The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 119
Watching Admiral Arthur leave her private quarters, Frances looked down at Sarah and Ernie wondering where she’d slipped up quite so bad -- telling Admiral Arthur that this Scarlett was this universe’s version of that dead maniac back in her own responsible for so much ancient devastation… loss of both land and life… back home -- not the actual individual himself, but a doppelganger instead.
"Well, Sarah, looks like we screwed that up but good… me as much as anyone else".
Then, thinking more on the absence of both Karn, Lt. Katz, and Prince Roshi Frances decided to go seek them out for another new strategy meeting -- asking Sarah if she might be able to track them down for her.
Sitting in the Alice Cooper-B’s crew lounge area around the same table together Karn, Elayna Katz, and Prince Roshi each nursed a drink in hand having in mind nowhere else to be.
And sitting with his back to the lounge behind him… looking out the crew lounge’s grand observation deck at all the stars ahead of them instead… it was Elayna who, sitting opposite him, told Karn and Prince Roshi in a hushed voice to "take a look at that".
"What?" Karn asked, turning about.
"Over by the bar across the room", Elayna told him where to look. "Isn’t that one of those archeology team people we questioned before… the blue-skinned laddie with white hair and antennae".
"Yeah: so?? They’re called Andorians according to Commander Cooper".
"Well, look what he just did to his companion’s drink when she was looking away".
"Didn’t notice".
"Slipped something in it".
Watching closer as the woman Elayna pointed out lifted her glass to her mouth, unable to see anything in her drink due to its dark brown colouring, Karn wondered at first if the Andorian male slipped her a possible mickey, realizing something else was going on when… after finishing her drink… the woman in question removed discretely from her mouth something of a small, flat, rectangular shape slipping it under the belt of her gold and black Starfleet uniform instead -- doing so only when sure others close-by were looking elsewhere.
"Is that what he slipped in her drink?" Karn looked back at Elayna.
"Couldn’t see what it was other than small and flat".
"Yeah", Elayna agreed; "although I couldn’t figure out what it was either".
"I’ve seen her before", it was now Prince Roshi’s turn to speak.
"Where?", both Karn and Elayna turned now to their third companion.
"At that reception they had for V.P. Scarlett when he came aboard ship".
"Scarlett", Elayna hissed through clenched teeth. "Only someone like that would name his own private currier ship the ‘Necrostella’".
"Don’t get it", Prince Roshi confessed, shrugging. "What’s it mean"
"’Necro’ is ancient Greek for death while ‘Stella’ means ‘star’ in that very same language or -- putting them together -- ‘Death Star’".
"HOLY FREAK-A-RAMA, BATMAN!!!"; Young Maccs Starchild gasped upon seeing the Kol-tal home system for the very first time.. his sensor array all-the-same taking several minutes to fully comprehend what it really was he was now staring at…
For, in leaving the hollowed-out planet Maccs woke up in (the chamber in which the alien StarKinder calling themselves the "Kol-tal" managed to put him back together in), Young Maccs Starchild was presented with a sight he never before imagined…
Not just one solar-system, but two systems put together by artificial means set a right angles together -- two solar-systems melded together at their widest points set at 90 degree angles of each other -- both systems orbiting the same bright blue-white star like two gigantic wheels in constant motion, the orbital paths of each system’s many worlds co-coordinated in advance to prevent collision at that very same point where both systems came together…
And what planets!!!!
Able to scan not just dozens, hundreds, or thousands of worlds Maccs picked up tens of thousands collected all together there in many assorted sizes and shapes -- small, barren metallic planets, big chunks of mere rock, and titanic, multi-hued gas giants (some complete with equally impressive Saturnine rings) - many hollow, many still intact, and all of them gathered from elsewhere by the Kol-tal; held in place by artificial gravity generated from solar energy converted into positive/negative magnetic fields….
Some of an obvious purpose while others he could only assume brought there for the purpose of sheer aesthetics -- their visual/sensor appeal -- Kol-Tal "artwork" on public display…
Only then did Young Maccs Starchild realize what a whole race of such as he could do where just one, individual, StarKinder couldn’t -- a veritable StarKinder metropolis in which entire worlds served the same function as mere buildings did for such as his crew.
His crew???
His friends!!!
Only then did he realize they no doubt thought him dead, the other Kol-tal with him since he woke up picking up likewise on "Master Young Maccs Starchild’s" main concern…
"Yes", the closest agreed: "We repaired you so you could return to them, bring them a little present from us to them -- the relic we took from them before this".
"Why??"
"Because it occurs to us that it was wrong to take by force that which was never our to begin with".
Not sure he fully believed their reasons -- able however to detect nothing new of a harmful nature within him which might pose any risk, whatsoever, to his friends back where he "died" -- he did discover the relic in question stored neatly away in his hangar bay next to Fleet Admiral Straker’s private transport; "Angel-Baby".
And detecting a "couple" of other new "features’ added to his own physical structure… items he missed before, pre-occupied as he was with "other matters" since revived by the Kol-tal… Maccs could detect definite re-modifications all throughout his entire body.
No change in his general appearance one could notice either inside or out, these changes involved instead such features as propulsion, weapons, hull composition, and even his duplication units (the last item no doubt to come as good news to all his friends back where he let them, the food duplicators up until now producing only that which Frances and the rest referred to in bitter terms as either "swill", "slop", and/or "garbage" despite the fact he wasn’t to blame -- the original mistress-mind responsible for their design the one they should take their complaints to).
The celestial listened to the different broadcasts going on all about her, the Romulans now catching her attention… their sudden arrival in the exact same vicinity as the Strike, Ajax, Necrostella, and Alice Cooper-B…
And what of this other Starchild (including its "Captain"?... the enigmatic Alex) alongside this new Klingon, Spartan alliance -- suspecting this might be another case of interdimensional "bleed-over" if for no other reason than she/he could not pick up nary a trace of mention concerning this new treaty from within either the Federation, or the actual Klingon Empire belonging to this particular dimension alone.
But even so it was Scarlett in this universe that had her/him the most troubled, his being the focal point of all this insanity only one reason for her concern… his close proximity to Sarah and her tears so far gathered another good reason to worry the most about him above all others… understanding now why Scarlett and his evil employment of that particular tear was wreaking such havoc here in this very special version of reality.
No sooner had Admiral Arthur sent out his dinner invite to the two Romulan warbirds, waiting for at least some sort of reply, the second Warbird to come out of subspace well within range of all four Federation ships, did indeed open fire without any further delay whatsoever…
But not upon ANY of the Federation vessels gathered about; attacking instead with extreme prejudice the first Warbird to make its dramatic first appearance…
And spinning about in similar reply the first ship opened similar fire upon the second, a genuine dogfight developing out of the clear blue (or, in this case, the starry black of deep space)…
"I don’t need any of this", Scarlett muttered to himself quite alone, Capt d’Rabbitt taking care of official business aboard the Necrostella, the sound of the klaxon aboard the Alice Cooper-B annoying him.
And with that Scarlett clutched the pendant hidden beneath his Fleet Admiral’s tunic, his knuckles turning almost ash white with the pressure he exerted doing so…
As the four Federation ships watched in confused wonderment, the second ship launched three photon torpedoes against its dueling compatriot -- the resulting explosion against those shields raised now in defense of the first ship’s main midsection absorbing the shock of all three explosions…
Or it at east seemed to… seemed to at first… the first Warbird going up all of sudden in a dazzling burst of energy almost going off the scale at such close range…
And so it was the second Warbird… the only one now left standing after the battle… seemed to just hover there in a shroud of silent mystery -- quiet as the grave -- until a message received aboard all four Federation craft made itself known…
"This is Sub-Commander Taklosh of the Romulan Warbird Reldar. We come in peace with an important message from the Romulan senate and people, wishing to meet with your commanding officer at which point we will explain in further detail".
Leaving upon saying his final thank you’s to the alien StarKinder… the Kol-Tal… and their incredible home system, Maccs activated his ultra-drive systems upon saying good-bye, opening after this a hyper-rift into ultra-space...
And after the hyper-rift closed behind him in a sudden flash… the three Kol-Tal with him from that very same moment Maccs first woke up there began to ask themselves certain questions, disputing the moral ethics of what they’d actually done".
"Do you think we should have at least given him some hint of what we really did least his ignorance lead to an even greater catastrophe than the one we already face right here-and-now?"
"You’re assuming though that he’ll either fail, or be found out -- the chance of the others he knows there discovering what we did -- in which case I say not to worry… their technology not advanced enough to deduce what we did".
"It’s not technology I fear, but the growing powers of that maniac he and the rest there must now deal with".
"Scarlett", the third Kol-Tal uttered the name the other tried so hard to avoid, that name leaving a bitter taste in even the ‘mouth’ of an A.I. sentient starship.
"Granted it is a risk but, even so, we must admit that we have little other choice in light of current circumstance. All we can do now is just wait, see, and pray".
Aboard that other Starchild recently learned of aboard not only the Alice Cooper-B but both the Ajax and Strike as well, Alex D. 2032" (or "Alex Biomodified") also detected by way of the ship's sensors the temporal anomalies plaguing the rest of this particular universe he now found himself in for better or worse.
And while he couldn't tell how far the temporal disturbances were spread out throughout both time an space, he wasn't too pleased to discover that New Sparta (and the rest of the solar-system it belonged to) seemed to be trapped as well in what seemed to be a time bubble -- what lay now beyond New Sparta's solar-system just as much a mystery now to him as the farthest reaches of unexplored deep space.
Nor did it escape Alex's understanding that, if he were to learn more about what was going on here, he'd have to leave the relatively safe confines of the system he was in -- travel beyond the "bubble's" edge into otherwise uncharted Space.
So setting course to take him beyond that very same bubble, Alex Biomodified felt a sudden jarring sensation once crossing the Bubble’s outer rim -- deciding with quick mental reflexes it would be best to activate all incoming communications systems, listening for any official subspace chatter for at least a somewhat clearer picture of what the situation here really was -- detecting nearby a Romulan hail to at least one Federation vessel out there.
And determining the message in question originated no more than several light years away, Alex set core for that particular spot with all due haste.
Admiral Arthur had always wondered about the hierarchy in the droid collective, supporting the Federation officers aboard Deep Space 2 and the support ships like USS Ajax and USS Strike. He wasn't really sure where these droids came from. Suddenly without warning one of them had just shown up in one of the corridors. He had introduced himself as Droid 1. He had explained that there were more droids to come. That was several years ago. At this time there were almost six thousand droids present, at least the ones who had been counted. The droids had saved Deep Space 2 more than a few times. If it wasn't for them, they would all be history. And then Arthur realized that time was the key to all of this. Who could control time, was in control. And he made a mental note that if he ever had the chance he would get his hands on time control. Whatever it had to take…
"Whatever?" a voice asked from behind, the old man not realizing until then he’d said that out-loud.
And turning about he saw behind him some 20 feet away a young man appearing in his late 20’s, goatee and moustache; his bright, almost neon-blue eyes providing an odd contrast to his otherwise dark, swarthy, Latin features -- a devil-may-care, pirate of the open seas type dressed in a bright white three piece suit giving off a glow of its own…
"And you might be…" the Old Man countered…
"I might be many things, but you may call me ‘M.C.’", the stranger out of nowhere introduced himself with a jaunty little smile bordering on the playful…
"’M.C. Chronos’ to be exact", he added, approaching the Old Man’s position; the lower half of his body passing through a nearby storage container before reappearing whole again…
"A holographic image?"
"Holographic avatar might be more apt in the long run -- my official design designation being in fact ‘M.A.C.C.S. IX; Serial No: 326-DLC’, or ‘Master Young Maccs Chronos’ to my friends".