Star Trek : Earth Strike
Episode 3: My Enemies Enemy
Incandescent fire engulfed the port nacelle of the Starship as the Enterprise slammed to a halt just beyond Earth orbit. If it had been possible to leave a skid mark in space, Sol System would have been permanently marked. Damage control systems shut off power to the nacelle.
�We have lost warp power.� Spock informed Picard.
�I hope you don�t want to go anywhere else in a hurry,� LaForge said over the intercom, �we're going to be a long time putting this back together.�
No one replied as all eyes and attentions on the bridge were focused on the viewscreen. A fleet of strange ships exited from the dimensional gateway. Hundreds of small shuttle sized vessels, though they looked far more dangerous, and an even dozen far larger vessels of a similar design emerged into Earth space.
�Err...Captain?� Asked Geordi.
�Understood, Mr LaForge,� acknowledged Picard, �impulse engines?�
� Operational.� Assured the Chief Engineer.
�Keep them that way, I think we�re going to need them. Picard out.� The captain turned to Data. �Sensors, data? Give me a reading on those ships.�
�Uncertain, Captain.� Replied Data, his fingers moving like lightening on the console before him as he strove to sharpen his readings. �There seems to be a large biological facet to their design, they appear to have been grown rather than made.�
�They are alive, like �Tinman�?� Asked Riker.
�Not exactly,� explained Data, �I do not believe that the ships are sentient: they are more like biological machines containing controlling organisms. I am having some difficulty separating the life-signs of the ships from those of the occupants.�
�Hail them.� Picard ordered Worf.
�No response.� Reported the Klingon.
�Open hailing frequencies. Unknown Vessels, this is Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise. Please identify yourselves and state your intentions.� Picard watched for a moment as the last ship emerged from the dimensional gateway which shut behind it. The alien fleet rearranged itself into a globular cluster formation, the smaller ships surrounding the larger. He looked back at Worf.
�Still no reply.�
�Anything counsellor?� Picard asked Deanna Troi.
�I�m... not sure, Captain,� the Betazoid said, �I think they are telepathic; maybe they don�t use subspace communications. I�m trying to make contact and... I feel close to an answer of some kind, but...� She shook her head in frustration.
�I too sense something from the alien ships, though it is vague at best.� Stated Spock. �Perhaps, Counsellor, if we were to combine our abilities?�
�A mind meld?� Asked Deanna.
�Indeed.� Spock agreed.
�Make it so.� Picard ordered after glancing at Troi for her nod of assent.
In seconds Spock was kneeling beside Troi�s chair, his fingertips crawling over her face as he sought to reach inside her consciousness. �My mind to your mind. Your mind to my mind. Our minds are one.� Spock said repeating the phrase over and over, like a mantra. Very shortly Deanna joined in, their voices perfectly synchronised. Perhaps it was due to their own separate experience with telepathic phenomenon, but in moments the mantra ceased.
�We are one.� Spock and Troi stated together.
�The Aliens,� insisted Picard, a hand on each of their shoulders, �can you contact them?�
�Attempting.� Said Spock-Troi. �Receiving... certainty of purpose... resolution...grievance, anger, hostility...� Their next sentences took on a strange timbre, as though the alien influence somehow remodulated both their voices.
�Allies of the Borg will be destroyed. The weak shall perish.�
