The Rogue trader's Enterprise

Prologue

Stardate: Irrelevant

Imperial Date: Unknown

A sliding automatic door, similar to the ones found on all federation starships slid open, with a hiss as a man walked into the room. He wore the red and black jumpsuit of an officer of starfleet with all the appropriate insignia of a federation admiral. His short brown hair, topping a slightly aged face with small wrinkles in the skin, and somewhat sunken eyes gave him the look of someone who had lived his life yet still had much life left in him. His poise and the way he held himself told a very different tale, one of someone who had yet to even begin living or had lived so long that the now was the only entertainment he had left. The entertainment of the now was now responsible for the large grin he wore as he sat down at the table before him.

The room he had walked into was rounded, looking like it was built into a curved structure. The windows led outwards into the murky blackness of space as small pinpricks of light glided along in the distance as whatever they were on passed through the vacuum. The walls holding the glass-like substance in place curved upwards merging with, rather than meeting, the ceiling above. Along the walls were several pitch black mirrors containing the glowing lights of buttons along its surface. The table was of a shiny dark wood along the curved edges, it's center a near perfect mirror black plastic substance. The chairs of a soft smooth grey cloth that was formed into a rigid seat that could easily swivel and rotate with ease.

Half way into the room the scenery slowly began to change.

The table warped and twisted, it's normally smooth surfaces gaining hues of purple, pink, and red. The table itself changed as well becoming less plastic and more organic. The walls following suit as they're sleek surfaces shifting into a much more open space. The glass, windows, and space beyond shifted slowly and steadily that, to an observer, meshed in a way that caused one's mind to start hurting if he looked and thought about it too much.

The landscape beyond was a twisted nightmarish place. It's hills and valleys pulsed with dark and unholy energies. The ground was a devoid of life save for small warped creatures that scuttled about. The sky was a perpetual storm of lightning and clouds all warping inwards towards a central point on the horizon where demonic energies gathered into a sickly pillar of light.

Throughout all of this there was the maelstrom of never ending combat.

Warriors clad in ancient power armor shot, stabbed, and killed others while tanks and great walkers, bristling with weapons, battled around them. At the table opposite the man a strange calm surrounded the area his opposite sat. Fights would move away, guns would jam when aiming there, and most creatures just avoided the area as some fearsome dread overtook them.

Sitting at the end of the table was one of the power armored warriors. The blue and yellow colors and single eye symbol in the center of the chest indicated a warrior of the thousand sons. The fact that he had a head and his helmet had been removed indicated something much different. To someone looking at the warrior it would seem he was normal in all regards. An unsettling feeling emanating from him to be sure but outwardly normal. Only when one looked away would they be able to see the true form of the warrior only through the edged of their vision and only when not looking directly at him. As if the true form of this creature danced in the peripheral vision mocking and taunting anyone who wished for a better look.

"Really now, my fine feathered friend is it so much to ask that we talk face to face?" The man asked.

"An amusing sentiment considering your choice of... attire." The warrior replied, "But perhaps I am feeling magnanimous this day Q."

With that the warrior's form began to shift and twist as warp energies assaulted it. Armor cracked and shattered as wings burst from his back. His neck stretched and grew in length as his face began to contort and form a beak instead of a human nose and mouth. His legs stretched and extended as the feet shifted and formed into talons much like a birds. Eventually the transformation halted and the winged bird humanoid sat back down, letting his feathered wings flap a few times before settling down behind the creature.

"See isn't that much better Tzeentch?" Q asked smiling and gesturing to the chaos God.

"Such a pity your true form is so... uninspiring." The chaos God retorted at Q's flippancy.

"Yes but the humans of my dimension wear such lovely clothes that it's easy to make due." Q said back not missing a beat, but far be it for us to spend so much time discussing fashion when there is a far more entertaining game that awaits us!"

"Indeed, I found myself intrigued by the idea presented." Tzeentch said, "Boredom has gripped me and my plots within my own universe have grown tiresome. Your challenge has piqued my interest."

"Yes but every game must have rules to follow." Q said snapping his fingers and summoning an ornate scroll of paper.

Sliding the sheet across the table, it's direction steady and almost unnatural, into the waiting claw of Tzeentch. Unfurling the scroll the elder God looked over the rules Q had put down on the paper. Then looked over them again, and the other side, just to make sure no fine print existed.

"Simplistic is it not?" He asked.

"No telling the other Gods or members of the Continuum, Once situated in either dimension the players are not to be affected by any means provided by our powers, and finally... no incursions are to be attempted." Q replied his voice taking a dangerous tone at the last statement.

The smile Tzeentch returned to Q managed to unnerve him slightly as the chaos God summoned a pen from the warp and wrote down his agreement to the rules, "Agreed." He said.

With that the room shifted as both beings of unfathomable power warped the room around them. The end result was a large empty space of nothing occupied by the two beings sitting at opposite ends of a single white line forming a circle in between the two. Each mentally summoned something to sit down in. for Tzeentch it was a large ornate throne of constantly shifting energies and materials. For Q it was a simple captain's chair held aloft by apparently nothing.

Above and below the white line in the center formed two swirling spiral galaxies. Similar in many ways but distinct in others. For one the bottom galaxy had a large red spiral along on of the distant spiral arms. The other was the differences in the distinguishable stars located along the edge of the spirals.

"Being the provider of such wonderful entertainment, I will concede the first decision to you Q." Tzeentch said awaiting his choice.

For several long moments Q studied the bottom map. His mind sifting through the multitude of places and locations offered to him within this foreign galaxy. Eventually he smiled and a single light shone brighter than the others. The light floated downwards until it connected with the center of the white circle and from it formed the shape of an older imperial battleship.

"A rogue trader... not a very inspired choice." Tzeentch said tilting his elongated neck and head to the side.

"Why waste a perfectly good diversion with the most interesting choices first? Let us enjoy this and see what happens. Besides, the name caught my eye." Q replied as the ship reformed into a ball of light and floated upwards towards the top Galaxy.

With that the fate of both Galaxies began to change.