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Chapter 24

The Borg had gone back to their cube, and most of the Federation commanders had returned to their ships. Picard sat in the briefing room on A with his great-grandfather, Kirk and The First. Beverly had flashed over as soon as she heard the news of Marie from her husband.

Picard felt defeated, and he imagined that he looked it as well. His first impulse had been to simply pull his sister-in-law out of her Borg persona, but intellectually, he knew that was not something he could do. Obviously, it was within his power, but as his prime universe self had tried to tell Riker years ago when Janus gifted powers to the young man, if you save one person, you have to save them all. Where does it stop?

But he was horrified at what his brother's wife had become. Rene, his nephew, had joined Starfleet, and was training as a fighter pilot. Picard had quietly watched the boy's progress, and was impressed. Robert, unfortunately, had died in a fire at the vineyard, shortly before Picard became Q, as he had in the prime universe. But what he now saw of Marie's future was terrible. He wondered what circumstances had led to her being assimilated.

Beverly was sitting beside him, holding his hand, while Kirk and Spock sat across the table from him.

"Are you going to be okay, Jean Luc?" Kirk asked

"Yes," Picard said, "I believe so. It will just take a bit of time to get accustomed to the fact.."

"I can understand that," Kirk replied. He turned to the First and said, "You haven't said much, Spock. What's your take on all this?"

"Fascinating," the Vulcan commented.

"Something a bit more helpful, Spock?" his friend asked.

"I would if I had anything, Jim. This situation is unique to my experience, however," The First explained. "Obviously, we are dealing with time travel by the Borg, and that travel is from the future. We have no real understanding what might change if we intervene."

Picard eyed the Vulcan in surprise. "I did not consider intervening to even be an option, Spock."

"Nor should it be. As we have discussed before, if we intervene we risk setting a dangerous precedent that we may not be able to follow always."

"We know," Beverly said, "that below the surface, the personality of the drone remains. I would assume that it also remains in a queen."

"Such an assumption, while not without merit, is far from certain," Spock said.

"Agreed," Picard said, "but nevertheless, it should be explored."

"Have any of you bothered to check how much of her physically remains?" Kirk asked, his face full of compassion.

In response, Beverly let her mind drift out to the Borg cube, where she found her husband's sister-in-law. When she scanned Marie, she was horrified at what had been done to her. In revulsion, she withdrew, then fighting nausea, she reached out again. This time, she didn't look at what little remained of the woman. Instead, she touched the mind, and was rewarded with a sense of the Marie Picard who had been at her wedding.

What shocked the Q, however, was that Marie had apparently desired what had been done to her. Surprised, she dug deeper into the queen's mind, making sure there was no trace of her passage, and found what she was looking for.

"Her human body is almost non-existent now," she said as she finished, "but what is even more disturbing is that she wished for this."

"She wanted to be assimilated?" her husband asked. "Why?"

Beverly could tell by Jean Luc's tone that he was fighting to keep his emotions in check. Anyone else would think that he was angered by her revelation, but she knew him better than anyone else. "I know that's hard to accept, Jean Luc, but it's true."

"I don't disbelieve you, Beverly. I just want to know why my level-headed sister-in-law would desire to be assimilated by the Borg."

Beverly reached out and gave the information she had gleaned to Spock, and he nodded understanding. She turned to her husband. "I think this is one time where it is better that you don't know right now. As much as it pains me to keep it from you, Jean Luc, please trust me."

Picard looked from her to Spock, and back again. "When I first met the Iconians, I was frustrated by not being in the know about many things. Then I learned that I would become a Q, and I assumed that when I did, I would understand all of these formerly unknown things. Now, I find that my wife, who also happens to be Q, is keeping things from me." He glared at her for a few moments, then said, "You know I could find out myself."

"I have no doubt about that. The only person who could conceivably stop you is Spock."

"Should you choose to satisfy your desire for understanding, I will not prohibit you, Jean Luc," Spock told him. He understood fully why Picard wished to know.

For a long moment, Picard eyed the other three, then slowly nodded. "I will accept our word that this was what she wanted." He paused and looked closely at The First. "For now."

"We can't ask for any more," Kirk said.

The bridge of the A…

Kirk strode onto the bridge. He was always grateful of the people who served aboard his ship. Several of the people weren't even Starfleet anymore. Spock and Uhura had married long ago, and left to teach at the Vulcan Science Academy. Shortly after they left, President Sulu appointed Spock as Federation Ambassador to the Romulan Empire.

Demora Sulu was on her father's staff, and had told Kirk that while her father would undoubtedly be preferable, she was more than willing to remain the helm officer when one was needed.

Scotty had risen to the rank of senior engineer of Starfleet, stayed there for about fifty years, then left to chair the newly formed Staricon Engineering. He and LaForge kept each other apprised of what was going on in their respective fields. In fact, that he be kept informed about Starfleet tech was a condition for his leaving. That and that he remain as chief engineer aboard Enterprise-A.

Because of the nature of the crew, she wasn't really considered a ship of the line. Much more, Kirk's personal yacht. She was armed as fully as any other vessel, and though she was much smaller than any of the newer ships, she could hold her own in a fight.

"Admiral on the bridge," Hendorff said as Kirk stepped off the lift.

Before anyone could stand, Kirk told them, "As you were." He was mildly amused as Hendorff was one of the only Starfleet officers here, and he was an admiral himself. Kirk wore the insignia of Fleet Admiral, where his security chief was a vice admiral, however.

Kirk had just settled into his chair when Uhura received a signal. "Incoming signal from Admiral Paris, Sir."

"Put it on the viewer," he told her.

The picture of E vacated the screen, and Admiral Paris' face replaced it. "Hello, Owen," Kirk said casually.

"Sir," the younger man said, "I have a matter of utmost importance to relay to you."

His inference was clear. This was a matter that he was giving Kirk the option of sharing with his bridge crew. Every person on A had security clearance as high as possible, so for Paris to hesitate, Kirk knew that the situation was indeed grave.

"Go ahead, Admiral," Kirk told him.

Paris smiled. He agreed with Kirk's assessment of his people, but he wanted to let the Fleet Admiral know the importance. Those on the bridge of A would understand the situation as well. "Starfleet intelligence just received word that the Tantalus vaults were breached."

Kirk felt his head swim as he thought of what was stored there. "Was anything taken?"

"Somehow, the shields were bypassed and the tubes were removed, Sir."

Kirk hung his head. He had hoped to not have to deal with this, but… That was probably too much to ask for. "Any idea who is responsible?"

"I'm afraid not, Sir." Paris looked at the bridge crew on his screen. He didn't want to seem too friendly with the Commander of Starfleet, but he wanted Kirk to know that he cared. "Jim, those people in Starfleet Security are good. They'll get them back. You deal with the Dominion, and let security deal with Khan this time."

Kirk grimaced, and looked down at his hands. Khan had been asleep for nearly a century, and would have changed not at all. But in that century, Kirk had changed physically, very little. He looked, perhaps five years older. The lifespan for a normal, unaugmented human with good medical help was around one hundred thirty to a hundred fifty. Augmentation had multiplied that by three for the normal human. Average augmentation for a human was considered level three. It was based on what had been done to Khan and his followers, but toned down considerably. Kirk, however, had received a direct injection of the unmodified augment virus that Khan had. His augmentation was the same as Khan's which made him a level five. As well as being five times the strength of a normal, unaugmented human, his lifespan was correspondingly longer. Of course, his strength and lifespan were made moot when he became a Q. He knew that he could find Khan in the blink of an eye as could The First. But should they? Was this a problem he should simply fix? He was unsure, and that was the problem. "I appreciate it, Owen," he told the man on the screen, "but I don't know that can justify leaving this for security. I feel like I should be involved."

"I understand, Admiral," Paris told him. Kirk was somewhat of a mentor to him. The commander in chief had become the youngest captain in Starfleet years ago, and while Paris hadn't been the youngest captain, he was the youngest to be promoted to Admiral since the augment virus had taken hold, beating Jean Luc Picard's record by three days. Now, he could see how the stress was about to pile up on Kirk, and he wanted to help in any way he could. "Please remember, Sir, I'm here for you," he said as he signed off.

Once the screen was back on E, Kirk heard a very soft, "We all are," from the Helm position.

"Thank you, Demora," Kirk said. The use of her first name, caused several of the bridge crew to glance in the Admiral's direction. It was something he almost never did with his own crew, more out of respect than a sense of propriety. This was a special case, however. His friends needed to know that he appreciated the sentiment.

The Equinox…

Henry Deacon and his wife, Grace, had been working on a ship for Starfleet, and while Riker was at Earth, he had toured it. It was considerably smaller than any of the new ships. She was a nova class starship, and roughly the size of the original, Enterprise NX-01. It had the traditional shape of a Federation vessel, and looked much like a miniature E.

Equinox had left spacedock and gone on her shakedown voyage with the Deacons on board. Once everything checked out, she cruised into Bajoran space, gracefully. Her captain, Rudolph Ransom, was a relatively new commander. He was one of the new scientific commanders, and had little battle training. His ship, however, was a scout. She could do some scientific surveys, but was not designed for extensive data collection.

"Welcome, Captain Ransom," Kirk announced to Equinox when she entered the sector.

"Thank you, Admiral," Ransom answered, cheerfully. "Happy to be here, Sir."

Equinox was scheduled to test a new drive alongside Prometheus, and Henry and Grace would oversee the testing. The little ship had received an engine based on a warp drive, but with hyperspace capabilities. Her warp drive would help to stabilize her hyperspace window

The Qan...

As the two ships prepared, Picard received a message from Data, asking him to meet in the android's quarters on board Qan. Picard and Beverly flashed to the Nebula Class ship, and into Data's quarters. The Captain was sitting behind his desk, working on a report.

"Ah," he said, standing, "you have arrived." He stepped around the desk and faced his friends. "Thank you. I have a confession to make."

Picard cocked his head for a moment and asked, "And what is that, Data?"

"When I looked into my life in the prime universe, I saw that I had built a daughter there. Her name was Lal, but she 'died' shortly after I built her. I could not leave her in the situation she was in, as her body was dead, but her consciousness had been transferred to my prime universe mind. A few days ago, I made her a body with a 'body printer', and her mind has been transferred into it."

"The irony," came the voice of The First as he appeared on the other side of the room, "is that the body printing technology was originally built to save your daughter, later in her life."

Data cocked his head and told the Vulcan, "I do not understand."

"No, Captain, but in time, you will." The First turned to Picard. "Admiral, You are concerned that Data has broken the law of the Q."

"Yes, First, I am."

"Were I to argue with the actual mechanics of his act," the First said, a small smile on his lips, "I would have to question my own being. You see, in the prime universe, I was in a similar state to Lal. My body had died while my Katra lived. Normally, my mind would have been placed in Mt. Seleya, however, my body rejuvenated. Thus, a refusion was possible. That is not so much different than what has happened with Lal."

"I see the similarities, however, Data made a body for Lal. It did not spontaneously regenerate," Picard argued.

"That is true, Admiral, however, I submit this to you. This technology of printing a body for a still living mind was developed to save Data's daughter, on Earth, over three hundred thousand years ago. I do not dispute that Data should not have pulled Lal from the prime universe, however, by doing so, he has allowed events to unfold the way they were meant to."

"I understand what I did, and I accept the consequences, First," Data told the Vulcan. Turning to the Admiral, he announced, "You may do with me what you will, Sir. I willingly broke a very important law."

"According to the law of the Q," Picard said, sadly, "We are to banish you, Captain Data. That is something I do not wish to do, my friend."

"Yet I willingly broke a law, Sir, and I would gladly do it again."

"Captain Data," The First said quietly, "I do not wish to do this any more than Jean Luc. However, I understand your willingness to accept your discipline." He turned to Picard and said, "I suggest an alternative. I propose that we allow Captain Data to travel to anyplace in time he chooses. He may do whatever is necessary to allow Lal and himself to blend into whatever society he chooses. Then, he must live as a member of that species, not using his powers. As an added condition, Lal may not know of her origins, nor may she know of her father's powers."

Reluctantly, Picard nodded his head. He didn't like banishing a friend, but he knew that with the powers of the Q, the law must be maintained.

Data nodded and waved a hand. Suddenly, he appeared to be a human. His skin was still very light, but he looked within the range of normality. He blinked and Picard was surprised to see that his eyes were tan, rather than the yellow that they had been.

"I will miss you all," Data said solemnly.

Beverly reached out and put her arms around the former android. She was crying. "We'll miss you too, Data."

When his wife finally let go, Picard hugged his friend too. "Safe journey, my friend."

Riker appeared and shook his friend's hand, then Sam and Jack, Daniel Jackson, Kirk, and it seemed, every Q in existence, flashed in and out of the cabin.

Finally, it was just the original four. Data turned to the Vulcan, and held up his hand. "Peace and long life, First," he intoned.

"Live long and prosper, Eric Marten," the First said.

Data nodded, accepting the Vulcan's revelation of his identity. "Thank you, Sir." Then there was a flash and he was gone.

There was a muffled sob from Beverly, then she flashed back to DS9.

Picard sighed, and followed.

The Vulcan surveyed the cabin, wiped a small tear from the corner of his left eye, then disappeared.

Prometheus…

Kathryn Janeway was seated in the command chair of Voyager. The ship was at battlestations, so technically, Chakotay was in charge. He recognized her expertise as a scientist, however, so was letting her run the show.

While waiting for Equinox to be finished, the two had finally tied the knot in the Bajoran chapel on DS9. Now, they were going to follow the smaller ship as it tested the new hyperdrive system. With the added benefits of the warp nacelles on Equinox, it was projected that it could achieve approximately ninety thousand times C with no more energy than the NX-01 had used to travel at warp four.

B'Elanna Torres entered the bridge, muttering. Janeway turned and eyed the young engineer. "What's going on, B'Elanna?"

"It's that human!" the half Klingon woman almost shouted. "Dr. McKay! He is so sure of his figures."

"And is he wrong?" Janeway was amused.

"No! Not according to him. He's gone over them twice." She slapped her hand against the engineering console in front of her, and it made an indignant sounding chirp. She turned to Janeway chagrined. "Sorry."

"Have you spoken to anyone else about this?" Janeway tried another tack.

"No one else has the guts to stand up to him!" B'Elanna was almost shouting now. "Apparently, Admiral Picard is good friends with McKay too, although I can't see why."

Paris was at the helm, snickering.

"Sure, Flyboy," the engineer ranted, "You can laugh. He doesn't bother you."

Paris turned and gave a questioning look at Janeway. "Go ahead, Tom," the captain told him.

Paris nodded, then turned to the young Klingon woman. "Actually, when we were testing Prometheus, I came onto the bridge finishing an orange. Dr. McKay was just leaving the bridge, and we collided. He saw an orange slice in my hand and almost screamed at me to keep it away from him. Ever since, each time he sees me, he backs away for fear I might contaminate him or something."

"It seems that Dr. McKay has a very bad allergy to citrus," Janeway concluded. "But that's not the only run in Mr. Paris has had with him. Some of our pilot's maneuvers have left the doctor with space-sickness."

"That's ridiculous!" B'Elanna said. "The inertial dampeners have been running perfectly the entire trip."

"I know," the captain soothed her.

"It's just the motion on the screen," Paris explained. "Although, maybe I shouldn't have turned the dampeners down a bit when the good doctor started to get annoying." He looked at the captain and shrugged. "I know I shouldn't have done it, Captain."

Before he could say anything more, she held up her hand to stop him. "I haven't heard anything, Tom. Besides. He was annoying me too," she finished with perfect comic timing.

"I must confess," Tuvok said, stepping into the conversation, "that Doctor McKay is one of the most egotistical men I have ever met."

"He is brilliant," Harry Kim said from his ops station, "but he is very hard to work with."

"I'm sorry, Harry," Janeway said. "I forgot that you work with McKay regularly."

"That's okay, Ma'am," Kim assured her. "To be honest, McKay probably wouldn't have gotten spacesick from the amount Tom turned down the inertial dampeners. Of course, when I adjusted the gravity down on the bridge at the same time, it probably didn't help his stomach any."

Chakotay had been studying a padd in his hand, but when Kim added his punch line, he snorted. Janeway looked at him, surprised, then started laughing herself. When the butt of their humor himself, stepped out of the turbolift, the laughter spread throughout everyone on the bridge, with the exception of Tuvok, of course.

"What's so funny," McKay asked as he looked around. The laughter got harder, and he got a disgusted look on his face. "Oh, I see," he said, turning and stepping back into the lift.

On DS9…

Picard received a call on the intercom from Kira.

"Yes, Major," he responded.

"Sir, I just got a report from Vedek Wynn, on Bajor. Apparently, there are some Iconians on Bajor that shouldn't be."

"Some Iconians?"

"Yes, Admiral. They are being escorted here by Vedek Bareil "

"I'm on my way," the Admiral said as he stood.

When he arrived at ops, Sisko informed him, "They're docking now, Sir."

Picard, Sisko, and Kira made their way to the docking pylon where the Bajoran ship had connected. The door rolled aside, and Picard recognized the man who stepped out.

"John Sheppard!" he exclaimed. Behind the human were Teyla Emmagan, Rodney McKay, and Ronan Dex.

"Hello," Sheppard said, looking quizzically at Picard. "Do I know you?"

Equinox...

Ransom turned as the turbolift doors opened. Douglas Fargo stepped down to his command chair and told him, "We're ready, Captain."

"Very good," Ransom said. He turned to communications. "Contact Enterprise and tell them we're ready."

A few moments later, Enterprise answered back. "Prometheus announces that they're ready as well."

Ransom told his helmsman, "Engage the hyperdrive."

DS9...

Jack O'Neill was visiting DS9 for the first time. He, Teal'c, Bratac, and Jack Carter were seated in Quark's bar. He was lifting a glass to his lips when he received a call on his communicator badge. It was similar to a Federation comm badge, but it was shaped as a stargate with five stars surrounding it, denoting his rank. He tapped the badge. "O'Neill here," he said.

"This is Dax, in ops, Sir. Admiral Picard told me to contact you and request that you come to ops as well."

"Alright. What's it about, Dax?"

"Equinox and Prometheus have disappeared from our scanners."

"That's what they were supposed to do, Lieutenant."

"Not like this, Sir. You might want to come up here."

The four stood, and made their way to ops, where they met Picard, and surprisingly, John Sheppard.

"What are you doing here, Sheppard?" O'Neill asked him.

"He's still on Cardassia Prime as well," Picard told the general.

"More time manipulation?" Carter asked.

"No, I do not think so, but we will return to this subject later," Picard told them. He turned to Dax. "What have you got regarding the missing ships, Lieutenant?"

"I'm not sure, Sir. There is not debris where they were at. We were able to track them into the badlands, but there, they disappeared."

"There is no wreckage in the badlands either?" Teal'c asked.

"Negative. Nothing." She turned towards Picard and Sisko. "They're gone!"

And so ends "Rise of Iconia". We will start posting "The Fall of Iconia" in a few weeks. Thanks for reading this, and we invite you to follow the Iconians and the Federation as they meet the Colonials in the next installment.