How about another fanfic (Manifest Destiny)

[Mark S]

Hello everyone. I've been a long time fan of the site and have been following the board since it started. I never really had the inclination to post but since I've seen a couple of stories come along I figured I'd throw this one in. It's been a while since I worked on it but there's enough to last a while if it's liked. Anyway...

Manifest Destiny

By Mark Shantz


Captain LeFay sat aboard the USS Flurry looking at, in his opinion, one of the most beautiful displays in the galaxy. On the large screen at the head of the bridge, plumes of lightning jousted back and forth, illuminating the colors of the dense nebula they had been sent to study. It was nice to get back to the finer things in life now that the Dominion War was over.
LeFay was a lot like his ship in some respects. They both were starting to show their age and they were both definitely built for science, not war. It had been a trying time for everyone aboard the Flurry when the call had come in to scrub all current missions and report to Earth for refitting and redeployment. His people weren't soldiers and they certainly hadn't signed on for that kind of duty. But they were StarFleet and every once in a while you had to pay for all the privileges that entailed.
These were calmer, happier times though. The ship and her crew had seen the end of the war in relatively one piece and now they were back to their old routine; following hot on the heels on the Federations flag ship herself.
"Studies are now complete on the class seven nebula, Sir," LeFay's exec, one Commander Diana Parsons, stated from the chair at his right. Adding with a wry smile, "Another ‘Gaseous Anomaly' bites the dust, Sir."
The analytical practices of Picard's science staff were somewhat of a joke throughout the Starfleet science community. Any remotely unusual phenomenon was labeled either a gaseous or spatial anomaly and promptly handed off to headquarters for further investigation. As a result, there was always one science vessel or another in the plasma trail of the Enterprise, finishing analysis that sometimes only took a matter of hours. It was beyond LeFay and his colleagues as to what Picard's hurry was but many a ship and crew had filled their commissions doing little else.
To give the Enterprise credit, they had made their share of extremely detailed discoveries. However, those only seemed to occur when the phenomenon in question was putting the ship in some direct and massive danger.
"Who's next in the hopper Di?" the Flurry's captain asked, taking one last look at the cosmic light show.
"Spatial anomaly this time, Sir! Looking at the initial report I'd say it was a dying black hole."
"Well, that will be quite a thing to see. Who says there isn't a God? Lay in a course and inform astrophysics. I'll be in my office looking at the nebula reports." LeFay rose as he gave the orders and nodded to his first before heading for his ever growing file of paper work.
Yes. Back to the old routine. No killing, no destruction, no exploding conduits, no screaming ensigns, no more letters to bereaved families. Just exploration and discovery. He had thought about taking an early retirement after the war but decided against it. The only thing that seemed to take the image of the Ulysses colliding with the Montezuma out of his brain was to fill it with as much work as he could.
Hours sped by at warp speed as the captain of the science vessel Flurry immersed himself in the more tedious part of his job. He had no idea what time had passed when he was summoned back to the bridge. Time didn't matter.
"I was right, Sir," Parsons greeted as she relinquished the command chair. "It's a pretty dense one but it's a black hole in it's final stages. We're just catching the last few gasps from a safe distance."
"Well, we're lucky we got here when we did." Lefay scanned the preliminary reports coming in from the ship's various departments. Something caught his attention.
"Take a look at the gravity fields that thing's producing. Amazing isn't it? And did you notice the wave front coming in from one two six mark five." The captain was in his element and everyone on the bridge could see it. In fact, they could all practically feel the energy building in his small, boney frame.
The Commander scanned the data tables and charts on her screen again and zoomed the main viewer to one two six mark five. Nothing appeared but twinkling stars. "Mr. Tang, see if the computer can't extrapolate anything about the spatial distortion at these coordinates."
Within seconds the area in question became a carnival of display colors. A cluster of irregularly shaped, extremely dense masses hurtling towards the black hole appeared in blue, their gravity well became a green "shelf" surrounding the group, and the gravity wave produced by their motion, a series of green lines. The cluster would reach the event horizon in 33 seconds
"Dark matter." The words came from around the bridge. Some places matter-of-factly, some with a burst of comprehension, and one with awe.
"Nick, drop another long range probe, this position. Cha'Ri'Na, take us back. As fast as you can get this tub to go please." The captain's calm orders translated into a furious wave of finger motion at the helm and the ship spun on it's axis and darted away at warp 8.
Through the probe they all watched as the dying giant spewed forth increasing amounts of radiation and the dark matter sped into it's mouth. With a flash, the feed from the probe went blank and the computer cut to their own long range sensors. Again, the screen would relinquish nothing but stars.
"Take us in again. Warp five. I want a full sensor sweep as we go." LeFay's tone was even as he stood. The emotion was all in his eyes.
Information started streaming through the sensor array immediately. The Flurry passed it's original position with no trace of the probe and continued on, heading for ground zero.
Confusion touched Commander Parsons' voice as she analyzed the data flow. "Sir, the black hole is gone but we're still reading gravametric activity at the point of collapse. Our warp field is reacting with... distorting the area as we approach."
In Parsons' confusion, enlightenment dawned on the captain of the Flurry. "All stop."
The starship came to a halt 100,000 kilometers from where the black hole's event horizon had once been. In an instant, the space before the ship was flooded with tachyons and a brilliant blue vortex grew from a single point to fill their view screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen," LeFay made the address to all hands on the ship. "We have just witnessed, and perhaps inadvertently been a part of, the birth of what appears to be a stable wormhole. I hope you like the scenery because we're going to be in the area for quite awhile I think."



Two thousand five hundred years ago the Old Republic had charted and catalogued the Rodoeen system and scheduled it for detailed analysis. Twenty five hundred years later, give or take a century, the New Republic had finally gotten around to assigning the mission. True, there had been a number of religious and civil wars in that time, not to mention the Old Republics legendary red tape, but those facts didn't stop the three man crew of the Star Manx from laying bets as to whether the system held some vast and mysterious secret to the universe that would have saved millions of lives or made everybody one with the Force. The ship's captain, Link Tondon, had been around long enough to know that probably wasn't the case.
The four planet system had nothing particularly interesting going for it. Three dead rocks and a gas ball orbiting a dull red star. Preliminary scans and subsequent sample analysis had shown indications of some valuable ores in two of the rocks but no tabanna or anything else notable in the gas giant. Nothing in the system supported life or ever had. All in all, it had been a pretty lazy mission.
A small light flashing from a console accompanied by a dull buzz pulled the captains eyes from the stars to his Rodian crew member. It did not, however, wake the pudgy human asleep at the back of the cabin. Teller was the biologist, he just did the animate stuff.
"What's up Cheena?" Link stood to see over the alien's shoulder.
A few seconds of reading passed before Cheena replied. "Looks like a wormhole opening two light years out of the system." How she managed to produce galactic common speech with that proboscis was always a mystery to him.
"I guess the Force is with us after all. Maybe we can catch it before it collapses." He was back in his seat and leaving Rodoeen 2's orbit before he finished talking.
Meanwhile, the Rodian physicist was turning to her other companion, upper ears swivelling with mirth. "He looks so cute. Wake up little one or you'll miss all the fun."
"Huh, what?" Teller came awake in a daze.
Link chuckled. "We're trying to catch a wormhole before it collapses. Thought you might not want to miss the most exciting part of the mission."
"See," Teller relied. "This is why I sleep up here. No telling when the actions going to come."
In moments the Star Manx came out of hyperspace at the gapping maw of the space-time conduit. The ship's senors recorded everything that happened and the crew waited with baited breath for the inevitable.
"It doesn't seem to be closing." Teller's statement was as much a question to the physicist.
"<I don't understand>," Cheena had reverted back to her Rodian language in excitement. "Our arrival should have caused it to collapse. Someone must be keeping it open on the other side. Or it's stable, but I doubt that."
At that moment the Manx gave another alert. Within seconds something appeared from the vortex, streaking straight for them.
"Holy shit balls!" Link raised the shields with mere seconds to spare before the vessels collided head on. The object broke up first and then exploded with a flash of antimatter, rocking the small survey vessel and it's three crew members.
"Was that a missile?! Did someone just shoot at us from the other side?!" Cheena, who had never even seen a blaster in real life, was beside herself.
"I don't know," Link replied. "But I'm not waiting around to see if they send another one!"
"It can't be," Teller said, scanning the shield display. "These shields would never stand up to even a concussion missile. They're designed for space debris and stuff like that."
By that time the ship was safely in hyperspace and the discussion was moot.


Back aboard the Flurry, captain LeFay was concerned. The first probe they had sent through was now ten minutes over due. If the follow up didn't return it would not bode well in the eyes of the war weary Federation. It did return, thankfully, and there were many sighs of relief. Until the data that the probe contained was analyzed that is. The first probe had been destroyed and there was no trace of the culprit nor any trace of life in the surrounding systems. As well, none of the stars matched anything on the charts. Where ever the other side of that tunnel was, it wasn't in the Milky Way.
Within hours of filing his report with Starfleet, however, the problem was no longer LeFay's to be concerned about. Three Defiant class ships decloaked before the Flurry armed with bad attitudes and orders from the admiralty. The logs from the science vessel were down loaded and then summarily erased and each crew member was debriefed and informed that any discussion of the events or the wormhole would result in immediate incarceration on the penal colony of their choosing. The area was labeled as a warp damaged hazard and quarantined from public travel.
To Captain Boughmont and his two colleagues time was of the essence. With all that had happened with the last wormhole it was hard not to jump the gun, so to speak. Whatever was on the other side of that thing, be they peaceful or not, would not be allowed to cross over without permission. They, on the other hand, needed to gather as much data as possible. So far, with one probe destroyed without question and the other picking up nothing useful but a couple of lifeless systems, and the fact that it was not in the same galaxy, the only option was to send in a reconnaissance mission to scout the locals more personally.
Boughmont's ship, the Shinobi, cloaked and plunged into the wormhole. At the same time, the other two ships, the St. Peter and the Cerberus, began to deploy their stock of self-replicating mines. The mines had proven a very effective tool in the past. After deployment was complete the two ships would remain in cloak as sentry until a more substantial fleet arrived to relieve them. They were there to guard against unwanted visitors from their own side as much as the other.
The Shinobi reached the other side in silence and immediately performed a series of passive scans. Detecting nothing in the area, not even a residual warp signature, Boughmont ordered long range active scans and waited in silence, staring at the alien starscape.
At long last Lieutenant Commander Mpala reported from tactical. "I'm finally picking up some activity Sir. It's in an asteroid belt, just on the edge of our scanner range, looks like a mining station or something."
"Helm," Boughmont felt the adrenaline start to fill his blood. "Get us to within easy short range distance. Warp 9."
Days passed as the Shinobi charged along it's course. Back in the darker rooms of Starfleet headquarters, the new wormhole was a topic of much discussion. While the incursion action of the Shinobi was a sticky subject, none could disagree that the Federation could ill afford another Dominion. With the mine field in place on their side however, the air was a little easier to breath and it was decided that this was something the President, for the time being, did not need to know.


In the Republic, news of the wormhole and it's mysterious torpedo had sparked debate as well. True, the alleged ‘missile' had only been powerful enough to knock out the survey vessels shields and did not seem to many like a missile at all, but it was argued that whoever had launched it may have been technologically inferior. Why someone would launch an attack as their first course of action was baffling, but there wasn't enough wreckage to prove anything conclusively either way. More information was definitely needed before any conclusions were to be reached. As a precaution, three Star Destroyers were deployed to guard the wormhole while scientific investigation proceeded. Four jedi would be present as well, in the event that negotiations were to commence with whatever power or powers resided on the other side.
At the wormhole, the Republic Star Destroyers Maxim, Leneer, and Sabre sat lazily by as probe droids buzzed around it's hypnotic depths, effectively propping it open. Gerra Windfire had been put in charge of the over one hundred scientists that had flocked for the chance to study the apparently naturally stable conduit and whatever was on the other side. Many of these scientists were the top minds of the galaxy and it felt odd for Gerra to be ordering them around. Even if she was the preeminent wormhole specialist in the Republic, she had never liked being in charge of things.
"Ready six probes for launch into the wormhole." Gerra watched the holographic projection rotate slowly before her.
"Probes ready for launch, Ma'am."
"Launch." A room full of scientists waited in anticipation as the six probes dropped from the Maxim's hanger and streaked toward the wormhole. With a flash they were gone.


"Something's coming through Sir!" The tactical officer of the USS Cerberus, jumped from his daydreaming.
On the main screen, the wormhole spat up six tiny objects. Within seconds they were each consumed by the self-replicating mines.


"What do you mean ‘All six have been taken off line'?" Gerra raised her voice at her insectoid graduate student in spite of herself.
"Just that! I was receiving a signal from each one of them until they reached the other side. They cleared the hole's other end and then boom. Static." The automatically translated voice and the breathing apparatus could not hide the defensive chirps and whistles of the student.
"Of course. The other side closed up on us. Lets give it one more try. Just one probe through this time and one to be the door stop. Program them to stop as soon as they get through. If they die on us again, inform the rest of the staff and Captain Pooda." Gerra flopped down into her chair to watch the next probes rocket forward. "Maybe I should arm these things with turbolasers."
"That did it, Ma'am. I'm patching the droid's feed to the projector." Everyone present turned to watched as the picture appeared, floating at the head of the room.
"That looks like a mine field!" The exclamation had come from Wa-Na Loodie, an anthropologist straight from Coruscant, who had rushed up so close to the image that his pointed nose was submersed in it.
"You're not exactly transparent Loodie. Why don't you let the rest of us take a look?" The imperious comment came from Jiari Hax, Loodie's main rival.
From a computer terminal at the back of the room an indeterminate voice chimed in, "Look, the probe is being scanned!"
At that point the room erupted in debate about anything and everything. Gerra turned to her student before heading for the door. "Inform Captain Pooda and tell him I'm on my way."


Even though they were still in cloak, the Shinobi hung back from the asteroid mining colony. The belt was relatively inactive and it had been easy for the ship to navigate safely without shields. Now they sat behind one of the larger adjacent asteroids, protected but still within beaming range.
The doors to the captain's ready room opened and Commander Bala strode in, still wearing the nondescript clothing he had donned for his reconnaissance of the colony. StarFleet Intelligence had done an intensive study on what was the most unsuspicious, unassuming, common looking attire, depending on the situation of course. To their credit, it seemed to work.
"You're not going to believe this Captain." Bala's voice matched his face's look of amazement as he held out his report. "The population's mostly Human down there!"
"Interesting." Boughmont's even tone was betrayed by his wry smile. He took the offered data pad and half looked at it. "Interesting and advantageous. For both sides if it's true."
"I did a DNA scan on one of the locals, Captain. I'm one hundred percent sure. That's about the only similarity though. Language is completely different, technology's different. I don't know too much about the culture though, translator was having a hell of a time down there. I couldn't read a damn thing either. I'll tell you one thing, that's the biggest mining colony I've ever seen in my life."
Boughmont looked at Bala, he could feel the man's excitement. Bala was a born chameleon, a spy through and through. It's what he loved, it's what he did best. "I want you to put together some gear for a long term stay..."


The Shinobi left the asteroid field, three men short, following a small commercial freighter. Matching the ships sublight speed, Boughtmont prepared for warp, intending to trail the ship to it's next port.
"They're powering up their main engines and making an alignment change, Sir," Lieutenant Gerard reported from the helm, waiting for orders. "I'm not detecting a warp signature."
With a burst of energy, the freighter seemed to stretch and then disappeared. One moment it was there, the next it was gone. No space warp, no trail to follow.
"Did they just go into cloak? Did they see us?" Shinobi's captain felt a tingle of apprehension.
"If it's a cloak it's not one our sensors can detect, Captain," Mpala answered at tactical. "Long range scans show nothing either. As far as Shinobi's concerned, the freighter's just... gone."
"Align us with that last vector Ensign. Maximum warp. Let's see how fast that little ship is really going." Superlight speed without warp? What else were they going to have up their sleeves.


The Republic Star Destroyer Leviathan sidled up to the Traveeca asteroid belt trying to get as clear a transmission through to the colony without having to blast away any of their profitable rocks.
"This is Star Destroyer Leviathan to Traveeca mining colony," a young com/scan officer made contact. "What is it we can do for you, Governor?"
"Leviathan. Yes, good." The balding administrator wiped his head distractedly, eyes shifting as he spoke. The young ensign had seen a lot of this reaction. Star Destroyers still carried very bad connotations with a lot of the older generation. "We started picking up some unusual spatial disruptions a day or so ago. I hadn't really had time to do much about it and it didn't seem to be too pressing considering it wasn't spreading and all..."
"Yes Governor. Thank you for bringing this to our attention," If only the messages from these asteroid colonies didn't get so garbled going through the belt, the ensign started to daydream.
"No, wait!" The bald old man waved his hands, frantically trying to ward off disconnection. "It's just that the disruption left this afternoon. Sensors seem to think it was following a local freighter, the Buckrider it says here. I don't want anyone thinking my operation is environmentally unsound! I've got enough to worry about besides fines and shutdowns."
"Thank you, Sir. All civilian tips are appreciated. Leviathan out." That wasn't so painful now was it you old bastard, the ensign thought. Didn't he know by now that they were a kinder, gentler navy?
With a quick scan of the area to confirm the warps in space, the ensign passed the information on to his superior. From there it traveled it's way up the chain of command until ten minutes later Captain Mulby was being informed.
"Oh happy day," the captain sang to his executive officer sarcastically. "We get to give damaged freighters free rides to dry dock. Next we'll have to get out with mops and clean up the mess. I'm going to my office if you need me."
The first officer laughed. "Com/Scan, see if you can't get a fix on that damaged ship. Give them a shout and tell them to heave to. Helm, follow that trail!"
"Sir," the com/scan bridge officer shouted up from his pit. "I've got hold of the ship in the sensors but there's something odd. It's doing lightspeed but it's not using hyperspace."
"How fast?" The Commander didn't think you could go past the speed of light without hyperspace.
"A little less than a billion kilometers a second, Sir. They aren't responding to hails. Oh, and Sir, Traveeca told us they were identified as the Buckrider. This ship displays no Republic identification."
The Leviathan's second in command shook the strange details from his head and acted on the situation. "Helm, give me a quick jump. Land us three billion kilometers in front of that ship. Tactical, as soon as we come out of hyperspace I want her caught in a tractor beam. Go!"


The bridge crew of the Shinobi all concentrated on the screen in front of them. The vessel they had been pursuing moments before was now forgotten. Someone had spotted them, someone very, very big.
"They're hailing us Sir. They know we're here but they've made no move to intercept at any significant speed." Mpala couldn't keep his eyes off the monster on his tactical display.
"Don't jump the gun yet Mr. Mpala," Boughmont's mind was moving faster than his ship. "All stop. Cut main power. All I want is life support, the viewer, and the cloak and even then I want everyone holding their breath."
The Shinobi's sudden stop took the footing out from under a number crew members. As the lights dimmed and computer terminals went blank everyone paused and waited silently, expectantly. A second later and the behemoth ship in pursuit was gone, only to reappear far ahead. In another, they were somehow right on top of them. At this range it's wedge shape and rear tower were clearly visible. The monster began to move steadily towards their position.


"They're at a stop, Sir," The Leviathan's tactical officer announced as they returned to sublight. "Shall I still tractor them?"
"Don't bother yet," came the captain's reply as he strode in. "I've got it now Commander. Com/Scan, why can't I see it?"
"Sorry, Sir," a second of button pushing and a green outline of the small vessel appeared over it's relative position in space. "They've been using a form of wide spectrum cloak. The gravimetric sensors picked them up right away and I actually didn't remember that you couldn't see them up there. Now they're just sitting dead."


On the Shinobi, Boughmont watched as a ship that looked as though it could run his right over without noticing, came to a stop kilometers away.
"Boy's and girls, I think the jig is up." The captain began to contrive his best diplomatic smile. "Restore main power, raise shields, decloak and let me hear that hail. Let's hope the computer's been able to figure out this language."
Everything powered up and the lights brightened as the Shinobi decloaked.


"...Unidentified freighter, this is the Republic Star Destroyer Leviathan. Your propulsion system is in violation of Republic environmental code 636-E. Please take your main engines off line and prepare for docking procedure."


"Still no positive translation Captain. I think they think we're a freighter? And there's something about an environmental problem."
"Freighter? Environmental problem? Are we leaking anything?" That was one thing he hadn't expected them to say.
"No Sir," came the reply. "The ship's 100 percent. I don't detect them leaking anything either. Nor have they raised shields."


"Captain Mulby, they're finally returning the hail." The com/scan officer had a note of confusion in his voice. "The computer doesn't recognize the language as any known in the galaxy. It's having a hard time piecing together a translation."
"Unknown ship and language," Mulby commented to his commander. "They must really be hicks."
"Looks like we're going to have to do this Imperial style," the Exec returned.
"Looks like. Com/Scan, advise them we are unable to understand their communications and that we are authorized to impound their vessel under Republic law. Let's hope they understand us more than we do them. Then inform hanger control of our new guests. Tactical, target tractor beam and pull them in."


Moments after the Destroyers transmission, the Shinobi shuttered and began to move against it's will.
"Tractor beam Sir. They intend to swallow us whole."
Impound the Shinobi?! Capture was not an acceptable outcome of this mission. "Mr. Mpala, lock phasers on that beam emitter and break us free. Mr. Gerard take evasive action the moment we're loose. Where the hell is Hora!?"
A stream of visible energy connected the two ships for a split second and the Shinobi was free, darting along the lower hull of the larger vessel.


"Number two tractor beam is gone, Sir."
"Oh!? Well! Firing on my ship I do not appreciate," Mulby's tone was stern and in control. "Shields up. Jamming field up. Gunnery officer, give them something to think about. One light turbolaser please. Whoever they are, if they're going to act like pirates we'll treat them like pirates."
Seconds later, a burst of green energy streaked from the Star Destroyer to land squarely on the smaller ships nose.


"Shields down five percent Sir."
Boughmont smiled despite the slight jerk of the ship, "If that's all they've got I'd say their bark is a little worse than their bite."
At that moment the turbo lift opened and Commander Hora rushed to stand next to his captain. "Sorry Sir, caught me in the shower." The Betazoid adjusted his collar and stared at the colossus filling the viewer.
"Too many life-forms to get a clean picture, Captain," Hora proceeded. "Most of the crew of that ship, though, don't even know anything is going on. If I knew where the bridge on it was, maybe I could be of more help?"
"Actually Commander, I don't think it really matters," Boughmont replied casually. "Mr. Mpala, let's introduce our new friends to the story of David and Goliath. Phasers at maximum, target that gun emplacement and any others you can detect."
"Sir," Mpala sounded concerned. "The computer is having trouble targeting the ship let alone finding the gun emplacements. They've set up a jamming field I can't break through."
"Don't tell me what you can't do, Lieutenant," the captain shot in annoyance.
"Switching to manual control."
The bridge crew of the Shinobi watched the jumping, pulsing, multiplying, static covered image of the Leviathan on the main screen as Mpala manually targeted and fired. The beam stabbed into space, wide of it's mark.
"No use, Sir," the tactical officer stated in frustration. "The only way we're going to hit that thing is if we either get close enough to break through this field or somebody looks out a window."
Captain Boughmont's face remained calm. "Get us in as close as we can. As soon as you have a shot Mr. Mpala, take it. Engineering, I nee..."
The order was belayed by a cloud of green bolts that peppered the ship. Boughmont flinched as a plasma conduit exploded behind him.
"Shields now down seventy five percent, Sir. Hull breaches on all decks, starboard side..."

[Master of Ossus]

It's pretty good. I like the premise, except for one thing. Can Black Holes die? I really don't know. Please, tell me.

[Mark S]

It's pretty good. I like the premise, except for one thing. Can Black Holes die? I really don't know. Please, tell me.

shrug. I thought I had read about it somewhere when trying to see what I could see about actual wormhole rearch. I could be wrong but it was as good a device as anything.

[Singular Quartet]

Pretty good. I assume the ISD is using its light guns on the Shinobi?

I think what he's trying to say, is that <treknobabble?> The black hole got so massive that it ripped a hole in the space-time contiuum, and fell through, leaving behind a wormhole to the Star Wars Galaxy.</treknobabble?>

[NecronLord]

I once asked an astrophysics lecturer about wormholes, amd the bits i understood were basically you need a vary large mass at both ends... With a bit of supertechnobabble you could make black holes into wormholes

[IDMR]

It's pretty good. I like the premise, except for one thing. Can Black Holes die? I really don't know. Please, tell me.

Black holes can 'die', though not quite in the manner described. They 'die' after they had radiated all their mass.

[Hendrake]

I'd say it's a good story. I'd certainly like to read a follow-up if you write one.

[NecronLord]

its very good

P.s. please call it republic's crusade, I've got an invasion fanfic in this forum
please?

[Mark S]

I'd say it's a good story. I'd certainly like to read a follow-up if you write one.

Oh this one isn't done. Not by a long shot. I've got about 75 pages on wordperfect and it's barely started. My problem is the need of an editor. ha.

NecroLord: Sure. Call it a turkey sandwich if you like. This is just what seemed to fit.

Singular Quartet: Yeah, those were light weapons. I didn't want to spell it out (I do that enough in this story). The real smack doesn't come down 'til later. Like I said. They're a kinder, gentler navy. They want to take this "freigter" in alive.

And I thank you all for your support.

[Singular Quartet]

Figures. Know, post the next chapter!!

[Eleas]

<snip>

Reading this was a blast. I want more.

[Cpt_Frank]

Good work. I for one am pretty much an Imp lover, but although this is a NR fanfic I found it very enjoyable.
Just one question: The Star Destroyers - are those New Republican Star Destroyers, or old Imperator class leftovers from the Empire, now serving the NR?

[Mark S]

The order was belayed by a cloud of green bolts that peppered the ship. Boughmont flinched as a plasma conduit exploded behind him.

"Shields now down seventy five percent, Sir. Hull breaches on all decks, starboard side..."


Captain Mulby watched as the troublesome freighter came to a stop off their port bow. The jamming field impeded any visual enhancement but he could still see the ship well enough.

"Take them off line and tractor them into the hanger. I'll be in my office," the captain said turning around. He never made it to the door.


"It was some sort of charged particle beam. It's shorting everything out! Main po..."

The statement was cut off by the curt voice of the ships computer. "Warning. Power loss in warp containment field. Core breach imminent."


The USS Shinobi's explosion thundered silently against the shields of the Leviathan setting off a clamor of alarms. The Star Destroyer's captain spun on his heels to look from the drifting remains to his gunnery officer. He had ordered ion cannons!

"The ship blew after it had lost power, Sir," the weapons officer was on the defensive. "The ion cannon did not destroy it."

Mulby turned to his first officer. "Commander, I want the matter investigated and the report on my desk in five hours."


Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat in his ready room aboard the flag ship of the Federation perusing the latest reports from Starfleet. The ship had just completed it's current mission ahead of schedule, giving him a chance to catch up on the news. Not that he let it be known what he was doing. To most of the crew, the captain was a man who never stopped working.

For the most part there was nothing particularly interesting going on in the rest of fleet either. As a result, most of the reports he merely skimmed through. That is until he reached one that hit a little closer to home. The area around a spatial anomaly that they had recently investigated had been quarantined as a warp damaged zone after further study. Picard was no astrophysicist but he didn't remember anything indicating warp damage in their analysis. Could they have missed something?

The captain rose from his chair and was across the room in a few strides. The door opened at his approach to reveal the immaculate bridge and quietly working crew of the Enterprise. Deanna Troi looked up from the captain's chair. Her smile turned to mild concern as she read his emotions.

"What's the matter Captain?" The ships counselor asked as she relinquished the command chair.

Picard handed her the data pad he had brought containing the report. "An area we studied has been reported as warp damaged. If we inadvertently had anything to do with the situation I feel it's our duty to make ourselves as much help as we can."

"Of coarse," Troi replied looking up from the pad. "I'll have Data go over the sensor logs for that mission. Perhaps he'll be able to find something that was missed.

"Data to the bridge please."

Picard sat down. "Good. Helm find the coordinates for the spatial anomaly near the Ferora system and take us there at maximum warp."


Days after the first probes of the wormhole, Gerra again sat across the desk from the squarest man she had ever met. Literally, Captain Pooda was as wide as he was tall. Not muscular like some heavy gravity weight lifter, he reminded her more of a Hutt that was missing it's tail. A kinder gentleman she could never hope to meet, however, and she always felt he was a man that harbored no hidden agendas.

"The anthropologists and sociologists have come to a consensus, Captain," the chief scientist began her report. "They feel that we are dealing with an aggressive society. One that values most highly strength and the ability to defend ones self against attack. Why else launch a missile as their first move and surround their end of the wormhole with duplicating mines? They were testing us to see if we're worthy of their respect. This is all just speculation though. The Republic hasn't met another spacefaring species in twenty-five thousand years Captain. It's new ground for all of us."

"I see your point," the captain cut in. "But I still don't think that first encounter was a missile."

"Anyway," Gerra continued. "The committee has decided that a large show of force is the best coarse of action at this point. We haven't been able to reach the jedi for their take on the situation yet."

"That's because they've been recalled," Pooda answered. "Apparently Skywalker himself has decided to come to our little arm of the galaxy and meet the new neighbors personally. My side of things has analyzed the data from the probes and your ‘show of force' shouldn't be a problem. If you're right and it works though, negotiations will have to wait until we've gathered more intelligence."


The senior staff of the Enterprise sat in conference en route to the quarantine. Mr. Data had been able to find no reason to believe that their warp field could have reacted with the anomaly to damage space. As he was explaining his reasoning, the lieutenant now in control of the bridge announced to the captain that they were coming to within short range of the danger zone. Everyone stood and moved to the bridge, each taking their place in time to see a small Defiant class ship decloak in front of them. The image of a long haired, grey bearded captain appeared on the main viewer.

"I'm sorry Captain Picard," the man on the screen proclaimed. "This is a quarantined zone. There is extensive warp field damage to space in this area and it is too dangerous for ships to traverse. I can't allow you to proceed."

"I've read the report on the area Captain...," no answer was forth coming. "At any rate, mine was the last ship in the area before the quarantine was announced and we would like to be a part of the process of cleaning things up if we could."

"Thank you for the offer, Captain. Let me just check with my superiors to see what sort of help you can be." The screen reverted to the star field.

"He's lying, Captain," all eyes turned to Deanna. "You won't find any damage to space in this area and he's not contacting any superiors. He's trying to get us to leave without having to fire upon us."

"The counselor is right on at least one account, Captain," Data announced from the ships sensors. "Preliminary scans show no locations of spacial damage. I am, however, reading what appears to be a stable wormhole."

"A what?!" Commander Riker's voice shot from the captains side with amazement.

"That's right folks," Data answered sarcastically. "We've got another one."

"But why would they keep it a secret? Who would be trying to cover this up?" Riker's mind was reeling .

"It could be Section 31," the statement from chief engineer Geordi Laforge turned all heads to the rear of the bridge. "Conspiracies are a hobby of mine," he shrugged

"Well whoever they are, I'm more interested in what exactly it is they're up to," Picard could hardly believe what he was seeing. He did not like the turn that Starfleet had taken in recent years. With the Borg and the Dominion War the leaders of the Federation had become increasingly paranoid about attacks, then he had come across admirals plotting with the Son'a to steal entire planets away from peaceful beings, and now this. This sort of thing happened in the Romulan Empire not the United Federation of Planets! This was definitely not the Starfleet that he had joined as a wild youth. "Let's not wait to be asked this time, shall we? Ensign, set coarse for that wormhole, warp nine. Engage!"

"Attention all hands! Red alert!" Riker's words induced sirens and flashing red lights as the small ship in their view screen disappeared. It wasn't long before that ship was in full pursuit.

It was only a matter of moments before the Enterprise reached it's destination to find three more Defiant class ships waiting for them on the edge of a vast field of mines surrounding the terminus of the wormhole.

"Oh...My...God!" Anger pored from Captain Picard's mouth like water from a dam. "This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise! The flag ship of the United Federation of Planets! What the devil is going on here! Is this how you would greet any life-forms that cross through this wormhole?! With gun ships and mines?!"

"Captain," a young Lieutenant at the tactical station dared to interrupt the rant. "All ships have phasers and quantum torpedoes locked on us and ready to fire."

At that point the image of a heavy set woman appeared on the Enterprises main viewer. As she spoke, her gleaming teeth seemed all the whiter in contrast to her dark skin. "This is Admiral Williams aboard the USS St. Peter, Captain. I thank you for your concern but we have everything well under control here. You have all ready seen too much for your own good, please don't make me have to do anything as un-Starfleet as firing upon you. Make no mistake though, if that is what it takes to keep this wormhole a secret for the time being, that is what I will do. The Federation still needs room to breath before it makes contact with another Dominion, Borg or Whatever. You are not in possession of all the facts."

"Well then why don't you enlighten us to those facts?" Picard was trying to buy time to think. "This is the finest ship and crew in the fleet and we are capable of facing any challenge. We can either be a help to you or a hinderance but make no mistake, Starfleet will hear of this!"

At that moment Picard's words were thrown squarely back into his face as wave after wave of torpedoes shot from the wormhole like it was the barrel of some cosmic shot gun. Hundreds of self-replicating mines detonated and reformed only to be detonated again. It was clear that a beachhead was being created. When that task was complete, a monstrous wedge of a ship, over a kilometer and a half in length, burst through the wormhole, sixty odd weapons ports of unknown specification blazing with green energy.

Everyone on a Federation ship that was near a view screen, or even a window facing in the right direction, stood transfixed as the shower of green bolts devastated the mine field. It took a full thirty minutes for the mines to be totally destroyed. In that time the grey giant never stopped firing. When the field was completely gone, the five Starfleet vessels sat together feeling strangely naked in the gaze of the alien wedge, each captain stunned by the display. The beast then turned it's eye toward them.

"Take evasive action!!" all Federation captains shouted as one.

The hail began again in earnest, scrambling the smaller ships like leaves in the wind. A direct hit from one of the large forward emplacements and the Enterprise was defenseless. Each of the other ships were in a like manner in a matter of seconds. This triggered the final assault.

The giant now spewed forth a charged particle beam at it's prey, each ship being hit at roughly the same time. Picard could only watch impotently as his ship lost power and the emergency system kicked to life. Somewhere in the background the computer was warning about a core breach and Geordi was attempting to find any spare energy he could to maintain the containment fields. It all took side stage to the spectacle unfolding on the static filled screen at the head of the bridge however. The alien vessel was slipping back into the wormhole, leaving it's five victims to float helplessly in space.

It had already vanished when first one, then two, then three of the Federation battleships exploded into a mismatched field of mangled chunks. The two unprotected ships that remained could do nothing but brace themselves and hope as they were rocked by the destruction of their comrades.

The entire incident after the mine field was gone took a matter of seconds and left only the Enterprise and the St. Peter to stare bewildered at each other, floating powerless. It was another half hour of waiting before power returned to the major systems of either of the ships. The moment it did, the captain and the admiral sat glaring at each other from their respective vessels.

"Are you still intent on destroying my ship now, Admiral?" There was no hint of humor in Picard's voice as his image jumped and crackled over the still not totally functional screen.

"Perhaps now you can see that erecting the mine field was not such a bad decision," Admiral Williams countered. "For all the good it did us."

"Good or not, now there is no way you can prevent Starfleet Headquarters from knowing about this," Picard derided. "And in the mean time this wormhole is left open for more of those ships to come through."

"Tell whomever you must Captain," the admiral finally conceded. "I'm not worried. You see, this ship and I, well, we were never here." With that, the St. Peter faded into cloak and was gone.

"Captain Picard," the captain's head shifted to Data as the android spoke. "They sent over a data signal before they cloaked. It appears to be probe information about the other side, as well as sensor logs from the battle and scans of an alien probe."

"At least they want to be helpful." Riker's words dripped with sarcasm.

"That's enough Number One," Picard was not in the mood for wit. "Mr. Data, add the logs to our own and run an analysis. Mr. Laforge, what's our status?"

"The beam did no permanent damage Sir. At the rate we're powering back up we should have energy running through most systems in about twenty minutes. Most of the damage we've sustained was caused by our proximity to those other ships when they blew. Looking at this report, I'd say we could be back to full capacity in about a day or so."

"I need the Enterprise back on line as fast as you can, Mr. Laforge." The Captain rose from his chair. "We are the only thing guarding this wormhole at the moment. Mr. Data, inform me when you can give a briefing on your findings. Number One, you have the bridge." With that Picard strode to his ready room to place the angriest call to Starfleet of his life.


"The Admiralty denies knowing anything about it of coarse," Picard informed his command staff in the briefing room. "And the captain of the Flurry has gone on record saying that his crew remained silent about the wormhole and that their computer records had been erased all buy order of this Admiral Williams. Who, incidently is a small, balding, gentleman who has been retired in Beijing for the past ten years.

"Our orders at the moment are to stay here until more ships arrive to safeguard against another attack. Our first course of action, should that attack take place, is to collapse the wormhole. I, personally, would like to attempt to open a dialog with our new neighbors and see if we can't work out our differences before it comes to anything so drastic. I can't understand why they would attack us for no reason? Now Mr. Data, Mr. Laforge, what can the sensor logs tell us about what we're dealing with?"

"Originally, the spacial anomaly we discovered in this area was assigned to the USS Flurry for further investigation," Data began the synopsis. "They revealed that it was an ultra-dense black hole on the verge of collapse. They hypothesized that the collapse was impeded at the last moment by a subspace distortion caused by a mass of dark matter caught in the hole's gravitational pull. The resulting quasi-stabilization was amplified by the Flurry's warp field as it moved toward the phenomenon for a closer examination. There is much debate about what actually sparked the stabilization of the wormhole, but whatever the case, it is here none the less.

"After conducting a scan of the phenomenon, the Flurry launched a long range probe into the event horizon. This probe failed to return after reaching the other side and a second probe was sent to follow it up. The second, who's data can be seen here," Data indicated a large screen on the wall behind him, "found the wreckage of the initial probe scattered around the area directly in front of the wormhole nexus. This probe performed both long and short range scans of the surrounding region of space, finding no signs of life on nearby systems but residual energy traces in the vicinity of the wormhole itself. It would appear on first glance that there was initially a starship of some kind on the other side when the first probe was launched through. Presumably they were studying their side of the event. It would also appear, on first glance, that this ship destroyed the Flurry's probe and left the scene to gather the reinforcements we have witnessed. This is just speculation, however, and not fact. The two ships may have nothing to do with each other."

"At this point," Chief medical officer Beverly Crusher spoke up. "I think it's fair to assume that whoever they are, they're hostile. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt with the probe but after the attack we just went through..."

"Correct Doctor," Picard answered. "I'd like to believe there has been some misunderstanding, considering the nature of the other Starfleet vessels we've encountered. However, we can't afford to let our guards down at the moment."

"Yes," Riker added. "I think what we have witnessed is a little extreme for someone who simply doesn't like outsiders."

"Besides the lack of life on the local systems and the energy traces of the first ship," Data continued. "The probe telemetry shows a starscape completely different from our own. Zero point zero zero one percent match. The location on the other side of this wormhole is most likely in a galaxy on the other side of the universe. As well, a point of strategic value to note is the fact that, according to the density of stars seen, the wormhole location on the other side appears to be in a position one fifth of the way from the outer rim to the core. Very similar to it's location on this side.

"At this point, the probe was recalled and the Flurry made it's report to Starfleet. Hours later it was confronted by three Defiant class ships, the St. Peter, the Cerberus, and the Shinobi. After the Flurry left, the Shinobi passed through the wormhole on a reconnaissance mission and the other two proceeded to lay the mine field and wait for reinforcements. They waited there approximately three standard days before a resume in activity.

"At that time, six objects, most likely probes, entered our space from the wormhole. All six were destroyed by the self-replicating mines. Within minutes two more probes came through, stopping directly upon entering our space. One scanned the area and was scanned itself. When it was finished it turned and went back through. After this incident nothing has happened until today, six days later.

"Incidentally, the Shinobi was due to check in two days ago, Captain, despite mission status. It has not been heard from since it's departure."

"I'm sorry Captain," Commander Riker shook his head. "From what Data has just told us, and from what we've been through, I don't think there's much chance of peaceful contact."

"Not so fast Commander," it was the Counselors turn now. "Let's look at the situation from their point of view. There could be any number of reasons for them destroying that probe. Perhaps it posed a threat to them? Or perhaps it's their custom to destroy new probes they find, as a signal to the owners that someone else is out there. Who knows? And what about what they found when they tried to probe us? A mine field. Of coarse they're going to act aggressively. As for the Shinobi, there's no telling what could have happened to it. The possibilities are endless. They may even be partly to blame for all of this."

"Deanna may have a point, Captain," Geordi broke in. "On review of our logs and those of the St. Peter, the energy bursts that disabled us were not meant to destroy. They simply inhibited energy from being transmitted through the ships systems. A short circuit, in effect. The other ships, the Cerberus, the Aries and the Charon, exploded due to warp core breaches caused by loss of power to their containment fields. We only managed to survive because I was able pull together some extra power from the backups. It could very well be that our friend was giving us what they thought of as a relatively harmless show of force and never really intended to hurt anyone."

"How could they not know that cutting our power would cause a warp core breach?" The question was Riker's.

"That's just it, Commander," the engineer answered. "They may not have known. They displayed no warp signature at all. If they achieve faster than light travel without warp, they may have no idea of the consequences of their particle beam. Notice how they left the scene right away. They never saw the other ships explode, they may have no idea it happened."

"Or they might just have been confident that they got all of us on the first try." The commanders pessimism filled the room with a pause.

"There are some things that we do know," Geordi turned back to the captain. "First, as I said, they do not use warp technology as shown by the lack of warp signature. Second, the primary weapon they used was a form of high intensity plasma blast. It's a brute force type of weapon, Captain. It probably takes a hell of a lot of power to make it work but no amount of shield frequency adjustment is going to do us any good. This coincides with the large amounts of energy the ship must have been producing, judging from the degree of EM radiation it was giving off.

"Though we didn't get a chance to actually see their shields in action, we have to assume that they are on par with the strength of their weapons. As for how phasers or torpedoes will fare... No one got a shot off at them to find out.

"It's hard to speculate about the missiles we saw. All I can say is that they did a pretty good job of clearing the mine field of an area big enough for that ship."

"From the shear size of the vessel and ferocity of the attack," Data concluded. "It would be advisable to exercise extreme caution in any future dealings with this new galaxy."

At that point a voice sounded over the comm system. Another ship was coming through the wormhole. The news had the obvious effect of causing a veritable stampede of officers toward the bridge. Weapon systems were still not functional.

Everyone expected to be greeted with the image of another grey mammoth or one of even greater size. Instead, the main view screen showed the form of a tiny craft, not much larger then a standard runabout. The ship consisted of a main body sporting three wing-like protrusions in a triangular configuration.

"Sir, the ship is hailing us. Sensors indicate no life-forms."

"On screen, Ensign." Picard was almost breathless.

What appeared was not a grotesque monster, not an armored warrior, not even a shapeless blob. What the crew of the Enterprise was presented with was the unblinking visage of a metallic blue, humanoid robot. Data's jaw dropped in a most un-android like fashion. The being on the screen seemed to visibly jump at their appearance as well, but then proceeded to immediately greet them incomprehensibly in an obviously synthesized male voice.

"Greetings," Picard offered to the artificial humanoid with his biggest smile. "I am Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets. We wish to welcome you to our space and discuss the terrible events that have recently occurred. I certainly hope there will be no further aggression between our two peoples."

"I am sensing nothing Captain," Troi stated the obvious softly. "That is definitely not a biological entity." From her position, the counselor could not see the smile form on the face of her android comrade.

"Greetings," the android on the screen mimicked with perfect inflection. "I am Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets. We wish to welcome you to our space and discuss the terrible events that have recently occurred. I hope there will be no further aggression between our two peoples." The shiny blue head cocked slightly when it had finished.

"Looks like the Universal Translator isn't quite so universal," Riker remarked. "Either that or we have an uncanny coincidence. What now?"

[Mark S]

Good work. I for one am pretty much an Imp lover, but although this is a NR fanfic I found it very enjoyable.
Just one question: The Star Destroyers - are those New Republican Star Destroyers, or old Imperator class leftovers from the Empire, now serving the NR?

I had alway thought of them as Imerpial leftovers but maybe I'll have to incorporate some that have Republic upgrades.

[Asdeed]

Great so far, when can we expect another update?

[Singular Quartet]

Translator droid, the one unit used for learning a new language. We, fun!

Hurry up with the updates.

[Cpt_Frank]

Yeah, hurry, but don't hurry too much, and keep the quality of the story.

[LMSx]

Definitely a quality work. I loved the part about the Enterprise's infamous trail of anomalies.

If you need someone to edit it, I would be glad to volunteer.

[Mark S]

"Looks like the Universal Translator isn't quite so universal," Riker remarked. "Either that or we have an uncanny coincidence. What now?"

"We rely on the old standbys, Number One," Picard answered. "And we give technology a break."

Turning back to the screen, the Captain began to gesture sweepingly as he readdressed the android. "We wish you to come here." He spoke slowly as he gestured his words.

The blue alien robot cocked it's head again and stiffly lifted both arms in front of it. It then motioned from the captain to it's other hand. Next, it pointed at itself and made a motion with the same hand. Finally, it made the hand signifying itself fly around jerkily until it came to rest on the hand signifying the Enterprise. Both hands then dropped and the robot nodded it's head forward slightly.

"I believe it wishes to dock it's ship Captain," Mr. Data smiled giddily. "I wonder if it will recognize me as an android as well."

"Indeed, Mr. Data," the captain smiled back to his lieutenant commander. "I can't for the life of me see how we'll be able to convey ‘transporting', so ready shuttle bay three for the new arrival and transmit instructions as best you can. Follow me when you've finished Mr. Data and turn off that emotion chip before you embarrass yourself. Deanna, I'll need you as well. Number One, send two security officers to meet us, you have the bridge."

"Sir," the first officer protested. "Do you really think you should be meeting them directly? It could be a trap. I would much rather I go."

"Please Will," Picard answered. "If they were going to kill us they would have come back with that monster, not a shuttle carrying one android." With that, the three officers disappeared behind the doors of the turbolift.

"That is if there is actually only one of them," Riker commented to the remaining crew. "Keep the situation monitored and have security forces ready at a moments notice."


Picard, Troi and Data arrived at shuttle bay three minutes later to find the two security officers that had been requested already in the hanger in front of the alien craft. In it's landed position the shuttles lower ‘wings' were now folded straight up vertically. A boarding ramp at the front of the ship, looking for all the world like a giant mouth, dropped open to let it's passenger depart.

Down the ramp the humanoid robot quickly shuffled until it had reached level ground and was standing before the three officers. It looked passively from one security guard to the other and regarded Data curiously as he conducted a tricorder scan.

"No unusual materials, Captain," Data announced. "Simple steel alloy construction and housing. Very intricate circuitry. I am unable to detect weather it's brain is positronic in nature or not. I can see no way to down load any information to or from it's memory"

"It has eyes, Captain," Deanna began. "Perhaps if we let it use a computer terminal and accessed a literacy program?"

"Eyes...Down load...Literacy program?" The alien robot looked unpassionately from one person to the next as it mimicked. It was uncanny to Picard how it almost sounded like it was making sense.

"Good idea." Picard moved to a computer terminal in the bay, motioning for his guest to follow. The blue android shuffled along with small, precise steps.

Arriving at the computer screen Data quickly called up a first level literacy file and motioned to the humanoid machine. The alien watched motionlessly as each letter of the alphabet appeared on the screen accompanied by a sound. Data pressed the control to move to the next screen and indicated that the visitor could do the same at any time. With comprehension of this one control, the shining blue alien began to pour through the program with a speed only Data could rival. It babbled back and forth with the computer in an almost constant stream. Within moments the lesson was at its end and the terminal was asking if they wished to proceed to the next level. The Starfleet officers waited silently for a response.

"Yes, thank you," the metal man's synthesized voice announced as if it had been speaking English it's entire life. Sighs of relief echoed around the hanger.

Minutes later the visitor looked up from the work station to stare blankly at the captain. "Greetings Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets," it announced cordially. " I am T-2C5, Naval interpreter and protocol droid of the Galactic Republic. Thank you for allowing me to dock on the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E. Our ships computer could not translate the signals our probe droid intercepted and my mission is to make initial contact, learn your language, establish relations and deliver this message: we wish to commence peaceful interaction but further violence will not be tolerated and will be met in kind."

"Well, T-2C5," Picard smiled diplomatically. "I was going to say the same thing to you. It would seem we have much to discuss. Please, come this way."


As the protocol droid was being led through the corridors of the Enterprise, followed by its twin security shadows, it's head darted from one side to the next, recording everything it saw.

"Do all androids in your galaxy have a designation instead of a name?" Data asked from T-2C5's side.

"My designation is my name." the blue droid stated confusedly. "Do droids here have two names?"

"Actually," Deanna cut in. "Mr. Data here is one of the only androids we have ever had in the entire Federation. Some of our people would be very happy to speak with your designers."

"I'm not entirely sure my designers are still alive, Ms. Troi." 2C5 returned. "I could be wrong, I have only just been reactivated recently for this mission."

"You are newly created then?" Data pressed.

"No," came the reply. "I have had other masters prior to my military diplomatic service. My memory has been wiped of those events, however, and I remember only the skills which I acquired and none of the specifics. Are there really so few androids in this entire galaxy?"

"In the Alpha-quadrant of the galaxy," Data stated. "I do not know about anywhere else. There are many where you are from, then?"

"Billions. Hundreds of billions. Droids have been around for thousands of years."

"You mentioned Masters," They had reached a well appointed conference room and Picard now turned to regard his guest. "So you're considered a slave?"

"No," the reply came again. "I am a droid. I serve. It's my lot in life. Are you not Mr. Data's master?"

"I am may own master." There was no defensiveness in Data's voice.

"Oh, by the Maker, that's wonderful!" T-2C5 seemed genuinely pleased at the idea. "Not something for me, I don't think. I'd never know what to do with myself!"

"At any rate," Picard injected. "Please sit down. I don't suppose there is anything we can get you? Perhaps you would like to tour the ship?"

"No Captain Picard. I am quite fine. Is there anything I can do for you?" The droid's blank expression seemed to look past Picard to the wall beyond.

"I was hoping to talk to you about the attack your vessel made upon mine, T-2C5," Picard inquired politely. "In the interest of peace and good faith. I don't know if your masters realize it but they destroyed three ships in their attack."

"Oh dear," T-2C5 sounded distressed. "I must assure you that was never our intent. We were simply responding to your challenge. That weapon was never designed to be lethal. As far as I know anyway. I am only an envoy."

"What challenge?" Picard's mind reeled at the idea that the mysterious admiral had done even more damage.

"The mine field, Captain," the protocol droid sounded confused. "We assumed it had been erected as a test of our strength. To determine whether we were worthy of contact. It was the only reasonable explanation that could be determined for acting so hostilely. That was not your intent?"

"That was an unfortunate mistake that is being dealt with." The pieces were starting to fall into place for Picard. Everything thus far had been a series of misunderstandings. Odd ones, but misunderstandings none the less. There was still the matter of the lost Shinobi, but at this point it was probably better not to bring that up. The last thing this situation needed was for this Republic to think they had made any further hostile actions.

"This is most unfortunate," the droid intoned shaking its head. "I'm sure the Republic will be more than happy to make any restitution that might be required for the loss of your people. At present though, I would be happy to program your systems with the Galactic standard language so that you can at least communicate directly."

"That would be excellent," Picard returned. "Mr. Data, please oversee the programming and escort T-2C5 to the diplomats quarters. I'm sure you two will have much to talk about. I hope you will be comfortable with your stay on the Enterprise, T-2C5. I must excuse myself now to prepare my statements to your government. Deanna, this way please." With that the captain and the counselor turned and left the two mechanical men to themselves.

"Their artificial intelligence technology is very advanced," Troi said after the door had hissed shut and they had began to walk down the hall. "If their physical designs leave something to be desired."

"Or their philosophies on slavery," the captain completed. "Do you suppose they sent someone of such low status as a sign of contempt?"

"Not really. If they assumed we were testing them with the mines they must assume we are of equal or greater advancement. It may be routine procedure. They obviously don't think the same way about artificial life as we do."

"Yes," Picard agreed. "And in the mean time our guest is likely recording everything he sees and hears, giving them a decidedly upper hand."

Minutes later the two were stepping off of a turbolift onto the bridge.

"I take it everything went smoothly." Riker stood and relinquished the captains seat.

"More so then anything else on this mission, Number One," Picard remarked. "Our guest turned out to be some sort of slave sent to exchange languages and ask us why we're so hostile."

"Excuse me!?" Riker demanded. "Where is he now?"

"It's a long story, Number One," Picard offered. "Right now he's exchanging android stories with Mr. Data. If you need me I have a first contact speech to write."

"May I ask you a personal question T-2C5?" Data asked the alien android as they reached the door to the ships diplomatic quarters

"Certainly, Lieutenant Commander"

"I mean no offence, but why is it that you have been designed to be so poorly human in appearance?" Data obviously hadn't reactivated his emotion chip.

"Oh, no offence taken Mr. Data," T-2C5 replied happily. "Though I am able to perform many other functions, my primary programming is for interpretation and protocol, not espionage or pleasure. There is no need for me to be any more physically able then I already am. By your appearance I would assume you were designed to blend in with humanoid life forms yet still be distinguishable. Quite a contradiction. And if I may say so, you have not displayed any sort of emotion. Is that an intentional design feature or are you just in poor spirits?"

"Actually, I can display emotions," Data said entering the room behind the alien droid. "I have chosen to deactivate them at the moment in the interest of professionalism, or so I won't, as the captain says, ‘embarrass myself.'"

"Really! How fascinating! I would like to spend more time speaking with you about the matter in the future."

"I would like that as well. I feel that there is much that I could learn from you and your people. We have work to do now, however. Come, let me show you the computer terminal."

As the door quietly closed, Mr. Data raised an arm and gestured to the far wall of the cabin. His emotion chip was now back on line and a smile split his face from ear to synthetic ear.


Unknown to the crew of the Enterprise, the ship that had disabled them and returned to the wormhole had not done so without leaving behind representatives far different from the protocol droid they would send later. At the climax of the melee, when all Federation ships had lost power, a small craft had debarked from the Star Destroyer and quickly entered hyperspace. That craft now shot silently through the void of space between systems at maximum sublight, scanning the area as it had after all of it's last jumps.

It was a sleek looking vessel with a dull black finished designed to be as non-reflective as possible. The main body was an elongated tear drop shape large enough for two crew members and a handful of passengers if necessary. Two curved heat sinks extended from the larger, rear ‘bulb' section of the ship giving it an unmistakably TIE appearance. Inside, the ships two occupants sat patiently as their computer processed data and entered it into the navigational charts.

"I hope we can find a place to purchase star charts soon or we'll both end up returning to the Republic old maids." The wish came from the younger of the two women piloting the vessel. She was a girl in her early twenties of not uncommon human appearance or stature. At this point she lounged back in her seat absently floating a sealed drink container between her hands.

"Keep your mind on the task at hand, Padawan," the other woman replied. "Things will happen in their own time. Hoping will get you nowhere. You must listen to what the Force tells you and accept it." This woman, human as well, had a wrinkled, motherly face. She sat patiently at the sensor controls waiting for the computer to announce that it was safe to make another jump.

"That's just it, Master Jenna," the younger of the two said in mild frustration. "There is no task at hand. We're just waiting. And nobody uses terms like ‘Padawan' anymore. Not even Master Luke."

"There is always a task at hand, Mai-Men," Jenna intoned like the teacher she was, ignoring her pupil's chide. "You're usually in more control of your emotions than this. You are anxious about being in this new galaxy. You are curious and excited about the life forms we will encounter, but you do not trust your feelings when they tell you that we were not spotted."

"You're right, of course," the young Jedi grabbed the drink container out of the air and punctured it's seal. "It's just that we've been at this for three hours now and though we're doing it very slowly, we're getting farther and farther away from home."

"So what is home?" Jenna asked. "The town you were born? The planet? You haven't been back to Sotoine since you were ten. Coruscant? Yavin? Nal-Hutta!?"

"Master!" Mai laughed at the last location.

"So what is it, my apprentice?" the older woman continued rhetorically. "Why is one galaxy home and the other not? What will you do if the wormhole is never destroyed and both galaxies are forever joined? Would this place then not be home as well? What if the wormhole collapses and we are both trapped here? Will this place never be your home? Will you try for the rest of your life to journey to a home you can never reach? Both galaxies are of the same universe Mai-Men. The Force fills these people as much as it does us. As long as you can feel the Force flowing, anywhere should be home to you."

At that moment the screen in front of the Jedi Knight began to flash, indicating that the computer had finished examining the contents of the next expanse of light-years and it was safe to plot a course into them. The computer was also informing the two that it had found signs of interstellar technology not far within the new region. Both Jedi smiled in spite of themselves.


After spending two days milling throughout the crowds of the Traveeca mining facility, the universal translators implanted in Commander Bala and his two subordinates had finally been able to interpret the human language of the new galaxy. As well as discovering that six more were being spoken on the station to boot. After that, finding someone to exchange the precious metals they had replicated on the Shinobi for credits was easy. They had had some idea of what would be considered precious by what they had seen and scanned through shop windows on the initial away mission. As a result, they had been able to supply themselves with quite a bit of money. Now, after learning all they could from the colony, the three Federation agents were traveling aboard a passenger transport bound for Coruscant.

Bala walked into the lavish suite the three had rented for the voyage to find his teammates already making themselves unduly comfortable. The two sat across from each other at a table, elbow deep in beautifully presented food of every size and description.

"I see you two have made yourselves at home while I was out working." The commander walked over to the table and casually chose something that was decidedly fried but of which little else was discernable.

"Eah-ta-ta," the men at the table warned through full mouths accompanied by waving hands.

"That's the bad pile." This came from the one on Bala's right, a young man of totally nondescript appearance. The brown haired, green eyed Lieutenant held up his tricorder as an explanation. "This stuff's good though. And real too! No replicators, just like Traveeca."

"Yeah," the other man, a Trill, added after a particularly rough swallow. "I don't know what you have in mind, but we're going to have to eat something other than those field rations sooner or later. This is highly important intelligence gathering!"

"I see," Bala replied shaking his head and tossing the inedible piece in his hand back into the ‘bad pile'. "Well, while you boys were in here ordering room service, I was gathering all the lesser information. You know, like alien biology, cultural diversity, history, technology, that sort of thing." The commander pulled another chair over to the table and sat down grabbing a fork. At least they had forks.

"And by the way, Jonesy," he continued, pointing a slice of melon at the human. "You do realize this is a pleasure cruise, don't you? It's going to take another week and a half to get to Coruscant on this tub."

"I know now," Jonesy shrugged. "We managed to accessed the computer over there. It's holographic and everything. Pretty neat stuff. Anyway, how was I supposed to know a cruise ship would come to a mining colony? I just got us the thing that would give us the most privacy."

"And a fine job you did my good man!" The Trill, one Lieutenant Welzen Pellax, gestured to the room with his knife and fork.

"So what did you find out?" Bala looked over to the computer terminal on the wall.

"Not much," Pellax replied. "Just the regular resort stuff. Where the pool is, how to play some of the gambling games, that type of thing. Then the food came. They have something like poker here, by the way. They call it sabacc."

"I figure now we'll be able to start programming the tricorders with the local written language," Jonesy cut in. "We can get the computer to display the words as it speaks and record it all with the tricorder. Then we match the symbol with the translated meaning and eventually we'll have stored enough to at least get by."

"Good start," the commander praised through a mouth full. "Try this, it tastes like beef. I found a few data crystals that we can plug into the computer. They're just brochures but we should be able to tell what people here find important enough to advertise.

"And you wouldn't believe all the alien life I saw out there! I basically just left the tricorder running the whole time and made like I was playing a kid's game. This place is a hundred times more diverse then the alpha quadrant. It's almost as if there's a cross section of the entire galaxy out there! Insects, mammals, lizards, amphibians, invertebrates, everything!"

"So," Pellax asked while rooting through a bowl of strange vegetables. "When do you think we're finally going to go to warp? Haven't they fluffed around the pretty asteroids long enough?"

"Who knows," Jonesy got up to look out their room's bank of windows. "We did a scan of the ships hull, Commander. It's a very advanced plastic-metal alloy composite, apparently manipulated at the molecular level. The good news is it's more durable than anything we've ever come across. The bad news is there's no way anybody can beam through it because of some of the elements used. I'd bet that's why we haven't seen any transporters. They're useless to these people."

Both men at the table nodded in agreement. It had been very frustrating having to take a shuttle off of the colony. Especially when they didn't dare ask anyone why the transporters weren't working. Now it made sense.

"I was hoping we had an advantage," Bala rose wiping his hands. "Computer, display the course of this vessel."

The computer terminal came to life and a second later an unnaturally beautiful human woman appeared smiling.

"The Crown of the Republic," the hologram announced happily. "Will be traveling directly from the lights and glamour of beautiful Coruscant to exotic Odi Rondi close to the outer rim." The hologram raised it's arms as if displaying a prize on a game show and an image of the galaxy appeared, slowly rotating as two points flared red. One was near the core of the galaxy, the other near the edge.

"From there," the illusionary woman continued. "We will make our way back, making stops in the Traveeca, Losnassa, Patic Sanora, Xinorphi, and Clatooine systems. If you would like more information on any of these places, there are complimentary information crystals provided throughout the ship. If you would like to hear about the wonderful amenities provided by the Crown of the Republic, please state your request."

The small galaxy zoomed in to encompass the entire image and froze, clearly showing the route the cruise ship was taking. The three men watching froze as the ramifications of what they had just saw took firm hold.

"I guess that explains all the different aliens you saw." Lieutenant Jones broke the silence.


The two hooded figures making there way down the bustling streets of Tak Mana stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs, yet strangely did not attract any undue attention. The people of the independent trading post were used to seeing odd characters. Creatures from all over the quadrant came to this place to conduct business of all sorts. They had even had a changeling pass through once. After all, there was a bit of a chill in the air this afternoon. And perhaps this was some new human fashion trend?

Jenna and Mai pulled into a side alley to collect themselves and plan their next move. They had just arrived, landing a safe distance away, and found themselves in a hole like a thousand others they had encountered in their travels. They had never expected to see humans in the crowd though. Very curious.

"Well, Master," Mai-Men sighed. "I suppose this tells us that this galaxy has just as much of an underbelly as everywhere else. So chaotic, is there no law here?"

"Indeed," came the reply from beneath a black hood. "A Jedi would find much work to do here. Come, I feel we will find success in that place." Jenna pointed down the road to a store front that was practically indistinguishable from any of the others.

"How will they understand us, Master?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something."

With that the two black clad figures re-immersed themselves into the flowing throng. A few long seconds later they were calmly pushing their way out again in front of a shop who's sign was unintelligible to them. The door swung open easily to present the two with a small room dominated by a counter on the far wall. A set of comfortable looking chairs were arranged around a low table in one corner looking out the front windows. Prints of particularly beautiful or interesting nebula and star systems adorned the walls.

The being behind the counter clapped its hands and spoke words which they felt were a welcome. It was a small humanoid male with huge ears and a lumpy bald head. As it invited them in, it's spiked teeth gleamed in the interior light. It's teeth, however, could never hope to out match the gleam from it's eyes that bespoke what the two Jedi felt emanating from the creature like a stink. Profit!

As the ladies pulled the hoods back from their heads to address the creature it seemed to jump ever so slightly, then resumed it's toothy grin. They felt the conflict within the small being. It had never gotten use to seeing females in clothing. These two had on so much clothing he had thought them men!

"Greetings friend," Jenna began gently, her hands neatly folded in front of her. "We are in the market for navigational data. Would this be the place for such a transaction?"

The pale skinned little man gave them a confused look and began poking his finger into one of his large ears, shaking it feverishly. "<I can't understand a word your saying, my dears, but I don't think it's the Universal Translator. Keep talking and maybe it'll start to pick things up.>" He waved with one hand to motion them to continue.

It wasn't that the Jedi could translate the alien language word for word, but rather that the Force whispered to them the meaning of the statements. They understood, however, and began to babble to the creature about anything that came into their heads. It soon became quite comical to Mai to watch as the strange man, so alien yet strangely more human then any alien she had seen, nodded thoughtfully as she talked about kissing banthas.

In no time the alien was smiling again and holding his hands out in welcome. "My apologies females, I assumed you were both Hu-mons. You must be new to this part of space for the Universal Translator to take such time learning your language. Now what was it that you desired of me."

"We are indeed new to this place my good man," Jenna smiled calmly. "Is this not where we may find navigational charts and information?"

"It is!" the creature sang. "I sell navigational equipment and data of all kinds. You may call me Nort. Now, it's charts you need?"

"Yes. The most detailed that you have available if you please." The Jedi Knight hardly needed the Force to tell her that this little man was going to try to cheat as much money out of them as he could. It didn't matter though. She felt he would be suitably impressed by what the Republic had given them to trade with for this mission.

"Detail, yes, of course," Nort rubbed his hands at the smell of the profit. "All of my charts are of the highest quality. Now where was it that you ladies would like to go?"

"We are trying to see as much as we can," Jenna told the truth innocently. "Can you supply us with information on the entire galaxy?"

"The galaxy!?" Nort laughed. "The galaxy is a very big place my dear. The alpha quadrant hasn't even been completely mapped out! You and your daughter here need to set your sights a little lower. Now I can get you data on all of know space in the alpha and some of the beta quadrants, and I can even get you a little bit of the gamma quadrant for the right price, but you're never going to get any better then that. Besides, there are places that you won't really want to visit. I don't really know how much of a tourist trade there is on Cardassia or Romulus."

"I see," The Jedi took note of the fact that this galaxy was not completely explored, much less unified. "Any information you can give us would be most helpful. And highly rewarded."

"Now, my dear," the shop clerk grinned. "You're speaking my language."

[Singular Quartet]

A ferengi. The best way to get anything you need, with the right price tag and within reason.

[Mr Bean]

Is it just me or does every single Fanfic out there use Quark?

Ahh what would we do without him

Now then on with the next instalment this is shapping up quite well
My commendments.

[Hendrake]

Keep up the good work!
I'm hooked!

[Eleas]

<snip>

In case I didn't say it earlier, this Fic is enjoyable.

[Romulan_nemesis]

Star Trek: Invasion? That's a video game for Playstation dude. One which I can't beat without the codes...

Rommie

[Mark S]

Star Trek: Invasion? That's a video game for Playstation dude. One which I can't beat without the codes...

Rommie

Oops. I haven't bought a Playstation game since Speed Punks. Love that game.

Anyway, like I said before, it's just what seemed to fit for the trek side. No one can help it if Trek is so easy to invade.