The Brigade of the Doomed, Part 2

STAR TREK
THE NEXT GENERATION

THE BRIGADE OF THE DOOMED
PART II

PROLOGUE

The bridge crew watched, transfixed, as the shock wave from the
imploding vessel raced towards them. It knocked the other vessels out of
commission, and they weren’t as severely damaged as the Enterprise. They would
survive it; Enterprise wouldn’t.
“It is a good day to die,” Worf said as the shock wave was within moments
of destroying the Enterprise.

Captain Williams on the Ariel watched in horror as the shock wave took
out the Enterprise. It was so clean… there wasn’t even any time to think about it.
“There are… no debris…” Black said with puzzlement. Then, she nodded.
“The shock wave had residual tryolic waves, no doubt from the power core of the
Garthusian sphere. That explains the lack of an implosion or any debris.”
Williams got out of the command chair and looked at Commander
McGrady. “Memorial service at nineteen hundred,” he said. “I’ll be in the ready
room.”

CHAPTER ONE

Captain Kalome of the Imperial Star Destroyer Gunterge didn’t believe his
eyes. The alien vessel was nothing like he had ever seen before. It had a large
forward section shaped like a saucer, a large section in the aft section with two
long protusions that appeared to connect to some kind of propulsion system. It
was also loaded with numerous other things he’d never even dreamed of. Kalome
turned to his first officer, Commander Jafar. “We will send over troops to
investigate that vessel immediately. It will belong to the Empire!”
“As well as increase your standing,” Jafar replied.
Kalome eyed the first officer warningly. “What?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Good. Now send over the troops!”

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise awakened.
He looked around him. Everything was dark. He had a hard time breathing. He
must have been in Hell. It figured.
He heard a noise to his right. Picard looked in that direction sharply. He
could make out a form struggling to get up. “Ughh.” It sounded like Commander
Riker.
“Will?” Picard said.
“Captain?” Riker answered.
Picard felt around the back of him. He felt a chair, with the same creaks
and crevices of… the command chair on the Enterprise. He must not have been in
Hell after all. Somehow, the Enterprise had survived the shock wave. “Number
One, we must restore at least partial power.” “What I don’t understand is,”
Riker said, standing up, “why Starfleet didn’t immediately come in and scan for
survivors. It looks like they just left us here to rot.”
Picard scowled at that thought. “I don’t think so. Perhaps that shock wave
knocked out the rest of the fleet, too.”
Riker scrambled for the Jeffries tube access in the aft section of the
bridge. “Well, by staying here we’re not going to accomplish anything. We have
to get to Engineering.”
“Hold on,” Picard cautioned. “We need to check on the conditions of the
rest of the bridge crew.”
Riker came back to where Picard was standing. “All right.” He then
suddenly looked like he saw a ghost. “Deanna. I can’t believe I forgot about her.”
He rushed to where Troi’s chair was, and scanned the area with his eyes the best
he could. “Imzadi?” Riker heard a low groan about one meter away. He could
make out Troi’s crumpled form. He rushed to her side. “Deanna!? Deanna!?
Are you all right?”
She gave a low moan and awakened. She looked around. Will was
kneeling beside her. “Oh Bill…” she muttered in pain.
“We must get her to sickbay,” Picard said. “I want to check you out too,
Commander.”
“I can wait,” Riker replied. “We must help Deanna.”
Troi looked at Picard. “I think I can stand…” she said. She put her hand
up against the wall, and pushed herself up into a standing position. Troi had a
pained expression on her face. “I… think I can make it to sickbay.”
Picard heard someone getting up in the bridge’s aft section. He saw
Worf’s large figure over the blackened tactical console. “So we have not died and
crossed the River of Blood…”
“I’m afraid not, Mr. Worf,” Picard said. “Commander Riker and I will get
the counselor to sickbay. Lieutenant, you have the bridge.” Worf looked
around the bridge. “I will make the most of it, sir.” Picard nodded and
gestured at the aft Jeffries tube access. “All right, let’s go…”

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge struggled to his feet and looked
around. The rest of the engineering personnel were either still unconscious or
struggling to their feet as Geordi was.
“This is a rather poor condition,” came a rushed, nervous voice from
behind Geordi. He nearly had a heart attack. “Did I scare you, sir?” Barclay
asked, noticing how Geordi’s shoulders jerked upward.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again!” Geordi snapped. “I’m sorry,
sir,” Barclay said. He made a point of looking around Engineering and noticing
the matter-antimatter reactor not pulsing. “We need to restore power as soon as
possible.”
Geordi flashed Barclay an angry look. “I know that, Lieutenant! Now, we
have to get EPS power flowing through Engineering, and that way we can see
how much damage we’re dealing with here.”
“I suggest we check the fusion reactors, sir,” Barclay said. “They have
been taxed lately.”
“What a marvelous idea,” Geordi said in a snide tone of voice. “Why
didn’t I think of that? Mr. Barclay, we’ll go to the fusion reactors, okay? Okay.”
Barclay was now standing in front of the chief engineer. He had a
concerned expression on his face. “Sir, are you all right? You normally don’t act
like this.”
Geordi looked around his office. He gave three deep breaths. “You’re
right. Now let’s get down TO THE BUSINESS!”
This time, Barclay actually recoiled. Confused engineers looked in
Geordi’s direction. Geordi thought they couldn’t possibly look more concerned.
“Sir,” Barclay said, “I can go alone…”
“No, we’ll go together,” Geordi said. “Let’s move!”
“Yes, sir!” Barclay said. He rushed for the Jeffries tube access. Geordi
hurried after him.

Doctor Beverly Crusher looked around the dark sickbay. She could barely
see, but she knew that her eyes would soon adapt to the darkness. All around her,
the other medical personnel were struggling to their feet. Crusher hurried to the
diagnostic beds, each one of them with a sick patient. She tripped over some
medical supplied that had fallen on the floor. She picked them up, and kept on
moving.
“Doctor…” one of the patients, Lieutenant Commander Jumption, cried.
Crusher pulled her medical tricorder from her cloak and ran a scan on
Jumption. He had a severe injury to his abdomen and wouldn’t survive too much
longer if the power wasn’t restored soon.
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” Jumption asked nervously, after seeing
Crusher’s facial expression.

“Not if I can help it,” Crusher replied. She looked at the medical supplies
she was carrying. One imaging scanner, one hypospray, and one medical kit.
Crusher opened up the medical kit, and took out a hypospray marked with the
color band of pain reliever. She took the hypospray, and inserted some pain
reliever into Jumption’s neck. “That should take away some of the pain.”
Jumption’s facial expression brightened. “I feel better already.”
Crusher gave Jumption a small smile, and moved on to the next patient. She
scanned the patient with her medical tricorder. Dead. Crusher wiped some tears
from her eyes and moved on to the next one.
The sound of all of the doors opening rushed throughout sickbay. Crusher
looked at the nearest door. There were five individuals there, all dressed in white
armor. They were aiming some sort of weapons at her. She dropped everything
she was holding, and walked up to them. “Freeze!” one of them shouted.

Crusher froze. “I am Doctor Beverly Crusher-”
“This must be the sickbay,” the same individual commented. The person
pointed at two of the others. “You two, search this facility. We’ll go and try to
find their command center.”
“Yes, sir,” the two people assigned to sickbay acknowledged. The three
others went off to find the bridge. The remaining two entered sickbay and pulled
the doors shut.

Three other armored people came into the main area of sickbay, this time
from the main entrance. They were leading all the other medical personnel into
the area with weapons pointed at their backs.
“Why are you doing this?” Crusher asked.
“You, quiet!” one of the orginals shouted. The person put his or hers
weapon up against Crusher’s back.
Crusher thought all of their captors were men. They all had men’s voices,
anyway. She could be wrong, though. Who knew with these aliens? And their
voices sounded like they were going through a speaker; they probably were, with
that armor on and all.
“There are no more, sir,” one of them reported.
“Scout this facility for medical technologies the Empire can use,” the
person who told Crusher to be quiet said. He pointed at Jumption on the
diagnostic bed. “Kill him.”
Jumption watched with horror as one of the armored men approached
him. The armored man aimed the front of his weapon at Jumption’s forhead, and
fired. A hot red bolt blasted Jumption’s head apart. Blood splattered everywhere
within a one meter diameter. Jumption’s exposed brain was charred black.
Crusher was disgusted by the sight.
“He wasn’t a threat to you!” Crusher shouted. “Why did you do that!?”
The person who appeared to be their leader aimed his blaster-weapon at
Crusher. “Doctor, if you do not cooperate, you will die too.” Just then, the
door to the main area of sickbay was shoved open. Picard, Riker and Troi were
standing there. They surveyed the room. “Jean-Luc, run!” Crusher shouted.
Picard got an alarmed expression on his face, as did Riker. Troi just had a
painful expression on her face. Picard motioned down the corridor, and made a
run for it. Riker took a firm hold of Troi’s hand, and began running as well.
“Hey!” the leader shouted. He raised his weapon and fired purple energy
spheres out into the corridor. No use. They were already at least five meters
distant, with Troi slowing them down. The captor leader ran out into the corridor
and fired several more shots. He ran out of view, then returned, hauling Troi into
sickbay. He shoved the door shut. Then, he aimed his blaster at Troi’s forhead.
“You don’t want to kill her!” Crusher shouted. “She is quite valuable.”
The leader paused. “How valuable?”
“She is an empath, meaning that she can sense emotions. She is an
excellent lie detector. Also, in certain instances, she can sense thoughts as well.”
The leader considered this. “If what you say is true, she can be quite
valuable indeed. However, if you’re lying, I promise you, both of you will regret
it before you die.” He withdrew his blaster, and let Troi fall to the floor. “Let her
lay.”
Crusher watched in despair as the troopers began scouting sickbay.
Picard and Riker walked towards the weaponry. Riker was sulking over
the death of Troi.
“She’s not dead, Will,” Picard said. “I saw her breathing.” Commander
Riker was not convinced. “But what if that weapon was set to a slow, torturous
death setting…”
Picard shook his head. “You’re only making yourself worse by doing this,
Number One. Now, we have to get those raiders off the Enterprise. We’re going
to have to have phasers to do that.”
“I know, sir,” Riker replied. “It’s just that-”
“Enough, Commander,” Picard said. “We’ve reached the weaponry.” He
put his finger on the door opener, and the door slid open. “Let’s go.” Picard
and Riker strode into the weaponry and got type three phasers, which were phaser
rifles. They weren’t even standard equipment on Federation starships until the
encounter with the Borg. Now, they were considered a necessity. They set their
phaser rifles to setting five, which was probably the equilavent to heavy stun to
the armored people. Then, Picard and Riker exited the weaponry.
“We have to try to restore power,” Riker said. “Then we’ll be in a far
better position to get rid of the raiders.”
“Agreed,” Picard said. “Let’s get to Engineering.”

Geordi La Forge peered into the control room for the fusion reactor.
Good. No invaders. “All clear.”
Barclay rushed into the control room, and Geordi followed. They pushed
the door shut, and made their way for the master power console. This one was
operational, because it had an independent power source.
Geordi examined the readouts. “It doesn’t look like the fusion reactor is
damaged; it was the result of transferring all power to the shields. When that last
shock wave hit us, the reactor just shut down to avoid overloading. All we have
to do is reinitialize it.”
“That will take over three hours,” Barclay reminded Geordi. “The
sooner, the better,” Geordi responded. “Let’s get started.”
Worf looked towards where the sound has come from. The floor was
creaking. That was a near impossibility on a Federation starship. “Why is the
floor creaking?”
“I’m not sure,” Ensign Crusher answered. He leaned over the spot where
the sound was most pronounced. “Does anybody have a tricorder?” “I do,”
Lieutenant McKenzie said. She gave Crusher a tricorder. Crusher flipped the
tricorder open and began taking readings. “There’s some sort of laser beam trying
to cut through the deck.”
“What!?” Worf bellowed. He leaned over Crusher, in the very center of
the bridge. “Who is trying to cut through?”
Before Crusher could answer, the deck gave way. Crusher fell to the deck
below, and was knocked unconscious. Worf heard a loud crack, and knew some
bones were broken. The boy could survive that, though. There was a more
immediate problem: three white armored people were standing just under the
gaping hole. They were aiming weapons at Worf. Worf aimed his own phaser at
the assailants, set it to eight, and fired on wide beam setting. The three people
fell to the floor, their armor blackened to some extent.
“Sir,” McKenzie said, “I recognize them.”
Worf looked at McKenzie. “I do not. What are they?” McKenzie got
an embarrassed expression on her face. “I’m just so embarrassed to be saying this,
but… they look just like stormtroopers from the Star Wars films of the late
twentieth century.”
Worf looked at McKenzie with puzzlement. “Are you saying that they
aren’t real, but fanstasy?”
“They must be real,” McKenzie said, pointing at them. “They’re there,
aren’t they?”
“Appearances can be deceiving,” Worf said. He peered down at the
“stormtroopers.” They might have been Garthusians who had just dressed up like
stormtroopers to fool people. Who knew what information they downloaded
from the Enterprise computers?
“I sure wish Data was alive and well,” McKenzie said, looking at Data’s
still form on the floor.
“We cannot spend time dwelling on that, Lieutenant. We must get to the
bottom of this, with or without Data.” Worf knew that the height between the
deck floor and ceiling was seven feet… he could jump down to deck two without
injury if he judged it right. It would be difficult in the darkness, but he could do
it. “I will go down to deck two to investigate. You have the bridge, Lieutenant
McKenzie.”
“Yes, sir,” McKenzie acknowledged nervously.
Worf judged the angle of his fall for a moment, then jumped down. He
felt his feet land firmly against the floor of deck two. He had no injuries. He
looked at Crusher’s unconscious form. He saw that the tricorder the boy was
holding was crushed under Crusher’s body. He looked up at the large hole. “I
need another tricorder.”
Worf saw McKenzie look around the bridge with a questioning glance.
Then, a tricorder flew into her hand. She, in turn, tossed it to Worf. “Thank
you.” Worf looked around him. He couldn’t make out any signifcant details
besides the debris from the ceiling and black marks all over the walls. Worf
scanned the area with his tricorder. The energy signatures in the scorch marks
and the debris were consistant with a type of laser. The Garthusians used
disruptors; but this might still be another part of the deception.
Worf heard a low sound down the corridor. He couldn’t make out what it
was. It came from his right. Worf began walking towards the source. “I
believe the command center has been located,” Worf heard a voice say. It was
difficult to hear at this distance, though. “After that, contact was lost with the
team.”
“Send another larger, more well-armed team,” another voice said. “They
should-”
The voices were becoming more pronounced. Worf came upon the
stormtroopers almost immediately after that. They looked at him in surprise.
“What in the Empire is that?” the first voice asked.
Worf didn’t give them time to think about it. He fired his phaser, same
settings as before. The troops fell to the deck, their armor blackened. Worf bent
over them and removed one of the helmets. He ran a tricorder scan on it. The
helmet was equipped with some sort of communications system, which allowed
the wearer to communicate with other communication systems, and to
communicate with people outside their armor. It was made of a compound
neither Worf nor the tricorder was familiar with.
“There it is!” a voice shouted from behind him.
Worf whirled around and raised his phaser. Three stormtroopers were
standing there, lasers aimed at him. Worf fired. The troops fell to the deck.
“Stupid fool,” a voice from the back said.
Before Worf could turn around, he felt a laser beam hit his back. He fell
to the deck, consciousness escaping him.

Captain Picard peered into Engineering from the port main entrance. The
stormtroopers didn’t know they were there.
“You’re sure these are Star Wars people?” Riker whispered into Picard’s
ear.
“Pretty sure,” Picard whispered back. He raised his phaser rifle, aimed at
the two stormtroopers he could get a clear shot at, and fired on setting ten. They
fell to the deck with slightly blackened and melted armor.
“Over there!” one of the five remaining stormtroopers shouted. He
pointed in Picard’s direction.
Riker raised his phaser rifle, but not before a wide beam phaser blast from
Main Engineering hit three of the stormtroopers. They fell to the deck. The two
others whirled around to face the direction the beam had come from, and opened
fire, letting loose a fury a red little bolts. Someone screamed in agony.
Picard took them out with his phaser rifle, and then walked into Main
Engineering, gesturing Riker to follow. He did so.
What they saw was a war zone. Scorch marks covered the walls. Dead or
dying engineering personnel were lying all over the deck. Several consoles were
blown apart.
An engineer approached Picard. She had the pips of a full lieutenant.
“Are they the Garthusians, sir?” she asked, pointing at the bodies of the
stormtroopers.
“I don’t think so, Lieutenant,” Picard answered. “I believe they are
stormtroopers from Star Wars.”
“Star Wars, Captain?”
“A series of movies that came out in the late twentieth and early
twenty-first centuries, set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” The
lieutenant developed a deep frown. “Captain… what is a movie?” Picard
scowled. Had this engineer no appreciation of the past? “If and when the power
comes back on-line and the computers are operational, you can do some much
needed research, Lieutenant. For now, though, your priority is to get Engineering
back in working order.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And where is Commander La Forge?”
The lieutenant paused a moment. “Commander La Forge and Lieutenant
Barclay went to the fusion reactor control room, sir.”
“Very well, Lieutenant. Dismissed.”
She whirled around instantly and began walking towards the
matter-antimatter reactor. That’s when ten stormtroopers darted into Main
Engineering from the starboard entrance and began shooting.

Lieutenant Worf tried to open his eyes. He couldn’t. Worf struggled to sit
up. He couldn’t. Worf felt no restraining devices attached to him; the only
logical conclusion was that his nervous system had been damaged somehow. But
then how could he be breathing? Worf concluded that only voluntary actions
were affected.
“He is awake,” Worf heard a low, scratchy voice say.
“Excellent, Cadet,” another voice said. It had an air of command to it.
“Now… we shall begin.”
Worf wondered for an instant what was going to begin. He didn’t have to
wonder long.
“Who are you?” the commander’s voice asked.
Worf didn’t attempt to speak. He knew that he couldn’t move voluntarily
The commander had to know that, too; it must have been an excuse to torture
him.
“Answer!” the commander yelled.
Worf tried to talk this time. He succeeded. “Or what?” The
commander laughed. “Explain it to him.”
Worf felt a surge of pain all throughout his body. It was equilavent to that
caused by a Klingon painstick. “Is that the best you can do?” “That was the
lowest setting,” the commander said dangerously. “Now… who are you?”
Worf didn’t reply.
The commander gave an exasperated sigh. “This one will be difficult.
Cadet, raise the setting until he starts talking.” The commander paused a
moment. “You should have reconsidered, alien.”
“I will never yield.”
“You have no idea how many times we’ve heard that,” the commander
snarled. “Begin!”
“I do not fear pain,” Worf said as shocking waves of pain consumed his
body.

Captain Kalome walked up to his first officer. “What is it?” “Lord
Vader will be arriving tomorrow to see the Empire’s prize,” Commander Jafar
reported. “He wants the alien ship completely in the Empire’s hands by then.”
Kalome cursed under his breath. “Can you report on our progress?”
Jafar gave a sigh. “We do have some of their ship under our control, sir.
Most of it is in the hands of the enemy, though. They have proved to be far
tougher than we realized. The fact that they’re years, if not centuries, ahead of us
in technology doesn’t help either.”
Kalome considered that for a moment. They had an infinitesimal chance
of capturing the entire alien ship in time. Unless… “Commander, do we have any
control of their crucial areas?”
“We have their sickbay, sir. We have a team of ten stormtroopers trying
to seize their engineering section now. The first team sent to their engineering
section was decimated; the second one is trying now.” “Inform our people
aboard the alien ship of Lord Vader’s imminent arrival. They know what will
happen if they don’t complete our task on time.” “As do we all,” Jafar
commented. He set about his task.

CHAPTER TWO

Luke Skywalker looked at Princess Leia closely. “An alien ship?” “Yes,”
she said worriedly. “It is years above anything in this galaxy.”
Luke considered the implications. “It came from outside the galaxy? The
nearest galaxy is over two hundred thousand parsecs away… they must be pretty
fast.”
“More than pretty fast, kid,” Han Solo said, coming into the room. He was
dressed in heavy clothing, suggesting he’d been outside recently. “It would take
the Falcon more than a thousand years to get from there to here.”
“And they did it in less than a day, according to reports,” Leia said. “They
just suddenly appeared there. An Imperial Star Destroyer was lucky enough to be
nearby.”
Solo grunted. “And you know what they’re doing.”
“Well, if the aliens are as technologically advanced as you say, they most
certainly won’t need our help,” Luke commented.
“They probably won’t,” Leia said. “But if we at least try, the aliens might
help us against the Empire.”
“The Falcon’s ready to go, your highnessness,” Solo said. Leia got a
puzzled look on her face. “Is that possible?” Solo got a mildly angry look
on his face. “You want to get there as fast as poss-”
“I was only kidding,” Leia said. “We must leave as soon as we possibly
can.”

Lieutenant McKenzie fired her phaser through the gaping hole.
Stormtroopers had been trying to get to the bridge for an hour now. This was her
third phaser; the others had been drained of their energy cells. “They’re
nothing if not persistant,” Ensign Hines remarked. He fired his own phaser down
the hole.
“Be careful not to hit Wesley,” McKenzie said.
“Shouldn’t he be awake by now?” Hines asked.
“He could have something more serious than a few broken bones,”
McKenzie answered.
“Yeah, well, that deck’s going to give way any minute now. Phaser beams
on setting eight have been hitting the deck flooring a lot more than your
stormtroopers.”
“We can’t let them take the bridge.”
“The bridge is useless right now.”
“But if the power is restored while they have the bridge-” “I have an
idea. Let’s set up five phasers around the hole, and set them to fire continuously
at setting five. That would make the hole impossible to go through until the
phasers are dry.”
McKenzie considered that idea. “It could work. But what about Data?”
“Data is dead,” Hines said matter-of-factly. “There’s nothing we can do
for him.”
McKenzie was getting infuriated with Hines. She spoke in an exasperated
tone. “All right, what about Wesley?”
“He’ll be dead anyway if that deck collapses.” Hines turned his attention
to the hole. He saw a stormtrooper head sticking out. “Oh crap!” He fired his
phaser at the stormtrooper. The trooper fell to the deck below. “As I was saying,
he’ll die anyway if we keep this up.” “And the good doctor will kill us!”
McKenzie said as she picked off another stormtrooper.
“You exaggerate,” Hines said.
McKenzie paused a moment, thinking. “What if I just go down there and
get Wesley, while the rest of you evacuate the bridge?”
Hines shook his head. “You could never do it alone. I’ll go with you.”
“Very well, Ensign.” McKenzie gestured towards the accesses to the
Jeffries tubes. “Five of you, over here with your phasers. The rest of you, in the
Jeffries tubes.”
Five crewmembers came up to her and handed her their phasers. Then, all
of the bridge crew, except McKenzie and Hines and the five crewmembers,
entered the Jeffries tubes.
“Let’s do it,” McKenzie said. She gave two phasers to Hines. She then set
up the three phasers she kept to positions where they could fire and not destroy
any of the other phasers. Hines did the same with his two. Then, they both set
the phasers to setting five and to fire until drained She turned to the
crewmembers. “Once we’re down there, press the triggers to those phasers. Then
get out of here.”
The crewmembers nodded. McKenzie jumped down the hole, followed
by Hines. Five stormtroopers were down there. They took the stormtroopers out
quickly. The sound of phasers firing sounded from the bridge. McKenzie looked
up. Five phaser beams were visible above the hole.
McKenzie looked down at Wesley. He was still unconscious, with a
crushed tricorder beneath him. Dried blood was visible on his uniform sleeves.
“I wonder if we can move him,” Hines said.
McKenzie flashed Hines a sharp look. “Now you think about that!” She
picked off three stormtroopers coming down the corridor. “You’d better be glad I
have my tricorder.” She flipped it open, and scanned Wesley. “He has a bunch of
broken bones, and a severe concussion. We should be able to move him.”

Hines bent down to pick up Wesley’s left side. “You take the right side”
McKenzie bent down and picked up Wesley’s right side. “All right… let’s
go.”
They stood up, and struggled to haul Wesley down the corridor to the
nearest Jeffries tube access. At the same time, stormtroopers were coming at
them left and right. McKenzie and Hines somehow shot all the stormtroopers
with their phasers, and made it to the Jeffries tube access. Hines ripped the
access panel off the wall, and climbed inside the tube. Hines lifted Wesley
into the tube, and began to pull him inside. McKenzie phasered the stormtroopers
while Hines struggled with his task. She nervously glanced at the access. “Can
you hurry it up?” she asked as she fired her phaser yet again.
“I’m trying not to injure the boy!” Hines cried, with more than a little
exasperation. “Do you want to take over?”
McKenzie sighed. “No, Ensign.”
The mention of rank shut Hines up. He finally got Wesley completely into
the Jeffries tube, and began pulling him deeper inside. “You can enter,
Lieutenant.”
McKenzie phasered another stormtrooper as she climbed inside the
Jeffries tube. She reached for the access panel, but a hot red blaster bolt struck
her hand. She cried out in pain as she aimed her phaser at her attacker with her
other hand. The stormtrooper advanced, and leveled his blaster at McKenzie’s
head. McKenzie pressed the phaser trigger.
Nothing happened. The phaser was dead. “Damn!” McKenzie cursed
loudly. She tossed the useless phaser at the stormtrooper. She took advantage of
the trooper’s confusion to grab the access panel and slam it into place. She keyed
in the locking code into the control pad next to the accessway.
“You know that they’ll blast that panel away,” Hines said from down the
tube. He was already ten feet away.
“It will take them a while,” McKenzie replied. “Don’t spend time dwelling
on that. We need to move! Let’s get to sickbay!”
“Aye-aye, sir,” Hines said, and began pulling Wesley down the Jeffries
tube again.

Captain Picard leapt behind the master status display table. The red
blaster bolts sailed over his head and hit the wall, destroying several status panels.
Picard heard screams of pain sound throughout Engineering. Among the screams
was Commander Riker’s. “Oh no…”
Riker dropped beside Picard. He had a rather large wound on his left
shoulder. The skin was severely burned, but fortunately, there was no bleeding.
“I’d hate to be hit in the head with one of those things…” Picard looked up as a
blaster bolt hit the display table. Sparks showered all around him. “Can you
move your left arm?”
Riker moved his left arm around a little bit. “Yes, sir. Enough to aim,
anyway.”
Picard nodded. He readied his phaser rifle, and rose just above the table.
He took out about four stormtroopers with a wide beam phaser blast, and returned
to the deck. Several blaster bolts sailed over his head. Riker readied his
phaser, and rose just above the table. He wildly fired in the stormtroopers general
direction. He saw one go down before he was forced back down to the deck.
Picard rose up again, and began firing his phaser rifle madly at the
stormtroopers. Three wide phaser beams cut through the air in only five seconds.
The stormtroopers fell to the deck before they could even think about firing their
blasters.
“Wow,” Riker commented as he stood up. He looked at the bodies of the
stormtroopers. “Well done, Captain.”
Picard surveyed Engineering. Ten more people were dead. The master
status display table was in ruins. Among the dead was the female lieutenant
Picard had conversed with earlier.
Commander Riker was examining the bodies of the dead stormtroopers.
One of them was twitching his arms and legs a little. Riker didn’t have a
tricorder. “I need a tricorder.”
An engineering ensign handed Riker a tricorder. Riker flipped it open and
scanned the body of the twitching stormtrooper. He was getting faint life
readings. “Sir, this one’s alive.”
Picard walked up beside Riker. He looked at the twitching stormtrooper.
“Status?”
Riker checked the tricorder screen. “He is in critical condition. His
nervous system is damaged. His eyes are useless. I would need a medical
tricorder for a more detailed analysis.”
Picard looked at his first officer. “The analysis we have is enough to tell
he won’t last an hour without proper treatment in sickbay.” Riker looked
back at his captain. He got a puzzled frown on his face. “Captain… why would
we want to keep him alive? Especially if we have our own crew to treat.”
“Because an interrogation might prove useful, Number One. Also, we
need to show this galaxy that we aren’t bloodthirsty barbarians.” Riker nodded.
“I understand, sir. Although… we can’t get him to sickbay within the hour, and
even if we can, sickbay is almost useless without power.”
Picard knew that. “I know.” He looked back towards the engineering
personnel scrambling about. “How much longer?”
The same engineering ensign who gave Riker the tricorder replied.
“Captain, we have no way of knowing what kind of damage was done to the
fusion reactor and the EPS systems. It would take days, weeks maybe.” Picard
scowled. “We don’t have that kind of time.” He stepped out into the area beside
the status display monitor. He stared at the ruins. “We need to get power
restored before then.”
The ensign shrugged. “Chief Engineer La Forge will find a way. I know
he will.”
Picard looked at the ensign and began to reply. That’s when the lights
came on.

Barclay smiled at Geordi. “We did it, sir!”
Geordi got a little smile as well. “We’re still heavily damaged, Reg. Don’t
start celebrating yet.” He moved towards status displays that had just came
on-line. It showed heavy damage throughout the ship. The shields were shot, the
weapons were almost useless, and the warp drive was barely worthy of the name.
“Just look.”
Barclay looked at the displays and frowned. “This will take a while.”
“Yeah, and we’ve got the invaders running throughout the ship,” Geordi
replied. “We need to get to Engineering. Let’s move.”

Doctor Crusher looked at the confusion in sickbay. The lights coming on
was certainly a surprise. She decided to take advantage of it. Beverly
knocked the nearest trooper to the ground. She grabbed the confused troop’s
weapon and shot him with it. He slumped to the ground. “Stop where you are!”
a male voice commanded. Beverly whirled towards the speaker. It was a trooper
who had a blaster pointed at her. “Give me your weapon!”
Beverly shrugged. “If you think that’s best.” She began to move her
blaster towards the trooper. “Here you go.”
The trooper reached for the weapon. Just before he could touch it,
however, Beverly’s finger squeezed the trigger. Two hot red laser bolts smashed
against the trooper’s chest. He fell to the deck.
“Get her!” another male voice cried. Then, all of the troopers began firing
their blasters at her. She ducked for cover behind a diagnostic bed She tapped
her commbadge. “Crusher to any transporter room.” No response.
Beverly looked quickly to her right when she heard a thump next to her.
Deanna Troi had somehow managed to crawl next to her. She had a pained
expression on her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she had a distant look.

“It’s okay,” Beverly reassured Troi. “Everything will be all right.” She
didn’t believe her own words for a second.
“No, it’s not,” Troi replied weakly, and with more than a note of sadness.
“It’s terrible, Beverly…” She broke out in tears.
Beverly looked on with concern. “Deanna, don’t cry. We’ll get out of this.
Don’t worry.”
Troi looked back at the doctor. “It’s not about that. It’s… it’s…”

Beverly could tell Troi was scrambling for words. Meanwhile, a scream
arose from somewhere in the troopers’ direction.
“We will execute them one at a time,” one of the troopers said. “The first
after this one will be the doctor.”
Beverly leapt to her feet. She aimed in the troopers’ general direction, and
fired. Hot red laser bolts flew from her blaster as three troopers fell to the deck.
The remaining ten all fired their blasters at her. She fell to the deck, laser bolts
flying over her head.
Then, she got an idea. “Crusher to Picard. I am going to activate the
corbomite device. Advise all personnel to stay away from sickbay. I repeat,
advise all personnel to stay away from sickbay.”
“Picard here. Doctor, what is going on?”
“I can’t tell you, Jean-Luc. Good-bye. Crusher out.” Troi looked at
Beverly in wide-eyed horror as Beverly leapt to her feet. Beverly gave her a
reassuring smile, and looked at the troopers. They were standing there, appearing
unsure as to what they were going to do. “We have orders to evacuate the
facility,” the new leader said. “Let’s move out.”
The troopers ran for the exit doors. The doors slid open, and then slid
shut as they left. Beverly smiled at Troi as she tapped her commbadge. “Crusher
to Picard.”
“Picard here. Beverly, what the devil are you doing? Let me assume it
has something to do with the stormtroopers in sickbay.”
“There used to be ‘stomtroopers,’ yes,” Beverly said. “They ran when I
told you over the comm about the corbomite device.”
“Good work, Doctor. Now, there are a lot of injured people who need
your help. I’d recommend you attend to them. Picard out.”
Beverly helped Troi to her feet. “Some malocantrine will take care of the
pain.” She found a medical kit, opened it, got out a hypospray that had the
malocantrine, and administered it. “Some rest wouldn’t hurt either.”
Troi looked at the doctor with gratitude. “Thank you, Doctor. But I think
I’d better get to the bridge.”
“Have it your way. Just don’t complain to me when you’re coming in here
with a headache.”
“I won’t,” Troi promised. She left sickbay, walking slowly.
Captain Picard looked at his first officer sternly. “You’re going to sickbay,
Commander.”
“But sir-” Riker began.
“That’s an order.”
Riker looked at the captain. “Yes, sir.” He strode towards the
Engineering starboard turbolift.
Picard turned his gaze towards the live stormtrooper. He tapped his
commbadge. “Picard to transporter room.”
No response.
Geordi La Forge and Reginald Barclay strode into Main Engineering.
They looked tired. Geordi immediately ran to check the master status display
Only it was in ruins. “What happened to my department!?”
“Stormtroopers tried to get in,” Picard replied. “It was practically a war zone.”
Geordi looked all around Engineering. Scorch marks were all over the
walls. Dead bodies were everywhere. Consoles had been blown apart. “Man,
aren’t we lucky the matter-antimatter reactor wasn’t damaged…” He looked down
at the stormtroopers on the deck. “One of them is alive, by the way,” he said,
pointing at the correct stormtrooper.
“We know, Mr. La Forge,” Picard said. “However, none of the transporter
rooms are manned, and there are other things that need power…” “Right on,
Captain,” Geordi said. “Now, Captain, if you’ll excuse me.” He pointed at the
wall monitor with the large schematic of the Enterprise.
“Oh, right.” Picard strode towards the turbolift. “I want hourly progress
reports.”
“Yes, sir,” Geordi said.
Picard entered the turbolift. “Sickbay.”

Captain Kalome stared at the alien vessel in the window. It had just
powered up. That was an extremely bad sign, considering that his troops hadn’t
captured the ship yet. He looked angrily at Commander Jafar. “Order all of our
troops to retreat!”
“What about Lord Vader?” Jafar asked calmly. “He will be most
displeased.”
Kalome stared at Jafar in anger. “You self-interested opportunist, I will
find some way to blame this on you…”
Jafar looked surprised. “Me? Self-interested? I assure you, not at all…”
Kalome slapped Jafar. The crew members bustling around them on the
bridge all stopped and stared. That was a most improper gesture in such a setting.
“Order the troops to retreat, Commander. If you do not, I will have you executed
for causing the needless deaths of dozens of fine Imperial men.”
Jafar got a scared expression on his face. “Yes, sir. And what about the
prisoners?”
“We will keep them. Now, carry out your orders Commander!” Jafar
backed off. “Yes, sir.” He raced to his station.
Troi walked into the turbolift. She had been in her quarters before,
relaxing. She knew that this was no time for that sort of thing, but she decided to
do what Beverly said. Now, she felt ready to go to the bridge. “Bridge.”
The turbolift began to move. The soft humming of the ship soothed her.
It was far better than the quietness heard earlier when the power was off-line.
Before she knew it, the turbolift doors slid open. Troi walked out into the
bridge. What she saw was quite a shock. No Starfleet personnel were present.
There was a large gaping hole in the center of the bridge. Worst of all, about a
dozen invaders occupied the room.
“We have orders to retreat,” one of them said, then noticed Troi. “Kill
her.”
Another invader raised his blaster, and took aim at Troi. She tapped her
commbadge. “Troi to Picard, the invaders have the bridge. I repeat, invaders
have the bridge.”
Troi looked on with horror as the blaster was leveled with her. She
ducked behind the tactical console.
“Then you have a duty to destroy the bridge,” came Picard’s reply. It was
louder than normal, suggesting Picard wanted the invaders to hear it. Troi’s
thoughts went wild. There was nothing in Starfleet regulations about destroying
the bridge in case of enemy capture. The solution was to transfer control to
Engineering. “Sir, I…”
The invaders began to jump down the gaping hole. Before long, Troi was
the only one in the bridge.
“I want you to examine the bridge,” Picard said. “Report anything out of
the ordinary. Picard out.”
Troi looked around the bridge. There were five phasers at positions
around the hole in the middle of the bridge. Troi walked up to them, then bent
over to examine them. They had been drained of their power cells, suggesting
heavy use. As a result of being drained, none of the indicators were lit.
Troi stood back up, and continued with her examination. Nothing else
was out of the ordinary, but something tugged at Troi’s mind. Data’s body is
gone, she realized after a minute. It was nowhere to be found. Troi slapped her
commbadge. “Troi to Picard. Data’s body is missing.”
There was a long silence at the other end. “Is he anywhere on the ship?”
“I forgot to check.” Troi paused. “Computer, locate Lieutenant
Commander Data’s commbadge.”
“Lieutenant Commander Data’s commbadge is not aboard the Enterprise,”
the computer reported.
“When did it leave?”
“Unknown.”
Picard’s voice came from the commbadge. “The computer must have been
unoperational when the Imperials took Data.”
Troi got a puzzled look on her face. “The Imperials?” “That’s what
the people who invaded our ship are called, Counselor. Now, I’m coming up to
the bridge. Picard out.”

Doctor Beverly Crusher watched Picard exit sickbay. She then turned
back to Commander Riker. “That concussion is getting better, Will, but you need
rest! That laser wound doesn’t help matters.”
“I thought you fixed it,” Riker commented.
“The nerves in your arm were damaged. I gave them something to repair
them in a day or two, but rest will speed the process up!”
Riker raised an eyebrow. “Yes, sir.” He exited sickbay. Beverly didn’t
bother putting her medical utensils away, since more casualaties were coming
into sickbay every minute.

The main doors to sickbay slid open. Lieutenant McKenzie and Ensign
Hines were standing there, tugging at something on the floor. Beverly rushed up
to them. She glanced at what they were tugging. Wesley! “He was hurt when
part of the bridge deck collapsed,” McKenzie said, noting the doctor’s expression.
Beverly quickly flipped open her medical tricorder. Her son had a severe
concussion, with all of the limbs broken. He had five broken ribs. She motioned
for a nurse to help her.
Nurse Alyssa Ogawa rushed up to the doctor. She looked down at
Wesley. “Yes, Doctor?” she asked nervously.
“We need to get Wesley up onto a diagnostic bed, stat!” Beverly answered
Ogawa walked away from Beverly. When she returned, she had an
anti-grav medical gurney in tow. Both Ogawa and Beverly had to lift Wesley
onto the gurney.
“Let’s move!” Beverly shouted. She then looked at Hines and McKenzie.
“Attend to your duties.”
Both Hines and McKenzie nodded, and exited sickbay.

Captain Picard looked as the turbolift doors opened. Commander Riker
entered the bridge. The doors slid shut behind him. His face lit up in a
combination of grinning and crying when he saw Troi. “I thought you had died.”
Troi grinned at Riker. “I’m not.” She walked up to Riker and hugged him.
Riker hugged her back.
“Lieutenant Worf is missing, too,” Picard said after Riker and Troi were
done. “A total of one hundred crew members are either dead or missing.”
Riker looked somber. He looked back at the main viewer. It wasn’t
showing anything. He got a quizzical expression on his face.
“Damaged in the impact,” Picard said, answering Riker’s unspoken
question. “Geordi hasn’t been able to spare anyone to come up and fix it yet.”
Riker stared at the gaping hole in the center of the bridge. “That must’ve
taken a while.”
“It probably did,” Picard said.
The turbolift doors slid open again. Ensign Hines and Lieutenant
McKenzie strode into the bridge, the turbolift doors closing behind them.
McKenzie immediately sat down at the Operations station. Hines took the helm
“I’ll take tactical for now,” Riker said. He walked to the aft section of the
bridge and stood at the console.
Picard sat in the command chair. “Report.”
McKenzie checked the Ops console. “Internal sensors are kind of fuzzy..
I’d say that about fifty stormtroopers are left aboard the Enterprise”
“Lock them all in force fields,” Picard ordered.
“Not enough power, sir.”
Picard paused. “Where are they going?”
“The shuttlebays, sir.”
“They must be evacuating… Lieutenant, shut down life-support in the
shuttlebays.”
McKenzie paused for a moment. She ran a check for Starfleet personnel
in the shuttlebays. When the readouts reported negative, she did as she was told.
“Life-support disengaged.”
Picard sat there, thinking. “On second thought, shut down all power to the
shuttlebays.”
McKenzie did so. “Done.”
“Transfer that power to the shields.”
This time, Riker answered. “Power transfer complete. Partial
navigational shields are raised.” Then, he got a concerned look on his face.
“Vessels leaving shuttlebays, sir. Heading for a large ship off our port bow.”
Picard got out of the command chair and walked to the tactical station.
He looked over Riker’s shoulder. Several craft the size of Ferengi shuttlepods
were on a course for a vessel larger than the Enterprise. It was shaped like an
arrowhead, and had a large protusion on top. It was bristling with laser weapons
and torpedo launchers. Picard recognized it immediately. It was an Imperial Star
Destroyer. “Hail the mothership on all known frequencies.”
Picard remained at his spot as Riker complied. “No response, sir.”
“Open a channel.” Picard paused. “This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the
United Space Ship Enterprise, representing the United Federation of Planets.
Imperial vessel, I advise you to withdraw immediately.” The speakers came to
life. “This is Captain Kalome of the Galactic Empire. How do you know who we
are?”
“That is irrelevant,” Picard stated. “What matters is that we know who
you are and what you are doing, and if you do not withdraw immediately, we will
destroy you.”
There was a pause at the other end. “We know you are heavily damaged,
Picard. You cannot survive in a battle. Now, surrender your ship, or I will kill
our prisoners one by one until you cooperate.”
Picard considered that. He glanced at the tactical console. One phaser
bank had fifteen percent power. He had Riker mute the channel and walked up to
McKenzie. “Do we have transporters?”
“No, sir.”
Picard cursed under his breath. “Number One-”
“Something’s coming out of warp on our starboard bow!” Riker reported.
Picard rushed back up to tactical. He looked at the specs of the
newcomer. It was the Millenium Falcon. “Hail the approaching ship,
Commander!”
Riker touched several buttons on the tactical console. “They’re responding
on audio.”
Picard nodded as the speakers crackled. “This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard
of the United Space Ship Enterprise, representing the United Federation of
Planets. Millenium Falcon, we come in peace.”
There was a silence on the other end. Then, “Captain Picard, this is
Captain Han Solo. We are aware that you’re in some distress.” “Quite right.
Our weapons systems are inoperative, and the Imperials are holding one hundred
prisoners aboard their Star Destroyer.” The speakers crackled again. “Ah,
the infamous Millenium Falcon,” came Kalome’s voice. “Your capture will be
most noteworthy, Solo.” “It would be,” Picard replied. “But not today.”
McKenzie suddenly whirled around to face Picard. She had a smile on
her face.
Picard ordered Riker to mute the channel. “Lieutenant, what is it?”
“We have additional power, sir,” McKenzie said excitedly. “And phaser
banks one through four are operational.”
Picard felt like grinning himself, but kept himself under control. “Arm
those phaser banks, Number One!”
Riker did grin. “Yes, sir!” He punched several commands into the
tactical console. “Phasers are on-line, waiting to fire at your command.” Picard
sat down in the command chair. “Channel open.” He paused. “Captain Kalome,
I advise you to release the prisoners.”
Kalome’s voice sounded fairly amused. “And if I don’t?” This time,
Picard let a small smile tug at his lips. “Fire one, Commander.”
“Phaser bank one firing,” Riker replied. He punched at the tactical
console eagerly. The sound of the phaser’s whine sounded throughout the ship.
“Fire two.”
“Phaser bank two firing, sir.”
“Fire three.”
“Phaser bank three firing, sir.”
“Fire four.”
“Phaser bank four firing, sir.”
Picard waited for Kalome’s response. He had no doubt that the phaser
blasts severely damaged the Star Destroyer.
“They are retreating, Captain,” Riker said happily. “Going into warp.”
Picard sighed. “Lieutenant McKenzie, is there enough power for warp
travel?”
McKenzie shook her head. “Even if there were, the warp drive is
damaged”
“Ah, Captain Picard?” Solo said over the comm. “Nice shooting.” “Thank
you, Captain. Now, we must wait here while repairs are completed You’re
welcome to come aboard while they are underway.” “Deal, Captain
Picard.” There was a pause. “Exactly how do we get aboard your ship?”
Picard looked at Riker. “Number One, relay the Millenium Falcon the
docking instructions for airlock one.”
Riker nodded. “Aye, sir.”

“Captain Solo, if you’ll excuse me. Picard out.”

“Beginning docking procedure, sir,” Riker reported.
“Very well.” Picard got out of the command chair. “Lieutenant
McKenzie, work on getting the bridge fully staffed again.” He walked towards
the aft turbolift. “Commander Riker and Counselor Troi, you’re with me.”
“Yes, sir,” both Riker and Troi said as they followed Picard into the
turbolift.

CHAPTER THREE

Captain Han Solo stepped through the airlock and onto the Enterprise.
Ravages of battle were evident. There was a huge scorch mark on the right wall.
Damaged circuity was showing. Lighting on the walls flashed red.
“I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard,” a man said as he approached from the
left. Two other people, a man and woman, were with him.
“I am Captain Han Solo,” Solo said. He looked behind him. Luke
Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca were behind him. The droids were
mysteriously absent. “Threepio said that he was coming, along with Artoo.”
“We’re coming, Captain!” Solo heard Threepio say from the Falcon.
Moments later, Threepio and Artoo were visible in the airlock. “I had to work on
consoling Artoo here. He is scared for some completely irrational reason.”
Artoo gave a series of high squeals at that remark.
“You have nothing to fear, Artoo,” Threepio said, exasperated. “Now,
you’re being impolite.”

Artoo gave three low beeps.
Threepio shook his head. “Don’t use such language, especially around
these aliens!” He indicated Picard and company.
Artoo gave several sad sounding sounds.
“Well, that’s better.”
Picard and company were smiling. “This is the first officer of the
Enterprise, Commander William Riker,” Picard said, pointing to his right. “And
the ship’s head counselor, Lieutenant Commander Deanna Troi.” He pointed to
the left at the woman.
Solo smiled, at the woman. She was gorgeous. “Pleased to meet you.”
Leia sighed. “I am Princess Leia Organa.” She stepped forward. “Captain
Picard, I represent the Rebellion, a group of people who are trying to overthrow
the Galactic Empire’s harsh rule. We could use your help.” Picard looked
at Leia. “We know. Perhaps we should go to the observation lounge and discuss
the situation in greater detail.”
Leia nodded. “Very well, Captain Picard.” She walked up to Picard.
“Which way?”
“We’ll lead,” Picard replied. He, Riker and Troi began walking towards
the right. Leia, Solo, and company followed them.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat at the head of the observation lounge table.
Riker and Troi sat at their customary spots, while Solo, Leia, and Luke Skywalker
sat at the other seats. The droids were by the starport, and Chewbacca had
insisted on standing by the right entrance.
“You have a good ship,” Solo complimented Picard. “And huge. This is
incredible.”
Picard gave a little smile. “Thank you, Captain.” He paused for a
moment. “We come from a galaxy far, far away. The Enterprise represents a
polical body called the United Federation of Planets, which is made up of more
than one hundred fifty worlds.”
Solo’s eyebrows shut up. “That’s a lot of worlds. Am I correct in
assuming it is a republic?”
“A democracy, yes,” Picard replied. “Anyway, this starship was part of an
armada defending against powerful alien intruders. The aliens were destroyed,
but we were caught in the shock wave caused by the destruction of the last alien
vessel with severe damage. The next thing we knew, we were here.”
Luke spoke up. “Is there a chance these aliens… might come here?”
“We don’t know,” Picard answered. “There’s still a great deal about them
we still don’t understand.”
“After repairs are completed,” Riker said, “our priority should be to
retrieve the prisoners.”
“Agreed, Number One,” Picard said. “Captain Solo, any suggestions?”
Solo thought for a moment. “That Star Destroyer could be anywhere. We
could try to retrace its course, but the Star Destroyer could’ve changed course…”
“Until I see some better options, we will do that,” Picard said. “Number
One, lay in a course of pursuit. After repairs are complete, we will engage that
course.” He got up. “As for helping the Rebellion, we will see after we get our
crew members back.”

Worf screamed from the intense pain racing through his whole body. He
had no idea how long he was suffering like this. It seemed like forever. Then, it
stopped suddenly.
“Do you feel like talking now?” the commander asked in a tired tone. “If
not, we can try a mind sift… either way, we will get the information we want.”
Worf didn’t like the sound of “mind sift.” If his captors used that, they
might gain all sorts of classified information they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
“I will talk,” he said in a weak tone.
“Finally,” the commander said. “First of all, who are you?” “I am
Worf, son of Mogh.”
“Where are you from?”
“The Milky Way Galaxy.”
The commander snorted. “What political body?” he asked. “The
United Federation of Planets.”
“What is your-”
Then, an alarm sounded. A voice came over some sort of internal
communications system. “Prepare for Lord Vader’s imminent arrival.” The
commander grunted. “Well, Worf, we will have to continue this at another time.”
Worf heard doors opening. They shut a minute later.
Captain Kalome stood nervously on the flight deck of the Gunterge. He
hadn’t expected Lord Vader to arrive so early.
The Imperial shuttle landed on the deck. The doors slid open, and a black
figure with a cape strode out with four stormtroopers. A heavy breathing sound
came from his direction. It was Darth Vader.
“My lord, what an unexpected pleasure,” Kalome said as he walked up to
Vader.
“Spare me the pleasantries, Captain,” Vader said, staring at Kalome.
“Why did you abandon the alien ship?” he asked angrily.
Kalome swallowed. “Lord Vader, they managed to restore power. They
severely crippled-”
“You should have had them before they had the time to power up,” Vader
replied. He held up his hand. “The Empire cannot afford to have incompetent
command officers on this mission.” He made a squeezing motion with his thumb
and pointed finger.
Kalome felt something tug at his neck. The tugging became stronger with
each passing second. Kalome had difficulty breathing. He reached up to his neck
when the realization hit him: Darth Vader was using the infamous Force
choke-grip on him. By that time, it was too late. He passed out, and hit the deck.

Commander Jafar watched Darth Vader use the choke-grip on Kalome
with excitement. He was finally going to be captain of the Gunterge. He smiled
as Kalome hit the deck.
“Now, Captain,” Vader said, turning to Jafar, “do you have any prisoners
to interrogate?”
“Oh yes, sir!” Jafar said, grinning. “We also have one of their droids. It is
more advanced than anything we’ve got, though. It looks like a human, and it was
also wearing one of their uniforms.”
“Have you made progress with it?” Vader asked.
Jafar shook his head. “Unfortunately, the droid was already damaged by
something else when we found it. It was shut down. Our attempts to repair it
have been unsuccessful.”
“I want to examine this droid,” Vader replied. He motioned towards
Kalome’s body. “Dispose of that.”
“Yes, sir,” two stormtroopers said, walking up. They bent down, grabbed
Kalome’s arms, and began to haul him away.
“The droid is in Engineering, my lord,” Jafar said. He began walking
towards the main exit of the flight deck. “Follow me.”

Vader looked at the damaged droid. It had pale white skin, with black
hair and golden eyes. It looked like a human, as Jafar had said. The uniform the
droid was wearing had scorch marks on the chest area, as did the hands. He
wondered what caused that.
“We can’t repair it,” Jafar was saying. “We simply don’t have the
technology.”
Vader reached inside the droid with the Force. He saught the processing
center. When he found it, he began to access the information in it. He saught
information on how to repair the droid.
Suddenly, the droid’s processing center began to function on its own.
Vader felt a sentient mind inside the processing center. This was beyond any
droid he had encountered.
“Sir, something’s going on inside the droid,” an engineering lieutenant
reported to Jafar.
“What?” Jafar bent over a display of the droid’s interior. A section of the
droid’s head was flashing white. “It appears the droid’s command center has been
activated.” He looked at Vader.
The sentient mind spoke to the presence invading it. [I am Lieutenant
Commander Data of the Federation Starship Enterprise. I must ask you to leave.]
“This droid is far more advanced than anything we have,” Vader said. “It
is fully sentient.”
Jafar’s mouth dropped open. “An… artificial person?” He swallowed.
“That is not so unusual,” Vader replied. “Remember the Clone Wars?”
“I was just a little kid,” Jafar said. He swallowed again. “But… that was
still organic material. To have a sentient machine… that is a marvelous
achievement.”
Vader sent a message to the droid’s mind. [Tell me how to disable your
vessel without destroying it.]
The mind accessed information within its “positronic net.” [If my
assumption is right and you are Garthusian, I must inform you that your attempts
at coercing me to give you information will not be successful.] “Do a
complete search of our databanks,” Vader told Jafar. “Find any reference to the
term ‘Garthusian’.”
“Yes, sir,” Jafar acknowledged. He walked over to a massive control
panel and began tapping buttons.
[I have gained insight into your action,] the mind said. [Who are you?]
[You will tell me how to capture your vessel, or you will be destroyed!]
[If you destroy me, you will have no means to capture the Enterprise.]
Vader began to go deeper into the droid’s mind. [Perhaps there is another
way.]

Data felt the intruder push deeper into his mind. He tried to resist it, but it
was too powerful. The intruder put Data’s mind into a state of unconsciousness.

Captain’s log, stardate 44219.3. What little repairs we can make to the
Enterprise following the shock wave and the Imperial invasion are complete. The
rest of the repairs must be completed in drydock when we return to Federation
space.
The Enterprise is now on a course following the Imperial Star Destroyer
that has captured one hundred of our crew members, at a speed of warp factor
two. We have yet to pick up the Star Destroyer on sensors, but our sensors can
make out a trail of gravitational eddies that was made by the Star Destroyer’s
hyperdrive.

The Rebellion has promised to assist us in any way they can. They have
been briefed on our universe, and will let us know if they encounter any vessels
from it. Meanwhile, I have decided not to tell the people in the Star Wars
universe about the fact that they are, in essence, the creation of someone in our
universe. Instead, I have decided to tell them that we have been observing them
for years, and that that is why we know so much about them.

Lieutenant Sheer looked at the tactical console as soon as it started
beeping. A Star Destroyer was at the edge of sensor range. “Captain, Star
Destroyer on long-range sensors.”
Picard got out of the command chair. “Is it the same one we encountered
earlier?”
“Yes, sir,” McKenzie said.
“Open a channel,” Picard ordered.
“Channel open,” Sheer said.
Picard cleared his throat. “This is Captain Picard of the Enterprise.
Release the prisoners at once.”
“No reply,” Sheer said. “They are laying in an intercept course. Slowing
to impulse.”
“Slow to impulse,” Picard said. “Lock phasers.”
“Yes, Captain,” Hines at the conn said.
“Aye, sir,” Sheer acknowledged.
The multicolored streaks on the main viewer changed to still points of
white light. The Star Destroyer was not yet in visual range. “Receiving a
hail from the Imperials,” Sheer said.
“Put them on,” Picard replied.
The speakers crackled. “I will release your prisoners in exchange for the
the Millenium Falcon,” a deep voice said. Heavy breathing could be heard.
Darth Vader had spoken those words.
Picard walked back to the tactical station. He looked at the display of the
Gunterge and the Falcon. The were both within visual range now. He told Sheer
to put them both on the main viewer.
Picard studied the two vessels as he walked back to and sat in his
command chair. They both looked relatively beat up, one from normal wear and
tear and the other from the Enterprise’s weapons. “That is not acceptable.”
Picard heard a familiar voice in his mind. [Captain…] the calm voice
called.
“Data!” Picard exclaimed. The bridge crew all looked at him, puzzled
looks on their faces. He must’ve been the only one who received the telepathic
message. Picard stood there, thinking. “This must be some sort of trick. You are
using the Force.”
[No, it’s not a trick,] Data’s voice said desperately. [Please believe me…]
“You know it’s not,” Vader said over the comm.
“Release them!” Picard shouted.
[Help me…] Data said.
“We will release half the prisoners now,” Vader said. “The other half will
remain aboard the Gunterge until we have the Millenium Falcon.” An idea
suddenly materialized in Picard’s mind. He could hand over an empty Falcon to
Vader. “I accept you terms. Transport the crew members over here now.”
Ten shuttles suddenly launched from the Gunterge. They were on a
course straight for the Enterprise. Picard punched on the intercom. “Shuttlebays
One and Two, prepare to receive the Imperial shuttles.” “Yes, sir,” someone
said over the comm.
Picard looked at Sheer. “Have several heavily security teams posted at
each shuttle bay,” he said in a low voice the speaker’s wouldn’t pick up.
“Aye, Captain,” Sheer said. He got to work on the tactical console.
Picard raised his voice. “We are ready to receive the shuttles.” The
shuttles disappeared from the main viewer. They were now at the aft of the
saucer section.
“Put the shuttles on screen,” Picard ordered. “Meanwhile, keep the other
ships on.”
The bottom half of the main viewer showed the shuttles docking. The top
right corner showed the Millenium Falcon, while the top left corner showed the
Gunterge. Picard kept his eye on the shuttles. After they were done docking, he
said, “Have the prisoners released.”
“They are being released now,” Vader said.
After one minute, McKenzie reported that all the prisoners were released
Picard punched the intercom button again. “Sickbay, Doctor Crusher,
have all of the former prisoners subjected to medical testing to make sure there
was no harm to them.”
“It’ll take a while,” Beverly Crusher replied over the comm. “I can’t fit all
fifty inside sickbay; I’ll have to convert a cargo bay.” “Make every effort.
Picard out.”
Vader’s voice sounded throughout the bridge. “Now, the Millenium
Falcon”
“All right,” Picard said. He tapped the intercom. “Transporter Room
Three.”
“Chief O’Brien here, sir.”
“Maintain a transporter lock on the crew of the Millenium Falcon. I want
you to beam them out just after the Falcon lands on the Gunterge’s flight deck.”
“Aye, sir,” O’Brien acknowledged. “However, with the power situation, I
can’t guarantee I’ll get them all.”
“Understood. Picard out.” He got out of the command chair. “Vader,
prepare to receive the Millenium Falcon.”
“I await its arrival,” Vader replied.
Picard motioned for the channel to be muted.

“Aye, sir,” Sheer said, touching a button on the tactical console. “Channel
closed.”
Riker looked at Picard with a worried expression. “Captain, if we betray-”
“I’m not going to betray them, Number One,” Picard said. “Mr. Sheer,
send Captain Solo a message via the subspace communicator we gave him. Tell
him that I will beam them out just as the Falcon gets inside the Gunterge.”
“Yes, Captain,” Sheer said.
Picard looked at the main viewer. “Get that aft view off.” The view of the
Enterprise’s aft section disappeared, leaving the Falcon and the Gunterge.

“I sense worry over on the Millenium Falcon,” Troi reported. “They’re
afraid it might not work. They will comply with your decision, though.” “Very
well,” Picard said. “Lock a tractor beam onto the Falcon, and place them within
one hundred meters of the Star Destroyer.”
“Aye, Captain,” Sheer said. His hands danced across the tactical console.
“It will take a minute, sir.”
Picard waited anxiously as the tractor beam did its work. He walked up to
the Ops and conn stations, and stared at the main viewer. The blue tractor beam
was pulling the Falcon slowly towards the Star Destroyer. Then, what seemed
like an eternity later, the beam disengaged. “Tractor beam released, sir,” Sheer
reported.
“Very well,” Picard said. “Open a channel to the Gunterge.” “Yes,
sir,” Sheer said. “Channel open.”
Picard cleared his throat. “Now, Vader, return the rest of the prisoners.”
“As you wish,” Vader’s deep voice replied over the intercom. Ten
more Imperial shuttles launched from the Gunterge. They sped towards the
Enterprise. At the same time, the Falcon drew closer to the Star Destroyer.
“The Gunterge has locked a tractor beam onto the Millenium Falcon,”
Sheer reported. “It is different from any type of tractor beam we have
encountered before, but it is less technologically advanced.”
Picard nodded his acknowledgement and sat back down in the command
chair He punched the intercom on. “Shuttlebays Three and Four, prepare to
receive the Imperial shuttles.”
“Yes, sir,” officers replied in both shuttlebays.
“Picard out.” He punched the intercom again. “Doctor Crusher, have the
returning prisoners checked out.”
“I’ve already assigned Doctor Selar to do that,” Beverly replied. “I’m busy
with the first group.”
“Acknowledged. Picard out.”
McKenzie turned around to face Picard. “The Imperial shuttles have
docked.” She fced her console again, then turned back around. “The prisoners
are being released.” She returned her attention to the Ops console.
“Vader,” Picard said, “have the first group of shuttles return to your ship. Then,
when all the prisoners are released, have the second group return.”
“Doing so now,” Vader replied.
“Understood. Picard out.” Picard watched the Falcon get sucked into the
Star Destroyer. He also watched the first ten Imperial shuttles race back home as
he activated the intercom. “Transporter Room Three, energize”
“Aye, sir,” O’Brien acknowledged. “Hold on… the transporter lock is
gone! I can’t reestablish!”
Picard leapt out of the command chair and walked up to the aft section of
the bridge. He looked at Sheer. “Have they raised any shields?” Sheer glanced
at the tactical console. He looked back at Picard, a puzzled expression on his
face. “No shields, sir. There’s nothing in place that would block a transporter
beam, or mess up a lock.”
Picard walked down to the center of the bridge. He looked at Troi. “Do
you sense anything that might explain this?”
“Not at all, sir,” Troi replied.
Picard then realized what was going on. Vader was using the Force. He
whirled around to face the main viewer. The last ten Imperial shuttles were
speeding away from the Enterprise. “Standard view,” he ordered. The main
viewer changed to show just the Star Destroyer.
“I still can’t get a lock,” O’Brien said over the intercom. “Nothing I’ve
tried will work.”
“Keep trying, Mr. O’Brien,” Picard said. “Picard out.” He walked up to
the Ops station. “Lieutenant McKenzie, are all of the prisoners accounted for?”
“Yes, sir,” she reported. Then, her face darkened. “No, sir. Data has not
been returned.”
Picard began to get infuriated. He had an angry expression on his face.
“Mr. Sheer, open a channel!”
“Channel open, sir,” Sheer said.
Picard faced the main viewer. “Vader, you have not satisfied your end of
the deal.”
“No response, sir,” Sheer said.
Picard sighed. “Number One, assemble an away team in Transporter
Room Three to get back Data and the Falcon.”
“Yes, sir.” Riker leapt out of his chair. “Sheer, McKenzie, Hines, you’re
with me.” He slapped his commbadge. “Riker to La Forge, meet us in
Transporter Room Three. You’re on an away team to the Star Destroyer.”
“Right,” Geordi La Forge responded. “I’ll be there right away.” “Good.
Riker out.” He slapped his commbadge again. “Riker to Crusher.”
“Crusher here. Go ahead, Will.”
“Can you spare anyone for an away team to the Star Destroyer?” “Yes, I
can,” Beverly replied. “Me.”
“Great. Meet us in Transporter Room Three.”
“Gotcha. Crusher out.”
Riker, McKenzie, Sheer, and Hines piled into the turbolift. Three officers
quickly took McKenzie’s, Sheer’s, and Hines’s positions. Picard turned to Riker
before the turbolift doors closed. “Number One, notify me when you’re ready to
beam over.”
“Aye, sir,” Riker said. The turbolift doors slid shut.
In Transporter Room Three, the away team assembled. Riker
immediately walked up to Geordi. “Can you design a program for the tricorder to
implement that would be able to incapacitate Data?”
Geordi let out a long, slow breath. “I could try, sir. Why?” “I just
have a bad feeling, that’s all.”
“All right.” Geordi unholstered his tricorder, and flipped it open. He
began to fiddle around with it. Fifteen minutes later, he reported, “The program
is ready. I can’t guarantee it’ll go any good, though.” “Very well.” Riker
stepped onto the transporter pad. The rest of the away team followed suit. Then
he slapped his commbadge.

Picard returned his attention to the main viewer. The Star Destroyer was
still sitting there, with no signs that it would retreat. Picard’s commbadge
chirped. “Riker to Captain Picard.” Picard slapped his commbadge. “Go
ahead.”
“We’re ready to beam over.”
“Standby.” Picard walked to the aft section of the bridge. “Mr.
MacDonald, can we beam them over?”
MacDonald checked the tactical console. “Yes we can, sir.”
“Excellent. Number One, beam over.”
“Aye, sir. Riker out.”
Just after Riker signed off, a surprised MacDonald reported, “Captain,
they have raised shields. We cannot beam the away team over.” Picard cursed
under his breath. “I don’t think their shields are that good. Give me a report on
them.”
MacDonald checked the tactical console. He tapped some buttons.
“You’re right, sir. Their shields are not very good at all. One phaser blast at full
power should overload them.”
Picard looked at MacDonald skeptically. “Can we get full power to the
phasers?”
MacDonald checked the tactical console again. “No, sir. We can fire a
blast at thirty-five percent power, though.”
Picard shook his head. “What good would a photon torpedo do?”
MacDonald grinned a little. “It would overload their shields.” “Then arm the
photon torpedoes,” Picard said. He walked back to his command chair and sat
down. “Target one torpedo on their landing bay area. Fire when ready.”
“Yes, sir,” MacDonald said. He touched several buttons on the tactical
console. “Firing photon torpedo.”
On the main viewer, the photon torpedo raced towards the Gunterge. The
Star Destroyer tried to move away, but it was no use. The torpedo struck the
Gunterge. Purple energy crackled around the Gunterge for several seconds, then
disappated. The shields were down.
Picard punched the intercom on. “Mr. O’Brien, energize!” “Yes, sir,”
O’Brien replied. “Transport successful.” Picard felt a grin tug at his lips.
“Very well. Picard out.” He looked up at MacDonald. “What’s the status of the
Star Destroyer?” “They’re arming some kind of weapon,” MacDonald
reported. Picard’s little grin faded away. “Shields up, red alert.” The
red alert klaxons sounded as a white energy bolt emitted from the Star Destroyer’s
bow. The energy bolt raced towards the Enterprise, and impacted its partial
navigational shields.

“Report,” Picard demanded.
“The shields on our port bow are down,” MacDonald said. “That is all.”
Then, MacDonald got a startled expression on his face. “They’re going to warp!”
On the main viewer, the Gunterge was moving away from the Enterprise.
Then, it sped away. The main viewer showed nothing but black space and stars.
“Lay in a pursuit course,” Picard ordered. “Warp two.” “Aye, sir,”
Ensign Phillips at the conn said. “Sir, we can’t go warp two. Maximum warp in
now warp one point three.”
Picard sighed. “Then warp one point three. Engage!” “Yes, sir.”
Phillips touched several controls at the conn, and the Enterprise blazed into warp.

CHAPTER FOUR

Commander William Riker examined his surroundings. The away team
was in what appeared to be a large storage room. Small white boxes lined the
right and left walls, and the back wall had two sets of stormtrooper armor
strapped to it. The front wall, which had the door, was equipped with two
computer consoles, one on each side of the large door. The consoles had some
sort of writing on them that Riker couldn’t interpret. “Well, it looks like
two of us get to go inconspicuously, I guess,” Beverly said, looking at the
stormtrooper armor.
“Let’s examine this room first,” Riker said. “Geordi?” Geordi
thoroughly examined the boxes. He flipped open his tricorder, and scanned the
boxes. “These boxes have parts for laser weapons in them. All in all, there are
fifty boxes total. With the parts contained in all of these boxes, you could make
one hundred laser weapons.” Riker flipped open his own tricorder. “This
room is nine meters long by ten meters wide. It is five meters in height.” He
walked to the back wall. “Would removing these trip any security systems?”
“I don’t think so, Commander,” Geordi said. He scanned the back wall
with his tricorder. “No security systems that I can detect.” “All right,” Riker
said. He placed his hands on the left stormtrooper helmet. “Here goes nothing.”
He pulled the helmet off the wall. Nothing happened. He smiled. “It’s all right.”
“Who gets to play dress up?” McKenzie asked.
“Sheer and I,” Riker said. “The rest of you will look like our prisoners.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Beverly asked. “They know that Data is the
only Enterprise prisoner left.”
“It’s our best shot,” Riker said. He pulled all of the stormtrooper armor on
the left side off the wall. He quickly suited up.
Riker had difficulty seeing inside the stormtrooper armor. It was hot and
stuffy inside. He waved his arms up and down. It seemed he had a little
difficulty moving as well. He looked down at himself with effort. The spotless
white armor looked quite new. He didn’t know whether that would be a blessing
or a curse.
“Something tells me you wouldn’t want to walk around with a phaser,”
Geordi said. “I might be able to assemble two laser weapons for you from the
parts in those boxes.”
Riker looked at Geordi. “Go ahead,” he said. It sounded like his voice
was being filtered somehow.
“Right,” Geordi said. Tricorder in hand, he took a box from the rightmost
stack on the right wall. The stacks all along the right wall wiggled a bit, then
stayed still. Keeping a close watch on the stacks of boxes, he examined the box
in his possession. It seemed to be made out of the same type of plastic as the
stormtrooper armor. The box wasn’t that big, about the height and width of a
computer monitor. It was as long as the distance between a man’s elbow to his
hand. Black latches on the top of the box, two for each of the four sides, kept the
box closed.
Geordi pried each of the latches open. Then, he pulled the lid off the top
of the box. He tossed it aside. Flipping open his tricorder, he examined the
contents inside.
The box was filled with an assortment of laser parts. He thought he could
easily make two laser weapons from these parts. It would take him a while to
figure it out, though. He looked at Riker. “I can probably have one functional
laser weapon in fifteen minutes, at least.” “Then snap to it,” Riker ordered.
“Yes, sir.” Geordi bent over the box, and got to work.

Data sat up. He examined his surroundings. Schematics and displays
surrounded him. The displays and schematics on the walls showed the status of
the Star Destroyer. A large table, approximately one meter long by two meters
wide, showed the schematics and displays for Data’s android body It took up a
small portion of the room he was in, which was fifteen meters long by twenty
meters wide. The table Data was sitting on was composed of white plastic, and
was two meters long by three meters long. “He’s awake,” an engineering
technician said behind him anxiously. Data turned around to face the
person who had spoken. He was a young man, one point seven meters tall, who
had a brown hat on that obscured his hair color. He had on the brown uniform of
the Imperial Navy, and wore the rank indicators of a lieutenant. He looked quite
young. “I know,” a deep voice said. Data recognized it as Darth Vader’s.
Vader strode in from the small entrance in the back of the room. “Leave us.”
“Yes, my lord,” the lieutenant said. He departed quickly. Data stood up
and faced Vader. “How shall we begin?” “Most of what you need to know,
you do know,” Vader said. “However, there will be several tests coming up.”
Data was puzzled. “What are these ‘tests’?”
“I cannot tell you,” Vader said. “They will be over shortly. They will
determine whether you are truly ready to take your place as third-in-command of
the Empire.”
Data nodded. “I understand, my lord. Where am I to take these tests?”
“Most will take place on the bridge of this vessel.” Vader stepped into the
doorway. “Follow me.”

Riker and Sheer took the weapons Geordi had made for them. They
looked similar to the phaser rifles from the previous century. The resemblance
wasn’t close, though.
“What about our phasers?” McKenzie asked, pointing at the type two
phaser in the holster on her belt.
“We can’t leave them in here,” Hines said. “The Imperials can’t get phaser
technology.”
“Agreed,” Riker said. “Just keep them on you. Your hands will be over
your head, anyway.” He took Geordi’s and Beverly’s arms, and lined them up side
by side. He pointed the laser weapon at their backs. “Hands over your head.”
As Geordi and Beverly did what they were told, McKenzie and Hines also
lined up side by side. They stood next to Geordi and Beverly. Sheer walked up
behind him, and pointed his own laser weapon at their backs. “All right, let’s
go,” Riker said.
The team moved towards the door. When the door didn’t open
automatically, Geordi examined the wall around the door. On the left side of the
door was a fairly large, circular button. Geordi pushed it. The door slid open.
The flight deck lay beyond.
The flight deck was huge. Stormtroopers and brown-clad personnel
scurried all over the place. Ten Imperial shuttles lined the right and left walls.
The Millenium Falcon sat in the center of the flight deck. The crew of the Falcon
stood outside, with stormtroopers surrounding them. A person who appeared to
be wearing black armor and a cape was speaking to them. Riker wanted to get a
closer look. He motioned the rest of his team to move towards the Falcon. While
they moved, Riker listened intently to the conversation.
“How fortunate it is that the alien starship arrived,” the black-clad person
said. Riker recognized the voice as Darth Vader’s.
“They have something planned,” Solo said. “And I guarantee you, you
won’t like it.”
“I’m sure,” Vader said. Then, he suddenly whirled around. He looked
directly at the away team from the Enterprise. “I thought all of the prisoners were
released!”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Riker said. “These prisoners were found in the storage
bay.” He motioned back towards the room they had come from. The door had
since slid shut. “We were taking them to you.”
Vader looked at Riker for a long time. The mask he was wearing hid his
facial expressions. “You will wait until I am finished with these Rebels”
“Yes, sir,” Riker said.
Vader turned back to the smiling Solo. “Don’t be so overconfident,
smuggler,” Vader said. He motioned towards the flight deck’s exit and the back
of the room. “Take them away!”
The stormtroopers took Solo, Leia, Luke, and Chewbacca by the arms and
began walking towards the exit. Chewbacca threw the two stormtroopers who
were holding him at the hull of the Falcon. The force of the impact knocked
them unconscious. Chewbacca roared.
One of the stormtroopers who was escorting Solo whirled around to face
Chewbacca. He fired his laser weapon at Chewbacca. Three purple balls of
energy struck Chewbacca, and he fell to the deck with a thump! Two of the
stormtroopers who were walking around the flight deck walked up to
Chewbacca’s limp form and began pulling him towards the exit. “Where are
the droids!?” Vader asked.
The stormtroopers stopped in their tracks, and as a result, the Rebels
stopped. The stormtrooper who had shot Chewbacca earlier approached Vader
“We couldn’t find them on the Correlian freighter, my lord.” Vader raised
his right hand. “I will not tolerate this incompetence!” The fingers in his right
hand squeezed together. The stormtrooper slumped onto the deck, making
wheezing sounds all the way. When he hit the deck, the wheezing stopped.
Vader motioned for two of the brown-clad personnel. They approached
Vader quickly. “Yes, my lord?”
“Dispose of that,” Vader said, pointing at the fallen stormtrooper. “Yes,
sir,” both of them said at the same time. They approached the body, bent down,
and began pulling it away.

Vader motioned towards the exit. “Take them to the holding cells.”
“Yes, my lord,” one of the stormtroopers said. They began walking
towards the exit.
Vader looked back at the team from the Enterprise. “Why were those
prisoners allowed to escape?”
“I don’t know, sir,” Riker said. “I was just called to find them, that’s all.”
Vader stared at Riker for a long time. “Take them to the holding cells.”
“Yes, sir,” Riker said. He thrust his laser weapon into Geordi’s back.
“Let’s get moving.”
The Enterprise team walked towards the exit. When they got there, Riker
pressed the button beside the door. The door slid open slowly, and then they
walked out into the corridor.
As the door slid shut behind them, Riker looked around. The corridor was
brightly lit. Brown-clad and gray-clad personnel were walking all over The
corridor seemed to be divided into sections. At the end of each section, the
ceiling dropped downwards a bit, and the floor extended upwards a tiny bit. The
walls were a sort of bluish-gray. Two stormtroopers stood at the end of every
section. Three large doors were on the walls of every section.
One of the gray-clad people approached Riker and Sheer. In a threatening
tone, he asked, “What are your orders?”
“Lord Vader told us to take these prisoners to the holding cells,” Riker
said, indicating Beverly, Geordi, McKenzie, and Hines.
The man eyed them suspiciously. “You’re not going to get them to the
holding cells by just standing here.” He walked towards the nearest door. “Here.”
He punched the button on the right side of the door. The door slid open,
revealing what looked like a turbolift. The turbolift had a large console in the
back, with what looked like a schematic of the entire Star Destroyer. It had green
lines, and had green labels with arrows pointing to different sections.
Unfortunately, Riker couldn’t read the writing.

He decided to go into the turbolift anyway. He led the team into the
turbolift. Then, he turned around to face the man. “Thank you.” The man just
sneered and walked away. The door to the turbolift slid shut.
Geordi was looking at the console. “We’ll be going all over the place in
this thing looking for the holding cells!”
“I concealed my tricorder in my armor,” Riker said regretfully.
“Lieutenant McKenzie, can I borrow yours?”
“Certainly, Commander,” McKenzie said. She handed Riker her tricorder.
Riker flipped open the tricorder, and set it to search for a Starfleet
communicator. It found one, ten decks below them. It was the communicator
that Captain Picard had given Han Solo in case of a situation like this “I’ve found
Captain Solo’s communicator ten decks below us. Geordi, can you input that into
the console?”
Geordi looked at Riker, then back at the console. He had a skeptical
expression on his face. “Here goes nothing.” He punched a green button that had
a green arrow pointing somewhere ten decks below them. The turbolift began
moving with a jerk. Rier steadied himself and Beverly. He looked at Geordi.
“What was that?”
Geordi took his tricorder out of its holster and flipped it open. Geordi
looked at the readings. “Nothing that the tricorder can find. It’s probably just the
technology, or lack thereof.”
The turbolift came to a screeching halt, again jerking its passengers
around. Then the door opened. Riker motioned for Geordi and Beverly to get in
front of him. Sheer did the same with McKenzie and Hines. When they had all
assumed their positions, they exited the turbolift. The door slid shut behind them.
The room they were in looked like some sort of control room. Several
hallways started from it. Black-clad personnel manned the control panels that
took up most of the room’s space. One gray-clad person turned to face the
Enterprise team. “Ah, the aliens.” He looked at Riker and Sheer. “Cell numbers
one-five-six and one-five-eight.”
“Gotcha,” Riker said. He pointed at the right-most hallway, and the
Enterprise team moved in that direction.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the gray-clad man said. He pointed to
the left-most hallway. “That hallway.” He had a smile on his face. Riker
was puzzled by the man’s apparent happiness but dismissed it as an Imperial
idiosyncracy. He motioned for Sheer and his group of pretend-prisoners to go
first. Riker followed closely behind.
McKenzie and Hines walked up the steps leading to the hallway. They
took a little step forward, and then purple energy filled the entrance to the
hallway for a moment. Hines and McKenzie were thrown backward, hard. They
landed on the floor with a loud thump. The crack of bones breaking was also
heard. They smelled like they were being cooked. They weren’t breathing. It
was a foregine conclusion that they were dead.
Beverly wanted to make sure. She kneeled down and checked their pulses
on their necks. Sure enough, they were dead.
All ten Imperials in the room had their weapons drawn. The gray-clad one
was grinning broadly. “Give us your weapons,” he said with pleasure. Riker
quickly raised his weapon, aimed in the general direction of the gray-clad
Imperial, and fired. Several laser bolts erupted from the gun. None of them his
their target. Then, Riker figured out it was a repeating weapon. He held his
finger on the trigger, and waved the weapon around, the same way he would a
hose. He took out five Imperials, including the gray-clad one, before the
Imperials reacted. They fired their laser weapons at the Enterprise team. The
team skillfully dodged the laser bolts.
Riker happily noted that none of the Imperials with them appeared to have
repeating weapons. That would be an advantage. He pressed the trigger again,
and waved the weapon around. Three Imperials went down. Two to go.
Sheer caught on and pressed his own trigger, and waved his laser weapon
around. He took out the two remaining Imperials.
Riker surveyed the room. Most of the control panels had been destroyed
by stray laser bolts. One of the control panels still functioned, however. It was a
communications console, and someone was screaming his head off through the
speaker on the panel.
“Hello!?” the yelling voice said. “What in the Empire is going on down
there!? Do you here me!?”
Riker hurried up to the console. He saw a little red button on the speaker.
He pressed it. “Situation under control.”
“Under control!?” the voice screamed. “Under control!? Who in the name
of the Empire is this!?”
“Look, the situation is under control. Nothing to worry about.” The
door to the turbolift slid open. Ten stormtroopers piled into the room. They
immediately began firing their laser weapons. Several bolts hit the
communications console, which destroyed it. Riker dodged the laser bolts and
the sparks erupting from the communications console. He ducked beneath one of
the consoles, and opened fire on the stormtroopers. He took out two of them.
Geordi took out his phaser, set it to eight, put it on wide beam, and
managed to take out five stormtroopers with once shot before he was forced to
take cover behind a chair. Beverly and Sheer also managed to find shelter
beneath the consoles.
The stormtroopers kept firing. One of the shots almost his Riker on the
shoulder. He aimed at a stormtrooper, and fired. The stormtrooper fell to the
deck.
The two remaining stormtroopers ceased firing. They ran to area of the
control panels, where they had a clear shot at everyone. Unfortunately for them,
everyone had a clear shot at them, too. Geordi took them out with his phaser.
Then, everyone was safe, for the moment. They stood back up.
“I’d say somebody knows we’re here,” Sheer said.
“Then we have to hurry,” Riker said. He began taking his armor off.
“These don’t seem to be of any use anymore.” After he was done, Riker put his
phaser back in its holster and flipped open his tricorder. He pointed at the
right-most hallway. “Captain Solo and his crew are in the first cell on the right.”
He then frowned. “There’s a force field up that we can’t go through.”
“Considering their state of technology, this should do the trick,” Geordi
said. He aimed his phaser at the force field blocking the right hallway, set it to
sixteen and narrow beam, and fired. The phaser beam collided against the force
field, and both phaser beam and force field dissapated. “The force field is out of
commission.”
“Good,” Riker said. He looked at Sheer, who had just taken off his
stormtrooper armor. “You keep guard by the entrance.”
“Yes, sir,” Sheer replied. Phaser at the ready, he took his position by the
hallway entrance.
Riker motioned Geordi and Beverly forward. “Let’s go.” The team
hurried to the first cell. Riker found a small, brown button on the very right side
of the door. It wasn’t raised like the other ones. There was just a circle. If you
weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t notice it. Riker punched the button.
The door slid open. Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were in the cell.
Princess Leia and Chewbacca were nowhere to be seen.
“I almost thought you were goners,” Solo said. “I heard all of the blasters
shooting outside…”
“We’re all right,” Riker said. “Where are Chewbacca and Leia?” Solo
shook his head. “No idea. They locked us up before the locked up Chewie and
the Princess.”
Luke pointed at the cell directly across from them. “In there. They’re in
there.”
Solo looked at Luke skeptically. “How can you be so sure, kid?” “I
know they’re in there,” Luke replied forcibly.
Riker flipped open his tricorder and scanned the cell across from them.
The tricorder detected a human and a Wookie on the cell. Riker walked up to the
door, found the release button on the right side of the door, and punched the
button. The door slid open. Leia and Chewbacca were sitting there. They
walked out into the corridor.
Luke smiled. “Hello, Leia.”
Leia smiled. “Hello, Luke.” She looked at Commander Riker. “We’ve got
to get out of here.”
“My plan exactly,” Rker said. He looked at Beverly. “Doctor, examine
them first.”
“Right,” Beverly said. She flipped open her tricorder, and scanned each of
the former prisoners. “No sign of any injuries.”
“Good,” Riker said. He looked down at the control room. Sheer was still
guarding the hallway, and nothing was different from when they had entered the
hallway. He led everyone to the turbolift.
Geordi pressed the button to open the turbolift door. The door slid open.
Everyone piled inside, and the turbolift door slid shut.
Geordi examined the schematic in the back of the turbolift. He found the
button that had an arrow pointing to the deck ten decks above them, and pressed
it. The turbolift began moving with a jerk. It wasn’t as bad as last time, though.
After a minute, the turbolift stopped, and the turbolift door slid open.
Riker led the team out into the corridor.
The corridor wasn’t as busy as it was last time. In fact, it wasn’t busy at
all. Riker found this odd. There should at least be some activity.
A high chirp from the right interrupted Riker’s thoughts. Riker whirled
around to face the chirp’s source. A small robot on wheels was scurrying around
next to him. It had some sort of camera mounted on it. It also had a weapon
pointed at Riker’s head.
Riker set his phaser to setting five, and fired at the robot. The robot
exploded as soon as the phaser beam hit it.
“It’s a pretty good bet they know we’re here,” Solo said. “The flight deck
is probably already depressurized.”
Riker scanned the flight deck with his tricorder. There was a breathable
atmosphere. The only odd thing was, no life-forms were detected. “There are no
life-forms in there,” he said, puzzled.

“Old Wheezy probably has something up his sleeve,” Leia muttered.
“Going into the flight deck would probably be suicide.”
“It might be our only choice,” Riker said. “Hold on.” He slapped his
commbadge. “Riker to Enterprise.”
No response.
Riker slapped his commbadge again. “Riker to Enterprise.” Again,
no response.
“They’re probably out of range, or there’s some sort of intereference,”
Geordi said. “Although my VISOR isn’t detecting anything that could interfere
with subspace communication.” He took out his tricorder and scanned the area.
“The tricorder isn’t detecting anything either.” He reholstered the tricorder.
Riker considered the options. “We’ll go the flight deck,” he announced.
“Then, we’ll try to take the Millenium Falcon.”
“What about Data?” Geordi asked.
Riker flinched. Data! For some reason, he completely forgot about Data!
He scanned everywhere within tricorder range for Data’s commbadge. Oddly
enough, Data’s commbadge was being detected inside the flight deck. It wasn’t
there when he scanned the flight deck a minute ago, though. “Data’s commbadge
is on the flight deck.”
“I wonder why,” Beverly said.
Luke suddenly got a look of apprehension on his face. “It’s a trap.”
“I think he’s right,” Leia said. “I have a bad feeling about this.” Riker
set his tricorder to scan for humanoid life-forms throughout tricorder range. He
found ten humanoids approaching from each side. They were still pretty far
away, about one hundred meters. Their footsteps were just now becoming
audible. “Ten humanoids are approaching from either side of us.”
The Enterprise team all readied their phasers. Riker and Sheer handed
Solo and Chewbacca their laser weapons. Riker, Sheer, Geordi, and Beverly
stood beside the door to the flight deck. Solo, Chewbacca, Luke, and Leia stood
by the turbolift door.
The sounds were rapidly getting more pronounced. Riker consulted his
tricorder. They were thirty meters away on both sides and closing. “Set phasers
to setting six, wide beam,” Riker whispered. “We want to get this done as quickly
as possible.”
Solo watched the Enterprise team do what Riker ordered. He looked at
the phasers closely. They seemed to have more buttons and settings on them than
blasters ever did. “How many settings do those phasers have?” Solo asked Riker.
“Sixteen strength settings, ranging from light stun to heavy disruption,”
Riker answered. “You can also adjust beam width, angle, and frequency.”
Ten stormtroopers appeared from both the right and left. Riker and Sheer
quickly took out the ten on the right with one well-placed phaser blast from each
of them. Geordi and Beverly managed to take out eight stormtroopers on the left.
This was all before the stormtroopers could begin firing. The two remaining
stormtroopers aimed their weapons at Riker. Before they could fire, though,
Chewbacca took them both out with his repeating blaster. Chewbacca roared
with satisfaction.
“That was too easy,” Leia said.
Solo looked at Leia quizzically. “It wouldn’t have been ‘too easy’ if we
were trying to fight them with blasters. But they have those phasers, Your
Highness, that would make anything look easy.”
The door to the flight deck slid open. Data was standing there. Everyone
turned to look at him with surprise. Unfortunately, Data also had a blaster rifle in
each hand, no doubt repeating versions, with the left pointed at the Star Wars
people, the right pointed at the Enterprise team. “Lower your weapons.”
Everyone, except Sheer and Chewbacca, did what they were told. Sheer
aimed his phaser at Data. Chewbacca did the same with his blaster. Data
reacted instantly. He fired four precise blasts into Sheer’s chest, sending him
sprawling to the deck with a sickening thud. Sheer’s uniform tunic had a large
scorch mark in the very center. No one had to be told that Sheer was dead.
Data fired at Chewbacca at the exact same time. A purple energy sphere
erupted from Data’s blaster rifle and hit Chewbacca square in the chest. The
Wookie hit the deck with a loud thump. Data walked out into the corridor and
looked at Chewbacca’s limp form. “We will be able to use Chewbacca in an ore
processing center.”

Data then bent down and picked up Chewbacca’s blaster. He went around
and collected everyone else’s weapons. Data crushed the blasters, and set his own
blaser rifleson the deck. He crushed one blaster rifle, and opened up the top of
the other blaster rifle, exposing blue and red colored circuity. There were three
small areas where there was no circuity, however. They were shaped exactly like
a Type-two phaser. Data inserted three of the phasers into the small areas, and
then closed the top. He holstered the one remaining phaser, and then picked up
the rifle again. He aimed it at the Enterprise team.
“What did you do?” Riker asked.
Data smiled. “Cutting away the technobabble, I essentially turned this
into a phaser rifle. One with the force of three Type-two phasers.” Geordi
looked surprised, as did Beverly and Riker. “Data,” Geordi said, “since when do
you cut out technobabble?”
“Because that isn’t important,” Data said. He motioned towards the flight
deck. “Come with me, please.” He entered the flight deck, and waited
Riker nodded, and then everyone entered the flight deck. The door slid
shut behind them.
“Good,” Data said, phaser-blaster still pointed at them. He pointed at the
huge doors on the floor seperating the flight deck from space. “Stand over there.”
Everyone walked up to the doors. They didn’t actually stand on them,
though. They stood just beside them.
“Very well,” Data said, still pointing his weapon at them. He adjusted
some settings on the rifle. He aimed it at the Star Wars people, and fired. A
large, red beam struck Solo, Leia, and Luke. They collapsed onto the deck.
“What happened to you?” Geordi asked Data.
“An explanation will come in time,” Data said. “Now, I will be brief.
You can side with the Empire, or you can die.”
“Don’t count on our support,” Riker said.
Data looked at Riker with a neutral expression. “I thought you’d say that.
We will mind-sift you to gain all of your knowledge, and then you will be
executed.” He aimed his weapon at the Enterprise team. A deep, heavy
breathing sound filled the flight deck. Darth Vader appeared from behind the
Millenium Falcon. “Do not be so hasty, Mr. Data.” He looked at the Enterprise
team. “They can still be turned.” Data lowered his weapon. “If you think so,
my lord.” Riker couldn’t read Vader’s expression, because of the mask. He
doubted being able to read Vader’s expression would do much good, though.
“Just how do you intend to turn us?” Beverly asked.
Vader held out his right hand. The phaser still in Data’s holster jumped
into his hand. He aimed it at the Enterprise team. He adjusted the settings, and
fired one shot at Beverly. When Beverly hit the deck, Vader phasered Geordi.
He then floated the phaser back into Data’s holster. Riker looked down at
Beverly and Geordi. They were still breathing, indicating that they were only
stunned. He looked up Vader. He had expected Vader to use the Force in some
way. Riker had learned about this universe from watching all of the movies in the
first Star Wars trilogy. It looked like they would prove useful.
Vader took out two lightsabers from underneath his cape. He gripped one
firmly in his right hand, and he laid the other one on the palm of his left hand.
“Riker, stand where you are. Use the Force to grab the lightsaber in my left
hand.”
Riker was puzzled. He didn’t think a person from his universe could use
the Force. He decided to try, though. He stretched out his right arm and hand,
and tried all he could to make the lightsaber on Vader’s left hand come to him. It
didn’t work.
“The only reason you can’t do it is because you don’t think you can,” Vader
declared.
Riker cursed under his breath and tried again. He tried to believe that he
really could retrieve the lightsaber from Vader’s left hand. He tried his hardest to
get the lightsaber. To his surprise, the lightsaber actually floated into his right
hand.
“Excellent,” Vader said. “You should be quite useful to the Empire.”
“I will never join the Empire or the likes of you,” Riker replied. “You
say that now, Riker, you say that now. However, I have forseen the future. It is
your destiny!”
“No, it is not. I am a Starfleet officer. That’s what I am, that’s what I
always will be.”
Suddenly, Vader moved forward, towards Riker. He ignited his
lightsaber, and swung at Riker.
Riker ignited his own lightsaber. He easily blocked Vader’s swing, and
then swung his own lightsaber, at Vader’s right arm. Vader easily deflected the
shot, and threw the lightsaber up into the air.
Riker was confused. Throwing the lightsaber up into the air served no
useful purpose. Unless… The lightsaber then suddenly aimed itself at Riker, and
charged downward. Riker raised his own lightsaber. When Vader’s lightsaber
was no more than two feet from killing him, Riker tried to use the Force to
deflect the lightsaber. Suddenly, under no will of his own, he brought his
lightsaber up, and swung at Vader’s lightsaber, making contact with it. Vader’s
lightsaber was knocked off course, and it headed straight for Vader. It was no
longer facing one direction, though. It was rotating rapidly. Riker didn’t think the
lightsaber would hit Vader. He was wrong, though. When the lightsaber neared
Vader, it was rotating fast enough to do appreciable damage. The blade of the
lightsaber cut off Vader’s right arm. After that, both Vader and the lightsaber fell
to the deck. It all happened so fast; Riker thought no more than two seconds had
gone by.
“The entire ordeal was fifty point two-three seconds,” Data said. “Not
bad, Commander. Although I could have disposed of Vader faster. As it is, you
only severed his right arm. Still, it is good, for a human.” Riker ignored Data.
He moved towards Vader’s lightsaber. He picked it up, and shut it down. He still
gripped both lightsabers tightly though, in case Vader tried any of his Force
tricks.
Vader finally stood up and faced Riker. “Most impressive, Riker. You
will make a fine present to the Emporer.”
“I won’t be a present to anyone. Now, release Data from whatever mind
control you’re using, Vader.”
Suddenly, Riker felt both of the lightsabers slipping from his grasp. Vader
was using the Force to get both of them. Then, Riker got an idea. Trying to use
the Force as hard as he could, Riker leapt into the air, and sped quickly towards
Vader. He ignited both lightsabers, and aimed them both at Vader. Riker
reached Vader, and both lightsabers hit Vader’s shoulders. The force of the
lightsaber impact knocked Vader to the deck. Vader lay limp on the deck. He
was still breathing, but he was clearly unconscious, and his breathing was
labored.

After Riker hit Vader with the lightsabers, he fell to the deck, and quickly
sprung to his feet. It seemed like the process only took a second. “Three
seconds exactly,” Data said. “Equally impressive.” Riker shut down his
lightsabers, and holstered them. “Data, listen to me. Vader is controlling you.
You are not yourself.”
“This is of my own will, Commander. Now, give me the lightsabers, or I
will take them by force.”
The word “force” gave Riker an idea. He pointed his right hand at Data,
and used the Force to make the phaser-blaster rifle float towards his hand. It
didn’t work. Data’s grip was too strong.
“That will not work with me,” Data said scornfully. He quickly walked up
to Riker. He grabbed the two lightsabers from their holsters, and then placed the
lightsabers in his own holsters. Then, he stepped away. “There. I doubt you
could pose a threat now.”
“You’re probably right,” Riker said. He made his way towards the
unconscious Geordi. He bent down, and grabbed Geordi’s tricorder. He stood
back up, and flipped the tricorder open. He fiddled with the tricorder, trying to
find the program Geordi designed to incapacitate Data. “Oh, I see what you’re
doing,” Data said. “It won’t work. You won’t find any field or whatever
controlling me. This is purely my decision.” Riker found Geordi’s
program. He pressed the “ProgStart” button on the tricorder. Data immediately
fell to the deck, unconscious. Riker set the tricorder back to scanning mode, and
scanned the area.
There were five stormtroopers outside. They were gathered around an
unconscious life-form, probably Chewbacca. They were pulling Chewbacca
away
Riker picked up the phaser-blaster rifle that had fallen to the deck when
Data fell. He examined the rifle more closely. It had setting displays which were
in English. The rifle was set to heavy stun, medium-width beam. Riker set the
weapon to setting eight, wide-beam. He holstered Geordi’s tricorder, and made
his way for the flight deck exit. Riker reached the exit, and pressed the
button on the side of the door. The door slid open. Riker stepped through the
doorway. Five stormtroopers were standing about twenty feet away, dragging
Chewbacca’s limp form down the corridor. When they heard the door slide open,
they whirled around to face Riker. They raised their blasters, and began firing.
Riker dropped to the deck, and fired the phaser-blaster rifle at the five
stormtroopers. The wide beam hit them all, and they collapsed to the deck. Their
white armor was blackened a little, and slightly melted. Riker walked up to
Chewbacca, and kicked the dead stormtroopers out of the way. He unholstered
his own tricorder, flipped it open, and scanned Chewbacca. Chewbacca was
merely stunned, not permanently injured, and he could be moved. Riker
holstered his tricorder, and began the task of dragging Chewbacca to the rest of
the group.
Ten minutes later, Riker managed to drag Chewbacca onto the flight deck,
and near where everyone else was lying. He then took out his tricorder, flipped it
open, and scanned everyone on the Enterprise team and the Star Wars team.
They were all stunned, nothing serious. They were all within five minutes of
coming to.
Riker scanned Data too. He was not seriously damaged. There was still
some damage from the explosion of the Operations console back at Feronium, but
most of the damage seemed to be repaired. A more thorough examination could
be conducted aboard the Enterprise.
Geordi began to wake up. Riker walked to Geordi’s side. He extended a
hand, and helped Geordi to his feet.

“Oh, man,” Geordi said groggily. He looked around. He noted all the
unconscious forms all around the area, and the rifle in Riker’s hand. “What
happened?”
“I can tell you back on the ship,” Riker said. “I managed to incapacitate
Data with your tricorder program. Worked perfectly.”
“Yeah, it looks like it,” Geordi said, looking at Data’s limp form. “We can
probably turn Data back on now. Whatever they did to him should be wiped out.”
“All right.” Riker gave Geordi his tricorder back. “If it doesn’t work, shut
him off.”
“Right.” Geordi flipped open his tricorder and began fiddling with it for a
little bit. “The program’s ready to go.”
“Very well.” Riker walked up to Data’s limp form. He kneeled onto the
floor, and raised Data’s back off the deck. He pressed the on-off button

Data came to life. He stood up immediately. He examined his
surroundings, then faced Riker, who was still kneeling on the floor. “Commander
Riker, this is intruiging. How did an explosion at the Operations console send us
to the Star Wars universe, sir?”
Riker smiled, as did Geordi. He stood up. “It’ll take a while to explain,
Mr. Data.” He paused. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Was I ever gone, sir?”
“Yes, you were. I can explain when we’re back on the Enterprise.
Meanwhile, we have to get off the Star Destroyer.”
“Excellent idea, sir.”
Beverly and Leia came around next. They stood up, and looked around
them. They stared at the weapon in Riker’s hand.
“The situation is under control,” Riker said. “All that’s left is for us to get
out of here.”
“I recommend we use the Millenium Falcon to escape,” Data said. “If we
do not, Captain Solo will not be pleased.”
“That’s for sure,” Leia said. “Although how are we going to get the doors
open?”
Riker looked at Geordi. “Geordi?”
“I can probably use the tricorder the open the doors up,” Geordi said. “I’ll
need Data’s help, though.”
“I will provide what assistance I can,” Data said.
Solo woke up and struggled to his feet. He examined his surroundings,
and looked harshly at Data. “Why you….”
“It’s all right,” Leia said, walking to Solo’s side. “He’s on our side now.”
She looked at Riker. “How did you get him back, anyway?” “It’s a long
story,” Riker said. “We have to get out of here, though. We could get company
any moment, and there’s no telling when Vader will wake up.”
Luke woke up. He got up and looked around. He looked down at
Chewbacca “He’s alive, but I wonder why he hasn’t woken up yet.” At that
moment, Chewbacca’s eyelids opened. He stood up with a roar. He looked at
Data and charged.
“Chewy!” Solo said. “Stop! He’s on our side now!”
Chewbacca stopped. He looked at Solo and roared.
“We have to get on the Falcon,” Riker said. He gave the phaser-blaster
rifle to Geordi. “Get those phasers out of there.”
“All right.” Geordi flipped open the top of the weapon, and took out the
phasers. “What do I do with them?”
“You take one. Give one to Solo and one to Chewbacca.” Geordi
holstered one of the phasers, handed one to Solo, and another to Chewbacca.
“Here you go.”
Riker took back the blaster and closed the top. “All right. Captain Solo
and Chewbacca, go open the Falcon.”
“All right,” Solo said. He examined the phaser. He couldn’t make sense
of the readouts. “How do I shoot this thing?”
“I’ll show you,” Riker said. “May I have the phaser?” “Sure,” Solo
said, handing the phaser to Riker.
Riker motioned for Solo to watch. He pointed at the large, white button
near the grip. “You press this with your thumb to fire the phaser.” He activated
the phaser safety, and pointed at the emitter. “This is where the beam comes
from.” He turned the safety off, and set the phaser to setting five, narrow-beam.
“It’s already set. All you need to do is aim and shoot.”
“Okay,” Solo said. “Chewy, let him set your phaser for you.”
Chewbacca gave a little grunt as he handed his phaser to Riker. Riker set the
phaser to setting five, narrow-beam. He handed it back to Chewbacca.
Solo and Chewbacca made their way for the Falcon, phasers at the ready.
When they reached the right side of the Falcon, Chewbacca reached under his
sash, and pulled out a remote control device. He punched a button on it, and a
ramp began to slide down. Chewbacca put the remote control back under his
sash.
“I didn’t know he had that thing,” Leia commented.
“The Imperials are overconfident and don’t search their prisoners much,”
Solo said. “Come on.”
Everyone ran up the ramp and into the Falcon. Solo entered last, and
punched a button on the wall next to the entrance. The ramp began to slide up.

“Master Luke!” Threepio’s voice exclaimed. Artoo and Threepio came
from around the hallway. “How nice it is to see you again!”
Artoo beeped his agreement.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Riker said. “Geordi and Data, get on it”
“Sir,” Data said, “perhaps one of the droids would be of greater assistance
to Geordi.”
Geordi unholstered his tricorder and flipped it open. He took off the top
of the tricorder. “Artoo can link with the tricorder through these access points,”
he said, pointing to three tiny holes that could be seen in the circuits.
Artoo extended an object with three short tubules from his midsection.
Geordi kneeled down and let Artoo put the tubules into the holes. Geordi looked
back at Riker. “This might take a while, sir.”
“Acknowledged.” He looked at Solo. “Perhaps you and Chewbacca can
go to the cockpit and get the ship ready to launch.”
Solo nodded. “Yeah. Chewbacca, come on.” Solo and Chewbacca
walked to the cockpit.
Leia smiled a little. “At least we’ll get rid of Vader when the flight deck
doors open.”
“I second that,” Beverly said.
“I do not believe that opening the flight deck doors will be sufficient to
kill Vader,” Data commented. “There is no telling what he can do with the Force.
He might be able to use it in this instance.” Artoo gave an excited series of
beeps. Geordi smiled. “Commander, we’re ready to open the flight deck doors.
We’ll open them on your command.”
“Stand by, Geordi,” Riker said. “Data, come with me to the cockpit.”
“Aye, sir,” Data replied.
Riker and Data walked to the cockpit. A door with alien script blocked
their path. Riker noticed a small button on the right side of the door. He pressed
it. The door slid open.
The cockpit was on the other side. Solo turned to look at Riker and Data.
“We’re ready to go when you are.”
“All right,” Riker said. He tapped his commbadge. “Riker to La Forge.”
“La Forge here. I assume you want me to open the doors?”
“Please. Riker out.”
Data stepped into the cockpit. He looked at all of the control panels. He
looked through the window. He could see the flight deck doors opening,
revealing hyperspace beyond.
“Going out into hyperspace!” Solo cried. “That’s crazy! There have been
more than a few ships destroyed by doing that!”
“The Empire will most likely execute us anyway,” Data said. “If we go
out into hyperspace from the Star Destroyer, if there is an accident, we will die
instantly. However, if the Empire kills us, we will most likely die slow, torturous
deaths.”
Chewbacca roared his agreement.
“Well, I suppose so,” Solo said. He put his hands on the controls. “This is
going to be pretty rough. You might want to hold on to something.”
“We’ll go back into the…” Riker paused. “What do you call it? It has that
table…”
“I call it the table area,” Solo said.
Riker nodded and grinned a little. “Okay.” He walked towards the table
area, with Data following him.
Riker and Data reached the table area. Everyone except for Solo and
Chewbacca was there already.
Threepio was shaking his head. “Going out there while this Star Destroyer
is in hyperspace… it’s madness!”
Artoo gave a taunting series of beeps and squeals.
“Of course, you wouldn’t be afraid, now would you? You astro droids are
so eccentric, your logic is almost impossible to comprehend.” Riker went
around the room and made sure everyone was braced properly, and then he
braced himself. “It’s going to be rough. Hold on tight.” “Of course it’s going
to be rough!” Threepio said. “We-” “Threepio, quiet,” Luke said.
Threepio shook his head, but kept quiet.
The Falcon began shaking. After several seconds, the ship quaked
fiercely. Everyone was thrown to the deck.

CHAPTER FIVE

Captain Jean-Luc Picard struggled back into the command chair. The
Enterprise had collided with something, then the fierce shaking started. The
bridge had emergency power only. “Mr. Worf, report!”
“The object we hit appeared out of nowhere,” Worf reported. He
examined the readings on the tactical console. “Sir, another gravitic distortion
appeared just before we were hit.” He paused. “It had the exact configuration of
the Millenium Falcon.”
“Hail them,” Picard ordered.
“Communications are off-line,” Worf said.
Picard got out of the command chair. “Damage report.” “Our
navigational shields are gone. Major damage to decks fifteen through
twenty-seven. Minor damage to all other decks. Phasers are off-line.
Life-support systems are at eighty-two percent. Warp and impulse drives are
off-line. Transporters are gone. Tractor beams are disabled.” Picard stared
at the main viewer. It showed a small speck in space in the top-left corner.
“What is that?”
“The Millenium Falcon,” Worf said. “It is badly damaged.”
“Magnify, Lieutenant.”
“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Viers at Operations said. She tapped a few buttons,
and the small speck enlarged into the Millenium Falcon. It had black marks all
over its hull, and small amounts of debris floated around it. Picard
scowled. “Are there any life-signs?”
Viers checked her console. “Eight life-signs, sir. Included in that is one
artificial life-form.”
“Data,” Worf said. “However, some people did not survive. A minimum
of three people died.”
Picard faced Worf. “Lieutenant, get a shuttle over there to get the
survivors off the Falcon.”
“Aye, sir,” Worf acknowledged. “Lieutenant Viers, you are to accompany
me.”
Viers smiled. “With pleasure, sir.” She vacated the Ops console, and
walked with Worf into the turbolift. The doors slid shut.
Picard turned to the officer who now manned the Ops console, Ensign
Mennan. “Inform me if there is any change in life-signs.”
“Yes, Captain,” Mennan said.
Picard sat back down in the command chair. “Mr. MacDonald, monitor
sensor range for Imperial vessels, or gravitic distortions that would signify a
vessel in hyperspace.”
“Aye, sir.”

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge woke up. He couldn’t see, and he
didn’t have the headache that resulted when he had his VISOR; his VISOR had
been knocked off his face. He felt around the immediate area for his VISOR. He
found it about a meter away from him. He put it on. He examined the area
around him. Commander Riker, Doctor Crusher, and Princess Leia were
unconscious. Data was nowhere to be seen. Luke Skywalker was examining the
droids, Threepio and Artoo. Geordi could tell that the droids were
non-functional.
Geordi struggled to his feet. He felt waves of nausea, but he fought them
off. He didn’t manage to fight off the migraine that he felt at the moment. It was
even worse than normal; he must have had a head injury.
Geordi began walking towards Luke when he felt that the Falcon was
tilted at an odd angle, and was swaying slightly. He also head a low whistle.
There was a small hull breach somewhere, and air was being sucked into space
rapidly. He looked around for the hull breach. There was one small hull breach,
about three milimeters in diameter, in the ceiling. He could see the air leaving at
a frantic pace. He estimated that whoever survived the accident, with the
exception of Data, had about five hours to live if this was the extent of the
damage. If there were other problems, they might have even less than that.
Luke looked at Geordi. “Data went into the cockpit to check on Han and
Chewy. The droids are gone. Everyone else is unconscious.” Geordi
nodded, and then realized that the gesture would be hard to see in the darkness.
With the VISOR, the darkness didn’t matter, but to Luke, it would. “I’m going to
scan the ship and try to see how much damage we have.”
“All right. Tell me if you need anything.”
“Okay.” Geordi unholstered his tricorder, which thankfully wasn’t
damaged in the collision. He flipped it open, and began scanning. The
hyperdrive was knocked completely off-line; it would take hours to fix it. The
navigational deflector was disabled. The shield generators were useless. The
stabilizers were only partially operational. Thankfully, he detected two humanoid
life-signs in the cockpit, one human and one Wookie. Solo and Chewbacca were
unconscious, but alive.
Data walked into the table area. He strode up to Geordi. “Captain Solo
and Chewbacca do not have any serious injuries. They are unconscious, however.
The object we collided with in hyperspace was the Enterprise. It is one thousand
kilometers away from us. A shuttlecraft is coming to get us.”
“Good,” Geordi said. “Everyone except you has about five hours left if we
stay in this thing.”
“The shuttlecraft will arrive in five minutes.” Data gestured to where the
hull breach was. “Is there any other life-threatening damage?” “Not that I
know of,” Geordi said. “It looks like the life-support system survived.”
Luke stood up and approached them. “How long will repairs take, or is
the Falcon beyond hope?”
Geordi sighed. “It’ll take days to fix, but this ship’ll fly again. It all
depends on how much damage the Enterprise has.”
Their commbadges chirped. “Shuttlecraft Galileo to away team,” Worf’s
voice said.
Data slapped his commbadge. “Data here, Lieutenant.” “We are two
minutes from the Millenium Falcon,” Worf said. “We are detecting the
commbadges of Commander Riker, you, Commander La Forge, Doctor Crusher,
and Captain Solo. I take it that Hines, McKenzie, and Sheer did not survive.”
“That is correct,” Data replied. “What is the status of the Enterprise?”
“It is severely damaged, sir. It will take days to complete the repairs that
Engineering can do away from dry-dock.”
“Understood. You will take one minute to enter the range of the shuttle
escape transporter. We will prepare for beam out.”
Geordi walked up to the droids, and scanned them with his tricorder. “It
looks like we might be able to salvage these.” Geordi holstered his tricorder, and
put his hands on the Artoo and Threepio. “I’ll have to touch them so that they’re
beamed out.”
“What about us?” Luke asked. “Only Han has a commbadge…” “The
transporter will lock on to your life-signs,” Data said. He walked into the cockpit.
“We are ready,” Worf’s voice sounded from Geordi’s commbadge.
“Energizing transporter.”
Geordi felt the familiar tingling sensation of a transporter. A field of blue
particles clouded his vision, and then he was inside the shuttlecraft.
“Laying in a course for the Enterprise,” Worf said. “We will arrive in six
minutes.”
“Five minutes and forty nine seconds,” Data said.

Picard stood up as Data and Worf entered thr bridge. They manned their
respective stations.
“Sheer, McKenzie, and Hines are dead, sir,” Data said matter-of-factly.
“The others?” Picard asked.
“No serious injuries. They are unconcscious, and are being treated in
sickbay.”
Picard sat back down, and activated the intercom. “Bridge to
Engineering.”
“La Forge here,” Geordi’s voice replied.
“Damage report on the Falcon, then on the Enterprise.” “Well, the
Falcon is beat up pretty bad. Almost nothing works. It’ll take days to repair. The
Enterprise isn’t much better. Our navigational shields are gone. Major damage to
decks fifteen through twenty-seven. Minor damage to all other decks. Phasers
are off-line. Life-support systems are at eighty-two percent. Warp and impulse
drives are off-line. Transporters are gone. Tractor beams are disabled.”
“In other words, the same as before,” Picard grumbled. “How long do you
estimate repairs will take?”
“The repairs that we can do will be done in a week,” Geordi stated.
“Very well. Bridge out.” Picard looked up at Worf. “We can’t be a sitting
duck in hostile territory. Contact the Rebellion, and arrange some protection.”
“Yes, Captain,” Worf said, getting to work at the tactical console. The
turbolift doors opened. Commander Riker strode out of the turbolift, and sat to
the captain’s right. He looked rather weary. “Are you all right, Number One?”
Picard asked.
“I’m fine,” Riker replied. “Just a little headache.” “Sir,” Worf said, “the
Rebellion will send five ships to protect us. They cannot spare any more.”
“That should suffice,” Picard said. “Meanwhile, if sensors detect anything
Imperial, I want to know about it.” He stood up. “Number One, you have the
bridge.” He strode into the ready room.

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge waved the flux resonator coil
over the electro-plasma conduit. Over thirty-two percent of the EPS conduits on
the Enterprise awaited repair. It would take hours to fix them all. What was
worse was that the engineering and damage control teams were divided into
different areas of the ship. That made the job ten times more difficult.
“Commander!” Lieutenant Reginald Barclay’s voice called down the
Jeffries tube. “The EPS conduits in this section are all repaired! Power can be
restored to the conduits!”
Geordi shut off his repair tool and put it back in his engineering kit. He
checked his engineering tricorder to verify Barclay’s statement, then slapped his
commbadge. “La Forge to Engineering.”
“La Pore here, sir.”
“Lieutenant, restore power to conduits 3-JCL, 4-JCL, 5-JCL, 6-JCL,
7-JCL, and 8-JCL,” Geordi ordered.
“Okay, Commander,” La Pore said. “Power will be restored in one
minute.”
“Good. La Forge out.” Geordi put a cover on the section of conduit he
was working on. He checked the repair checklist on his engineering tricorder.
Next, he and Barlcay were scheduled to begin repairs on the main phaser array.
He holstered the tricorder, and called down the tube. “Reg, next stop is the main
phaser array!”
“Okay!” Barclay came crawling towards Geordi a few moments later.
After that, Geordi and Barclay headed towards their destination.
Darth Vader strode onto the bridge of the Gunterge. He was not pleased.
He had narrowly averted death using the Force, and the Millenium Falcon had
escaped.

Captain Jafar approached Vader and saluted. “What may I do for you, my
lord?”
Vader aimed his right hand at Jafar, and made a fist. Jafar’s eyes widened,
and he started making gurgling sounds. Blood started flowing from his mouth,
eyes, nose, and ears. His skin turned a bright red. Suddenly, his head exploded,
sending blood all over the place. Jafar’s body fell to the deck.
Vader looked at the blood spots all over his arms. He would have to have
those cleaned off. That would have to wait, though. He looked at the crew
members on the bridge. They were all looking at Vader, surprise and shock on
their faces.

“All right,” Commander Hielen called, walking up to the command deck
of the bridge. “Back to work!”
The crew members stared for a moment, then returned to their duties.
Hielen strode up to Vader. “I’m sorry about that, Lord Vader.” “No need for
apologies, Captain,” Vader said. He motioned for two stormtroopers to come.
“Dispose of that,” he said, pointing to Jafar’s remains.
“Yes, sir,” the two stormtroopers said in unison. They dragged Jafar’s
body out of the bridge.
“What do we do now?” Hielen asked.
“Lay in a course for the Enterprise,” Vader said.
“Sir, we will have to drop out of hyperspace to determine where the
Enterprise is,” Hielen commented. “Even then, we have no way of knowing if it
will be in sensor range.”
“Then we will have to take that chance,” Vader said.
“Very well.” Hielen walked to the front of the bridge beside the windows.
“Drop out of hyperspace!”
The view of normal space filled the windows. Satisfied, Hielen yelled,
“Locate the Enterprise!”
After several minutes, Lieutenant Commander JaKwin reported, “The
Enterprise has been found! It is two light years away!”
“Excellent! Lay in and intercept course, and engage hyperdrive!”
Lieutenant Worf looked at his tactical console, alarmed. The Imperial
vessel that was running away from them turned around and laid in an intercept
course. He tapped his commbadge. “Worf to Captain Picard.” “Picard here.
Report, Mr. Worf.”
“The Gunterge is now on an intercept course. It will arrive in one hour”
“Understood. Picard out.” A few moments later, Picard exited the ready
room. He sat down in the command chair when Riker moved to the first officer’s
seat. “Go to red alert.”
The red alert sirens sounded and the condition lights flashed a bright red.
Crew members rushed to their battlestations.
Picard punched on the intercom. “Engineering, the Enterprise needs to be
ready for battle in an hour.”
“What?” La Forge’s voice said. “I’ll put a priority on repairing the
defensive systems, but I don’t think we’ll be able to fight off a Romulan
Bird-of-Prey in an hour.”
“Make every effort, Commander La Forge. Picard out.” He paused for a
moment, then said, “Sickbay, we’re going into battle in an hour. Expect heavy
casualties.”
“Jean-Luc, are you nuts!?” Crusher shouted. “I don’t have enough room in
sickbay for one thousand twelve people!”
“You’re exaggerating, Doctor,” Picard said, annoyed. “We really don’t
have any choice. Picard out!” Picard got out of the command chair and faced
Worf. “Get me the Gunterge on speakers!”
“Hailing, sir,” Worf said. “No response.” Then, Worf raised an eyebrow
“Five ships coming out of hyperspace ahead of us, sir.” “On screen,” Picard
said, whirling around to face the main viewer. Five Mon Calamari attack frigates
appeared. Picard gave a sigh of relief. “Hail them.”
The speakers crackled. “This is Admiral Ackbar, commanding the Rebel
fleet. Captain Picard, you requested assistance.”
“Yes, we did,” Picard replied. “Thank you. We’re glad you came. Our
sensors detect a Star Destroyer that is one hour away from this position. In our
condition, we’d be easy prey.”
“I understand, Picard. We will assume a standard defensive formation
around your vessel.”
“Very well, Admiral. Picard out.” Picard sat back down in the command
chair and watched the ships moving on the main viewer.
Counselor Troi looked at the captain, concerned. “You’re nervous.”
Picard looked at Troi. “Counselor, has anyone ever told you that you have
an absolutely uncanny ability to point out the painfully obvious?” Riker burst
out laughing. Worf chucked to himself. The ensign at the conn cracked up. Troi
looked hurt. “Captain, I’ll take that as a result of your chronic insecurity.”
The laughter on the bridge reached record levels. “Counselor, I’ll take
your serious insubordination as a side effect of your period.” Troi’s mouth
hung open, and she gasped in shock. Picard grinned. Everyone else except Data
and Worf was on the deck laughing their heads off. Data sat at the Ops console,
unaffected. Worf stood at the tactical console, a small smile on his lips.
“Captain,” Riker managed to say, “when did you take up comedy?”
“I didn’t,” Picard said.
Troi got an angry expression on her face. “I suppose that I’m acting this
way because the light reflected off your head messes up my brain.” Riker
and the conn officer laughed so hard that their sides hurt. Tears poured from
Riker’s eyes. Picard leapt to his feet. He glanced angrily at the bridge crew.
“SHUT UP!”

The bridge crew quieted and manned their stations.
Picard turned back to Troi. “You may be right, Cadet.” He slapped his
commbadge. “Picard to Crusher.”
“Crusher here.”
“Miss Troi seems to have a head injury,” Picard said. “Send someone up
to get Troi immediately.”
Beverly paused. “Uh… okay, Captain. I’ll come and get her.” “Thank
you, Doctor. Picard out.” He sat back down in the command chair A few
moments later, Beverly emerged from the turbolift. She walked up to Troi’s seat.
“Come on, Deanna.”
Troi got up reluctantly. She began following Beverly to the turbolift.
Data swiftly turned around. “Captain, Counselor, I believe I know what
caused your arguement.”
“What?” Picard asked, a skeptical expression on his face. “The Force,
sir,” Data said. “Specifically, Darth Vader using the Force”
“How can you be so sure?” Troi asked, doubtful.
“During my time on the Imperial Star Destroyer, I have grown to
recognize times when the Force is in use. I have specifically identified Vader’s
‘Force signature,’ if you will. He is trying to create negative feelings between
crew members aboard the Enterprise.”
“We cannot allow that,” Picard stated. He searched his mind and feelings
for things that weren’t his own. He wasn’t successful, but soon, he found his
anger with Troi begin to subside. “The Force does not work against strong
minds.” He turned on the intercom. “Picard to crew. You may be feeling anger
or resentment against your co-workers that formed only a few moments ago. That
is the result of Darth Vader meddling with the Force. Try to fight it. The Force
only works on weak minds. Picard out.”
“Do I still have to take Deanna to sickbay?” Beverly asked. “No,
Doctor,” Picard said. “Counselor, resume your duties.” “Thank you, Captain,”
Beverly and Troi said in unison. Beverly walked into the turbolift, while Troi sat
back down.

Captain’s log, stardate 44220.4. An Imperial Star Destroyer, the Gunterge,
is on a course for the Enterprise. The ship is seriously crippled, and is no match
for the Star Destroyer. Thankfully, five Mon Calamari attack frigates from the
Rebellion are here to protect us. The Imperials will arrive in fifteen minutes.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard paced the bridge, while talking to Geordi over his
commbadge. “Can we fire photon torpedoes?”
“Not now, Captain,” Geordi replied. “Phasers are at only two percent
power, and can fire only five shots, if that.”
Picard scowled. “How about the shields?”
“I’ve got the navigational shields up to thirty-two percent.” “Keep
working on it, Mr. La Forge. Picard out.” He sat down in the command chair.
“Mr. Data, ETA?”
“Five minutes, sir,” Data reported.
“Shouldn’t those Rebel ships be more than a match for a lone Star
Destroyer?” Riker asked.
“Should be, Number One, should be,” Picard said. “Mr. Worf, arm
phasers”
“Arming phasers, Captain,” Worf acknowledged.
Picard drummed his fingers on the armrests as he waited for the Imperial
vessel to come. It seemed to take an eternity.
“The Imperial Star Destroyer has entered weapons range,” Worf said. “It
is coming out of hyperspace.”
“Lock phasers,” Picard ordered.
“Phasers locked,” Worf said.
“Put the vessel on screen.”
The Gunterge appeared on the screen moments later. TIE Fighters and
TIE Advanced craft could be seen coming out of the Gunterge’s landing deck.
They were heading towards the Enterprise.
“The Mon Calamari are launching fighters,” Worf said. “They are
engaging the TIEs.”
The Mon Calamari attack frigates formed a web around Enterprise. The
Star Destroyer began firing turbolasers and proton torpedoes at the frigates. The
Mon Calamari returned fire.
“Let’s make this easier for them,” Picard said. “Mr. Worf, target the
Gunterge’s bridge shield generators. Fire two phaser blasts.” “Aye, sir.”
Two red energy beams lanced out from the Enterprise. They struck the
shield generators. The shields turned a bright purple for a few moments, then
returned to colorlessness.
“Status of the Imperials’ shields?” Picard asked.
“They are reduced, but they are holding,” Worf replied. The Enterprise
shook a few times. Picard looked up at Worf. “What happened?”
“Four proton torpedoes hit us. Our navigational deflectors are down to ten
percent.”
Picard looked back at the main viewer. “Fire our remaining three phaser
blasts at those shield generators, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Three phaser blasts struck the Star Destroyer’s bridge shield generators
The shields buckled.
“Tell the Mon Calamari to focus on those shield generators!” Picad
ordered.
The attack frigates targeted their turbolasers and proton torpedoes on the
shield generators. Several A-Wings fired concussion missiles at the generators.
The generators exploded.
“That’s it!” Riker exclaimed, excited.
A proton torpedo struck the Gunterge’s bridge. The bridge exploded. The
Star Destroyer sat still in space, and ceased firing. The Mon Calamari continued
to pummel the Gunterge. Only a few fighters remained. Most had been
destroyed in the crossfire. The Mon Calamari advanced towards the Star
Destroyer, abandoning the defensive web.
“The Mon Calamari inform us that the defensive web is no longer
necessary,” Worf said. “The Star Destroyer is within moments of being
destroyed.”
“Excellent,” Picard commented. He eagerly watched the events on the
main viewer. The Mon Calamari continued firing at the Star Destroyer. The
Gunterge began firing again, but it was too late. It imploded, taking three Mon
Calamari ships and the remaining fighters with it. Wait… except for one fighter.
It was heading away from the fleet at top speed. “What is that?” Picard
demanded.
“It looks like an Imperial craft,” Worf said.

Picard got out of his command chair and stared at the main viewer. The
craft disappeared.
“It has entered hyperspace, Captain,” Worf said.
Data turned around to face Picard. “Sir, Darth Vader was on that craft.
He has escaped.”
Picard sighed. “Understood,” he said, resigned. “Mr. Worf, get me
Admiral Ackbar.”
The speakers crackled. “Captain Picard, it appears that Darth Vader has
escaped.”
“It appears so, Admiral,” Picard answered. “Thank you for protecting the
Enterprise. Extend our gratitude to Mon Mothma.”
“I will be sure to do so, Captain. We will stay here until you are able to
defend yourselves.”
“That is appreciated, Admiral. Picard out.”

EPILOGUE

Captain’s log, stardate 44226.7. The Enterprise and the Millenium Falcon
have been repaired. The droids Artoo and Threepio are functioning again. The
Mon Calamari attack frigates have left us. There has been no sign of Imperial
activity in the area for days. Now that we are repaired, we will return to our point
of origin and try to figure out how to get back into our universe. First, though, we
must say good-bye to some special friends.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard grasped Han Solo’s hand firmly. “It was a
pleasure knowing you, Captain Solo.”
“I feel the same way,” Solo said. He smiled. “Anytime you need to take
shore leave… you know where to find me.”
Picard smiled. “I’ll have to remember that. This could prove to be an
interesting shore leave stop.” He paused. “Take care of yourself, Captain.”
“You too.” Solo withdrew his hand. “It has been an interesting
experience.”
“Yes, it has.”
“I’m sure that you’re in a hurry to get home now. Good-bye, Captain
Picard.” Solo began to walk towards the observation lounge exit. “Captain!”
Picard called.
Solo turned to face Picard, a puzzled expression on his face.
“May the Force be with you,” Picard said warmly.
Solo smiled. “What’s that one expression popular in your universe?
Ummm… have a nice day.”
Picard smiled as Solo exited the room.

Captain’s log, supplemental. The Enterprise has arrived at the spot where
we entered the Star Wars universe. Right now, Commanders Data and La Forge
are trying to figure out how to get us back.

Lieutenant Commander Data checked his Ops console one last time.
Satisfied that he had the answer, he turned around to face Captain Picard. “Sir, I
have the answer.”
“Let’s hear it,” Riker said.
“There are residual tryolic waves in the vicinity. I believe that the shock
wave, which had a large amount of tryolic energy, sent us through some sort of
‘tryolic wormhole’ into the Star Wars universe.” “As a result, we were swept
away before the shock wave could do any real damage,” Riker commented.
“Precisely,” Data answered.
“How do we form another tryolic wormhole?” Picard asked. “One
phaser burst should suffice.”
“All right. Mr. Worf, arm phasers and raise shields.” “Shields up,
phasers ready,” Worf acknowledged.
Picard looked at the main viewer. “Fire phasers.”
One red energy beam lanced out from the Enterprise into the space in
front of them. A wormhole opened, brighting up the surrounding area with a
pretty silvery-blue light. Picard stared down the blue passageway, awestruck.
“Course for the Federation ready and laid in, sir,” Ensign Wesley Crusher
said happily.
Picard smiled. He pointed ahead. “Engage!”
The Enterprise flew into the tryolic wormhole.

Captain Williams looked at Admiral Jordan on the main viewer. He
shook his head. “We found no escape pods. There are no survivors from the
destroyed ships.”
Jordan sighed. “Very well-”
“Captain!” Lieutenant Commander Black called. “Sensors are detecting a
large amount of tryolic activity at coordinates nine nine nine mark three!”
“The Enterprise’s last known position,” Commander McGrady said.
“On screen!” Williams shouted.
Jordan’s image was replaced by that of a silvery-blue wormhole. The
U.SS. Enterprise NCC-1701-D sailed out of that wormhole. Williams grinned.
Cheers erupted throughout the bridge.
“Should I hail them, sir?” Black asked happily.
“You bet,” Williams said.

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Worf said, “The Ariel is contacting us,
sir.”
“On screen, Mr. Worf,” Picard said.
Captain Williams appeared on the main viewer. He was grinning broadly.
“Captain Picard, what the hell happened?”
“It’s a long story,” Picard said. “Suffice it to say, we’re glad to be back.”

Next time, on Star Trek: The Next Generation:

You thought that the Federation ditched the Garthusians in The Brigade of the
Doomed, Part 1. You were dead wrong. Now, the Garthusians are back, and
stronger than ever. Meanwhile, another mystery puzzles Starfleet. Why did the
Romulans fire on the Enterprise during the Battle of Feronium? Captain Picard
and the crew of the Starship Enterprise endevour to find out, and has to contend
with the Garthusians at the same time… Will they solve the mystery? Will the
Enterprise be destroyed? Will the Federation collapse under the Garthusian
Empire’s weight? Stay tuned…

Also, check out this Star Trek: The Next Generation story:
The Starship Enterprise is exploring an uncharted region of space called The
Seraris Regions. At first, it’s all “ooh, ahh,” but then reality sets in. The Starship
Enterprise encounters a deadly race of aliens, who are bent on destroying them
and the Federation. Will the Federation manage to repel these aggressors, or will
it fade into the midsts of history? Read and find out!

The Brigade of the Doomed is copyright Jason Vines, 1997.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is owned by Paramount Pictures. Star Wars is
owned by LucasFilm Limited.
My e-mail: Dbald56576@aol.com My web site:
https://members.aol.com/dbald56576/trek.html

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