Zac was walking through the corridor to his quarters when he bumped into a girl heading in the opposite direction. Both of them fell on the floor. "Ow!"
Laurissa shook her head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you."
Zac got up and lent her a hand. "It's okay. I'm Zac. What's your--?"
"Laurissa. I'm new here."
Zac smiled. "Good. I have a new friend."
Suddenly another child ran through the corridor, knocking them both down. He ran down another corridor and out of sight. "Pikachu!" he yelled as he disappeared behind a wall.
"Hey!" yelled Zac. He looked at Laurissa. "You wanna follow him and see why he's in such a hurry?"
Laurissa smiled. "Sure!" They ran after him.
Kit welcomed the three men as they entered through the airlock to SB901. "Captain Maruu, Mr. Tara, and Mr. Burgos. Great to have you here. I've heard a great deal of you all." She was so excited, she needed to add, "Captain Maruu opened the door to the Gamma Quadrant and basically saved the universe, according to the report!"
Stephen shook his head. "With respect, Captain, that was my wife, not me."
"Mr. Burgos who wrote about the USS Virgo in an alternate reality where the Federation was only a figment of the imagination of a man named," she paused, "Gene Roddenbeetle."
Jovani smiled. "Berry. Roddenberry."
"And Mr. Tara. New proprietor here at the Station. It's an honor to have you all onboard. The crewman here will show you to your quarters." She smiled. "I'm sorry I have to leave you, but I have some important business to attend to. Please excuse me."
Stephen, Lazarus, and Jovani watched as Kit walked off. Stephen looked at Lazarus. "Sounds like this'll be an interesting place." They helped the crewman with their personal belongings.
Laurissa moved out of the way as a beam of water shot past her. The boy had been commanding what looked like a small lizard with a bulb on its back against a blue turtle.
The boy pointed his finger at the turtle. "Bulbasaur, vine whip!" Two whips shot out of the "bulbasaur" hitting the turtle square across the face twice. The boy laughed as the turtle seemed weakened. The boy then picked a red and white ball from his belt. "Pokeball, go!" he yelled as he hurled it at the turtle. It hit the turtle on the head and shot out a beam of red that seemed to envelop and pull the mouse into the ball. The ball jumped around for a bit, then lay motionless.
The boy ran to the ball and laughed as he picked it up, twirled around, and declared, "I caught Squirtle!"
Zac and Laurissa laughed and clapped happily as the boy put his ball away.
Zac yelled, "That was so cool!"
Laurissa agreed. "That bulbasaur? is so cute!"
"Bulba!" the little creature happily replied.
The boy pulled out another pokeball. "Bulbasaur, return!" A red beam shot from the ball and hit the bulbasaur on the head, then seemed to pull him in. The boy quickly faced the two children. "Where am I? What is this place? And who are you?"
Laurissa smiled sweetly. "I'm new here too."
Zac looked around. "Um... well, this is Starbase 901." He paused. "What's your name?"
The boy smiled profusely. "I'm Yin, and I'm going to be the greatest Pokemon trainer ever!"
"Pokemon?"
Suddenly a security detail ran into the corridor. "Zhere he is!" yelled Paul Deveraux.
Yin pointed at Paul. "You took my Pikachu! I'll get him back!" He ran at Paul, but security grabbed him.
"Take 'im to zhe brig. And make sure zhe children get to zheir parents." He walked away with Yin and some security Michael Kalvin and the others grabbed Laurissa and Zac and guided them to their quarters.
The way to Katianna Nadira's quarters passed in front of the triple in which Lazarus, Jovani, and Stephen would be living. Michael looked in as he carried Laurissa. He and Lazarus caught each other's eye for a second, gazing into each other as if they knew...
"Lazarus!" Stephen yelled. "Welcome to Starbase 901. Your new quarters. This is your roommate speaking."
Jovani was carrying a box to Lazarus's room. "Do you want this in here?"
Lazarus shook out of it. "Yeah. Sorry. Whoo! I kinda zoned out for a second, didn't I?"
Stephen laughed. "Help me with this box. We need to get stuff ready if I'm going to catch Captain Mallory for dinner tonight. Besides, you need to get to where you need to go, Laz."
Lazarus smiled. "I love taking things from Ferengi."
Moc turned and pointed to the dabo tables. "And those..."
Lazarus stepped forward and put his hand over one, then rolled the wheel. "Those are also mine." He moved to Moc. "You Ferengi should really learn how to let go."
"You are so lucky I was in debt, or I never would have sold this place for so little latinum. I'm barely making a profit."
"Only a fool passes up a business opportunity."
Moc shook his head as he took his bag up. "Bah. Just what I needed: a Trill who knows the Rules of Acquisition."
Lazarus smiled, walked to the bar and served himself a drink as the angry Ferengi walked out.
After taking his drink, Lazarus walked around the Easy Inn. "This place really needs remodeling."
Dr. Cherrin observed the mouse behind the forcefield. "It reminds me of an electric eel."
"A what?" asked Kitara.
"An eel. It's an Earth creature. The electric eel shoots out electricity, much like this mouse. I've found that this species' electric blasts are generated by two pairs of organs on glands located on its red cheeks and a third that runs the length of its tail. Each electric organ is made up of thousands of modified muscle cells called electroplaques. Electroplaques cannot contract like regular muscle cells can. Each electroplaque gives off a small charge of electricity when a nerve stimulates it. The charges of all the electroplaques combine to produce 450 to 750 volts, enough to stun a human being and probably to enough to kill a small child. I've never really seen anything like this out of the water."
Kitara looked worried. "They are cute though."
Dr. Cherrin then moved to the next item. "Now, the boy that seems to come from the same dimension as these creatures carries with him these balls. They look simple enough, but they are very complex. Inside is a completely padded electromagnetic surface. It's basically can keep anything in transporter suspension for an indefinite period of time. Again, never seen anything like it."
"Have you been able to open it?"
"No, ma'am. It seems to be coded to the child's... um... Yin's DNA. No one but he can access his creatures."
"Keep trying. We need to find a way to get them off the station."
Zac knocked on Laurissa's door. He whispered to her as the door whisked open. "We need to save Yin. K'Tag has been teaching me how defend myself, and I know that you traveled from an alternate dimension. We need to find out where he came from and help him get back."
Laurissa looked down. "I don't know. We might get grounded."
"Look. This is about more than being grounded. It's about saving Yin! We need to get him back home."
Laurissa nodded. "I'll get my black bunny sweater. My mommy's a spy, and she always dresses in black when she does things like this."
Zac smiled approvingly. "Good thinking."
Zac and Laurissa sneaked past the guard and hid behind his console. Zac whispered, "We need to knock him out."
Laurissa nodded. "Use the gas I gave you."
Zac took a small ball from his black jacket and threw it over the console. The guard saw it and said, "What the--?" The ball burst and he was enveloped by gas. He began laughing loudly and uncontrollably.
Laurissa shrugged. "Oops. I don't think that was the right one."
Zac shook his head. "We don't have much time." He ran to the brig door and deactivated the console.
Yin cried in glee. "Thanks for rescuing me!" He looked at Laurissa. "I need my pokeballs."
Laurissa looked at the cabinet in the far side of the brig. "I'll need the codes!"
Zac went up to the guard and pinned him to the floor. He was still laughing. "What are the codes to the cabinet?"
The guard laughed, saying, "I can't tell you!"
Zac, fed up, started to tickle the man violently. "The codes!"
The guard tried to hold out, but could not stand the tickling. "Alpha 5-5-6 Pi! Just, please! Stop tickling me!!!"
Zac got off of the guard as he kept laughing.
Laurissa grabbed the pokeballs and a belt and threw them at Yin. "We need to get out of here!"
The three children ran out of the brig as an alarm began to sound.
As they ran, Zac asked Yin, "Are the yellow mice yours too?"
Yin nodded. "Yes. The Pikachu. One of them is mine. The rest are its family. We were visiting them when we were all pulled into this place."
Zac turned to Laurissa. "We need to get to Cargo Bay Six and free the Pikachu."
Laurissa nodded. She turned and saw a security detail behind them. She pulled a bag of balls from her pocket and threw them back. They landed and melted into a colloid as soon as they touched the ground. The entire security detail slipped and fell as they ran through the area where the balls had landed. Left behind, they were unable to see where the children were headed.
Stephen walked out of his quarters to see three children run past him. He thought that seemed strange, until he saw the security detail laying on the floor in pain after having slipped.
Stephen raised a brow and tapped his com badge.
Zac, Laurissa, and Yin entered Cargo Bay Six. Laurissa used the skills her mother had taught her to secure the door.
Yin walked forward toward the Pikachu but hit himself against the force field.
Laurissa grinned apologetically. She tried to raise field but was unable to. "Zac, I can't take away the force field."
Zac walked over and pulled out his mek'leth.
"What are you doing with a knife? Those things are dangerous."
Zac sighed angrily. "It's not a knife! It's a mek'leth," he answered matter-of-factly. He pried open the control panel and cut the cords that powered the field, causing it to fall.
Yin hugged a very happy mouse as it yelled, "Pika, pika!"
One Pikachu looked at Zac and Laurissa thankfully. "Pika!" It jumped into Laurissa's arms, tossing her to the ground, and licked her face.
Suddenly, a security detail started to bang on the door. Kitara yelled, "Zac, honey, open the door!"
Kat was also there. "Laurissa, please let us in, princess."
Zac shook her head at Laurissa. "Now what do we do?"
The door began to swish open. Yin yelled, "Pikachu!"
Pikachu shot a bolt of lightning at the door, freezing it in place. The security team began to pry open the door.
Laurissa yelled, "We can't fight them off! Our parents are with them!"
Immediately, a sound of sleigh bells began to sound as it began to snow inside the cargo bay. A ray of blue light shot from the ceiling of the cargo bay and hit the space at the far side of the cargo bay. A vortex opened. Through it, Yin could see a pasture.
Yin smiled. "It's home." He looked at Zac and Laurissa. "Thank you for everything. In my world, you would make amazing pokemon trainers."
Zac and Laurissa smiled happily and waved goodbye as all the pokemon filed into the vortex on Yin's command.
The Pikachu that had licked Laurissa looked back. "Pika, pikachu?"
Yin yelled back, "Come on!"
The Pikachu looked at Yin, smiled, then jumped to Laurissa and grabbed her pant leg.
Yin smiled. "We'll miss you." He walked into the vortex. Once they were all gone, the vortex closed.
The security detail finally pried open the doors and the mothers hugged their respective children.
Kitara looked at Zac and asked, "What happened?"
Zac and Laurissa only looked at each other, then at Pikachu, and giggled.
Jovani and Stephen entered the room where all the officers of the Ronin and the Starbase, save Kitara and Kat, had gathered. Stephen immediately saw Admiral Pike. "Pike? Is that you?"
Pike smiled. "The good captain! You've been busy!"
"Ha! It's been so long. You look just as young as when I first served under you on the USS Sentinel!"
"And you look battle weary, old friend."
Jovani looked carefully at Kira. "Kira, is that you?"
Kira turned around. "Do I know you?"
Jovani gasped. "Oh my god! You fought against the Kelvans! Then you made that tesseract that saved the crew of the Ilion! I remember you!"
Kira searched his memory to see if he had met Jovani before. "How do you know that?"
"I wrote... uh... read about you. I'm Captain Maruu's friend."
Kira nodded. "Ah! Nice." He seemed slightly unsettled.
"Garek! Benton! It's like a reunion here!" Stephen cried as he shook hands with his old officers from the Virgo.
Garek smiled. "Good to see you again, Captain."
"It's Stephen. I'm on leave until whenever I decide to come back."
Benton nodded. "How is Dana?"
Stephen froze for a moment, then continued. "She died. I'm sure the report will get to you eventually. It seems people are quite interested in knowing what happened on T'ran."
"T'ran? You battled the T'rais? And what of Kosst?"
Stephen smiled. "Here's what happened..."