Q-linary
| [Int. shot, Meltran battleship Qistra-Hesp Main Bridge. The bridge is a typical Zentraedi bridge, with the command bubble up on one wall and the consoles on the floor below, with tactical holo-displays hanging in mid- air everywhere.] | |
| Magiso | Be careful of what you say, Siniya. Not all think the same way you do. You saw our sisters' reaction today - they are still bound by the Imperative. |
| Siniya | I will keep my thoughts to myself, Kalidar. |
| Magiso | See that you do. As for the microns, I am sure we can use them to our advantage. Maybe they will even allow us to kill the hajoca Hunter at last. |
| Siniya | And after? |
| Magiso | They will have the same fate as tools whose purpose is gone. They will be destroyed. |
| [Opening sequence music.] | |
| Picard (VO) | Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its on-going mission; to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no-one has gone before. |
| [Opening sequence.] | |
| [Ext. shot, Mordred at rest.] | |
| Title | Q-linary. |
| Max (VO) | Ship's Log, SDBB-03 Mordred, 2035.07.12.1608, local time. It has been three hours since the Enterprise has appeared in our quadrant. We are not sure of their intentions - nor of their links with the Invid, if any. The Enterprise's captain has agreed to come on board for discussions. Meanwhile, I have placed an Alpha squadron on stand-by alert. I only hope that the worst that will happen is that these kids will get bored sitting in their cockpits. |
| [Int. shot, Mordred Shuttle Landing Bay.] | |
| Max | Anything yet? |
| NBE | Nothing sir. No shuttle, no fighters... nothing. |
| Rick | I thought we'd arranged to meet them at 1610? |
| Max | We had. I wonder what... |
| [Transporter whine fills the air. Over to the side, several column of lights materialise into Captain Picard, Lieutenant-Commander Data, Counsellor Troy, Geordi LaForge, and two Kowalskys... er... security officers.] | |
| Max | Atten-HUT! |
| Picard | Captain Sterling? A pleasure to meet you in person. These are my officers - Lieutenant-Commander Data... Counsellor Deanna Troy... Our Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge... Security Officers Elwood and Bourne. |
| Max | Captain Picard. My crew - Bernard, my Second in Command... Linerva, Chief Navigator... Bron, Chief Engineer... Srepde, CAG... And this is Admiral Richard Hunter. |
| Rick | Captain. |
| Picard | Admiral. This is quite a ship you have... Are those fighter-planes? |
| Srepde | Yes, captain, they are. |
| Geordi | In space? |
| Srepde | These fighters have been converted to Aerospace standard. They are capable in operating under most environments. |
| Picard | Indeed. Very impressive technology, Captain. |
| Rick | Not quite as impressive as your entrance, Captain Picard. Would you care to explain the principles behind it? |
| Picard | The Transporter? You would get a better explanation out of my engineer. I merely run the ship. But I believe we have business to discuss? |
| [Int. shot, Meltran battleship Qistra-Hesp Main Bridge.] | |
| Magiso | Any change in the enemy's status? |
| Siniya | No, Kalidar. They are still orbiting the outpost. They are not aware of our approach. |
| Magiso | Did I not tell you that our best plan was to glide in without power? This way, their fold-sensors will not detect us, and they themselves will be unaware of us until it is too late. |
| Siniya | Does this mean we do not require our.. "guests" anymore? |
| Magiso | We will not need their assistance in fooling the micronians. But it should only be fitting that no Zentraedi kill one who is weapon-bonded. |
| Siniya | What does the Kalidar suggest? |
| Magiso | Train them in the use of the power armours. When the time comes, we will tell them we are fighting the Invid, a common enemy. We will let their own side take care of them for us. Even our sisters could not fault that - our guests will die fulfilling the Zentraedi imperative. |
| [Int. shot, Mordred Officer's Lounge.] | |
| Max | So in your universe, the SDF-1 never crashed... and none of the Robotech Wars ever happened? |
| Data | That is correct. However, the Eugenics war served the same purpose - that of thinning the population. It was to be many years before Earth recovered from that blow. |
| Rick | Your universe certainly sounds a lot healthier place to live than this one, that's for sure. |
| Picard | We've had out share of enemies, Admiral. Romulans, Gorns, Klingon, Ferengi, Cardassians. All of whom we eventually made peace with - or at least signed a non-intervention treaty. |
| Data | Except for the Borgs, sir. |
| Picard | Yes, except for them. But even with them, we have not yet lost hope. |
| Troy | Tell me more about this war, the one that's just finished. |
| Bernard | Well, with the Regent dead, most of the fight went out of the Invid in this quadrant. Still, some fight on - especially the ones who were sent on long-range missions against Zentraedi armadas. So we are currently engaged in a "mop-up" operation - going through this sector bit by bit, making certain there are no belligerent Invid left. The last thing we want is to have an army at out back when we return to Earth. |
| Geordi | Sounds like you're expecting trouble. |
| Rick | We are. We lost contact with Earth a few years back. Eventually, when contact was re-established, we learnt the Robotech Masters had invaded. Eventually, the Masters were defeated - but at great cost to the defence forces stationed on Earth. To make matters worse, the Invid under the Regis' control are now on Earth. If we are to be able to remove her, we can't afford to have to look over our shoulder to make sure we aren't stabbed in the back. |
| Bernard | ... |
| Max | Thank you Bernard, no. |
| [Picard's badge beeps.] | |
| NBE (VO) | Enterprise to Captain Picard. |
| Picard | Picard here. |
| NBE (VO) | Captain, sensors have detected a ship coming from outside the system on silent running. |
| Rick | Invid or Zentraedi? |
| Max | Either way, bad news. We didn't detect them. |
| NBE (VO) | We have also detected a number of gravitational anomalies on the other side of the solar system, consistent with the de-folding of Invid Assault Carriers. |
| Rick | Invid and Zentraedi? |
| Max | We're in trouble. |
| Picard | Red alert. Admiral, Captain - with your permission I'd like to return to my ship and possibly help from there. |
| Rick | Thank you Captain. Any help would be appreciated. |
| Picard | Picard to Enterprise... Six to beam up. |
| [Enterprise party dissolves into columns of light and disappear.] | |
| Max | Some day, we're going to have to figure out how they do that. Makes for a great exit. All hands to battle-stations, this is not a drill! |
| [Int. shot, Mordred Bridge.] | |
| Max | Status. |
| Thornely | We have them on radar now. Radar paint IDs it as a Zentraedi Cruiser. It came in with its engines shut down so we wouldn't detect an in-system fold. ETA, twelve minutes. |
| Rick | What about the fold signatures? |
| Bernard | The Enterprise was correct. There are faint readings on the opposite side of the Sun in this system. They are consistent with de-fold signatures of Invid Assault Carriers. My guess is they hoped the Sun's activity would mask their unfolding. |
| Rick | Looks like we're going to be caught in the middle of a shooting match between Zentraedi and Invid. |
| Thornely | Zentraedi Cruiser has launched crafts. Captain! Radar identifies some of those bogies as Alphas and Valkyrie Veritechs. |
| Max | I guess we won't have to worry about being innocent bystanders after all. |
| Rick | Huh? |
| Max | The only way the Zentraedi could have gotten their hands on Veritechs would be if someone had handed the fighters over to them. Which means we've got a traitor. |
| Rick | Which means they're here for us. |
| Max | Exactly. |
| Thornely | Ten minutes to contact. |
| Rick | A Thunderer-class ship and a Garfish escort against a Zentraedi Cruiser and an Invid Assault Carrier. We're dead. |
| Max | On the plus side, we've got the Enterprise. We're no licked yet. |
| Bernard | ... |
| Max & Rick | Shut up, Bernard! |
| [Int. shot, Enterprise Main Bridge.] | |
| Picard | Report. |
| Data | Enemy ship has disgorged several fighter-sized crafts. Preliminary readings indicate some of these crafts to be of the same design as those inside the Mordred. |
| Picard | Just what have we stumbled into? |
| Data | Enemy ship firing. Contact in ten seconds. |
| Picard | All hands, brace for impact. |
| Data | The weapon-fire will miss us by a wide margin, Captain. We are not their intended target. |
| Troy | Then who is? |
| [On the screen, the Mordred's Garfish escort is lanced by several beams of light and explodes.] | |
| Data | Counsellor, does this make it a "rhetorical question"nbsp; |
| Picard | Load photon torpedoes. Target phasers at the lead fighters. And keep an eye out for de-folding ships. |
| Q (VO) | Tut-tut, mon Capitaine. You are not allowed to play in this sandbox. |
| Picard | Q! |
| [Bright flash of light, Q appears dressed as a Zentraedi.] | |
| Picard | For a moment I had hoped you would have left us for good. |
| Q | Mais non, Jean-Luc. I was merely keeping an eye on Riker and your pet Klingon for you. Good news! They'll soon be here. |
| Picard | What game are you playing now? |
| Q | You do not listen Jean-Luc - that has always been your problem. This is not my game, I am merely an observer. As should you be. |
| Picard | We are not going to simply sit by and watch a war unfold. |
| Q | "And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;..." |
| [Bright flash of light - Q disappears but his voice lingers on.] | |
| Q | "And enterprises of great pith and moment..." |
| [All over the bridge, light go out, panels go dark.] | |
| Q | "With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action." |
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