Prologue

STAR TREK - LOTUS FLEET

HAWKS AND DOVES

USS HORIZON SEASON 3 EPISODE 2

PROLOGUE

The vista of stars that stretched beyond looked no different than from any other vantage point of the milky way galaxy... except for one singular feature. It looked like a curiously flat nebula of greenish hue, stretching towards intergalactic darkness like some remnant of a heavy fog. The boundaries of that strange area of space could not be seen... because they expanded outside of our own universe and into another.

It was not just an area; it was a doorway, the entrance to a realm where the laws of physics and the evolution of life had taken a different twist. It was a different kind of existence, a different kind of life; yet it was still close enough to allow direct interaction, interpenetrate energy, matter and life of known space the way creatures of land and sea on a far away planet called Earth had sometimes shared the same world. It might have been another universe, but it was still a part of the vast tapestry called material reality.

Like a primordial fish parting the murky depths of primeval sea to breach the sands, an elongated form, as greenish and luminous emerged from that foggy frontier. It looked vaguely like a squid from Earth's seas, a long, cylindrical body with stiffened tendrils at one end and a bloated horned and bulbous head at the other extremity. And it looked just as alive even in the cold, airless expanse of outer space. But there was no doubt despite it's weird organic appearance that this was in fact a vessel of some sort.

And it did not appear alone.

Just as it crossed the greenish, foggy frontier, blobs of liquid green fire flashed beyond it. Then there was like a yellowish bolt of lightning that scorched it's rear bulbous end.

In the silence of space, no scream could be heard; yet, one could be somehow felt as the living ship shuddered under the cruel bite of the lightning. Like an angry beast, the ship extended horns towards it's own greenish wake and spewed out glowing fireballs of it's own. They splashed right in the front of a trio of smaller, fishlike crafts as they barely emerged from the other side, hot on the trail of the larger, fleeing vessel.

In an instant, all three pursuing ships were engulfed in greenish liquid fire and then exploded like deep seatrench fishes suddenly brought back to the surface. In moments, all that was left were flaming debris that spread out behind the larger vessel like bleeding, eviscerated corpses.

At a speed that challenged that of light itself, the now solitary craft flew further away from the green, hazy boundary, deeper into space. But in the silent stillness that followed it's last exchange of fire with it's now destroyed pursuers, it stopped still in view of the entrance to the other universe. Like a tired beast slowly recovering it's breath, the living ship floated motionless under the soft, distant lights of stars that highlighted the frontier of the galaxy.

Then, one tiny tendril emerged from it's front and started to pulse gently, like an eye blinking.

No mechanical or electronic device could perceive the signal that the tiny blinking light was sending.

It was telepathic.