A Captain Decision

I stared in disbelief at the people who were looking back at me. I mean I had, had a few things happen that no one could really explain, but this took the cake.

It had started a week ago, two weeks before Christmas. As normal, I had a bout of migraines that went beyond normal. In fact, it was so bad, I actually had to go to the hospital.

There I had been met with the usual skepticism, told to take a few Tylenol, then get sleep. The whole time I told them that nothing was working, I needed tests to see why I was hurting. Basically, I was called a liar, though in no clear-cut way. No, they didn't want to get sued, in case they were wrong, which I knew they were.

So, I went home basking in the sheer wall of pain that was about to drive me crazy. I have had bad pain before, though this was far and away beyond anything I'd ever had.

Finally, the pain got so bad I just passed out. I awoke the next morning with no sign of pain, no lasting effects. I carefully got out of bed expecting it to start again. To my surprise, there was nothing. This had happened before, though not very often. When it did, I was nearly comatose for three days.

I got out of bed and headed straight to the kitchen. What I needed was coffee, which usually kicked the shit out of almost any ailment I might have.

I had just sat down when I started to hear voices. I looked around but saw no one. I looked outside but still nothing.

I shook my head as I went back to drinking my liquid heaven. I heard the voices again only clearer. OK, I thought this wasn't funny, then I started to hear them without end.

They were strangely accented but I could understand them.

"Where are we?" Came a commanding voice.

"Data indicates that we are across the galaxy, in the human Sol system," another voice said.

There was a great amount of hissing as several other voices said a few things that I couldn't understand. "We need to evacuate from here, why we still can," The commanding voice said.

There were a few sounds of agreement when the second voice spoke up. "It appears that we're not in our universe. These are not the humans we know. I am detecting no shield technology, no energy weapons, not very much psi energy. I am detecting one that is higher than I have ever seen, possibly a danger to us all."

"Break orbit, before we are detected. They may be primitive, but they may still have detection devices in orbit," the commanding voice said.

Again, I shook my head. Where in the hell was this coming from? Sounded like a really bad sci-fi movie I was hearing.

Less than a minute later, I heard another voice. "Roger base, I have the boogeys on scope, they appear to be climbing at an accelerating rate. Moving in for a closer look."

"Roger interceptor one. Can you identify them?" the radio replied.

"From what I can see, there are twenty of them. Some have elongated bodies with what appears to be arms almost like an insect's body, with several blisters of possible weapons," the pilot said. "There is another set with what appears to be be a long section leading to a large, round, larger front section. The other end is spread out in a large wing-like section at the rear. They also appear to have a very large area of weapons blisters."

"Can you determine their intent?" The radio asked.

"Not as of yet, holy shit!" The pilot shouted as he was spinning the jet away from a projectile. "Command, I have been fired upon, I repeat, Boogeys are showing aggression. Permission to respond."

"Negative interceptor, wait for flight of F-22's." Command responded.

"They are still ten out, by then the Boogeys will have climbed too far." The pilot said.

A minute later, a different radio voice responded, "Interceptor one, weapons free, fire at will, fire at will. Teach them you can't trifle with the U.S. Air Force."

"Roger command, fox - 1 and 2 away." The pilot said.

I then heard the first set of voices speak as a few screamed, it also seemed as if there were the sound of two explosions.

"Climb faster, we lost the last two cruisers, this primitive world has stronger weapons than we thought," the commanding voice said.

"The main engines are down, star drive, all we have are the chemical thrusters. We are," the second voice started as there were two more massive explosions. "We lost another two, we finally got shields up though the power drain is incredible. We appear to be out of range."

Those voices faded, then the pilots was heard. "Splash four, the rest are higher than I can go. Returning to base."

I sat there at the kitchen table shaking my head. What in the hell was going on? This was starting to sound like something out of Star Trek, Andromeda, maybe even Firefly, all my favorite shows.

I sat back, trying to imagine what Captains, Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Dylan Hunt or even Malcolm Reynolds would do. At least, I started to when an overwhelming wave of pain washed over me.

I fell against the wall, then I tried to swim through the pain to the couch. I suddenly heard five voices, one female, the other four male.

"You there, where in the hell are we?" Through my increasingly blurring vision I could swear I was looking at James T. Kirk. I started to shake my head, a bad mistake, as the pain rose to a new level. Even worse, as I started to lose consciousness, I thought I saw Hunt and Renyolds and two other Star Fleet Captains.

Sometime later, I started to come to from passing out. It was then that I noticed that I couldn't move, I was tied up in place on the floor. Trying to remain calm, I again tried to move to no avail.

"Do any of you remember anything before you appeared here?" I heard Kirk ask the others.

Barely opening my eyes, I was startled to discover Kirk, Picard and Janeway, talking only a few feet from me. It appeared Hunt was working on his wrist com, though he was getting frustrated when nothing happened. Reynolds was backed to the wall with a weapon in his hand that I somehow knew wasn't working.

"No, I was on the bridge when I was suddenly here. I have to ask, you're Captain Kirk, aren't you?" Janeway asked. "Your uniform is a few centuries out of date. You two, I know, the other two? I have no idea."

Dylan Hunt walked up to the three, extending his hand. "Captain Dylan Hunt, formally of the Commonwealth."

All three looked at Hunt strangely. Kirk stated as he shook Hunt's hand, "Captain James T. Kirk, Star Fleet, United Federation of Planets."

Hunt turned as Picard shook his hand, "Captain Jean-Luc Picard, also Starfleet."

He then looked at the female taking her hand. "Captain Kathryn Janeway, also Star Fleet."

All four turned to the man almost barricaded against the wall near the corner of the room.

"I'm sure you've noticed energy weapons don't seem to work here. Why not join us?" Janeway said. "At least tell us who you are."

"As if it matters, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, earth alliance. I am fine right here, haven't survived this long "trusting" others," Malcolm said, still working on getting his weapon working.

"So far, it appears that the only thing common to us is we are all Captains," Hunt said. "That and this humanoid here, for the life of me I cannot identify the species."

"He appears to be human, though from the manner of dress, I'd say late 20th, early 21st century," Picard said.

"Late 20th century," I croaked from the couch. This immediately brought their attention to me. I indicated the cord that had me immobilized. "If you don't mind, please untie..."

I think I was more shocked than them when the cords just fell off me. Then the ripping pain passed through my head. One moment I was on the couch, the next I was on the floor convulsing.

"What's wrong with him?" I heard Dylan ask.

"I have no idea," Kirk said. "If our tricorders were working, I might be able to find out a little more of what's happening."

I looked at Picard, thought about his tricorder working, then almost passed out from the pain again. Picard's eyes went wide as his tricorder started to work.

"Ah!" Picard said. "This man has extremely high levels of mental power. From what I see, he is stronger than the galactic traveler we met. These readings show he is far more powerful than the Q entities also."

"You're joking," Janeway said as she looked at the readings. "My god, you think he is the reason we are here? He certainly has the power to pull us here."

"It's possible, though none of us are in our universe. Except for the three of us, they all have very different energies. It also appears that all our universal signatures are far different from each other," Picard said.

I tried to take a deep breath, then managed to whisper, "I know you are; this is my world. The thing is, you are all from stories, my favorite stories." I gasped as a minor wave of pain passed through me. "You might be right; I believe you are all here because of me."

Picard's eyes were wide a moment as he showed the readings to Janeway and Kirk. "I take it, this is the first time the pain has been this bad?" He asked.

I tried to look at him, then barely nodded my head, even this felt as if a knife was plunging my brain. "Yeah, you could say that," I croaked. "Compared to this? The pain I have experienced before. It was a scratch compared to having a knife plunged into me."

"Well, your analogy is, uh hum, quite colorful if not highly descriptive. Unfortunately, I don't seem..." Picard stopped, a shocked look on his face. "That is unexpected," he said as he pulled a hypo from his bag.

Janeway also gained a shocked look, seeing the name of the medication on the hypo. "Is that what I think it is?"

Picard hesitated then nodded his head. "I don't remember it being in there when I packed my ready bag." Looking at Kirk he asked, "do you know it?"

Kirk looked as he started to read, "hypospra... this looks much like what Starfleet was developing, after what happened to McCoy.... a good friend of mine."

"I can't seem to remember anything about that," Janeway said.

"Crodasome, nasty stuff, more than a little can drive a man insane. If I'm not mistaken, what happened to your doctor, something about a gatekeeper?" Picard said.

Kirk was nodding, looking at Picard closely. "How do you know about that? It was classified top security after that."

"It was declassified just recently; we have managed to place heavy safety guards around the gate and planet. Well, that and two ships are patrolling at all times," Picard said.

They all turned to me as I slightly groaned, "not to hurry you? I am in a hell of a lot of pain."

"I am sure, but the use of this could kill you, especially as much..." Picard started.

"If I was a normal human, yes, as you have seen, I obviously am not. Now, if you please, give it to me before I pass out again," I told the four of them.

"I do this under duress... " Picard started.

"If you don't? I may never be able to send you back," I said, as I could feel consciousness slipping again.

Picard looked at the others who nodded, then injected me with a sigh. From the moment it hit my system, I felt the pain start to fade as if washed away.

Within two minutes, I felt as normal as normal was to a very high esper. I stood nodding to Picard and the others.

I turned toward Reynolds, "Captain Malcolm Reynolds, I apologize for your being here. Now then, be well," I said as Reynolds's face held a shocked look, said what, then he was suddenly gone.

Janeway turned to me "what have you done?"

"Now that I can see what to do? I sent him back to his universe," I said, as if it were nothing. I turned to Picard, "you might also notice that I am attempting to shift my mind so I have more control. Though at the moment, I only have half what I need, for now. It seems that when I brought you here, I also brought twenty hostile ships," I told them.

"Hostile? There are a number of those in our universe," Kirk said.

"There are quite a few in mine as well. Can you describe them?" Hunt said.

I thought for a moment as I remembered what the pilot had said. "This is what the fighter pilot said, before he shot four down," I said. "There are twenty of them. Some have elongated bodies with what appears to be arms almost like an insect's body, with several blisters of possible weapons."

"Magog," Dylan said with a slight hiss.

I nodded as I went to the second part of what the pilot said. "There is another set with what appears to have a long section leading to a large, round, larger front section. The other end is spread out in a large wing-like section at the rear. They also appear to have a very large area of weapons blisters."

"Klingons," all three of the star Fleet Captains growled.

"Wait, you said that the pilot shot four down? Are you sure they were destroyed," Janeway asked.

"From what I heard, they exploded right after the pilot hit them," I said. "Plus, I didn't feel any survivors."

"Well, that's good, the problem now is we have to get any evidence that we were here," Kirk said.

"Yeah," I started, "I think that I agree with you there."

I looked at Janeway as she gasped when her Tricorder and phaser started working. Then Kirk and Picard also gasp when theirs started to work. Dylan nodded when his wrist com and pistol also started to operate.

"Give me a moment," I said as I concentrated. Several hard drives and data cubes appeared before me. "That's all I can feel," I said as I snapped my fingers and they vanished. "That ought to take care of that, the only thing left is the ships, unfortunately, I can't seem to reach them." I concentrated a moment, then I felt two ships explode, it also drove me to my knees with a feeling of weakness.

Picad and Janeway were scanning me seconds later. "You appear to have pushed farther than your body was ready to. I think you should rest before you try again."

I barely nodded as I laid back on the floor. "Good idea," I whispered. A few minutes I was feeling better 'til I felt the government vans roll up.

"Shit! I can feel several government agencies pulling up, they aren't playing either, we have to go, I just hope I have enough," I said as I concentrated, then kind of pulled at all five of us. A few moments later, we appeared outside in a place that was vaguely familiar. Holy shit I thought, we were hundreds of miles from where we started.

"Damnit!" Picard said as I was panting, almost falling flat on my face. "You barely recovered most of your energy, plus your mind still needs to adjust more. I'd say you are about seventy - five percent, enough to not have as bad headaches though there is still gonna be pain."

I laid back as I felt the pain passing a little faster than before. The bad thing was that the shifting I had felt was almost at a standstill.

"I am hoping I can get most of it finished before they get close again. Sitting cross-legged, I slowly pushed the shifting to speed up. In moments I felt it start, then slowly speed up.

"It's beautiful here," Dylan said. "Reminds me of home, long before the war," Dylan sighed. "That's all gone now, I have to look to the future."

I shook my head as I remembered the show, all the people that Dylan had lost.

"Do you want to go back? I could really use you, but I understand if you don't want to stay," I told Dylan.

"No, I need to help you, the Magog are a species that no one is ready to face without knowledge," said Dylan.

Kirk was nodding, then was staring at me, "What's wrong uh... damn all this time none of us have learned your name."

Without looking at any of them, I replied "John, John Thomas. As for what is wrong, I can feel someone or something tracking us, more so me. They don't feel very strong, though they can feel me. We may have to go again soon."

"Is there any way you can block them?" Picard asked.

"Not sure," I replied as I felt another one percent slip into place. "It might be better if I just temporarily shut them down, not permanently but a few days."

I could see the man that was concentrating far more than I had ever done. I suggest that you stop now while you still have powers," I told the man, to which he laughed.

When he kept at it, I looked into his head, seeing where his power was coming from. Last chance, I told him, to which he again laughed. OK, I said, as I covered the area that I felt his power coming from. I then watched as the man's eyes went wide, he started screaming, then fell to the ground.

I was suddenly back as I saw all four of my visitors staring at me. "Well, that takes care of that," I said, though I was wrong. A mere ten minutes later, I felt another twice as strong as the first.

Asshole he was my friend, you will pay for that! Came the second man's thoughts. Like the first, this one wasn't even half as strong as I was at the moment.

Might I suggest that you back off before I hurt you? I thought to the second man.

Ha! As if I am one of the strongest operatives there are, say goodbye to yourself, he thought to me.

I then felt what could be only described as a wave of pressure, though, as I said, it was only about half as strong as me. I will warn you as I did the first, stop while you still have powers.

I felt the second man laugh as he upped his power as high as he could. I reached out to him, seeing that he was in some type of underground bunker. I entered his head, immediately covering half of where I saw his power coming from in his brain.

I nodded my head as I felt his power drop somewhat drastically, what have you done to me, you ass!

As I said stop before, I shut it all down, like I did the first man. Don't worry, you'll get it back in about a week.

NO! I heard his thoughts scream, it's impossible!

I shook my head as he tried to use what little he had left to overpower me, a mistake. I just simply covered the rest of his power, effectively shutting it off, as he started to scream also falling to his knees.

Might I suggest that you warn the rest not to fuck with me, OK? With that, I broke contact.

I started to open my mouth as I felt another two percent slip into place. Great, I thought. What was it he called it? Ah! The Crodasome would almost gone from my system before it had all of my mind stable.

I sat as I again tried to accelerate, my mind adjusting faster. I slowly smiled as I felt three percent more slip rising up to eighty-five percent. That was a hell of a lot better than it had been. Another three percent slipped into place as I felt the process start to slow.

Again, I was about to speak when I felt a small inkling of how to do what Picard had suggested. I reached out as I felt a layer of energy surround us.

I heard four devices beep alarms as we were completely engulfed.

"Not sure what this is, it seems to be blocking almost all energy signatures," Picard said.

I nodded as I felt for any more like the two, I had shut down. "Damnit, I wish we had something we could get to the last fourteen. With their firepower, I am afraid that they could decimate the earth," I said.

Even as the words left my mouth, a large, sleek, ship appeared. It was a cross between a Star Fleet shuttle, and a small version of Dylan's ship appeared.

I only shook my head as I felt another two percent slip into place. The ship opened in front of us. I looked at the other four as I turned and entered.

As soon as the others entered, the doors closed, the ship rose, entering orbit in thirty seconds.

"Sir? Would you like to go into stealth?" A voice asked.

"Who asked that?" I asked, wondering why the voice was so familiar.

The exact holo - graphic vision of the A.I. on the Andromeda appeared in front of me. "I did sir, again I ask would you like to go into stealth?"

I blinked as I stared at "Rommie", "Yes, I also need the location of the other fourteen ships." I turned to look at Dylan as he had his mouth open, then closed it as he nodded.