He sensed their cries of suffering from a distance... a tremendous distance. They called out to his heart, his mind, his soul... his services had not been needed for centuries, at least in that part of the galaxy in question. But now they were needed as never before.
He was known to many worlds by many more names. His powers weren't just technology appearing as magic -- they were magic. He came from a realm where magic was real and science myth, an inversion of all rational beings hold to be true. But he was real nonetheless.
The Vehicle was prepared, the Wayfarers joined with it that it may traverse subspace and even stranger dimensions without effort or heed of payload. Theoretically, his Vehicle could carry an infinite payload with no penalty for inertia. It was Magic at work.
He gestured, and within the blink of an eye the location appeared -- a shining blue orb, much like many other worlds he had visited in this dimension. It was accompanied by a strange companion in addition to its moons: a large, metallic mushroom-like structure. He sensed the need especially strong in that artificial place.
For all their worship of Science and attempts to control the universe, they still need me after all, he thought as he maneuvered the Vehicle into the structure. No one saw him, of course. Which was exactly how he planned it.
"How are you holding up?" Ryan asked as he looked back toward his only occupant and very close friend. It had been two and a half days since they took off in their shuttle. All they were doing was going from England to Washington D.C. and the next thing they knew they were somewhere else, as if they had been suddenly tossed out into the middle of deep space, near nothing...
"Well enough, I suppose," she replied softly with her British lilt. "Of course, my feet are swollen... Being pregnant and having to sit for two and a half days isn't exactly the best thing for my circulation... But I'll live, I'm sure..."
"And how's the baby doing?" he asked with even more concern. All they'd had to eat and drink was what was in the survival pack, which wasn't much.
"She's still moving around like crazy. She's quite a trooper...," she replied.
"Tara... I don't know... We might not get out of this... This might be it... If I can't find a place for us to land and get food and water..."
"It's all right," she soothed. "Whatever happens is whatever happens... We're here for whatever reason. If it's to die, then so be it... I hope that's not the case," she said, "But its not like you or I can do anything about it..."
Suddenly something caught Ryan's attention. In the distance, he thought he saw something. Immediately he turned the shuttle in that direction and hit the thrusters.
"Did you see something?" Tara asked.
"Maybe," he replied. "We're going to check it out since it might be our last hope."
She was too weary to say much else though she wasn't going to let Ryan know. He was worried enough at the moment. She closed her eyes and tried to rest, but her whole body was aching. She knew a lot of that was dehydration. Much more and she would risk premature labor among other things.
Ten minutes passed and Ryan couldn't believe his eyes as he saw the giant starbase before him. He stopped the shuttle and just looked at it in awe. He had never seen anything like it in his life. Even the Taelon mothership couldn't top this, he thought as he took in the sheer size of it.
As Tara opened her eyes, she looked at the sight before them and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god..." was all she could manage.
[Attention unidentified vessel. This is Starbase 901 flight control. Identify yourself and state your course and heading!]
"Uh... This is Taelon Shuttle... 137," Ryan began. "I'd like to request permission to land..."
[You will be met by an escort craft. Follow your escort's instructions explicitly. Any deviation in your flight path will be met with force.]
A Hammerhead was launched to meet the Taelon shuttle. Deveraux, at his Science station, began scanning the strange craft. "Zhis eez incredible! Ah've never seen technology anything like zhis! Eet almost appears to be alive!"
Aboard the shuttle, Tara and Ryan saw a craft that looked capable of aerodynamic flight vectoring toward them. "I'm picking up something on a lower frequency," Ryan said, adjusting the comm frequency.
[This is Captain Morgan Bicardi. You will fall in to my right and rear. Follow me to Docking Bay 19. Do not deviate from this course. Am I understood?] a severe, clipped voice almost barked.
"Acknowledged, Captain," Ryan said. "He doesn't seem like he's in a good mood," he commented to Tara.
"Perhaps there's a reason for him not to be," she said as they followed the fighter into the station's docking area.
Ryan set the shuttle down carefully at Bay 19. Good thing they use English here! he thought as he saw the huge number '19' painted on the bulkhead. Along the docking bay, Ryan could make out a dozen heavily armed troops. "Either we're walking into a war zone," he said to Tara, "or these have got to be the most incredibly paranoid people in the universe!"
They emerged cautiously from the shuttle, although nothing could have prepared the onlookers for the shock of watching the front canopy of the shuttle vanish and the two figures step out. They were greeted by an apparently human woman and a tall, apparently human man with a solid build and a graying buzzcut.
"Greetings. I am Captain Kitara Mallory of Starbase 901. This is Major James Jackson, acting commander of our Marine detachment. Now, would you explain for us what a Taelon is, and how you suddenly appeared within our defense grid?"
"I'm Commander Tara Carmichael. This is my assistant and pilot Captain Ryan MacLeod," Tara replied, though she caught them looking down at her rather large belly. "And Taelons are alien beings that came to Earth to supposedly help humanity," she said. "I am a protector to one of them," she added. "But I don't understand how... Just where are we?" she asked. She was trying to hold on to her senses, though the lack of water, food, sleep and movement over the last two day was taking a serious toll.
Another parallel universe, Kitty thought. "Given recent events I'm inclined to believe your story. You'll have to pardon us, but this is still a comparatively rough sector of the galaxy. You're aboard Starbase 901, a facility of the United Federation of Planets. The planet we're orbiting is called New Canada. We're several thousand light-years away from Earth. We haven't heard of any race called Taelon, but we do know of dozens of other sentient species. Most of them are friendly, quite a few aren't. Which is why you see the armed response. The last time an unidentified vessel showed up here it was rather catastrophic for all involved."
Jackson, satisfied with Kitty's assessment of the situation, dismissed the troops, but remained behind.
"I still don't understand... You've never heard of Taelons..." Tara could sense that Kitty was telling her the truth. There was no deception. And as she looked around, she knew this certainly wasn't a place she knew about... But they knew about Earth. Suddenly, her head began to spin. Her face began to flush.
"Tara?" Ryan said.
But it was too late. The bay around her began turning a dull gray. Before she knew it the world around her was dark.
"Tara!" Ryan cried as he caught her.
Paul was just finishing up with some analysis he was going at one of the lab stations when suddenly a yellow animal jumped up onto the station. It surprised him and he took a few steps back. It had red cheeks and it seemed to emanate electricity.
"Pikachu!" it said softly and jumped down, running away.
Paul tapped his commbadge. "Captain..." He said, "I zink we still ave some friends around from anozer dimension."
"Oh no..." she said.
Tara woke up again in unfamiliar surroundings. Her eyes were blurry but came into focus slowly. Despite the radical differences in technology, the layout and the smell told her she was in a medical facility.
"I see our patient is awake," a strange man with furrows above his nose said.
"Who -- who are you?" Tara asked.
"I'm Toren Len. I'm a medical technician aboard the station. They summoned me when you fainted. Fairly common amongst pregnant women."
"Common..." she echoed as she looked around. Everything was so different, she thought. "Is my baby all right?" she asked.
"She's fine," Len assured her. "We're working on rehydrating you right now. You were dangerously dehydrated though..."
She nodded as she noticed the IV feed. "Two and a half days trapped in a shuttled with only a survival pack between two people will do that to a person," she replied softly. She felt so tired... and sad. She suddenly felt very emotional. It was as if it suddenly hit her. She was in this place and chances were, she wasn't going back home anytime soon. She wouldn't see Ron Sandoval again... She fought back the tears that stung at her eyes.
"Ma'am, are you okay? I can arrange for you to see a counselor if you think that would help," he said.
"My whole world has changed," she replied sadly. "My baby's father will never see her... I don't think a counselor can fix that..." A single tear escaped her green eyes.
"Try to get some rest, ma'am," Len said, knowing she was right but not knowing in the least what could be done about it. "We're here to help you. If you need anything, just push the button at your bedside and an orderly will assist you." He stayed in the ward, however, keeping an eye on her while he did his rounds of the other patients.
Ryan entered sickbay and saw Tara laying in bed. He saw the IV and figured she needed it. He had gotten away with a medical check and lots of fluids to drink. He had even managed to tour the station a bit and had been floored by what he had seen.
"Hey, you are not going to believe this place when you get out of here! You have got to see all the shops they have! And all the people! We thought it was something when the Taelons landed, well, wait until you walk around here! Its incredible!" Suddenly, he saw her tears and quieted instantly. He reached over and gently dried her tears. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I was thinking of home," she replied.
"And of Ron?" he asked.
She nodded.
He sighed and leaned over and embraced her. "I am so sorry. I don't know what happened or how we got here... I wish there was a way back, but maybe there's a reason for us to be here..."
"Maybe..." she replied. "But I miss him so much, and he'll never see our daughter!" All he could do was hold her and let her cry.
"Your son is progressing well," K'Tag told Kitty as he escorted the boy home from yet another martial arts session. "Another year and he will be able to defend himself as competently as a Klingon child of his age."
"That's good to hear!" Kitty said. No one had heard from Jonas after his escape courtesy of the Nausicaan pirates who were making more and more of a show of force in Federation territory these days. Some reports indicated that at least one pirate vessel had transwarp capability, but Kitty tried to put that out of her mind. Not now! Not during the holidays!
"Is there something on your mind?" K'Tag asked.
"Oh, nothing... just thinking about the holidays. On Earth Christmas will be here soon."
"Ah, I've heard of this holiday," K'Tag said. "On Qo'noS a similar holiday is celebrated."
"Really?" Kitty asked. A Klingon Santa -- much less a Klingon Nativity -- was something that had never before even remotely entered her mind.
"Yes. At the beginning of winter we celebrate the No'L, the night when the Great Red Warrior Khris'Krangg arrives in his wagon pulled by eight flying targ. He brings young warriors entering the Age of Ascension their first bat'leth if they're good..."
"And if they're not?" Kitty asked slyly.
"They receive a hoe, so they can farm the dirt!" K'Tag laughed. Kitty groaned.
[Captain, we're receiving reports of something strange in Docking Bay 25.]
"What is it, Ensign?" Kitty asked.
[It's some kind of ice accumulation. We've never seen it before!]
"On my way. Contact Commander Loran and have him send an Engineering team to meet me."
Kitty arrived in Docking Bay 25 confronted by two boatswain's mates, utterly befuddled by...
"Snow! Tons of it! We've tried clearing it out, but it just keeps accumulating!"
Garek arrived with his team. "We seem to have an environmental control problem here," she said.
Garek produced his tricorder and began scanning the area. "All environmental systems are operating within normal parameters," he said. "There's no reason why this snow should be here -- the temperature isn't even changing!"
"Bay 25 is restricted until further notice. Have Security place a guard on the area until we can get to the bottom of this."
Garek called for a Security team, and the station crew evacuated. Good! the entity thought. They're doing the work for me!
Now that he had secured an enclave, he began summoning his minions. One by one they arrived, and began setting up his base. Before long, a production line had started, and the things he needed to begin his work accumulated.
That night, he began the first of many visits to the rest of the station. A tray of gingerbread men appeared without warning on the Command Deck. Every child on the station awoke with a candy cane in hand. The night watch in Sickbay reported a large surge in the number of cases of tinntinitus -- ringing in the ears. Every patient said the same thing: it sounded for the world like sleigh bells...
It appeared as though Santa Claus had come to town... and they were right...