Two weeks after the shell of Homeworld was completed, Calvin and Deanna were wed in a traditional Kryptonian ceremony to make Deanna officially the Empress of the Kryptonian people. Lwaxana Troi was overjoyed to become the Mother of an Empress and it rose her personal importance immesuarably. Beverly Crusher was just happy that her son was officially married in the eyes and religion of his original people.

Since they already had their honeymoon and their brief time off was coming to an end, they sent their guests home and went back on the Enterprise to resume their duties. It was like dipping into a warm bath as they went back to their jobs, because they both enjoyed their work and beig around their friends.

The Enterprise continued its journey to another sector for a routine survey when they encountered a ship from a race called the Pakled that asked for help fixing their ship. The people talked in a fake child-like tone and Deanna picked up on their falsehoods immediately. Their ship wasn't damaged at all and they intended to rob the Enterprise by kidnapping anyone they sent over to help.

Deanna relayed her feelings to Commander Shelby, whom was on bridge duty instead of the captain, and Shelby ordered Data to do a deep scan of the alien ship. He discovered mixes of technology from several different races, just as Deanna had warned her, and she ordered the arrest of the kidnappers and thieves.

The mission was over in barely an hour and the federation gained many examples of different ways to integrate various technology. A temporary crew was assigned to take the alien ship back to a federation starbase to be stripped and several sanctions were logged with Starfleet about the Pakled race and their crimes.

Standing policy was changed so that any Pakled ship a member of the federation came across would be seized, their databases raided for evidence, and any prisoners that hadn't been killed would be tended to and returned to their people.

Calvin also submitted a similar request to his homeworld and Kryptonian policy was just a bit more stringent. They would deploy half of their fleet and actively seek out the Pakled's ships instead of waiting to find them and would complete the federation's orders with haste.

Unknown to everyone on the ship, Captain Picard was sequestered inside a closed off room in sickbay to have his artificial heart replaced. Some of the Kryptonian proprietary medical technology had been made available and Doctor Pulaski had secretly used it to clone a new heart for Jean Claude.

Even with futuristic technology, it still took six hours to perform the surgery and Picard would need a few days to recover. The smile on his face as he felt a real heart beating inside his chest after all these years, made Doctor Pulaski smile as well. She also promised to never speak of it ever again, as long as he reported to her for occasional check-ups. Picard reluctantly agreed.

*

An automated distress signal arrived at the Enterprise and they follow it back to its location, Bringloid V, where the planet was in danger from solar flares and needed assistance. Because of Calvin's physiology, he sequestered himself inside the ambassador's shuttle for the length of time that they would be in the system. He stayed in contact with Deanna and the command crew and added his own observations when they found a primitive colony.

The colony had been founded by the crew of a freighter called SS Mariposa, launched from Earth hundreds of years ago, which meant they were automatically federation citizens and needed to be evacuated. After the screw rescued the people, their possessions, and all of their animals and bundles of crops, the colony leader informed Captain Picard about the second colony on a nearby planet.

The Enterprise proceeded to the second colony, only to discover that the Mariposa had crashed and only five people had survived. Since that was not enough people for a viable gene pool to create a colony, they turned their scientific knowledge to cloning. For almost 300 years, all the people that existed in the colony were clones derived from the original five.

The problem they had was that they were degrading with each generation of clones, since copies of copies introduced more genetic flaws and health problems that couldn't be easily fixed. Calvin Crusher and Doctor Pulaski went into seclusion to consult about the problem and came up with two solutions.

One was that they had access to superior cloning technology and could stabilize the clones and fix their flaws, except they would still suffer the same problem in another 100 years. The second solution was to combine both colonies into one and spread all that new genetic material as far as possible.

Both colonies initially rejected the idea as ludicrous, since neither wanted to give up their current way of life, until Commander Shelby pointed out that the much less populous pre-industrial colonists would have to marry twins and triplets to ensure that both colonies could survive in the long term.

The primitive men all agreed that having two or three women in their bed was a fantastic idea and broke out the ale and celebrated. The primitive women on the other hand, agreed that having three husbands to take care of them and to provide for their needs, was a much better deal than what they had back in their old colony.

It took several weeks before both colonies had their citizens successfully paired up and settled into their new lives. The animals and crops also added to the huge cloning database for the newly reformed colony and they would never run out of food.

Calvin couldn't resist and took the opportunity to copy everything for both the federation and the Kryptonians. Every bit of data was welcome and he used it to refine their medical databases and techniques. His mother Beverly, the head of Starfleet Medical, was ecstatic to receive the amount of information he sent to her.

*

A month later, the Enterprise received an urgent message from Starfleet to proceed to a set of coordinates in deep space without explanation. They left their assigned patrol immediately and received yet another communication on their way there. An admiral informed Picard that they were to meet a Klingon special ambassador and she would have their mission details.

Data picked up the ship they were meeting on the enhanced sensors, only for him to reveal it was only a class 8 probe that was barely large enough for a single person to fit inside. It was also travelling at Warp 9, which sent up alarm bells in the command crew's minds. The urgency was quite unlike their normal Starfleet missions.

The probe was waiting for them when they arrived at the coordinates and it was beamed aboard and opened to reveal a half-Klingon half-human woman named K'Ehleyr. Worf did not look happy to see her, especially when she told the command crew that they were to intercept a Klingon Bird of Prey filled with a crew that had been in suspended animation for 75 years and believed they were still at war with the United Federation of Planets.

Before anyone could get into an argument about destroying the ship before the crew woke up, because the Klingons would attack without warning if anyone but other Klingons showed up, Calvin secretly sent two of his sting ship escorts to find and capture the ship.

Since they could travel much faster than the Enterprise without any humans on board, the sting ships quickly arrived at the right coordinates, disabled the Klingon ship with weapons fire, and forced the recently awoken crew members to surrender. A coded message was sent to Calvin on the Enterprise and he waited until the command crew was in a meeting to discuss what to do to reveal what happened.

“Captain, ambassador, it's taken care of.” Calvin said and put the recording of the Klingon's surrender up on the meeting room's display for the command crew to watch.

“Wh-what? How?” K'Ehleyr asked, clearly shocked.

“You said it was a priority to get to them as soon as possible.” Calvin said and showed the brief battle.

“What... what are those ships?” K'Ehleyr asked, her voice subdued. She could easily tell they had superior firepower to any other ship that she had ever seen.

“Those are standard sting ship escorts for ambassadors to the Kryptonian Empire.” Deanna said, a bit smugly. “I'm a little surprised he only sent two.”

Calvin chuckled. “I wanted to intimidate them into backing down and not break their fighting spirit completely.”

Deanna chuckled as well. “I'm not sure they would thank you for going easy on them.”

Worf chuckled this time. “No, they wouldn't.”

K'Ehleyr looked from Worf to Calvin and back. “I... I'm not sure what to say.”

“You're welcome.” Calvin said and turned off the display. “Captain? At your command.”

Picard nodded. “Make it so. Warp speed restrictions are lifted for the duration.” He looked around the table. “Meeting adjourned.”

Calvin smiled and stood. “Ambassador, I'll have you there in three hours.”

K'Ehleyr was too surprised by the declaration to respond and watched as Calvin left the meeting room at a fast walk.

“He's already married, so you're out of luck.” Tasha said with a knowing smile.

Deanna lightly touched Tasha's arm and smiled warmly at her. “We have three days to wait around for the Klingons to reclaim their lost ship and crew. Why don't we go to my quarters and I can show you a few things I replicated? Calvin and Data finally managed to dig out some more clothing designs from the damaged data crystals from his homeworld.”

Tasha's eyes almost lit up. “You're going to dazzle me with outlandish Kryptonian fashion?”

Deanna nodded firmly and Tasha took her hand ashs stood, making Deanna stand as well, and they left at a leisurely walk as they talked about what impact the clothing could possibly have in the federation if they released the designs.

Worf stood as well. “Ambassador, we need to talk.”

K'Ehleyr nodded and followed him out of the room. They ended up inside a small holodeck and it recreated her favorite restaurant back on Kronos, the Klingon homeworld. They shared a fairly delicious meal, which shocked K'Ehleyr, because she had never eaten real food inside a hologram before.

“Worf, I... how we left things...”

“I am a disgraced warrior because of my father being framed. You had no choice but to publicly denounce me.” Worf said.

K'Ehleyr sighed. “I admit that my career skyrocketed after that. They even ignored my social status because of my heritage.”

“They are fools to ignore how smart you are because of your heritage.”

“I'm not as strong as a real Klingon, either.” She responded.

“You are stronger than most of them in the most important ways.” Worf countered and she blushed. “You are honorable and use every situation and circumstance to your advantage. You have won more battles in meeting rooms than most Klingons will ever see in their lifetimes.”

K'Ehleyr turned her head away, clearly embarrassed about the compliments. “Why? Why would you ever consider courting me?”

Worf reached across the table to roughly grab her chin to make her look at him. “Sometimes fighting for what you want isn't shameful, no matter who you are.”

Her blush didn't lessen. “It... it can never be known.”

Worf growled and stood as he used his free hand to smash the table between them. K'Ehleyr gasped at the blatant show of strength and came just from that, then she braced herself. Worf grinned at her and showed off all of his teeth, then he tackled her and they crashed through the chair she sat on.

K'Ehleyr put up a token resistance, as was proper for a woman of her authority, then she let Worf tear off her uniform and embraced the man she had loved for years.

*

During the second day of waiting for the Klingon escort, Calvin was doing a shift in sickbay when he received a communication from one of the ships he had sent out to scan the various worlds of the federation.

“Kay Two-Forty-Three to Maker.” A Kay said from Calvin's comm badge.

Calvin tapped his comm badge. “Maker here.”

“I am in command of the ship assigned to survey the Bynar Homeworld.” K243 said.

“Ah, I think I know what you're calling about.” Calvin said, his voice full of understanding. “Are you having difficulty scanning their infrastructure? Their computer systems are tricky to understand, let alone copy.”

“That is one reason, Maker.” K243 responded. “As per your standard regulations, we contacted the Bynar's Foreign Office of Affairs and informed them of our actions, so we wouldn't violate the sanctions that Starfleet has placed upon them after they saved themselves by stealing the Enterprise and using the upgraded computers.”

“I see. This is about non-contact with other member worlds for a year.” Calvin guessed.

“It is. Since we are an associated world, we can, as per the law, ignore Starfleet regulations and policies.” K243 said. “After several hundred attempts to copy one of their manufacturing plants that produces computer parts, we received an official notice from the Foreign Office of Affairs to allow them to assist us.”

Calvin stiffened at those words. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, Maker. At this moment, we have three pairs of Bynars on the ship directing the analysts and they are providing real components for their recreated world to be installed in Homeworld.”

Calvin was stunned. “What did you offer in exchange?”

“That is why I am calling, Maker. The Bynars have requested creating an official colony on Homeworld, asked for dual citizenship, and would like to examine some of our technology to try and integrate it with their own.”

“The memory crystals.” Calvin said, getting it right away. “They want recreated memory crystals.”

“If they can complete the integration between two such divergent technologies, it would harden their computer systems to the point that a solar flare or even a nova's EMP wouldn't disrupt their society.” K243 said. “They also agreed to share their findings and technology to update our own systems.”

Calvin nodded, even though Kay couldn't see it. “That is a much better situation than what I thought might happen, as in them completely rejecting the idea of having a backup on another world.” He said and quickly composed his response in his mind. “As the Kryptonian Emperor, Kal-El the First, I extend the hand of friendship to the Bynars and officially welcome their colony into the Empire.”

K243 was silent for several seconds. “The representatives here are quite excited and have accepted your generous offer, Maker.”

“Make sure they know that when they do successfully combine our technologies, they will be granted exclusive export rights to also update their homeworld to the new safety standard.” Calvin told her. “A full flotilla of a hundred warships and two hundred sting ships. I'll even upgrade them with their own android analogs if they help me recreate what they did with Minuet.”

K243 let out a soft laugh. “Two of the Bynars just fainted, Maker.”

Calvin chuckled. “I assume their Foreign Office just relayed my decision to the rest of their people?”

“Yes, Maker. The other four Bynars are shaking with anticipation. They request a cargo ship be sent here to gather what is needed for them to start the colony.”

“Hmm. Our normal cargo haulers are digital storage ships and keep things in the buffers. We'll have to make an actual ship with a large enough capacity for their materials, since we can't successfully scan all of their things yet.” Calvin said and nodded when K243 sent the data to his display. “Leave this with me for a few hours and I'll have a ship designed and then created back on Homeworld. I'll contact you again when it's done and on the way.”

“Thank you, Maker. I will let the Bynars know. Kay Two-Forty-Three out.”

Katherine Pulaski walked over to Calvin's desk and leaned against it as she crossed her arms under her chest and gave him raised eyebrows.

Calvin made a snort sound at the look. “I'll stay and make up for the extra time after my shift, Doctor.”

Katherine kept the look on her face and didn't move.

Calvin chuckled. “Fine, fine. I bow to your negotiation skills and will take over sickbay tomorrow for the full shift instead. You can enjoy having the day off.”

Katherine winked at him with a huge smile, patted his shoulder, and went back to her office.

“I am such a pushover for strong intelligent women.” Calvin whispered to himself and changed his desk display to start using an engineering program to work on creating an appropriate cargo ship.

“Your mother did a great job raising you!” Katherine's voice shouted from her office and then she laughed.

Calvin shook his head and loaded in the data K243 had given him. The ship would need the extended hyperdrive engine mounted in the main hull and the backup warp core could be placed in the rear fuselage, with the plasma conduits mounted along specific Jeffries tubes around the inner core of the ship. The turbolifts would need to be moved to accomodate...

Katherine glanced out at Calvin and saw him lose himself in an engineering problem and softly laughed at the determined look on his face. She sat down at her desk and brought up the paperwork she had to work on, then continued to chuckle as she marked it all for Calvin to handle tomorrow. She brought up a novel she was reading and leaned back in her chair to relax for the rest of her shift.

*

A week after K'Ehleyr and the out-of-time Klingons left, the Enterprise received a priority message from a race called the Sheliak. It was an official warning to remove an illegal human colony from one of their worlds. If it wasn't remove in three days by the federation, they would destroy it and the humans living there. Picard called an emergency bridge crew meeting to brainstorm about what they could do about it.

Calvin waited for the others to speak before making his own suggestion. “I recently had a massive cargo ship built to move a ridiculous amount of materials and people from one of the worlds my ships are visiting to Homeworld.” He said and changed the meeting room's display to show the giant ship.

“That thing's huge!” Tasha gasped.

Deanna quickly reached over and slapped a hand over Calvin's mouth to stop him from commenting. Everyone could see the amusement on Calvin's face as his mouth worked and no sound came out.

“Thank you for saving us from hearing that, Councillor.” Picard said with gratitude and light chuckles came from everyone else. “When can you get the ship here, Calvin?”

“It's on the way, so about seven hours.” Calvin said and the display changed to show the interior. “It's large enough that we can let the colonists go to sleep in their beds, or make them go to sleep, transport them up into the hold with all of their things and buildings intact, and take them to any other world to relocate the colony.”

“If we do that, they would never know they've been moved.” Worf said.

“They might depend on the local wildlife for food to sustain the colony.” Deanna said, wisely.

“That's not a problem. We can either scan them or take a few hundred samples of each, including the plants and things. It's a fairly young colony, so they shouldn't have travelled far from the settlement.” Calvin added. “We'll know more once we're there and perform a proper survey on both their computers and the land itself.”

“I can give you a hand with the medical part of that and help with the colonists.” Katherine Pulaski offered and looked at Picard. “Perhaps a science team of biologists could be assigned as well?”

“You'll have that and an engineering team to handle packing up the colony.” Picard said and nodded at Geordi LaForge. “Our new Chief Engineer can assign a team and even himself if he chooses.”

Complete silence met the captain's words, then everyone spoke at once to congratulate Geordi. He was quickly swarmed and patted as everyone made sure to show that they were happy for him.

“Chief Engineer Sarah MacDougal decided it was time to settle down to create a family and wisely chose her second in command as her successor.” Picard explained.

“When did she make the time to find someone to spend time with?” Tasha asked, a little confused. “She worked as hard as Cal when on shift.”

Geordi and Calvin chuckled.

“What's funny?” Tasha asked.

“Cal has too much fun for it to count as work.” Geordi said with a huge smile on his face.

“Well, you're going to be in charge of my fun from now on, so I hope you don't disappoint me.” Calvin joked and everyone laughed.

“And on that note, I believe you all have tasks to preform for the upcoming colony relocation.” Picard said and they all nodded. “Dismissed.”

“We're dragging Geordi to Ten Forward to celebrate at the end of the shift in a few hours. Would you like to join us, captain?” Calvin asked.

Picard looked pleased at the invitation. “I could be convinced to stop by briefly.”

Calvin smirked at the blatant hint. “Understood, sir. I'll have Guinan pull out some of the good stuff.”

Picard nodded and everyone left the briefing room in a great mood.

The colony was quickly surveyed, packed up, and loaded onto the gigantic cargo vessel without incident. The colonists would wake up on a nearly identical world in two days and would never know they had been moved.

Geordi's party lasted for several hours and he started dating a biologist that he had met on the planet's surface. Everyone else had a great time as well, even Captain Picard. Guinan really did have some great stuff to share during special occasions. They were all grateful afterwards when Calvin handed out hangover pills like candy.

*

Barely a week later, the Enterprise responded to an automated distress call from a federation colony on Delta Rana V. When the ship approached orbit, both Calvin and Deanna let out brief cries of pain and then sucked in short breaths.

Calvin immediately changed their standard orbit to be well outside the planet's gravity well and turned to stare at Deanna. They were quiet for several moments and no one said anything at all, not even Picard. When Calvin nodded, Deanna let out a sigh.

“Captain, we do not want to approach the planet. A very powerful being lives there and... and he...” Deanna took a very deep breath and let out a long and drawn out sigh. “It's going to take Calvin and I several hours to properly compose and record what we picked up from the being's powerful mind.”

“That does not give me a good feeling, Councillor.” Picard said.

“It shouldn't, sir. What happened on that planet...” Deanna shook her head.

“Atrocious.” Calvin said, his face sad. “What happened was atrocious.”

Picard looked from him to Deanna. “Can you give me any reason to deny the mission?”

“All it takes for evil to triumph, is for a good being to do nothing.” Deanna said.

“Revenge is also a dish best served cold.” Calvin added. “Vengeance on the other hand...”

“...burns brightly, scorchingly, and destroys everything.” Deanna finished.

Picard blinked his eyes at them three times and then nodded. “Mister Data, download any information in the colony's beacon and deactivate it. We will drop a warning beacon at the system's edge when we leave. Mister Crusher, take us out of here.”

“Aye, sir.” Calvin and Data said and made it so.

The next day's duty shift started with a debriefing and the entire command crew were stunned by what Calvin's and Deanna's report contained. It was immediately classified as a state secret and sealed in the records. No one needed to know that a powerful being lived on that planet or had stood aside as the colony was destroyed by an alien race. When the being's lover had died, he retaliated and wiped out the alien race. All 15 billion of them.

Starfleet didn't have the authority, or even the ability, to prosecute a crime of that nature. Picard recommended that they leave the being to live there in peace and to never approach the area again, in case they provoke it into attacking in retaliation. His recommendation was immediately adopted into official policy and the colony was removed from all logs and the records were sealed.

*

Calvin relaxed on the couch in his quarters with Deanna draped across his lap reading a book, when he received a notification. It wasn't a priority, so there was no immediate need to check it.

“Go ahead, Cal. It's not like we're doing anything important.” Deanna said and closed her book.

Calvin pet her flowing black locks and smiled at her. “Being like this with you is more important than anything else right now.”

Deanna blushed at both his sincerity and his underlying emotions, because he really did believe that relaxing with her was the most important thing for him to do. She rolled over on his lap, sat up, and kissed him as she let her feelings of love and devotion pour into him. They were soon naked and sharing each other passionately.

Two hours later, Deanna finally dragged herself out of bed to see what the message was. She caught her breath and loaded it onto a datapad to bring it back to bed.

“You just couldn't let it go.” Calvin said with amusement as she climbed under the sheet.

“It's been bugging me, okay?” Deanna groused and handed it to him. “This is why.”

Calvin read it and his eyebrows rose. “They finished the interior of homeworld a few weeks early.”

“Yes, and the estimate of only 350 world surfaces being able to fit inside was a bit low.” Deanna said and snuggled into him. “Only about 75% of the interior has been completed and they've run out of official planets to scan.”

Calvin nodded and looked over the data. “I could have the rest of the space filled with generic dirt and soil, just to make the interior complete.”

“You could add a few things like comet surfaces and asteroids, perhaps even some other exotic worlds, as long as you use holograms and simulators that won't cause anyone harm.” Deanna suggested.

Calvin nodded. “We've already installed the day and night mechanisms so that every 'planet' inside has their proper cycle, as well as animals, plants, and everything else to maintain their individual environments. I don't see why we couldn't add in different things for fun, like the surface of a star or a simulation of the different layers inside a gas giant without the excessive pressures or toxic fumes.”

Deanna smiled. “I think that would make an excellent tourist attraction, especially if you make it like a null-ball court. We can pretend to dance on clouds of nitric acid and sulphur gasses.”

Calvin laughed. “Now I definitely have to do it if my Empress declared it.”

Deanna kissed him deeply and laid back down as she watched Calvin added the new ideas and sent it along to Homeworld. “Will you be approaching each federation world and making the same offer that you did for the Bynars?”

“Official colony rights?” Calvin asked and she nodded. “I suppose I could. For the more progressive worlds, anyway.”

Deanna thought about that. “I wonder...”

“Wonder what?” Calvin asked and put the datapad down.

“You're only an associated world to the federation, so you have a lot of leeway with what you can and can't do.” Deanna said and Calvin made a 'go on' gesture. “I was just wondering if you could approach some of the other races that aren't members of the federation and copy their worlds and technology, too.”

Calvin stared at her blankly for almost thirty seconds before he smiled widely. “You are a brilliant woman, my love. Absolutely brilliant.”

“I know.” Deanna said, smugly.

Calvin laughed and kissed her deeply. “I'll prep the Kays to send out envoys to approach the Romulans, Cardassians, and the Ferengi with non-aggression pacts. I doubt they'll agree; but, it will get our ships into their systems officially and they can make the scans right under their noses.”

“What if they attack without listening?” Deanna asked. “Approaching them out of the blue could be really dangerous.”

Calvin smirked at her. “Oh, I hope they do. I can politically roast them for attacking an unarmed diplomatic ship and then I'll send in a retaliation force to capture the insurrectionists trying to start an interstellar war with the Kryptonian Empire without their government's orders.”

Deanna's eyes widened and then she laughed. She rolled over and buried her face into her pillow and laughed pretty hard for several minutes. Calvin rubbed her back and her backside and her laughing fit eventually subsided.

“You can... make them... a protectorate of the empire... and order them to cease and desist all attempts at attacking anyone else.” Deanna said when she calmed down and rolled back over.

Calvin nodded and gave her a brief kiss. “It's your plan, only with a few tweaks.”

“A few tweaks? You're going to backdoor the diplomatic process and subdue entire races to do your bidding and help the federation!” Deanna exclaimed.

“Yes, and the resulting peace afterwards will be all thanks to you.” Calvin said and Deanna looked surprised. “Yes, it'll be engineered and will take some time to set up, especially since I'll be doing all of the planets those species occupy all at the same time. No one will have a warning about what's going to happen or can warn anyone else about it, not even their own governments.”

Deanna thought about that for a moment. “You're going to block interstellar communications?”

“Only to and from the target worlds and only until the operation succeeds, which it will.” Calvin said and picked up the datapad, shrugged, and tossed it aside. “I can start planning it after giving you an appropriate reward for advancing our empire so much with your great idea.”

Deanna would never turn down anything Calvin gave her and she moaned sexily as she accepted her reward quite enthusiastically. Her love grew for the man that was going to force peace upon the constantly warring races in known space.

It wouldn't stop conflict, since that still existed within the federation between factions and world governments; but, it would stop open war and the constant deaths. It would also give the citizens of those planets a break from years, and in some cases decades of warfare.

*

During another survey mission, the Enterprise discovered a large and seemingly artificial asteroid field that had no real explanation for it's existence. There was no other debris in the system and there was no visible reason for the asteroids to remain within the area that was the final battle between two extinct species called the Menthars and the Promellians.

“Captain, the sensors are picking up bits of technology hidden within the asteroid field.” Data informed Picard.

“I assume they are around the source of the Promellian distress beacon that lured us here?” Picard asked him.

“Yes, sir. They are arranged in an almost perfect array.” Data said and showed it on the screen. The display highlighted the devices and their position aimed towards the derelict ship.

Calvin did some typing on his own. “The closer scout ships have determined what the devices are.” He said and split the display to show one. “It's an aceton assimilator.”

“It absorbs any and all energy around it and redirects it as hazardous radiation.” Data clarified.

“The more energy absorbed, the more radiation it produces.” Commander Shelby postulated. “That would escalate the more a ship tried to escape the trap and would kill the crew faster.”

Most of the bridge crew nodded at that conclusion.

“Can you deactivate the trap?” Picard asked.

Calvin and Data exchanged amused looks and spoke at the same time. “Can we?”

A light chuckle came from nearly everyone on the bridge.

Picard smiled. “Make it so. I want access to that ancient ship. The technology might be outdated; but, the scientific principles it uses could very well give us some new ideas for advancements or take us in a different direction. We won't know until we examine everything.”

“We could also adapt the aceton assimilator. If we combine it with a Kryptonian converter, we could change the radiation emitters out for either a deflector shield emitter or even a light phaser bank.” Calvin postulated as he went over the scans.

“That is an intriguing idea. What if we altered a class three science probe? With both the aceton assimilator as a constant power source and the converter giving it appropriate power at a steady rate, it could theoretically run forever.” Data replied.

“I think Starfleet R&D is going to love our latest report even more than we initially thought they would.” Calvin said and grinned at him. “Should we send them a miniature model as proof of concept or send along a fully functioning one?”

“A fully functioning one would be best, as well as the replication plans from one of your scout ships. We will have to update the industrial replicator protocols and programming to handle it.” Data said.

“That is an excellent idea, my friend.” Calvin said and hit several buttons on his flight console before he stood. “If you will excuse us, captain. We will enthusiastically carry out your orders as soon as possible.”

Picard nodded to him and Data, whom left the bridge at a fast walk and discussed the fastest way to get the materials from hidden within the asteroids without destroying the large devices. Their replacements sat in their vacated consoles and assumed their duties.

“Keep us in a holding pattern at the edge of the asteroid field and don't get any closer.” Shelby ordered the new pilot.

“Yes, commander.” The man replied and hit several buttons to enter the orders.

“Continue scanning the area for any other surprises. We'll never know what's out there if we don't keep looking for it.” Shelby told Data's replacement.

“Yes, commander.” The other man replied and started to do exactly that.

Picard sat beside Deanna and noticed her happy smile. “I believe you once described him as a child at Christmas when he finds a new scientific curiosity to investigate.”

Deanna softly laughed and then cleared her throat. “He is quite happy at engaging his mind with a new project, captain.”

That comment gave Picard a slight pause. “I don't want to know what he's planning, do I?”

Deanna lost the smile. “Do you mean Calvin Crusher the Ensign or Emperor El of the Kryptonian Empire?”

Picard took a breath and let it out, because that was the most loaded question that she could have possibly asked. “Please tell me that he contacted the Diplomatic Corps for whatever he's planning?”

“I believe he has sent an inquiry directly to both Admiral Beltram and his mother, Beverly.” Deanna answered with a knowing look.

Picard blinked his eyes at her twice and then nodded acceptance. Those two women had quickly become best friends, shared similar interests and mindsets, and worked together quite a lot since they met. He knew if anyone could keep the Kryptonian Emperor's proclivities curbed, it was Beverly Crusher and Janice Beltram.

*

Beverly and Janice were actually huddled together on Beverly's living room couch as they stared at the datapads with Calvin's communications on them. Not surprisingly, they were nearly identical, except Beverly's had a few more personal notes and comments while Janice had more stringent wording and formality.

“Oh god, Beverly.” Janice whispered and hugged her friend. “Could this really be happening?”

“It is.” Beverly whispered back. “The question is, should we do anything about it?”

“What... what do you mean?” Janice asked. “The screw-ups Admiral Germain left behind almost destroyed the morale of Diplomatic Corps and nearly ruined its reputation. This... this...”

“If Calvin's completely outrageous plan works, and I'm sure he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that it does, the entire political landscape of two sectors of the galaxy is going to change.” Beverly told her.

“But... but... he can't really expect the Romulans to stand down!” Janice exclaimed. “They are an empire and...”

“Empires rise and fall, as does everything else.” Beverly interrupted. “They do have a tendency to last much longer than any other system in existence, if our own planet's history is any indication.”

Janice sighed. “Can he really invade Cardassian space and free all of their occupied worlds at the same time?”

Beverly thought about not showing her Calvin's military might, saw the worried look on her best friend's face, and pulled away from their hug to stand. She left for several minutes to retrieve another datapad and returned to the living room. Janice's face hadn't changed, so she sat down right beside her and put an arm over her shoulders to hug her in close.

“You remember those technology reports from the investigation teams when they went to the Kryptonian's Hub?” Beverly asked and Janice nodded. “What about Captain Riker's report on having his ship refurbished to become a miniature Enterprise?”

“That report shook up several departments at Starfleet, especially shipbuilding and equipment.” Janice told her.

“Yes, it would be a shock for an entire starship to be created from a replicator.” Beverly said and handed her the datapad. “Do you remember the specs for the creation?”

“Only that it took barely a few minutes for the ship to disappear and then reappear as if brand new.” Janice said and started to look at the datapad.

“The inspection team saw five sting ships be created in ten minutes.” Beverly reminded her.

“That I do remember.” Janice said and stared at the numbers on the datapad. “Beverly, what is this?”

“Before I answer that, I want you to answer me this.” Beverly said and looked deep into the other woman's eyes. “What would a brand new civilization with nearly limitless energy production do when a gigantic conglomeration of planets chose to ignore them until they were powerful enough to force them to notice them?”

“They would build up whatever political and military strength they could as quickly as possible, then they would...” Janice's voice drifted off and her mouth made that little 'o' of surprise.

“A single hangar replicator can create five fully functioning Excelsior-class ships in ten minutes. There are 1,440 minutes in a day. Divide by ten and multiply by five, and that's 720 ships.” Beverly said and Janice's expression didn't change. “How long has it been since the inspection teams checked the Hub?”

Janice did not want to answer that question. If that hangar actually worked all day, every day, then the number of ships Calvin... no, Emperor El had in his fleet after months and months... was too mind-numbingly staggering to contemplate.

“Because of the breakthrough the Kay androids made with themselves and self-replication, he has no problems fielding crews for all those ships.” Beverly said instead of asking the time question again. “With that in mind...” She tapped the datapad. “...Homeworld has 20 hangar replicators and can make over 14,000 ships every day.”

The shocked look on Janice's face froze as she fainted.

“I fainted the first time seeing that data, too.” Jack Crusher said from the doorway.

Beverly nodded at the empty wine glasses on the coffee table, so Jack replicated three more and brought them over to her. She didn't let her unconscious friend go as she accepted a glass of delicious wine.

“What do you think we should do?” Beverly asked as she took a sip.

Jack sat on her other side and sipped his own wine in silence for a full minute before he spoke. “I think I'll be fulfilling a favor that a friend of a friend asked of me.”

Beverly raised her eyebrows at him and he motioned to Janice.

“The head of Starfleet Personnel would like a hangar replicator and any correspondence has to pass through the Diplomatic Corps, because the Kryptonian Empire is only an associated member of the United Federation of Planets.” Jack said and finished his wine. “Pass that on when Janice wakes up, will you? Admiral Picket would like an answer as soon as possible.”

Beverly puckered her lips for him and her husband leaned in to give her a very hearty kiss, stood up with a smile on his face, and left her alone to deal with the overwhelmed woman sleeping against her.

*

It took almost a full week to completely disassemble the asteroid trap and the crew gained access to the ancient ship in the very center. Another week was easily used up scanning everything again without interference and accessing the ship's various databases and copying the engineering plans for everything from food storage to engine design.

Like Picard had guessed, their technology use was quite different than normal and gave them and the scientists back at Starfleet R&D many fields of study to explore. Calvin's and Data's contributions were also readily accepted, especially when Calvin suggested seeding the newly designed probes into dangerous areas of space with high radiation or energy expulsions that the probes could siphon off to power themselves.

That idea had the Search and Rescue division of Starfleet scrambling their ships and facilities to make as many of the new probes as possible to get started on cleaning up the space around all of the various disasters and dangerous nebula that occurred in space, some natural and a lot that weren't. Accidents happened a lot in space.

*

A month later, Calvin was woken up from his sleep when a very specific tone of alarm went off. Deanna stayed asleep, since she didn't hear it. He carefully slid out of bed and went to the next room to answer the call.

“Go ahead, Kay-16092.” Calvin said.

“We are all in position, Maker.” Kay-16092 responded.

Calvin took a deep breath and let it out. He paused for a few seconds, then took another deep breath and spoke the words that would change the entire galaxy. “Engage Endgame.”

*

It only took an hour for all of the initial incidents to occur and come to an end. All of them were the same, too. They even had the same outcome. All of them resisted and all of their governments were declared enemies of the Kryptonian Empire.

Two days later, all of their planets, moons, starbases, and homeworlds were conquered and declared protectorates, then administrators were assigned to 'put them into proper order'. All military assets were ordered to return for new orders and new management.

The Kryptonian Empire was now one of the largest empires in known history.

*

It shocked everyone in the United Federation of Planets, the associated worlds, and the independent worlds that were friendly with them. All of the aggressive races in the galaxy had been subdued and subjugated in the same manner that those races had taken over other worlds.

Out of all of them, the ones that recovered from their shock the quickest were the Bajorans. Their homeworld of Bajor and several other occupied worlds had been freed from the Cardassians, their oppressors removed from their lands, and all of the enemy ships had been removed from their space.

They eagerly accepted membership into the Kryptonian Empire and were gifted their own space station and a fleet of ships to guard their sovereign space and the stable wormhole that connected them to their Prophets. They were almost as fanatical about defending Kryptonians as they were for their own religion, which was really saying something.

The best part was that they didn't have to conform. They had their own religion and loved the fact the Emperor wouldn't force them to change anything about how they lived their lives. He had even set up the special replicators to produce their food, the industrial replicators to produce their equipment, and their brand new spacedock replicator to produce solely Bajoran space ships.

The Bajorans absolutely adored Emperor El and no one was allowed to badmouth him.

*

Not surprisingly, a lot of people wanted to visit the homeworld of the Kryptonian Empire. More than a hundred worlds had also agreed to send out a colony to live on their section inside the Dyson Sphere, now officially called Krypton.

Once people learned that they had entire planetary surfaces recreated inside, word about it spread across the galaxy and it became a very popular recreation destination. It became a whole industry on its own and everyone wanted to see the wonders that Kryptonians had created.

With the growing pressure from having so many protectorates and visitors to Homeworld, Calvin had no choice by to resign from Starfleet officially. Deanna did as well, because she didn't want to leave him alone at home for years at a time. Calvin tried to protest her decision and Deanna told him that she was his wife and the Empress of his people, so he couldn't tell her what to do and that was that.

After a long and tear-filled goodbye with their friends, they went home to Krypton.

*

A year later, Calvin and his team of medical experts used the scientific data retrieved from the last of the data crystals of his people and finally cracked the Kryptonian Genome. It took another three months for them to map the DNA sequence and then they prepared a special procedure for the Empress.

Deanna was delighted to find out that she could get pregnant with Calvin's child after a brief medical treatment. She underwent it immediately and spent a week in Calvin's bed to make sure it happened.

The Kryptonian people, both android and flesh and blood, celebrated when it was confirmed that their Emperor and Empress would be having a boy.

To the surprise of everyone on the Enterprise, Tasha Yar resigned from Starfleet when she heard about it. She sent a discreet communication to her best friend and a sting ship decloaked and beamed her aboard. The ship arrived at Krypton six hours later and she was beamed over to the receiving pad where Deanna waited.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Deanna asked and briefly hugged her.

“I've made up my mind, Deanna. I didn't really have anything to look forward to after you and Calvin left the ship.”

“Tasha...” Deanna started to say.

“It's true.” Tasha interrupted. “My day was so much brighter when I saw either of you. The love you have for each other is so strong that... my heart...” She paused and smiled warmly. “I know I can't really be a part of that; but, I'm more than happy to be changed like you and to accept becoming the head of one of the El's sister families.”

Deanna smiled. “Cal is going to want to do the procedure and implantation himself, you know.”

Tasha blushed. “I guess that's fair, since he can't do it the old fashioned way.”

“Oh, he would if I let him.” Deanna declared and Tasha blushed harder. “The problem would come with half-siblings being the only pureblood Kryptonians growing up together.”

Tasha blinked her eyes at her for a moment, then she really blushed. “You can't be serious!”

Deanna laughed and took her hand as she led her out of the transporter room. “They would be the only person they can safely have a child with. Kryptonians are immensely strong, even when they aren't actively using their powers.”

Tasha couldn't quite wrap her mind around that. Siblings having no other choice? It would definitely change how they felt about each other. Why couldn't they do the same procedure she was about to go through?

“It's because our children aren't technically full Kryptonian. There's a mix of human and Betazoid in there, so that the integration could complete. It's not until they have children themselves that the genome 'sticks' and becomes a part of their DNA.” Deanna said and waved at a passing Kay android. “I don't fully understand the genetic reports and how it really works, just the layman's terms.”

Tasha thought about that as they went to where she would be living from now on. It didn't take her long to come up with a solution. “We need to find more volunteers to do what I'm doing and give more families the chance to have their Royal House be reborn.”

Deanna stumbled slightly and stopped walking to look at Tasha with shock on her face.

“What? It's the most logical explanation.” Tasha said in her defense. “I'm sure there are a few women out there that would love the prestige and wealth that comes from being a Royal Family head. The more we have available, the better the chances that Kryptonians can achieve true genetic diversity within our lifetimes.”

The sound of a light laugh came from nearby and both women turned to see Calvin leaning against the wall.

“That was a brilliant idea, Tasha.” Calvin said and looked at Deanna. “Are you sure I can't take her as a concubine?”

Deanna sighed. “You can't.”

“Why not?” Tasha asked.

“Because my mother would be all over him to take her, too.” Deanna said. “I do not want a brother nephew and become a sister aunt, thank you very much!”

Tasha looked surprised for a moment, then she giggled. She suddenly realized that was why Deanna didn't want Cal impregnating her as well. It wasn't only because of the close genetics, it was the completely mixed up family structure that it would cause.

Calvin laughed and walked over to them. “Come on, I'll give you a hand settling in and I'll explain the procedures you've signed up for.”

Tasha nodded and took his hand, then she smiled as the three of them walked down the hallway holding hands. Being a part of a real family had been a secret dream of hers for a very long time.

*

Surprisingly, even with sending discreet messages to only a few select people, hundreds of women from various species were eager to accept Tasha's proposal. They were screened for both spies and infiltrators, of course. Only a few were found and were politely refused. No one was stealing a future ruler of the Kryptonian people or their secret medical procedures.

Not surprisingly, half of them were Bajoran. They loved the opportunity that becoming a ruling class gave them and were eager to get started. Calvin and his medical teams got to work disseminating the different genetic codes of his people. With so many volunteers available, they didn't have to be picky about which families to bring back first.

From that point on, the Kryptonian race would become self-sustaining, with a mix of Kryptonians and other races. They lived peacefully side by side on Krypton and everywhere else in the galaxy.

The End.