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Sailor Moon and all related characters were created by Naoko Takeuchi;
and are copyright to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, Toei, DIC and whoever
else.
Star Trek was created by the late Great Bird of the Galaxy, Gene
Roddenberry; and is owned and copyrighted by Paramount Pictures.
This story (such as it is) is MINE!!!
This fanfic is intended solely for entertainment purposes and no
violation of said copyrights is intended or implied. Permission
granted to copy this to other web pages as long as this disclaimer is
attached, and the text of the story is unmodified.
Prologue
Luna glanced at the clock and braced herself.
Any minute now...
"AAAAGGHH!! I'm gonna be late!!!" Moving with impressive speed,
Serena rushed to get ready for school. "Why didn't somebody get me
up sooner?!?"
"I tried, and so did your mother," Luna replied. "Twice. You
said you were getting up each time."
"And you believed me?"
"Not really," the black cat muttered.
If she heard Luna's sarcastic reply, Serena chose to ignore it.
Instead, she ran down the stairs. "See you later, Mom! Bye!" There
was the sound of the door closing, and Luna watched her race off to
school.
Luna sat on the windowsill. "Well, I suppose that's some
improvement. A few months ago, I would have had to try at least twice
more to get her up. But..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up
at the full moon, still visible in the morning sky. A patch of light
nearby it caught her eye. 'What is that?!?' she thought, eyes
narrowing as she peered at it. Whatever it was, it had to be bright
indeed if it was visible in daylight.
The unknown phenomena faded away in a matter of seconds. If she
hadn't glanced up just then, she probably would have missed it. She
made a mental note to herself to have Amy check it out later.
No trace remained of the mysterious object. Around her, all
seemed to be as it was before it had appeared. Still, something about
it disquieting.
'I've got a bad feeling about this.'
The ship emerged from the center of the phenomena, and drifted
away from it. Soon after it had emerged, the glow from the energy
field faded as fast as it had appeared. Only the ship remained to
prove it had ever existed. The main section was a large saucer,
connected by a pylon to a secondary hull. The lower section was
connected to two engine nacelles, which were lined up at the same
height above the lower hull as the upper.
An outside observer would easily be able to read the service
number and name printed on the hull.
NCC-1701. USS Enterprise.
Space -- The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
It's five year mission:
to explore strange new worlds...
to seek out new life and new civilizations...
to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Sailor Trek: The Dilithium Dilemma
written by Bill Harris (Soton@aol.com)
Chapter 1 - Arrival
"Captain's log, Stardate 5046.7 After leaving the Romulan
Commander at outpost 20, the Enterprise proceeded on course to
Starfleet HQ to deliver the Romulan cloaking device. While en route,
the ship encountered a unknown spatial phenomena, which has thrown us
an undetermined distance off course. Status of ship and crew is
unknown at the present time."
Kirk looked around the bridge. Spock had already gotten back to
his station, whereas the rest of the bridge crew was still picking
themselves off the deck and getting back to their duty stations.
Seated as he was in the command chair, he had been able to keep
himself from being tossed around.
There didn't seem to be any serious injuries here. Hopefully the
same held true for the rest of the crew. And of the ship itself. He
activated the intercom. "Kirk to Engineering."
After a moments delay, came the reply: "Engineering. Scott
here."
"Scotty, can you give me a damage report?"
"We've got damage to the warp drive and several secondary
systems. The impulse engines seem to be in fair shape, but I would
nae push them until they've been checked out."
That was better than he'd hoped for. "Any structural damage?"
"Minor damage only. We were lucky." Kirk heard the engineer
briefly consult with someone. "We should have the warp engines back
online in about twelve hours."
"Alright, Scotty. Keep me posted. Kirk out." He activated
another switch on his arm panel.
"Sickbay. McCoy here."
"How are things down there, Bones?"
"Had a feeling it was you, Jim. Minor casualties only. Mostly
bump and bruises. A couple of broken bones, and a concussion or two
as well. Nothing too serious." Now that his report complete, the
doctor's voice took on an exasperated tone. "What the hell happened
up there, Jim? Did you let Spock drive again?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Kirk saw Spock glance up briefly,
but he otherwise chose to ignore the doctor's barb. "We're still
trying to figure that one out, Bones. Kirk out." He looked over at
the first officer. "Well, Mr. Spock, what the hell did just
happened?"
"Unknown at this time, Captain." replied the Vulcan. He peered
intently at his scanner readout. "I am analyzing the sensor logs in
an attempt to ascertain."
The was a hum from the front of the bridge as the viewscreen
activated. A very familiar sight appeared in it. "Earth. How is
that possible?"
"Confirmed, we are in the Terran system, Keptin," said Chekov.
"Only fifty thousand kilometers from the Moon." He look at Kirk.
"Whatever hit us, sir, it shifted us light years away from our
original position."
"That is an understatement, Mr. Chekov," Kirk stated. The ship
had previously been near the Romulan Neutral Zone. The jump to Earth
was a shift of several hundred light years. "Mr. Sulu, if the helm is
operable, bring us into a standard orbit of Earth."
"Aye, sir," replied the helmsman. He operate the helm controls
and shook his head at the readouts. "The ship is responding to the
helm, sir, but she's sluggish."
"Lt. Uhura, hail Starfleet Command."
Uhura frowned as she worked the controls at her board. "Captain,
I've been trying to contact Starfleet Command, but there's no
response on any frequency. In fact, other than natural sources, I'm
not picking up any subspace signals at all."
"Malfunction?"
"No, sir. Communications systems all check out." She operated
her controls further. "Sir, I am detecting old style radio and
television signals, consistent with late twentieth or early twenty
first century transmissions."
"Twentieth century?" Kirk strode over to the science station.
"Confirmation, Mr. Spock?"
Spock frowned ever so slightly and twisted the sensor controls.
"Affirmative, Captain. I able to access the time signals from the US
Naval Observatory. The year given in them is 1992."
"Well, here we go again," Sulu commented from the helm.
Chekov leaned over and tried to pitch his voice for Sulu's ears
alone. "Just what we need, another trip back to our past." Sulu
glanced over at the science station and caught the captain glaring at
them. Apparently Chekov hadn't spoken quietly enough.
Spock continued as if they hadn't spoken, giving further data
from the sensor readouts. "The pollution content of the atmosphere is
also consistent with the latter half of the twentieth century.
Astrometric readings are also in agreement." He refined his sensor
readings before continuing. "Interesting. From the date indicated in
the time signals, we should see some indication of the Eugenics wars
in progress. Yet, I can detect no trace of them occurring." He
raised one eyebrow. "Fascinating."
"Any theories, Spock?"
"Based on observational data, I would hypothesize that the
phenomena we encountered not only propelled us through space and time,
but into another reality as well. A reality were the Eugenics wars
never occurred."
"An alternate form of twentieth century Earth," Kirk mused.
After a moments contemplation, he turned to the helmsman and said,
"Mr. Sulu, raise shields."
"Shields up, Captain," Sulu replied.
"Good. At least we don't have to worry about showing up on any
radar screens," Kirk said.
Luna met with Lita, Amy and Serena during their lunch break.
"What's up, Luna?" asked Lita. Amy glanced up from the book she was
reading, while Serena mumbled a greeting through a mouthful of food.
"I'm surprised you still have anything left," the cat remarked to
Serena. "You usually have eaten your lunch before ten."
She swallowed quickly and scowled at Luna. "HEY!"
"She did," Lita remarked. "I'm sharing mine with her."
"I might have known," Luna said, ignoring Serena's protests. "I
spotted something in the sky this morning, and I think the Negaverse
may have something to do with it." She briefly described the flash of
light she had seen, and the uneasy feeling about it she had since.
"Amy, could you check it out?"
Amy nodded, and began working with her computer. "Ah, you're
just being paranoid, Luna," Serena claimed.
"I am not!" Luna said defensively, then glanced around to make
sure she hadn't attracted any unwanted attention.
"No, she isn't," Amy said. Still looking at her computer, she
continued "I'm picking up some sort of energy source in orbit. Some
sort of odd gamma emission. It's almost as if it were a ship of some
sort. I can't tell if it's connected to the Negaverse, though. It's
very diffuse and hard to lock onto. Maybe I can determine more if I
analyze a longer scan."
"Very well," Luna replied "Do what you can. We'll work in it
later at the meeting this afternoon." She shot a glance at Serena.
"Just being paranoid, hmmm?"
Beryl peered into her crystal ball, puzzled. She had spotted the
starship moments after it appeared near Earth and had been watching
it since, but had no idea where it came from. All she knew was that
she sensed incredible power emanating from it. Power she could use.
Power she wanted. She manipulated the view, scanning the interior of
the ship. The view eventually settled upon a room in the lower part
of the ship. The power she sensed was nearby, almost... The view
shifted to show a berthing holding five refined crystals.
'Those crystals!' she thought. 'The power I sense comes from
those crystals. They possess incredible energy amplification
abilities. Enough to fully awaken the Negaforce! I must have them!'
Aloud she ordered, "Malachite, Prince Darien! Come here at once!"
The last of her generals, Malachite, appeared along with Prince
Darien. They glared at each other for a moment. "You summoned us, my
queen?" inquired Malachite.
"Yes, Malachite. A starship has appeared in orbit. It uses five
crystals as part of it's power source." Images of the starship's
engine room appeared in the air behind her. "I want you both to
obtain them for me."
Darien frowned. "I don't need any of his help. I can handle
this on my own!"
"I was going to say the same," sneered Malachite.
"Enough, you two," chided Beryl. "It's time you two learned to
work together. Now go and get those crystals! Immediately!"
The two rivals bowed to her and vanished.
"Mr. Spock, have you made any progress in determining how we got
here?"
The Vulcan nodded. "Yes, Captain. I have ascertained that the
ship passed through a quantum flux in the space-time continuum."
Kirk frowned. "We've passed through these things before. Why
did this one act different?"
"My analysis indicates that this is unlike any quantum flux ever
before observed." He touched a button and a diagram appeared on one
of the overhead viewers. Kirk eyed the graphical depiction of the
space-time aspects of the flux, and the accompanying equations that
described it mathematically, but could make little sense of it. "This
flux seems to be a link, a bridge if you will, between this universe
and our own. When we encountered the flux while traveling at warp
speeds, the warp field around the ship energized the flux and
propelled us into this reality."
"I suppose the operative question is, can we get back to our own
reality?"
"In theory, yes. If we proceed on a reciprocal course through
the flux and engage the warp engines at a specific setting, we should
return to our universe. It will take some time to compute the
precise settings."
"Well, you should have some time to make those calculations, Mr.
Spock. The warp engines won't be back online for another six hours or
so."
"Captain, since I am capable of performing the required
calculations myself, may I suggest that we utilize our computer
resources to conduct a detailed survey of this Earth? This is a
unique opportunity to observe an alternate version."
Before Kirk could reply, Uhura called out,"Captain! Intruder
alert, main engineering!"
"Send security teams to engineering. Spock, you're with me," he
ordered. The captain and first officer began sprinting for the
turbolift. "Mr. Sulu, you have the conn."
Darien removed the last crystal from it's berth. All around them
lay the unconscious forms of the engine room personnel. "That's all
of them, Malachite. Let's go."
"Not yet, Prince Darien. First we must make sure that this ship
will never interfere in our plans."
Darien glanced over at Malachite. He was manipulating the
controls at one of the nearby stations. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to disable their containment fields," he replied
coolly.
Darien shook his head. "That's not necessary! We've gotten what
we came here for!"
Before Malachite could reply, the door snapped open and two
security guards rushed in. Barely pausing to evaluate the situation,
they raised their phasers and fired. Darien managed to dodge out of
the way, but Malachite was hit by a short stun burst before he could
erect his shield. Wincing slightly from the impact, he shouted,
"You'll pay for that, human!" and threw a ball of energy at the
unfortunate guard. The guard was flung into the bulkhead and
collapsed. Again, the door hissed open and more guards entered
engineering.
"It's time to leave, Malachite!" Darien urged and teleported back
into the Negaverse. Malachite grimaced. He knew he could handle
these humans easily no matter what weapons they might have, but if he
delayed Prince Darien might claim all the credit. Kirk entered the
engine room just in time to see Malachite vanish.
McCoy was already checking the downed guard with his tricorder,
but soon shook his head. "He's dead, Jim." The doctor shifted his
attention to Scotty and gave him a shot from his hypo. The scotsman
groaned and began to stir. "It looks like the others are just
unconscious. Nothing too serious" The doctor moved to tend to the
other injured crewmen.
"'Tis easy for you to say, Doctor." Scotty sat up slowly,
holding his head with both hands. "You're not the one with a
splitting headache!" he muttered.
"What happened, Scotty?" inquired Kirk.
"Those two wraiths just popped up out of thin air, sir. I barely
had time to sound the alert before I got clobbered." He groaned
again.
"Captain, I believe I have discovered the reason for their
intrusion." Spock indicated the empty crystal berths.
"Ach, no!" cried Scotty. He stood up, any sign that he was in
pain banished instantly by the sight of the damage done to his
precious engines. "They've taken the dilithium crystals!"
"All the them? Even reserve crystal, Scotty?" asked Kirk.
Scotty shook his head sadly. "Aye, I afraid so, Captain. They
got all of crystals, including the reserve. And without them, our
warp engines are just so much dead weight. We're limited to impulse
power only."
"Captain, without our warp engines..." Spock began.
"...we can't pass through the quantum flux," finished Kirk. "In
short, we're trapped in this reality."
Next Time: The Enterprise crew begins their quest to recover the
dilithium crystals; while the Scouts continue to investigate the
mysterious energy source in orbit. Also, Malachite has further
plans of his own in motion.
All these paths converge into chaos in "Sailor Trek - The
Dilithium Dilemma", part 2: "The Search"
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