Plan B
Plan B
“Gentlemen, please!” Captain Picard held up his hands to the bickering feud going on amongst the various images of starship captains on varying screens in the conference room.
None were in any position for a face to face meeting, and most had only just gotten their communications systems back online. Each captain faced one another from screen to screen. The backgrounds behind each captain showed the varying extents of damage their ships had all suffered.
In the Enterprise’s conference room, Captain Picard stood with Discord and Princess Twilight Sparkle who, after demanding to be more involved with the ongoing mission, was permitted to attend the meeting.
Blame for the misfortunes they all suffered flew across the communications lines at a dizzying pace, however most shots were rapidly fired off at Picard. His hands raised themselves higher into air vainly trying to return to any form of order.
“Please, listen to me,” he repeated, shouting out over the din.
“No you listen!” the Andorian captain snapped back. “My ship is in no condition to face those cubes again. We tried our best to help you when you said we were facing one cube; we stayed despite three cubes showing up, knowing the odds as we did; but I do not command a battleship, Captain. This is a freighter, and we will already be limping our way back home now. I will not have my ship, and my crew, become sacrificial tahn-tahns to the slaughter!”
“I most certainly understand how you feel,” the Captain Picard acknowledged sullenly. “You have contributed everything you possibly could to the success of this mission, and I will not ask your crew for more than that.”
“Puh!” the Klingon commander spat. “You flee because your ship and you crew are afraid to die? Go then! Run away like the p'takh you are!”
“I’ve lost three men, Commander K’vada. My warp engines are offline, my shields and life support are on emergency power, and my weapons are gone. We are a floating brick in space, Commander! I will not simply throw my crew to their deaths. It would serve absolutely no purpose.”
Picard tried to regain control. “We all must do what we think is necessary to protect our people. I thank you Captain Stahn for your efforts. Now, we need to focus on how to defeat the Borg. Has anyone been able to gather any intelligence on the Borg’s current activities?”
K’vada crossed his arms and shook his head.
Tomalak had an almost unnoticeable but disconcerting smile on his face. “I’m afraid we have been focusing our efforts on making our ship prepared for battle once more, Captain,” his said calmly. “I have nothing new to share at this time.”
Picard had a distinct feeling the Romulan knew something more he was not sharing. In military strategy, Picard found this to be the Romulans biggest weakness, and even used that to his advantage at times. But now he found this to be the weak-link on his own side. He chewed silently on the Romulan’s words, but said nothing.
Finally, the acting captain of the Defiant seemed to have more fruitful information to provide.
“I have something to report, Captain,” said the Defiant’s acting captain.
“What have you been able to find out, Captain Dax?” Picard asked.
Jadzia Dax sat tall in the captain’s chair of the Defiant. While Worf remained on the planet below, Dax, as first officer, had assumed the role of captain.
“We were able to get our cloak back online and do a brief scan of the ships and the planet. All other ships are lost. Most lie in pieces. The Ferengi ship is intact, but the life support is offline and there are no more life signs aboard.”
Her face was plain as she spoke, but distinctly negative. Picard swallowed each new piece of information as she continued.
“The Borg have started to invade the planet. They seem to be only sending small skirmishes across the planet. I’m not too familiar with Borg strategy, but for now they seem to be moving at a snail’s pace. I’m not sure how long that will last though.”
“The Borg are both methodic and patient, Captain,” Picard Explained. “However, they know we are still here, and they will be gathering their strength for the next attack. We need to launch as soon as possible.”
“There’s more,” said Dax, hesitantly. “We’ve detected a pony onboard the lead cube. Its signature is now Borg.”
The only thing that could have given even greater shock to Twilight than surprise of this news was the lack of surprise written on Captain Picard’s face.
“You knew?” Twilight asked accusatorily.
Picard hesitated, exhaling deeply. “The Borg are directed by their queen, Miss. Sparkle,” he explained slowly. “I thought I had destroyed that queen, but it would appear that they have acquired a substitute to replace her.”
“What substitute?” she asked, starting to dread the answer.
“… Princess Celestia was assimilated by the collective… to take the place of their Queen.”
The surprised expression quickly changed to anger on Twilight. “How could you know this? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
The other captains on the line were equally as eager to learn the source of this revelation.
Picard pulled himself upright and quickly responded, “It was one of the last things we detected in our retreat.”
It was a lie. He did not wish to lie to Twilight, but his time amongst the Borg was not common knowledge, and potentially dangerous information in the hands of the Romulans or even the Klingons.
“We detected the energy signature of a Borg teleport from within the Palace. The most likely reason is to assimilate her knowledge and given her abilities would be the prime candidate for the queen’s replacement.”
Twilight still looked mutinous. She would hold her tongue for the sake of the meeting, but Picard had gone too far not telling her that her princess had been worse than kidnapped.
Picard could easily read her face without her speaking, and took the opportunity to press on. “Gentlemen, I’m afraid the news is worse now because of this development. The world and people we are defending are no ordinary pre-warp society. They were once a race advanced enough to reach other planets as well as possessing an ability that, until now, the Borg have never possessed nor even knew about: the ability of magic.”
“Ah ha!” cried Tomalak. “So you admit you were keeping this information from us!?”
“Wait… magic, Captain?” Dax asked confusedly. “… as in fairies, spells, and potions?”
“Well, I don’t know about fairies,” Twilight started, before stopping. She looked at Picard who nodded in return.
“Show them.”
Twilight’s horn glowed in a violet color. A glass on the desk before them rose into the air. She concentrated harder and the glow intensified. The glass changed colors from clear to red, then to blue. She set the now blue glass back onto the table.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, Captain Dax,” said Picard thoughtfully.
Most of the captains were astonished by the feat. Tomalak however, was not amused; nor even surprised, it seemed.
“The Federation has had dominion over this technology, and you deliberately kept it from the Romulan Empire!” Tomalak accused. “You will hand over all information relating to this magic at once!”
“He will do nothing of the sort, my dear Tommy,” a sharp voice cracked adjacent to Picard. Discord grinned as his largest tooth pulled forward. His eyes were narrowed at the Romulan.
“Captain, who is this man!?” Tomalak demanded, a vein in his temple pulsating in a copper color.
“I am Q!” he announced proudly. “And you will listen to me, and what my dear friend Jean-Luc here has to say.”
The air of recognition silenced every last person on the line, knowing of or about the rumors surrounding the Q. Only Tomalak seemed to have white hot fury brazenly written out across his face.
“Captain… Picard…” he tried to say calmly through his irritation. “Am I to understand that you have been taking orders from the Q?”
“The Continuum has as much of an interest in the success of this mission as any of us,” Picard explained. “The balance of power in the galaxy is seriously at risk if the Borg are allowed to assimilate and utilize these abilities.”
“I will have no part in anything to do with the Q!” Tomalak spat.
“Oh pish posh!” said Discord mockingly. “So you lost a few ships when your people failed where the humans succeeded. Get over it!”
Fire flickered in Tomalak’s eyes. “Captain Picard… Romulus or no Romulus, I will NOT stand here and help in ANY plan involving that THING!”
“Oh yes you will!” said Discord smiling. He closed his eyes for a moment, and in that moment, the entire universe shook. Every last ship in the entire system shook with an intensity that triggered the alarms of several vessels to sound.
“What was that?” Tomalak demanded.
“Check your sensors, Admiral. Has anything unexpected just happened, hmm?”
Tomalak took his face away from the screen momentarily. At the same time, a report came from the bridge of the Enterprise.
“Captain,” said Geordi through the intercom, “the static warp-bubble has decreased by one percent.”
“Acknowledged,” said Picard, glaring at Discord. “I told you not to sacrifice any protection on our only means of survival!”
“So it’s true?” Tomalak stated in shock and anger. “The Q are the ones responsible for the bubble we’re currently stuck in! Charge weapons! Target the Enterprise!”
“Admiral please!” Picard begged. “Listen to me for a moment!”
“I will destroy that thing!” he yelled enraged.
“Oh I wouldn’t recommend that, Tommy!” said Discord coolly.
“STOP CALLING ME TOMMY!” the admiral shouted at the top of his lungs.
Discord shifted and changed his expression. “Admiral, if you would like to calm down, I would caution you that I am currently the only thing that’s holding this universe together in one piece. If you kill me, then we will all perish. The entire universe would come crashing to an end.”
Picard stared at the image of Tomalak on the screen. He had never seen a Romulan lose his composure in such a manner in his entire career as a Starfleet officer. For the first time in his life, Picard felt a small measure of sympathy for the Romulan admiral.
“Admiral, under any other circumstances, I would love to rid myself of Q, permanently, if I could,” Picard started.
“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” said Discord. He expression looked almost genuinely hurt, if not for the smile still etched about on his face.
Picard continued on without acknowledgement. “The Borg are the ones responsible for our current predicament. Q is holding the last strands of this universe together to stop it. If we can succeed, everything should go back the way it was.”
“And just how do you expect to defeat three Borg cubes with four ships when eleven ships did little more than put a small dent in the armor of one cube?” Tomalak demanded.
“With an Enhanced Warp Breach,” Picard said plainly.
He barely realized what he even said. It wasn’t an afterthought or a plan he had been developing as they talked. It just left his mouth as nothing more than the answer.
The look on all their faces suggested to the captain they believed him to have lost all of his remaining faculties.
“And just how are you going to ‘enhance’ a warp core breach to get through the Borg shields? How are you going to get a warp core close enough even to detonate it without destroying everyone else in the process? Or before the Borg catch you and destroy it from afar?”
“A Trojan horse, Admiral.”
“I’m not familiar with Earth equines, Captain. Do enlighten me.”
“I will explain everything, Admiral, but first we’ll need to recover that disabled Ferengi ship…”
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I hope Piccard recorded that part to share with his friends and laugh... a lot
And phone pranks, of course.
3501303
Heh-heh. Indeed
Do you know, what I want to do right this moment? I'll tell you what - I want to take my newest ship, U.S.S. Takamichi, charge all my weapons, send all drones out and CRUSH THAT ROMULAN ASSWIPE TO OBLIVION!
Other than that, I can't wait for the finale of this story! The fireworks should be splendid!
For more info about the vessel I curently command in Star Trek Online, please visit this site: Obelisk Carrier
Ah, yes, every Starfleet officer's last-ditch solution: When in doubt, throw a warp core at it. (Only after exhausting all options involving deflector dishes and/or neutron flow polarity, of course.)
Also, Twilight is no doubt going to be having some very angry, possibly pyretic words with Jean-Luc. And DisQord will love every minute.
"Popcorn, buttered."
Eagerly looking forward to more.
3501558
Nice ship. Very sleek, non-Federation like.
I still haven't started an account (mostly because I haven't gamed much in the last several months.
3502172
The ship is available by going through this one mission episode with an interdimensional Iconian gate. Fan fact is that you're going through this mission together with General Worf, who was voiced by the very same actor as the one in the TV show.
Wasn't actually too difficult to finish, and the reward (that ship) is very satisfying, especially since it's very durable in the hands of an Engineer Captain (my class, think space tank).
Those Romulans wouldn't even know what hit them!
3502950
I also fly an engineer. I had been waiting for an eng-focused carrier, but I'm not a huge fan of the elite pets. I was expecting a bit more. The consoles, though... my sights are once again set on fleet assault cruiser. Tanks are underrated, I think. It's hilarious to sit through Donatra's thalaron attack on elite and then plasma bolt her in the face.
As far as raping cubes though, my scimitar is best for that.
ΔΓ
you screwed now, Borg.
great chapter
I love how calm Discord is when trolling the poor Romulan, he may be an ass, but I feel bad for him, a bit, what with Discord beign so annoying.
3504379 one of my best ships is the old VA Sovie. Huge crit abilities with the old anti borg AP beams and Quatums. be transfering thoses toa Fleet T5U or whenever they make the T6 Sovie.
He expression looked almost genuinely hurt, if not for the smile still etched about on his face
1. His.