From: Dalton (rob@daltonator.net) Subject: [Fanfic] Lonely God Newsgroups: alt.startrek.vs.starwars Date: 2002-01-13 15:53:48 PST Prologue Klaxons blared throughout the ship. "Four hundred more!" came the cry from tactical. "We've almost got them all!" The bridge lurched as another minor shockwave barrelled past. "Cargo bay four is full!" said Riker. "Begin moving the colonists into the holodecks." Picard then turned to the helm. "Mister Data, how much time do we have left?" "There are twenty-three seconds until the initial shockwave," Data said, his voice loud. "Four seconds until the next pre-shock." "The 'Browning' is reporting full," Riker reported, leaning over his chair's console. "'Georgetown' reports transporters down." The pre-shock hit, almost knocking Riker over the side of the chair. "Tell them to get out of here, now!" Picard ordered. "Captain, power levels are beginning to fluctuate," LaForge said from the engineering repeater station. "We can't take much more of this mass-transporting." "The 'Monitor' is full, Captain! That's the last of them." Tactical reported. Picard reacted immediately. "Shields up! Break orbit! Warp two, engage!" The 'Enterprise' shuddered as the warp field kicked in. Another pre-shock bucked the ship at the same time. The bridge lights dimmed briefly. "Losing power to the warp core! Diverting power from all non-essential systems!" reported Geordi, his hands flying across the controls. He started to give orders over the comm to his engineering staff. "Sir, the 'Defiant' is losing antimatter containment! They're ejecting their warp core!" announced Tactical, the lieutenant on duty concentrating hard to keep calm. "Seven seconds until shockwave," Data said, his calm voice sounding clearly over the klaxons. "The 'Monitor' has gone to warp." "Get a tractor beam on the 'Defiant!'" ordered Picard. "Tractor beam locked! Boosting power to the warp field!" shouted Geordi. "Engage, damn it!" ---- As is the case with most technology, such as a violent smack being Emergency Repair Tool #1, there are a lot of legends and myths surrounding warp drive. Ever since Zephram Cochrane invented and built the first Terran faster-than-light propulsion system, engineers have set about the task of making it better, faster, safer. The real legends, the Montgomery Scotts of Starfleet, were miracle workers with warp engines; squeezing out a little more containment here, an extra factor there. The one thing that engineers haven't done, or perhaps never thought to do, or maybe even would not do, is try to tweak the so-called 'AMRE', as it is popularly known. Artificial Mass Reduction Effect: most of a starship's mass is submerged into that domain known as Subspace, where normal physics don't apply. What would happen, though, if all of a ship's mass was submerged? Some said you'd see the back of your own head. Some said you'd be lost forever in subspace. Some claimed immortality. One odd religious cult believed you'd meet God. Several fringe scientists theorized that you would end up in a random location in spacetime. Whatever the belief, nobody ever tried to do it. ---- The tent flap opened, letting in a chilly night breeze that made the fire flicker. An old, wizened man looked up from his meditations, motioning his visitor inside. "Come, young one," he wheezed. "Are you alright, Walker With Spirits?" The visitor took a sitting position on the opposite side of the fire. "I am fine, Fast Arrow. What is your question?" "We heard you scream, even from the forest..." he said, trailing off. The old man closed his eyes and sighed. "It has happened," he said. "Yes, Bright Feather has had her little one--" "No," he cut off the younger one. "The Spirits have spoken to me. The Blessed Ones have arrived." "Blessed Ones?" The younger man furrowed his brow. "You speak of them in your sleep." "I speak to them," the elder said. "They tell me of a white man descending from the heavens..." ---- Smoke curled lazily from sparking consoles. Those that still worked scrolled red text across their displays, a comprehensive list of all that was wrong. One of the keyboards began to smolder and caught fire, but the lone conscious officer, who was of a metallic persuasion, quickly smothered it with an emergency extinguisher. Life support was offline and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Data went over to the nearest console and began to type furiously, engaging the automatic repair systems that had failed to engage themselves. Screens which had begun fogging over from the cold quickly cleared up again as the systems managed to get auxiliary life support running. Sensors, weapons, warp drive and just about everything else would take a lot more time. Having accomplished this, he grabbed a first aid kit from under a console and began to administer hyposprays to the human officers. One of them groaned softly, rolling over. Captain Picard stood shakily, pressing a hand to his head. He was surprised to see it coated with red. "Report, Mister Data," he said. Data cocked his head. "I am not sure what has occured, Captain," he replied, passing a dermal regenerator to Picard. "After we established tractor lock with the 'Defiant,' I attempted to engage the warp drive. However, I am not sure if this was successful." He tried to replay the sensor logs, but the memory core appeared to be offline. "I believe that the shockwave hit us at the same time the 'Defiant's' ejected warp core exploded. It also appears that at that precise moment, we went to warp." He paused, his inherent honesty forcing him to add the modifier, "Or appeared to have went." "Where are we?" Picard asked. The viewscreen was blank. The window above showed the usual undecipherable starfield. "I am not sure, sir. Sensors are currently offline." Picard sighed, adjusting his uniform. He patted the new skin atop his skull, which was still raw and sensitive. "Work on getting main power back online. I'll check on the others." "Yes, sir." Picard took a tricorder out of the kit and moved around to Geordi's prone form. Riker began to stir, and the Ensign at the second helm console was more or less at attention. He lamely tapped a few buttons, getting nothing. Riker grabbed hold of his chair and struggled to his feet, staggering over to Tactical. The station beeped at him. "Captain, we are being hailed by the 'Defiant,'" Riker said. "Audio only." "Mister Worf, I presume," Picard said over the comm. "Do you require any assistance?" "I doubt you could render any right now," Worf replied, bemused. "We can manage for now." From behind him came the announcement that sensors were back online. "Acknowledged, Commander. Do you detect any serious damage on the 'Enterprise?'" asked Picard. A pause. "The 'Enterprise' appears intact." Worf's disembodied voice crackled slightly as the comms system underwent a self-repair diagnostic. "You are listing slightly, but otherwise safely adrift. I will contact you if we find out anything else." "Very well. Picard out." He rubbed his temples. "Something doesn't feel right," he said quietly. "Sir?" "Ah, nothing, Number One." Picard sighed. "Let's...let's just make sure everyone is alright." He took the first aid kit and made for the turbolift. It failed to respond. "Wonderful," he muttered. ----- Somewhere in the vastness of space, a probe awoke. It was a small probe, of an old design, left here decades ago for a single purpose: watch. So it watched. It watched as nothing happened. Stars moved, but only slowly. It didn't mind. As a droid, it wasn't affected by the sheer boredom inherent in such a job. It had only the barest of sentience, enough to interact with any wayward ships. There was nobody around for lightyears, or since it last checked, which was when a passing meteor engaged its active scanning. It was awake now, though, and it wondered why. Well, insofar as to how much wonder an emotionless probe droid could have. What it was actually doing was running a self- diagnostic and trying to discover why it had been activated. It suspected a malfunction. Everything cleared out as normal, and it prepared to go back to "sleep." It began to disengage internal systems and shut off active sensors when it suddenly awoke again. The probe had itself been probed. Duly, it sent a transmission to the nearest security net. ::PROBE DROID 997-46A GALACTIC SECTOR ZZ9-426 UNNAMED ::DESTINATION: IMPERIAL SECURITY SUBNET 57-098-353X ::0347 4469 ENCRYPT DELTA TAU ::DETECTED UNKNOWN ARTIFICIAL ENERGY SIGNATURE ::UNKNOWN ORIGIN ::COORDINATES 346 876 92 ::DISTANCE: 2.47402 LIGHTYEARS ::PLEASE ADVISE ::END Satisfied, it shut itself down to standby. ***