Chapter 7

I waved a hand toward the female, putting her on my couch. I allowed her mouth and head freedom, then wished I hadn’t as she started to scream.

“Look, that isn’t necessary,” I shouted to get over her. She immediately quieted as I sat in a chair in front of her. “Now, who are you, who do you work for?”

“Mary, Mary Dolance, “till a week or so ago, I worked for a bunch of creeps.” She named a few names that I recognized; I nodded as she went on. “We were left in some type of lab, they all vanished one day. Not really sure what happened to them.”

“Ah,” I said, “afraid that was me. Here, let me get the rest of them,” I said as I pulled all the weak powers I felt where the female had been.

I suddenly had fifteen females and five males milling around my apartment. Shit, I thought just what I needed.

I just shook my head, as I watched them roam the room aimlessly. I wasn’t sure that I couldn’t send them home. Chances were that the government had backup plans. So, these people could be captured again.

I sat with a thud going over everything that I knew. I looked at all of them, seeing that they were weak compared to me. Maybe I could mask them from detection, then send them home.

I called all of them, trying to explain just what I was trying to do. Perhaps they could have a more normal life?

I started tentatively on the female that I had first pulled here. Mary Dolance bit her lip when I started. “It won’t hurt, will it?” She asked.

“No,” I said, “you’ll hardly even know that anything has been done. You are the strongest, so I would start with you.”

A weak smile came to her lips, then she slowly nodded. “Alright, I ... I trust you.”

I stared at her in shock, this was the first time anyone, let alone a female had evet said that to me. I started laying down a type of shield that masked her abilities, using her own energy.

“There, that should hide you very well, as long as you do not use your abilities. I hope that you can stay hidden,” I said.

“Are you sure? I really don’t want to go back there,” she said.

I slowly nodded my head. I somewhat knew what she was talking about. They had tried to get their hands on me a few times.

“Alright, let me just make sure,” I said as I reached out to her. This whole time I hadn’t noticed that the rest of them had crowded near us, listening intensely.

I kept my abilities low about what I thought the government types would use. I smiled as I went to half power, nothing good, she was mostly normal appearing.

“Well? How do I appear?” She asked.

“I am about half of my abilities; you are mostly normal. I don’t think that there are many that are more powerful than that. I believe you are good to go. Now,” I said, looking at the rest of them. “Remember, if you use them then, they will notice you. I mean anything that appears out of the ordinary, they will investigate. If that happens, try to call to me, I’ll try to stay attuned to you.”

I thought about it, seeing most of the thoughts of all of them. I decided I might do a little more to guarantee they were safe. I started on the other nineteen, actually turning off their abilities for a bit. I could see later that they would probably be more than upset with me. I’d have to deal with that later.

I started to send them home ‘til I was at last left with Mary. “You never told me where...” I started.

“Can I stay here?” she asked. “I,” here she blushed, “really, don’t have anywhere to go or anyone to go back to. So, I was thinking, that is if you don’t mind, that I could stay here. At least ‘til I find somewhere to go.”

I just groaned at what she’d said, if I let her stay, I could see that she might never leave. Damnit, why, did I feel like I was screwed, blue and tattooed?

I then tried to explain that I had to leave for a while, that I wasn’t sure when I would be back. I had to, if I didn’t, then our world, hell out entire universe, was doomed.

“Can’t I just go with you?” She asked.

I thought about it, she really wasn’t strong enough. I knew whoever these energy beings were, they would overwhelm her in no time. I really didn’t have the time to increase her much, though what I could do would help her here.

“Not this time, there are beings out there that would rip through your defenses as if they weren’t there. Here, I said as I put a hand to her forehead. For the first minute or so, nothing happened, then I felt her abilities jump higher. I had them almost double, when I stopped, the strain on her was pretty great. “There, you are double what you were, though not nearly as high as I think you need to be.”

“I don’t feel any stronger,” she said.

“For now, you won’t, though this should have them leaving you the hell alone. I’ll be back as soon as I can, there should be enough food for nearly a month. I have books, games, the internet and cable,” I told her.

“Anything I should know?” She asked.

“Yes, don’t leave this apartment, they will try to get you to, don’t, as I said, you are safe here. I have to go the energy I feel is starting to increase,” I said, then vanished.

I’ll try to remember; I heard her thoughts then Rommie and I were in orbit. The ship was stronger, faster and far more deadly than before. I now had three rooms, just in case I thought.

“Alright Rommie, let’s go to the next place,” I said.

A large portal appeared in front of us with swirling colors, we quickly moved into it. I was reaching out as soon as we were through. As of yet, I wasn’t feeling whatever they were, though I felt they hadn’t given up.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, I felt them move in behind us. We were moving faster than before, though the energy beings were keeping up with us.

“How long, Rommie?” I asked.

“Thirty seconds,” she said.

I nodded as I extended my hand, putting up a shield before them. This time, I had it as strong as the last I had used against them. When they moved through it somewhat easily, I doubled the strength, feeling them slow. I could also feel their amazement. They tried to push harder, still unable to get through, I smiled as we exited the portal.

I could almost feel the anguish when the portal closed with them still a great distance from it. I surprised them this time as I had the first time. I didn’t think my luck was going to hold out. No, I thought, I needed to get stronger. I wasn’t nearly powerful enough to stop them yet.

I looked around where we were, it appeared we were a lot further out than I had at first thought we were. I saw a ship almost out of range of our view screen.

“Rommie? Is that the Enterprise? Hard to get a good visual this far away,” I said.

“Scanning,” Rommie said. “I am detecting the Enterprise-D, though the readings are strange. I am reading almost no power. Minimal life signs onboard.”

“What has caused...” I started, then noticed that there were a great number of ships around the Enterprise. “I see that we have company.”

I pointed at one of the ships, surprised when it vanished into flames and debris. Shit, that got their attention, most of them started to accelerate towards me. Pointing, I watched half of them vanish like the first. I shook my head as the rest didn’t even pause, still advancing on me.

“Alright stealth, move us as soon as it is activated,” I ordered.

“Done John,” Rommie said as we moved a few million kilometers away.

What was left of the ships that had tried to intercept us were attacking where we were. Hmmm, they were stronger than I thought they were. I pointed, watching as almost that were there vanished.

I was amazed that they kept trying to find us. The ships were compact, triangular shaped, with what appeared to be of crystalline technology. The name Tholian came to me from an old episode.

What the hell was going on? As far as I knew, the Tholians were not a threat in Picard’s time. I could see that they had spun an almost complete enclosure around Picard’s ship.

No, I thought this wasn’t going to happen, not with the fate of my universe at stake. I felt my anger start to rise, then the small, powerful ships started to explode one at a time.

Almost all of them were gone when I received a message. “To the ship destroying our fleet, we will destroy you if you continue to interfere.”

“Open a channel, Rommie,” I said.

“Open Captain,” Rommie said.

“You obviously are more incompetent than I first thought. Continue if you wish to lose your entire fleet. You are far inferior to me, so please continue,” I said, tired of dealing with warmonger races who thought they were the best.

I could see that they thought they knew where I was, ‘til I appeared behind them. I slowly started to blow away every ship I saw. I just shrugged as I took out the rest of them.

I had Rommie turn to head to the Enterprise when it suddenly went to warp! Now, I was really starting to get pissed off. I just wanted to return the weapon then go home. Why in the hell, were all the captains being so difficult?

“Rommie follow them,” I started, then several ships dropped out of warp firing on me! A moment later, I saw that the number was starting to grow. Less than two minutes, I swear there were more than a hundred ships in front of me.

“Stealth Rommie!” I yelled, then we vanished. I could see that the Tholians were actively hunting for me. I guess the loss of a lot of their ships had angered them. I just sighed as I ordered Rommie to open a portal.

All the ships turned toward the portal trying to get to it, we entered it, going to trans-warp.

“Try to get a reading on Picard’s ship, once again we are going to have to find them,” I told Rommie.

“I have them John. They seem to be going back into Federation space,” Rommie said. I issued a sigh, now they were making it even harder to get to them.