Story content and all other characters in The Doctor And The Enterprise D are (c) Rob Cowell. 1995
EXCEPT the article 110 section, from the story The Doctor and
The Enterprise by Jean Airey.

The Doctor And The Enterprise D
——————————-

Chapter One
———–

The Enterprise rocked under the onslaught. The Romulan Warbird
was winning the battle, but at a cost. Its warp engines had been
disabled in a lucky shot, compliments of Mr Worf, and the Warbird was
now incapable of firing torpedoes. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander
Riker and Lt Commander Data were dead.
They had been in a shuttle
returning from an away mission on the planet Mukorine VI, when the
Warbird had decloaked and begun the barrage starting with the
shuttlecraft. The duty officer on the bridge was Commander Deanna
Troi. She had ordered the transporter chief to lock onto the shuttle
and beam it into bay 3, but the chief had failed. It was not her
fault, the Romulans had been to quick, and Deanna was forced to bury
her grief for the moment. The severity of the attack had stunned her
and, in those brief seconds, the Warbird had turned on the Enterprise.
The first shot had hit the impulse engines, the second took life
support from decks 3, 4, 7, 12 and 20. the third hit had been unlucky
for the crew of the Enterprise in cargo bay 2, when the outer door had
disintegrated, before the atmospheric forcefield had been engaged.
Lt Worf had managed to get some photon torpedoes launched, before the
Romulans took care of that, and had hit the Warbirds engine. His
phaser fire had taken the torpedo launcher out of action, but it was
not going to be enough.
“Bridge, we’ve got another problem,” Geordi called up from
engineering, “The warp core has gone critical. We’re looking at a
core breach in two minutes. I can’t shut it down. Recommend we
separate the saucer section.”
“I can’t separate Geordi,” replied Deanna, “the computer’s just
gone off-line. Besides which the Romulans will just pick it off as
target practice. Can you eject the core?”
“No. The computer has frozen the manual over-rides, and I can’t
get to the computer to release them.”
“Understood. I’m sorry Geordi.” Deanna paused, unsure of what
else to say.
“I know counsellor. It wasn’t your fault. It’s. . . It’s
been an honour to serve with you.” Geordi said, his voice was quiet,
but clear, over the noise of the battle.
“Shields have failed.” came the voice of the Klingon standing
behind her. “Deanna, I agree with commander La Forge, the honour is
to serve.”
“Thank you Worf. I. .” Before she could finish her sentence, an
explosion threw Worf across the bridge and her forwards into the Op.’s
station. Shaking her head to clear it she looked up at the viewscreen
to see a second Warbird uncloaking.
[I’m sorry Imzadi] she thought, [I’ve failed you], and the second
vessel opened fire with a volley of torpedoes. The first hit the
deflector dish, sending a shudder throughout the whole ship. But it
was the second missile that received Deanna’s fullest attention. It
sped across space, covering to distance with, seemingly, a slow arcing
action, and plunged through the viewscreen. The bridge exploded in a
fiery wash…

…and dissolved into the clear yellow-on-black grid of the
holodeck.
Deanna looked up from her kneeling position and frowned. She
looked blank for a few seconds, then asked the question with the
obvious answer.
“Where did I go wrong?” The computer bleeped at her.
“Unknown. Please rephrase question.”
“I know.” said a voice from behind her. She had been so wrapped
up in the simulation that she’d failed to her the familiar clunk-hiss
of the holodeck door. She turned round to face Will Riker, who had a
small smile on his face.
“Pardon?” She asked.
“I said, I know.” he replied. “You were in shock of seeing the
Warbird attack so viciously, and also grieving for your lost comrades.
Those few seconds proved disastrous.”
“So what could I have done?” she asked, feeling slightly annoyed
at herself for the mistake.
“Under the circumstances, nothing.” Will said, with an
infuriating air of calmness. “That sort of situation, and the actions
you take, have to be instant and instinctive. But that’s something
you can only get from experience. Don’t dwell on it, you’ll only use
hindsight and that will only make it worse next time.”
“Next time?” shot Deanna, already beginning to dwell on the
experience. “What next time?”
“Hey come on, calm down, it’s over. Sure you failed this time
but next time, and there will be a next time, you’ll remember this and
behave differently.” He grinned, “I thought you were the counsellor,
not me.” She looked at him incredulously then grinned, as those last
words registered.
“You’re right. God I could do with something to eat. Something
very, very chocolatey.” She continued to smile as she walked towards
Riker, “Care to join me?”
“Er, no thanks. I’m not depressed, I didn’t just blow the
Enterprise apart.” His grin widened.
“Ooh you beast.” she said, giving him a playful shove, “Just
for that, you can sit and watch me eat a large chocolate sundae.” She
laughed and they both went out of the holodeck making their way to Ten
Forward.”

Ten Forward was not busy when Deanna and Will entered. Guinan
looked up as they sat at the bar.
“You look happy.” she noted.
“It’s not every day you get to kill the top three officers of a
starship.” Deanna said, throwing a sidelong glance as Riker before
laughing again.
“Mortally wounded. Dying, and she jokes about it.” said Riker
with a pained expression, before grinning. Deanna explained to Guinan
the incident from the holodeck and soon all three were laughing. She
ordered her dessert and moved to a table to eat it, or rather, to
savour it. Riker sat with her talking about the holodeck program.
Deanna turned and smiled at Will Riker. “By the way, I was
looking at Beverly’s script for her new play. I think you would be
great in the leading role.” Now it was Rikers turn to smile, “She
doesn’t give up, does she? Okay I’ll do it – on condition you play
the mad old woman.”
“Done, I think. I’ll tell Beverly later, when we meet for
lunch.” She finished off her dessert and said, “That was wonderful,
just the thing after a hard mornings battle. And now I’d better be
off, I’ve got a meeting with the Captain about the morale of the crew
for the last three months. I’ll see you later.”, and with that she
got up. Riker stood also and his communicator beeped.
“Commander Riker, report to the bridge please.” came to voice of
Jean-Luc Picard. Riker tapped his badge and replied acknowledgement,
then turned to Deanna.
“Are you up for poker tonight, say 1900 hours?”
“Sure, prepare to lose your shirt.” she said, with a smile.
“I’ll catch you later.” and he followed her to the door, smiling
to Guinan as he went. He stopped when he noticed a pre-occupied
expression on her face. The words “grave” and “solemn” came
immediately to his mind.
“Guinan?” The concern in his voice made the bartender look up.
She smiled her enigmatic smile, one side her mouth twitching up.
“Sorry commander, I had a feeling…”, she let the sentence trail
off, “What did you order?”, she smiled up at him. He smiled back, and
shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t, Thanks anyway.” and turned to
leave. He glanced back to see Guinan looking speculatively at him.
Mystified, but not really worried, he carried on out of the lounge and
down the corridor to the turbolift.

In his ready room, Captain Picard sat on the couch reading a
book. It was a thriller by an author Beverly Crusher was fond of.
She had lent him the book saying, “Try it, you never know, you might
like it.” but as yet he couldn’t seem to get into the story. Now if
it were Dixon Hill…, he thought to himself. He put the book down,
and paged Will Riker to the bridge. The book could wait, Starfleet
could not.
Entering the bridge he relieved Lt Commander Data of the centre
chair and sat down. Riker followed Troi onto the bridge, down the
ramp and sat in his chair. Jean-Luc Picard turned to Deanna.
“I’m sorry counsellor, our meeting will have to be postponed for
now. Starfleet has ordered us to the Neutral Zone. Apparently the
Romulans are just sitting there waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” asked Riker.
“Starfleet has no idea. They received a report from a Ferengi
trading ship that at least one Warbird was sitting, powered down, on
their side of the zone. Starfleet wants us to investigate the
mystery.”

* * * *

Beverly Crusher walked into Ten Forward looking for Guinan.
“Just the person I want to see.” she said. “Guinan, I’m looking for
somebody to play a small part in my play, and you would be perfect.”
Guinan looked bemused,
“The mad old woman, am I right?” Beverly was astonished. “How
did you…”, she stopped, “Deanna told you!” she added with mock
accusation.
“No she didn’t. Well, in a way, she did.” Beverly rolled her
eyes and shook her head, laughing.
“Would you do it?” she asked, smiling. Guinan thought it over
for a few seconds, then replied “Why not, although I warn you, my
acting skills are quite limited. Its been a while since I had to do
any.” Beverly Crusher laughed again and, thanking Guinan, left.

The daily routine of life aboard the Enterprise continued as
normal. No-one was aware of a figure, without a spacesuit, sitting on
the top of the saucer section of the ship grinning to itself.

* * * *

In another part of space, in another universe, a small blue box
floated through the void. To the unobservant it could have been just
another piece of space debris dumped there by an ignorant freighter
pilot or some other person equally as ignorant. The TARDIS spun
slowly, heedless of anything around it, its occupants also unaware of
anything but the events taking place inside.
“Doctor, why did you have to stop here, of all places, to repair
the TARDIS? Anyway, what’s wrong with it?”
“Pardon, Sarah?” came a muffled voice, followed by, “Try it now.”
Sarah sighed and flicked a couple of switches, without much
enthusiasm, and waited for a bang or fizzle. She wasn’t disappointed
as three seconds later there was indeed a bang, and a fizzle, and a
thump.
“Hey Doctor, what was that thump? We didn’t get one of those
last time,” she said with a smirk on her face. A blackened face, with
a puzzled expression, surrounded with a mop of curly brown hair looked
over the edge of the console and said, “Ouch, that hurt!” Rubbing his
head, the Doctor stood up. “That shouldn’t have happened. That
definitely should not have happened. Did you use you flick the
correct switch?”
“Yes, just like you told me. This one, and that one.” Sarah
pointed, adding “So what’s wrong with the TARDIS?”
“She’s not been feeling well since that business with travelling
back and forth through time on Nerva Beacon, so I decided to park up
somewhere and give her an overhaul. You know, a sort of 12000 miles
or 750 years service.” He grinned, teeth flashing, and continued
“Rassilon only knows, she could do with it.”
“Rassilon only knows?”, queried Sarah, “Who’s Rassilon when
there’re at home?” She was getting bored hanging around in space,
asking “And why couldn’t we have stayed on Earth to do this 12000 year
service?”
“Earth has a gravity, which would upset the delicate adjustments
I will need to make to the Time Rotor later.” He grunted and groaned
then continued, “And to answer to your other question, Rassilon
created the TARDIS with some help from the rest of us – erm – _Them_ –
the other Time Lords. I suppose on Earth your terminology would be
HEAVEN only knows. The answer to your next question is Omega.” The
Doctor was once again under the console fiddling, so the last sentence
was muffled. Sarah worked it out, then asked “So who created Time
Tra- Oh, I see.”
“There, that should do it.” came the response from the console
base, the Doctor straightened and played with a few switches and
dials. The Time Rotor, housed in the central column, started to glow,
while the column shuddered into life and started to rise. “All done,
well for now.” said the Doctor and flicking the switches again stopped
the central column.
“Doctor, what does this blinking light mean?” she asked. The
Doctor looked over the column at her, “What light is that Sarah?”
“The label says ‘Vortex Instability’ and the computer screen says
‘Warning : universe integrity failing. Dimensional shift occurrence
probability 29%. Doctor the probability reading is getting higher.
33%, 47%, 62%…”
The Doctor looked astonished, “That’s not possible. Quick press
the button marked ‘Vortex Over-Ride!” and he rushed round the console
to look at the computer screen. The reading had reached 89% when
Sarah pressed the button. Both Sarah and the Doctor staggered, as if
they were dizzy, then righted themselves. The TARDIS started to
shake, the reading now 95%. Then the shaking stopped. The screen now
read;

DIMENSIONAL SHIFT OCCURRENCE
PROBABILITY 100%

TRANSFERENCE COMPLETED

“Doctor, what happened?” The Doctor was tapping at the keyboard,
trying to get an answer to the question Sarah asked. The TARDIS
computer screen flickered and printed out the data. He read slowly,
digesting the information, and his frown got deeper. Then he turned
to Sarah, looking perplexed.
“Somehow the Vortex and TARDIS circuits became out of phase. The
old girl was becoming less a part of the vortex in this universe and
more a part of another, somewhere else. The universe integrity is
like a cell membrane, but infinitely more strong, and to protect
herself from the pressures from two non-phased universes the TARDIS
re-phased with the universe on the other side of the membrane. That
was the dimensional shift, the dizziness, we felt at the last moment.
The shaking was the old universe realising the problem and trying to
pull us back.”
“So we’re alright then” Sarah said. The Doctor looked her in the
eyes and replied, “No. The ‘Vortex Over-Ride’ button forced the
TARDIS to stabilise and phase with the universe she was most a part
of.” He pointed to the computer screen where the message flashed.

DIMENSIONAL SHIFT OCCURRENCE
PROBABILITY 100%

TRANSFERENCE COMPLETED

“Transference Completed? To where, Doctor?” she asked. She
looked back to the computer saying, “Well, we might as well see where
we are.” With that she twisted the Scanner switch. The scanner showed
a screen full of stars, but Sarah couldn’t recognise any.
“We’d better see if we can’t sort this problem out, and get back
home.” the Doctor said. “I think we should move round this universe a
bit and take some readings that might indicate what caused the
dimensional shift, then I can work out what will be necessary to
reverse the process.” He moved back round the console and began
setting the co-ordinates. Satisfied with the location, he engaged the
time rotor.
Outside the TARDIS, there was a Voice, but the TARDIS ignored
it, and with a thunk followed by a groaning wheezing sound, the small
blue box faded away.
“Fascinating.” said the Voice, and it too disappeared.

* * * *

The Enterprise warped through space, heading for the neutral
zone. On the bridge all was peaceful, but with an air of tension.
“Mr Data, how long until we reach the neutral zone?” Picard
asked.
“Twenty three minutes, seventeen seconds, at present speed.”
came the concise reply.
“Counsellor, it would appear that we have some time before
reaching our destination. Perhaps we could have that meeting now.”
said the captain, turning to face Deanna.
“Certainly captain.” she answered, and both getting up they
headed into his ready room. Riker moved round the bridge towards the
tactical station and spoke to Worf.
“How’s the weapon status, in case we need it?”
“Photon torpedoes fully loaded. Phaser banks ready. Shields
are at full strength, sir.” the Klingon replied.
“Let’s hope we don’t need them.” said Riker quietly.

* * * *

“Captain to the bridge, please.” came Rikers voice in the ready
room. The captain and the counsellor moved onto the bridge as Riker
informed them they were two minutes from the zone.
“Very good, Number one. Helm, drop to impulse. Let’s take it
nice and casually. We’re just here to take a look.”

The starfield around the Enterprise slowed and popped back into
place as the warp engines switch off and impulse took over. The space
around the ship was empty, the invisible barrier between normal and
unwelcome space somewhere in front of it.
“All stop. Yellow alert. Scan for Romulan vessels.” ordered
Riker. The captain looked impassive, not daring to hope the scans
would prove negative.
“I am picking up one Romulan ship on the other side of the
neutral zone. There are no other ships in the area. There is no
neutrino activity to suggest any cloaked vessels.” stated Data. The
android touched a few more buttons on his console. “Sir, the Romulan
ship seems to have a fluctuating power source. I have no ideas as to
the cause.”
“Mr Worf, open hailing frequencies.” and turning to Riker added,
“They may be having problems with their engines. That might explain
their presence.”
“Open sir.” came the comment from Worf.
“This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the USS Enterprise.
Romulan vessel, we have noticed what appears to be a problem with your
power systems. Were you aware of this, and do you require any
assistance?”
“This is the Romulan Ship Gretexin, Sub-Commander Yarkon
speaking. Yes we are aware of the problem, thank you. We do not need
any assistance at this time, but we are having difficulties
maintaining our position without impulse, or warp, engines. We are
presently drifting into the neutral zone. Our warp engines
occasionally kick into life, but we fear that should they do this
while we are this close to the border we might end up in federation
space.”
“Understood. If it should become necessary we could tow you
back to the Romulan side and by cutting our tractor beam whilst moving
would give you a forward momentum that would push you further into
Romulan space thus preventing your transition in federation space by
accident again.” replied Picard.
“That would be most welcome, should it become necessary,
captain. I hope it does not. Gretexin out.” The screen went blank.
“They are planning something captain.” said Worf with a growl.
The captain looked for conformation from Deanna.
“I sensed no deception on her part. In fact she seemed quite
gratified that we were here, as if our offer of help would save her
crew and herself from the indignity of humiliation from her
superiors.”
“Very well. We’ll wait here until they arrive in federation
space or they fix their problem.” said Picard.

* * * *

Time passed. The crew of the Warbird worked at their problems,
trying hard to keep the ship stable. The crew of the Enterprise went
about their work. On the bridge Data sat in the centre seat, Picard
was in his ready room reading his book, Riker had left to see Geordi
about the possibility of towing the Romulans home. At Ops, Ensign
Faragher checked her console.
“Commander, the Romulan ship has moved into the neutral zone.
At the moment they are not under power.” she reported.
“Understood ensign. Please inform me if the engines power up.”
the android replied.
“Aye, sir.” The console bleeped. She looked down and turned to
the commander, “Their warp engines have come on-line sir. Current
speed, warp eight. They will be in federation space in approximately
eight and a half hours if their speed stays constant.”

On the bridge of the Gretexin sub-commander Yarkon tried in vain
to disengage the warp drive. She knew that to pass into federation
space would be tantamount to committing suicide, but she still had a
mission to complete. Meanwhile the Gretexin sped ever closer to the
other edge of the neutral zone.

The figure sitting on the saucer section smiled, as it knew the
future that was to come. “Future,” it thought, “future, present,
past. Such outmoded concepts. Perception was in the mind of the
beholder.” The figure sitting on the metal surface smiled.

Commander Data informed his captain of the change in
circumstances. Jean-Luc Picard waited patiently for the Warbird to
arrive, knowing he would have to cross the neutral zone in order to
help the Romulans. He hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision.

In another part of space, the TARDIS hung, motionless, while
inside the Doctor worked on his figures. He had taken readings from
three other locations, and was correlating the data so far.
“One more location I think.” He said, looking up at Sarah, “Then
I’ll try and get us home. I think I’ve almost worked out where the
problem lies, it’s just a matter of getting the data to show where the
weakest point between the universes is.” Sarah looked at him, with a
mischievous glint in her eye.
“Shouldn’t that be ‘universi?” she asked.
“Universi? I don’t know, should it?” He replied, not looking up.
Sarah sighed and sat down on the floor, waiting. The doctor
straightened, moved round the console, pressed some buttons and the
central column shuddered and rose. The familiar groaning accompanied
the movement and Sarah wondered where they would end up, and when.

The Romulan Warbird sped through space, eating the distance at a
phenomenal rate. The crew worked frantically to stop the ship and
finally managed it. The ship dropped out of warp but continued to
coast with momentum, and as such was carried over the invisible line
of the border. Sub-commander Yarkon hailed the Enterprise, which hung
scant kilometres away, and explained the situation. She hoped her
officers were ready for the mission.
“So you see captain, we had to dismantle the cloaking device,
the warp and impulse engines, and weapon systems in order to bring the
ship under control. I formally request help from the federation, in
towing us back to the Romulan side of the neutral zone in accordance
with sub section 67 paragraph 9 of the Treaty of Algernon.” and she
quoted, “Any vessel wilfully requesting help in an instance of
non-violent, and/or non-provoked communication whereby the said vessel
shall power down all drive and weapon mechanisms shall be accorded the
status of asylum until such help is no longer required. Help to said
vessel is at the discretion of the recipient of the request. The
neutral zone may be traversed in such times of asylum. The asylum
will end when the vessels are in territory pertaining to be their
origin.”
“Asylum is hereby granted for the duration of the period
requested as help.” Picard replied in his best diplomatic voice. He
began issuing orders to tow the Gretexin back into Romulan space,
knowing the journey would be long and tense.

Sub-commander Yarkon smiled once the viewscreen was off.
“Transporter room, activate.” the mission proper was under way.
Picard would be sending his team of engineers over to help sort the
apparent failure of her systems, hoping not to have to tow her all the
way to Romulan space. In the meantime she would be the grateful, but
troubled commander.

In a deserted corner of the lowest deck of engineering there was
a whine, hum of a transporter confinement beam and a few seconds
later, three Romulans stood looking around.
“Alright, let’s get to work.” said the senior one, and they
split up. They went to various panels and started removing them,
twisting controls, pushing buttons and generally sabotaging anything
in sight. They had just finished and moved out to a jeffries tube
when a wheezing, groaning, trumpeting sound echoed throughout the
deck.
On the bridge, a siren sounded, signifying an intruder alert.
The display showed deck 42, the antimatter storage pods, had an object
and two lifeforms present. Worf hailed a security team and ordered
them to meet him there.

On deck 40, the Romulans moved up a jeffries tube towards deck
36, where they would take control of man engineering.

* * * *

The Doctor looked at the scanner and then opened the doors. He
and Sarah went out, looking for somebody to talk to. The Doctor
wanted some answers to his questions about the nature of this
universe, in the hope that would shed some light on the problem with
the TARDIS.
“Sarah, look at this.” He said. “This appears to be an
antimatter/matter fusion reactor. The two are mixed to give a
controlled explosion which drives this ship. Such an explosion could
give a ship tremendous speed, probably faster than light.”
“I thought that the light speed barrier couldn’t be broken.
Doesn’t Einstein’s theory say something about time travel and light
speed being impossible?” she asked.
“Well, Albert could never get to grips with the conversations we
had. He was always so literal, never looking beyond the light speed
horizon.” Just then he noticed the display.
“This panel says the ratio of antimatter and matter is 8:3.
Surely that can’t be right. It ought to be something like 3:2, or
even 1:1.” He started tapping buttons, trying to get a formulae on the
screen to verify his suspicions.
“Doctor, should you be doing that?” Sarah asked nervously.
“No he shouldn’t!” came a gruff voice from behind him. The
voice spoke again, “Move away from the panel and put your hands where
I can see them.” The Doctor sighed inwardly, (why did this always
happen to him?), and turned round. Sarah turned round also, hands in
the air, to face Worf, his phaser pointed at them. One of the
security team moved past the Doctor to look at the display.
“Looks like he was altering the intermix formulae.” he said. He
tapped his com-badge, “Engineering, check your intermix ratio, we may
have a problem.” He turned to Worf, “It’s a good job we’re not at
warp, we’d have been blown sky high.”
“I realise how this must seem to you but we’ve only just got
here. We found those reading like that. I was trying to correct them
when you burst in here brandishing your guns.” the Doctor said. But
Worf wasn’t listening. He gestured with his phaser, saying, “This
way! You can explain to the captain later.” And with that he led them
to a turbolift.

Chapter Two
———–

Captain Picard was not impressed. His ship was being sabotaged,
he was towing Romulans across the neutral zone and now Worf had
reported that the saboteurs had been captured, caught red-handed at
the antimatter storage pods playing with the settings. He decided to
let the invaders stew in the brig before interrogating them.

Lt Worf marched the two intruders to the turbolift. Once inside
he ordered it to deck 38. The lift complied and within a few moments
the doors reopened. The security team led the way towards the double
doors of the brig, and through into the containment cell. The
intruders were frog-marched into the cell than the security team
withdrew.
“Computer, activate forcefield.” said Worf. There was a brief
flash and a ching sound, then the Klingon and his security team left
the brig.
“Doctor, now what do we do?” asked Sarah Jane. She hated being
imprisoned, and isolated from the safety of the TARDIS.
“Well I’m going to rest and think about the universe shift. If
we don’t sort it out we’ll be stuck in this universe. Think about it.
No more Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans.” The Doctor said, musing over
that last sentence.
“I can live without seeing a Sontaran again. Field Major Styre
was enough to put anyone off Sontarans for life.”
“Sontarans are often enough to put anyone off life for life.”
the Doctor joked.
“How can you joke at a time like this?” Sarah asked incredulously.
“It helps me concentrate.” and with that he lay on the bunk and
closed his eyes. Sarah sighed and sat on the floor with her back to
the wall. Soon she was sleeping, but the Doctor, eyes still closed,
was wide awake. He had partially worked out the problem of the
TARDIS’s shifting. Looking over to the young ensign on duty he saw
him reading something off the computer screen in front of him. The
doors opened and he turned, and was hit in the chest by a phaser beam.
Stunned, the ensign fell off his chair as a Romulan entered. He
looked around.
“This is the detention area, not main engineering. Come on we
need to move up some more.” and without a second glance he and his
companions moved back into the corridor. The Doctor was off his bunk
in a flash, hands going into his volumous pockets in search of
something particular. He nudged Sarah’s foot with his own as he found
the object of his search. The sonic screwdriver would be useful now.
Sarah woke with a start and seeing the Doctor standing she scrambled
to her feet.
“How’d you manage that?” she asked indicating the stunned
officer.
“I didn’t. Some aliens came in, fired at him and left.” He set
the Screwdriver at a level and pointed it at a place where the
forcefield and wall met. With a small high pitched whistle the sonic
screwdriver found the correct frequency and the forcefield was
switched off. Sarah ran towards the doors, while the Doctor strode
over to the ensign and checked him.
“He’ll live.” he said, and sat at the computer terminal. He
looked for an interface to warn somebody about the aliens looking for
engineering. He found what looked like one and began tapping some
keys.
“What are you doing?” Sarah asked impatiently, “We have to get
out of here and get back to the TARDIS.”
“In a minute, I want to send this message to the captain of this
vessel first.”
Sarah sighed and gave the Doctor a resigned look that said, fine
let them know we’ve escaped, it will make the chase so much more fun.
At that point the large grey doors leading into the brig opened and
Jean-Luc Picard, Lt Commander Data and Lt Worf entered. Worf was the
first to see what had happened.
“Don’t move!” he barked, making Sarah jump. “Raise your hands
slowly and come away from the computer.” The Doctor looked dismayed,
but complied.
“Data, see what he was doing.” said Picard more quietly. Data
moved to the terminal. The message on the screen read;

To the Captain of this ship,
Greetings, I am known as the Doctor, and I am not a threat to
you. You have, I believe, a bigger threat on board. Whilst my
companion and I were in your brig a trio of humanoid aliens came in.
They fired a stun weapon at the young man on the floor, looked around
and left looking for main engineering. They had the bearing of
Vulcans, but were more emotional.

The Doctor

###/#
# ? #
#/###

Data called Picard over to the terminal.
“Put them back in the brig for now.” he said to Worf, then moved
to join Data. He read the message and said one word, “Romulans”. He
went over to the brig forcefield.
“You wrote the message.” it was a statement, “What did you hope
to gain from it?”
“Yes, I wrote it. Gain? There was no hope of gaining anything,
simply a desire to inform you of things that might be of interest to
you.” was the reply. Just then the intercom beeped.

“This is Lt Farish of the Romulan Star Empire. I have control
of your main engineering and if you do not co-operate with my demands I
will start killing your crew, starting with the blind man. I want
Captain Picard to come to engineering immediately, alone and unarmed,
to hear my demands. Captain, I give you ten of your minutes to get
here.” The intercom went dead, and Picard looked at the Doctor and
Sarah.
“You’ve got to believe me captain, I haven’t the time to explain
at the moment, suffice to say that we are on your side. Let me help.”
The Doctor said, “When this is over I’ll explain everything.”
“Captain, this could be a ploy by him just to get free again.
We only have his word. They had escaped when we came in and re-caught
them.” Worf said. Picard agreed and turned to Data.
“Commander your opinion?” he asked.
“A moment please captain.” he turned to the Doctor. “You are
known as the Doctor?” he asked. The Doctor merely nodded. Data
continued, “Is this the first time you have been aboard the
Enterprise?” The Doctor looked at Data and stood up.
“Yes. No. I have been aboard an Enterprise, I don’t remember
the designation, but it was commanded by a captain called Kirk.”
Picard looked at the Doctor sharply, then back to Data.
“Captain, I have accessed the logs of the then Captain, James
Tiberius Kirk. He made a reference to a machine called the TARDIS
which bears a resemblance of the box found on deck 40, where these two
were located. He also refers to a being called the Doctor. The
physical description matches this persons attire. I believe this is
the same man.” Data reported.
“Data, that was over a hundred years ago. How could this be the
same person?”
“Not known captain. The description did mention that the person
was not human. Perhaps he is from a long-lived race.” came the reply.
“Very well. Commander Data I will release these people into
your keeping for now, and when we have dealt with the Romulans I’ll
convene a meeting to get the facts. In the meantime I have an
appointment in main engineering. I will keep a channel open. Monitor
it and if it should be necessary for me to need lockouts, or other
computer functions, I recommend you transfer all command functions
elsewhere. Use your ability to alter voice patterns if you have to.
I don’t want the Romulans getting anything.” He turned to Worf, “Lt
Worf release the forcefield.”
Worf did so and with the Doctor and Sarah free, Picard left for
his meeting.

In main engineering the Romulans waited. They waited for
Picard. They waited for a signal back from the Gretexin. Most of
all, they waited to return home with their prize. The Enterprise was
a magnificent prize, But obtaining it intact was going to be tricky.
But, mused Farish, as the Ferengi 62nd Rule of Acquisition stated:
The riskier the road, the greater the profit. This ship could give
him a lot of profit.
Commander Geordi La Forge lay unconscious on the floor near to
the dilithium chamber. There was blood weeping from a cut on his
forehead and his VISOR lay by his feet, in two pieces. An ensign lay
nearby, also unconscious. The Romulan who had made the demand to meet
Picard paced back and forth in frustration. None of the controls
worked, Geordi had seen to that. The Romulan would have killed him
for that apart from the fact that his sub-officer had thrown La Forge
across the deck. Geordi had slammed into the railing that
circumvented the dilithium chamber, hence the broken VISOR and blood.
The doors of the turbolift opened on deck 36 and Picard strode
out. He headed towards engineering slowing as he approached the room.
Rounding the corner gave the Romulans a start, which pleased the
captain: they were jumpy, unprepared for him, he thought.
“You are the captain?” said Farish.
“I am” short, concise. The captain wasn’t about to waste words
with a Romulan who thought he could get away with this hijack.
“First, you will release the command functions of this deck to
me. Secondly you will transfer all command functions enabling access
to your library computer to Sub-Commander Yarkon.” stated Farish.
“Firstly, I can’t. Without the correct lockout sequence I can’t
re-enable command functions. Secondly, I cannot release library
access from here. I can only do that from the bridge.” Picard
responded, hoping Data was on the case and acting as planned. He
looked about and noticed the bodies of Geordi and the ensign, hoping
they weren’t dead, and was playing for time. He wanted to remove the
Romulans from this deck and get a medical team down here.
“You are lying! The captains authorisation overrides all
others.” Farish was adamant.
“On the contrary, I’ll prove it. Computer, relocate and
re-enable all engineering command functions to this location,
authorisation Picard, Epsilon, seven, nine, three.”
“Command functions cannot be relocated to your location. Please
state correct release codes.” the computer said. Picard looked at
Farish, “You see. ” He looked up saying, “Computer, transfer access
of library computer to the Gretexin.”
“Library transfer cannot be implemented. All transfer
operations must be programmed from the bridge.” came the reply.
“Then we will go to your bridge. Picard, move!” shouted Farish.
The three Romulans and one human moved out of engineering and walked
down the corridor to the turbolift.
“Tell me Farish, Have you killed any of my crew?” Picard asked,
appearing to make light conversation.
“Not yet. The blind one and the other are stunned. But if I
don’t get what I want I shall start by killing you.” He replied.

Several decks away, Data sat in his quarters, accompanied by the
Doctor and Sarah Jane. He was listening to the captains discussion
with Farish, looking for clues to be able to render the hijack
inoperative.
“Tell me Farish, Have you killed any of my crew?” Picard.
“Not yet. The blind one and the other are stunned. But if I
don’t get what I want I shall start by killing you.” Farish. Data
understood the captains meaning and tapped his com-badge.
“Doctor Crusher, report to main engineering please. Minimum of
two casualties. Commander Riker, the captain and the Romulans are on
route to the bridge.”
The Doctor looked at Data appraisingly.
“You are android.” he said, then added, “Tell me Commander, Is
your neural net multitronic or positronic?”
“Positronic. I am one of two such constructs. My creator was
Dr Noonien Soong.” Data stopped and turned to face the time lord, “But
we are not here to discuss me, we are here to discuss you and the
reasons why you are here.”
“You are correct commander. Do you mind if I call you Data?”
“It is my name. I have no feelings towards your usage of it.”
Data responded. He tapped at the keyboard of his terminal. The
Doctor stood up and moved behind Data to look at the screen.
“Could you disable the lift they are in?” he asked.
“I could, but the Romulans would notice and might decide to harm
the captain. I could not take the chance of that happening.”
“Can you generate forcefields at strategic locations and when
the captain passes one if them, energise it. That should effectively
trap them.”
“Again, I could. The problem lies with the turbolift. The
destination is the bridge and that turbolift goes right to the bridge.
There is no way that the captain could stop it without the Romulans
detecting it.”
“Is there any way you could stop the turbolift from here and get
the computer to say something like this lift has a malfunction please
move to lift such-and-such to resume your journey. That way you could
use forcefields as a trap.”
Data considered the Doctors suggestion then tapped his
com-badge.
“Data to commander Riker.”
“Riker here. Go ahead Data.”
“Commander, The Doctor has suggested an interesting plan of
action.” He went on to describe it briefly. Riker, sitting in the
captains chair on the bridge, thought about it quickly then replied.
“Execute the plan Data, it’s the best we have at the moment.”
“Aye sir.” Data began tapping keys with astounding speed.

In the turbolift, Picard and his entourage staggered as the lift
came to an abrupt halt.
“Picard what is going on. This is a trick of yours to try and
capture us.” Farish said. He raised his disrupter and pointed at
Picards chest. The computer beeped and spoke.
“This lift is suffering from a malfunction. It is no longer
able to move. Please vacate the carriage. Turbolift one is able to
reach the bridge. This car will be taken out of service until such
time that it can be repaired.” The doors opened.
“Computer, What deck have we reached?” Picard asked.
“The car is now on deck four.” answered the computer. Picard
turned to the Romulans saying, “Deck four is where the cargo bays and
the main shuttlebay are located. It is a short walk to turboshaft
one. Shall I lead?”
“Move. You are stalling for time and it will not help you.
This ship will be taken to Romulus, where the secrets of the
federation will be learnt.” Farish said. He pushed Picard out of the
lift and the other two Romulans followed, looking about warily.
Picard recovered from the shove and proceeded down the corridor.
“What ever you’re planning Will, or Data, make it so.” he thought. He
turned the corner and thought he’d heard a snap whine of a forcefield.
“So that’s you plan, Number one.” he thought approvingly. He turned
the corner and headed down another corridor.

In his quarters Data sat looking at the computer screen. He had
his finger poised over a button, that would activate a forcefield, and
waited for the optimum time. His display showed the captain turning a
corner with the Romulans about one metre behind. Picard passed under
a corridor construction arch and Data tapped the key.

On deck 4 the captain stopped when he heard the forcefield
activate right behind him. He turned and saw Farish walk into it.
The Romulan recoiled from it in shock and stared at Picard. One of
the other Romulans was quick on the uptake and ran back to the corner.
He was flung backwards. He had run full speed into a waiting energy
wall and was now unconscious on the floor. The third Romulan simply
stood accepting the situation.
“Throw down your weapons. There is no way to escape.” said
Picard. The Romulans, believing this to be true, complied. Farish
looked disgusted.
“You may have won this skirmish, but you still have to repair
your ship. Meanwhile the Gretexin is fully operational.
Sub-Commander Yarkon could destroy you where you stand.”
Picard ignored the threat and tapped his com-badge.
“Picard to Riker, well done Number one.”
“Actually captain the idea came from the Doctor and Data.” came
Will Rikers voice, “What do you want done with the Romulans?”
“Beam them into the brig for now. I’ll decide what’s to be done
later. I’ll be on the bridge shortly. Go to red alert and keep an
eye on the Gretexin, She’s fully powered and probably armed to the
teeth.” Picard redirected is speech to sickbay, “Doctor Crusher how is
Geordi?”
“Geordi, and Ensign Gharrjine, are fine. Do you have a moment
to meet me here?” Beverly asked.
“I’ll be there in a moment. Picard out.” he looked at Farish as
the three prisoners dissolved in the sparkle of a transporter beam.
Once they were gone he saw and heard the forcefields deactivating.
Two security men came round the corner, and upon seeing the captain
was not harmed, one of them bent and picked up the discarded
disrupters. Nodding to the men, Picard moved to the turbolift and
descended to sickbay.

Beverly Crusher looked up at the sound of her door sliding open.
She smiled when she saw the captain walk in.
“Are you hurt in any way Jean-Luc?” She asked, concern on her
face.
“No. I was lucky.” he corrected himself, “We were lucky. It
could have been much worse.”
“Hmm. Geordi just had a small cut to his forehead, probably the
result of his VISOR breaking. Ensign Gharrjine was hit be a disrupter
on a low stun setting. He’s going to be fine also.”
“Can we replicate another VISOR for Geordi?” asked Picard.
“I’ve already done it. Geordi will be discharged within the
hour, after we’ve checked his VISOR functions correctly. I’d advise
24 hours to get over the ordeal. It’s only really so he gets some
rest.”
“Okay But I’ll need him to sort out the sabotage by the
Romulans as soon as possible. Meanwhile I need to talk with another
Doctor.”

The intercom beeped in Data’s quarters. Picards voice issued
from it.
“Commander Data, would you and the Doctors party report the
conference room please.”
“Aye sir, On our way.” Data replied, “Doctor if you would follow
me.”
“Certainly Mr Data.” said the Doctor, “Come on Sarah, interview
time.”
“Great. Just what I need.” she retorted. The Doctor smiled,
stood up, and followed Data out of his room.

In the conference room, Picard sat at his customary place at the
head of the table. Will Riker was on his left, the seats on his right
empty for the Doctor and Sarah. Deanna was further down the table on
the right. Geordi was in on the meeting, at Picards request, although
he was relatively subdued. Beverly Crusher was also there, to check
on Geordi and to check out the Doctor when he arrived. She was
talking quietly to Deanna about her play, while they all waited on the
arrival of Data and his charges.
The door from the bridge opened and Data entered, preceded by
the Doctor and Sarah. Picard rose, as the Doctor approached, and held
forth his hand.
“Doctor. Good of you to join us.” he said, shaking the others
hand.
“Well, we were passing the door and just decided to pop in and
say hello.” The Doctor smiled disarmingly, but warmly.
“I understand I have you to thank for the capture of the
Romulans and the release of my ship.” he said. They sat.
“I only did what I could, with what little I know of your ships
systems.” replied the Doctor, “Mr Data implemented the actual
operations of the plan.”
“Thank you. Now, I think we have some time on our hands for the
moment and you offered some explanations. You mentioned Captain Kirk
earlier, let’s start from there.”
“About a year ago, according to my chronometer, I happened to
materialise on board a starship called Enterprise. She had suffered
through a magnetic storm and become translocated into my universe. I
met Kirk, Spock and the rest of his crew. They encountered an alien
species called Sontarans and I helped them escape from the battle
fleet they met. We got to work repairing the ships damage, finding
out the cause of the dimension jump and worked out a way to return
them back here.”
“Data, what is the time difference between that meeting and this
one?” Picard asked.
“One hundred and one years, seven months, fifteen days.” he
supplied.
“As long as that eh?” said the Doctor, “Doesn’t time fly when
you’re having fun.” he smiled again, then continued. “The captain, in
an effort to thank me, implemented Article 110. ” He was interrupted
by Data.
“Confirmed sir. Would you like to hear the recording?”
“Please, Mr Data.” Picard said. Data started speaking, but the
voice was not his own. It was the voice of, the then Captain of the
Enterprise, James T. Kirk.

“The individual known as the Doctor is to be considered a citizen
in full standing of the Federation and is to hold the honorary rank
of Commander in Starfleet. Standard identification patterns as
follow.”

Data spoke again, in his own voice, “The remainder of the message is
the scans made by Dr McCoy, Chief Medical Officer, Starfleet. Serial
number -”
“Thank you Mr Data. That’s enough.” he turned to the Doctor,
“Well Commander, I think we should begin the pooling of information
and find out how to get you back”
“Agreed. Although I think a more pressing problem is the repair
of your ship.” Just them the duty officer on the bridge paged the
captain.
“Captain, the Gretexin has pulled away and is coming about.”
“Sound red alert. Battle stations.” The party in the conference
room broke up.
“Captain, ” Beverly said, “I’m relieving commander La Forge from
duty while he recovers from his ordeal, and readjusts to his new
VISOR.”
“Very well doctor, we’ll have to do without him for now. Number
One, who’s the duty officer in engineering at the moment?”
“Lt Barclay” Riker told him, “I’ll make him aware the Geordi
won’t be around for a while.” Picard nodded and left for the bridge.
On the bridge ensign McKnight, the duty officer, checked the
shields, weapons and communications were operational. The bridge
staff entered and took their seats.
“Report ensign McKnight.” Picard said.
“We were towing the Gretexin when she went to full impulse and
broke away from the tractor beam. Then she came about. We have
ceased forward movement, the heading back to federation space is
programmed in. All weapon banks and shields are fully operational.
We are a million kilometres from the enemy vessel, and at full impulse
we are 1.4 hours from federation space
“Mr Worf, open hailing frequencies. Mr Data inform engineering
that we will need warp speed as soon as possible.”
“Hailing frequency open sir.” Worf said.
“This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the federation starship
Enterprise. Gretexin, are you suffering with another engine
malfunction?” Picard decided to play the situation down, pretending
that the incident with the Romulans hadn’t taken place. The
viewscreen flicked and the face of Sub-Commander Yarkon showed.
“We are not having problems, you are. We are now fully
operational and withdraw our request for asylum. You are in the
Neutral Zone and are in breach of the Algernon Treaty. We are now
exercising our right to defend that treaty. Surrender your ship
immediately or we will be forced to destroy you.”
“Commander, I do not understand your hostility. We freely gave
aid and now you want to destroy us.” Picard hoped he was showing the
right emotions. He was desperately trying to formulate a plan, and
was hoping his senior staff were doing the same.
“Your understanding is not important.” Yarkon sneered, ” Your
surrender is required, immediately and unconditionally.”
“Very well, ” said Picard, having the glimmer of a plan, “I
request a short time to inform my crew. Shall we say fifteen
minutes.”
“Shall we say five minutes.” said Yarkon, in the same tone of
voice as Picard.
“As you wish.” was the reply. Picard looked at the viewscreen
as it flicked back to the image of the Warbird, then he turned.
“Conference.” he said, leading the way towards the back of the
bridge.

Picard sat at the conference table. Riker, Troi, Data and the
Doctor were there. Sarah was in her quarters, having been shown the
way by Beverly Crusher. Geordi was also in his quarters making minute
adjustments to his VISOR.
“Options please.” said Picard. He had thought of using the
tractor beam as a repulsor beam but Data had informed him that the
plan would not work without sufficient power from the warp engines,
and they were off line due to the sabotage.
“Could we use the metaphasic shielding program of Dr Crusher to
supplement the shields?” put forward Riker.
“No sir. That shielding program only prevents radiation, such
as solar radiation, from penetrating to the ship. It would be
ineffective against photon torpedoes or disrupters.”
“Is there any way we could bypass the matter antimatter reaction
chamber and still go to warp?” asked Troi.
“There might be a way,” data mused, “but it would require
approximately fourteen hours to implement the suggestion. We would
have -”
“Thank you Data, but we don’t have time for the explanations now.
Any thing else?” Picard asked.
“Yes.” said the Doctor. He looked thoughtful, as though
contemplating a difficult equation.
“Doctor, you have a suggestion?” asked Picard.
“Yes. I could attempt to place my TARDIS around the Enterprise
and then return to federation space.” he said.
“How could you do that? Your box is inside our ship. You can’t
fit the Enterprise inside that thing.” said Riker, disbelief evident
on his face.
“Don’t be deceived by appearances commander. My TARDIS is much
bigger on the inside.” he turned to the captain, “Captain, I believe
this to be the only option.” Picard thought for a moment then looked
at the Doctor.
“Very well, proceed.”
“I’ll need about two minutes. Can you transport me directly to
my TARDIS. Oh, I’ll need the engines completely shutdown. The field
around your engines would upset my TARDIS, she’s quite fragile at
times.
“Understood. Transporter room 1 lock on to the Doctor and beam
him to Deck 42.” Picard watched as the familiar whine sounded and
watched the Doctor fade away. Picard stood and the meeting was at an
end. He walked back to the bridge.

The Doctor rematerialised beside the TARDIS. He looked at it
and put out his hand to pat it. Okay old girl let’s do it, he
thought and walked inside. A few seconds later the groaning thump,
followed by the trumpeting wheezing sound could be heard and the tall
blue box vanished.

On the bridge of the Romulan craft, Sub-commander waited to see
what Picard would do. Suddenly a blue box appeared on the screen
beside the Enterprise. It hung in space for a moment then
disappeared. A moment later so did the Enterprise.

On the bridge of the Enterprise Jean-Luc Picard looked at the
viewscreen with fascination. The screen showed several images
overlaid with each other. There was a swirling vortex, with a furious
storm raging inside it. There was a large room with stone walls, ivy
covered, stone pillars and a stone seat. There was a reflection of
the Enterprise bridge and a picture of the Enterprise warping though
space. Only Data was able to distinguish all the images, not that
they made much sense to him. To Picard, they were just random
flickerings and wild colour splashes. Then the viewscreen was clear,
showing a starfield.
“Mr Data, what’s our position?” Picard asked.
“According to the navigational computer we are in federation
space. We are currently in orbit of Jouret Four.” the android
replied.
“Jouret Four? Isn’t that where the Borg attacked the New
Providence colony?” asked Riker.
“Confirmed sir.” said Data. There was a groaning sound from the
conference room and Worf ran to the door, drawing his phaser. The
door opened and the Doctor walked through.
“I’ve moved us away from the neutral zone. This planet is
deserted, and the space about it is quiet. It should be an ideal
place to stop and repair your ship.” he said.
“Thank you Doctor. Mr Data will you begin cataloguing the faults
with the ship and then start work on the repairs.” Picard said.
“Aye sir.” Data got up and moved to the engineering station at
the rear of the bridge. Picard looked at the Doctor.
“Doctor, could you tell us how this ship fit inside your, er,
TARDIS. I am intrigued.” he said.
“The TARDIS is transcendentally dimensional.” Seeing blank looks
he simplified the explanation. “It’s bigger on the inside that on the
outside. The interior dimensions of the TARDIS don’t occupy the same
dimensions as the exterior ones.” He was relieved when Data
interrupted him.
“Captain, I have located all the faults with the Enterprise.” he
said. Picard motioned for him to continue.
“The matter/antimatter reaction chamber and two antimatter
storage pods have suffered slight damage. They are not in any danger
at the moment. The computer core in engineering has suffered minor
damage from a disrupter blast. However some of the engineering
subsystems are off line due to this damage. There is damage to the
jeffries tubes leading from deck 42 to deck 36. Some of the systems
in the tubes will need repairing or replacing. As a result of our
tractor beam being disconnected by force, the emitter coils of the
tractor beam have been burnt out. The sudden acceleration of the
Gretexin sheared the beam causing a feedback into the deflector, also.
All other systems do not seem to have been affected.” Data reported.
“Quite a bit of work. Pull any staff you need to assist in the
repairs. Mr La Forge will be back on duty tomorrow.” Picard said.
Data nodded and turned to leave.
“Captain, with your permission I’d like to help. I know quite a
bit about computers and electronic systems.” The Doctor said. Captain
Picard thought it over and agreed. Data looked at the Doctor.
“I welcome your offer of assistance Doctor, I would be
interested in any information, or comments, you have.” And with that
they entered the turbolift.

(more parts will be online later)

—————————————————————–
All Star Trek characters are copyright Paramount.
All Doctor Who characters, and the TARDIS, are copyright BBC
Enterprises.

Story content and all other characters are (c) Rob Cowell. 1995
EXCEPT the article 110 section, from the story The Doctor and
The Enterprise by Jean Airey.

This story will be uploaded to the anonymous ftp site for
startrek.creative stuff, and to Frontios.

If you like the story, perhaps you would like to cast a vote for
it at : http://www.phlab.missouri.edu/cgi-bin/storylist

(bear in mind that at this moment in time, only chapters 1-3
exist at this site.)

Rob Cowell

[email protected]

All Marks are owned by their owners.

Doctor Who & related characters are the BBC’s
Star Trek & related characters are Paramount’s