>> I hereby call the first meeting of the Council of Worlds into session. << Merlon played a gong sound throughout the room. The various peoples of the world had chosen a previously abandoned building in Flipside that could easily hold a hundred people. The room had a column in the center with numerous screens Merlon could use to manage and display information. The circular table ringing the column seated the various representatives from the worlds, while beyond these seats were numerous cameras and reporters from the various universes, all ready to record everything said and decided in this meeting.
That was one problem with holding these meetings in neutral territory: Flipside had no official laws or top-secret clearance, and enough of the members wanted complete transparency that the others couldn’t get any form of secrecy instated—to the fury of the Romulans most of all. However, they had agreed that the reporters and other members of the audience were forbidden from interrupting the proceedings.
>> It has now been a full month since the chosen left to find the Pure Heart in Lumash. While I personally believe they will return, we have put off meeting to determine the future of Flipside long enough. The Void hangs high in the sky, growing larger with every hour. As we are now, Flipside is far too disorganized to do anything as a unified group. This meeting plans to change that. Coming together, we declare the existence of the Council of Worlds. We declare, formally, that Flipside is neutral territory owned by no one and governed by the council you see before you. Today marks the first meeting where we decide policy. First, I must recognize all present. <<
Merlon began listing off the people sitting at the table, many of which had outrageously long titles, and most of which weren’t actually that important. Iroh and Aang were both there to represent Diqiu, and Mobius had two as well—Doctor Eggman, of course, and a “leader” the Mobians themselves had chosen for this, a vest-wearing chipmunk known as Sally. Hume had the most representatives: Picard for the Federation, Tomalak for the Romulans, a man named Gul Dukat for the Cardassians, and a handful of other representatives. Narnia only had one: Trumpkin, though there was an empty seat next to him left out of respect for Aslan, who nobody really expected to show up. Lumash had a similarly empty seat for Rosalina, but it had scrounged together some other leaders: Frankie for Rogueport, a pink-dress wearing human woman called Princess Peach, and Beldam herself were there. Though Beldam was not representing a nation of Lumash—she was there for her connection to the Tribe of Darkness.
“Get on with it already,” Eggman grunted as the list scrolled across the screen. “We don’t have all day.”
Merlon continued to print the list until each name had gotten an appropriate amount of time. >>And now, the first item on the agenda for today: we are to discuss the nature of security and threats to Flipside. Tomalak, I believe the Romulan Star Empire has prepared a statement?<<
Tomalak rose, keeping his usually expressive face stern and level. “Indeed we have. To put it mildly, security in this city is a disgrace. There are a few token guards at the doors between worlds, but no registration, no observation, and no background checks. We know that some of this is largely impossible to do given the timing of our current situation, but the fact remains that not only are common thieves entering the doors, but one of Count Bleck’s highest agents walked right into the city and nobody batted an eye.”
“I don’t think even extra security could have stopped a shape-shifter of her skill from getting through,” Iroh said.
“Granted,” Tomalak said with a pained nod. “But it still serves as an illustration: as it is now, the enemy can force their way into our nexus of power. The fact that they haven’t tried to blow this place to smithereens yet is extremely concerning.”
>>The Pure Hearts do offer some protection against assault.<<
“Yes, assault on the city itself.” Tomalak folded his arms. “What of an assassin sent to kill, oh, one of our chosen ‘heroes?’ or Doctor Eggman?”
“They wouldn’t dare,” Eggman spat.
“If the Romulan Star Empire were running the operation on the other side, we most definitely would dare.”
Picard nodded. “They would. In fact, I believe half of us would engage in similar plans if we were desperate enough. And from what little we know of the Count and his servants, he is quite desperate.”
“Maybe he has an understanding of honor,” the Klingon representative suggested.
“Perhaps…”
Tomalak shook his head. “It does not matter. If he has ‘honor,’ it could change at any moment. There is no point in deliberation: we must increase security. Are there any objections?”
There were a few who looked like they didn’t like the idea, but they all shook heads.
“How much security are we talking about?” Eggman said. “Cameras everywhere, or just more guards?”
Tomalak smiled—a disgusting expression. “The Romulan Star Empire understands you are not willing to limit the freedom to visit and leave this city. An annoying limitation, but we have devised a method to work around it.” He pulled a black hexagon out of his shirt and tossed it on the table. “This contains a microchip invisible to the naked eye that only functions while in Flipside. Any entity who comes through the doors will be required to have one of these affixed to them. While in Flipside, every entity’s position will always be known, as well as basic vital signs. It will be able to detect shapeshifters and individuals who are being attacked. And, since we are aware of your distrust, we have developed it so it self-destructs upon leaving Flipside. Furthermore, the Romulan Star Empire is willing to let the system be run through Flipside’s computer rather than our own system, in the interests of being…” He couldn’t help but hiss. “Open.”
“I understand this may make many of you uncomfortable,” Picard said. “But my scientists have examined the chip, and we believe it behaves exactly as they say it does. It can be administered harmlessly upon arrival and will be a great boon in locating each other—or stopping possible intruders.”
“It also makes it easy to catch thieves,” Tomalak added. “Assuming they can’t get all the way to the doors.”
Eggman sighed. “I don’t like it, but until this Void is dealt with, I have no objection.”
There were a few pieces of muttered discussion, but in the end, the device was accepted by the majority, on the condition that the administrators of the chip would be mixed from every world.
>>Next item… Flipside research. This is largely just a report on a continued effort.<<
Eggman stood up, dusting off his coat. “We have two major areas of research: the Pit and the Heart Drive. We know nothing about the Pit aside from the shadowy monsters that plague it, but we are currently planning to raid it within a few weeks with all the firepower we have. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out what’s down there—if we can harness what’s making these shadows, who knows what we’ll be able to do?”
“How much of a drain on resources is this?” the Cardassian Dukat asked.
“Minimal, mostly just combat personnel and my already created machines. We just need people with strong abilities, which I believe we will be talking about later.” He nodded to Iroh and Aang. “As for the Heart Drive, we are spending a lot more resources on that.”
“Please explain what it is for those who don’t know,” Sally the Chipmunk said.
“Gladly!” Eggman pointed his controller at Merlon’s screen, changing it to display a schematic of the pillar the Pure Hearts were in. “As we increase the number of Pure Hearts in containment, we increase the power available to the city. This has allowed us to bring the weapons online and a dimensional shield that will offer some protection against the Void when it finally starts tearing at us directly. However, we believe there is another device they are powering: the Heart Drive. This would, in theory, allow Flipside itself to skim through the multiverse like a starship glides through space. However, this full capability will not be available until we have all eight Hearts and will be used to punch a hole directly into the Void. However, I believe it may be possible to partially activate the Heart Drive before we have all the Hearts. And this… will be useful.”
He pressed a button, displaying a cartoonish representation of Flipside. A circular opening appeared in the air in front of Flipside, opening like one of the doors to a world with black skies and stars, allowing dozens of ships to fly through. “It could be used to open a much larger door to any universe we’ve already established contact with. The obvious benefit of this would be to move large fleets of ships around, but this would also help with evacuation.”
>>That’s the next topic, Eggman.<<
“I know, I know, but it’s important. The universes are all experiencing different levels of decay. Right now, Mobius is the weakest, and it could go… soon. Evacuation may become a necessity, and this larger door would be a much better way to do it.”
“The Federation supports any and all decided evacuation efforts,” Picard said.
“Since we’re talking about it…” Sally the Chipmunk cleared her throat. “I formally request permission to evacuate as many Mobians as possible to Flipside at the earliest convenience.”
“There won’t be enough space for an entire world!” Dukat the Cardassian sniped.
Picard folded his hands together. “The moment the Heart Drive creates larger doors, the Federation will begin to tow starbases through in order to house the refugees. Do not worry about space: if we can evacuate them, we can house them.”
“Would it even matter?” Trumpkin asked. “The Void will just eat us anyway. Why evacuate them here?”
“If we had all eight Pure Hearts, we may be able to ignore the Void entirely,” Eggman said. “By shunting all power to the dimensional stabilizers, the Void’s attacks may be neutralized.”
“May,” Trumpkin huffed.
“That ‘may’ is a good enough reason for me,” Picard said. “I believe the research on the Heart Drive should be first priority, and that the moment the larger doors are opened we begin evacuations of endangered worlds.”
There was a chorus of agreed remarks. Nobody seemed to be questioning this one—likely because they wanted to be able to get out of their world if it was about to be destroyed.
>>Now, the last of the non-world-specific discussions… The heroes of the Light Prognosticus have been gone a month and we’ve had no contact with them. Furthermore, we have seen nothing of Rosalina for the last two weeks. Should we take any action?<<
“Absolutely,” Beldam said, speaking up for the first time. “I just wonder what you young’uns think you’re going to do.” She started counting on her fingers as she listed off items. “You have no idea where they are, you have no idea how to track them, you can’t move through Lumash space quickly, and the space goddess told you they needed to do this alone.”
Picard nodded. “Unless there are any ideas for locating them or Rosalina, I’m afraid there’s not much we can do on this end. Which means we have to prepare for the worst: that they’ve failed in their mission. I do not believe they have, but it would be foolhardy to assume the best.”
“Which is a big problem!” Trumpkin shouted. “We can’t find the Pure Heart in that universe, and we can’t go to any new ones!”
“Is there any hope of using the Heart Drive to find a new world?” Picard asked. “I understand there are three we have not opened doors to.”
“Only two of those have Pure Hearts in them,” Eggman answered. “And… I highly doubt I will be able to force a connection. The Count’s Chaos Heart is doing a really good job at making it hard to punch through the space between realities.”
“But there is a possible workaround,” Tomalak said, smirking. “All of the Count’s servants have the ability to move in and out of the Void at will. If we could capture one of them and reproduce this ability, we would have freedom to move wherever we pleased.”
“Capturing them is a tricky proposition,” Picard reminded him. “They are all skilled combatants and know to retreat when defeated, even when half-delirious. Some observations of Metarex ships suggests the Count can recall them himself if he wants, from anywhere.”
“Then we just make sure we follow them through the portal next time,” Tomalak suggested. “Then we will have an operative on the other side who might be able to take… advantage of the situation.”
>> Without the Hearts they would not be able to disable the Chaos Heart, nor would they be able to radio us. <<
“It is not an ideal solution, but it is something. We just need to be ready next time one of them makes an appearance—and try to follow them.”
“Set up a transporter,” Eggman suggested. “Have a team always standing on it, ready to go whenever the Void portal appears. You suddenly have a team on the inside.”
“I’ll put out a request for volunteers,” Picard said. “Anyone else who wishes to do so is welcome to.”
There was a bunch of agreement. Since it was volunteer only, anyone could just refuse to be put on the team—and everyone knew there would be at least a few people mad enough to be on call for that mission.
>>Then we move onto the more focused sections on the list. For now, Diqiu.<<
For the first time, Aang stood up. “So far, we have hidden the truth of what’s happening from my people—they have no idea that the Void in the sky is consuming their world. I’m going to tell them.”
This prompted a lot of shouts and yells from the table, but Aang shook his head. “I’m not arguing this, it’s something I’m going to do. We will offer our armies to your cause, and yes, to your Pit, Eggman.”
Eggman smirked. “Why thank you, little Avatar.”
Aang rolled his eyes. “And, after I do this, I will volunteer myself for the mission into the Count’s home. I am the Avatar. I may not be the chosen to find the Pure Hearts—but it is still my duty to bring balance to the world. Plus…” He broke out into a grin. “I can’t let Toph have all the fun.”
>>Very well, it appears there is no discussion. The evacuation of Mobius has already been discussed. Returning to Hume: the Borg.<<
“There has been no change in the Borg,” Picard reported. “They still sit and observe the Void and make no aggressive moves toward us. We know they intend to fight the destruction of the universe, so they have temporarily ended their assimilation behavior. But I would be wary of them—the moment the threat of the Count is over, they will turn on us.”
Everyone from Hume nodded their support for Picard’s position—all of them knew the terror of the Borg and how ruthless they were.
“Treat communication with them extremely cautiously. And do not, by any means, believe they are our allies. They just find it convenient not to devour us at the moment.”
>>Heavy… any other information?<<
“None. They have been completely silent.”
>>Concerning. Regardless, Narnia and Lumash share a similar concern: Aslan and Rosalina, both of whom claim to be benevolent but have taken questionable actions and have not appeared for this meeting. What is to be our policy to them?”
“Assume the best,” Picard said. “They are what they say they are.”
“They don’t always say what they are!” Tomalak spat.
“Aslan has no need to,” Trumpkin grunted. “And this Rosalina is probably just like him!”
“Spare me your broken primitive theology!” Dukat shouted. “They are powerful entities, nothing more, nothing less.”
“Spirits aren’t always benevolent,” Iroh pointed out.
“Precisely!” the Klingon representative shouted. “We must treat them as another enemy!”
“Why would they want to do anything to us?” Picard asked. “They are protectors of their worlds. They want the Count to fail as much, if not more, than we do!”
Finally, after so many cautiously and civilly discussed points, the meeting devolved into shouting and name-calling. It took an entire hour to hash out the simplest of ideas; to simply treat them as unknowns officially. Unofficially nobody could agree and just wanted to talk about something else.
>>Moving on to some minor points…<<