Star Wars vs. Star Trek

[Cain]

This story (WIP) is from our dear friend Stellar_Magic :

 

 

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

http://www.intowit.com/bloggd/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/starwars_vs_startrek.jpg

 

Shattered Space Part I

 

Silently the ship glided through space. The flashes of ion storms in a nearby nebula illuminated its glistening grey surface. The dim red and blue pulse of the ship's drives gave the vessel a ghostly appearance as it passed through the shadow of a small moon. Its grey hull was separated into two major and two minor sections, the forward section looked like a stretched oval or the backside of a concave mirror, the second main section was shaped like the main hull of an old mariner. The two minor hull sections looked to be some form of engine, their sides glowed a faint blue. The ship itself was small in the realm of intergalactic travel with perhaps only as many as five or six decks. Each level could be guessed at from the pattern of windows on the ship's hull. On the upper plates of the vessel, in clear English was the ship's name, Voyager.

 

On the ship's compact bridge Captain Janeway sat sipping a cup of coffee as her crew worked. Ahead on the viewer, she could see light glinting off tumbling asteroids. The rings around the planet were spectacular and reflected light like small mirrors as their components spun through space. The mere fact that the planet existed was something of a natural miracle, this system was still in its earliest stage of formation, and space was littered with debris, tons of rock, dust, and comentary fragments, a venerable firing squad upon the new planet.

 

The Warp engines were undergoing a maintenance check, one that was long overdue, as the Voyager trolled at less then quarter impulse around the planet. Janeway glanced up as fiery streak of light in rings broadcast a collision within them. With a flash one of the larger pieces in the ring, a shepherd satellite, split in two from a collision with the foreign meteor, "It's been awhile since we've been able to just sit back and do a little stargazing." She slowly turned in her seat to look at one of the bridge crew, "Kim, did you watch the stars back home."

 

Ensign Kim smiled slightly as he tapped the console, "Captain, who in Starfleet didn't look up at the stars?"

 

Commander Tuvok, the dark skinned Vulcan officer glanced up as a series of electronic alarms went off from his console, "Captain, I'm picking up a signal, in the subspace band, I can't make it out." He glanced over to Ensign Kim, "Ensign can you identify the format of the transmission?"

 

Kim frowned and turned to the display behind him. "The signal seems to be in a holographic format of some sort," Ensign Kim said as he began to analyze the signal, "I'm compressing it to two dimensional and routing to the view screen."

 

A voice shot from the comm, but only static appeared on the view screen, "This is the New Republic Transport Jade Scimitar to any ships in range, requesting emergency assistance... Repeating this is the Jade Scimitar..."

 

Janeway glanced at the ensign, "Can you clean it up any?"

 

"Negative Captain, there is too much interference; I've plotted the transmission's source. It's coming from just inside the nebula, sir."

 

"Tom, set course for that distress call," Janeway ordered as she turned toward the helm. She turned to the blond woman that sat beside her over at the sensor displays; "Seven, what can you make of the nebula?"

 

Seven of Nine, the lone Borg member of the crew furrowed her brow almost imperceptibly. "This nebula has never been catalogued by any Borg expedition. It has an unusually large concentration of tachyon and graviton particles." Seven of Nine stiffened slightly, "I'm picking up the ship. It's just within visual range."

 

"On screen," Janeway turned to the display and saw the screen flash to show a scarred vessel. A large bulb shot forward and a pair of steel wings shot around the bulb. Behind the bulb the ship flared outward and a pair of ring shaped surfaces was visible on its ventral side. The ship kept flaring outward and a bulb shaped turret was visible at its center. The ship curved outward into a pair of wings with a nest of six ion engines in between them.

 

"Sensors are picking up a number of energy traces on the vessel's hull, and excessive residue of neutrinos would indicate a large energy wake has affected the vessel. Plasma burns are scattered across the hull. I'm not detecting any kind of warp field or warp core captain, their primary source of propulsion appears to be some form of Ion Drive," Tuvok reported as he finished his scan.

 

"How'd it get out here?" Lieutenant Tom Paris asked from the helm.

 

"That's not important at the moment, life signs?" Janeway asked turning to Seven of Nine.

 

"Captain I'm picking up three, all human." Seven looked up at Janeway, her expression slightly puzzled.

 

"Hail them," Janeway too felt bewilderment at the statement, but she knew what had to be done.

 

Seven pushed a button, "Waiting for response. They're trying to open a channel, were synchronizing, connection established."

 

The view screen flared to life and a middle aged blond man sat in front of the monitor He seemed to be leaning back to look up at the projector. Janeway stood in the center of the bridge to be clearly visible, "This is Captain Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager to the unknown vessel; do you require assistance?"

 

The man smiled slightly then stopped "Federation? You don't recognize our vessel? Which Federation are you talking about?" He craned back and yelled to someone off screen, "Mara, get our location off the nav computer."

 

Janeway looked left and right to the other bridge members, they looked as confused as she was, "Uh, captain this is the USS Voyager of the United Federation of Planets. I ask again, do you require assistance?"

 

"The nav computer say's we're off near Wayland, Luke, but the stars don't match up exactly," A voice answered Luke from off screen.

 

"Stand bye, Voyager, we're running a diagnostic, could you do a sensor sweep of the area for us?"

 

Janeway threw up her hands, she'd never found herself dealing with people like these, "Seven run a sensor sweep."

 

Seven seemed to straighten, "Captain we're picking up a pair of small contacts closing fast."

 

"Captain, do you have anyone pursuing you?" Janeway said as she dropped down into the command chair.

 

"Negative Voyager, we've just picked up the contacts, looks like a pair of Skipray Blastboats, should be friendly, Alliance craft," The man said slowly. Janeway watched as he expertly checked the systems on the craft. Luke glanced back up at the monitor, "We're shutting down for another diagnostic, stand by." The image winked off to be replaced by the image of a pair of small vessels closing on the damaged ship.

 

"I am detecting increased residue on the hulls of these vessels as well captain," Tuvok proclaimed as he diligently scanned the ships. Suddenly a blaze of green and blue pulse weapons fire leapt between the two new ships and the original damaged vessel.

 

Suddenly a voice snapped onto the comm, "Captain we're under attack requesting immediate assistance!!!" Janeway watched as the original ship’s drive lit and the vessel made a swift roll to expose what little shields it had onboard.

 

Janeway saw the Skipray Blastboats clearly now, their curving forward fuselage and cross shaped profile. She saw that one of them was now boring down on them, "Yellow alert, hail those ships."

 

"No, response," Paris said from his post. Suddenly Janeway saw the flashes of light that were the weapons of the Skipray firing.

 

"Red alert, engage those ships, attack pattern delta four," Janeway ordered swiftly. She felt the thump of weapons fire impacting the shields. The original vessel suddenly blazed into sight, a flaming projectile shot into the Skipray which detonated in a shower of debris and sparks. Janeway turned to Tom, "Fire on the other ship!"

 

The glistening solid red blast of the phaser shot smashed through the forward shielding of the Blastboat. After a few seconds it had born completely through the ship and out the other side leaving an empty hulk tumbling through space.

 

"The ship is hailing us," Seven said from her post.

 

Janeway laid a finger under her chin, "On screen."

 

Luke was leaning back in his seat, "Thanks for the assistance, Voyager, my ship..."

 

From off the screen came a second voice, "Our ship."

 

"...Is badly damaged, our life support is failing and our hyperdrive is damaged," Luke said slowly.

 

"We could transport you aboard our ship, give you whatever parts you need for repairs, our technology and yours may be very different mind you," Janeway answered swiftly.

 

"Understood Captain, we'll be waiting."

 

"Prepare to beam them aboard," Janeway turned to the others around her, "Cancel red alert."

 

"Beam, what do you mean?" Luke suddenly disappeared as the blue lines closed around him.

 

Janeway stood and walked out of the bridge and onto the turbolift, "Transporter room."

 

* * *

 

Luke took a quick breath as he saw the room materialize before him. Slowly he stretched out with his senses, and there in front of him were a pair of crewman wearing those simple jumpsuits. He felt a warm hand tug at his arm and turned to see Mara standing there next to him. She smiled faintly at him and gripped Ben’s hand. He smiled sheepishly at her touch as the doors in the corner of the room slid open.

 

The woman he’d talked to earlier stepped into the bridge. She suddenly stopped and starred at Mara. Luke heard Mara’s sharp intake of breath, and Luke realized something that had been nagging at him since he’d first seen the woman. In every way, but the eyes, she and Mara looked identical. After a moment the woman glanced at Ben who was gripping Mara’s legs frightened, “I’ll be alright.” She glanced at the two of them, “My name is Kathryn Janeway, I’m captain of Voyager, are any of you injured.”

 

“Just some scratches,” Luke answered swiftly. He shrugged, “I’m Luke Skywalker, this is my wife Mara, and our son Ben.”

 

“Well our doctor can fix those rather quickly,” Janeway held up a hand, “If you’d turn over any weapons you are carrying I’ll take you to sick bay.”

 

Mara sighed and pulled off her holstered DL-44, “Alright, I suppose we can ease your paranoia.” She tossed the holstered pistol to one of the guards. Luke drew his lightsaber and handed it to Janeway.

 

Janeway hesitantly took it and glanced at the second device that was strapped to Mara’s hip, “What about yours?”

 

Mara bit her lip and took the saber from her belt and handed it to Janeway, “Satisfied?”

 

“Yes,” Kathryn Janeway answered as she turned to led them out of the room. She led them threw the plain halls of the Starship and to the pair of nondescript doors identical to all the others around the ship. Slowly she waved them forward.

 

Luke froze as he entered the room, there was a slightly balding man standing before him, dressed in a black and blue jumpsuit. Luke realized that there was nothing there, a void in his perceptions. Slowly Mara reached toward the saber Janeway held in her hand. It leapt with shocking speed from her hand and into Mara’s. With a snap hiss the lightsaber ignited and Mara pointed it toward the doctor, “You’re not human?”

 

The doctor lifted his hands in surprise, “Not really, no.”

 

“Lower your weapon, he’s a hologram,” Janeway bellowed as she drew her phaser. Mara’s eyes glanced from the doctor to Janeway’s hard stare and slowly she lowered the saber.

 

“Of course you wouldn’t have been able to damage me, and I am after all a hologram,” the doctor said as the saber disappeared.

 

Mara arched an eyebrow, “You might be surprised.”

 

Kathryn held out a hand and plucked the saber from Mara’s hands, “I can’t have you waving weapons around my ship.” Only then did Kathryn’s attention turn to the young boy next to Mara. She smiled slightly at the boy, who grinned back, on glancing back at Mara Janeway found those green eyes staring back at her. Once again Janeway was shocked by the similarity of their features. Slowly she pulled the doctor aside, “I want you to do a genetic scan on them, check it with our records.”

 

“What should I be looking for?”

 

“Just find out who they are,” Kathryn answered and then walked out of the room.

 

Mara watched the Captain leave, and felt uncomfortable as the doctor held a scanner next to her, “Great, from running from the Rapora to this, what next?”

 

Luke slowly shook his head, “I know Mara, but what are we suppose to do?” He sighed, “We’re unknown to these people how can we expect them to trust us?”

 

Mara nodded slowly as Ben climbed up onto one of the beds, “I suppose you’re right, and the Captain, she’s just as irritating as I am, isn’t she.”

 

“Irritating isn’t the word I’d choose,” The doctor remarked as he scanned Mara. Suddenly he stopped, “Interesting, you’re generating an electromagnetic field.”

 

“I am?” Mara asked surprised. Slowly the doctor walked over to Ben and scanned him for a moment then proceeded to Luke.

 

“You’re all generating an electro-magnetic field. I’ve never seen that before in humans,” The Doctor said slowly.

 

Slowly the doctor walked over to a microscope and put a strand of hair that he’d found while examining Mara under the microscope, “Hmmm… All life forms contain tiny magnets that are usually arranged half hazard the body, you on the other hand.” The Doctor straightened, “Your cellular magnets are arranged tip to tip, like your whole body now generates an electrical field.”

 

Luke looked over at Mara, “Miticlorians those are the magnets he’s talking about.”

 

Mara nodded, “I see where this is going.” Suddenly Ben jumped into her lap, “Hi.”

 

Ben smiled at Mara, “Mom, where are we?”

 

“I’m not sure,” Mara answered plainly.

 

* * *

 

Janeway wandered around her desk and stopped by the viewport, “Computer, search archives for a Luke Skywalker.”

 

“Searching… no pertinent material found, expand search to all archives?”

 

“Expand search,” Janeway said as she picked a coffee cup from her desk and took a sip, it was still warm from the replicator.

 

“Multiple matches found, source, literature, cultural, and film files.”

 

“Doing a little research are we?” An all too familiar voice asked from behind Janeway. She spun to see the middle aged man standing there in a standard red and black Starfleet uniform.

 

“Q, don’t tell me you’re behind this?” Janeway asked as she recognized the visitor.

 

“Me, I’m afraid I’m just an observer, the continuum sent me to investigate,” Q said flatly as he dropped himself into one of the chairs and put his boots on the desk.

 

Janeway arched an eyebrow as she glanced at the search results, “Fictional references…” She slowly leaned forward, “Alright Q, what is going on here?”

 

“I have no idea, I do recall a little incident with a child similar to this but I can’t recall why it reminds me of Trelane,” Q said slowly then a smirk crossed his face, “An interesting quandary, but as Einstein said God does not play dice, there must be a reason behind this.”

 

“You probably met the man,” Janeway said flatly.

 

Q grinned again, “I got his autograph, want to see?” Janeway just rolled her eyes. “Well if you really want to know, I think we’re seeing the result of very rare natural phenomena.”

 

“Please Q, what did you do?”

 

“Me? Nothing or at least the me that exists in this reality didn’t do anything,” Q said swiftly. As he finished a series of alarms ran through the cabin.

 

Janeway was through the door as the call went through the ship, “Unknown ship entering sensor range.” She stopped in front of the command chair as the ship appeared on the view screen. It was a small ship, only couple dozen meters in diameter. Janeway looked over to Ensign Kim, “They haven’t detected us yet.”

 

“That won’t stay true for long,” Kathryn Janeway said swiftly.

 

* * *

 

Mara glanced up from the doctor as the lights suddenly dimmed and a series of red lights light up the consoles in the sick bay. The doctor frowned and tapped the comm badge at his chest, “Captain what’s going on?”

 

“Doctor, bring our guests to the bridge,” The Captain answered across the comm channel.

 

Mara stood and took Ben’s hand, “What next?”

 

Luke frowned slightly and concentrated, “I can sense something a familiar mind… I think I know who it is.”

 

“Who?” Mara asked flatly as the doctor lead them through the door and down the hall. With a hiss the doors of the turbolift opened and they stepped inside.

 

The Doctor spoke swiftly, “Bridge.”

 

“Lets just say that I hope Han was right about his change in heart,” Luke said slowly as the doors hissed open. Luke stepped out of the turbolift and stopped as he saw the image on the view screen. There a familiar faceless figure was framed in the center of the screen.

 

Mara was faster on her wits than Luke once again, “I’ll be a hutt, its Boba Fett.”

 

“Hello Jade, Master Skywalker I was told I could find you near Wayland,” The armored man answered slowly. He seemed slightly edgy, unnerve, “There has been a large bounty placed on your head Skywalker, if I didn’t have as much respect for you as I do, I would have taken the job.”

 

Luke stopped to think, Boba Fett respected him? It seemed a strange turn of events, “You don’t have a spare hyperdrive do you Fett?”

 

“I’m afraid not Skywalker, I’d be willing to guard your ship for the time being but I’m critically short on supplies.”

 

Janeway glanced between the two foreigners, “I’d be willing to provide supplies.”

 

“Thank you Captain, if you’ll open up your hangar bay I’ll be willing to dock.”

 

* * *

 

Belana Tores ran a hand through her thick hair as she finished the final repairs to the Delta Flyer. Slowly she pulled herself out of the ship as the doors to the rear of the ship slowly opened. She turned to see a large vessel slowly move to enter. It dipped beneath the hangar entrance and seemed to be standing on its tail as it settled to the floor. Slowly a pair of doors beneath the beam of the ship slid open and a man descended the platform with a pair of blaster pistols.

 

The doors for the bay slid open and a pair of gold clad guards slipped into the bay followed by Captain Janeway and a pair of people she didn’t recognize along with a eight year old child. Slowly Belana walked over to the Captain as the armored clad man walked to them. The man with blond hair spoke softly, “If you want to take his weapons you’ll want the whole suite.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Janeway answered the blond then turned to the armored man, “I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep your weapons while you’re onboard.”

 

With a hiss Q wandered into the shuttle bay, “Captain let me handle this, Mandalorians can be as tough to get along with as Klingons.”

 

The armored man didn’t move, “Have the Jedi given up their arms?” Janeway nodded and the mandalorian lifted his hands to the helmet and tugged it off his head, “I will give up mine as well then.” The face that had been beneath the helmet was pockmarked and scarred but undeniably human. Belana felt herself breath in a sharp intake of breath. A tattoo topped one of the eyes and the face without the scars was undeniably familiar, Chekotay’s.

 

Q cocked his head at the Mandalore, “I’m surprised you gave up your arms so easily, Boba.”

 

The man lifted a gauntleted hand, “Wait you’re Q.”

 

Luke and Mara turned to stair at Q who seemed staggered by the remark, “Uh, yes…” He glanced to the others around them, “Have we met before?”

 

“You certainly seemed to know him,” Janeway observed swiftly.

 

“It comes from spending too much time in the twentieth century, George Lucas sure got his money’s worth out of those films,” Q said swiftly. It was obvious to all that he was on the defensive, “Alright, I have a rather large collection of Star Wars merchandise.”

 

Mara and Luke looked at each other obviously confused. Slowly Q lowered his hands and exhaled, “I don’t know how to put this but… in this reality Luke, Mara, and even you Boba are all fiction.”

 

“They seem real enough to me,” Belana retorted at the two of them. Slowly the others nodded.

 

Q shook his head, “Fine, I’ll be leaving you can figure this out by yourselves.” He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash.

 

Luke and Mara looked at each other, “Who was that anyway?”

 

Boba turned to Luke and Mara, “Thirty years back the Empire hired me to capture a man named Q. It turned out he was some sort of super being, able to travel through time and space at his own will.” He shrugged, “That had been quite a challenge. I never caught him, I told the Imps that they could try themselves, they’d fail of course but.” The man cracked a faint smile, “You have to wonder how he does that.”

 

“We’ve encountered Q once or twice, he causes trouble and leaves,” Janeway shrugged slightly then smiled, “He’s got a son now and tried to romance me once… just typical Q antics.” As she finished her comm badge went off, “Janeway here.”

 

“Come to sick bay as quick as you can, you might want to see this.”

 

Janeway tapped her comm badge, “On my way.”

Edited February 13, 2008 by Cain

[Cain]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

Shattered Space Part II

 

The Borg detector slid slowly through space, green emissions trailing from a half a dozen open wounds. Onboard the Borg was confused, their connection with the hive had been interrupted, and now, now its transmissions were different, encoded in a more advanced algorithm, a sudden change in the fabric of the Borg’s existence. Changes and updates were far from uncommon, but this one was leap, a massive late which the receivers on the detector could barely pick up.

 

And then there were the anomalous readings from all over, whole worlds were offline, the stars seemed to have shifted in places. Large blank areas now existed in the enormous mass of Borg space, an unforeseen development in the history of the collective, only comparable to Species 8472’s sudden appearance.

 

The final straw had been the sudden appearance of the ship, the ship which even now cruised along in its wake, scanning it after resisting assimilation. The ship was small, a mere two hundred meters in length, but it had displayed a fierceness the Borg had not found often and bristled with weaponry. Then the Borg aboard received a single, and suddenly it had a mission and a target.

 

* * *

 

Janeway nearly broke into a run as she hurried down the corridors. She would have run had she not been the captain, but for the sake of the crew she restrained herself. Just being around Mara was giving her the creeps, and perhaps it was giving Mara the creeps as well for all she knew.

 

As she stepped into the sick bay she hid a grimace, maybe she didn’t want to know why Mara was so similar to her. The Doctor glanced up at her as she stepped into the room then handed her a data pad, The results of the genetic comparison. 

 

Janeway furrowed her brow as she glanced at the data pad, Give me the short version doctor. 

 

They’re all human as far as I can tell, but there’s something else.  The Doctor leaned against one of the stands and folded his arms before him, You may have noticed already, but you and Mara are almost identical in appearance. 

 

Janeway nodded, her skin growing cold,  I noticed Doctor, what about genetically? 

 

Well that’s were things get interesting, you and Mara share almost all the same genetic code. There are only two strands that are different, The doctor answered quickly.

 

Janeway skimmed the data pad, What do the strands control? 

 

One controls eye color, Mara’s are green after all. The other, I can’t identify, it doesn’t exist in any other now DNA sequence of a human being, except for her companions. 

 

Have you ever seen genetics this similar before?  Janeway held her breath.

 

No, I can offer some hypothesis as to how something like this could happen, but I’ve never actually seen it before,  The Doctor shrugged,  There is of course random chance, but an alternative possibility would be a clone constructed with damaged genetic material. 

 

Clones age normally, she’s just as old as I am,  Janeway shook her head,  There must be something else going on.  Kathryn Janeway sighed before continuing,  Great, anything else unusual? 

 

Yes, they’re generating an electromagnetic field. I did a brain wave scan and found activity in areas that normally don’t have it,  The doctor added,  The activity seems to be focused on those areas which otherwise dormant. Some of the areas have been associated with extrasensory perceptions like psychic abilities. 

 

When we first brought them aboard, Mara pulled her weapon from me, apparently they may have some other forms of paranormal abilities which have not yet been discovered.  Janeway shrugged,  Empathy, Telekinesis

 

I suppose that is a possibility, but we have no data to support it,  The doctor answered with a slight smile.

 

Thank you doctor, our guests are in the Galley, hopefully Nelix has concocted something suitable for their tastes,  Janeway turned and left the room and headed down the corridor. The surprises keep on coming, she thought. Humans that generate an Electromagnetic field, have some form of psychic powers, what next? And then there was Fett, he hadn’t been willing to take a physical, and if that weren’t enough Boba had kept to himself on the ship, only once or twice venturing forth to speak with another member of the crew or the other guests. He was secretive and Janeway didn’t like it.

 

Janeway stepped into the galley in time to see the pair of older robed people sitting side beside at a table. She stopped as she saw something that couldn’t be. There floating above the center of the table was a cylinder spinning slowly. The cylinder stopped its spin and settled down onto the table. Mara unscrewed the cap and poured a cup of coffee. She set the thermos down and took a sip from the cup,  Reminds me of cafe.

 

Janeway walked over too the pair and picked up the thermos,  What did you just do? 

 

I didn’t do it,  Mara said slowly and glanced at Ben who was sitting at the end of the table.

 

The boy smiled slightly,  I did it. 

 

Janeway arched an eyebrow,  So how’d you do it? 

 

Your doctor can probably offer a scientific explanation but, we call it using the force. Basically, I guess from what we heard the doctor say, our body’s can manipulate electromagnetic fields. We can move with our mind anything that has any sort of magnetic portion,  Luke explained. He took a pebble from his pocket and set it down on the table,  This pebble is made out of sandstone but through the force I still can   The pebble rose from the table and began to slowly spin.

 

So that’s how Mara got her weapon from me earlier,  Janeway said flatly.

 

Yes, those of us that are force strong can do tons of things normal people can’t do,  Mara said simply. She folded her hands slowly,  The force binds the universe technology, you me, Boba, this ship, they all exist in the force to a greater or lesser extent. 

 

Ah Jedi philosophy,  Q appeared in a flash of light right behind the two Jedi.

 

Hello Q, you sure ran out rather quickly,  Mara retorted as she noticed the man.

 

Perceptive and abrasive, I see my first impression was right about you Jade,  Q replied swiftly. He smiled,  I thought you might want to know an old friend just entered this region of space. 

 

Old friend?  Mara asked surprised.

 

Does the name Mit’thraw’nurodo mean anything to you? 

 

Luke felt his veins turn icy,  Thrawn, in this section of space? 

 

Remember he is on the Chiss’s side, what could he gain by attacking us?  Mara said trying to calm her husband.

 

Mara would be right except for one little detail,  Q said grinning.

 

Mara frowned,  What would that be? 

 

Q folded his arms and leaned back smiling,  He may be friendly now but this Thrawn.  Q laughed deviously,  This Thrawn is from the era you’d worse fear. 

 

Who is Thrawn?  Kathryn Janeway asked leaning across the table.

 

Mit’thrawn’nurodo, or Thrawn is an Imperial Grand Admiral, a leader who can tailor his attacks to the psychology of his foes, he came up with some of the most convoluted plots I’ve ever seen,  Mara said slowly she smiled slightly,  The results weren’t all bad though. 

 

Q smiled at the two of them,  So you never figured out how he knew the physiology of his opponents did you? He studies their artwork. 

 

Luke arched an eyebrow,  Well that may explain a lot. 

 

Janeway smiled,  He’s on his own out here, and a couple of the races don’t even have artwork, the Borg, species 8472, and a couple others. 

 

Somehow I think there are fewer problems with that then you think,  Mara said quietly. Suddenly an alarm went off and the panels turned red, the lights dimming.

 

Janeway tapped her comm badge,  Bridge what’s going on? 

 

Ensign Kim’s voice answered her, Captain we’ve picked up several Borg ships, three cubes, moving at transwarp speeds. 

 

Janeway stood,  We’re on our way. 

 

Q smiled,  The Borg would certainly want to add Thrawn’s distinctiveness too their own. 

 

It only took a few minutes for them to get to the bridge. As the doors hissed open the black box shape of a cube had begun to dominate the view screen. Two more of the vessels were visible off to either side of the first ship. From the movement of the vessel on the screen Janeway could tell they were closing on her ship. Even before she’d cleared the door the command came from her mouth,  Status report. 

 

Phasers are powering up, all torpedo tubes are loaded and primed,  Commander Tuvok answered slowly.  One of the ships is decelerating. 

 

Janeway glanced over toward Luke and Mara,  One of those ships is more then enough. 

 

As the vessel closed Luke opened his mind to the force and winced, he could sense the minds within the vessel, countless minds, some human, some others, but each had a common purpose, a common goal. The pain that flowed from each of the beings stunned him, each was in a state of constant torment, each was struggling to shrug of its programming, but none were succeeding,  By the force. 

 

Mara felt herself suck in a breath as she felt it as well, only then did Mara comprehend the size of the vessel. The ship had to be over three kilometers across, just less then two star destroyers placed end to end.

 

Lieutenant Paris swiveled in his seat,  Captain, these cubes are bigger then normal, about ten percent larger then the others on record. 

 

Ensign Kim snorted,  As if they needed anything bigger.  Suddenly a blue beam blazed into existence on the screen,  They’re scanning the Jade Scimitar.  Mara felt a scowl cross her face at the announcement.

 

Suddenly the Cube swiveled back on course with its fellows and accelerated away. Silence filled the room for a moment. Luke was the first to break the silence,  That was interesting.  Q smiled meekly in the back of the bridge,  Dorja is going to have his hands full. 

 

Captain Janeway smiled slightly,  Ensign Kim, will you show our guests to their quarters.  As they left she added,  You better get started with repairs, it seems this section of space is getting pretty busy. 

 

Kim showed the Skywalkers to one of the dozens of guest rooms on the Voyager. Then he left them to their privacy after showing them all the equipment and features of the rooms.

 

Luke glanced out the viewport at the Jade Scimitar. Slowly he lifted his comm link to his mouth,  Artoo, how are the repairs coming?  The answering twitters and beeps were sounded encouraging,  Good, we’ll head over in a little bit, after we talk to the engineer over here. 

 

Two hot chocolates,  Mara spoke to a recess in the wall and smiled softly at Luke as the two cups materialized already hot and steaming,  You know I want one of these. 

 

Kim said it has trouble with some of the other things, and needs constant maintenance,  Luke answered as he took a cup from the recess and took a sip. It wasn’t bad but it seemed a little different then what he was used to.

 

We could load the schematics into Artoo, he could fix it.  Mara suggested as she took a sip.

 

Luke shook his head,  You’re just trying to make it so you don’t ever have to cook again. 

 

So, since when have I cooked? 

 

Luke laughed,  True.  He sighed,  We’d better head to engineering.  They left their quarters and walked along the corridor until they reached the turbolift,  Engineering. 

 

Mara sighed as she felt the lift take them downward then sideways,  I hope Tores is willing to help. 

 

If I know engineers she’ll be wanting too tear everything apart, upgrade it and put it back together,  Luke said as a smile played across his face.

 

She’d better not,  Mara retorted as the doors hissed open and they walked into the pulsing chamber which was main engineering.

 

Belana Tores was hunched over one of the dozens of control panels when they stepped into view. She shouted to one of the other engineers,  Johnson take over.  Then she walked over to the two of them,  I’m ready, we’ve got some pressure suits. We’ll head over whenever you’re ready. 

 

We’re ready now,  Luke answered swiftly. Then he stopped,  We’ll need those pressure suits, primary life support failed soon after we beamed over. 

 

* * *

 

The cabin was still dark as Luke and Mara beamed aboard, but the control lights and equipment was still in complete working order. Artoo sat jacked into one of the panels running a diagnostic as a series of blue lines and glittering specs appeared in the center of the cabin. Slowly the three figures appeared wearing the grey helmeted suits that were standard for the federation. With a flick of a switch lights went on to help them see. Artoo swiveled to look at them and shrieked.

 

It’s alright Artoo it’s just us,  Luke said calming the surprised droid. He leaned down next to the unit,  What have you got operational?  The droid beeped and whistled as Luke glanced at his data pad at the translation,  Engines are online, Weapons, Hyperdrive is at ninety percent efficiency.  The droid beeped,  He says he hasn’t been able to fix the primary life support. 

 

Alright, let’s start with that,  Mara said walking toward the rear of the ship with Belana in tow.

 

So this is your personal ship?  Belana asked as they walked down a corridor.

 

Yes, it’s our ship. Luke, is the mag field online in the hangar bay? 

 

It’s working, Artoo says the life support system needs some new Carbon Dioxide scrubbers,  Luke called from the cockpit.

 

Mara keyed the door and they stepped through into a broad space. Two starfighters hung from launch racks side by side. Each hung above a large circular launch door that was sealed with a magnetic field. Without the field atmosphere would leak from the bay at an alarming rate. Mara smiled as she walked by the T-65 XJ. It had the newest model of laser cannons. The XJ X-wings were no longer the blocky ships of the rebellion by streamlined beauties of a ship that looked even more lethal. The wings seemed to gracefully warp into the hull and the laser cannons had a distinctive cylinder shaped muzzle flash protector. The entire ship seemed more predatory with the gentle curving of the wings and the smooth bond between canons and wings. The ship seemed like the elegant weapon which it was.

 

Luke however still had his old ship from the rebellion, a T-65B which had the scars of countless battles. Mara knew however that it had been upgraded by Han Solo just after the end of the Vong invasion. Its weapons and shields were up to the specs for the stock XJ and the personally modified engines gave it as much speed as a stock XJ. Of course Mara had modified her ship as well but together the two ships performed just as well. Mara however liked the elegant style of the XJ series over the older model. Mara turned to Belana staring in surprise,  Impressive aren’t they? 

 

Yes, they are,  Tores seemed to snap out of a trance and focused on the problem at hand,  So where is the life support? 

 

Here,  Mara said as she pulled open a panel. One look revealed a large amount of carbon scoring and scorched wiring.

 

Belana looked at the damage and frowned,  Are those the scrubbers? 

 

Yeah, well half of them,  Mara replied as she pulled out one of the blackened boxes. She dropped it onto the ground and pulled a vibroblade from the compartment. It buzzed slightly as she cut it open and glanced inside,  Just as I thought, the plasma charge burned away the filter. 

 

Try this,  Belana handed Mara a glowing gel pack. Mara took it and looked at it uncertain,  It’s a bioluminescent carbon filter; it has a fast acting algae in it that cleans the air just like a normal metal filter. We’ve been experimenting with them on Voyager. 

 

Mara glanced at the opened box and shook her head,  I’m not sure I could install it, the parts and energy requirements are probably different. 

 

Let me try,  Belana replied as she sat down and plugged in a sensor device. Slowly she nodded,  Okay I’ve got a resistor that should make the energy requirement work.  She put a cap on the piece of wiring that had once gone into the square filter. Then she took the square filter cut a hole in the center and dropped it inside. She attached the pack to the wiring and installed the pack back where it had gone. She glanced at the oxygen gage and saw that it was slowly beginning to rise,  All done in about five minutes we’ll be able to dump the suits. 

 

That’s pretty efficient for a filter,  Mara answered as she closed the panel.

 

Belana smiled at the older woman,  I try.  She shrugged,  So what’s next? 

 

Next we repair the hull, Luke, could you get the plates and welding gear, we’re going outside,  Mara said smiling.

 

* * *

 

Captain Janeway looked at the view screen and watched as a trio of suited figures wandered across the hull of the Jade Scimitar. She could see the flare of welding and patching on the hull. Janeway was amazed by the sheer look of the ship, even in its battered form. The design seemed strangely elegant and deadly at the same time. She watched as the sparks of welding continued and sighed,  Well, it seems they’ll be ready to head out pretty soon. 

 

A warning siren went up from the sensors and Tuvok glanced up from his console,  Captain, a Borg Scout ship has just entered sensor range. It’s approaching slowly. 

 

ETA?  Janeway asked as fear began to claw at her.

 

Fifteen minutes,  Tuvok answered swiftly.

 

Janeway to Belana, get inside that ship, there is a Borg detector on the way,  Janeway said swiftly.

 

Acknowledged,  Belana answered across the command Janeway watched the group scramble to the airlock.

 

* * *

 

Luke dropped behind the pilots controls. He turned to Mara as she grabbed the chair’s top,  Systems check. 

 

All systems operational, more or less,  Mara answered her husband as she checked the readouts.

 

Alright give me a power restart Artoo,  Luke ordered and the little droid whirred. The entire vessel thrummed with life and more panels began to glow their readiness.

 

So who are these Borg?  Mara asked as she dropped down into the weapons control seat.

 

Belana frowned,  They’re a race of people that capture vessels and steal their technology and the crews. Every one of them is plugged into a mechanical hive mind. Each Borg has implants throughout their body and don’t have any individual thought just the will of the hive implanted in them. 

 

Aggressive? Luke asked as he activated the ion drive.

 

You have no idea.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Juggernaut1985

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

Shattered Space Part III

 

Commander Chekotay leaned back in his seat as the shuttle automatically maneuvered to make its final jump toward Voyager.  He closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.  While he was asleep the sensors began to twirp softly.  By the time he had awakened it was too late.

 

* * *

 

“Captain, we’re receiving a distress call, its Commander Chekotay,” Ensign Kim said as his status board blinked.

 

“Onscreen,” Janeway answered quickly.

 

The tanned black haired image of Commander Chekotay winked into existence on the view screen, “Captain, I’m afraid I’ve got a Borg Detector on my tail.” In the background the image of one of Voyager’s shuttle craft shuddered, “Get Voyager out of here.”

 

Through the speakers another voice cut in, “Commander Chekotay can you make it to the position we’re sending?”

 

”Yes, Belana I can make those quadrants, but you can’t stop a Borg detector!”

 

Janeway turned as the rear doors of the bridge slid open and Boba Fett stepped onto the bridge, “Captain, I’d like to offer my assistance.”

 

“Alright, Chekotay make it to those quadrants we’re coming after you!” Janeway answered and turned to Boba, “Launch your ship, Paris get the flyer out there, we’ve got a Borg ship to demolish.”

 

* * *

 

Luke could see it out the viewport, a craft over four hundred meters tall, it looked like a group of metal plates had been slapped together with wire and engines tacked onto the rear. A green beam had locked onto the small shuttle that was fighting desperately to free itself.

 

Slowly he looked at Belana as she starred at the threat. Slowly Mara turned to her, “I’ve activated weapons and shields, targeting array is only, I’m going to hit that beam right away can your Commander make a run for it after we hit that thing?”

 

“Yes, Commander Chekotay the ship closing on your position is the Jade Scimitar she’ll hit the holding beam and free your ship, make a run for it once we fire,” Belana said swiftly.

 

“Alright weapons ready, ETA sixty seconds,” Luke said as the target began to grow in his sights. “May the force be with us.”

 

* * *

 

The Borg detector slid threw space its holding beam firmly gripping the struggling Type 9 federation shuttle which was Chekotay’s transport. Suddenly a pair of blue streaks shot past the shuttle and into the beam. The two proton torpedoes stopped as the holding beam tried to lock onto them. The shuttle was suddenly free and cruising away. Red bolts shot pas the fleeing shuttle and into the blocky form of the Borg ship. Green detonations flashed across the ship’s hull. The ship kicked into an accelerating turn as it became aware of the new threat.

 

The glistening form of the Jade Scimitar flashed by the federation shuttle its weapons ports blazing. A topside automated turbolaser spat fire at its opponent. The red blaze of the blast detonating against the hull of the Borg ship lit up the cockpit of the federation shuttle where Chekotay sat hunched over the controls. He punched a fist in the air as his ship rocketed away from the blaze of firing behind him, “Thank you Scimitar.”

 

A female voice came back across the channel, “We’ll pull back right behind you and hold them off.” Chekotay looked over to see a red headed woman staring at him through the comm display, “Voyager and Slave III should be here within a few minutes.”

 

The Jade scimitar came about and the Borg detector tried to lock onto it with a holding beam. A pair of blue proton torpedoes shot back at the blocky foes and acted as decoys for the beam which dissipated a few moments later.

 

Onboard the ship clambered from the rhythmic roar of lasers firing at the foe. Jade sat hunched over the weapons controls and picked up a virtual reality HUD and pulled it over her eyes. Suddenly she could see the Borg ship behind them pushing to catch up. She could sense Luke’s thoughts as they roared away from the Borg ship, his constant fear for her and his desire to get back to voyager along with the coolness of a combat veteran facing combat once again.

 

Then through her senses she could perceive them a buzzing constant awareness at the edge of her consciousness, a mind that was both many and one at the same time. She could sense the individual Borg in the vessel of course, but they just seemed to be a mirror of the mind that was the Borg. Slowly she squeezed Luke’s hand as she grasped what they were fighting.

 

Then through the HUD she saw a series of green blasts as the Borg ship opened fire with its primary armament. The torpedoes raced for them and Luke put the ship into a corkscrew maneuver to test the torpedoes abilities. He grimaced as the torpedoes matched every one of his maneuvers, “Mara?”

 

“Activating interceptors,” Mara answered as she punched a button in front of her. Outside the ship a large cluster of miniature missile launchers rose from the ship’s rear, a warbling sound echoed through her ears as she targeted the incoming missiles. She smiled slightly as she punched a second button. Outside a stream of miniature white missiles rocketed from their tubes. They hit one after another detonating the incoming torpedo barrage as it shot at them. The green explosions of the Borg torpedoes faded into nothingness as Mara pulled the firing triggers and a pair of blue proton torpedoes rocketed out toward their target.

 

The Borg ship saw them coming and attempted to lock onto them with a holding beam. The torpedoes shuddered then stopped detonating as their onboard computers realized they wouldn’t hit their target. Mara cursed as she saw them detonate then smiled as she punched another button. Belana glanced over her shoulder as she pulled the trigger, “Those torpedoes won’t get through!”

 

“Just watch,” Mara said as she felt the ejection of the torpedoes but saw no blue corona. She turned to Luke, “Shadow bombs away!”

 

With the aid of the force the two small spinning cylinders fell behind the Jade Scimitar. They rotated slowly in space, bumping and weaving left and right as the Borg detector closed with them. They slipped through the shields with a purple flare of light then hit random green lit hull of the ship. Mara watched as a pair of explosions ripped through the largest portion of the vessel. The large panel that formed the main hull ripped free and tumbled in space. Slowly she watched as the battered tear where the hull had parted began to harden. She saw the panel begin to reform. Within thirty seconds the damage was gone except for the hulk of debris that continued to tumble near the Borg ship.

 

Mara whistled at the speed with which the damage had disappeared. With her mind she told Luke what to do next. The stars spun outside and suddenly they were turned around facing the Borg ship. Mara thumbed down on the firing studs and the space between the two ships was suddenly alive with the glowing bolts of turbolasers. A series of explosions rocked across the forward section of the ship. Green flames crackled from where atmosphere was ignited from their impact. Suddenly a pair of blue white bolts blazed across the ships hull. Ionized panels crackled with electricity and parts of the ship went dark but the Borg recovered quickly.

 

A series of green disruptor blasts flashed past the Jade Scimitar. Mara felt the ship shuddered as a pair of the shots impacted the hardened armor of the Scimitar’s hull. She saw sparks shoot up from the dash and saw the HUD flash into darkness. Mara pulled off the HUD and tossed it to the floor as alarms blared in the cockpit, “Weapons array offline!”

 

Luke threw up his hands as the display darkened, “Engines and shields are out!” He whirled out of his seat as a green transporter beam lit up behind them. Suddenly the clammy skinned and armored figure of a Borg appeared before them. Luke punched a panel next to him and a lightsaber shot from the compartment.

 

It was an elegant design that featured a crescent that was an eerie combination of the Imperial and Rebel crests. It was the saber Jaina had given them as a gift on their anniversary. He smiled coldly as he activated the violet beam and readied himself for the Borg.

 

Mara had produced a blaster from the compartment under her chair and fired point blank into the Borg. His face was blackened by the bolt and the Borg slumped over, dead. A second then a third Borg materialized as more troops were beamed aboard.

 

Belana leveled her phaser and fired a blast that killed its target. She fired again and watched as the beam was absorbed by an energy shield that materialized in front of it. Belana cursed and threw the phaser at the Borg. Luke strode forward confident and swung with two quick strokes that brought the Borg down, killed instantly. He turned to Artoo, “Get the shields back up!”

 

The droid twittered and sped down the corridor. Mara followed her blaster raised with Belana crouched behind her. They came into the hanger and Mara saw a trio of Borg turn to her their targeting lasers scanning for her presence. She fired twice. The first shot burnt through the closer one’s chest dropping it to the ground. The second blast reflected off the Borg like it had hit magnetic shield. It burnt a small divot in the ceiling. Mara backed up and reached for one of the loose crates that scattered around the hanger when the lightsaber twirled into view and sliced the Borg in half dropping it to the ground.

 

Artoo had stopped next to a power coupling and was busily working to restore shield power when a familiar voice came through Mara’s comm link, “Slave III to Jade Scimitar.”

 

“Mara here, what do you want?” Mara answered as Belana set to work on one of the power couplings.

 

“I’ve got Voyager coming up in my wake, we’ll put the heavy end of the hammer down on them,” Boba answered swiftly.

 

“Be careful, its hull has regenerative abilities,” Mara answered as a shower of sparks shot from Artoo’s power coupling followed by a warble. She could hear the rumble of the generators putting the shields back on. She turned to Luke and Belana, “Voyager is coming and we can’t do anything from here, Artoo, Lucky Hand get the X-wing up and running.” She looked at Belana, “We’re going to take the X-wings out and try and give Voyager a fighting chance. Belana if you keep the shields running you’ll be safe, hold the ship, we’ll want it back.”

 

Seconds later Mara dropped behind the controls of her X-wing and flipped on the power up sequence. Behind her, Lucky Hand, her astromech and the newest gift from Talon Karrde dropped into his socket. She pulled on a helmet and strapped in as the droid began the power checklist. Below her she saw the space tight doors slide open and the rack that held the fighter begin to tip downward. She did a final check as the racked stopped ready to launcher her into space. She keyed her comm, “Luke, ready?”

 

“Ready,” Luke answered and suddenly his ship was out of the scimitar heading downward. Mara gritted her teeth at the shock of being flung out of the Scimitar and into space. She curved up and around and saw the Borg detector sitting in space with a holding beam locked onto the Jade Scimitar and a cutting beam futilely trying to bring down the shields.

 

Across the comm came the audio signal she knew was coming, “Luke, Mara, we’ll show this thing who’s boss.” Mara turned in her seat to see the Firespray attack ship flash by to engage the Borg ship.

 

Mara looked down at her sensor board and saw a series of new blips emerge from the Borg ship. She keyed her comm, “We’ve got shuttle class vessels launching from the Borg Detector.”

 

* * *

 

Captain Janeway sat in the command chair as she saw a series of black boxes exit from the Borg detector’s rear. She turned to Ensign Kim, “Analysis?”

 

“They’re Borg scouts, the Enterprise reported encountering one on the surface of a planet near the neutral zone, six crew, minimal armament,” Ensign Kim reported. He looked up from his console.

 

“Correct, they’re Borg shuttles, armed with a single pulse weapon and a lone cutting beam, very underpowered,” Seven of Nine stated swiftly. She looked at Janeway, “They’re targeting the starfighters.”

 

“Captain Janeway, we’ll keep these busy,” Luke’s voice came through the comm. He sounded intense, busy, “Target that capital ship.”

 

Janeway watched as the doors to the cabin slid open and Commander Chekotay stepped onto the bridge, “Commander, it’s good that you’re back.”

 

“Thank you, Ensign Freeman I’ll take the helm.” The commander slid into the helm seat and checked the readings.

 

“Lieutenant Paris, we’re heading in at the Detector, if you could pull some of those Borg shuttles off our allies on the way in they’d probably appreciate it,” Captain Janeway said swiftly. She watched as the Firespray attack ship opened fire on the Borg detector. It’s arsenal of weapons systems tracked across the Borg ship causing miniature detonations all across it but the target seemed just as functional as if nothing were happening.

 

She looked at Chekotay, “Attack pattern Alpha Four.” On the screen the flash of phaser energy impacted the hull of the ship. Steam erupted from the ship’s hull for a moment then stopped as the Borg adapted to stop the attack. She put a finger to her chin, “Quantum torpedoes.”

 

* * *

 

Luke watched as three pulsing blue torpedoes shot from Voyager and splattered against the Borg ship. One went through the shields blowing a whole in the hull. The molten remains of the blast splattered against his shields pinging as they glanced off. He targeted the nearest Borg shuttle and felt his hair stand on end and threw the starfighter into a loop that let him evade a trail of pulse bolts from one of the Borg shuttles.

 

He felt them in his mind and smiled slightly as he pulled their plan from their minds. Three shuttles closed on him from the front, rear, and dorsal vectors. He mentally signaled Mara, now! One of the Borg ship exploded as Mara’s torpedo found its mark and Luke corkscrewed through the expanding cloud of gas and debris.

 

Luke lined up a shot on one of the two remaining shuttles when a glowing and sparking green orb slammed into the shuttle which detonated in a flash. Suddenly a small craft shot through the expanding explosion and on to the Borg Detector. Through his comm Luke heard Tom Paris’s whoop of glee as the flyer shot into the heart of the flight.

 

Luke saw Mara finish off the last Borg shuttle with a quad burst of laser fire then break toward the Borg detector. They accelerated toward the engagement. Luke glanced to Mara as she formed up on his wing, “Shadow bombs?”

 

”I could try it, a pity your B model doesn’t have them,” Mara answered swiftly. He could imagine her smiling behind the controls.

 

“Who says I don’t have shadow bombs,” Luke answered then flicked the comm to Artoo, “Set up for shadow bombs.”

 

“So Artoo is going to program them to be instant shadow bombs?” Mara said slowly. She shrugged then kicked on her thrusters closing on the blocky target. She launched the bomb then curved away as the bomb detonated against the ship’s shields. He could hear Mara�s exasperation, “Damn it.”

 

Luke moved in to attack and fired his two torpedoes. They didn’t glow or ignite their engines as they headed for the target. Luke had his instant shadow bombs, thanks to Artoo.

 

The two conical shells headed for their target. Suddenly they went through the shield then exploded one after another to rip open a huge portion of the hull, “Yes!”

 

* * *

 

Janeway saw the flash as the proton torpedoes detonated and turned to Tuvok, “Target that point all weapons.” The ship rocked as a holding beam caught her vessel. The ship began to vibrate and shudder as a cutting beam caught the vessel.

 

“Shields at fifty percent,” Tuvok stated as the ship continued to shudder and lights dimmed.

 

Ensign Kim looked up from his display, “Another ship coming in!”

 

“Identify,” Janeway commanded as she watched the Borg Detector swing around to fire its forward torpedoes. The glowing orbs shot from the ship and were suddenly intercepted by a shower of miniature white missiles. The Jade Scimitar shot by the detonating torpedoes.

 

* * *

 

“That’s my ship!” Mara yelled as she watched the Jade Scimitar blaze into the engagement. She flipped on her comm gear, “Belana what are you doing!”

 

Luke tuned out the lecture and saw a query appear on his console. He frowned and flipped a switch to monitor the older New Republic frequencies. A stream of encoded transmissions washed across his headset. Suddenly he felt his cockpit go dark and he looked up toward the system’s star. There he saw an enormous shape cross in front of it, “Umm Mara.”

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

Shattered Space Part IV

 

The Borg Detector’s glittering grey hull flashed as a barrage of weapons fire slashed into its side.  Onboard half of the crew was already dead; the remainder struggled on, headless of their destruction.  Outside the chase and capture of the Federation Shuttle had failed, and a battle which the collective had not intended had begun.  A battle that would give the collective valuable information, and information was what won wars.

 

The Borg fought on, blazing at the attacking fighters and starships with manic determination.  The Voyager had taken a beam to its nose and rolled away from the engagement blazing laser fire at the blocky ship which was the Borg Detector.

 

Then an enormous ship’s shadow fell over the combatants.  As the enormous bumpy hull of the vessel cruised overhead the turbolaser batteries of the vessel rotated toward its target.

 

On the bridge of the Voyager Janeway watched the enormous vessel maneuvering toward the Detector.  “Unknown configuration, wait its firing on the Borg ship!” Ensign Kim looked up his eyes wide as he watched the Borg Detector wither from the barrage of weapons fire. Suddenly in a green tinted explosion the ship detonated. He looked at Captain Janeway, “Borg Detector destroyed.”

 

”We’re being hailed,” Commander Tuvok said from his station.

 

“On screen,” Captain Janeway answered.

 

The screen shifted to the inside of a cream colored bridge. Dozens of controls and panels were visible in the image but only a few crewmen, some of which looked human. In the center was a humanoid that was obviously amphibian. It had reddish brown skin and gold fish like yes that were mounted on the sides of its skull and had to swivel forward to focus on Janeway’s image, “I am Captain Loran Remora of the New Republic Warship Remember Yavin IV.”

 

* * *

 

Luke looked up through the top of his canopy at the enormous MC 80a cruiser that hung above him. Slowly he turned to Artoo, “Artoo give me all the files you have on the MC80a Remember Yavin IV.”

 

The screen in front of him lit up and script sped across it. Luke slowly began to read, “MC80a Remember Yavin IV designation MC-80A4176. Ship constructed at the Mon Calamari Shipyards eight years after Endor. She was commanded by Commander Hiram Gurath, second in command Captain Loran Remora. The ship served with distinction during the war against the cloned emperor, continued service until destroyed over Doornik 319 during the Yevethan Crisis.” Luke transmitted to the data to Mara.

 

“Destroyed?” Mara asked across the comm. Luke could feel the surprise ripple from her as she spoke.

 

* * *

 

Captain Janeway stood in the center of the bridge, “I’m Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager.”

 

“Captain, I trust you have no hostile intent, unlike that vessel,” The Calamari captain said across the link.

 

“You were attacked as well?” Janeway asked.

 

“Yes, one of our task force’s escorting gunships was attacked by this vessel and reported its exit vector. We came after it hoping to find out more.  I’ve had no contact with my superiors and have been forced to assume command of our task force.  We’ve got ships prowling space looking for more information,” Loran answered. He seemed to sag in his chair, “We’ve put out a series of calls through all know channels, and we haven’t been able to contact anyone, until now.” He turned to his sensor officer, “Have you finished the sensor sweep?”

 

“Yes, Captain there is nothing else out there.”

 

The Mon Calamari officer turned back to the screen, “I see that there is a pair of X-wings with you, though I’m not familiar with the design of one of them.”

 

Janeway nodded slowly, “Yes, Master Skywalker and his wife are piloting them.” Captain Janeway stopped when she saw the Calamari’s eyes widen.

 

“Did you say Skywalker’s wife?”

 

* * *

 

“Remember we can’t tell them anything,” Luke said slowly across the communications. Slowly he turned to glance at Mara’s X-wing as it slid past him.

 

Across the channel Luke could hear Mara’s sigh, “How are we going to explain our marriage? I mean what if they don’t know what’s happened?” She paused and Luke felt a wave of frustration come off of her presence in the force, “I just finished a sensor scan and the Cruiser lacks the upgrades that we instituted after the Clone emperor’s appearance. There isn’t enough old battle scoring for the ship to be very old.”

 

Luke was startled when a voice came across the speaker of the X-wing, “X-wings, Captain Remora would like to invite you to land in our hanger, we’d like to meet you.”

 

“Negative Yavin IV, we’d like to get back into our ship, perhaps another time,” Luke answered slowly as he turned his craft toward the Jade Scimitar.

 

“X-wings, Captain Remora must insist,” Luke felt his hairs stand on end. Slowly he looked at the Mon Calamari cruiser hanging above him. He saw that a pair of quad laser batteries had turned to face him. The targeting warning light suddenly began to blink.

 

“Yavin are you going to fire on us?” Mara asked slowly across the radio.

 

“Negative X-wings, unless you refuse again,” The gravely sounding Mon Calamari voice answered.

 

“You’d shoot a longtime hero of the Rebellion?” Luke asked across the comm.

 

The voice on the other end of the transmission seemed slightly shaken, “We have no reason to believe you are who you say unless you come aboard.”

 

“Alright Yavin, we’ll play your game,” Mara said with a sigh. Slowly she turned the X-wing toward the cruiser.

 

* * *

 

Luke popped the hatch of his snubfighter and climbed down the ladder and walked into a wall of security personnel with their blasters drawn. Slowly he held up his hands, “What don’t recognize me?”

 

The soldiers tentatively lowered their weapons. Luke sighed as Mara walked over from her X-wing. A couple of the soldiers snapped their rifles back up when they saw her, most just stood there. “Well I’ll be damned,” A Mon Calamari officer slipped through the crowd and stepped forward, “Master Skywalker, you look a lot older then I thought you would.”

 

“That’s because he is,” Mara said slowly. She sighed, “Can you take us to a conference room. We’ll explain it all to you.”

 

“This way,” The captain answered and slowly led them through the doors and down a hall.

 

After a few minutes they were alone in a conference room. There the Captain turned on them, “So Janeway said you’re married?”

 

Luke held up his hand, “Hold on let me explain.”

 

”Alright, I suppose I’ve gotten ahead of something, go ahead,” Loran replied. He heaved a sigh as he dropped into a command chair.

 

Luke heaved a sigh he knew this was going to be hard to explain, “Captain, you’ve noticed that there isn’t any communications available across the holo net.” The Captain nodded and Luke continued, “We believe that some form of temporal and dimensional distortion has occurred. You see…”

 

Luke sighed trying to assemble his thoughts. “What I think has happened here is… if you can imagine all the major events of the last three decades occurring at the same time. Our time line has been compressed into now. You see, me and Mara got married over a decade ago. But for you it hasn’t happened yet,” Luke said slowly trying to make him understand.

 

“But that doesn’t explain these strange ships, the Federation, these…” Captain Remora laughed to himself, “Unless they’re from the future.”

 

“You explain it then, we’re not scientists,” Mara spat.

 

“So you don’t know exactly what has happened?”

 

“I don’t, no one does.  I know that this ship was destroyed several years ago,” Luke felt anger swell up within him for revealing that bit of information.  Then a wave of shock blazed the officer across the table.

 

“You shouldn’t have told him,” Mara said grimly.

 

”What happened,” Captain Remora asked quietly.

 

Luke sighed, “Years from your time there was a conflict between the New Republic and the Yevetha, a race that lived in the Koornacht cluster. Your ship was destroyed in battle during the conflict.”

 

“I see,” The Captain lowered his gaze slightly then shrugged, “Well, there is no telling what is going to happen now.”

 

Mara sighed and leaned over the table, “Captain, when did you first loose contact with your superiors?”

 

“About two days,” Captain Remora answered.

 

“That’s about the same time we ran into the Voyager,” Luke said quietly.

 

Mara frowned, “Whatever happened it must have happened all at once.”

 

“The loss of communication isn’t all.  We were in the Dresnak system and the star suddenly moved about two thousand kilometers and changed its spectral class.”  Captain Remora shook his head, “I’m no Astrophysicist but that’s impossible, isn’t it?”  He shuddered, “That star wasn’t alone either, it’s been touch and go navigating.  All our data seems to be patch worked together.  Some stars have moved and others haven’t.”

 

“We noticed the same thing,” Luke said slowly.  He frowned, “With the Borg and whatever else out there it would probably be best if we stuck together.  I’ve heard the Borg have ships much larger then that thing we just destroyed.”

 

Captain Remora nodded, “You’re probably right.”  He glanced over at the comm.  Then he sighed before keying it, “Lieutenant Aklar, could you get me the captain of the Voyager.”

 

* * *

 

The Voyager dropped out of warp followed seconds later by an entire task force of New Republic Vessels.  There were three Corellian Gunships, six Gallofree Yards Medium Transports, a Nebulon B Frigate, a Quasar Fire Carrier, and the enormous form of the Mc80a Class Cruiser Yavin IV.  Along the sides of the ship and before it swarmed flights of New Republic starfighters and hiding in the shadow of the larger ships was the Jade Scimitar.

 

Up ahead the solar system of the Alegari system as the New Republic computers had called it blazed into existence.  Their star charts, inaccurate though they are were quickly becoming a boon for the Voyager.  Already, after just a few days of cooperative exploration a pattern and rhythm to their actions had settled in.  The Voyager would enter a system on its warp drives and quickly confirm that the area was clear of gravity wells, and then the task force would follow.  This had made the Voyager an important part of the group, and had already saved them from a number of jumps that would have come to a violent end for the fleet.

 

Now the Voyager witnessed the violent birth of a world.  A planet, floated through the void, it looked whole in the sulfurous yellow light of its star, but as it turned a feature that was beyond comprehension appeared.  A brilliant line split the world in two.  One half was an icy shell, the other a tropical heaven.  The planet seemed to have been sliced in two, and now as Captain Janeway watched on the bridge, it began to disintegrate.  Lava boiled out from the divide squirting at stunning speed to the edge of space before descending back to the solid surface of the world.

 

Janeway turned to commander Tuvok, “Whats happening?”

 

“I do not know captain,” The dark skinned Vulcan speed through a number of commands, “Our sensors are detecting two separate electromagnetic poles, two separate climate patterns, and two separate internal structures.”  He glanced up at the screen, “The feature which is clearly visible is the divide between these elements.  It seems… No, that is not logical.”

 

Janeway frowned, “Like what commander?”

 

“Like two halves of two planets were forced together.”  He frowned as he looked back to the sensors, “The planet is attempting to heal itself it seems.  I have never seen anything with which to compare it.”

 

* * *

 

Onboard the Jade Scimitar Luke, Mara, and Ben starred out at the planet before them, awe struck.  Through the force Luke and Mara could sense the consternation and shock from their companions.  The also felt the shock from each other.

 

Luke felt his mouth go dry, “By the force.  What could have done this?”

 

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Mara said quietly.  Suddenly, the world flared and the cold face shattered sending a cascade of fragments twirling through the void.  In that moment they both knew that what had happened was far greater then either had conceived, and far more frightening.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

The White Admiral Part I

 

The white dagger shape of the Imperial II Star Destroyer Chimeara slid through space, its hull glinting slightly in the shine of a distant star.  Below the craft the green and blue globe of the world called Wayland rolled through space.  Suddenly, between the world and the planet a metallic sphere shimmered into existence.  With a flash a blaze of brilliant yellow light flashed from the sphere out into space, and in that instant the planet changed.

 

An enormous plane of asteroids appeared from nowhere and the green and brown on half the planet was replaced by a glowing molten surface of magma.  Geysers of molten rock shot up from the surface, arching to grab at the Star Destroyer high above.  As the ship passed through the outer fringes of the asteroid field, it was rocked by dozens of tiny impacts.

 

Captain Gilad Pelleaon winced as a sound akin to hail pounded across the hull.  He stood on the metal catwalk overlooking the crew pits.  His eyes were focused outside at the planet, with his jaw agape.  He turned to the lieutenant in charge of sensors, “Are those asteroids a danger?”

 

“No sir, we just passed through the outer edge of the ring sir.”

 

“Lieutenant Acks, contact the Wayland base, find out what they’re situation is,” Pelleaon turned to the other crew pit, “Helm bring us into a higher orbit.  I don’t want to go through that asteroid field again.”  He felt a lump rise in his throat as the metallic sphere appeared again, just below the asteroid field, “Sensors focus on that object.”

 

In the back of the bridge a pair of doors hissed open and a somber figure stepped into the room.  The badge of a Grand Admiral rested on his chest, as the man’s red eyes flicked across the bridge.  His blue skin marked him as an alien, but the crew had long ago dropped any belief in human superiority, he’d forced them to.

 

When he spoke, his voice was soft and measured, “Captain Pelleaon, report.”

 

“Something just happened, sir. I don’t know what yet,” Gilad’s mustache twitched as a shadowy grey figured slid into the bridge behind the Admiral.  Pelleaon may have come to respect Grand Admiral Thrawn, but he had little use for the grey skinned bodyguard.

 

The sensor officer glanced up at Pelleaon, “Sir, I’m not getting anything on the sphere. All our sensor readings are just bouncing off it.”

 

The Admiral stepped beside the command chair at the bridge’s rear and tapped a button on its arm.  Suddenly a holographic image of nearby space snapped into existence in front of the chair.  He began to quietly study it.  After a moment he glanced to the crew pit, “Lieutenant Acks, have you gotten in touch with Wayland?”

 

“Just got it sir, they’re reporting massive damage to the complex.  Lava flows are moving in on the compound.”

 

“Order them to begin an evacuation, grab as many of the cloning cylinders as they can.  Start downloading all the files from the complex’s computer into out own.”  Thrawn turned to the repeater display, “After that Lieutenant Acks get on the holonet and initiate a fleet check in.  I want to know if what we’re seeing is isolated.”

 

The helm officer, Lieutenant Sarn, stood from behind his post, “Sir, it’s not just us.  I just completed a star plot, everything’s out of alignment; everything.”

 

“Thank you Lieutenant,” The Grand Admiral answered slowly.

 

Captain Pelleaon turned to his superior, “Sir, can I speak with you in private?”

 

“Certainly Captain,” Thrawn answered gesturing to the rear of the bridge.  Captain Pelleaon followed him to the holographic chamber and waited.  Thrawn turned toward him, “You’re expecting the holonet to be down.”

 

“Yes sir,” Captain Pelleaon swallowed, “Without the holonet…”

 

“We’ll be forced to rely on courier ships, I know Captain.  Still, I believe that some of the holonet may have survived.  We did after all,” Thrawn replied soothingly.

 

Captain Pelleaon’s fists knotted at his hips, “Whatever this is that sphere caused it.”

 

“Indeed, unfortunately none of us are scientists captain, perhaps some of those that were assigned to Wayland can assist us in finding out what it is going on.”

 

Lieutenant Acks slipped into the room, “Admiral, Captain, most of the Holonet is down, but I did manage to contact Captain Dorja.  He reports that his task force is intact and awaiting orders.”

 

“Thank you Lieutenant,” Captain Pelleaon answered with a tight smile.

 

Thrawn nodded slowly to himself, “Tell Dorja to launch recon ships and probes to all nearby systems.  Have him launch a probe ship to contact the rest of the fleet and a second probe ship to check on Fondor and Bilbringi.”

 

“Yes sir,” The Lieutenant answered before heading back to his post.

 

“Sir, what about us,” Pelleaon asked quietly.

 

“We’ll d much the same as him, launch probe ships and check out the nearby systems.  I want to know how much damage this… event has done to our infrastructure.  If the Rebels have suffered the same or worse then us, we may be able to us this to our advantage.”  Thrawn headed back down to bridge to the crew pits, “Lieutenant Sarn, can we still plot safe jumps?”

 

“Negative Admiral, I did a star position once we went through, the stars are close to where they should be but they don’t perfectly match. If we jump the chances of us hitting a gravity well must be considered,” The chief navigator replied. He sounded tired and worried as he should be.

 

“Well then we must be careful, plot jumps to the six nearest systems as best as you can.  You’ll need the star charts from those systems in order to compile the position of stars more precisely.  We’ll launch six recon ships for that task.”

 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

* * *

 

Captain Dorja clasped his hands behind his back as his ship slid through space. On either side of him crewmen worked swiftly. To Dorja it was the constant bustle of ship at work. Still his calculating mind was perplexed by recent events; there had been no holo communications, no calls for help, no updates from imperial intelligence, to him the silence of the galaxy around him was most unwelcome. At least Thrawn had given him orders.  The reports from the recon ships had surprised him, many of the worlds they’d visited had been completely transformed, and others seemed untouched.  Still more were completely silent on the communications systems but just as intact.  Then there was the report from a system where the world was now nothing but a rapidly expanding cloud of debris.

 

It would be a few days before the probe ships could reach the imperial shipyards at Fondor and Bilbringi.  Days that filled him with worry, if they were gone the Empire was finished, done for.  Even more frightening to Dorja however were reports of unknown vessels, potential enemies that had sprung up seemingly from nowhere.  His thoughts were quickly interrupted.

 

“Captain, I’m picking up distant contacts, closing fast,” The sensor operator said as a light flashed on his board.

 

“Deploy the task force, defensive alert.”

 

“Contacts resolving, unknown configuration, entering visual range,” The operator added. His voice slightly more excited then usual.

 

Dorja let it go as he saw the first ship through the view ports. An enormous vessel that was over twice as large as his ship slowed and stop with speed he’d never seen before. It was an enormous cube that slowly spun through space, glancing to his side Dorja saw another ship just as large and then another. He starred for a moment before ordering, “Tactical analysis.”

 

“I’m getting large energy reading and couple emplacements that might be weapon systems. A lot more energy then needed for those batteries they probably have some sort of other weapon system,” The sensor operator injected.

 

“They’re hailing us, audio only.”

 

The voice that came across the speakers seemed to be the synthetic merger of thousands of versions, “We are the Borg, lower your shields and surrender your ships, we will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own; your culture will learn to serve as us. Resistance is futile.”

 

Dorja looked around at the crew members. Several had stood to get a look at the enormous ship that sat in front of them. There were whispers among them about their situation. Slowly he turned to the tactical officer, “Battle alert. Ready all weapons.” The ship suddenly lurched as a green beam engulfed it from the first Borg cube.

 

”We’re in some sort of tractor beam,” The tactical officer announced.

 

Dorja keyed the intercom, “Pilots to your stations!” With a flip of a switch Dorja cut the comm. and turned to the weapons officer, “Target that beam and destroy it!”

 

The deck began to dully thump as a turbolaser cluster fired. Its emerald beam sliced into the corner of the cube and the beam disappeared.

 

”Good shooting weapons,” Suddenly the beam restarted and Dorja looked on in disbelief.

 

“Sir, they seem to have near instantaneous repair ability,” The sensor operator reported.

 

The communications officer turned to Dorja, “Captain Arden of Serpent’s Hiss requests permission to engage.”

 

Dorja nodded to the communications officer, “Inform the task force they’re free to engage.” He turned back toward the hovering cube, “Guns fire at will.”

 

The Imperial II Star Destroyer Relentless fired its forward batteries delivering an enormous amount of fire upon the Cube. Green flashes from ignited atmosphere flashed across the hull. Pieces and debris began to separate from its outer hull. The Cube retaliated letting loose with all its weapons. The blaze of green bolts flashed between ships reflected against the grey hull of Imperial Star Destroyer Serpent’s Hiss as it glide between two of the cubes firings with all its weapons. The blaze of green flames emitted from the sides of both cubes. Suddenly a volley of bright green torpedoes launched from both cubes at once. A brilliant green beam locked onto the ship and began to push it forward. The Borg had figured that if they could force it to use only is stern weapons they’d have an advantage.

 

Dorja turned to the communications officer, “All ships are to concentrate on freeing the Serpent’s Hiss.” Dorja watched as a lancer frigate sped in delivering a stream of green blasts that smashed into the beam system which quickly was blasted into molten metal. Dorja turned to the tactical control officer, “Launch all fighters!”

 

* * *

 

Flight Lieutenant John Lukas strapped into the small compact TIE cockpit and gazed out into the blink red hall that was the TIE launch system. Ahead he saw the blast doors slid open and the launch rack lower a fellow pilot into space. With a scream the ship sped out into space. Slowly John felt his ship move forward above the launch doors. With a clacking sound he felt the rack lower him into the fiery realm of space. With a thump he was free. He punched the throttle forward and looked up and gasped at what he saw. A trio of enormous cubes were trading blasts and firing beam shots at a pair of Imperial Star Destroyers.

 

Slowly John keyed his comm to the squadron frequency, “Kilo squadron, you’re to conduct strafing runs on those vessels.”

 

John nodded; he knew that those ships seemed to be a threat, the only threat. He twisted his TIE fighter onto an attack vector on one of the Cubes. Glancing to his sides he saw the rest of his squadron forming up for the run. Suddenly a blast shot into the middle of the formation, two TIEs exploded instantly. John felt an icy fist of fear grip his heart as he watched another series of beam blasts cut down two more fighters. He gritted his teeth as the targeting computer calculated showed that he was in range. Pulling his triggers he saw his blasts hit home against the ship’s hull. John pulled away from the cube as a series of green pulse blasts shot past his cockpit.

 

* * *

 

Dorja frowned at the confused space between the craft that were engaged. Suddenly a series of glistening green torpedoes shot toward a cruiser. Within seconds they hit the ships hull but nothing happened. Suddenly one of the comm officers looked up, “Captain we’ve just lost contact with the Carrack Cruiser Cruel Redoubt!”

 

Dorja watched as the ship tumbled through space. What had just happened?

 

* * *

 

“TK-897 report,” The helmet spoke in his ear. The trooper could barely hear the call through the blaring of alarms and hiss of steam from several points. Suddenly the alarms cut off and the rumble of turbolaser fire cut off. The trooper picked himself off the deck and glanced at the battered turbolaser station he’d been guarding.

 

Slowly Benjamin Hammer shook his head as he looked toward the hall, “I’m alright.” He glanced at the status readout for the Carrack and saw it suddenly shimmer and change to a seemingly random series of glyphs. There was a hiss and the trooper turned to see the green sparkling effect of Borg Transporters as three of the burly foes suddenly appeared before him. Benjamin lifted his blaster and fired catching the first Borg in its chest bringing it to the ground, “Intruder alert!” Ben caught a good look at the grayed skin and dark black armor and implants of the second Borg before he fired again. The blast burned away the Borg’s neck and dropped it to the ground. Ben fired on the final Borg and watched in horror as the bolt glanced off a shimmering shield that suddenly appeared and impacted a bulkhead.

 

Benjamin had never seen a foe like this before and even with all his Stormtrooper training began to feel fear. He drew a vibroblade from its sheath and advanced on the Borg he struck forward and saw the Borg catch his armored wrist. Suddenly he felt a pair of pricks through the black material that guarded his neck. Ben collapsed to the floor and rolled over as he closed his eyes he heard a woman’s voice, “Come to perfection Eight of Twelve.” As he blacked out he felt his emotions, his pain, his name all fade away and were replaced with a strange sense of bliss, he would strive for perfection, as was the way and goal of all.

 

* * *

 

Dorja watched as his Communications officer turned to him, “Captain, we’re getting reports of internal weapons fire on the Cruel Redoubt. I’ve picked up a personal communiqué”, the Borg have boarder her using some sort of mater transporter. They’re being overwhelmed.”

 

Dorja watched as a holding beam suddenly snapped onto the Carrack, suddenly the Borg and Carrack accelerated away. Within seconds they were out of sensor range. Dorja felt his chest instantly become pressured, "Report on the status of the first cube.”

 

“We’ve managed to breach their hull, wait we’re getting secondary explosions, sorry sir the cube is still intact,” The Tactical officer couldn’t withhold his disappointment.

 

* * *

 

John smiled as he saw the cube light up from secondary explosions. Swiftly he turned his ship toward the enormous vessel and squeezed the firing studs on the control column. Green bolts lanced out at the cube and detonated against its hull. Suddenly to his horror he saw shields suddenly snap on. His last blasts bounced harmlessly off into space as he passed.

 

He heard a bang and felt the ship shudder from the impact. The viewport was spinning and John glanced at the damage report, his weapons were out and his engines damaged. In the view port he saw the third Borg cube sitting lazily in space. He threw all his power to the engines and shot toward it.

 

John braced himself for impact when suddenly he saw a holding beam snap onto his ship. Suddenly he saw a spherical cavern open up before his ship slowly he felt his ship being forced inside. There amongst dozens of box shaped fighters he knew it was over. A tingling sensation alerted him to another unsettling reality. His last thoughts as an individual were surprising, “I should have joined the rebels.”

 

* * *

 

Dorja watched as the third cube disengaged. It moved away then shot off into space at impossible speed. It remained visible until out of sensor range. He looked out at the remaining cube and felt fear. Suddenly he saw that his turbolaser blasts weren’t hitting the hull but glancing off. The rumble of explosions from impacts with the ship’s shields reached his ears. Dorja knew that it was his own fire being reflected back at him, he shuddered as he thought of what it meant, it only took the Borg minutes to come up with an effective counter for his weapons and implement it. These were a frightful new opponent they were facing. One that defied everything he thought was possible for technology.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

The White Admiral Part II

 

The white shape of the Lambda Shuttle ITS-473A-4 slid into the expansive hanger bay of the Chimeara.  Its wings retracted upright with a hiss of escaping gas as the craft settled onto the deck.  With another hiss and whine the loading ramp dropped down and a dozen battered and haggard looking personnel sped out of the vehicle.

 

Suddenly at the opposite side of the hanger the doors to the turbolift hissed open and Grand Admiral Thrawn stepped into the room.  Beside the main control console General Covell spun on his hip and saluted to his superior, “Evacuation of Wayland complete.  We managed to grab most of the important equipment and data on our way out, including the… cylinders.”

 

“Good,” Thrawn replied as he glanced at the medical teams busily treating the casualties from the complex, “Any loss of life?”

 

“Sixteen stormtroopers that were on patrol are missing and two of the maintenance personnel as well.  They probably got caught in the lava flows.”  The General frowned, “Considering the situation it’s miraculous that no one else was lost.”

 

“I’d agree,” Pelleaon said to himself.

 

Suddenly a lieutenant ran up to them, “Sir, we’ve got a transmission from Dorja.  He reports repulsing an attack by previously unknown forces.”

 

Thrawn’s red eyes narrowed, “Set course for Dorja’s command.  We’ll find out what this is all about.”

 

* * *

 

Out in the space beyond the bridge Dorja saw another white dagger shaped ship leap out of hyperspace. The comm officer turned to him, “The Chimeara is hailing us; Grand Admiral Thrawn wants a report.” Slowly Dorja sighed as the holo projector at the aft of the bridge hummed its readiness. He stepped to the plate and nodded to the comm officer.

 

The tall blue form of the Grand Admiral materialized before him. With the effect from the Holo projector he looked nearly human, “Captain Dorja one of your ships is missing and several appear to have sustained battle damage.”

 

“Yes Admiral, we were attack by an unknown force.  They called themselves the Borg. We have a complete sensor record of events, Admiral I’m afraid I’ve never seen anything like them,” Dorja said slowly.

 

“Yes, the damage your ships have suffered is not consistent with any known form of weapon except… except for a number turbolaser blasts on your hull,” Thrawn said as he took a data pad from an officer that walked on.

 

“Somehow the enemy discovered a way to reflect our fire back at us. Our own shots caused damage to our ships toward the end of the battle. They also boarded and captured the Cruel Redoubt,” Dorja reported. He saw Thrawn arch an eyebrow.

 

“Captain, I’d like that complete record of events and a full report within twelve hours, events have taken a strange turn and I want to know what is happening, and every sliver of information is crucial,” The Grand Admiral cut the transmission.

 

Dorja let out a deep breath, “Yes sir.”

 

* * *

 

Captain Pellaeon slowly walked toward the rear of the bridge. He held the latest report from the scout ships, and prospects weren’t looking good. Slowly he stepped through the doors into the outer office of the Grand Admiral There in a darkened corner Rukh stood, somber and watching. Pellaeon shook his head and stepped through the doors.

 

Hovering in front of him was an enormous image that made Pellaeon halt. Three giant cubes were engaging a force of two Star Destroyers and support ships. Pellaeon watched the crisscrossing of blasts and beams for a moment and was about to clear his throat when the Admiral leaned back from his chair in the center of the room, “Fascinating isn’t it. We’ve encountered a race that is far different then any we have encountered before. But I think I know how to beat them, if they return at any rate.” Thrawn brought up a sensor display record recording the imperial gunners’ impacts. There Thrawn nodded, “You recall that each turbolaser fires on a slightly different frequency.”

 

“Yes, the gunners installed the measure so they could keep track of who destroyed what post battle, something of an instrument of pride,” Pellaeon answered.

 

“Yes, if you watch closely you notice that all the batteries on the ship have fired three times at this point.” Thrawn pointed to the display and suddenly Pellaeon watched as the newest barrage from the Relentless reflected off a shield the Borg had suddenly deployed. Thrawn keyed off the holo projector, “The enemy recorded the frequency of each of our attacks and used the information to deploy a shield directly on that frequency; the counter to this is self evident. Each turbolaser will be a given a sequence of ten frequencies that they will rotate through when engaged by these Borg.”

 

“I’ll order the modification at once Admiral,” Pellaeon said swiftly.

 

“What do you think of the shape of the ships, captain?” Thrawn asked casting his red eyes directly at Pellaeon.

 

“I don’t know what to make of it sir, it’s just a simple cube…”

 

“Yes, a cube, a simple standard geometric shape. This gives us an insight onto the enemy’s psychology, we’re dealing against a low grade hive mind, and a culture based upon adding other to its existence. I’d say that it is a culture striving to include all to become a one all in composing culture, I believe that they believe that doing this they will reach a utopian existence,” The Admiral had stood and was now gripping the tops of the chair. Slowly Thrawn shook his head, “They’re striving for perfection makes them dangerous, even more dangerous if they actually believe themselves to be perfect.”

 

“So you know how to defeat them in battle,” Pellaeon answered slowly.

 

”Yes, captain, if it comes to that, they have their weaknesses,” Thrawn answered slowly. He glanced at the pad which was clutched in Pellaeon’s grip, “What have our scouts reported?”

 

“I’m afraid they’ve reported that all the installations supposedly in this sector no longer exist, there is no sign of battle or debris either sir,” Pellaeon answered as he handed the report to Thrawn.

 

“And we have no scientists with us who could explain what has occurred,” Thrawn shook his head slowly, “What we really need are a few good minds.”

 

“Yes sir,” Pelleaon said quietly as he flipped the datapad around in his hand, “Our scout ships’ latest reports.  Prospects aren’t that good sir.”

 

“Have they found any remaining bases?”

 

“Just one sir, and its barely able to support one of our task forces let alone both ours and Dorja’s,” Pelleaon closed his eyes, to think that all of those bases had disappeared was hard to swallow or accept.

 

Admiral Thrawn nodded to himself, “Expand the search, we must find a base of resupply soon for both our forces.  How long until the recon teams reach Fondor and Bilbringi?”

 

“The first should be arriving at Fondor any moment,” Pelleaon answered quietly.

 

* * *

 

With a flash the Imperial Reconnaissance Team Epsilon Four dropped out of hyperspace.  Their two escorting gunboats sweeping their sensors for possible threats as the ferret probe sped forward into the system with an Imperial Patrol Ship in close attendance.

 

“Epsilon Four-Alpha this is Epsilon-Four-One, we’re clear of starfighter and capital ship contacts for a thousand kilometers in every direction.”

 

Onboard the Ferret Probe the mission leader, Captain Talam leaned over the mike, “Roger Gunboats, this is Alpha, beginning area scan.”  With a sigh he leaned back in his seat, “Let’s hope something is left.”

 

Behind him Sensor Operator Johan Velate glanced over to his commander, “Something sir?  I’d settle for the whole shipyard.”

 

“The way our luck has been running Johan, we’ll be lucky to find a bolt of that shipyard left.”  Captain Talam turned back to his controls and glanced out the window at the three escorting ships.

 

Suddenly in the back of the crew compartment there was a gasp, “Sir, I’ve picked up another ship.  Bearing Two-One-Zero Mark Two, closing fast.”

 

“Contact is unknown type, repeat unknown type,” Johan called out as he caught the ship on his display, “I can barely make it out on the EM scanners.”  He flicked a switch, “Gravitic sensors show the craft at twenty kilometers and closing.”

 

“Twenty klicks?” Captain Talam said under his breathe, “But the fighters said…”  Suddenly a red brown starfighter shot straight past the cockpit.  Captain Talam could barely make out the two claw shaped wings and curved black canopy before it disappeared from view.  Captain Talam turned back to the crew compartment, “Optical, did you get that?”

 

“Yes sir, we’ve got it.”

 

“Hot sith,” Talam said aloud as the two gunboats maneuvered past the canopy, “Epsilon Four-One, do you see him?”

 

“Negative, he just jumped to hyperspace… out system jump too.”

 

Captain Talam turned back to the displays slightly shaken, “Well son of the sith…  What the hell was that?”

 

The gunboat commander’s voice echoed across the comm, “Almost looked like one of those old Sith Fighters from the Galactic Museum.  Wrong color though, those were grey.”

 

Talam replayed the high speed pass in his mind again, the ship did look similar to that craft, but more angular then the sith ships he’d seen in the museum.  It might be something to go on nonetheless.  He glanced back at his displays, another seven hours in the sky.  Through the viewport the distant sphere of Fondor was rising into view, from here he couldn’t see the shipyards, but at least the planet was still there, and if the world was still there…

 

Behind him one of the sensor operators whooped with joy, “By the force, its there, its all there!”

 

The first glimmers of hope rose within him as he listened to the operators call in the contacts.  Star destroyers and unknown vessels, Titan Cruisers, Venerators, Acclamators,  and Strike class ships. There were more ships there then Admiral Thrawn had used on the attack on Coruscant, and with them at his command the Empire would be able to recover and expand like they’d never dreamed.

 

* * *

 

Grand Admiral Thrawn sat in the command chair at the center of the bustling activity of the Imperial II Star Destroyer Chimaera. Slowly he turned to watch Captain Pellaeon as he strolled along the command deck inspecting the stations of his subordinates. Thrawn watched as the communications officer straightened, “Captain, I’ve got a communiqué from Scout group Epsilon Four. They’ve found the Fondor shipyards completely intact!”

 

“Their report?” Captain Pellaeon asked swiftly. The officer nodded and Pelleaon took the data pad from the officer. He skimmed it then handed it to Thrawn, “There is an attached holographic file.”

 

Thrawn nodded as he took the data pad and skimmed its report. Yes, they’d found that Fondor still seemed to have its shipyards. Slowly Thrawn took the data card from the pad and punched it into he tactical data holo projector. In front of him the world of Fondor materialized. There were indeed a large number of shipyards around the world. He zoomed in one off the shipyards and stopped cold. There in the center of the shipyard was a vessel that was far from standard Imperial design. Thrawn’s eyes narrowed as he saw that it was an enormous vessel that was shaped like a ship from the distant past. He guessed that it was just over fourteen kilometers long from the range. Putting a finger to his blue cheek he spoke, softly, barely a whisper, “Captain?” Pellaeon wheeled and marched next to him. When he bent down Thrawn continued in that tone so that the crew could not hear, “Run this vessel through the technical specifications found at Wayland if there is a match I want to know about it.”

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

The White Admiral Part III

 

Grand Admiral Thrawn folded his hands in front of him and starred out at the glistening blue tunnel that was hyperspace. He turned as Pellaeon approached holding a data pad. Slowly Thrawn took it and read the contents, “So Fondor has begun construction on a Sovereign Class Star Dreadnaught.”

 

“Yes Admiral, I’m surprised that it was in the Wayland archives,” Pellaeon answered slowly.

 

Thrawn allowed himself a slight smile, “You’d be surprised how many designs for weapons that are in that warehouse.” He shrugged, “Weapons that are rare, or nearly impossible to find, but still extremely effective.” The Admiral smiled coldly, “Weapons and vessels which we must build our plans upon.”

 

“What of the unknown ship?” Pelleaon asked slowly as he punched the second holo up onto the display, “We didn’t get a good look at it, but it’s clearly not an imperial design.”

 

“No,” Thrawn answered quietly, “It is not.”

 

“Sir?”

 

“I’ve seen such ships before, long before I joined the deceased emperor.  It is a raporan vessel.”

 

“Raporan?” Pelleaon asked, his grey mustache quivering.

 

Thrawn nodded, “They are a species I’ve had some… dealings with on the outer rim.  I would prefer avoiding a clash with them if it is at all possible.”

 

“Understood sir.”

 

“Unfortunately we may encounter them weather we want to or not,” Thrawn stood, “Instruct Dorja to return to the Polaron V Garrison.  We’ll proceed onward to Fondor.”

 

* * *

 

Captain Talam pulled the switch of his belt and slipped out of his seat, “Take over Lieutenant.”

 

They’d been watching the shipyards and assembly facilities from a distance, monitoring the deployment of defenses, the work of the construction teams, and any arrivals in the system.  So far there’d been little activity of note, the shipyards were busily laboring on their assigned tasks, the garrison was conducting its patrols in a routine manner, and all of the combat ships spotted within the system hadn’t moved.

 

Talam sighed as he dropped himself in a seat across from Sensor Operator Johan Velate.  Johan pulled a small bottle of corellian ale from his breast pocket and tossed it to his commander, “Here sir.”

 

“Thanks,” Talam answered as he unscrewed the cap of the bottle and leaned back in his seat, “It’s been what? Thirty hours now?”

 

“Something like that,” Johan replied quietly, “What’s forty-eight hours in a chair?”

 

Talam closed his eyes as he leaned back in his seat, “An accident waiting to happen.”  He quickly fell to sleep in the chair as his comrades continued to work at their posts.  To him he had barely drifted into the soft netherworld of dreams when he was blasted awake.

 

“Sir!” Johan yelled from his console, his tired face now taunt with adrenaline, “Ships exiting hyperspace, two-thousand kilometers dead aft!”

 

Talam shot out of his seat, “Identify!”

 

“It’s the Chimaera!” Johan shouted in relief.

 

* * *

 

The somber silence of space was torn by the thunder of engines as an imperial combat force dropped out of hyperspace.  The angular form of the five star destroyers, two Imperial IIs the other three Victory IIs, lay at the center of the formation.  Scattered around them was a cloud of support ships, varying in size and power.

 

All the ships had clear damage, open wounds and blackened hulls from their skirmish with the borg.  Still their hulls remained strong and resilient, their sensors active, and their weapons ready.

 

Onboard the Relentless, Captain Dorja paced the command deck of the bridge.  He listened to the quiet labor of the crew and glanced from post to post noting which control stations were disabled or unused.  The clack of heels behind him announced the arrival of Lieutenant Mitchell, “Yes, lieutenant?”

 

“Sir, we’ve compiled the status report you requested.”

 

Dorja nodded without turning, “Good, I trust the Admiral’s modification has been put in place.”

 

“Yes sir, all turbolaser crews have installed and tested the re-modulators, we’ll be able to easily triple the length at which are weapons will be effective.”

 

“I hope it won’t come to that lieutenant.”  Captain Dorja finally turned toward his subordinate, “The Borg probably have more tricks up their sleeve. We can only prepare for the unknown and only guess what the universe will hand us.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

Out beyond the sensor range of the Relentless the eight dark cubes watched and waited.  The ghostly green glow reflected off the smaller hulks of their attendant vessels.  Slowly the eight dark shapes drifted closer, fusing into one enormous mass, creating one vessel, six kilometers long, six kilometers high, and six kilometers tall.  A Borg Fusion Cube.

 

* * *

 

Grand Admiral Thrawn smiled coldly as Captain Talam came clanking down the ramp of the Ferret Scoutship and saluted, “Excellent work Captain.”

 

“Thank you sir,” Captain Talam answered wringing his hands, “I’ll have my report ready for you within an hour.”

 

“No need to rush Captain, you should get a shower and some sleep before putting words to your actions,” Thrawn answered.

 

Captain Talam smiled, “Thank you sir, I’ll have that report ready for you tomorrow then.”

 

“I look forward to it Captain,” Thrawn answered as he turned away and headed for the turbolifts.  As he stepped into the lift Thrawn glanced at Pelleaon, “Any response from the shipyards?”

 

“No sir, not even a blink.  It’s as though they didn’t even see us drop into the system.”  Pelleaon frowned, “We’d have been hard pressed to detect the arrival if we were in their position.”

 

“Maybe Captain,” Thrawn glanced at the two fleet guards beside the lift as the door slid open and they stepped out onto the bridge, “Somehow I doubt they missed our arrival.”  As Thrawn came to the command chair he stopped, “Either way, we’ll find out soon enough. Helm, bring us within sensor range of the shipyards.  Comm, hail the shipyards.”

 

“Aye sir,” The communications officer replied as she knelt in front of her control board.  She stopped almost instantly, “The Shipyards are responding. Admiral Dave Reinach commanding…”

 

“Put them on Holo,” Thrawn answered as he slid into the command chair.

 

The fuzzy blue image of an aging Imperial Rear Admiral appeared before them.  He held his hands before him, clasped just above his belt.  His worn face betrayed age and struggle but his build was strong, not yet marred by the wear of advanced years.

 

Thrawn stood, “Admiral Reinach, it is a pleasure to see you again.”

 

The old admiral’s eyes widened, “Grand Admiral Thrawn, how is this possible, you’re dead…”

 

* * *

 

Captain Dorja frowned as he stepped into his quarters.  The door slid shut behind him, plunging the room into darkness.  Soon another day would dawn, and with it many more challenges.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

The White Admiral Part IV

 

The cold dark of space was reamed by the thunder of the assembled force of Task Force Relentless gliding into the Polaron V Star System.  The whine of Tie Fighters echoed in the dark as they circled the grey hulks of their motherships.

 

For the crew it was night, the corridors of the ships we’re lit with red light.  The crewman on duty sat before their posts with steaming hot mugs of café.  Some of the men in less important posts napped, their officers too tired, lenient, or distant to bother waking them.  This state was a danger on any voyage, and Captain Dorja knew that it was all to real a danger on a Voyage into the unknown.

 

He stopped by countless duty stations, rousing the crew and rebuking them for their behavior.  Dorja would have discipline on his ship. He’d seen far too many times what happened when a crew lost focus.  He knew just how high the cost could get.

 

It was around one o’clock galactic standard time when Dorja managed to retire to his cabin.  There he lay down and dreamed in fits of cubes and diamonds.

 

* * *

 

Admiral Pelleaon felt his throat contract as he heard the words issue from the aging Admiral, “It’s been over a year since Bilbringi.  Things have changed.”

 

Thrawn’s red eyes narrowed, “I’m sure that you’ve noticed the strange occurrences of the last week.  Perhaps we should talk more about this in person, and in safety.”

 

“Certainly Admiral, if you would allow me, I’ll send a shuttle for you.” Reinach answered with a quick bow.  His eyes flicked to Pelleaon, “If I may ask that you leave without your noghri bodyguard, there are things we must discuss that may be harmful to his sensibilities.”

 

“Rukh has been through such discomfort before.” Thrawn answered quietly.

 

Admiral Reinach held his ground, “I’m afraid, I must insist on it, sir.”

 

Thrawn sighed, “Very well Admiral, Rukh will remain on the Chimaera.  I trust you have no qualms with Captain Pelleaon joining us.”

 

“I would be more then happy to have Adm… I mean Captain Pelleaon as a guest.”

 

Thrawn arched an eyebrow at the Admiral’s misstep but didn’t follow up on it, “Very well, I expect to see you in one hour.  In the meantime I would appreciate it if you release your support personnel to transfer additional supplies to the Chimaera.”

 

“Consider it done Admiral Thrawn.”

 

* * *

 

A wing pair of Tie Fighters swept through the blackness of space, their sensors thundering across thousands of kilometers, hunting for echoes.  They rolled and juked as they traveled, leaving their mothership’s far behind.

 

The second pilot’s voice echoed across the reaches of space, “This is Eta Two to control. I’ve got an unidentified contact, two-thousand kilometers, on my nose.”

 

The gruff and groggy voice of the Starfighter controller answered them, “Roger Eta Two, we’re negative for any contact along your vector.  Eta One, confirm clearance?”

 

“Negative Control, this is Eta One.  I’ve got the contact on my scope, just where two says he is.  He’s small maybe you guys can’t see him from back there.”  The lead pilot replied, his voice washed out by the sound of the engines and life support gear.

 

“Well I don’t see it Eta Lead.” Control answered, his gruff voice growing more groggy and disinterested.

 

The Lead pilot grumbled under his breath before answering, “Permission to check it out control?”

 

“Go ahead, you’re just chasing mynocks.” The Control officer answered before cutting off the comm.

 

Lieutenant Kira Nemis furrowed her brow as se switched back to the flight communications frequency, “Lazy bastard.”

 

“Roger that two, I’m sick of dealing with him.  Next time he’s the control I’ll wash him out with my Imperial Orchestra collection.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Kira answered as she rolled her fighter back onto an intercept course with her fighter.  She glanced at the control board before adding, “All speed or a little caution?”

 

“It’s just a lone contact, and it doesn’t look big enough to be a Starfighter.  All speed, it’s probably just a bit of orbital junk.” Lead replied as he rolled onto the contact and lit his drives.  He leapt forward after the contact.

 

“In that case I’ll blast it once we get there.” Kira answered as she redirected power from her newly installed shield systems to the engines.  The fighter leapt forward, its engines roaring in the cockpit.  Kira watched the sensor board, “Fifteen hundred kilometers… twelve hundred kilometers… one thousand kilometers… entering visual range.”

 

“What the Sith is that thing?” Eta lead cut in, “It looks like a… coffin, or a beetle’s shell?”

 

Kira frowned at her monitor, “I don’t know, the computer is analyzing it now.”

 

“Bet you twenty credits the computer draws a blank.”

 

“We’ll see lead…”  Suddenly the computer before her pinged as it identified the object, “What the hell… Object identified as a Trade Federation Scarab Droid.”

 

* * *

 

The Shuttle ride to the shipyard was a smooth one, smoother then most that Pelleaon had been in since the Empire’s fall.  Still it felt strange, as though some small things about the ship weren’t quite right.  Finally he settled on the cause of his discomfort.

 

The shuttle had no direct means of communicating to the pilot, nor did it have any furnishing except for a number of chairs lined with bright purple cushions and seating.

 

Thrawn knew Pelleaon’s discomfort, “Captain, it may interest you to know that I’ve been on shuttles so upholstered before.”

 

“You have sir?” Pelleaon asked quietly.

 

“Yes,” Thrawn replied his voice as even as though he was ordering a meal, “When I accompanied the emperor himself on tours of our command he utilized a shuttle such as this.  He had many, and any facility which he’d often visit was given its own.”

 

“So the Emperor himself could have…”

 

“No this shuttle is far too new for that.  Did you notice just how clean the exterior was, and how the maintenance hatches show no sign of use.  No Captain, this shuttle was just produced.”  Thrawn glanced around the cabin, “Perhaps Admiral Reinach could explain why it has been built.”

 

The Shuttle came to a stop in the hanger bay of the Golan Three Defense Platform that acted as the command center for the shipyard.  With a hiss the wings folded up and the gear dropped onto the polish steal, followed quickly by the loading ramp.

 

Thrawn stood and headed down the ramp, his eyes flicking around the hanger at the four platoons of stormtroopers that had to have been waked and rushed into presentation formation.  They seemed surprisingly ready for a visitor in the middle of the night.  Pelleaon stepped down the ramp and took a place beside Thrawn as Admiral Reinach stepped into the hanger.  He walked toward them before stopping and saluting smartly, “Admiral Sir.”

 

“Admiral Reinach, I trust you have a meeting room prepared?”

 

“Right this way Admiral,” Reinach waved them toward the hanger doors, a clear hurry to his step.

 

* * *

 

The two fighters closed on the lone ship, their drives burning bright red in the night.  The slowly began to circle the vessel, scanning it.

 

“Control, we’ve got a positive ID on the contact we reported earlier,” Kira took a deep breath before continuing; “It’s a droid starfighter, an old one.  We’re sending you our data feed.”

 

“Roger Eta two, it’s coming… son of the sith!”

 

“That’s about the shape of it control.”

 

* * *

 

The meeting room that Admiral Reinach had chosen was one of the smallest meeting rooms onboard the station.  That wasn’t to say it was necessarily very small, it was just the smallest of a group of monstrosities.  Inside the room had been a single table and holoprojector and three seats.  It was clear that Reinach wanted the meeting to be as private as possible.  Gilad Pelleaon couldn’t help but note the team of stormtroopers that guarded the doors to the room and the counterespionage team in the cooridor.

 

When they had all stepped into the room the door hissed shut and a pair of green lights on the door flicked on, showing that the room was secure.  Finally with the door shut Admiral Reinach turned to them, his worn face taunt with worry, “Well Admiral, I don’t think it will surprise you to learn that you’re the first Imperial ship I’ve seen in the last week.”

 

“No, it wouldn’t,” Thrawn answered flatly, “Though it seems we’re not alone in this debacle, a number of previously unknown races have appeared in this region of space.  Most all rebel activity has disappeared as well.”

 

“Are we all that is left of the Empire then?” Admiral Reinach asked flatly.

 

Thrawn shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s possible that more imperial facilities and ships survived the events that have brought us together across both distance… and time.”

 

“Yes, Admiral, I suppose that you being here force my hand.  You are aware of the means by which we had controlled the Noghri.  It seems that during your time as head of the empire they discovered the means of that control.  The noghri turned against you while you weren’t looking.”

 

Pelleaon felt his throat constrict, “So the noghri defected to the rebels, what specifically this have to do with the Admiral’s death?”

 

“I’m getting to that,” Admiral Reincah sighed before turning back to Thrawn.  “The Noghri found and destroyed Wayland.  When word of the attack reached Rukh he turned on you in the heat of battle and stabbed you through the command chair.  You died.”  Admiral Reinach shook his head, “We were rolled back, and then he came…”

 

“Who?” Thrawn asked in his chair.

 

“Who else?  Palpatine’s clone,” Admiral Reincah shook his head, “We’ve gone on the offensive since he showed up, but it’s not the same as it was when the Emperor was still alive.”

 

“I see, I trust he emerged from Byss,” Thrawn answered quietly, “Well, I suppose this leaves you in a bit of a pickle as to which empire to follow?”

 

“No, Admiral.  It doesn’t.” Admiral Reincah stood, “I’m your man sir.”

 

“I’m glad to hear it.”

 

* * *

 

Captain Dorja woke when his intercom chimed.  He rolled out of bed and hit the key still groggy, “Dorja here?”

 

“Sir you’d better come to the hanger bay.  There’s something we’d like you to see.”

 

Dorja frowned as he sat up on the bed, “Alright commander, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

 

“We’ll be waiting sir.”

 

Dorja frowned as he pulled on his uniform and headed for the turbolift.  In the last week he’d gotten less sleep then he had in most every combat cruise he’d been on in the last few months.  He hurried into the turbolift and keyed the main hanger.  Then leaned back against the cool metal and closed his eyes as the lift sped toward the hanger bay, first going down then sideways before finally down again and slowing to a stop.

 

The doors opened with a hiss and Dorja stepped into a bizarre scene.  A pair of Zero-G stormtroopers stood before him, their mounted lasers charged and leveled at what looked like an enormous ten pod.  Beside it were two TIE Pilots conversing quietly among each other.  Commander Jula Krenner stood beside them and turned to Dorja as he stepped into the room, “Sir.”

 

“What is this thing?” Droja answered looking at the pod.

 

“Sir, it’s a Trade Federation Droid Starfighter, old vintage to, about two generations older then the Vulture droids used by the Separatists during the Clone Wars.  It’s called a Scarab Starfighter.”

 

Dorja frowned as he looked down at the strange craft, “What in the name of the Sith is going to happen next?”

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Stellar_Magic]

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

 

In Pursuit of Profit Part I

 

In space there was nothing, no life, no form, just an infinitely of vacuum.  With one exception, a single ship waited in the night.  Its hull dark and gleaming, its engines silent, and its occupants quiet and patiently awaiting for something, something that was imprinted on their minds like commandments from the creator.  They awaited prophet.

 

The ship’s crescent form and red brown hull had been smoothed and ground to a brilliant polish at lavish expense.  The vessel’s portals covered with shades to keep the light of its activity from escaping out into space.  Its shield system configured to jam any sensor sweep.

 

Onboard the captain’s patience was only just beginning to run thin.  He’d been waiting there for days at the rendezvous point, and yet their partner had not yet arrived. The Ferengi Captain clacked his teeth in frustration as he leaned back in his plush new chair, “Sensors, nothing new?”

 

“Negative Captain Tron, we’re still completely alone.”

 

“I hope it remains that way, the Federation has been breathing down my neck of late.” Tron shook his head and glanced back at the display, “The Federation continues to try and infringe on my profits.”  Suddenly there was a chime from the sensor display and Tron shook his head, “Please tell me that our partner has finally arrived.”

 

“I don’t think so captain, the sensors just recorded a neutrino burst…”

 

Tron shrugged, “Where’s the source?”

 

“Everywhere sir, I’m picking it up in every direction… Sensors are starting to clear…”

The Sensor officer looked up and shook his head, “Star positions have changed, not all of them, and… there’s another ship out there.”

 

The Ferengi Captain straightened, “Well, then bring it up on the viewscreen…”

 

“Yes Captain…”

 

Suddenly the screen before the captain changed, resolving itself to display a shi, an enormous vessel, larger then a romulan warbird.  Before him was an enormous circular vessel, which contained a central bulb where it’s center had been hollowed out.  The circle was broken in what Tron assumed to be the front of the ship and a pair of enormous bays was clearly visible to each side of the opening.

 

Captain Tron stood there for a moment, his mouth opening and closing in astonishment, “Well that certainly isn’t the ship we were waiting for.”  A slight smirk slid over his face, “But, I think there may be the opportunity for profit here none the less.”

 

* * *

 

Viceroy Nute Gunray frowned as the quiet rap of a droid’s hand echoed in his private chamber. Frowning, or as close to frowning as his alien face could manage, he climbed out of the bath of green algae he’d been enjoying and walked over to the door.  It slid open as he approached and the droid captain stood before him, “Viceroy, sir.”

 

Nute Gunray rumbled a quiet curse to himself, “Yes Captain.”

 

“There is a situation that requires your attention; an unknown ship is hailing us.”

 

The Viceroy’s clear eyelids slid across his eyes in his species reflexive expression of surprise.  He glanced at the droid before turning back to his room’s flat screens, “Computer, display the unknown vessel.”

 

The monitor warped and rippled until it resolved itself into the form of the spacecraft.  Its surface reflected and bent light in all directions.  The Viceroy ran the ship’s configuration through his memory and came up blank.  With a sigh he turned back to the droid captain, “Very well, I’ll be on the bridge after I’ve prepared for the encounter.  Thank you Captain, you’re dismissed.”

 

The droid turned and left the room, the door sliding shut behind him.  Slowly Nute Gunray turned to his dresser and considered his appearance.  At the same time his thoughts dwelt upon why he was here, the transmission that had instructed him to be at the rendezvous point, what could Darth Sidious want this time?

 

* * *

 

Tron drummed his fingers impatiently on the side of his chair, “Why do they keep us waiting?”  He glanced back at his bridge crew and frowned deeply, “Any change in the vessel’s disposition?”

 

“Negative sir, nothing more then a couple power allocation charges.  They look more like system checks then any power up sequence for weaponry.  Those guns which we have identified remain silent.”  The Sensor operator grinned, “Perhaps they’re just trying our patience.”

 

Tron snorted, “Time is latinum.”  He glanced back at the viewscreen which showed the enormous vessel, “But in this case I’m willing to spend a little more in the hope of further gain.”

 

Suddenly the communications console lit up, “Sir, they’re answering our hail.”

 

“Onscreen,” Tron answered immediately.

 

The viewscreen suddenly switched to an image of a tall figure with dark green amphibian skin and dark charcoal colored eyes.  Flanking him were a pair of robots of some sort, their ant-like appearance marking them to the Ferengi’s eyes as some form of servant.  The creature’s mouth moved in a strange manner as he spoke, as though his face was incapable of expression, “Unknown vessel, this is the Trade Federation Starship Saak’ak Viceroy Nute Gunray speaking.”

 

A smile slipped across his face, Trade Federation? How could he get so lucky with a chance encounter?  His sharp teeth clicked softly as he spoke, “Viceroy, this is Captain Tron of the Ferengi Marauder Profit and Glory.”  He continued to smile as he stood, “This is a first meeting between our peoples, and represents a chance for us to profit from each other.  Surely you will allow us to negotiate a deal that will ensure trade, security, and profit between our worlds.”

 

“You speak well Captain,” The Viceroy glanced aside to one of the robots, “Prepare to open the portside hanger.”  Then he turned back to the viewscreen, “Perhaps we can speak more of this in person.”  With that the viewscreen winked off.

 

“Their Portside hanger is opening; it’s large enough to accommodate our ship from my calculations, barely.”  The Sensor officer said quietly.

 

“Helm, move us into the hanger.  I’ll be in the transporter room.”  As he walked to the door, “Commander Pros, make sure he doesn’t scratch the paint while I’m gone.”

 

* * *

 

Viceroy Nute Gunray turned from the viewscreen and frowned, “Commander 009, I want you to do a tactical analysis of their ship.  I want to know about any surprises these Ferengi may have onboard.”

 

The droid saluted smarty and turned to its fellows, “Sensor scan procedure 1703-29-38.”

 

“Roger, roger,” The blue painted fleet crew droid responsible for sensors answered as it tapped its display.  The buzzing voice of the droid soon filed the air, “Four plasma-based Pulse Weapons, and one directed energy beam weapon.  No missile systems detected.”

 

The command droid snapped back to the viceroy, “Minimally armed sir.”

 

“Good,” The Viceroy nodded, “Commander you will accompany me to the hanger.  Captain, you have the conn.”

 

* * *

 

The three hundred meter long Ferengi Marauder slid into the cavernous hanger bay.  As it descended onto the platform Battle droids and Droid Starfighters turned toward it in curiosity.  The vessel didn’t match any within their records or programming.  Still its presence here meant that it existed.  Quickly many of the droids began doing quick scans to upload the new class of ship into their records.

 

With a strange four beam effect the Ferengi Captain appeared before them, his fleshy earlobes picking up the sudden commotion among the droids.  Two of the droids raised their weapons toward him, “Halt.”

 

Another droid, this one with red painted soldiers stepped toward the two, “Lower your weapons, he is our guest.”

 

“Roger, roger,” The two droids answered instantly as they dropped their blasters to their sides.

 

The red shouldered droid turned back to the Ferengi, “Captain Tron?”

 

“Yes,” Tron answered timidly.

 

“Wait here,” The droid replied before turning toward the back of the hanger.

 

As the droid moved away Captain Tron glanced over his shoulder at the Marauder, “The riskier the road, the greater the profit.”

 

* * *

 

The Nebula Class Starship Paris slid quietly through space, its sensors sweeping in every direction.  The ship was hunting, hunting for stolen Federation property.  Its scanners picked up the radiation trail of a Ferengi ship, and the vessel turned toward the readings.  If there was one thing the ship’s captain knew about Ferengi, it was that they stopped at nothing in pursuit of profit.  What he didn’t realize was that he was about to meet another race with the same ideals.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Stellar_Magic

[Joebwan]

Very cool

[Spiralarchitech]

excellent read!