//------------------------------// // Escape the Void // Story: Worlds Apart: The Chosen of the Prognosticus // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “They’re hailing us, sir,” Worf said. “But the channel is public—they want everyone to hear this.” Picard’s frown deepened. “Onscreen.” He had not seen Dark Oak before, but he found it hard to believe the metallic creature before him was anyone else. “This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship, Enterprise.” “I am Dark Oak of the Metarex. Allow me to put this in a way you fleshy beings can understand.” He folded his hands together, scraping the fingers like knives against each other with a harsh sharpening sound. “If you do not hand over the beings known as Tippi, Twilight Sparkle, Toph Beifong, Cosmo, and Data immediately, you and everyone here will be destroyed.” For a moment Picard was shocked they knew about Data’s inclusion, but then he remembered Dimentio’s visit. Narrowing his eyes, he took a few steps toward the screen. “Dark Oak, unless I am mistaken, your Void intends to destroy us all anyway. Why would we comply with anything you demand under threat of destruction?” “You may strike a deal, as I did.” “I will not betray my race, my Federation, or my universe,” Picard spat. “Then you are simply a target.” Dark Oak held out a hand. “I address the rest present, now. Join us in our crusade to rid the worlds of pain, of unnecessary complexity, of suffering. Turn your backs on the imperfect world here and create new ones with us.” “Does anyone really believe they’ll be allowed to make anything they want?” Picard asked. “How can you think so? This Count you follow, he has very particular ideas of what is ‘good’ and what is ‘evil’. He will not permit a world to be created that is just like this one, except where the Klingon Empire rules everything, or where the galaxy is one big booming economy, or where all worlds are assimilated into unity!” Picard held out a hand to Dark Oak. “Why, I have my doubts he intends to create whatever world your people have in mind, Dark Oak. If he truly wishes to create perfect worlds, what business does an empire have in that vision?” Dark Oak leaned in, green “eye” glinting in the light of his ship. “You assume the Metarex desire an empire.” “...You are correct. I know nothing of your personal desires.” Picard returned to his chair, sitting down. “But I do know the desires of the people gathered here at this Void from this universe. We may not be allies, but we all share the deep-seated desire to preserve ourselves and our loved ones! Any one of us might not be able to stand against you, that is true. But look around. You are vastly outnumbered, Dark Oak.” “And we have the Void. I ask the people of this universe, do you really wish to test your mettle against a power you do not understand?” “As I see it, we do not have a choice,” Picard said nonchalantly. “It is either resist…” He smiled softly. “Or die.” “Then die,” Dark Oak turned a little, motioning to someone off-screen. “All ships—destroy the Enterprise.” The message cut off. “Shields up!” Picard ordered. “Charge all weapons, move behind the Federation line. Data, take Twilight and the others to a Runabout.” “Aye, sir.” Data stood up and started leading the others off the bridge. “Be careful, Captain,” Twilight said as the turbolift doors shut. Picard nodded to her, hoping that gave her some confidence in them. “Worf, report.” “Metarex ships moving in. The Federation ships are forming a wall between us and them. ...The Klingon fleet is moving into formation with them.” “The others?” “Several smaller powers are fleeing the scene, including the Ferengi,” Worf said. “The Borg and Cardassians have made no move. The Romulans… are hailing us.” “Onscreen.” It was Admiral Vomin again, to Picard’s relief. “Ah, Admiral! We are accelerating our plans. I’m sending you a runabout filled wi—” “Send us the ID of the runabout and we will give it clearance to enter the Romulan Star Empire,” Vomin said. “The Lyrix will not be leaving this sector, it will be aiding in the battle.” Picard was shocked. “Thank you, Admiral, your adaptability is exemplary.” “Let us hope it is enough.” Vomin nodded, cutting the connection on his end. “Romulans moving into formation,” Worf reported. “...That appears to have prompted the Cardassians to move in as well.” “Only willing to commit if they think there’s a good chance of winning,” Picard mused. “Send my thanks to the Gul in charge, whoever he is. Status of the Metarex fleet?” “Charging. Volleys are being exchanged with Klingon bird-of-prey strikers.” “Onscreen.” The sharp, fishlike ships of the Metarex engaged with the much smaller, but smoother Klingon birds-of-prey. The green birds zipped around the fish, firing torpedos at them from several directions, impacting their shields. A few of the smaller Metarex ships were taken out by the primary assault, but the larger ones had more than enough firepower to deal with a few pesky green birds. The Metarex weapons were unlike the standard phasers and torpedoes of ships in this universe, relying instead on traditional missiles and projectile weapons. This did not make them entirely useless, however; the missiles had large yields, and the projectile “flak” was made out of a super dense material that occasionally punctured through shields entirely, destroying a bird-of-prey in one hit. “Worf, assessment,” Picard asked. “Their weapons are highly refined and can occasionally bypass shields. Smaller ships are at high risk. Large ships, as long as their antimatter containment is protected by physical barriers, would be under significantly less risk.” “And their defenses?” “According to sensors, their shields are empowered by the Void, but significantly weaker than ours.” “Hmm… This may not be as difficult as I thought.” “Captain!” Worf said, pressing more buttons. “Something new is emerging from the Void! It… appears to be some kind of life form!” The Enterprise’s camera twisted back to the Void itself, watching as a crystal claw emerged from the swirling darkness. A decidedly draconic head revealed itself, mouth open as if in a roar—not that anyone could hear it in the vacuum of space. The beast unfurled its massive wings, revealing them to be made entirely out of white crystal sparkling with energy. As it emerged, the golden crystals on its chest caught the light of the stars, shimmering like the surface of the ocean just before sunrise. It was a dragon larger than most of the ships in the fleet, comparable in size to the Enterprise itself. With another soundless roar, it charged, the wings sending out a burst of energy that gave it propulsion in the vacuum. It sped past the Metarex fleet and clawed at a smaller Cardassian ship. The flat, yellow-orange craft’s shields gave out in an instant and the poor thing was disemboweled with ease. “Focus fire on the dragon!” Picard shouted. “Convey the order to the entire fleet!” “I do not think we need to,” Worf said, as photon torpedoes and phasers were already focusing on the beast from all sides. While it had no shields to speak of, the sheer girth of its crystalline form let it only suffer minor damage from the assault. With every swipe, it took out another ship, disabling if not outright destroying whatever it touched. “The deflector dish,” Picard said, tapping his pin. “Geordi! Can we resonate with the dragon’s crystal structure using the deflector dish?” “I don’t know,” LaForge’s voice came in from engineering. “I’d need a sample of the crystal to test on.” “Send out a call to all allied ships,” Picard said. “Tell them we need a sample of that crystal—it may be possible to use a deflector dish to shatter the ‘dragon’ from inside.” “Attempts are being made…” Worf frowned. “Sir, it’s breaking off.” It was—without warning, the dragon ceased attacking the ships and dove toward the side, speeding away. “What’s it after?” “...That’s the direction their runabout went, sir.” “They must have deduced Twilight and company were on it…” Picard frowned. “Can we reach them?” “A few Romulan warbirds are already making the attempt, but the Metarex are impeding them.” Picard tensed. “You can do this, Data…” ~~~ The runabout was a small, largely rectangular craft with two blue cylinders attached to the bottom—the warp nacelles, necessary instruments for faster-than-light travel. It had a few rooms including a cargo hold and a cockpit. Currently, everyone was in the cockpit. Data was piloting, pressing buttons rapidly as they avoided stray shots from the rest of the battle. “Can we jump to warp yet?” Twilight asked. “It is unsafe at this moment,” Data reported. “It is likely a stray piece of flak would hit us as we prepare to jump. Just one more minute.” The ship whirled around in a corkscrew fashion, dodging some loose shrapnel flying at them from a recently destroyed Romulan warbird. Toph gripped her chair like it was her only connection to this life. “I thought I was okay with spaceships. I thought I was fine with floating in the air with the endless nothing of space out there. I have changed my mind! This piece of junk is too small and spinning around way too much!” “Just hold on, not much longer,” Cosmo said, gripping her chair tightly as well—though not quite as tightly as Toph was. Tippi, to her credit, was still flying around seemingly unfazed by the constant jostling. “Almost—” Data paused. “Hm.” “What is it?” Twilight asked. “The crystal dragon appears to be chasing us.” Twilight bit her lip. “I don’t suppose we can jump to warp…?” Data twisted the runabout to the side, narrowly dodging the beast’s claw. “No. We cannot.” He pulled the ship up, narrowly avoiding the other claw. To prevent it from getting another easy shot, he flew around the beast’s arm, prompting it to claw itself the next time it attacked. “Yeah!” Twilight cheered. “Minimal damage,” Data reported. “Its structural integrity is astounding.” He continued to fly along the edge of the creature, making it difficult for it to claw its way through them. This did not stop the dragon from trying, slapping its arm, chest, and eventually its face with its own hand. With the strike to the head, the dragon reeled back—largely undamaged, but dazed. Data took this opportunity to speed away. However, the dragon recovered quicker than he was expecting, reaching a claw out to them once more. “I am performing several highly unorthodox and risky maneuvers,” Data reported, twisting the ship between the dragon’s fingers. “I doubt I will be able to keep this up.” He pushed the ship into a run again, trying to get even the slightest window to jump to warp. “Can we expect help?” Twilight asked. “The Metarex are occupying everyone aside from—” two massive cubes composed of a seemingly endless disarray of metal plating, wires, pipes, and circuitry appeared in front of the runabout. “—aside from the Borg.” Twilight paled. “Oh no…” She’d read about these beasts during her time on the Enterprise. A collective hive-mind of cybernetic monsters that devoured everyone and everything, forcefully assimilating them into their ‘collective;’ stealing their technology, biology, and every experience they had ever had. It was terrible, and she suspected her magic abilities were highly desirable to them. So she was more than a little shocked when they passed the runabout up and attacked the dragon directly, skewering it with green lasers that reflected through the facets of the beast’s crystals, exploding small parts of it. “What…?” Cosmo cocked her head. “I thought they were…” “Don’t question it!” Twilight shouted. “Just go!” Data jumped into warp speed, leaving the battle behind. ~~~ “Sir… the Borg have engaged the creature,” Worf said, disbelief evident. Picard stood up, examining the scene playing out on the viewscreen. Two Borg cubes were engaging the draconic creature and keeping it well occupied. The cubes’ shields were just as useless as their own, but the Borg cubes had another trick up their sleeve: they could still operate even with massive chunks torn off of them. As the dragon essentially ate the cubes, they kept firing from every direction with weapons that were mildly more effective than the rest of the nations’. “Sir… we’re also receiving a transmission from the Borg.” Worf pressed a few buttons. “It is a data file containing… the resonance data for the beast’s crystals.” Picard pointed at him. “Coordinate with every ship in the fleet that has a programmable deflector dish! Direct all attacks at that creature!” Most of the Federation ships pulled out of combat with the Metarex while the remaining ships kept firing at the fishy defenders. Many were wide open as they pulled off—getting destroyed in the attempt, but several dozen made it to the dragon. The remainder of the Borg cubes and assorted ships activated their dishes. On most ships, this took the form of a flat blue ovoid that usually sent out a specialized field of energy to clear the way of debris. But when calibrated properly, it could release a resonating field that pulsed with a specific frequency. Like sound hitting glass, this frequency erupted from the deflector dish and resonated with the crystal dragon’s very structure. It let out an inaudible roar as the reverberations coursed through its body, every vibration adding onto the others until the strain was simply too great. The dragon shattered into millions of pieces, completely inert. Worf grinned. “Enemy destroyed, sir.” “Good. But the battle’s not won yet.” Picard sat back down. “Return us to a defensible position—we do not want them going after the door. And, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but extend my appreciation to the Borg for their assistance.” Worf nodded, sending the message while the helm took the Enterprise back. The dragon may have been destroyed, but it had taken a massive chunk of the fleet with it, leaving the Metarex in a significantly better position than they had been previously. “Sir, incoming transmission from Flipside. It’s Doctor Eggman.” Picard nodded. “Onscreen.” ~~~ “Ah, Captain!” Eggman grinned. “Glad you could spare a moment.” “This better be important, Doctor,” Picard said from the television screen that floated in front of Eggman’s face. “We are in a battle.” “That is exactly why I’m calling. See…” He stepped to the side, revealing a large array of robots small enough to fit through the door, alongside Shadow and Sonic, both of whom looked a little bored. “I have a wide variety of combat-ready devices that can be at your location in a jiffy! Just one problem—Ten Forward does not open directly to space. I need your permission to blow out the windows so the Eggman Empire can offer you assistance.” “Granted, but coordinate with Guinan. And be sure you don’t suck the air out of Flipside in doing so.” “I have the proper forcefields.” Eggman said, mildly offended Picard thought he may have overlooked the laws of depressurization. “Ty Lee, move in and start clearing people from Ten Foward.” “Alright!” Ty Lee jumped through the yellow door and started making cheerful shouts. “Please move out of Ten Forward in a calm, orderly fashion—we’re going to blow the wall out!” “Is there any progress on transporting larger objects through the doors?” Picard asked. Eggman shook his head. “Tails is attempting to route the Master Emerald through the transporter you gave him, but I do not think he has succeeded. Don’t expect the Blue Typhoon or any of my larger creations to come to your aid.” Picard nodded. “Keep me informed, and your assistance is appreciated. Picard out.” The feed cut. Eggman’s smile vanished and he started scratching his chin in thought. “Even with all our resources, we barely scraped by against the Metarex. Now we’re limited, and they have the Void…” “I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” Iroh said. “Hmm…” Eggman said. Wordlessly, he returned to tinkering with one of his robots. Then he paused. “Wait a minute… Sonic, Shadow, you two don’t need a hole in the wall. You can get out there right now.” “Finally!” Sonic rushed through the door in a blur. Shadow shrugged, slowly walking in after him. “Not that you two will do much…” Eggman said, returning to his work.