Recordkeeping: please note that there is a subtle reference tp ST:SNW and the Picard series although here, they are, and especially the Picard series only possibilities and in no way etched in stone. Please, a Merry Christmas to all and to all a wonderful New Year. God Bless.
AlbertG
A Universe of Change: By Candlelight Defiance
Chapter Twelve
Starbase Laberre
Captain Sisko stared pointedly at the others in the room as he stressed a point everyone knew. It needed repeating. "Our hand phasers are effective against an armored nymph, but not unless we fire from a distance, at full power, for a minimum of eight seconds. In battle, this is unacceptable," he all but growled, allowing his marine persona to let loose. "Head shots are ineffective. The Sinhindrea's cerebral and nervous system is distributed throughout the species' body. As we have witnessed on the Ambassador, we hit the alien at full phaser. Part of its body was disintegrated, and it still ripped Ensign Sato's arm out of its socket and threw it at one of our guards."
Commander Castillo grimaced at the memories of what had happened more than a year and a half earlier. He'd fired his phaser rifle point-blank at the creature. "I hit it full power with my phaser, and it barely felt it. Security also shot it with his rifle, and it still came after us until it died. We destroyed most of its body during the attack. I also want to remind everyone that the water from the containment cell was filled with neural toxins, at least three types, Dr. Selar and her medical group identified."
The toxins were a natural defense secreted by the Third space aliens, which paralyzed and confused their prey. Those powerful toxins secreted in the water immobilized their prey, allowing for easy capture. The group found that the toxins also were used as a weapon against others of its kind. Sinhindrea young hunted and devoured the weaker members of their species and the water toxins aided in acquiring meals. Those poisons were extremely effective against most other species.
"The Sins also telepathically seduced one of its guards. Ensign Tumar almost released it before Sato stunned him. Then it broke out of the cell and tried to kill everything in its path. It knew escape from the ship was impossible. It just wanted to kill everything in its path. That is what we are fighting."
Picard blew a breath in frustration. Everything about these aliens focused on death and destruction. Another thing that concerned him was their telepathy and how they used it in battle. Three times, they had anticipated the Enterprise's plan of attack. Their telepathy gave them a powerful advantage. "We have been investigating ways to counter their telepathy for over a year."
"We have not made much progress," he admitted, frustrated. "What we know is that during times of stress, or if our people are focused, the Sinhindrea's effects are minimized or rebuffed. If an individual is sensitive to telepathic influences, then they are more susceptible when they are alone. We know it does take time for an individual to be influenced, and not everyone is affected by their telepathy. In battle, the influence is almost null. We also know Vulcans are easier to influence than the Betazeds, and other Alpha quadrant telepathic species. Vorlons, Shadow and Earth Alliance Humans can be influenced, as we have seen."
"Isn't there any way to counter this?" Archer asked. "Do we have any ideas?"
"Our best defense is to be vigilant and support one another. I do know that in the heat of battle, their influence weakens."
T'Pol's eyebrow rose a fraction. "Perhaps an adrenaline-based medication might be effective on the more sensitive among us to combat these aliens." She didn't like the idea of being psychically controlled by these creatures or anyone else.
"We thought of that as an approach," Garrett said. "It wasn't a viable solution. We're still working on it. They refuse to communicate with us and they're responsible for destroying thousands of worlds and countless lifeforms. They are worse than the Borg, according to our data files. Their thought processes are so different, we can't establish any type of dialogue with them unless we die or die screaming. If we did establish a dialogue, we couldn't dare trust them to keep their word. They don't care as long as we die. We will have to rely on our weapons and their stopping power to get us through this, that is, until we find a viable solution. It appalls me to say this, but this is a war of survival, a species war we cannot avoid and dare not lose."
The captain of the Ambassador hated making such a pronouncement it went against everything she believed in. The mere fact that she said it reminded her how much she had changed since coming here. To her dismay, Rachel knew she had absolutely no compassion for these aliens, and she mourned that part of her soul which had hardened so much. "In my time, our standard hand weapons were more powerful."
"I've studied the Ambassador's hand weapons and you are right. They are more powerful than some of the current weapons we possess. Ours don't have the stopping power needed for close-range combat," Benjamin continued. "They were good enough to defend ourselves against the Klingons. However, our weapons weren't upgraded by Starfleet Command and the Federation when they could have, because they didn't want us to appear too aggressive. And this happened during a twenty-two-year war with the klingons. The older style weapons on the Ambassador, when compared to Enterprise's, are more effective."
Rachel Garrett's face sagged. The woman was angry. She never wanted her ship to have hand weapons powerful enough to penetrate several decks of her ship., her standard defensive hand-weapons weren't going to cut it. If there was another internal assault, she could easily lose the ship. During the Babylon attack, an Earthforce capital warship was overrun by the aliens and their weapons were all but useless in stopping the Sinhindrea. Her ship's weapons and even internal shields wouldn't be effective in stopping those armored tanks. Her crew would have to drain a type Two phaser to slow the creature down. Even then, the old type two had more stopping power than Picard's unmodified hand weapons. A phaser type one against one of the Sinhindrea? Forget it.
The experience onboard the Ambassador and the nightmare that occurred on the Earthforce ship was sufficient to authorize the newer weapons to be added to her ship's armory. As Captain, the safety of her crew and ship came first. No mercy from these genocidal aliens who chose not to talk to lesser beings they considered little more than food or wastes of flesh. But so far, she resisted having the crew carry personal weapons like the crew of the Enterprise during normal missions. Rachel would decide soon once the war began in earnest. And she did not want to wait too late. It was a bitter lesson, one well learned. She intended to walk a tightrope, and not fall over into the abyss.
"When Voyager arrived, we saw and evaluated their weapons and made a transition." Sisko noted. "We are better equipped to handle the Sins both defensively and offensively. We also have antidotes to the toxins."
"I am appalled that we have come to this," Rachel said coldly. "But I confess that I'm not as upset as I expected to be," she added. "Remember that conversation you and I had three years ago?" She smiled mischievously at Ben, who stared back at her with a knowing glance. He knew where she was going with this. "And that brings to mind other questions," she continued. "I've discussed this with the other captains, Captain Archer. I understand the reasoning of the Federation stressing our mission as primarily a peacekeeping organization rather than a purely military force."
Sisko jumped in. This was a point of suspicion, but ultimately, the three captains were confused about the events that had created such a disaster in Picard and Sisko's timeline. 'I understand what they were aspiring to be. "What I don't understand is why Starfleet Command, in our timeline, followed those directives to such an extreme. When we needed an armada, we fell flat on our faces. In Voyager's timeline, there was no Klingon war, but they did have the Borg incursion and the Dominion war, and other conflicts. The policies changed and their weapons system improved throughout their Cylon war. When we look at my timeline, all I see is procrastination by the Federation, and Starfleet sitting on their hands, crippling us in the process. Enterprise-D was our most advanced ship and Starfleet fought against incorporating its weapons systems. The official reason was that the installation of the new phaser strips sent the wrong message to the other members of the Federation. In retrospect, I am surprised that any of the Galaxy-class vessels were built. As it was, there were only three built. By that time, it was too late. Why was our Starfleet so different? If I were looking at this from the outside, I would believe this was some type of conspiracy."
Picard lifted his hand and spoke. "In Janeway's timeline, this change happened over a period of decades. The Prime Directive slowly extended itself over all aspects of Starfleet. New rules were added, and those additions moved Starfleet away from the defensive armada to a peacekeeping force designed to project as non-threatening posture as possible. I saw the phaser weapons used before the Cylon conflict. Like ours, their hand phasers looked as non-threatening as possible. They looked more like tricorders, or all-purpose tools rather than actual weapons. Their stopping power was reduced. Their power packs were smaller and stored less energy. The ship's main weapons were slowly becoming more defensive in nature. It took two incursions for them to begin to realize the direction they were going was not a viable solution for the Federation. What really changed their perspective was the discovery and subsequent invasion of the Borg. This attitude that pervaded our Federation effectively gutted Starfleet's ability to defend itself against the klingons. It was one of the causes of our inadequate defense against the Klingons."
"We had twenty-two years of war. If not for that conflict, we might have gone in the same direction," Captain Sisko added.
Garret huffed as a fresh wave of irritation overtook her. "The defensive weapons issued in the Ambassador's time was the beginning of this more defensive approach. Our weapons were redesigned to appear as non-threatening as possible, their stopping power designed to use the minimum amount of force necessary. We weren't issued the new weapons yet, but they were coming when we went for our refit, and I would have agreed to the change. It fit perfectly into the Federation's peace-oriented mandate. That was the start of our de-militarization. The Federation also decided to limit the numbers of military vessels built per year. We didn't want to look threatening to our neighbors. I understood the reasoning, just as I understood the reasoning for the use of the amount of red used in our uniform." Now she shivered at that logic of being in a non-threating Starfleet uniform. It just made them better targets, and that habit is hard to kill. "We still wear too much red. My weapons' power packs were lessened under the pretense that the weapon would be used more judiciously. Complete disintegration required the user to change the weapon's settings' configuration manually after seven shots. The hand weapons defaulted to the stun setting."
"Before the war, our timeline was similar," Picard added. "A lot of MACOs and Federation marines died during the early days of the war. The phaser rifle had several functions, and worked satisfactorily, but was ill-designed and bulky. The rifle had power to spare, but like its smaller relative, it required lethal settings to be configured manually. It also looked more like a tool. something that aggravated the military to no end. They barely looked like weapons, which I assumed was the point. Many of the other nations used disruptors instead of phasers. As we all know, the nadion particles, which are the basis of phased energy, can stun, heat, act as a wielder, burn and tunnel through solid rock, not to mention being an effective weapon." His smile was grim. "It was in keeping with the Federation's mandate."
"Hand phasers issued to our troops should be weapons of war, not all-purpose tools, to keep from upsetting others. How many of our people died in those early days? We had to modify our own weapons to make them more effective." The man looked furious. "The Federation did not approve and tried to stop us. It didn't work. My marines fought klingons and needed stopping power," he said coldly. "Starfleet hemmed and procrastinated until it was too late to give us what we needed to make a difference."
"In terms of weapons and starship design, the approach in Voyager's timeline was identical. That was until their Picard stopped some sort of conspiracy within the upper levels of Starfleet Command. Several senior command officers died and Voyager's data records about the incident were classified, but some other historical records gave our researchers clues about what happened. We think it had something to do with the Imperixe incursion in their timeline."
Archer's head snapped up. "I can shed some light on the Imperixe, and what happened during the other Captain Picard's situation. The temporal computer has that data, and I will share that with you after our meeting," he told them. "Our parent timeline is similar, but all of that changed during the Picard incident at Starfleet command. I will go into detail after Captain Sisko finishes."
"I am sure we all look forward to hearing about that. We need to know?" He paused for a second before continuing. "Because of the war with the enhanced Cylon Imperium. It was then that they really began developing real hand weapons. When the cylon war started, Starfleet R&D went back to the drawing board. They needed to counter the refractive and highly resistant metallic alloys used by the T'kon that were the makeup of the robotic entities. Although the T'kon Empire was extinct, destroyed by a supernova, some of their outposts survived. One outpost turned the Cylons from a joke to a galactic-class threat. Starfleet had to step up," and he was very thankful that Janeway passed those technologies, samples, and schematics to his people. "We have something that can place us on an equal footing. We could have used them in our fight with the Klingons."
"Not to mention, we have Wesley's advances that I am still working on," Lieutenant LaForge added. "The first prototypes look particularly good. We can replicate a few before Storm Bringer leaves."
"We'll have the opportunity to test a few of them, but I don't intend to rely on them when we go to war, not until they are fully vetted. We will take twenty of the M-46 and heavy M-48 tanks we built using Voyager's database. Captain Archer, those are multiphasic shielded land and sea capable armored tanks. Both use standard mini-photon torpedo launchers as the main armament. There are differences which I will explain," Sisko told everyone.
"The M-46s has twin turret photon launchers as their main guns. Three micro-torpedoes per second for eight seconds before reloading. You do not want to be anywhere near the target area where they are firing. Short ranged offensive fire, twin pulse phaser forward cannons. Two light phaser turrets for defensive close in contacts. Shields are huggers and can extend to a half kilometer to protect surrounding allied troops as necessary. All weapons and defensive systems are auto tracking and can be switched to manual control as necessary. Each tank can track up to eighteen individual targets, personnel, or anti-armored vehicles. The M-48's has one main micro-photon torpedo launcher cannon, and twin gravitic-warp accelerated tritanium-neutronium coated shell launchers. It's in a twenty-fifth century equivalent of a rail cannon. Two rounds per second from each cannon. They are designed as brute force shield breakers, primarily used to break and destroy shielded armor. The M-46's has standard multi-layered tritanium armor plating in addition to the shield huggers. The forty-eights have ablative regenerative plating similar to our capital ships. Cruising speed, one hundred-thirty kilometers per hour. These are our heavy hitters. We also will have ten Cobras fitted for ground assault and defenses in support of the armor and marines. This will control battle space within our targeted area. Full comms is integrated with the heavy armor and armored transports, and the Cobras, along with ground units.
The Bozeman crew was shocked by what they were hearing.
"My God," Tucker whispered.
"In my old timeline, pulse phaser and updated rail gun technology were already in the theoretical development stages," Picard told them. "But our Starfleet's resistance to even research, or access to Memory Alpha, crippled us, and we never fully knew why."
Sisko knowingly looked at Archer. "Now we do."
"I'm just sorry we have to develop such weapons," Commander Castillo said.
"I'm glad we have," a deadly serious Ben answered. "We all want peace, but we have to fight for it. We must never forget this while clanging to our values. Everyone, we are in the Wild West here. We want peace," he repeated. "But we are only half-civilized. We must remember this at this time and in this place.
"True," Archer conceded. His innocence was lost during his first year exploring the galaxy. He mourned that loss but embraced the harsh reality. It was dangerous out here.
Another Universe -Thirteen years in the future
Starfleet Command
Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Admiral and Special Envoy Benjamin Sisko and six other senior Admirals found themselves in the Command conference room in San Francisco, Earth, seated with their favorite beverage in front of them.
Admiral Picard was at his home in France on a well-deserved vacation before he was to return to training senior officers for their first captaincy. We lost hundreds of senior officers during the last war and Starfleet was still rebuilding both ships and crews. Captain Riker and Admiral Picard were given the responsibility of preparing a new generation of captains. Exploration was still a priority, but combat experience was becoming an important addition. Recent experience taught the federation a bitter lesson, and they were paying close attention.
Admiral Janeway was preparing her new ship for a long journey to the edge of Imperixe territory. Their constant skirmishes with fringe elements of Sinhindrea were something to be closely watched. The Sinhindrea were still tens of thousands of light years away, but they were coming and coming in force. Janeway's task force was preparing to evaluate the threat of both the Imperixe and the Sinhindrea. The Imperixe were losing and attempting to retreat into nearby and federation and Klingon controlled star systems and that could not be allowed, under any circumstances. Nevertheless, the price was high. Imperixe control territories lost to the Sinhindrea, those worlds didn't have a chance, and the Federation didn't yet have the resources to help them. Using their form of FTL, the main Sin fleets were still about thirty years away from the Federation, Dominion, or Klingon territory. The Free-Borg were in contact with the budding alliance. Even the Borg were preparing for the war to come. Other governments were cautiously observing everyone.
Admiral and Special Envoy Ben Sisko was at Bajor with his wife and family. His son, Jake, was recently married, and they were celebrating the wedding. He was also helping prepare Bajor for the war to come. The prophets were warning him, in their own Strange, nebulous way, that Bajor was in danger. Talks with Cardassian were slow but proceeding. Everyone knew what was coming, and the Cardies didn't want to be left alone.
So, it was a surprise for all of them finding themselves seated at Starfleet command. The characteristic flash of like as they appeared was unmistakable.
"Q!" all three of the officers said in unison.
Their words were the same, but their response was radically different.
Picard hadn't had any contact with his irritant for nearly a decade and a half, but for him it might as well had been yesterday, judging from his instinctual reaction. "What are you doing?" The man was angry at being summoned.
Q just looked at him. He couldn't help but smirk, but the amusement didn't quite reach his eyes. Normally he would enjoy this moment of nostalgia, but that joy at seeing Picard fume didn't quite overcome the seriousness of the moment. It took a few moments for the irate man to notice.
Kathryn looked almost as happy as she was irritated at seeing the pest. However, she immediately felt the intensity of his presence and the fact that the Starfleet command staff were present caused her to sit down.
"Q, what happened?" she asked.
Ben Sisko just sat and stared at the entity. He could feel it. Something was wrong.
"Mon Admiral, it's wonderful to see you again," he beamed. "Long time, no see. Getting a bit long on the tooth, eh?"
"Q! What do you want?" Jean-Luc yelled, completely ignoring his fellow officers.
Kathryn glared at the man, silently ordering him to calm down. Even a two-year-old could see that something was wrong. Q would never do this unless there was something serious about to occur. "Q, what's the problem"
"Kate, does it always have to be a problem if I come by to visit?" he asked while staring at her as innocently as he could muster.
"There's something wrong," she said, "or we wouldn't be here."
"Okay, I know, I know. I never come. I never visit anymore. By the way, Junior says hello."
"Q, what is happening?" asked a calmer Picard. "What has happened to make you come here?"
"Ah, you know me too well," he lamented. "Normally I would give you details about a small dilemma starting at the beginning of the universe, but we don't have the time, or rather, you don't have the time." A chill went down everyone's time. Long experience had proven that visits by Q were never to be dismissed. "However," he smiled, "before we continue, there is someone I would like you to meet. Just like your Federation," he groaned, "There are certain directives that the higher race such as the Metrons, and Organians must adhere to," he said. "They are not like the Q who are above such petty rules and regulations, but I digress. They don't interfere with you lessor beings… unless it affects everyone. Kate, remember the Vorlons?"
She shook her head. "How could I forget? What, are they coming here?"
"No, don't worry about them. They couldn't find their way out of a wet paper bag. Don't worry about the Shadows, either. This problem has to do with the Temporal Cold War."
One of the officers, an Andorian, Admiral Zonar interrupted. "We were told that the war was over.
"It is, in a manner of speaking. But you have a tiny glimmer about temporal dynamics. When it comes to time, is there any such thing as a time war really being over?" he sighed. "Mortals. Yes, the time war is over. The ripple effect is still occurring and there are forces cleaning up the mess. This is where your Federation comes in." he turned to his left and another figure appeared. "I would like to introduce you to John."
The officers turned to stare at the newcomer. The entity's demeanor was completely different from Q. Instead of having Q's haughty appearance, he dressed in light-colored, casual clothing, not the Starfleet Chief-of-Staff uniform favored by the pest. He looked human, and his face reminded them more of a kindly uncle, rather than someone who considered them pitiful life forms who had just discovered the existence of fire.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen," he said. His voice was pleasant and non-threatening and seemed to relax the people staring at him with some trepidation. He may have looked non-threatening, but everyone's experience with Q kept them on guard. "It is wonderful to meet you for the first time in an official capacity. So, please allow me to explain, since my associate here seems to have an allergy to such things."
"Be careful how you speak to your elders," Q grumbled, but without any real venom.
John just smiled, ignoring him. "Thirteen years ago, by your reckoning of time, Captain Janeway and Voyager were given your first official contact with the Preservers. Although you are a young species and organizations, they felt comfortable enough to allow you to use one of their travel ways to travel from where you were to return here in an official capacity curtesy of Q's suggestion. The Preservers wish to introduce you to the wider universe slowly over a period of fifteen hundred to two thousand years. By that time, you will be ready to interact with the wider universe." Q merely huffed, which Picard responded. Q gave him a dirty look. John ignored them both.
"For your convenience, I am called Jon and my species is called the Delfray. I am an official representative of a group of races such as the Metrons, Organians, Medusans, and others you have yet to meet. We are the Coalition of Elders and consider this our first official contact with the United Federation of Planets. Like your Federation, we have rules and regulations and a non-interference policy very similar to your General Order One. We do not interfere with other races to keep from interfering with the natural progression of the younger species. However, these can be described as more of a series of guidelines rather than rules."
"Sound familiar?" muttered Q.
"We do not interfere unless the need is so great that we must intervene to protect those under our charges. This is where the Coalition comes in. We, and I mean specifically my people-the Delfray have asked the Colonial Republic to perform a mission in the universe that your counterparts are located. Please note that I did not say they were trapped. And we, the coalition, continue to observe them. However, the temporal ripples have initiated certain changes that I have asked President Adama to address, and it is critical that he do so. His mission is very specific, and the Galactica will not interfere with the Sinhindrea conflict. Their mission is to prevent a wider conflict before it begins. Adama has agreed to do so."
"President Adama is effectively retired," Admiral Reginald Tapin said. "His health is failing, and he may not be up to this mission.
"We have taken care of that," John said. "With his permission, of course. He wasn't pleased, but this was our gift to him," John told them without n.
Q jumped in. John merely rolled his eyes. "Consider this the very first official contact with the Coalition. These contacts will occur over a period of the next few centuries as the Federation, if it survives, continues to mature." He sighed almost as in defeat. "For some reason, I don't know why," he lied, "I'm here to warn you that your preparation time for preparing for the Sinhindrea has been curtailed. The Sinhindrea have discovered a functional gravitational construct, a type of natural navigational black hole, which will allow them to reach the heart of the Alpha Quadrant much sooner than expected. Seven years, to be exact, not thirty. When they create this anomaly, subspace will be ripped apart and the resulting detonation will destroy dozens of planets in your area of space, gutting several dozens of the Federation's most populated star systems. The Sinhindrea will pour through this aperture and destroy everything. Kate, the ships you've seen are nothing compared to the really big ships waiting to come through. Those ships are system killers and you better be ready. My dear Kate, the Vorlon and Shadows hatred of you is nothing compared the Sinhindrea's fury. They hate you with a passion that even impresses me," Q told her, but was really addressing everyone in the room.
"They really fear you, and they have dreams of consuming the Federation with dedication." He stared at all of the Starfleet officers. "I wouldn't let them. If you believe the Borg were bad, wait until they come calling. I told you. It's dangerous out here. There are terrors waiting to consume you. Little Federation bipeds, I introduced you to the Borg to pull you away from the path you were travelling. And it worked. If you want peace, then you have to fight for it. I am telling this information and giving you the coordinates of the opening as the price for the mission I want you to undertake for me. And no, Jean-Luc, I'm not asking you to go. I expect the Federation to make this mission happen. You have one year to prepare a care package for your counterparts. That is the price for this information."
Admiral Janeway turned to him. "Q, can't you stop this invasion? You have the power to do it."
He nodded. "I have the power, but I won't. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to. There are certain static points, events in time that must happen. If we interfere, things will turn out far worse. What will happen, must happen? Your knowledge of the temporal cold war taught you that. You've created the Temporal Prime Directive for a reason, and I approve. But just because certain things must happen, doesn't mean that you can't be forewarned. You can change the conditions of what must happen. The timeline has been damaged and even we can only do so much. That is why you are being warned. I would be somewhat upset if you all wind up as sushi."
The very upset people in the room had several thousand questions, but before they could start, John lifted this hand to quiet them.
John stepped forward. His face was steel. "As an official spokesperson for the Coalition of Elders, I now stand and speak to the heads of the Federation, the Klingon Empire, the Colonial Republic, the Romulan Remnant, the Dominion, the Borg both the free and the Collective, and others." He was glowing with power. "I warn you to prepare for war. Stop fighting with each other. The Sinhindrea are coming for you all. To the Dominion, the enemy is Chaos, and they will destroy you and your people if you do not prepare. This enemy will not hesitate to use biogenic weapons to destroy you, Beware. To the Gorn, if you do not control the Knash faction, no one will aid you in your time of need. To species 8472. They will find fluidic space. It is vast, but they will find and destroy you. To the Borg. You are well aware of their threat. Without aid from allies, resistance is futile. The only perfection you will achieve is death. To the Tholians…"
The Federation listened in rapt attention as they listened to the Delfray speak to the different factions, warning them of the horrors to come and what would happen if they didn't try to come together.
"Q?"
The entity turned towards Picard. "He is speaking to all of the governments in this area of space. The First Federation is about to become involved big time. What you are hearing are only glimpses of individual conversations throughout this galaxy. If you survive, it will be the very first step towards a galactic alliance that may happen in the next two thousand years, give, or take."
"But the Borg cannot be trusted," Picard insisted.
"No, they can't. Not as they are now," Q confirmed. "But things and times change. The Borg queen has interesting times ahead. And Jean-Luc, I have a small project for you. I promise you that you will find it interesting."
"Q!"
"Q who?" he smiled. "I will return soon, mona mi. I will discuss the details with you all."
Smiling, he snapped his finger, and nothing happened. Perplex, he shrugged once and snapped his finger once more and disappeared in a characteristic flash of light.
"What was that about?" Janeway asked an equally confused Picard.
Federation Station LaBerre
Garrett felt's mind was whirling now and the more she thought about it, the less she liked it. "Captain Sisko, it wasn't just the lack of weapon development. You told me that your Federation doubt properly respond to the Klingon threat. I believe there was a reason for that. What happened to you in your timeline wasn't a coincidence. It was a deliberate act."
"Agreed," Jon said. "I alluded to this earlier, but I never went into detail until I had a chance to do more research using the temporal computer. In that other timeline. Then-Captain Picard, your counterpart, and Commander William Riker," and here, his voiced softened in respect, and nodded towards a somewhat stoneface Picard, "Unknown to the Federation, Starfleet was infiltrated and compromised but an invasive alien species that penetrated and lived inside hosts, in this case, Starfleet command personnel. They took over their hosts completely. Picard and the crew of his Enterprise were made aware of a possible conspiracy in Starfleet which turned out to be true. They attempted to take over the ship's doctor, Beverly Crusher. The attempted takeover failed and, to make a long story shorter, that Picard and Riker killed the heads of Starfleet Command. Those admirals and officers were compromised by an unknown species. They didn't know where the Ciona Imperixe were located.
"Their territory is as big as the Federation of your time. Their physiology is varied, and Fed research is still unsure if it is just one species or several. They did know that one of their species had completely consumed an officer and, other than slight memory loss by the host, was wearing his body like a suit, and no one noticed. The others were smaller and wrapped themselves around the base of the neck with only a small blue colored breathing gill extended for breathing."
The look of the others listening told him that they were already putting the pieces together. Too many events, acts of incompetence, and complete disregard of basic combat tactics had ruined any true defense Starfleet could have established against the Klingons. Much of what Archer told them fit too well. Captains Picard and Sisko, and the others took everything in. The lack of vital supplies going to where needed, the lack of better equipped starships on the front lines, command officers placing their ships in harm's way for no reason, overall Federation foot-dragging, all seemed to fit. "They weakened Starfleet just enough so that conquering the Federation would proceed. But the aliens wanted the war to continue without real organized resistance by a weakened foe. The war lasted twenty-two years, long enough to cripple both friend and foe.
It wasn't the Romulans they had to worry about, both Picard and Sisko ruefully acknowledged. The Klingons likely suffered the same infiltration tactics, allowing for a protracted conflict. With both sides so badly weakened, they were ripe for conquest.
Picard's face went blank as he struggled to control his rage.
Captain Sisko looked as angry as anyone had ever seen him. "That's why Betazed was destroyed. Those aliens didn't want the telepaths to sense them and reveal their presence. It fits."
"I will transfer the data to you after this meeting is over. However, I suspect these aliens to be the culprit of not only your war, but the lack of a proper response by Starfleet against the Klingon threat. Those creatures play a long game of infiltration and conquest. That Picard discovered the danger in time. In your timeline, they weren't found out. That is why your Fed officers seemed so incompetent, making ill-advised decisions and dragging their feet on vitally needed resources. Those creatures are parasites and have destroyed dozens of worlds. In that timeline, the Federation and Klingon empire were next on their list. According to the temporal device, in Janeway's time, the Federation is allowing the Imperixe to remain a buffer for the Sinhindrea." He looked disgusted at the very idea, but he also understood the reasoning. "They can't fight two major wars at the same time. The Sinhindrea have a major disadvantage. Their FTL is limited, and it will take a couple of decades before they come into direct contact with the Feds and Alpha quadrant. The Feds will use that time to finish this current war and prepare for that nightmare."
"The Sinhindrea may be slow moving, but they are alike an irresistible wave of destruction, and they are coming. The Federation-Sinhindrea wars are kin to nightmares. Everyone was involved fighting them, even the Borg, and it brought about the creation of the Galactic Federation some five hundred years into their future. I'm surprised that the alliance happened so quickly. When you think about it, that was a very short time period."
"I am sure that I can speak for everyone when I say that I look forward to reading your reports, Captain Archer," said a very sober Picard. But for the here and now, Captain Sisko, do we have any smaller hand weapons , pistols as it were, that may be useful if our defense against the Sinhindrea?"
Ben's smile sent a chill down everyone's spine. "Yes. The Colonials and Federation developed a pulse phased weapon, based on the Colonial's original laser weapon design, that at its core uses a tyllium core the size of a grain of sand. The crystalized tyllium is an energized mineral very similar to element quantium-40, but without the radioactive toxicity. The phased energy, when combined with the tyllium, will tear through Cylon armor as if it were aluminum foil. Our new replicators can reproduce this mineral and our tests indicate that it will tear armored Sinhindrea apart faster than one of our heavy phaser rifles. It is the latest version of a Desert Eagle XXL, designed for stopping power, not stun."
Tucker was curious. "Obviously, it's not a beam weapon or a slug thrower of some type but a fusion of both?"
"It's an older technology," Sisko explained. "About a hundred years ago, a little before photon torpedoes became the standard, starships used, explosive nadion-based phaser torpedoes. Those torpedoes were phased energy pulses that could be configured to explode either on contact or in proximity. They weren't as powerful as the plasma torpedoes, but they were very efficient and the flexibility of the nadion made them perfect for the use unlike the disruptors which could destroy but couldn't be configured with such ease. James T Kirk and his Enterprise used it on a Romulan warship, effectively crippling the ship. The photon torpedo became easier to produce and were produced in vast quantities and became the de facto standard for starship defense due to its superior range and destructive capability. But for a pistol such as the Desert Egal XXL, which fires three rounds per shot, it works just fine."
TBC
Note: To some readers, some of the ewapons being mentioned both here and in the previous Allies in Blood, seem to be 'wanked out'. I will prefer to call hem equalizers to balance out the Sinhindrea weapons currently being used.
Note 2:There is a 13 year difference between the original timeline between Admiral Picard and Captain Picard. It is a temporal difference that will be corrected when the time comes. Ash's Boomstick, one of the co-authors made an interesting observation which I have taken to heart. You may find the whole thing interesting. Take care.
AlbertG