Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netnews From: chiphed@ix.netcom.com (Sandra Lee) Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: TNG story: Barclay and Q are major characters Date: 4 Feb 1995 08:35:02 GMT Organization: Netcom Lines: 153 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3gve7m$juj@ixnews1.ix.netcom.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ix-orl1-11.ix.netcom.com Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:5611 This is a short story I wrote for CRW 2000 at Valencia Community College in Florida. I didn't give it a specific title (I leave it up to you). Enjoy (and if you really like it, let someone at Paramount know - it would make a great script for a future Generations movie, thorwn in with other elements, such as Vulcan/Romulan reunification, another Borg invasion attempt, and maybe the first initiative to search for Voyager -- so they can meet each other half way in about 34 years or so). Thank you for taking the time (you may want to copy this document to Notepad or other Windows editor and print it out later - to save on-line charges and headaches). - Ronald Chapman, author and major trekkie Chief, 2nd class, Starfleet USS Paegan, NCC 1755 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ever since he was a small child, Reginald "Reg" Barclay wanted to join Starfleet. His father had been a commander on Starbase 117 until he had a stroke and died when Reg was a first year cadet at the academy. He had demonstrated great skill in solving computer problems and fixing circuitry, so when he graduated from the academy, he was asked to serve aboard the Enterprise. He declined because he was afraid he wasn't ready to be on a Galaxy class starship, the best and biggest ships in the fleet. He posted to the Zhukov, a ship that had been comissioned for over 30 years, and during his time there, he had saved three lives and fixed a major computer error that could have caused life support failure. Because of his exemplary service, he was promoted to Lieutenant and was offered a position aboard the Enterprise as a diagnostics engineer in 2367. He had done a very good job of hiding his fear of transporters, but he was very timid and people noticed this. While aboard the Enterprise, a Cytherian probe altered his brainwaves to increase his IQ to 1200 so he could pilot the Enterprise from the holodeck, which was his favorite place on the ship because he could tell reproductions of the crew what he really thought without being so afraid. A few months after he had flown the ship to the Cytherians, he was faced with his greatest fear. He was ordered to transport to a crippled vessel to get the computer systems back on-line. As he was transported, an energy life-form interfered with his signal and he was temporarily lost. He thought he was dead when he saw Geordi LaForge at the transporter controls but Geordi couldn't see him. When he saw the energy life-form, he was afraid it was going to eat him. Geordi was finally able to retrieve his pattern and he was returned to his normal self. He would look back at this situation and say it was a turning point in himself. From then on, he wasn't as timid around others and din't spend as much time in the holodeck. But there was still an obstacle to overcome: he loved Deanna Troi but couldn't tell her. Because she was only half-Betazoid, she couldn't read his mind to find this out, and certainly he wasn't going to tell her. Over the past few months, Data had become Reg's best friend. Reg was the only crew member that Spot liked besides Data, so Reg often would "babysit" Spot while Data was on duty. It was on a day when Reg was watching Spot when it happened. All of the sudden, Spot disappeared. Reg quickly tapped his communicator pin to get a hold of Data, but there was no response. He stepped outside the room and looked down the hall, which should have been filled with personnel going to their assigned posts. But it was completely barren. He questioned the computer and asked, "Computer! Where is Lieutenant Commander Data?". The computer beeped for a few seconds as it searched the databases for Data's pattern. An error beep came up and the computer said, "Lieutenant Commander Data's pattern not on file.". To which he responded, "Computer! Locate Captain Picard.". "Unable to respond to request.". He was about ready to punch the terminal on the wall when he had a chilling thought. Because of his altered brain (though his IQ had returned to normal), he feared a subspace anomaly may have picked up on his brainwave pattern and altered his space-time continuum. So he asked, "Computer! List all personnel aboard the Enterprise." The computer came back and said, "The only person on board is Lieutenant Reginald Barclay." "What is my current duty?" "Commander of the Enterprise." He was so overcome by shock that he fainted. When he came to, he saw Q, that mischeivous superior life form who had interfered with the crew on several occasions to study them. Although Barclay himself had never encountered Q, Geordi and Data had shown him the recordings and reports in case he would ever encounter Q. Well, he thought, here's my chance. Q began to speak in an unknown language. Reg thought, geez now the interstellar translators don't work. What next? Finally, he could hear Q in English. "...and you think that this is real. Well, to tell you the truth, it is. This is what happens tomorrow. A standard distress call will be intercepted. Jean-Luc decides to investigate, even though he has to take emergency medical supplies to Nercana II. It will turn out to be a trick by Lurssa and B'Etor, renegade sisters out to seize control of the Klingnon empire. There will be twenty Romulan warbirds waiting to fire upon the Enterprise. Jean-Luc will stand no chance against the Romulans, so he surrenders. Their lives are spared, but key command officers are taken to a Romulan prison way out in the Beta Quadrant in Romulan space. It is a good assumption that the Federation will ignore them, like all human governments do, and they will die in prison.". "Q, why me? Why are you showing me this?". "For two reasons. One: You are not a key officer, so getting word to the bridge will be difficult if not impossible. And two: if you must know, I care a great deal for Jean-Luc, but I can't physically alter time. So I brought you to the future to show you what happens and hope that you will be able to stop this." "Why does the computer say I'm in command?" "Because all of the officers were taken, but the rest of the crew was allowed to return to Starbase 201. Since you were the highest ranking of the remaining crew, it was decided that you would take temporary command and fly her home." "I give you the choice, Barclay. You can either stay in this future and hope for your sake that war doesn't escelate from this disaster, or you can return 15 hours before in your sleep. When you wake up, this will seem like a dream. But you must believe. You've got to for Jean-Luc...for Geordi...and especially for Data." "I...I want to go back. But what can I do? I'm just an engineer." "You'll report to Geordi as usuall. Tell him you want to run a diagnostic on Data. And tell him it's urgent. Hurry to the bridge. Geordi will have already let Jean-Luc know and Data will be relieved of duty for your test. When you arrive on the bridge, the distress signal will most likely come while you're there. You have to try." And then Reg woke up and hurried to Engineering. He told Geordi that he had had a strange dream and needed to go to the bridge to speak to Troi (he decided not to use checking up on Data, because Geordi would wonder why). He was given permission and went to the bridge. Commander Riker was there to greet him and tell him that Troi was in sickbay. Reg had turned off his comm badge so that he would be uniterrupted in his mission. As soon as Riker turned around, the distress signal sounded. Barclay lost control of himself and blurted out, "Ignore it! It's a trick by Lurssa, B'Etor, and the Romulans to start a war!" Picard stared at him puzzedly, and for a second, Barclay thought Picard wouldn't listen to him. But, Picard did something unexpected. He asked for a scan of the system where the signal was coming from. Data scanned the system and the scan came up negative. "No life forms detected, but 16 definite warp signatures are registering in the vicinity." "How...How did you know, Reg?" He hailed Starfleet and told them to send five starships to the region. Barclay was ordered to see Counselor Troi to figure out how he knew that. He related his encounter to Troi, and Troi asked Beverly Crusher to scan him. Dr. Crusher found no signs of time displacement whatsoever. To this day, it is a mystery how Barclay knew what was to have happened from a dream. Some say that Q was just toying with Barclay. Others say Barclay really did go to the future. Still others say that he was hallucinating from the stress he was in. But whatever really did happen, one thing was for sure, the Enterprise and her crew was safe. And that's all that really mattered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Star Trek and all related material is registered by Paramount Studios. Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, Michael Piller, and Rick Berman. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's note: I am a starving college student, so maybe if you like this story, you could send me e-mail listing some cool Star Trek sites, graphics sites, and of course, places (other than USENET) where I could get some naked women pictures :)