Disclaimer: This is fanfiction. Anything you recognize is not mine. All characters and events in this story are entirely fictional.
-=oOo=-
"What do you have L'Nea?" asked Riker.
"One from Q. It is work. Another Earth near out of control climate change and not doing near enough."
"You know at times these missions do get a bit old. Anybody want to take the lead on this one? I'll do it, but I'm also okay acting whatever role is required," said Riker.
"Lafiel can," said Sobaash.
"What. I'm trying to dodge responsibility, not do more," said Lafiel.
"And yet you volunteer for more away missions than everyone else," said Sobaash.
"Can we make Beneej do it?" asked Lafiel hopefully.
"Not unless you can prove she is not doing anything important, and even then we can't make her," said Riker dryly.
"I could try it, but honestly, your better at these things, and if I do it, we will likely be there twice as long," said Jinto.
"I'd rather keep working on the new ship design," said Jadzia.
"So would I," muttered Lafiel.
"I'll do it if I must," said Sobaash.
"We are all sick of helping Earths fix problems they should have fixed themselves. I suppose this must mean this is becoming a real job," said Samson.
"You could do it," offered Lafiel.
"No, not me. My tolerance for stupid is not high enough," said Samson.
"Now I know why my uncle treated Jinto's world the way he did, not that it was excusable, but I understand more," said Lafiel.
"We were not nearly as messed up as the average Earth. Well, we are now, but we weren't then," defended Jinto.
"Apologies, I'd rather go try to help your world, but the Empress has that mess on her plate, probably next year sometime at this rate. Perhaps we will be available then," mused Lafiel.
"Does that mean you are now acting Captain?" asked Riker.
"I'll do it, but if you can think of any way to end this more quickly, please tell us," said Lafiel.
"I think we need to take a step back. We have often tried to help by invoking logic and reason, then when that failed greed and self interest. Why not just go to the end?" asked Neela.
Lafiel blinked. "Details please?"
"Their biggest problems are always burning too much carbon. Suppose we don't hand them what they need. Let's make a company, hire people, then drive everyone to our solutions, purely by making the most money," said Neela.
"That could work. We can come up with any number of ways to raise exorbitant sums of money, and having the tech problem solved means we can succeed, and we don't have to argue. We just win," said Jadzia absently.
"We have the industrial replicators and we can request one of the prototype dimensional ships with nanomist factories. They already have cloaking devices and need tested anyway," said L'Nea.
"We do realize if we develop stuff too quickly they will get suspicious, and fast," said Jinto.
"Most will look the other way, if your making them money," said Samson.
"I found a legitimate reason to ask for Admiral Spoor's help," said Lafiel.
"Oh?" asked Riker curiously.
"She can setup a parallel company in another part of the world. We will be fierce competitors undercutting each other," said Lafiel.
"She would likely enjoy that. She is quite proud of her time as a trader," mused JInto.
"Yes, well, nothing's perfect," said Lafiel.
Riker laughed.
-=oOo=-
"In a crazy development, Falcon Enterprises, who have made absurd amounts of money supplying rare earths, is now supplying electric cars in China. They have apparently already met all their safety requirements through an accelerated testing program supervised by representatives of the Chinese government. They have further agreed to build a plant there starting next year. For now, Falcon is only able to produce an estimated million cars a year, which at their current price of approximately fifteen thousand US are expected to sell out as fast as they can be produced. They have a four hundred mile range and are very impressive."
-=oOo=-
"This is CBS news. We just have a report on a new form of Solar Panel, complete with all the pieces to retrofit homes. The company is a relative unknown called Neko Enterprises. They already have a hundred thousand orders in Canada and are expanding world wide. Their technology is nearly double what currently exists. They are also planning on introducing their own electric car, calling everything else, even Falcon's junk."
-=oOo=-
"This just in. Electric stock cars built by both Falcon International and Neko Enterprises are about to race for the title, and they are off. What the heck, they just left everyone else in the dust, even the gasoline powered cars. They are neck and neck. Both drivers for the vehicles have for some reason died their hair blue. That's odd."
-=oOo=-
"A major Chinese shipping company just ordered batteries from Falcon Enterprises and solar panels from Neko International for their shipping container ships. They further commissioned an electric motor design from Falcon for their shipping fleet. If all goes well, within three months will be the first solar powered shipping vessel."
-=oOo=-
"Falcon has found a way to undercut Neko's new pricing on electric vehicles again. I don't see how they can build this efficiently but they do it, and both pay well, and are employing hundreds of thousand. In their new update, they offer a kit that converts an existing Ford F-150 to all electric. In this case, they provide an all in one rear axle with integrated electric motors. Batteries take the spot of the conventional gas tank. Power is charged through a standard connector mounted in the gas tank filler neck."
"Accessories are handled by a common module. You remove the existing engine and accessories, then set that, complete with evaporator core in place. It then connects to the existing air conditioning system, power steering, twelve volt power, and vacuum system. The module is designed to work with a variety of vehicles."
"It takes a day for a skilled crew to update a truck to use the system and an estimated cost of five thousand dollars with an average range when unloaded of one hundred and fifty miles and when heavily loaded and in the middle of winter to approximately seventy miles. For some uses cases, this could produce a return on investment in as little as a year."
-=oOo=-
"The US House of Representatives is opening an investigation into means and methods of doing business for both Falcon and Neko. Representatives accuse them of being illegal monopolies. Politicians call for their United States production plants to be sold to American companies to protect American industry and security."
"Next up we have an interview with President of Neko International Beneej Spoor and her reaction to the recent legislation that is forcing a sale of both Neko International and Falcon Enterprises."
"We will of course comply with the ruling. All our employees are welcome to join one of our other locations around the world. So are Falcon's for that matter. We will happily take on their employees as well."
"Your just going to sell the plants, and leave them as is?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you worried that the companies that take over your production plants will undercut you?"
"No. They are welcome to try. They might manage it in some small ways, but many of their tendencies tend to be self destructive long term, and quality will suffer. Still, if help is required, we will of course offer to provide it, for a suitably large fee."
"We now have the response from Falcon International by Lafiel Abriel." Lafiel Abriel was shown with brown hair and normal ears.
"Stop trying to poach our employees. Other than that, the same, and of course should any employees of Neko International wish to join us, they are welcome to do so."
"So your basically big complaint was they were trying to acquire your employees, not that they basically stole a company you put a lot of time in?"
"Well yes. We were planning on eventually turning over the company divisions to the workers, once we had some more details done. It is a pity that your government messed up that plan in your country, but well, we have many other divisions. It isn't a great problem. We too will offer to help if there are problems at our former plant or even at Neko's former plant. We will of course do this for a slightly cheaper, but still very expensive fee."
"Do you too think the new owners will mess up a successful company?"
"Aren't they former General Electric board members? What have they not messed up?" asked Lafiel curiously.
"Good point."
-=oOo=-
Lafiel sighed as she, under a disguise field, led a delegation of engineers to her former North American plant.
"We had this place running perfectly, and look what they did," one exclaimed.
"Yes, they tried to speed up production, and cut out all the minimal buffering we had to allow us to deal with issues," said another.
Lafiel glared at the president of the company that demanded they come fix it. She said, "Put it back the way it was, and if you still need help we will return."
"But our newer configuration is much more efficient! You were supposed to help! I'm not paying you for that."
"Fine, don't. We won't return till we are paid our fee for this job and the next up front."
"I'll get your competitor."
"Feel free. I prepared ahead and am sending them a copy of this meeting," said Lafiel.
-=oOo=-
Beneej showed up with her own team a few days later. Lafiel was there with a notepad, pretending to take notes. Just for fun she was using her native tongue.
"Yes, you made a mess. You could put it back how they had it, or we can give you our improved design for a large fee, that is on top of what you already paid us to come out," said Beneej.
Lafiel took a few more notes. Beneej looked over and snickered. They agreed to pay. Beneej waited till the money was in their accounts.
Beneej's team then gave them a set of plans on how to resolve the issue.
"But this is almost exactly like it was."
"Actually that version is better. It increases the reliability by almost 0.01%," said Lafiel in a bored tone.
"What, we paid this exorbitant fee for that?"
"Not my fault your an idiot. Thanks for the money." said Beneej before turning to Lafiel. "I'll send you your third later today."
"What for?" he asked.
"What, you think I'm going to have my precious employees redo all the work her precious employees already did? No, I'm paying them one third to get one of their alternative plans, they rejected as being slightly better but not quite as cost effective."
"We get the other third right?" asked her lead engineer.
"That is the plan. It will be in your next paycheck," said Beneej.
"Cool. Easiest money we ever made."
"I'll donate an additional third to the charity of your choice if you and Beneej will help me repeat this so I don't have to bother my workers again. Beneej will of course get a third as well that she can do with as she wishes," offered Lafiel.
"I'll split it with you," offered Beneej.
"Deal."
The flabbergasted manager followed them to the roof.
"Your piloting. It's your job after all," said Beneej.
"Alright."
Lafiel was the first into the small jet, with the others following. Soon the three massive fans spun up and they took to the sky.
"We just paid a fortune for what amounted to a plan they set aside because it wasn't quite as cost effective," said the vice president.
"Use it anyway. It is better."
-=oOo=-
"We are now going to present the results of our exhaustive comparison of the batteries produced by the new and old companies. I won't bore you with the details. Of the ten we checked from each company, each bought randomly we found no significant differences. When asked Falcon said they told them to just put it back how they had it, and then they refused and Neko indirectly sold them one of their alternate plans. Technically better, but not in a significant way. So there you have it. Buy whichever one you want. With the tariffs they end up about the same price."
"In other news, both international companies are teaming up to provide farm and utility equipment, which is currently not subject to tariffs. Of course, even if it did suddenly get them, there is clearly a large world market for the kind of quality product both companies are producing."
-=oOo=-
"The day has finally come. It is almost two years from when they first brought products to market. Falcon International is now wholly owned by its employees. It's rival Neko International is doing the same a few days from now. Rumors are that both companies are working together informally. We certainly thank them for all their efforts they have made. Carbon emissions are plummeting. Our planet breaths a sigh of relief."
-=oOo=-
Lafiel stood with Beneej at her side in front of a group of one hundred of their best employees.
"Hello all. Officially today is our leave taking, and we will be leaving. Those of you here, and your families will have another option, if you want it, but first I won a bet to get Beneej here to sing, so please do so," said Lafiel.
Several snickered, apparently familiar with their bets.
"I will sing. I did promise, but first, perhaps we should deactivate our little disguises. You first Lafiel," said Beneej.
Lafiel rolled her eyes. "I know there have been rumors that some of the tech we use seemed to come from nowhere. Well, we aren't from around here." Lafiel pressed a small button on a bracelet and her normal hair and ears were visible.
The crowd gasped and whispered in surprise, but not much else. Lafiel turned to Beneej.
"Fine." She pressed her own.
"She has red eyes."
"Abriel ears don't bother you, but red eyes do? Really?" complained Beneej.
Lafiel rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be singing?"
"Very well. This is a song by Russel Watson called Faith of the Heart," said Beneej.
Its been a long road,
getting from there to here.
Its been a long time,
But my time is finally near.
And I can feel the change in the wind right now.
Nothings in my way.
And theyre not gonna hold me down no more,
No they're not gonna hold me down.
Cause Ive got faith of the heart.
Im going where my heart will take me.
Ive got faith to believe.
I can do anything.
Ive got strength of the soul.
And no ones gonna bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
Ive got faith, faith of the heart.
Its been a long night.
Trying to find my way.
Been through the darkness.
Now I finally have my day.
And I will see my dream come alive at last.
I will touch the sky.
And theyre not gonna hold me down no more,
No they're not gonna change my mind.
Lafiel was the first to clap, though that was soon followed by the others. She then turned to the audience again. "We will be here another twenty four hours. If we get a message from you, well maybe you can do this again somewhere else, or maybe establish yourself somewhere else."
"So you were in it together from the beginning?" asked one of their employees.
"Not exactly. Lafiel came up with the idea of rival companies. I found it amusing and decided to help out. Her mother and I are best friends," said Beneej.
"Where would we go?"
"My family still runs many businesses, as does Lafiel's. There are endless variations. You will of course be able to choose."
"Can we go now?"
"Please take time to talk to your families. Please also don't tell anyone outside of family. If you want to do so, ask one of us, and we will decide," said Lafiel.
They immediately got bombarded by requests. Lafiel pulled out a tablet from the desk. It was one that came from one of their ships.
"Where did you get that?" someone asked.
Lafiel rolled her eyes. "Pass it around and give names for who you want to add. It will add them, or at least note them. We have final say."
An hour later Beneej started looking over the additions. "You realize that we have most everyone and their families on here. This won't work."
Lafiel turned to the group and said, "We came here to help, save we got a bit bored about being direct. It adds so many headaches, so we decided to run a business. Sure we had to come up with the initial capital and all, and sure it is only just now become profitable, but profit wasn't the point."
"You were trying to save us from runaway climate change, right?" asked a young woman.
"Yes, and if you all leave, who will do the work? Don't get me wrong. We can think of a lot of places that would love to have you, but you have to answer that question. Maybe it means that most of you stay till replacements are trained. I don't know, but they have to be people that want to do this job, because your world needs the help," said Lafiel.
"It really does," added Beneej.
"So, if we hire new people and train them all, and all that, we can go?"
"You don't even know where your going," pointed out Lafiel.
"Then show us."
"You trust us that much?"
"Oh come on. Both of you and several others that aren't even employees were putting in sixty hour weeks regularly, and somehow finding time for high intensity sparring and who knew what else. When we needed help, it happened. We often didn't even know how."
"Well we were busy," said Lafiel.
"See you admit it."
"I did not," lied Lafiel.
"Yes you did little Abriel. I, on the other hand, bullied Kufadis to get it done," said Beneej.
"I so should tell my grandmother that you finally agreed."
Beneej snickered. "She knows better."
"You pick one and I pick one?" asked Lafiel.
"Renee," said Beneej.
An older woman with graying hair stood up.
"Alex then," added Lafiel.
An equally old man stood up, though had a bit of trouble.
Lafiel tapped another spot on her bracelet. "Celeste, Ami, how about doing us a favor and coming down?"
They materialized out of nothing.
"Your one of the people that helped fix so much of our stuff," one of them said, pointing at Ami.
"One of many," added Ami.
"What do you need?" asked Celeste.
"Ask that man and anyone else here if you can help them medically? We can't help everyone, but our immediate family we can at least help now, though do try to be quiet about it," said Lafiel
Celeste walked over to Alex and asked, "Would you like me to try to help you?"
"Sure, why not. Don't know what you can do, but being old sucks."
"I think I can help a bit. Let me help you sit."
Celeste helped him set down. Then she sat across from him and took his hands. Her energy crawled up his arms and spread throughout his body slowly healing and renewing him.
Ami at a gesture from Beneej moved to Renee and asked, "Want me to try? Celeste is still a bit better, but it doesn't matter much these days, and I'm studying to be an actual doctor."
"Sure."
She did the same. They each repeated with four others before Beneej called a halt as both Ami and Celeste were exhausted.
"So, if Renee and Alex still want a ride, well, our replacement ship should actually be here anytime now," said Lafiel.
"Or we could take mine," said Beneej.
"Must we. My fellow crew mates have worked really hard to create Falcon-A, and I really want to fly it," said Lafiel.
"Do you know who got your old one?" asked Beneej.
"Actually no, I don't."
"Your mother and her crew."
"That's great. That ship served us well, and is still one of the best in the fleet."
"I know. It was offered to me, but I made sure she got it. She deserved it, and my own ship is quite good."
"Thank you."
"Actually, they arrived while we were healing, so we could go anytime," said Celeste.
"So remember, try not to make our lives and yours more complicated by telling everyone. Besides, most will think your crazy," said Beneej.
They got several promises that they would not.
-=oOo=-
They beamed onto the pristine new bridge of Falcon's second incarnation.
"You know some of us were privately taking bets of what the big mystery was," said Renee.
"Oh, and what odds did the people behind the companies being not from your world have?" asked Riker.
"Eight percent," said Renee.
"Oh, what was the most likely one?" asked Jadzia.
"We assumed you were some group funded be too rich to be sane billionaires, that possibly had stumbled on the tech," said Alex.
"Certainly a reasonable assumption," said L'Nea.
"Your blue," said Alex lamely.
"What. Why does no one tell me these things?" exclaimed L'Nea.
Samson laughed.
"Sorry," added Alex.
"Don't worry about it. I've been saving that joke," said L'Nea.
Lafiel looked down wistfully at the double pilots seat that Ekuryua was occupying one of.
"Actually Lafiel, we do have to pick up one more person. Jinto is done visiting relatives at his home. Thankfully that is all fixed now," said Riker.
"I'll wait then."
"Two more people," said Sobaash.
"Correct. Romana wanted to come aboard as well," added Riker.
"Then shall we go?" asked Beneej.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to your ship?" asked Lafiel.
"No. I want to be here for this one's flight. Besides, Kufadis got promoted to Captain. I'm due back at the capital on advisor duty, likely to replace Romana, that is assuming I can't find another and go hitch a ride with Plakia."
"Then let's get going," said Riker.
"Trans dimensional drive is unlocked. All checks are confirmed and the runabout is stored, and I have confirmed its warp nacelles are in a neutral state. Ready for direct flight to the Hyde system," said Ekuryua.
"You made it so we can make direct trips without switching back and forth?" asked Lafiel hopefully.
"Diving," finished Ekuryua as the emerged directly into the now violet and white realm.
"Correct. It is a theoretical extension to current theory that we were able to perfect," said L'Nea proudly.
"That's great," said Lafiel.
"Your own work was nothing short of impressive. GIving them what they needed without majorly advancing their tech base was a lot of work. Well done," said Riker.,
"It was hardly only us. A lot of you helped," said Lafiel.
"We did less than ten percent of our time," said Jadzia.
"You still helped, and then you built this ship," said Lafiel.
"Don't let them fool you. Our engineering staff and a lot of others, including the best from the rest of the Alliance helped with this ship. This isn't a one off. Once we prove it out, there will be more," said Riker.
"I'm getting an emergency report."
"Details?" asked Riker.
"Dimension tear forming near an uncharted Earth. Possible crude portal formation. Dimensional shearing is causing damage to that universe's structure," said L'Nea.
"Always Earth. It makes me feel guilty to be an Earthling at times. Ekuryua," said Riker.
"Intercept course already laid in. Adjusting course. Emergency reactor online. Increasing to emergency speed. ETA is now twenty one minutes."
"All hands this is the captain. We have an unknown dimensional incursion on an Earth we haven't been to. If we had details, you would have them. Be ready. You have twenty minutes."
The ship began to hum loudly as the new drives were pushed to their limit.
"Is this speed entirely safe?" asked Beneej worriedly.
"We have to take a course that has been recently traversed to hit this speed. It would save a bit more time if we had more routes available to us, but the rest is as a slightly lower speed," added Neela.
"So no?" asked Beneej.
"It's our job to answer that question," said RIker.
"Nice," said Beneej.
"I didn't think we could get emergency reports those while the drive was active?" said Lafiel.
"The Alliance has been busy seeding data monitoring nodes throughout dimensional space. We are the nearest ship so got the relayed information," said Sobaash.
"I am so out of date," said Lafiel.
"Well take a seat and get up to date," said Riker.,
Lafiel did so. Beneej sat beside her and did the same.
-=oOo=-
They slipped out near Earth already cloaked.
"Note the presence of a fleet of twenty ships," said Samson dryly.
"Tactical?" asked Riker.
"They aren't emitting enough energy for me to get an accurate read, though on the other hand they aren't emitting enough energy to likely be particularly a problem," said Jadzia.
"They are sending a message. Some guy named Loki."
"People of Earth. I as your future King give you two hours to surrender. Now that I have the tesseract, your planet is largely irrelevant. Accept your fate."
"I'd really like to know what is going on before we do something. Options?" asked Riker.
"The thing behind him in the image is giving off significant power. I'm actually able to establish much of his ships structure because of it," said L'Nea.
"Gracious of him to help us so. How does that change the situation?" asked Riker.
"They are not a threat, well unless something majorly is wrong with this ship. We haven't fielded her in combat yet," said L'Nea.
"Lafiel, I want you and Beneej to standby in a runabout, just in case. I doubt it will be required, but she does raise a good point," said Riker.
"Understood," added Beneej. Both got up and rushed out.
"Populate the other runabouts similarly as well," said Riker.
"I am sending orders," added Sobaash
"Another message. The one from Earth."
"On behalf of Earth, we reject your demand. We will not simply bow down to you. Come and get us Reindeer Games."
Riker rolled his eyes before asking, "Can we get a lock on that guy?"
"I have his transmitter, but without going active it is hard to pinpoint, precisely enough," said Jadzia.
"May we?" asked Piper.
"Always."
PIper took Jadzia's hand and Pyrrha took hers.
Less than a minute later Pyrrha said, "Found him. It is as if he leeches arrogance into the atmosphere. It is quite easy to track."
"Is he surrounded or alone?" asked Riker.
"Surrounded," said Piper.
"Okay, how about Piper, Pyrrha and I go down via teleport, a short distance away. Sobaash you are in command," said Riker.
"Understood."
-=oOo=-
The top floor of Stark Tower was getting a bit crowded when suddenly they heard, "Sir, I regret to disturb you but three people just appeared in the kitchen."
"What?" exclaimed Stark.
"Don't worry, we aren't here to hurt anyone. We are here to help," called out Riker.
"And we are supposed to believe that?" asked an angry dark skinned man wearing an eye patch.
"Well, if we wanted to harm you we could have left a bomb in place of just coming, so surely that is worth something?" asked Riker.
"Who are you?" asked Tony, his chest glowing dimly under his shirt.
"Captain WIlliam T. Riker of the Alliance. This is PIper Troi and Pyrrha Nikos."
"And why are you here?" asked a balding middle aged man.
"We monitored the incursion. We are debating trying to stop it."
"Then do it," said a very pretty red head.
"Not yet. First we want details. Someone who has the big picture and doesn't mind letting Piper take a peek in their head would help, but words also work," said Riker.
"I will do this, if you try to save my brother," said a tall and well built blond man, carrying a very big hammer.
"We will try to save anyone, if it makes sense to do so," said Riker.
"What must I do?" asked Thor.
"Hold on buddy. Your not going to just trust them are you?" asked Tony.
"I have enough control of my own mind. Loki and I played such games when he was developing his own skill," said Thor.
"Please sit and lend me your hand. I will try to focus only on the current situation. If I get more it will not be revealed without a very good reason," said Piper.
"My brother is not well. What madness this is, I do not know." Thor held out his larger hand and it engulfed Piper's smaller one, causing her to blush.
"Apologies for the stray thought. Now to business," said Piper.
They stayed like that for close to twenty minutes before they separated. Piper turned to Riker.
"Thank you Thor. This helps a very great deal." She turned to the Captain. "In short, destroy every ship without Loki in it. Separate Loki from both the Tesseract and that staff he carries. I think I'm going to want a full gestalt from the major telepaths to separate them. That staff is clearly exceptionally dangerous. I'm wary about destroying either. According to the legend that Thor remembers, both could be key parts of this universe. Loki may be under the control of the staff, or who originally controlled the stone in it, or he could possibly be acting on his own. I couldn't determine with any absolute certainty, but we should be sure."
"Can these thing be beamed or ported?" asked Riker.
"I doubt it. The cube is supposed to be linked to the control of space. The one in the staff may be for control of mind. I am guessing here. Thor was not certain so I cannot be," said Piper.
"But the creatures on the ship have no such protections?" asked Riker.
Piper and Pyrrha smiled. "Correct," said Piper.
"Okay, am I correct that this group was preparing to fight them?" asked Riker.
"We are," said Thor.
"How about we beam everyone off the ship? The telepaths beam over and keep this stone safe. You separate Loki from the blue one and keep him contained," said Riker.
"I'm game. You think you can handle the other ships?" asked Tony.
"Shouldn't be problem," said Riker.
"Your not just trying to take the tesseract are you?" asked Fury.
"Don't know what that is. Given that it leached off enough energy that our ships passive sensors could fairly precisely read almost everything about that ship, you may not want to keep it around," said Riker.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," said Loki.
"Again, we are just dealing with the current situation. The one that concerns PIper we likely will deal with. Your not that worried about the other right?"
"No, but I assume that one was used to bring these ships, so, maybe," said Piper.
"Well we will deal with it later. If that is responsible for the damage to subspace we will have to talk. It may not be safe to leave it with you," said Riker.
"And this is why it belongs on Asgard," said Thor.
"If by belong you mean safely stored and not ripping holes in dimensions, we may agree," said Riker.
Thor nodded.
"When will you be ready for to begin?" asked Riker.
"Give me a few minutes to suit up. Jarvis, send it," said Tony.
"As you say sir."
Pieces of red armor came flying out. One starting to impact Tony at a high rate of speed, causing him to dodge. Piper focused and it slowed down before attaching.
"Um, thanks, I think," said Tony as his suit finished forming around him.
"That is very impressive," said RIker.
"Thanks, so what is next?" asked Tony.
"It will likely take me a few minutes to get my ship ready. You will be moved to a room nearby that is empty, is our goal. Stand by. Oh and anyone not going up there, get out of this room," said RIker before they vanished.
"I hope you know what your doing," said Phil as he pulled out his pistol and verified it was loaded.
"Yea, me too," said Tony.
-=oOo=-
They beamed back onboard. Celeste was already in body armor. Ami was transformed. Pyrrha and Piper immediately started putting on their own.
"I have readied the attack sequence," said Sobaash.
"Are you ready for this? I know the new system is more intense," said Riker.
"Lafiel may still be technically the better pilot, but it would take at least a week to get her where I am now," said Ekuryua.
"That wasn't really an answer."
"I will rest afterward. I will be fine."
"Very well."
"Sobaash, you've organized this. Begin when your ready," said Riker.
Sobaash turned to the one transformed and three in armor.
"We are ready," said Celeste.
"Good. You four port over first, quickly bringing those down below that are going to deal with the rest. Everyone over there that we don't need can be ported into space. You are okay with that right?" asked Sobaash.
"Thrilled, no. Okay, yes," said Celeste.
"Understood. We can use the transporters if you want, but it will slightly slow down our attack."
"No, we have it."
"Then begin the sequence," said Sobaash.
"Sequence start will commence as soon as they depart," said Ekuryua.
They vanished. Alex and Renee did their best to stay out of the way.
-=oOo=-
Iron Man blasted Loki as soon as they arrived. Ami launched a ball of freezing water out of her hands causing Loki to be frozen in nearly two feet of ice.
"We might be overkill," noted Celeste.
"I can live with that," said Fury.
Celeste floated the glowing staff Loki had been holding to the far side of the room.
Piper said distastefully, "This thing cannot be trusted. I don't like being in the same room with it."
"I don't particularly want it on Falcon. Are you sure we can't destroy it?" asked Celeste.
"I'm not sure of anything related to this stuff. How about Mr. Frozen?" asked Piper.
Celeste touched him briefly. "He is fine. The cold isn't even harming him and he is awake."
"Yes, I am. Release me," said Loki.
"I'm not about to touch his mind in the presence of that staff," said Piper.
"Let's move him to the planet. For now the blue thing can go to the planet, just don't use it, that is unless this Asgard can come get them?" asked Celeste.
"Alas the Bifrost is damaged. Help is not easy to get now. I also doubt the Tesseract can be moved by your technology," said Thor.
"If it really is that big a danger, I'll agree not to use it, but how about helping out with our energy needs?" asked Fury.
"How are you getting it to the planet?" asked Piper.
"I could maybe carry it," offered Tony.
"We will beam over space suits. Fury can carry it to a runabout, if he is so determined to have it."
Fury smiled.
"As to the rest, we give away solar panel and battery tech all the time. It is usually way better than what a lot of places have," said Ami.
"And it is less useful for weapons," noted Tony.
"True," added Celeste.
"So do we have agreement?" asked Piper.
"What about this ship?" asked Fury.
"We are not inclined to just hand you better tech. Your liable to blow yourselves up," said Piper.
"So little trust," said Fury dryly.
"But she is probably right," added a man in red white and blue.
"Fine," said Fury.
"Don't want this guy next to the cube in a breakable place," said Piper.
Loki shattered the ice. Tony blasted him, Celeste and PIper held him and Ami froze him again.
"He is stronger than he looks," noted Ami.
"He is my brother," said Thor.
"You can use the area outside my beach house. Try not to break my beach house," said Tony.
"Where is that? Are you inviting me to read the location?" asked Celeste.
"Sure whatever. Let's get this done," said Tony.
"I must go with my brother," said Thor.
Celeste touched his hand briefly. "I've got it, and that thing in your chest is killing you, but isn't a current problem, so let's move."
Fury, with help from PIper managed to enter through the open runabout back, which had an air shield keeping the air intact. After that the rest of them vanished, leaving the scepter on the ship.
-=oOo=-
"Okay Ami, Pyrrha, Thor, you keep him from attacking us. We are going to do this remotely, which is not ideal, but he is quite dangerous I think," said Celeste.
"We will do our part," said Thor.
-=oOo=-
Loki bashed against the glass holding his mind in as the two powerful mystics bashed against it from the outside with enough telepathic force to shatter mountains. At first, the power of the mind stone held. He had been under its madness not for a moment but for months. They kept bashing and so did he, until nearly an hour later the walls shattered. They quickly and carefully pulled back and exited, even as a trickle of blood came out of Loki's ear.
"Brother," Thor yelled.
Celeste and Piper flew out from where they were hiding and landed near him.
"The thing holding him was not easy to break. Here let me try to fix it," said Celeste.
She reached hold of him and passed healing energy into his body and mind. A few minutes later she pulled back.
"You can stop the freezing Ami," added Piper.
"I don't have a way to thaw," admitted Ami.
"I will remove the ice," said Thor.
"You will do no such thing brother. I'll do it myself. Those two really could use a lesson or two in breaking through mental conditioning," said Loki ruefully.
"Haven't had to do it before," admitted Celeste.
"Be that as it may. I am at least free of it, and few would be strong enough to break through months of that damned stone's poison."
"Okay all ships but one destroyed. Invading army dead. Person that was controlled freed. Two troublesome objects and apparently a universe that likes them. Perhaps we take them all back to Asgard and call this job done?" asked Piper hopefully.
"You cannot honestly believe that would be the end of it," said Loki.
"No, but it might be the end of it for today," said Pyrrha hopefully.
"Do you have a better idea?" asked Ami.
"Thanos has more forces than just the Chitauri, and many more Chitauri," said Loki tiredly.
"I am inclined to go get Romana and get her thoughts on this mess," said Celeste.
"A few of us could stay in a runabout and keep the staff secure," offered Pyrrha.
"Let's see what the Captain wants to do."
"And me?" asked Loki.
"Your clearly not responsible for your actions. You also seem safe. Am I missing something?" asked Celeste.
"I want to see Thanos dead."
"Noted, but that isn't sufficient reason to let you on our ship."
"I can help," said Loki.
"We will let our Captain know of the offer."
"I can as well," said Thor.
"Same."
They vanished, this time in a transporter beam, before appearing back on Falcon.
Riker beamed down to the penthouse in New York. Several people turned guns on him as he walked in.
"You do know that the immediate situation has been resolved right?"
"A bit convenient isn't it," said Fury.
"Did you want to fight a fleet of ships by yourself? Sure they weren't up to our standards, but given you seem to have no warships at all..."
"You've made your point," said Fury.
"We are going to pick up a couple crew members and maybe stop by Asgard. We will likely be back in the morning. Loki was under the control of the stone in the scepter. We are leaving a ship to guard it, so even if you can field a ship to get up there, don't. Just leave it alone. It is very dangerous," said Riker.
"Where is he?" asked Fury.
"Same place your friend suggested."
"We need to get him into custody."
"I said he was under mind control. Whatever he did, it wasn't his fault," said Riker.
"We will be the judge of that," said Fury.
"No, you won't. Fine, we will pick up Thor and Loki."
"What gives you the authority to just take over?" asked Fury.
"Off hand I'd say it is because they spanked the entire invasion force in what ten minutes?" said Tony dryly.
"Leave the ship and the stone in it alone, and don't mess with the other one and we will deliver the specs and drawings needed for the solar panel/battery/heat pumps and a few other things," said Riker.
"Fine."
Riker sighed. "You know I'm not trying to make enemies here."
"Loki is responsible for the death of hundreds."
"No, he was not. I don't have the full explanation but it is my understanding that your people were taken over with but a touch of the sceptre. He was under a month of it's full potential," said Riker.
"Perhaps I could go along and represent Earth," offered Phil.
"That's not a bad idea. I was going to offer myself, but I have a great deal of work to do," said Tony.
"We will fix your chest when we get time. Just don't die before it," said Riker.
"I'd appreciate that."
"Okay, Phil, why don't you move closer to me."
Phil did so.
Riker tapped his com badge. "Two to beam up."
They vanished. Phil's weapon dropped to the floor.
"I like them. Automatically disarming anyone who boards their ship. Jarvis, make a note to figure out how to do that for shield agents that enter my building," said Tony.
"A note has been made."
"Now, if everyone could leave. I'm tired," said Tony.
"Captain, remain and keep this place secure. Barton, Romanoff, your with me," said Fury.
-=oOo=-
"Why did you agree to let us board?" asked Thor.
"The guy called Fury wanted to lock Loki up. As he was technically not responsible for his actions, he forced me to choose between allowing it and not," said Riker.
"Thank you," said Thor.
"Don't mention it. Piper did you figure out where Asgard was by chance when you worked with Thor?"
"Not exactly, but I could probably find my way. Let me see what we have of star charts."
"Asgard is shifted in both space and dimension," said Loki.
"Well that just made it harder. Can you work with L'Nea and figure out the coordinates?" asked Riker.
Loki nodded and moved over to where Riker pointed.
"When we arrive the Captain should come down with us. My father would be insulted with anyone less," said Thor.
"Lafiel can come with me. She is the granddaughter of an Empress. I assume I don't need to tell people that Sobaash is in command if I'm not here?"
"You don't," said Jadzia in amusement.
"Mostly because none of us particularly want the job," said Samson.
"I would take it," said Loki.
"That would be a no," said Riker dryly.
Ten minutes later they were on their way.
-=oOo=-
Thor, Riker, and Lafiel beamed down outside the palace. Both Riker and Lafiel were wearing their dress finest. They were expected and escorted inside.
"Explain why you return without the Tesseract or Loki," said an old man with an eye patch.
"These people helped defeat the Chitauri army. In truth, they did most of the work. They are not from this dimension nor any of the nine realms. They proved that Loki was affected by the Mind Stone which has been placed inside a spear. They also freed him. He is on the ship above. The Mind Stone remains under guard by another of their smaller ships. The Tesseract has been temporarily returned to Earth with strict instructions not to use it."
"They are fools. They will ignore such instructions. Your names."
"I am Captain William T. Riker of the Alliance. This is Abriel Nei Debrusc Borl Paryun Lafiel granddaughter of Empress Abriel Nei Debrusc Spunej Ramaj."
"Empress of what?"
"We control approximately half of one galaxy. Our holdings consist of hundreds of worlds," said Lafiel.
"And what are you doing here, if your empire is somewhere else?"
"Learning, helping, doing. I may yet succeed the throne if I live long enough, but it is my hope that another will be worthy and accept it."
"You believe yourself not worthy?"
Lafiel blinked. "I haven't actually thought about it in those terms. Should I be called on to serve, I will do so to the absolute best of my ability. My friend Jinto plans to join me."
"It seems she has learned some lessons that our sons have yet to learn," said an older, but still quite attractive woman.
Lafiel bowed.
"You would bow to another Monarch?" asked the woman.
Lafiel blinked. "You misunderstand. My relationship to the Empress confers no rank and no authority. My rank with the Alliance is independent of that. Sure I can get an audience if I need one, and a few minor things, but I cannot give orders in the Empire."
"How do you choose who leads?" asked the King.
"The requirements for the ruler is that they will put the well being of our people first. That is the first requirement. You are not forbidden from helping family in minor ways of course, as long as they are minor and don't conflict. The second requirement is the skill, intelligence, and willingness to do so. The current Empress selects her successor, but the council must consent to her choice. Should the council find her choice wanting, then it would become a priority to find a replacement both can agree on, because that will be the council saying the choice of the Empress is foolish, which would mean saying the Empress is not capable of leading the Empire. This has never happened in the nearly four hundred years the Abh Empire has existed. I pray it never does."
"And do you believe this council would accept you?" asked the Queen.
"I do. I'm her superior officer. Should she want it I'm prepared to recommend her far her own ship now," said Riker.
"Do not want," said Lafiel.
Thor laughed and smiled.
"Yes, you don't want to get trapped on the ship as much as I do," said Riker.
"You just started ignoring the rule about the captain having to stay safe," noted Lafiel.
"It presupposed Sobaash isn't perfectly capable of doing my job, and he is, so I stopped caring. I have to have some fun," said Riker.
"What is it you want of us?" asked the Queen.
"First off, can you securely store those two troublesome objects?" asked Riker.
"We can," said the King.
"My brother has doubts about that. Thanos has many resources he says," said Thor.
"Then I think we need to talk to him, don't you my lord?" asked the Queen.
"Agreed."
Riker tapped his com badge. "Beam Loki down."
He materialized between RIker and Thor.
He saw the scowl on Odin's face and bowed.
"Come here," said Frigga.
"You will determine the truth. If you cannot verify their story, he goes into a cell," said the King.
"I can ask those that healed him to beam down," offered Riker.
"Perhaps afterwards, if necessary," said Frigga.
Loki bent down as his adopted mother put a hand on his forehead. He winced in pain as Frigga's mental assault whirled through his mind, searching for every detail of relevance. Twenty minutes later she let him go.
"I take it back. The other two were gentler," muttered Loki.
"I may love you, but I will not allow any chance of you to be in a position of authority, if there is any chance you remain contaminated," said Frigga.
"Is he?" asked Odin.
"He is free, of that I am certain, as I am certain of the traces of the stone's corruption. It will take him months probably to fully recover, though in that, he has shown surprising strength."
"How so?" asked Odin.
"A month of exposure to the forces he underwent would destroy any here, save obviously Loki and ourselves. That he did not fully avoid its clutches is not fault of his. I must insist, no demand, that both Loki and Thor resume their lessons with me in protecting the mind as soon as time permits."
"I agree. The weakness must be expunged, but that is not the problem of today. Did you determine if Loki is correct about Thanos?"
"He saw a man he believed to be Thanos, and I saw nothing that would make me believe anything else."
"The Tesseract and the Mind Stone cannot remain on Earth. Even if Thanos is involved our protections are much stronger than what Earth can field," said Odin.
"Can they be destroyed or maybe moved far out of these dimensions?" asked Riker.
"The stones are linked to these realms. Moving them out will likely fail. They are likely to be ripped from any ship that tries. As to destruction. They can be destroyed, but they just reform somewhere randomly. It is better to store them."
"We have a couple people to pick up, but right now I see no better option, other than perhaps going to find this Thanos and eliminate the problem," said Riker.
"Even your ship would not survive that battle. You would need more," said Loki.
"Do you know how many more?" asked Riker curiously.
"Not with any certainty. Five perhaps? That is a guess," admitted Loki.,
"How urgent is this?" asked Lafiel.
"I do not believe he is ready to move now, based on what I saw in Loki's memories, though whether we have a year or ten, I cannot say," said Frigga.
"Right, so go pick up our people, bring the stones here, make plans to end the problem. What am I missing?" asked RIker.
"You will need someone of sufficient skill to protect from the tainted mind stone. In time I may be able to purify it. I volunteer for this task," said the Queen.
Odin nodded.
"Then welcome aboard. Thor and Loki can stay or go."
"They will go. They will make sure the stones are kept safe and not used until they can be secured in the vaults. Lady Sif, you will see to a checking of all the vault defenses. As of now Asgard is to prepare for War. Will you see to it?"
"I will."
"Then let's complete our tasks. We may not remain in this universe for the duration, but we will leave the means to contact us. On the day of the battle we should be able to field the number Loki mentioned, or a few more, though not all will be as strong as Falcon," finished Riker.
"It is our job. We will do our part," said Odin.
Riker and Lafiel bowed.
"You may go," said Odin.
Riker motioned the Queen, Thor, and Loki close then tapped his com badge. "Five to beam up."
They vanished.
"I will begin now. There is a great deal to do," said Lady Sif.
"That there is," agreed the king.
-=oOo=-
Romana examined the Mind Stone with the Queen at her side.
"You certainly have found a very troubling thing. I suppose I might be able to build a temporal prison for it, though I'm frankly not sure you'd be any better off," said Romana.
"We do not play with time. That is forbidden," said Frigga.
"I've something of a knack for it. Then again my species did kind of make time somewhat more flexible in my normal dimension. Still, I take your point, and again, I see no obvious cure here, well other than fighting through its taint and making it stop radiating. Right now it is probably quite easy to track," mused Romana.
"It doesn't matter. With both stones in our possession, they will know we have at least one of them. That cannot be hidden," said Frigga.
"Actually, I do have a better idea, at least if you don't mind a little creative dimensional engineering. It will take quite some time to setup, but have you every played with folded space?" asked Romana.
"You intend to make an N dimensional maze as one of the guards?" asked L'Nea curiously.
"Well it is an idea isn't it. You can't remove it from these linked dimensions, but very few have the technology or skill to just peel away one of those."
"It is an intriguing idea. We may help you develop that," said Frigga.
"So the path to it would be difficult or what?" asked Riker.
"Well, I can't make it impossible, since technically there must be a path, but I could randomize it and make it take hours on average to stumble upon it. That is not guaranteed since it is random, but the idea is to, if you are invaded, have an hour or two before they can finish their primary objective," said Romana.
"I certainly have no objection to that. Can we rig a suitable explosive at its heart and just destroy both stones worst case? Sure they appear somewhere random, but that should buy more time, if we have to use it," said Riker.
"That is easily done. The whole secure vault is built on a large collapsing ward scheme. If you don't know how to deactivate it, it activates. Everything is destroyed totally," said Frigga.
"You should probably update that, if you haven't. Make sure only those who absolutely need to know know the correct details," said Romana.
Frigga nodded.
"We should be able to return in that much time, but obviously do what you have to do," said Riker.
The Queen nodded, even as she carefully lifted the staff and set it in a thick lead lined case with three inch sides before heaving the lid closed.
"Blasted thing. It affected my carefully controlled aura. Give me a minute to purge it," said the Queen.
"I could have moved it, if you wanted," offered Pyrrha.
"It doesn't matter if you use your hands or your mind. Your mind is almost worse. The only saving grace is limited exposure," said Queen Frigga.
"Think we ought to leave this ship for Earth to take apart?" asked Riker.
"No. If they were foolish enough to use the Tesseract, then giving them that even modest aid is likely unwise," said Frigga.
"We really could use the help," pointed out Phil.
"I'm inclined to agree with Queen Frigga. It wouldn't help in the time allotted and your tech is advancing very fast already. Work on figuring out when not to do things. That is your priority," said Riker.
Phil nodded, though didn't seem to like it.
Celeste floated an even larger black box over.
"What material is this?" asked Frigga curiously.
Romana bent down before pulling out her sonic screwdriver and running it over it. "It's a carbon nanotube variant optimized for radioactive shielding. Should at least help here, and doesn't weigh as much as the lead."
She down and with the Queen's help lifted the lead case and set it inside the nanotube based case and locked it.
"It is better. The second layer of shielding does help," said Celeste.
"Yes, it does," agreed Romana.
Thor attached a cord to the case and began pulling it out. The wheels under it rolled easily. Loki watched it warily.
"Let's get out of here. Do you want their ship?" asked Riker.
"It might have some use I suppose," said the Queen.
"We will tow it to Asgard then."
"I could fly it," offered Loki.
"Odin will decide such things," said Frigga absently.
Thor smirked. "You shall have to try harder to acquire toys brother."
"So it would seem. Still, as long as I get a chance to help kill Thanos, I honestly don't care. He will pay for what he ordered done to me, preferably over a very long period of time."
"We don't torture. If someone has to die, we kill them and that is the end," said Riker.
Loki sighed. He said, "Perhaps for the best, Thanos is dangerous, and I shall get over my disappointment at not being able to extend his demise."
"Thor would do well to remember that lesson. When he was younger on a hunt the prey almost killed him, because he played with it, rather than simply killing it," said Frigga.
"That's a practical reason. We just do not condone torture, ever," said Riker.
"I believe we are done here. The Tesseract, must, of course be obtained," said Frigga.
Phil sighed.
"Do you believe that will be a problem?" asked Riker.
"I suppose we are about to find out," said Phil.
"Finding it is not an issue. I can sense it, even here in space," said Celeste.
"I can as well," said Frigga.
"I can as well. It is hard to believe I was even functional under that things bindings. I couldn't before," said Loki.
"I cannot," said Thor.
"That too shall be added to your lessons. I sometimes regret you have received that hammer. Too often do you believe it is the solution, when it is a mere tool," said the Queen.
Loki smirked.
-=oOo=-
"I have been ordered not to turn it over," said Fury to Riker when he asked.
"Surely we can discuss this,' said Riker.
"There is really nothing to discuss. We are not giving it up. It is too good a weapon."
Riker's com badge chimed. He tapped it.
"Falcon to Riker," came from his com badge in Sobaash's voice.
"Riker here."
"Mission complete."
"Thank you. Please beam down the copy of the plans on one of their storage devices," said Riker.
A stack of small hard drives appeared.
"We will be going now," said Riker.
"How did you get it?"
"We will leave that for you to figure out. Don't worry about it." Riker tapped his com badge. "One to beam up."
-=oOo=-
"Any problems?" he asked the Queen after he returned to the bridge.
"No. The Tesseract will obey one skilled enough. I prefer not to, but it was a simple manner to allow movement to the ship, at least via a teleport. I do not think it would have acceptted your matter transmission, or that it would have worked."
"Good job. That avoids an unnecessary conflict. They will be mad at us, but they will get over it. Now let's finish this task," said Riker.
"Agreed. A battle not fought is the easiest won," said Frigga.
-=oOo=-
The king looked at both items briefly before closing their cases and directing Lady Sif and her guards to properly secure them.
"You have done well."
"Time is bought. Hopefully it is enough of it. Romana has agreed to stay to help secure these items and to do what she can to help this place prepare. When you are ready, we will return and face Thanos," said Riker.
"We shall triumph on that day," exclaimed Thor.
Loki turned to look at the crew from Falcon. He then turned back to Odin.
"Lord Odin," said Loki respectfully.
"What is it you want Loki?" asked Odin.
Loki failed to fully hide a smirk, but he was at least partially successful. "Long ago both you and my mother aided me in the creation of Laventien."
"True, it is fine weapon, but none have managed to bond it. What of it?" asked Odin.
"I wish for them to try. My guess is Ami Mizuno, Celeste Troi, or Pyrrha Nikos may succeed where others have failed."
The Queen considered them. She nodded minutely to Odin.
"Very well, in honor of delivering that which we are sworn to protect, I will allow them to try."
"I will return shortly. It grudgingly allows me to move it," said Loki.
-=oOo=-
Pyrrha drooled slightly as she examined the very ornately carved spear that was propped against the dais.
"Go on, we know you want to try," said Ami.
"But you also have need."
"I don't think a spear is my thing," said Ami.
"Or mine," added Celeste.
The redhead began to uncertainly walk towards the spear when suddenly Lady Sif said, "Hold!"
Pyrrha stopped.
"Lady Sif, you wished to dispute the outsider's right?" asked Odin.
"She has not proven herself to Asgard."
"Laventien refused all, including you at one point. Are you sure you wish to continue?" asked Odin.
"I wish to see the metal of one of these mortals. If they are to be our allies, then let them show it," said Lady Sif.
"This is sparring right? I'm not sure I'm willing to fight to the death for this spear, though I do want it," said Pyrrha.
"It is. We will use our own weapons. I assure you I do not kill, unless I intend to," said Lady Sif.
"Very well. I accept your challenge. I actually look forward of it. I have not been able to truly cut loose in awhile. I worry I'm growing soft."
"Let us adjourn to the arena," said Odin.
"Before we leave, I wish a true fight. My semblance allows me direct control over anything that responds to magnetic fields. My telekinetic ability allows me considerable control as well, and has no such limits. If you bring only metal weapons, I may have the advantage," said Pyrrha.
"Interesting. Can you take my shield and dagger from me?"
Pyrrha focused and Lady Sif shot two thirds up the way to the ceiling.
"Not it seems without breaking something, at least if your grip remains nearly that solid. Interesting. I look forward to this," said Pyrrha as she let her go.
As expected Sif landed gracefully. "As do I."
-=oOo=-
"If I pointed out you did not have to do this, would it matter?" asked Riker.
"I would of course obey your order, if you told me not to."
"Well enjoy yourself and don't get hurt beyond what Celeste or the doctor can fix?" tried Riker.
"You believe I will lose?"
"Against someone with lifetimes of combat experience?" asked Riker.
"True, but I will not do so easily. I would like, however, to beam down a music player."
"As long as the king allows it..."
They entered the arena. Pyrrha turned to the king and addressed him, once he was facing her directly, "Lord Odin."
"Speak."
"I request to play a bit of music that seems appropriate. You may of course order it stopped at any time."
"I'll allow it, though if I dislike it, I may destroy the device."
"That's fine."
Pyrrha tapped her com badge and requested a music player be brought down. A small circular device was beamed in front of her. She set it down on the side of the arena.
"Are you nearly ready?" asked Lady Sif.
"Yes, how about we begin when the music starts?"
"As you wish."
"Computer play I May Fall by Jeff Williams volume 70%" The music began to play.
There's a day when our hearts will be broken
When a shadow will cast out the light
And our eyes cry a million tears
Help won't arrive
Pyrrha launched her own spear at Sif extremely fast. She moved out of the way, but had to dodge when it turned and tried to impale her. Pyrrha retried her spear as it returned to her hand. The song continued, as the opening moves changed into an outright storm.
There's a day when all courage collapses
And our friends turn and leave us behind
Creatures of darkness will triumph
The sun won't rise
They were neck and neck, Pyrrha just managing to keep parrying Sif's short sword, which she noted was made of something dark black, but clearly non metallic.
When we've lost all hope
And succumb to fear
As the skies rain blood
And the end draws near
Pyrrha took to the sky, launching again her spear rapidly at Sif. Sif twisted, grabbed it with her off hand and through it back. Pyrrha moved sideways, exerted control over her weapon just as Sif threw a glass knife pulled from somewhere at her. She brought up her shield and just managed to parry it, while returning her sword to her and also threw the knife back and assisted it with kinetic force to strike Sif, who still managed to grab it before it hit her.
I may fall
But not like this, it won't be by your hand
I may fall
Not this place, not today
I may fall
Bring it all, it's not enough to take me down
I may fall
"We shall see," said a smiling Sif, who jumped into the sky and did her best to stab Pyrrha, who managed to parry, even as Sif got faster.
From the audience Thor noted, "Lady Pyrrha is formidable." Odin nodded absently as the song continued.
There's a place where we'll stand outnumbered
Where the wolves and the soulless will rise
In the time of our final moments
Every dream dies
Pyrrha was sweating now, and taking cuts, but she didn't give up. She worked harder.
There's a place where our shields will lay shattered
And the fear's all that's left in our hearts
Strength and our courage have run out
We fall apart
Pyrrha threw her arm down and a piece of the ceiling came down and Sif barely managed to move out of the way of the crushing weight in time.
"Limit damage to the hall," said Odin.,
"Sorry, got carried away," said Pyrrha.
"Understandable. You may use what you broke."
"Thanks." The song continued.
When we lose our faith
And forsake our friends
When the moon is gone
And we reach our end
Sif again pressed her by jumping in the air and battered her defenses in a relentless flurry of attacks. Pyrrha responded with spear, shield, and kinetic thrust to only partially avoid. She was now dripping blood.
There's a moment that changes a life when
We do something that no one else can
And the path that we've taken will lead us
One final stand
"It is the end," said Sif, as she again jumped redoubling her attack and then using the back of her sword to knock out Pyrrha who was losing focus due to blood loss. The song continued playing.
There's a moment we make a decision
Not to cower and crash to the ground
The moment we face our worst demons
Our courage found
When we stand with friends
And we won't retreat
As we stare down death
Then the taste is sweet
I may fall.
Celeste popped down and stopped the recording, before going over to Pyrrha who was being held by Sif. She took Pyrrha's hands in her own and flooded her with energy, magic, and healing. The wounds vanished before their eyes.
Pyrrha opened her eyes and with Celeste and Sif's help stood. "Thanks Celeste. Should have stopped before forcing her to end it like this. Knew I couldn't win. Could never beat her stamina, not on top of her skill, but had to at least try."
Lady Sif turned to Odin. "My lord."
"Yes Lady Sif."
"I withdraw my previous objection. For her age, she is worthy of consideration."
"Very well. Lady Pyrrha do you require additional time? The testing of the weapon will be strenuous."
"Celeste restored my strength. I can do it now."
"And are you well enough to continue young Celeste?" asked the Queen.
"Yes. There was a time when giving so much might have thrown me into a coma, but we have gotten stronger. As long as no one expects me to do more than watch, I'm fine."
The Queen nodded.
"I wish a copy of the music device. What other battle songs are on there? May I buy one?" asked Thor.
"You can have that one. I'll replicate another," said Pyrrha.
"I thank you."
-=oOo=-
Pyrrha approached Laventien. The silver rune encrusted spear was nearly the same length as her own. She set her own down.
"They say you are sentient, after a fashion, as all immortal weapons are. Therefore I shall not try to assume you are mine by right. I offer myself, my past, my future, my hopes, my dreams to you for judgment, that I may one day become worthy."
She carefully grasped the sphere even as energy from herself flowed into it. She screamed.
"Do not move. Pain is expected," said Odin.
Power continued to flow between them.
"I'm there if you want my help," offered Piper.
Pyrrha shook her head. She kept screaming as waves of power emitted from the spear clashing with Pyrrha's own. She fell to her knees but kept hold. Her hair began standing up in every direction as waves of energy swept through her.
"This is not worth your life. Remember that," said Riker.
"Some would say otherwise," said the Queen.
"I wouldn't," said Riker.
She nodded and the screaming continued.
Q appeared next to Riker. "That is a very curious weapon."
"Who are you?" asked Odin.
"I am one of the Q."
"I know of your kind. Always interfering."
"That is us, though I do mostly leave you alone. This intervention honestly had nothing to do with me. I came when Pyrrha's condition drew my attention."
"Is that thing going to kill her?" asked Riker.
"I don't know. She honestly was not truly ready for it, though she caught its interest, when no one else did."
"Your aura is rapidly depleting. If it gets much lower, I'm helping, whether you want it or not Pyrrha," said Piper.
She held on through the pain for another minute, though she at least managed to stop screaming. When Piper approached she let go.
"It seems I failed," said Pyrrha through a barely functioning set of vocal cords.
"Not quite," said Q. He then pointed at her.
The spear vanished and reappeared on Pyrrha's back.
"Can someone explain?" asked Pyrrha tiredly, even as Piper moved to hold her.
"You know I can't give you much more energy, not on top of what Celeste did. You don't have enough of your own. Ami, come help," said Piper.
"No more energy. Your right, I should have probably waited," said Piper tiredly.
Ami jumped down, her transformation falling in place as she fell. She rushed to Pyrrha and began trying to heal her. A few minutes later she stepped back. "Your at your limit. You must rest. I cannot help."
"Not surprised. Now how did it accept me?" asked Pyrrha tiredly.
"It accepted you when you put the other's health ahead of obtaining it. You didn't want to risk PIper's life too," said Queen Frigga.
"Can I um.. Bed please?" slurred out Pyrrha.
"Take her to where she may rest. There shall be a feast tonight in honor of Laventien's choosing."
"You should stay, and learn to use that properly," said Lady Sif.
"You are of course welcome to do so. Piper too, if she wishes," said Riker.
"Can we sleep on it?" asked a slightly more coherent Pyrrha.
"Of course. The time for such decisions is when you are rested," said Odin.,
Riker turned to Q. "Any suggestions beyond the plan we have in place?"
"Not really, other than don't destroy the stones. They do reform, but the action of destroying them causes harm to these universes."
Odin and Frigga's eyes widened at that statement.
"Thanks for the warning," added Riker.
"Don't ignore them. They are dangerous, and if your careless even a ship as strong as yours can be destroyed," said Q.
Riker nodded soberly. Q vanished.
-=oOo=-
Pyrrha was nursing a glass of red wine when Loki knocked on the door of the room she was sharing with PIper.
"I wished to be sure you were well."
"I'm fine. The wine is well, the wine is helping." She smiled but didn't elaborate.
Loki started to pickup another glass. "May I?" he asked.
"Feel free. That one is the one safe for humans. I assume your physiology is compatible with the alcohol in wine," said Piper.
"Very much so." He picked up a spare wine glass and carefully removed the loose cork before filling the glass nearly half way full and then taking a drink. His eyes and then head immediately turned to Piper.
"It seems you do know a few secrets. Quite remarkable. You are working around the limit that way. I am not sure you intended me to have this," said Loki.
"It likely will do you no harm, and may even do some good. Feel free to drink," said Piper.
"Our good wine is growing scarce. Well, the good wine. We can replicate any of it, but it never seems quite right. Might you have a bottle or too we could trade for?" asked Pyrrha hopefully.
"I assume you mean before Piper's addition," said Loki.
"Yes."
"I have a wine cellar of my own. I shall have a selection gifted to your captain. You, I hope will remain here for a time and take up Lady Sif's offer."
"I haven't decided, and given that I'm slightly inebriated, I'm not deciding now. As much as I love my new spear, it seriously drained me."
"You would have won that battle, if you fought Lady Sif when she was as old as you are now. She admitted that much to me," said Loki.
"There is always someone stronger, and excuses do not make you any less dead," said Pyrrha before she yawned tiredly and took another sip.
"Your other friend. Ami, has a remarkable ability. A tie to a planet not even in this dimension. It took me quite awhile to puzzle that one out," said Loki.
"We really don't know much about it, to be honest. It is just Ami's thing," said Piper, drinking a bit of her own wine.
"I think I shall leave you rest, but if you don't mind, I shall finish this glass."
"Nope. We are both going to sleep soundly. Night Loki," said Piper tiredly.
"Night," added Pyrrha, though a bit more slowly.
"Goodnight."
-=oOo=-
Loki walked down the hallways and then up several levels to a very intricate door.
"Mother, may I enter?"
The door opened. Loki walked in. Frigga was reading an old book by the fireplace.
"What brings you here my son?"
There was only a small amount of wine left in the glass. He handed it to her.
"What do you make up that?"
She looked down at it, then a trickle of energy from her hand slipped into the glass and the wine before returning.
"Who taught them that particular secret?"
"I do now know, but by what I have drank, they have been using it for quite some time. The strength that lies within..."
"Is the strength that managed to push Lady Sif. She might have possibly lost, had Pyrrha not warned her. Unlikely, but at least possible."
"Yes," agreed Loki.
"They are interesting mortals."
"Are they?"
"The line is perhaps a bit fuzzy, but yes. I assume it had to be the Q, if not that one, then another."
Q appeared.
"It was another. I was hoping they would figure it out on their own."
"That is a dangerous secret that was gifted. I trust you are caring for it," said the Queen.
Q nodded.
"Then I shall leave you to it."
"I will look for another suitable weapon to replace what was gifted. It may be awhile," said Q.
"There is no need. It was a gift," said the Queen.
"True, but there is also no harm. I do run across things that others should not have from time to time and pick them up."
"Steal you mean?"
Q shrugged. He vanished.
"Be wary of that one my son. Do not anger him. Lord Odin himself may not be a match for him."
"I am aware. It explains partly how this group has gained so much strength."
"That it does, though I suspect there is more to the story."
Loki nodded before reaching over and finishing the glass. He left carrying the empty glass.
-=oOo=-
Pyrrha decided to continue with Falcon the next day, but did ask if they could stop from time to time to spar. That request was granted. Falcon returned to Earth.
"Can anyone locate that guy with the thing in his chest?" asked Riker.
"I am getting a communications request from someone called Jarvis," said Samson.
"Really? On screen."
"It is audio only."
"Good evening sir. My name is Jarvis. I am Mr. Stark's personal assistant."
"We were actually looking for him, but first how angry is Mr. Fury?"
"Less than you might suspect, though I believe he too wishes to speak with you. Sir is sleeping. Perhaps you could talk to Mr. Fury and talk with Sir in the morning?"
"Do I have the time zone wrong?" asked Riker.
"No, Sir has been working for two days straight."
"Ah, I shall have to let my doctor lecture him."
"Please do. Do you require contact information for Mr. Fury?"
"No, your Stark's AI right?"
"I am indeed."
"Why don't you just connect us to Mr. Fury?"
"I am doing so now."
"Stark, what the hell do you want?" asked Fury. Phil sighed to the side of the bridge.
"Not Tony actually. This is Captain Riker. We finished up our near term tasks. I don't actually need to meet with you or anything, but the plan is that at a future date, we work with the Asgardians to deal with the people ultimately behind this attack. If you want to send your own representatives, then do prepare. We will be in touch."
"Wait!"
"For?" asked Riker curiously.
"We need to talk. We need help with those plans for one."
"Given what I saw of Mr. Stark's tech, I very much doubt that."
"We are not all geniuses."
Celeste shook her head slightly.
"Sorry, you have to give me a better reason than that," said Riker.
"I really was hoping you could help us so we aren't blindly at the mercy of the biggest alien on the block."
"I have to balance the risk to you and others against that, and, to be honest, we don't actually need your help. We will handle the issue."
"Our record isn't exactly that bad."
L'Nea snorted as she kept working.
"Share with the class?" asked Riker.
L'Nea manipulated her station and Fury appeared in the middle of the bridge.
"What the hell. Why am I here?" he exclaimed.
L'Nea said dryly, "Do you know your organization appears to be infested by another organization?"
"What?" exclaimed Fury.
"No need to shout. Come look at this," said L'Nea.
Riker also walked over, as Phil, and Jadzia.
"I have a wild idea. Let's not give the front organization for a terrorist organization weapons. All in favor?" asked Jadzia dryly.
Everyone raised their hand.
"This can't be real, can it?" asked Fury thoughtfully.
"What a mess," said Phil.
"Not it," said Lafiel.
Jinto laughed.
"I'll help them deal with this mess. It's probably my turn to deal with an annoying task," said Jadzia.
Riker nodded with a smile.
"I'm pretty sure I can, with your and Sobaash's help setup a transporter program to relocate all the agents by morning. I assume if we deliver them with a bow you will deal with the rest?" asked L'Nea.
"We will," said Fury.
"I have a team member named Daisy Johnson who is very good with computers," said Phil.
Jadzia brought up the information on her. "She might actually be useful. I'll see if I can track her and bring her aboard. For now Fury should probably return and not mention any of this."
"Agreed," said Riker.
Fury vanished.
"He is really going to begin to dislike you I think," said Jinto.
"I assume his whole thing was a fishing expedition for weapons, at least judging by Celeste's head shake."
"I didn't actually read him. Emotions were enough to indicate some deception, is all I was reporting. I'd have sent you detail if I had it."
"Fury is not your enemy, though he does quite like weapons," said Phil.
Riker nodded.
"Jinto and I would like to spend time running in sim mode to catch up on the new systems," said Lafiel.
"That should be fine. I think I'm going to go fishing. Anybody want to join me?" asked Riker.
"I would actually," said Samson.
"Sounds good. Let's go replicate what we need and find a good spot. Do our part, but let them clean up their mess, unless you have to get involved further," said Riker.
"Agreed. We will need most others here till we deal with the current issue, though afterward I wouldn't mind joining you," said Sobaash.
"Sounds like a plan."
Author's Note: Review, Comment, Favorite, or Kudos.