Worlds Without End, Part XIV

Admiral Jellico couldn't help but smile as he watched the docking clamps release. The Charlemagne and the Talman drifted out of Utopia Planetia, two more ships returned to the fleet with their new hyperdrives. Ambassador Talva had suggested that some Imperial engineers assist in their refit efforts, and since then the time spent in dry-dock had dropped from six weeks to a mere two. Jellico appreciated that. It was the star destroyer floating nearby that he didn't appreciate.

Jellico knew the Cardassians very well, and had been involved in many aspects of planning the Dominion War campaign. Many times he'd looked at reports and concluded that defeat was inevitable, and were it not for a set of fortunate events and the under-the-table work of Section 31, those would be Jem'hadar warships over Earth. When Jellico had read Janeway's report, he knew that she had waken a sleeping giant. He hadn't slept a wink that night, flipping back and forth on the issue. Should they send someone out to blow up the wormhole? He'd reached that decision more than once. But hyperdrive was here, and the galaxy was a much smaller place, and he'd realized that there was the possibility they were going to stumble over another sleeping giant at some point, one they couldn't so easily escape. In the end, the alliance was the safer option, but the sight of Imperial warships instead of Dominion ones didn't set his mind at ease.

"Admiral," the lieutenant at comm said, "the Garret is hailing us."

Jellico tapped the communication panel. "This is Jellico."

"Utopia Planetia," the Imperial reported, "we're tracking a series of gravitation anomalies moving throughout the system. Are you aware of what could be causing it?"

Jellico turned to Commander Wellis, who oversaw Utopia Planetia. "Any idea what he's talking about?"

"We're not detecting anything, sir," Wellis said with a shake of his head.

"Garret, we're not seeing anything," Jellico said.

"Utopia, be advised we are still reading over thirty anomalies converging."

"Sensor ghosts," Wellis said.

"Sir," the comm officer asked, "Imperials use different sensors then us... could these be cloaked ships?"

"The gravitational effects of a starship are too small to be detected," Wellis replied. "Besides, there's no way the Romulans could get past the sensor net and no reason for the Klingons to come here cloaked."

Jellico took a deep breath through his nose. "I'm not taking any chances. Raise shields, weapons at the ready, and get the word out to the fleet."

"Sir, they can't be-"

"Don't tell me 'can't,' commander," Jellico said, "just..." He trailed off and watched as Romulan and Cardassian ships appeared out of nowhere. "Send a message to Starfleet command. It appears the Federation is being invaded."

Moff Jerjerrod was in the command center of the Death Star when Colonel Dyer arrived. Dyer had been the commander of the ground forces for the Endor shield generator, and had proven capable during the construction of the Death Star. "Report, colonel," he said.

Dyer presented Jerjerrod with a datapad. "All personnel and equipment evacuated from the Endor moon, sir."

"Any problems I should be aware of?"

"No, sir," Dyer said. "The locals were only too happy to see us leave."

"Good." Jerjerrod gave the datapad the once over. "Now," he said as he continued scanning it, "you said you had something to discuss with me?"

"Yes, sir," Dyer said. "I'm not sure if you were informed sir, but we had a bit of a problem with the indigenous tribes. They attacked the outpost on two separate occasions. We repelled them, of course," he added, "but they did cause some damage, killed a few of our men."

"Your point, colonel?"

"Now that the Death Star is complete, it will prove necessary to test it, yes?"

"On an uninhabited world, colonel."

"I don't think anyone's going to notice, sir," Dyer said, with just the slightest smirk. "After all, if the Endor moon was well-known, we wouldn't have built the Death Star here. And it would do a great deal for morale."

Jerjerrod smiled a little. It was a tempting target, and he had heard the reports... the furry little natives were rather difficult to deal with. He turned to the gunners. "I want a firing solution on the Endor moon."

"Thank you, sir," Dyer said. Together they watched as space turned beyond the window, until the moon filled it.

The concave formation in the northern hemisphere of the station began to glow at key points, eventually lancing out small green beams, or at least, small in comparison to the one that came next, firing from the very center of the cavity. It picked up energy from them and lanced forward as a ray of destructive energy, striking through the planet and into the very heart of the ancient world like the bolt of judgment thrown by a wrathful deity. In the blink of an eye, the world exploded, debris filling a hundred thousand kilometers in all directions. The Death Star sat unmoved as lumps of the planet bounced harmlessly off its shields, uncaring about the lives that were lost, unmoved by the devastation of such a weapon.

"A satisfactory test," Moff Jerjerrod said, "although I'd like you to recheck the alignment of tube 2a, I think we had a significant power loss in that area." No one else seemed to care either. The Death Star turned and vanished into hyperspace, leaving an expanding debris field in its wake.

Mon Mothma turned the recording off. "What are they planning now?" she asked General Madine.

"According to our sources," Madine said, "the Death Star will be heading to the Napuli System."

"The wormhole," Mon Mothma said.

Madine nodded. "It's believed they'll be assisting Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Borg campaign, but I'm convinced this is just a shakedown, ma'am. They're working the bugs out of the system before the Emperor puts it to use against either us, or the other civilizations beyond the wormhole."

"I see," she said. "What are our options?"

Madine thought and sighed a little. "I really don't see any, ma'am."

"You're having second thoughts."

"About the rebellion?"

"About not destroying it when we had the chance," Mon Mothma said.

"I wish we could have," he said. "But I don't deal in the way things could have been, ma'am, just in as they are. The Death Star is a threat we knew we'd have to face; now that threat is here. We'll have to approach it with what is, not what could have beens."

"Of course, general." Mon Mothma looked at the hologram of the debris field. "But I hope that 'is' can be done soon, or I fear what will be."

The Mars defense perimeter went into action, but there was little they could hope to accomplish; they just weren't equipped to stop such a large invasion force as the one seen here. The Garret moved on a course to intercept, but even the star destroyer couldn't hold off over thirty cap ships. "What's the word from Starfleet Command?" Jellico asked as he watched the engagement.

"They've launched all ships," the lieutenant said, and the Imperials have helped form a defensive perimeter of Earth-"

"It's not Earth they're after," Jellico said. "It's Mars... they want the hyperdrive."

"The Romualans and Cardassians aren't going to risk war for an engine," Wellis said.

"Yes they would," Jellico said. Because I would, he added in his own mind. If two sides are militarily even but one has the speed advantage, Jellico knew who was going to win at least nine times out of ten. The hyperdrive was strategically invaluable, it put cloaks to shame. In the minds of those two powers, war was going to happen sooner or later, so they might as well risk it now, when they could possibly do something to help even the odds. That meant Jellico had to do everything he could to stop them. "Any docked ships are to be evacuated immediately," he said.

"Sir?"

"If it looks like they're going to get any of our ships, we blow them up," Jellico said. He saw the looks on their faces. "You have a problem with that?" He could see they did. They were Starfleet engineers by training... they had the kinds of minds that were perfect for understanding how to put together finely-tuned flying machines, and zero understanding of the humanoids who flew them. "Those are my orders."

Wellis was downcast but nodded. "Aye sir," he said.

Jellico watched the battle, helpless, knowing that the only ships he could possibly destroy were his own. His stomach sunk as a Romulan ship blasted the nacelle off one of the Galaxy-class ships, and it veered off course, crashing into the Garret. Always ones to seize an opportunities, the Romulans and Cardassians pounded the star destroyer as it tried to recover from the collision.

"Captain Tans," came a disturbing voice over the comm. Tans was the commanding officer of the Garret.

"Yes, my lord," Tans said.

"You are to stand your ground," Lord Vader ordered.

The Garret was suffering visible hull breaches under the assault. "As you command, my lord," Tans replied grimly. It was to buy time, Jellico knew. The fleet from Earth was on its way, but the invaders could get in and out before then, unless the Garret stood in the way. Vader understood the significance of the hyperdrive advantage, and was prepared to sacrifice tens of thousands of his own men to maintain it. Jellico didn't know whether to be relieved or frightened. When the Garret exploded, he fell towards the latter, but it only lasted a moment. Three star destroyers and two Federation ships, including the Enterprise, emerged from their micro-jump and engaged the dozen or so invaders left. The invaders tried to get through to the prize, with war effectively declared there could be no turning back without it. It was a fatal mistake; the Imperial-Federation fleet didn't destroy so much as slaughter them, and Jellico felt no sympathy. "Lieutenant," he said, "send my thanks to Lord Vader for their aid and sacrifice." He watched as a flaming Warbird fell towards the Mars surface, and wondered how the quadrant would change in the days to come.

A small fire crackled and snapped in the darkness. Metal quietly clicked against metal. There was the sound of breathing, not heavy, but audible. Luke looked past the flames at his sister as she worked, face almost contorted with concentration as she continued assembling the pieces. He watched, he listened, he sensed, but he said nothing. This was her test, and it would have to be completed alone.

Then there was nothing but the fire. "It's finished," Leia said quietly.

Luke nodded. "Then show me."

Leia looked at it as if it might jump out of her hands. "I'm afraid it won't work."

"Do I even need to answer that?"

"No," Leia said with a sigh. "Do, or do not. There is no try." She raised her hand and flipped the switch, and a blue beam lit the darkness. She lowered her hand slowly, and the blade hummed as it passed through air. She switched if off and looked up at Luke; he was nodding with approval.

"Your training is complete," he said, his throat dry. "I confer on you the rank of Jedi Knight."

Instead of being a joyous thing, the statement seemed to hang over them like a foul cloud. "Luke, I'm not ready," Leia said.

"Yes you are."

"What, with a few months?" she said incredulously. "You're insane."

"You learn things very quickly," Luke said. "You have a natural tendency towards peace. I-" He floundered. "No jokes, please, but obviously I used to feel attracted towards you, but since we've learned the truth, I've come to realize that that attraction is for the peace that just radiates out of you. It makes you a natural Jedi... it's why your abilities manifested themselves even without training."

"Luke, there's so much more I need to learn," she pleaded.

"That's called 'life,' Leia. With experience you'll grow stronger in the Force."

"But I feel like it's not complete," Leia said.

"I know, I felt the same way. In the old days we'd have a Jedi Master to guide us further along the path, but there are no more masters, so we've got to just follow what we've learned. 'Already you have that which you need,'" he quoted. "I've given you the knowledge Leia, and it will serve you well. But wisdom is acquired... you have to find that yourself."

"It's just... I thought I'd feel different, somehow."

"Jedi are mortals, just like everyone else," Luke said. "It doesn't mean you have all the answers. But you do have the Force as your ally."

"And someone to watch your back," a voice said. They turned, and Han walked into the light of the fire. Leia rushed up and embraced him. The day after he'd returned he had the ship loaded and took off for his search into the unknown parts of the galaxy. Knowledge was sketchy, which meant that hyperspace travel was going to be dicey, and there was no telling what kind of people he was going to run into. His month-long trip stretched out into six weeks, and without any communications Riekken was preparing the second team on the assumption that Han and Lando were dead.

"Where have you been," Leia demanded.

"Easy, your worship," he said with a lop-sided grin, "You didn't really think anything could happen to me did you?"

"You're impossible!"

"Yes I am," Han said smoothly.

Luke cleared his throat, and the two looked at him. "Glad to see you're all right; what'd you find out?"

"We've got a lead," Han said, now serious. "A group that some say have actually fought the Federation before."

"So we may have found an ally."

"Let's hope so, because so far friends have been in short supply." He turned back to Leia. "So I got to thinking that if we were going to try to convince them, we'd need someone with a way with words. Someone charming, attractive, clever yet down to Earth." He paused. "But they didn't want me so I figured you might give it a shot."

Leia gave him a little shove. "When will we be going?"

"I made it back a few days earlier than I planned," he replied. "We can leave in six days and still make it with time to spare."

"Then we'd better discuss things in detail," Leia said, and she and Han walked off towards the base. Luke put out the fire. So... he was no longer the last of the Jedi. He looked up at the stars of this alien galaxy. Funny, he thought he would feel different now too, but it was still there, that emptiness from so many he'd had to say goodbye to.

Luke took a deep breath and kept looking at those stars. It was a whole new galaxy here, and he wondered what he was going to find up there.

Seven of Nine stood alone on the observation deck, watching the stars. The turbolift opened, and quiet footfalls met her enhanced ears. "You've been performing admirably," Picard offered. "On the tests, to be specific."

Seven took a deep breath, still watching the stars. "Recitation of information and logical thinking are elementary problems." There was so much to the universe... and she'd seen so little of it. "It is the interaction with others that proves difficult. I fear it will be the obstacle to success."

"Starfleet isn't about human foibles, Seven," Picard said. "The Federation is a collection of differing cultures, with different ways of approaching social interactions. You're not being judged, Seven. We respect all cultures."

"You are intimately familiar with my culture, captain," Seven said. She turned to him. "Could Starfleet possibly respect that? Could anyone?"

"No one will hold you accountable for the Collective's sins-"

"You did," Seven said, and she was surprised that she had, and a little embarrassed. "I apologize, captain. That was unfair of me."

Picard forced a small smile to his face. "I deserve that," he admitted.

"I must confess that I had not considered ever joining Starfleet," she said, turning back to the window. "But now that I find the possibility placed before me, and I consider all the opportunities it presents... I am... I am afraid." She closed her eyes and looked down. "Very afraid... and that is not rational."

Picard put a fatherly hand on her shoulder. "To dream, Seven, is what separates you from the Borg," he said. "There is nothing wrong with fearing to lose what we want."

"But I also fear having it," Seven said. "The thought of being integrated into the crew... I cannot understand this paradox, captain. I fear success and failure."

"You're afraid of change," Picard said.

Seven nodded. "I am Borg, and I fear adapting. The irony is not lost on me, captain."

"Well," Picard said softly, "if you want my opinion, you are going to pass the tests with flying colors." He gestured across space. "And you'll have all this to explore. And I believe, Seven, that in time, you might find something out there that will stop you from feeling afraid."

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