Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Photocopy ❯ Part 9: ( Chapter 9 )

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Date: 311207, 310107

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 never belonged to me and never will. *sighs*

 

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Part Nine:

 

"Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Worf. Data, contact the Aschen. Tell them we need help immediately," the Federation captain ordered.

 

"Are you sure, sir?" Data asked.

 

"We have no choice. Emergency transmission now!" Riker commanded as the Enterprise shook from multiple energy blasts hitting the shields of the Enterprise.

 

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"Multiple hyperspace windows opening, Master," the Jaffa navigator announced.

 

Several hyperspace windows opened to disgorge several ships of rather blocky looking design. They were smaller in size than the Goauld Hatak Motherships but still large enough to rival the Goauld heavy cruisers.

 

"What??!!! New arrivals???!!! Tell them to leave or be destroyed!" the Jaffa commander bellowed as he spotted the new arrivals on the screen.

 

"Twenty heavy warships. Configuration not found in database. Weapons unknown. They're powering up their weapons, master!" the Jaffa navigator exclaimed.

 

"They dare??!!! Destroy them!!!" the Jaffa commander ordered.

 

Most of the Goauld Motherships, Alkesh bombers and Deathgliders moved into position to engage the newcomers ... while the rest continued to attack the Enterprise and the Defender.

 

Meanwhile aboard the Enterprise ...

 

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from one of the warships."

 

"Put it on screen."

 

The picture of a man in grey suit appeared in the viewscreen.

 

"Greetings, Captain Riker. We have received your transmissions and will stand with you against our mutual enemy. Captain Madin out."

 

The view screen winked out.

 

Without any further ado, the battle begun in earnest as both sides immediately moved to gain the upper hand. Plasma blasts, disintegration beams, quantum torpedoes, photon torpedoes, naquadah-enhanced warheads and high-frequency energy blasts were used in the battle without end.

 

The battle continued savagely for some time with the Federation warships and their Aschen allies battling the Goauld and their Jaffa forces. Space was lit up with multiple explosions as powerful energy beams raked vessels on both ends of the divide while high-powered bombs and torpedoes were directed at the enemy ships without mercy.

 

Already one-fifth of the Goauld fleet had been destroyed by the Federation ships alone, a grim testimony of the technological superiority that the Federation and the Asgard held over their Goauld counterparts. Another one-third of the Goauld fleet had seen better days, their shields close to collapsing while debris leaked into space.

 

Still the Goauld held the numerical advantage and they fought desperately like mad men as they struggled against both the Federation and the newcomer's fleet. Their desperation showed by the moderate to heavy damage sustained by both the newcomers' and Federation ships.

 

As the battle increased in intensity, a new development happened. Several glowing spheres of blue energy were released from the sides of each of the newcomers' vessels. One of the glowing spheres struck the shields of a Goauld Mothership causing it to flare a bright blue as the energies of the glowing sphere interacted with those of the shields.

 

The Goauld Mothership continued firing for a few more seconds and stopped as it began to drift off from the battlefield. Several Alkesh bombers and Goauld Deathgliders within the radius of the strange blue emissions did the same.

 

A second Goauld Mothership whose shields had begun to emit the same blue colour drifted mindlessly into the path of another Goauld Mothership causing a minor flare up as the shields collided into each other. The strange blue glow from the drifting Mothership's shields spread to the shields of the second Mothership. A few seconds later, the hit Mothership began drifting as well.

 

Upon seeing the devastating effects of the strange weapon being utilised by the newcomers, the Goauld began hitting the glowing spheres coming at them with everything they had. As a plasma discharge struck a glowing sphere of energy, the entire region of space was bathed in that strange blue glow. Goauld ships within the 'blast radius' ceased functioning altogether ... their ships rendered inert by the strange weapon.

 

Without wasting anymore time, the remaining Goauld Motherships quickly made the jump into hyperspace and departed the area. The Enterprise's shields themselves glowed blue from the destruction of one of the glowing spheres.

 

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Aboard the Enterprise ...

 

"Status LaForge," a commanding voice ordered.

 

The inside of the ship was bathed in that strange blue light. The blue light remained for a few seconds and then faded altogether.

 

"Everything checks out. Nothing out of the ordinary so far ..." the chief engineer of the Enterprise answered.

 

"Then what was that blue light?" the captain asked again.

 

"Still checking ... got it! Captain, you wouldn't believe it! It's thalaron!" Geordi exclaimed.

 

"Then how is it we are still alive?" Riker asked.

 

"It's thalaron alright ... keyed to a specific frequency," Data answered this time.

 

"Explain," the captain ordered.

 

"Thalaron has a very broad bandwidth. It is this wide spectrum of radiation that makes it so deadly to living beings. But the thalaron emissions from the battle were localised to a specific wavelength, subsequently affecting only those organisms whose genetic parameters were within the boundary of that narrow wavelength. For example, a multi-frequency thalaron pulse such as those used by the Remans in the past would wipe out all organic life in the targeted area but a single or mono-frequency thalaron pulse like what we've just seen would only destroy those organisms within the bandwidth while leaving all other living things untouched. It's a very precise and efficient weapon," the android explained.

 

"Whoever these Aschen are, they certainly know their stuff," Geordi continued.

 

"Which means they must have been experimenting with thalaron technology for a long time," Picard commented.

 

Seeing that the Aschen fleet was still there, Riker spoke, "We'll continue this later. Hail the Aschen ships."

 

Their transmission was received immediately.

 

"Captain Riker here. On behalf of the Asgard High Council, we wish to convey our gratitude to the Aschen Confederation for their timely assistance in this matter," Riker spoke.

 

"Your gratitude is accepted, Captain Riker. Do you require any assistance?” the Aschen commander in grey suit offered.

 

“No, thank you,” the Federation captain declined politely.

 

For some strange inexplicable reason, Riker found out that he still did not trust them even after they had helped him.

 

Why though?

 

“Then our meeting is at an end. Hopefully, we will meet under better circumstances in the future," the Aschen commander in grey suit answered.

 

The view screen winked out. Not long later … the entire Aschen warfleet departed.

 

"Well, that was brief," a crew member commented.

 

"Captain ... we're being hailed. It's the Defender," Worf spoke.

 

The view screen opened to reveal the face of Captain Beverly Crusher.

 

"Hello Will. How are things over there?" the woman asked.

 

"We took several hits in the aft and the port side but apart from some minor damage and a few injuries, everything was fine. How about you?" Riker asked.

 

"The hyperdrive is offline. It will take about a couple of hours before they bring it back online but until then, we're not moving anywhere. I'm thinking of sending an away team to check out one of these Goauld vessels in the meantime. Care to join me?" the female captain smiled.

 

"Sure. And hopefully this trip will reveal something new about the Goauld as well as shed some light on our new friend's weapon. I'm sure you must have analysed the effects of the weapon. So what did you find out?" Riker asked.

 

"Our research team is still analysing the effects of the strange weapon they used. I'll send over the findings once they're done with it," Beverly answered.

 

"No.1, prepare an away team. Interested in joining us, Jean-Luc?" Riker ordered.

 

"Certainly, I would like to see what these Goauld have in them. Let's go," the ex-captain of the Enterprise answered as he stepped forward onto the bridge.

 

As one, they disappeared in a shimmering light.

 

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Not faraway from the battle … undetected by both vessels

 

A strange anomaly opened, disgorging a white vessel with lights at strategic locations across it. Written on the sides of the ship were the words USS VOYAGER.

 

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To all my fanfic readers and reviewers … Thank you very much for your many reviews. I hope to hear more from you … soon. Your reviews have motivated me to spend more and more time on this series than I would normally have. As you can see … I have been writing this more than Chrysalis for sometime now … Your reviews have caused that! *grins* Thanks one again everyone for your continued support! If I have not replied to your reviews, please forgive me …I have very *very* limited time.

 

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