Title: Star Trek-Infinity: The Beginning, Part II [PG] (MISC)

Author: Charles Rando (trando@worldnet.att.net)

Series: MISC

Rating: [PG]

Part: NEW 2/2

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the characters in The Next Generation and Deep
Space Nine, and Peter David owns the Selelvian race (see his book, Strike
Zone). I'd like to think that the characters I've invented and the story
are mine. :-)

Summary: The second half of the first adventures of the starship Infinity
and its crew. I think that sentence had too many prepositional phrases in
it....

Go to part 3 Go to home page

"Calabretta, come here. I have a question for you," boomed the loud voice
of the only occupant of sickbay.

Calabretta sighed. This was the tenth time the wormhole alien had called
him in to ask him something totally insignificant. Unfortunately,
Calabretta had no choice but to reply, "Yes? What is it?"

"I'm finished looking through all of the records you gave me," said the
alien. "Do you have any more?"

"I'm afraid that you have read all there is to know about the Federation,
its cultures, and the cultures outside the Federation," answered
Calabretta. "I'm not sure what else to offer you."

"I've seen many references in your readings to humanoids called 'authors.'
Apparently they have written other works that are not included in the
records you gave me," said the alien.

"Yes, but these authors concentrate mainly on fiction," said Calabretta.
"I'm not sure if it would interest you."

"Well it depends, Calabretta," boomed the alien. "What exactly is
'fiction'?"

"Fiction is something that is not real. It's fantasy. I'm not sure if you
would be able to learn much about us through them," said Calabretta.

"I'd like to determine that for myself," the alien replied. "Would it be
possible to bring me some of this 'fiction'?"

"I'll ask, but it may take a while. Our ship's computers are presently on
alert in case we have to go into battle. I'm not sure if I'll be able to
call anything up, but I will ask," Calabretta replied. Noting that the
alien seemed pleased by this response, Calabretta walked back into sickbay.

"Calabretta to V'gel," he said as he opened the communications link between
them.

"V'gel here. What can I do for you, Doctor?" asked the voice of Lieutenant
V'gel.

"J.W. is fresh out of reading material and would like to get his...
hands... on some works of fiction, but with the ship on alert as it is now,
I'm not sure if that would be possible. Didn't the Captain order the
shutdown of non-essential services?" Calabretta asked.

"Yes, he did," replied V'gel, "but I do have many works of fiction stored
on isolinear chips in my quarters. I could bring them down to sickbay for
you."

"Calabretta!" boomed the loud voice again.

"I would be most appreciative, Lieutenant. Just please hurry!" Calabretta
exclaimed.

"I'll be down in a few minutes," replied V'gel. "V'gel out."

Doctor Calabretta slowly walked back towards the room holding the alien.

"Eleven," he thought.

******************************************************

"Captain, we are entering the Omarion system," reported Ensign Marit.

"Excellent," replied Captain Rando. "Take us out of warp, Ensign." He
turned to Admiral Daubar, "That didn't take too long, now did it?"

The admiral gave no reply.

"We are approaching the homeworld of the Founders, sir. The Omarion
Nebula," reported Marit.

"Onscreen," ordered Rando. The viewscreen flickered to life to show the
massive nebula which, for all its beauty, held the greatest threat ever
imagined.

"Sensors are detecting various lifeforms on the surface of the Founder
homeworld," reported Ensign Libby.

"No Jem'Hadar ships are in the vicinity," said Lieutenant Remley.

"Well, let's go for it," said Rando, standing up from his chair and
implementing the patented Picard maneuver of straightening his uniform.
"Mr. Libby, hail the Founders."

"Hailing frequencies open, sir," replied Libby.

"This is Captain Charles Rando of the Federation starship Infinity ,
representing the Alpha quadrant. Your recent aggressive actions into our
quadrant have caused us to take this step. We have already repelled one of
your attacks. If you attempt to invade the Alpha quadrant again, we will be
forced to take repercussive actions against the Dominion here in the Gamma
Quadrant. The Federation has the support of the Romulan, Klingon, and
Cardassian empires, so I would suggest you do not take this threat lightly.
I repeat, any further attempts to invade the Alpha quadrant will be met
with surprising resistance and will result in an invasion of your own
territory," said Rando. He glanced over to Libby.

"No response, sir," replied Libby.

"Let's try it again," said Rando. "Mr. Remley, send the message out
again...."

"Captain!" shouted Lieutenant Remley. "Three Jem'Hadar ships are entering
sensor range. They are approaching at warp seven."

"At that speed it will take them five minutes to arrive," said Libby.

"Close hailing frequencies, Lieutenant," ordered Rando. "Shields up, go to
red alert."

At the instant Rando gave the command, the ship was suddenly filled with
loud, ringing klaxons and flashing lights. Shields and weapons were brought
up to full capacity, and the remaining senior crew began to move towards
the bridge.

"Mr. Libby," said Rando, "send an encrypted message to Commander Sisko.
Tell him that the Jem'Hadar have responded to our threat and are attacking
us, and that we will keep him posted if we can."

"Aye sir," said Libby. "Message sent. Captain, less than two minutes until
the Jem'Hadar are within weapons range."

The turbolift doors at the back of the bridge opened softly and allowed
Lieutenants Williams, V'gel, and Johnson to enter the bridge. Seconds
later, the doors opened again for Commander Neddek and Commander Kassal.

"Rando to sickbay," said Rando, opening the comm. line.

"Sickbay. Calabretta here, sir," said the voice of Doctor Calabretta.

"Doctor, we are about to engage the Jem'Hadar in battle again, but this
time we are alone. Be prepared for injured crew members who Mr. Johnson
will be transporting down to you," ordered Rando.

"Aye sir. We'll be ready," said Calabretta.

"And keep an eye on our 'guest.' I'd hate for anything to happen to him,
even if he is omnipotent," said Rando.

"Yes sir. Sickbay out."

"The Jem'Hadar have entered weapons range," reported Remley. "They are
charging up their weapons; they're firing, sir!"

"Evasive maneuvers, Ensign!" shouted Rando. "Rando-alpha! Engage!"

Ensign Marit's hands quickly moved over her controls and moved the ship out
of the way of the Jem'Hadar ship's fire. Unfortunately, before she could
react, another Jem'Hadar ship fired on the Infinity .

The blast was felt throughout the ship.

CHAPTER THREE

"Calabretta!" boomed the alien, standing in the doorway between his room
and sickbay. "What was that?"

"We're under attack, J.W.," said Calabretta, watching with dismay as
another patient was beamed into sickbay. This one had a huge gash in his
head.

"Ah, like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick," said J.W.

"Well, I guess you could compare it to that," said Calabretta, quickly
closing the gash in the crewman's head.

"I have got to see this," J.W. said to himself, and then vanished.

"J.W.?" called Calabretta. "J.W.? Where are you? Computer, please locate
the wormhole alien."

"Bridge to sickbay," came the voice of Captain Rando before the computer
could enter.

"Never mind, computer. I think I know the answer," said Calabretta. He
opened the channel to the bridge, "Calabretta here."

"Doctor, is there any particular reason why the wormhole alien is on the
bridge?" asked Rando.

"Well, sir, he asked what was going on. I told him we were under attack,
and the next thing I know, he's gone. I guess J.W. wanted to see what was
going to happen," said Calabretta.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it," said Rando.
"We'll keep an eye on him up here."

"I'll send up the security guards that were assigned to watch J.W.," said
Calabretta. "Calabretta out."

******************************************************

The wormhole alien appeared on the bridge just as the Infinity destroyed a
Jem'Hadar warship. It was while the Jem'Hadar ships were regrouping that
Captain Rando had a chance to communicate with Doctor Calabretta, but it
wasn't long before the Jem'Hadar ships began to move again.

"Lock onto the head Jem'Hadar ship and fire," commanded Rando.

"Firing, sir," said Lieutenant Remley.

The flash of energy extended from the hull of the Infinity and struck the
closest Jem'Hadar ship. The ship veered off and fired back at the Infinity
, striking the underbelly of the ship. The bridge crew rocked with the
impact of the blast, and only the wormhole alien was able to maintain his
footing.

"Very interesting," said the alien. "This is incredibly exciting."

"J.W.," said Captain Rando, "we are presently in a potentially deadly
battle. If you do not have anything to contribute, I would appreciate it if
you left the bridge."

"You want contribution, Rando?" replied J.W. "I'll show you contribution."
And with a flash of light, he was gone again.

"Captain, sensors are detecting another Federation starship approaching,"
reported Remley.

"Is it the Defiant ?" asked Rando.

"No, sir," said Remley, puzzled. "It's the Infinity ."

"Are you sure, Lieutenant?" asked the Captain after a pause.

"Its structure, its build, even its warp core signature all match ours,
Captain. It's definitely the Infinity ," replied Remley.

"J.W.," whispered Witherell.

The bridge crew watched in amazement as the other Infinity ripped its way
through the Jem'Hadar ships. Two Jem'Hadar ships were destroyed before they
could fight back.

"Mr. Remley," said Rando, smiling, "aim phasers on the remaining Jem'Hadar
ships. Fire."

The Infinity 's phasers fired again and again, striking at each of the
Jem'Hadar ships in turn. The Jem'Hadar, in return, scored direct hits
against the Infinity and the alien. The firefight continued until there
were only two Jem'Hadar ships left, one of which the Infinity was able to
destroy. The final Jem'Hadar ship suddenly changed course towards the
alien. It fired at both ships before colliding head on with the other
Infinity .

The Jem'Hadar ship exploded in a flash of light against the alien's hull.
The alien began to fade and in a few seconds it was gone.

The bridge crew gasped with shock as the collision occurred. Captain Rando
stood from his seat with Commander Witherell behind him.

"Sir, I can no longer sense the wormhole alien," said Witherell. "It's not
out there anymore."

"Then where is he?" asked Rando.

"Sickbay to bridge," came the voice of Doctor Calabretta.

"Go ahead, Doctor," said Rando, still staring at the viewscreen in
disbelief.

"I think you'd better get down here. J.W. just reappeared in sickbay, and
he doesn't look good."

"We'll be right down, Doctor. Commander, come with me. Ensign, set a return
course to the wormhole, fastest warp speed available," ordered Rando.

"Aye sir," said Marit. "Current maximum warp is warp seven."

"That's fine. Increase speed when possible. Engage," said Rando. "Mr.
Remley, you have the bridge. Let's go, Mr. Witherell. Counselor."

"Right behind you, sir," said Witherell. The three officers quickly headed
towards the turbolift.

******************************************************

"I'm still not completely sure how his physiology works," said Calabretta,
"but his lifesigns appear to be much weaker than before."

The four officers huddled over the bed on which the wormhole alien lay. On
the outside, the alien appeared to be perfectly fine, but the data on the
medical screen showed differently.

"What can you do for him?" asked Rando.

"I'm not sure if anything can be done for him," said Calabretta. "I would
say that the best way to save him would be to get him back to the wormhole
as quickly as possible."

"At our speed, that won't be for a few more hours," said Witherell. "I
really doubt he has that long."

"So do I," said Calabretta, "I'm really not sure what to do."

"I have to get out," whispered the alien weakly. "I have to get out of
here."

"J.W.!" exclaimed Calabretta, quickly turning to the bed.

"This body is no longer fit to hold my consciousness," said J.W. "I must
get out."

"Where do you want to go to?" asked Kassal.

"I must get out!" exclaimed J.W., leaping off of the bed towards the nearby
computer console. As he touched the platform, a bright light flashed and
the ship's lights dimmed slightly. When the lights returned to full power,
the alien's body was lying limp on the floor.

Doctor Calabretta quickly scanned over the limp body. "I'm sorry, sir.
There's no sign of life."

"Captain," said Witherell, looking perplexed, "I can still sense J.W. It's
as if he's still here."

"Well where is he, then?" asked Rando.

"It's almost as if he's... everywhere," said Witherell.

"That's because I am everywhere," came the voice of the alien.

"My god!" exclaimed Calabretta. "He's in the computer!"

CHAPTER FOUR

"Well, Commander?" Rando asked, peering over Neddek's shoulder.

"One second, Captain," replied Neddek, replacing the bulkhead which he had
removed. "I believe that should be sufficient. I have disabled all
interfaces between the main computer and the conference room. The alien
should not be able to hear our conversation."

"Very good, Mr. Neddek," said Rando, walking to his chair at the head of
the conference table. "Let's begin, shall we?"

"Before we start talking about J.W., let me start off with this," Doctor
Calabretta interjected. "Admiral Daubar was injured during the JemHad'r
attack. She was found unconscious in her quarters, and although she's ok
now, she still hasn't regained conscienceness."

"I'll be holding my breath waiting for her to wake up," Marit mumbled.

Rando cleared his throat. "Commander?" he asked, turning towards Neddek.

"I have run many different diagnostic tests on the main computer," replied
Neddek. "The alien has integrated itself in the ship's computer. We have
not, as of yet, made any attempts to remove it."

"If J.W. retained his powers after his transference, I don't think that
attempting to force him out of the computer would be wise," said Rando.
"We'll have to consider that a last ditch effort." He turned towards
Counselor Kassal. "How is the crew reacting to J.W., Counselor?"

"Not very well, Captain. I've had many complaints about him responding very
rudely to their requests to the computer. He has also been disrupting the
crew of the cargo bays by forcing them to act out various dramatic pieces.
If he were one of my patients, I would say that he is almost obsessed with
literature, especially Earth literature," reported Counselor Kassal.

"That would probably be my fault," said Doctor Calabretta. "He kept on
asking, or should I say demanding, me to find him reading material from
different cultures. I had no idea it would have this kind of effect on
him."

"You were just doing your duty, Doctor," said Rando. "I told you to keep
the alien occupied, and you did just that. I would guess he would probably
have responded the same way to anything you could have introduced to him."

"He was instructed to gather as much information about us as possible,"
said Lieutenant V'gel. "What better way than through our literature?"

"I can agree with that," said Rando. "Now, we have to decide on what to do
with J.W."

"We are approaching the wormhole," said Ensign Libby. "Perhaps the wormhole
aliens will be able to give him a new body."

"But of course they'll have to open communications with us," said V'gel.
"So far, we've found no way to get their attention."

"J.W. might be just what we need, then," said Commander Witherell.

"All right, I think we can agree that for now we should leave J.W. where he
is. Hopefully the wormhole aliens will be able to transfer him into a new
body," said Rando.

"But what if they can't, or won't, give him a new body and just leave him
into the computer?" interceded Lieutenant Remley. "I think we should make
our attempt to remove him from the computer then."

"All right. Mr. Neddek, Mr. Williams, I want you two to work together to
devise a way to get J.W. out of the computer. Let me know as soon as you
have something," said Rando.

"Yes sir," said Williams and Neddek in chorus.

"All right, let's have another meeting after we get through the wormhole,"
said Rando. "By then we'll have a better idea as to what to do. Until that
time, I don't want any of you discussing anything from this meeting outside
of this room where J.W. might hear. That goes for you two," Rando said to
Williams and Neddek. "I want you to do all of your work in here.
Dismissed."

******************************************************

"Captain, we are approaching the wormhole," reported Libby.

Rando nodded in acknowledgment. "Ensign, drop us out at warp. Head towards
the wormhole at full impulse."

"Warp engines disengaged. Full impulse engaged, aye sir," replied Marit.

"This had better work," thought Rando. Over the last couple hours, Neddek
and Williams had devised almost a hundred plans to get J.W. out of the
ship's computer, and whichever one didn't come up with the idea usually
came up with a reason as to why it wouldn't work. The only workable idea
they had come up with was a complete shut down and purge of the ship's
computer, but Rando did not want to leave the ship defenseless while they
were still in the Gamma Quadrant. If the wormhole aliens did not cooperate
and give J.W. a new body, Rando would be forced to take action once they
reached the Alpha Quadrant.

"Sir?" came Libby's voice. "Did you hear me, sir?"

"I'm sorry, Ensign. I was just thinking. What did you say?" Rando asked,
waking from his deep ponderance.

"Ten seconds until we reach the wormhole, sir," Libby replied.

"Thank you, Ensign. Let's all hope this works," said Rando, getting up out
of his chair. He watched as the mouth of the wormhole opened wide in front
of them, and then within seconds they were inside it.

"Captain, I am getting strange readings from the wormhole," reported Libby.

"Do they match the readings from when the wormhole aliens attempted to
contact us?" Commander Witherell asked hopefully.

"No sir, they do not," said Libby. "They're subspace variations, but not
the ones we encountered before."

"Commander Sisko did say that the wormhole was acting up," Witherell said
to Rando.

"Indeed he did, Commander," answered Rando. "Do you sense the wormhole
aliens?"

"No sir. Of course, I couldn't sense them when you were abducted by them
before," Witherell replied.

Their conversation was cut-off by a flash of light and the awareness that
they had exited the wormhole, but the station Deep Space Nine was no longer
located at the wormhole's mouth.

"We did pass through the wormhole, did we not, Ensign?" asked Rando,
walking over to Libby's console.

"We did, sir, and we did return to the Alpha Quadrant. There are, however,
some slight differences," Libby reported.

"And what would those be, Mr. Libby?" said Rando.

"I did a quick scan of the Bajoran system when we entered, or what I
thought was the Bajoran system. Apparently we've found ourselves in Klingon
territory, near the Klingon homeworld, Qo'noS. During my scans I took a
quick reading of the nearest star, the one that Qo'noS orbits. It contains
13.4% more material than it did when it was last measured. My only
conclusion is that, not only have we've traveled across the quadrant, but
we've gone back in time," said Libby.

"Back in time, Ensign?" asked Witherell, joining the captain.

"Yes sir. It's the only explanation I have. We could attempt to make
contact with the Federation, find out the stardate, but I don't like the
idea of sending any messages with all of those Klingon warships around.
It's possible that we're in a time when Klingon-Federation relations were
not so friendly."

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance," came J.W.'s voice from all
throughout the bridge.

"Yes, J.W.?" said Rando, his patience running thin.

"I have taken the ship back in time exactly one hundred and forty-seven of
your years. I had been reading literature on the Klingon empire at its
height before my previous body was injured. I found the accounts
interesting and I wanted to see the situation myself," said J.W.

"One hundred and forty-seven years?" Witherell thought out loud. "That's
right after relations between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire first
degenerated, leading to seventy years of hostility."

"J.W., do you have any idea what would happen if the Klingons were to find
us here?" asked Rando.

"Whatever might happen to your existence does not concern me."

"But what if the Klingons destroy the ship?" Rando asked. "They come over
here, find us, fire at us a few times and we're gone, the ship's computer
is gone, and so are you. I seriously doubt you have the ability to transfer
your consciousness to another ship."

J.W. seemed to sigh in annoyance. "I have already fully 'cloaked' your
ship, Rando, I did so before we came here. We are completely out of Klingon
sensor range. They cannot detect us in any other way. I have also cloaked
the existence of the wormhole when it opened. They will not know we are
here."

"That's all very fine and good, J.W., but there are other concerns. Such as
when do you plan on returning us to our time?" Rando asked.

"That is a concern of yours?" J.W. asked. "I could have sworn the others
told me that your first love was exploring. Well, Rando, now you have it. I
plan to keep on going until my thirst for knowledge has been satisfied. And
you and your crew, Rando, get to come along for the ride."

"Do you have any idea how long that could take, J.W.? Some of us have
family and friends back in our time that we'd like to see again!" exclaimed
Rando.

"When my mission is over I will return you to the exact time we left. They
won't even notice you're gone."

"We could all be dead by the time you finish!"

"You could all be dead now, Rando. After all, do I really need you corporal
beings?"

"Yes! Yes, you do need us! You need us to keep this ship running! You need
us to help you learn about corporal beings! You need us for companionship!
You need us for...."

Rando stopped in the middle of his sentence. In less than a second he went
from standing on a perfectly functioning bridge to standing on a completely
dilapidated one.

"Perhaps you are correct, Rando," admitted J.W. very faintly. "I do need
you."

CHAPTER FIVE

"Mr. Libby," Rando said, looking around the ruined bridge. "What's
happened?"

"Sir, according to the computer, two weeks have gone by... in about a
second," Libby responded.

"We lost two weeks?" Rando demanded. "I take it this was your doing, J.W.?"

J.W.'s faint voice still boomed over the computer's speakers. "I did not
think I needed you temporal beings to maintain the ship. I was able to take
care of any big problems that came up, but I couldn't handle all of the
small ones. So I decided to bring you back, or at least some of you. I
determined that many of you weren't essential to my existence. Hence, they
no longer exist."

J.W.'s words completely flustered Rando. "Well what members of my crew did
you return to me?" he asked.

"You, Witherell, Libby, Neddek, Remley, Calabretta, Williams, Marit, and
V'gel have been returned," J.W. replied.

"What about the others?" Rando asked. "What about the hundreds of other
crew members that were aboard this ship?"

"Like I said, they were not essential to my existence, so they have been
replaced," said J.W.

"Replaced? Replaced with whom?" Rando demanded.

"Replaced with me," J.W. replied.

******************************************************

"We have to get the rest of the crew back," said Witherell.

"Yes, but how do you intend to do that, Commander?" demanded Ensign Marit.
"They've been blanked out of existence, and the only one who can bring them
back is an obnoxious, omnipotent being who's thrust himself in our computer
and sent us back in time!"

"Calm down, Ensign," said Rando sharply. "We can't lose control now. We're
going to have to work as a team to get the others back. Now, we need ideas.
Anyone?"

"J.W. seems to be obsessed with literature," said V'gel. "If we could
convince him that the adventures we will be having would be like
literature, perhaps we could also convince him that those stories would be
much more exciting with more characters."

"A thousand people, each of them living their daily lives, it'd be like one
of those Earth 'soap operas' of the twentieth century," said Witherell.

"I think that's pretty good for a first shot," said Rando. "Let's go give
it a try. If it doesn't work, we'll meet back here in twenty minutes.
Dismissed."

The crew, or what was left of it, filed out of the conference room and
assumed their duty positions on the bridge. Rando walked into the center of
the command center, as if positioning himself on a stage.

"J.W., I really think you should consider bringing back the rest of the
crew," Rando said.

"Why would I do that?" J.W. asked. "I don't need them to operate the ship.
They are not necessary."

"Well, in your mind that may be true, but consider this. Imagine having a
thousand people on this ship, each of them going about their everyday
lives, and you get to be part of it all. You keep on asking us for
literature to read, stories about adventure, romance, tragedy. If you want
real stories, they you have to look no further than the people on this
ship! Lieutenant Johnson and Ensign Su were just starting a relationship,
there's romance! Admiral Daubar was trapped on a ship that she can't
control, regardless of her rank, there's tragedy. And everyone on this crew
was about to embark on a journey through time and space, answering
questions that have long puzzled corporal beings and finding out the
secrets of the universe itself! There's adventure! Bring my people back,
and you will never run out of stories!" Rando exclaimed.

"A logical argument," J.W. replied after what seemed like an eternity had
passed. "Perhaps I would find your lives entertaining. Very well then,
Rando, I will return the rest of your crew to you. And I will make you this
promise: none of you shall age during this journey. When we return to your
proper time, the only chance you will have experienced will be the change
in your amount of knowledge. But if one of your crew becomes ill or dies, I
will not become involved. I do not want to rewrite the story."

J.W. suddenly flashed off the viewscreen, his image being replaced with the
view of the Klingon system. At that instant, the rest of the Infinity 's
crew returned to existence.

"Everyone is accounted for, Captain," replied Libby. "Everything is as it
is, considering we're still in the past."

"Considering where we were, it's a definite improvement," said Rando,
sitting down in his chair. "Besides, this could be an interesting
adventure. To boldly go when and where no one has gone before, and to help
a lifeform discover new and unusual lifeforms across the universe. This is
going to be a very interesting adventure. Ensign, set course to the Klingon
homeworld. Let's do a little exploring while we're here."

Unnoticed by anyone, the starship Infinity drifted into the night at
impulse speed.

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