STAR TREK: THE FIVE ENTERPRISES
by KENNETH A. LOWENBERG .1995
PROLOGUE
Q was shocked by the surprise he felt. After all, he
and his fellow continuum-mates were all-knowing and all-
seeing ... until now.
The force of the energy invading -- yes INVADING -- the
Q-Continuum caught all Q by surprise.
The energy force probed their consciousness leaving
other Q helpless in its wake.
Qs ... helpless?!
This Q, the most important in his own mind, found some
satisfaction at first in finding his companions caught off
guard. They, after all, had the audacity to once take away
his powers, after he played some minor pranks on Picard and
his lackeys.
He had presently returned to the continuum after
jostling with Vash, the interesting human female who had
miraculously found her way back from the Gamma Quadrant,
where Q tossed her, thanks to another group of Starfleet
minions on the flatly named space station Deep Space Nine.
At his arrival in the continuum, Q was overwhelmed by
this energy. No longer amused, he realized its predatory
powers presented a threat to him.
It was probing consciousness looking for weakness, it
had locked onto Q's mind, on his thoughts of moments ago, of
humans.
Q struggled, focusing his powers against the invader's.
To no avail...except for an image.
An image of intent.
Conquer ...everything.
Then he felt something else, something familiar,
something which gave him hope and confidence.
It was the Q, his brothers and sisters!
The ones who had been subdued found a way to channel
their powers to him, the returnee. All the power of the Q
now resided in him.
The invaders hesitated a moment, caught off guard by
this new defense.
Then Q grappled with the creatures, probed them back,
looking for weakness... and found none, except...
...It was there and suddenly gone.
The creature fought back, focusing on what it had
learned from Q. What it apparently perceived as a
weakness... humans.
Humans and their homeworld, Earth.
This meant something to Q, strike at it and the Q
itself would be easy to stop.
'Ridiculous,' Q thought to the attacker. 'Humans mean
nothing...'
But it was too late. The attacker had found Earth, Q
saw the image of the small blue world, not just now but in
all moments. The planet Earth throughout time.
Suddenly Q knew the creatures' intentions, and in the
mili-second the creature was occupied, Q focused all his
new-found power, all the power of the Q on one word, one
image, one starship. "Enterprise."
In the next millisecond, the creature erased the planet
Earth from all of time.
CHAPTER ONE
"Checkmate."
Worf looked at the tri-chess board, and then at
Counselor Troi, seated across the table from him. Behind
her, the window showed the colorful star streaks of the
Enterprise traversing space at warp speed. He scowled, "I
concede the game to you, Deanna."
The Betazoid smiled and reached for the game pieces,
beginning to reset the board. "Let's see. That's three.
Shall we try again?"
Worf stood. "Perhaps another time, Counselor. I
obviously am not having a good day."
Deanna stood up, too. "Don't fret, Worf. I was the All-
District chess champion at my high school."
"So you've mentioned ... many times."
She raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "Funny, I
don't recall. Let's get a bite to eat, I'm starved." They
walked out of the rec room together. Deanna was glad to have
this time to spend with Worf, ever since their duty
schedules matched up so they were off-duty together. Worf
had been through some emotional hardships lately concerning
his late father. He had been quite reserved. Geordi and Data
asked her to look after their friend. She didn't need to be
asked.
They arrived at Ten Forward to find a small group of
officers and civilians huddled near the bar. At the center
of the huddle was Dr. Beverly Crusher helping Guinan to her
feet. Worf and Troi rushed over, pushing their way through
the crowd.
"Step back," Worf barked as people automatically
stepped away.
"Beverly," Troi said. "My God, what happened?"
"I just got a little... woozy," Guinan said as Crusher
helped her onto a bar stool.
"Guinan fainted dead away," Beverly clarified. "One of
her assistants called sickbay and she was still out when I
got here. Frankly, Guinan. I'm concerned. We should get you
to sickbay."
"Nonsense," the barkeep said. "I'm fine now."
The Doctor waved a medical sensor up and down the
length of Guinan's body. "No unusual readings. Well, I can't
force you to come with me. Just take it easy."
"Certainly." Guinan said. "Maybe I'll end my shift a
little early."
The crowd had backed away and the others had given her
breathing room. Guinan got up and stepped into the sanctuary
of her office behind the bar.
Once inside, she fell onto the oversized couch facing
the large viewport. Her brow wrinkled as she tried to
decipher the images and feelings which temporarily robbed
her of consciousness.
"Q, here! I guess I was stupid to think we would ever
escape from that clown's grip," Miles O'Brien sank his teeth
into a mutton shank.
"He's gone now." Keiko sat across from him in the
dinning area of their quarters on the Bajoran space station
Deep Space Nine. "Well, how is it?"
Miles took the napkin from his lap and swapped at his
face. "It's absolutely delicious. How did you get those
bloody Cardassian replicators to do it?"
"I didn't. I bought the meat from Quark."
"What?!"
"He told me he knew a supplier of Earth delicacies and
he would sell it to us at a discount. Said something about
owing you a favor for help at his bar."
Miles shook his head. "Honey, you should know Quark is
not to be trusted."
"Not usually, I guess. But when I discovered I had the
chance to fix your favorite meal, I couldn't say no."
"Ahh, that's nice sweetheart." He took another bite of
his dinner. "And since Quark needs me to help keep his
computers up, he probably wouldn't poison me."
Miles laughed at the look of shock that crossed his
wife's face.
The perimeter alarms rang through Ops. Major Kira
Nerys, the officer on duty, called for sensors. "Is a ship
coming through the wormhole?"
"Negative," said the Starfleet man sitting at Dax's
usual station. "Neutrino readings are normal."
"Then what?," Kira said frustratingly. The perimeter
alert alarms meant something was approaching the station.
"Unknown," the man said.
"Raise shields! Scan for cloaking device signatures and
get me Commander Sisko," Kira took a step toward the
overhead viewer which was normally focused on the wormhole.
All appeared quiet, but the damn alarms were still blaring
in her ears.
The familiar hydraulic sounds of the turbolift cut
through the alarms and Kira spun to see Sisko, Dax and
O'Brien disembarking onto the deck.
"Report, Major," Sisko's deep voice demanded. Even
though the tone was harsh it had a surprising calming effect
on Kira.
"I can't explain it, Sir. The sensors obviously think
something's there but they won't tell us what it is."
Sisko walked up behind Dax, who had taken her spot at
the science station. "What can you tell me, Lieutenant?"
Dax shook her head slightly, "Kira's right. The sensors
are confused. But I can tell you it is more than one thing
approaching us."
"Approaching us from where?," Sisko said.
Then the viewscreen changed and five Federation
starships suddenly orbited Deep Space Nine.
CHAPTER TWO
Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise
picked himself off the command deck and surveyed the bridge.
Everyone was doing the same, no one having been able to keep
their footing during the severe buffeting.
"Report," William Riker, his Number One, said from next
to him.
"All systems are coming back on line," said Ensign Ro
Laren from the Ops station.
"Data," Picard said coming up behind his android
science officer at the helm station, "What was that?"
"Unknown, Sir."
The darkened main viewscreen encompassing the entire
front wall of the bridge sprung to life, flickering into a
multi-colored test pattern.
"Where are we?" Riker asked.
"Sensors will be operational momentarily," Data said.
The turbolift doors opened slowly behind the command
center of the bridge. Troi and Worf emerged.
"Mr. Worf," Picard said. "As soon as the internal
sensors are on-line, I need a status report."
"Yes, Sir."
The viewscreen blinked again and a very blurry image
materialized and slowly coalesced into a familiar image.
"Deep Space Nine," Picard said.
Sisko and his crew stared dumbfounded at the main Ops
viewscreen.
"I don't believe this," Sisko said.
"It does seem impossible," Dax concurred from behind
him.
On the screen were five starships -- all named
Enterprise. All from different time periods.
"Commander," O'Brien called out. "We are getting a hail
from the Enterprise, ah, 1701-D, Sir."
"On the screen."
The screen changed from the historic image to one of
familiarity, a Galaxy-Class starship's main bridge. In the
center was Jean-Luc Picard, a man Sisko once despised, for
as Locutus of Borg, Picard destroyed the Starfleet at Wolf
359, in the process killing his wife Jennifer.
Sisko's violent emotions had ebbed since he met Picard
-- not Locutus -- when the Enterprise arrived to assist in
the establishment of a Federation presence on DS9 earlier
this year.
But the viewer's image brought back strong emotions of
Jennifer, nearly overwhelming Sisko for a moment.
"Captain Picard," he said with too much emotion.
"Commander Sisko," Picard said. "I am at a lack to
understand how we got here, all of us. I was wondering if
you could explain further."
"I'm afraid we are as much in the dark as you." Sisko
said.
"However, it looks as if we are about to be a part of
history."
CHAPTER THREE
"Captain, the communications between the starship and
the space station are on recognizable, albeit advanced,
Federation hails."
"The code signatures from the vessels and the station
fall within Starfleet parameters. There is a 92 percent
probability they are Federation crafts."
The Captain spun in his chair to look at the center
viewscreen. "But of a much advanced design." He got up and
walked over to his science officer. The Starship Enterprise
was just returning from the Khitomer Conference en route to
decommissioning when the ship began to shake apart.
"So, Spock," Captain James T. Kirk said to his Vulcan
First Officer, "Could the buffeting we just experienced have
been a time warp?"
Spock raised an eyebrow. "All evidence supports the
conclusion."
"And," Kirk said, rubbing his hands together, "From
what we've just heard, it seems Captain Picard of Enterprise
...D, knows Commander Sisko of DS9."
"It would seem so."
"So perhaps we are in their time period. Uhura," Kirk
said to his communications officer. "Get me Captain Picard
... of the Starship Enterprise."
"Who?" Picard asked incredulously.
"Captain James T. Kirk," Worf repeated.
"I guess I should have expected this," Picard
commented.
He stood up, as did Riker and Troi.
Picard glanced toward his Number One.
"Well, Sir. It's not every day you get to address a
legend," Riker said.
Picard put his hands up in front of him, as if he were
pushing something away. "Now, everyone. I know how important
James Kirk and his crew were to Federation history, but we
must remember they are apparently here from the past. We can
not let them know more about their future than is absolutely
necessary. Or else we risk altering our history."
"I'm afraid it's much too late for that, Jean-Luc,"
said a familiar voice from behind him.
Picard spun on his heel to face... "Q!"
"Of course," Picard fumed as he took two steps toward
the entity. "This little affair has your trademark of chaos
all over it."
Q took two steps back. "Normally, I'd agree with you,
Picard. But this time its something far worse than a common
prank."
"Q!"
"Picard, this is serious, not only to you but to me."
"Oh come now, Q. What could possibly harm an omnipotent
entity?," the Captain said rolling his eyes. "Now deliver
those starships back to..."
"That's just it Picard. Unbelievably, something has
affected me and all Q. We're immobilized."
Data stood up, "Immobilized? As I understood it, the Q
Continuum was omnipotent and, to the extent of the known
physical universe, all-powerful."
"A nice thought," Q said. "But, alas, no longer true.
There's a new bully in the neighborhood."
Picard brow furrowed. "Indeed, and just what is this
bully's intentions."
Q plopped down onto the nearest chair. "To conquer ...
everything. And they've started by neutralizing the
continuum and eliminating... something else."
"And what is that?," Worf asked.
"Believe me, Microbrain, you don't want to know."
"Q," Picard yelled. "Stop this evasiveness and..."
"Earth, Picard. They eliminated the Planet Earth. It
never existed."
No one said anything. There was no movement on the
bridge.
"Speechless," Q said. "I would never had believed it. I
guess these new guys are more powerful."
"Come ...now..., Q." Picard said slowly. "If what you
...
nastekmj