Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!pipex!warwick!cookie!xuuaw From: Anne-Lise Pasch Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: Generations 2: The whole story :) Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 10:22:52 +0000 Organization: University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Lines: 381 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: cookie.csv.warwick.ac.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Sender: xuuaw@cookie Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:6170 -- This story is set after Generations, and before the 'future' in "All Good Things". It is also a follow up to the excellent Kid's Krew stories by Steven Ratliffe. All mistakes within this story are mine, all mine. :) -- Generations 2: Generations Ahead. Sleekly, majestically, the U.S.S. Endeavour edged out of Spacedock above the San Francisco Yards, and moved forward under impulse power. The rays of the sun reflected upon the saucer section of the Nebula-class starship, proudly displaying the registry NCC-71805-A. In contrast to its elegance, the bridge crew of the vessel were having a difficult time holding back their emotions. For them, the adventure was just beginning, but this crew were not adverse to danger or adventure. Although they never actively sought the precarious situations they had often found themselves in, they soon found themselves engaged in one perilous situation or another. Bloodleblip. "Come!" called out the Captain, Marrissa Picard. Marrissa was reknowned throughout the upper echelons of Starfleet for her intelligence, her experience, and her age, as she had attained the rank of Captain before the age of twenty. Indeed, as daughter of the now-legendary Jean-Luc Picard, she had been acting Captain of the Enterprise on a number of occassions. The door swished apart, admitting the lean form of Jay Gordan, her first officer. "Ah, number one. Just in time to join me for some tea." Jay smiled, a machiavellian grin breaking into his pixie-like features. "What, no strawberry juice?" he asked. Marrissa allowed herself to share the laughter, glad of the chance to relax. Over the years, her relationship with Jay had matured into a very cordial and close friendship. Marrissa sighed, her face reflecting the seriousness she felt. "What's to report, number one?" she asked, while walking over towards the replicator. "Alexander has returned from his meeting with Kurn. You were right, Marrissa. He was able to use his family's link to the High Council to get us the two Klingon ships we needed. Unfortunately, we only have access to two B'rel class Birds of Prey, not the larger K'Vort class." "At least we have two cloakable ships." She replied, nodding. "Let's just hope we don't have to engage in combat. What condition are the Birds of Prey in?" "According to Commander Sutter, the ships are in perfect working order and ready for the mission." "That's Clara for you." laughed Marrissa. "Never anything less than perfect. Prepare the away team for transport, Jay, and get underway as soon as possible." "Aye Captain." Jay turned and left, a trace of a smile still playing upon his lips. The band of energy rippled onward, following a clearly defined path. Stellar Cartographers, aware of its deadly potential had plotted its course for years, diverting ships and, when necessary, evacuating colonies. Oblivious to the fear it left behind in its passing, the Nexus, forged on. Although the great ribbon possessed life, in a fashion, it was devoid of intelligence. Guinan stared out of the window. Although she was in a place of great joy, her eyes reflected the anguish she was experiencing. Frustrated at her powerlessness to alter events, she had no option but to watch them occur. For her, time had no meaning. All time was one time, and the weighty depression of that fact was enough to suffuse her contentment with the clouds of despair. A tear escaped the confines of one eye, and she looked away towards the ground, crushed by her need to help and her inability to render assistance. Marissa stared at the image of the Nexus on the viewscreen. The energy ribbon rippled before her, a bizarre snake of colour streaking across the starry background. She hoped the experts were right, that the newly-devoloped (And banned, she remembered with a smile) phasic cloaking device would enable a suitably adapted Klingon Bird of Prey to move safely through the Nexus, analysing as it passes through. A second bird of Prey was on hand to actually make contact with the Nexus, allowing, they hoped, some form of communication with its inhabitants. Although Marrissa was no expert in this field, even she recognised a desperate bid when she saw it, and she hoped that there wouldn't be too many casualties for her to be responsible for. Will sighed, leaning heavily into his command chair. This was where he wanted to be, he realised. Captain William T. Riker. He had to admit it to himself, it sounded good. How long he'd waited for the opportunity to take this chair, and that moment on Varidian 3 when he'd looked up through the shattered remains of the Enterprise's bridge, he'd thought this moment would never have come. Still, he thought, a smile creasing his aged face, here he was. "Sir!" An Ensign's voice broke into his reverie, and he immediately turned his attention to the matter at hand. "Yes Ensign, what is it?" "We're approaching the coordinates set for the meeting point, Captain. The Grissom, the Endeavour and two Klingon ships are already there." "Good!" Riker enthused. "Hail the Endeavour, I want to speak to Captain Picard." Marrissa was sitting in her ready room when the call from the Enterprise came through. She composed herself, unconsciously adjusting her uniform in the same manner that her adoptive father had too. "Captain Picard, good to see you!" Riker's baritone rang out. "Hello again, Captain." acknowledged Marrissa. "What's the situation Captain?" "Starfleet have asked that an experienced group of officers should attempt to gain access to the Nexus. Apparently, that's us!" Marrissa broke into a wide smile. "We each have to make selections from our crew. I'm handing control of the Endeavour over to Alexander, my Chief of Security. I've selected Jay Gordan and Clarrissa to accompany me." "Who's been selected from the Grissom?" asked Riker. "Captain Charlesworth of the Grissom is coming along, as is his first officer, Lieutenant-Commander Townley. Also Commander Data." "Data? Last i heard he'd retired from Star Fleet!" Interrupted Will. "He was approached by Admiral Bernlin and asked to return on a special commission. Do you know which officers to choose from your own crew?" "Yes. Myself, Deanna and Commander Vesch." "Vesch? I'm not familiar with that name. Should I be?" "She's the granddaughter of Tasha Yar, half Romulan, and a damned good officer." "She can be trusted?" Marrissa had always harboured distrust for the Romulans, despite the peace treaty. "Doubtlessly. She has proved herself many times over." "Alright then, prepare to beam over to the Vor'cha with your chosen crew members in thirty minutes, standard mission equipment. We don't have long before the Nexus arrives." "I'll see you there. Riker out." Alexander was in the Holodeck of the Endeavour, practicing his fighting skills with a Kut'luch, the bladed weapon favoured by Klingon Assassins. The holodeck had been programmed to ignore safety factors, and he was immersed within the deadly game. Suddenly the hidden communicators within the holodeck chimed out and repeated, "Lieutenant Commander Alexander, report to the transporter room." Just for a second, Alexander lost his concentration, and was nearly impaled by a spear, thrust by a humanoid creature with a face resembling a wild boar. With instincts honed to near-perfection, Alexander whirled and buried the serrated blade into the torso of his attacker, mortally wounding it. "Computer, end program!" he called out jubilantly, and strode out. Behind him, the alien world evaporated into a blank grid. Will Riker stepped off the transporter, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimmed light of the Kul'pla's transporter room. A young, black- haired woman came up to meet him. "Greetings Captain Riker, I'm Clara Sutter, Chief of Engineering." "Ah, young Clara, I remember you from aboard the Enterprise." Riker winked, playfully. "How long ago that was!" Clara laughed dutifully. "Marrissa is on level 2. She's converted the galley into a ready room and will meet you there. I've been assigned to escort you." "Then lead on, young lady." Riker's irrepressable grin broke out as he followed Clara from the transporter room. "The situation is this," Marrissa concluded her briefing. "Lieutenant- Commander Townley, yourself, Commander Vesch and a skeleton crew will fly the Vor'kis through the Nexus as a guinea-pig run for the Kul'pla. You will set your shield modulation to 12.36, the same as the Nexus. Gather as much scientific data as possible. The rest of us," Marrissa's eyes scanned the room. "will enter the Nexus in the Kul'pla. Questions?" "What will we encounter within the Nexus?" this from Riker. "Previous reports indicate that you enter an environment tailored to suit your personality, rather like a holodeck program. Once inside, we have to stay in contact, or we lose the feel of reality." "Damned cockamamie idea if ever I heard one!" said Captain Charlesworth. The assembled officers grinned in agreement and at the old Captain's quaint verbiage. The Vor'kis sped towards the Nexus on half impulse. On the bridge, tension was beginning to mount. "The shields aren't modulating! What's wrong?" Lieutenant-Commander Townley stepped towards Vesch and looked over her shoulder. That's not the correct..." His voice was cut off by the ship's computer. "WARNING! WARNING! Shield failure imminent." The voice was gruff, the computer repeating the message in both Klingon and English. From the bridge of the Endeavour, the Vor'kis appeared to implode. The warp core in the centre of the ship went critical, vaporising most of the vessel. Fragments of hull spun away into the uncaring void. Marrissa turned away from the viewscreen of the Kul'pla, nauseated by the loss of the crewmembers. "It didn't work!" she exclaimed, frustrated. "It would be senseless to attempt our original plan with this vessel." stated Data. Marrissa agreed. "Can the communicators be set to transmit from within the Nexus?" she enquired. "I believe so." said Data, simply. "Then make it so." said Marrissa. "Hey, wait a minute!" exclaimed Riker. "How do you expect us to get inside the Nexus? You saw what happened to the Vor'kis!" "There will be no us. I intend to be beamed alone directly into the path of the Nexus." "Madness!" Captain Charlesworth burst out. "No." said Data. "Records indicate that Captain Kirk survived being sucked into space when the Nexus hit the Enterprise-C." "I volunteer to accompany you." said Jay. "Me too." said Clara. "Just us three, then." said Marrissa, noticing Riker about to speak. "As Mission Commander, I wont be responsible for any other lives." "As you wish." said Riker, wearing an expression of obvious distaste. Marrissa awoke from the darkness. She could still remember the biting chill of space in that brief millisecond before she blacked out, before she came... here. She looked about her, and recognised the Enterprise. She was inside a Jeffries tube, and people were running past. Suddenly, there was nothing more natural in the world than to be here. She was being hunted by the Enterprise security. Why? She tried to think. Of course, it was an exercise to test the readiness of the cadets. She climbed out of the tube and entered ten-forward. She sat down, taking a book out of a pocket. She was just about to begin reading when a woman stepped in front of her. "I don't know you." said the stranger. "I'm Marrissa Amber Picard, head of the Kid's crew, Acting Ensign." The woman laughed, annoying Marrissa. "You're no more a kid than I am!" she stated. Suddenly the scene around her shifted, and she was on a dry, arid planet. "What did you ju..." The woman cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Watch!" she said. Suddenly, a large cube appeared in the sky. Marrissa recognised it immediately as a Borg ship. "I see this every day." said the woman. "My name's Guinan, and you're in the Nexus. You can be anywhere, anywhen here. The Nexus protects its occupants, prevents illness, keeps you happy by attempting to cater for your every wish. Eventually, you realise that your wish is simply to leave. Can you imagine what its like, living for an eternity, constantly feeling joyful? I'm forced to having to make myself want to see this," Guinan waved towards the Borg ship, "just to keep myself sane. This place must be destroyed." "Do you have any idea how?" asked Marrissa. "Yes, there's an Engineer here, called Morak. He was on the same refugee ship I was. He believes that if you could somehow alter the path of the Nexus to pass into a sun, it would be destroyed." "Okay." said Marrissa. "How many others are there here?" "Including you and your friends, nine." Marrissa mentally kicked herself for having forgotten her friends. Still, they would be unharmed. "I'll do my best." said Marrissa, her eyes reflecting nothing but grim determination. "Marrissa to Enterprise." Marrissa tapped her comm-badge. "Riker here, go ahead Marrissa." "I've spoken with a woman claiming to be Guinan. She believes that if you can alter the path of the Nexus to pass through a star, it would be destroyed." "We read you." Riker turned to Data. "Analysis, Mr. Data." "Intriguing concept. The path of the Nexus was changed before by destroying stars along its path." "Not exactly a viable prospect, Data. Any alternatives?" "It may be possible to direct the Nexus by the creation of static warp bubbles around it, which would act like walls to channel it." "How do we go about doing that?" asked Riker. "It would mean using two ships flying on each side of the Nexus. Our shields have the capability to be modified to that end. The Enterprise has an existing configuration in its data banks, and the cloaking device on the Kul'pla could be easily modified to create bubbles." "What existing configuration?" asked Riker, mystified. "It was originally intended as metaphasic shielding." said Data. "Geordi originally programmed it from notes made by Dr. Crusher." "Well," said Riker, "I've never known anything of Geordi's to go wrong yet!" "However, this plan would mean us having to fly almost into the star's corona, and probably into it. We should survive, as we have metaphasic shielding, but the Klingon ship will not." "Why do we have to fly so close to the star?" "Basically, we are trying to push the Nexus sideways, as soon as we pull away, the Nexus will continue on its original course. I suggest putting a skeleton crew on the Kul'pla, and keeping a constant transporter lock on the crew members, ready to beam them back before hitting the star's corona." "Can't we control the Klingon vessel remotely?" Riker asked. "No sir. Our systems are incompatible. Maybe if we had more time..." Data gave a very human shrug and Riker smiled in response. "Okay Data, we run with your plan. "Marrissa to the Endeavour." she called out, touching her comm-badge. "Endeavour here. Doctor Johnson is on standby to recieve casualties." Lieutenant Patterson's voice was barely audible through the waves of static. "Nine to beam up, engage when ready" Marrissa said. "Patterson to Bridge." Supra's voice came out over the intercom, startling the commanding officer. "This is the Bridge, go ahead." "I have a problem getting a transporter lock, I can only get a partial lock on seven of the nine life forms, with a possible eighth." "We're running out of time. Attempt to beam aboard all that you can." Patterson activated the transporter controls, and glanced nervously at the pads. Seven forms materialised, and she was glad to see that Clara and Jay were among them. Then she noticed that Marrissa wasn't. Feverishly, she worked at the controls, but it was no good. The other two patterns were shifting too rapidly to get even a partial lock. She looked up into Jays eyes, and replied to his silent question with a shake of her head. The Enterprise under the guidance of Captain Riker and the Kul'pla under the Captainship of Jay Gordan maneuvered into position on either side of of the Nexus. At a signal from the Enterprise, the cloaking device on the Kul'pla partially activated, blurring the ship. The Enterprise too was only partially visible through its metaphasic shielding. Between the two vessels, the Nexus thrashed about like a caged beast. Slowly, the two vessels edged towards the Benecian sun. The hearts of the Captains on both ships were heavy, knowing that by this action they were consigning a mutual friend to death. Marissa stood on the bridge of the Enterprise, and ordered Alexander to score 'I lost to a bunch of kids' onto the Cardassian vessel. Marrissa internally basked in a moment of triumph. She had almost single-handedly stopped a threat to the Federation, however slim, and now she was on a personal high. The viewscreen changed from showing Alexander's Calligraphic handwriting and flickered into the form of a Cardassian. It was at this moment when Marrissa's world exploded. The Nexus, trapped between the subspace fields generated by the Enterprise and the Kor'pla, plunged into the star's corona. "Transfer complete." informed Lieutenant Supra from the transporter room, a scant few seconds before the Kul'pla exploded. Riker merely nodded in response. "How are the shields holding up?" he enquired. "Shields at sixty percent and holding." stated Data, calm as usual. "Okay then, take us out." As the Enterprise banked upwards and headed out of the Corona, only Deanna caught the tear in Riker's eye. "Jay, you have the bridge." Riker headed into the ready room. Bloodleblip. "Come!" called out Riker, just settling into the Captain's chair." Deanna stepped into the room. "Will, I've known you..." Riker cut her off with a wave of his hand. "I know, Deanna. Marrissa deserved a lot more than that, but what else could I have done? I had no choice. The good of the many..." "Far outweigh the good of the few." Deanna continued. "Yes, I don't blame you for your course of action, and neither will anybody else. Not even Jean-Luc. Yes, I can tell that is what's bothering you. You feel that you've betrayed his trust. But as you say, what else could you have done?" Riker sighed, annoyed at himself. Feelings of guilt pervaded him, gripping him in a mental fugue. Stop it, he thought. You're a starfleet officer. Do your duty. "Deanna, I leave it to you to prepare the eulogy." he said. "She was not a woman you could forget." Riker's last words were still echoing in Clara's mind as she sat on the bed in her quarters. The door chimed. "Enter." she called, sitting upright. Jay entered the room, a somber expression on his face. Clara relaxed again. "I should have been there, with her, in the Nexus." he declared. "Then you would be dead too." stated Clara, logical as always. "I'll always regret not being with her" Jay said, vaguely. "She died in the line of duty. Its the way she'd have wanted it." Clara scowled at the cliched sound of her voice. "There's nothing any of us could have done. Will you join me in a drink?" Jay nodded, and walked over to the replicator. He ordered two drinks and came back with the glasses, passing one to Clara. She took it from him, and saw his expression. "You were more deeply in love with her than you thought, weren't you?" Jay gave a barely perceptible nod. "Yes, I realised too late." Clara held up her glass. "To Marrissa, a good Captain and friend" "Yes." said Jay. "A good friend." The Nexus died. In every known continuum, the rippling band of energy was fading out of existence. Inside, Marrissa screamed as she was caught within the maelstrom of power, buffetted on all sides. "Home!" she cried, willing only to be free of the Nexus's grip. The Nexus, existing in all dimensions and time frames, released her as per her wishes, its last act before dying. As the Nexus began to fade, Guinan stared into the raging heart of a star. Myriad colours played about her eyes as the ribbon of energy flailed about. Her last thoughts were of her impending freedom, and strangely she smiled as she was willingly consumed by the Sun's heat. Marrissa blinked as the kaleidoscope of colour cleared from her vision. Pastoral fields stretched out before her, and the sky was a perfect blue. The single, yellow orb of the Earth's sun was just reaching its zenith. Laughing, Marrissa walked towards a rocky outcropping and peered over the edge. Immediately she sobered. Below her, down the hillside she was standing on, a group of neanderthals, wielding knives and spears, ran in a group chasing after a creature she identified as something approximating a horse. She gasped, realising that she was stranded on Earth thousands of years before she was even born. "My dear Amber, there's no need to despair." With a start, Marrissa turned around at the sound of a voice behind her. With a sob of relief, she hugged the newcomer. "Well!" said Q, draping an arm over her shoulder. "After all our stimulating chats, I couldn't just let you stay here. Think of the waste!" Marrissa's smile mirrored Q's own, as they both disappeared in a bright flash of white light. THE END.