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Newsgroups: alt.startrek.vs.starwars
Subject: [Fanfic] The Vortex (mine) chapters 1-6
From: deimos_anomaly@my-deja.com
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 15:23:52 GMT

This fanfic uses characters etc. from Star Trek, copyright of Paramount
pictures, and Star Wars, copyright Lucasarts/Lucasfilm. No copyright
infringement intended. No profit is made from this. Fanfic by Sam. E-
mail suggestions/hatemail or whatever to:   samuel@jamieson-
03.freeserve.co.uk

THE VORTEX by Sam J.

Prelude:

To say that the universe is a vast and complex place is the king of
gross understatements. If every word ever invented to describe things
of mind-boggling size and complexity were used to try to describe it,
they would fail miserably. The physical size and dimensions involved,
and the countless billions of billions of billions of layers of sub-
systems, physical laws and life forms it contains, coupled with the
time it has existed for and will exist for in the future, is
ungraspable, and if any ordinary human could grasp it, the thought
would very likely kill him by causing a sudden and massive heart
attack. The nature and variety of life found therein is possibly the
only thing whose un-imaginableness comes close. From things that burrow
around inside a rat's innards, to vastly powerful beings capable of
controlling time and space at will. For the purpose of this fanfic, let
it be said that one such being;- one that no mortal being had ever
heard of or seen, one that even the proud and seemingly godlike members
of the Q continuum would have had to grovel before, had they ever met,
was bored. One might well think this impossible for such an entity, but
boredom is an emotion that runs through practically every intelligent
creature, and immensely powerful ones are no exception. As it happened,
the being, as it looked across time and space for something to interest
it, found something. Two somethings to be precise. Two sagas, two
timelines, seperated by mind crushing distances, both of physical
space, and of time. And the being began to wonder. What if these two
were to meet? What if? And so it decided what should be done. With a
mere thought, it willed into existance a bridge, or a tunnel, it does
not matter wich analogy one chooses, that crossed both the unending
depths of intergalactic space, and the megayears of time as well, and
enabled safe passage of physical objects between the two. Then, the
being sat down to wait and watch.

Chapter 1: Contact (Not a very original name for the first chapter of a
crossover fanfic, but it's apt)

The USS Defiant slipped through space like a metal hawk, pursuing it's
prey. Ahead, two Jem'Hadar attackers manoeuvred wildly. In the command
chair, Captain Benjamin Sisko felt the deck shudder slightly as the
powerful pulse phasers leaped away from the forward weapons arrays. Out
in space, one of the Jem'Hadar ships flowered in a bright explosion
that was unheard in the vacuum, but displayed clearly on the Defiant's
viewscreen. "That's one down!" exclaimed Dax. "Target the other" Sisko
ordered, although he knew the crew were already doing that, of course.
Just as the Defiant closed for the kill, the Jem'Hadar ship banked
wildly, and moved off to the right, as if avoiding something. Then it
became apparent why. Garak turned from the science station. "There is a
spatial anomaly directly ahead of the course the Jem'Hadar were on.
They detected it before us and evaded!" Sisko Shouted: "Quickly,
evasive manoeuvres!" But he was too late. A second later the
unmistakable form of a wormhole, a rip in the fabric of space-time,
opened, and swallowed the Defiant as an elephant might swallow a fly,
without noticing. Then it vanished. Not far away, some rock-headed
Jem'Hadar saw the ship disappear. With satisfied grunts, they set
course for home.

Captain Taryl Granor stood on the bridge of the Victory class star
destroyer Stomper. He was bored. He had been on patrol in this sparsely
populated backwater of the outer rim for a month now. Just patrolling
around, making sure the inhabitants of the sector knew the Imperials
were there, and watching them. Granor stood, and longed for excitement,
longed for glory. All the action of this war was happening far away
from him. There was a rumor the Emperor was secretly constructing a new
Death Star, and that the rebels would be attempting to strike against
it. But then again, there were always rumors. Most of them untrue.
"Captain!" The voice of one of the officers in a bridge pit broke into
Granor's thoughts. He turned. "Yes?" The officer spoke: "Sensors have
detected an energy surge in space, 10 light years from our position. It
is consistent with the formation of a spatial anomaly, possibly a far-
reaching tunnel in space-time, or a "wormhole" as some in our fleet
call it." The captain considered this for a few moments. If anything
else, this might just break the monotony of patrol duty. "Very good. We
will investigate this anomaly, if that is indeed what it is. Set course
for those co-ordinates and make the jump", he said.

The swirling blue energies of the wormhole abruptly vanished, leaving
the Defiant in normal space. The Jem'Hadar were gone. Abruptly, Sisko's
comm panel bleeped on the command chair. "Astrogation to bridge. We
cannot identify any of the stars in this area of space. We appear to
have travelled a very long way." Sisko pondered this. Then he spoke "Is
there anything you can get a fix on, anything AT ALL?" "Yes. We have
attained a fix on several pulsars which are outside of our galaxy. And
according to their positions, we are several hundred billion lightyears
from Federation space." There was a collective hush of astonishment
spread around the bridge. "But that can only mean..." said Sisko "Yes"
said the person in astrogation. "It can only mean, we are now in a
different galaxy. Also, according to computer analysis of the data, the
pulsars' position is the positions they held over 3 million years
before the 24th century. The wormhole must also have been temporal." It
was not necessary, but for some reason the astrogation officer added:
"As of now, in our own galaxy, humans have not yet come down from the
trees..." The crew pondered this for a few more moments. Suddenly
O'Brien spoke up. "Sir, a starship has appeared 3 million kilometres
off our port side. It is at least as big as a Sovereign class ship...
no wait, it is larger than that. It is 900 meters in length" "Curiouser
and curiouser..." Bashir muttered at the back of the bridge.

"We are at the cordinates, captain" said one of the Stomper's pit
officers. Then another said "Sensor data indicates the anomaly is
indeed a wormhole." Then he leaned closer to his screen. "And not only
that, wherever it leads to, a ship has already come through from there.
I am putting it on a screen now." The alien ship was, of course, too
far away to be seen with the naked eye, so Granor looked not out the
huge windows, but at a viewscreen in the command area. On the screen
was the image of a starship. Slightly longer than a correlian corvette,
and wider, it was one of the more alien looking ships Granor had ever
seen. Rounded at the front, with a noselike protrusion, it swept back
to a pair of glowing pods on either side, that were probably engines or
weapons of some kind. Behind these, the ship's stern was more angular.
Captain Granor considered his options for a few seconds and then said
"Hail them, all frequencies"

"They are hailing us, captain" said cadet Nog at communications. Audio
only. "On speakers" Sisko ordered. The voice of a man filled the
Defiant's bridge. It was an alien language that none of them
recognised. Soon, however the universal translators had analysed the
language structure enough to reasonably translate what he was saying.
But they had missed the start. "Ensign, reply to the alien ship. I will
speak" Sisko then said. "I am captain Benjamin Sisko of the Federation
starship USS Defiant. We did not understand the beginning of your
transmission because our translation devices had not yet worked out
your language. Could you repeat the transmission?" Sisko was trying to
be as blunt and inoffensive as possible, as he knew this could be
nothing but a first contact situation.

"They want to hear your transmission again, captain. They could not
translate the start of it.", Said an officer in the bridge pit. Captain
Granor said; "I am an Imperial captain and I will not repeat myself
personally to anyone except a superior in the navy. However, you may
replay the recording of the message to them."

On the Defiant, the crew listened to the replayed message. "I am
captain Granor of the Victory class Star Destroyer Stomper. You have
entered Imperial space. We have detected an anomaly and know you may
have been unable to stop yourselves being flung here. Nevertheless,
Imperial law is Imperial law, and trespass is illegal. You will lower
your shields and prepare for boarding. You will come with us. Any
resistance on your part will be dealt with accordingly. I hope you
understand and co-operate... for your sake. Prepare to be boarded." The
crew looked at eachother. In all her many Trill lifetimes, Dax had
never heard a speech quite as arrogant and aggressive as that. At
least, she couldn't remember hearing any. Garak was scanning the ship
as best he could. "Sir, they have multiple energy weapons emplacements
along the ship's sides. It would be an understatement to say that we
would take a beating in a fight." Sisko thought about this. He had, of
course, no intention of doing as the alien captain had told him. In
fact, if this anomaly was anything like the Bajoran wormhole, it should
be possible to simply re-enter it and return to the milky way. "Dax,
prepare to make a run back at the wormhole. Full impulse on my command."

"Captain, there is an energy buildup in the alien ship. It is moving."
Granor was not entirely surprised by this. He had, in fact considered
it quite likely that the aliens would try to escape back to the
wormhole. "Quick, after them. Launch all TIE fighters, distract them!"
The 900 meter long ship surged forward after the defiant,
simultaneously spewing fighters from it's hangar bay.

"Small craft, incoming" said Garak. "Look like fighters." Damn, thought
Sisko, they might not get out of this. "Dax, prepare a spread of
quantum torpedoes for those fighters. And go to warp as we fire. A
variation of the Picard manoeuvre may get us out of this.

Captain Granor watched the ties close on the alien vessel. Just as they
got to within weapons range, however, a series of bright, sparkling
projectiles launched from the alien ship. Several fighters were
destroyed, and a few of the torpedoes continued on and hit the Stomper
herself. Suddenly, the glowing pods on the sides of the alien ship
pulsed brightly, and it leapt forward and vanished in a burst of light.
It re-appeared a split second later at the very edge of the anomaly.
Captain Granor realised immediately what had happened. They must have
engaged an alternative form of FTL drive for a short time. A bridge pit
officer said, "Sir, according to sensors, they went several hundred
times faster than light to cover that distance in the time they were
invisible. But they did not enter hyperspace." Captain Granor was
astounded. These aliens went at FTL through normal space! Such a system
would surely not be very fast, and it must be ludicrously easy to track.

"The wormhole is opening, captain" said Nog. Sisko gave a sigh of
relief. At least it looked as if they could get back to their own
galaxy.

"Captain, the aliens are escaping!" said an officer on the Stomper's
bridge. Granor looked at the swirling wormhole for a few seconds, then
said, "Let them go. We have no idea what lies on the other side, and it
would be foolish to simply rush in alone. Recall all TIE fighters.
Also, I want a full report on this compiled and transmitted to Imperial
command via holonet within the hour. Maximum priority." Captain Taryl
Granor was feeling quite happy. Wormholes were rare enough,
intergalactic ones almost unheard of. (Given the other ship's alienness
he was nearly certain it was from another galaxy) As discoverer of an
intergalactic wormhole, Granor knew he would be a very famous and
highly regarded man indeed. And rich too, of course.

To be continued...

The Vortex (By Sam)

Chapter 2: Entanglement

Immediately after leaving the wormhole, Sisko ordered the Defiant to
maximum warp. They slowed to warp 4 when they were a light year from
the wormhole. "There are no trace of the aliens" said Garak.
"Apparently they did not come through after us." The bridge was eerily
quiet for a few minutes. Then Sisko broke the silence: "Well, people.
What do you make of that... encounter?" Nobody spoke for a few more
seconds, apparently formulating their thoughts on what to say. Then the
opportunity was removed when Sisko's comm panel beeped. A report came
in of several damaged systems. All in all however, during the short
engagement the Defiant had not received many hits, and therefore did
not receive much damage. None of the damage was critical either, the
ship had been in much worse condition before, due to the ministrations
of the Borg and, during one awkward period of tension in the quadrant,
the Klingons. "Set course for starbase 32, maximum warp" Sisko ordered.
"Aye sir!"

"What is thy bidding, my master?" It was the computer-modulated voice
of Darth Vader, the feared Sith lord. He was kneeling before the
Emperor. "I did not call you here to bid you do anything as such" said
the Emperor. "But I will tell you some information I have learned. You
may stand now." Vader stood. The Emperor, in Vader's opinion, was being
unusually straight and to the point. Vader did not speak. He did not
ask "What?" And indeed he was not expected to. The Emperor would speak
on his own time. After a long pause he spoke: "We have a new player in
the game." He said. This time Vader felt pressed to ask a question of
his master. "The galactic game? The war with the rebel scum?" Vader
wondered what the Emperor meant. "Yes, that, and also the whole general
picture. I will be very concise, my servant. As a start, have you ever
heard of a wormhole?" "Yes my master!" Vader replied quickly. The
Emperor continued: "It is a tunnel in the material which makes up our
universe. I am no technician, but I am Emperor, and I know what it is.
What I have brought you here for is to tell you that a wormhole has
been discovered in the outer rim. And not just any wormhole. It leads
to another galaxy." Vader considered this for a few moments. Then he
said "Would I be right if I thought that this wormhole only formed
yesterday, at 23:57 hours?" The emperor confirmed this.  "Exactly. I
see you must have felt the great disturbance in the force caused by the
wormhole forming. I felt it myself. Well, enough of this. A ship came
through from this other galaxy. The captain of a Star destroyer in the
area discovered the wormhole and attempted to arrest the ship's
occupants, but they escaped." "Yes my master. I am following you."
"Good", the Emperor continued. "Your orders are simple. You will
oversee the massing of a fleet at this wormhole. Scouts will be sent to
assess what is on the other side of this wormhole. The wormhole's
formation has opened a great new territory to us, ripe for the
conquering! If you need to stall for time waiting for the scouts, then
you can use false offers of negotiation, whatever you need. When you
strike, be merciless! The empire shall be glorified! Now go. You have
work to do" Vader gave one final "Yes, my master", and left the
throneroom.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise turned to Worf at
the security station. "Report on the other ships?" The big Klingon
rumbled: "The Hood and the Yamato are with us. The Defiant, Centaur,
and Washington should be with us in half an hour. The Defiant's battle
damage is completely repaired." Picard had one more question: "The
Klingons?" Worf replied: "The Klingon empire have dispatched three
ships. The Blood of Kahless, and the Honored Blade, both Vor'Cha class
cruisers, and the Rotorran, general Martok's Bird-of-Prey." Picard
signalled his approval. Since the Defiant had returned and her crew
delivered their report, several emergency sessions of the Federation
council had been called, and a number of ships were being scrambled to
guard the wormhole in case the aliens should try to launch any kind of
attack. So far nothing had happened. The Sovereign- class Enterprise -
E, her sister ship Yamato, and the USS Hood had reached the wormhole a
while ago, and more ships from the federation and Klingons where
heading to back them up. Suddenly ensign Ro Laren spoke from her
science console. "Captain, the wormhole is opening." On the viewscreen,
the wormhole leapt into existence in space. Ro spoke again. "I am
detecting three small ships coming out." "Onscreen, maximum
magnification!" Picard ordered. On the viewscreen appeared three small
ships, about the size of Federation shuttlecraft. Each had, however,
three large fins protruding from it's fuselage, like atmospheric wings.
The craft looked strangely elegant. And due to their manoeuvres the
moment they left the wormhole, it seemed that they had not been
expecting to meet ships on the other side. "Hail them" said Picard.

Damn it all. In the cockpit of imperial scout shuttle Seeker 1, it's
pilot, Krule Davan flung his craft up, then right, then into a hard
downward, left turn. They had NOT been expecting enemy ships to simply
be waiting there. (In keeping with the general ethos of Imperial
forces, the aliens had not been referred to as anything other than
"enemy" by anyone he had heard.) A probe droid sent through yesterday
had come back with the information that the area around the wormhole's
other end was deserted. And yet, when the imperial scouts left the
wormhole, there were three large (and very strange looking) alien
frigates sitting right in front of them. Davan spoke into his comlink :
"Seeker 2, Seeker 3, break off and try to make a run past the enemy
ships.
The three shuttles raced towards the Federation starships. On his
comlink he could hear one of the ships hailing him, demanding to know
his business and origin. He ignored it. He was very close now, starting
to move between two of the enemy frigates, and the last thing he needed
was some stupid aliens trying to talk to him.

"They are not responding to our hails" Worf rumbled. "Phasers ready."
He added. However, Picard ordered: "Stand by on phasers, prepare to
snare the craft passing nearest to us with the tractor beam. "

Davan was amazed. He was almost behind the aliens now, escaping, and
they hadn't fired a shot. Suddenly he felt his shuttle slow down. He
twisted the controls this way and that, but it was no use. Soon his
craft had stopped and begun to move back towards the nearest alien
ship. With a horrible sinking feeling, he realised he was caught in a
powerful tractor beam.

The main shuttlebay doors of the Enterprise opened, and the alien
shuttle began to be drawn in there. A security detail stood waiting,
phasers drawn. As the spacecraft was brought towards the deck, It's
lower wings swung upwards gracefully, until they flanked the tailfin on
the dorsal side. The shields of the shuttle abruptly lowered. The crew
had been waiting for this (in case it happened) The shuttle's occupant
had just made a crucial mistake, (presuming he did not want to be
removed from the craft) The moment the shields were down, The
transporter chief was notified, and the alien beamed out. Another
security detail was waiting in the transporter room. However, they were
not in fact necessary. The alien seemed to be in shock for a few
seconds. Then he simply said "How?" All the Federation personnel in the
room were in fact very surprised as well. The "Alien" was, as far as
anyone could tell, Human.  As he was led away to be interrogated, a
young ensign who was standing by turned to the transporter chief and
said: "It would seem that these aliens have not encountered transporter
technology before..."

Captain Tarol Veraa was worried. The scouts should have returned hours
ago. He should have sent a second probe droid through immediately
before them. Damn, WHY hadn't he thought of that. At that moment the
door at the back of the bridge of his command, the ISD Wrath swooshed
open, and the black-cloaked figure of Darth Vader strode in. Everyone
on the Wrath's bridge huddled over their stations, trying not to look
at him. "Captain, the scouts have not returned!" Vader intoned. "Yes my
lord, I do not know why. I fear they have walked into a trap." Vader
stepped closer "And you did, of course send probe droids through to
establish that there was no trap?" Veraa was visibly squirming. "Well,
I sent one through, I thought..." Vader spoke up, cutting off his
sentence: "When did you send it?" In a shaky voice, Veraa answered
"Yesterday." Vader was enraged. "Incompetent fool." Then came the
dreaded words: "You have failed me for the last time" Vader raised his
hand, the force worked, and seized the luckless Tarol Veraa. Unlike
many before him, however, it did not simply tighten around his throat,
but instead lifted his whole body into the air, while he screamed in
fear. Vader thought more of a spectacle should be made of this man, to
keep the crew in fear. Still levitated by the force, he floated over
towards the turbolift at the back of the ISD's bridge. The doors were
forced open by the force, but the lift itself was not there. Seeing
what was about to happen, Veraa began to scream more, and beg. It was
to no avail. Vader manoeuvred him into the shaft, and then abruptly
released the hold of the force. Veraa's scream could be heard echoing
back as he plunged down, eventually cut off as there was a sickening
thud from far below.

The Vortex (By Sam)

Chapter 3: War cry

Jenya Kanoe Sighed with relief as her shuttle accelerated into
hyperspace. She Was the only one of her spy group to have made it past
the enemy blockade. After Seeker 1 had been snared by the largest alien
ship, she and her wingman, a brave young man called Hol, had dodged and
weaved this way and that, eventually leaving the enemy ships behind.
However, just when they thought they were clear, her sensors picked up
an odd spatial distortion, which matched that observed by the VSD
Stomper when the first alien corvette had engaged it's stardrive.
Suddenly, there was a flash, and three more ships appeared, in a manner
that looked similar to a ship exiting hyperspace, but obviously wasn't
the same. The middle one, which looked like a corvette-sized version of
a modified nebulon-B, opened fire almost immediately on Hol, who had
been on a collision course. The weapons fired green pulses of energy.
Caught dead ahead of the line of fire, Hol didn't stand a chance in his
small shuttle. He was blown to atoms. It was during this time that
Kanoe had managed to evade the other ships. She had now calculated a
jump to several light years away, to see what could be done.

"Fool" General Martok mumbled under his breath. He had just finished
reprimanding N'Garan, his young weapons officer, for the instant and
unthinking destruction of the alien ship. Although, he had done it more
to please certain Starfleet people than out of the need for discipline.
He knew he would probably have done the same if he was a young weapons
officer, in that situation.

"Sir" said Worf. "The Klingon ships are here. The Federation
reinforcements arrived earlier as you know." "Good" Picard replied.
Then he said. "Mr La Forge, prepare three probes to enter the wormhole,
record data and then reverse course." "Aye Sir"
A short time later the probes were ready, and were fired from the
Enterprise's torpedo tubes. And along with them, cloaked and invisible,
crept the USS Defiant.

"Energy surge - the wormhole is opening!" Captain Anak Talz of the ISD
Wrath tensed. Then, as he heard a report that three small objects with
no lifeforms had come through, he ordered them intercepted. He hoped it
was the right decision. Until yesterday, he had been the first officer
of the Wrath. However, Vader's "demotion" had meant there was no
captain, and the dark lord himself had promoted Talz on the spot,
telling him that he hoped, for his sake, that he made a better job of
it than the fool Veraa.

The third probe fired it's small engine, and headed back to the
wormhole at maximum speed. Having gathered a vast amount of data in
only a few minutes, it had watched the first and second probes captured
by tractor-beam. The small computer brain inside knew that if it were
to be destroyed as well, the gathered information could not possibly be
delivered back to the mothership. So with he cold, calm logic of a
computer, it made it's decision, and raced back towards the rip in the
fabric of the universe.

If There had not been so much ship - to ship communication, (Both
subspace and EM), jamming system tests, weapons tests, engine
adjustments and other interference-generating actions being done in the
fleet of about 60 ships, then somebody might have noticed an odd
anomalous reading on the display screens for CGT scanners, moving away
from the wormhole, past the fleet, and towards deep space. As it
happened, no one saw the faint detectable emissions of the cloaked
Defiant as it slipped past. And anyway, if anyone had seen it, he
probably wouldn't have thought it worthy of reporting to his superiors.
After all, they were very near this mysterious wormhole. Who could know
what strange effects it might generate?

"LaForge to bridge." Picard's comm panel beeped. "Picard here." He
said. La Forge continued: "Only one probe has returned to us. It
detected a large fleet on the other side of the wormhole. About sixty
ships. Many of them are considerably larger than the one which attacked
the Defiant, although they are similar in shape. They are roughly 1600
meters long, according to the gathered data. There are twenty one of
those, and twenty six vessels identical to the one which attacked the
Defiant. The remaining ships are around 300 meters in length, shaped
slightly like a Klingon bird of prey." La Forge finished his report.
Picard's stomach churned. This was happening too soon. First contact
four days ago, and it looked like the aliens were already mustering
some kind of invasion force. They must be very aggressive. He told
himself they were probably as wary of the people on this side as were
the Federation of them, and were probably only guarding the wormhole in
case they should be invaded. By reasoning like this, he tried to tell
himself everything was fine. But his gut feeling told him otherwise. It
was an invasion fleet, and deep down, he knew it, whatever else he
might try to tell himself. He spoke: "Mr Worf, contact Starfleet..."

The Defiant had been sitting behind the alien fleet for over five
hours, cloaked, and with most systems, including engines, shut down.
They simply listened. There was a very large amount of subspace
traffic, and even some EM communication, being exchanged between those
ships, and sometimes messages came and went between the fleet and deep
space. So far they had learned that the ships identical to the ones
which had attacked them were called Victory class star destroyers, and
the mile long vessels were called Imperial star destroyers.
Occasionally, they had heard some crewmember refer to something called
a Super star destroyer. There was no hint that it might be coming here.
Sisko was glad about that. From the small amounts of intercepted
conversation he had heard about them, it seemed this Empire had only a
few of them. That probably meant they were much larger or more deadly
than any of the ships here.

When the wormhole had opened earlier that day, not only had captain
Talz ordered the enemy probes intercepted, but he had also quickly sent
through two of his own. He had been waiting for such an opportunity, as
he suspected the aliens might send something through. That way, they
would not be alerted to the presence of his probe droids, because they
would be expecting the wormhole to be open. They would obviously pick
them up, but the trick would give the droids a little more time to
gather information. So when they raced back, Talz was elated to
discover that they had gotten a full active sweep of the area on the
other side, and then some. The aliens had only nine ships guarding
their end, ranging in size from a corvette-sized vessel to ones almost
as big as a Victory star destroyer. He immediately contacted Darth
Vader in his quarters, and the dark lord strode onto the bridge to
order that there was no further need for delay. Eight ISD's and
fourteen VSD's would proceed through at once and destroy or disable the
enemy ships. As one, the sublight engines on the selected ships flared
and they moved towards the wormhole.

The Vortex (By Sam)

Chapter 4: The first clash

"The wormhole is opening" It was Worf. The bridge crew of the
enterprise watched as a huge wedge shaped starship emerged. The
wormhole did not close. Another began to come out. Picard spoke
quickly. "Hail the lead ship. Tell them we represent the United
Federation Of Planets, and they must state their intentions." A few
seconds later, Worf said that the first ship had returned the hail,
audio only. "On Speakers" A stern voice filled the Enterprise's bridge:
"You will surrender your ships and prepare for boarding. Any resistance
will result in destruction. This space is now under the Galactic
Empire." By the time the message ended eight of the huge 1600 meter
ships had emerged, and more ships, like them but 900 meters long, were
coming. "Shields up" ordered Picard. "Lock phasers. But don't fire
unless they do." Worf didn't have to wait long. Detecting that the
enemy ships had raised shields and powered up whatever weapons they
used, the Imperial captains gave the go-ahead for attack. Turbolaser
bolts lanced out at the Federation and Klingon ships. The captain of
the USS Washington, the classic pacifist, had been late to raise his
shields. His ship was pounded on the already weakened shields, which
soon failed, and the ship was vaporised in a powerful antimatter
explosion. The Enterprise was already moving, trying to get behind the
enemy ships, firing as it went. Her sister the Yamato was trying the
same thing on the other side of the Imperial formation. And the Hood,
Centaur and the Klingons were engaging the imperials from the front.
One of the huge Imperial star destroyers became separated from the rest
of it's group. Immediately, the Yamato and the Honored blade opened up
on it, firing at the tower-like superstructure that was probably the
bridge. Frantically scanning the ships for any sign of weakness, the
Yamato's crew discovered that the ship's shields were generated from
several points on the hull, but that the bridge had it's own
independent shield generators, clearly visible as two large spherical
emplacements on top of the bridge tower. The Centaur came up from
behind, staying just out of the ferocious ion wash from the alien's
large engines, and pounded those shield generators. They were inside
the shield, of course, but the continued barrage of quantum torpedoes
from the Centaur and Yamato were too much. The excellent point defences
shot down many torpedoes, but a lot also got through. Eventually the
shields in that area collapsed for a short period of time. In that
window of opportunity, Martok's Rotorran appeared from somewhere and,
with the bravery of Klingons, sped the length of the ISD, disruptor
cannons blazing. The shield domes were destroyed in short order, and
then the bridge itself took numerous direct hits and burst into a
searing conflagration. As the Rotorran veered away, the massive ship
began to reel to port, going totally out of control. Engines fired in
no order at all, bridge-regulated systems went wrong all through the
ship. Then, as the stricken star destroyer drifted around, aiming it's
nose at one of the other ISD's, the sublight engines, by some cruel
quirk of fate, all fired together on full power for a few moments.
There was no time to react on either ship, and the two enormous vessels
collided at high sublight speed, causing a lethal and massive explosion
which engulfed and destroyed them both. Meanwhile, the Blood of Kahless
had received a huge pounding from four VSD's and one ISD. It's warp
core breached, and the explosion and shockwave destroyed not only that
ship, but several squadrons of TIE fighters that were nearby. A new war
was truly underway.

Chapter 5: Arms and stealth

The doors to the chamber opened. The shady man who marched confidently
through them, the elite gaurds parting before him, was a master spy. He
had come into the presence of the supreme ruler of the Romulan Star
Empire, with some new and shocking information which he had stoled from
a Federation databank, even as it was recieved. He marched with a
deliberate and military manner, to a spot in the floor in front of the
throne. Thenre was no chair for him to sit on. One did not sit in the
presence of the Emperor (Or so most called him) At this moment the
ruler's face was obscured by a private conference channel rig, with a
monitor screen covering his face. Then, his conversation with whatever
official that was over, he punched a button. The rig retracted behind
the throne. The Emperor addressed one word to the spy. "Rise" When this
was done; "Speak". The spy proceeded to tell his master all he had
learned, finishing with a detailed account of all data retrieved from
the Federation computers, detailing their new encounter. He also had an
isolinear chip, onto which he had saved the data. It didn't take the
Romulans long to realise something VERY big was up. Not only
observations of ship personell, but also data from federation probes,
and the Defiant, had been transmitted to Federation computers. The
Romulans realised that this new "Galactic Empire" could be a great
threat to themselves.

The USS Enterprise hurtled through space at maximum warp, heading for
the sol system. Only one Federation starship accompanied it, the USS
Hood. Both were heavily damaged, and all the other Federation ships had
been destroyed in the short but intense battle. The Rotorran was with
them, but would be stopping at a starbase en route. It had, in fact,
taken all Picard's negotiating skills to prevent the Klingon crew from
ramming an Imperial ship. They had been eager to die with honor, but
Picard had managed to convince Martok that he was more valuable alive
than dead. The Defiant had come back through the wormhole during the
battle, (using the passage of an ISD to cover it's journey) and raced
off into space. It was now understood to be heading for the same
starbase as the Rotorran. The Federation Was scrambling every available
ship in the fleet to war status. Already, they were mustering a fleet
at the starbase to which the Defiant and Rotorran were heading. They
believed a fleet of around 600 ships could be assembled in two days,
and the Klingons were going to contribute another 100 (Or at least,
that was the arrangement). The Enterprise and Hood, both soveriegn
class ships, were racing back to the core worlds, where the most
suitable facilities (the Utopia Planetia shipyards, and the Mars
spacedock) were for repairing them. Suddenly, Ro spoke. "Sensor ghosts,
synonymous with Romulan cloaking technology." Turning round, Picard was
in time to see Worf stiffen at the mention of Romulans. "Can you tell
me anything else?" asked Picard. "I'm not sure. There seem to be three
or four of them, about a light year ahead of a much larger fleet,
possibly three hundred. And they are headed directly the way we have
come" There was silence. Then Worf spoke: "That is an old Romulan
tactic." Everybody looked at him. "Elaborate" Picard said. "Certainly.
They use it in potential battle situations with unknown races. They
have often used it with planets which they have subjugated. As they
approach the target, the lead ships - they are three battlecruisers,
decloak and cover the last lightyear uncloaked. They make their
offer/demands, and if the enemy refuses, they immediatley decloak their
fleet and hit them with that. The fleet would typically be composed of
warbirds."

The primary Imperial invasion fleet had now come through in it's
entirety. Numbering some 250 military vessels, with about 500 transport
and support ships, they controlled a shpere around the wormhole's end
which extended several lightyears. A secondary fleet, numbering a
further 200 warships, was being assembled back in home space, just on
the other side of the wormhole, and would proceed when assembled. And
heading from the other side of Imperial space, to the wormhole, was a
tertiary "fleet" This in fact consisted solely of 6 ISD's and an
Executor-class Super Star Destroyer.

On board the Wrath, which had been made the command ship of the primary
fleet, captain Talz was thinking over the happenings of the last few
hours, and the stategy for invasion. Already the primary fleet had
taken over a few planets. They were colony worlds of whatever
governments or powers existed in the area, and were therefore lightly
populated. Resistance was light. Suddenly the captains thoughts were
broken by the voice of one of the young officers in a bridge pit. "I
think I have something on CGT." He said. The captain asked: "What?"
"I'm not sure." Came the reply "I've got a cluster of anomolous
readings bearing point two eight three. They are heading towards our
fleet." The captain wondered what he could add, then said "Are the
anomalies moving FTL?" The officer checked the screen again. "Yes sir.
They are moving at seven thousand times the speed of light sir."
Everyone on the bridge was silent as they realised what this meant.
Natural anomalies never moved faster than light. It was impossible.
"Cloaked starships" said a modulated voice from behind Talz. The
captain whirled, almost bumping into Vader who was right behind him. He
had no idea how long Vader had been simply standing there. Maybe that
was why the bridge had gone quiet. "Yes my lord?" he asked, eager to
please, remembering the fate of the previous captain. "This will be
interesting" was all the dark lord said.

The lead Romulan ships decloaked a lightyear out, then proceeded
towards the Imperial fleet. They were stange looking, like all the
other ships the Imperials had seen from this galaxy. They had a long
'neck' connecting rear and forward superstructures. Soon, the Imperial
bridge crew were told they were being hailed, 2-d vid transmission.
"Put them on" Talz ordered. The holonet projector brought up an image
of a screen, on which the two-dimensional transmission was displayed.
This was the standard method for dsiplaying a visual transmission that
was not actual 3-d. What the captain saw was an alien with pointed
ears, black hair and skin that had a greenish color. Without further
ado the alien spoke. "I am captain Valok, representing the Romulan Star
Empire. We demand that you tell us of your intentions in this galaxy.
We will not tolerate aggression towards us." Talz was, of course, never
in any doubt as to what response he sould give. "I cannot obey either
demand. Indeed, it is you who must surrender. This space is now under
the Galactic Empire. As Will be this galaxy. Surrender, and you will be
treated well. Resistance will be severly punished." The Romulan, with
an angry look, said "Have it your own way" and cut the channel.
Suddenly a sensor officer shouted: "Sir, those three were not the only
cloaked ships! There is an entire fleet decloaking off our starboard
side! They have 300 ships, and they are bigger than Victory star
destroyers!" The captain hit a comm button to the rest of the fleet.
"All ships, attack. Full jamming, fire at will." Even as he spoke, the
Romulan fleet was firing their first shots, and the Imperials returned
fire. Within seconds, the blackness of space was banished by the
unleashed energy of countless weapons of mass destruction, from both
sides.

A 1200 meter Warbird exploded in white fire as it's warp core breached.
The crew of the ISD and three VSD's which had atacked it then looked
for new targets, but soon the ISD was itself under ferocious attack by
two warbirds, while others took shots at it as they passed. On the
bridge, tremors shook the deck, and some officers shouted in panic. A
third warbird joined the attack, and things began to go out of control.
The main reactor was severly damaged, with a hull breach near it, and
explosions began in parts of the ship. The captain grabbed a
comunication mike. "Abandon ship! She's going to blow!" Then he and the
rest of the bridge crew sprinted for the nearest escape pod.

Talz was worried. After raging for an hour, the battle seemed to be
beginning to be swinging in favor of the Romulans. At every oportunity,
they had used their infernal cloaking devices, and the gunners on his
ships had often been unable to get a decent shot, having to rely on
patched-through CGT data displayed on a screen beside them. Of course,
many uncloaked Romulan ships had been destroyed, and a few which
cloaked were hit while cloaked, annhialating them instantly, as they
had no shields. But after an hour, the Imperials were down to 125
warships, while the romulans might still have 150. Talz shouted
"Where's that secondary fleet?" A young grunt nearby looked up
nervously towards Talz and the black robed figure at his side. "S-s-s-
sir, they will be ariving in one minute, according to a message pod
just through the w-wormhole." Talz relaxed sligthly. Once the
reinforcements arrived, the Romulans would be mincemeat. Suddenly
somebody shouted, "Look out!" Which was all they could think of, from
what they had seen on their sensor console. A Big warbird decloaked
right in front of the bridge, it's hull directly above the hull of the
Wrath. The dorsal turbolasers went wild, firing point blank at the ship
right in front of them. Simultaneously the warbird launched a brace of
six photon torpedoes straight at the bridge, while blasting away with
it's disruptors. Many bridge crew panicked, thinking they were about to
die. But at Talz's side, the Dark form of the sith lord put both hands
together in a blocking motion. One could almost feel the intensity of
the force working. And out in space, the torpedoes actually turned
round and headed back the way they'd come. Moments later they impacted
on the warbird, blowing away it's shields which had already been
severly weakened by the continuous turbolaser fire from the Wrath. A
few seconds later, it took a concusion missile into it's now unshielded
engine area, and erupted in destruction. "The reinforcements are
arriving" somebody shouted. And indeed they were. The wormhole had
opened, and ship after ship was now pouring through. As each ship came
through, it's crew noticed the ongoing battle, and immediatley threw
themselves into the fray. Soon, the Romulan commander Valok was
frantically hailing the tattered remains of his fleet, telling them to
flee. It was simply no use fighting against such suddenly increased
odds, and they would have to report back to the empire what was
happening. In space, the remaining Romulan vessels came about and
streaked into warp.

"It would appear," Talz attempted, "That this war may be more
challenging that expected." Beside him, Vader was silent for long
moments, then he said something that no one had ever heard him say
before: "I look forward to it!"

 Chapter 6: Pro Patria Mori

The Federation/Klingon combined fleet was a fearsome sight to behold,
as it left it's muster starbase en masse and headed for the location of
the wormhole, but then it had been assembled to fight war against an
equally fearsome fleet, hopefully to outfight it and prevent invasion
of the Milky Way galaxy by an empire from another galaxy. It consisted
of around 600 Starfleet vesssels, (not counting peregrine fighters)
ranging from small but tough Defiant class vessels, lead by the Defiant
herself, up to the powerful soveriegn class starships, the mightiest
vessels in all of Starfleet. In between, there was a range of ships.
Akiras, Intredpids, Nebulas, Galaxies, whose size and firepower was
second only to the Soveriegns, even some of the older but still
respectable Excelsior class starships. The Klingons, for their part,
had supplied a fleet of 103 ships, just over half of which consisted of
Birds of Prey. The rest of the Klingon fleet was made up of Klingon
battlecruisers, of the same long-necked design as the Romulan
battlecruisers, and also the much newer and more advanced Vor'cha class
attack cruisers. Intelligence about condidtions at the wormhole was
scant, hardly any probes sent to the location ever returned. It had
been hoped that battle with the Romulans would wear the Imperials down
a bit, but although a lot of shipwrecks and debris (Both Romulan and
Imperial) had been observed by one of the few probes that got away, it
seemed that Imperial presence had actually increased, to over 325
warships, with reinforcements brought through the wormhole. There were
also rumors about hideous and brutal treatment given to the inhabitants
of colony worlds near the wormhole which had fallen under Imperial
control. There was  general feeling among the men and women who crewed
the Federation and Klingon vessels in the fleet, that they fought for
their lives, their culture, their people, and their right to remain
free from oppression. And so, the fleet set off for the battlefield

"Well? Are you gonna talk or are we gonna have to bring a torture
droid?" The speaker was an Imperial stormtrooper. Two others were
behind him. An officer was also present. They were interrogating a
prisoner taken from one of the worlds they had annexed. He looked like
the same species as the aliens whose fleet had attacked them,
destroying much of their primary fleet. However, he had identified
himself as a "Vulcan" or something, and seemed very insistent that his
people were nothing like those other aliens, who he called "Romulans".
They had been interrogating him for almost half an hour, without
success. No matter what they tried, he simply would not talk. He had
been seriously roughed about by the stormtroopers, but they could do
worse. The head trooper motioned to his two comrades. They seized the
alien again, and this time they started to seriously beat him up. Ten
minutes later they stopped. Amazingly, he was still concious, though he
was covered in bruises, and his mouth and nose were pouring blood. One
of the stormtroopers did a double take. The blood was green! "Now, do
you want to help us?" said the officer in a mocking voice. The Vulcan
spoke slowly, with difficulty through swollen lips. "Never." The
stormtroopers were astounded. It was as if this being was incapable of
feeling pain! They would soon see, though. "Bring a torture droid!" The
officer ordered. Just then, the interrogation was interupted by an
alert call through the ship. "All hands to battle stations now! We are
under attack! All hands to battle stations!"
Even as the stormtroopers rushed from the interrogation cell, sealing
the door to keep the prisoner in, they felt through the deck the first
vibrations of incoming enemy weapons fire, telling them the ship was in
battle already.

The Federation/Klingon fleet had dropped out of warp several light-
hours away from the Imperial fleet. They had been ready to demand an
end to Imperial aggression, but the Imperials had known they would
appear, because they had been tracking their incoming warp signatures,
and were having none of it. The Enterprise, leading the fleet, had
hardly begun it's demand, when the hail was returned. For the first
time since contact, the Imperials had deigned to include visual data in
the transmission, allowing Picard to see the commander he was up
against. He was a dark haired man who appeared human, and was dressed
in a grey uniform. He immediately ordered an unconditional surrender of
the Fedration fleet, and cut the channel. Seconds later, in defiance of
this, the combined Federation/Klingon Empire fleet attacked the
Imperial fleet. For the second time in three days, and the third time
in just over a week, the space around the mouth of the wormhole knew
the sight of a raging space battle.

The Imperial fleet was outnumberd 2 to1, but they wern't about to give
up. Besides, their Star Destroyers were larger than any of the enemy
vessels. Even the Victory class SD's were slightly larger than the
biggest enemy ships, which were of the same class as the ship
identifying itself Enterprise. The two sides ploughed into eachother.
Many ships from both sides lost their sheilds, were breached, and
destroyed, usually taking all aboard with them. The battle raged for
four hours, and still showed no sign of ending.

The endless blue whirl of hyperspace vanished, starlines appeared, and
then vanished, leaving them among the stars, in normal space. The crew
of the Executor all sighed with relief. At had been an unusually long
hyperjump, two weeks solid, from the other side of the Empire, to the
location of this mysterious wormhole. Around the enormous 17 kilometer
Super-Star destroyer, the six escort ISDs came out of hyperspace. A
single Nebulon B frigate was on gaurd at the wormhole, signifying its
location. The Executor quickly obtained from the frigate, details on
where exactly the wormhole was, and how they should approach it. Then,
the seven ships moved on, towards the wormhole.

Jean-Luc Picard sat in the center seat of the Enterprise bridge.Their
sheilds were at 67%, and all their quantum torpedoes were used up. They
were still fighting, however, using their phasers to do battle. As
might be expected, the Federation's flagship, with possibly the best
crew aboard her, had been one of the best performing ships in the
battle. It had teamed up for much of the battle with the USS Liberty
Island, a galaxy class cruiser, and together they had destroyed a huge
ISD that was three times the length, and even more times the tonnage,
of the Enterprise. "Sir, I have identified their command ship, Wrath."
Data said. "Excellent" Picard congratulated. "Stand by for the Picard
manouver." The Enterprise worked it's way through the battle towards
the Wrath. Then, when they got into a fairly uncrowded area, Picard
said "Engage". The Enterprise leapt into warp, and dropped out just
above and astern the Wrath, immediately firing the phasers at the
bridge, engines, anything of importance they could hit from there. And,
the Wrath's heavy turbolasers couldn't fire at the Enterprise, because
it would mean blowing off their own bridge tower. The Star destroyer
tried rolling backwards, bow over stern, to get at the Enterprise, but
the Federation starship simply moved down and kept out of the reach of
the big guns. A squadron of TIE interceptors tried to attack, but ran
into a squadron of Federation attack fighters which had been trying to
follow the Enterprise, flying close to her hull.

On the bridge of the Wrath, Darth Vader watched in fury as his ship was
pounded, and appeared unable to bring its heavy weapons to bear on its
attacker. Vader focused his mind towards that ship, reaching out with
the force. He looked for the life energy of its commander, and finally
he found it. Concenterating hard, he started drawing his hand into a
fist.

On board the Enterprise, nobody noticed Deanna Troi suddenly go tense,
and gasp slightly, at the _power_ of the mind she felt working through
the Enterprise. What they did notice, however, was captain Picard, when
he suddenly began to gurgle and choke for no apparent reason, falling
from his chair, with his hands around his throat. Riker leaped up. "Are
you okay, captain?", even though it was perfectly obvious he wasn't.
Riker hit his commbadge. "Riker to sickbay. Medical emergency on the
bri..." He was cut off by Deanna's scream. "No! He will be dead by
then. Get us out of here now! NOW!" Riker instantly turned to Wesley,
and said "As she says" The Enterprise leapt into warp. This disrupted
Vader's ability to concentrate on Picard, and broke the chokehold. Jean-
Luc sat up, gasping for breath. The turbolift door hissed open, and
Beverly Crusher rushed onto the bridge. Riker told her the emergency
seemed to be over. Running her medical tricorder over Picard, she found
that he appeared to be OK. Picard sat in his command chair again. He
was beginning to order an attack on a nearby ship, when Data spoke.
"Sir, the wormhole is opening again." And so it was. The spacetime
distortion churned out an Imperial Star Destroyer. "Not _another_
fleet." Said Geordi from the back of the bridge. A second ISD followed
the first. After that, the front of another triangular hull started
coming out. Only this one didn't stop when it reached the size of an
ISD hull. As the crew of the Enterprise and other Federation ships
watched in horror, it simply kept coming. Kilometers of the monstrosity
glided from the wormhole. Finally, it reached a point where the hull
stopped widening, and narrowed, but there was more, a thinner tail
section, protruded backwards several more kilometers. Eventually, the
thing cleared the wormhole, with four more ISDs following it through.
All said, it was 17 kilometers from bow to stern. Worf growled, and
LaForge let out a low wistle. Riker stood up, moving towards the
viewscreen. "Look at the _size_ of that thing!" Behind him, Picard
said, "Number one, I think we may be in trouble."

Chapter 7: Raging Demon

"All ships, attack the new arrival." In space, hundreds of Federation
starships broke off their current engagements and began to concentrate
their fire on the Executor. The ships they had been fighting then took this
opportunity to attack them. The tide of battle began to turn against
the Federation/Klingon fleet. On the viewscreen of the Enterprise, the crew
watched a Galaxy class ship make an attack run. It was in good
condition when it started moving along the seventeen-kilometer length. 

By the time it passed the SSD's stern, its shields were almost non-existent 
and the crew were struggling to avoid a warp core breach. They stared as a 
crippled Vor'cha class used it's last remaining warp power to ram the 
Executor's bridge tower, hitting it at several times the speed of light and
erupting into a massive antimatter fury. However, the city-sized ship's shields
barely flickered at the impact. 

The Enterprise's sensor array, however, told a different story. 

"The largest enemy vessel has lost forty percent of its
shield strength," said Geordi. 

Picard, who had been placed in command of the fleet, signaled to the 
rest of the ships. "All vessels, concentrate everything you have on 
the bridge of that ship. That includes the fighters."

The bridge of the Executor was immediately blotted out as every ship in
the fleet fired their weapons at that point. And then it happened. For a
few seconds, the bridge shield weakened enough to allow a solid object
through.

A Klingon bird of prey rushed it, hoping to get through and ram the
shield generators, but a fusillade of heavy turbolaser blasts from the
Executor cut it apart before it could get near the shield. One wing, however,
continued in it's original direction, spinning end over end, ploughed 
through the shield at speed, and slammed into the casing of the bridge shield
generator.

An orange-white explosion mushroomed out of the shield generator,
consuming it. The bridge shields went down immediately, exposing the 
unprotected tower to the maelstrom of weapons fire still being directed 
at it. The Executor's bridge was obliterated in an instant, leaving only 
a white-hot craterin the starship's surface. And then the Super Star Destroyer 
went out of control.

It began moving off to the side, and forwards at the same time, through
the middle of it's own fleet and the Federation/Klingon fleet which were
intermingled. Several ships were taken by surprise and destroyed when
it rammed them, but still it continued, completely out of control. Escape
pods were now launching in copious numbers, as crewmembers feared the ship
would destroy itself at any moment. The crews of other ships noticed that it
was slowly describing a giant circle, which would lead it back to the
wormhole.

One VSD went through, it's crew having had the presence of mind to
realise that the Imperials in home space should be warned that an 
uncontrolled SSD was coming their way.

The tear in reality flowered open, receiving the behemoth vessel into
it's gaping maw. Seventeen kilometers of starship moved in and through,
exiting on the other side of the known universe, and several million years
before it had entered. 

The ship's huge engines shut down soon after, and she drifted for a while. 

Eventually, as it became clear the vessel wasn't going to blow,
crewers started arriving at the auxiliary bridge. With full control
restored, the Executor fired her engines up again, and moved forward.
However, for now, she was most definitely out of the battle. The ships
crew manouvered their mammoth vessel into position for a hyperjump that
would take them to a hidden Imperial construction yard where the ship would
be repaired and receive a new bridge tower.

Back in the Milky Way, the battle suddenly, but for a short time, swung
in favour of the F/K alliance. The crews of some Imperial ships were so
shocked by the unexpected disabling of the Executor - which many had come to
view as almost invincible - that their reaction times were slow when it came to
the continuing battle. For about thirty seconds, a few Imperial ships were
not as responsive nor aggressive as they should be, and in that moment of
opportunity, two Imperial Star Destroyers and three Victory Star
Destroyers were obliterated. However, the F/K fleet had been seriously depleted
during the time when they had all broken off to attack the Executor. 

Most ships during that time totally ignored the other Imperial ships, 
which had of course not ignored them. The Executor itself had taken a heavy 
toll; it was simply such a huge and powerful warship. The odds against the 
F/K fleet were increased, and they began to lose the battle. After another 
hour of fighting, Picard, with sadness, had to call another retreat.

Predictably, several Klingon vessels turned and rammed Imperial ships, 
but most of the fleet lanced forward and disappeared as they engaged 
their warp drives.

The Imperial fleet now numbered about one hundred ships, while the F/K
fleet had been reduced to about one hundred thirty, many of them severely
damaged. On the bridge of the Enterprise, everyone jumped when a powerful 
bellowing howl filled the air. It was Worf of course. Many Klingons had 
died in battle that day, and so he roared, warning the inhabitants of 
Sto-Vo-Kor to be afraid,for there were warriors coming.

Aboard the Wrath, an officer cautiously approached the meditation
chamber.

"Lord Vader, I..." He recoiled, trying to hide his horror at the sight
of the Dark Lord's mutilated head "I hope, for your sake, that you have a
-VERY- good reason for interrupting me," said Vader as an attending
droid replaced his helmet. 

"My Lord, the Emperor wishes to speak with you promptly. He wants to 
discuss the war." The officer stood sweating in fear-if Vader judged 
this to be an insufficient reason for the interruption,
he would be almost certain to kill him. However, he noted with relief
Vader standing suddenly and walking towards the door, with the words, "At
once.

You are dismissed, officer. Leave me and return to your normal duties
immediately." A short time later, the feared Sith Lord stood before a
holographic representation of the Emperor as the Wrath moved through
the wormhole to home space temporarily, to allow real-time communication.

"My master, the war is not proceeding as fruitfully as had been
anticipated. The indigenous powers of the alien galaxy have launched 
several vicious attacks on us and reduced our force greatly. No doubt 
you yourself have already heard what befell our great ship, Executor. 
We have one hundred vessels left, and I believe we will need heavy 
reinforcements." 

The Emperor's answer was immediate. "Then take them! Take whatever 
you need. We have many thousands of Star Destroyers, and countless 
other ships. If it is ships you need, you can have as many as it 
will take. This alien galaxy shall be MINE!"

Chapter 8: Arch Vile

        _They were all around him. Holding onto him. 
Dragging him through their endless, alien corridors. 
Ugly Corridors. Covered in exposed pipes and wires, 
energy conduits and the like. But of course, these 
beings had no time for irrelevant concepts like 
"aesthetics". As far as he could see, the walls were 
lined with hundreds - thousands even - of humanoid 
forms. He struggled, but it was of no avail. At last, 
he was dragged into a small room, lined like the 
corridors outside with humanoid forms in alcoves. 
Roughly he was hefted onto a central table, and then 
some kind of thought interface device slipped over 
the top of his head. Above him, a razor-tipped probe 
began descending towards his right eye. Then, his 
thoughts were invaded and his vision milked out, 
except for a single pair of lips floating in 
nothingness in his mind's eye. They spoke to him in a 
soft feminine voice. "Locutus...Locutus...That is 
your name...Locutus" The trance like control slipped 
from him then, and he came back to reality at the 
very moment that the probe pierced the surface of his 
eye. He cried out in pain and struggled wildly, but 
was held fast. And he was enraged, because he knew 
they would do nothing about his pain. Not out of 
sadistic pleasure at seeing him suffer, or some wish 
to torture him for gain. But because they simply did 
not care..._

        "AAAAARGH!" Jean Luc Picard yelled out as he 
sprang up in bed, coated in sweat, still shaking from 
the terror of the incredibly vivid nightmare. He got 
out of bed and went to the mirror. He looked haggard, 
and world weary, or so he thought... "I should see 
the counselor" But as quickly as that idea came to 
him he forced it out of his mind, and started to 
regain control of himself. As he showered and dressed 
he pondered over the nightmare. It was a long time 
since he'd had such a vivid flashback, and he always 
hated it when he had them. Not only because the 
nightmares were hideous themselves, but also because 
they always seemed to be the precursor to some 
encounter with the collective. Possibly it had 
something to do with the few Borg implants that were 
still buried inside his head. He proceeded to the 
bridge. Data was on duty. "What news, Lt Commander?" 
Data replied immediately, with android response 
speed: "The fleet are heading to the starbase. Many 
will need to continue to other bases for repair and 
parts resupply. The Federation and Klingons are 
sending all ships they can spare for combat to join 
them. There is no further news on the activities of 
the Imperial ships." "Thank you data. You are 
relieved" Picard proceeded to the command chair as 
Data vacated it.

{4 of 7, quaternary adjunct of submatrix 32 of 57 
{online. Analyzing data received from remaining 
{implants in ex-drone Locutus. New species 
{encountered. Species designation to be allocated 
{when data analysis is complete. Probability, based 
{on known data, that new species is major threat to 
{larger powers in alpha quadrant. 67%. Probability of 
{serious threat to Borg collective, 12%. Known 
{technological capabilities: Sublight drive. Type 
{unknown. Superluminal Drive. Type unknown. Weaponry. 
{Superheated Plasma discharge, Warhead armed physical 
{missiles. End of data. Allocate number 36498. 
{Dispatch vessel to assimilate Species 36498 with 34% 
{priority.

        "Captain!" Talz looked up sharply at the video-
intercom on the wall of his quarters, ready to 
angrily roar at some young crew pit tech for daring 
to disturb him with an unannounced call to his 
private quarters. However, he saw a concerned look on 
the crewman's face, and decided he might have 
something important to say. "Yes?" He asked sternly. 
"Captain, sensors have detected an incoming craft. It 
is using a distortion drive similar to the FTL drive 
of the Federation ships, but it seems to be much 
faster than they are..." the man trailed off as Talz 
snapped: "Is that ALL?" But it was not all. "No 
sir... It is like no ship we have seen before... it 
is a perfect cube." Talz was stunned. He had seen 
many aesthetically heretical ships in his time in the 
navy, but he had never seen a *cube* of all things. 
"A CUBE?!?" He asked incredulously. "Yes sir. 3KM on 
a side. It's closing fast." That worried Talz. "Full 
Alert. Contact the fleet. Raise shields. All 
turbolaser crews to their weapons. Fighter pilots 
standby for launch." He left his quarters and ran to 
the bridge. He got there just as the alien ship 
dropped out of... whatever kind of FTL drive it used. 
They didn't wait long making their intentions known. 
"They are hailing us on subspace!" shouted a comm 
technician. "Put them on. Let us hear their 
intentions" ordered Talz. "Yessir" The imperial 
officers were slightly shocked as suddenly, not one, 
but what sounded like a chorus of thousands of voices 
burst from the speakers: "WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR 
SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. YOUR CULTURE WILL 
ADAPT TO SERVICE US. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND 
TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR COLLECTIVE. 
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. WE ARE THE BORG." The Imperial 
crew was flabbergasted, but in seconds Talz got a 
grip of himself. He personally returned the hail. "We 
will not surrender. I am Captain Talz of the Imperial 
Star Destroyer *Wrath* YOU will surrender or I will 
order your destruction by the fleet. No-one can 
resist the Empire!"

        "EMPIRE IS IRRELEVANT. STAR DESTROYER IS 
IRRELEVANT. FLEET IS IRRELEVANT. RESISTANCE IS 
FUTILE. WE ARE THE BORG" And with that, the enormous 
cube began to move forward, firing at Talz's ship. 
"Return fire at once" He roared. The crew was already 
doing that, of course, and so were the crews of the 
other ships. Dozens of green turbolaser blasts lanced 
out at the unsightly cube, which was covered with 
hundreds of external pipes and conduits.

{Resistance detected from species 36498. Collective 
{vessel 1 of 1 under superheated plasma fire from 43 
{of 100 species 36498 vessels. Vessel 1 of 1 shields 
{at 64% strength. Attempting to adapt to species 
{36498 weaponry. Adaption successful, success level 
{76%. Shield depletion rate slowed by factor of 46. 
{Enabling auto-repair systems.

        "Sir, something strange is happening with their 
shields. The rate of degradation has slowed greatly! 
Their shields are now at 62% strength, even though 47 
of our ships are now firing at them." Talz was almost 
getting used to unexpected and unwelcome news. "Order 
ALL ships to attack them! Commence firing 
broadsides." He ordered.

{Incoming superheated plasma fire from 89 of 100 
{species 36498 vessels. 93 of 100 species 36498 
{vessels. 100 of 100 species 36498 vessels. Shield 
{strength 35%. Probability that collective vessel 1 
{of 1 will be destroyed, 87%. Concentrate attack on 
{species 36498 vessel 1 of 100. Attempt assimilation.

        Captain Talz was suddenly thrown from his chair 
as the Wrath came under all the weaponry the cube 
vessel had. "Shields at 34 percent! 28 percent! Ten! 
Three! Our shields are gone!!!" Hundreds of men 
instinctively ducked down or dived to the floor. Not 
that it would save them from death. But death did not 
come, for as soon as their shields were gone, the 
alien ship stopped firing at them, for some reason.

{Species 36498 vessel 1 of 100 shield strength, 0%. 
{Collective vessel 1 of 1 shield strength, 7%. 
{Projected time until destruction of collective 
{vessel 1 of 1, 134 seconds. Transport all possible 
{drones to species 36498 vessel 1 of 100 and begin 
{assimilation.

        A panel came to life in the bridge pit of the 
Wrath. A young crewmember shouted out. "Multiple 
energy surges from the lower decks. Multiple lifesign 
readings. We have boarders!"

        Stormtrooper Skliii Narak burst through the 
door with the rest of his squad, and immediately they 
saw their enemy, filling the corridor ahead. And what 
an enemy - a hideous marriage of flesh, bone and 
metal, arteries and metallic conduits. A line of 
these humanoid forms moved towards them slowly but 
steadily. Each one bore a blindingly bright laser 
sight on the side of their head. The stormtroopers 
wasted no time. Fifteen E11's blasted out hot plasma, 
slagging several of the loathsome cyborgs 
immediately. They continued firing, and more of the 
cyborgs fell, and then...stopped falling. The 
remaining aliens advanced through the shots of the 
stormtroopers, the weapons having no effect. Some 
stormtroopers began thumping and clubbing the aliens 
with their rifles, and some went down that way. 
However, a number of troopers were seized, and Narak, 
who was near the rear of the stormtrooper formation, 
saw one of his best friends and comrades, Dil Antrec, 
grabbed. There was a cracking sound as some kind of 
injecting probe forced it's way through the armor. 
"No!" Narak shouted, lunging forward to save his 
friend. But even as he did so he noticed that Antrec 
had fallen to his knees and was writhing in pain. 
Skliii slammed his E11 into the hideous alien that 
had assaulted him, and turned to Antrec, who had 
stopped writhing, and was getting back on his feet. 
"Dil! Dil are you OK?" he shouted. Dil Antrec turned 
to his friend, his face invisible behind his helmet, 
and didn't answer for a moment. But when he did 
speak, it was with a chilling, deadened monotone. 
"Resistance is futile! We are the Borg." And when 
that happened, Skliii Narak did something that it was 
very, very rare for any hardened stormtrooper to do. 
He screamed.

To be continued...