for your transporter," Data told them. "Once you enhance the system we will no longer have that problem. I suggest that you send a copy back to Starfleet Command. The modifications should be added immediately to the transporter systems on our entire fleet of Timeships and everywhere else we use them throughout the Federation."
"Where did you manage to locate that kind of information?" asked Ducane curiously.
Data shrugged and held up his hands casually. "Here... within the subspace network. I have been accessing and reviewing as much information as I can find regarding Berthold radiation sickness and the effects of subspace transference between dimensions on biological tissue. Most of the people - including the crew of Columbia - who have labored on this planet for any significant length of time are extremely ill. The construction of the Overseer's 'Temple-to-all-places', as he calls it, has come at a great cost to those who have worked steadily over the years to build it for him."
The Commander inhaled sharply. "What about our people... those who were abducted from our side?"
"They have only been here a short while. Doctor Bashir has assured me that they should all be fine if I can get them out of here before too much time passes," the android promised. "However, the crew of Columbia is another matter entirely... even though they originate from this side of the portal, it doesn't seem appropriate to simply leave them here to toil away endlessly until they finally die."
Ingram had been listening carefully to every word, and her instincts to preserve the timeline kicked in as she heard Data's last statement. "Captain," she cautioned him, "if you bring them back with you, we'll have two NX-02 crews on our hands. Even if you hide the newcomers, they could pop up at any time during their remaining lifetimes and threaten the integrity of our history. What has happened there may be a sad ending for them, but unfortunately that's the way things turned out for them in that reality. You cannot hope to save everyone in every alternate reality... remember, that is the exact circle of illogical behavior that the Sentinel fell into."
"Read my report," Data replied insistently. "The Yellowjacket traveled to the alternate universe because it is the source of the temporal incursions interfering with our history. Unless you first fully study the data that I sent to you, it is impossible to understand how significantly events on this side of the portal have also been interfered with. The people here have a perfect right to protect themselves against the influence of outsiders just as we do. Unfortunately, the population in this Gamma Quadrant was caught completely by surprise and the Dominion influence in this region appears to have been shattered. Only a scarce few Jem'Hadar remain alive over here, and the survivors are kept in cages, abused, forced to work in the labor camps, and eventually killed for sport. Additionally, the Overseer is assisting the Zygopterrans in opening gateways to other universes and providing the support they need to crush the Dominion wherever it finds them. The level of interference is staggering - without the direct intervention of our mysterious adversary, the Zygots here would likely be extinct..."
"...just like they're extinct on our side," finished Ducane, frowning deeply. "What's your next move?"
"I'm going to continue my review of the subspace database," Data stated calmly. "I want to discover just what this Overseer is and where it originates from... there should certainly be something useful stored within the archives of the Preservers. I would be extremely surprised if they haven't already encountered it themselves... the creature's level of influence throughout all of creation is astonishing to behold."
"Why haven't we been similarly invaded?" Ingram wondered.
"Because of people like us," the android stated bluntly. "We have an organized Starfleet in place capable of monitoring time and space in our galaxy, so we detected the problem earlier than others have. Many universes have lots of things in common, including countless parallels... but there are always at least a few distinct differences if we look closely enough. It is also obvious that the doorway to our realm has only recently been opened. That means we still have some time to act, but it is running out."
"What do you want us to do in the meantime?" asked Ducane. A flash of inspiration struck him. "If you give us the parameters of your alternate universe, we could phase shift the Relativity away from this realm and into that one. Then you would have all of our resources at your disposal."
"That is not yet necessary," Data replied decisively. "Continue monitoring our timeline and provide all necessary support to Commander Sisko aboard Deep Space Nine. I will contact you again soon."
After terminating his transmission link with the Relativity, Data continued to linger within the subspace realm of the alternate universe. All of the resources of the Preserver network were still available to him, and it was an intriguing sensation to realize that he had participated in an interactive, two-way message between two dimensions of reality. The Preservers truly were an impressive presence in the grand scheme of creation... like all life forms they too had started out as a violent, corruptible people and then subsequently evolved into a more peaceful society that wanted nothing more than to spread life everywhere and allow it to thrive. The Preservers had simply done it on a much larger scale, and in a manner that completely transcended traditional time and space.
OVERSEER.
Data submitted the one word inquiry and allowed it to instantly dart through subspace at trans-warp speed. Normally his requests for information were processed immediately, but on this particular occasion the response was delayed for the slightest fraction of a second. From Data's perspective, this was completely acceptable since he used the precious milliseconds to review the information already available to him. He briefly considered trying to contact Commander Frank Roberts - his fellow Data-class android - in the Preserver future, or possibly even the William Decker/V'Ger entity that he had interacted with on previous occasions. His android instincts prevented him from doing so for now... over the years he had gotten very accustomed to trusting his 'gut' feelings on these matters.
The response came suddenly, with millions of possibilities abruptly presenting themselves. One word, after all, translated into thousands upon thousands of different languages could mean just about anything to a great many cultures throughout history. Satisfied that the answer he sought was not a simple one, Data declined to sift through the entire list. He attached a complete electronic packet containing a copy of the information he had uploaded to the Relativity to his request and resubmitted it. Again there was a delayed response, but this time there were far fewer hits since the additional telemetry that he included automatically filtered out everything unrelated to his primary needs. In fact, he noted with delight that his own positronic brain had the capacity to rapidly scan everything returned by the second query and further eliminate unrelated data.
Taking care to insure that the information flowed at a reasonable speed, Data let the network's query data flow through his neural net. Floating in subspace - a region where the physical laws governing the restrictions on light speed did not apply - he analyzed entire terabytes of information in less than two minutes. At first he selected only an occasional sentence of text, but in the end he stumbled upon a complete report that had been prepared centuries ago by an unknown being. The author had listed himself as anonymous and simply uploaded a summary of his research into a public library database available to anyone. Intrigued as never before, Data read through the entire report and studied its many details about the mysterious creature known only as 'the Overseer'...
* REPORT COMMENCES *
Its lifespan is ancient in the extreme.
No sentient, living being has ever been able to conclusively prove or disprove the existence of an Intelligent Designer. That secret is and will always remain timeless... as old as creation itself.
And yet if there is anyone - or anything - that is still alive and might possibly know for certain just what took place during the birth of everything, it would probably be the Overseer.
The life form I describe as the Overseer started out as a microscopic life form composed only of a few oddly charged gravitons, dwelling in the empty, inky blackness between several newly created universes. More and more universes promptly sprang to life, all of them expanding spheres of matter and energy that shoved the Overseer even farther away from anything close to places where normal, physical laws existed. Even subspace was an environment that was completely alien to it during those first few minutes. The best description of the isolated, hidden area where the Overseer lives is the place where everything else ISN'T.
As most educated life forms are aware, there is only one commonality that binds everything together, that clearly defines the boundaries and barriers between the edges of each universe and the subspace in between. GRAVITY.
A vast majority of the newly created universes simply exploded in massive, big bangs of creation that threw both matter and energy outward in consistently expanding spheres of influence that gradually began to coalesce into galaxies, stars, and all of the other familiar, interstellar objects that are so easily recognizable to veteran astronomers. Some of them misfired however, with space and time rupturing or - in other cases - the physical laws so necessary to their proper function simply fragmenting into oblivion. Those universes where creation did not quite work are often devoid of the more familiar galaxies, stars, planets, and of life. Those universes are dead, empty places where nothing living from outside would ever dare to go.
If something did choose to wander inside, it would simply cease to exist.
Or it would die.
Fortunately for the Overseer, in one form or another virtually every parallel universe, every alternate reality, every different plane of existence shares one simple thing in common... THE EXISTENCE OF GRAVITONS.
Particularly in the universes where billions of massive, spiral helixes and scattershot galaxies exist, there will never be a shortage of gravity until the final end of all things, until the final end of all time is eventually reached. And in the galactic SUPERCLUSTERS, or areas where significant amounts of dark matter exist, the intense waves of gravitons are often so enormous that even the best equipment made by sentient beings could never hope to measure it. And yet, in the presence of so much that is vital to its existence, the Overseer initially existed in a place where gravitons weren't normally found.
Only when the outer boundaries of subspace in some of those malfunctioning universes ruptured, allowing some of the matter within to emerge, could this fledgling life form accumulate more gravitons and begin developing its tiny body. The Overseer was originally a tiny life form that lived outside of anything that most life forms would call reality, where normal physical laws quite simply did not apply. And thus it soon discovered that it could adapt and evolve much more differently than the traditional life forms in the massive, constantly changing realities surrounding it.
The Overseer grew slowly for at least one billion years, catching only those scarce few gravitons that managed to leak through punctures in the damaged multi-verses. Normal matter and energy would simply wink out of existence while pouring out into the VOID beyond the outer edges of creation... and only the gravitons survived. Most of the time during those first few billion years there would just be one or two of them to grab onto and attach to its body, and on other occasions it would encounter a huge cloud of them. At first the Overseer knew nothing of time or of self awareness, and even after it learned what it was the creature still had no concept of itself as anything more than an orphan living in the vast darkness beneath even subspace.
And yet it clung tightly to each graviton that came within range of it, hoarding them and learning to manipulate each of them as easily as a child practices grabbing onto and playing with toys. And somewhere during the beginning of its second billion years as a life form and the fourteen billion after that... somewhere during that time the Overseer became SENTIENT. And once the strange and magnificent life form became aware of its own existence, the alien finally began to explore the whole of creation surrounding it.
The electromagnetic radiation and gravitons streaming from subspace drew it like a moth to a candle flame, and it roared toward them eagerly, hungry for more. Eventually it found a way to extend small tendrils, small fingers from its body, and use them to pierce the barriers that bound all universes together. After doing so the Overseer explored eagerly for hundreds of centuries, consuming more and more gravitons at a rapid fire pace as its body continued to grow substantially larger. Eagerly exploring everywhere it could reach, it wound and wended its way through the void not unlike the crawling vine of a potted plant reaches relentlessly toward the sunlight. It craved gravitons, and the more of them that the Overseer found the more of them it wanted.
Eventually it managed to rupture the inner barriers of subspace, and found its way into an actual universe. Compared to the eternal void that it was used to, the alien found the scattering of galaxies and dark matter to be an extremely crowded neighborhood. The presence of so much gravity in so 'small' an area surprised it, and for awhile the Overseer almost destroyed itself. Trying to absorb everything so quickly overwhelmed it, and it had no choice but to back off and move on. It had entered a normal, thriving universe full of galaxies that contained countless quadrillions upon quadrillions of living beings. And in its wake the Overseer left another dark, damaged empty void of malfunctioning time and physical law as it returned to its home between the multi-verses.
Dozens of centuries passed as it explored its own existence and grew more familiar with the manipulation of its constantly growing body. The strange, unusual entity that I identify as the Overseer started out as a small, microscopic spot in the blackness of endless space so vast that it can never possibly be measured. And yet, over time its constantly swelling body began to consume huge volumes of that space, until it had no choice but to begin invading subspace. It could not help itself - moving into areas where gravitons were plentiful made it bigger still, and yet it craves them to this day with an addictive compulsion that is unmatched. The Overseer was fully aware of what it had done to that other universe, how it had destroyed its boundaries, contents and the life forms that lived within it.
The Overseer discovered that it COULD kill, but also that it did not necessarily WANT to.
So it continued experimenting with subspace and eventually poked its tendrils into dozens of fully functional universes. It explored with an eagerness and insatiable curiosity that was almost as compulsive as its hunger for gravity. And during the next few hundred centuries, the Overseer gradually learned how to appear in various forms and how to interact with the many different life forms that populated the multitude of galaxies scattered across each universe. It didn't take long to discover that a great many of them were simple copies of each other... that most of them followed similar standards and were governed by similar physical laws.
The concept of universes existing that were composed entirely of anti-matter caught it completely by surprise, and the first one its endlessly probing tendrils touched exploded in a violent burst of matter/anti-matter annihilation. The encounter cost the entity a huge share of its accumulated gravitons, but that wasn't what bothered it the most. Once again it had intruded where it shouldn't have... and once again the Overseer had killed countless quadrillions when it had not wished to.
Its resolve hardened and it continued to experiment where it knew it was safe. Gradually as the years began to pass it began learning how to contact and communicate with the life forms that lived within... it could touch all life. Time had no meaning for it at first, until it began to learn more and more about how the life forms living within the universes existed. The alien's sheer size limited its ability to learn as well... the newest parts of its body lagged behind. Only the older tendrils that had twisted and coiled between multi-verses and spearheaded its exploration efforts contained enough knowledge to interact with sentient life. It could increase its size, but it did not have a centralized 'brain' of the sort we are used to... each part of it needed time and practice to learn enough about the environment surrounding it as the other parts of it had. Only then could the longer lived, more educated parts of its body communicate with the newer... communicate while teaching them too how to plot and plan.
In most of the universes it explored and the massive number of galaxies within each of them, sentient life was chaotic and violently unpredictable. The Overseer chose one of the galaxies and focused a majority of its attention solely on that one reality... then studied it patiently and meticulously over countless centuries as it observed the life forms living within and struggled to learn the specifics of what motivated them. More centuries passed until its reach extended past more than thirty percent of the galaxies contained within, and there it finally encountered the Milky Way galaxy and learned - over time - to interact with the race known as the Zygopterrans. It found itself oddly attracted to this strange, insectoid population capable of laying countless eggs and propagating itself so quickly. The ease with which each society of these creatures organized itself and focused on priorities like food and shelter truly impressed the Overseer. Slowly but persistently it worked steadily to develop an interactive relationship with them.
Once it taught itself the basics of communication and learned the odd Zygopterran language, the Overseer began entering parallel realities and establishing contact with more of the insectoid cultures. Often times it was able to utilize its ability to move between space and subspace to transfer representatives from one universe to another and thereby speed the opening formalities. Sooner rather than later it discovered a realm where the Dominion prevailed... where the Zygots were completely extinct. The basics of 'enemies' and 'war' had been fully explained to it, but the Overseer only understood them vaguely... as abstract concepts. It loved the Zygopterrans so completely that it even forgave them in the parallel worlds where the insectoids warred with each other. In most they were a peaceful and kind species, but not in all.
Thus the Overseer eventually chose dozens of KEY universes that would serve as major intersections in time and space for its Temple-to-all-places. By weakening subspace at various points along each boundary, it hoped to allow the Zygots and their prisoners the time they needed to build portals that would connect each. Eventually, the Overseer hoped that its constant craving for gravitons could be more carefully controlled... it would be able to continue growing its body and thereby promulgate its own existence by expanding its tendrils into the empty areas of compatible multi-verses where no life existed... where it would not kill.
And yet the Overseer was entering from OUTSIDE, from an empty void where time itself did not exist. So it taught itself how to function in a linear fashion while interacting with the life forms within those universes. The concept of time travel remained an unknown concept to it. Its primary objective focused solely on the here and now of each reality, and on the manipulation of the beings that lived there and functioned in a forward moving time stream. Once its Temple grows large enough, the Overseer expects that it will thereby attain the ability to maintain a more discreet distance from its sentient neighbors while still allowing it safe access to the gravity it hungers for.
All in all, the Overseer's evolution over billions of years is not so dissimilar to that of many of the sentient races that it has helped the Zygots conscript as slaves. It too has evolved to the point where it recognizes itself as sentient, then moved past its craving for violence and eventually recognized the destruction of life without cause as unjust. Its very origin, however, remains rooted in the fabric of the very essence of creation... at the point where time and space as most now know it initially began. The largest part of the Overseer's enormous body continues to exist outside of time, space, and even subspace. Therefore its ability to communicate effectively is very limited, and its concept of morality and ethics is even more indistinct.
The alien has come a long way all on its own initiative over billions of years, and has extended its reach through the void among the boundaries of countless alternate realities. But it is still far from perfect... still behaving in a manner that protects itself and the Zygopterrans first. Its constant craving for gravitons continues unabated... a part of it is still that primal, original microscopic life form longing for the 'food' that it so desperately needs to survive. If something gets in its way, it does not hesitate to intimidate, attack or kill. The Overseer has done its homework - it knows what types of shapes, sounds and behavior to use while preying upon those who would oppose its agenda.
Within each multi-verse, the creature limits its presence to that thirty percent of the galaxies and sub-clusters that it has so far managed to explore. This does not mean that the entity will not one day grow so large that it has no choice but to continue its exploration, only that for now our own home is safe for the foreseeable future. Should the Overseer someday manage to extend its reach inside of our galaxy, we will have some massive decisions of the highest order to make. We are not a HIGHER POWER... not the INTELLIGENT DESIGNER. We are only sentient life forms living in a galaxy within a universe within a cosmos that has been infiltrated by a strange, wondrous entity calling itself the Overseer.
I do not know much more about it... other than the fact that the Overseer is not evil. It is only trying its best to survive and co-exist peacefully with the sentient beings living within its reach. We should be glad that this being has so far stayed away from our galaxy. Perhaps it will someday reach a maximum size and stop growing larger... perhaps it will never move within range of our home. If it does choose to do so then we will have to attempt communication. It does not understand traditional language as we know it, and historically the creature has used violence when and where its own wishes are not complied with.
We can only hope that we never reach the point where it is invading our home and all of our attempts at teaching it morality have failed. Because if that happens we will be faced with the greatest decision since the beginning of creation...
...whether or not to try and kill the Overseer.
* REPORT CONCLUDES *
Captain Data allowed himself to float freely in subspace for a few minutes after reading the alien scientist's report and reviewed the author's subsequent conclusions. Obviously, the being who wrote the piece had been extremely familiar with the Overseer and its evolution over time. How much of his data was conclusive proof and how much was only theory however... well, there was simply nothing else attached to the data file to indicate how accurate it truly was. Regardless, the report contents proved to be extremely useful to the android Captain simply because they defined - even if only conceptually - precisely what kind of entity that Starfleet was up against on this occasion.
Prior to entering the subspace realm, Data had excused himself from Chief O'Brien and Doctor Bashir's presence after telling them that he was returning to the Yellowjacket. He indicated to his new friends that he wanted some private time to use the runabout's sensors and learn more about the Overseer. He also planned to identify all of the abducted people from their own universe whom they intended to take back with them. His explanation was once again only a half truth, but Data was determined to keep the Preserver network a classified secret at any cost. He had already told his Deep Space Nine allies far too much at any rate, and his routine of simply disappearing and reappearing as he entered and returned from the alien subspace realm tended to spook the uninformed. Even Lt. Ingram had been angry with him for suddenly appearing behind her during his earlier communication with the Relativity.
Idly, Data noted how comfortable and familiar he was becoming during his ongoing interaction with the subspace network - how much he was relying on it for assistance and information. Thoughts of the reaction from superior officers who served on the Temporal Integrity Commission in his own time when they analyzed his logs briefly touched his positronic thoughts, but he pushed them aside as unimportant. He was the Captain of a Timeship, and therefore had earned both the trust and the leeway to make his own decisions during a massive crisis such as this one.
Peeking through subspace and using the network's sensors to scan the area around the Yellowjacket, Captain Data noted with satisfaction that there was no one inside the vessel. Closing his eyes, he temporarily adjusted his internal neural link to standby mode...
...and promptly reappeared inside the runabout's cockpit. Data had discovered during his many trips into subspace that the range of the Preserver transporters was virtually unlimited. If he wanted to bypass the Overseer's portal completely and return to the Relativity in the 29th century, he would be able to make such an action happen almost instantaneously - as easily as he had projected an image of himself through time, space, and a dimensional shift during his earlier conversation with Ducane and Jess Ingram. Eagerly, the android sat down in the runabout's cockpit and completed an enhanced, meticulous scan of the entire planet. During the process he electronically tagged each of the life forms from his own realm and also included the seventy-three life signs emanating from this universe's version of Columbia's crew. He was determined to liberate Captain Hernandez and her crew from their captivity on this planet even though they were not from his own home universe. Cruelty was cruelty after all, wherever it took place.
Emerging from the runabout, Data discovered that O'Brien had arrived and was waiting patiently for him. The Chief had settled down under one of the few trees left in the valley and was resting in the shaded area beneath. In the distance, the evening sun was sinking lower toward the horizon and it was obvious that nighttime would soon arrive. "Where is Dr. Bashir?" Data inquired curiously.
O'Brien glanced up at him and smiled wryly. "I didn't know how much longer you would be," he admitted. "I must confess to wishing I could take a peek at those enhanced sensors of yours, but I know you can't allow that and so I won't even ask." His expression warmed further as he noticed Data's own features remained completely blank and unreadable. "Dr. Bashir is back at the shelter areas, busy inoculating Captain Hernandez and her crew with vitamin supplements and other assorted potions of his that should help them better tolerate the radiation here."
"That will no longer be necessary Chief," declared Data with a positronic burst of determination that he had never - in the entire history of his emotion chip - felt before. "We are getting out of here, all of us."