Worlds Without End, Part XIII

High above the orange-red surface of Mars hung Utopia Planetia, the Federation's most advanced starship construction facility, and with the introduction of the hyperdrive, now possibly the most advanced in the galaxy. After the Enterprise's successful launch, Admiral Jellico had been placed in command of the facility. A couple of months ago it would have been an insult to put an officer of his rank and experience in such a position, but today, he took it as an honor, because it was in the long-term likely to be one of the most important posts in the Federation.

"We sow for tomorrow, not for today," the old Vulcan proverb said, and Jellico applied that to his new job. Things move slowly, but that was simply because change often demanded it. They had twenty new ships being constructed to optimize the use of the hyperdrive, and so far five starships -besides the Enterprise and Voyager, of course- had been successfully refitted to accommodate it, but each craft was proving a learning experience of its own. Some of the older warp cores couldn't provide enough power without risking structural failures, so they'd need even further upgrades to be worthwhile, or just have to be retired from service altogether. He was projecting two to four years to successfully upgrade the entire fleet, but when that was done the balance of power would undeniably shift in the Federation's favor.

An alert sounded, and Jellico instinctively got to his feet. He rushed out of his office towards the central control area; he'd been worried about an attack. The hyperdrive was strictly need-to-know, but with each ship launched that number grew substantially, and sooner or later somebody else was going to find out, and take steps. "What's happening?" he asked.

"Long-range sensors are picking up something coming towards the Terran system, sir," the lieutenant said.

"'Something?'"

"It's moving too fast to get a positive identification, sir, or even any details. Could be a ship, could be a fleet."

Jellico looked at the readouts. It was too fast to be warp and too big to be the Enterprise, so that meant it was three possibilities. One was simply someone they hadn't met who just happened to pick now to stop by. Two was the Borg; if they'd caught the Enterprise or managed to snag an Imperial ship, they could have assimilated hyperdrive technology. Third was the Imperials themselves, with some star destroyers from the looks of things. Jellico had been the biggest proponent of an alliance, but he'd also secretly been worried that the Empire would use Voyager as a gauge of Federation strength and may try to annex it. All three were rather unpleasant options. "Warn Earth," he said, just in case. "Every ship we've got, get it out there. Hopefully I'm just overreacting."

"Sir, Spacedock reports they have eight ships launched and are ready as well. Starfleet Command has ordered not to fire unless ordered to."

Jellico nodded. Let's hope no one goes off half-cocked here, he thought.

The ships dropped out of hyperspace; they weren't Borg, at least. "Magnify," Jellico ordered, and looked closely at them. Yes, without a doubt, those were the Imperial ships Janeway had met. Jellico fidgeted with his left hand as he looked it over, wondering what was going to happen next. Then a slight bit of relief came over him, and he pointed. "The Enterprise," he said.

"Should we stand down?"

"No, not yet," Jellico said. Picard was a bit soft, but he wasn't a traitor. Still, it was remotely possibly he or a member of his crew could have led the Empire here under duress. "Hail the Enterprise," he ordered.

Seconds later, Captain Picard appeared on the viewer. "Is there a problem, admiral?"

"Just wanted to make sure everything was all clear, Jean-luc," Jellico said. "You and your friends caught us by surprise." He waited a moment. "They are your friends, right?"

"Yours and mine, admiral," Picard said.

"That's good to hear, at least," Jellico said. "Why exactly did they bring four warships with them?"

"It's a long way to the wormhole, admiral," Picard said. "They're just a small escort to ensure the safety of the diplomatic corps while they're on Earth; it was all part of the negotiations."

"Sir," the lieutenant interrupted, "Starfleet command is ordering all ships to stand down."

Jellico nodded slowly, eyes still on the viewscreen. "Stand down, lieutenant," he said. "Good work, Jean-luc, Utopia out." He cut the transmission. "Lieutenant, I'll be in my office," he said.

He'd wanted this, but... the sight of warships over Earth made him very uncomfortable. It was a reasonable position, all in all, but, old instincts told him to be cautious. He sat at his desk, activated the viewer, and watched the fleet slip into orbit, shaking his head ever so slightly.

The Lambda-class shuttle and her fighter escort exited the Conquest's docking bay, but Picard and the diplomatic corps had already beamed down to the platform. Admiral Parks had been waiting, and he gave Picard a grin from ear to ear. "You had us worried, and I don't just mean this dramatic entrance," he said, pumping Picard's hand. "We'd worried something happened to you out there."

"You should know by now never to give up on the Enterprise," Picard said, smiling in return. It faded as he saw the man over his shoulder.

"Welcome back, captain," the Federation president said.

"Thank you, sir," Picard said, but it didn't have much enthusiasm in it. How he'd managed to stay in office after the martial law incident was simply stunning.

"It's you who should be thanked. This looks to be the start of a wonderful new friendship."

"Just doing my duty, sir," Picard said neutrally, and the president went off to talk with someone else. "Admiral, while I have your ear, there's something I'd like to discuss. You recall the advisor Janeway provided?"

"Was there a problem?"

"On the contrary, she exceeded all expectations," Picard said. "She's still a civilian, but I think she'd make an outstanding officer."

"Then have her join the Academy and we'll see what happens," Parks said.

"I'd rather keep her with my crew," Picard said. "She's doing some valuable work, more valuable than writing papers on ethics and the historical significance of the Battle of Waterloo."

"There's protocols in place, Jean-luc."

"I'm asking this as a personal favor," Picard said.

Parks sighed a little. Picard didn't need to remind him that he had some favors to call in. "Have her file sent to me, I'll look it over, see what we can arrange."

"Thank you," Picard said, and they both turned as the shuttle settled onto the ramp.

The ramp lowered, and the head of the diplomatic corps stepped forward to make introductions. First was Lord Vader, still as chilling as he was back on the Conquest. The president was first, of course, then some of the representatives of member worlds in the Federation. Vader wasn't exactly disrespectful, but with that expressionless mask and his silence -save the off-putting breathing- it seemed that everyone was barely worthy of his notice. Of course, he wasn't the ambassador, so diplomacy wasn't expected of him, but it did seem to add an air of tension to the event.

Then he reached K'Jorl, the ambassador from the Klingon Empire. "I would speak to you about relations between your empire and mine," the Klingon said in what passed for diplomacy on Q'onos.

"My staff will handle this," Vader said, and turned away as if K'Jorl were nothing.

K'Jorl grabbed Vader's arm. "I'm speaking to you," he said. There was only a small amount of menace in his voice. Picard had to catch himself before he let his exasperation show. First the Borg, then the Klingons, perhaps for an encore the Dominion could show up and fire on a star destroyer. But apparently there was an encore already planned... K'Jorl visibly swallowed, and his mild annoyance was giving way to confusion. He coughed, then gasped, then grasped his throat. Vader just stared at him, not speaking, not moving, just watching as the Klingon stumbled about, choking on nothing. finally Vader turned away, and K'Jorl let out a gasp and hunched over on the ground, panting for air.

"And you are?" Vader demanded of the next in line. The little man quickly babbled his name, and Vader continued through the introductions faster than any Picard had ever seen.

"Jean-luc," Parks said under his breath, "what the devil did you bring back with you."

Picard shook his head, having trouble believing what he'd just seen too. "Hopefully not the devil."

Han settled the Falcon into the docking bay at the Rebel base, powered down, and headed down the ramp with Lando. To his surprise, in that short time frame, a small crowd had gathered there to wait for him, including General Riekken himself. "Any word on the Kazon?" he asked.

Han and Lando joined the group and together they proceeded towards the command center. "We made contact, and they are definitely interested in water."

"Extremely interested," Lando said for emphasis.

"They hate the Federation," Han continued. "Janeway in particular."

"Her again," Luke said without a sign of surprise.

"Yeah, she's got quite a reputation," Lando said. Nearly every species they'd found so far that knew of the Federation mentioned this Janeway by name. Only one had anything positive to say. While this reconnaissance was still in the very early stages, everything so far sounded consistent with a power that would ally themselves with the Empire.

"Tell me about the Kazon," Riekken asked.

"They're structured like a militarized merchant marine, with different factions vying for different territories to either engage in trade or just to raid or extort goods."

"What would be their position if we fought the Federation?" Riekken asked.

"Standing on their feet, cheering," Han said. "But I doubt they'd join in the fight unless we paid them, and I don't think it's worth it. For their size, their ships are way underpowered."

"How underpowered?"

"We saw some ships bigger than a starcruiser with the firepower of maybe a dozen X-wings," Lando said.

"Alright, so that leaves the Kazon out," Riekken commented, as they entered the command center. Riekken stepped aside briefly to get an update from the comm chief, then returned. "No other ships in the area, looks like you weren't followed this time."

"And no sign of Han's friends?" Lando asked with a grin only a backstabber could wear. Han gave him a dirty look and Lando covered his mouth to contain his snickering.

"There's been no sign of the Hirogen since their attack," Riekken said, ignoring their antics. "Derlin's tightened security, and Antilles is stepping up patrols, just to be safe."

"That's not going to drain our resources, is it?" Lando asked.

Riekken shook his head. "I made sure we had ample resources for this. Supplies won't be a problem for a long time." He paused to take a datapad proffered by a passing officer. "We lost track of the Imperial ships heading for Federation territory," he said. "They were on a heading roughly thirty degrees off the galactic meridian."

"That fits in with what little intel we have," Han said. "'Across the galaxy' was what they kept saying."

"Given how divided and separated this galaxy is, I'm surprised your information is even that good," Riekken said. "This is going to make finding them much harder."

"It's something," Han said. "We take your lead, and maybe a long range trip will give us some more info."

Riekken thought about it, then shook his head in mild disbelief. "You do know it'd be quite a risk. You could wind up right in the middle of Borg space without backup."

"I've faced the Empire without backup, the Borg are no problem."

"It's still very dangerous."

"Sometimes you've just got to go for the Idiot's Array and hope like hell you pull what you need," Han said.

Riekken nodded a little, then shook Han's hand. "Good luck, Solo."

"Thank you, general," Han said, then turned to Luke while Riekken got on with his report. "Where's Leia?"

Luke hesitated, then spoke. "She's training right now. She'll be done in three hours or so."

"Oh," Han said, "not a problem." His tone made it clear that it was.

"I know it's been a while-"

"Five days," Han said, turning and walking out of the command center, Luke and Lando close behind.

"This is really important," Luke said. "She really needs to concentrate."

"Yeah, don't we all," Han shot back. He almost ran into Chewbacca, who was heading towards the Falcon to give it the once over. "See what I mean... Hey!" Chewie stopped and turned back. "I thought I told you to get rid of that thing!" Chewie tapped the Hirogen helmet he was wearing as if he hadn't realized it was there. "Yes, furball, that!" Chewie growled something then started laughing; Lando chuckled. "Yeah, well I'm sure you'd have made a great throw rug," Han shot back. He turned and stormed off, but Chewie barked something after him, causing Lando to laugh so hard he had to grab Luke for support.

Luke left Lando and Chewie to their jokes and chased after him. "Han-"

"I don't want to hear it."

"She loves you," Luke said. He grabbed Han's shoulder and turned him around. "It's not just words," he added. "I can feel it coming from her whenever she thinks about you. She's not putting you second."

"Every moment she's studying," Han fumed. "The last time she and I had any time together was flying here."

"Then take her with you next time," Luke said. Han scoffed. "She's going to be a little involved over these next few days, but when she's done you both can go on this mission together. You'll have plenty of time then."

"Yeah, it'll be real romantic," Han said, turning and heading off again. Luke watched him, shaking his head a little. You don't know how lucky you are, he thought.

The Emperor was in meditation when he felt the mental touch of his servant. He was across the universe in another time, but with the Force even those barriers were insignificant. "Yes, Lord Vader," he intoned.

"As you predicted, master," Vader said, "the Klingons sought out an alliance with us."

"Are the negotiations complete?"

"Yes, my master. The Klingons are anxious to acquire our technology. They are brazen and stupid."

"As expected. Talva is to remain on Earth, send one of the others to the Klingons."

"Yes master."

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen it. Soon, they will all be... mine."

Go To Part XIV
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