Author: Lorien Willow
Recipient: Illmantrim
Rating: PG
Fandoms: Star Wars and Star Trek TNG
Summary: The request was "The Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) & The Enterprise (Star Trek). The Millennium Falcon somehow encounters one of the Enterprises." So that's precisely what I wrote!
Author's Note: Due to unforeseen circumstances, this fic is unbetaed. Therefore any mistakes (including wildly inaccurate scientific premises) are solely my responsibility. All feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.
Stardate 43957.2
En route to Starbase 63 for routine maintenance, the Enterprise has detected an intermittent energy signature not matching anything in the current scientific database. Starfleet has approved a detour to investigate further.
"Captain" Data said, "We are approaching the coordinates where the energy signature first registered. I am detecting the anomaly again. It is considerably stronger this time."
"Are we close enough for a visual yet?"
"Yes, sir"
"Onscreen."
The bridge crew looked up as a patch of space was put up on the viewer.
"I don't see anything," said Riker
"Magnify," commanded Picard. The starfield appeared larger but nothing but stars could be seen. "Times 5," he commanded again and the stars grew closer.
"There, in the center" said Wesley Crusher, and suddenly it could be seen by everyone on the bridge. A subtle distortion in the starfield, as if the view screen were being heated in the middle.
"Well, that's new," mused Picard, "Analysis, Mr. Data?"
"There is no detectable cause for the distortion. However, the energy output from the area seems to be increasing steadily." Sure enough, what appeared to be a slightly wavy spot on the screen was now growing into a vibrating distortion.
"Are we in any danger?"
"I do not believe so. The energy appears to dissipate shortly after it leaves the initial event. We should be safe at this distance." As if to contradict him, the anomaly suddenly grew wide and appeared to rip down the middle. Before anyone could utter a sound, a small flat disc-shaped ship flew through the rip followed by three smaller ships. The small ones darted about firing bright red beams at the larger ship, striking it time and time again. The hits reflected off the shields as the larger ship returned fire. It scored a direct hit on one of the little ones and turned on a second.
"Shields up!" Riker ordered.
"Mr. Worf, report!" Picard said, knowing the Klingon security chief would have been analyzing the unknown ships the moment they appeared.
Worf sounded irritated, which is how he usually sounded when something puzzled him. "The ships are not of any known origin. The smaller ones are unmanned while the larger one has four life signs. Three of them appear to be human."
"What about their weapons," Riker asked as a phaser beam from the larger ship took out another of the little ones.
"Comparable to our phasers, but no match for our shields." Worf continued. Their shields, however, are failing quickly. Another hit and ...." As they watched, the smaller ship fired three shots in succession and a brief flame appeared on the larger ship. The larger ship fired back and the final unmanned ship exploded into a cloud of debris.
"The remaining ship has lost hull integrity. It's losing atmosphere." Worf paused, No response to hails."
The captain tapped his communicator. "Picard to O'Brien - can you get a lock on the life signs?"
O'Brien's voice came over the comm. "I've got 'em. One of them's pretty faint, though."
"Beam them directly to sickbay and alert Dr. Crusher." Picard signed off and headed toward the transporter. "Commander Riker, you have the bridge. Lt. Worf, Counselor Troi, you're with me. Let's see who we've picked up."
The officers followed, Worf tapping his communicator once to say "Security to Sickbay" before disappearing into the turbolift.
The sickbay doors opened to reveal a standoff between security and a man with a large pistol-shaped weapon. Two others stood behind him, a young woman in a white jumpsuit and an exceptionally large and furry biped who growled menacingly at the newcomers.
"It's OK!" Dr. Crusher said quickly, holding out a hand toward the Captain's team to stop them coming in any further. "It's OK. You're aboard the USS Starship Enterprise. We beamed you over because your ship was losing atmosphere and this was the only way to save your lives. I just want to treat your injuries."
"It's alright, Han," said the petite woman. "She means to help us."
"What about them?" Han said, gesturing with the gun at the security team with phasers ready.
"They're just here to make sure no one gets hurt, including you," said Crusher.
"Han," said the woman again, "It's ok, really. They can help us. I know." She gave Han a meaningful look.
Warily, he took his eyes off the security team and studied the woman's expression. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
He reluctantly lowered the weapon and allowed the security team to confiscate it. Immediately, Dr. Crusher started giving orders. "Help that man onto a bed" The med crew picked up a young man who had been lying unconscious on the floor during the standoff. She addressed the visitors. "I'm Dr Crusher. Can you tell me what happened?"
"I'm Leia. The main console blew when our ship was hit and Chewie and I have some minor burns. Luke, though, has been unresponsive since we came through the rip." She followed the doctor over to the biobed and watched as he was scanned with the medical tricorder.
"His heart rate is slow, breathing shallow but steady. I can't find an immediate cause." Chewie howled again and Dr. Crusher turned to Leia. "It may take a moment for our sensors to adjust to his physiology. Why don't you let nurse Ogawa take care of those burns."
Leia allowed the nurse to treat her and marveled at how the tissue regenerator healed the burns in seconds. Chewbacca, though, was a bit more reluctant. "Chewie," she said, "let the nurse take a look." Chewie just growled again, sharper this time.
"Chewie, knock it off!" Han commanded.
With an arrogant woof, Chewbacca held out his hands. Nurse Ogawa scanned the burns and studies the readings. "The sensors are having trouble compensating for your physiology," she said to the creature. "We've never encountered a species such as yours before. It will take a few minutes to recalibrate the device."
Picard took this opportunity to step forward and address the group.
"I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard. This is our ship's counselor Deanna Troi and Security Chief Lt. Worf. And you are?"
"I'm Leia Organa and this is our ship's captain, Han Solo." Han nodded as she continued, "The man you just set on the bed is my brother, Luke. And this is Chewbacca." The furry creature towering over the visitors gave a low mournful howl.
"May I ask where you're from?"
"I'm originally from Alderaan, but am now based in Coursecant."
"I'm not sure I'm familiar with those names. We call this the Alpha Quadrant and the nearest world is Jaros II."
"Those terms don't mean anything to me."
Perhaps you'd be willing to meet with some of our science officers and we can determine what happened out there and how we can best assist you." Picard suggested.
"Hey, Princess," Han crooked a finger at Leia.
"Excuse me a moment, Captain" Leia turned and scowling, went over to Han.
"I don't think you should go anywhere with them." Han said, "Better we should all stick together."
"If case you didn't notice, we're not exactly in the Chorios System anymore. We need to figure out where we are and how to get back so we can finish the mission."
"Then we should all go to this briefing, not just you."
"I need you to stay here with Chewie and Luke and make sure they're all right. And don't think I haven't noticed that you've been limping about ever since we've been here. What happened to your ankle?"
"I just twisted it coming down the ladder from the gun turret. It's no big deal."
"Maybe not. But you need treatment same as they do. Besides, I have a feeling this briefing will call for a diplomatic touch."
"I can be diplomatic!" Han said. Leia just frowned at him. Han relented. "I don't trust them."
"Then trust me," Leia said and leaned over and kissed him soundly.
Data began the briefing. "I believe the explanation lies in the anomaly we were tracking." The viewscreen displayed an image of the anomaly just as the Millennium Falcon came through. "When the anomaly appeared we were able to get a brief scan of the other side. The stars and nearby planet don't correspond with any explored area of space. If fact, the visible constellations don't appear to be part of the Milky Way.
Riker spoke up "So they came here from another galaxy?"
"Precisely," said Data, "it appears to be a galaxy far, far away."
"How is that possible?" Picard asked.
"Temmack," Leia said softly, looking at the screen.
"Who?"
"A scientist who used to develop weapons for the Empire. He was one of the Emperor's favorites."
"Who is the Emperor?"
Leia gave a brief history of the Empire and its recent defeat at the hands of the rebellion.
"The trouble is, now that the Empire is destroyed, a lot of the Rebellion's efforts have been focused on rebuilding the worlds that had been ravaged by the war. Our resources have been spread so thin that some of the lesser-known players in the Empire have slipped through the cracks. Temmack disappeared soon after the second Death Star was destroyed and was presumed dead. It's only through Luke's efforts that we were even aware he was working on a weapon of this magnitude."
"What type of weapon?" Riker asked.
"We're not sure exactly. R2 managed to download some of the research databanks before we were detected, but we haven't had a chance to analyze it yet. Once the alarms started going off, we decided getting out was more important."
"Excuse me, but who is R2?" asked the captain.
"R2D2 is our astromech droid. He and C3PO are probably still aboard the Falcon. Captain, where exactly is our ship?"
"Droid, as in android?" LaForge said to Data. "That must be why we didn't detect them before. They wouldn't register as a lifesign."
Geordi LaForge had joined Data, Captain Picard and the newcomers in Cargo Bay 4 to watch the arrival of the visitors' ship. The Millennium Falcon was just coming in for a landing via the Enterprise's tractor beam. Han Solo and Chewbacca, having been released from the infirmary, supervised the process. There had been no change in Luke's condition as of yet, but the doctor had assured them that there was nothing life-threatening wrong with him. All he needed to do was wake up.
Han walked around the Falcon, perusing the damage. "Well, she doesn't look too bad." he said.'
"I don't know how you can tell," Leia deadpanned. Chewie gave a huffing sort of laugh while Han ignored them both.
"Let's see what the droids have been up to." He reached up and pulled the lever for the external ramp controls. With a grinding wheeze, the ramp lowered and a golden droid with an English accent immediately descended.
"It's about time someone remembered we were up there!" it said.
"Relax, Goldenrod. It's not as if you were in any danger." Han said to the droid.
"No danger? How can you say that? A hole has been blasted through the hull, the crew has been teleported Lord-know-where, and we've been taken aboard a strange ship in a strange star system and we're in no danger? For all we knew we were being captured by cannibals who want to dissect us or use us for spare parts or..." he trailed off as he noticed the group of faces staring at him. "Oh dear," he said.
Leia stepped forward, "C3PO, this is Captain Picard. He and his crew were the ones who transported us off in time to save our lives."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," C3PO said hurriedly. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am C3PO, human-cyborg relations. I am fluent in over 3 million forms of communication and..."
"Whatever, professor," Han interrupted. "Right now we need you to talk to the Falcon and see what she needs to get up and running again. Chewie, let's get R2 and check on the damage."
After several attempts at establishing compatibility, R2D2 was finally plugged in and displaying the stolen files onscreen.
"See that?" Geordi gestured to a complicated diagram in the center. "It doesn't look as though he was working on a weapon. Instead, it looks like he was trying to create a wormhole between worlds, a sort of shortcut through space."
"If he were successful, it would make travel at lightspeed obsolete," Leia said. "Is that what we came through?"
"Not exactly," said Data. He tapped the controls of a second monitor and an image of the Millennium Falcon coming through the rip appeared. The picture then magnified exponentially until the edges of the rip could be seen clearly.
"Temmack did not create a wormhole, even an unstable one." Data explained. "Instead, his energy bursts destroyed the elemental bond that held that area of space together. "
"It's like he's tearing apart the very fabric of space!" Geordi said. "Couldn't he see that his experiments were wrecking havoc on the elements?"
"Even if he did, it's doubtful he would care," Leia replied. "Mass destruction was always one of his specialties. That quality made him especially favored by the Empire."
"Fortunately, when he tries again, we should be able to reverse the process fairly quickly," Geordi explained. "These elements naturally want to bond together. It takes a lot of energy to pull them apart, but it shouldn't take much to pull them back together."
"That will not prevent Temmack from trying again, though," said Data.
"That's where we come in," said Leia, "Temmack's facility is well guarded, but not well constructed. One good hit to the power generators and the whole place will go up in flames."
"The energy pulses have been occurring at regular intervals. We should be able to predict when the next one will happen and send you back."
"What about those defense fighters?" Geordi asked.
"I'm not sure," said Leia. "Han was able to take them out the first time but only barely. Next time there's sure to be more."
"Maybe we can help with your shields, modify them so they can withstand more. I need to report to the captain about what we've learned here anyway; I'll ask if we can upgrade your systems a bit."
"I still do not understand what reversed the elemental rip in the first place." Data said.
"It might have been Luke," Leia replied.
"How could he have been responsible?" Geordi asked. Data's communicator chirped and he stepped away for a moment.
Leia hesitated, "It's a bit hard to explain."
"Maybe he would be willing to tell us himself," Data said as he came back. "Your brother is awake."
"What is The Force?"
Deanna Troi waited while Luke searched for the right words. "My first teacher explained that the Force is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."
"And you've learned to control that energy field?" asked Troi.
"To an extent," said Luke, "but it's not about control exactly. Using the Force is more about learning to be in harmony with the galaxy."
"So when you sensed something was out of harmony..." she began.
Luke gave a rueful smile. "I tried to fix it. And I'm not used to trying to fix things on such a grand scale."
"Luke!" Deanna stepped aside as Leia rushed in and hugged her brother. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Luke said. Leia gave him a stern look. "Really!" he added quickly, "I just overdid it a bit."
Leia looked to the doctor for confirmation. "All his readings are back to normal." Crusher explained. "It looks like he just needed time to recover from his efforts."
"How's everyone else?" asked Luke.
"They're ok and the ship is undergoing repairs. We managed to figure out what Temmack is doing, but it looks like you already know."
"I do, mostly," Luke admitted, "but didn't really know how to explain."
"Well, I want to run a few more tests before I release you," Crusher said, "just to be sure."
"We need to hurry," Leia insisted, "There's not much time before Temmack tries again."
"Come on, move it! We don't have all day!" Han shouted.
Lt. Barclay jogged to keep up with the ship's captain. "Sir, I've installed the new shield emitters."
"Will they work?"
"They should."
Han stopped short. "Should?" he said dangerously.
"They will, they will!" Barclay stammered quickly. Han grunted and started walking again. Barclay hesitated a moment before following again. "It's just that the generator housing seemed to be little more than scrap metal and..." He stopped again as he bumped into Han, who had turned to face the Enterprise engineer.
"What are you saying?" Han growled.
"Nothing!"
"Look, this ship may not look like much, but it's faster than anything else in the fleet." Han whirled once more and headed to the cockpit.
"That's a scary thought," Barclay said under his breath as he followed the captain once more.
"Did your guys finish repairing the hull breach?"
"Yes, it's...."
"Chewie!" Han bellowed, "How's that console coming along?"
Chewbacca let loose with a series of woofs and growls that made Barclay wish, not for the first time today, that the universal translator truly was universal.
"I don't care that it's ugly, it just needs to be working," Han snapped back. Chewie gave one more short burst of howling before Han started flipping switches. "OK, I'm firing it up."
"Sir, are you sure..." Barclay started, only to be silenced by a stern finger. Han pushed a few more buttons and a horrific grinding noise sounded throughout the cabin.
Barclay started at the sound. "That can't be normal," he said.
"Sure it is," said a voice behind them. They turned to see Luke give the top controls a sound thump with his fist and the engine noise settled down into a less alarming rumble.
"Luke!" Han exclaimed. "Nice to see you've decided to stop lazing around and help out around here." He got up and gave the younger man a quick pat on the back. Chewie barked out a greeting as well.
"Good to see you're OK too," he replied. "Leia's right behind me. She's just getting R2 settled again."
"Well, the gang's all here," Han said with a grin, "Barclay, you better clear your people out of here. We've got to get going."
"Right," Barclay turned and nearly ran into Leia on his way out of the cockpit.
"Sorry, sorry. Excuse me."
"Lt. Barclay," Leia grabbed his arm and gave him a sincere smile. "Thank you for your help."
Barclay couldn't help but smile back. "My pleasure, ma'am."
"Two minutes to the next energy event." Data said.
The Enterprise crew was reassembled on the bridge, preparing for the next anomaly.
"Solo to Enterprise."
Picard tapped his communicator. "Picard here."
"We better get this show on the road. Permission to disembark."
"Permission granted."
There was a pause and the communicator crackled again.
"Hey, Picard."
"Yes?"
"Thanks for, you know, pulling us out and helping out with the repairs and all. Don't know quite how to repay the favor."
Picard smiled at that. "Just take care of Temmack's generator and we'll call it even."
"Consider it done. May the Force be with you."
"And with you. Picard out." The bridge crew watched as the Falcon gracefully sailed away from the Enterprise.
"Fifteen seconds to event." Data continued.
Picard tapped his communicator again. "Picard to engineering. Standby countermeasures."
"5, 4,.... "
"Shields up," commanded Riker.
"3, 2, 1."
The rip burst open and half a dozen of the small sentry ships swarmed through. Four immediately surrounded the Falcon while the other two honed in on the Enterprise.
"Mr. Worf, standby phasers." Picard ordered.
"Aye, Captain." The bridge rocked slightly as the sentry ships attempted to penetrate their defenses.
"Fire!"
Temmack's guard ships were no match against the Enterprise's weapons. Worf easily dispatched the two annoyances.
"How are our friends doing?" the captain asked.
Data checked his panel. "Their shields are holding but they are still being blocked by the sentries. It would be best if they could go through the rip before it becomes any larger."
"Let's clear the way a bit, shall we?" said Picard, "Mr. Worf?"
"With pleasure," Worf said and immediately targeted the remaining guards. The Enterprises phasers tore apart another ship.
"Enterprise to Falcon - you better go through. We'll take care of the rest of the defense ships."
"Copy that, Enterprise. On our way." The Falcon deftly maneuvered around the remaining sentries and sped toward the rip.
"Picard to Engineering - as soon as they're through, start the reversal process."
Geordi's voice came over the communicator, "Aye, aye captain."
"Targeting remaining ships," Worf said.
Three more bursts of flame and the sentries were gone. The Falcon flew into the rip and headed straight for Temmack's base.
"The Millennium Falcon is now clear of the event," Data reported. "Reversal beam started."
The rip began to close rapidly and they soon lost sight of the Falcon and its' target. Suddenly there was a burst of flame and the rip closed completely.
"Did they get it?" Riker asked, "I couldn't tell."
"Mr. Data, replay the last 30 seconds," Picard ordered and the viewscreen showed the shrinking anomaly once more.
"Stop there!" Riker ordered as the flame appeared again. "Can you zoom in on that?"
Data complied and the image magnified until the flame filled the screen. "Now, play it forward, slowly." The bridge crew watched as the flame burned for a moment and was quickly snuffed out. But as the flame extinguished and the rip was just about closed, they could see the Millennium Falcon speeding away from the incinerated base, successful and unscathed.
Captian's log: Although we've stayed in the area for three more cycles, there seems to be no further evidence of Temmack's energy experiments. The data we've collected from our brief encounter with the Millennium Falcon and its' crew, though, will keep Starfleet scientists occupied for a long time to come. In all our travels across the galaxy, we sometimes think we've seen it all. But it took only one fleeting moment to remind us just how vast the universe is.