textfiles/sf/STARTREK/generati

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From: Anne-Lise Pasch <xuuaw@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: Generations 2: The whole story :)
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 10:22:52 +0000
Organization: University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
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--

This story is set after Generations, and before the 'future' in "All Good 
Things". It is also a follow up to the excellent Kid's Krew stories by 
Steven Ratliffe.

All mistakes within this story are mine, all mine. :)

--

Generations 2:    Generations Ahead.



    Sleekly, majestically, the U.S.S. Endeavour edged out of Spacedock above
the San Francisco Yards, and moved forward under impulse power. The rays of
the sun reflected upon the saucer section of the Nebula-class starship,
proudly displaying the registry NCC-71805-A. In contrast to its elegance,
the bridge crew of the vessel were having a difficult time holding back
their emotions. For them, the adventure was just beginning, but this crew
were not adverse to danger or adventure. Although they never actively sought
the precarious situations they had often found themselves in, they soon
found themselves engaged in one perilous situation or another.
    Bloodleblip. "Come!" called out the Captain, Marrissa Picard. Marrissa
was reknowned throughout the upper echelons of Starfleet for her
intelligence, her experience, and her age, as she had attained the rank of
Captain before the age of twenty. Indeed, as daughter of the now-legendary
Jean-Luc Picard, she had been acting Captain of the Enterprise on a number
of occassions. The door swished apart, admitting the lean form of Jay
Gordan, her first officer.
 "Ah, number one. Just in time to join me for some tea."
Jay smiled, a machiavellian grin breaking into his pixie-like features.
 "What, no strawberry juice?" he asked. Marrissa allowed herself to share
the laughter, glad of the chance to relax. Over the years, her relationship
with Jay had matured into a very cordial and close friendship. Marrissa
sighed, her face reflecting the seriousness she felt.
 "What's to report, number one?" she asked, while walking over towards the
replicator.
 "Alexander has returned from his meeting with Kurn. You were right,
Marrissa. He was able to use his family's link to the High Council to get us
the two Klingon ships we needed. Unfortunately, we only have access to two
B'rel class Birds of Prey, not the larger K'Vort class."
 "At least we have two cloakable ships." She replied, nodding. "Let's just
hope we don't have to engage in combat. What condition are the Birds of Prey
in?"
 "According to Commander Sutter, the ships are in perfect working order and
ready for the mission."
 "That's Clara for you." laughed Marrissa. "Never anything less than perfect.
Prepare the away team for transport, Jay, and get underway as soon as possible."
 "Aye Captain." Jay turned and left, a trace of a smile still playing upon
his lips.

    The band of energy rippled onward, following a clearly defined path.
Stellar Cartographers, aware of its deadly potential had plotted its course
for years, diverting ships and, when necessary, evacuating colonies.
Oblivious to the fear it left behind in its passing, the Nexus, forged on.
Although the great ribbon possessed life, in a fashion, it was devoid of
intelligence.

    Guinan stared out of the window. Although she was in a place of great
joy, her eyes reflected the anguish she was experiencing. Frustrated at her
powerlessness to alter events, she had no option but to watch them occur.
For her, time had no meaning. All time was one time, and the weighty
depression of that fact was enough to suffuse her contentment with the
clouds of despair. A tear escaped the confines of one eye, and she looked
away towards the ground, crushed by her need to help and her inability to
render assistance.

    Marissa stared at the image of the Nexus on the viewscreen. The energy
ribbon rippled before her, a bizarre snake of colour streaking across the
starry background. She hoped the experts were right, that the
newly-devoloped (And banned, she remembered with a smile) phasic cloaking
device would enable a suitably adapted Klingon Bird of Prey to move safely
through the Nexus, analysing as it passes through. A second bird of Prey was
on hand to actually make contact with the Nexus, allowing, they hoped, some
form of communication with its inhabitants. Although Marrissa was no expert
in this field, even she recognised a desperate bid when she saw it, and she
hoped that there wouldn't be too many casualties for her to be responsible
for.

    Will sighed, leaning heavily into his command chair. This was where he 
wanted to be, he realised. Captain William T. Riker. He had to admit it to 
himself, it sounded good. How long he'd waited for the opportunity to take 
this chair, and that moment on Varidian 3 when he'd looked up through the 
shattered remains of the Enterprise's bridge, he'd thought this moment 
would never have come. Still, he thought, a smile creasing his aged face,
here he was.
 "Sir!" An Ensign's voice broke into his reverie, and he immediately turned 
his attention to the matter at hand.
 "Yes Ensign, what is it?"
 "We're approaching the coordinates set for the meeting point, Captain. The
Grissom, the Endeavour and two Klingon ships are already there."
 "Good!" Riker enthused. "Hail the Endeavour, I want to speak to Captain
Picard."

    Marrissa was sitting in her ready room when the call from the Enterprise
came through. She composed herself, unconsciously adjusting her uniform
in the same manner that her adoptive father had too.
 "Captain Picard, good to see you!" Riker's baritone rang out.
 "Hello again, Captain." acknowledged Marrissa.
 "What's the situation Captain?"
 "Starfleet have asked that an experienced group of officers should
attempt to gain access to the Nexus. Apparently, that's us!" Marrissa
broke into a wide smile. "We each have to make selections from our crew.
I'm handing control of the Endeavour over to Alexander, my Chief
of Security. I've selected Jay Gordan and Clarrissa to accompany me."
 "Who's been selected from the Grissom?" asked Riker.
 "Captain Charlesworth of the Grissom is coming along, as is his first
officer, Lieutenant-Commander Townley. Also Commander Data."
 "Data? Last i heard he'd retired from Star Fleet!" Interrupted Will.
 "He was approached by Admiral Bernlin and asked to return on a special
commission. Do you know which officers to choose from your own crew?"
 "Yes. Myself, Deanna and Commander Vesch."
 "Vesch? I'm not familiar with that name. Should I be?"
 "She's the granddaughter of Tasha Yar, half Romulan, and a damned good
officer."
 "She can be trusted?" Marrissa had always harboured distrust for the
Romulans, despite the peace treaty.
 "Doubtlessly. She has proved herself many times over."
 "Alright then, prepare to beam over to the Vor'cha with your chosen crew
members in thirty minutes, standard mission equipment. We don't have long
before the Nexus arrives."
 "I'll see you there. Riker out."  

    Alexander was in the Holodeck of the Endeavour, practicing his fighting
skills with a Kut'luch, the bladed weapon favoured by Klingon Assassins. The
holodeck had been programmed to ignore safety factors, and he was immersed
within the deadly game. Suddenly the hidden communicators within the
holodeck chimed out and repeated, "Lieutenant Commander Alexander, report to
the transporter room." Just for a second, Alexander lost his concentration,
and was nearly impaled by a spear, thrust by a humanoid creature with a
face resembling a wild boar. With instincts honed to near-perfection,
Alexander whirled and buried the serrated blade into the torso of his
attacker, mortally wounding it.
 "Computer, end program!" he called out jubilantly, and strode out. Behind
him, the alien world evaporated into a blank grid.
 
    Will Riker stepped off the transporter, and waited for his eyes to adjust
to the dimmed light of the Kul'pla's transporter room. A young, black-
haired woman came up to meet him.
 "Greetings Captain Riker, I'm Clara Sutter, Chief of Engineering."
 "Ah, young Clara, I remember you from aboard the Enterprise." Riker winked,
playfully. "How long ago that was!"
  Clara laughed dutifully. "Marrissa is on level 2. She's converted the
galley into a ready room and will meet you there. I've been assigned to
escort you."
 "Then lead on, young lady." Riker's irrepressable grin broke out as he
followed Clara from the transporter room.
 
    "The situation is this," Marrissa concluded her briefing. "Lieutenant-
Commander Townley, yourself, Commander Vesch and a skeleton crew will fly
the Vor'kis through the Nexus as a guinea-pig run for the Kul'pla. You
will set your shield modulation to 12.36, the same as the Nexus. Gather as 
much scientific data as possible. The rest of us," Marrissa's eyes scanned the 
room. "will enter the Nexus in the Kul'pla. Questions?"
 "What will we encounter within the Nexus?" this from Riker.
 "Previous reports indicate that you enter an environment tailored to suit
your personality, rather like a holodeck program. Once inside, we have to stay
in contact, or we lose the feel of reality."
 "Damned cockamamie idea if ever I heard one!" said Captain Charlesworth.
 The assembled officers grinned in agreement and at the old Captain's quaint 
verbiage.

    The Vor'kis sped towards the Nexus on half impulse. On the bridge, tension
was beginning to mount.

    "The shields aren't modulating! What's wrong?" Lieutenant-Commander Townley
stepped towards Vesch and looked over her shoulder. That's not the correct..."
 His voice was cut off by the ship's computer.
 "WARNING! WARNING! Shield failure imminent." The voice was gruff, the computer
repeating the message in both Klingon and English.

    From the bridge of the Endeavour, the Vor'kis appeared to implode. The
warp core in the centre of the ship went critical, vaporising most of the vessel.
Fragments of hull spun away into the uncaring void.

    Marrissa turned away from the viewscreen of the Kul'pla, nauseated by the
loss of the crewmembers.
 "It didn't work!" she exclaimed, frustrated.
 "It would be senseless to attempt our original plan with this vessel."
stated Data. Marrissa agreed.
 "Can the communicators be set to transmit from within the Nexus?" she
enquired.
 "I believe so." said Data, simply.
 "Then make it so." said Marrissa.
 "Hey, wait a minute!" exclaimed Riker. "How do you expect us to get inside
the Nexus? You saw what happened to the Vor'kis!"
 "There will be no us. I intend to be beamed alone directly into the path of
the Nexus."
 "Madness!" Captain Charlesworth burst out.
 "No." said Data. "Records indicate that Captain Kirk survived being sucked
into space when the Nexus hit the Enterprise-C."
 "I volunteer to accompany you." said Jay.
 "Me too." said Clara.
 "Just us three, then." said Marrissa, noticing Riker about to speak. "As
Mission Commander, I wont be responsible for any other lives."
 "As you wish." said Riker, wearing an expression of obvious distaste.
 
    Marrissa awoke from the darkness. She could still remember the biting
chill of space in that brief millisecond before she blacked out, before she
came... here. She looked about her, and recognised the Enterprise. She was
inside a Jeffries tube, and people were running past. Suddenly, there was
nothing more natural in the world than to be here. She was being hunted by
the Enterprise security. Why? She tried to think. Of course, it was an
exercise to test the readiness of the cadets. She climbed out of the tube
and entered ten-forward. She sat down, taking a book out of a pocket. She
was just about to begin reading when a woman stepped in front of her.
 "I don't know you." said the stranger.
 "I'm Marrissa Amber Picard, head of the Kid's crew, Acting Ensign."
 The woman laughed, annoying Marrissa.
 "You're no more a kid than I am!" she stated. Suddenly the scene around her
shifted, and she was on a dry, arid planet.
 "What did you ju..."
 The woman cut her off with a wave of her hand.
 "Watch!" she said. Suddenly, a large cube appeared in the sky. Marrissa
recognised it immediately as a Borg ship.
 "I see this every day." said the woman. "My name's Guinan, and you're in
the Nexus. You can be anywhere, anywhen here. The Nexus protects its
occupants, prevents illness, keeps you happy by attempting to cater for your
every wish. Eventually, you realise that your wish is simply to leave. Can
you imagine what its like, living for an eternity, constantly feeling
joyful? I'm forced to having to make myself want to see this," Guinan waved
towards the Borg ship, "just to keep myself sane. This place must be   
destroyed."
 "Do you have any idea how?" asked Marrissa.
 "Yes, there's an Engineer here, called Morak. He was on the same refugee
ship I was. He believes that if you could somehow alter the path of the
Nexus to pass into a sun, it would be destroyed."
 "Okay." said Marrissa. "How many others are there here?"
 "Including you and your friends, nine."
 Marrissa mentally kicked herself for having forgotten her friends. Still,
they would be unharmed.
 "I'll do my best." said Marrissa, her eyes reflecting nothing but grim
determination. 

    "Marrissa to Enterprise." Marrissa tapped her comm-badge.
 "Riker here, go ahead Marrissa."
 "I've spoken with a woman claiming to be Guinan. She believes that if you
can alter the path of the Nexus to pass through a star, it would be
destroyed."
 "We read you." Riker turned to Data. "Analysis, Mr. Data."
 "Intriguing concept. The path of the Nexus was changed before by destroying
stars along its path."
 "Not exactly a viable prospect, Data. Any alternatives?"
 "It may be possible to direct the Nexus by the creation of static warp
bubbles around it, which would act like walls to channel it."
 "How do we go about doing that?" asked Riker.
 "It would mean using two ships flying on each side of the Nexus. Our
shields have the capability to be modified to that end. The Enterprise has
an existing configuration in its data banks, and the cloaking device on the
Kul'pla could be easily modified to create bubbles."
 "What existing configuration?" asked Riker, mystified.
 "It was originally intended as metaphasic shielding." said Data. "Geordi
originally programmed it from notes made by Dr. Crusher."
 "Well," said Riker, "I've never known anything of Geordi's to go wrong yet!"
 "However, this plan would mean us having to fly almost into the star's
corona, and probably into it. We should survive, as we have metaphasic
shielding, but the Klingon ship will not."
 "Why do we have to fly so close to the star?"
 "Basically, we are trying to push the Nexus sideways, as soon as we pull 
away, the Nexus will continue on its original course. I suggest putting a
skeleton crew on the Kul'pla, and keeping a constant transporter lock on
the crew members, ready to beam them back before hitting the star's corona."
 "Can't we control the Klingon vessel remotely?" Riker asked.
 "No sir. Our systems are incompatible. Maybe if we had more time..." Data
gave a very human shrug and Riker smiled in response.
 "Okay Data, we run with your plan.
     
    "Marrissa to the Endeavour." she called out, touching her comm-badge.
 "Endeavour here. Doctor Johnson is on standby to recieve casualties."
Lieutenant Patterson's voice was barely audible through the waves of static.
 "Nine to beam up, engage when ready" Marrissa said.
   
    "Patterson to Bridge." Supra's voice came out over the intercom, startling
the commanding officer.
 "This is the Bridge, go ahead."
 "I have a problem getting a transporter lock, I can only get a partial lock
on seven of the nine life forms, with a possible eighth."
 "We're running out of time. Attempt to beam aboard all that you can."
 Patterson activated the transporter controls, and glanced nervously at the
pads. Seven forms materialised, and she was glad to see that Clara and Jay
were among them. Then she noticed that Marrissa wasn't. Feverishly, she
worked at the controls, but it was no good. The other two patterns were
shifting too rapidly to get even a partial lock. She looked up into Jays
eyes, and replied to his silent question with a shake of her head.
           
    The Enterprise under the guidance of Captain Riker and the Kul'pla under
the Captainship of Jay Gordan maneuvered into position on either side of of
the Nexus. At a signal from the Enterprise, the cloaking device on the
Kul'pla partially activated, blurring the ship. The Enterprise too was only
partially visible through its metaphasic shielding. Between the two vessels,
the Nexus thrashed about like a caged beast. Slowly, the two vessels edged
towards the Benecian sun. The hearts of the Captains on both ships were
heavy, knowing that by this action they were consigning a mutual friend to
death.
         
    Marissa stood on the bridge of the Enterprise, and ordered Alexander to
score 'I lost to a bunch of kids' onto the Cardassian vessel. Marrissa
internally basked in a moment of triumph. She had almost single-handedly
stopped a threat to the Federation, however slim, and now she was on a
personal high. The viewscreen changed from showing Alexander's Calligraphic
handwriting and flickered into the form of a Cardassian. It was at this
moment when Marrissa's world exploded.
     
    The Nexus, trapped between the subspace fields generated by the Enterprise
and the Kor'pla, plunged into the star's corona.
 "Transfer complete." informed Lieutenant Supra from the transporter room, a
scant few seconds before the Kul'pla exploded. Riker merely nodded in
response.
 "How are the shields holding up?" he enquired.
 "Shields at sixty percent and holding." stated Data, calm as usual.
 "Okay then, take us out." As the Enterprise banked upwards and headed out
of the Corona, only Deanna caught the tear in Riker's eye.
 "Jay, you have the bridge." Riker headed into the ready room.
     
    Bloodleblip.
 "Come!" called out Riker, just settling into the Captain's chair." Deanna
stepped into the room.
 "Will, I've known you..." Riker cut her off with a wave of his hand.
 "I know, Deanna. Marrissa deserved a lot more than that, but what else
could I have done? I had no choice. The good of the many..."
 "Far outweigh the good of the few." Deanna continued. "Yes, I don't blame
you for your course of action, and neither will anybody else. Not even
Jean-Luc. Yes, I can tell that is what's bothering you. You feel that you've
betrayed his trust. But as you say, what else could you have done?"
  Riker sighed, annoyed at himself. Feelings of guilt pervaded him, gripping
him in a mental fugue. Stop it, he thought. You're a starfleet officer. Do
your duty.
 "Deanna, I leave it to you to prepare the eulogy." he said.
     
    "She was not a woman you could forget." Riker's last words were still
echoing in Clara's mind as she sat on the bed in her quarters. The door
chimed.
 "Enter." she called, sitting upright. Jay entered the room, a somber
expression on his face. Clara relaxed again.
 "I should have been there, with her, in the Nexus." he declared.
 "Then you would be dead too." stated Clara, logical as always.
 "I'll always regret not being with her" Jay said, vaguely.
 "She died in the line of duty. Its the way she'd have wanted it." Clara
scowled at the cliched sound of her voice. "There's nothing any of us could
have done. Will you join me in a drink?"
 Jay nodded, and walked over to the replicator. He ordered two drinks and
came back with the glasses, passing one to Clara. She took it from him, and
saw his expression.
 "You were more deeply in love with her than you thought, weren't you?"
 Jay gave a barely perceptible nod. "Yes, I realised too late."
 Clara held up her glass. "To Marrissa, a good Captain and friend"
 "Yes." said Jay. "A good friend."
    
    The Nexus died. In every known continuum, the rippling band of energy was
fading out of existence. Inside, Marrissa screamed as she was caught within
the maelstrom of power, buffetted on all sides.
 "Home!" she cried, willing only to be free of the Nexus's grip. The Nexus,
existing in all dimensions and time frames, released her as per her wishes,
its last act before dying.
            
    As the Nexus began to fade, Guinan stared into the raging heart of a star.
Myriad colours played about her eyes as the ribbon of energy flailed about.
Her last thoughts were of her impending freedom, and strangely she smiled as
she was willingly consumed by the Sun's heat.
    
    Marrissa blinked as the kaleidoscope of colour cleared from her vision.
Pastoral fields stretched out before her, and the sky was a perfect blue.
The single, yellow orb of the Earth's sun was just reaching its zenith.
Laughing, Marrissa walked towards a rocky outcropping and peered over the
edge. Immediately she sobered. Below her, down the hillside she was standing
on, a group of neanderthals, wielding knives and spears, ran in a group
chasing after a creature she identified as something approximating a horse.
She gasped, realising that she was stranded on Earth thousands of years
before she was even born.
 "My dear Amber, there's no need to despair." With a start, Marrissa turned
around at the sound of a voice behind her. With a sob of relief, she hugged
the newcomer.
 "Well!" said Q, draping an arm over her shoulder. "After all our
stimulating chats, I couldn't just let you stay here. Think of the waste!"
 Marrissa's smile mirrored Q's own, as they both disappeared in a bright
flash of white light.


THE END.